Tried With Fire

There has been a lot of virtual ink spilled ever since the recent TGC conference on the anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination. I still stand by my desire to take these conversations out of e-space and bring them face-to-face. I affirm that there is a single human race that fell in Adam and has been redeemed through the work of Christ. I affirm that He is the source of our unity and that He fully paid for the sins that divide. While I agree that race is a social construct, God has providentially created us with roots in different countries and cultures. This a wonderful thing for which we should thank Him. Thus the church is not the Borg. Unity is not colorblind nor ethnic blind. Neither is it gender blind. Yet I'm still discouraged by what I've seen on social media. The visceral response to events like MLK50 and David Platt's talk at T4G seems to indicate that there is something unstable below the surface.  Amy Mantravadi describes it as a ...

I took one history class as an elective in college, 1st semester American history. I sometimes rolled out of bed just in time to slide into the back of the auditorium. It seemed completely impractical at the time, and I couldn't wait to get past all these boring requirements so I could move on to what really mattered. But if you look at my reading stack today, a good chunk of those books are history. Why the change? My about-face was sparked at the 2012 Ligonier Conference on The Christian Mind. Dr. Robert Godfrey gave a brief overview of American Christianity, tracing the trends and movements to where we are today. One of those trends is that we have stopped thinking about how we think. This intrigued me because I had recently gone through a major shift in my theology. I came home and began to trace the genealogy of what I used to believe. I had been influenced by teachers who had someone influence them, who had someone influence them... But who were these people? This wasn...

I was in the 5th grade at my elementary school. I don't remember much about the actual building, but I remember the stairwells. Metal hand rails with chipped paint, well-worn steps, and the combined odor of sneakers and Janitor-in-a-Drum. There were swinging wooden doors with glass panels at each floor so you could see if someone was on the opposite side and not knock them over by accident. I was getting ready to go down the stairs and was in the process of pushing the stairwell door when I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the glass. I will never forget the shock when I saw my face. I saw an Asian girl with glasses looking back at me. It may sound crazy, but I was so used to being around white kids that I forgot I was Chinese. I don't know what I expected to see, but it wasn't me. The Immigration Act of 1965 had been in place for several years, but you could still count the Asian families on one hand. White students outnumbered black students probably 5:1, if not more...

I had several hours last Friday morning with nothing to do but read. What a treat! So I started reading  Religion and American Culture by George Marsden, which was languishing in my to-be-read stack. The main reason I read history is to try to understand why we think the way we do today, and this book did not disappoint. The following quote is from chapter 3 - Protestant and Progressive America: 1860-1917 : The standard view, still taught in both college economic texts and in popular literature after the Civil War, was built upon the premise that God created the world with a system of rewards and punishments. People who worked were rewarded, while lazy or profligate people suffered from poverty. The right to own private property was considered a sacred right, since it was essential to the operation of the reward system. It was important also not to interfere with the natural mechanism, as in strikes or government interference. Charity was an important duty toward the truly ...

Several years ago, we helped my parents move to an independent living facility. For those of you who have moved elderly parents, you know what it's like. If your parents lived through the Great Depression or a similar economically trying circumstance, you also know the added challenge. Not only is there the accumulation of decades' worth of stuff, nothing is thrown away for fear it might be needed. Consequently we sorted through trunks, boxes, and bags not sure of what we would find. There were treasures such as correspondence between my dad and his siblings during his college days. But there were also many items over which we just shook our heads and then tossed into the trash. This wasn't my junk. I didn't tuck it away in the attic, but it was my problem because it was my family. I was talking to my daughter recently about the difficulty in discussing racial issues among Christians. Some think others are making it out to be more of a problem than it currently is....

I have several missionary heroes, and one of them is J. Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission (CIM). My roots hail from China, and the first Christians in my family were my paternal grand-grandmother and my maternal grandparents. Their conversions were the act of the Holy Spirit, of course, but through the means of missionary labor. These unknown saints may not have been associated with CIM, but Taylor left his mark on missions in general and China in particular. European imperialism was sweeping through Asia at the time. Countries were subject to gunboat diplomacy and trade agreements in favor of the conquerors. I don't know if the British opinion of the Chinese was the same as the sentiments in North America , but I think it would be safe to say that there was very little sense of equality. However, Hudson Taylor's attitude was quite different, which is perhaps one of the reasons he is so respected. Taylor adopted the dress, living quarters, eating habits,...

The following quotes are from  Heal Us, Emmanuel: A Call for Racial Reconciliation, Representation, and Unity in the Church , which contains contributions from various pastors in the PCA. I started reading this in earnest over the weekend and could not put it down. I don't agree with everything, but there is much that I do. Regardless, this book is thought-provoking and uncovers assumptions and unconscious privilege that the Christian majority culture  (white culture)   may be bringing to the table. There is more that I could write particularly in how those assumptions trickle down in application for women, but it will have to wait. My day job is calling me. You may disagree completely that there is any privilege whatsoever in play. Fair enough. My intent is not to point the finger but to  encourage you to listen to a side you may not have considered before. Above all, my motive is for the peace and healing of the Bride of Christ. I told them I was an elder o...

I finished listening to White Trash: The 400-Year-Old-History of Class in America by LSU history professor, Nancy Isenberg. If you believe that America is a classless society founded on the principle of equal opportunity for all, this book will burst that bubble. The following quote from the epilogue jumped out at me because it accurately assesses, in my opinion, how politicians have manipulated different sectors in society including the "Christian vote."  Moved by the need for control, for an unchallenged top tier, the power elite in American history has thrived by placating the vulnerable and creating for them a false sense of identification - denying real class differences whenever possible. pg. 313. I also highly recommend this Pass the Mic podcast with Andy Crouch, author and executive editor of Christianity Today. His take on the dynamics of the 2016 election, politics, and the treatment of the vulnerable is spot on. Now when "class inequality" is...

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 ...

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...

This is a quote from Divided by Faith : [W]hite evangelicals view the race problems as (1) prejudiced individuals, resulting in poor relationships and sin, (2) others trying to make it a group or systemic issue when it is not, or (3) a fabrication of the self-interested. Given that issues of inequality, systemic injustice, and group conflict are not part of their assessment, we did not expect to hear these addressed as part of the solution. And we rarely did. What we did hear from many was what others have called the "miracle motif." The miracle motif is the theologically rooted idea that as more individuals become Christians, social and personal problems will be solved automatically. What is the solution to violent crime? Convert people to Christianity, because Christians do not commit violent crimes. What is the solution to divorce? Covert people to Christianity, because Christians are less likely to get divorced? What is the solution to hate problems of race? ......

Michael Luo, deputy metro editor for the New York Times, was yelled at by a woman on the street and told to "Go back to China!" This is 2016. This happened in a major city with a very large Asian American population. Here is Michael Luo's  open letter to the woman, which was on the front page of the New York Times. In addition, this is an article with some of the many responses to the open letter and a video of several responders. (Warning: The video contains vulgar language and racial slurs. The language is from the comments made to Asian Americans.) I won't deny that this hit me hard. I have my own set of stories to tell from childhood and adulthood of being mocked and made to feel ashamed of my ethnicity. Some remarks were subtle and patronizing. Others were not. I also remember what I said and did to make the point that I was as much an American as the next person. In some instances I tried to fit in as much as possible which meant acting like the predominan...

I wasn't raised to think a great deal about or dwell on my ethnic ancestry. I grew up in a little town where you could count the number of Asian families on one hand. I didn't go to school or to church with people who looked like me. I was never sent to Chinese school like other Chinese American children to learn the language and preserve the cultural heritage. Consequently, there was some outward and private disapproval, because my sister and I were too American to suit some folks. This disapproval came from extended family as well as other Chinese American believers. My parents deliberately chose to worship with people who were externally different from themselves. They deliberately chose not to isolate our family based on our background. My parents were given an opportunity to make a new life in this country. Because of that, they felt it would be wrong to take advantage of those opportunities afforded in America and not become a part of the country that opened its doors to ...