I got to spend yesterday with author Dr. Leonard Sweet as he did a seminar on social media culture and the church. I live-tweeted some choice bits on my twitter so check those out. But he had one message that works totally with the Hacking Christianity crowd so I’m sharing it below.
In Star Trek, the first command given is General Order #1, “Do Not Interfere” which states that Starfleet personnel are not to interfere with the cultures of the planets they visit, or make allusions to space travel for cultures who haven’t gotten off the ground yet. Even though they fall short dozens of times (Memory-Alpha has a long list of violations, often due to Captain Kirk’s libido), the Prime Directive is one of the most important tenets of the Star Trek universe that is wrestled with in many episodes.
Reading the Bible, Leonard Sweet wondered what the first command given by God is. What is God’s “Prime Directive” for us?
- In Genesis 1, the first command is “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it” (1:28, NRSV).
- In Genesis 2, the other Creation story, the Human is put in the garden and told to “till and keep it” with the first command being “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden” (2:15-16, NRSV).
In light of the Prime Directive, God’s General Order #1 for us is “Do Interfere“: Do fill the earth with God’s goodness, Do bring order to the chaos, Do care for that which gives life and beauty, Do freely enjoy all of God’s Creation that we should.
As Leonard Sweet said, the Prime Directive of God is not a NO but a YES! Do Interfere, Do get your hands dirty, Do put yourself out there, Do seek justice, Do offer grace, Do all these things.
Perhaps then Holiness, or the pursuit of God’s desires for us, isn’t keeping in our ivory towers or behind clean altar rails in the church. Perhaps holiness is getting our hands dirty in the soil, getting out there, reaching out to the disordered and bringing something more to them. Perhaps holiness is reflecting on how we might best interfere with whatever our garden is. Perhaps our offer of God isn’t in the NOs but in the YESes, in the offer of God’s grace to all.
One final point: This is why I can’t stand the theology behind Praise and Worship Music. The song “Give us Clean Hands?”…I don’t think so.
I think that when we stand before God on our Judgment Day…the dirtier our hands, the better.
In what ways have you followed the command “Do Interfere” today?
Thoughts?
(Image credit: “Star Trek” by Flickr user xtopalopaquetl, used by Creative Commons share)
I think an argument could be made that God’s Prime Directive was actually issued by Jesus during the “Greatest Commandment” episode: Love God and Love your Neighbor.
Which brings up this question – is the Old Testament The Original Series and the New Testament The Next Generation? And would then Moses or David equal Kirk (the hero who isn’t afraid to get into the middle of the fight) and Jesus equal Picard (the leader who tends to use his head more than his fists)? And then, let’s see, Islam is Deep Space Nine. And Mormonism is Voyager. And scientology is Enterprise…?
Actually, mormonism is Battlestar Galactica. Literally.
Yes. To not being stuck in the Ivory Tower, yes to doing God’s work. But also remember that humans were formed from the dust. Also remember that the fall was essentially from human’s trying to be God. (That they were given a limit not to eat from the tree of knowledge.) So yes do God’s work, but say no to human superiority over God. Not meaning do not try again, but remember God is with us and beyond us. We can strive towards holiness and we must get dirty, but we will always have human limits. Our faith should never be in superior human knowledge and human effort, but in a God who compels us through free will, through grace, and love to do God’s work. We must always know that we are not God, and that without boundaries, and limits we cannot exist to serve God. Do get dirty, do extend hospitality to everyone, do love God’s creation (as much as a human can), but do not know what God will do or who God will choose.
I had a similar thought/posting on the Prime Directive of the UMC back in April! I wonder if Leonard is reading my stuff… http://unknowntraveler.wordpress.com/2011/04/27/prime-directive/
Not to be negative, because I would like to support the idea of a “prime directive” being DO — whether it’s DO be fruitful and multiply, DO love God with all that you are, DO love your neighbor as yourself, or even DO call down she-bears to maul people who make fun of you — but I might question the assertion that just because something comes first, it must be of primary importance. For instance, I once had a bit of a debate with a friend who insisted that Christmas is the most important holiday in the Christian year. When I suggested that Easter is in fact of prime importance, his response was something like, “Yeah, but Jesus had to be born before Easter could happen.” While incarnation is important, is it really primary over resurrection? I now respectfully end my all-too-serious and none-too-important critique. Thank you.
Dan, I agree with you. Christmas is NOT the most important holy day. Without an Easter moment, there would be no Christmas. It is a holiday totally fabricated.
My response to him would be “everyone has been born & has a birthday, that’s the easy part”
Wait, what are She-bears? Are they something like the fearsome Jackalope? I googled it, and Wiktionary says its just a female bear, whereas Urban Dictionary says its a . uh.. well. Something else. I’m was afraid it would be something weird or gross and didn’t want it showing up in my search history. Which turns out being largely the case.
I know its an unpopular opinion, but I believe that the words and non-magical actions of Jesus himself should be the best measure of his own will and opinion on how people should behave- more so than even the miracles he performed; as the rest of us can’t perform miracles often or possibly even at all, on average.
Jesus stated that one should “not resist an evildoer” and promoted his turn the other cheek philosophy. “If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well … Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.”
Besides just preaching these words, surrendering himself freely to an enemy intent on having him killed and prohibiting his followers from defending him was probably his most notable action (in a way, a non-action but rather a decision.) So I would argue that pacifism is the Prime Directive of Christianity. Oddly, Christian nations (chiefly the USA) still have greater nuclear arsenals, military, and subsequently the largest military budget than any other nation. We eclipse the #2 biggest spender in proportion of both average relative taxpayer burden and percent of the GDP by a comical amount, last I checked it was between 60 and 65% of our discretionary funding / tax burden.
Christ may have been radically pacifist and gave his life non-violently to those who saw him as a threat, but Christians in general are 180 degrees from that, in a little case of “don’t do as he says” and “don’t do as he did.” There seems to be a discrepancy between Christ and Christianity, is all I’m saying. If you go with the actions of Christian people over the past 1000 years rather than the words of Jesus, the Prime Directive might be better described as “Torture our Godless enemies to death who you can’t convert by the sword, and be Holy!” At least if you count the holocaust, the Crusades, the Spanish and Portuguese and Russian and Medieval inquisitions that lasted hundreds of years, “witch” burning, and roughly 300,000 civilians killed between our invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, etc.
We’ve learned from our mistakes, though, and won’t waste another 1.3 trillion dollars retrofitting our nuclear arsenal with high yield “bunker busters” to absolutely ensure no humans will remain on the planet in the event of global nuclear war.
Or have we?
Great post. I think one of the things I’ve been realizing recently has been how much I segregate myself in my Christian bubbles. How much I don’t interact with my neighbors. How much I don’t interact with those I come across in the “secular” activities of my life. Right now, the “do interfere” involves connecting to people beyond my comfortable zone and letting the Holy Spirit show what He wants to do with those connections. Since God’s purpose is to re-colonize the earth with His kingdom, I’d say that involves being proactive and not focusing on what not to do, just like you mention.
What sorts of practical things have you been doing to interfere?
I was with you until your “One Final Point” at the end. Perhaps a quick search of the Bible would be handy to see that the “Give us cleans hands” line comes straight from Psalm 24. And, is a reference to having holy (“clean”) hands in light of the heart cleansing work that God has done in us. In fact, that entire Chris Tomlin song is basically several passages of Scripture/Biblical ideas strung together.
I’m all for writing/reading creatively (e.g., Star Trek and the prime directive). I understand what you’re saying about having “dirty” hands. In fact, in light of Scripture, I don’t think you can call yourself a follower of Jesus if your hands are not “dirty” as you engage the World with the Gospel. But we should also be careful not to inadvertently work against God by discounting the Word that He gave us.
I honestly believe that God’s prime directive is to keep law and order throughout the universe. It is also his prime directive to see that we humans do not destroy the earth. In the bible there are lots of dos and don’ts. You have to remember that the word God is a family name, so when God is refered to in the O. T. it is refering to Jesus. Michael and Jesus is the one and same person. Daniel 12: 1. No man has seen God the Father at all. so when the bible refers to God rememberis is refering to the creator Jesus/Michael. Thats al I want to say for now. God bless you all. Arthur.
I believe it is about not destroying our souls .The earth is just dirt and water. It has no soul. Just like molten and graven images. Jesus came to save our souls and to divide the sheep from the goats. Jesus came as messiah too. If they have an ear to hear? Preach to them. But if they do not have an ear to hear? Divide yourself from them. Do not feed what is Holy to the dogs .God/Jesus is one .The Godhead being The Father, the Son Jesus (word) and the Holy Spirit. God in Heaven being the creator. God with the big G , We humans were created in Gods image. We are gods too .With the small g. We are to do Gods/Jesus will. I would explain more about what is God/Jesus will. There is a Holy Bible that everybody can find the answers to what we are to do. Search the scriptures .For in them you find life. To do Gods will is the Prime directive .There is no star treck.No Spock. Only with Jesus can we all be saved .Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
i humbly submit to you the words of the Master recorded in John 13:34 & 35 (NASB) ” A new commandment i give to you, that you love one another even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” imho, i belive this over rides all other commands from God, Jesus fulfills the complete Law, all of God’s commands from Genesis on down to His day, by dying on the cross and is resurrected to newness of life giving us a new command, Love one another as He has loved us. i believe this to be the Prime Directive for us now. Only through this will our hands become real working hands for Him. Thank you
As you tap into the wellspring of life itself, you tap into the flow of love that sustains your existence.
But if you are a beginner, simply do your best to match story elements
to this structure. We get to roll into cover; pop out and attack,
then roll back into cover.
So the timeline of when I got who is a little hazy. The matrix classifies products based on existing and new
products. Debuffs, interrupts, positioning, frost patches, and DPS prioritization is crucial to success.
Oh yeah, “be fruitful and multiply” along with the dual carrot and stick of an eternity of time spent in abject misery versus being quite happy for an equal length of time depending on whether you believe in God or not, could summarize the God’s Prime Directive as “believe in me and make lots of babies” – and it could also explain why Christianity is the world’s most common / popular religion. Although Islam, sharing a God and much of its culture and conservative values with Christianity, is catching up fast. If current stable growth rates continue, Muslims will surpass us Christians in around 2055. Not because they convert people; just as many people leave Islam as join from other religions or nonreligious ideologies. Instead, the Muslim people are doing the “be fruitful” bit much better than we are, at least according to census reports and the like available on Wikipedia. Unfortunately, the press is more obsessed with the unsavory friends of past and current US Presidents to even mention this.
Man, I need to switch to decaf.