The mother of all errors
“… for in the heavenly mysteries, opinion humanly conceived, even if it does not always give birth to a great heap of errors, is nevertheless the mother of error.” (Calvin, “Institutes,” 1.5.13) All theology is human construction. God doesn’t drop this stuff out of the sky. How do we make sense of what we believe? I’ve been pondering the word “charam” of late. An O.T. term, it can be translated: “to ban, devote, exterminate, annihilate, destroy utterly.” After marching around the walls seven times and creating a tremendous racket by blowing horns and yelling, the Book says: “And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted (charam) to the LORD for destruction” (Jos 6:17a ESV). I believe this Book, but how am I to understand this story? Theology to the rescue! Theologians help us to understand the reasons for war, genocide, slavery, and much else that troubles humanity. Oppression related to ethnicity, gender, social strata, politics, beliefs, behavior, ancestry can all be explained by creative theology. Most of us don’t have time for this. We just want a little bit of happiness and don’t really mean anyone harm. We don’t have the energy to figure this out so we uncritically accept what the authorities tell us, whether we get it at home, church, synagogue, mosque, university, or nowadays more often the tv. Why bother thinking when someone else has already thought for you? Does God call us to exterminate? That seems extreme to our Western sensibilities, but we blandly accept, even require, just war. It’s just war and there’s money to be made! Only make sure it doesn’t happen on our soil. At the end of the day, we all suffer from human opinion. The human mind might be the most violent and destructive weapon there is. Those who choose the way of the sword become slaves to it. This is simple theology, human opinion trying to make sense out of the Book. Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. (Mat 26:52 ESV) What are the options? I propose trading charam for a cup. John finishes his retelling of the ear cutting incident not with a philosophical reason but a practice to be lived into. So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” (John 18:11 ESV)
Tags: Theology
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