{"id":37332,"date":"2024-04-09T21:10:48","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T04:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=37332"},"modified":"2024-04-09T21:10:48","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T04:10:48","slug":"a-lot-of-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/a-lot-of-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"A Lot of Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

I will start by admitting when I began reading this book I wanted to shut down. It probably did not help that my work week got very stressful after someone threatened to shoot at one of my group homes with a real gun after he used a paint gun on our cars and windows of the residence. So, the last thing I wanted to read about was how to have an argument especially when his first example was a topic about which I have more questions than absolute answers. However, I do know that arguments are not synonymous with fighting[1]<\/a>, and I will come back to the example in a bit. For now, I press on.<\/p>\n

The author this week was Matthew Petrusek, a recognized voice in Catholic ethics and moral theology. His educational credentials are noteworthy, attending both Yale and University of Chicago. He is a prolific author on religious ethics within the Roman Catholic denomination.[2]<\/a> \u00a0He was worth reading.<\/p>\n

In his book Evangelization and Ideology: How to Understand and Respond to the Political Culture <\/em>Petrusek\u2019s premise was that in order to embrace evangelism it is important to be able to have deep dive discussions on what goodness really means for humans in a fallen world. For Petrusek, that means being able to argue politics so people can understand what real goodness is within a moral framework. Then, more than even simply politics, to point to the love of Jesus.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

The author was systematic in his explanations of the various ways that people approach their beliefs and arguments related to them and make decisions. Circles of moral reasoning are threaded throughout the book as he tackled different political ideologies.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, using abortion as the hot topic almost completely shut me off from reading anything in the book. In itself, abortion is a difficult topic, and I am not sure I have a definitive place where I land on it.<\/p>\n

The problem I have with his theory is that so much of it is based on convincing people that their understanding that abortion is completely wrong because Catholics believe human life begins at conception. I disagreed that his premise is absolute truth when he stated categorically Humans in the womb are innocent human life.[5]<\/a> That might be true but when I look at what the Bible says I struggle to find a definitive answer to that. As I read Genesis1:7 I see that \u201cThe Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathes into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0The man was fully formed but until God breathed life into him, he was not alive. Is the same true for unborn children?<\/p>\n

I \u00a0have heard people quote Psalm 139 to point to life in the womb. The psalmist writes \u201cyou created my inmost being you knit me together in my mother\u2019s womb.\u201d (Psalm 139:13) That is the psalmist acknowledging God\u2019s creation of him. I do not see the moment of life in that verse. I don\u2019t know that the test<\/em> to measure that belief in a loving, forgiving Lord should be if someone believes abortion is sinful or not. There are a multitude of sins that Jesus lived and died to redeem. I should know. While I cannot imagine ever, personally, having an abortion, I surely have committed more than my fair share of sins.<\/p>\n

Returning to the original concept of evangelization, I fully embrace that as Christians it is important to evangelize, share the good news of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus for the redemption of our sinfulness. In the Wounded Healer, Henri Nouwen said that all Christian leadership is about what we give of our lives for others. The best way for that to happen is by entering into a relationship with someone and being present with that person, especially when that person is suffering.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

The reading this week is full of struggle for me. I still do not have all the answers. In fact, I have more questions.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Do we need to be able to have solid arguments about contemporary hot topics to bring people to Christ?<\/li>\n
  2. Could abortion be absolutely wrong? I do not know that. I do know as a mother, when we had the ultrasound and our daughter\u2019s heart could be seen and heard, right then, my child was alive.<\/li>\n
  3. What is my job as a Christian?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    There are two things I do know that I know for sure.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. I am not God so judging might be better left in God\u2019s hand.<\/li>\n
    2. What does the Lord require of me? To act justly, love mercy and to walk humbly with my God. (Micah 6:8 paraphrased)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      [1]<\/a> Matthew R. Petrusek, Evangelism And Ideology, How to Understand and Respond to the Political Culture<\/em> (Park Ridge, IL: 2023), 21.<\/p>\n

      [2]<\/a> Petrusek, Back cover.<\/p>\n

      [3]<\/a> Petrusek, 13,14.<\/p>\n

      [4]<\/a> Petrusek, 44.<\/p>\n

      [5]<\/a> Petrusek, 32.<\/p>\n

      [6]<\/a> Henri Nouwen, The Wounded Healer, Ministry in Contemporary Society<\/em> (New York: Random House, 1972), <\/em>79,84.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      I will start by admitting when I began reading this book I wanted to shut down. It probably did not help that my work week got very stressful after someone threatened to shoot at one of my group homes with a real gun after he used a paint gun on our cars and windows of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":211,"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":[2997,2967],"class_list":["post-37332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-petrusek","tag-dlgp03","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37332","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\/211"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37332"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37333,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37332\/revisions\/37333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}