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?
Former Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, writing about the meaning of The Bill of Rights; “Today, those fundamentally American words are nearly forgotten. Constitutional rulings of the courts are evaluated by looking to polling numbers. People no longer agree wit the courts, they attach the legitimacy of our system of government. That is dangerous.
From: GayCityNews, ‘GOP Splits on Amendment’ VOLUME 3, ISSUE 314 | April 1 – 7, 2004.
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.
“Of all tyrannies a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience…. To be ‘cured’ against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level with those who have not yet reached the age of reason … You start being ‘kind’ to people before you have considered their rights, and then force upon them supposed kindnesses which they in fact had a right to refuse, and finally kindnesses which no one but you will recognize as kindnesses and which the recipient will feel as abominable cruelties.” –
– C.S. Lewis
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?
There are two Greeks words that appear in the New Testament letters of Paul to the Corinthians and to Timothy. The words are malakoi and arsenokoitai. English translations of the Bible have taken these two words and interpreted them into English in many different ways. Since the 1950’s, there is a tendency to use the “homosexual” as an interpretation of one or both of the words. I decided to do a survey of English translations of I Cor. 6:9…
New International Version: (1973, 1978, 1984)
“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders ”
New International Readers Version: (1996, 1998)
“Don’t you know that evil people will not receive God’s kingdom? Don’t be fooled. Those who commit sexual sins will not receive the kingdom. Neither will those who worship statues of gods or commit adultery. Neither will men who are prostitutes or who commit homosexual acts.”
New International Version – UK: (1973, 1978, 1984)
“Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders”
New American Standard Version: (1960-1995)
“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor (1) effeminate, nor homosexuals,” (1. i.e. effeminate by perversion)
The Message: (1993- 2002)
“Don’t you realize that this is not the way to live? Unjust people who don’t care about God will not be joining in his kingdom. Those who use and abuse each other, use and abuse sex,” [This is an interesting take!]
Amplified Version:
“Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived (misled): neither the impure and immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who participate in homosexuality,”
New Living Translation: (1954- 1965, 1987)
“Don’t you know that those who do wrong will have no share in the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, who are idol worshipers, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, ”
King James Version:
“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,”
According to Stephen Bennett ministries, the following is a list of the top leaders campaigning against gay-marriage.
‘Gay Marriage: America’s Leaders Respond’ features:
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Akron, Ohio, which has removed the “Episcopal Church” from their signs, is heading the AAC chapter in the Diocese of Ohio. This webpage shows which Anglican provinces have declared either “broken” or “impaired” communion the US Church.
Frankly, there are far fewer than I had anticipated. The AAC and all the dissenting people make it seem as if ALL the Anglican Communion, except maybe Canada and Southern Africa, has repudiated the U.S. Church. From these statistics, it just is not so!
Here is the statement from the House of Bishops concerning “alternative Episcopal Oversight” I am sure many of the conservatives are not happy. Time will tell whether the AAC and member parishes/clergy will simply leave at this time.
[ENS] In response to the different points of view that exist in the dioceses and congregations of the Episcopal Church concerning issues of human sexuality, the House of Bishops, meeting March 19-25 in Camp Allen, Texas, have issued a document entitled “Caring for all the Churches.” The full text follows:
Caring For All The Churches
A Response of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church
to an expressed need of the Church
The church is the Body of Christ. Our life in this Body is a continuing action of God’s grace among us, by whose power alone we are “joined together” in Christ and grow “into a holy temple in the Lord.” (Eph. 2:21). Through the church’s common life in Christ, God intends to signify to the world the beginning of a new and reconciled creation.
We know the unity with God that Christ has won for humanity, he won through the victory of his passion. We are mindful of the suffering of Jesus who, on the Cross and through his resurrection, reaches into every corner of alienated human life, reconciling and restoring to the household of God all who come to him in faith. By GodÂ’s grace the church is continually called, in repentance and hope, to be a trustworthy sign to the world of this costly reconciling power of God. We understand that, in obedience to Christ and putting our whole trust in him, we may share in his unity with the Father through the Holy Spirit. Communion in the Trinity is the salvation of the world. The church, thus, exists for the sake of the world. Therefore, for the sake of the world, we have been called “to serve before God day and night in the ministry of reconciliation, (BCP, p.521) which is to be carried out “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Eph. 4:2-3)