What's Your Passion?

I went to church this morning...spurred on by a new Sunday School class....Seeing Gray in a Black and White World. The class is based on the book by Adam Hamilton, senior pastor of a United Methodist mega church in Kansas.  The gist of the book....

One solution to the culture and political wars that hasn't yet been tried, suggests Adam Hamilton, is for thinking persons of faith to model for the rest of the country a richer, more thoughtful conversation on the political, moral, and religious issues that divide us. Hamilton rejects the easy assumptions and sloppy analysis of black and white thinking, seeking instead the truth that resides on all sides of the issues and offering a faithful and compassionate way forward."--

and

Everyone agrees that America is polarized, with ever-hardening positions held by people less and less willing to listen to one another. No one agrees on what to do about it.One solution that hasn't yet been tried, says Adam Hamilton, is for thinking persons of faith to model for the rest of the country a richer, more thoughtful conversation on the political, moral, and religious issues that divide us. Hamilton rejects the easy assumptions and sloppy analysis of black and white thinking, seeking instead the truth that resides on all sides of the issues, and offering a faithful and compassionate way forward.He writes, "I don't expect you to agree with everything I've written. I expect that in the future even I won't agree with everything I've written here. The point is not to get you to agree with me, but to encourage you to think about what you believe. In the end I will be inviting those of you who find this book resonates with what you feel is true, to join the movement to pursue a middle way between the left and the right - to make your voices heard - and to model for our nation and for the church, how we can listen, learn, see truth as multi-sided, and love those with whom we disagree."

There are 9 other people in the class....2 couples, 3 college students, the guy who is leading the class is the head of the Lycoming College ministry and the assistant teacher is a member of the church...a youngish mother of two kids who will soon be thirty and works with AIDS patients.  I would guess I am the most liberal of the bunch...especially spiritually. 

One of the woman mentioned that sometimes it seems really hard to know what to do, where to start, how to proceed because there is so much to be done.  The suggestion was made that we find our passion and go from there.  Several mentioned what their passion was.  I was quiet.  But it got me thinking....what is my passion?

I know the thing that occupies most of my time...other than my kids, Keith and work...is writing on this blog...reading and "researching," pondering, musing about...mulling over in my head  the things I write about on this blog.  And what is the main gist of what I want to convey here?  Like the title of the book my friend daniel talked about a few weeks ago on EU (and that I posted about here)  I want to tell people....

YOUR GOD IS TOO SMALL!!!!

If you think he can be confined to any one religion (even Christianity) HE IS TOO SMALL!!!  If you think he speaks only through the Bible.  HE IS TOO SMALL!!!  If you think he cannot win over the hardest heart and cause the most stubborn knee to bow and cause every tongue to joyfully proclaim Christ is Lord...then HE IS TOO SMALL!!!  THAT is the gist of my passion...

Our assignment this week is to read several chapters of the book...one of which asks the question, Is Your Jesus Is Too Small?" 

I will pass on any interesting insights from the book and from the class.  I think it will be interesting and I do really enjoy the face to face, in real life fellowship. 

In fits and starts, in my usual meandering haphazard fashion....more to follow....

The Chapter about Judging...

No..I am not done with the series on homosexuality.  Just like I am not done with the series on everyday mystics, Christ in you, the Third Eye, and probably a half dozen or so other series that I started but then got distracted.  I am coming back to all of them eventually.  I am a hopeless, perpetual digresser. 

I read Chapter 5 in Adam Hamilton's book, Seeing Gray last night before I went to sleep.  Finding the Sweet Spot. It is the chapter du jour today in Sunday School class. 

Okay...it WAS the chapter we talked about in today's Sunday School class.  The first two paragraphs of this post were written early this morning.  This is now late afternoon...headed toward evening and hopefully I can finish it before all the to-ing and fro-ing of the next few hours. 

One of the original couples showed up today!  I was glad to see them there.  Jeff was out of town and the two college students (Josh and Brandy) who were absent last week were there this morning.  Matt was not.  So there were 6 of us.  Every couple of classes there is a video to watch.  Today was video day. 

I really like what Adam Hamilton has to say about this topic.  According to Hamilton, the sweet spot "spiritually speaking" is somewhere about midway between legalism and anything goes.  Keith and I sort of had this same discussion yesterday at Denny's.  How does one determine was is permissible...what is ethical...what is pleasing to God.  Not everything is okay, is it?  Keith quoted Paul...all things are lawful but not everything is expedient.  True.  So how do you decide what is okay?

Well...Keith told me long ago that he viewed the 10 Commandments more as the 10 Promises.  When Christ has been fully formed in you, there will be no need of a commandment that tells you not to steal from your neighbor, kill him, commit adultry with his wife because you will love him as you love yourself.  It will not be in your heart to do such things.  And will we need a commandment to tell us have no other Gods before us if we love God with all our heart, soul and strength?  When we reach the point where we love God with all our heart and we love our neighbor as we love ourselves, that is a pretty good backdrop from which to judge right and wrong etc.

In the video today, Hamilton listed the following four points to consider when we try to determine what is right in the situations we encounter in our day to day lives.  Some very serious...some not so serious. 

• The first point is directly related to the love God part of the condensed version of the commandments ...from the lips of Jesus.  What would honor God in this situation?
• The second point is a question I have heard phrased in various ways...What is the loving thing to do?
• The third point is to consider the golden rule.  Sounds trite I know but putting ourselves in another's shoes can help us determine the right thing to do. 
• The fourth point to consider is another tried and true cliche'...although a bit more modern than the Golden Rule.  WWJD.  What would Jesus do? 

He talked a bit about the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  Interesting perspective that I will perhaps discuss another day...

The book mentions the verses in Jeremiah 31...

I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the Lord," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord....

After Sunday School, during the praise and worship portion of the church service, the praise team sang a Hillsong tune...Till I See You.  One of the lines in the song captured my attention...

You are the whisper my heart that speaks to me

Perhaps, when trying to figure out cases of "situational ethics," right and wrong, how to handle the many circumstances we encounter every day that defy black and white solutions, we should strain our ears to hear the heart whisper...the still, small voice in which he speaks to each of us. 

Picking and Choosing Scripture - Err on the Side of Love.....

At the beginning of the year, in an effort to get my web meanderings in some kind of order, I decided (among other things) to focus on several “preacher-teachers” whose sermons resonate with where I am on my spiritual/human journey. Adam Hamilton was one of them. (also Nadia Bolz-Weber)  I know I’ve mentioned Adam Hamilton numerous times here on this blog.

At the Church of the Resurrection website, there are archives of all his sermons from the present to yesteryear, along with sermon resources etc. At the gym yesterday, I used a version of the “eenie, meenie, miney, moe” method to choose which sermon to listen to. It was entitled “Making Sense of the Bible.” That is also the title of his newest book. He has gotten some slack about it because it takes a good hard “look-see” at what evangelicals hold near and dear; perhaps nearest and dearest….the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture.

In his opinion, because of the enlightenment and several subsequent movements that have “dissed” scripture, fundamentalists pushed back in a Newtons Law kind of way…...for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. As a result, many evangelical denominations have moved scripture up to the top slot on their faith statements. I googled some well known evangelical churches and found that the Church of God, the Free Methodists and the Baptists all mention scripture FIRST in their faith statements. They mention it before they mention God. They mention it before they mention Jesus. They mention it before they mention the Holy Spirit. I’m sure there are other churches who stick to this hierarchy.

The Bible is not the word of God. Jesus is the Word of God. (In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1) The Bible CONTAINS the word of God and when we read it, listen to it, pray it and sing it, God speaks to us through it. When we pay attention, God uses the Bible as an instrument of his speaking.

Hamilton suggested using three “buckets”or categories to sort scripture.

The first, and by far the largest, bucket holds the sections of the Bible we read and know beyond a doubt “fit God.” They fit the image of God revealed to us in Jesus. There is no clearer image...no closer representation, no truer benchmark than Jesus. This bucket is easy to fill and the verses contained within console, convict, comfort, caution and clarify. They edify, enlighten and educate. These verses, stories and instructions are timeless. They reveal the heart of the Father that is exactly the same heart Jesus showed us.

The second bucket holds the scriptures that are clearly for another time, culture or situation. Keith had shrimp last night at Red Lobster. Uh-oh….abomination. My blouse was a polyester cotton blend. Uh-oh...abomination. He was sporting a haircut (He does have a beard but he often trims it) A lot of the abominations had to do with cleanliness. There was no Purell water-less hand sanitizer. No antibiotics. No thermometers to make sure food reached a safe temperature to kill bacteria and other nasties. Some of the abominations were to set Israel apart from other nations. Some abominations and OT directives have spiritual implications.

The third bucket is the sticking point for many “God said it, I believe it, That settles it” Christians. It is for scriptures you just don’t know what to do with. Oh, some folks try to explain them away, spiritualize them, justify them. Others ignore them. They are verses that don’t match the character and nature of God revealed in Jesus. They do not match up to any of the Gospel stories….nor to the “summation of the law” that Jesus gave us about loving our God and loving our neighbor. The passages that no how, no way fit the “golden rule” verse in the Bible….

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 7:12.

Genocide, war, violence, stonings, beheadings, trickery. Everyone is familiar with those verses that just don’t make sense.  

Aaaaaaaah….but that is picking and choosing scripture, no? But we all pick and choose. Even those who deny picking and choosing do, in fact, pick and choose. We don’t stone our rebellious teenagers. We don’t stone the folks who commit adultery.  We allow remarried people to worship in our churches. We RE-marry couples in our churches that clearly do not fit the “biblical criteria” for divorce and remarriage. We cut our hair. We don’t cover our heads. Some of us get tattoos. We allow women to speak in church….some churches allow women to preach in church. We eat pork. We don’t banish menstruating women to the shed in the back yard. We all pick and choose.

I like this quote from Carl Gregg's blog

Second, we should not be surprised that everyone engages in “picking and choosing” because if you survey what the Bible has to say about, for example, anger, wealth, adultery, disobedient wives and children, marriage, and divorce it becomes clear that the Bible is simultaneously both contradictory and enormously demanding. In other words, it is essentially impossible to obey all that the Bible literally says because some parts of the Bible are mutually exclusive of other parts. Does this mean that we are free to choose willy-nilly which parts of the Bible to follow? To quote the apostle Paul’s repeated refrain from the epistle to the Romans, “By no means!” However, from the perspective of progressive Christianity, Jack Black as Jesus is right when he says, “If you pick and choose, why not choose love?”

Indeed….why not err on the side of love?

The Chapter about Spirituality...

Last Sunday, in my Seeing Gray Sunday School class, based on the book by Adam Hamilton, we talked about the chapter on "The Messy Truth About Spirituality."  The bottom line of the chapter...we are all sinners saved by grace.  From those considered the "greatest" to those considered the "least"...the icons of the faith...the heroes of the Bible...we are all basically in the same boat.

We talked about authors who have impacted us the most.  Max Lucado came to mind first for me.  Max has helped me understand some very vexing spiritual issues...using simple word pictures a child could understand.  Although there are points of theology where I vehemently disagree with him (an eternal hell for example) he has impacted my spiritual life greatly.  Phillip Yancey is another author we talked about.  In Reaching for the Invisible God he says:

As one who writes and speaks publicly about my faith, I have also learned to accept that I am a "clay vessel" whom God may use at a time when I feel unworthy or hypocritical.  I can give a speech or preach a sermon that was authentic and alive to me when I composed it, even though as I deliver it my mind is replaying an argument I just had or nurturing an injury I received from a friend.  I can write what I believe to be true even while painfully aware of my own inability to attain what I urge others toward.

I came across a related thought on a blog called Ethereal Existentialism in a post called One Person's Trash:

I wrote that people (which would include me) continue to write about the same 5 or 8 things over and over because someone may happen along who needs to hear or read exactly what we happen to be writing about. While that's true, I certainly didn't mean to imply that I was a wisdom-dispensing guru who has it all together passing out tidbits for the poor slobs who are completely lost.

I write about what I learn because God told me to. This is stuff I'm learning...today, every day...constantly.

I can relate to what he is saying.  I write about what I learn.  I can't not write about it which is why I think "God told me to."  My hope is that every once in a while, what I write might be exactly what someone needs to hear.

As a side note...I ran across Adam Hamilton's blog this morning.  There are quite a few of his sermons there...dating back to 2007. 

Did He or Didn't He?

Here on Mercy, I’ve written posts based on thoughts and topics piqued by Adam Hamilton. I’ve  thought about/meant to write many more posts based on things I’ve read that he authored (Why?) and sermons that he preached. On the Church of the Resurrection website, where he is senior pastor, there is a vast collection of sermon archives dating back to 1999.

This new year, as part of my goal of getting more structured in my “devotions”, I decided I would listen to sermons (by Adam Hamilton, Nadia Bolz-Weber and Greg Boyd) AND read the Bible (Book of Common Prayer reading plan) while exercising at the gym. Talk about multitasking. So far, so good. Well….so far, pretty good. Not a failure, not a raging success. Still plugging along.

So, I randomly picked a sermon series from last January called Jesus: Myth, Madman or Messiah and listened to the first sermon in the series, “Searching for the Historical Jesus.” I listened to it twice. Learned a thing or two and picked up a different perspective about the historical Jesus. From the sermon notes available on the website:

Let’s begin with an easy question, as there is great consensus even among secular scholars,agnostics and atheists that Jesus actually lived. He was a real, historical person. Dr. Louise Antony, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts and a noted atheist stated,“I don't personally know a single atheist who would deny that Jesus existed.” Bart Ehrman, a popular agnostic writer and professor at the University of North Carolina recently wrote a book called, Did Jesus Exist? in which he offers an emphatic yes....

Well, isn’t that cool? And if you want to read a short writing by Bart Ehrman on Huffington Post discussing why he is sure Jesus existed, click HERE.

More from the sermon:

I finished reading Zealot last week. Aslan lays out the premise of the book,

writing: “In the end, there are only two hard historical facts about Jesus of Nazareth upon which we can confidently rely: the first is that Jesus was a Jew who led a popular Jewish movement in Palestine...the second is that Rome crucified him for doing so.”

To watch a 27 minute Huffington post video of Aslan discussing his views about Jesus, click HERE.

Another New Year’s goal...to post more frequently on this blog. In order to do that (and also fit in living my life/exercising/and working at a challenging and full time plus some job) I’ve got to be less picky. This post feels a bit unfinished and unpolished. In the past, I would save it in draft form and plan a series…..which most of the time never actually came to fruition.  

So here it is...as it is. There is fodder for those who might want to read/listen to a bit more. I have intentions to write more about the sermon because it piqued many thoughts and insights. We’ll see if that happens.  For now...I’ve gotta’ get moving and get ready for work.

The Chapter about Homosexuality- 2

Sunday's class ended up being very small.  Three of us.  Robin, one of the teachers was away and only one of the college students showed up. Matt. The other two....Josh and Brandy weren't there.  Hopefully they have not thrown in the towel like the "adults" have. After abortion, homosexuality is probably the hottest button topic of the "culture wars." I probably had the most liberal position of the three of us, but the views of the other two guys were pretty balanced and not at all condemning. 

Following are some excerpts and observations from the chapter on homosexuality in the book "Seeing Gray."

Adam Hamilton begins the chapter by saying:

In the spring of 2000, I was a reserve delegate to The United Methodist Church's General Conference, held once every four years.  I was sitting in the balcony when the issue of homosexuality was being debated by the church. 

He goes on to tell of how demonstrators who sought to end the UMC ban on ordination for self avowed, practicing homosexuals, and who hoped the church would remove language critical of homosexual practice from its discipline entered the Convention Center during the vote.  They (peacefully) surrounded the delegates by standing on the perimeter of the room and the balcony to watch as the delegates voted on the issue.  The Church voted to maintain their current stance and the pro gay demonstrators started to file onto the convention floor.  Others came to the balcony and stood in a ring around the balcony.

A woman came and stood at the end of the aisle in my section, directly in front of me, looking down upon the delegates twenty five feet below.  She was shaking and visibly distraught.  Soon she climbed up onto the edge of the balcony and she stood there, looking over the floor at the conference, looking at the people who had just voted once again to exclude her from full participation in the church, and she began to shout at them.  I could not understand what she was saying, but I sensed that she might be planning to jump.  I stepped out of my seat, along with another, and quickly reached for the woman just as she began to leap.  We pulled her back down into our laps, and held her as she lay shaking.  We held her in our arms until a few moments later, when a friend arrived to care for her and walk her out.  The entire incident took place in a matter of seconds, but the impact upon me, and others at the conference still lingers. 

In the spring of 2004...right before the next UMC conference, Adam decided to preach on the topic of homosexuality so his congregation would hear the issues surrounding the debate from him.  He said he was not prepared for the inner turmoil or confusion he experienced as he tried to prepare his sermon.  He includes the sermon in its entirety in the book.

Hundreds of people gradually left the church over the course of the following year because they did not feel he took a strong enough stand against homosexuality.  However during that same period of time about 1,000 people joined the church. 

In the sermon, he does a good job of explaining both sides of the issue...pro gay and anti gay.  His personal beliefs are somewhere in the middle.  In preparation for the sermon he asked members of the congregation to email him their personal stories and opinions.  Many responded.  

One mother wrote, "I've known for four years that my son is a homosexual.  This doesn't make me love him any less than I did.  In fact, I love him more since I know the struggle he has gone through his whole life." 

Adam comments on this by saying:

It struck me, when I read her words, that the love of a mother for her son may very well be a picture of the love of our heavenly Father for his children who are gay. 

He ends the chapter with a post script written several years after the sermon....and he still doesn't have the answers. He is disturbed that the church has devoted so much time and energy in leading efforts against certain rights for homosexuals.  He believes that Jesus would reach out to them but at the same time he does not believe that Jesus would set aside monogamous heterosexual marriage as the ideal.   He ends the chapter thusly....

....I've brought some resolution to my inner struggle over the two sides of this issue by thinking of my own daughters.  I try to imagine if one of my daughters felt she was homosexual.  How would I respond to her?  I would love her.  I would want her to be welcome in our church.  Would I welcome her if she wanted to bring her partner to church?  Would I be able to love the person she loved?  I think I would. 

I've Never Been Politically Involved But Feeling the Bern....

There are 59 posts on this blog that are tagged "Politics." Even though I have often written about current politically charged events relating to gun control, racism, gay rights, immigration etc, I have not been very involved in the actual political process. Confession....I have never voted.

I was born into a family that was only marginally interested in politics. On my mom’s side, they were conservative and republican. My dad used to say Grandpap would vote for a french poodle if it was the Republican candidate. That was probably an accurate assessment….but I suspect that 50 years ago, Republicans were kinder, gentler people. My mom couldn't care less. She has never voted in 80 years and I think she kind of passed that apathetic behavior on to me.

On my dad’s side, there was a mix of political opinions and support...probably leaning toward the Democrats. Nobody on that side of the family seemed to be overly concerned with who occupied the white house. Since they were all text book versions of dysfunctional, things other than politics occupied their thoughts and filled their time. My dad is, more or less, bipartisan and votes for the candidate who he thinks will do the best job/least harm to the country.

Then for twenty plus years I was married to a DEMOCRAT. He has never in his life voted Republican. Most of his family is democrat. Very Democrat. I was just really not all that interested in any of it.

And now, for the past 13 years, I have been married to a Canadian who moved here to the US to marry me. When he came here, he was a conservative Canadian but he has solidified his political views and moved much farther to the right. There is a big difference between the views of a conservative Canadian and a conservative American.

He is very politically inclined and voices his opinions frequently in both verbal and written form. That, in part, was the catalyst that moved me from political apathy to actually taking notice of what is going on in our political process here in the US. And what an awful time to finally wake up...this season of the 2016 presidential election.

Whoa!!!

I took a test a couple weeks ago….and I urge everyone to take the test….on a site called “isidewith.com.” There are 40ish questions on all kinds of issues. You can simply select “agree” or “disagree” but if you select “other” a whole range of agree/disagree nuances appear. You can, and should, opt to answer more questions. This will give you the most accurate, in depth results. If you are not sure about the issue, click the question mark and it gives you a brief synopsis. 

It is a bipartisan site, by the way. Even the Blaze urged its readers to take the test way back in June of 2015.

According to my test results, my political views tend to be centrist but leaning to the left. This does not come as a surprise to me. I’ve said many times that I don’t think the truth lies in the polar opposite ditches people get stuck in, but rather lie somewhere closer to the center. One of my favorite books is “Seeing Gray in a Black and White World” by Adam Hamilton. I see things in shades of gray.

As far as political candidates, I sided the closest with Bernie Sanders. Apparently, I side with 85% of his views. Prior to taking the test, I didn’t know much about him other than Keith’s ominous warnings about socialism. I had heard some of the criticisms about “free stuff” and “taxing the rich at 90%” but other than that and the fact that he is Jewish and talks with a east coast accent, I didn’t know much.

But now I've done some reading and some listening and I know a lot more now. I have to admit I am feeling the Bern. Bernie is a nice guy with morals and integrity. He describes himself as a secular Jew…but as a recent column in the USA Today written by Stephen Prothero, entitled WWJD? Maybe Vote For Bernie states

As a scholar of American religion, I know I am supposed to take Sanders at his word, slot him as a secular Jew who is, as he put it, “not particularly religious” and leave it at that. Even so, I cannot shake the sneaking suspicion that he is the most Christian candidate in the race.

Jesus told us that we will know them by their fruits. When I watch excerpts of the Republican debates, I do not see much "fruit" being displayed. There are obvious red flags that pop up with even a cursory look at the Republican contenders…..more on this whole distressing topic to come…..

Sticks and Stones - 2

And Adam Hamilton has this to say:

How can we actually avoid speaking ill of others?  Here's what I do when I am at my best and exercising restraint:

First, I remember the call of Christ to avoid judging and to avoid calling names (Matthew 5:21-22)  My aim is to do Christ's will.  Speaking ill of others does not accomplish that aim. 

Second, I try to search my own heart to see what is behind my need to speak ill of the person.  Usually the motivation will be fear, jealousy, insecurity, or revenge.  I remind myself of the words of Mark Twain, "Among human beings jealousy ranks distinctly as a weakness; a trademark of small minds." 

Third, I make it a point to look for the good in the other and to focus on lifting that up rather than pointing out the person's weaknesses. 

Fourth, I remember the biblical call to humility and remind myself that I may not be seeing the other person the way God sees him or her.  I may not know all the facts.  And I remember the many ways in which I fall short of God's plans.

By the time I've walked through this mental exercise, I find it easier to practice what my mother taught me growing up: If you can't find anything good to say about someone, don't say anything at all. 

Sounds like good advice...

I used to have the following saying taped to my computer monitor.

 

               

      Plaque can be found at Tumbleweed Pottery

Equal and Opposite Reactions....

From my last post:

……..because of the enlightenment and several subsequent movements that have “dissed” scripture, fundamentalists pushed back in a Newtons Law kind of way…...for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Now that is a really interesting thought….this push back thing. When I first heard it (in the sermon by Adam Hamilton) the light bulb lit up. Isn’t that the truth! Yes, indeed, I have witnessed this, both at large in the whole wide world and specifically, in my own little corner.

At large, I have seen people take on a do or die attitude when an idea questions, threatens, or discredits one of their sacred cow beliefs. Ideas and beliefs that might not have seemed all that important become hills to die on or at least issues that merit taking a firm stand on. And of course, I have seen this same law at work up close and personal in my relationships, my job and within myself....

The birth of the Five Points of Calvinism, TULIP, comes to mind. What a great example of this push back.

The controversy between Arminianism and Calvinism arose in Holland in the early 1600’s. The founder of the Arminian party was Jacob Arminius (1560–1609). He studied under the strict Calvinist Theodore Beza at Geneva and became a professor of theology at the University of Leyden in 1603.  Gradually Arminius came to reject certain Calvinist teachings. The controversy spread all over Holland, where the Reformed Church was the overwhelming majority. The Arminians drew up their creed in Five Articles (written by Uytenbogaert), and laid them before the state authorities of Holland in 1610 under the name Remonstrance, signed by forty-six ministers.
The Calvinists responded with a Counter-Remonstrance. But the official Calvinistic response came from the Synod of Dort which was held to consider the Five Articles from November 13, 1618 to May 9, 1619. There were eighty-four members and eighteen secular commissioners. The Synod wrote what has come to be known as the Canons of Dort. These are still part of the church confession of the Reformed Church in America and the Christian Reformed Church. They state the Five Points of Calvinism in response to the Five Articles of the Arminian Remonstrants. (See Schaff, vol. 3, pp. 581–596).  

That rather longish quote above is from John Piper’s website, Desiring God….and hey, if anyone knows Calvinist doctrine and history, it is John Piper!!

The so-called Five Points were not coined by the Calvinists to clarify their beliefs for their own benefit and edification. They emerged as a response to the Arminians who chose five points of reformed doctrine to oppose.

Isn’t that interesting? The beliefs of Arminius were birthed, very likely, as a response to his ultra-calvinistic education. That led to the 5 point Remonstrance…..that initiated a response, the Counter-Remonstrance.

I’ve seen this “law” of Newton’s played out in real life….my own life and the lives of those around me. There are many things that affect and form our beliefs and behaviors. This is just one of many subtle, often unconscious, factors. Nature/nurture, cognitive biases, prejudice, cultural influences, maternal instinct, mimesis…..and so on and so forth....

Obviously, the formation of our opinions and beliefs cannot be oversimplified or “boiled down” to a theory of physics or to any ONE theory, bias or influencing factor. However, thinking outside our own personal box of beliefs can lead to introspection that can lead to a startling clarity also known as a wtf moment. Sometimes it can even lead to a change of mind/heart. But not necessarily because we tend to be very comfortable in our own state of "belief inertia."

I came upon that term while looking for interesting quotes from people wiser than me to beef up this blog post. I found two new to me blogs that struck my fancy.

Eric Raymond’s blog Armed and Dangerous and Less Wrong, a Community Blog devoted to refining the art of human rationality.

On Less Wrong, Eliezer Yudkowsky wrote -

The temptation is always to claim the most points with the least effort. The temptation is to carefully integrate all incoming news in a way that lets us change our beliefs, and above all our actions, as little as possible. John Kenneth Galbraith said: "Faced with the choice of changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof." And the greater the inconvenience of changing one's mind, the more effort people will expend on the proof.

The effort people expend on the proof is the "equal and opposite reaction" part of Newton's Law.

In response, Eric Raymond opined that belief inertia (which happens to relate to another one of Newton’s Laws, the law of inertia) is also due to the fact that:

Changing beliefs is not costless, and may commit you to a decision procedure that is too heavyweight to be worth some very marginal gain in utility.

This post is getting long so I am going to end with another quote I found and continue with this same topic in my next post.

 If we watch ourselves honestly we shall often find that we have begun to argue against a new idea even before it has been completely stated. Wilfred Trotter

The Chapter about Homosexuality....

This week in my Sunday School class, a class based on the book by Adam Hamilton, Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White...we are discussing the chapter about homosexuality.  I will be digressing for the next day or so...perhaps longer. 

I spent most of the day yesterday at gay Christian web sites. I have visited some of these sites before since this has long been a topic of interest for me.  I was about forty when I became a Christian and had long lived an almost totally secular lifestyle. I knew gay people...and had known them most of my life. Homosexuality was no big deal to me. 

When I was in my teens, I spent several summers in Wildwood, New Jersey with my (very dysfunctional) family.  My "sort of in the closet" gay uncle...probably in his forties at the time... spent the summer there with us...living in the apartment we all shared. He worked as a doorman at a night club that featured (surprise, surprise)female impersonators.  I got to see the show several times (Diana Ross and Liza Minnelli come to mind) and met some of the guys.  It was not really regarded as a perversion by my family....or by me...and it was openly acknowledged that these guys were gay.  So what?

My grandmother (wild, wild...oh so wild) had a good friend...Warren...who I met a few times and who was openly gay.  I knew what gay was when I was a kid...but I didn't know about the Christian stigma that surrounds it.  Warren did of course and he chose to reject the God who rejected him.  He was a very convinced atheist. 

Later, as an adult, my ex and I had several friends that were gay.  Very gay.  We were invited to their home several times a year and many of the other guests were gay couples.  Again..no big deal.  They were all very nice, professional people. No leather chaps...no chains etc. I didn't really care what their sexual orientation was. 

I worked in restaurants a lot in my younger years when my body could still take the wear and tear of waitressing and I've known a lot of gays throughout the years.  Some were in the closet...some were out.  I remember one guy I took a particular liking to when I lived in Nashville...Wendall.  He was openly gay and I was fine with that.  One day he called me into the back room because he wanted to tell me something.....something that nobody else knew at the restaurant where we worked (Shoney's) "I have AIDS," he said. He had been diagnosed ten years prior.  He was kind of an oddity then since he was still so functional.  This was 13 or 14 years ago and there has been a lot of progress made in the treatment of AIDS. 

  He was involved in what he thought was a long term monogamous relationship.  It was for him...but not so for his partner. His partner was promiscuous, became infected with AIDS and passed it on to Wendall.  He was a kindergarten teacher when he was diagnosed. The doctor told him he had to quit his job immediately or he would infect all the kids....so he quit...and ended up working at Shoney's when he was able.  His main symptom was neuropathy in his legs. 

In spite of his illness, the loss of his career, the heartbreaking betrayal of his partner and the shunning of the Church of Christ (not the liberal United Church of Christ but the ultra conservative southern version of the Church of Christ) he was a happy go lucky kind of guy....a real hoot...hilarious.  He me laugh all the time.  I lost touch with Wendall when I changed jobs and then finally moved away from Nashville.  I wonder about him sometimes though.  I hope he was able to take advantage of some of the new therapies and meds that are available now for AIDS patients. 

I've known other gays through the years.  Even now, I interact with several gay people on a daily basis. I won't belabor the point by retelling the details of every relationship and all of my experiences with gays. From my anecdotal dealings (which have perhaps been more extensive than the interaction most people have with gays...at least knowingly) I see them pretty much as just regular people with a different sexual orientation than mine.  I do not see it as a choice....and in situations where it is truly a lifestyle choice, it is the exception and not the rule.

I know there is homosexual promiscuity...the bath houses...multiple partners...stories of human "chains" but there is promiscuity in heterosexuals too.  And it is my firm belief that if you hear you are a piece of crap enough times, you will act accordingly.  Society, churches...especially churches....have driven home the point that homosexuality is sickening.  Hate the sin, love the sinner.  Even if that was the ideal, how many times is that REALLY put into practice in our churches?  What if the sin is as ingrained as the color of your eyes? 

I've digressed in this digression.  This all sort of started when annie posted an article on EU about a former hate spewing "Christian" who thought homosexuals did not really have the right to breath the same air as he did....whose life changed dramatically one day after he delivered a tirade on the blight of homosexuality at a family gathering.  Afterwards his mom asked the simple question...."do you think your beliefs are Christlike?"

That is a good question, don't you think?  And people on both sides of the issue...people with "black and white" sexual orientations and those with every shade of gray in between should ask themselves that same question.  Do you think your beliefs are Christlike?

I am going to copy and paste the article annie posted below. A couple of other things I found interesting.  Today...Sunday...is the day of a pro-gay rally in Washington.  In my web journeys yesterday I read that the Evangelical Lutheran Church (following the lead of the Anglican church) allows gays in monogamous relationships to be ministers.  And a sort of related interesting note is what I read yesterday about Tony Campolo and his wife Peggy. 

Although they agree on some things related to homosexuals...such as the fact that the LGBT folks need to be assured of equal civil rights, that homosexuality is not really a choice...that the church had done way more harm than good to/for homosexuals...and other similar beliefs, they differ on a very important point.  Tony thinks that homosexuals should practice celibacy.  Peggy believes that monogamous relationships between members of the same sex are a-okay.

I will talk more about that in the next few days. 

A Step in Faith

Evangelical Christian Brent Childers explains his journey from believing that homosexuality was an abomination to marching in a pro-gay march on Washington.

By Brent Childers | Newsweek Web Exclusive

Oct 8, 2009

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans are a diverse, extraordinary, resilient, and passionate group of forgiving men and women. I wouldn't be standing beside them demanding full and equal treatment under the law and speaking out against the harm caused by religion-based bigotry at the National Equality March in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 11 if I thought they were not created in God's image the same as myself, same as my family, as we all are—we are all God's children.

And I know better than anyone, since six years ago I was one of those bigots. At that time it would have seemed abominable to even consider attending a "gay-rights" event. To me, these would have been the people tearing apart the very seams of our culture and our country.

Today, it is a natural expression of who I am. Some might call that a miracle.

So what it is that would bring someone from a place where he once declared himself a "Jesse Helms Republican," a man who condemned homosexuality as a threat to children and society, told his own son that being gay is a ticket to hell, to travel from Hickory, N.C., to the West Lawn of the Capitol building on Oct. 11, 2009? How can one travel from the seemingly impossible road of bigotry to one of acceptance and love for our LGBT brothers and sisters? The answer is one that I hope religious leaders such as Pat Robertson and James Dobson (and most importantly, their followers) will hear.

It's because something deep inside told me that I needed to step out in faith onto a bridge of knowledge and understanding. I didn't know where this bridge would take me but something was telling me it was a path I needed to walk. My own mother challenged me in 2003 to look at my beliefs and the true intent behind the teachings I held in blind faith. "Do you think your views are Christ-like?" she asked me. Her question was dead on: once I walked away from the Church's teachings of rejection and condemnation, my relationship with God transcended to a higher spiritual plateau. I realized an unparalleled sense of spiritual clarity when I opened my heart and mind to a genuine expression of love, compassion, and acceptance of all sexual orientations and gender identities.

This new voice—Christ's voice—became the core principles of my faith: love, compassion, and respect. That voice I now realize was desperately wanting to be heard, a voice no longer comfortable with the place in which I had chose to confine it for so long—a place of bigotry, prejudice, fear, and misunderstanding.

The walk across that bridge wasn't very strenuous but it was at times painful. The pain came as I began to realize for the first time that I had been using my faith to bring harm to others. That's not a pleasant realization for anyone who marches under a Christian banner of love, respect, and compassion.

During the past four years I have looked into the faces of those I once caused harm to with religion-based bigotry and prejudice. And while I may have never inflicted a physical blow, I know today that my words indeed caused deep wounds—perhaps at some point deeper than I care to dwell upon.

They are the faces of individuals like young Sean Kennedy, who died in Greenville, S.C., in 2007 after being struck by a person who considered Sean a "faggot"; Pat and Lynn Mulder of Auburndale, Fla., whose gay son also died as a result of a hate crime; Jared Horsford of Texas who carved derogatory words into his flesh because he thought it would help control the demon he was told lived there; Nicholas White who was relentlessly berated by fellow 4-H peers at camp this summer as other 4-H campers stood behind the tormentors in silence; or the mother I met recently in North Carolina who grieved over her dead son—a child that had been rejected because he was gay and thought peace could only come through suicide.

There are many, many others I have met in my work with Faith in America, as we try to bring awareness and understanding to the pain and trauma caused to LGBT people, especially youth, when church teaching is misused to justify and promote a societal climate of rejection, condemnation, and discrimination. This environment fosters suicide, hate crimes, an epidemic of antigay bullying in our schools against all kinds of children gay and straight, legal workplace discrimination against LGBT citizens in 20 states, military service members forced to serve in silence or discharged for being honest about who they are, lesbian and gay parents unable to protect their children without the legal structure of federally recognized civil marriage, and lesbian and gay couples unable to provide security for their partners in the absence of federally recognized civil marriage. This is what we march for on Oct. 11 and every day. Every person coming to Washington—whether they are religious or not—does share one faith, and that is faith in America. We can and must do better. As the progress of history has shown, Americans will prove themselves able to see beyond religion-based bigotry to the promises of equal treatment for all. Those who use religion-based bigotry to persecute and discriminate against LGBT people are on the wrong side of history, just as they were with slavery, interracial marriage, the treatment of women, and so many other issues.

I remember the first time I met Sean Kennedy's mother, Elke, sitting in her family's living room just months after she had lost her precious son as the result of a senseless and hate-filled act of violence. And I will never forget that momentary look on her face when I explained to her that I once was someone whose attitude had helped perpetuate the societal climate in which her son lived and died. It was a moment in which I realized the depths of the wounds I may have inflicted upon a gay teen contemplating suicide or a perpetrator looking to justify hate violence. It is a moment that commands me to continue to march, to speak out, and help others experience the spiritual blessing that comes from unshackling the chains of religion-based bigotry and prejudice.

Brent Childers is the executive director of Faith in America. After changing his views on homosexuality, he left the Southern Baptist Church and now attends both a local Pentacostal and a nondenominational church in Hickory, N.C.

 

 

The Chapter About Abortion....

I've written a couple of posts about the Sunday School Class that I am attending...Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White.  Well, the herd has thinned out a bit.  Some people are just not into gray, I guess. One of the couples has been MIA for the past three weeks.  The other couple for the past two weeks.  That leaves the three college students,the two leaders and me.  There is another women who will be in and out because of her job.

I'm hoping that other obligations have kept the couples away, but I am thinking that's probably not the case.  It's not a class for everyone.  Not at all.  Today, one of the leaders was preaching all three Sunday services, so the herd was even thinner today with only the younger leader, Robin and the three college kids....whose names I cannot remember.  I like them all.  There are two guys.  One is very talkative, very articulate and very likeable.  The other one is shy...more traditional and very conservative.  He is a history and religion major.  And the girl doesn't say too much...but I enjoy hearing their perspective. I am very comfortable in the class.  I am also not the most liberal one there...which is kind of nice.  Robin is.  Today the topic was abortion.  After hearing our views she told us hers...she is pro-choice. 

The class was based on Chapter 18 of the book by Adam Hamilton.  And it had some surprising statistics.  46% of the women who have abortions in the United States are not using birth control when they become pregnant.  70% of all women having abortions in this country identify themselves as Christians! The major focus of this chapter is that those on both sides of the issue can and should work together to decrease the number of abortions.

His message is to the moderates. Not to those who bomb abortion clinics or hunt down abortion doctors and shoot them...in cold blood....at church.  And probably not to those who refuse to see a fetus as anything more than a kind of parasite sucking its life from the mother...with no rights and no humanity and no need for protection at any stage of gestation.  His suggestions are for the moderates. 

Roe v Wade has been in effect for over thirty years.  Abortion does not seem to be going anywhere so it might behoove those pro-lifers to work with those pro-choicers to reduce the number of abortions that are performed.  He points out the following

1) Pro-choice advocates and pro-life advocates each have legitimate concerns.

2) Abortion is both "not ideal" and yet, occasionally "necessary" (at the very least, most pro-life advocates would allow abortion to save the life of the mother)

3) Decreasing the number of abortions in America would be desirable.

4) Adequate information about and access to birth control can reduce abortions.

5) The longer a pregnancy progresses the more morally problematic an abortion becomes.

6) No one should be pressured into having an abortion. 

7) If an abortion occurs it should be safe. 

I think I pretty much agree with his list. 

One thing I really liked about the class was that even though there was great diversity of opinion, the conversation was very respectful.  Josh (I remembered one name) believes that abortions should never be performed even to save the life of the mother.  Robin is pro-choice...the other end of the spectrum. The rest of us were somewhere in between.  There is a vast difference in our ages.  The students are probably under 20...Robin will be 30...and I am in my fifties.  I really enjoyed the class. 

After church, Keith and I went to Denny's for lunch.  While we were sitting there we noticed a few people passing by with lawn chairs.  Then later, a few more passed by...carrying signs.  It turned out that there was a protest planned.  People stood all along the Golden Strip (the shopping district) on both sides of the street, holding anti-abortion signs.  We drove by many of them on our way to Staples.  The signs expressed several sentiments

• Abortion Hurts Women
• Abortion Kills Children
• Adoption: The Loving Option
• Life: The First Inalienable Right
• Lord Forgive Us and Our Nation

There were even a few signs that supported the other side of the issue, "Keep Abortion Legal."

And there were several signs with a sentiment that transcends both sides of the issue. 

Jesus Forgives and Heals. 

Indeed, he does....

Something for BOTH sides to remember....

For more in depth reading on the topic, the blog Blue Christian on a Red Background has the following detailed posts on abortion from a political perspective. 

Supreme Court's Ban on "Partial-Birth" Abortion: A Pro-Life Liberal's Take

Getting Personal: Why this Pro-lifer is voting for Barack Obama, Part 1

Getting Personal: Why this Pro-lifer is voting for Barack Obama, Part 2

For a long list of pro-life websites and organizations...some radical, others not so much check out this link

Colorado Shootings, Where Were You God?

Lots of people around the internet are talking about the Colorado shooting. About the victims...about acts of heroism...about the coincidences that brought some to the theater and the coincidences that kept some away.

And they are talking about the shooter, his history, his friends and family, his mom's comments, (that Keith tells me were taken totally out of context by some over zealous reporter) About the "I'm a crazy man" look in his tortured eyes.

And of course there is ongoing, heated debate about guns and gun control. For the record, I loathe guns...but if my neighbor, or my dad, or my boss wants to own a gun and is responsible with the use and storage of the weapon...I am content to "myob." However, I see no feasible reason ( or how it could be construed as a threat to the 2nd Amendment) to not do whatever it takes to keep weapons that can fire dozens of bullets without reloading...out of the hands of crazy men. Out of the hands of EVERYBODY for that matter. But I digress. That is the subject of another post....someday. Back to the Colorado shooting.

So the conversation goes round and round. Everybody has an opinion. Everybody has questions. Ultimately, the discussion turns to God....and most everyone, in one way or another wonders the same thing..and (consciously or subconsciously)asks the same question of God. "Where the hell were you??!! when these victims were being gunned down??? And why didn't you do something??"

That question is the crux of the age old mystery of theodicy. The immortal question, "If there is a good, all powerful God, how can evil exist?"

The conclusion many come to is that there is no God. "Sorry folks, you're on your own."

Others (like Harold Kushner of the "When Bad Things Happen To Good People " fame) settle on the belief that God is not all powerful. He would like to do more to help but, sadly, his hands are tied.

Others settle on the belief that he is not all good...because as far as they’re concerned not stopping atrocities like the shooting is as bad as actually causing them.

And some folks...the total determinist/absolute sovereignty believers believe just that….that he actually causes these things to come down. They believe he is all powerful, all good and the first cause of all causes. In other words, he directly ordains these things(for our own good, of course) There is a case to be made for that viewpoint.

Some folks believe man's free will is the ultimate deciding factor and that God never...or rarely, intervenes. There is a case to be made for that viewpoint, too.

Although diehard believers on both sides of the “free will/sovereignty” line will disagree that a case can be made for the opposite side.

I see so many things in shades of gray, along the lines of Adam Hamilton's book "Seeing Gray In a Black and White World.” I suspect that the truth about most things is somewhere smack dab in the middle, or at least not totally to the far left or the far right.

This question haunted me for years. I read, I pondered, I obsessed. I was totally pissed off at God for the way he set things up...starving children in Africa, death, disease and pestilence everywhere. I couldn't just write him off as an imaginary friend because I've felt his touch and know he exists as surely as I know I do. Non belief was not an option. Pouting at him was. But in my heart, I knew that whatever evidence gets stacked against him, he is good, he is love and his mercy endures forever.

I've stopped pouting. I've even stopped asking the "where were you" kinds of questions. And I'm not dead set sure what I think about his involvement in world events but I suspect sometimes he causes, sometimes he prevents and sometimes he intervenes in very mysterious ways.

A Facebook friend posted a link shortly after the shooting. It leads to blog post written by a pastor in Colorado. He told the story of a young woman in his congregation. Petra Anderson. She is in her early twenties (22, I think) and she was in the theater that night. She was shot multiple times. One of the shotgun blasts sent a pellet through her brain....front to back. The prognosis was bleak but when the neurosurgeons operated, they discovered Petra had a brain anomaly that had been present since birth. It caused no symptoms. She had no idea it was there. Nobody did except, of course, her Maker.

It was a tiny channel that ran from front to back. Just big enough for a shotgun pellet. The bullet entered her nose at that exact spot and made its way to the back of her brain, via the channel, causing next to no damage. The blog author said that the tiniest variation in the entry point would have caused the pellet to bypass the channel, ripping through and damaging/destroying vital brain tissue.

No matter what your theology or opinion about the POE (problem of evil), sovereignty and free will, this story (that has also been mentioned on the news and other sources) gives one cause to pause and ponder. An old hymn and two Bible verses come to mind.

The Bible verses...

Isaiah 43: 7"...everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

and

Psalm 139:14 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. NLT

The blog post about Petra went viral and received hundreds of comments, many that expressed disdain for the idea that God was responsible for this anomaly/ miracle yet didn't come through for the other victims.

Which brings me to the words of the old hymn by William Cowper -

'God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform"

There is another thing about the Anderson family that seems to deepen the mysteries of God's ways.  Petra's mother is battling a reoccurrence of (terminable) breast cancer...her prognosis is not good...and she is not expected to survive. 

Since this is getting long, I'll finish up in another post (really, I will)

Love is a tenet of the Christian Faith

The other day, I listened to a sermon by Adam Hamilton entitled, Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin. He used an illustration about an encounter between Billy Graham and the Clinton’s that took place at a public event during the firestorm of the Monica Lewinsky/”I did not have sex with that woman” debacle….

My father is so accepting, so nonjudgmental," says eldest daughter, Gigi Graham Tchividjian. During the height of the Clinton scandal, she was her father's date at the 75th anniversary celebration for Time magazine. The Clintons were also in attendance.

"Daddy sat with the Clintons and was so warm and gracious," Tchividjian told Charisma. "In the limousine going back to the hotel, Daddy and I were talking about how difficult it must be for the Clintons with so many people gossiping and judging them. His comment was: "It's the Holy Spirit's job to convict; it's God's job to judge; and it's our job to love."

The excerpt above is from a Charisma article

I love that exchange…

I never really paid that much attention to Billy Graham in my BC - before Christ life. Oh sure, my grandmother used to watch his crusades on her little black and white TV when I spent my summers with her. She would cry during his altar calls when folks came forward in droves. I didn't pay much attention to him after I became a Christian. He was getting old. His crusades were fewer and farther between.

A few years ago, I came upon an article on one of those cult watcher blogs about a conversation between Billy Graham and Robert Schuller that smacks of universalism. It resonated so I wrote about it in a post called A Vortex with a Different Name.

I remember other here and there reading about Billy Graham; his reaction to a close call on an airplane (he was very afraid but trusted God with the outcome). And I’ve been reading snippets this morning, my curiosity piqued by this story of his encounter with the Clintons. He had/has his critics. Many criticized his seemingly lukewarm commitment to integration. Others point out that he was either too involved or too UNinvolved with politics. I’ve read some quotes, perhaps taken out of context, that are questionable. Sometimes he seemed to waffle back and forth on some issues.

But the encounter above illustrates a key component of Christianity. As Billy Graham points out, a Christian’s job is to love. You know, the greatest commandment...the command that sums up all the law….love God, love your neighbor as yourself.

Greg Boyd repeats this same sentiment in a video from 2012 during the time a vote on a gay marriage amendment was taking place in Minnesota. Greg Boyd is not one to back away from controversial issues (as he is accused of in the comments) and has taken infinite slack about his opinions and beliefs.

(Probably) More of this rambling, somewhat disjointed discourse to come…..