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| Title: | Discussions from a Christian Perspective |
| Notice: | Prostitutes and tax collectors welcome! |
| Moderator: | CSC32::J_CHRISTIE |
|
| Created: | Mon Sep 17 1990 |
| Last Modified: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 1362 |
| Total number of notes: | 61362 |
172.0. "Prophets" by CSC32::M_VALENZA (N�te d'Azur) Tue Mar 05 1991 22:59
Many people think of prophecy in terms of fortunetelling. The Gospel
evangelists, especially Matthew, often talk of Jesus as a Messiah who
"fulfilled" scriptural prophecy--with a "fulfilled" prophecy being a
prediction that came true. Some Christians believe that there are
biblical predictions, expressed by the prophets, that remain to be
fulfilled. These outstanding prophecies, expressed in esoteric
passages, concern the Last Days; the relevant passages are thus seen to
be written over the heads of the author's contemporaries, directly to
the last generation of the current dispensation (which every generation
seems to believe itself to be).
There is another view of prophecy, however, that is much more
interesting to me. The Hebrew prophets were often social critics who
addressed their complaints directly to the people of their time. As
gadflies for the kings and priests, they could often be at odds with the
authorities of their day. The book of Jeremiah reports a great deal of
persecution at the hands of contemporaries:
Now the priest Pahhur son of Immer, who was chief officer in the
house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. Then
Passhur struck the prophet Jeremiah, and put him in the stocks that
were in the upper Benjamin Gate of the house of the Lord. (Jer
20:1-2)
The officials were enraged at Jeremiah, and they beat him and
imprisoned him in the house of the secretary Jonathon, for it had
been made a prison. Thus Jeremiah was put in the cistern house, in
the cells, and remained there many days. (Jer 37:15-16)
Amos directed severe criticism at the socioeconomic conditions of his
day, in which the poor were oppressed:
For I know how many are your transgressions,
and how great are your sins--
you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe,
and push aside the needy in the gate. (Amos 5:12)
In one elegant passage, Amos critiques the superficial religious piety
of his contemporaries that contrasted so sharply with the lack of social
justice that he saw in his society:
I hate, I despise your festivals,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
I will not look upon.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an everflowing stream. (Amos 5:21-24)
Most of the ancient Hebrew prophecy present their social and religious
criticism in the form of a theodicy, in which God's judgment was offered
as the consequence of continued abuses by society. This judgment was
contingent, and could be withdrawn if the people repented (this is
expressed in the delightful short story of Jonah. It is this contingent
theodicy that is typically associated with the predicting element of
prophecy.
Tom Harpur, in his book _For Christ's Sake_, contrasts what he calls the
"two strands" of Hebrew religion:
...It is helpful to look briefly at the role of the prophets in the
Hebrew religion. They are commonly believed to have been mystical
individuals able to foretell the future, but this is a distortion.
They were mystical enough, men with a clear vision of the nature and
being of God....Yet as the Greek words (pro phetes) behind their
name indicate, the prophets' function not not to foretell but to
"tell forth" the word God had laid on their minds and hearts. It is
true that they often speak of punishments or retributions about to
fall on the Jewish nation. But their canvas is painted with very
broad strokes. They are men who can "read the signs of the times" and
discern in the present the consequences that will almost inevitably
follow. I say "almost inevitably" because the whole point of the
prophets' utterances was to persuade the people to repent and so
avoid the evils otherwise certain to come. They laid no claim to
detail predictions of the future, as some modern psychics do.
Instead, they applied to the religious, social, and political
situations of their time their reading of God's character and will.
Any falling short of this standard, they warned, could only result
in disaster. And the various disasters they announced were all
implicit in the particular situations then facing the Chosen People
of God. (60-61)
Harpur points out that the prophets experienced God directly, and "not
from cultic, religious piety--from sacrifices, offerings, and ritual
observances administered by priests or other intermediaries--but from a
direct encounter with a living reality. Their authority comes not from
organized or institutionalized religion but from their own direct sense
of calling from God Himself." This was threatening to the religious
establishment, and the prophets suffered as a result. The religious
establishment responded with "shock, anger, and, eventually, violence."
Paula Fredriksen, in her book _From Jesus to Christ_, puts it this way:
"While prophets might heal the sick, work miracles and mighty signs, or
foretell the course of future events to demonstrate the divine authority
of their mandate, they were above all social and political gadflies."
(page 73).
As a Quaker, I do not believe that the direct experience of God has been
restricted to the celebrated Hebrew prophets, or to the historical
Jesus. Rather, it is a Quaker belief in "that of God in everyone",
which means that everyone has the prophetic potential. I believe that
the prophetic tradition has continued in many voices throughout history.
There have been many prophetic gadflies in modern history. Not everyone
might agree on who they might include on their list of prophets; my own
list would probably include Jesus, George Fox, Martin Luther King, and
Gandhi. All of these individuals, I believe, acted on their prophetic
callings. There is more to prophecy than merely speaking; one must also
act.
I am reminded of the following story, related in the February issue of
_Witness_ magazine:
One day, as he began his daily prayer, a Desert Master saw pass by
him a cripple, a beggar, and a beaten man. Seeing them, the Holy
One went deep into prayer and cried, "Great God! How is it that a
loving Creator can see such suffering and yet do nothing about it?"
And out of the depth of prayer, God said, "I have done something
about it. I made you."
And thus by acting on what we see, we can carry out the divine purpose.
We all have the ability to *act* on what we see. We all have the
potential of being prophets. Do we live up to our potential? Are we
the prophets that we can be?
| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 172.1 | Peter the Prophet | CSC32::J_CHRISTIE | Mourning the Carnage | Tue Mar 05 1991 23:55 | 16 |
| I consider the friend I wrote about in Note 124.27 to be
a modern prophet.
It's funny it came up about potential difficulties with the
law he might experience, as he has spent considerable time incarcerated
for his unswerving stands for peace, and for social and ecological justice.
The only reason I have a Colorado ID (I don't drive) is so I can visit him
when he's in jail.
The incredible thing about Peter is the depth and the weight of
the things he says. He can say more of lasting value in a half hour
conversation than I can say in a year. He is attentive to the Holy
Spirit.
Peace,
Richard
|
| 172.2 | | ATSE::FLAHERTY | A K'in(dred) Spirit | Wed Mar 06 1991 09:23 | 6 |
| I consider author Ken Carey (Return of the Bird Tribes, Vision,
Starseed are among the books he's written) to be a modern prophet with
a Christian perspective.
Ro
|
| 172.3 | Peter Sprunger-Froese, Part I | CSC32::J_CHRISTIE | Uncomplacent Peace | Fri Apr 05 1991 22:41 | 49 |
| The comments which follow are portions of a speech delivered by Peter
Sprunger-Froese, prophet, activist and Mennonite, on March 2, 1991, on the
Colorado Springs strip of automotive dealers known as "Motor City". Peter
hails from Saskatchewan, Canada, and has taught in theological seminaries.
I have Peter's permission to reprint his words and have split Peter's prophetic
insights into 2 entries.
Peace,
Richard
=============================================================================
"We are saturated with shame, knowing the next war is around the corner
if our current economic and ecological priorities continue unaltered.
"We are repenting of the dizzying stupefication of modern death technology
as demonstrated in the war. We are repenting of our parasitic lifestyle.
More fundamentally, however, our repenting is a turning from our nearly
unconscious celebration of American myth of moral and spiritual superiority.
This cultural myth is the lens by which we perceive ourselves, uncritically
and unequivocally, and by which we consent to an ideal of domination. Business,
church, politics - most of society - continues to celebrate this national
chauvinism by capitulating to the military version of national security.
Translated, that means, 'In armaments we trust.'
"Would that the community of faith had called us on this idolatry. Until
the first bomb dropped, an altruistic tide swept across the religious
landscape that included even some critique of the war clouds developing
in the Middle East. After the war started, the critique melted into a
self-censuring, cowardly cry, 'Now that we are involved, we must support
our country.' When push came to shove, prophetic judgment yielded to
national policy. In effect, the war became the reason for the war.
"With the burning of this driver's license, we zealously challenge this
moral abdication. With the burning of this driver's license today, we
reach behind the church/state window dressing, and discover the massive
carnage our diplomatic arrogance has brought. We observe that warfare
was and is about power and money defending power and money against power
and money.
"Predicated on the U.S.'s 'God-given title' to the Arab world's oil
resources, waterways, and markets, we have invaded the Gulf for economic
and political advantage at the expense of democracy, the rights of small
nations, and a comprehensive energy policy. Freed from the restraints
of Soviet counterveiling pressure during the Cold War, U.S. policy makers
have indulged their hypercritical, porkbarrel, macho fantasies and impulses
to a new level of shame. Thanks to a monumental stream of rhetoric emanating
from the White House and dutifully relayed by the mass media's unquestioning
lap dogs, we have filled the void of "no enemy" by successfully transforming
Saddam Hussein into the new Hitler-of-the-Month.
|
| 172.4 | Peter Sprunger-Froese, Part II | CSC32::J_CHRISTIE | Uncomplacent Peace | Fri Apr 05 1991 22:42 | 41 |
| "Without belittling the brutality of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, we remind
ourselves that until this petroleum threat, the U.S. did not oppose Hussein,
but instead, provided the government of Iraq with military and economic aid.
From 1984 to August 2, 1990, Presidents Reagan and Bush were both Hussein's
good friend in Washington, assuring him a favorable trade status before
legislators who were repelled by the Iraqi government's oppression of its
political opponents at home. A glimpse behind this rhetoric proves this
to be a long-standing pattern: The U.S. violated international law in its
military actions against Libya, Granada, Nicaragua, and Panama; we supported
Iraq's invasion of Iran; we accepted Israel's invasion of Lebanon and
tolerated 23 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza; we
(and the U.N.) continue our lack of assistance in resolving civil strife in
the ongoing wars in Cambodia, Central America, and the horn of Africa.
"We are here to critique the permission this driver's license gives us
for the overindulgent meaning we ascribe to the automobile: independence,
individualism, convenience, hasty living and mobility, power, arrogance,
ego-tripping, shrewd politics, ecological ruin, and war. We commit to
finding a different way.
"The course and meaning of life without a driver's license await challenging
discovery. It will represent a step of resistance to the White House effect;
that is, I shall seek to maintain a "gas fast" until peace, justice, and
human ecological interdependence are no longer window dressing in high offices
and mere words from forked tongues.
"We are not here, however, to keep dangling in futility. The paradoxical
charm of painful introspection is that it can transform despairing "dominance"
power into power from within - "leaven" power. Biblically, this is under-
stood as the opening up of new historical possibilities when the hour of
crisis is embraced with repentance, the resolve to change. God in an executed
person becomes the paradigm for the search for truth in the weariness of a
bloodied hour.
"Leaven power arises more out of *being* than external success criteria.
It reduces burnout because it yields a larger understanding of peace - one
that has no fixed definition of achievement and no finishing point.
"May God and this loving, weeping planet forgive the momentary pollution
as this driver's license burns.
|
| 172.5 | Prophesy | CSC32::J_CHRISTIE | Centerpeace | Fri Jul 26 1991 16:36 | 22 |
| Woe to the obstinate children,
declares the Lord.
to those who carry out plans
that are not mine.
forming an alliance,
but not by my Spirit
heaping sin upon sin
Isaiah 30:1
They say to the seers,
See no more visions
and to the prophets,
give us more visions of what is right
tell us pleasant things
prophecy illusions
leave this way get off this path
and stop confronting us with the
Holy One of Israel
Isaiah 30:10,11
|
| 172.6 | Acts of faith | CSC32::J_CHRISTIE | Strength through peace | Thu Dec 24 1992 15:23 | 30 |
| I'm incessantly impressed by the acts of faith of two Mennonite
friends of mine, Peter and Mary Sprunger-Froese (See Note 295.4). I'd
like to share some excerpts from a recent letter:
"This was our 2nd year to be part of the city's Festival of Lights
parade, via a bicycle-team-pulled float. The Christmas lights framing the
earth flag got their juice from the pedal-power, too, as did the mics (new
this year) for the singers. [Peter designed and constructed this float,
self-sufficient in producing its electricity - RJC] We sang, 'On the 12th
ray of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 12 solar ovens, 11 organic gardens,
etc. - and renewable energy." Parade-goers received us warmly that cold, cold
night.
"Big bike news for us is that Peter and his friend, Brian, will open
a weekly bike clinic at a big warehouse near the soup kitchen the first
Thursday of the new year. Brian and Peter will keep low and no-income
people on wheels while having a heated space in which to store tools, parts
and frames. Peter's done the clinic for the last 2 years at the Bijou House
(See Note 66.22). Brian looked after the clinic for Peter this Spring while
Peter was in jail for planting the earth flag and trees at Falcon Air Base.
"Mary's First Strike Theatre troupe performed its 3rd musical revue
in 3 years -- "America the Booty-ful: Columbus Chronicles of Chronic Ills."
(See Note 5.34) The chronic ills of Empire and disregard for indigenous
cultures keep festering as the U.S. exploits Iraq, South American rainforests,
Shoshone land - where nuclear bombs are tested. It seems Uncle Sam can't kick
the Empire addiction with a new president -- it'll take a new precedent, at the
very least."
Peter Paul & Mary
|