I have chosen not to write for a long time. Many reasons, one was learning to tame my tongue. I am often a sharp and harsh critic. Many close to me can attest to that.
I have chosen today to not write a piece on the current events in the modern evangelical world, which will soon be out of the news and away from the public spotlight. I instead am going to write one item. One item that is one my heart, especially recently. Here is the quick backstory (as vague as I possibly can put it for their sake):
I have a close friend who was talking with me about a decision they were about to make. This friend, had talked to me about this issue in great depth, many times before. The conversation was interesting, partially because we were talking about a variety of items before this issue we were exploring. The issue came up, was carefully crafted in a way to display the presenter in a positive light.
Now, many of us have been in this situation. Someone is talking to us, admits what they are experiencing or doing or thinking about, and we immediately present to them our stance.
In this case, that is exactly what happened. I presented to them my stance, but before I got to the great heights of my infinite knowledge, wisdom and clearly years of experience, I was stopped, or interrupted (no worries, not rudely). My friend kindly said, "I know your stance on my choices, but what is your view of me? How do you view me now?"
I couldn't tell you how fast it clicked inside of me. My "infinite" knowledge, wisdom and years of "experience" which gave me obvious authority to speak on any subject, was immediately thrown away (it is odd how quickly you can be humbled, even if I wasn't humble). I knew, right then, I had a choice.
I could share my stance on the topic, or I could share my stance on them. I realized, this friend did not need a lecture, a tweet or post, on where I essentially fall. My friend needed to know where I stood with them.
I wish it had clicked years early when a good friend at the time told me something about his life, and instead of being supportive and loving, I instantly told him, I don't agree with your choice, and that I hope they get over this soon because they are wrong. Instead of choosing to process through what it means, reminding him that God loves him far greater than I could, or even just being their for him, I lectured him. Sadly this was before the world of social media, so my only connection was phone or AIM. It did not click to me then, that he just wanted someone to just be present and a processor, or more importantly, just someone who loved him, because years later, he gave up contacting any of us, and has nearly no support.
I am reminded of Jesus with the prostitute in Luke 7. I was not acting like Jesus, keep that in mind (nor rarely have), but in this story, one piece I remember clearly. Jesus could have chewed out the prostitute for crying at His feet. Jesus could have given her a lecture on why what she was doing was wrong. Jesus could have written a decree that stated that all prostitutes aren't allowed to live as long as they are prostitutes. Instead, Jesus (who actually lectures the Pharisee) calmly reminder her that she is already forgiven.
I wish this was just one time Jesus did this. Not the case. Jesus did this countless times; lepers, beggers, hemorrhaging woman, blind man, woman at the well.
Or take the parable of the lost sheep. One sheep out of one hundred strays, the shepherd goes after that sheep. Finds the sheep, brings the sheep back. In this parable, the shepherd didn't lecture the sheep on why straying is wrong, the sheep knew how lonely it was out there and why straying was not wise. The shepherd cares more about the sheep than the stance on why the sheep left.
A powerful set of verses are in Romans 8, that contends that NOTHING can separate us from God's LOVE. NOTHING (Done, Doing, or Will Do).
I am challenging myself everyday to show my stance on people. To show them my love.
I am applying this today, with the current events. I am not concerned about the stance on World Vision or Phil Robertson or Barack Obama or Climate Change. I am concerned about the person. I am concerned about the children in World Vision who are no longer sponsored because of a stance, children are the ones who lose. I am concerned about the people who aren't sponsoring them anymore because of their stance. I will attest to the fact that I do not care about the stance on the issue. I care about the fact that our world is in dire need of love, hope, justice and not a lecture from me. This starts by changing our philosophy to start with our stance on humans. We see this by caring about them; feeding them, clothing them, visiting them, educating them, fighting their oppressors, providing them with clean water, housing them.
So the question I ask myself is "What is my stance on people?" because I guarantee they know my stance on issues.
DON'T end up like me, declaring my stance on issues all the while ignoring people in those situations. Don't rob them of love, like I have on so many occasions. Healing those relationships are very difficult. I can only pray that to have that trust with them.
AS a side note, if you are no longer sponsoring World Vision, please let me know, especially if you are sponsoring a child. I will take over your sponsorship, or find someone who will. No ill will.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
The Adventures to come in 2014
I am very excited to announce several things I will be doing in the next year.
If you must know, I believe in dreaming big and planning little... Joke. But a lot of this has been on my mind and heart for the past few months. SO, here it goes. I will give you a general overview of what I Plan to do in the next upcoming year.
Social
1) The top number 1 plan of 2014, I am going to smile more. This sounds so corny but I have met with so many people the past two years who have NO CLUE that they are worth smiling about. It is as a professor once told me and later a Pastor "A smile indicates to that person, they are worth smiling about!"
It is my simple plan of showing people they matter.
2) I will get married this year. JOKE, but I have made a point to at least go on dates. I have not really made time for this in my life. I use to not really care, but recently, I guess you could say, I have started to care? So, needless to say, I have created a simple application for women to fill out.... Obviously that was a joke, probably came from my insecurity of talking about this subject publicly.
3) I am going to dance more!! Seriously, I love dancing. NOW, I am not talking about the grinding their booty into my body dance. I want to look the person in the face that I am dancing with. Nothing is better!
4) I will try my hardest to see my parents, brothers and sister-in-laws, and all my nieces and nephews at least once every 6 weeks. I want to see them play soccer, go to school events. I want to see them grow up! Those kids really do mean the world to me!
4.5) I will try to see my extended family at a minimum three times in the next year! Even if it is for a day! (It does help that most live in Florida)
5) I will try to eat at one new restaurant and try some new food, once a month. Even if I find it to be repulsive, I will try it. Unless it is tofu. OK, maybe tofu.
6) I am going to cook a HUGE meal for as many people who can show up. It will be southern style. It will have sweet tea. And you will be invited!
7) I need to visit friends who live in different parts of the country!
Adventure
1) I plan to visit four countries I have never visited before. Here is the best part.... I am going to let my subscribers/facebookers/twitterers decide two of them. I am going to let my jr highers decide the other two. SO... Start thinking of places to send me. While I am there, I will have to do one crazy thing.... That you all will vote on as well.
2) I am going to hike a mountain. One in 'Merica, one not in 'Merica. Yes, I will conquer this fear of heights by hiking some pretty tall mountains. And, I will do so by bravely crying ever shaken step of the way. Unless my hands are cold, then I will just want to punch something out of anger, and no fear will be involved.
2.5) I will jump off a cliff into water.
3) I am going to Kayak for several days. I want to plan a several day kayaking trip where we Kayak pretty far (or by myself). I haven't kayaked since college, and I am craving it!!
4) I am going to fish. Deep sea fishing, shallow sea fishing, lake fishing. I will also learn to fly fish. I am excited!!
5) Jack Caron will be teaching me to golf.... I hope I do not swear during the process.
6) I am going to play soccer with some kids in the slums in one of the countries I visit. Naturally I will destroy them, but if they win, I will admit to a tie.
7) I plan to finish my reading list (about 16 books behind, currently in the middle of 5 books)
Missional
I plan to create two partnerships this year internationally, two partnerships domestically and two partnerships locally.
1) Internationally: International Justice Mission will be an organization that I partner with. I will also be partnering with an Orphanage. The ONLY problem is, I will probably want to adopt 90% of the children.
2) Domestically: I want to help a few friends who will be starting their Social Enterprise/Non-profit within the next few months. I will also be looking into
3) Locally: I know some areas that I really want to help in. But I am looking into groups like Tubmen, who help families who are displaced from their homes due to domestic violence. I also want to do more with Food Banks. SO if you know of areas needing help, let me know!
I want to also point out one thing, if none of these happen or all of these happen, I will be grateful to the fact that I went into this year having a family that loves me, friends that support me, a job, a car, shelter, and free flights....
Now... The question is... Who wants to join me? Who wants to add to this adventure? I am willing to change parts of this, invite you in on this and thoroughly enjoy every part!!
So, join me in the adventure of 2014!!
If you must know, I believe in dreaming big and planning little... Joke. But a lot of this has been on my mind and heart for the past few months. SO, here it goes. I will give you a general overview of what I Plan to do in the next upcoming year.
Social
1) The top number 1 plan of 2014, I am going to smile more. This sounds so corny but I have met with so many people the past two years who have NO CLUE that they are worth smiling about. It is as a professor once told me and later a Pastor "A smile indicates to that person, they are worth smiling about!"
It is my simple plan of showing people they matter.
2) I will get married this year. JOKE, but I have made a point to at least go on dates. I have not really made time for this in my life. I use to not really care, but recently, I guess you could say, I have started to care? So, needless to say, I have created a simple application for women to fill out.... Obviously that was a joke, probably came from my insecurity of talking about this subject publicly.
3) I am going to dance more!! Seriously, I love dancing. NOW, I am not talking about the grinding their booty into my body dance. I want to look the person in the face that I am dancing with. Nothing is better!
4) I will try my hardest to see my parents, brothers and sister-in-laws, and all my nieces and nephews at least once every 6 weeks. I want to see them play soccer, go to school events. I want to see them grow up! Those kids really do mean the world to me!
4.5) I will try to see my extended family at a minimum three times in the next year! Even if it is for a day! (It does help that most live in Florida)
5) I will try to eat at one new restaurant and try some new food, once a month. Even if I find it to be repulsive, I will try it. Unless it is tofu. OK, maybe tofu.
6) I am going to cook a HUGE meal for as many people who can show up. It will be southern style. It will have sweet tea. And you will be invited!
7) I need to visit friends who live in different parts of the country!
Adventure
1) I plan to visit four countries I have never visited before. Here is the best part.... I am going to let my subscribers/facebookers/twitterers decide two of them. I am going to let my jr highers decide the other two. SO... Start thinking of places to send me. While I am there, I will have to do one crazy thing.... That you all will vote on as well.
2) I am going to hike a mountain. One in 'Merica, one not in 'Merica. Yes, I will conquer this fear of heights by hiking some pretty tall mountains. And, I will do so by bravely crying ever shaken step of the way. Unless my hands are cold, then I will just want to punch something out of anger, and no fear will be involved.
2.5) I will jump off a cliff into water.
3) I am going to Kayak for several days. I want to plan a several day kayaking trip where we Kayak pretty far (or by myself). I haven't kayaked since college, and I am craving it!!
4) I am going to fish. Deep sea fishing, shallow sea fishing, lake fishing. I will also learn to fly fish. I am excited!!
5) Jack Caron will be teaching me to golf.... I hope I do not swear during the process.
6) I am going to play soccer with some kids in the slums in one of the countries I visit. Naturally I will destroy them, but if they win, I will admit to a tie.
7) I plan to finish my reading list (about 16 books behind, currently in the middle of 5 books)
Missional
I plan to create two partnerships this year internationally, two partnerships domestically and two partnerships locally.
1) Internationally: International Justice Mission will be an organization that I partner with. I will also be partnering with an Orphanage. The ONLY problem is, I will probably want to adopt 90% of the children.
2) Domestically: I want to help a few friends who will be starting their Social Enterprise/Non-profit within the next few months. I will also be looking into
3) Locally: I know some areas that I really want to help in. But I am looking into groups like Tubmen, who help families who are displaced from their homes due to domestic violence. I also want to do more with Food Banks. SO if you know of areas needing help, let me know!
I want to also point out one thing, if none of these happen or all of these happen, I will be grateful to the fact that I went into this year having a family that loves me, friends that support me, a job, a car, shelter, and free flights....
Now... The question is... Who wants to join me? Who wants to add to this adventure? I am willing to change parts of this, invite you in on this and thoroughly enjoy every part!!
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
When we hate who we are Part 1
First and Foremost, Merry Eve of Christmas to you all. If you are reading this today, I hope this acts as an encouragement, not as a depressor. This is a powerful season that can often be misguided....
I got a message recently that says "Casey, I don't want to be me anymore...." Intrigued, I sent just a simple question back "Why is this?" His response, simple, profound and sadly, common. "Because if I can't accept who I am, how will others? I mean, I hate me. I hate how I look, I hate how I act, I hate so much."
I remember when I partnered with the Crisis Intervention Team years ago through one of my professors at college. We worked on a few projects together, and I helped when I could. I received a call, my first call ever, of a student attempting to take their life. I had read some of the messages she had sent to her friend. The first thing she says "No one would even notice I was gone, I am not like the other people...." There were an array of other messages, all pointing to this idea that they find no value, worth or beauty in herself.
The problem our society faces as a whole is often more of an inner battle. You see, in both of these situations, there was a
So then, we need to ask:
Do I accept myself? Better yet, what stops me?
If we fully address these questions, we discover a profound sense of freedom.
We often hold ourselves back more often then we should. We are afraid to confront who we are because we are looking for affirmation in any way we can. I think a lot of this stems from what we tie our value and worth to. For example, how many times have you heard a father tell his daughter "you are beautiful!" That is a remarkable thing, and more fathers should say that. However, it begins to tie the worth of the daughter to her beauty. It feels good to be praised, and when the opportunity comes to be affirmed, they will seek it out. A lot of times we go to great lengths to sense just a piece of that affirmation.
Same goes for guys. We tie our identity and worth to what we were told is manly: Strength. Being weak is frowned about. So we immediately created this complex and competition with in us that makes us strive to be the best in others standards.
Our belief about who we are matters. That the greatest commandment that we find in Matthew: "The two greatest commandments are this, Love the Lord your God with all you have and love your neighbor as yourself."
This can be taken in two ways, don't love yourself more than your neighbor or (as I take it) love yourself so that you may love your neighbor.
God knows that if we don't accept ourself, we will never accept others. We will envy them. We will compete against them in a negative way. We will constantly compare. We will not fully accept them as they are because we haven't accepted who we can be.
You see, you are beautiful, physically and spiritually. However, your beauty is not all you are. You are smart. But you are more than that. You are a joy. You are still more than that. You are needed. You are still more. I contend, if you believe in what scripture has to say about who you are, your worth will be infinite. You will recognize the freedom that comes from accepting who you are.
We fall into groups and stereotypes because it is easy. They tell us who we are. We know that if I fit in the nerdy group, there is a certain way to act. We know if we hang out with the jocks, we act like the stereotypical jock. We begin to mold our character to be accepted by that which attempts to define us. We become reserved and with holding of ourselves because of the fear that others will see something in us that could tarnish our acceptance.
This Christmas, I find great hope. I find this season to truly be a season of hope. We can find that hope in what is to come. We celebrate the Birth of Christ around this time of year. We point to this infant, born of a virgin, born into a world, broken, just like ours is today, and we discover that through the life, death and resurrection of this child, we have this amazing sense of freedom. You see, the life of Christ shows you, living passionately generates a faster rate of acceptance for yourself.
BUT you have to risk. You have to ask yourself, "Am I worth accepting myself? Am I worth it as a human?" I contend when you move past this, your ability to challenge and change the world becomes unstoppable. It is like a mustard seed, very small, but what comes from that is a massive tree. If you risk just enough, you create a tree. When you risk in relationships, it often hurts, mainly because the person you risk for, is typically in the same boat.
The problem is, we don't see it this way. We don't recognize that the life of Christ points to a life of freedom. Sadly, most of us stay rooted in the safety of our own routine. We fear what we can't see. We fear that we will be stretched in a way that hurts or worse, exposes us.
Take the story of Peter when walking on the water. Peter sees Jesus and decides to risk and walk on the water. It is going well, then Peter takes his eyes of Jesus, looks down and begins to sink. It would be easy to say the Peter lost faith in Jesus, but the reality is, Peter had no reason to lose faith in Jesus. Jesus was physically present. He did not have to believe there was a man named Jesus, for Jesus was right there. What happened to Peter is what happens to all of us. We lose faith in in how Christ can work in us. We sink because we forget who we are. We sink because the risk seems too heavy. We get caught up in the bizarre notion that no one will notice our absence. We get caught up in the idea that we are ugly, or stupid, or not good enough for people. We sink into a stream of invisibility because there we hope no one will notice the things we hate about ourselves. It doesn't have to be like that.
What I take away from this season is this: We celebrate the birth of a Savior that points us to a life of freedom. Freedom to love. Freedom to risk. Freedom to fail. Freedom to recover. Freedom to experience joy. We celebrate a Savior that shows us how to live, and to live well. We celebrate the birth of a Savior that believes in us as an individual and collective. Believes you can walk on water. Believes you can challenge the evils of this world. Believes that you can love well and be loved back.
We celebrate the Birth of a Savior that wants you, because this Savior knows all you can be and will push you to be that person. You are going to be missed, you are needed in our world, you do matter. This season is a reminder. There would be no way the birth of Christ would matter if God did not find worth in all of mankind.
My prayer is that we all know our worth, and that we show others just how worth it they are.
Merry Christmas Eve! I am grateful for a Savior that is leading us this year to challenge the evil that exists simply by being who we are.
In my next post, I am going to express a lot of my weaknesses. I get this feeling of frustration with who you are.
I got a message recently that says "Casey, I don't want to be me anymore...." Intrigued, I sent just a simple question back "Why is this?" His response, simple, profound and sadly, common. "Because if I can't accept who I am, how will others? I mean, I hate me. I hate how I look, I hate how I act, I hate so much."
I remember when I partnered with the Crisis Intervention Team years ago through one of my professors at college. We worked on a few projects together, and I helped when I could. I received a call, my first call ever, of a student attempting to take their life. I had read some of the messages she had sent to her friend. The first thing she says "No one would even notice I was gone, I am not like the other people...." There were an array of other messages, all pointing to this idea that they find no value, worth or beauty in herself.
The problem our society faces as a whole is often more of an inner battle. You see, in both of these situations, there was a
So then, we need to ask:
Do I accept myself? Better yet, what stops me?
If we fully address these questions, we discover a profound sense of freedom.
We often hold ourselves back more often then we should. We are afraid to confront who we are because we are looking for affirmation in any way we can. I think a lot of this stems from what we tie our value and worth to. For example, how many times have you heard a father tell his daughter "you are beautiful!" That is a remarkable thing, and more fathers should say that. However, it begins to tie the worth of the daughter to her beauty. It feels good to be praised, and when the opportunity comes to be affirmed, they will seek it out. A lot of times we go to great lengths to sense just a piece of that affirmation.
Same goes for guys. We tie our identity and worth to what we were told is manly: Strength. Being weak is frowned about. So we immediately created this complex and competition with in us that makes us strive to be the best in others standards.
Our belief about who we are matters. That the greatest commandment that we find in Matthew: "The two greatest commandments are this, Love the Lord your God with all you have and love your neighbor as yourself."
This can be taken in two ways, don't love yourself more than your neighbor or (as I take it) love yourself so that you may love your neighbor.
God knows that if we don't accept ourself, we will never accept others. We will envy them. We will compete against them in a negative way. We will constantly compare. We will not fully accept them as they are because we haven't accepted who we can be.
You see, you are beautiful, physically and spiritually. However, your beauty is not all you are. You are smart. But you are more than that. You are a joy. You are still more than that. You are needed. You are still more. I contend, if you believe in what scripture has to say about who you are, your worth will be infinite. You will recognize the freedom that comes from accepting who you are.
We fall into groups and stereotypes because it is easy. They tell us who we are. We know that if I fit in the nerdy group, there is a certain way to act. We know if we hang out with the jocks, we act like the stereotypical jock. We begin to mold our character to be accepted by that which attempts to define us. We become reserved and with holding of ourselves because of the fear that others will see something in us that could tarnish our acceptance.
This Christmas, I find great hope. I find this season to truly be a season of hope. We can find that hope in what is to come. We celebrate the Birth of Christ around this time of year. We point to this infant, born of a virgin, born into a world, broken, just like ours is today, and we discover that through the life, death and resurrection of this child, we have this amazing sense of freedom. You see, the life of Christ shows you, living passionately generates a faster rate of acceptance for yourself.
BUT you have to risk. You have to ask yourself, "Am I worth accepting myself? Am I worth it as a human?" I contend when you move past this, your ability to challenge and change the world becomes unstoppable. It is like a mustard seed, very small, but what comes from that is a massive tree. If you risk just enough, you create a tree. When you risk in relationships, it often hurts, mainly because the person you risk for, is typically in the same boat.
The problem is, we don't see it this way. We don't recognize that the life of Christ points to a life of freedom. Sadly, most of us stay rooted in the safety of our own routine. We fear what we can't see. We fear that we will be stretched in a way that hurts or worse, exposes us.
Take the story of Peter when walking on the water. Peter sees Jesus and decides to risk and walk on the water. It is going well, then Peter takes his eyes of Jesus, looks down and begins to sink. It would be easy to say the Peter lost faith in Jesus, but the reality is, Peter had no reason to lose faith in Jesus. Jesus was physically present. He did not have to believe there was a man named Jesus, for Jesus was right there. What happened to Peter is what happens to all of us. We lose faith in in how Christ can work in us. We sink because we forget who we are. We sink because the risk seems too heavy. We get caught up in the bizarre notion that no one will notice our absence. We get caught up in the idea that we are ugly, or stupid, or not good enough for people. We sink into a stream of invisibility because there we hope no one will notice the things we hate about ourselves. It doesn't have to be like that.
What I take away from this season is this: We celebrate the birth of a Savior that points us to a life of freedom. Freedom to love. Freedom to risk. Freedom to fail. Freedom to recover. Freedom to experience joy. We celebrate a Savior that shows us how to live, and to live well. We celebrate the birth of a Savior that believes in us as an individual and collective. Believes you can walk on water. Believes you can challenge the evils of this world. Believes that you can love well and be loved back.
We celebrate the Birth of a Savior that wants you, because this Savior knows all you can be and will push you to be that person. You are going to be missed, you are needed in our world, you do matter. This season is a reminder. There would be no way the birth of Christ would matter if God did not find worth in all of mankind.
My prayer is that we all know our worth, and that we show others just how worth it they are.
Merry Christmas Eve! I am grateful for a Savior that is leading us this year to challenge the evil that exists simply by being who we are.
In my next post, I am going to express a lot of my weaknesses. I get this feeling of frustration with who you are.
Thursday, December 19, 2013
My thoughts on Phil Robertson, Sex Trafficking and Free Market Capitalism
Phil Robertson was recently suspended for sharing his beliefs in an upcoming issue of GQ. The comments were interesting and can be found here: http://www.gq.com/entertainment/television/201401/duck-dynasty-phil-robertson
I will be honest. The interview is meant to highlight his system of belief. I think it could have been done better, but heck, I sometimes don't say things well.
I am shocked not by what happened to Phil, but the response. Countless numbers of christians are posting support Phil MeMes, creating blogs and articles to sync their beliefs to his, engaging in shouting matches about this topic.
The uproar of support however is unnecessary from people who support Free Market Capitalism. This is how the market works. A company does not care about your version of integrity UNLESS it brings them money. People who hate those who mock Free Market Capitalism, in the end hating Free Market Capitalism. Money speaks, and this hurts their business. A & E is a business. They don't care about any of those beliefs. If those beliefs were profitable, guess what, just like nearly all companies, they would practice them. However, Free Market Capitalism doesn't have a set of beliefs besides money decides. Not to mention, integrity doesn't bring in the money we think it does. All of those feel good movies that we see are a great example. Those movies fail every time in the box office. They are never huge successes. Listen to any interview about them, they don't last. So why bother if people don't care.
Which leads me back to Phil. Phil is a reality TV star who works in the free market. He made comments, and now he has to pay for it.
What is ironic to me, how can we support an upper class, super wealthy, reality TV star, need I also add white man, cause a MASSIVE uproar about what he says, get thousands of people to dress in camo, create countless numbers of groups on facebook, spout endless amounts of hate towards people while on every single day domestic violence against women in america is on the climb; While sex trafficking of minors is running a lot deeper than we thought (higher than 5,000,000 minors [unicef]).
Where are their photos? Where are the support groups for the 9 and 10 year old girls being raped by some slob in Kolkata? Where are the hashtags in support of the mother who is trying to protect her children from some abusive man holding them at gunpoint? Where is their support? We waste our time and energy defending who? Where is the hashtag for the innocent black man on death row?
If you can honestly tell me to my face that some white, wealthy, christian, reality tv man needs me to support him, I pray you have a vomit bag ready. That is so lopsided. That is counter biblical. You are showing favoritism, you are showing defense for a public figure who literally can pay for lawyers to defend him.
Phil doesn't need my support. If you think for one minute that he is having his rights trampled by A & E you are dead wrong. A & E is going solely after money. Money talks in Free Market Capitalism. What Phil did sadly hurts their business, so they tried to reconcile that by suspending JUST Phil. Phil can freely speak to any forum. His speech will be heard. However, just like when I was a child, I could say whatever I wanted to my parents, however, there are consequences to what I said. I never feared saying things, I just began to say things that were wise or accurate. I believe logically, Phil is the in the same boat.
Please, I am begging you. The orphans and widows of our world need your defense. They need you posting pictures of their faces. They need the masses to have their back. They need you to drive Free Market Capitalism away from them, because being enslaved to make us happy is not healthy.
I refuse to hashtag my support for Phil Roberstson in this cause unless he is truly being oppressed. I will however support the cause of International Justice Mission, or Sisters of charity, or Tubmen, or Community Violence Intervention Centers....
Please, I am begging you, if you place your faith in Christ, defend the cause of orphans, widows and the oppressed with the same energy as you do Phil Robertson.
I will be honest. The interview is meant to highlight his system of belief. I think it could have been done better, but heck, I sometimes don't say things well.
I am shocked not by what happened to Phil, but the response. Countless numbers of christians are posting support Phil MeMes, creating blogs and articles to sync their beliefs to his, engaging in shouting matches about this topic.
The uproar of support however is unnecessary from people who support Free Market Capitalism. This is how the market works. A company does not care about your version of integrity UNLESS it brings them money. People who hate those who mock Free Market Capitalism, in the end hating Free Market Capitalism. Money speaks, and this hurts their business. A & E is a business. They don't care about any of those beliefs. If those beliefs were profitable, guess what, just like nearly all companies, they would practice them. However, Free Market Capitalism doesn't have a set of beliefs besides money decides. Not to mention, integrity doesn't bring in the money we think it does. All of those feel good movies that we see are a great example. Those movies fail every time in the box office. They are never huge successes. Listen to any interview about them, they don't last. So why bother if people don't care.
Which leads me back to Phil. Phil is a reality TV star who works in the free market. He made comments, and now he has to pay for it.
What is ironic to me, how can we support an upper class, super wealthy, reality TV star, need I also add white man, cause a MASSIVE uproar about what he says, get thousands of people to dress in camo, create countless numbers of groups on facebook, spout endless amounts of hate towards people while on every single day domestic violence against women in america is on the climb; While sex trafficking of minors is running a lot deeper than we thought (higher than 5,000,000 minors [unicef]).
Where are their photos? Where are the support groups for the 9 and 10 year old girls being raped by some slob in Kolkata? Where are the hashtags in support of the mother who is trying to protect her children from some abusive man holding them at gunpoint? Where is their support? We waste our time and energy defending who? Where is the hashtag for the innocent black man on death row?
If you can honestly tell me to my face that some white, wealthy, christian, reality tv man needs me to support him, I pray you have a vomit bag ready. That is so lopsided. That is counter biblical. You are showing favoritism, you are showing defense for a public figure who literally can pay for lawyers to defend him.
Phil doesn't need my support. If you think for one minute that he is having his rights trampled by A & E you are dead wrong. A & E is going solely after money. Money talks in Free Market Capitalism. What Phil did sadly hurts their business, so they tried to reconcile that by suspending JUST Phil. Phil can freely speak to any forum. His speech will be heard. However, just like when I was a child, I could say whatever I wanted to my parents, however, there are consequences to what I said. I never feared saying things, I just began to say things that were wise or accurate. I believe logically, Phil is the in the same boat.
Please, I am begging you. The orphans and widows of our world need your defense. They need you posting pictures of their faces. They need the masses to have their back. They need you to drive Free Market Capitalism away from them, because being enslaved to make us happy is not healthy.
I refuse to hashtag my support for Phil Roberstson in this cause unless he is truly being oppressed. I will however support the cause of International Justice Mission, or Sisters of charity, or Tubmen, or Community Violence Intervention Centers....
Please, I am begging you, if you place your faith in Christ, defend the cause of orphans, widows and the oppressed with the same energy as you do Phil Robertson.
Monday, November 11, 2013
The perspective of a single millenial on Marriage
One of the articles being passed around right now is the article "Marriage isn't for you." Essentially the article points that Marriage isn't for you if you are in it for yourself. Obviously it is more detailed, but however it still hits the point of the article.
Christians wasted no time responding to the article. Most of them mainly criticized the posts claims that marriage is about the other person. The common consensus is that they believe that marriage is about "Jesus" as the center.... They kept saying that marriage isn't about you or her, but about Christ... I wish I could add more to the articles, but sadly that is what was just repeated over and over again.... with a couple verses. The weird part is, the article they are arguing against as not biblical, actually is more biblical than they led us to believe. I mean, there are a lot of verses that say to put others before yourself. However, it was not said the way christians often like, thus responses ensued. Some of it was even bitter and rude.
The truth is, I don't know what it means when people say Marriage isn't about you it is about Jesus. All of these blogs failed to bring in some sort of picture of what it fully means. It makes me feel like marriage isn't for anyone. Don't get me wrong, I believe a relationship founded in the Gospel means something. However, I don't think it means what these articles presented. I can say marriage is for the other person, or that Marriage is about Jesus all I want, but to be honest, I think both sides present a very shallow argument. I don't get this talk about "Marriage is about Jesus" because there is nothing practical, applicable or anything else to just grab onto. I find it to just fall in the area of "Super Christian-y sayings."
I am a single male. I am not walking around looking to get married, but I would enjoy getting married one day. These articles however give me a complex. They point to this idea that marriage has to be perfect, or that one party has to be miserable, or that both of you have to work towards this idea that has no depth, or marriage is about some concept we will never be able to reach. This gives me anxiety, it makes me not want to even look for a companion.
So to all my single friends who read these articles and have romantic feelings after.... Stop. We deserve better, this article I know is not the answer to that picture of what is better. I don't believe these articles tell the truth though. They share this romantic idea about what white suburban middle class marriage is like. But, I could talk until I am blue in the face about what I don't like, so instead, I am going to make three (ish) points to us singles that have been helping me process through this area of my life.
1) Marry your friend- I can't imagine marrying someone and then discovering who they are after the novelty of the wedding fades. I have plenty of friends my age, whom are good friends, who are now divorced because they spent so much time in the honeymoon phase of a getting to know someone (flirty feelings), that when push came to shove, they never really knew the person they were marrying.... I am not saying you have to know everything about the person you are going to marry, but I am confident that you will not find someone who wants to be with you more than a friend who has dealt with your good and bad already. We often don't realize how good our friends are for us because we are too preoccupied trying to find the feet sweeper off'er that we don't realize that the best person for us is right next to us to begin with. The problem is, we crave security and safety but find that to be boring because we have a misguided understanding of safety and security. We think it lacks this adventure when in reality is challenges us to be adventurers. This is often why we don't choose our friends, we are afraid of allowing it to happen, thus making us run into the arms of people who flatter us. Flattery ends, true friendships don't. Being with someone who is already fighting for you as a friend will make a great companion. Ask any counselor or psychologist; we work well with people who fight for and have faith in us. That is what friends do. (PS I don't think there is a time period for this friendship, it can be a month or 15 years)
2) Don't rush- We have an entire life to discover who we go with well. Too often we become impatient, and spend our entire life trying to discover who it is we are going to marry. The worst part is, we miss out on life. We miss out on experiences. We miss out on the adventure. We lose sight of who we are. It is tragic because we so often believe there is something wrong with us because we aren't married at the age of 24. We somehow have been led to believe that we have something wrong with us if we aren't married yet. Trust me, rushing it is a bad thing. I can't tell you how many relationships end because they just went fast and missed learning how to be friends and how to set the relationship up for success. You have nothing to lose by moving at a pace that sets a relationship up for success. And by setting up I mean learning who is this person and how you can care about them. It does not mean doing what society expects of you, it means focusing on learning about each other. You have time. Don't rush. Enjoy your time.
3) Relationships are about each other- You deserve to be loved. We all do. Don't waste your time with non-reciprocal relationships. You will not fix it. With that being said, it is ok to care about yourself. It is not wrong to love yourself. That is a healthy thing. If you hate yourself, how can you even say you love someone else. You will become wrapped up in them to the point where everything about who you are is tied up in their being. That is unhealthy. I firmly believe that when Jesus says "Love the Lord with all your heart and Love your neighbor as yourself..." are the two most important commandments, Jesus is actually giving three. Jesus knew that it would be impossible for you to Love the Lord and Love your neighbor if you hated yourself. Jesus knew that if you resent everything about yourself, you would be in no position to love that which was involved in your creation and that which was your neighbor. Which leads me to my main point. You deserve to be with someone who is willing to reciprocate that love, willing to sacrifice, willing to be with you through the rough times and the remarkable times and all the moments between the two. Having someone who supports your dreams and helps lay the foundation with you, as you reciprocate that to them, is showing that you are both following what the Lord created in you. In that way, I fully believe that the relationship then is about Jesus and how He leads us. He knows our passions, and following that seems to me to be the only way I could make the relationship about Christ; by being who God created us to be and responding to the world the way Jesus would, together. Making it about the other is how a relationship grows.
3.5) I am not traditional. When I say relationships are about each other, I mean they are about the fact that the person you are with should be your equal, not your servant. I am not traditional. I won't expect any woman to be anything less than what she is and can be. I am fine if a woman asks a guy out on a date. I am fine if the woman makes more money than the male. I am fine if the woman takes leadership. Because if I am being honest, I sometimes don't think or know how to do some of these things. I find a woman who will allow me to compliment her weaknesses as she compliments mine, with strengths, to be a very humbling need in my life, and I assume others.
Secret side extra point- Spend time casting a vision for your life, and move towards it as an individual. Don't be afraid of what you are passionate about. I always tell people when I meet with them that the best way to meet someone is when you as an individual and they as an individual are moving forward and experiencing life. When you start running towards your passions, and they start running towards theirs, and you meet, I am convinced you will gain a far better appreciation for them because they have a foundation and you have a foundation, thus leaving you incapable of resenting a person because they held you back from your passions. If you are both finding satisfaction in where you are passionate, gaining a companion can only make that better and often sustainable. (PS I am not saying you have to have the same passions.)
I am not an expert, I could be way off, I have no clue if I am being too optimistic or too shallow. I have so much to learn. But what I do know is that when the time comes, I pray that I am lucky enough to be in a relationship that allows us to learn, sacrifice, compliment, and grow together in this adventure we call life.
The blogs I am talking about:
Christians wasted no time responding to the article. Most of them mainly criticized the posts claims that marriage is about the other person. The common consensus is that they believe that marriage is about "Jesus" as the center.... They kept saying that marriage isn't about you or her, but about Christ... I wish I could add more to the articles, but sadly that is what was just repeated over and over again.... with a couple verses. The weird part is, the article they are arguing against as not biblical, actually is more biblical than they led us to believe. I mean, there are a lot of verses that say to put others before yourself. However, it was not said the way christians often like, thus responses ensued. Some of it was even bitter and rude.
The truth is, I don't know what it means when people say Marriage isn't about you it is about Jesus. All of these blogs failed to bring in some sort of picture of what it fully means. It makes me feel like marriage isn't for anyone. Don't get me wrong, I believe a relationship founded in the Gospel means something. However, I don't think it means what these articles presented. I can say marriage is for the other person, or that Marriage is about Jesus all I want, but to be honest, I think both sides present a very shallow argument. I don't get this talk about "Marriage is about Jesus" because there is nothing practical, applicable or anything else to just grab onto. I find it to just fall in the area of "Super Christian-y sayings."
I am a single male. I am not walking around looking to get married, but I would enjoy getting married one day. These articles however give me a complex. They point to this idea that marriage has to be perfect, or that one party has to be miserable, or that both of you have to work towards this idea that has no depth, or marriage is about some concept we will never be able to reach. This gives me anxiety, it makes me not want to even look for a companion.
So to all my single friends who read these articles and have romantic feelings after.... Stop. We deserve better, this article I know is not the answer to that picture of what is better. I don't believe these articles tell the truth though. They share this romantic idea about what white suburban middle class marriage is like. But, I could talk until I am blue in the face about what I don't like, so instead, I am going to make three (ish) points to us singles that have been helping me process through this area of my life.
1) Marry your friend- I can't imagine marrying someone and then discovering who they are after the novelty of the wedding fades. I have plenty of friends my age, whom are good friends, who are now divorced because they spent so much time in the honeymoon phase of a getting to know someone (flirty feelings), that when push came to shove, they never really knew the person they were marrying.... I am not saying you have to know everything about the person you are going to marry, but I am confident that you will not find someone who wants to be with you more than a friend who has dealt with your good and bad already. We often don't realize how good our friends are for us because we are too preoccupied trying to find the feet sweeper off'er that we don't realize that the best person for us is right next to us to begin with. The problem is, we crave security and safety but find that to be boring because we have a misguided understanding of safety and security. We think it lacks this adventure when in reality is challenges us to be adventurers. This is often why we don't choose our friends, we are afraid of allowing it to happen, thus making us run into the arms of people who flatter us. Flattery ends, true friendships don't. Being with someone who is already fighting for you as a friend will make a great companion. Ask any counselor or psychologist; we work well with people who fight for and have faith in us. That is what friends do. (PS I don't think there is a time period for this friendship, it can be a month or 15 years)
2) Don't rush- We have an entire life to discover who we go with well. Too often we become impatient, and spend our entire life trying to discover who it is we are going to marry. The worst part is, we miss out on life. We miss out on experiences. We miss out on the adventure. We lose sight of who we are. It is tragic because we so often believe there is something wrong with us because we aren't married at the age of 24. We somehow have been led to believe that we have something wrong with us if we aren't married yet. Trust me, rushing it is a bad thing. I can't tell you how many relationships end because they just went fast and missed learning how to be friends and how to set the relationship up for success. You have nothing to lose by moving at a pace that sets a relationship up for success. And by setting up I mean learning who is this person and how you can care about them. It does not mean doing what society expects of you, it means focusing on learning about each other. You have time. Don't rush. Enjoy your time.
3) Relationships are about each other- You deserve to be loved. We all do. Don't waste your time with non-reciprocal relationships. You will not fix it. With that being said, it is ok to care about yourself. It is not wrong to love yourself. That is a healthy thing. If you hate yourself, how can you even say you love someone else. You will become wrapped up in them to the point where everything about who you are is tied up in their being. That is unhealthy. I firmly believe that when Jesus says "Love the Lord with all your heart and Love your neighbor as yourself..." are the two most important commandments, Jesus is actually giving three. Jesus knew that it would be impossible for you to Love the Lord and Love your neighbor if you hated yourself. Jesus knew that if you resent everything about yourself, you would be in no position to love that which was involved in your creation and that which was your neighbor. Which leads me to my main point. You deserve to be with someone who is willing to reciprocate that love, willing to sacrifice, willing to be with you through the rough times and the remarkable times and all the moments between the two. Having someone who supports your dreams and helps lay the foundation with you, as you reciprocate that to them, is showing that you are both following what the Lord created in you. In that way, I fully believe that the relationship then is about Jesus and how He leads us. He knows our passions, and following that seems to me to be the only way I could make the relationship about Christ; by being who God created us to be and responding to the world the way Jesus would, together. Making it about the other is how a relationship grows.
3.5) I am not traditional. When I say relationships are about each other, I mean they are about the fact that the person you are with should be your equal, not your servant. I am not traditional. I won't expect any woman to be anything less than what she is and can be. I am fine if a woman asks a guy out on a date. I am fine if the woman makes more money than the male. I am fine if the woman takes leadership. Because if I am being honest, I sometimes don't think or know how to do some of these things. I find a woman who will allow me to compliment her weaknesses as she compliments mine, with strengths, to be a very humbling need in my life, and I assume others.
Secret side extra point- Spend time casting a vision for your life, and move towards it as an individual. Don't be afraid of what you are passionate about. I always tell people when I meet with them that the best way to meet someone is when you as an individual and they as an individual are moving forward and experiencing life. When you start running towards your passions, and they start running towards theirs, and you meet, I am convinced you will gain a far better appreciation for them because they have a foundation and you have a foundation, thus leaving you incapable of resenting a person because they held you back from your passions. If you are both finding satisfaction in where you are passionate, gaining a companion can only make that better and often sustainable. (PS I am not saying you have to have the same passions.)
I am not an expert, I could be way off, I have no clue if I am being too optimistic or too shallow. I have so much to learn. But what I do know is that when the time comes, I pray that I am lucky enough to be in a relationship that allows us to learn, sacrifice, compliment, and grow together in this adventure we call life.
The blogs I am talking about:
Aritcle 1-http://sethadamsmith.com/2013/11/02/marriage-isnt-for-you/
The rest are responses to this article:
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Why I am moving toward non-violence Part 3 (Final)
I fail at being non-violent. I often still want to respond with violence. It takes all of my energy not to want to beat the living tar out of someone who I witness being a bully or involve themselves in any sort of injustice. Oppression makes me sick.
I fail at this. You see, I often want to use violence as a defense. I want to defend people who are being attacked. We almost hollywoodize violence. Some of us think "If I just kick the crap out of this person, I can show this person how much they suck." We believe that getting even in a violent way is capable of justification. No.
This is a huge lie. In fact it was a lie Jesus even confronted in the Garden when Peter cut the ear off of the Roman Soldier. I mean, when Jesus says "No more of this" in response to the ear chopping, one can clearly conclude Jesus is not about violence. This leaves us with the question of why. Why is Jesus not pro-violence. I mean, it would be super easy for me to walk into a brothel, kill everyone of those persons involved, and walk out with those girls. In fact, it is something I often think about. And I know exactly where this comes from.
This comes from the Jesus I have created in my mind. I know Jesus cares about the bullied, the oppressed, the trafficked, the sick injustice that is hidden in the dark. I know Jesus wants me to take on the case of the widow and the orphans; for some reason though I believe the best way to do this is to create this war path that shows how right I am and how wrong the oppressors are. I seem to have a very shallow view of scripture.
If you believe today that the Bible is inerrant, that this Holy Text is from God, then you can not, under any circumstances believe that parts of it are applicable and parts of it are not. You can't take the parts you enjoy, because this turns Jesus into our image rather than us into God's. When we do that, everything becomes permissible. This is how christian's justified the crusades, justified the intense corruption of the early church, and currently we justify our inaction. We justify our inaction against oppression in our world. We justify this by saying, it is not our calling. We allow for violence to continue because we don't want those difficult parts of the Bible to mean what they actually mean.
We become sadly a culture focused on managing our sin rather than a culture focused on recognizing that we are free (Galatians 5:1) and a person who is capable of changing the world! It is like a Pastor once told me "if you want to encounter Jesus, you can't do so through studying Christ, you have to believe what was taught and go where Jesus would be, with the hungry, the naked, the sick, the thirsty, the imprisoned." It is remarkable to me, that non of the way Jesus calls us to minister to the world involves a weapon or a fist. In fact, nearly every story of Jesus working with the poor and sick involved compassion, not Jesus attacking someone to make it right.
Oddly enough, as if I don't respond in an unhealthy way as it is, God calls us to love our enemies. How am I suppose to tell the oppressors of this world that God loves them? That God still finds worth and value in them even though I think they are slobs.... I find it beyond reprehensible that a man could rape a child, even worse that we allow this to happen, but that a man could do that is beyond repugnant. In my mind that man deserves to be put to death. Some how, God thinks different. God is not justifying their actions, but God still sees redeemable qualities in those persons. Even as I write this, I am screaming inside.
I realize why this is true. Those people all have stories. God is not asking us to not to provide consequences for the actions, but God is asking us to learn to forgive, come along side the victims and the oppressors to create an order of peace, one that points to forgiveness and hope. God does not find these actions right, but as it says in Romans "Everything is permissible but not beneficial."
So, about those stories. We don't often hear the oppressors stories, what drove them to this point. The reason why, because no one wants to see why a person got to this point. I mean, have you heard some of these people talk about why they are the way they are? Life is this vicious cycle of oppression and violence. I mean, I was listening as a prostitute was explaining why she was in the business because her uncle use to rape her and threaten to kill her if she told anyone. She later finds out that he was beaten as a child and raped by his uncle. Violence creates this vicious cycle and sadly has lasting affects; but our oppressors are often victims. They are victims of a tragic fallen and broken world that is in constant need of Hope, sadly we just place it in everything else but that which is enduring and never ending; Christ.
Our oppressors have stories, tragic stories in many cases that cause them to live like this. God sees that, and God did not just die on the cross for the BMW driving christian who tries hard to manage their own sin. Christ died for our oppressors, and knows their stories aren't over even though their actions are deplorable in the eyes of God.
To bring it back full circle, I don't condone violence, and I can't imagine it will be easy to practice this. I however don't believe I am fully following Christ unless I begin to realize that God is calling me to a life of being a peacemaker. There is no way peace involves violence. Or I at least find it implausible.
I have a lot of work to do. I am SO far from applying this view. It is difficult, but I can't seem to interpret the Bible differently.
I fail at this. You see, I often want to use violence as a defense. I want to defend people who are being attacked. We almost hollywoodize violence. Some of us think "If I just kick the crap out of this person, I can show this person how much they suck." We believe that getting even in a violent way is capable of justification. No.
This is a huge lie. In fact it was a lie Jesus even confronted in the Garden when Peter cut the ear off of the Roman Soldier. I mean, when Jesus says "No more of this" in response to the ear chopping, one can clearly conclude Jesus is not about violence. This leaves us with the question of why. Why is Jesus not pro-violence. I mean, it would be super easy for me to walk into a brothel, kill everyone of those persons involved, and walk out with those girls. In fact, it is something I often think about. And I know exactly where this comes from.
This comes from the Jesus I have created in my mind. I know Jesus cares about the bullied, the oppressed, the trafficked, the sick injustice that is hidden in the dark. I know Jesus wants me to take on the case of the widow and the orphans; for some reason though I believe the best way to do this is to create this war path that shows how right I am and how wrong the oppressors are. I seem to have a very shallow view of scripture.
If you believe today that the Bible is inerrant, that this Holy Text is from God, then you can not, under any circumstances believe that parts of it are applicable and parts of it are not. You can't take the parts you enjoy, because this turns Jesus into our image rather than us into God's. When we do that, everything becomes permissible. This is how christian's justified the crusades, justified the intense corruption of the early church, and currently we justify our inaction. We justify our inaction against oppression in our world. We justify this by saying, it is not our calling. We allow for violence to continue because we don't want those difficult parts of the Bible to mean what they actually mean.
We become sadly a culture focused on managing our sin rather than a culture focused on recognizing that we are free (Galatians 5:1) and a person who is capable of changing the world! It is like a Pastor once told me "if you want to encounter Jesus, you can't do so through studying Christ, you have to believe what was taught and go where Jesus would be, with the hungry, the naked, the sick, the thirsty, the imprisoned." It is remarkable to me, that non of the way Jesus calls us to minister to the world involves a weapon or a fist. In fact, nearly every story of Jesus working with the poor and sick involved compassion, not Jesus attacking someone to make it right.
Oddly enough, as if I don't respond in an unhealthy way as it is, God calls us to love our enemies. How am I suppose to tell the oppressors of this world that God loves them? That God still finds worth and value in them even though I think they are slobs.... I find it beyond reprehensible that a man could rape a child, even worse that we allow this to happen, but that a man could do that is beyond repugnant. In my mind that man deserves to be put to death. Some how, God thinks different. God is not justifying their actions, but God still sees redeemable qualities in those persons. Even as I write this, I am screaming inside.
I realize why this is true. Those people all have stories. God is not asking us to not to provide consequences for the actions, but God is asking us to learn to forgive, come along side the victims and the oppressors to create an order of peace, one that points to forgiveness and hope. God does not find these actions right, but as it says in Romans "Everything is permissible but not beneficial."
So, about those stories. We don't often hear the oppressors stories, what drove them to this point. The reason why, because no one wants to see why a person got to this point. I mean, have you heard some of these people talk about why they are the way they are? Life is this vicious cycle of oppression and violence. I mean, I was listening as a prostitute was explaining why she was in the business because her uncle use to rape her and threaten to kill her if she told anyone. She later finds out that he was beaten as a child and raped by his uncle. Violence creates this vicious cycle and sadly has lasting affects; but our oppressors are often victims. They are victims of a tragic fallen and broken world that is in constant need of Hope, sadly we just place it in everything else but that which is enduring and never ending; Christ.
Our oppressors have stories, tragic stories in many cases that cause them to live like this. God sees that, and God did not just die on the cross for the BMW driving christian who tries hard to manage their own sin. Christ died for our oppressors, and knows their stories aren't over even though their actions are deplorable in the eyes of God.
To bring it back full circle, I don't condone violence, and I can't imagine it will be easy to practice this. I however don't believe I am fully following Christ unless I begin to realize that God is calling me to a life of being a peacemaker. There is no way peace involves violence. Or I at least find it implausible.
I have a lot of work to do. I am SO far from applying this view. It is difficult, but I can't seem to interpret the Bible differently.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Why I am moving toward non-violence Part 2, The Death Penalty
I am slowly moving closer and closer to non-violence as a way of life. Responding to our personal situations in life in a violent manner is not healthy, but oddly acceptable. Think of all the videos on youtube praising kids for beating up their bullies, or praising parents who defend their child's honor by taking revenge, or worse the videos praising the death of a human being.
This response is not biblical. I listened as a mother was weeping saying, "Even though I know my son's actions were deplorable, I still love him, and want to see redemption." We aren't a very forgiving society though.
There are literally countless verses from Romans alone pointing to a non-violent stance, in all circumstances. How many times did Jesus rebuke the notion of violence? Turn the other cheek? I mean, even when involved in a violent situation, Jesus told Peter to put his sword away after cutting off Malchus's ear, the High Priest's slave, and exclaims "No More of this." (Luke 22)
The problem is, what to do with the murderers, rapists, terrorist, aggressors, bullies and all those who bring out the violence in us all.
It is easy to believe that what we need to have happen to them all is to return the favor. An eye for an eye. They murder someone, we murder them back. They rape someone, they get beat. They kill masses, we kill them. Our response is often return the favor. I mean, can we honestly justify putting someone to death? Especially if there is a chance of innocence and or redemption? I mean, if we are realistic, 18 people have been exonerated in the US because evidence proved them innocent. (I know, I can go on and on and on about how I am against the death penalty, but that is a separate post)
Don't get me wrong, what I am about to say may seem like I am for inaction thus leaving you to conclude I condone evil. In fact the opposite is true. While there are many verses that lead us to stances of non-violence, there are more verses that demand our exhaustive action against evil; to be prepared to fight against injustice. I just happen to interpret scripture to point out that our action requires us to be non-violently just.
With that being said, I need to make it clear that I am against war, the death penalty, weapons that can only bring destruction, beating the crap out of someone and genocide. Oppressing our oppressors teach them nothing though. I mean, we are literally teaching our youth with the death penalty that if someone murders another person, we have the right to murder them back. These are christian leaders telling people this is ok, and in some circumstances "God's will!" What a tragedy. What is worse is that we cut short the redemptive story of God in their life. Do we not believe when Peter exclaims that "God is not willing that anyone of us shall perish...." ?
Now, I know many of you may ask what to do about Osama Bin Laden or Hitler. It is difficult for me to celebrate the death of any human, but our action sometimes requires us to do things that aren't the right thing, but sometimes the best thing. For example, Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew that killing Hitler was the best option before him, but knowing full well there was no Good option at all. He knew that the greater problem was the genocide happening right before him. I regretfully would agree with Bonhoeffer.
When I talk about non-violence, these areas are often the focus. We are so focused on righting wrongs in this world that we will do so at any temporary cost. What we don't want to ask is, why are the wicked doing what is wicked? Why are they the way they are?
Listen, there is a deep, dark, oppressive evil in this world. No one is denying that. It hides a lot: 30,000,000 slaves, 5,000,000 child prostitutes, domestic abuse, mass shootings, drug dealing, bullying genocides and so much more. The problem is, we know that this is happening, but we are quicker to anger than action. And often our anger leads us to want violent responses. Those responses are unhealthy and are driven by appropriate emotions but often to false actions. These assume we have the total picture. Listen, if there is one thing I am sure of, we give the evil in our world too much power. I am confident that in the following verses from Job, after many arguments thus far with God, Job asks great questions to which the answers are powerful.
I am safe ending with these sets of verses (PS, I don't think this imagery leads to violence, I think it leads us to recognize that evil and wickedness are powerless.):
Now, I know I was going to praise the military and police officers in the part, however, I elect to spend a portion of my part 3 on this. Hopefully it will also close some of the holes I am still leaving in my points.
This response is not biblical. I listened as a mother was weeping saying, "Even though I know my son's actions were deplorable, I still love him, and want to see redemption." We aren't a very forgiving society though.
There are literally countless verses from Romans alone pointing to a non-violent stance, in all circumstances. How many times did Jesus rebuke the notion of violence? Turn the other cheek? I mean, even when involved in a violent situation, Jesus told Peter to put his sword away after cutting off Malchus's ear, the High Priest's slave, and exclaims "No More of this." (Luke 22)
The problem is, what to do with the murderers, rapists, terrorist, aggressors, bullies and all those who bring out the violence in us all.
It is easy to believe that what we need to have happen to them all is to return the favor. An eye for an eye. They murder someone, we murder them back. They rape someone, they get beat. They kill masses, we kill them. Our response is often return the favor. I mean, can we honestly justify putting someone to death? Especially if there is a chance of innocence and or redemption? I mean, if we are realistic, 18 people have been exonerated in the US because evidence proved them innocent. (I know, I can go on and on and on about how I am against the death penalty, but that is a separate post)
Don't get me wrong, what I am about to say may seem like I am for inaction thus leaving you to conclude I condone evil. In fact the opposite is true. While there are many verses that lead us to stances of non-violence, there are more verses that demand our exhaustive action against evil; to be prepared to fight against injustice. I just happen to interpret scripture to point out that our action requires us to be non-violently just.
With that being said, I need to make it clear that I am against war, the death penalty, weapons that can only bring destruction, beating the crap out of someone and genocide. Oppressing our oppressors teach them nothing though. I mean, we are literally teaching our youth with the death penalty that if someone murders another person, we have the right to murder them back. These are christian leaders telling people this is ok, and in some circumstances "God's will!" What a tragedy. What is worse is that we cut short the redemptive story of God in their life. Do we not believe when Peter exclaims that "God is not willing that anyone of us shall perish...." ?
Now, I know many of you may ask what to do about Osama Bin Laden or Hitler. It is difficult for me to celebrate the death of any human, but our action sometimes requires us to do things that aren't the right thing, but sometimes the best thing. For example, Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew that killing Hitler was the best option before him, but knowing full well there was no Good option at all. He knew that the greater problem was the genocide happening right before him. I regretfully would agree with Bonhoeffer.
When I talk about non-violence, these areas are often the focus. We are so focused on righting wrongs in this world that we will do so at any temporary cost. What we don't want to ask is, why are the wicked doing what is wicked? Why are they the way they are?
Listen, there is a deep, dark, oppressive evil in this world. No one is denying that. It hides a lot: 30,000,000 slaves, 5,000,000 child prostitutes, domestic abuse, mass shootings, drug dealing, bullying genocides and so much more. The problem is, we know that this is happening, but we are quicker to anger than action. And often our anger leads us to want violent responses. Those responses are unhealthy and are driven by appropriate emotions but often to false actions. These assume we have the total picture. Listen, if there is one thing I am sure of, we give the evil in our world too much power. I am confident that in the following verses from Job, after many arguments thus far with God, Job asks great questions to which the answers are powerful.
I am safe ending with these sets of verses (PS, I don't think this imagery leads to violence, I think it leads us to recognize that evil and wickedness are powerless.):
Job 24 (NLT)
Job Asks Why the Wicked Are Not Punished
24 “Why doesn’t the Almighty bring the wicked to judgment?
Why must the godly wait for him in vain?
2 Evil people steal land by moving the boundary markers.
They steal livestock and put them in their own pastures.
3 They take the orphan’s donkey
and demand the widow’s ox as security for a loan.
4 The poor are pushed off the path;
the needy must hide together for safety.
5 Like wild donkeys in the wilderness,
the poor must spend all their time looking for food,
searching even in the desert for food for their children.
6 They harvest a field they do not own,
and they glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
7 All night they lie naked in the cold,
without clothing or covering.
8 They are soaked by mountain showers,
and they huddle against the rocks for want of a home.
Why must the godly wait for him in vain?
2 Evil people steal land by moving the boundary markers.
They steal livestock and put them in their own pastures.
3 They take the orphan’s donkey
and demand the widow’s ox as security for a loan.
4 The poor are pushed off the path;
the needy must hide together for safety.
5 Like wild donkeys in the wilderness,
the poor must spend all their time looking for food,
searching even in the desert for food for their children.
6 They harvest a field they do not own,
and they glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
7 All night they lie naked in the cold,
without clothing or covering.
8 They are soaked by mountain showers,
and they huddle against the rocks for want of a home.
9 “The wicked snatch a widow’s child from her breast,
taking the baby as security for a loan.
10 The poor must go about naked, without any clothing.
They harvest food for others while they themselves are starving.
11 They press out olive oil without being allowed to taste it,
and they tread in the winepress as they suffer from thirst.
12 The groans of the dying rise from the city,
and the wounded cry for help,
yet God ignores their moaning.
taking the baby as security for a loan.
10 The poor must go about naked, without any clothing.
They harvest food for others while they themselves are starving.
11 They press out olive oil without being allowed to taste it,
and they tread in the winepress as they suffer from thirst.
12 The groans of the dying rise from the city,
and the wounded cry for help,
yet God ignores their moaning.
13 “Wicked people rebel against the light.
They refuse to acknowledge its ways
or stay in its paths.
14 The murderer rises in the early dawn
to kill the poor and needy;
at night he is a thief.
15 The adulterer waits for the twilight,
saying, ‘No one will see me then.’
He hides his face so no one will know him.
16 Thieves break into houses at night
and sleep in the daytime.
They are not acquainted with the light.
17 The black night is their morning.
They ally themselves with the terrors of the darkness.
They refuse to acknowledge its ways
or stay in its paths.
14 The murderer rises in the early dawn
to kill the poor and needy;
at night he is a thief.
15 The adulterer waits for the twilight,
saying, ‘No one will see me then.’
He hides his face so no one will know him.
16 Thieves break into houses at night
and sleep in the daytime.
They are not acquainted with the light.
17 The black night is their morning.
They ally themselves with the terrors of the darkness.
18 “But they disappear like foam down a river.
Everything they own is cursed,
and they are afraid to enter their own vineyards.
19 The grave[a] consumes sinners
just as drought and heat consume snow.
20 Their own mothers will forget them.
Maggots will find them sweet to eat.
No one will remember them.
Wicked people are broken like a tree in the storm.
21 They cheat the woman who has no son to help her.
They refuse to help the needy widow.
Everything they own is cursed,
and they are afraid to enter their own vineyards.
19 The grave[a] consumes sinners
just as drought and heat consume snow.
20 Their own mothers will forget them.
Maggots will find them sweet to eat.
No one will remember them.
Wicked people are broken like a tree in the storm.
21 They cheat the woman who has no son to help her.
They refuse to help the needy widow.
22 “God, in his power, drags away the rich.
They may rise high, but they have no assurance of life.
23 They may be allowed to live in security,
but God is always watching them.
24 And though they are great now,
in a moment they will be gone like all others,
cut off like heads of grain.
25 Can anyone claim otherwise?
Who can prove me wrong?”
They may rise high, but they have no assurance of life.
23 They may be allowed to live in security,
but God is always watching them.
24 And though they are great now,
in a moment they will be gone like all others,
cut off like heads of grain.
25 Can anyone claim otherwise?
Who can prove me wrong?”
Now, I know I was going to praise the military and police officers in the part, however, I elect to spend a portion of my part 3 on this. Hopefully it will also close some of the holes I am still leaving in my points.
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