A Journey Into, and Out of One's Self

    A few weeks ago I found out that the pastor the church in Korea I used to attend had been asked to leave the church. The reason for his dismissal was a few likely influential members of the Korean side of the ministry did not like his management of certain ministries including social justice and the children's ministry. According to what the pastor said there was no discussion, or personal attempt to resolve the issue. There was no attempt at genuine resolution of conflict from their side. The relationship was broken and seemingly distant.      Initially my reaction to this was how could this have happened? I thought it was rather unbiblical and unfair to the pastor to be dismissed because of the opposition of a powerful few, based on preference. Now looking back though I had to consider something else. Biblical conflict resolution is only part of the story. Biblical conflict preemption is the other half. I'm not sure if the pastor had much in the way of any power, infl

A day at home not answering the phone, reading, learning, and thinking about my life was useful. Despite my stomach ailments I feel like I have achieved something in the area of personal growth. I also spent a fair bit of time arranging my facebook contacts and considering their value to me. Very helpful as a reflection exercise on what do I value in personal relationships. It turns out I still value honesty and quality time, but not aggression.

I walk faster but it always catches up to me  We talk all night, never saying anything  I am all that's in my way  Do you ever feel the same?  Miracles don't exist in us  We just wish ourselves away  I'm not right this way  Removed and so ashamed Wisher by Terminal        Terminal, in this melancholic song, presents us with a view of a tragic situation which is on the verge of, but never crosses the border into optimism. As I listened to these lyrics there was something  that rang true. We are the greatest obstacle to truly living a life Christians are called to. Our human frailty and sin is a real issue. The removal of self focus is important. The first line "I walk faster but it always catches up to me", speaks of a tragic flaw that cannot be escaped. "We talk all night, never saying anything," portrays a conversational impasse in attempt to solve the problem. I thought of this impasse as being based on

Perhaps one of the fundamental challenges of transforming a society toward justice is transforming its system of values from functional to ontological. I think South Korea suffers from a wealth, power, and status oriented value system, coupled with a sense of entitlement rather than responsibility that lets human life be so undervalued in some specific cases but not in others. Justice asks the question why is it this case and not the other case? In the functional view human beings become part of a cost benefit analysis, and are only valuable if (in the Korean case for example) they can make it through a competitive society to a university and then get a job in accordance with the degree earned. I've noticed sometimes I have bought into this view. Changing this view takes more than simple declaration, but a careful watchfulness of one's own thoughts. I hope people at my church do this. We as a church not only need to treat people with value but actually think about them with

This post is motivated by the question "Is there a purpose for Skepticism or criticism from within the church?" It is also motivated by the fact that an open approach to skepticism and intellectual engagement on issues related to the Church is what helped bring me to faith in Christ. There are of course potential benefits and dangers for having skeptics who are vocal within the church. It can present a view of church disunity. It can present an image of a church that does not command with authority the loyalty of its followers, and suggest that perhaps people do not really believe what the leader is saying. It can also provide a space for disingenuous people to spread lies or sow doubt in an audience that is ignorant of the issues at hand. These are perhaps fair concerns. My purpose with this post is to try to define what is and is not Biblical skepticism. From what I hear in old Hebrew Law when a person was being tried for a capital crime if the jury voted unanimously fo

In the aftermath of the South Korean Sewol ferry disaster my pastor was preaching a sermon from the book of Psalms on comfort. In some of his opening remarks he made the following statement: "We are a nation in mourning." Now this seems rather innocuous as a statement in itself, and perhaps these weren't the words he meant to use (however I think pastors ought to generally be careful about words especially in a national tragedy), but the context here I think is important. My pastor is a Korean-American, married to a Korean (if I remember correctly), and is pastor of the English speaking ministry at Onnuri Church in Seoul, which means Global Church. Various nations like Thailand, Madagascar, Canada, Nigeria, and others are represented on any given Sunday at one of two services. The statement quoted above caused me to wonder (especially since my pastor is fond of calling us to pray for "this nation" to have it return to being a "Christian nation", what

     Recently a friend of my started encouraging me to learn when to say no. My tendency is to say no whenever someone pushes me too hard to do something I'm unsure of. Ironically this friend also was somewhat pushing me to do something that while in and of itself was beneficial, when faced with other burdens and being pressured I felt I had to say no to.      If I don't feel safe with the way someone is trying to convince me I tend to doubt them. I don't like to feel as though I'm being sold on something, and pressure makes me feel that way. If I cannot have adequate time to sit and think about something I'm unsure of then I feel like I may have missed something. I'm not sure I really want to change this habit of mine. In many cases it has served me well and kept me out of trouble.  Sometimes though, my reason for not making a decision quickly is that I just don't want to be direct and say no right away, because that seems rude (to the other person) and s

After my recent frustration with Facebook and the rather disconnected way it will present a person in terms of full image, and status updates come out sporadically often without various comment threads easily visible, I've decided to return to my own space back here at my blog. Hopefully it will be an enjoyable experience. A blog is more long format which I like anyway. Facebook seems to have done away with "Notes" or buried it.