Break
It's a brand new day. I've completed fall semester at Millersville University. I must say it wasn't my best semester. I may have to retake an major-related course. It's Electronic systems and I'm allergic to all things that have to do with the theoretical aspects of electricity, electromagnetism, and so forth. I've forgotten about everything I've learned this past semester or at least my mind is a blur. Spring 2008 semester is my final semester. Wow, so soon?
Over the break I have a lot of things to do with the future. First I have to schedule a visit with two culinary schools: the International Culinary Center in NYC, and L'Academie de Cuisine outside D.C. Then I have to apply to six seminaries: Regent, Duke, Gordon-Conwell, Western/Multnomah (these two possibly are merging), Princeton, and Trinity Evangelical for fall 2009. I'm trying to get these applications on a roll. I haven't taken the GREs yet so I'll be commencing the study of the coursebook over my one month.
I started to read How to Read a Book: A Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer Atler. I read about this book a couple months back. I want to increase my understanding when reading difficult reading material. It's very good so far.
It's good to be back to rest from my labor. But I can't dilly-dalley for too long. I have a lot to do and I don't want time to pass me by. However, I don't want to stress about it either. God has been good to me and I want to think and pray these things through. I hope to meet my short-term goals (which includes getting a passport and driver's license). In addition I have to initiate some plans for BCM.
I hope and pray this Advent season we may all reflect on the One who is the Reason for this season and all others. As my brother in the Lord Halden Doerge reminds us, "He is coming." Even so, Come Lord Jesus!
Blessings.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Pressing through the Pain and all that Follows
This weekend was a hard one. It was full of agitation. I was agitated when I went home to Drexel Hill this past weekend. My grandmother is spending the over for my grandfather's funeral. The house is cold. The heater in the basement needs oil. I almost blew a gasket. I felt so stressed because the funeral so happens to be on finals week. Life sucks. But I have to press through. I have been over analytical with my emotions during this time. I haven't had a good cry. It's like when you about to sneeze but it just won't come out. Yeah, that's what it feels like. Nevertheless I have work to finish. I have a take home exam I haven't started yet. It's due tomorrow...i think. I also have an exam in Electronic Systems. I hate that class. I love the professor. Dr. Brusic is awesome but I'm not electronically-inclined. I have an aversion to all things mathematic and scientific. I'm failing that class.
A lot has been on my mind. Will I make it to grad school? I feel burned out already. I've been in college for five years. I've developed a passion to learn about communication theory, cultural theory, and theology during my time here. I'm not fit for the entertainment business. I was mean't to be a talking brain.... uh I mean scholar.
Is this failing grade going to keep me out of grad school? Maybe I need to independent study of some sort in the next semester. Maybe I should write a paper. I don't know. I better hurry up because I got work to do.
I keep wondering why I haven't cried yet. Maybe I'm saving it for the funeral. I know Pop is not there. He's certainly in a better place. I miss him.
Well, I gotta press through 'til I reach Saturday. That will be my Sabbath. I'll rest for a good while. In the meantime my studies awaits. Gotta go!
This weekend was a hard one. It was full of agitation. I was agitated when I went home to Drexel Hill this past weekend. My grandmother is spending the over for my grandfather's funeral. The house is cold. The heater in the basement needs oil. I almost blew a gasket. I felt so stressed because the funeral so happens to be on finals week. Life sucks. But I have to press through. I have been over analytical with my emotions during this time. I haven't had a good cry. It's like when you about to sneeze but it just won't come out. Yeah, that's what it feels like. Nevertheless I have work to finish. I have a take home exam I haven't started yet. It's due tomorrow...i think. I also have an exam in Electronic Systems. I hate that class. I love the professor. Dr. Brusic is awesome but I'm not electronically-inclined. I have an aversion to all things mathematic and scientific. I'm failing that class.
A lot has been on my mind. Will I make it to grad school? I feel burned out already. I've been in college for five years. I've developed a passion to learn about communication theory, cultural theory, and theology during my time here. I'm not fit for the entertainment business. I was mean't to be a talking brain.... uh I mean scholar.
Is this failing grade going to keep me out of grad school? Maybe I need to independent study of some sort in the next semester. Maybe I should write a paper. I don't know. I better hurry up because I got work to do.
I keep wondering why I haven't cried yet. Maybe I'm saving it for the funeral. I know Pop is not there. He's certainly in a better place. I miss him.
Well, I gotta press through 'til I reach Saturday. That will be my Sabbath. I'll rest for a good while. In the meantime my studies awaits. Gotta go!
Sunday, December 09, 2007
An Honored Man: Pop Pop's Obituary
Reverend Ora Marcus Locust, Jr. was born on October 30, 1934 in Pittsburgh, PA. He was the fourth child of the late Reverend Ora Marcus and Mary Ruth Greenway Locust, Sr. He received his early education in Pittsburgh and later graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas, TX in 1954.
In 1955 Ora Locust, Jr. married Verona Lee Douglas and their union was blessed with six children: Ora Marcus III, Michael, Joyce (my mother), Wayne, Christopher, and Stephanie who preceded him in death. Among his many services for our Lord Reverend Locust, Jr. was choir director for many churches in Philadelphia and New Jersey and was a talented musician and gifted singer of the Gospel. He was called to preach in 1961 and ordained in 1965. He pursued studies at Temple University, Philadelphia College of the Bible, and received his Bachelor of Theology from Inter-Baptist Theological Center in Houston, TX in 1967.
Reverend Locust, Jr. pastored the Pine Street Baptist Church in Scranton, PA from 1965-1968, First United Baptist Church (Philadelphia) from 1968 to 1984, and was the founding pastor of Pilgrim's Rest Baptist Church until his retirement in 2000.
Reverend Locust had the heart of a true servant and for much of his life was dedicated to community service and civic responsibilities from early years as a civil rights leader in Scranton and as Director of the Neighborhood Community Center he continued his committment for many years of work in crime prevention as Director of R.W. Brown Boys and Girls Club in North Philadelphia.
Upon retirement Rev. Locust, Jr. joined Loyal Baptist Church under the pastorate of the Reverend Floyd Locust. He was a faithful servant in ministry and family.
Reverend Locust, Jr. was preceded in death by three sisters: Harriet, Lois Paris, and Viola Jackson. He leaves to cherish his memories Verona and their five children; his sister Ruth Martin; two daughters-in-law Deborah and Kimi; one son-in-law James; nine grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and a host of nieces and nephews, cousins, and many friends.
Sorrowfully submitted,
The Family
Reverend Ora Marcus Locust, Jr. was born on October 30, 1934 in Pittsburgh, PA. He was the fourth child of the late Reverend Ora Marcus and Mary Ruth Greenway Locust, Sr. He received his early education in Pittsburgh and later graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas, TX in 1954.
In 1955 Ora Locust, Jr. married Verona Lee Douglas and their union was blessed with six children: Ora Marcus III, Michael, Joyce (my mother), Wayne, Christopher, and Stephanie who preceded him in death. Among his many services for our Lord Reverend Locust, Jr. was choir director for many churches in Philadelphia and New Jersey and was a talented musician and gifted singer of the Gospel. He was called to preach in 1961 and ordained in 1965. He pursued studies at Temple University, Philadelphia College of the Bible, and received his Bachelor of Theology from Inter-Baptist Theological Center in Houston, TX in 1967.
Reverend Locust, Jr. pastored the Pine Street Baptist Church in Scranton, PA from 1965-1968, First United Baptist Church (Philadelphia) from 1968 to 1984, and was the founding pastor of Pilgrim's Rest Baptist Church until his retirement in 2000.
Reverend Locust had the heart of a true servant and for much of his life was dedicated to community service and civic responsibilities from early years as a civil rights leader in Scranton and as Director of the Neighborhood Community Center he continued his committment for many years of work in crime prevention as Director of R.W. Brown Boys and Girls Club in North Philadelphia.
Upon retirement Rev. Locust, Jr. joined Loyal Baptist Church under the pastorate of the Reverend Floyd Locust. He was a faithful servant in ministry and family.
Reverend Locust, Jr. was preceded in death by three sisters: Harriet, Lois Paris, and Viola Jackson. He leaves to cherish his memories Verona and their five children; his sister Ruth Martin; two daughters-in-law Deborah and Kimi; one son-in-law James; nine grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and a host of nieces and nephews, cousins, and many friends.
Sorrowfully submitted,
The Family
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Sabbath Rest
My grandfather, the Reverend Ora M. Locust, Jr. entered into his rest Thursday morning. He was 73.
Memory Lane
Pop founded and pastored a storefront church in West Philadelphia called Pilgrim's Rest Baptist Church at 5333-35 Market Street in 1984. I was born into that church. My grandfather was my very first pastor. I came to know Christ at the tender age of seven. He baptized me. I remember living on 58th and Spruce Street at my mother's house and playing church on Sundays with my brother and our childhood friends Riko and Shanelle. I was the preacher. My "pulpit" was the steps. I would shout just like my grandfather. I remember it like yesterday.
The Call
I was called to preach the Gospel on May 6, 2006. I called and told my grandfather a couple of days later. He "grilled" me. Pop wanted to know if I was really called. I told him the scenario. He told me that he wanted to speak with me about this call. I remember him telling me that he might be dead and gone someday and told me it was necessary for him to speak with me. It took me a couple of months after this phone call to actually speak with him. I was a very busy college student and I didn't make the time to speak with him.
Our meeting lasted a few hours. It was the best time I had with my grandfather. He was concise and clear about what he wanted me to hear. His words are still impressed in my heart until this day.
Final Days on Earth
Pop was diagnosed with stage-4 cancer a few months ago. Metastasis spread throughout his body. He had chemotherapy and radiation. But on the Wednesday before thanksgiving he was hospitalized. I got to see him on Thanksgiving. He was feeble but feisty. He couldn't eat a lot but he had a couple bites of sweet potato pie. The Sunday after Thanksgiving, he had a bad fall in the hospital. He fractured his neck and was bed-ridden. He had to wear a gawky neck brace to stabilize his spine. Metastasis spread to is spinal column. There was no bone wear he fractured his neck, just cancer. That Monday I visited him along with a bunch of my relatives. It was the last time I seen him alive.
Eternal Rest
Thursday around 11a.m. my cousin called me while I was at work. She told me she got word that Pop Pop passed. My mother called me an hour ago and told me that when she went up to see him that he looked peaceful. She said that Pop wanted to pass knowing that his kids would be okay. So he went in his sleep with no one in the room. Now is joins his God and the Church triumphant in eternal victory and fellowship. To God be praised.
My grandfather, the Reverend Ora M. Locust, Jr. entered into his rest Thursday morning. He was 73.
Memory Lane
Pop founded and pastored a storefront church in West Philadelphia called Pilgrim's Rest Baptist Church at 5333-35 Market Street in 1984. I was born into that church. My grandfather was my very first pastor. I came to know Christ at the tender age of seven. He baptized me. I remember living on 58th and Spruce Street at my mother's house and playing church on Sundays with my brother and our childhood friends Riko and Shanelle. I was the preacher. My "pulpit" was the steps. I would shout just like my grandfather. I remember it like yesterday.
The Call
I was called to preach the Gospel on May 6, 2006. I called and told my grandfather a couple of days later. He "grilled" me. Pop wanted to know if I was really called. I told him the scenario. He told me that he wanted to speak with me about this call. I remember him telling me that he might be dead and gone someday and told me it was necessary for him to speak with me. It took me a couple of months after this phone call to actually speak with him. I was a very busy college student and I didn't make the time to speak with him.
Our meeting lasted a few hours. It was the best time I had with my grandfather. He was concise and clear about what he wanted me to hear. His words are still impressed in my heart until this day.
Final Days on Earth
Pop was diagnosed with stage-4 cancer a few months ago. Metastasis spread throughout his body. He had chemotherapy and radiation. But on the Wednesday before thanksgiving he was hospitalized. I got to see him on Thanksgiving. He was feeble but feisty. He couldn't eat a lot but he had a couple bites of sweet potato pie. The Sunday after Thanksgiving, he had a bad fall in the hospital. He fractured his neck and was bed-ridden. He had to wear a gawky neck brace to stabilize his spine. Metastasis spread to is spinal column. There was no bone wear he fractured his neck, just cancer. That Monday I visited him along with a bunch of my relatives. It was the last time I seen him alive.
Eternal Rest
Thursday around 11a.m. my cousin called me while I was at work. She told me she got word that Pop Pop passed. My mother called me an hour ago and told me that when she went up to see him that he looked peaceful. She said that Pop wanted to pass knowing that his kids would be okay. So he went in his sleep with no one in the room. Now is joins his God and the Church triumphant in eternal victory and fellowship. To God be praised.
Monday, December 03, 2007
Sola Deo Gloria!
Touchstone Magazine has become a frequent website I visit. It is a magazine promoting Christian orthodoxy or as the editors borrow from C.S. Lewis in its subtitle: "mere" Christianity. It features the writings of Christians from the three major streams of the Christianity: Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant. It has an traditional (i.e. conservative), yet ecumenical approach to Christianity. Yet all the writers are maintain an allegiance to their respective Christian traditions. Timothy George, J.I. Packer, Thomas C. Oden, and R. Albert Mohler, are frequent contributers representing the evangelical wing of Protestantism.
I tend to like the overall gist of the magazine. Orthodoxy comes form the Greek word orthodoxos meaning "right opinion; praise; glory". Christian orthodoxy is basically outlined in the ancient Creeds developed in the ecumenical councils of the early Church.
But I have this against Touchstone. There are hardly any contemporary orthodox authors from non-European backgrounds. Where are the members of the Majority World? Where are the African Americans, Latinos, and Asian American theologians? Now are are female authors, but rarely are evangelical egalitarians (Christians for Biblical Equality). Most of the theologians, biblical scholars, and intellectuals featured in Touchstone espouse a complementarian theology and strongly maintain it is important for Christians to adopt such in order to included in the boundaries of Christian orthodoxy.
I feel for my sisters in Christ who maintain orthodoxy have to wrestle between it and their identity as women. To be truly female in orthodox Christian traditions is to maintain one's place: under the "sacrificial leadership of men within the divine creation order." Although their is rich biblical and theological scholarship have challenged hand have refuted the exegetical claims from the complementarian camp, egalitarians are in the minority within classical Christian circles. Wesleyan-Holiness and Pentecostal traditions early in their histories have argued a biblical and theological case for women's call to preach the Gospel and minister in pastoral leadership for over one hundred years. The African Methodist Episcopal Church has ordained women since nearly its inception. In recent years three women have been elected to the bishopric. Because of the current historical climate of feminism and the gay rights movements, anything that "smells" like feminism (especially for many editors of Touchstone), it is shut down and dismissed as borderline, if not, downright heretical and inimical to the Gospel (i.e. Together for the Gospel official document link).
Though women were ordained clergy in the early history of the Church, Christians theologians maintained that only males can sacramentally represent Christ fully in the ordained priesthood (Orthodox, Roman Catholic) and/or that males in church leadership is analogous to the "headship" of husbands in the home and Christ and his Church (conservative evangelicalism , see Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood's magna carta, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood).
Some like Leon J. Podles and R. Albert Mohler have asserted that a "feminization of Christianity' over the last fifty or so years, if not, centuries ago. According to a 2006 report in the New York Times, women make up 51 percent of recently enrolled seminary students yet in mainline denominations women clergy make up 3 percent. Most evangelical denominations, with the exception the Wesleyan-Holiness, Evangelical Covenant, recently the Christian Reformed, and the Pentecostal Churches (AG, Church of God TN, Pentecostal-Holiness, Foursquare), do not ordain women. The Church of God in Christ, the largest black trinitarian Pentecostal denomination does not officially ordain women to the pastorate. Women are licensed evangelists and missionaries and ordained military chaplains. However, bishops can appoint women to pastor church within his jurisdiction but they are not officially called "Rev.", "Elder", or "Pastor" but the traditional Sanctified Church title for revered older women "Mother", "Evangelist", "Prophetess" or "Shepherdess".
What's an orthodox Christian egalitarian women and man to do? She or he do not have a kindred fellowship with those of a liberal theological stripe. She or he has more in common with her complementarian Christian brothers... and sisters! Yet when one Christian women is convinced by Scripture and the Holy Spirit to minister as the Spirit wills, she is giving "biblical boundaries" to minister because of her womanhood. Where is she to go? The harvest is ripe for the harvest. The sheep need a shepherd but she is denied the office because she is told God does not call women to shepherd the sheep because it would undermined the divinely ordained social hierarchical relationship with male and female.
Why is this an important issue for me, you ask? Because as the title of this post says, it is for God's glory alone I write this. I believe the most fundamental relational issue in the world today second to humanity's broken relationship with God is humanity's broken relationship with humanity. Male and female are in a constant struggle. Though most say it's for control and that may be true. I must say it is essentially the quest to relate with each other as male and female. It is truly a crisis of identity. What does it mean to be human as male and female. For centuries theologians have labored to study this theological problem. Yes, this is a theological problem. Sin though defeated at the Cross, it has residue with the barrels our humanity.
We as the Body of Christ still await the Second Advent of our King and the redemption of our bodies. Our bodies are sexed. We are sexual beings. Yet with the modern theories that have developed the category known as "gender" has been included in our cultural lexicon. Gender means the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex. Gender is formed and informed by our various cultures. Yes their are biologically gender differences. But cultures play a key role too. The paradox is gender has helped and even confused the debate among sincere orthodox believers.
This will be a long journey of discovering what God has created. We are a undone people. The Church really has to dig deep in the wells of Scripture and in the unsearchable depths of the Spirit of God. The Gospel of reconciliation doesn't just reconcile us back to God but reconciles us back to each other. The Church is the new Eden. Yet we are a undone people ever submitting ourselves in the hand of the Potter to mold us into the image of his Son. I hope to continue in faith in this discussion within the Church. The issue of women in ministerial leadership should be a non-essential issue in the Church. But the issue has roots in the essentials; the doctrine of God, the doctrine of creation, the doctrine of sin, the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of salvation, the doctrine of the Church, and so forth. The Gospel is truly hindered when believers refrain from speaking in love. Anger rests in the bosom of fools (Ecclesiastes 7:9). Our witness must be true to Christ and the glory of the Father. A dying world is watching for us to fulfill the Master declaration that we are the city upon the hill whose lights shines for all men to see. May it shine bright so the world may glorify the Father who is in heaven and his Son who sits at his right hand forever. Amen
Touchstone Magazine has become a frequent website I visit. It is a magazine promoting Christian orthodoxy or as the editors borrow from C.S. Lewis in its subtitle: "mere" Christianity. It features the writings of Christians from the three major streams of the Christianity: Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant. It has an traditional (i.e. conservative), yet ecumenical approach to Christianity. Yet all the writers are maintain an allegiance to their respective Christian traditions. Timothy George, J.I. Packer, Thomas C. Oden, and R. Albert Mohler, are frequent contributers representing the evangelical wing of Protestantism.
I tend to like the overall gist of the magazine. Orthodoxy comes form the Greek word orthodoxos meaning "right opinion; praise; glory". Christian orthodoxy is basically outlined in the ancient Creeds developed in the ecumenical councils of the early Church.
But I have this against Touchstone. There are hardly any contemporary orthodox authors from non-European backgrounds. Where are the members of the Majority World? Where are the African Americans, Latinos, and Asian American theologians? Now are are female authors, but rarely are evangelical egalitarians (Christians for Biblical Equality). Most of the theologians, biblical scholars, and intellectuals featured in Touchstone espouse a complementarian theology and strongly maintain it is important for Christians to adopt such in order to included in the boundaries of Christian orthodoxy.
I feel for my sisters in Christ who maintain orthodoxy have to wrestle between it and their identity as women. To be truly female in orthodox Christian traditions is to maintain one's place: under the "sacrificial leadership of men within the divine creation order." Although their is rich biblical and theological scholarship have challenged hand have refuted the exegetical claims from the complementarian camp, egalitarians are in the minority within classical Christian circles. Wesleyan-Holiness and Pentecostal traditions early in their histories have argued a biblical and theological case for women's call to preach the Gospel and minister in pastoral leadership for over one hundred years. The African Methodist Episcopal Church has ordained women since nearly its inception. In recent years three women have been elected to the bishopric. Because of the current historical climate of feminism and the gay rights movements, anything that "smells" like feminism (especially for many editors of Touchstone), it is shut down and dismissed as borderline, if not, downright heretical and inimical to the Gospel (i.e. Together for the Gospel official document link).
Though women were ordained clergy in the early history of the Church, Christians theologians maintained that only males can sacramentally represent Christ fully in the ordained priesthood (Orthodox, Roman Catholic) and/or that males in church leadership is analogous to the "headship" of husbands in the home and Christ and his Church (conservative evangelicalism , see Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood's magna carta, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood).
Some like Leon J. Podles and R. Albert Mohler have asserted that a "feminization of Christianity' over the last fifty or so years, if not, centuries ago. According to a 2006 report in the New York Times, women make up 51 percent of recently enrolled seminary students yet in mainline denominations women clergy make up 3 percent. Most evangelical denominations, with the exception the Wesleyan-Holiness, Evangelical Covenant, recently the Christian Reformed, and the Pentecostal Churches (AG, Church of God TN, Pentecostal-Holiness, Foursquare), do not ordain women. The Church of God in Christ, the largest black trinitarian Pentecostal denomination does not officially ordain women to the pastorate. Women are licensed evangelists and missionaries and ordained military chaplains. However, bishops can appoint women to pastor church within his jurisdiction but they are not officially called "Rev.", "Elder", or "Pastor" but the traditional Sanctified Church title for revered older women "Mother", "Evangelist", "Prophetess" or "Shepherdess".
What's an orthodox Christian egalitarian women and man to do? She or he do not have a kindred fellowship with those of a liberal theological stripe. She or he has more in common with her complementarian Christian brothers... and sisters! Yet when one Christian women is convinced by Scripture and the Holy Spirit to minister as the Spirit wills, she is giving "biblical boundaries" to minister because of her womanhood. Where is she to go? The harvest is ripe for the harvest. The sheep need a shepherd but she is denied the office because she is told God does not call women to shepherd the sheep because it would undermined the divinely ordained social hierarchical relationship with male and female.
Why is this an important issue for me, you ask? Because as the title of this post says, it is for God's glory alone I write this. I believe the most fundamental relational issue in the world today second to humanity's broken relationship with God is humanity's broken relationship with humanity. Male and female are in a constant struggle. Though most say it's for control and that may be true. I must say it is essentially the quest to relate with each other as male and female. It is truly a crisis of identity. What does it mean to be human as male and female. For centuries theologians have labored to study this theological problem. Yes, this is a theological problem. Sin though defeated at the Cross, it has residue with the barrels our humanity.
We as the Body of Christ still await the Second Advent of our King and the redemption of our bodies. Our bodies are sexed. We are sexual beings. Yet with the modern theories that have developed the category known as "gender" has been included in our cultural lexicon. Gender means the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically associated with one sex. Gender is formed and informed by our various cultures. Yes their are biologically gender differences. But cultures play a key role too. The paradox is gender has helped and even confused the debate among sincere orthodox believers.
This will be a long journey of discovering what God has created. We are a undone people. The Church really has to dig deep in the wells of Scripture and in the unsearchable depths of the Spirit of God. The Gospel of reconciliation doesn't just reconcile us back to God but reconciles us back to each other. The Church is the new Eden. Yet we are a undone people ever submitting ourselves in the hand of the Potter to mold us into the image of his Son. I hope to continue in faith in this discussion within the Church. The issue of women in ministerial leadership should be a non-essential issue in the Church. But the issue has roots in the essentials; the doctrine of God, the doctrine of creation, the doctrine of sin, the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of salvation, the doctrine of the Church, and so forth. The Gospel is truly hindered when believers refrain from speaking in love. Anger rests in the bosom of fools (Ecclesiastes 7:9). Our witness must be true to Christ and the glory of the Father. A dying world is watching for us to fulfill the Master declaration that we are the city upon the hill whose lights shines for all men to see. May it shine bright so the world may glorify the Father who is in heaven and his Son who sits at his right hand forever. Amen
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Grace
This week has been a rough one. This past Sunday my ailing maternal grandfather fell out of his hospital bed and fractured his neck. He has a bulky neck brace to stabilize his spine so his spinal cord won't be damaged. I delayed returning to campus and went to the hospital on Monday along with many of my close relatives. He was out of it due to the morphine. He was in severe pain. He had fluid in his lungs so it was hard for him to breathe.
Late Monday night after talking with Antoine and my brother I had overwhelming sense of peace. I heard the Spirit say, "Your grandfather sleeps. He's resting in Me." I was bit scared. I was afraid to ask Him if Pop Pop had passed on. I called my cousin to ask her if there were any changes. There weren't any changes that she had heard. We spent about an hour talking about him and how we would be at peace if Pop passed on to glory because he was suffering badly.
Tuesday morning I got a call from my Mom saying that Pop was doing better. He was talking better though softly. He was feisty as ever. He wanted to go home (go figure!). He slept good. (Now I understood what God meant!).
Today I had an exam scheduled in my Electronics course. I'm not doing well in that course. I just wanted to fail the course so I could move on. I'm a bit burnt out from all this college work. The hard sciences are not my cup of tea. I put more energy in my other courses than I do this one. I spoke with Dr. Brusic my professor today. I believe my words were in the ballpark, "Fail me! I'll be okay!"
Dr. Brusic understood my burnout and my grandfather's ordeal. She lost both her parents to cancer. She gave me time to think about the repercussions of accepting a failing grade. She could've have gone ahead with it failing me, but she assured me that I was good student who does his best in the course and that the material is difficult. I walked out of that room feeling like I have experienced the wondrous grace of God. God really went before me and made a way when I was about to throw in the towel and be relieved with failing the course. I guess the Master has other plans.
This week has been a rough one. This past Sunday my ailing maternal grandfather fell out of his hospital bed and fractured his neck. He has a bulky neck brace to stabilize his spine so his spinal cord won't be damaged. I delayed returning to campus and went to the hospital on Monday along with many of my close relatives. He was out of it due to the morphine. He was in severe pain. He had fluid in his lungs so it was hard for him to breathe.
Late Monday night after talking with Antoine and my brother I had overwhelming sense of peace. I heard the Spirit say, "Your grandfather sleeps. He's resting in Me." I was bit scared. I was afraid to ask Him if Pop Pop had passed on. I called my cousin to ask her if there were any changes. There weren't any changes that she had heard. We spent about an hour talking about him and how we would be at peace if Pop passed on to glory because he was suffering badly.
Tuesday morning I got a call from my Mom saying that Pop was doing better. He was talking better though softly. He was feisty as ever. He wanted to go home (go figure!). He slept good. (Now I understood what God meant!).
Today I had an exam scheduled in my Electronics course. I'm not doing well in that course. I just wanted to fail the course so I could move on. I'm a bit burnt out from all this college work. The hard sciences are not my cup of tea. I put more energy in my other courses than I do this one. I spoke with Dr. Brusic my professor today. I believe my words were in the ballpark, "Fail me! I'll be okay!"
Dr. Brusic understood my burnout and my grandfather's ordeal. She lost both her parents to cancer. She gave me time to think about the repercussions of accepting a failing grade. She could've have gone ahead with it failing me, but she assured me that I was good student who does his best in the course and that the material is difficult. I walked out of that room feeling like I have experienced the wondrous grace of God. God really went before me and made a way when I was about to throw in the towel and be relieved with failing the course. I guess the Master has other plans.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Praise Break
"I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth."
Psalm 34:1
"Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name."
Psalm 103:1
"Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD."
Psalm 150
This past week was a bit busy. My mother and stepfather moved into a nice home in Drexel Hill, a town nearby Upper Darby. It's a nice house on hilly land. They need some new furniture because their queen-size bed won't fit up the narrow stairway, but it's a homey place. They really enjoy it.
This past Thanksgiving I celebrated my 22nd year on this earth. I celebrated by having Thanksgiving dinner over my maternal grandmother's, next I visited my severely ill maternal grandfather in the hospital, then I topped off the night with some birthday cake at my great aunt's house.
I call this post a praise break because throughout the past couple weeks haven't stopped to give God praise for what He has done and what He will continually do in my life until I see Him face to face. Inspite of my spasmic decisions, He's been so good to me. He deserves more than I can owe Him, but since He's God He knows how much I love Him. Words truly cannot express my gratitude for His lovingkindness towards us. Sometimes I just think about me I forget that God is good all the time towards every human being though life's experiences tend to veil our minds to not see God's goodness. It really takes illumination from the Holy Spirit to wake me up from the slumber of self-centeredness and look up and see the beauty of holiness. God is truly amazing and I thank Him for seeing another year. I hope to see many more.
"I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth."
Psalm 34:1
"Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name."
Psalm 103:1
"Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power.
Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.
Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp.
Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD."
Psalm 150
This past week was a bit busy. My mother and stepfather moved into a nice home in Drexel Hill, a town nearby Upper Darby. It's a nice house on hilly land. They need some new furniture because their queen-size bed won't fit up the narrow stairway, but it's a homey place. They really enjoy it.
This past Thanksgiving I celebrated my 22nd year on this earth. I celebrated by having Thanksgiving dinner over my maternal grandmother's, next I visited my severely ill maternal grandfather in the hospital, then I topped off the night with some birthday cake at my great aunt's house.
I call this post a praise break because throughout the past couple weeks haven't stopped to give God praise for what He has done and what He will continually do in my life until I see Him face to face. Inspite of my spasmic decisions, He's been so good to me. He deserves more than I can owe Him, but since He's God He knows how much I love Him. Words truly cannot express my gratitude for His lovingkindness towards us. Sometimes I just think about me I forget that God is good all the time towards every human being though life's experiences tend to veil our minds to not see God's goodness. It really takes illumination from the Holy Spirit to wake me up from the slumber of self-centeredness and look up and see the beauty of holiness. God is truly amazing and I thank Him for seeing another year. I hope to see many more.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Some Notes of Encouragement
A dear pastor friend of mine, Bishop Albert A. Belton gave a wonderful message today on wisdom and sanctification, and charity (the action or fruit of love). He gave me his notes to me to post on the website and I will write them as they appear with an exception of some editing. So here they are. Disclaimer: I do not necessarily agree with some of the teachings of Bishop Belton, but he has been a good resource for my personal growth. God has used him to challenge me to go and study the Word for myself to find out WHY I may disagree with some of his views on contemporary issues in the church from a Scriptural point of view. Nevertheless, I found his teaching today to be edifying and I have much respect for him and pray God continually blesses him and the church he pastors.
Please comment if you have any thoughts or disagreements. Like the Bible says we are subject to the Word for reproof, correction, and instruction (2 Timothy 3:16).
Proverbs 18:1-3
Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself. When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt, and with ignominy* reproach.
ignominy- deep personal humiliation and disgrace; dishonorable.
Isaiah 59:15
Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. And he saw that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
Matthew 7:1-6 (Read)
1 Corinthians 13:1-13(Read)
Bishop Belton's Notes:
GOD is eternal, we are created. GOD knew when He created things with a free will that it could disagree with good, which is GOD. Then there would be no righteousness, peace, or joy. Therefore GOD created everything on a temporary basis to see what things would choose before He eternalized it so GOD would not be forcing His will on anyone. Is is your choice. How you will live is how you will die. If you agree with GOD you be eternalized good (my note: have a right to the tree of life). If you disagree with what GOD says you will be eternalized evil. That is your choice. When we agree with GOD and trust GOD to experience the results that they are always good. That is how we know GOD!
A dear pastor friend of mine, Bishop Albert A. Belton gave a wonderful message today on wisdom and sanctification, and charity (the action or fruit of love). He gave me his notes to me to post on the website and I will write them as they appear with an exception of some editing. So here they are. Disclaimer: I do not necessarily agree with some of the teachings of Bishop Belton, but he has been a good resource for my personal growth. God has used him to challenge me to go and study the Word for myself to find out WHY I may disagree with some of his views on contemporary issues in the church from a Scriptural point of view. Nevertheless, I found his teaching today to be edifying and I have much respect for him and pray God continually blesses him and the church he pastors.
Please comment if you have any thoughts or disagreements. Like the Bible says we are subject to the Word for reproof, correction, and instruction (2 Timothy 3:16).
Proverbs 18:1-3
Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself. When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt, and with ignominy* reproach.
ignominy- deep personal humiliation and disgrace; dishonorable.
Isaiah 59:15
Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. And he saw that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
Matthew 7:1-6 (Read)
1 Corinthians 13:1-13(Read)
Bishop Belton's Notes:
GOD is eternal, we are created. GOD knew when He created things with a free will that it could disagree with good, which is GOD. Then there would be no righteousness, peace, or joy. Therefore GOD created everything on a temporary basis to see what things would choose before He eternalized it so GOD would not be forcing His will on anyone. Is is your choice. How you will live is how you will die. If you agree with GOD you be eternalized good (my note: have a right to the tree of life). If you disagree with what GOD says you will be eternalized evil. That is your choice. When we agree with GOD and trust GOD to experience the results that they are always good. That is how we know GOD!
Saturday, November 10, 2007
My True Commander-in-Chief and His Political Party.....
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of his increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."
Isaiah 9:6-7
"From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand...And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people."
Matthew 4: 17,23
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
Matthew 6:33
"And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."
Matthew 24:11-14
"Jesus answered and said unto [Nicodemus], Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
John 3:3
"Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate said unto him, What is truth?...."
John 18:33-38
"Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?"
James 2:5
"And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever."
Revelation 11:15
The good thing is that faith gets us in His party, and the bad thing is that unbelief keeps us out. So I by grace I must choose who will I serve? If Jesus is LORD, I must serve Him. Because in His party, nobody nominates Him, but His Father who is in Heaven. And Since He and His Father are One, knowing that Christ sits at His right hand, being the Only-Begotten not made, nobody in heaven, in earth, or under the earth can impeach Him. Christ rules and reigns as King Eternal.
He is I AM, the Good Shepherd, the Potentate, the Bishop of our souls, The Captain our salvation, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. The Holy One of God cannot be defeated for He defeated the enemy and has all authority in heaven and earth placed in His hands. To God be the glory for the things He has done. What a mighty God we serve. Angels bow before Him, Heaven and Earth adore Him. What a mighty God we serve.
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of his increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."
Isaiah 9:6-7
"From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand...And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people."
Matthew 4: 17,23
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
Matthew 6:33
"And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."
Matthew 24:11-14
"Jesus answered and said unto [Nicodemus], Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
John 3:3
"Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate said unto him, What is truth?...."
John 18:33-38
"Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?"
James 2:5
"And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever."
Revelation 11:15
The good thing is that faith gets us in His party, and the bad thing is that unbelief keeps us out. So I by grace I must choose who will I serve? If Jesus is LORD, I must serve Him. Because in His party, nobody nominates Him, but His Father who is in Heaven. And Since He and His Father are One, knowing that Christ sits at His right hand, being the Only-Begotten not made, nobody in heaven, in earth, or under the earth can impeach Him. Christ rules and reigns as King Eternal.
He is I AM, the Good Shepherd, the Potentate, the Bishop of our souls, The Captain our salvation, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. The Holy One of God cannot be defeated for He defeated the enemy and has all authority in heaven and earth placed in His hands. To God be the glory for the things He has done. What a mighty God we serve. Angels bow before Him, Heaven and Earth adore Him. What a mighty God we serve.
Friday, November 02, 2007
To the Utmost, Jesus Saves!
" Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)" Eph 2:5
" For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:" Eph 2:8
"And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee." Luke 18:42
" Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." Hebrews 7:25
A couple of nights ago my brother Brandon called me and put me on three-way with Frankie (not her real name) a young woman with whom he has classes at Philadelphia Community College. He recently went to a Bible Study with this woman to her church which belongs to the Churches of Christ, a group of non-denominational autonomous churches sprung from the Restoration Movement. My brother sat in this Bible study listening to her Pastor as he was teaching on the fallacies of a tithing in a "New Testament Church".
Though my brother conceded the Pastor had some valid Scriptural points concerning the matter, what Brandon heard out the pastor's mouth shocked him enough to call me. The Pastor told his congregation that those professed Christians in other denominations i.e. Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, Presbyterians, and so forth were baptized into their respective "doctrines" and not according to Scripture, therefore are not saved.
Being saved in a Baptist church, I went to Creeds.net and pulled up the New Hampshire Baptist Confession of 1833, and read to the woman what we Baptists confess about Christian faith. One by one, I would read the articles on the Scriptures, God, Man, a Gospel Church, and so forth, Brandon would stop and asked Frankie if she agreed with these statements of confession, or if they were Scriptural. She paused and said she would have to think about it.
Then Frankie said she has to call her "brother". She put him on three-way and the man whose name I could not recall entered into the increasingly volatile conversation. He started by "testifying" that he was raised in the "Baptist organization" and was very "religious" that his parents are ordained ministers in the Baptist organization, and he was on his way to ordination in the organization until someone from the Church of Christ argued from the Scriptures that he and others in denominations were not apart of the true Church of Christ. His argument that there is no such thing as a Baptist Church but only the Churches of Christ (Romans 16:16). Anybody else does not belong to Christ.
I asked him when the Churches of Christ began, he said on the day of Pentecost. His words etched in me that I knew this wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation. He got his Bible and started saying that tithing is not for the New Testament Church (as opposed to the Old Testament Church), the Lord's Supper was supposed to be done in the evening because it was a supper, and that the Lord's Blood (wine) was to be drinking from one cup, not many. Anyone who does not practice obey what the apostles taught concerning the ordinances, is not a true Church of Christ.
Now here is the coup de grace, the man said that water baptism is necessary for salvation. His proof-text were Mark 16:16 and Acts 2:38. If persons do not receive water baptism by immersion for the repentance are not saved. Brandon counterpointed that we are saved by faith not by works. The man contended by using the James passage to mean that good works (obedience) is the sign of faith and if anyone does not obey the apostolic doctrine (on baptism, tithing, Lord's Supper) is not Christ's.
I couldn't bear talking to them much longer after I was getting a little heated on the phone. I hung up and a minute later Brandon called me. I was broken close to tears. How could they be Christians and not discern the Spirit in us? How could they just immediately dismiss us as unredeemed because were baptized believers in the Baptist Church? I guess they were right and wrong about one thing, we are baptized into the Body of Christ (Church)... by the Spirit! (1 Corinthians 12:13)
I told my brother it is a dangerous thing to mess with a person's soul. These people are deceived and deceiving others into their aberrant doctrine. Apparently this man has joined a group which has shunned denominationalism to the point of rejecting all Christians in these denominations and joined a perverted form of anti-denominationalism. Now I know that the not all in the Churches of Christ would believe like this Pastor and his followers believe, but there is no doctrinal accountability or common confession or creed in this network of churches because they profess to "have no "man-made" creed but the Bible". It is unfortunate because this statement is a "man-made" creed. Baptists, who would be considered a Restorationist church, have confessions or statements of faith which like-minded Baptist churches join to form conventions or fellowships.
The Scriptures are clear concerning anyones salvation. Romans 10:917 says,
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Did Abraham's good works save him? The apostle Paul says in Romans 4:1-5,
What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath [whereof] to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Abraham obeyed God because he trusted in God, not the other way around. Abraham obeyed God when God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on Mt. Moriah because Abraham trust in the Lord who was able to raise Isaac from the dead (Hebrews 11:8-19).
Our salvation rest in One, the Lord Jesus Christ. These two people and many others have a nonsensical way of interpreting Scripture. It's like I said before and will say until the day I die, even Satan can quote Bible to prove his point, but he's the father of lies! One person can interpret the Scripture apart from the Church throughout all ages. The apostle John said that we the Church have anointing of the Holy One and we know all things (1 John 2:20). Every spirit, human or nonhuman must be tried (1 John 4:1).
The next day my brother called me and said to me that he will not talk to Frankie anymore. He told her in class that he could not talk to her anyone because it really hurt him and me that a self-professed Christian told us we were not saved, even if we confess the Lord Jesus and follow Him outside of the Churches of Christ (which to them it is virtually impossible to do).
This was a hard trial but a blessing. It really urges me to search the Scriptures daily and hear the testimony of the all-sufficient Savior. I serve a mighty God who is able to take stones and raise up children unto Abraham (Matthew 3:9, Luke 3:8). I'm glad my brother, my and my family, are among these stones.
Blessings.
" Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)" Eph 2:5
" For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:" Eph 2:8
"And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee." Luke 18:42
" Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." Hebrews 7:25
A couple of nights ago my brother Brandon called me and put me on three-way with Frankie (not her real name) a young woman with whom he has classes at Philadelphia Community College. He recently went to a Bible Study with this woman to her church which belongs to the Churches of Christ, a group of non-denominational autonomous churches sprung from the Restoration Movement. My brother sat in this Bible study listening to her Pastor as he was teaching on the fallacies of a tithing in a "New Testament Church".
Though my brother conceded the Pastor had some valid Scriptural points concerning the matter, what Brandon heard out the pastor's mouth shocked him enough to call me. The Pastor told his congregation that those professed Christians in other denominations i.e. Baptists, Methodists, Catholics, Presbyterians, and so forth were baptized into their respective "doctrines" and not according to Scripture, therefore are not saved.
Being saved in a Baptist church, I went to Creeds.net and pulled up the New Hampshire Baptist Confession of 1833, and read to the woman what we Baptists confess about Christian faith. One by one, I would read the articles on the Scriptures, God, Man, a Gospel Church, and so forth, Brandon would stop and asked Frankie if she agreed with these statements of confession, or if they were Scriptural. She paused and said she would have to think about it.
Then Frankie said she has to call her "brother". She put him on three-way and the man whose name I could not recall entered into the increasingly volatile conversation. He started by "testifying" that he was raised in the "Baptist organization" and was very "religious" that his parents are ordained ministers in the Baptist organization, and he was on his way to ordination in the organization until someone from the Church of Christ argued from the Scriptures that he and others in denominations were not apart of the true Church of Christ. His argument that there is no such thing as a Baptist Church but only the Churches of Christ (Romans 16:16). Anybody else does not belong to Christ.
I asked him when the Churches of Christ began, he said on the day of Pentecost. His words etched in me that I knew this wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation. He got his Bible and started saying that tithing is not for the New Testament Church (as opposed to the Old Testament Church), the Lord's Supper was supposed to be done in the evening because it was a supper, and that the Lord's Blood (wine) was to be drinking from one cup, not many. Anyone who does not practice obey what the apostles taught concerning the ordinances, is not a true Church of Christ.
Now here is the coup de grace, the man said that water baptism is necessary for salvation. His proof-text were Mark 16:16 and Acts 2:38. If persons do not receive water baptism by immersion for the repentance are not saved. Brandon counterpointed that we are saved by faith not by works. The man contended by using the James passage to mean that good works (obedience) is the sign of faith and if anyone does not obey the apostolic doctrine (on baptism, tithing, Lord's Supper) is not Christ's.
I couldn't bear talking to them much longer after I was getting a little heated on the phone. I hung up and a minute later Brandon called me. I was broken close to tears. How could they be Christians and not discern the Spirit in us? How could they just immediately dismiss us as unredeemed because were baptized believers in the Baptist Church? I guess they were right and wrong about one thing, we are baptized into the Body of Christ (Church)... by the Spirit! (1 Corinthians 12:13)
I told my brother it is a dangerous thing to mess with a person's soul. These people are deceived and deceiving others into their aberrant doctrine. Apparently this man has joined a group which has shunned denominationalism to the point of rejecting all Christians in these denominations and joined a perverted form of anti-denominationalism. Now I know that the not all in the Churches of Christ would believe like this Pastor and his followers believe, but there is no doctrinal accountability or common confession or creed in this network of churches because they profess to "have no "man-made" creed but the Bible". It is unfortunate because this statement is a "man-made" creed. Baptists, who would be considered a Restorationist church, have confessions or statements of faith which like-minded Baptist churches join to form conventions or fellowships.
The Scriptures are clear concerning anyones salvation. Romans 10:917 says,
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Did Abraham's good works save him? The apostle Paul says in Romans 4:1-5,
What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath [whereof] to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Abraham obeyed God because he trusted in God, not the other way around. Abraham obeyed God when God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac on Mt. Moriah because Abraham trust in the Lord who was able to raise Isaac from the dead (Hebrews 11:8-19).
Our salvation rest in One, the Lord Jesus Christ. These two people and many others have a nonsensical way of interpreting Scripture. It's like I said before and will say until the day I die, even Satan can quote Bible to prove his point, but he's the father of lies! One person can interpret the Scripture apart from the Church throughout all ages. The apostle John said that we the Church have anointing of the Holy One and we know all things (1 John 2:20). Every spirit, human or nonhuman must be tried (1 John 4:1).
The next day my brother called me and said to me that he will not talk to Frankie anymore. He told her in class that he could not talk to her anyone because it really hurt him and me that a self-professed Christian told us we were not saved, even if we confess the Lord Jesus and follow Him outside of the Churches of Christ (which to them it is virtually impossible to do).
This was a hard trial but a blessing. It really urges me to search the Scriptures daily and hear the testimony of the all-sufficient Savior. I serve a mighty God who is able to take stones and raise up children unto Abraham (Matthew 3:9, Luke 3:8). I'm glad my brother, my and my family, are among these stones.
Blessings.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Issues I Wonder About
"For in much wisdom [is] much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow."
Ecclesiastes 1:18 KJV
I have written many comments on different blogs regarding many issues I feel passionate about. Usually the blogs are conservative and evangelical for instance The Parchment and the Pen. One blog I read is from acclaimed biblical scholar, speaker, and author Renita J. Weems. I noticed for the most part I'm discussing topics quoting scripture to make a point.
It seems though in my talking I'm preaching to the choir. I've come to a realization of how unedifying this practice may be. I'm talking to Christians of different stripes and it's good to talk with members of the Body. However I'm questioning who really gets the the glory.
I know that there is a lot of false doctrine out there being taught. There are some Spirit-led apologists out there in the world wide web defending the faith "once delivered to the saints." But I wonder...
Christians, at least in the United States, have a bad reputation. Well more particular self-professed born-again, Bible-believing Christians of the evangelical, fundamentalist and Pentecostal stripe. Other Christians like main-line Protestants, Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox rarely are "hissed" at by non-Christians, especially the media. Well the Catholics with the whole sexual abuse in the priesthood is an exception.
Televangelism is another pet peeve to many in and outside of American Christendom. (Mis)representations of Pentecostal/Charismatic movement by self-proclaim healing evangelists, prophets, and mega-preachers, some promoting the so-called prosperity gospel (i.e. TBN, Daystar, GOD TV), and one of the key patriarchs of the so-called Religious Right still lingering on the airwaves, Dr. Pat Robertson, (Drs. D. James Kennedy and Jerry Falwell both died this year), and the whole so-called cultural war forged by many conservative evangelicals leaves a bad taste in the mouths of this postmodern, post-Christian generation.
This generation are has an aversion to claims of absolute truth. Moral relativism, nihilism, and consumerism reign supreme in Western societies like the United States and many places in Europe. The Church in the eyes of the outsiders is nothing but a great disappoint. The Church has wedded itself to power (Holy Roman Empire; American government) for centuries. Many see that the Church has failed to stand up to, were complicit in, or directly responsible for A.D. civilizations greatest atrocities (the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Holocaust, chattel slavery, and so forth). I wonder... does the Church look like Jesus Christ?
There have been many books written on the organism/institution called the Church. What is the Church? What is the purpose of its existence? What is its mission? Has it failed in its mission?
Now I know that Jesus found the Church and have "her" a mission? I could quote the scriptures until Jesus comes? My point writing this post is that the Church in America is failing to get acquainted with what N.T. Wright calls "the Story and the Task" in his latest book Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense. The Church in America is ignorant of her mission. Too many Christian fail at showing what the Church is for instead of showing the Church is against. The mission of the Church is to preach the gospel of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul tell us (and I'm about to quote the Scriptures):
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." Romans 1:16 KJV
The apostles preached what Jesus commissioned them to declare to Jerusalem and to all of Judea and Samaria and all over the world. (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:44-49; Acts 1:7-8).
How does the Body of Christ reach out a world who distrusts us? Many murders, lynches, burnings, rapes, tortures, and other atrocities have been done "in the name of Christ." Protestants killed Catholics. Catholics killed Protestants. Protestants killed each other. Both Churches persecuted Jews and Muslims. With this grave history lingering over the Church, know wonder why non-Christians cannot stand us. Many will read this and say, "But those are not true Christians! We are not responsible for their actions." I agree. However, the world doesn't know this.
What is a Christian? Who is Jesus Christ? Many non-Christians like Jesus... so they say, but not the Church. Many look up to Jesus of Nazareth as a good spiritual guru, a champion of tolerance (whatever that is); a social reformer and political activist; a moral man who died a unjust death at the hands of the Roman Empire. But they ask, "who the hell are these Christians? They don't look like Jesus. Didn't Jesus teach people not to judge? Didn't Jesus teach to turn the other cheek? To love your neighbor?"
It is easy to give Scriptural rebuttals to defend the true Jesus Christ. However, many people especially in America don't read the Bible. Quite frankly many so-called Bible-believing Christians don't read the Bible. I wonder why...
Jesus is the Word made flesh. God became a man to save us. He charged his disciples to be the salt and the light of the world. Yet it seems that Christians have been caught up in behaving badly, being hypocritical, arrogant, and judgmental, and getting too involved with politics. Isn't it funny that the early Christians knew that Jesus is Lord and not Caesar and yet Caesar is now the people and not one single man. We Western Christians are a part of that great ideology called democracy. The people rule. We are Caesar.
Maybe that's why so many evangelicals are scared to not give up their rights to free exercise of religion. Evangelicals and Catholics what hate crime laws to be eradicated. Want traditional marriage to be defined in the law and to abolish abortion. While these are noble causes, I wonder if we are being selfish. Instead of loving not our lives to death and making sure the gospel is proclaimed, evangelicals want to have their cake and eat it too. Persecution of the righteous is inevitable. Is this what being salt and light to the world. Defending traditional marriage (whatever that means) and yet our marriages are failing. Abolishing abortion but abandon single mothers to take care of their children and banishing them from churches? Many white evangelicals still are against affirmative action. Many black evangelicals don't believe in reparations for African Americans. Why?
Some may rebut my "pondering" by saying that liberal/progressive Christians are too political as well. I agree. My point is that what is the central mission of the Church? Declaring traditional family values, human rights or Christ Jesus? What are traditional family values? Who's traditions? And are they truly scriptural? Progressive Christians of all stripes claim that their values, beliefs and actions are scriptural? Are they?
With all of this going through my mind, I wonder... how does the Father feel about the so-called Church's behavior and attitude towards the world. Did He not send His only Begotten in the world not to condemn but to save it? Which such costly grace bestowed upon wretches like us, how dare we turn up our noses at the world? We will see Christ on that last day and He stares into our face and say, "I never knew you." If He hewed out the natural branches and grafted the wild ones in, doesn't He have the power to hew us out? I wonder...
"For in much wisdom [is] much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow."
Ecclesiastes 1:18 KJV
I have written many comments on different blogs regarding many issues I feel passionate about. Usually the blogs are conservative and evangelical for instance The Parchment and the Pen. One blog I read is from acclaimed biblical scholar, speaker, and author Renita J. Weems. I noticed for the most part I'm discussing topics quoting scripture to make a point.
It seems though in my talking I'm preaching to the choir. I've come to a realization of how unedifying this practice may be. I'm talking to Christians of different stripes and it's good to talk with members of the Body. However I'm questioning who really gets the the glory.
I know that there is a lot of false doctrine out there being taught. There are some Spirit-led apologists out there in the world wide web defending the faith "once delivered to the saints." But I wonder...
Christians, at least in the United States, have a bad reputation. Well more particular self-professed born-again, Bible-believing Christians of the evangelical, fundamentalist and Pentecostal stripe. Other Christians like main-line Protestants, Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox rarely are "hissed" at by non-Christians, especially the media. Well the Catholics with the whole sexual abuse in the priesthood is an exception.
Televangelism is another pet peeve to many in and outside of American Christendom. (Mis)representations of Pentecostal/Charismatic movement by self-proclaim healing evangelists, prophets, and mega-preachers, some promoting the so-called prosperity gospel (i.e. TBN, Daystar, GOD TV), and one of the key patriarchs of the so-called Religious Right still lingering on the airwaves, Dr. Pat Robertson, (Drs. D. James Kennedy and Jerry Falwell both died this year), and the whole so-called cultural war forged by many conservative evangelicals leaves a bad taste in the mouths of this postmodern, post-Christian generation.
This generation are has an aversion to claims of absolute truth. Moral relativism, nihilism, and consumerism reign supreme in Western societies like the United States and many places in Europe. The Church in the eyes of the outsiders is nothing but a great disappoint. The Church has wedded itself to power (Holy Roman Empire; American government) for centuries. Many see that the Church has failed to stand up to, were complicit in, or directly responsible for A.D. civilizations greatest atrocities (the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Holocaust, chattel slavery, and so forth). I wonder... does the Church look like Jesus Christ?
There have been many books written on the organism/institution called the Church. What is the Church? What is the purpose of its existence? What is its mission? Has it failed in its mission?
Now I know that Jesus found the Church and have "her" a mission? I could quote the scriptures until Jesus comes? My point writing this post is that the Church in America is failing to get acquainted with what N.T. Wright calls "the Story and the Task" in his latest book Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense. The Church in America is ignorant of her mission. Too many Christian fail at showing what the Church is for instead of showing the Church is against. The mission of the Church is to preach the gospel of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul tell us (and I'm about to quote the Scriptures):
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." Romans 1:16 KJV
The apostles preached what Jesus commissioned them to declare to Jerusalem and to all of Judea and Samaria and all over the world. (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:44-49; Acts 1:7-8).
How does the Body of Christ reach out a world who distrusts us? Many murders, lynches, burnings, rapes, tortures, and other atrocities have been done "in the name of Christ." Protestants killed Catholics. Catholics killed Protestants. Protestants killed each other. Both Churches persecuted Jews and Muslims. With this grave history lingering over the Church, know wonder why non-Christians cannot stand us. Many will read this and say, "But those are not true Christians! We are not responsible for their actions." I agree. However, the world doesn't know this.
What is a Christian? Who is Jesus Christ? Many non-Christians like Jesus... so they say, but not the Church. Many look up to Jesus of Nazareth as a good spiritual guru, a champion of tolerance (whatever that is); a social reformer and political activist; a moral man who died a unjust death at the hands of the Roman Empire. But they ask, "who the hell are these Christians? They don't look like Jesus. Didn't Jesus teach people not to judge? Didn't Jesus teach to turn the other cheek? To love your neighbor?"
It is easy to give Scriptural rebuttals to defend the true Jesus Christ. However, many people especially in America don't read the Bible. Quite frankly many so-called Bible-believing Christians don't read the Bible. I wonder why...
Jesus is the Word made flesh. God became a man to save us. He charged his disciples to be the salt and the light of the world. Yet it seems that Christians have been caught up in behaving badly, being hypocritical, arrogant, and judgmental, and getting too involved with politics. Isn't it funny that the early Christians knew that Jesus is Lord and not Caesar and yet Caesar is now the people and not one single man. We Western Christians are a part of that great ideology called democracy. The people rule. We are Caesar.
Maybe that's why so many evangelicals are scared to not give up their rights to free exercise of religion. Evangelicals and Catholics what hate crime laws to be eradicated. Want traditional marriage to be defined in the law and to abolish abortion. While these are noble causes, I wonder if we are being selfish. Instead of loving not our lives to death and making sure the gospel is proclaimed, evangelicals want to have their cake and eat it too. Persecution of the righteous is inevitable. Is this what being salt and light to the world. Defending traditional marriage (whatever that means) and yet our marriages are failing. Abolishing abortion but abandon single mothers to take care of their children and banishing them from churches? Many white evangelicals still are against affirmative action. Many black evangelicals don't believe in reparations for African Americans. Why?
Some may rebut my "pondering" by saying that liberal/progressive Christians are too political as well. I agree. My point is that what is the central mission of the Church? Declaring traditional family values, human rights or Christ Jesus? What are traditional family values? Who's traditions? And are they truly scriptural? Progressive Christians of all stripes claim that their values, beliefs and actions are scriptural? Are they?
With all of this going through my mind, I wonder... how does the Father feel about the so-called Church's behavior and attitude towards the world. Did He not send His only Begotten in the world not to condemn but to save it? Which such costly grace bestowed upon wretches like us, how dare we turn up our noses at the world? We will see Christ on that last day and He stares into our face and say, "I never knew you." If He hewed out the natural branches and grafted the wild ones in, doesn't He have the power to hew us out? I wonder...
Saturday, October 13, 2007
A Necessary Conversation
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matthew 5: 16 KJV
Today before the end of the homecoming game at Millersville University, I was walking home with my brother Antoine. As we were walking down N. George Street to Duncan Alumni House we came across a young woman who I knew from some where but I couldn't place her where or when. She stopped us and initiated a conversation. She said that she knew me by association ("Your Blaine's roommate.") I responded yes.
The young woman spoke completely honest with us about her present condition ("I'm drunk right now.") She told us that her boyfriend was the one who died in a recent car accident. Dominic was a senior at MU was expected to graduate in December. She told me that she was feeling very helpless and she knew that when she saw us walking down the street she had to stop us because she knew that Antoine and I were "spiritual".
This "cry for help" turned into the most beautiful conversation I've ever had with a person. As Vanessa began to share her feelings with us, her countenance changed from that of despair to peace and joy. Vanessa is a passionate, life-loving, sincere young woman who lost someone with whom she was passionately in love. She referred to her deceased boyfriend as her "kindred spirit"; a person who really understands her and truly accepts the beauty that is Vanessa. During her time of tragedy Vanessa's story became a triumph. "I have this strange feeling of peace," Vanessa said. "I know he's watching over me." She felt guilty for having this peace, but Antoine gently assured her that she's in the right place.
Antoine and I listened to this brilliant minded young woman who poured out her heart and her desire to be a good person. The most uplifting part of this experience was not talking but listening to this woman fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God (Psalm 139:14). I gave Vanessa my number and we parted ways.
I praise God for setting Antoine and me up for this opportunity to minister to Vanessa. The powerful thing about this experience was that we didn't quote Scripture, we didn't speak with other languages (Christianese) nor did we condemn Vanessa. Truly Christ used us to be a listeners of Vanessa and to bear witness of Him to her. I really praise God for Vanessa for showing me what it means to love and be loved. What it means to keep it real.
Most importantly, I praise Him for making us vessels of His glory. What Vanessa saw in us that drew her to us wasn't us, but Christ en-fleshed in us. Truly I understand now to let the light sine before men and women. This verse says that they will the good works in us and they will glorify the Father who is in Heaven. Truly God deserves all the glory, the honor, and the praise for this "necessary conversation."
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matthew 5: 16 KJV
Today before the end of the homecoming game at Millersville University, I was walking home with my brother Antoine. As we were walking down N. George Street to Duncan Alumni House we came across a young woman who I knew from some where but I couldn't place her where or when. She stopped us and initiated a conversation. She said that she knew me by association ("Your Blaine's roommate.") I responded yes.
The young woman spoke completely honest with us about her present condition ("I'm drunk right now.") She told us that her boyfriend was the one who died in a recent car accident. Dominic was a senior at MU was expected to graduate in December. She told me that she was feeling very helpless and she knew that when she saw us walking down the street she had to stop us because she knew that Antoine and I were "spiritual".
This "cry for help" turned into the most beautiful conversation I've ever had with a person. As Vanessa began to share her feelings with us, her countenance changed from that of despair to peace and joy. Vanessa is a passionate, life-loving, sincere young woman who lost someone with whom she was passionately in love. She referred to her deceased boyfriend as her "kindred spirit"; a person who really understands her and truly accepts the beauty that is Vanessa. During her time of tragedy Vanessa's story became a triumph. "I have this strange feeling of peace," Vanessa said. "I know he's watching over me." She felt guilty for having this peace, but Antoine gently assured her that she's in the right place.
Antoine and I listened to this brilliant minded young woman who poured out her heart and her desire to be a good person. The most uplifting part of this experience was not talking but listening to this woman fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God (Psalm 139:14). I gave Vanessa my number and we parted ways.
I praise God for setting Antoine and me up for this opportunity to minister to Vanessa. The powerful thing about this experience was that we didn't quote Scripture, we didn't speak with other languages (Christianese) nor did we condemn Vanessa. Truly Christ used us to be a listeners of Vanessa and to bear witness of Him to her. I really praise God for Vanessa for showing me what it means to love and be loved. What it means to keep it real.
Most importantly, I praise Him for making us vessels of His glory. What Vanessa saw in us that drew her to us wasn't us, but Christ en-fleshed in us. Truly I understand now to let the light sine before men and women. This verse says that they will the good works in us and they will glorify the Father who is in Heaven. Truly God deserves all the glory, the honor, and the praise for this "necessary conversation."
Thursday, October 04, 2007
There's Been a Change in Me
For the past two weeks I have had a sudden change in my mind. I have never had such a sense of conviction. Just a few months ago I was an idolatrous young man. I was coveting to look like other guys, the muscular athletic type. I would look a pornography on the Internet. I would dream lewd fantasies. Not really God glorifying to say the least. But now something is different. It's not that I feel saved. I know I am saved.
I really want to follow Jesus. There is no turning back. I am on the road to discipleship. Salvation is wonderful the I want to grow in Christ. I want to study the Scriptures for edification. I want to teach others the ways of God. I have visions of preaching the Gospel of Christ. I have visions of ministering to different people from all walks of life. Saved and sinner. Wow, what a mighty God we serve!
Tomorrow is the beginning of fall break. When I come back I start an on-campus job on Wednesday. I have really study for my classes. I want to be diligent student in my last year of undergraduate school. Keep me in your prayers.
Blessings,
Jason
For the past two weeks I have had a sudden change in my mind. I have never had such a sense of conviction. Just a few months ago I was an idolatrous young man. I was coveting to look like other guys, the muscular athletic type. I would look a pornography on the Internet. I would dream lewd fantasies. Not really God glorifying to say the least. But now something is different. It's not that I feel saved. I know I am saved.
I really want to follow Jesus. There is no turning back. I am on the road to discipleship. Salvation is wonderful the I want to grow in Christ. I want to study the Scriptures for edification. I want to teach others the ways of God. I have visions of preaching the Gospel of Christ. I have visions of ministering to different people from all walks of life. Saved and sinner. Wow, what a mighty God we serve!
Tomorrow is the beginning of fall break. When I come back I start an on-campus job on Wednesday. I have really study for my classes. I want to be diligent student in my last year of undergraduate school. Keep me in your prayers.
Blessings,
Jason
Saturday, September 15, 2007
A Home in Zion
Is there a home for me in Zion,
That dear, beautiful, wonderful, marvelous City of God?
She's calling me to come up thither unto her and to rest in her arms filled with the love her
Beloved,
She sings songs of hope, joy, compassion, forgiveness,
completeness,
She sings not of herself, but of the One whose Spirit
emanates from her Bosom.
The glorious Savior has brought her forth
from His precious, bleeding side.
She is the Second Eve, the mother of all living,
her Beloved, the Second Adam.
She shouts songs of praise, victory, and triumph over Death, Hell, and the Grave.
The Evil One is placed under her feet.
She is adorned with precious jewels of mercy and grace.
She is clothed in the Glory of her Father and his Son.
She declares the goodness of her matchless King throughout
the generations.
She is filled with the children of many nations who bear the marks of
persecution and wear precious white garments cleansed in the Blood
of the Risen Lamb from the stains of iniquity.
Heaven and earth shout for the victory of the Master who has brought
His Bride before the throne of grace.
"Rejoice, O Zion," all of creation declares,
"Your King has won the war!"
Zion walks in humility and in grace.
She calls all sinners to repentance and to turn from
their wicked ways and seek forgiveness from the Lord.
Then He shall place them in that beautiful City of Peace.
So as long as I have breath, I find a home in Zion,
That dear, beautiful, wonderful, marvelous City of God.
Is there a home for me in Zion,
That dear, beautiful, wonderful, marvelous City of God?
She's calling me to come up thither unto her and to rest in her arms filled with the love her
Beloved,
She sings songs of hope, joy, compassion, forgiveness,
completeness,
She sings not of herself, but of the One whose Spirit
emanates from her Bosom.
The glorious Savior has brought her forth
from His precious, bleeding side.
She is the Second Eve, the mother of all living,
her Beloved, the Second Adam.
She shouts songs of praise, victory, and triumph over Death, Hell, and the Grave.
The Evil One is placed under her feet.
She is adorned with precious jewels of mercy and grace.
She is clothed in the Glory of her Father and his Son.
She declares the goodness of her matchless King throughout
the generations.
She is filled with the children of many nations who bear the marks of
persecution and wear precious white garments cleansed in the Blood
of the Risen Lamb from the stains of iniquity.
Heaven and earth shout for the victory of the Master who has brought
His Bride before the throne of grace.
"Rejoice, O Zion," all of creation declares,
"Your King has won the war!"
Zion walks in humility and in grace.
She calls all sinners to repentance and to turn from
their wicked ways and seek forgiveness from the Lord.
Then He shall place them in that beautiful City of Peace.
So as long as I have breath, I find a home in Zion,
That dear, beautiful, wonderful, marvelous City of God.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Blessed Fellowship
"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." Hebrews 10:25
"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
Matthew 18:20
I had a wonderful time at Bible Campus Ministries' first meeting Thursday evening. We were going to start C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity but people didn't have their books. So I started by opening up the floor with reading passages from Genesis and Matthew's Gospel concerning Jesus' genealogy. Then the Spirit led us through passages in Galatians, John's Gospel, and a few others. Liberation comes from hearing the Word of God proclaimed. One of the sisters there at the meeting was set free to repent of hypocrisy which we all must realize, confess, and repent of it when it shows up in our hearts. A sister by the name of Cindy transferred from Harrisburg Area Community College. She's from York and a powerful young woman of God. She spoke the words of Life in that place. I was truly blessed by the fellowship in B.C.M. God is truly amazing.
"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." Hebrews 10:25
"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
Matthew 18:20
I had a wonderful time at Bible Campus Ministries' first meeting Thursday evening. We were going to start C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity but people didn't have their books. So I started by opening up the floor with reading passages from Genesis and Matthew's Gospel concerning Jesus' genealogy. Then the Spirit led us through passages in Galatians, John's Gospel, and a few others. Liberation comes from hearing the Word of God proclaimed. One of the sisters there at the meeting was set free to repent of hypocrisy which we all must realize, confess, and repent of it when it shows up in our hearts. A sister by the name of Cindy transferred from Harrisburg Area Community College. She's from York and a powerful young woman of God. She spoke the words of Life in that place. I was truly blessed by the fellowship in B.C.M. God is truly amazing.
Monday, September 10, 2007
In His Will
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever."
1 John 2:15-17 KJV, emphasis mine
These last few days were rough. I had experienced a spiritual attack from the enemy last Thursday morning while I was in class. Then Friday evening I was set off by something that happened earlier in the day. For the sake of privacy of the persons involved I won't expound on the event. Then Saturday I learned that I was denied a student VISA credit card from my credit union, so they closed my checking account. I had a haircut appointment that day. I had to cancel it.
I went home to Philadelphia. I didn't go straight home. I went down to Borders Books on Broad Street. I was so perturbed I felt like I was a walking throbbing live nerve ready to be set off. I spent an hour in the Religion section looking for something to help me get through my trial. Dallas Willard's The Spirit of the Disciplines seemed like a good read so I purchased it.
When I got back to Millersville to work on my two packages for Broadcast News Reporting course. I didn't finish editing the projects (I don't know nothing about video editing). I was so distraught, so many thoughts race through my mind.
I'm walking my friend home, my sister in the Lord Aisha called me... just in time! I didn't know whether or not I should stay at Millersville or not. I knew in my gut that God has brought me too far to give up now. Aisha implored me to pray when I get home.
I spent some time with God. The Voice within rebuked me. Last night I learned that God has two wills, his permissive will, and his perfect will. (Disclaimer: This is the Pentecostal in me so if this too subjective for you, pray for discernment): The Lord told me that I was in his permissive will when I wanted to do my thing (i.e. culinary school), but He has called me to be in His perfect will. He said that I needed to stay at Millersville for one more semester because I'm not ready yet. There's things I need to do. I know this is true because I was so anxious and stressed about leaving Millersville. After hearing His Voice the peace of God passed over me.
I dropped my Broadcast News Reporting course today. I'm dropping my Still Photography course tomorrow. I will be full time with four courses. Next semester I will be doing an internship, taking Still Photography and another course.
After this prayer, a song called "Your Will is What's Best for Me" came to my spirit. I realized that God's perfect will is what Christians should strive to be in. It is our purpose to walk in His perfect will. If one will fully submit to the will of the Father, one must be forewarned that it will cost us. Jesus tell His disciples about counting the cost when following Him. To follow Christ, to live the way He lived-in full submission to the will of His Father is the duty of the believer.
Being in God's will is a mystery in the true sense of the word. It is an "hidden truth": O, may be search for this hidden treasure. May we be led by the Spirit of God.
So this is a new day for me. The road ahead is great and filled with life's vicissitudes. It's good to know that the Lord is with me leading me into the paths of righteousness.
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever."
1 John 2:15-17 KJV, emphasis mine
These last few days were rough. I had experienced a spiritual attack from the enemy last Thursday morning while I was in class. Then Friday evening I was set off by something that happened earlier in the day. For the sake of privacy of the persons involved I won't expound on the event. Then Saturday I learned that I was denied a student VISA credit card from my credit union, so they closed my checking account. I had a haircut appointment that day. I had to cancel it.
I went home to Philadelphia. I didn't go straight home. I went down to Borders Books on Broad Street. I was so perturbed I felt like I was a walking throbbing live nerve ready to be set off. I spent an hour in the Religion section looking for something to help me get through my trial. Dallas Willard's The Spirit of the Disciplines seemed like a good read so I purchased it.
When I got back to Millersville to work on my two packages for Broadcast News Reporting course. I didn't finish editing the projects (I don't know nothing about video editing). I was so distraught, so many thoughts race through my mind.
I'm walking my friend home, my sister in the Lord Aisha called me... just in time! I didn't know whether or not I should stay at Millersville or not. I knew in my gut that God has brought me too far to give up now. Aisha implored me to pray when I get home.
I spent some time with God. The Voice within rebuked me. Last night I learned that God has two wills, his permissive will, and his perfect will. (Disclaimer: This is the Pentecostal in me so if this too subjective for you, pray for discernment): The Lord told me that I was in his permissive will when I wanted to do my thing (i.e. culinary school), but He has called me to be in His perfect will. He said that I needed to stay at Millersville for one more semester because I'm not ready yet. There's things I need to do. I know this is true because I was so anxious and stressed about leaving Millersville. After hearing His Voice the peace of God passed over me.
I dropped my Broadcast News Reporting course today. I'm dropping my Still Photography course tomorrow. I will be full time with four courses. Next semester I will be doing an internship, taking Still Photography and another course.
After this prayer, a song called "Your Will is What's Best for Me" came to my spirit. I realized that God's perfect will is what Christians should strive to be in. It is our purpose to walk in His perfect will. If one will fully submit to the will of the Father, one must be forewarned that it will cost us. Jesus tell His disciples about counting the cost when following Him. To follow Christ, to live the way He lived-in full submission to the will of His Father is the duty of the believer.
Being in God's will is a mystery in the true sense of the word. It is an "hidden truth": O, may be search for this hidden treasure. May we be led by the Spirit of God.
So this is a new day for me. The road ahead is great and filled with life's vicissitudes. It's good to know that the Lord is with me leading me into the paths of righteousness.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Christ Really Matters!
"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8 KJV
I just got back from the Park City Mall in Lancaster, PA. I picked up some books for Bible Campus Ministries tonight. I still have a mild tension headache. As I reflect on the thoughts that I have this morning, I'm beginning to realize how much that I need the Lord Jesus Christ. I need Him to live. I need His strength, His peace, His protection, His Comfort, His Truth, His love, His grace. I need Him now more than ever before. I just don't need Him to save me (which is daily), but I need His leading. He is Lord and Savior. My God, He's the only Way out of this system of confusion. Proverbs declares that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge (1:7). I really need to reverence the LORD of Glory. His Justice, His Righteousness, His Light, His Salvation, His Power, His Anointing keeps me from drowning in the seas of doubt and despair. Though at times I feel like giving up the charades that Christians are prone to play by giving up on Jesus, His Love keeps me from falling. And if I fall, He is there to catch me. What a mighty God we serve!
It's almost time to facilitate the first session of Bible Campus Ministries. I really don't like the name but that's neither here nor there.
"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8 KJV
I just got back from the Park City Mall in Lancaster, PA. I picked up some books for Bible Campus Ministries tonight. I still have a mild tension headache. As I reflect on the thoughts that I have this morning, I'm beginning to realize how much that I need the Lord Jesus Christ. I need Him to live. I need His strength, His peace, His protection, His Comfort, His Truth, His love, His grace. I need Him now more than ever before. I just don't need Him to save me (which is daily), but I need His leading. He is Lord and Savior. My God, He's the only Way out of this system of confusion. Proverbs declares that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge (1:7). I really need to reverence the LORD of Glory. His Justice, His Righteousness, His Light, His Salvation, His Power, His Anointing keeps me from drowning in the seas of doubt and despair. Though at times I feel like giving up the charades that Christians are prone to play by giving up on Jesus, His Love keeps me from falling. And if I fall, He is there to catch me. What a mighty God we serve!
It's almost time to facilitate the first session of Bible Campus Ministries. I really don't like the name but that's neither here nor there.
Christ Matters
"For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." Romans 5:10 KJ
I just got back from lecture given by a local print journalist in my Business Professional Communication. As I was sitting I was having spiritual warfare. The battlefield was my mind. I never experience such a cynical view of the Body of Christ. I felt a serious disillusionment of the Church. The issues that the Church is facing is staggering. How the Church handles many life-and-death issues is crazy. It's not one thing, it's the other. If it's not the Christian Right, it's the Christian Left. If it's not Pentecostalism, it's Cessationism. If it's not so-called "prosperity pimps", it's Liberation theology. If it's not Suburban nostalgia, it's urban plight. If it's not female subordinationism, it's gender feminism. If it's not perception, it's expression. If it's not anti-gay, it's pro-gay.
Not everyone in the churches of America let alone the world is of the Body of Christ, but that's for the Lord to know. Discerning who is of the brethren is difficult. How can I know who is God's and who is not. The debates concerning biblical interpretation, authority, and all the others is still going strong. Being in the multifarious evangelical tradition, I see this debate not subsiding anytime soon. It's been going on since before my birth for many centuries.
While I was sitting in that chair trying to listen to the lecturer, a million of questions seem to running in my mind. What is the Church? Who makes up the Church? Is the evangelical church the Church? is the black church the Church? Am I of the Church? Have we doing a good job representing Christ? Is Christianity about morals, standard, ethics, traditional family values, rights of the oppressed and marginalized, getting our piece of the pie before "going up yonder to meet the Lord"? Is is about all of these things?
When those questions arose I felt such a "spirit" of abandonment. It was that God was abandoning me, but it was as if I was giving up on the Faith called Christianity. Here's the crazy struggle: I couldn't be an atheist or agnostic because I know the Lord (I really met Him). I couldn't give up so-called evangelical Christianity because I believe the Gospel of Christ. I couldn't give up Pentecostal experience because the "graces" of the Holy Spirit are still real today as they were 2000 years ago at Pentecost and in the early Church. I couldn't be a Leftist Christian because it would be an intellectual and spiritual death sentence. I don't want to be a member of the Religious Right because there's too much moralism, hypocrisy, power hunger, and cultural captivity. The thing is the Right and the Left are both culturally captivated either by traditionalism or Enlightenment-tinged progressivism. I always wondered what progressives are progressing towards. As I perused their websites, I fear it's not towards Christ.
As I was wrestling in my mind, I heard the Spirit say "Trust me. Fix your eyes upon Jesus." I felt like giving up on God because of the excesses that have bewitched the Church in America. Sometimes I know why many non-Christians claim to "Love Jesus, but hate the Church". Though I know that the Christ said that truly if the world hates the Church, it's because they hate Him first. I see that sometimes Christians can hid behind the cliche "we're all sinners". But the redeemed of the Lord have no excuse to live unclean lives for the world. There's too much hypocrisy even within me. Too much vagueness. Where is the authenticity that says "But for the grace of God, there go I." The Gospel of Christ has been traded with many perversions: the gospel of prosperity, the gospel of traditional family values, the gospel of "to each his own", the gospel of "God hates gays", the gospel of "God made me this way", the gospel of inclusion, the gospel of "I want a God who accepts me the way that I am." Where is true holiness? Where is true grace? Where is Christ Jesus?
As one writer I read says that many of the churches in America are filled with pious atheists and agnostics.
I finished reading the small but powerful book Basic Christianity by John R.W. Stott, an acclaimed British evangelical preacher and author. He writes, "Christianity is Christ". To make Christianity about morals and ethics is to make Christianity about self. Self-preservation, self-aggrandizement, self-righteousness. Self-centeredness. It's about us. But the really is that Christianity is all about Jesus the Christ. It's about who He is and what he has done for us. He saves us from ourselves. We have to give up ourselves in order to truly find ourselves. So who are we supposed to be? What is our purpose in life as human beings? Through, by, and in Christ, we become new creation. God reconciles us back to Himself through Christ (His Sonship, His work on the Cross, His Resurrection) by faith (our response to the Lord Jesus).
As I am finish writing this it's been cathartic experience. I must cast my cares on Christ's shoulders because I know He cares for me. I'm learning that people are not the enemy but the devil and his cohorts. I'm learning to give grace and be merciful towards people I may disagree with either if they're for the Left or the Right.
I'm also beginning to understand that my allegiance is not to political ideologies or parties but to Christ and His Kingdom. That includes the Church. There is not solitary Christian in existence as theologian Ralph C. Wood says. I'm one of many members that make up the Body of Christ. It is my hope that Christians all over the world understands that a Christian is not a person who just believes in the ethical teachings of a poor carpenter from a small town in ancient Palestine called Nazareth. A Christian is a name giving to persons who believes and confesses that "Jesus is Lord." Belief is inward. Confession is outward. Christ is not a private matter. Christ is our whole Life and the Light of the world. The Way has made the way. Let us live in Him and walk after His Spirit.
"For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." Romans 5:10 KJ
I just got back from lecture given by a local print journalist in my Business Professional Communication. As I was sitting I was having spiritual warfare. The battlefield was my mind. I never experience such a cynical view of the Body of Christ. I felt a serious disillusionment of the Church. The issues that the Church is facing is staggering. How the Church handles many life-and-death issues is crazy. It's not one thing, it's the other. If it's not the Christian Right, it's the Christian Left. If it's not Pentecostalism, it's Cessationism. If it's not so-called "prosperity pimps", it's Liberation theology. If it's not Suburban nostalgia, it's urban plight. If it's not female subordinationism, it's gender feminism. If it's not perception, it's expression. If it's not anti-gay, it's pro-gay.
Not everyone in the churches of America let alone the world is of the Body of Christ, but that's for the Lord to know. Discerning who is of the brethren is difficult. How can I know who is God's and who is not. The debates concerning biblical interpretation, authority, and all the others is still going strong. Being in the multifarious evangelical tradition, I see this debate not subsiding anytime soon. It's been going on since before my birth for many centuries.
While I was sitting in that chair trying to listen to the lecturer, a million of questions seem to running in my mind. What is the Church? Who makes up the Church? Is the evangelical church the Church? is the black church the Church? Am I of the Church? Have we doing a good job representing Christ? Is Christianity about morals, standard, ethics, traditional family values, rights of the oppressed and marginalized, getting our piece of the pie before "going up yonder to meet the Lord"? Is is about all of these things?
When those questions arose I felt such a "spirit" of abandonment. It was that God was abandoning me, but it was as if I was giving up on the Faith called Christianity. Here's the crazy struggle: I couldn't be an atheist or agnostic because I know the Lord (I really met Him). I couldn't give up so-called evangelical Christianity because I believe the Gospel of Christ. I couldn't give up Pentecostal experience because the "graces" of the Holy Spirit are still real today as they were 2000 years ago at Pentecost and in the early Church. I couldn't be a Leftist Christian because it would be an intellectual and spiritual death sentence. I don't want to be a member of the Religious Right because there's too much moralism, hypocrisy, power hunger, and cultural captivity. The thing is the Right and the Left are both culturally captivated either by traditionalism or Enlightenment-tinged progressivism. I always wondered what progressives are progressing towards. As I perused their websites, I fear it's not towards Christ.
As I was wrestling in my mind, I heard the Spirit say "Trust me. Fix your eyes upon Jesus." I felt like giving up on God because of the excesses that have bewitched the Church in America. Sometimes I know why many non-Christians claim to "Love Jesus, but hate the Church". Though I know that the Christ said that truly if the world hates the Church, it's because they hate Him first. I see that sometimes Christians can hid behind the cliche "we're all sinners". But the redeemed of the Lord have no excuse to live unclean lives for the world. There's too much hypocrisy even within me. Too much vagueness. Where is the authenticity that says "But for the grace of God, there go I." The Gospel of Christ has been traded with many perversions: the gospel of prosperity, the gospel of traditional family values, the gospel of "to each his own", the gospel of "God hates gays", the gospel of "God made me this way", the gospel of inclusion, the gospel of "I want a God who accepts me the way that I am." Where is true holiness? Where is true grace? Where is Christ Jesus?
As one writer I read says that many of the churches in America are filled with pious atheists and agnostics.
I finished reading the small but powerful book Basic Christianity by John R.W. Stott, an acclaimed British evangelical preacher and author. He writes, "Christianity is Christ". To make Christianity about morals and ethics is to make Christianity about self. Self-preservation, self-aggrandizement, self-righteousness. Self-centeredness. It's about us. But the really is that Christianity is all about Jesus the Christ. It's about who He is and what he has done for us. He saves us from ourselves. We have to give up ourselves in order to truly find ourselves. So who are we supposed to be? What is our purpose in life as human beings? Through, by, and in Christ, we become new creation. God reconciles us back to Himself through Christ (His Sonship, His work on the Cross, His Resurrection) by faith (our response to the Lord Jesus).
As I am finish writing this it's been cathartic experience. I must cast my cares on Christ's shoulders because I know He cares for me. I'm learning that people are not the enemy but the devil and his cohorts. I'm learning to give grace and be merciful towards people I may disagree with either if they're for the Left or the Right.
I'm also beginning to understand that my allegiance is not to political ideologies or parties but to Christ and His Kingdom. That includes the Church. There is not solitary Christian in existence as theologian Ralph C. Wood says. I'm one of many members that make up the Body of Christ. It is my hope that Christians all over the world understands that a Christian is not a person who just believes in the ethical teachings of a poor carpenter from a small town in ancient Palestine called Nazareth. A Christian is a name giving to persons who believes and confesses that "Jesus is Lord." Belief is inward. Confession is outward. Christ is not a private matter. Christ is our whole Life and the Light of the world. The Way has made the way. Let us live in Him and walk after His Spirit.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Rest for the Mind, Hopefully!
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee."
Isaiah 26:3 KJV
It's 12:07a.m. EST and I'm writing on about my first two days of my last semester at Millersville University. It's been a hectic two days. I had to register for six courses in order to meet my December graduation goal. The Bursar's Office sent the refund check (the money left over from semester bill) to my home address so my mother and her friend's son came to Millersville to drop it off. They ended up in another town two stops after Lancaster. I called a friend to come pick them up from Mount Joy, PA. It was irritating for three people to spend the night in a small room, but that's what happened. My mother rested well (snoring that would wake the dead). I bought all my books and other supplies Tuesday. I still have to do more shopping for two classes. I'm so excited about next Friday. I'm going to visit the French Culinary Institute in New York.
For the past few days I have been hitting up blogs and posting comments. It have be tedious expressing opinions to people you don't know, you can't see and may won't meet ever in your life. It can be a bit impersonal. I wonder how people would interact with someone whom they don't concur. It would be something special to experience.
I have to stay up and study for my Electronic systems course. I have that class at 12:45p.m. I'm going to have a very busy semester. Studying and working on projects. It will take up my time. I also have to oversee Bible Campus Ministries until December. I have to maintain my focus. By God, that Bachelor's degree shall be mine!
I haven't been sleeping good for the past two days. I was so anxious late Sunday evening that I stayed up the whole night lying down in bed. Then when my mom and Anthony came, I didn't sleep. I guess I will go to sleep and wake up later this morning at 6:30a.m. I'll be rested. I'll have some breakfast afterwards then I'll be ready for the day. Hallelujah!
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee."
Isaiah 26:3 KJV
It's 12:07a.m. EST and I'm writing on about my first two days of my last semester at Millersville University. It's been a hectic two days. I had to register for six courses in order to meet my December graduation goal. The Bursar's Office sent the refund check (the money left over from semester bill) to my home address so my mother and her friend's son came to Millersville to drop it off. They ended up in another town two stops after Lancaster. I called a friend to come pick them up from Mount Joy, PA. It was irritating for three people to spend the night in a small room, but that's what happened. My mother rested well (snoring that would wake the dead). I bought all my books and other supplies Tuesday. I still have to do more shopping for two classes. I'm so excited about next Friday. I'm going to visit the French Culinary Institute in New York.
For the past few days I have been hitting up blogs and posting comments. It have be tedious expressing opinions to people you don't know, you can't see and may won't meet ever in your life. It can be a bit impersonal. I wonder how people would interact with someone whom they don't concur. It would be something special to experience.
I have to stay up and study for my Electronic systems course. I have that class at 12:45p.m. I'm going to have a very busy semester. Studying and working on projects. It will take up my time. I also have to oversee Bible Campus Ministries until December. I have to maintain my focus. By God, that Bachelor's degree shall be mine!
I haven't been sleeping good for the past two days. I was so anxious late Sunday evening that I stayed up the whole night lying down in bed. Then when my mom and Anthony came, I didn't sleep. I guess I will go to sleep and wake up later this morning at 6:30a.m. I'll be rested. I'll have some breakfast afterwards then I'll be ready for the day. Hallelujah!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
The Wisdom of Listening and Reading... Carefully: My view of Michael Eric Dyson
Matthew 10:16 "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." King James Version, emphasis mine
I have decided to engage in the practice of listening and reading (I'm addicted to reading) to understand a person's worldview that is totally different from my own. Both listening and "active" reading is about understanding the Other. One such Other I'm learning about is the Rev. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson. Dyson seems to be the most popular black public intellectual in America these days. A prolific scholar and teacher, an ordained Baptist minister and philosopher, Dyson wrote over fourteen books dealing with issues relevant to the nation and the African-American community. He's quick, sharp; a rhetorical genius as some praisers would acclaim. Critics say he is a swindler and a fast-talker whose irrelevant. Well with New-York times bestselling books, America seems to be noticing Dr. Dyson's body of work.
When I first heard of him in high school, I didn't get know what he was about. I first heard Dyson speak in February 2002 on a Saturday. Dyson joined other African-American public intellectuals at a Post-9/11 Black America Colloquium organized by famed political commentators and TV and radio talk show hosts Tavis Smiley and Tom Joyner. The colloquium was hosted at Sharon Baptist Church in Philadelphia. My mother and I went and sat among over two thousand in attendance. The moderator was Harvard Law School's Charles J. Ogletree. I sat there in the crowd to listen to acclaimed speakers like Iyanla Vanzant, Elder Bernice King, Sonia Sanchez, scholar/writer/activist Cornel West (Dyson's mentor), Al Sharpton among others. Dyson sat among his colleagues. I heard his views on poverty, black issues, the impending war in Afghanistan, homophobia, sexism, racism, black church. He was sharp; he was bold; he was eloquent; he was poised; he responded to Ogletree's questions with passion and zeal and with an informed mind- he knew his stuff! The people who were mostly black ate him up! I didn't really know what to feel or how to process what he said. Later I learned that Dyson's views are pretty leftist politically, socially, and theologically but my youth and ignorance couldn't sort out his worldview. The next day the pastor of Sharon, Rev. Dr. Keith W. Reed, Sr. invited Dyson to preach that Sunday at the 11:00a.m. I think Dyson preached from a text in first or second Chronicles. His sermon was... well, I don't know if I could call it a sermon. It seemed like a lecture of his ideas rather than the preaching of God's Word. I think I remember telling my cousin, "Is that a sermon? He didn't say anything!"
I wanted to understand this man's views of the world. On day during the summer of 2004 I went to my favorite place on earth (Border's Books) to buy some good reads. I happened to go to the African-American studies section and saw The Michael Eric Dyson Reader, a collection of Dyson's essays, transcripts of debates, and excerpts from books and published articles throughout his rather illustrious professional writing career. It's a thick book. It had some rave reviews on the back cover. I jovially purchased his work among other books and magazines and took it home to start reading.
When I got home and settled opened up to read the book I looked some of the chapters title's like Chapther 4's "The Liberal Theory of Race", Chapter 11's "Giving Whiteness a Black Eye". There were others that really stuck out like Chapter 19's "Homotextualities: The Bible, Sexual Ethics, and the Theology of Homoeroticism."
I immediately raced to the 19th chapter. What I read completely disturbed me...big time! It was a transcript of an interview of Dyson conducted by gay activist Khevon LaGrone. In the introductory paragraph before the interview, Dyson writes:
The issue of homosexuality has reaped a whirlwind of controversy and acrimonious debate in most Christian communities. I believe that one of the explanations for black homophobia is the realization that if heterosexuality-the supposed "normal" sexuality- has been demonized in the West for centuries, then surely black homosexuality will only up the ante of black oppression. Thus, ironically enough, blacks identify with mainstream sexual values- the very mainstream that has censored and castigated black heterosexuality- when they practice homophobia. I am not arguing that homophobia allows blacks to forge solidarity with a culture that has excluded them. Thus one form of bigotry is traded for the another. In this interview... I argue that lesbians, bisexuals, gays, transgender, and all other-sexed people have a right to the "tree of life," and that they can find theological and biblical support for their religious and sexual existence (238).
When I skimmed through this interview reading Dyson's words about how biblical writers may have gotten stuff wrong and may have mistaken and were biased, infusing their own personal ideologies in the text, saying that conservative or "fundamental" Christians practice bibliolatry, the worship of the Bible because we don't treat it like any other text in the world, I wanted to cry. I put it down and didn't pick the book up for months. At times I tried to pick up to read more, but the more I read, the more I'd get angry.
Now as I get older, I'm realizing that I can never fully be a witness for Jesus, even to self-professed Christians who actually preach "another" gospel (or in Dyson's mind "social" gospel is the gospel) if I don't carefully study, listen, analyze the paradigm or worldview or worldviews from a person stands. I must learn how to minister grace to the hearers as the Lord Jesus did to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. Michael Eric Dyson's life is filled with complexity as are all of ours. His views were shaped from his experiences which he has written in the book. I understand the hardships he experienced as a young man. I don't agree with him on everything that's for sure. His views of God, Christ, and the faith called Christianity is different than my own. I must admit I learned to respect him for his honesty even if I believe he is deceived on many things. I'm learning not to hate Dr. Dyson, but loving him is something I'm working on daily.
But this time I will really read what this man is saying to a dying world. Dyson claims in the last chapter to stand in a "prophetic" tradition as many public intellectuals in this age. However, Dyson is very different from the biblical prophets. As Dyson speaks his mind concerning the world pulling from the various philosophical and religious traditions he has embraced in his life's experience, the prophets do not speak their minds. To do so would cost them their lives. The prophets spoke God Word via the power of the Spirit though not divorcing the holy men and women from their minds, their languages, and from within their contexts. Diverse over time, but still God's Word.
Dyson believes that it is the duty of black public intellectuals to use their minds to shed light on the issues that threaten the well being of blacks and American democracy. I believe as a future minister of the Gospel it is the duty of the saints to yield our whole being to the will of the Father to shine the light of Christ on a dying world so through Him as according to Revelation 22:14,
"Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."
Sunday, August 19, 2007
"Minor" Adjustments
I am in my new room in Gilbert Hall at MU. I didn't know it would be hard to adjust. It seems I'm closer to graduation with every passing day. It makes be feel a bit down to just think about it. The funny thing is that the fall semester hasn't started yet. I'm no longer a Resident Assistant, which provided a nice stream of income for me. I'm glad that I found some great friends in my former colleagues. Liz, Joan, Josh, and Ben are great!! Melissa is a good person, too. This week we'll find some time this week to spend together since they are all in training.
I plan to set up a calender for this semester. I have deadlines to meet both personally and academically. I have to reorganize some of the books for Bible Campus Ministries, the organization of which I'm apart. I also have to purchase round-trip tickets to NYC. My mother and I are visiting the French Culinary Institute on 462 Broadway Avenue. I also have to study and plan for the GRE exam. And I cannot forget the graduate school applications!
I had a wonderful talk with my older brother Brandon today. We were talking about biblical topics like tithes and firstfruits as well as his plans to earn a Ph.D. in theology or in a related field. I visited Joan this afternoon and allowed her to burn some of my CDs on her computer. Some of them included music by CeCe Winans, Kirk Franklin, and Kathy Troccoli.
Overall God has been good to me. He's been keeping me alive thus far. He wakes me up in the morning even when I'd rather stay asleep. This reminds that the lazy love sleep... or the bored which I can be a bit of both sometimes. It's good be in the land of the living. God is greatly to be praised!
I am in my new room in Gilbert Hall at MU. I didn't know it would be hard to adjust. It seems I'm closer to graduation with every passing day. It makes be feel a bit down to just think about it. The funny thing is that the fall semester hasn't started yet. I'm no longer a Resident Assistant, which provided a nice stream of income for me. I'm glad that I found some great friends in my former colleagues. Liz, Joan, Josh, and Ben are great!! Melissa is a good person, too. This week we'll find some time this week to spend together since they are all in training.
I plan to set up a calender for this semester. I have deadlines to meet both personally and academically. I have to reorganize some of the books for Bible Campus Ministries, the organization of which I'm apart. I also have to purchase round-trip tickets to NYC. My mother and I are visiting the French Culinary Institute on 462 Broadway Avenue. I also have to study and plan for the GRE exam. And I cannot forget the graduate school applications!
I had a wonderful talk with my older brother Brandon today. We were talking about biblical topics like tithes and firstfruits as well as his plans to earn a Ph.D. in theology or in a related field. I visited Joan this afternoon and allowed her to burn some of my CDs on her computer. Some of them included music by CeCe Winans, Kirk Franklin, and Kathy Troccoli.
Overall God has been good to me. He's been keeping me alive thus far. He wakes me up in the morning even when I'd rather stay asleep. This reminds that the lazy love sleep... or the bored which I can be a bit of both sometimes. It's good be in the land of the living. God is greatly to be praised!
Saturday, August 11, 2007
A New Season is Coming...
Today was the start of a refreshingly new season. I'm moving out of my current dorm into another one on Monday. Over the past year I've collected nearly one hundred scholarly articles and papers! Today I purged myself from every single one of them. I recycled, of course! I thank God that I did it in peace. I usually get very emotionally attached to something like scholarly articles. Yes, I'm a nerd! Most of the articles pertained to the recent research in Pentecostal and Evangelical Theologies. I also collected articles on preaching, ethics, and sexuality from a Christian perspective.
Since it's almost time to move on with my life I know I have make some important decisions. I will have decide whether or not to keep my books from college since I'm moving to culinary school then graduate school. Yep, after December I'll be enrolling in a culinary school for six months. Bon Apetit. I've been cooking since I was seven years old and I have a passion for the culinary arts! Food network is my favorite cable channel. then off to Regent University for about four years.
After earning my masters degrees in divinity and cinema-television producing, I'm off New York City, the Big Apple. Hallelujah! Please keep me in your prayers. Peace.
Today was the start of a refreshingly new season. I'm moving out of my current dorm into another one on Monday. Over the past year I've collected nearly one hundred scholarly articles and papers! Today I purged myself from every single one of them. I recycled, of course! I thank God that I did it in peace. I usually get very emotionally attached to something like scholarly articles. Yes, I'm a nerd! Most of the articles pertained to the recent research in Pentecostal and Evangelical Theologies. I also collected articles on preaching, ethics, and sexuality from a Christian perspective.
Since it's almost time to move on with my life I know I have make some important decisions. I will have decide whether or not to keep my books from college since I'm moving to culinary school then graduate school. Yep, after December I'll be enrolling in a culinary school for six months. Bon Apetit. I've been cooking since I was seven years old and I have a passion for the culinary arts! Food network is my favorite cable channel. then off to Regent University for about four years.
After earning my masters degrees in divinity and cinema-television producing, I'm off New York City, the Big Apple. Hallelujah! Please keep me in your prayers. Peace.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Summer Reading: The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother
I have recently finished a wonderful book written by acclaimed journalist and jazz musician James McBride. It is a gripping about his mother, Ruth McBride Jordan who reveals her son her mysterious past. Its book which deals with the volatile topics of race, religion, identity, and family. It is an emotionally gripping, triumphant piece. I would recommend to anyone. Be blessed!
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Peace in the Valley
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace. whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee." Isaiah 26:3 KJV
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me." Psalm 23:4 KJV
I must confess that the LORD is my Peace: Jehovah-Shalom. He gives me peace of mind. He corrects me in his tender mercies and his unfailing love. He shows me the paths of righteousness and sanctifies me in my innermost being. Though I have been straying, the Master keeps me within His sheepfold. He is a Father that never fails to keep His promises. He is a God that delivers His people from the enemy's hands. He is a Keeper of the people of God. He is my Rock, my Fortress, my Shield, my Strength, my Song, my Rest. He gives peace of mind. He speaks through visions and dreams. He blesses the weak and exalts the humble. He abases the proud and shuts down the wicked. I love Him more today than yesterday. I know He loves me better than I love myself. Bless His Name! Bless God when you get the chance. When your money is funny and your bills are due. When your peace is running thin and your family is in a rut. When you are dealing with unreasonable people in your everyday experience, Bless God. He deserves the praise and the glory. He has kept us in the land of the living. :I will bless the Lord at all times," says the Psalmist, and his praise shall continually be in my mouth." Somebody thank God for His peace!!!! He's keeping me through the Valley!
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace. whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee." Isaiah 26:3 KJV
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me." Psalm 23:4 KJV
I must confess that the LORD is my Peace: Jehovah-Shalom. He gives me peace of mind. He corrects me in his tender mercies and his unfailing love. He shows me the paths of righteousness and sanctifies me in my innermost being. Though I have been straying, the Master keeps me within His sheepfold. He is a Father that never fails to keep His promises. He is a God that delivers His people from the enemy's hands. He is a Keeper of the people of God. He is my Rock, my Fortress, my Shield, my Strength, my Song, my Rest. He gives peace of mind. He speaks through visions and dreams. He blesses the weak and exalts the humble. He abases the proud and shuts down the wicked. I love Him more today than yesterday. I know He loves me better than I love myself. Bless His Name! Bless God when you get the chance. When your money is funny and your bills are due. When your peace is running thin and your family is in a rut. When you are dealing with unreasonable people in your everyday experience, Bless God. He deserves the praise and the glory. He has kept us in the land of the living. :I will bless the Lord at all times," says the Psalmist, and his praise shall continually be in my mouth." Somebody thank God for His peace!!!! He's keeping me through the Valley!
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Here's a thought.
I'm sitting in my room chilling thinking about Christians and our relationship with cyberspace. More specifically, I've been thinking about the reason I have a weblog. I rarely post anything unless I've have been thinking about it or praying about it. My question to myself was: How is God glorified in my writing. Jesus declares that we shall give an account for every idle word spoken on the day of judgment (Matthew 12:36). So everything that is written on this blog should give glory to God. So what I write from now on will give God glory if I haven't really up till now.
A Prayer:
So Father this cyberjournal will bring You glory. This will be an honest place of reflection and prayer, Lord. Thank You for the opportunity to live one more day. May this weblog be consecrated and used for thy good pleasure O God. In Jesus' name I pray.
Amen.
I'm sitting in my room chilling thinking about Christians and our relationship with cyberspace. More specifically, I've been thinking about the reason I have a weblog. I rarely post anything unless I've have been thinking about it or praying about it. My question to myself was: How is God glorified in my writing. Jesus declares that we shall give an account for every idle word spoken on the day of judgment (Matthew 12:36). So everything that is written on this blog should give glory to God. So what I write from now on will give God glory if I haven't really up till now.
A Prayer:
So Father this cyberjournal will bring You glory. This will be an honest place of reflection and prayer, Lord. Thank You for the opportunity to live one more day. May this weblog be consecrated and used for thy good pleasure O God. In Jesus' name I pray.
Amen.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Wounded Lover: Part 2 of my "Meet the Faith" review
Last Sunday's episode of "Meet the Faith" is a taste of an ongoing tension two branches of Zion that rarely get together and discuss what's going one in America. Each branch draws the boundary lines in what's really wrong in America. I am a lover of both but they are like two brides that don't talk to each other that often.
In Mark Noll's Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, he describes in himself as a "wounded lover" in relation to American evangelicalism. I haven't read the book yet but he basic thesis is that evangelicalism suffers from a bout of anti-intellectualism. I would like to borrow this moniker and use it to describe myself as a "wounded lover". I have two loves that don't seem to get along when invited to a party: American Evangelicalism and the Black Church.
Now many researchers/scholars would argue that the largest segment of the evangelical tradition come from the African American community. But for many African American Christians, the word evangelical carries a very negative connotation. The word connotes complicity with the status quo. The Black Church has been a "prophetic voice" against systemic oppression and poverty. Historically many in the white Evangelical community haven't helped in the fight for civil rights. Some of the most central figures in the so-called Religious Right openly promoted racial segregation in public schools, churches, and marriages. Currently the Black Church doesn't generally align itself with the Republican party, while the white Evangelical Church generally does.
The Black Church is very diverse in itself. Some scholars include any non-Christian traditions i.e. Islam, Yoruba within its definition. The Black Church features evangelicals, Catholics, mainline Protestants, Holiness, and Pentecostals/Charismatics. The Black Church has been a central socio-political citadel since its inception during the late 1700s. The Black Church was the advocate for the people. It was a meeting place for worship and social change strategy-formation. Today the Black Church is experiencing a civil war. With the upsurge of black megachurches, the so-called "prosperity gospel", and the taboo subject of homosexuality within the Black Church being challenged, the Black Church is in a battle to keep its social relevance.
The stereotypical preoccupation with my two loves are as follows: mainstream Evangelicalism is preoccupied with traditional marriage and abortion, the Black Church elimination poverty, reforming public school education and improving the health care system, and advancing black economic empowerment. One branch primarily promotes private traditional morality while the other promotes social justice or public government morality. When will we will ever talk with one another, pray with one another, and most of all love one another?
Last Sunday's episode of "Meet the Faith" is a taste of an ongoing tension two branches of Zion that rarely get together and discuss what's going one in America. Each branch draws the boundary lines in what's really wrong in America. I am a lover of both but they are like two brides that don't talk to each other that often.
In Mark Noll's Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, he describes in himself as a "wounded lover" in relation to American evangelicalism. I haven't read the book yet but he basic thesis is that evangelicalism suffers from a bout of anti-intellectualism. I would like to borrow this moniker and use it to describe myself as a "wounded lover". I have two loves that don't seem to get along when invited to a party: American Evangelicalism and the Black Church.
Now many researchers/scholars would argue that the largest segment of the evangelical tradition come from the African American community. But for many African American Christians, the word evangelical carries a very negative connotation. The word connotes complicity with the status quo. The Black Church has been a "prophetic voice" against systemic oppression and poverty. Historically many in the white Evangelical community haven't helped in the fight for civil rights. Some of the most central figures in the so-called Religious Right openly promoted racial segregation in public schools, churches, and marriages. Currently the Black Church doesn't generally align itself with the Republican party, while the white Evangelical Church generally does.
The Black Church is very diverse in itself. Some scholars include any non-Christian traditions i.e. Islam, Yoruba within its definition. The Black Church features evangelicals, Catholics, mainline Protestants, Holiness, and Pentecostals/Charismatics. The Black Church has been a central socio-political citadel since its inception during the late 1700s. The Black Church was the advocate for the people. It was a meeting place for worship and social change strategy-formation. Today the Black Church is experiencing a civil war. With the upsurge of black megachurches, the so-called "prosperity gospel", and the taboo subject of homosexuality within the Black Church being challenged, the Black Church is in a battle to keep its social relevance.
The stereotypical preoccupation with my two loves are as follows: mainstream Evangelicalism is preoccupied with traditional marriage and abortion, the Black Church elimination poverty, reforming public school education and improving the health care system, and advancing black economic empowerment. One branch primarily promotes private traditional morality while the other promotes social justice or public government morality. When will we will ever talk with one another, pray with one another, and most of all love one another?
Sunday, June 24, 2007
It's all Greek to me! And it's scary!!! Part 1. of my review of 06/24/07's BET's "Meet the Faith" program.
"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us it is the power of God." I Corinthians 1:18 KJV
"But if our gospel be hid, it is hid from them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 KJV
"But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." I Corinthians 1:23-24
I watched BET's "Meet the Faith" hosted by Dr. Ian Smith. The topic "Black Homophobia". The topic dealt with the issues of the treatments of black gay people inside the black community specifically the black church. The panelists were acclaimed actress/singer Sheryl Lee Ralph, social commentator and author Keith Boykin, and pastor and author Bishop Bernard Jordan. I must say that I was deeply grieved in my spirit watching this "debate". Smith asked if homosexuality is a sin. Bishop Jordan, taking the conservative position on homosexuality, was not match for Boykin and Ralph's sharp rebuttals from the liberal side . When dealing with this topic, Boykin and Ralph invoked "support" from the Bible: the silence of Jesus on the issue (if one believes he was really silent of the issue), the history of treatment of the blacks in America: how religion specifically the Bible was used to oppress Blacks, not permitting them to marry because they were considered subhuman therefore not U.S. citizens; the "cursed race" descending from the biblical figure Ham. Using quick rhetorical wit, Boykin and Ralph won the debate!
I must say as I watched this debate, I was deeply saddened. Saddened because as a Christian, what was said can cost someone an eternity because death and life are in the power of the tongue according to Proverbs 18:22. This post will be the first part of my take on Keith Boykin's theological arguments for the acceptance of homosexuality as a variant norm of God's creation. I must preface by stating that I am not a trained scholar of the bible (yet), theology(yet), religion(maybe), sociology, history, psychology, sexology, cultural studies, law, and ethics, nor politics. I am just an observer. These are just my postings on what very little knowledge I have accumulated in my short 21 years of living on the Father's earth.
Theological and Philosophical Assumptions of (Homo)Sexuality
Keith Boykin, from what I observed, believes that as a [progressive/liberal] Christian, God made some people ontologically gay/lesbian/bisexual. His argument can be summed up by in the following: God could not have made a law against persons of the same sex/gender from engaging in sexual acts if they by nature have emotional, affectional, romantic, physical and/or erotic attractions for others of the same sex. If he did, he would not be a just, loving God because "same-gender loving" people are made to love one another in such a manner. If God calls gays to celibacy, he calls them to a life of sadness, denying a fixed, immutable part of the being thust ultimately denying their humanity "being who they are." (This is the essentialist philosophy). Science says that homosexuality can be found in the natural world i.e. in animals. So homosexuality is perfectly natural just as heterosexuality and any sanction against it is coming from pre-scientific (primitive) minds, ignorance and fear of the unknown i.e. homophobia.
To any thinking person, this may sound like a legitimate reasonable, coherent argument. One can easily can accept this argument for people being "who they are". I must find that his argument is valid... within a pagan Greek philosophical understanding of humanity. Western Christianity and Western culture in general are heavily influenced by Greek philosophy. When one reads the Bible through these Greek glasses, one can and most likely will interpret the Scriptures through this prism. The concept of nature maybe be generally assumed to be agreed upon but it's not. Nature, especially human nature from a Greek influenced post-Enlightenment/modernist view is drastically different from the view from the Scriptures which were written within a heavily Judean/Semitic culture spanning over 1500 years.
Side note: Granted, many conservatives generally use as argument from the Scriptures for women's restricted roles in the church and the home. But truth be told, virtually all traditional theological anthropology in Christendom is heavily influenced by Greek philosophical assumptions of humanity. Early church theologians were trained in Greek philosophy before converting to Christianity i.e. Justin Martyr. I am not saying that some didn't see the error in a lot of Greek philosophical and religious thought however humans are generally subject to culture and cannot be unscathed by their surrounding traditions. Many argue for the subordination of women in the home and the church and appeal to some ontological quality of a woman that makes in natural for her to be submissive in the home and the church. But many don't realize that this assumption is more pagan than Scriptural. Many evangelical complementarians would not agree with many of early church theologians view's of women's ontology but have modified their arguments for the restrictions of women in church leadership and equal partnerships with their husbands in Christian homes. The Holy Scriptures are God's Word revealed in human cultures foreign to our 21st Western sensibilities. Scriptural exegesis should engage literary, cultural, historical context as well as languages. Language cannot be separated from culture.
Many take the existentialist view on sexual orientation, meaning one is not born or chooses to be gay/straight/bisexual/lesbian, but one becomes gay/straight/lesbian/bisexual. Being or Dasein is always in the process of becoming in the world. So is Boykin's view of gay people biblical? Is gay a ontological category (who) according to the Scriptures? Let's see:
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness... So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."
So the answer is ... no. Here's a thought. According this Scripture; straight is not an ontological category neither. This might stump people. A conservative Christian may ask "Didn't God intend for us to be heterosexual?" This might help answering that question; here's a spirit-quickening quotes from Conservative Jewish philosopher and theologian Rabbi Joel Beasley:
As far as the Jewish religion goes, there are no homosexuals in the world, nor have there ever been. There are no Jewish heterosexuals either. Both terms are pejorative. They imply that the essence of [human] existence lies somehow within the crass and the carnal. Human beings are reduced to their most primal function, as if the point of life was to contemplate the smörgåsbord of sexual possibilities in the world.
From the Jewish perspective, identifying as a homosexual or a heterosexual is as irrelevant as identifying as ptyallizer(a person who whose saliva flows excessively). The words may describe predilections or behavior, but hardly capture the essence of the person. The Torah (law of Moses) labels people not by their primal urges, but by their obligations to God. (Jewish Spectator, Winter 1998, pg. 27)
Here's another stunning statement fromRabbi Barry Freundel:
It seems clear from this that halacha (literally "the path" aka Jewish law) never viewed the homosexual as a member of a unique category or as different from the non-homosexual. He has no greater or lesser rights or obligations... In fact the term "homosexual" is an essentially inappropriate description for him. We should, rather, refer to this individual as a person engaged in homosexual activity. "Homosexual" is therefore not a noun that identifies and categorizes the individual but an adjective that describes his activity. (Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society, Volume XI, 1986)
Christians generally would agree with this reasoning. Of course, we would to this New Testament theology revealing the law of Moses is perfect and no one can completely keep the law, and what Christ did for us is free us from the curse of the law, dead. Certainly the law applies to Christians because we believe that we fulfill the law by walking in the Spirit. With these quotes in mind one can understand the evangelical Christian cliche "Hate the sin, love the sinner", but if one gives this Christianese sound-byte to the average gay person, he or she will be highly offended because for them being gay is an essential part of who they are. So this debate is not really about homosexuality per se, it's about worldviews that clash.
What did Jesus say?
Boykin said that when he read his Bible Jesus never said anything on the homosexuality. Quite frankly that he's right. One can read the Gospels and find no record of Jesus discussing anything explicitly relating to homosexual activity. However, Boykin engages in a logical fallacy. Just because Jesus did not discuss the subject of homosexuality in the Gospels does not implicate his acceptance or disapproval of homosexuality. As a man of reason (Boykin's a trained lawyer) he should know that is not logically sound. I bet he does. As Christians, our faith is based not on what Jesus didn't say but what he said. Isn't Paul who said faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God? When discussing the Law in the Beatitudes, Jesus said that he didn't come to abolish it or the prophets (Tanakh), he came to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17). He also said that the Law will remain until heaven and earth will pass away and that one who relaxes the least of the commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called the least in the kingdom of heaven (v.18-19). "For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:20 ESV)
Jesus preaching extensively on the hypocrisy of the Pharisees using the Scriptures. They who were zealous for keeping the Law disobeyed the Law in secret and covered it up with oral traditions to exempt from the penalty for breaking the Law, death by stoning. Many in today's world don't obey God's Word because of many hypocrites within churches. Though that isn't really a valid of obeying God, I can understand. Boykin pointed the religious hypocrisy in many churches in America. However, he can't use this as an opportunity to revision the Scriptures. Jesus also spoke to the Pharisees concerning marriage in divorce in Matthew 19 appealing to the creation account in Genesis chapters 1 and 2. It was unfortunate that Bishop Jordan didn't point this out to Boykin or Ralph. I guess he's not a trained bible scholar and a trained rhetorician thought he's a preacher. Little must be said in an half-hour program.
Conclusion
This issues is important to us who have family members who are gay. It seems that members in the Black Church tradition have a special obligation to point out injustice in our society being historic victims of systemic oppression. But as believers in Christ, when do we draw the line to using our experience as a prism to interpret Scripture as a justification to support an activity, a desire, an ideology that may be sinful? I will write more on this in a later post.
"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us it is the power of God." I Corinthians 1:18 KJV
"But if our gospel be hid, it is hid from them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 KJV
"But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." I Corinthians 1:23-24
I watched BET's "Meet the Faith" hosted by Dr. Ian Smith. The topic "Black Homophobia". The topic dealt with the issues of the treatments of black gay people inside the black community specifically the black church. The panelists were acclaimed actress/singer Sheryl Lee Ralph, social commentator and author Keith Boykin, and pastor and author Bishop Bernard Jordan. I must say that I was deeply grieved in my spirit watching this "debate". Smith asked if homosexuality is a sin. Bishop Jordan, taking the conservative position on homosexuality, was not match for Boykin and Ralph's sharp rebuttals from the liberal side . When dealing with this topic, Boykin and Ralph invoked "support" from the Bible: the silence of Jesus on the issue (if one believes he was really silent of the issue), the history of treatment of the blacks in America: how religion specifically the Bible was used to oppress Blacks, not permitting them to marry because they were considered subhuman therefore not U.S. citizens; the "cursed race" descending from the biblical figure Ham. Using quick rhetorical wit, Boykin and Ralph won the debate!
I must say as I watched this debate, I was deeply saddened. Saddened because as a Christian, what was said can cost someone an eternity because death and life are in the power of the tongue according to Proverbs 18:22. This post will be the first part of my take on Keith Boykin's theological arguments for the acceptance of homosexuality as a variant norm of God's creation. I must preface by stating that I am not a trained scholar of the bible (yet), theology(yet), religion(maybe), sociology, history, psychology, sexology, cultural studies, law, and ethics, nor politics. I am just an observer. These are just my postings on what very little knowledge I have accumulated in my short 21 years of living on the Father's earth.
Theological and Philosophical Assumptions of (Homo)Sexuality
Keith Boykin, from what I observed, believes that as a [progressive/liberal] Christian, God made some people ontologically gay/lesbian/bisexual. His argument can be summed up by in the following: God could not have made a law against persons of the same sex/gender from engaging in sexual acts if they by nature have emotional, affectional, romantic, physical and/or erotic attractions for others of the same sex. If he did, he would not be a just, loving God because "same-gender loving" people are made to love one another in such a manner. If God calls gays to celibacy, he calls them to a life of sadness, denying a fixed, immutable part of the being thust ultimately denying their humanity "being who they are." (This is the essentialist philosophy). Science says that homosexuality can be found in the natural world i.e. in animals. So homosexuality is perfectly natural just as heterosexuality and any sanction against it is coming from pre-scientific (primitive) minds, ignorance and fear of the unknown i.e. homophobia.
To any thinking person, this may sound like a legitimate reasonable, coherent argument. One can easily can accept this argument for people being "who they are". I must find that his argument is valid... within a pagan Greek philosophical understanding of humanity. Western Christianity and Western culture in general are heavily influenced by Greek philosophy. When one reads the Bible through these Greek glasses, one can and most likely will interpret the Scriptures through this prism. The concept of nature maybe be generally assumed to be agreed upon but it's not. Nature, especially human nature from a Greek influenced post-Enlightenment/modernist view is drastically different from the view from the Scriptures which were written within a heavily Judean/Semitic culture spanning over 1500 years.
Side note: Granted, many conservatives generally use as argument from the Scriptures for women's restricted roles in the church and the home. But truth be told, virtually all traditional theological anthropology in Christendom is heavily influenced by Greek philosophical assumptions of humanity. Early church theologians were trained in Greek philosophy before converting to Christianity i.e. Justin Martyr. I am not saying that some didn't see the error in a lot of Greek philosophical and religious thought however humans are generally subject to culture and cannot be unscathed by their surrounding traditions. Many argue for the subordination of women in the home and the church and appeal to some ontological quality of a woman that makes in natural for her to be submissive in the home and the church. But many don't realize that this assumption is more pagan than Scriptural. Many evangelical complementarians would not agree with many of early church theologians view's of women's ontology but have modified their arguments for the restrictions of women in church leadership and equal partnerships with their husbands in Christian homes. The Holy Scriptures are God's Word revealed in human cultures foreign to our 21st Western sensibilities. Scriptural exegesis should engage literary, cultural, historical context as well as languages. Language cannot be separated from culture.
Many take the existentialist view on sexual orientation, meaning one is not born or chooses to be gay/straight/bisexual/lesbian, but one becomes gay/straight/lesbian/bisexual. Being or Dasein is always in the process of becoming in the world. So is Boykin's view of gay people biblical? Is gay a ontological category (who) according to the Scriptures? Let's see:
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness... So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."
So the answer is ... no. Here's a thought. According this Scripture; straight is not an ontological category neither. This might stump people. A conservative Christian may ask "Didn't God intend for us to be heterosexual?" This might help answering that question; here's a spirit-quickening quotes from Conservative Jewish philosopher and theologian Rabbi Joel Beasley:
As far as the Jewish religion goes, there are no homosexuals in the world, nor have there ever been. There are no Jewish heterosexuals either. Both terms are pejorative. They imply that the essence of [human] existence lies somehow within the crass and the carnal. Human beings are reduced to their most primal function, as if the point of life was to contemplate the smörgåsbord of sexual possibilities in the world.
From the Jewish perspective, identifying as a homosexual or a heterosexual is as irrelevant as identifying as ptyallizer(a person who whose saliva flows excessively). The words may describe predilections or behavior, but hardly capture the essence of the person. The Torah (law of Moses) labels people not by their primal urges, but by their obligations to God. (Jewish Spectator, Winter 1998, pg. 27)
Here's another stunning statement fromRabbi Barry Freundel:
It seems clear from this that halacha (literally "the path" aka Jewish law) never viewed the homosexual as a member of a unique category or as different from the non-homosexual. He has no greater or lesser rights or obligations... In fact the term "homosexual" is an essentially inappropriate description for him. We should, rather, refer to this individual as a person engaged in homosexual activity. "Homosexual" is therefore not a noun that identifies and categorizes the individual but an adjective that describes his activity. (Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society, Volume XI, 1986)
Christians generally would agree with this reasoning. Of course, we would to this New Testament theology revealing the law of Moses is perfect and no one can completely keep the law, and what Christ did for us is free us from the curse of the law, dead. Certainly the law applies to Christians because we believe that we fulfill the law by walking in the Spirit. With these quotes in mind one can understand the evangelical Christian cliche "Hate the sin, love the sinner", but if one gives this Christianese sound-byte to the average gay person, he or she will be highly offended because for them being gay is an essential part of who they are. So this debate is not really about homosexuality per se, it's about worldviews that clash.
What did Jesus say?
Boykin said that when he read his Bible Jesus never said anything on the homosexuality. Quite frankly that he's right. One can read the Gospels and find no record of Jesus discussing anything explicitly relating to homosexual activity. However, Boykin engages in a logical fallacy. Just because Jesus did not discuss the subject of homosexuality in the Gospels does not implicate his acceptance or disapproval of homosexuality. As a man of reason (Boykin's a trained lawyer) he should know that is not logically sound. I bet he does. As Christians, our faith is based not on what Jesus didn't say but what he said. Isn't Paul who said faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God? When discussing the Law in the Beatitudes, Jesus said that he didn't come to abolish it or the prophets (Tanakh), he came to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17). He also said that the Law will remain until heaven and earth will pass away and that one who relaxes the least of the commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called the least in the kingdom of heaven (v.18-19). "For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:20 ESV)
Jesus preaching extensively on the hypocrisy of the Pharisees using the Scriptures. They who were zealous for keeping the Law disobeyed the Law in secret and covered it up with oral traditions to exempt from the penalty for breaking the Law, death by stoning. Many in today's world don't obey God's Word because of many hypocrites within churches. Though that isn't really a valid of obeying God, I can understand. Boykin pointed the religious hypocrisy in many churches in America. However, he can't use this as an opportunity to revision the Scriptures. Jesus also spoke to the Pharisees concerning marriage in divorce in Matthew 19 appealing to the creation account in Genesis chapters 1 and 2. It was unfortunate that Bishop Jordan didn't point this out to Boykin or Ralph. I guess he's not a trained bible scholar and a trained rhetorician thought he's a preacher. Little must be said in an half-hour program.
Conclusion
This issues is important to us who have family members who are gay. It seems that members in the Black Church tradition have a special obligation to point out injustice in our society being historic victims of systemic oppression. But as believers in Christ, when do we draw the line to using our experience as a prism to interpret Scripture as a justification to support an activity, a desire, an ideology that may be sinful? I will write more on this in a later post.
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