The Other Side of the Peace Debate

When Christ entered Jerusalem, he rode in upon a donkey.  He came as a king, but he came as a king of peace.  Of course, as soon as Jesus entered into Jerusalem, what is often ignored by many people is that fact that Jesus chases evil doers and thieves out of the temple (Matthew 21:12) , calls the Pharisees a brood of vipers (Matthew 23:33), and is quoted as saying that the temple in Jerusalem will one day be destroyed (Luke 19:43-44).  It should also be mentioned that, even as Jesus encountered Roman soldiers on numerous occasions, nowhere can it be found that he preached that either they or the Temple guards should not be doing what they do.  Yes, Jesus believed in peace, but as far as we know, he also believed that armed forces were needed, that stepping up against wrong-doing sometimes required confrontations, and that all people are equally accountable.  There are many times, it seems, that those who speak up for peace in speaking up against America's actions seem to have forgotten that aspect of Jesus' character.  John the Baptist would tell soldiers in Luke 3 not to take money by force or accuse people falsely.  He did not say that there were not times to fight.   Indeed, even as I have heard much about Guantanamo Bay and Abu-Ghraib (and rightly so), I have heard far less condemnation from church leaders concerning the beheadings of American citizens, the bombings and killings of our soldiers using illegal I.E.D's, (mines) and the fact that Al Queada terrorists (alongside Iranian and Syrian insurgents) are killing many more innocent Iraqis and other people than they are foreign soldiers.  It is my feeling that many Peace Fellowships would hold a great deal more credibility and would represent a true Christ-like spirit if they would treat all as equally accountable to God's call in loving one another as Jesus loves us.  "Turn the other cheek" has been twisted to mean that one should never respond when I believe its original intent was to say only that one should not respond to every insult with violence and hatred (Note especially that one is hit on the right cheek in Matthew 5:39. This would make it a back-handed slap, which is more of an insult than inflicted physical harm).

Paradigms and Jesus

The first time I heard the term paradigm, I thought something had come back to haunt me from my unsuccessful trigonometry past. Curious, I asked a seminary professor about the term and received a copy of David Bosch's Transforming Mission. I read this voluminous writing.  Bosch covered it all from the paradigms of the Enlightenment, the Medieval Church, the Protestant Reformation, the Ecumenical movement, Postmodernism and many more. Later I attended a church conference where the leader presented a paradigm that he believed Jesus initiated. He called it the "missional" church model.

Open Poem: “Might-y” Faith

In light of the coming revisions to the Book of Order - I hope the responsible parties will keep in mind our..

Response to Casey Jones ‘Faith is a result of salvation?’

Background links: "Marks of the True Church" (Original article by Merwyn S. Johnson) "Faith is a Result of Salvation?" (Open letter response..

Forgiveness: Breaking the cycle of violence

Any discussion of forgiveness must surely open with the fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer which reads,

Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. (NRSV)

This prayer was crafted within the piety of first century Judaism and its famous eighteen prayers (Amidah) most of which are thought to have been in use at the time of Jesus.

One of those prayers (No. 6) is called "For forgiveness" and reads,

Forgive us, O our Father, for we have sinned; pardon us, O our King, for we have transgressed; for thou dost pardon and forgive. Blessed are thou, O Lord, who art gracious, and dost abundantly forgive.

Where is the “P” for peace? Or the “U” for unity?

I asked a non-Presbyterian friend not long ago to read what has become not so fondly known by some as "The PUP Report," and to give me his views as an outsider on what all the stir is about. He said, after a serious reading of the document, and an additional look at the actions of the 2006 Birmingham General Assembly, he was a bit mystified by why anyone would get upset over what our denomination had done. Nothing much seemed to have really changed. The Book of Order is still the same. The actions of the Assembly did not change the paragraph that seems to concern some so much.

“Whom shall I send … ” to New Orleans?

Recently, I joined 49 other adults in traveling down to New Orleans. For the sake of this trip and our well being throughout our weeklong stay, our group raised more than $28,000. I am certain that we left the dozen homes we worked on in better condition. I am also confident that $28,000 could have been used to reconstruct many more buildings if we had only donated the money to local causes. 

The question then becomes, why did we go?

In most Presbyterian circles, the term "calling" is debated and discussed almost ad nauseam, but I trust that the reader's constitution is strong enough to permit a little discourse on the subject. Though we represented many different churches from across North Carolina, each individual committed to the same Bible verse for the week, Isaiah 6:8: Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!"

The question still becomes, why were we sent?

Grace and Predestination

Editor's Note: The following essay is the seventh in a series dealing with topics of interest and importance to Presbyterians. Author Johnson explains: "The report from the General Assembly Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church provides us both the occasion and the urgency for theological dialogue within the PC(USA).  This and succeeding essays are offered as a constructive effort in that direction."

Sola gratia--grace alone--may well be the heart of the Gospel for Presbyterians, going back to the Reformation and beyond. Salvation, that is, comes from God alone in Christ alone through faith alone by grace alone. Grace preserves the gift character of each item in the list. Without grace each of the other items could become a mere means or a method we humans can manage or manipulate on our own. When that happens, God is irrelevant. One way to move beyond the deep divisions within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) may be to recover the historic, Reformed vision of grace.