Still Alive...

It’s been four months since I posted a blog entry, and I’m not going to write much today either. I’m not sure when I’ll get back to blogging. I have mixed feelings about the whole thing, not blogging per say because I continue to follow various blogs, but rather my role in the conversation.

Since my past blogs do continue to be read on a regular basis and my church’s website is still linked to the blog I merely want any readers who come here to know that I’m still alive, just not blogging right now.

I continue to try and figure out how I fit into God’s plan of grace and mercy. I continue to try and follow Jesus as best I can while loving those around me and those on the borderlands of faith.

Peace, Steve

Why Christians should not watch Blue Like Jazz

How often are we as frail imperfect human beings really willing to step up to a mirror and take a good hard look at ourselves? Whether it is to look at ourselves as individuals or as part of a group that we feel connected with. One of the reasons that Christians should not watch Blue Like Jazz is because they might just see something they do not like, and then have to make some tough decisions.

Apparently, there are many Christians that do not like Blue Like Jazz because of the negative picture it paints of the Christian subculture they are part of. Let’s be clear that director Steve Taylor does not hold back when bringing Donald Miller’s bestselling book  to the screen—there`s no doubt about the image he portrays of the Christian subculture its protagonist is trying to escape and reject. Are there other more positive aspects to this subculture that get presented? Absolutely, but somehow some people seem to overlook those parts of the movie.

Blue Like Jazz is in part a commentary about how the world views Christians. Let`s not try and deny the existence of this negative view of Christianity that is pervasive in today’s world. And, at this point in time, I’m not going to talk about the good things about Christianity—we know they exist. Let’s focus on that negative image that the world sees of us. That perception is a reality. If the truth be told they have a lot of good reasons for this view, and today a lot of young people, like the main character in the movie, are running away from God or the Church because of what they see around them.

What the movie does so well is follow the story of a young man who is trying to escape from a world he is ashamed of. It’s not like he’s trying to take a good hard look in the mirror. He’s simply trying to run away and fit in with a world that will accept him. Does he make a bunch of mistakes? For sure, but ultimately he can’t escape what’s really eating away at him. He wants there to be more to life and God than what he’s experienced in his life.

Eventually this guy does decide to take a good hard look in the mirror, and he doesn’t like what he sees. He sees the role that he`s played in misrepresenting God, not intentionally but rather simply by not really slowing down enough to take a look at how he was living his life in response to Jesus` teachings.

Instead of continuing to run away he chooses to make some really tough choices. The choices he makes are the type of choices that God wants us all to make. I won`t say what happens at the end, but the final scene in the confessional booth is brilliant. We should all be so brave.

Ultimately I hope that Christians do choose to watch this movie, or read the book, and then choose to take a close look at how they`re responding to God. Click here to view the movie trailer.

We should all be asking ourselves if how we live represents the radical other centered biblical Jesus or does it merely represent an image we`ve created that is safe for us.

What Does Tempation Look Like for You?

I was driving home from my first MRI on this beautiful sunny Saturday morning and marveling at what we can do with modern science— it’s nothing serious, just a rotator cuff injury—hey it’s hard writing sermons. My MRI experience led me to think about all the knowledge that we have as humans and how little of it I possess. I was thinking of all we in North America have access to, and how lucky we are.

Then I saw it on the side of the road: a beautiful motorcycle for sale. It was calling out to me, but I drove by it and thought about how great it would be to own another motorcycle. I sold my last one back in 1988 to literally put a new roof on my house. I said to myself, I’m going to go back and take a picture of what temptation looks like to me. So, I did a U turn and pulled into the driveway, got out of my car and marveled at the beauty of this bike. I know that for people who don’t like motorcycles that likely sounds foolish—but to a rider, not so much.

She was a sweet looking ride. I was hoping from the street that it would have been a Harley, because then I would know for sure that it would be priced out of my league. But it was a Honda Shadow, which is exactly what I sold back in 88. I knocked on the door and asked what they were asking for the bike. He told me the price, but it was definitely still way more than I’d be willing to spend for a toy.

I say toy because that’s exactly what this would be for me. I don’t want to kid myself, and at $4,200 plus yearly insurance it’s way more than I’m willing to spend on a toy. That being said, don’t think for one moment I wasn’t tempted, and am still not tempted. I’d love to have that sweet bike. My problem is how do I justify spending $4,200 on a bike plus yearly insurance for a toy when people are starving, suffering because of lack of clean water,  and when there are all sorts of other great causes I could put that money towards.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that as followers of Jesus we should never buy toys, or if anyone else has a motorcycle they’re bad Christians. If all we do is buy ourselves toys than it’s wrong. But to enjoy some of the things in life that are around us can be a good thing, especially if we can understand how it makes us better at being followers of Jesus. For me, I decided a long time ago that I wouldn’t buy another bike, because it was MY line in the sand which helps me sacrifice for others. If as followers of Jesus we’re not willing to forgo and sacrifice for others we’re not really following him are we.

I’m not trying to sound better than others because I didn’t buy a bike, yet. I do have toys. I own a nice acoustic guitar, a great set of golf clubs, I have a great patio set, and I live in a nice house. Maybe, I haven’t sacrificed enough. It’s something I need to consider. We need to consider how we spend our money and how we’re contributing to help others. I really do want to live as simply as possible. We need to recognize our temptations and be willing to sacrifice; otherwise, who are we following.

If you’re a follower of Jesus you should be able to recognize what temptation looks like for you, and mabye say no to it. The temptation to be selfish is different for each of us. For me, right now it’s that bike. Only you know what it is for you.

My synchroblog with Frank Viola

The following exercise is from the synchroblog at http://frankviola.org/2012/07/09/gospelforthemiddle

Fielding Melish and his wife Felicia have two children, ages 10 and 6. They live in a very remote part of Maine, USA. They are surrounded by extended family, none of whom are Christians. The nearest churches are one hour away, and by all evangelical standards, none of them are good. These churches are either highly legalistic, highly libertine, or just flat-out flaky.

One of Fielding’s cousins is a practicing Christian. They see each other once a year. Fielding’s cousin has shared Christ with Fielding many times over the years. Whenever they’ve talked about spiritual things, Fielding shows interest.

Felicia grew up in a Christian home. She’s received Christ, but she isn’t evangelistic and is overwhelmed with working long hours and raising two small children. She would love to find a church nearby for the spiritual support and instruction, but none exist.

Fielding has no college education. While he is capable of reading, he is not a reader. He doesn’t use the Web either. He’s a man who works with his hands, both for his career and for recreation. He’s an “outdoorsman.” He hunts, he builds, he does manual labor, etc. In his spare time, he helps his elderly parents with various building projects.

Fielding is not an atheist. Neither is he an agnostic. He believes in God. He believes Jesus is the Savior of the world who died for our sins and rose again from the dead. He hasn’t fully surrendered his life to Christ, but he is not sure what that looks like exactly. His children know a little about the Lord, mostly because of what their mother has taught them.

Recently Fielding asked this question:

When I’m with my cousin once a year, I want to learn more about God. But when I come back home, and I’m around everyone else, my mind is off of God, and I am back to working, raising my kids, and helping my parents. Someone needs to come up with a solution for people like me . . . people who are in the middle. (By “in the middle,” Fielding means someone who believes in Jesus, but who isn’t fully absorbed in the faith yet either. They simply don’t know enough nor do they have any spiritual support system around them.)

Relocating is not an option for Fielding and his wife. Even if they wanted to relocate, they don’t see a way they could do it financially.

Remember: Fielding and his wife don’t personally know any Christians. None of their extended family or coworkers are believers either. And the nearest churches (which are an hour away) aren’t recommended.

Question: If you were Fielding’s cousin, how would you instruct him and his wife the next time you saw them?

  

My response is based on the following assumptions:  

1) Given that they only see each other once a year Fielding's cousin must live too far away to lead Fielding and Felicia in a learning about God time in Fielding's home or neighborhood; otherwise, that would play a major part of my response.

2) The scenario described does not say there are no other Christians or like-minded people around, it merely says that the churches that are an hour away are not reliable, and that Fielding doesn’t know any Christians.

3) By pointing to the absence of suitable churches nearby and to Fielding not knowing any Christians the scenario described affirms that people who want to learn about God actually do so best within a community of believers. In fact, community is the best way for all of us to learn more about God.  

4) Even though Fielding does not appear to be willing to take full ownership for coming up with a solution for people like him we can and should assume that he is willing to play a role in that solution; otherwise, nothing will happen. Given her background, and having taught their children about God, we can assume that Felicia is also willing to play a role in their search to learn more about God. 

5) I, as the cousin, knowing Fielding's situation and being a practicing Christian, we should assume I am willing to make some type of effort in this adventure, even if there is a significant distant issue.

 

The next time I see Fielding and Felicia I sit down with them and present the following plan:

I talk to them about what it means to be in this middle place. We acknowledge that they can only get beyond it by learning more about Jesus and what it really means to follow him in today’s world. I get them to a place where they enthusiastically confirm that they want to move forward with learning more about Jesus. I get them to agree to go on an adventure by talking about how this desire they have to get closer to Jesus is all part of a much bigger story. I acknowledge that their particular story has challenges to it, but it's not a story without hope, in fact it has much hope. We paint a picture of what this story might look like one day. We paint a vision of a group of people loving Jesus and serving the community in selfless ways.

 

I get them to understand that the key is to get them within a small community of like-minded people who also want to go on this adventure. The key now is to develop that group, and this is the biggest challenge. I help them understand that their own family, and I at a distance, might just be the group for a while.

I commit to work with them to try and find people within a 30 minute driving radius of their home to be part of their adventure. I explain to them that it won't be easy, that they'll have to do some work. I’ll let them know that it will be important if they can come to a place, sooner rather than later, where they feel comfortable enough to ask for God's guidance through prayer as the adventure moves forward. Some things they try might not work, or might be discouraging, but they must be willing to persevere. I reach out to my own extended community of believers to see if they have any contacts in Fielding and Felicia’s area that might be willing to embark on this journey too. 

I do my best to help Fielding and Felicia understand that the important part is to commit to the adventure and to be flexible as they move forward. I let them know that I’m willing to commit to spend a week or so with them to kind of get this adventure going, and that I’ll keep in regular contact with them by phone. I’ll lead them through a couple of learning or study nights as we learn the story of Jesus. We’ll do some basic Christianity 101 type stuff, some understanding of Jesus call on us to follow him and be missional in responding to his call on our lives. 

We’ll spend time that week brainstorming how they might find like-minded people in their community, and this could be as simple as gently letting others know about their adventure, people like their family, neighbors, and co-workers. The ideas might range from placing ads in the local paper saying they’re looking to launch a small adventure group to learn more about Jesus, to handing out flyers in their area and placing them on various community announcement boards. I’ll remind them that this is where prayer and perseverance come in. They might even start the adventure by asking people to join them in doing some type of work in the community where people put a little elbow grease to work, some hands on work that Fielding feels comfortable with.

I would let them know that I can’t promise how all of this will work out but I’ll do my best to support them on this adventure. I’ll try and supply as many learning resources as possible and encourage them on their journey, but that ultimately they will have to be intentional about their journey and be committed to it. As time progresses and they learn more about Jesus their thirst to learn more might just get them beyond some of the barriers that Fielding currently has in place, such as his lack of interest in reading and using the internet.

There are a lot of exciting things in this adventure such as involving the children, serving the community, especially by letting Fielding use his hands, and being willing to take risks, developing relationships in the community, but at the core of the success of the adventure is God’s promise to honor those who search for him, in particular by letting us know Jesus, and by being Jesus incarnate.

Is our effort to do good really cutting it?

Hopefully those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ want to make a positive difference in this world. Unfortunately, too often we’re not always willing to put in the required effort to make a real difference. Sometimes we only seem to be willing to put in a minimal effort, and sometimes we’re presented with a chance to do more, and perhaps we don’t see it.

Don’t get me wrong. Not every single act of kindness requires some huge selfless monumental effort. Sometimes it really is as simple as offering someone a cold glass of water on a really hot day. But sometimes, God might just be calling us to do a little bit more, or maybe even a lot more.

As human beings we have this tendency of taking the path of least resistance, of perhaps putting in a minimal effort when there’s an option to do more. Being a Christian doesn’t mean that we are automatically always thinking of others ahead of ourselves. If we’re really trying to follow Jesus we should be trying to get better at going beyond the minimal effort thing. On many levels we’re really no different than a person who might not know God as we do. All of us humans seem to have this preference towards being minimalists when it comes to exerting ourselves for others.

I’m writing this blog because earlier I had this sudden realization that I had indeed chosen to take the easy route. At the time I was too caught up in my other task at hand to realise that there was an opportunity before me to do more. Instead, because I was too focused on what I was already doing, I didn’t see the opportunity to make a bigger difference in someone’s life. I simply reacted with a small act of kindness when I could have done more if I had been more in tune to what was happening. You might say that I simply offered someone a cold glass of water on a hot day, when in reality I had a chance to spend some time with this person learning more about them and discovering that they needed much more than just water.

It’s not always because we’re not willing to do more than offer a cold glass of water. Sometimes it’s because we’re just too busy with the everyday tasks of our lives to see what’s happening around us. Let’s hope that it’s not because we’re intentionally avoiding the harder stuff. Perhaps sometimes that might be the case too; if so, shame on us—we need to be more aware of those tendencies and behave differently.

I say all this because my experience in the past twenty four hours reminded me that I need to be more intentional about being on the lookout for those moments to serve others in situations that might call for doing more. As followers of Jesus we need to be willing to go that extra mile. In fact Jesus calls us to do that exact thing (read Matthew 5:38-48 for more on that if you want). If I claim to be a follower of Jesus I need to be willing to make sacrifices for others that are much more than just a simple offering of a cold glass of water when more might be called for.

Many of us are blessed with much in our lives, and we have many opportunities to bless others with what we have; and sometimes what we have is time. One of the things that we should be working on is seeking out those moments, and seeking them out with the intent of going that extra mile. Why, because that’s what we’re called to do. We’re not simply called to put in a minimal effort when we know we're called to more. My prayer is that those of us who claim to follow Jesus will try harder to see what’s before us and react like we know what we’re called to.

Jesus didn’t say it was easy following him. Our lives should reflect that struggle—are we cutting it?

Can people know true happiness without knowing Jesus?

A lot of Christians would not hesitate to say, “Absolutely not” to the question of whether or not people can know true happiness without Jesus. But I am not one of those Christians. I am always a little uneasy when anyone responds with an absolutely on anything.

There are few absolutes in life. I’ve have learned the hard way that many of the absolutes I believed to be absolutes turned out to be not so absolute after all, and no, I won’t be getting into what those were in this blog. I want to leave myself open to learning and discovering what the truth really is, not just what I believe it to be today, or want it to be. I believe truth reveals itself to us in many ways and often it takes years to gain a better understanding of it, and I also know that there are many things that we will never know. God has filled our world with many mysteries. It’s quite pretentious of us to think that we can know all truth, and know it with absolutely certainty.

That being said, I don’t for one moment think that we can’t get some insight into what truth is, or come to understand certain truths as absolutes. I especially love Jesus’ comment that he is the truth, the way, and the life (see John 14:6 if you want). One of my favourite lines in the Bible is when Pilate says to Jesus, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). We should all be searching for truth. One of my pet peeves is those who claim that Jesus isn’t the way, the truth, and the life yet they spend no time whatsoever trying to discover what truth is, or they will not make any genuine attempts to learn about Jesus and how he might fit into their search for truth. I am the first to admit that knowing truth can be challenging, but I’m not going to let that stop me from pursuing it.

Now back to my question. Can people know true happiness without knowing Jesus? Here’s my answer: Not really. If you’re a non-Christian please don’t stop reading. Hear me out—let me elaborate. I believe that all good comes from God. I believe that Jesus is part of the trinity, what we Christians know as one God made up of the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, if Jesus is God, and all good comes from God, and I believe that happiness is good, I say that you can’t know happiness without knowing Jesus—if you know happiness you know Jesus, even if it is indirectly.

So am I saying that Jesus is present in the happiness that I feel from doing something wrong, for example, by gaining something that I want through deception? No, because I am not defining that type of happiness as good. I’m defining true happiness as being derived from experiences that do not contradict the inherent moral laws that God has put in the human heart; things like justice, mercy, equality, and loving others. For example I don’t believe that Jesus is present when a Christian, or anyone, devalues the humanity and dignity of a LGBT person, so if a person is happy because of that, Jesus isn’t present.

I fully admit that people can know happiness without acknowledging who Jesus is. Thousands of years of recorded human history will bear this out. I would not argue that someone like the Dalai Lama is not happy or doesn’t know happiness simply because he doesn’t recognize Jesus as who Christians believe him to be. However, I would argue that their understanding and perception of happiness is limited by their knowledge of truth relative to who they believe Jesus to be, or not be. But I also don’t want to believe for one moment that a person’s experience with happiness cannot be subjectively greater than mine simply because they don’t acknowledge Jesus as who I believe him to be. By that I mean that they might feel happier than I am because of the ways that Jesus, being God, has revealed certain things to them, even without them acknowledging who Jesus is.

One of my favourite movies is City of Angels. In it Nicolas Cage plays an angel, Seth Plate, who appears to certain humans. In a conversation about truth he says, “Just because you don’t believe a truth doesn’t make it any less true.” I love that line. Just because someone doesn’t acknowledge who Jesus is doesn’t make it any less true that all good comes from God, or that Jesus is God. I believe that Jesus manifests himself to people in many ways, regardless of whether or not they acknowledge his existence in their lives. So, when I say that people can’t know true happiness without knowing Jesus I mean it within this context.

Now, I encourage you to put the effort into discovering truth. You can go about it any way you choose. I believe that if you are genuine in your search for truth, are open to learning about Jesus, and you ask God for guidance, regardless of whatever that perception of God for you may be today, it will ultimately lead to one person, and one person only, Jesus of Nazareth. Whether or not anyone else wants to acknowledge it, I believe this to be an absolute truth.

To remember is to work for peace

For the first 42 years of my life I bought into the mythic pro military narrative painted before me. In fact at two different points in my life I came very close to enlisting in Canada’s military, that’s how much I had accepted that particular worldview. Then things started to change for me in a real hurry when my own 18 year old son wanted to join the military, in fact he wanted to join the infantry and become a sniper.

Around this time I started attending a peace church. A peace church is one that accepts Jesus’ call to respond to violence with love and nonviolence. I love quoting Tony Campolo, a sociology professor from Eastern College and writer of over thirty books, on this issue. He often says, “When Jesus said love your enemies he actually meant don’t kill them.” When I heard this it really started to make me think. When you couple that with the fear that I had of my son going off to war and willingly wanting to kill others or be killed I made a concerted effort to wrestle with Jesus’ peace message.

We live in a country that has long been known for its role as peacekeepers. But there has been an intentional effort by our government leaders to rewrite or change that narrative. The message we are now hearing is one that is very similar to the one that has long existed in the U.S. I have recently been involved with a community group of people who are trying to respond to the government’s attempts to construct a mythic version of our particular community’s connection with the War of 1812. You can read more about this by checking out this Globe and Mail article featuring an interview with Arnold Neufeldt-Fast a member of the group I am part of.

I am not the type of person who enjoys getting directly involved in politics. I vote and I try to stay abreast of local and national political issues, but for the most part I avoid much direct involvement. I respect those politicians who genuinely view their roles as being public servants, but too often it’s much more about driving their own agendas. But then again they’re only human and are also afflicted with the same faults as the rest of us.

It seems that because of Canada’s involvement in military conflicts over the past few decades, in particular Afghanistan, and our current governments desire to rewrite our country’s narrative as one with a strong military bent we are considered unpatriotic if we choose to not honour the military in the manner our government would have us do. It seems that if we are not pro military that we are unpatriotic. In my recent foray into politics by being part of this group that is trying to be witnesses to Jesus’ peace message we have come under criticism, directly and indirectly, for our lack of unwillingness to not honour our military or those who died for our freedoms.

It is unfortunate that our society is buying into this narrative that says that the only way to honour those who gave their lives is by supporting glorification of the military. Let’s fully acknowledge everyone’s right to honour and remember those who died in the manner we choose as long as it is done with respect and dignity. But let’s not pretend that there’s only one way of doing that. Some of us choose to remember them by working for peace in ways that only involve nonviolence. You can learn more about this way of remembering by going to Mennonite Central Committee’s website.

There is another way. Let’s not stop dreaming of ways to remember and that there is a way of peace that involves nonviolence. Let’s not stop dreaming of new kinds of communities that put the love of God and the brilliance of Jesus’ peace teachings on display in honest, compelling ways. There is a better way. It's what Jesus had in mind.

In closing here’s a short video I recorded of a friend singing a song titled “We’re supposed to be Peacemakers” at a Peacemaking Way coffeehouse I helped organize a few years ago. I apologize for the amateurish recording but I hope you’ll catch the drift.

Why Does God Allow Horrible Things to Happen to Good People?

Twice this week I’ve had to enter into some really tough conversations about why God let’s horrible things happen to good people? And, by the way, I firmly believe that we’re almost all good people, at a minimum we’re definitely all God’s children. So that alone makes us good.

I say they’re tough conversations to have because there’s no easy way to answer such questions. We can provide all sorts of insights and quasi helpful perspectives but it’s probably best if we can help people gravitate towards understanding that a lot of it is really a mystery to us. Understanding God’s plan is much more complicated than we can expect to fully understand, and that’s pretty much what God tells Job in the Old Testament.

What do you say to someone who has stage IV cancer or to a mother whose loving and caring young adult daughter was murdered? My experience has been that sometimes it’s not so much what we say but what we don’t say. I struggle with the value of saying things like “everything will work out” or “God has a plan”. Though on certain levels those statements might have elements of truth to them they’re not always the best thing to say, especially if you’re trying to empathise and encourage someone whose faith journey may not have an intimate knowledge or sense of God’s presence.

I tend to want to admit to the person that I too also feel that what has happened does indeed suck, that I don’t completely understand why horrible things happen to good people, or to anyone. It’s important to help them understand that though God allows things to happen he doesn’t necessarily want them to happen as they do. God doesn’t want us to live in a world filled with violence and disease. But those are some of the effects of a broken world, and what happens to good people isn’t their fault. God’s not punishing us.

It’s hard for us to understand eternity and an existence that goes beyond our current limitations. It’s hard for us to come to terms with losing the good things we have in this world, with losing a daughter or a friend. God’s plan involves a much bigger and hope filled story than most of us can imagine. God’s plan doesn’t necessarily call for someone to die of cancer or to be murdered. His preference might very well be that we all live well into our late years. However, horrible stuff happens. Does he know it’s going to happen? Absolutely. Does that make God a mean god if it happens? Many would say yes, but I much prefer to say no.

I am not going to be able to address the complex issue of evil in this short blog. I do suggest though that you consider reading N.T. Wright’s Evil and the Justice of God and William P. Young’s The Shack. The Shack is a multi-million bestselling novel that tells the poignant story of how a father responds to God after his youngest daughter is brutally murdered. These books won’t give you all the answers, but along with reading The Book of Job, they might help pull the veil of mystery back just enough to help you know that there is hope, that God's story is one of hope, not despair.

When we have the privilege and opportunity to share in someone’s pain the important thing is to acknowledge that pain and not try to pretend that we can explain it all. It’s bigger than us, but we can in gentle and loving ways help guide people towards the hope that God does offer, yes, the same God who some think is cruel.

A rabbi, a pastor, and an imam walk into a bar…

Let me come clean right away. There’s no joke in this blog about a rabbi, a pastor, and an imam who walk into a bar. But I did want to use the concept of three people from different faiths getting together under friendly circumstances; after all if they’re walking into a bar they’re likely on good terms—we don’t usually go out for a drink with someone we don’t like. Maybe we should, but that’s the subject for another blog.

So what am I going to blog about? I want to write about the fact that it’s OK for people of different faiths to think that the faith that is different than their own has got it wrong, or more specifically that the other person’s faith doesn’t know the truth, at least not the truth when it comes to their full understanding of who God is.

I strongly believe that for the most part we’re all wired with certain things that God puts on our hearts which are inherently part of who we are. Things like a sense of justice, a longing for peace, a desire to love and be loved, and a desire to know God. But then there are all sorts of things that happen to us, be they because of our own culture or our experiences, which lead us to have different understandings of God. Good or bad, that’s the way we are. I’m not going to try and explain why that might be, that too is the subject for another blog—which I won’t likely be writing.

I fully expect a committed Jew, or a committed Muslim to think that my understanding of God is not accurate, at least not completely anyway. I fully expect them both to not agree with my Christian understanding of a monotheist God as a triune God. Not only do I expect them to believe so, I fully respect them for having that view. It’s the Jew or the Muslim person who believes that all our understandings of God are accurate that I challenge.

My point is that we do not have to go around with a pluralistic view that says all our beliefs are accurate, or represent the ultimate truth. We should acknowledge and respect each person's right to believe as they choose. We do not want to force our beliefs on others nor have them force theirs on us. Essentially we should respect such a right because God gives us that same freedom. So why should we deny any person a God given freedom.

It seems that too often people with certain religious beliefs get criticized for the exclusivity of their beliefs. I say it’s OK for me as a Christian to think that those who believe differently than I do have it wrong, just as it’s OK for them to think that I have it wrong.

Since we are not all going to agree on matters of faith, it’s important that we live with each other with complete respect of the diversity that exits in our world. Religious beliefs are but one aspect of that diversity. It is my wish that all people would love each other, want to live in peace, be compassionate, and respectful of each other’s choices. Sure, it’s my desire that they all know Jesus, but I respect their right to not accept him for who I know him to be.

Controversy over Muslim Woman’s Bra Photo draws me in

A photo of a Muslim woman wearing full Islamic dress and holding up a bra as she sorts laundry is stirring controversy. The photo taken by a university fine arts student features a woman wearing a niqab, a veil covering the face, and an abaya, a full-body cloak. The picture was a class assignment and was displayed with other student photos until others complained and a staff member took it down. You can read more about the details by visiting this Huffington Post site or simply googling it.

The two predominant sides of the issue that have surfaced are the student’s right to exercise her freedom of speech by creating and displaying the photo, and the offence taken by some in the Islamic community who find the picture offensive and wanted it taken down. There have been thousands of comments posted on the internet supporting both side of the issue. I am not writing this post to really support either side but rather to point out another aspect that most people seemed to have ignored.

I fully believe in the right to freedom of expression, and the law clearly prohibits it if it is a hateful expression of that freedom, which I am not saying it is in this case. I am merely pointing it out because our laws do recognize that there are limitations to that freedom.

 

 

There has been a lot of push back from the Islamic community and others because of this picture. Many have clearly been offended, or recognize the offence. There are also a lot of people supporting the student’s right to create and display the artwork. Some of that support is in itself offensive. I find it offensive when people say that if the Islamic community does not like our ways they should just go back to their country. Sorry, but this is their country. Canada is a land that, thankfully, openly welcomes and encourages diversity. Our willingness to embrace diversity is one of the many things that makes us great.

My commentary on this issue is mainly around this obsession we have with our rights. Yes, we have rights, but do we really always have to exercise them? Just because I have the right to do something does not mean that I necessarily should. I claim to be a Christian and one of Jesus’ main teachings is to think of others before myself. So, why do so many of us focus in on our rights first, and often at the expense of another’s?

I may very well do something that offends someone else by exercising a given right, but I may have done so without the knowledge that what I was doing was offensive. When I learn of such an offence should I perhaps reconsider my actions? It seems that we do not want to do that very often. I understand that you cannot please everyone and that there is always going to be someone who is offended. However, there are many more times where we make sure that our rights take a much higher priority than whether or not we are offending others.

In the case of this particular incident would it be such a bad thing if the artist chose to willingly remove the offensive artwork? Or would it be such a bad thing if those offended by it extended a certain level of tolerance rather than demanding its removal?

I would like to encourage each one of us to consider putting the needs of others before our own. Sometimes maybe we should willingly give up our rights.