Stephen W. Hiemstra's Blog, page 71
February 27, 2023
Dragnet: Monday Monologues (podcast), February 27, 2023
By Stephen W. Hiemstra
This morning I will share a prayer and reflect on the Parable of the Dragnet. After listening, please click here to take a brief listener survey (10 questions).
To listen, click on this link.
Hear the words; Walk the steps; Experience the joy!
Dragnet: Monday Monologues (podcast), February 27, 2023
Also see:
The Face of God in the Parables
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com
Newsletter: https://bit.ly/Val_Day_2023, Signup
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February 26, 2023
Prayer before the Dragnet
By Stephen W. Hiemstra
Almighty Father,
All glory and honor, power and dominion, truth and justice are yours, because you lived a sinless life, died on the cross for our sins, and rose from the dead that we might have the hope of eternal life. In whom else shall we believe?
Forgive our besetting sins, the ones so close to our hearts that we repeat them over and over. We confess that we love our sins and can only be rid of them with your forbearance and assistance. In whom else shall we believe?
Thank you for our families, our health, our means of support, and our salvation in you. Thank you for the opportunity to minister to others and expand your holy kingdom. In whom else shall we believe?
In the power of your Holy Spirit, grant us strength to live each day, the grace to witness to those around us, and the peace that passes all understanding, your shalom. Draw us to you—Open our hearts, illumine our thoughts, and strengthen our hands in your service.
In Jesus’s precious name, Amen.
Prayer before the Dragnet
Also see:
The Face of God in the Parables
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com
Newsletter: https://bit.ly/Val_Day_2023, Signup
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February 24, 2023
The Dragnet
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What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them,
does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country,
and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?
(Luke 15:4)
By Stephen W. Hiemstra
No survey of love in the parables is complete without an examination of the Parable of the Lost Sheep. While the parable clearly exhibits God’s grace, as already mentioned, it is hard to isolate this grace from hesed love. There is an implicit bond, a covenant of care, between a shepherd and the sheep—ownership implies care. Even in the case of a superpower there is an obligation to protect its weaker allies, like a mother cares for her child or a duck for her ducklings.
Still, several aspects of the Parable of the Lost Sheep are unsettling in its presentation of love, starting with the word, lost. The word, lost, in the Greek (ἀπόλλυμι, BDAG 958) can mean: “1. to cause or experience destruction; 2. to fail to obtain what one expects or anticipates, lose out on, lose; or 3. to lose something that one already has or be separated from a normal connection, lose, be lost.” How did this sheep get lost and who is responsible? Why does the shepherd leave the other ninety-nine sheep unattended while he searches for the lost sheep? It appears that the value placed on the lost sheep is imprudent, even reckless.
When we take the next step and apply this parable to sinners, this parable becomes even more awkward. Does God love sinners more than the faithful? The righteous seem to get a bum rap in this parable. Actually, the cheeky nature of this parable is the main point: We are all sinners; none are righteous; all have fallen short of the love of God. This parable makes no sense without the doctrine of original sin. The ninety-nine righteous people are an illusion—none are righteous (Luke 18:18-19). We are all lost sheep. Blomberg (2012, 216) observes that many interpret “righteous” to imply more like “self-righteous,” which speaks to a problem of religious complacency. No one wants to be seen as lost.
The Dragnet
The need for vigilance among the faithful is reinforced by the many parables focusing on judgment, like the Parable of the Dragnet. Here we read:
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matt. 13:47-50)
Judgment makes the point that its hard for God to love the good (righteous) if he doesn’t hate the bad (evil).
This dichotomous world of good and bad fish pictured bothers most Christians today because they reject moralistic thinking. For a first-century Jew, the picture here is of righteous people who obey the Mosaic covenant and unrighteous who do not. In the parable, the sorting of good and bad is initially done by the fishermen, who keep the good and recycle the bad. Later, these fishermen are described as angels who throw the evil into the fiery furnace without saying what becomes of the righteous.
I find it helpful to recast the dichotomous picture here as our response to pain during a Gethsemane moment. When we face a painful moment or a painful choice, do we turn to God and give it over to him or do we turn into the pain and sulk? (Matt 26:39) When we habitually do one or the other, our personalities and culture are formed and hardened. The Dragnet also suddenly becomes real, although judgment is something we impose on ourselves, not something imposed by God.
The Good News is that Christ died for our sins so we don’t have to.
The Dragnet
Also see:
The Face of God in the Parables
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com
Newsletter: https://bit.ly/Val_Day_2023, Signup
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February 21, 2023
Gagnon: Bridging the Bible and Gender Confusion, Part 1
Robert A. J. Gagnon. 2001. The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics. Nashville: Abingdon Press. (Goto part 2; goto part 3)
By Stephen W. Hiemstra
At one point in seminary I asked a professor [1] to outline the biblical case for gay marriage. He responded that the Bible did not offer a strong case for gay marriage; it was just the right thing to do. Evangelicals typically focus on his first point while progressives typically focus on the second point. Robert Gagnon’s The Bible and Homosexual Practice outlines a detailed interpretation of the Bible’s teaching on this issue.
Introduction
Gagnon states his objectives as:
“to demonstrate two main points: First, there is clear, strong, and credible evidence that the Bible unequivocally defines same-sex intercourse as sin. Second, there exist no valid hermeneutical arguments derived from either general principles of biblical interpretation or contemporary scientific knowledge and experience for overriding the Bible’s authority on this matter” (37).
Gagnon’s conclusion that the Bible treats homosexuality as sin (a theological statement) should surprise no one, but it is not obvious how the church should respond to it (a problem in ethics). Theology is easy because a statement is either true or not; ethics is hard because it necessarily involves trade-offs between multiple theological principles in tension. We are all sinners and stand in need of God’s grace. This implies that no sin is unforgivable and we are to share the Gospel with everyone. But, how do we properly love the unrepentant sinner? And, what is special about witnessing to someone struggling with gender confusion? —These are not hypothetical questions. Unfortunately, the postmodern church (like the church at Laodicea) has often neglected to teach the doctrine of sin which leaves it with scarce moral authority to provide advice on any particular sin (Rev. 3:14-19).
Homosexuality Contrary to God’s Intent
Gagnon summarizes his book with 4 reasons “why those who engage in same-sex intercourse act contrary to God’s intentions for human sexual relations”. Those reasons (487-489) are:
“Same-sex intercourse is strongly and unequivocally rejected by the revelation of scripture.”
“Same-sex intercourse represents a suppression of the visible evidence in nature regarding male-female anatomical and procreation complementarity.”
“Societal endorsement of homosexual behavior will only accelerate the many negative social effects [serious health problems, greater pedophilic behavior, erosion in expectations of marriage, annihilation of gender norms, and marginalization of those that speak out] arising from such behavior…”
“The practicing homosexual’s own relationship with the Creator will be put in jeopardy.”
Gagnon’s argues these points thoroughly. For example, in talking about the health effects of homosexual behavior, Gagnon cites an unspecified health condition and lists all the possible negative consequences of this condition. Reading about this list, one is suspicious that the condition is homosexuality—it is not—the condition is alcoholism. The health consequences of homosexuality are much worse (471-473), including:
“A significantly decreased likelihood of establishing or preserving a successful marriage.
A 25-35 year decrease in life expectancy.
Chronic, potentially fatal, liver disease—infectious hepatitis, which increases the risk of liver cancer.
Inevitably fatal-immune disease, including associated cancers.
Frequently, fatal rectal cancer.
Multiple bowel and other infectious diseases.
A much higher than usual incidence of suicide.
A very low likelihood that its adverse effects can be eliminated unless the condition itself is. An at least 50% likelihood of being eliminated through lengthy, often costly, and very time-consuming treatment.” (473)
Having worked in a hospital emergency room, this list is not surprising. I lost a pastoral mentor to AIDS as a young person and personally assisted a number of hospital patients suffering from problems on this list, including HIV, when I worked as a chaplain intern [4]. The Center for Disease Control estimates that more than half a million people have died from AIDS in the United States alone. Meanwhile, more than a million people are currently infected with HIV [5]. Gagnon’s point is that the Bible’s teaching on homosexuality is of continuing relevance in postmodern moral teaching.
Pastoral Response
Ironically, pastors and churches that ignore people suffering from gender confusion (or, worse, condone it) are complicit in the Apostle Paul’s assessment in Romans 1:24-27—giving them over to their ungodly passions. Gagnon compares homosexuality with alcoholism both because of the medical problems associated (including an addictive character), but also because recovery is difficult. Clinical studies prior to politicization of the issue reported recovery rates of about 30 percent (28.8%), roughly on par with success rates reported by Alcoholics Anonymous (420-432) [6]. Recovery in this context means we are able to control our responses, not our temptations.
Background on Gagnon
Gagnon is a professor at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA). He has a master’s in theological studies from Harvard Divinity School and a doctor of philosophy from Princeton Theological Seminary [7. The acknowledgments section of his book reads like a who’s who of evangelical scholars. The Bible and Homosexual Practice is written in 5 chapters:
The Witness of the Old Testament,
Same-Sex Intercourse as a “Contrary to Nature” in Early Judaism,
The Witness of Jesus,
The Witness of Paul and Deutero-Paul, and
The Hermeneutical Relevance of the Biblical Witness (5-10).
The introduction and conclusions are not numbered. These chapters are proceeded by the acknowledgments and followed by both a topical and a scriptural index.
Church Response
The response of the church to gender confusion is the defining issue of our day. Until the 1980s, no Christian denomination considered homosexuality acceptable behavior; now, many denominations, including my own, are having trouble establishing spiritual boundaries of any kind—the teaching on homosexuality stands out primarily in that it is the most obvious. As a consequence, Christians need to be aware of the arguments being made. In this debate, Gagnon’s research is an important resource.
Assessment
Here in part 1, I have given an overview of Gagnon’s argument and highlighted health effects of homosexuality. Christians more normally focus on scriptural arguments. So, in part 2, I will survey his review of Old Testament passages on homosexuality and, in part 3, I will turn to passages on the New Testament.
Footnotes
[1] The professor was on the faculty at University of Dubuque Theological Seminary.
For example: “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” (Lev. 18:22 ESV) Also: “For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.” (Rom. 1:26-27 ESV)
This reference is taken from Jeffrey Satinover’s “Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth” (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1996).
[4] The issue of health effects relating to homosexual behavior was in the media only this morning (http://bit.ly/1RqrW7X).
[5] http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/statistics/bas....
[6] Earlier I reviewed the story of a Lesbian conversion: Butterfield Journeys from PC to JC (http://wp.me/p3Xeut-wj)
Gagnon: Bridging the Bible and Gender Confusion, Part 1
Also see:
Fortson and Grams Bible Limits Sex to Christian Marriage, Part 1
Campbell Turns Gender Confusion into Ministry
Rogers Argues for LGBT Equality, Part 1
Webb: Analyzing Culture in Scripture and in Life
Vanhoozer: How Do We Understand the Bible? Part 1
Books, Films, and Ministry
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com
Newsletter: https://bit.ly/Val_Day_2023, Signup
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February 20, 2023
Presence: Monday Monologues (podcast), February 20, 2023
By Stephen W. Hiemstra
This morning I will share a prayer and reflect on the Ministry of Presence. After listening, please click here to take a brief listener survey (10 questions).
To listen, click on this link.
Hear the words; Walk the steps; Experience the joy!
Presence: Monday Monologues (podcast), February 20, 2023
Also see:
The Face of God in the Parables
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com
Newsletter: https://bit.ly/Val_Day_2023, Signup
The post Presence: Monday Monologues (podcast), February 20, 2023 appeared first on T2Pneuma.net.
February 19, 2023
Prayer for Ministry of Presence
By Stephen W. Hiemstra
Loving Father,
All glory and honor, power and dominion, truth and justice are yours, because you first loved us and showed us what love looks like when it is most inconvenient.
Forgive us for loving the wrong things and returning love only when it is convenient, like the social-climber who only loves friends that can do them a favor.
Thank you for the sacrificial love of Christ, who loved us enough to die for us even though we were unlovely, broken, and selfish, like the teenager that only wanted his father’s money.
In the power of your Holy Spirit, turn our selfish hearts to you and the things that you love. May we offer a ministry of presence to those in need and turn to you in our own pain.
In Jesus’ precious name and for your glory, Amen.
Prayer for Ministry of Presence
Also see:
The Face of God in the Parables
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com
Newsletter: https://bit.ly/Val_Day_2023, Signup
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February 17, 2023
The Friend at Midnight
And he arose and came to his father.
But while he was still a long way off,
his father saw him and felt compassion,
and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
(Luke 15:20)
By Stephen W. Hiemstra
One attribute of God is revealed most directly in the Parable of the Two Brothers: multiplication. When the younger son took steps to confess his sin to this father, the father took many steps to forgive him and to express his love. This overwhelming generosity appears throughout scripture, but it especially seen in the Gospel of John in the wine produced at the Wedding at Cana (John 2:6-10), the bread multiplied in the feeding of the five thousand (John 6:5-14), and the disciple’s catch of fish in Galilee (John 21:4-13). God is not stingy with his love.
Seeker Love
A contemporary example of God’s super-generous love arises in the context of faith denial. In Jesus’ Parable of the Two Brothers, at first neither brother loves his father. The younger brother hates his father so much he demands his inheritance while his father is still alive. The older brother practices a more insidious form of hatred: He pretends to love his father while secretly hating him, which leaves no door open to reconciliation. When the younger brother returns to his father, he opens the door to reconciliation out of his own need and shame, but only the tiniest bit—this is still not love. At best, it is a test of his father’s love.
We see a similar test of God’s love in Pascal’s Wager. Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), a French mathematician, used probability theory to argue that the agnostic argument is logically false in that faith is a fair bet. If God exists and you believe, then you win heaven, but if God does not exist, you loose nothing. In other words, faith in God has a positive reward provided the probability of God existing is a positive, non-zero number. Betting that God exists is accordingly offers better odds than organized gambling, where the house normally earns a substantial profit, suggesting that the odds in betting are negative—not a fair bet.
Pascal’s Wager does not engender faith, but it offers an opportunity to take faith seriously, out of pecuniary benefit—winning a bet. If faith is a fair bet, then the person considering Pascal’s Wager has to wonder why. Taking the next step—placing the bet—is a try-before-you-buy or fake-it-until-you-make-it kind of faith commitment. If a world where faith in God is treated as philosophical nonsense and dismissed out of hand, this step defines one as a seeker.
Do you think that our generous God, who is known for his overwhelming love, would ignore such a seeker? On the contrary, the Parable of the Two Brothers suggests that God will run to meet us.
Parable of the Friend at Midnight
The Parable of the Two Brothers is not Jesus’ only parable of extraordinary love. Consider:
And he said to them, Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him; and he will answer from within, Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. (Luke 11:5-8)
What is love? Love is being willing to help a friend only because he asked, no matter how inconvenient. The word for imprudence is also translated as persistence (NAS), shameless audacity (TNIV), and importunity (KJV).
Jesus uses this parable to introduce one his most famous statements: “And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Luke 11:5-10) Love means that with God one always has access. One of the hardest ministries to appreciate and understood is the ministry of presence. With God, we are never alone.
The ministry of presence is a gift we can then extend to others.
The Friend at Midnight
Also see:
The Face of God in the Parables
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com
Newsletter: https://bit.ly/Val_Day_2023, Signup
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February 14, 2023
Scazzero Links Emotional and Spiritual Health
Peter Scazzero. 2006. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: It’s Impossible to be Spiritually Mature While Remaining Emotionally Immature. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
By Stephen W. Hiemstra
The collage provides an important symbol of the postmodern era. A collage is collection of art objects strung together whose defining concept is balance. The solar system is a kind of collage, but before the Copernican revolution the balance was not obvious.
The cosmos became mathematically simpler to model with the Copernican revolution. When astronomers started seeing the earth revolving around sun rather than around the earth, the stability of the planetary system became obvious. In a similar sense, postmodern ministry looks like a collage—pre-Copernican—until it is brought into conformity with Christ. In his book, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, Peter Scazzero centers on helping pastors and Christians to travel this journey successfully.
Introduction
Peter Scazzero is a founder, former senior pastor, and now teaching pastor at New Life Fellowship Church in Queens, New York. Peter and his wife, Geri, also found Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, a teaching ministry. Scazzero divides his book into 2 parts: The problem of emotionally unhealthy spirituality (chapters 1-3) and the pathway to emotionally healthy spirituality (4-10). The chapter titles are:
Recognizing the tip-of-the-iceberg spirituality (something is desperately wrong).
The top ten symptoms of emotionally unhealthy spirituality (diagnosing the problem).
The radical antidote: emotional health and contemplative spirituality (bringing transformation to the deep places).
Know yourself that you may know God (Becoming your authentic self).
Going back in order to go forward (breaking the power of the past).
Journey through the wall (letting go of power and control).
Enlarge your soul through grief and loss (surrendering to your limits).
Discover the rhythms of the daily office and Sabbath (stopping to breath the air of eternity).
Grow into an emotionally mature adult (learning new skills to love well).
Go the next step to develop a “rule of life” (loving Christ above all else) (iii-iv).
These chapters are preceded by acknowledgments and an introduction. They are followed by 2 appendices, notes, and a short biography of the author.
If spirituality is lived belief, then a well-formed theology leads us to a complete and well-formed spirituality. God’s immutable character and emotional stability become a model for our own virtuous character and emotional stability . If theology is neglected, by contrast, then we work from an incomplete model–our spirituality will have holes like an unbalanced and haphazardly constructed collage. For many Christians, one of those holes has been their emotional life.
Personality Components
Scazzero sees our person divide into 5 discrete components: emotional, social, intellectual, spiritual, and physical (18). Scazzero’s Copernican revolution arose in seeing a link between the emotional and spiritual components of his life (19). An important breakthrough came in discovering that he had misapplied biblical truths in his life (23). He accordingly cited 10 symptoms of an emotionally unhealthy spirituality:
Using God to run away from God.
Ignoring the emotions of anger, sadness, and fear.
Dying to the wrong things.
Denying the past’s impact on the present.
Dividing our lives into secular and sacred compartments.
Doing for God instead of being with God.
Spiritualizing away conflict.
Covering over brokenness, weakness, and failure.
Living without limits.
Judging other people’s spiritual journey (24).
While he devotes chapter 2 to discussing these problems, they arise in different forms throughout the book. I too struggle with these symptoms in my own faith journey all too often.
Assessment
Scazzero covers a lot of ground in this book. Nevertheless, one priceless image stands out which Scazzero draws from Parker Palmer’s book, A Hidden Wholeness. Scazzero likens our lives to a white-out blizzard where it is easy to get lost and freeze to death without a rope to bind us to our home. The rope that he suggests is the daily office—praying the hours (153-157). Praying the hours structures our day around God. Great analogy; good advice. Scazzero goes on to recommend developing a Saint Benedict’s rule of life (198-200) and making use of Saint Ignatius Loyola’s prayer of examin (211).
Peter Scazzero’s Emotionally Healthy Spirituality is a helpful and accessible read.
EmotionallyHealthy.org.
See, for example, Matthew A. Elliott. 2006. Faithful Feelings: Rethinking Emotion in the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Kregel.
Parker J. Palmer. 2009. A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Scazzero Links Emotional and Spiritual Health
Also see:
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com
Newsletter at: https://bit.ly/Janu_2023 , Signup
The post Scazzero Links Emotional and Spiritual Health appeared first on T2Pneuma.net.
February 13, 2023
Brothers: Monday Monologues (podcast), February 13, 2023
By Stephen W. Hiemstra
This morning I will share a prayer and reflect on the Two Brothers. After listening, please click here to take a brief listener survey (10 questions).
To listen, click on this link.
Hear the words; Walk the steps; Experience the joy!
Brothers: Monday Monologues (podcast), February 13, 2023
Also see:
The Face of God in the Parables
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com
Newsletter at: https://bit.ly/Janu_2023 , Signup
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February 12, 2023
Gracious Love Prayer
By Stephen W. Hiemstra
Almighty Father,
We praise you for your modeling of unconditional love that permits us to grow and realize our potential, something especially problematic at time when so many people die early from preventable causes.
Forgive our obstinate hearts, our distracted thoughts and our lazy hands.
Thank you for the gift of your son, Jesus Christ, who lived a sinless life, died on the cross, and rose from the dead to atone for our sins and to offer us salvation.
In the power of your Holy Spirit, open our hearts, illumine our minds, and strengthen our hands in your service.
In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.
Gracious Love Prayer
Also see:
The Face of God in the Parables
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com
Newsletter at: https://bit.ly/Janu_2023 , Signup
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