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FIRST, THE NEWS: |
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WHAT’S WRONG WITH CRITICAL RACE THEORY?
from: The Stream
Watch the video!
(11 Jul.) What is the best way for us to respond to racial unrest in our culture? Like you, I was grieved at the horrifically unjust killing of George Floyd. Like most Americans, too, I am concerned about many other innocent lives who have also been taken in the riots, anarchy and division in our nation. As Americans are looking for answers, many of my Christian friends are turning to a popular response called Social Justice or being Woke. But what is Social Justice? What does it mean to be Woke?
It stems from an academic practice called Critical Race Theory. Critical Race Theory is a more narrowly focused subset of Critical Theory (which is an offshoot of Marxism). It's been taught for years at American universities. It has saturated the arts and media. Now it’s being promoted by Fortune 500 corporate executives and many evangelical Christian leaders.
The #1 ranked book on Amazon recently is critical theorist Robin DiAngelo's White Fragility. Other critical theory texts like Ibram Kendi's How to Be an Antiracist have risen in sales as the nation has wrestled with social unrest. But what is this theory? Understanding it is crucial to knowing how best to respond to it.
Critical Theory is a school of thought that originated in Frankfurt, Germany, right before World War II. The school extended the concept of Marxism beyond economics to address perceived power structures in culture. For example, Jewish people were labeled “privileged” and deemed worthy of persecution.
Critical Theory divides people into two groups: the oppressors and the oppressed. This judgment is not based on individual behavior, but on broad categories like race, sex, gender and religion. Whether you are an oppressor or the oppressed depends on your group identity.
Karl Marx taught in his Communist Manifesto that the history of all society is class struggles. He emphasized his distaste towards capitalism for setting up a conflict between the classes of the owners (the bourgeoisie) and the working class (the proletariat). Critical Race Theory differs in saying that it's not about owners versus workers — it’s about race. If you are part of an oppressor group based on your race, you are always oppressing the oppressed group, whether you know it or not. [read more~~]
COMMENTARY: In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, we read - "For though we walk in the flesh, we don't wage war according to the flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds, tearing down false ideologies and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." We need to learn how to firmly yet gently "tear down false ideologies" such as Cultural Marxism and Critical Race Theory in order to establish the truth of the Gospel of Christ. Please watch the video in the above article. Then read my piece on "Critical Theory" and "Cultural Marxism."
UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX BISHOPS REQUEST PRAYERS, DONATIONS FOR FLOOD VICTIMS
from: The Ukrainian Weekly
(17 Jul.) The Council of Bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. issued the following appeal, requesting prayers and donations for those affected by the floods in western Ukraine. Seeing the face of Christ in others is a primary responsibility of all Christians. The Council of Bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. kindly requests prayers for the people of western Ukraine, who recently suffered from major flood destruction.
At the Metropolia Center of our Church, we know well the strength of major floods and the damage they can cause. In the past, the spiritual headquarters of the UOC of the U.S.A. as well as several parishes of the U.S. Eastern Seaboard experienced major flooding due to powerful storms and consequences. A few years ago, almost every building of the Metropolia Center in South Bound Brook, N.J., sustained damages following the impact of the natural disaster.
That is why various parishes of the Church across the country have already offered assistance to those in need in our ancestral Ukraine. We are most grateful to the members of St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Society, one of the central organizations of the UOC of the U.S.A., for the initial $25,000 grant to assist the victims of the flood. The society is challenging the membership of the UOC of the U.S.A. to match their grant in contributing whatever amount possible to the relief effort.
As the hierarchs of our Holy Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A., desirous of embracing the responsibility to care for those in need, we encourage our clergy and faithful to consider providing immediate assistance to the Special Relief Fund that our Church has established in order to provide assistance to numerous individuals who lost their homes, property, church buildings and community centers – to aid the victims of extremely destructive flooding in Western Ukraine.
Please, help us to bring peace, mercy, justice and love to a hurting world. Please consider contributing generously to the 2020 UA Flood Relief Fund, sponsored by our Holy Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A.. Your gift makes a world of difference! Please make your online contributions at https://uocofusa.org or make checks payable and mail to: UOC of the U.S.A. (Memo: 2020 UA Flood Relief Fund), P.O. Box 495, South Bound Brook, NJ 08880. [read more~~]
COMMENTARY: Please consider this worthy cause - many people are suffering great losses! This newspaper is available in print and online in HTML and PDF format. For those with a special interest in Ukraine, please check out their website.
SECURITY SERVICE OF UKRAINE EXPOSED INTERNET AGITATORS INCITING RELIGIOUS HATRED
from: Religious Information Service of Ukraine
(15 Jul.) The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has exposed Internet agitators who spread information aimed at inciting religious and ethnic hatred and supporting separatism. This is reported by ZIK with reference to the press service of the agency.
According to preliminary investigation data, a resident of Cherkasy prepared provocative materials as requested by coordinators from the Russian Federation, placing them on propagandist Internet resources. The author publicly condemned the existence of one of the Ukrainian confessions, as well as actively supported the activities of the leaders of illegal armed groups of the so-called 'LDPR' [Luhansk Democratic People's Republic].
During a search of the attacker's residence, law enforcement officers found computer equipment and flash drives with evidence of illegal activity. The examination showed that the seized materials contain signs of inciting inter-confessional and religious discord. Now the person involved is informed of suspicion under Part 1 Article 161 (violation of equality of citizens regardless of their race, nationality or religious beliefs) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The offender was discovered jointly with the National Police under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor's Office of the Cherkasy region. In Zhytomyr region, Korostyshev District Court sentenced a local Internet agitator who called for toppling the state power and incited ethnic hatred on a personal page in one of the social networks.
By a court decision, the defendant was found guilty of committing a crime under Part 3 Article 109 (actions aimed at forcibly changing or overthrowing the constitutional order or seizing state power) and Part 1 Article 161 (violation of equal rights of citizens regardless of their race, nationality, religious beliefs, disability and other grounds) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. [read more~~]
COMMENTARY: Freedom of religious expression requires each person to respect the rights of others to search for and express what he believes to be the truth. When one group is allowed to dictate that its beliefs must be held by others in society, or when that group publicly incites religious discord by making untrue or threatening statements about another religious group, then peace and social order is threatened. But this doesn't mean we should believe that all religious confessions are equally true or that there is no absolute truth.
FAMILY OF TEEN WITH DOWN SYNDROME ORDERED TO LEAVE AUSTRALIA IN 35 DAYS
from: Live Action
(1 Jul.) A family has been given 35 days to leave Australia after living there for years, solely because one of their children has Down syndrome. Jason and Anita Lund moved from the United Kingdom to Sydney, Australia, in 2013 on a temporary work visa when he got a job for the New South Wales government.
When the Lund family arrived, and everything was fine — until five years later when they applied for a permanent visa. That application was denied, solely because one of their children, Ciaran Lund, has Down syndrome. "I remember that day," Anita told SBS News. "Our immigration lawyer told us we had 35 days to leave the country. We were absolutely devastated. We expected some communication around being accepted into the country," Jason added. "But deep down in our hearts, we didn't think it would be an issue. It was quite difficult to take on board, we didn't really understand the implications and we were scared."
The Lunds filed an appeal, and 18 months later, they are still waiting for their case to be heard. But the Australian government, as of now, has said that the entire family cannot stay, because Ciaran's health care costs would be too high. The government said Ciaran would cost Australian taxpayers over $2 million, reducing a human being to nothing more than a cost/benefit analysis. Yet to the Lund family, Ciaran is so much more than that. The 16-year-old loves dancing, Freddie Mercury, movies, and the beach. "He’s just like any other typical teenager; he just wants to hang out with his mates," Anita said, explaining that his intellectual disability "doesn't mean he doesn't have the capacity to learn, it just means he's slower."
Aleksandra Rajcevic, the family’s lawyer and migration agent, explained to SBS News how this was able to happen. "It falls under something called the Public Interest Criterion 4007," she said. "It is designed to protect, if you will, the Australian community from any dangers to public health or any prejudice to access. So if a child is assessed as being a heavy cost on the system, the entire family fails. It’s a 'one fails, all fail' policy." Though the Lunds and Rajcevic both say Ciaran is self-sufficient, the government considers the possibility of things like residential care, disability services, special education, and more — not because they are things Ciaran is expected to need but based on the needs of a hypothetical person with Down syndrome. [read more~~]
COMMENTARY: This sort of thing is what happens when the government considers the rest of people to be mere "economic units" or "human resources" to be utilized for the benefit of the state. It illustrates the secularist notion of people in government who consider themselves to be the only "real people" and the rest of the population to be less than human, merely a herd of animals to be managed as efficiently as possible for the desired result of extracting taxation from them. See also The Bias of VSL ("Value of a Statistical Life") Measurements on this point. UPDATE: On 20 July, Australia's decision to force the family to leave was overturned!!
TRACING OTTOMAN ARCHITECTURE THROUGH MOSQUES CONVERTED INTO CHURCHES
from: Daily Sabah
(17 Jul.) Searching and traveling across the land that once constituted the Ottoman Empire, a master architect traced Ottoman buildings in 18 countries and found at least 329 of them had been turned into churches or bell towers.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Mehmet Emin Yilmaz said he traced Ottoman architectural works for 10 years and identified the mosques, Islamic monasteries and shrines that have all been turned into [churches and] bell towers. Starting in the Balkans initially, Yilmaz said: "I first concentrated on Hungary, Bulgaria and Greece because most of the buildings converted into churches are in these three countries."
"Later, I identified 329 Ottoman-built structures such as mosques, small mosques, Islamic monasteries and shrines that were converted into churches at various times in a total of 18 locations, including Algeria, Ukraine, Crimea, Georgia, Armenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the island of Cyprus, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Turkey," he added.
Providing a countrywide breakdown, Yilmaz said 117 mosques, seven Islamic monasteries and shrines, a madrassa (Islamic school) were converted into churches and three clock towers were changed into bell towers in Bulgaria; eight mosques and a tower were converted into churches in Croatia; six mosques and a shrine were converted into churches in Crimea; and a mosque was converted into a church and a clock tower was changed into a bell tower in Kosovo.
"In Ukraine, two mosques were turned into a church and a minaret into a bell tower; in Macedonia three mosques, two shrines and two clock towers (were turned) into churches; in Serbia, 15 mosques and two shrines (were converted) into churches; in Georgia and Azerbaijan, a mosque from each was turned into a church during the Russian invasion; three mosques in Bosnia-Herzegovina were turned into churches during the Australian invasion," he added.
"Three mosques in Algeria were turned into churches during the French invasion and two mosques in Armenia (were converted) into churches. On the island of Cyprus, a fountain, in Moldova, four mosques, and in Romania, five mosques were all turned into churches," Yilmaz said. [read more~~]
COMMENTARY: For that matter, the communists destroyed or converted thousands of churches into breweries, orphanages, and "Lenin Houses of Culture." Always consider the source: this architect in a Turkish Muslim who is writing from his perspective of longing to restore the fallen Ottoman Empire. Keep in mind that Islam is itself an offshoot of Judaism and Christianity: the prophet Mohammed was influenced by Jewish mysticism and pseudo-Christian Arianism/iconoclasm, the latter being the heresy that Jesus was merely a god-like man, not God Incarnate; therefore, images ("icons" in Greek) of Jesus as God in the flesh must be destroyed. That is why Islam doesn't permit images. When Arianism was declared a heresy, the Arians were driven into the Arabian Peninsula, where Islam arose. It is also the belief in an utterly transcendent and totally sovereign deity, Allah; therefore, the state is merged with this fatalistic, totalistic ideology that cannot be questioned.
RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH SYNOD CALLS ON GLOBAL COMMUNITY TO KEEP SPECIAL STATUS OF HAGIA SOPHIA IN ISTANBUL
from: Interfax-Religion
(17 Jul.) The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church has called on the Turkish authorities to keep the mosaics of the Hagia Sophia and encouraged the global community to help preserve the special status of this church.
"We hope that the Turkish authorities will make the necessary efforts to preserve the priceless Christian mosaics, which miraculously survived, and to provide access to them to Christian pilgrims. Expressing hopes for further preservation and strengthening of mutual respect and mutual understanding between believers of various world religions, we are calling on the global community to help all it can with maintaining the special status of the Hagia Sophia, which has paramount significance to all Christians," the Synod said in a statement issued on Friday.
The Holy Synod said it deeply regrets the decision made by the state administration of Turkey to deprive the Hagia Sophia of its status as a museum and give it to a Muslim community for religious use.
"This decision was made without regard for the requests and the clearly stated positions of the heads of hierarchs of Orthodox Local Churches, representatives of foreign states, numerous international public and human rights organizations, and clergymen of various confessions and religious traditions. It affects the religious sentiments of millions of Christians worldwide, which can upset interreligious balance and mutual understanding between Christians and Muslims not only in Turkey, but also in other places," the statement said.
The administration of the Russian Orthodox Church believes that "this decision made by the Turkish authorities causes special pain in a situation when Christianity is a persecuted religion in many places on the planet, when Christians continue leaving the countries of the Middle East." The Synod said the Hagia Sophia was built in honor of Christ the Savior, and "it remains a church in the minds of millions of Christians," and it has a special historical and spiritual significance to the Orthodox Church.
Members of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church are "especially saddened" by the fact that "the Orthodox world is divided now when it is faced with such a sad event for the Orthodox Church, which is a direct consequence of the anti-canonical legalization of the division in Ukraine and which reduced our capabilities to jointly counter new spiritual threats and civilizational challenges." [read more~~]
COMMENTARY: Many, many sources have been reporting on the Turkish government's decision to revert the status of Hagia Sophia ("Holy Wisdom" in Greek) back to being a mosque. Our previous news article on the many mosques and minarets, built in Europe during the centuries when the Ottoman Empire (which became modern Turkey) ruled over much of Europe, have been converted to churches and bell towers, seems to be the Turkish response to the Christian world's complaining about Hagia Sophia reverting to a mosque.
OTHER NEWS HEADLINES:
ORTHODOX FUNDAMENTALISM THREATENS RUSSIAN PATRIARCHATE AND KREMLIN
from Jamestown Foundation
GROUP HOME RESIDENTS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES MORE LIKELY TO DIE FROM COVID-19
from Disability Scoop
PRIESTS OF THE UOC-MP BLESS RUSSIAN WEAPONS IN CRIMEA "FOR THESE ARE WEAPONS OF TRUTH"
from Religious Information Service of Ukraine
HOW DID JESUS DEAL WITH RACE ISSUES?
from Mission Network News
PATRIARCH KIRILL CALLS ON MONTENEGRO TO REPEAL THE LAW WHICH DISCRIMINATES AGAINST HIS FAVORED CHURCH
from Interfax-Religion
METROPOLITAN HILARION: FOR THE ORTHODOX CHURCH, HAGIA SOPHIA CHURCH IS THE SAME AS ST. PETER’S CATHEDRAL FOR THE CATHOLICS
from Russian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate
SAINT SERGIUS OF RADONEZH AND THE HESYCHAST MOVEMENT
from Orthodox Christianity
DEADLINE LOOMS FOR VATICAN-CHINA DEAL RENEWAL – OPED
from Eurasia Review
POLISH CHURCH FACES RECKONING OVER SEX ABUSE
from France 24
NOW, OUR VIEWS:
How Many Disabled People Attend Your Church?
(Maybe you've read this before and you're wondering, "Why am I seeing this again?" But millions of other Christians haven't seen it! So please help us by clicking on the title above, then use the "share" buttons to share it with your social media friends. Thanks!!)
Notice how the likelihood of disability increases with age, as shown in this graphic. How Many Disabled People Attend Your Church? How does your church compare to society at large? Does your church welcome and accommodate people with disabilities, or are there psychological and architectural barriers? How can we more effectively minister to these people in our church and society at large?
The 75 million "Baby Boomers" born in the twenty years from 1946 through 1965 are now retiring, and nearly half of them need serious health care. They've worked and saved for 50 years during the "boom" years of the U.S. economy, and now they're spending those 18.8 trillion dollars they've saved up: 75,000,000 people x $250,000 of average savings. But that average includes the wealthy who may have millions in retirement funds: the median (mid-point) of retirees have less than $50,000 - litle or nothing - saved up. Will you have enough in savings to move to an Assisted Living center or Nursing Home at $3,000 to $8,000 per month? Don't count on Social Security and Medicare - they're going broke: there will be too many retired and disabled people, and not enough younger people paying into the system.
As this photo shows, 45% of these retired "Baby Boomers" are disabled. And statistics tell us about 70% of us will spend two or three years on average (some longer!) needing care by others before we pass on. 70% of 75,000,000 Baby-Boomers = over Fifty Million disabled elderly people! For a married couple, it's over 90% probability that one or the other will be disabled. (70% for one, plus 70% of the remaining 30% for the other = 91%.) You may hope that you go quickly via a sudden heart attack or stroke, but more often than not, those events or a bad back, bad hips, bad knees, foot amputations due to diabetes, etc. all bring on long-term disability rather than sudden death.
Be honest with yourself: are you going to hand over your retirement savings to a secular nursing home, or will you use it "to minister to the building up of the Body of Christ" (Eph. 4:12) and at the same time provide a home for yourself where you can eventually age-in-place? Our planned Agape Restoration Communities will be handicapped-accessible for Independent Living and have a community room/chapel, 1-bedroom & 2-bedroom "accessible living units." [This is not a medical facility which requires a nursing staff on site 24/7, but if people need occasional help, they can call one of our trained "Social Ministry" volunteers to help them, or an outside home health aide.]
Check out the six courses in our ""Social Ministry of the Church" one-year program. And please download our brochure in PDF format for all our courses to print and distribute: SMC-brochure.pdf. This is how we can restore the Early Church's social ministry to "the poor, the lame, the maimed and the blind, to widows and orphans." You may become that person who responds to the call for a home health aide!
On the "Welcome" page to our courses you'll see a "LOGIN" link. As it explains, you can login as "guest" to ENROLL, or try out our lessons and send in your answers to see how our interactive courses work, or you can browse the lessons without logging in as a "guest".
When you enroll, however, you can participate in a structured class according to a syllabus, taking part in group discussions, getting graded replies for your answers to each lesson, and hopefully receiving a certificate upon completion of all six courses. Our 20+ years of experience teaching online has proven that people who study with a group of other students tend to stick with it much more than those who simply study our lessons solo.
At the bottom of our "Welcome" page you'll read the following for priests/pastors and deacons:
"Click HERE to see three ways you can help teach these courses:
1. We teach the entire course and you simply observe,
2. You lead your discussion group and we grade the lessons,
3. You lead your discussion group and grade the lessons.
(You can also use our software to create your own courses.)"
Every week, I receive prayer requests from Christian workers in Africa, India, Pakistan, Myanmar, etc. about their ministry and conditions in their country. Today I received this link to a video of the Covid-19 pandemic, lockdown, and resulting famine in Kenya, Africa: https://youtu.be/pFM1DTXqjHg - my next-younger sister Phyllis has been a missionary to Kenya for over 20 years now, providing a home and schooling for orphaned and street boys.
My next-older sister Marilyn passed away last Sunday, just days after their 60th wedding anniversary. She had A-Fib and POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), was experiencing heart flatlining for several seconds at night, so she received a pacemaker implant. But it became infected so she went back to the hospital to treat the infection and replace the pacemaker. Then she got double pneumonia, which took her life. Here is Marilyn's Eulogy, written by her son Daniel.
Our second news article UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX BISHOPS REQUEST PRAYERS, DONATIONS FOR FLOOD VICTIMS tells of great devastation in western Ukraine by widespread floods. We must not stand idly by or sit in our comfy, upholstered couches or armchairs, thinking - "This doesn't concern me, it's not my problem!" Listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and decide what you can do! "If one member suffers, all members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually" (1 Corinthians 12:26-27).
Basically, what we are witnessing in many of this issue's news articles and headlines is the effort by one state or another to try to enforce its own ideology on all its citizens and even on citizens of nearby countries over which it can assert its power. The ideology may not be called "communism" or "socialism" anymore, but rather "progressivism" or "secularism" or even "toleration." But the result is the same: a relativism that denies the existence of any knowable Absolute. Thus the belief in the Absolute coming and living among us - "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" is considered dangerous and socially divisive.
Speaking the Truth in Love
In Ephesians 4:16-17, the Apostle Paul writes - "Instead, speaking the truth in love, we may grow up in all things into Him, who is the head, Christ; from Whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up of itself in love."
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
"Speaking the truth in love" is being assertive without being aggresive. It's not being a doormat that lets people walk all over you or a milquetoast that just says sticky-sweet words. These days, it seems anything we say could be considered a microaggression. How can we avoid falling into this trap?
The Apostle Peter writes - "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:15). How do we do that? How can we "always be ready to give an answer" gently and respectfully? Here's how -
Watch the video in our lead news article WHAT’S WRONG WITH CRITICAL RACE THEORY? in today's Hosken-News: notice how Dave Sterrett speaks (his calm tone of voice) and the points he explains -
a. "Critical Race Theory" is a branch of "Critical Theory" that extends Marxism beyond economics to all perceived power structures.
b. It divides people into "Social Binaries" of oppressor vs. oppressed: white vs. black, male vs. female, as well as rich vs. poor,
so if you're a member of an oppressor group, you're automatically guilty of its sins (which denies individual responsibility)
c. Therefore a "Straight White Christian Male" must be "Woke" by submitting to the worldviews of the oppressed groups.
d. "White Fragility" leads to a denial of objective reality and truth: one can't know the "Ding an sich," only perceptions (Kant).
e. Watch for these fallacies in their arguments:
* Self-refuting statements, such as "there is no truth,"
* Hasty over-generalizations - all ____ are ____,
* The "Genetic Fallacy" - if you're the wrong race, gender, or religion, you're automatically wrong.
As I've written before if we deny individual responsibility, there is no basis for morality, no right or wrong, thus there's no guilt. There's just "survival of the fittest" - might makes right. The "Golden Rule" is twisted into "He who has the gold makes the rules." So you see the reasoning (or lack thereof) in "Critical Race Theory" is full of self-refuting statements.
King David wrote in Psalm 55:9-14 - "Confuse them, Lord, and confound their language, for I have seen violence and strife in the city. Day and night they prowl around on its walls. Malice and abuse are also within her. Destructive forces are within her. Threats and lies don't depart from her streets. For it was not an enemy who insulted me, then I could have endured it. Neither was it he who hated me who raised himself up against me, then I would have hid myself from him. But it was you, a man like me, my companion, and my familiar friend. We took sweet fellowship together. We walked in God's house with company." Isn't this a rather graphic description of many American cities these days? Even some people who go to "God's house" are siding with the anarchists, the "destructive forces" committing "violence and strife in the city."
Then King David continued describing the deceptive speech of his adversaries - "He raises his hands against his friends. He has violated his covenant. His mouth was smooth as butter, but his heart was war. His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords. Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be moved. But you, God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I will trust in You" (verses 20-22). The solution: "Cast your burden on the Lord," trust in Him - He will bring to an end those "bloodthirsty and deceitful men."
In Romans 12, we read - "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good. In love of the brothers be tenderly affectionate one to another; in honor preferring one another" (verses 9-10). This is not the currently popular but hypocritical expression "love is love" that lumps homosexual eroticism together with maternal love and brotherly love; rather, it is agape-love, the self-giving love that comes from God alone.
Further, we read - "Bless those who persecute you; bless, and don't curse. Repay no one evil for evil. Respect what is honorable in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men. Don't seek revenge for yourselves, beloved, but give place to God's wrath. For it is written, 'Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay, says the Lord.' Therefore 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in doing so, you will heap coals of fire on his head.' Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (verses 14 & 17-21).
These life principles aren't easy: it takes wisdom, courage, and strength to practice pure and holy love, to abhor what is evil and cling to the good, to live at peace, and to not seek revenge. We can't overcome evil by committing more evil in return, we can only overcome evil with good.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Christ is among us! He is and ever shall be!
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Please remember to pray for Christians in Secularized Countries, and for~~
Your fellow-servants,
Bob & Cheryl
p.s. Worry's like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do, but doesn't get you anywhere!
