The science of the lambs

Aha, sheep.  This was Good Shepherd Sunday, and what better time to be at Good Shepherd Lutheran church, than on Good Shepherd Sunday?  Well, none, really.  But with all the readings being about sheep, it was good for us to get to thinking about what on earth sheep are all about.

The point I made on Sunday (which was a grand one), is that sheep require shepherds.  They need to

have a sort of alpha ram that they will follow around.  They crave leadership, which we do as well.  The funny thing about the global (new) atheism movement is their insistence that they can live a life free of shepherds.  The claim is that you don't need anyone to tell you where to go or what to think. 

The entire movement is structured around the notion of 'freethought,' and members call themselves 'free thinkers' amongst other things.  Now, this isn't to tar all atheists with the same brush, but it does bear thinking about, when it comes time to define your worldview. 

I find it to be quite frankly astonishing how many free thinkers have the same thoughts.  It's strange how many of them come to the same conclusion, and have the same worldview on a lot of things.  It's almost as though they all read and were informed by the same book...

Now, that's not to say that you, as an atheist, have all read these books, and have abandoned your previous thoughts on the world and our place in it because of that.  Not likely.  But in the same way as most Christians haven't read the entire Bible yet have a worldview shaped and informed by it, so too do most atheists have their worldview shaped and informed by a few key texts.  And free thought leads you, as usual, to remarkably restricted thought.

Part of the breakdown with the conversation at this point is usually geared around the notion that someone like myself is tempted to say that 'atheism is just another religion,' which generally gets called a bit of a canard, and that's fine.  But I'm not going to say that today.  What I will say, though, is that free thought gets remarkably dogmatic in its liberty.  It's free, but only in incredibly restricted parameters.  You can think whatever you want, as long as it's within a very limited range of topics, pretty much.  So, it's not a religion per se, but it does speak to our desire to have shepherd who lead us and guide us.  It's a matter of which shepherd you follow.

The notion of the good shepherd is one that comes up in the Christian faith.  And once you understand and realize that you, as a sheep (and I know, you're a radical freethinker, but at least acknowledge your desire to have your worldview informed by people whom you respect), have a need for a shepherd, you can start to work out what kind you want to have. 

All shepherds do the standard 'follow me'.  If they didn't, they'd be sort of bunk shepherds.  But here's the juice.  The difference between a shepherd and a Good Shepherd is the question of do they let it go from there?  Jesus classically says to his disciples when they're out fishing 'follow me' and they do.  They leave everything they have, their boats, their nets, their everything, and follow him. 

And then they desert him . And so does everyone else.  Look at the history of Christ in the Gospels.  His disciples, his followers, go through many various stages of following him with extreme enthusiasm, and then disregarding him with frustration when he makes the outlandish claims that he
does.  But where does Jesus go after that?  He goes right back to them.  He follows them.  The irony of the call of Christ is that after he tells us to follow him, he seems to do nothing but follow us around.  The story is the one of the Good Shepherd, who leaves the 99 and goes off in search of the one who is lost.  And if you haven't understood this story, you haven't understood Christianity.

As I said on Sunday, Christianity is incarnational.  Always has been, always will be, and it's what sets Christianity apart from the majority of other worldviews, etc.  You say it in an almost breathless whisper on Christmas Eve as you turn to the person next to you, and say to them 'Christ the light of the world has come to you.'  The Good Shepherd is notable in his leaving his comfort and coming to you.

Contrast that with the dogmatism that engulfs freethought at present.  This is an older quote, but it still checks out, and was made by Virginia Woolfe on the subject of T.S. Eliot's conversion to Christianity.

"I have had a most shameful and distressing interview with poor dear Tom Eliot, who may be called dead to us all from this day forward.  He has become an Anglo-Catholic, believes in God and immortality and goes to church.  I was really shocked.  A corpse would seem to me more credible than he is. I mean, there’s something obscene in a living person sitting by the fire and believing in God.”











Freethought is pretty much only allowed to go in one direction.  From belief to atheism.  That's freethought.  And if, like TS Eliot, you happen to arrive at the conclusion that there is a loving God in

heaven who cares for us, calls us by name, and cherishes us, then you don't fit in with the free thinking ethos of the society.  Then you are abandoned, like a corpse, essentially.  The freedom of thought in freethought is an illusion, not actually occupying reality.  You are free to think freely as long as you come to a very set series of conclusions.  What does all this mean?  It means that our quest for a shepherd is not just a choice between two voices saying 'follow me.'  It's a journey between two voices, one saying 'follow me,' and the other saying 'let me follow you wherever you go, and be your source and strength.'

PJ.