Does the Faith of Christopher Columbus Matter?

Does The Faith of Columbus Matter?

What geopolitical events triggered the Spanish crown’s decision to fund Columbus to sail west? The largest underlying factor seems to have been events in the centuries-long struggle between Christianity and Islam. The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 closed the western entrance to the Silk Road first blazed by Marco Polo in 1271-95, pushing Europeans to seeks another trade route to the Far East. The second was the conquest of Grenada in 1492 by the Spanish monarchy, ending the Moorish and Islamic presence in Iberia. That presence went back to 711 AD when the Moors invaded the southern tip of Western Europe, and advanced until the battle of Tours in 732 A. D. when Charles Martel defeated them. They remained a presence in the Iberian peninsula until 1492. After they surrendered at Grenada, they went south to Africa. 

In the 15th century, multiple European nations and explorers were seeking the advantages that would come from finding the alternate route to the Far East. In 1488, the Portuguese reached the Cape of Good Hope which showed promise for a sea route. Columbus advocated a direct western route, which he believed would be shorter. He made several mistakes in his calculations such as the radius of the earth, the size of a degree of longitude on the ground, and the total longitudinal span of the Eurasian landmass. (Per Wikipedia article.) He never got to the Far East. The flip side of this is that Columbus discovered a whole new world!

Columbus’ character is much harder to determine. There are many markers to devout Catholicism, but also actions that suggest the world’s approach to life. Faith markers: one ship named for St. Mary, another for the “little one” (maybe like El Niño or maybe just a small ship); using 2 Esdras 6:42 (an apocryphal reference) as evidence of a smaller ocean; naming the Lesser Antilles for saints; a book on prophecy written near the end of his life. Worldly actions include taking a mistress, tyrannical control when he had authority over new world settlers, seeking wealth from the profits the Spanish crown made in the new world, and enslaving native Americans. 

We remember a gifted sailor, explorer, and entrepreneur on October 12th, the day he first sighted land in the Western Hemisphere. It would not be fair to judge him by the standards of our time. Modern geography is based on centuries of mapping, charting, and geodesy since 1492. Biblical standards of character have been well known for thousands of years. We are all sinners, some saved by grace. Columbus, for all his faults, set in motion the settlement of the Americas. Does his faith matter? Perhaps to the extent that his life demonstrates the profound impact that one person can have, acting in faith, even though flawed.

Transcendence

Transcendence refers to the aspect of God’s nature and character that is independent of and beyond all known laws and principles within this universe. An easy and very shallow metaphor might be that spherical trigonometry transcends Euclidean geometry. Euclidean geometry is accurate for local travel, but directions for traveling large distances are not accurately captured in a rectilinear model. Seafarers have known for centuries to use latitude and longitude in a spherical coordinate system to navigate. Flatland (by A. Square, a.k.a. Edwin Abbott) provides fictional but much more entertaining examples.

Transcendence in matters of faith is not an excuse for not being able to articulate aspects of God’s nature, but a recognition of reality. Everything that we know and experience, accessible to our senses, capable of being reasoned by us, was created by God and therefore a subset of His eternal reality. C. S. Lewis discussed this in his essays, The Weight of Glory and Transposition. Biblically, God’s transcendence includes His ways being higher than our ways, and His thoughts higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9); His throne being eternal (Psalm 99:2); His word being eternal (Psalm 119:89); His kingdom being eternal (Daniel 4:3); eternal life through faith in Jesus (John 3:15-16); and His unseen eternal glory. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18) 

On a human level, the glory of God includes His unfailing love, His perfect holiness, His unlimited power, wisdom, justice, and goodness. But in eternity, in His presence, are these attributes amplified or are they all intrinsic dimensions of a unified divine nature and essence as Thomas Aquinas said.  Even with all of Scripture, we lack words and concepts to meaningfully discuss this question. Is this a cop-out or a recognition of reality?

We have many questions. The problem of pain remains one of the chief stumbling blocks to faith for many. How can a good God allow terrible evil to occur and sometimes to triumph? Other questions: If God created the universe, where did God come from? If God is love, why did He command the Israelites to kill every man, woman, and child in Canaan? We struggle with the mystery of the Incarnation. Is it fair for God to create human beings with specific attributes - desires and limitations - and then call it sin when they respond to them? The answer to these issues lies in God’s transcendence. We don’t see the whole picture and have to trust Him.

Another aspect of transcendence is human response to being in the presence of God. Being overwhelmed by God’s presence is a not uncommon experience for believers. It is also Biblical. See, for example, Exodus 33:18-23; Joshua 5:14; Leviticus 16:2; Daniel 10:9; Isaiah 6:5; Ezekiel 3:23; Matthew 17:6; Acts 9:4; Revelation 1:17.

I was surprised to read in the last half of the first chapter of Timothy Keller’s book Making Sense of God that even atheists have transcendent experiences. He cites several examples of committed atheists who have described coming “... upon something inherently ‘wholly other’, whose kind and character are incommensurables with our own...” Despite a commitment to explain all human experience in an evolutionary biology framework, they are unable to so explain these experiences. Yet do not bow before the Maker of all things.

What is the point? The most important thing is not any of the following, true though they be: God does not owe us an explanation; If God were to answer our questions, we would be incapable of understanding the answers; We cannot sit in judgment of what God says or does. Instead, the most important observation is this:

God is so amazing that joining Him in His enterprise of redemption will be an adventure that we cannot fathom.

Does The Dogma Live Loudly Within You?

How does a life of faith contrast with a life of dogma? Dogma is something held as an established, authoritative tenet, a propositional axiom. Faith is trust in someone or something  that one holds onto despite difficulties and in confusing circumstances. We can have faith in tenets as unshakeable truths, but faith has a far broader scope. Dogma connotes authority; we can trust authority or rebel. Jesus enjoins us to trust Him on the basis of knowing Him, of having a relationship so strong that we recognize and understand His voice. (John 10:4 & 27) It is not doctrine to know the voice of the Lover of our soul. In the words of a traditional hymn, trust and obedience are inextricably linked at the core of our relationship with Jesus.

Both faith and doctrine influence our lives, in that we honor what we believe, and who we believe in. God created both the angels and humankind a certain way, and it seems logical to us that He would  command and bless our fulfilling the nature He created us with.  In life, we often find that God-given desires are not fulfilled. We blame this on sin (our own or others’), or opposition by the world, the flesh, or the devil. The gospels show that Jesus’ earthly life included fasting, denial of the flesh, and suffering. With Him as role model, this suggests that God’s intention for Adam and us is to overcome naturally good things for the sake of transcendent spiritual values, as Jesus did. (For example, His spending 40 days in the wilderness.) Lucifer’s downfall was that he believed that the light and beauty of his God-created nature would be fulfilled when he ascended above God. (Isaiah 14:13-14) He tempted Adam and Eve that they could become as God. (Genesis 3:5) It is a subtle path from “God created me this way”, to “God intends me to fulfill the nature He created in me”, to “the ultimate fulfillment of God’s creation is for me to be as God, and ultimately transcend Him.”

Does God take us through trials to reveal our true internal condition to us and to others? The life of faith - knowing Jesus even in the storm - suggests that we know Him best when we have nothing else. I have found the homeless have a strong connection to the Lord; they have tried and found Him faithful.

We all experience storms; whether He takes us through or we tough it out alone depends on us. If our faith speaks through our lives and actions, is it an assertive self-conscious (or self-righteous) display, or the aroma of a life broken by storms and saved by His hand? Is it a dogmatic life that acknowledges the struggle to reconcile relationship with Jesus with the imperatives of a world system that we live in?

The world, with its focus on intellectual understanding without a spiritual dimension, sees the Bible as a source of intellectual propositions, not a revelation of eternal truths. The intellectual content of the Bible is glorious (Psalm 119), but that is the farthest the world can get. The eternal presence of God is not merely a different view of reality, it transcends all that we can see or understand in the world. The life of those who know and walk with Jesus may appear governed by dogma to unbelievers. Only those who have access to that inner source of life that flows out of the innermost being of Jesus’ people (John 7:37-39) can discern the life of faith. The only way to experience this artesian well of eternal life is to receive Jesus and surrender to Him.

Book Review: Finding God in the Waves, by Mike McHargue

Not your typical conversion testimony. “Science Mike” places modern science and empirical evidence as the epistemological authority for understanding God and interpreting His word. His experience seems genuine - he went astray and God searched for him as a lost sheep and brought him back to the fold. His refound faith seems a work in progress (aren’t we all?). The second half of the book, the writer’s explanation of the axioms of his faith, are certainly unique to him. One unusual feature - he links religious and spiritual experiences to activity in specific locations in the brain.

The greatest value in reading this book is the insight the author gives into the thoughts and feelings of searchers, questioners, doubters, and unbelievers. How does a person who is unsure of what he or she believes react to the way church services are conducted and members treat them? How do believers treat those who would like to believe but openly express the doubts they are struggling with? How do those trapped in sinful lifestyles react to what us said and done in church? The core question: is our response to those who don’t line up with our understanding of Christian belief and practice more like Jesus or the Pharisees? The author details his experience with the latter.

God’s transcendence. In many areas, this book articulates the author’s trust in God’s overarching, omnipotent love. Yet there is one central tenet of Christianity that he does not “grok”. Atonement. He asks why God determined to send Jesus to die on the cross for the sins of humankind. How could Jesus’ blood pay the price for our sins? Why was it necessary? Oddly, he foreshadows awareness of the resolution of his own issue early when discussing his disappointment with God in not answering his prayers to prevent his parents’ divorce: “Instead, He bowed His head and died.” (Chapter 6) The fundamental tension that God has in dealing with fallen humans is His own perfect love and perfect holiness. Perfect love impels Him not to leave us to reap the fruit of our sin; perfect holiness cannot allow us as sinners into His presence without our destruction. The Atonement is God’s response to this dilemma. In God’s transcendent eternity, He simultaneously resolved both the legal and experiential problem of sin, and empowered His people to defeat sin and enter His kingdom.

Labor Day in Heaven

Labor Day, with its U.S. origin in the 1882-1892 time frame, recognizes union members who fought for livable wages over a hundred years ago. It rejects the Malthusian theory and celebrates that humankind is not condemned to live at the subsistence level. Work enables us to receive income to live, to support our family and others. Work provides tangible benefits to society: food, shelter, enlightenment, entertainment, etc. Work enhances our self-image, built by accomplishment.

The Bible recognizes that we live in a physical world that was very good when God created it (Genesis 1:31), but that our priority should be Him and His kingdom. In Genesis 3:17-19, God put a curse on anything in this world that we work for in disobedience to Him.  Proverbs says in all labor there is profit (Proverbs 14:23), but Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)  Paul wrote, “ ...if anyone is not willing to work, neither let him eat,” (2 Thessalonians 3:10) but also “... the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6).

What will labor in heaven be like? What will we do? Will we participate in one continuous concert of worship, interrupted only by choir rehearsals? (Revelation 5:13) Will we tend the gardens of the new earth, as Adam was originally assigned in the garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15)? This is all idle speculation.

Jesus gave instructions which apply to all circumstances in John 6:27: “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life.” In some inconceivable way, work that provides this food is faith in Christ. The context of this conversation is the miraculous feeding of a multitude, followed by Jesus walking on the water. Near the end of this passage, Jesus gave this explanation to His disciples: "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. “ (John 6:63)

The refrain from a poem by Charles Thomas Studd summarizes human understanding of what God thinks about labor.

Only one life, twill soon be past.

Only what’s done for Christ will last.

And when I am dying, how happy I’ll be,

If the lamp of my life has been burned out for Thee.

Independence Day

Celebrate Independence Day

The Declaration of Independence’s list of grievances sounds a lot like children whining. Grievances are not unusual; the essay in the Declaration attempts to explain that these legitimate grievances justify the rebellion. What is the difference? Good parents have a vision for the future of their children, which the rules they impose seldom convey and the child or adolescent cannot yet grasp, so they whine. But in the political realm, adults with differing perspectives cannot claim this kind of superiority over others.

The colonists in 1776 did not primarily complain that they had to pay for the cost of British colonial governance and protection, but that they had no say in the matter. They felt like adults being treated as children. Would things have gone differently if there had been members of parliament from America to advocate for and vote on these issues? But if so, what of the rest of the British colonies? Should India and China and Australia also have had representatives? Should this have included representatives of the conquered as well? Quite quickly the inherent racism of colonial empires surfaces, the “white man’s burden” to minister to and elevate the subjugated peoples, not admit them as equal partners. Did American colonists deal with native Americans any better? (Lamentations 3:39)

What defines the difference between whining, rebellion, and legitimate grievances? Surely it rests in the standards by which complaints are judged. The founding fathers declared that certain natural rights were inalienable: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They further asserted that the creator endowed humans with these rights, an essential part of being human. The Bill of Rights recognizes many other derived rights. The modern era has created a whole new set of “rights.” Whining is usually characterized as complaints about unhappiness that is someone else’s fault, not on the level of rights, but more of the flavor that someone didn’t do something to make me happy. God is often indicted on this charge. 

The founding fathers’ logic implicitly derives from man being made in the image and likeness of God. (Genesis 1:26; 5:1) The natural rights of man therefore derive from the respect that everyone ought to render to the image of God in others. That likeness is awesome to contemplate, as is the idea that God’s original intention for humankind is to be like Him in all aspects (Ephesians 4:15). He deals with every person and situation in full accordance with His holiness, love, and justice. We stretch credulity when we invoke His image in us, because none of us measure up to His stature.  

The climax of C. S. Lewis’ novel Till We Have Faces includes a fictional list of grievances, but with a fundamental difference. Grievances against God suffer from differing levels of knowledge. He sees the big picture, knows the future, and has a plan for our spiritual and eternal blessing. He plans that we become like Him in ways we only dimly sense. The principle illustrated by the fictional conclusion is that God’s ways and plans and very existence are transcendent.  Any complaint we have results from our own choices to refuse Him, just as Adam chose in the garden of Eden. 

Book Review - Paul, A Biography by N. T. Wright

There is so much depth that highlights can only hint at. Paul’s pre-conversion zeal was based on the examples of Phinehas (Numbers 25:7-9) and Elijah (1 Kings 18:40). Psalm 106:30-31 says that Phinehas’ slaying of the brazenly apostate Israelite was reckoned to him as righteousness.  Wright points to the likelihood that young Saul took these to mean that the slaying of unrepentant backsliding Jews was how to deal with early Christians. (Acts 7:58). This was the mindset of Saul when confronted by Christ on the Damascus road.

Considering Paul’s life in chronological order, pulling the Acts and the epistles together, gives us clues to Paul’s interior life, and to events not reported by Luke. The author expends considerable effort on events in Ephesus not recorded by Luke, in which Paul experienced such grievous trials that he despaired of life. The evidence comes from Paul’s own words. The impact on Paul’s outlook on life, ministry, and writing style suggests that this was a significant event. He learned a new aspect of walking with Jesus: His faithfulness in the darkest trials, and being so weak that he had no strength of his own, and was totally dependent on the Lord.

It is hard for us to grasp how hard it was for Jews of Paul’s time to accept the idea of a crucified Messiah. Paul could not, until he met Him. When he preached to Jews, he emphasized continuity with the history, prophecy, and promises of the Jewish scriptures. But it was a hard sell to convince Jews, who expected a conquering hero to set the world right by force, that God had worked more powerfully in Jesus by defeating evil spiritual powers through His crucifixion and resurrection. Paul preached that they needed to experience that power personally, and when writing to churches, reminded them of their own experience with Christ.

The impact of Paul’s life is hard to overestimate. He personally travelled to innumerable cities, preached Christ, established churches, and demonstrated by his own life how a Christian lives. And then he wrote letters that have shown two millennia of believers not only the doctrines of the church, but also how to think about faith, religion, and life in a holistic framework. If nothing else, N. T. Wright’s biography awakens the reader with an appreciation of all that God did through Paul, in fulfillment of Acts 9:16.