- Upcoming Activist Opportunities
- Essay: On Certainty, part 1
- This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary
Hoffman
- Comments on the Essays about Substitutionary
Atonement Theory
1. Upcoming Activist Opportunities
2/9 TX Corpus
Christi The Rock and Worship Roadshow
2/9-11 AZ Phoenix
Joyce Meyers Conference 2012
2/10 TX Dallas The
Rock and Worship Roadshow
2/11 TX Wichita
Falls The Rock and Worship Road Show
2/12 NM Las Cruces
The Rock and Worship Road Show
2/17 OK Tulsa The
Rock and Worship Road Show
2/18 TX Lubbock The
Rock and Worship Road Show
2/18 MT Billings
Women of Faith One Day
2/19 CO Colorado
Springs The Rock and Worship Road Show
2/23 NM Albuquerque
The Rock and Worship Road Show
2/23-25 TX
Arlington Joyce Meyers Conference 2012
2/25 CA San Jose
Women of Faith One Day
2/25 TX Dallas
Women of Faith One Day
2/26 MO Springfield
The Rock and Worship Road Show
3/2-3 OK Tulsa
Extraordinary Women Conference
3/3 NY Rochester
Women of Faith Dream On For Teen Girls!
3/3 LA Shreveport
Women of Faith One Day
3/8-9 NC Charlotte
Benny Hinn Miracle Crusade
3/10 WI Milwaukee
Women of Faith Dream On For Teen Girls!
3/15-17 NC
Winston-Salem Joyce Meyers Ministries Conference
3/16-17 SC
Greenville Extraordinary Women Conference-
3/17 FL Miami Women
of Faith One Day
3/17 PA Pittsburgh
Women of Faith Dream On For Teen Girls!
3/24 IN
Indianapolis Women of Faith Dream On For Teen Girls
3/24 NV Las Vegas
Women of Faith One Day Conference
3/30-31 MO Cape
Girardeau Extraordinary Women Conference
3/31 TX Austin
Women of Faith Dream on For Teen Girls
3/31 KS Wichita
Women of Faith One Day
3/31 MD Baltimore
Women of Faith One Day
3/31 TX Austin
TABLE Texas Veg Fest
4/22 CA San Diego
TABLE EarthWorks' EarthFair 2012
4/22 MO St. Louis
TABLE Earth Day Festival
4/28-29 CT Hartford
TABLE Connecticut Vegetarian & Healthy
Living Festival
5/20 CA Van Nuys
TABLE WorldFest 2012
2. Essay: On Certainty, part 1
On Certainty
We have all run across people who are absolutely certain of religious
tenets. We often regard those tenets we don’t share as unreasonable or
even absurd. How do people come to have certainty about beliefs for
which there is little or no compelling evidence? If we have a sense of
certainty about something, how can we know that this sense of certainty
correlates to truth?
Certainty is a psychological state, and human psychology is so
complex and multi-factorial that any explanation for human certainty is
likely to be far from complete. When it comes to certainty about
religious tenets, I think a look at comparative religion is instructive.
Throughout human history and throughout the world, people have
gravitated toward religious belief, indicating that religions address
core human needs. For example, religions generally offer people answers
to fundamental existential questions – Where did I come from? What am I
supposed to do with my life? What happens to me when I die? It seems to
me that most people have an intense desire to have answers to these
questions, and in particular they seek answers that give them a sense of
peace, well-being, and confidence about the future. Consequently, people
are attracted to religions that offer such answers. Paradoxically, it
seems that people hold with greatest conviction those beliefs for which
there is the least empirical evidence. Evidently, strength of belief
helps to compensate for lack of knowledge.
I think the thing about which we can be most certain (but not
absolutely certain) is that we can’t have certainty. Next week, I will
offer empirical evidence and logic to support this conclusion.
Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.
3. This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary
Hoffman
Learning to See the True Intent of Man’s Heart (Part II)
4. Comments on the Essays about Substitutionary
Atonement Theory
Your points about the unhealthy societal implications of
substitutionary atonement theory are well taken; I have known instances
of oppressed persons urged to go on being Christlike and enduring abuse.
Even apart from such problems, it is of value just to apply the term
"theory" to this explanation of the Crucifixion, since many Western
Christians are simply taught to equate this explanation with the events.
Jesus' central theme of the Kingdom of God apparently means a social
arrangement of equality and mutual care for and by all; "Call no man
your father upon earth, for you have one father who is in heaven; . . .
and you are all brothers [and sisters}." God's Kingdom stands opposed to
the prevailing imperial setup of exploitation of the weak by the
powerful, enforced by the violence inherent in the rule of Rome and its
underlings, including the collaborating High Priestly class and the
Herodians, elite supporters of Rome. This view shows that Jesus'
ministry arises out of his own Hebrew tradition; he is a prophet who, by
teaching and action, condemns injustice and proclaims God's way of love
for all. "The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them . . . . but it is
not so among you; for whoever would be great must be the servant of
all." The meals of Jesus and his followers to which all were invited
enact, symbolize, and foreshadow the coming of God's Kingdom of sharing
and plenty. His horrible death at the hand of the representatives of
Rome, especially stemming from his symbolic attack during Holy Week on
the exploitative setup of the Temple, then appears as the result of the
work of one who challenges the powerful and the violent in the name of
identification with and compassion for the oppressed. There have been
many such, in modern times as well as throughout history, both the
well-known Oscar Romeros and their many obscure followers who had the
courage to proclaim and enact the Kingdom.
In the Hebrew tradition of the prophets, God shows care for the
enslaved and oppressed,and reveals God's will to bring them out of
slavery to freedom and plenty, thus periodically renewing Exodus. But
for Christians Jesus remains unique and the definitive incarnation of
God, manifested particularly in his Resurrection, which reveals that
God's power of new life, hidden in human beings, transcends the worst
that greed and violence can do.
It is not surprising that the church, once it allied itself with
Rome, no longer had much to say about Jesus as prophet. Even today, many
Christians and others who profit from the exploitative arrangements of
our country's economic empire would rather see his life and death in
some other framework, which may help bring inner peace, but does not
question any of their comforts.
We who oppose the imperial power of the animal exploitation
industries in our country are largely protected from the naked violence
that has been visited on others, by our country's tradition of
individual liberties (despite the serious erosion of those liberties in
the last ten years). The very real pain we experience from many who
oppose us is not on the scale of that which other prophets have faced.
But I believe we can count ourselves as called to be prophets, and
enacting that calling in a small or large way. Those of us who are
Christians may call ourselves followers of Jesus the Prophet of
Nazareth, who lives and loves in us.
Gracia Fay Ellwood