Where’s the Mystery?

The strange thing about Christianity is that as members of the religion we are called to be rational about our faith. We are meant to be able to say what kind of a world that Jesus lived in, to have some idea of the text and context of the Bible, and to be aware that there are parts of it that are dependant on the time it was written, and who it was written two.

We are called to investigate, understand and digest our Holy Book, and to know some of the prevalent themes therein. We also have a vague understanding of Church History, and how some of the things that we believe, and that we don’t believe have come about. Where our statements of faith have come from.

There’s no real mystery around the New Testament. You can find explanations about it all. You can even find explanations for all the Miracles or Signs. Some explanations simply change the nature of the Miracle, that Jesus walked out on a causeway, rather than walked on water, yet others, (Barbera Thering: Jesus the Man), claim that the whole thing is an encoded event that was part of tradition at Qumran.

Christianity is often attacked for it’s seemingly illogical acceptance of the impossible. Other Nature Religions are made exempt from such a burden of proof, presumably because little is understood about them, and that they, for the most part, keep themselves to themselves, and most of their tradition is passed down orally. You can, of course, buy books alluding to some part of it, but for it to make sense you require several books, by several people, and to learn from others. Other branches of the followers of the great “I AM” have their Holy Books shrouded in some form of mystery. the Koran can only truly be read in it’s original form, the Torah is kept wrapped in special cloth and kept in a special box. By contrast, you can buy a Bible anywhere.

Christian Worship has changed too. The Mystery of the Worship has been all but removed in some Churches. No-on remembers why a Church is built with the alter facing east, and many people won’t have noticed that old graveyards people were buried with their feet facing east. The words of the liturgy have changed as they’ve been revised, slowly removing superstition after superstition. Sometimes even the Communion Service is marginalized in favor of a service with electric guitars and drums.

There is a “Charismatic” movement (Charism meaning Spirit, the word meaning, literally, “Full of the Spirit”), which tries to retain some of this mystery in a new way. It concentrates on the “Gifts” of the Holy Spirit, which means talking in tongues (talking in what is presumed to be an “Angelic” language, or an ancient forgotten language), interpretation of this language, the discernment of spirits, and healing. They concentrate on a strange phenomena of feeling that they feel during these services. A skeptic might point to the fact that this is due to the large bas speaker throwing out an unusually strong beat. That coupled with the singing produces a feeling roughly similar to that found amongst American Indians, and some African tribes during a war dance, or rain dance and so on. Perhaps this is a way of getting the mystery back, yet the methods used to seem to make those taking part vaguely ridiculous (It also gives rise to yet another form of Christian snobbery, those that have been given a “Gift” by the Holy Spirit, and those that haven’t (NOTE: This is not true of all Charismatics)).

Another problem facing Christianity is the fact that it was only 2000 years ago. This means that we can find tantalizing evidence that sheds yet more light on the time. There are contemporary writings, and written history about this period. There is also the chance that we might yet find more documents, like those found at Qumran. This closeness, the fact that we could almost prove that Jesus really did exist rather than simply believe he did drives some people who are looking for what they feel is a missing part of their faith. The proof that they feel they need.

Could this missing part be the lack of Mystery? A lack of “Magic”? a lack of something… miraculous about the religion. It is difficult to marry a personal God and Saviour with a Global one. We may know that we have seen Jesus working in our lives right up until something bad happens, and then we wonder if he ever existed at all for this bad thing to happen. The amount of expectation that we, as Christians, have in our God far outweighs what we perceive to be the realities of life. Others, who have an inclusive view of their God, that is, it works for them, or for the chosen few don’t have this difficulty. Their view of God is not expected to answer why the Hurricanes, tidal waves, or earth quakes happened somewhere else. The victims were not chosen, not of their god, heathens, or perhaps that land is the real of a different god.

Christians believe that it’s all God. That God is a loving parent who looks after us. Things like natural disasters… confuse things. We have long put aside the idea that God would need to be appeased through some ritual to avoid more Tidal waves. We have no way of making ourselves feel better about these natural disasters because we’ve painted this view of God that doesn’t seem to match what we see in the world.

If we brought the Mystery back would it help? or would is simply making for lazy theology? In the case of something like a natural disaster, we could answer something like “God moves in mysterious ways”. It doesn’t seem to fit the missing piece, however.

Is the feeling that we’re missing something proof that we have ahold of the wrong stick? that perhaps Christianity as a religion is somehow flawed? As logical as that conclusion would be, it also doesn’t match with the experience of a Personal God and Jesus. This leaves us in a strange place somewhere between the logical and the illogical, emotional parts of Christianity. Perhaps what’s missing is the logical link between these two differing parts?

Perhaps the link that we’re missing is the mystery. Perhaps it’s somewhere in that divide.

Whatever it is, we will know when we find it. If we’re going to be looking at our religion, if we’re going to be taking it apart, investigating it’s Historical context, as well as criticizing the form used to wright it, perhaps we should also look at the intentions behind it. The Miracles that Jesus and his Disciples were seen to do, and wonder, where is that knowledge now?

~Black Xanthus