Starting Over

We saw "Les Miserables" (the film) on Dec. 26th.  It was superb.  I hope you see it, if you have not.

The main character, Jean valJean, keeps starting over.  He must.  Given a generous dollop of grace by a priest from whom he has stolen, he takes a new name and creates a new life of responsible behavior.  Through inattention he permits a foreman who works for him to destroy a female employee.  He learns of it as she dies, and accepts the responsibility for her daughter.  He starts over.  Again.  Always he is haunted by Javier, a Guard (read policeman) with an obsession to catch him and put him back in penal servitude.  He is recognized and has to flee.  He starts his life anew -- again.  He simply does it, with grace and gritted teeth.

Javier, however, is forgiven by Jean valJean.  As the story nears it's end Javier sings his despair.  He doesn't know how to handle grace.  He is so invest ed in rigidity, rules, his understanding of righteousness that he cannot start over.  Rather than risk a new beginning, he plunges to his death.

I wonder:  when we refuse new beginnings are we simply committing suicide at some deep level?  Even if the body continues to move, the heart keeps beating, the lungs pump air -- has a person destroyed the possibilities of newness, new life, new relationships, new understandings and new hope?

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know. 

Did Jesus Cop Out?

People who have read the Old Testament with some diligence are aware that care for the poor was a mainstay of Old Covenant teaching.  It wasn't always done, or done well, but the Law and the Prophets are all consistent about it.  Even the Proverbs balance the ant and grasshopper saying with admonitions to care for the weak and powerless. 

So, given the heritage that Jesus was born into, I wonder if he copped out.  He said, almost dismissively, "The poor you will have with you always."  I have heard hundreds of Christians and preachers quote his words to suggest that we don't have to worry very much, if at all, about solving the problem of the poor.

Jesus didn't leave a blueprint, a plan, or a generation-spanning protocol.  Why not?

What do you think?  He did care for the outcasts of his society.  He lived in the heritage of care for the poor.  What do you think?  Did Jesus cop out? 

Leave a comment and let us know.

Bid Envy, Strife and Quarrels Cease

Well, I thought I saved this blog article for future comment.  It was published blank instead.  You may have gotten an eamil of it if you have subscribed.  My bad.  I apologize.

I want the Syrians to stop butchering one another.  I want the Hamas forces to stop shelling Israel.  I want Israel to stop building in Palestinian territory.  I want the warlords of various African nations to stop killing, and to stop enslaving children to make up the cannon fodder for their "armies".   That's big stuff, big pain, big terror.  My list could continue.

We sang "O Come, O Come Emanuel" in worship last Sunday.  The phrase in verse two that makes up the title for this blog entry hit me between the eyes.  For most of us, this is what needs to stop. 

The envy the rich feel for the middle and lower classes (they don't deserve what they have! they believe).  The strife between a few secretaries that can stop the two busiest ports in the nation and stop the work force of about 900,000 because they cannot get a hearing any other way.  The quarrels between grown people who act like whiny children.

Bid them cease.  (Whiny children get over it.  Grownups carry grudges for decades.)  Bid them cease.

How can you bid them cease in your own life?  How can you dig the envy out and just leave it in the trash can?  How can you do your part to stop the strife?  Can you quietly refuse to be baited?  Can you positively refuse to let others get your goat?

What about quarrels?  Can you find a way to talk it out, and come to an understanding, and then to reconciliation? 

It takes two to quarrel.  You cannot answer for the "other guy", but you can refuse to be one of those two.  You can move on, work through the grief, get the counseling, find diamonds in the dung heap of life.  You can, and you will get more skilled at it with practice.

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know. 

The [Abused] Power of Faith

"A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything."
Friedrich Nietzsche 

I'm not dissing faith.  But uninformed faith, faith in nonsense, faith that seeks to enslave others, and faith that is the result of mental dysfunction has the ability to take a person, or a group of persons, into hazardous realms.  I think of Jim Jones' cult that led to mass suicide.  All, or most, of the folks in that group had faith.  It took them to suicide, and it took them to causing massive grief to those who cared about them who were not in the cult.  

I was visiting in the hospital one afternoon when a man I had met outside the hospital accosted me, pushing me against the wall.  "You talk about Jesus Christd!" he bellowed.  "Well, you have met him.  I'm here in front of you.  Do you understand?"

He had "faith" that he was Jesus.  He was wrong.  His medications were off, or he wasn't taking them.  He was a great guy when he took his meds, and somewhat dangerous when he did not.  

I suspect that many of the people who carry suicide bombs into public markets and to the gates of institutions they fear or hate have faith.  Faith in Allah, faith that they will be rewarded in paradise, faith that they are doing the "right" thing.  But this is an abuse of faith, in my opinion.

What is your opinion?  What do you think about faith?  If faith is not tempered by agape' [love] which respects and wants good for others, would that be an abuse of 'faith'?

Leave a comment.  Let us know what you think.

God only rested. He didn't quit

So many people think the "seventh day" was the end of creation.

Baloney!

Without being a literalist we can let the words actually used speak to us.  On the seventh day God rested.  Then He/She continued the work of creation.  I believe that the evidence suggests that the work continues through the day your are reading this.

New life, new planets, new galaxies, new cures for diseases, possibly new diseases and many other creative expressions of God continue.

So conservative Christians have to struggle, to really work, to overcome their innate reach into yesteryear to in order to embrace the continually creating God.  The true Christian (or Jew or Muslim, for that matter) who believes in the Creator disclosed in Genesis 1 and 2 has to assume that yesterday's work is "old hat" to God.  Today and tomorrow will see new stuff.

Try this on for size:  embracing the concept that no person should be enslaved, in spite of societal acceptance of slavery in the Old Kingdom of Israel and Judah is part of the "new creation" of God.  Embracing the concept that women are equal in many ways to men, superior in other ways to men and usually less muscular than men is a way of embracing the continuing creativity of God.  Embracing that concepts that gays, lesbians, and transsexuals are loved by God and should be accepted by God's creation as valuable and worthy human beings is a way of embracing the God who continues to create. 

We should not be surprised that our culture is changing, that societal norms are changing.  In fact, from a faith perspective, they must change.  The Curia of the RC church has it all wrong.  Those who appeal to "the way it used to be" or "look to the old ways" have a fundamental flaw in their perspective.

God rested.  She/He did not quit.  Change is not a threat.  He keeps moving us towards the end game where we actually live somewhat like people created in the image of our Creator.

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know. 

Honor Your Father and Mother - 6 (final)

From the Urban Dictionary:

1.	Respect	923 up, 181 down
	It means valuing each others points of views. It means being open to being wrong. It means accepting people as they are. It means not dumping on someone because you're having a bad day. It means being polite and kind always, because being kind to people is not negotiable. It means not dissing people because they're different to you. It means not gossiping about people or spreading lies.   Yet more: 2. respect 1439 up, 304 down A quality seriously lacking in today's society And, finally. . .  3. respect 576 up, 168 down Something everyone expects, but has no willingness to show.  There is a spreading phenomenon through suburbia here in the Denver area where middle aged daughters are dissing their mothers, cutting their mothers off, refusing to speak to their mothers and generally exercising a lack of respect.   Sadly, most of the middle aged mothers I know call themselves people of faith, usually Christian, while acting as if their faith stinks.   At any rate, respect may mean honesty -- "This is what you do that really, really annoys me" -- but respect by it's inherent nature works to maintain, even enhance the relationship.  One more definition: 4. respect 233 up, 85 down To treat people in the manner in which you expect to be treated. To show consideration for another person's feelings and interests. An attitude demonstrating that you value another person. You should treat your friends with respect.   This is the heart, I believe, of "honoring [respecting] your father and mother.     Jesus seems to have expanded the concept to more than father and mother:  "Do to others what you would have them do to you."   How do you see it?  Leave a comment and let us know.

Honor Your Father And Mother - 5

OK, parents, how can we modify our behavior so that we don't "exasperate" our children, per the commandment mentioned in the last blog?  I've noted that we cannot help getting older unless we
a)  die
b)  don't get born
c)  go into a cryogenic storage unit and get frozen for a few hundred years.

But there are some things we can do, and some things we should not do.

Examine our behavior, especially when the children are young.  Ask for outside observations from people who are trustworthy and who are non-abusive.  If we are abusing our children physically, sexually or emotionally -- get the help we need to STOP doing so.  Now.  Abusive behavior is a form of bullying, and our children should not tolerate it and we must not tolerate it in ourselves.

Listen to ourselves.  If we have been telling the same old stories over and over -- STOP.  If we don't know any other stories, share observations about the news, get involved in here-and-now activities that give us something to talk about (new stories that we WILL NOT repeat over and over), or just learn to enjoy listening to our children.  We do not have to talk so much.

If we have been ridiculing them in any way, especially in front of others, STOP. 

Don't play favorites.  If we have more than one child, treat each as an individual, but don't "like" one more than another.  Don't even give the impression that they have to compete for your love, your attention, or your help.

Be present to your children.  Put the smart phone away (maybe even turn it off).  Have at least breakfast and dinner together at least five days a week.  Seven days a week is better.  Leave the iPad or iPod aside so you can pay attention, listen, observe, and interact. 

As the children mature, give them more and more input into the ways the family spends it time -- vacations, days off, after school, etc.  While kids should have personal time, having to always to go the beach for vacation may be getting old.  Who wants to go to the mountains, or to a city that will be new to all of us, or just stay home and explore our own area?

What do you think?  What can we do to fail?  Fail to exasperate our children?  Leave your comment and let us know. 

Honor Your Father and Mother - 4

What must fathers and mothers do to honor their children?  In Ephesians (6:4) the apostle Paul writes, "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."  Let's kick this off from that perspective.

My first premise is this:  all parents exasperate their children, at least by the time the children are teenagers.  This continues for the rest of their lives.  If it was true during the first century, C.E., it's even more true now.

The music my mother loved was s o o o o different from the music I loved.  The assumptions about reality my father had were so out of step with the assumptions a young adult in the 1950's was able to have.  The assumptions I live by, even though I work to live the "examined life" and change with the changes in my environment are immensely different than the assumptions my children have about living and being successful. 

That's one point. 

The other is this:  as we parents decline physically simply by getting older, we begin to repeat ourselves.  We find ourselves depressed when we are required to retire.  We aren't as much fun to be around in the ways we were when we were younger. 

Some of us drool.  Some of us forget things.  Some of us don't hear as well.  You get the picture.  For the go-get-up young adult, this is exasperating!  "God!" she thinks, "I can't stand to be around my [mother] [father] [grandma] [grandpa]. 

Sorry, kids.  Just as you couldn't help being young when you were born, parents can't help being old when they age. 

Suck it up.

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know. 

Faith and Fantasy

As I wondered about obsession and people who obsess, I began to think about mild obsessions.  The examples that came to mind include:

• being sure one eats only vegetables
• being sure to take the "right" supplements several times a day
• exercising excessively when you aren't a sports figure, or in training for something like a marathon
• behaving in such a way as to be sure to only be "friends" with the "right people"
• compulsively trying to look younger than one is
• needing the TV on all the time
• needing to be on the phone all the time
• needing to text all the time
• needing to blog all the time

It makes me wonder.  What are the consequences?  Are the payoffs worth it?

For some people, going to a therapist is de rigeur.   Most of us, however, avoid couselors and therapist.  When a person has one or more mild obsessions, it could be useful to talk with someone in a counseling or therapeutic role about your behavior and your feelings.  If you are compulsive about vitamins, however, talking with a GNC rep or a vitamin store rep is not probably the best kind of counselor to help you get an objective, helpful point of view. 

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know. 

Honor your Father and Mother - 3

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Respect/honor your father and mother by communicating.  Can you be clear?  You do not do well to psychoanalyze your parent, but respect means clear communication.  It's not just about what bugs you about your parent.  It is also what you value.

Did you parent torment you by making you learn to play the piano?  Maybe so, and maybe the time comes when you can say so.  But has there been value in your life because you learned music, or learned to memorize better, or learned self-discipline?   Can you communicate verbally, in writing, or via a video, with your parent(s)?  It is a way of honoring that parent.

Is your parent currently bothering you.  "I can't stand to be around my dad!" you scream so that your kids and the whole neighborhood can hear you.  Does your father have any idea what he does that bugs you?  Saying, "You know what this is about!" and clamming up is not only no help, it is a way of dishonoring and disrespecting him.

Be clear.  Be reasonably unemotional (no screaming, shouting, finger-pointing).  Be useful when you communicate.

You might have to make it "about you".  But honoring your parent is about the parent and the social community as well as about you.  It is never just about you.

If you have brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces -- close friends and godparent(s) -- they are living proof that it is not just "about you".  You live in a social environment, a community, and even if you did not choose it, respect/honor says you acknowledge that all these people are

• real
• important
• active
• involved.

Honor/respect your father and mother.

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know.

Honor Your Father and Mother - 2

Remember -- your comment is valued.  Leave a comment, and sign up for an email notification when a new entry is posted.

What might it look like in a transient, fast-moving society like ours to "honor/respect your father and mother"?

I suppose we must generalize and speak of three or four ways you can respect even a  parent who doesn't deserve respect.  But first -- remember the post on "Love".  I believe the New Testament concept promoted by Jesus of Nazareth to "Love your neighbor" and "Love your enemy" means, primarly, a "profound, compassionate respect".  First Corinthians 13, verses 4 - 8a describe this behavior.  Thus "Honoring" even a non-deserving parent is no different than obeying Jesus to agape' your fellow believer, neighbor or enemy as you would agape' yourself.

Oh, darn!  Why did following Jesus get in this mix?

At least this takes "liking" your parent, or neighbor, or enemy, or even yourself, out of the equation.  It may be much to late to "like" or "feel friendly towards" or even "want to spend time with" the person whom we respect. 

First, listen.  Listen to what they say, and listen to what they are.  To paraphrase my brother in law, "My parent is what she/he is." 

• Alcoholic.  
• Sick.  
• Aging.  
• Failing.  
• Confused.  
• Successful.  
• Learning.  
• Incomplete.  
• Addicted.  
• Compulsive.  
• Bossy
• Kind
• Generous 
• Manipulative 
• Hospitable

The list could go on.  My parent is what she/he is.  Respect means listening to what the parent or parents have become.

Second, listen for how the parent(s) got there.  Were they damaged in a war zone?  Hurt by a spouse failing to return from battle?  Abandoned by a spouse or parent?  Laid off during a recession with no chance to appeal?  Hit by a drunken driver?  Are you respecting this person or these persons by listening for causes you cannot even imagine living through?

Third, listen for hopes and dreams, most of which are unrealized.  Disappointment can warp and twist  a person.  Has disappointment, or a sequence of disappointments, impacted your parent's way of seeing the world?  You may think you would have responded very differently (and maybe you would have, given the opportunities your parent provided for you, but respect means listening with ears, emotions and empathy.

You still don't have to like your parent(s) but are you respecting/honoring them by listening?

Leave a comment and let us know what you think, and what you are experiencing. 

Honor Your Father and Mother

Be sure and sign up for an email notification when a new entry to this blog is posted.  I would enjoy your comments and feedback. ...Al

In the Christian, Jewish and Muslim world, this is considered one of the Ten Commandments, and thought to have "super" authority over people of faith.

Ideas to work with:

• "that it might go well with you in the land" -- properity relates to honoring father and mother
• "Father and Mother" -- Parents of both sexes are to be held in honor, not just the Father.
• "Honor" -- what does that mean?
•  does "honoring" involve communication?
• What if the parents are drug addicts, murderers of innocents, etc.  How does this obligation apply?
• Is it possible that this is meant to support and sustain the "mainstream" where there is actually a family?
• Does prosperity come better to strong families of several generations than to fragmented family members?

I want to work with these ideas and questions for several blogs.

Children in the United States often have problems with the word, "Honor".  If they understand their parents to have been abusive, or emotionally distant, or to have abandoned them through divorce or even death, it is hard to understand this word, "honor" as something they should give.  After all, shouldn't one's parents deserve honor?  And if they deserve contempt, or death, or exclusion -- how can God possibly demand honor?


Honor is a somewhat ambiguous term, and there may be a better translation of the Hebrew.  The other word I find that translates the Hebrew word is "respect".  Respect your father and mother. 

We think of the Old Testament covenant people as a patriarchal culture, and it was, but the mother gets equal billing here.  In the next blog I want to look at what "honoring" or "respecting" might look like in the 21st century.

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know.

The Good Old Way

The spiritual in "Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?" has the phrase, "the good old way."  I got to thinking about the "good old way" the other day, and these thoughts are quite mixed. 

The "good old way" feels a lot like coming home.  It feels like safety, comfort, agreement with history, revisiting what is known.  In terms of faith, it feels something like "agreeing with God, and God knowing I agree."  Tension ebbs, relaxation and vigor increases.

In terms of what we really get with the "good old way," however, we get more than we bargained for.

We get. . .

• racism
• sexual oppression
• hypocrisy
• Sunday-go-to-meetin' participants
• most people living in poverty
• undo deference being given to power (economic or political)
• the use of religion to shackle people

just to name some of the less worthy parts of "the good old way."

I speak not only of the Christian faith (but that is easy to see).  How about the good old way in China?  Old enough for binding feet and making cripple of young girls and women? 

How about the "good old way" of Islam, when villages were slaughtered and conquest was more important than faith?

How about the "good old way" in Hindu cultures, with the caste system and god-awful poverty rampant?

The more I ponder it, the "good old way" wasn't very good.  It's just sort of familiar. 

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know. 

Scaredy Cat

I get it.  Do you?

Many, many men are terrified.  Scared.  Wetting their pants in panic.

If women continue to take control of their bodies (only getting pregnant when they are ready and willing), continue learning and doing many things skillfully and competently, and speak out, the scaredy cat men are afraid that the whole house of cards built on illusion and guilt will blow away in the winds of change.

The Vatican and many American bishops have taken the majority of women in religious vocations in the Roman Catholic church to task for their perceived failure to shut up and be submissive.  These women who help the poor, educate all sorts of kids and generally keep the church somewhat relevant (to God, if not to the scaredy-cat males) are not backing down.  It might be that they trust God more than they trust the male hierarchy of the church.

Men running for office seek to dis-empower women by refusing them choice, refusing to believe rape is rape, eliminating statutory rape as an exemption from women's rights, and generally verbally and practically keeping women "pregnant in the summer" and "barefoot in the winter".

It should never have been allowed in any historial period, and reverting to it now in the name of religion is probably blasphemy and deserving of damnation.  The notion that God made "man", meaning humans, in his or her own image -- male and female created he them -- equally but different -- does not need to put fear in any man's bowels.  That it does may be the best argument against evolution, at least of humans, going.

I get it.  Women are different, in mental, spiritual and physical ways.  That means men are different as well.  Different is O.K. with God.

Not so much with most right-wing scaredy-cats.

What do you think?  Do you "get it"?  Leave a comment and let us know.

Harmless and Helpful

"Many of us saw religion as harmless nonsense. Beliefs might lack all supporting evidence but, we thought, if people needed a crutch for consolation, where's the harm? September 11th changed all that. " 
Richard Dawkins

Religion, as differentiated from faith, is never harmless.  Atrocious people commit horrendous atrocities in the name of religion.  Crucifixion, castration, segregation, terrorism, bombing, torture, compelling to conformity, shunning, shaming, ad going to war have been done in the name of religion, and are being done in the name of religion.  September 11 did not change anything -- religious leaders and followers have engaged in atrocities in the name of religion for millennia.  No major religion has exempted itself from these horrors.  

I am a person of faith who grasps the scientific method with both hands.  Where evidence can lead, I am willing to follow.  As a human being I find compassion, caring, giving and respecting lead to better living than does disrespect, contempt, indifference, uncaring, greed and putting myself first.  I am not interested at all in participating in a religious group because while my little part of it may not indulge in evil, religion inevitably will.

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know.   

The Ultimate Authority

I was talking with a friend, and mentioned that we attend a church that is "welcoming and affirming".  What that means is, we welcome and affirm Gays, Lesbians, etc.  His response was predictable:  "How can you do that and claim you are a Christian?"  (Add some explanations points to get the tone of voice.)

I said, "Because God in Jesus Christ welcomes all sorts of people.  Paul said 'All have sinned.'  Jesus said, 'Whoever believes. . . '  If can accepts and welcomes people, what right do we mortals have to reject them?"

"But it's against nature ," said my friend.

"Since when has nature been given ultimate authority over us," I asked.  "If nature causes an earthquake, are we prohibited from digging out victims and giving them assistance, because, 'Nature has spoken'?  If a volcano erupts and displaces and kills thousands of people, do we refuse the survivors help because, "Nature is the ultimate authority, and has decreed that these people are bad.'?  If a forest fire rages, do we help people fight the fire and evacuate as necessary because, "Nature wants these people killed and homeless."

That's nonsense thinking, not faith reasoning.  Certainly not Christian faith reasoning.

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know.

Yes, but... 2

From the inside:
  The person who puts a coat over his head and wraps it around his face sees the lining of the coat.  If it's a flannel pattern, and there is a little light to see by, he sees the flannel pattern.  He can describe the intricacies of the pattern, the texture, maybe some hidden stitches. 

From the outside:
  The person looking at this guy with a coat wrapped around his head sees a guy who thinks it's important, or appropriate, to wrap a coat around his head. 

From the inside:
  The person inside a faith, such as Christianity, who has enough light to see by sees details within the faith.  He or she memorizes Bible verses, reads the whole Bible, listens to teachers and preachers of all sorts.  He or she can describe the intricacies of the inside of the faith.  Why is contraception wrong?  What did the tribe of Levi do right or wrong?  Should women be allowed to wear jewelry?  The answers are in the warp and woof of the lining.

From the outside:
  The person outside a faith sees something of the character of God.  If looking at the Christian faith, she or he sees a God reaching out in love and forgiveness and grace.  If looking at the Jewish faith she or he sees a God who made a covenant with a particular tribe.  If looking at the Muslim faith, he or she sees a God demanding ritual worship and absolute obedience.

Yes, but . .
  but the patterns looks like this from the inside.  The texture feels soft from the inside.  You don't have the right coat around your face if you don't acknowledge the particulars of detail the way I see them.

I suggest we unwrap the coat and look at the faith movement we are examining from the outside.  What is the defining aspect.  All that other junk is just, "Yes, but. . . "

What do you think?  Share your views and let us know.

Yes, but...

Commonly folks (leaders and non-leaders) in the Christian church agree that in order to be a Christian you have to

• accept Christ
• put your faith in Christ
• trust Christ
• make a public witness that you have done one of the above. 

That's pretty much understood, and seems to be what the early Christian movement understood.

Yes, but. . . as Christian witness spread to Gentile communities some folks demanded that others trust Christ, or follow Christ, or. . . AND obey the Jewish food regulations and other rules.  Starting in Acts 15:19 we read a disavowal of these legaisms.  Well, most of them.  In practice, Gentile Christians ignored the few rules the Council tried to lay on them. 

Ever since then Church leaders have been saying "Yes, but. . . " in varying ways. 

• "Yes, but you have to take communion at least once a year."   
• "Yes, but you have to obey the bishop/priest/pope."
• "Yes, but you have to belong to the right church movement or denomination."
• "Yes, but you have to be baptized by immersion." 
• "Yes, but you cannot have a drinking problem."  
• "Yes, but you cannot be a divorced person."  
• "Yes, but you cannot be gay." 
• "Yes, but you cannot have women in leadership."
• "Yes, but you cannot. . . "

You get the picture.  God in Jesus Christ is too loving, to grace-ful for most Christians. 

What is your "Yes, but..."?  What steps are you taking in prayer, in thinking, in growing to move beyond your "Yes, but..." to a fuller faith in Jesus?  Leave a comment and let us know. 

Faith Through Change

In the twentieth century contraception was accepted by most major Christian groups.  The Roman Catholics would have approved it except the Pope said, "No."  Most opted for change.  One man did not, and the group he led followed his anti-change policy.  Which leads me to wonder with you about Faith and Change.  (I capitalize these words to give them the emphasis I want to to experience.)

At another time in history change was rampant.  Greek dominance had given way to the growing Roman Empire.  Philosophers and playwrights were raising questions about the gods, and Jewish leaders were divided between the ultra traditionalists (legalists) and the more liberal leaders who risked change.  Jesus of Nazareth began teaching.

Jesus found himself between the various factions with differing attitudes towards change.  Generally he strongly resisted the anti-change folks in the power elite.  But he castigated the Pharisee group who, though promoting a little change, wouldn't change much.  He taught with phrases such as, "You have heard it said of old. . . but I say to you."  That's a formula for change.

He spoke with women.  He, seemingly reluctantly, extended God's grace to a non-Jewish woman in the Phoenician region.  He used the Temple but was not in awe of the Temple.  He forgave Roman soldiers and leaders who crucified him. 

In other words, thoughtfully, slowly, and maybe painfully Jesus embraced change. 

Not all change feels good.  But change comes anyway.  I believe Jesus provides a helpful example for us to live in a world that changes while learning to embrace new possibilities without using religion as a crutch for conservative, head-in-the-sand attitudes, rhetoric and decisions. 

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know. 

ANTI -- What Christianity Has Come to be Known For

Does the "ANTI" reputation come from too much Old Testament influence?  Jesus pretty much taught us to get over that when he use the phrases, "You have heard it said of old. . . . but I say to you."

What he said was far less "anti" and far more inclusive than what had been said in tradition and in the Old Testament writings.  As I see it, not many religious people identifying with the Christian church pay much attention to Jesus.  He doesn't seem to hate as much as they want to hate.

Isn't it strange that the Roman church hates gays and lesbians but keeps protecting priests who abuse children using gay practices?  Isn't it strange that heterosexual escapades and abuses are O.K. in evangelical Protestant churches, even covered up as well as forgiven, but hating people who are faithful, loving couples (and happen to be gay) is the approved modus operandi?

ANTI.  Anti booze, anti equality of races, anti equality of women, anti Protestant, anti Semitic, anti Catholic, anti progress, anti science, anti change, anti vaccinations, anti higher education, anti thinking, anti fashion, anti youth, anti the elderly, anti . . .

I'm not sure one person can balance that out.  Jesus tries.  He seems to fail.

What do you think?  (Not what are you against, by the way.)  Leave a comment and let us know.

Useful Fanaticism

First, a fanatic fails to think clearly.  A fanatic fails to take alternate points of view seriously.  A fanatic fails to be either faithful or useful.  Ultimately a fanatic succeeds only in destructive belief and destructive behavior.

Having said that, I believe that some persons are fanatical by nature.  Some quirk of their brain, or hormones, or enzymes makes them tend to fanaticism.  Sad, but possibly true.

For such people I recommend being. . .

• a fanatic for the life of Jesus
• a fanatic for the teaching of Jesus
• a fanatic for living as Jesus said to live
• a fanatic for brushing aside the idiocy of ideology
• a fanatic for returning again and again and again to Jesus.

Love your neighbor as yourself.
You have heard. . . but I say to you.
Judge not.
Ask. . . Knock. . . Seek. . .
No person knows the time or the place, not even the Son.
Do to others what you wish them to do to you.
Love your enemies, do good to those who use you badly.

Intent on such teachings and examples from Jesus, a fanatic for them will do harm, but not as much.

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know.

Degrees of Faith and Reason

In a recent blog article (Thinking about Thinking) I wrote about the irrational behavior of Jews, Christians and Muslims who assign “sacred value” to things.  All three religious groups assert in their primary teachings that only God is sacred.  To believe otherwise is idolatry.

Yet the “faith” of people who cannot see their God, taste their God, touch their God in the way that they can touch a piece of toast violates the commandment, “Have no other gods before me.”  

In some cases, the faith of some people seems to assign the “sacred” to something because it is old.  Old church buildings, old teachings that were wrong when they were new, old doctrines that were racist, sexist or otherwise flawed -- but they are “ancient”, say some with reverence.

I recall a good friend of faith who once said that the best thing about the ‘good old days’ is that they are gone!  She had lived through the “good old days” of the Great Depression, and knew what she was talking about.  

Only God is sacred.  We don’t stand on ‘holy ground’ -- only God is holy.  Use the mind God created to tone your faith into something beyond mere superstition.

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know. 

Heterosexuals Not Allowed To Marry

Heterosexuals have proven they are unfit for marriage!  Their history of infidelity, abuse, viciousness, emotional coldness, using sex as a weapon, and (generally in the USA) failing to provide a safe, nutritious diet for their children is bad enough.  But they are also predatory.  The vast majority of men are “on the prowl” when they go away from home, and probably a simple majority are looking for someone to bed even when living at home.  Heterosexual men and women prey on children, adolescents and people of maturity.  Heterosexual men and women prey on high school students, middle school students and some (admittedly, a few) prey on very young children.  

It’s wrong.  It’s not natural.  One man, one woman, ‘till death do us part, is what the church teaches is natural, right and good.  Clearly, the majority of heterosexuals are not in the will of God, and should be prohibited from the sacred sacrament of marriage.  

Aren’t these some of the arguments used to deny homosexuals the right to marry?

The Above is a Parody.  See “Reflections on a Parody”.

What do you think?  Submit a comment and let us know. 

Reflecting on a Parody - Feelings

A good friend commented on my recent post about heterosexuals not being allowed to marry.  He was taken aback by the harsh tone.  I explained that it is a parody of the kind of things people say as a rationale for denying gay and lesbian people the right to marry.  On reflection I added the phrase to the blog, "This is a parody".

I reflected some more.  Many of us who are know gay and lesbian folks know them as grandmas and grandpas, kindly souls, gentle souls, folks who are easy to be around.  Keep that in mind.

Then keep my friend's concern that I was being harsh, painting heterosexual men as scumbags, unfaithful, etc.  That would hurt a lot of good guys in churches we know.

I kept reflecting through a couple of games of Solitaire.  If that would hurt these heterosexual men, what feelings do gay and lesbians feel when they read such things about "all homosexuals" and "all gay men", and so forth?

I reflected that it is fairly normal to feel concern for the tender feelings of our heterosexual friends and forget that homosexual people have the same feelings when they are unfairly painted with a brush coated in slime. 

Hmmm.  Do you suppose that all humans feel hurt, resentful, and even angry when lumped in to a generalization that doesn't describe them?  Might God resent the way his kids are being tarred?

What do you think?  Leave a comment and let us know. 

The Size of Faith

With death staring us in the face most of the time, I wonder if people’s faith is large enough.  Let me clarify.

I know a number of people who have enough faith to believe God could heal someone they know and care about.  Sometimes they have to “pump up” that faith by meditating, reading Bible verses, praying and fasting.  O.K.  I think that’s cool.

Sometimes their faith stops right there.  They seem deeply afraid of death.  Death signifies defeat, disaster, lack of faith, or a poor self-image.  The “size” of their faith is limited to life in this world.

Other people have looked death in the face and do not seem afraid of it.  Their faith is something like this:  “I am with God here and I will be with God hereafter, because God deeply respects and cares about me.  And my family.  And the world God created.”

Their faith goes beyond this life and into whatever comes after we stop living in this body in this life on planet Earth (or the moon or wherever we might find ourselves in the future).  Death is not a defeat but a gateway, a transition time, an opporunity to get closer to God.

Granted, many religions use religious teaching to terrify people with the prospect of death.  They sling guilt, thunder denunciations and threaten punishment (rather than consequences).  And many of us have been brainwashed by such ranting, even when the ranting sounds sane and logical.  But. . .

What is God like?  Who has faith enough for the simple statement, “God is agape’ (love)?  That is the true measure of one’s faith.

What do you think?  Leave a comment and share with us. 

Invisible

Who is invisible?

Pastor Anne told the story of a pastor who worked with his upper-middle class congretaion in a Pennsylvania city.  The neighborhood had changed from upper middle class to mostly blue-collar, Hispanic folks.  He and the congregation had worked to simply befriend, get acquainted, participate in the community. 

Some of the community who did landscaping, gardening and yard work wanted to express their appreciation and offered to spiff up the church grounds for Easter, on Easter.  The pastor was delighted and said, "I don't know anything about landscaping, and can hardly work a shovel, but I want to help."  They agreed.

On Easter morning they were all working as people came to the Easter service.  No one recognized the pastor among the workers.  They were all invisible.  (Did I forget to mention that the pastor was from a country in Central America and "looked" just like the other workers?)  They were all invisible in their work clothes and hoodies to the congregation until the pastor began saying, "Hi" to some of them. 

No need to get on our high horse about the eyesight (vision) of the members of that church.  The real faith question for century 2 is this:  "Who is invisible to me?  to you?  Who is it you don't even know you can't see, don't see, and possibly do not want to see?

What do you think?  Leave a comment and share your thinking with the rest of us.

Welfare and God

The label “entitlement” is being used by conservative Christians for Medicare and Social Security.  “Entitlement” is usually used as a label of nastiness.  It seems one step removed from “welfare”.  We know about “welfare moms” [sneer, sneer], and how lazy people on welfare are.  They want someone else to pay their bills.  How awful.  They want others to do for them what they should be able to do for themselves.

And yet these conservative Christians pray.  They ask God, or Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, to do  things for them.  

• “Heal my child.”  
• “Help me get the job I want/need.”  
• “Watch over Aunt Madge.”  
• “Fill me, Lord.”
• This list seems endless.

Sounds like hypocrisy to me.  They want welfare.  They want someone else (God) to do things for them, to provide things for them, that they should provide for themselves.  

Amazing.  Even more amazingis this.  God invites us to pray.  Jesus commanded his followers to pray.  He taught people to seek welfare.

Could this conservative sneer be a sign of selfishness and disobedience.  We really don’t want to be like God, and like God wants us to be? 
Oh.  Medicare?  Social Security.  We who receive their benefits paid into them for years.  Often that Social Security deduction really, really hurt.  Of course we are entitled!


What do you think?  Leave your comment and let us know. 

Biblical Discipleship in 2012 - Part Two

Did you read the Gosepl of Mark straight through, between ten and 24 times?  I hope so.  Here are some questions to ponder if you have done so. If you haven't done the reading, turn away from your screen, grab a modern English version of the New Testament and do the reading.  Good News for Modern Man, New International Version, The Message -- all are worthy translations for this project.

Questions worth pondering:

• What are the followers of Jesus like?  (skilled?  have all the answers?  compliant?  wise?  etc.)
• What leadership style does Jesus use?
• How important is it to "be right"?
• If your boss in 2012 managed you like Jesus manages the disciples, how would you probably feel?

I find it helpful to

1. write down answers and impressions when I think about questions like these
2. talk with at least one other person about what I am thinking and learning

Try it.  This could be an important route to faith in century 21, year 2012.

What do you think?  What has been your experience?  Leave a comment and let us know. 

Biblical Discipleship in 2012

I recommend people read the Gospel of Mark.  Read it between ten and 24 times without reading any other passages of the Bible.  Read the Gospel of Mark in one sitting, beginning to end.  (It's short -- don't turn it into "verses" but read it as the story it was written to be.)
Think about it.  Don't think about verses.  Think about the story, like you would think about a movie story, or a story like "Sarah's Key".  Think, then reflect, then wonder.

• What about this story "grabs" you?  
• What about this story "bothers" you?
• What about this story seems "contradictory" to you?

O.K.  You are thinking, wondering, pondering -- the whole story.  That's good.  More tomorrow.
 
What do you think?  What has been your experience?  Leave a comment and let us know. 

Faith and the Real World

As I have gotten back into attending church, I ponder the connections and disconnects between my faith and the "real world".  E.g., especially the institution of the church (it could be mosque, synagogue, temple, cathedral, etc.)

I am tempted to slide into thinking I don't need the gritty stuff of the world, and can live by by pure faith, whatever that might be.  Instead I push myself back to the realization that I learned enough to have faith by reading the Bible (flawed), listening to church school teachers (very flawed, usually superstitious), and attending worship experiences in church buildings, by campfires, and on retreats (often manipulative, usually less than intellectually honest).  The same is true for people of other faiths.  No rabbi, no monk, no mosque, and no imam is free from prejudice, partial understanding and limits on what he or she knows. 

the Real World -- it's all we have, even in century 21.  Without it, our faith couldn't exist except as vague, amorphous wishful dreaming.  But reconciling our yearning for a growing, deepening faith with the flaws in the real world can be difficult, if not impossible. 


What do you think?  What has been your experience?  Leave a comment and let us know. 

Should People of Faith Hate Perversion?

I keep running into right wing folks -- Christian, Jews, Muslims -- who hate perverts.  They can tell me explicitly what and who a pervert it.  Usually it has something to do with the way one handles her or his sexuality.  And, by golly, it turns out that we should HATE perverts.  Keep them out.  Expunge them.  Destroy them.  Deny them any rights of citizenship or humanity.
So, I got to wondering.  Is it the duty of a person of faith to hate perverts?
If it is, must we expand or narrow our explicit description of a "pervert"?
For instance, if a person professes to be a loyal follower of Jesus, and hates a 'pervert', is that person a pervert?  After all, Jesus said we should. . .

• love our neighbors
• love our brothers and sisters
• love our enemies.

So, hating, backbiting, gossiping about, shunning, excluding up to murdering another human who might be a neighbor, brother, sister or enemy is a perversion of our profession of loyalty to Jesus.
Muslim folks tell me that the way of Islam is the way of Peace.  I guess you see where I am going here.  If a follower of Islam is not a person of peace, is that "follower" a pervert?
Jewish folks also talk about people people of "Shalom", or peace.  Same question.
Or are perverts only people whose sexuality we happen to despise?