Hard Conversations

We are all witnessing how the escalating Israeli-Palestinian conflict is driving a wedge between the old-guard liberals and the Left (who have been remarkably symmetric up to this point on many social issues). While that’s interesting, what's alarming is the framing of this age-old conflict in terms of Critical Race Theory. We are quickly going there as several on the Left (including congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez) have called Israel an “apartheid state.” Is this fair to Israel? Is it fair to equate the past experiences of Black people of South Africa, who suffered enormously under apartheid, to the experiences of Palestinians?

Furthermore, what makes this matter even more complicating for the Bible affirming believers is the “Israel-can-do-no-wrong” outlook held by many evangelicals, particularly those who take end-time prophecies seriously. In such one-sided outlook there is hardly any room to be concerned about Palestinians in general and the Palestinian believers in particular.

This presentation is my meager attempt to sort out these matters to clarify what should be truly important to the followers of Christ.

What's the first thing that comes to your mind upon hearing the word "culture" as opposed to "pop culture"? The latter is about theaters, music, and arts; the former is about the way people in different environmental settings attempt to meet their basic needs (physical, psychological, social and spiritual). Do these ways look all the same? Of course not. "Connecting the Dots of Postmodernism" is about how these cultural differences have been leveraged by the opponents of biblical worldview (Platonic worldview as well) to justify moral, philosophical and epistemological relativism.

Furthermore, postmodernism is a reaction against modernism, the philosophical outcome of the cold calculation of the Enlightenment humanists of the 18th century. Just as the Enlightenment, with its emphasis on facts only (empirical or innate), was followed by the feeling-driven romanticism, postmodernism (i.e., the way it has evolved in America) is also a feeling driven romanticism of socialism and Marxism. It cares little about facts but, instead, is impelled by the feeling of moral outrage stemming from appraising society through metrics such as Critical Race theory/socialism/Marxism.

What makes these changes possible is the way postmodernists (a.k.a., deconstructionists) use language. After raising the specter of whether language is stable or instable, postmodernism wonders whether the fixed meaning of a text is waiting to be discovered or the meaning of a text is whatever the readers impose on it. Postmodernism opts for the outlook that language is instable and arbitrary, and the authors are hopelessly compromised by the power structure of their time; and since this is so, the "meaning" of a text depends on, in effect, whatever the readers say it is (a.k.a., reader-response theory).

Is Robert Long, the Atlanta killer, a believer? No doubt, that is not the most important question right now since the families of the victims are still grieving. But the killer being so closely tied to a Bible believing church and in light of his recent baptism, it does raise a lot of questions about salvation. How can we tell whether we are saved? Can someone commit a heinous crime like Long and still considers himself "saved"?

The recent massacres are stark in contrast: all-nonwhite victims (except for one), on the one hand, and all-white victims, on the other. Does that figure into whether we lament and grieve? This raises the issue of what makes an action so wrong that you would lament and grieve over it even though you are not directly involved: when it is done to certain people (i.e., those in my tribe) or because the action is bad in and of itself? This relates to the question of whether we are really that different?

In a span of a week, we have had two massacres, one in Atlanta and the other in Boulder, Colorado. Even as we express our condolences as well as outrage, it behooves us to note who or what is determining the dominant narratives for the rest of the society to follow. While we, as believers, need to be receptive to anything that has biblical merits, however tangential, we must reject those beliefs and values that fall outside of biblical parameters and follow that which is delineated in Scriptures.

In this brief message, I deal with three critical matters head-on as they relate to Asian American Christians. First, is there anything worse than hate crimes and racism? Second, could Asian Americans ever feel at home in America? Third, who or what is, in fact, influencing our narratives as Christ’s followers? Thank you.

In this message, entitled “Justice of God is more than social justice,” I delve into whether the justice of God and social justice are one and the same? If they are not the same, what could result if we treat social justice as if it is the same as the justice of God?

In this message, I encourage our social justice advocates to get to work. Walk the talk, starting from right where you live. To do that, I am going to share two personal stories that taught me the importance of not just talk a good game but actually play one. Or, as the apostle John puts in 1 Jn. 3:18, “Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.”

This short message treats abortion as a justice issue from the standpoint of the aborted babies. Of course, there are other ways to examine this troublesome matter, including the effect abortion has on those women who had abortions. I cannot speak for everyone who had abortions, but I have met women who had abortions who never quite stopped grieving. While that is sad and, therefore, we ought to sympathize with them, let’s never forget that that pain pales in comparison to the pain, and ultimately, the death, suffered by the aborted babies. May justice be granted to unborn babies who cannot defend themselves.

“Is the Expression, ‘If You Work Hard, It Will Pay Off,’ part of the Racist Ideology in America?” If that is true, then, telling that to racial and ethnic minorities would be unjust! So then, how does the concept of hard work square with Scripture, God’s word? This message begins with a reminder of what I plan to do in my talk in light of two important questions with respect to the most simplest definition of justice: “The fairness in the way that people are treated.”

There is more than one kind of justice and not all social justices are alike! There is God’s social justice and then there are other kinds. Certainly, a passion for social justice is good, but if it has no answer to the question, “Whose social justice?” it can be great force for error with serious repercussions that adversely affect lives. I seek to show what that means and what that looks like in this series.