Comments for United Methodeviations

Comment on Why Is Peace So Hard? by betsypc

betsypc — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:02:42 +0000

This may be a little too simplistic–but it may also be too hard– but based on my own experience even within the UMC, we are too busy “doing”.

Peace is hard because here in America, we have lost the basis of Christianity. The following was written about The UMC:
“The world doesn’t need us to do something for it. The need is far more desperate and devastating than that. We are not enough. We never have been enough, even in our glory days. The world needs – people need – a relationship with God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”–Kevin Watson, “What We Are FOR Is Not Good Enough”, Vital Piety Blog.

As I have very recently learned, there is a world of difference between showing people God loves of them by doing things for them/”being a conduit of God’s love” and educating people as to who God is, who they are and what God has done for everyone, “including me” so they can be open to the possibility that God loves “me, bag and baggage”.

From the Wesley Study Bible, Wesleyan Core Term: Testimony of God’s Spirit: “God’s own witness to us that we are loved is the most secure knowledge of acceptance that we could have. It is one thing to be told, ‘God loves you.’ It is quite another thing to experience that love directly. God’s testimony comes to us inwardly, and it has the power to call forth our love in return. When God’s love enables us to love and trust God completely, so that we rejoice and delight in the relationship, we know we are truly children of God.”

What you are talking about here is what I have come to call “applied Christianity”; it supposed to be the response of knowing God loves us. I will be so bold as to state that there is much of the UMC and probably the majority of Americans who have never directly experienced the love of God/the testimony of God’s Spirit. When we “do things” without that testimony, we are no longer promoting a savior, we are becoming the savior.

I had to abandon church and educate myself –gain some knowledge as to who God is, who I am, what God has done and is currently doing that includes me–but guess what, it is true, the Holy Spirit is a great healer. One thing I learned along the way was that anything I do has to start with an attitude of gratitude that there is a Savior.

So, from a lifelong Methodist who spent more than a few decades “tilting at windmills” by “doing things”, including church to a fare-thee well–crank it back to the basics of helping people understand God’s love for “me bag and baggage”; the pursuit of peace will be a natural consequence.

Comment on Muddled Maturity by Why We Matter…. Or Not | Saunsea

Why We Matter…. Or Not | Saunsea — Mon, 20 May 2013 05:00:46 +0000

[…] Muddled Maturity (doroteos2.com) […]

Comment on Why Is Peace So Hard? by Dan R. Dick

Dan R. Dick — Sun, 19 May 2013 13:32:50 +0000

The future of Korea does not rest in its past. Nothing that has been done can be undone. The ONLY path is forward. The horrors and atrocities of the post WWII period and division of the Korean peninsula, and the poor leadership on both sides with Soviet and American meddling, created a quagmire. Outside interests have been stirring the mess ever since. South Korea emerged and got healthy; North Korea has not. Restoration is essentially impossible, but reunification and a sustainable peace are not. Camp 14 is just one example of why change is so desperately needed. Kim Jung il was not adequate to the leadership of North Korea, and Kim Jung un is even worse. But incompetence, inexperience, and poor judgment — while dangerous — are not the same as evil. He is the product of his culture, and reducing him to a cartoonish villain is going to backfire. People dismissed George W. as a doofus and a simpleton who had no clue about foreign policy, and look where that led. Underestimating and misrepresenting the current situation based on the past is a loser’s game.

Comment on Why Is Peace So Hard? by Dan R. Dick

Dan R. Dick — Sun, 19 May 2013 13:19:22 +0000

First, where I agree with you 100% — the fantasy that our government and our media feed us on a daily basis IS dangerous, and the underlying concept that we are too stupid and gullible to know better is horrendous. The way we are manipulated and deceived is unconscionable.
Second, please reread my blog. You are asking for simplistic and reductionist solutions to an incredibly massive and complex situation, made worse by all the political machinations and corrupt business interests. I am saying that a peace treaty is needed. Of course North Korea is a threat — any nation with nuclear weapons is. (The whole concept of weapons for peace is the worst kind of oxymoron. Weapons of mass restoration? Give me a break…) This is a very volatile situation with the wrong people calling the shots. Sanctions are hurting all the wrong people, and the current armistice agreement is doing violence to families, the Korean cultures, and the world. This is no way to live and the U.S. is, and has been, making it worse through our foreign policy — regardless of Republican or Democrat leadership. Bush was horrendous and Obama is no better… My whole appeal is predicated on one simple/simplistic/naïve/Christian premise: peace is preferable to war. If you disagree with that, then we aren’t going to agree on much else.

Comment on Why Is Peace So Hard? by Taking the Hard Way Rather Than the Easy Way | Say Yes to Peace

Taking the Hard Way Rather Than the Easy Way | Say Yes to Peace — Sat, 18 May 2013 20:17:35 +0000

[…] a blog I follow, United Methodeviations by Rev. Dan Dick, he wonders why peace is so hard ( http://doroteos2.com/2013/05/17/why-is-peace-so-hard ). One reason I believe it’s so hard is because people aren’t willing to do the hard […]

Comment on Why Is Peace So Hard? by creedpogue

creedpogue — Sat, 18 May 2013 19:33:35 +0000

So, if we thought the same way you did, what would be your preferred set of policy choices? What is your perception of the reality of North Korea? North Korea is not a threat to South Korea? North Korea ended the armistice because….

Fantasy applied to the real world can be very dangerous.

Comment on Why Is Peace So Hard? by Andy Gartman

Andy Gartman — Sat, 18 May 2013 19:31:35 +0000

Dan,
I’d like to hear your response to the article on Ministry Matters by Dave Barnhart about the South Korea/North Korea conflict. I like that he invites United Methodists to pray about the conflict at the end, but does he just add to the standard South vs. North propaganda in most of the rest of the article?
Andy

Comment on Why Is Peace So Hard? by Mitchell

Mitchell — Sat, 18 May 2013 15:15:39 +0000

Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West

Camp 14, bad judgment or ignorance?

Comment on Why Is Peace So Hard? by Andy Gartman

Andy Gartman — Fri, 17 May 2013 23:53:10 +0000

Good post, Dan. Great closing line, by the way.

Comment on Muddled Maturity by Michael L Mckee

Michael L Mckee — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:11:34 +0000

Agree. The unity we seek is not in all being the same. It’s in all being the best each can be. It’s in all growing together as each grows into their best expression of God’s image.

This form of developmental thinking generally aligns with integral theory. In integral theory growth and change are accomplished through “Integral Transformative Practice,” [holistic exercising of body, mind, emotions, and spirit], or ITP.

I think the Christian expression of this may best be seen in small groups of persons gathered closely around the Human One [Jesus] in an accountable covenant relationship [with God and each other], called to grow holistically in Christ.

Hey, it’s how Jesus did it isn’t it?