FAITH: What’s next in a world in chaos?

What to do with chaos is a very old challenge. It was a primary challenge for ancient philosophers. It is the Bible’s first challenge. In Genesis 1:1 God approaches the heavens and the earth and find chaos. According to the story the earth was without form and void. In other words, God found chaos, and the world was useless. According to this myth (right or wrong), God’s first task was to do something about chaos.

In 1969 Stephen Vizinczey published his classic book “The Rules of Chaos.” For nearly 50 years his book has played a significant role in my thinking. Chaos is the first subject of the Bible and not much has changed. The characters in the chaos story change, but the subject does not go away. Jesus from Nazareth apparently said nothing about chaos. He simply told a bunch of great stories and left us with memorable aphorisms. He started a lot of discussions. To maintain order (or so they thought), the Romans killed Jesus. The Roman version of order won but not really. Their empire faded into history just like all others. One of the rules of chaos says that power diminishes as it expands. The Roman Empire faded into history as all powers do.

The rules of chaos also say that only the defeated survive. Rome died. The body of Jesus’ followers continued on.

Among the followers of Jesus, the Apostle Paul was the first writer, who tried to make sense out of the life, death and teachings of Jesus. Paul tried and failed. History has given us a parade of very bright theologians. They have all tried to bring order to the realities of chaos. They have all failed and their theologies are stale garbage of yester years.

However, to his credit, in the midst of Paul’s extensive writings, he gives great advice for the practitioners of Christian Faith. One of those is found in Galatians, chapter 5. “The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such there is no law.” What Paul is suggesting is that the practice of Christian virtue can flourish without the interference of rules, even the rules of chaos. My own interpretation of Paul is that he had flashes of reality that worked not to challenge chaos but to work alongside of chaotic realities. He was on the right track but many times fell prey to his old Israelite thinking.

My own tentative conclusion is that chaos is not the enemy of God nor of righteousness, but is the genius of reality. Vizinczey lists six rules of chaos. I have referred to two. None of Vizinczey’s rules of chaos can be seen as necessarily negative or positive. They are simply laws that are ours to understand, not challenge but to understand, not to change but to appreciate, not to circumscribe but to be recognized as the context for living. My favorite rule of chaos is “If nothing is certain, nothing is impossible.” Put in other words, chaos greatly expands the possibilities of life.

I hear of people who think “outside of the box.” When I hear this expression, I want to cheer. They are in the eyes of many out of control. But in reality they are fully engaged with life and surprisingly comfortable within the rules of chaos.

I have tried to place Jesus from Nazareth within the rules of chaos. He appears to me to work very well without making chaos an issue. It was said of him that “he went about doing good!” He was known as a healer. He was kind; he was gentle; he was loving; he was forgiving; he was peace loving. He spoke truth to power.

In the early church Christians argued about the nature of the faith of the followers of Jesus. This argument is expressed nowhere better than in the letter that we identify as James. James had become involved in the issues of faith and works. James argued that faith without good works is dead. James comments “Show me your faith without good works and I will show you my faith by my works.” I am with James. I believe Jesus came down on the side of good works as the identification of Godliness. Creeds and binding confessions of faith are attempts to bring order to the inherent chaos of life. They fail miserably.

I cite Paul’s observation that there is no law against spirit driven good behavior and good works.

Should we be concerned about the chaos that surrounds us? Another rule of chaos is “The future is a blinding mirage.” I repeat that chaos has always been and will always be. The future is entirely unpredictable. Every attempt to replace chaos with order is doomed to failure. Even the doing of good is not designed to address the presence of chaos. The doing of good is justified simply in the good that it does.

As we look to the future, I suggest to all serious believers that we speak truth to power, love our neighbor and do good. Chaos is not a problem to be fixed.

The End

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer, Alaska. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.