Prayer for... Everyone

This year seems to be attracting a lot of disasters. Some have been natural (tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes), some man-made (mine disasters, the BP platform explosion). For the families and friends of those who have lost loved ones in those disasters, as well as for everyone else who is suffering right now, I pray for peace and the strength to carry on through all of life's troubles, and hope that they can find happiness again, even if it seems it's been lost to them right now.

A couple of links

Via one of my old friends, the moderate voice of American Muslims regarding a recent attempt by non-Muslims to be stupid about how Muslims feel about visual depictions of Muhammad. (No, they didn't call it stupid. I am calling it stupid. Going out of your way to offend people of a specific religion is stupid... and it violates the "don't be a dick" rules of many religions.)

Via another friend, a liberal Christian shared blog, bearing witness (dreamwidth|livejournal). From their profile:

Jesus Christ lived and preached love and acceptance of all, but it increasingly seems like the most vocal Christians are preaching intolerance and hatred. So we, as Christians who believe in Christ's true message, think it's past time for us to exercise our right of rebuttal.

Note that our aim is not to evangelise to non-Christians about our religious beliefs, but rather to evangelise to other Christians about our political beliefs, and to strengthen ourselves in fellowship with others who take these beliefs as not merely compatible with, but actually required by, our faith.

Sounds good to me.

Modest dress and the law

I feel somewhat disturbed by the number of countries in Europe which have banned, in part or in whole, Muslim head coverings.

I am apalled. Again.

I'm about thisclose to taking back every single good thing I've ever said about Catholicism.

I disagree with their doctrine and their positions on a number of things, but I've appreciated the beauty of their rituals, their dedication to education, and their charity work. Yet all of that seems tainted now in light of recent responses to public outcry about priests abusing children.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. That means not going against the consensus of psychological studies regarding any alleged link between homosexuality and child molestation. That means not accusing the people who have been outraged at the Church's coverup of child molesting priests of being part of some Zionist plot, conveniently ignoring the number of Christians (including Catholics!) who have expressed outrage. That means not accusing Jews of being the secret overlords of the world, deliberately giving fuel to the minds of conspirators you know would love an excuse to lash out at Jews. And it also means telling the truth about the crimes you know were committed... because covering up a crime is also false witness.

The fact that these things are being said by priests, by people who have sworn a lifelong commitment to God and His works, is completely disgusting. Deliberately breaking a commandment is not a way to show one's dedication to God's word. It is inexcusable.

Easter

If Jesus were alive today and preaching the message he preaches in the Gospels, he would be crucified.

It wouldn't be literal. We don't do that anymore, at least in our society. But the word has become metaphorical for harsh, often angry criticism. And in the U.S., people who ask for charity and love for one's fellow man generally find opponents in plenty who will attempt to verbally crucify them.

But no matter how harshly such messages are criticized, people continue to try. In the face of such metaphorical crucifixion, knowing that criticism and anger and even violence may come their way, people still spread this message: to love their neighbors, no matter how different, and to help those in need. Like Jesus, who knew that sooner or later his words would lead to his death, these people do not let the knowledge of their opponents' likely reactions stop them. The message is too important to them.

These people are not all Christians. Some are, but others are Jews or atheists or Muslims or agnostic or pagans or Buddhists. And some of their most strident opponents do claim to be Christian. Many who do not believe in Christ have much more in common with him than those who do. And I believe it is not which beliefs they hold but what they do from those beliefs that matters most.

This Easter, I celebrate not only Jesus's resurrection, but also the continuing efforts of those who act in a way he would surely approve of, no matter what the reasons are that those things are done.

Only Human

"There is none righteous, no, not one."—Romans 3:10

"For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God."—Romans 3:23

One thing I find interesting about how people view religion and faith is how the same thing can lead to such wildly different conclusions. For instance, one or both of those quotes above, or the summary of them, is frequently cited by people as a reason they have issues with Christianity. Yet, for me, they're one of the things that form the bedrock of my belief.

A gospel song I like

One of my favorite gospel songs is one I was introduced to via Babylon 5.

Yes, really.

What I like about Jesuits

I would make a horrible Catholic. I don't agree with many of the Church's positions and teachings, and I don't think I ever could. There are things about the Catholic church I like, and I find some of their ceremonies and rituals beautiful, but they just aren't for me.

But I've always had a soft spot for Jesuits.

Keep the Sabbath Holy

So, apparently, certain right-wing television and radio pundits are really, really upset that the healthcare reform bill vote is going to be on a Sunday, because it's an affront to God to work on the Sabbath.

Strangely, I'm of the opinion that doing something one believes will help the sick is not only God's work (and therefore holy) but also something Jesus would explicitly approve of doing on the Sabbath. I wonder where I got that idea?

Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone."

Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent. —Mark 3: 1-4

Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"

He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." —Matthew 12:9-12

God's not the inflexible one

Via Sadly, No!, I was linked to a post basically complaining about the word homophobia and how it's all wrong because Christians don't fear homosexuals, they just... something. I'm not clear on what the "something" is because the article being discussed is really poorly written. I'm not going to get into the debate on the word here because that would distract from my main point, which was brought up in the commentary to the Sadly, No! post, wherein several people highlighted this quote from the original article:

We trust the God who cannot lie, not to change his mind and give us a whole new set of rules just because the times they are a changing. In fact it is God's promise that he will not change his edicts, statutes, restrictions or commands that assure us, even though the world is in a great storm; God is always an immovable rock.