Christianity, gay rights, eschatology, fandom, and my brain.
I like making connections, following one thought to another. Never really in-depth, alas, but I enjoy flitting about wherever my interest takes me. This is how I think, apparently. Example:
During tonight's Engish Ministry Committee meeting we broached the hot-button topic of which individuals/parties have the authority to set the speaker schedule for 2009, since we're currently without an English pastor. While we'd previously bandied the idea of EMC being directly involved in setting themes and speakers, we finally allowed/agreed that the schedule should be the responsibility of our youth pastor (the only "just-English" staff left) under the guidance of our senior pastor. Everyone can, of course, offer her suggestions.
In the course of this discussion, our senior pastor revealed that the Cantonese and Mandarin congregations will focus on the theme of "anchored in God's word" (which in Chinese translates closer to "anchored in right belief" aka doctrine). From now to mid-2009 a variety of basic doctrinal topics will be covered. One topic listed was eschatology. Hmm. I haven't studied eschatology in years, not since university or just after, when a friend of mine taught a summer term on "kingdom of heaven" and all that entails.
For a refresher, I loaded the Wikipedia article before getting on the subway... and became so engrossed that I got to Dupont station before realising I was on the wrong subway line. *facepalm* The article was decent; in fact, it covered far more theories (in brief) than we ever covered that summer. It also reinforced how far I've drifted from that kind of "end of days" focus. Not that I was ever gung-ho about the Rapture or anything, but in high school I was certainly more "evangelical" in terms of being sincerely and urgently concerned my friends wouldn't go to heaven. Later, in university, I was more intrigued from an intellectual standpoint.
Since then I've grown rather impatient with "end of days" talk. Mostly because my dad listens to preachers talk about Babylon, becomes convinced the war in Iraq was predicted in Revelation, that we're in the end times. Whether or not he's right (he could be, though my point is "thief in the night" means we're not supposed to know) I find myself frustrated by this notion of war and hatred being somehow "okay" because they're inevitable and necessary signs for Jesus' return. As if we weren't the ones doing the warring and the hating. As if war just happens, with the implication that we're not really responsible for it. To be fair, most Christians and my dad included don't take this to mean we can stop being Christ-like, or that there aren't consequences to our actions. But I cringe at the implication of "World War III: don't worry, it's supposed to happen!"
Anyway. Back to the meeting. Once I heard eschatology was on the Chinese schedule, I immediately (and hopefully subtly) suggested that if English service was to preach on basic doctrine, perhaps we could seek out topics more relevant to the needs of our congregation. Our youth pastor (bless her) took a bolder direction: she suggested we focus on giving a foundational teaching on how to read scripture. How to look for themes, how to place a passage in context, etc. Not sure yet how it'll work from a pulpit, but I think she can make it work.
Back on the subway (now on the right train!) I made it to the end of the article with only two pings on my fannish radar. Two pings is reasonable! My brain jumps to fandom very easily, so two pings is quite good. The first ping was TWW-related, because "eschatology concerns the things hoped for" and of course my brain went straight to "Evidence of Things Not Seen". And I was trying, trying, trying to remember which fic it was that I'd tried convincing pocky_slash to title "Substance of Things Hoped For". It was Sam/Will, iirc. She ended up going with a different title and now I can't remember what it was! Kait?
The second ping came in the sub-section on "The resurrection of the righteous and the wicked", which says: "With the coming of Christ, Christians anticipate a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. The last enemy, death, will be vanquished." And out of the blue, I found myself wanting to re-read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. *gets teary-eyed just remembering those last few chapters*
(Also ping 2.5, which I won't count, was a vague desire to write a Stargate SG-1 fic that'd be way too spiritual for such an atheistic sci-fi franchise. This story would deal with Ascension, faith, inner peace, the soul, Dr. Daniel "Dead-Again" Jackson and that last enemy.)
Having thus posted about my religious beliefs (however briefly or circuitously) I feel it's appropriate that I link to icarusancalion's fantastic post about religious slashers/fen who support gay marriage. (Ganked from Mara.)
We need to start building support for gay marriage within religious groups. Clearly, there are religious people on the fence about gay marriage.
Let's start building that support with the people already on our side. [...]
Let me make this clear.
- Religious person = conservative is not true.
- No more than straight person = conservative is true.
But conservatives would like us all to believe it. Oh, yes. [...]
It's time for spiritual people who support gay marriage to let you know they're here.
If you're religious and support gay marriage, then paste this meme in your LJ.
I am [insert religion here] and I support gay marriage.
Why? Because... [answer].
I am a born-again Christian (Baptist) and I support gay marriage. Why? Because I believe God gave us scripture to communicate His intentions for us as a people, His wisdom on how to live in a way that's good and pleasing to Him. And I've come to believe that the Bible cannot be separated from history, from context. That blind obedience may often be necessary, but understanding God's will is also important. That we are sadly, almost irredeemably (if you'll pardon the phrase) hypocritical about picking and choosing what parts of the Bible we obey. But that ultimately God calls us to love. To love Him, love our brothers and sisters, and even our enemies. To love those like us and those not like us.
Also, there's a good chance we're mistranslating bits of the Bible. Which translation is the definitive translation, or if a definitive translation even exists, I do not know. But I take it as given that we don't know everything. (Check out maraceles's post.)
Also, also. I believe in separation of Church and State. Okay, technically Canada doesn't have that written down as law, but we've adopted the principle. It's not a perfect system (Sikhs wearing turbans instead of standard RCMP uniform, y/n?) but it's better than imposing the rules of one religion on a multicultural, multi-faith society. And I believe equal rights is fundamental not only to the building of a healthy nation, but to our very humanity. To deny same-sex couples the right to marry is just plain wrong.
(This isn't to say I don't understand where some conservative Christians are coming from. I may not agree with them, I may want to shake them in sheer frustration, but most aren't digging their heels in just to be malicious.)
In the end, I can only speak for myself. I don't have every single element of my relationship with God figured out, and I'm sure there are people way smarter than me who could poke holes in my understanding of scripture. But I know what I know, feel what I feel, believe what I can -- and the rest I'll take on faith.
During tonight's Engish Ministry Committee meeting we broached the hot-button topic of which individuals/parties have the authority to set the speaker schedule for 2009, since we're currently without an English pastor. While we'd previously bandied the idea of EMC being directly involved in setting themes and speakers, we finally allowed/agreed that the schedule should be the responsibility of our youth pastor (the only "just-English" staff left) under the guidance of our senior pastor. Everyone can, of course, offer her suggestions.
In the course of this discussion, our senior pastor revealed that the Cantonese and Mandarin congregations will focus on the theme of "anchored in God's word" (which in Chinese translates closer to "anchored in right belief" aka doctrine). From now to mid-2009 a variety of basic doctrinal topics will be covered. One topic listed was eschatology. Hmm. I haven't studied eschatology in years, not since university or just after, when a friend of mine taught a summer term on "kingdom of heaven" and all that entails.
For a refresher, I loaded the Wikipedia article before getting on the subway... and became so engrossed that I got to Dupont station before realising I was on the wrong subway line. *facepalm* The article was decent; in fact, it covered far more theories (in brief) than we ever covered that summer. It also reinforced how far I've drifted from that kind of "end of days" focus. Not that I was ever gung-ho about the Rapture or anything, but in high school I was certainly more "evangelical" in terms of being sincerely and urgently concerned my friends wouldn't go to heaven. Later, in university, I was more intrigued from an intellectual standpoint.
Since then I've grown rather impatient with "end of days" talk. Mostly because my dad listens to preachers talk about Babylon, becomes convinced the war in Iraq was predicted in Revelation, that we're in the end times. Whether or not he's right (he could be, though my point is "thief in the night" means we're not supposed to know) I find myself frustrated by this notion of war and hatred being somehow "okay" because they're inevitable and necessary signs for Jesus' return. As if we weren't the ones doing the warring and the hating. As if war just happens, with the implication that we're not really responsible for it. To be fair, most Christians and my dad included don't take this to mean we can stop being Christ-like, or that there aren't consequences to our actions. But I cringe at the implication of "World War III: don't worry, it's supposed to happen!"
Anyway. Back to the meeting. Once I heard eschatology was on the Chinese schedule, I immediately (and hopefully subtly) suggested that if English service was to preach on basic doctrine, perhaps we could seek out topics more relevant to the needs of our congregation. Our youth pastor (bless her) took a bolder direction: she suggested we focus on giving a foundational teaching on how to read scripture. How to look for themes, how to place a passage in context, etc. Not sure yet how it'll work from a pulpit, but I think she can make it work.
Back on the subway (now on the right train!) I made it to the end of the article with only two pings on my fannish radar. Two pings is reasonable! My brain jumps to fandom very easily, so two pings is quite good. The first ping was TWW-related, because "eschatology concerns the things hoped for" and of course my brain went straight to "Evidence of Things Not Seen". And I was trying, trying, trying to remember which fic it was that I'd tried convincing pocky_slash to title "Substance of Things Hoped For". It was Sam/Will, iirc. She ended up going with a different title and now I can't remember what it was! Kait?
The second ping came in the sub-section on "The resurrection of the righteous and the wicked", which says: "With the coming of Christ, Christians anticipate a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. The last enemy, death, will be vanquished." And out of the blue, I found myself wanting to re-read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. *gets teary-eyed just remembering those last few chapters*
(Also ping 2.5, which I won't count, was a vague desire to write a Stargate SG-1 fic that'd be way too spiritual for such an atheistic sci-fi franchise. This story would deal with Ascension, faith, inner peace, the soul, Dr. Daniel "Dead-Again" Jackson and that last enemy.)
Having thus posted about my religious beliefs (however briefly or circuitously) I feel it's appropriate that I link to icarusancalion's fantastic post about religious slashers/fen who support gay marriage. (Ganked from Mara.)
We need to start building support for gay marriage within religious groups. Clearly, there are religious people on the fence about gay marriage.
Let's start building that support with the people already on our side. [...]
Let me make this clear.
- Religious person = conservative is not true.
- No more than straight person = conservative is true.
But conservatives would like us all to believe it. Oh, yes. [...]
It's time for spiritual people who support gay marriage to let you know they're here.
If you're religious and support gay marriage, then paste this meme in your LJ.
I am [insert religion here] and I support gay marriage.
Why? Because... [answer].
I am a born-again Christian (Baptist) and I support gay marriage. Why? Because I believe God gave us scripture to communicate His intentions for us as a people, His wisdom on how to live in a way that's good and pleasing to Him. And I've come to believe that the Bible cannot be separated from history, from context. That blind obedience may often be necessary, but understanding God's will is also important. That we are sadly, almost irredeemably (if you'll pardon the phrase) hypocritical about picking and choosing what parts of the Bible we obey. But that ultimately God calls us to love. To love Him, love our brothers and sisters, and even our enemies. To love those like us and those not like us.
Also, there's a good chance we're mistranslating bits of the Bible. Which translation is the definitive translation, or if a definitive translation even exists, I do not know. But I take it as given that we don't know everything. (Check out maraceles's post.)
Also, also. I believe in separation of Church and State. Okay, technically Canada doesn't have that written down as law, but we've adopted the principle. It's not a perfect system (Sikhs wearing turbans instead of standard RCMP uniform, y/n?) but it's better than imposing the rules of one religion on a multicultural, multi-faith society. And I believe equal rights is fundamental not only to the building of a healthy nation, but to our very humanity. To deny same-sex couples the right to marry is just plain wrong.
(This isn't to say I don't understand where some conservative Christians are coming from. I may not agree with them, I may want to shake them in sheer frustration, but most aren't digging their heels in just to be malicious.)
In the end, I can only speak for myself. I don't have every single element of my relationship with God figured out, and I'm sure there are people way smarter than me who could poke holes in my understanding of scripture. But I know what I know, feel what I feel, believe what I can -- and the rest I'll take on faith.