Show Page 16 — The Herald Journal Lsgan Utah Thursday March 25 1999 Faith can sustain and support but it isn’t a crutch By David Waters Scripps Howard News Service Tragedy doesn't just test our faith It prosecutes Where was your God on the night of March 15 when that Amtrak train collided with that truck and 1 1 people perished in flames? If your God is so great why would he allow families like the Lipscombs and Bonnins of Mississippi — prayerful churchgoing people of faith — to suffer so? If your God is so good why do sweet children like Rainey and Lacey Lipscomb and Jessica Tickle Whitaker die so arbitrarily so capriciously? Truth is people of faith don't have all the answers Jeremiah's faith didn't stop him from lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem by lashing out at God Jesus' faith didn't keep him from weeping over the death of his friend Lazarus or from wondering for a moment why God had forsaken him Faith is incredibly but not shock-proshock-resista- nt of Fortunately when tragedy puts faith on trial eye- witnesses emerge prepared to testify for the defense It happened again last week “It was either lay down and die or pray and I just sat down and prayed” Cindy Lipscomb told a reporter hours after she saw the sleeper car that held daughters Rainey and Lacey burst into flames Faith Matters Max Bonnin whose devout wife June and granddaughter Jessica died in the wreck wanted everyone to know: “How we’ve been able to get through this with more peace than we ever thought was because of June and the spiritual walk we’ve been on the last five yean battling her cancer” Some people were surprised by how readily the Lipscombs and Bonnins testified for faith in the face of tragedy People of faith no longer surprise me They do continue to amaze me I used to think of faith as a crutch — a manmade construct used to prop people up in times of confusion and crisis Not anymore In my work as a reporter I’ve interviewed one witness after another Timna whose son died at age 21 told me faith was her refuge “I wonder about people who don't have faith” Timna told a reporter who was wavering on the matter “Their life must be constant turmoil” Carolyn whose infant son nearly died in her arms told me faith was her comfort “Faith isn’t something you can see” Carolyn told a reporter who had been looking too hard “but we are given clues all the time that it works” Alex whose wife and adult son died of cancer the same year told me faith was their courage “Daddy” Alex’s son told him before he died “God pulled back the curtain last night and I saw the glory and I'm ready to go’ that holds us Faith isn't a crutch It s a splint heal can broken places together so our balm that heals Faith isn't a miracle cure It s a soothes or mitigates pain Faith doesn't presene us from tragedy it prepares us for it "God is greater than our pain God is greater than our fears God is greater even than our love for said at the these two children" Rev James Loftin and for Lacey service Rainey memorial "In God's love we have hope” On that hope the defense rests at watersat)gomem-phiacoDavid Waters may be reached by or by mail at The Commercial Appeal PO Box 334 Memphis TN 38101 RTT T-Shirts Gay union trial begins today Trial could tear United Methodist Church apart CHICAGO — (AP) When two women first asked him to bless their “holy union” — in essence their wedding — the Rev Gregory Dell was hardly fazed "It was one beat and I said 'Why not?'” said Dell who was a pastor at a United Methodist church in Evanston when he got the request more than 15 years ago “There wasn't a whole lot of fuss about it” That has not been the case since Karl Reinhardt and Keith Eccarius stood before Dell and exchanged vows at their church on Chicago's North Side last September about a month after Methodist leaders had outlawed same-se- x ceremonies On Thursday Dell is to go on trial before a jury of 13 peers If he’s found guilty jurors may revoke his ordination ending his career as a Methodist minister "It is tragic” said the Rev Stephen C Williams a Methodist minister from the Chicago suburb of Franklin Park who is serving as church prosecutor" ‘ While he cares about Dell “as a friend and a human being” Williams said “I feel that lie’s broken a basic vow that all pastors take No pastor is larger than the covenant we are part of” Indeed those on both sides of the issue say this trial will be a defining — and possibly dividing — moment for the United Methodist Church and its 85 million members “Many are beginning to talk about irreconcilable differences” said the Rev James Heidinger president of Good News a conservative United Methodist group that wants a church based more in “historic scriptural Christianity" If Dell isn't punished he said "there’s going to be people 30-ye- ar across the church who say ’That’s it I can’t stay' " Others see the issue very differently Even Chicago Bishop C Joseph Sprague who filed the charges against Dell said he did so only grudgingly Before the new law took effect he had performed same-se- x unions as a pastor in Ohio Earlier this month an Oklahoma pastor resigned amid furor union she over a same-se- x blessed Still others remain defiant more than 90 including Methodist ministers who gathered at a Sacramento Calif church in January to bless the union of a lesbian couple Charges have been filed against an Iowa minister who participated and other charges are expected But Dell's trial will be the first to test the new church law — a law he said he broke out of duty “I don’t see it as some spectacular courageous thing to do” the minister said “If it's a faithful expression then you do it “I was celebrating the gift of I constructive affirming love was doing a service for two guys who love each other” said Dell who was a classmate at Duke University’s Divinity School of another controversial Methodist minister the Rev Jimmy Creech It was Creech’s 1998 trial over union at his former a same-se- x Nebraska church that prompted Methodist leaders to codify a “social principle” that had only advised against blessing same-se- x unions Creech who was not defrocked is on leave from the Methodist church A key to Dell’s defense will be the notion that church founder John Wesley would have wanted issues such as homosexuality to be handled on a church-bychurc- h basis — the approach taken by the Episcopal Church and United Church of Christ For Dell knowing the community around the church is important When he was posted in the 1970s to a congregation in Minooka a small Illinois fanning town he prayed for the Lions Club and joined in the Harvest Festival His current posting is very different “This is Boys Town” he said using the nickname for Chicago’s gay enclave and home to Dell’s Broadway United Methodist Church where about a third of the 181 members are homosexual "He’s the reason I’ve come back to church” said Reinhardt whose union was the 33rd that Dell has blessed 27" Stereo Color It's Utah's lowest on a name rand stereo monitor TV It's cable ready and comes with sleep timer on screen control and full remote While they last Factory Renewed JVC Compare at 27GT624 VHS--C Polmsize Camcorder Judaism and Christianity Passover and Easter They intersect during this season in calendar and theme The connections go back to the beginning What we know as Judaism emerged in the first century at the same time that what we call Christianity was emerging out of Judaism Those crucial times get a flawed but highly intriguing new spin in a book using analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls It's “The First Messiah" (HarperSanFrancisco $25) by Michael O Wise The scrolls arc by common agreement our century's most spectacular archaeological discovery Wise professor of ancient languages and history at Northwestern College an Evangelical school in St Paul Minn jointly translated one of the standard English translations of the scrolls In “Messiah” he depicts the leader of the scrolls community as the first of several messiah figures who arose among the Jewish people around the turn of the first millennium The most famous of course was Jesus of Nazareth For that reason the earlier messiah of the scrolls may seem like a “Christian” topic But it’s also an important issue for Jewish history and the focus of ongoing work by among others Israel Knohl of Jerusalem’s Hebrew University The scrolls underscore the great diversity in Jewish religion between 200 BC and AD 100 including a strong messianic strain One scholar Robert Eisenman has argued for years that the Dead Sea Scrolls were early Christian documents Hardly anyone agrees Wise thinks Eisenman's chronology is way off He says the leader of the scrolls community known as the “Teacher of Righteousness" went into exile around 75 BC and died soon afterward a full century before Jesus began his public ministry To add popular appeal Wise's book gives the anonymous Teacher the imaginary name of Judah ic That's an acceptable device but otherwise the approach gets irritating Instead of carefully nov-elist- 6299 TOSHIBA 900 mhx Cordless Phone 50x Hyper 2 Way CatosmfllD Bookshelf Speakers In recent weeks Reinhardt said church members have been meeting to devise an emergency plan in case Dell is defrocked They are considering buying the building from the church but only as a last resort he said “Do you leave the church if they refuse you? Our response is ’No you don't'” Reinhardt said “The church has been so good and positive in our lives Instead of walking away I'd rather stay and change it” - Dell's prosecutor 'does not think that is possible “If the church is to uphold its role in society as a guardian of moral instruction then pastors are obligated wherever they are to present the Christian faith as we understand it" Williams said If Dell’s understanding of that faith is different “then maybe he should join another denomination” he added Whatever the trial’s outcome Dell expressed confidence and he said “This is about something a whole lot more than one pas- tor" WipeFade GRAX640 HITACHI Ultra Black 50" Stereo Projection Visach at $69 3 CD Bookshelf Stereo System AJDIOroX ' Inner picture in picture surround sound and new easy to focus system 3 CD Changer Full Remote Dual Cassette AMFM Stereo Cmapare Compare at al$ $149 $1S99 Big Screen TVs As Low As 25" Color w Remote $1499 Full Rack Stereo Systems from $579 13" TVVCR Combo SANSUI 13" Color TV TV follow the trial He’s calling it “We’ve Only Just Begun” law-keep- er TV Even at this price it packs a punch “With twin v He's already chosen a theme for his Palm Sunday sermon which likely will immediately distinguishing between fact and speculation Wise blurs the two in his narrative about Judah That tactic makes the book less useful and undermines its scholarly substance Wise's scenario: The Pharisees who eventually created the rabbinic form of Judaism that has lasted nearly 2000 years originated in a lay movement around 150 BC They later became entangled in a Jewish civil war The keepers of the scrolls were hard-lin- e sectarians who opposed the Pharisees by then in league with the ruling aristocracy Judah says Wise led that protest as the first messiah ever to arise among the Jews He was regarded not just as a prophet proclaiming the kingdom of God but as the personality upon whom God’s kingdom was based He died perhaps by execution and his followers expected he would return in glory Sound familiar? To Wise the comparison between Judah and Jesus is striking Both men claimed unique authority and were teachers with rare gifts of expression Both were seen as messiahs and miracle-worke- rs Both ran afoul of the law after and ordinary Jews rulers the being rejected by The content of the two men's teaching was different Wise admits In some respects Jesus was a libIn eral whereas Judah was a rigid difthe Wise “software" was terms says computer ferent but “the hardware was virtually identical” He calls Judah's movement “the best parallel to the Jesus movement in all of world history” All of which brings Wise to an important conclusion Many liberal scholars of the New Testament have supposed that Jesus could not have said and done the kinds of things the Gospels report and would never have claimed to be the messiah at the center of God's kingdom But viewing the data as a scrolls historian Wise asks “If Judah why not Jesus?” The Judah analogy “suggests that we reconsider what much scholarship has denied: That the Jesus of history did make dime claims just as the Gospels say” Of course he adds whether the claims that Jesus made for himself are true is a completely different matter At that point historical research must give way to faith m $329 Camcorders from $199 wRemote 0 Easter intersects Jews Christians By Richard N Ostling AP religion writer TV Wt Sleep Timer Remote Control Full Warranty at $249 216 AJDIOFOX Porto CD Full Remote Auto Play Cable Ready Compare at $189 at $299 TOSHIBA 36" Stereo Big Tube Playor TV Incredible price on a huge 36” from Toshiba with on screen control and sleep timer a to Compare at $1099 Our lowest price on s compact CD with headphones on Hand at $49 SONY AMFM CD Boombox 2® Disci Blank Model closeout with errand remote ACDC operation CPDV35 at $99 HU ling in audio Great replacement for cassette Whs $399 ONLY No ora turned down plant! datoilt im n Call for or SRXCES LOGAN 155 E 1400 N 753-8311 0am-7p- OCE ft— iuikfer Credit STOKES CREDIT Apply for your a Q JVC 3 Pock "K&raE SONY Mini Bundle - Roco wer 100 Trocs on 0 Mon-Thu-n m I OamSpm t Oam-7p- m M Oat r |