Origin of the Bible

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The invention of writing provided a reliable way to transfer religious practices from one generation to the next. Just about every religion now has some kind of collection of writings considered to be holy, held in high esteem or to be authoritative. 

For us Christians, it is the Bible except there is not just one Bible. Different people with different levels of power have had different opinions about which texts to include in the Bible. 

Somehow, many of the Bible versions we have today have more or less the same content anyway. Since about the 4th century, various councils, also called synods, of religious leaders have added and removed texts depending on what they considered important to know about God. More recently, as Christianity spread throughout the world disputes over interpretation in different languages also became a factor. As the church became more and more fractured, the number of versions increased. With the printing press it became easy to publish any version you preferred. I counted more than 50 versions in the English language alone.

As Christians we are mostly concerned with the 27 "books" we know as the New Testament because they tell us about the life of a man named Jesus who is the source of our particular interpretation of God. Jesus never wrote anything down himself. Everything we know about him and his message comes from people who either knew him or at least knew of him. 

Jesus was a Jew. Even though he was a revolutionary, the Christian writers made it a point to portray him as someone who was well versed in the ancient Hebrew scriptures. For our convenience they are included in the Bible as roughly the first 39 "books" collectively known as the Old Testament. What I think they were trying to say is that Jesus was not going to start a new religion. He simply re-interpreted the old one. He paints for us a completely new picture of God, a God of mercy, a God who loves us, a God who wants us to take him seriously.

Most of the Bibles you will find will have some kind of introduction explaining how that particular version came to be and why. What is this particular group of Bible editors trying to teach us about Jesus? 

Some scholars have spent a lifetime studying the Bible and published what they have learned. Every denomination has a list of books they think will tell the truth about Jesus. Some of it is scientific fact, but much of it is simply opinion; in some cases even outright lies. It is for us to know the difference. Reading all of them should help you construct a nuanced picture of Jesus and his relationship with God. 

Origin of Scripture

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No other species pratices religion to the extent humans do. Without a doubt, this is due in large part to the unique capabilities of the human brain. We still have much to learn about language in animals, but none of them seem to be able to tell stories like humans can. Certainly, none of them can write. 

Archeological finds show that religious practices among humans may have started even before the ability to speak. The ability to speak must have accelerated such practices, but that is nothing compared to the emergence of written language. We are now in historic time and our knowledge is on much more solid ground.

The earliest writers must have had a vast body of stories from their oral traditions to work with. There are a few things all the stories have in common, but most of the details are different from place to place and from time to time.

For example, just about every religion has some kind of creation narrative and supernatural beings or phenomena. A lot of them also have an end-of-the-world narrative. They often have guides for practices on how to worship deities or rules on how to live such as the Golden Rule. At least a dozen religions have some version of the Golden Rule.

The ancients did not just write, they also traveled and their stories traveled with them. Sometimes they merged over time with stories in other places and formed new religious practices. Large volumes have been written about how concepts from one religious practice appear in others. 

When we talk about the classics, we really just mean ancient Greek and Roman literature. Today we also have classic symphonies, opera, evergreens or rock music. Certain movies also make the transition from one generation to the next. School curriculums usually include poems or novels we now consider classics as well. So who gets to decide what texts get labeled classics? Indeed, who gets to decide what texts are included in the Bible? Well, that is a whole study all by itself, so we will leave that for another day.

Human Nature

Humans are the only species to practice religion in any kind of significant way. Religion is closely linked to emotions and language. We don't know much about either in animals yet. What we do know is that in humans they have developed to levels far exceeding the capabilities of all other species. The human brain can do things no other species can. The development of language, especially written language, is the basis for most modern religious practices. "In the beginning was the word," says the gospel writer, John.

Humans have extraordinary imaginative abilities. They can use it to get answers to all kinds of questions. If they can't find a logical answer, they can make one up. The ancient Bible writers recorded things like the creation story or the nativity story we all know and love. More modern writers from Plato to Josephus, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Marx and many others have produced works we continue to draw on for inspiration to this day.

Another aspect of human nature is our tendency to be social. A few species live mostly apart from one another, but most do not. The degree to which humans form communities varies. How we do that has changed over time. For example, Friedrich Engles writes in Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State about how the concept of family has developed over time. That helps us explain how religions change over time despite the efforts of a powerful priesthood to prevent it sometimes in alliances with powerful principalities.

Sometimes we refer to communities beyond our immediate families as churches or just plain communities, another religious concept that takes different forms in all times and all places. The human tendency for belonging serves to meet both emotional needs such as security and physical needs like food or shelter.

Origin of Religion

 In the Middle Ages, the crusaders used religion as a pretext for war. The Inquisition was a brutal way to punish people who questioned the teachings of the church. For some reason, religion seems to stir up very strong feelings in people. Conflict has always been prominently present at least in our Western culture.

In more modern times, some of the answers to conflicts in the church have changed. People began to simply leave. You Lost Me, wrote David Kinnamon back in 2016. James White spoke about The Rise of the Nones in 2014. Fed up with the eternal squabble, some people began to identify as “spiritual, but not religious.” What they probably really meant was “religious, but not that way.” 

There is no way to know for sure, but there is evidence that some form of religion has been around since the early humans began to walk the earth. Some will argue that religion is part of human nature. Others will say that there is no such thing as human nature. Either way, it is hard to deny that some form of religion is and always has been present in every human culture on the entire planet. 

If you have been around other Christians for a while you can probably already see that our understanding of religion in general and Christianity in particular is quite different from what you are used to. Some of the things we teach here at New Covenant House may rock some deeply held beliefs. For some it may be a painful process of unlearning. For others, it may be a relief to find that there is an alternative. It doesn’t change the core values of Christianity, however, quite on the contrary in fact. What we are trying to do is to return to the original meaning of the teachings of Jesus, but to apply them to our present condition.

Hello 2025

Clearly we didn’t reach all our goals last year, but that doesn’t mean we are going to give up. What we need to do is make a plan for what we will try to accomplish this year.

Our why is not going to change. The world is still broken and in need of repair. Our what isn’t going to change either. We are still going to love God and love one another. It is our how that can and should change.

First, our challenges:

• Our audience is spread out worldwide
• Our theology is unique even among other Christians

The big lesson last year was to become more clear about who we are so we can better communicate it to others. 

Therefore, although it may seem repetitive at times, we will continue to be posting Sunday morning service videos. In addition to videos about the basics of our faith, we will also add some about how we practice that faith here at our Christian intentional community, New Covenant House. 

You cannot practice community alone. I would like to make our time together more interactive with some time for discussion and deeper learning. The easiest way to do that is to join with others. Cultivating Caring Communities discuss intentional communities every Tuesday at 7:30pm Eastern and we are invited to join them. Let me know if you are interested.

We will leave the third discipleship level for the future when we have one or two more residents here. This is the one that prepares new leaders for replicating what we are doing now. 

Finally, our Foundations document needs to be updated with the lessons we have learned last year and what we have planned for the future. Let me know if you are interested in working with me on that project.

Goodbye 2024

Soon, it will be four years since I took the first public steps to begin planning for New Covenant House as an Intentional Christian Community, a modern day monastery. The idea had been brewing in my mind for years, but the New Covenant House Facebook page was the first public manifestation.

Years in church leadership had taught me how important it is to be clear about why we are doing what we do. This year it also became clear that it is not enough to know why. You also need to be able to communicate it to others.

Let me be clear, we do want to be open and inclusive. Everyone who is willing can be saved. However, building a new community takes a lot of energy. We need to spend it wisely. Like it or not, for now we have to be exclusive. We will only be looking for people who can help move the project forward. We need to be of one heart and one mind. Everyone else will have to wait a little while longer.

Right now, my biggest wish is to get some feedback on the communication we already have and some ideas for taking it to the next level. The biggest step we could take next year I think would be to test the concept with a real person in real life.

In order to attract the right startup group, I created a simple website that explains what it is we are trying to accomplish. In order to reach the best suitable candidates, our Foundations document now also includes a statement of faith. Our faith is what provides all the values that guide us in everything we do. I hope it will help you decide whether New Covenant House is for you or not. Read it. Then give us a call to schedule a visit or a phone or video call.

4th Sunday of Advent, 2024 | Immanuel - God With Us

 The 4th and last Sunday in Advent is the day some traditions light the Christ candle along with one of the other four candles; the Hope, the Joy, the Love or the Peace candles. Lighting the Love candle on this day makes the most sense to me. After all, Love is the central element in Jesus’ teaching and ministry.

Regardless of Luke’s account of the first Christmas, the people back then had no idea what had just happened. It wasn’t until maybe as much as half a century later that some people realized what an extraordinary thing that had happened long ago and began to piece the story together. In the process, their imagination ran a little wild at times. Let us face it, there were no angels or wise men. Jesus was just another baby, but as it turned out, not just any baby. He grew up to be perhaps the most influential person in the history of mankind. He repeatedly pointed out how the people, in their quest to follow the letter of the law, totally missed the spirit of the law. The gospel writers’ creative writing even went so far as to call him Immanuel which means God with us in Hebrew. Jesus wasn’t God, but I think he knew God better than anyone before or after. In a sense, he is our way to know God too.

Every religion on the planet has some kind of creation story. In ours, the ancient writers imagined a place where everything could have been perfect were it not for our natural selfishness. Unlike most animals, we have a brain that enables us to override this natural tendency to place ourselves before others. It is the same brain that allows us to forgive others when they stumble. It is the same brain that allows us to work together for the good of all.

All of these things are summarized in the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:9-13):

“‘Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

    on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

    as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

    but deliver us from the evil one.’