Is it really that simple?

Hmmm. Humanism. The word of the day. I expect that I'll talk about it a bunch in several posts. There's also modernism and post-modernism, which are another couple of words that come in when we talk about humanism and the church. It's almost ridiculous to try to encapsulate those words down to a sentence or two, but for purposes of this particular blog, I'm going to try. I'll talk about them more specifically in later posts.

Humanism is a word that gets thrown about a bunch and it has roots going all the way back to the renaissance. You can look up all sorts of definitions, but if you had to boil it down, what it basically consists of is a celebration of the works of man. We can discover anything, do anything if we (not just as individuals, but as a culture or species) put our mind to it. There often is a secular element to it, a rejection of the supernatural, an emphasis on man's ability to reason.

Modernism is a more recent development, it started in the late 1800's, and progressed on. I'm going to pull the first sentence out of the Wikipedia entry on modernism, it describes it about as well as anything:

"Modernism is a trend of thought which affirms the power of human beings to make, improve, deconstruct and reshape their built and designed environment, with the aid of scientific knowledge, technology and practical experimentation, thus in its essence both progressive and optimistic."

Post-modernism is a reaction to modernism; a basic rejection of all the promises of progress that it brought. A very cynical view, that in the absence of success, or a purpose, a vacuum is present. There is no absolute truth to a post-modernist.

How these two have affected christianity is a topic for later, but it's interesting to note that if you boil them down, it still comes back to Humanism and the belief in the power of man. I think about this a lot. If you watch T.V. much, you might notice that in relationships that are portrayed, there is constant drama and conflict. Often it is about nothing at all, one partner stirs something up because they feel like there is something wrong in the relationship, even though there isn't. Or watch some reality show like Survivor, and watch all the plotting and scheming. People tend to get voted off who are less scheming. If a contestant follows the golden rule (do unto others...) and just tries to survive and be friendly with everyone, the other players are annoyed and try to get the "miscreant" off. They would rather have players who would stab them in the back, than someone who does the right thing.

These are just a few examples of the folly of man. We tend to make things more complicated than it has to be. I think it springs from this desire to prove the incredible power and reason man has. Unfortunately, we don't feel we have proven it if it isn't complicated--we fall into the trap of thinking that complex is better than simple. Even look at the game of football (or any other sport), all the rules and revisions that constantly go on.

I prove my love for you if our relationship is complex. Complicated equals deep. I've got to be honest, I would be trying to simplify the football game, not adding rules. When we get to church, we've created so many doctrines, beliefs, organizational structures, types of worship... I could go on. Does anybody actually think that what God really values is our intricate designs? Nope. What God really values is our love and worship.

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and all your mind' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22:37-39

If the entirety of the Old Testament can hang on two sentences, then it can't be that complicated. Sometimes we get lost in the minutia of what we believe and how we worship that we lose the overriding principle. If you believe that Jesus is the son of God, and in his death and resurrection, and are saved (which is another post topic--lol), that's all it should matter. We can work out the other details later. There would be a lot less schisms in the church today. No voting people off the island; no church statements of faith that have to be published in a fully bound edition. Just a group of people loving God and loving their neighbor. It is really that simple.

Now talking about what exactly loving God and loving our neighbor entails, that's for another time... :)