Post-Game Thoughts on “God’s Close-up”

I was so glad that so many of you could come last Tuesday. Unfortunately, I was feeling ill and was not able to fully prepare Genesis 23 as planned. However, I was lucky/blessed to run across an episode of This American Life called “God’s Close-up.” I showed it to y’all, and really enjoyed our discussion afterwards.

If you missed it, the story follows Ben McPherson, a Mormon artist who is working on a series of paintings depicting New Testament events. His quest for models leads him to the hobos and outcasts of Salt Lake City as well as a Marxist economics grad student and his girlfriend, a former Mormon herself. Each person in the episode has something to say about the role of religion and God in their lives and the lives of those around them.

In our discussion, we immediately latched on to the brokenness that Mormonism seems to have engendered in each of these people. However, I think that we could insert almost anything in the place of “Mormonism” in that equation. No matter how inclusive we might try to be, religion — by the very fact that it takes a stand, demarcating what one believes about the nature of reality — is an exclusivist enterprise. The problem wasn’t Mormonism; the problem was legalism and religion.

Legalism is pervasive amongst Christian denominations. This is unfortunate, because Christ was not a legalistic dude. In fact, Christ berated the chief legalists of his day, the Pharisees. Check out what Jesus says (Matthew 23:13–36, ESV):

¹³“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. ¹⁵Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

¹⁶“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁷You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? ¹⁸And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁹You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? ²⁰So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. ²²And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

²³ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. ²⁴You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

²⁵ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

²⁷ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

²⁹ “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. ³³You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? ³⁴ Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, ³⁵so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. ³⁶Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Legalism means improperly fixating on rules and regulations, pegging our salvation on adherence to those rules. I can tell you without a doubt that I am frequently guilty of this.

What rules and regulations are you holding on to that keep you from fully experiencing freedom in Christ?

What rules and regulations do you impose on other people that keeps you from loving them as your brother/sister?

Post-Game: Thoughts on Genesis 22

I really appreciated everyone that came out last night to discuss this remarkable piece of Scripture. I know I learned a great deal from all of your different perspectives. As always, I am astounded at the depth of the Word — this incredible text has so much meaning packed so densely into such a small space — it is a singularity inside of which all humanity and divinity is packed. Good stuff!

So, what did we talk about?

Mostly, we talked about the story and the struggle of Abraham. The text is terse when it comes to Abraham’s feelings. Therefore, we are forced to speculate about how ol’ Abe felt when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac. Some felt like Abraham was the ultimate faith warrior (a “Knight of Faith” as Kierkegaard would say); therefore, he hopped to it and didn’t ask questions. Others felt like Abraham probably agonized over the decision all the way up to the point where the angel stayed his hand. I have a few thoughts on this myself, but I’ll save them for another time.

We also talked about Isaac’s role in this business. How old was Isaac? Was he old enough to resist? Did he go along willingly? Etc. Some felt like he was too young to resist his father. Others noted the fact that Isaac needed to be bound.

Finally, we touched briefly on parallels to the Crucifixion. Abraham, like God, (nearly) sacrificed his beloved son. That son was forced to carry the instrument of his death (wood) up a hill and into the unknown. There’s so much here, and I’m sorry that we barely got to hit it.

I had a full page of “big ideas” that I’ve drawn from Genesis 22. I looked at my page this morning and realized that we only hit a couple of them. Consequently, I would like to revisit Genesis 22 next week (July 21). We will probably split our time between Genesis 22 and Genesis 23. At some point in the next day or two I’ll put up some questions for Genesis 23. Also, be looking ahead to July 28, when we’ll breeze through Genesis 24 and 25 and then have a Q&A about Abraham and Sarah and what they have meant to history, literature, and the Christian and Jewish faiths.

Blessings!