Author: RJ Walters

I am an Independent thinking, highly functional person who is deaf and has some unique views and challenges in life. Like all of us, I am a person who is composed of all my life experiences and that is what I write about here.
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The Radical 60’s

RJ Walters

When people think of the 1960’s the first thing that comes to mind are all the protest marches and hippies on the college campuses. I was in college during these years and did see some of that but that was definitely what I was about. As mentioned in the previous post I spent most of my time working, going to classes, studying, working, and working. My dad was a milkman and didn’t have the money to help me through college so I ended up paying my way through by working almost full time and carrying an 80% course load. Most … Continue reading The Radical 60’s

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Christ and whose Culture?

RJ Walters

I recently read an article in the June issue of Sojourners magazine ( http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj0906&article=christ-and-i-whose-i-culture ) about Christ and Culture. It was related to past evangelism focused on stripping native culture in order to bring Christ to an aboriginal people. In my mind this has always seemed wrong and I can’t understand how it could not have seemed so to those doing it then. I just don’t understand why there was no voiced dissent about it. But maybe there was and it is just not well known. But then again in those days Christians bought into the worldview that Indians and … Continue reading Christ and whose Culture?

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My College Years…

RJ Walters

Ok, I have my new scanner and have dusted off all the albums of pictures in the utility closet so I am just about ready to start the project of digitizing all our old pictures. I decided on using Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 as the digitizing software. It is a little harder to use than my old software but the results are markedly better.  As I mentioned before this is going to be a five month project as there are thousands of pictures involved. (Postscript July 2010 — As it turns out this project ended about eight months after it was started. … Continue reading My College Years…

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Seven Social Sins (The Catholic version)

RJ Walters

Recently the Catholic church, and in particular Pope Benedict, came out with their own list of what they consider the seven social sins of the current times. It is interesting to see how this list is different from Gandhi’s of my last post. The seven social sins are: 1. “Bioethical’ violations such as birth control 2. “Morally dubious” experiments such as stem cell research 3. Drug abuse 4. Polluting the environment 5. Contributing to widening divide between rich and poor 6. Excessive wealth 7. Creating poverty Pope Benedict has spoken out on several social issues throughout his three-year papacy. He encouraged Catholics to … Continue reading Seven Social Sins (The Catholic version)

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Seven Deadly Social Sins (The Gandhi version)….

RJ Walters

I know the above is not from a Christian person but it is certainly Christian in nature and principle. I found it under a pile on my desk. I wish it had remained on top but that was not the case. Anyway, it will now reside in a reserved section of my bulletin board above my desk. Of course this is a play off of “The Seven Deadly Sins” that played out in the Christian church in the middle ages.  Here is what Wikipedia says about that: The Seven Deadly Sins, also known as the Capital Vices or Cardinal Sins, … Continue reading Seven Deadly Social Sins (The Gandhi version)….

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Cheap Grace is VERY Expensive!!

RJ Walters

The term Cheap Grace was originally found in a book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer entitled The Cost of Discipleship. Bonheoffer was a Lutheran pastor and theologian in Germany during Hitler’s rise to power. He was hung by the SS as a traitor in 1945 as he rejected Hitler’s rule. To get started let’s look at the following excerpt is from Wikipedia: In Bonhoeffer’s words: “cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.” Or, to put it even more … Continue reading Cheap Grace is VERY Expensive!!

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Moment by moment…

RJ Walters

Some seem to think that all that is required to be a Christian is to take an altar call and declare that Jesus is your Lord and Savior and then go on about your daily business as if nothing has changed. I know I have been in that mode sometimes myself. But, that couldn’t be further from the truth. That type of mentality is what Bonhoeffer correctly termed “cheap grace”.  Being a sinful lazy person it is easy to be trapped in the “let others do it” mode. I have come to realize that being a Christian means living in … Continue reading Moment by moment…

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Our Sheltered Lives…..

RJ Walters

I am a frequent visitor to several Christian blogs. One of the bigger ones I recently visited was discussing  Matt 26:11  The poor you will always have with you.  There were the usual posts saying that Jesus was inferring that “since the poor will always be here why bother to do anything about it”. These types of comments used to get me upset but I know that is NOT was Jesus was saying so they don’t get to me like they used to. But there were several comments the to post from people who clearly don’t understand what it means … Continue reading Our Sheltered Lives…..

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Charity….

RJ Walters

Charity has always been an important Christian characteristic. Jesus was constantly giving of himself to others. Often times when he did it he said not to tell others about his act. His giving is the reason that we have salvation.  Jesus clearly expects us to also have charity, especially to the poor and needy.  Here is the verse we will use today to study this concept.  Matt 6:2-4 NIV “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you … Continue reading Charity….

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The Epistle of James Study 3

RJ Walters

James 4 This post is the final post of my study of the epistle of James.  Today we will study chapter four and five. James somewhat changes course in these chapters. The previous three chapters focused primarily on faith and works. These two chapters view of living a Christian life. As before James’ words are in blue and mine are in black. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. — This verse helps me understand previous verses in the Bible where is flatly say … Continue reading The Epistle of James Study 3

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The Epistle of James Study 2

RJ Walters

James 2 This post is a continuation of my study of the epistle of James.  Today we will study chapters two and three. As before James’ words are in blue and mine are in black. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. — Of course this was the constant mantra of the Apostle Paul too. We need to constantly be reminded that the Law is there to show us our sin and therefore our total need of Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Does this fact invalidate … Continue reading The Epistle of James Study 2

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The Epistle of James Study 1

RJ Walters

I am going to do something I don’t do often on this blog. I am going to concentrate the next few posts on an epistle. Particularly the epistle of James. Some of the reasons I am doing this is because James, being brother of Jesus, was one of the few people to know Jesus his entire life.  (A short sub note here — I have recently read where in Jesus’ time the Aramaic term “brother” was used to include brothers, cousins, second cousins, and many other males in a direct family line.  So James being Jesus’ brother might not mean … Continue reading The Epistle of James Study 1

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Upon This Rock? ……..

RJ Walters

I will admit for the first time on this blog that I am currently a member of a Protestant Church (but I won’t tell you which one :) ). Of course the Protestant church had their origin in the 16th century when Luther challenged the existing church authorities. Lutherans like to think of this encounter the same as when Jesus remanded the existing Jewish church authority. For me I’m not sure that is a valid comparison. After studying this period I have come to the conclusion that things got totally out of hand during this encounter. Both sides were screaming … Continue reading Upon This Rock? ……..

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Like Children…

RJ Walters

Is it possible to know too much about Christian theology. I didn’t used to think so but I am tending to come to that conclusion recently. It seems that the more I study Christian theology/doctrine/dogma the more I see the disharmony in Christ’s church. Because of that I am beginning to wonder if anyone really has it right! To me the most important verses in the Bible are: Matt 22:36-40 NIV “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ … Continue reading Like Children…

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Is Religion an idol??

RJ Walters

Is it possible for the Christian Religion itself to be an idol? I believe it can be and here is why.   Yes, if it’s point is to show our superiority over others. Many of us Christians sit in our churches and seem to snub our nose at those who are not like us. We are convinced that we have all the answers to life and everyone else just needs to come to us to get it right. When we have this kind of mindset we have turned our religion into an idol. We must realize that we are all in … Continue reading Is Religion an idol??

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Why So Many Versions of Christianity?

RJ Walters

This post is more or less a follow up of the previous post discussing the differences between Christian sects. I have been thinking lately about why there are so many versions of God and in particular Jesus’ Church. The more I study theology the more versions of Jesus I seem to come across. There are more than 35,000 different Christian sects out there now and each one thinks their version of Jesus is the “real” one and all the others have it to varying degrees wrong. I think that almost everyone wants a version of Jesus that they feel the … Continue reading Why So Many Versions of Christianity?

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The Varying Theological Views of Justification

RJ Walters

This is an awfully theological sounding title and is not typical of what I do on this blog. But as a result of the previous post I just wanted to study a little more on this justification issue. In particular I will be looking at how the major dominations differ in their views of justification. In order to make this manageable let’s break this down into different paragraphs. I will start with the Roman Catholics and Orthodox churches and then show how as a result of the Protestant Reformation others came to view it. Just to understand the magnitude I … Continue reading The Varying Theological Views of Justification

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Justification?…

RJ Walters

This post will be the last and the most difficult post for me in this series on personal reflections in my walk with Christ.  Justification is an issue that I personally have troubles with. What is the theological definition of justification: a forensic term, opposed to condemnation. As regards its nature, it is the judicial act of God, by which he pardons all the sins of those who believe in Christ, and accounts, accepts, and treats them as righteous in the eye of the law, i.e., as conformed to all its demands. In addition to the pardon (q.v.) of sin, … Continue reading Justification?…

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Judging—

RJ Walters

This is a continuation of my personal reflections on how I am doing at “being” a disciple of Jesus Christ. During his three year ministry on the earth Jesus judged no one except the religious establishment.  Judging is a major idol in that Its purpose is usually to make us superior to others and that takes away our focus on God who is the ultimate judge at least at the final judgment. Here are some worthy passages in the red letters on the topic of judgment. Matt 7:1-5 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the … Continue reading Judging—

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Doing church vs. Doing Discipleship

RJ Walters

This is a continuation of my personal reflections on the world and where I might fit into it.  Is doing “church” separate from doing discipleship? Let’s investigate that question. I have always assumed that the two were actually the same but recently I have come across a couple of definitions of church that seem to separate the two practices. Here is a definition of “church” from Greg Ogden in his book Discipleship Essentials: A Guide to Building Your Life in Christ: ” The church is a caring community, a serving, studying, praying, healing community. But what is the fundamental purpose … Continue reading Doing church vs. Doing Discipleship

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Two Types of Worldviews…

RJ Walters

In the next few posts I am going to do some personal reflections. Will they be objective; of course not, after all they are personal to me and where I am in my life right now. If I am nothing else I am compassionate about things I truly believe in! I don’t pretend to have answers to the questions I have but I am constantly seeking wisdom from God’s word, particularly the red letters. Here is my first observation:  There seems to be two basic types of worldviews around today.   I am the master of my fate: I am in … Continue reading Two Types of Worldviews…