Picture this. I'm standing in front of a crowd of hundreds of people. I'm an actor in a theatrical production that all my friends and family have paid good money to see. Just when I'm about to say my lines...I freeze. With the eyes of hundreds of people staring straight at me, I realize all of the sudden that I don't know my lines. I've either forgotten them or I've never seen them before. I run back stage frantically looking for a copy of the script only to find that when I actually look at the script, I have no idea what I'm reading. The words appear on the page but my brain can't make sense of what I'm reading.
And so the dream ends. I probably have this dream at least two to three times a year. Yes, I used to be in theatrical productions when I was in high school, but that was a long time ago.
Can anyone think of how this could be used in a sermon illustration?
Perhaps me exposing my fears and insecurities to the global cyber-shrink population will yield some sort of redemption.
Be gentle.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Which one should I choose?
I receive e-mails from a lot of different ministries that want me to support or join their cause. Today I received an e-mail from two different ministries. In order to show the contrast between the two ministries, I decided to show the two e-mails side by side and ask my readers which cause I should support and why?
Below is the first e-mail sent out by Jay Sekulo from ACLJ.
Now that you've read an e-mail asking me to join a political agenda, I'd like to compare it to another e-mail I received from an Iranian evangelist named Reza Safa. Here is Reza's letter to me.
Let's see here. The first e-mail wants me to advance a political agenda. The second e-mail wants me to advance a spiritual agenda.
Which one should I choose?
Is there really any contest?
Below is the first e-mail sent out by Jay Sekulo from ACLJ.
Dear Aaron,
You are invited to join me and the ACLJ as we journey to the Holy Land this summer!
Jay Sekulow in Israel This is truly an unprecedented opportunity to experience Israel in a way that is not available to most visitors. You will not want to miss it.
Click here to review the itinerary, Frequently Asked Questions, and pricing for this special trip.
This is going to be more than just a 10-day tour. From June 17 through June 27, 2008, you can EXPERIENCE the rich history of this beautiful land.
The theme of this trip is ''Stand with Israel - in Israel.''
Walk where Jesus walked. Spend time with government officials, military leaders, and members of the Israeli Parliament. Get in-depth analysis and up-to-the minute information on what is taking place in the Middle East.
I will also provide you with an ''insider's view'' on how the ACLJ and our worldwide affiliates are showing support of this crucial Middle-Eastern State ... and why it is so vitally important.
Jay Sekulow in Israel Travel to one of the most strategic lands in all of history. Learn first-hand about life along the borders of Israel, Lebanon, and Syria. Witness the impact of events in Iraq on this region. Be baptized in the Jordan River. Experience the holy places where Jesus taught, and absorb the rich history of this amazing land. Make your plans NOW to join me for this unprecedented opportunity! Visit our website for more information or to put your deposit down.
The price of $3,999 per person, based on double occupancy, includes round-trip airfare from New York, hotel accommodations, all meals, sight-seeing tours, entrance fees, taxes, and gratuities. (I encourage you to book your trip before February 15. After that day, another $150 fuel surcharge per person will be added to the $3,999 fee.)
The best way to stand with Israel is to stand IN Israel. Don't miss this life-changing tour, June 17 - June 27, 2008.
Now that you've read an e-mail asking me to join a political agenda, I'd like to compare it to another e-mail I received from an Iranian evangelist named Reza Safa. Here is Reza's letter to me.
Dearest Friends,
I have just returned from a ministry trip to Las Vegas, where I ministered at the only Iranian church in the area. The Lord touched many people there. About ten people accepted the Lord and many were baptized in the Holy Spirit, and the Lord delivered and healed several people. One man approached me the first night and asked me to pray for his deliverance from alcohol addiction. After my preaching, when I gave the altar call, he and his wife came up and accepted the Lord. That night he asked his wife to throw away all beer and alcohol from their house. He used to drink two cases of beer every day. The following night he came back and told me that when he woke up that morning, he was completely free from alcohol. “I feel like a brand new man,” he said to me. That night he also brought his daughter, who is facing a marital problem. She also accepted the Lord and received prayer. To God be the glory, Jesus is still in the business of delivering people. During the services, a tall and strong elderly man, who used to be a wrestling champion, helped me catch people as I prayed for them. Talking to him afterwards, I realized that although he never missed any of their church services, he was still a Muslim and faithfully prayed his Islamic prayer five times every day. I encouraged him about faith in Christ. “Every blessing of God is only in Jesus,” I said to him. I told him that God will not operate outside of Jesus, for in Him all things sustain. He kept insisting that he loved Prophet Jesus, and I kept insisting that he didn’t believe in Jesus—not the Jesus that the Bible talks about. I loved on him and told him the truth. People must know the truth, even if the truth offends them, as long as we speak it in love. He called me yesterday and left a message on my cell phone. He said that the following morning when he woke up, for the first time after fifty years, he did not do his regular Islamic prayer, and that he asked Jesus to come in to his heart. I called him back and asked him if he called Jesus Khodavand (Lord). He acknowledged and told me that he hadn’t missed his daily Islamic prayers since he was six years old. He said that he wanted to be baptized. I asked him if he felt a change in his heart. He did and he said that he felt peace for the first time in his life. To God be the glory.
Christianity used to roar with conviction and solid revelation knowledge that shook the known world of its time. Unfortunately, Christianity today appears to be a more refined version of human philosophies. It lacks conviction and persuasion. It has glamour but it lacks glory. It is bound by self-interest and fear. “Why should we confront, when we can all live together in peace!” That is the philosophy of the hour. Interfaith and political correctness are invading our societies. It is all mixed in a grey mesh. Jesus said it well, "If the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men." Did you know that salt raises your blood sugar? But without it, food has no taste. Truth is hard, but without it men like this wrestler will continue to turn toward Mecca and pray to a dead god five times a day for fifty years.
I have received criticism by several Christians about our upcoming debate with the Islamic Society of Tulsa. Most of their reasoning is based on fear of confrontation by the Muslims. In other words, let us not tell them the truth because we are afraid of their responses. Isn’t that what the Sanhedrin said to the Apostles? “Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” (Acts 4:18)
Jamal Badawi, the Egyptian Muslim scholar whom the Islamic Society of Tulsa invited, often argues in major events that the Bible is a corrupted book, that Jesus is not the Son of God, and that Jesus did not die on the cross for the sins of the people. While he is hindered from receiving the salvation of God through Jesus Christ, he is also hindering millions of others from hearing about that salvation. While millions of Muslims are damned for hell because of the efforts of Mr. Badawi and his organization ISNA, Christians are afraid Muslims will react and hurt them. My Bible says, “… they loved not their lives unto death.” Isn’t that what Apollos did? “For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.” (Acts 18:28 NIV) Isn’t that what Paul often did? Isn’t that why he was stoned in Iconium? Read Acts 14:1-5. Paul caused uproar almost everywhere he went. Read Acts 13-20. Read about the public debates Paul had with the Jews every day for two years:
“Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. Acts 19:8-10 (NIV)
If Paul lived in our day, many Christians would curse him and possibly take him to court, accusing him of creating hatred between the Jews and Christians.
No, we will continue speaking the truth boldly and lovingly because we desire to see millions of Muslims delivered from darkness and set free, just like our Iranian wrestler friend from Las Vegas who prayed in a foreign language (Arabic) to a false god five times daily, bending up and down toward Mecca. But today he is free because I told him that God would never answer his prayer as long as he is a Muslim! Wow! That is harsh! But that is the truth. And that set him free.
You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
I hope to see you all next Friday, January 25th. I am asking our church to fast and pray that day that God would open the eyes of Jamal Badawi, hundreds of Muslims who will be there, and tens of thousands of Muslims who will watch this video on the internet. Would you also commit that day to the Lord by fasting and praying for the salvation of these Muslims? Also please be there early, the doors open at 6:00 PM.
Loving Him Forever,
Pastor Reza F. Safa
Let's see here. The first e-mail wants me to advance a political agenda. The second e-mail wants me to advance a spiritual agenda.
Which one should I choose?
Is there really any contest?
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Me and Mr. Potter
What do these phrases have in common?
1. I wish I had a million dollars. Hot Dog!
2. What is it that you want Mary? Do you want the moon? I'll give you the moon.
3. Well why don't you kiss her instead of talking her to death?
4. Look Burt! My mouth's bleeding! My mouth's bleeding Burt!
5. I've been saving this money for a divorce if I ever get a husband.
6. Look, daddy! Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.
7. You once called me a warped-frustrated old man.
These are just a few of the one-liners in what is arguably the best loved film of all time, "It's a Wonderful Life." The movie follows the story of a man named George Bailey, a man who had great dreams for himself, but found himself stuck in his hometown of Bedford Falls running the business/charity Bailey Building and Loan, the company he inherited from his father.
Like all good movies, "It's a Wonderful Life" has a villain, and the villain's name is Mr. Potter. Mr. Potter represents the corporate villain who cares for no one but himself and tramples on the poor like garbage. One of the most poignant scenes in the movie is when Mr. Potter offers George Bailey a job, promising him the pie in the sky but basically asking for his soul in return. In classic hero fashion George Bailey gives Potter a piece of his mind and calls him a warped-frustrated old man. Potter's position throughout the film is that of condescension. Potter says that George Bailey isn't a business man and that he's made life too easy for his borrowers.
Here's my problem. Every time I watch the movie, I have this struggle between my head and my heart. In my heart, I'd like to believe a man can do business like George Bailey, but in my head, I find myself agreeing with Mr. Potter that a man can't run a business like a charity.
Think about it. Have you ever met a George Bailey? Can you imagine Country-Wide mortgage telling you "Oh..that's okay. I know you've been having a hard time lately. Just pay me when you can." That's basically how George Bailey ran his business and that's precisely what makes him such a stark contrast to the evil Mr. Potter.
Throw the teaching of Jesus into the mix, "Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away" and it seems we have a real dilemma. If anyone typifies the spirit of Jesus in these words, it's George Bailey. The problem is that George Bailey is a fictional character, not a real person.
Here are a few questions that I think are worthy of reflection.
1. Have you every met a real George Bailey? If so, did he or she remain in business or did they have to close shop eventually?
2. In our impersonal capitalist economy, is it even possible to be a George Bailey?
3. How do you run a genuine business, especially one that affects people's livelihoods, without becoming a Mr. Potter?
4. What would Jesus say to a guy like George Bailey, a man who cares for the poor, but happens to be their lender?
5. Does the fact that it's very difficult to imagine a real live George Bailey tell us something about the economic system that we've taken for granted? Are there other macro-economic systems that would make it more viable for people like George Bailey to survive in the real world?
Discuss!
1. I wish I had a million dollars. Hot Dog!
2. What is it that you want Mary? Do you want the moon? I'll give you the moon.
3. Well why don't you kiss her instead of talking her to death?
4. Look Burt! My mouth's bleeding! My mouth's bleeding Burt!
5. I've been saving this money for a divorce if I ever get a husband.
6. Look, daddy! Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.
7. You once called me a warped-frustrated old man.
These are just a few of the one-liners in what is arguably the best loved film of all time, "It's a Wonderful Life." The movie follows the story of a man named George Bailey, a man who had great dreams for himself, but found himself stuck in his hometown of Bedford Falls running the business/charity Bailey Building and Loan, the company he inherited from his father.
Like all good movies, "It's a Wonderful Life" has a villain, and the villain's name is Mr. Potter. Mr. Potter represents the corporate villain who cares for no one but himself and tramples on the poor like garbage. One of the most poignant scenes in the movie is when Mr. Potter offers George Bailey a job, promising him the pie in the sky but basically asking for his soul in return. In classic hero fashion George Bailey gives Potter a piece of his mind and calls him a warped-frustrated old man. Potter's position throughout the film is that of condescension. Potter says that George Bailey isn't a business man and that he's made life too easy for his borrowers.
Here's my problem. Every time I watch the movie, I have this struggle between my head and my heart. In my heart, I'd like to believe a man can do business like George Bailey, but in my head, I find myself agreeing with Mr. Potter that a man can't run a business like a charity.
Think about it. Have you ever met a George Bailey? Can you imagine Country-Wide mortgage telling you "Oh..that's okay. I know you've been having a hard time lately. Just pay me when you can." That's basically how George Bailey ran his business and that's precisely what makes him such a stark contrast to the evil Mr. Potter.
Throw the teaching of Jesus into the mix, "Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away" and it seems we have a real dilemma. If anyone typifies the spirit of Jesus in these words, it's George Bailey. The problem is that George Bailey is a fictional character, not a real person.
Here are a few questions that I think are worthy of reflection.
1. Have you every met a real George Bailey? If so, did he or she remain in business or did they have to close shop eventually?
2. In our impersonal capitalist economy, is it even possible to be a George Bailey?
3. How do you run a genuine business, especially one that affects people's livelihoods, without becoming a Mr. Potter?
4. What would Jesus say to a guy like George Bailey, a man who cares for the poor, but happens to be their lender?
5. Does the fact that it's very difficult to imagine a real live George Bailey tell us something about the economic system that we've taken for granted? Are there other macro-economic systems that would make it more viable for people like George Bailey to survive in the real world?
Discuss!
Thursday, January 03, 2008
What the TV advertisers think of me
Last week I was having trouble sleeping on a Friday night. So, at about 12:30 a.m. I turned on the T.V. and happened to catch a few minutes of an episode of Friends. To my utter amazement I saw an advertiement for a gay dating service in St. Louis. The thought suddenly struck me....why do the advertisers think I'm gay just because I'm watching Friends late on a Friday night?
The following Monday I was doing my exercises in my living room and I noticed how many advertisements there were targeting senior citizens on medicare. Apparently, the advertisers also believe I am an old man.
Put it together and, according to the advertisers, I'm an elderly gay man in desperate need of a scooter.
In actuality, I'm a physically active 29 year old married man with occasional insomnia.
The next time you turn on the T.V. ask yourself who the advertisers think you are. The exercise can be fun....and a bit disturbing.
The following Monday I was doing my exercises in my living room and I noticed how many advertisements there were targeting senior citizens on medicare. Apparently, the advertisers also believe I am an old man.
Put it together and, according to the advertisers, I'm an elderly gay man in desperate need of a scooter.
In actuality, I'm a physically active 29 year old married man with occasional insomnia.
The next time you turn on the T.V. ask yourself who the advertisers think you are. The exercise can be fun....and a bit disturbing.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
My Most Embarrassing Moment
One of the things I learned in Bible School is that today’s ministers are supposed to be transparent. Very few people can connect with ministers who seem to have it all together. Even fewer can connect with ministers who like to talk about how they have it all together. Growing up my mom used to always say to me, “Aaron, you need to learn to laugh at yourself.” In an effort to please my mom and my Bible School instructors, I’ve decided to start the year off with revealing my most embarrassing moment to you, my loyal readers.
I was 21 years old and working full time as a waiter at Steak N Shake, a popular restaurant here in the Midwest. For those unfamiliar with Steak N Shake, think of a restaurant that resembles a 50’s diner-a step above fast food but not as high on the status scale as an Applebee’s or a Houlihans. Due to an extremely short staff that evening, one of the managers called me in to work at the last minute. I didn’t want to work on a Sunday evening, but I decided to go in anyway since I needed the extra cash…and because the manager on duty really needed the help.
I’m not sure whether God was getting even with me for breaking the Christian Sabbath or whether it was just plain bad luck, but I’ll never forget how it seemed like the entire state of Missouri showed up to eat at Steak N Shake that evening…with only me and one other guy waiting tables. (Note to hypercritical theologians…the above sentence regarding divine retribution for working on a Sunday is a literary device, not a doctrinal statement). There must have been at least 50-75 people all wanting service at the same time. Put that in combination with an individual such as myself who gets really flustered when he’s in a hurry and who happens to be gracefully challenged…and you have a disaster waiting to happen.
One table in particular started out with two shakes, a side of coleslaw, and a cup of soup, a coca cola and three glasses of water. Nothing unusual. I’d filled hundreds of orders like this before. Why this had to happen on a day when the entire restaurant was full, I’ll never know but just as I was getting ready to hand my customers their order, I slipped and fell flat on my …note to editors…derriere. The tray went flying and there was broken glass everywhere. I even managed to get a good portion of the chocolate shake in a female customer’s shoulder length hair.
If this were where the story ended, it would be embarrassing enough. Unfortunately for me and my customers, the story doesn’t end here. After cleaning up my mess I had to go back to fill the customers order a second time. As I walked out onto the floor, I could feel the intensity of every eye in the restaurant staring straight at me, wondering what was going to happen. With every eye glued on me and me alone (at least that’s what it felt like at the time), I attempted to deliver my customers’ order a second time and, what do you know, my foot slipped again and I landed flat on my back with my arms sprawled across the floor. Again, glass went flying everywhere and, again, the same lady received the same amount of chocolate shake in her hair as the first time.
After I fell the second time I went to my manager and begged him not to make me go back out and face the same crowd. “For the love of everything sacred and holy please don’t make me go back out there,” I pleaded. Even as I was pleading with my manager to let me go on break, I knew it wasn’t going to happen. We were too short-staffed and there were simply too many people in the restaurant. For the third time I had to take the walk of shame, only this time people had literally cleared the aisles to prepare a path for me to walk. They were fleeing for their lives. Thankfully, on my third try I was able to deliver the order to my customers and to my utter amazement, the lady with the chocolate shake in her hair even left me a sizable tip on the way out.
A very wise king once said, “For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again,” (Proverbs 24:16). While I hope and pray that everyone reading these words are doing wonderful and feeling great, I know that for some, perhaps many, that is simply not the case. Perhaps you’ve reached a place in your life where it feels like everything you touch turns to sand. Maybe you’re attempting for the 7th time the same New Year’s resolution. Maybe you’ve suffered a failed business, or a failed marriage. Maybe you’ve fallen away from God and feel that you’ve been out of the race for too long to get back in. Perhaps you’ve dropped out of church because of a root of bitterness you’ve allowed to take hold in your heart. Whoever you are and whatever your situation, know that you are not alone. It’s not the fact that you’ve fallen that defines you. It’s whether you get back up. If you feel like you’ve fallen too many times to be able to hold your head up high, perhaps your Heavenly Father has led you to read the words of this clumsy, flustered preacher to deliver this message to your soul at the start of 2008.
Happy New Year!
Your race isn’t over yet.
I was 21 years old and working full time as a waiter at Steak N Shake, a popular restaurant here in the Midwest. For those unfamiliar with Steak N Shake, think of a restaurant that resembles a 50’s diner-a step above fast food but not as high on the status scale as an Applebee’s or a Houlihans. Due to an extremely short staff that evening, one of the managers called me in to work at the last minute. I didn’t want to work on a Sunday evening, but I decided to go in anyway since I needed the extra cash…and because the manager on duty really needed the help.
I’m not sure whether God was getting even with me for breaking the Christian Sabbath or whether it was just plain bad luck, but I’ll never forget how it seemed like the entire state of Missouri showed up to eat at Steak N Shake that evening…with only me and one other guy waiting tables. (Note to hypercritical theologians…the above sentence regarding divine retribution for working on a Sunday is a literary device, not a doctrinal statement). There must have been at least 50-75 people all wanting service at the same time. Put that in combination with an individual such as myself who gets really flustered when he’s in a hurry and who happens to be gracefully challenged…and you have a disaster waiting to happen.
One table in particular started out with two shakes, a side of coleslaw, and a cup of soup, a coca cola and three glasses of water. Nothing unusual. I’d filled hundreds of orders like this before. Why this had to happen on a day when the entire restaurant was full, I’ll never know but just as I was getting ready to hand my customers their order, I slipped and fell flat on my …note to editors…derriere. The tray went flying and there was broken glass everywhere. I even managed to get a good portion of the chocolate shake in a female customer’s shoulder length hair.
If this were where the story ended, it would be embarrassing enough. Unfortunately for me and my customers, the story doesn’t end here. After cleaning up my mess I had to go back to fill the customers order a second time. As I walked out onto the floor, I could feel the intensity of every eye in the restaurant staring straight at me, wondering what was going to happen. With every eye glued on me and me alone (at least that’s what it felt like at the time), I attempted to deliver my customers’ order a second time and, what do you know, my foot slipped again and I landed flat on my back with my arms sprawled across the floor. Again, glass went flying everywhere and, again, the same lady received the same amount of chocolate shake in her hair as the first time.
After I fell the second time I went to my manager and begged him not to make me go back out and face the same crowd. “For the love of everything sacred and holy please don’t make me go back out there,” I pleaded. Even as I was pleading with my manager to let me go on break, I knew it wasn’t going to happen. We were too short-staffed and there were simply too many people in the restaurant. For the third time I had to take the walk of shame, only this time people had literally cleared the aisles to prepare a path for me to walk. They were fleeing for their lives. Thankfully, on my third try I was able to deliver the order to my customers and to my utter amazement, the lady with the chocolate shake in her hair even left me a sizable tip on the way out.
A very wise king once said, “For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again,” (Proverbs 24:16). While I hope and pray that everyone reading these words are doing wonderful and feeling great, I know that for some, perhaps many, that is simply not the case. Perhaps you’ve reached a place in your life where it feels like everything you touch turns to sand. Maybe you’re attempting for the 7th time the same New Year’s resolution. Maybe you’ve suffered a failed business, or a failed marriage. Maybe you’ve fallen away from God and feel that you’ve been out of the race for too long to get back in. Perhaps you’ve dropped out of church because of a root of bitterness you’ve allowed to take hold in your heart. Whoever you are and whatever your situation, know that you are not alone. It’s not the fact that you’ve fallen that defines you. It’s whether you get back up. If you feel like you’ve fallen too many times to be able to hold your head up high, perhaps your Heavenly Father has led you to read the words of this clumsy, flustered preacher to deliver this message to your soul at the start of 2008.
Happy New Year!
Your race isn’t over yet.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
A Christmas message from Aaron
I hope this post finds you happy and in good health. Rhiannon and I have just finished opening our presents and are looking forward to going over to my Aunt Rose's house in a couple of hours to enjoy the annual Christmas Turkey and gift exchange with the extended Taylor family. Rhiannon will start making her world famous corn casserole in a few minutes-world famous at least in the Taylor household!
As we're all supposed to do this time of the year, I've been reflecting a lot about the true meaning of Christmas over the past few days. My heart goes out to the worlds pastors who have to find new shades of meaning and spiritual insight every single year as they prepare their Christmas sermons to deliver to their congregations. Being that it's Christmas day, this message may be a little late for pastors and missionaries looking for last minute enlightenment, but it's not late in terms of relevance for the new year.
First I'll start with what we all know and understand. Unless your last name is Scrooge and your first name is Grinch, you probably realize that Christmas is about the generosity of giving and not the vanity of commercialization. With the slew of Hallmark and ABC Family Christmas specials this time of year, I find it odd that even Hollywood sells the message of faith, family and values this time of the year.
This next thought may be a bit Pollyanna-ish, but I think that both sides of the "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holidays" war need to lay down their arms and take a breather, if not for political and theological reasons, then at least for practical ones. Having to correct people every time they use a holiday greeting that you don't like can get exhausting after a while. As much as I would like to continue my soapbox on this one, you can consider that a freebie.
The real message I'd like to share with you this Christmas is this. In light of my debate with a radical jihadist in London and my recent trip to the West Bank, one of the ideas that has turned my world upside down and caused me to reevaluate nearly everything I have held dear in terms of my identity and values is the idea that one of the central themes of the New Testament is a complete and utter rejection of the value of exercising earthly power and authority over others. When Jesus said, "The meek shall inherit the earth," the people of His day knew exactly what He meant. On the day of judgment, those who will be left standing are not the Caesars and the centurions, but the cooks and the carpenters. Practically the entire life and ministry of Jesus conveys the idea that the Kingdom of God belongs to the powerless, not the powerful.
Jesus said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them." In an age where politicians, even sincere politicians, are all-too-eager to invoke the name of Jesus as a stamp of divine approval upon their bid for the White House, I think a re-evaluation of the role of the Church, and how the Church interacts with earthly power is in order. Just as not everything that glitters is gold, I have a feeling that not everything that calls itself Christian is truly Christian.
Jesus was born in a stable and raised the son of a carpenter. He never levied a tax and He never waged a war. Although He could have used His birthright as heir to the Davidic throne to "restore the Kingdom to Israel", He deliberately chose not to. Instead, He put the priority on taking on the form of a servant and establishing God's true kingdom in the hearts of men. He had no earthly agenda but to love and to serve, especially those who lived with a different set of values than His own. Jesus managed to befriend the tax-collector, the zealot, the Samaritan, and the prostitute alike, calling them to repent.....without pursuing an earthly agenda to push them to the fringes of society.
As we head into the new election year, I think it would be wise for us all to remember that the world's only true "Christian" king (or ruler or politician or whatever term you would like to insert to denote earthly power) died on a wooden cross, suffering for the souls of the very people who were crucifying Him. May the example of Jesus be the true inspiration for us all to build a better world as we head into the new year.
Merry Christmas,
Aaron
As we're all supposed to do this time of the year, I've been reflecting a lot about the true meaning of Christmas over the past few days. My heart goes out to the worlds pastors who have to find new shades of meaning and spiritual insight every single year as they prepare their Christmas sermons to deliver to their congregations. Being that it's Christmas day, this message may be a little late for pastors and missionaries looking for last minute enlightenment, but it's not late in terms of relevance for the new year.
First I'll start with what we all know and understand. Unless your last name is Scrooge and your first name is Grinch, you probably realize that Christmas is about the generosity of giving and not the vanity of commercialization. With the slew of Hallmark and ABC Family Christmas specials this time of year, I find it odd that even Hollywood sells the message of faith, family and values this time of the year.
This next thought may be a bit Pollyanna-ish, but I think that both sides of the "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holidays" war need to lay down their arms and take a breather, if not for political and theological reasons, then at least for practical ones. Having to correct people every time they use a holiday greeting that you don't like can get exhausting after a while. As much as I would like to continue my soapbox on this one, you can consider that a freebie.
The real message I'd like to share with you this Christmas is this. In light of my debate with a radical jihadist in London and my recent trip to the West Bank, one of the ideas that has turned my world upside down and caused me to reevaluate nearly everything I have held dear in terms of my identity and values is the idea that one of the central themes of the New Testament is a complete and utter rejection of the value of exercising earthly power and authority over others. When Jesus said, "The meek shall inherit the earth," the people of His day knew exactly what He meant. On the day of judgment, those who will be left standing are not the Caesars and the centurions, but the cooks and the carpenters. Practically the entire life and ministry of Jesus conveys the idea that the Kingdom of God belongs to the powerless, not the powerful.
Jesus said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them." In an age where politicians, even sincere politicians, are all-too-eager to invoke the name of Jesus as a stamp of divine approval upon their bid for the White House, I think a re-evaluation of the role of the Church, and how the Church interacts with earthly power is in order. Just as not everything that glitters is gold, I have a feeling that not everything that calls itself Christian is truly Christian.
Jesus was born in a stable and raised the son of a carpenter. He never levied a tax and He never waged a war. Although He could have used His birthright as heir to the Davidic throne to "restore the Kingdom to Israel", He deliberately chose not to. Instead, He put the priority on taking on the form of a servant and establishing God's true kingdom in the hearts of men. He had no earthly agenda but to love and to serve, especially those who lived with a different set of values than His own. Jesus managed to befriend the tax-collector, the zealot, the Samaritan, and the prostitute alike, calling them to repent.....without pursuing an earthly agenda to push them to the fringes of society.
As we head into the new election year, I think it would be wise for us all to remember that the world's only true "Christian" king (or ruler or politician or whatever term you would like to insert to denote earthly power) died on a wooden cross, suffering for the souls of the very people who were crucifying Him. May the example of Jesus be the true inspiration for us all to build a better world as we head into the new year.
Merry Christmas,
Aaron
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Good news in Iran
I just received a report from Caleb Project's monthly newsletter. Here is what it said about Iran.
Too often we in the West tend to think of the Muslim world as a monolith, as if everyone is locked in their beliefs with little desire to change. The reality is, more Iranians have turned to Christ since the Ayatollah seized power than at any other time before.
It helps to keep things in perspective when we watch the daily news. There is hope for the future.
It is estimated that at least two million Farsi-speakers watch SAT-7 PARS in Iran regularly. In the nine months SAT-7 PARS has been on Iranian television, countless people have come to Christ in this predominantly Muslim nation.
Many believe this Christian station is the most watched satellite channel in Iran. One listener said, "I have not read the New Testament, or the Torah, because there is none in Iran, but Jesus Christ has made a home in my heart. I beg you to tell me how I can leave [my religion] and come to the religion of Jesus Christ because besides him, no one else has my life in their hands."
Too often we in the West tend to think of the Muslim world as a monolith, as if everyone is locked in their beliefs with little desire to change. The reality is, more Iranians have turned to Christ since the Ayatollah seized power than at any other time before.
It helps to keep things in perspective when we watch the daily news. There is hope for the future.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Governor Huckabee: Will you go on record?
It's been an exciting past few weeks for Mike Huckabee, the former Baptist minister turned Governor of Arkansas. Just a few short weeks ago, Rudy Guliani and Mitt Romney were the undisputed frontrunners of the GOP with Senator John McCain and Fred Thompson trailing closely behind. With Guliani's marital problems and Romney's Mormon faith, evangelicals haven't had a candidate they can call one of their own. As every political commentator knows, this has been a huge problem for the Republican Party since evangelicals form the largest voting block of the GOP base. If Karl Rove and the nation's 60 million evangelical Christians have been silently praying for a savior, it seems the savior has arrived in the form of another southern governor with humble beginnings.
Now that Governor Mike Huckabee is a frontrunner in the race along with Guliani and Romney, it seems that everyone is talking about religion-again. What is the role of religion in public life? What is the meaning of separation of church and state? What is the definition of a religious test? While all of this may seem like deja vu, it seems that leaders of the Christian Right are singing a different tune this time around. Case in point. Did you ever think you would hear the late Jerry Falwell endorse a Mormon for president with the words, "We're not electing a pastor in chief, we're electing a commander in chief"? Or how about the same words coming from Richard Land, the president of the Southern Baptists' religion and ethics commission? The other day I even heard Richard Land use the words "pluralism and diversity" on CNN when asked about the Mormon question. Even more bizarre, did you ever think the day would come when Pat Robertson would endorse a man twice divorced and Catholic in name only? Aside from the occasional Christian Reconstructionist or Patriot Pastor in Ohio, it seems that the leaders of the Christian Right have finally conceded that separation of church and state isn't a tool of the devil used by liberals to undermine the Christian faith, but is, in fact both Christian and constitutional.
While I'm glad that Christian Right leaders are taking a softer tone on the role of faith in politics, there's something that is still bothering me. With all this new talk about not putting political candidates through a religion test, it seems that the important religious questions are being overlooked or shall I say....Left Behind? To illustrate my point, let's look at the religious differences between Huckabee and Romney. If Romney is true to his Mormon faith then he believes that God once started out as a man, that Jesus and Lucifer were once brothers, and that good Mormons will be populating celestial planets in the afterlife. Huckabee, on the other hand, if he is true to his Baptist faith, believes the Bible is the Word of God, that salvation comes by grace through faith, and that Jesus is coming back soon. If I had to pick which of these two belief systems I'm most comfortable with occupying the Oval Office, I'd have to pick the first one-and I'm saying that as a committed evangelical Christian who also believes the Bible is the Word of God, that salvation comes by grace through faith, and that Jesus is coming back soon. Does this sound a bit bizarre? Let me explain.
If a Mormon occupying the White House believes that God started out as a man, that Jesus and Lucifer were once brothers, and that good Mormons will be populating celestial planets in the afterlife, how much would these beliefs affect his or her policy decisions on things like the Middle East conflict, nuclear disarmament, or America's role in the U.N? . If, on the other hand, you have a president that subscribes to the Left-Behind version of Christianity made popular by Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, how would that affect his or her foreign policy decisions? Given that Tim Lahaye has recently endorsed Governor Huckabee, that Governor Huckabee has publicly stated that he "enjoyed" reading the Left Behind novels, and that Tim Lahaye recently sent letters to pastors in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina inviting them to an all-expense paid trip to hear Mike Huckabee speak, this question is far from theoretical.
Let's review the Left Behind Series. In Tim Lahaye's Left Behind series, the anti-christ seizes power by taking over which institution? You guessed it-the United Nations. Who allows the evil anti-christ to rise to power in the Left Behind novels? You guessed it again. A weak democratic president. Where does the evil anti-christ set up his headquarters for his evil empire? Modern day Iraq. How does the Anti-christ seize the reigns of power? This should come as no surprise....an international nuclear disarmament treaty. Combine this with the idea that Jesus can't come back until the dream of Greater Israel is realized and that will give you a fairly accurate picture of the Left-Behind world view.
This, by the way, is not an endorsement of Mitt Romney. When it comes to foreign policy, Romney can speak for himself. All I'm saying is that when it comes to analyzing a candidate's religious beliefs, we should be asking the questions that really matter. So here are a few questions I would like for Governor Huckabee to answer.
1. Governor Huckabee. Do you support the expansion of Jewish Settlements in the West Bank?
2. Governor Huckabee. Does your particular interpretation of Scripture preclude a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
3. Governor Huckabee. What is your view on the role of the U.N. in international affairs?
4. Governor Huckabee. Do you believe the Bible prophecies an imminent attack on the state of Israel by an alliance of Russia and Iran?
Will Governor Huckabee go on record regarding any one of these issues in the near future? Will anyone be asking him these questions in the next debates? For the sake of us all...Let's hope so.
Now that Governor Mike Huckabee is a frontrunner in the race along with Guliani and Romney, it seems that everyone is talking about religion-again. What is the role of religion in public life? What is the meaning of separation of church and state? What is the definition of a religious test? While all of this may seem like deja vu, it seems that leaders of the Christian Right are singing a different tune this time around. Case in point. Did you ever think you would hear the late Jerry Falwell endorse a Mormon for president with the words, "We're not electing a pastor in chief, we're electing a commander in chief"? Or how about the same words coming from Richard Land, the president of the Southern Baptists' religion and ethics commission? The other day I even heard Richard Land use the words "pluralism and diversity" on CNN when asked about the Mormon question. Even more bizarre, did you ever think the day would come when Pat Robertson would endorse a man twice divorced and Catholic in name only? Aside from the occasional Christian Reconstructionist or Patriot Pastor in Ohio, it seems that the leaders of the Christian Right have finally conceded that separation of church and state isn't a tool of the devil used by liberals to undermine the Christian faith, but is, in fact both Christian and constitutional.
While I'm glad that Christian Right leaders are taking a softer tone on the role of faith in politics, there's something that is still bothering me. With all this new talk about not putting political candidates through a religion test, it seems that the important religious questions are being overlooked or shall I say....Left Behind? To illustrate my point, let's look at the religious differences between Huckabee and Romney. If Romney is true to his Mormon faith then he believes that God once started out as a man, that Jesus and Lucifer were once brothers, and that good Mormons will be populating celestial planets in the afterlife. Huckabee, on the other hand, if he is true to his Baptist faith, believes the Bible is the Word of God, that salvation comes by grace through faith, and that Jesus is coming back soon. If I had to pick which of these two belief systems I'm most comfortable with occupying the Oval Office, I'd have to pick the first one-and I'm saying that as a committed evangelical Christian who also believes the Bible is the Word of God, that salvation comes by grace through faith, and that Jesus is coming back soon. Does this sound a bit bizarre? Let me explain.
If a Mormon occupying the White House believes that God started out as a man, that Jesus and Lucifer were once brothers, and that good Mormons will be populating celestial planets in the afterlife, how much would these beliefs affect his or her policy decisions on things like the Middle East conflict, nuclear disarmament, or America's role in the U.N? . If, on the other hand, you have a president that subscribes to the Left-Behind version of Christianity made popular by Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, how would that affect his or her foreign policy decisions? Given that Tim Lahaye has recently endorsed Governor Huckabee, that Governor Huckabee has publicly stated that he "enjoyed" reading the Left Behind novels, and that Tim Lahaye recently sent letters to pastors in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina inviting them to an all-expense paid trip to hear Mike Huckabee speak, this question is far from theoretical.
Let's review the Left Behind Series. In Tim Lahaye's Left Behind series, the anti-christ seizes power by taking over which institution? You guessed it-the United Nations. Who allows the evil anti-christ to rise to power in the Left Behind novels? You guessed it again. A weak democratic president. Where does the evil anti-christ set up his headquarters for his evil empire? Modern day Iraq. How does the Anti-christ seize the reigns of power? This should come as no surprise....an international nuclear disarmament treaty. Combine this with the idea that Jesus can't come back until the dream of Greater Israel is realized and that will give you a fairly accurate picture of the Left-Behind world view.
This, by the way, is not an endorsement of Mitt Romney. When it comes to foreign policy, Romney can speak for himself. All I'm saying is that when it comes to analyzing a candidate's religious beliefs, we should be asking the questions that really matter. So here are a few questions I would like for Governor Huckabee to answer.
1. Governor Huckabee. Do you support the expansion of Jewish Settlements in the West Bank?
2. Governor Huckabee. Does your particular interpretation of Scripture preclude a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
3. Governor Huckabee. What is your view on the role of the U.N. in international affairs?
4. Governor Huckabee. Do you believe the Bible prophecies an imminent attack on the state of Israel by an alliance of Russia and Iran?
Will Governor Huckabee go on record regarding any one of these issues in the near future? Will anyone be asking him these questions in the next debates? For the sake of us all...Let's hope so.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
The Christian Right and the Pledge of Allegiance-Is There a Contradiction?
This is a revision of an earlier post I've written.
Imagine a grade school student from China who goes to a public school and is asked to swear an oath to the Chinese state every day along with the rest of his or her class at school. Imagine that the young boy or girl refuses to participate due to the fact that he or she is a Christian and does not want to declare allegiance to anyone or anything other than Jesus Christ. I wonder how the average American Christian raised in a conservative evangelical church would view this scenario? I imagine that millions of Christians in America would not only admire the grade school student, but would probably use him or her as an example in Sunday School on how to take a stand as a Christian against a godless secular culture.
Now let's imagine another scenario. Imagine a young boy or girl in America attending one of the thousands of Christian schools throughout the nation. Imagine that a young boy or girl decides one day to politely decline in saying the pledge of allegiance along with his or her classmates. I wonder how the average American evangelical Christian would view this scenario? Given the political firestorm over taking "under God" out of the pledge, I imagine that the reaction of the same millions of Christians who thought the Chinese boy or girl was a hero would be decisively different than over the Christian child refusing to participate in the American pledge of allegiance. I further imagine that many would even question if the student was a Christian at all. After all, so the thinking goes, America is a Christian nation.
Does anyone else see a problem with this? To many American Christians, a child who pledges allegiance to China is considered idolatrous, but a child who pledges allegiance to America is considered a patriot. Speaking as an American evangelical myself, I have to ask what does this say about how we as American Christians view ourselves? For many Christians, the idea that America is not a Christian nation is tantamount to blasphemy. I find it odd that the same people who would applaud a Chinese or a Russian for refusing to swear an oath to a secular state see no problem with wrapping an American flag around a cross in the front yards of their churches.
For the record, I'm not saying necessarily that it's a damnable sin to say the Pledge of Allegiance, although I do think the issue should be looked at more carefully. Although it's true that the Bible says, "Give custom to whom custom is due," it's also true that the New Testament repeatedly prohibits taking oaths. Given what the New Testament actually says about taking oaths, (namely, that a Christian isn't supposed to be making them) isn't it a bit odd that one of the key issues of the Christian right involves keeping the words "under God" in an oath to a nation/state?
Why does this contradiction exist? I think it's because the average American Christian from a conservative evangelical background associates patriotism with following Jesus. To confirm this truth, we need look no further than "Christian" talk radio. I actually heard a "Christian" talk show host one time tell a U.S. Marine "Remember, when you serve in the U.S. Military, you're serving Jesus." As odd at this statement might sound, turning Jesus into an officer of the U.S. Marines, for many of my friends and colleagues, the statement "soldiers in Iraq are doing the will of God" seems to flow off their lips without a second thought.
Should a Christian associate America's cause with God's cause? I don't think so. The truth is that America is a mixture of good and bad, just like many other nations. We can't claim a special relationship with God more than any other nation can. Although our pilgrim forefathers believed they were making a covenant with God when they entered this land, we have no reason to believe that God entered a covenant with them. Biblically speaking, any alliance between the Kingdom of God, which always looks like Jesus taking on the form of a suffering servant, with a version of the Kingdom of this world, (however new and improved the version of the worldly kingdom is) is an unholy alliance-and for good reason. Ask a typical native American Christian whether he or she believes that God gave the continental U.S. to white Europeans for the purpose of advancing the cause of freedom and liberty and you might get a totally different answer than you would hear from one of Ohio's Patriot Pastors.
As a missionary who has traveled the world many times over, I've met many Christians from other countries who have asked me why so many American Christians associate patriotism with Christianity. Not being one who likes to mix words, I tell them the truth. Americans read the Bible with cultural blinders on.....just like everyone else.
As for those who would venerate a Chinese student for refusing to pledge an oath to China but marginalize a Christian kid for refusing to pledge an oath to America, I'm not sure if they'll like what I have to say, but for a Bible believing Christian, the response to this anomaly should be obvious. Our first and foremost loyalty should be to Jesus Christ. Although we need to honor and serve our country as good citizens, to equate love for Jesus with love for country is nothing short of idolatry.
Imagine a grade school student from China who goes to a public school and is asked to swear an oath to the Chinese state every day along with the rest of his or her class at school. Imagine that the young boy or girl refuses to participate due to the fact that he or she is a Christian and does not want to declare allegiance to anyone or anything other than Jesus Christ. I wonder how the average American Christian raised in a conservative evangelical church would view this scenario? I imagine that millions of Christians in America would not only admire the grade school student, but would probably use him or her as an example in Sunday School on how to take a stand as a Christian against a godless secular culture.
Now let's imagine another scenario. Imagine a young boy or girl in America attending one of the thousands of Christian schools throughout the nation. Imagine that a young boy or girl decides one day to politely decline in saying the pledge of allegiance along with his or her classmates. I wonder how the average American evangelical Christian would view this scenario? Given the political firestorm over taking "under God" out of the pledge, I imagine that the reaction of the same millions of Christians who thought the Chinese boy or girl was a hero would be decisively different than over the Christian child refusing to participate in the American pledge of allegiance. I further imagine that many would even question if the student was a Christian at all. After all, so the thinking goes, America is a Christian nation.
Does anyone else see a problem with this? To many American Christians, a child who pledges allegiance to China is considered idolatrous, but a child who pledges allegiance to America is considered a patriot. Speaking as an American evangelical myself, I have to ask what does this say about how we as American Christians view ourselves? For many Christians, the idea that America is not a Christian nation is tantamount to blasphemy. I find it odd that the same people who would applaud a Chinese or a Russian for refusing to swear an oath to a secular state see no problem with wrapping an American flag around a cross in the front yards of their churches.
For the record, I'm not saying necessarily that it's a damnable sin to say the Pledge of Allegiance, although I do think the issue should be looked at more carefully. Although it's true that the Bible says, "Give custom to whom custom is due," it's also true that the New Testament repeatedly prohibits taking oaths. Given what the New Testament actually says about taking oaths, (namely, that a Christian isn't supposed to be making them) isn't it a bit odd that one of the key issues of the Christian right involves keeping the words "under God" in an oath to a nation/state?
Why does this contradiction exist? I think it's because the average American Christian from a conservative evangelical background associates patriotism with following Jesus. To confirm this truth, we need look no further than "Christian" talk radio. I actually heard a "Christian" talk show host one time tell a U.S. Marine "Remember, when you serve in the U.S. Military, you're serving Jesus." As odd at this statement might sound, turning Jesus into an officer of the U.S. Marines, for many of my friends and colleagues, the statement "soldiers in Iraq are doing the will of God" seems to flow off their lips without a second thought.
Should a Christian associate America's cause with God's cause? I don't think so. The truth is that America is a mixture of good and bad, just like many other nations. We can't claim a special relationship with God more than any other nation can. Although our pilgrim forefathers believed they were making a covenant with God when they entered this land, we have no reason to believe that God entered a covenant with them. Biblically speaking, any alliance between the Kingdom of God, which always looks like Jesus taking on the form of a suffering servant, with a version of the Kingdom of this world, (however new and improved the version of the worldly kingdom is) is an unholy alliance-and for good reason. Ask a typical native American Christian whether he or she believes that God gave the continental U.S. to white Europeans for the purpose of advancing the cause of freedom and liberty and you might get a totally different answer than you would hear from one of Ohio's Patriot Pastors.
As a missionary who has traveled the world many times over, I've met many Christians from other countries who have asked me why so many American Christians associate patriotism with Christianity. Not being one who likes to mix words, I tell them the truth. Americans read the Bible with cultural blinders on.....just like everyone else.
As for those who would venerate a Chinese student for refusing to pledge an oath to China but marginalize a Christian kid for refusing to pledge an oath to America, I'm not sure if they'll like what I have to say, but for a Bible believing Christian, the response to this anomaly should be obvious. Our first and foremost loyalty should be to Jesus Christ. Although we need to honor and serve our country as good citizens, to equate love for Jesus with love for country is nothing short of idolatry.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Releasing my inner sissy-revised
Now that I’m married and no longer collecting manly points to attract the opposite sex, I can finally bare my soul to the world regarding a long repressed childhood memory. Here’s the scene I’d rather deny than reveal. I am 11 years old. I go to a small private Christian school that throws parties for sixth grade graduations. I’m in a limousine with my 11 classmates and the girl that I’ve had a crush on for the past three years is in the arms of another man… who happens to be the most popular kid in my class.
Want to guess what I did in that limousine? You guessed it. I did exactly what jolted love-sick romantics should never do….at least according to the rules of Hollywood. I released my inner sissy and balled like a baby… in front of every single one of my classmates. It was the most humiliating experience of my life up until that point. Here’s the part that makes the story even more embarrassing. Another girl in the class felt sorry for me and decided to "go out" with me (Going out was the term used for a steady relationship back then. I have no idea what the term is today). It wasn't until several weeks later that I realized our “relationship” was a sham. Come to think of it, that was a really nice gesture on her part….even if it was a little misguided. After that summer I never saw my first “girlfriend” again.
What could possibly motivate me to share this story with you? Well, apparently, confession is the "in" thing right now. All over the country, people are sharing their stories through websites, blogs, coffee-houses, and various other venues. Some are confessing their most embarrassing moments, others are confessing their deepest, darkest sins. Still others are confessing their disappointments and frustrations in life. I saw on the Today Show a letter a man sent to a confession site that said, “I wish my father would love me for who I am, not for who I’m not.” It seems that everyone is telling their secrets. The question is-why?
Well, I can tell you one reason-it's Biblical. The Bible says that Christians are supposed to, "Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." It seems that the secular world is catching up to what the Bible has been saying all along. As a Bible-believing Christian, none of this comes as a surprise to me. In an age where the most-often repeated phrase is, "I'm a spiritual person, but I don't believe in institutional religion" should we expect anything different?
As much as our generation rejects “institutional religion”, the truth still remains that none of us were created for isolation. All of us need to have people around us who love us and won’t judge us for who we are and what we have done. As imperfect as the institution of the Church is, a place for soul confession is exactly what Jesus and the Apostles had in mind. The Apostle James had it exactly right when he said, “Confess your sins one to another that you may be healed.” If the Church really is an institution of redeemed sinners, what better place could there be to bare your soul?
Calling all Christians! Let's give the world a run for its money. It’s confession time!
Want to guess what I did in that limousine? You guessed it. I did exactly what jolted love-sick romantics should never do….at least according to the rules of Hollywood. I released my inner sissy and balled like a baby… in front of every single one of my classmates. It was the most humiliating experience of my life up until that point. Here’s the part that makes the story even more embarrassing. Another girl in the class felt sorry for me and decided to "go out" with me (Going out was the term used for a steady relationship back then. I have no idea what the term is today). It wasn't until several weeks later that I realized our “relationship” was a sham. Come to think of it, that was a really nice gesture on her part….even if it was a little misguided. After that summer I never saw my first “girlfriend” again.
What could possibly motivate me to share this story with you? Well, apparently, confession is the "in" thing right now. All over the country, people are sharing their stories through websites, blogs, coffee-houses, and various other venues. Some are confessing their most embarrassing moments, others are confessing their deepest, darkest sins. Still others are confessing their disappointments and frustrations in life. I saw on the Today Show a letter a man sent to a confession site that said, “I wish my father would love me for who I am, not for who I’m not.” It seems that everyone is telling their secrets. The question is-why?
Well, I can tell you one reason-it's Biblical. The Bible says that Christians are supposed to, "Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ." It seems that the secular world is catching up to what the Bible has been saying all along. As a Bible-believing Christian, none of this comes as a surprise to me. In an age where the most-often repeated phrase is, "I'm a spiritual person, but I don't believe in institutional religion" should we expect anything different?
As much as our generation rejects “institutional religion”, the truth still remains that none of us were created for isolation. All of us need to have people around us who love us and won’t judge us for who we are and what we have done. As imperfect as the institution of the Church is, a place for soul confession is exactly what Jesus and the Apostles had in mind. The Apostle James had it exactly right when he said, “Confess your sins one to another that you may be healed.” If the Church really is an institution of redeemed sinners, what better place could there be to bare your soul?
Calling all Christians! Let's give the world a run for its money. It’s confession time!
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Willfully blind
Once a month I get a newsletter from Christ for the Nations magazine. Receiving this magazine is a mixed baggage for me because, while most of the magazine focuses on the work of CFNI graduates and the great things God is doing around the world though them, in nearly every issue there is commentary on Israel and the Middle-East conflict.
This issue is no different. In Jeffery Seif's column O Little Once Christian Town of Bethlehem
Dr. Seif, a former instructor of mine, laments the fact that so few Christians remain in Bethlehem. Not only is Bethlehem becoming barren of Christians, it's also becoming barren of people.
As to be expected, Dr. Seif puts the blame for Bethlehem's economic depravity squarely on the Muslims. The Israeli army is, of course innocent.
Just so you can see what I'm up against, here is Dr. Seif's evaluation of the situation.
Dr. Seif, has it ever occured to you that the economic starvation and mass exodus from Bethlehem might possibly be due to the gargantuan-sized wall the Israeli military has built around the city? The problem with Dr. Seif's thesis is that it doesn't reflect the views of the average Palestinian Christian. During my trip to Bethlehem, I talked to many Christians and all of them put the blame on the Israeli military occupation for making their lives difficult. Not one Christian I talked to said their primary problem was with their Muslim neighbors. What I heard from them was, in fact, the opposite. Every Christian I talked to, even evangelical Charismatic Christians, identified their struggle with the struggle of their Muslim neighbors. While I don't deny their could be some discrimination between Muslim overlords and their Christian subjects, every Christian I talked to agreed that Christians and Muslims live together peacefully in the West Bank.
Even more disturbing is the length that Seif goes to automatically rule out the view of anyone who questions his thesis....as if criticizing the Israeli military's heavy handed policies is equivalent to "demonically-inspired Jew-bashing."
Such rhetoric is typical among people who only see what they want to see. Instead of reasoning with someone sees a situation different from you, all you have to do is say he has a demon.
Works every time for the ignorant.
This issue is no different. In Jeffery Seif's column O Little Once Christian Town of Bethlehem
Dr. Seif, a former instructor of mine, laments the fact that so few Christians remain in Bethlehem. Not only is Bethlehem becoming barren of Christians, it's also becoming barren of people.
As to be expected, Dr. Seif puts the blame for Bethlehem's economic depravity squarely on the Muslims. The Israeli army is, of course innocent.
Just so you can see what I'm up against, here is Dr. Seif's evaluation of the situation.
As is to be expected, many blame the Jews for those statistics-even the victims. As with just about every other problem on planet Earth, Jews are seen as the principl culprits. Demonic-inspired Jew-bashing aside, unreported-or under-reported anyway-are the abuses that Christian Arabs suffer under the administrations of their Islamic Arab overlords, pressing them to seek better lives for themselves outside of Muslim jurisdictions. This is the real problem. The Palestinian Authority seems either unwilling or unable to assist Arab citizens of Christian persuasion.
While we remember Jesus' birth and sing tunes anticipating "peace on earth and goodwill toward men," let us all remember how Christian brethren are suffering in the land of Jesus' birth, and let us pry for them. Mindful of that, let us not delude ourselves with the popular, politically correct fantasy that by ceding more and more real estate to Muslim terrorists, we are purchasing peace for the peoples of the Middle East. It may sound good in theory, but is not borne out in practice; it, in truth, is just another ploy to detach Jews from their ancestral homeland.
Dr. Seif, has it ever occured to you that the economic starvation and mass exodus from Bethlehem might possibly be due to the gargantuan-sized wall the Israeli military has built around the city? The problem with Dr. Seif's thesis is that it doesn't reflect the views of the average Palestinian Christian. During my trip to Bethlehem, I talked to many Christians and all of them put the blame on the Israeli military occupation for making their lives difficult. Not one Christian I talked to said their primary problem was with their Muslim neighbors. What I heard from them was, in fact, the opposite. Every Christian I talked to, even evangelical Charismatic Christians, identified their struggle with the struggle of their Muslim neighbors. While I don't deny their could be some discrimination between Muslim overlords and their Christian subjects, every Christian I talked to agreed that Christians and Muslims live together peacefully in the West Bank.
Even more disturbing is the length that Seif goes to automatically rule out the view of anyone who questions his thesis....as if criticizing the Israeli military's heavy handed policies is equivalent to "demonically-inspired Jew-bashing."
Such rhetoric is typical among people who only see what they want to see. Instead of reasoning with someone sees a situation different from you, all you have to do is say he has a demon.
Works every time for the ignorant.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Between ordinary and extraordinary
I've been thinking a lot lately about the phrase, "God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things." While I've written on this topic before in my post, "In Defense of Ordinary" in which I make the point that God uses ordinary people to do ordinary things, but ordinary things really matter. This time I'm coming at it from a different angle and I'd like to enlist my readers for some input.
The problem with the "ordinary people...extraordinary things" idea is that once ordinary people do extraordinary things, then they are no longer considered ordinary, which begs the question whether they were really ever that ordinary to begin with. Another problem is that the examples are so far removed from the every day Christian experience, they hardly seem relevant. Case in point...when was the last time you or I walked on water or healed a crippled person from our shadow? I don't think any of us, at least not anybody I know personally, can call Peter ordinary. If we are honest with ourselves, we'll probably have to admit that normally, God uses "extraordinary" people to do "extraordinary things." In my mind, people like Moses, David, Peter, and Paul fall into this category. This doesn't mean that extraordinary people don't have ordinary faults or don't often come from ordinary beginnings, it just means that extraordinary lives come from extraordinary people.
What I'm lookin at now are examples in the Scriptures in between ordinary and extraordinary. Examples where an ordinary person does something either extraordinary or something just a cut above average, and, yet remains ordinary.
The first example that comes to mind is Ananias. Here is an ordinary disciple who God uses to baptize the Apostle Paul....and then we never hear about him again. To me, Ananias is a perfect example of an individual who falls into the category somewhere in between ordinary and extraordinary. Ananias did something extraordinary, but remained an ordinary person. Could it be that the Holy Spirit put this story in the Bible to show us that even people who are truly ordinary can occasionally do something extraordinary and remain ordinary at the same time? I don't know about you, but I'm glad there are characters like Ananias in the Bible. If all we had were Peters and Pauls and Davids, there really wouldn't be much hope for the vast majority of the human race who long to transcend run-of-the-mill ordinary existence.
I'm sure there are many, perhaps better, stories in the Bible to illustrate this point. Can you think of any?
The problem with the "ordinary people...extraordinary things" idea is that once ordinary people do extraordinary things, then they are no longer considered ordinary, which begs the question whether they were really ever that ordinary to begin with. Another problem is that the examples are so far removed from the every day Christian experience, they hardly seem relevant. Case in point...when was the last time you or I walked on water or healed a crippled person from our shadow? I don't think any of us, at least not anybody I know personally, can call Peter ordinary. If we are honest with ourselves, we'll probably have to admit that normally, God uses "extraordinary" people to do "extraordinary things." In my mind, people like Moses, David, Peter, and Paul fall into this category. This doesn't mean that extraordinary people don't have ordinary faults or don't often come from ordinary beginnings, it just means that extraordinary lives come from extraordinary people.
What I'm lookin at now are examples in the Scriptures in between ordinary and extraordinary. Examples where an ordinary person does something either extraordinary or something just a cut above average, and, yet remains ordinary.
The first example that comes to mind is Ananias. Here is an ordinary disciple who God uses to baptize the Apostle Paul....and then we never hear about him again. To me, Ananias is a perfect example of an individual who falls into the category somewhere in between ordinary and extraordinary. Ananias did something extraordinary, but remained an ordinary person. Could it be that the Holy Spirit put this story in the Bible to show us that even people who are truly ordinary can occasionally do something extraordinary and remain ordinary at the same time? I don't know about you, but I'm glad there are characters like Ananias in the Bible. If all we had were Peters and Pauls and Davids, there really wouldn't be much hope for the vast majority of the human race who long to transcend run-of-the-mill ordinary existence.
I'm sure there are many, perhaps better, stories in the Bible to illustrate this point. Can you think of any?
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Virtue, villian, and the complexity of reality
If it seems like I'm conflicted in my feelings regarding the Christian right, I am. By now it should be obvious that I feel a Reformation needs to take place in American Christianity, and a significant part of this Reformation demands the rejection of core philosophies and beliefs held by the so-called leaders of the Christian right (at least the ones that have the attention of the secular media anyway). After writing "Pro-Life Killers" yesterday, I feel it's necessary to bring some balance into the discussion. I think it's wrong for anybody to focus so much on the negative side of one particular group of people as to completely overlook the positive.
The truth is, while many who would call themselves "liberal" despise the Christian Right for not caring about poverty related issues, the ironic thing is, some of the most active people in the world in addressing poverty related issues are right wing conservative Christians. I'm not the only one who has noticed this. One of the things that Stephen Marshall, the director of Holy Wars, learned through his "hanging with the fundamentalists" was that the "fundamentalists" are some of the most active people on the ground when it comes to disaster relief. Just like I've chastised my own side on many things, Stephen has also chastised his "left-wing" friends for merely talking about Global poverty issues and railing against the "fundamentalists", while the "fundamentalists" are actually the ones on the ground clothing the poor and feeding the hungry.
My point is this.
People are complex. If we look at the spectrum of good people in the world verses the bad people in the world, most people are somewhere in between and, as much as I hate to admit it, that includes Christians. I can rail all day long against the hypocrisy I see in so-called "conservative Christianity", but if that's all I see, I'm dead wrong. The same holds true for those on the "right" who criticize those on the "left."
As much as I've observed people around the world from different races, colors, and religions, the truth seems evident to me that most people (regardless of their background) are a combination of virtue and villian.
Not only are people complex, but morality is complex. Not only is morality complex, but so is religion. Not only is religion complex, so is the Bible. Not only is the Bible complex, interpreting the Bible seems to be the most complex.
If you're frustated by the complexity of reality, you're not the only one. Sometimes I've wondered why God would make reality so complex, but then I think to myself, if I substitute the word complex for interesting, then it doesn't sound so bad after all.
The truth is, while many who would call themselves "liberal" despise the Christian Right for not caring about poverty related issues, the ironic thing is, some of the most active people in the world in addressing poverty related issues are right wing conservative Christians. I'm not the only one who has noticed this. One of the things that Stephen Marshall, the director of Holy Wars, learned through his "hanging with the fundamentalists" was that the "fundamentalists" are some of the most active people on the ground when it comes to disaster relief. Just like I've chastised my own side on many things, Stephen has also chastised his "left-wing" friends for merely talking about Global poverty issues and railing against the "fundamentalists", while the "fundamentalists" are actually the ones on the ground clothing the poor and feeding the hungry.
My point is this.
People are complex. If we look at the spectrum of good people in the world verses the bad people in the world, most people are somewhere in between and, as much as I hate to admit it, that includes Christians. I can rail all day long against the hypocrisy I see in so-called "conservative Christianity", but if that's all I see, I'm dead wrong. The same holds true for those on the "right" who criticize those on the "left."
As much as I've observed people around the world from different races, colors, and religions, the truth seems evident to me that most people (regardless of their background) are a combination of virtue and villian.
Not only are people complex, but morality is complex. Not only is morality complex, but so is religion. Not only is religion complex, so is the Bible. Not only is the Bible complex, interpreting the Bible seems to be the most complex.
If you're frustated by the complexity of reality, you're not the only one. Sometimes I've wondered why God would make reality so complex, but then I think to myself, if I substitute the word complex for interesting, then it doesn't sound so bad after all.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Pro life killers?
Unless you've been living in a box, you've probably heard of Joe Horn, a 61 year old white male who shot two dark skinned males (who looked African American but are in fact of Puerto Rican descent)for breaking into his neighbors' house.
If you haven't read the story, read this first.
Joe White wasn't in any physical danger himself, and neither were his neighbors since they weren't home at the time. The 9-11 call clearly indicates that White intended to kill the two men when he walked out the door even though the 9-11 operator repeatedly told him to stay inside.
If the men had broken into White's home while he was present, then a case could be made for self-defense.
But this isn't what happened. Joe White took matters into his own hands and shot the two men point blank.
As I was watching footage of the clash between black protestors and the white neighbors, I couldn't help but think about the irony of it all. No, I don't think it can be proven that this was a racially motivated crime, but yes I think what Joe White did was wrong. The 9-11 operator was right. Human life is more valuable than possessions. As a Christian, I shudder to think about the fact that these two men, if they had been allowed to live, could have turned their lives over to Christ at a point in the future, but now the opportunity has been snuffed out. At least for these two men, judgment triumphed over redemption.
It saddens me that so many of the neighbors, and those in the surrounding neighborhoods stuck up for this man, especially knowing that this area is one of the most conservative Christian areas in the country. 70% of this particular county voted for Republican Tom De Lay and I'll make a bet that many of them voted for him solely for the reason that De Lay is pro-life. It also saddens me that so much of the commentary I've read on this subject, again by conservative Christians, feel that what White did was the right thing.
No, I don't think the law should treat Joe White the same was as those who kill for "less noble" reasons, but isn't it odd that so many who call themselves pro-life are so eager to defend the right to kill?
If you haven't read the story, read this first.
Joe White wasn't in any physical danger himself, and neither were his neighbors since they weren't home at the time. The 9-11 call clearly indicates that White intended to kill the two men when he walked out the door even though the 9-11 operator repeatedly told him to stay inside.
If the men had broken into White's home while he was present, then a case could be made for self-defense.
But this isn't what happened. Joe White took matters into his own hands and shot the two men point blank.
As I was watching footage of the clash between black protestors and the white neighbors, I couldn't help but think about the irony of it all. No, I don't think it can be proven that this was a racially motivated crime, but yes I think what Joe White did was wrong. The 9-11 operator was right. Human life is more valuable than possessions. As a Christian, I shudder to think about the fact that these two men, if they had been allowed to live, could have turned their lives over to Christ at a point in the future, but now the opportunity has been snuffed out. At least for these two men, judgment triumphed over redemption.
It saddens me that so many of the neighbors, and those in the surrounding neighborhoods stuck up for this man, especially knowing that this area is one of the most conservative Christian areas in the country. 70% of this particular county voted for Republican Tom De Lay and I'll make a bet that many of them voted for him solely for the reason that De Lay is pro-life. It also saddens me that so much of the commentary I've read on this subject, again by conservative Christians, feel that what White did was the right thing.
No, I don't think the law should treat Joe White the same was as those who kill for "less noble" reasons, but isn't it odd that so many who call themselves pro-life are so eager to defend the right to kill?
Friday, November 30, 2007
Inspiration moment- a homeless playwrite
Scripture says to give honor to whom honor is due. I saw on CNN today one of the most inspirational stories I've seen in a very long time. Since I've been going to a homeless shelter once a month to serve a meal and minister the gospel, this story took on a significance greater than maybe it would have before.
Meet Haywood Fennell Sr. Haywood is an ex-convict who spent years of his life rotating between prisons and homeless shelters (at least that was the impression I got watching his story on CNN). As Haywood was spending his days in a homeless shelter, he began writing plays. His plays focus on the plight of the underclass and serves to educate Boston residents on African American history and civil rights issues. Not only is Haywood a distinguished playwrite, but he also works in areas of prison reform and veterans affairs.
Here is a link to learn more about Haywood.
Haywood credits his turnaround as an answer to other peoples' prayers.
I just thought this story might lift your spirit as it has mine.
Meet Haywood Fennell Sr. Haywood is an ex-convict who spent years of his life rotating between prisons and homeless shelters (at least that was the impression I got watching his story on CNN). As Haywood was spending his days in a homeless shelter, he began writing plays. His plays focus on the plight of the underclass and serves to educate Boston residents on African American history and civil rights issues. Not only is Haywood a distinguished playwrite, but he also works in areas of prison reform and veterans affairs.
Here is a link to learn more about Haywood.
Haywood credits his turnaround as an answer to other peoples' prayers.
I just thought this story might lift your spirit as it has mine.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Ode to not getting sawn in half
I've had this thought rolling around in my head for a while, but I haven't gotten around to posting it yet. It's a little bizarre, but follow me here.
I've been doing a lot of study on the Biblical prophets lately. One of the things that impresses me the most about Isaiah, Ezekiel, Micah, and Amos is their ability to speak the truth to those in power, in particular as it relates to poverty related issues. One of the reasons why I've focused a significant amount of my attention on poverty related issues lately is because when I read the Biblical prophets, there's no way I can come to any other conclusion that the issues the most important to them (besides idolatry) were nearly all poverty related.
Take for example what Isaiah cried out to the power brokers of his day,
Imagine the chutzpah it took for Isaiah to say that in his day! Then it occured to me, according to tradition, Isaiah was sawn in half and, if you look at Hebrews 11:37, you'll discover that Isaiah wasn't the only one sawn in half!
Then the bizarre thought occured to me.
A couple months back, I and a small group of people met with the representatives of both Senator Bond and Senator McKaskill to discuss poverty related issues that we cared about and how we felt the U.S. government could better address the issues related to extreme global poverty. In both cases, we dealt with community liason representatives who listened carefully to what we had to say, promised to relay the messages to the Senators, and then politely sent us on our way.
The last thing I expected was to be sawn in half that day.
Thank God for democracy!
I've been doing a lot of study on the Biblical prophets lately. One of the things that impresses me the most about Isaiah, Ezekiel, Micah, and Amos is their ability to speak the truth to those in power, in particular as it relates to poverty related issues. One of the reasons why I've focused a significant amount of my attention on poverty related issues lately is because when I read the Biblical prophets, there's no way I can come to any other conclusion that the issues the most important to them (besides idolatry) were nearly all poverty related.
Take for example what Isaiah cried out to the power brokers of his day,
"Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, Who write misfortune, which they have prescribed to rob the needy of justice, and to take what is right from the poor of My people, that widows may be their prey, and tht they may rob the fatherless. What will you do in the day of punishment, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your glory?"
Imagine the chutzpah it took for Isaiah to say that in his day! Then it occured to me, according to tradition, Isaiah was sawn in half and, if you look at Hebrews 11:37, you'll discover that Isaiah wasn't the only one sawn in half!
Then the bizarre thought occured to me.
A couple months back, I and a small group of people met with the representatives of both Senator Bond and Senator McKaskill to discuss poverty related issues that we cared about and how we felt the U.S. government could better address the issues related to extreme global poverty. In both cases, we dealt with community liason representatives who listened carefully to what we had to say, promised to relay the messages to the Senators, and then politely sent us on our way.
The last thing I expected was to be sawn in half that day.
Thank God for democracy!
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Setting the record straight-Am I the next Ann Coulter?
First things first, I would like to make a public announcement that my article Average Joe Liberal's Bleeding Heart Dilemna was not about bashing liberals! The point of the article was to ask the question of how does a person with extraordinary ideals cope when his or her ordinariness doesn't match the level of his or her extraordiniary ideals. That was the point!
Recently, I started blasting my articles across the internet with an article submission service that lists my articles in all the top article driven websites. I think that perhaps I should be more careful next time what I submit since new readers don't have the long history with me. One man, after reading the article actually compared me to Ann Coulter! For those of you who don't know Ann Coulter, Coulter is a far right verbal bomb thrower that makes Rush Limbaugh look like Mr. Rogers.
You can view the man's comment about my article here.
I explained to the man that those who read my blog would know that the Average Joe bleeding heart liberal was me! I then asked him to view my blog to see if I was telling the truth. I challenged him to read "Stories from the West Bank" and then see if he arrived at the same conclusion. Apparently, the individual "perused" my blog, saw Pete's comment on my Average Joe article and concluded that this blog is about me (the Ann Coulter wannabe) poking fun at non-conservatives.
To set the record straight. For those of you who read my blog consistently, am I the next Ann Coulter or am I a struggling Christian trying to navigate myself in a morally complex world?
Recently, I started blasting my articles across the internet with an article submission service that lists my articles in all the top article driven websites. I think that perhaps I should be more careful next time what I submit since new readers don't have the long history with me. One man, after reading the article actually compared me to Ann Coulter! For those of you who don't know Ann Coulter, Coulter is a far right verbal bomb thrower that makes Rush Limbaugh look like Mr. Rogers.
You can view the man's comment about my article here.
I explained to the man that those who read my blog would know that the Average Joe bleeding heart liberal was me! I then asked him to view my blog to see if I was telling the truth. I challenged him to read "Stories from the West Bank" and then see if he arrived at the same conclusion. Apparently, the individual "perused" my blog, saw Pete's comment on my Average Joe article and concluded that this blog is about me (the Ann Coulter wannabe) poking fun at non-conservatives.
To set the record straight. For those of you who read my blog consistently, am I the next Ann Coulter or am I a struggling Christian trying to navigate myself in a morally complex world?
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Are there contradictions in the Christmas story?
Question: Hello Aaron,
If you don't mind speaking for those who consider themselves
"biblical literalists", what do you do with the fact that the birth
story of Jesus is very different in Matthew and Luke - i.e. in
Matthew, Mary and Joseph live in Bethlehem where Jesus is born in a
"house" and then after going to Egypt to escape Herod they go to
Nazareth to live. In Luke they live in Nazareth and then go to
Bethlehem for the census and for Jesus' birth. Other than these
facts I could believe that they ar each telling a different part of
the story but these little pieces seem to be irreconcilable.
This is not a challenge, just a curiosity as to how my conservative
brothers and sisters resolve this little quandry. I am doing a book
study on Borg and Crossan's The First Christmas. Trust me, I don't
buy into everything that Borg and Crossan write but often find they
pick up the political this-world emphasis of the Gospels.
Will
Answer: Hi Will,
Thanks for the e-mail.
Your question is good so I'll get right to it. First of all, I'm not
sure if the term "Biblical literalist" means the same to me as it does
to you, and neither am I sure if the term best describes my approach
to Scripture. I don't believe in reading the Bible with a wooden
literalism taking every word at face value. On the other hand, I
don't believe in reading the Bible in a way that puts subjective
interpretation on an equal footing with the intentions of the Biblical
authors. I think that between the two interpretational extremes of
fundamentalism and liberalism is what I would call theological
conservatism.
Perhaps a better term to describe my position is that of a Biblical
realist. As a Biblical realist I follow two golden rules. Rule
number one is I believe the best way to determine the meaning of a
passage is to determine what the Biblical authors intended to convey
to their original audience. This requires that we delve into the
worldviews of the original audience. I think that too often modern
readers squabble over factual details that would have been
unimportant to the original recipients of the Biblical authors'
writings. In our 21st century mindset, something is not true unless
it is a fact. Ancient minds didn't think this way. To the ancient
mind, the story is what mattered. Something could still be true even
if all the "facts" didn't line up in exact detail. This is why I'm
not bothered when people point out to me minor contradictions in
Scripture that deal only with the "facts" and not the theological
intent of the original author. Notice I said minor. Even an ancient
audience wouldn't have believed a story presented as an actual event
if none of the details added up. The second rule I follow is to
interpret Scripture with Scripture, and this includes the
understanding that the Bible is progressive revelation culminating in
the person of Jesus Christ (side note: This is why I abandoned
Christian Zionism, because I discovered that the New Testament authors
didn't interpret the Old Testament in the same way that I was brought
up with).
Having said that, in this case, I don't see a contradiction between
Matthew's account and Luke's account concerning the details you are
describing. In Matthew's account, Matthew doesn't say that Joseph and
Mary were living in Bethlehem at the time Mary conceived. All Matthew
says is that after Jesus was born in Bethlehem, wise men came from the
east to see him. Matthew doesn't tell us where Joseph was living when
the angel appeared to him. Luke's account that Mary and Joseph lived
in Nazareth and then traveled to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus
simply gives more detail to what Matthew was describing. I think
it's probable that Joseph and Mary lived in Bethlehem for up to two
years before they fled to Egypt, but, again that was after Jesus was
born, not before. Both accounts agree that Jesus was born in
Bethlehem and that he grew up in Nazareth, even if Luke omits the
detail about the flight to Egypt. I think both accounts fill in the
details that the other leaves out.
Hope this helps,
Aaron
If you don't mind speaking for those who consider themselves
"biblical literalists", what do you do with the fact that the birth
story of Jesus is very different in Matthew and Luke - i.e. in
Matthew, Mary and Joseph live in Bethlehem where Jesus is born in a
"house" and then after going to Egypt to escape Herod they go to
Nazareth to live. In Luke they live in Nazareth and then go to
Bethlehem for the census and for Jesus' birth. Other than these
facts I could believe that they ar each telling a different part of
the story but these little pieces seem to be irreconcilable.
This is not a challenge, just a curiosity as to how my conservative
brothers and sisters resolve this little quandry. I am doing a book
study on Borg and Crossan's The First Christmas. Trust me, I don't
buy into everything that Borg and Crossan write but often find they
pick up the political this-world emphasis of the Gospels.
Will
Answer: Hi Will,
Thanks for the e-mail.
Your question is good so I'll get right to it. First of all, I'm not
sure if the term "Biblical literalist" means the same to me as it does
to you, and neither am I sure if the term best describes my approach
to Scripture. I don't believe in reading the Bible with a wooden
literalism taking every word at face value. On the other hand, I
don't believe in reading the Bible in a way that puts subjective
interpretation on an equal footing with the intentions of the Biblical
authors. I think that between the two interpretational extremes of
fundamentalism and liberalism is what I would call theological
conservatism.
Perhaps a better term to describe my position is that of a Biblical
realist. As a Biblical realist I follow two golden rules. Rule
number one is I believe the best way to determine the meaning of a
passage is to determine what the Biblical authors intended to convey
to their original audience. This requires that we delve into the
worldviews of the original audience. I think that too often modern
readers squabble over factual details that would have been
unimportant to the original recipients of the Biblical authors'
writings. In our 21st century mindset, something is not true unless
it is a fact. Ancient minds didn't think this way. To the ancient
mind, the story is what mattered. Something could still be true even
if all the "facts" didn't line up in exact detail. This is why I'm
not bothered when people point out to me minor contradictions in
Scripture that deal only with the "facts" and not the theological
intent of the original author. Notice I said minor. Even an ancient
audience wouldn't have believed a story presented as an actual event
if none of the details added up. The second rule I follow is to
interpret Scripture with Scripture, and this includes the
understanding that the Bible is progressive revelation culminating in
the person of Jesus Christ (side note: This is why I abandoned
Christian Zionism, because I discovered that the New Testament authors
didn't interpret the Old Testament in the same way that I was brought
up with).
Having said that, in this case, I don't see a contradiction between
Matthew's account and Luke's account concerning the details you are
describing. In Matthew's account, Matthew doesn't say that Joseph and
Mary were living in Bethlehem at the time Mary conceived. All Matthew
says is that after Jesus was born in Bethlehem, wise men came from the
east to see him. Matthew doesn't tell us where Joseph was living when
the angel appeared to him. Luke's account that Mary and Joseph lived
in Nazareth and then traveled to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus
simply gives more detail to what Matthew was describing. I think
it's probable that Joseph and Mary lived in Bethlehem for up to two
years before they fled to Egypt, but, again that was after Jesus was
born, not before. Both accounts agree that Jesus was born in
Bethlehem and that he grew up in Nazareth, even if Luke omits the
detail about the flight to Egypt. I think both accounts fill in the
details that the other leaves out.
Hope this helps,
Aaron
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Average Joe liberal's bleeding heart dilemna
I feel sorry for liberals. I'm not talking about the militant liberal who distributes condoms to 13-year olds, desecrates the American flag and takes people to court for saying Merry Christmas. I'm talking about the average Joe liberal, the guy who works at the local Subaru factory who loves his country but thinks his fellow Americans are a bit too materialistic and has genuine concerns about how U.S. Foreign policy affects the rest of the world. The reason why I feel sorry for the average Joe liberal and not the Hollywood liberal is because the Hollywood liberal has the time and the money to build environmentally friendly homes, buy organic food and....in their spare time...save Darfur. Yes it's true that many of the Hollywood liberal types live far below their ideals (especially when they fly around in private jets), but at least they get to speak at One rallies and rub shoulders with Bono...or become a U.N. Goodwill ambassador.
The reason why I feel sorry for the average Joe liberal is because while most Americans eat Taco Bell, shop at Walmart, and pray to God the stock market treats them kindly, the average Joe liberal eats at Taco Bell, shops at Walmart, prays that his 401K will be there for him when he retires....and has to feel crummy about himself in the process. While most people organize their financial lives around what they feel is in their best interests, the average Joe liberal does the same thing. The difference though is that the average Joe liberal has to wonder if his designer jacket was produced in a sweat shop and hopes the oil stocks in his 401K aren't propping up the Military Junta in Burma. While most people only have to worry about enlarging their wastelines as they chow down on Big Macs, the average Joe liberal, as he chows down on the same Big Mac, wishes he was a vegetarian because he knows that beef production uses far more of the earth's water resources than vegetable production-and he knows that wars are fought over water resources. The guy I feel sorry for is the one with a bleeding heart, but an empty pocket.
I wonder if the Holy Spirit had the average Joe bleeding heart liberal in mind when He inspired the Apostle Paul to write...."For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do" (Romans 7:15). While I would like to believe that the Apostle Paul was talking about his present experience as a Christian when he wrote these words, intellectual honesty demands that I disclose my belief that Paul was talking about his pre-conversion experience in this passage. While some can debate my interpretation of this passage, I have to say that I much prefer the other interpretation that I don't accept, the interpretation that Paul was disclosing his struggles as a believer. Regardless if one believes Paul is talking about his pre-conversion experience or his post conversion experience, I have to say there is one thing I especially appreciate about this passage- and that's the Apostle's forthrightness about the human condition.
A couple of weeks ago, I was walking the streets of the West Bank with a delegation from Christian Peacemaker Teams. While most people in the group came from theologically liberal backgrounds, I felt a bit out of place being from a conservative evangelical background. As I conversed with a fellow delegation member one afternoon, I made a comment that none of us leave this world untainted. It seems that we all go through life not just stumbling in a few things, but in many things (James 3:2). I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel that I would rather not know about how many ways I stumble as I go about my daily life trying to get by with as little pain and as much comfort as possible. As much as I would like to think that all is well with my soul just because I love to go to church and don't drink, smoke, and cheat on my wife, I know in my heart it's simply not true.
I think that anyone who takes living a moral life seriously, whether liberal or conservative, will eventually find themselves facing this question. What does a man do when his ideals supersede his ability to reach his ideals? Extraordinary people manage to find ways to rise above the rest and live out their ideals in extraordinary ways. But extraordinary people are few and far betweeen. That's why they are extraordinary. But how does an ordinary person cope with extraordinary ideals?
I'll have to admit. I'm not sure I know the answer to this question. I'll gladly plead the Fifth on this one. There is one thing I do know though, and that is "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). I know this verse doesn't mean that we all get a free pass to live however we want, but, nevertheless, I'm sure glad it's in the Bible. Perhaps there's hope for average Joe bleeding heart liberals after all.
The reason why I feel sorry for the average Joe liberal is because while most Americans eat Taco Bell, shop at Walmart, and pray to God the stock market treats them kindly, the average Joe liberal eats at Taco Bell, shops at Walmart, prays that his 401K will be there for him when he retires....and has to feel crummy about himself in the process. While most people organize their financial lives around what they feel is in their best interests, the average Joe liberal does the same thing. The difference though is that the average Joe liberal has to wonder if his designer jacket was produced in a sweat shop and hopes the oil stocks in his 401K aren't propping up the Military Junta in Burma. While most people only have to worry about enlarging their wastelines as they chow down on Big Macs, the average Joe liberal, as he chows down on the same Big Mac, wishes he was a vegetarian because he knows that beef production uses far more of the earth's water resources than vegetable production-and he knows that wars are fought over water resources. The guy I feel sorry for is the one with a bleeding heart, but an empty pocket.
I wonder if the Holy Spirit had the average Joe bleeding heart liberal in mind when He inspired the Apostle Paul to write...."For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do" (Romans 7:15). While I would like to believe that the Apostle Paul was talking about his present experience as a Christian when he wrote these words, intellectual honesty demands that I disclose my belief that Paul was talking about his pre-conversion experience in this passage. While some can debate my interpretation of this passage, I have to say that I much prefer the other interpretation that I don't accept, the interpretation that Paul was disclosing his struggles as a believer. Regardless if one believes Paul is talking about his pre-conversion experience or his post conversion experience, I have to say there is one thing I especially appreciate about this passage- and that's the Apostle's forthrightness about the human condition.
A couple of weeks ago, I was walking the streets of the West Bank with a delegation from Christian Peacemaker Teams. While most people in the group came from theologically liberal backgrounds, I felt a bit out of place being from a conservative evangelical background. As I conversed with a fellow delegation member one afternoon, I made a comment that none of us leave this world untainted. It seems that we all go through life not just stumbling in a few things, but in many things (James 3:2). I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel that I would rather not know about how many ways I stumble as I go about my daily life trying to get by with as little pain and as much comfort as possible. As much as I would like to think that all is well with my soul just because I love to go to church and don't drink, smoke, and cheat on my wife, I know in my heart it's simply not true.
I think that anyone who takes living a moral life seriously, whether liberal or conservative, will eventually find themselves facing this question. What does a man do when his ideals supersede his ability to reach his ideals? Extraordinary people manage to find ways to rise above the rest and live out their ideals in extraordinary ways. But extraordinary people are few and far betweeen. That's why they are extraordinary. But how does an ordinary person cope with extraordinary ideals?
I'll have to admit. I'm not sure I know the answer to this question. I'll gladly plead the Fifth on this one. There is one thing I do know though, and that is "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). I know this verse doesn't mean that we all get a free pass to live however we want, but, nevertheless, I'm sure glad it's in the Bible. Perhaps there's hope for average Joe bleeding heart liberals after all.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Stories from the West Bank
I must admit that I have been back in the States for two weeks now since my journey with Christian Peacemaker Teams into the heart of the West Bank. Besides a weekend speaking engagement in Farmington, New Mexico, there is a reason why I haven't written about my experiences yet. The reason is because I'm at a loss for words and I wonder how many of my readers will understand the inner turmoil I am going through about speaking out on a highly sensitive political and theological issue, an issue that could potentially isolate me from a lot of people who have loved me and supported me over the years. I've already begun writing a draft of this letter and I've had to scrap what I've previously written. As much as I've tried, I'm just not sure how to communicate to my evangelical Christian brothers and sisters the day to day suffering of the Palestinian people living in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip without running the risk of being labeled an anti-Semite, a heretic, one-sided, or just plain naïve. Worse yet, how do I communicate what I've seen without actually becoming those things?
Since the issues are still raw for me at this point, I've decided to focus on the stories of people I met on my journey and to try to communicate the situation on the ground from their perspectives. First, let me tell you about Fadi. Fadi is a Palestinian Christian living in Bethlehem. Fadi is the associate pastor of a charismatic church and teaches at Bethlehem Bible College. When Fadi took a group of Palestinian Christians to a conference in Korea, it took the group 12 hours to get to Amman, Jordan (a trip that should only take 1 hour). Because Fadi and the group were Palestinians, they had to pass through a check point to leave Bethlehem, a checkpoint to enter Jericho, and then when the group reached the border to Jordan, they had to cross a Palestinian checkpoint, two Israeli checkpoints, and, finally, the Jordanian checkpoint. If Fadi wants to go to East Jerusalem, he has to apply for a permit, which he may or may not get, and, if he does, he may only be allowed into the city for 5-7 hours. Those who are fortunate enough to get permits to work in East Jerusalem, must get up at 3:30 a.m. in order to get to their work-place (which is only 8 miles away) by 7:30 a.m. The reason for this is because a gigantic wall built by the Israeli military within the past four years now surrounds Bethlehem. Both Fadi and his siblings, even though they are Christians, identify with the struggle of the Palestinian people and wished that more Americans knew that people like them existed, let alone understand their plight.
The wall, which the Israelis call a "security fence," is not built around the internationally recognized border separating the state of Israel from the occupied territories (which is called the Green Line). The wall cuts right into the heart of the West Bank, dividing people from their families, separating people from their farmland, and, in most cases, cutting the people off from any significant means of survival- all without compensation. In some cases, the wall actually surrounds people's homes so that when they look out their windows, there is a concrete wall staring back at them over twice the size of the house and surrounding them on three sides. I met one Palestinian family (a Christian family) who had a thriving business out of their garage on a very busy street, but now the wall surrounds their home like a prison. They no longer have the means to support themselves.
In many cases, the wall is strategically placed to separate the Jewish settlements from their Palestinian neighbors and to ensure that the bulk of the water resources are diverted to the settlers. Not only do the settlements use a disproportionate amount of the water resources (as was the case in the Gaza strip when there were 9.000 settlers surrounded by 12,000 soldiers living among 2 million Palestinians and diverting 40% of the water resources), I also heard many stories of the settlements, which are nearly all sitting on top of hills adjacent to Palestinian villages, dumping their sewage onto the hillsides. The settlers then build walls to isolate themselves from their neighbors. As one Palestinian Christian man put it sadly to me, "They don't even want to see our faces."
After the settlements are well established (the definition of a settlement being a town built for Jews only outside the internationally recognized border for the state of Israel) and the people have no hope of farming their land again, the IDF (the Israeli Defense Force) then builds roads to connect the settlements, roads that are for Israelis only. In many cases, if a home is in the way or anywhere near the road, it is simply demolished (again without compensation). Such was the case with Atta, a Palestinian tomato farmer whose home I stayed in for a night. Atta's home has already been demolished twice and the home he is living in currently is his third home. If Atta and his family leave the house for any lengthy period of time, they face the risk of armed Jewish settlers seizing the house and claiming it for God (which has happened once before). Atta does not hate the Jewish people however. According to his understanding of what it means to be a good Muslim, Atta believes God has taught him to love everybody and to treat everyone with respect. Atta believes that all violence is wrong and wants Jews, Christians, and Muslims to be able to live together with each religion able to practice their faith freely. Both times his home has been destroyed, Jewish peace activists have helped him rebuild.
Next stop: Susiya and Atwani. I'm not even sure where to begin when talking about these villages. First, I'll start with the children. Because the children living near Atwani have to walk between two heavily guarded settlements to get to school, they face the daily threat of attacks from Jewish settlers. In the past, the elementary school children have been harassed and attacked by grown men wearing black masks. Because of this, they have to be escorted to school by Israeli soldiers who often either don't show up or, if they do, will make the journey difficult by going too fast in their jeeps for them to follow. Though some of the soldiers aren't as bad (some have been known to give the kids candy from time to time), Josh, a full time worker with Christian Peacemaker teams, lives in Atwani so that he can monitor the soldiers to make sure the kids can travel to school safely and without harassment. On other days Josh, along with four other team members, carries a video camera with him as he watches the shepherds and the farmers who also face daily threats and harassments (and sometimes attacks) by the settlers. The settlers can carry hand pistols. The Palestinian farmers cannot.
As I walked through the villages of Susiya and At-Wani, the stories were very similar. In Susiya, I saw a community of people living in tents. Each and every tent had been demolished more than once and, even though the Israeli high court declared that the land was theirs, they still needed a permit to live on the land. The villagers showed me a cistern that the IDF came and filled with rocks so that the people would not be able to access their water supply. A similar occurrence happened in At-Wani, only, in that case it was the combination of the settlers and the military working together. A group of settlers poisoned their water supply with a poison that can only be obtained by a government issued permit. Because of the poisoned water supply, in addition to restricted water access, the people were not able to sell their sheep that drank from the water, thus crippling the village economy. Because the villagers are living under military occupation, they had no legal recourse and there has never been an investigation to this day.
After spending time in Susiya and Atwani, the team went to Hebron, a city where over 850 shops have been closed down by a military order, the people have to pass through 101 checkpoints to get to where they need to go, and where just a few short years ago, the people endured a 586 day curfew where they could only come out of their homes once a week for a period of three hours before they had to return to their homes. As I walked through the streets, I noticed several nets hanging above me connecting the buildings on both sides. I also noticed bottles and blocks and numerous other dangerous objects lying on top of the nets. These were areas where the settlers (who are fully protected by the Israeli military) would throw things out the windows for the sole purpose of maiming or killing the Palestinians walking on the streets.
How did the settlers arrive in Hebron? The stories I heard were mostly the same regardless of where I went. A Palestinian leaves their home for a few days, a Jewish settler moves in while they are absent, the Israeli military declares their home or apartment a closed military zone, and the individual or family is unable to return. Entire apartment complexes are seized this way and when the process is complete, the Israeli military will shut down a street, force the people out of their homes or shops, and declare it a street for Jews only.
In Hebron I met many fascinating people, including two Palestinian journalists who told stories of Palestinian human rights activists being arrested without charges and enduring torture in Israeli prisons. The journalists themselves showed scars on their bodies from the beatings they have endured from the Israeli soldiers in the past. I also met with local Palestinian police who were struggling to maintain order among their people despite the obstacles the Israeli military put in their way (like letting a thief get away and not allowing the police to pass through the checkpoints).
One of the most inspiring people I met was Zleika. Zleika is a schoolteacher who courageously defied the curfew imposed by the IDF, often going out during the day and forming a line to take her students to school. Zleika told us about a day she was passing through a checkpoint holding a sack of sweet potatoes in her hands when a female soldier made the comment "garbage holding garbage." When the soldier asked her what was in the bag, Zleika replied, "That is my business, not yours." The soldier responded by pushing Zleika to the ground and beating her repeatedly. The soldiers standing by did nothing. After Zleika got up, the other soldiers joined in by throwing her to the ground, strip-searching her twice, and, when the incident was over, they took Zleika to the police where she was questioned for 10 hours. The female soldier claimed that Zleika beat her up. The police told her that if the case went to court, she would have to pay 1,000 shekels (roughly 250 dollars, equivalent to 3 months wages).
Through meeting with groups like ACRI (the Association of Civil Rights in Israel), the UNRWA (the United Nations Relief Workers Agency), and even the Palestinian YMCA, I learned about many of the numerical facts on the ground. For example, in the past 7 years, over 466,000 olive trees have been uprooted by the Israeli army in order to make room for new settlements and the electric wall that divides people from their families. Many of these olive trees are over 2,000 years old and are considered heirlooms by their owners. A significant amount of Palestinians also rely on these olive trees to feed their families. In addition to the olive trees that have been destroyed, the Israeli army has destroyed 1.4 million trees and thousands of acres of farmland in the Palestinian territories since September of 2,000.
I also learned that in 1948, the year Israel became a nation, approximately 800,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes. Many of them were forced out at gunpoint, others left out of fear. During this time, children were slaughtered, women were raped, houses were burned to the ground, land mines were planted, and Israeli tanks shelled entire villages. Overall 531 villages were destroyed. Those who fled for their lives have not been allowed to return to their homes till this day even though international law mandates their right of return. While some claim that the masses of people fled to join Arab armies to drive Jews into the sea, (I've heard this argument by John Hagee, Hal Lindsey, and others), the facts simply do not match these claims.
For those interested in reading about this period of time from the perspective of an Israeli Jewish historian, click on the link below.
http://www.ilanpappe.org/Interviews/The%20History%20of%20Israel%20Reconsidered.html
One of the things that surprised me was that many of the refugees I met actually preferred a one state solution to the conflict over a two state solution. Though it has been 60 years, the families I met showed me deeds to their homes that date back to the Ottoman empire and told me that all they wanted was to return to rebuild their homes and villages (which most of them remain unoccupied to this day with the exception for a third of them which were taken over by Jews). According to one intellectual I met, over 65% of the Palestinian elite want a secular democracy with equal rights for Jews and Palestinians alike. Their attitude is that if Jews can build towns in the West Bank, then they should be able to live in Haifa or Tel Aviv.
By far the person that made the greatest impression on me was a young man named Gilad. Gilad is an Israeli Jew who works with an organization called ICAHD, which stands for Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions. After Gilad graduated from high school, he refused to serve the mandatory two years in the army for reasons of conscience. Though he has been culturally ostracized from many of his friends and family for refusing to join the IDF, Gilad works to rebuild Palestinian homes that have been demolished by the IDF.
Before taking the team on a tour of East and West Jerusalem, Gilad gave a lecture on how traditionally the Israeli/Palestinian issue has been viewed in the western media from the prism of Israeli security verses Palestinian terrorism. Gilad wanted the team to rethink the issue in light of human rights and international law. Gilad referred to "the matrix of control" a term used to describe all the different ways in which the Israeli government maintains their dominion over the Palestinian people. In addition to talking about the home demolitions, Gilad talked about the land seizures, the curfews, the disproportionate use of force aimed at the civilian population (like the shelling of neighborhoods, the shooting of children), the road closures, the concrete blocks the IDF puts in front of Palestinian villages to restrict commerce, the checkpoints, the travel restrictions, the permit system, the diversion of the water resources and the cutting off of electricity. All of these form what Gilad calls the matrix of control.
As Gilad gave the team a bus tour of East and West Jerusalem, he instructed us to pay attention to the difference in living conditions between West Jerusalem and East Jerusalem. According to Gilad, Palestinians comprise 38% of the population, pay 40% of the taxes, but receive only 8% of the tax revenue in the form of services. Even though they should be considered Israeli citizens (since East Jerusalem was officially annexed to Israel in 1967), they are not. The people have to carry a special form of I.D. indicating they are from East Jerusalem. More importantly, they are not allowed permits to build homes. Every year, approximately 100 Palestinian homes are demolished in East Jerusalem. The people wake up in the morning with an eviction notice. They are given two hours to pack up everything and leave. After their home is demolished, the IDF hands the family a bill to pay for the demolition. The official government policy to support this practice is called "Judaization." Since 1967, over 18,000 homes have been demolished. Only 5% were declared to be for security reasons. The official reason is to preserve the Jewish majority. Every year, entire Bedouin villages are leveled in the Negev valley (which is inside the state of Israel) for the official reason of maintaining the demographic balance by preserving the Jewish majority.
The Bible says in Proverbs 18:17, "The first one to plead his cause seems right until his neighbor comes and examines him." Like many of my friends and family, I have only heard one side of this story for most of my life. Not only was I raised reading books by Hal Lindsey, Pat Robertson, John Hagee and other charismatic leaders (many who raise millions of dollars to finance Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and the Gaza Strip), I also attended a Bible School that taught me if I didn't support the Jewish people in reclaiming the Promised Land, I'd make myself an enemy of God. Needless to say, for the first 23 years of my life, I don't think I could have had the frame of reference to view this conflict in an objective manner by any meaningful sense of the word. It wasn't until three years ago when I read a book called "Light Force" by Brother Andrew, one of the greatest missionaries of the 20th century, that I started to hear the perspective of King Solomon's examining neighbor.
I'm still not sure if I'm objective. Now that I've seen what the other side of the story looks like, I'm not even sure if objectivity is possible anymore. Whether one has an insiders' perspective on a situation or an outsiders' perspective on a situation, all of us interact with the world around us based on presuppositions (whether philosophical or theological) that determine how we interpret everything we see, hear, taste, touch, and smell. Sometimes our presuppositions are right. Other times they're dead wrong.
Though many things remain unclear to me regarding the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, what is crystal clear to me is this conflict is clearly a conflict between the powerful and the powerless, the Israelis being the powerful and the Palestinians being the powerless. Those who argue that a Palestinian living in East Jerusalem or a Bedouin living in the Negev Valley (which is inside Israel) have the same rights as a Jew living in Tel Aviv are either willfully ignorant or delusional. What is also clear to me is this is not merely a conflict of Jews verses Arabs or Israelis verses Palestinians. Rather, it's a conflict between Israeli and Palestinian war-makers verses Israeli and Palestinian peacemakers. Both sides have villains who want to drive the other into the sea and heroes who work tirelessly for peace and reconciliation. Also on both sides are the vast majority of people who are neither heroes nor villains, but ordinary people who want peace on one hand, but fear for their safety and well being on the other hand.
On our last day in Hebron, I was pleased to have the opportunity to take part in a symbolic action helping a Palestinian farmer and his family harvest their olive trees. On the man's property, Jewish settlers have built a sidewalk cutting through his orchard and nearly every day the settlers walk through his property with guns in their pockets, hate in their eyes, and threats on their lips. What gave me hope that day was seeing an Israeli peace activist that I had met earlier on the trip working side by with the Palestinian farmer helping him pick olives from his olive tree. As I was observing the two working side by side, a thought entered my mind that has been with me ever since and refuses to let me go to sleep at night.
Which is more Christ-like? The TV evangelist who cheered last year as Israeli warplanes were dropping bombs on buses and bridges in Lebanon, calling the action a "miracle from God" -or the liberal Jew picking olives with a Palestinian farmer? Even more nagging is this question. What does it say about the state of the American Church, a Church comprised of millions of people who claim to follow the Prince of Peace, if I as an American Christian, would have to prepare a two hundred-page theological dissertation to defend myself for picking option number two?
While there is still time,
Aaron
p.s. Here is a link to the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolition's website. The link will take you to an excellent article called "Facts on the Ground" to give you a better understanding of what I have described. They also have an excellent FAQ section on the political issues.
p.p.s. Here is a link to a group called "Breaking the Silence." This organization is a group of former Israeli soldiers speaking out against abuses in Hebron. http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/index_e.asp
p.p.p.s Here is a link to Ilan Pappe's website. Ilan Pappe is an Israeli Jewish historian who has written extensively on the events surrounding the formation of Israel in 1948. Understanding how the two sides view the same year is crucial to understanding the rest of the conflict.
http://www.ilanpappe.org/Interviews/The%20History%20of%20Israel%20Reconsidered.html
Since the issues are still raw for me at this point, I've decided to focus on the stories of people I met on my journey and to try to communicate the situation on the ground from their perspectives. First, let me tell you about Fadi. Fadi is a Palestinian Christian living in Bethlehem. Fadi is the associate pastor of a charismatic church and teaches at Bethlehem Bible College. When Fadi took a group of Palestinian Christians to a conference in Korea, it took the group 12 hours to get to Amman, Jordan (a trip that should only take 1 hour). Because Fadi and the group were Palestinians, they had to pass through a check point to leave Bethlehem, a checkpoint to enter Jericho, and then when the group reached the border to Jordan, they had to cross a Palestinian checkpoint, two Israeli checkpoints, and, finally, the Jordanian checkpoint. If Fadi wants to go to East Jerusalem, he has to apply for a permit, which he may or may not get, and, if he does, he may only be allowed into the city for 5-7 hours. Those who are fortunate enough to get permits to work in East Jerusalem, must get up at 3:30 a.m. in order to get to their work-place (which is only 8 miles away) by 7:30 a.m. The reason for this is because a gigantic wall built by the Israeli military within the past four years now surrounds Bethlehem. Both Fadi and his siblings, even though they are Christians, identify with the struggle of the Palestinian people and wished that more Americans knew that people like them existed, let alone understand their plight.
The wall, which the Israelis call a "security fence," is not built around the internationally recognized border separating the state of Israel from the occupied territories (which is called the Green Line). The wall cuts right into the heart of the West Bank, dividing people from their families, separating people from their farmland, and, in most cases, cutting the people off from any significant means of survival- all without compensation. In some cases, the wall actually surrounds people's homes so that when they look out their windows, there is a concrete wall staring back at them over twice the size of the house and surrounding them on three sides. I met one Palestinian family (a Christian family) who had a thriving business out of their garage on a very busy street, but now the wall surrounds their home like a prison. They no longer have the means to support themselves.
In many cases, the wall is strategically placed to separate the Jewish settlements from their Palestinian neighbors and to ensure that the bulk of the water resources are diverted to the settlers. Not only do the settlements use a disproportionate amount of the water resources (as was the case in the Gaza strip when there were 9.000 settlers surrounded by 12,000 soldiers living among 2 million Palestinians and diverting 40% of the water resources), I also heard many stories of the settlements, which are nearly all sitting on top of hills adjacent to Palestinian villages, dumping their sewage onto the hillsides. The settlers then build walls to isolate themselves from their neighbors. As one Palestinian Christian man put it sadly to me, "They don't even want to see our faces."
After the settlements are well established (the definition of a settlement being a town built for Jews only outside the internationally recognized border for the state of Israel) and the people have no hope of farming their land again, the IDF (the Israeli Defense Force) then builds roads to connect the settlements, roads that are for Israelis only. In many cases, if a home is in the way or anywhere near the road, it is simply demolished (again without compensation). Such was the case with Atta, a Palestinian tomato farmer whose home I stayed in for a night. Atta's home has already been demolished twice and the home he is living in currently is his third home. If Atta and his family leave the house for any lengthy period of time, they face the risk of armed Jewish settlers seizing the house and claiming it for God (which has happened once before). Atta does not hate the Jewish people however. According to his understanding of what it means to be a good Muslim, Atta believes God has taught him to love everybody and to treat everyone with respect. Atta believes that all violence is wrong and wants Jews, Christians, and Muslims to be able to live together with each religion able to practice their faith freely. Both times his home has been destroyed, Jewish peace activists have helped him rebuild.
Next stop: Susiya and Atwani. I'm not even sure where to begin when talking about these villages. First, I'll start with the children. Because the children living near Atwani have to walk between two heavily guarded settlements to get to school, they face the daily threat of attacks from Jewish settlers. In the past, the elementary school children have been harassed and attacked by grown men wearing black masks. Because of this, they have to be escorted to school by Israeli soldiers who often either don't show up or, if they do, will make the journey difficult by going too fast in their jeeps for them to follow. Though some of the soldiers aren't as bad (some have been known to give the kids candy from time to time), Josh, a full time worker with Christian Peacemaker teams, lives in Atwani so that he can monitor the soldiers to make sure the kids can travel to school safely and without harassment. On other days Josh, along with four other team members, carries a video camera with him as he watches the shepherds and the farmers who also face daily threats and harassments (and sometimes attacks) by the settlers. The settlers can carry hand pistols. The Palestinian farmers cannot.
As I walked through the villages of Susiya and At-Wani, the stories were very similar. In Susiya, I saw a community of people living in tents. Each and every tent had been demolished more than once and, even though the Israeli high court declared that the land was theirs, they still needed a permit to live on the land. The villagers showed me a cistern that the IDF came and filled with rocks so that the people would not be able to access their water supply. A similar occurrence happened in At-Wani, only, in that case it was the combination of the settlers and the military working together. A group of settlers poisoned their water supply with a poison that can only be obtained by a government issued permit. Because of the poisoned water supply, in addition to restricted water access, the people were not able to sell their sheep that drank from the water, thus crippling the village economy. Because the villagers are living under military occupation, they had no legal recourse and there has never been an investigation to this day.
After spending time in Susiya and Atwani, the team went to Hebron, a city where over 850 shops have been closed down by a military order, the people have to pass through 101 checkpoints to get to where they need to go, and where just a few short years ago, the people endured a 586 day curfew where they could only come out of their homes once a week for a period of three hours before they had to return to their homes. As I walked through the streets, I noticed several nets hanging above me connecting the buildings on both sides. I also noticed bottles and blocks and numerous other dangerous objects lying on top of the nets. These were areas where the settlers (who are fully protected by the Israeli military) would throw things out the windows for the sole purpose of maiming or killing the Palestinians walking on the streets.
How did the settlers arrive in Hebron? The stories I heard were mostly the same regardless of where I went. A Palestinian leaves their home for a few days, a Jewish settler moves in while they are absent, the Israeli military declares their home or apartment a closed military zone, and the individual or family is unable to return. Entire apartment complexes are seized this way and when the process is complete, the Israeli military will shut down a street, force the people out of their homes or shops, and declare it a street for Jews only.
In Hebron I met many fascinating people, including two Palestinian journalists who told stories of Palestinian human rights activists being arrested without charges and enduring torture in Israeli prisons. The journalists themselves showed scars on their bodies from the beatings they have endured from the Israeli soldiers in the past. I also met with local Palestinian police who were struggling to maintain order among their people despite the obstacles the Israeli military put in their way (like letting a thief get away and not allowing the police to pass through the checkpoints).
One of the most inspiring people I met was Zleika. Zleika is a schoolteacher who courageously defied the curfew imposed by the IDF, often going out during the day and forming a line to take her students to school. Zleika told us about a day she was passing through a checkpoint holding a sack of sweet potatoes in her hands when a female soldier made the comment "garbage holding garbage." When the soldier asked her what was in the bag, Zleika replied, "That is my business, not yours." The soldier responded by pushing Zleika to the ground and beating her repeatedly. The soldiers standing by did nothing. After Zleika got up, the other soldiers joined in by throwing her to the ground, strip-searching her twice, and, when the incident was over, they took Zleika to the police where she was questioned for 10 hours. The female soldier claimed that Zleika beat her up. The police told her that if the case went to court, she would have to pay 1,000 shekels (roughly 250 dollars, equivalent to 3 months wages).
Through meeting with groups like ACRI (the Association of Civil Rights in Israel), the UNRWA (the United Nations Relief Workers Agency), and even the Palestinian YMCA, I learned about many of the numerical facts on the ground. For example, in the past 7 years, over 466,000 olive trees have been uprooted by the Israeli army in order to make room for new settlements and the electric wall that divides people from their families. Many of these olive trees are over 2,000 years old and are considered heirlooms by their owners. A significant amount of Palestinians also rely on these olive trees to feed their families. In addition to the olive trees that have been destroyed, the Israeli army has destroyed 1.4 million trees and thousands of acres of farmland in the Palestinian territories since September of 2,000.
I also learned that in 1948, the year Israel became a nation, approximately 800,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes. Many of them were forced out at gunpoint, others left out of fear. During this time, children were slaughtered, women were raped, houses were burned to the ground, land mines were planted, and Israeli tanks shelled entire villages. Overall 531 villages were destroyed. Those who fled for their lives have not been allowed to return to their homes till this day even though international law mandates their right of return. While some claim that the masses of people fled to join Arab armies to drive Jews into the sea, (I've heard this argument by John Hagee, Hal Lindsey, and others), the facts simply do not match these claims.
For those interested in reading about this period of time from the perspective of an Israeli Jewish historian, click on the link below.
http://www.ilanpappe.org/Interviews/The%20History%20of%20Israel%20Reconsidered.html
One of the things that surprised me was that many of the refugees I met actually preferred a one state solution to the conflict over a two state solution. Though it has been 60 years, the families I met showed me deeds to their homes that date back to the Ottoman empire and told me that all they wanted was to return to rebuild their homes and villages (which most of them remain unoccupied to this day with the exception for a third of them which were taken over by Jews). According to one intellectual I met, over 65% of the Palestinian elite want a secular democracy with equal rights for Jews and Palestinians alike. Their attitude is that if Jews can build towns in the West Bank, then they should be able to live in Haifa or Tel Aviv.
By far the person that made the greatest impression on me was a young man named Gilad. Gilad is an Israeli Jew who works with an organization called ICAHD, which stands for Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions. After Gilad graduated from high school, he refused to serve the mandatory two years in the army for reasons of conscience. Though he has been culturally ostracized from many of his friends and family for refusing to join the IDF, Gilad works to rebuild Palestinian homes that have been demolished by the IDF.
Before taking the team on a tour of East and West Jerusalem, Gilad gave a lecture on how traditionally the Israeli/Palestinian issue has been viewed in the western media from the prism of Israeli security verses Palestinian terrorism. Gilad wanted the team to rethink the issue in light of human rights and international law. Gilad referred to "the matrix of control" a term used to describe all the different ways in which the Israeli government maintains their dominion over the Palestinian people. In addition to talking about the home demolitions, Gilad talked about the land seizures, the curfews, the disproportionate use of force aimed at the civilian population (like the shelling of neighborhoods, the shooting of children), the road closures, the concrete blocks the IDF puts in front of Palestinian villages to restrict commerce, the checkpoints, the travel restrictions, the permit system, the diversion of the water resources and the cutting off of electricity. All of these form what Gilad calls the matrix of control.
As Gilad gave the team a bus tour of East and West Jerusalem, he instructed us to pay attention to the difference in living conditions between West Jerusalem and East Jerusalem. According to Gilad, Palestinians comprise 38% of the population, pay 40% of the taxes, but receive only 8% of the tax revenue in the form of services. Even though they should be considered Israeli citizens (since East Jerusalem was officially annexed to Israel in 1967), they are not. The people have to carry a special form of I.D. indicating they are from East Jerusalem. More importantly, they are not allowed permits to build homes. Every year, approximately 100 Palestinian homes are demolished in East Jerusalem. The people wake up in the morning with an eviction notice. They are given two hours to pack up everything and leave. After their home is demolished, the IDF hands the family a bill to pay for the demolition. The official government policy to support this practice is called "Judaization." Since 1967, over 18,000 homes have been demolished. Only 5% were declared to be for security reasons. The official reason is to preserve the Jewish majority. Every year, entire Bedouin villages are leveled in the Negev valley (which is inside the state of Israel) for the official reason of maintaining the demographic balance by preserving the Jewish majority.
The Bible says in Proverbs 18:17, "The first one to plead his cause seems right until his neighbor comes and examines him." Like many of my friends and family, I have only heard one side of this story for most of my life. Not only was I raised reading books by Hal Lindsey, Pat Robertson, John Hagee and other charismatic leaders (many who raise millions of dollars to finance Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and the Gaza Strip), I also attended a Bible School that taught me if I didn't support the Jewish people in reclaiming the Promised Land, I'd make myself an enemy of God. Needless to say, for the first 23 years of my life, I don't think I could have had the frame of reference to view this conflict in an objective manner by any meaningful sense of the word. It wasn't until three years ago when I read a book called "Light Force" by Brother Andrew, one of the greatest missionaries of the 20th century, that I started to hear the perspective of King Solomon's examining neighbor.
I'm still not sure if I'm objective. Now that I've seen what the other side of the story looks like, I'm not even sure if objectivity is possible anymore. Whether one has an insiders' perspective on a situation or an outsiders' perspective on a situation, all of us interact with the world around us based on presuppositions (whether philosophical or theological) that determine how we interpret everything we see, hear, taste, touch, and smell. Sometimes our presuppositions are right. Other times they're dead wrong.
Though many things remain unclear to me regarding the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, what is crystal clear to me is this conflict is clearly a conflict between the powerful and the powerless, the Israelis being the powerful and the Palestinians being the powerless. Those who argue that a Palestinian living in East Jerusalem or a Bedouin living in the Negev Valley (which is inside Israel) have the same rights as a Jew living in Tel Aviv are either willfully ignorant or delusional. What is also clear to me is this is not merely a conflict of Jews verses Arabs or Israelis verses Palestinians. Rather, it's a conflict between Israeli and Palestinian war-makers verses Israeli and Palestinian peacemakers. Both sides have villains who want to drive the other into the sea and heroes who work tirelessly for peace and reconciliation. Also on both sides are the vast majority of people who are neither heroes nor villains, but ordinary people who want peace on one hand, but fear for their safety and well being on the other hand.
On our last day in Hebron, I was pleased to have the opportunity to take part in a symbolic action helping a Palestinian farmer and his family harvest their olive trees. On the man's property, Jewish settlers have built a sidewalk cutting through his orchard and nearly every day the settlers walk through his property with guns in their pockets, hate in their eyes, and threats on their lips. What gave me hope that day was seeing an Israeli peace activist that I had met earlier on the trip working side by with the Palestinian farmer helping him pick olives from his olive tree. As I was observing the two working side by side, a thought entered my mind that has been with me ever since and refuses to let me go to sleep at night.
Which is more Christ-like? The TV evangelist who cheered last year as Israeli warplanes were dropping bombs on buses and bridges in Lebanon, calling the action a "miracle from God" -or the liberal Jew picking olives with a Palestinian farmer? Even more nagging is this question. What does it say about the state of the American Church, a Church comprised of millions of people who claim to follow the Prince of Peace, if I as an American Christian, would have to prepare a two hundred-page theological dissertation to defend myself for picking option number two?
While there is still time,
Aaron
p.s. Here is a link to the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolition's website. The link will take you to an excellent article called "Facts on the Ground" to give you a better understanding of what I have described. They also have an excellent FAQ section on the political issues.
p.p.s. Here is a link to a group called "Breaking the Silence." This organization is a group of former Israeli soldiers speaking out against abuses in Hebron. http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/index_e.asp
p.p.p.s Here is a link to Ilan Pappe's website. Ilan Pappe is an Israeli Jewish historian who has written extensively on the events surrounding the formation of Israel in 1948. Understanding how the two sides view the same year is crucial to understanding the rest of the conflict.
http://www.ilanpappe.org/Interviews/The%20History%20of%20Israel%20Reconsidered.html
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