On being a Christian, I believe that, before a person can be a good Christian, he/she must first hold to the most fundamental principle of Judaism: Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God is one: beside him there is no other!
The contribution of Judaism was/is monotheism. As a Christian, unless I want to descend into polytheism, I must have my Christology, my theology of Christ, controlled by the monotheism of Judaism. When we sort out the Spirit of God from God, add Jesus Christ as the begotten of the Spirit of God, extend our worship to the mother and the grandmother of Jesus, and then add saints as objects of adoration and recipients of prayer, we certainly take on the appearance, if not the reality, of polytheism--don't we? And I have not yet mentioned Satan.
I don't mean to imply by the use of the word "reality" that there is any reality to polytheism. There isn't. God is one, and there is no other. Not of wood. Not of stone. Not of silver. Not of gold. God is spirit. And as the Holy Spirit, he gave life to Jesus and indwelt him. What does that mean?
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Blog Name
My blog name, "White Christian Republican," may fool some as to the content of my blog.
For one thing, I'm not, despite my white appearance, all that white. A considerable part of my pedigree is Native American: Cherokee.... And given the fact that a considerable number of African slaves, as well as European indentured servants, are known to have fled their masters and merged with the Native Americans, I may have some African blood. And then there is that problematic Black Dutch heritage. But I am what I am, not who or what my ancestors were, and I have no problem with anything that went before. BTW, if any of those slaves or indentured servants who ran to the Indians and joined up with a tribe are among my ancestors, I'm proud of them. They had to have guts, whether white or black, to make that move! They had to know that a primitive life with the natives was preferable to slavery among the whites!
As for being Christian, I often tell people that I was born Baptist, raised Assemblies of God (Pentecostal), went to a Presbyterian College (University of Tulsa), and came out a Methodist--a Methodist preacher in the Oklahoma Conference. But one of the things that I appreciated about the United Methodist Church is that I had a lot of freedom to be a free thinker. I'm retired from preaching. I still think. BTW, I can tell you what a real Christian is--if you really want to know.
As for being Republican, I recall an elderly neighbor who told me a county fair story when I was just a boy: Seems this county fair in Missiouri staged a contest in which a 'coon hide was awarded to the person who could give the best reason for their politics. The man who won the 'coon hide said, "I'm a Democrat because my father was a Democrat and because his father was a Democrat and his father's father was a Democrat." I initially became a Republican because my mother was a Republican. She had never been registered to vote until two event converged. The Korean War and the candidacy of Dwight Eisenhower. Her oldest, and favorite, son, having survived WWII in Europe, and having stayed in the Oklahoma National Guard ("the 45th"), was mobilized for service in Korea. Ike promised to bring the boys home. She registered to vote as a Republican and walked and talked to get the general elected president. He ended the "police actions" and her boy came home. She also walked and talked to get an Oklahoma wheat farmer, Henry Bellman, elected as the first Republican govenor in the state. She died at 90 still a Republican, still proud of her work for Hank, and eternally grateful that God and Ike brought her boy home safe. I'll talk more about being a Republican later.
In discussing my Native American heritage, I used the term "considerable" to indicate the number of slaves and indentured servants that merged with the Indians. Does anyone who might be reading this have more knowledge than I do about just how many did?
For one thing, I'm not, despite my white appearance, all that white. A considerable part of my pedigree is Native American: Cherokee.... And given the fact that a considerable number of African slaves, as well as European indentured servants, are known to have fled their masters and merged with the Native Americans, I may have some African blood. And then there is that problematic Black Dutch heritage. But I am what I am, not who or what my ancestors were, and I have no problem with anything that went before. BTW, if any of those slaves or indentured servants who ran to the Indians and joined up with a tribe are among my ancestors, I'm proud of them. They had to have guts, whether white or black, to make that move! They had to know that a primitive life with the natives was preferable to slavery among the whites!
As for being Christian, I often tell people that I was born Baptist, raised Assemblies of God (Pentecostal), went to a Presbyterian College (University of Tulsa), and came out a Methodist--a Methodist preacher in the Oklahoma Conference. But one of the things that I appreciated about the United Methodist Church is that I had a lot of freedom to be a free thinker. I'm retired from preaching. I still think. BTW, I can tell you what a real Christian is--if you really want to know.
As for being Republican, I recall an elderly neighbor who told me a county fair story when I was just a boy: Seems this county fair in Missiouri staged a contest in which a 'coon hide was awarded to the person who could give the best reason for their politics. The man who won the 'coon hide said, "I'm a Democrat because my father was a Democrat and because his father was a Democrat and his father's father was a Democrat." I initially became a Republican because my mother was a Republican. She had never been registered to vote until two event converged. The Korean War and the candidacy of Dwight Eisenhower. Her oldest, and favorite, son, having survived WWII in Europe, and having stayed in the Oklahoma National Guard ("the 45th"), was mobilized for service in Korea. Ike promised to bring the boys home. She registered to vote as a Republican and walked and talked to get the general elected president. He ended the "police actions" and her boy came home. She also walked and talked to get an Oklahoma wheat farmer, Henry Bellman, elected as the first Republican govenor in the state. She died at 90 still a Republican, still proud of her work for Hank, and eternally grateful that God and Ike brought her boy home safe. I'll talk more about being a Republican later.
In discussing my Native American heritage, I used the term "considerable" to indicate the number of slaves and indentured servants that merged with the Indians. Does anyone who might be reading this have more knowledge than I do about just how many did?
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