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don t pay much attention to but that day for some reason we wanted something from it so just moments before i go to get the new aid i search the box and inside i find the lost hearing aid today we are working to practice our faith in very small and unnoticeable ways we have no buildings but our house no banners just little garden plots there aren t many of us but we do have friends all across the neighborhood in our city and other surprising places who we care for and who we can sense care for us this is a hard neighborhood to live in when people can afford another place to live they usually move on children frequently ask me with a look that pleads for stability are you gonna stay as i hold these hearing aids in my hand the same hearing aids that i ve lost and found all over this state i think deeply about what it means to receive a promise from god in christine pohl s living into community she writes that families are created through promises in our culture this promising often culminates with two people coming together with a new hope that lasting love is possible until death do us part yet in the new testament god as usual is amping it up by forming a new family that we see only shadows of in the nuclear family god s family begins with a vow a promise from god himself i will never leave you and you will see me most clearly in every brother sister and neighbor who is hungry thirsty sick imprisoned or lost it is the banqueting feast where all are welcome as they are and at the head of the table is the server himself god our father it is the community that holds the pain of its brothers sisters and neighbors and at its center is the son bearing and sharing that pain showing what it means to suffer for love s sake it is the one place where at the greatest point of our irreconcilable brokenness and failure the absurdity of resurrection breaks forth and draws us towards an impossible joy a peace that passes all understanding and a hope that never departs lately i ve been feeling so tired and beat yet i can t shake this feeling that there is this great and beautiful sunrise that is about to break forth i look around at my imperfect life and i see sun rays peeking over the roof tops in mills god is chasing us all with a vow and he s smiling share this share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on x opens in new window x share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin share on pinterest opens in new window pinterest share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr share on reddit opens in new window reddit email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print like loading posted in uncategorized 3 comments the apostle paul was not a misogynist homophobe may 28 posted by unconventionalchristians ralph waldo emerson said to be great is to be misunderstood if emerson was right then the apostle paul might be one of the greatest men to ever live few religious leaders have been as grossly misunderstood as paul unlike jesus who most people regard as a great moral teacher paul is routinely accused of the most egregious sins according to modern sensibilities misogyny classism homophobia anti semitism the idea that paul invented christianity is so fashionable nowadays that many people take it as a given as if it s obviously true the irony in all this unexamined paul bashing is that fewer people today are taking the time to ponder the crux of his moral message the letter kills but the spirit gives life a message that both society and the church need to hear yes there are passages in paul s letters that would seem to paint him as pro slavery anti women and homophobic but just as muslim scholars insist that the passages of the qur an that seem out of step with modern ethical norms be read in light of their historical context the same is true with paul s letters paul s advice to slaves obey your masters and their masters treat your slaves well may seem off kilter today but given the historical situation his advice can hardly be described as unreasonable it should also be noted that paul insisted that slaves who could attain their freedom should do so and that he condemned slave traders as far as women are concerned for all of the passages that seem to consign women to second class status in the home and the church and there are plenty of scholars who insist that those passages teach the exact opposite of that all of them pail in comparison to paul s notion that in christ there is neither jew nor gentile neither slave nor free nor is there male and female whether we re talking about women or slaves paul can rightly be considered a progressive in light of the customs attitudes and social norms of his day which leaves us with the homophobia charge the definition of homophobia according to the encarta world english dictionary is an irrational hatred disapproval or fear of homosexuality gay and lesbian people and their culture given that in all of paul s letters there s only one unmistakable reference to same sex relations the words translated as homosexual in i corinthians 6 9 and i timothy 1 10 are highly ambiguous words in the greek paul can hardly be said to have had an irrational hatred disapproval or fear of homosexuality especially when you take into account that in the one clear reference to same sex relations in paul s letters romans 1 23 17 the relations that paul is describing are the highly lustful relations that accompanied pagan temple worship in his day while it s not my intention to settle the debate as to whether paul disapproved of all same sex relations even if the traditional view is correct which is that paul viewed same sex relations as inherently sinful whether in the context of monogamous relationships or not an obsessive inquiry into how paul felt about same sex sex misses the forest through the trees in paul s theology christian morality isn t about following a set of ironclad inflexible rules and regulations it s about spirit filled followers of jesus dying to the letter of the law and rising to a new life in the spirit romans 7 6 a life where the spirit indwelt conscience is the new moral compass romans 14 22 23 2 corinthians 3 6 and the rule of thumb that satisfies all of god s laws is to love your neighbor as yourself romans 13 8 10 galatians 5 14 the letter kills but the spirit gives life says paul in paul s theology the death and resurrection of jesus was the historical game changer that shifted the focus away from the rules and regulations of the law and towards the spirit indwelt conscience as the arbiter for moral decisions in the life of the believer paul insists it is for freedom that christ has set us free yes freedom paul was the apostle of human freedom how tragic it is that society maligns him and the church misrepresents him share this share on facebook opens in new window facebook share on x opens in new window x share on linkedin opens in new window linkedin share on pinterest opens in new window pinterest share on tumblr opens in new window tumblr share on reddit opens in new window reddit email a link to a friend opens in new window email print opens in new window print like loading posted in uncategorized 2 comments are christian zionism and social justice compatible may 21 posted by unconventionalchristians by john harris sami awad palestinian street activist and born again christian began to wrap up his presentation to a packed room of pentecostal and charismatic believers i know many of you here are christian zionists i don t ask that you give any of that up not for one moment but i also know that you are spirit filled believers and that the holy spirit has increased the size of your heart i know that the israelis are in your heart i hope you can find room for the palestinians as well a standing ovation erupted it was a job well done these comments were made recently at converge21 a conference held at regent university in virginia beach virginia home of televangelist pat robertson present were heads of america s pentecostal denominations universities seminaries and churches it was not the usual combination but that s what you get when you merge conventions the society for pentecostal studies sps had long scheduled their 2012 conference for virginia beach this group of intellectuals and scholars gather once a year to develop and promote academia within the pentecostal charismatic movement the theme for this year was pentecostalism peacemaking and social justice righteousness then along came empowered21 an organization focusing on the future of the pentecostal charismatic movement born out of oral roberts university empowered21 seeks not only to reach the world for jesus christ but also to introduce other movements within christianity to the power of the holy spirit when empowered21 looked for a place to hold their gathering they turned to regent university finding that sps was already having their gathering at regent on the same week empowered21 sought to have their convention both alongside and with sps empowered21 leadership discovered that sami was to be a keynote speaker with sps they were okay with sami speaking at a joint session but then the emails and phone calls started coming in cbn and tbn pulled their live television coverage of the entire conference concessions were made the title of the evening was changed to reflect a broader topic and wayne hilsden pastor of a pentecostal church within israel was added to the bill sami began his lecture by tracing his family s christian heritage they are palestinian christians he told in detail about his decision to follow jesus christ and his subsequent receiving of the gift of tongues telling the story of the 1948 war in which the nation of israel was created sami recalled the death of his grandfather the war had begun and the jewish soldiers came to his family s village a neighborhood where jews christians and muslims were all living together my father went outside our home to place a white flag on our house showing that we were in support of neither side he was killed by a sniper s bullet sami continued to tell the story of his life from the viewpoint of someone who was on the other side of the founding of israel he spoke of the 1967 war when the remainder of what once was called palestine was taken over and occupied by the nation of israel his family had become refugees in their own land he continued on with accounts of fighting oppression and land confiscation all executed on the palestinians by the israelis i knew that jesus calls me to love my enemies who are my enemies the israeli defense force and the jewish settlers of course this is not the most common lecture to be heard at a conference of this sort present in the crowd were leaders of a theology known as christian zionism the belief that god had caused the rebirth of israel as a nation in 1948 and as the bible says in genesis 12 3 i will bless those who bless you israel and curse those who treat you with contempt sami then described his work as a palestinian street activist his cause the independence of a free and secure palestine as a nation alongside a free and secure nation of israel his method nonviolent social change he shared that he had come to a place where he promotes only nonviolence as a method for social change this in contrast with his beliefs earlier in life that independence may come through a variety of methods including both nonviolence and armed struggle he called jesus the prince of peace the conference continued for several more days it is feasible that sps like empowered21 is dominated by those who would aspire to the theology of christian zionism pentecostalism and last days theology almost always walk hand in hand among the presentations included topics of israel the last days and messianic judaism one scholar from england was there to present his dissertation on world pentecostalism the last days and the rebirth of israel he systematically proved that pentecostals from around the globe believe that god s hand is with israel and that they believe this whether or not they have been influenced by north american pentecostalism his figures were solid toward the end of his presentation fully embracing all the major beliefs of christian zionism he began to talk about gross injustices occurring within the palestinian territories he talked about a number of views within christian zionism on the issue of land specifically the trading of land in exchange for peace he noted that different christian zionist scholars have a variety of beliefs concerning the amount of land that is to constitute israel in order to usher in the last days some have relatively no parameters while the extremes believe israel will take over massive amounts of land currently belonging to nearby arab nations he then went on to discuss the movement within christianity including pentecostalism toward social justice he even used the words social justice reflecting the lectures given through empowered21 he stated that pentecostalism must change in order to be relevant to the younger generation and the younger generation won t buy a faith that says israel wrong or right rather the renaissance in the social justice movement will demand that any faith to be relevant cannot promote inhumane conditions of occupied people groups the suggestion was then made that christian zionism and social justice are compatible if those christian faithful that promote israel are willing to accept an israel that is smaller than the one in existence today it will satisfy the concerns of those young people including young pentecostals that justice for the poor is done i was as amazed to hear this as a human rights worker i have seen firsthand the persecution experienced daily by palestinians in the west bank although my particular pentecostal church back at home is silent on issues of israel i know that i belong to a movement that in my estimation gives its blessing to the continued confiscation of palestinian land to make room for jewish settlements we also turn a blind eye to the daily home invasions beatings and detentions in the west bank i long for the day when this war is over when all are living in relative peace and justice and when palestine is its own nation no more shootings no more suicide bombs no more missile attacks just people going about their lives going to work feeding their families both israeli and palestinian and the blessings continued two christian women representing a jewish christian zionist organization told me that for the first time sami awad was someone that they could work with a jewish attendee from the same organization mentioned that he had been on the phone that morning with pastor john hagee founder of christians united for israel cufi trying to explain to john hagee that sami s lecture was not something to be alarmed about sami awad and wayne hilsden got to know each other on a more personal basis and both spoke the next week at the christ at the ch...
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