Catharsis: A Spiritual, Emotional, and Biblical Journey Out of the Tensions of Religion

By Garrett H. Jones

Most of us in Western Christianity have built up strong emotional tensions regarding faith and the way we relate with the God of the Bible. We must ask ourselves, how did we get into this mess? How did certain Greek ideas become so pervasive that they became each of our starting definition of the word God? How do we move past these misconceptions of the Divine so we can see God as he is? That is the purpose of this book.

We may have been swept off our feet by him in love, but over time and after much Bible teaching and exposure to certain mindsets, we ended up believing that this God should be feared. Or that He's unknowable and unpredictable. And that He saved us, not because we're lovable, but because we're damnable.


Atheists believe that any being who is powerful enough to stop evil and good enough to want to, yet doesn't, must be questioned. What if they're right? What if that god doesn't exist? And the infinitely more interesting question is: What is the real God actually like? Is there another way of interpreting the pre-deterministic, all-controlling portrayals of God that our religious heritage may have handed us? Is there another way of interpreting the Bible itself that's even more biblical? I believe there is. 

What does catharsis mean? Great question. You may have heard someone describe an activity or an experience as "cathartic." People use the word to mean something was deeply relaxing. The technical definition of catharsis means "release of tension." A strong feeling of emotional release is the goal of most novelists and screenwriters. Stories take us through tension, betrayal, confusion, suspense, misunderstanding, and delay. But when catharsis happens, and tensions resolve, the viewer, listener, or reader has a real experience of satisfaction. Like a good cry after an episode of This is Us or Call the Midwife, we come away feeling good. 


Experiencing Goodness, the way stories help us do, has a profound effect on us emotionally. And, so it is with God and the incredible story we are all a part of. We have lived with tensions in our understanding of God for too long. Catharsis is long overdue. The Bible is full of mysteries, as is every healthy relationship, but we must reject tensions that are actually contradictions—especially tensions that distort or malign the character of God. But, as we will discover in this book, despite all of the confusion religious tensions have perpetrated, goodness shall prevail. Catharsis is coming!


This book has one goal—to release the tensions religion has sown into the way we read the Bible and relate with God. Along the way, we will visit topics like Predestination, Determinism, God's Goodness and his Relatability. We will identify the source texts from the Bible and re-narrate them with deeper, contextual understanding. We will visit certain attributes of God as seen in Jesus, and then end by talking about story—because only story unlocks catharsis.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Garrett H. Jones
• Release date: Dec 15, 2018
• ISBN: 9780998657127

Book preview

Preface

My heart says of you, ‘seek his face.’ Your face, Lord, I will seek. —Psalm 27:8

---

The world is in the middle of the biggest revival in history. Old mindsets that were born out of the belief that God was distant and removed from us are being discarded. More people believe that God is good—full stop—than ever before. There is more confidence in God’s acceptance and less pressure to perform for significance. There is less fear regarding God’s posture, more freedom from religious pressure and more confidence in prayer. When we pray, we expect him to show up now—not later—and do something incredible in our midst. We now talk about God as though he is right here in the room and not somewhere else busy with more important matters. We are responding to the cry in our hearts to seek his face. And God is showing it to us. It isn’t stern or stoic like religion may have shown us. Rather, it is eyebrows raised, open smile, full of joy. Just like Jesus.

This awakening is the greatest thing happening in the world today and it brings much gladness to the heart of our Father. I know that when my children so much as look at me, my heart melts. As we return our primary focus back to God-in-the-room, he leaps for joy! If you haven’t witnessed or experienced this awakening, yet, then this book is for you. But don’t be mistaken—I didn’t write this book for you. I wrote it for me. I had to process my journey out of the dryness of religion into the gladness of relationship with God conceptually and reconcile it with my high value for sound biblical doctrine. By doing so, I have created a clear, theological pathway to find catharsis—release from the tensions of religion. Without intending to, I ended up writing a book for all of us. I hope it provides more language for his beautiful bride to see him better and love him more freely.

Introduction

I was 18. And weeks after becoming a Christian, I was invited to go camping with some of my new church friends. We laid on our sleeping bags under a clear August night sky. We counted shooting stars and talked about God, faith and girls. There’s twelve! Did you see it? Tim said, pointing to the sky. Seconds later, I spotted the next, Whoa, thirteen! Then, Tim launched a different sort of fiery meteorite into my atmosphere. My youth-camp friend of three weeks told me I should be thankful that I was chosen to be saved. What do you mean? I asked innocently. He said, The Bible teaches that God chooses who goes to Heaven. Shooting star number fourteen passed over without commentary. My heart felt heavy. My stomach reeled as if someone had just punched me in the gut. It was the first time I had heard the word, predestined. I rolled up on one elbow out of my sleeping bag. That can’t be. God’s not like that. At that point in my journey, however, all I knew of the Bible was John 3:16. We went back to counting shooting stars, but I couldn’t shake off the terrible accusation against the good God I had discovered only weeks before.

Most of us in Western Christianity have built up strong emotional tensions regarding faith and the way we relate with the God of the Bible. We may have been swept off our feet by him in love, but over time and after much Bible teaching and exposure to certain mindsets, we ended up believing that this God should be feared. Or that He’s unknowable and unpredictable. And that He saved us, not because we’re lovable, but because we’re damnable.

Atheists believe that any being who is powerful enough to stop evil and good enough to want to, yet doesn’t, must be questioned. What if they’re right? What if that god doesn’t exist? And the infinitely more interesting question is: What is the real God actually like? Is there another way of interpreting the pre-deterministic, all-controlling portrayals of God that our religious heritage may have handed us? Is there another way of interpreting the Bible itself that’s even more biblical? I believe there is.

The question I get asked most is, "What does catharsis mean? Great question. You may have heard someone describe an activity or an experience as cathartic. People use the word to mean something was deeply relaxing. The technical definition of catharsis means release of tension." A strong feeling of emotional release is the goal of most novelists and screenwriters. Stories take us through tension, betrayal, confusion, suspense, misunderstanding, and delay. But when catharsis happens, and tensions resolve, the viewer, listener, or reader has a real experience of satisfaction. Like a good cry after an episode of This is Us or Call the Midwife, we come away feeling good.

Experiencing Goodness, the way stories help us do, has a profound effect on us emotionally. And, so it is with God and the incredible story we are all a part of. We have lived with tensions in our understanding of God for too long. Catharsis is long overdue. The Bible is full of mysteries, as is every healthy relationship, but we must reject tensions that are actually contradictions—especially tensions that distort or malign the character of God. But, as we will discover in this book, despite all of the confusion religious tensions have perpetrated, goodness shall prevail. Catharsis is coming!

This book has one goal—to release the tensions religion has sown into the way we read the Bible and relate with God. Along the way, we will visit topics like Predestination, Determinism, God’s Goodness and his Relatability. We will identify the source texts from the Bible and re-narrate them with deeper, contextual understanding. We will visit certain attributes of God as seen in Jesus, and then end by talking about story—because only story unlocks catharsis.

I have used a subway train journey as a narrative thread throughout the book. I hope it is helpful. This book will bring freedom and joy to you. I’m excited for you to begin the journey. But before you do, I want to give a disclaimer:

While I do address certain systematic theologies by name, such as Calvinism, I do not have issue with any person who holds to these philosophies or models for Biblical interpretation. I love all of my brothers and sisters in Christ with deep affection. We are family. We are one body. It is my goal to build unity in the body through more discussion on these issues. Together we press forward to more accurately express our union with God in Christ with the love and language he provides.

So, before we jump into challenging some of our traditional ways of thinking about these things, I think it would be good to affirm our common ground: We believe in an eternal, self-sufficient God, forever living in perfect community as the trinity. We believe the universe was created by him ex nihilo, out of nothing. We believe the Bible is divinely inspired and communicates the historical narrative of reconciliation of all things to all things—God to people, people to one another and people to themselves. That narrative culminates in God the Son becoming a common man—a servant—to finally and perfectly show (through word and deed) what God is actually like. That example—God himself as Jesus—continues to challenge our notions of power, authority, greatness, leadership and divinity (i.e. everything we assume when we think of the word God). We believe Jesus came in the flesh, was executed on a real Roman cross, died physically, and was physically raised from the dead three days later and is now Lord and King.

With that as our starting point, let’s begin.

Quick, we have a train to catch.

1

A nod to John Calvin

We’re going somewhere. The subway train is about to depart. Underground, it’s hard to discern direction, but you give yourself the quick challenge of trying to figure out which direction the train is about to lurch. You visualize from where you just came, but in reverse: Escalator, ticketing lobby, hallway–don’t forget that 45 degree turn in the hallway–or was it 90? …stairs, sidewalk, street… Ok! You’ve got your bearings! We’re going that way! Suddenly, the train lurches in the opposite direction. What? You must have missed something in your mental map.

You scan your surroundings for a map and find a simplified sketch of the subway lines on the other side of the train. The solid-colored, clearly-defined, over-simplified straight lines are easy to digest. There are no twists or turns or subtleties on a subway map. They’re not meant to be the full picture. You can’t take it above ground and find your way around the city. It is meant to give you a general sense of placement and direction, relative to other stops on the line. This brief introduction is like that: the first dot on Line 1 of this Theological Metro.

The Hammer Heard Round the World

It has been 500 years since Martin Luther’s hammer sparked a theological revolution with the nailing of his 95 theses to the door of the Wittenberg church. On the heels of Luther’s famous stand, others also found courage to stand against corruption in the church. Thus, began the Protestant Reformation. The man most credited, though, with providing the language, articulation, doctrines, and dogmas of this reformation was John Calvin. Calvin was a lawyer by training who later became clergy. In 1536, with his prodigious genius, Calvin organized centuries of theological thought into his famous work: Institutes of the Christian Religion.

Many rightfully claim that Calvin’s masterpiece may be one of the most influential pieces of religious literature ever written. It has had enormous influence on the development of Western Civilization. And it has defined many of the core doctrinal positions of the Christian religion for nearly all Protestant denominations. Whether we are aware of it or not, Calvin’s views have had incredible influence on the way we view God—his intentions, character and role in the world.

But Calvinism did not start with John Calvin. We must go backward. Past Augustine (4th century C.E.), who first formalized many of the doctrines of Calvinism. And past Plotinus—follower of Plato—who was Augustine’s early mentor. All the way back to the roots of the Greek philosophers. Like Alexander with territories, the Greeks were possessed with a drive to conquer all realms of thought by the power of their minds and the reach of their words.

It was the peak of the adolescent years of human intellectual development. The landscape was replete with over-articulate know-it-alls. Watching a debate was akin to a modern-day boxing match. Love was not the centering moral of civilization, rather it was logic and truth. The high ideal of Greek philosophy was perfection. Education was the means to all progress and more knowledge was the never-satiated hunger of the male-dominated society.

Like my own natural impulse to glorify my teens and return to the certainty and confidence I had then, there are those who claim that that period of history was when humans were at their intellectual sharpest. I agree—so sharp that it sharpened their swords for them. And slaughtered countless people who were not as thirsty for their knowledge. Not sure about that? Remember Alexander the Great? He was a student of Aristotle. Brilliant minds that are convinced of the rightness of their thinking never lead to peace, but war.

The Greeks claimed the end of all logic hung on a necessary fixed point, which they called ground of being, a point that by definition was unchanging and perfect. And because of a particular bias against material reality and a veneration of the spiritual, they deduced that God must be that unchanging, spiritual, fixed point of perfection. God became the ground of being for all existence, all philosophy, and all pursuit of truth. Any speculations or statements of the Divine were subject to three pillars of Greek presuppositions—Immutability, Impassibility, and Timelessness.

According to Immutability, for God to be perfect, they say, he must be incapable of any kind of change, compositionally, mentally, or otherwise. For if he could change in any regard, improving or deteriorating, it would prove that he was not perfect to begin with. This means that God cannot change his mind, even if he wanted to…which leads us to the next point about God wanting stuff.

Impassibility. This does not mean, as it sounds, that you can’t overtake God on the highway because God annoyingly drives the speed limit. No, impassible is a fancy word that means, incapable of emotion. God, according to this idea, can’t have emotion. If he did, it would undermine the previous assumption that he can’t change (i.e., if he was in a mood that he wasn’t in two seconds ago, it implies change of state). Somehow, though, wrath (or anger) sneaks its way in with this trojan horse. But we will talk about that more in chapter 6. So, in the Greek concept of God, he can’t get happy, sad, frustrated, annoyed, delighted, or pleased about anything. Starting to sound suspect?

Timelessness. Apparently for God, nothing is starting to do anything. He’s outside of time and therefore sees it all from start to finish. He is watching, at the same moment, everything that’s ever happened or ever will happen, endlessly, on repeat. We’re led to believe that for God, all of history is just a blip on a screen. Really? There’s no movement? No progression? No story unfolding?

And if any of this sounds unbiblical—not the way we see it play out in the Bible—then we must ask ourselves, how did we get into this mess? How did these Greek ideas become so pervasive that they became each of our starting definition of the word God? How do we move past these misconceptions of the Divine so we can see God as he is? That is the purpose of this book.

Our theological train has begun to move. You feel the acceleration and grab a bar to keep from falling over. Scanning the map on the wall, you get a sense of where the train has come from and where it’s going. As your eyes move around the train, you begin to inspect the construction. Must be German-built, you speculate. You peer out the window at the tunnel wall, the tracks, and the lighting. Another passenger sees you admiring the furniture and hands you a book, and in a heavy German accent says, These are the engineering blueprints we used for digging the tunnels, laying the tracks and building the trains. You smile and take the manual and flip through the detailed drawings. You read the first page titled, Operating Principles. It helps you to see that the rules used in the construction appear to be reasonable and agreeable. Please review these operating principles below. They will be the guidelines and assumptions we begin with for this journey into Scripture.

---

1. Context is King. We don't allow one-liners to define whole systems of theology if they do not agree with the thrust of the context in which they are found or with the whole message of Scripture. Before we ask what a verse means for us, we should always first ask, What did this passage mean to the original reader in its historical context?

2. God is Sovereign. Your state or national governor does not rule in a way to control every detail of their citizens’ lives. That would be called despotism. I would like to reclaim the original meaning of the word sovereignty as jurisdiction of authority to govern. It does not mean micro-managing determination of every event.

3. God Makes Plans. Of course, he does. So, do we. Scripture shows that, just like ours, his plans are not final and can change.

4. God is Involved. He did not write the script at the beginning, press play and sit back to watch it all unfold. He is actively engaged in the world at this very moment, namely through partnership with people, to bring about his purposes.

5. God Influences People. He does not override people’s thoughts with Jedi mind-tricks. He always uses agents, persuasion, and/or other means to influence and direct people—never violating their will in the matter.

6. Jesus is the clearest, fullest representation of God we have in the Bible. This is not an assumption. This is what the Bible explicitly says. Hebrews 1:3, The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being…

Chapter 1 Discussion Questions

---

1) In this introduction, what was the most surprising thing you learned?

---

2) Were you aware of Greek philosophy’s foundational assumptions of the nature of God (Immutable, Impassible, Timeless)?

---

3) Do you agree or disagree with any of these ideas? Why?

---

4) Was there anything difficult to accept? Why?

2

Understanding the New Testament

While you are waiting to get to your first stop it might be helpful to get the context of the city you are going to. What’s the story of the place? Who are the movers and shakers? You scan section A of the newspaper folded up next to a passenger who is engrossed in the sports section. The man notices your interest. Want to borrow it? he says knowing your answer. You smile, pick it up and begin perusing the articles. You get a feel for the place. It seems this city is undergoing major cultural, societal, political and religious transition. In fact, more than any other place in history. The subway train pulls to a stop. The hydraulics decompress with a hiss, and the doors slide open. Welcome to first century Jerusalem. Mind the gap.

Riot at the Temple

As you scan the newspaper, the title of the front-page article catches you: Evasive Teacher of the Way Finally Behind Bars. You read on.

Last night, Roman soldiers broke up a mob in the temple—the largest mob since Jewish residents demanded the crucifixion of the rebel Jesus of Nazareth nearly twenty-five years ago. It is unclear how the riot started, but according to bystanders, the heretic Saul of Tarsus (who also goes by the name Paul) arrived at the Temple last night in disguise. He was all head-shaved and dressed in robes, said one of the first pilgrims to recognize him as the infamous teacher of the Way. And he had this big belt around his waist. I knew it was him, because I sold him the belt—you don’t forget a face like that one. I wasn’t trying to get him in trouble or anything. I just said to my friend Yuri, ‘Look, ain’t that the Paul who’s teaching everybody that following that Jesus fellow means you don’t have to follow Moses? What’s he doing here in the Temple? Has he come back around?’ Then Yuri started telling everyone around us, and before you knew it a crowd surrounded the guy. And then it got ugly."

What happened next is unclear, but according to the Roman commander who broke up the swarm, he came just in time to save Paul from being beaten to death. I didn’t think he’d be able to stand, said the commander, much less able to speak. But then he asked to address the crowd who had just tried to kill him. Our men had the people and place secured, so I thought what harm could be done? Let the man speak. We may be amused.

Then, the battered and bruised teacher of this new sect stood before the crowd of God-honoring Jews and spoke to them in Aramaic. According to eyewitness accounts, he shared his Jesus-cult conversion and then added, The Lord said to me, 'Go! I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they shouted, Away with this man! He's not fit to live! They screamed, threw off their garments, and flung dust into the air. "The reaction from the crowd at this statement was so violent, the Roman commander said, I had to take Paul away in the safety of custody."

Much of this account I quote directly from Acts chapter 22. It is true to the events of that evening. The vitriol of the crowd is recorded in the Bible because it highlights the backdrop of Paul's unique calling as the apostle to the Gentiles.

If the New Testament were a table, the Church has given Paul the biggest seat at it. Not just the biggest seat, but half of the table. That is why out of 27 books of the New Testament, thirteen are Paul’s. And if you credit him with the book of Hebrews, it’s fourteen. But since scholars disagree, we’ll give him half a point on that one. Which makes exactly half of the Jesus-part of the Bible.

Setting aside Paul’s massive contribution to the New Testament, he was also one of the main characters of the book of Acts. It would serve us well to get into Paul’s shoes: What was the heart of the message he was trying to convey? What did Paul lecture about in public spaces? What did he try to persuade the Jews of when he spoke in synagogues? What made the Jews furiously angry at his teaching?

Most Jews believed that they were the chosen, the elect, the children of God—and that the Gentiles were enemies of God. Paul’s life message was that the Gentiles are afforded salvation through God's grace. To say to a first century Jew (which Paul did) that because of Jesus there was now no difference between Jew and Gentile, was not only culturally offensive, it was blasphemous.

According to Paul, the Gentiles were chosen, too. They were favored. They were loved all along. And the Jews of his day were missing what the Gentiles were getting, namely God himself. You can imagine how this news would cause the Jews to get furiously angry: What do you mean? Those who have been abusing, plundering and unjustly ruling over us—our enemies—are God's chosen? Never! God’s inclusive love for outsiders (the uncircumcised, the nations who had historically been their enemies, etc.) is the heartbeat of Paul’s writings in the New Testament. But what made the Jews seethe with anger the most was this scandalous teaching from Paul: The Gentiles can get it (salvation) without Moses (i.e., without the law). In fact, Moses (and the law) have fulfilled their role and need to be buried with the past.

Jesus turned the world upside down. If you were a first century Jew, political liberation was number one on your list of wishes—to return to the splendor of the Davidic kingdom—to be the head and not the tail. But, political liberation for Israel was not on God's agenda; spiritual liberation for all people was. It was a return to the Davidic kingdom, but not in a way any Jew expected. That the Gentiles could come into this kingdom in droves, which belonged to the Jews’ by rights, was the stumbling stone—the rock of offense—that tripped up many first-century Jews from entering in. The Gentiles, through faith in Jesus, qualified for the promises that were originally given to the Jews. The wall of separation had been torn down through the body of Christ. This revelation alone captured the heart of Paul. It caused him to wonder and to be in awe at the love of God more than anything else. If you re-read all of Paul, you will begin to see this as the backdrop