iThink

What do homosexuals really want?

2010-07-04T21:46:00.000+03:00

Just about a week ago my hometown saw the third ever gay march take place in Bulgaria. Also, visiting several Central and Eastern European countries in the past month or so, I have been able to observe and read reactions to gay marches taking place in these countries as well. In light of that, the title above is not a rhetorical question at all. I've been truly wondering about what it is that gay and lesbian people hope to achieve through their marches...

These last two days I've been reading P. D. James' "The Private Patient" (Faber and Faber, 2008) and noticed the following two interesting passages regarding the topic at hand.

I don't see the point of it. If I were heterosexual you wouldn't expect me to go marching down the high street to proclaim that I was straight. Why do we need to do it? Isn't the whole point that we have a perfect right to be what we are? We don't need to justify it, or advertise it, or proclaim it to the world. I don't see why my sexuality should be of interest to antone except you. (Marcus Westhall, a homosexual responding to his gay partner's entreaties to join him in a gay march.)

It must seem perverse in us to tie a legal knot when you heteros are scrambling in thousands to divorce, or living together without benefit of marriage. We were perfectly happy as we were but we needed to ensure that each is the other's recognized next of kin. If Annie is ever in hospital, I need to be there. And then there's the property. If I die first, it must go untaxed to Annie. I expect she'll spend most of it on lame ducks but that's up to her. It won't be wasted. Annie is very wise. People think that our partnership lasts because I'm the stronger and Annie needs me. Actually the reverse is true, and you're one of the rare people who've seen that from the start. Thank you for being with us today. (Clara, a lesbian and friend of his wife-to-be Emma, adressing Commander Adam Dalgliesh.)

In fact, I've encountered quite a number of homosexual characters in the novels that I read (Ruth Rendell's "End in Tears", Patricia Cornwell's "Book of the Dead" and "Scarpetta", and John Grisham's collection of short-stories "Ford County" are just a few that come to mind). It's made me realize how far behind our Bulgarian society really is. (A fact about which I'm not altogether sorry.) The issue of homosexuals and their civil rights remains to be decided in my country and the time is ripe for questions.

_________________________

One can read more about the latest "gay pride" march at the following links:

- Sofia Gay Pride parade ends without incident (http://www.monstersandcritics.com)

- Sofia Gay Parade under Fire from Orthodox Church (http://www.novinite.com)

- Bulgarian Bishop: Gay Parade Stands for Depravity, Shame (http://www.novinite.com)

- 700 Rally for 2010 Sofia Gay Pride. Police Foil Provocations (http://www.outsport-bulgaria.com)

- UK ambassador sends best wishes to gay pride rally (http://sofiaecho.com)

- Bulgarians join Gay Pride march to promote tolerance (http://www.france24.com/en/)

- 5 embassies lead the international support for Sofia Pride 2010 (http://www.sofiapride.info)

- Sofia Pride (article in Wikipedia)

Is it wrong to be ambitious? John Stott on ambition

2010-04-21T16:03:00.007+03:00

Below is an excerpt from John R. W. Stott's popular commentary on Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount" (The Message of the Sermon on the Mount: Christian Counter-Culture (The Bible Speaks Today series), Inter-Varsity Press, 1978). I first started studying Jesus' "hill discourse" back in 1999 or 2000 and it literally shaped my views of life and Christianity. John Stott's was the first commentary I read in the course of my studies. I still highly recommend it!

     Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.
     Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day. (Matthew 6:25-34, RSV)

     It is pity that this passage is often read on its own in church, isolated from what has gone before. Then the significance of the introductory Therefore I tell you is missed. So we must begin by relating this ‘therefore’, this conclusion of Jesus, to the teaching which has led up to it. He calls us to thought before he calls us to action. He invites us to look clearly and coolly at the alternatives before us and to weigh them up carefully. We want to accumulate treasure? Then which of the two possibilities is the more durable? We wish to be free and purposive in our movements? Then what must our eyes be like to facilitate this? We wish to serve the best master? Then we must consider which is more worthy of our devotion. Only when we have grasped with our minds the comparative durability of the two treasures (corruptible and incorruptible), the comparative usefulness of the two eye conditions (light or darkness) and the comparative worth of the two masters (God or mammon), are we ready to make our choice. And only when we have made our choice - for heavenly treasure, for light, for God - therefore I tell you this is how you must go on to behave: do not be anxious about your life . . . nor about your body . . . But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness (25, 33). In other words, our basic choice of which of two masters we intend to serve will radically affect our attitude to both. We shall not be anxious about the one (for we have rejected it), but concentrate our mind and energy on the other (for we have chosen him); we shall refuse to become engrossed in our own concerns, but instead seek first the concerns of God.

Christ’s language of search (contrasting what the Gentiles seek with what his followers are to seek first, 32, 33) introduces us to the subject of ambition. Jesus took it for granted that all human beings are ‘seekers’. It is not natural for people to drift aimlessly through life like plankton. We need something to live for, something to give meaning to our existence, something to ‘seek’, something on which to set our ‘hearts’ (JBP) and our ‘minds’ (JB). Although few people today would use the language of ancient Greek philosophers, yet what we are seeking is, in fact, what they called ‘the Supreme Good’ to which to dedicate our lives. Probably ‘ambition’ is the best modern equivalent. True, in dictionary terms it means ‘a strong desire to achieve success’ and therefore often has a bad image, a selfish flavour. It is in this sense that Shakespeare in his King Henry VIII brings this appeal to Thomas Cromwell: ‘Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away Ambition. By that sin fell the angels ...’ But ‘ambition’ can equally refer to other strong desires - unselfish rather than selfish, godly rather than worldly. In a word, it is possible to be ‘ambitious for God’. Ambition concerns our goals in life and our incentives for pursuing them. A person’s ambition is what makes him ‘tick’: it uncovers the mainspring of his actions, his secret inner motivation. This, then, is what Jesus was talking about when he defined what in the Christian counter-culture we are to ‘seek first’.

Once again our Lord simplifies the issue for us by reducing the alternatives possible life-goals to only two. He puts them over against each other in this section, urging his followers not to be preoccupied with their own security (food, drink, and clothing), for that is the obsession of ‘the Gentiles’ who do not know him, but rather with God’s rule and God’s righteousness, and with their spread and triumph in the world.

(John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount: Christian Counter-Culture (The Bible Speaks Today series), Inter-Varsity Press, 1978), pp. 159-161.

What do we do about poverty and affluence?

2010-03-20T19:27:00.001+02:00

In the aftermath of the “global financial crisis” many Christians in the so called “West” have began to pay careful attention to the way they handle their finances. Many Christian organizations have made available teaching resources and tools to help people get out of debt. (Of course, the organization that I work for has been doing this for more than 30 years now.) Overall, I am happy with this development. It has the potential to make us all think harder about our responsibility as stewards. (And according to the Bible it seems very clear that whatever else our purpose in life is, we will always remain stewards – bearing the responsibility to take care of all that God has given us – time, talents, resources and the earth.)

Nevertheless, I am concerned that a lot of this newly-revived attention to money-management remains very selfish. Indeed, it is my observation that most people are now interested to become better stewards of money not because of a desire to grow ever more generous, but because of facing the reality of decreasing wealth. Our understanding of stewardship needs to be much more broader than just managing a budget or “tithing”. Therefore, I have made it my personal goal to study as in depth as possible the biblical “theology of stewardship”. This blog may likely serve as my notebook.

Yesterday, I stumbled onto a lecture Marvin Olasky gave as part of the Cedarville University Critical Concern Series. The lecture is titled “A critical evaluation of Christian responses to poverty and affluence”. Olasky’s lecture is his initial contribution to the moderated discussion between him and Jim Wallis that took place on 11th March 2010. (Click on the links below to download the two parts.)

Marvin Olasky – A critical evaluation of Christian responses to poverty and affluence (part one)
Marvin Olasky – A critical evaluation of Christian responses to poverty and affluence (part two)

In the first part of the recording, Olasky argues for the biblical emphasis on righteousness and justice in contrast to the liberals’ emphasis on equality. In the second part he highlights the contrast between compassion and equality, arguing that historically North American church groups have been more effective in battling poverty through compassionate care (that treats the individual in need as someone who could contribute to their own betterment) rather than an ideal of equality. Please find more information on the aforementioned discussion in the links section below. Unfortunately, so far I haven’t been able to find the recording of Jim Wallis’ contribution freely available online.

LINKS:
http://bit.ly/c3uAYx - Marvin Olasky’s podcasts
http://bit.ly/bDoH8R – information about the discussion between Wallis and Olasky at Cedarville University
http://bit.ly/9cfIVY – resources related to the discussion
http://bit.ly/9mFMxG – schedule of the event (PDF)
http://bit.ly/cz8Akt - purchase the recording of the whole event

Tell me who owns you, baby…

2010-03-05T23:41:00.002+02:00

The following paragraph is an excerpt from Ben Witherington’s most recent book that I am now reading. I would be posting my review once I have finished it but suffice to say it is an important addition to the multitude of Christian and - more specifically - Evangelical books on the Biblical teachings on money. While most other books with similar intentions are based on a superficial interpretation of the Bible and scant knowledge of systematic (or biblical) theology, and are often more indebted to their authors’ cultural background, here Ben Witherington III applies his expertise in New testament studies and biblical theology and attempts to read the relevant texts with a view of their original cultural setting and the way they were possibly understood by the original intended audience. I highly recommend this short but important book!

“In modern Western culture we place a high value on work, which is fine, but one of the philosophical assumptions that can come with such values is that we assume that we own what we earn or buy. From a biblical point of view this is extremely problematic. There isn't any necessary correlation between hard work and ownership. Think, for example, of all the hard work that went into building the pyramids in Egypt. Most of the workers were slaves, and they had no delusions that because they built the pyramids they owned the pyramids. No, they believed that both the pyramids and they themselves belonged to Pharaoh! In this sense (excepting of course that Pharaoh is not God), they had a more biblical worldview of work than most of us do. Our hard work may be well rewarded or not. It may produce prosperity or not. But until we see all that we receive, whether by earning it or receiving it without work, as a gift from God, a gift we should use knowing who the true owner of the gift is, we will not be thinking biblically about such matters.”

From Ben Witherington III, “Jesus and Money: A Guide for Times of Financial Crisis” (Brazos Press, 2010), p. 19

* The title comes from a song (“Who Owns You”) by the American rock group White Heart.

Grace is the strongest motivation for giving

2010-02-26T10:08:00.006+02:00

An excerpt from Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters by Timothy Keller (Dutton, 2009)

“The solution to stinginess is a reorientation to the generosity of Christ in the gospel…”

In 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 Paul asks a church to give an offering to the poor. Though he is an apostle with authority, he writes: “I say this not by way of command” (2 Corinthians 8:8). He means: “I don’t want to order you. I don’t want this offering to be simply the response to a demand.” He doesn’t put pressure directly on the will and say, “I’m an apostle, so do what I say.” Rather, he wants to see the “genuineness of your love,” and then writes these famous words:

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)

Jesus, the God-Man, had infinite wealth, but if he had held on to it, we would have died in our spiritual poverty. That was the choice – if he stayed rich, we would die poor. If he died poor, we could become rich. Our sins would be forgiven, and we would be admitted into the family of God. Paul was not giving this church a mere ethical precept, exhorting them to stop loving money so much and become more generous. Rather, he recapitulated the gospel.

This is what Paul was saying. Jesus gave up all his treasure in heaven, in order to make you his treasure – for you are a treasured people (1 Peter 2:9-10). When you see him dying to make you his treasure, that will make him yours. Money will cease to be the currency of your significance and security, and you will want to bless others with what you have. To the degree that you grasp the gospel, money will have no dominion over you. Think on his costly grace until it changes you into a generous people.

“Faith in the gospel restructures our motivations, our self-understanding and identity, our view of the world. Behavioral compliance to rules without a complete change of heart will be superficial and fleeting.”

The solution to stinginess is a reorientation to the generosity of Christ in the gospel, how he poured out his wealth for you. Now you don’t have to worry about money – the Cross proves God’s care for you and gives you the security. Now you don’t have to envy anyone else’s money. Jesus’ love and salvation confers on you a remarkable status – one that money cannot give you. Money cannot save you from tragedy, or give you control in a chaotic world. Only God can do that. What breaks the power of money over us is not just redoubled effort to follow the example of Christ. Rather, it is deepening your understanding of the salvation of Christ, what you have in him, and then living out the changes that that understanding makes in your heart – the seat of your mind, will, and emotions. Faith in the gospel restructures our motivations, our self-understanding and identity, our view of the world. Behavioral compliance to rules without a complete change of heart will be superficial and fleeting.

Technorati Tags: Stewardship,Generosity,Giving,Timothy Keller,STEWARDSHIP THOUGHTS OF THE WEEK,Grace,Law

Philip was born

2007-03-18T22:10:00.001+02:00

On Tuesday night, 13th of March 2007, around 1:20 a.m. was born our son, Philip. He weighed 3.100 kg and was 50 cm long. Katrin and Philip are both very well and came back home from the hospital today.

You may see some pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/AndrewNedelchev

Any new pictures will be announced here.

A Real, Tiny, Kicking and Rolling Christmas Child

2006-12-27T15:52:00.000+02:00

A friend recently gave me his list of the top ten things fatherhood had taught him about God. He said that nothing could bring out of him so much love and tenderness and yet cause so much pain as his children. My wife and I are still waiting for our first child to be born (due in March 2007) but I can already identify with that statement.

Several weeks ago I came back home one afternoon and cuddled together with my wife on our bed. As has become our common practice recently, we began to watch for visible signs of our baby’s kicks and movements inside the womb. Occasionally there would be a bump here or there, signaling a tiny foot or maybe a fist, stretched out to test the limits of that tight confinement and rejoice in the security offered by it. Now that we could actually see signs of the living human being that was growing in there, we thought with amazement about how incredible it is that it actually has a life of its own, moves, feels, hears… (Medical research shows that the baby can hear outside noises and grow accustomed to those it hears most often. Parents are advised to speak to their baby even during the period of gestation since that allows it to recognize them after it has been born. Those familiar noises become a source of comfort after the moment of birth, when the baby is still dazzled by this new and threatening environment, which is our world.) Isn’t it a miracle that something - or rather “someone” - so fragile and totally dependent on another being for its whole existence can at the same time show such strength (for only a mother knows how strong those kicks really are) and individuality? For example, a recent ultrasound-3D picture of our baby captured it smiling and waving its hand happily, while at the same time its mother was nervously watching for any signs of trouble on the screen!

Lying comfortably on our bed, I was observing a small-scale image of the paradox that has perplexed even the greatest minds on earth. With the approaching Christmas season I was reminded of that other little baby in the womb of a Palestinian woman more than two thousand years ago. And I thought with amazement of what it must have been to carry the Son of God, the Almighty incarnate, within one’s womb. It is no wonder that later on, after the birth of Christ, Luke reports Mary as treasuring up “all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19, ESV). It must have been too much for grasping in so short a period of time. I am sure there must have been even more to ponder before the child was actually born. What must she have felt sensing those movements inside: little hands grasping to hold or little feet making their first impulsive kicks off a surface? For us the truth of the Incarnation is taken mostly for granted but could she even begin to comprehend the implications of the angel’s message and the fact of the Immaculate Conception? And yet there could be no one else more confident of the truth of that.

For most men during the past twenty centuries the Incarnation has been an abstract statement of faith. For Mary it was a miracle that had changed her life once and for all. A virgin girl, for whom the experience of sexual intercourse was yet unknown, was now carrying a baby inside her womb. A child proclaimed by a supernatural being to be the Son of God. How could she reconcile the contradictions? For example, was she ever afraid of harming the baby like every ordinary mom is, especially during the long trip to Bethlehem? Was she ever worried that it might catch cold? How did she feel about the weight of responsibility that had been placed on her shoulders?

It is easy for us to think that nothing could have gone wrong because of the power of God. However, do we really grasp the extent to which God had humbled Himself in the incarnation? For he truly became a man! This is what allows the apostle Paul to make the appeal:

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross…” (Philippians 2:5-11, ESV).

What a glorious truth! The Lord of the Universe became a tiny human baby, dependent on a human mother for everything within the womb, and then on her and her husband for care and protection. Wasn’t God afraid that they might spoil Jesus with their inadequate disciplinary measures? For certainly no human parents are perfect. I do not doubt that God was fully in control then, just as He always is, being the Sovereign Ruler of all Creation. However, I think that maybe we often miss the majesty of His sovereignty in action.

The way that God enacts His control over everything is less similar to a machine than to a master musician. I was once able to attend the concert of a renowned pianist. At one point during the evening that famous man asked for a child from the audience to accompany him on the stage. He knew there were children from the local School of Music present in the hall. The audience fell silent, as the sense of excitement grew. Finally, after a lot of hesitation and encouragement from surrounding adults, a boy, probably six or seven years old, came up and shyly approached the master. The musician kindly made place for him on the stool behind the piano, exchanged a few words, and asked him to play anything he felt comfortable with. The boy, with his hands trembling, started playing a simple melody, rather cautiously. After hearing the tune once, the renowned musician joined the child on the piano and began adding to the melody a beautiful torrent of accompanying sounds. The result was a wonderful piece that nobody had ever heard before. There had been no preparation before hand, any rehearsals or previous arrangements. The child made mistakes and played quite a number of wrong tunes. It was the genius of the master musician however that he could play around the mistakes and follow the sudden twists and turns in the melody so that at the end everything seemed right where it should have been. Of course, the analogy is not perfect. But there can be no doubt that there was nothing automatic about the birth of Christ and the experiences of Mary and Joseph. The sovereign power and majesty of God were revealed through the daily outworking of his plan of salvation within the life, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. And I can think of nothing better to remind me of the true glory and meaning of Christmas than the gift of God’s grace to my family in particular.

It was the thought of our little baby, and how grand and awesome God reveals Himself in taking care of it that reminded me of the true significance of Christmas. Because what could be more symbolic of the giving of life and hope to a barren world, than the birth of a child? Could there be a greater miracle than that of two people united in love and with their bodies, leading to the formation of an entirely new human being? Could there be any other source of that but God? What majesty there is in the fact that this little baby is taken care of by its Maker, and alone in the darkness of the womb is given everything necessary for a life of creativity and worship. For my wife and me this child will indeed forever be a sign of God’s grace and a reminder of that Other Child, God’s incarnation in Christ. The immense privilege of God’s allowing us to raise this child and teach it the ways of its Heavenly Father will forever be reminiscent of the honor that Joseph and Mary had of raising the Messiah, God’s only Son. And last but not least this period of anticipation before the birth of our baby reminds us of the intensity with which we are to expect the return of the Perfect God-Man, our Lord and Savior.

What is the true meaning of Christmas indeed? First of all, it is an amazing, paradoxical, unbelievable historical fact. An event, that gives meaning and perspective to all other events - both personal and universal. I am reminded of C. S. Lewis’ description of his own conversion to Christianity: “If ever a myth had become fact, had been incarnated, it would be just like this … Here and here only in all time the myth must have become fact; the Word, flesh; God, man. This is not “a religion,” nor “a philosophy.” It is the summing up and actuality of them all.” (C. S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life, 1955, Ch. XV)

Whatever else Christmas is, it is nothing less than a fact of history. But it is also so much more. It is the presence of God in my own life and in the lives of my family and friends. God’s amazing grace made evident in every single moment of our lives and within the tiniest “ordinary” circumstances, including the preparation of the holiday meals, the decorations in the house, the meetings with friends and relatives and the opportunity to share one’s blessings with those, who are poor or destitute. For isn’t it only by grace that we have food, homes, life and goods to share? And isn’t it the presence of God with us – Emmanuel – that makes all of this worth anything?

It is because I know that my Redeemer lives that I look forward to this Christmas. And this year particularly my wife and I will be reading and listening to the Nativity stories, and singing “Mary Did You Know?” with empathy that we have never known before. If you have never really paid attention to those lyrics before, read them thoughtfully now (you can also read the story behind that song here and download a wonderful contemporary rendition by Jason Gray from the album "Bethlehem Skyline" (2006) here).

Mary, Did You Know?

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy would some day walk on water?
Mary, did you know
That your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know
That your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered, will soon deliver you.

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy would give sight to a blind man?
Mary, did you know
That your baby boy would calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know
That your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when your kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God.

Oh, Mary, did you know?
The blind will see
The deaf will hear
The dead will live again.
The lame will leap
The dumb will speak
The praises of the lamb.

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know
That your baby boy would one day rule the nations?
Did you know
That your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding is the great I AM.

by Mark Lowry and Buddy Greene © 1991 Word Music/Rufus Music/ascap.