Challenge to the Church: A Path to Truth in the Face of Modern Knowledge

By Marvin E. Bryce

The Christian Church has taken Jesus and converted him from a man to a mythical Christ. The result has been ignorance and intolerance. The real message of Jesus was human-centered; one of compassion, love, humility and tolerance. Incredibly, anyone who supports these ideals today remains on the fringe of the Christian faith.

We can choose to follow the advice of Jesus and his early followers; to find fulfillment by striving to make this world, our lives and the lives of others, what we want them to be. We need to liberate Jesus, and therefore ourselves, so that we can assume more responsibility for each other. No matter how we eventually choose to frame it, it all begins with a human connection.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 21, 2005
• ISBN: 9781452072081

Marvin E. Bryce

One of seven children born to a sharecropper in depression-era Oklahoma, Marvin Bryce earned a BS from Oklahoma State University through great effort and determination.  He eventually attended Wartburg Theological Seminary and earned his MA and Ph. D. from The University of Iowa where he taught Social Work.  He founded and directed The National Resource Center for Services to Families in Iowa City.  He has since taught at various Colleges and Universities and has done Clinical work in the area of mental health and family therapy both in office and in homes of client families.  He has edited books, developed training manuals, authored articles for professional journals, contributed chapters to books, published poetry, and conducted seminars for human services personnel throughout the nation.

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© 2005 Marvin E. Bryce. All Rights Reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 06/14/05

ISBN: 1-4208-3303-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4520-7208-1 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

Bloomington, Indiana

Contents

1

FRAMEWORK FOR PROCEEDING

2

SCIENCE AND RELIGION

3

CHANGING TIMES CHANGE GOD

4

ERRORS, CONTRADICTIONS, AND JUDGMENT

5

THE BRAIN, CULTURE, AND BEHAVIOR

6

DEPENDENCE ON MYTH

7

OTHER RELIGIONS AND CHRISTIANITY

8

THEISM AND MORALITY

9

MORE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

10

CHRISTIANITY, FRIENDSHIP, AND LOVE

11

LIBERATING THOUGHT: BEYOND CHRISTIANIANITY

REFERENCES CONSULTED

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

To my grandchildren, who have brought great joy to my life, and whose love for the excitement and adventure of exploring never seems to end. May you find more grace in the search for meaning than in absolute certainty, in the questions than in the answers. I wish you a universe without demons and with much light.

I am indebted to those scholars, historians, and researchers referenced in this book. The author pays special tribute to The Right Reverend Bishop John S. Spong, Nobel Prize Winning Physicist Carl Sagan, and members of the Westar Institute and the Progressive Christianity movement. Their works and courage have given me inspiration.

The incarnation idea and the Trinitarian idea were not fully developed until the fourth and fifth Centuries. Such claims were not in the original proclamations of the gospel, according to scholars. The messiah concept developed in Jewish history - - a title originally given to the king and later a myth of an idealized future leader to someday introduce the Kingdom of God

…the idea that Jesus founded the church, ordained and empowered the twelve, and intended for certain institutional forms to journey through history is historical nonsense. The Lord’s prayer embodies a definition of Jesus that did not develop until well after his death.

John Shelby Spong

As every past generation has had to disenthrall itself from an inheritance of truisms and stereotypes, so in our time we must move on from reassuring repetition of stale phrases to a new, difficult but essential confrontation with reality. for the great enemy of truth is very often not the lie – but the myth, persistent persuasive, and unrealistic.

Too often we hold fast to the clichés of our forebears, we subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without discomfort of thought.

John F. Kennedy

Commencement Address

Yale University

June 11, 1962

The huge growth of our science and technology now seems to keep God firmly–or even permanently– deferred. Supernatural belief lingers because it has social prestige for historical reasons, but it is now finge as far as the serious business of life is concerned. Even the people who profress most loudly that they hold their supernatural beliefs in a literal or realistic sense do not in practice behave as if they take their own beliefs seriously. So, if we know that supernatural belief is out of date and intellectually in poor shape, why are we so reluctant to let go of it? The answer is surely that by clinging to the remains of old beliefs we can postpone dealing with the crisis that overtakes us when they are finally lost.

Don Cupitt in After God

I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls

Job 30:29

Ubi dubium Ibi libertas

Where there is doubt, there is freedom

Latin Proverb

1

FRAMEWORK FOR PROCEEDING

It is tempting to title this book Organized Religion and the Politics of Survival, first because religion consists of an organized belief system identified by label (Christian, Jewish, Islam, etc.) and it is difficult to address only one segment; secondly because these belief systems sometimes merge, and finally because religions adhere to ancient traditions and beliefs no longer applicable. Christianity is the primary concern of the author because it is more prominent in the United States and may be more amenable to mutation if, in fact, the Christian God has a future.

The content of this book represents some of what I have gleaned from scholars, researchers, historians, physicists, scientists, the Bible, and what I have discovered in the course of having lived three-fourths of a century. I know that I fail to give credit to all whose work has impacted my thought.

The initial motivation for beginning the recording of these lines was provided by two Sunday sermons on morality and behavior, given in Lakeville, Minnesota, in 1999. I could not accept the young Lutheran minister’s contentions. I was not successful in my attempts to engage him in dialogue. I agree with those who submit that there is no significant consistent moral component to the universe, in terms of time, and that morality as we know it was introduced by the recently evolved human species, prior to which, for millions of years, the universe was governed by the natural course of environmental events. Altruism, and perhaps the pursuit of a religiosity, consciously and unconsciously, is genetic in nature. Humans have introduced related interventions, some of which challenge the life-force of natural history. We tend to ignore the natural course of interactional systems. By doing so, some scientists suggest that, in the final analysis, we may be relegated to the role of observer.

People do not go to church to learn, and the clergy are not there to teach. Before religion can work, reason and rationality must be suspended. This certainly suggests that humans believe, or at least feel that they must have a religion. People still struggle with the problem of faith and knowledge, i.e. instinct versus reason. Humans have both. Science seems to force educated people to rely more on knowledge and reason; yet instinct (what Christians call faith and others call herd instinct) remains, and permeates Christianity.

I have associated with and listened to many Biblical scholars, theologians, world- renowned scientists, historians, fundamentalists, atheists, conservatives and evangelicals. Few people seem to care how the Bible came into existence, which parts are historical, and which parts are based on fiction and myth. I have come to accept the views that are based on the preponderance of evidence discovered by modern scholars. It seems to me that thinking people cannot be rationally comfortable with creeds, doctrine, stories, and reports that defy physical and biological laws. These characterize all world religions.

Modern Biblical scholars document the extent of legend, fiction, and myth in the Bible. The tragic practice of misleading the people who still occupy the pews (many informed people have left) is beyond comprehension and difficult to forgive. As Reverend Jack Good says in his book, The Dishonest Church (2003), The lying must stop in all Christian congregations. Surly this is true if Christianity is to survive. Progressive Christians maintain that religious literacy has reached a new low in spite of our scholarship and the remarkable advances in research and publication our academic disciplines have made. The President of the Westar Institute and founder of the Jesus Seminar states that, It is not an act of faith to take the Bible at face value, it is a betrayal, a violation of trust scripture bestows on its custodians, and that The churches have ceased to be part of the solution to religious illiteracy. This may lead to its demise.

Ryder, board member of The Center for Progressive Christianity, points to the necessity to find a way to integrate science and religion. To do so would require a new and accepted vision of God and in our ability to see creation as an evolving natural process, rather than an accomplished fact. It may not be possible to achieve integration because science utilizes a different method for discovery, which is ongoing, while Christianity, even today, assumes the Bible provides permanent answers to everything — yesterday, today, and forever. No institution can guarantee truth. Some seek ways to preserve Christianity and a relevant faith is sought in a sense of connection we offer one another. Others question whether Christianity, as such, should be preserved. We see no serious effort to resolve religious differences. With the advent of modern weapons this is likely to lead to continued religious wars, if not the utter destruction of the civilized world. The traditional church stresses a fictional destination and a mythical path to get there. We cannot afford to suspend reason in favor of religious beliefs. Religion neglects to adequately address reality, and where the people are in the present. Faith and reason clash. If there is a Kingdom of God it is within us, around us, here, now. If the church knows this, why does it not have greater impact on what it teaches?

Churched people generally are talked at and most in attendance seem content with that. Are they really, or is it that they simply do not know about the alternatives. Adolph Hitler commented on these phenomena when he wrote, What good fortune for those in power that people do not think. Opportunity for interaction at many institutionalized churches is limited to one’s age group, to narrowly focused reading and literal acceptance of Bible stories, or praying to a supernatural being who is asked to rescue or forgive or in some way assume responsibility for everything. Opportunity for free and open inquiry, without preordained assumptions, is generally considered inappropriate. As a seminary student I questioned the validity of a phrase routinely used from the pulpit. I was told this was not appropriate because it’s in the Bible.

Bertrand Russell, great theologian and philosopher, observed, Many people would sooner die than think. In fact, they do. One progressive clergyman notes that in adult Bible classes, the biblical ignorance of the ages rises up to haunt us, for scholarship challenges the pious and the simple faith of those who do not want to be bothered by the disturbing truth. Meantime, many sincere people struggle to integrate what they know, with what they are encouraged by the church to believe. This has become difficult, given what has been discovered since the Bible was written, unless one finds a way to sacrifice common sense. Any sense of honesty requires many to close their minds to much of what they hear on Sunday mornings.

In the first half of the 20th Century, Christians became fearful of Charles Darwin, and what scholars, historians, physicists, biologists and archeologists were learning about our world. In defense of religious tradition, literalists developed what came to be known as The Fundamentals (Taken from Lawrence Meredith, Life Before Death, p. 31.). These were:

1. The inspiration of scripture as the literal, revealed word of God.

2. The virgin birth as the miraculous and literal means by which the divine nature of Christ has been guaranteed.

3. The atonement as a substitution for us that was accomplished in the death of Jesus.

4. The certainty of the physical bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

5. The accuracy of the empty-tomb and the appearance stories as recorded.

6. The truth of the second coming of Jesus and the reality of the day of judgment, which would be based on the record of one’s life, and the certainty of heaven and hell as eternal places of reward and judgment.

Some churches and a significant number of people still believe these preposterous propositions. The secular public and Progressive Christians find these principles unbelievable and the basis for the fanatical violence perpetrated by fundamentalists. As Burton Mack observes, When the Bible is taken as the final word, thinking and rational discussion stop. One way to explain why we have been so preoccupied with the Bible (an outdated book filled with inconsistencies, distortions, myths, cruel and inhuman teachings, etc.), is the need to deny reality and the wish for eternal life.

The gospels gave rise to Christianity professing love for neighbor, which somehow inspired its followers to drown their neighbors in blood during the crusades. In World War II millions of innocent men, women and children were killed and cities, personalities and psyches destroyed. Today Osama bin Laden considers the Qur’an to be the word of God and kills in his name. In 2000 America empowered a tyrant, George W. Bush, who believes the Bible is the word of God. He continued the tradition of violence with an unprovoked war in Iraq at the cost of thousands of innocent lives, including women and children. Bush disregards international agreements (Kyoto, land mines and small weapons sales) and international institutions (United Nations) and models moral hypocrisy and the wasting of global resources. Based on his re-election in 2004, he is supported by half the people in America, most who claim to be Christian and obviously say we must kill those who disagree with us. What about the teachings of the one they follow?

With the Thirty Year War (1618-48) the Holy Roman Emperor attempted to force Catholic absolution on the populace. The Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists battled in the towns and principalities throughout Germany. Many were killed and eventually the Roman Catholic empire of Europe was abandoned. Given the problems with Christianity, it is amazing that some still cling to the traditional supernatural beliefs. That which keeps congregations alive may be the need for community, a need to be with people who love others, who need each other, want to serve others, cherish the values the man Jesus taught, and who have common concerns about the environment, society, and the world.

In her book, A Battle for God (2000), Karen Armstrong writes: "Fundamentalists have gunned down worshippers in mosques, have killed doctors and nurses who work in abortion clinics, have shot their presidents, and have even toppled a powerful government. …even the most peaceful and law-abiding are perplexing, because they seem so adamantly opposed to many of the most positive values of modern society. Fundamentalists have no time for democracy, pluralism, religious tolerance, peacekeeping, free speech, or separation of church and state. Christian fundamentalists reject the discoveries of biology and physics about the origins of life and insist that the Book of Genesis is scientifically