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cdstmichael · 8 years ago

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Facts are Facts

I promise that I’ve been contemplating other things. I have lots of things in the works. But this sort of crash landed in my lap as a cross section of my preaching scarf, father scarf, husband scarf, human scarf, and political analyst scarf all got tangled up together. What caused this? Something that I can only describe as an unprecedented assault on facts. This hit me at all levels because it is an attack on reality itself. I’m left with an uncomfortable problem on my hands. How am I supposed to react to the President of the United States of America attacking facts? With a lot of thought, and in the end, honesty.

Part of this came about because I was figuring out what to put in Holland’s time capsule. He’s about to turn one, and with that I will be sealing away something for him to view in 20 years. This got me to thinking about how I could explain what has been going on to my children as they get older. I’m not sure I can without stating a few things that are very troublesome. The biggest one is trying to explain why anyone would have a disdain for facts.

Now, as you know I am a very big supporter of a free press. We need it. Part of what makes this country free is the ability to hear reporting on public officials. This is fundamental. It is also being pushed back against. I could quote scripture all day about the problems with lies, but children can tell you: do not lie. It seems that the newly elected president did not pass this memo out or read it himself. In the last few days, we’ve heard lies about what Donald Trump said about our national intelligence community. There was the White House press secretary making bold declarations without any evidence to back up his claims. This same press secretary then went on to overstate the growth and size of the federal work force. We had a repeat of a claim that the election had millions of illegal votes cast. To top it all off, the idea is being put forward by the new administration that something called “alternative facts” exist. If you don’t have time to click through and read all those things, they boil down to a simple point. The White House is not being honest and, as a defense, is claiming that unsubstantiated statements are as good as facts. This is not good. This is the opposite of good.

Facts are facts. Despite Pilate asking what truth is, a fact is a fact. People can get things wrong sometimes. That is going to happen. And I try my best to be forgiving of people that misstate something. I understand that people are going to make flubs. I make them. I’m human. However, when you repeat those things and insist that they are true, that becomes a lie. It is no longer a mistake. Calling a lie an “alternative fact” is just trying to put lipstick on a pig. There is no good excuse.

It got me to thinking, why was all this happening? I only had one explanation that made any sense. There was an active effort to discredit the press. War was being waged on our collective right to be informed. And it was being waged from the highest elected office in the land. Not even a week into office, and there are reports that we had paid staff following cues to applaud in order to change public opinion. We had lies. We had twisted truths. I’m left with only one real option. I must be willing to call out a lie when it is a lie. I could hide behind things like “give him a chance” but I feel like the welcome got worn out quickly. While it is true that my hopes were not high, I always have hope that I will be shown to be wrong. I now hope that things will change. Until they do, I plan on staying vigilant. I could hide behind “being subject to the governing authorities” but for that to work civil authorities would have to be fulfilling their role. They are not. I won’t be an accomplice through silence.

If I’m going to tell my children about this, I want them to know that their father never stopped believing in right and wrong. If I’m going to be true to my calling, I must insist that the world can be an honest and just place. Then, I must do everything I can to make it that way. This is my rant. This is my anger. Now I pray. I pray that maybe truth will always find a way into the light. I pray that people have a change of heart and begin to spread facts instead of lies. I pray that we may all stay aware and informed. I pray that I have the strength to never bow down to dishonest tactics. I pray for my country. She needs all the prayers she can get. I pray and I act. This is the only way I can move forward and still be able to face my children.

#fact #alternative facts #donald trump #potus #potus45 #lies

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cdstmichael · 8 years ago

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Not Mine - An Explanation

I have debated on if I would write this. I am a very political person. I try to follow politics, because it is part of who I am. It is part of what I have done. I’ve followed politics since I was six years old. I have liked politicians. I have disagreed with politicians. It is rare that I find myself feeling opposed to an individual. That is because so often I can find good, even if it is simply that they respect the same things that I do about our government. I’m feeling stuck right now. I am worried about the direction my country is headed in. Donald Trump is going to be the President of the United States of America. That will be his title. That will be his job. He will be a president. He isn’t my president. I’m not using this in some sort of way to say he wasn’t elected. It isn’t so much even out of defiance. It isn’t because of who got more votes, or even who I might have supported in the election. It isn’t about interference in the democratic process. It is out of sadness. It is because of worries I have that directly relate to myself and so many people that I know and work with. It is because there has been an attack on exactly who I am and what I do. I’m sad because I’m stuck with a rare instance where I must speak out. Part of this comes from seeing things that have attempted to wrangle support for Mr. Trump. I’ve seen things saying that I need to give him a chance. I’ve seen things that say that I should want him to succeed because he’s flying the plane we are all on. But here is the problem. I did give him a chance. During the campaign, I waited for him to apologize over mocking people with disabilities. Instead, I received dishonesty. I kept looking for his actions after promising to bring the country together. Instead, I saw him install someone who is in the business of spreading hate and dishonesty being put into one of his chief advisory roles. I watched as he promised to “drain the swamp” and then immediately backed out on that promise, only to fill the swamp with money. I looked for a heartfelt apology over the various actions and words that were insulting to women. There was more dishonesty and blaming others. It isn’t that I haven’t given him a chance. It isn’t that I don’t want him to succeed. Every time Mr. Trump is given a chance, he doubles down on hurt and dishonesty. Donald Trump attacks people who disagree with him just because he can. And I cannot condone a Bully in Chief. That is not who I am, and it is not the message that I want to spread. I’m called to reach out to the people that he considers “losers” and to offer love and mercy. Some may say that as a Christian, I should be in subjugation to governing authorities. However, for this to happen, those authorities must be on the side of justice. They must not be on the side of hate. I cannot align myself with hate and dishonesty. Every step of the way, I find that my calling to do my best to reach out to the least and the last is not compatible with Mr. Trump. Then come some of the particular issues that have put me so strongly at odds with the incoming president. At the top of my list is the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. My ability to follow my calling to spread the Good News is tied in with religious freedom. There is a shadow cast over that freedom right now. That is because any attack on religious freedom is an attack on my religious freedoms. If you say that one religion needs to be singled out and targeted, you’re saying that I need to be singled out and targeted. If you say that one religion needs to be watched by the government and registered by the government, you’re saying that all religion needs to be watched by the government and registered by the government. I cannot abide by this. I cannot be silent at this. I will not. Any move by the government to restrict religious freedoms is an attack on my ability to worship God how I see fit. I don’t take those attacks lying down. The other attack on the First Amendment may not seem to matter as much to my calling to be a Disciple of Jesus Christ. That is the freedom of the press. What does the freedom of the press have to do with me? Well, the free press means that I can voice my dissent openly. I can look at my news and know that they are free to report what they see. But on a note closer to home, if one part of the First Amendment is dismantled, the rest is no longer safe. My ability to preach The Word is upheld by a reporter being able to speak the truth. When one of us is threatened, we are both threatened. We are brought together because of our want to speak openly and freely. That basic freedom is under attack. They are rights basic to me as an American. They are rights that I will defend for the press and for any religion. Because it is the right thing to do. So where do I go from here? I haven’t aired every grievance I have. I haven’t gotten into my worries about stripping health care from millions of people, including many of my brothers and sisters in ministry. I haven’t gotten into the morality of wanting the sick to fend for themselves. I haven’t gotten into the example it sets by putting people who have no need for honesty into top positions in our government. I am not saying that I hate Donald Trump. If anything, I feel sad for him. I pray for Mr. Trump. Because I would love to see him begin to actually speak of compassion and mercy. I would love to hear words of encouragement and peace. I would love to see an end to the name calling and the bullying. I would love to have an end to the dishonesty that has been so abundant . I would love to see the less fortunate being taken care of without a second thought. I would love to see all of these things. But it is never enough to sit back and pray on things we can do. No, it is time to act. It is time to make voices be heard. Until I see leadership that I can support, I must help to lead others in making their voices heard. I must stand up and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. I must for it is part of what I am called to do. It is who I am. Learn to do good. Seek justice: help the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow. (Isahiah 1:17 CEB)

#potus #trump #inauguration #notmypresident

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cdstmichael · 9 years ago

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Pharaoh’s Hard Heart

So, I’ve been thinking about something for a while now. I was recently asked about God hardening Pharaoh’s heart. It raised questions about if God used evil to accomplish good things. Did God harden Hitler’s heart? Does everything happen for a reason? Would God deny someone the ability to repent and do good? These are difficult questions. All I can offer up is my opinion at this moment. I say at this moment, because experience may change my mind down the road. So, I’ve pulled out my theologian scarf and my Wesleyan Quadrilateral (Scripture, Reason, Experience, and Tradition) and I began to ponder this idea. Let’s go ahead and dive into the scripture. I’ll be quoting from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible for my references.

Actually, let me pause here and say something that isn’t said often enough when we go digging about for the meaning of difficult Scripture. I can only give my opinion based on the text we have today and how we interpret it. I can’t read Hebrew or Greek. This means that unlike some of my colleagues, I must rely on other people translating. However, I’m also not living in the time that these Scriptures were written. This puts me at a disadvantage because I may be missing out on figures of speech that would have been well understood at the time. Just like we all know that a “splitting headache” isn’t actually dividing our head, or that a toothache isn’t really “killing me” as I might exaggerate to get my point across. Imagine if you didn’t speak the language and you read that the ache in my head was cleaving my skull. This happens when we translate. Things can get lost in translation. I’m stating this because sometimes we act like all of this was written in clear English. Sadly, that is not the case.

This brings me to another point to consider as we work through the Scriptures. The Bible is full of flawed people. People who murdered. People who committed adultery. People who cheated. They lied, stole, and did pretty much anything you can think of. But they are still used to tell God’s story. I often try to keep this in mind when I’m reading Scripture, because the Bible was written by those same people. Complete with flaws and misgivings. We search for the deeper meaning because Scripture teaches us about faith. There’s a point to what is written. It wasn’t written as we consider modern history books, where everything is expected to be completely factual and checked by editors. These are lessons about faith, and they lead us to God. I am not a literalist by any means. This doesn’t mean that I don’t value the spiritual truth of the Bible. No, it means that I value it enough to understand that it is an expression of faith from every author. I feel I need to state this so that you’ll understand where I’m coming from.

I will likely post these two paragraphs on their own so that I can link to them again. Because I want you to know where I’m coming from as you read how I interpret. My experiences and understanding are part of how I see things, so knowing these may help. So, without further delay, Exodus 4:21 –

And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. Exodus 4:21 NRSV

Now we begin to get to the heart of the matter (forgive me my puns) and we can look at Pharaoh’s hardened heart. We arrive at this point after Moses comes across God in the burning bush. He’s left his home in Midian and he’s headed to Egypt. God begins to prep him on the way, and that’s where we step in here. At first glance, this seems to say God will make Pharaoh hard hearted so that he will not let the people go. Which raises some hard questions. Did God really just say he was going to force the people to suffer under Pharaoh so that he can perform wonders? Is he taking away Pharaoh’s free will in order to do this? Is Pharaoh beyond salvation? How does that work? Aren’t we all capable of salvation? Is God going make Pharaoh do evil? Does that mean God is doing evil? But God is good, so how does that work? Does this mean that some people are predestined to be saved and others are predestined to not be saved?

So, let’s pause before we explode with questions. First, I firmly do not believe in predestination. That is a long piece in and of itself that I may someday write about. But I’m going to simply say that it goes against everything I have ever come to understand about God’s divine grace that is extended to every person, without us ever doing anything to earn it. Which means that Pharaoh wasn’t divinely doomed. So what gives with this hard heart stuff? There’s a few different ways to look at it. One is an example that I’ve used before to illustrate how this could be perceived in a passive sense.

Cookies make me hungry. They make my tummy yearn for their tasty goodness. Fresh baked cookies sitting out on a table make my mouth water. Or do they? They don’t actually do any of those things. At least not in a direct physical manner. Do I become hungry when I smell cookies? Yes, I do. I also get sad when I see children suffering. In some ways, we could say that when in Exodus 7:3 God says he will harden Pharaoh’s heart, we could interpret that as Pharaoh’s natural reaction to God. That Pharaoh is so angered by the idea of God that is hardens his heart.

Now, like I was saying before, sometimes we lose something in translation. English is a tricky language itself. For example, if we read about a “hardened heart” we think about it being hardened against God and it is seen with negative connotations. That a hard heart is uncaring. But this is a bit of a problem. I decided to get back to the Hebrew word used. חָזַק is the root word being used. The word “chazaq” is defined by Strong’s Concordance (2388) as “to be or grow firm or strong, strengthen.” This begins to paint a very different picture. Let’s consider the wording in Exodus 10:20.

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go. Exodus 10:20 NRSV

So I’m going to paraphrase this. Let’s think about this as not his heart, but his resolve. Pharaoh is making a decision, and thus has a choice to make. This is how I would write it.

“God allowed Pharaoh to strengthen his resolve, and Pharaoh wouldn’t let the Israelites go.” – paraphrased by me. Exodus 10:20

Now, this might feel like a completely different statement than before, but that is really only because I’m spelling out what I feel is intended by the text. This helps us to understand that God wasn’t stripping Pharaoh of a choice. God was simply giving Pharaoh an opportunity to make a choice. Pharaoh had the opportunity to change his ways. Nowhere does it say Pharaoh couldn’t have a change in his thinking. But Pharaoh, when left to his own devices, refused. This is a critical point for me. Just like the people of Nineveh, I believe Pharaoh actually had the ability to choose his fate. His resolve was made strong so that his choice would always still be his. This is a running theme. We have a choice, and we should choose good. In the simplest of terms, the Bible has one clear message: the choice is yours, and you should choose good over evil.

Now, this concept now begins to remove the idea that God made Pharaoh do anything. It removes God’s hand from doing evil or making bad things happen. It removes our conflict over God stripping away free choice. Instead, it paints a picture of someone who was given a clear choice. Someone who was given strengthened resolve to be able to make the decision, and they chose evil over good. When Paul looks back to this in Romans 9, we can read it in much the same way. God allows people to become stubborn; it doesn’t need to be forced.

The second important part is that throughout Exodus, God is part of a call and response. This is an important thing to remember, and is a theme throughout the Bible. The people call out to God, and God responds. God calls out to Moses, Moses responds. God calls out to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh responds. Pharaoh rejects God’s call, God responds. I point this out because it is important as we look past this singular example and into a question that often gets asked with this Scripture, and that is the question of why bad things happen.

Often the question is this: “Why do bad things happen to good people?” I don’t like that question. This assumes that some people are good and some people are bad. I prefer to reduce the question down to “why do bad things happen?” I can get into this in more detail, but felt that I should touch on it as I come to a close on this thought. Every person has a choice between good and evil at some level. And sometimes people choose evil. Sometimes we begin to think that everything happens for a reason, and this can lead to some very dangerous thinking. I won’t look at someone who has cancer and tell them that God gave them cancer for a reason. I won’t say that Hitler committed genocide for some greater purpose. Because it doesn’t line up with a God who wants His children to return to him. It also doesn’t line up with having a choice. If someone is predestined to be evil, then where is their choice to embrace salvation? Instead of seeing that everything happens for a reason, maybe we should start embracing a different idea.

With God, we can find purpose in even the most troubling of times. With God, we can bring good from evil. With God, nothing is in vain.

For me, this hearkens back to the call and response. We call out and God responds. We make a choice and God responds to that choice. Am I right about this? I don’t know for certain. But this is true for me. This is my profession of faith. I believe in a God that is good, who offers salvation to all. Who offers up grace upon grace freely. This is how I understand the interactions of Pharaoh and God. I hope that maybe my insights might have added to your own. May the Peace of Christ be with you always.

- Cameron

#theology #exegesis #bible #bible study #exodus #pharaoh #hard heart #all the scarves #faith

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