tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post286911604105039424..comments2024-03-24T11:30:08.199-07:00Comments on Can you believe?: Quakers and Native Americans: It's complicatedJohan Maurerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13771067774042071617noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-83621387348228979002018-11-02T11:47:04.885-07:002018-11-02T11:47:04.885-07:00Hello, Roy. These days, I put a lot of my hopes in...Hello, Roy. These days, I put a lot of my hopes in our emerging yearly meeting. I see the potential for a fertile collaboration among our spiritual gifts that will overcome the usual divide between what Christian Schwartz ("Natural Church Development") calls the "technocratic paradigm" and the "spiritualistic paradigm." We'll always have some who want to get something DONE and others who just want to PRAY about it; we need them to work together. I see hope for this in the community we're building.<br /><br />Concerning apologies for the past, you'll see that I basically agree with you. Repentance isn't apology for the past, it's the result of what Alcoholics Anonymous (4th step) would call a "searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves." In the context of a history of oppression that we ourselves may not have participated in, that inventory would include the unearned advantages we gain as a benefit from that history. It's not a matter of guilt or shame, just a baseline for our growth in faithfulness.Johan Maurerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13771067774042071617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-19660939948837230022018-11-02T05:28:16.066-07:002018-11-02T05:28:16.066-07:00Greetings Johan
I would like to say is that "...Greetings Johan<br />I would like to say is that "Words and Apologies mean NOTHING" Unless we "do", what is the point? Over 200 years of Words and Written pieces of paper, "So What?" Action. Do Something other than write about injustice. All my friends, Native American, Filipino and others caught in the web of colonialism or whatever name you want to call it all say the same thing: "Action" Do something meaningful to show and enact change. Words mean nothing. As the James said James 2:14-26<br /><br />14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.<br /><br />18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without [a]your works, and I will show you my faith by [b]my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is [c]dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made [d]perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was [e]accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.<br /><br />25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?<br /><br />26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.<br /><br />What can you do to bring about change?<br /><br />Empower people with Faith in action. But only Faith in Action in Christ brings Empowerment. I wasn't always a Quaker, rather I was like everyone else, dead in sin and lost. I work to educate train and equip people in a lost and terrible world. Hope is there, Not with my words, but in my actions based upon the teachings of Jesus. And my actions are the result of my Faith in Jesus' teachings.<br /><br />I don't apologize for the past, unless I committed the sin or participated in its perpetuation. <br /><br />I have struggled with your post as of late, whether they are political or this one. What is the way Forward in your posts? <br /><br />I do agree that our war is in the heavenlies and that we fight not against flesh and blood.<br /><br />Blessings<br />RoyAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14702924797228340387noreply@blogger.com