When Christians praise themselves for not rioting . . .

Dear fellow believers in Charleston, South Carolina, who are also black like me:

I thank God that you have praised Him through this trial. The loss of nine sisters and brothers is a tremendous burden for a church and family to bear. The recognition that racial hatred still breeds in your state and this nation is frightening, but as witnessed on national television, you have a strong faith.

From this tragedy Americans have shared the moving experience of grieving family members offering forgiveness to the killer. That obedient response is a testimony to these families' faith and the teaching they have received. Indeed, I think what we’ve witnessed through you in Charleston is an instance of how God may be glorified in suffering. And yet, I must caution you.

In Charleston, I have also observed on television a troubling response. A few black Christians speaking to reporters have patted themselves on the back for “not rioting.” I cannot help but think that they praise themselves in reference to the #BlackLivesMatter protests that have turned violent in the last year in places such as Ferguson, New York, and Baltimore. So, it sounds to me that what these black Christians in Charleston want the world to believe is that they are better people than those who have rioted since the deaths of Mike Brown, Eric Garner, and Freddie Gray.

Yes, it’s good that more violence did not the result grief and anger over the massacre at Emmanuel AME Church, but comparing the response of mature Christians to the reaction of young black people in Ferguson and young black people in Baltimore is not fair.

First, the comparison sounds similar to the Pharisee praying “I thank God that I am not like that sinner over there,” not that you are pharisees, but it does seem strange that you would praise yourselves and appear not to understand what has happened in the rest of the country. Second, in terms of protest, your situation in Charleston and what has happened elsewhere are not truly the same.

The shooter in Charleston was not a government representative, such as a police officer, and your police department did not behave as though nothing had happened (as Florida police did following Trayvon Martin’s death). Your police chief and mayor sprang into action to condemn the murders and find the perpetrator.

So, who would you have rioted against, the police department and mayor for doing their jobs? Or is Dylan Roof someone to riot against? Did you pay taxes for Dylan Roof to protect you? The white supremacist culture in general may seem like something to riot against to some people sometimes, but who riots against a wind?

It's understood that peaceful people prefer peaceful protest. Still, even Dr. King understood why oppressed people sometimes riot. Understanding rage and condoning its actions, of course, are not the same thing. Then there's the reality that Christian people who actually believe what Jesus taught tend not to become violent.

The question for you is this, Has your dignified response to these murders and the evil acts against you come by your own grace and power or by God's?

My heart goes out to you and the nation, but I hope none of you, including preachers, will use this tragedy to compare yourselves to other black people in pain in order to condemn them. I hope that you will not stand on the necks of other black people to lift yourselves in America’s eyes.

But I'm sure you will move forward in grace because you have the Humble Servant in your hearts. And nothing will separate us from His love.

Peace and Grace to you,
your sister, Nordette

The Gospel of Jesus's Wife -- Does It Matter Whether Jesus Was Married?

In this case, I'm just passing along an intriguing article that's been trending on Facebook for a few days:  "No Forgery Evidence Seen in 'Gospel of Jesus's Wife' Papyrus."  The article says that scientific evidence has verified that the ink used and the papyrus date back to the 8th century A.D.; however:

". . . the results do not conclusively prove the papyrus isn't a very clever forgery, caution the scientists. Instead, they remove previously raised objections to the text, finding no evidence of it being a fake."

People connect this new information to the craze of the DaVinci Code novel as though the book was somehow possibly rooted in history or was prescient. However, I've written previously that there was nothing that unique about that book to me. I'd heard that religious conspiracy theory before. However, this controversial papyrus says nothing about Jesus possibly having children, and that was the truly big reveal in the novel.

All that aside, the real discussion this papyrus seems to stoke concerns the role of women in the church because part of the snippet says, per the National Geographic article, "The words 'Jesus said to them, My wife . . . she is able to be my disciple . . .' are written on the center of the fragment."

For me, this is an issue that would be of concern most to the Roman Catholic Church because it not only bars women from being priests but also demands priests be single and celibate, but there are other Christian denominations that bar women from ministry as well.

As for Catholicism, in February the pope ordained a married man as an official priest for the first time in more than a century. In the early Catholic church, "celibacy was optional."

As for protestants (some protestants), clinging to the belief that Jesus never married or had sex feeds into the puritanical notion that sex is bad, that the sin in the Garden of Eden was sex represented by eating the apple. For the rest of us who profess faith in Jesus, does it matter whether he was married or not?

Obituary for Benjamin James Adams

ADAMS Benjamin James Adams, age 45 years, a native of New Orleans, LA, and a permanent resident of Slidell, passed away on Friday, November 9, 2012. He was a devoted member of Calvary Tabernacle CME Church and a regional loss prevention manager for Payless ShoeSource. He was also a graduate of St. Augustine High School and Southern University at New Orleans and a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. He is preceded in death by his mother and father, Fannie Reddix Adams and Norwood Edward Adams, and his mother-in-law, Zeporah Spencer. Benjamin was the beloved husband of Rhonda Spencer-Adams and the brother of Nordette Naomi Adams. He was also the son-in-law of Stonewall (Emma) Spencer of Bellefontaine, MS, and the brother-in-law of Kenneth (Charlotte) Spencer of Starkville, MS; Jeff (Sonya) Moon of McDonough, GA; Mae (Gregory) Browning of Roanoke Rapids, NC; Janet (Jack) Brinson of Atlanta, GA; and Pamela (Michael) Simmons of Bellefontaine, MS. His surviving aunts and uncle are Pinkie Reddix, Jacqueline Reddix Hawkins, and Roscoe (Fannie) Reddix. His godmother survives him, as well: Bertha Holmes Johnson. In addition, surviving Benjamin are 22 nieces and nephews, a multitude of cousins and friends (many of whom he cherished as a sibling), and the children of friends and relatives who looked up to him as their playful "Uncle Ben". The family is especially grateful to Benjamin's friends who tarried with him and his wife during this challenging time: David Tibbs, Edwin Blanchard, Rocky and Tammy Tomboli, and Rev. Duane and Sharon Hill. Relatives and friends of the family, as well as pastor, officers and members of Calvary Tabernacle CME Church are invited to attend the funeral services at Calvary Tabernacle CME Church, 3629 Dryades Street, New Orleans, LA on Saturday, November 17, 2012 at 12:00 p.m., noon. Visitation will begin at 10:00 a. m. Interment in Mount Olivet Cemetery and Mausoleum. You may sign the guest book onwww.gertrudegeddeswillis.com and nola.com/obits. GERTRUDE GEDDES WILLIS FUNERAL HOME INC., IN CHARGE.

As published in The Times-Picayune from November 13 to November 16, 2012

This blogger mourns the loss of her younger brother, Benjamin James Adams.

Oprah's What Can You Live Without Challenge, Not Quite

Dear Oprah, I have a confession. I can do without my cell phone, and I've gone days without turning on the TV, and in order to save money, I've cut down on eating out before, but if I had to give up my Internet connection, I might need anti-anxiety drugs to make through. ... Continue reading the full post at BlogHer.

Selective Hearing in Our Churches and Dead Children, Sacrifices to Our Homophobia

Most likely, somebody will be angry after reading this post. Late Tuesday night at BlogHer.com I posted on the suicides of Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover and Jaheem Herrera, two 11-year-old boys who endured repeated bullying at their schools with taunts of "you're gay."

So far the comments have been thoughtful in response, but one in particular drew my focus. Southerngirl who writes at MommyCan commented on the trouble she has getting "church folk" to see that words have power. To me that says some "church folk," if she means people in the Christian church, are not reading their Bibles because verses such as these, James 3:1-12, clearly tell us to watch what we say because words indeed have power.

3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, because you know that we will be judged more strictly. 3:2 For we all stumble in many ways. If someone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect individual, able to control the entire body as well. 3:3 And if we put bits into the mouths of horses to get them to obey us, then we guide their entire bodies. 3:4 Look at ships too: Though they are so large and driven by harsh winds, they are steered by a tiny rudder wherever the pilot’s inclination directs. 3:5 So too the tongue is a small part of the body, yet it has great pretensions. Think how small a flame sets a huge forest ablaze. 3:6 And the tongue is a fire! The tongue represents the world of wrongdoing among the parts of our bodies. It pollutes the entire body and sets fire to the course of human existence – and is set on fire by hell.

3:7 For every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and sea creature is subdued and has been subdued by humankind. 3:8 But no human being can subdue the tongue; it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 3:9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people18 made in God’s image. 3:10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. These things should not be so, my brothers and sisters. 3:11 A spring does not pour out fresh water and bitter water from the same opening, does it? 3:12 Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, or a vine produce figs? Neither can a salt water spring produce fresh water. (verses from NetBible, New English Translation)

As in all of life, humans have selective hearing. In churches that declare they live by the Word of God, it is no different. Some people, for instance, don't pay attention to the verses above because James begins the passage mentioning teachers. Therefore, they conclude that the verses only apply to them if they want to be ministers or pastors. They are wrong.

Believer or nonbeliever, there's a human tendency to not look inward but outward and compare ourselves to others, see what's wrong with them instead of ourselves. We find ways to build ourselves up and look for loopholes whenever possible to avoid accountability of own actions.

I've observed that we tend to single out the the sins of others when reading about sin in the Bible and readily ignore the sins that most of us commit daily. We think of our sins as the "ordinary, excusable" sins. These are the faults we find harder to vanquish in our own lives, the ones we'd prefer to think of as little sins--little white lies, a little bit of pride, a little envy and coveting of our neighbor's lives. Those other people over there, we think, have the big sins. We watch and point out who we think is more sinful than we are, who's actually sleeping with her neighbor's husband, who got busted for theft, who's a drunk, who's a hooker, who's a homosexual aka "sodomite" for you old school church goers.

Personally I think this is one of the main reasons plenty of us, me included, will be shocked at the Judgment Seat to find God didn't think we were any better than those "other" people after all.

If you don't believe in God from a Christian perspective or were not raised going to a Christian protestant church or even that you reap what you sow, you may be clueless about now regarding this post. If you don't believe in a higher power period, then this is probably not the post for you, and that's okay. I have other posts on this blog and you're welcome you to read them, especially if talks about the religious beliefs make you uncomfortable.

Furthermore, this post is not a post to debate whether to be gay is a sin or not. This is a post saying that the Bible is full of so many sins that each of us commit with regularity (and that can all be traced back to stubbornness and pride) that all of us risk salvation when we wag the finger at others or at least show we may not love Jesus like we think we love Jesus.

And how do we point our fingers most often? With our words.

Neither is this a post to debate doctrine such as irrevocable salvation or once you've accepted Jesus you've been saved forever because there's plenty of scripture to suggest that while you may say you've accepted Jesus and even attend church each Sunday, treating others badly is a life that does not reflect that acceptance and your faith may be a sham. Yes, we have an Advocate and may seek forgiveness, but it's clear that we shouldn't fool ourselves and "play with God."

What's clear is that the only lives we may judge are our own, and even that judgment is suspect for those who believe the Bible is the Word of God because Jeremiah 17:9 tells us, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" The answer to that question is not we humans.

And then there's that sticky verse, 1 Peter 4:15 that lumps people who meddle into the affairs of others with murderers and criminals. The concept that gossipers, tattlers, and busybodies are as horrible as other criminals is repeated in more than one New Testament verse.

Why don't people who spend time teaching their children that homosexuals are going to hell also spend time teaching those same children that bullies and people who name call, humiliate, and condemn people will be damned likewise? Could it be because if they do teach the whole story their children will know those parents fail the holiness test also?

I've spent time focused on Christians, but I know Christians aren't the only group with members who encourage homophobia or to treat people who are gay or who appear to be gay with contempt. I addressed Christians because I know more people who claim to be Christians. I grew up in the Church, and I think that we dishonor the Word of God when we deny that word have power or promote any idea that ridiculing and bullying others is acceptable in God's sight.

Words have power. It's not coincidence that God is likened to a Word.

Link: "Two Children Bullied to Death--Sacrifices to Our Homophobia"