Rumor Has It My Only Hope Is You (And The Rumors Are True)

We all need Christ. It’s a very basic truth that I would bet my life on. However, occasionally we stumble across an individual whose need for Christ is overwhelming obvious. We see them struggling with an addiction or a mindset that needs to be laid down at the cross, and just wish that they would just encounter God’s grace. A recent example of this is Maureen Faulkner. For the younger and non-Philly readers, Maureen Faulkner is the widow of Officer Daniel Faulkner, a police officer killed in the line of duty most likely by Mumia Abu-Jamal in 1981. After thirty years of Faulkner and prosecutors trying to execute Aba-Jamal[1], the district attorney settled for life in prison without parole. Maureen Faulkner, distraught over Abu-Jamal not being put to death, gave a statement saying she will commit her life to make sure he receives no special treatment and is comforted by the fact that Abu-Jamal will burn in the “lowest dimension of hell”[2]. She added that eternity in hell is what he deserves.

Thank God that we all don’t just get what we deserve. The same grace that covers me also covers Maureen Faulkner and Mumia Abu-Jamal. I can’t help but think of the parable of the unmerciful servant[3], in which a servant, having just been forgiven of his massive debt to his master, refuses to show mercy on a fellow servant and has him thrown in prison. Reading that story, the sin of the unmerciful story jumps out to us, as his hypocrisy cannot be hidden. However, the life application struggles to be anything more than theoretical in our own lives. When someone else has wronged us, we look to our own sense of justice before we look to the example Christ set for us in his life and his death on the cross. This sense of justice, this entitlement to retribution that we trick ourselves into having was crucified on the cross along with our sins. The New Testament doesn’t tell us to judge, punish, and seek vengeance; it relentlessly hammers home the concepts of love, forgiveness, and prayer for our enemies.

I cannot even begin to contemplate the emotions and trauma of having a loved one murdered. Maureen Faulkner is not trying to be angry and hateful, it’s our natural response to such situations. I’m sure she’s not a bad person. After thirty years of simply looking back and refusing to forgive, she has become a clear example of why God is not subtle about how we are to deal with those who have wronged us. Instead of being a slave to our anger, and a martyr for the façade of human justice, we are told to pray for our enemies and ask God for the power to forgive. If we live angry at those who have wronged us and continue to dwell on the past, we will fail to look forward and we will miss what God is trying to do with us in the present and future.[4]

1. The murder of Daniel Faulkner and the treatment of Abu-Jamal is a humongous deal in the city of Philadelphia. There is an annual rally to “Free Mumia”, while many local businesses hang pictures of Officer Faulkner to show where they stand. I will not be offering any opinions on the actual case, as it will only take away from the main point.

2. http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Maureen-Faulkers-Message-to-Mumia-Abu-Jamal-135175638.html

3. Matthew 18:21-35

4. I didn’t want to go much longer, but I do have a disclaimer. For one, I apologize if it seemed to imply that forgiveness was an easy process or a one prayer and done thing. It takes a long time and a willingness to slowly let God heal us. Second, I also do not want to imply that forgiveness always has to end in a return to the status quo. You can forgive someone without it being healthy to be around them, especially if the forgiveness is only a one-sided affair. The most important thing is that we don’t carry the bitterness with us, not necessarily the relationship with the other person. Even Paul, who I’m sure had no problem forgiving John Mark and Barnabas, did not think it was wise to continue to work with them (Acts 15:37-39). Sins almost always external consequences, it’s God’s grace that can eliminate the internal consequences.

Acts 1:12-14

“Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk^[c] from the city. ¹³ When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. ¹⁴ They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers."

Look at the names listed in the passage above. It consists of eleven of the twelve disciples[1], the mother of Jesus, and various other friends and family. These men would go on to heal the sick, spread Christianity all over the world, and become heroes of the faith and founders of the church. Most would even be killed in sadistic ways because of their faith. Yet we see them here at a huge milestone in their ministries. Jesus had just left, leaving them with instructions to go and be witnesses to the very ends of the earth. So what did the men who would go on to be spiritual icons and heroes for the rest of time do first upon beginning their life after the ascension. They prayed.

There’s not a whole lot to this lesson, but it’s such a good example they set. They saw Jesus earlier in the day, were surrounded by Christians, and still decided to be “constantly in prayer” before beginning to do anything. Look what they would go on to accomplish. How often do we begin our day, our work, our projects, our ministries in prayer? These men were as close to Jesus as any humans could be and it was the first and most important thing they did. The prayer mentioned above does not sound as if it was an opening prayer to pay lip service before they figured out the logistics of world missions, but rather and constant pursuit of the Father’s will. If the original disciples did not view themselves as good or spiritual enough do begin their ministries without God’s help, how much more should we prioritize prayer in how we do things? All of the heroes of our faith once started out where most of us are now, with a desire to be part of God’s plan but an ignorance of the appropriate steps. The disciples make it quite clear. If the first step and top priority is prayer, and we turn over our desire to be in control of everything, God will be able to use us far beyond our own capacities.

1. Basically all the ones that didn’t betray Jesus for silver and then off themselves.

Rebranding Religion

or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAhDGYlpqY&list=UUc4yillQaNo6a-iG2PYbbrA&index=1&feature=plcp

By now, most of our generation has seen the video posted above. The young man walks out into the courtyard of some magnificent building, and begins to discuss his love of Jesus and hatred of religion. The re-actions to this video were mostly positive, as if getting sixteen million people to watch a video about Jesus is a good thing. However some of the re-actions were surprisingly negative. People began to question whether his portrayal of Christianity and religion was accurate. However, both sides are missing the bigger picture.

Let’s rock some Bible. James 1:27 says “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this; to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” [1]. Wait, did that just say true religion is looking after widows and orphans? Isn’t that what Jefferson Bethke, the creator of the video, is advocating for? So the Bible’s definition of how a religious person should act match’s up with the Bethke’s definition of how a person should act. So we can’t say that what Bethke is advocating for is wrong, but we can’t say his wording is right either[2]. Let’s take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

See, this conversation doesn’t start with a 20’s something rapper with some talent and awesome setting. It’s been going on for years. Since the world began, religion has been associated with genocide, racism, legalism, sexism, greed, sexual immorality, ignorance, terrorism, apathy, and the Crusades[3]. The church has tried for years to claim religion is not responsible for horrible things throughout history, and has come to realize there is a lot of guilt in our past. So a new plan was hatched to rebrand the word religion, so that it no longer means a spiritual worldview, but rather a word that encompasses all of the wrongs in the world. We began proclaiming Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship. This allows for us to not be associated with the wrongs of religion, but simply with Christ. Some even go further, such as Author Donald Miller when he claims he is not a Christian, but rather he is a follower of Christian Spirituality[4]. We have a desire to only be held responsible for our own individual relationships with God, and do not want to be held responsible for the actions of others we disagree with. It makes it easy to blast the fallacies of the church and our brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have reduced or eliminated our association with them.

But wait…what if we started to redeem the church, redeem Christianity, and redeem the name of religion? Don’t stand around and say the church doesn’t feed the poor, be part of a church that does. Don’t parade down the street and point out the hypocrites, be a man or woman of character and grace that lives out what the Bible says and is not ashamed of it. We are all the body of Christ, not individuals who only coincidentally share the same common goals. We need to start changing the image of the church, not by distancing ourselves from it, but rather by embracing the “pure and faultless religion” discussed in James.

1. NIV

2. We’re moving away from the video, but before I do I just have to say I think this kid is legit. While the post is discussing his definition of religion, the main points about who we are in Christ are pretty sweet. He seems to have responded very well and humbly to the criticisms, plus I really enjoyed some of his other videos.

3. And if we count atheism as a religion, we can add the Holocaust and the cruelty of Stalin and Soviet Russia to that list.

4. Blue Like Jazz

Acts 1:9-11

⁹ After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

¹⁰ They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ¹¹ “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

About a year ago, I was involved in a discussion with a member of the Bahá'í Faith. The Bahá'í Faith is incredibly interesting[1]. While I’m sure I am oversimplifying things, the religion is a belief that all the major religions of the world are correct, and simply different manifestations of God at different times[2]. The contradictions among the different faiths are problematic for the Bahá'í Faith, but they have grown adept at making the puzzle fit together somehow. Another major component of their faith is the belief that Jesus returned in the 1800’s in Iran, where he was imprisoned and eventually executed. This version of the Messiah came to tell the world that an omni-nation government and world peace was God’s plan of restoration for fallen creation.

The young man I was talking to blasted Christians for believing that Christ would return to Earth on a cloud and fix all of our problems. He felt that this doctrine is what was keeping Christians from actively pursuing world peace and a world government. In order worlds, the church needs to stop “looking into the sky” and go change the world. Despite the obvious holes in logic and tragic misunderstanding of God’s covenant, the man from the Bahá'í Faith was saying the same thing two angels told the disciples 2,000ish years ago. “Why do you stand here looking into the sky?” was the angel's way of saying the show is over, stop concerning yourselves over when Christ is returning and go do the things you were instructed to do. Remember, this is only a couple of verses after Christ tells them to be his witnesses to the very ends of the earth.

I’d like to think too that these were the same angels who asked Mary Magdalene when she saw the empty tomb “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”. Regardless, there seems to be a similar message that the angels are trying to communicate through rhetorical questions. Since the death and resurrection of Christ, we have grace through faith and not through the law as was previously the case. Without this constant need to redeem ourselves through sacrifice, it’s easy and familiar for Christians to fall into a pattern of waiting. We wait to repair our relationship with God, we wait to represent Christ to those around us, and we wait to serve him. The angels seem to be saying there is more to following Christ then waiting for death or waiting for his return. It’s about taking up our cross daily in order to do what he has called us to do. It doesn’t matter what has happened or what will happen, God does not allow us to use the past and the future as excuses for apathy, but rather encourages and equips us to use them as tools to further his kingdom.

1. Obnoxious to type though

2. For more information from a reliable source, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27%C3%AD_Faith

Another Perspective On Peace

http://davehershey.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/why-i-am-not-quite-a-pacifist/

An interesting article that touches on the topics brought up when we discussed peace last semester. The author is a colleague who works at Penn State Berks. What do you guys think? Is his argument of justified violence in defense of others biblically sound? Do these same principles apply on a broader scale to war?