tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85977723180182825392024-03-13T04:46:09.702-04:00Restoring Soul through CommunityAnnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-58921688074498200902013-03-29T12:04:00.001-04:002013-03-29T22:12:48.601-04:00Why is Friday good?In Proverbs, which was written long before Jesus lived and died, it is written:<br />
<br />
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"<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The bloodthirsty hate
the blameless, and they seek the life of the upright." (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Prov%2029:10&version=NRSV" target="_blank">Prov. 29:10</a>)</i></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Perhaps the biggest lie we are apt to tell ourselves is that we love people who are good. We yearn to be treated well by others, but we want to dwell in our <u><i><b>self-determined and self-referencing subjective righteousness</b></i></u>. We don't want anyone questioning our<i> </i>views on ourselves, others or the "reality" that is framed solely from the inside of our minds and eye lids.</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> We are <i>naturally </i>self-righteous. Jonathan Haidt, when speaking about his recent book, <i><b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Righteous-Mind-Politics-Religion/dp/0307455777" target="_blank">The Righteous Mind</a>, </b></i>said that he'd thought of the title, <i>"The Self-Righteous Mind"</i>! However, having studied human behavior, he knew that the former title would <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2012/06/06/morality-and-body/" target="_blank">predispose our elephants to lean away from the truth that </a><u><b><a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2012/06/06/morality-and-body/" target="_blank">our minds will justify any behavior, words or actions to ourselves</a>.</b></u> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In fact, the more intelligent and educated we are, the better we become at self-justification and self-righteousness.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Those of us who follow Jesus Christ seek, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to trust in God's justification of us in the faithfulness of Christ. We are not faithful. We fail. We injure others. We damage ourselves. We cannot love ourselves or others, perfectly. But, <b><u>the difference should be that we do not self-justify. </u></b>We confess our wrongs against and judgment of others. By definition, <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Cor%204:3-4&version=NIV" target="_blank">a Christian should never be <u><b>SELF</b></u>-righteous</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">As spiritual humans, we step into the light and allow God's love, justice and righteousness to judge our thoughts, words and behavior. When others tell us we have wronged them, we allow God's love and laws to frame whether those reported "wrongs" are true. After all, in addition to being attacked for doing what is "wrong", the verse from Proverbs confirms that we will <u><b>also</b></u> be attacked for doing and speaking what is right! So, we must ask God, have we failed to follow You in this situation or relationship? If yes, we must turn (i.e., repent). When others betray us, we know that we betray Christ if/whenever we respond to betrayal with betrayal.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">As natural humans, we will <i><b>veer strongly away</b></i> from allowing God or anyone else to examine our thoughts, words, behavior and acts. The natural human is self-righteous, and wants no input which challenges or contradicts his/her self-righteous brain.<br /><br />As natural humans, we will betray, divorce and cut off, abandon, mock, slander, torture and kill anyone who dares to speak truth into our self-righteousness.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">This Friday is "good", because God-in-Christ loved us - loved us who are God's hate-filled enemies - and God, </span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">was faithful in the face of our betrayal, </span></li>
<li><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">steadfastly "with us" in the face of our divorcing and alienating acts, </span></li>
<li><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">remained true when we ran away and abandoned the One bringing life, light, healing, grace & truth into our lives,</span></li>
<li><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">spoke with love when treated with mockery and gossip,</span></li>
<li><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">did not strike back when deliberately tortured,</span></li>
<li><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bore the terrible pain we inflicted by our vindictive, self-righteous, self-defending hatred without transferring it onto others,</span></li>
<li><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and, in fully bearing our enmity, hatred and false accusations unto death, forgives us. </span></li>
</ul>
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Christ-following and Christ-loving people depend upon God's love, power and righteousness, revealed in Christ, to heal us and to redeem us. "...</span><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Cor%201:23-25&version=NRSV" target="_blank">but we proclaim Christ crucified</a>, a stumbling block to Jews
and foolishness to Gentiles, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="28"></a>but to those who are the called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="29"></a>For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s
weakness is stronger than human strength."<br />
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<![endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="background: silver; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-highlight: silver;"><br /></span></u></i></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-71825714807606027832012-12-05T14:35:00.001-05:002012-12-05T14:35:43.663-05:00(Dis)honesty, Morality and Lessons from Financial Crisis<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This is definitely one of the most insightful RSA videos I've ever watched which covers our self-justifications, our capacity and inclinations to seek our own selfish interests while fully engaged in rationalization of those choices (sins!), and the inherent problems of the distancing from people that working in finance exacerbates terribly, which I'd noted when I worked in investment banking industry earlier in my career. In my experience and understanding as a Christian, Dr. Dan Ariely makes significant inroads into nailing reality as it truly is:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBmJay_qdNc" target="_blank">The Truth about Dishonesty</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">That video is approximately 11 minutes, long. There's a longer version of 28+ minutes, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGGxguJsirI" target="_blank">here</a>. At the second link, there is another link which leads to a Q & A session. Dan Ariely also has a series of <a href="http://www.ted.com/speakers/dan_ariely.html" target="_blank">TED talks</a> which we can listen to, and his book develops his insights and studies, further: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Irrational-Revised-Expanded-Decisions/dp/0061353248" target="_blank"><i>Predictably Irrational</i></a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The healthiest aspect of Dan Ariely's insights is that he seeks out what can mitigate and temper these selfish interests to which we are all naturally subject. Ariely is a professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University. </span>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-84697705854058269432012-10-17T14:14:00.000-04:002012-10-17T14:14:13.143-04:00On money & power – men and women differ!<!--[if !mso]>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs5C10m-mjBC_wSQImIPYpid3a4DhUP8m3Ci3f92Mk022_UAtVR6T-SyfkzymM9Y3l4gAs4NZVtDdv24nqz5ZjI5Np2Hp1CTAd4xiCO9ocmI1Wc7kb5f2C7FUWumB8nO98s6K21fBa3sk/s1600/Help+us+get+more+binders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs5C10m-mjBC_wSQImIPYpid3a4DhUP8m3Ci3f92Mk022_UAtVR6T-SyfkzymM9Y3l4gAs4NZVtDdv24nqz5ZjI5Np2Hp1CTAd4xiCO9ocmI1Wc7kb5f2C7FUWumB8nO98s6K21fBa3sk/s320/Help+us+get+more+binders.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #93c47d;">Figure <span>1</span> - source: http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mc0mel2ewi1rj8amio1_1280.jpg</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";">It
seems little has changed in the male-privileged power circles since my stint in
NYC and eastern US investment banking. Within the higher echelons which identify wealth as power, women who don't cater to &/or serve the
dominant paradigm are rare or non-existent.<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>It's not a coincidence, according
to statistically-based research, that merely <b><u>admitting</u></b> a woman's influence and hearing her voice
change group outcomes. Romney is not alone in his disregard of women. Genesis
3 is alive & kicking in the world, today, and certainly in NYC and DC.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";">In
regard to the worship of money, there truly exists a substantive difference
between women's & men's use of money. The statistical studies of the UN, World
Bank, UNESCO and other NGO's, viewed alongside the results of microfinance
initiatives in the developing world, have revealed significant differences in
the way men and women employ money. (cf., Half the Sky - book or documentary, the
<a href="http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/fast-facts/english/FF-Gender-Equality-and-UNDP.pdf">UN’s
summary</a>, and other resources available on the web)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";">When
more women <u><i>disconnect further</i></u> from family responsibilities and social ties (to
which we're more tied, bodily – barring contraception, celibacy or infertility)
and manipulate others in order to acquire worldly power, the discrepancy
diminishes.<span> </span>Conversely, when men are <u><i>more</i></u>
actively connected to families and communities, and <u><i>less</i></u> to one another's approval and
ruling over others via power-games, then the gap also diminishes. We need to pay attention to the actions more than to the lip-service. Women may say they value men, but their actions reveal manipulative techniques to acquire power and win. Men may say they value women more than money, but seek every opportunity to gain power and diminish and rule over women. Both genders will rationalize and justify their actions, verbally. Ignore the words that don't match the actions and outcomes! Power games are <u><b>not</b></u> confined to physical force; power games include emotional, sexual and religious blackmail, intellectual domination, financial fraud and deceptive practices, legal machinations, and systemic economic injustice.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";">This
description circumscribes the pro<span style="font-size: small;">found need of our world. Here is where</span> I see the reconciling work of God
in Christ, God imaged male & female in creation, God working in &
through the church, as having profound effects on the world as we know it:
connecting men more strongly to God, women & their families; and giving
worth & voice to women in their embodied gifts which inform their valuing of
reality diversely to men. Both men and women properly use their equally-valued gifts
to serve God, neighbors and enemies <b><i><u>with the other gender</u></i></b>. Thus,
the Holy Spirit-empowered church of men and women cut off the dual temptations to
over-value money & power and de-value healthy relationships with one another!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #a64d79;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="font-family: "Baskerville Old Face","serif";">[Note:
I have a third blog post on the Conference on Civility to complete. Please forgive
this intervening tangent!]</span></i></span></span></span></div>
Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-2101418386418072522012-10-05T11:57:00.000-04:002012-10-05T11:57:09.582-04:00Uncommon Decency 2<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Part 2 of a series of posts on a Conference held in Washington, DC, Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i>Uncommon Decency: Christian Civility in an Uncivil Season</i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Following Dr. Mouw (summarized in <a href="http://restoringsoul.blogspot.com/2012/10/uncommon-decency-christian-civility-in.html">previous
post</a>), Ross Douthat of the NY Times spoke about civility from the
perspective of the gospel writers’ observations of Jesus. In his position as an
Opinion Editorial writer, he tries to live out civility in his public life.
However, the question remains: is there ever when enlightened zeal can switch
from civil to uncivil? Douthat contends that Jesus’ words to the Pharisees in
Matthew 23 indicate that there are times for incivility in discourse with
others. There are some, of course, who say that Jesus was the Son of God so he
can do what we may not. However, setting aside that restriction which we’ll
never meet, Douthat presented an analysis of the context in which Jesus and the
OT prophets spoke with such harshness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>Douthat proposed
there are three critical criteria which need to be met for speaking with
incivility:</span></div>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span></span></span>The speaker is <u>speaking to his/her own
community</u>, who <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>should share</u></i>
the same fundamental premises and beliefs as the speaker.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The speaker speaks <u>against people of power
within the community from a position of powerlessness</u>, and speaks on behalf
of those who are oppressed and persecuted by the powerful clique.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The speaker addresses issues which are <u>primary
to the community’s beliefs</u>, not secondary issues. The primary issues are
those which address good and evil, justice and injustice.</span></li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">a.<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span>Douthat referenced Michael Walzer’s book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Shadow-Politics-Hebrew-Bible/dp/0300180446/ref=la_B000APV5SQ_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1349300374&sr=1-2"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In God’s Shadow: Politics in the Hebrew
Bible</i></a>, which evidently noted that there isn’t much in the OT directly
written about politics, but there is plenty of direct theological and moral
language directed against those oppressing the poor, doing evil against others and sowing
injustice in the community.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So, as a Catholic speaking to fellow Catholics, Douthat said
that he could speak more in a form of a jeremiad; however, in another forum,
with a different audience who are outsiders to that group (e.g., readers of the
NY Times), he phrases things differently. Douthat noted that
his recent book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Religion-Became-Nation-Heretics/dp/1439178305/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349300787&sr=1-1&keywords=bad+religion"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bad Religion</i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, </i>had been called a “refined jeremiad” by a reviewer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As examples of people who suit the criteria, Douthat noted
that Harriet Beecher Stowe used jeremiad-like language when speaking against
slavery as a woman abolitionist. The language employed and the manner in which
she spoke were markedly different than that of President Abraham Lincoln, who
addressed the nation from the highest position of power, as an insider and as
the embodiment of civil authority to the nation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Douthat believes that our failure to maintain the balance
thus illustrated provokes all sorts of problems.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">He gave the contemporary example of Archbishop of New York,
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who fought vigorously against Pres. Obama on the issue
of contraceptives and Roman Catholic convictions, but who then invited
President Obama to the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/07/dolan-obama-al-smith-dinner_n_1749472.html">Alfred
E. Smith Dinner</a>. Douthat perceived this as a measure of respect for Obama’s
civil position despite the RCC’s outspoken opposition on the issue of contraceptives and
women’s freedom. However, the invitation enraged many conservative Catholics.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The word, “jeremiad”, offers a unique religious glimpse into
the societal confusion we’re experiencing, today. There is less of a Christian
“center and focus” for American dialogue about issues, and many people “love
Jesus” but want to make him into their own image. Americans are uncertain about
the implications of their own positions, and even more uncertain or mistaken
about the true positions of those against whom we’re arguing. Furthermore,
groups have reasons to see themselves as being in a position of powerlessness.
After the 2004 election, for instance, secular liberals believed themselves to
have been shoved aside by “morality” voters. Subsequently, conservative
believers reacted to the “secular” victory they perceived as endangering their
values in the 2008 election. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
responses from both ends of the spectrum came from perceptions of personal
powerlessness and uncertainty over those with whom they’re arguing. [I’d note
that “alienation” might have been a better word choice than Douthat’s use of
“uncertainty” in this context. Polarization of groups has made it rare for many
people to have friends among the “opposition”.] The result is that people
perceive themselves justified in repeatedly resorting to the use of the
language of jeremiad. Douthat pointed out that the far right perceives itself
marginalized, uses such language, but has identified itself as “The Moral
Majority”. The depiction of Obama by a few liberals as a president of messianic
proportions was appropriated by many conservatives to justify their turn toward conspiracy theorists, such as Glenn Beck and other Revelation-quoting
religionists.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">In closing, Douthat connected the de-institutionalization of
American “Christians”, on the one hand, with the inspiration of many to pour
their disembodied passions into <u>another</u> “body” or institution – “the
body politic”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>People will split and
divide because we do so, naturally; however, it’s important for everyone to see the spectrum
of opinions. Neither political party has monopoly on truth from the religious
perspective we have as Christians. We can't look to or expect any political party
to craft all their party’s positions according to Christ.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Dialogue, conciliation and compromise are imperative in
civil society!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Next blog: wrap up, with Q & A session</span></div>
Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-86564092343356790142012-10-02T17:47:00.002-04:002012-10-05T11:35:28.216-04:00Uncommon Decency: Christian Civility in an Uncivil Season<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">On Saturday, I attended a Conference on Civility held in
Washington, DC, at the National Presbyterian Church. The speakers were <a href="http://www.fuller.edu/president/">Dr. Richard Mouw</a> (President of
Fuller Theological Seminary) and <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/rossdouthat/index.html">Ross
Douthat</a> (NY Times columnist, author and editor). <a href="http://www.eppc.org/scholars/scholarID.10/scholar.asp">Michael Cromartie</a>,
VP of the Ethics & Public Policy Center in DC was the moderator. The
speakers critiqued the current cultural climate in a helpful manner, and
challenged the church to be more proactive in promoting civil discourse for the
common good.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Dr. Richard Mouw spoke first. He began by outlining the need
for religion to provide a constructive frame for social harmony. Without proper
framing, humans naturally split into various factions. “Zeal” for our own
groups (& groups’ agendas) overtakes civility and the need to live
harmoniously with others with whom we disagree. Mouw referenced James Madison’s
Federalist Paper #10, wherein Madison explored problems posed to healthy
government by human factions operating with harmful zeal (<a href="http://www.montpelier.org/explore/james_madison/media/pdf/jm_federalist_10.pdf">section
10.7</a>). Mouw then expressed his concern that we not give up “zeal”
altogether, because the apostle Paul clearly described the characteristics of both
bad and good zeal in his letters (cf. Romans 9:30-10:4, & 12:1-21). Mouw
cited John Calvin’s Institutes (book IV, ch. 2) in which Calvin wrote that civil
government is formed and given the mandate to promote and preserve concord and
common peace. It’s remarkable that the US government has had a history, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">within many of our lifetimes, </i>of
perceiving political rivalry as not inherently antithetical to or prohibiting
of friendship and fellowship. Mouw specifically mentioned the political rivalry but
personal friendship between Pres. Reagan and House speaker, Tip O’Neill. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Rather, we need to choose the path of “convicted civility”.
Mouw attributes the phrase to <a href="http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2012">Martin Marty</a>,
who used it in his 1981 book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">By Way of Response.
</i>Marty further developed the theme in a later book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Politics, Religion, and the Common Good</i>: “A problem in contemporary
life, [Marty] said, is that the folks who are good at being civil often don’t
have very strong convictions, and the people who have strong convictions
usually aren’t very civil.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The word, “civility”, comes from the word rooted in “city”.
According to Aristotle, civility begins with kinship and friendship, but
maturity enables us to recognize and respond respectfully to the stranger, because
we share common bonds of humanity and dwelling together within the city. We can
treat others with dignity and honor, respecting what we share in common while
acknowledging the differences between us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Catholics and evangelicals have had theological
understandings based on being marginalized in American society for decades, but
we haven’t developed a good theological understanding of how to live within the
center of government, economics and society. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">[Blogger’s note: I understood that Mouw was driving at the difference
in engagement and volume of rhetoric which is needed for outsiders and for
insiders, here. Excluded, marginalized and disenfranchised people find
themselves needing to crank up the volume of their voices and harden their
words in order to be heard, as it were. Disharmony and dissonance result when
those people <u>are</u> truly being listened to, but cannot or won’t stop
shouting and harshly criticizing others, and/or cannot cease operating from an
assumption of being marginalized.]</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Humans have defective characters, and the way for Christians
to participate healthily in society's center is founded in becoming “the right kind
of people”, by which Mouw means that our character has to be reformed by humbling ourselves before God through spiritual disciplines and enacting Christian values. Our manners should be shaped
for public life, and Mouw referenced <a href="http://www.hds.harvard.edu/people/faculty/ronald-f-thiemann">Ronald
Thiemann</a>’s insight that local congregations should be functioning as schools
of common virtue. Furthermore, we need to regain our old commitments to
community which have been lost in our selfish, individually-centered pursuits.
The sociologist, Robert Bellah, developed the understanding that we, as
Americans, have lost our sense of being committed to something larger than
ourselves. We have forgotten or misplaced the worth of loyalty to each other as
fellow humans and citizens.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Mouw touched upon Calvin’s explication of Just War theory,
and emphasized that, at the end of all the evaluations of arguments for and
against war, Calvin specifically called upon us to examine ourselves and to
perceive the opposing side as fellow humans. War should never be undertaken
when we have failed to grasp both our own tendencies to over-evaluate ourselves
as “good”, and dismiss others as “bad”. The Psalms have numerous shifts which
demonstrate this necessary spiritual discipline. <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm%20139&version=NIV">Psalm
139</a>, for instance, after celebrating the humanity and wonder of the
psalmist’s person and God’s creation, strongly denounces the wicked in vv.
19-22, but then immediately asks God to search his own heart and mind (vv. 23-24).
Should God find any “wicked” or “offensive” way within the psalmist or today’s reciter
of the psalm, we implore God to reveal that way and lead us in “the way
everlasting”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We need to love our neighbors as ourselves, in every way,
action, conversation and choice. (In a later discussion with Dr. Mouw, we agreed that business and financial decisions and actions are included in this commitment to love our neighbors!) In every discussion, even regarding hot-button
issues such as human sexual expression, “how may we express our views without
being needlessly offensive” to the other? We must never bear “false witness”, either,
by misrepresenting what the other truly believes or testifies to be true, because we’ve failed to listen
well, and to allow them to tell us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">“We aren’t just pitting position against position”,
according to Mouw, we truly need to see one another as <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">humans together. </i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"></span></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mouw has recently revised, expanded and re-published his book, <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/uncommon-decency-richard-j-mouw/1102006878"><i>Uncommon Decency: Christian Civility in an Uncivil World</i></a>.</span></span></span> </div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Next
blog: Ross Douthat’s presentation.</span></span>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-38841619535616839032011-12-17T16:24:00.000-05:002011-12-17T16:28:02.220-05:00Incarnating Lawful Love 2 – Christian Peacemaking Basics<br />
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In my <a href="http://restoringsoul.blogspot.com/2011/12/incarnating-lawful-love-among-enemies.html" style="color: blue;">last
post</a>, I began sketching some dynamics which followers of Christ can monitor
in the midst of conflict, in ourselves & others. I realized, after the post,
that many folks don’t have the training and experiences I’ve been blessed to receive
in Christian conciliation. So, I want to lay some biblical peacemaking groundwork
before I proceed further with describing the dynamics, warning signs and red
flags, as well as the encouraging and nurturing signs of God’s activity and
presence within the relationships.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>The initial step: </u>The
basic foundation for any conflict resolution process must be determined.</b> We
claim that the foundation for our unity is Christ himself, crucified and
resurrected, so that we may inherit the promises of God. That sounds abstract,
I know, so let’s give alternative examples of foundations to contrast ours. Secular
mediation’s goal is to settle material differences in a dispute by use of laws and
regulations which pertain to the matter. If a matter ends up in a court of law,
laws and regulations which have bearing on the material differences in that
jurisdiction are utilized. Religions have different governing principles than
secular courts, and in some countries (including the US) religious judicatories
have jurisdiction over those who’ve agreed to abide by the principles &
authority of their religious documents in order to be employed, or to engage in
business transactions, or to be a member of their organization. Colleges and
corporations also have student, professor or employee handbooks which lay out
conditions and expectations of enrollment or employment. Families,
congregations and cultures have dynamic systems within which conflict is
handled as determined “appropriate” by that system’s model. Of course, not all
of these systems function in healthy, loving or honoring ways from a healthy
& loving foundation! Prejudice is harmful, hard to root out, and will
poison every interaction. Prejudice (“partiality” is the word used in
Scripture) comes in many forms: favoritism, racism, sexism, ethno-centrism,
nationalism, classism, deference to financial or worldly status, superiority according
to human wisdom, and any scale by which we judge others rather than serve them (<a href="http://restoringsoul.blogspot.com/2011/12/incarnating-lawful-love-among-enemies.html" style="color: blue;">see
the grid in the last post</a>, for more examples and a graphic image). </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Secondly</u></b>, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">a realistic assessment of the position or
the interests</b> from which those in conflict operate is imperative to
reconciliation. Our subjective position – where we are, how we perceive
ourselves & others in relation to one another, how we choose to use
whatever power we may have in that relationship & how we process
information according to life experiences, e.g. – and the interests we have in
the conflict affect the way we use and abuse concrete, verifiable facts and
legal principles. </div>
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Consider one recent news event – Newt Gingrich blasted GOP Rep.
Paul Ryan’s plan to balance the federal budget in May as “right-wing social
engineering” and too much of a “radical change”. Within a couple of days, he
claimed to have been “tricked” by the interviewer, and said, “Any ad which
quotes what I said on Sunday is a falsehood.” That statement is self-refuting
and self-contradictory, because employing a direct quote cannot be a falsehood.
What elicited Gingrich’s blustery response was that he belatedly realized the
political context had changed dramatically from his time as Speaker of the
House. The current GOP political context altered his position because his
interests (being elected) required that shift. Yet, his other interests (e.g., self-protection and countering a public image of untrustworthiness) meant that
he could not admit his subsequent reevaluation of his own words; thus, he
threatened the news reporters and his political opponents. Belligerence toward and
blame-shifting onto others is a mask for failure to face one’s weaknesses and self-contradictions.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Thirdly</u>, power
imbalances have to be recognized and redressed. </b>Our secular legal system
doesn’t do this well, at all. Yes, Legal Aid attorneys will be provided to all
defendants, but no one imagines that overworked and underpaid attorneys are
capable of balancing out the power imbalance. The force of deep pockets and
political influence too frequently prevails. Police, State and local prosecuting
attorneys have much more power than the poor, disconnected, and those
discriminated against in our society. Plus, they also are pressured to “close”
or “win” cases, and are judged by voters or politicians according to those
rates. However, government employees that they are, they have significantly fewer
resources in contrast to the financial power of corporations, the wealthy and
the numerous higher-paid attorneys they employ to protect their interests, even
at the expense of equal justice, appropriate governance, or proportional
taxation. The 30-day sentence of house arrest plus 2 years’ probation for Barry
Bonds is a sad example of unequal justice. Even worse, the complete dearth of
prosecutions of Wall Street financial executives for fabricating financial
instruments to defraud unwary investors, while shifting the risk from failure
onto the federal government is shocking. Some applaud the penalties assessed to
FNMA and FHLMC; however, I’m aware of how those penalties stand in appalling contrast
to the absence of penalties to those investment banks and bankers who garnered
far more wealth from their unethical and devious actions. That’s not to say that
FNMA and FHLMC executives were not malfeasant in financial risk-taking; it is
to say that those who were penalized had less power than those who’ve done far worse
and escaped penalties, thus far.</div>
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In Christian conciliation, the goal of conciliation between
fellow Christians includes more than a resolution of material differences; the
goal of conciliation between Christians is unity in Christ, loving and serving
God, one another and the church. The foundation has to be scripturally-based
and held together in love within the Body of Christ in community. A faithful Christian
understands that his/her subjective position and interests must be winnowed by
the Word and the Holy Spirit’s discernment, informed by their brothers and
sisters in Christ. The power Christians should use is found in the cross of
Christ. We are called to humble love and service of one another, for the glory
of God and the building up of the church members. </div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">22</span></sup></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="27"></a><sup>23</sup>but
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">we proclaim Christ crucified, a
stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="28"></a><sup>24</sup>but
to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and
the wisdom of God.</b> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="29"></a><sup>25</sup>For God’s foolishness is
wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="30"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">26</sup>Consider your own call, brothers and sisters:
not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many
were of noble birth. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="31"></a><sup>27</sup>But God chose what is foolish
in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame
the strong; <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="32"></a><sup>28</sup>God chose what is low and despised in
the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="33"></a><sup>29</sup>so that no one might boast in the presence of God. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="34"></a><sup>30</sup>He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who
became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and
redemption, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="35"></a><sup>31</sup>in order that, as it is written, “Let
the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1)</span></i></div>
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Fundamentally, however, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Christian conciliation isn’t possible if
either party to the conflict determines</i></b> </div>
<ol>
<li>Christ is irrelevant to the resolution (i.e.,
the person’s goal is not unity in Christ), or </li>
<li><span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"></span>Either party acts as an enemy of Christ, whatever
profession they may make (i.e., one party refuses to honor Jesus’ command to
love the other in accordance with scripture). </li>
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In other words, all parties to the conflict must be acting
faithfully toward one another, “in Christ”, and entrusting themselves and one
another to the Lord who is able to make them stand. (Romans 14:1-12) The
foundation for <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>Christian reconciliation</u></i></b> is Christ himself; we are
reconciled through the cross: </div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">13</span></sup></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">But now in Christ Jesus you who once
were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="16"></a><sup>14</sup>For
<span class="gradient">he</span> <span class="gradient">is</span> <span class="gradient">our</span> <span class="gradient">peace</span>; in his flesh he
has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is,
the hostility between us. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="17"></a><sup>15</sup>He has abolished the law
with its commandments and ordinances, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">that
he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making
peace, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="18"></a><sup>16</sup>and might reconcile both groups to God in
one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="19"></a><sup>17</sup>So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far
off and peace to those who were near; <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="20"></a><sup>18</sup>for through
him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.</b> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="21"></a><sup>19</sup>So
then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the
saints and also members of the household of God, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="22"></a><sup>20</sup>built
upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as
the cornerstone. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="23"></a><sup>21</sup>In him the whole structure is
joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="24"></a><sup>22</sup>in
whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.
(Ephesians 2)</span></i></div>
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Basically, if one party or the other party to a conflict determines
to be the other person’s enemy, there’s no possibility of moving forward toward
unity in Christ. If the God we worship is the God who “so loved the world that
he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but
have eternal life” (John 3:16), then we are called to follow him in our
thoughts, words, and actions toward everyone – including those who act as
enemies to us. It isn’t possible to act as the enemy of any person created in
God’s image while following Christ who died, demonstrating God’s love for us. “…while
we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son…”
(Rom. 5:8-11)</div>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-47693224980025286332011-12-06T15:21:00.001-05:002011-12-08T19:51:38.916-05:00Incarnating Lawful Love among Enemies<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>A Personal Note</u></b>:
every person has suffered from conflict in his/her life. No one of us is
exempted, although some have certainly experienced more destructive conflict
than others. Extreme alienation is produced by relentless, destructive and
violent enmity. Recovering from a toxic environment which breeds enmity and
murderous stress takes a while, and without God’s love, presence and strong
support from wise companions, complete healing is unreachable. Whether we’re
cognizant of the reality or not, most of us have seen Jesus’ warning in Matt.
12:43-45 manifested in people we have known. Many, if not all, of us have
experienced the stress of people who seek to harm us, personally or
professionally, and who try to fracture the peace and harmony we have within
our families and relationships. These people imagine personal gain to be in others' destruction. Two of my closest genetic relatives have attempted to destroy my marriage,
undermine my family, relationships and career for many years & decades. My background is highly academic, and so I’ve wrestled to understand their actions
and enmity from the perspective of my faith journey with Jesus Christ, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>and</u></i> as a thorough-going
intellectual with degrees in politics, economics and theology, with
training and work in biblical conflict resolution. (Though I try to write simply, in
other words, I frequently fail! This is a looong post. (o: ) As a Christ-follower, Jesus
called me to love God, neighbors and enemies in my thoughts, prayers, words and
actions. Jesus’ call kills me. Simply put, I don’t want to love these people
who actively seek the destruction of my life and family relationships. But, to
follow Jesus, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>my natural self and its demands must die</u></i></b>. Sometimes, that death
has felt like hell. Forgiving is the biblical process of letting go of our
natural self’s demands, and allowing God to judge others in God’s time. Enemies,
by definition, continuously trespass healthy boundaries. (Let Christ-followers
remind ourselves, again, all of us have trespassed against others!) In Christ, by
the power of the Holy Spirit, I have chosen love, not enmity. What I reflect
about my journey, below, is meant to encourage others. Perhaps, the patterns observed in those who love and those who hate might resonate with others’ observations, too. May this encourage those who love God to keep following Jesus. To those who don’t know him, Jesus lives. He
is God’s lawful love incarnate – steadfast, faithful, trustworthy, grace-filled
and true. God is good. Jesus said, </div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">43</span></sup></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor
and hate your enemy.’ <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="53"></a><sup>44</sup>But I say to you, Love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you, <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="54"></a><sup>45</sup>so
that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on
the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the
unrighteous. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="55"></a><sup>46</sup>For if you love those who love you,
what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="56"></a><sup>47</sup>And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what
more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="57"></a><sup>48</sup>Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is
perfect. (Matthew 5)</span></i></div>
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When most of us think about laws, we think about a list of
rules external to us, actions we should or should not take based on criteria
about which most of us had no influence. The prophets, Jesus, and his apostles,
however, clearly indicate that humans already embody laws in our bodies –
thoughts, words, tastes, preferences, actions, experiences, reactions and
interactions. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>By our words, actions,
and choices we are constantly revealing whom or what we worship.</u></i> In our
bodies, we are constantly judging and assessing whether others measure up to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>our</u></b> norms of what is “good”,
right, fair, just, moral, appropriate or “tasteful” to do. However, as do speed
limits, traffic regulations, societal expectations and criminal laws, human
norms are constantly fluctuating, formed, hardened and softened through good
and bad experiences, affected by good, bad, persuasive, manipulative &/or
powerful people, across cultures, within the course of time. This simplistic (&
reductionist) 3-dimensional grid gives an idea of how we naturally embody
“laws”. Imagine the diamonds on the grid representing one person measured
according to a set of standards, at a certain point in time…</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl_sVAcKBT3DG1B_TE71Ow2GATB8c8CGQFy1vZW2q9UlUbaz7cNO7m2hlITixeiQrWNlLTn30AS69qLKK4JtIzODtkdi8W8Si6lXhEF72HvyDQfS4ig9bXItdDa0Q9gRRw2ECPRwxHuy4/s1600/2011+Dec+6+Incarnating+the+Law+of+Love+graph.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl_sVAcKBT3DG1B_TE71Ow2GATB8c8CGQFy1vZW2q9UlUbaz7cNO7m2hlITixeiQrWNlLTn30AS69qLKK4JtIzODtkdi8W8Si6lXhEF72HvyDQfS4ig9bXItdDa0Q9gRRw2ECPRwxHuy4/s400/2011+Dec+6+Incarnating+the+Law+of+Love+graph.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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The horizontal plane gives the subjective measure of how
little/much a person has and accumulates, and the vertical ordering gives the
ranking a person enacts at any given day or period in life, by priorities of
time, energy and resources. If we add the 3<sup>rd</sup> dimension of the depth
of time, the fluidity and inter-relationships of the points becomes more
obvious, and we begin to perceive that our life has markers at certain moments
(the diamonds), but also assumes a shape and direction over time. Imagine this
dynamic continually being enacted in our body and choices, and the dimensions take
shape in the person we see in the mirror. The person I am lives within a far
more complex developing constellation of people, culture, race, ethnicity and
history.</div>
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As we naturally interact according to our own & others’
relative positions on the grid of our bodies & human positions, we will
fail to meet people on the holy ground of God’s saving grace, mercy and welcome
in Christ. We cannot see ourselves, or know what God knows of us. We cannot fully
see who others are in God’s sight, where they need God, where they struggle,
now, and how they long for healing and wholeness. We’re stuck assessing them
and ourselves <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>according to human
measurements from our relative scale which is subject to time and our bodies</u></i>.
(Rom. 8:5-7) Just as one person has one view from the floor of a canyon, so
another person has a different view when stuck on a cliff, even if both views
are reflected “truly” at that moment & immediate context. Every aspect of and
each behavioral choice we’ve made in our whole life <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>affects</u></i></b> the angles
from which we justify, measure and/or condemn ourselves and others.
Metaphorically, as soon as we <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>freeze</u></b>
time’s passage to measure and judge ourselves or others, we’ve measured
inaccurately and untruthfully. The
Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle provides a physical metaphor for this
spiritual truth: the more accurately a scientist calculates the position of a
particle in physics, the less accurately the particle’s speed can be measured,
and vice versa.</div>
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We cannot see the activity of God in our assessments of our
own or others’ positions on the grid. We can only perceive the Holy Spirit’s continuing
breath & life by maintaining our connection to Godself, and inasmuch as possible from our side, with one another. We cannot know others’ hearts, yet we should discern
developing fruit (or lack) and our own or others’ motion toward light or
darkness, toward confessing or hiding of sins, toward growing peace and unity
or harboring alienation. </div>
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Maintaining enmity absolutely depends upon the stoppage of
time at particular points, so that our human grid positions freeze in our
subjective position of judgment/approval, condemnation/release, divorce/affinity,
murder, alienation, gossip, slander and perceptions of morality/ immorality. Of
course, the judging one claims the “higher” law or principle by which he/she
condemns others, permanently. That law/principle, however externally supported
(even with scriptural principles), becomes the unrighteous, hammering gavel by
which people demand satisfaction, condemn or approve of one another. (Rom. 7:5)
The ongoing suffering of people in the land of Palestine/Israel is one
manifestation of an ancient “good” promise held sacrosanct to harm others,
today. That shard of time can become a prism
of refracted light, or an icicle to stab someone with.</div>
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One peculiar manifestation of persons frozen in enmity is an
irrational inability to perceive anyone and even time itself from outside of
her/his singular viewpoint from a particular past grid position &
perspective. S/he continues bringing the past into the present, with human
words puffing breath vainly into the past’s rotting glory or shame. All the referents
are from within her/his body’s grid, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">then,
</i>and even verifiable, subsequent and superseding facts are ignored, warped, omitted
and denied so s/he can maintain that position of self-justified condemnation
and enmity. “Evidence” is fabricated out of nothing. Real and imagined “facts”,
deliberately isolated from time & others’ perspectives, and deliberately positioned
as the scope through which all else is viewed, become the warped weapons by
which s/he fight people. S/he will not be reconciled to God, self or others.
She or he holds that position in their grid as if life itself depended on it. However,
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Life</u></b> is truly lived
elsewhere. Sadly, the grid’s triumph, his/her fixed position, and the enmity
produced manifests death, not life. The breath humans puff at the past and death
is lifeless and without power to create new life. </div>
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Another peculiar manifestation of sworn enemies is that they
demand <u>the ultimate word</u>. S/he cannot “lose”; every encounter is
win/lose. The only resolution for them is in a declaration of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">their
right-ness</i></b>, not reconciliation on any other ground but that of the
false god of their “principle” within their singular view and story of some “reality”.
Her/his view <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>becomes the meta-narrative
</u></b>by which others should live and view all of life. (For philosopher
friends, the breakdown of post-modernism is that its denial of over-arching
meta-narratives requires the replacement of a common meta-narrative with an
individualistic one. “What’s ethical to you is your ‘good’ choice, and what’s
good for me is fine, too.”) Such a resolution violates any reconciliation
possible in Christ, which is founded on the rock of God’s steadfast love, grace,
truth, mercy, justice and redemption. Neither truth nor reality itself has any
effect on his/her demand for the offender to return to the ground of his/her enmity,
unforgiven. There, on that ground, the offender must bow down to the enemy’s
principle, story, demand, and sacrifice their own. That demand is the very crux
of idolatry and false worship. Followers of Christ know the forgiveness of God that permeates all
of life, present, past and future, in all of its health and brokenness, and
they rejoice that the power of God’s love surely triumphed over death in Jesus
Christ. Even the Hebrew psalmists knew that our forgiveness is grounded on God’s
love: </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 78.75pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">6</span></sup></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"> Be mindful of your mercy, O LORD,
and of your steadfast love,</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 78.75pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tabstops: 19px; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">for they have been from of old.</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 78.75pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tabstops: 28px; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="8"></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"></span><span style="visibility: hidden;">7</span></sup></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"> Do not remember the sins of my
youth or my transgressions;</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 78.75pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tabstops: 19px; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">according to <span class="gradient">your</span> <span class="gradient">steadfast</span> <span class="gradient">love</span> remember me</span></u></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">,</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 78.75pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tabstops: 28px; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">for your goodness’ sake, O
LORD</span></u></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">!</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 78.75pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tabstops: 28px; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="9"></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"></span><span style="visibility: hidden;">8</span></sup></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"> Good and upright is the LORD;</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 78.75pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; tabstops: 19px; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">therefore he instructs sinners in the way. (Psalm 25)</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is no humanly accessible life, truth, grace, love,
justice and mercy outside of time, because we ourselves live subject to time. Mercy
requires ongoing love; we needed the self-emptying incarnation to see the
living God-beyond-time, truly, here, now, in future hope, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and then</i>. We worship the LORD God, “I AM, I WAS, and I WILL BE”; we
serve the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last Word full of grace and truth.
This helps explain why reconciliation is improbable with certain people. The true
law of love which reflects the living, changing and moving reality is subjected
to and falsified by his/her demands that everyone see through his/her scope of a
frozen interpretative grid. As Proverb 29:9 clarifies,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">If the wise go to law with
fools,</span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #7030a0; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">There is ranting and ridicule
without relief.</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Paul didn’t allow his weaknesses (1 Cor. 15:8-9) or his
strengths (Phil. 3:4-6) to determine how he understood himself or others;
rather, all believers are “crucified with Christ”. Paul refused to judge
himself or relate to believers according to his legalistic flesh. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss
because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the
surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered
the loss of all things, and I regard them as <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">crap*</b>, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not
having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">[my position on any human grid]</span></i><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">, but one that comes through
faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. (Phil. 3:7-9) </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">[ </span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">*</span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #00b0f0; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">lit. Greek, BDAG]</span></i><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Paul clearly interpreted life, reality, other people and himself
from the foundation of and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">through</i>
God’s grace revealed sufficient in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
He focused on the continuing work of God in Christ for them and called them to
live by the power of the Holy Spirit being revealed in them. <span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">“And this [batch of sinners]
is what some of you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>used to be</u></i>.
</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: #00b050; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">But</span></u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"> you were washed, you were
sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the
Spirit of our God.</span></b><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">”</span> (1 Cor. 6: 11)</div>
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<br /></div>
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The lens through which faithful Christians read life, people
and scripture is God’s love incarnate in the life, death and resurrection of
Jesus. We who follow him have chosen, by grace in the Holy Spirit, to receive
the death which our sins have wrought, and now rejoice in our deliverance
through death into new life. As we are being conformed to God’s law of love, we
bear Christ and one another, we continue to be set free from our own and their
human legalistic grid – free to see others with God’s loving eyes as the Holy
Spirit enables us, apart from our sins and their sins, and free to call them to
the freedom and life we celebrate “in Christ”. We seek to be conformed to him
by the power of the Holy Spirit, so our embodied law evidences God’s steadfast
love, eternal life and super-abundant grace. (Rom. 5:15-21)</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we freeze our viewpoints and our human actions of justification
or judgment outside of time’s and others’ reach, we have elevated ourselves to
an unmerciful, unforgiving, condemning, self-justifying false and frozen idol. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";">1</span></sup></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"> Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for
the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="3"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">2</sup> Why should the nations say, “Where is their
God?” <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="4"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">3</sup> Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he
pleases. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="5"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">4</sup> Their idols are silver and gold, the work of
human hands. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="6"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">5</sup> They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but
do not see. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="7"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">6</sup> They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do
not smell. <br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">7</sup> They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do
not walk; they make no sound in their throats. <br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">8</sup> Those who make them are like them; so are all
who trust in them. (Psalm 115)</span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As Christians, we call on one another to worship, love and
honor the one and only living God whose very redemptive love is grace-filled
incarnate Word. God lives! Jesus lives! This God continues to sanctify, to
speak, to guide, to wash, to conform us to Christ, by the power of the
indwelling Holy Spirit and to make us holy <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>in
the course of life</u></i>, in this time. We await this God’s advent, we seek
his kingdom come, now. May the church be the Body of Christ, building up and
encouraging one another to persevere in picking up our crosses and following
Jesus. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!</div>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-69377994716587195982011-11-28T14:01:00.001-05:002011-11-28T17:15:51.325-05:00Speaking Truth to Worldly Power in the Feminine Voice<div style="color: purple;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Please consider these three women who were in positions of speaking truthfully about inherent risks and dangers to the US and international financial systems: <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/08/elizabeth-warren-hypocrite_n_1082495.html" style="color: blue;">Elizabeth Warren</a><span style="color: blue;">, </span><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/warning/interviews/born.html" style="color: blue;">Brooksley E. Born</a><span style="color: blue;"> and </span><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7389008n" style="color: blue;">Christine Lagarde</a>. All of them have consistently, wisely and courageously held to the truth revealed by their experiences, education, and informed understandings, even at the risk of being sidelined and dismissed. Most women and men would give up in the face of such relentless pressure, but we should be grateful for whatever familial and professional support these women have had that has encouraged them to persevere. </span></i></div>
<div style="color: purple;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: purple;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Godly, strong women in scripture are depicted in the roles of judge, prophet, warrior, queen, spiritual leaders, and economic providers. All of us who summarily dismiss the feminine voices in our lives which speak truthfully endanger ourselves and others. The voice of Wisdom in Proverbs is feminine. The voice of Proverbs' Alien or Strange woman is also feminine. (Proverbs describes her by her unrepentant actions of promiscuity, adultery, and her misleading of others while being blind & deaf to the truth.) Spiritual maturity necessitates the discerning of whose voices to listen to by attending to the fruit of their lives. Some of the wisest voices in my life have been/are women's, and yet, some of the most threatening, divisive, violent and abusive voices I've ever heard were also female - and one was a close relative! Hearing well and wisely heeding may mean the difference between life and death. Proverbs certainly indicates so. (cf. Prov. 7-9)</span></i></div>
<div style="color: purple;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: purple;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">One of the major contributors to the dismissing & ignoring of godly women's voices in the US, in business and other spheres, is an attitude that can prevail unchecked in any male-dominated environment, among them religious circles (not only Christian, but including them). From my perspective and training, it seems to be the metaphorical "fruit" of "reading" reality as one might read Genesis 3:17 erroneously as literalistic, in a way that self-justifies, self-elevates, and promotes a "rule over" mindset. (I read Genesis 3 as a metaphorical, poetic and theological description of the status quo and the results we observe in the human actions and interactions around us. It describes "what is".)</span></i></div>
<div style="color: purple;">
<br /></div>
<div style="color: purple;">
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Human responsibility & accountability require that we hear and discern Truth in the male and female voices that constantly clamor for our attention. In this world, men's voices have to soften and welcome women's voices to be heard, and women's voices need assertiveness and confidence to continue speaking despite the ongoing opposition to the feminine voice for being feminine. As Christians, we believe in the God who reveals Godself to us as grace and truth, incarnate Word in the Son, Jesus Christ, and present with us in the indwelling Holy Spirit, through all members of Christ. We receive the words of those who tell truth and whose lives evidence godly ways and wisdom. Any person's repeated and stubborn denial of evident, revealed and living truth should be a warning sign for each of us to walk cautiously when in their presence. Truth, holiness, grace and light journey hand in hand. When men and women, together, reflect God's image faithfully, we more clearly see the world we live in. </span></i></div>
<div style="color: purple;">
<br /></div>
<i style="color: #0c343d;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: purple;">For more on Brooksley Born and her gutsy confrontations of men in power, cf. this </span><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/14/AR2008101403343_pf.html" style="color: blue;">Washington Post article</a><span style="color: purple;"> from 2008. </span> </span></i>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-30538714359298603152011-11-18T14:42:00.001-05:002011-11-20T13:49:07.526-05:00Honor Your Father & Your Mother<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #c00000;">“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to
do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”</span></i><span style="color: #c00000;"> </span><span style="color: #0070c0;">(Ephesians 2:10)</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
God adopted
me into the family of Christ when I was 17 & finishing my first year of
college. My believing Mom “bequeathed” me, so to speak, into the care of her
best friends Marty & Marv, when she died. I was 26, then. They’ve been my
parents-in-Christ for half my life, and encouraged me to live, work and rejoice
in Christ. God has blessed me through a continuity of parents, mentors,
brothers- &-sisters-in-Christ; they’ve been humble, trustworthy and wise people
whom I trusted to reflect faithfully to me who I am, according to their
(imperfect, but loving) perceptions, to support, build up and encourage me to
follow godly paths. Thanks be to God!</div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
One very
complicated part of the ongoing journey has been reconciling my heart and life in
Christ to the family into which I was born. Understanding that every, single
one of us is “God’s handiwork”, first and foremost, is central to being healed.
God has said, we are <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>his</u> children</i>,</b> and the family
into which we are born may support, damage, affect, harm or strengthen us in
that knowledge, in varying measures. Knowing we are God’s handiwork, though, holds
each of us responsible and accountable to God in our actions, reactions,
choices and words. In the Day of God, we are accountable to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the
LORD, our Judge</i></b>, <u>not</u> to our parents, our siblings, our
neighbors, or our enemies. (Rom. 14:12) Jesus commanded us to love God,
neighbors and enemies. Paul also continued to say, “Let us therefore no longer
pass judgment on one another, but resolve instead never to put a stumbling
block or hindrance in the way of another.” (Rom. 14:13)</div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
My birth
family was a broken family, and both my birth parents are now long deceased. Our
parents had a terrible marriage, and all of us suffered from their conflict and
divorce. My decision not to frame life according to their sins and mistakes
reflects my decision to worship God who lives, loves, and offers grace and
mercy. The foundational question is whom do we believe tells us the truth about
ourselves, God or people? Insofar as people fail to reflect God’s incarnate
Word of grace & truth to us, we must distrust and disbelieve them. Following
Jesus Christ, I could not judge my parents, but will love, forgive and give
grace to them. God presented many opportunities and the power to serve them in
offering grace and forgiveness, over the years. As I matured in Christ, I humbled
myself, loved and served them more, but earlier, there were too many times when
I failed to love them and God because I held onto (justifiable, to my mind) anger,
bitterness, resentment or pride. Over the decades and years, however, the truth
of Jesus’ wisdom has been manifest in choosing love over judgment. Even in
memories, the daily choice to love and forgive them has redeemed the blessings
and memories of good & joyful times we had together. I know, now, that both
my parents loved me as best they knew how to love, and parented me with the
goal of my good, in mind: to raise me to be a truthful, wise, ethical, scholarly
& hard-working woman. I thank God for the gifts given to me in Mom and Dad.
I know that each of them, as every one of us, failed God, themselves, one
another and us. Only by grace, with thanksgiving toward God, may we truly
receive, honor and rejoice in God’s gifts to us in one another. Otherwise, we
easily fall into the trap so clearly described by the Psalmist in Psalm 50, in
the italics.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 0.5in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Psalm 50</u></b></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in;">
<sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">1</span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> The mighty one, God the LORD,</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">speaks and summons the earth</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">from the rising of the sun to
its setting.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="3"></a><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">2</span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> Out of
Zion, the perfection of beauty,</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">God shines forth.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="4"></a><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">3</span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> Our
God comes and does not keep silence,</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">before him is a devouring fire,</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">and a mighty tempest all around
him.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="5"></a><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">4</span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> He
calls to the heavens above</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">and to the earth, that he may
judge his people:</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="6"></a><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">5</span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> “Gather
to me my faithful ones,</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">who made a covenant with me by
sacrifice!”</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="7"></a><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">6</span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> The
heavens declare his righteousness,</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">for God himself is judge.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 64.5pt;">
<i><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Selah</span></i><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="8"></a><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">7</span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> “Hear,
O my people, and I will speak,</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">O Israel, I will testify
against you.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">I am God, your God.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">8</span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> Not
for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">your burnt offerings are
continually before me.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">9</span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> I will
not accept a bull from your house,</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">or goats from your folds.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="11"></a><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">10</span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> For
every wild animal of the forest is mine,</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">the cattle on a thousand hills.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="12"></a><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">11</span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> I know
all the birds of the air,</span><a href="qv://glossary/default/20578815/36611/"><span style="display: none; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">and all that moves in the field
is mine.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="13"></a><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">12</span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> “If I
were hungry, I would not tell you,</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">for the world and all that is
in it is mine.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="14"></a><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">13</span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> Do I
eat the flesh of bulls,</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">or drink the blood of goats?</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="15"></a><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">14</span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving </b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #0070c0; font-size: 10pt;">[Make
thanksgiving your sacrifice to God]</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">,</span></b><a href="qv://glossary/default/20578815/36612/"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="display: none; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></b></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></b></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">and pay your vows to the Most High.</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></b></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="16"></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">15</span></sup></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> Call
on me in the day of trouble;</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></b></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></b></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="17"></a><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">16</span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But to the wicked God says:</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">“What
right have you to recite my statutes,</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">or take
my covenant on your lips?</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="18"></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">17</span></sup></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> For
you hate discipline,</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">and you
cast my words behind you.</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="19"></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">18</span></sup></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> You
make friends with a thief when you see one,</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">and you
keep company with adulterers.</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></i></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="20"></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">19</span></sup></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> “You
give your mouth free rein for evil,</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">and
your tongue frames deceit.</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></i></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="21"></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">20</span></sup></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> You
sit and speak against your kin;</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">you
slander your own mother’s child.</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></i></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="22"></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">21</span></sup></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> These
things you have done and I have been silent;</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">you
thought that I was one just like yourself.</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">But now
I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></i></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="23"></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">22</span></sup></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> “Mark this, then, you who forget God,</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></i></div>
<div style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 78.75pt; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">or I
will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.</span></i><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8597772318018282539" name="24"></a><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">23</span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Those who bring thanksgiving as their
sacrifice honor me;</b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">to those who go the right way</span></b><a href="qv://glossary/default/20578815/36613/"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="display: none; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></b></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 78.75pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: -42.75pt;">
<b style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">I will show the salvation of God.”</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;"></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
Divorce and
alienation from one another reflect human judgment; divorce is an ongoing separation
carried out upon one another – “I refuse to be ‘<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">with</i></b>’ you.” We usually
use “divorce” only in reference to marriage, but in Scripture, the Greek and
Hebrew words describe separation, abandonment and cutting off. Attempts to hinder one another, to cause others
to stumble, to throw obstacles in their ways, to gossip about or slander men or
women, to threaten people with punishment, to lord it over them by making one’s
words, laws and reasoning a false judge/god, are sinful ways using human laws to
defy God’s Law of love. The goal of human laws is to separate and divide
ourselves from one another, to manufacture a deceitful, death-producing and punitive
hierarchy within humanity (cf. Psalm 62). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
God’s
covenant is the power and light-filled antidote to the creeping death that
revels in divisions, divorce and alienation. The goal of God’s covenantal law
is unity in love, in Christ through his broken body and shed blood, which is
reflected through us as we confess our own brokenness and failure to love. While
laws may resemble one another, superficially, human essence is revealed in our
love, words and actions toward one another. When we love one another well, we
increasingly conform to Christ’s image, becoming beautiful in holiness and
relational righteousness. The psalmists
and Scripture’s authors wrote of the unrelenting alienation within families
which grows out of wrongly applied laws and unloving legalism. Most children of
The Great Divorce and the smaller divorces (secular or spiritual), today,
suffer from the inability to turn from the faulty foundation which broke humanity
as a whole, and their families, in particular. They elevate themselves above
and justify continuing enmity toward siblings. Their path evidences unremitting
divisiveness and self-justification. They seek to break up unity, to harm what
is good (cf. vv. 17-20, above). They simply cannot discern healthy from harmful
outcomes, and that which is whole, loving and fragrant of Christ infuriates
them so much that they seek its destruction.</div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
To leave those
paths of death, we humbly accept the God who loves us and them, the Creator of
our earthly father and mother, the Lord who knows our families and ourselves
thoroughly, the one who brings light and life from darkness and death through
self-giving service. God brought our life out of our parents’ unity (however
temporary and flawed), and God calls us to choose life and love, carry our
crosses, share one another’s burdens. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, humbled by
God’s grace, I offer thanksgiving to God, and I will honor and love my father
and mother. I cannot love God, in truth, if I fail to love them and others
created in God’s image. As James noted, when we’ve broken one part of the law,
we’ve broken the wholeness of it (James 2:10). We all fall before God’s
holiness and righteousness, but God’s steadfast love and mercy in Christ Jesus
enables us to stand – in order that we may embody the mercy and love of the
indwelling Christ toward others.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: green;">[Mortals] say of some temporal suffering, "No future
bliss can make up for it," not knowing Heaven, once attained, will work
backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. And of some sinful pleasure
they say "Let me have but this and I'll take the consequences":
little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and
contaminate the pleasure of the sin. Both processes begin even before death. </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 2in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: green;">(C.S. Lewis, The
Great Divorce)</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 2in; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="color: #0070c0;">Philippians
2</span></u></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: #c00000;">7</span></sup><span style="color: #c00000;">But whatever
were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. <sup>8</sup>What
is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of
knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider
them garbage, that I may gain Christ <sup>9</sup>and be found in him, not
having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is
through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of
faith. <sup>10</sup>I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his
resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his
death, <sup>11</sup>and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the
dead. <sup>12</sup>Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already
arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus
took hold of me. </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-left: 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: #c00000;">13</span></sup><span style="color: #c00000;">Brothers and
sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I
do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, <sup>14</sup>I
press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me
heavenward in Christ Jesus.</span></i></div>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-12071510164689552402011-08-19T00:55:00.293-04:002011-08-20T12:26:59.142-04:00Malfunctions of the Christian Faith<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGxYxdWM76c">Miroslav Volf speaking on A Public Faith</a> in this YouTube video gives a wonderful distinction between a coercive faith and an idle faith. His words reminded me strongly of Paul's words to the Corinthians recorded in 1 Corinthians 15. Paul gave a smidgeon of his own coercive religious history from which he was redeemed in v. 9, but plainly questioned whether the Corinthians behavior revealed their own faith to have been "in vain". (Cf. the first 14 chapters for that behavior!)<br />
<br />
Volf's new book, <a href="http://www.bakerbooks.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=0477683E4046471488BD7BAC8DCFB004&nm=&type=PubCom&mod=PubComProductCatalog&mid=BF1316AF9E334B7BA1C33CB61CF48A4E&tier=3&id=D662FE89B53D4B4ABEE5742A4F6F3704">A Public Faith</a>, is reviewed <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ryan-j-bell/review-a-public-faith-by-_b_930001.html">here</a>, and I appreciate that the reviewer picked up on some the ramifications also addressed, below.<br />
<br />
Volf's thoughts in the video inspired my own tangents. (I'm looking forward to reading the book, in its entirety!) Whether humans want to identify themselves as religious, irreligious or atheist really isn't central to the question of "faith" or "trust" which is manifested by how one lives life. If I should believe that <i>my way <u>of living</u> </i>is superior to any other, then I should choose whether to commend it to others or not. If yes, I might then employ all sorts of subjective variables to govern when/ where/ with whom/ if/ how I commend <i>my way</i>. To use coercion or not is one such variable. If coercion is a possibility, what type of coercion is permissible - verbal, intellectual, legal, financial, persuasion of rank or status, psychological, physical - then, which methods with whom?<br />
<br />
You may be able to see that the variables are as infinite as the people and circumstances in which they find themselves.<br />
<br />
If I choose<u> not</u> to commend <i>my way</i> to others, then I would have one form of idle faith. I trust in no one, except in my self, the singular, limited view from within that self, and the limited experiences of one person. <i>My way</i> works for me, alone, and for no other. Perhaps I simply would have no aspirations to understand why one would live <i>my way</i> or choose <i>their own way</i>. That might sound appealing to many folk, today, because choosing <i>a particular way</i> is perceived to be offensive to all who might choose otherwise, according to their own variables. However, sooner or later, <i>my way</i> will come face to face with other people, and then my idle faith will be challenged by <i>their way</i> of their own version of idle faith or coercive faith or other choices of what/who to trust... Then, what happens?<br />
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<u><i><b>Religion</b></i></u> forms as a concert of people believe that <i>these ways</i> promote life, peace and harmony in community. Explained so, it should be obvious why laws and religious beliefs conjoin so readily in public life. There are as many religious beliefs as there are self-affirming groups. Many definitions of "religion" incorporate the supernatural. Historically, the supernatural has been perceived to be the commendation and the imprimatur of god(s) upon <i>these ways</i>. If God (or gods) exist then <i>these ways</i> are more than the sum of humanity's thoughts. Anthropomorphic gods are those whose ways are obviously as flawed as humans are flawed, devious, unethical, greedy, ambitious, lustful, self-serving, demanding of obsequious approval, unquestioning obedience, & rejection of all <i>other ways,</i> and prone to rage when not satisfied, etc. There are also religions whose god(s) follow ways other than human ways.<br />
<br />
When asked why he believed the Biblical message of God-in-Christ, Eugene Peterson's response was simple and forthright; as I recall, he said, essentially, "because I can live what I believe." If a religion's God is other than merely human, the ways commended need to be fulfillable internally and externally, as it were. Christian belief is that by God's grace, when we face the truth, acknowledge our weaknesses, and confess our wrongs and broken ways, we welcome God to transform our lives from the heart outward, so that we may obey God. The God who embodied Love-with-us, who comes in grace and truth to both friends and enemies, is beyond merely human, as we confess we are.<br />
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There are also people who commend <u>and</u> try to coerce others toward certain ways which they themselves have not lived. Current news reports recount heightened public anger against politicians, religious figures, attorneys, and others entrusted with authority who have privately failed to honor whatever patriotic, God-honoring or people-honoring "higher" principles they've publicly professed. We viscerally recognize that such people's commendations are inevitably hypocritical, and if we have sufficient courage and self-awareness, we acknowledge that human lack of moral character clouds discernment, because whatever actions we excuse in ourselves skews our perceptions. Sound judgment proceeds from a life embodying <a href="http://restoringsoul.blogspot.com/2011/07/simple-foolish-and-wicked.html">wisdom and knowledge</a>.<br />
<br />
For Christians, perceiving that Jesus' anger was directed against such hypocrisy and legalistic obfuscation informs our understanding of Jesus' harsh words recorded in Matthew 23. Matthew described an escalating succession of attempts to entrap Jesus beginning at 21:23, and ending with the lawyer's questioning him in 22:34-36. Entrapment, by definition, only serves the ambitions and interests of the trapper. When the selfish goals of the hunters are exposed in the light, as Jesus exposed the Sadducees, Pharisees, lawyers and scribes, the hunters seek to hide from the truth and destroy the messenger(s), rather than face public ridicule and themselves. Hypocrisy - literally, <i>judging</i> others to standards while living <i>below</i> standards oneself - is the most dangerous form of idle faith. Hypocrites seek to destroy those who can see through their smoke and try to dissipate it.<br />
<br />
Hypocrites lack, or merely pretend to have, an essential attribute of integrity: humility. We, humans are more persuaded by people of integrity who serve others than by any disembodied information. There are hypocrites who attain great wealth and/or power in this world, people whose arrogance and narcissism preclude ever admitting errors, flaws or wrongdoing, even - or, especially - in the face of truth. However, we can be thankful that there are also humble people who have become great, freely admitting that we all need one another, that no human can know all truth, that no single person can be an expert at all things, that we accept correction and responsibility for our errors - deliberate and unknowing. The humble wield what power they have in service of others. Humility is the antithesis of human presumption to "know" better than others; the humble listen, serve and love, even though they honor virtues which counter others' ways. The <i>ways (i.e., faith) </i>of the humble will withstand the assault of arrogant self-interest. Coercive faith, of any stripe, is inherently presumptuous. Embodied humility cannot be coercive because humble people serve and consider others' best interests. John Dickson's book,<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Humilitas-Lost-Life-Love-Leadership/dp/0310328624/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313820251&sr=8-1">Humilitas</a></i>, was inspired by his participation in an academic project of Macquarie University in Australia which explored the historical origins of the <u><i>virtue</i></u> of humility. In ancient Greece and Rome, humility was scorned and derided as servitude, perceived only as appropriate for lower classes toward superiors, while pride (arrogance) was celebrated as a virtue among men. However, once there was humility incarnate, the willing sacrificing of an innocent and holy person for the guilty, who then rose from death - <i>"and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection of the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord" </i>(Romans 1:4), followers were inspired, humility was transformed, serving others redeemed, true power was revealed, and humanity could see by the love of God incarnated that love of neighbors was united with love of God. Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-27537518711770136842011-07-10T01:45:00.000-04:002011-07-10T01:45:05.640-04:00An Over-arching or Under-girding God or "Philosophy"?I had a conversation with an atheist last week on a blog, and I "heard" something curious in the way we each thought of religion, philosophy, God or not-god.<br />
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When he thought of religion, he thought of an over-arching philosophical system. Essentially, it seemed he thought of Someone or a (self/group-sanctified) Group of someones telling other people what to do, when to do it, and how to live in almost every aspect of life. He's not off the mark of many "religious" folks - in every religion, and irreligion, including Christianity. There are many, many people who become religious or irreligious, and many people who become religious or irreligious leaders who are really masking a deep narcissism that wants other people to listen to them as they want to listen to "god."<br />
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However, there are also many religious people who <i><b>start from a foundation of God.</b></i> They think the best of God, and they trust in God's sustaining creation and love. Do they have tough times, lament, mourn, experience oppression & heartache? Read the Psalms, and you'll find your answer, there, as I did. <br />
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What I've noticed as a fairly uniform pattern of the type of person my atheist dialogue partner disliked is that those with over-arching views begin with an assumption of distrust in those who are different than they are, or behave or choose differently. They want to change others, they want to make them into their own image of who "perfect" people should be, they want to tell others that they know best how to do everything, and they want others to believe that <i>their view of the world & every experience is the only "true" view</i>. There is no other story which is allowed to interfere with their "superior" understanding. They will use all sorts of means - some seemingly "good" and others downright ugly - to manipulate or dominate, connive or threaten, cajole or coerce others into compliance. This atheist and I are in agreement, here. We <u><b>both</b></u> think those people's beliefs and methods are wrong-headed and unproductive of shalom. (He'd state that differently, though.)<br />
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As I've mentioned before, "belief" or "faith" is defined in the doing of life. I don't share the same "faith" as people who have these over-arching views, <i>because I don't arch my own views other people's lives</i>.<br />
<br />
Psalm 136 gives the heartbeat of my faith in the continuous refrain:<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Psalm 136 </span></b><a href="" name="1"></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">1</sup> O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever. </span><a href="" name="3"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">2</sup> O give thanks to the God of gods,<span style="color: blue;"> for his steadfast love endures forever.</span> <a href="" name="4"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">3</sup> O give thanks to the Lord of lords, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever; </span><a href="" name="5"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">4</sup> who alone does great wonders, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever; </span><a href="" name="6"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">5</sup> who by understanding made the heavens, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever; </span><a href="" name="7"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">6</sup> who spread out the earth on the waters, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever; </span><a href="" name="8"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">7</sup> who made the great lights, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever;</span> <a href="" name="9"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">8</sup> the sun to rule over the day, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever;</span> <a href="" name="10"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">9</sup> the moon and stars to rule over the night, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever; </span><a href="" name="11"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">10</sup> who struck Egypt through their firstborn, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever; </span><a href="" name="12"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">11</sup> and brought Israel out from among them, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever;</span> <a href="" name="13"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">12</sup> with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever; </span><a href="" name="14"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">13</sup> who divided the Red Sea in two, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever;</span> <a href="" name="15"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">14</sup> and made Israel pass through the midst of it, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever; </span><a href="" name="16"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">15</sup> but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea,<span style="color: blue;"> for his steadfast love endures forever; </span><a href="" name="17"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">16</sup> who led his people through the wilderness, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever; </span><a href="" name="18"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">17</sup> who struck down great kings, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever;</span> <a href="" name="19"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">18</sup> and killed famous kings, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever;</span> <a href="" name="20"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">19</sup> Sihon, king of the Amorites, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever; </span><a href="" name="21"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">20</sup> and Og, king of Bashan, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever; </span><a href="" name="22"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">21</sup> and gave their land as a heritage, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever; </span><a href="" name="23"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">22</sup> a heritage to his servant Israel, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever. </span><a href="" name="24" style="color: blue;"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">23</sup> It is he who remembered us in our low estate, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever; </span><a href="" name="25"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">24</sup> and rescued us from our foes, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever;</span> <a href="" name="26"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">25</sup> who gives food to all flesh, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures forever. </span><a href="" name="27"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">26</sup> O give thanks to the God of heaven, <span style="color: blue;">for his steadfast love endures f</span></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">orever.</span></div><br />
We note how differently Jesus tells us to treat others with whom we disagree - even if that disagreement is across every level of life, personal, familial or national. When Jesus tells us to "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect!", Jesus is telling us to love the evil and the good people, just as God does. Jesus came to serve others, not to "over-arch" or lord it over others.<br />
<br />
<u>Matthew 6:38-48</u><br />
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<sup style="color: #134f5c;">38</sup><span style="color: #134f5c;">“Here’s another old saying that deserves a second look: ‘Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.’ </span><a href="" name="37" style="color: #134f5c;"></a><br style="color: #134f5c;" /><span style="color: #134f5c;"> </span><sup style="color: #134f5c;">39</sup><span style="color: #134f5c;">Is that going to get us anywhere? Here’s what I propose: ‘Don’t hit back at all.’ If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. </span><a href="" name="38" style="color: #134f5c;"></a><br style="color: #134f5c;" /><span style="color: #134f5c;"> </span><sup style="color: #134f5c;">40</sup><span style="color: #134f5c;">If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. </span><a href="" name="39" style="color: #134f5c;"></a><br style="color: #134f5c;" /><span style="color: #134f5c;"> </span><sup style="color: #134f5c;">41</sup><span style="color: #134f5c;">And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. </span><a href="" name="40" style="color: #134f5c;"></a><br style="color: #134f5c;" /><span style="color: #134f5c;"> </span><sup style="color: #134f5c;">42</sup><span style="color: #134f5c;">No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously. </span><a href="" name="41" style="color: #134f5c;"></a><br style="color: #134f5c;" /><span style="color: #134f5c;"> </span><sup style="color: #134f5c;">43</sup><span style="color: #134f5c;">“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ </span><a href="" name="42" style="color: #134f5c;"></a><br style="color: #134f5c;" /><span style="color: #134f5c;"> </span><sup style="color: #134f5c;">44</sup><span style="color: #134f5c;">I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, </span><a href="" name="43" style="color: #134f5c;"></a><br style="color: #134f5c;" /><span style="color: #134f5c;"> </span><sup style="color: #134f5c;">45</sup><span style="color: #134f5c;">for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. </span><a href="" name="44" style="color: #134f5c;"></a><br style="color: #134f5c;" /><span style="color: #134f5c;"> </span><sup style="color: #134f5c;">46</sup><span style="color: #134f5c;">If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. </span><a href="" name="45" style="color: #134f5c;"></a><br style="color: #134f5c;" /><span style="color: #134f5c;"> </span><sup style="color: #134f5c;">47</sup><span style="color: #134f5c;">If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that. </span><a href="" name="46" style="color: #134f5c;"></a><br style="color: #134f5c;" /><span style="color: #134f5c;"> </span><sup style="color: #134f5c;">48</sup><span style="color: #134f5c;">“In a word, what I’m saying is, </span><i style="color: #134f5c;">Grow up</i><span style="color: #134f5c;">. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Let us <i>"Grow up!"</i>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-50893377038447568772011-07-04T23:42:00.000-04:002011-07-04T23:42:35.513-04:00The Simple, the Foolish and the Wicked<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/> <w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/> <w:OverrideTableStyleHps/> </w:Compatibility> <w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser/> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Reading scripture & praying have long formed the center of my daily spiritual discipline. Psalms and Proverbs form “corner pillars” for me, and I’ve read parts of these books almost daily for decades. Psalms are the liturgical songs & prayers of the Old Testament, and Proverbs is one book of Biblical “wisdom” literature. The psalmists taught me how to pray honestly – worshiping God alone, while facing the reality, head-on, of who I am and in what circumstances I find myself. The psalmists appeal to God to reveal his justice in the world, and to guide us in his ways. Proverbs have the purpose of raising up “wise” children to become wise men and women. The “wise” in Scripture are <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>not</u></b> those who are well-educated, well-traveled, able to reason or argue facilely, well-read, privileged, rich, or well-placed. As a matter of fact, those characteristics are more often markers associated with the unwise, the foolish and the wicked! Rather, as biblically-defined, “wise” people are those who follow God’s paths, commandments and ways in the world, act with truth and integrity, exhibit righteousness in the marketplaces and practice relational righteousness and compassion (toward the weak, the poor, the powerless, the widow, the orphan, the alien).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Years of prayerful, regular reading in Psalms and Proverbs have attuned me to patterns that occur in the overall content and flow in each book. The late Dr. Gerald Wilson, with whom I studied Psalms at Fuller Theological Seminary, specialized in “the shape of the Psalter”, and his teaching helped clarify themes in the Psalms <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and, </i>indirectly, in Proverbs. Perhaps I could have reached my understandings earlier had I spent more time in rabbinic literature and OT commentaries. </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">:-)</span></span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nevertheless, it became clear that both books help the people of God to be shaped by God in order to embody wisdom, godly life and worship. In the early chapters in Proverbs, both parents (cooperating with God and his “master worker”, the feminine-voiced Wisdom) commend, admonish and describe the godly ways to raise children, the need for wise instruction and just discipline of children & youth, the avoidance of sinful companions, sexual immorality, drunkenness, and foolish behavior. A child is born “simple” and will act foolishly, at times. Without godly correction and discipline, our simpleness and foolishness will allow the influence of the wicked to increase over us. Wickedness is the end of those who repeatedly refuse to consider the outcome of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>their own</u></i> foolish ways, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>and</u></b> who ignore and deny what <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>others’ actions and words</u></i> reveal about their hearts. As the paths of the wicked & the wise interweave throughout the book of Proverbs, the wicked who won’t acknowledge either their own sin or others' godliness. The wicked seek to deceive others, cover up their own actions, and misuse their humanity and positions to harm others. When acting unwisely and unlovingly in concert with those like them, the "fools" escalate to become “the wicked” who actively seek to lead others down their paths. In the "name of" a self-justifying end, pleasure, wealth, lust, or a misleading "good", the wicked draw in the simple and the fools.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">One chapter that describes “the wisdom of the world” as foolishness in God’s sight is Proverbs 26. In the New Testament, Paul clearly drew on his knowledge of Psalms and Proverbs in his writing. For example, 1 Cor. 1:10-2:16 sets God’s wisdom and the worldly wisdom as antithetical <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>and </u></i>antipathetic to one another. The latter is evidenced by divisiveness & lording it over others, and the former by unifying love, justice and service of God and neighbor, in Christ. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Here are the first 8 verses of Proverbs 26, as an example of the distinction between the wise and the foolish:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;"><b><span style="color: #552579; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Proverbs 26 </span></b><a href="" name="1"></a><span style="color: #552579; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><br />
</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup style="cursor: hand;"><span style="color: #321547; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">1</span></sup></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #321547; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, so honor is not fitting for a fool. <a href="" name="2"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">2</sup> Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, an undeserved curse goes nowhere. <a href="" name="3"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">3</sup> A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools. <a href="" name="4"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">4</sup> Do not answer fools according to their folly, or you will be a fool yourself. <a href="" name="5"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">5</sup> Answer fools according to their folly, or they will be wise in their own eyes. <a href="" name="6"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">6</sup> It is like cutting off one’s foot and drinking down violence, to send a message by a fool. <a href="" name="7"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">7</sup> The legs of a disabled person hang limp; so does a proverb in the mouth of a fool. <a href="" name="8"></a><br />
<sup style="cursor: hand;">8</sup> It is like binding a stone in a sling to give honor to a fool.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><i><span style="color: #321547; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></i><span style="color: #552579; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> <a href="" name="9"></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">There’s a Hebrew poetic device in the antithetical parallel in verses 4-5. On the one hand, v. 4 advises that to answer a fool according to their folly makes us a fool, too. However, in the very next verse, we’re advised to answer a fool according to their folly, so they won’t be wise in their own eyes. If we didn’t understand the context of Proverbs, we could throw up our hands in exasperation here, when using our own natural understanding and education-based reading. However, when one understands how folly should be responded to according to Proverbs, this changes the whole picture.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">People of high educational achievement, according to the current academy, will inevitably misinterpret scripture </span></u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">at some/many/all points,</span></u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></b><b style="color: #20124d;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 14pt;">if</span></u></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> that education and credentialing is not founded upon godly wisdom.</span></b><span style="color: #c00000; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Our teachers, professors & colleagues teach us that rhetorical argument and logical presentations are keys to academic success & “victory”. Every academic degree or professional credential is celebrated as certifying <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">this person</i> as more qualified to lead, or teach, or advise than another “lesser” degreed or credentialed person. This is a hierarchically-based and often a crony-supporting system, although people of integrity are found within poor systems.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Wisdom, as described in OT and NT, counters that worldly victory and names it insufficient, at best, and false, at worst. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">If an immoral, dishonest, unethical, bullying, manipulative or domineering person proclaims his/her superiority over another (according to academic, credentialed, economic/financial, class, gendered, ethnic, or racial standards, etc.) in order to dictate another's behavior, Proverbs and the canon of Scripture name him/her as fools <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">according to their unrighteous, unloving and unwise actions</i>. Prov. 26:1 and 26:8 state clearly that honor is not fitting to a fool, and is, in fact, harmful; yet worldly businesses, society, media, organizations and the academy honor & acclaim fools all the time! In Scripture, fools are identified as fools by their choices and behavior, irrespective of their academic or economic prowess, position, status or credentials. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Paul made this exact same point to the Corinthians. The key verses following his forthright, sarcastic description of the way the Corinthians were behaving (1 Cor. 4:6-13) are 4:17-21. Paul sent Timothy to Corinth to remind them <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">of his “ways in Christ Jesus”</i>, and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>not</u></b> of Paul’s “plausible words of wisdom” (2:4-5). He told the Corinthians that he wasn’t interested in “the talk of these arrogant people”, at all, but in their power (what their deeds and actions reveal). (4:19) “For the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power.” (4:20) The power of God is found in the cross of Christ, which is foolishness and a stumbling block to those who don’t seek God’s life and love in their hearts, in service of God & neighbor, to the spiritual transformation of their lives.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">The fools as described in Proverbs, though, have not quite attained to full-blown wickedness. To return to that poetic antithetic parallel in vv. 4-5, what might the writer mean by stating we shouldn’t answer a fool according to his folly in the v. 4? Given the story of wisdom and foolishness in Scripture, it would seem that Paul gave the best response. We don’t answer fools by trying to reason them out of their positions. We don’t try to gain victory over them using the same worldly methods of rhetoric, education, position, human power, manipulation, deception, argumentation, etc. Although education, information and knowledge are useful to a servant who uses them in service of God and neighbors, in themselves, they cannot transform a fool. At times, we may not answer at all, in love and care for them. Proverbs 14:3 claims, “The talk of fools is a rod for their backs, but the lips of the wise preserve them.” As Paul asked in 1 Corinthians 4:21, “What would you prefer? Am I to come to you with a stick, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?” In other words, “will you Corinthians continue to be fools needing correction, or will you turn toward the demonstrated wisdom and power of God in Jesus Christ, and him crucified?” </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Yet, v. 5 indicates that fools might become aware of their foolishness and turned toward wisdom, somehow. But, how? We find out by looking at the context of that verse in the chapter, and the context of folly, fools and foolish behavior in Proverbs, overall. As harsh as it seems to our contemporary “sensibilities”, verse 3 commends physical discipline to drive out folly. The Proverbial “rod of discipline” used wisely must not be “a rod of anger”, or a rod that sows injustice (Prov. 22:8). It isn’t a rod of vengeance, or of oppression (Isa. 9:4), or an assertion of human power over another. It isn’t the rod of master over slave, superior over inferior, abuser over victims. The rod of loving discipline is used to alter the paths of the youthful and immature fools, to bring them back to wiser ways, choices and behaviors. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Consider the context of the rod in a psalm which is beloved by many to whom I’ve ministered – whether current or former church members – Psalm 23. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff – they comfort me.” (23:4) We can and should cherish the awareness that the chastising of the Lord is for our good (Heb. 12:5-13), to give us appropriate laws which are fulfilled in love of God, self & neighbor, to encourage wisdom and increase strength, to benefit ourselves and our families, and to assure our hope & future (Prov. 23:12-19, 24:13-14). (cf., also, Proverbs 10:13, 13:24, 22:8 & 15, and 29:15)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Jesus' words give the context of love to every law and consequence: "But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, </span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your father is merciful." (Luke 6:35-36) Only in the power of the Holy Spirit, which operates through love & self-giving service, do we have a prayer for fulfill his call to us.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">A provocative solution to the current prison overcrowding in the US was offered by a professor of criminal justice, Peter Moskos. Salon interviewed him, <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/crime/index.html?story=%2Fmwt%2Ffeature%2F2011%2F06%2F20%2Fflogging_interview">here</a>. Moskos’ book, <a href="http://search.barnesandnoble.com/in-defense-of-flogging-peter-moskos/e/9780465021482?r=1&wrk=1100089215&itm=1&usri=defense%2bof%2bflogging&afsrc=1">In Defense of Flogging</a>, offers the “outrageous idea” of returning the option (by giving the convicted person the freedom to choose) of flogging to the sentencing roster. The interviewer expressed rightful concern that flogging harkens back to days of slavery and other oppressive & abusive relationships. Moskos made the points that prison is a worse punishment and actually may be more detrimental to most prisoners & their families than flogging. A friend who works among the urban poor in a violent neighborhood considered this proposal a possible alternative to passive-aggressive incarceration and ostracism from society that most people commend, today. The fact is that most people in power who make the sentencing decisions really don’t care sufficiently for the people to want to rehabilitate them, so whatever “rod” of punishment is meted out – whether imprisonment, abandonment, social isolation, or flogging – it will more likely perpetuate current patterns of alienation, economic, social & racial injustice, in isolation from healthy contexts. Should we ask, however, if a foolish criminal has or would welcome relationships with wise individuals and a community who can mentor and guide him/her into better paths, might a flogging soon over be a better option than years isolated and tortured with other criminals in a destructive environment? Are we, the church, not called to be such a community offering redemption & hope to one another? (Matthew 25:31-46)</span></div>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-82512252282566196002011-06-12T16:03:00.001-04:002011-06-12T16:03:30.483-04:00Welcome, Love and Change<span xmlns=''><p><a href='http://www.sharewik.com/blogs/item/change-that-believes-in-me'><span style='font-family:Verdana'>Rev. Dale Kuehne's words</span></a><span style='font-family:Verdana'><br /> <span style='color:#006600'>about welcome, as the Rule of St. Benedictine describes it, sharpened what the Holy Spirit has been testifying to our hearts, right now. As Dale wrote, the Rule states, "Every visitor must be received as Christ himself." We're mourning the unexpected loss of our Rhodesian Ridgeback, Lanzo. He was nearly 11 years old. What has struck us - as we mourn - is how keenly we miss his ongoing presence, his affectionate welcome, his smile at being with us in simple tasks and walks, his exuberant joy at our homecomings, and his appreciation for all that we gave him. We've experienced a stark contrast of the intensity in our mourning of our dog (God's good creature!) and our mourning of humans we've known who have tried to use people to serve themselves and their dogmatic agendas. Many humans fail to love, be trustworthy, be steadfast in patience and kindness, or extend welcome. As do many of us, we've known people who've returned hospitality with calumny and insults, who've returned love with human judgment, who've sought evil rather than good. (cf. Prov. 11:27) The hurts I've listened to in pastoral care and hospice rooms testify to the commonality of personal experiences of human betrayal, lies, deception and harm – within families, among friends and colleagues, or within our faith communities. In our humanity, we mourn less the loss of people who've deceived or tried to harm us than we do people or pets who have remained with us, unselfishly faithful and loving, building up and encouraging us through life's journeys. <br /></span></span></p><p><span style='color:#006600; font-family:Verdana'>Jesus' words challenge us past our human capacity. <strong><em>"But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven..."</em></strong> (Matt. 5:4-5)<br /></span></p><p><span style='color:#006600; font-family:Verdana'>The church of God is called to live out our love & welcome as do the Benedictines with whom Dr. Kuehne prayed, sang and was nurtured in Christ. Too often, we fail to be as Christ to fellow humans made in the image of God. We won't love them as God loves us - with patience, kindness, charity, truthfulness, gentleness, hopefulness, endurance & self-giving service – with love that is undeserved and unmerited.<br /></span></p><p><span style='color:#006600; font-family:Verdana'>Fr. Peter from St. Anselm College also expressed to Dale the necessary wisdom within Christ-like hospitality. <strong>While we welcome every visitor as we do Christ, we need to have confidence from faith that <em><span style='text-decoration:underline'>he or she is the one called to change, to be transformed</span> by God's incarnate Word, </em>just as we are.<em><br /> </em></strong>There will be visitors who seek their own purposes among us. They use others, pursue their own interests and not those of our churches or families. One example I heard was of a journalist who sought out persons within an inner-city mission whose words could be twisted to confirm the sensational story she wanted to tell, seemingly to further her career, fuel her biases and those of readers. The reality of people loved and served, who learned to grow, live and make healthy choices is inconvenient and thus, ignored. We may not know such visitors' motives when we welcome them, nor should we try (cf. 1 Cor. 4:5). When we're young, we may be too trusting and naïve to expect such treatment, but wisdom is frequently acquired through painful trials. Sooner or later, these visitors' subsequent actions reveal what/who they serve. <br /></span></p><p><span style='color:#006600; font-family:Verdana'>Utter humility is required in order for us to change to conform to Christ's Body. As Dale describes his experience with the Benedictine love for visitors: <em>I did not deserve what I received. I did not feel worthy to be treated as Christ. But that is the miracle and trial of grace. You deny it, reject it, or find enough humility to begin to receive it.</em><span style='font-size:12pt'><br /> </span></span></p><p><span style='color:#006600; font-family:Verdana'>When we come into the presence of Christ and come into the presence of those whose lives are filled with the Spirit of Christ, too often, we <span style='text-decoration:underline'><strong>naturally</strong></span> refuse to humble ourselves to see or join Jesus at work in the jars of clay whom the Potter is molding and shaping, with persistent patience and kindness. When we come into the presence of <span style='text-decoration:underline'><em>any</em></span> person, each one created in God's image, we <span style='text-decoration:underline'><strong>naturally</strong></span> cannot love or hear them truly because we've categorized them and prejudged them according to some subjective human standard, a disembodied education or "knowledge" (e.g., <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosticism'>Gnosticism</a>), or any other distinction unfounded on God's love and justice for all. We hyper-focus on where others don't meet <span style='text-decoration:underline'><em>our</em></span> expectations, and won't read the full context of the human story grounded in God's ongoing creation, love, mercy, grace and justice.<br /></span></p><p><span style='color:#006600; font-family:Verdana'><span style='text-decoration:underline'><strong>Left to our natural inclinations</strong></span>, out of our arrogance and pride, we wield our self-will and refuse to receive what is being freely offered. We would sooner become "judges with evil thoughts". (James 2:4) In making distinctions and rationalizations, we falsely and unwisely judge one another by causing divisions, joining factions, gossiping, divorcing, slandering, alienating, rejecting, lying, pretending to know hearts/motives, deceiving, or maligning. The Apostle Paul's "vice lists" are cheat sheets for human judgments upon other humans and upon Godself. "Sin" in Scripture is our belligerent and rebellious refusal to humble ourselves, to cease our self-justifying destructive behavior, in order to worship God and love others as our Creator loves us. As self-elected &/or human-acclaimed "gods", we arrogantly demand others to obey us "or else". We will not humbly join Jesus in loving and obeying God the Father by loving, serving and honoring his ongoing presence and work among fellow humans, however broken and flawed. Some of us may even dare to misrepresent "God", mouthing "god" while acting selfishly to impose our wills, lording it over others. <br /></span></p><p><span style='font-family:Verdana'><span style='color:#006600'>For those who, by grace and the Holy Spirit, choose to die to those ways to follow Christ, our defense is to stand "in Christ", to take refuge in God. <em>"Every visitor must be received as Christ himself."</em> We don't attack with the weapons which our natural inclinations would wield. Instead, we speak truthfully, and discern wisely; we love them according to Jesus' love for us. We don't approve sinful behavior, attitudes or choices perpetuating human injustice and estrangement; rather, we must love others <span style='text-decoration:underline'><em>because God enables us to love them</em></span>. In so denying our human selves, by grace given and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we continue drawing closer to God. He is our refuge & our Creator who knows us better than we know ourselves (& better than any human!). God's Son reveals our God-given image, and by receiving Jesus and entrusting ourselves to live and be led by God's power revealed in Christ, we are adopted children of the Father. God's sent Spirit offers the very strength we need to live humbly, peacefully and righteously in our community. We are empowered to do justly, love mercy, and walk in true life. We choose to believe what God tells us about ourselves, in the Word and by the Holy Spirit. We wisely differentiate between God's truth and human lies. We are assured that although God's truth may hurt, we will be changed in ways that glorify God and make us truly human, "good" via death and resurrection into new creation. We confess and renounce open and hidden sins, and turn our lives toward God's paths. As Dale put it, God's work is always the </span>"<a href='http://www.sharewik.com/blogs/item/change-that-believes-in-me'><strong><em>Change that believes in me</em></strong></a>". <span style='color:#006600'>As we draw closer to God, the One who always steadfastly loves us, we also draw closer to others who join us in seeking to truly image Christ – the community where God reigns.<br /></span></span></p><p><span style='color:#006600; font-family:Verdana'>Thank you, Father, for your gift of loving and justice-doing friends and family-in-Christ. Thank you, too, for your gift of our dog, Lanzo, who always welcomed us joyfully and better than most of us dare to welcome one another.</span></p></span>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-23573860962468854052011-04-05T13:34:00.004-04:002011-04-05T13:41:53.672-04:00Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">To take a tangent that I hope will bring lightness to your heart:<br /><br />I hope you enjoy listening to this YouTube version of </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_CDLBTJD4M">Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring</a><span style="font-family: georgia;">, by J. S. Bach. Bach's tempos are wonderful for projects such as this.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Wikipedia gives <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesu,_Joy_of_Man%27s_Desiring">a translation</a> of the German choral accompaniment to the music.</span><br /></span><blockquote style="font-family: georgia;" class="templatequote"> <div> <div class="poem"> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">Well for me that I have Jesus,<br />O how strong I hold to him<br />that he might refresh my heart,<br />when sick and sad am I.<br />Jesus have I, who loves me<br />and gives me as his own,<br />ah, therefore I do not leave Jesus,<br />lest I should break my heart.</span></p> </div> </div> <div class="templatequotecite"><span style="font-size:100%;">—from <i>BWV 147, Chorale movement no 6</i></span></div> </blockquote> <blockquote style="font-family: georgia;" class="templatequote"> <div> <div class="poem"> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">Jesus remains my joy,<br />my heart's comfort and essence,<br />Jesus resists all suffering,<br />He is my life's strength,<br />my eye's desire and sun,<br />my soul's love and joy;<br />so will I not leave Jesus<br />out of heart and face.</span></p> </div> </div> <div class="templatequotecite"><span style="font-size:100%;">—from <i>BWV 147, Chorale movement no. 10</i></span></div> </blockquote>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-58436311937023112512011-04-03T20:23:00.001-04:002011-04-03T20:23:54.654-04:00Miroslav Volf on Allah: A Christian Response<span xmlns=''><p><span style='color:#002060; font-family:Cambria'>I had an unexpected opportunity to hear Miroslav Volf, Prof. of Systematic Theology at Yale Divinity School, speak about his new book, <a href='http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Allah-Miroslav-Volf/?isbn=9780061927072'><em>Allah: A Christian Response</em></a>. This wonderful surprise was made possible by the fact that I'd traveled to Pennsylvania to fellowship with colleagues in ministry, and one of them mentioned that Volf was speaking only 5 minutes away. (Thank you, Matt!) I had two reasons to delay my trip home: one was the strong commendation from Fuller Prof. Charles Scalise of Volf's work on reconciliation, and the second was my long-standing commitment to the message of reconciliation through Christ and our call to be his "ambassadors." (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:16-ff.) I'll do my best to summarize Volf's remarks. Any mistakes in conveying his thoughts, the history behind his work, or in the spelling of unfamiliar names are due to my own scribbling & mental processes!<br /></span></p><p><span style='color:#002060; font-family:Cambria'>The central question we face, today, according to Volf, is "how can we combine religious exclusivism with social-political pluralism?" There are two major realities that we must contend with: <br /></span></p><ol><li><div><span style='color:#002060; font-family:Cambria'>Globalization – we are not simply interconnected people, any longer, but we are increasingly <span style='text-decoration:underline'><strong>interdependent.</strong></span> We can no longer expect that actions we take in an isolated part of the world do not have repercussions or reverberations elsewhere.<br /></span></div><ol><li><span style='color:#002060; font-family:Cambria'>We live in social places which are increasingly pluralistic.<br /></span></li></ol></li><li><div><span style='color:#002060; font-family:Cambria'>It is not evident that religious adherence is decreasing, numerically; in fact, it is clear that religions are drawing more adherents.<br /></span></div><ol><li><span style='color:#002060; font-family:Cambria'>Religions are more socially assertive, too, and individuals engage with others along religious lines and outside of their own religious faiths. "Faiths cannot be sequestered, anymore."<br /></span></li></ol></li></ol><p><span style='color:#002060; font-family:Cambria'>The Common Word Initiative began in Jordan. At the behest of Prince Ghazi of Jordan, 38 Muslim scholars wrote a response to Pope Benedict XVI, after the Pope's address in Regensburg, in September, 2006. The questions they considered were, "do we espouse 'exclusive faiths'?" and "how may we treat equally those with whom God is displeased as we treat those with whom God is pleased?" <br /></span></p><p><span style='color:#002060; font-family:Cambria'>The Pope had opened his lecture by quoting a medieval discussion in which the Christian questioned the supposedly violent character of the Muslim God. The medieval claim was that the Christian God was rational and reasonable, beginning with the Word of God; this reasonableness helps to found democracy. On the other hand, the medieval dialogue contended, Allah was a God of arbitrary will and thus underwrites totalitarian forms of governance. Because some furor erupted over the Pope's use of this medieval discussion, even though the rest of the Papal speech mitigated or nuanced many of its assertions, Muslim scholars felt the need to respond openly. Their open letter to the Pope helped found some positive work in open dialogue and promotion of reconciliation between Muslims & Christians on the ground of faith we share. <a href='http://www.acommonword.com/'><em>A Common Word Between Us & You</em></a> was the result of the expanded work and collaboration of Muslim authorities and scholars from major streams of thought within Islam. Prof. Volf has participated in resulting discussions with Islamic scholars, as have other Christians committed to loving God and neighbor. The "traditional and mainstream Islamic position" of respecting Christian Scripture is reaffirmed in the work of A Common Word, and their site states, <em>"</em></span><em>Indeed, the most fundamental common ground between Islam and Christianity, and the best basis for future dialogue and understanding, is the love of God and the love of the neighbor."</em><span style='color:#002060; font-family:Cambria'><br /> </span></p><p><span style='color:#002060; font-family:Cambria'>Volf stated that the main argument in his book is that we do, Christians and Muslims, believe in the same God, but "in a qualified way." He agrees that what binds our 2 faiths together are the conjoined commands to love God and to love neighbor. From the standpoint of human societies and communities, he considers that we need to have <span style='text-decoration:underline'><em>religious reasons to live in peace</em></span>, because if humans fail to act corporately, the "privatization" that resulted from the Enlightenment is insufficient to sustain a broad peace. [From my interpretation of his argument, Volf sees religious enterprises as those bonding enterprises which promote our common humanity, truth and communities within this world.] "The more religious we are, the more at peace we will be with our neighbors." (Volf) If it is true that what binds us together is love of God, and love of neighbor, then we need to consider if we share common definitions of the terms: love, neighbor, God. Volf sees religion to take "us out of our own private ways of perceiving reality." <br /></span></p><p><span style='color:#002060; font-family:Cambria'>Volf paraphrased a Sufi scholar [I believe the scholar's name is Habib Ali], who perceives and teaches that God is loving and God is justice. Per Volf, Ali has stated that all God's actions [in the world] are regulated by mercy and justice. God, as depicted in the Old Testament, is an obstacle to Muslims because God seems unjust, in many stories. [Many Christians have the same misgivings!] However, regarding the question of the Trinity, which seems to be Tritheism to many orthodox Muslims, Volf pointed out that many of the stated objections by Muslims to the Trinity would be agreed upon by orthodox Christians. In other words, orthodox Christian belief is <span style='text-decoration:underline'><em>not</em></span> Tritheism and the latter is considered a heresy. Thus, Muslims could understand the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams' statement that the Trinity describes the "numerical identity of indivisible divine substance."<br /></span></p><p><span style='color:#002060; font-family:Cambria'>According to Volf, no peace in this world can be achieved at the sacrifice of people's integrity and their religious integrity. I understood him as underlining the commitment to human freedom in religious affiliation and belief. Obviously, the extent of freedom is too frequently compromised for particular persons according to particular rationales. Regarding a statement Volf made that women's bodies are "the most contested space of religious discussion", I'll soon write another blog in the series, <a href='http://restoringsoul.blogspot.com/2011/03/misogyny-in-secular-religious.html'>Misogyny in Secular & Religious Traditions</a>.<br /></span></p><p><span style='color:#002060; font-family:Cambria'>However, once that freedom is acknowledged, religious adherents can agree that worship has both "vertical and horizontal modes". The horizontal mode is how we live in this world, and takes seriously "that our lives reveal who we worship." <strong><em>"That from which you draw your ultimate security is your god."</em></strong> It is possible for Muslims to claim that they worship the same God, and for Christians to claim that they worship the same God, but "our deeds reveal otherwise!" I completely resonated with Volf's statement that <strong><em>"our deeds are a more significant indicator of who we worship than our words are."</em></strong> [From my work in reconciliation, I'd concur with Volf and then, I'd add a supplement. <span style='text-decoration:underline'><em>Words themselves are a form of deeds</em></span>, scripturally, and we need to be mindful of James' & Proverbs' injunctions vs. the unruly and unloving tongue (or pen, or writing), and Paul's admonition to speak "only what is useful for building up" one another. I'd venture a guess that Volf would agree, because we're all very aware of how words are used to provoke, demean, antagonize and incite others, today.]<strong><br /> </strong></span></p><p><span style='color:#002060; font-family:Cambria'>To illustrate Volf's contention (with which I heartily agree!) that "our deeds are a more significant indicator of who we worship than our words are", he said that it seems clear that the Crusaders who, "in the name of" Christ, slaughtered Muslims taking refuge in the Temple (until the blood was "ankle-deep" in some reports) <span style='text-decoration:underline'><em>worship the same bloodthirsty god</em></span> as do the suicide bombers of today who slaughter innocents while shouting "Allahu Akbar". He also used the example of the Muslim leader, Saladin, who became a figure exemplifying principled chivalry to Muslims <span style='text-decoration:underline'><em>and</em></span> Christians.<br /></span></p><p><span style='color:#002060; font-family:Cambria'>We need to look at the deeds for <em>their testimony</em> to whom we/others worship. While acknowledging that we who are committed to love God and love neighbor in words and deeds are worshiping the same God, yet we can accept that there are significant and important tensions in understanding the nature of the true God. Questions of salvation and of Godself can only be <strong><span style='text-decoration:underline'>safely</span><br /> </strong>answered when integrity and freedom of persons is honored as we love our neighbors. In order to further dialogue and promote peace, Volf distinguishes that we need not contend over differences in <span style='text-decoration:underline'><em>the ways of salvation</em></span> in Islam and Christianity, when we can promote the values and common word we share of loving God and neighbor.<br /></span></p><p><span style='color:#002060; font-family:Cambria'>Volf added and refined his remarks further in a question and answer session, but I'll save those for a follow-up post.</span></p></span>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-57209601625216849472011-03-31T12:28:00.002-04:002011-04-05T16:43:47.198-04:00Misogyny in Secular & Religious Traditions (pt 2)<span xmlns=""><p><span style="font-family:Cambria;"><em>The discussion could transfer from here to whether religions, in general, are <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the cause</span> of women being disrespected and abused. Women may be poorly treated by Christian men, by Muslim men, by Buddhist men, by Hindi men, by men in any cultural setting or religion…and by men, without regard to any religious reasoning, whatsoever. <strong>Genuine religious endeavors result from human efforts to reflect a truthful ordering </strong>(if there is one…) <strong>within a cosmic reality that predates us and human historic & contemporary relationships. </strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">False religious endeavors result from human efforts to maintain a status quo or counter-create a false ordering by unjust and inequitable means</span>, and all religious endeavors succeed or fail according to the integrity or its lack in the humans who propagate them. If indeed there is a truthful ordering, one which justly perpetuates life, healthy communities and relationships, religions may be in accord or discord with that deeper reality. (An atheist in this framework would not be one who intellectually doubts the existence of a Deity or deities, but one who actively works against or lives in ways that counter life, community, relational reconciliation and justice.) Legal systems are derivative of religious understandings of appropriate and just ordering.<br /></em></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Cambria;"><em>Chicken or egg? What came first, the religion-based ill-treatment of women, or men's ill-treatment of women which they seek to justify according to some religion, or according to purported intellectual, physical, emotional strengths in men or weaknesses in women? (I'd heard it said that women were incapable of handling finances, when I began working in financial markets & economics 30+ years ago. There have been endless debates over purportedly innate feminine weaknesses, throughout our lifetimes.) Insofar as humans anthropomorphically project their flawed understandings onto religious and legal systems, justice and truth are not served.<br /></em></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Cambria;"><em>Yet, that question of where alienation began might seem irrelevant to the situation in which we find ourselves, now – the endless loop of relentless justification of alienation, devaluation and polarization between genders and belief systems.<br /></em></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Cambria;"><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>The crux of the problem doesn't lie in our gendered differences, but in our non-gendered human abuses of power.</strong></span> Historically, men have held more power and women were among the permanently disenfranchised underclasses of sub-humans (still are, in many regions, and to many men). One obvious form of power can be physical strength and size. But, women aren't the only members of the underclasses. Power-abusers may abuse other families, classes, races, ethnicities, cultures, the physically different, the diversely gifted, as well as the other gender; they may abuse and bully any person with whom they don't identify. Most certainly, a power-abuser will abuse and seek to destroy any person or group who threatens their power base. Consider all the contemporary historical situations </em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">within our lifespans</span><em> where those who have previously been oppressed have turned into power-abusers and money-hoarders, themselves. Proverbs 29:13-14 reads, "The poor and the oppressor have this in common: the LORD gives light to the eyes of both. If a king judges the poor with equity, his throne will be established forever."<br /></em></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Cambria;"><em>Returning to the gospel of John, consider the literary situation of the Samaritan woman's story within the text. Chapter 3 presents the story of Nicodemus, "a leader of the Jews" who came to Jesus "by night." Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, and chided him for his lack of understanding when Nicodemus expressed his puzzlement at Jesus' words. The dark night is surely linked to the darkness in Nicodemus' ability to comprehend and his unwillingness to be seen by fellow Jews with him (cf. Jesus' words in 3:19-21). The scene shifts to John, the Baptist, whose disciples are in discussion with another "Jew" about ritual purification. Who is clean? Who is not clean? Who is "allowed in"? Who is excluded? [The gospel writer uses "Jew" or "Jews" and the place, "Judea" to depict those who are in power, in positions of worldly authority, and which authority is too frequently not congruent with the authority by which God moves.]<br /></em></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Cambria;"><em>The response of John, the Baptist, to his disciples' concern that people were leaving him to follow Jesus offers us a key to Nicodemus' darkness, and the light in the responses of John, the Samaritan woman, and the royal official to Jesus. John responded with the humility. First, he recognized that the real authority he possessed was given by God, in the first place. Second, John knew the Source of all true authority, and he knew himself in God's light: "</em>You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, 'I am not the Messiah,<sup><br /> </sup>but I have been sent ahead of him.'" (3:28)<em> Finally, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">that was enough, and John rejoiced in that awareness</span>. John didn't seek to grasp more than God had given to him. </em>(cf. Phil. 2:6)<em> "</em>He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. <a name="32">He must increase, but I must decrease." (3:29-30)<br /></a></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Cambria;"><a name="32"><em>So, let's revisit the story of the Samaritan woman in the light ("It was about noon." 4:6) of John's responses to Jesus, and its literary situation in the text. As a woman, a Samaritan, and one who – for reasons </em></a><em><a href="http://restoringsoul.blogspot.com/2011/03/misogyny-in-secular-religious.html">completely irrelevant</a> to the purpose & message of the story the gospel writer was telling – had been married to 5 men, she came to draw water, joyfully received Jesus' prophetic words and mission, and went immediately to tell her village about him. Just as John's disciples first believed Jesus because of John's words, so the villagers first believed Jesus because of her words (4:39-40). Then, they believed Jesus because of his own words, and just as John decreased, so did the Samaritan woman (4:41-42). We sense the joy among the villagers to know Jesus, as "the Savior of the world." (The subtext is that Jesus is <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>not</strong></span> chosen to be the Savior of the worldly, powerful insiders.)<br /></em></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Cambria;"><em>Too often we wrongly believe that reconciliation comes at the cost of our selves. Perhaps we may recall the childishness of our youth when we rarely commended other children, for fear that commending them diminished us. Actually, <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><span style="color: rgb(138, 0, 0);">reconciliation will come at the cost of our false selves</span>, the selves that are perpetuated by lies and abuse of whatever power we possess or seek to exert over others.</strong></span> That power misleads and blinds us to Godself and to God's signs in and mission to the world, when that power is based in our flesh – whether gender, ethnicity, race, economic, political, educational, or religious situation, to name some examples. In order to know Jesus, who Jesus is and to accept God from whom Jesus comes,<br /></em></span></p><ul><li><span style="font-family:Cambria;"><em>we recognize the gifts we possess are not from/in/of ourselves,<br /></em></span></li><li><span style="font-family:Cambria;"><em>we know ourselves and know how to discern wisdom in humans around us (Aside: there's hope here for Nicodemus! Cf. 3:2),<br /></em></span></li><li><span style="font-family:Cambria;"><em>and finally, we joyfully allow ourselves to decrease and be replaced by God and God's Son in others' sight.<br /></em></span></li></ul><p><span style="font-family:Cambria;"><em><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 153);">Other posts in this series: <a href="http://restoringsoul.blogspot.com/2011/03/misogyny-in-secular-religious.html">Part 1</a></span></span><br /> </em></span> </p></span>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-88537697888978061672011-03-27T22:05:00.002-04:002011-04-05T16:42:05.418-04:00Misogyny in Secular & Religious Traditions (pt 1)<span xmlns=""><p><span style="font-family:Cambria;"><em>David Lose, the Director for Biblical Preaching at Luther Seminary, points out what seemingly should have been obvious for the past 2 millennia of Christianity in <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-lose/misogyny-moralism-and-the_b_836753.html?ref=fb&src=sp">a column at The Huffington Post</a>: the woman at the well is never described in John 4 as a prostitute, or as a promiscuous woman. Jesus doesn't even mention sin in his conversation with her. [Predominantly male] commentators, theologians and church pastors have consistently described her in terms that purport her to be sexually loose, adulterous, and/or promiscuous, and perceive Jesus' words to her as calling her out of her sin.<br /></em></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Cambria;"><em>Johannine scholar, Prof. Marianne Meye Thompson of Fuller Theological Seminary encouraged her students to look at John with fresh eyes. Although we used Raymond Brown's hefty 2-volume commentary on John, Dr. Meye Thompson did not wed us to his interpretation. Brown's view of the woman at the well, "immoral" was his term, was not matched in the words of John and was not clearly supportable in the sociological and cultural ANE context. When we got to this passage, which I had just worked through for another seminary class, we challenged Brown's interpretation.<br /></em></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Cambria;"><em>It is not at all unlikely that a woman of good reputation might be married a number of times. Men could easily divorce women, but women had little right, if any, to divorce men. If a beautiful woman was barren, for instance, she might be divorced for lack of children, lack of sons, or sadly, for "any reason" a man might give.<br /></em></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Cambria;"><em>There was no "labor market" for women, then. They could be gainfully "employed" as daughter, wife and widow. Few women had sufficient property to exist without the support of men. If a woman wasn't gainfully employed in family endeavors, if she had not the means to survive on her own, and if she was not marriageable, she could depend on the generosity of extended family and neighbors (Ruth, & perhaps, Mary – the mother of Jesus), or become "self-employed" – as a prostitute.<br /></em></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Cambria;"><em>In Robert Kysar's book, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">John: The Maverick Gospel</span> (Revised Edition), one appendix was entitled, "The Women and the Gospel of John." (I hope he's incorporated this into his <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Maverick-Gospel-Third-Robert-Kysar/dp/0664230563/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_c">3<sup>rd</sup> Edition</a>, rather than left it as an after-thought!) Kysar pointed out how remarkable John's presentation of women's faithfulness in the gospel was, for that historical period. The Samaritan woman is discussed in contrast to the disbelieving Nicodemus in ch. 3, as the 2nd evangelist* in the gospel (the 1<sup>st</sup> was John the Baptist) – an outsider, Samaritan, woman, rejected (the 5 marriages). The text does <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>not </strong></span>support casting her as an immoral person, and in fact, her discussion with Jesus is very perceptive and he treats her with dignity. She not only believes (where Nicodemus couldn't/didn't), but then she goes and tells her town and THEY believe her. (This could count as another strike against assumptions that John depicted her as immoral -- the testimony of women was irrelevant & the testimony of the immoral people was suspect.) Kysar considers the Samaritan woman as the female counterpart to John the Baptist.<br /><br />Significant women are consistently portrayed as believers in the gospel: Jesus' mother (ch. 2), Samaritan woman (ch. 4), Martha (ch. 11), Mary (ch. 12), women at the foot of the cross (ch. 19), and Mary Magdalene (ch. 20 - 1st witness/evangelist to the resurrection).<br /><br />The fact that the woman was married multiple times indicates that she was probably not considered a "fallen woman" in her community. (She would have been stoned to death for adultery, for instance – cf. John 8) It seems far more likely that she was barren, or had been married to older men, or had husbands die, or all of the above. That she was living with a man could be that she was living with a relative of her own, or with a relative of a husband, or as a dependent on others (which might explain why she's carting water, but then again, women to this day have the job of carting water in Africa!).</em></span></p><p><span style="font-family:Cambria;"><em><span style="color: rgb(51, 0, 153);"><span style="font-style: italic;">This post continues: <a href="http://restoringsoul.blogspot.com/2011/03/misogyny-in-secular-religious_31.html">Part 2</a></span></span><br /></em></span></p></span>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-75780882798895628762011-02-10T14:00:00.003-05:002011-02-10T14:14:44.074-05:00a dearth of ongoing righteousness & justice<sup style="">The historical setting for Ezekiel's word of the LORD is the unwillingness of the people of God, the family of Israel, to be righteous in their ways, to love one another & their neighbors in their actions, every day. Israel has been invaded by Babylon.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">30</span></sup><span style="font-style: italic;">“As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes forth from the LORD.’ </span><a style="font-style: italic;" name="31"></a><br /><sup style="font-style: italic;">31</sup><span style="font-style: italic;">And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with their lips they show much love, but their heart is set on their gain. </span><a style="font-style: italic;" name="32"></a><br /><sup style="font-style: italic;">32</sup><span style="font-style: italic;">And lo, you are to them like one who sings love songs</span><sup style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 6pt;"></span></sup><span style="font-style: italic;"> with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it. </span><a style="font-style: italic;" name="33"></a><br /><sup style="font-style: italic;">33</sup><span style="font-style: italic;">When this comes—and come it will!—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”</span><br />(Ezekiel 33)Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-35986338728883622762011-01-29T23:44:00.005-05:002011-01-30T00:48:55.313-05:00What does it mean to "pass judgment"? (Take Two)<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Is it passing judgment to </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-family: verdana;">discern</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> that, according to a certain understanding (aka, "religion") of reality, truth, wisdom, and trajectories of consequences (years, decades & generations), certain choices, behaviors, actions & words don't build up individuals, families, communities & posterity? Discernment is always a function of responding to explicit and implicit law-based parameters. Broadly speaking, Law is always set in physical embodied reality, and defines what actions are right/wrong, healthy/unhealthy, wise/unwise, and constructive/destructive for people to take. (cf. Romans 2:12-16)<br /><br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-family: verdana;">OR</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">: </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-style: italic; font-family: verdana;">is "judgment" taking an action based on that discernment</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> -- for instance, legislating against behaviors and mandating subsequent actions in consequences (fines, banishment, imprisonment, excommunication, etc.). Judgment can also be a supportive action, commending and approving of others' actions in the community or in the written laws governing that community. (Biblical examples of supportive judgments would be the commendation of the care of widows and orphans, or the just treatment of aliens.) However, sinful judgments also exist in human societies; "gossip" is considered a sinful judgment on others, according to Scripture. Thus, one person exercising wise or unwise discernment can sin against others with that discernment. Likewise, discernment can be followed by a choice to love (act patiently, kindly & with delight in truth, without envy, pride, quick temper, boastfulness, self-seeking, recording wrongs, etc.).<br /><br /><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">If a person doesn't commend or approve a behavioral course of action based on his/her discernment & parameters, does that mean s/he is "passing judgment", even should s/he follows love's paths with those behaving thus? (Biblically-defined Love is not hormonally, affinity or preferentially based.) Fundamentally, to require that person to approve of something that s/he hadn't approved of, heretofore, is to ask her/him to change the parameters (or laws) by which they discern reality, truth, wisdom and consequences.<br /><br /><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">It seems prudent to be clear: <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(51, 0, 153);">it is asking people to change their religion when, for the sake of maintaining relationships, they are required to commend, approve of, or disapprove of and disavow behaviors and actions which their lives &/or the canon by which they've been living have not commended, approved of, or disapproved of & disavowed those behaviors/actions.</span> According to my understanding, that requirement defines proselytizing, </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-family: verdana;">not</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> loving others. My religion calls me to love and serve others, not to proselytize them.<br /><br /><br />The tension of loving ourselves & others while not approving of everything we or they do is difficult to sustain. (I'd say that it's impossible to sustain without the empowering of the Holy Spirit!) Our natural human cop-out is to make new law, or appeal to old law, <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">and use that law to pass judgment on others</span>; thereby we relieve ourselves of the tension and can choose which persons we will choose to "love" and which persons are unworthy of "love". We then use our law to choose whom to include in our circle, and whom to exclude.<br /><br /><br />But, God's love is perfect (Matt. 5:43-48), and Jesus us calls us to "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." The telos - the goal - of God's law is love.<br /></span></span>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-29199801324281482152010-12-27T09:01:00.003-05:002010-12-27T10:07:30.690-05:00Militarism or Diplomacy?<span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 0);font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-family:verdana;">Why is it that those whom I know who are most pro-military endeavors seem to be </span><b style="font-family: verdana;">the least</b><span style="font-family: verdana;"> likely to support government efforts to alleviate poverty, to ameliorate power/financial class/opportunity & educational imbalances and to support reconciliation initiatives?<br /><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">The correlation seems to occur far more often than is warranted by statistical coincidence. Is it also coincidental that so much of current wealth & political power are enmeshed with military power & the manufacturing and sale of armaments? Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times points out the widening chasm between military spending and better budgeting, </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/26/opinion/26kristof.html?_r=1&src=tptw">here</a><span style="font-family:verdana;">.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Proverbs clearly indicates that the wealthy find their refuge in their wealth: "The wealth of the rich is their fortress; the poverty of the poor is their ruin." (Prov. 10:15) The Hebrew word for fortress has military implications, too, and can also mean might, strength and fortifications (ramparts) of a town. Contrast this "strength" to the use of the same root word in Proverbs 14:26: "Fear of the LORD is a </span><b style="font-family: verdana;">stronghold</b><span style="font-family:verdana;">, a refuge for a man's children." (Tanakh)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Prov. 14:32 reads, "The wicked are overthrown by their evil-doing, but the righteous find refuge in their integrity." (cf., Psalm 52:7) The NT concept of being found "in Christ" has strong OT parallels to the Psalmists' and Proverbial understanding of refuge. Military images, such as those found in Ephesians, are replaced with weapons of truth, faith, the Word of God, righteousness, and the gospel of peace.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">From my perspective on current events and scriptural studies, there seem to be strong indications that the hard work of developing healthy human relationships and shared community responsibility is easily deferred by most leaders and followers throughout history in favor of force, whether that force is evidenced in military power, academic/intellectual argumentation, facile rhetoric, gender or racial or ethnic domination, bullying or social ostracism, to give a few examples. The righteous are those who find their refuge in God, and whose lives evidence the integrity and holiness of God's ways.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Perhaps the name of this post might be, "Domination or Dominion?" Food for thought & prayer!</span></span>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-6277056880839029442010-12-16T23:50:00.003-05:002010-12-17T00:10:24.000-05:00NeurotheologyThe spiritual practice of meditation has been shown to have neurological benefits in <a href="http://www.npr.org/2010/12/15/132078267/neurotheology-where-religion-and-science-collide?sc=fb&cc=fp">this new study</a>. The downside of this information is the tendency of humans to co-opt religious practices for utilitarian purposes which inevitably become self-serving - whether those purposes are to gain money via tithing, to feed ambition and desires for fame/infamy, to elevate or suppress people or groups, or perhaps, better brain function.<br /><br />The research doctor, Andrew Newberg, who has been studying the neurological effects of meditation and prayer seems to understand how difficult it can be to maintain the balance between spirituality and science. He laid out the goals of his scholarship in his book, <a href="http://andrewnewberg.com/PoN.asp"><span style="font-style: italic;">Principles of Neurotheology</span></a>, and the 4 goals are excerpted in the NPR article. Any thoughts about pitfalls, implications, dangers, and Newberg's goals?<br /><br /><p style="font-style: italic; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(0, 51, 51);">When considering the primary reasons for developing neurotheology as a field, we can consider four foundational goals for scholarship in this area. These are:</p> <p style="font-style: italic; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(0, 51, 51);">1. To improve our understanding of the human mind and brain.</p> <p style="font-style: italic; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(0, 51, 51);">2. To improve our understanding of religion and theology.</p> <p style="font-style: italic; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(0, 51, 51);">3. To improve the human condition, particularly in the context of health and well being.</p> <p style="font-style: italic; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(0, 51, 51);">4. To improve the human condition, particularly in the context of religion and spirituality.</p> <p><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(0, 51, 51);">These four goals are reciprocal in that they suggest that both religious and scientific pursuits might benefit from neurotheological research. The first two are meant to be both esoteric as well as pragmatic regarding scientific and theological disciplines. The second two goals refer to the importance of providing practical applications of neurotheological findings towards improving human life both individually and globally</span>.</p>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-31925691773903013582010-10-24T17:55:00.003-04:002010-10-24T18:11:31.948-04:00The Golden Rule<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I felt as if I virtually spent the afternoon with an old friend this afternoon. Dr. Adele Diamond went to Swarthmore College, and I got to know her a bit while she was there. Adele has strong roots in Judaism, and she reflects with that rich foundation on her field, developmental cognitive neuroscience. There is </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://blog.onbeing.org/post/1389063785/thinking-of-my-past-education-and-of-those-to">a full interview</a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> posted on Krista Tippett's On Being blog, which is over 50 minutes long. I listened to it, backed up and listened again for almost 2 hours this afternoon. Adele's enthusiasm and deep study within her field is well represented in the interview.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Perhaps most folks might be too time-constrained to listen to the full interview, even though I'd highly recommend it. If you use an MP3 player, you could download the interview and listen to it in the train, the car, while you're mowing the lawn, though!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">For merely a couple of minutes, however, you can listen to Rabbi Hillel's & Jesus' different perspectives on the Torah, </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://blog.onbeing.org/post/233781700/echoes-of-the-golden-rule-nancy-rosenbaum">here</a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The first snippet is from an interview with Karen Armstrong, a British author & former nun who wrote </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: trebuchet ms;">A History of God</span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">, a comparative study of major religions. Then, there is a snippet from Krista's interview with Adele, who had a different angle on the same Hillel quote. I admit to my bias! I agree with Adele's perspective!</span>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-5060209604638290852010-08-24T21:54:00.002-04:002010-08-24T21:58:23.336-04:00Love or Defensive Living?<span xmlns=''><p><span style='color:#00602b; font-family:Garamond; font-size:12pt'>Last evening as it was getting dark, my husband and I were walking back from taking our dog for his evening stroll to the apartment where we've been living the last few months. This neighborhood is predominantly black and lower income. There was a new truck, an ice cream truck parked in the church parking lot we passed. As we returned an SUV had pulled up next to it, and a man was inside the ice cream truck moving around. We glanced over curiously, and the man immediately came out of the ice cream truck and emphatically said, "That's <span style='text-decoration:underline'>my</span> truck!" We were a bit taken aback, but smiled and said, "That's cool, we just hadn't seen it here before." He launched into a lengthy explanation of how he usually parks it here at the church in the summer for the kids, but he was helping the church take down their old air conditioners from the roof, so he hadn't gotten to it until now. We smiled and agreed it was good for the kids not to have to walk far on the busy roads to get an ice cream, and mentioned that we'd visited the church a couple of weeks previously. He invited us to make sure we go meet the bishop and his wife at the church.<br /></span></p><p><br /> </p><p><span style='color:#00602b; font-family:Garamond; font-size:12pt'>As we walked away, I realized that his primary response was indicative of just how incredibly sensitive and defensive blacks feel daily simply for having different skin color than the majority. We, too, have experienced gatherings where we were subjected to intensified criticism, scrutiny and judgment regarding the different choices we make every day; perhaps those experiences helped us feel more keenly his sense that all white folk default to suspicion of blacks.<br /></span></p><p><br /> </p><p><span style='font-family:Garamond; font-size:12pt'><span style='color:#00602b'>Racism isn't an old problem (Scot posted <a href='http://blog.beliefnet.com/jesuscreed/2010/08/a-moment-for-reflection.html'/></span><span style='color:#0060a8'>a blog at Jesus Creed</span><span style='color:#00602b'></a> today from recent history); it's an ongoing, perennially human problem given the reactions we experience here. It seems one reason we have been so warmly received in this neighborhood may be simply because we respond with the love of Christ to those whom we meet, not with default suspicion or self-protectiveness. We've prayed with them, cried with them, spoken of our trials together, and worshiped with them. I needed to be reminded how precious the gift of welcome and acceptance is to all of us. They don't want to lose touch with us, even though we're moving closer to my husband's office this weekend. We feel very humbled by their caring.<br /></span></span></p><p><br /> </p><p><span style='color:#00602b'><span style='font-family:Garamond; font-size:12pt'>For those folks with pick-up trucks, you know how often you get hit for help moving furniture. Imagine the sense of blessing we felt when one of our older neighbors offered to help us move furniture with his pick-up truck this weekend. His offer was completely spontaneous & unsolicited.</span><br /> </span></p></span>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-44521869817495773542010-08-21T21:09:00.002-04:002011-12-08T19:55:35.513-05:00Parables, Greek Myths, Fables & Fairy Tales<span xmlns=""></span><br />
<span xmlns=""><br /><span style="font-family: Gabriola; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #461e64;"><span style="color: #663366;">Scot McKnight has been blogging about</span> </span><span style="color: #0062ac;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0802842410?ie=UTF8&tag=jescre-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0802842410"><b>Klyne Snodgrass' book on Parables</b></a></span><span style="color: #461e64;"> <span style="color: #663366;">at Jesus Creed. Scot's series is entitled, </span>"</span><span style="color: #0062ac;"><a href="http://blog.beliefnet.com/jesuscreed/parables/"><b>Imagine a World."</b></a></span><span style="color: #461e64;"></span></span></span><br />
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<span xmlns=""><span style="color: #461e64; font-family: Gabriola; font-size: 12pt;">Some thoughts came to mind, today, about where we dwell mentally and how those beliefs affect our interactions with others. Do we dwell among the people who populate Jesus' parables or among those who populate the semi-magical, often base and vindictive, partially human, partially divine characters of mythology, fairy tales, fables, stereotypes and archetypes? </span></span></div>
<span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Gabriola; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #461e64;"><span style="color: #663366;">The other day I was listening to</span> </span><span style="color: #0062ac;"><a href="http://ww.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=129251388"><b>an NPR story</b></a></span><span style="color: #461e64;"> while I was driving about some day camps thematically centered on a series of novels by Rick Riordan. The novels are founded in Greek mythology. In Greek mythology, the gods are distorted reflections of humans with inhuman powers. They are replete with human frailties and are endowed with abnormal or non-human appearances and powers. They react out of petty and base desires as well as magical aspects of a pseudo-divinity. As I listened, I appreciated the focus on learning about mythology, yet simultaneously I wondered what these children may be absorbing about the identities of gods and humans.</span></span></span><br />
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<span xmlns=""><span style="color: #461e64; font-family: Gabriola; font-size: 12pt;">I suspect that the reason such myths are "so enduring", as NPR's Margot Adler described it, is because they tell truths about where we naturally dwell. That very reason can also be the problem because people are never fully human and the gods are never fully divine in myths and archetypes. The gods are brought down to our base level, and the gods never demand that we rise above our own interests. The risk there is that we see others through the distorted lenses of caricature, where humanity isn't fully human. It's much easier to demean a caricature than it is to face someone such as ourselves. (Have you ever tried, politely, to catch the eye of a rude driver? Have you ever tried to correct someone else's false beliefs about you or anyone else? [Consider Obama & the conspiracy theories about his religion, citizenship by birth, etc.!]) Furthermore, when we dwell too long among the inhumans, what is human within us and within others may be swept away in the alienation that grows and spreads between us like the mountainside chasms that form from rushing flood waters.</span></span></div>
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<span xmlns=""><span style="color: #461e64; font-family: Gabriola; font-size: 12pt;">The gods of myths and fables, the archetypes and stereotypes of literature and psychology become categories into which humans may be slotted and behind which the doors can be locked. Those gods too often justify and serve our selfish interests, choices and ambitions. The false worship and idolatry described in the Bible resides where we refuse to face truth about ourselves, the reality of the world around us, the humanity we share, the outcomes & affects of our choices, and the call to be genuinely human with every single person we encounter. The "white-washed sepulchers" of today may be those who've wrapped themselves in the pretentious garments of professional accomplishment, education, wealth, status, gender, race, "religion", ethnicity, family, titles and circles of influence to distance themselves from the "others" – the poor, the oppressed, the small, the weak, the enemies, or the ones whom they despise or disdain for any reason. Sometimes they may say the right things, but we've been warned, "do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach." (Matt. 23:3-12)</span></span></div>
<span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Gabriola; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #461e64;">Parables differ from myths, fables and stereotypes in that, as Scot puts it, they imagine a world where God is, where Jesus is, where the reign of God exists in the fullness of </span><span style="color: #0062ac;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shalom"><b><i>shalom</i></b></a></span><span style="color: #461e64;"> <span style="color: #663366;">– a completeness of love, safety, peace, justice and forgiveness. People in the parables are fully human, loving, hateful, wonderful, flawed, glorious, imperfect, generous, selfish, angry, injured, arrogant, repentant, broken, yet also healing and being healed. The parables' God lovingly reaches out to unlock the doors with love, forgiveness, justice, grace and mercy. The doors are many: of debt (Matt. 18), of physical injury and xenophobia (Luke 10), of foolishness and self-righteousness (Luke 15), of humility and arrogance (Luke 18), among others. Every one of us is locked in and judged by others were it not for God's freeing touch. The parables truthfully expose the humanity in ourselves and others – while we may recognize others, we should also see ourselves in each of them. We never become caricatures imprisoned by God's judgment, but we always remain truly, honestly human, with sinfulness and hopefulness, meanness and generosity. God's mercy and grace are always extended to us with the power to set us free. This God judges every person with justice, not out of fickle and selfish motives, but with true justice that knows the depth of our hearts. Jesus describes the Father who yearns to teach us how to be humbly & lovingly "I-Thou" (cf. Martin Buber) to one another. It's tough love!</span> </span><span style="color: #0062ac;"><a href="http://blog.beliefnet.com/jesuscreed/parables/"><b>Scot considers Klyne's thoughts</b></a></span><span style="color: #461e64;"> <span style="color: #663366;">on the parable of the debtors: "God stunningly forgives us of staggering debt, and God disapproves of those who fail to live out graciousness and forgiveness toward others. …As Klyne Snodgrass puts it: 'The kingdom comes with limitless grace in the midst of an evil world, but with it comes limitless demand.' (72)."</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span xmlns=""><span style="color: #461e64; font-family: Gabriola; font-size: 12pt;">The parables call us to leave the masks behind which so many of us hide and the caricatures we make of our enemies. The parables encourage us to risk being honest, vulnerable, flawed, loving and always reaching for better than this present condition. "Limitless demand" is a tall order, but God did not leave us without grace and strength to make that journey.</span></span></div>
<span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Gabriola; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #461e64;">Let us dwell among those who encourage us to love others as God loves us, looking to the interests of others as does the God of the parables, and not among the false gods of the stereotypes, myths and fables. This true God loves humanity steadfastly, in the Word full of grace & truth. Let us leave behind our self-deceptions, demonizations & objectification of others, and seek the </span><span style="color: #0062ac;"><a href="http://www.theopedia.com/Talk:Shalom"><b><i>shalom </i></b></a></span><span style="color: #461e64;"><span style="color: #663366;">of all. When we use twisted methods to justify and perpetuate our false beliefs, self-serving interests, lies and harm, we break shalom. As </span></span><span style="color: #0062ac;"><a href="http://blog.beliefnet.com/jesuscreed/2010/08/our-common-prayerbook-28---1.html"><b>Scot wrote about David in Psalm 28</b></a></span><span style="color: #461e64;">, <span style="color: #663366;">"David's enemies are those who say they want peace (shalom) but what they really want is evil (which means the shattering of shalom)."</span></span></span></span><br />
<span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Gabriola; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #461e64;"><span style="color: #663366;">"So, let us learn to re-imagine our world and learn to re-imagine it as a world shaped and governed by a good God, the Father, who loves us, who cares for us, and wants to provide for us. Let us go to that God."</span> ~ </span><span style="color: #0062ac;"><a href="http://blog.beliefnet.com/jesuscreed/2010/08/imagine-a-world-4.html"><b>Scot McKnight</b></a></span><span style="color: #461e64;"><br /> </span></span></span><br />
<span xmlns=""><span style="font-family: Gabriola; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="color: #461e64;"><span style="color: #663366;">Final Note: As I was writing this blog,</span> </span><span style="color: #0062ac;"><a href="http://additionalmarkings.blogspot.com/2010/08/internet-and-civil-discourse.html"><b>Jay Phelan posted his</b></a></span><span style="color: #461e64;">. <span style="color: #663366;">If I'm not as clear about my thoughts as could be, his words may be clearer!</span></span></span></span><br />Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597772318018282539.post-41231844876486919932010-08-08T22:52:00.001-04:002010-08-08T22:54:43.808-04:00The Bechdel TestSystemic? It surely appears to be!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLF6sAAMb4s">The Bechdel Test</a>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05963409288747479666noreply@blogger.com0