Lateral Unification: The New Worldview
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| (courtesy photo St. Stephen's Episcopal) |
Option two seems the better way to go. Parts of world are
well on the way to lateral unification already. Having spent a year in Asia, I
am impressed with how successfully the ten ASEAN countries have joined hands to
support each other economically and connect inter-governmentally while
retaining their traditional distinctives. It is hard to imagine a scenario that
would take these nations into war with one another ever again.
Lateral unification is the Worldview I find myself promoting
for the Church. Although I have argued that the Hebrew mindset forms the basis
of the Bible, the reasoning of the ancient Greek philosophers has helped us to understand
it. After all, the Hebrew mindset did not lead the ancient Jews to either obey
God or to recognize the Messiah. And it was the influence of Hellenistic
thinking under the auspices of the Holy Spirit that brought the teachings of
Jesus to life in the material world.
It should not surprise us that God might use the reality of
the world to reveal the meaning of his word. For example, God used a Canaanite
hymn to a god that is not God to reveal the God who is God in Psalm 29. (You
can read my explanation of that here. The article doesn’t relate to lateral unification,
but it does explain the theological underpinnings of Psalm 29.)
The point is, if God can use a heathen hymn to reveal a
principle about himself, he can also use discoveries penned by ancient Greek
philosophers to help us understand what Jesus taught. Science helps us understand
the world, and the better we understand the world the better we can understand
God, not because God and the world are the same thing, but because the one and
only God, who is himself community in unity, created the one world in all its
diversity. The Hebrews wrote it in the Old Testament, but understanding didn’t really
start until after Jesus Christ rose from the dead and sent the Holy Spirit to
Christians in the New Testament.
Biblical understanding always moves a person to believe. Believe,
as you recall, is an action verb. Belief is little more than fable if never moves
out of the speculative world of our thoughts into the tangible world of our actions.
And that is where modern Christianity has messed up. Although
we rightly used the principles of philosophy to lead the world toward democracy
based on biblical principles of freedom and law, we forgot in the process to create
a mechanism whereby grace could flow. I suggest we take a page from the ASEAN
association and become the answer to Jesus’ John 17:21 prayer “that they all
may be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you, may they also be one in us,
that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
It is to our shame that an association of governments found
a way to succeed in lateral unification instead of in the church. We have
argued against ecumenicalism as an “ism” that is antichrist because we think it
asks us to syncretize orthodoxy with heresy.
Really? Has God changed? Would not the same Spirit that
protected the first church from the likes of Ananias and Sapphira protect the
modern church also? The reason we don’t see liars die inside the church today
is because we have made believing into a mental assent instead of an obedient
practice.
Let's take it out of the realm of theory. How do we unite as one body under Christ’s head? I
suggest we do what the OSEAN association did with Myanmar. For a long time Myanmar was a pariah nation. Nations in Southeast Asia did something spectacular to draw it into their community. When OSEAN organized, it determined not to leave out Myanmar. In 2012, Malaysia’s then
prime minister, Najib Razak, explained ASEAN’s strategy in an editorial in
the Wall Street Journal this way:
Myanmar was on the receiving end of
very public diplomatic scoldings, often backed up by sanctions. Implicit in
this stance was the idea that democratic nations such as Malaysia should shun
their less-free neighbors, and that the only way to bring about improvements
was to economically cripple those who had not yet embraced the ballot box. But
ASEAN members took a more nuanced view, believing that constructive engagement
and encouragement were just as effective, if not more, than sanctions and
isolation in creating positive change. As such, ASEAN admitted Myanmar as a member
in 1997 and extended an open hand of friendship. [i]
We are so prone to scold, aren't we! Scolding does not inspire unity. It
would be better for Christians to do what ASEAN did and practice generosity
toward one another. We see the result of ASEAN’s generosity. Myanmar today is not only open to the gospel but has shown both leadership and excellence in its contribution
to the good of others outside its borders in recent decades. God used a political
association to do what the church could have done had it obeyed God from the
start as a unified, diverse body under the headship and direction of Christ.
The power of the Holy Spirit could have brought freedom everywhere the church
touched the earth. True freedom that far exceeds the medusa of compartmentalized democracy we currently have in certain parts of the earth (can we spell America) where freedom does not mean unity but division and increasing isolation not only from the world but from one another as well.
I further suggest we begin our ministry of
reconciliation in a work of confession:
Forgive me Lord God for choosing
isolation instead of engagement.
Forgive me Lord God for wanting to escape
the world instead of working toward its renovation.
Forgive me Lord God for clinging
rigidly to the understanding of my mind instead of accepting your invitation to
the exercise of reason (Isaiah 1:18; Genesis 18:23-32; Exodus 4:1-17; Job
23:3-7; Micah 6:2).
Forgive me Lord God for expecting a future at God’s table in heaven without sharing with others from my table today.
Forgive me Lord God for thinking my salvation was complete the day I made an emotional decision to believe a theory when salvation actually means picking up my cross and crucifying my will today to do Christ’s will.
When I align myself with God through confession and
repentance, and when you do too, we automatically align with each other through
God’s Spirit. It seems to me that if a spirit of confession and repentance ignites
inside the church, a new Worldview could become our new reality. We could
experience the lateral unification of the Church based not on our pocket
preferences, the “isms” of the world, but on the Truth that sets us free. I see
it happening here and there already among Christians. I pray the spark will grow
into a mighty revival.
Our freedom to love one another as Christ loved us would release
the grace of God to flow from us out into a world of hurt. Think what could
happen if our lateral unification went global among the nations. Wars would cease.
Food and water would become like manna equalized according to need. Shared
conversation would expand our knowledge base. Our diversity would become our
strongest asset under God. And it all could start with the lateral unification
of Jesus’ body under his headship, if we will only repent and align with God
and each other in answer to our Lord’s great prayer.
I’m in. Are you?
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