Author Archives: Caleb Coy

_Not Worth Fighting For_ Review: Part 11

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The last chapter discussed what Jesus meant by “bringing a sword”.

In Chapter 11, Andy Alexis-Baker looks at the case study of a Roman Soldier: “What About the Centurion?”

The argument has gone that since the centurion showed great faith, and that Jesus commended him, and did not tell him to leave the service, that it was ok for the centurion to be a soldier, and thus it’s ok for Christians to war.

But if you grew up with the heritage of faith that I did, you are very very familiar with how the whole “making arguments from silence” thing works.  I’ve seen whole debates on whether silence is permissive or prohibitive (or either of these exclusively).  Baker says “Jesus’ silence on the centurion’s profession has become a tacit endorsement of Christians becoming involved in state-sponsored killing.”

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Today I celebrate Las Casas Day

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I am indebted to James Loewen’s Lies My Teacher Told Me in the creation of this post. Please take the time to read it if you are a teacher, interested in history, or are curious about what people have told you about the world and how much of it is true.

I will never celebrate Columbus Day. Well, I never really did celebrate Columbus Day. I mean, what do we do? Not anything really. It’s a wasted holiday that should be done away with immediately, and there wouldn’t be anything to miss if we did.
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Electing Faithfulness: Part 1: Considering Third Roads

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Considering Third Roads
or
What’s Wrong with These Guys?
or
Egyptians or Amorites?  Who’s it Gonna Be?

You heard a debate the other day.  It was between two guys likely to take the role of single individual holding the most official power in America.  Seems like a big deal.  It is, in a way, but when you look at the big picture, it ends up not being much of one at all.  Still, a pretty big deal.

So many of you will likely think of picking choice A or B.  I see why.  I mean, this is how the game seems to work, right?  People give you two choices and you pick one of them.  And to be fair, in all likelihood, it will be one of these two fellas.  That’s how the system tends to work.  I will tell you now that I don’t intend on voting for either of these guys.

One way in which it has been explained is this:

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_Not Worth Fighting For_ Review: Part 10

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The last chapter dealt with what it meant for “every soul to be subject to governing authorities“.

Chapter 10 Samuel Wells deals with a puzzling statement made by Jesus.  Now we ask, “Didn’t Jesus say he came not to bring peace, but a sword?”

Matt. 10:34-39 is the central text in this chapter.  Jesus did in fact say these words: “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

The irony Wells points out is that nearly every Christian will tell you Jesus didn’t “come to bring the sword”, and yet so many Christians act as if he did, whereas he said he did “come to bring the sword”, and yet his life and the lives of his followers after his ascension show the opposite.  So something’s strange here, right?

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Announcing: The Caleb Coy Election Frenzy Series?

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Aren’t you tired of those messages telling you about what your Christian duty to vote entails?

I’m going to be honest with you and tell you that I am personally interested in sharing with you how I feel about political issues, why I feel the way I do, and why I am genuinely interested in what I share with you affecting the way you perceive them.  If you are not interested in sharing that kind of thing, this next series of blog posts may not be for you.
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_Not Worth Fighting For_ Review: Part 9

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Chapter 8 addressed the violence in the Old Testament and how we reconcile that with Christian nonviolence.

Chapter 9 deals with a single passage that gets abused quite a bit: “Let Every Soul be Subject”.  Lee Camp tackles what this passage means in context, instead of in the absurd isolation in which it is often quoted, violently ripped from God’s word in order to serve agendas of violence.

If you read the entire passage of Romans 13, you realize that this one phrase was never meant to be a military mantra.  We are to “present [our] bodies as living sacrifices” before God, and commanded not to “conform to the age” (often translated “the world”).  Since we are a new creation, we live according to a new age.  So whatever authorities we are under, they’re not ours.
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Why Are Finland’s School’s Successful?

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Why Are Finland’s Schools Successful? by LynNell Hancock
The country’s achievements in education have other nations doing their homework

Worth a read to all American educators.  The quote that made my day?

“Children from wealthy families with lots of education can be taught by stupid teachers,” Louhivuori said, smiling. “We try to catch the weak students. It’s deep in our thinking.”
Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/Why-Are-Finlands-Schools-Successful.html#ixzz27rl2AZOo
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Book Trailer for _Wonder_ by R.J. Palacio

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Recently I read the new juvenile fiction novel Wonder by R.J. Palacio, about a boy born with a facial disfigurement who is about to enter public school for the first time.

I was on a team with two others, Paige Horst and Katie Estes, cohorts of a graduate class in teaching young adult literature.  Our goal was to create a book trailer for Wonder.  We focused on the motif of space and the universe in the novel.

I recommend Wonder for adults and children.  It’s a great message about kindness.

_Not Worth Fighting For_ Review: Part 8

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In the last chapter Greg Boyd argued that God expects all Christians to “turn the other cheek,” but he may not necessarily hold nations to a standard only held within a covenant with him.

Chapter 8 begins the other side of the book.  Before, we looked at “practical” questions that apply scripture to situations.  The second half deals more with interpreting and understanding what scripture says on the matter, beginning with Ingrid Lilly’s question “What About War and Violence in the Old Testament?”

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_Not Worth Fighting For_ Review: Part 7

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I remember one time we were with some friends watching How to Train Your Dragon with some friends who had children.  I said, “I wonder if there’s some critics who say this film is bad because it’s telling us to love terrorists or something.”  The guy said, “yeah, can you believe people actually believe that?”  I think he meant the loving terrorists thing.  Of course the whole point was that the dragons weren’t the real enemy, but the monster they were serving.  So is there a kind of person we are not called to love?

While the previous chapter focused on soldiery, in chapter 7 Greg Boyd asks, “Does God Expect Nations to Turn the Other Cheek?”  We actually may be surprised by his answer.  I had previously read Boyd’s book The Myth of a Christian Nation, a terrific read that asks us to reconsider the naive notion that America is “Christian” in any tangible sense, by looking at scripture.

He reminds us that Jesus’ instructions are unconditional, and that God has even the worst, most violent of our enemies in mind, not just meanies down the block, in Matt.5:38-48; Luke6:27-36; Rom.12:14-21; 1 Peter 3:9,14-18.  Imagine, he says, that Al Qaeda ruled America, and you will know the animosity the Jews felt toward Rome.  But since what Jesus did for isn’t just what he did, but reflects what he wants us to do (be willing to die innocently loving our enemies and not harming them), Christians don’t have the right to choose who they will and won’t love, will and won’t show loving action toward.
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