PublicChristian

WHY?

Why should we focus any more on Jesus Christ than on Abraham or Moses or Isaiah? Or on the laws in the Bible, or prophecy, or the end of the world?

Is focus on Jesus more needed than pointing out sins – especially other people’s sins?

Is Christ actually more important today than Obama or McCain? Or economic crisis? Or threats of violence around the world and at home?

Should we focus mostly on our friendship with Jesus – or on why our beliefs are better than other people’s beliefs ?

BECAUSE » Continue Reading »

Here’s my wife Connie’s response to a relative who thinks Obama loves to see babies die, and argues that almost all abortions are done for the convenience of the mother. We could rant about this for a long time, but I think Connie did a good job in this post on her Facebook page.

Hi R__, I’m not denying past trends, and I am completely Pro-Life:

Remember, my doctor begged me to have an abortion in the 5th month because he knew the baby (Chelsea) was killing me – I weighed 95 lbs at the time. When I refused, he had to send me to Denver because I had no insurance… and subsequently, she had no insurance for the next 13 years because of her pre-existing condition…

…until I got a job at the U.S. Postal Service – Federal Insurance covers you no matter what and we currently pay $314 per month for family insurance!

There have been so so so many instances since then when I so wish I could share my Federal insurance with the people immediately around me who are suffering so much.

I heard it said last night, that if we can spend so many billions of dollars killing Iraqis why can’t we spend a fraction of that saving and healing Americans… including veterans.

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Douglas W. Kmiec is a prominent Republican and committed Roman Catholic. He was head of the Office of Legal Counsel for Presidents Reagan and the first Bush.

He became notorious for coming out in support of then-Senator Obama’s campaign for the Presidency, and for publishing things like the following.

He speaks of “the Catholic tradition” as

not just
condemnation of the evil of abortion,
but also as
the building up of a society

where those at risk of falling or disregarding this boundary will be far less like to do so because of the tangible help of their neighbor, inspired by the witness of Christ rendered both personally and through government. [p45]

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Former Sec. of State Madeleine Albright said this in an email I got this week.

Every new president inherits headaches, but President Obama has inherited an entire emergency room.

Our struggle to reclaim our standing in the world has been challenging, but we are making progress. Together, we will need to continue to speak up, fight back, and give President Obama the support he needs to succeed.

The President told David Letterman last night that we were losing 700,000 jobs a month when he became President. And that’s just in one bay of a pretty large emergency room.

And Connie kept saying, while Obama was on Letterman, that he just always seems so calm, so reasonable, and not at all “full of himself.”

Sort of like a grown-up should be!

Or a Christian.
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Listen to this sermon by clicking here: (Download)
 

ISSUES in “Our Patriotic Songs Have Some Serious Messages”:
  • God is looking for fruit (goodness, love) from every individual, every group, every nation, even the entire human race.
  • ”My Country” – It’s good in principle to love your country. It’s very normal. But it is sometimes done in very destructive, evil ways.
  • Some of these stirring songs have serious prayers in them, or frightening teachings about God’s action in America.
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This is my response to a comment about a certain church’s Christian – or Biblical – Worldview training. The original post was at “SlopeSitter’s” new blog.

Hey, nice to find this blog!

Yes. VERY important concerns here, SlopeSitter.

You say the “worldview” approach
1) can easily be subverted to the support of one political position (quite consistently “conservative” Republican, as it turns out).
2) And it can produce an aggressive, intellectual “evangelism” that often seems and perhaps is devoid of love.

Yup! Have to agree.

After studying Dobson’s Christian Worldview series a bit, and the Barna Group’s 8 worldview questions, it really distressed me to realize that, according to a remark in the book of James, the demons have a “Biblical worldview”. Well, THAT’s not very helpful!
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James Dobson has resigned as board chair at Focus on the Family. I’m sure he can find legitimate reasons to do so – even though it represents a real loss in terms of the enthusiastic labor of most of his life.

But I have to wonder also if it’s just another step in the fulfillment of what Jesus predicted so long ago – about false prophets. » Continue Reading »

With his usual delicacy of style Ed Howard at Nebraska State Paper points out an obvious and important fact concerning discussions about the stimulus (in an email newsletter).

“Sen. John McCain exhibiting cynicism”

What we find approximately unbearable, however, is a fellow like Sen. John McCain exhibiting the ultimate in cynicism and the disingenuousness.

He’s referring to one of McCain’s specific complaints about Obama’s economic stimulus package.
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In January of 2008 Barack Obama gave a powerful speech (sermon) on the meaning of Martin Luther King Jr. for America today. This was at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where King was raised and his father was the pastor.

Obama directly confronts fundamental moral problems rampant in American society and politics. (I’ve added some emphases to the print version.)

I’m talking about a moral deficit. I’m talking about an empathy deficit. I’m taking about an inability to recognize ourselves in one another; to understand that we are our brother’s keeper; we are our sister’s keeper;

And he brings the issue home to each of us. » Continue Reading »

Connie and I recently watched Karol: A Man Who Became Pope. It portrays Karol Wojtyla’s life from his late teens, when the Nazi’s invaded his city and nation, through WWII, then through decades of Communist rule (as a satellite of the Soviet Union), up to the day he became Pope John Paul II (1978).

I. A Real-life Example: The Future Pope Working Under Nazi and Communist Oppression in Poland

Karol Wojtyla, (pronounced something like “VoyTEEya”) was known as a man of prayer, and it seems to me that his life-long habits (and style) of prayer – developed in his late teens – were a key factor in his effectiveness in the real world and in his continuing rise to greater and greater worldly power.

He was introduced to “mystical prayer” early in WWII by an older man (Jan Tyranowsky) who became a spiritual mentor to several young adults. I was familiar with the story from previous study, and though this version is a movie, not a documentary, it still rings pretty true.

One poignant scene shows him discovering a poster announcing the murder (”execution”) of a good friend, a young priest, by the Nazis. Wojtyla sinks to the ground » Continue Reading »

Here’s the article I wrote for our church’s monthy newsletter for January. We need, want, and should want lots of good things. But I was looking for a list specific to a local church’s situation. This is derived from the first of the two letters we have from Paul to the church of the Thessalonians.

While it is local-church specific, it seems to me to have profound applications and implications far beyond that scope.

What Does God Want To Do Here in 2009?

That question – What does God want to do here in 2009? – no doubt has some answers we cannot figure out here in January.

But I think God has made a lot of it pretty apparent. Here’s a short Bible study from I Thessalonians – looking for what had been seen, or would be seen, as desirable developments in the believers in Thessalonica.

God wants to see more people doing / experiencing these things, and these things being done better and more consistently. What do you think of this list? Does any part of it particularly stand out to you?

1. PEOPLE WITH FAITH AND LOVE.

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“I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.” Luke 2:10

Is God Sending Joy for ALL People?

Yes! Joy to those feeling terrible because they’ve been inattentive to God:

All the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. Nehemiah said, This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
Nehemiah 8:9-10

Yes! Joy to those for whom God has already done great things:

The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.
Psalm 126:3

Yes! Joy to those weeping, who desperately need God to do great things:

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Martin Luther apparently liked to write about faith.

I love his saying that faith “does not even ask whether good works SHOULD be done”! God made humans. God loves the human race. It is the nature of the beast that when a human responds to God in faith there is engendered an impulse to do something or other GOOD.

O, this faith is a living, busy, active, powerful thing!

It is impossible that it should not be ceaselessly doing that which is good. It does not even ask whether good works should be done; but before the question can be asked, it has done them, and it is constantly engaged in doing them.

Certainly we can disagree about the effectiveness or long-term wisdom of some people’s acts of goodness – including our own.
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“Good News: House Republicans Stand on Principles”

That’s the headline on today’s newsletter from the political voice of Dobson’s Focus on the Family. It’s also on their website.
 

My reactions:
 

1. Ha ha ha ha ha ha HA!

Really. I smile and I chuckle. “House Republicans” and “Principles” in one sentence, without a “no” or “not”? Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Oh, that’s hilarious. They say the essence of humor is irony, or the unexpected. Wow, Dobson has the gift!
 

2. But when you think a moment and realize they have shown remarkable consistency for some years, maybe Dobson’s Citizen-Link has a point.
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In many respects, Americans are freer today than ever before, with more Americans than ever before enjoying unencumbered access to the promise of American life.

I’m quoting Andrew J. Bacevich, retired US Army colonel, professor of history and international relations at Boston University, writing about American freedom, and values in American life today.*

He’s arguing that we’ve used our freedoms to become self-indulgent and arrogant, and to try to force the rest of the world to support that self-indulgence and arrogance.
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Here are two very important words of advice we are not allowed to follow:
1. Pick your parents very carefully.
2. Pick the century and year of your birth carefully.

Jeremiah, often called “the Weeping Prophet,” perhaps did ok in picking his parents, but he picked a horrible time-frame in which to work!

Below is a list I found of short descriptions of this prophet.*

1. He was at once gentle and tenacious, affectionate and inflexible.

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4  Men of perverse heart shall be far from me;

I will have nothing to do with evil.

5  Whoever slanders his neighbor… ,
him will I put to silence;
whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart,
him will I not endure.

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I. Pessimistic

Here’s a sad quote from a good Catholic philosopher, going from his own knowledge of history:

In nearly every historical case we can think of, the bias of a group lasts the lifetime of the group… Truly moral communities hardly ever result from the reformation of a previously selfish community. They nearly always spring from prophetic leaders who gather members from among the disenfranchised in other communities.

That is, the institutions of the religious right are unlikely to reform themselves, and are likely to continue losing people to more carefully Biblical fellowships.
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Here’s Obama on the significance of the Gospel:

In an interview with Christianity Today magazine, Obama said this about his decision to accept Christ,

What was intellectual
and what was emotional joined,
and the belief in the redemptive power of Jesus Christ,
that he died for our sins,
that through him we could achieve eternal life

- but also that, through good works
we could find order and meaning here on Earth
and transcend our limits
and our flaws and our foibles

- I found that powerful.

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Did you see the recent comment from “Donna”? It stirred me up! Come on people! Christian integrity and humility should compel you to allow that those who voted for Obama are NOT thereby proven to be ignorant or reprobate!

I know that my response refers to the behavior and attitudes of the “religious right” as if they could be sterotyped. But in fact, in my experience, these problems VERY consistently show up in people who get their input from those sources – they are stereotypical responses. On the other hand my experience with Christian Democrats shows them almost always to be much more welcoming and open to information and to real discussion.

Here’s my response (The numbered headlines are quotes from Donna’s comment.):
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Some Biblical perspective.

First, our hope has to be higher than human society, politics, government, churches, or wars.

Psalm 146:

3 Do not put your trust in princes,
    in mortal men, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
    on that very day their plans come to nothing.
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
    whose hope is in the LORD his God,
6 the Maker of heaven and earth,
    the sea, and everything in them—
    the LORD, who remains faithful forever.

Second, it matters greatly to the Divine Spirit what kinds of values we support.

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From an AP article at the Atlanta Journal Constitution site, on Friday October 24, 2008:

Wall Street joined stock markets around the world in a huge selloff Friday, sending major market indexes to their lowest levels in more than five years on the belief that a punishing economic recession is at hand.

The market has been coming back up. But a lot of damage has been done.

I have a couple of questions:

1. What should be a Christian’s attitude as things seem to be – at least to some extent – falling apart? I wrote about that recently.

2. Is there any value in placing blame? Let’s talk about that. » Continue Reading »

The ideal number for me as a Catholic is zero … and there are plenty of people I’d be willing to work with if they want to get down to … that ideal number which is zero.

Just below there’s a video clip (2 minutes, 11 seconds) of Scott Kleeb fielding a question in Omaha last week. (Kleeb is the Dem candidate for the Nebraska US Senate seat being vacated by Chuck Hagel.)

The guy in the audience keeps shoving the term “pro-life” at Kleeb and Kleeb jumps on it pretty hard, saying that all this putting of labels on people and stirring up arguments about terms is not helping! We’ve spent 30 years fighting about it and making political hay out of it.

And under recent Republican domination of our government, abortions have not gone down significantly, and there is evidence they have gone up.

All of us, every single one of us in this country wants to get to zero.

It’s time to actually start working on it – together.

… we can work together despite whatever differences we might have for a shared and common goal. That’s what this moment is. These moments don’t come around very often and we have to take advantage of them.

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I.  Young Adult Attitudes Toward American Christianity

Recently I wrote about how young adult “outsiders” – people not involved in churches – think of Christians in this country, based on research overseen by David Kinnaman and reported in his recent book.

[My posts: "They Will Know", "World's View".   Kinnaman's book is unChristian, based on an extensive research project by The Barna Group. It's valuable but not pleasant reading.]

At the end of each of his main chapters Kinnaman includes comments from other Christian leaders. Here’s some of what Brian McLaren had to say (p 172). (Here are a few posts on this site that mention McLaren’s writing.)

II.  How We Got There – The Role of the Prophets of the Religious Right

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I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true.

I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have.

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