Thursday, March 14, 2024

To Lead, or to Serve?

 When I worked at the local evangelical/charismatic Bible college, the goal was to "Develop Leaders." Today, I saw a van from Eugene's largest evangelical Baptist church, and on the side was emblazoned, "Live, love and lead like Jesus." I'm beginning to think that maybe the way to tell evangelicals from mainliners is that that instead of leading, the latter seek to serve. Like Jesus.

A former student commented:
"I've been saying this for years. The evangelical churches are being run more and more like businesses. They only want to create leaders, but if everyone's leading, then no one's following, and honestly, at that point no one's really leading either. Churches can't be a commodity, and people don't exist to be the consumers."

Wednesday, March 06, 2024

FB conversation about citizenship, nations, nationality, and nationalism

 FRIEND: I am so glad my citizenship is in heaven!

ME:
yes; but we need to be careful not to be gnostics. God has created us as material beings, and as such, we must incarnate Christ wherever we live. For better or worse, we are in the world, even if we are not of it.

FRIEND:
Amen. I have never seen myself as only living for what is to come, but rather to practice/ learn what the treasures are that I can accumulate for the city I am a citizen from, by being Jesus‘ hands and feet.


ME: I agree with N.T Wright that when the Kingdom comes, it will be a complete healing of the world that God created and called good; not a completely different/discontinuous one to replace what He had first created. Too many American dispensationalists believe the latter, which allows them to hold that they can trash this world because God will totally replace it with a brand new model.


FRIEND:
Since I have lived in 4 different countries I was always comforted by having my citizenship in heaven, cause that is where I want my loyalty to lie.

ME: I look on people like you and our grandson as having a jump on the rest of us. You have experienced a wider variety of humanity, and have had the opportunity to have your mind and heart grow as a result.


Scripture talks a lot about "the nations." For instance,
cf. Ps. 22:27-28, , Ps. 86:9, Is. 2:2, Matt. 8:11, Rev. 15:3-4, and in particular, Rev. 21:26 and 22:2.
In the NT the word "nations" is from ἔθνος, (ethnos) from where we get our word "ethnic." It means a group of people, joined by shared language, customs, history, and culture.
As I understand it, "heaven"/the Kingdom will be the peaceful community of all nations, somehow preserving their diversity but doing so within the unity of the Spirit.
I think there are two ways of understanding "citizenship." One is literal and particular, qualifying one to hold a specific passport. The other is metaphorical and general: to be a member of a group of people/ἔθνος.

So yes, absolutely: our loyalty as Christians is to Christ; but ISTM that He will not erase our "nationality"-- that is, our corporate character. That metaphorical sense of "citizenship" will remain.
However, I think "nationality" is different from "nationalism." "Nationalism" recognizes only the literal sense of citizenship, and insists that any other "nationality" besides one's own is inferior. The sin of "nationalism" is to idolize nationality over Christ. He alone is the King of Kings, and the Lord of all nations.

Monday, March 04, 2024

Catholics at least have a tradition of social thought; even if they ignore it

 As Michael Gerson put it when describing Catholic social thought, “The doctrinal whole requires a broad, consistent view of justice, which—when it is faithfully applied—cuts across the categories and clichés of American politics. Of course, American Catholics routinely ignore Catholic social thought. But at least they have it. Evangelicals lack a similar tradition of their own to disregard.”

Friday, February 23, 2024

I-270 and My Mom's Dementia

 When I was 10-12 years old, part of our property was claimed by eminent domain to build I-270 in St. Louis. Instead of fireflies, there were headlights. The sound of sirens and gears shifting uphill replaced the murmur of the creek, and the wind in oak trees. And the first year the interstate opened, our plum tree produced twisted, misshapen fruit, and then refused to ever bear again.

Two decades later my mother developed dementia.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/02/23/alzheimers-brain-air-pollution-study/

People who inhale higher concentrations of tiny airborne particulates, like from diesel exhaust or other traffic-related air pollutants, are more likely to have signs of Alzheimer’s disease in their brains, according to a new study, the latest in a growing body of research that shows a link between air pollution and cognitive decline.

For the study, published this week in the journal Neurology, researchers examined the association between concentrations of ambient air pollution and signs of Alzheimer’s disease in the human brain. They found that people who were exposed to higher concentrations of fine particulate matter air pollution, also known as PM2.5, at least a year before their death were more likely to have higher levels of plaques — abnormal clusters of protein fragments built up between nerve cells, which is a sign of Alzheimer’s in brain tissue. The research also found a strong association between the pollution and signs of the disease for people who were not already genetically predisposed to Alzheimer’s.

“This suggests that environmental factors like air pollution could be a contributing factor to Alzheimer’s disease, especially in patients in which the disease cannot be explained by genetics,” said Anke Huels, the lead author of the study and an assistant professor at Emory University’s School of Public Health. While the study does not prove that air pollution causes Alzheimer’s disease, it found an association between exposure to specific kinds of pollution and signs of the disease.

Researchers examined tissue from 224 donors in Atlanta’s metropolitan area who, before their deaths, volunteered to donate their brains to research.

“Donors who lived in areas with particularly high levels of traffic-related air pollution showed more plaques related to Alzheimer’s disease at death than donors who lived in areas with lower air pollution concentrations,” Huels said.

What that told researchers, she added, is that being exposed to high levels of the pollution increases your risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

More than half of the donors had what’s known as the APOE gene, the strongest genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. But for the donors who were not already genetically predisposed, researchers found a stronger association between traffic-related air pollution and signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

It’s long been known that concentrations of PM2.5 can trigger short-term respiratory problems. That’s because the particulates are so small — measuring 2.5 microns and smaller in diameter — that they enter the bloodstream after being inhaled. Breathing in smoke can also irritate your sinuses, throat and eyes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In more severe cases, exposure is linked to cardiovascular impacts — including heart attacks and stroke — as well as lung cancer and damage to cognitive functions.

Gaurab Basu, the director of education and policy at Harvard’s center for climate, health and the environment, said the study shines a spotlight on ambient air pollution’s dangers to the brain.

“We often think about air pollution in the lungs, but it’s critical that we put the brain at the forefront of the conversation of the ways that air pollution impacts our health,” Basu said.

While this study primarily examined the brains of White, college-educated men, Basu said poorer communities and communities of color are often more exposed to particulate matter and traffic-related pollution — because highways and roadways are intentionally built in their communities.

“This pollution does not impact everyone the same,” Basu said. “Vehicular air pollution is fundamentally an issue of health equity.”

More research is needed to determine the exact connection between traffic-related air pollution and the brain changes of Alzheimer’s disease, said Heather Snyder, the Alzheimer’s Association vice president of medical and scientific relations.

“We know that Alzheimer’s is a complex disease, and it is likely that there are a variety of factors, in combination, that impact a person’s lifetime risk,” Snyder told The Post in an email. “Avoiding exposure to air pollution is a risk factor that some people can change, but others can’t, or can’t so easily.”

This study is also just the latest in the growing literature revealing associations between ambient air pollution and cognitive decline. Emerging research has also found that exposure to traffic-related fine particulate matter is correlated with reduced cortical thickness and thinner gray matter in the brain, which may influence information processing, learning and memory. Experts pointed to mounting evidence that links exposure to air pollution with cognitive decline, mood disorders and diagnoses of Alzheimer’s disease.

To Huels, the best way to mitigate exposure is to make individual changes such as limiting time outdoors when air pollution concentrations are high and wearing a mask when appropriate. She said other changes such as driving an electric vehicle or taking public transportation can contribute to reducing air pollution.

“To really reduce air pollution exposures, we need political decisions and changes,” Huels said. “There really isn’t a safe or healthy level of air pollution in general or traffic related air pollution.”



Wednesday, February 21, 2024

He Gets Us, but We Don't Get Him.

 <“Jesus is the really strong brand here,” said Steve French, president of The Servant Foundation.>

I disagree. Jesus is a Person, and persons are not brands.

https://baptistnews.com/article/he-gets-us-part-1-the-men-and-money-behind-the-movement/

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Cookies, Christ and Koran

 https://www.facebook.com/notes/1675768542581053/

This is a transcript of a conversation I had with a Valley Covenant Church youth group many years ago (Wednesday, February 11, 2009)


Tonight at our High school youth group the conversation turned to the question of whether Jesus is the only way, or if other religions are also ways to God. I had made chocolate chip cookies, and three were left in the plastic container. They became the perfect teaching aids. What follows is a transcript of the evening (more or less.)

ME: Okay, well, as I see it, everybody has a front door and a back door into their souls. The front door is reserved for God to speak directly to you, through the testimony of His holy word or through direct encounter. (We read 2 Tim. 3:16, 1 Peter 1:16-21.) The back door is the way He comes into you, indirectly, through the creation. (We read Romans 1:20).

Let's let the container represent you, and let the lid be your "front door." (Having already removed the two cookies, I take the lid off the top of the container.) Let's talk about front doors tonight, and save back doors for later. Now, one way of approaching the question is to consider the other religions' scriptures. Let's let the cookies represent God speaking to us.

1. Now, we could say that everything is Cookie. This is what Hinduism does. They believe that everything is god. Hindus don't think there is any distinction between the container and/or the cookies, or between them and us. I am cookie, you are cookie, we are all Cookie.

(I imagine one kid proceding to bite another kid.) But see? That doesn't seem to fit our experience very well. It would be rather difficult to live out that belief. We'd have to constantly tell ourselves to ignore or deny what was happening to us. So let's shelve it.

2. Another thing we could say is that there are no cookies. That would be like believing there isn't any God speaking to us. That's what naturalists say, people like Dawkins and Hitchens and others who claim that reality reduces to matter in motion.

However there are cookies, aren't there. "Ahh," says the naturalist, "Maybe they are an illusion. A projection of your own consciousness, a wish fulfillment, an opiate to help ease the pain of life: whatever, they are something you dreamed up."

Poppycock! I'm here to tell you I was there when those cookies came out of the oven. I saw them and smelled them and I tasted some crumbs. Do you trust my testimony? Am I a reliable witness? (More nodding heads. This would have been a great point for somebody to have read 1 John 1: 1-4.) It's very important who you trust, who you take to be your authorities. But that's a class in itself. What's the bottom line? There are cookies here!

3. So, do we all agree that there are indeed some cookies before us? (Heads nod.) Well, now all we have to do is decide how many cookies we should put in the container. Let's let one cookie represent the Old Testament, and one the New Testament. People who say there is only one cookie are Jews. They don't believe the other cookies belong in the container. They believe only the OT is the word of God. (I put one cookie in the container.)

Now, we are Christians. We believe that the NT is God's word, too. (I put the second cookie in the container.) But we don't think the third cookie belongs. Let the third cookie represent the Koran.

KID A:
How do we know that the third cookie doesn't belong? Or for that matter, that the second cookie does belong? Maybe there should only be one cookie!

ME: Good for you! That's the crux of the problem, isn't it. What should we do?

KID B: Well, the OT has prophecies that the NT fulfills. If you can demonstrate that, you can accept the NT.

ME: Excellent! That's exactly the strategy that Peter uses in his Pentecost sermon. (We read Acts 2:14-36).

(Kid C reads Acts 2:17-21.) See, this is straight from the OT, Peter directly quotes the prophet Joel. Now look what Peter says. (Kid D reads Acts 2:22-24). Peter specifically reminds his listeners of all the miracles, wonders and signs Jesus did, and of his ultimate sign: resurrection.

To further nail his point, he quotes Psalm 16:8-11, a psalm of King David himself. (Kid A reads Acts 2:25-28.) Then he shows how even though the Jews thought it referred to David, it actually is fullfilled in Jesus: (Kid B reads Acts 2:29-36.)

Okay, so there are two cookies in the container. But how do we know there shouldn't be a third?

ME: A crucial question, which we must face if we are to have mature faith. The usual contender for third cookie is the Koran. What criteria do you think we should we use for admitting it into the container?

KID C: The same one as what got the second cookie in.

ME: Okay, and this is where we have some problems. If the OT promises a coming Messiah, and if the NT claims that Jesus is the Messiah, and that He has arrived claiming to be the Son of God and has proved it by dying and rising again, the Koran contradicts that message. Muslims honor Jesus (Isa) as a prophet, but not as God incarnate. Furthermore, they do not believe that "he was crucified, dead, and buried, and that on the third day he was raised from the dead." Rather than fulfilling and completing the NT (as if there was anything more to be fulfilled!) the Muslim narrative requires denying its main character and plotline. It looks like it the third cookie fails the admission test. It may look a lot like a chocolate chip cookie, it may even contain a few chocolate chips, but in reality it is made of a different dough which isn't very good to eat. It shouldn't go in the container.

KID D: Then what if I were a Muslim, who never heard of Jesus? I'd have three cookies in my container from the day I was born. Would that mean I would go to hell?

ME: Another important question, and time is running out. Quickly, I'll just say that if it is true that only two cookies actually belong in our containers, then someone who has three cookies or just one cookie is closer to the truth than someone who has none, or someone who has a dozen, or someone who thinks everything is a cookie.

Look at Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and the other OT saints of Hebrews 11. They only had one cookie in each of their containers--Christ hadn't even been born!--yet they are listed in "the rollcall of the faithful." They aren't in hell. I side with C. S. Lewis on this. Remember Emeth in The Last Battle? Aslan accepts all Emeth's Tash-worship and considers it as directed to Him. But when Emeth thinks Aslan is Tash and Tash is Aslan, Aslan lets out a huge, angry roar. God is merciful, but He is also "jealous."



Sunday, February 04, 2024

A Majority of White American Evangelicals are Christian Nationalists

 What a bitter irony that a people who used to be known as ambassadors of the Good News should now be proud "Christian nationalists."

<White evangelical Protestants are more supportive of Christian nationalism than any other group surveyed. Nearly two-thirds of white evangelical Protestants qualify as either Christian nationalism sympathizers (35%) or adherents (29%).

...Only about one-third of Americans (32%) disagree that white supremacy is still a major problem in the U.S. today, compared to 65% who agree. However, majorities of Christian nationalism sympathizers (53%) and adherents (57%) disagree that white supremacy remains a problem. Among Christian nationalism sympathizers and adherents who are white, disagreement rises to nearly two thirds (64% and 66%, respectively)...

...Americans who are supportive of Christian nationalism generally hold less favorable views of immigrants. Among Americans overall, only 32% affirm the core tenet of so-called “replacement theory,” the belief that immigrants are “invading our country and replacing our cultural and ethnic background,” while 67%disagree. However, 57% of Christian nationalism sympathizers and 71% of adherents agree with this assertion of replacement theory. Among Christian nationalism sympathizers and adherents who are white, belief in replacement theory rises to 66% and 81%, respectively....

...About three in ten Americans (29%) agree that we should prevent people from some majority Muslim countries from entering the United States, while two-thirds disagree (68%). Around half of Christian nationalism sympathizers (49%) and two-thirds of adherents (67%) agree. Among Christian nationalism sympathizers and adherents who are white, agreement rises to 52% and 72%, respectively....

...An element of the more extreme versions of Christian nationalism is a willingness to fight to make the United States. a Christian nation. Christian nationalist symbols were proudly on display at the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. To examine the relationship between attitudes about violence and views on Christian nationalism, we asked respondents about their experiences with handling disagreement, including whether they had ever resorted to violence. We also asked about their views on political violence.

...Only 16% of Americans agree with the statement “Because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country,” while the overwhelming majority of Americans (81%) disagree.

Christian nationalism adherents are nearly seven times as likely as Christian nationalism rejecters to support political violence. Four in ten Christian nationalism adherents (40%) agree with this statement about patriots resorting to violence, compared to only 22% of sympathizers, 15% of skeptics, and 6% of rejecters. There are no significant differences by race within the groups.

...Nearly six in ten QAnon believers are also either Christian nationalism sympathizers (29%) or adherents (29%), compared to 31% who are Christian nationalism skeptics and 10% who are rejecters....

https://www.prri.org/research/a-christian-nation-understanding-the-threat-of-christian-nationalism-to-american-democracy-and-culture/

https://www.prri.org/research/a-christian-nation-understanding-the-threat-of-christian-nationalism-to-american-democracy-and-culture/