When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and
filled the whole house where they were sitting.
They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire
that separated and came to rest on each of them.
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and
began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them...
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship,
to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Everyone was filled with awe at the many
wonders and signs performed by the apostles.
All the believers were together and
had everything in common.
They sold property and possessions
to give to anyone who had need.
Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.
They broke bread in their homes and
ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
praising God and
enjoying the favor of all the people.
And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
23 comments:
Where does "pride" come in?
It's Pride month, beginning with Pentecost.
And just as a fair warning: cruel, disrespectful or oppressive comments don't belong in this uplifting post about the power of the Beloved Community.
What do you mean "Beloved Community"? About whom are you referring? Also, what is the connection between "Pride Month" and Pentecost other than the coincidence of the calendar?
Marshal asked the questions above which I will answer, but first:
Marshal is a far right extremist who believes in the racist "replacement theory" conspiracy theory. That theory is a deeply disturbing threat to freedom and human rights. And unfortunately, it has wide spread support amongst the "MAGA" followers out there. Terribly sad and incredibly dangerous.
Marshal asked what I meant by Beloved Community. That is a term used by Dr King and others to speak generally about the loving, committed church as it should be. The Realm or Kingdom of God. It can be taken, however, in a less religious vein to simply mean a collection of people committed to Justice and Grace and opposed to oppression and injustice and prepared to take action to support one another.
Marshal, who is a believer in the racist replacement theory asked...
"what is the connection between "Pride Month" and Pentecost other than the coincidence of the calendar?"
Pride month can be a good example of what I mean by beloved community. A time when people come together to celebrate one another and stand against oppression joyfully and with fabulous music and dance. Just as the early church celebrated one another and spoke strong words of Justice and peace and welcome, and shared things in common to support the common good, this is what happens at the best of Pride month.
Think about it. Is the early church was a small group who were committed to each other in love and grace. They were oppressed. They shared things in common. And the people around them were impressed with their practical love and community and the Lord added daily to their number.
What makes them proud?
Being decent, accepting human beings? Standing up for the oppressed? Being welcoming?
Lots of things to be proud of (in a positive sense).
What's the point of the question?
Can you agree that it is a good thing to stand against the oppression that LGBTQ folk have suffered in the past? Can you agree that it was a good thing for the early church to be accepting and loving and sharing back in the day when they were actually oppressed?
And just as a reminder: I'm responding to Marshal, who believes in the dangerous, racist and stupidly false "replacement theory" conspiracy theory. So, be wary of anything he says.
Marshal is a far right extremist who believes in the racist "replacement theory" conspiracy theory. That theory is a deeply disturbing threat to freedom and human rights. And unfortunately, it has wide spread support amongst the "MAGA" followers out there. Terribly sad and incredibly dangerous.
Marshal said in a now-deleted comment (where he made false and unsupported claims - but I'm answering the questions because I think the answers are helpful)...
"Can you support this claim? I was under the impression their "pride" celebrations focus on their being LGBT, as do "Black Pride" celebrations or expressions indicating pride in being black. Is this not the case?"
It's all of that, too. Look, in a world where a group you're part of has been vilified, literally demonized, beaten, abused, oppressed and killed, it's easy to let that very damaging hatred and oppression get into your psyche. You can start to think you ARE evil and awful and deserving of abuse and oppression. It's a deadly poison, the oppression that LGBTQ folk have lived with for centuries. And since you brought it up, the same for black people. When white and straight people are held up as the paradigms of beauty and reason and morality and goodness, then self-loathing can become a thing.
For that reason, saying, "NO! I am a beautiful wonderful loving moral person just as I am" and taking a POSITIVE pride in who you are is a life-affirming, grace-giving and injustice-fighting necessity.
The thing is, it can be very difficult for those of us cocooned by our white, straight, cis-gender male privilege to understand how very debilitating and oppressive all the attitudes toward black people (especially earlier in and before our lifetimes, but still today) and LGBTQ people. But that we too often don't understand the privilege of having so many things go our way and how very oppressive and damaging life has been for these minority groups over the years/centuries doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.
Marshal...
"I would never dare try to draw a parallel between the early church and any LGBT pride celebration. No Christian better than myself would, either. What's more, "pride" is not considered a particularly Christian trait."
1. That you wouldn't try to draw a parallel doesn't mean that one doesn't exist. I just gave you the very real parallels.
2. As noted, there is a negative, arrogant, self-centered pride - the pride of white privilege, for instance - and there is a positive, self-confidence-boosting, refusal to be demonized pride that is being talked of with Pride Month. That you may not understand it does not make it not legitimate.
More...
Marshal...
"Please cite where I've said I believe in anything even remotely racist."
I have asked you to clearly answer if you believe in the racist Replacement Theory. I asked in several ways and you responded with many words that made it sound like you do affirm it, but you didn't answer the question directly. You may still answer the question directly if you wish.
More on the "GRT..."
https://www.edweek.org/leadership/opinion-the-great-replacement-theory-is-lie-its-also-a-threat-to-schools/2022/05
Marshal...
"Let's assume for a moment that I'm actually a racist person. Why does that suggest anyone should be wary of anything I say, including that which has no relation to racial matters?"
If you're a racist person who is also a doctor, I might rely on you to fix my illness (although, if I were aware of your racism, I might opt for another doctor). So, I never said that we should be wary of everything you say.
However, if one is a promoter/believer/defender of racist conspiracy theories, then that raises serious questions about one's reasoning, calling into question ALL your beliefs. You can't choose to promote/defend/ignore racist conspiracy theories without it being noted that you are a reliable person who reasons well or who should be listened to.
This is obvious.
Of course, the more pernicious and diabolical the conspiracy theory, the less one should be listened to. If one was a relatively normal person BUT one believed in a conspiracy theory that leprechauns actually were enslaved and making Lucky Charms in work camps... well, one might write that one quirk off to some degree of mental illness.
But if one is defending a racist conspiracy theory like GRT, or multiple conspiracy theories like Fauci was deliberately killing people and the election was stolen... AND if those theories are being taken seriously by large numbers of people, such people are threats to human rights and public freedom.
Because, of course they are.
Marshal...
"Can you support with evidence anything you say, or is that only something you expect those who disagree with you must do?"
Yes, with reason and data. GRT, "Stolen elections," "the media is a public enemy," "Covid is a made-up disease..." these are all irrational conspiracy theories that the data simply does not support. There is NO DATA that the election was stolen. There is NO DATA to support the claim that an elite cabal of liberals are trying to replace white European-stock citizens with black and brown people.
Ultimately, the lack of data to support these crazy theories is the proof. Your inability to support these stupidly false claims is the proof.
That progressives are accepting of and welcoming to people of color is not evidence that we're deliberately "importing" them. The problem is, as with the early church and Gay Pride, the ideas and ideals of more progressive types of people are appealing to a lot of people. Being welcoming, supportive and inclusive is a very appealing set of traits. The modern GOP is mostly running out of ways to compete against these better, more appealing ideas, and so you all have turned to conspiracy theories and limiting voting, rather than expanding it.
You want GOP ideas to win out? Have better ideas than us. Make more sense.
Some articles to educate those who don't know about the poison of self-loathing that comes when greater society, family members, your own church, rebuke you for your natural orientation. These are testimonies as to why a good sense of pride is something that is full of grace and love and reason and decency. Hell, even the Department of Homeland Security recognizes the importance of this good kind of Pride (Defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “Confidence and self-respect as expressed by members of a group, typically one that has been socially marginalized, on the basis of their shared identity, culture and experience.”)
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/08/self-loathing-gay-people-shame
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/06/16/growing-up-gay-in-an-anti-gay-home-can-make-you-depressed-and-violent/
https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/news/2022/06/01/celebrating-pride-matters-more-ever
And as already noted, if you're a straight white male who's grown up with all the privilege that implies, it may be difficult for you to understand it. Try, anyway.
One more point: Marshal (who appears to be a believer/defender of the racist GRT) had his comment deleted mainly because he made a claim with no support. The claim was something about that Democrats originally started GRT. There was no context, no support, just the claim.
But let me try to guess what Marshal is talking about: In the 1950s and 1960s, Democrats were much more conservative than progressive. The CONSERVATIVE Democrats (and conservative Republicans) were more hostile to immigration of people of color. But the point would be, that arose from their conservatism, NOT from progressive values.
We all know about the Dixiecrats and the political swing from more conservative and racist Democrats pre-1960s to the more progressive (with a good deal of conservative still in the mix) Democrats of today. Different creatures and we shouldn't miss that point.
Here's an interesting article from an apparently fairly conservative Latino who castigates Democrats for being hypocritical on the GRT. The problem is, he makes the mistake of comparing today's Democrats with those in the 60s.
https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-are-massive-hypocrites-so-called-great-replacement-theory-opinion-1708768
Also, he says that when today's Democrats say things like we love diversity, we are glad to welcome immigrants and immigrants of color, and we note that Democrats BENEFIT from having an increase in people of color in our nation, that this is a tacit nod to GRT. The point he seems to be missing is that we're welcoming immigrants because it's the right thing to do. The side benefit of them looking at the two parties and finding the Democrats to be the better, more welcoming, more rational option IS a side benefit. But it's not part of a conspiracy. It's part of what makes progressive people progressive - we're welcoming and inclusive and supportive of LGBTQ folks and people of color and women and immigrants, of the poor and mentally ill. (Or at least, at our best, we try to be all of that - inevitably, we fail to live up to it, but they are our better ideals).
And in this, I find commonality with the early church and Pentecost and sharing all things in common and watching out for the least of these. Just to bring it back around to the point of the post.
And daily, people were added to their number.
And a bottom line reminder: IF the GOP had more appealing and inclusive language and policies, if their ideas were better, then they too might attract the votes of immigrants and people of color, of LGBTQ folks and other traditional "minorities..." You want to win? Don't limit voting. Have BETTER more rational more welcoming ideas.
That you all are constantly trying to limit the vote just shows you lack confidence in your own ideas and recognize your language and ideas are just lacking in popular support. You WANT more voters to be older, whiter, more traditionally religious men precisely because you are losing with nearly all other groups.
Compete on the strength of your ideas. If your ideas are popularly unsupported, you should lose. And if your party has welcomed con men, sexual predators, clowns, conspiracy theorists and abandoned any sense of using reason and data for your arguments, you should lose.
Marshal, you will speak with respect on this page or you will not comment.
Marshal, who is a defender of the racist "GRT" conspiracy theory, compared LGBTQ folk with thieves, demonstrating a hostile and stupidly oppressive attitude that will not stand here.
You have the option of commenting here IF you do so respectfully and if you make claims, you support them. If you want to offer an opinion, then make it clear that it's your opinion. If you can't support it, then make it clear that you can't support it.
Pride and the gay Christian: "For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, with the simplicity and sincerity of God, not by human wisdom but by the grace of God."
Marshal doesn't know scripture or the christian life. Or St. Paul.
"You have the option of commenting here IF you do so respectfully..."
With all due respect, go f**k yourself.
For anyone who visits and reads these comments, my apologies for Marshal's crudity.. Marshal is someone who believes in the racist "great replacement theory" conspiracy theory and is exceedingly rude. I don't do not like deleting people and don't generally but he is getting ruder and cruder and making more and more unsupported non factual statements and claims.
I'm leaving this comment of his just to show the sort of language he regularly uses. And this is not the worst of it.
Neither Dan nor I have ever used “anal wart.”
The asshole is a Marshal fixation: never got out of infant exploration. He’s still stuck there.
I use variations of the word “fucking.” As in, you’re a fucking moron, Marshal. That you’re a moron is obvious to the most casual observer. I use fucking because whereas you’re captivated by anality, I’m fascinated by fucking.
That’s why I live in a happy, loving home and you live in a raging lunatic asylum, throwing your own shit on the walls.
I haven't really tracked what Feodor has or has not said. But when I've used strong language it's almost always, if not always, in response to repulsive behavior.. Racism is fucked up. Racists and those who defend racist theories are defending shit.
I'm describing awful behavior and attitudes. I'm not using vugarity or strong language about a person or to childishly try to belittle them by calling ti'm calling them gradeschool names.
In other words, I don't object to strong language. I object to vulgar words used to try to demean and attack people.
Marshal's mad becasue he got uncovered as a bible worshipper who doesn't know his bible. Marshal gives trite old agrarian protestant lip service to "don't rise above your raising." Apperently Marshal could not.
Marshal claimed that pride has no place in Christian faith. Marshal hasn't read the apostle Paul. "For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, with the simplicity and sincerity of God, not by human wisdom but by the grace of God."
Neither has Marshal read the gospel of Matthew. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."
Gay Christians have: and so refuse to let others keep them from honoring god with their god given talents.
Dialogue with Craig will always be like talking to someone who is still living in the 50s. That's the only American worldview that he and WintryKnight can find comfort in.
Craig - taking his cues from WK - rest at peace knowing that they can shut down the discussion of a "gay gene." They are decades behind on their genetics. Craig is still banking on Mendel's pea pods.
Now we know that almost every aspect of us is determined by a multiplicity of genes: polygenic traits determine most of us. [Just basically, every cell in our body except sperm or eggs contain two copies of each gene: one from a female and one from a male. Craig cannot acknowlege even the oldtime fact that his cells are half determined by his mother. And every time our bodies make a new cell, our biological mother's gene is copied along with our father's.]
But most human genetic traits are the product of interactions between serveral genes, not one: hair color, eye color, height, skin color, earlobe attachment, allergies, etc, etc, etc.
We don't understand much of this yet. But it is clear that polygenic determinations have a dominant role in determining our sexual anatomy, and different combinations determine our sexuality, which is a different combination of genes that determine our expresssion of gender. So, too a mulitplicity of genes, along with socio-cultural and familial experiences help determine our gender role expression across a spectrum of wide differences. Is Craig the same as The Rock? Laughable.
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