Merry Christmas

The Word Became Flesh
John 1:1-18

1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, [1] and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, [2] and his own people [3] did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, [4] who is at the Father's side, [5] he has made him known.

Bad Gospel, Bad Mortgage

Foreclosures: Did God Want You to Get That Mortgage?

By David Van Biema Friday, Oct. 03, 2008
Time.com

Has the so-called Prosperity Gospel turned its followers into some of the most willing participants — and hence, victims — of the current financial crisis? That's what a scholar of the fast-growing brand of pentecostal Christianity believes. While researching a book on black televangelism, says Jonathan Walton, a religion professor at the University of California Riverside, he realized that Prosperity's central promise — that God would "make a way" for poor people to enjoy the better things in life — had developed an additional, toxic expression during sub-prime boom. Walton says that this encouraged congregants who got dicey mortgages to believe "God caused the bank to ignore my credit score and blessed me with my first house." The results, he says, "were disastrous, because they pretty much turned parishioners into prey for greedy brokers."

Others think he may be right. Says Anthea Butler, an expert in pentecostalism at the University of Rochester in New York state, "The pastor's not gonna say 'go down to Wachovia and get a loan' but I have heard, 'even if you have a poor credit rating God can still bless you — if you put some faith out there [that is, make a big donation to the church], you'll get that house, or that car or that apartment.'" Adds J. Lee Grady, editor of the magazine Charisma, "It definitely goes on, that a preacher might say, 'if you give this offering, God will give you a house. And if they did get the house, people did think that it was an answer to prayer, when in fact it was really bad banking policy." If so, the situation offers a look at how an native-born faith built partially on American economic optimism entered into a toxic symbiosis with a pathological market.

story continued at time.com

There's tarnish on the Golden Rule

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult, and therefore left untried.” (G.K.Chesterton)

"There Are Some Really Good People Out There..."

...Us. We...Normal People." - Michael Savage
Not them. Not the other. Not the stranger, the outcast, the sinner. Not the least of these. Or as Savage calls them, the "vermin."

On the February 26 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, after playing an audio clip of the beginning of singer Melissa Etheridge's acceptance speech at the Academy Awards in which she thanked her wife and four children, Michael Savage said: "I don't like a woman married to a woman raising children. It makes me want to puke. ... I want to vomit when I hear it. I think it's child abuse."

"27God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God." [1 Cor. 1]

Fear of 'the other' has rational roots in our physical nature. Ancient tribes seeking to survive needed to define and protect their religious, national, and cultural identity. The Israelites, for example, had been slaves in Egypt; they had wandered in the desert, subject to attacks from other tribes, starvation, and infectious diseases. They needed cohesiveness, separateness, and order in every aspect of their lives. Failure to form a tight-knit community could threaten their long-term survival.

Furthermore, connecting this example to the issue at hand, concern of productivity and separateness was made even more pertinent due to the exile of the Israelites at the time of their formulation. Since procreation was so vital to ancient Israel's survival, regulations that governed sexual relations in the biblical world were primarily intended to further biological productivity in all biblical periods, in view of the scarcity of population, demands created by the agricultural life-style, and the high mortality rate of women and children.

All of that to say, we are NOT there anymore. But even for ancient Israel, the command in the Torah was still one of love - love of God and love of the neighbor, love of the stranger. A perspective of justice with concern for the stranger is at the heart of the Torah, and God's judgment came when Israel strayed from this ethic. For the Christian the Torah is personified in Jesus, and there is no doubt that Jesus abolished the idea of the other and separateness under his banner. The poor and the outcast are closer to the Kingdom of God than the rich, the popular, the self-righteous, the Pharisee.

The message continues to be in every generation that certain people can be taken as less than full human beings. The same folks that have a fear or hatred of homosexuals are afraid of the angry black man, afraid of the immigrant, afraid of the Muslim, they're just afraid.

18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 19We love because he first loved us. 20If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother. [1 John 4]

That anyone calling themselves Christians ever got co-opted with right-wing hatemongerers like Savage or any of these other personalities is beyond me. There is no way to advocate the kinds of things they do and understand the gospel. The gospel that says,

"7Let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 13We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17In this way, love is made complete among us.

The Savage Nation reaches more than 8 to 10 million listeners each week, according to Talkers Magazine, making it the third most-listened-to talk radio show in the nation, behind only The Rush Limbaugh Show and The Sean Hannity Show. Savage declares himself to be "To the right of Rush and to the left of God."

Source: http://mediamatters.org/items/200702270015

When religion loses its credibility

Galileo was persecuted for revealing what we now know to be the truth regarding Earth’s place in our solar system. Today, the issue is homosexuality, and the persecution is not of one man but of millions. Will Christian leaders once again be on the wrong side of history?

By Oliver Thomas

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2006/11/when_religion_l.html

What if Christian leaders are wrong about homosexuality? I suppose, much as a newspaper maintains its credibility by setting the record straight, church leaders would need to do the same:

Correction: Despite what you might have read, heard or been taught throughout your churchgoing life, homosexuality is, in fact, determined at birth and is not to be condemned by God's followers.

Based on a few recent headlines, we won't be seeing that admission anytime soon.

Last week, U.S. Roman Catholic bishops took the position that homosexual attractions are "disordered" and that gays should live closeted lives of chastity. At the same time, North Carolina's Baptist State Convention was preparing to investigate churches that are too gay-friendly. Even the more liberal Presbyterian Church (USA) had been planning to put a minister on trial for conducting a marriage ceremony for two women before the charges were dismissed on a technicality. All this brings me back to the question: What if we're wrong?

Religion's only real commodity, after all, is its moral authority. Lose that, and we lose our credibility. Lose credibility, and we might as well close up shop.

It's happened to Christianity before, most famously when we dug in our heels over Galileo's challenge to the biblical view that the Earth, rather than the sun, was at the center of our solar system. You know the story. Galileo was persecuted for what turned out to be incontrovertibly true. For many, especially in the scientific community, Christianity never recovered.

This time, Christianity is in danger of squandering its moral authority by continuing its pattern of discrimination against gays and lesbians in the face of mounting scientific evidence that sexual orientation has little or nothing to do with choice. To the contrary, whether sexual orientation arises as a result of the mother's hormones or the child's brain structure or DNA, it is almost certainly an accident of birth. The point is this: Without choice, there can be no moral culpability.

Answer in Scriptures

So, why are so many church leaders (not to mention Orthodox Jewish and Muslim leaders) persisting in their view that homosexuality is wrong despite a growing stream of scientific evidence that is likely to become a torrent in the coming years? The answer is found in Leviticus 18. "You shall not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination."

As a former "the Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it" kind of guy, I am sympathetic with any Christian who accepts the Bible at face value. But here's the catch. Leviticus is filled with laws imposing the death penalty for everything from eating catfish to sassing your parents. If you accept one as the absolute, unequivocal word of God, you must accept them all.

For many of gay America's loudest critics, the results are unthinkable. First, no more football. At least not without gloves. Handling a pig skin is an abomination. Second, no more Saturday games even if you can get a new ball. Violating the Sabbath is a capital offense according to Leviticus. For the over-40 crowd, approaching the altar of God with a defect in your sight is taboo, but you'll have plenty of company because those menstruating or with disabilities are also barred.

The truth is that mainstream religion has moved beyond animal sacrifice, slavery and the host of primitive rituals described in Leviticus centuries ago. Selectively hanging onto these ancient proscriptions for gays and lesbians exclusively is unfair according to anybody's standard of ethics. We lawyers call it "selective enforcement," and in civil affairs it's illegal.

A better reading of Scripture starts with the book of Genesis and the grand pronouncement about the world God created and all those who dwelled in it. "And, the Lord saw that it was good." If God created us and if everything he created is good, how can a gay person be guilty of being anything more than what God created him or her to be?

Turning to the New Testament, the writings of the Apostle Paul at first lend credence to the notion that homosexuality is a sin, until you consider that Paul most likely is referring to the Roman practice of pederasty, a form of pedophilia common in the ancient world. Successful older men often took boys into their homes as concubines, lovers or sexual slaves. Today, such sexual exploitation of minors is no longer tolerated. The point is that the sort of long-term, committed, same-sex relationships that are being debated today are not addressed in the New Testament. It distorts the biblical witness to apply verses written in one historical context (i.e. sexual exploitation of children) to contemporary situations between two monogamous partners of the same sex. Sexual promiscuity is condemned by the Bible whether it's between gays or straights. Sexual fidelity is not.

What would Jesus do?

For those who have lingering doubts, dust off your Bibles and take a few hours to reacquaint yourself with the teachings of Jesus. You won't find a single reference to homosexuality. There are teachings on money, lust, revenge, divorce, fasting and a thousand other subjects, but there is nothing on homosexuality. Strange, don't you think, if being gay were such a moral threat?

On the other hand, Jesus spent a lot of time talking about how we should treat others. First, he made clear it is not our role to judge. It is God's. ("Judge not lest you be judged." Matthew 7:1) And, second, he commanded us to love other people as we love ourselves.

So, I ask you. Would you want to be discriminated against? Would you want to lose your job, housing or benefits because of something over which you had no control? Better yet, would you like it if society told you that you couldn't visit your lifelong partner in the hospital or file a claim on his behalf if he were murdered?

The suffering that gay and lesbian people have endured at the hands of religion is incalculable, but they can look expectantly to the future for vindication. Scientific facts, after all, are a stubborn thing. Even our religious beliefs must finally yield to them as the church in its battle with Galileo ultimately realized. But for religion, the future might be ominous. Watching the growing conflict between medical science and religion over homosexuality is like watching a train wreck from a distance. You can see it coming for miles and sense the inevitable conclusion, but you're powerless to stop it. The more church leaders dig in their heels, the worse it's likely to be.

Oliver "Buzz" Thomas is a Baptist minister and author of an upcoming book, 10 Things Your Minister Wants to Tell You (But Can't Because He Needs the Job).

"I like the sweet life and the silence but it's the storm that I believe in."

"Though He slay me, I will hope in Him."
- [Job 13:15a]

"Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for you
As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy ;
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me."

- [John Donne, "Holy Sonnet XIV"]

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"oh it's healing - bang bang bang
I can hear your cannons call
you've been aiming at my land
your hungry hammer is falling

and if you want me I'm your country

I'm an angel bored like hell
and you're a devil meaning well
you steal my lines and you strike me dumb
come raise your flag upon me

and if you want me I'm your country
if you win me I'm forever - oh yeah!

'cause you're the storm that I've been needing
and all this peace has been deceiving
I like the sweet life and the silence
but it's the storm that I believe in

come and conquer and drop your bombs
cross my borders and kill the calm
bear your fangs and burn my wings
I hear bullets singing

and if you want me I'm your country
if you win me I'm forever - oh yeah!

'cause you're the storm that I've been needing
and all this peace has been deceiving
I need some wind to get me sailing
so it's the storm that I believe in

you fill my heart, you keep me breathing
'cause you're the storm that I believe in"

- [The Cardigans, "You're the Storm"]

After meeting with the Baptist director today...(Baptists dig their own grave Pt. 2)

So we (a group of concerned students) met with James Porch, the Executive Director for the TBC today. Maybe you saw me on the news. (I sure hope not.)


Anyway, here are my afterthoughts expressed in an email to a TBC staffer:

Thanks,

It would be great to meet next Tuesday. I'll clear the time. Essentially, I would just like to discuss questions that were related to the heart issues behind the matters, questions on philosophy of action, biblical connections, questions on how the parties were communicating or not communicating, etc (which is really all students are concerned about anyway). James wouldn't go into any of that and in fact said it was irrelevant.

He was very hospitable, but not in the areas that mattered. We wanted him to be candid and prove that there was more to this than a shouting match and cold legality, but he wouldn't discuss any of it and was patronizing on top of it. He also divorced himself from responsibility and from the ethical and mission based questions, basically saying that his hands were tied, and that there were no choices but what was happening, cause effect, cause effect, etc, and that it's all in Belmont's hands and that there's no other reason we're here today except for Belmont's supposed betrayal of their trust. In fact, in response to questions raised regarding Paul's instruction in 1 Corinthians 6:1-8 he said, "I am well aware that Scripture says we should not sue. But sometimes circumstances and other parties leave no alternative." Scripture can just be sooo inconvenient sometimes, can't it Dr. Porch?

Now I understand that he's just the public voice to it and that the issues are mostly being decided by a consortium of pastors, but what disturbs me most is that individual courage and allegiance to scripture and mission seems to be so easily separated from "just business." Everything was directed as "this is just business"...issues driven business mind you, but still just business. He simply equated it to defaulting on a mortgage! And that's that! He went so far as to say in response to a student's question, that if we're concerned about the future of the university and its students we should take that up with Belmont and not them, b/c it won't be their fault if there are casualties.

I tell you, I realize the TBC has legitimate concerns and that some of our administration at Belmont is unfairly playing the victim and that both sides need to strive for reconciliation equally. However, based on what I've seen and heard in legal circles an in documents, I don't think you have a winnable legal case [http://www.tnbaptist.org/BRArticle.asp?ID=1486]& [http://forum.belmont.edu/umac/archives/005880.html](to cite a few), but I can't emphasize enough how much that is besides the point. There seems to be a bunch of religiosity divorced from the gospel; hearts held hostage by shallow compartmentalized faith that only reaches so deep. I want to hear your thoughts on these matters, the heart matters. Assuage my doubts. Let me know that a bunch of old men are not playing chess with other people's lives. Let me know that they're pondering both grace and justice in light of God's Word alone and not secular wisdom. Let me know that there is hope in joining the world of adults and not just more of which to despair. Since James Porch won't try to do this, are you up for giving the conversation a go?

thanks,
matt

"When I was a child, I thought like a child; I played like a child; I was a child. And now, thanks to the adults, I've had to join the world of adults, and I am appalled-- by how easy they thought it was to bribe me." - Frederick the Wise (play on 1 Cor. 13:11)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Just wanted to let you all know how I was feeling in retrospect. I'll be emailing Dr. Porch next week after a few meetings and time to get my head around things. I'll keep anyone interested posted (and since you read this far you must be interested).

grace and peace (two things very much so needed),
matt

More Fun with Hypocrisy

TRUTH IN HUMOR?

blog posting by Shaun Groves:

Evangelicals decided in about 1976 that Jesus' earthly ministry was essentially political and that he had intended to take over the Roman government precinct by precinct, using "get out the vote" drives and putting voter guides in synagogues each November. He was thwarted by a run-in with Roman authorities that turned out badly, but 2,000 years later evangelicals wish to fulfill Christ's goal of gaining control of the modern secular superpower...

Jimmy Carter was the first "born again" president, but disappointed evangelicals by confessing his sins to a "skin" magazine (rather than to Rosalyn or to his accountability group) and quaffing Billy Beer. So the evangelical community threw it's support behind an army of divorced Republicans (you know, Republicans, the "sanctity of marriage" party) - Ronald Reagan, Dick Armey, Phil Gramm, John Engler, John McCain, Bob Dole, Pete Wilson, John Kasich, Susan Molinari, and Newt Gingrich - who at least understood that the Bible allows for divorce if your staff assistant is cuter (see Matthew 5:31). As a group, these politicians came to represent America's Moral Majority...

...Here is how evangelicals interpret Bible passages to arrive at their [political] positions:

"Remember the poor" (Galatians 2:10) really means "Remember how lazy the poor are and thank God you're not on welfare like them."

"My kingdom is not of this world." (Jesus in John 18:36) really means "But for now, make sure you keep control of the White House and Congress."

"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's" (Jesus in Matthew 22:21) really means "Only pay taxes on money you can't hide from the IRS."

"Thou shalt not kill" (God in Exodus 20:13) really means "Kill only those who deserve it - like death row inmates, abortion doctors, sworn enemies of the United States, and the French, when possible."

"The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and care for it" (Genesis 2:!5) really means "Don't worry about the environment because when Jesus comes back he'll destroy the earth anyway."

From A Guide To Evangelicals and Their Habitat.

True or not? Well if you're laughing it probably is to some extent.


***support Shaun Groves by helping him make his next album here

The Purpose Driven Word of God

Exerpts from a cool new Bible translation:

AC 2:42 And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' new bestsellers and to small group meetings, to the eating of Krispy Kreme donuts in the church foyer and to contemplative spirituality.

AC 2:43 And everyone kept feeling the bass from the praise and worship rock band; and many video clips and light shows were taking place through the apostles. 44 And all those who had believed were together at three different services, and had casual attire in common; 45 and they began selling their stocks and bonds, and were giving the proceeds to the building campaign, as the church might have need. 46 And day by day continuing with one vision in the new million-dollar sanctuary, and sending church mailers from house to house, they were having celebration dinners together with gladness and self-esteem in the heart, 47 praising God, and finding favor with all the people‘s felt needs. And the Lord (along with Peter, the original inventor of perpetual revival) was adding to their number day by day those who were finding purpose.

http://www.sacredsandwich.com