Don't call people names

Echidna, the she-viper of Greek myth, c. 1552

Like "snakes" and "the offspring of snakes"?

"Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?"

-- Matthew 23:33

Photo source: here

See also: Bomarzo, Italy

Another country falls to anti-culture

From the story here:

"Ireland will become the 19th country in the world to legalise same-sex marriages once the necessary legislation is approved as expected. The first weddings could happen within six months. ... Congratulations poured in to Ireland from around the world, including from British Prime Minister David Cameron and US Vice President Joe Biden."

Ye have despised the poor

Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.

-- James 2:5ff.

Sell your possessions

-- Luke 12:33

The Catholic Church in America is the nation's single largest charity

The Economist reported here in 2012:

The Economist estimates that annual spending by the church and entities owned by the church was around $170 billion in 2010 (the church does not release such figures). We think 57% of this goes on health-care networks, followed by 28% on colleges, with parish and diocesan day-to-day operations accounting for just 6% and national charitable activities just 2.7% . . .. In total, Catholic institutions employ over 1m people, reckons Fred Gluck, a former McKinsey managing partner and co-founder of the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management, a lay organisation seeking to improve the way the church is run. For purposes of secular comparison, in 2010 General Electric’s revenue was $150 billion and Walmart employed roughly 2m people.

The church is the largest single charitable organisation in the country. Catholic Charities USA, its main charity, and its subsidiaries employ over 65,000 paid staff and serve over 10m people. These organisations distributed $4.7 billion to the poor in 2010, of which 62% came from local, state and federal government agencies.

The American church may account for as much as 60% of the global institution’s wealth.

Christian Piatt explores the idea that Jesus was crazy

Here.

The context of apocalyptic is glaringly missing, but it's still an amusing read, including the insane commenters, who remind me of nothing so much as the proverbial moths drawn to the flame . . .

"But like a moth drawn to the flame, here I am talkin' 'bout Jesus just the same".

At best only 30% of us cannot tell a lie, but the regular preaching of the law nips it in the bud for the rest

So says surprising new research, reported here:

'But there is an extremely simple way to curb dishonesty dramatically — just remind people to not be dishonest. All you have to do is show people some kind of reminder of a moral code, and the urge to lie dissipates. In one experiment Ariely describes, researchers asked 500 students at UCLA to try to jot down as many of the Ten Commandments that they could remember. After that, they took part in the matrix experiment. None of them recalled all the commandments, and yet none of them cheated, Ariely said. This was true regardless of whether the students were religious or not. Simply reminding them that Thou shall not lie has a weirdly powerful effect. 

'The study was replicated at MIT, but without the religious context: Students were asked to read MIT’s “moral code” before the matrix task. Again, no one cheated, Ariely said — this, despite the fact that MIT doesn’t even have a moral code. “It is not about heaven and hell and being caught,” Ariely said. “It’s about reminding ourselves about our own moral fiber.”'

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Lutheran theology famously speaks of the law as a curb, a mirror and a guide (Riegel, Spiegel, Zuegel). It keeps society in check, shows us our failings when we see ourselves as we truly are, and directs those who are domesticated by it on their way. It is the first of these which is confirmed by the matrix experiment, and argues for the reintroduction of the Ten Commandments in American life.

Denny Burk is not far from the kingdom of God

Denny Burk makes a persuasive case here that "the least of these" in Matthew 25:40, 45 (not 46) specifically refers to Jesus' followers, against the popular, secular misappropriation of the saying which says it refers to the poor. As Burk stresses, this is not a novel or even controversial point. 

Now if Burk could only recognize the overwhelming evidence of the Synoptics that the call to discipleship requires personal poverty of Jesus' followers (Luke 14:33), we'd really be getting somewhere.

That's where the misunderstanding arises in the first place. The liquidation of assets by converts in response to the preaching of the gospel is the means by which Jesus imagines both the expansion of his movement and how provision is to be made for the needs of his followers, who are by definition supposed to be missionaries who have no possessions themselves.

Hospitality to missionaries is a sign of acceptance of the message, as Burk says. But the message is also a call to poverty in a world which is soon coming to an end.

Transfigured six days after these sayings, or eight days?

Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,

-- Matthew 16:28f.

And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power. And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.

-- Mark 9:1f.

But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God. And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.

-- Luke 9:27f.

The world is not your oyster

"For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom."

-- Matthew 16:26ff.

The good news is also the impending bad news

"Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. ... The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."

-- Matthew 13:30, 41f.

 "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest."

-- John 4:35

Fearfully and wonderfully made, or just a lowly worm?

"I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well." -- Psalm 139:14

"Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." -- Isaiah 41:14

I desire mercy not sacrifice

But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

-- Matthew 9:13

But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.

-- Matthew 12:7

For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

-- Hosea 6:6

Red Letter Rachel is preoccupied with the wrong first person

Rachel Held Evans, quoted here:

My mother used to tell me that we weren’t the type of people to air out our dirty laundry.

What she meant was good Southern girls didn’t go around talking about their troubles or divulging their secrets.

But this is a cultural idiom, not a Christian one.

We Christians don’t get to send our lives through the rinse cycle before showing up to church.

We come as we are–no hiding, no acting, no fear.

We come with our materialism, our pride, our petty grievances against our neighbors, our hypocritical disdain for those judgmental people in the church next door.

We come with our fear of death, our desperation to be loved, our troubled marriages, our persistent doubts, our preoccupation with status and image.

We come with our addictions–to substances, to work, to affirmation, to control, to food.

We come with our differences, be they political, theological, racial, or socioeconomic.

We come in search of sanctuary, a safe place to shed the masks and exhale.

We come to air our dirty laundry before God and everybody because when we do it together we don’t have to be afraid.

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". . . work out your own salvation with fear and trembling . . . whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

-- Philippians 2:12; 4:8

When taking things literally is funny

h/t ts

For ye have the homeless always with you: Aren't they already just like Jesus?

Mel Trotter Ministries: Trying to end homelessness in greater Grand Rapids for over 115 years.

And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.

-- Matthew 8:20

Paul's idea of the kingdom of God would have been foreign to Jesus and John the Baptist

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

-- 1 Corinthians 15:50

And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

-- Matthew 5:29f.

Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

-- Matthew 18:8f.

And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched . . . And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:

-- Mark 9:43, 47

And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.

-- Matthew 24:22

And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.

-- Mark 13:20

And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

-- Luke 3:6

Proof that God shows partiality

Here.