Archive for the ‘Anthropology’ category

Discipleship in the Family

October 18th, 2008

Scripture is clear that we serve two kinds of families in this world; biological and spiritual. The Biological family was designed by God to be the instrument of generational discipleship.

“Pay attention, my people, to my instruction! Listen to the words I speak! I will sing a song that imparts wisdom; I will make insightful observations about the past. What we have heard and learned— that which our ancestors have told us— we will not hide from their descendants. We will tell the next generation about the Lord’s praiseworthy acts, about his strength and the amazing things he has done. He established a rule in Jacob; he set up a law in Israel. He commanded our ancestors to make his deeds known to their descendants, so that the next generation, children yet to be born, might know about them. They will grow up and tell their descendants about them. Then they will place their confidence in God. They will not forget the works of God, and they will obey his commands.” (Psalm 78:1-7, NET)

The Church was intended to be the Spirit-Family that strengthens the biological family. Jesus said that His disciples would be His family and would model the life of obedience necessary to follow after God.

“Someone told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside wanting to speak to you.” To the one who had said this, Jesus replied, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” And pointing toward his disciples he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”” (Matthew 12:47-50, NET)

Christianity can not survive, and discipleship can not exist, outside of the context of both the biological and spiritual family. In the book, “Families at the Crossroads”, Rodney Clapp portrays the lifestyle of the modern family as a hydroponic plant; a life that changes and adapts with the shifting tides of culture. [1] In response, the church has developed programs and practices that try to catch the tidal wave of shifting needs and desires, but has not yet been able to root Her people in a solid foundation of Christian maturity. The “consumer church” has diluted Her message, morphed the nature of Her character, undermined the Gospel, and consequently abdicated Her authority.[2]

In many cases, this gross commercialism has become the expectation for consumerist families. We have lived out the Church’s mission by promoting allegiance to individual family needs at the expense of our duty to the covenant of God’s Kingdom. Yet it is really our commitment to God’s Family that forms the proper foundation for blood relationships. We can not meet the needs of the individual family, unless we are able to keep them rooted in the context of Jesus’ spiritual Family. The biological family gains its unique identity only as it is formed within the Family that is God’s Church.[3] Michael Wilkins was one of my teachers during my DMin studies and he offers this salient observation regarding the role for each kind of family.

We need to clarify the relationship of discipleship in the home and discipleship in the church (or parachurch groups). Both of God’s institutions- the biological family and the spiritual family—have been ordained for the role of providing guidance in growth. We are healthiest and strongest when we learn to balance both.[4]

If we are to truly be a church that makes disciples, then we must find the balance of serving these two Divine institutions. The destiny of these two families is eternally intertwined and the successful Church must be structured so that it reinforces the biblical demand for nurturing the biological family.

———-
[1] Rodney Clapp, Families at the Crossroads: Beyond Traditional & Modern Options (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 50.
[2] Colson and Vaughn, The Body,44-46.
[3] Clapp, Families at the Crossroads: Beyond Traditional & Modern Options,67-68.
[4] Michael J. Wilkins, In His Image: Reflecting Christ in Everyday Life (Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 1997), 134.
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Posted in Anthropology, Discipleship, Family

Parable of the American Kingdom

October 2nd, 2008

Jesus, the undocumented worker, returned home to Mexico from living in America. His family said to him, “Jesus, why have you returned home from America?” 

“it is difficult to understand” he said, “so let me tell you a story.
The kingdom of America may be compared to a Government who wished to settle accounts with a Mortgage Lender.

When the Government had begun to settle accounts, one Mortgage Lender ,which owed 700 Billion dollars, was brought to account. But since the Mortgage Lender did not have the means to pay his bad debts, the Government simply printed up more money and gave it to the Mortgage Lender so he would not be ruined.

Later, that same Mortgage Lender, now bailed out from his 700 Billion in bad debts, went out and found a homeowner who owed hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Mortgage Lender seized the homeowner and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ So the homeowner fell to the ground and began to plead with the Mortgage Lender, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ But the Mortgage Lender wanted his money and he took the homeowner’s property and forced him into bankruptcy.

So when his fellow homeowners saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their Government all that had happened.

Then summoning the Mortgage Lender, the Government ​​said to him, ‘You wicked Mortgage Lender, I gave you 700 Billion to pay all your bad debt, should you not also have had mercy on the homeowners, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ And the Mortgage Lender contributed many thousands of dollars into the coffers of the Government and contributed to the campaign funds of the many politicians and the Government was happy.

The homeowners were grieved, but still they elected the same leaders again and again…”

———
For an alternative to the American Kingdom, 
listen to the words of YHWH’s son in Matthew 18:21-35

——- Related Posts ——-
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Posted in Anthropology, Culture, Parables, Politics

Killing Toddlers In The Name of Culture

September 24th, 2008

Christian missionaries associated with the U.S.-based group Youth With A Mission are bringing the world’s attention to infanticide in Brazil. They say infanticide is common among Brazil’s more than 200 indigenous tribes, who sometimes kill babies because they are deformed or are born to a single mother. The missionaries say the Brazilian government often overlooks the killings in the name of respecting Indian culture.

“It’s a taboo,” Suzuki says. “No one is allowed to talk about it or interfere.”

And while there is no way to confirm these reports, the association with YWAM is enough for me to trust these missionaries.

Brazil seems a world away, so please, I beg of you, watch this video (WARNING: This video contains some nudity and some disturbing images)…


…but not everyone is agreed that these toddlers should be saved. Some people feel these actions are justified and should be allowed to continue. A show airing tonight on ABC’s Nightline quotes Fiona Watson who argues,

evangelical missionaries have emerged as perhaps the greatest threat to the Indians’ survival.

Did you catch that? The problem is not the killing of infants and children, but the missionaries who are bringing attention to this evil practice.

Even more troubling is the opinion of Antenor Vaz, an official of the Brazilian’s Bureau of Indian Affairs, who has voiced his support for allowing the Indian practice:

[T]he state is not “in favor of death” but . . . it would be dangerous to “criminalize indigenous actions.” The state, he says, should not use the moral judgments of modern culture “to regulate the indigenous cultures who have survived in this land a lot longer than us whites.” To do so, he says, risks subverting ancient cultures. “We are not defending death,” he said. “Very much to the contrary, we are defending the cultural survival of a people.”

Fiona Watson of Survival International, shares this same worldview that morality must be determined by each culture and each individual within that culture:

“I’m not going to defend infanticide, but I think you have to understand [that in the context of Indian culture] it’s not considered murder. In fact, it’s often considered something which is a kind thing to do.”

Really? Is infanticide just a viable expression of love?

Would we accept this argument from culture if the topic were racism? Rape? Slavery? This deformity of reason is illustrated well by Bryan Riley

Now, I cannot help but think of these apologies for the murder of innocent children as being the same as someone in the 19th Century saying this:

[August 25, 1858] “You cannot criminalize slavery in the South because it is a part of our culture. I’m not going to defend human ownership of other human beings, but you must understand that in the context of Southern American culture it’s not considered slavery. In fact, it’s kindness given the economic situation and structure in the South.”

Dan is right about the contradiction, but the problem is much deeper part of our Western philosophy. I warned about this cultural abstraction back in December 2006 with my post, “Reasonable People Eat Their Children.” My conclusion was this,

Anything and everything can be justified by reason that is rooted in an existentialist reality. Anything and everything is reasonable to the person who lives outside the bounds established in God’s self-revelation. In a “self-made” world, reasonable people eat their children.

I add today that according to the Brazilian government, and their ilk, “reasonable people kill their children,” therefore, we must move beyond reason and into Faith in YHWH who is beyond all reason.

You can take action as an individual or with a group of friends by checking out, “A Voice for Life… HAKANI“
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Posted in Anthropology, Culture, Epistemology, Hamartology, Religion, Social Justice

When Hindus Attack

September 16th, 2008

I know it is popular among some groups to blame the United States’ foreign policy for terrorism.  Still others want to blame Islamic faith as the source of such evil.    An objective look at the world in which we live demonstrates the problem is much deeper than politics or Muslim extremism. 

First, comes a story of Hindu intimidation and violence against Christians in India.
GHUMUSAR UDAYAGIRI, India — Babita Nayak was cooking lunch for her pregnant sister when a mob of Hindu extremists wielding swords, hammers and long sticks rampaged through their village, chanting “India is for Hindus! Convert or leave!”

The men, wearing saffron headbands, ransacked dozens of huts, searching for cash and looting bicycles and livestock. They torched the village church, leaving behind burned Bibles in the local Kui language and torn-down posters of Jesus. “Christianity is a foreign religion,” they shouted over bullhorns, according to eyewitness and police reports.

But this is mild compared to a move by some Hindus who have adopted the tactics of Islamic terror-bombing.

MUMBAI, India – A radical right-wing Indian politician called on Hindus to form suicide bomber squads and attack Muslim neighborhoods — a threat promptly condemned by political friends and foes alike.

Bal Thackeray, a Hindu extremist linked to past waves of mob violence in the western state of Maharashtra, has long advocated attacks against Muslims. He said suicide bombers, along with bombs planted in Muslim neighborhoods, were needed “to protect the nation and all Hindus.”

“Islamic terrorism is on the rise. To combat this, Hindu terrorism must be created of similar strength,” Thackeray wrote in an editorial published Wednesday in Saamna, the newspaper of his Shiv Sena party. The editorial was unsigned, but his party said Thackerary wrote it.

“Hindu suicide squads must be built,” he wrote. “Only then will Hindus survive.”

WARNING! This video is extremely disturbing, but must be seen!!!

The problem IS NOT POLITICS, 
and the solution is not new politics.  


The problem IS NOT RELIGION, 
and the solution is not a different religion.

The problem IS NOT VIOLENCE, 
and the solution is not more violence.

The problem IS NOT POVERTY, 
and the solution is not creating wealth.

The problem IS SIN, 
and the solution is Jesus Christ who… 

…is the one and only Son of God,
…was born 2,000 years ago,
…died on the cross,
…rose from the dead,
…ascended into heaven,
…is the only hope of salvation,
…takes away the sin of the world.

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Posted in Anthropology, Christology, Hamartology, Politics, Social Justice, Soteriology