Holding on to What's Good

Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil.

I Thess 5:19-22 (NLT)

Traditions.

I was raised in Bible churches. We liked to claim that we didn't have religiosity, only the Bible. That there was no tie in to the traditions of men, but only the pure, unrefracted, open, plain Word of God. Which of course wasn't true. Each interpretation of the Bible is built on several layers of traditions, each made by men (and often and only by men); each church practice is based on some mixture of social, cultural, historical, familial customs. Sometimes the passing of these practices and belief systems are well thought out. Often not.

When my church refused to practice Lent, when it refused to tackle the Lord's Supper with any seriousness (except to scare off guilty congregants), I seriously considered going full papal. If I weren't newly married to an ex-Catholic, I probably would have too. I liked their respect for thousands-year old traditions, for a link to their past. I appreciated their appreciation of the forbearers, "the cloud of witnesses cheering us on."

And there are many things to love about Catholicism and many to love about the Orthodox Church. But much about the traditions that they had kept didn't hold true for me. I also felt that Jesus or the first disciples wouldn't approve of the male-centric dominance and (especially in the Catholic Church) a hierarchical rule that squashes questioning and, thus, discussion and necessary change. This wariness of innovation leads to a church resistant to having female leads, leaving functionally half of the church from the body itself, transitioning the church proper into more and more of a cold, dead institution - a lifeless corpse.

When Christians and Churches (whether new megachurches or storefronts or ancient networks of parishes) prioritize institutions over community, we forget those we were sent out for in the first place - the marginalized, the outcast, the oppressed. In order to maintain institution, with property and monies and prestige, we must maintain the favor of the well-to-do, of the institution-holders. In order to do so, we must not upset their comfort by questioning male superiority, or hetero normalcy. Or White or Middle Class Supremacy.

Protestant churches, of course, are known for protesting the conventions of the Catholic Church. Many decided to radically protest any vestiges and remains of Catholic thought - but that's silly.

And, maybe a bit dangerous. Because if you don't have a line of traditions to interpret your bible with, what do you do with some of the parts that aren't quite understandable? You could build up a whole other rubric and system of theology to handle thorny issues of theology. Or you could pretty much pull whatever you want out of your ass to defend your own fear and hatred.

The world’s got an earful of that ass noise recently, though. A pastor suggests that the US should air drop homosexuals (and queers, I guess?) into an electrified gate in order to exterminate gayness from our country. Because when the gays die out with all their gayness, then they can't teach the kids to be gay no more, right?

Or the pastor whose solution for homosexuality is to scare or capital punish it out of them:

They should be put to death. That’s what happened in Israel. That’s why homosexuality wouldn’t have grown in Israel. It tends to limit conversions. It tends to limit people coming out of the closet. — ‘Oh, so you’re saying we should go out and start killing them, no?’ — I’m saying the government should. They won’t but they should.

Or the little boy who learned and then sang (with much applause) happily that the gays certainly won't be making it past Peter at the Pearly Gates Luxury Resort. The pastor may be on the run, but the church isn't apologizing.

The Pastor and members of Apostolic Truth Tabernacle do not condone, teach, or practice hate of any person for any reason. We believe and hope that every person can find true Bible salvation and the mercy and grace of God in their lives.
We are a strong advocate of the family unit according to the teachings and precepts found in the Holy Bible. We believe the Holy Bible is the Divinely-inspired Word of God and we will continue to uphold and preach that which is found in scripture.

You see, they're not hating, because it's in the Bible. And if it's in the Bible, according to them, it can't be about hatred; it can only be about God's Word and God's Truth. And what could be hateful about that? They "found" it in scripture, after all.

They say it’s in the Bible. And I believe they’re right. There’s a lot of stuff in the Bible. There’s a story of God-ordained genocide from the book of I Samuel, in addition to the many other acts of genocide ordained earlier in Joshua and then the utter carnage in Judges.

Most civilized Christians don’t like to talk about this. But I learned about it early on. In much the same way it’s being taught to grade school kids in public schools through a Bible club (endorsed by the Supreme Court, thank you very much). And when it’s a part of the whole, unvarnished Word of God, well, that’s a tradition you need to upkeep, right?

Misogyny, genocide, homophobia. Those are God’s traditions! We don't question them! They are in the Word of God and part of the tradition of our fathers! And so they become Christian traditions, handed down from fathers to sons who listen to these stories and preachings and learn them well - thus sanctioned to hurt and marginalize those who are different, weak, other, effeminate, darker, foreign, immobile, sick.

Sure, it is congruent with stories of a certain god, revealed through the passages of scripture, claiming the same name as the Christian and Jewish God. But maybe not the same legacy. Not the same tradition. It is counter to another tradition of the Christian God - the one based on the Christ. One of inclusion and participation and acceptance and redemption. A God who’s tradition is particularly of love.

Test everything.


Hold on to what’s good.

The rubric is love. If it is not of love, it is not of God. Not - as the Apostolic Truth Tabernacle would have us believe - if it is of “God” then it must necessarily be of love. Test the spirits. Test everything. Hold on to what’s good.

And when what we think is the Word of God contradicts with the revelation of God through Jesus Christ, we must ask, "What is good?" What is revealed to be the God we long to follow? Who are we worshiping? If I am to follow a god of hate, then damn it all, I'm not going down that route. I'm holding on to what's good.

Maybe there is a bright spot, a small one, to our intentional marginalization.In our mistreatment of women and other marginalized people groups, we've sent out the marginalized to reach the marginalized with the voice of their own marginalization. I think I'd rather have church outdoors, if that's where the good is...

Santorum: (2) Fetishizing the Crusades

Words. Fail.

If you thought that googling "santorum" left your mind dirty, you haven't heard enough Santorum.

Rick Santorum: The Crusades Get A Bad Rap! | TPMDC

If you were worried there wouldn't be a 2012 candidate touting the pro-Crusades platform, then today is your lucky day!

Zazzle t-shirt.

"The idea that the Crusades and the fight of Christendom against Islam is somehow an aggression on our part is absolutely anti-historical," former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) told a South Carolina audience yesterday. "And that is what the perception is by the American left who hates Christendom."...

"[American liberals] hate Western civilization at the core. That's the problem." Sanoturm also suggested that American involvement in the Middle East is part of our "core American values."

"What I'm talking about is onward American soldiers," Santorum continued. "What we're talking about are core American values. 'All men are created equal' -- that's a Christian value, but it's an American value."

He'll probably go the way of an uncharismatic Sarah Palin, but I'll still file this under Reasons Why I'm Embarrassed to Be a Christian. It's hard to see how someone can once claim that the Equality principal is a virtuous and Christian one - one from his own legacy - and then deny that legacy to Muslims and non-Westerners (read, White Europeans).

Or to claim that others have no sense of history while showing such a blatant disregard for current or academic or religious history outside what he learned in fourth grade.

To be fair, though, the Crusades are a lot more complex than current trends suggest. But to imply that they were not acts of aggression (at first, they were largely for protection. But then empires and bloodlust, etc, etc...) - much like whatever war there is between Christendom and Islam Santorum seems to be dreamily envisioning here - is pure Westernized, ahistorical, War-on-Brown-People Fetishism.

Which may well be another definition for Santorum.

Weekly Links We Like to Link to:

1) If a free democracy's best ally is a free press, then we can measure a despotic government by how much it hates (threatens, imprisons, murders) the independent reporters and editors. Zimbabwe's junta leader Mugabe is one of the most-threatened and saddest of ex-presidents trying to hold on to their power.

But back to the latest death threat. My eye is caught by a final paragraph: "The majority of those named on the list, although they are living in the bliss and security of the diaspora and the anonymity of cyberspace, their family members will not be so lucky." It's a chilling development. They are now threatening to harm our families. And we know this is no idle threat.

- Wilf Mbanga, founder and publisher of The Zimbabwean.
h/t to Scot McKnight

2) Young Adult fantasy writer G. P. Taylor (Shadowmancer) claims that the BBC is banning him because of his outspoken Christianity. According to emails obtained from the BBC, however, it seemed some producers had problems with the so-called "new C. S. Lewis" and Anglican priest's personality, basically claiming himself to be the next J. K. Rowling even though "he is not universally admired".
Two reactions:
1) I understand when Christians are jerks. We're human beings. I'm a jerk more often than not. But please don't blame others nor "the media" for your short-comings.
2) What is up with Christian British fantasy writers and their initials?
h/t to Relevant

3) Speaking of Christianity, Prodigal Jon has got some cool ideas for what a "Stuff Christians Like" home school would look like. Favorite (though clumsy) quote: If you came to this school on Monday, you should heed Thomas Dolby's 80's song warning, because you're about to be blinded with science.

Kenya??

I suppose I would have never figured Kenya to devolve into these tactics. Maybe, no, especially, their neighboring countries. But not Kenya.


I knew it was a corrupt state. But I always thought that it was more, um... civilized, I suppose. I sound ignorant. And despite the fact that I once knew a good number of Kenyans, I am.

I wonder if, though, this had happened here in the US in 2000, after our hotly contested, and highly controversial presidential election (to put it nicely), how things would have turned out differently.

But rape and machetes and water cannons and banning of political marches and burning of villagers hiding in a church? There is a lot of desperation, and I suppose that I do not know nearly as much as I thought I knew about the state of the downtrodden and poor and ethnic conflicts (way to go, stupid imperialism!) in that nation.

Pray for Kenya. Pray for Kenyans.

By the way, from what I've read from the BBC: Focus on Africa magazine for this quarter, the two top contenders (incumbent Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga) are very similar - at least in terms of policies and political views. (Note: The Time article confirms this. Also worth a read for a brief recap and catch-up on the reasons behind the rioting and ethnic killings.) Odinga is calling himself a reformer, but apparently the only thing that will change if he's in power will be the temperament of the president - Kibaki is seen as laid-back and indifferent while Odinga is seen as a hot-head who does not suffer disagreements.