Why Desmond Tutu Is So Right and So Wrong
When a man like Desmond Tutu, who spent his life defending the rights of the disenfranchised, views homosexuality from this perspective, we're not surprised to hear him say that he would not want to worship a homophobic God. Nor is he, in this sense, wrong. For who would want to worship a God who truly "hates fags"? Who would want to worship a God who smiles on those who torture and murder gay youth? What kind of God would mock those who struggle with their sexual identity? Certainly not the God of the Bible, and Archbishop Tutu is absolutely right in disowning such a false go
Friday, 30 August 2013
Some thoughts for Today, True Christian Leadership
1
Timothy 6
Contemporary
English Version (CEV)
6
If you are a slave, you should respect and honour your owner. This will keep
people from saying bad things about God and about our teaching. 2 If any of you
slaves have owners who are followers, you should show them respect. After all,
they are also followers of Christ, and he loves them. So you should serve and
help them the best you can.
False
Teaching and True Wealth
These are the things you
must teach and tell the people to do. 3 Anyone who teaches something different
disagrees with the correct and godly teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 Those
people who disagree are proud of themselves, but they don’t really know a
thing. Their minds are sick, and they like to argue over words. They cause
jealousy, disagreements, unkind words, evil suspicions, 5 and nasty quarrels.
They have wicked minds and have missed out on the truth.
These
people think religion is supposed to make you rich. 6 And religion does make
your life rich, by making you content with what you have. 7 We didn’t bring
anything into this world, and we won’t take anything with us when we leave. 8
So we should be satisfied just to have food and clothes. 9 People who want to
be rich fall into all sorts of temptations and traps. They are caught by
foolish and harmful desires that drag them down and destroy them. 10 The love
of money causes all kinds of trouble. Some people want money so much that they
have given up their faith and caused themselves a lot of pain.
Fighting
a Good Fight for the Faith
11
Timothy, you belong to God, so keep away
from all these evil things. Try your best to please God and to be like him. Be
faithful, loving, dependable, and gentle. 12 Fight a good fight for the faith
and claim eternal life. God offered it to you when you clearly told about your
faith, while so many people listened. 13 Now I ask you to make a promise. Make
it in the presence of God, who gives life to all, and in the presence of Jesus
Christ, who openly told Pontius Pilate about his faith. 14 Promise to obey
completely and fully all that you have been told until our Lord Jesus Christ
returns.
15
The glorious God
is the only Ruler,
the King of kings
and Lord of lords.
At
the time that God
has already decided,
he
will send Jesus Christ
back again.
16
Only God lives forever!
And
he lives in light
that no one can come near.
No
human has ever seen God
or ever can see him.
God
will be honored,
and
his power
will last forever. Amen.
17
Warn the rich people of this world not to be proud or to trust in wealth that
is easily lost. Tell them to have faith in God, who is rich and blesses us with
everything we need to enjoy life. 18 Instruct them to do as many good deeds as
they can and to help everyone. Remind the rich to be generous and share what
they have. 19 This will lay a solid
foundation for the future, so that they will know what true life is like.
20
Timothy, guard what God has placed in your care! Don’t pay any attention to
that godless and stupid talk that sounds smart but really isn’t. 21 Some people
have even lost their faith by believing this talk.
I
pray that the Lord will be kind to all of you!
Opposing
False Teachers (6:2-5)
The
Christian leader must not forget the responsibility to protect the faith. Those
of Paul's readers who fell into this category, including Timothy, were to
discharge this duty by teaching and urging the true faith (v. 2). The command
that sets Timothy in this mode again (see also 3:14; 4:6, 11; 5:7, 21) also
reminds them that in this operation the Christian leader is not unarmed. Paul
has given specific teaching (these . . . things) for confrontation with the
false teachers.
Having
repeated the command, Paul issues a kind of "wanted poster." It is
the counterpart to the "job description" given in chapter 3. Notably,
each begins with the general if anyone (compare 5:4, 16; Tit 1:6). Here, verses
3-6 consist of one long sentence in the Greek, beginning with the
"criminal" and the "crime" and going on to give identifying
characteristics in a list of vices. By using the list (compare 1:9-10; 2 Tim
3:2-4; Tit 3:3) Paul meant to create a strong stereotype or caricature of the
false teacher that would communicate primarily two things: an authoritative
denunciation and a solemn warning. Readers, after seeing this
"poster," would not be likely to form or maintain casual attitudes
about the false teachers or their doctrine.
IVP
New Testament Commentaries are made available by the generosity of InterVarsity
Press.
The
words of Christ are the best to prevent ruptures in the church; for none who
profess faith in him will dispute the aptness or authority of his words who is
their Lord and teacher, and it has never gone well with the church since the
words of men have claimed a regard equal to his words, and in some cases a much
greater.
2. Whoever teaches otherwise, and does not
consent to these wholesome words, he is proud, knowing nothing; for pride and
ignorance commonly go together.
3. Paul sets a brand only on those who consent
not to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the doctrine which is according
to godliness; they are proud, knowing nothing: other words more wholesome he
knew not.
4.
We learn the sad effects of doting about questions and strifes of words; of
such doting about questions comes envy, strife, evil surmisings, and perverse
disputings; when men leave the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ, they
will never agree in other words, either of their own or other men’s invention,
but will perpetually wrangle and quarrel about them; and this will produce
envy, when they see the words of others preferred to those they have adopted
for their own; and this will be attended with jealousies and suspicions of one
another, called here evil surmisings; then they will proceed to perverse
disputings.
5. Such persons as are given to perverse
disputings appear to be men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth;
especially such as act in this manner for the sake of gain, which is all their
godliness, supposing gain to be godliness, contrary to the apostle’s judgment,
who reckoned godliness great gain.
6. Good ministers and Christians will withdraw
themselves from such. “Come out from among them, my people, and be ye
separate,” says the Lord: from such withdraw thyself.
Matthew Henry's Commentary
Why do people still fly the Confederate flag?
A row has erupted in Virginia over a proposal to fly a huge Confederate flag outside the state capital, Richmond. One hundred and fifty years after the Civil War, the flag can still be seen flying from homes and cars in the South. Why?
For millions of young Britons growing up in the early 1980s, one particular image of the Confederate flag was beamed into living rooms across the UK every Saturday evening.
The flag emblazoned the roof of the General Lee, becoming a blur of white stars on a blue cross when at breathtaking speed, the Dodge Charger took the two heroes, Bo and Luke Duke, out of the clutches of the hapless police in The Dukes of Hazzard.
Thousands of miles from the fictional county of Hazzard in Georgia, it seemed like an innocent motif but in the US, the flag taken into battle by the Confederate states in the Civil War is politically charged - not a week goes by without its appearance sparking upset.
Recently, there's been a row in Texas over car licence plates bearing the flag, a man arrested after shouting abuse while waving it at a country music concert, and the ongoing fallout from South Carolina flying the flag in front of the State House.
Now plans by a heritage group, the Virginia Flaggers, to erect a large Confederate flag on a major road outside Richmond has drawn considerable fire from critics who say it's a symbol of hate.
That's not true, says Barry Isenhour, a member of the group, who says it's really about honouring the Confederate soldiers who gave their lives. For him, the war was not primarily about slavery but standing up to being over-taxed, and he says many southerners abhorred slavery.
"They fought for the family and fought for the state. We are tired of people saying they did something wrong. They were freedom-loving Americans who stood up to the tyranny of the North. They seceded from the US government not from the American idea."
He displays a flag on his car but lives in a street where the flying of any flags is not permitted. They are a dwindling sight these days, he thinks, because people are less inclined to fly them in the face of hostility - monuments honouring southern Civil War generals are, he says, regularly vandalised.
Denouncing the "hateful" groups like the Ku Klux Klan who he says have dishonoured the flag, he adds that people should be just as offended by the Union Jack, the Dutch flag or the Stars and Stripes, because they all flew for nations practising slavery.
Others strongly disagree with his analysis. African Americans, especially older ones, are traumatised when they see the flag, says Salim Khalfani, who has lived in Richmond for nearly 40 years and thinks it risks making the city look like a "hick" backwater that is still fighting the Civil War.
"If it's really about heritage then keep the flag on your private property or in museums but don't mess it up for municipalities and states who are trying to bring tourists here because this will have the opposite effect."
Many Americans will be familiar with the arguments on either side but perhaps not with the convoluted origins of the flag itself.
The flag seen today on houses, bumper stickers and T-shirts - sometimes accompanied by the words "If this shirt offends you, you need a history lesson" - is not, and never was, the official national flag of the Confederacy.
The design by William Porcher Miles, who chaired the flag committee, was rejected as the national flag in 1861, overlooked in favour of the Stars and Bars.
It was instead adopted as a square battle flag by the Army of Northern Virginia under General Lee, the greatest military force of the Confederacy. It fast became such a potent symbol of Confederate nationalism that in 1863 it was incorporated into the next design of the national flag, which replaced the hated Stars and Bars.
The saltire - or diagonal cross - on the battle flag is believed to have been inspired by its heraldic connections, not any Scottish ones.
So has the flag historically been more about slavery or heritage?
You could say that both sides are correct if you look at how the flag has evolved, says David Goldfield, author of Still Fighting The Civil War.
When the Confederacy debated the adoption of a new flag in Richmond in 1862, it was clear this was to be a symbol of white supremacy and a slavery-dominated society, he says.
After the war, the flag was primarily used for commemorative purposes at graves, memorial services and soldier reunions, but from the perspective of African Americans, the history and heritage that they see is hate, suppression and white supremacy, says Goldfield, and the historical record supports that.
"On the other hand, there are white southerners who trace their ancestors back to the Civil War and want to fly the flag for their great-grandfather who fought under it and died under it." And for them, it genuinely has nothing to do with racism. However, he thinks they should respect the fact it does cause offence and not fly it in public.
The flag is commonly seen at Nascar races
The flag wasn't a major symbol until the Civil Rights movement began to take shape in the 1950s, says Bill Ferris, founding director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, It was a battle flag relegated to history but the Ku Klux Klan and others who resisted desegregation turned to the flag as a symbol.
He likens it to the swastika but others see it very differently. Indeed, the flag has been compared to a Rorschach blot because it means several things at all at once, depending on who is looking at it.
"All symbols are liable to multiple interpretations but this is unique in its power and ability to inflame passions on all sides, and the volume of interpretations and preconceptions about it make it unique in American history," says John Coski, author of The Confederate Battle Flag: America's Most Embattled Emblem. He has even seen it displayed in Europe, where it has become shorthand for "rebel".
Since attempts by campaigners in the 1990s to remove the flags from public buildings, he thinks the issue has died down in the US. In 2001, Georgia changed the 45-year-old design of its state flag after pressure to remove the Confederate symbol.
Although the number of incidents is diminishing it's not going away, he says, because it just takes a couple of well-publicised episodes to get it back on people's radars, and feelings inflamed.
"We can all write the script ourselves - they will say this and they will say this." It's a predictable pattern, he adds.
"I think it will die out," says Ferris, who thinks flag-wavers feel like an embattled minority. "The south is changing, with the growth of Hispanics and Asian and a growing black population, and you can be sure that the Confederate flag has no place in their world."
The South, he says, needs a new emblem to reflect its changing character.
2 Dating Truths for God’s Man
A
recent study reports one-third of new marriages start with online dating; obviously
making the computer the latest, greatest cupid’s arrow. I can see where online dating websites
can play a role in connecting two people, but they don’t replace two of God’s
timely dating truths:
1. Where to Begin?
You can do relationships your way or God’s way.So many adults
take a vacation from God in the dating and sex arena only to wind up paying a
steep emotional and relational price that will harm them for the rest of their
lives. You may relate to thinking either you know better than God (pride) or
that you will “miss out” (fear) if you honour him. Both impatience and
arrogance breed horrible dating decisions.
God knows more. God loves you. God
has your best interest in mind. That’s the mentality I wish more people
approached dating with, and looked to God for how to do it right. God’s way in
dating involves trusting in Him, His plan for your life, and trusting Him for
your future partner—before you even start dating.
In Psalm 37:4-5, the Bible says “Take
delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your
heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him and He will do
this”. How does this play out in the dating arena? Invest your time and energy
in knowing God, delighting in the process, and committing to honor Him with your
actions. If you trust and obey His plan, He will match you with the ideal mate
when you are ready.
A healthy relationship requires two
healthy individuals who are both seeking God and His plan for their lives. A
relationship with God is the ultimate common trait men (and women) should seek
in a future mate. Without that common bond, there are too many weaknesses -- or
targets—for the enemy to shoot at.
2. The Dating Litmus Test
The quality of your dating
relationship will directly reflect the quality of your character. Men are prone
to believing a culture that throws relationships to the wind, preferring to
‘score’ with chicks, get in-and-out of the sack without any harm, and racking
up babes while protecting their hearts and avoiding commitment. But God’s
ultimate dating litmus test is this: The quality of your relationships directly
reflects the quality of your character.
God’s plan is a character-development
plan, working on your true nature, and developing you for a future of adversity
and abundance. If your character needs work, then your relationships are going
to fail and be filled with hurt and pain. But as God prepares your character,
you will be prepared for a relationship that honors God, your mate, your family
and future.
Consider what the Bible says in
Matthew 12:35, “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good
heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil
heart.”
If you are committed to dating God’s
way, then you will be patient with the process of knowing God and allow for
character development so that when God puts your mate in your path, you are
ready and able to carry out God’s plan.
Please add a comment on the bottom of
this article to let us know what your biggest challenges with dating are.
If you would like to be ready for
God’s mate for you, find Godly men to hang out with, focus on Jesus and your
character development. Additional resources available HERE.
Kenny Luck, founder of Every Man
Ministries and Men’s Pastor at Saddleback Church, provides biblically-oriented
teaching and leadership for men and pastors seeking relevant, timely material
that battle cultural, worldly concepts threatening men and God’s men. Follow Kenny and Every Man
Ministries now
on Facebook, Twitter (@everyMM)
and YouTube.
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