You never know what will happen when you hang out in Au Bon Pain around midnight.

Last week, I was reading Karen King’s What is Gnosticism?, specifically a chapter problemetizing the way we look at historic heresy discourse in early Christianity (FUN STUFF!).  At around 11:20 PM, a young Asian fellow (early 20s?) and a similarly aged Hispanic girl approach me to ask if I want to take a survey.

“How long is it?” I asked. He said only a minute, and it was about the Bible. My interests were piqued.

The guy sat down and asked me if I had ever heard of “God the Mother” in the Bible. I mentioned that I was familiar with the idea of Wisdom being a female character in the Hebrew Bible, among other things. He was surprised, and I let him know where I go to school and for what purpose, bringing forth even more surprise. He then proceeded to open his Bible to Revelation 22:17 => “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’”

It should be noted that I had just written a 20 page paper dealing specifically with the bridal imagery in Revelation. I would later learn that these two people are part of what’s known as the World Mission Society Church of God. They believe that Jesus came back as a Korean man who died in the late 80s, and his “wife” now lives as “God the Mother,” the female portion/representation of God. They’re sort of like the Korean version of Mormonism (that’s probably not a very fair comparison, but oh well). Here I was, reading a book problemetizing my conceptions of heresy, and a kid from a “cult” (or whathaveyou) starts asking me questions about the exact scripture verses I had just spent months pouring over...he most certainly had my attention.

After showing me this verse as a proof text for the existence of a Female part of the God of the Bible, we then together bounced around the entirety of scripture as he tried to answer every objection/question I raised. This went on for about 40 minutes. At the end of our conversation, he invited me to a Bible study they were having the next day and we exchanged phone numbers. After some phone tag the next day, we didn’t reconnect…and after much prayer and reflection I thought it perhaps best to leave this be for now. I will say this, some may say I’m naïve for thinking so, but I simply can’t find blind coincidence in the overall situation that happened. This event, only lasting 40 minutes, has had a pretty serious and positive impact on my faith…I don’t know much more than that right now.

Anywho, flash forward to tonight. I’m once again sitting in Au Bon Pain reading and a man walks by. Being my usual friendly Midwest self, I look up and smile as he passes. This causes him to stop and begin a pretty lengthy conversation with me. His name turns out to be Alan, and he’s a struggling real estate salesman. He grew up Jewish, but is now a Christian considering a conversion to Catholicism. He asked me lots of questions about me, where I’m from, school, my thoughts on religion, etc. He is a very genuinely nice guy, I gather that he has some social issues (among other problems I’m sure), but I must say I enjoyed our conversation.

Turns out he and his wife are regulars there with the late night crowd, which includes a number of chess players and homeless people. He introduced me to one of his friends there, an old man with a thick accent named Boris. Boris told me, and I quote, that he is “from Russia, with love.” Alan gave me his business card, and I may email him just to say hi someday soon…who knows, maybe it will make a difference.

There’s not a whole lot of point to this. I’ve just been having some interesting experiences late at night at the Harvard Square Au Bon Pain. I figured I’d share…especially since someone told me that my last post was too “negative” or “emo” or whatever. Heh, just kidding.

I hope you are all doing wonderfully, take care.

Holy crap, I’m a featured blogger…I don’t even know how to respond to that. I’ll just say thank you very much to all of you who read and commented on my previous post. I loved reading the comments. It was a unique way to feel connected to the larger community of humanity that I so rarely encounter.

Now, onto regular posting. I don’t believe I’ve properly reflected on my experience of moving to Boston 5 months ago…and I especially haven’t shared such reflections with you. So, here goes a little something…

Boston is:

Windy. I’ve never seen so many broken umbrellas in my entire life. Talking on the phone outside can be nigh impossible.

Unique. Practically every shop on every street corner is a new place with new experiences inside. I absolutely love how every single square is filled with stores and restaurants you simply cannot experience anywhere else in the world.

Diverse. I live in a suburb of Boston called Somerville, and it is known for having a high immigrant population. My neighborhood in particular is inhabited by many people of Brazilian descent. This is just one neighborhood of dozens that represent numerous global communities from across the globe. This is an altogether new experience for me.

Historic. There is a monument two blocks from my apartment that commemorates the location where the first ever-American Flag was raised by order of General George Washington during the Revolutionary War. I think that says enough.

Noisy. I honestly don’t know what Bostonian drivers would do without their car horns. While people in other parts of the country (namely, my native Midwest) communicate with their horns, there it is often just a way of saying hi. Here, people use their horns to display anger, frustration, and utter hatred. Though now that I think about it, I have seen some scruffy looking guys honk and whistle at lone females walking on the sidewalk…

Confusing. One thing that no doubt contributes to the incessant honking is the absurd layout of Boston’s streets. There’s really no sense to it. Streets twist and curve, change names, share names with other streets, they are inappropriately one way, and they are often poorly kept. This city has made me a pedestrian, and I really have no qualms about it.

Transportative. While that isn’t a word, I still like it. Contributing to my pedestrian ways has been the great public transportation system here in Boston. I love it, I really do…and for many reasons I wish more cities could have such great public transportation.

Sporty. Holy Crap, I don’t know if one single city has ever had a better sports year. The Red Sox, the Patriots, Boston College for a time, and now the Celtics…they’re all dominating their particular sports. It’s kind of rough though, since I loath the Red Sox, I’m conflicted on the Pats, my college loyalties lie in the Big 12, and I don’t care much for pro-Basketball.

Lonely. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve developed a tremendous group of friends here…but if it wasn’t for school I would have a truly terrible time. With me being a small town Missouri kid, the “big city” life can be quite alienating. There is something profoundly lonely about walking through endless crowds of people and never seeing a familiar/friendly face.

Hard. There’s really nothing easy about picking up your life and moving across the country. It’s fun and exciting…but also painful. You often don’t realize what you’re leaving behind, or what you may lose when you get here.

Endless. Ultimately, the possibilities here are endless. I can do and see most anything I can really think of…and then there are all the new experiences I never could have imagined. I really do love it here.

I think that’s all I’ve got for now. Thanks for reading. Piece out.

"I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me."

Romans 7:15-20

This is a quite famous passage from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans. In it, we apparently see that even one of the most important early church leaders admitting to his personal struggles with sin. The passage above has served as a comfort and inspiration to Christians for untold generations. But…what if we are missing what Paul is actually doing here?

One of the problems with quoting from Romans is that Paul is, from the first verses, building a large overarching argument. Paul is trying to convince his readers/listeners of his theological viewpoint, and in so doing, every new section of text in Romans is building upon what came before. As hard as it is to do, it is a letter that is best read as a whole, rather than in parts. So, what exactly did come before?

Back in chapter 5, Paul sets up a duality. For Paul, it is Adam vs. Jesus Christ. Adam brought sin and death into the world, Jesus defeated sin and death through his death and resurrection. Adam brought condemnation into the world, Jesus brought grace. Before Jesus the dominion of death ruled, but now we live in the dominion of justification and eternal life (Romans 5:12-21).

Paul sets up this duality and gives us two paths we can follow: that of Adam, or that of Jesus. We can choose the path of sin and death, or we can choose the path of grace and life. Paul speaks to his readers who once followed Adam, but now follow Christ: “For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification” (Romans 6:19).

Also important to this discussion is Paul’s views on the law vs. faith. Back in chapter 3 is perhaps Paul’s most concise rendering of his (ever changing) view: “But now, irrespective of law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:21-24). Paul’s argument is that the way of life he is proposing, that of faith and grace, is just as valid if not more so than observance of the law…for there is no distinction (There are obviously many more ways to discuss this issue, but they are really beside the point right now).

Now lets jump forward again to Romans 7, where Paul brings back the law into his argumentation just before the passage quoted at the start of this post: “What then should we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died, and the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me” (Romans 7:7-11).

The question that arises in my mind here and in the passage at the beginning: is this really Paul speaking of himself? Is this the same Paul who lists of his impeccable credentials any chance he gets (2 Corinthians 11:16-13:14; Philippians 3:4-6)? Is this the same Paul who said that he was “blameless” with regard to righteousness under the law (Philippians 3:6)? This just does not seem to jive with the Paul found elsewhere throughout scripture.

So, if Paul is not speaking as himself…whom is he speaking as? What clues are there? Let us first look at the single commandment he mentions: “You shall not covet” (Rom. 7:7). For Paul’s contemporaries “desire,” or “covetousness,” was viewed as the root of all evil (James 1:15; 4 Maccabees 2:4-6; Philo, De spec. leg. 4.84-94). In fact, the famous (and very important) Jewish theologian Philo of Alexandria said that it was the source of Adam’s sin (Philo, Leg. All. 3.115). When Adam sinned by disobeying God, he broke the law against coveting, which is inferred from God’s commandment not to eat of the tree (Genesis 3:3).

Furthermore, vs. 9 says that “I was once alive apart from the law.” Who in all of creation has existed apart from any law? I would say Adam is a strong candidate. Then Paul says that once he sinned, “I died, and the very commandment that promised life proved to be death” (vs. 10). This correlates with how God said Adam and Eve would die if they broke his law and ate of the tree (Genesis 3:3).

The final bit that clinches it for me is in the end where Paul says, “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (vs. 24-25). The person speaking contrasts directly with Jesus, just as Paul had done with Adam and Christ earlier in chapters 5-6. Paul is not speaking of his view of Christian existence, for those baptized in Christ are “no longer slaves to sin” (Rom. 6:6). Rather, it seems that he is not describing his own personal struggles, but illustrating the contrast between a person living under the rule of Adam rather than the rule of Christ.

So, I get to this point to ask the question that is really on my mind. I have problems with the interpretation of Romans 7 that sees Paul as struggling with sin, it just doesn’t seem to work in the overall picture. However, that interpretation has been indescribably helpful to a great many people, or at least I assume it has…perhaps it has not. My question is though, if incorrect interpretation is helpful…is that ok? Furthermore, should I disagree with someone’s interpretation if it is beneficial to them? Obviously, in many cases a good deal of scripture can be interpreted in a variety of ways (and should be!). Yet in cases like this, I’d say it’s quite evident that there is more going on than the traditional interpretation accounts for. There is a dilemma here, and I do not know exactly where I should land. This issue came up in a conversation Natalie and I had last night, and I am quite uncertain how to deal with the whole thing. Perhaps my readers may be of some help?