Interesting similarities

[Bhagavad-gita. 9.11]"Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be."

John 1:10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. 14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

Colossians 1:15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
16 for through him God created everything
in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
Everything was created through him and for him.
17 He existed before anything else,
and he holds all creation together.
18 Christ is also the head of the church,
which is his body.
He is the beginning,
supreme over all who rise from the dead.
So he is first in everything.
19 For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ,
20 and through him God reconciled
everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

Disqualified?

1Corinthians 9:24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. NLT

I really like what Paul has to say here. Especially the shadowboxing reference. This life of following Christ is real—it is not virtual, not some undoable ideal, not some fantasy island. It is real and it is serious—a Jamaican Rasta once said to me ‘Rastafari is a serious ting, man’—Discipleship with Jesus is a ‘serious ting’.
I run with purpose, I train with purpose, for that high calling.
I want to avoid disqualification from obtaining the prize.
Could it be possible that somehow I (or anyone of us) should become disqualified?

JFK

So today it's 45 years since JFK was killed.
I guess I was in 8th grade. Walter Harms and I were the flag guys. We put the stars and stripes up in the morning and took'em down and folded it each afternoon around 2:55.
I was in class when the announcement came that day. Walter and I were told to lower the flag to half-staff (I used to call it half-mast and then was told that only applied to ships and boats) and to leave it that way until we were told differently.
We left school early that day.
The whole thing really made an impact on me as I'm sure it did on all who went through that time.

Record Dow drop

For those who are anxious or worried about Wall Street--

This Psalm speaks when the economy dives.

Psalm 121 (New Living Translation) A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.

1 I look up to the mountains—
does my help come from there?

2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!

3 He will not let you stumble;
the one who watches over you will not slumber.

4 Indeed, he who watches over Israel
never slumbers or sleeps.

5 The Lord himself watches over you!
The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.

6 The sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon at night.

7 The Lord keeps you from all harm
and watches over your life.

8 The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go,
both now and forever.

The thought presented was--

"Well, the original point seems to be that he wants to believe but cannot bring himself to do it. That requires more response from him. I have been meeting a lot of poeple like this and I have read many a quote from men like Ghandi. There is something about Jesus and His teachings that you cannot ignore and pull at you...but there is something about the church and the people within that tends to make it hard to reconcile this amazing figure in the Bible and or less than amazing subculture."

I’m going to try to keep what I am thinking as simple as possible.

I believe that the problem you are talking about here is that the Church tries to do the calling of people into discipleship and it cannot do so. Only Jesus can call people into discipleship “Come and follow me” He said. The Church has the duty of proclaiming the Word and the call of Jesus clearly—which often she fails to do (clearly, that is). The dispensation of grace without any corresponding action of faith in obedience to the call. Bonhoeffer called it ‘cheap grace’—grace without a price, without costs. The Church says—“say this prayer and all will be well”. Jesus says “follow me and learn to die, follow me and I will make you…”.

What was the effect of Jesus call on the early disciples? They got up, left all behind and followed—‘we have left everything” they said to Jesus. The call of Christ demands a response—either yes as in Matthew’s case-he got up and left his table or no as in the case of the one who said ‘first let me go and…’.

"You say you cannot believe? You can't believe as long as you disregard or flee some part of Jesus command to come. First obey the call to come and you will find that faith comes with that first step.

Remember that only the obedient have faith and only those who believe obey. You cannot have faith as long as you will not take that first step. This is NOT a work which creates faith but one is given a situation where one can have faith. The point is to get into such a situation so that faith is true faith which reveals itself as obedience to the call." Bonhoeffer

Hear Jesus’ call—clearly (the responsibility of us preachers) and respond and the way of discipleship begins.

Peace, Jim

Overcoming temptation

John 13 :1 Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. 2 It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. 4 So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. NLT

As I was reading this some weeks ago I noticed this--
"Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God"

The temptation to think of oneself too highly--the Soul (psuche) exalting itself over the Spirit (pneuma)--is common to man and therefore it would be a temptation the Son of Man would also experience.

What better way to escape temptation than to humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and to take on the role of a slave. Jesus humbled Himself and once again overcame the temptation.

Philippians2:3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. NLT

It's called SideB--click for link

A little about myself, what I believe and my choice to follow Christ as a celibate Christian. I purposely do not call myself a gay Christian even tho’ I am same sex attracted. Paul says that ‘if I am in Christ that the old me has passed away and that I have become a new creation in Christ’. I am definitely not ex-gay, just new and different.

Well, in the past I have found myself examining, reexamining and evaluating things in the light of scripture. I see the Leviticus/Deuteronomy verses which are often used to label homosexuality as an abomination, and to bash GLBT people over the head with, as part of the ritual laws which are not in effect today. As a matter of fact I see Jesus doing away with those ritual laws in His dealings with 'sinners’ in the Gospel accounts of His life. The touching of lepers, His defense of His disciples eating ‘corn’ on the Sabbath, healing on the Sabbath, also Peter’s vision of clean and unclean foods and Paul’s rebuke of Peter for trying to revert to Old Covenant legalism in Galatians 2. I find Jesus more concerned with religious people judging others and the attitudes of the disciple's hearts, and divorce than He was with the sins of Sodom which He certainly was aware of. Frankly His silence on that subject seems to be quite important to me in light of the amount of ranting much of the church does on the subject of homosexuality.

My reading, and I emphasize my reading of the New Testament, however, shows me that Christ followers are to abstain from all forms of sex-straight and gay alike-outside of the man/woman marriage (from the beginning) ideal, and that chastity/celibacy is the rule for non-married believers.

Since this is my understanding of the scriptures I live it for myself, only you can decide how to live out what you believe. I guess I have taken the Henri Nouwen approach to my sexuality and have chosen celibacy. Let me add that I have not regretted that decision--I have found great fulfillment and love in my chosen life of celibacy. I do not think that a person's sexual orientation is chosen nor do I believe that it is something which is changeable.

I have read some of the modern theology concerning re-interpretations of the texts in question including:

• Stranger at the Gate: To Be Gay And Christian In America by Mel White
• Our Tribe: Queer Folks, God, Jesus & the Bible by Nancy Wilson
• New Testament and Homosexuality by Robin Scroggs
• Freedom, Glorious Freedom by John J. McNeill
• Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality by John Boswell
• What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality by Daniel A. Helminiak

These texts leave me with more questions than they answer and frankly I am not totally convinced that their results conform to long held and accepted biblical hermanuetics. I will not use eisegesical methods to prove my point.

That being said I find that the Church today has been very hateful and untruthful in its approach to my fellow GLBT brothers and sisters. FUD (fear, untruthfulness and deceit) have no place in the church and its approach to the GLBT community. I also know that FUD helps fill the coffers and helps others feel self-righteous and holier than thou which makes for filled pews and big church membership lists. The Christian church needs to be open and welcoming, to all who would come. Jesus said 'whosoever will may come' and who are we to say everyone but you or them or even me. Welcoming does not mean affirming.

Most of the last 10 years of my ministry has been to the forgotten and to the marginalized. I have lived my life as an example of what God can do in a life offered to Him. I have and will minister to all God sends my way with no pressure to live as I do or to force people to change into my image of what is good or godly.

I put no time limit on change. I simply lift up Jesus Christ and allow Him to do the drawing, the changing. The Holy Spirit is more than able to confront and convict others of their need to change, repent, or whatever you want to call it.

As I have said often, Jesus is able to deal with each one of His own and if the servant stands or falls it is up to the Master. Paul admonishes believers in Philippans 2:12-13 "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."

I work out my own salvation as God shows me how, I live my life as I see it shown to me through the scriptures. That means to take the Sermon on the Mount very seriously. That includes not judging others in their walk with our Lord, and it most importantly includes loving each and every person I meet as Jesus would love them--touching the 'unclean' (as some might call them), loving the outsider, the hurt, the castaways.

It also means to me that I am to seek justice-love put into action in the social realm-for those who have no voice. I support equal rights for everyone regardless of social status, economic state, marital status, gender identification, etc. I long to see a church which will lift its voice for justice and loving treatment of GLBT folks.

peace Jim