Our Ts and Cs

 

I was researching how to reduce my electricity bill – who isn’t? I went to various online forums to discuss the various ways people had used and was often told that if I said that ‘I had a particular equipment’, I could access much cheaper electricity. They had done this and the energy company hadn’t twigged, so all was well. A dissonant voice said that this would have contravened the terms and conditions, the Ts and Cs, that they would have signed. It got me thinking of the various terms and conditions on offer today.

Email, Web Browsers and Loyalty Cards

With Gmail, and with other email providers, we agree to specific terms and conditions. Possibly, we think that we are just accepting an agreement to use their system to send email, for free. However, within that agreement is the understanding that they can use our data for advertising purposes. Suddenly, we may be concerned at who may have access to that data, and what specific data is available. When we access a web browser, such as Safari or Edge, our search requests offer a wonderful array of information: what interests us, our likes or dislikes. Other companies can track our varied journey on the internet. There is a significant amount of information available, which can help to define our identity.

In the US, there is a story of a company, Target, who used their customers account to identify what sort of person they were. So, this is not information given by the customer voluntarily, but aggregating the type of products that they bought. The analysis “was able to identify about 25 products that, when analysed together, allowed them to assign each shopper a “pregnancy prediction” score. More important, they could also estimate her due date to within a small window, so Target could send coupons timed to very specific stages of her pregnancy.“

How would this make you feel, given that you may have
signed their terms and conditions?

The issue is not limited to the States, as we may also have company loyalty cards. Each supermarket offers their customers, their card which reduces the prices on a variety of goods. Moreover, it can send us particular reductions based upon our prior spending. How? They are slowly, but surely, painting a picture of us, through the data we are generously, freely, offering them – because we believe the deal is ‘benefitting us’. All in their terms and conditions…

So, what are the terms and conditions for church-goers?

I have been told that if we say the Jesus prayer, we have accepted God on ‘his’ terms. That is, God died, through Jesus’ death on the Cross, for ours sins etc. But, surely, this is defined by one particular atonement theory, of which there are several; and they are theories, not facts.

What other atonement theories exist, and have we made been aware of them in our churches?

If we are baptised, we are also, it is doctrinally believed, saved. A term which appears to be conditional. We have read through what God has done for us, and accepted that, and so we are assured to go to Heaven. This appears to be contractual. We get something out of the deal for what God has done.

When we pray, we may offer a list of things which God needs to resolve: world peace, sorting out that issue with our neighbour, a new and better job, a car park space perhaps? And yes, there are verses in the Bible which do suggest that:

• Matthew 7:7: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” 
• Mark 11:24: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours”

However, when read in context, and seeing how Jesus prayed, are we making an assumption here?

Prayer

Jesus would often retire, up a symbolic hill – akin to Moses up a mountain – and be with God. Jesus’ focus was to know the mind of God, as Paul reflects upon in his letter to the Philippians (Phil 2:5). In the midst of grave conflict, we hear in Isaiah 55: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways”. Prayer is a time when we might well not hear a voice, but have that time to stop in the busyness of our doing, and dwell in our being. That is certainly one aspect I am discerning with retirement, when doing becomes transformed into being.

The Lord’s Prayer is just one Jewish prayer, and is in fact, one small part of a much longer prayer. It is quoted in both Matthew and Luke’s Gospel, albeit our ending, from 1 Chronicles 29, was added in the Didache much later. The prayer is formed from Hasidæan texts, but is alerted, in particular “May your kingdom come“, from “May He establish His Kingdom . . . speedily and at a near time“.

Heaven

Heaven has also ben taught to be “up there”, a place where there are ‘many mansions‘. A verse in John’s Gospel (John 14:2) which is a very particular contextual translation from the Greek to the Latin Vulgate, and then to the KJV etc. The use of this term, μοναί, as a dwelling place or rooms, may be better suited to “a place to halt on our journey”. Perhaps, a place where Jesus went to stop with God, as he “prayed”?

What’s our terms and conditions?

Whereas, the energy company, the email provider, and the supermarket may offer us a lucrative deal, with a hefty array of terms and conditions, how do we see our terms and conditions for our faith?

Historically, people may have deferred baptism until they were on their death bed, so they could live ‘their best life’, but gain access to Heaven at the very end. The delay in getting baptised also meant that they could be absolved of the wide array of life’s ‘sins’, rather than this occurring when they were younger. The church also moved to baptise babies due to the very low life expectancy at that time; meaning that they were assured of life, after death. How do you see baptism today?

Firstly, our terms and conditions are not part of a contractual arrangement where we are given a physical entity for what we have done. If Heaven is believed to be dwelling with God, then Jesus offered that, without specific conditions.

Secondly, our belief structure may define us with respect to others, but ‘God’s thoughts are not our thoughts’. Don’t let doctrinal constrictions define you, denying that relationship with God. The only term and condition is between you and God. Church is man’s way of working as a community on Earth, but it can never replace God.