One of the most famous Christian apologists has made a strange video making the most bizarre claim--that his inner feeling of the Christian belief in the Holy Spirit is far more reliable than actual factual evidence! Not only that, he states that even if all factual evidence shows his belief is wrong, he will still choose to stay with what he feels!
Yet at Talbot School of Theology, where he teaches, there are other professors who totally contradict WLC's own view of God! They have contrary inner experience that they hold to be true!
How can Craig reconcile that with his statement that his inner feeling is from the Holy Spirit when those other professors at his theological school disagree, stating that the Holy Spirit witnesses differently to humans than Craig believes!
His central, primary basis for his version of Christianity being true is what he experiences within his consciousness, not actual historical and scientific evidence!
1. Doesn't Craig realize that many other religious leaders, contrary to his own beliefs
have stated that they "know" their religion is true, too because of the inner witness they have experienced!
Mormon leaders emphasize they know LDS is the true religion because they have an inner witness! Some leaders Buddhism claim their own inner knowing. Muslims claim Islam is true, as do Hindus, Jehovah Witnesses, New Agers, and aas already pointed out contrary forms of Christianity, very different from WLC's particular form do too.
2. What would WLC say to me, a dedicated Christian for 55 years, who has been a minister, elder, missionary, Bible teacher, etc.
However I NEVER experienced any such KNOWING! Even if I did experience such an inner feeling, I wouldn't rely on it if it countered hard evidence in science and history.
I do remember many, many sermons and books that declared I could "KNOW" that Christianity is true. But never once did I ever experience a KNOWING.
I kept searching for years, thinking that If I just tried harder, I would finally KNOW like leaders claimed I would, but it never happened.
Heck, I remember one Chiristian leader told me to just speak spontaneously and I would receive the Holy Spirit.
But I pointed out that if I did that it wouldn't be God's Spirit but just me speaking. At that point, I began to realize that this claim by millions of Christians of Knowing was probably an illusion, even for some, a con/propaganda that leaders used.
What I experienced instead in my life mostly was my voluntarily choosing, despite questions, to hope that the Good News was true, rather than some of the horrific other worldviews I encountered.
HOWEVER, that was a hope, and I tried to never discount hard fact of science and history.
Now, as I look back on over 60 years, I deeply regret that in the huge crisis I experienced as a university student at Cal State, Long Beach on the quad in 1966 that I fell for an either/or fallacy of Christianity.
At that defining crisis and decision of my life, since a couple other worldviews of professors and stuendes were morally horrific, I concluded, that despite my severe rational doubts about Christianity, that liberal Christianity (liberal Baptist-Quakerism) was the only place to make my stand.
Even though I was taking philosophy courses back then including one on logic, somehow I fell into the either/or fallacy, rather than to look for other possible life stances.
Because most of important life choices aren't either/or.
Maybe, IF I had come across WLC's bizarre, hugely irrational claim back then in the late 60's, I could have saved myself and my family many years of heartache and misplaced hope.
Showing posts with label Good News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Good News. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 27, 2022
Monday, September 5, 2022
Resigned in LOSS, without security, in old age, fading away...HOWEVER
Now that I am restricted to a sedentary, post-stroke in-house life, I have far more time to spend on the Great Questions, the conundrums of reality, the bizare misbehavior and fallacious beliefs of billions of smart highly educated humans, etc.
For instance, I am baffled how multi-millions of smart Americans can be deceived by extremism of the left and the right!
However, these absurd tragedies do help me now understand now how in the 20th century, the 19th, and many hundreds of centuries before, billions of smart homo sapiens could become totally deceived by massive untruths.
More and more, I realize now, that no human can be totally objective because he is born at a certain time in a certain place, with a certain temperament, certain sexuality, certain environment,certain family, culture, religion or lack, etc.
HOWEVER, contrary to the determinists, that doesn’t mean that each human has no choice, that he is only a puppet, only a bungle/bundle of atoms jostling about in meaningless matter and energy, determined from the Big Bang.
Each human within his limited situation, does have moral responsibility, moral capability, the ability to create and to invent, to choose among alternative choices, to promise, effect changes in his environment. Even in the worst situation that happens in life such as barely existing in a Nazi Concentration Camp like Victor Frankl did.
The thinker Frankl emphasizes, each human can choose various ways to act, between the stimulus and response of even horrific events. Each individual human can choose creatively choose his attitude.
That is Free Will! Though that word is a misnamed term since no human is totally free of any influence; rather the usual definition of f.w. is that each human does have moral ability, and creativity, the ability to make choices among a limited number of options. Each human isn’t a puppet, yanked hither and thither by cosmic fate, god, or the cosmos.
No, there is no life form in reality that is totally free of its place and time; so we don’t have free will in the unlimited definition of free will that many atheists and creedal Christians define Free Will as. No species is totally free (without any constraints or physical or social limitations); no one has the ability to act from nowhere, independent of where he lives, in any way he chooses among millions of choices.
HOWEVER, within limitations, we can choose among different options, using our reflection and reason and creativity each day.
For instance, while I probably was not likely to become a worshiper of Thor or to avidly enjoy torturing people or believe the earth is flat! there are some humans much smarter than me who did and still do choose such actions. So at some point in my life, if I had given into temptations or propaganda, I suppose I could have even made those highly unlikely choices.
Strangely, there are humans similar to me in many ways who I know personally who did choose to turn to pagan superstition even though they are brilliant, highly educated individuals living in a scientific secular society! Baffling.
Contrary to the determinists, I did have a choice of whether or not to tease my sister, tell a minor lie, whether or not to drive the speed limit, etc. Years ago, I did have the choice whether or not to wait until I was 16 or to get my learner’s permit at 15. I had the ability to reject or accept temptations of such as some teens to drive recklessly, etc.
I did have the ability to finally to accept that Christianity is delusion based upon all of the evidence, though it took many years of study, reflection, discussion, to give up my deeply heartfelt, so loved hope in the Good News.
There are millions of much smarter, more highly educated humans who still choose Christianity, though there is plenty of evidence that it can’t be true. The amazing, powerful thinker Randal Rauser is one of them.
It appears that he has gone through, suffered through many of the same tragic evidences that many others have, but in the end he still chooses to perform a ‘hail mary’ pass of improbable meticulous providence and holds to belief in a strange definition of inerrancy--that God wanted errors, untruths, immoral commands, etc. in the Bible, therefore the Bible is "inerrant" from God's point of view!
The vast majority of humans don’t mean that at all by the term "inerrancy." Instead, they use the common dictionary definition of the term--that the Bible is without a single scientific, historical, grammatical, textural error!
Multi-millions of creedal Christians sincerely believe this, even though a quick glance at historic texts of the Bible will show that the manuscripts even have thousands of textural errors! And an objective study of Scripture shows that it has many errors in science and history.
The most infamous one is that Joshua in the Hebrew Bible commanded the sun to stop still in the sky while he slew his enemies, and God stopped the sun!
In the Light,
Dan Wilcox
For instance, I am baffled how multi-millions of smart Americans can be deceived by extremism of the left and the right!
However, these absurd tragedies do help me now understand now how in the 20th century, the 19th, and many hundreds of centuries before, billions of smart homo sapiens could become totally deceived by massive untruths.
More and more, I realize now, that no human can be totally objective because he is born at a certain time in a certain place, with a certain temperament, certain sexuality, certain environment,certain family, culture, religion or lack, etc.
HOWEVER, contrary to the determinists, that doesn’t mean that each human has no choice, that he is only a puppet, only a bungle/bundle of atoms jostling about in meaningless matter and energy, determined from the Big Bang.
Each human within his limited situation, does have moral responsibility, moral capability, the ability to create and to invent, to choose among alternative choices, to promise, effect changes in his environment. Even in the worst situation that happens in life such as barely existing in a Nazi Concentration Camp like Victor Frankl did.
The thinker Frankl emphasizes, each human can choose various ways to act, between the stimulus and response of even horrific events. Each individual human can choose creatively choose his attitude.
That is Free Will! Though that word is a misnamed term since no human is totally free of any influence; rather the usual definition of f.w. is that each human does have moral ability, and creativity, the ability to make choices among a limited number of options. Each human isn’t a puppet, yanked hither and thither by cosmic fate, god, or the cosmos.
No, there is no life form in reality that is totally free of its place and time; so we don’t have free will in the unlimited definition of free will that many atheists and creedal Christians define Free Will as. No species is totally free (without any constraints or physical or social limitations); no one has the ability to act from nowhere, independent of where he lives, in any way he chooses among millions of choices.
HOWEVER, within limitations, we can choose among different options, using our reflection and reason and creativity each day.
For instance, while I probably was not likely to become a worshiper of Thor or to avidly enjoy torturing people or believe the earth is flat! there are some humans much smarter than me who did and still do choose such actions. So at some point in my life, if I had given into temptations or propaganda, I suppose I could have even made those highly unlikely choices.
Strangely, there are humans similar to me in many ways who I know personally who did choose to turn to pagan superstition even though they are brilliant, highly educated individuals living in a scientific secular society! Baffling.
Contrary to the determinists, I did have a choice of whether or not to tease my sister, tell a minor lie, whether or not to drive the speed limit, etc. Years ago, I did have the choice whether or not to wait until I was 16 or to get my learner’s permit at 15. I had the ability to reject or accept temptations of such as some teens to drive recklessly, etc.
I did have the ability to finally to accept that Christianity is delusion based upon all of the evidence, though it took many years of study, reflection, discussion, to give up my deeply heartfelt, so loved hope in the Good News.
There are millions of much smarter, more highly educated humans who still choose Christianity, though there is plenty of evidence that it can’t be true. The amazing, powerful thinker Randal Rauser is one of them.
It appears that he has gone through, suffered through many of the same tragic evidences that many others have, but in the end he still chooses to perform a ‘hail mary’ pass of improbable meticulous providence and holds to belief in a strange definition of inerrancy--that God wanted errors, untruths, immoral commands, etc. in the Bible, therefore the Bible is "inerrant" from God's point of view!
The vast majority of humans don’t mean that at all by the term "inerrancy." Instead, they use the common dictionary definition of the term--that the Bible is without a single scientific, historical, grammatical, textural error!
Multi-millions of creedal Christians sincerely believe this, even though a quick glance at historic texts of the Bible will show that the manuscripts even have thousands of textural errors! And an objective study of Scripture shows that it has many errors in science and history.
The most infamous one is that Joshua in the Hebrew Bible commanded the sun to stop still in the sky while he slew his enemies, and God stopped the sun!
In the Light,
Dan Wilcox
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Yeshua, Child of the Masses
So awe fulled the birthing
of God's presence, new cauled
in humble manger's destiny,
The base and apex of
a starred cave's presents
of all future festivals
Yet abandoned, forsaken to
the crowned world's nails,
every man's cursedness;
Farthest reach of faith
this Apocalypso dancer
crosses the Cosmos,
Morning us night-less;
he compassions Earth
ever peopling Heaven,
Emptying the pitiless bottom
zeroing Apollyon
into ever's Now
Beloved one, Yeshua
child of the masses
point man for us all.
--- A poem I wrote 15 years ago that I think still distills the Good News message. It still warms my spirit during this cold, intolerant, dysfunctional time, though I no longer think the lines are literally true.
Hopefully, the poem will speak to all of you.
May you have a blessed Christmas month, filled with hope, joy, and kindness.
Dan Wilcox
First published in The Green Silk Journal
Friday, August 4, 2017
One Heart-felt Spiritual Pickup Line
Remember the days of your youth--
back when we obsessed with trying to find exactly the most heartfelt sweet something to say to our one and only?
In so many cases in organized religions, too, the words of love, sincere pickup lines, have been heart-center--
in Judaism
(Jewish Bible's extended metaphor of God saying 'He' is Israel's lover),
in Christianity, especially Pietism
(Christians are Christ's bride),
in Sufi Islam,
in Bhakti Hinduism,
in some forms of Mahayana Buddhism,
in Unity/New Thought,
and so forth...
According to Pietistic, Wesleyan Christian religion, God infinitely loves every single human
who has ever existed, and loves every single human
who will ever exist in the future.
Talk about spiritual hyperbole...
up close and personal
but as a young, naive, troubled teen, I loved this hope, this spiritual pickup line
(made famous by evangelistic crooners such
as D. L. Moody and Billy Graham)...
I Love This Line
I love this line
“For God so loves everyone."
I love this line
That the Divine, Transcendent Reality, the Good--
the inexplicable Essence at the center of the whole cosmos
cares for each of one of us
to the utmost!
What a wonder, what a hope, what an Everest height
that ultimate linguistic sign.
Yes, I love this line
Yet born with a constant why in my mouth
always seeking,
always looking beyond every belief, every doctrine,
I struggled far past usual doubt
Got blood-baptized by the horrors of Christian history...
though Christians bespeak that heartfelt spiritual pickup line,
their nearly constant brutal actions belie their romantic claim.
Yet I still love this line.
But early Jesus wars in the 4th century
and ever since down to current slaughters,
and endless doctrinal abuses--
Augustine created Original Sin
in sexual love-making, then
abandoned his long-time common lover
for God and, seeking for a high class woman,
he lined this line to eternal death.
And theologians' while lipping For God so loved,
spoke darkly of God's hidden foreordinations to hell for God's glory,
total depravity, limited atonement, forced adoration,
and His constant killings for His own "good pleasure."
They lie the line--
Bibical infanticide,
the Inquisition, heresy trials, burnings-at-the-stake,
multi-millions slaughtered dutifully for God and country,
Jehovah,Allah,Shiva, Shinto, Buddha...
And Black Deaths, influenzas, plagues and famines
tsunamis, floods, and disasters,
and 30,000 children
dying daily--21 each minute;
such glaring harsh facts
bloody and leech all hope
from that lied line.
It does appear that Love’s not an endless yes,
never an eternal sphere,
not our Beloved’s ring,
No, not a never ending line of grace and mercy
but only a paltry pickup conning.
Now at 70 years, I hate this false line, the constant
come-on starter by Jews, Christians, Muslims and other con crooners.
How do we ever truly trust again?
Is there only mere--as secularists claim, no myrrh?
What of the "impossible possibility" of Niebuhr,
of the romantic one-liner Good News—
That God never says never?
But only,
(to quote Tillich and St. Paul),
Yes, and Yes, and Yes.
But critical assessment of existence
cleavers God’s promise line--
I love you!
Still, I refuse to bow to the cut
The slash of Never--
Let us hope against the brutal facts of religious history..
that ever past is
never
always future.
Despite all, somehow,
let's still love this line--
love wins.
In the Transcendent Light,
Daniel Wilcox
Monday, November 28, 2016
Artesian Well of Hope
Most Christian leaders now claim I and many others were never
Christians, never lovers of God,
that our deepest most meaningful experiences and beliefs were false heresies:-(
According to them, we were conceived in sinfulness
and long before our births foreordained to eternal damnation
along with billions of other "worthless" evil humans:-(
It's very weird--and despairing--that even some U.S. Quaker meetings
are promoting such negative religious leaders!
BUT
Back in the 1950's, we grew in a very different sort of religion,
one with a wonderful story,
one where every human was of inherent worth and value,
one which encouraged us to work for equality, justice, human rights and well-being.
We were convinced that Ultimate Reality
cared about every single human who had ever been born and would ever be born.
My favorite heroes were those compassionate leaders who gave up comfortable lives
and went to harsh places to help the impoverished, the suffering,
and even those who chose and committed unjust, immoral actions.
There was hope for everybody, for every single human being!
When these generous, hopeful leaders spoke at free will Baptist gatherings and conferences, I asked for their autographs and kept them in a special box, like the autographs of sports heroes.
When I discovered the moral truth of the Sermon on the Mount,
that of peacemaking and nonviolence,
one such inspiring leader gave me encouragement to stand up against all those--
almost all the Americans I knew (including our Christian club leader)--who were telling me to go and kill Vietnamese.
I will always be grateful for his witness against the slaughter of war, even if his religion was an illusion.
And I will always be thankful for the witness of Friends in meeting, one of whom
sang of communion, compassion, and inclusion, when I and others were experiencing so much despairing theology.
Here's a short poem in which I tried to distill one very meaningful,
and deeply blessed experience of my hopeful youth.
A transcendent experience, one of ecstatic joy
and the commitment to work for ethical change
and deep idealism--
--
Artesian Well
I can’t carry a basic tune
Anymore than a bat can sing Hebrew
Or envision hieroglyphics,
But once I welled up bursting forth
Beyond all melodious barriers
Of sensuous fountaining,
Songing the voice of all singing.
Hosanna to the Highest and Deepest,
All-embracing universal cosmic Ultimate
Usually, I vocalize low
And hesitantly with insecure effort
But on that humid, many peopled
Saturday evened night in the crowded hall
In the midst of a thousand voiced praise
I not only caroled the Keys but was mused,
Songing the voice of all singing,
Hosanna to the Highest and Deepest
All-embracing universal cosmic Ultimate
We human instruments, fluting beautifully
One glorious open canticled Magnificat
With so much climatic passion;
Me, a human oboe in a great orchestra of tone
Being Bached and Beethovened,
To the alleluiaed heights,
Songing the voice of all singing,
Hosanna to the Highest and Deepest
All-embracing universal cosmic Ultimate.
Lava-hot harmonied, a chorale of joyous, exultant
Joy, the Transcendent's artesian well bursting forth,
Geysering up in ecstatic adulation,
Welling skyward beyond all measuring
Bursting beyond all selves
To God, our lover, all communioned,
Songing the voice of all singing,
Hosanna to the Highest and Deepest
All-embracing universal cosmic Ultimate.
Selah
-Daniel Wilcox
First pub. in
The Clockwise Cat in
different form and in
selah river poetry collection
--
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Howard H. Brinton's Insights and Warnings: the Modern World/Quaker Movement 64 Years Later
"Unless man [humanity:-*] can develop his[her] interior dimensions in such a way as to form a dyke against the floods from the world without, he will become engulfed in the world of nature and sink back to the subhuman level whence he long ago emerged."
Howard H. Brinton, Friends for 300 Years, 1952
How true this warning has become. In his brilliant book in 1952,
Friends for 300 Years, Brinton demonstrated not only insight
but prophetic foresight as to the future dangers of lopsided and
even delusionary philosophy/religion/ethics.
Surely, I need not document in detail more than I already have
(in the past few months of commentaries and reflections on this
blog) how modern American society--despite a few advances
including upholding rights for all humans--has seeped tragically
into relativism and subjectivism in ethics,
how so many smart educated humans
now claim that ethics are only
"personal preferences."
As bad as the 1950's were in many ways, most Americans including
Friends thought that there was objective good and evil, ultimate
truth, and that the Light is real, not a subjective experience.
Not so for many now in the darkening end of 2015.
Whew...that's the bad news.
But Brinton in the book offers
the complex answer of the Good News
as well.
According to Brinton, there are 4 key essentials in true religion:
"The best type of religion is one in which the mystical, the evangelical, the rational, and the social are so related that each exercises a restraint on the others.
--Too exclusive an emphasis on mysticism results in a religion which is individualistic, subjective, and vague;
--too dominant an evangelicalism results in a religion which is authoritarian, creedal, and external;
--too great an emphasis on rationalism results in a cold intellectual religion which appeals only to the few;
--too engrossing a devotion to the social gospel results in a religion which, in improving the outer environment, ignores defects in the inner life which cause the outer disorder.
In Quakerism the optimum is not equality in rank of the four elements. The mystical is basic. The Light Within occasions the acceptance or rejection of a particular authority, reason, or service." (pages 203-205, Friends for 300 Years by Howard H. Brinton, Pendle Hill)
--
While agreeing with Brinton so much in this book, I do disagree with his last statement--that "The mystical is basic. The Light Within..."
I'm not disagreeing with him or any other thinker in the sense that ultimate reality doesn't precede the rational but that for so many Quakers and other humans now, "mystical" has become another "empty-bucket" word which means a million different things. And has become primarily to mean something individualistic and postmodern.
If everyone were to use the term "mystical" in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary sense, then I would agree:
"Full Definition of mystical
1
a : having a spiritual meaning or reality that is neither apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence...
b : involving or having the nature of an individual's direct subjective communion with God or ultimate reality..."
In the Light,
Daniel Wilcox
--
*How dated 60-year-old books seem now with their un-egalitarianism language. It isn't surprising when one sees it in most books, but to see the old usage in a Friends' seminal work does shock, since Friends have emphasized equality to one degree or another for over 365 years. On the other hand, the "man," and "he's" were linguistic convention, probably something that Brinton didn't even notice.
Howard H. Brinton, Friends for 300 Years, 1952
How true this warning has become. In his brilliant book in 1952,
Friends for 300 Years, Brinton demonstrated not only insight
but prophetic foresight as to the future dangers of lopsided and
even delusionary philosophy/religion/ethics.
Surely, I need not document in detail more than I already have
(in the past few months of commentaries and reflections on this
blog) how modern American society--despite a few advances
including upholding rights for all humans--has seeped tragically
into relativism and subjectivism in ethics,
how so many smart educated humans
now claim that ethics are only
"personal preferences."
As bad as the 1950's were in many ways, most Americans including
Friends thought that there was objective good and evil, ultimate
truth, and that the Light is real, not a subjective experience.
Not so for many now in the darkening end of 2015.
Whew...that's the bad news.
But Brinton in the book offers
the complex answer of the Good News
as well.
According to Brinton, there are 4 key essentials in true religion:
"The best type of religion is one in which the mystical, the evangelical, the rational, and the social are so related that each exercises a restraint on the others.
--Too exclusive an emphasis on mysticism results in a religion which is individualistic, subjective, and vague;
--too dominant an evangelicalism results in a religion which is authoritarian, creedal, and external;
--too great an emphasis on rationalism results in a cold intellectual religion which appeals only to the few;
--too engrossing a devotion to the social gospel results in a religion which, in improving the outer environment, ignores defects in the inner life which cause the outer disorder.
In Quakerism the optimum is not equality in rank of the four elements. The mystical is basic. The Light Within occasions the acceptance or rejection of a particular authority, reason, or service." (pages 203-205, Friends for 300 Years by Howard H. Brinton, Pendle Hill)
--
While agreeing with Brinton so much in this book, I do disagree with his last statement--that "The mystical is basic. The Light Within..."
I'm not disagreeing with him or any other thinker in the sense that ultimate reality doesn't precede the rational but that for so many Quakers and other humans now, "mystical" has become another "empty-bucket" word which means a million different things. And has become primarily to mean something individualistic and postmodern.
If everyone were to use the term "mystical" in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary sense, then I would agree:
"Full Definition of mystical
1
a : having a spiritual meaning or reality that is neither apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence...
b : involving or having the nature of an individual's direct subjective communion with God or ultimate reality..."
In the Light,
Daniel Wilcox
--
*How dated 60-year-old books seem now with their un-egalitarianism language. It isn't surprising when one sees it in most books, but to see the old usage in a Friends' seminal work does shock, since Friends have emphasized equality to one degree or another for over 365 years. On the other hand, the "man," and "he's" were linguistic convention, probably something that Brinton didn't even notice.
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Bringing Hope, Joy, and Success to 4 Foster Kids and More
Don't miss this heart-warming story in American Girl Magazine! Finally, in the midst of so much tragic and absurd world news, here's what only two individuals can do to bring hope, joy, and success to those in need.
"My daddy and I are very different, but we’re a lot alike, too. We both love animals. We like to help others. And we were both in foster care as kids. Foster care is a system set up to care for kids when their own parents can’t. Six years ago, my brother Makai and I were in foster care for three months. During that time, we lived with three different sets of foster parents. Then we got adopted.
When Makai and I were first adopted, everything we had was stuffed into trash bags, one for each of us.
My daddy and I do lots of things together, like caring for the animals on our little farm. We have ducks, chickens, goats, and two dogs. We also work to help kids who are in foster care today.
When Makai and I were first adopted, everything we had was stuffed into trash bags, one for each of us. That made my daddy feel really bad. When he was a kid in foster care and moving from place to place, he also carried the few things he owned in a trash bag. He says it made him feel like he wasn’t worth much. He thinks kids should be treated better than that.
So my daddy started a charity to help kids in foster care feel better about themselves. We provide nice new bags and backpacks for kids to travel with as they move around."
Read the rest at
http://www.americangirl.com/explore/articles/see-how-one-family-is-making-a-difference/
American Girl, November/December 2015
In the Light,
Daniel Wilcox
"My daddy and I are very different, but we’re a lot alike, too. We both love animals. We like to help others. And we were both in foster care as kids. Foster care is a system set up to care for kids when their own parents can’t. Six years ago, my brother Makai and I were in foster care for three months. During that time, we lived with three different sets of foster parents. Then we got adopted.
When Makai and I were first adopted, everything we had was stuffed into trash bags, one for each of us.
My daddy and I do lots of things together, like caring for the animals on our little farm. We have ducks, chickens, goats, and two dogs. We also work to help kids who are in foster care today.
When Makai and I were first adopted, everything we had was stuffed into trash bags, one for each of us. That made my daddy feel really bad. When he was a kid in foster care and moving from place to place, he also carried the few things he owned in a trash bag. He says it made him feel like he wasn’t worth much. He thinks kids should be treated better than that.
So my daddy started a charity to help kids in foster care feel better about themselves. We provide nice new bags and backpacks for kids to travel with as they move around."
Read the rest at
http://www.americangirl.com/explore/articles/see-how-one-family-is-making-a-difference/
American Girl, November/December 2015
In the Light,
Daniel Wilcox
Monday, June 8, 2015
Franklin Graham's Comments --How Such Hypocrisy of Christianity Seems to Know No Limit
The hypocrisy of Christianity seems to know no limit:-(
Read this statement by Franklin Graham and contrast it with the stated views of the Billy Graham Association and the leaders promoted in their magazine, Decision, each month!
Franklin Graham
June 5 at 9:04am ·
"Have you ever asked yourself–how can we fight the tide of moral decay that is being crammed down our throats by big business, the media, and the gay & lesbian community? Every day it is something else! Tiffany’s started advertising wedding rings for gay couples. Wells Fargo bank is using a same-sex couple in their advertising.
And there are more. But it has dawned on me that we don’t have to do business with them. At the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, we are moving our accounts from Wells Fargo to another bank. And guess what—we don’t have to shop at Tiffany & Co., there are plenty of other jewelry stores.
This is one way we as Christians can speak out—we have the power of choice."
--
You say "we have the power of choice." Then why does your magazine, Decision, each month promote Christian leaders such as John Piper who claim NO human has any choice?
Who claim that most of the billions of us were foreordained to eternal damnation from before the creation of the universe. That God only loves to save a limited number of humans through a "limited atonement." That God only "unconditionally" elected a limited number of humans.
Why do leaders of the BGA claim that God only wills for a limited number of humans to be rescued?!
We used to support Billy Graham's ministry. Back in the "Good News" days, before the "Gospel" became horrific news for most people. I still remember being a counselor at one of the BGA crusades, still remember Billy Graham emphasizing in his sermons and conversations that God is love,
and that God loves every single human being
and wills for every single human being to saved.
But all that has changed.
We will never support the Billy Graham Association any more.
Fighting against such darkness,
Daniel Wilcox
Read this statement by Franklin Graham and contrast it with the stated views of the Billy Graham Association and the leaders promoted in their magazine, Decision, each month!
Franklin Graham
June 5 at 9:04am ·
"Have you ever asked yourself–how can we fight the tide of moral decay that is being crammed down our throats by big business, the media, and the gay & lesbian community? Every day it is something else! Tiffany’s started advertising wedding rings for gay couples. Wells Fargo bank is using a same-sex couple in their advertising.
And there are more. But it has dawned on me that we don’t have to do business with them. At the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, we are moving our accounts from Wells Fargo to another bank. And guess what—we don’t have to shop at Tiffany & Co., there are plenty of other jewelry stores.
This is one way we as Christians can speak out—we have the power of choice."
--
You say "we have the power of choice." Then why does your magazine, Decision, each month promote Christian leaders such as John Piper who claim NO human has any choice?
Who claim that most of the billions of us were foreordained to eternal damnation from before the creation of the universe. That God only loves to save a limited number of humans through a "limited atonement." That God only "unconditionally" elected a limited number of humans.
Why do leaders of the BGA claim that God only wills for a limited number of humans to be rescued?!
We used to support Billy Graham's ministry. Back in the "Good News" days, before the "Gospel" became horrific news for most people. I still remember being a counselor at one of the BGA crusades, still remember Billy Graham emphasizing in his sermons and conversations that God is love,
and that God loves every single human being
and wills for every single human being to saved.
But all that has changed.
We will never support the Billy Graham Association any more.
Fighting against such darkness,
Daniel Wilcox
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Be Like the Wise Men and Bring Gifts to All in Need--Through Mennonite Central Committee or World Vision
Follow in the long journey of the Wise men and bring gifts to those in need...
a goat, a fishing kit, clean water.
And bring deliverance from
disease, poverty, human rights violations,
exploitation, the ravages of current conflicts...
Through the peace-spreading of Mennonite Central Committee
and the poverty-ending of World Vision, or some other reliable,
world-changing nonprofit,
give hope.
Yes, be a human 'profit' for good change in the world today.
Do how Eashoa, the Chosen, said to act in his parable of the Good Samaritan.
Herald the Good News for all to all from the God of All Comfort.
In the Light,
Daniel Wilcox
a goat, a fishing kit, clean water.
And bring deliverance from
disease, poverty, human rights violations,
exploitation, the ravages of current conflicts...
Through the peace-spreading of Mennonite Central Committee
and the poverty-ending of World Vision, or some other reliable,
world-changing nonprofit,
give hope.
Yes, be a human 'profit' for good change in the world today.
Do how Eashoa, the Chosen, said to act in his parable of the Good Samaritan.
Herald the Good News for all to all from the God of All Comfort.
In the Light,
Daniel Wilcox
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Part #5: Or Maybe Not...maybe there is no moral arc
Maybe nontheistic scientists and cosmologists are correct: There is no real moral arc, (like Martin Luther King Jr. and other
visionaries think),
but only a cosmic block of amber--lock, stock and barrel--one meaningless, purposeless cosmic time/space/matter/energy existence because of the Big Bang, and an eventual explosive blast of cosmic death...the Big Rip after us (or possibly the Big Return).
That's the end, not Life.
There's an important aphoristic saying" "Begin with the end in mind," when you make important decisions.
What is this end speculated by many brilliant thinkers?
"Most of us are aware of our own mortality, but few among us know what science, with insights yielded from groundbreaking new research, has to say about endings on a larger scale. Enter astronomer Chris Impey, who chronicles the death of the whole shebang: individual, species, bio- sphere, Earth, Sun, Milky Way, and, finally, the entire universe."
"With a healthy dose of humor, How It Ends illuminates everything from the technologies of human life extension and the evolutionary arms race between microbes and men to the inescapable dimming of the Sun and the ultimate “big rip,” giving us a rare glimpse into a universe without us."
How It Ends by Chris Impey, Amazon Website
Allegedly over 80% of modern philosophers think God--ultimate reality, the transcendent--is imaginary delusion,
and nearly ½ of all scientists are Atheists!
According to all of these brilliant thinkers, our goose is cooked—and it’s us. There are no golden eggs, never were.
The cosmos including us conscious, ethical humans won’t last forever.
No good news exists. Jesus and other moral leaders proclaimed no eternal truths; indeed according to some scholars, Jesus never existed.
The New Testament is a fake fictional adaption of Greek myths.
In fact, there are no moral truths, no human rights, no equality, no justice...All of those ideals are illusions, are only "subjective preferences," "relative," and came about via natural selection, probably "spandrels" (the term used by the evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould). Or they are "misfirings" of evolution (Richard Dawkins).
We won’t survive our own finite deaths, won’t become One with God, won’t experience everlasting bliss, won’t be transformed by the Divine into creative communion. Christian thinkers are deluded including the French Christian philosopher and paleontologist, Tellihard de Chardin who said that there was a glorious future
for the universe and humanity, a blessed hope, the Omega Point.
No, say the secular experts, theistic scientists such as Simon Conway Morris, George Mendel, and Theodosius Dobzhansky are dead wrong. Tellihard’s views were distorted by his Christian delusions.
Instead, everything is headed for a great Negation. Allegedly, first, the Milky Way Galaxy will crash out in 4 billion years. Our cosmic backyard will cease to exist because it will collide with the Andromeda Galaxy. In the sardonic phrase of the Terminator II: Judgment Day:
“Hasta la vista, baby!”
These 2 galaxies, right now as I write, are flashing toward each other at 250,000 miles per hour. But according to the cosmologists, this vast collision probably won’t cause the destruction of Terra, our planet Earth.
Terrific;-), no terror, for Terra.
Or maybe not...
The same scientists are fairly sure that by then Terra “will become too hot to be inhabited by humans” anyway.
(from CNN Light Years/Sari Zeidler)
Eventually our sun will become a red giant and our dead planet will be caught and pulled into the inferno.
"The drag caused by this low-density gas is enough to cause the Earth to drift inwards, and finally to be captured and vaporized by the sun."
(Scientist Robert Smith, University of Sussex)
This won’t happen for about 7.6 billion years, so don’t worry yet. Of course, our own death will come 6.6 billion years sooner than that because the expanding sun will already have fried the Earth to a cinder.
This depressing end-scenario brings out the corny in me. I just thought of another famous phrase which captures this dismal end: "Return to ‘sender’
address unknown..."
And there’s more about the abysmal end, about how the universe will keep expanding until everything becomes distantly dead and lightless, but we won’t be there to observe and wail.
So Sheol, (Hebrew: the pit, grave), is the ultimate end,
NOT
Heaven, not the Realm of God, not Cosmic Communion, not the Omega Point.
Welcome to the funeral wake, our eternal death.
OR MAYBE NOT...
Maybe the words of theistic scientists such Kevin Miller, Simon Conway Morris and Theodosius Dobzhansky and ethical visionaries get the last word. At least they do for those who choose to listen to statements
like this from Martin Luther King Jr.:
"I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the 'isness' of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal 'oughtness' that forever confronts him."
"But I am here to say to you this morning that some things are right and some things are wrong. Eternally so, absolutely so. It's wrong to hate, Its always been wrong and it always will be wrong."
"Rediscovering Lost Values," Martin Luther King Jr., February 1954
So choose and choose wisely.
Even if we’re wrong, even if the God we trust doesn’t exist, never has, never will...
Even if there is No Meaning and No Purpose, none at all.
Even if the Atheist biologists Richard Dawkins and Francis Crick and the determinists Jerry Coyne and Sam Harris are factually correct...
I plan to live differently.
What do I have to lose living ethically in absurd meaningless matter and energy?
Nothing:-) as Albert Camus so well explained.
If the universe is absurd, I still plan to live my life with creative ethical purpose.
(If 'I' am an "illusion" as they claim, I won't ever know that.)
Through trust in reason and creativity and ethics, I choose to live as this brief life should be lived, to live as the universe OUGHT to be. What is real for humans is NOW! This present moment.
To live a life of compassion, honesty, fidelity, and goodness.
Yes, choose “ought” and trust, not despair or ultimate pessimism.
REJECT the hopelessness of Bertrand Russell" "Such, in outline, but even more purposeless, more void of meaning, is the world which Science presents for our belief. Amid such a world, if anywhere, our ideals henceforward must find a home. That Man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms;
that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and that the whole temple of Man’s achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins
--all these things, if not quite beyond dispute,
are yet so nearly certain,
that no philosophy which rejects them can hope to stand."
"Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair,
can the soul’s habitation henceforth be safely built."
The Free Man's Worship, Bertrand Russell, 1903
CHOOSE INSTEAD:
“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness...And if we do act, in however small a way, we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”
Howard Zinn
Amen to that…
In the Light,
Daniel Wilcox
visionaries think),
but only a cosmic block of amber--lock, stock and barrel--one meaningless, purposeless cosmic time/space/matter/energy existence because of the Big Bang, and an eventual explosive blast of cosmic death...the Big Rip after us (or possibly the Big Return).
That's the end, not Life.
There's an important aphoristic saying" "Begin with the end in mind," when you make important decisions.
What is this end speculated by many brilliant thinkers?
"Most of us are aware of our own mortality, but few among us know what science, with insights yielded from groundbreaking new research, has to say about endings on a larger scale. Enter astronomer Chris Impey, who chronicles the death of the whole shebang: individual, species, bio- sphere, Earth, Sun, Milky Way, and, finally, the entire universe."
How It Ends by Chris Impey, Amazon Website
Allegedly over 80% of modern philosophers think God--ultimate reality, the transcendent--is imaginary delusion,
and nearly ½ of all scientists are Atheists!
According to all of these brilliant thinkers, our goose is cooked—and it’s us. There are no golden eggs, never were.
The cosmos including us conscious, ethical humans won’t last forever.
No good news exists. Jesus and other moral leaders proclaimed no eternal truths; indeed according to some scholars, Jesus never existed.
The New Testament is a fake fictional adaption of Greek myths.
In fact, there are no moral truths, no human rights, no equality, no justice...All of those ideals are illusions, are only "subjective preferences," "relative," and came about via natural selection, probably "spandrels" (the term used by the evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould). Or they are "misfirings" of evolution (Richard Dawkins).
We won’t survive our own finite deaths, won’t become One with God, won’t experience everlasting bliss, won’t be transformed by the Divine into creative communion. Christian thinkers are deluded including the French Christian philosopher and paleontologist, Tellihard de Chardin who said that there was a glorious future
for the universe and humanity, a blessed hope, the Omega Point.
No, say the secular experts, theistic scientists such as Simon Conway Morris, George Mendel, and Theodosius Dobzhansky are dead wrong. Tellihard’s views were distorted by his Christian delusions.
Instead, everything is headed for a great Negation. Allegedly, first, the Milky Way Galaxy will crash out in 4 billion years. Our cosmic backyard will cease to exist because it will collide with the Andromeda Galaxy. In the sardonic phrase of the Terminator II: Judgment Day:
“Hasta la vista, baby!”
These 2 galaxies, right now as I write, are flashing toward each other at 250,000 miles per hour. But according to the cosmologists, this vast collision probably won’t cause the destruction of Terra, our planet Earth.
Terrific;-), no terror, for Terra.
Or maybe not...
The same scientists are fairly sure that by then Terra “will become too hot to be inhabited by humans” anyway.
(from CNN Light Years/Sari Zeidler)
Eventually our sun will become a red giant and our dead planet will be caught and pulled into the inferno.
"The drag caused by this low-density gas is enough to cause the Earth to drift inwards, and finally to be captured and vaporized by the sun."
(Scientist Robert Smith, University of Sussex)
This won’t happen for about 7.6 billion years, so don’t worry yet. Of course, our own death will come 6.6 billion years sooner than that because the expanding sun will already have fried the Earth to a cinder.
This depressing end-scenario brings out the corny in me. I just thought of another famous phrase which captures this dismal end: "Return to ‘sender’
address unknown..."
And there’s more about the abysmal end, about how the universe will keep expanding until everything becomes distantly dead and lightless, but we won’t be there to observe and wail.
So Sheol, (Hebrew: the pit, grave), is the ultimate end,
NOT
Heaven, not the Realm of God, not Cosmic Communion, not the Omega Point.
Welcome to the funeral wake, our eternal death.
OR MAYBE NOT...
Maybe the words of theistic scientists such Kevin Miller, Simon Conway Morris and Theodosius Dobzhansky and ethical visionaries get the last word. At least they do for those who choose to listen to statements
like this from Martin Luther King Jr.:
"I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the 'isness' of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal 'oughtness' that forever confronts him."
"But I am here to say to you this morning that some things are right and some things are wrong. Eternally so, absolutely so. It's wrong to hate, Its always been wrong and it always will be wrong."
"Rediscovering Lost Values," Martin Luther King Jr., February 1954
So choose and choose wisely.
Even if we’re wrong, even if the God we trust doesn’t exist, never has, never will...
Even if there is No Meaning and No Purpose, none at all.
Even if the Atheist biologists Richard Dawkins and Francis Crick and the determinists Jerry Coyne and Sam Harris are factually correct...
I plan to live differently.
What do I have to lose living ethically in absurd meaningless matter and energy?
Nothing:-) as Albert Camus so well explained.
If the universe is absurd, I still plan to live my life with creative ethical purpose.
(If 'I' am an "illusion" as they claim, I won't ever know that.)
Through trust in reason and creativity and ethics, I choose to live as this brief life should be lived, to live as the universe OUGHT to be. What is real for humans is NOW! This present moment.
To live a life of compassion, honesty, fidelity, and goodness.
Yes, choose “ought” and trust, not despair or ultimate pessimism.
REJECT the hopelessness of Bertrand Russell" "Such, in outline, but even more purposeless, more void of meaning, is the world which Science presents for our belief. Amid such a world, if anywhere, our ideals henceforward must find a home. That Man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms;
that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and that the whole temple of Man’s achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins
--all these things, if not quite beyond dispute,
are yet so nearly certain,
that no philosophy which rejects them can hope to stand."
"Only within the scaffolding of these truths, only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair,
can the soul’s habitation henceforth be safely built."
The Free Man's Worship, Bertrand Russell, 1903
CHOOSE INSTEAD:
“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness...And if we do act, in however small a way, we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”
Howard Zinn
Amen to that…
In the Light,
Daniel Wilcox
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Part #3: You Have Been Our Dwelling Place in All Generations—Long Moral Arc
We left off last week admitting…
What a great demonic ocean of darkness still holds sway in the world, in existence.
Where, indeed, is God in a world traumatized by natural disaster and disease and destruction? Where is Jesus’ delivering “moral arc” when millions of humans wreak havoc, harm, and slaughter?
Sure, sometimes in the midst of the suffering and the shame, a rainbow of justice, mercy, and truth does spangle the moral sky.
When Martin Luther King Jr. took up Theodore Parker’s statement for one of his anti-segregation articles in 1958 and later heralded out the prophecy in one of his famous speeches,
all heaven did begin to break loose in U.S.
And America has never been the same.
People, millions of individuals, were changed. Justice and mercy kissed, however briefly.
Yes, King’s witness for God’s love in Jesus, the Chosen, did help transform so much of how we thought and how we acted in the 1950s and 60s.
Except, of course,Wrong has lashed back since. While there is less overt racism now—thank Divine Love and human freedom and the great leaders of the Civil Rights Movement—YET so much other havoc and hell now
wrecks destruction upon many millions.
Almost 50 years after King’s ethical speeches, the condition, overall, of African-Americans is worse today. For instance, in 2013, 72% of African-American infants are born to single unwed mothers!
Where are the husbands? Where are the fathers?
WHERE?
As bad as life was back in 1965, only 24% of African-American babies were born outside of a marriage covenant then.
WHY the drastic change downward?
Currently, young African American men are nearly 6 times as likely to die from homicide as Caucasian young men. Why?
Since the start of the Afghan War, 2000 Americans have died in Afghanistan, but over 5,000 have died in Chicago!
Can’t we get a heart? Can’t God hear our cry? Doesn’t God weep?
How has Martin Luther King’s great moral dream turned into a frightful nightmare?
Even becoming religious or spiritual doesn’t necessarily seem to help. On the contrary, sometimes being a Christian appears to make matters worse. Consider that the Barna Research Group found “born-again Christians divorce more often than non-Christians,” and that Atheists have “the lowest divorce rate.”
So do we need to abandon faith to increase the moral arc?!
Let’s not even look at all the other worse destruction in the world and around the rest of the globe, especially not in the abysses of the East or Africa.
Indeed, why does the rough beast always slouch through humankind endlessly?
For the last 50,000 years at least, humans have been faced with ethical choice—with the spiritual battle between good and evil.
At this point, most readers will probably now expect this long article (in 4 parts) to give a quick spiritual and biblical fix to all this endless horror of many thousands of years. That’s how religious reflections usually end—with a sure confident answer to why God hasn’t brought the Good News to triumph, why the words of Revelation at the end of Scripture haven’t come to pass, why so often faith drastically fails, actually destroys, and utterly so.
Check out these words from the last chapter of the Bible: “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord...
That was 2,000 years ago! Many horrendous bloodletting centuries ago. Billions of humans have suffered and died.
Too long.
Have You been our dwelling place in all generations?
To be continued
In the Light,
Daniel Wilcox
What a great demonic ocean of darkness still holds sway in the world, in existence.
Where, indeed, is God in a world traumatized by natural disaster and disease and destruction? Where is Jesus’ delivering “moral arc” when millions of humans wreak havoc, harm, and slaughter?
Sure, sometimes in the midst of the suffering and the shame, a rainbow of justice, mercy, and truth does spangle the moral sky.
When Martin Luther King Jr. took up Theodore Parker’s statement for one of his anti-segregation articles in 1958 and later heralded out the prophecy in one of his famous speeches,
all heaven did begin to break loose in U.S.
And America has never been the same.
People, millions of individuals, were changed. Justice and mercy kissed, however briefly.
Yes, King’s witness for God’s love in Jesus, the Chosen, did help transform so much of how we thought and how we acted in the 1950s and 60s.
Except, of course,Wrong has lashed back since. While there is less overt racism now—thank Divine Love and human freedom and the great leaders of the Civil Rights Movement—YET so much other havoc and hell now
wrecks destruction upon many millions.
Almost 50 years after King’s ethical speeches, the condition, overall, of African-Americans is worse today. For instance, in 2013, 72% of African-American infants are born to single unwed mothers!
Where are the husbands? Where are the fathers?
WHERE?
As bad as life was back in 1965, only 24% of African-American babies were born outside of a marriage covenant then.
WHY the drastic change downward?
Currently, young African American men are nearly 6 times as likely to die from homicide as Caucasian young men. Why?
Since the start of the Afghan War, 2000 Americans have died in Afghanistan, but over 5,000 have died in Chicago!
Can’t we get a heart? Can’t God hear our cry? Doesn’t God weep?
How has Martin Luther King’s great moral dream turned into a frightful nightmare?
Even becoming religious or spiritual doesn’t necessarily seem to help. On the contrary, sometimes being a Christian appears to make matters worse. Consider that the Barna Research Group found “born-again Christians divorce more often than non-Christians,” and that Atheists have “the lowest divorce rate.”
So do we need to abandon faith to increase the moral arc?!
Let’s not even look at all the other worse destruction in the world and around the rest of the globe, especially not in the abysses of the East or Africa.
Indeed, why does the rough beast always slouch through humankind endlessly?
For the last 50,000 years at least, humans have been faced with ethical choice—with the spiritual battle between good and evil.
At this point, most readers will probably now expect this long article (in 4 parts) to give a quick spiritual and biblical fix to all this endless horror of many thousands of years. That’s how religious reflections usually end—with a sure confident answer to why God hasn’t brought the Good News to triumph, why the words of Revelation at the end of Scripture haven’t come to pass, why so often faith drastically fails, actually destroys, and utterly so.
Check out these words from the last chapter of the Bible: “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord...
That was 2,000 years ago! Many horrendous bloodletting centuries ago. Billions of humans have suffered and died.
Too long.
Have You been our dwelling place in all generations?
To be continued
In the Light,
Daniel Wilcox
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Droning On....Or Singing the Good News?
Droning On…Or Singing the Good News?
[Consider] “…the story of a little church in Memphis, Tennessee, the “buckle of the Bible belt.” During the ruckus over the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” in Manhattan, this little church learned that an Islamic center was being built next door so they put a sign saying “Heartsong Church Welcomes Memphis Islamic Center to the Neighborhood.” The Muslims were amazed, and deeply moved, and soon a friendship developed between these two neighboring congregations.
During Ramadan the Christians let the Muslims use their sanctuary for prayers since Islamic Center wasn’t finished. This story got world-wide coverage. One night Muslims from Kashmir called the pastor of the Heartsong church to let him know: “God is speaking to us through this man” and “We love you.” The Muslims of Kashmir said there was a little Christian church in their area and they cleaned it, inside and out, and vowed to take care of it for the rest of their lives.
Wallis asked: 'What is more likely to bring peace to the world, drones or what this Memphis church did?'” [in the new book On God’s Side by Jim Wallis of Sojourners’ Magazine]
From L A Quaker
What a witness of God's love for everyone that small church gave.
Part 5 of my series on marriage as covenant will show up next time.
In the Light,
Daniel Wilcox
[Consider] “…the story of a little church in Memphis, Tennessee, the “buckle of the Bible belt.” During the ruckus over the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” in Manhattan, this little church learned that an Islamic center was being built next door so they put a sign saying “Heartsong Church Welcomes Memphis Islamic Center to the Neighborhood.” The Muslims were amazed, and deeply moved, and soon a friendship developed between these two neighboring congregations.
During Ramadan the Christians let the Muslims use their sanctuary for prayers since Islamic Center wasn’t finished. This story got world-wide coverage. One night Muslims from Kashmir called the pastor of the Heartsong church to let him know: “God is speaking to us through this man” and “We love you.” The Muslims of Kashmir said there was a little Christian church in their area and they cleaned it, inside and out, and vowed to take care of it for the rest of their lives.
Wallis asked: 'What is more likely to bring peace to the world, drones or what this Memphis church did?'” [in the new book On God’s Side by Jim Wallis of Sojourners’ Magazine]
From L A Quaker
What a witness of God's love for everyone that small church gave.
Part 5 of my series on marriage as covenant will show up next time.
In the Light,
Daniel Wilcox
Thursday, August 16, 2012
The Judas Kiss
The Evil of Religious Double-Talk
I really hate religious double-talk, especially the kind whose end results are horrific.
Gangsters and gang members who strut their malign beliefs are abhorrent, especially when they openly prey upon the innocent and the young, but they can be faced and dealt with.
They wear their intentions proudly blazoned in garish tattoos and brazen behavior. Police know where they are at and can deal with them.
But the really insidious and diabolical are the serial crooks and abusers who wear sheep’s clothing of respectability, who carry out their crimes under the appearance of goodness and light. Who often aren’t caught, or not until long after their actions have hurt and destroyed many innocent people.
Isn’t this why traitors and spies are so despised? Humans oppose their enemies, though sometimes respect them even despite great destruction and killing. The most famous example of this is the meeting between Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House.
However, in contrast, spies such as Civil War soldier, Will Talbot, got hanged.
Most people can’t stand foes who sneak around trying to appear as their friends. Benedict Arnold was one of the great heroes early in the American Revolution, but his name is not famous for his soldiering.
The Judas kiss isn’t a hateful allusion for nothing.
An obvious disease is treatable; a hidden cancer which destroys and is found too late leads to death. A really bizarre cult is at least “good” in the sense that its malignancy is so obvious.
What is very dangerous is the Christian message which appears so good, but has hidden horror and destruction within.
I must admit that is why, in a strange sort of way I do prefer hyper-theological determinists, the so-called ‘high’ supralapsarians of the Christian world. Not that, they are easy to face. I still remember the first speaker I encountered at a church Bible study on Philippians when I was in my late 20’s.
The spokesperson claimed every rape and murder is planned by God! That God actually has foreordained the eternal damnation of most of us humans. And later I learned that they believed God even planned the Jewish Holocaust for his “own pleasure and glory”!!
Whew! Needless to say, I was shocked and doubly horrified, having been raised in the loving Good News of Evangelical Christianity as preached by leaders like Billy Graham and Charles Finney and John Wesley and Menno Simons and St. Francis and Justin Martyr and Polycarp; and in fact all of the early Church Fathers!
When I became aware of my own sins and guilt, I accepted Jesus as my Savior because of the overwhelming love of God for us--for all the billions of us, every last one of us, and that God forgives us in Christ, that God is like a father who dearly loves every single human he has ever created, even those of us who have made so many wrong ethical choices.
“The wonder of it all” (to quote a famous revival hymn by George Beverly Shea) that God would have sent Jesus to lead the way to the Light for only one of us, even for me, even if I had been the only wrong-doer in the whole world! Joy unspeakable and praise to the glory of our wondrous God of love.
So I did fight against the horrific theological determinism of a rape-and-murder-planning God with all of my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind. This was overt brazen, twisted Christianity I could fight and did.
But then much later I discovered other great leaders of Christianity, who I admired, actually, also, believed in this same horrific vision of God, but they hid their religious betrayal within religious double-talk.
For example consider some of these very good statements: "I say every man who comes to Christ shall be saved."
"Every man that comes shall find the door of Christ’s house opened—and the door of his heart too. Every man that comes—I say it in the broadest sense—shall find that Christ has mercy for him...every man who believes shall be saved—that every man who comes shall find mercy.
...I tell you all that come—aye, if they were as bad as devils, Christ would receive them; if they had all sin and filthiness running into their hearts as into a common sewer for the whole world, Christ would receive them…good news from God for sinners is like cold waters to a thirsty soul."
"The first piece of good news that I have to give you is, that God has not forgotten you. You are a lost sheep, and you have almost forgotten your Shepherd; perhaps, you have altogether forgotten him; but your Shepherd has been counting over the number of his sheep, and he finds that there is one missing, for there are only ninety and nine where there should be a hundred, and he is deeply concerned about the one that has gone astray."
"God has not only remembered that there is such a person as you but he remembers you with pity."
"You have nothing to do, sinner, but to give yourself up to the leading, guiding, directing, assisting, quickening of the blessed Spirit of God."
Aren’t these words of wondrous Good News?
Don’t they sound like the glad tidings of the Gospel?
Aren’t they blessings of joy, showing the great love of God for everyone?
No, they are the Judas Kiss!
For this famous Christian leader, Charles Spurgeon, (like so many other famous leaders) actually means the exact opposite of his direct statements.
Spurgeon doesn't think any sinner "can give yourself up to" the Spirit of God. On the contrary, elsewhere he states (like all real theological determinists) that a human must first be regenerated against his will.
No one has any choice; every infant is born totally depraved, evil.
And Spurgeon declares that God has predestined only a limited number of humans to be rescued.
To hell with all of the billions of us other humans.
His book on salvation and a number of his sermons, his “Gospel” is nothing of the sort.
No "good news" at all.
It's obscenely horrific news.
Spurgeon's speeches are a Judas kiss, are a horror to behold, nothing more nor less than
the worst of the worst covered over by double-talk.
The Judas kiss.
Let Spurgeon clarify his real meaning with his own words:
“Another says, ‘I want to know about the rest of the people. May I go out and tell them—Jesus Christ died for every one of you? May I say—there is righteousness for every one of you, there is life for every one of you?’ No; you may not.”
What?!!
But then this famous preacher of so-called good news speaks of the “Doctrine of Grace”: “There is no soul living who holds more firmly to the doctrine of grace than do I.”
Well, isn’t that good? Grace is wonderful, right?
Isn’t that another word for God’s love for everyone—that we can’t do enough good to be acceptable to God, but “God was in Christ reconciling the world until himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19 and John 3:16)?
No.
The famous preacher doesn’t mean “grace” in that sense at all. Instead, what he later clarifies is that he means this: TULIP—a systematic acronym for John Calvin’s statement:
"They again object, Were not men predestinated by the ordination of God to that corruption which is now held forth as the cause of condemnation?
If so, when they perish in their corruptions they do nothing else than suffer punishment for that calamity, into which, by the predestination of God, Adam fell, and dragged all his posterity headlong with him. Is not he, therefore, unjust in thus cruelly mocking his creatures?"
"I admit that by the will of God all the sons of Adam fell into that state of wretchedness in which they are now involved; and this is just what I said at the first, that we must always return to the mere pleasure of the divine will, the cause of which is hidden in himself."
Chapter 23, 4 Institutes of Chirstian Religion
John Calvin
Then Charles Spurgeon goes on to say:
“There is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else."
The twisted tulip of Calvinism
When Spurgeon says, “I say every man who comes to Christ shall be saved. I can say that as a Calvinist, or as a hyper-Calvinist, as plainly as you can say it"
one has to decipher his double talk because according to his Calvinism, the vast majority of humankind was foreordained to eternal damnation by God before the beginning of Creation.
Double-talk, how hateful and destructive it is. How insidious!
According to Calvinism, God has willed for most of us to be lost forever, eternally pre-damned from before time began, for the “mere pleasure of the divine will.”
Lest we missed this hidden point, Spurgeon adds: “I do not serve the god of the Arminians [John Wesley, Charles Finney, George Fox, Menno Simons, Arminius, etc.] at all; I have nothing to do with him, and I do not bow down before the Baal they have set up; he is not my God, nor shall he ever be; I fear him not, nor tremble at his presence...”
Finally, no more double-talk like his earlier fake evangelistic words.
Just the horror of no hope for most of us humans because we were foreordained to eternal damnation, created at conception by God as evil sinners and incapable of repenting. God didn’t send Jesus for us and doesn’t send his Holy Spirit to change us...
So much for the “good news” of the Judas Kiss!
Next time the really GOOD NEWS of Jesus…
In the Light,
Daniel Wilcox
I really hate religious double-talk, especially the kind whose end results are horrific.
Gangsters and gang members who strut their malign beliefs are abhorrent, especially when they openly prey upon the innocent and the young, but they can be faced and dealt with.
They wear their intentions proudly blazoned in garish tattoos and brazen behavior. Police know where they are at and can deal with them.
But the really insidious and diabolical are the serial crooks and abusers who wear sheep’s clothing of respectability, who carry out their crimes under the appearance of goodness and light. Who often aren’t caught, or not until long after their actions have hurt and destroyed many innocent people.
Isn’t this why traitors and spies are so despised? Humans oppose their enemies, though sometimes respect them even despite great destruction and killing. The most famous example of this is the meeting between Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House.
However, in contrast, spies such as Civil War soldier, Will Talbot, got hanged.
Most people can’t stand foes who sneak around trying to appear as their friends. Benedict Arnold was one of the great heroes early in the American Revolution, but his name is not famous for his soldiering.
The Judas kiss isn’t a hateful allusion for nothing.
An obvious disease is treatable; a hidden cancer which destroys and is found too late leads to death. A really bizarre cult is at least “good” in the sense that its malignancy is so obvious.
What is very dangerous is the Christian message which appears so good, but has hidden horror and destruction within.
I must admit that is why, in a strange sort of way I do prefer hyper-theological determinists, the so-called ‘high’ supralapsarians of the Christian world. Not that, they are easy to face. I still remember the first speaker I encountered at a church Bible study on Philippians when I was in my late 20’s.
The spokesperson claimed every rape and murder is planned by God! That God actually has foreordained the eternal damnation of most of us humans. And later I learned that they believed God even planned the Jewish Holocaust for his “own pleasure and glory”!!
Whew! Needless to say, I was shocked and doubly horrified, having been raised in the loving Good News of Evangelical Christianity as preached by leaders like Billy Graham and Charles Finney and John Wesley and Menno Simons and St. Francis and Justin Martyr and Polycarp; and in fact all of the early Church Fathers!
When I became aware of my own sins and guilt, I accepted Jesus as my Savior because of the overwhelming love of God for us--for all the billions of us, every last one of us, and that God forgives us in Christ, that God is like a father who dearly loves every single human he has ever created, even those of us who have made so many wrong ethical choices.
“The wonder of it all” (to quote a famous revival hymn by George Beverly Shea) that God would have sent Jesus to lead the way to the Light for only one of us, even for me, even if I had been the only wrong-doer in the whole world! Joy unspeakable and praise to the glory of our wondrous God of love.
So I did fight against the horrific theological determinism of a rape-and-murder-planning God with all of my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind. This was overt brazen, twisted Christianity I could fight and did.
But then much later I discovered other great leaders of Christianity, who I admired, actually, also, believed in this same horrific vision of God, but they hid their religious betrayal within religious double-talk.
For example consider some of these very good statements: "I say every man who comes to Christ shall be saved."
"Every man that comes shall find the door of Christ’s house opened—and the door of his heart too. Every man that comes—I say it in the broadest sense—shall find that Christ has mercy for him...every man who believes shall be saved—that every man who comes shall find mercy.
...I tell you all that come—aye, if they were as bad as devils, Christ would receive them; if they had all sin and filthiness running into their hearts as into a common sewer for the whole world, Christ would receive them…good news from God for sinners is like cold waters to a thirsty soul."
"The first piece of good news that I have to give you is, that God has not forgotten you. You are a lost sheep, and you have almost forgotten your Shepherd; perhaps, you have altogether forgotten him; but your Shepherd has been counting over the number of his sheep, and he finds that there is one missing, for there are only ninety and nine where there should be a hundred, and he is deeply concerned about the one that has gone astray."
"God has not only remembered that there is such a person as you but he remembers you with pity."
"You have nothing to do, sinner, but to give yourself up to the leading, guiding, directing, assisting, quickening of the blessed Spirit of God."
Aren’t these words of wondrous Good News?
Don’t they sound like the glad tidings of the Gospel?
Aren’t they blessings of joy, showing the great love of God for everyone?
No, they are the Judas Kiss!
For this famous Christian leader, Charles Spurgeon, (like so many other famous leaders) actually means the exact opposite of his direct statements.
Spurgeon doesn't think any sinner "can give yourself up to" the Spirit of God. On the contrary, elsewhere he states (like all real theological determinists) that a human must first be regenerated against his will.
No one has any choice; every infant is born totally depraved, evil.
And Spurgeon declares that God has predestined only a limited number of humans to be rescued.
To hell with all of the billions of us other humans.
His book on salvation and a number of his sermons, his “Gospel” is nothing of the sort.
No "good news" at all.
It's obscenely horrific news.
Spurgeon's speeches are a Judas kiss, are a horror to behold, nothing more nor less than
the worst of the worst covered over by double-talk.
The Judas kiss.
Let Spurgeon clarify his real meaning with his own words:
“Another says, ‘I want to know about the rest of the people. May I go out and tell them—Jesus Christ died for every one of you? May I say—there is righteousness for every one of you, there is life for every one of you?’ No; you may not.”
What?!!
But then this famous preacher of so-called good news speaks of the “Doctrine of Grace”: “There is no soul living who holds more firmly to the doctrine of grace than do I.”
Well, isn’t that good? Grace is wonderful, right?
Isn’t that another word for God’s love for everyone—that we can’t do enough good to be acceptable to God, but “God was in Christ reconciling the world until himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19 and John 3:16)?
No.
The famous preacher doesn’t mean “grace” in that sense at all. Instead, what he later clarifies is that he means this: TULIP—a systematic acronym for John Calvin’s statement:
"They again object, Were not men predestinated by the ordination of God to that corruption which is now held forth as the cause of condemnation?
If so, when they perish in their corruptions they do nothing else than suffer punishment for that calamity, into which, by the predestination of God, Adam fell, and dragged all his posterity headlong with him. Is not he, therefore, unjust in thus cruelly mocking his creatures?"
"I admit that by the will of God all the sons of Adam fell into that state of wretchedness in which they are now involved; and this is just what I said at the first, that we must always return to the mere pleasure of the divine will, the cause of which is hidden in himself."
Chapter 23, 4 Institutes of Chirstian Religion
John Calvin
Then Charles Spurgeon goes on to say:
“There is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else."
The twisted tulip of Calvinism
When Spurgeon says, “I say every man who comes to Christ shall be saved. I can say that as a Calvinist, or as a hyper-Calvinist, as plainly as you can say it"
one has to decipher his double talk because according to his Calvinism, the vast majority of humankind was foreordained to eternal damnation by God before the beginning of Creation.
Double-talk, how hateful and destructive it is. How insidious!
According to Calvinism, God has willed for most of us to be lost forever, eternally pre-damned from before time began, for the “mere pleasure of the divine will.”
Lest we missed this hidden point, Spurgeon adds: “I do not serve the god of the Arminians [John Wesley, Charles Finney, George Fox, Menno Simons, Arminius, etc.] at all; I have nothing to do with him, and I do not bow down before the Baal they have set up; he is not my God, nor shall he ever be; I fear him not, nor tremble at his presence...”
Finally, no more double-talk like his earlier fake evangelistic words.
Just the horror of no hope for most of us humans because we were foreordained to eternal damnation, created at conception by God as evil sinners and incapable of repenting. God didn’t send Jesus for us and doesn’t send his Holy Spirit to change us...
So much for the “good news” of the Judas Kiss!
Next time the really GOOD NEWS of Jesus…
In the Light,
Daniel Wilcox
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Against 7 Bad B's: Part 2 The Battle Axe of the Heart
So what is The Battle Axe of the Heart?
It is the wonder of meaning-centered transcendence.
Awaking to the awareness that all humans have inherent value, that everyone is of worth, that human rights and justice and truth are real.
The wonder that we conflicted and ethically mixed-up humans with our 7 Bad B's, can find hope.
I used to greatly admire the famous evangelist Billy Graham of the Christian religion because he emphasized the inherent worth of every single human being.I didn't agree with some of Graham's social views in the 1950's, but Graham grew in his understanding of what the love of God meant for social and political situations. And thank God for his witness for integration and racial equality
Graham strongly insisted on the equality of all people even during the 1950's during Segregation in the U.S. Furthermore, when other religious leaders were supporting Apartheid in South Africa, he stood up strongly against that racism, too.
And he was willing to dialog with every one, including humans totally opposed to his views, even dictators such as the leaders of the Soviet Union.
In many of his famous speeches, Graham stated, "God loves you. You may be at the very gate of hell itself, but God loves you with an everlasting love."
He often quoted the good news verse of the Bible:
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
John 3:16 NKJV
Of course the huge irony and tragedy now is that while Graham still walks such a talk, his huge religious organization denies his central message!
The leaders promote the exact opposite of what Graham preached for many years. According to the BGA, God only loves a limited number of humans; their leaders say Jesus came for only a "limited atonement"!
NO WAY!
Eliminate such horrific theology.
Cut it down with the heart of kindness toward all.
If you remember (and especially if you don't;-), last time, we discussed the fixated tendency of religious humans to treat women as things, one bad action of the Seven Bad B's.
Destroy sexism and abuse with the "battle axe of the heart."
What about the other Bad B's--brawn, brains, and belief?
How we men use their best--their best mind, best skills, best physical strength, best values--to commit the worst acts of war and other injustices.
For now, let's just say no, NO to 'unjust' wars and even 'just' wars.
Cut them down with the axe of compassion!
What country has ever gone to war that didn't think its own cause was 'just'?
Instead, let us commit to the Lamb's War where Christ's love is the only armament--
The ARMS OF HUGGING!
The "mouthed-sword" of the Good News the only weapon--
Sharing, giving, empathizing, helping, caring!
The battle axe of the heart--
That is the only destroying agent!
It seeks to destroy wrong-doing, selfishness, abuse, injustice and war.
By witnessing to the heart of ever person.
But what about police? What about defense?
Like Quakers of old in the government in Pennsylvania, I would separate the atrocity of war from the defensive and protective action of policing.
Good police officers (which on occasion include soldiers who are assigned to peacekeeping, not invasion killing) focus on protecting not attacking.
For instance, I knew an officer who worked in one of the major cities of the United States who in many years of law enforcement only needed to draw his gun several times!
Instead, in most criminal situations, he used commanding authority, persuasion, and non-lethal force to stop criminal actions and to protect the innocent.
In the Light,
Daniel Wilcox
It is the wonder of meaning-centered transcendence.
Awaking to the awareness that all humans have inherent value, that everyone is of worth, that human rights and justice and truth are real.
The wonder that we conflicted and ethically mixed-up humans with our 7 Bad B's, can find hope.
I used to greatly admire the famous evangelist Billy Graham of the Christian religion because he emphasized the inherent worth of every single human being.I didn't agree with some of Graham's social views in the 1950's, but Graham grew in his understanding of what the love of God meant for social and political situations. And thank God for his witness for integration and racial equality
Graham strongly insisted on the equality of all people even during the 1950's during Segregation in the U.S. Furthermore, when other religious leaders were supporting Apartheid in South Africa, he stood up strongly against that racism, too.
And he was willing to dialog with every one, including humans totally opposed to his views, even dictators such as the leaders of the Soviet Union.
In many of his famous speeches, Graham stated, "God loves you. You may be at the very gate of hell itself, but God loves you with an everlasting love."
He often quoted the good news verse of the Bible:
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
John 3:16 NKJV
Of course the huge irony and tragedy now is that while Graham still walks such a talk, his huge religious organization denies his central message!
The leaders promote the exact opposite of what Graham preached for many years. According to the BGA, God only loves a limited number of humans; their leaders say Jesus came for only a "limited atonement"!
NO WAY!
Eliminate such horrific theology.
Cut it down with the heart of kindness toward all.
If you remember (and especially if you don't;-), last time, we discussed the fixated tendency of religious humans to treat women as things, one bad action of the Seven Bad B's.
Destroy sexism and abuse with the "battle axe of the heart."
What about the other Bad B's--brawn, brains, and belief?
How we men use their best--their best mind, best skills, best physical strength, best values--to commit the worst acts of war and other injustices.
For now, let's just say no, NO to 'unjust' wars and even 'just' wars.
Cut them down with the axe of compassion!
What country has ever gone to war that didn't think its own cause was 'just'?
Instead, let us commit to the Lamb's War where Christ's love is the only armament--
The ARMS OF HUGGING!
The "mouthed-sword" of the Good News the only weapon--
Sharing, giving, empathizing, helping, caring!
The battle axe of the heart--
That is the only destroying agent!
It seeks to destroy wrong-doing, selfishness, abuse, injustice and war.
By witnessing to the heart of ever person.
But what about police? What about defense?
Like Quakers of old in the government in Pennsylvania, I would separate the atrocity of war from the defensive and protective action of policing.
Good police officers (which on occasion include soldiers who are assigned to peacekeeping, not invasion killing) focus on protecting not attacking.
For instance, I knew an officer who worked in one of the major cities of the United States who in many years of law enforcement only needed to draw his gun several times!
Instead, in most criminal situations, he used commanding authority, persuasion, and non-lethal force to stop criminal actions and to protect the innocent.
In the Light,
Daniel Wilcox
Friday, November 26, 2010
The Arrival of Advent in the Storm
Advent comes to us from God, in the midst of our trouble.
The word Advent, from Latin, means “arrival,” the arrival of hope in the midst of despair.
Think of the horrific times that Joseph and Mary lived in. And consider many peoples’ tragic struggles now today in Syria, Haiti, Pakistan, Nigeria, the Congo, and Afghanistan.
Think of the young child with cancer, the elderly ones with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease...
Lying in bed day after day, staring at the ceiling, elsewhere...
Or stooped over stuck in a row of wheelchairs in a blank hall...
Wasting away, their memory gone
Yes, the storm of wrong, tragedy, and despair seems endless.
Our own bad experiences, probably, are slight in comparison. But all hurt hurts, does it not? What about the last time events blindsided you and things even seemed hopeless?
About a month ago, I faced relatively rough circumstances, one more challenging day in a slew of them. I was alone and hurting so I turned on Christian radio seeking inspiration and comfort--But tragically,
the minster was preaching,
"...all humans are without value, valueless."
Like a cancer cell, he kept repeating, expanding on his point, kept emphasizing these wretchedly wrong words—"humans are valueless, worth nothing."
According to him, God only loves a few chosen of us humans.
Another famous minister of a church in Oregon with many thousands of members even proclaimed that God created some of us humans as "toilets."
And God has created other humans as "spittoons."
And this horrific God, allegedly, does this all for his own glory!
Very angrily, I snapped off the radio both times, devastated, grieved, and despairing more than before.
When we humans suffer, we need good news, not deterministic, fatalistic despair, not being told we are worthless and depraved.
In wondrous contrast, the verses of Titus 2:11-14 in the New Testament give us the glad tidings of God’s love for everyone. Despite the worst that existence does to us, the blessed words speak comfort to our despairing hearts:
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all.”
Isn’t that last word glorious? The Good News to Mary, then to Joseph and outward from there, not limited to a certain few, but to all creation. These precious words “arrive” telling us about the incarnation—how God loves us even at our worst and isn’t willing for anyone to perish. Yes, even the natural world will eventually be redeemed.
And not only do these words of wonder bring us loving kindness now, they train us to renounce impiety and wrongful passions. They give us practical guidance and strategies of how to face our daily struggles and hard times. They give us a living blessed hope for the future.
Consider this humorous but insightful story.*
In the current severe recession, a door-to-door salesperson walked up to one more elegant house, pushed the button and waited to share his product. When the door opened, a gruff man grimaced, and said, “No we don’t want any” and shut the door.
Not discouraged, the salesperson came back the next week. This time when the door opened, the occupant cursed at him and slammed the door.
When the third week came and the salesperson walked up to the door and rang the bell, the antagonistic man raised a fist and spit in his face!
The salesperson pulled out a handkerchief, wiped his nose and eye, then looked up at the clear sky and said, “It must be raining.”
Think about it. If we had been that salesperson, we might have gone away disheartened, or angry at the man’s rudeness or disappointed, wondering why our product wasn’t of value to the customer or why he personally disliked us.
Have you been hurt lately by thoughtless words, or snippy gossip? Even been cursed out lately? Falsely accused?
How did you respond? How are you responding?
The salesperson in the spiritual parable (from a Jewish rabbi) doesn’t live in his or her circumstances, even of the spitting variety. He remembers the “worldwide company” he belongs to, is thankful he will never be fired.
No, she isn’t judged by the depressed economy, or by her success, or by how little or much money she makes...On the contrary, he is aware that his “boss” highly values him for himself alone.
This salesperson hopes that everyone will benefit from his/her product—“the love of God.” He has seen by hope the future and trusts that Truth and Love and Faith are eternally true.
So when he is spit upon, he doesn't take it personally, but thinks of dreary rain and its benefit.
Has it been raining—even hurricaning--on you today;-)?
Look up to the blessed hope of the Advent.
Prayer:
Dear Father, We thank you that You are the God of all comfort for everyone, that your love extends to all as the famous gospel song* sings,
“Could we with ink the ocean fill…
to write the love of God above
would drain the ocean dry.”
Please help us today to remember that when negative circumstances attack us, we can “reign” over them in You.
Thought for the day: When bad storms rain, God’s love pours, reigning over all for all.
*Paraphrased from Mitch Albom’s book Have a Little Faith
*Frederick M. Lehman, “The Love of God”
May you experience the love of God,
Daniel Wilcox
The word Advent, from Latin, means “arrival,” the arrival of hope in the midst of despair.
Think of the horrific times that Joseph and Mary lived in. And consider many peoples’ tragic struggles now today in Syria, Haiti, Pakistan, Nigeria, the Congo, and Afghanistan.
Think of the young child with cancer, the elderly ones with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease...
Lying in bed day after day, staring at the ceiling, elsewhere...
Or stooped over stuck in a row of wheelchairs in a blank hall...
Wasting away, their memory gone
Yes, the storm of wrong, tragedy, and despair seems endless.
Our own bad experiences, probably, are slight in comparison. But all hurt hurts, does it not? What about the last time events blindsided you and things even seemed hopeless?
About a month ago, I faced relatively rough circumstances, one more challenging day in a slew of them. I was alone and hurting so I turned on Christian radio seeking inspiration and comfort--But tragically,
the minster was preaching,
"...all humans are without value, valueless."
Like a cancer cell, he kept repeating, expanding on his point, kept emphasizing these wretchedly wrong words—"humans are valueless, worth nothing."
According to him, God only loves a few chosen of us humans.
Another famous minister of a church in Oregon with many thousands of members even proclaimed that God created some of us humans as "toilets."
And God has created other humans as "spittoons."
And this horrific God, allegedly, does this all for his own glory!
Very angrily, I snapped off the radio both times, devastated, grieved, and despairing more than before.
When we humans suffer, we need good news, not deterministic, fatalistic despair, not being told we are worthless and depraved.
In wondrous contrast, the verses of Titus 2:11-14 in the New Testament give us the glad tidings of God’s love for everyone. Despite the worst that existence does to us, the blessed words speak comfort to our despairing hearts:
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all.”
Isn’t that last word glorious? The Good News to Mary, then to Joseph and outward from there, not limited to a certain few, but to all creation. These precious words “arrive” telling us about the incarnation—how God loves us even at our worst and isn’t willing for anyone to perish. Yes, even the natural world will eventually be redeemed.
And not only do these words of wonder bring us loving kindness now, they train us to renounce impiety and wrongful passions. They give us practical guidance and strategies of how to face our daily struggles and hard times. They give us a living blessed hope for the future.
Consider this humorous but insightful story.*
In the current severe recession, a door-to-door salesperson walked up to one more elegant house, pushed the button and waited to share his product. When the door opened, a gruff man grimaced, and said, “No we don’t want any” and shut the door.
Not discouraged, the salesperson came back the next week. This time when the door opened, the occupant cursed at him and slammed the door.
When the third week came and the salesperson walked up to the door and rang the bell, the antagonistic man raised a fist and spit in his face!
The salesperson pulled out a handkerchief, wiped his nose and eye, then looked up at the clear sky and said, “It must be raining.”
Think about it. If we had been that salesperson, we might have gone away disheartened, or angry at the man’s rudeness or disappointed, wondering why our product wasn’t of value to the customer or why he personally disliked us.
Have you been hurt lately by thoughtless words, or snippy gossip? Even been cursed out lately? Falsely accused?
How did you respond? How are you responding?
The salesperson in the spiritual parable (from a Jewish rabbi) doesn’t live in his or her circumstances, even of the spitting variety. He remembers the “worldwide company” he belongs to, is thankful he will never be fired.
No, she isn’t judged by the depressed economy, or by her success, or by how little or much money she makes...On the contrary, he is aware that his “boss” highly values him for himself alone.
This salesperson hopes that everyone will benefit from his/her product—“the love of God.” He has seen by hope the future and trusts that Truth and Love and Faith are eternally true.
So when he is spit upon, he doesn't take it personally, but thinks of dreary rain and its benefit.
Has it been raining—even hurricaning--on you today;-)?
Look up to the blessed hope of the Advent.
Prayer:
Dear Father, We thank you that You are the God of all comfort for everyone, that your love extends to all as the famous gospel song* sings,
“Could we with ink the ocean fill…
to write the love of God above
would drain the ocean dry.”
Please help us today to remember that when negative circumstances attack us, we can “reign” over them in You.
Thought for the day: When bad storms rain, God’s love pours, reigning over all for all.
*Paraphrased from Mitch Albom’s book Have a Little Faith
*Frederick M. Lehman, “The Love of God”
May you experience the love of God,
Daniel Wilcox
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Truth versus the Joseph Story
When I was a kid, one of my favorite stories was the narrative of Joseph
in the book of Genesis.
Not only was it an exciting tale--much better than the Begats, Leviticus, or the doctrinal epistles of Paul--
the Joseph story filled me with deep hope and faith in God.
I read with wonder how Joseph by faith overcame betrayal, terrible experiences, false accusations,
insurmountable odds, and eventually became Prince of Egypt--healthy, wealthy, powerful and wise.
Then as I grew up, and, myself, encountered terrible times (like most of us do),
and came to face to face with insurmountable odds, I would remember the rags-to-riches story or re-read it for more details.
Keep the faith and you will win, no matter how bad things get.
What I didn't realize until much later--into middle age when I continued to have worse and worse life experiences--
is only one person can be prince of Egypt, and it wasn't me;-)
Somehow I had modeled my central hopes and expectations according to a very few winning stories--
Joseph, Daniel, Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego,
the Apostle Peter, George Fox, John Woolman,
Menno Simons, Levi Coffin, etc.--the great heroes of the faith who suffered greatly but overcame and eventually succeeded.
What I had somehow missed is that most hopeful people down through the many thousands of years of human history, and at present,
not only never reach a high place, they seldom overcome their tragic lives,
don't get out of the "pit" others or bad circumstances have thrown them in;
they live lives more like Jeremiah
than Joseph--
life only gets worse and worse as they age.
Millions never get to even age.
Their lives are cut short by debilitating illnesses, false accusations, abuses, wars, tortures, and destruction.
They die in prison like Francis Howgill, mistreated to death,
get drowned like Felix Manz,
executed like Quaker Tom Fox in Iraq,
or are tortured, sawn into, beheaded,
or burnt at the stake like Michael Sattler.
On an on the suffering goes. The injustice and very bad news seem endless.
This doesn't even deal with the millions of people who die in vast plagues, in hurricanes and tidal waves, who starve to death, get cancer or are abused.
No wonder so many despair and feel the hopelessness of Hezekiah in the book of Isaiah:
"For Sheol cannot thank you, Death cannot praise you,
Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness."
Indeed, I now see that the Joseph story as I envisioned it is a harmful delusion of the worst sort.
Contrary to the claims of hundreds of thousands of success sermons and endless prosperity books, most people don't win by the world's standards. They don't even get to come in last, 5 hours late like
one runner who refused to give up.
They are born blind, or get leukemia at 4 years of age, or die of cancer at 33, leaving behind their 3 little preschoolers.
So where does that leave us, those who seek and hope in God, despite the worst Life heaves our way?
Those who think Dawkins, Harris, and other non-theists are wrong in their claim that existence is meaningless and hope is a delusion.
It's all about perspective.
Paul spoke of it in Corinthians when he spoke of the scandal of the cross:
"We preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness."
No doubt many Jews were hoping for a Joseph-like figure, a messianic leaders who would thrash the Romans and become an overcoming prince.
They didn't want a Jewish laborer who told them to love their national enemies and sinners, one who was then arrested for treason,
tortured, and nailed to a Roman cross.
And the Gentiles (all those not Jewish) were interested in power, wealth, and success as well. Who would want to follow some Jewish peasant that didn't
have an abstract philosophical system and who ridiculously told his followers to resist evil with love?
Obviously he didn't understand the real world.
Not much has changed in over 2,000 years. Many of us still want--at least I so often do--
a successful Christ, one who will help us live a healthy, happy life, with a successful career, etc.
But Truth doesn't come our way very often with Joseph-like health, power, wealth, wisdom.
Besides, how wise was Joseph really when he turned millions of Egyptians into paupers dependent on the national ruler?
George Fox and the early Quakers learned that early. They had hoped that Oliver Cromwell and English government would bring in justice, goodness, and truth.
On the contrary, only more destruction, slaughter, and oppression!
Many innocent individuals spent years in prison, lost all their material possessions;
thousands died as have many other people of truth have in the past. And in Europe,
hundreds of thousands died because of the 30 Years War--a battle between Roman Catholics versus Reformed to see who would get to be "Joseph"!
Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of how unearned suffering is redemptive in the midst of a life of sacrifice.
For a while it even appeared that King might become a modern day Joseph as he went from being a minor Black minister in the South
to becoming a national hero and society-changer.
But in the end, he was executed by a lone gunman, and he, himself, had turned from the ethical way, even committing adultery repeatedly.
So tragic.
May we in each moment of now abandon our Joseph delusions.
Let us not give up, or give into unethical actions.
Instead, let us live in the hope that good, truth, and justice will eventually win, even if we don't.
To be continued--
Daniel Wilcox
in the book of Genesis.
Not only was it an exciting tale--much better than the Begats, Leviticus, or the doctrinal epistles of Paul--
the Joseph story filled me with deep hope and faith in God.
I read with wonder how Joseph by faith overcame betrayal, terrible experiences, false accusations,
insurmountable odds, and eventually became Prince of Egypt--healthy, wealthy, powerful and wise.
Then as I grew up, and, myself, encountered terrible times (like most of us do),
and came to face to face with insurmountable odds, I would remember the rags-to-riches story or re-read it for more details.
Keep the faith and you will win, no matter how bad things get.
What I didn't realize until much later--into middle age when I continued to have worse and worse life experiences--
is only one person can be prince of Egypt, and it wasn't me;-)
Somehow I had modeled my central hopes and expectations according to a very few winning stories--
Joseph, Daniel, Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego,
the Apostle Peter, George Fox, John Woolman,
Menno Simons, Levi Coffin, etc.--the great heroes of the faith who suffered greatly but overcame and eventually succeeded.
What I had somehow missed is that most hopeful people down through the many thousands of years of human history, and at present,
not only never reach a high place, they seldom overcome their tragic lives,
don't get out of the "pit" others or bad circumstances have thrown them in;
they live lives more like Jeremiah
than Joseph--
life only gets worse and worse as they age.
Millions never get to even age.
Their lives are cut short by debilitating illnesses, false accusations, abuses, wars, tortures, and destruction.
They die in prison like Francis Howgill, mistreated to death,
get drowned like Felix Manz,
or are tortured, sawn into, beheaded,
or burnt at the stake like Michael Sattler.
On an on the suffering goes. The injustice and very bad news seem endless.
This doesn't even deal with the millions of people who die in vast plagues, in hurricanes and tidal waves, who starve to death, get cancer or are abused.
No wonder so many despair and feel the hopelessness of Hezekiah in the book of Isaiah:
"For Sheol cannot thank you, Death cannot praise you,
Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness."
Indeed, I now see that the Joseph story as I envisioned it is a harmful delusion of the worst sort.
Contrary to the claims of hundreds of thousands of success sermons and endless prosperity books, most people don't win by the world's standards. They don't even get to come in last, 5 hours late like
one runner who refused to give up.
They are born blind, or get leukemia at 4 years of age, or die of cancer at 33, leaving behind their 3 little preschoolers.
So where does that leave us, those who seek and hope in God, despite the worst Life heaves our way?
Those who think Dawkins, Harris, and other non-theists are wrong in their claim that existence is meaningless and hope is a delusion.
It's all about perspective.
Paul spoke of it in Corinthians when he spoke of the scandal of the cross:
"We preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness."
No doubt many Jews were hoping for a Joseph-like figure, a messianic leaders who would thrash the Romans and become an overcoming prince.
They didn't want a Jewish laborer who told them to love their national enemies and sinners, one who was then arrested for treason,
tortured, and nailed to a Roman cross.
And the Gentiles (all those not Jewish) were interested in power, wealth, and success as well. Who would want to follow some Jewish peasant that didn't
have an abstract philosophical system and who ridiculously told his followers to resist evil with love?
Obviously he didn't understand the real world.
Not much has changed in over 2,000 years. Many of us still want--at least I so often do--
a successful Christ, one who will help us live a healthy, happy life, with a successful career, etc.
But Truth doesn't come our way very often with Joseph-like health, power, wealth, wisdom.
Besides, how wise was Joseph really when he turned millions of Egyptians into paupers dependent on the national ruler?
George Fox and the early Quakers learned that early. They had hoped that Oliver Cromwell and English government would bring in justice, goodness, and truth.
On the contrary, only more destruction, slaughter, and oppression!
Many innocent individuals spent years in prison, lost all their material possessions;
thousands died as have many other people of truth have in the past. And in Europe,
hundreds of thousands died because of the 30 Years War--a battle between Roman Catholics versus Reformed to see who would get to be "Joseph"!
Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of how unearned suffering is redemptive in the midst of a life of sacrifice.
For a while it even appeared that King might become a modern day Joseph as he went from being a minor Black minister in the South
to becoming a national hero and society-changer.
But in the end, he was executed by a lone gunman, and he, himself, had turned from the ethical way, even committing adultery repeatedly.
So tragic.
May we in each moment of now abandon our Joseph delusions.
Let us not give up, or give into unethical actions.
Instead, let us live in the hope that good, truth, and justice will eventually win, even if we don't.
To be continued--
Daniel Wilcox
Monday, December 29, 2008
Concering the Crisis in Gaza and Southern Israel
Please pray for Palestine/Israel, especially southern Israel and Gaza where the killing by both sides is killing the innocent as well as the guilty.
Hold all people in the Light.
The whole situation of Palestine/Israel is so very complicated.
I don't have any quick answers for the extremely complex situation. However, I did live in Palestine/Israel in 1974, worked on a Jewish kibbutz, stayed briefly with a Palestinian family who befriended me in Nablus, and have read extensively books by both sides, etc.
My first suggestion is that we need to concentrate on giving all the different people of the Middle East the Good News. This is what America and Europe HASN"T done, except to a tiny degree with such activities as the Friends School in Ramallah,
Christian Peacemaker Teams, Brother Andrew's involvement in bringing Jew and Arab together, even going to HAMAS to share his perspective with its leaders (and helped
them when they were dumped midwinter into Lebanon years ago).
For instance, Eli Chacour a Palestinian/Israeli Arab priest gives out the Good News to all. He has worked with and started a school/university for all peoples of the area--Christian, Muslim, Druse, and Jew. He has also befriended non-theists.
That is a start.
Also, here are several books that might assist in helping everyone to understand the complexity of the area:
Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life by Sari Nusseibeh and Anthony David
Blessed are the Peacemakers by the former assistant mayor
of Ramallah (don't remember the name right now)
Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour
We Belong to the Land by Elias Chacour
Chacour's father, a Palestinian said that they needed to love
the Jews (when the Jews were escaping to the M.E.) yet later
the Israeli army kidnapped him and Chacour's brother
and dumped them in a foreign country, then they blew up
their Catholic church and drove all of the Palestinians
out of their town.
Yet Chacour still shows love to the Jewish people and all others.
Sounds like the Lamb's War,
the only war worth having.
Peace in the Light of Christ,
Daniel Wilcox
http://infiniteoceanoflightandlove.blogspot.com/
Hold all people in the Light.
The whole situation of Palestine/Israel is so very complicated.
I don't have any quick answers for the extremely complex situation. However, I did live in Palestine/Israel in 1974, worked on a Jewish kibbutz, stayed briefly with a Palestinian family who befriended me in Nablus, and have read extensively books by both sides, etc.
My first suggestion is that we need to concentrate on giving all the different people of the Middle East the Good News. This is what America and Europe HASN"T done, except to a tiny degree with such activities as the Friends School in Ramallah,
Christian Peacemaker Teams, Brother Andrew's involvement in bringing Jew and Arab together, even going to HAMAS to share his perspective with its leaders (and helped
them when they were dumped midwinter into Lebanon years ago).
For instance, Eli Chacour a Palestinian/Israeli Arab priest gives out the Good News to all. He has worked with and started a school/university for all peoples of the area--Christian, Muslim, Druse, and Jew. He has also befriended non-theists.
That is a start.
Also, here are several books that might assist in helping everyone to understand the complexity of the area:
Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life by Sari Nusseibeh and Anthony David
Blessed are the Peacemakers by the former assistant mayor
of Ramallah (don't remember the name right now)
Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour
We Belong to the Land by Elias Chacour
Chacour's father, a Palestinian said that they needed to love
the Jews (when the Jews were escaping to the M.E.) yet later
the Israeli army kidnapped him and Chacour's brother
and dumped them in a foreign country, then they blew up
their Catholic church and drove all of the Palestinians
out of their town.
Yet Chacour still shows love to the Jewish people and all others.
Sounds like the Lamb's War,
the only war worth having.
Peace in the Light of Christ,
Daniel Wilcox
http://infiniteoceanoflightandlove.blogspot.com/
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