The Baby and the Bathwater: That I Can't Believe!

By Beryl Chatfield

This book is for people who ask questions about life - why we are here and what happens to us when we die. Science is being shown as not having all the answers. It deals only with the physical world and has little to say about the human spirit, about the positive power of love of the negative effect of fear. The life, death and teaching of Jesus Christ, who actually lived a human life recorded in history gives us answers to questions about the human spirit and about the mysterious and ineffable Power behind Creation. However, there is a need to reformulate Christian teaching so that it is relevant in today's world. This book suggests a way of approaching the task.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Jan 27, 2018
• ISBN: 9781546284826

Beryl Chatfield

Beryl Chatfield was born in London, but from the age of eight has spent her life in Worthing, apart from a period in Brighton and another later, back in London. Her adult life has fallen roughly into four parts: 1. Secondary Schoo Teacher, teaching Science, Maths and Religious Education. 2. Wife and Mother, but became a widow while her children were still young. 3. Ordained Minister of the United Reformed Church, serving two London Churches. 4. In retirement, a writer and publisher of three small books of poetry and now this book. Her main interests have been gardening, travel and above all, people--of all kinds.

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© 2018 Beryl Chatfield. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  02/09/2018

ISBN: 978-1-5462-8483-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-8482-6 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1.     GOD THE CREATOR

That I can’t believe! -

- that this world was created in six 24-hour days.

- that the first human beings displeased God by eating an apple.

- that newborn babies are contaminated by ‘original sin.’

but neither can I believe:

- that this amazing planet was created by an accident of chance, or

- that science has all the answers.

Chapter 2.     THE BIBLE

That I can’t believe! -

- that every word in the Bible is inspired by God.

- that God initiated massacres or master-minded the conquest of Canaan.

- that there are no contradictions in the Bible.

but neither can I believe:

- that God has not spoken through the Bible.

- that the Bible is irrelevant today.

Chapter 3.     JESUS

That I can’t believe! -

- that the possibility of a virgin birth is of primary importance.

- that all the miracles ascribed to Jesus are literally true.

but neither can I believe, -

- that Jesus was purely human and did no miraculous works.

- that the first disciples imagined the Resurrection.

Chapter 4.     The Holy Spirit And The Trinity

That I can’t believe:

- that the Holy Spirit always comes dramatically.

- that ‘speaking in tongues’ is of primary importance.

- that the Trinity consists of three Persons.

but neither can I believe:

- that after the Ascension, the first disciples were inspired and motivated only by their memories of Jesus.

- that the source of inspiration today is purely human.

Chapter 5.     Evil And Freewill

That I can’t believe!

- that we are totally depraved creatures.

- that we are totally good.

but neither can I believe:

- that without freewill we could be genuinely good.

- that evil will have the last word.

Chapter 6.     Forgiveness And Atonement

That I can’t believe! -

- that God demanded the death of Jesus before He could forgive our wrong-doing.

but neither can I believe:

- that we don’t need saving from our selfishness and sin.

- that the Cross is not a powerful symbol.

Chapter 7.     The Church

That I can’t believe! -

- that the Church would have survived on a myth.

- that the Church has always been true to its Founder.

- that the Church can survive without changing.

But neither can I believe -

- that the Church has not contained many great saints.

- that it will not survive its present decline in the west.

Chapter 8.     The Sacraments

That I can’t believe! -

- that a baby can become a full Member of the church.

- that in Holy Communion we eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus

But neither can I believe -

- that babies should not be welcomed into the church.

- that the symbols of bread and wine are not deeply meaningful.

Chapter 9.     The Last Things

That I can’t believe:

- that heaven is above the sky or that hell is a place of physical torment.

- that Jesus will come again in the flesh.

- that the absolute reign of God will come in this physical world.

But neither can I believe

- that heaven and hell are meaningless.

- that Christians will not meet Jesus one day.

- that God will not ultimately achieve His purposes and reign supreme at the end of time.

Chapter 10.     World Faiths

That I can’t believe! -

- that Christianity has all the answers about God.

- that all other faiths have ‘got it wrong’.

- that Christians have nothing to learn from other faiths.

But neither can I believe -

- that Christianity has no important insights to share.

- that Jesus was not a unique person.

The Last Word

References

About The Author

This book is dedicated to all who are afraid to ask questions and to all who are always questioning, for doubts and questions are the tools with which we build our faith on rock.

Introduction

When two or more minds rub together, ideas fly off like

sparks between a match and a matchbox. The writing of this book was ‘sparked’ by Bishop J. S. Spong’s book, A New Christianity for a New World, (Harper-Collins. 2002) I had previously heard him speak at a local meeting and as a result I bought the book, only to discover that I strongly disagreed with much of what he had written. I decided that it would be a good exercise for me to write down what I believed, both in agreement and disagreement with Bishop Spong. I expected this to take several months, because I had other commitments. In fact it took about four years and turned into a book of ten chapters.

In the last hundred years the kind of world we live in has changed irrevocably, and we are now brilliantly clever in technology but abysmally poor at building good relationships.

I am convinced that if the human race is to survive it is essential that the peoples of the world learn how to build good relationships at all levels, based on a genuine understanding of each other’s real-life values and philosophies.

The world of the twenty-first century is forcing us to rethink some of our beliefs because they are no longer tenable in the light of new knowledge. I believe Bishop Spong is right when he says, (p.12) The primary apologetic task facing the Church today is that of separating the extraneous from the essential, the time-less God-experience from the time-warped God-explanations of the past. But in his rejection of a ‘personal’ God, I think he is in danger of ‘throwing the baby out with the bathwater,’ of rejecting the Babe of Bethlehem as the representative of a personal God Who desires to make Himself known to us and to meet our needs. Many people in Britain today, let alone those in the Muslim world, have a false picture of Christianity. I even venture to say, so have some of those in our Churches. It is surely time to reflect prayerfully on the controlling principles in the life of Jesus Christ and get back ‘in tune’ with God.

There seems to be quite a strong and growing desire today for ‘spirituality’ rather than ‘religion’. The words ‘religion’ and ‘religious’ have come to refer only to the outer observances of a faith rather than its core beliefs and are therefore being rejected as representing what is now felt to be unhelpful. But ‘spirituality’ can become commitment to an abstract impersonal virtue such as ‘love’ and then be seen as depending on our own efforts to achieve it. This is not Christianity because it replaces faith in God with faith in ourselves. Jesus Christ lived in a constant relationship with God as a loving Father-figure and taught His disciples to do the same. I believe we need to think very carefully before we reject the teaching of Jesus but that we also need to rediscover the truth that God is far greater than Jesus. In Jesus, God made it possible for us to find a living relationship with Him, without being overwhelmed by His infinite power and glory, which are quite beyond our finite human comprehension.

So, as we rejoice in God’s immanent and loving presence with us, we must remember also that He is absolutely transcendent and hidden in mystery. Then we shall not lose that sense of awe and wonder which keeps us humble and inspires our worship.

The life-threatening events of the early twenty-first century challenge us to seek new understanding and greater wisdom. We urgently need to learn how to live amicably with those whose views differ from our own and to admit that we all still have much to learn whatever our particular faith. This book is an attempt to review my own thinking and I hope and pray that it may stimulate others to do the same. May the Holy Spirit lead us to appreciate the riches of diversity and bring us to the humility, before the mystery of God, which is necessary for world peace. Beryl Chatfield. 2015.

All references to Bishop J.S.Spong in the text refer to his opinions expressed in his book A New Christianity for a New World. published in 2002 by HarperSanFrancisco.

Chapter 1

GOD THE CREATOR

That I can’t believe! -

- that this world was created in six 24-hour days.

- that the first human beings displeased God by eating an apple.

- that newborn babies are contaminated by ‘original sin.’

but neither can I believe:

- that this amazing planet was created by an accident of chance, or

- that science has all the answers.

I started my working life as a secondary school teacher, teaching both science and scripture. I never had any problem with Darwin, since I have always seen the theory of evolution as confirming the Biblical Creation stories rather than contradicting them. In scripture lessons I taught children that the first chapter of Genesis conveyed two important truths: firstly, that the world was not an accident of chance, but had a Mind behind it, and secondly, that it was created in stages. One only has to call to mind the hymn by Isaac Watts, based on Psalm 90, v.4.(¹), which contains the words: A thousand ages in Thy sight are like an evening gone, to realise that one of God’s days of Creation could have lasted a few million years. Given that, it is surprising how far the authors of Genesis 1, - without any of our modern scientific knowledge,- got the sequence of events approximately right. They realised that water and light had to come before plants, plants before animals and animals before people.

Planet Earth, is a comparatively tiny ball, located in one of a vast number of huge galaxies of stars. As far as we know at present, it is unique, with its immense diversity of life and beauty. To me, it requires greater credulity to believe it came into being by sheer chance, than to believe it had a Creator. The old analogy, put forward in the eighteenth century, by William Paley, of the discovery of a ticking watch on the beach and the unlikely possibility that all its parts had come together by chance, still seems appropriate. Human minds must surely have been created by a greater Mind. So I start with the supposition that this world, which is still evolving and constantly gives evidence of a continuing creation, has behind it a Mind, which we have called, God.

Coupled with this rational approach, there is also our instinctive awareness of what Rudolf Otto, (²), called, ‘the numinous,’ meaning, ‘that which is holy,’ and which impinges on human consciousness at certain unpredictable moments in our lives. Such times, I.T. Ramsey (³) called, ‘disclosure situations,’ and found that they were so all-encompassing and wonderful as to evoke our total commitment. Those who experienced them knew ‘that-which-is-other-than-human,’ i.e. a holy God, had made Himself known. The numinous is beyond both scientific analysis and rational description, but awareness of it is a widely-testified experience of the human spirit, and cannot be ignored. These moments of particular spiritual awareness are often life-changing in their influence, as was Charles Wesley’s experience early in the eighteenth century. It powerfully motivated him for the rest of his life, and is described in a well known hymn (⁴). Thus we may come to faith in God through what seems a fairly logical deduction, and then our faith is often immeasurably strengthened by some all-absorbing and totally convincing spiritual experience in which God makes His presence felt. Our God is ‘a consuming fire,’ (⁵) said the Biblical writers, and to sense the invisible but powerful presence of God, - an uncreated Being, - immediately creates in human beings, not only awe, but also a deep sense of their own unimportance or ‘nothingness’ by comparison, and their total unworthiness to stand in His presence. This comes across again and again in the experience of Biblical characters, - Isaiah’s reaction to his vision of God in the Temple being the classic example, (⁶), and also Peter’s response to Jesus after the great catch of fish, Go away from me Lord; for I am a sinful man!(⁷). Since Biblical times many people have also testified to the same reaction and it is doubtful if there can be any genuine awareness of God’s presence without it. For myself, I know that at the moment in the middle of one night in March 1980, when I sensed the love of God for me most powerfully, I felt as if I shrank to a speck of dust on the floor, knowing my total unworthiness. The recollection of that moment is still awesome and has proved a firm anchor for my faith. It also initiated my call to Christian Ministry.

This self-depreciation, as Rudulf Otto points out, (⁸), is not in any way an awareness of moral wrong-doing or sin, but rather of the imperfections of our nature as creatures in relation to the absolute holiness of an uncreated God. At the same time we long to have the same purity and holiness we experience in God, and so be able to have a living relationship with Him and share in His blessedness. Thus there are simultaneous feelings of shrinking from and attraction to, God. Thomas Binney has summed it up beautifully in his hymn:

"Eternal Light! eternal Light!

How pure the soul must be,

When placed within Thy searching sight,

It shrinks not, but with calm delight,

Can live and look on Thee.

O how shall I whose native sphere

Is dark, whose mind is dim,

Before the ineffable appear,

And on my naked spirit bear

The uncreated beam?" (⁹)

The story in Genesis, (¹⁰) - of Adam and Eve, the tree of knowledge, the apple and the snake, was an early attempt to explain why human beings felt unworthy in God’s presence and hid themselves. I do not believe it was ever meant to be taken literally. Here is an example of human beings becoming aware of God and at the same time of the gulf between creature and Creator, with the accompanying sense of unworthiness, interpreted in part, here as guilt.

More will be said about Biblical truth in Chapter 2. Here let us just say that the first authors felt that the world and its people were initially good and everything was in harmony with God, until people rebelled and disobeyed Him. This resulted in the teaching of the Church known as, ‘the Fall’ and Adam and Eve’s disobedience was deemed to have contaminated human beings with selfishness ever since. Every newborn child was later said by the Church to have inherited an inbuilt selfishness, known as ‘original sin.’

Paul and later Saint Augustine in the fourth century CE, both promoted this teaching, which puts the responsibility for evil firmly on ‘man,’ because he disobeyed a ‘good’ God, as described at the beginning of Genesis. But in the second century CE, Irenaeus, expressing a Greek rather than a Roman point of view, had put forward the idea that human beings were at first not ‘good’ in any moral sense, but were actually immature beings, in a childlike state. He saw them as capable of developing a sense of morality and becoming more God-like, and felt that God was still working to perfect His Creation. He suggested God’s omni-responsibility included responsibility for evil, and sought to show for what good and justifying reason He had created a universe in which evil was inevitable if human beings had freewill.

Augustine’s teaching dominated Christian thinking for centuries, but in the last hundred years, his ideas have been challenged and the views of Irenaeus given fresh consideration.

Human beings learn by making mistakes and suffering the results, so temptation, sin and suffering could have been part of the learning process put in place by God.

Now that we know a great deal more about primitive man and about human psychology, many Christians today find the idea of ‘original sin’ difficult to accept. The early human beings had to find ways to survive difficult conditions and babies were no exception. If they did not cry and demand attention when they were hungry or hurting, they might not get the food, warmth and care they needed to survive. This was an instinctive and necessary self-assertion, which had little in common with the conscious selfishness which puts one’s own desires before those of other people and is a form of greed.

Early adults too, were often primarily concerned with survival, but as time passed, both animals and people developed behaviour that showed unselfishness, as when parents took risks and made sacrifices in order to feed and defend their young ones. When men and women developed a social awareness, many also came to recognise that they had a responsibility towards those outside the family as well. But until a child develops awareness of himself and others as separate identities, it is difficult to see how he can be said to be selfish or to ‘sin’ in any real sense.

When my youngest child was about ten months old, I remember my sister saying, "He