THERE’S MORE TO CHRISTIANITY THAN THIS

AN INSIPID CREED THAT FAILS TO RECORD HISTORIC FACTS: SURELY THERE’S MORE TO CHRISTIANITY THAN THIS?

 

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Somehow or another the following declaration has been incorporated into our morning church worship. The congregation is invited “Let us declare our faith in God in the words of the creed” by saying these words:-

We believe in God the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.

We believe in God the Son, who lives in our hearts through faith, and fills us with his love.

We believe in God the Holy Spirit, who strengthens us with power from on high.

We believe in one God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Amen.[1]

This version of the creed is authorised for use by the Church of England but it is a pallid relative of the real thing. This matters. My first exposure to institutional Christianity was aged 7 in a small parish church in Broadstairs, Kent. Each week Matins from the Book of Common Prayer was followed including the recitation of the Apostle’s Creed.

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into hell; The third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; The holy Catholick Church; The Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.

I’m not pretending that I found this gripping at the time, all the time.  Some of the time my attention was directed to the urgent business of ripping off a button to put into the collection bag so that I could pocket the threepenny bit that was intended for that purpose but which I intended for fish and chips.  Even when not diverted I didn’t understand all of it, but I understood enough to get an idea of the core of what Christians believed. Coming from a Jewish home a lot of it was news to me. I’m grateful for the weekly repetition of this concise statement of faith. It burned its way into my memory and has provided plenty of nourishment. Today, over half a century later, it still does. Comparing this with the emaciated version any child at church would have heard last Sunday I am struck by the inadequacy of the new liturgy.

To the uninitiated, the new version tells us next to nothing about Jesus. His name does not feature. You would never know that there was a real person called Jesus who lived and died at a particular historical time: i.e. when Pontius Pilate was in power. The incarnation is not so much as hinted at in the new version, yet without it Christianity collapses. A declaration of faith which omits the incarnation, the crucifixion and the resurrection is not just missing a few incidental points it is missing the point.  Sustaining a Christian life on this basis would be like trying to cross the channel in a ship without a hull, rudder, motor or mast.  You are not just likely to sink–you are bound to.

What were the Church of England’s liturgy experts thinking when they penned this thin gruel? It manages to be both watered down yet indigestible. Try explaining ‘from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named’ to a passing visitor (or to me for that matter). I know the phrase is taken from Ephesians but that does not tell us much that is readily intelligible about God the Father.

Have we abandoned or lost confidence in the idea that God the Father is Almighty? Do we no longer believe that He is the Maker of heaven and earth? Is it a loss of confidence in these truths that makes us shrink from declaring them? Is this why we are now expected to be content to settle for an obscure jumble of platitudes which repeatedly puts the focus on ‘us’? Thanks but no thanks.  Sadly, a passing visitor may never realise that Christians believe more that remains unsaid by the new version than is referred to in it.

Great care and attention has been taken in formulating the Nicene and Apostle’s creeds. They have withstood the tests of time and informed generation after generation of worshipers. The latest version leaves a vacuum where truth once stood. We should watch out. This vacuum will be filled by ideas falling well outside the orthodox.

  1. https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/common-material/new-patterns-28

 

The Transfiguration of Jesus Christ–does it matter?

I don’t remember the last time “The Transfiguration” was mentioned in my local church. It is not a subject that comes up in everyday conversation and I rarely think about it.  This coming Sunday is nominated in the Church of England lectionary as a memorial for The Transfiguration and the bible readings for the day reflect. (Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14. Psalm 97. 2 Peter 1:16-19 and Luke 9:28-36)[1]. What can I learn from The Transfiguration and why is it that the subject seems to be such a low priority even among Christians?

Forgive me for stating the blindingly obvious: the Transfiguration marks Jesus out as special. It is a difficult story to understand because transfigurations just don’t happen. None of us have seen one or met anyone who has. It is beyond our experience and we are generally skeptical about miracles. The Transfiguration corroborates the biggest miracle of all: the incarnation. Peter, James and John saw Jesus’ appearance change and heard a voice saying “This is my Son, my Chosen One; Listen to him!”   The Transfiguration asks us the question– who do we think Jesus is?  Is he merely a man, or God’s son, His chosen one? It is well worth taking time to ponder this event. Do we accept that it happened or do we think it is made up. Why would anyone make up such an unlikely story? If it happened then we too need to ‘Listen to Him’.

Another obvious observation: the Transfiguration story features Moses and Elijah. The New Testament cannot be understood without reference to the Hebrew Scriptures. And yet our knowledge of Old Testament stories and characters is receding. It is worth taking time and trouble to put this right, however unfashionable this might be. Only by getting to know the old testament can one begin to see God’s purposes being worked out over the centuries and to grasp the coherent over-arching and continuing story of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness. Elijah was taken to heaven alive (2 Kings 2:11) and expected to return before the Messiah.  John the Baptist is often understood to have fulfilled this role. The Jewish people expected a prophet in the manner of Moses to arise (Deuteronomy 18:15-18). Moses and Elijah talk about ‘Jesus’ departure which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem’ (Luke 9:31). A little earlier in the same chapter of Luke, we find Jesus telling the disciples of the death he was about to suffer and that he would be raised from the dead (Luke 9:21-22).  I assume this is what Luke is referring to when he uses the word ‘accomplish’. What is accomplished is the saving of the world by way of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Putting it crudely: the Transfiguration directs us to the person of Jesus and the purpose of Jesus.

The third feature of the story is Peter’s response. Is it possible that he is bewildered and starts talking before he has had time to observe and listen? To suggest building booths might perhaps be an attempt to memorialize what was likely to be a fleeting event. Perhaps similar to building a statue to commemorate someone, something or an event? Or maybe it was equivalent to suggesting the formation of a committee –a gut response that allows us to acknowledge the need for change without actually changing? In any event, Peter’s ideas are cut short by the loud voice that talks across his talking and tells him to ‘listen up’.

We do well to be silent and listen in the presence of the Lord.


  1. Luke 9:28–36 (ESV) — 28 Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. 30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33 And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. 34 As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” 36 And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

 

THE INSPIRATIONAL COURAGE SHOWN IN A MOSCOW COURT LAST WEEK.

In February 1966 Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuly Daniel were tried for ‘anti-Soviet agitation’ in a Moscow court and sentenced to seven and five years in labour camps. Their satirical writings had offended the state. Their trial was reported around the world[1] and provoked an international reaction and inspired others in USSR to take a stand against their rulers. It led to a wider dissident movement which stood against state repression in USSR. Ilya Yashin stands firmly in this tradition. On 9th December 2022 he was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for a series of posts in May about the murder and torture of Ukrainian civilians by Russian troops in Bucha[2]. This is the report from The Moscow Times of his speech from the dock[3]:-

“….Ladies and gentlemen,
You have to agree that the phrase “the defendant’s last word” sounds very sombre as if after I speak they’ll sew my mouth shut and forbid me from ever speaking again.

Everyone understands that this is precisely the point. I am being isolated from society and imprisoned because they want me to remain silent, as our parliament is no longer a place for discussion and Russia must now silently agree with any measures its government takes.

But I promise that as long as I live I’ll never make peace with that. My mission is to tell the truth. I’ve spoken it on city squares, in television studios, in parliament and I will not cease to speak it from behind bars either. As one classic author put it: “Lies are the religion of slaves and masters. Truth is the god of the free man.”

Your Honour, I have a principle that I’ve followed for many years now: do what you must, come what may. When the hostilities began, I did not doubt what I should do even for a second.

I must remain in Russia, I must speak the truth loudly, and I must stop the bloodshed at any cost. It physically pains me to think how many people have been killed in this war, how many lives have been ruined, and how many families have lost their homes. You cannot be indifferent. And I swear I do not regret anything. It’s better to spend 10 years behind bars as an honest man than quietly burn with shame over the blood spilled by your government. Of course, Your Honour, I’m not expecting a miracle here. You know I’m not guilty, but I know that you’re pressured by the system. It is obvious that you will have to issue a guilty verdict. But I hold no ill will toward you, and I wish you no ill. But try to do everything that is in your power to
avoid injustice. Remember that it’s not just my personal fate that depends on your verdict — this verdict is against the part of our society that wants to live a peaceful and civilized life. The part of society that, perhaps, you belong to, Your Honour.

I’d also like to use this platform to address Russian President Vladimir Putin. The man responsible for this bloodbath who signed the “military censorship” law, and according to whose will I am currently in prison.

Mr. Putin, when you look at the consequences of this terrible war, you probably already understand the gravity of the mistake that you made on Feb. 24. No one greeted our army with flowers. They call us invaders and occupiers. Your name is now firmly associated with the words “death” and “destruction.”

You brought about a terrible tragedy for the Ukrainian people, who will probably never forgive us for it. But you’re not just waging a war on Ukrainians — you’re at war with your own citizens, too.

You’re sending off hundreds of thousands of Russians to war. Many will return disabled or lose their minds from what they’ve seen and gone through. To you, this is just a death toll, a number in a column. But to many families, this means the unbearable pain of losing a husband, a father or a son.

Hundreds of thousands of our citizens have left their country because they don’t want to kill or be killed. People are running from you, Mr. President. Can’t you see?

You’re undermining the basis of our economic security. Your switch to a wartime economy is turning our country backward. Have you forgotten that this policy already led our country to ruin in the past?

Let this be a voice crying out in the wilderness, but I’m calling on you, Mr. Putin, to stop this madness right now. We need to recognize that our policy on Ukraine was a mistake, to withdraw our troops from its territory and to reach a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

Remember that every new day of the war brings new victims. Enough.

Finally, I want to address the people who have followed these court proceedings, who have supported me for all these months, and who are anxiously waiting for the
verdict.

My friends! No matter what verdict the court gives, no matter how tough that verdict is, this must not break you. I realize how difficult it is for you right now, I realize that you feel hopeless and powerless. But you must not give up.

Please do not give into despair and don’t forget that this is our country. It is worth fighting for. Be brave, do not retreat in the face of evil. Resist. Stand your ground on your street, in your city. And most importantly — be there for each other. There are many more of us than you think, and together we have enormous power.

Don’t worry about me. I promise to endure my tribulations without complaint and that I won’t lose my integrity. In turn, please promise me that you’ll not lose your optimism and won’t forget how to smile. Because the moment we lose our ability to find joy in life is the moment they win.

Believe me, Russia will one day be free and happy.”[4]


  1. Alexander Ginzburg, a journalist, compiled a report of the trial which circulated secretly in USSR called “The White Book” and was arrested and sentenced to 5 years in a labour camp along with 3 others whose trial was recorded in the book “The trial of the Four”. All these defendants made courageous speeches from the dock.
  2. See https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/09/russian-opposition-figure-ilya-yashin-jailed-for-denouncing-ukraine-war accessed 16/12/22
  3. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/12/07/people-are-running-from-you-mr-president-cant-you-see-a79626 accessed 16/12/22 . The article ends “This is an edited version of a translation provided by Novaya Gazeta Europe. The views expressed in opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the position of The Moscow Times. The unedited translation of Novoya Gazeta Europe is at https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2022/12/06/people-are-running-from-you-mr-president-cant-you-see-en
  4. For more information about Mr Yashin see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilya_Yashin. Thanks to the “Battleground” podcast for alerting me to Mr Yashin’s speech https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/battleground-ukraine/id1617276298

 

“Stop Reading the News: A manifesto for a happier, calmer and wiser life” by Rolf Dobelli

 This is a short book written with a punchy and pacey style.  A compelling read.

Stop Reading the News: A Manifesto for a Happier, Calmer and Wiser Life

Rolf Dobelli’s essential argument is that most newspapers and media ‘news’ is little more than entertainment produced in order to attract advertising revenue and that we waste a lot of time saturating ourselves with such stuff. He likens ‘news’ to sugar: addictive but of little value. He urges us to follow his example and to avoid reading/listening to the news and to spend our time more profitably.  Information that is really important will reach us by word of mouth so we won’t miss out on what matters.   He has tried it and says it works. It frees him from worrying about things that he can’t affect and it saves him time. It also saves his mind from being cluttered by distractions and it preserves his judgment from what he claims to be the warping effect of saturation with ‘news’.

The author qualifies his blanket ban on news reading/listening by suggesting that each of us has a ‘circle of competence’ and that we should confine ourselves to news relevant to that area. Thus the heart surgeon, the lawyer, the financial investor etc must stick to developing knowledge that will enhance his/her specialist role.

”Let’s say you’re a heart surgeon. Pertinent scientific journals will be an area of focus for you. Perhaps also leadership magazines and books, if you lead a team. Everything else you can safely ignore. You don’t need to know whether one president shook another one’s hand. You don’t need to know whether two trains crashed somewhere in the world. Your brain is already full. The more you cram it with junk, the less room there is for the information you genuinely need to know.” (p41)

The author is right: much of what is reported as ‘news’ is superficial, of no lasting value and occasionally is little more than gossip. This, however, does not mean that it has little or no value. It won’t help the heart surgeon treat his/her patients but it might help him/her realise that there is more to life than heart surgery. I don’t buy the idea that a ‘brain is already full’. The brain does not work like that. There’s always room for more information: it’s a question of judgment how much attention one attributes to the information flowing through the mind.

I used to specialise  in maritime and  commercial law. I was very fortunate: this was a wide, varied and interesting field with more specialist magazines, law reports and text books than I would be able to absorb no matter how long I lived. Mr Dorelli might think that this supports his argument that I should devote my life to reading such materials and not waste time on material outside my ‘circle of competence’ but I think he missing something vital. Life does not consist of becoming ever more expert in one’s specialist area at the expense of other areas. Going down that route cuts one off from others who do not share the specialism. Once one has achieved competence in one’s area of expertise then narrowing one’s focus to one’s ‘circle of competence’ is only worthwhile if all that matters is one’s performance within that circle. But woe betide us if we allow our worlds to shrink to the size of our particular interests. We need an understanding, however imperfect, of what life is like beyond the boundaries of our small areas of competence.  One way of keeping in touch via the news. 

As CLR James once asked in his book “Beyond A Boundary”

“What do they know of cricket that only cricket know?”

Mr Dobelli recommends that we should read specialist magazines and specialist long reports rather than the ‘soap bubbles bursting on the surface of a complex world[1]’ but this again misses the big picture. Life is too short to read long articles that give us true and balanced opinions on complex matters outside our specialist spheres but that does not mean that we should deliberately remain ignorant of everything outside our expertise.

There’s a lot wrong with our news media and one can spend too much time immersing oneself in it but the author overstates the case and his suggested remedy of avoiding all news media is overkill. He implies that every minute of every part of life can be given a score according to its utility. To him, the enjoyment that one may derive from news media rates a negative score because the media reports the wrong things in the wrong way. What if one is aware of the shortcomings of the media but still enjoys it? Does this enjoyment not count for something?  What if one reads/listens/watches selectively and finds that this has many benefits even if the benefits are not related to utility of the report in building up one’s existing area of expertise?  This remains the case even if the news coverage is superficial and even if the facts are not always reported accurately. 

The author is right to draw attention to the damage to one’s mental and physical health that can be caused by obsessionally following the news but this does not justify his conclusion than ‘consuming news reduces your quality of life[2]’. Exposure to news media gives us all something in common with each other and provides a basis for building community. Of course some media may subvert the news and become a haven of misinformation that fuels a non rational interest group (such as anti-vaxxers or QAnon) but were we all to follow the author’s advice we would be unaware of the misinformation that fuels these and other groups. Such ignorance may be bliss but it is dangerous. Better by far to be aware of what is going on around one.

This book has caused me to review the time I spend listening to the news, watching news channels or reading newspapers. I shall be spending less time on it and choosing what I read and listen to more carefully. Thanks to the author, I am now aware of some of the unhelpful effects of being bombarded by news presented in a way calculated to entertain rather than inform, and selected for its click bait potential rather than on any other basis. This short book is worth reading for these benefits but I remain glad that we live in a society that allows us ready access to the news and I shall not pursue total avoidance of all news as this remedy seems worse than the disease it is said to cure. 

  1. P51
  2. P59

 

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