Forgiving Our Debtors

 Bill Meuhlenberg in his recent post, "Jesus, Socialism, and Forgiveness", takes on an analogy you may have heard concerning the student loan bailout,

 "far too many clueless Christians have said we should happily 'forgive' student debt, since Jesus offers us forgiveness of sins."

(Recall the translations of the Lord's Prayer which read, "forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors." - UGP) 

"Um, talk about apples and oranges. Talk about a basic inability to think straight. Talk about biblical illiteracy. Talk about historical, political and economic ignorance. Governments forcing taxpayers to pay for the mistakes or irresponsibility of others has NOTHING to do with what Christ did on the cross – absolutely nothing..."

"...It is our sins’ debt that we are over our heads in – not college loans. And there is no way that we can ever get out of this crushing burden of debt. Only by Christ taking our place at Calvary, and taking the punishment that we deserved for our sin (and NOT on an innocent third party), is it possible for the sin debt to be wiped clean so that we can be reconciled to God.

Again, it was entirely voluntary on Christ’s part, and it had utterly zippo to do with the state and coercive fiscal policy. Those who come to Christ in faith and repentance can indeed find their sins forgiven. That is glorious news. But it was the voluntary action of God which we simply respond to in gratitude and thanksgiving.

There is no coercion here whatsoever. Biden’s student debt plan – like all socialist programs – is entirely based on coercion. The taxpayer WILL pick up the tab for these students whether he likes it or not. And if he has been through college himself and managed to pay all his bills, he is being slammed here twice – it is double jeopardy. He paid his own bills and now he is being forced to pay the bills of others."

I like many others had a government backed student loan to the tune of only $5,000 which I used to pay my rent, and I paid it back as planned once I started earning money (actually when I could defer it no longer ;-)). 

Today, student loans are ten to twenty times that amount in part because colleges and universities raised their tuitions once the government started loaning kids all that money. It is simple economics. 

Jesus has nothing to do with it except that wasteful government spending is sinful, and this nation needs to get down on its knees and pray for better leadership.

 

Lessons in Humility

In this week's lesson from Luke 14:7-14, Jesus teaches us the need for humility and charity.

When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. ‘When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, “Give this person your place”, and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, “Friend, move up higher”; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’

 He said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’

Such simple lessons, so hard to live up to. 

Children's Hospital Boasts of Providing Genital Mutilation Surgery

As reader Katherine pointed out last week, physicians are complicit in the recent fad of cutting off youngsters sexual organs in the name of the trans god. This was from the Daily Wire,

  Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH), ranked the number one children’s hospital in the United States, touted “gender-affirming hysterectomies” in a video even though the patients it sees are children and young adults up to the age of 21...

“The Center for Gender Surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital offers gender affirmation surgery services to eligible adolescents and young adults who are ready to take this step in their journey,” the hospital’s website reads. “It is the first center of its kind in the U.S. in a major pediatric hospital setting.”

“A world renown pediatric facility proudly talking about removing the uteruses of healthy young girls in the name of gender affirming care is terrifying,” Erika Sanzi, director of outreach at nonprofit Parents Defending Education, told The National Desk.

According to the BCH website, children as young as 15 can go under the knife for breast augmentations or double mastectomies in the name of gender affirmation — with parental consent. At 17, a trans woman can receive a vaginoplasty — and at 18, a trans man can receive metoidioplasty or phalloplasty.

Remembering my teenage years, I don't think I would have been mature enough to make such a decision. According to Duke University, brain maturation is complete by age 24. 

The trans movement ignores reason and science. 

I think that lack of God, faith, and family are major causes of this phenomenon.

 

"Our God is a consuming fire"

 In the first paragraph from this Sunday's reading from Hebrews 12:18-29, St. Paul combines imagery with theology in a way that is rarely heard from the pulpit these days. In the second paragraph he pronounces a warning that is rarely spoken on Sunday mornings in churches that use the Revised Common Lectionary followed by the hope of those who partake of the sacrifice represented in our worship.

You have not come to a mountain that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. (For they could not endure the order that was given, ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.’ Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I tremble with fear.’) But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven! At that time his voice shook the earth; but now he has promised, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.’ This phrase ‘Yet once more’ indicates the removal of what is shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire.

The image of God as a consuming fire harkens back to the ancient Hebrews practice of animal sacrifice, but Paul applies it here in a couple of new contexts. First that our worship be a sacrifice acceptable to God, and second the unspoken idea that He consumes our sinful nature and makes us worthy and acceptable to Him. 

Paul's writings are not easy for young readers or hearers to digest, but as we grow in Christ they become more intelligible and more eloquent.

 

Who would endorse genital mutilations at any age?

The Episcopal sect that's who. 

I admit that I have been ignoring the Episcopal sect's latest General Convention because I read "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" one too many times. Others have been digging through the detritus of the last gathering of Episcopal bishops and deputies and pulled out this whopper that has been making the rounds.

D066

Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring,

That the 80th General Convention celebrates the diversity of human experience, recognizing that we are all made in the image of God, and be it further

Resolved, that the 80th General Convention calls for the Episcopal Church to advocate for access to gender affirming care in all forms (social, medical, or any other) and at all ages as part of our Baptismal call to “respect the dignity of every human being”; and be it further

Resolved, that the 80th General Convention affirms that all Episcopalians should be able to partake in gender affirming care with no restriction on movement, autonomy, or timing; and be it further

Resolved, that the 80th General Convention understands that the protection of religious liberty extends to all Episcopalians who may need or desire to access, to utilize, to aid others in the procurement of, or to offer gender affirming care; and be it further

Resolved, that this 80th General Convention supports public policies at the local, state, and national levels in all our countries to support gender affirming care.

I have noted in previous blog posts the problematic phrase "respect the dignity of every human being" added to the Baptismal Covenant by the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and how it opens the door for all kinds of innovations once the meanings of the words "respect" and "dignity" change to mean "tolerate, accept, affirm, celebrate" and "personal desires" respectively. The Covenant's words were invoked repeatedly when same sex blessings and marriage were the burning issues. This is also how other dangerous ideas like church sanctioned genital mutilation can easily become part of a sect's "baptismal call". 

What will they think of next?

Polygamy, Physician assisted suicide?

How anyone can support the Episcopal organization any longer is beyond me. 

 

Divisions on Earth

This Sunday's reading from Luke 12:49-56 should have been read at the opening of the recent gathering of Anglican bishops at Lambeth, 

‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:

father against son

   and son against father,

mother against daughter

   and daughter against mother,

mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law

   and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’

 He also said to the crowds, ‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, “It is going to rain”; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, “There will be scorching heat”; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

If they had heard it at Lambeth, I don't think the revisionist bishops would have made the connection. 

Theology According to Whoopi

I usually don't pay attention to what celebrities have to say about anything. I regard them as actors and actresses and not as experts in things political, scientific, and certainly not theological. The following report from Premier Christian News proves my point.

 "Movie star, comedian and TV personality Whoopi Goldberg says God made us smart so we can make wise decisions over abortion.

Defending a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy she said: 'God doesn't make mistakes. God made us smart enough to know when it wasn't going to work for us. That's the beauty of giving us freedom of choice.'"

"Goldberg was speaking on US talk show The View following a week where the issue of abortion has again hit the headlines..."

"...Speaking further on the issue, Goldberg said: 'My relationship with God is always choppy. I also know that God made me smart enough to know that if there are alternatives out there that can work for me, I will investigate them.'"

"I also know God said, 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.'"

"I will not make that decision for anybody."

"God made us so smart that we can make wise decisions..." does not account for the fact that we make stupid decisions all the time, and it ignores the Biblical history of His people making those unwise decisions time and time again. 

The theology of Whoopi mirrors the theology of the zeitgeist, and its resulting belief system that places human will over God's will. 

I gave up on celebrities long ago, but I confess that I have neglected them in my prayers. 

Join me in praying for them now.

Your Father’s good pleasure

This Sunday's reading is from Luke 12:32-40, and, like last week, Jesus warns us about possessions. In addition, he tells us to be ready at all times for his return

 ‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

 ‘Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

 ‘But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.’

 

Just When I Thought The Episcopal Sect Had No Causes Left...

A friend sent me this latest affrontery from the Episcopal sect, 

The Episcopal Church Foundation is excited to announce the three individuals named to the 2022 Fellows class – Matthew Lukens, Kerlin Richter and Dustin Seo. These innovative and emerging leaders are pairing their expertise with their passion to make a positive impact on the Episcopal Church and beyond.

As ECF’s longest running program, the Fellowship Partners Program has been supporting entrepreneurial leaders since 1964. Initially started to support academics with intentions to teach in seminaries, the Fellowship has expanded over the years to lift up emerging academic and ministry leaders who seek to impact the wider Church. ECF is proud to partner with our 2022 Fellows and is excited to journey with them as they shape the Episcopal Church of the future. To view a list of all ECF Fellows, click here.

The three recipients’ ministry projects show a Church that is engaged in a changing world. The 2022 Fellows are exploring a new ministry on a college campus, rethinking sex education for clergy and using music as an outreach tool. Read more about the 2022 Fellows and their projects below.

The Rev. Kerlin Richter is the Rector of Saint David of Wales Episcopal Church in Portland, OR, and was church planter of Bushwick Abbey, a creative Episcopal church plant in Brooklyn, NY. Her visionary project, In The Flesh: Intimacy, Consent, and Pleasure for Faithful People, will allow her gifts of inquiry, creativity, and imagination to open a conversation at the intersection of faith and sexuality that seeks to reframe how we talk about sex in our faith communities. Kerlin currently sits on the Diocese of Oregon’s Task Force for Trans and Non-binary Rights, and she also serves on the Oregon Human Rights Commission for the Decriminalization of Sex Work.

The Oregon Human Rights Commission for the Decriminalization of Sex Work appears to be a private group and not one commissioned by the state government.

Just when I thought The Episcopal Sect had no causes left to defend this pops up. Is it any wonder that Episcopalians are dying out. 

Some visionary.

Who Needs Lambeth Anyway?

Source- Pinterest

 

This week there is a gathering of some of the bishops of the Anglican so-called "Communion" at Lambeth palace in London, and, to put it bluntly, the world does not care. 

Despite modern definitions, "communion" should mean either a coming together in unity or a co-union with union or unity being the root of the word. 

These days there is no unity in Anglicanism. 

It is a classic scandal.

No one wants to admit that schism has occurred. Historians will not even be interested in putting a date on it.

Yet Lambeth, like many curious English traditions, lumbers on, a show with strangely costumed characters in pointy hats milling about oh so politely, engaging in curious rituals, and marching in the odd protest march or two. 

So who needs Lambeth? Not us pewsitters that's for sure.

The purple shirted characters are the only ones who need that stage. Everybody else knows how the show will end. 

Lambeth exists only to feed the actors sense of self-importance.