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dwellordream · 3 years

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“…Written in the early 1380s, Troilus and Criseyde engages with a growing English cultural interest in and anxiety about interiority, particularly as it was evident within the courtly love discourse of Chaucer’s immediate audience: the court of Richard II. During these early years of Richard’s reign, the evidence suggests that courtly love discourse flourished—both within courtly lyric and within the speech of courtiers themselves—and this discourse was coming to structure what it meant to be a noble man within the court. Through this discourse, royal subjects sought to construct stable, coherent identities by imagining their interior states in relation to an uncontrollable external power—not the monarch to whom they were literally, physically subject but a person to whom they were figuratively and emotionally subject: the female beloved.

Fourteenth-century courtly love was a discourse centered on constructing the interiority of the aristocratic male; the language of courtly love allowed male nobles to express and perform the sophistication of their masculine identities. By the end of the fourteenth century, as Richard Firth Green explains, Since the capacity to experience exalted human love was ... restricted entirely to the well-born, it followed that one way in which a man might display his gentility was to suggest that he was in love; thus the conventions by which this emotion was defined, originally pure literary hyperbole, became part of a code of polite behaviour. By engaging in this discourse—speaking of the overwhelming nature of his love and his unswerving loyalty despite the unattainable nature of his beloved—the male courtier demonstrated his own refinement and nobility.

Courtly love rhetoric was an internalization and eroticization of noble status; the use of such rhetoric was a way of performing the inherent nobility of one’s own interiority. Although a male courtier using the rhetoric of courtly love is explicitly speaking of his own interior emotional response to a particular woman, his performance of such rhetoric is shaped by and for a community of aristocratic men. As is now generally recognized, the rhetoric of courtly love is a social discourse of coercive power, asserting the courtier’s dominance over both the female love-object and men of lesser status.

As Susan Crane argues in her study of late medieval court performance, late medieval courtiers “constitute themselves especially by staging their distinctiveness.” Courtly love is such a performance: courtiers publicly perform a largely set script of powerlessness before love in order to demonstrate their private and unique masculine identities. Part of the performance of courtly love entails a lack of concern for the wider social community—after all, when a noble man is in love nothing else should matter—but, despite this apparent lack of concern, courtly love is always a discourse entrenched in social and political power structures.

In Troilus and Criseyde, Chaucer responds to and addresses the court’s interest in masculine interiority in general and courtly love in particular. Chaucer frequently addresses his court audience as “ye loveres” (I, 22) and, in the prologue, he refers to them, not as subjects of Richard II, but as the “God of Loves servantz” (I, 15). Over the course of the poem, Chaucer depicts Troilus as the embodiment of the typical courtly lover: Troilus falls instantly in love with Criseyde, is overwhelmed by his desire for her, becomes sick and helpless from his love-longing, idealizes Criseyde as the perfect woman, and desires nothing other than to serve her. And, indeed, like courtiers who perform courtly love lyrics, Troilus bursts out into his lyrical, narrative-halting Cantici Troili at three times over the course of the poem.

The poem’s interest in interiority extends beyond love, and one of the ways in which Chaucer emphasizes that courtly love is essentially a discourse of interiority is through his use of penitential language. By drawing on this language, Chaucer emphasizes the extent to which courtly discourse, like penitential discourse, is engaged in self-examination and self-definition. In the fourteenth century, inward reflection on the state of one’s own soul became a prominent feature of devotional texts in general and penitential texts in particular; penitential manuals provided readers with, as Katherine Little notes, “a capacious psychological language ... to think about their identity, identity understood as an inner self and as a self in relation to the larger Christian community.”

The language of sacramental confession encouraged penitents to think of themselves as individuals, individuated before God because of the deeply personal nature and willfulness of their sins. In Chaucer’s poem, Pandarus uses penitential terminology in order to help Troilus establish his new identity as a courtly lover precisely because such language offers a way of defining one’s internal state. Particularly in the opening two books, Pandarus extensively and explicitly uses such language, at one point instructing Troilus to repent his former disdain for love and “bet thi brest, and sey to God of Love, ‘Thy grace, lord, for now I me repente, If I mysspak, for now myself I love.’”

Pandarus’s language here is obviously not sincerely penitential, but he invites Troilus to use such language because it gives him a means by which to regard his internal state as both distinctly individual and fitting into recognizable and coherent identity categories. Since Chaucer centers his poem on Trojan men who are deeply invested in courtly love and their own interiority, Chaucer’s Trojan aristocracy bears a striking resemblance to the court of Richard II. By depicting a court apparently more concerned with its courtiers’ interiority than the wider political world, Chaucer’s poem aligns itself with many of the contemporary critiques of Richard II’s early court: namely that Richard was too interested in display of his own monarchical identity—through love discourse, his personal relationships with his inner circle of young courtiers, and lavish courtly display—and not interested enough in national interests, especially war with France.

In the 1380s in particular, Richard’s court was shedding the character of simply a military household and becoming a court that strove, at least in part, to be a court of love. In her recent analysis of the Troilus frontispiece, Joyce Coleman argues that, although we have little evidence of the court life of the period, the evidence we do have suggests that in the early 1380s Richard II was promoting a culture of Love strongly influenced by and modeled on the Roman de la Rose. Indeed, around 1386, at least three Middle English authors, including Chaucer in his Legend of Good Women, produced allegories in which they depict Richard himself as Cupid, the God of Love. The presence of women at court became more common, and Michael Bennett characterizes Richard II’s court during this time period as having “a rather precious, effete character” because of its emphasis on courtly love.

One chronicler particularly critical of Richard’s reign, Thomas Walsingham, famously criticized Richard’s knights for being “knights of Venus rather than of Bellona: more effective in the bedchamber than the field.” In the early 1380s, Richard’s court had constructed a model of masculinity founded on courtly love discourse and the interior identity of the individual courtly lover. This interest in interiority came at a high cost. There seems to have been a widely held belief among his contemporaries that Richard II was particularly interested in promoting himself as a courtly lover leading a court of love, and that this interest came at the expense of England’s claim to the French throne and England’s military dominance.

Many contemporaries, particularly the members of the established nobility displaced by Richard’s own chosen group of young courtiers, criticized Richard II because of his perceived failure as a military leader of England. In contrast to previous royal courts that centered more on martial and chivalric values grounded in the years of war with France, according to chronicle sources, Richard II wanted to end that war, and was simultaneously promoting a lifestyle that celebrated elegance of dress, subtlety of speech, and sophisticated and perhaps indelicate forms of recreation, innovations that were by no means fully consistent with more traditional conceptions of chivalric virtue.

Christopher Fletcher has recently questioned the truth of familiar claims that Richard was strongly committed to peace with France or allegations that the extravagance of Richard’s royal household made it impossible for the king to afford to pursue war; Fletcher argues that, in fact, the Exchequer severely restricted Richard’s funds, and Richard continued to press for grants of taxation for war. However, regardless of Richard’s own motivations, it is true that Richard’s reign saw greatly reduced fighting with France, and many contemporaries did believe that Richard’s court was extraordinarily extravagant.

Whether accurate or not, there was a growing perception—even before the Wonderful Parliament of 1386 and the Merciless Parliament of 1388 were to bring forth explicit allegations that Richard and his inner circle were overly concerned with their own individual wealth and power—that Richard II’s court was fostering an increased interest in the individual courtier, not the social good. Richard’s ambition was to establish his royal household as an autonomous power, as free as possible from the control of the established nobility. According to Lee Patterson, Richard’s development of the court as an exclusive society wholly dedicated to the fulfilment of the wishes of the king was not simply a matter of personal style. It was also part of a political programme aimed at dispossessing the traditional ruling class of England and replacing it with a courtier nobility created by Richard and located largely in the household.

The structure of Richard’s court placed him as the personal center of the court, with courtiers drawing their power directly from the king’s personal generosity. Richard’s rule made the importance of the individual and individual interiority a matter of political concern. If, as Lynn Staley persuasively argues, in the early part of his reign Richard himself was engaged and interested in “a vigorous, highly charged, and carefully coded conversation about authority,” then we can regard Troilus and Criseyde as taking part in this ongoing conversation. When Chaucer depicts Troilus’s obsession with his own internal state as contributing to the fall of Troy, he warns that the Ricardian court’s current interest in masculine interiority is one that is potentially dangerous to the English kingdom itself.

As I will show, over the course of the poem, Chaucer examines the dangers of an overemphasis on the interior state of the male nobility, rather than national and military interests, and casts suspicion on Troilus for privileging his interior state of love-longing over his military status as a prince of Troy. While Chaucer does not launch a direct critique of Richard II’s kingship, he expresses a deep anxiety about what would happen in a kingdom in which the ruling class set too high a value on their individual interior states at the expense of the national interest.”

- Jennifer Garrison, “Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde and the Danger of Masculine Interiority.”

#jennifer garrison #troilus and criseyde #richard ii #history #late middle ages #courtly love #court #medieval literature #medieval #geoffrey chaucer #english

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dailyaudiobible · 3 years

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08/19/2021 DAB Transcript

Esther 4:1-7:10, 1 Corinthians 12:1-26, Psalm 36:1-12, Proverbs 21:21-22

Today is the 19th day of August, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible, I’m Brian it is wonderful, truly wonderful to be here with you today, as we come together around the Global Campfire to take the next step forward together and that next step will lead us back into the book of Esther which we began yesterday and will conclude tomorrow so it's, it's a short story but it's a powerful story with a ton of drama in it. As we saw sort of shaping up yesterday. So, we saw how Esther became Queen. We learned that her actual Hebrew name is Hadassah and she has not revealed her ethnicity that she is a Jewes and the Queen. And, we also met Hayman who intends to absolutely kill every Jew in the Persian Empire. We also learned of Esther's uncle who raised her and his name is Mordechai and he spared the king's life once, he uncovered a conspiracy against the king and he is an official but he will not bow down and pay reverence to Haman. And so, the king, under Haman's influences, has issued an edict that the Jews on a certain day will be purged and Mordecai is just finding out about this. And that's where we pick up the story. Esther chapters 4 through 7 today.

Commentary:

Okay, so obviously the drama continues in the book of Esther and so the antagonist Haman now everything's kind of come into the light and well, he's no more, and we will conclude the book of Esther tomorrow because even though Haman is…is no more the directive that was sent throughout the Empire and sealed with the royal seal well there’s still a day of doom in front of the Jewish people where they're supposed to be annihilated and that can't be undone. It was a royal edict. And so, that's gotta get sorted out and we’ll work through that in tomorrow's reading.

And then today we read from first Corinthians chapter 12, which obviously precedes 1 Corinthians chapter 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13 is a very famous chapter in the Scriptures, known as the love chapter where Paul describes what love is and what love does and how it behaves and so we’ll get to that. But setting that up is what Paul is doing right now and he is answering some questions. So, 1 Corinthians 12 begins, “now concerning what you wrote about the gifts from the Holy Spirit.” So, that one sentence we know that they had written to the apostle Paul for instruction on how the Holy Spirit works and what the Holy Spirit does. And that's…that's still a question among a lot of people until today kind of depending on the type of congregation you worship at, a primary of prominence is given to certain aspects of the Holy Spirit, or were told to seek as many of them as we can get our hands on, I guess, as many as we can achieve or as many as we can ask for that God might use us or certain gifting's put people in front of other people and so kind of in the natural order of our culture elevates them as it may be more than we who are less than, who don't have that particular gifting that is super noticeable and so we look at the super noticeable gifts as something more important or something more desirable. Paul kinda dives into that and we just read the 12th chapter 1 Corinthians, and go back and re-read and kind of digest the essence of what Paul is saying is let's talk about the Holy Spirit. For starters, the Holy Spirit could never curse Jesus and somebody without the Spirit could never confess that Jesus is Lord. That's just like a little rule of thumb that’s like this little thing to carry around that he's giving them so that they have this initial, just observations, little tool to start with. And then he goes further by explaining there are different kinds of spiritual gifts and they all come from the same Holy Spirit. There are different ways to serve the Lord. There are different ways to serve his people. But however, his people serve the Lord, there is only one Lord to serve so, the Lord is being served. I quote Paul, “the Spirit's presence is shown in some way in each person, for the good of all.” So, in other words, there are plenty of gifts that the spirit brings to serve the Lord, to serve God's people and to facilitate the body. Some are more visible than others, but all are necessary and none are more important than any other one. And that's when Paul then starts describing what we know as the body of Christ and the reason that he's using that analogy is that there are many gifting's from the Spirit because there are many parts of the same body, and using the analogy of the body makes it really clear. Some parts are more visible than other parts. Some need modesty. And I can't say to an ear, I don't need you, a hand can't say because I'm not a foot I’m not part of the body; none of these things are true. The body is made up of all kinds of parts, all of them are needed to make all whole body and if one part is hurting every part suffers. So, as we are being led into the love chapter, we are being told nobody's more important than anybody else. We are all in this together. In fact, if we aren't all in this together, then that's a humongous problem because we are all part of one body empowered by one Spirit. This is a really, really wonderful to move through this territory and it’s stuff that we might feel as if we kind of already know, like, cause this isn't something that's obscure in the Scriptures. These concepts are, you know, fundamental Christianity. And yet, let's just take one step back and now let's take another step back and another and another, so that we can back away from this for a second and ask ourselves, just because I know this does not mean that this is how I live or am I constantly in a game of comparison with somebody else's gifting's or somebody else's part of the body and collectively are we doing this, like, are we all always dissatisfied with the part of the body that we are, so that we have to constantly look at another part and wish that that could be our story. Or, are we lucky to be here? Are we fortunate? Has God given us grace and mercy to include us in what he's doing? So much so that we are a part of his body, part of God's body upon this earth, we are the flesh and bone. We are the Jesus with skin on. We are very fortunate to be here at all. Paul's going after stuff that goes, that was going on in the church in Corinth, but it's always been going on this game of comparison. Whose more gifted than somebody else and whose more visible than somebody else and what do I got to do to have that many followers. What’s the magic? I cannot literally, cannot tell you how many times that question has been asked to me. And I, for 16 years have been scratching my head to answer that question because I don't know. I feel lucky or fortunate or blessed to be here at all. And so, every day is a day of wow, wow we get to do this together. But I cannot tell you how many times I've taken meetings from people who’ve even flown to Nashville, I’ve stopped taking these kinds of meetings long ago, but at the end of the day, it wasn't really the Daily Audio Bible stories that people wanted to know, it was “what was the secret sauce?” What was the secret, what was the magic? What was the thing? How can that be replicated? How can I get a following? How can I build a platform? And to those questions, I have to say well, I mean, there's ways to do it with…with the methods of our culture. Start building something. This is what we do, we start building platforms so that we can get higher and higher and higher above the noise. And so, we can be seen in so that we can have a platform from which to say things. And I'm not so sure that's how it works in God's kingdom. Seems like the first place to start is wow, wow I'm invited to be included in this body. Wow, what did I do? How did this happen? I get to be a part and partner with God on anything. How did that happen? I'm so fortunate. Like, that's the place to start. And Paul’s giving language, spiritual language to those concepts in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 12 today. As we move toward the 13th chapter, tomorrow.

Prayer:

And so, Father, let's, we just want to stay in that place of wow, You even know who we are, You even know how many hairs are on our head. You actually know about us more than we know about ourselves and You have loved us despite the things that we have gotten ourselves into, and have included us. And so, often we are a part of something but we want to be a different part, we want to be, we want to be more visible or we want to be over here. We want to be that or we want to have that gifting. Father, we’re sorry, we’re sorry like, that's acting kind of like a selfish little kid and sometimes we get glimpses of this and how we behave toward You. Sometimes it comes upon us that maybe it's time to grow in this area. Maybe we should grow up and that seems to be the invitation here. We don't need to be compared and we don't need to compare ourselves because we are uniquely placed in Your body. There is no one else that can fill this space. Thank You for letting us be here at all. Help us Holy Spirit to focus on the good that is being done collectively, rather than us trying to carve out some place where we can be seen and celebrated and worshiped for doing what all of us are doing, which is simply serving and loving You and by extension, loving the world around us, so the light can shine into the darkness. Come Holy Spirit into this we pray, in the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the website. It’s where you find out what’s happening around here in the Community. So, check it out. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can just press the drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner and access the Community section where the Prayer Wall lives or the Daily Audio Bible Shop where there are a number of categories of resources. So, indeed, check them out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible as we continue to navigate through summertime. Thank you, thank you for your partnership. If life and light and good news are making their way from the rolling hills of Tennessee here, where I'm standing, through the internet, through modern technology to the far reaches of the earth wherever you might be, if that is good news that's coming through the Internet into your ears, then thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app you can press the give button in the upper right hand corner. Or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.

And as always if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the Daily Audio Bible app from wherever you are in the world. But there are a number of numbers that you can call depending on where you are in the world as well. If you are in the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number to call. In the UK or Europe 44 2036 088078 is the number to dial. And if you are in Australia or the Lands Down Under 61 3 8820 5459 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I will be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Prayers and Encouragements:

Good morning family this is Pathfinder and I’m calling for prayer for a family member. We call him Uncle Jean. Uncle Jean has been a deacon for 35 years and he’s certainly been in the valley a lot over the last 5 or 6. He lost his wife to ALS, he lost his son to ALS, he lost another daughter to ALS, he has a daughter who has tested positive for the ALS gene and he has two other children that are not getting tested. He, being a deacon for bode the services for his wife and his two children. Recently, he fell, he’s 88 years old, broke a hip, was in rehab. And then they found this huge tumor in his arm. Actually, they found it back when COVID started and they just didn’t do anything about it because they didn’t want him in the hospital because of his age, his frailty. But they finally did an MRI last week and they had to amputate his arm. Him and his family need your prayers. His remaining children are strong and are helping him. I’m praying but as I pray, I still got these questions in my mind as why is this happening to this poor family. And so, I figured I’d turned to the experts in prayer to help me with this. Thank you DABers, I love you all, I pray for you all the time. Thank you.

Hello everyone this is Lualan in China just calling in, outside of my comfort zone to pray for people with mental illness. There’s been a lot of requests like that recently specifically for Quiet Confidence and for LJ Lavender Dream. Lord, we come to You and we lift these people up to You. Please be with Quiet Confidence give her peace, give her assurance of her salvation. So that she can come to You. Be with Lavender Dreams son, it’s hard when you’re in a mental hospital and you don’t’ want to be there. You feel like people have betrayed you, abandoned you. Help her son to know that she isn’t doing that, she’s doing it because she loves him, to protect him. Be with her, give her strength and peace.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family. This is Renzo in Florida and I just want to pray that I heard for, I just want to pray for Jonathan in Denver. Father God, just please pray for Jonathan in the name of Jesus that Jonathan would just be healed on this pornography addiction God. And please help him to remember that there’s no competition on who’s a better believer, we’re all saved by grace. And I was addicted to pornography one time myself. But God completely healed me of that. I’ve been healed from that for two years now and I just thank God for everything. One thing I always remember is no matter your age God can heal you of anything. Don’t…don’t feel, don’t get down on yourself, don’t discourage yourself. Keep walking the word, keep engrossing yourself in Scripture. Keep, like you said, bathing in the Scripture, that’s so important. And God, just please let him to just keep having that fire for You God. Even if the progression is slow, it’s the same thing for me too, it was slow at first. But God, You healed me. And, like it says Joy will come in the morning. And God, we just thank you for everything you do. In Jesus name we pray, Amen. Have a blessed rest of your day guys, Jesus loves you.

Hey, this is Jerry calling from Duluth, Minnesota. With a heavy heart today. Last time I called, I think, called regarding our third daughter who is bipolar, drunken and suicidal in the middle of the night. Well, now she’s pregnant with an abusive alcoholic partner. Who, once he found out that she’s pregnant, he took off out of town. So, she’s alone, pregnant, broke, barefoot as they say. Alone. And hurting and has seemingly messed up her life now for the rest of her life. As a parent you don’t know what to do. She, five years ago, was doing very well. She was getting her masters degree, teaching. Then bipolar started to manifest itself. Four years ago, her husband abused their oldest daughter so she left them and started living a incredibly promiscuous lifestyle. Now, is reaping the consequences of it. Appreciate your prayers for a situation that has no easy answers. Thanks. Bye.

Happy Sunday DAB family. It’s August 15th my name is Michael and I’m a first time call in, so to speak. I want to thank you all for responding to prayer requests, it has been so uplifting these last few weeks. As the Lord has brought me back to the DAB app to have that constant word, thank you Brian. And the constant prayers and answers to prayers that are coming through with your responses. I’m asking for prayer for my family. Again, my name is Michael and my child Kirin is 17, biological male and yet struggling with gender dysphoria, depression, anxiety and recently diagnosed with autism. DAB family, I implore you to pray for my child. That he would turn back to the Lord of his upbringing. To embrace Christ as he is walking down a path that we don’t agree with and don’t understand fully. Pray for my child DAB family. Thank you.

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eternal-echoes · 5 years

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Some differences between Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism

I should first say that they are very similar in the regard that both churches claim to have the fullness of Truth, both have the apostolic succession, and both have the 7 sacraments. In fact, if there are no Catholic Churches nearby, a Catholic can receive communion from an Eastern Orthodox Church. We don’t do it regularly out of respect for them since they don’t believe we should receive theirs.

So onto the differences:

Scholasticism vs. Mysticism

The Roman Catholic Church developed Scholasticism while there is more emphasis on mysticism in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Scholasticism is the term used for Medieval philosophy. It starts from the objective fact that God is the ultimate source of Being, the ultimate reality, and rationalizing from there. Formulating arguments for the existence of God by taking note of what we observe from nature and tracing ethics to God as being the source of morality. Scholastic philosophers in the Middle Ages drew heavily from the works of the Ancient Greek philosophers so you would see a lot of them, most notably St. Thomas Aquinas, comment on Aristotle. One criticism I’ve read from an Eastern Orthodox is that this development of rationalism in the Roman Catholic Church is what paved way to the Enlightenment. It’s honestly just a matter of perspective, rationalism is a tool; it can be used for either good or bad. Good in the way of strengthening the explanation in theology, but bad in the way that you just question the belief in God altogether. Rationalizing God as if you can fit in Him in your head. Even then, some skepticism is healthy to be able to dig deeper in the truth.

This opinion is probably coming from ignorance, but personally, I think the mysticism in the Eastern Orthodoxy relies way too much on tradition. I believe you need rationalism to purify religion of superstitious whims that comes from human imagination.

While it’s true that Eastern Orthodoxy didn’t change as much as Roman Catholicism, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. To quote Father Angel, “To be human and Christian is to be growing. It is be open to the ongoing inspirations of the Holy Spirit, who deepens our understanding of the Gospel and the Christ Event.” I believe that through all the years of the Church’s existence, the Holy Spirit has been spoon feeding us new ways for us to understand God’s word. Not to say that the Church’s teachings has evolved. Not to say that the Church’s teaching has evolved. Catholic theologians have a specific term for it: development in doctrine. Evolution in doctrine sounds like it has been cut off from its roots. But development in doctrine means that the Church receives her nourishment from her roots. G.K. Chesterton explains this better than I do:

“When we talk of a child being well-developed, we mean that he has grown bigger and stronger with his own strength; not that he is padded with borrowed pillows or walks on stilts to make him look taller. When we say that a puppy develops into a dog, we do not mean that his growth is a gradual compromise with a cat; we mean that he becomes more doggy and not less. Development is the expansion of all the possibilities and implications of a doctrine, as there is time to distinguish them and draw them out; and the point here is that the enlargement of medieval theology was simply the full comprehension of that theology.”

Nicene Creed

In the Nicene Creed, the Catholic Church has added the filioque, “and the Son,” while the Eastern Orthodox Church has criticized as for it. The reason why the Catholic Church added it is because:

246 The Latin tradition of the Creed confesses that the Spirit "proceeds from the Father and the Son (filioque)". the Council of Florence in 1438 explains: "The Holy Spirit is eternally from Father and Son; He has his nature and subsistence at once (simul) from the Father and the Son. He proceeds eternally from both as from one principle and through one spiration... And, since the Father has through generation given to the only-begotten Son everything that belongs to the Father, except being Father, the Son has also eternally from the Father, from whom he is eternally born, that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son."

248 At the outset the Eastern tradition expresses the Father's character as first origin of the Spirit. By confessing the Spirit as he "who proceeds from the Father", it affirms that he comes from the Father through the Son.77 The Western tradition expresses first the consubstantial communion between Father and Son, by saying that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son (filioque). It says this, "legitimately and with good reason",78 for the eternal order of the divine persons in their consubstantial communion implies that the Father, as "the principle without principle",79 is the first origin of the Spirit, but also that as Father of the only Son, he is, with the Son, the single principle from which the Holy Spirit proceeds.80 This legitimate complementarity, provided it does not become rigid, does not affect the identity of faith in the reality of the same mystery confessed.

- from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

One note about the filioque is that this is not included in the Nicene Creed in Eastern Rite Catholic Churches. That’s because the Greek language makes it seem to mean a different meaning.

Original Sin

The Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church have a different perspective on Original Sin. I’m not an expert on the Eastern Orthodox position but they seem to believe that Original Sin is a flaw. They don’t believe that we inherit Original Sin because it was only our first parents who sinned, and we only inherited the effects of it. Effects being the flaw: weakened will, tendency to sin, and mistake evil for goodness.

The Catholic Church position is that when Adam sinned, his body became corrupt, and there was no uncorrupted body for us to inherit. The term Original Sin implies guilt, someone did it out of their own free will that made us lost the grace.

Here’s a better explanation.

Immaculate Conception

Immaculate Conception is the doctrine that the Blessed Virgin Mother Mary was conceived without Original Sin, unlike the rest of us who have to receive the Sacrament of Baptism to cleanse the Original Sin from us. The reason God designed Mary to be that way is because the vessel for His Son has to be clean. Not to say that the Blessed Virgin Mother Mary did not need saving from Jesus, she did. But hers was unique because it happened beforehand. Jesus’ death still saved her. An analogy to explain this is how you would use a credit card to buy something you don’t have money for yet. You would eventually pay it off with the earned money at a later date. Another way to explain how Mary was saved compare to how we were saved is the two different ways you can save someone from the puddle. One is blocking their way of going to the puddle and one is after the person has slipped into the puddle, you offer your hand so he/she can get out of it. The Blessed Virgin Mother Mary was saved similar to the former, we were saved like the way in the latter.

The Eastern Orthodox Church do not believe in the Immaculate Conception. There are two reason for this, one is because of what I said earlier, they have a different conception of Original Sin. Since they don’t believe we inherit the Original Sin but only the flaw that comes with it, they also believe Mary was flawed, even though she never personally committed any sin herself. The other reason is that the doctrine of Immaculate Conception has only been recently been promulgated. It wasn’t that the Church didn’t believe in it before, there was a tradition behind it. It was just implicit. Pope Pius IX made it more define.

Sacred Heart of Jesus

Someone asked me how to respond to an Eastern Orthodox about the devotion to the Sacred Heart, saying it was like praying to a body part. I think that reaction stems from the fact that Scholastic philosophy didn’t develop in the Eastern Orthodox Church. In Aristotelian-Thomistic philosophy, there is a term called Hylermorphic doctrine. It teaches that the body and soul, make up one substance. As opposed to the teaching of Descartes, dualism, teaching that the mind is separate from the body, and you are only your mind and the body is just your instrument. In relation to Christ, praying to His Sacred Heart is essentially praying to Him as a whole person. Just with emphasis on His heart because He loves us with it.

Also, the devotion to the Sacred Heart is from the approved apparition to St. Margaret Mary of Alacoque. This happened after the Great Schism so this is absent in their tradition.

Supremacy of the Pope

Eastern Orthodox Christians do not believe that St. Peter had that authority, but here are the passages in the Bible that we Catholics cite in support of that:

+Among the Twelve Apostles, Peter’s name is mentioned the most, being 195 times in New Testament, while the next one, St. John, is mentioned 29 times.

+Whenever the apostles are all listed by name as a group, Peter’s name is always mentioned first, while Judas, the Lord’s betrayer, is always mentioned last.

+There are times when the apostles aren’t called by names but instead we see phrases like “Peter and the others,” which indicates that Simon Peter represented the college of apostles.

+Matthew 16: 18-19

+Jesus called Peter to come out of the boat and walk on water (Matt. 14: 25-33)

+Jesus Christ preached to the crowds from Simon Peter’s fishing boat.

+St. John waited for St. Peter to enter the empty tomb of Christ (John 20:6)

+Luke 22:31-32

+St. Peter preaches the first post-Pentecost sermon

+St. Peter performed the first miracle (Acts 3:1-10)

+God delivers revelation to Peter that Gentiles could now enter the Church without the need to observe Jewish Kosher food laws, and this teaching Peter made binding on the whole Church at the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15.

+St. Paul checked in with St. Peter before starting his public ministry.

Eastern Orthodox Christians would also argue that the Eastern Fathers before the Great Schism did not believe in the primacy of the Pope, but here is a website debunking that.

Hope that helps. If anything is confusing let me know. I’d also ask my fellow Catholics to correct me if I’m mistaken on any of these.

#Catholic #Christianity #Eastern Orthodox #Pope #Blessed Virgin Mother Mary #traditionalism #text

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holyfaithbiblechurch · 3 years

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What does the Bible say about reincarnation?

The whole thrust of the Bible opposes reincarnation. It shows that man is the special creation of God, created in God’s image with both a material body and an immaterial soul and spirit. He is presented as distinct and unique from all other creatures—angels and the animal kingdom alike. The Bible teaches that at death, while man’s body is mortal, decays and returns to dust, his soul and spirit continue on either in a place of torments for those who reject Christ or in paradise (heaven) in God’s presence for those who have trusted in the Savior. Both categories of people will be resurrected, one to eternal judgment and the other to eternal life with a glorified body (John 5:25-29). The emphatic statement of the Bible, as will be pointed out below, is that “it is appointed unto men once to die and after that the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). This statement and the concept that mankind’s creation in God’s image is unique from the animals and even angels stand totally opposed to the idea of reincarnation—dying and coming back as another person or in the form of an animal or insect. The claim of some that they have information of past history is nothing more than some kind of encounter with demonic powers who have been present throughout history.

Below is information from A Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli. (InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove).

Six Basic Theories

The human race has come up with six basic theories about what happens to us when we die.

1. Materialism: Nothing survives. Death ends all of me. Seldom held before the eighteenth century, materialism is now a strong minority view in industrialized nations. It is the natural accompaniment of atheism.

2. Paganism: A vague, shadowy semiself or ghost survives and goes to the place of the dead, the dark, gloomy Underworld. This is the standard pagan belief. Traces of it can be found even in the Old Testament Jewish notion of sheol. The “ghost” that survives is less alive, less substantial, less real than the flesh and blood organism now living. It is something like a “ghost image” on a TV set: a pale copy of the lost original.

3. Reincarnation: The individual soul survives and is reincarnated into another body. Reincarnation is usually connected with the next belief, pantheism, by the notion of karma: that after the soul has fulfilled its destiny, and learned its lessons and become sufficiently enlightened, it reverts to a divine status or is absorbed into (or realizes its timeless identity with) the divine All.

4. Pantheism: Death changes nothing, for what survives death is the same as what was real before death: only the one, changeless, eternal, perfect, spiritual, divine, all-inclusive Reality, sometimes called by a name (“Brahman”) and sometimes not (as in Buddhism). In this view—that of Eastern mysticism—all separateness, including time, is an illusion. Therefore, in this view, the very question of what happens after death is mistaken. The question is not solved but dissolved.

5. Immortality: The individual soul survives death, but not the body. This soul eventually reaches its eternal destiny of heaven or hell, perhaps through intermediate stages, perhaps through reincarnation. But what survives is an individual, bodiless spirit. This is Platonism, often confused with Christianity.

6. Resurrection: At death, the soul separates from the body and is reunited at the end of the world to its new, immortal, resurrected body by a divine miracle. This is the Christian view. This view, the supernatural resurrection of the body rather than the natural immortality of the soul alone, is the only version of life after death in Scripture. It is dimly prophesied and hoped for in the Old Testament, but clearly revealed in the New.

For both (5) and (6), the individual soul survives bodily death. That is the issue we shall argue here. We do not take the time to argue against paganism (2) or reincarnation (3) or pantheism (4) here, but only against modern materialism (1), since that is the source of most of the philosophical arguments against immortality in our culture.

Ten Refutations of Reincarnation

Christianity rejects reincarnation for ten reasons.

1. It is contradicted by Scripture (Heb 9:27).

2. It is contradicted by orthodox tradition in all churches.

3. It would reduce the Incarnation (referring to Christ’s incarnation) to a mere appearance, the crucifixion to an accident, and Christ to one among many philosophers or avatars. It would also confuse what Christ did with what creatures do: incarnation with reincarnation.

4. It implies that God made a mistake in designing our souls to live in bodies, that we are really pure spirits in prison or angels in costume.

5. It is contradicted by psychology and common sense, for its view of souls as imprisoned in alien bodies denies the natural psychosomatic unity.

6. It entails a very low view of the body, as a prison, a punishment.

7. It usually blames sin on the body and the body’s power to confuse and darken the mind. This is passing the buck from soul to body, as well as from will to mind, and a confusion of sin with ignorance.

8. The idea that we are reincarnated in order to learn lessons we failed to learn in a past earthly life is contrary to both common sense and basic educational psychology. I cannot learn something if there is no continuity of memory. I can learn from my mistakes only if I remember them. People do not usually remember these past “reincarnations.”

9. The supposed evidence for reincarnation, rememberings from past lives that come out under hypnosis or “past life regression” can be explained—if they truly occur at all—as mental telepathy from other living beings, from the souls of dead humans in purgatory or hell, or from demons. The real possibility of the latter should make us extremely skittish about opening our souls to “past life regressions.”

Please Note: While I would agree with the demonic aspect, I do not agree with the idea of purgatory nor can I agree with the idea of the souls of dead humans communicating with living people. The dead are confined, according to Scripture, and cannot reveal themselves. This is suggested in the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 and by the extreme surprise of the witch of Endor when she saw Samuel who was dead (see 1 Sam. 28:8f). She claimed to be a medium or one who contacts the dead, but when Saul requested that she contact Samuel and when God brought him forth, it startled her and brought great fear. This appeared to be her first experience with the real thing, i.e., with seeing the dead because this is normally not possible. When people do experience such experiences or contact, what they are seeing or experiencing is better identified as demonic.

10. Reincarnation cannot account for itself. Why are our souls imprisoned in bodies? Is it the just punishment for evils we committed in past reincarnations? But why were those past reincarnations necessary? For the same reason. But the beginning of the process that justly imprisoned our souls in bodies in the first place—this must have antedated the series of bodies. How could we have committed evil in the state of perfect, pure, heavenly spirituality? Further, if we sinned in that paradise, it is not paradisical after all. Yet that is the state that reincarnation is supposed to lead us back to after all our embodied yearnings are over.

If the answer is given that our bodies are not penalties for sin but illusions of individuality, the pantheistic One becoming many in human consciousness, no reason can possibly be given for this. Indeed, Hinduism calls it simply lila, divine play. What a stupid game for God to play! If Oneness is perfection, why would perfection play the game of imperfection? All the world’s sins and sufferings are reduced to a meaningless, inexplicable game.

And if evil is itself only illusory (the answer given by many mystics) then the existence of this illusion is itself a real and not just illusory evil. Augustine makes this telling point.

Where then is evil, and what is its source, and how has it crept into the creation? What is its root, what is its seed? Can it be that it is wholly without being? But why should we fear and be on guard against what is not? Or if our fear of it is groundless, then our very fear is itself an evil thing. For by it the heart is driven and tormented for no cause; and that evil is all the worse, if there is nothing to fear yet we do fear. Thus either there is evil which we fear, or the fact that we fear is evil. (Confessions, VII, 5)

(See also Justin Martyr, Dialog with Trypho [ca. a.d. 180], and Albrecht, Reincarnation, for extended Christian critiques of this idea.)

The following information is from The Bible Has the Answer by Henry M. Morris and Martin E. Clark (Master’s Books, El Cajon).

The first, most glaring dissimilarity between reincarnation and Biblical doctrine occurs in the idea of a recurring cycle of existence. Does each person live many times in the same or different form? The Bible says, “It is appointed for men once to die, and after this comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). The Scripture pictures death as a separation of the soul from the world, Christ Himself describing death as God requiring man’s soul (Luke 12:20). When a saint of God dies, rather than merely being promoted to a higher status for another lifetime, he enters his eternal estate, secured for him by God’s grace. The divinely inspired apostle exclaimed, “We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). Christ’s record of the rich man and Lazarus shows that both the saved and the unsaved enter their respective rewards following death (Luke 16:19-31).

So then, one’s life is not followed by an indefinite number of succeeding lifetimes. This vital difference established, more tangible differences emerge.

Classical ideas of reincarnation know nothing of a personal God who enters holy relationships with His creatures. In fact, ultimate reality is usually conceived as a cognitive process within man himself, rather than as a personal God.

Further, reincarnation schemes make men’s spiritual advancement contingent upon his mortal efforts, attempting to make merit outweigh demerit. Christianity shows, however, that salvation cannot be earned by sinful man, but rather, it is merited by Jesus Christ’s substitutionary death and resurrection for all who believe. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Also, many theories of reincarnation hold that man’s spiritual, physical, and moral conditions are determined by a former life and therefore not under his control. Physically, this has led to a passive, pessimistic acceptance of untold misery that was actually unnecessary. Spiritually, it is even more devastating. The Bible reveals that no one is bound in his sins against his will, and though born under Adam’s curse, “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Through God’s forgiving grace, “though your sins be as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool” (Isaiah 1:18). Consequently, the Christian does not worry about his merit outweighing his demerit, for his sins have been forgiven, God having promised, “I will remember their sins no more” (Hebrews 8:12).

Finally, some people attempt to equate reincarnation with the Christian doctrine of resurrection, but in doing so, violate the meanings of both reincarnation and resurrection. Reincarnation advances a future life on earth, bound by similar constraints and physical laws, while the resurrection speaks of that time when earthly bodies with all their accoutrements will be transformed and fitted for their eternal estate (John 5:29). Reincarnation holds that matter is essentially evil, while resurrection demonstrates that there is no moral dualism between matter and spirit. Reincarnation posits a future life in a different body (or even a different order of physical life), while resurrection promises that one’s own body will take on a new, incorruptible, glorified form. Describing the resurrection, Paul stated, “It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body . . . it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:42, 44).

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yhwhrulz · 3 years

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englishchinesetranslations · 4 years

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Critical Race Theory is a Victimization Cult

JUNE 29, 2020 ART KELLER

It is not a particularly unique observation to notice that the Critical Social Justice movement, particularly the part that embraces Critical Race Theory, bears tremendous resemblance to a secular religion. When asked about that similarity, sociologist Bradley Campbell, author of The Rise of Victimhood Culture, explained, I think it’s similar to a lot of utopian political movements in having similarities to religion. Those at the forefront of the movement, who wholeheartedly embrace an oppression/victimhood worldview derived from Critical Theory, and who see it as providing a basis for a call for repentance and change in their own lives and the lives of others, and as a call to restructure social institutions, seem to have embraced something very much like a religion. In my own work I’ve called it a “moral culture” rather than a religion, and I think that’s probably more accurate. We could call it “social justice culture,” or as Jason Manning and I called it, “victimhood culture,” but in any case, it’s a worldview that places a certain conception of social justice as the highest value. In this view oppression permeates social institutions and interactions, and social justice means fighting this oppression.

Drawing from critical theory, those who embrace this moral culture tend to view various social identities as the most important thing about people, and they see those identities as oppressor or victim identities. To be white, male, Christian, or straight, for example is to have a privileged position in a system of oppression, and to be a person of color, female, non-Christian, or LGBT is to be disadvantaged. Those who embrace the new moral culture aren’t alone wanting to address oppression and injustice, but they tend to see it in a particular way and to interpret everything in these terms…interpreting everything in terms of oppression and in elevating those concerns above all others seems to have led many of the activists to disregard liberal values such as due process and free speech.

While there is much merit in Professor Campbell’s analysis, I wonder whether it goes far enough. Religion, when taken to extremes, tends no longer to promote love, acceptance, and a sense of community and fulfillment—the stated goals of most religions. Religious extremism promotes violence, intolerance, tribalism, and a deliberately confused mental state in its adherents. When that happens, when religion “goes to the dark side,” we stop using the term religion, and start using the word “cult.” As a former CIA officer, I know what that kind of cult looks like. I can’t write about my own counterterror operations, or any training I may have gotten from the CIA in persuasion and indoctrination without having to submit it for pre-publication review to the CIA.

But nothing stops me from highlighting the work of others on the same topic, so we can see what the ideological conversion of a cult looks like up close and personal. Some of the best journalism on the terror group ISIS—a cult within a religion—was done by Rukmini Callimachi, whose Peabody-winning podcast, The Caliphate presents a grim journey into the heart of darkness. It is not for the faint of heart, as it includes detailed descriptions of beatings, gruesome executions, and religiously-justified systematic rape. The Caliphate follows a young Canadian whose nom de guerre is Abu Huzayfah. He starts as an ISIS fanboy watching videos of violence in the Syrian civil war, but when he shows up in online chat forums about the war, he gets engaged by lurking ISIS recruiters who use techniques explicitly designed to rob converts of the ability to think critically. Eventually he finds himself in Syria, operating as an ISIS policeman, flogging a man bloody for the crime of not forcing his wife into a niqab, and executing fellow Sunni Muslims (who ISIS claims to protect) for the crime of not surrendering abjectly to ISIS. And how does he justify murdering follow Sunni Muslims? It’s their fault, apparently. He had no agency in their deaths, even though he pulled the trigger.

By not turning their town over to ISIS the instant ISIS appeared, “They killed themselves,” he stated. He finishes his direct involvement by fleeing ISIS territory after his second murder on their behalf, disillusioned, but no less full of willful blindness about the harm caused by his radical views, as well as convenient self-justifications for why he doesn’t need to confess his murders to the Canadian police. This story, though far more brutal and gruesome, contains elucidating parallels to the rapid rise of Critical Race Theory in contemporary Western culture. Though there are many obvious differences, given our present context, it’s worth examining how ISIS and Al Qaeda lure in recruits in some detail. From Chapter 2 of The Caliphate: The speakers in this lengthy snippet of conversation are Callimachi, Abu Huzayfah, and Jesse Morton, an Al Qaeda recruiter who reveals exactly how he manipulated recruits into embracing Al Qaeda’s murderous ideology.

Huzayfah: I actually just started talking to them. You know, like, “Hello, how are you?”

Callimachi: And if you’re searching for an identity, and you don’t necessarily have a community that you really fit into ——

Huzayfah: Oh, it felt like, you know, wow. These guys — it’s easier to talk to them. Like, they’re more accepting of you.

Callimachi: This becomes your community.

Huzayfah: And I started asking questions about jihad and everything, what their viewpoint was, and how does — how is jihad, like, right? I would even put out things that I thought were wrong with jihad, like how is killing accepted? How is suicide bombings accepted? And they’d always give religious justifications.

Callimachi: What were the techniques that you, yourself, used to draw people in?

Morton: So you do that through the ideology. That’s the framework. At the same time, this individual is wide-eyed and asking you questions, like are suicide, uh, martyrdom operations permissible in Islam?

Callimachi: Can you give me examples of people that you recruited and explain to me how you did it?

Morton: Well, essentially, once you have an audience, once a person expresses an interest by email, or once you see that they are logging consistently into your conversation room —— What you have to do is you have to frame their personal grievance (emphasis added) in a way that is making them think that they can contribute to a broader cause. And we utilize three primary principles that are part of the jihadi or the Salafi jihadi, as they really call it, worldview.

Callimachi: And Jesse explained to me that there are actual steps that the recruiters are taught. Essentially, three steps. Three concepts, he called it. Morton: They are based upon interpretations of the Quran, and they are based upon references in Hadith.

Callimachi: Some of them are concepts that every Muslim, you know, believes in. But what they do is they sharpen them, and then eliminate any other understanding of these concepts (emphasis added) to the point where the person now believes that the only choice they have is to join an armed jihad.

Morton: The first principle to teach is what you call tawheed al-hakkimiya.

Callimachi: Tawheed al-hakkimiya, which is also sometimes called tawheed al-hakkimiya

Callimachi: The concept of tawheed means monotheism, a single God. But what the jihadists have done is they take tawheed, they take monotheism, to this completely other level.

Morton: Which is basically the belief in Allah requires belief that Allah is the lawgiver, the legislator, the one who developed the Shariah.

Callimachi: The only form of governance that the jihadists believe is acceptable is governance according to Shariah law, which they believe is divine law. This is the corpus of Islamic jurisprudence that was written down and shaped after the death of the Prophet Muhammad in the seventh century.

Morton: And what you do with that is you teach people that unless you have this belief, which most of the Muslims in the world don’t, you’re not a Muslim, really. You don’t understand your religion.

Callimachi: So you living in Canada and paying your taxes or voting in an election or abiding by the laws of that society negates your belief in God as the legislator, because that is not Shariah law, right? And your participation in that makes you an infidel. It basically expels you from the fold of Islam. It’s that radical.

Callimachi: Concept number two. Morton: What you do is you take it to the next principle, which we call kufr bi taghut.

Huzayfah: Once you’re declaring that there is one God only, one God, then you have kufr bi taghut. Morton: Which is a rejection of the false gods. Really, it means idols.

Callimachi: You’re supposed to rebel against false idols. It’s one thing to say, O.K., I live in Canada, I believe in Shariah law, so therefore, I’m not gonna vote, I’m not gonna pay my taxes, I’m not going to, you know, take part in municipal elections, I’m not gonna take part in any of that. That’s not enough.

Callimachi: They say that during the life of the Prophet Muhammad, there was an incident where he comes back to Mecca, and he goes to the Kaaba, which is that black cube structure. It’s considered the first mosque in Islam. And he apparently entered it, and he found it full of idols, and immediately he goes and smashes them. He destroys them.

Callimachi: So what did the jihadists do with this? If you have accepted that God is the lawgiver, right? Then the idol is anything that takes away from that idea.

Callimachi: So the democratically elected president of your country? That is an idol. The ballot box? That is an idol. The act of voting? That is an idol. And if you are a good Muslim, you don’t just let an idol sit around, right? You destroy it (emphasis added).

Morton: The third principle is al wala wal bara. Morton: Which means that your allegiance is to the Muslims only.

Callimachi: In Arabic, it means loyalty and disavowal or loyalty and rejection. I’ve heard ISIS members translate it as loyalty and hatred.

Huzayfah: Al wala wal bara, because if you’re believing there is one God, you’ll have to hate and love everything that God loves and hates. So that’s al wala wal bara.

Callimachi: It’s basically the concept of us versus them (emphasis added), which just kind of seals it. Morton: To reject contact and support for everyone else outside of the jihadi movement, including other Muslims, and you must sacrifice in the way of Islam for the sake of the global Muslim population.

Callimachi: So that means you don’t just reject the society that you’re in. You don’t just reject its leaders. You also reject your Christian friends. You also reject your Muslim parents, if your mother is not a practicing Muslim and is properly covered up, or if your father is forbidding you from joining the Islamic State, which is the only lawful form of government that there is.

Huzayfah: It says in the Quran, you have to enter the religion in totality. You can’t just cherry-pick.

Callimachi: And Jesse talks about how when you get them to that third stage ——

Morton: Once they’re indoctrinated to a certain degree-you could essentially do anything you wanted with them (emphasis added). Perhaps needless to say, any group that wants to move adherents into a state where it can do anything it wants with them has gone well past whatever beneficial aspects major religions purport to deliver and moved firmly into destructive-cult territory. Steven Hassan, an expert on cults, was himself once lured into the “Moonie” cult before figuring out, with the aid of his family, that a deluded fat Korean billionaire that owned a factory that was churning out AR-15 assault rifles was probably not, in fact, the Messiah. In Hassan’s book, Combating Cult Mind Control, he outlines what he calls the “BITE model” of cult manipulation. Not every cult follows every aspect of the BITE model, but every cult does some or most of the BITE techniques. These techniques begin lightly and get increasingly severe as cult recruitment progresses from initiation to indoctrination into reprogramming. These techniques are relevant in all cult contexts.

They are also clearly evidenced in the moral panic sweeping the country, which operates through the ideology of Critical Race Theory. [James Lindsay: For the last several weeks, my Twitter DMs, private messages, and email are bombarded daily by messages from scared and upset people reporting the sinister instances of CRT in action in their own lives—from their workplaces to their institutions to their social lives and to their romantic relationships—the phrases and actions in brackets following each BITE bullet point are examples of how CRT is showing up in real life. Each echoes a commonplace sentiment in the CRT research and popular literature and its related social activism.]

The B in BITE is Behavior Control. It includes Instill dependence and obedience [“Do better”] Modify behavior with rewards and punishments [“This apology leaves a lot out and is still very racist”] Dictate where and with whom you live [This is most nearly applicable in schools and various “spaces” that are to be “desegregated,” by which is meant excluding white and white-adjacent people in the name of inclusion; easily extends to living arrangements] Restrict or control your sexuality [more prominent in queer and trans activism than CRT, but characterizing lack of attraction to certain features as racism and attraction to them as exoticization and fetishization] Control your clothing and hairstyle [cultural appropriation, decolonizing hair and fashion] Exploit you financially [“…here’s my cashapp for all this emotional labor,” make sure you donate to the cause in these approved ways and we’re compiling a list (through contribution matching, say) of people who do and don’t] Restrict your leisure time activities [demands to use leisure time in “critical self-reflection” and reading anti-racist materials or be accused of racism]

Require you to seek permission for major decisions [cultural appropriation, can get far worse (recall college president George Bridges at The Evergreen State College asking to go to the bathroom and being told to hold it by student activists)] Require you to spend major time on group indoctrination and rituals, including self-indoctrination on the internet [“do the work,” post the hashtag, black out your image, read these resources, share these articles, retweet these accounts] The I is Information Control Deliberately withhold and distort information [decolonize the curriculum, remove “white” sources from the canon and education, characterize disagreement as “privilege-preserving” or “race-traitorous”] Forbid you from communicating with ex members and critics [cancel culture, conservatives and liberals are Nazis]

Restrict access to non-cult sources of information [Those resources are written from a racist position in order to uphold white supremacy] Compartmentalize information to insider vs outsider doctrine [Same as above] Use information gained in confession sessions against you [Confess that you complicit in racism, then use this against the person by saying they’re a “known” or “confessed racist”]

Gaslight to make you doubt your own memory [Black Lives Matter is just about the fact that the lives of black people matter too, these protests are peaceful and the riots just the voice of the silenced finding room to breathe] Require you to report your thoughts and feelings to superiors [forced confessions of complicity in racism or else one suffers white fragility] Encourage you to spy and report on others’ misconduct [cancel and dox culture]

Use “Big Brother” surveillance methods [everyone has a camera in their pocket and will load any racist behavior they can find onto the internet in a heartbeat] The T is Thought Control Teach you to internalize to internalize group doctrine as “Truth” (a la Robert Lifton’s “sacred science”) [Lived experience is the best arbiter of “lived realities”;

Critical Race Theory is sociology, race research, or even “science,” real science suffers white biases and isn’t to be trusted, Critical Race Theory uses emotion and stories and thus is authentic, disagreement with Critical Race Theory is always ideologically and politically motivated by white supremacy; you need to forward black and brown voices; believe black (women); disagreement is false consciousness/internalized racism/willful or white ignorance]

Instill Black vs. White, Us vs Them, and Good vs. Evil thinking [racist versus anti-racist; there is no not-racist; choosing not to be anti-racist is choosing racism; there is no neutral; brown complicity is a form of anti-blackness that is pushed upon brown people by white supremacy and upholds it]

Change your identity, possibly even your name [Ibram X. Kendi’s real name is Ibram Henry Rogers, for example, but the demand to change the victims’ names is not yet prominent in CRT; it does require adopting a Woke activist identity, such as “politically Black” or “queer” however]

Use loaded language and clichés to stop critical/complex thought [all of the words “racist,” “antiracist,” “fascist,” “antifascist,” “Nazi,” “alt-right,” “sexist,” “misogynist,” “homophobe,” “transphobe,” “ableist,” “fatphobic,” and so on and endlessly so forth are clear examples; others include “white fragility”; “sounds about white”; “check your privilege”; “somebody’s triggered”] Teach thought-stopping techniques to prevent critical thinking and reality testing [“oh, look, another white man giving his opinion on Critical Race Theory”; disagreement is a means of “privilege-preserving epistemic pushback” just meant to maintain one’s privileged status]

Reject rational analysis, critical thinking, and constructive criticisms [all engagement that isn’t critical engagement is inauthentic, supports racism, comes from false consciousness, internalized dominance, internalized racism, willful ignorance, white fragility, biased, privilege preserving] Use excessive meditation, singing, prayer, and chanting to block thoughts [“Antiracism is a commitment to a lifelong and ongoing process of self-reflection, self-criticism, and social activism”; protest chants]

The E is Emotional Control Instill irrational fears of questioning/leaving group [cancel culture, dox culture; accusations of being branded a racist and shunned or fired; you won’t be part of “the community”] Make you feel elitist and special [“you’re on the right side of history”; “you’re in solidarity with the Truth”]

Promote feelings of guilt, shame, and unworthy [“good white people”; “I define as a white progressive any white person who thinks they are not racist or less racist” and they are the worst for upholding white supremacy culture] Elicit extreme emotional highs and lows [“you’re on the right side of history”… “you did it wrong, centered yourself, you’re still racist”] Label some emotions as evil, worldly, sinful, or wrong [“white women’s tears are political and uphold white supremacy more than anything”; emotional outbursts show a lack of “racial stamina” and “racial humility” and are thus “white fragility”]

Teach emotion stopping techniques to prevent anger or homesickness [Same as above, really, plus reminding that the white home is the place where white supremacy begins and takes root first] Threaten and harass your friends and family [cancel and dox culture; they’re racists] Shun you if you disobey or disbelieve [cancel and dox culture] Teach you there is no happiness or fulfillment outside the group [everyone else is complicit in racism and upholding the status quo; there is no neutral, only a choice between antiracism and racism] An additional trait of CRT that likens it to cult environments is the hyper-attentive focus on the central idea of the cult doctrine: systemic racism, which is believed to pervade everything, be “ordinary,” and is considered permanent.

According to many CRT advocates, including the bestselling Robin DiAngelo, racism is present in and relevant to every interaction and circumstance. The question, she says, must move away from “did racism take place?” to “how did racism manifest in this situation?” For her, every situation and interaction contains racism, and the devotee of her program is to focus obsessively on finding it and calling it out.

Moreover, CRT establishes an identity cult, as opposed to, say, a cult of personality around some charismatic figure. Under CRT, every Critical Race Theorist who is also a racial minority becomes his or her own cult personality. It therefore proceeds with an “identity first” model that says “I am Black,” for example, means something more and more important than “I am a person who happens to be black.” The capitalized B in “Black” here indicates the CRT-defined politically Black identity that is key to cult identification and cult participation. Under CRT, then, race is expected to be given ultimate social significance and racism is believed to pervade every possible occurrence and interaction.

Thus, race and racism are always of central relevance to CRT thought, which dramatically increases and focuses the control-based elements of the BITE model. All behavior must be CRT-appropriate. So must the information one takes in and communicates, the thoughts one has, and the emotions one expresses because anything else signals racism that must be “interrogated” and “dismantled.” To care that racism is reduced in reality therefore necessarily means taking the fight against racism out of the hands of the Critical Race Theory advocates. Not only do they operate in bad faith—meaning from the Critical Theory approach—and do so using cult mind control language; they’re also deforming the institutions that are the foundations of our society. In attributing all differences between different racial groups to racism, they’re proposing univariate solutions to multivariate problems. This means not only is their project is doomed to fail and leave many black people stuck at the bottom of the socio economic ladder, it will do so only after wildly alienating the majority of the country. Moreover, “systemic racism” is intentionally vague enough to be quasi-spiritual in nature.

It is, as James Lindsay has described it, “racism of the gaps” that can continually be appealed to as the cause of problems or disparities even when there is no evidence of discrimination or strong evidence against discrimination. To pick just one example of how CRT’s oversimplification provides incorrect diagnoses and solutions to what’s driving systemic inequality in the black community, consider a line from “Black Lives Matter’s” manifesto. We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable. Notice the word missing from that phrase? Fathers. Research on family structure is crystal clear: families with an active father in them have far better outcomes for children. Families without fathers produce children with less impulse control and more assertive/violent behavior. That’s not a formula for success in either school or life.

Moreover, the concept of disruption of family structures can readily lead to the kind of psychological states and isolation necessary for cult indoctrination. In the black community in the US, 70% of children are currently being raised by single parents, almost all single moms, the highest single-parent proportion by far of any other group. If BLM gets its way, that number would be 100%, because the nuclear family needs to be “disrupted,” and active dads are an irrelevant variable in successful child raising. Except we know they’re not, and what is really needed in black America are more active dads, not fewer. Critical Race Theory is not a recipe for racial progress, but unmitigated strife and ultimate disaster for black America and the broader America of which it is a part. This is why we need to turn our backs on this cult.

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faithfulnews · 5 years

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Holy Week, Easter, Passover, Ramadan are coming: Will they vanish this year? #NoWay

Forget the cancellation of the Easter Egg Roll at the White House.

Right now, many journalists need to focus, instead, on what the coronavirus crisis is about to do the Easter, Passover and Ramadan observances around the world. That’s the story, right now — even if we don’t know the precise details of that story, right now. There are really three options for what is ahead.

First, there is always the chance that something stunning could happen — some major breakthrough in COVID-19 treatments — that would let these tremendously important religious seasons proceed, if not in a normal manner, in a way that is something close to normal. Hardly anyone thinks this is possible.

Second, almost everything could be cancelled and we are left with a few “virtual” events, with religious leaders and skeleton crews doing versions of rites that end up being carried online or in major broadcasts.

But there is another option, one that host Todd Wilken and I discussed at length in this week’s “Crossroads” podcast (click here to tune that in). Most of our discussion focused on Holy Week and Easter, since these are the traditions that Wilken (a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod pastor) and I best understand.

What if religious leaders found some new way to downscale and “re-symbolize” the events of Holy Week in some way that specifically connected their messages to the astonishing times in which we are living right now? It’s also possible — let’s take the Vatican, for example — that testing may take a leap forward and make it possible for congregations (much smaller for sure) of priests and believers to gather who have tested negative or who have never shown any symptoms at all.

What if they took part in rites — perhaps outdoors — in which it was easier to keep people at a distance?

So why am I speculating about this? In part because of of this recent headline on a Crux report: “Vatican backtracks on Holy Week coronavirus statement; situation still ‘being studied’.” Perhaps you missed this development?

ROME — After a Vatican office announced … that all Holy Week liturgies would be livestreamed rather that celebrated publicly amid Italy’s coronavirus crackdown, a day later their communications department walked part of that back, saying the method for celebrating Holy Week is still being studied.

On March 14, the Prefecture for the Papal Household, the office in charge of organizing papal audiences and meetings with heads of state, published a statement on its website saying that “because of the current global public health emergency, all the Liturgical Celebrations of Holy Week will take place without the physical presence of the faithful.”

These liturgies include the April 5 celebration of Palm Sunday Mass; the pope’s Chrism Mass on Thursday of Holy Week; the Mass of the Lord’s Supper with the washing of feet on Thursday, Good Friday’s celebration of the Lord’s Passion and veneration of the Cross; Saturday’s Easter Vigil and Sunday Mass.

However, in a March 15 statement on the matter, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni seemed to reverse part of the prefecture’s statement, saying the pope’s liturgical celebrations during Holy Week “are all confirmed.”

Now what does this next bite of information mean”

Regarding the question of whether people will be able to attend the celebrations, Bruni did not offer a definitive answer, but simply said that “methods of implementation and participation are being studied which respect the security measures put in place to avoid the spread of coronavirus.”

Here is what made me think about this. Did you see the story the other day about Pope Francis taking advantage of the nearly empty streets of Rome to do a dramatic prayer walk in the city?

Here’s the New York Times headline on a Reuters report: “Pope in Dramatic Visit to Empty Rome to Pray for End of Virus.” The overture stated:

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis ventured into a deserted Rome on Sunday to pray at two shrines for the end of the coronavirus pandemic, as the Vatican said his Easter services will be held without the public for the first time.

Francis left the Vatican unannounced to pray at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and then walked along one of Rome's main streets to visit St. Marcello church to pray before a crucifix that was used in a procession when the plague hit Rome in 1522.

Picture that. Then, let’s put this concept in the context of New York City.

A short flashback: Imagine if Cardinal Timothy Dolan — in place of the highly politicized St. Patrick’s Day Parade — had led an actual liturgical procession behind a large icon of St. Patrick through the almost empty streets around St. Patrick’s Cathedral. A few chanters could have sung the lovely and dramatic Breastplate of St. Patrick, a prayer that is an appeal for divine protection. Here is a section of that famous prayer:

I arise today, through God's strength to pilot me, God's might to uphold me, God's wisdom to guide me, God's eye to look before me, God's ear to hear me, God's word to speak for me, God's hand to guard me, God's shield to protect me, God's host to save me From snares of devils, From temptation of vices, From everyone who shall wish me ill, afar and near.

Could you imagine a Good Friday rite of the Stations of the Cross, visiting symbolic locations in Rome — taking advantage of the empty streets? What could be done with the rite of foot-washing, in this unique and trouble year?

Once again, there are key parts of Holy Week that can take place outdoors. This is especially true in Eastern Orthodoxy. It’s possible that some form of these processions and rites could take place outdoors in ways that people would not be crowded together.

Clearly, Vatican leaders are rethinking this situation. Will they dare to create rites that are both old and new?

One more thing: All of these questions, all of these possibilities, all of these potential stories will unfold in every city and town in the world.

The decisions will look different in a giant Protestant megachurch — where Easter pageants and concerts will either be cancelled or, somehow, redesigned — than in a high-church cathedral. But with better testing and intense attention to fevers, some flocks may attempt some limited observances of the most important days of worship on the Christian calendar.

I saw an online discussion, the other day, asking if Orthodox believers could follow Pascha rites (on smartphones and tablets) inside their cars in the church parking lots and then enter the sanctuary one person or one family at a time to receive Holy Communion and have the priest bless their festive baskets of meat and cheese (to break the long fast of Great Lent, when they have been vegans). That would not work with a giant church, perhaps, but some normal-sized flocks could pull it off.

Here’s another question: How will the faithful in the ancient churches — East and West — make their confessions during Great Lent? We are already seeing some Roman Catholic priests hearing confessions, at a safe distance, in the privacy of large parking lots.

What will happen in the weeks ahead? We do not know. Events have unfolded at such a rapid pace that each week can feel like a year.

But Holy Week, Easter, Passover and Ramadan are coming. These seasons are too important to simply vanish. There will be stories there and some of them might be unique and poignant.

Enjoy the podcast.

Go to the article

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wehatejulietsimms · 8 years

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Does anyone know what Andy wrote at the end of the Andy Black documentary. I heard it was a poem or strange letter but I can't read it very well at the end of the video on YouTube?

“Hello friends.I call you my friends even though many of us have never met and I do this because over the years so many of you have treated me with such kindness and support for my career and life that it feels fitting to address you as though we have known each other forever.When I was a very young kid I felt certain that I knew what I wanted to do in life and thanks to a combination of hardwork, dedication, support and a little bit of luck. I have been able to live out my dream on a grand scale and for that I am eternally grateful. One thing however that you are never prepared for is for how that dream may affect you personally if you aren’t ready to receive it.First let me start by saying I was a loner growing up and I don’t throw this in here to gain sympathy but rather to explain the rusty toolbox I have been working with socialization and friendship.Much of my childhood was spent in my room drawing, singing, creating and dreaming. This was useful later in life when it came time to set out and make music professionally but certainly left much to be desired when it comes to how I am able to converse or assimilate in group settings or even in one on one contact. I have learned over the years something of a parlor trick to hide this by being over the top and almost playing the part of someone happy to be there or wearing the shroud of comfortability like a safety net over my shoulders.

Internally I have always struggled with the concept of belonging.

It has guided decisions I’ve made both positive and negative.

The quest to be part of the gang.

Hand a child the keys to a corvette and they are likely to drive it into a ditch. Hand a teenager the keys to their dreams, adoration and power, and they are likely to act foolishly now and live with the consequences later.

This is the reason I am writing you.

I wanted to share something about myself with you that I don’t often talk about and speak from the place I am at now. A place of confidence and happiness that I have never experienced before. You often hear people say the following about an artist they enjoy:

“I miss the old them. They used to be so amazing. But now they just seem so different.”

I think a lot of that can be attributed to the complete lack of reality an artist faces early in their career. At any scale in the beginning all you have is hope and dreams and the joy of what might happen some day. it’s virtually impossible to retain that youthful joy as you atempt to sift through the waters of success and popularity. Doubly so if you deep down inside never feel quite right about it in the first place.

When my band found success I was 18 years old. A high school drop out who ran away from home to make it in the big city and if I am honest with you it was also to escape the feeling of emptiness I had amongst those I grew up with in school, my neighborhood, my town etc.

At the time I felt like I was ready to take on anything and in a way I was. I just didn’t know how I would handle it if that anything showed up at my doorstep.

Over the next 5 years I would travel the world with my bandmates, play to large numbers of fans and continue to run away from the fear and depression I felt inside. I found a way to mask it that I never thought would be me and that was to drink constantly and even on occasion foolishly take recreational drugs. Essentially I’d take on an attitude that wasn’t my true nature. This “I don’t give a fuck” attitude and do whatever the hell I felt like in the moment.

This went on for quite a while and in fact it often seemed easy to play the role of someone else. Act now and never think about tomorrow. Embarrassingly I would say things like “I’m not going to live to 30″ so cool, right?

Wrong.

Where this out me emotionally was on a ride that got worse every year and harder to maintain. It put a strain on virtually all of my choices, effected my relationships and eventually led to me losing long tracks of time from my life. They call it a “blackout” because you can’t remember anything and it’s as if you aren’t there. I think of it nowadays as a black ink mark spread over my like that I am trying like hell to wipe clean but the stain won’t go away and for that I feel sadness constantly.

About a year ago I decided it was time to end this cycle and as many of you who have attended shows on my solo tour know I changed my life the way I knew in my heart that I needed to.

I became sober, I changed my diet and health choices and I did something that fills me with joy everyday that I wake up:

I married my best friend in the world.

My life now is much more simple and I love it that way. I have the most incredible wife whom I love more than anything, a dog, a couple of cats, football on sundays and I get to make records and play shows but now I am doing it with a sense of clarity I never had in my early years. I no longer need to belong because I have all I need right here in my house.

Everything else is a bonus and I am so thankful for that.

I am not writing this to scare you, give you my sob story or make you think differently of me… I am writing you because I care about those who gave me this forum and I think it’s only right that you know more about my journey to this point and if any of this can help you to stay on a good path in life I will be very happy.

The coming months are full of fun and exciting things for me; a new BVB record is in production, a film I starred in will soon be released, and several other projects will be announced shortly.

Life is good when you make it that way and though the demons of yesterday will unfortunately always hang around to fill your mind with that black ink, you can choose to take it and paint a new picture;

One of a life worth living and a dream worth fighting for.

Never give in.

Andy”

A/N: I think it’s great that Andy has been trying to get his life together and fix what mistakes he made. He deserves it. As someone who was there when BVB first came about, I know he’s been struggling so hard to reach this dream that he’s had for years. I know he’s faced hardships. He’s gone through a lot. And now he’s confessed he wasn’t happy, which I never would’ve guessed from what I’ve seen in all those videos of him on stage and in interviews and vlogs. He always seemed so happy so I never would’ve had the thought that he was unhappy and did so much terrible shit to himself.

So for him to make his life better, that’s wonderful for him to be at a happy place.

And now here’s some of not so positive comments.

I had some questions about the part where he said about missing the “old” band and how bands change over the years.

While I agree that bands do change, most don’t change in a way that BVB and some other emo rock bands do. Unless that band is specifically known for changing their sound every year.

For example: I love a band called Skillet and the founder of the band (singer/bassist) founded the band when he was 20. He was quite young, just out of school. And yet Skillet is a band whose sound hasn’t changed much (if at all) over the 20 years they’ve been together. And that includes the different members. Because they stuck to their roots. They stuck to their inspirations and influences.

For those of you who don’t know Skillet, they are a Christian Rock band. So their inspirations are, obviously, religious. Their sounded hasn’t changed (yet doesn’t sound repetitive and boring) because they stuck to what they know. They write from the same bases. And people still love them. The members of the band are now in their late 30′s or early 40′s and still kicking it.

Another example: Someone of you may know I love Linkin Park because of their sound and uniqueness. Plus they’re quirky af. But Linkin Park is one of those bands who’s sound changes every album. But even though each album is completely different from the last, their basics are still the same. Their roots are still the same. Each album still as an element that makes them them.

When bands change their sound but keep their roots, it keeps the fans and makes all new music sound great. But when bands change with no sense of direction (like how BVB did and how most other emo rock bands do), that’s where fans get bored and grow out of them. It’s why fans say “I miss the old _____”. I grew out of my old emo music, but I still listen to and love bands like Skillet and Linkin Park because they still write the music that got them on the charts in the first place.

And as for the last comment I had, I just want to say that I knew Andy was going to say “I married my best friend in the world”. I just knew it. I won’t say it was unnecessary to put that in because he was writing about his past and the changes he made. But I will say that the way he worded it was quite weird and excessive because

1) They hated each other for the longest time before getting together.

2) Andy has said (like most people do) many people were his best friends in the whole world. Like, who remembers Matt Good? Didn’t they use to be best friends in the whole world? And what about his bandmates? I thought his bandmates were like family?

Maybe that’s just me. I won’t make a big deal out of it. Just a comment.

But, all in all, good for Andy for getting better and fixing his life.

-Danie

#Anonymous #ask

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dailyaudiobible · 5 years

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02/28/2020 DAB Transcript

Leviticus 22:17-23:44, Mark 9:30-10:12, Psalms 44:1-8, Proverbs 10:19

Today is the 28th day of February, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it's great to be here with you today coming to you from the holy city of Jerusalem where we…well…we spent the entire day kind of in and around the old city and…and all of the different things to see here in Jerusalem. Today will be escaping and going down to the shephelah, which is the lowlands for the day. So, that's exciting. It's…it's…it's beautiful to see the green lush open land again after being more in a metropolitan, kind of large congested area. So, that will give us a breather and get us ready for our final day of this pilgrimage tomorrow. So, let's…let's get into the Scriptures. Let's see what the Bible has to say to us today. We’re reading from the Christian Standard Bible this week. Today Leviticus chapter 22 verse 17 through 23 verse 44

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the gospel of Mark today Jesus is moving around the countryside teaching, doing ministry, doing what he does, and John comes to Him with this really, really interesting situation. He’s like, “we saw somebody trying to cast out demons in your name and we tried to put a stop to it because he wasn't…he wasn't one of us.” That is sort of the first rumblings of an issue that was…that was certainly going on among the Hebrew people but then bled its way into the early church and still continues until this very day. Even though Jesus spoke very very clearly from His own lips about how He saw it. So, like as believers, we usually kind of…we usually find a group, we might call it our church community, but we sort of find a group of friends, other believers and we…we stick together. And that's community. And there's nothing wrong with that. If we’re defining ourselves as believers in Jesus, we’re following the way, we are practicing our faith, knowing that we have not mastered anything, that…that we’re in process and that we’re walking with God and we’re walking together then we’re the body of Christ. It just gets weird once we decide we have to define precisely what that means. And then we get our theology books and start with our dogmas because invariably at some point we will think we have it right and someone else, some other group, some other people who don't see things the way we see them, they have it wrong. So, the ultimate question then becomes “who gets to be in the kingdom? Who gets in? And is that something that a human being, no matter how judgmental, and no matter how much authority they seem to hole, do they have any say in it at all?” After all it is God's kingdom. But we can get ourselves so segregated into our group that we then can't even fathom the concept that God could use anyone to do anything that thinks differently than we do because they’re not really in. So, John was seeing somebody that they didn't know that was not part of their group casting out demons in the name of Jesus and he tried to shut it down because he wasn't part of the group. Same thing was going on with the Pharisees toward Jesus and now it's in Jesus’ inner circle. And unfortunately, it's always been with us and is still with us today. But Jesus said “don't stop him. Anyone who is not against us is for us.” And then He went on and He had a little child and He uses the example. What He was saying was, “like anything that's done for anyone who belongs to Christ, even something as little as like a glass of water isn't gonna go unrecognized.” So, in our own lives may we understand that if and when we encounter God on the move, whether through a group of people or a person or something that we don't understand, let's quit with the labels, let's understand that we are at a crossroads. And as we've been talking about in all kinds of situations, let's understand that wisdom will be there and just the humility of knowing none of us have this all sorted out. That's why we’re practicing our faith. That's why we’re all undergoing the process of sanctification, the process that sets us apart and makes us holy to God. We’re all at different points in our journey. Criticizing everybody else's journey does not further ours. It actually walls us off and it doesn't take long before we look like the Pharisees. May we offer grace, the same kind of grace we would like to see as we love our neighbor as ourselves.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit we invite You into that because what freedom it would bring, what freedom it would bring. And we confess, the reason these kinds of things usually happen is truly based in fear. We do not want to get it wrong, not with You, not with You. The implications are far, far, far too dire. And, so, we live in fear that we might get it wrong when we will get it wrong. But You have offered us an open door. We can always return. We can always repent. And that is for everyone, not just for our group. So, come Holy Spirit and give us grace. May we see the kingdom at work in our world today and may we understand that we are a part of it. In Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

Okay. So, we’re like down to our last couple of days in the land of the Bible for this pilgrimage and that's always kind of…of a mixed…mixed feeling. We’ve been in motion for so long now and it’s just our heart…heads, hearts, just bodies, everything. We’re full, empty and tired and elated. And, so, it's just all of that. And, so, yeah, longing to be home but hating to leave all of that just kinda comes. Yesterday, ooo, it was a long day around Jerusalem. Beautiful day, thank God. It was a beautiful, beautiful day but we…we were…we were working and we saw a lot, covered a lot of ground. I'm trying to think if I can even remember it all.

We got up early, like 1/2 an hour early to get in the line, queue to…to be able to go on to the Temple Mount. And that's pretty extraordinary on a clear blue-sky day. The dome just kind of stands out. It…it's just a really…it’s a remarkable place with definitely conflicted history all over the place over all kinds of time. But that's kind of the nature of Jerusalem. That's been the story pretty much all along. So, yeah, you can feel the tension, you can sense…you can sense that because it's ancient, it's always been. And, so, there’s just a lot of jostling around. But a beautiful morning up on the Temple Mount.

And then we came down and went to the pools of Bethesda. And this is where Jesus healed a man that had been…had been suffering there by the pools on a…basically on a daily basis for 38 years. And Jesus came along and said, “do you want to be made whole?” And that's a challenging thing. That's a challenging thing to consider, especially here on the pilgrimage. It’s like…it's like so much comes down to that. “Do you want to be made whole?” Not “can you” or “should you”. Like, “do you want to this and the collaboration that happens with God when we say yes to that?” And, so, yeah, spent a little bit of time, kind of pondering that and putting it in our hearts. It’s a beautiful church from the Crusader era right there with the acoustics that are really breathtaking as well. And often it's really full, really hard to get in there but we managed to get group in there, and Jill lead us in…in a song and just could hear the echo of our voices just bouncing all around. It's really majestic. It’s a lot of fun to do. It's just a really, really unique experience. It’s like you’re in a huge cathedral and you are, but just being in Israel in this ancient church and singing to the Lord and just hearing the echo of it is…is wonderful.

So, we did that and then many…many of us walked on the old walls. You can kind of walk a portion of the old walls, beautiful views and you gotta climb some stairs, but beautiful views. And then coming down and also just little small sections of the city that from the Roman era as well as like the wall, a portion of the wall of Jerusalem from the time of King Hezekiah. And that is also pretty remarkable, see how wide the wall is. Even though it’s like all buried, you know, you can’t see how high. And it's a small section but just kind of see like, “this is…the this is what a wall at this time, a fortified city at this time would’ve look like.” And their thick. I'm thinking, I don’t know, we’re like above it, I'm thinking 30 feet maybe 35. Maybe…I don't know. I’m not so good with that and I didn’t have a tape measure, but really really thick. So, you know, it's…it's easy enough to imagine the kind of battle the…like the kind of ongoing onslaught that it would take to breach a wall like that. And we read of those kinds of stories in the Scriptures, especially the tactic of surrounding…like starving the city basically and weakening everyone's morale. And there’s plenty of stories that we will encounter in the Bible about that including Hezekiah's story when we get to it.

Then there was some lunch in the Jewish quarter and then to the Jerusalem archaeological Park, which is again, it’s…I mean there's a lot to see but it is really spectacular. Your down below the walls of the old city. So, like the southern temple steps are there. Part of the steps that what would've continued up to the temple when it was there. And some of them have been re-created but some of the original steps are there. And, so, that's one of the places that you can be where…where you’re…you have just a pretty near certainty that Jesus would’ve walked there, that Jesus would’ve taught things on those steps and would've been there. And, so, for us to be there and not only have that touch point with Jesus, but also to open up the book of Acts and read the story of the Holy Spirit's coming and Peter's first message, and 3000 people following the way of Jesus after that and being baptized and considering where…where that might've taken place and understanding that the temple complex is really the only place that would have that kind of resource to do that many baptisms. So, that's a likely scenario. And just having that touch point is great. Like all these things are great by themselves and you start stacking them up and it's really great and then just kind of following all of the archaeology around the old walls and then making our way over to the Western wall and being able to go to the wall and join with brothers and sisters all over the world and…and pray, touch the wall.

I took Ezekiel to the wall this time. I mean, we prayed and that was…that was really sweet to watch his little hand reach out and touch the wall. Probably should've took pictures of that, probably would've wanted to remember that, but it just seemed like a moment that needed to live in memory. I don’t know. Sometimes you have these moments where you’re like, “I really really should video this or I really should take a picture of this”. But maybe that, you know, maybe that ruins the whole thing. Maybe this is just a moment that we have. So, that…that…that happened and was beautiful.

Then we went into the, what's called the rabbinical tunnels. So, a lot of archaeology has been done under the ground along the walls of the old city because the temple mount itself, the second Temple era, this is during Herod's development phase. And he was crazy. I mean you read about it. He was crazy. But he was a fantastic developer and so much of his fingerprint on this land still stands today, including…including the, you know, the Temple Mount, the whole support system to hold up the Temple Mount, like all these massive retaining walls. But they sort of disappear. You have this like one little section of that with, you know, with the western wall or the Wailing Wall as it has been known. But it continues. It's just, you know, the cities built up. But archaeologist have for years been working beneath the ground. And, so, you can kind of go down there and see all of that, basically walk the whole length of the Temple Mount under…under the ground and see that, “yeah, these are the same. This is the same Herodian era all the way down.” Ssee some of the Roman era. There’s opportunities where they had like glass, you could look down all the way to the second Temple period, the time of Jesus, see the street down below. So, that's pretty…pretty fantastic as well.

And then we finally…finally got back to our hotel pretty exhausted. We did a lot of walking. But it was a beautiful day and we made it…we made it and we saw a lot in Jerusalem today and we got sort of the…the full force of the city…like the change of complexion that Jerusalem brings. So, the wilderness, very different. The Galilee, very different than the wilderness. The Mediterranean coast, very different than the Galilee. Jerusalem, very different than the cost. So, we’ve kind of experienced all of that and it's been wonderful and today we’ll be heading into the low lands and I’ll be telling you about that tomorrow.

Thank you for your continued prayers and…over all of this…and as we prepare…even though we have a couple days left…as we prepare to reenter our world as we go home and prepare for that. Thank you for your prayers over all of that.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage, and I thank you profoundly for your partnership. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement you can hit the Hotline button in the app, the little red button at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi this is Laura from Castle Rock and I just joined with the DAB this January. I just happened to find it. And, so, I’ve been listening every day and enjoying the Word and the prayers and today I just heard Harold call in and I just burst into tears because he prayed the prayer of salvation and I’m so happy for him. And I just have been following his story and ever since I heard about him, you know, praying for him and just thinking about all the other people that maybe don’t feel like they have a place. And I’m just so grateful I found this community and I, because of my own life circumstances, have been kind of isolated from the church and just been through a lot of hurt and trying to work through that but this format just is so nice and feels safe. And I just…I’m praying today to for Diana’s boys and just joining in with the prayers of the people that…that they would feel comforted and they would feel surrounded by love as they walk through the grief of losing their mom. So, I just wanted to say hi, introduce myself, and…and join in with the prayers of the community. Thanks. Bye.

So, this is my first time calling in my name is Emari Davis. You all can call me SOG1031. I’m from Houston Texas. This is this is my first time calling in because I was using the wrong app. I was using the old app and I was always wondering like, “I don’t see no red button up at the top. I’m not understanding how I’m supposed to call in and pray.” But finally updated to the new app, praise God and…and I’m loving it. I really am loving it. I’ve been plugged into the Daily Audio Bible this…for this year like every day. But I started a couple years ago. My mom actually showed me the app and I listen to it every once in a while, you know, but it’s just…just this year alone of me listening to it every day has really impacted my life and everything. And today I was listening and I just…I just want to pray…I just…I just I want to ask for prayer. Can you guys pray that…that…that the heart…that my heart is a good heart, you know, that it receives the Word like it should and just that God makes my heart a clean heart and…and that the that the word just takes deep ,deep root, deep root, deep, deep root. And that’s all…that’s all I ask of you guys. I also want to send prayers out to Diana Davis’s sons. You all will be in my prayers and…and everything. So, God bless you.

Hey this is Cindy the Silver Lining Miner from Seattle. I really have it on my heart to call and chat with you Daniel Johnson Junior. I think probably two years ago, maybe three, you sent or you sang a little doughnut song and I don’t remember what it was but I remember it was so adorable and it really lifted my spirits and I just…I wanted to take this opportunity to lift your spirits. And I know you’ve got issues with congestive heart failure and you’ve been laid off, but I just want you to rest and I don’t know how old you are, but rest assured gray capital is a thing. People will value your wisdom and your experience. And please don’t let your age deter you. Anybody who’s older and looking for work, man I work with some people who are older than me, which is surprising but it’s also encouraging because everybody’s got something to offer. And please don’t let those lies deter you from finding a job. I’ll be praying for you. Also wanted to pray for trusting father in South Carolina. I’m just praying for your daughters and your son. I’m happy that you have spiritual replenishment and I’m praying that you can be a beacon of light for your family. Kimberly who was abused by churchmen, I’m so glad you’re feeling a part of this community and enjoying this fellowship and I’m praying for you as well. There was a woman who called in tonight who…well…I listened tonight to the episode. and she just joined the church and she gave her life to Christ. Hang in there and listen to God, listen for God in the quiet times. His love is all around you and we will be praying for you and we welcome you to this community and we support and love you and God loves you a hundred times more. So, rest in that. Thank you.

Hi this is Norma from the Bronx. I just needed to call and thank Brian for today’s…February 19th…today’s devotional. Something really penetrated me, my spirit so much. Brian said something. He said that we try so hard to get out of the wilderness instead of trying to see what it is that God is…is trying to teach us or trying to show us. And it totally made me refocus the pain that I have been enduring to be lessons that God is trying to teach me. And I just want to be…hope that I’m thankful so much for Brian. It has given me a new sense of hope to focus on the lesson. And he also said something, that it shapes you. And that is so true. The wilderness, it shapes you and prepares you for what God has called you to do. That is so powerful. God bless you.

Hey DAB family this Kingdom Seeker Daniel from Chicago and I am…I am overwhelmed right now with tears of joy. I…I just left a facility that I service for the mentally disabled and there’s a young lady in there that I…I had a chance to connect with just in passing. She’s one of the residents and it’s been several months since we’ve connected, but as I just left the facility, she called my name out, she called my name out, she remembered my name from of very, very brief exchange that we had. And it just blessed by soul. And, so, I just wanted to encourage someone with…with the reality that God knows your name. God knows your name, Beloved, whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you’re dealing with, He knows your name. Michael, Elijah, Charisse, He knows your name. Don’t ever think that God doesn’t love you. God bless you guys.

Hey DAB family it is Shanda the sister from South Dakota. I am calling today because I…well my son is in need of prayer. He is 18 and we’ve had to kick him out of the house because after he got off probation we found…I found marijuana in the house and an apparatus to smoke it with and we have young children and we had an expectation any he broke that expectation. Now he’s living with one of my family members that is most likely a practicing meth addict. And I know how much my son longs for acceptance and confidence and all the things that drugs…drugs falsely present themselves as - confidence and beautiful and wonderful. I’m just…I’m praying against the enemy making advances on my family anymore through drugs. I’m praying for the cycle of addiction to be broken. I started by getting clean and I am almost 2 years clean. And I just am praying for this generational curse to stop and…and for my family members to see the light of God. And God has told me to trust and not to worry and it’s been kind of hard lately but I’m gonna try and I’m just asking for you guys to rally behind me with your powerful prayers and I will keep praying for all of you guys. I love you guys. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day.

Good morning this is Laura from Georgia I’m new to DAB. I’ve been here officially January 5th and it’s been a blessing to me. And I haven’t really called in for prayer for myself. I’ve called and prayed for other people and have given praise reports, but I need prayer. I am…I feel like I’m in the wilderness here. I am from Oklahoma but moved here two years ago two and a half years ago because of marriage. And the gentleman, after four months of marriage, emailed me and told me he wanted a divorce. So, I felt lost and alone, but God had me here for a reason because the only person that I could draw my strength on…strength from was Him. And I saw him do so much wonderful things for me. But the bottom line is is that I haven’t established any true friends because I am a member of the church, a beautiful church, but I only get to go on Sunday’s. Because of my work schedule I can’t go to Bible Study, I can’t get in connect groups or whatever. And my prayer is that God would bless me with female companion that loves the Lord and that we can experience Georgia together. I am dating but I miss that friendship, that female companionship and I need that. And there are days when I feel really, really low and, in fact, when I joined or came across DAB I was at a very low point, very depressed and feeling very, very alone. So, I thank you for mt DAB family. Keep me in prayer please and reach out to...

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whatisonthemoonarchive · 8 years

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TOWARD SOLVING THEOLOGICAL DISPUTES

Let’s forget for a moment the unsolved dispute about the angels' gender…

Much more important issues are now seriously agitating and irreconcilably opposing the different sects stemming from the original “Unification” movement founded by SMM. The very existence of these antagonistic branches is an implicit confession of the failure of the UM.

For years, the original DP teaching borrowed by SMM from the Jesus Church in the 1940’s in Korea seemed to plainly satisfy all Unificationists, in spite of its shady justifications for SMM being the Second Advent.

For unclearly explained providential reasons SMM was supposed to be the unique sinless Messiah sent to restore all human sinners including his wife who needed, like anyone else, to be educated and saved from the fallen lineage.

For westerners coming from a non-fundamentalist Christian background, the concept of a messiah establishing a physical sinless family on earth could appear as a fantastic appealing and hopeful good news. It was the substantial realization of the simplistic logical diagram of the 4 positions foundation hammered during the DP lectures.

From then on, the message was not “wait and see” but “work and see”. Work, and give and sacrifice and work harder and give more and sacrifice more…and more and even more…Give and forget. God’s Kingdom was being settled on earth! Members had all their hope resting on this growing wonderful first true family, on the model ideal sinless family that was ultimately becoming God’s and members’ greatest source of joy and pride…

Yet, to come back to the original diagram of the 4 positions foundation, obviously quite a few arrows have been missing their target…

Numerous genuinely dedicated years have alas clearly revealed that SMM with the “divine message” was perfectly unable to unite even his own “true family”. How then could he unite the members of the unification movement itself and the society at large? Furthermore the Moon’s family corruption that had been hidden and denied for so long started to be exposed.

This undeniable established fact should only lead to one logical possible conclusion:

The message is erroneous and deceitful for its unique purpose is to justify that SMM, born in 1920 in Korea, was accordingly the returning Christ in the flesh. This is then a malign con and an absolute lie. How then can still anyone go out today to the world and pretend that DP is the real solution to mankind’s all problems?

In the same way that the atheistic communist ideology is false and only leads to oppression of masses by a ruling omnipotent dictatorial class, so is the DP (theo)logically leading to…

However, refusing to face that cruel reality, fervent communists still believe today that communism is 100% right “in spite of the failure of some past leaders”.

Similarly fervent unificationists still believe today that DP is 100% right in spite of the failures of so and so. Their refusal to admit that SMM was not the messiah he pretended to be and that he usurped a divine mandate to control others leads them to set up new explanations.

It’s in such context that revised theologies are now popping up, probably to justify a new providence. They should explain why things did not turn out as they had previously been prophesized by SMM, and find scapegoats for the real mess the UM is actually in.

This gives rise to spectacular acrobatic theological contortions to save the sinking UM, in a desperate attempt to justify an indefensible reality:

-Hak Ja Han initiated a completely new theology actually irreconcilable with the original DP. What does « only begotten daughter » really means? Does it means there are not two or more of them? Does it mean that SMM’s first official wife and the first officially admitted concubine were not God’s “begotten daughters”? Did then SMM committed at least twice adultery and failed? Can the claim that he only begotten daughter is here be a satisfying explanation?

-H1 and H2 both claim to be in line with SMM erroneous teaching and victorious messy accomplishments. Both claim also to be the real successor appointed by SMM while being both victims of inner plots initiated by their mother and siblings to push them aside. They have then to theologically justify SMM adulteries and weird behaviors and claims to be perfectly in line with DP, as well as to explain the failure of their mother.

Out of compassion for the perseverant readers who have reach this point in my post about all this tragic non-sense, I’ll conclude here with basic questions that could help solving these recent theological disputes:

Are really the Moons God’s sinless chosen ones? Why would they? Are they ontologically so different from us?

They might be "begotten" or believe they are. That’s fine for me, if it makes them happy. Sometimes wishful thinking can help people realize great things…but most often it sadly ends up in great tragedies.

And what is sure is that all these narcissistic gurus, "begotten" or not, do appear intrinsically bigoted.

That’s really unfortunate and a very poor marketing for potential messiahs…

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dallasareaopinion · 5 years

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It’s a good day to get excommunicated.

Happy New Year everyone, and well it is the 8th day of Christmas so Merry Christmas.

So what gives, why today do I seem to throw my faith away?

Today is the day I ask the world for a new name. The word God has become so cheapened by society that God is losing influence over us at an astounding rate.

And why now all of a sudden do I think the word God is overused and has lost touch with our real creator. I mean we have had false Gods, mythological Gods, people will say wow that girl looks like a goddess all throughout history. And we have had societies lose their moral compasses before, decline, yet mankind comes back and the belief in an all-powerful creator comes back to lead the reemergence of new societies and countries.

Christianity has survived many tumultuous events and still the Bible written in the 4th-century guides Christianity today. Yes, there have been some rewrites to change some practices yet generally, the same message and stories remain.

The Scrolls have survived and the belief of one God continues even though the believers of Judaism have been scattered throughout the world.

Some people will tell us the end is at hand and the second coming of Christ is right around the corner. And that started in the first century. The story has changed, but just ask around sooner or later someone will tell you you do not have much time and must repent.

I do not know much about Islam, Hinduism, Buddism, and other religions yet there are always some teachings that will lead you to a better world. Now I do know Islam believes in the same monotheist God Christianity and Judaism does, I just don’t know enough to comment on their interpretation.

Yet with all this talk of God, what God has taught us doesn’t exist on the planet anymore. Okay, I exaggerate, but our moral decline around the world is plainly obvious.

So am I losing my faith? No. Actually, I have spent this Christmas season trying to follow more of the practice of my religion to reinstill faith back in me. And yes if you put me above a burning pit and say if I renounce my faith I won’t be dropped into the fire. I am a weak enough human being I will probably denounce, who knows I might be strong enough to state what I believe as I drop to my death. As a human though I must confess that is much to ask. Any human that says they would thoroughly die dropped into a burning pit and not renounce their faith is either a true saint or I would never trust them with anything. Most honest people know that kind of moment would test any person’s faith.

The real issue started when people started saying President Trump was the chosen one. This scares me at a new level. There have been false gods before. Why should some nutjob spouting this nonsense scare me such? I don’t know, but it sure does and at a very high level. Maybe because we can transmit nonsense around the world in nanoseconds. Or maybe because the people who are agreeing or making the argument are potentially my neighbors or co-workers.

They have removed the concept of God from rational thinking. You cannot now in the 21st century think for one moment that Trump has any semblance of acting in a manner that God would choose him. And choose him to do what? One argument I read was that God uses all of us including Judas so Trump could be the chosen one. Uh, no. Judas was in a unique situation and he eventually committed suicide for his actions. Everyone else God has chosen tends to have a higher purpose. Sometimes it doesn’t materialize right away, but in general, the person themself exhibited some degree of humanity.

President Trump doesn’t even come close to showing himself as an instrument of God. I am not a believer in the rapture theory. The second coming will not be what we expect or makeup. We have no idea and wasting our time trying to convince people of this is so short-sighted. Our goal is to teach God to others so they can build their own relationship and let the relationship grow.

Everything else cheapens God and weakens God. We have no idea about the extent of the power of God. Anyone that says they do, run. Run away very fast. Truth is we are devoid of any real concept of the power of God.

Our creator created life. Think about what it takes for you to read this post, make a decision about if you agree/disagree, like/dislike, and if you want to respond. You cannot sit there and think life is a fluke. We are created and our life is a gift. The above is just one aspect of free will. You like, you dislike, but you decide. You decide about God, following God, how you follow, what religion you may decide to use to follow God. All this exists, but it does not answer to who is God.

And these arguments could go on for centuries, and as you know they already have been down that path. So this is why I think we need a new name for God. Everything about what makes God wonderful has been lost by all the people who weaken the absolute truth of God by using the name God for their own immoral purposes. I am just tired of trying to sort through the madness to get to the truth.

And realistically this argument is just a symptom of a much larger problem. “A rose is a rose by any other name.” Or something like that, I am too lazy to go internet searching to make sure I got it right, yet it says enough to make the point. The name God isn’t the problem, the lack of the understanding that we have lost touch with God is the problem. So many people scream they have a relationship with God, yet their actions show something completely different and this includes the people saying President Trump is the chosen one.

I cannot sit idly by and watch God be cheapened so if I change the name I can continue my relationship with a being I do not understand, comprehend, fail as a human for such, ask forgiveness, have no understanding the depth of love given to me when life was given to me, cry to, ask favors of, helplessly plead for others, and yet strangely understand that because this life was given to me and others I need to do better, treat others better, take care of what is given better, follow what is truly taught, attempt to make the decision to choose right over wrong, try to teach this to my children and others, and most importantly have a relationship with so I can make my feeble attempts to be what is wanted from me or asked of me whether I know what that is or not.

I have my will, my choices, yet deep down I know I must listen to a voice that cannot be heard to find what is right. Unfortunately, the word God has taken away what is God. And nowadays it seems it is worse than any part of history that I have read. Am I right or am I wrong? Who knows, yet I see we are missing something on this planet that should be blatantly obvious.

Some people prefer science, some say science disproves God, some say God is more important than science, yet all miss the point we are created so we must accept both till there may come a time when the entire truth of the universe is revealed to us. Until then we must keep our minds open, God is not a fairy sky monster, tyrant, hippie, commie, magician, or whatever. God created us on this dynamic planet and for some reason, we have to go with the flow and choose love over hate. Yeah, some 1960′s song or something...no.

Anyway, people will argue till the end of time, but till then we are stuck with a name that no one appreciates anymore because of what everyone else decides not what our creator decides. And yep there isn’t any religion on planet Earth that wants to change the typeset so God please forgive us all.

Cheers and have a blessed, peaceful, and prosperous New Year.

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miajolensdevotion · 7 years

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Women of the Bible - RahabThe Woman God Took From the Dunghill Scripture Reference

Joshua 2:1,3;6:17-25;Matthew 1:5;Hebrews 11:31;James 2:25

Name Meaning—The first part of Rahab—“Ra,” was the name of an Egyptian god. As an Amorite, Rahab belonged to an idolatrous people, and had a name meaning “insolence,” “fierceness,” or “broad,” “spaciousness.”

Family Connections—While Rahab’s parents, brothers and sisters were alive at the time of her association with the spies Joshua sent out, we are not given any of their names (Joshua 2:13 ). Some of the ancient Jewish fathers who held her in high reputation reckoned that she was the wife of Joshua himself, but in the royal genealogy of Jesus, Rahab is referred to as being the wife of Salmon, one of the two spies she sheltered. In turn, she became the mother of Boaz, who married Ruth from whose son, Obed, Jesse the father of David came, through whose line Jesus was born (Matthew 1:5 , where theasv reads, “Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab”—not Rachab). Salmon was a prince of the house of Judah, and thus, Rahab, the one time heathen harlot, married into one of the leading families of Israel and became an ancestress of our Lord, the other foreign ancestresses being Tamar, Ruth and Bathsheba. The gratitude Salmon felt for Rahab ripened into love, and when grace erased her former life of shame he made her his wife. Jerome’s comment of the inclusion of the four foreign women in Matthew’s genealogy is suggestive—

In it none of the holy women are included, only those whom the Scriptures blame, in order that He who came in behalf of sinners, Himself being born of sinners, might destroy the sins of all.

Both Jewish and Christian writers have tried to prove that Rahab was a different woman from the one whom the Bible always speaks of as a “harlot.” To them it was abhorrent that such a disreputable person should be included in our Lord’s genealogy and by Paul, as a woman of faith, and so her story has been distorted in order to further a scheme of salvation based upon human goodness. Although man’s sense of refinement may be shocked, the fact remains that Rahab, Tamar and Bathsheba were sinful women who were purged by God, and had their share in the royal line from which Jesus sprang.

It has been suggested that the word “harlot” can be translated “innkeeper,” thus making Rahab the landlady of a wayside tavern. Guesses have been made that she had been a concubine, such as Hagar and Zilpah had been, but that in Jericho she was a reputable woman identified with a respectable business. The Bible, however, makes no attempt to smooth over the unpleasant fact that Rahab had been a harlot. Endeavoring to understand her character, we have— Her Sin Three times over Rahab is referred to as “the harlot,” and the Hebrew termzoonah and the Greek wordporne have at no time meant anything else but “harlot”—a woman who yields herself indiscriminately to every man approaching her. Rahab indulged in venal wantonness as traveling merchants came her way and were housed in her illfamed abode. Evidently Rahab had her own house and lived apart from her parents and family. Although she never lost her concern for her dear ones, perhaps she was treated as a moral leper. We are told that prostitution was not regarded with the same horror then, as now, but the Bible with one voice speaks of harlotry with moral revulsion and social ostracism.

Rahab’s house was built against the town wall with the roof almost level with the ramparts, and with a stairway leading up to a flat roof that appears to be a continuation of the wall. Thus, the people of Jericho knew all about the men who entered and left such a disreputable house. While her name came to be sanctified and ennobled, both Paul and James affix the label to her name,Rahab the harlot. She still carried the evil, distinguishing name, thus declaring the peculiar grace of the transforming power of God. How Rahab came to forsake her evil career we are not told! Like many a young girl today perhaps she found the restrictions of her respectable home too irk-some. She wanted a freer life, a life of thrill and excitement, away from the drab monotony of the home giving her birth and protection. So, high-spirited and independent she left her parents, set up her own apartment with dire consequences. Frequently women like Rahab are more often sinned against than sinners. Man’s lust for the unlawful is responsible for harlotry. Her Scheme It was from some of the travelers Rahab entertained and sinned with, that she came to learn the facts of the Exodus of Israel, the miracle of the Red Sea, and the overthrow of Sihon and Og. So, when the two spies from Joshua sought cover in her house, she knew that sooner or later the king of Jericho would get to know of the accommodation she gave them. Here were two men, different from other men who came seeking her favors. These were men of God, not idolaters, bent on one mission, namely, the overthrow of the enemies of His people, and brilliantly she planned their protection and escape. The flax that she spread on her roof and the scarlet cord she used as a sign indicated that Rahab manufactured linen and also dyed it. If only, like Lydia, she had kept to such an honorable occupation, what a different story would have been hers.

Rahab’s skillful scheme succeeded. The two Jewish spies were in desperate straits, seeing the Amorite pursuers were hot on their trail, but Rahab, although her safety and patriotism as an Amorite would be assured if she informed against the spies, decided to hide and preserve them. Seeing their hunted and dreaded look, Rahab assuredly said, “Fear not, I will not betray you nor your leader. Follow me,” and taking them up to the flat roof of her house, bade the men cover themselves completely with a pile of flax lying there to dry. Shortly after, when the pursuers had tracked the two spies to Rahab’s house, she met them with a plausible excuse that they were there but had left by way of the Eastern Gate. If they doubted her word, they could come in and search her house. But off the pursuers went to catch up with their prey, not knowing that the spies were being befriended by Rahab. As soon as the way was clear, under cover of night, she let the spies down from the window in the wall and, knowing the country, guided the spies in the best way to escape capture.

There are one or two features associated with this clever plan of Rahab which are worthy of notice. First of all, idolater though she had been, with a phase of immorality associated with her idolatrous life, she witnessed to a remarkable understanding of the sovereignty of the true God for she said to the spies—

I know that theLord hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us.... TheLord, your God he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath ( http://click.lists.biblegateway.com/?qs=c6ef5183f96de6ddd5de0d45c6509b63c6b4fb7f4097b521f3bdcb6690563d16 Joshua 2:9-11 ).

Harlot though Rahab had been, intuition from above had been given her that the spies were men of God, the forerunners of His people who were to execute His will, and that to take sides with them was to take sides with God Himself.

Further, there was in Rahab’s mind, no matter how faintly understood, a distinct call from God, that she was being singled out from her own idolatrous people to aid the God she had a growing conception of. Her faith of this God who worked great wonders was altogether marvelous and singular. It was such a call that made her willing to sacrifice her own nation—an act which would have been otherwise treasonable. Does not her confession of God’s power and purpose, and her service for the spies indicate that she knew the race of which she was part was accursed of God for its crimes and idolatry, and that she wished to be separated from such a doomed people, and identified with the people of God? The declaration of faith given by this Canaanite woman places her in a unique position among the women of the Bible. Her Sacrifice When Rahab hid the spies, put those who sought them on a false trail and helped the spies to escape and melt away into the shadows of night, and lay concealed until they could reach Joshua with their report, she took her life in her own hands. We cannot but admire her courage and willingness to risk her own neck. Had those spies been discovered hiding in her house, she would have died at the hands of the king of Jericho. Yet with a calm demeanor, and without the slightest trace of inner agitation, she met the searchers and succeeded in setting them out on a false trail. By her act Rahab was actually betraying her own country, and for such treason certain death would have been hers had she been found out. To hide spies was a crime punishable with death. Seeing the faces of the spies filled with fear, Rahab assured their hearts that she was on their side, and in spite of the sacrifice involved said, “I will not betray you. Follow me!” By military law the spies were likewise liable to instant death because of the threat of war, and Rahab, willing to do all in her power to protect her nation’s enemies, faced a like terrible end. How gloriously daring was her faith, and how richly rewarded she was for her willingness to sacrifice her life in a cause she knew to be of God! Her Sign As Rahab offered to shelter the spies and aid them in their escape, she received from them the promise that when they returned to her country, along with Joshua and his army, that she and her family would be spared alive. While her sin had possibly estranged her from her loved ones, she was concerned about their safety as well as her own. Rahab wanted the kindness she was showing the spies to be reciprocated, and they assured her that she would be dealt with “kindly and truly.” The spies said, “Our life for yours if ye utter not this our business.” Then the sign of the scarlet rope—their means of escape—was arranged. “According unto thy words, so be it,” said Rahab as she let the spies down, and making fast the scarlet rope, she awaited her own deliverance. That red token at the window was likewise a signal to the outside world that Rahab believed in the ultimate triumph of Jehovah.

Much has been said of Rahab’s deceit when confronted by the king of Jericho. She told a lie and Scripture forbids a lie or any “evil doing, that good may come of it” ( http://click.lists.biblegateway.com/?qs=b24bfa3eab793e6f9baba6aa3fe5f3e9fcd916b5482c04c02c3abdad3eddffe0 Romans 3:7,8). But under the rules of war, Rahab is not to be blamed for her protection of those righteous forces set against the forces of evil. What the Bible commends is not her deception, but the faith which was the mainspring of her conduct. The characteristic feature of the scarlet rope was that it had to be placed outside the window for Joshua and his men to see. Those inside did not see the token of security. As that scarlet line, because of its color and sign of safety, speaks of the sacrificial work of Christ ( http://click.lists.biblegateway.com/?qs=b24bfa3eab793e6f75837931b5208cfefd5e5e41ae2d227892fa7122ddf370c9 Hebrews 9:19,22), the ground of our assurance of salvation is not experience or feelings within, but the token without. Like the Israelites, Rahab and her relatives might not have felt safe within the house, but the same promise prevailed, “When I see the blood, I will pass over you” ( http://click.lists.biblegateway.com/?qs=2340b2aceac5afbd29a6ac92e806d7aff88ee20422830e3cfc8d5df058b5566b Exodus 12:13 ). Her Salvation Jericho was the worst of the cities of the Amorites, thus God commanded Joshua to destroy both the city and the inhabitants. By divine decree, it was to be given over to a perpetual desolation. When Joshua entered the city he set about the execution of the divine command, but respected the promise made to Rahab by the spies. Under the protection of the scarlet line, Rahab and all her kindred were brought out of the house. The spies came to her house, not to indulge in sin with Rahab, but to prepare the way for Joshua to take Jericho. She saved the spies not out of human pity, or because of expediency, but because she knew that they were servants of the Lord. In turn, she was saved. The spies she had hid brought her, and her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had out of her doomed house, and made them secure without the camp of Israel ( http://click.lists.biblegateway.com/?qs=2340b2aceac5afbd52d1efcdb6ccfcd0d0d8982673fe3056645f2cd280c21824 Joshua 6:17-25 ). Brought out of an accursed city, and from her own sins which were as scarlet, Rahab is a fitting illustration of another miracle of divine grace, namely, the calling forth of His church out of a godless, Gentile world. Her Status The threefold reference to Rahab in the New Testament reveals how she became a faithful follower of the Lord. She had been taken from the dunghill and placed among the saints in the genealogy of the Saviour ( http://click.lists.biblegateway.com/?qs=c6ef5183f96de6dd32961a8510bd815e930fd823ae157694d4a63db11f258798 Matthew 1:5 where Rachab [kjv] and Rahab [asv], are to be identified as the same person). Her remarkable faith was a sanctifying faith leading her to a pure life and honorable career. As the result of her marriage to Salmon, one of the two spies whom she had saved, who “paid back the life he owed her by a love that was honourable and true,” Rahab became an ancestress in the royal line from which Jesus came as the Saviour of lost souls. “Poor Rahab, the muddy, the defiled, became the fountainhead of the River of the Water of Life which floweth out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” Her name became sanctified and ennobled, and is worthy of inclusion among many saints.

Paul highly commends Rahab for her energetic faith and gives her a place on the illustrious roll of the Old Testament of those who triumphed by faith. “By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she received the spies with peace” ( http://click.lists.biblegateway.com/?qs=2340b2aceac5afbdf45eaaf21f3b6a6123ee57ec52598139dfab7ed173b375fb Hebrews 11:31 ). What a suggestive touch that is, “with peace.” There was not only faith in her heart that God would be victorious, but also an assured peace when she hid the spies that her deliverance from destruction would be taken care of. She knew therest of faith. In fact, Rahab is the only woman besides Sarah who is designated as an example of faith in the great cloud of witnesses. What a manifestation of divine grace it is to find the one-time harlot ranked along with saints like Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses and David!

The Apostle James adds to Paul’s record about Rahab being justified by faith by saying that she was likewise justified by works ( http://click.lists.biblegateway.com/?qs=4b02f50383dad6fce017ba2fe969b1d6e2c40cc3526b040d4e2247c0a5209bad James 2:25 ), and there is no contradiction between these two aspects for Rahab’s courageous deed was but faith in practice. Faith had wrought in her a change of heart and life, and it likewise enabled her to shield the spies as she did in the confidence God would triumph over His enemies. She exemplified her faith by her brave act, and so James quotes Rahab as exemplifying justification byworks evidentially. As Fausset puts it—

Paul’s justification by faith alone means a faith, notdead but working by love ( http://click.lists.biblegateway.com/?qs=4b02f50383dad6fcd7f9f82c50b353ad7165160b522d9b2781468ab3a5ed1250 Galatians 5:6 ). Again, Rahab’s act cannot prove justification by works as such, for she was a woman ofbad character. But as an example ofgrace, justifying through anoperative as opposed to mere verbalfaith, none could be more suitable than the saved “harlot.” She believed, so as to act on her belief, what her countrymen disbelieved; and this in the face of every improbability that an unwarlike force would conquer a well armed one, far more numerous. She believed with the heart ( http://click.lists.biblegateway.com/?qs=efcf292e8ca9f6089dbb5692bee781dfb713705126b97a6b641d9c3f3416060a Romans 10:9,10), confessed with the mouth, and acted on her profession at the risk of her life.

In conclusion, what are the lessons to be gathered from the harlot whom God used to fulfill His purpose? First of all, we are reminded by Rahab’s change of heart and life, that “His blood can make the vilest clean,” and that “His blood avails for me.” Was it not a wonderful condescension on the part of the Redeemer when He became manifest in the flesh to take hold of a root so humble in type as poor, despised Rahab to magnify His abounding grace for all sinners? Rahab was well worth saving from her evil life both for her own sake and for the place she had in God’s plan. Other women in Jericho saw no beauty in Rahab that they should desire her company, but through faith she became one of God’s heroines, and is included among the harlots entering the kingdom of God before the self-righteous. Rahab’s sins had been scarlet, but the scarlet line freeing the spies, and remaining as a token of her safety, typified the red blood of Jesus whereby the worst of sinners can be saved from sin and hell (Matthew 21:31,32). While the door of mercy stands ajar, the vilest sinner can return and know what it is to be saved and safe.

A further lesson to be gleaned from Rahab the harlot is that of deep concern for the salvation of others. With the shadow of death and destruction over Jericho, Rahab extracted a promise from Joshua’s spies not only to spare her, but also all those bound to her by human ties. While her life of sin and shame had estranged her from her family, self was not her sole consideration in her request for safety. She desired all her loved ones to share in the preservation. What a vein of gold that was in such a despised character! When the mighty change took place in Rahab’s life, and she was transformed from a whore into a worshiper of Jehovah, we are not told. As she received and hid the spies, her tribute to God’s omnipotence and sure triumph over His foes reveals a spiritual insight God grants to all who believe. And restored to honor and holiness, the redeemed harlot pleads for her parents, and brothers, and sisters. Do we make Rahab’s prayer for the salvation of her family, the cry for our own homes? Is ours the same passionate supplication for all of our dear ones that when death strikes they may be found sheltered by the atoning blood of the Redeemer? When at evening the sun goeth down, will our loved ones be as stars in our crown?

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kathymommy · 7 years

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Be Prepared! (sermon)

No one can escape news about the myriad of natural disasters that have occurred over the last couple of months. Hurricane Harvey. Hurricane Irma. Hurricane Maria. Earthquakes in Mexico. Raging fires in the Western United States. And I’m not even talking about the horrific massacres, terror attacks, political upheaval, war, refugee displacements, contemporary genocide, and threats of thermonuclear war.

We see on television, and for some of us, first-hand, the devastation resulting from these disasters. Puerto Rico will be long gripped by its large-scale catastrophe. And as we observe people who have lost everything, we wonder how they’ll ever recover.

As we watch the news, trying to make sense out of what we see, at intervals we get advice or recommendations from experts on what we should do if such disasters should threaten us.

We’ve all seen these helpful hints. Social media is crawling with them. Some of them are probably pretty useful, depending on the circumstances.

Get plenty of fuel for your vehicle and (if you have one) your generator.

Fill your tub with water (or, rather, fill containers in the tub with water, or else it will probably leak down the drain).

Get out your shovels and ice melt before the snow starts.

Throw your outdoor furniture into your pool to secure it. This only works if you have a pool, I guess.

Keep an ax in your attic in case you need to chop through your roof.

Put your documents in your dishwasher! It’s waterproof (no, it’s not; don’t do it).

Have some cash on-hand in case the power is out for a while because ATMs need electricity.

Write identifying information on your arm with a Sharpie marker. It’s pretty grim to imagine a situation where this would be helpful to someone.

In addition to preparing for specific disasters, there’s readiness based upon simply being strong and resilient to begin with. This is especially important on community, institutional and government levels. To build sturdy, up-to-code structures (seismic considerations weren’t a part of building codes in New Jersey until 1974); to update old, fragile infrastructures (our local electric utility is in the midst of an reliability upgrade project); to budget funds for repairs and coping with loss of services (as our trustees have done with the last several years of snow removal estimates).

Another step to be taken in event of a looming crisis is to prepare a “go bag.” A “go-bag” should rightfully be called a “go-or-stay bag” because this is assembled in case you need to either evacuate or spend several days sheltering-in-place without your normal access to resources.

I have put together go-bags a time or two in my life. I did this for myself and children when Sandy approached five years ago. As I packed my go-bag, it was useful for me to think about what I felt I needed, if I could carry only one small bag, what I judged I could do without. What was important to our survival and comfort, and why were these things important? It was a valuable exercise.

Of course, it’s impossible to prepare for all emergencies, or combinations of disasters, but taking reasonable precautions to protect life, property and services is prudent.

Some in my family are pack rats. I am too, I admit. I can let-go of stuff I really don’t expect to use again, but it’s a little harder for some people to do that. A few years ago, my basement had a flood. And by flood, I mean raw sewage. And not the kind that leaks out from one’s own house, no. This was the kind that backs up from the town sewer under the street. It was most unpleasant. This disgusting flood affected three rooms in my basement, and, as I said, my family are pack-rats.

I guess you could say this was a mini-disaster. We had to throw-out lots of stuff. Or, rather, my daughter Susan and I did. Now, I have a confession to make. Lots of the stuff I threw away were things that I had wanted to get rid of for a long time, but certain pack-rat family members couldn’t bear to part with. Magically, several useless items, like a few old broken chairs I was never going to fix, somehow made it from other parts of the basement to the flooded rooms. And, somehow, they ended up on the floor. And, just those parts of the floor that were flooded. Oops. If there was a silver lining to this mini-disaster, it was that it gave me a perfect opportunity to dispose of surplus items...things that no longer served a positive purpose in my family’s life. Things that my family was holding on to for no good reason other than the fact that they had held onto them for a long time.

Today is Reformation Sunday, and, as anniversaries go, it’s a big one. Five hundred years ago, on All Saints Eve in 1517, Martin Luther reportedly hammered his “95 Theses” onto the church door in Wittenberg.

In traditional academic style, Luther invited, or perhaps demanded, a discussion about several practices of the church (and by church I mean the Roman Catholic Church, you know, “the” church in Western Europe in those days). Some of those practices included the long-established selling and buying of indulgences, or “forgiveness for a fee.” Other points concerned the Pope’s authority, issuance of writs of forgiveness, and, well, with 95 Thesis, there were many issues large and small.

Because the whole “indulgence” question was aimed at a very important part of the (then) Catholic Church’s economy (and prosperity), serious arguments against indulgences were also a serious threat to the Church’s financial status. I mean, somebody had to pay for all those big basilicas we like to visit in Europe. But, even more than the money, the status of the Church as the broker for salvation was called into question. And if salvation isn’t brokered by the Church, how would anybody be saved?

It was a radical concept when brought out for open debate. Questions and discontent had been simmering for years, but Luther’s arguments finally launched the upheaval that we call the Protestant Reformation.

Long-story-short: the Protestant Reformation was not just the great Catholic Church going through a change. Nor was it simply the church at a crossroads. No, the Protestant Reformation was a disaster for the Church. Luther’s movement broke Rome’s monopoly on Christianity in Western Europe.

Some would say that our own United Methodist Church is now at a crossroads. Though perhaps not as ultimately or as profoundly earth-shaking as the Protestant Reformation, I don’t think “at a crossroads” adequately describes our situation. I rather think the United Methodist Church is facing a more significant crisis.

In my opinion, our denomination is met with the challenge of negotiating our way through a flooded intersection. We can’t see where the lanes are, where the pavement is under the water, what kinds of hazards are lurking in our path. And, depending on how we proceed--and what may happen in an environment we can’t control--we’re about to slide into what could be a full-fledged disaster.

But Methodists have been there before. In 1844, the Methodists north and south separated for nearly a century because of disagreement over slavery; over Christians owning people as property.

Looking back, now, it seems absurd. How could our forebears not have seen their way through the flooded intersection that split them up and carried them away in different directions? I mean, isn’t it ridiculous that brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ would disagree over something so obviously abhorrent as slavery?

And then, in 1939, when the church “reunited,” it was only with abject segregation and the creation of a Central Jurisdiction made up of Methodists who happened to be black regardless of their location in the United States.

Aren’t we supposed to be the church of Christ where there is neither Greek nor Jew? In other words, distinctions of ethnicity or heritage shouldn’t matter, and most certainly shouldn’t be a barrier to the Kingdom of God. I mean, after all, the Kingdom of God has only one gatekeeper. Didn’t Martin Luther argue this 500 years ago? But it wasn’t until 1968 that this church in America officially desegregated as it formed the United Methodist Church we more-or-less know today.

So this morning, we can sit here, in our contemporary United Methodist Church, and feel a little smug that, although we’ve had our problems, we figured all that out, and have put all that close-minded slavery and racial segregation nonsense behind us. After all, “Open hearts, open minds, open doors.” Right?

Yet, here we are again; the denomination of the United Methodist Church, struggling with fundamental questions about justice, obedience and identity. Testing the waters at another flooded intersection.

Remember a little while ago I talked about tips for dealing with disasters? How, firstly, you could take specific steps to protect items which are valuable to you? And, secondly, how you could strengthen your overall resilience by building stronger structures and systems. And, lastly, when specific threats are identified--things like hurricanes or an out-of-control wildfire--you should assemble a “go-bag”?

Well, though all three of these approaches are features of disaster-preparedness, the last one, packing a “go bag” is, in a fundamental way, unique.

Think about it. The things we try to protect: our pictures. Our documents. Our antique furniture. The hymnals. The piano. The artifacts of our heritage, history and traditions. Our homes. Our comforts. Our rules. These things are important to us. And having those things be important to us is ok. It really is!

And maintaining a strong institution or home is important to protect not only our good stuff, but to serve our needs as we go about the work of being a family, a business, a church, a community; to get back-in-the-game as soon as possible. So we need insurance, good financial management, strong communication and support networks, and sturdy-up-to-code facilities.

But, as a church, do we ever think about our go-bag?

What do we bring when, the moment of cataclysmic disaster upon us, we can only bring what we can carry?

You remember the story of the Israelites leaving Egypt. They took all their stuff. They took the bones of Joseph. They plundered the Egyptians, taking gold and riches. And then they followed Moses out into the desert.

It wasn’t long before their trip started to look like a really bad idea. They cried-out, “This is a disaster! We’re going to starve here in the desert! We were better off as slaves in Egypt than dying in this wilderness!”

You know, the Israelites had protected their treasure, but hadn’t really thought about their go-bags. They started out okay--God had them make unleavened bread for the journey. But they weren’t prepared for the long haul in the wilderness.

Ultimately, God provided for their survival. But neither Joseph’s dead body, nor their gold and plunder, fed them when they were starving, or gave them drink as their parched, dry lips cracked for thirst. In fact, if you remember the story, knowing what they later did with all that gold, the Israelites would have been better off without it.

Christian churches sense a number of possible catastrophes looming. We feel the threat of our decreasing numbers. We feel the pressure of other religions and influences penetrating territory we assumed was “ours.” Traditionalists are alarmed at the cultural, linguistic and stylistic diversity carried to the table by people who do, at times, answer the call to follow Christ. We’d like to “make disciples of all the nations,” but we kind of want them to be folks just like us!

And, to bring some of this uncertainty and fear into focus, we United Methodists are in the midst of heated debates about the authority of the Book of Discipline and, in particular, denominational policies when it comes to questions about sexual identity. The waters are rising.

Maybe now is a good time to go through our metaphorical basement, asking: Are there things that Christian churches, and especially our denomination, are holding on to for no good reason other than the fact that we have held onto them for a long time?

And maybe it’s about time we look at why we’re maintaining strong, resilient institutions in the first place. Why do we have these practices, traditions, rules and structures? What and who is it that our church is serving? What is the point if we don’t have a clear understanding of what our mission is? At the end of the day, who is it that we’re here for?

And what about our go-bags? When faced with threats to survival, what does the church pack? What do you, in your heart, carry with you?

You see, this is why packing a go-bag requires a different approach than deciding what’s important to protect or save. We don’t put photo albums in our go-bags, right? We don’t try to bring our great-grandma’s best china to the hurricane shelter. We don’t bring our bookshelves. No. We try to provide protection for that stuff, yes. But do we grab those things when we are running out the door, perhaps fleeing for our lives? Or when huddling together as the winds rage around us?

No. The only things that should be in a go-bag are things we need to live, to cope, to provide minimum but required comfort in times of stress. It boils down to this: our go-bag has one purpose only: to keep us alive.

So, maybe the church is perhaps facing a crossroads, but, what if it turns out, this crossroads is actually a raging, flooded intersection? What will the church grab hold of as it runs for its life? What will you carry for your church? And, just as importantly, what will you leave behind?

Let’s not wait for disaster to strike before we affirm what we’ll put in our go-bag. And let’s realize that it is vital to not confuse our legitimate and reasonable attachment to valued artifacts of our lives in the church with what actually gives us life.

And what gives the church life? Mercy. Compassion. Justice. These things are found in the love of Jesus Christ as shared among each other, with our neighbors, and all of creation.

You see, whatever else we have or don’t have, all we really need to hold on to is Jesus.

Because it is wholly, and only, in Jesus, who gives us life, that we live.

### Message delivered to First United Methodist Church, October 29, 2017, for Laity Sunday. Copyright Kathy Mulholland 2017

#BePrepared #UnitedMethodists #laitysunday

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musicdish · 7 years

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Jabberjaw Media Network Launches New Podcast Shows

Jabberjaw Media, an independent talk and entertainment podcast network founded by Matt Carter (Emery, The BadChristian Podcast) and Mike Mowery (Outerloop Management & Records), has been paving the way for podcast platforms since their launch in November 2015. The network's unique and groundbreaking shows include Lead Singer Syndrome with frontman Shane Told of rock band Silverstein, the Modern Vinyl Podcast, Washed Up Emo, The Mike Herrera Hour, The MetalSucks Podcast, The Bad Christian Podcast, Break it Down with Matt Carter, 100 Words or Less, Peer Pleasure, and more. In its first year, Jabberjaw Media has hosted groundbreaking shows and interviews - such as John Bunch's final interview before his untimely passing on Washed Up Emo. The success of Lead Singer Syndrome has paved the path for the show's exclusive All Access Club, and the show continues to produce engaging interviews with a diverse array of lead singers with the approach of peer to peer candor. Further, the shows Break It Down with Matt Carter,Modern Vinyl, Mike Herrera Hour and Peer Pleasure are all shows that can be heard weekly on idobi Radio. Today, Jabberjaw Media Network is thrilled to announce a massive addition of six new podcast shows covering topics from the music industry, to dating in the 21st century, and even cocktail creation. Starting tomorrow, Jabberjaw Media will welcome Kill Rock Stars' The Future of What, The Ex Man Podcasthosted by Doc Coyle, O Marks the Spotby Outerloop, The Metal Podcast with Chuck and Godless, Too Old to Date, and cocktail-focused The PourTaste Podcast. This is what co-founder Mike Mowery has to say about the addition of the new shows: "It's a fantastic honor to be able to add new shows to the network. In the time since we launched, I've watched broader acceptance of podcasting within the music business, and the proliferation of more and more great shows. I'm excited that in this round of additions we are adding our first female host, our first podcasts not directly associated with music and our first scripted show. Our community continues to grow and we look forward to what's in store for the remainder of the year." - Mike Mowery Jabberjaw Media was formed after founders Matt Carter and Mike Mowery saw a need for podcast hosts to strategize and find ways to build stronger audiences and share tips under one roof. They collaborated to create an entertainment-centric podcast network that enables direct communication between artists and their audience without the influence of media conglomerates or other gatekeepers. The artist-friendly network will work with its hosts in creating compelling content and encouraging free expression of thoughts, ideas, and beliefs. Jabberjaw Media exists to aggregate present podcasts and help them thrive while seeking to produce great content from interesting personalities within independent music and beyond. Jabberjaw Media shows will provide a wealth of knowledge, offer insightful stories, and thought-provoking topics. Network members and hosts not only work in the their respective industries today, but they are also genuinely passionate about the people that make up this community. As a result, the network is full of shows relevant for both fans and professionals alike. More about The Future of What Podcast: The music business is evolving rapidly, and can be difficult to understand - even for those who have been in it for years! These changes have had significant effects on those who love music, and everyone from creators to distributors are trying to keep up. The Future of What is an hour-long radio show and podcast that explores issues and trends in the recording industry - where it is and where it's headed. Host, Portia Sabin, president of the independent record label Kill Rock Stars cuts through the noise with music business experts to provide an authoritative look at this multi-billion dollar industry. In the last two years, The Future of What has discussed issues facing the music business for the benefit of musicians, independent artists, people working in the industry, and the general public. On joining Jabberjaw Media, Sabin says "Jabberjaw hosts a bunch of great music-related shows, and many of them are hosted by actual musicians, which makes Jabberjaw unique amongst podcasting networks. We're so excited to be joining them!" The newest episode of The Future of What looks at musicians in podcasting and features Shane Told, frontman of rock band Silverstein and host of Lead Singer Syndrome, Hrishikesh Hirway, musician and creator of Song Exploder, and musician and podcaster Joe Pug. Catch Portia Sabin and The Future of What at upcoming events such as a panel on "The State of Indie Music" at Treefort Festival, Boise ID (March 2017), keynote interview with Robyn Hitchcock at The Recording Academy's Songwriters' Summit in Seattle, WA (April 2017), keynote speaker at Upstream Music Festival + Summit in Seattle, WA (May 2017), and a panel on "Investing in Independents(ce)," at A2IM Indie Week in New York, NY (June 2017). Hear new episodes of The Future of What here: http://killrockstars.com/thefutureofwhat/ More about The PourTaste Podcast: Cocktail team, Jon and Lindsay Yeager will be hosting the cocktail-focused PourTaste Podcast, which will feature Jon, along with special guests, and discuss cocktail and spirit history, methodology and trends with each 30-45 minute episode ending in a cocktail recipe. Jon will walk the guest through the concept of the recipe, offering tasting notes and seasonal variations along the way. Each podcast episode will have a 10-minute bonus in conjunction, highlighting another cocktail recipe based off each episode's theme. PourTaste officially began in 2011 after Jon Yeager held one of the opening bartender positions at the Holland House Bar & Refuge in Nashville, TN. After a year of working at this highly acclaimed, speakeasy-style cocktail bar, the Yeagers were asked to help design other menus throughout the city, train bartenders and help to provide a craft bar experience at various events. Since 2011, PourTaste has grown to become the go-to epicenter for all things cocktail. In addition to their product line, E Harlow, which focuses on handcrafted tonic and the world's only Magnolia Bitters since the Civil War, Jon and Lindsay Yeager have created cocktail, beer and wine menus for hotels, restaurants and bars while consulting for events, festivals, retail shops and brands. The Yeagers are also the creators and producers of Music City Spirits & Cocktail Festival, Nashville's premier festival focusing solely on the craft of the cocktail. Their yet to be named beer-cocktail recipe book, from Skyhorse Publishing, will be released fall 2017. Hear new episodes of The Pour Taste Podcast here: http://www.pourtaste.com/podcast/ More about The Ex Man Podcast: Ex-God Forbid guitar player Doc Coyle talks to professionals in the music world and other creative industries about the challenges and transitions of leaving monumental ventures. This podcast is for those passionate and driven 20 & 30-somethings at a crossroads trying to figure out "What's next?" On joining Jabberjaw Media Network, Coyle states, "I couldn't be more thrilled than to announce this partnership with The Ex Man and Jabberjaw Media Network. I am a fan of and have been a guest on a few of the Jabberjaw shows like Metalsucks and 100 Words Podcast. I have to give huge thanks to Mike Mowery at Outerloop for thinking of me, and the opportunity to grow The Ex Man Podcast to a wider audience is a tremendous opportunity." Hear new episodes of The Ex-Man Podcast here: http://www.doccoyle.net/ More about Too Old to Date Podcast: So you're single. You've tried Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, OKCupid, JSwipe, Christian Mingle, Farmers Only, Purrsonals. Shut up, we know you have. So we wrote a show about using them to find dates. Not an advice show, a scripted show. Like on TV, but you can't watch it. You can listen to it though, and imagine that we're more attractive than we really are. You can feel comfort in knowing that you're not alone. Well, technically we're all alone. We all die alone anyway. But this show is funny! Way funnier than dying alone. Too Old To Date consists of eight-episode seasons culled from the desperately lonely minds of creators Brad Garoon & Mike Tanzillo. Keep an eye out for bonus episodes as well. They're generous like that. On joining Jabberjaw Media Network, the hosts state: The Too Old To Date team is proud to announce that we will be joining the Jabberjaw Media Network. In just one short month since its creation, Too Old To Date has been downloaded by thousands listeners and garnered a passionate Instagram following. Too Old To Date is very excited to bring its dating world-obsessed audience to Jabberjaw." Hear new episodes of Too Old to Date here: http://toooldtodate.com/ More about The Metal Podcast: The Metal Podcastcontinues a long pairing of hosts Chuck Loesch and Godless (formerly of MetalSucks), delivering their take on the world of metal today. Their weekly examination of metal news headlines, topics and generally inane banter warrants tuning in, but stay for the interviews. Affectionately dubbed the "Barbara Walters of Metal" this duo has interviewed the top brass in the metal world from the old guard: Slayer, Anthrax, Metallica, Testament to the up and coming bands: Psycroptic, Black Dahlia Murder,Deafheaven, and so many more. Staying away from the typical face palming questions and trying to dig deeper into their subject showing their human side, and sometimes getting some true confessions. A truly unique podcast in the world of heavy metal. On joining Jabberjaw Media network, Chuck Loesch states: "Now that The Metal Podcast created our own nest, being part of the Jabberjaw Network is a no brainer, bringing like-minded podcasters together to grind it out every week, we'll make millions, well, maybe not millions, but you know what I mean." Hear new episodes of The Metal Podcast here: http://podcastmetal.com/ More about O Marks the Spot Podcast: Mike Mowery, Lance Rowe, and Suzie Lee give behind-the-scenes looks to the happenings at Outerloop, a boutique music management firm and record label. Detailing budding ideas and how they come to fruition to moments where everything that can go wrong does go wrong, the podcast reveals what goes into the work of teams behind every band, a rare perspective for fans, musicians, and aspiring music professionals. Guests on the podcast include current clients and industry professionals. Hear new episodes of O Marks the Spot here: http://bit.ly/olooppod Head to JabberjawMedia.com for more information.

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