Cross Purposes

It seems to me there is a lack of connection in these discussions. That is; for some reason I do not feel we are on the same page, or that we are concerned with the same aspects of the issues, or perhaps we just do not understand one another accurately. I have tried to discern the source of this and have a few thoughts and a request.

First, I confess that I do not watch TV and rely on word of mouth to receive ‘news’. Often I am hearing of the issues we discuss for the first time on the Wired Word and my knowledge of the circumstances and details is limited to what is printed there. I do not understand many of the jokes and references that are used in our conversations and perhaps this is because I am fairly illiterate when it comes to pop culture and current events.

Second, friends over the years have informed me of a weakness which I cannot observe in myself but which, in response to their loving feedback, I have come to accept as one of my authentic character flaws. It has been called naivety, cluelessness, bluntness and extreme literalness and is the tendency of my mind to think, speak and receive words according to their plain meaning without awareness of the subtle but common social or emotional nuances of what is communicated. Because of this, I can sometimes miss the point of things or come across as blunt, disrespectful or offensive. If such has been the case, I apologize.

Third, I have come to Christ by what appears to be an unusual path. Having had a significant religious experience wherein I was called to faith outside of any church setting, and being compelled by life circumstances to attend several different denominational churches in my short 10 year walk with the Lord, I have been taught primarily by the Holy Spirit and my doctrine is non-standard. Though some may be leery of this, I truly believe it was by Divine appointment and intent, and that a good portion of my calling in the Lord is to labor for the unity of THE Church, the entire Body of Christ… that is, to work toward an authentic and fervent love among ALL those who claim the name of Jesus.

As it is written in John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” I understand this to be a statement specifically about relationships withIN the Church… meaning, among ALL those who profess faith in Christ… and believe ‘ecumenicalism’ is a fundamental duty for Christians to actively pursue. Similarly, I am motivated to develop a sense of unity with each brother or sister in the Lord and am disturbed when such does not seem to be the case. In an effort to improve the situation, I would like to request… from Henry again and from any others also… a statement of perspective so that we may understand one another better and perhaps engage in more fruitful dialogues.

Specifically, I ask…

What are your personal beliefs and views about religion in general?
Why do you come to church?
What view of the Bible do you hold?

Blessings in Christ.

WW 10-25-10 FREEDOM OF SPEECH

The speech behavior of the Westboro church folk is abominable, but I think well within the boundaries of free speech in that no harm was inflicted upon the target family other than a temporary emotional ordeal. The primary purpose seemed to be to obtain publicity for the church's families views on certain subjects. We had a prominent pastor of a local church state( to paraphrase) that the 911 terrorist destruction of the twin towers was caused by American citizens sinful ways. This type of behavior is rampart in current political ads and candidate comments regarding their opponents. The magazine "Newsweek" current issue contains a long list of outright untruths and insinuations publically made by both major parties. In this case to obtain political gain.

As a wag once said "If God had knowed the facts He'd have said/done the very same thing".

I am very concerned that government changing of current legal interpretations of past cases regarding free speech will go too far in restrictions and do more harm than good.

WIRED WORD OCT. 11 CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

Religion, like other non-sciences (such as literature, history, poetry to name a few) has few ground rules, guidelines, or foundations that are not subject to interpretation. This is true between countries, states, and even villages. Therefore, everybody can be an expert - and many of us think we are - in that we cannot be easily proven wrong. In addition, the gist of our belief generally depends on the geographical area were we were raised. Finally, religion quite often is used by politicians for their own purposes. We have found the "enemy" and he is us, to paraphrase Pogo, the possum. It is small wonder that many people become numb to the various claims and interpretations made to them by others, and decide to "keep it simple". By "keeping it simple", one avoids the contradictions and confusion that arises when one tries to rationalize away the defining differences between religious groups.

Christian religion is out of step with the advances made in other educational areas in that Christian religion claims that most truths pertaining to religion were made manifest to the world 2000 - 5000 years ago. As far as I know, religion is the only area of knowledge that makes that claim. Today, we have world organizations, world wars, and we have local through world politics. Few of us know how to engage in religious thought to those areas. For example, how do we evaluate the exaggerated and even fake claims being made in political ads that being aired at this time, other than in very general terms. Yet, the people who are elected to office have vast influence on how to treat the needy, how to provide opportunities for unemployment, how to fairly impose taxes to name a few office responsibilities. Many of us generally fall back on the "keep it simple" idea and vote party lines and pay little or no attention to what the candidates say.

I close with the not too unrealistic joke of religious sect differences.

There is the story of a traveler in a southern town that saw two churches on opposite sides of a street of the same denomination. The traveler asked a villager "Why two churches?". "Well" said the local, "Thems that go to the church on this side of the street, they believes that Pharaoh's daughter found Moses in the bulrushes. And thems that go to the church on the other side of the street believes that that's what she say".

bad things

There is an idea that God does not will for anything bad to happen to anyone, but that any problems or pain we experience is caused by our (or someone else's) bad choices. I guess if you consider the source of 'bad choices' to be 'original sin' then I would agree; but in a more practical, day-to-day kind of way I would have to disagree.

Certainly there are lifestyle choices (e.g. drug use) or character traits (e.g. dishonesty) or heart conditions (e.g. jealousy) that tend to lead to painful consequences. Yet there are also tragedies and hardships that befall people

I believe God is more concerned with our spiritual development and the purification of our hearts

Wired Word 10-4-10 Helping the Poor

The Big Questions

1. Do you agree that if the world's poor come up to Western economic standards, the impact will be unsustainable? Why or why not?

Yes. I believe even if the world’s poor do not change, the current Western economic standards are unsustainable. We consume and waste resources faster than the earth can produce them.

2. When you talk about "helping the poor," what do you mean? Giving them enough to survive? Bringing them up to your income level? Something in between? How do you think Jesus would answer this question?

I think of poverty as a situational and fluctuating condition and when I say ‘helping the poor’, I mean supplying material needs for another as you are able when you see the need. It seems sometimes large-scale, organized outreaches to people/areas with dire lack can supplant neighbor to neighbor charity. I think Jesus would say do the one without leaving the other undone.

3. What would a world without poverty look like? Everyone in the world living like we Americans did before the recession? The "American way of life" (if there is one American way of life) getting translated into something new that is "smaller" than what we have now? Something other, and if so, what?

Heaven

4. How will the kingdom of God be different from what we experience now? What will make it different?

“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Revelation 21:3-4

5. Quite apart from issues of sustainability, should following Jesus mean that we shouldn't seek an affluent lifestyle? Why or why not?

I believe as we grow spiritually, progressively taking hold of the joy, peace, goodness and so forth of life in the Spirit, we will desire affluence less. To me, following Jesus means that we seek to love God, to serve others and to place our material circumstances in His hands.

Jesus said, “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:31-33)