Postponing by Predicting?

“It has been taught that three things come when the mind is diverted: The Messiah, finding a lost article and a scorpion.

So don’t postpone his coming by thinking about it![ii]”

I was taught as a young man that we can speed up the coming of Christ by reaching the whole world with His message. Now here, the writing of Jesus’ colleagues suggest that there are also ways we can slow it down.{emphasis in original}

Can this be true?

And if so, why?

....If we expect things, we tend to handle them. Our humanity wants to handle God. We secretly hope to force Him into some kind of deal. Deadlines and deals seem to go hand in hand.

But God is not only unimaginable. He is also unmanageable.

[via BROOKE GALE LUBY WRITES, HT: comment at this post at Jesus Needs New PR]

Biblical Justification

“Talibaptists.”

For me, that one word just about says it all by way of response to Ware’s way of thinking.

The sad thing is how unsurprised I was by Ware’s remarks. That’s because the same sick belief-system bleeds over into the arena of clergy sex abuse.

Men who abuse their wives do so because of their need for control and dominance. With Southern Baptist teachings on “biblical manhood,” those abusive men find biblical justification for their dominance.

Baptist clergy sex abusers also have control and dominance issues. And guess what? They also use biblical justification. Why? Because their victims were raised from the cradle to believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God.

“The Bible tells me so.” Every 3 year-old in a Baptist Sunday School sings that song. If the Bible says it, then I believe it, and that’s what I must do. It’s what we were all taught. Thinking otherwise wasn’t even thinkable.

Clergy-predators know how to exploit that early indoctrination. They become masters at biblical perversion and they turn the word of God into a weapon.

They even convince themselves they’re entitled. After all, they’re called by God Himself. And countless other Southern Baptists fall into that same thinking whenever an abuse victim tries to speak up. “Touch not mine anointed!”

[via Stop Baptist Predators]

Love is much more demanding than law.

- Desmond Tutu. [via Kevin Powell]

Lent to Justice

Sure I joked with my friends about giving up homework for Lent and even flirted with giving up chocolate a few times (how significant is denial if it doesn’t lead to spiritual reflection?), but Lent remained an odd tradition I played at and not a habit I embraced. I respected the idea of discipline, but balked at the legalism of giving up something just because that is what people do during Lent. Perhaps hearing my friends complain about how desperate they were for a cola and not hearing anything about how they had been affected spiritually fed my confusion. Lent just didn’t make sense, at least not in the popular ways I saw it conveyed and practiced.

Then I discovered the connection between Lent and justice.

[via Next-Wave Ezine, HT: onehandclapping]

More of Ridicule Than Indignation

Christians and The Golden Compass

[via Faith and Theology, HT: Ponderings on a Faith Journey]

Hollow Graves...

At Halloween our modern cultural rituals are a dim reflection of the historical practice of connecting with and honoring those who have come before. We lost the true meaning, but keep the trappings in hopes that we can connect in some way to something bigger than ourselves. We bring out the ghosts, jack-o-lanterns, and black cats not understanding what they mean, but longing nonetheless to grasp hold of a fleeting glimpse of the mysterious. We watch horror movies in hopes that fear, as raw and intense of an emotion as it is, will at least make us feel something beyond ourselves. But these things still remain trappings of a world in which we don't fully believe.

Trappings of a world in which we do not believe....

I do not fear Halloween because I only see a hollow artifice without roots (not that I fear those roots, but that's another story). But I do fear Christianity when it is a hollow artifice. Trapping of a world in which we do not believe can be dangerous.

[via onehandclapping]

Personal Sacrifice, or Cheating Infidelity?



[via Blue Christian on a Red Background, from this post]



[noted via Opinion- USA Today, HT: MUSE MACHINE]

China's reincarnation station checkpoint[via The Wittenburg Blog]

and in the comments by Tyler L.:

Coming up next, America to limit the number of blessings an individual can receive from God. Such blessings are viewed as disruptive to a Free Market and, according to leading psychologists, damage a person's sense of self-reliance. Congress hopes this new law will discourage the whole “have mercy on whom I will have mercy” attitude God has taken in the past. A list of suggested blessings has been prepared for review and is expected to be mailed to God soon after the law takes effect.

American Jonah

[via For God's Sake Shut Up!]

Conscientious Objectors?

Right now in Canada there are two cases before the courts which pit the religious freedom of an individual against the law of the land. In the first, two BC parents who are Jehovah's Witnesses will go before the Supreme Court of British Columbia because three of their four surviving sextuplets were given blood transfusions against their wishes. The children were legally removed from their parent's care long enough for the transfusion to take place.

In the other case, a marriage commissioner here in Saskatchewan is being brought before a Human Rights Tribunal because he refused to perform a same-sex marriage. Orville Nichols, who is a Baptist, does not believe in same-sex marriage and refused to perform the ceremony even though as a marriage commissioner he is legally obligated to do so.

When does the religious freedom of the individual trump the law of the land? As a country, Canada has been known for it's tolerance. Sikh's who become members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are allowed to wear their turban instead of the standard RCMP head wear. The college I went to had a prayer room set aside so that Muslim students could fulfill their prayer obligations. But what about the two recent cases I outlined above, are we as a country guilty of selective tolerance?

[via The Headbanger Theologian]

A Difficult Birth

In the Land of False, Forced Options created by the prophets of culture warfare, no one can be inclusive or sensitive to others who are different. You are either for Christmas, or you are besieging it.

I had a dream that Jesus was born in the United States this Christmas. Mary gave birth in the county hospital because Joseph didn't have health insurance. The wise men couldn't visit the baby Jesus. They were denied visas because they were religious leaders from Iran. No one noticed that Jesus was born because they were too busy shopping and arguing over how to celebrate Christmas.

[via Ethics Daily.com, HT: Mainstream Baptist]

Cheap and Legal

I have no interest in rehashing the sanctification debate, so this is the only thing I’m going to say about Haggard. There’s two options he’s likely to face:

First, there is cheap grace, the most popular option these days for most sins. Cheap grace says, “It’s okay, everybody sins some times.” Or, “Everybody else does it.” And then, “We’re saved by grace, so you’re forgiven!” Then it pats you on the back and you go on your way, thinking that everything is fine.

The other option is legalism. Legalism says, “If you don’t measure up to our standards, you can’t be in our club.” Or, “A real Christian would never do that.” And then, “The Kingdom of God is not for likes of you.” And then, “Then it kicks you out and you go on your way thinking that you can never be saved.

Both of these are wrong....

Haggard has happened to hit one of the only sins that still offends the conscience of American Christians, so he probably won’t get cheap grace. He probably will get a lot of legalism. However, I pray that God will grant him true repentance.

[via The Boars Head Tavern, HT: The Bush League Theologian]