Weekly Newsletter from Christian Vegetarian Association CVA - March 7, 2019
From Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)

  1. Activist Feedback
  2. Original Sin, part 67, Salvation through Faith, part 2
  3. All-Creatures.Org Ministry

1. Activist Feedback

Rick Hershey writes:

Chip, Jessica, Jennifer, Alysia, Rosalyn, and I handed out 2100 CVA booklets in 24 degree weather at Missouri State University JQH Arena for Winter Jam.

Great work, Rick and Team!

2. Original Sin, part 67, Salvation through Faith, part 2

Continuing the discussion from last week, I suggest that faith in the resurrection means faith that Jesus was right about God’s vision for the world. If we believe that God raised Jesus (however literally we wish to interpret the concept of resurrection), we are saying that Jesus was not a criminal (as the Roman authorities held) or even just a typical, if perhaps misguided, person. We are saying that Jesus fulfilled God’s desire for the world.

Jesus’ life and teachings illustrated what he believed were God’s desires – service to others and rejection of the inherently unjust and victimizing scapegoating process. Faith in the resurrection means faith that God sides with those with whom Jesus sided – those who are weak and powerless. I want to consider the inspiring thoughts of black theologian James Cone:

The cross is a paradoxical religious symbol because it inverts the world’s value system, proclaiming that hope comes by way of defeat, that suffering and death do not have the last word, that the last shall be first and the first last. Secular intellectuals find this idea absurd, but it is profoundly real in the spiritual life of black folk. For many who were tortured and lynched, the crucified Christ often manifested God’s loving and liberating presence within the great contradictions of black life. The cross of Jesus is what empowered black Christians to believe, ultimately, that they would not be defeated by the “troubles of the world,” no matter how great and painful their suffering. Only people stripped of power could understand this absurd claim of faith.

We don’t need a God who sides with the powerful. They can get what they want through the exercise of their power. If we believe God matters in this world of tears, then we must believe that God somehow raises up those who need God’s love and care.

Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.

3. All-Creatures.Org Ministry

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