Comments for Tom

Some comments in response to Tom's blog:

You asked, "What does peacemaking look like?" I'd like to add some thoughts.

Regarding "peacemaking," the NT scriptures and the teachings of Christ reveal a standard that supersedes those of the OT scriptures.

Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).

This and Romans 12:17-21 (and other passages) make this clear. The modern church has ignored the full meaning of these scriptures. I believe that scripture teaches clearly that followers of Christ are to use no violence or force against any person.

The concept of civil governments is ordained by God and they are allowed to use force in war and law-enforcement, but Christians cannot be yoked to these practices. We are citizens of a higher kingdom and the law of Christ's Kingdom (Heb. 12:14) supersedes the laws of any temporal nation that may require that we participate in the use of force.

How is it is impossible to be obedient to the Lord's will as expressed in Heb. 12 and Rom. 12 and to serve in occupations that involve the intentional use of force.

The Line

As you may know, my oldest son is a Paramedic. If you’re interested in getting a glimpse of what they do, click on “The Line,” a blog entry by Peter Canning.

Canning is a Paramedic who works for the same company and writes about his experiences.

In the tenth paragraph of "The Line" Canning mentions another medic (“one of our most promising ones”). This is a reference to my son, who was the first medic at the scene.

The Willimantic Center

This afternoon I was at the Willimantic Center, which is a satellite campus of one of the colleges where I work. In three hours I had seven or eight appointments with students. One young lady has a severe anxiety disorder and is stressed-out about being able to keep up with her coursework. An older lady is losing her vision and struggles with learning college material, but still enjoys school and wants to continue.

Another student, about thirty-five, was all excited about making the dean's list last semester after being a poor student as a young person, but DCF is investigating her and her five-year-old child. Another woman with a severe psycho-social disability is worried about having to make presentations to her Speech Communication class.

A young man named Miguel is in his first semester and his parents don't understand the demands of being a full-time college student- they expect him to run errands and do things for them. He is worried about getting it all done and is wondering if he should drop one of his courses.

Sometimes there are solutions I can suggest but sometimes all I can do is be a listener and let them know that I understand and that I support them in what they're trying to do.

Ultimate Loyalty

Hitler was evil but he wasn't stupid. He and the National Socialists (the political party) demanded total obedience and loyalty from each citizen- the party and the nation was to come before all else, including God. said, "One can be a good German or a good Christian, but one can't be both."

He understood that a person's ultimate loyalty could be to God or it could be to his nation, but it had to be one or the other, not both. Even thought he was so very evil, he was correct about this fact. It is clearly taught to us by scripture and by Jesus (Hitler was raised in the Catholic faith). I sometimes wonder how many Christians understand this idea today.

Dr. Willard's Diagnosis

A lot of us are doing Christianity at a putt-putt level. We want to be forgiven without following Jesus. We're afraid to follow Jesus, because we'd have to die and rise with him.

Come on over. It's going to be okay to die first. You have to do it, and you can do it. Not even Jesus got a resurrection without a death, and he'll be at your side when you surrender your old life.

For the rest of this excellent article, click here.