Weblogs: Behold the God of new things

the christian agnostic - Behold the God of New Things:

"So often I come upon conservative Christians who are fond of saying that they take the Bible seriously and that what God has said in the Bible God will never, ever contradict. In essence, nothing new will ever happen because it will contradict the God of the Bible (never mind those pesky contradictions like outlawing polygamy and slavery - approved by the Bible, and the equal rights gained by women - staunchly condemned by the Bible).

To them I quote the prophet Isaiah - speaking for God:

See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
Isaiah 43:19

God does new things - God said so himself. Our job is to perceive it - to see those new things - to weigh those things that come to us and make sure that those new things bear the fruit of the spirit:

“…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
Galatians 5:22-23

We have evidence of God doing new things. Jesus was God doing a new thing - sending his son into the world to show the world that being in relationship with God is not a matter of law, but of grace - not a matter of right doctrine, but a matter of right living - not a matter of right believing, but right acting - not a matter of the letter of the law but the spirit. When asked what the greatest of the laws were, Jesus responded with two, love God with all your heart, mind and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. Odd for a religion that practiced eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. But, there it is - a new thing - all the laws and the prophets hang on love of God and love of neighbor as self - removing that ego before God and man. Totally a new thing.

It got Jesus killed.

[...] We are destined to do greater, newer, better things than Jesus ever did. The things we are doing will not be recorded in the Bible, but they will still be God’s work in the world.

Those who think the Bible is the be all and end all of what God has taught us worship not a living God, but a dead, leather-bound one. God does not live in a book. The Bible has not swallowed God whole and spit it back at us in the form of rules and regulations. To believe that is to make the same mistake the Pharisees made - failing to perceive God doing a new thing.

Modern day Pharisees seek to kill anything they perceive as “new.”

The Good News that Jesus sought to reaffirm for all of us is this: God is still alive, still speaking, still doing new things.

Do you not perceive it?"