{"id":12960,"date":"2017-05-25T15:34:50","date_gmt":"2017-05-25T22:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=12960"},"modified":"2017-05-25T15:34:50","modified_gmt":"2017-05-25T22:34:50","slug":"hope-amid-hopelessness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/hope-amid-hopelessness\/","title":{"rendered":"Hope Amid Hopelessness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/We-all-Bleed.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-12968 alignleft aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/We-all-Bleed-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/We-all-Bleed-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/We-all-Bleed-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/We-all-Bleed-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/We-all-Bleed-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/We-all-Bleed.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The doctrine of Original Sin is straightforward.\u00a0 The ramifications and fallout are more challenging to understand their impact and profundity.\u00a0 I would propose that one of the most heinous of our fallen\/sin nature is a breakdown, and even hatred, for people who are different than us.<\/p>\n<p>This breakdown\/hatred is profoundly the opposite of the character and composite of what Jesus <strong>IS<\/strong> and what He <strong>STANDS<\/strong> for.\u00a0 Pardon me as I take my academic hat off for a moment and allow my \u201ccall\u201d to speak in this post. \u00a0A Biblical reflection is imperative at this point for a reference point.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself. Ephesians 1:23 (NLT)<\/li>\n<li>This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. <sup>26\u00a0<\/sup>If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. <sup>27\u00a0<\/sup>All of you together are Christ\u2019s body, and each of you is a part of it. 1 Corinthians 12:25\u201327 (NLT)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Immaterial are some externals of other human beings, but there are a few that seem to push the button to anarchy and even murder.\u00a0 Is it the size of the nose, jawline, beard, gender, height, or skin color?\u00a0 Is it a certain nationality, level of literacy, acceptance of a prescribed creed, or socio-economics?\u00a0 It manifests in Jew\/Gentile, Black\/White\/Asian, Hetero\/Homo, Native American\/White Man, and the list proliferates ad nauseam, depending on what day, year, political party in power, or phase of the moon.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Apartheid.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12966 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Apartheid-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Apartheid-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Apartheid-768x431.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Apartheid.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Apartheid-150x84.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Dr. David Welsh, in his exceptional work, <em>The Rise and Fall of Apartheid, <\/em>delivers a poignant overview of the people of South Africa:\u00a0 White, Black, Africans, and Asians, and their struggle to coexist over something that was out of their control, skin color and ownership.\u00a0 Recently we read Thomas Oden\u2019s, <em>How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind:\u00a0 Rediscovering the African Seedbed of Western Christianity,<\/em> where he offered an informing and scathing edict to the Western church on how we overlook Africa\u2019s impact into the Christian thought process.<\/p>\n<p>Welsh brings us one step closer to our base nature when he quotes, \u201cA rueful Xhosa saying has it: \u2018At first we had the land and the white man had the Bible.\u00a0 Now we have the Bible and the white man has the land.\u2019\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> \u00a0The hope of mission\u2019s work into Africa was for the saving of a continent.\u00a0 The hope of the Pilgrims and early forefathers was religious freedom.\u00a0 How we forget our mission and resort to anarchy, destruction, greed, and murder.<\/p>\n<p>Welsh traces the history of South Africa from its disputed original inhabitants to the Europeans who moved in and took control.\u00a0 Control, on their terms and on their financial increase at the people\u2019s expense. One of the three largest Dutch Reformed Churches stated,<\/p>\n<p>Strict <em>racial apartheid<\/em> in the agrarian lifestyle stands opposed to the danger of <em>race-mixing <\/em>in the towns.\u00a0 The ingrained Boer tradition of blood-purity and a hatred of any social intercourse with non-whites was their means of self-preservation in the century that passed.\u00a0 But urban poverty is a powerful means of eliminating the dividing line between white and black.\u00a0 In the slums all races live next to one another, sometimes in the same large building.\u00a0 And they work alongside one another in the same factory.\u00a0 Urban employers are people who are far less concerned with the maintenance of the dividing line of colour than the Afrikaner; they want the cheapest labour, regardless of colour or race; it is of little concern to them that the colour feeling of the Afrikaner is blunted in this way.<\/p>\n<p>In light of the Manchester terrorist attack on May 22, 2017, the vile and hatred was leveled at children and teens.\u00a0 South Africa had their moment too. \u00a0It was in a town called Soweto in June 1976.\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cIn answer to the question, \u2018What is the single most important moment in South African history?\u2019, we believe it was the instant the first shot was fired on 16 June 1976, because it effectively killed the dream of g<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Soweto.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12967 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Soweto-300x289.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"289\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Soweto-300x289.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Soweto-768x739.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Soweto-150x144.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Soweto.jpg 968w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>rand apartheid.\u00a0 The traumatic death throes would last for many more years, but the beast was mortally wounded.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>What is the tie between Manchester and Soweto?\u00a0 Soweto was:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Biggest African township in the country, adjacent to the biggest city, Soweto was the hub of African politics.<\/li>\n<li>The population was young, probably over 50 per cent being under the age of 21.<\/li>\n<li>Much of Soweto was a giant slum.<\/li>\n<li>Overcrowding, with an average of up to 14 occupants in each house.<\/li>\n<li>Only one in three houses had electricity.<\/li>\n<li>Poverty was also deepening<a href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Soweto was a changing point, that costs the lives of young people.\u00a0 But from that moment a catalyst was birthed that ultimately changed the social landscape of South Africa.\u00a0 \u201cMorale and hope are important components of any political struggle, and they were widely diffused in the aftermath of the uprising.\u00a0 Young blacks were now hopeful that liberation would happen in their lifetimes.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn4\" name=\"_ftnref4\">[4]<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><strong>Analysis<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I was watching portions of <em>The Long Ranger <\/em>(2013 edition with Johnny Depp) recently.\u00a0 The movie depicted this ongoing hatred and struggle with settlers, Native Americans, Chinese, and the wealthy railroad tycoons.\u00a0 It is not a new phenomenon of the 21<sup>st<\/sup> Century.\u00a0 It has been and seems to be alive today.\u00a0 The question is what do we do?\u00a0 Where do we turn?<\/p>\n<p>The answer is\u2026\u2026Christ is the hope!\u00a0 Doing and \u201cbeing\u201d the expression of Christ brings hope!\u00a0 My heart is torn when the catalyst is the crown of God\u2019s creation \u2013 Man and the most vulnerable \u2013 Children.\u00a0 This book has ignited a passion in me for all people.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> David Welsh, <em>The Rise and Fall of Apartheid, <\/em>(Johannesburg, SA: Jonathan Ball Publishers, 2009), 30.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> Ibid., 142.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a> Ibid., 151.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref4\" name=\"_ftn4\">[4]<\/a> Ibid., 171.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0Introduction The doctrine of Original Sin is straightforward.\u00a0 The ramifications and fallout are more challenging to understand their impact and profundity.\u00a0 I would propose that one of the most heinous of our fallen\/sin nature is a breakdown, and even hatred, for people who are different than us. This breakdown\/hatred is profoundly the opposite of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[975,177,974],"class_list":["post-12960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-apartheid","tag-hope","tag-welsh","cohort-lgp6"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12960"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12960\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12970,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12960\/revisions\/12970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}