According to a CNET article (Dec 23), Harris Interactive Poll reports that the average Internet user is on-line 13 hours per week.

The average number of hours that people spend online each week has grown over the years, hovering at 7 hours from 1999 through 2002, 8 or 9 hours from 2003 through 2006, and 11 hours in 2007.

The jump in time spent in cyberspace likely stems from a few factors, according to Harris. More people are comfortable using the Internet. More of them are shopping and watching TV online. In addition, the number of Web sites and online applications has increased.

To which, the president of Stephens College responds by inviting students to put away their digital contraptions and revive the tradition of contemplative evening vespers.  This from the Washington Post:

But Lynch (president of Stephens) fears all that time spent in the 21st century’s town square leaves few opportunities for clutter-free thought. She wants the students to also pursue the more elusive state of mind that comes with silence.

Several other schools are encouraging technology-free introspection. Amherst College in Massachusetts hosted a “Day of Mindfulness” this year, featuring yoga and meditation and a lecture on information technology and the contemplative mind entitled “No Time to Think.”

Peace on Earth and silent nights!

I swear. Coffee didn’t just create itself. Coffee is the best beverage on earth. It’s for all-ages. Thankfully not all ages like it or there wouldn’t be enough of it to go around. And thank God for Starbucks. Anyways, I’m stalling . . .

I remember not liking coffee, but I choose to relinquish that thought. In fact, I may choose to deny it someday. Coffee is heaven in a mug. I prefer it in a colorful mug, primarily those that come in these 4 varieties (with little exception):

1. A blug mug with Bug’s Bunny on the front
2. A bright yellow mug with a huge happy face (I paid ten cents at a garage sale)
3. A navy blue mug in the shape of a ski boot
4. A tall top-heavy mug with whimsical pastel designs

I believe in Creation. I believe God created the world and everything in it. I believe God made man in His image to invent some pretty amazing things. But I don’t think God gave man enough smarts to make something as smart as coffee. So I tend to think that God created coffee. On the eighth day. But maybe — maybe He didn’t invent it. He already had it. How do you think He could create and create and create for six whole days and finally rest on the seventh day? He had coffee!! All He did on the eighth day was share it. God please help me to be more like You and share my coffee. Unless it’s Starbucks. Amen.

Thank you to a great ColourLover for help with the palette!

Color by COLOURlovers

During my studies of Systematic Theology, I have tried very hard to keep this stuff from staying in the abstract. I am aware that the Gospel is far from just a theoretical enterprise, it is rubber meets the road big time. A regenerate soul will act differently, so there is a real-time connection to metaphysical realities and life as it is lived. There is a direct path from Systematic Theology to practical theology. The entire theological endeavor is a unity, all are connected. The Gospel makes claims about reality. It states the way things are so it cannot be compartmentalized or stay just some theoretical idea. Even secular minded people are aware of this. Larry King said that if Jesus was virgin born then that changes everything. The modern church’s emphasis on practical living, divorced from a keen and deep understanding of Theology is inconsistent and absurd. The real problem is an incoherent worldview. The Church has tried to help narcissistic empty selves by offering practical stuff, how to this and how to that kind of stuff, and by “relevant” messages. If Christ rose from the dead, then it is relevant, regardless of socio-economics, ethnic identity, or felt needs.

An example is found in Theology Proper, or the doctrine of God. God is a free being. He is only bound by His own Nature. God is not free to not exist, since He is Being. Gods Freedom is a perfect freedom and His existence is not restricted by anything since it is a perfect existence. Human beings, according to Scripture, are created beings that are made in the very Image of God. Since freedom is a perfection of God it could be argued that humanity best represents the Image by being free. This is what is classically understood as Liberty. A political philosophy that is true to this reality would recognize it and seek to allow human persons to live in Liberty. This does not mean that persons are free to disobey the perfect moral law, but that the best expression of the Image of God in man is freedom. Christians should reject any infringement on personal liberty because it is inconsistent with the bearing of Gods Image. Again, this does not mean that people should reject the moral law, because that would limit freedom as well. If a person rejects the moral law they become enslaved to whatever passion they chose to partake of, hence they lose freedom. Just ask anyone who has given into gluttony or slothfulness if they are free.

The whole point here is that Christianity, as a worldview, is neither an abstraction, nor a compartmentalized religious tradition, it is rubber meets the road, because God designed the tire, and the street, and the axle, and the speed limit, and the………

L. Dwight Turner

Jesus Christ was not a man of compassion; he was a man of radical compassion. From his voluntary mission to this broken world, to his mysterious ascension back into the heavenly realm, there was no theme he stressed more in both word and deed. From his opening salvo quoting Isaiah about bringing release to they know not what they do,” Jesus exemplified a compassion far beyond what the world had seen before. Indeed, it was and is a radical compassion.the captives and good news to the poor, to his dying plea of, “Father, forgive them for

 Jesus’ stories about the Prodigal, the Good Samaritan, and his treatment of the woman caught in adultery all point to the need for a compassion that transcends the normal boundaries defined by contemporary culture, then and now. Indeed, it was and is a radical compassion.

 Five-hundred years before Jesus, another prophet of radical compassion graced our world. Gautama Buddha was an example of grace and perfect love incarnate. After finding his awakening under the Bodhi tree, the Buddha went about spreading the truth that he had discovered, a truth that when astutely applied to life, could liberate beings from endless rounds of suffering. Just as with Jesus who would come later, Buddha taught through sermons, informal talks, parables, and above all, his actions.

 Just as Christ would later set an example for his disciples to follow, the Buddha also would serve as the divine prototype for the essence of “metta,” or “loving-kindness.” In Metta, there is an internal manifestation and an external manifestation. Internally, increasing feelings of loving kindness give rise to a vital uuusense of compassion that is also based on the realization of the oneness of all things. These internal states of loving kindness and compassion result in the external manifestation, which is proactive service to the world.

 This eventually gave rise to the Mahayana Buddhist ideal of the Bodhisattva. On a theoretical level, one can accurately say that the ultimate goal of the Bodhisattva is enlightenment and to some extent this is true. However, on a highly practical level, the Bodhisattva’s highest goal is selfless service. Personal enlightenment takes a back seat to serving others, spiritually and materially. Perhaps no where in the sacred writings of the world is this reality presented so directly as in the 13^th Chapter of the Gospel of John.

 Radical compassion is compassion with legs; radical compassion is a verb. Just as the Bible tells us in the Letter of James that faith without works is dead, also, compassion without concomitant action is a lifeless phenomenon. Many sincere aspirants have the mistaken notion that the ultimate goal of the spiritual path is enlightenment. Although a sincere desire for motivation is one of our most treasured possessions, it is actually penultimate. The real aim of the spiritual journey is simply this – Sacred Service. All that we do is dedicated to the greatest good of all beings in all the worlds. Our gain is their gain, our loss is their loss, our advancement is their advancement, and it is to this sacred reality that we offer our benedictions at the end of our times of meditation and prayer.

 In the Christian faith especially, personal enlightenment takes a back seat to serving others, spiritually and materially. Perhaps no where in the sacred writings of the world is this reality presented so directly as in the 13^th Chapter of the Gospel of John.

 Imagine for a moment that you are one of Jesus’ twelve disciples and you, your band of rag tag friends, and the Master arrive at the Upper Room after a long, tedious, dusty day going about your business. You sit for a moment to catch your breath and unwind a few moments before you go wash up for the evening meal. You close your eyes for a few minutes, only to feel something or someone taking off your sandals. And to your utter disbelief, kneeling in front of you is the Master Jesus with a basin and a towel. Incredible….

 The Master taught his disciples, and all of us who have read of this amazing episode, a clear and concise example of the essence of spirituality: selfless service with a heart of humility. If only more of us, especially those who claim to be followers of Jesus, would take this lesson to heart, our world would have much less pain.

 The Kingdom of God is a divine realm of proactive compassion. This is the message that Jesus came to deliver and through his actions as well as his words, he delivered it consistently. In all that he did and he said, Jesus revealed to us the nature of God. This incarnational revelation was hinted at in the Master’s magnificent prayer in John 17. In the 21^st verse the Master says:

 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one – as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

 In the Bible’s most well known verse, John 3:16, it is stated that for God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life. (NLT)

 Now, to make this even clearer, let’s look at one more verse in John 17. In verse three John records:

 And this is the way to have eternal life, to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. (NLT)

 Putting all this together, Jesus gave us a powerful but very real theology in this prayer and his disciple, John, fully caught its significance by saying in 3:16 that God loved the world so much that he sent his Son to save it. On God’s part, this was a perfect example of “proactive compassion” or what we often call “grace.” Motivated by the purest form of love, God was moved to have compassion on we fallen creatures, even in our blind ignorance, and he literally gave that compassion flesh by sending us the Master Jesus.

  In order for compassion to become more than just a nice idea or a sentimental feeling, it must flow out of the internalized wisdom of the ages, particularly as related to the reality of “interconnectivity.” The idea of interconnectivity, now confirmed by the field of quantum physics, has been around for many centuries and is at the core of interspiritual mysticism, that one aspect of world religion that seems to transcend culture, time, and especially theology. It is a mystical connectedness that promotes compassion and engaged action to make the world a better place for all who dwell here. In essence, it is a deep wisdom that gives flesh to grace. The great spiritual writer Kahil Gibran spoke of this interconnected reality when he said:

 Your neighbor is your other self dwelling behind a wall. In understanding, all walls shall fall down. Who knows but that your neighbor is your better self wearing another body? See that you love him as you would yourself. He too is a manifestation of the Most High.

 In India, for example, we have the story of Indra’s Net, which is strung throughout the universe with a precious jewel at the places where the cords of the net intersect. These jewels, in turn, reflect all of the other jewels. Similar to the modern discovery of the hologram, the image of Indra’s Net is filled with symbolic wisdom depicting the interconnectivity of all that is. Gary Zukav, in his groundbreaking book entitled, The Dancing Wu Li Masters tell us:

 …the philosophical implications of quantum mechanics is that all things in our universe (including us) that appears to exist independently are actually parts of one all-encompassing organic pattern, and that no parts of that pattern are ever really separate from it or from each other.

 In the Christian tradition, the writings of the great mystic teachers echo these same truths, often in symbolic and metaphorical ways. Julian of Norwich especially comes to mind as well as Hildegard of Bingen and Madame Guyon. The writings of Saint Theresa of Avila and the life and work of St. Francis also point to the interconnectivity of all life and the necessity of having a heart of radical compassion.

 The great Romantic poets like William Wordsworth and Percy B. Shelley have voices that ring loudly with the sense of the interrelated aspects of the natural world and their American counterparts, the Transcendentalists, in the writings of Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman, also echo this theme of divine connectivity. And then there is the work of that master of the arcane, William Blake who spoke of the mystic’s ability:

 To see a World in a grain of sand,

And Heaven in a wild flower,

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,

And Eternity in an hour.

 The world that we interact with each day only appears to be solid. In point of fact, it is an intricate dance of sub-atomic waves and particles that obey none of the traditional or expected moves of predictable choreography. At its core level, our apparently solid, material world is less like classical music and more like jazz. Just when we think we have a handle on how things are, these very things change, morphing into something totally unexpected and often totally mysterious. Someone wise, I forget who, once said the life is not a riddle to be solved but a mystery to be lived. How true, and the sooner a person grasps this fundamental truth, the less frustration will appear in his or her life.

 It is not my intention to travel too far down this road of quantum physics at this juncture. Suffice to say that contemporary science is increasingly coming to grasp the same fundamental truths that mystics and shamans have voiced for many centuries. Simply put: Everything is interrelated and interdependent and when one part is affected by something, at a very core level, every other part is also impacted.

 In teaching about the interrelated aspect of the universe, I often use a simple analogy that explains these principles in a basic way. I use the example of raisin Jell-o. Imagine you have concocted a delicious tub or raisin Jell-o. Choose your favorite flavor if you like. The raisins are the important thing, here. Now, what happens when you take your index finger and thump one of the raisins? All the raisins move. Crude as this metaphor is, it makes the point that all the raisins in the bowl are connected and if one raisin moves, they all move. This is what the mystics, and the quantum physicists, are talking about when they speak of interconnectivity.

 Christian writer and teacher Elizabeth Elliot, looking at God’s wondrous creation with both attentiveness and wisdom, grasps the profundity of this theme of interconnectedness and how it illustrates a foundation of commonality between humans and other species in God’s creation:

 The closer one comes to the center of things, the better able he is to observe the connections. Everything created is connected, for everything is produced by the same mind, the same love, and is dependent on the same Creator. He who masterminded the universe, the Lord God Omnipotent, is the One who called the stars into being, commanded light, spoke the Word that brought about the existence of time and space and every form of matter: salt and stone, rose and redwood, feather and fur and fin and flesh. The titmouse and the turkey answer to Him. The sheep, the pig, and the finch are His, at His disposal, possessed and known by Him…We too are created, owned, possessed, known.

 As the church moves into the second decade of the 21^st Century it has already become apparent that great changes are in the wind. I feel some of these changes are connected with an increased understanding of how God’s magnificent creation is put together in this incredible holographic manner in which each part contains the totality of the whole and every aspect of his world exists in an interdependent relationship with every other part. This is no romantic sentimentalism I am speaking of. Instead, it is a living, vibrant reality that, when one takes it to heart, changes everything. For the church, the message of the gospel become less of “let me show you the way,” and more of “What do you need?”

 This move toward proactive compassion is a move of grace. Perhaps you are not accustomed to looking at grace that way, but grace is what we are dealing with. As stated earlier, a major part of Christ’s incarnation and our ongoing mission is to give flesh to grace. Caroline Myss makes this cogent observation in her book, Invisible Acts of Power:

 What really happens inside you when you respond to someone in need? Why do some people jump out of their seats to help another person, while others look the other way? No doubt, some people have been taught to be kind and others may be naturally thoughtful. But I think something greater than compassion or good manners is at work, something beyond the motivation of the strong to help the weak or the wealthy to help the poor. I think it is the invisible power of grace, moving between the open hearts of give and receiver. The action itself, the lifting of a heavy piece of luggage or the drink of water offered to the thirsty man, may be small. But the energy that is channeled through that action is the high-voltage current of grace. It contains the power to renew someone’s faith in himself. It even has the power to save a life.

 It should not be too difficult of an intellectual jump to see why this concept of interrelated reality should lead to a true and radical sense of compassion. What happens to me in the ultimate sense, happens to you and vice versa. When a child dies of hunger or disease in a poverty stricken nation, some part of each of us dies. We may not feel it, understand it, or even recognize it. Still, it is a fundamental spiritual and quantum truth. It is wise to remember the words of the 17^th Century poet John Donne as he spoke of the custom of the time which involved ringing the town’s bell whenever someone died:

 Any man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind;

Therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;

It tolls for thee.

 © L.D. Turner 2009/All Rights Reserved

More beautiful, beautiful insight from VDH:

The Origins of Obamism

I do not think it will be easy to delay Obamism. It is not just that both houses of Congress are under liberal leadership with ample majorities, with a White House and captive media egging them on. The problem is that now the entire engine of the federal government is harnessed in the most unapologetic way to pushing through a far left agenda. There is no shame, no hesitancy in using the full powers of the state.

How does that work out? Without qualification (remember we are in a new age of transparency and ethical reform) votes are bought with hundred-million-dollar earmarks; the attorney general predicates judicial action on the political ramifications of indicting or not indicting; federal bureaucracies (watch the EPA if cap and trade stalls) are devoted to the new Caesar rather than the letter of the law.

Such a strange scenario we have found ourselves in—a clear majority of Americans is opposed to almost everything Obama has to offer; congressional representatives know they are acting against the will of the people, but know too that they are offered all sorts of borrowed money for their districts to compensate for their unpopular actions. And a charismatic commander in chief believes that he can charm even the angriest of critics, and that anything he promises (Iran’s deadlines, closing of Guantanamo, new transparency, no more lobbyists, etc) means zilch and can be contextualized by another “let me be perfectly clear” speech spiced with a couple of the usual “it would have been impossible for someone as unlikely as me to have become President just (fill in the blanks) years ago”

No, I would not count Obama out. So what drives his agenda? What are its origins?

Here are the three most prominent catalysts.

Equality of Result

What Barack Obama advocates is as old as Plato’s Republic and Aristotle’s Politics, the agenda of the classical dêmos and Roman turba.

It is why the French Revolution emphasized égalité and fraternité, while the Founding Fathers instead championed the freedom of the individual from the despotism of the state. In short, equality of result doctrine ignores the role of markets, of skills, of tragedy itself that renders some of us ill, others in perfect health, some born gifted, others less so, some evil by nature, others good, and instead promises that the state can even us all out through its power of material redistribution. Give us all the same amount of money and perks at the end of the day, and then utopia reigns under the benevolent watch of Ivy-League professors and organizers.

It is a given that what we make is not our own, but predicated on the liberality of society. Thus, for those who were too greedy, too conniving, or even too lucky, the state must step in to ensure that we end up the same.

In its most benign form, we know this as progressivism or communitarianism, a big government, high tax philosophy that co-exists within democracy. Its more pernicious strains are socialist, in which the state ensures, through bureaucratic fiat and a labyrinth of laws that curb free expression, that redistribution is institutionalized. And the virulent form (thankfully with the fall of the Soviet Union and the transformation of China not so global-threatening any more) is, of course, a murderous communism, in which any means necessary are justified to ensure the desire ends and the rule of anointed apparat. Remember, history’s greatest killers (Stalin and Mao) do it all “for the people.”

Multiculturalism

But there is another element to Barack Obama besides progressive statism. A number of contemporary –isms and –ologies (multiculturalism, moral equivalence, utopian pacifism, post-modernism) also help to explain Obamism, especially in cultural terms. Our universities subscribe to race/class/gender theory of exploitation, in which much of the unhappiness of today’s women, of today’s nonwhite, and of today’s poor originates with the privileges of the white Christian Western male that are predicated on oppression.

It works like this: The ghetto resident, the denizen of the barrio, the abandoned and divorced waitress with three young children, can all chart their poverty and unhappiness not to accident, fate, bad luck, bad decisions, poor judgment, illegality or drug use, or simple tragedy, but rather exclusively to a system that is rigged to ensure oppression on the basis of race, class, and gender—often insidious and unfathomable except to the sensitive and gifted academic or community organizer.

So Obama combines the age-old belief that the state is there to level the playing field (rather than protect the rights of the individual and secure the safety of the people from foreign threats), with the postmodern notion that government must recompensate those by fiat on the basis on their race or class or gender. Remember all that, and everything from the Professor Gates incident, to the dutiful attendance at the foot of Rev. Wright to Van Jones become logical rather than aberrant. Michelle Obama could make $300,000 and she will always be more a victim than the Appalachian coal miner who earns $30,000, by virtue of her race and gender.

The Chicago Way

A third and final ingredient to Obamism is the Chicago way. Here we see an interesting updated version of the old big-city, Daley thuggery. Rahm Emanuel threatens recalcitrant congressmen with reminders of the long Obama memory. The Axelrod/Jarrett clique ensures that the government channels stimuli to blue-states, that key Congress people are bought off with tens of millions of government largess, that every campaign promise—from no lobbyists and airing on C-span health care debates to posting impending legislation on the Internet for set durations and “reaching across the aisle”—is simply cynical fluff that no sane person would take seriously.

So?

In short, we have a traditional statist bent on redistribution (Obama’s words, not mine), updated with the postmodern belief that race/class/gender oppressions require government affirmative reactions (which also abroad explains why we reach out to enemies and shun allies), all energized by an ends justify the means Chicago bare-knuckles apparat.

And?

These true believers, then, don’t really care that the Blue Dogs (if such really exist) bite the dust in 2010, if Harry Reid goes up in smoke, or indeed, if Barack Obama is reelected. Instead, they will institutionalize an agenda that will affect America for generations, move it sharply to the left, and earn a spot in the academic pantheon of American heroes.

Asking why would Obama & Co. be so self-destructive to push through an array of proposals that have no more than 45% of the public’s support is like asking whether the English Prof who teaches incomprehensible Foucauldian theory worries whether he has only 2 students, or whether the well-off union boss is all that upset that membership has sunk to 30% of the workforce, or multimillion-dollar-earning Sarah Palin-interviewing Katie Couric is worried about her sinking ratings, or whether the New York Times columnists are upset that their mother paper is broke with subscription and readership down, and laying off thousands of blue-collar employees.

Instead, for the true believer, it is all about the self, and the sense of the self—and damn all other considerations. (We saw that with Jimmy Carter as well; that he destroyed liberal Democrat politics for a generation meant nothing; that he won prizes and jet-setted the world for thirty years meant everything. For these people, it is always about them—all the time. Let us eat cake as they end up liberal icons for the duration).

What Are We Left With?

The most blatant cynicism in recent American political history—a man who ran as a bipartisan who is the most partisan we’ve seen, a healer whose even flippant comments are designed to offend, a statist who assumes that the sheared sheep cannot stampede somewhere else, a reformer who trusts his honey-laced rhetoric can disguise Daley style-corruption.

On that happy note.

Everything, as my dear late mother lectured me, happens for a reason, or at least presents a sort of logic—irony, paradox, karma, and nemesis being the best ways of interpreting our unfathomable existences. It took messianic narcissistic Barack Obama to expose the full extent of the mess that a once noble tradition of 19th-century liberalism had devolved into. Only he could have rammed it down the throats of the American people, and when he is done, we will suffer, but also sicken of it for quite a while.

Source

Christmas versus Xmas and Happy Holidays.  It is amazing how shallow and hyper-sensitive the religious right and the conservative right are when it comes to this issue.  Most of them like Focus on the Family, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly etc only care about “Christ” being in Christmas and really nothing else.

Christ can’t be found in most of their theology, political views, or actions.  However, when it comes to the holidays Christ better be found in Christmas and there is no tolerance for Happy Holiday’s, Xmas, Season Greetings, etc or else the country is falling apart.

These individuals and groups are on a mission to put Christ back into Christmas.  Christmas is a nominal holiday so what does it matter what it is called.  Calling it Christmas instead of Happy Holidays isn’t going to make it anymore Christ-like or make people anymore Christ-like.  It just make these individuals and groups feel good about standing for something that in the end won’t make a difference. 

Making those who want to refer to the day as Xmas or Happy Holidays doesn’t change the heart.   I know of many atheists who are more giving and loving then most of those who call themselves “christians”.   It is easy to talk the great Christian talk of charity and sacrificial giving.  Talk is cheap and makes us all feel good. 

Calling Christmas “Christmas” is for many just a way to give lip service to God while worshiping self. 

Most will give the Christ of christmas a nominal nod of adoration to make them feel and sound religious.  Then they will dive into selfish materialism.  The human spirit of charity last for a couple of weeks making many feel good all over until they get their credit card statement showing how much their charity cost them.

After the holidays it will be back to the status-quo until Easter and Passover season when they can get another hit of the good old religious drug. 

Christmas is a matter of the heart.  There are those who truly celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ not just in word but in action. I know of some families that don’t buy gifts or very few gifts and don’t  allow any of the commercialism to taint what is is all about.  Christmas is about more than just one day out of the year. 

These individual and families don’t see Christmas as an amusement park of feel good emotions and temporary superficial good deeds.  Christmas to them is about being like Christ 365 days a year.   They see His birth not as a gift of the good life but a gift unto death leading to life.   They give to the point of where it hurts, to where it costs them something more than just some money.

Christ doesn’t care what Christmas is called.  Christmas is about more than just one day. It is about a lifestyle.  Christ only cares about who we are in it and that everything we do points back to Him.

'Moses Smashing the Tablets' by Rembrandt Van Rijn

The present post is a difficult one for me to write; so, I would like first to make a few caveats. First, I want to say at the beginning that I am not intending this article to be an attack in any way against someone’s religious beliefs per se. My own personal beliefs (whatever value they may have) is that religion can serve a very valuable and ennobling place in a person’s life. It can inspire us to be better people, encourage us in our darkest moments, and call us to lofty humanitarian causes. I sincerely believe that. Second, it is not my intention that this blog post serve solely to offer critiques of various religious traditions. I believe that as time goes on it will become more and more clear that the present forum is one that also celebrates our numerous traditions as much as it offers the present type of critique.

With all that said, I would like to establish a proper tone for this article as well. This is a heart to heart talk. Imagine you and I talking at a nice coffee shop (you can have your imaginary drink of choice – mine is a ‘white mocha’ ). We have recently heard on CNN about something referred to as ‘Mercy killings’ or ‘Honor killings.’ This is where very devout Muslims perform a ritual ’stoning’ against a man or a woman who is found to have committed an act that their tradition deems immoral or disrespectful to God such as adultery, or converting to another religion.  It is termed a ‘mercy’ or ‘honor’ killing since it attempts to safeguard the honor of the other individuals involved – the husband who was cheated against, the family who now has an ‘adulterous’ as a family member, etc. It safeguards their honor. It is a ‘mercy’ since it puts an end to the individual’s life and so, safeguards, their well-being since for them to go on living that kind of life would be to accrue greater divine anger.  In this sense, therefore, it is a ‘mercy’ – since if they persist only more divine displeasure awaits.

You and I, along with others who have heard about this, are rightly aghast. How can someone do such a thing? How savage? No one deserves to be treated that way. At this point you declare, ‘Islam is such an intolerant religion! How could they do that? Islam is so violent. You know I have heard of Surah’s that command them to kill people.’

At this point, I wince. I have that rather uncomfortable feeling in my gut that normally occurs when I am talking to someone about this kind of thing. Should I bite my tongue for the sake of not wanting to make an issue of something – or should I begin the process of asking very uncomfortable questions. I know later I will probably feel bad about this.

I begin: So, do you think that Islam is the only religious tradition that has a history of stoning? I am not saying that Islam doesn’t have violence in its history or that its sacred texts don’t command violent acts when necessary, but so does other traditions. I don’t think we are any better off than they are. Besides the Islamic tradition claims continuity with the Old and New Testaments.  Historically, they came after both of these faiths (Judaism and Christianity) and partly found their inspiration for such acts from these faiths. Take for example Deuteronomy 22: 23-24 which says the following:

²³ If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her,²⁴ you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death—the girl because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man’s wife. You must purge the evil from among you.

Perhaps even more difficult to admit is that just a few verses earlier God commanded that a child who is disobedient to his parents should be stoned. Deuteronomy 21: 18-21:

¹⁸ If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, ¹⁹ his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. ²⁰ They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard.” ²¹ Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.

You respond: ‘Yeah, but Jesus is so different. Besides, that was the Old Testament with the Law. God was trying to teach us how severe sin really is. When Jesus came he taught us a better way: forgiveness, love, and mercy. Don’t you remember when they brought the woman caught in adultery and he said, ‘let he who is without sin through the first stone.’ Christianity doesn’t do that stuff.’

Again, I wince. I continue: Well, you are right that Jesus did emphasize a message of mercy and compassion overall. But I think there are a few things to remember.  In terms of saying that the Old Testament did these things to show us how difficult sin was and the New Tesament shows us another way, I think that isn’t exactly true. First, Jesus no where disputes the validity of stoning itself. He agreed that it was a divine command. God wanted people to be stoned. He just believes that the present moment of God’s Kingdom is one of offering pardon and forgiveness. Those, however, who do not respond to the offer still have divine wrath awaiting them – a time when stoning will look like a kindness. Secondly, the passage you are referring to is questionable. It is found in John 7:53-8:11 and if you look at any modern translation such as the NIV, NASB, etc. they will put it in brackets with the caveat that ‘this is not found in the earliest manuscripts.’ In fact of the handful of early complete manuscripts that we have it is found in different places – usually after Luke 22. The reality is it was not originally a part of John’s gospel and we are not sure where it originally came from. We are not even sure if it is part of the Scriptures.

Also, it is simply not true that this distinction is shared by all interpreters. John Calvin, who was one of the great reformers of the fifteenth century certainly did not share it. When a man by the name of Michael Servetus appeared in Geneva in 1553 it was not at all pleasant. The two disagreed hotly on differing points of doctrine and had written numerous letters to each other. Some of these points were very imporant to Calvin. he deemed him a heretic. When Servertus arrived, therefore, he was arrested and sentenced to burning at the stake. Calvin was following the biblical injunction that those who deviate from divine tradition should be set on fire (Leviticus 20:14 is one example: ‘¹⁴ ” If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is wicked. Both he and they must be burned in the fire, so that no wickedness will be among you.” See the following for a fuller account of what occurred).

My point, therefore, is that our religious traditions are on a level playing field. Judaism and Christianity also endorse this kind of behavior. The God of the Old Testament commanded individuals to stone their children if they were disobedient to their parents. Violence is endemic in both traditions. This means that when we as Christians or Jews retract from such violent actions we are being somewhat hypocritical. In one sense, the fundamentalist Muslim is simply trying to be faithful with the very uncomfortable portions of their Scripture. Their critique of modern Jews and Christians is that we are secular and are not doing what the text says. Perhaps the more important questions to ask are some of the following:

• What do we think about this uncomfortable truth?
• If we were living in Palestine in the eight century BCE and someone we knew had been accused of adultery, or a child had been accused of being unruly with their parents, what would we have done?
• Do we think that such behavior is immoral?
• Do we believe that this is the proper way to discipline a child?  Or a woman or man who may be in an unhappy marriage?
• How do we feel knowing that our own God commanded such behavior? [Which means he still believes it the appropriate way of doing things]

It certainly is much more difficult when it is not ‘them’ out there who do such things, but when ‘our’ tradition endorses it. In essence, we are them. We have no moral high ground to stand on.

The answer to these questions are personal and you do not have to share your thoughts; only if you want to. Again, this is a heart to heart talk. So, in your heart of hearts do you think this is moral behavior that should still be endorsed? Or do you feel constrained to endorse it because it, is in all honesty, what God believes is true?

The following link is very hard to watch. But if you can, I encourage you to watch it and reflect on these questions. It is a lot easier to read our Old Testament passages and be enthused about divine justice.  It is quite another when we are watching real human beings – often women and children – being treated this way.

I sincerely apologise for the lag between posts. God has been doing a work in me and though I should have been journaling it here I would like to share with you some of what I have been learning.

God is truly a great, awesome and powerful God. He is truly a God of love and compassion. This past May 31st my father passed away. Dad was suffering with kidney failure and was in hospital for a couple of months. His memory failed rapidly and essentially became a different man.

George E Robinson II

But, even in the midst of all this God was faithful! The Lord expressed his love by allowing my Dad moments of normalcy where he knew exactly what was happening and he could express his wishes. Though he was losing his memory, dad was fully aware of what was happening to him. He knew his memory was failing and that he was dying. Yet, during one of his lucid moments he told me that he wanted all of his family to know Jesus Christ as he did!

While I could not understand why the Lord let my dad linger as He did, today I realize that God is God. he knows the future even better than we know today! He knows the hearts of others better than we know our own heart. So, I trust that my God had a reason for allowing my dad to linger in that condition for a purpose.

This is one of the greatest trials I have suffered to date. Yet I can say, “Lord, thank you for all you have done. Thank you for allowing dad to experience all he went through because you have a greater purpose.”

Blessings.

This Christmas may your family and friends see the real focus that Christians have on Christmas!  The Gift!  The Gift of life and salvation made possible through the birth of Christ, the life of Christ, the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ.

This Christmas may you see His Birth, Life, Death and Resurrection all as the Gift for you!

Merry Christmas!

Serving Christ Together,

Pastor Greg

“What we learn from experience depends on the kind of philosophy we bring to experience. It is therefore useless to appeal to experience before we have settled, as well as we can, the philosophical question.”

~ C. S. Lewis, Miracles (New York, NY: Harper One, 1996), 2.

18 December was the day Avatar was released in South Africa. 18 December was also the day of the Copenhagen accord.

Today I finally came around to reading the reports of Copenhagen. And I finally came around to watching Avatar. A sad concurrency of events.

Yes, Avatar is good. It might be one of those movies which will take me quite some time to work through. It presents a weird and magically wonderful world with effects which few, if anyone, have ever been able do. In combining this with the total over-romanticization of primal cultures, it reminds me of the 1999 Hallmark mini-series of Journey to the Center of the Earth (which I haven’t seen in 8 years or so, but I remember finding really brilliant at the time).

Avatar portrays this beautifully wonderful world of perfect pantheism (although they mess up this theological concept a bit with typical popular western theological ideas, but that will have to be left for another post), where everything is connected, and everything is in balance. It’s an Eden environment, where humanoids feel nature, care for nature, name the animals.

The movie is a blatant critique of colonialism, of the disconnect with nature brought about by our technocratic society, of the destruction of the earth by humans, of the disregard of everything sacred. And dare I say that the general reaction to this critique is positive. For many, the fantastic fantasy world of Pandora point to what we know, on a deep level, to be right, and true. Peace. Harmony. With all of creation. Living a simple lifestyle. Caring for the environment. Yes, all this and more, the beautiful world of Pandora is what we want. But we want to keep it fantasy.

Almost as if we need the fantasy of the possible life in harmony with nature, to keep our technocratic militaristic consumerist world alive. As if we know that as soon as the hope of peace and harmony disappear, we’ll die. So we keep the fantasy alive, so that we can continue our destruction. Because as soon as we walk out of Avatar, we continue our Christmas shopping, buying more than we need, and more than the earth can sustain. We go back to our lives in security villages and kept safe by large armies that keep the possibility of a society where the masses are living in absolute poverty alive. And not only do we shrug at a climate deal which screams against everything that Avatar has been fighting for, we kind of know that we are not willing to change our own lifestyles to be in harmony with our mother earth.

As the days after Copenhagen pass, the reaction of sadness, and sometimes madness, is heard over and over again. Yes, the thoughtful recognize the difficulties that the conversations faces, the thoughtful know that a first step in the right direction has been made. But the reality is that we are making decisions to safe our own asses. We have heard that gaia (to use Lovelock’s language) is going to make it difficult for humans, and we are willing to keep to the limits which was set so that our own comforts aren’t threatened. But harmony with the earth isn’t even on the table. Actually going above and beyond what the economy and human survival require isn’t even considered. A world where the human species is connected with everything around it is kept for the fantasy world of Pandora.

This time of the year the virgin birth of Jesus Christ is questioned the most.  The argument is always the same – the virgin birth of Jesus Christ must be a fraud, because virgin’s can’t conceive and give birth. 

The argument continues- If the virgin birth couldn’t happen then Christianity is just a regular feel good religion.  Jesus might just have been a human born to an unfaithful mother, but He wasn’t God in the flesh.  

 If He was just a “good” human being and not God then we don’t have to submit to His life, His death, or His commission to us.  What a relief.  We can make God to be what our own likeness desires. 

If the virgin birth didn’t or couldn’t happen then Christianity is just an easy house of cards, that can’t withstand a man’s breath. 

What critics of the virgin birth of Jesus fail to realize or openly admit is that a woman who is a virgin can give birth to a child today.  Artificial insemination is the virgin birth god of modern science.   Remember that scientists have used no intelligence in the development of this technology – they just use chance experiments.

Furthermore,  scientists are close to completing technology where a  stem cell can be taken from a woman and developed into a sperm.  This sperm in-turn can be used to impregnate the woman.  No need for a male anymore!  Again, no intelligence has been used to develop this technology. 

Thank God no intelligence was required because if intelligence was used it would clearly show there is a God. 

Artificial insemination could have taken place successfully in Jesus’ day.  Historical records give no evidence of this.  Plus, there was no “need” for artificial insemination during that time. (I don’t think there is a need for it today, but that is another thought).

Modern man looks at the ancients as stupid neanderthals.  However, there are many ancient technologies and accomplishments that we today still can’t figure out today. 

One thing scientists haven’t been able to do, even with their intelligence capabilities fully working is to create a sperm cell out of nothing or even out of the dust of the ground. 

This is something only God can do. 

Scripture says Mary was impregnated by the Holy Spirit.  Jesus Christ is God in human flesh.  There are a few folklore stories of god-like characters being birthed by a virgin, becoming human, and dying.  These stories don’t make the birth and life of Jesus Christ folklore.

The difference is Jesus Christ lived a human life and came to take the penalty of man’s sin.  His purpose was not to live a divine life on earth, free from the human struggle. 

His purpose was to live a human life that was in the muck and mire of a fallen, selfish, destructive world.  A world dissolved in man’s sin. 

He wasn’t born to make history – for man’s history is usually wrong. He was born to redeem history – to redeem man.   He lived to die.  A virgin is one who has kept themselves pure.   The virgin birth is a picture of what God has come to do -redeem our purity, our holiness.

For an interesting and engaging article, read this Christian Post article about the riff between Pastor Rick Warren and the evangelical leaders in Uganda, Africa.  They are disturbed, confused, and angry about what they believe is his capitulation toward the gay agenda.  Interesting ethical issues abound in this article.

In conversations about faith, religion and particularly missions, the term “biblical worldview” often comes up. It came up recently at the ECHO conference in a way that troubled me. It forced me to think about this term, the way it is used, what it means and whether it is even helpful.  

Worldview, like culture, is a notoriously slippery term. It describes a certain reality that exists, but that words have a hard time grasping. It is also a concept that cannot draw clear lines dividing people and cultures into neat categories. Where it attempts to do so it is problematic. The concept of worldview is an attempt to describe the essential and fundamental nature of things that shape our deepest beliefs. Therefore it is important and helpful, but not ultimate.

A “biblical worldview” is something that must first of all come from the Bible. Does the Bible espouse a particular worldview? The collection of texts we call the Bible is made up of at least forty different authors (likely more including the communities that influenced those writers) and numerous genres, such as, narrative, prose, commands and poetry. While this is not a random collection of writings, it also speaks with a surprising diversity and multiplicity of voices. When we attempt to force all of the texts of the Bible into one overarching genre or worldview (such as inerrant, infallible, prophetic or authority), we must necessarily mute certain voices in the text while amplifying others. Thus the Bible is muzzled and not allowed to speak.

A “biblical worldview” is also something that many people believe that they possess. I don’t believe that the Bible or faith or God is something we can possess. It is something and someone that possesses us. Once we are able to possess this worldview it ceases to be something that can challenge and critique us. All of us human beings are culturally conditioned and constrained creatures. We can certainly bear witness to our experience of the One who possesses us. We can share the witness of the biblical narrative to that same One. Unless we are willing and open to God and the Bible speaking to us in new ways from beyond our own cultural captivity, we continue to be engaged in cultural imperialism rather than the Kingdom of God.

This is why I don’t believe that a thing called a “biblical worldview” exists except, perhaps, in the mind of God. This is a concept that is not helpful and does not describe reality. As long as a human being is the one said to have a “biblical worldview”, I find it a fundamentally flawed and potentially dangerous idea. Andrew Walls and others have described Christianity as the ultimate local religion. I do believe that the gospel is able to be translated across cultures. There is something that ties the Body of Christ together in the world. However, this is a trans-cultural phenomenon that is both incarnate and transformative of that culture.

Image from truthandscience.net … God’s hands look a lot like mine. Ironic, don’t you think?

This morning I have commented on an article on ConservativeHome.com regarding the outsourcing of services (yes, all services) by Essex County Council to IBM:

Intrinsically I am not opposed to the concept of using individuals or companies or charities to provide services. I definitely do not subscribe to the belief that the government always delivers the best solution. However, I also believe that in many cases smaller is more beautiful and, in the case of local services to local residents, I’m pondering the pros and cons of this contract with IBM.

Before I go any further, I acknowledge that the article points out that where services can be better operated by other contractors this will happen, or perhaps even run in-house. But, with a small measure of experience in vendor management, with huge contracts, with major outsourcers, I would offer the following observations:

(1) The Service Canada document referenced in this article is a master class in presenting the best case scenario from a worst case history. The diagrams are terribly designed to over represent the complexity in the previous model, whilst the new ones specifically omit any linkages in order to look clean and tidy (Appendix D).

(2) The statistics on the Service Canada programme (Appendix C) are simply numbers out of context. It’s entirely possible that the service is handling less calls that before rather than more. And even then, what’s the right number? What were the specific economic and social circumstances which were the drives behind how many residents would be likely to contact the service?

(3) IBM is likely to be brilliant at executing its contract negotiation, whilst Essex County Council is not. Since becoming a councillor I have not seen a single contract where the private sector did not run riot around the council, or, where the private sector would have seen a substantially more punitive set of measures in place for performance measurement.

(4) For anything not in the contract, IBM will charge extra and, bearing in mind the breadth of services offered by the county council and, the way in which the council is 100% subject to external influences to impact demand, it would not surprise me if that 20% saving target was eaten up in those 5 years by additional costs.

(5) What does IBM know about Essex? Are they based there? Do they live there?

And finally, most businesses would outsource operational areas that are not core to the expertise of the enterprise. Are Essex County Council saying that they do not know how to do these things better than IBM? Or that the more important aspect is how much it costs?

Megan Fox. Where does our conception of beauty come from?

The link below shows the drastic measures we take to transform ordinary women into models. The way this transformation is done is shocking and demonstrates just how much we have to modify people to fit a superficial mold. This is the reason why so many beautiful models have low self esteem in my view. If it takes this much work to make a model “become” beautiful what does this communicate to the model? It’s almost as if the make-up artists are saying, “Wow, we have a lot of work to do to make your face suitable for widespread appeal!” How could you feel beautiful in your natural skin? What does this clip suggest about popular views of beauty?

The issue of beauty impacts women the most so I would like to see as many women as possible respond to this post. To the men, how has this evolving view of beauty influenced your view of women? If you are constantly being shown the “ideal” model, and no one fits the mold, how can you find a mate? How will you ever be aesthetically satisfied, since men are more visually oriented than women? I eagerly await your responses!

‘Read! In the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who Created-’

(Surah Al Alaq, verse 1, the first Revelation)

Assalamualaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh, my dear brothers and sisters.

I’m reading Napoleon Hill’s ‘Think and Grow Rich’ book and wanted to share something that he wrote, ‘that any impulse of thought which is repeatedly passed on to the subconscious mind is, finally accepted and acted upon by the subconscious mind, which proceeds to translate that impulse into its physical equivalent, by the most practical procedure available.‘

In the past, others have asked me how to maintain or improve the level of one’s iman (faith) and taqwa (high consciousness of God). I used to ponder this question myself and as I read Napoleon Hill’s words, one solution came to me, which I believe could help us increase iman and taqwa in ourselves.

It is to constantly have good and positive thoughts of iman and taqwa in our minds. Even if we know we don’t have it yet, the more we think of it in our minds, the more we find ourselves achieving a higher level of iman and taqwa. (Hey, this is the Law of Attraction again, isn’t it..?) I sometimes tell people to ‘fake it until you make it.‘ Insha’Allah, you will find yourself subsequently following through with the ibadah (rituals) of worship soon after.

Begin to re-write these messages in your mind. I learnt this lesson from a 7-year old boy named Rashid (which by the way, means guide in Arabic…), the son of our halaqah circle teacher. We were having a break, asking if anyone wanted any coffee, when Rashid suddenly pipped in and said,’Coffee, coffee, coffee! You know it’s bad for you but you still keep drinking it!’

Well, I used Rashid’s words to explain later on why we muslims should stop focusing on the negative and bad in the state of our Ummah and start looking for the good in everyone. There are 1.2 billion muslims in the world and if all of us worry and think negative about ourselves, then our thoughts becomes a ‘collective du’a’ for all of us. No wonder we haven’t been able to get out of the rut we are in right now…

One good example is an orphanage I volunteer at in Puchong. When I was invited to do a training there 3 years ago, the orphanage just had three small buildings; the childrens’ hostel, the open mussola where they prayed and had programs and the office/kitchen. They sold plants that they grew in a small nursery adjacent to the office.

Fast forward to 2009 when I  sent Ramadhan Charts to the orphanage recently. They had set up a small, open restaurant next to the grounds, operated by the children themselves. The buildings are well-maintained, the grounds clean and I noticed they were able to buy over the piece of land next to the orphanage. University students and community members  would come in droves every month to do free programs there, I once watched a free performance by famous nasheed group ‘Mawaddah’ who stopped by one evening and there always is an air of industry and liveliness every time I visit.

This was an orphanage and they do rely on donations from the public but what I admire most about them is that they choose to stand on their own two feet and not depend entirely on public funds, through selling plants and setting up a restaurant. And this indirectly brings in help and funds from others. I remember this time last year, the caretaker was telling me she was just about to go and buy school shoes (using their own money), when she received a call from a group of people wanting to sponsor shoes for the kids!

Thoughts are a du’a and when each and every one of us begin to ‘think and grow rich in iman and taqwa‘, I really believe we will begin to see our community rising up and becoming a force in the world, Insha’Allah.

Allah knows best.

‘Read! In the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who Created-’

(Surah Al Alaq, verse 1, the first Revelation)

Assalamualaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh, my dear brothers and sisters.

Last night, as I prepared to fall asleep, these words ‘the simple life‘ flashed through my mind. No, I wasn’t thinking of Paris Hilton’s and Nicole Ritchie’s reality show but about the kind of life that I wanted.

Living in a secular materialistic world, it seems inevitable for us to want (and need?) material possessions in our lives. It’s almost become a driving force for us to work to own things. There are now several virtual reality sites, like ‘Second Life’ that cater for people who love to buy things but don’t have the money. Using virtual money (USD40 is approx. equivalent to 50,000 Linden money-yes, you still need REAL money!), they will shop, shop and shop to their heart’s content. I don’t quite understand why anyone would want to spend their hard-earned money to buy things that aren’t even real but I suppose it just reflects the ‘I want more things’ mindset prevalent in our world today.

But for me, as I get older (I’m 32), I begin to yearn for a simpler life. I’ve begun to ask myself, ‘ What do I want? What are my principles in life? How do I get what I want? What will change if I get what I want? ‘ As my priorities start to shift, unnecessary aspects of my life also begin to move away out of my life.

People and situations that were negative influences on my thoughts and my life seemed to recede slowly away and I was left with people and situations that strengthened me and made my journey towards my bigger goal, easier and clearer.

My husband, my sons,Adam and Daniel, my mother and my father, my family, my work disseminating Khalifah Method, my friends who share my love for Allah subhana wa ta’ala and His Messenger, Muhammad, salla Allah alayhi wassalam, our first reliance on Al Quran and the Sunnah as our guidelines to life.

A short walk with my boys, a chat in bed together, looking up at the sky and feeling the breeze on our skin…I realised we rarely go to Suria KLCC or other shopping malls now. Any trips we make to an air-conditioned building must be educational, preferably scientific like the National Science Center or the Planetarium. It’s these simple things that are important to me now and I find it is more than enough to make me feel fulfilled and worthy.

Not the latest Chanel handbag or BMW model. Not anymore…Allah knows best.

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.“
~ Confucius

]]> http://takingeverythoughtcaptive.com/2009/12/21/tetc-podcast-episode-4-more-than-a-worldview/ Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:32:03 +0000 Dustin Crider http://takingeverythoughtcaptive.com/2009/12/21/tetc-podcast-episode-4-more-than-a-worldview/

In this episode, I review an article by Pastor Chris Strevel entitled, “More Than a Worldview.”  In it, he reminds us that Christianity is more than a worldview. If those of us who seek to have and defend a complete Christian worldview do not have love, we have nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2).  Let us take these things to heart when we are engaged with those who oppose God, His Word, and the Christian faith and worldview.  I have also posted the article and you may read it here.

TETC Episode 4

ChinaAid
December 19, 2009
BEIJING–Just before Thanksgiving, the World Evangelical Alliance issued a report on their visit with Three-self and state church leaders in China, calling the meetings “historic” and casting a positive light on the health of religion in China. After much prayer and consultation with fellow evangelical organizations, ChinaAid felt compelled to share the truth about the complex situation, calling out the WEA for “misleading” the international community, in a CAA statement released on December 18, 2009:

“While we affirm WEA’s sincere intentions to serve the Church in China.. and it is certainly the WEA’s prerogative to only meet with national, state-sanctioned and Three-Self church leaders, their failure to mention the 80 million faithful Christians who.. meet in house churches and rented offices, has compromised the cause of the suffering church in China.“

ChinaAid sought not to dismiss believers who attend state churches, but speak up for those who were forgotten: “We are simply calling into question the very misleading signal ..sent by what the WEA statement chose not to say in their statement. Believers around the world were misinformed by WEA not mentioning the reality of brutal persecution of house church Christians still pervasive throughout China.”

Read the full “Statement in Response to the WEA’s Visit.”

In their own testimony issued on December 12th, the evangelical Chinese House Church Alliance (CHCA), based in Beijing, reviewed persecution cases in the year 2009. CHCA leaders expressed gratitude to God for His faithfulness, and listed the major cases of persecution experienced by members and leaders of the CHCA and their affiliates.

Read the full “Review of Year 2009″ by the CHCA.

The Christmas season especially, as a distinctly Christian holiday, is one of the most dangerous times for believers in China, as unsanctioned gatherings can be disrupted with officials detaining and beating participants. During Advent, ChinaAid and CHCA leaders urge the international evangelical community not to forget the millions of independent house church believers who face persecution for their faith, and to continue praying for true religious freedom in China.

See the articles posted by the WEA about their China visit on their website: (English, Chinese).

ChinaAid grants permission to reproduce photos and/or information for non-fundraising purposes, with the provision that www.ChinaAid.org is credited. Please contact: Annee@ChinaAid.org for further information.