‘There are many more peace mongers than warmongers"

According to Rueters on February 21st

More than 1000 Muslims formed a human shield around Oslo's synagogue on Saturday, offering symbolic protection for the city's Jewish community and condemning an attack on a synagogue in neighboring Denmark last weekend.

And this act of solidarity was not a “CYA” kind of thing. The number of Jews is tiny compared to the number of Muslims in Norway.

Norway’s Jewish community is one of the continent’s smallest, numbering only 1000. The Muslim population numbers 150,000 to 200,000 and is growing.  

"There are many more peace mongers than warmongers," Abdullah said as organizers and Jewish community leaders stood side by side. "There's still hope for humanity, for peace and love, across religious differences and backgrounds.

I love stories like this. Perhaps these isolated incidents of peace on earth, goodwill to men could be the leaven that starts to affect the whole lump.

“Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened” (Matthew 13:33).

Check out some of the coverage and photos of the gathering here and here and here and here…..

Musings on ISIS and Hell

I happened upon a short blog post written by Benjamin L. Corey on Patheos this morning.  Why ISIS Should Make Christians Rethink the Doctrine of Hell. It “puts a face with a name” concerning the fiery doctrine of hell...eternal conscious torment.

We’ve all seen the pictures. They’ve been plastered all over Facebook, in the news, on “start pages” like AOL (yes, AOL still exists) and Yahoo. The single, lone pilot, caged, in anguish, as the flames advance toward him. I don’t know if the whole video is available anywhere online but if it is, I could never watch it. I can’t even watch fake torture on shows like 24 and The Blacklist. And now there are sources saying ISIS is threatening to burn 17 Kurdish fighters….and even some claims about burning children alive. Hideous...horrible….soul sucking….heartbreaking evil.

As the article points out, ISIS is not the first to use fire as an instrument of death and torture. Christians were quite fond of using it against their enemies. Even just their theological enemies. Let’s not forget that atrocities were committed by followers of Jesus all down through Christian history. The Inquisition, the Witch Hunts, the Crusades.

For a long list of these atrocities…..“events that solely occurred on command of church authorities or were committed in the name of Christianity,” check out THIS ARTICLE. If you are skeptical, think of the list as a starting point for further research. I don’t want to see Christianity blackballed NOR whitewashed, it’s sins hidden.  As followers of Jesus, we are obligated to learn from the mistakes of our Christian predecessors. There are many variations of the oft repeated quote, “Learn from history or repeat it.” We are obligated to expose and denounce (and learn from) any and all atrocities committed in the name of Jesus.

I’ve written about topics like this beforeon this blog. Extremism is the problem and, all too often, the extremism is based on religious theology/ideology. Christians are not exempt and, in fact, are some of the worst offenders.

But I digress….

Back to the topic of ISIS, hell and our Heavenly Father.

Corey says this:

But here’s the irony of it all: while we find burning people alive morally repulsive when ISIS does it, most Christians seem to have no moral qualms about believing in a God they think will do precisely that.

And not only does he burn people alive, he uses his “special powers” to keep them conscious and burning (but not consumed) for all eternity. The traditional concept of a hell….eternal conscious torment... orchestrated by God…..is a heinous doctrine that besmirches the character and nature of the God Jesus spoke of and represented. “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.”

For many of us, hell is the bitterest pill to swallow when embracing traditional Christianity. I didn’t….couldn’t….swallow the pill. I researched and prayed and studied until, like William Barclay, I was a “convinced universalist.” Sadly, there are some Christians who seem to revel in the concept of God burning his enemies  (enemies who, coincidentally, look just like their own personal enemies) in hell forEVER. Try to take their hell away and they are pissed. I’ve witnessed it.

One of my favorite stories in the Gospels

51 When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; 52 and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. 53 But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem.54 When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them 55 But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; 56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”] And they went on to another village. Luke 9:51-56

Jesus rebuked them...and even though some early manuscripts skip the “spirit you are  of” part, I think this passage highlights a question we should all answer. If we derive any kind of satisfaction from the doctrine of hell it is time to take a good long look at what is in our heart to see if it lines up with what Jesus had to say here.

A newer translation, The Voice, sums it up...

Jesus (turning toward them and shaking His head): You just don’t get it.

The Question That Never Goes Away.....

My mother has a problem with religion. She has a problem with God. She was raised in a very strict denomination, by very strict parents who worshiped a very strict God. You were never sure about your salvation because you could lose it just like that. Movies were out, any games that had dice, no jewelry, pants on women, purchases on Sunday etc. etc. etc.

Her biggest issue with God is the Problem of Evil...the Problem of Pain. Theodicy. We talk about it sometimes during our twice a week phone calls.

I tell her I don’t have the answer why bad things happen..that nobody really has the answer. It has been talked about and written about and argued about for thousands of years. Perhaps, it is a mystery that we may not understand until we are “on the other side.”

This doesn't satisfy her, of course. I understand that. It didn't satisfy me during the several year stint when I was too mad at God to talk to him very much. I was mad about all those starving children and the rampant, overwhelming, seemingly unstoppable evil in the world. Except that I was convinced he COULD stop it, if he wanted to. I read many articles that looked at the question from different perspectives.  I discussed it on message boards and yahoo groups. I talked it over with Keith (time and time again)

I found little dollops of salve here and there that took the sting out of the anger but I never really found an acceptable answer that explained why God allows this stuff to happen.

I read several books that helped a little.. “Why” by Adam Hamilton and Phillip Yancey’s twin volumes (written decades apart)  Where is God When It Hurts and The Question That Never Goes Away.

Following are two quotes I happened upon recently. One, I found just this morning on Ann Voskamp’s FaceBook wall. The other quote, that says practically the same thing, is from Rob Bell.

No matter how we don't understand the why of suffering, we know that the God who went to the Cross, He *knows* suffering & *He suffers with us.* *We never suffer alone.* The whole suffering world rings with the comfort of it, how Your nailed scarred hands cup our faces, hold our hurting hearts & You whisper: "I know... *I know.* Me too. *Me too*." Anne Voskamp

“Our tendency in the midst of suffering is to turn on God. To get angry and bitter and shake our fist at the sky and say, "God, you don't know what it's like! You don't understand! You have no idea what I'm going through. You don't have a clue how much this hurts." The cross is God's way of taking away all of our accusations, excuses, and arguments. The cross is God taking on flesh and blood and saying, "Me too.” ― Rob Bell

I still don’t understand it but I know he saves our tears in a bottle and the Bible promises in three separate places that he will wipe all our tears from our faces.

Behold, he makes all things new.

Who Do You Say I Am?

A hat tip to Adam Hamilton and the sermon series I've been posting about. And another hat tip to PixTeller, a free site with tools that allowed me to put the quote on a background and share it here. What a great quote. A question we must all answer for ourselves.

Matthew 16:12-16 Living Bible (TLB)

12 Then at last they understood that by yeast he meant the wrong teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 13 When Jesus came to Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who are the people saying am?”14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; some, Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”15 Then he asked them, “Who do you think I am?”16 Simon Peter answered, “The Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

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.

That's Not Okay.....

Emily, my youngest daughter, is in the Netherlands!! She is there with a group from school fulfilling her foreign language requirement before graduation. That is the official reason. The unofficial reason is wanderlust and a desire to see the world. They spent the first day in Amsterdam and then on to three weeks at a small Christian college in Ede. She is living in an apartment with 6 Dutch college girls. You can read about her adventures here and here.

And while you are there, read some of the other posts about her life at college, her nannying, her musings on faith. She is the fruit of my womb and I may be partial….but she is a special young women who has an anointing on her life. I am so proud of her!!

In her post, she talks about some of the impressions Dutch students have of Americans….

It has been fun to talk about the differences and assumptions about the other countries. I have concluded that most Dutch students assume that the United States is comprised of New York (meaning the city, completely disregard that it is an entire state), California and Disney World. Which is fair of them because I probably would have assumed that all of The Netherlands is Amsterdam. I also have been asked about 14 times whether I own a gun.

So the general impression of America, at least by this group of students, is that as a country, we are okay with a 21 year old college student owning a gun. And for many Americans that would be perfectly okay. Many Americans are “gun people.” That is how Terry Rutledge, the father in law of Veronica Rutledge, the young mother who was recently shot dead by her two year old son in an Idaho Walmart, described his family. Gun people.

I recently read an opinion piece by Nicole Plyler Fisk another mother whose child could have easily become a statistic, too. She says…..

Veronica’s father-in-law, Terry Rutledge, has expressed anger at those who portray Veronica, who had taken classes and was licensed to carry, “as irresponsible.” In doing so, he misses a key point: it’s not just “irresponsible” gun owners who are ruining and losing lives to gun violence; the “responsible” gun owners are right there with them. When you walk through life with such a lethal weapon on or near you (Terry Rutledge says his son and daughter-in-law “carried one every day of their lives”) you run the inordinate risk of doing harm not only to yourself but also to others. Human beings are not designed to be on alert the way Rutledge-style gun enthusiasts need to be on alert (i.e. never a distracted moment).

And therein lies the rub. At what point does the right to carry a concealed weapon impose on the rights of others? This was a responsible gun owner, a responsible mother, a brilliant scientific researcher and yet, somehow, this woman was shot dead in the electronics department by her toddler. What is especially troublesome is that this could have just as easily been another shopper standing nearby. It could have been me grabbing a new flash drive….or Emily on a late night mascara run to the local Walmart.

And that’s not okay….it’s just not.

What I want to be when I grow up

I am in the process of figuring out what I want to be when I grow up. Nevermind that I am already almost old.. I’ve let life bounce me along - REacting instead of acting.

Cathy Walker posted the following on Facebook today-

“Be an atmosphere changer…..be the thermostat not the thermometer.”

I’ve mostly been the thermometer; rarely, the thermostat. And I’ve just kind of bobbed along in the sea of life.  

This past year, in an effort to help Emily cover college expenses, I started an etsy shop and relaunched a craft business from yesteryear. It was not a success. If you are interested, you can read about it on my other blog, It’s Personal.

Even though I have all kinds of ideas and the best of intentions, I’ve pretty much ignored this blog. I haven’t done much organized reading. I haven’t journaled or smashbooked or studied the Bible.. (Damn, I’m feeling more and more like a loser) I’ve focused too much of my attention on the never ending (NEVER ENDING, I tell you) list of chores and errands. That is going to stop!  

So for the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking about New Year’s Resolutions. I’ve been assessing my coulda’, woulda,’ shoulda’s. I’ve come across all kinds of suggestions about goals/resolutions/missions. Some are very helpful. Some are idealistic. Some are just dumb.

In my web travels, I came upon the following list from Pope Francis. He did not frame these suggestions in the context of New Year’s Resolutions but rather as his “do these ten things” pre-Christmas advice to Vatican employees. I like some of them a lot and decided to share them here on Mercy. .

– “Take care of your spiritual life, your relationship with God, because this is the backbone of everything we do and everything we are.”

– “Take care of your family life, giving your children and loved ones not just money, but most of all your time, attention and love.”

– “Take care of your relationships with others, transforming your faith into life and your words into good works, especially on behalf of the needy.”

– “Be careful how you speak, purify your tongue of offensive words, vulgarity and worldly decadence.”

– “Heal wounds of the heart with the oil of forgiveness, forgiving those who have hurt us and medicating the wounds we have caused others.”

– “Look after your work, doing it with enthusiasm, humility, competence, passion and with a spirit that knows how to thank the Lord.”

– “Be careful of envy, lust, hatred and negative feelings that devour our interior peace and transform us into destroyed and destructive people.”

– “Watch out for anger that can lead to vengeance; for laziness that leads to existential euthanasia; for pointing the finger at others, which leads to pride; and for complaining continually, which leads to desperation.”

– “Take care of brothers and sisters who are weaker … the elderly, the sick, the hungry, the homeless and strangers, because we will be judged on this.”