I Don’t Know What an “Illegal” is…
On one occasion in the story the town’s pastor, Rev. Trocme’ got into a heated verbal confrontation with a government official about the so-called “illegal Jewish refugees,” and the desire of the government to deport them. In the argument the government official told Pastor Trocme’ that he was “threatening national harmony” by harboring and protecting the Jews from deportation.
To this, Pastor Trocme’ responded… “It cannot be a question of national harmony when our brothers are threatened with deportation.”
On hearing this, the official told the pastor that the “Jews” were NOT his brothers, and that they are “Jews.”
Pastor Trocme’s response was simple, powerful, and profound. He said, “We do not know what a Jew is. We know only men” (p. 103).
What’s the Difference Between Women Preaching and Women Blogging?
So as for men not learning from women, this has to do with the authority of the position of an elder. Outside of this, we are foolish to think that men do not learn from women. How can we be helpers if we are not all teachers of some sort? And with all the influence that women do have in the church, the home, and the world, we should want them to be very good theologians.
I am the product of the effects of God’s Word being received. I take that closing benediction seriously, and I am so enthralled by what I have received that I can’t keep quiet during the week. I must reflect on it. I must learn more about this amazing God. And I want to share that with others. God gifts many people to be teachers. And he gifts many of those to write. But praise God for the ministerial office of preaching! I’ll leave that to whom he calls.
If you get a chance, read this op-ed piece in the New York Times A Plea For Caution From Russia, written by Russian President Vladimir Putin. At a time when the conflict in the Middle-East, and particularly in Syria, continues, Putin’s words are wise even if they upset some patriotic sensibilities among Americans.
September Twelfth Christianity
When things seem darkest, that’s when our hope should shine the brightest. When things seem at their worst, we should be at our best. September 11 was a terrible day, but suffering is continuous. There are souls in need of your love and compassion right now. There are people who need your hope and your help; you just have to feel compelled to share it. Remember who you were on September 12, and recapture that.
That Age-Old Question: Why Do Good Things Happen?
Still, the question of why so many bad things happen remains something we cannot get off of our minds. But I wonder why it does not occur to us to ask the inverse question of why people get to experience so many good things in life. If God is watching, we instinctively perceive that he is to blame for all of the bad things that go on; but what about the good things? The 19th Century Victorian poet Christina Rossetti wrote, “Were there no God, we would be in this glorious world with grateful hearts and no one to thank.” Have you ever seriously contemplated the “Problem of Good”? People who do not believe in any sort of ultimate goodness should be particularly confounded by this question. Think of it: if no person like God exists, if from the start no purpose lay behind the origin and structure of this universe, and if the only game being played out is the strictly biological one, why should there be such varied experiences of joy in the lives of people?
But is the merely acceptable really acceptable? Is it really okay to exclude only the obviously horrible? Did Jesus die on the cross, did he send out his Spirit, to create churches that settle for something? It might seem unusual for a church to include only the obviously glorious. It might seem bold if the only reason why people get in their cars and drive down to their church on Sunday morning is their desire to see the glory of Christ. But real Christianity is bold, because the real Jesus is glorious. He just is.
Bolivia Imposes Animist Worldview on Christian Churches
The constitution of February 2009 established a “secular state” designed to be neutral in matters of faith and conscience. The country’s Protestant Christian population, which had long sought church and state separation, initially welcomed the new political order. They assumed a secular state meant the end of religious discrimination.
Protestant leaders now fear, however, that pre-Colombian animism is replacing Roman Catholicism as the official state religion. Morales’s administration routinely invites amautas (folk doctors) to bless government ceremonies, instead of Roman Catholic priests as per traditional protocol.
Would you board flight 666 to HEL?
The daily flight AY666 from Copenhagen to Helsinki falls on Friday the 13th twice in 2013. Friday the 13th is considered bad luck in many countries and the number 666 also has strong negative biblical associations.
That ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ modern trailer is dynamite
Because, come on. It’s not every day that someone goes and makes “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” seem like a high-budget medieval Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster. (Instead of, you know, just a bunch of guys running around Scotland with coconuts.)