tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55510458608102711412024-03-13T12:45:32.145-07:00Unpretentious Spiritual MusingsEric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05264291162336178412noreply@blogger.comBlogger101125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-10630891474002161592024-01-11T16:22:00.000-08:002024-01-11T16:23:29.834-08:00Too Fast, Too Furious: How "Lord of the Flies" Races Ahead of Itself to Failure.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hips.hearstapps.com/digitalspyuk.cdnds.net/17/35/1504171903-lord-of-the-flies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="582" height="400" src="https://hips.hearstapps.com/digitalspyuk.cdnds.net/17/35/1504171903-lord-of-the-flies.jpg" width="291" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b> W</b></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">illiam Golding’s <i>Lord of the Flies </i>illustrates and indicts the evil impulses in humankind by putting a group of schoolchildren on a deserted island and having them tear each other apart--literally.</span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-e37fbd69-7fff-577d-6ac0-46f6a479688d"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> At under 260 pages, the easily accessible novel is a classic and beloved piece of literature most people have never read, perhaps explaining why it has escaped our collective consciousness how bad the book is and how it completely fails to prove its central point.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Golding himself said he wanted to “trace the defect in human society back to the defect of human nature.” </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Ironically, its defective character building and a total lack of moral introspection which send Golding’s thesis crashing into the sand harder than the boys’ ill-fated aircraft.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> To prove society is innately evil or “defective” you need, at least, a representative sample of society, in this case, school age boys, as well as time to let the hidden virus slowly consume them from the inside out.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Golding gives us neither.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Instead, the audience is inflicted with Jack Merridew, the book’s principal antagonist, who far from being a saint-turned-savage, appears to have crash-landed on the island as some sort of junior sociopath in training.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> From Jack’s first appearance to his last, he is prideful, antagonistic, violent, and cruel, a critical error which undermines Golding’s entire thought experiment.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Pick twenty random teenagers from a cross-section of society, drop them off in the middle of nowhere, and you have the beginnings of a universal morality tale.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> But if one of those teens has the moral bearings of David Koresh or Jim Jones, you no longer have an allegory for the human experience, but a very specific “surviving Jack Merridew” thriller novel. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> These unfortunate children don’t have an insuperable problem of innate human wickedness; t</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">hey have a problem with a flatly evil character with no nuance. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Take him out of the equation and you erase the conflict, erasing the book’s general applicability to society.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> As far as the question of time, given minor details about hair growth and the deterioration of clothes, we can assume the boys were on the island several months (though somehow still not long enough for “Piggy”, the group’s oft-ignored voice of reason, to have lost any considerable amount of weight, despite only subsisting on a diet of fruit and water, a glaring plot hole which conveniently provided copious amounts of sadistic fodder for Golding’s kids).</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Golding wants us to believe that in less than a year, his adolescent boys have so decayed that they literally rip, bite, and beat to death one of their peers with nothing more than simping half-hearted guilt on the part of a handful of kids afterwards.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> It’s not that I cannot imagine how a group of kids could arrive at that level of savagery; it’s that I shouldn’t have to imagine, hence the book. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Golding’s novel is not a slow descent into madness, but a sprint, hurtling past every opportunity to give the reader necessary insight into the formation of the new morality which emerges from the vacuum of the group's isolation. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As easily as I can imagine the moral collapse of such a newly formed society, I can also imagine a group of kids who imperfectly band together for the sake of survival (see the old Disney show <i>Flight 29 Down</i>, which turns the pessimistic premise of <i>Lord of the Flies </i>on its head)</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tell me why should I buy into Golding’s version of humanity?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By skimping on the plot, Golding takes a fascinating and fruitful idea and leaves it to sizzle in the tropic sun. </span></p></span>Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04699223880603208355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-75986733826581662322020-03-25T11:36:00.000-07:002020-03-25T11:40:39.576-07:00Why I Changed My Mind on...The Rapture. <i>This is the first in a five-part series on why I changed my mind on doctrines I once held strongly to. I hope this series will encourage you to hold tight to your convictions while also being ready and unafraid to follow the biblical evidence wherever it leads. </i><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">W</span></b>henever I want to get excited about Jesus' return to the earth, I dust off my complete set of Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins’ incredibly successful Left Behind book series.<br />
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Many will scoff (and I say let them scoff), but the thrilling end times world of Buck Williams and the Tribulation Force continues to bring the Bible’s eschatological scheme to life for millions of readers past and present.<br />
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Yet, as irony would have it, despite my love for the fiction series, I deny its central premise that Jesus will remove the church from the earth in a worldwide gathering up (rapture) immediately before the future Great Tribulation and return of Christ.<br />
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Growing up, I saw the pre-tribulation rapture of the saints in passages like <u>1 Thessalonians 4:13-18</u>, <u>1 Corinthians 15:51-53</u>, and <u>Matthew 24:40-42</u>.<br />
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And not only did I hold strongly to this interpretation, that some leaders in my church and Christian family members doubted or outright denied this critical Bible doctrine disturbed me.<br />
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Now before I explain why I changed my mind, let me say a word in defense of those who defend the rapture.<br />
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While the “prophecy” books, sermons, and theological musings of many rapture proponents would send any careful student of the Bible into fits, men like the late Charles Ryrie and John Walvrood, as well as Dr. Thomas Ice of the Pre-Trib Research Center, have produced careful treatments of difficult Bible passages dealing with end-times events and their work deserves commendation and careful consideration.<br />
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It is not all sensationalism.<br />
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Furthermore, belief in the rapture is not escapism that leads to an abandonment of one’s responsibilities here on earth (as some, like N.T. Wright, have alleged).<br />
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If anything, belief in the immediacy of the rapture of the church will compel one to live holy (which means taking care of others and creation) and to share the gospel with greater fervency.<br />
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Finally, it is simply untrue that the origin or development of the rapture doctrine had anything to do with the visions of Margaret McDonald, a young Scottish girl living during the days of John Nelson Darby. This tired myth has long been buried under explicit statements of pretribulationism long predating the controversial teenager. <br />
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That said, let me explain why I changed my mind on this beloved staple of American theology.<br />
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Firstly, the passages said to teach the rapture are never set in any kind of explicit temporal relation to the great tribulation.<br />
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They speak of being “caught up” (<u>1 Thess. 4:17</u>), “taken” (<u>Matt. 24:41</u>), and “changed—in a flash” (<u>1 Cor. 15:51</u>), but do not say or imply that such action happens before the Great Tribulation.</div>
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This omission means these verses cannot legitimately be said to teach the pretribulation rapture as opposed to the Second Coming or some other event.</div>
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Yes, we will be “caught up”, “taken”, and “changed—in a flash”, as the Bible says, but the passages do not say such actions are pretribulational in nature. </div>
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Secondly, not only are references to a <i>pretribulational</i> rapture missing, the passages positively seem to teach something <i>other</i> than the rapture. </div>
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For example, before referring to some being taken and others left in <u>Matthew 24:41</u>, Jesus describes the antediluvian people being removed in the Flood. In this light, "taken" does not sound like a pre-tribulation rescue, but being destroyed in a judgment like the one in <u>Genesis 6</u>.</div>
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In addition, absent any defining pre-tribulation markers (as mentioned in the first point), <u>1</u> <u>Thessalonians 4:18-27</u> reads like a vivid description of Second Coming of the Lord (cf. <u>2: Thess. 2:1</u> and <u>1 Thess. 4:16</u>) in which his people, dead and alive, are raptured up to meet him in the clouds, a heavenly welcoming party that will then immediately join him on his triumphant return to the earth.</div>
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Contextually, it seems something other than a pre-tribulation rapture is in view here</div>
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Thirdly, I resolved for myself alleged irreconcilable differences between the Bible's description of the Second Coming and the rapture.</div>
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Various charts like the above stress purported differences between the rapture and the Second Coming out of which the rapture then emerges as a distinct event.</div>
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But is that really the case? </div>
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About the first difference, all the Thessalonians passage says is we will meet the Lord in the air, a fact consistent with <u>Rev. 19:14</u> provided those who meet him are the same who will join him in his descent to earth (which is how most detractors of the rapture have interpreted <u>1 Thess. 4:17</u> anyway).</div>
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About the second difference, <u>1 Thessalonians 4</u> does not say that Christ will not touch the earth, it just does not mention him touching the earth, which is not the same. </div>
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About the third difference, as we have already seen, nowhere in <u>1 Thessalonians 4</u> do we read anything about a tribulation, seven years or otherwise, much less that the events described in the passage happen before it. </div>
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About the fifth and sixth differences, I simply ask where does the <u>1 Thessalonians 4:11-18</u> say any of this? It is not there. </div>
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About the seventh difference, the two things mentioned are not mutually exclusive. It is logically possible (and I think actual) that at the Second Coming the dead in Christ are raised and national Israel is delivered.</div>
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Fourthly and finally, I abandoned the rapture doctrine upon encountering other viable futurist literalist interpretations of Bible prophecy that did not hinge on the rapture. </div>
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For many years I believed giving up the rapture meant abandoning a literal and futuristic approach to Bible prophecy, something I felt (and still do feel) is irresponsible handling of the Bible. </div>
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However, I later found the church from its earliest days believed in a literal future pre-millennial reign of Christ on the earth without reference to a rapture:</div>
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<i>But I and others, who are right-minded Christians on all points, are assured that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and a thousand years in Jerusalem, which will then be built, adorned, and enlarged, as the prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah and others declare. </i>-- Justin Martyr (A.D. 100–165), Dialogue with Trypho</div>
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<i>But we do confess that a kingdom is promised to us upon the earth, although before heaven, only in another state of existence; inasmuch as it will be after the resurrection for a thousand years in the divinely-built city of Jerusalem, “let down from heaven,” which the apostle also calls “our mother from above;” and, while declaring that our citizenship is in heaven, he predicts of it that it is really a city in heaven. This both Ezekiel had knowledge of and the Apostle John beheld.</i> -- Tertullian (A.D. 155–240?)</div>
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<i>John, therefore, did distinctly foresee the first resurrection of the just, Luke 14:14 and the inheritance in the kingdom of the earth; and what the prophets have prophesied concerning it harmonize [with his vision].</i> -- Irenaeus (A.D. 130–202)</div>
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<i>But when the thousand years shall be completed, the world shall be renewed by God, and the heavens shall be folded together, and the earth shall be changed, and God shall transform men into the similitude of angels, and they shall be white as snow; and they shall always be employed in the sight of the Almighty, and shall make offerings to their Lord, and serve Him forever.</i> -- Lactantius (A.D. 250– 330), The Divine Institutes</div>
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In fact, neither Christ’s millennial reign, the Great Tribulation, or the regathering of national Israel as actual space-time historical events are dependent on belief in the rapture.</div>
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Looking back, I believe I knew for a time the Bible probably did not teach the rapture before I finally let it go because I was hindered by uncertainty and emotional resistance.</div>
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So many of us like the idea of a possible chance of repentance for ourselves or our loved ones after Christ has whisked us all away to heaven.</div>
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Slightly more jolting, the imminence of Jesus’ return must be re-understood for a futurist like myself who no longer believes in the rapture. </div>
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Yet, I firmly believe the Bible is true and that all doctrinal commitments must be made subject to the sovereignty of Scripture over our lives. </div>
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If passages claimed to teach the rapture really teach something else, I ought to accept and embrace that.</div>
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And that is why I changed my mind on the rapture. </div>
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Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04699223880603208355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-78267582241451963882019-12-24T15:41:00.000-08:002019-12-24T15:41:55.732-08:00When A Protestant Goes to Mass: Finding Christ at Midnight.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>F</b></span>or years now, attending Catholic Mass at midnight has become my favorite Christmas tradition, an admittedly odd confession for a convinced Protestant.<br />
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This marriage of unequals began in 2013, after one of my dearest friends, a spit-fire little Italian Catholic woman who spent the better part of five years teaching me how to minister to women in crisis pregnancies, invited me to her parish for the special service.<br />
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She was a devout Roman Catholic. My faith burned Restorationist to the core.<br />
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Two worlds on a collision course.<br />
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However, out of respect for her and an insatiable curiosity for all things religious, I obliged one Christmas Eve.<br />
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And I have been obliging ever since.<br />
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As it is with too many people, the Christmas season does not immediately fill me with thoughts of holly or jolly.<br />
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Be it life stress, family stress, a body running empty of melatonin, or simply an atmosphere of compulsory cheer, as the days get shorter, I find myself retreating into the darkness of my own mind.<br />
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Christmas skits designed for parents of young children and grandparents certainly have their place, but the dissonance between what I feel versus the lights and laughter of the program rings deafeningly hollow inside me.<br />
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This is precisely why I appreciate the Christmas Mass.<br />
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As the somber expectancy of Advent gives way to the serious and reverent joy of Immanuel here with us, so to are the dark clouds around my heart driven away by the light of the star that marks the place where my Savior lay.<br />
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Carols intoned. Scripture read. Drinking deeply from the waft of the censer.<br />
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I am consumed by the magnanimity of an event far greater than any of my emotions.<br />
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And as I lose myself, I see the true meaning of Christmas emerge, wrapped in swaddling clothes, crying for his mother.<br />
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Still, this is not a drunken spirit of uncritical ecumenism.<br />
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At the heart of the Christmas Mass, as at the heart of every Mass celebrated in the Catholic Church, is the re-presentation of the sacrifice of Christ, a re-presentation itself understood as expiatory (a doctrine difficult to accept in light of Hebrews 10:1-18).<br />
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I am also sensitive to my friends in Mexico (where I visit and minister often) and elsewhere in Latin American (and the world), who have come out of the Catholic Church to evangelical faith in Christ and whose ancestors attended such services at the point of a Conquistadοr's sword.<br />
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Seated on the parish church pew at the back of the sanctuary, I exist simultaneously as an observer, a participant, and a dissenter.<br />
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Yet, how can I deny that the Spirit moves where he wishes and to inhabit that paradox is to recognize God is bigger than the sectarian categories we often use to define Him?<br />
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So, I will go to Mass tonight, grateful for a child born in a manger, cognizant of the theological differences between myself and those around me, and trusting in a God wise enough to sort us out.<br />
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And as the holiday rolls awkwardly into the 26th and my foray into an ancient church is done, I hope I will more clearly understand why I believe what I believe and be a little better equipped to appreciate the faith of those who love Jesus differently than I do.<br />
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Until next Christmas.<br />
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Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04699223880603208355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-80478952085675956482018-09-05T10:30:00.000-07:002018-09-05T10:30:24.655-07:00A New Seed Planted: Why I Chose to Stay in the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbsg7QwqIH3C6PifI8oLqkRZTL0kms0KjrBnnZUOMx2GmY00pI2seH9bDyBD_pJYlKhaR-KIYXrT7WCGK-t1Kqu4sgk8LJLbKQJ3oCQm2QGYteqgve0eH2DwUftvGRahoBQhL6zXZhTaw/s1600/IMG_20180905_021320.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="1100" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbsg7QwqIH3C6PifI8oLqkRZTL0kms0KjrBnnZUOMx2GmY00pI2seH9bDyBD_pJYlKhaR-KIYXrT7WCGK-t1Kqu4sgk8LJLbKQJ3oCQm2QGYteqgve0eH2DwUftvGRahoBQhL6zXZhTaw/s400/IMG_20180905_021320.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">W</span></b>hen I visited my parents’ home in Illinois after three months out of the country, the first thing to catch my attention on that long bus ride home from the airport were the cornfields, a magnificent sea of green receding forever into flatlands of our gorgeous state. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Now having grown up in the Land of Lincoln, I have driven past corn and soybeans since forever. Yet sometimes to appreciate the full beauty of something, you have to be deprived of it for a while. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Those three months in Mexico allowed me to return to the States and rediscover anew the simple beauty of the blue summer sky and a whole bunch of green leafy corn stalks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I have had much to rediscover lately.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Two years ago I left the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">While this “abandon ship” moment was not physical--I still continued serving at a local Christian Church--spiritually and emotionally I had checked out. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Overwhelmed by political power plays and a watering down of Jesus’ teachings, it was fight or flight to save my faith, and I no longer had any fight left in me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I remember sitting in the cafeteria of the Christian Church University I was attending at the time with a clear thought in my head: “I will not devote my life to this. If this is Christianity, I do not want anything to do with it.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">By “this” I meant the things I detailed in the <a href="https://calltoawareness.blogspot.com/2016/12/a-tree-uprooted-why-i-am-leaving.html">post</a> I wrote two years ago (I’d encourage you to check it out for further background). </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This was not a statement of unbelief or apostasy, quite the opposite. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Every cell in my body screamed “more.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Lying awake at night, the refrain repeated in my head: “there must be more.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">In a lonely apartment during the winter months, I battled depression and utter confusion.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">Should I take communion? <br />Should I keep going to church?<br />Is there a true church? <br />Why would God let it get like this? <br />Why won’t He help me? <br />I am just trying to do Your will; why won’t You help me?<br />What am I supposed to do? </span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">This was my dark night of the soul. And into the dark night I limped out in search for that “something more.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I began attending services with the German Baptist Brethren, while also studying with Jehovah’s Witnesses (only a few people at the time knew I was seriously considering becoming a Witness).</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The most recent consideration was the Apostolic Christian Church of America. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">However, it was during the year I spent poring over Scripture with the Witnesses that I began to emerge from the darkness. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">As I reasoned and debated with them, the false god I had been worshipping, which we both worshipped, was set clearly before my eyes: the god of Certainty.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I was certain that we had it <i>right</i>, that we were doing <i>right</i>, and that I was in the <i>right</i> group. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">And that was fine until my eyes were opened to our huge gaping blind spots.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Suddenly, the certainty I had made my hope vanished and I went running to fill the vacuum.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Because for Witnesses there is (practically) no daylight between “Jehovah” and “Jehovah’s Organization” (their church), if the Organization goes down, so does God.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I tried to reason with them, that we have only ever had imperfect churches under the headship of a perfect Savior, and that security--doctrinal, ecclesial, or whatever--is no substitute for Christ.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">What I didn’t realize was that I was preaching to my own heart.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">As I have <a href="https://therrav.com/2018/07/20/your-perfect-church-must-die-learning-to-love-what-we-have-been-given/">written</a> elsewhere, there is simply no church that can be everything its people need it to be or everything Jesus intended it to be. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">And that means there is no system of doctrine or theological answers that can dot every i, cross every t, or put all of faith’s complexities and gray areas into a neat little box with a bow on top.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">We can pine away endlessly in a search for “something better” or we can learn to love what we have been given, praying that God would make us into something more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">That is what I have chosen to do.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Like the beauty of the cornfields, moving away from the Movement helped me to appreciate its unique beauty in new ways as I began to inch my way back in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I appreciate what David French <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/08/catholic-sex-abuse-scandals-should-matter-to-protestants/">says</a>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The Church is like a navy, a collection of ships united in purpose and in destination. Each denomination is like a different ship in that navy, and while each crew is primarily tasked with the health and well-being of its own vessel, it’s also deeply invested in the strength of the fleet. Each vessel is more vulnerable as the fleet weakens. Each vessel is stronger surrounded by its protective armada.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">You, my brothers and sisters, have your ships. My ship is the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I believe in our principles. I am challenged by our history. I weep at our failures. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here is where I feel I can best exercise the gifts God has given me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">And as long as that continues to be the case, this is where I will stay.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I am planting new seeds and asking God to help me love what He’s given me.</span>Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04699223880603208355noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-22280761976918872462018-03-12T00:31:00.001-07:002018-03-12T07:15:08.926-07:00The Lord is Not Slack: Why Has Jesus Not Returned? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/gcrc/dms/image/C4D12AQG3GghosALA4A/article-cover_image-shrink_600_2000/0?e=2120040000&v=alpha&t=ihqn_lJA-b0n9OBk5Y8hOObVqn07vK8kIlM526sebG8" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="698" height="227" src="https://media.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/gcrc/dms/image/C4D12AQG3GghosALA4A/article-cover_image-shrink_600_2000/0?e=2120040000&v=alpha&t=ihqn_lJA-b0n9OBk5Y8hOObVqn07vK8kIlM526sebG8" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">O</span></b><span style="font-size: 12px;">ne question which has nagged Christians and seekers for 2000 years since Jesus' walked the earth is why has Jesus not returned? </span></span></div>
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<span class="mceItemHidden">This is a legitimate question, and I can remember being disturbed after reading one of my favorite theologians (who seemed to have answer for everything) say he did not know why God chose ¨soon¨ language to apply to Jesus' Coming in light of such a time gap!</span></div>
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This will be a longer than necessary post, in some respects, because I want to explain how I got from point A to point B in helping to answer for myself why the delay of Jesus' return does not invalidate the truth of The Way. </div>
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The non-return of Jesus has indeed served as a basis by which some atheists and other assorted non-believers have scoffed at the Christian faith. </div>
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And that Jesus (<u>Matt. 16:28</u>) and Paul (<u>1 Thess. 4:15-17</u>) (and presumably others; see <u>James 5:7-9</u>) seemed to think he, Jesus, would return in their lifetimes in the first century only exacerbates the problem. </div>
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<span class="mceItemHidden">(On a more quirky note, Jehovah's Witnesses use this unfulfilled expectation to <span class="mceItemHidden">justify</span> their failed prophetic speculations and subsequent disappointments.)</span></div>
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I understand many alternative explanations exist for the passages which suggest Jesus should have come back shortly after his ascension into heaven. </div>
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<span class="mceItemHidden">Some have gone through each verse separately to explain why it does not teach what <span class="mceItemHidden">it appears</span> to teach (<a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/jesus-said-he-d-return-soon-so-where-is-he">John Piper </a>takes this approach, for example). </span></div>
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<span class="mceItemHidden">Living 2000 years on this side of the cross, I <span class="mceItemHidden">am conditioned</span> to read these passages as if their writers and hearers were <i><b>not</b></i> anxiously expecting Jesus to return. </span></div>
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<span class="mceItemHidden">However, a plain reading of the passages points in a different direction, prompting us to at least consider <span class="mceItemHidden">the possibility of</span> a first century return expectation. </span></div>
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<span class="mceItemHidden">The hope of the Coming of the Jesus in Scripture is routinely connected to the patient endurance the first believers <span class="mceItemHidden">were encouraged</span> to have because <i><b>they</b></i> would be soon delivered (</span><u>1 Thess. 4:15-17</u>; <u>Heb. 10:25</u>; <u>Rom. 13:12</u>), not some future generation of Christians thousands of years later. </div>
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At any rate, I am going to assume for the sake of argument Jesus did expect a sooner return, as did his followers.</div>
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So then what is the deal? Was Jesus a failed prophet? Were the Apostles and early Christians duped? </div>
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That is, of course, a possibility. </div>
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Indeed, maybe we are all wrong about The Way and Jesus is never coming back! </div>
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<span class="mceItemHidden">Now obviously I do not believe that, but I am simply granting it as a logical (not <span class="mceItemHidden">actual</span>) possibility. </span></div>
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I believe the Bible shows how we may reconcile the teaching of Jesus' imminent return with his 2000 year delay to show neither Jesus nor the Apostles were wrong, per say, without forcing us to deny the earliest believers did, in fact, expect Jesus to return in their lifetimes.</div>
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Simply put the answer is that <b><i>the soon return of Jesus in the lifetimes of his first followers was a prophetic prediction on Jesus' part, and that prophecy was </i>conditional</b>. </div>
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I stumbled upon this answer while listening to the <a href="https://bbn1.bbnradio.org/english/">Bible Broadcasting Network</a>, which airs sermons by the late Presbyterian Bible teacher J Vernon McGee who just briefly mentioned this view in answer to a related question about the end of times. </div>
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Because this was an unanswered faith question of mine, I made a mental note to look more into it. </div>
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<span class="mceItemHidden">However, it was not until I was doing some digging on Peter Enns' blogsite (Enns is an anti-innerantist OT Bible scholar) and saw he had featured some Bible scholars who had written a book taking this very approach (see their posts <a href="https://peteenns.com/on-why-jesus-hasnt-come-back-yet-and-the-answer-may-shock-you/">here</a>, <a href="https://peteenns.com/guess-what-prophecies-arent-predictions-of-the-future-you-can-look-it-up/">here</a>, and <a href="https://peteenns.com/why-jesus-hasnt-come-back-yet-according-to-the-new-testament/">here</a>)! </span></div>
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<span class="mceItemHidden">(I had also just read on the conditional nature of prophecy in Virkler and Ayayo's <i>Hermeneutics</i> for my hermeneutics class.) </span></div>
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In other words, various streams of thought were coming together. </div>
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So here is the basic argument:</div>
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<span class="mceItemHidden">1. <b>Prophecy may be conditional.</b> I won't spend much time on this but will refer the reader to the book of <u>Jonah</u> and <u>Jeremiah 18:1-11</u> (other examples exist).</span></div>
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<span class="mceItemHidden">2. <b>Jesus' soon Coming was conditioned on, at least, the repentance of the Jewish people. </b>This is the linchpin of the argument. Read <u>Acts 3:15-21</u> to grasp this point and compare it with Peter's words in <u>2 Peter 3:9-12</u>.</span></div>
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<span class="mceItemHidden">3. <b>Because the Jewish people did not repent</b>, as was apparently the hopeful expectation of Jesus and the Apostles, <b>the Messiah did not come as soon as expected</b> (and we see a shift in the thinking of the church regarding these matters).</span></div>
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The authors I mentioned earlier have written a book to explain this (which I have not read) titled ¨When the Son of Man Did Not Come.¨ Their book's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/When-Son-Man-Didnt-Come/dp/1451465548">blurb</a> summarizes their thesis in this way:<br />
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<i>The authors argue that the deferral of Christ's prophesied return follows logically from the conditional nature of ancient predictive prophecy: Jesus has not come again because God's people have not yet responded sufficiently to Christ's call for holy and godly action. God, in patient mercy, remains committed to cooperating with humans to bring about the consummation of history with Jesus' return.</i></div>
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Theirs is not a new theory, but one I was up to this point unaware of. </div>
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<span class="mceItemHidden">It does raise questions such as ¨well, is Jesus coming soon or not?¨ and ¨how does the snatching up (rapture) of the church fit into all of this¨, but the main takeaway, as one of the book's authors writes, is <b><i>¨the delay of the parousia [the Coming of Christ] does not falsify Christian hope.¨</i></b> </span></div>
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The implications of this hypothesis are huge and I look forward to chewing on this more (and reading the book)! </div>
Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04699223880603208355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-23533729581036263342017-12-17T18:28:00.000-08:002017-12-17T18:28:06.120-08:00When I Think of My Grandmother: A Tribute.<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
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<a href="https://myabishai.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/5b6fa-jonah2b2-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="337" data-original-width="600" height="224" src="https://myabishai.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/5b6fa-jonah2b2-7.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black; font-size: x-large; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>A </b></span><span style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">reading from the book of </span><span style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><u>Jonah chapter 1</u></span><span style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">:</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>In my distress I called to the LORD , </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>and he answered me. </i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From the depths of the grave </span><span style="color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I called for help, </span></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>and you listened to my cry. </i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://classic.studylight.org/desk/?query=jon+2:3&sr=1&t=niv" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">3</span></a><span style="color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> You hurled me into the deep, </span></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>into the very heart of the seas, </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>and the currents swirled about me; </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>all your waves and breakers </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>swept over me. </i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://classic.studylight.org/desk/?query=jon+2:4&sr=1&t=niv" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">4</span></a><span style="color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I said, 'I have been banished </span></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>from your sight; </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>yet I will look again </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>toward your holy temple.' </i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://classic.studylight.org/desk/?query=jon+2:5&sr=1&t=niv" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">5</span></a><span style="color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The engulfing waters threatened me, </span></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>the deep surrounded me; </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>seaweed was wrapped around my head. </i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://classic.studylight.org/desk/?query=jon+2:6&sr=1&t=niv" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">6</span></a><span style="color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> To the roots of the mountains I sank down; </span></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>the earth beneath barred me in forever. </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>But you brought my life up from the pit, </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>O LORD my God. </i></span></div>
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></i>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://classic.studylight.org/desk/?query=jon+2:7&sr=1&t=niv" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">7</span></a><span style="color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "When my life was ebbing away, </span></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>I remembered you, LORD , </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>and my prayer rose to you, </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>to your holy temple. </i></span></div>
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></i>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://classic.studylight.org/desk/?query=jon+2:8&sr=1&t=niv" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">8</span></a><span style="color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "Those who cling to worthless idols </span></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>forfeit the grace that could be theirs. </i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://classic.studylight.org/desk/?query=jon+2:9&sr=1&t=niv" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">9</span></a><span style="color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> But I, with a song of thanksgiving, </span></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>will sacrifice to you. </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>What I have vowed I will make good. </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Salvation comes from the LORD ." </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When my mother shared with me my grandmother's request that I say few words at her funeral service, I was both humbled and burdened.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I was humbled because, as with so many things, even in her death, my grandma was showing that...</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<b style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">she believed in me.</b><br />
<b style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">she supported my desire to minister and preach the gospel. </b><br />
<b style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">even though she never had the chance to hear me preach in a church setting like this, she was proud of me. </b><br />
<b style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And as I reflect on this, I doubt she ever knew how much that meant to me.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yet, I was also burdened by the task of taking </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>eighty-eighty years of life, </i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>eighty-eighty years of impact, </i></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>eighty-eighty years of faith, </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and doing it any justice in a few short minutes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And while I can't say I have it all figured out, I will do my best and trust these words would have blessed my grandmother.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>When I think of my grandmother I think of flowers. </b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My grandmother loved flowers. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The outside of her home was decked out in flowers--on her porch, in hanging holders in front of her home, and in large pots at the end of her driveway. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hibiscus. Daylilies. Japanese Lilies. You name it.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On more than one lazy homeschool day, my mom and I went to grandma's house to abscond bulbs from some of those beautiful flowers and plant them in our own yard, they were so pretty.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grandma knew exactly what to plant and when, when this or that flower would come up, and just how to care for them. </span></div>
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<a href="https://img00.deviantart.net/d33a/i/2011/240/0/0/japanese_lilies_by_uvgirl-d484jyf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="572" data-original-width="800" height="228" src="https://img00.deviantart.net/d33a/i/2011/240/0/0/japanese_lilies_by_uvgirl-d484jyf.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, when I think of Grandma, my mind flies straight to a familiar image: her big house in the country, the towering trees guarding the edges of her property, the cool breeze in the summer time, and lots of beautiful, colorful flowers. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Flowers just as beautiful and as colorful as she was.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>When I think of my grandmother, I think of her love of animals.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you wanted to bring out the tender and the feisty from my grandmother, you need only ask her about <i>her </i>deer. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Heaven help the hunter who dared bother a single deer that visited her yard (or who upset even the wild turkeys, for that matter). </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think of her bird-feeders and the time she excitedly beckoned me to her dining room window to catch a glimpse of a humming bird who had taken up temporary residence there.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I remember and laugh about her love-hate relationship with Molly, her husband's bulldog and my grandma's reluctant housemate for many years. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most recently, I think about how in her final years of life, God gave my grandma a dog she loved as a precious companion. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When my grandma and her dog first came to have each other, I remember she told me the dog’s previous owners had called her Ariel.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Suddenly, with all the seriousness my grandma could muster, still not betraying the characteristic humor in her voice, she looked me in the eye and said: </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are </span><span style="color: black; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>not </b></span><span style="color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">calling the dog Ariel.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">And <i>that </i>is how Ariel came to be known as Lady.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Truly, when I think of how that dog was with my grandma when she needed her the most, from beginning to the end, she could have been called a Blessing from God.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>When I think of my grandmother, I think of her cooking. </b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">...Bless her heart.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grandma’s cooking ran the gamut...quality-wise. </span></div>
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<a href="https://namelymarly.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/20100913_123639-Burned-Cookies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="213" src="https://namelymarly.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/20100913_123639-Burned-Cookies.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She made wonderful cheese balls, Chex mix, and puppy chow which I always looked forward to around the holidays.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, the times Grandma stayed with us when my mom was hospitalized, let’s just say we ordered pizza more than once. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But more than her cooking, I think of family Christmases and Thanksgivings.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman";"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">Her kitchen burst with as much family as with food, spilling over on to the couches in the living room , all the way on to the floor.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The air rang with a beautiful symphony of laughter and teasing and catching up.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And where was grandma? </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Honestly, there was no telling.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maybe she was in the kitchen making space for food or in the living room chatting, or...who knew, really?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She didn’t insert or assert herself; s</span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">he just loved that we were all there. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">She just loved </span><span style="color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>us</i></span><span style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, her family.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>For that reason when I think of my grandmother, I also think of her children, my parents and my aunts and uncles. </b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think about their love for her and for each other. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is a sibling kind of love to be sure, complete with ribbing and rivalries, (who could pretend otherwise) but each were present during this long year of my grandma's declining health.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In their own ways, each did what they could to help Grandma when the strength to help herself had long left her body (this includes those who lived states away). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And while not a single one of them would ever look for a back pat or a word of praise, their selflessness over the past few years, and especially in these last critical months, speaks volumes not only to </span><span style="color: black; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><b>their </b></i></span><span style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Christian character, but to the Christian character of the mother who raised them, the impact she had on them, and their love for her.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>When I think of my grandmother, I think about the 17 grandchildren and great-grandchildren she left behind and their own testimonies of what she meant to them, two of which you can read yourselves:</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Life will be so different now, especially when our family gets together. </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>-- She was never too embarrassed to sing "cha-cha-cha" in the car while pretending she had maracas, </i></span><br />
<i style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">-- she made it to every grandparents day at our school </i></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>-- she celebrated every victory, whether big or small, and made sure she mailed her cards in time for birthdays. </i></span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>--she loved telling stories</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>-- she always talked quiet when she was telling you something important, and laughed whenever she was thinking ahead to another part of the story </i></span></div>
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<a href="https://will.illinois.edu/images/uploads/23659/virginia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="497" data-original-width="800" height="198" src="https://will.illinois.edu/images/uploads/23659/virginia.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>We will always miss her and hold tight to the memories we have, especially the night she took my cousins, my brother John and I to the Virginia Theater while my cousin Courtney and I wore matching shorts that she made us I love the memories that we have, and that I was able to get here in time to hug her one more time.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And this one, as well:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>I'll never forget the sleepovers, when she let me use her "fancy dishes" to make pudding and have tea parties, and every night that she read me the story of "Lara's Doll" from the Precious Moments Bedtime Storybook. She never minded that it was the only story I ever wanted to hear. She saw me, and she loved me. I got to hear her pray the last time we were together, and I'm so thankful that there's comfort in the fact that </i><b>she's with Jesus now</b><i>.</i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On that note, finally, </span><span style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>w</b></span><b style="white-space: pre-wrap;">hen I think of my grandmother, I think most of her faith in God. </b></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the beginning of this meditation, we read a chapter from the book of Jonah which I believe contains one of the clearest presentations of the gospel of grace in the Old Testament:</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>"Those who cling to worthless idols </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>forfeit the grace that could be theirs. </i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://classic.studylight.org/desk/?query=jon+2:9&sr=1&t=niv" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">9</span></a><span style="color: black; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> But I, with a song of thanksgiving, </span></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>will sacrifice to you. </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>What I have vowed I will make good. </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Salvation comes from the LORD ." </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My grandma knew this truth. She lived it. And she wanted others to know and live it, too. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Her favorite passage of Scripture was </span><span style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><u>John 3:16-17</u></span><span style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">:</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grandma had that life, that eternal life, which she lived out in word and deed. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No, she was not without sin, but it was for that very reason she exercised faith in Christ and was baptized into him for the forgiveness of her sins. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And you know something? </span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I will see my grandmother again. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Bible says...</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #001320; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope. </span><span style="color: #0092f2; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">14</span><span style="color: #001320; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #0092f2; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">15</span><span style="color: #001320; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep. </span></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #0092f2; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #0092f2; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">16</span><span style="color: #001320; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. </span></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #0092f2; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #0092f2; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">17</span><span style="color: #001320; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. </span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #0092f2; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">18 </span><span style="color: #001320; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Therefore encourage one another with these words. -- </span><span style="color: #001320; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><u>1 Thessalonians 4:13-18</u></span></span></i></div>
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<a href="https://i1.wp.com/www.motivatedbyjesus.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/icecloud2.jpg?resize=389%2C245" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="245" data-original-width="389" height="201" src="https://i1.wp.com/www.motivatedbyjesus.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/icecloud2.jpg?resize=389%2C245" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When Jesus comes again, all the dead in him will return with him to the earth in glory.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We know this is true because it is the first of three great promises. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first promise was that God would send his Son, the Messiah, to earth to redeem us back to God. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We celebrate the fulfillment of that promise this season during Christmas. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The second was that the Messiah would be slain and raised back to life on the third day, which we celebrate during Easter or Resurrection Sunday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span><b style="font-weight: normal;">The third promise is that Jesus will come again to </b>receive<b style="font-weight: normal;"> us unto himself.</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Bible says:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #001320; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.</i></span><span style="color: #001320; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> -- </span><span style="color: #001320; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><u>1 Corinthians 1:20</u></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He said he would come and he came. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He said he would rise and he rose. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He said he would return and he will return. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #001320; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And when he returns, my grandma will be with him to meet us. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I know more than anything she wanted this promise to be true for her family.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #001320; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">For that reason, my prayer is that those who have not yet chosen to follow Jesus as Lord would do so and that, in doing so, they would find the true source of life and strength that made grandma’s life and death so special. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #001320; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Bible says precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of one of his faithful servants (</span><span style="color: #001320; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><u>Psalm 116:15</u></span><span style="color: #001320; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) and I </span><span style="color: #001320; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>know </i></span><span style="color: #001320; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that includes my grandmother.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The legacy she left is more than any one memory or even a collection of memories; it is an eternal legacy of treasures stored up in heaven.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #001320; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While it pains me she won’t be there to know I passed Greek or to see me get married or to move to Mexico, </span><span style="color: #001320; white-space: pre-wrap;">I know she believed in me. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grandma believed in all us, her family, because she believed in what God could do through us. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #001320; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">May we all endeavor to live a life of such faith and impact.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>In memory of my Grandma Barbara Anderson (March 20 1929- December 7 2017) until we meet again it the twinkle of an eye:</i></span></div>
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Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04699223880603208355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-10100010015850115432017-12-06T14:11:00.001-08:002017-12-06T14:11:27.889-08:00Men, Too? Men and Sexual Assault. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.allmandlaw.com/images/blog/app/2009/12/Ashamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="282" data-original-width="425" height="265" src="https://www.allmandlaw.com/images/blog/app/2009/12/Ashamed.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">H</span></b>is name was Mohammad.<br />
<br />
He was employed by a temporary worker company which my workplace regularly calls on to supply our team with extra hands on busy nights of setting up and tearing down events at our large hotel.<br />
<br />
That Mohammad’s level of friendliness was a little much for my taste, I quickly chalked up to cultural differences (Mohammad is not from the United States), and the heavy load of the night’s work continued as per normal.<br />
<br />
At one point in the evening, Mohammad and I were alone, loading supplies into one of our larger elevators.<br />
<br />
Upon filling it up, there was just enough space left for the two of us.<br />
<br />
Mohammad, picking up on my hesitation, insisted I could just stand in front of him, motioning me over with his hands.<br />
<br />
Again, a little off-putting and weird, I thought, but obviously I had no<i> real </i>reason to feel uncomfortable.<br />
<br />
In the end, the reflexive over-politeness to strangers drilled into me as a child quickly kicked on (“don’t be rude” “don’t make him feel uncomfortable”) and we piled in.<br />
<br />
<i>Button pushed.</i><br />
<br />
<i>Doors close.</i><br />
<br />
Almost immediately, I felt a hand go down my shirt and start rubbing my back.<br />
<br />
I said nothing. I did nothing. I stood there frozen with terror, unsure of what was happening and why.<br />
<br />
An eternity passed before the elevator stopped (this service elevator is notoriously slow) and the doors flew open.<br />
<br />
I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until I began to breathe again.<br />
<br />
Upon exiting the elevator, I turned to face Mohammad.<br />
<br />
He flashed me a knowing and lecherous smile.<br />
<br />
I wanted to vomit. But I didn’t. I gave a tight-lipped hospitality worker honed fake face and pretended like absolutely nothing had happened (which included ignoring later flirtatious comments).<br />
<br />
As soon as I could, I told my supervisor to not put me to work with him.<br />
<br />
He acquiesced, and showed how seriously he took my encounter by making a joke of it later.<br />
<br />
After summoning the courage days later, I related the incident to an assistant manager who informed director of my department.<br />
<br />
They told me the offender would not be back at the hotel.<br />
<br />
Mohammad, however, apparently did not get the message and showed back up a week or so later.<br />
<br />
However, since there was no work for him, he was asked to leave.<br />
<br />
That I know of, he never returned.<br />
<br />
When women all over the country shared their #MeToo stories, I quietly wondered to myself, me, too?<br />
<br />
I wasn’t raped. And I didn’t feel like my story was bad enough to count as assault.<br />
<br />
Yet, more than anything, what silenced me was the overwhelming sense of shame I associated with the encounter.<br />
<br />
“What did <i>I</i> do to make him think I would like that, that he could put his hands on me like that”, I obsessed.<br />
<br />
I knew, of course.<br />
<br />
When a man is assumed, correctly or incorrectly, to be gay (something I get quite often), that can be for him a great source of embarrassment and shame, especially if he is a conservative, Bible-believing Christian like myself (not as if being gay warrants such an advance because it most certainly <i>does not</i>).<br />
<br />
And because being preyed on, cat-called, and propositioned by other men makes you feel dirty, sinful, and less of a man, when someone does put their hands on you or worse, the last thing you want to do is tell someone and intensify your shame<br />
<br />
And this "shamed into silence" mentality is not ameliorated by the introduction of a <i>female </i>offender into the story.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://mlpforums.com/uploads/post_images/sig-4753955.dry-your-eyes-and-man-up-princess.jpg.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://mlpforums.com/uploads/post_images/sig-4753955.dry-your-eyes-and-man-up-princess.jpg.png" width="274" /></a>After all, as my assistant manager blurted out to me after I told her what had happened, “this happens to us as women, but I never even think of it happening to men.”<br />
<br />
And therein lies the problem.<br />
<br />
Sexual assault is not treated like man’s problem and men who experience unwanted advances in the work place or outright have themselves forced upon are deemed outliers.<br />
<br />
Even now, everything inside me wants to downplay what happened and re-frame it in a way that allows me to save face and not appear weak.<br />
<br />
And if I feel this way, how do you imagine men and boys who are raped, molested, or otherwise sexually assaulted feel (I do consider what happened to me to be assault)?<br />
<br />
Like a fungus under a warm log, safe beyond the bright rays of the sun, the shame incurred when someone sins against you sexually festers and grows when left in the dark, undisturbed.<br />
<br />
The Enemy would have it that we all go on our merry ways and never make waves and suffer in silence and flash the fake smiles on Sunday morning because he knows that the bright light of truth is the silver bullet to his lies.<br />
<br />
Thus, as children of the day, it is our job to create an environment in which the shame such sin engenders is undone by the grace and truth given us in Jesus Christ.<br />
<br />
We do this by making such accounts common by including in our sermon illustrations and stories about sin examples of men who have been sexually violated (we don’t need to be graphic or detailed, but to simply mention that it happens).<br />
<br />
We do this when we begin to plant and form churches that take the shape of confessional communities where believers can do more than confess their sin, and confess, too, the deeply painful ways they have been hurt and sinned against.<br />
<br />
We do this by teaching a model of masculinity that looks as three dimensional as Jesus Christ.<br />
<br />
We do this by talking up talk therapy (seriously, go).<br />
<br />
We do this by having zero tolerance for offenders and predators.<br />
<br />
We do this by telling our stories and by being advocates for others who are not yet at a sharing place (and who may never be).<br />
<br />
I don’t know if we will change the stigma surrounding the sexual assault of males, but when I look into the eyes of men and boys who have been made victims of such heinous offenses, I know we have no other option but to try.<br />
<br />
<br />Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04699223880603208355noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-38769499381753250072017-09-25T13:27:00.000-07:002017-09-25T13:27:02.056-07:00Whose Sunday is it Anyway? On Mixing Sports and Protest. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/56821133/Screen_Shot_2017_09_23_at_1.40.36_PM.0.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="361" data-original-width="631" height="228" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/56821133/Screen_Shot_2017_09_23_at_1.40.36_PM.0.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Y</span>ou can run, but you can't hide seems to best encapsulate the <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/21440/nfl-ruins-football-sunday-joseph-curl?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_content=062316-news&utm_campaign=benshapiro">lament </a>of Joseph Curl, news and politics reporter for the Daily Wire, as the never-ending reach of partisan American politics latched itself right on to Sunday Night Football.<br />
<br />
Not a single cleat had hit the turf before Week 3 of the NFL promised to be a news-maker as three teams refused to emerge from the locker room during the National Anthem, with players by the dozens from other teams literally sitting the Anthem out (or kneeling) right there on the sidelines.<br />
<br />
While the scope of the protests across several NFL teams on the same day was noteworthy, the acts themselves were not, following a string of similar actions taken first by controversial football player Colin Kaepernick to protest police brutality.<br />
<br />
More specific to yesterday, the protests were prompted by a barrage of <a href="http://www.local8now.com/content/news/Trump-denounces-NFL-protests-ignites-Tweet-storm-with-NBA-stars-447230653.html">tweets </a>from President Trump that began with him dis-inviting Stephen Curry and his championship winning Golden State Warriors to the White House and metastasized into a screed against those who "disrespect" the flag by not standing during the National Anthem.<br />
<br />
Joseph Curl, in his subtly titled article "NFL Ruins Football Sunday", invites us to contemplate a simpler time before Sunday evening football was infected with all this political nonsense.<br />
<br />
"There was a time you young people out there", Curl writes, "when Sunday was just Football Day."<br />
<br />
Yet, for those who know anything about American religious history, the sense of longing Curl seeks to invoke for good days gone by doesn't quite reach back far enough, at least not for <i>this</i> young person.<br />
<br />
There was a time, Mr. Curl, when Sunday was just the Lord's Day (just ask my eighty-eight year old Christian grandmother!).<br />
<br />
However, beneath the surface of his mythical Good Old Days™ construction, Curl unfurls a thought worth pondering.<br />
<br />
He sets the stage thusly: "America had worked all week, drank a little too much on Friday night, did the chores and mowed the lawn on Saturday, and was all set for a peaceful Sunday watching big men smash into each other."<br />
<br />
Erm. So far so good.<br />
<br />
He continues, "Football Sunday brought the entire family together, as well as friends near and far and, sometimes, the whole neighborhood. Sadly, all that is gone. Now, there's politics in everything."<br />
<br />
Imagine The People of America and Tom Brady going out on a date only to be interrupted by Uncle Sam's traveling circus featuring a trained donkey and an elephant and I think you've caught Mr. Curl's drift.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Of course, what matters practically is not whether the picture Curl paints is true to reality, but that he has tapped deep into the dreamy collective memory of many sport's enthusiasts.<br />
<br />
Last Sunday evening saw many frustrated fans all over social media repeating similar refrains.<br />
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS4SXObJy11tKvIY5_S0_1MkAl0HOvqdtU0C1gRaLJPFGrEyoCV" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="179" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS4SXObJy11tKvIY5_S0_1MkAl0HOvqdtU0C1gRaLJPFGrEyoCV" width="320" /></a><br />
"I just want to watch the game in peace."<br />
<br />
"It didn't use to be this way."<br />
<br />
"This was our time to enjoy."<br />
<br />
It makes you wonder just whose Sunday is it anyway?<br />
<br />
Quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers Ben Roethlisberger <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/ben-roethlisberger-explains-why-steelers-stayed-in-locker-room-for-national-anthem/">explained </a>that the abstention by his team was a display of unity in light of "all the issues going on."<br />
<br />
Curl, in contrast, argued that when the Jerseys are on, it's time to play football, not politics:<br />
<br />
"Sports teams should have nixed any protest in the bud. Colin Kaepernick wants to protest against police brutality by refusing to stand during the National Anthem? Fired — with a simple message from the owners: You can do whatever you want on your time, but don't bring it to the stadium."<br />
<br />
This brings us back to the question of who owns Sunday.<br />
<br />
As a Christian writing to a mostly Christian audience, is it worth answering this question in the context of the Christian faith.<br />
<br />
About the Jewish Sabbath, Jesus came under fire from some religious leaders contemporaneous to him for healing on this sacred day of rest.<br />
<br />
We read in the Gospel of Matthew, "Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath" (12:10).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Jesus, not typically known for direct answers to his accusers, responds with unusual directness, retorting, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath” (12:11-12).<br />
<br />
"Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath", he says.<br />
<br />
You can't get much clearer than that.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTJ8yo1eFnbaIgQ5VceG43k826LiZpEkIsfWh45tdGPjp54AGt3" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="269" data-original-width="188" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTJ8yo1eFnbaIgQ5VceG43k826LiZpEkIsfWh45tdGPjp54AGt3" /></a></div>
Christ's earliest followers came to understand Sunday as a kind of new Christian Sabbath (while still respecting traditional Jewish observances on Saturday), his resurrection on the "third day" promoting Sunday to the preeminent day of the week.<br />
<br />
Understandably, this is why many Bible commentators see Sunday in the Apostle John's reference to the "Lord's Day" in the biblical book of Revelation (1:10).<br />
<br />
These earliest Jesus people, mostly Jews, took the spirit of Jesus' teaching on the Saturday Sabbath (i.e., "it is lawful to do good" on it) and applied it to the Christian holy day, Sunday, to do good on it as on all other days of the week, in keeping with God's will.<br />
<br />
Sunday was a dynamic day of meeting, "breaking bread" (probably a reference to the Lord's Supper), teaching, and taking up offering for those in need (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2).<br />
<br />
The new members of this fledgling religion got what the seasoned Pharisees had missed.<br />
<br />
The Pharisees opposing Jesus were so wrapped up in their own opinions about the Sabbath and who Jesus was, they stooped so low as to hammer their point of the very back of a brother in need. <br />
<br />
They had nothing really to lose from this guy getting a new arm except that in doing so Jesus had flipped the script, placing them opposite the seat of power and in the same vulnerable position they had put others.<br />
<br />
Which brings us back to Joseph Curl.<br />
<br />
You see, contrary to Curl, everything is political and always has been, especially for black men and women (remember we are here discussing this now because of a black football player who first knelt to bring attention to the treatment of black Americans by police).<br />
<br />
Politics controlled who among us could speak and when and how and what exactly we could say without sanction.<br />
<br />
The only thing that's changed over time is the script, which, relative to American football, has undergone some major flipping by individuals who are not impressed by Joseph Curl's desire for a uneventful evening when there are real issues of which people need reminding.<br />
<br />
Players like Colin Kaepernick are forcing sport's fans to ask whether they care about black men only as far as they can run, tackle, and score--like animated sacks of meat built only for their viewing pleasure--or for the real people they are.<br />
<br />
And just as the Pharisees stood to lose nothing of real value from Jesus' work of healing on the Sabbath, neither does Curl from these protests.<br />
<br />
Indeed, one stands to wonders what is at stake for him at all but a lazy Sunday evening relaxing?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CyOFm6kUQAAQ8M7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CyOFm6kUQAAQ8M7.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
Say what you will about President Trump, but at least his Twitter rants were a shot at addressing a moral issue on moral terms.<br />
<br />
That is quite different from a grown man whining and crying because his night of mindless enjoyment was spoiled in the face of real people being affected by serious concerns of national injustice.<br />
<br />
Sorry, folks, we interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you an update from...real life.<br />
<br />
What is more, in the end, Sunday belongs to Jesus.<br />
<br />
He is the Lord and it is his day.<br />
<br />
I am not saying the protests we are seeing on playing fields across America are uniquely or inherently Christian in nature (they are not) or that Christians should endorse them or that Jesus would even take a knee.<br />
<br />
I will not make Christ a mascot for any political team or controversy.<br />
<br />
However, I will say that such actions by Colin Kaepernick and the many players who knelt, locked arms, and sat in solidarity yesterday against deeply perceived wrongs in our country inch much closer to a vindication of the real meaning of Sunday, Christ's victory over darkness, than the apathy of those who couldn't see past their precious TV program.Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04699223880603208355noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-61179198649027954852017-07-10T12:17:00.001-07:002017-07-10T12:17:14.503-07:00"It's A Guy Thing?": Why Christian Men Need Modesty, Too<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/6f/92/5d/6f925df86ae669305512c5a2b82d22be.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="643" data-original-width="750" height="342" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/6f/92/5d/6f925df86ae669305512c5a2b82d22be.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A modern Islamic approach to modest men's dress.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">H</span></b>eat on.<br />
<br />
Shirts off.<br />
<br />
It's summer time across the nation.<br />
<br />
While those guys who failed to do their due diligence during the winter months must now decide between a last-ditch gym membership or a dark-colored t-shirt to wear to the pool, the shining rays of the summer sun have bid the cream of the crop to rise to the top in all their shirtless glory.<br />
<br />
It's like reverse Twilight where all the hotties run the streets during the day while the rest of us watch from the windows, shades mostly drawn.<br />
<br />
(Now that's a book I could relate to!)<br />
<br />
Okay, it's not that bad, but the fresh summer heat does have its way of reigniting the dusty debate on Christian modesty.<br />
<br />
Specifically, summer tends to bring out the year-round double standards endemic to the way believers talk about modesty to men versus how we talk about the same subject to women (for example, a brother showing off his physique in a beach selfie just seems so much less offensive than a sister doing the same in a bikini).<br />
<br />
This is not as controversial a point as it might have once been.<br />
<br />
Articles, blog posts, and opinion pieces fill the Internet lamenting the lop-sided burden Christian women bear compared to their male counterparts in the name of being modest.<br />
<br />
In fact, we don't seem to talk about "male modesty" or to males about modesty ever.<br />
<br />
Part of this confusion stems from New Testament itself whose most explicit verse using the word modesty in our English translations, <u>1 Timothy 2:9</u>, and its sister verse, <u>1 Peter 3:3</u>, have as their focus women.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTeNUiXgYwrN1z-tlPJssp_BDaoWIIp8hR0U_XFHIu3lv16bjtT5Q" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTeNUiXgYwrN1z-tlPJssp_BDaoWIIp8hR0U_XFHIu3lv16bjtT5Q" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">no. no. no. NO!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Apart from Paul commanding men to keep their heads uncovered during prayer and when prophesying (<u>1 Cor. 11:7</u>), the New Testament is silent about male dress.<br />
<br />
However, at the heart of the inconsistent modesty expectations among men and women is precisely the kind of thinking that equates modesty with dress. <br />
<br />
When modesty becomes an issue of dress and dress an issue of sex, modesty is reduced to sex and "being modest" to controlling one's sex appeal.<br />
<br />
This doomed train of thought naturally lends itself to the historic male sexualization of women's bodies and fear of female sexuality, explaining why our male-dominated Christian culture has held the magnifying glass of modesty up to women far more than men.<br />
<br />
Yet, Paul's own writings show he means sophrona (from the Greek sophia [wisdom], denoting sober-minded or prudent) to be a quality of Christian women (translated "modesty" in <u>1 Timothy 2:3</u>) <i>and </i>a necessary qualification for male elders (translated "self-controlled" in <u>Titus 1:8</u>).<br />
<br />
It's not simply about women.<br />
<br />
Indeed, if we will examine their foundations, the two modesty verses directed at women open a door to a world of Bible passages about modest conduct which our false notions have trained us to gloss over.<br />
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Peter says, "Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your <b>inner self</b>, the unfading beauty of a <b>gentle and quiet spirit</b>, which is of great worth in God’s sight."<br />
<br />
Likewise, Paul echoes, "I also want the women to dress <b>modestly</b>, with <b>decency and propriety</b>, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with <b>good deeds</b>, appropriate for women who profess to worship God."<br />
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Clearly, the clothes are not the modesty.<br />
<br />
The clothes are an expression of the modesty, which overflows from an inner spirit that makes little of oneself and much of one's God.<br />
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In this light, these verses join the tapestry of the New Testament's connected themes of modesty, humility, quietude, and good works:<br />
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<i>In the same way, <b>let your light shine</b> before others, that they may see your <b>good deeds</b> and <b>glorify your Father in heaven</b>.</i><br />
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<i>First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be offered on behalf of all men for kings and all those in authority, so that we may lead <b>tranquil and quiet</b> lives in all <b>godliness and dignity</b>.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Who is <b>wise and understanding </b>among you? Let them show it by their <b>good life</b>, by<b> deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom</b>.</i><br />
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<i>and to make it your ambition to lead a <b>quiet life</b>: You should <b>mind your own business</b> and <b>work with your hands</b>, just as we told you</i><br />
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If pride is like a fire, modesty is the wet blanket we need to suffocate it.<br />
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At its heart, biblical modesty is about concealing self through humility and mortifying pride through holiness that we might be happy to see God, and not ourselves, glorified in all the good works we do unto Him.<br />
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This is a privilege of all Christians, sisters and brothers, with the expectation that when others see us it won't truly be us, but Christ in us, the hope of glory.<br />
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Don;t worry about what you wear, buy, or how you live is <i>not</i> the message of this blog post or the Bible.<br />
<br />
But when the trees becomes the forest, the entire landscape is thrown out of balance, leaving many men ignorant to the fires of immodesty raging within them simply because they don't have breasts, hips, or thighs to cover up. Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04699223880603208355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-27332290370402711872017-06-14T10:31:00.003-07:002017-06-15T23:42:22.194-07:00Damned If You Do: Why Southern Baptists Should Not Take the Bait On The Alt-Right <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>W</b></span>hen the 2016 presidential election injected the term "alt[ernative] right" into the vein of mainstream political vernacular (spilling into countless frantic articles and status updates on my Facebook newsfeed) I easily dismissed it as simply one more ripple in a never-ending stream of manufactured causes for concern.<br />
<br />
Would that we might have been so lucky.<br />
<br />
Whatever life this loosely associated group of far-right, ultra-nationalists had in the years before most knew it even existed was given a new lease with the election of Donald Trump and the apparent vindication of his America First vision for the country.<br />
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Who or what exactly comprises the <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/03/29/an-establishment-conservatives-guide-to-the-alt-right/">alt-right</a> is a legitimate subject of debate.<br />
<br />
What is not debatable are the many, many, <i>many</i> <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/alt-right-is-not-a-thing-its-white-supremacy/">white supremacists</a> who call it home.<br />
<br />
They believe America is a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfQKWXMZtnU">white nation </a>for people of Anglo-European ancestry, a heritage and inheritance threatened by the Big Satan of multiculturalism.<br />
<br />
Hiding behind the thin and oh so tired veneer of preserving culture, the racists (a term I use without flippancy) at the heart of the movement aim to recover Anglo/Euro-American socio-political power and domination over the United States.<br />
<br />
Where that would leave the rest of us, history gives us a hint or two, despite repeated claims from the racist alt-righters that they don't disparage people of color.<br />
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And while it's ostensibly true not every alt-right ideologue is a racist, parsing the racists from the non-racists is like cutting a beating heart down the middle.<br />
<br />
Take racism out of the alt-right and you have the Tea Party with a Libertarian twist.<br />
<br />
What makes the alt-right different from regular old far-right conservatism is its status as an identity movement centered on whiteness and European heritage.<br />
<br />
And given its national rise to prominence, many public figures have risen to denounce it, including Southern Baptist pastor William Dwight McKissic, Sr. of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas.<br />
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McKissic, himself a bit of <a href="http://staugustine.com/stories/120806/religion_4260687.shtml#.WUFuXWgrIdU">lightning rod</a> among Southern Baptists, introduced a <a href="http://sbcvoices.com/resolution-for-the-2017-sbc-annual-meeting-condemning-the-alt-right-white-nationalism/">resolution</a> "On The Condemnation of the “Alt-Right” Movement and the Roots of White Supremacy" to be adopted at the denomination's annual meeting.<br />
<br />
It speaks in strong terms of the "toxic menace" of the alt-right "self-identified among some of its chief proponents as “White Nationalism”, featuring "totalitarian impulses, xenophobic biases, and bigoted ideologies that infect the minds and actions of its violent disciples" and asks that it and "every form of “nationalism” that violates the biblical teachings with respect to race, justice, and ordered liberty" be denounced.<br />
<br />
The resolution did not even make it off the table which was as unsurprising as the reaction of many Southern Baptists.<br />
<br />
Speaker and poet <a href="https://twitter.com/JackieHillPerry/status/874790460895768577">Jackie Hill-Perry</a>, who has spoken widely about the intersect of faith and same-sex attraction, wrote on Twitter, "The decision made at #SBC17 to not denounce white supremacy is hurtful."<br />
<br />
Thabiti Anabywile a Southern Baptist pastor and The Gospel Coaltion regular also <a href="https://twitter.com/ThabitiAnyabwil/status/874800611434389506">tweeted</a>, "Any "church" that cannot denounce white supremacy without hesitancy and equivocation is a dead, Jesus denying assembly. No 2 ways about it."<br />
<br />
Others such as <a href="https://twitter.com/drmoore/status/874995918948384768">Russell Moore</a> (president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission public-policy arm of the SBC), <a href="https://twitter.com/trillianewbell/status/874790888865714176">Trillia Newbell</a> (Director of the SBC'S Community Outreach for the Ethics and Religious Liberty), <a href="https://twitter.com/edstetzer/status/874812826786844673">Ed Stetzer</a> (Southern Baptist, missiologist, and Executive Director of the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism), and <a href="https://twitter.com/TrevinWax/status/874811525667618816">Trevin Wax</a> (Bible and Reference Publisher at LifeWay Christian Resources and a Southern Baptist), and <a href="https://twitter.com/BethMooreLPM/status/874958676779552772">Beth Moore</a> (internationally known Bible teacher and author) all spoke to the issue.<br />
<br />
While this latest resolution did not pass, there was a unanimous vote to allow a new, revised resolution to be introduced June 14.<br />
<br />
Yet, for a denomination formed in the mid-nineteenth century in opposition to ministry restrictions on slave-owners, the narrative of "Southern Baptists Cannot Get Their Act Together Long Enough To Condemn White Supremacy" seems to write itself in the minds of any watching the fray.<br />
<br />
However, may I be the first to suggest that all is not what it appears.<br />
<br />
I am not Southern Baptist, but my heart aches with my brothers and sisters in that fellowship who are reading the failure of the anti alt-right resolution as a severe waffling on racism.<br />
<br />
However, refusing to support a resolution denouncing racism is not the same as refusing to denounce racism, especially if legitimate concerns exist surrounding the resolution.<br />
<br />
The language resolution came packing with a Thesaurus worthy battery of insults like "toxic", "totalitarian", "xenophobic", "bigoted", "retrograde", and "perverse" that might have otherwise been swapped for a more measured tone.<br />
<br />
And this is not petty or nitpicky.<br />
<br />
Christians should not be alarmist or inflammatory even when reacting to racial supremacists, and talk of government subversion, societal destabilization, and the infection of the political system sounds more like the prologue to Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" than a Christian response to white nationalism.<br />
<br />
But beyond the language, real reason exists to question the wisdom of reacting so quickly and so specifically to such a new and contested political phenomenon.<br />
<br />
Yes, the alt-right exists.<br />
<br />
Yes, evil needs to be named.<br />
<br />
But the name of the evil is racist sin in all its incarnations always and everywhere.<br />
<br />
Carefully defining the parameters of that sin with the measuring rod of Scripture and denouncing <i>that </i>carries far more strength than chasing after the latest political buzzword that will all but ensure the need for a new resolution once the racist sin of the alt-right dies and is reborn as something different.<br />
<br />
Ultimately, Southern Baptists have to make this decision for themselves, but my fear is that the small steps being made toward racial reconciliation in the movement (such as the resolution on the Confederate flag, the election of their first African-American conference president, and the election of the first African-American president of the SBC Pastor's Conference)--actual concrete measures, not simply words--will be drowned out by the failure of a poorly written screed against a movement which does not itself even seem to characterize Southern Baptist support for Donald Trump. <br />
<br />
And, at this point, even if the SBC does end up condemning the Alt-right on June 14th, the damage is done and the questions about why the resolution passed this time (love of neighbor or fear of outside condemnation?) will deaden much of its force.<br />
<br />
In what could not have been more unfortunate of a shout-out for the Southern Baptists, the herald of the white supremacist core of the Alt-right, Richard Spencer, gleefully <a href="https://twitter.com/RichardBSpencer/status/874780525550071808">tweeted</a> about the "interesting development" that was the failure of the anti-alt-right resolution.<br />
<br />
I hope my brothers and sisters in the Southern Baptist Convention do not take the bait.<br />
<br />
If they need to pass a resolution, pass one, but remember that Spencer and his ilk are part of this system of things which are passing away.<br />
<br />
What Southern Baptists (and all Christians) need at this critical moment are Gospel-sized steps towards Galatians 3:28 love like have been taken by the SBC as of late.<br />
<br />
Such may not spawn fawning articles from Vox or The Atlantic, but they will have a much more visible, eternal impact than any token resolution.Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04699223880603208355noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-47443997507522967852017-05-22T18:25:00.000-07:002017-05-22T18:25:28.832-07:00Christians Under the Moonlight: Thoughts on the Movie and More. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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[Spoilers Ahead]</div>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">W</span></b>hile Barry Jenkins' "Moonlight" shoulders a strong message about the complicated realities of queer black male existence in America, the film smartly avoids any sermonizing.<br />
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Rather than lead the audience on a guided tour to "discover" what they should want for the characters, the ensemble of souls Jenkins creates are so eminently identifiable and sympathizable in their real human brokenness, we cannot help but want what they want.<br />
<br />
And what does the movie's main protagonist want above all else?<br />
<br />
Validation.<br />
<br />
The story is split into three acts, each centered on Chiron, a black boy growing up in a Florida ghetto at the height of the eighties crack epidemic.<br />
<br />
Each act represents a different period in Chiron's life, from socially isolated elementary school aged boy to same-sex attracted teenager and finally conflicted and closeted gay man, over the course of the 111-minute film.<br />
<br />
At the mercy of a world he doesn't understand and which clearly doesn't understand him, Chiron's search for validation is borne of necessity.<br />
<br />
Chiron's father manifests only in a solitary passing reference, and the young boy is forced to watch his working single mom and only parent transfigure into a one-track minded crack addict whose long days spent hustling for "rocks" leave little time for actual parenting.<br />
<br />
This parental void is filled by a surprisingly paternal neighborhood drug dealer, Juan, and his live-in partner, Teresa, an irony not lost on Chiron's juvenile mind.<br />
<br />
"Do you sell drugs?", he asks Juan.<br />
<br />
"Yeah." <br />
<br />
"And my mama...she do drugs, right?" <br />
<br />
Neither he nor Juan presses the point any further. <br />
<br />
Neither have to. <br />
<br />
Chiron's misfit status crystallizes together with his same-sex attraction as he enters his teenage years, leaving him the impossible choice of passing as something he is not or existing on social the margins of his community, a choice familiar to many queer men of color.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Juan teaches young Chiron to swim</td></tr>
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For Chiron, the margins are where he gets the tar beat out of him for no other reason than he's an easy, visible target.<br />
<br />
The margins are where friends and enemies alike bury him alive under an avalanche of nicknames, slurs, and accompanying identities no young man would choose for himself. <br />
<br />
An example of the latter is Chiron's best friend Kevin who simply calls him "Black", referencing his ebony hue in a subtle hat tip by Jenkins to colorism in the African-American community.<br />
<br />
This psycho-social torture and physical terrorizing makes Chiron's choice to break out beyond the margins a clear one.<br />
<br />
In a violent revenge attempt against a neighborhood bully (sure to jar viewers in its brutishness), Chiron is whisked down the pipeline out of high school and into juvenile detention, his future and outward persona radically altered.<br />
<br />
Gone is the old Chiron, and his once lanky shy self retreats into a ripped, hard, drug-dealing body double with a potentially damaging secret burning like a fire shut up in his bones.<br />
<br />
That is, as a teenager, Chiron and his buddy Kevin once shared an intimate moment together on the beach that reached well beyond the bounds of platonic friendship.<br />
<br />
Despite this, when it's put up time, Kevin betrays Chiron to save his own skin (which leads to the violent episode landing Chiron in juvie) and the two lose contact.<br />
<br />
So when Kevin calls Chiron out of the blue years later wanting to apologize for mistakes made and reconnect, the allure of closure proves too strong to resist.<br />
<br />
Even in the light of betrayal and the passage of time, Chiron could never shake Kevin.<br />
<br />
A symptom of his desperate search for affirmation?<br />
<br />
An appreciation of the complexities that led to the broken bonds of friendship?<br />
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Love?<br />
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You decide.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kevin and Chiron on the beach.</td></tr>
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Whatever the case, by the final scene, when Chiron rests his head on Kevin's shoulder contentedly, at peace with himself having found peace with the only person (male or otherwise) he'd ever <i>really</i> loved, we the audience want to want what he wants, what he never could have but finally has.<br />
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However, this poses a real problem for Bible-believing followers of Jesus who want the happiness of our gay friends and neighbors, but are unwilling to compromise on God's design for sexual relationships displayed in the conjugal marriage union.<br />
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Still, it almost seems cruel after all Chiron has endured to roll in like rain on a parade and douse the little spark of happiness he's managed to ignite.<br />
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Yet the earnest contention of the Christian faith is not "choose happiness or Christ", but "choose happiness in Christ."<br />
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The choice between Jesus and whatever keeps you from him is a choice between whatever it is you're holding on to and something Infinitely Better.<br />
<br />
I cannot go as far as affirming the validation Chiron finds in the arms of another man, not so much as a same-sex attracted person of color (which I am), but as a Christian (which I also am).<br />
<br />
But in this broken visage, I see an underlying desire for wholeness all Christians will eagerly affirm as we point the way to Jesus as the summit of what it means to be at home with ourselves and to discover true wholeness at the Source.Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04699223880603208355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-54933915128933584242017-05-17T08:55:00.000-07:002017-05-17T08:55:02.094-07:00The God Who Meets Us at the Ledge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>I</b></span> keep wondering where I was the precise moment his body crashed through the roof of the seventh floor.<br />
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I couldn't have missed him but by a few minutes, judging by the blood that had barely begun to pool around his head where he slammed into the smooth, solid stone floor.<br />
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What was I doing as he made his one-way climb up the elevator?<br />
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What was I thinking as he approached the ledge of the city's tallest building and took flight?<br />
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"One more hour and I'm out of here"<br />
<br />
<i> Crash--7th floor.</i><br />
<br />
"The weather is gorgeous"<br />
<br />
<i> Crash--6th floor.</i><br />
<br />
"I wish I outside"<br />
<br />
<i>Crash--5th floor.</i><br />
<br />
"Almost done"<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i> Crash--4th floor.</i><br />
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For the briefest moment, as I rounded the corner and found him crumpled there, it was as if I had entered an alternate reality where Death confronted me to my face and a simple service hallway now doubled as a tomb.<br />
<br />
The light let in by the gaping hole in the ceiling made the dust shimmer and dance, coming to rest softly on the body of a man whose life ended 3 floors ago.<br />
<br />
He was so still. I have never seen anyone so still. His stillness strangled the prayers in my throat.<br />
<br />
"Oh, God, no." "Oh, God, please." "Please, no, God."<br />
<br />
There would be no resurrection this time.<br />
<br />
No miracle healing.<br />
<br />
No happy ending.<br />
<br />
Which made me wonder: where God was as he approached the ledge?<br />
<br />
I am driven by the deep conviction that the God of Jesus whom we meet in the pages of Scripture does not sit in the heavens above aloof and emotionally detached from our frail human lives.<br />
<br />
In stark contrast, God manifests Himself powerfully at the very ledge of our misery.<br />
<br />
And while we ask what good is God at the ledge if people still jump, the question subtly reverses His role and ours.<br />
<br />
Call me a sheep, but I confess God as the Sovereign Lord of the universe and the supreme Ground of all Good whom no man can gainsay.<br />
<br />
His worth does not hang on how often He deals with evil and human suffering to our liking.<br />
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Our assurance instead is that He "works out everything in conformity with the purpose of <i>his</i> will" (Eph. 1:11; emphasis mine).<br />
<br />
He wastes nothing. Nothing is in vain.<br />
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And this is God's purpose: "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away" (Rev. 21:4).<br />
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We know God can accomplish this because He is mighty, wise, and benevolent.<br />
<br />
We know he will accomplish this because it's precisely what he did at the cross.<br />
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A seemingly insignificant act of human evil, whereby a Jewish peasant died for crimes he didn't commit, became the means by which death was defeated, sin slain, and countless men came to count God as their Heavenly Father.<br />
<br />
What man intended for evil, God in His sovereign arrangement and foresight used for ultimate good.<br />
<br />
The way God interacts with human evil and suffering is not in stopping every tragedy or wicked act.<br />
<br />
Rather, like an artist or a craftsman, He pieces together the good and the bad into a mosaic that will one day reveal His ultimate end: the elimination of all evil and suffering through the victorious return of Jesus to the earth.<br />
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Where there is smoke there is fire. Evil and suffering are the smoke alerting us to a world on fire with sin and leaving us asking for a solution.<br />
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An old rugged cross and an empty tomb are God's answer.<br />
<br />
God meets us at the ledge with nails marks in his hands and feet telling us he died so we don't have to.<br />
<br />
God meets us at the ledge in the shadow of a cross victorious over the lies that make men throw themselves off 49-story buildings.<br />
<br />
God meets us at the ledge with a promise of a future glory so weighty it makes our worst problems seem light and momentary.<br />
<br />
While the Bible itself agrees, "yet at present we do not see everything subject to him", it reminds "we see Jesus...now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone" (Heb. 2:8-9).<br />
<br />
God was with that man on the ledge.<br />
<br />
And while he still chose to jump, the cross is my assurance his death will not have the final word but that of Jesus Christ.Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04699223880603208355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-49435526519915584072017-03-08T00:28:00.000-08:002017-03-08T00:28:08.069-08:00Why I am Not Praying for My Future Wife.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span lang=""><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><span class="mceItemHidden"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>M</strong></span>ost of us struggle with praying for the people we do know, much <span class="mceItemHidden"><span class="hiddenGrammarError" pre="much ">less people</span></span> we do not!</span><br />
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<span class="mceItemHidden">However, years ago, a friend wrote a <span class="mceItemHidden">heartfelt</span> letter detailing his petitions before God on behalf of his future wife--who he had yet to even meet.</span><br />
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Now, I will admit it: I am a cynic. <br />
<br />
And I read his letter with a cynic's eye.<br />
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Yet, cynical as I am, I had nothing but positive regard for the thought behind his gesture.<br />
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Praying God would prepare his heart and the heart of his future wife struck me as a pious and worthwhile.<br />
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<span class="mceItemHidden">Indeed, if you listen to Contemporary Christian Music, songs like Rebecca St. James's "Wait for Me", as well as Praying for You" by <span class="mceItemHidden"><span class="hiddenSpellError" pre="by ">Mandisa</span></span> illustrate an evangelical trend of actively praying for a marriage relationship not even on the horizon. </span><br />
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I find this a well-intentioned way of reminding ourselves that prayer must form the locus of the Christian life. <br />
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<span class="mceItemHidden">Jesus taught his disciples to pray "thy [God's] <span class="mceItemHidden"><span class="hiddenGrammarError" pre="God's ">will be done</span></span>", so to pray God's <span class="hiddenGrammarError" pre="">will be done</span> in the life of an unknown mate is commendable in my eyes. </span><br />
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So, let me explain why I am not praying for my future wife.<br />
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I think I did once or twice, but the bar was pretty low, like "Lord, can you make sure she exists. please?" and "I hope you didn't go to the wrong address!"<br />
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<span class="mceItemHidden">But, seriously, while I tend to think positively about prayers for a future Mr. or Mrs. Right, it is not something I can do.</span><br />
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And it is not that I do not want to get married.<br />
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<span class="mceItemHidden">I challenge you to find another <span class="mceItemHidden"><span class="hiddenGrammarError" pre="another ">21 year old</span></span> male who wants to get married and have 19 kids (no joke) like I do. </span><br />
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<span class="mceItemHidden">Indeed, <span class="mceItemHidden"><span class="hiddenGrammarError" pre="">the intensity of</span></span> this possible future generated persistent feelings of "missing out" as childhood friends began marrying and starting their own families. </span><br />
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<span class="mceItemHidden">However, my life was altered upon being given godly counsel to think about my life and the ways I was serving God at the time and ask how that would change with the responsibilities of a marriage relationship.</span></span></span><br />
<span lang=""><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><br />
Beginning to read 1 Corinthians 7 deeply with fresh eyes to see, something stirred in my heart and I had to face the possibility that I would prefer to serve the Lord as a single man.<br /><br />
Phrases like "free from concern", "concerned about the Lord’s affairs", "devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit", and "undivided devotion to the Lord" (vv. 32-35) in describing the single Christian had such a ring of truth and appealed to me on a deep spiritual level. <br />
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Would the singleness last for a few years, decades, or for life?<br />
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I did not know.<br />
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All I knew was that dividing my time, decisions, finances, and thoughts between God and another person in a marriage relationship was a thought that made me unhappy.<br />
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<span class="mceItemHidden">Again, it is not a matter of not wanting <span class="mceItemHidden"><span class="hiddenGrammarError" pre="want ">to be</span></span> married, just that the idea of giving my "best years" to anyone but God has changed how I view the options before me.</span><br />
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(Also, as an aside, imagine me trying to explain this to a group of teen guys, which I did, who looked at me like I confessed to plucking the wings off butterflies and enjoying it.)<br />
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<span class="mceItemHidden">I am not praying for my future wife because I want to keep my heart open to the possibility there <span class="mceItemHidden"><span class="hiddenGrammarError" pre="there ">will not be</span></span> a future wife.</span><br />
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And even if marriage is to come, I want to serve God<em> now</em> with a heart undivided, not waiting or anticipating a possible future relationship state, but using my singleness as way to bring God glory and to testify to the all-sufficiency of Christ.<br />
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If anyone takes this post as "anti-marriage" or even anti-praying-for-your-future-spouse, they are crazy.<br /><br />
<span class="mceItemHidden">The same Paul who wrote 1 <span class="mceItemHidden">Corinthians</span> 7 also wrote Ephesians 5.</span><br />
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Jesus was single, but he affirmed the sacred, divine origin of the marriage bond.<br /><br />
<span class="mceItemHidden">Some of the <span class="mceItemHidden"><span class="hiddenSpellError" pre="the ">godliest</span></span> and most inspiring believers I know are modern-day Priscillas and Aquillas who have mentored and supported me.</span><br />
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I thank God for them. <br />
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<span class="mceItemHidden">At the same time, I believe God is still calling folks like the <span class="mceItemHidden">Apostle</span> Paul and others who, as the Lord Jesus said and did, will "make themselves Eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom of God".</span><br />
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Wrestling with the conviction that such a person is me, I have tabled preparation for a future relationship in favor of meeting God where I am and asking Him to use me as I am, no strings attached, for however long my present state brings Him glory. </span></span><span lang=""><br /></span>Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04699223880603208355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-34402052012028612442017-03-07T12:16:00.000-08:002017-03-07T12:16:59.637-08:00Priority Number One: "Beauty and the Beast" and Gays. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">I</span>t's been 60 years since the Sexual Revolution, 9 years since the defeat of Proposition 8, and 2 years since gay marriage went national, and gay people still have the gall to keep existing!</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"> <br />Indeed, they not only continue to exist, but insist on showcasing their deviant way of life on television and in the cinema, known to all as the Last Refuges of all things wholesome.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />I hear the new flick "50 Shades Darker" is all about the benefit of being disciplined! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">Oh, wait. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />A different kind of discipline? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">Nevermind...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">But, seriously, all this gay stuff is getting out of hand.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />How are families across America supposed to enjoy the copious straight fornication in "How to Get Away with Murder", for example, with interruptions from the charming Connor Walsh (Jack Falahee) and all his meddlesome <em>gay</em> fornication (an actual thing I heard, by the way)?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />This is it, folks. Sodom and Gomorrah. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />Helming this rainbow train of moral decrepitude is Disney, which recently snuck a gay kiss scene into one of its cartoon TV shows and will feature a gay romance in the upcoming live-action remake of "Beauty and the Beast".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />Call Nana, call the youth group, call your Christian Mingle date--movie night is cancelled!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">Wait a second, everyone, never fear, the Evangelicals are here! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />Yes, the Evangelicals, the ultimate arbiters of moral values and duties (with paid time off during election years).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />We've stopped burning library copies of "The Shack" long enough to focus our moral energy on Disney's homo-ness with all the intensity of some kind of righteous Care Bear Stare. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />No one less than the fiery son of evangelist Billy Graham, Franklin, has already called for a Christian boycott of the film and it's "LGBT agenda".</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />Ah, the venerable Franklin Graham. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">You remember Frank, don't you? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />Or, as his friends like to call him, the Charles Martel of Evangelicalism who, when not demonizing gay people, spends his time <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FranklinGraham/posts/967305353325646">demonizing</a> Muslims:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br /><em>"We are under attack by Muslims at home and abroad. We should stop all immigration of Muslims to the U.S. until this threat with Islam has been settled. Every Muslim that comes into this country has the potential to be radicalized--and they do their killing to honor their religion and Muhammad. During World War 2, we didn't allow Japanese to immigrate to America, nor did we allow Germans. Why are we allowing Muslims now?"</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />After the Jihadist inspired shooting that killed four in Chattanooga, while all the fake "liberal" Christians advocated against sweeping generalizations and rising tensions, Graham knew that what the raging fire of our country's division really needed was some kerosene.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />And with gas can in hand, he was apparently just the man for the job!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />Lest we forget, it was Graham who helped us refocus the issues when Donald Trump was found to have bragged about groping women and trying to cheat on his wife with married women. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />"No one is giving him a pass", Graham <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FranklinGraham/posts/1277648282291350">wrote</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />Yeah, guys, Franklin Graham definitely did <em>not</em> give Donald Trump a pass.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />I mean, sure, he voted for him and all, but did you see that stern Facebook post he wrote?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">He even used the word "inexcusable."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">Mmmm. Courage.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">Joining Graham in the holy war is One Million Moms (a project arm of the American Family Association) whose sterling record in the war against having to see gay people is renowned. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />You'll recall it was One Million Moms who tried to force J.C. Penny to fire its spokeswoman Ellen Degeneres because....wait...lemme check my notes...one moment...oh, that right: she's a lesbian! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />"Funny that JC Penney thinks hiring an open homosexual spokesperson will help their business", the group <a href="http://www.towleroad.com/2012/02/one-million-moms-go-after-jc-penney-for-hiring-open-homosexual-ellen-degeneres/">wrote</a>, continuing, "More sales will be lost than gained unless they replace their spokesperson quickly."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />Because apparently it's okay to buy clothes designed by gay people as long you don't have to see their faces on TV. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br /><a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/disney-to-feature-gay-storyline-in-beauty-and-the-beast-remake">LifeSiteNews</a>, <a href="https://illinoisfamily.org/homosexuality/beauty-beast-gay-tale-kiddies/">family associations</a> across the nation, and at least one <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/03/movies/beauty-and-the-beast-ban-alabama-drive-in-gay-character.html?_r=0">drive-in</a> theater have also made it clear they will not stand for the advance of the Gay Agenda, even in the form of a tiny gay subplot in a movie overwhelmingly about a beauty and a beast. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />And all God's people said: are you kidding?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />While I believe the crusaders on the religious right believe they are fighting the good fight, it's the very battles they choose that condemn them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />We just look so silly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />And not the self-sacrificial, full of grace and truth, love your neighbor, advance the Kingdom of God at your expense kind of silliness that pleases God and confuses the world.</span><br />
<div style="border-image: none;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />It's the kind of silliness of a people who cannot bear that they've lost a country that was never ever theirs to begin with, to the extent that the same people so up-in-arms about fake sexual sin (and, yes, I believe homosexual behavior is sin), supported a man with a flagrant history of real sexual sin in the hopes of power.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Sounds so <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+4%3A5-7&version=NIV">familiar</a>...</span><br />
<div style="border-image: none;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />This isn't about Christianity, or the Church, or Jesus, or the Bible; it's about a worldly power struggle Jesus himself refused to indulge.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;">We live in a free, modern, liberal democracy where everyone can express themselves, whether in media or sitting next to you at the Waffle House, with unparalleled freedom. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />This means that, as Christians, we will be surrounded by things that contradict our convictions, including same-sex relationships.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />I do not begrudge anyone for not seeing a movie because it upsets their conscience, nor do I disagree with those who find the addition of a gay subplot in "Beauty and the Beast" odd, if not extraneous.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />But don't make this about Christianity.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />We are surrounded by sin and compromise in our churches, in our communities, and in our families, yet we embarrass ourselves by freaking out at anything related to the "normalization" of gay people.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />Of course, we should not support what the Bible clearly says is sinful.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />Yet how deeply troubling that we seem more concerned about safeguarding our beloved childhood tales than with safeguarding the Faith against the seduction of power.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: small;"><br />When will we wake up and recognize we the builders of a New Kingdom, not the clean up crew for this old one?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">See you at the movies. </span><br />
<br />Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04699223880603208355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-65403381570949516012017-02-17T11:55:00.001-08:002017-05-19T23:25:48.596-07:00Spare the Rod? Why Christians Spank Their Kids. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Y</span></b>oung me was spanked very infrequently, a smattering of spankings probably numbering less than 10 my entire childhood.<br />
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My home was also Christian in the sense that my parents were devout believers, raised my siblings and I to know Jesus, and took us to church every Sunday.<br />
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However, in my estimation, fatigue, not faith, made the difference between the few spankings I received compared to my siblings (as the last of six children, my parents were simply spanked-out and lenient).<br />
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Indeed, according to the <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/americans-opinions-on-spanking-vary-by-party-race-region-and-religion/">data</a>, evangelical Christians like my parents spank <i>more</i> than the non-Christian population, suggesting a positive correlation between this dynamic, biblically-based brand of Christianity and corporal punishment.<br />
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Yet and still, spanking itself has taken a hit in the past few decades due to stigma and study after study failing to find any benefits of this trusted form of correction.<br />
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Particularly significant is a 2016 <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/fam/30/4/453.html">meta-analysis </a>of 75 studies ranging over 50 years which found “no evidence that spanking is associated with improved child behavior.”<br />
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So if the data suggests spanking does not work, why do Christians continue to spank, and that at a rate 15% higher than non-believers?<br />
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As an evangelical “insider”, I offer three possible reasons:<br />
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First, <b>tradition</b>.<br />
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Any "Fiddler on the Roof" fans ("Tradition, tradition..." )?<br />
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Spanking with its long history is embedded in our cultural psyche.<br />
<br />
Furthermore, a quick inductive observation suggests spanking runs in the family.<br />
<br />
If you were spanked, it is likely whichever parent spanked you was also spanked and that whichever parent spanked them was spanked and so on.<br />
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The common refrain is “I was spanked and I turned out fine.”<br />
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Fair enough.<br />
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The aforementioned meta-analysis did find spanking “associated with increased risk of…detrimental outcomes”, but noted that such associations were “small” and cannot be said to alone account for the outcomes they were associated with.<br />
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As long as we’re not talking about beating a child (think Adrian Peterson) or otherwise inflicting injury, I assume most Christian anecdotally draw on their experiences having been spanked and whatever benefit they perceive came from them and simply make their decision to spank on that basis.<br />
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Second, a perceived association between non-spanking and <b>culturally conditioned</b> or <b>liberal</b> forms of child rearing that challenge biblical thinking.<br />
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Highly regarded preacher and former seminary professor John Piper (who is very pro corporal punishment) had <a href="http://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/would-jesus-spank-a-child">this</a> to say about the origins of no-spanking thought:<br />
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“The heart of the issue is: Why does this person feel this way? What worldview inclines a person to think that you shouldn't spank a child? Where does that come from? Well it comes straight out of this culture…”<br />
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Reformed New Testament scholar Thomas Schreiner, reviewing a book on spanking, “<a href="https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/channel/reviews">wonders</a>” if the no spanking author (himself a Christian) “is prone to domesticating the Bible to fit modern conceptions”, adding “God’s Word does not necessarily fit the cultural mores and thought conventions of our day.”<br />
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He further cautions the author against "land[ing] in the lap of liberalism.”<br />
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Examples can be multiplied, but as long as the case against spanking can be linked to liberalism and cultural accommodation in the minds of Evangelicals, they will most likely stick to their...spoons? <br />
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Third, (as implied above) the <b>Bible</b>.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWDWzQJELriFlbUEV5GczBtzWLz0c2odbODUwSCUydGF9apXJUIB_xoXDDzXq2_Sa2s0Xo4gqTpG5wJJ8u5OQvTIwTDjED7kzyRDXg7KipaYKfu1nVOWl5vp6XQVbeq0r8zCOSH4p14Vw/s1600/shutterstock_184208591-620x375.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWDWzQJELriFlbUEV5GczBtzWLz0c2odbODUwSCUydGF9apXJUIB_xoXDDzXq2_Sa2s0Xo4gqTpG5wJJ8u5OQvTIwTDjED7kzyRDXg7KipaYKfu1nVOWl5vp6XQVbeq0r8zCOSH4p14Vw/s320/shutterstock_184208591-620x375.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
No less than <a href="https://www.blogger.com/Prov.%2019:18;%2013:24;%2023:13-14;%2029:15">four</a> biblical texts speak positively about corporal punishment, each located in the book of Proverbs.<br />
<br />
While some (including myself) question a literal application of these passages, surely these proverbs would have been understood literally by the ancient community that received them.<br />
<br />
And with a similar understanding in place, present-day evangelicals have paddled away.<br />
<br />
Writing for Focus on the Family, Chip Ingram <a href="http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/effective-biblical-discipline/effective-child-discipline/biblical-approach-to-spanking">states</a>, “[r]egardless of the method, the Bible's word on discipline clearly demands that parents be responsible and diligent in spanking, but strongly prohibits physical abuse of any kind.”<br />
<br />
Dr. Paul D. Wegner, professor of Old Testament at Phoenix Seminary, makes a nuanced and more scholarly case for corporal punishment in his <a href="http://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/48/48-4/JETS_48-4_715-732.pdf">article</a> subtitled “To Spank or not to Spank” published in the <i>Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society</i>.<br />
<br />
John Piper <a href="http://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/would-jesus-spank-a-child">writes</a> plainly, “If Jesus were married and had children, I think he would have spanked the children”, citing the teachings in Proverbs.<br />
<br />
When it comes to their children, evangelicals prioritize the Bible, which has meant prioritizing spanking.<br />
<br />
I don’t desire to debate the merits of spanking or the biblical case for it here.<br />
<br />
I plan on <i>not</i> spanking whatever children I have because I was hardly spanked (the power of tradition!) and I don’t think it has any compelling benefits.<br />
<br />
Furthermore, paddling or swatting blurs the line between <i>force</i> and<i> violence</i> too much for this pacifist.<br />
<br />
I mean, <i>would</i> Jesus spank the children?Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04699223880603208355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-46056069569404886232017-02-08T12:18:00.000-08:002017-02-08T12:18:10.676-08:00Forever.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLpDaYVQU_QNZQWa2i0vkjFSMhthykqo7-Y_zVy7Wa7SSZYrBU6qVnEFLYS8vODkyNYIgjk9H4ljvYOAIQBlyXMb4jDTQ07jlhxryxRvR29qvukUziyxOQB-7d1vux_zBltugxjEHViDQ/s1600/seeds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLpDaYVQU_QNZQWa2i0vkjFSMhthykqo7-Y_zVy7Wa7SSZYrBU6qVnEFLYS8vODkyNYIgjk9H4ljvYOAIQBlyXMb4jDTQ07jlhxryxRvR29qvukUziyxOQB-7d1vux_zBltugxjEHViDQ/s400/seeds.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">I</span><span style="font-size: large;">n a moment, my life was over and yet had only just begun. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">From
black to light in an impossible moment everything changed and the first thing
I beheld: his face.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> I’d never seen him before; I’d seen him a million times. In
the days of my fears, in the days of pain, loss, and sin—great sin—I’d seen him.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">A laugh catches in my throat and the
tears pour. How do I move? Where do I go? Do I reach for him? Do I just stay
here on the green grass of Paradise melting? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">He doesn’t wait. For me to decide.
He never did. The only thing louder than my sobs, the beat of his heart. The
heart that stopped for me. When he said it is finished. How long were we there?
A minute? A lifetime? He says my name. My name. He knows my name. I could stay
here forever. Forever. </span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04699223880603208355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-24665385638205196722017-02-07T12:07:00.000-08:002017-02-07T12:07:07.927-08:00Learn War No More: Christians in the Military as Proof of Apostasy. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYO5B8FH7gMecbZsRGpQBrqdIJYyOi-j_ux1KqKfAYFIfnXcnwS_Eq_JplPXL78Yk-xV3GNtiPZIVlgdaXRbMCQU1cgfREo-rjITxbPS-EHEvxGn375pl6g4J4tVdfD41cbrSA0AdpQGQ/s1600/shutterstock_184208591-620x375.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYO5B8FH7gMecbZsRGpQBrqdIJYyOi-j_ux1KqKfAYFIfnXcnwS_Eq_JplPXL78Yk-xV3GNtiPZIVlgdaXRbMCQU1cgfREo-rjITxbPS-EHEvxGn375pl6g4J4tVdfD41cbrSA0AdpQGQ/s400/shutterstock_184208591-620x375.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>W</b></span>hen the Church sends its young people off to war, that is apostasy and it should concern all of us.<br />
<br />
The U.S. Department of Defense issued a <a href="http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/11/12/raw-data-religious-preference-in-the-military/">report</a> on the religious affiliation of Active Duty personnel serving in the U.S. armed forces, revealing "[a]bout 7 out of 10 (69.8%) active-duty service members identified as Christian in 2014, according to the Defense Department. They range from 345,888 non-denominational Christians to two members of the European Free Churches<br />
<br />
The survey was voluntary, so one can expect the number of religious personnel in any religious demographic to be higher than reported.<br />
<br />
Of the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ: 10,700 service members.<br />
<br />
Of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ): 7084 service members.<br />
<br />
Of the Church of Christ: 10,776.<br />
<br />
That equals 28,550 service member from the Restoration Movement tradition, a reality that grieves my heart deeply.<br />
<br />
While a simple survey fails to gauge the spiritual depth and maturity of any Christian, what bothers me is that be the numbers an accurate reflection of Christian commitment among military men or not, the evangelical, Bible-believing churches of America have decided that to serve a worldly government in its army, the pinnacle of national idolatry, being willing to serve and die for one's country, is tolerable if not laudable.<br />
<br />
This is a strange and twisted irony for the followers of the Prince of Peace.<br />
<br />
In many Christian circles, few things are more sacred than the soldier.<br />
<br />
A soldier can get a congregation to its feet quicker than a praise song or a baptism in some places.<br />
<br />
I grew up in church hearing things like, "only two people were ever willing to die for you: Jesus Christ and the American soldier."<br />
<br />
I stood inside a giant scaffolding flag erected inside of a church building to honor a service which Jesus Christ did away with when he told Peter to put his sword back in its place.<br />
<br />
We drape the American flag on the cross of Christ and send our young people off to military with a prayer and our blessing.<br />
<br />
We valorize and lionize military service while reading over the Bible's admonishment to live at peace with everyone, to not return violence for violence, and to love one's enemies.<br />
<br />
While the willingness of a person to die for a cause may be admirable, the practical working out of that willingness is not necessarily so.<br />
<br />
Such is the case with followers of Christ in the military.<br />
<br />
Jesus refused to kill or take up arms against his enemies, as did the apostles and other New Testament Christians, the apostolic Fathers, and other early church fathers up until around the fourth century..<br />
<br />
They viewed themselves as a separate people with a different calling.<br />
<br />
As late as the Council of Nicaea in 325, re-joining the military after conversion could mean 13 years--yes, years--of church discipline (see <a href="https://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/NICAEA1.HTM#3">Canon 12 </a>of the Council of Nicaea).<br />
<br />
You can scour the New Testament for every verse that explains how Christians should treat their enemies and you will come up empty for any verse justifying military service and all that entails.<br />
<br />
On the contrary, Jesus tells us that his Kingdom is not of this world (<u>John 18:36</u>), which is under the immediate rulership of Satan (<u>1 John 5:19</u>) through his temporary ownership of all the world's earthly kindgoms (<u>Luke 4:5-7</u>).<br />
<br />
We respect earthly government as God's way of preserving order and justice (see <u>Romans 13</u>) but it lies outside of the "perfection of Christ" and is not an option for Christians.<br />
<br />
For professing Christians to make up the majority of the U.S. military and for the majority of Christian denominations to tolerate if not approve of military service for Christians is to our deep shame.<br />
<br />
Indeed, is is my shame because this sin is my sin.<br />
<br />
I sang the patriotic songs.<br />
<br />
I stood to my feet in praise of soldiers and soldiering.<br />
<br />
I pledged allegiance to the flag.<br />
<br />
I believed and spread the lie.<br />
<br />
This apostate form of Christianity is as much my problem and fault as anyone else.<br />
<br />
I carry that burden.<br />
<br />
But it does not have to continue this way.<br />
<br />
The Church always has and will always have the ability to return to sound doctrine--up to a point.<br />
<br />
It starts with personal repentance followed by congregational accountability and solidarity.<br />
<br />
Even while some Christians are feeling more comfortable than ever with the current state of politics, I see a remnant who are saying no to nationalism, militarism, politicism, and seeking to understand what it means to pray "they Kingdom come."<br />
<br />
May their tribe increase. Before it is too late.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04699223880603208355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-71782378594545185862017-01-31T10:05:00.000-08:002017-01-31T10:05:16.595-08:00How Long? The Choice Conservative Christians Must Make.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS_1eNl-dCKDTMcG7BVnqy5WxmM_UdgTJw8E-BYILw5-ERr-o0cbHJSVxW6Iz2KbdRVBiaGC33wY2S7EQlAzrIwabUq7xnTO1Dmu-56NhGuNEEVKfvjnEvlhFV84tnnExuTAeKqSKoG6k/s1600/il.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS_1eNl-dCKDTMcG7BVnqy5WxmM_UdgTJw8E-BYILw5-ERr-o0cbHJSVxW6Iz2KbdRVBiaGC33wY2S7EQlAzrIwabUq7xnTO1Dmu-56NhGuNEEVKfvjnEvlhFV84tnnExuTAeKqSKoG6k/s400/il.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">In the Hebrew Scriptures is a concept known as
"strengthening the hands of the wicked."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The idea is that our
actions, wicked themselves, serve to embolden and empower others
who are wicked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Six men are dead in Quebec City, Quebec and while you nor I pulled
the trigger, I feel some of us may have strengthened the hands of the man who
did, holding them steady as he aimed his weapon at the backs of a crowd of men
gathered to pray.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Since 2001 and the September terrorist attacks, the conversation
about Islam among political conservatives has been
dominated by negativity, if not prejudice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Taking real concerns
posed by aggressive forms of Islam and projecting them upon
innocent Islāmic Americans who simply wish to live their lives has
created a power keg of tension to the extent that when the word
"Islam" is uttered, some people automatically hear
"terrorism" and act accordingly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Take, for example, the
enduring lie that our President is secretly Muslim, a lie used to explain
his supposed softness on terrorism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Or take the spectacular
opposition to the "Ground Zero Mosque", in reality
an Islāmic Cultural center blocks away from site of the fallen Twin
Towers, a twisted irony from folks priding themselves on
"religious freedom."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And, most recently, President Trump, who as
a candidate for president vowed to ban Muslims from immigrating to
the United States “until we can figure out what’s going on”, whatever that
meant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">No matter whether he would fulfill that promise (he did not), by
making it in the first place, he did that much more to brand Muslims and Islam
as enemies of the United States and to stoke the hornet’s nest of prejudice in the
US and in the Middle East.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I understand this latest attack did not take place by an American
on American soil.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Indeed, Canada, while also a relatively diverse country, leans
more to the left than this nation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Yet, this brand of bigotry has no borders and early reporting
is already drawing the connections between the murderous gunman,
right-wing politics, and president Trump.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">So what’s my point?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I have no dog in the political fight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In fact, every time I open my Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube accounts,
the seething hatred in my heart for the entire rancid political system in this
country and abroad only intensifies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I don’t care what Republican Party or conservatives do with one
important caveat: to the extent that Christians, followers of Christ, have
made themselves participants in their dangerous foolishness, they
have betrayed Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">People like Franklin Graham who proclaimed that "Islam has declared war on the world, and it's high time we acknowledge it and respond decisively."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Or Christian apologist Robert Morey suggested we could end terrorism by nuking the Kaaba.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Even more common are the unsubstantiated reports </span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">from "Christian" news sites</span><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;"> of horrible things Muslims have supposedly done. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Jesus refused to slander his accusers or bring a charge against
them as they hurled lies at him, spit on him, beat him, mocked him, tortured
him, and finally nailed him to a cross and watched him die.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And yet some Christians cannot afford to trouble themselves to
even get to know the very people they are sure want to harm them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Everyone not blinded by their own ideology understands that inside
Islam exists violent factions and that even among moderate Muslims are
religious doctrines and political opinions that do not cohere with
what we have come to appreciate as Western values.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">These are honest and legitimate conversations we can
have.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">But the shameless fear mongering, sharing of misinformation
about the Islāmic religion, name-calling, and general lack of charity
is simply unacceptable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I say this not sitting in some ivory tower in Boston or San Diego;
I have lived my life in the Midwest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">I
am intimately acquainted with the convergence of
Christianity and conservatism, from within and without, both in its
best and worst forms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This is not a pot-shot from the outside.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Conservatism seems to have hitched its wagon to the horses of
populism and nativist nationalism and it is time for Christians to
come out and be separate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAae4yPGmPCLPWJqsfxfnuuKF4bfWfJXc1_4Uvqh0rBrY_gyNz7-e4kqxfP3pa-l8-m0gF7LM1dnr9bL4S3h-Whaxu_ZE7816rojladxggPPw3OlniR6zqOjxdmsjN0rTLOs9hyphenhyphenu7oPYY/s1600/il.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAae4yPGmPCLPWJqsfxfnuuKF4bfWfJXc1_4Uvqh0rBrY_gyNz7-e4kqxfP3pa-l8-m0gF7LM1dnr9bL4S3h-Whaxu_ZE7816rojladxggPPw3OlniR6zqOjxdmsjN0rTLOs9hyphenhyphenu7oPYY/s320/il.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Indeed, what we are seeing is simply the fruit of politics:
hateful division.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Politics forces us to take
sides, create enemies, and consolidate power.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It can accomplish good, often in spite of itself, but it is inherently
contradictory to the standards of God’s Kingdom built on service, patience,
charity, and truth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Understanding this,
here is my plea: stop dragging the name of Christ through the mud by
linking arms with those who do not care about Christ’s life and teachings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">And if a plea will not work, here is my warning: to the extent
that you bear false witness against your neighbor, spread hate and fear, refuse
to submit to Jesus’ Kingdom authority, and continue to strengthen the hands of
the wicked, know your actions will not escape the eyes of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Care enough about your neighbor to care less about your politics and perhaps we can truly witness for Christ.</span></o:p></div>
Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04699223880603208355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-23340168554103541672017-01-29T23:35:00.001-08:002017-01-29T23:35:35.264-08:00Catholic Distinctives in the Light of the New Testament: Head-Coverings.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL3WEFhBgnZcZFE4WY7N0hTkjyprWF78sRJjhM223jC68u0RlOtjMl1pQXruV-ZHwGSXLhqeI3BEn0_MjWZbGg4cFnDf9gY_IXdE3BjFFUJvK1-pJt9r5_jNp7QA6gcMDxR5YZEvzL-Yc/s1600/hd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL3WEFhBgnZcZFE4WY7N0hTkjyprWF78sRJjhM223jC68u0RlOtjMl1pQXruV-ZHwGSXLhqeI3BEn0_MjWZbGg4cFnDf9gY_IXdE3BjFFUJvK1-pJt9r5_jNp7QA6gcMDxR5YZEvzL-Yc/s400/hd.jpg" width="263" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>F</b></span>or most of Christian history, women covered their heads for corporate worship in observance of the apostle Paul's instruction in his first letter to the church of Christ in Corinth. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Keeping in mind the exceptions, as written Christian history and, notably, Christian art evince, covering was practiced generally across the Christian spectrum into the modern age. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Indeed, the Catholic Church once required women to celebrate the Mass with veiled heads:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">"Men, in a church or outside a church, while they are assisting at sacred rites, shall be bare-headed, unless the approved mores of the people or peculiar circumstances of things determine otherwise; women, however, shall have a covered head and be modestly dressed, especially when they approach the table of the Lord." (1917 Code of Canon Law. canon 1262)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">What changed?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In 1983, Pope John Paul II issued an ecclesiastic pronouncement that replaced the 1917 Canon Law, the updated 1983 Law including no such command regarding head-coverings. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Here I will repeat the argument of the <a href="https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/what-happened-to-head-coverings-at-mass">Catholic Answers</a> that (1.) further Catholic law states that any law not re-issued in the 1983 update is "abrogated" and (2.) since the 1970's the official Catholic doctrine has essentially been that "these ordinances, probably inspired by the customs of the period, concern scarcely more than disciplinary practices of minor importance, such as the obligation imposed upon women to wear a veil on their head (1 Cor. 11:2-16); such requirements no longer have a normative value" (see <a href="http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19761015_inter-insigniores_en.html">Inter Insignories</a>). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Indeed, that it is no longer required for Catholic women to veil their head is not the controversial point (though women must veil in the older form of the Catholic Mass) and does not bear further evidencing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">So, while Catholic doctrine has changed, what of the Bible's teaching on the subject? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Paul straightforwardly commends the Christian congregation in Corinth in Ancient Greece for "remembering me [Paul] in everything and for holding to the traditions just as I passed them on to you" (<u>1 Cor. 11:2</u>).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Yet, he has counsel for them, which must be presented in full:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">3. But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">4. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">5. But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is the same as having her head shaved. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">6. For if a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should cover her head.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">7. A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">8. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">9. neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">10. It is for this reason that a woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">11. Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. </span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">12. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">13. Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The problem is that of the teachings the Corinthians have held to, they have otherwise neglected that women should cover their heads when praying and prophesying.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">As a remedy, Paul re-emphasizes the importance of following this teaching, giving two arguments about woman being the glory of man and a further argument "because of the angels."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The first point is relevant insofar as the head-covering serves as a fitting veil of the glory of man in woman and the glory of a woman's hair (<u>v15</u>), so God's glory may be all the more clear when a woman is praying or prophesying. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The second point about angels is open to endless speculation, but it must be noted these points are not "customs of the period", but extra-cultural concerns.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The issue is not whether a woman's hair is her covering, (previous Catholic teaching contradicts this idea), or a where a woman should cover (just in the congregational assemblies?), but is Paul's command here a normative rule still in force for all Christian women (and men, who should not cover) everywhere today?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The answer is yes because Paul roots Christian covering in factors independent of the passage of time or changing of cultural contexts.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Furthermore, while the Catholic Church may think Paul's command was "of minor importance", the fact he included it in his letter, taking the time to develop an argument in its favor, suggests it was of more than minor importance, despite its widespread neglect today.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I wonder if women had arrived for Mass in the 10th century with uncovered heads making this same argument if they would have been received well. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Most Protestants, also ignoring this command, may miss the casualness with which this Bible teaching has been cast aside by the Catholic Church, especially in light of its insistence that Paul's commands about women teaching and having authority over men in the church, and speaking in the assembly are "of a different nature", thus not cultural in nature, and in full force today (see the previously linked document).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Paul mandated that the Corinthians obey the Christian tradition on the subject, which was in place in all the churches (v16), and grounded in extra-cultural concerns.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">While we should never "major in the minors", we should be careful about which Bible teachings we brand as "minor" and thus freely abrogate with the stroke of an ecclesiastic pen. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Fr. Raymond Burke, a high-ranking Catholic clergyman, in defending this change by the Catholic Church, <a href="https://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/head_coverings_in_church.htm">reasons</a> that because head-covering had lost its significance, that it could mean different things to different people (i.e., send mixed messages), and "because we find that in all areas of the Church's life not requiring a distinction of sex, men and women today participate equally in the Church as baptized persons", we can further affirm the prudency of the Catholic Church on this decision. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The problem with his logic is that the very same things could have been said in Paul's day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Head-coverings were common in the first century Ancient Near East, so the "sign" of covering for a female Christian would have meant nothing to a non-Christian outsider unless it was explained to them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Moreover, not covering was apparently an issue when <i>Christians</i> were coming together (thus the issue of praying and prophesying), so if the sign was losing significance, it was among Christians!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And Paul's response?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Keep covering!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In addition, the "different things to different people" argument is what allows groups like the Salvation Army to forgo baptism and communion totally to avoid the problematic, modern connotations they see in these "signs" and to replace them with other things.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Also note that the early church was pegged as sexually debauched because of pagan misinterpretations of their "love feasts" and as cannibalistic because they ate the "body and blood" of their founder.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Yet, they continued on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The reality is that being a Christian, with all that entails, will often run counter to culture and the proper response is never capitulation when an issue of inspired doctrine is in the balance.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Finally, men and women can be equal but different (as in regard to one wearing a covering and one not), a fact which Burke concedes when he mentions that Catholic women cannot serve in the priesthood of their church.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In the end, the Catholic teaching on head-coverings, when weighed, comes up wanting and we are reminded that while the doctrines of men may change, God's Word is settled forever in Heaven (<u>Psalm 119:89</u>). </span><br />
<br />Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04699223880603208355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-15369680348420454252016-12-21T16:55:00.000-08:002016-12-21T16:55:01.710-08:00Pro-Life Answers: #1 What About Rape?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTtOvjjeuvxBH9Tek43sr01tStLRqn2Qad-miLjUpM8yhBsPvNLFKwWW8vloE99NfWo8tVBDViRneav9DTU-6RJltB6-8tURLBKxqUFd19mqFBDbl_fKDOfc2Te8pDrv8ws2EoxveA8tNj/s1600/en.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTtOvjjeuvxBH9Tek43sr01tStLRqn2Qad-miLjUpM8yhBsPvNLFKwWW8vloE99NfWo8tVBDViRneav9DTU-6RJltB6-8tURLBKxqUFd19mqFBDbl_fKDOfc2Te8pDrv8ws2EoxveA8tNj/s400/en.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Objection #1:</b> Abortion should be permissible in the case of rape. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This is perhaps the most emotionally compelling argument used by pro-choice advocates in defense of the right to an abortion.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Rape is an absolutely evil act, meaning no possible situation exists morally justifying it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">The pain a raped person endures is deep and long-lasting. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Understanding this, how can the anti-abortion crowd hold it morally impermissible for a woman to obtain an abortion even if she conceived in the violent act of rape?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Let me offer 5 reasons why I believe abortion is morally impermissible even in the case of rape.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Reason #1:</b> As mentioned above, rape is an absolute moral evil, but no necessary logical connection exists between the statement "rape is immoral" and the statement "abortion is moral". </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Rape, the violent act of sexual violation, and abortion, the violent act of killing, can both be immoral at the same time and in the same way. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Thus, whether abortion is justified or not, it cannot be justified simply because rape is legitimately awful.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Reason #2:</b> Nothing about being conceived in rape invalidates the right to life of the unborn child. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Human rights are the property of members of human community by virtue of their humanity. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">One of those rights, which happens to be enshrined in the Constitution of the United States of America, is the right to life, a normal right to live and continue to live. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Thus, if the unborn can be shown to be a full member of the human community, it too would be the rightful property bearer of the right to life and thus not a morally viable candidate for an act like abortion, even if conceived in rape.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Reason #3:</b> A fetus, even one conceived in rape, has some moral claim on her mother's body (despite the invocation of bodily autonomy). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Imagine I am out on my sailboat and an unnamed seafarer passes by me and drops a bassinet with a baby inside of it on the starboard deck. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">"It's your responsibility now", he shouts before sailing away.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"> This unnamed seaman has violated my time and property, by saddling me with something I do not want. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Few would suggest I am now morally obligated to raise this child as my own. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">But even fewer would suggest I could justifably throw the baby overboard. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This child, unwanted as it is, has a relative right to not be killed by me, even if not an absolute right to every part of me (the next 18 years of my life spent raising it, etc.). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In the same way, abortion in the case of rape due to bodily autonomy ignores the relative right of the child to not be killed by the woman carrying it, even if she did not consent to taking care of it initially. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Reason #4</b>: While pro-choice advocates often rely on our assumptions about what victims of rape who conceive in rape want, the data suggests we should not assume women who are raped <i>de facto</i> want an abortion or that abortion is necessary to treat the trauma of rape.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">For a little background, rape-related pregnancies account for no more than 5% of pregnancies among U.S. women of child-bearing age (1) and 2% of U.S. abortions (2).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">It is the case that no study has been able to show that more than 50% of women who conceive in rape elect to abort (3). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">This is significant given pro-choice advocates often talk as if the choice to abort her baby conceived in rape is a forgone conclusion for a raped woman. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Furthermore, if someone wants to say factors outside the woman's control may inhibit her ability choose abortion (a true statement), such as late-detection and exorbitant costs, similarly, outside factors may inhibit her ability choose life, like partner abuse or family pressure. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Suffice to say, abortion does not automatically appeal to women conceived in rape.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><b>Reason #5:</b> When a women conceives a child in rape, she and the unborn child are victims. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Yet to make abortion morally allowable because of rape is to treat the fetus worse than the rapist.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">In the West, rapists do not generally receive the death penalty for their crimes, so why should an unborn child's life be held in a lower regard? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Indeed, even if we did execute rapists, a practice in some countries, it would not follow that the child, which has committed no crime, should have her right to life abrogated. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">------------------------------------------------------------------------</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Have any more reasons why you believe abortion, even in cases of rape, is wrong? Comment below!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Sources Cited:</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">1. "A Natural History of Rape" [1987]; "Rape-related Pregnancy" [1996]; and "Practical Aspects of Rape Investigation" [2008].</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">2. "Reasons Why Women Have Induced Abortions: Evidence from 27 Countries" [1998 study looking back to 1987 to 1988]; "Induced Abortion Facts in Brief" [2000]; "Reasons U.S. Women Have Abortions" [2004]; Understanding why women seek abortions in the US [2013].</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3. “Sexual Assault and Pregnancy” in Thomas Hulgers, Dennis Horan and David Mall, “New Perspectives on Human Abortion” [1981];</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> "Victims and Victors" [2000]; "A Natural History of Rape" [2001]. </span></span><br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05264291162336178412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-59846741450520881552016-12-14T20:08:00.000-08:002016-12-15T19:51:08.789-08:00A Tree Uprooted: Why I am Leaving the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc33mUsGSydVwgfFyT6iQJElPRlNhRaJHNvX64JKzRhZfz8BD00demR3zeH7uiUqHeDrSiLDzzbyQJbwNN5tmrqXupuhEPbj6fZ9iz9HR0rJyj7HTn-hiqcrM0zsCjK58_4gvqXPl0VRpR/s1600/st.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc33mUsGSydVwgfFyT6iQJElPRlNhRaJHNvX64JKzRhZfz8BD00demR3zeH7uiUqHeDrSiLDzzbyQJbwNN5tmrqXupuhEPbj6fZ9iz9HR0rJyj7HTn-hiqcrM0zsCjK58_4gvqXPl0VRpR/s400/st.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>W</b></span>hen I entered college at a Cincinnati Christian University, I expected to spend my life ministering in the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ.<br />
<br />
I enrolled in a university associated with this fellowship of churches (we avoid the word denomination) to prepare me for that future. <br />
<br />
I was baptized in this brotherhood, as were my parents, my mother's grandparents, and virtually all the family on my mother's side.<br />
<br />
I grew up in an independent Christian Church and deeply identified with our history, the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement.<br />
<br />
Indeed, I read our histories, studied our leaders, attended our conferences, played Bible Bowl, am attending one of our institutions of higher learning, and attempted to understand our doctrinal trends.<br />
<br />
This was my home.<br />
<br />
But no longer.<br />
<br />
And that hurts deeper than words can express.<br />
<br />
In the past two years, I discovered the teachings of the Anabaptists, a 16th century restoration movement born in reaction to the Magisterial Protestant Reformers and the Roman Catholics.<br />
<br />
As a general rule, they stressed non-violence, the separation of Church and State, cultural non-conformity, and the church as a covenanted community.<br />
<br />
This manifested itself in refusing to serve in the military, shying away from political offices, plain dress and head-coverings for women (though the latter was common for all churches at the time), a serious cautiousness to worldly entertainment, and the exercise of shunning and disfellowshipping as a means of church discipline.<br />
<br />
This tradition is alive today in the Amish, Hutterites, Mennonites, some Brethren groups, the Bruderhof, many independent churches, and more.<br />
<br />
Similar groups include the Schwarzenau Brethren and their descendants, and the Quakers. <br />
<br />
As I studied this history, the more I saw the similarities between it and my own.<br />
<br />
Reading folks like David Lipscomb, Alexander Campbell, Tolbert Fanning on war and politics had convinced me that I could be a pacifist and politically neutral and remain in the Christian Churches.<br />
<br />
There was a place for me despite these radical shifts in doctrine.<br />
<br />
Yet there were still issues.<br />
<br />
I loved how the Anabaptists had a distinctively Christian way of viewing the world, a robust Kingdom framework that didn't simply terminate in one's own personal salvation, invaluable as that is, and helped generate a consistent Christian way of life.<br />
<br />
In contrast, the Christian Churches have fully adopted a Constantinian approach to the acceptability of war and the goodness of political involvement just like the rest of evangelicalism.<br />
<br />
In addition, the issue of divorce and re-marriage had begun to haunt me, as well.<br />
<br />
As I studied the issue, listening to the voice of the early church along the way, I came to believe that when Jesus said "whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery", he meant just that, precluding any remarriage after divorce as licit in God's eyes.<br />
<br />
Sadly, I watched the elders of a Christian Church sit on their hands when a couple in their congregation, who had ministered in that congregation, divorced, only to have the brother involved promptly begin dating another sister in the congregation before the legal divorce was even final.<br />
<br />
This spectacle unfolded as mature Christians who I had respected and thought better of fawned over this relationship as though nothing was wrong.<br />
<br />
"We didn't even mourn for that marriage", one sister said to me.<br />
<br />
Not all Christian Churches are like this, but how many of our churches on the landscape would be willing to exercise church discipline if a couple was un-biblically divorced and refused to submit to some kind of counseling?<br />
<br />
How many would want them to?<br />
<br />
Furthermore, I realized after going off to college that I was one of a few young people who cared about the Restoration Movement and thought it important and relevant.<br />
<br />
But it wasn't just that, I became jaded to churches and ministry programs that seemed to encourage young men to use preaching as a way to advance their fame, with our largest conferences being a who's who of the largest churches in our Movement.<br />
<br />
The view of ministry held by the young men was totally centered on getting internships at the biggest and best churches, making connections and networking, and advancing personal ministry careers.<br />
<br />
The concern for the universal church, the brotherhood, the evangelization of the world, and how our little lives fit into that big picture was few and far between.<br />
<br />
And it is not that there weren't exceptions, but for those who did seem self-motivated, their M.O. seemed less like an aberration of the general approach to preaching and the pastorate taken in Christian Churches, but a logical consequence of it.<br />
<br />
The approach is that the preacher serves as the face of the church and the great burden of the ministerial tasks, rather than being spread evenly, are put squarely on his shoulders.<br />
<br />
We've seen this unfortunate trend borne out as pastors/senior ministers simply burn out and quit left and right.<br />
<br />
The thriving mega-churches are the fittest who have survived where others have not and, even then, at what cost?<br />
<br />
There were other issues like head-coverings, modesty, and women teaching Christian doctrine to Christian men, but up to the present, I had hoped I could plant a church with like-minded individuals from the Christian Churches where we could have and champion these distinctives while remaining a part of the larger Christian Church family.<br />
<br />
I had zero intention of leaving. It wasn't even on the radar (I had been encouraged to join the Mennonites two years ago and wonder what would have happened if I had).<br />
<br />
What changed everything was the election.<br />
<br />
We had a choice to be a different voice from above the fray of the most contentious election in our nation's history and we blew it.<br />
<br />
When arguably the most influential and well-known preacher in our movement, as well as an even more well-known theologian all but baptized a vote for Donald Trump, the question was no longer "is there a place for me here?", but "could I stay here if there was?"<br />
<br />
I finally answered the question no.<br />
<br />
In conversations with Catholics, Mormons, Witnesses of Jehovah, and secularists, I found myself able to dialogue as to why I disagreed with their community of choice, but unable to offer them an alternative community in good faith.<br />
<br />
That stuck with me and was hard to shake.<br />
<br />
I wanted to be a part of a community that stood for something.<br />
<br />
It was Rick Atchley of the church of Christ (a cappella) who cautioned the Christian Churches against becoming some watered down form of non-distinct evangelicalism.<br />
<br />
When I read that caution at the North American Christian Convention several years ago, I took it to heart, and now I fear we are far too late.<br />
<br />
One Anabaptist author encouraged converts to Anabaptist thought to live out their convictions in their own faith communities.<br />
<br />
I love that advice, but at some point I had to be honest with myself: I didn't want to.<br />
<br />
As I look at the (independent) Christian Churches, I cannot see myself here at age 50.<br />
<br />
I cannot see the changes I so desperately want to see that would give me an excuse, any excuse, to stay.<br />
<br />
Attending the International Conference of Missions last month reminded me of all the reasons I loved the Christian Churches and it melted away much of my cynicism.<br />
<br />
I still believe that what that conference represents is the best hope for our Movement.<br />
<br />
However, I cannot wait. <br />
<br />
If I was stronger, more hopeful, I'd fight it out and do what I could to point us back to our roots and suggest a place for people like me.<br />
<br />
But my faith has suffered so much. I have felt alone and disconnected from what used to feel like home.<br />
<br />
I prayed and prayed for God to show me the way forward.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG7z0MeLNLw9vRMr-NmyfxY63_Gr96K37KdZNQHYkXE3rs85FcSon3wsdsUq5fJwV4neqRfCDjN_OARVOOLQSrMT7xkL37xB56cIMWskXGqxlCeKSayQewTfOIEL7HDczv6jDu51TDxhyV/s1600/st.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG7z0MeLNLw9vRMr-NmyfxY63_Gr96K37KdZNQHYkXE3rs85FcSon3wsdsUq5fJwV4neqRfCDjN_OARVOOLQSrMT7xkL37xB56cIMWskXGqxlCeKSayQewTfOIEL7HDczv6jDu51TDxhyV/s320/st.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Group of German Brethren at their Annual Conference</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
And, as of now, I believe that way is the <a href="http://ogbbc.org/">German Brethren</a> (New Conference).<br />
<br />
This decision has been one of the most difficult I have ever made and will change the course of my life majorly, from my career (there are no paid ministers in this movement), to whom I marry, where I live, and so much more.<br />
<br />
I will always be a child of the Restoration Movement and will always draw wisdom from its leaders, leading lights, and voluminous writings.<br />
<br />
Yet, I am ready to move on, carrying with me all that it has taught me.<br />
<br />
Pray for me as I do so.Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05264291162336178412noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-22690598095167741762016-12-06T18:25:00.000-08:002016-12-06T18:25:03.098-08:00Should You Believe in the Trinity: Is Jesus Christ Almighty God? (Chapter One)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc2S5favlieBZErwBpLMlIYsE-ZpbT-gMY7MA3KQPHpsGbQ-qAaJAHkCgtUVHd5V6F8Reo5lNCec_Jt37eG9Ij4G_kvUva6O2u7Ut0uaDlweaBJLHxvfu6LlNyTNaUREnbgN-UIh-jVZuz/s1600/Bible%252BPic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc2S5favlieBZErwBpLMlIYsE-ZpbT-gMY7MA3KQPHpsGbQ-qAaJAHkCgtUVHd5V6F8Reo5lNCec_Jt37eG9Ij4G_kvUva6O2u7Ut0uaDlweaBJLHxvfu6LlNyTNaUREnbgN-UIh-jVZuz/s1600/Bible%252BPic.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">For the past several weeks, I have studied with Jehovah's Witnesses, members of one of the many millenarian, restorationist Christian traditions to spring forth from the American continent in the early 19th century.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Walking away from these meetings, I better appreciated where we agree and where we disagree.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This post is about where we disagree.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the publishing arm and one of the legal entities of Jehovah's Witnesses, publishes a brochure I am going to spend the next several blog posts reviewing.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It is titled, "Should You Believe the Trinity: Is Jesus Christ the Almighty God?"</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I have not been able to find this specific publication online, but if I do, I will include link to it in subsequent posts.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Chapter One: "Should You Believe it?"</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The brochure begins by asking, "Do you believe in the Trinity? Most people in Christendom do. After all, it has been the central doctrine of the churches for centuries. In view of this, you would think that there could be no question about it. But there is, and lately even some of its supporters have added fuel to the controversy" (3).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Here begins a pattern of inconsistency wherein if the logic employed in this brochure against the Trinity was used against positions held by Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs), those positions would be refuted, too.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">For example, the brochure implies that because the Trinity "has been the central doctrine of the churches for centuries" one would think "there could be no question about it."</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">However, this is obviously false, as belief in Jesus's virgin birth, his anointing by the Holy Spirit, his ministry of healings and exorcism, his ascension into heaven, and his revelation to John his apostle concerning the the Last Days, all teachings JWs would consider "central", have also been called into questions by supposed "supporters."</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Yet, the JWs do not argue that these beliefs are false or use the existence people who doubt these doctrines to undercut their thereof.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And, indeed, when we look at the individual "supporters" whom "Should You Believe the Trinity" (SYBTT) references, many of them hold rationalistic worldviews and use reasoning JWs would reject if such worldviews and reasoning were applied to their doctrines.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In proof of this, page three of SYBT quotes "one history source" a book titled "The Paganism in Our Christianity" as saying, "the origin of the [Trinity] is entirely pagan."</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Here it is important to add, in addition to using inconsistent reasoning, SYBT also engages in extensive quote mining, where various quotes are selected and featured for no reason other than that they agree with the position of JWs, while quotes from scholars who disagree are noticeably absent.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The author of "The Paganism in Our Christianity", Arthur Weigall, (1880-1934) has no apparent credentials to speak of that would make him in expert in Christian history, Christian origins, or Christian doctrine.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Indeed, his educational background was in Egyptology <sup>1</sup>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Furthermore, in his book "Paganism", which gets more playing time than the work of any other single author in SYBT, he not only asserts the Trinity is pagan, but that the virgin birth <sup>2</sup>, the calling of twelve disciples <sup>3</sup>, the atoning work of Christ on the cross <sup>4</sup>, worshiping on Sunday <sup>5</sup>, and the miracles of Jesus are all pagan in origin <sup>6</sup>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Unsurprisingly, he also rejects the belief that the New Testament is a reliable historical account <sup>7</sup>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">However, the Watchtower skips past his lack of qualifications, his disbelief in these many Bible doctrines, and his rejection of the reliability of the New Testament, and simply focuses on Weingall's rejection of the Trinity because that supports <i>their</i> position on the Trinity.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Furthermore, calling Weingall's book a "historical source", is as transparent as me quoting a biased Evangelical work on the history of Jehovah's Witnesses and calling it a "historical source".</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">This first chapter is only half a page long. In the next post we will examine chapter two of the brochure.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">References:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">1. See his biography, <i>A Passion for Egypt</i>, written by his granddaughter, Julie Hankey.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">2.<i> The Paganism in Our Christianity</i>, Arthur Weigall, 1928; 44, 60: It seems, in fact, that we have to deal with a contradiction due to the later insertion of the story of the Virgin Birth beside the earlier story of the descent of Jesus from David through Joseph; and, in this case, we may place its inception somewhere in the Second Century. The growth of such a story may well be understood, for tales of the births of pagan gods and heroes from the union of a deity with a maiden were common." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"The story of the Virgin Birth, as I have pointed out in Chapter IV, is derived from pagan sources."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">3. <i>The Paganism in Our Christianity</i>, Arthur Weigall, 1928, 25: "There is evidence, it is suggested, of the cult of a sun-god called Joshua or Jesus in primitive times, whose, twelve disciples were the twelve signs of the Zodiac and just as Jesus Christ with His twelve apostles came to Jerusalem to eat the Paschal lamb, so Joshua crossed the Jordan with his twelve helpers and offered that jamb on the other side, and so the Greek Jason -an identical name- with his twelve retainers went in search of the golden fleece of the lamb. It is pointed out that there are no contemporary or nearly contemporary references to Jesus in history, with the exception of those in the genuine Epistles of Paul and Peter, where, however, His life on earth is hardly mentioned at all, nor anything which really establishes Him as a historic personage." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">4. <i>The Paganism in Our Christianity</i>, Arthur Weigall, 1928, 10: "The worship of suffering gods was to be found on all sides, and the belief in the torture of the victims in the rites of human sacrifice for the redemption from sin was very general. The gods Osiris, Attis, Adonis, Dionysos, Herakles, Prometheus, and others, had all suffered for mankind; and thus the Servant of Yahweh was also conceived as having to be wounded for' men's transgressions. But as I say, this conception had passed into the background in the days of Jesus." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">5. <i>The Paganism in Our Christianity</i>, Arthur Weigall, 1928, 136: The Hebrew Sabbath having been abolished by Christians, the Church made a sacred clay of Sunday, partly because it was the day of the resurrection, but largely because it was the weekly festival of the sun; for it was a definite Christian policy to take over the pagan festivals endeared to the people by tradition, and to give them a Christian significance. But, as a solar festival, Sunday was the sacred day of Mithra; and it is interesting to notice that since Mithra was addressed, as Dominus, ‘Lord,” Sunday must have been ‘the Lord’s Day’ long before Christian times.” </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">6. <i>The Paganism in Our Christianity, </i>Arthur Weigall, 1928, p58: "The marvel is not that there are so many, but that there are so few, improbable stories told about Him, since He was acknowledged to be divine, and therefore was presumed to have performed miracles and to have been the cause of miraculous occurrences..These, and hundreds of similar stories in connection with other persons, were the talk of the world at the time of the composition of the Gospels. Everybody believed in miraculous events, in signs and wonders; and it was always assumed that saintly or divine personages showed their. power by performing miracles. Plotinus, the philosopher, is said, to have performed them; Apollonius of Tyana is credited with many miracles; and those told of the early Christian saints are far more numerous and far more extraordinary than are those of the Founder of the Faith."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">7. </span><i style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">The Paganism in Our Christianity, </i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Arthur Weigall, 1928, p58: "</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The earliest of the Gospels, that of St. Mark, did not assume its present form until between forty and seventy years after the death of our Lord, and the other Gospels are still later in date; and it is absolutely incredible that the stories about Him should have remained unexaggerated and unaugmented during that period. Tales about a popular hero invariably expand; and in the case of those relating to Jesus, who was accepted by His early followers at first as the God sent Messiah and then as the Son of God incarnate on earth, it is impossible to believe that they would not gradually have been embellished, or that some of them would not have been developed around an insignificant nucleus, or unconsciously borrowed from other sources, or even invented."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">I am indebted to the folks at Bible.ca for the quotes from Weigall's book. </span></div>
Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05264291162336178412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-33848187778915978342016-12-05T11:13:00.001-08:002016-12-05T11:13:13.971-08:00A Life in Review: My (Fake) Obituary <span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b> </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>O</b></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">n June 30th 1995, Eric James Miller was born. And on November 22nd 2061, at the age of 66, he passed from death unto life into an eternity with God. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">At three years old, Eric was adopted by his parents John and Debra Miller and was raised in the sprawling college town of Champaign-Urbana with his five older siblings. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">He received his MDiv from Cincinnati Christian University and his PhD in New Testament from the University of Chicago. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">From 2015-2025, Eric served at Western Hills Iglesia de Cristo, a small Spanish-speaking congregation in the Price Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati, during which time he finished his Undergraduate work, completed trade school to become a licensed electrician, and received a Master of Religion degree from Cincinnati Bible Seminary. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">While in Chicago, he started a church in the tradition of the OGBB, New Conference (it's a real denomination), the tradition he joined after leaving the CC/CO, citing a cascade of theological differences. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">After obtaining his degree, he returned to Cincinnati at age 36, working at an electrical supply company and planting an German Brethren congregation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> His life-long dream was to start a new Christian religion, but apparently God had done a good enough job the first time around. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Some of Eric's passions included ministry at the local abortion clinic, the homeless in downtown Cincinnati, English tutoring for the many Guatemalan and other immigrants in the Price Hill area , small Bible study fellowships, and community transformation as the Body of Christ took seriously Christ's call to be his hands and his feet. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Eric was known as a quiet, un-opinionated guy, who hated debate and controversy--yes he would have laughed, too. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Though Eric was known for wanting more than a dozen children, 19 to be exact, he could not shake the call of God on his life to devote himself to the work of the gospel as a single man and thus remained unmarried.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">In 2035, at the age of 40, Eric began to be overwhelmed with a need to go and bring the Gospel to the poorest of the poor. At this time, he began to learn Portuguese and 2 years later, dispossessed himself of his small house on Wells Street in Price Hill, gave his books to the church, and moved to the largest ghetto in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as a missionary. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">He lived and worked among the poor with modest fruit, for 12 years, convinced God has put him there for such a time as this. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">However, after serving in the favela for those years, Eric became seriously ill with Lyme Disease. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">His family used the money he had saved from years of secular work as an electrician to fly him home to Illinois to receive treatment. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It was a long haul, and while Eric survived, the debilitating side-effects of his disease made a return to Brazil impossible. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Eric recounted that this was one of the darkest times in his life and that he struggled to see God's plan in it all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">But then something unexpected happened. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">At the age of 55, three years after returning to the U.S. and re-settling in his hometown of Champaign, IL, Eric married. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">His wife-to-be, a widow whose husband of 20 years had died some five years previous, had been a chaplain at the hospital where Eric had stayed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And a year and half after their marriage, they adopted three siblings, aged 14, 16, and 17. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Eric worked full-time at Tepper Electric Supply Company, where his father had worked for over 35 years, and ministered as an elder at a local German Brethren congregation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">He traveled nationally engaging in debates and lectures on the existence of God, the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, the reliability of the New Testament, and Anabaptist Christianity.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">On November 22nd 2061, while biking home from work at 7 in the evening, Eric was struck by a drunk driver going the wrong way on a one way street. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">He was rushed to a nearby hospital, but did not survive the ambulance trip.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">He leaves behind his wife and three children, as well as three sisters and one brother. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">He is preceded in death by his parents and oldest brother.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">With everything he had, Eric tried to live a life of distinction. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">He was fond of saying, "If I am not filled with Christ", I have nothing to offer anyone else." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Also, make sure you pick up one of his many best-belling books in the back. </span><br />
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Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05264291162336178412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-39390163471921472512016-11-23T12:18:00.000-08:002016-11-23T12:18:13.873-08:00Eats with Sinners: Bake the Cake; Go to the Wedding; Stand Firm on the Word.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>B</b></span>y now it's an old question, but people are ready for a Christianity that does not fit the script.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">During my "youth group years", I adamantly argued for why I could never attend a same-sex wedding ceremony, lest I give "tacit approval" to that which God condemned had.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I still sympathize this view and respect those who hold it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is not my view any longer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So what changed?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For one, arguing for "tacit approval" ignores that people attend weddings and wedding receptions for all sorts of reasons, even if they don't totally agree with what's happening on stage or the beliefs and lifestyles of the bride or groom.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At bottom, we go because we love the person, we value our relationship, and because they invited us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Second, I met godly people who believed marriage was the exclusive union of man and woman, as I do and as Jesus taught in Matthew 19, but who had different views on the subject.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">These brothers and sisters were unwilling to put the slippery standard of "tacit approval" before real people and relationships, and the right they had earned to speak Christ into the lives of their gay friends.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Indeed, we all know Jesus ate and fellowshipped with sinners, tax collectors, and prostitutes. We also know Jesus was not soft on sin. This combination was difficult for the religious class of Jesus' day to swallow, but as disciples of Christ, we ought to embrace the paradox.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Third, I expanded my friend group and met gay people.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's easy to hypothesize in the abstract what you would do <i>before</i> such an occasion is even a remote possibility.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">However, once you make the leap from possibility to actuality, you realize relationships are messier than our hypotheses that fill the silence of Scripture with what we "know" is true based on our theological mathematics.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This leads to the wedding cake question. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You're a Christian baker and someone asks you to make a wedding cake for their same-sex marriage ceremony, do you or don't you?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Again, I respect those who say no and understand why they do so. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">However, if I make a nondescript wedding cake for a same-sex wedding, does that really mean I support that wedding?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How about instead of seeing the cake as affirming the wedding, we view it as affirming Christ's call to love and serve even those with whom we disagree?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It's just a proposal (oh, the puns).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Or perhaps this is one way we can creatively fulfill the Bible's commands to, "when your enemy is hungry", "give him something to eat" (<u>Romans 12:20</u>; <u>Proverbs 25:21-22)</u>?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is not to say we should go to every wedding or bake every cake, but that since God has not given us explicit commands here, we should allow room for Christians to decide what in the world they are going to do with that invitation in their mailbox or that order form on their desk. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That said, where Scripture has spoken clearly and directly on an issue, we need to stand firm on what God has revealed in His Word.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Bible is clear that God's intent and purpose in creation was to bring together the two halves of the sexual spectrum, male and female, into a life-long, life-giving, and loving union.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This precludes same-sex sexual relationships as part of God's plan for human beings.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While this is a hard teaching for many to accept and to hold as good and right, if we are followers of Jesus, we must do so.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In Christ's teaching on marriage we see a portrait of the <b>Bride of Christ </b>and the <b>Bride-groom</b>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We see a picture of <b>complementarity</b> in <b>difference</b>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We see <b>male</b> and <b>female</b>, <b>mother </b>and<b> father,</b> which alone create new life, a picture of God's desire in Eden.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is a good teaching and we must not shrink back from it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So bake the wedding cake and go the same-sex wedding ceremony and preach beauty of marriage as God designed it because since when does following Jesus fit well between the margins, anyway?</span>Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05264291162336178412noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5551045860810271141.post-59413130484481559052016-10-31T21:25:00.001-07:002016-10-31T21:25:59.680-07:00Flee Sexual Immorality: A Response to Hatmaker and Wolterstorff<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>A</b></span>s I read Jennifer Hatmaker's <a href="http://religionnews.com/2016/10/25/the-politics-of-jen-hatmaker-trump-black-lives-matter-gay-marriage-and-more/">interview</a> with Jonathan Merritt in which she affirmed same-sex relationships from a civil perspective, my first impulse was to find some justification.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I know more than one Christian who believes same-sex sex is sinful but does not believe it is the government's job to affirm that position. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jennifer Hatmaker</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">We're good so far.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And then she said the Church should offer marriage support to same-sex couples...that couples in such relationships are our brothers-in-Christ...and that such relationships can be holy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">What is more, joining this prominent evangelical author and speaker is prominent Reformed Christian philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff who recently <a href="http://www.calvin.edu/chimes/2016/10/22/wolterstorff-says-yes-to-same-sex-marriage/">stated</a> in a speech...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">“Once one says that a homosexual orientation is no more culpable or disordered than a heterosexual orientation, and once one observes that Scripture does not teach that God says that homosexual activity is always wrong, I think we’ve left to conclude that justice requires that the church offer the great good of marriage both to heterosexual couples committed to a loving, covenantal relationship, and to homosexual couples so committed.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Hatmaker and Wolterstorff occupy completely different worlds, but are well-known each in her/his own sphere and wield considerable clout.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I have read Hatmaker's books and listened to many Wolterstorff lectures and find myself grieved at what I can only describe as their apostasy from the faith.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nicholas Wolterstorff</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The reality is that Christ's Church has always believed what Jesus and the Apostles taught about marriage being a special union of man and woman, and the sinfulness of homosexual behavior. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Scripture is further clear that those who teach and lead other into sexual sin through false doctrine are no part of the flock of God <u>(<span style="color: #222222;">2 Peter 2:4-10</span></u><span style="color: #222222;">; </span><u>Jude 1:4</u>; <u>Rev. 2:20-23</u>), but are wolves among the sheep--hidden except for their aberrant teachings. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">There is no middle ground.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">If homosexual behavior keeps a person from the kingdom of God, which Scripture testifies it does (<span style="color: #222222;">1 Corinthians 6:9-11)</span>, those who teach God approves such behavior have no part in His Kingdom.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">The horror of it all is not just watching professing Christians walk the broad road to destruction, but seeing them drag unbelieving folks who identify as LGBTQ along with them in their confusion.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It is the opposite of what Paul told Timothy, that is, to watch his life and doctrine closely, that he might save himself and his hearers (1 Tim 4:16)<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: nowrap;">.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Furthermore, it leaves the many invisible Christians with same-sex attraction serving in evangelical churches around the country out to dry.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">It says our fight to process our attractions in light of our biblical faith in Christ is an ultimately unnecessary venture, as the Bible affirms same-sex relationships.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I say our, because I am one of those Christians.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">In my tender pre-teen years, I realized I had same-sex attraction and that my life would be very different as a result.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">On my bed one evening, I thought very clearly about my options: I could embrace my same-sex attraction as a gift from God or I could follow Christ in the fullness of his life and teachings.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I knew there was no middle ground.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I also knew there was no choice.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">There is no man on planet earth who could compare to Jesus Christ, who could take me away from his wise and beautiful counsel, or who could steer me from the ineffable love I have for God. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I praise God that millions upon millions of Christians in this country and around the world hold firmly to the truth about marriage and sexuality in light of Scriptural precepts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">And among their numbers are many same-sex attracted saints of God who have resisted the lies of the world and have fixed their eyes on Christ, refusing to make worldly philosophies the plum-line for their fight for a holy life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">They may not make the headlines, but they are there, in every church, in every community, and in every country.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">They do not hate, but speak the truth in love.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">After all, that is what Jesus did.</span>Eric Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05264291162336178412noreply@blogger.com2