#child evangelism

[theexodvs]

MRAs: What are you going to do to prevent women from lying about the identity about their children’s father?

Me: Catechize my daughters. I will tell them that intercourse with men who are not their husbands violates the seventh commandment, that lying about the identity of the father of their children violates the ninth commandment (and, if this lie makes its way to a birth certificate, a federal crime), and that extracting money from men who did not father their children or for purposes other than taking care of their children violates the eighth commandment. I will tell them that all these things are cosmic treason. And when catechizing my sons, I will tell them to avoid entanglement with women whose character demonstrates they might do these things. That is all I as one man can do to prevent others from engaging in sin.

MRAs: Oh, we won’t do that, because we intend to let the public school system and the tablet do our catechizing.

Me: So, what you’re telling me is that you expect civil magistrate to punish behavior in independent adults that you won’t tell your own children is wrong when they are young and under your headship?

MRAs: Yes. Because legislation always solves sociocultural problems.

[dwuerch-blog]

A Celebration of a Life Well Lived

We’re heading home after having been in Lubbock, TX, specifically to attend the Celebration of Life of my husband’s long-time friend, Doug Moore. Doug’s wife had already prepared us that the memorial service wouldn’t be a time of sadness. It would be a celebration combined with a praise service. Indeed, it was more than that. It was a challenge to us all to live up to our God-given potential. To…

[hishandsguatemala]

Center of Dreams Construction Completed

It never ceases to amaze me at what can be accomplished when you put God first. In less than 2 weeks we were able to take an empty shell of concrete block construction and turn it into something beautiful and inspirational. The days were long 16 hours plus some days, and the weather was hot with a heat index of 112 on a cool day. But no complaints from anyone, because the glory was not for us,…

[hussyknee]

Jesus is Under the Rubble

“This Advent, while global Christians prepare to commemorate the arrival of the Prince of Peace, our Palestinian kin in Gaza suffer unthinkable violence. Their cries of deliverance, echoing those of two millennia ago, seem to be falling unheard on the United States.”

— by Kelly Latimore icons. All proceeds from sales of this digital image will go toward Red Letter Christians trusted partners in Gaza.

Transcript: Christ in the Rubble A Liturgy of Lament Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church Bethlehem Saturday, December 23rd, 2023 We are angry…

We are broken…

This should have been a time of joy; instead, we are mourning. We are fearful.

Twenty thousand killed. Thousands under the rubble still. Close to 9,000 children killed in the most brutal ways. Day after day after day. 1.9 million displaced! Hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed. Gaza as we know it no longer exists. This is an annihilation. A genocide.

The world is watching; Churches are watching. Gazans are sending live images of their own execution. Maybe the world cares? But it goes on.

We are asking, could this be our fate in Bethlehem? In Ramallah? In Jenin? Is this our destiny too?

We are tormented by the silence of the world. Leaders of the so-called “free” lined up one after the other to give the green light for this genocide against a captive population. They gave the cover. Not only did they make sure to pay the bill in advance, they veiled the truth and context, providing political cover. And, yet another layer has been added: the theological cover with the Western Church stepping into the spotlight.

The South African Church taught us the concept of “The state theology,” defined as “the theological justification of the status quo with its racism, capitalism and totalitarianism.” It does so by misusing theological concepts and biblical texts for its own political purposes.

Here in Palestine, the Bible is weaponized against our very own sacred text. In our terminology in Palestine, we speak of the Empire. Here we confront the theology of the Empire. A disguise for superiority, supremacy, “chosenness,” and entitlement. It is sometimes given a nice cover using words like mission and evangelism, fulfillment of prophecy, and spreading freedom and liberty. The theology of the Empire becomes a powerful tool to mask oppression under the cloak of divine sanction. It divides people into “us” and “them.” It dehumanizes and demonizes. It speaks of land without people even when they know the land has people – and not just any people. It calls for emptying Gaza, just like it called the ethnic cleansing in 1948 “a divine miracle.” It calls for us Palestinians to go to Egypt, maybe Jordan, or why not just the sea?

“Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” they said of us. This is the theology of Empire.

This war has confirmed to us that the world does not see us as equal. Maybe it is the color of our skin. Maybe it is because we are on the wrong side of the political equation. Even our kinship in Christ did not shield us. As they said, if it takes killing 100 Palestinians to get a single “Hamas militant” then so be it! We are not humans in their eyes. (But in God’s eyes… no one can tell us we are not!)

The hypocrisy and racism of the Western world is transparent and appalling! They always take the words of Palestinians with suspicion and qualification. No, we are not treated equally. Yet, the other side, despite a clear track record of misinformation, is almost always deemed infallible!

To our European friends. I never ever want to hear you lecture us on human rights or international law again. We are not white— it does not apply to us according to your own logic.

In this war, the many Christians in the Western world made sure the Empire has the theology needed. It is self-defense, we were told! (And I ask: how?)

In the shadow of the Empire, they turned the colonizer into the victim, and the colonized into the aggressor. Have we forgotten that the state was built on the ruins of the towns and villages of those very same Gazans?

We are outraged by the complicity of the church. Let it be clear: Silence is complicity, and empty calls for peace without a ceasefire and end to occupation, and the shallow words of empathy without direct action— are all under the banner of complicity. So here is my message: Gaza today has become the moral compass of the world. Gaza was hell on earth before October 7th.

If you are not appalled by what is happening; if you are not shaken to your core— there is something wrong with your humanity. If we, as Christians, are not outraged by this genocide, by the weaponizing of the Bible to justify it, there is something wrong with our Christian witness, and compromising the credibility of the Gospel!

If you fail to call this a genocide. It is on you. It is a sin and a darkness you willingly embrace.

Some have not even called for a ceasefire.

I feel sorry for you. We will be okay. Despite the immense blow we have endured, we will recover. We will rise and stand up again from the midst of destruction, as we have always done as Palestinians, although this is by far the biggest blow we have received in a long time.

But again, for those who are complicit, I feel sorry for you. Will you ever recover from this?

Your charity, your words of shock AFTER the genocide, won’t make a difference. Words of regret will not suffice for you. We will not accept your apology after the genocide. What has been done, has been done. I want you to look at the mirror… and ask: where was I?

To our friends who are here with us: You have left your families and churches to be with us. You embody the term accompaniment— a costly solidarity. “We were in prison and you visited us.” What a stark difference from the silence and complicity of others. Your presence here is the meaning of solidarity. Your visit has already left an impression that will never be taken from us. Through you, God has spoken to us that “we are not forsaken.” As Father Rami of the Catholic Church said this morning, you have come to Bethlehem, and like the Magi, you brought gifts with, but gifts that are more precious than gold, frankincense, and myrrh. You brought the gift of love and solidarity.

We needed this. For this season, maybe more than anything, we were troubled by the silence of God. In these last two months, the Psalms of lament have become a precious companion. We cried out: My God, My God, why have you forsaken Gaza? Why do you hide your face from Gaza?

In our pain, anguish, and lament, we have searched for God, and found him under the rubble in Gaza. Jesus became the victim of the very same violence of the Empire. He was tortured. Crucified. He bled out as others watched. He was killed and cried out in pain— My God, where are you?

In Gaza today, God is under the rubble.

And in this Christmas season, as we search for Jesus, he is to be found not on the side of Rome, but our side of the wall. In a cave, with a simple family. Vulnerable. Barely, and miraculously surviving a massacre. Among a refugee family. This is where Jesus is found.

If Jesus were to be born today, he would be born under the rubble in Gaza. When we glorify pride and richness, Jesus is under the rubble.

When we rely on power, might, and weapons, Jesus is under the rubble.

When we justify, rationalize, and theologize the bombing of children, Jesus is under the rubble.

Jesus is under the rubble. This is his manger. He is at home with the marginalized, the suffering, the oppressed, and displaced. This is his manger.

I have been looking, contemplating on this iconic image….God with us, precisely in this way. THIS is the incarnation. Messy. Bloody. Poverty.

This child is our hope and inspiration. We look and see him in every child killed and pulled from under the rubble. While the world continues to reject the children of Gaza, Jesus says: “just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.” “You did to ME.” Jesus not only calls them his own, he is them!

We look at the holy family and see them in every family displaced and wandering, now homeless in despair. While the world discusses the fate of the people of Gaza as if they are unwanted boxes in a garage, God in the Christmas narrative shares in their fate; He walks with them and calls them his own.

This manger is about resilience— صمود. The resilience of Jesus is in his meekness; weakness, and vulnerability. The majesty of the incarnation lies in its solidarity with the marginalized. Resilience because this very same child, rose up from the midst of pain, destruction, darkness and death to challenge empires; to speak truth to power and deliver an everlasting victory over death and darkness.

This is Christmas today in Palestine and this is the Christmas message. It is not about Santa, trees, gifts, lights… etc. My goodness how we twisted the meaning of Christmas. How we have commercialized Christmas. I was in the USA last month, the first Monday after Thanksgiving, and I was amazed by the amount of Christmas decorations and lights, all the and commercial goods. I couldn’t help but think: They send us bombs, while celebrating Christmas in their land. They sing about the prince of peace in their land, while playing the drum of war in our land.

Christmas in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, is this manger. This is our message to the world today. It is a Gospel message, a true and authentic Christmas message, about the God who did not stay silent, but said his word, and his Word is Jesus. Born among the occupied and marginalized. He is in solidarity with us in our pain and brokenness.

This manger is our message to the world today – and it is simply this: this genocide must stop NOW. Let us repeat to the world: STOP this Genocide NOW.

This is our call. This is our plea. This is our prayer. Hear oh God. Amen.

(Source)

I found these on Twitter a while ago. Original creator unknown.

I can't stop you ascribing hateful, paranoid meanings to these images, but they're not about blaming religions. Jesus was a Jew born to a community of Jews in Palestine, the cradle of the Abrahamic faiths. He was raised and loved by them, betrayed by their rulers* and killed by Romans. He's a Prophet of Islam. End of.

*Y'know, like how the people of the Arab and Muslim nations love Palestine and crying to help them, except their leaders are greedy and rotted to the core. The ruling class will always only serve the empire.

Edit: alt text provided by @this-world-of-beautiful-monsters

[rejectingrepublicans]

Republikkkans love the fetus hate the child.

[divinum-pacis]

December 2023: "In Bethlehem, the city of Christ's birth, Lutherans lit advent candles around a nativity surrounded by rubble, as God's children in Gaza still are today. God sent his only Son to be with us in times of doubt, fear, and grief. God is with them in Bethlehem, He is with His children in Gaza, and He is with his children under the rubble."

Photos and text from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land

[socialjusticeinamerica]

2 parishioners brought guns to mass. A child was hit in the crossfire and remains in critical condition. More senseless gun violence from a failed third world red state.

[gxlden-angels]

Bro I hate fundamentalists and culturally-fundie parents they'll say shit like "spare the rod spoil the child am I right haha yea my parents used to have to beat my ass with a switch almost everyday but I sure did learn my lesson" but like??? no you didn't??? you were hit multiple times for something you very obviously did not, in fact, learn

Like studies about how harmful even lightly spanking children is aside, you're literally contradicting yourself?? Some even admitted they got worse as they got older cause they wanted to see how far they could push their parents before they got punished

And studies not aside, you're gonna get child raising advice from the same book that tells you to stone your wife if her hymen doesn't break on your wedding night instead of the decades of research we have now?? Just say you're a bad parent and move on my guy. Skill issue

[remyfire]

The confidence of a nerd who did homework so he could win Sunday School every week

[mothofmany]

tw ramcoa

To Train Up a Child is TBMC

To Train Up a Child is TBMC

To Train Up a Child is TBMC

To Train Up a Child is TBMC

[exmojoe]

mormon parents signing you out of sex ed in school because “that’s something parents should teach you”:

mormon parents when it comes to teaching you about sex: 🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗 sex = bad 🙅‍♀️🙅‍♂️🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗

[theexodvs]

I was with my fiancée at her folks' place the other day, where her sister and her kids also were. Fiancée's nephew has a pack of miniature books of stories from the Gospels, and asked me to read one with him. He brought me one on the Lord's Prayer, and I not only read it, but did my best to explain the individual petitions in a way a small child might understand, like saying, "When we 'hallow' God's name, it means we understand that it is very important." Nephew said his grandfather, my future FIL, also reads it to him the same way.

I didn't think much of it at the time, but fiancée said I seemed extremely attractive doing that and that she couldn't wait for me to do the same with our own children.

[ultranos]

Sometimes I think about how 11 year old Azula watched her father burn half her brother's face off, and how we're apparently supposed to think that had no impact on her.

Sometimes I wonder if the people who think that have ever met, much less interacted with, an actual living human child.

And not just weird cardboard cutouts from a Puritan puppet theater morality play.

[queersatanic]

"Requiring financial 'transparency' by The Satanic Temple is a terrible idea"

The Satanic Temple's supporters: "We're skeptical freethinkers who aren't beholden to dogma or superstition!!"

Also The Satanic Temple's supporters: "A public audit is probably just a waste of money and might make us look bad"

We say often, "Today is a good day for The Satanic Temple to release its finances."

Because, well, the Temple's owners Doug Misicko and Cevin Soling do shady shit with their finances.

But sometimes TSTers say the Temple shouldn't release their finances for review if the Christian orgs aren't going to.

Of course, many churches do it for their members or even post it online

The incorporated entity that is "Child Evangelism Fellowship" also does this, and apparently even pays for an audit:

[Note: The Satanic Temple, Inc., is also a section 170(b)(1)(A)(i), the same as CEF Inc.]

No such page or financials are provided for The Satanic Temple or its "constellation of affiliate entities" anywhere.

This is especially concerning given the supposed lack of knowledge Doug Misicko, TST Inc's treasurer and sole governing officer, shows when asked on the stand about nonprofit and for-profit.

Moreover, we’re still being sued by The Satanic Temple in federal court.

TST is now *also* suing Newsweek for writing about us. In addition, the Temple is now suing a TikToker in Texas for talking about our case. Check the pinned post for more.

[divinum-pacis]

A Nativity scene depicting Christ's birth with the figure symbolizing baby Jesus lying amid the rubble, a reference to the war in Gaza, inside the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023. World-famous Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem have been put on hold due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

[lilydotparis]