Now for the Fun Questions

Now we get "controversial" and I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I enjoyed coming up with these. PS These are my actual, slightly toned down, opinions and beliefs.

13. How do you understand, and respond to the traditional Quaker testimony in the
area of war and peace?
I wholeheartedly agree with it. The goal of the kingdom of God is to bring all people into a reconciled relationship with God. It is really hard to reconcile dead people. Seriously though, Jesus teaches us that we are to love our enemies, not just personal enemies, but our cultural, social and societal enemies as well. Jesus had every opportunity to drive the oppressive Romans into the sea, but instead said “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.”

14. In what ways do you think the church should witness to justice (race, gender,
political and economic discrimination)?
The church should be in the forefront, welcoming those who have been treated unjustly directly into their hearts, homes and power structures. We should also not support the unjust actions of others, not financially, not through our actions nor through our inactions.

15. What is Christ’s call to simplicity? Integrity of speech and behavior?
The call to simplicity is not about things, but about intentions. Every time Christ talks about things, He does something interesting. He changes the subject. In doing this Christ is telling us that things are not what is important, our focus is. If we focus too much on things, either in their presence or absence, we lose sight of what our true focus is to be. “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.” The things will come and go, but if our focus on on doing God’s will, then we will be living the essence of the simplicity of Christ.

We are called to be ambassadors to the world. That means we do what other ambassadors do. We embody the best of God’s kingdom to the people we are around. We must weigh the words that come from our mouths to see that they communicate the correct impression of our King. Our actions will speak with more power than our words ever will, so even more than our words we must think about the impression of the kingdom that our actions will give.