Our ethics mid-terms were returned today. I was actually nervous as the professor passed them back. I would have been happy simply passing with whatever grade. I received a B+. I’m a happy camper!
I have forgotten everything about the whole concept of ‘freetime.’ What was that again?
This is going to be rough – be forewarned. I have been thinking a lot lately about the significance of the Christian community. We had a Pakistani bishop on campus yesterday and he spoke of the conditions Christians in Pakistan must endure. A question was asked about ramifications since Gene Robinson’s election and consecration. According to the bishop, it has only made life harder on Pakistani Christians. They face much persecution from the Muslim majority.
What is the responsibility of individual Christians to the entire Christian community? Americans love to think of ourselves as free-spirits, individualists, independent, and in some ways having an attitude of “to hell with everyone else.” Our sense of personhood and extreme individuality causes us individually and collectively to have little concern for the effects of our actions on others. We see this in our politics, both nationally and internationally. We see this in individual lives as we attempt to claim our ‘rights.’ I am the center of the universe! We are the center of this world!
This may be very American, but it is not very Christian. There are positive aspects of these kinds of attitudes, but I believe that as a Christian I must have a weary-eye as I live life in this culture. The United States is a City of Man, not a City of God, a Kingdom of this World, not the Kingdom of God. I must be concerned of the effects my actions have on my brothers and sisters anywhere in the world.
Every decision I make is my own. Every moment, every event, every endeavor, every word, every thought… I decided at each point what I will do!
Sometimes this all seems like a dream. Is this real?
Professor Dr. Bruce Mullin is a phenomenal lecturer. I love Church History, but whenever class is over I am simply brain dead. I want to get down everything he says.
For quite some time now, I have said I am seeking Truth. I am willing to go wherever that quest leads me.
I believe Truth begins with God (the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Ruth, and Naomi… Mary and the Apostles). Walter Bouman, retired Systematic Theology professor at Trinity Lutheran Seminary, says that God is whoever has the final word. This is true, after all if the aforementioned God is not the true God, than Judaism and Christianity are false, as well as Islam. Bouman believes Christ had the final word – the victory over sin and death. When all is said and done, the jury is still out, no matter how strenuously I want to claim or declare anything. By faith, I believe in the God of the Nicene and Apostles creeds. By faith…
I believe that the Holy Bible, Hebrew and Christian testaments together, is the revelation of God to humanity, God’s creation. I believe scripture contains all that humanity needs for salvation and a peaceable life – the truths of scripture speak to the heart – the motivations, the healing available, etc. In scripture is the Truth for our lives lived here on this earth and the means of life everlasting. (The Bible is not a history book, although it contains history. The Bible is not a science book. The Bible is not an anthropologist tomb, although it is full of anthropological stuff, etc.)
If I am consistent with past claims, I have to consider the arguments of reasoned people who say homosexuality is contrary to God’s will and way according to scripture. I have moved from ‘con’ to ‘pro’ according to what I thought was the stronger argument. Has the strength of one argument over the other changed? I wonder…
comments? e-mail me
My experiences in a theologically liberal setting with a strong and ancient tradition, I can’t help but be changed – a progression both gradual and somewhat imperceptible. It is one thing to disagree with another or others concerning issues, ideas, or theories of all types, but another thing entirely to deny Christ in the other or others when I might hold a differing opinion.
We are seeking God. God is beyond our understanding, yet God has finagled a way so that we can know Him. We can never fully understand, yet we can know!
By the word of their testimony – they seek God; seek to understand God and the world. Their actions (for the most part, recognizing we humans are always fallible and always prone to mistakes) are generally consistent with their words. I cannot deny Christ in them; I cannot deny the Holy Spirit working within them to conform their lives to the image of Christ – freedom, peace, joy, and prosperity of the soul. I may think they are dead wrong and at this point in their understanding dangerous to the cause of Christ, but I cannot deny Christ in them! I cannot, even though they deny Christ in me.
I can ask where their passions lie! “Linking Isaiah’s allegory with our Lord’s vine and branches metaphor in tonight’s gospel, the warning is clear: you and I put ourselves in great danger when we abide in any other vine – whether person, issue, tradition, or theological conviction – as the source of our identity and purpose. There is only one vine in which to abide – our Lord.” (The Rev’d. Fred Anderson, pastor of the Madison Ave. Presbyterian Church, preacher for the William Reed Huntington Memorial Eucharist, September 2003) He spoke of many wild grapes that have been produced by the Church throughout history. Where does my passion lie? Within what vine do I abide? Within which do you? “Our disunity has produced more than simply bad wine.” Within the Episcopal Church and within Anglicanism, much bad wine is being produced, many wild grapes are growing. We are abiding in vines of theology, pride, power, “purity,” polity, piety, Biblicism, idolatry, etc. We are denying Christ in others from whom we hear their words of testimony and see the fruit of their lives and their claim of life in Christ. Anderson refers to his first professor of Ecumenics, as he touches on the issues that continue to divide us, especially at this time concern human sexuality, “President McCord regularly warned students, ‘If you must make a choice between heresy and schism, always chose heresy. For as a heretic you are only guilty of a wrong opinion. As a schismatic, you have torn and divided the Body of Christ. Choose heresy every time!'”
Here is a profound change in me! I would have always chosen against heresy (maybe not for schism per-say, but for expulsion) and would have denied Christ in others who did not hold a generally Evangelical theology. Now, I cannot deny Christ to others or in others with whom I disagree (who disagree with a certain theological vain), even though I may consider them heretics. I have moved from choosing a particular take on “purity of doctrine” ending is schism (expulsion), to choosing heresy. I see in part and I know in part, so who am I to judge others to the point of denying Christ in them when their words and deeds show a seeking after the things of Christ, a longing and desire for the Way of Christ. I may think they are dead wrong, and I may think their current ways of thinking or doing are dangerous to the cause of Christ, but it is not my prerogative to decide whether they do or do not have Christ!