The Series
1. Introduction
2. Taking Life
3. Making Life
4. Faking Life
5. Discussion
If previous bioethical coversations revolved around the taking of human life (through abortion, euthanasia, etc…), contemporary bioethical conversation deal with the making of human life. This next powerful segment addresses the ethical dilemma of cloning.
Popularity: 4% [?]
I thought I would pull a post from my “archives” for this glorious Election Day in America.
Some will vote Red, some will vote Blue. Some will even vote Purple (like me, voting a split ticket between Republican and Democratic candidates), defying the stifling categories of Right and Left. Front and center in the Right-Left polarity is the issue of Life. Some insist on fighting for the lives of the unborn. Some struggle for the lives and justice of those living now. I say we need both struggles: why can’t we vote for Pro-Life and mean both the living and the preliving.
That’s the way I voted today. I voted with these two white and red wristbands. “Life” is etched in one, which represents the campaign to end abortion. The other has “One” is inscribed, which comes from the One Campaign to end global poverty and bring awareness to issues of justice and quality of life right now.
One wrist. Two wristbands. One vote. A vote that incorporated both ends of the spectrum of the Life Issue.
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So the rest of the evening, about 30 min, was talking about how we can embody the alt.way of Jesus. It was pretty good stuff and I think I need the evening to process it all…as a former employee of the Empire (i.e. United States Senate staffer) and political science major, some of the talk didn’t sit well, but in a sense that it grated against what I’ve studied and lived. And now as I train to be a pastor and grapple with how does it look to cultivate alternative communities that embody the different, alternative Way of Jesus, there is cognitive dissonance. I’ll give some more thoughts tomorrow…
(internet shut off…)
9:00–American will have its own religion…its own distinctive message of salvation and manifest destiny, set apart people group, and own creed. Its own symbols and enemies and deity. But in it all do we hear the cross, the enemy love of Jesus, the BLESSEDS. Does it look like Jesus. American can say one nation under God, but what is the character of that God…and is Americas gospel reflective of the gospel of our Lover Jesus…Reading Gal 1:6-7
8:57–Caesar has colonized our creativity and economy (God on money) and creation (pictures of Mt Rushmore). And then we try and brand Empire with the Cross…the SUV with the Jesus sticker. It becomes legitimization of everything that stands against the Cross.
(read quote from Hitler who thought he was doing the work of the Lord by coming against the Jews. Then Truman quote thanking God for bringing the A-Bomb to them instead of the enemy and sought guidance from god for its use.)
8:55–Can we serve two masters? How can we wait on God to move in history when we can move it now…Many will remain faithful, like those in the military will plunge themselves on their own swords rather than kill others. Eventually Empire takes notice of the spread…Constantine becomes a Christian/ For many, people see that the Cross of Christ was exchanged fro the sword of Rome. CHristians begin to kill, and ask Gods blessing. Religious leaders will do horrible things in the name of God and ridding the wordl of evil. Instead of following tragectrory of Abraham and Sarah, they follow the way of Empire.
Since the Church has become respectable, the Church has been able to be prostituted for any cause…especially war and killing.
singing now about Babylon and rising no more.
8:50–They were athiests and faithless because they rejected the religion of Empire Rome and turned into a new citizenship. So the Christians described the Empire as a charming Adulteress. John in Revelation described Empire as the great whore and called the Church to come out of her. Empire offers a cup to drink to all the world…but its a fraud. THere is a cup however that is the true Cup. What is highly regarded among men is detestable in Gods sigh. Romes splendor is false and comes on the blood of the innocent.
8:45–The early christians were called to make disciples of the nations, meanwhile the nations would be trying to make disciples of them.
We are fools for Christ…Paul
I recognize no empire of this present age–Acts of the Martyrs
Christ in disarming peter diarmed every soldier–Tertullian
If everyone were to act as you christians the national government would soon be left utterly deserted and without any help––Origen
(they’re reading a bucnh of quotes of early church and other ancient peeps)
emperors could only believe in christ if they were not emperors–as if christians could be emperors–tertullian
8:30–We’re back
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Today I am live blogging the premier stop on the “jesus for president” tour. In highly politicized times, prominent activist Shane Claiborne and artist and theologian Chris Haw are awakening the political imagination of Christians with a tour based on their book, Jesus for President, redefining “political” as “simply how we relate to the world.”
“Amid all the buzz, we’re ready to turn off our TVs, pick up our Bibles, and reimagine the world,” Claiborne says. “The church has fallen in love with the state and this love affair is killing the church’s imagination. Too often the patriotic values of pride and strength triumph over the spiritual virtues of humility, gentleness and sacrificial love,” Claiborne says. Christian discipleship is politically and social engaged, but in a way that confounds and transcends parties. “It’s easy to have political views—that’s what politicians do. But it’s much harder to embody a political alternative—that’s what saints do.”
The tour starts off in Grand Rapids, MI at Mars Hill Bible Church (of Rob Bell fame). I’m gonna (try to) live blog through the festivities with Shane’s thoughts and some of mine own, so check back around 6:30 or 7pm.
-jeremy
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Yesterday I was one of 12,000 people who packed into the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, MI to hear Barak Obama speak. The energy peaked to a fevered pitch as people waited for him to speak at a state he had yet to rally. We were particularly stoked when he said he “brought a little something extra” to make up for failing to campaign as of yet in Michigan. Low and behold out steps John Edward for a long awaited endorsement (and a possible Democratic ticket?). Needless to say it was a pretty cool event to attend, even though my mind isn’t entirely made-up.
Popularity: 2% [?]
