Positive Faith in Scripture: Jonah

“Then they grilled him: “Confess. Why this disaster? What is your work? Where do you come from? What country? What family?”

He told them, “I’m a Hebrew. I worship God, the God of heaven who made sea and land.”

At that, the men were frightened, really frightened, and said, “What on earth have you done!” As Jonah talked, the sailors realized that he was running away from God.

They said to him, “What are we going to do with you—to get rid of this storm?” By this time the sea was wild, totally out of control.

Jonah said, “Throw me overboard, into the sea. Then the storm will stop. It’s all my fault. I’m the cause of the storm. Get rid of me and you’ll get rid of the storm.”

But no. The men tried rowing back to shore. They made no headway. The storm only got worse and worse, wild and raging.

Then they prayed to God, “O God! Don’t let us drown because of this man’s life, and don’t blame us for his death. You are God. Do what you think is best.”

They took Jonah and threw him overboard. Immediately the sea was quieted down.

The sailors were impressed, no longer terrified by the sea, but in awe of God. They worshiped God, offered a sacrifice, and made vows.”

Jonah 1:8-16, Message

First off, let me apologize for having you read such a lengthy passage. I skipped the first 7 verses though- you’re welcome. Long story short, God asks Jonah to go preach to Nineveh so that they might turn towards God (because they were misbehaving), and Jonah runs away, leading to this fiasco with the boat. God sent a storm after Jonah in order to coax him to fulfill his mission.

Unlike yesterday, here is a story where God did establish some cause and effect. Jonah ran, so God sent a storm. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves- no one was harmed. In fact, again, God does not even express frustration Jonah. He sends the fish to swallow Jonah up- where Jonah prays and asks God for help (was this is an actual literal fish? or part of the imaginative way of telling stories that was so common in the Old Testament? I don’t know!).

When Jonah prays for help, God does not admonish him or rub Jonah’s face in his own pee (as I’ve seen people do to potty-training puppies). No- God’s response to Jonah’s prayer is something like: “Get going to Nineveh because I can’t ignore them any longer.” It’s almost as if God is taking responsibility for the lack of resolution in Nineveh.

God does not speak incredibly harshly about Nineveh or Jonah. In fact, God seems to have high hopes for both in spite of themselves and, in both cases, he is correct. Jonah fulfills his mission (though he’s not happy about it) and Nineveh turns towards God.

I don’t want to belabor the point, but what we see is not, actually, an angry God who can’t possibly be pacified but, instead, a gentle God, slow to anger and quick to forgive. A God who glosses over the shortcomings of his followers in order to encourage them to move forward.

What would change, for you, if you knew your shortcomings were things God just glosses over in order to help you move forward?

Positive Faith in Scripture: Born Blind

“Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?”

Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do.”

John 9:1-4, Message

In John 9 we find a theological conflict Jesus attempted to squash several times during his ministry that still continues today. Jesus and his crew stumble upon a man born without sight and they ask him, “Is this his fault, or is he being punished for the sins of his parents?”

The connection between misfortune and spiritual performance is one many still attempt to draw today. John Piper famously delivered sermons blaming the LGBTQ+ community for Hurricane Katrina.

But, we ask the wrong question. Or, in Piper’s case, we offer the wrong explanation.

No one is to blame. There is no such cause and effect here. Look instead for what God can do.

We do not always need to spend an excruciating amount of time analyzing the past and continuing to rake ourselves, or others, over coals in order to live as faithful people. In many cases we are far better served to consider what God can do moving forward.

This is the spiritual and theological backbone of positive faith- and a thoroughly ancient Christian message:

“Your past is behind you- let’s see what God has in store as you move forward.”

Positive Faith in Scripture: Paul’s Conversion

“He set off. When he got to the outskirts of Damascus, he was suddenly dazed by a blinding flash of light. As he fell to the ground, he heard a voice: “Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me?”

He said, “Who are you, Master?”

“I am Jesus, the One you’re hunting down. I want you to get up and enter the city. In the city you’ll be told what to do next.”

Acts 9:3-6, Message

If God were a God of shame, who only expects people to grow when they are confronted with their shortcomings, then the story of Saul’s (later, Paul) conversion is a rather weird story indeed.

Let’s be clear- there would be plenty for God to shame Paul over. He harassed and persecuted God’s faithful followers with vigor (it’s often said he committed murder, but this isn’t actually mentioned in scripture). If we’re thinking about this in terms of our stereotypes of faith, it’s not hard to imagine God demanding all kinds of acts of remorse or repentance and even making Paul prove himself before he’s tasked with his new calling.

But, he didn’t do that. He was quite matter-of-fact. My paraphrase goes like this: “I’m the one you’re trying to destroy. Stop that and go to work for me- instructions to follow.”

It’s sort of like an annoyingly brief and curt email from your boss that tells you that you’ve been working on the entirely wrong project for entirely too long and it’s time to start all over.

Paul is then led from place to place in order to prepare him for his ministry all under God’s guidance and protection and with no particular sense of retribution or punishment (on God’s part). He’s given a new mission without having to prove his worthiness in any way.

Under the circumstances, this seems to me to be beyond positive. Sure, God doesn’t tell Paul how great he is and why he’s the best choice for the job, but he does quickly move beyond Paul’s past and equips him for the future. I’m quite sure this instills confidence in Paul in his ability to do the job.

What do you see when you read this story?

Over the coming days we’ll go over a few more examples of God subverting our expectations and demonstrating that faith, and being called into God’s family, can be a very positive experience (and not just a shaming and deflating one).

Fear of Positivity

There has long been, in the Christian world, a fear of positivity.

I can remember my friends in seminary bristling at the idea of presenting faith in a way that was positive and affirming, as opposed to combative and demanding. If people feel free and unashamed, so the thinking goes, they won’t live out of their values. They will simply pursue pleasure and become increasingly hedonistic (self-indulgent).

I sort of partially agreed with that. I never was too keen on the idea of intentionally shaming people into obedience, but I also carried some fears about “what might happen” if people feel “too free.”

This is an area where counseling has really helped grow and expand my faith. Carl Rogers (a seminary drop-out and a famous therapist who I’ve mentioned often in the past few years) believed the exact opposite to what I’ve described above. He believed that *people grow when they feel free* (not when they feel pressure to conform). And he spent his career quite successfully researching that.

Both in my role as a pastor as well as my new role as a counselor- I can say I believe he was quite right. When I find myself trying to steer someone in the direction I want them to go, they back off and double-down on whatever their problem area is in life (whether that’s drugs, sex, or whatever). When I’m more intentional about exploring what people want for themselves and removing my ideas from the picture, they tend to move towards thriving (which often means moving away from a self-indulgent type of life- which often means living “more faithfully”).

It’s often thought that positivity is just the realm of psychology and that it has little to do with faith. It’s also often thought that the Bible itself lacks positivity (and this is why we should shame people into faithful living- because this is the “biblical way.”) *Both of these ideas are wrong.*

Over the next few days, I’ll show you just how positive the Bible can be about faith. I’m hoping this will help us all embrace a new way of being and seeing that still has ancient and deeply rich theological roots.

Rethinking Our Mission

I used to be a little bit (not a lot, but a little bit) judgmental of people who presented faith in a way that was too friendly. I mean, I’ve always wanted faith to seem approachable. I’ve never wanted it to seem like it was hidden behind a gate that only “the good” could get past. But I’ve always felt like accountability was important. I never cared for approaches that seemed to overlook the importance of things like accountability, confession, and the like.

These things are still important to me today- but I’m thinking about them a bit differently. I used to think that people wouldn’t hold themselves accountable…that we needed someone from the outside to remind us of the things that we needed to confess or take accountability over. This is what is changing for me. Over time I realize that most people are *very aware* of their struggles, shortcomings, character flaws, or misgivings.

Because of this, I no longer think we should be demanding people spend more time thinking about their flaws. I think we should be encouraging people that it’s okay to be flawed and that, if we support each other, we can move past them.

Again, it’s not that I don’t think accountability and confession are important- I’m just rethinking what they look like. I think we need both. But I think we first need an environment where we feel free to look inside and share without fear of being excluded.

To be continued…