Arragned To Compliment

Ultimately... When It Comes To The Incomprehensible
Economy Of God And His Mysterious Providence
There Is Not One Thing That Is Arranged
To Be Only Subordinate To Another -
Subordination Is Merely Situational
They Can Only, Ultimately, Be Complimentary

When Elements Of The Created Order Exist
Relationally Out-of-Balance With Each Other
Those Relationships Then Become Adversarial
They Compete Rather Than Compliment
The Other Believing Perceptually, It Is More Necessary
a.k.a. "Better" Than The Other...
That Is Why The Essence Of The Fall Is
"Dis-Integration"

rsg 12/09/2008

More Thoughts...

We All Know In Ourselves

The Urge To Avoid The Bad...

By Not Risking The Good...

r.s.g. (I think!)

The Design of the Universe and Intelligent Design

Whatever your thoughts about this subject, this is important to watch and learn if Christians are to have the "conversation" with those out there who believe science provides all of the answers. I was amazed to observe the surety, confidence and dare I say "faith," with which Smoot describes the origin, construction and structure of the Universe. It seemed clear evidence to me in term of "Intelligent Design." It also heightened tremendously - in an almost overwhelming sense - of God's omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience.

clipped from www.ted.com George Smoot on the design of the universe 19:00 Nov 2008 clipped from www.ted.com At Serious Play 2008, astrophysicist George Smoot shows stunning new images from deep-space surveys, and prods us to ponder how the cosmos -- with its giant webs of dark matter and mysterious gaping voids -- got built this way. About George Smoot Astrophysicist, cosmologist and Nobel Prize winner George Smoot studies the cosmic microwave background radiation -- the afterglow of the Big Bang. His pioneering research into deep space and… Full bio and more links

Happy Hunting - Enjoy Your Freedom!!!

Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.

Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.

Thomas Jefferson

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

Second Amendment of the U.S.A. Constitution

Freedom...

Necessity is the plea

for every infringement of human freedom.

It is the argument of tyrants;

it is the creed of slaves.

-William Pitt, 1783

Think About The Personal Implications....

The Worst Lonliness

Is Not Being Comfortable

With Yourself

Mark Twain

KNOWLEDGE AND THOSE WHO WIELD IT

All Knowledge Is On The Whole A Composition.

It Has No Beginning Nor And End.

Its existence can only be useful in the present

Not In The Past Nor The Future.

Knowledge Works Best For The Discerning

If There Is Anything That We Have To Be Cautious About

It Is Knowledge...

If There Is Anything That We Have To Protect

It Is Knowledge...


Knowledge Is Always A Crucible

That Attempts To Shape Our Reality

A Composition Made Up Of A Collected Body Of Knowledge

Is Always Constructed

By The Preconception and Context Of Those Who Wield It.

Raw Knowledge In It's Various Compositions

Are Never And Always To Be Mistaken Automatically

For Truth - That Is The Role For Wisdom
rsg 11/01/08

When It Comes To Conflict Between Nations and People Groups

Whenever The World Formally Embraces "Peace" Following A Conflict

It Rarely Does So, Because Of It's Value As A Transcendent "Ideal..."

But Rather As A Matter Of Cool, Deliberate "Pragmatism"

And That Very Idea, Should Be Terrifying To Us All
rsg 10/30/08



At Its Root...

The Quint Essential Essence of Why A Person Becomes Angry

Is Simply Because They Did Not Get What They Wanted

Rightly or Wrongly...
rsg 10/30/08

To A Number of People I Know...

One Mistake A Person's Life, Usually Does Not Make

But A Series of Similar Mistakes Can Shape A Life

That Cannot Be Unmade
rsg 10/27/08


Someone Once Said:

"Insanity" Is Making The Same Mistakes

Over and Over Again

And Expecting A Different Result Everytime



Most People Choose To Live To Those Ways

In Which They Are Dying

Rather Than Die To Those Ways

In Order To Live
rsg 05/06

With Regard To Christian Luminaries – Discussion From A Facebook Thread

A few off-the-top-of-my-head thoughts for Jason, in response to your post and vid in Facebook: It seems to me that everybody in varying degrees is a "heretic." The question becomes for all: "in what manner and to what degree can we extract that element of truth each of us?" This is often where the real work of the Christian is for all of us. Christ reveals Himself in all of us, but He does not reveal all of Himself in any of us. There are usually no clear lines of where He is and where we begin – is usually a broad band of circular gradations that encompasses us all. However, once you get to the core of either… you just know what they really are… When it comes to communicating the Gospel, "Style" cannot be mistaken for "Substance," but "Style" cannot in most cases be mitigated either... because it is "Style" that may make the "Substance" accessible, to those for whom we cannot access. Perhaps, instead of people taking on the exclusive role of "an authority" in these matters, we should simply (albeit sometimes passionately) offer our humble perspective and let the Holy Spirit do His work from there. Again, remember: Despite our best efforts and our most disciplined work we always speak, write and live out of some degree of heresy – sometime pathologically so…. There are many, many Christians for example who appear on the "outside" in terms of their actions, as flawless. But, it would not be rare for many of those same people, when it comes to their inward motivation, for it to be goaded into existence from deepest parts of hell itself. For most, the dynamic of our fallen nature militates this and the noetic affects of sin, on some level, would damn us to it. It is precisely because of these issues, that humility, grace and love towards one another are so important. I always find it odd that for two millennium that when it comes to truth, the church always appear to be susceptible to majoring in the minors and minoring in the majors. Indeed, this phenomenon is what drives so many denominations – all 30,000 of them. I think it clear that Christians should always work to live out of The Core of orthodoxy and make regular pilgrimages to the edge. But I don't think we should live only on the edge, and then self-righteously wonder and judge the validity of The Core. Often times, these are the people who stand over scripture instead of under it. This DOES NOT MAKE TRUTH RELATIVE... IT JUST MAKES US RELATIVE TO THE TRUTH. By Way of Example: Recently Jason, I responded to your comments about Rob Bell. He is a prime example (as well as Tony Jones) of what I am talking about. He has much to say and has been a blessing to many… His approach and some of his perspectives have been enlightening and life giving. On the other hand, I roundly disagree on his position regarding the Virgin Birth… I just wonder if he is trying too hard to appeal to the Enlightenment Spirit in order to be relevant. From my perspective he is playing with fire as it relates potentially to the core of our orthodoxy. Does that make him a person that we should not listen to? Not necessarily, but perhaps a bit more circumspectly – graciously so… on this specific matter. We did this historically with many of the early church Fathers I think we can afford to do this with people like him as well. The problem is in too many cases, we want to be lazy and look for the "fire-and-forget" teachers and theologians, so that we can be confident enough that no matter what they say, we have nothing to fear and we can always direct someone to them… Those people are VERY RARE. The work of Spiritual Direction, Formation and Discipleship is hard work and it is our responsibility to do what is necessary for those souls the Lord has given to us. We are not consultants… we are Vassal ambassadors whose purpose it is to represent our Suzerain in all things well. Feel free to respond... The vitality of your "community" endeavor depends on much of what has been discussed! Blessings Brothers! Rich

Thoughts To Ponder On - From "UnSpeakable" by Os Guinness

If there is not God to blame for evil,

the we humans are fully responsible.

But if evil in the modern world has grown worse rather than better,

are we really capable or worthy of such responsibility?

Os Guinness


A Basic Fact of Life

Is That Any Of Us May Suffer

And All Of Us Will Die

Os Guinness



There Is No Time, No Part of The Globe

Free From Evil

'The Crust Of The Earth Is Soaked With The Tears of The Suffering

Eleonore Stump


A Single Death Is A Tragedy,

A Million Deaths Is A Statistic

Joseph Stalin


It Is Easier To Denature Plutonium

Than To Denature The Evil Spirit Of Man

Albert Einstein


Historian Will Durant

... There Have Been Only Twenty-Nine Years

In Which There Was No War Under Way Somewhere,

But Does This Say Something Overwhelming About Us As Humans

Or Is It Only A Tasty Morsel For Dinner Party Conversation


Raph Waldo Emerson

He Has Seen But Half The Universe

Who Has Never Been Shown The House of Pain.

As The Salt Sea Covers More Than Two-Thirds Of The Surface Of The Globe

So Sorrow Encroaches In Man On Felicity

SOCIALISM

Definition of: An economic system in which the basic means of production are primarily owned and controlled collectively, usually by government under some system of central planning.

Socialism Works Well Only For The Many
Who Have Lost Their "Will"

AND For The "Will," of The Few, Who Need To Control The Many
In The End It Allows Only For "Victims" To "Survive"
And Those Who Had "Survived" To Become "Victims"

There Is A Crucial Difference Between
Helping Those In Need...

And Needing, To Need, To "Help" The "Needy"

For Whatever Reason...
r.s.g. 10/12/08

[Youth] Casualties of War

MEAN-SPIRITED BIAS

An Open Letter To The Editors of

Newsweek Magazine

While your written article on Sarah Palin was fair, I find the photo for your cover article [difficult to see here] on Palin outrageous, and clear evidence that there is no end to the limit, and the moral turpitude that the electronic and print media will do to trash anyone from the Political Right [Also See: Inside Edition With Deborah Norville - 10/08/08]

Your job is to report the news, not to invent it. To be fair, do you really want to make "physical characteristics" of all the candidates and issue for a national election? Are you so blinded by your bias and political agenda that you fail to see those who live in the red states will be deeply offended by your mean-spirited article?

The ONLY real purposes in portraying Sarah Palin, in this manner is to personally humiliate; and shallowly attempt to discredit her, merely through her appearance - just short of displaying her as a "caricature" - you call this is sophisticated journalism?

I would expect this kind of article from the National Inquirer, not Newsweek. Just remember, whom you help to elect, you will have to eventually explain and defend... Perhaps not an enviable position in say two years...

To be clear, my issue here is fairness, balance and objectivity in the discussion and portrayal of the candidates... It is not the mass media's prerogative to shape an election, because of their preconceived agendas - particularly as it is related to non-essential issues...

Media Fairness – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

There are many who continue to be disgusted by the Media's bias regarding the Presidential race... The McClatchy News Paper/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette included! The same questions aimed at Sarah Palin could just as easily be asked of Barack Obama, but where have they been? Amazingly, it seemed as if Obama was coronated by the Media as President of the United States [virtually ipso facto], the day he won the election as a Senator, in November of 2004. At issue here is the responsibility to report truth and reality objectively and fairly - for both political parties. It is not under the Media's purview to shape the facts in order to affect any political outcome.

If Sarah Palin had committed the same kinds of gaffes that Joe Biden did in Thursday's debate; if she had demonstrated the same poor command of the "facts" and/or perceived as intentionally misleading the audience - those comments would have been splashed in BOLD PRINT on the front page of every print media in the nation; and in like manner CROWED from the roof tops of virtually every electronic media outlet in the country. Instead, the media's response was to provide merciful silence for Joe Biden's astounding "mis-statements;" and then conversely provide patronizing comments about Palin's "folksy" demeanor; followed by snarky indictments regarding her intelligence and preparedness.

Biden did indeed APPEAR to have a bit more detail and substance, but how valuable is that if many of his policy-oriented facts are wrong? Since when, and in what universe were accurate facts ever not important for being qualified for ANYTHING (See Editorial Page, Oct. 4^th)? Given the clear and overwhelming media bias in favor of Obama/Biden, why should the Obama camp need to raise millions of dollars to purchase air time, and print space to advance their cause?

The Elite Media – is the singular most powerful institution in American culture, with the least amount of accountability. They are driven by their subjective worldviews and advertising dollars; and their complicity in shaping American elections is barely subtle. Americans can hold them more accountable than what they do. I will begin first by canceling my subscription to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

BILL MAHER

Regarding His Mockumentory -

"Religulous"

"'Mockery' Is An Inner Rage

Masked As Mean-Spirited Humor"

rsg 10-01-08

The Real Question for Him is Not What He Believes To Be True...

But What Is He So Angry About?

In Varying Degrees We All Have Our Inner Pathologies.

Don't We?

The Thing About About A Pathology

Is That When It Matures

And Has Full Control Over Someone
It Works Determinedly To Evangelize Itself To All Others

Ultimately For Control...

Hungrily Reaching Out... Spitefully Consuming...

Grinding and Masticating

[Angrily] Metabolizing The Other - To Be Like Itself...

Hmmn... Just Think, A World Full of Bill Maher's

(Or... A World Full Of Mother Teresa's et. AL!)

A (3:00 a.m.) - Personal Rant About: Our 700 Billion Dollars!!!

As of this week, whatever your investments were worth 8 years ago, they are now worth the same today- and someone else has YOUR money. Imagine that... In addition, many of those CEO's et al., on Wall Street, who made those financial decisions are dancing and whirling away with tens of millions of dollars, making them far, far, more wealthy then what they were before. They are now in clandestine fashion, hiding out in some recently purchased estate in Tahiti.

This is a perfect example of how a thing can be perfectly legal, but incredibly immoral and unethical.

Actually, we all lose in multiple ways:

1. This collapse means we lost whatever we gained in investments over the last 8 years in retirement etc. investments.

2. We will have to pay more taxes to finance this 700 Billion Dollars bailout! Parenthetically, by the way, only 50% of Americans pay taxes; and those making over $250,000 annually, pay about 50% of their income in taxes as it is (this group is about 5% of the tax paying population)... largely small business owners... the economic engine within our culture. The very group targeted by Obama, for substantial tax hikes, should he win. Interestingly, those 50% who do not pay taxes still receive federal stimulus checks... Hmnn...

3. This 700 Billion Dollars will go straight onto the national debt, further weakening the dollar and demasculating George Washington in over-seas foreign markets... Conversely, if foreign investors withdrew their monies because of a lack of confidence in the dollar, this could further deepen substantially the recession that we are now currently in. We are now wonderfully positioned to have little power to invest in and buy nothing oveseas, but it will allow those Investors overseas to buy us up. This, along with the Oil profits sent to foreign countries, have now become historically the largest transfer of monies internationally in the history of the world.

4. If the government does provide 700 Billion Dollars to salvage the economy, then we will experience an enormous surge in big government just to manage the dispersal of all that money - this too will be financed by our taxes... Great! More government bureaucrats, more offices, more paper, more expensive inefficiency! Not only that, but the Government will be buying bad paper worth only cents on the original dollar...

5. Retiree's (many of whom are elderly and they will suffer) have experienced significant losses in their retirement accounts, small loans for home improvements, buying furniture, financing cars etc., and paying for school will become VERY difficult to finance. Further, ostensibly, current jobs can be lost and new jobs will fail to appear...

6. Alarmingly my house, that I have been paying on for 11 years, (at around $560.00 a month), maybe worth LESS now than what it was originally financed. This will be largely true for anyone owning a home. And for those who want to own a home, they will have a much more difficult time getting financed to purchase one.

7. The impact of all this on "non-profits," I.e. Churches, Community Programs etc. could be c-r-i-p-p-l-i-n-g f-o-r y-e-a-r-s!

8. Any monies in the near future needed by the government for social issues are now off the table - potentially for years... The rich got much richer and the poor, are not only poorer; but are insured to stay poorer for the foreseeable future.

These "investors..." from speculators in the oil industry to Wall Street CEO's... ALL should be held accountable; and some should have to do jail time. These same people have in affect... by lending money so easily... and irresponsibly... - and at great risk (because of their greed) - have in essence yelled "fire!" in a crowded theater (to mix my metaphors). Their ecstatic, greed driven frenzy, has jeopardized the very life of the goose that has been laying the golden egg." My thought is that their personal income and assets, should be garnished to help pay back that 700 Billion Dollars; and whatever jail time they do should be paid from those sources as well...

Take a look at the tens of millions, upon millions, of dollars that these CEO's have made in salary and bonuses, in profoundly failed achievements and financial ventures, that will affect millions, if not billions of people world-wide! Round them up and put 'em in non-country club prisons (along with any complicit politicians)! Only then will those who have been ill-served begin to receive justice.

By the way! Thank you John McCain for your courage in putting your self interest aside and working to help solve the problem. I might also add that he warned of this very thing three years ago... Thanks Barney Frank, Chris Dodd et AL for nothing...

Christian Spiritual Formation and Appropriate “Rescue” Responses to Genocide

On the other hand, let us say that there are a group of Christians who successfully resisted in being swept up into the almost all encompassing vortex of a Genocidal situation. What then is their appropriate Christ-like response? To what Biblical principles do they avail themselves to? Would it be the kind of civil disobedience, magnificently led by the French Huguenot Protestant Pastor, Father Trocme and the village of Le Chambon (Hallie – Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed)?

For Trocme, to be spiritually formed properly was to fully embrace and unswervingly live out Jesus' Sermon on the Mount Discourse (Matthew 5:43-46, Luke 6:27-36). Trocme felt so literal in his view of the Sermon on the Mount, that he felt it necessary to tell authorities that they were in fact hiding a number of Jewish (Hallie pg. 128); and summarily refused to be involved in any kind of violence (Hallie pgs. 34-35). In addition, it was Trocme's intention for his village of La Chambon to function as a kind of "city of refuge," that Moses describes in Deuteronomy 19 (Hallie 283); to hide particularly Jewish children, so that "no innocent blood would be shed."

Others however might argue that because the evil associated with Genocide is so great, so pernicious, so comprehensive and unremitting, that the only way to stop it would be through the use of violence. How should we understand Proverbs 24:10-12 in contemporary times?
10 If you falter in times of trouble, how small is your strength! ¹¹ Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. ¹² If you say, "But we knew nothing about this," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life knowit? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done? (Proverbs 24:10-12)
Does the New Covenant in Christ alter how we should interpret the implied and potential use of violence in Proverbs 24:10-12? Given the historical context of this passage is there really any other way to interpret the possibility of violent or military action? Bottom line, can those made over in the image of Christ, after a careful "cost-benefits" analysis, initiate and prosecute a "Just War" as initially articulated by Augustine? This issue is massively complicated. What does the Bible have to say about this issue? We are confident, for example, when we say that Jesus would not "pull a trigger, wield a club or push a button" against those helpless victims selected for Genocide; but are we equally confident that in order for Christians to protect potential victims, and stop the perpetrators, that we can in the name and image of Jesus Christ "pull a trigger, wield a club or push a button in their defense;" and how do we interpret Matthew 5:38-48 in light of this?

By way of argument, I think it fair that hypothetically, if Germany had not been defeated would there have been even larger horrific possibilities than what took place against the Jews and other demographic groups? Can Genocide become so corrosive and far-reaching that not only a population group is in danger from ceasing to exist (the Jews); but entire population groups (Africans, Japanese, Indians of American descent etc.)? Ostensibly if the Allies had failed, would Adolf Hitler's doctrine (in his mad pursuit of racial purity) stopped only with the Jews? Was Martin Niemoeller being globally prophetic when he wrote:

First they came for the communists

But I was not a communist

So I did not speak out.

Then they came for the socialists and the trade unionists,

But I was neither,

So I did not speak out.

Then they came for the Jews,

But I was not a Jew

So I did not speak out.

And when they came for me,

There was no one left to speak out for me.

(Hitler Came For Niemoeller: Book Cover)

Perhaps a reasonable argument could be made that after his Master Race passion had eliminated the Jews; Hitler might have quite likely then turned his attention to anyone from say African descent? In what manner would the "cost-benefit" analysis come out in favor of the kind of theology rooted in ardent "pacifism" if a victorious Hitler set his sights on the African continent?

Scholars like Richard Hays (among others) postulates forcefully against any kind of violence, to stop any manifestation of violence; and in fact argues throughout his discussion in his book: The Moral Vision of the New Testament, that there is nothing Biblical in principle or text, in favor of Augustine's theory of a Just War (Hays pgs. 341); making and amplifying his argument from largely a single key text (Matthew 5:38-48).
Regardless of either theological tradition, the historical evidence is clear that with few exceptions, as individual Christians or as the institutional church, those who belong to the Christian faith simply do not perform very well Biblically, in favor of Genocidal victims. Other than a few, small pockets of Christian resistance, there is no clear, historical evidence of the Christian community responding on a massive scale to any major Genocide, either within it; or outside of it - particularly in the 20^th Century. The matter is obfuscated even more with what a mature, comprehensively mature Christian response would and ought to be.

The above difficulty aside I continue to be mindful of what my colleagues said to me when I attended the Conference on Genocide at Whitworth College in June of 2002: "The phenomenon of Genocide was more toxic than God's ability to overcome it (Psalm 37:17, 20)." Biblical Theology tells us that nothing more powerful than God and His ability to overcome it. The real issue is that God is allowing mankind to live out their own autonomy through their fallen nature; and the consequences and repercussions of our self-serving, antinomian, autonomy can be not only disastrous but horrific as well. And it is through the steady restoration of the God-image within us, that He wants us to respond and engage the great evils like Genocide as well. Bottom line we should be willing, because Christ was willing and able.

Regardless of what the great psychologists propose, the answer cannot come solely from us – the scriptures are clear on this. In the same spirit of Isaiah 60:1-3, It is the living light from Christ, and His incarnational presence within us, that illuminates 1. The way, 2. reveals wickedness and 3. brings hope by driving back the darkness.

3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. ⁴ Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. ⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶ and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷ and to godliness, brotherly kindness;and to brotherly kindness, love. ⁸ For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:3-8)

The Scriptures are clear that we are to be a "people of God" (1 Peter 2:9-12); and that through genuinely transformed (2 Cor. 3:18) lives made over in the manner of Christ. Therefore because of our newly transformed nature we can have the capacity, alluded to by Paul in Colossians 2:6:-13 - to transcend worldly, even malevolent circumstances like Genocide; freeing ourselves from the corruptive affects of the surrounding darkness. The more we mature in the light of Christ, the more He shines permitting us to be the kind of transformational agents (1 Peter 4:7-11) this is what the world desperately needs the Christian to be… steadfastly overcoming the particularly stygian dark pockets of Genocide within the world (2 Corinthians 4-6-11). Further permitting Christians to escape the charge of being complicitous or Bystanders and as we faithfully engage in the role of rescuers of victims within a Genocidal ethos, and call perpetrators to some kind of account.

In essence, the question should be asked: "What have to be the fundamental characteristics of a Christian that would transform their inner nature in such a way that they are able to transcend the present and great manifestations of evil; and become proactively a transformational agent over it instead?" What are some of the Biblical truths and principles that we could follow to help us in this way? How might one's Christian Spiritual Formation provide the necessary ingredients to equip Christians to keep from being a Perpetrator or Bystander within a Genocidal context on one hand; and to know the appropriate response of being some kind of rescuer for those who are Genocide victims?

Some Final Thoughts – A Biblical Understanding of Genocide and Christian Spirituality

 

On the morning of 15 April 1994, each one of us woke up knowing what to do and where to go because we had made a plan the previous night. In the morning we woke up and started walking towards the church[…] […] It was as if we were taken over by Satan. We were taken over by Satan. When Satan is using you, you lose your mind. We were not ourselves. Beginning with me, I don't think I was normal. You wouldn't be normal if you start butchering people for no reason. We had been attacked by the devil.

                                            Gitera Rwamuhuzi – Perpetrator: Rwanda Genocide 1994

 

Luke 11:24-26

24 "When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return     to the house I left.' ²⁵ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. ²⁶ Then it goes and takes seven other spirits     more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first."

 

Ephesians 5:18b

"…be filled with the Spirit…"

 

2 Corinthians 4:4

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers,

so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

    
 

    Becoming "mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13)" is what is essential and necessary for the Christian and the unified Church if we are to ever be able to inwardly transformed into the image of Christ enough, order to transcend the hellish conditions of Genocide in order to be transformational within it. This is because no human effort can counter those demonic conditions – only Christ and certainly only fully Christ in us.

    The affects of The Fall ultimately are to "dis-integrate." To disintegrate relationship between God and man; disintegrate man's relationship between men; disintegrate the internal nature within a man; and disintegrate mans relationship within the created order. In a demented effort to restore a fuzzy and residual sense of "Shalom" we can rationalize ANYTHING; even Genocide as a heightened form of "dis-integration" between man and man. It works well, even within the shadow of the Church and the presence of the Christian because they tend to be those things only in name and not in terms of authentic substance.

    We live life in the face of evil with a false confidence. We do this because regardless of our Biblical knowledge, vast array of Bible resources, sophisticated and thoroughly reasoned theological systems and modern worshipping facilities. Kierkegaard once said:

    Most systematizers stand in the same relation to their systems as the man who builds a great castle and lives in the adjoining shack; they do not live     in     their great systematic structure. But in spiritual matters this will be always a crucial objection. Metaphorically speaking, a person's ideas must be the     building he lives in- otherwise there is something terribly wrong.

                                        Provocations - Kierkegaard

    The empirical evidence over the course of two millennia, perhaps particularly this past century would demonstrate Kierkegaard as right. Genocide works within the proximity of the Church, because the Church and the Christian fail badly to live incarnationally, thereby preventing them from embracing the reality of "missio Dei." Despite our failures at Christ-likeness we must not shrink back from our responsibilities as living, resident incarnations in Christ – Acts 1 Christ ascended, and in Acts 2 the Holy Spirit descended to live in us, for the world (Acts 2:1-4); but in woeful fashion the Holy Spirit resides in stubborn, often uncooperative, corrupt "jars of clay."

    In addition, and more practically, Genocide flourishes within the "Christian" ethos, because we fail to see the truth, possibilities and implications of how our status as a "chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God… (1 Peter 2:9)," make everything else that was once a part of our old self – worldview, nationality, culture etc. entirely subordinate. Only Christ in us, "mature – 'to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ'" can prepare us adequately for every contingency in responding to evil and our eternal enemy. Christ, and Christ in us, supersedes all that came before...

    A sociopolitical statement: the work of God in Jesus of and through the kingdom to include the marginalized, to render judgment on the powerful, to     create around the marginalized (with Jesus at the center) an alternative society where things are (finally, by God) put to rights.

                                Scott McKnight

The Attributes of God

Most faith traditions or denominations tend to emphasize a particular Biblical attribute of God and make it their primary lens or through which the see and experience God. My thought is that the origin behind this is usually rooted in some historical dynamic and/or cultural milieu.

I think this usually involves a particular spiritual leader, during a particular time in history, who personally resonates with a specific attribute of God's. Interestingly, whichever attribute most resonates with that leader, often correlates with how the surrounding culture responds to Christ. The emphasis of specific attributes ebb and flow according to the spirit of the age and the leaders who rise up and articulate them. That particular leader, and subsequent followers, build around their selected "attribute" a theological system and eventually an ecclesiastical structure - which almost always evolves into a relatively narrow religious subculture. At which point relationally emerges the dynamic of the authentic Christian: known as the "us" and the inauthentic Christian: known as "the others...." -Functionally regarded as: Real vs. False, Obedient vs. Disobedient, Informed vs. Uninformed, Elect vs. NonElect, godly vs. worldly, mature vs. immature, discipline vs undisciplined, orthodox vs. unorthodox, faithful vs. unfaithful... In essence: True Christian vs. False Christian...

I think it obvious that while all attributes of God are equal and historically transcendent, not all attributes of God speak to all people in the same way, at all times and in all places. Wesley emphasized holiness (as part of his "method") because of the decadence of England, Calvin elevated sovereignty [Its not what we do, but what God does] over the dogmatic tradition of Roman Catholicism. The sterile nature of Modernity mandated the use of God's love as being the foremost attribute for the great evangelist Billy Graham. Pentecostalism with its emphasis on the gifts and Holy Spirit power is blazing through much of the third and two-thirds world because those particular cultures tended to be heavily "[darkly] spiritual" and animistic. Today, the Post-Modern/Post-Enlightenment condition of our culture tends to emphasize (some times disastrously so) Immanence over Transcendence, Love and Grace more than Truth and Law and Mystery over Revelation/Dogma.

There is much more that could be said, but my point is that most denominations and faith traditions emerged because the cultural context called for primarily a particular attribute of God's to be used to convey who He is. Later they privileged and institutionalized that attribute above all others. In essence, the attribute that acted as a lens to make known the sacred, became a sacred lens that can blind those to what is really sacred.

In like manner, many denominations and faith traditions die because their primary message, predicated through a attribute of God, no longer speaks convincingly - the language is different and the spirit of the time has changed. For example, Fundamentalism rose during and in response to Modernity; and since Modernity has faded so has Fundamentalism; and those who are highly Reformed have discovered that a Post-Modern culture is highly offended by the perceived "exclusivity" of the gospel.

Metaphorically speaking the attributes of God are like the facets on the face of a perfect round-cut diamond. Each facet EQUALLY proportioned... collectively working together to project a uniform and brilliant white light. No one facet contributes to the overall nature of the diamond than any other. Some facets only APPEAR to be bigger or brighter, depending on the angle, place and time with which you observe them. (1) So it is with how we understand the attributes of God - all speak... some speak better than others in different places and at different times to different people. To hold any one attribute above all others, at all times and in all places to all people is to mis convey who God is and how God works.

This being said, those Christians who say then: "if you REALLY want to know God well, you must see Him through primarily ________________ (fill in the blank)." They are not only risk communicating God as irrelevant; but also limit the God who is (Historically this is known as heresy). Do we really want to say, based on the Biblical evidence of His known and communicable attributes, create a tradition that stipulates GOD IS REALLY MORE OF THIS, THAN HE HIS OF THAT? I guess we can... but if we do, then we do it not only to the peril of others, but to our own as well.

(1) The ONLY facet that might be larger would be the one in the middle - and it would be named "mystery."

EDUCATION -

When I was growing up in Washington Pennsylvania several decades ago the necessary "bench mark" for educational outcomes was much different that what it is today. To the best of my recollection, when blue collar industry was at it's peak, a High School education was often all that was necessary for most of us. School Boards chose curriculum, hired teachers and approved programs with the idea that most should be educated well enough to be competent in basic life skills and competitive for local or regional jobs and vocational choices. College was important to many as well, but the lions-share of my fellow students who pursued post-secondary education enrolled in a local college typically without much in the way of national distinction. This was the way it was in Industrial Western Pennsylvania in the 50's, 60's and 70's.

Today the purpose for which we educate our children is and must be, much, much different. The Blue Collar Industrial Complex for which many worked and made a good living is all but gone. NEVER to return... The global economic matrix mandates this. The American culture has not only become addicted to low cost goods manufactured from other countries, but utterly dependent as well. Our household budgets are predicated on our ability to purchase low cost goods made from far-off lands sold in the myriad of discount stores dotting the landscape of our county. Ironically enough most of the very people who mourn bitterly the loss of our industry in Western Pa, make almost daily pilgrimages to Walmart, Costco and Target etc. Not only do we give those retailers money out of our pocket, but that same money is now destined for international governments. We do in fact give our money away twice.

The ability for the China's and India's to produce quality goods, at a rapid rate and low cost is clearly connected to their exponential leap educationally. THEIR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS have caught up; and have in many cases surpassed our own educational system in the USA. Amazingly many communities, like mine, are still educating our students to compete with those from their own locale, region or even the USA (let's say at most 300 million others)... Conversely countries like India and China are educating their students at a tremendously high level to compete with the almost 7 Billion people on the planet. It has been reported for example that India, has no less than seven universities that rival our Princeton's and Harvard's. And their graduating students are in many cases not only better educated than our students; but they are willing to be compensated for a fraction of what ours would be, doing the same job. This distinction cannot be overstated.

Our pedestrian approach to education is largely responsible for: Jobs being outsourced internationally, while on the other hand international workers are moving in to the USA because corporate America" is really America (becoming globally) incorporated. The employment of Illegal Aliens and paying them low wages is in part our pathetic economic response to compete economically with workers from other nations like India and China. Our fading ability to compete globally with our labor is making us dangerously dependent on other governments that will love us only until we have no more dollars to give and resouces to hand out.

Its imperative to see that we live in a time when it is almost impossible to overspend on education. Our ability to compete economically with the rest of the world is directly connected to our commitment to educating our children to be more than competent in the workforce for decades to come. Education and being economically viable is what will continue to produce jobs, grow our communities and provide for our national security. We can either keep spending money (I.e. Education) on the grain for The Goose-That-Lays-The-Golden-Eggs; or we can foolishly eviscerate ours and extract what we suspect might be left in there. If we kill ours, not only is our Goose cooked, but now we become the grain that feeds theirs.

Thomas Friedman notes in his best selling book, The Earth is Flat the following:

"We know the basic formula for economic success - reform wholesale, followed by reform retail, plus good governance, education, infrastructure, and the ability to glocalize (export good comprehensively).


He goes on to say regarding economic development and renewal need two things:

1. A society's ability and willingness to pull together and sacrifice for the sake of economic development and

2. The presence in a society of leaders with the vision to see what needs to be done in terms of development and the willingness to use power to push for change rather than enrich themselves and preserve the status quo


Economically depressed communities like mine, and short-sighted School Boards like the Ambridge City Schools, appear to be determined to kill the goose. Modern buildings, safe and inspirational learning environments, current technology, up-to-date books and competent teachers are non-negotiable investmets if we are to keep competitive, not only as individuals but as a nation - in a world that has become incredibly aggressive economically. While its true that many of those who live on fixed incomes can be hurt from the revenues necessary to keep all of the above in place... the truth of the matter is that for most its a matter of giving up a Flat Screen T.V., Laptop and/or Vacation for a year or so... Bottom line: We either produce fodder to feed our Goose, or we become the fodder to eat for their Goose. The choice is ours...

A Question From A Student Pertaining to "The Fall"

"I guess my question is: 'Why did God tear apart perfection because of one sin, did He feel that they would continue to sin?'"

My Answer: "Self-Rule" That Rules Only From The Self, Necessarily Means, that The Self Is the ONLY Rule. The Created Order Was Torn Apart Because the "Self" Ruled... rsg. 6-10-08

VOLUNTEERS

This past week we finished working on the renovations to our Sanctuary. Amazing! Unbelievable! Astounding! What an incredible transformation!

Work began the Monday following this past Easter. In unbelievably dedicated fashion, a group of dedicated (mostly) men and women worked sacrificially to improve the worship center of our church. Deconstruction of walls and installation of sheetrock. Mudding, Sanding, Sweeping and Gallons of Painting. Ceiling tiles removed and replaced. Carpet ripped up and installed. Endless feet of Cable and Wire for 2 Projectors, Lights and 2 Flat Screen T.V's. Construction of a new Sound Room and a Platform in the front, the Hanging of 2 Projection Screens and a 16' Light Truss - poised to illuminate the Platform, 14 Fixtures - with 64 Million Different Possibilities! And The Endless Hours of constant Clean Up, Decorating and Arranging of Chairs.

Holy Acts That Result in the Reconfiguration of A Holy Place... For Authentic Worship, Deep Teaching and the Experience of Sacred Community... A Place For Christ To Reveal Himself... Ultimately, For People To be Reconciled To Their God, Among Themselves, Within Themselves and Within The Created Order.

As They Worked, New Relationships were formed and old Relationships strengthened. Faithful Long Time Members and Eager New Members Teaming up, Sharing, Learning, Encouraging, Debating, Consoling, Correcting and Challenging one another, ... Weeks of Aching Muscles, Sore Backs, Dust-Covered Faces, Bumps on Heads and Blood on Hands... Again and again, marshaling everything they have to make the most of those who cheerfully and faithfully loaned from their resources and freely donated to this Vision for Ministry.

Observing this I asked... Why? What do they see? What do they believe about what we are doing? Who, other than Christ, is worthy of this kind of SACRIFICE? During the numerous times that I Spoke, Watched and sometimes Worked alongside them - I found my Admiration and Respect bouncing between the display their Enthusiastic Energy, Their Great Skills, Their: 'Work Smart Ethic' and Their boundless Joyful Hearts. I was repeatedly and profoundly Humbled by their Resolute Sacrifice! It was clear to me that it was the Cause of Christ, that Caused This Sacrifice.

WHAT A GREAT CHURCH! What a WONDERFUL group of people who love their God and love their people!

Personally... This Magnificent Effort on their part, inwardly convicts and drives me to be more faithful with who I am and what I am called to do. I want to be Worthy Enough to Partner with them in those Efforts - which can only be construed as "Acts of Worship" (Romans 12:1-2) for Christ. This is why I found myself constantly Humbled - Because as their Pastor... It appears as if Nothing I have done so far in their Lives, with my Heart, is commensurate to what they did in our Sanctuary, because of their Hearts.

Use Me Lord in the Same Way... In Like Manner, Help Me To Be a Consistently Dedicated, Joyful and Faithful Servant of Yours. May Your Cause LORD, Be My Cause, To Enable the Same Kind of Beautiful, Radical and Astounding Transformation in The Sanctuary of Hearts; As They Did In The Sanctuary of Our Church.

She Is The Stronger I Am The Weaker

And Some Personal Reflections
About My Mom
For Mother's Day

On Sunday, September 16, 2007 my mother passed away into the next life. I was at my church, situated in the AV Booth, concentrating on loading and blending that morning's Powerpoint files. Uncharacteristically I had my cell phone on, and out on the counter top... The little window lit up, I did not recognize the number.... it vibrated quietly on the hard surface... I stared at it momentarily, slightly irritated that I was being distracted. Thinking that it was someone related to the church - maybe calling about a health issue or their inability fulfill some responsibility, I picked it up. It was one of the health care workers from my mother's Assisted Living Facility in Washington Pa. Her face flashed before my mind as she gave me her name and I listened intently to the urgency in her voice regarding my mother's fading life. My mind instantly flashed back.

I remember being at the Washington Hospital months before, with my brother's Bill and Bryan. The oncologist met with us in a small conference room and told us what we had secretly feared. After years of suffering and pain, the end was near for my mom.

Again, my mind flashed back even further I remember in early February not being able to get her by phone... I had an uneasy feeling. Ever since her back surgery she was in constant pain. I called around to her friends - they knew nothing about her whereabouts. Finally I called the hospital and discovered that she had pushed her Emergency Call Button early that morning - she was in the Emergency Room. I jumped into my car, drove to the Washington Hospital and entered the Emergency Room. Following my inquiry they permitted me to go back into the patient examining rooms. There she was curled up in a fetal position, lifting her head, she looked at me; her face brightened visibly underneath her tears. The back pain had become excruciating... She looked to me, and reminded me of a frighted little girl whose father had come to rescue her. I hugged her - trying to flood her with love, while at the same time I desperately wanted to somehow absorb her pain that radiated through her body. With trembling hands she wiped her tear stained face, and apologized to me (in typical-mom-fashion) for inconveniencing me, by having to go to the hospital. She explained that she had been up all night, limping back and forth between her bedroom; down the hallway, into the living room and back again over and over... walking in vain hope that it would bring some relief... eventually the pain was just too much...

A few weeks later, she would have a slight heart attack and during her hospitalization they discovered her Small Cell Lung cancer. Small Cell lung cancer is a carcinogenic cancer that typically attacks people who usually have had a smoking habit. It's very aggressive, attacks those areas of the body rich in oxygen - like the liver, lungs and bones. The tumors can grow and multiply very fast; destroying organs and splintering bones - and the cancer itself is incurable. The pain can be horrible.

Months later, I will never forget the look on her face when I signed her into Hospice. It's a wonderful program that is designed to specially attend to those who will die. Almost child-like and perhaps even a bit suspiciously she watched me from her wheel chair in that crowded lounge - as I walked past her to meet with the Hospice representative. I was resolved, her suffering had to end. She wasn't even half-alive; it was more like she was irrecoverably half dead.

Those kinds of decisions... no more chemo, no more radiation, no more blood transfusions, force you to look at life and death in a new kind of way... You have to make those kinds of decisions when it becomes apparent that a person crosses over from being half alive to half dead. With frightening clarity there is no way around the fact that the term of their life is placed squarely in your hands... These kinds of decisions, you make hastening their death, causes something to die in you as well... It is unavoidable.

I'm back at the church now... I've hung up the phone... In 20 minutes the Church service is supposed to start. Should I stay and finish the service? Will she live longer? Should I leave now and be with her; hopefully before she dies? Within minutes the decision was taken from me by the very kind and loving people in my church, insisting that I leave. My family - Ruth, Jeremiah and Jordan are not at the church yet, I should depart before they come because I am not sure I want them to see my mom like that anyway...

Minutes after the phone call, and while on the road, my mother finally succumbed to her cancer about 8 months after she was diagnosed. She was barely a shell of her former self physically. The cancer and her radiation and chemo treatments had savaged her body almost beyond recognition. Her hair was gone, her facial features were terribly gaunt (and bruised purple and green from a fall a week earlier); and she appeared to be as fragile as a dry brittle stick. Without desiring to be macabre, I can honestly say that I was glad for her, for her death. The promises contained in the scriptures about the after life comforted me and gave me confidence for her. What I remember most, despite her terribly broken body are a myriad number of precious memories of her beautiful spirit that remain indelibly fixed upon my mind and heart.

It's odd how our roles become reversed. When i was an infant and then a child, she was the STRONGER and i was the WEAKER... Then i became a man, and she became elderly and sick; then I was the STRONGER and SHE WAS THE WEAKER... BUT NOW... there, in heaven... SHE IS THE STRONGER and I am the WEAKER... What a great and amazing thought!!!

Again my mind flashed back to the time that I was driving home from the hospital, following our meeting with the oncologist having received the news about her cancer. Fighting back tears, I considered the years of her life... truly now quickly fading... An undemanding woman, with very simple tastes, expectations and desires from orthers in life - tragically much of which was either denied, taken or inaccessible to her. Inwardly I felt the painful swell of desperately wanting to honor her; and was determined to do so as best I could at her funeral, when I spoke. I wanted the world to know what an incredibly devoted mother she was to all four of her sons. That despite the fact her life appeared to be unremarkable, it counted for something... that the world was better because of her existence.

To a fault, she NEVER stopped being a mother. She utterly exhausted herself, her resources and everything she had to make sure that we somehow had a better life. Anything that I might know about love, grace, kindness, sacrifice and service - or anything else virtuous - I observed and learned it first from her. She reminds me to some degree of ("it's someone ye'll have never heard of") Sarah Smith in C.S. Lewis' book: The Great Divorce associated with the "Tragedian," (Chapter 12) and I rejoice mightily at the wonderful thought of her new found restoration and glorification... And I look eagerly forward to our eventual reunion in the next life... only there... she will still be The STRONGER and I will still be WEAKER, because in her quiet legacy, she will have done more with her life than I did with mine.