{"id":1706,"date":"2012-08-30T09:00:07","date_gmt":"2012-08-30T13:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onscripture\/?p=1706"},"modified":"2012-10-25T15:21:03","modified_gmt":"2012-10-25T19:21:03","slug":"lip-service-but-where-is-the-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/2012\/08\/lip-service-but-where-is-the-heart.html","title":{"rendered":"Lip Service \u2013 But Where Is the Heart?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/p>\n<p>  var _gaq = _gaq || [];\n  _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-35874236-1']);\n  _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);<\/p>\n<p>  (function() {\n    var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text\/javascript'; ga.async = true;\n    ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https:\/\/ssl' : 'http:\/\/www') + '.google-analytics.com\/ga.js';\n    var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);\n  })();<\/p>\n<p><\/script><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/310\/2012\/03\/Dirk-G-Lange-Headshot-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Dirk G Lange Headshot\" width=\"75\" height=\"75\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-1215\" \/><\/p>\n<p>By <a href=\"http:\/\/odysseynetworks.org\/contributor\/dirk-g-lange\">Dirk G. Lange<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">Human beings want religion not God. Or, to put it slightly differently (and perhaps in a more nuanced manner!), they all too easily equate religion with a very particular, culturally determined, idea of God. They name their religion \u2013 their rites, their laws, their stories \u2013 divine or Bible-based. They find mystical origins for their laws turning those laws into unquestionable truths.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\"><strong> Watch the Video: <\/strong><em>What Contaminates a Life?<\/em><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\"><object id=\"flashObj\" width=\"650\" height=\"365\" classid=\"clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/c.brightcove.com\/services\/viewer\/federated_f9?isVid=1&#038;isUI=1\" \/><param name=\"bgcolor\" value=\"#FFFFFF\" \/><param name=\"flashVars\" value=\"videoId=1811130432001&#038;playerID=961751338001&#038;playerKey=AQ~~,AAAA3-z6Izk~,70dt0G6K4XP9jJGaqwc9VohXisAPIx8D&#038;domain=embed&#038;dynamicStreaming=true\" \/><param name=\"base\" value=\"http:\/\/admin.brightcove.com\" \/><param name=\"seamlesstabbing\" value=\"false\" \/><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"swLiveConnect\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"allowScriptAccess\" value=\"always\" \/><embed src=\"http:\/\/c.brightcove.com\/services\/viewer\/federated_f9?isVid=1&#038;isUI=1\" bgcolor=\"#FFFFFF\" flashVars=\"videoId=1811130432001&#038;playerID=961751338001&#038;playerKey=AQ~~,AAAA3-z6Izk~,70dt0G6K4XP9jJGaqwc9VohXisAPIx8D&#038;domain=embed&#038;dynamicStreaming=true\" base=\"http:\/\/admin.brightcove.com\" name=\"flashObj\" width=\"650\" height=\"365\" seamlesstabbing=\"false\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" allowFullScreen=\"true\" allowScriptAccess=\"always\" swLiveConnect=\"true\" pluginspage=\"http:\/\/www.macromedia.com\/shockwave\/download\/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><em>Efrain Agosto, a Professor at New York Theological Seminary, discusses the Biblical text Mark 7:1-8, 14-15 and 21-23, featured in the ON Scripture: The Bible article, &#8220;Lip Service \u2013 But Where Is the Heart?&#8221;.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">However, what really happens is a domestication of God. God is made into what \u201cwe\u201d want God to be, usually just a better more perfect version of ourselves. The result? God is certainly honored. God is part of the landscape and discourse. Yet, God is honored only with the lips but far from the heart. God is abandoned and replaced with culturally constructed versions! And human traditions (precisely a culture\u2019s prejudices) are divinized.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">Of course, everyone and every group needs some structure to regulate its life. This is why we have laws in the first place! But \u201claw\u201d can take on many forms. Rituals, for example, help frame life from our youngest childhood onwards. A nation needs its rituals as well, its stories that identify and set it apart (stories that get repeated unceasingly in heightened electoral periods!). But when the structures we create are identified with God, when the insights and traditions that formed a nation are uncritically mythologized, even distorted, God is fossilized, engraved in stone and finally even used as a weapon of judgment. God then is actually far from that structure, from those stories, from that tradition. For God cannot be fit into any one structure. God cannot be reduced to any one nation or class. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">This weekend, we are caught between two national conventions, determining and setting the political agenda and rhetoric for the next few months (and maybe years). God will be invoked by both sides (whether God likes it or not!). Lip service is quick and easy but also very dangerous.  American political rhetoric takes God and turns God into a national religion: God becomes the explanation rather than the question. \u201cGod\u201d is cited as the source of our rights yet these rights are very culturally defined \u2013 the right, for example, to carry guns (who else in the world considers this an inalienable right?!) but not to have health care. Anyone who opposes this invocation of God is labeled an unbeliever or, perhaps even worse, as opposed to the God of America (see the recent article by Norman Lear, \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/norman-lear\/paul-ryan-god-says-that-i_b_1791789.html\">Paul Ryan: God Says That I Can Carry a Gun?<\/a>\u201d).<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">I\u2019m reminded of a text by Russian Orthodox theologian Paul Evdokimov in which he boldly states (long before Rob Bell) that hell is not part of God\u2019s creation but rather the invention of so-called \u201cgood\u201d people. The \u201cgood\u201d people need a place to put all those who are not like themselves (the poor, the unsuccessful, gays, single mothers, etc.) \u2013 all those who don\u2019t follow the \u201claws\u201d as the majority defines them! The possibility of judging, condemning others makes the so-called \u201cgood\u201d people more self-assured and confident in their own salvation. God is forgotten and only national, patriotic, \u201cAmerican\u201d traditions remain.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">How quickly these \u201cgood people\u201d can condemn God! The traditions themselves are not bad but it is what human beings make of them. \u201cFor it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come\u2026\u201d Jesus teaches his disciples.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">Is religion banished? Certainly not! The book of <a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=213170540\">James<\/a> speaks explicitly on this subject: Religion that is pure and undefiled, religion that knows the disruption that is God, is not concerned with its own goodness or purity. It is not caught up in the business of judging other. Rather, it cares for orphans and widows.<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">In the Bible, \u201corphans and widows\u201d is code language for the marginalized and outcast, those who cannot defend for themselves, those who do not have equal \u201crights\u201d \u2013 precisely the ones that so-called \u201creligious folk\u201d condemn! Religion is directed not to individual purity but towards communal well being, and especially the well-being of the neighbor. In another passage, Jesus says it this way: \u201cThe sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath.\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=213170602\">Mark 2:27<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">Religion is made for humankind. Humankind should not be forced to fit a particular idea of the religious person! The astonishing (and scary) aspect of religion turned into legal or ritual or cultural (patriotic) observance is that Jesus, as marginalized one, as crucified one outside the city walls, is once again left out of the picture! God is abandoned. There is only lip service.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">Can we turn to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ALS92big4TY&#038;feature=youtu.be\">apparently sacrilegious observance<\/a> of a group like the Russian punk band Pussy Riot to find a contemporary expression of dissidence \u2013 a dissidence similar to the non-observance of Jesus\u2019 disciples that so angered the Pharisees? As they demonstrated in Moscow\u2019s Cathedral of Christ the Savior, albeit a political demonstration but defined by them as a punk prayer, were they not also breaking all the norms and rules that a tightly controlled political system had put in place when it comes to cultural and religious performance? In that prayer of kicking and screaming and invocation for freedom and justice, have these women not displaced human tradition and turned God\u2019s house back into a house of prayer? They offer us a radical example of those who speak the truth from their heart, defending the voiceless and innocent (Psalm 15).  Perhaps it is finally the dissident who dwells on God\u2019s holy hill!<\/p>\n<p><\/br><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Learn more about the ON Scripture Editorial Board <a href=\"http:\/\/www.odysseynetworks.org\/on-scripture-editorial-board\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Learn more about ON Scripture <a href=\"http:\/\/www.odysseynetworks.org\/about-on-scripture\" target=\"_blank\"> Click here<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Like ON Scripture <a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/ON-Scripture\/145056738910191\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Follow ON Scripture <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/#%21\/OnScripture\" target=\"_blank\"> Click here <\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>ON Scripture is made possible by a generous grant from the <\/strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lillyendowment.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Lilly Endowment<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lillyendowment.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lillyendowment.org\/images\/logo_theendowment.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"51\" height=\"52\" \/><\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/br><br \/>\n<\/br><br \/>\n<\/br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Dirk G. Lange Human beings want religion not God. Or, to put it slightly differently (and perhaps in a more nuanced manner!), they all too easily equate religion with a very particular, culturally determined, idea of God. They name their religion \u2013 their rites, their laws, their stories \u2013 divine or Bible-based. They find&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":465,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[424,431,427,429,430,422,421,428,6,423,306,246,425,426],"class_list":["post-1706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-on-scripture","tag-american-political-rhetoric","tag-are-human-illegal","tag-bible-revival","tag-book-of-james","tag-christian-lectionary","tag-dirk-g-lange","tag-efrain-agosto","tag-immigration-debate","tag-jesus","tag-lip-service","tag-new-york-theological-seminary","tag-on-scripture-the-bible","tag-paul-ryan-paul-evdokimov","tag-pussy-riot"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lip Service \u2013 But Where Is the Heart? - ON Scripture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/2012\/08\/lip-service-but-where-is-the-heart.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lip Service \u2013 But Where Is the Heart? - ON Scripture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Dirk G. Lange Human beings want religion not God. Or, to put it slightly differently (and perhaps in a more nuanced manner!), they all too easily equate religion with a very particular, culturally determined, idea of God. They name their religion \u2013 their rites, their laws, their stories \u2013 divine or Bible-based. They find&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/2012\/08\/lip-service-but-where-is-the-heart.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ON Scripture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-30T13:00:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-10-25T19:21:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onscripture\/files\/2012\/03\/Dirk-G-Lange-Headshot-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Odyssey Networks\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lip Service \u2013 But Where Is the Heart? - ON Scripture","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/2012\/08\/lip-service-but-where-is-the-heart.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lip Service \u2013 But Where Is the Heart? - ON Scripture","og_description":"By Dirk G. Lange Human beings want religion not God. Or, to put it slightly differently (and perhaps in a more nuanced manner!), they all too easily equate religion with a very particular, culturally determined, idea of God. They name their religion \u2013 their rites, their laws, their stories \u2013 divine or Bible-based. They find&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/2012\/08\/lip-service-but-where-is-the-heart.html","og_site_name":"ON Scripture","article_published_time":"2012-08-30T13:00:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-10-25T19:21:03+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onscripture\/files\/2012\/03\/Dirk-G-Lange-Headshot-150x150.jpg"}],"author":"Odyssey Networks","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/2012\/08\/lip-service-but-where-is-the-heart.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/2012\/08\/lip-service-but-where-is-the-heart.html","name":"Lip Service \u2013 But Where Is the Heart? - ON Scripture","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/2012\/08\/lip-service-but-where-is-the-heart.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/2012\/08\/lip-service-but-where-is-the-heart.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onscripture\/files\/2012\/03\/Dirk-G-Lange-Headshot-150x150.jpg","datePublished":"2012-08-30T13:00:07+00:00","dateModified":"2012-10-25T19:21:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/#\/schema\/person\/378ff98df1bd7df2dbc812937bbae6fa"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/2012\/08\/lip-service-but-where-is-the-heart.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/2012\/08\/lip-service-but-where-is-the-heart.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/2012\/08\/lip-service-but-where-is-the-heart.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onscripture\/files\/2012\/03\/Dirk-G-Lange-Headshot-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onscripture\/files\/2012\/03\/Dirk-G-Lange-Headshot-150x150.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/2012\/08\/lip-service-but-where-is-the-heart.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lip Service \u2013 But Where Is the Heart?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/","name":"ON Scripture","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Odyssey Networks","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/#\/schema\/person\/378ff98df1bd7df2dbc812937bbae6fa","name":"Odyssey Networks","description":"Odyssey is the nation's largest multi-faith media coalition with over 100 members, including faith groups, organizations and individuals. Our stories explore a wide range of issues including peace, tolerance, social justice and the environment. Our Mission: To use electronic media to enrich spiritual life and build bridges of understanding among people of faith. Our Method: Telling stories of faith in action. Stories changing the world. Odyssey Networks is a service of the National Interfaith Cable Coalition, Inc., established in 1987.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.odysseynetworks.org"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/author\/yyuce"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/465"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1706"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1868,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1706\/revisions\/1868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}