Why has Social Justice been taken from Christians and Hijacked by the Far Left?

I know that this blog was originally designed in order to talk about christian holiness, but I have decided that as part of holiness I would discuss some additional issues that I have found to be in play. Much of my Christian work is in the area of social justice. I am convinced that this is the area God has called me to, so why has the work that was mandated by Christ over two thousand years been hijacked by the left?

Upon finishing the class work for my master’s degree I needed to find a place to do my practicum. The practicum section of the program was designed so that I could put to work the theories and ideas that I had learned in the previous year and a half. Prior to entering graduate school I had been involved with the fight to end the death penalty. Now that I needed to find a place to do my practicum I arranged with Ohioans to Stop Executions, OTSE to do my work with them. OTSE gave me a schedule, and a job description then set me loose.

The first meeting I would attend would be an OTSE meeting. I was excited up until the time that two men walked in the door. If I had seen them on the street I would have been tempted to give them my spare change. One of them sat next to me and he has clearly not showered in several days. The other sat at the other end of the room, but I could also see that he had not showered either. It hit me instantly that my practicum was going to be spent interacting with leftist hippies.

A few weeks later we had been asked to take part in a workshop that had been set up by the local college. The original plan was that I and the OTSE coordinator would meet the day before to go over the session that we were going to work on. I received an email that evening advising me that this meeting would be canceled due to the weather. It was snowing, but I felt that he had something else that was more important. The next morning I arrived early to the hall where the workshop was being held in order to meet with the coordinator. We had decided to meet then in order to make sure the session that we were running was done properly. He showed up late and He told me that he had overslept. He advised me that he had been up late with his buddies playing video games. I realized then that he had canceled with me due to this not the weather.

I also got into a discussion with a member of the OTSE group who was trying to attach OTSE with the New Black Panther Party. NBPP is a black supremacist group that pushes for the destruction of whites, homosexuals, and Jews, just to name a few. In fact they are convinced that the United States called 4,000 Jews on September 10, 2001 in order to tell then not to come to work on the 11th. The woman with whom I was having the discussion was clearly anti-government, and a conspiracy theorist. This type of thinking could invalidate all the work of OTSE.

Why does someone have to hate the government and the entire establishment in order to fight against injustice? Fighting injustice doesn’t necessarily equal the overthrow of the government, and the trashing of all that society holds dear.

The Christian Faith, the Way of the Samurai?

I am ashamed to say it, but after a long day at work I like to relax for a few minutes and spin the cable TV wheel. I never really have anything in mind, but it’s relaxing just to scan through the channels. After walking in the door the other day I threw myself onto the couch and aimlessly began flipping through. I usually budget about 5 seconds per channel, but I stopped completely when I came upon a program about Japan and its Samurais. The narrator was discussing the traits of the Samurai and it hit me instantly that many of these traits could interchangeably be used to describe someone who is totally dedicated to God and his plans. These traits were summed up in what is commonly referred to as the seven virtues. They are rectitude, courage, benevolence, respect, complete sincerity, honor, and loyalty. Join me as I take a look at them and compare these two seemingly opposite belief systems.

If someone is said to have rectitude then they have moral virtue, principles, or integrity. It is funny that this is listed first amongst the virtues since it should also be the foundation to build from for the Christian as well. Living a moral, principled life full of integrity is to be like Christ.

Courage takes many forms. When I say courage you may think of a man or women on the battle field risking their life to save a fallen comrade. There is another side to courage that is sometimes overlooked, but is just as important. It is moral courage which shows itself in the face of shame, scandal, and discouragement. In Ephesians 3:13 Paul tells the people of Ephesus to not be discouraged because of his sufferings. Paul shows us that despite all that is coming down on you and around you we need to hold on to this courage.

Throughout the New Testament we are shown over and over again that we are to be concerned with the welfare of others. There are a multitude of examples where the followers of Christ were told to give. The third virtue talked about is benevolence, the unbiased push to do good to others. In Luke 18 we see the story of the rich young ruler. He asks Jesus what he needs to do to inherit eternal life and Jesus tells him, “Sell everything you have and give to the poor.” We like the Samurai are called to be benevolent.

The Samurai knew that respect for them and others generally created results that were good for everybody. A lack of respect did the exact opposite and caused problems. We as Christians are to respect all of mankind. We are told to love our neighbor. This command to love our neighbor is drastically above the need to respect them, but that is the weight that God places on people.

When the list of virtues mentions complete sincerity, I believe that it is speaking about the need for the Samurai to always speak the truth. We as Christians are also commanded to do this. Christians prescribe to a list of rules or commandments found in the Bible. The ninth commandment states that we will not bear false witness. We Christians, like the Samurai, are commanded to always speak the truth.

The virtue that is hardest to nail down is the idea of honor. Honor is hard to define because it plays itself out in so many ways. I think we can all agree that it is important to have honor, but at what cost. The world may see something that we Christians do as dishonorable, yet it is honorable in the eyes of God. We are told to measure our lives by God’s code. The Samurai code and the commands of Christians are alike since we see the value in honor, yet we define honor by different means.

Loyalty is the devotion to one’s friends, family, and group. In the case of the Samurai their loyalty was with their master, or emperor. In our case as Christians we should be devoted to our Master or Lord, Jesus. This loyalty looks the same for both since this loyalty is unto death. Many Christians have met their demise refusing to be disloyal to Christ.

While there are many differences in the Samurai and the Christian, I was fascinated by some of the similarities. It was as if I was reading devotion about Christian life. There is a movement within the Christian church to rediscover the old ways of the early Christians, and to revive them. I want to look all around for the lessons that God teaches. God shows himself in many ways to his followers.

WSTD - What Should Thad Do?

I am actually going to use this BLOG space to hopefully get some advice on the next few months of my life. I have sought God in this and I can not seem to get a clear answer. I will first ask the question and then I will give a little background on both of the options.

Question: Should I go to seminary or should I continue my work within the justice system?

I have applied to both seminary, and to Criminal Justice programs. I wish that I would be provided some answer, but I am not so lucky.

If I continue my work with CJ I can do a lot of good. I have gained some real powerful information in the form of restorative justice and I think I am in a place to bridge the gap between the current justice system and the better system which contains some more restorative practices.

If I go to Asbury Seminary I will be working for God, which is the most important thing for me. The problem is that I often fall terribly short in the area of patience. I am very aware that I am not always the best model of Christ’s love. I do not want to be a barrier to someone experiencing Christ. This can be misconstrued as an excuse, but I really feel that I am a liability to the church sometimes.

I suppose that this might be a mute point if I am not accepted into either one, but I know how this works and it will not be that easy. I am sure that I will be accepted to both and I will be forced to make a decision that I am confidant will be the wrong one.

Let me know what you think I should do. I have only sent notice concerning this BLOG to a handful of people so if you know it exists then I care what you have to say.

Are the Doors at The Salvation Army's IHQ Made of Wood?

I am currently reading, The Celtic Way of Evangelism,” by George Hunter III. I had originally started reading it for a workshop I attended, but I soon discovered that it was speaking to me in other ways as well. Hunter speaks about the reformation in this book. He is making the comparison between imported from Europe churches, (IFE) and made in America churches, (MIA). He is describing the traditions of IFE churches and says that they are lacking compared to many of the MIA churches. One of his major arguments surrounds my comments of the reformation. Hunter says that, “after the reformation the control shifted from Rome to Wittenberg.” The local church still had little say in the day to day operations of their church. Wittenberg now called the shots. Apart from some of the issues that Luther wanted to rid the Christian church of, the protestant church looked much like the Roman church. Wittenberg was the new Rome, making all the decisions, which left the decisions that had should be made on a local level out of their hands.

I have just recently turned in my resignation to The Salvation Army in Harrisonburg, VA. If I would have looked hard I probably could have looked for one of the others that I have written in the past to The Salvation Army. My story looks something like this. I resigned from the Army in Chillicothe, Ohio in 1996. I started working from the SA again in early 1997 in Columbus, Ohio, and the resigned in1997. I wrote one to The School for Officer Training in New York in 2003 after resigning from there. I resigned my soldier ship from The Salvation Army in 2004 after leaving the SA. I started working again for the SA in Virginia in 2006 at the shelter. I resigned there in 2007 and then was rehired a few days later in anther position. I have now resigned from that position.

I have always beaten myself up over my horrible track record with The Salvation Army. I was convinced that this was my fault. I looked around me and I watched other people love their job, but not me I was always unhappy with the SA. I couldn’t place my finger on it until reading chapter three of Hunter’s book. I discovered that the SA hierarchy was unhealthy and allowed for people to do very little and stay in their position. The Salvation Army doesn’t consult the local soldiers when a decision has to be made. They all have their Corps council which acts as a board, but they are a board without any teeth. In most MIA churches if a leader messes up or isn’t living the life a Christian should lead then he might be asked to leave or forced to resign. Within the SA the leader is allowed to carry on as if nothing is wrong. The local congregation has not ability to have their voices heard. They are forced to wait out the storm until the officer does something that is noticed by the Divisional command, and even in those cases he/she might receive some counseling and stay on as the spiritual guide to a church. The Salvation Army is dying as a church and I believe that this is one of the major reasons.

I love The Salvation Army and their ministry. I am sure that is why I keep returning to it time after time. At some point I have to realize that I am not going to change this system of church governance. I am afraid that the only way that I am going to ever be happy with The Salvation Army is to be the General, and then I might be happy. Apart from that I am afraid I am destined to repeat the vicious circle that I call The Salvation Army Vortex.

Francis Asbury Really Got Around!

I am currently living in Harrisonburg, Va. The other day I was dropping my wife off at The Community Mediation Center where she is volunteering her time. Like every other morning I drove right past Asbury Methodist church. The difference this time was that I looked to the left as opposed to the right, where the church sat. Sitting there across the street from the church was an very old looking stone building that had been restored and was serving as some type of office space. As I drove by I noticed a metal plaque on the wall. Being extremely curious and into history the next day after picking up Marie-Jose I turned on my hazard lights and I stopped to read the plaque. My jaw about hit the ground when I realized that I was standing on a very important spot in Holiness History. I was standing at the spot where Bishop Francis Asbury held the first Methodist conference west of the Blue Ridge mountains.

I am not normally the type of person who looks for signs, but that was the very time that I was trying to decide if I was going to attend Asbury Seminary. It makes you think.

What is Evangelism?

What is evangelism? I work in the field with The Salvation Army. When I accepted the position I was told that my major responsibility was to reach the community that surrounded the Corps building with the gospel of Christ. I assumed that this would mean that the majority of my job would be helping people make a decision to become believers in Jesus. What I discovered was that the majority of my job would not be helping these men and women take the final step towards a relationship with Jesus. It would be nudging them closer to Him than when they met me.

I found that I was dealing with people everyday who were searching for God. I attempted to force them into a relationship that they were not ready for. I had to get comfortable with the idea that some people were closer to making a decision than others. After I realized this I began to see the process of evangelism as more than the kneeling with a person helping them, “pray through.” It is the entire process. We have to see our lives on a continuum. With evangelism we are constantly moving people on this continuum. When we do not show people Christ we move them away from Him. When we do, we move them closer to a conversion experience. After conversion we are still moving the person on the continuum towards a sanctification experience. This entire process is evangelism.