One of the questions that often gets thrown my way by my atheists and others who are not regular participants in a life of faith is WHY people believe things a certain way. The Bible being the beautifully complicated document that it is, why do belief patterns seem to run one way so often?
It's the sort of thing that often gets lampooned by internet memes and the like, where the Bible clearly takes one stance that no one cares about, and vaguely mentions another that is seen to be almost mandatory to the faith.
One simple example: what is your visual picture of Hell? It doesn't even matter if you don't believe in it, it's a prevalent enough cultural concept that you've probably imagined before. So what do you see when you think of it?
Did you imagine a multi-level prison with wards for committers of various sins being punished in ways that were poetic justice for those sins, with the Devil alternately serving as ruler over it or Highest security prisoner?
A lot of people do. It isn't the ONLY cultural representation we have, but it is far and away the most prevalent, to the point that even if a Westerner thinks Hell doesn't look like that, they have at some point rejected it and chosen something else. It is the standard.
But here is the thing about that standard... it is utterly non-Biblical. There is very little Scripture to support it, and virtually nothing that could have built the picture independent of other sources. Building a concept of Hell exclusively from the Scriptures would build varying vague images of an eternal waiting room, a refiners furnace, or simply oblivion.
The image we have was largely crafted by Dante Alighieri for his Inferno, which was then borrowed and modified by countless other writers for their versions. The poetic justice bit seemed to resound the most powerfully and so, for many people, that is simply what Hell is, despite the problematic worldviews that can come from it, most obviously the picture of physical suffering as deserved punishment.
But largely, it's just a detailed picture. No matter what your picture of hell, if you believe in it, you believe it is a thing to be avoided, and so the specifics are largely window dressing. But if such a central tenant of belief can be formed so profoundly without any regard for the actual Biblical record, where else can such things happen?
When I was a teenager, I believed that homosexuality was a sinful lifestyle. So when someone asked me recently about why people believed such a thing, I decided to start with myself... why did -I- believe that?
The most obvious reason would be the Biblical message, right? It's supposed to be where all of this starts, after all. But that wasn't it. The Bible doesn't talk about ANY sexuality as often as you would think considering how fixated the church and Christians can be about it, and homosexuality is being discussed only a fraction of those rather rare instances. And of those instances, none were particular relevant to me in my faith education. I have to look them up... they're not just resting in my head, ready to power my theological understanding. So whatever influenced me that way, it wasn't the Bible.
The next usual suspect would be my childhood pastor, who is easy to track down because he was also my Dad. It probably won't surprise many people to know that Dad is one of the foundational influences of my theology, especially my theology of being a pastor. Nearly everything I do as a pastor is either an acceptance of something I learned from him or a rejection of it. When it comes to homosexuality, though, Dad was also largely silent (except in near constant messages about the importance of loving and respecting EVERYONE, which at last count includes homosexuals) and so my belief that homosexuality was sinful can't be laid at his feet, either.
So I was at a loss. The Bible hadn't taught me to judge homosexuality, neither had my pastor growing up. So who did? Easy. Practically everyone else. The sinfulness of homosexuality was just sort of accepted and talked about, it was a thing people assumed, then when called upon to justify found helpful texts. This even included homosexuals, who whenever they talked about the faith simply assumed that part of them was considered taboo and either rejected faith because of it or continued faith in spite of it.
The origin of such theology likely predates even the Scriptures, hearkening back to a very simple human trait... fear and disgust for the other, a concept that the Scripture Writers struggle with even in the midst of calling upon us to reject it. We feel it, we see it in others, and if we are ever called upon to acknowledge it, we scramble for our justifications wherever we can find them, from a handful of scriptures removed from context to poor understandings of biology to a call to cultural purity.
The fact that many people believe a thing is not a reason to automatically reject it anymore than it is a reason to automatically espouse it, but it is important for people of faith to examine their beliefs and know where, precisely, they come from. Do you believe that the Bible is the basis for your faith? Great. But is it really, or are you simply following the herd?
Christians are called upon to love God with all of their hearts, minds, and strength. That means we can't just take the simpler, easier route. Faith is hard work, not an excuse to stop thinking. Challenge your beliefs, examine their sources, before you find yourself hurting someone else in the name of God, only to learn that God never told you to do what you were doing.
I wonder what level of Hell Dante would craft for that.
Thursday, September 1, 2016
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
Dear Katrina-
Hey there, little girl.
Yesterday I found myself thinking about the fragility of life and how quickly things can be taken from us. It occurred to me that, if something happened to me over the next few years, you might find yourself wondering who I was, and that this blog might be a place you could go, when someone told you about, to learn about me from me.
I am writing this letter under that assumption. Hopefully when you actually do read it, you will do so with me just a call away, giggling over how silly I'm being, because parents can be silly sometimes. But in case you need it, I'll be glad to know I did this.
Because, sweetie, my title, "Pastor" is a very, very loaded one. You'll know this from your mom, your uncle, and your Grandfather as well, but you'll also live in a world that has a lot of its own ideas of what a pastor is, and what someone like me might stand for, and I always wanted you to know who I am, or was, from me.
And now that I have said I want to do this, I find myself unsure of what exactly to say.
I hope you'll know that I did my best to care for people, which to me meant listening to them, sitting with them, talking to them, and trying to make sure that they knew they were loved by God. That is what people want from me, the truth of God, and that is my understanding of that truth.
That God loves them. And, since I am writing this to you, I hope you know that God loves you. And I mean YOU. Not the you that you could potentially be or the you before you screwed up or even the idealized you absented of sin and pain, but the you who exists today, whoever you are.
I often spend time imagining what that YOU will look like and I know it is almost impossible. It is certainly difficult to do so without creating unfair expectations. Maybe you'll love all the geeky stuff I do, maybe you'll just roll your eyes at me when I try to make you watch Star Wars. Maybe you'll like music, or just plug in your own music (if music even still requires plugs!) when I play mine. Maybe you'll walk in the faith like me, or seek out your own path.
As a preachers kid myself, I know the uncertainty of that path, and I hope I can play my part in as powerful a way as your Poppy did for me.
There may be more of these in the future as thoughts occur to me. We'll see. But above all else I want you to know how loved you are. By me, by God, by so many others. And knowing that, I hope you also love yourself.
Love,
Daddy
Yesterday I found myself thinking about the fragility of life and how quickly things can be taken from us. It occurred to me that, if something happened to me over the next few years, you might find yourself wondering who I was, and that this blog might be a place you could go, when someone told you about, to learn about me from me.
I am writing this letter under that assumption. Hopefully when you actually do read it, you will do so with me just a call away, giggling over how silly I'm being, because parents can be silly sometimes. But in case you need it, I'll be glad to know I did this.
Because, sweetie, my title, "Pastor" is a very, very loaded one. You'll know this from your mom, your uncle, and your Grandfather as well, but you'll also live in a world that has a lot of its own ideas of what a pastor is, and what someone like me might stand for, and I always wanted you to know who I am, or was, from me.
And now that I have said I want to do this, I find myself unsure of what exactly to say.
I hope you'll know that I did my best to care for people, which to me meant listening to them, sitting with them, talking to them, and trying to make sure that they knew they were loved by God. That is what people want from me, the truth of God, and that is my understanding of that truth.
That God loves them. And, since I am writing this to you, I hope you know that God loves you. And I mean YOU. Not the you that you could potentially be or the you before you screwed up or even the idealized you absented of sin and pain, but the you who exists today, whoever you are.
I often spend time imagining what that YOU will look like and I know it is almost impossible. It is certainly difficult to do so without creating unfair expectations. Maybe you'll love all the geeky stuff I do, maybe you'll just roll your eyes at me when I try to make you watch Star Wars. Maybe you'll like music, or just plug in your own music (if music even still requires plugs!) when I play mine. Maybe you'll walk in the faith like me, or seek out your own path.
As a preachers kid myself, I know the uncertainty of that path, and I hope I can play my part in as powerful a way as your Poppy did for me.
There may be more of these in the future as thoughts occur to me. We'll see. But above all else I want you to know how loved you are. By me, by God, by so many others. And knowing that, I hope you also love yourself.
Love,
Daddy
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Clothe the naked, feed the hungry... if they join?
Just had someone walk into my church, into my office, and blurt out that they wanted to join. I'd never seen them before in my life. So I talked to them for awhile and determined what they really needed was help paying for clothes and groceries. That part was easy... five minutes later I'd given them a voucher to the local grocery store, and then addressed the church membership thing.
"Tell you what. We worship on Sundays at 9 for the Summer, then transition to 10 am in the fall. Why don't you come and worship with us a few times, see if it connects with you, and then we'll talk about membership. In the meanwhile, good luck. Take this voucher to the local grocery and they'll take care of you."
I wish I could say that this was the first time I saw something like this, but it isn't. Someone needs help, comes to a church, and leads with membership in the hopes that will loosen the ol' purse strings a bit. A few years ago I might have been angry at the ones doing it, feeling that they were manipulating me, but then I remembered that this is a learned behavior.
Somewhere along the way, the lesson was learned that the best way to get help from the church, or other faith based organizations, is to prostitute your soul. And that means that we, as the church, have been ROYALLY SCREWING UP, because we were the ones who taught that lesson.
Somewhere along the line, someone decided that "saving souls" was the goal, and pursued it by holding physical needs ransom. I mean we HAD been commanded by Christ to make disciples, we had also been commanded to feed the hungry. Why not kill two birds with one stone?
It even comes with a built in guilt removal mechanism... if the person then doesn't follow through with a conversion essentially obtained by force, then we get to play the role of the manipulated "holier than thou," the party just trying to tend to the needs of the world only to be disappointed by the dishonest souls we found.
But it's bullshit. Because we are called to feed and clothe those who need it. We're not called to make them sign on the dotted line first. And in the meantime millions of people who maybe could use the comfort the gospels truly preached could provide see them only as an elaborate con, the devils bargain they are forced to sign in return for things they desperately need. A trap. Why wouldn't they want to escape it.
There are a thousand justifications for this behavior but each and every one of them boils down to a power trip... using our ability to assuage the needs of those we find to force them into a behavior, rather than by trying to make that behavior appeal. We are met to witness to them... instead, we try to take them hostage.For millions, the damage has already been done, yet another reason (amid MANY) that people will never, ever, trust the church.
Christians, we are called to feed the hungry. To house the homeless. To clothe the naked. To tend to the sick, to visit the prisoner. We are also called to witness... but that means showing people the love of Christ. If the love they are shown is the love of a pistol held to their head while we wait for them to sign the dotted line... is it any wonder that people leave?
Monday, August 1, 2016
The Audacity of Hope
This is, by my count, the eighth attempt I've made to restart the blog since the birth of my paternity leave ended in July. Not that I've been inactive since then... there has been a lot going on in the church and Nerdfighters will be able to testify (with varying levels of irritation) that I have been loud and proud flying my political colors in the forums during that time, but not a lot of faith based posting.
This has been largely due to the fact that, well, I've been fairly angry lately. This has at least something to do with the general reduced amounts of sleep I've been getting (which are nowhere close to what my wife has lost in rest in that time, so I'm not complaining too much) but mostly to do with my attitude towards the election rolling down the tracks towards us.
I'm frustrated, in that vein. Frustrated with the willingness of certain groups to wield hate as a political weapon, even while sacrificing their ideals to the votes it gains. Frustrated with the general reduction of politics to meme warfare, predicating entire political stances on emotional reactions rather than an examining of fact and circumstances.
My attitudes towards Donald Trump have been plainly stated... if you want to see that, check it out here. While I do support Clinton, stumping for her is not what this blog is supposed to be about, and so other than that stating of my preference (which most people who read this probably already knew) I don't want to spend too much time doing it. Instead, I'd rather like to say something about the Democrats that I have enjoyed ever since that first Obama campaign...
I will take a party that runs on hope over a party that runs on fear EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
It would have been easy for the DNC to simply run a hate-fest... inflaming fears of what a Trump presidency could mean to various constituents would be pretty standard for the current climate of politics, a 4 day tale of doom and gloom meant to hide the failings of Hillary Clinton behind a red painted coat of fear. But they didn't.
Oh, they certainly named the stakes, but the polls make it clear that American minorities do not need a picture painted... the unanimity of their polling in favor of Clinton is nearly unprecedented. Instead, the DNC chose to highlight hope... showing how much we have achieved, and rather than hiding from what MAY happen, choosing to guide what WILL happen in the future.
A White House built by slaves now home to our first African American President and his family. A woman nominated to take his place. Muslim Americans proud of their sacrifices for their country and enraged at the insults toward their son. A left wing of the party bolstered by unprecedented levels of youth involvement thanked and recruited to push their revolution further, not scolded to get in line but invited to stay plugged in and keep the party honest.
A recognition that the US has a long way yet to go... but also that we have the tools to get there. A candidate who in response to her mistakes can name her successes, her victories and her passions. As I held my daughter while Michelle Obama spoke I remembered why I care so much about this stuff... I want her future to be as bright as possible. I want my daughter to live her whole life seeing that it is clearly possible for a woman to be President by the most obvious route, raised in a political climate of hard work and hope rather than hatred and fear.
This won't matter much to my atheists, but to Christian readers (I have those, right?) there is a video circulating that compares the opening prayers of the RNC and the DNC. The RNC had the better prayer, no doubt (which is hardly surprising, as the RNC has stopped even pretending to represent non-christian interests) but as a Christian it was obvious to me that the message of Christianity, a message of love, welcoming, and hope, the Bible I always read growing up, was found not in quoted platitudes from ancient texts or coopting of ancient hatreds, but rather in the welcoming hope of the DNC.
Was the DNC more Christian? Certainly not explicitly, and not in the way such a word has been weighted in todays culture. Was it more Christ-like? Beyond even the shadow of a doubt.
And that is why I will always choose the Audacity of Hope over the Hysteria of Hate.
This has been largely due to the fact that, well, I've been fairly angry lately. This has at least something to do with the general reduced amounts of sleep I've been getting (which are nowhere close to what my wife has lost in rest in that time, so I'm not complaining too much) but mostly to do with my attitude towards the election rolling down the tracks towards us.
I'm frustrated, in that vein. Frustrated with the willingness of certain groups to wield hate as a political weapon, even while sacrificing their ideals to the votes it gains. Frustrated with the general reduction of politics to meme warfare, predicating entire political stances on emotional reactions rather than an examining of fact and circumstances.
My attitudes towards Donald Trump have been plainly stated... if you want to see that, check it out here. While I do support Clinton, stumping for her is not what this blog is supposed to be about, and so other than that stating of my preference (which most people who read this probably already knew) I don't want to spend too much time doing it. Instead, I'd rather like to say something about the Democrats that I have enjoyed ever since that first Obama campaign...
I will take a party that runs on hope over a party that runs on fear EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
It would have been easy for the DNC to simply run a hate-fest... inflaming fears of what a Trump presidency could mean to various constituents would be pretty standard for the current climate of politics, a 4 day tale of doom and gloom meant to hide the failings of Hillary Clinton behind a red painted coat of fear. But they didn't.
Oh, they certainly named the stakes, but the polls make it clear that American minorities do not need a picture painted... the unanimity of their polling in favor of Clinton is nearly unprecedented. Instead, the DNC chose to highlight hope... showing how much we have achieved, and rather than hiding from what MAY happen, choosing to guide what WILL happen in the future.
A White House built by slaves now home to our first African American President and his family. A woman nominated to take his place. Muslim Americans proud of their sacrifices for their country and enraged at the insults toward their son. A left wing of the party bolstered by unprecedented levels of youth involvement thanked and recruited to push their revolution further, not scolded to get in line but invited to stay plugged in and keep the party honest.
A recognition that the US has a long way yet to go... but also that we have the tools to get there. A candidate who in response to her mistakes can name her successes, her victories and her passions. As I held my daughter while Michelle Obama spoke I remembered why I care so much about this stuff... I want her future to be as bright as possible. I want my daughter to live her whole life seeing that it is clearly possible for a woman to be President by the most obvious route, raised in a political climate of hard work and hope rather than hatred and fear.
This won't matter much to my atheists, but to Christian readers (I have those, right?) there is a video circulating that compares the opening prayers of the RNC and the DNC. The RNC had the better prayer, no doubt (which is hardly surprising, as the RNC has stopped even pretending to represent non-christian interests) but as a Christian it was obvious to me that the message of Christianity, a message of love, welcoming, and hope, the Bible I always read growing up, was found not in quoted platitudes from ancient texts or coopting of ancient hatreds, but rather in the welcoming hope of the DNC.
Was the DNC more Christian? Certainly not explicitly, and not in the way such a word has been weighted in todays culture. Was it more Christ-like? Beyond even the shadow of a doubt.
And that is why I will always choose the Audacity of Hope over the Hysteria of Hate.
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Stop Handing the Idiots Microphones
So I've been toying around with new and exciting ways to increase the viewership on my blog. Anti-Trump stuff seems to be popular, even more so than when people ask questions to get me talking about sex if not quite as much as when I've developed cancer. It's not a CRAZY number of hits... 2,000 is a really stinking good result for me, so nothing truly viral just yet, but I think I've found a way to to make that happen.
So I have decided, sometime in the next week or so while I am still on Paternity leave, to say something extraordinarily racist, sexist, or otherwise bigoted. I'll write it in the blog, maybe I'll post a video about it, as well as leaving a few quick shares here and there on social media.
Now at first, I know this will just make my usual readership confused and angry. Likely some who liked my approach to Christianity will feel betrayed. But the real good will be when someone goes beyond disappointment into true anger.
They'll share it, outraged, and demanding others share in their outrage. Most won't but some will, scattering the message further and further until it gets picked up by some rights group that publicly denounces me, all the more loudly for the obvious hypocrisy between the new direction and earlier posts. (Bonus, it increases hits on earlier posts, leading to comparison pieces and "where did he go wrong" interest stories! See Phelps, Fred.)
Eventually, on some slow news day or a HEAVY news day in some way relevant to my chosen form of bigotry, some reporter will seek me out, asking me to share some context for my statement. Presented with what someone like me always seeks, a platform, I double down on my statement, further antagonizing the world and pushing the clicks machine.
Around this time, some other outlet sympathetic to the views I have adopted in this fit of mercenary hatred will share me, complaining that others are seeking to suppress me. At that point I'll put up a GOFUNDME for aid, and likely pay for my daughter's College if I invest wisely afterwards as thousands rally to protect my right to be an asshole.
Where things go from here depends. Maybe I get a regular spot commenting on a hate based website, eventually dissolving into the furniture, or maybe things go further, statement after statement hitting the publics offence button hard and continuing to drive hits, links, and shares, which in so doing finance my life (as by this time I am probably no longer welcome in my Christian denomination anymore, but obviously no one will report on that.)
Meanwhile, around the world, people of the group I have attacked are given one more reason to believe that everyone of faith hates them... because when someone preaches tolerance, it doesn't move news stories, but when the most insignificant pastor in the world starts preaching hate, the world can't hand him a microphone fast enough.
I'm not here to claim that these people's influence is negligible... that would be an insult to all who have been hurt by preachers like these over and over again. We who oppose them within the Christian faith do need to work to be louder, as loud as we can, so that the message that Christianity is a faith of fear and hatred can at least be actually challenged in the public eye.
But that is hard... really, really hard, when the media trips over itself to boost one side of the signal while neglecting the other. So for the love of all that is Holy... could we PLEASE stop handing these idiots microphones?
So I have decided, sometime in the next week or so while I am still on Paternity leave, to say something extraordinarily racist, sexist, or otherwise bigoted. I'll write it in the blog, maybe I'll post a video about it, as well as leaving a few quick shares here and there on social media.
Now at first, I know this will just make my usual readership confused and angry. Likely some who liked my approach to Christianity will feel betrayed. But the real good will be when someone goes beyond disappointment into true anger.
They'll share it, outraged, and demanding others share in their outrage. Most won't but some will, scattering the message further and further until it gets picked up by some rights group that publicly denounces me, all the more loudly for the obvious hypocrisy between the new direction and earlier posts. (Bonus, it increases hits on earlier posts, leading to comparison pieces and "where did he go wrong" interest stories! See Phelps, Fred.)
Eventually, on some slow news day or a HEAVY news day in some way relevant to my chosen form of bigotry, some reporter will seek me out, asking me to share some context for my statement. Presented with what someone like me always seeks, a platform, I double down on my statement, further antagonizing the world and pushing the clicks machine.
Around this time, some other outlet sympathetic to the views I have adopted in this fit of mercenary hatred will share me, complaining that others are seeking to suppress me. At that point I'll put up a GOFUNDME for aid, and likely pay for my daughter's College if I invest wisely afterwards as thousands rally to protect my right to be an asshole.
Where things go from here depends. Maybe I get a regular spot commenting on a hate based website, eventually dissolving into the furniture, or maybe things go further, statement after statement hitting the publics offence button hard and continuing to drive hits, links, and shares, which in so doing finance my life (as by this time I am probably no longer welcome in my Christian denomination anymore, but obviously no one will report on that.)
Meanwhile, around the world, people of the group I have attacked are given one more reason to believe that everyone of faith hates them... because when someone preaches tolerance, it doesn't move news stories, but when the most insignificant pastor in the world starts preaching hate, the world can't hand him a microphone fast enough.
I'm not here to claim that these people's influence is negligible... that would be an insult to all who have been hurt by preachers like these over and over again. We who oppose them within the Christian faith do need to work to be louder, as loud as we can, so that the message that Christianity is a faith of fear and hatred can at least be actually challenged in the public eye.
But that is hard... really, really hard, when the media trips over itself to boost one side of the signal while neglecting the other. So for the love of all that is Holy... could we PLEASE stop handing these idiots microphones?
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Naming your Demons
Do you believe in Demonic possession? After Orlando, I am starting to think that I do.
-Kasey
-----
I know what you mean, Kasey.
As it happens I am currently doing prep work for a Biblical text where Jesus drives many demons out of a man who was suffering from possession, and it's the sort of text that always can be counted on to raise questions for people whose pastors encourage that sort of thing.
The role of demonic possession in the mindset of the church is a fascinating one. With a few notable exceptions, most modern churches (at least as we practice in North America) do not deal much with direct demon possession, and so the possessions we read about in the scripture are often interpreted as well known modern phenomena seen through the lens of an ancient Worldview. The most common I've encountered (and even was guilty of myself) was interpreting the Demons of Bible times as mental illness.
As a quick sidenote, that kind of mindset can be DEVASTATING to people suffering from mental illness, because it often leads to horribly harmful methods employed to deal with the mental illness in question. Preachers are not psychologists. Short version, read the Bible however you like, but encourage those with mental illness to get professional help. Don't ask the pastor to "fix them." If he is willing to, I can promise it won't end well.
Back on topic, facing such a subject in the wake of the Orlando shooting did put the entire concept back on the burner for me, so to speak, and so I have an answer for you, of sorts.
It does not bother me too terribly to think of what happened as something driven by a demonic force, but with one important caveat... if you choose to look at it that way, you need to see that the shooter was not the only one driven in such a way.
More and more stories are coming out of the shooter as a homosexual wracked by guilt and self loathing, driven to do a horrible thing by hatred for others that was born in hatred of himself. You want to call that a demon, I can live with that. But I am seeing that demon, and others like it, all over the place these days.
People claiming that the victims got what they deserved because they were at a gay club. People claiming that this justifies fear and hatred of Muslims. People who don't particularly care because the victims were largely POC.
People driven to say horrible things by something dark inside them, something they don't even recognize within themselves. Something that possesses them.
Most of us on social media are aware of someone or other who strikes us as horrible for one reason or another, and usually there is someone else, often a mutual friend, who will defend them, saying; "Look, what he said was horrible, but he is a great guy if you know him, would do anything for a friend..."
We seem beset by people who are, if you know them, good people, but capable of great acts of fear and hatred at even the slightest provocation.
Call it demonic possession if you wish, or just evil. Call it human nature if you tend towards pessimism. Call it a form of mental illness in the worst cases if you must. But what is important here is not that you see it in others and shake your head and sigh.
Because often we want to call something demonic in order to absolve ourselves of it. If someone was driven by horrible evil, then we who are NOT horribly evil, could never be capable of it. But that isn't how demons work. If the Orlando shooter was driven by demons, those same demons could drive you, and, I would argue, possibly already do. So we can't just wash our hands of such forces, regardless of how we classify them.
Instead, recognize how those same demons are at work inside of you. Name your demons, be they homophobia, sexism, racism, classism, ableism, whatever forms those dark entities of fear and hate can take. Confront them, and try to defeat them. If you don't eventually the person hurting others in a way you can't even imagine... will be you.
-Kasey
-----
I know what you mean, Kasey.
As it happens I am currently doing prep work for a Biblical text where Jesus drives many demons out of a man who was suffering from possession, and it's the sort of text that always can be counted on to raise questions for people whose pastors encourage that sort of thing.
The role of demonic possession in the mindset of the church is a fascinating one. With a few notable exceptions, most modern churches (at least as we practice in North America) do not deal much with direct demon possession, and so the possessions we read about in the scripture are often interpreted as well known modern phenomena seen through the lens of an ancient Worldview. The most common I've encountered (and even was guilty of myself) was interpreting the Demons of Bible times as mental illness.
As a quick sidenote, that kind of mindset can be DEVASTATING to people suffering from mental illness, because it often leads to horribly harmful methods employed to deal with the mental illness in question. Preachers are not psychologists. Short version, read the Bible however you like, but encourage those with mental illness to get professional help. Don't ask the pastor to "fix them." If he is willing to, I can promise it won't end well.
Back on topic, facing such a subject in the wake of the Orlando shooting did put the entire concept back on the burner for me, so to speak, and so I have an answer for you, of sorts.
It does not bother me too terribly to think of what happened as something driven by a demonic force, but with one important caveat... if you choose to look at it that way, you need to see that the shooter was not the only one driven in such a way.
More and more stories are coming out of the shooter as a homosexual wracked by guilt and self loathing, driven to do a horrible thing by hatred for others that was born in hatred of himself. You want to call that a demon, I can live with that. But I am seeing that demon, and others like it, all over the place these days.
People claiming that the victims got what they deserved because they were at a gay club. People claiming that this justifies fear and hatred of Muslims. People who don't particularly care because the victims were largely POC.
People driven to say horrible things by something dark inside them, something they don't even recognize within themselves. Something that possesses them.
Most of us on social media are aware of someone or other who strikes us as horrible for one reason or another, and usually there is someone else, often a mutual friend, who will defend them, saying; "Look, what he said was horrible, but he is a great guy if you know him, would do anything for a friend..."
We seem beset by people who are, if you know them, good people, but capable of great acts of fear and hatred at even the slightest provocation.
Call it demonic possession if you wish, or just evil. Call it human nature if you tend towards pessimism. Call it a form of mental illness in the worst cases if you must. But what is important here is not that you see it in others and shake your head and sigh.
Because often we want to call something demonic in order to absolve ourselves of it. If someone was driven by horrible evil, then we who are NOT horribly evil, could never be capable of it. But that isn't how demons work. If the Orlando shooter was driven by demons, those same demons could drive you, and, I would argue, possibly already do. So we can't just wash our hands of such forces, regardless of how we classify them.
Instead, recognize how those same demons are at work inside of you. Name your demons, be they homophobia, sexism, racism, classism, ableism, whatever forms those dark entities of fear and hate can take. Confront them, and try to defeat them. If you don't eventually the person hurting others in a way you can't even imagine... will be you.
Monday, June 13, 2016
Concerning Orlando
Those who follow my sermons may have been surprised to notice that yesterday I didn't preach about what had happened at the Pulse in Orlando... which was due to the fact that I only heard about it right before Church started, and I hadn't had time to process the event or even absorb any of the details.
That the shooting is horrible is obvious and does not require me to harp on it. That folks who are LGBTQ still have to worry about this sort of thing happening to them is a sad commentary on where we are as a nation, but plenty will be written about that. I am not in a position to comment on the shooter, if what he did was due to his faith, due to his political beliefs, or due to mental illness, or if the three all go hand in hand.
I don't know. If it IS faith, then it isn't my faith to comment on, though I have seen some Islamic scholars beginning to do so themselves, and so I will leave them to it.
My commentary goes to some of the others who, like me, can only react to it in the cute little ways they find so witty. I'm a pastor, a Christian leader, and Christians, you are disappointing the hell out of me this morning. Disappointment isn't even the right word... I am pissed off.
The comments that I am seeing on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media are, I believe, the sort of thing that would get Jesus flipping tables in temples. Those who see this as justification for hatred against Islam, or for pushing laws to treat them as second class citizens, are disgusting.
And the most infuriating of all are those who see this as a proper punishment for LGBTQ people. If you are saying things like that, then you are using your faith to justify hatred, to justify violence. You are breaking a bunch of Biblical admonishments and ignoring basically the ENTIRE message of Christ himself. You are sinning, plain and simple.
You're also being a miserable excuse for a human being.
And it isn't going unnoticed. Millions of people who have never experienced faith are seeing you RIGHT NOW and either deciding for the first time or being confirmed in their opinion that if THAT is what faith is, then they want no part of it. Hell, if that is what faith is, -I- want no part of it.
The sermon I did preach yesterday talked about people who use law to try to keep score, to be able to make the claim that they are better than others, to reject the idea that we are saved by grace through faith in exchange for a sense of smug self-righteousness, when the scriptures try to remind us that there is neither slave nor free, Jew or gentile, male or female.
The people who died in Orlando, who are still dying in Orlando, are people, murdered, leaving devastated friends and family in their wake. What they did, who they did it with, does not change any of that. It is a tragedy, full stop.
But the cowards who hide behind a weak understanding of their faith to justify their hatreds and prejudices, those who put on a smug "I told you so," to use this instance to justify previously held hatreds and grievances, to those who would DARE to use the name of Jesus Christ so that what happened seems like a victory...
You are an embarrassment to our faith, to all of us. You are every reason why we as Christians are distrusted in the world today. People making provisions against us at this point is a matter of self defense, not of religious intolerance. You are an active hindrance to the gospel, sinning against the Holy Spirit, literally the only sin in the Bible ever described as unforgivable. You are standing between people and Christ and actively working to deny them his love and while I believe in forgiveness of Christ in this particular moment that idea makes me feel ANGRY, rather than safe.
And to everyone else... I'm sorry. They don't speak for me, or for countless others, but frankly I couldn't blame you if, in this moment, you had a hard time caring about that.
That the shooting is horrible is obvious and does not require me to harp on it. That folks who are LGBTQ still have to worry about this sort of thing happening to them is a sad commentary on where we are as a nation, but plenty will be written about that. I am not in a position to comment on the shooter, if what he did was due to his faith, due to his political beliefs, or due to mental illness, or if the three all go hand in hand.
I don't know. If it IS faith, then it isn't my faith to comment on, though I have seen some Islamic scholars beginning to do so themselves, and so I will leave them to it.
My commentary goes to some of the others who, like me, can only react to it in the cute little ways they find so witty. I'm a pastor, a Christian leader, and Christians, you are disappointing the hell out of me this morning. Disappointment isn't even the right word... I am pissed off.
The comments that I am seeing on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media are, I believe, the sort of thing that would get Jesus flipping tables in temples. Those who see this as justification for hatred against Islam, or for pushing laws to treat them as second class citizens, are disgusting.
And the most infuriating of all are those who see this as a proper punishment for LGBTQ people. If you are saying things like that, then you are using your faith to justify hatred, to justify violence. You are breaking a bunch of Biblical admonishments and ignoring basically the ENTIRE message of Christ himself. You are sinning, plain and simple.
You're also being a miserable excuse for a human being.
And it isn't going unnoticed. Millions of people who have never experienced faith are seeing you RIGHT NOW and either deciding for the first time or being confirmed in their opinion that if THAT is what faith is, then they want no part of it. Hell, if that is what faith is, -I- want no part of it.
The sermon I did preach yesterday talked about people who use law to try to keep score, to be able to make the claim that they are better than others, to reject the idea that we are saved by grace through faith in exchange for a sense of smug self-righteousness, when the scriptures try to remind us that there is neither slave nor free, Jew or gentile, male or female.
The people who died in Orlando, who are still dying in Orlando, are people, murdered, leaving devastated friends and family in their wake. What they did, who they did it with, does not change any of that. It is a tragedy, full stop.
But the cowards who hide behind a weak understanding of their faith to justify their hatreds and prejudices, those who put on a smug "I told you so," to use this instance to justify previously held hatreds and grievances, to those who would DARE to use the name of Jesus Christ so that what happened seems like a victory...
You are an embarrassment to our faith, to all of us. You are every reason why we as Christians are distrusted in the world today. People making provisions against us at this point is a matter of self defense, not of religious intolerance. You are an active hindrance to the gospel, sinning against the Holy Spirit, literally the only sin in the Bible ever described as unforgivable. You are standing between people and Christ and actively working to deny them his love and while I believe in forgiveness of Christ in this particular moment that idea makes me feel ANGRY, rather than safe.
And to everyone else... I'm sorry. They don't speak for me, or for countless others, but frankly I couldn't blame you if, in this moment, you had a hard time caring about that.
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