How Do You Respond?

The time on the Isle of Iona in northern Scotland was a powerful time for me. We took long walks in the afternoons all around this rugged but very beautiful small island. I had spent just a few moments learning of Celtic spirituality prior to this trip but the aspect of seeing God in the world around us intrigued me as I have always loved the out of doors.

Ian Bradley, in a book entitled "The Celtic Way," describes much of the understandings of the early Celtic Christians and how these persons lived their faith in the time of 300 - 600 AD. He is open about the ways in which the Celtic views were seen as outside the norms of the early Roman Church. One particular area of theology he lifts up is the conflict between Augustine and a Celtic theologian named Pelagius. Pelagius disagreed with Augustine around the issue of original sin. I know it is an oversimplification but essentially Augustine saw that all of humanity was infected with a sinful nature that was passed on so that each person even at birth was inherently depraved and damned if not baptized to remove the sinfulness.

Pelagius believed that "babies were born innocent and that baptism was a sign and a seal of God's gracious love for them rather than an operation which had to be performed to avoid their dispatch to Hell." (Bradley, pg. 63) To Pelaguis, Christ's mission was to liberate the world from the bondage of sin and evil under which it was being held rather than coming to appease an angry God.

Pelaguis viewed the work of Christ "as the great liberator and emancipator, the one who draws us into the glorious liberty of the children of God. They say saw too very much as the Christus Victor, triumphant on the Cross having done battle with the Devil and won." (Bradley, pg. 65)

I find that I understand both sides of this argument as I have been influenced by threads of thought from both camps. I understand that we are a fallen people, the story of the fall is one which helps me understand the nature of our world when nothing else makes sense but I also understand that God is the author and creator of a world which was good as stated in Genesis one and two. I believe that it was humanity's choice to turn away from God and that it is a choice we continue to make today!

One interesting outgrowth of this thought process relates to why Christ came to die. Was it to appease an angry God? If you have talked with people who are not connected with the church, one of the arguments they will often share is centered around this idea. They do not want to be connected with that type of God. And honestly, neither do I. I understand and resonate with the thought that Christ came to deliver us from evil, that he did battle with and conquered sin and death through his earthly life.

The questions that arise for me then are - how do I understand God and how do I view Christ's role and then how do I communicate that with the world around me?

Food for thought around an issue which has been debated for 1600 years!