Tried With Fire

One of the questions that comes up regarding ethnicity/race is "Aren't we supposed to be colorblind?" I think the  following exposition of Galatians 3:28 by Michelle Lee-Barnewall may help answer that question. This passage focuses on the complementarian vs. egalitarian debate, but gender isn't the only distinction the Apostle Paul mentions. [W]hile Jesus's treatment of women was indeed groundbreaking, the notion of "equality" may not be the most accurate lens through which to try to understand the importance of his actions... Instead it may be more important to understand the issue according to the idea of "inclusion." 1 In this new community, distinctions are not eliminated as much as they have become irrelevant for determining who can be "in Christ" because now believers are children of God through faith rather than the law. 2 The three pairings in Gal. 3:28, which also include male and female and slave and free, represente...

This doesn't happen very often, but every now and then I will read something and think, "This puts into words exactly what I have been thinking and feeling for most of my life." The first time was when I read the essays in "Are Women Human?" by Dorothy L. Sayers. This is the second time. As a member of a minority group everywhere in my country except among family or through the self-conscious effort to find other Asian Americans, I alternate between being conspicuous and vanishing, being stared at or looked through. Although the conditions may seem contradictory, they have in common the loss of control. In most instances, I am who others perceive me to be rather than how I perceive myself to be. Considered by the strong sense of individualism inherent in American society, the inability to define one's self is the greatest loss of liberty possible. We Americans believe in an heroic myth from the nineteenth century, whereby moving to the frontier gives a ...

“Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil; where the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.” Hebrews 6:17-20.  The text concludes with this very sweet reflection, that though our hope is out of sight, we have a friend in the unseen land where our hope has found its hold. In anxious moments a sailor might almost wish that he could go with his anchor and fix it firmly. That he cannot do, but we have a friend who has gone to see to everything for us! Our anchor is within the veil—it is where we cannot see it—but Jesus is there, and our hope is inse...

Darth Sidious applies for a loan:

I am thankful for: - A hot mug of tea as I finish up the last bit of work. - Enjoying the stillness of the morning before it's time to start cooking a simple Thanksgiving meal. - A few days of rest and quiet at home. - Family and friends who are greatly loved and appreciated. - Many tears shed and many lessons learned so far this year but with the assurance that God is working all things for good. - The means of grace through the local church that keep me grounded. - Jesus' call for the weary and heavy laden to come to Him and find rest for our souls. (Matt. 11:28-30) Happy Thanksgiving! Photo credit: By Ireen Trummer (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All power is given to Me in Heaven and on earth. Matthew 28:18. “All power is given to Me in Heaven and on earth.” We believe in this power and we rest in it. We do not seek any other power. There is a craving, often, after great mental power—people want “clever” men to preach the Gospel. Ah, Sirs, I fear that the Gospel has suffered more damage from clever men than from anything else! I question whether the devil, himself, has ever worked so much mischief in the Church of God as clever men have done! No, we want to have such mental vigor as God pleases to give us, but we remember that text, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord.” The world is not going to be saved by worldly wisdom or by fine oratory—brilliant speeches and poetic periods win not souls for Christ! The power to do this is the power that is in Christ. And the Church of God, when she is in her right senses, does not look for any other power. I mean that s...

Philosophy has its uses...

I was going to write a review of  Hidden Figures but it's hard writing a review when you only have an audio version. Even though I listened to it twice, I can't go back to a particular page, but I can share what I remember and the thoughts and questions it has raised. Hidden Figures tells the story of the African American female mathematicians who helped the US win the space race and provided the math know-how for aircraft design during WWII. These women worked as human computers - solving advanced mathematical calculations with only their brains, data tables, and rudimentary calculators before the advent of the modern computers that we know today. One of these women was Dorothy Vaughan . Dorothy was a wife, mother, and public school teacher in Farmville, Virginia. She declined the opportunity to pursue a graduate degree in mathematics to become a teacher, one of the few professions open to black female college graduates. At that time, Virginia was in the bottom 25% for U...

“We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” 1 John 3:14 So, Brothers and Sisters, if we can say that we love God’s people, as God’s people, because they are God’s people , that is a mark that we have passed from death unto life! Do you love them for Christ’s sake ? Do you say to yourself, “That is one of Christ’s people. That is one who bears Christ’s Cross. That is one of the children of God and, therefore, I love him and take delight in his company”? Then that is an evidence that you are not of the world. If you were, you would love the world, but, belonging to Christ, you love those who are Christ’s and you love them for Christ’s sake.  Another is you love them for the Truth of God’s sake. We are but earthen vessels, yet there is the excellency of the treasure of God put within us, so, when you can say, “I love that man because of the Truth of God he preaches. I do not care about his talents, but I do care about his Gospel”—when you ca...

My pastor has been preaching through the book of Revelation. We're still in the first few chapters where Jesus is commending and correcting the churches. While these letters were written to real churches in existence in John's lifetime, these letters are for all true churches throughout time. These letters are for us. For me. In the letter to Ephesus, Jesus commends this church, but He also admonishes them that they have lost their first love. This could mean love for God, love for believers, and love for the lost. According to my pastor many commentators have different views as to which love. But who amongst us would dare say that we love God, believers, and the lost as we should? Who doesn't need to grow in all three areas? My mind is still reeling from the election. My heart is also grieved for believers and unbelievers alike as we seem to more divided than ever. So my prayer for myself and for the church is that we would regain our first love. - Love for God that...

I didn't bother following the election returns on social media last night and fully expected to wake up to a Clinton presidency. I am stunned. I voted for an independent candidate rather than casting an anti-vote, so I'm not quite sure how to process my feelings. However, I will say this: America has become even more polarized in the last 8 years, and I fear it is will continue to head in that trajectory. This election has also amplified the fact that American "Christianity" sees itself as political force. Hence all the big names making sure we knew how to vote if we were to be "good evangelicals." Unjust laws should be changed but laws can't change people's hearts. If we put all our eggs in a political/high court basket, we will be sadly disappointed. Things will only change when the church begins to address issues like race, misogyny, poverty, and the sanctity for all life down at the local level. Absolutely preach the gospel, but the gospel app...

The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind. 1 The following quote from The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind isn't meant to point a finger. I freely admit to being too terrified to read the front page of a newspaper after 9/11. I was also the kid who looked out the window to see if the moon had turned bright red, if my parents were late getting home, for fear that they had been raptured and I was left behind. Within weeks of the outbreak of this conflict [the 1991 Gulf War], evangelical publishers provided a spate of books featuring efforts to read this latest Middle East crisis as a direct fulfillment of biblical prophecy heralding the end of the world. The books came to various conclusions, but they all shared the disconcerting conviction that the best way of providing moral judgment about what was happening in the Middle East was not to study carefully what was going on in the Middle East. Rather, they featured a kind of Bible study...

Ask of Me and I shall give You the heathen for Your inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Psalms 2:8, 9. Observe , dear Friends, the wonderful contrast between the violent excitement of the enemies of the Lord and the sublime serenity of God Himself. He is not disturbed though the heathen so furiously rage and their kings and mighty ones set themselves in battle array. He smiles at them—He has them in derision. You and I are often downcast and depressed and our forebodings are dark and dismal, but God sits in His eternal peacefulness and serenely overrules tumult and rebellion. The Lord reigns and His Throne is not moved, nor His rest broken whatever may be the noise and turmoil down below. Notice the sublimity of this Divine calm. While the heathen and their princes are plotting and planning how to break His bands asunder and cast His cords from them, He has ...

Sponsor a millennial today:

I was cautiously optimistic when I read Pastor Jason Meyer's sermon " Fooled by False Leadership " last year. Meyer spoke on the issue of domestic abuse in Christian homes because of hyper-headship. Many Christians only acknowledge physical violence as abuse, if that, and have a very limited understanding of abuse in general. In addition John Piper (Meyer's predecessor) is probably one of the last people I would ever send an abuse victim to for advice , hence the caution. However I was pleased to read the following statements and several charts detailing different forms of abuse and naming them abuse . If these are the numbers for physical and sexual abuse, imagine how much bigger the problem is if you add mental and emotional abuse. Let me put this in layman’s terms. Do not say insensitive, misguided things like, “If it doesn’t leave a physical mark, then it is not abuse.” and Emotional abuse is a pattern in the use of words and actions to assault, reorder, and...