easterislife's Xanga

I'm outta here

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:23:37 GMT

I have created a new blog with wordpress. I'm going to see if I can't keep up a decent blog for a change. The new link is mattheweaster.wordpress.com. I am going to start by cutting and pasting a few edited versions of what I have posted here and on facebook. I'll see you there!

I'm Embarrassed

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 03:24:03 GMT

So, I am extremely bored and I'm tired of working on my 'ethics' paper. So I did my typical tasks: checked for new podcasts on iTunes, checked espn.com, did the facebook thing, read the news online, checked my email, and so on. I'm still bored, and I'm too lazy to get up from my chair and do something else. So I Googled myself. Arrogant and self-centered? Yes, admittedly. However, I am humbled, and frankly, quite embarrassed with what I found. I typed "Matt Easter," and a ton of stuff came up that didn't relate to me. Fair enough. So I tried, "Matt Easter SBU." What came up made me sad. I remember that I wrote about three articles for the SBU school newspaper, the Omnibus. The topics were given to me, but I am ashamed of what I wrote. Mostly, I am ashamed of my article, "Patriotism calls us to action," where I essentially said something like we have to support the US government's plans to invade Iraq. (I think I did something similar with N. Korea, but I don't remember for sure.) Geez. I'm really sorry. God has really worked in my life in the past few years, and I am now a pacifist who finds such violent Americanistic opinions absolutely horrid. I am so embarrassed. I would provide the link to the forsaken article, but you'll have to find it on your own. :)

This makes me think. Perhaps I should be a little more careful with my words nowadays. I write enough (here, on facebook, or for class), and I need to be more careful. I remember how sure of myself I was in high school and early on in college. I have changed my mind or moderated on so many issues (dispensationalism, inerrancy, patriotism, just to name a few), so what makes me so sure that I have the answers now? I need to be a more careful, I think. God forgive me.

Brokenness

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 03:15:56 GMT

Today I was struck by a difference between my experiences among "mainliner" Christians at Duke Divinity School and the more "conservative" friends from my youth group years.

At Duke, many people talk about humanity's "brokenness." "We are a 'broken' people," I often hear from from students and teachers. Heck, in my first year here one person leading the Eucharist had the audacity to break the bread while listing off different countries and people who are broken. She stood in front of us, grabbed one of the many loaves/crackers and proceeded to break one after another. I remember her breaking the first piece while saying, "Iraq...broken." Then, "America...broken." Eventually, it came down to, "We are ... broken." Okay. What about Jesus? I thought that this bread/cracker and wine/grape juice were supposed to be for us the body and blood of Christ? Not Iraq. Not America. Not ourselves. Whoa. Anyway, I say all of this as an example of how some here talk about humanity being broken. Even tonight in one class the teacher talked about the general condition of humanity's brokenness and Christians' call for reconciliation.

Then, I start driving home. I was listening to the O.C. Supertones' live CD. They were totally one of my favorite bands back in the day, and I admit to still listening to them quite a lot. I think they have some of the most profound, thoughtful, and intelligent lyrics in all of Christian music. Anyway, on their live CD they have a few songs where they lead the group in worship songs from my youth group memories. One of these songs is "Holiness." You probably remember the song: "Holiness, holiness is what I long for, holiness is what I need." Then, a verse that follows is: "Brokenness, brokenness is what I long for, brokenness is what I need." Wow! What a difference! Here we have people singing to God for brokenness. Now, I always sang this verse with a bit of hesitation, but I still sang it. These conservative Christians certainly look for reconciliation (although others may try to say they don't), but they leave room for brokenness. This is a significant difference.

Now, I must admit that these two groups are probably meaning something different by "brokenness," but I think this variation may point to a deeper difference between the two parties. It seems to me that most mainliners look for a kind of Christianity that speaks mostly to the current situation of the human. If a person is hurting, then God wants them to feel better. If people are trapped in what I may call a sin, many mainliners speak of this as just evidence of the world's brokenness. On the other hand, most others think of humans needing to be broken so that their perspectives might be changed. We need to be broken because we are too selfish. We need to be broken so we crawl to God as our only hope. I still relate more to this latter understanding, but I also recognize that this may not fall well on the ears of certain people or groups of people who have experienced significant suffering. I do not need to go to a Native American or a disabled person and convince her that she needs to be broken. She probably is already. But I do need to go to the spoiled teenager or the frat boy and convince him that he needs to be broken.

Might this be a difference in groups to which these two parties are ministering? I certainly do not think so, although that is probably what the mainliners would want to tell us. Mainliners get off on thinking that they care for the poor and disenfranchised, and yet many or most mainline churches are filled with the rich, powerful, and arrogant who are nominal Christians at best. Granted, many seeker churches are filled with middle class American-loving people, but many conservative churches also have powerful ministries to the poor and disenfranchised - just as much as any mainline group would hope to have. I have seen a deep and sincere care for the disenfranchised in conservative churches. So, I don't think this is the cause of the difference.

No, I think we have a good ol' theological difference on this matter. What is our focus? Like I said, I suppose I tend to side with the Supertones on this one, and this is probably informed by my theological bent. I am a Baptist who understands baptism and salvation as dying and rising with Jesus. We are called to be crucified with Christ and forsake ourselves for the cause of Christ. Therefore, I see a call to brokenness. Let my arrogant and selfish spirit be broken so I may fall into deeper devotion to Jesus' call.

So, I will hesitantly, fearfully, and boldly continue to sing along, "Brokenness, brokenness is what I long for" (and even more honestly), "brokenness is what I need."

I'm Pumped

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 02:14:54 GMT

I'm starting to get pretty excited about moving to New Zealand for Ph.D. work. I think I'm going to make a great rugby fan. I told Andrea that I'm probably going to break my other leg playing rugby down there, but it'll be worth it. New Zealand has state health care, and health insurance for foreigners is cheap.

Here's a video of the New Zealand All Black's traditional Haka dance. Very cool:

The End of Days, For a While

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 02:05:18 GMT

I think I may abandon Xanga for a while. I have been checking my subscriptions to read a few different people's blogs, but I personally don't have too much interesting to say. To those of you who read and care, I will devulge that I have recently been accepted into the Ph.D. program (uh, "programme") at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. I will be studying under Paul Trebilco. I will be investigating the pistis langauge in Hebrews, with a particular eye toward a "faith[fulness] of Jesus" reading similar to a subjective genitive reading of pistis Christou in Paul. We'll see where that takes me, I guess. As you might imagine, Andrea and I are totally stoked. We hope to move down there sometime around August 2008. Now we just have to get our visas, figure out Andrea's teaching license stuff, and buy plane tickets (that one hurts).

I'll see you on Facebook.

Psychology the Way it Should Be

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 16:05:50 GMT

I think this may be one of the funniest Madtv skits I've seen. I might apply it to my pastoral ministry.

A Quick Look at Hebrews and Youth Ministry

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 02:05:21 GMT

I have been thinking lately that too many people read Hebrews and some of the warnings therein too with a misappropriated emphasis. Everyone is worried about whether a person can lose his or her salvation. For example, Calvinists and Arminians fight over whether the person who "has once been enlightened..." in Hebrews 6:4ff was "a true believer," "a phenomenological-false believer," "a hypothetical person," or whatever (see McKnight's famous article for a run through some common readings). Calvinists, wanting to affirm the perseverance of the saints, insist that the person in this case was just on the brink of salvation, but never took the dive. Others, like McKnight, are perfectly okay with the person being a Christian who has apostatized. But must we read this and other passages in Hebrews in terms of salvation and apostasy?

George Guthrie offers a helpful practical application of the Hebrews' warning passages in the introduction to his commentary which I hope to use as a starting place for a rereading of the warnings (an essay which I hope to expand into a Ph.D.-application-worthy piece). Guthrie tells a story about a couple that he knew who "got saved" and started attending church. But as time went by, one or both of them drifted away. The busyness of life and other cares took their attention and time away from meeting with the brothers and sisters. Might this be a way of approaching some of these warnings? The author of Hebrews is certainly worried about his listeners' "forsaking the meeting of the brothers."

Could it be that "seeming to fall away from the living God" is "falling away from the fellowship of the brethren" and growing stagnant in the spiritual journey? If so, I think this might make more sense of passages such as 3:12-13, which calls upon the community to "take care that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called 'Today,' so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." We who are following Jesus in our communities of faith are called to care for one another physically (see especially chapters 10 and 13) and spiritually.

This might return Hebrews to a prominent place of application. For example, how many of your friends from your Christian youth group have slipped away from the Body? My heart hurts for those with whom I used to worship who have apparently "fallen away from the living God." It would take too much space to list the names. I am ashamed to admit that I have even forgotten a good number of names of students who attended youth group, worshipped with me at camps and such, but drifted away. May God forgive me for not watching out more for those friends who were struggling or drifting. May God have mercy on my former youth pastor (and others like him) who approach ministry with the same attitude as he relayed to me: "Matt, you will understand someday that there are some kids that you will just have to let go. There are some casualties." Oh God, have mercy on us.

Baptist Unitarianism

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 00:49:46 GMT

Curtis Freeman recently wrote an article suggesting that many Baptists are unitarians of the Second Person of the Trinity. I have to admit that I am afraid he is right. Have you noticed how much Baptist concepts of the Trinity struggle? I have heard people pray to Jesus. I have heard people explain the Trinity in modalistic terms (for example: water as liquid, ice, vapor). How do you think we can fix this? Perhaps we can introduce the Nicene-Constaninopolitan Creed to some of our worship services. I would like to see it without the Filioque, too. I think it may help our people to recite this centuries-tested Trinitarian confession. Whatever we do, I tend to think that we must start to teach and emphasize the importance of the Trinity. Early Baptists did, but we don't anymore. What do you think?

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Sat, 13 Jan 2007 03:32:19 GMT

I haven't said anything for a while, so I thought I'd post something. It probably helps that it is 11:15 pm and I don't feel like starting my next book (so I guess my "currently reading" heading is a lie - but it won't be by the time you are reading this, I suppose).

I'm very excited about my four classes this semester. I am taking Greek exegesis of Galatians with Campbell, in which I'll get to work on my PPME skills. I'm taking Intro to Eastern Orthodoxy (hence Meyendorff's book) with an OCA priest. This class is going to be really cool, I think. The teacher used to be an evangelical who taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, but he grew disenchanted with the progressive, seeker evangelical movement. He converted to Orthodoxy about 10 years ago and is now a priest. I'm pretty interested in the whole Eastern Christianity thing. Next, I am taking Free Church Theology, which looks pretty cool. I'm a big fan of baptist (little b) theology and stuff. Finally, I am taking Church and Ministry in the NT with Richard Hays. The fact that Hays is teaching it already makes the class awesome, but I think it is going to be great anyway. I'm really pumped because I should have the opportunity to do a presentation on the nature of the church in the book of Hebrews (which very seriously may be a dissertation area, if any place with have me). I might write about this more later, but I am thinking that I may try to argue for seeing a radical, believers' church in Hebrews. We usually run to Matthew for this kind of stuff, but I think I might be able to take Yoder, PPME, and a touch of creative exegetical work and come up with some pretty interesting propositions in Hebrews. We'll see what happens.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 02:27:05 GMT

I have my last final tomorrow. It is my theology final, which is three essays that will take 2-1/2 hours. I'll be glad to be done with that. Gosh. After this, I will be half way to being a Master of God. Isn't it strange that we receive a Master of Divinity after just three years of reading Barth and Aquinas? I'm going to be a Master of God?!

In other news, the Methodist church that I worked with this Summer asked me to come back tomorrow to give a Bible study. The pastor did not ask me (I don't like the guy at all, and I got a hankerin' that he don't care much for me neither). An old man who leads the monthly Bible study asked me to come. That's pretty gutsy, don't you think? You never know what this crazy baptist kid is going to say when he does not have a field education evaluation hanging over his head.