I do understand why CRT is so hard to understand & accept for many white evangelicals. It requires an understanding of collective, systemic, & generational dynamics that often reside in their blindspots.
1/ It also requires a less fundamentalist, narrow understanding of general revelation & knowledge, esp regarding academic fields beyond theology.
It requires the ability to see all knowledge as God's and do integrative, synthetic work.
2/

Let America Be America Again ~ Langston Hughes

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

🪡
1/ Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

2/

American Evangelicals use a few verses in Proverbs to frame poverty as a moral failure.
We attribute poverty to laziness & see it as a sin, which means we can turn a blind eye.

A fuller reading of Proverbs shows that this is a malformed & anemic theology of poverty...🧵1/ Prov 14:21 Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who's generous to the poor.

14:31 Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who's generous to the needy honors him.
2/

Since Florida Man has put history on the table, a quick thread on the importance of well-researched works on history.🧵
Historical narratives are incredibly powerful which is why the ancients used all sorts of rhetorical devices in presenting their stories in writing. 1/ The issue from the beginning was not about cold, hard facts, but about a narrative that makes sense of events. This is why the adage about the winners writing history is a deep truth.
So here are just a couple of examples of historical study that immensely helped me. 2/

Doing some work today on righteousness (צדקה) in the OT/HB.
Some helpful notes:
Righteousness is both a state & something that is enacted. God is both righteous and acts righteously.

Righteous acts = just acts. Justice is inextricably tied to the idea of righteousness. 1/ In the ANE, righteousness is primarily rooted in ethical considerations. More than an abstract sense of good, it is rooted in societal interactions & institutions.

In a related sense, lexical studies in OT contexts highlight that righteousness relates to community loyalty. 2/

Inspired by a recent Twitter conversation, let me connect some dots that help us better understand the poor widow in Luke 21.🪡🧵
🔴Deut 14:28-29
The abundance of God meant there would be a regular tithe that would feed Levites, foreigners, the orphan, and the widow.
1/ 🔴1 Kings 6
Solomon builds an extended structure on the temple that would serve as a storehouse for offerings and temple furnishings.
There is a structure to help store the resources for the Levites & the care of needy foreigners, orphans, and widows.
2/

When a woman is abused, the marriage vows have been violated by the abuser.
She is not being treated as flesh of his own flesh, she is not being loved as Christ loves his bride.
Not protecting her for the sake of the marriage is misguided and harmful.
(🧵) + In fact, the Torah provides a powerful example of God's protective care for women that is instructive in these matters.

In Num 5, there is legal instruction regarding the adjudication of cases where a woman is accused of adultery without witnesses. +

A 🪡 about America in the larger scheme of world history.
I've often heard that America is a special nation chosen & blessed by God.
As I grow in my study of Scripture, esp the OT, I am struck by how incongruous this sentiment is with the vision of nations in the Bible. 1/ I want to focus on the Messianic Kingdom and how it stands in contrast to the great empires of world history.
In Isaiah 60 the LORD describes Zion as the heart of an utterly unique kingdom due to the rule of the Messiah. 2/

Have heard some use Joseph's story as an example of forgiveness and moving on. Well, maybe not that simple. (🧵 coming):

First, what the brothers did to Joseph was trafficking in slaves. It is a sin punishable by death in the law (Deut 24:7), i.e., a really bad sin. 1/ Now when Joseph finally gets his chance to see his brothers, he doesn't just forgive and forget.

He runs them through a series of brutal tests.
Is this a classic story trope where we see Joseph's genius in testing his brothers? 2/

A thread on being poor and parental love.🧵

I grew up poor during my grade school/middle school years & then lower middle class during my h.s. years.

My parents were always so tight with 💰 out of necessity. To me & my younger brother, it just felt like stinginess. 1/ Or we thought this was just how Korean immigrant parents were.🤷‍♂️
They were so stubborn about not buying anything unnecessary or a little too extra.
They were almost mean about it at times, but I realize they had to be because we were so annoying in asking for stuff. 2/

An encouragement from a study of the Psalms (🧵)

The form & style of a lament psalm and a psalm of confidence are similar. In both, the psalmist expresses strong emotions over a crisis, whether individual or communal. In both, the psalmist appeals to God out of desperation. 1/ And while both types of psalms read similarly up to a point, the lament remains in a minor key as the psalmist keeps faith while wrestling with pain.
The psalm of confidence diverges at the end, going into a major key and culminating in an expression of confidence & trust. 2/

Gracious disagreement on non-essentials (🧵):

I hold to certain positions when it comes to various secondary theological questions. I used to want to correct others who disagreed and saw this as an important part of my Xian walk.

Then something funny happened... 1/ I started to find that intelligent, faithful believers reading the same Bible held different views and yet, I saw the fruit of the Spirit!
Wait! How could this be?

In fact, the further I went in my theological/biblical studies, I realized there's a lot I don't know. 2/

In John 21:18-19, Jesus reveals to Peter how his life will end. Yes, there is a prediction of martyrdom, but there is more that is often missed. (Sermon notes🧵)

In Peter's earlier journey as a disciple, he wanted prominence and to prove himself to Jesus and the others. 1/ It makes sense that he would see himself as the one who would never abandon Jesus, even attempting to protect Jesus by the sword.

But the trifold denial of Jesus on the ight of Jesus' arrest broke Peter and crushed his sense of identity as a leader. 2/

Not going to go too deep into this hydroxychloroqione kerfufffle but...
I've worked as a pharmacist at a cancer research center. The strict regulations we have to observe for every clinical trial will make your head spin. Binders of protocols & strict compliance procedures. 1/4 If we have any mishaps including even having a storage freezer lose power, we have to document these incidents and report them to the people supervising that study.
We document every vial, pill, dose and account for every gram & milliliter used. 2/4

COVID-19 has a viral profile like the flu. It's respiratory & spread by contact, not airborne.
It responds to the same basic precautions & measures that mitigate against the flu. Let's be wise - use sanitizers, wash hands thoroughly, & avoid unnecessary contact. And a few more notes while we're here:
I'm an oncology pharmacist and work in sterile prep. COVID-19 is not airborne meaning the virus isn't viable in the air for extended periods of time. It is however spread by aerosol media. 1/

Been reading through 1-2 Kgs/1-2 Chron as well as the prophetic passages associated with Israel's & Judah's historical narratives. It has been enlightening to review this history & their respective descents toward judgment. There are relevant parallels for today. 1/ In the Northern Kingdom (Israel) the history of these tribes led to a tragic trajectory in which the wicked kings led Israel into blatant idolatry. They erected shrines to Asherah, Baal, Molech, et al and worshipped them openly. Their apostasy was open and blatant. 2/

Some thoughts on migration/immigration:
Human migration has been a reality for as long as people groups have been around. Groups organically seek out favorable conditions. This is reasonable behavior.
This has been around much longer than the concept of national borders. 1/ In recent history, this natural human behavior has been complicated by national entities, borders, diplomatic relationships, and immigration laws. 2/

Here is the heart of hypocrisy when it comes to our southern border crisis: 1) We say we want to reach & love the nations, but we fear them & treat them like subhumans when they come to our shores. We value our wrong conceptions of security more than their humanity. 1/ 2) We say we are a nation of laws and that we want to honor what is legal. Yet, we twist, obfuscate, & abuse those very laws when those laws actually help refugees, asylum seekers, immigrants, and those in need. We only want to keep the laws that benefit us. 2/