The mariner has had feedback critical of his opinion about churches, that they are not a force that does good work as Jesus would want.

The mariner mentioned that a percentage of contribution to the church is spent on missions. However, it is the last priority and smallest percentage. The reader is challenged to review their church budget (atheist or theist). The mariner calculates that for every one thousand dollars in the budget, twenty dollars is deliberately allocated to missions. The dollar percentage demonstrates the distraction of a church from the force to do good works. Nevertheless, this train of thought is not the correct mindset to define goodness. One does not measure goodness with budgets or dollars.

For those who insist on an institutional approach to goodness, the best example of a “church” is a free shelter for the homeless or a free soup kitchen. Another example of institution is relief efforts in areas of tragedy or great want, where volunteers drop what they are doing and work hand in hand with the unfortunate. The dollar contributions spent on these examples of churches is a lot more than twenty dollars out of every thousand; it may be the inverse. Bringing relief to those in need is the first priority. Institutional and logistic spending is allocated only because it is necessary to provide goodness. Goodness is the motivation; personal involvement and sacrifice demonstrate that motivation.

The mariner advocates these institutional efforts. Doing good, as Pope Francis suggests, is what it is all about. The mariner thinks, however, that goodness rests with an individual, not an institution. There is nothing wrong with many individuals coming together for the common good, if institutional structure is a minimized distraction. The one-on-one human experience is the root of goodness. A church can be one person. That is how it was with Jesus.

The mariner was at a church meeting a while ago. Two hours were spent on organization with barely a hint of interest in doing good. It occurred to him that a better use of the two hours would be to organize a flash mob so that in a moment’s notice, everyone in the room spontaneously would come to the aid of a specific person or group of people in the local area. Not much organization needed; goodness is the first priority.

In the last years of the mariner’s duties as a pastor, he had a growing feeling that so much of what he did was irrelevant to society. He finally left the ministry and took a job as a probation officer. Unlike the tasks in the church, his new tasks required him to spend time in poor neighborhoods. He talked with people on a one-to-one basis. He had a conscious awareness that these people were victims. They were victims of being born beneath the crush of a social system where money is king.

Some were able to stabilize their lives with manual labor jobs or even open a very small business. Most, however, had been damaged by family life, repeated failure in efforts to find an identity, and lack of goodness in the culture that entrapped them. Many turned to illicit activity for money and a sense of independence. These folks were his new congregation.

It was serendipitous that his supervisor was an unusual person. His supervisor was polite but always on task. Occasionally, the mariner would have lunch with him. This meant walking the streets of the red light district looking for homeless street dwellers. When he came upon one of these individuals, he would invite them to have lunch with him in one of the local eateries. It was obvious, however, that the individual gained a lot more than a meal. He received compassion – a rare commodity indeed.

The supervisor had the opinion that our job was driven by empathy, not by reinforcement. It is true that some would not respond and eventually return to the courts for violating parole or probation. However, the mariner learned from his supervisor how important it is to keep empathy at the forefront of one’s awareness.

One cannot perform goodness without empathy.

One cannot perform goodness when the institution supersedes goodness.

Pope Francis said faith is doing good. Nothing more.

Ancient Mariner

The mariner read the Bing homepage this morning to discover an interesting link. It was about the emergence of atheist churches (is that an oxymoron? Etymology says “church” means ‘of the Lord’). If you are interested, visit

http://news.msn.com/us/atheist-mega-churches-take-root-across-us-world?ocid=ansnews11

Follow with the comments of Pope Francis:

http://news.msn.com/world/atheists-are-good-if-they-do-good-pope-francis-says?ocid=msnnws

The mariner likes Pope Francis.

The mariner had his days as a Methodist pastor. He never understood why a church had to be the center of the “faith,” receive the lion’s share of contributions, and be the greatest distraction from doing good. Now the atheists, who have no religion or theistic magnet to unite them, want to build churches. The mariner has a blind spot about churches. He often expresses his confusion by saying “What is more important – paying the church electric bill or buying supper for the unfortunate mother with children who lives four miles away and otherwise will have no supper?”

Sadly, theistic or atheistic, the mother goes unfed.

The mariner wrote a lesson booklet for adult study groups. It is based on the Gospels Matthew and Luke (for the purist, the Q Source). To put the booklet into a few words, Jesus never said build churches [The fundamentalist may claim that Jesus said Peter was proclaimed the rock upon which the church will stand; “church,” however, is a Greek word derived from kiriakon, later evolving into Middle English chirce via Old German kirche. The Greeks were famous for building temples with a moment’s notice]. Jesus’ life was spent entirely among those abused by the Romans and judgmental Pharisees. Pope Francis must have read the mariner’s booklet…

In an earlier post, the mariner recommended the new book, Zealot, the Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, by Reza Aslan. The book is written deliberately without Biblical sources even though Aslan is a name of renown among religious institutions. It depicts the horrible life of most Jews during the Roman occupation. No one had the money or dare the circumstances to build a church – if that idea existed in those Jewish times.

It is presumed that the atheists are building churches to avoid feeding unfortunate mothers and their children.

Pope Francis is correct: faith is doing good. Nothing more.

This commentary has led to thoughts about why institutionalization is so important. Readers will have to wait for another post.

Ancient Mariner

The mariner has been watching the dismantling of the political, economic and social mores that began back in the seventies and, in each category, are moving faster and faster toward something we do not understand but will be a change in the status of an American life. Christianity does not escape this change in culture.

There are many books on the market attempting to redefine Christianity for the modern age. The best narrative, both historically and religiously, is Zealot, The life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan. Though many still hold to the mythical interpretation of the Jesus narrative, modern history, common sense and the pressures of a modern society 2,100 years distant from the time of Jesus require a better understanding of both the man and the message – which may not be synonymous.

The New Testament, particularly Matthew and Luke, provide a template of how we must behave as Christians. Yet historians, respected in their field, suggest that the Gospels were written after Jesus lived and were designed to support the spiritual message of Jesus rather than to account specifically for his words and actions while Jesus was alive.

Historians say that the time in which Jesus lived the population was immersed in a belief that the apocalypse was about to happen. Many prophets were preaching about preparedness for this event. Some, like Jesus, did the same but went a step further to challenge the divinity of the Roman Emperor, which ultimately led to death on the cross.

We are in similar times today. Our government is dysfunctional; more and more Americans are forced into poverty; the American dream that anyone can achieve whatever they desire has faded away; many who propose to speak in the name of Christianity (Tea Party) attack the relationship between the lessons of the Sermon on the Mount and daily life.

Christians today are challenged: Is the New Testament our word of faith? Is the Jesus of history depicted by artists and religious writers through the ages the real Jesus? More importantly, is the spiritual and moral guidance of the New Testament valid? No doubt, there is substantive truth in these writings. The New Testament has not been replaced by any stretch of the imagination. However, how shall we present it? How shall we, as devoted Christians, defend the meaningfulness of our faith? These are the questions at hand as our society experiences significant change.

We must live the word of Jesus. Words like forgiveness, kindness, goodness, acceptance, constitute a way of life. A Christian, no matter the historical account, is someone who is devoted to the happiness and wellbeing of others – no matter their style of life or their ethnicity. This is the message that must not fade in the midst of these troublesome days.

Ancient Mariner

The last post mentioned that there are two themes that occupy the writers and speakers in current religious publishing. The first theme, a fresh look at the historical experience of Jesus, is addressed in the last post. Today the mariner will investigate the preoccupation with the Religious Right as a political movement and the concern expressed about the increasing secularism of most Christians.

The mariner investigated many conservative, evangelical and fundamentalist websites searching for a core dynamic that these movements can share. In general, the websites were territorial about minor interpretations or tenets. In short, the conservative side of Christianity does not have a cohesive doctrine.

These websites were true religious websites. Government politics representing the  conservative or “religious right” were of a different ilk and focused on public policy, party politics – salted with a collection of moral issues and a lot of character assassination. Neither set of websites had any concern for the circumstances of mainstream Christian practice.

The political religious websites were a mix of conservative Christian advocacy heavily dosed with public issues. If the reader watches the news at all, they will be familiar with these issues: guns; abortion; eliminate discretionary government programs (all of them from health care to school lunch programs, Head Start, PBS, Planned Parenthood, SNAP (food stamps and other assistance programs, unemployment insurance); any extension of regulations of any kind; a major cut in government services, more or less keeping the military, central treasury and only in about half the websites, income taxes.

It is obvious why serious religious writers are looking closely at the claim of religiosity in the religious right movement.

There is not room in this post to capture a great deal of Gospel scripture that counters the misanthropic politics of the religious right but just a few references will demonstrate the massive gap between the religious right movement and the Christian positions of Jesus:

The parable of the Good Samaritan

The two great commandments

“If you have fed them, you have fed me”

“You shall love God above all things” (even your family and your money).

This could go on for pages but this is enough to expose antithetical positions between Jesus and the religious right. The mariner’s favorite Gospel is Matthew. It is an easy read and will be very clear about the principles of Jesus, none of which associate with the religious right. As to the public issues like guns and abortion, there may be a moral point, legally or religiously, but the violent and uncaring attack in an effort to obliterate these issues easily dismisses any moral intent.

What obfuscates the study of the religious right is the Tea Parties (there is more than one). Tea Party members are in the same room as the religious right because both groups are conservative. A closer look, sometimes, can determine a Tea Party person because of the absence of religious morality in their rhetoric. To the right of the Tea Party and to the left of the religious right is the libertarian – a cross breed of conservative government minimalism with a progressive approach to anything that pokes into one’s personal freedom.

Mix these three groups with the professional Republicans in the House of Representatives and it is no wonder that Speaker Boehner has no control over irrational legislation.

Ideologically, the right wing groups are noisy and disruptive but a minority incapable of streamlined organization that can overtake the middle of American religious culture. After doing this research, the mariner felt the most bothersome aspect of it all was the solidarity of the right behind the two-headed coin of nationalism and autocracy. New Testament Christianity is not to be seen.

A broader issue on religious book lists is the invasion of secularism into the religious practices of mainstream denominations. The mariner has written about this subject in other posts. (See Following Jesus Around, Is Christianity Still Christianity? Evolution of Faith, and Who is God?) Lest the mariner’s evaluation of the religious right makes the mainstream Christian self-righteous, secularism has decayed the organized church more than termites can destroy a rotten log.

It may be a good idea for every Christian to read the Gospel Matthew then ask one’s self, by sitting in a pew on Sunday, am I praying in public as the Pharisees did? If I skipped the church service and went into the poorest neighborhood to do what I could to make a life better, would Jesus skip the service and come with me?

Secularism is a failed pew-based culture. Mainstream Christians need to get their hands dirty doing God’s work as Jesus instructed. Find God’s grace through another person’s life – not your own.

Ancient Mariner

Religious historians, theologians and ministers have been unusually busy in the past couple of years. Religious books, magazine articles, television interviews, and sermons have investigated Jesus in terms of what historians have recently learned about the time of Jesus. New insights have been gained about the cultural conflict between the Romans and the Israelites, the class system that was in place in Israel at the time of Jesus – in other words, what was society like during the time of the ministry of Jesus and what role did he play as a man living in this society?

Religious writers also have focused on the failure of modern Christians to adhere to the mission Jesus commands of us. The targets of these writers are the selective policies of the religious right and Christian believers generally; there is heightened interest in this cultural phenomenon because American culture has an increasingly harsh class system just as Jesus experienced during his ministry. Further, while not a military occupation, the nation is run by the wealthy rather than the citizens – again, something that confronted Jesus during his life and ministry. Finally, there is an apocalyptic undertone in the United States and other countries as social, political, religious and global experiences approach a point of chaos.

It is the growing similarity between the times of Jesus and our times today that provides energy for this new wave of religious introspection. Jesus and his message have been revisited many times in history. The power of Jesus’ life and faith must be reinterpreted to relate to the changes that occur in society. Otherwise, his divine insights lose their meaning.

A good example among writers examining the role of Jesus historically is ‘Zealot,’ by Reza Aslan, a respected religious writer.  This book, just published, has received good reviews. In his book, Aslan highlights the aspect of Jesus as an activist who fought the abuses of the Romans and the rigid, self-righteous class system that existed among the Jews themselves. Large numbers of the population were despised, oppressed, and powerless. Jesus behaved as a zealot, fighting the injustices openly and without regard for his own safety.

Aslan’s book clarifies the context of the role Jesus played in a time of chaos. Knowing that Jesus was zealous and defending the discarded people of Israel speaks to us today with more substance and a better understanding of the Gospel message. For example, in those passages of the Gospels where the Pharisees visit Jesus, these are not intellectual discussions. They are confrontations by Judean authorities who did not approve of his work and his belief in love as the primary force among human beings. This belief in love disregarded the religious, political and military rule that controlled Israel at that time. “The first shall be last and the last shall be first” evokes more pathos for Jesus and the literal, human meaning of his words when we understand his visible and outspoken rebellion against an unfair society. As Jesus grew more popular, his life was increasingly at risk.

We can relate to this role in modern times. To mention a few: Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Frederick Douglass, Nelson Mandela. What these names have in common with Jesus (though there is no intent to consider them equal to Jesus) is that they were zealots fighting against injustice for the displaced and oppressed people of their times.

The added disregard for the Jewish view of history, God, and the Old Testament rule fueled the flames of the authorities even more. Jesus brought to Earth a loving God, who did not judge, who did not control social history, and who bestowed divine importance equally on every human being – the first shall be last and the last shall be first.

The next post will discuss the focus on the forgotten message of the Gospels by today’s political and social environment.

Ancient Mariner

I cannot write this stuff. It is an open dialogue about the role of Jesus’ doctrine versus the democratic and republican philosophy in our political environment. Listen to the whole segment, which will take about twenty minutes.

http://videos.huffingtonpost.com/republicans-arent-christians-517786064

Ancient Mariner

The Gospel Matthew is written as a travelogue. The scriptures follow Jesus as he walks the roads of Israel. A reader should read the gospel in its entirety for an informal but insightful experience. What Jesus presents to the reader in the 49 parables, the Sermon on the Mount, and the greatest commandments is not the Christian religion we practice today – – not even remotely.

Jesus traveled humbly and accepted the grace of those he met to be fed and given a place for the night. This was never an issue with Jesus because he was a charismatic, caring person and drew people to him easily. It is clear that Jesus did not concern himself with income or prestige, or self-importance; it was those very things he felt were sins in the eyes of God. We are familiar with his comparison with the sparrow and the lily, saying that if God cared for these, would not God also care for us.

At one point early in his travels, Jesus is chastised by the Pharisees (ministers) for having dinner with lowly and despised individuals. Jesus responds by saying he has come to save those in need, not the self-righteous – who do not need God. Repeatedly in his travels, Jesus says two things: Love God first – even before your own family and especially before yourself. The second is that God wants us to assist the downtrodden, unfortunate, sick, and despised. He implies quite clearly at one point that one does not serve God sitting in a pew and “praying where the public can see them.”

His absolute insistence on humbleness and brotherly love runs throughout the Gospel. Another familiar instruction we all know but ignore is “Judge not lest you be judged.” Is there anyone who can honestly profess not to have prejudice, favoritism, disdain, or self-importance?

It appears obvious that his present day followers have drifted far, far from the truths of his sermons and parables. Dare we call ourselves Christian? Is there anyone among us who will put another person’s wellbeing above self indulgence, deciding rather who we are by what we earn and spend than provide for another person first? Jesus says give all your wealth away and follow him. Remember the comparison about the camel fitting through the eye of a needle?

The New Testament focus is on loving others and respecting God’s natural love for us and God’s gift of wisdom and happiness beyond measure. Read the Gospel Matthew to remember what a Christian is.

Ancient Mariner

Jesus was a real person. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Israel during a census where people returned to the city of their birth to be counted. Though born in Bethlehem, Jesus’ father Joseph lived in Nazareth, about sixty miles north in the Province of Galilee. The accounts of Jesus’ birth are documented in Matthew (1:18) and Luke (2:1). The birth is more romantic in Matthew while Luke sets more of an historical tone. Still, it is clear that something special has happened with the birth of Jesus and Jesus will indeed become famous in his lifetime and within one hundred years will have shown the world the path to a loving, caring God.

He was greatly enlightened for his time and had powerful charisma. He spoke of a new loving God and became an influential rabbi throughout Galilee, a province in northern Israel. Some authors divide the ministry of Jesus into three categories: the early period, which includes his birth and many special trips to be baptized, to be tempted by Satan and to throw out the money changers in Jerusalem; the Galilean ministry, a period when his travels were exclusively within the Province of Galilee; the later period, when Jesus traveled over all of Israel until the time of his crucifixion. Because he lived during a period when the Jewish Old Testament was the law and history of Israel, he had to perform many acts of healing, preaching, and eventually, if he were to be the (Jewish) Messiah, travel triumphantly into Jerusalem. He arrived in Jerusalem simply but the crowds were large and cheering.

The issue of being the Messiah is the likely reason that the Old Testament and the New Testament are joined in the Bible. Early Jewish followers and writers wanted Jesus to be recognized as Messiah, a specially anointed person and the Savior of Israel. These writers penned as many validations as possible to “prove” that, in terms of the Old Testament law describing the coming Messiah, Jesus qualified as that Messiah. What the earliest writers did not know was that in just a few years, Gentiles would become the larger group of followers who kept the idea that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. Consequently, there is a period after Jesus’ death where converted Jews and Gentiles integrated the two interpretations of the term Messiah, forever bonding the Old Testament to the New Testament. Finally, later writers began to describe the Sanctity of Jesus in his own right as the Son of God, the Christ, sent to earth to forgive the world of its sins, not just the salvation of Israel.

Jesus indeed was the Son of a new God. Jesus was God on earth. The life and teachings of Jesus are so phenomenal even today that his faith, his sacrifice and love for others, his giving of his life on the cross at Calvary have created a new world order not bound by fear, self interest and greed. There is a new order, closer to God, closer to a common love between all people, a new order that allows us to respond to the never-ending love of a God we would not have known without Jesus.

Whether one evaluates faith through anthropology, history, or biology, it is a bit of a guessing game. Ask a fish about water and one will not receive an objective and thorough understanding about water. When we investigate the evolution of faith, we are as the fish – examining ourselves, biased by our own experience. Nevertheless, the evolution of faith is an entertaining, thoughtful, and always revealing topic.

Dacher Keltner, Director of the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California at Berkeley, recently published “Born to be Good, The Science of a Meaningful Life” The book begins by paying tribute to Jen, a Confucian state of mind that promotes goodness. Jen is expressed through the good emotions we all have in our genes when we are born: compassion, awe, respect, graciousness, empathy, sympathy, kindness and other feelings that not only improve one’s own wellbeing but also the wellbeing of others who are the recipients of your Jen behavior. Confucius said we have the ability to bring goodness to completion in ourselves and in others; we have the choice to bring badness to completion as well through harmful, nasty, disrespectful, and condescending emotions. Keltner makes the point that all mammals have some degree of emotional goodness; otherwise mammalian species would not have survived.

Joseph Campbell, a famous anthropologist, studied human behavior in terms of the cultures within which people experience life. An excellent interview on the experience of release, otherwise called “salvation” in the Christian faith can be found on the Internet at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzj8aE1KPPQ

This short interview is one of the most insightful interpretations the mariner has ever heard. It is a must see experience.

The point of both these writers is that goodness is built in at the beginning. We are prone to seeking the will of God and the “release” that God provides. Yet we are flesh and bone; we have limitations in our intelligence, in our hearts and in our actions. We are tempted at every turn to find comfortable, self-serving solutions that give us physical comfort and undeserved authority; we are bringing badness to completion in ourselves and in others. As both writers explain, negativity diminishes life; goodness expands life. In fact, we wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for goodness.  Walking the path that Jesus walked may take no more effort than always seeking goodness in our lives. Always use good emotions; good acts will follow.

Paul Tillich, a popular theologian in the 1960’s said that Christianity is vulnerable to being subsumed by other forms of religion, very much as a chameleon changes its color to match its background. The other forms of religion, which Tillich defined as quasi-religions, are capitalism, communism, socialism, fascism, and democratic nationalism. In the United States, the competing world religion is capitalism. Tillich said that this presented a faith-against-faith situation. To be a Christian in a capitalistic society means that it is likely that a “Christian” is a Christian only to the extent that capitalism is not inconvenienced.

Capitalist Christianity is used as a standard that provides moralistic behavior: how to be a fair, honorable, and conscientious citizen – as a capitalist. Capitalism is the force – a mighty force – that prevents many of us otherwise nice, fair and considerate capitalists from letting go of our worldly comfort, our wealth and station in society. If we are forced to walk the path that Jesus walked, we may lose our homes, our cars, our full larder, perhaps even our source of income. This would inconvenience our faith in the capitalist religion.

It is as if we have returned to the world that Charles Dickens described, where charity is unloaded onto government programs, nonprofit organizations that will do the dirty work for us, or we cover our obligation by throwing a relative pittance at local charity and mission fund raisers. Our first obligation is to our role as capitalists but we respect the presence of Christian morality. Actually behaving like a Christian, however, is out of the question.

Except for the rare committed Christian, it is impractical to insist on abandoning capitalism to walk the path that Jesus walked. But how much can we recover the path of Jesus in today’s society so that we will move closer to being a modern Christian? Simple solutions abound. Many give time and personal investment to projects like Habitat for Humanity; some take on a missionary cause like joining the Peace Corps or Americorp, or a church-related mission in the most desperate regions of the world. The pivotal change in behavior is that the modern Christian becomes involved personally, giving time and resources in person, on site, providing genuine concern and care, thereby representing God’s love. It is guaranteed that poverty, privation and desperate need are less than ten miles away from any modern Christian’s home.

Another way to grow our role as a modern Christian is to use our capitalist wealth to contribute to those who are desperate and in need of God’s love, even your love, in God’s name. Specifically, do you tithe? Do you have possessions that you don’t really need – everything from furniture to coin collections? How many changes in clothes do you own? How many shoes? Can you give up one golf game a week and spend one day a week working shoulder to shoulder with the poor? All these suggestions will turn your sense of personal value toward the path that Jesus walked. It will strengthen God’s rudder to steer your life toward being a modern Christian.