{"id":21553,"date":"2019-02-15T14:55:53","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T22:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=21553"},"modified":"2019-02-15T14:55:53","modified_gmt":"2019-02-15T22:55:53","slug":"do-you-believe-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/do-you-believe-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Believe?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Do You \u201cBelieve\u201d?<\/h1>\n<\/header>\n

Written by: Jay Forseth<\/a> on February 14, 2019<\/p>\n

Before I jump into Luhrmann, I recognize she gives us MANY things we can EASILY discuss. I feel I must start this week\u2019s Blog with the one word that kept coming up in my mind while reading Luhrmann\u2019s, When\u00a0God\u00a0Talks\u00a0Back:\u00a0Understanding\u00a0the\u00a0American\u00a0Evangelical\u00a0Relationship\u00a0with\u00a0God.<\/em>\u00a0[1]<\/p>\n

The word is\u2014\u201cbelieve\u201d. No, I\u2019m not saying God spoke this word to me. But maybe He did\u2026<\/p>\n

In Acts\u00a016:16+,\u00a0missionaries Paul\u00a0and\u00a0Silas are involved in a jailbreak earthquake and are asked an incredible question by their\u00a0suicidal jailor\u2014\u00a0\u201cSir\u2019s, what\u00a0must\u00a0I\u00a0do\u00a0to\u00a0be\u00a0saved?\u201d Their response is critical, \u201cBelieve<\/strong> in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved\u2026\u201d [2]<\/p>\n

The most\u00a0quoted\u00a0Scripture\u00a0in\u00a0America\u00a0is supposedly not\u00a0Psalm\u00a023, rather it is theoretically John\u00a03:16\u00a0where \u201cbelieve\u201d obviously comes up again, \u201c\u2026whosoever believes<\/strong> in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.\u201d [3] I saw the super bowl and again looked behind the goal post during multiple field goal attempts and saw the now regular sign holders holding up their John 3:16 poster boards. I gave thanks for their ministry!<\/p>\n

Our author quotes the staggering Gallup statistic that 89% of America supposedly\u00a0\u201cbelieves\u201d [4] and recently I read an article that stated
\n91%\u00a0of\u00a0current\u00a0US\u00a0Congress\u00a0affiliates\u00a0as\u00a0Christian\u00a0(down\u00a03% from two years ago). [5] I am reminded, however, about the warning in James 2:19, \u201cYou believe<\/strong> that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that\u2014and shudder.\u201d [6]<\/p>\n

So, I got pastoral and looked up the Greek for \u201cbelieve\u201d and re-discovered the word\u00a0pisteuo<\/em>, which is the same word used in the above Scriptures. In fact, my concordance said\u00a0pisteuo<\/em> was used 240+ times in Scripture including more than 80 times alone in Gospel of John. [7]<\/p>\n

We must have a definition problem. No duh! We are confused by the generic\u00a0definition of believe\u2014like I believe in\u00a0life\u00a0on\u00a0mars,\u00a0mermaids,\u00a0and Bigfoot\u00a0(for\u00a0crying\u00a0out\u00a0loud).<\/p>\n

John 1:12 says, \u201cYet to all who received him, to those who believed<\/strong> in his name, he gave them the right to become children of God\u2026\u201d [8] There it is again, pisteuo.<\/em> Once more here it is in Romans 10:9, \u201cIf you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe<\/strong> in your heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.\u201d [9]<\/p>\n

So what does it mean to believe, pisteuo?<\/em><\/p>\n

My mentor Fred Nelson taught me, over the past 20 years, that pisteuo<\/em> means 5 things (of course the Greek is incredibly deep compared to our English). It means: Surrender\u00a0to\u00a0+ trust\u00a0in (faith)\u00a0+ rely\u00a0on\u00a0+ cling\u00a0to + follow! Wow, does 95% of America truly believe? I think not.<\/p>\n

Sorry, I got to preaching there! Didn\u2019t mean to sermonize. Let\u2019s get back to this week\u2019s reading. Luhrmann uses the term \u201cbelieve\u201d 276 times in her book, according to my Kindle reader search. In my reading before reading I was a little frightened with her previous book\u2019s title Persuasion\u2019s\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0Witch\u2019s\u00a0Craft\u00a0(1989)<\/em> about the Wiccan and dark magic. I am not sure why it took her so long to write our book 23 years later, but she readily highlights the term \u201cbelieve\u201d, and unfortunately does not fill in the gaps about what it means.<\/p>\n

The New York Times critiqued Luhrmann in their Sunday Book Review and said this ugly comment, \u201cSecular Americans\u2019 worst fears have come true: there is now scientific evidence that evangelical churches brainwash believers.\u201d [10] Ouch! If that is what this book is about, psychological mumbo jumbo, then I am out\u2026<\/p>\n

The Journal of Ethnographic Theory (whatever that is) said powerfully, \u201c\u2026belief<\/em>, far from being a simple matter of receiving and accepting information, requires complex cognitive processes, some of which can be illuminated by meticulous ethnographic investigation.\u201d [11]<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t say I connected our reading this week to our previous readings, other than to say I was impressed to hear her mention Mere\u00a0Christianity,\u00a0The\u00a0Screwtape\u00a0Letters,\u00a0The\u00a0Divine\u00a0Conspiracy, What On Earth Am I Here For?, Flow, and\u00a0the\u00a0God\u00a0Delusion.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now to conclude, Luhrmann in her last chapter, quotes Mark 9:29, \u201cLord, I believe<\/strong>. Help my unbelief.\u201d [12] Luhrmann was honest in saying she was not a Christian [13], and in my opinion, she nailed the problem for her right on the head, when she concluded in the final paragraph, \u201cThere is so little we know, so much, we take on TRUST.\u201d [13] (capitals mine).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1] Luhrmann, Tanya M.\u00a0When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God<\/em>. New York: Knopf, 2012.<\/p>\n

[2] Barker, Kenneth L.\u00a0Zondervan NIV Study Bible: New International Version<\/em>. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008. Acts 16:30-31.<\/p>\n

[3] Barker. John 3:16.<\/p>\n

[4] Newport, Frank. \u201cMost Americans Still Believe in God.\u201d Gallup.com. June 29, 2016. Accessed February 15, 2019. https:\/\/news.gallup.com\/poll\/193271\/americans-believe-god.aspx.<\/p>\n

[5] Bromwich, Jonah Engel. \u201cThe New Congress Is 91% Christian. That\u2019s Barely Budged Since 1961.\u201d The New York Times. December 22, 2017. Accessed February 15, 2019. https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/01\/03\/us\/politics\/congress-religion-christians.html.<\/p>\n

[6] Barker. James 2:19.<\/p>\n

[7] Strong, James, John R. Kohlenberger, and James A. Swanson.\u00a0The Strongest Strong\u2019s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible<\/em>. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001.<\/p>\n

[8] Barker. John 1:12.<\/p>\n

[9] Barker. Romans 10:9.<\/p>\n

[10] Worthen, Molly. \u201c\u2018When God Talks Back,\u2019 by T.M. Luhrmann.\u201d The New York Times. April 27, 2012. Accessed February 15, 2019. https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/04\/29\/books\/review\/when-god-talks-back-by-tm-luhrmann.html.<\/p>\n

[11] Boyer, Pascal. \u201cWhy Belief Is Hard Work.\u201d American Journal of Education. 2013. Accessed February 15, 2019. https:\/\/www.journals.uchicago.edu\/doi\/full\/10.14318\/hau3.3.015.<\/p>\n

[12] Luhrmann. 325.<\/p>\n

[13] Luhrmann. 300.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do You \u201cBelieve\u201d? Written by: Jay Forseth on February 14, 2019 Before I jump into Luhrmann, I recognize she gives us MANY things we can EASILY discuss. I feel I must start this week\u2019s Blog with the one word that kept coming up in my mind while reading Luhrmann\u2019s, When\u00a0God\u00a0Talks\u00a0Back:\u00a0Understanding\u00a0the\u00a0American\u00a0Evangelical\u00a0Relationship\u00a0with\u00a0God.\u00a0[1] The word is\u2014\u201cbelieve\u201d. No, I\u2019m […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[628],"class_list":["post-21553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-luhrmann","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21553"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21554,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21553\/revisions\/21554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}