On learning more

Tiff, thanks for the heads up! My preliminary search found this. Is this what you're talking about?

How do we know

... if someone is possessed by a demon?

I have been perusing through the gospels and reading stories of Jesus' encounters with those who were possessed by demons. It seemed back then people just knew whether or not someone was demon-possessed. Sometimes they were violent, sometimes they were disabled, and sometimes they were just "crazy".

Scripture describes a "demon-possessed" person running up to Jesus. What were the indicators that led them to know this? Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if I could meet someone and somehow know - this person has an evil spirit.

Nowadays there is so much confusion about the nature of the spiritual realm. Let me qualify that - there is so much confusion about the nature of the spiritual realm in Western societies.

I visited a support group for people who had family with mental illness. I remember someone expressing their frustration because someone else had told them that their family member was possessed by a demon and that if she prayed hard enough, he would be healed of his mental illness. Her frustration came from feeling judged that she had not been faithful enough in prayer and it added to the burden of being the caretaker.

A lot of the people in the room empathized with her and attributed the interaction to the person not understanding the scientific nature of mental illness. I wondered aloud how the spiritual realm does still play into mental illness and was met with silence and resistance.

Nowadays we call it schizophrenia and depression, but I still wonder what role the spiritual realm plays in a person's well-being. Even for those who aren't "clinical," how can we understand plainly what is happening spiritually? How do we develop discernment over whether a bad day was just a bad day, how there were germs in the food we ate that made us sick, and when spiritual warfare is really at play?

I think part of it is our lack of understanding of the spiritual realm. Most of us think Hollywood and it just gives us the heebie-jeebies.

God has allowed me to have some pretty significant experiences over the last two years though, and I feel like I'm in unchartered territory. I agree that the Scientific Revolution caused a divorce between the spiritual and the physical world. What does it look like to bridge them together again?

I'm praying for unity

...on all fronts.

My heart is somewhat heavy about the fellowship. We've experienced a growth spurt this year, which is something that was very exciting at the beginning. Yay, more people, that means we're doing something right... right? I've been so blessed by our students and was incredibly pumped when they took the vision of witnessing communities to heart. Every week I hear about students sharing their faith with people at bus stops, on the quad, and in classes. There are so many new faces and new faces are being transformed by God. Students have been letting God heal them from major brokenness and are committing to lives lived out for Jesus.

At the same time, there are the murmurings in the fellowship. Paul writes about this over and over again... about gossip, malice, jealousy, factions, slander. Complaining about community, complaining about the way things are done. Sometimes it's frustrating to hear about expectations from students because it's often about how expectations are not being met. And it's frustrating because so often the expecations are unrealistic for a group of a hundred or so broken people gathered together.

In some ways it's the age group we work with. I'm entirely guilty of active participation in "What's wrong with InterVarsity" discussions that only led to feelings of entitlement and self-satisfaction. Pat pat on the back for being able to accurately describe how the fellowship is messing up.

It's always awesome having conversations with alum who tell me that they don't know why they got so worked up about stuff. Confessions of "I wish I had more grace for people." It takes a lifetime to learn grace, perhaps because we are all born with zero. I'm trying to re-read "What's so amazing about grace?"

Paul wrote about broken group dynamics because they existed back then. They exist now and always will. We'll lose people who are dissatisfied. That sucks. I have to keep reminding myself to not get caught up in the finger pointing and have the grace for others that I wish they had for the group.

In some ways this reminds me of the election and how divided people became over things. Here is a photo project someone created. Somewhat cheesy but I like this attempt at encouraging people to seek unity despite disagreements. What it looks like practically, I don't know but I think I know what it's not.

What should we call him?

Hello Humans!

I read this funny post titled "God's Name Isn't 'God.'" More or less it noted that God is what he is and that's not his name. It amused me because I thought about going around and addressing others by what they are. It's like going up to Bryan and saying, "Hello, Human the Husband."

Maybe when we pray we should address God by his name "Yahweh" or "I Am." Is that allowed? Maybe I will just stick to Daddy-O.

I keep saying...

O-M-G.

I don't know why or how it started but lately when I want to express some sort of intense emotion in a trivial manner, I will say O-M-G.

Each letter is spoken emphatically. OH *pause* EHM *pause* GEE

When someone tells me a piece of interesting news. O-M-G.

I just turned 29 and I'm talking like a tween. Like, O-M-G!

I'm having a really hard time with

... Prop 8.

The main argument for Prop 8 that I've heard from people is that it's restoring the traditional view of marriage. It's what God wants.

What I'm having a hard time with is why this is the issue Christians are choosing to rally around. I can think of many other things that God wants that Christians don't pursue. What is up?

It also feels like a log in the eye situation. Whenever I hear "restore traditional marriage" I'm also wondering, doesn't that mean we should be outlawing divorce and remarriage? Instead, we have things like divorce care in churches. Should we be so selective about where we show compassion and grace?

And what has particularly irked me about this whole thing is the propaganda surrounding the Yes campaign. Much of the ads for Prop 8 you see on TV are made by "Christian" organizations and they tell blatant lies about Prop 8. The stuff about teaching children gay marriage in schools and forcing pastors to marry gay couples is simply not true. I can't get over it... lying to oppose sin. Is this sin justified because it's trying to come against another sin?

Honestly, I haven't heard one good argument from anyone that hasn't been spoon fed by the propaganda. If you find it, please let me know.

Along with this and election fever, I've been confronted with something else. Can someone please tell me how being a Christian = Republican? From where I'm standing, I have very little in common with the interests of Republicans. And PLEASE don't say family values.

I've been trying to stay away from blogging about this stuff because I really would rather talk to people in person... so I kept it short. I tried not to be too rant-y either.

Something I've been waiting for

A New Conversation on Abortion

by Jim Wallis 10-16-2008

In last evening’s presidential debate, the first steps were taken toward a new national conversation about abortion. For too many years, the old one hadn’t changed very much. It came up every four years during elections and seldom in between. The Republicans repeated that they think abortion should just be completely illegal; and the Democrats repeated their only mantra of a “woman’s right to choose.” And the number of abortions remained mostly unchanged.

“Pro-life” battled “pro-choice” when neither party was really either one. Those positions were more like postures, and they didn’t lead to solutions. What if “pro-life” really meant policies that would protect the precious gift of life wherever it is threatened and aim at dramatically reducing the number of abortions in America? And what if “pro-choice” meant extending the range of real choices available to women – not only to terminate a pregnancy, but also to make the decision to have a child with the necessary economic support, health care, and adoption services?

Last evening, both Barack Obama and John McCain took steps toward finding some possible common ground.

Both said that they would not use Roe v. Wade as a litmus test for appointing Supreme Court Justices in the future.

And both suggested some cultural commitments and policy directions that could be most effective in dramatically reducing abortion. Last night’s debate got that conversation started.

Barack Obama said:

I think that abortion is a very difficult issue, and it is a moral issue and one that I think good people on both sides can disagree on…. This is an issue that — look, it divides us. And in some ways, it may be difficult to — to reconcile the two views. But there surely is some common ground when both those who believe in choice and those who are opposed to abortion can come together and say, “We should try to prevent unintended pregnancies by providing appropriate education to our youth, communicating that sexuality is sacred and that they should not be engaged in cavalier activity, and providing options for adoption, and helping single mothers if they want to choose to keep the baby.” Those are all things that we put in the Democratic platform for the first time this year, and I think that’s where we can find some common ground, because nobody’s pro-abortion. I think it’s always a tragic situation. We should try to reduce these circumstances.

Then John McCain said:

We have to change the culture of America. Those of us who are proudly pro-life understand that. And it’s got to be courage and compassion that we show to a young woman who’s facing this terribly difficult decision. … But that does not mean that we will cease to protect the rights of the unborn. Of course, we have to come together. Of course, we have to work together, and, of course, it’s vital that we do so and help these young women who are facing such a difficult decision, with a compassion, that we’ll help them with the adoptive services, with the courage to bring that child into this world and we’ll help take care of it.

There are indeed profound moral issues involved in the decisions to have or not to have an abortion, and most Americans believe that. Most also believe the abortion rate in America is far too high but are hesitant to completely deny the difficult choice to have one.

Abortion reduction is the clear common ground that could unite the pro-choice and pro-life polarities and bring us together to find some real solutions and finally see some results. John McCain and Barack Obama last evening opened up the possibility of finding some new common ground in reducing abortions, reflecting the 2008 Democratic and Republican platforms. There is also now some movement in the Congress with pro-life and pro-choice members looking for common ground solutions for reducing the number of abortions that are proven to work. New and compelling studies make the clear connection between abortion and poverty, with fully three-fourths of the women who have abortions saying that they just couldn’t afford to have the child. It will be a great day when both poverty reduction and abortion reduction become non-partisan issues and bipartisan causes.

Life is precious. John McCain believes that, Barack Obama believes that, Sarah Palin believes that, and so does Joe Biden. In fact, I’m not sure I have ever met a person who believes otherwise.

Freedom is fundamental. John McCain believes that, Barack Obama believes that, Sarah Palin believes that, and so does Joe Biden. Again, I’m not sure I have ever met a person who believes otherwise.

Americans are for life. Americans are for choice. The challenge for our political leaders, our religious leaders, and every American is to hold freedom and life together even when they seem to collide. We should do all we can to make sure we have as much of both as possible. And we can start by having a better conversation about abortion in this election and beyond. Thankfully, the first steps toward that conversation were taken last evening.