{"id":393,"date":"2005-10-17T22:31:35","date_gmt":"2005-10-17T22:31:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2005\/10\/ed_anton_on_rep.shtml"},"modified":"2021-05-29T02:46:48","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T02:46:48","slug":"ed_anton_on_rep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2005\/10\/ed_anton_on_rep.shtml","title":{"rendered":"Ed Anton on Repentance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our church entered in a Sunday series based on Ed Anton’s new book, Repentance: A Cosmic Shift of Mind and Heart<\/em><\/a>. The church began the series while we were slacking off (!) in Chicago, so I just started the book tonight. I have to admit, I’m never fond of these kind of church wide reading projects, and wasn’t looking forward to this one. However, I’ve read through the first two chapters and I am really impressed with this so far, and eager to keep reading. Let me share some tidbits:
\nChapter 1 lays bare how our consumer culture has invaded our churches and how we view churches. People now ‘church shop’ much like they ‘car shop’ or shop for anything else. Now churches, in the honorable desire to get more folks in the pews, market themselves much like you’d market anything else. Of course, the traditional understanding of repentance (“Your wrong, so change.”) doesn’t sell well. This market driven approach (Ed spent 10 years in marketing at P&G and Coca-Cola) leads to pushing the message of Biblical repentance further into the background. We emphasize the ‘attractive’ parts of Jesus’ message, the parts that appeal to the emotions. Just like the marketers:<\/p>\n

The distillation of our lifetime exposure to ad copy leaves us with this common sentiment: “You are so terribly misunderstood. We understand this better than anyone else. We have listened to you, and we know what you need. You need our product; everything’s going to be alright. Thank you for allowing us to serve you.”<\/p>\n

pg. 19<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Sounds like a lot of churches, no? And, frankly, it’s not a ‘bad’ message, except that once you begin there, it’s hard to bring in repentance later. And, Ed points out, both John the Baptist and Jesus began<\/em> their message with “Repent!”
\nIn chapter 2 he delves into a history of the translation of the Greek word metanoia<\/em> which is known in English as ‘repentance’ and how that has colored our view of it for the worse. He lays out the story of hundreds of years of mis-translaton both accidental and quite deliberate, that turns the idea of metanoia<\/em>, akin to ‘transformation’ or ‘metamorphosis’, into ‘penance’ or ‘sorrow’. Jesus did not come calling men to ‘Be sorry’ or ‘do penance for the kingdom of heaven is near.’ Jesus called us to transform our mind, not by looking back in regret but looking forward with hope:<\/p>\n

metanoia does not rue the past so much as it pursues the future. Lamenting fault does not foment change. At the same time, metanoia does not ignore past transgressions; in fact we abhor sin – and sinfulness – through metanoia. … Metanoia results in a rejection of sinfulness, because its fierce pursuit of a righteous future abandons sin to an obsolete past.<\/p>\n

pg. 32<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Our understanding of repentance is a victim of the necessary evil of translation. He says <\/p>\n

As the Jewish poet Haim Nachum Bialik put it, “Reading the Bible in translation is like kissing your bride through a veil.” … but through translation, we should always strive to render the veil so sheer that we may sense the softness and sweetness of our bride’s lips.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He claims that our familiar English word ‘repentance’ is simply a thinner veil, still obscuring true metanoia<\/em> behind our own preconceived notions of sorrow, regret and penance.
\nChapter 3 promises illustrations to further illuminate metanoia<\/em>. I already feel as though a certain thickness of the veil has been removed, if the remaining chapters are as enlightening this book will be well worth the $15. I don’t plan on blogging each reading of the book, I suggest you go to DPI<\/a> and order a copy of your own and discover what Jesus really meant when he said “Repent!”. ICOCinfo<\/a> has a couple of links today to study resources to use with the book as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our church entered in a Sunday series based on Ed Anton’s new book, Repentance: A Cosmic Shift of Mind and Heart. 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Pretend that you are the leader of a moderate sized church. Pretend that you are well known in your fellowship of churches. In fact you were once the leader of said fellowship and are largely credited with being its founder. Pretend that after many \"urgent\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God and Church"","block_context":{"text":"God and Church","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/god-and-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":423,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2005\/12\/corporate_repen.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":393,"position":1},"title":"Corporate Repentance","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"December 18, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"The union between the Father and the Son is such a live, concrete thing that this union itself is also a Person. I know that's almost inconceivable, but look at it this way. You know that among human beings, when they get together in a family, or a club, or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God and Church"","block_context":{"text":"God and Church","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/god-and-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":432,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2006\/01\/more_from_ed_an.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":393,"position":2},"title":"More From Ed Anton","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"January 11, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm still trying to wrap up Ed Anton's Repentance. It continues to bring more things to light that are helping me find my way. In a chapter titled \"The Church Reorients us\", he asks if the early church, being counter-cultural, were, in fact, non conformists.Was that the secret of their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God and Church"","block_context":{"text":"God and Church","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/god-and-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":421,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2005\/12\/repentance.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":393,"position":3},"title":"Bleh., Part II","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"December 12, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God and Church"","block_context":{"text":"God and Church","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/god-and-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":386,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2005\/09\/the_storm_is_pa.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":393,"position":4},"title":"The Storm is Passing Over","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"September 15, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"FYI - Much of this is from the reports of the two men here that went to the Seattle Leadership Conference. I was not there, and most of this has not been published any where that I've seen. The list of 9 & the timeline is from ICOCinfo. Well, it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "God and Church"","block_context":{"text":"God and Church","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/god-and-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":427,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2005\/12\/to_the_church_i.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":393,"position":5},"title":"To The Church In Columbus","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"December 21, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"As we are going through this process of Corporate Repentance, we've looked a lot at Revelation 2-3. These letters to the churches were a wake up call to most of them, I bet. Nearly all were recipients of a serious reproof by God. 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