Faith Challenges: It Ain't All Comfort

Popular Christianity works under a false notion of what the Bible speaks of in terms of “The Antichrist.” First of all, John’s epistles are much easier to read, translate, and understand than Revelation. An essential rule for Biblical interpretation is that what is clear takes precedence over what is not clear. Secondly, what is repeated received more weight than a one-off statement. John’s epistles should be given more credit than the uncertainties surrounding a few verses in Revelation. John speaks clearly of multiple anti-Christs that had already arisen in his day. That refers to the turn of the First Century. He starts that comment with, “You have heard that anti-Christ is coming.” He is fully aware of an already popular concept of a coming anti-Christ. He then disparages that notion by saying that indeed, “many anti-Christs have already come.” The term anti-Christ means just what the terms signify. It is any who are in opposition to Christ. As such, John points to

We enjoyed excellent healthcare as missionaries in Brazil. The mission board was self-insured and covered whatever the doctors determined to be the best care for their patients. Any oversight of care was done by a couple of medical doctors who worked for the board in the US, making recommendations and looking at medical practices worldwide. A visit to my cardiologist cost $50. The same for our pediatrician, OB/GYN, or any other doctor we needed to see. Each one of them was a professor at the medical school in Porto Alegre. My cardiologist made two trips a year to the US for the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association meetings. Our pediatric surgeon lectured in Canada. A visit to any of them meant spending a full half-hour face-to-face with the physician who took their own notes and ran any in-office tests personally. We had cell-phone, beeper, and email access to them otherwise. The only other person we encountered in their offices was a receptionist.

Mark 9:38-50 [Sermon preached at Wingate United Methodist Church on 06 October 2024]. Power, force, might, coercion are the tools we tend to look at as either shortcuts or the only possible means to an end which seems out of reach. If we could just exert more control, we could make others bow to our understanding of how the world should operate. We are not necessarily looking for an evil result. We are looking to accomplish good! We’d even like that good to coincide with God’s will, with bringing about God’s Reign on earth as a fully implemented reality! If I could force everyone to love each another, we would finally live in peace and harmony. What could possibly be wrong with that? We’ve heard, “The ends don’t justify the means.” Then again, we have seen example after example of good people using questionable means to achieve results with which we have agreed. I have never been so focused on following rules I would not be willing to bend a few to accomplish

Comments to the Monroe, NC city council, 08 October 20242. We’ve heard and read the mayor lauding the good work and efforts of the Monroe Police Department. I would add my own voice to the good work they do. We have also heard the mayor and his supporters denigrate the very same police department. Every time a baseless accusation of pedophilia and the sexual grooming of children comes up, it accuses the Monroe Police Departments, its officers, and the Union County Sheriff’s officers, of not doing their jobs. If there truly is a problem with Union County Pride and Drag Queens in settings like East Frank Superette and Kitchen practicing pedophilia and grooming children, why are officers doing nothing to intervene? Have any investigations been launched by local law enforcement regarding these reported atrocities going on at Union County Pride events, drag shows at East Frank, or other venues in and around Monroe? What kind of reports did police officers attending Uni

Enemies are not born. They are created out of our fears, insecurities, imaginings, and learned responses. A grandbaby was just born into a toddler’s family. This toddler doesn’t care who holds the new baby, as long as it is not their mother. No matter how the family has references this newborn as her new baby, the presents and attention lavished upon the toddler, she considers the new one as interfering with her safety, security, and place. She has made the newborn an enemy, no input from the newborn required. We create our enemies by choice. It has little to do with the other. It is about ourselves. Our lack of security, trust, confidence, and the way we have ordered the world feels under attack. It matters not whether we are being attacked. We misplace our confidence and security. Perhaps it is our sense of control, our understanding of how the world works, our sense of place, what gives us worth. Fear-mongering sells us an enemy on which to pin all our angst. I

We’ve known for decades that alcoholism is a disease. We treat it as a moral failure. Sure, some people can drink and not become alcoholics. Others cannot, despite how hard they might try. We’ve known for decades that nicotine is addictive. We still allow it to be sold openly, despite it’s delivery systems being known to cause cancer. Then we want to treat people who have become addicted as morally failed, as too weak to stop. We've known gambling is often an addiction. We allow gambling venues to advertise publicly, even as they announce treatments are available for gambling addiction. It’s like telling people, “Yes, you can gamble. If you become addicted, however, you have a problem. Shame on you! Here’s a number you could call if you weren’t so morally corrupt as to need help.” We wield shame to condemn and ostracize people for addictions we know are a disease. They fall into the same real as Substance Use Disorder. [Not Substance Abuse Disorder: people are