A THOUGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY 2010

I am not particularly a flag-waving firework blazing kind of patriot – I do not believe in American exceptionalism – I do not believe that America is a “great” nation as many consider greatness – I DO believe that the sins of the fathers will be visited on the children to the third and the fourth generations and that those who participate in the fruit of unjust gain share equally in the guilt with those who practiced the original injustice – and for this nation especially so long as the practices of our forefathers remains unchanged in our land to this day –

How long will we allow injustice to remain in the land toward the Native Americans who were its first inhabitants? – How long will we allow injustice to remain in the land toward Mexican-Americans whose ancestors were in the land long before the first Europeans arrived on these shores? – How long will we allow injustice to remain in the land toward African-Americans whose great grandparents were brought to this country in the holds of slave ships and who to a very great extent remain trapped in the slave ship holds of economic, political and social injustice to this day –

The word of God is clear – “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, whatever a man (or nation) sews that it shall also reap” – Be it known this Independence Day that the material prosperity of this nation is not in any sense the manifestation of God’s blessing upon America for any perceived righteousness on our part but is rather the poisonous fruit of the unjust gain of unrighteousness –

While I do not in any way want to belittle the more than abundant examples of generosity and humanitarian kindness on the part of this nation throughout its history – yet as with man so is the nation that it is not by works that one is saved and no amount of good works of generosity and humanitarian kindness on the part of this nation will never cancel out its debt of sin before God – That will only be accomplished through a thorough and heartfelt repentance before God of the historical and continuing unjust practices of this nation and their discontinuance as the manifestation our true repentance –

Perhaps it would be well for us this Independence Day to dispense with our firework celebrations and to cease to raise our banner high until we first bow low before our father’s throne – not in a feigned pseudo repentance of pharisaical self-righteousness – but in true repentance by which his, not our, banner may be lifted high and that the fading glory of this nation would be lost in the radiant glory of his kingdom - - d.e.b.

A PARABLE FOR TODAY

The Parable of the Americans and the Haitians

If Jesus were telling parables today what kind of stories would he tell? Let me suggest an updated version of the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus from Luke 16:19-25. We could call it The Parable of the Americans and the Haitians.

The United States flourished on a major portion of the North American continent with the vast majority of its population living in the lap of luxury. A short few hundred miles off the shores of America lay Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Most of the Haitian people were sick or under nourished and would have given anything to have eaten even a small portion the scraps that the Americans threw in the garbage.

Now a day came when an magnitude 8.8 earthquake devastated the capital city of Haiti and 250,000 people were killed and the angels carried them up to heaven; and at the same time another magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck on the San Andreas fault near Los Angeles devastating the city and another 250,000 people died and these people were buried. And in hell the Americans lifted up their eyes, being in torment, and saw God far away and the Haitians gathered close around him.

And the Americans cried out, "O God, have mercy on us, and send the Haitians that they might bring us a drop of water to refresh us for we are in torment in these flames." But God answered and said, "My children, remember that in your life you lived in the lap of luxury and lacked for nothing while the Haitians lived in abject poverty or worse; but now they are being comforted here, and you are in agony..."

Or perhaps he would tell the story like this: On the continent of North America a great population lived, many gathered together in vast urban sprawls with plenty of food, clothing housing and health care and all the luxuries that money could buy. At the same time, scattered throughout the nation in desolate wasteland places lived the reservation Indians...

It's just something to think about.

THOUGHTS ON THE EMERGING CHURCH MOVEMENT

The attached https are a couple of 8-10 minute video clips of discussions on the
Emerging Church - check them out and my response below -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv6uxCch7oc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxfobXmmRx8

The emergent movement is a natural consequence of the hypocrisy within the traditional church of Europe and America which persists in schism, an affront to Jesus' prayer for the unity of the church in John 17:21-22, with an arrogant and dogmatic adherence to theological traditions. The dogmatic assertions of having the "true" interpretation of scripture especially on the part of the most extreme conservative "fundamentalists" and extreme liberal "progressives" as each side builds their respective theologies on their personally preferred proof texts of scripture while virtually ignoring other passages which do not support their theological positions is the very seed within the church from relativism would be the natural fruit. To quote Pilate in John 18:38 "What is truth?" The elevation of "doctrinal assertions" and "creedal postures" to a place of preeminence over Christian living: "we can't kill truth in the streets for the sake of peace" affronts Paul's directive in Romans 12:18 "so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men," and illustrates the principle of 1 Corinthians 8:1 "Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies." It also ignores the illustrations of the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46 and the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 wherein a persons condition after death is determined exclusively by how they lived their life and used their resources in their relationships in this life with doctrinal correctness not being a factor in the determination. Also it is the arrogance of western culture that would reduce "true" Christianity to a matter of intellectual pursuit while the entirety of scripture illustrates that our response to God is intended to be a whole life response, experiential as well as intellectual.

Today is a good day to remember it is not about our nationality - it is not about our ethnicity - it is not about our political affiliation - or any other thing that divides us - If we claim the name of Christ it is about our unity in him and how we reflect him to the world!

Here is a thought - GLOBAL universal healthcare paid for out of a fund collected from fines- penalties- and taxes imposed on the multi-billion dollar multi-national corporations who are poisoning the environment -

Just wondering if, as a "Christian" nation, instead of practicing atheistic economic principles we shouldn't actually be practicing Biblical economic principles like Exodus 22:25: "If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, you are not to act as a creditor to him; you shall not charge him interest."