Tagged: Church
“The Koran” is What “The 1619 Project” Longed to Be
I was writing a friend an email about how inaccurate the Koran was regarding its recounting of events recorded earlier and definitively in the Bible and the thought hit me. The Koran’s relationship to the Bible is essentially what the 1619 Project tried to do to American History.
I share this because I know none of you will ever read the Koran. Yet I know that some of you still are curious about the book, given the state of international relations these days.
For me, I read it almost a decade ago while at a Christian Seminary, on my own initiative, with the intention of finally learning if the jihadic violence was taken out of context. In other words, I was well aware people (opponents and zealots) can take the Bible’s violence out of context. I kept hearing the Koran was a promoter of violence whole-cloth, so I finally got ahold of one and read it.
Surprisingly, I discovered that the calls to religious violence weren’t even the worst part. The worst part was the utter lack of reality in its description of human history, specifically, the events covered (basically exclusively) by the books of the Bible.
Call to Action: (for Christians who base their faith on the Bible) Study the Bible and teach the Bible with an emphasis on accurate transmission of the contents, more than doctrinal conclusions and wild claims about essentially unproven results of Christian living. For example, when I teach my kids the Bible, I end by saying, “The point is that you are going to hear people attack the Bible. But when you know the Bible, you are going to be able to see that they are not actually attacking the Bible. The people don’t know the Bible. Don’t miss this point. They attack straw men. It’s not that the Bible magically compels faith in Jesus Christ. But there is something about the Bible. It has the curious ability to compel or call forth continuous uninformed opinions. Seeing these for what they are allows us to help them see their error, rather than join in their error.”
Completing Blacks’ Translation of Blacks to Whites in a Way Only a Literate White Could Do
So this HS Track stabbing murder is still on my brain. There is a YouTube channel which consists of Black twin brothers reacting to the passing scene. In effect, they are comedians who specialize in highlighting the constant, loud, but relatively small, tom foolery of the Black Community.
Most recently in this murder case, the attorney held a press conference. As the thing unfolded, the Twins began to recognize and highlight what anyone would recognize—that it was essentially a paid advertisement for some new johnny-come-lately BLM type group.
Here’s the particular additional factor that I, and only someone with my resume, can add to help even these Twins understand more fully what we all witnessed taking place.
The reason the attorney repeats the name of his organization four hundred times throughout the press conference is because the Black Community, as a group, is still operating on oral tradition. If his intended audience doesn’t memorize the name of the organization in that moment, he will never see it blossom into whatever he believes it should and can become.
I know, I know. You want to tell me that Whites or Western Civilization aims for memorability too. But that is not what I mean. What I mean is that when these things happen, we’re (literate Whites) watching Old Testament or pre-literate or illiteracy in action. They are not just “us” but “different”. They’re actually not us. They are actually different.
The reason I write this is I believe only once we understand this fact have we obtained the almighty truth without which we have no foundation from upon which to act.
Attention Black Faith Leaders: We Need Black Preachers
I just read about how you’re trying to boycott Target.
In the comments, I read, “…Thank you.” As a white man, I take this to mean, “Thank you because, as you know, I would prefer to shop with Whites only anyhow.”
So let’s get this straight.
Segregation was real. And you (Black Preachers) got it to end.
Now you (Black Faith Leaders) advocate for segregation?
Seriously, you need to become Preachers again (Gospel Preachers, if you want my honest opinion). Something was lost in the generalization.
The Biggest Lie You Believe Today
I’m a Baptist. If the Baptist denomination could be summarized in one pithy sentence, it would be, “Baptists believe there are no more priests.”
Naturally this conjures up images of bloody sacrifice and robes, but that is not the sense I mean.
By “priest”, I don’t mean “leader”. I simply mean “humans with special access to knowledge.”
Moses was a priest. David was a priest. Adam was a priest. Cain was a priest. Jesus was a priest. Peter was a priest. John was a priest.
In the past, a very select few men and women were priests. But that time is long gone.
With me?
Augustine wasn’t a priest. Nor Aquinas. Nor any pope. Nor any pastor or bishop or, laughably, prophet of today. These men and women who entitle themselves as such DO NOT have special access to knowledge.
What is the aforementioned “biggest lie”? You believe that the experts of today are “priests” in the sense that I have outlined above.
Fauci. Biden. Harris. Hawking. Tyson. Dawkins. Hitchens. JRE. Trump. Peterson. Winfrey. Obama. You believe these people have special access to knowledge. They do not.
****
Some anecdotes to further persuade you:
After dropping a patient at the receiving hospital, I usually head to the EMS lounge. Inside you’ll find snacks and a place to sit. Often, there are policemen typing up their reports on their indestructible laptops. I have reminisced with these guys about how, when measured by time, more time is spent writing than being a “cop”. Everyone chuckles and agrees and then they fervently resume typing.
The same goes for the clinicians. Half an hour with a patient results in at least twice as much time on paperwork and documentation.
I went to a locksmith proper the other day and while there asked him, “What do you actually do all day?” His answer? “Drive around. All I do is drive to people who are locked out.”
I am certain that you can add to this list of apparent vs. real work yourself.
Do you see how it applies?
****
We give away so much power to others because we believe the lie that they have special access to knowledge.
The policeman isn’t super-powered. He does what his boss tells him, and also can read and write. The nurse does what her boss tells her, and reads and writes. The locksmith opens locks and drives around—not much reading and writing. The physicist looks at light through prisms or their equivalents and reads and writes. The mathematician rearranges ink on paper or characters on screens until he is pleased and reads and writes.
There is no such thing as a general scientist anymore. But if there was, they would admit that they spend the most of their time reading what others have written—which is likewise available to you and me.
I implore you, faithful reader. Stop believing the lie. Convert to Baptist. Life is far more beautiful and meaningful when you keep the power. You’re not stupid. They’re not smart. Instead, they have been lying to you. And you have been believing the lie.
“Why Not?” (Rough Draft of a Sermon to a Black Congregation Inspired by This Morning’s Lackluster One)
The Blacks end their Sunday services with an actual, earnest invitation to follow Jesus. I have related that observation here many times. That is one of the many, many reasons why I attend their service, dragging my family in tow.
Yet, as noble and biblically sound as is the theology of Black Baptists, one thing the Blacks do not seem to understand is the “why” behind the diminishment of their congregations. I do. And yet given my irrevocable status as a white man, I am under no illusion that I will be preaching to a Black congregation anytime soon. But if I did, the below contains the flavor I’d bring.
****
(Always pause for what seems like an eternity before beginning. This is a known public speaking trick. People came to see you speak; they will be more and more silent and curious the longer you do not speak.)
“Why not?”
The gospels oftentimes connect the events of Jesus’ life with the word “immediately”.
In the original Koine Greek, the word translated means, “immediately”.
A few verses are in order.
“And immediately the little girl stood up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astounded.” Mark 5:42 LSB
“And immediately they left their nets and followed Him.” Matthew 4:20 LSB
“And immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.” Mark 1:42 LSB
“And immediately Judas went to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed Him.” Matthew 26:49 LSB
(The Blacks love when a preacher drives a point home. There is almost an emotional roller-coaster feel to this technique. Just when you think the preacher is losing the group, he’ll insist on lengthening the list and the congregation will vocalize that they are not only picking up what he is laying down, but that they don’t want him to ever stop. So I’d continue.)
“And immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee.” Mark 1:28 LSB.
“Immediately the boy’s father cried out and was saying, “I do believe; help my unbelief.””Mark 9:24 LSB
“came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His garment, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped.” Luke 8:44 LSB
“And immediately he rose up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God.” Luke 5:25 LSB
(Now I’d have to be shouting over the whipped-up-to-a-frenzy congregants)
And in Luke Part 2, commonly known as Acts, we find,
“and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”” Acts 9:20 LSB
(Still loud, but signalling that the moment is passing, I’d belabor the word.)
Eeeee-mediately.
Immediately.
Immediately.
(Here I will share with the reader that Booker Taliaferro Washington in Up From Slavery has a chapter on public speaking and says the following. “If in an audience of a thousand people there is one person who is not in sympathy with my views, or is inclined to be doubtful, cold, or critical, I can pick him out. When I have found him I usually go straight at him, and it is great satisfaction to watch the process of his thawing out.” So here in the sermon I will search him out and pause until I find him or her. Then, looking at them, I will utter once and again…)
Immediately.
(Another long pause.)
Our problem is that we do not believe in immediately. It’s okay to admit it. We do not believe in immediately.
We are a culture with a great tradition of developing expertise. You know I am right, but to begin my defense of my claim, I offer for your consideration that a very popular book a decade ago made its claim easy to comprehend. The author said that all the best spent 10,000 hours on their particular skill or talent, before rewards came pouring in.
But we don’t need an expert who wrote a book to tell us anything.
We believe our kids should go to school for 17 years, add pre-k and it’s 18. And sometimes we encourage them to go for another 11 (“they’re called doctors”); that’s 29 years before we consider that they are ready to officially have a job.
I can tell you from experience that an Air Force pilot takes about 200 flight hours until they get their wings, but don’t be fooled, that process often takes 2 years of total time. And we don’t officially get the keys to the aircraft often for around 4 more years.
Immediately. Where is it? Not in us.
That’s why I say our problem is we do not believe in immediately.
Our problem is we do not believe immediately.
Indulge me as I give more examples.
True love…?
Waits.
Thank you. Please call them out as you are able.
A good thing takes…?
Time.
What’s the…?
Rush.
Don’t go too…?
Fast.
Tadpoles don’t turn into frogs…?
Overnight.
Only fools…?
Rush in.
Life’s not about the destination, life’s about the…?
Journey.
I don’t want to confuse anyone, but I know there are some biblical scholars here. So here’s one for ya’ll.
“Be of good courage and he shall strengthen thy heart…”
“Wait, I say, on the LORD.”
Back to our culture.
Good things come to those who…?
Wait.
I believe my claim stands.
We do not believe in immediately.
The reason we do not believe in immediately and the reason we follow our culture is two-fold. Firstly, we have bought—hook, line, and sinker—the man-made philosophy that the only things that exist are the material things. Worse, we raise are children under the assumption that the best teachers are those who know the most about the material world.
Secondly, we do not think when we read the Bible. And we do not read enough of the Bible. And we do not push the Bible’s claims far enough when we do read them.
Genesis 1:1. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
What are the heavens? What do you picture?
What is the earth? What do you picture?
Moreover, does anyone in this body of believers honestly think that their answers would match anyone else’s here?
All I you need to know for today is the heavens are immaterial. They cannot be calculated, measured, or weighed.
The heavens is from where the Word of God emanates. “Let there be light.” Where was God when he said that? The heavens. But where are the heavens?
We look towards the stars to see the heavens, as if the heavens lie beyond the material world. This is theologically unsound.
I need to be clear.
(The pacing of this next point is beloved by the Blacks.)
There is no telescope big enough; there could never be built a telescope large enough…
You hearing me people?
…you could fill an entire hemisphere of the planet earth with a telescope;
Anyone here understand yet?
…I am telling you, you can take half of all of the known universe and convert it into a telescope with the clearest lenses to see as far as possible and you still will not see the heavens.
(Slow way down here.)
We do not believe in immediately.
We don’t.
Why not?
Why not?
Why not?
“And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it happened, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.” Numbers 21:9 LSB
Immediately. Implied.
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.” John 3:14-15 LSB
Immediately. Implied.
Why not believe in the god who created the heavens and the earth? Why not believe in the most powerful, the all-powerful living god?
I know why you are hesitant. Every believer sitting next to you, in front of you, behind you, across the aisle from you, up in the choir loft, every believer here was also hesitant for the same reason. The reason is always the same. You’re hesitant because you think you know a thing or two about this god you’ve been hearing about. The trouble is you have limited him to the god of earth. Or maybe you’re some kind of uppity and have some method of imagining he is the god of the known universe. Well, I am here to tell you that you need to go bigger, and you need to start thinking biblically. God is the god of the earth and the heavens. The material and the immaterial. He is concerned with you and it takes no time for him to work. You might say he can start work on you, say it with me, immediately.
And on the immaterial side of life, love, faith, hope, and others, forgiveness, patience, compassion, he specializes in immediately.
So why not believe that Jesus can save you immediately? His call is irresistible. You know it, and I know it. His yoke is light, and his burden is easy. In fact, you’re doing the hard labor right now as you battle what you know to be right. You’re probably sweating. Am I wrong? Heart racing. Come on down, son. Jesus is calling.
****
Again, it’s a draft. For fun. And I would probably go a bit more orthodox Baptist somehow at the end. “Early, Early!, Sunday morning, he got up!” and all. But I felt like recording this idea anyhow and why have a blog if you only post stuff you’re comfortable with posting?
The Preacher Said, “Joy Cometh in the Morning” in Today’s Service. Was It Code Today?
This morning was my last morning with the Black Baptists before the election. (I work next Sunday.) Going in, I was curious what kind of political talk we’d hear. For the past several Sundays, the gist was always “Trump bad,” but never quite “Kamala good.” And Baptist preachers wouldn’t be Baptist preachers if they didn’t say, “Vote!”
Today’s service had two political moments. The first occurred way before the sermon, during a fairly random reading of a Black History Experience. I don’t recall the exact words, but I remember smiling as the lady said something about how important this election was.
I thought, “Hype!! It’s all hype. She’s a sucker. No different than at this Super Bowl or during these playoffs ‘we are witnessing something never before seen!’ It’s all hype. Don’t fall for it.”
The second moment requires a brief reminder. There are many sayings or scriptures or proverbs which the Black Baptists all around the country utter at least once during each Sunday service. “But early, EARLY Sunday morning…” is one. Another is, “God loves…a cheerful giver.” A third is, “You can’t out-give God.” Another is, “He woke you up this morning!” Another is, “As the old saints used to say…”
The one in question, and behind this post is, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”
Seriously. If a woman who has seen five or more decades and survived at least one round of cancer doesn’t say this into a microphone, with perfect timing and emphasis on “But Joy!!…comes in the morning,” then you weren’t at a Baptist church.
Today, however, the sermon was essentially a Stephen-esque recounting of all it took for Moses to strike the rock rather than speak to it. Then, as the capstone, she delivered the somehow never-tired, “Remember, weeping may endure for a night,” (wait for it) “But JOY comes in the morning.”
It was code. It was so clearly code. “Vote Kamala—the candidate of JOY. And stop worrying. The LORD won’t let him win.” Had she said it at any other time in the story, I wouldn’t have even noticed it. But it was delivered with an ever-so-slightly-out-of-place force, an ever-so-slight amount of “indulge me, Saints” that I am certain it was meant as a Gilead-made balm to the community.
My aforementioned Ethiopian wife didn’t see it that way.
What do you think?
Another Example of the Rewards of Reading in General, and Reading the Great Books of the Western World in Specific.
I have written or implied here that it is my belief that the Great Books of the Western World set is nearly as inspired as the books of the Holy Bible. No one cares.
But I care. And so I persist. Here, then, is another example of the rewards of reading them. I am currently in Vol 4 “Religion and Theology” of the companion guided reader set “Great Ideas Program”. After Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound, there was some Old and New Testament passages and now St. Augustine’s (aw-GUSS-tinz) Confessions.
Some backstory (“Learning is a change in behavior based on experience”) is relevant.
While at Seminary, studying the Bible in its original languages (which truly means being told aloud in English that translators fear “Yahweh was hot” will sound too human ((ergo, not separate—or the Holy in “Holy Bible” (((The “separate book(s)”))))) and so they have opted for the supposedly more esoteric and divine sounding “Yahweh was angry”), I persuaded myself that these early humans were exceedingly (and uniquely) concrete in their writing. And I still believe this to be true, the following reward notwithstanding.
For example of what I mean by this unique “concreteness”, I believe when Moses would tell the Genesis account, he would sweep his arm over his head, from horizon to horizon, as he said, “In the beginning God created the heavens” and then sweep his arm under his feet, from horizon to horizon, as he concluded, “and the earth.” Get it? In other words, I believe that he pointed at the night sky (in my mind I can never shake that all the Old Testament stories were told only after darkness near a pleasant campfire) as he said “heavens” and then the ground as he said “earth”. In short, I believe that Moses did not try to trick anyone or talk about anything unseen in order to talk about the unseen Yahweh. Put one other way, I don’t believe there are two steps of belief. It’s not “Let me explain one unseen. Got it? And then, stick with me, you’ll get God!”
No. For me, my theology—based on content of Bible, to include when it was written—all that the Bible authors ever did was use material world to explain spiritual world.
That backstory complete, let’s get to the heart of the post.
Augustine has a book (chapter) which translators subtitle, “Augustine proceeds to comment on Genesis 1:1, and explains the “heaven” to mean that spiritual and incorporeal creation which cleaves to God unintermittingly, always beholding his countenance; “earth,” the formless matter whereof the corporeal creation was afterwards formed…”
Like you’re undoubtedly thinking, I also thought, “That is an intense sentence. I had to read and re-read it too much to want more.” But I pressed on.
And as I read, with my gesturing Moses in mind, I couldn’t help but notice something. Augustine was spending a lot of time defining formlessness or describing how he couldn’t wrap his mind around it—despite wanting to understand it and then explain it to others.
Then it hit me.
My gesture theory is flawed, in one sense. At the stage of creation in verse 1 of Genesis, a careful reading reveals that this “earth” that Moses points to CANNOT be Planet Earth (however little Moses and mankind knew of it at the time) because the next part of the story is, “formless and void”. Planet Earth is not, formless and void, so something else MUST BE meant. But what?
I still say Moses gestured (and meant it) while he spoke. But I am now forced to clarify that he definitely added a clarification that means he does not believe he is talking about Planet Earth and the rest of the material universe when he gestures.
The new question on this Sunday of Sundays: According to the text, what did God create, by creating “the heavens and the earth”, because it certainly can’t mean material/corporeal/measurable bodies beloved by physicists?
Augustine wrote down his ideas. I have some reactions to those. Others have recorded their ideas. The idea here is not to suggest we can know what Moses meant. The idea is that we can live richer lives knowing that we don’t know what he meant.
“Learning is a change in behavior based on experience.”
In short: the reward for my reading from the Great Books of the Western World is that I learned, that despite my previous intentions and best efforts, that I was wrong. And the “right”, oddly enough, was plainly written and right in front of me for all this time, too. Fascinating.
I’m a Veteran and I’m Not Voting. (Trump Wins.) And What I Plan To Do If He Loses.
My acquaintances are disturbed when they encounter the fact that I am not voting. Here are my reasons for not voting, as plain as I can write them.
Firstly, I do not want Donald J. Trump or Kamala Harris to be the POTUS during the years 2025-2028.
Secondly, I do not support some higher principle on the issue of voting than that.
Got it? It’s not complicated.
On to the next question my acquaintances have often posed, “So you think life is fine and dandy and this election isn’t as meaningful as the general mood (which you confess to feel) suggests and that Kamala is a sacrificial lamb and the Dems are really just looking at 2028. I get it. But what does it mean if she wins? Like, what do you think it would mean since it would mean that you do not have your finger on the pulse, that you do not have accurate assumptions, and that you do not even know up from down? What then, Pete?”
Fair question. Firstly, action-wise, I plan to go to a store and buy an American flag and flag pole. Then I plan to return home and hang it upside down outside my door. One neighbor already does this. I have always liked and respected the silent power it holds. I also have always liked the idea of citizens silently solidifying through such tactics.
Then I will wait. I do not know for how long. What will I wait for? A hero. There are no heroes at the moment. It may be decades before one emerges. But one will come again. And on that day, I will support the hero—even so far as with violence against men who oppose the hero.
But, and mark my words, none of this is going to happen. My house will stay nondescript. Life is fine-and-dandy and you’re all suckers for believing the hype.
Two Church-Related Thoughts On a Sunday
1. About the Bible: Us Christians love the underdog. We teach ourselves the Bible through this perspective. As a seminarian, I prefer to read the Bible from as neutral of a stance as possible and see what it has to say—and persuade others to do the same. For example, Moses made his tribe (the Levites) the priests (or, cynically, the tribe that doesn’t have to work for their food). Another big not-underdog is David’s Mighty Men. Forget the whole “demonstrated proficiency with a weapon of war” aspect of the infamous David and Goliath battle. Instead move to the fact that, in the same inspired account, he kept mighty men around him.
I ask you, dear sensitive snowflake reader, can you see how, in and of themselves, these facts merely dethrone your love of the underdog, and have nothing to say about the content of Scripture still?
Content, people. Content.
2. The Black Baptists were at it again this morning. Many, I’d say most, are veterans, and so the whole Arlington thing was naturally on their mind. Obviously it was brought up as evidence against Trump. As I sat among them, I couldn’t help but imagine what I would say if given a chance to speak. (Keep in mind, I am not voting for Trump. I just maintain that he had this thing won for a long time. And I’m white.)
After some consideration, I think I would say, “I will happily list many, many negative aspects of Trump and the Republican Party as a whole (though I do not know much about the Republican Party) which will be seen when they serve in the administration next term. I am curious if you all would do the same about Kamala. I am under the impression that Blacks think she is perfect. I know you think she is beautiful. I know you think she is smart. I know you think she is joyful. I know you think she is kind. I know you think she is good. I know you think she is sexy. I know you think she is strong. I know you think she is motherly. I also know that those all *might* actually be true descriptions. But I just heard that you believe in one god, and you just said his name is Jesus. Please list some negatives.”
The DNC Is Overplaying the Black Card
At the modern, respected, and accredited evangelical Seminary I attended, the guest preacher at one Tuesday Chapel was a pastor of a large church in either Michigan or Wisconsin. His sermon was supposed to model to us future preachers a near perfect exegetical (as opposed to topical and/or liturgical) evangelical and biblical sermon. I remember the sermon encouraged “humility”. I also remember he used PowerPoint perfectly. (This means no words, just pictures. And take the picture down after you make your point.) But most of all, I remember that they said he went down south to start a church and never really got one off the ground. But when he went back to where he was from (WI/MI), he had a congregation of several thousand. The implication was “one’s language is far more than English”. (This concept is not new or debated.)
Likewise, the DNC is overplaying the Black Card. This is another reason why I (and you) know Harris loses. They are not speaking to the whole audience.
It is certainly true that the Blacks own pop culture—what influencer-wanna-be teens don’t act Black around friends? No Black teen attempts to ball by imitating Musk or Romney or Tom Cotton or (this is oddly difficult). White is Right, but it is not cool. Mic Drop evidence: Beyonce opened the intro of the USA to the Olympics. (She’s Black.)
The Blacks (even Black Lesbians) own sports. (Thank you, MJ.)
The Blacks own public speaking. From MLK Jr., to Jesse Jackson, to Malcolm X, to Obama, to Oprah, to Corey Booker, to Tim Scott, to any Black Baptist gospel preacher, all other cultures would only improve with diligent study of Black orators. (Tip: Chew the meat; spit out the bone. \m/)
The Blacks own simplifying. Or they own what could be called “sorting.” Try telling a Black a convoluted story or nuanced description of how things went and they will see through you like a window. Three words. They will restate what you said in three words.
The Blacks own Matriarchy. Tiger Woods made the headlines, not only for golf, but because he thanked his dad. Tiger Woods had a relationship with his dad. “Stop the press! A successful Black man has a relationship with his dad? That’s like us!”
But the Blacks, while a unified voting block, are a small group. And while woke Whites in attendance will nod along with the poetry and call-and-response (exciting-‘cuz-it’s-new and I-can’t-wait-to-tell-my-friends), the same woke Whites are not really able to speak Black.
I am certain of this. How do I know? Because no other whites are at the Black churches.
This isn’t manifestation of racism. It isn’t mean-spirited. It happens for the same reason precisely zero non-English speakers are at Black churches. It is why no English speakers are at Spanish services or Ukrainian services. It is why Catholicism dropped Latin. When you go to hear someone tell the truth (sit down for this), you want to be able to understand what they say.
Tonight, Kamala will bring the DNC to climax. For Blacks. The rest of the audience won’t really understand why they’re cheering.
Or why Harris lost.
Captain’s Log 