Pops, Bear and the Pope https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/9-24-15-pops-bear-n-the-pope.zip
On video-
.Bear on Pope
.Corporate- ism
.Tree huggers?
.Pops on Castro
Some past teaching I did here [verses below]
(1235) 2ND
CORINTHIANS 12- Before I get into a long history discussion with you guys,
let’s hit a few verses. Paul says ‘when I was with you, did I gain a profit
from you, take advantage of you?’ or ‘when I sent Titus, did he gain a profit
from you?’ He then goes on and says the fathers lay up money for the kids, not
the other way around. He says he has spent out of his own pocket for them, and
he will continue to do so. He says he does all this so people won’t have the
excuse ‘he’s just in it for the money’. Notice, Paul himself did not have the
common mindset we see in ministry today. Often times financial appeals are made
from Paul’s writings in Corinthians, these appeals often say ‘we are not asking
for ourselves, but for you’ it is put in a way that says it would be wrong to
not take money from people. That in some way not taking an offering would
violate scripture. Paul flatly said he did not take money from them for
personal use, nor would he. When the modern church uses Paul’s other sayings in
this letter to appeal to giving, we need to share ‘the whole counsel of God’
not just a few verses that fit in with what we practice. Now, Paul speaks about
being caught up into ‘heaven’ [Gods realm-Paradise] and hearing truths from God
that were not lawful for men to speak. He states that God gave him truth that
came from Divine revelation. If you skip a few pages over in your bible, you
will hit Galatians. In the first chapter he says how after he was converted he
did not confer with the other leaders at Jerusalem ,
but received teaching straight from God. Let’s discuss what revelation is, how
we come to know things. The last few centuries of the first millennium of
Christian history you had the ‘Holy Roman Empire ’
which was a political/religious union of church and state. Under the emperor
Charlemagne the territories of the empire were vast. Those who came after him
did not have the same control over the regions that were vast. Eventually you
had a form of rule arise that was called Feudalism; the sections of the empire
that were too far to benefit directly from Rome would simply come under the
authority of the local strongman [much like the present dilemma in Afghanistan,
I think it’s time to get our boys out of that mess]. People would come under
the authority of a ruler and he would lease out land to the citizens and they
would benefit from his protection. The citizens were called Vassals and the
land was called a Fief. At one point king John of England would do public
penance in a disagreement he had with the Pope and all of England would become a Fief under
the rule of the Pope. Now, this would eventually lead up to the development of
the strong nation states, an independent identifying with your state/region as
opposed to being under Rome
and the papacy. This type of independence would allow for the 16th
century reformation to happen under Luther. If it were not for Frederick
the Wise, the regional authority in Germany where Luther lived, he
would have never had the protection or freedom to launch his reformation.
Luther also had the influence of being a scholar at Wittenberg . Around the 12th-13th
centuries you had the first university pop up at the great cathedral of Notre
Dame in Paris .
The word university simply meant a co-operative effort from two or more people.
It applied to many things besides learning. It was also during this time that
the church began to develop a system of harmonizing Christian doctrine; she
began to do systematic theology. The writings of the Greek philosophers
[Aristotle] were rediscovered after centuries of them being hidden, and the
great intellectual Saint Thomas Aquinas would wed Aristotle’s ideas with
Christian truth. This became known as Scholasticism. Aquinas believed that men
could arrive at a true knowledge of God
from pure reason and logic. But man could not know all the truths about God and
his nature without ‘special revelation’ [the bible and church tradition]. All
Christians did not agree with Aquinas new approach to Christian truth, the very
influential bishop Bernard would initially condemn Aquinas over this. Bernard
said ‘the faith that believes unto righteousness, believes! It does not doubt’.
The Scholastic school taught that the way you arrive at knowledge was thru the
continuous questioning and doubting of things until you come to some basic
conclusions. These issues would be debated for centuries, and even in the
present hour many argue over the issue of Divine revelation versus natural
logical reasoning. Tertullian, an early North Afrcian church father, said ‘I
believe because it is preposterous, illogical’ he became famous for his saying
‘what does Jerusalem have to do with Athens ’ meaning he did not
believe that Greek philosophy should have any part with Christian truth.
Origen, his contemporary, believed the other way. So the debate rages on. Why
talk about this here? Some believers ‘believe’ in a type of knowledge called
‘revelation knowledge’ they mean something different than the historic use of
the term. Historically ‘revelation’ meant that which God revealed to us THRU THE
BIBLE, not something outside of the bible. For instance, the first canon of
scripture put together was by a man called Marcion. His ‘bible’ contained the
letters of Paul and parts of :Luke. He believed the revelation God gave Paul
was for us today, not the Old Testament or the historical gospels. He was
condemned by the church as a heretic. The point being some took Paul’s writings
about receiving knowledge from God as an indicator that what God showed Paul
was different than what the church got thru the other apostles. In point of
fact the things that God revealed to Paul, or to you or me; all truth is
consistent, it will not contradict any other part of Gods truth. Paul’s letters
are consistent with the gospels, not in contradiction. When believers cling to
an idea that their teachers are sharing ‘special revelation’ or a Rhema word
that is somehow above the scrutiny of scripture, then they are in dangerous
territory. Paul did appeal to his experience with God as a defense of his
gospel, but he backed up everything he said with Old Testament scripture. God
wasn’t ‘revealing’ things to Paul that were outside of the realm of true
knowable ‘truth’. You could examine and test the things Paul was saying, he
wasn’t saying ‘because God showed it to me, that’s why I’m correct’. So in
today’s church world, we want all the things we learn and believe to be
consistent with what the church has believed thru out the centuries. Sure there
are always things that are going to be questioned and true reform entails this,
but beware of teachers who come to you with ‘revelation knowledge’ or a ‘Rhema
word’ that goes against the already revealed word of truth.
(1236) 2ND CORINTHIANS 13-
Okay, it took 13 days to do this brief study. Paul finished up his letter by
telling them that God gave him authority to build them up, not tear them down.
The message bible says ‘to not tear them apart’. Why say this? Because after 13
chapters [yes, I know the chapters are not in the original!] it sure felt like
he wrung them thru a wringer. In Jeremiah 1:10 God gives [complete study on my
blog]
1906 CHE
I watched another documentary
this weekend.
It was the story of Che Guevara.
Che is well known today as a sort
of symbol of the revolutionary youth movement.
He embodies the persona of those
who defy ‘Imperialism/Colonialism’.
Che was an Argentinean doctor-
who at a young age took a motorcycle journey thru Latin America [South- Central
America] and he saw the extreme poverty of the people.
He would see one of the main
factors of this poverty being the influence that the U.S. held over these
nations thru corporate agreements with the ‘puppet’ leaders of these nations.
For instance- many of the poor of
these nations were peasant farmers- they worked the land for rich land owners-
and they subsisted on a few dollars a day wages.
Yet the owners of the land- they
were rich.
Likewise- Che believed that the
leaders of the nations were ‘in bed’ with the U.S. - and they allowed U.S.
corporations to rake their countries of wealth- at the expense of the people.
Now- I am not saying I totally
agree with Che.
He has many critics- as well as
supporters [he’s dead of course].
Jean Paul Sartre [remember our
philosophy posts?] supported him- others did not.
The point being- Che saw a
system- the U.S. govt and American corporations- as an all powerful system that
polluted the nations to her south.
He felt the influence of greed
and corruption were the main causes of the plight of the Latin American people.
His revolution- Che literally
left his duties as a doctor and led an armed rebellion against the U.S. - would
eventually lead to his execution by Bolivian forces [Bolivia is just north of
Argentina- Che’s homeland] backed by the CIA.
Che was a key factor in the Cuban
revolution that deposed Batista- the U.S. backed leader of Cuba- and installed
Castro.
Che’s influence lives on today in
many of the leaders of south/central America.
[another post]
In the early days of the church-
in the 4th century- we had the rise of the Roman emperor/military
ruler- Constantine.
Part of the achievements of
Constantine was his development of the eastern half of the Roman empire- whose
capitol was named after him- Constantinople.
Over a period of years the early
Roman church fought over whose bishop would have more influence- the bishop of
Rome [Pope] or the bishop in the east.
Many bishops in the Catholic
Church have disagreed over the influence of one bishop being greater than the
others [the idea that all the bishops should have an equal voice at the church
councils is called Collegiality].
This has caused splits within the
Catholic Church thru the centuries [the last big one in the 19th
century].
Eventually the early church
split- and the Eastern Church separated from Rome.
The eastern empire [called
Byzantium- the seat of the Eastern Orthodox Church] officially split in the
year 1054.
Now- in church history we call
this the Great Schism- even though the Protestant split which took place in the
16th century was greater in effect.
Okay- the Protestant reformers
split over various issues- I have an entire study on the blog about this.
But the main issue became what we
call justification by faith.
Over the centuries many good men-
and average church goers- lost the main message of the New Testament- which was
a message of being saved by the grace of God.
Many well meaning Christians were
struggling to do penance in a way that sort of earned them their salvation thru
works.
The Protestant reformer Martin
Luther was teaching the book of Romans [he was a scholar and a Catholic leader
in intellectual circles at the time].
During his teaching on the
epistle of Paul [Romans- in our bible] he came across a verse that said THE
JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.
As he mediated on the passage-
and the other themes in Romans that speak about being saved by faith and not by
works- he started a sort of mini revolution amongst the students and he became
a sort of favorite teacher in the area of Germany where he was teaching.
Over a period of time- thru all
sorts of religious and political machinations- he launched what we now call the
Protestant Reformation.
Okay- Hebrews 4.
How does this fit in?
In Hebrews 4- the writer is
appealing to a first century Jewish audience who were steeped in a legalistic
mindset.
That is- in many ways- they were
like the Christians of the 16th century who lost the idea of grace-
and were seeking to please God thru the works of the law.
[parts of posts]
[1626] PILLARS 1-2.
As the Libya story
unfolds- you have some sincere critics of the president [Dick Lugar] and others
who just want to find fault. Now- one of the debates going on is who will
eventually take over the command of the ‘no fly zone’ [war]. The Arab league-
though initially in support of the action, has since said what they signed up
for [protect innocent civilians] is not what happened [bombing the country].
Vladimir Putin [Russian P.M.] said ‘it’s a crusade’ Yikes! The Russian
president [who I thought was supposed to be a puppet] Medvedev rebuked the
words publicly. Before we hit Libya- I started asking a few questions- things
like ‘look- I know the leader seems like a nut, but I’m beginning to wonder if
there might be some truth to his charge that the Rebels are Al Qaeda’. Sure
enough there have been lots of reports that do say the radical element in these
protests are larger than what we saw in the other nations [Tunisia, Egypt].
Richard Engel- a top NBC [NOT FOX!] reporter said that 1 in 5 of the rebels are
fighting because they want to kill Gadhafi ‘the Jew’. So as we debate
when/where the U.S. should take action- we need to also keep in mind that the alternatives to the toppling of
leaders might be just as bad- or worse- than the actual leader. Okay- why was
the word ‘crusade’ so charged? It plays into the world history of the western
nations fighting against the Muslim world. Many in the Arab league are not
comfortable with NATO taking charge because of this history. The last few weeks
the song ‘from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli’ have gone thru
my mind. I remember the old Abbot and Costello shows on the foreign legion and
stuff like that. What war is the song describing? It speaks about the wars that
the U.S. engaged in- yes- with Libya- many years ago. After the American
colonies broke away from England we continued to conduct world trade by the use
of ships. At one point [1800’s] the Mediterranean became a flash point [like
today] you had pirates and countries who retaliated by disrupting the water
ways. America of course fought back- and the Libyans were actually called ‘the
Mujahedeen’ yes- the same term used for the Rebels who we supported in toppling
the Russian influence in Afghanistan. These were the Barbary wars- Barbary
Coast. So- we need to be careful that our actions don’t play into the idea that
the U.S. is actually waging a 21st century crusade [this is also why
it was unbelievable that Bush actually used the term crusade during his term].
Okay- let me do a little more on Islam [the teaching series
I started in the last post]. Islam has 5 Pillars- basic tenets that all Muslims
hold to;
1- The declaration of
their faith ‘There is no god but God [Allah] and Muhammad is the messenger of
God’. To become a Muslim- one simply has to accept/confess this statement.
Muslims believe that the final/complete revelation of God to man has come thru
the prophet- by way of the Quran. As Christians accept Jesus as God’s final
prophet/Messiah to mankind- so Muslims see Muhammad as the final and complete
authority.
2- The second Pillar is Salat [prayer]. Muslims pray 5 times
a day while facing Mecca- the holy city where the Kabba is [Kabba- the house of
God believed to have been built by Abraham and his son Ishmael]. Once a week on
Friday Muslims pray corporately at noon in the local mosque or Islamic center.
The next few days I’ll try and cover the other 3 pillars- I
actually think the 3rd pillar is more in keeping with the teachings
of Jesus and the bible than what most Christians practice- it deals with the
Muslim practice of giving to meet the needs of the poor. For today that should
cover it- remember- the reason we are covering Islam as a religion is so we can
have a better grasp on what Muslims believe. Too many of us are only familiar with
the more radical elements that the media focus on when an attack takes place.
At the same time there are also prejudices in Islam as well- many young Muslims
are taught a radical hatred for the Jew- these wrong ideas are formed in their
minds as young people- and they too need to reject these anti- Semitic ideas.
As the U.S. begins engaging in the 3rd Muslim country in the last 11
years- we need to be very careful that we are not playing into the hands of
those who embrace radicalism- there is a very real extreme element in Libya. Al
Qaeda has operated out of the nation for many years- we need to be careful that
we are not being ‘useful idiots’.
[1629] MUSLIM IN AMERICA- THE PRESIDENTS SPEECH AND OTHER
MUSINGS.
Last night the president finally spoke to the nation in
defense of our military action in Libya. He made the case that there are times
when the U.S. can/should act if we feel we can avert a humanitarian disaster-
he also said we can’t always intervene in every conflict. I guess for the most
part this makes some sense- it’s just the way he handled it [going on vacation-
congress in recess]. There are still lots of questions to be asked/answered.
Today the rebels are on the outskirts of a western city that is ‘pro Gadhafi’.
The city is called Sirte and like other cities in the west they favor Gadhafi
more so than the rebels. The question is; how do we justify the bombing of Gadhafi’s
military- in order to protect civilians- while the rebels are getting ready to
overthrow a civilian population- with force- against the majority of the will
of the people? We have indeed enabled the rebels to advance this far west, and
we are basically on the side of the rebels- in this case- against the populace.
The other night I watched a CNN special on Muslim
discrimination in America- most of you who read my posts [blog] know I try and
take the more moderate position of not branding all Muslims as radical. I do
think there are times when Muslims are discriminated against wrongfully because
of their faith. Yet at the same time the media often show their bias. The show
did a good job at revealing how Muslims face discrimination in America- the
host- Soledad O’Brien- kind of showed the ‘ignorant’ Christians versus the
moderate Muslims. The town was Murphysboro Tenn. [yes- they picked a spot that
would be a little more redneck than usual] and they interviewed a few American
Muslim women whose sole experience of Islam comes from an American perspective.
These women, as sympathetic as their causes are- do not even begin to breech
the absolute discrimination and oppression that many Muslim women experience
around the globe on a daily basis- it was just unfair for CNN to portray Muslim
women as victims of Christian discrimination while overlooking the real
problem- expressed by many women who have chosen to speak out- against the
oppression women face when living in countries that have Sharia law as the law
of the land.
As I continue to teach the study on Islam [so far have only
done 1 post on it] I want to try and approach the strained relationship that
exists between Western society and Islam- yet I don’t want to be an apologist
for Islam. I’m currently going thru a course on Islam that is taught by the
official govt. teacher on the subject. I believe he was sitting in the second
row of the president’s speech last night. Over the years I have studied on lots
of subjects- years of utilizing the public library system, buying university
level books [not pop culture Christian stuff on how to ‘get what you want’] and
I have also ordered courses [C.D. and book] from the top professors of the
universities of the world. These course are not cheap- yet they are cheaper
than actually getting credits for the courses [you can take the same courses as
extension courses from the universities and get credit- but that’s way too
expensive- especially if done thru the elite universities- Harvard, etc.] So
instead I simply purchase the courses and do them on my own. Now- the reason I
say this is to explain a ‘funny thing’ that happened on my study of Islam. When
I first ordered the course I noticed the ratings were not that great. Most
courses are rated in the 80-90 percentile- from others who have done the
course- this one was in the 60’s. I hesitated to get it- but the other courses
that dealt with Islam also dealt with other religions- and I didn’t want to do
an entire comparative religion study at this time. So these courses are taught
by the top tier professors in the world [these professors are peer reviewed and
deemed to be in the top 10 %]. This one on Islam is taught by the person who
teaches Islam to the incoming govt. employees under president Obama. As I’m
going thru the course- there are times where I feel like the teacher is too defensive
of Islam- sort of like the CNN special. At one point the professor defends
Muhammad as a religious leader who freed women from oppression and instituted
an open and liberal society for all people- especially women. Geez- stuff like
this is very problematic- I know enough about the current world nations that
have Islam as the official religion of the nation- these nations are without a
doubt very oppressive to women.
Like many things in life- we all try and do our best to give
people the benefit of the doubt- and as someone who has disagreed with the
president and been openly critical of him- yet I try not to be so biased that I
find fault with everything he does. The media has far left defenders- who never
find anything wrong with the man- and far right critics who never find anything
right. At this time- the revolts in North Africa and the Middle East are really
getting out of hand- the Christians in Egypt- an ancient Christian church
[Coptic] have lived there since the early days of Christianity- they have just
voted in Egypt to recognize Sharia law as the official law of the land- this
referendum was passed by 70 % of the population- and the Muslim Brotherhood
showed their organizational abilities by gaining a majority of the vote for the
things they wanted. So now the Christians in Egypt might face the same fate as
those in Pakistan- being put to death for blaspheming Islam [which often means
witnessing for Christ]. The rebels who we are fighting for in Libya are much
more radical than Gadhafi- yes Gadhafi was/is a madman- yet the rebels have
more Al Qaeda influence than Gadhafi- they have been enemies in Libya for
years. Do we really want our people dying for the Rebels?
There are still lots of questions to be answered- I am
uncomfortable that the course I’m going thru on Islam is so skewed to the point
of defending Islam as a great liberator of women and their rights- I was even
more troubled to have seen ‘my instructor’ sitting in the 2nd row at
the president’s speech.
[1630] EPISTEMOLOGY- Lets do a little more on how we learn-
know stuff. The actual ‘study’ of how we know things is called Epistemology.
Today’s popular movement is called Post Modernism- a challenge to the classical
idea of Modernism. The classical way of looking at knowledge said there are
things that are ‘really true’ and things that are not- this is called Objective
Truth. The Post Moderns say words are limited [true to a degree] and because
words are simply vehicles that transmit ideas that are not really ‘true’ in the
classical sense, then it is wrong for one group [like Christians] to say to
another group [non- Christians] that Jesus is the Way- Truth and Life [Johns
gospel]. So the battle lines are drawn. It should be noted that a growing
number of believers are describing themselves as Post Modern and they argue
that it is possible to be Christian and Post Modern at the same time. Okay- as
more of the classical type- I believe it is possible to get to objective truth-
that the pursuit of what’s true is not a vain pursuit- and yes- though we are
all limited in our understanding, yet to even have this conversation requires
an element of Absolute Truth. If the Post Modernist says ‘words have no
objective truth- only relative truth- they only convey what the hearer decides
they convey’ then I can say ‘Oh- so if I
take your words to mean there is such a thing as objective truth- that’s okay’?
O know you idiot- you’re not hearing what I’m saying! So you see that the Post
modernist needs his words to mean something- to convey a specific thing to the
hearer- if the hearer can make the words mean whatever he wants- then you can’t
even engage in the discussion- got it? So anyway- as I’m thinking about
scrapping my Islam course [and just teaching it from stuff I learned myself- in
the immortal words of defense secy. Bob Gates ‘on the fly’] I do want to
utilize whatever objective truth I can pick up along the way- while at the same
time realizing all people have their own biases and we need to listen with a
careful skepticism. I ordered a course on Physics a while back- good course-
but the instructor- though smart- made a classic mistake in Logic as he taught
the course. He often said ‘the universe was created BY CHANCE’. Now- as a
purely grammatical- logical argument- this incorrect [a fallacy]. Why? What he
really means to say is ‘there are unknown causes in the universe that created
the effect of existence- we do not know what these causes are- but we believe
that thru a series of actions- which have no particular direction [chance]
these unknown causes have caused the effect of the universe’. Okay- I don’t
want to be nitpicky- but when I hear an intelligent person say ‘everything was
made BY CHANCE’ and for him to get away with this without a rigorous challenge-
then the Christian thinker has failed in his task to challenge the skeptic on
his own terms- to show that even though the person may be an expert in his field
[Physics] yet this does not mean he can get away with fallacious arguments-
arguments that are invalid from the get go. So as we progress over the coming
weeks/months on the various fields of study- we want to be open to learn from
others who have specialized in their particular fields of study- we want to be
open minded enough to learn from people who reject the faith- yes atheists can
teach us things- there are areas of
knowledge that all people have that can benefit the rest of us. And we want to
weigh all things that we hear- we all make mistakes- and are susceptible to
error. Just because my Physics ‘teacher’ screwed up in a classic way- a way
that most apologists recognize right off the bat- I mean you have to be an
amateur ‘arguer’ of truth to make this type of mistake- yet I didn’t reject the
entire course- I still learned valuable insights from the man. So I think this
is the best approach to take- listen to all sides of a matter- doubt the things
that seem a little off- do some research- check into it yourself- and at the
end of the day let a variety of sources be your pool of knowledge- don’t just
rely on one source. Proverbs says ‘In the multitude of counselors there is
safety’. Be sure you’re listening/hearing from the multitude [broad range of thought
and learning] because often times single sources can be right in one area- and
off in another.
[1632] 3rd PILLAR- ZAKAT.
As I was debating whether or not to continue my study on
Islam [today] the spot I stopped at last was the 3rd pillar. Sure enough
yesterday [and the rerun at 1 a.m.] Beck did an interesting show on Zakat. He
had on a few experts- who are known to not be sympathetic to Islam- and they
covered the subject of non violent Jihad- those who advocate for an Islamic
society thru non violent means. Now- I know some Beck supporters have been
upset with me in the past because I criticize Beck- it’s not that I don’t think
he actually brings up things that other networks don’t- sometimes he does
reveal stuff that the other networks don’t because they are so ‘in the tank’
for the president. I never thought I’d see the day where a news host actually
would describe his ‘feelings’ that come over him when he hears the president
speak- he actually used sexual connotations to describe it [a tingle goes up my
leg]. Now- I’m not saying this to be cute [okay- maybe a little] but to say I
have never in my life seen the media- the so called 4th estate- so
one sided. So Beck [Fox] does serve a purpose. Now- Beck covered the groups
that raise money under the banner of ‘charity’ and yet they have ties to
radical Islam, and they discussed the ancient Islamic practice of Zakat [or
Tithe].
In the Muslim community Zakat is giving a portion [2.5%] of
both goods and finances for the sole purpose of providing for the poor. In
Muslim communities the Zakat is like social security. The word literally means
purification. The word itself is not a terrorist term- nor the practice. It is
important for Beck and others to cover stories about the use of Zakat given to
charitable groups for radical purposes- yet most Americans have probably not
heard of the term before- and their first introduction to it was seen thru an
association to terror.
Years ago I had a chance meeting with a Muslim- I’m sure he
didn’t realize he ran into some nut who studies just about everything a person
can study [I was working at the fire house and on duty]. He was a devout
Muslim- dressed in Muslim garb an all. As we talked I gave him the biblical
history of Abraham and his 2 sons Isaac and Ishmael. I traced the lineage of
Christians and Jews from Isaacs’s line, and the genealogy of Muslims [Arabs]
thru Ishmael. I spoke about the coming of Jesus in the 1st century
of the Common Era as the promised offspring that God originally told Abraham
about. I explained the purpose of the Messiah [Jesus] as being the predestined
one sent by God to unite all people and tribes under one new nation- the
Kingdom of God. I explained to my friend that Christianity teaches that Jesus
was not simply a prophet- but one who died for the sins of the world and rose
again as the final sacrifice that would ever need to be made for the sins of
men. I was surprised to see my Muslim friend hearing the whole story- for the 1st
time. He told me he was not familiar at all with the history [even though it is
both biblical history and Islamic- the part about Ishmael which is found in the
book of Genesis]. He seemed so grateful to have heard it thru ‘this angle’ not
from the angle of the Crusades- or of Western Colonialism- but from the angle
of the grace of God that has come to all tribes and races thru Jesus Christ.
As I watch the media day after day- seeing more unrest in
the Middle East than I have ever witnessed in my lifetime. Seeing the growing
strain between Christians and Muslims and Jews [the Fla. Pastor went and burned
a Koran and Muslim demonstrators in Afghanistan attacked the U.N. building and
killed and beheaded some workers]. As I see the lines being drawn in the sand-
I come back to the story of my Muslim friend- who obviously was dedicated to
his faith [wearing the robe and all] yet he never clearly heard the gospel-
which actually means Good News. The bible commands us [Christians] to live in
peace with ALL MEN- to love our neighbor as our self- to even love those who hate
us- to pray for those who persecute us and to do good [a type of Zakat] to our
fellow man. While I make no excuses for the killing and beheading of the U.N.
people- yet to burn the holy book of another religion is also not living
peaceably with all men.
I believe the Islamic practice of Zakat is closer to actual
biblical teaching than what most Christians practice today. The majority of
Christian giving- often wrongfully referred to as the Tithe- goes to the
function of media ministry- church buildings- salaries- etc. under 10 percent
goes to meeting the needs of the poor. Yet in the teachings of Jesus and in the
New Testament the majority teaching on giving is in context of giving to meet
the needs of the poor [go read my books under the Feb- 2010 posts- and also the
study called ‘what in the world is the church’ under the Feb posts]. So in a
very real way I do think the Islamic Zakat is closer to the biblical practice
than what most 21st century Christians practice.
I will obviously have many things I will not embrace about
Islam in future posts- I will try and cover those differences as respectfully
as I possibly can- without being a biased defender of Islam [as my current
instructor on the course seems to be]. And I will make the case for Christ as
well. At the end of the day hopefully we can learn more about our various
beliefs- try and have respect for those who differ- and root for the moderates
among us. I reject the Koran burning pastor in Fla. And I hope most Muslims
will also reject the radical elements within their ranks. The history of the 3rd
Pillar of Islam is a good one- a practice that centers around the teachings of
Christ- it’s a shame that some in the Muslim community have hijacked it for
violent Jihad.
[1642] LESSON FROM A MUSLIM-
I read a story in my local paper yesterday- there was an
ecumenical dinner held this week between Christians, Jews and Muslims. The
Christian staff writer who attended shared how it helped her to overcome
previous prejudices that she had. She told what the various speakers discussed
and I was particularly impressed with what the Muslim speaker said- she talked
about how true religion is not performance, putting on a show- but is expressed
in reaching out to those in need- the poor and hurting.
In fact she was basically quoting the New Testament book of
James- James says ‘pure religion is to visit the fatherless and widows and to
stay clean from the world’. A few weeks back one of my homeless buddies stopped
by- he’s basically a genius when it comes to the bible- I mean it’s sort of an
autistic thing to be honest- he knows- by memory- much more than the average
preacher. As I visited with Henry I gave him the latest bible studies that were
sent to me over the last few months. Years ago I heard a N.J. Jewish preacher-
who pastors a Messianic congregation in Lodi, N.J.- he had a short radio show
on the same station I’m on- and as a courtesy I sent him some of my books and
told him hi and all- being I’m a former Jersey brother and all. Ever since he has
sent me these really great bible studies every month.
The studies are really in depth- and he usually only sends
them to partners [those who support his ministry with money]. But I guess he
appreciated my sending him a nice note and he forever put me on the list. Now-
I’m an avid reader- I’ve read just about everything you can get your hands on-
but these past few years I’m trying to stick with scholarly stuff- not that I’m
‘too good’ for the basic stuff- It’s just I really don’t have the time to just
read tons of stuff that’s in the category of ‘devotional’ material- stuff that
just kind of talks about Christian things.
So I hate to throw the stuff out- I mean they’re great bible
studies. I don’t want to write Jonathan [the pastor] and say ‘take me off your
list’- so I save them up and give them to Henry- he devours them and even
quotes them back to me the next time I see him. So anyway we had a good talk.
Somehow we got into discussing the book of James [the verse I quoted above] and
I told Henry how it’s funny that James [we believe this letter in the New
Testament- called James- was written by the James who was Jesus’ brother-
mentioned about in the bible. He was the same James mentioned as one of the
leaders in the church at Jerusalem in the book of Acts, chapter 15. To my
Catholic friends- it might sound strange ‘Jesus had a brother?’ these words are
found in the New Testament. Catholic teachers don’t deny this- they just
interpret it to mean ‘cousin’ or near relative- some say its speaking of ‘Christian
brother’. Don’t want to debate it- just thought I should mention it].
Anyway- I told Henry how it’s strange that one of the key
leaders in the early church- who was closer to Jesus than all the other
disciples [he lived in the same house] that he would write such a scathing
indictment against the rich- and he would defend the poor so strongly. James’
letter is one of the strongest rebukes against the rich that you will find in
the bible. Anyway Henry agreed with me- of course Henry’s poor- homeless- but
he knows his stuff. He said ‘you know John- as true as you are- you never hear
this from the famous pulpits in America’. He was agreeing with what the Muslim
lady said at the dinner- that true religion is not fame and glory- but serving
those in need.
I liked the spirit of the article I read- It does not mean I
will not continue to advocate for the exclusivity of the gospel of Jesus- that
Jesus is truly the only way to God. Pope Benedict has also come under some heat
for saying the Catholic Church teaches that Jesus is the only way of salvation-
to which I agree.
Yet at the same time- as we make our case to our Muslim and
Jewish friends- we can also sit down with them- live as citizens of the same
community with them- and even learn something from them every now and then.
NOTE- To any of my friends who might be ‘rich’. The early
church did have certain individuals who were rich- and it was oaky. The person
who gave his grave spot to Jesus- Joseph of Arimathea- was rich. Also in the
books of Acts there were believers who sold their real estate and dedicated the
money to the church. So the bible doesn’t just outright condemn those who are
rich- but there are many warnings against being rich in ‘this world’ while
forgetting to build riches in the kingdom [works of love and charity]. That’s
the main theme of James’ letter.
[1644] THE ARAB SPRING-
This week the president took some criticism for identifying
the struggle going on in the Arab/Muslim world with the struggle for freedom
that the Jewish people experienced- and commemorate during this Passover
season. The president- who celebrates the Passover meal- said that the present
Arab struggle for freedom- what is sometimes referred to as The Arab Spring, is
much like what the Jews went thru when they too felt oppressed by their leaders
many years ago. I actually just did an entire study along these same lines
[Insights from a Revolution].
The president’s critics tore into him ‘how dare he compare a
radical Muslim terror campaign with the honest struggle of the Jewish people’.
Beck had John Hagee [the famous Pastor out of San Antonio] on his show- as well
as a Rabbi and another Israeli official- they discussed the subject of God
being on the side of the geopolitical decisions of Israel- and how the
Arab/Muslim world just want to ‘kill everybody else’.
Hagee offered his friendship to the Rabbi- stating ‘though
we disagree on who the Messiah is [no small disagreement!] yet we can still
overlook our differences and work together’. Now- I would simply ask- why not
take this position with the Muslim/Arab world too? The difference that Hagee
was willing to ‘gloss over’ with his Jewish friends is quite a leap- though I
too agree with it- that is even though our Jewish friends do not embrace Jesus
as the Messiah- yet we should love them as Jesus commanded- and fight for their
rights as a people.
We should also extend this hand of friendship- as much as
possible- to the Arab world. ‘What- are you nuts- don’t you know the Koran has
verses in it that are incompatible with Christian doctrine’- actually I do know
this- but that 'incompatibility’ is just as severe- doctrinally- as saying
Jesus is not the Messiah. According to the Apostle John- this denial is the
worst doctrinal denial one can make [Johns 1st letter found in the
New Testament ‘if anyone denies that Jesus Christ is the Messiah- come in the
flesh- he is anti Christ’].
Okay- the point? Why couldn’t Beck, Hagee, and the other
multitudes simply give this same benefit of the doubt to the Muslim world? In
Genesis chapter 16 we read the actual history of the Arab/Muslim world- yes
it’s in our bibles. Sarah [Abraham’s wife] tells her husband to sleep with her
maid Hagar and have a son. Sarah was barren and this was an acceptable thing at
the time to do- sort of like a surrogate mother type thing. After the maid gets
pregnant there arises tension and jealousy in the home and Abraham says ‘look-
she’s your maid- do what you want’ and Sarah kicks her out and the maid winds
up crying in the wilderness..
God sends an angel to talk with her and God promises her
that her son- Ishmael [the father of the Arab/Muslim people- who is also the
son of Abraham- the father of the Jewish people!] will become a great people
and that the son- Ishmael- will be a wild man and he will be at war with all
the nations around him and all the nations will fight with him. Now- does this
history sound accurate to you? Does the Christian bible say God is the one who
multiplied this group of people? If these things are true- and recorded in our
Christian bibles- why not at least give them the same chance as our Jewish
brothers?
Look- I am not advocating glossing over the serious
doctrinal differences between Islam and Christianity- but the Evangelical
community- for the most part- has managed to ‘gloss over’ a pretty major
doctrinal difference with our Jewish friends- why not with Muslims? I mean as
people who live together on the same planet- as people whom God said ‘I am the
one who increased them’ surely we can take these same verses and use them as a
bridge- to bridge some serious gaps for sure- but a possible bridge that God
has given us- in our bibles- that states that God himself is concerned with the
Arab world and the present ‘war’ between Ishmael and all the nations around
him- well that too was recorded in God’s plan.
[1656] ANTI COLONIAL REDO
Let me try to cover a few current events. This week we had a
few presidential hopefuls drop out of the race- and a few announce. Newt
Gingrich did his first Sunday news interview since officially getting into the
race.
David Gregory- Tim Russert’s replacement on NBC- did an okay
interview- but he did raise the question of racism [so soon!]. Yes- he
questioned Newt’s speech where he mentioned that Obama is the ‘food stamp
president’. That is Newt criticized the economic policies of this
administration and said how we have over 40 million people on food stamps. That
the lack of the president’s ability to create jobs is seen in the food stamp
[and welfare] rates rising.
Gregory questioned whether or not this played into the race
game. Now- MSNBC and one of the most biased news people in the media today
[Chris Matthews] had on 2 liberal minded men. He got right into the race card-
he played it hard and long. To my surprise- both of the liberals he interviewed
disagreed with him. They distanced themselves from the race card.
One of the men- Richard Wolfe- is an Obama insider. He has lots
of access to the inner workings of the White House. He has written books on the
president and he is close to the real sources. I had to ask myself why both of
these liberal minded men agreed with me- that to use the race card on something
like this is shameful.
I realized that as ‘true insiders’ they know that this type
of accusation surely does not play well in Rio Linda. That is the majority of
voters- especially white independents- they might not say it- but this stuff
does not gain votes.
As smart politicos- these Obama supporters knew this- and
for the welfare of the president, whom they support- they did the right thing.
Matthews- well he’s a lost cause.
One of the things that gets raised with the Newt debate is
the accusation that our president is ‘anti- colonial’ or that he is an ‘anti
colonial Kenyan’. In the past I have defended the president against this
accusation- yet at the same time others who have defended the president against
this accusation have seemed to not know what they are talking about [Matthews
again].
These last few years Newt Gingrich has positioned himself
for a possible run for the White House. One of the things he has done is he has
converted to Catholicism. Now- I do not question his conversion- as a matter of
fact if you realize that Newt is an intellectual- than the conversion to a
Christian denomination that has the greatest intellectual heritage of them all-
well that just makes sense.
As a new convert Newt is obviously going to read the books
of other Catholic intellectuals. And a top seller during this time was a book
by Dinesh Desouza. A Catholic intellectual himself. The book critiqued the
development of the political/social thought of the president. It covered the
presidents own journey as he grew up and later learned more about his father’s
struggle- and the black mans struggle in general. The president wrote about
this in his book Dreams of my Father.
Part of the critique that Dinesh mentioned is that the
presidents father- like many Kenyans and other foreign ethnic groups- had what
you would describe as an ‘anti colonial’ mindset. What’s that? Our world has
gone thru many stages of growth and development. Some stages were good- other
times bad [the Hitler stage!] After the great breakthroughs in science and technology
that occurred during the 18th-19th centuries- you had
European [western] world powers colonizing other parts of the world. Africa
[Kenya] as well as other Arab nations became colonies of the west.
The famous struggle of Gandhi was
all about India breaking away from Britain’s rule over them. They indeed were
‘anti colonial’. Now- in this conversation many can’t believe [Matthews] that
anyone would
[this was from my study on Islam-
the whole teaching is on my blog]
VERSES I MENTION ON VIDEO-
And the nations were angry, and
thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be
judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear
thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroythem
which destroy the earth. Rev.
11:18
Numbers 11:24 And Moses went out, and told the people the words of
the LORD, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set
them round about the tabernacle.
Numbers 11:25 And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spake unto
him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy
elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they
prophesied, and did not cease.
Numbers 11:26 But there remained two of the men in the camp, the
name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit
rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out
unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp.
Numbers 11:27 And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said,
Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp.
Numbers 11:28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one
of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.
Numbers 11:29 And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake?
would God that all the LORD's people were prophets, and that the LORD would put
his spirit upon them!
Luke 9:49 And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting
out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us.
Luke 9:50 And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is
not against us is for us.
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Note- Do me a favor, those who read/like the posts- re-post
them on other sites as well as the site you read them on. Thanks- John.
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