Month: November 2016
Ten Things I Hate and Despise with all my heart, soul, and strength
Langston Hughes Mourns over America!
Happy Veteran’s Day!!!
The words of poets never die.
“Harlem” by Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Simply Jesus!
Simply Jesus!
While I am ashamed to call myself an “evangelical,” I’m unapologetic to call myself simply a “follower of Christ.” That is what I am.
I do not want to be identified with American Evangelicalism and its politics of treason and political theology of conquer and subdue based on the (neo-) colonial model and imperial paradigm .
I will no longer use the epithet as a reference to my Christian identity. Just give me Jesus!
Praise the Lord!
Psalm 146
1 Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
3 Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help.
4 When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.
5 Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God,
6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever;
7 who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free;
8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
10 The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the Lord!
The Betrayal of King Jesus in American Evangelical Politics and the Downfall of White American Evangelicalism
“The Betrayal of King Jesus in American Evangelical Politics and the Downfall of White American Evangelicalism”
Given the fact that 81 % White Evangelicals voted deliberately to elect Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States shows clearly that most White American Evangelicals are a power-hungry people in the realm of politics whose disingenuity about the Christian faith and the way of Christ, which they claim to profess, is publicly revealed.
They sold their soul to Caesar so they can gain direct access to Caesar’s palace, his political power and influence, and cultural dominance. They turned away from the peaceful and reconciliatory message of King Jesus and the Christian Gospel to please a new King, whose message is the antithesis of the Jesus Creed.
These people are the real antichrists who have betrayed their Lord who has commanded them to a higher ethical life rooted in radical love, grace, and compassion toward the weak and the disinherited among them, and the ministry of reconciliation, kindness, and peace.
They sold their soul for vain earthly pleasures, temporary political correctness and satisfaction, and meaningless joys, which cannot heal the wounded spirit of the American people and their spiritual decadence.
The real antichrist is in the Evangelical circle. The antigospel ideology dwells in the Evangelical-Caesar’s house.
*While I am ashamed to call myself an “evangelical,” I’m unapologetic to call myself simply a “follower of Christ.” That is what I am.
I do not want to be identified with American Evangelicalism and its politics of treason and political theology of conquer and subdue based on the (neo-) colonial model and imperial paradigm..
I will no longer use the epithet as a reference to my Christian identity. Just give me Jesus!
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Postscript
Thanks for your gracious comment. I’m in total agreement with you that our goal as Christians is to foster unity and not division. However, how can we work collaboratively toward that end if we do not diagnose the problem and recognize that we are part of the great divide and problem that characterizes contemporary American Evangelicalism and American society? How can we offer cure if we do not know the nature and implications of the disease? How can we cultivate peace and reconciliation if we ourselves are not at peace with each other?
How can we be effective witnesses of Christ in the public sphere if we deny his message by our actions and words? Like you, I believe in the comprehensive sovereignty of God and also hold that nothing in this world can take God by surprise. On the other hand, I also believe that Christianity is a way of life and that our political and social actions can have tremendous effects on people. On a different note, both on my personal website and Facebook, I have been critical of both Trump and Clinton’s presidential candidacy. In this present post, I had no intention to judge the political choice of White Evangelical Christians, but to evaluate this Evangelical preference for a Trump’s presidency against the backdrop of Christian ethics and the doctrine of God. As a follower of Christ, I mourn over the rhetoric and actions of my Evangelical brothers and sisters that deny Jesus’ ethics or way of life. If we need to save American Evangelicalism, we ought not to be afraid to do critical self-reflection. Christ himself has shown us how to walk in humility, kind, and love, and to be solidarity with those who are weak.
If you want unity and reconciliation, you have to listen to the hurt and pain of those communities and individuals who are suffering; you have to be empathetic to their fear about their future in this country.
What I will do on the Election Day!
On the meaning of Jesus and Christianity
On the meaning of Jesus and Christianity
What would you say to critics if you were asked to answer these important questions without demonizing other religions and other religious leaders:
1. Why should anyone follow Jesus?
2. Why should anyone become a Christian?
Finally, If science has replaced religion and secularism spiritual piety in the 21st century, what is the need or reason for God?
On America’s Two Major Political Parties
On America’s Two Major Political Parties
Most Americans are a two-party people. I suppose the party system is designed to reflect the present binary opposition and clash of worldviews between the democrats and the republicans. These current political parties in America are too decisice, centric, and tribal.
Why do they even exist?
How are these current two political parties–Democratic and Republican– in the United States contributing to democratic progress and advancing American democratic ideals?
They should be abolished and declared unconstitutional. If certain supposedly-democratic structures cease to be meaningful to “the people” and effective in carrying out the promise of democracy, what’s the use to safeguard them?
If certain supposedly-democratic structures have failed to make society, human interactions, social interactions, and the political and civil societies more democratic and civil, why shouldn’t the people demand their abolition?
What are these two political parties currently doing to alleviate human suffering and poverty in the American society?
How are they helping the American poor and underprivileged American families to dream about future possibilities and realize those dreams?
Are they pursuing justice and equality for the oppressed and minority?
If the current Democratic and Political parties symbolize America’s democratic sytem and life, then the American democracy is in deep crisis.
To a certain degree, given the crisis of clear consciousness and cogent thinking in American Evangelicalism, American Evangelical Christianity has made American politics less democratic and less effective. After Donald Trump gets elected on Tuesday, November 8, U.S. Historians would inevitably reflect on that critical moment in American politics and will probably write this memorable line about American Evangelicalism:
The era of Donald Trump was the nadir of American Evangelical ethics and Evangelical polical consciousness.
The Sky is Your Limit: A morning conversation with my sons
The Sky is Your Limit: A morning conversation with my sons
Here’s how the conversation went this morning while I was on my way to drop the boys off to school:
Josh: Daddy, I want to be a doctor or lawyer, or I will be a civics teacher.
* Josh wants to get a PhD in Government and Political Science. He also said that he wants to work for CNN and replace Anderson Cooper. Sorry, Anderson. You won’t have a job in a few years.lol
Terrence: It is hard to get a good career.
Me: Yes, it is hard; but, if you work hard and have the commitment, you can do it.
Me: your limit is the sky.
Josh: That’s not true, daddy. Astronauts have surpassed the sky. They have gone to the moon.
Me: Well, “the sky is your limit” is a metaphor. It simply means no one can stop your dream.
You can even be the next President of the United States.
Josh: Okay, daddy.
*Metaphors and figures of speech are dangerous communication techniques for the little minds. Be careful when you use them. Lol