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The American Scholar examines exorcisms in Hindu India

NYTimes

It is easier for a majority to afford freedom to a minority when they are not considered a threat.

It is also interesting how the two political poles switch sides on this debate.

Fun episode of “Unbelievable” on healing miracles.

Comment: Confirmation bias works on both sides. One sees unexplainable healing as unexplainable, the other sees it as the work of God.

• Christianity Today
• Gospel Coalition by Kevin De Young
• Rachel Held Evans’ post

Comments I made to these links towards the discussion on the CRC Pastors Facebook Page

Another element that this highlights is the strange gray area that is the para-church organization. Para-church organizations have long had to decide how to pick and choose on doctrinal and moral issues.

Seeing it through that lens then opens up new vistas. We would assume that a church owned relief organization follows the dictates of the church that owns it.

American Protestants have tried to blunt the offense of our institutional sectarianism with words like “evangelical” and “Bible-believing” or “conservative”. There have always been fraying around the edges over issues like infant baptism or for the Gideons with their literal subscription to “the lake of fire” and as of late women in leadership.

There are lots of layers to this decision.

In our market based ministry context people have enjoyed both the ability to choose which groups to identify with, endorse or support plus often a consensus that such a group or radio station is “safe for the whole family”.

As we continue to see rapid cultural change, we’ll continue to see these changes impact things we didn’t imagine would be impacted in ways we wouldn’t have guessed.

It’s also a matter of what we’re watching. I was reminded yesterday of the fact that in my youth the Roman Catholic church was met with great suspicion. Not too long ago it wasn’t hard to find a Protestant who would in all seriousness entertain the possibility that the antichrist might be the pope.

Times changed rapidly and not because of theological changes in either the CRC or the RC. Politics moved those changes. Conservative political people liked how Pope JPII stood up to the CCCP with Reagan. CRC pastors would frequent monasteries and receive spiritual direction from RC priests and nuns. The RC was seen as an ally against abortion. Also the Orthodox church in America became a presence opening us up to some of their thought, icons, values, etc.

It is always tempting in times of change to focus narrowly on a few key changes while blindly passing over others. Events like this make us wake up and say “huh?!” but the changes have been happening slowly all along, So what aren’t we paying attention to now that 10 years from now will wake us up and surprise us?

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HT the Dish from Relevant Magazine

The Dish  Continue reading →

• http://pippabiddle.com/2014/02/18/the-problem-with-little-white-girls-and-boys/
• The the follow up posting

Her observation in the initial post is of course not an unfamiliar one to folks with long term foreign missions experience like myself. The “value” she had was her relational connections with wealthy North Americans, the life blood not just for mission work but also for the western economy.

The second piece is instructive also about our culture and what gets attention, etc.