Persecution in Eritrea

The BBC has a documentary about the persecution of Christians in Eritrea that you can listen to here.

I know that I don’t have a large audience but I’m asking any Christian blogger who visits my blog to post a link to this documentary on their own blogs so that as many people as possible will be aware of what’s going on. It’s important (especially among Western Christians) that we do not forget that there are brothers and sisters who are being persecuted and killed for their trust in King Jesus.

What Would Solomon Say?

The Bible tells us the following about the wisdom of Solomon:

 29 God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 He was wiser than any other man, including Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. 32 He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. 33 He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. 34 Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom. (1 Kings 4:29-34)
 

Notice that verse 33 demonstrates that Solomon was, at some level, a scientist, a biologist even.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that one of Solomon’s proverbs reads as follows.

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter;
       to search out a matter is the glory of kings. (Proverbs 25:2)

Which is precisely what Solomon did.

While it would be great hubris to disagree with Solomon, I do think that, some kings (read “governments”) might be better off to leave some matters concealed.

…and yes, I was looking for a way to include a link to this post on this blog. Sorry if it’s a bit forced. I guess this is an example of proof-texting.

God’s Answer to yOur Pain

I heard this in a sermon.

Look at the verbs from this passage of Scripture:

The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”(http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%203:7-10;&version=31)

When God entered into a conversation with Moses that day in the wilderness and sent him to Pharaoh to resuce the Israelites, he showed us something about what he does in answer to human suffering.

He sees.

He hears.

He is concerned.

He comes down.

He sends you and me to do something about it.

Some Questions are More Important than Others

Since the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers, Americans have been attempting to answer numerous questions about Islam. What is this religion? Who are these Muslims and why do they hate us so? Is Islam a “violent religion”? How do we deal with these people?

Christians in America are no different. I recently came across a Christian blogger who posted his thoughts as to whether or not Islam is a violent religion. There are several more I’m sure. As an American Christian living in a Muslim country I think I have something to say about this particular question as well as the host of others.

First, Christians need to ask other more pertinent questions than those about the the teachings of Islam pertaining to violence. The most important question for us is “What (if anything) does Islam/Qu’ran have to say about Jesus?” The clearer we are on this point, the easier it will be to absorb other information about Islam. I say this because our expectations of this religion and its adherents will be more accurately guided by that information than any other. Islam teaches that Jesus was a prophet, that he did not die on the cross, that he was not raised from the dead and that he did not claim to be the Son of God. The Qu’ran contains some information about and words attributed to Jesus, but Muslims know little or nothing about the teachings of this person they accept as a prophet. Consequently, we can expect there to be significant disagreement between Christians and Muslims.

After this question, Christians need to ask how to communicate the good news of reconciliation to God through Jesus to Muslims. Honestly, I don’t have an answer to this question. Also, I’m pretty sure that the answers that apply in the States are not the answers that apply in other places of the world. Wherever we are, one answer that applies is simply this; be Jesus to them. Treat them as you want to be treated (even if they don’t reciprocate), love them and do good to them (even if they persecute you), and forgive them. Of course, we already know this, so I suppose we ought to be praying for the character of Christ to be fully formed in us so that we can be Jesus to them…and everyone else as well.

Knowing whether or not Islam is a violent religion, why they hate us (Christians and/or Americans) and whatever other answers we’re seeking will not ultimately change how we ought to relate to Muslims.

NB-But, if you’re still interested in one Muslim’s perspective on the question of Islam and violence, you can look here.

I Need an Athiest

Atheism seems to be in the media more lately than it has been in the past decade. (I choose the word “seems” because I’ve been out of the states for almost a decade and I don’t think I really know what’s going on back home.) As a result, the more thoughtful Christians among us are curious and are attempting to pose serious questions to atheists about their beliefs. I don’t know if Cat Juggler is a Christian but he puts this question into the ”world wide weird” for atheists to answer. Like him, I need an atheist or several to answer a genuine (meaning “not rhetorical”) question:

What contributions has atheism (or atheists) made to the good of humanity?

As a Christian, I know both the good and evil that we’ve done in the world, but as an outsider to atheism, I can’t say that. So, I’m seriously asking any atheists who might find their way here to fill in the gaps of my knowledge by answering the above question. I’m not looking to debate, just to learn something.

New Blogroll Addition

It’s listed on the right.

 Check it out.

http://www.churchmarketingsucks.com/

And for some edgier (perhaps less redemptive) religious humor, here’s the Colbert Report: http://www.ifilm.com/episode/22853 . Look at #2 on Rabbi Fish.

Global Warming Blasphemy

I disbelieve in the theory of Global Warming. Not for scientific reasons. Not for religious reasons. One could argue that I don’t even disbelieve for logical reasons. I disbelieve for visceral reasons: my gut tells me that whenever there’s an apparent majority opinion about some great cataclysm that is soon to befall the country, the planet, the universe, it’s wrong. Distopic predictions about the future of the world have been part of my whole life and none of them have come to pass.  Not Soylent Green, Not the Day After, not the Killer Bees or the Second Ice Age (anybody growing up in the 70’s remember hearing about this one?). Every prediction of annihailation and doom for all of mankind in my lifetime has missed the mark. People simply don’t know as much as they think they do and can’t see nearly as far ahead as they believe they can. If the weatherman can’t get the five day forecast right much of the time, why should I believe he’s going to accurately predict planetary destruction 50 years from now?

If anyone should know the limitations of human knowledge it ought to be Christians. It’s not like there isn’t plenty of examples of “pride going before a fall” in the Bible. Consequently, it distresses me to read something like this. So, let me make this plea to those who would represent Christianity on the world stage with regards to Global Warming: Please don’t endorse this theory. Confess that we Christians have been poor steward’s of God’s world because a good case can be made for that. But don’t go along with the crowd on this nihilistic, fear-mongering crusade to “save the planet” from a threat that probably doesn’t exist.

Facing the Truth

Earlier today I was thinking about certain truths that I’ve had to face up to as I’ve gotten older. Just the fact that I’m getting older is one of those facts. The attending degeneration of my aging body is another one of those facts. (Yes, a simple strain in the back is enough to turn me morose.) And as I was turning over the phrase “face the truth” in my mind, a scene from the life of Jesus came to my mind.

It was the night of his betrayal. He had finished praying in the garden with his disciples and was admonishing them for their weakness when Judas and a mob showed up. According to John, Jesus asked the mob who they had come for. They replied “Jesus of Nazareth” and then something strange happened. Jesus said, “I am he” and the mob “drew back and fell to the ground.” Why? What did Jesus say that drove back an armed mob and caused them to fall to the ground?

There’s a good theological answer to that, but I won’t attempt to give it…today. I think the reason that this scene came to my mind is because it sort of mirrors what happens whenever people have to face truth, particularly difficult truths about ourselves.

We go charging about convinced and intent just like the mob in the garden that night. Then, like them, we come face to face with truth and it knocks us back on our heels, or even flat on our backs. And then, we must choose. Do we get up and continue our charge, even more convinced and intent or do we approach the truth and embrace it, learn to deal with it on its own terms? Wasn’t that the mob’s choice: to continue with their plans to arrest Jesus and drag him before the rulers for a bogus trial or to admit that they were in the presence of “I am” and learn from Him what to do with The Truth they were face to face with?

No, really. This is how my brain works sometimes…

Have You Seen This?

My cousin passed this internet goodie along to me. I thought it might be a decent little filler until I can get a real post in a little later on. (Back is better. Sitting is easier.)

Looking at it reminds me of song that we taught our kids:

My God is so big

so strong and so mighty.

There’s nothing my God can not do!

I’ll teach you the hand motions and melody later!

Taking a Break

Since I injured my back recently, I won’t be able to sit and blog for a bit. I should be back in a few more days.

What’s in a Name?

Many of the numerous labels for identifying specific types of Christians and Christianity have never felt right on me. Being raised in a non-denominational community (as opposed to the Non-Denominational community) bred a dissatisfaction with any name other than “Christian” no matter how useful it may be at times to choose a buttonhole of my own for the sake of discussion. In more recent years, I’ve tried on “follower of Jesus” and “believer” as a way to distance myself from negative connotations that have been attached to the name “Christian” in Western culture…and even in the Middle East where I live.

Here in the Middle East, people still see the West as “Christian” and themselves as “Muslim/Islamic”. The idea of a “Post-Christian” nation/culture is inconcieveable. To them, Hollywood is making Christian movies. Chew on that for a minute. The point of view expressed by American media is Christian as far as they’re concerned. This makes sense since everything in their corner of the world is ordered according to their understanding of Islam…or at least the understanding of Islam which those in power have. Western values are Christian values in their eyes. Here, being a Christian doesn’t align you with the Savior of the World but rather with the evil West or even the “Great Satan”. As a result, whenever it’s appropriate (which isn’t often) I try to avoid the term “Christian” in favor of something that will more clearly and immediately identify that my loyalties are with the Kingdom of God and not the West.

God’s Will for the Traffic

Perhaps one of the best books I’ve ever read is “Decision Making and the Will Of God: A Biblical Alternative to the Traditional View“.  While there were some stylistic choices which didn’t appeal to me, I liked it so much because it echoed back to me a clearer and more articulate understanding of my own views regarding God’s will and how to find it.  (I think that if people are honest, they’ll admit that this is often the reason why books become their favorites.) A decent synopsis of the book can be found here. If you read it, the rest of this post will make more sense.

While reading it, I made an effort to change the way I was praying. At the time, I prayed like so many others, asking for God to reveal what He specifically wants me to do with my life. I wanted the burden of the responsibility of choosing the course of my life taken off my shoulders. Afterall, if God revealed to me that it’s His will for me to do X, then any consequences could be laid at His door. However, praying this way never seemed quite right. Even though I asked for God’s supernatural leading in the details of my life, I never really believed that Scripture indicated that He worked that way. As I read Friesen’s critique of what he calls the “traditional” view of God’s will, I stopped asking God for signs and leadings (meaning highly subjective emotional predispositions) and started asking for opportunities, wisdom and courage to do His will that I already knew.

Yesterday, while driving to pick up my son from school, I was praying about the upcoming month of Ramadan. Honestly, it is my least favorite season in my host country.  One of the main reasons is that people drive much more dangerously during those 28 or so days than at any other time of the year. (I don’t drive after sundown now if at all possible because the streets are unsafe.) People are more discourteous and make more rash decisions during these days of food, water, caffiene and nicotine deprivation than at any other time in the year. Several times last Ramadan, my wife and children were almost involved in some serious accidents going to and from school. So, I was asking God to make the roads safer this year than last year. It occured to me that I was asking for His Divine intervention, possibly asking Him to override the wills of the free people He created and I wasn’t sure if I believed that God works this way. Then I asked God to show me how to pray about this problem.

I’ve been praying the Lord’s Prayer with my sons each night before bed for a while and this phrase came to me; “Your kingdom come, your will be done.” Right, so Jesus says that I ought to pray for God’s will to be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. Next I thought, “What is God’s will for these drivers?” and it was clear. God’s will is that people drive considerately, thinking about how their actions affect others. The Bible states it this way, “Love your neighbor as yourself”, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, “Deny yourself and follow Me”, and “Think of others” etc. Consequently, I prayed that during this Ramadan people would drive carefully, aware of those around them and concerned for the safety of others. This is certainly God’s will, especially for me since I say that I love Him.

Of course, everyone on the road is free not to do God’s will, however, Jesus’ model is still valid. So, I’ll continue to pray that God’s will is done on the streets of Earth as it is in Heaven until it is.

PADD

Prayerful Attention Deficit Disorder.

Do you have it? I do. Essentially it means that I can’t keep my mind focused on my prayers. I start talking to God about something and almost immediately my mind wanders off and I’m no longer talking to God. Instead, I’m thinking about how to handle  the situation that I was praying about or I start planning the class that I want God to help me with or whatever.

If my memory is correct, CS Lewis once wrote that silent prayer (praying in one’s thoughts) practiced through out the day is an advanced form of the discipline. He went on to say that he personally saw the real benefit of kneeling in prayer (a practice he saw as an elementary one) because it kept him in a proper frame of mind. I think he was right as I tend to experience my PADD while trying to pray silently in the shower, in the car and other “public” spaces.

Yesterday, I actually went into a private office, closed (and locked) the door and prayed aloud. Apart from the two phone calls that distracted me (and I had to answer), I found that I had no trouble keeping my mind on God and the subject of my prayer.

I guess it’s sometimes necessary to revisit the basics.

Church and Gospel II

I’ve been thinking about the following statement: The Church is part of the Gospel.

The statement was made to me by an Orthodox priest in the context of a post on his blog and a comment that I made about it. My comment had erroneously left him with the impression that I believe that the Gospel and the Church are not linked to one another; that one could receive the Gospel without receiving the Church. While I do not believe this as I’ve worded it, I do believe that the Gospel is not the exclusive property of any particular expression of the Church.

The reason that I’ve been struggling with the statement of the priest is because the word Church does not necessarily have the same connotation for me that I believe they have for him. In my life, I’ve interacted briefly with the Ukrainian and the Ethiopian Orthodox expressions of Church. Additionally, I’ve done a small amount of reading about the Orthodox Church and it is my perception that the Orthodox Church sees itself as the ONE TRUE CHURCH and others are not. There are RIGHT ways to fast and WRONG ways to fast and it matters. There is a PROPER way to perform the sign of the cross and an IMPROPER way to perform the sign of the cross and it matters. Consequently, when I hear that “The Church is part of the Gospel” what I understand the priest to say is “The expression of the Church called THE ORTHODOX CHURCH is part of the Gospel and those other guys are not.” I simply cannot accept this, even though I fully understand it.I grew up in a Protestant expression of church (sectsounds like such an ugly word) that also saw itself as the TRUE CHURCH to the exclusion of all others. Whenever my mother spoke of someone as a “member of the Church”, she meant the particular tradition to which she gave allegiance. As a young adult, I abandoned that belief.

Thinking about the priest’s statement lead me to this question, “How is the Church part of the Gospel?” I’ll give that some thought and post on my ideas another time.

Asylum III

This is the third part in a series of posts about a friend of mine seeking religious asylum in the West. Part I is here. Part II is here.

Again, time passed so slowly in the cold detention hall. My heart was breaking as I watched my wife shiver from the cold. I prayed, “Lord, we are in need of your touch. We need a miracle of yours. Please make it easy on my wife.” I can’t remember the moment I fell asleep in my chair. I only remember my wife waking me up saying, “…I was flying in such a peaceful and warm dream! It was a wonderful dream. The Lord was telling me that we will get out today. You’ll see. We’ll got today. God is telling me so.” We didn’t see the woman again that night. As I thought about that woman and the coming interview, I figured it meant that God was going to send us a miracle.

At 9 am, the woman appeared again holding two files. Officer B, the friendly officer from the day before, was with her. He opened the door, looked into the hall and when he saw us, he said “Once I saw your names, I was shocked! I really can’t understand why you are still here, but I’m going to find out now!”

After ten minutes, a new woman came and called my wife. They were done for almost an hour. When the door finally opened again, I saw my wife looking refreshed and hold a sandwich. It turned out that the tough woman who went to “look for a translator” the night before didn’t meet with my wife. Instead, a nice and sweet lady did the interview. Why? For no other reason than the plans of our faithful and gentle Lord. There were times when the new lady was tough with my wife, but she told her “I am sorry but this is my job.”

Officer B. came again and said, “Guys, I am really sorry what happened. Ever since I came today I’ve been working hard on getting you out of here. Just give us some more time.” I think, my wife and I, will remember those words till we die. This time we couldn’t hold back our tears of happiness. We closed our eyes and prayed for him to stay in our story. Then he took us to another hall, gave us temporary ID’s, and explained to us what will happen once we left from there.

He said. “Some one will come to pick you up at 5pm. You’ll go into the city, have a good sleep and tomorrow you’ll be moved north will you’ll learn more details. You should wait in the detention hall until the someone comes to get you, but I feel so bad about your spending the night here last night that I’m letting you go now if you promise to be at the assembly point on time.”

B. took us to collect our bags, and at the gate of the holding area he said to the security guards, “Say bye to these nice people!” Everybody said bye! It was really funny and made us laugh. Then he told the guards to keep the woman who interviewed me posted.

We followed him to the arrival area.Huge emotions were storming in our hearts. We were thankful to God, happy and anxious for the chance to witness for our almighty Lord regarding what had happened to us.

At the arrival area, B. said, “This is as far as I can go with you. I wish you all the luck in the world!” As he walked away smiling he say “Make sure that you’re at the assembly point at 5pm! Don’t let me down!”

My wife and I stood there looking at each other wondering if it had all been a dream. We started walking around the airport just to be sure that we were really out. We found a corner, sat down and prayed. All I could say was, “Thank you Lord!” over and over again.

At 4pm, we were standing at the assembly area, and at 4:15 two guys came and told us, “Let’s go!” We walked with them, and very nice and gentle guy took us to a van, which took us out of the airport.It took almost one hour to reach an amazing, old church that had been turned into a huge house for refugees. In this place we had another touch from our faithful and gentle Lord that I will tell you about in my next email.

Church and Gospel I

The Orthodox Priest wrote:

If you have lived your Christian life and never heard the story of our relationship with God put in the sort of terms used above, then you have missed out on hearing most of the New Testament. You have missed the story as told by the Fathers of the Eastern Church (which means, most of the Church Fathers). It is possible that you have heard such a distortion of the Christian faith that you have wanted nothing to do with it.

But if what I have described above sounds like good news – then the news is very good – because this is the teaching of the New Testament and the Church founded by Jesus Christ and which continues to be proclaimed by the Orthodox Church.

I’m having a hard time with this concluding statement and the reason is because it comes across to me as a plug for the Orthodox Church. It feels to me as if the priest is saying that the good news is proclaimed by the Orthodox Church and not those other guys. I admit the possibility that my biases have caused me to misunderstand the man’s point.

I wanted to leave a comment but I didn’t want to presume to lecture a priest about the Bible or the Church so, in my caution, I ended up saying something that utterly failed to communicate what I wanted to say. I wrote ,

The news is very good not because it’s delivered by the Orthodox Church (or any body of believers) but because it is TRUE…as one day, all who are called by His Name will see.

Consequently, the priest percieved that I was divorcing the Gospel from the Church, saying that the Church is part of the Gospel. How does that sound to you?

The Church is part of the Gospel.

I’m going to chew on that some and post about it later…but until then I would like to hear how others respond to that statement.

Where is God?

Mosaic is a community in LA where the noted speaker and writer Erwin McManus is the pastor. I’ve been listening to their podcast off and on for a while and occasionally I take a peek at the blog . After  listening to a sermon given not too long ago about the spiritual reality that affects our material world, I cruised over to the blog and found this comment.

To be honest, I think that the best thing to do would be to meditate on this for a while and then write something. In fact, it would be best to write something, edit it and then post. Instead, I’m just going to share what popped into my head.

“And lo, I am with you always. Even unto the end of the age.”

Pardon the archaic language but apparently that’s how it’s stored in my memory. Jesus said this (or something quite similar) before returning to God. Between then and now, Satan and those aligned (wittingly or not) with him have gone about testifying in a variety of ways that God has checked out. Jesus says, “I am with you.” Satan says “He’s outta here!” Someone is lying.

Honestly, there are times when it looks like Jesus is lying, doesn’t it? When you look at the evil that is crushing the world and the people in the world, it’s understandable to think that God has abandoned us. According to a recent news article, even Mother Teresa, God’s servant to the poorest of the poor in India for so many years, lived in a dark shadow dispairing of God’s presence in her own life.

Then there are times when light dispells shadow, when we are awestruck by an expected selfless act of kindness. Teresa’s life, regardless of her inner turmoil, is a testimony to the presence of God in the world, for she was motivated by nothing other than her desire to serve Him…even when she did not feel His love or appreciation of her devotion.

What other stories of God in the world can you tell if you stop long enough to think about it?

(NB: for the sake of “full disclosure”, I didn’t manage to write this post in a single go, but I assure you that I did not give it the meditation that I said that I think it deserves.)

Asylum II

This is the second part in a series of posts about a friend of mine seeking religious asylum in the West. Part I is here. 

A different officer came to speak with us. His name is B. He was God’s man in our story. Gently B. said, “Please guys, help us so we can help you. All we want is the truth,” then he went away. A third officer came to take us to get our bags. He opened each one of them and checked every single item. He kept my papers, documents, phonebook and my mobile phone, then he took us to a holding area. The holding area was a secured place with iron doors and angry faces. We waited for five minutes then B., the friendly officer, arrived. He took us to an office where he registered our names, nationalities, date of birth and the country of our departure. He also took our fingerprints. He asked, “What are you running away from?” We told him the main points of our story, then he said “You will be held while we check that your documents are not fake.”

We were taken to another small room where my wife was  thoroughly searched. As I was waiting for my turn, an older female officer spoke with me. I was struggling to keep a grip on myself so my wife wouldn’t see me cry, but once the older woman asked me why we were here I broke down. I couldn’t stop crying. She said, “Don’t worry brother. I am a Christian and I will be praying for you both.” Then it was my turn to be searched.

When it was over, we were offered something to eat and drink. We declined. Back in the detention hall, it was cold and silent. A TV was on with the sound turned down. Time passed so slowly. We had no idea what was going to happen next. After about an hour, they took us to a clinic in the airport where x-rays were taken and we were asked some medical questions. When we were finished there, we went back to the detention hall.

Hours crawled by. My wife was shivering from the cold. I asked the security guard if they could adjust the temperature in the hall. Instead, he gave us each a large sheet of some kind of paper to cover ourselves with. We tried it, but my wife was getting worse. I asked if she could be moved to somewhere warmer. I was afraid that she might be getting sick. The guard replied rudely , “She’s sick? She should’ve stayed home! Why did she come here!” I hugged her closely and tried to warm her up. Then they called for me.

to be conintued…