Question as to why QAnon is called "a conspiracy theory". I understand it as a group whose members ascribe to the oracle-like posts of a person who calls him/herself QAnon. As a group the QAnons believe some conspiracy theories such as JFK Jr faking his own death, but they have also done good by shining the light on child trafficking and pedophilia. So I keep hearing "the QAnon conspiracy" and am not sure what that means.
Again, your analysis is spot on topic and you have clearly enunciated this.
I do not feel you are "against Trump" ("Trumpism?" Really? While I voted for the man, do we really need to name a movement after him as well?) but you spoke quite clearly about far too many evangelicals that almost seem to turn off anything resembling biblical discernment and instead they embrace something akin to a "fuge state" in their support for the president.
As a pastor, I have a real problem with those who are also pastors but they are no longer known for their enunciation and proclamation of the Gospel, but instead, they are nothing more than a "Trump supporter."
I wasn't called to be a political jock-strap; I was called to serve the Lord, through a local church and to proclaim, enunciate, teach and sometime inconsistently demonstrate my faith in a pagan world. I serve the Lord, not a party. My ideas are shaped and controlled by my theology, not a political ideology.
Your application of what systemic racism really is--and how it applies to us is extremely insightful. Look, you r job is to spend all of your time digesting what is happening and then filter all of that and give it back to us. What I appreciate is the consistency in bringing everything back to the lowest common denominator: theology.
BLM is a theologic system; a bad one, but that's what it is. QAnon is a theology. Marxism is a theology. Granted, those holding these ideas will not appreciate this identification, but that is what they are--they worship their ideas. If you disagree, you're a heretic and heretics must experience the modern equivalent of the auto-de-fe.
And like the Inquisition, they are more than willing to sacrifice the innocent in order to remove those deemed guilty.
Erick, The majority of your post about the reality of racism is great, including your description of why racism in America is not systemic. But at the end of your post, you again diverge into an attack on Trump and the Christians who support him, when the two issues have nothing to do with each other. If you want to understand why I have a recent history of negative comments to your posts, that is why. You may not agree with so-called Trumpism, but quite a few Christians (including myself) don’t agree with the alternative reality of Erickism. But I acknowledge the general agreement we have about Biblical Christianity and good political policy (with some exceptions), even if I am an Erickism heretic on some issues.
I agree with you that racism is indeed real as people in general look down on those who are from different groups. I think this phenomena even impacts those who have very mild cases of it. Anybody taking an honest look at America in the 1800’s and 1900’s will see that different ethnic groups often formed local communities based on their common heritage. And it was common to hear different ethnic groups described with derogatory, nicknames like “Dumb Hunkies,” “Dagos”, “Spicks,” “Chinks,” “Krauts” and “Nips”. Although these nicknames have mostly faded into history, in the Trump era they have been replaced with derogatory nicknames like Hillary Clinton’s “Deplorables” that progressives tend to apply to all people who disagree with their policy views (e.g., “Racists,” “Nazi’s,” and “White Supremacists”).
The Biblical truth is that there is only one race and all humans are descended from Adam and Eve. The whole concept of race is a colossal mistake to begin, which was amplified by Darwin’s theory of Evolution. Jonathan Marks’ book “What it means to be 98% Chimpanzee” provides an interesting commentary about how Evolutionists have drawn many false conclusions about race based on their false preconceived assumptions. Marks is an Evolutionist, but he is honest enough to describe factual details of genetic relationships that are inconsistent with many false theories.
There's no attack on Trumpism. It is a criticism of those in the church who'd define themselves by it instead of the gospel and a recognition that some are rushing to define themselves as the exact opposite.
Erick, one issue that separates us is I don't see the group of people in the church who define themselves by Trumpism instead of the Gospel that you see (maybe life in GA is different than PA)l. I spent a lot of time listening to Christian radio (Moody and Word-FM) and both carry teaching programs that are heavily focused on the Gospel with nary a mention of Trump or political policies. I know you don’t like Robert Jeffress and I don’t follow him either. But I did some quick scanning of some of his sermons on ptv.org and at First Baptist Dallas and as near as I can tell they are also standard Biblical Gospel sermons that don't even mention Trump. I know Jeffress does public interviews that show his support for Trump's political policy, but that is not the same as mixing his personal political views with his duties as pastor of a Biblical-Gospel church and radio ministry.
I will try to limit my negative comments to your posts. My intention has never been to hurt you in any way or to attack you personally. But unity over the Biblical-Gospel is as important to me as it is to you. When I am in the US (in rural western PA), I go to a small Baptist church with all white members and a black Pastor, who everybody likes, and politics are not part of the church service. The same is true for my small Baptist church in Germany, Although my rural. area is largely pro-Trump and Germany is severely anti-Trump, our churches services are about the Bible and not political views. Maybe church life is different in GA and we have a different point of view based on what section of the elephant we are looking at.
I need to think deeply about this; for me, it's a new take. Maybe I'll run it by friends who are deeply religious, and black. They've experienced profound racism over their lives, but they might agree with you that it's a matter of sin. Just a whole lot of sin. Grounded in our need to create "others" and then demonize them maybe.
Still mulling over the critical theory post. When I was in college, I took a philosophy class thinking "critical theory" would teach me to think critically and deeply. (Probably should have paid attention to the previous-course suggestions.) Never tempted by Marxism, since had read about the Stalin and Mao famines and the gulags and pogroms etc etc, but critical theory lost me for good when I realized that it was teaching a mode of thought that didn't lead to the truth. Actual, provable truth.
See, whichever book I read for my final paper (Habermas maybe? Long time ago) said that the lower classes would rise up in times of famine. Yes, that was true of the French Revolution, but witness Stalin, Mao...and the terrible famines in Southeast Asia, which I'd just learned about. I had a professor who had studied them extensively, and she argued that the hungry, the really hungry, don't rise up. Because they're dying. (She also taught that those who spur uprisings, when they happen ((not during famines)) are the middle class. Because the poor are usually busy trying to deal with their difficult lives.)
Anyway, that broke the whole thing for me. It's about teaching a way of seeing the world. Fine! But don't argue that it's based in historical truth. It isn't. It's a religion, based on faith, but not a faith that history has shown leads to much good.
This speaks directly to the struggle taking place right now within the Southern Baptist Convention--the largest protestant denomination in the U. S. Needs to be sent "Special Delivery, Return Receipt Requested" to J. D. Greaar and a few select others.
Question as to why QAnon is called "a conspiracy theory". I understand it as a group whose members ascribe to the oracle-like posts of a person who calls him/herself QAnon. As a group the QAnons believe some conspiracy theories such as JFK Jr faking his own death, but they have also done good by shining the light on child trafficking and pedophilia. So I keep hearing "the QAnon conspiracy" and am not sure what that means.
Again, your analysis is spot on topic and you have clearly enunciated this.
I do not feel you are "against Trump" ("Trumpism?" Really? While I voted for the man, do we really need to name a movement after him as well?) but you spoke quite clearly about far too many evangelicals that almost seem to turn off anything resembling biblical discernment and instead they embrace something akin to a "fuge state" in their support for the president.
As a pastor, I have a real problem with those who are also pastors but they are no longer known for their enunciation and proclamation of the Gospel, but instead, they are nothing more than a "Trump supporter."
I wasn't called to be a political jock-strap; I was called to serve the Lord, through a local church and to proclaim, enunciate, teach and sometime inconsistently demonstrate my faith in a pagan world. I serve the Lord, not a party. My ideas are shaped and controlled by my theology, not a political ideology.
Your application of what systemic racism really is--and how it applies to us is extremely insightful. Look, you r job is to spend all of your time digesting what is happening and then filter all of that and give it back to us. What I appreciate is the consistency in bringing everything back to the lowest common denominator: theology.
BLM is a theologic system; a bad one, but that's what it is. QAnon is a theology. Marxism is a theology. Granted, those holding these ideas will not appreciate this identification, but that is what they are--they worship their ideas. If you disagree, you're a heretic and heretics must experience the modern equivalent of the auto-de-fe.
And like the Inquisition, they are more than willing to sacrifice the innocent in order to remove those deemed guilty.
[Their] god knows his own.
Ouch! My wife and I have said some of the same things about our church. So tempted to make a change. But change is hard.
Erick, The majority of your post about the reality of racism is great, including your description of why racism in America is not systemic. But at the end of your post, you again diverge into an attack on Trump and the Christians who support him, when the two issues have nothing to do with each other. If you want to understand why I have a recent history of negative comments to your posts, that is why. You may not agree with so-called Trumpism, but quite a few Christians (including myself) don’t agree with the alternative reality of Erickism. But I acknowledge the general agreement we have about Biblical Christianity and good political policy (with some exceptions), even if I am an Erickism heretic on some issues.
I agree with you that racism is indeed real as people in general look down on those who are from different groups. I think this phenomena even impacts those who have very mild cases of it. Anybody taking an honest look at America in the 1800’s and 1900’s will see that different ethnic groups often formed local communities based on their common heritage. And it was common to hear different ethnic groups described with derogatory, nicknames like “Dumb Hunkies,” “Dagos”, “Spicks,” “Chinks,” “Krauts” and “Nips”. Although these nicknames have mostly faded into history, in the Trump era they have been replaced with derogatory nicknames like Hillary Clinton’s “Deplorables” that progressives tend to apply to all people who disagree with their policy views (e.g., “Racists,” “Nazi’s,” and “White Supremacists”).
The Biblical truth is that there is only one race and all humans are descended from Adam and Eve. The whole concept of race is a colossal mistake to begin, which was amplified by Darwin’s theory of Evolution. Jonathan Marks’ book “What it means to be 98% Chimpanzee” provides an interesting commentary about how Evolutionists have drawn many false conclusions about race based on their false preconceived assumptions. Marks is an Evolutionist, but he is honest enough to describe factual details of genetic relationships that are inconsistent with many false theories.
There's no attack on Trumpism. It is a criticism of those in the church who'd define themselves by it instead of the gospel and a recognition that some are rushing to define themselves as the exact opposite.
Erick, one issue that separates us is I don't see the group of people in the church who define themselves by Trumpism instead of the Gospel that you see (maybe life in GA is different than PA)l. I spent a lot of time listening to Christian radio (Moody and Word-FM) and both carry teaching programs that are heavily focused on the Gospel with nary a mention of Trump or political policies. I know you don’t like Robert Jeffress and I don’t follow him either. But I did some quick scanning of some of his sermons on ptv.org and at First Baptist Dallas and as near as I can tell they are also standard Biblical Gospel sermons that don't even mention Trump. I know Jeffress does public interviews that show his support for Trump's political policy, but that is not the same as mixing his personal political views with his duties as pastor of a Biblical-Gospel church and radio ministry.
I will try to limit my negative comments to your posts. My intention has never been to hurt you in any way or to attack you personally. But unity over the Biblical-Gospel is as important to me as it is to you. When I am in the US (in rural western PA), I go to a small Baptist church with all white members and a black Pastor, who everybody likes, and politics are not part of the church service. The same is true for my small Baptist church in Germany, Although my rural. area is largely pro-Trump and Germany is severely anti-Trump, our churches services are about the Bible and not political views. Maybe church life is different in GA and we have a different point of view based on what section of the elephant we are looking at.
I need to think deeply about this; for me, it's a new take. Maybe I'll run it by friends who are deeply religious, and black. They've experienced profound racism over their lives, but they might agree with you that it's a matter of sin. Just a whole lot of sin. Grounded in our need to create "others" and then demonize them maybe.
Still mulling over the critical theory post. When I was in college, I took a philosophy class thinking "critical theory" would teach me to think critically and deeply. (Probably should have paid attention to the previous-course suggestions.) Never tempted by Marxism, since had read about the Stalin and Mao famines and the gulags and pogroms etc etc, but critical theory lost me for good when I realized that it was teaching a mode of thought that didn't lead to the truth. Actual, provable truth.
See, whichever book I read for my final paper (Habermas maybe? Long time ago) said that the lower classes would rise up in times of famine. Yes, that was true of the French Revolution, but witness Stalin, Mao...and the terrible famines in Southeast Asia, which I'd just learned about. I had a professor who had studied them extensively, and she argued that the hungry, the really hungry, don't rise up. Because they're dying. (She also taught that those who spur uprisings, when they happen ((not during famines)) are the middle class. Because the poor are usually busy trying to deal with their difficult lives.)
Anyway, that broke the whole thing for me. It's about teaching a way of seeing the world. Fine! But don't argue that it's based in historical truth. It isn't. It's a religion, based on faith, but not a faith that history has shown leads to much good.
Getting off my soapbox now.
This speaks directly to the struggle taking place right now within the Southern Baptist Convention--the largest protestant denomination in the U. S. Needs to be sent "Special Delivery, Return Receipt Requested" to J. D. Greaar and a few select others.