XXFREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
    Answer:  This is an important concept that I believe Jesus spent his life attempting to flush out.  
    Think about what Jesus was really teaching – ( Kingdom of God ) – German theologian Hans Kung
    explains as the past, present and future.

    The Church has always had a fascination about the first and last part where the past – where
    history/law seems to never change or evolve and its interpretation is fossilized in a much different
    time and place.  The Church is just as fascinated with the future, salvation, heaven, hell, rapture,
    2nd coming, etc.  Fundamental theology teaches to take the past and use it as a measuring stick
    for the future.  In other words, your future will be determined on how you embrace the past.

    That is not the overriding message of Jesus.  His focus was on the here and now, the present.  The
    message to Love God and each other, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, find
    the lost, care for the orphaned and widowed, bear fruit, love your enemy, live abundantly,
    forgiveness, faith, failings of religion (past) and not judging others (future).

     While religion through the ages has erected barriers, walls, hoops to jump through, creeds to
    recite and certainly knows who is righteous and who is not, Jesus came to tear down barriers!  He
    embraced the sinner, the outcast, certainly the ones we often deem as those not saved, according
    to our interpretation and understanding.

    The ministry of Jesus was certainly aimed to a certain time and people in past history to prepare
    for a future that embraced eternity but it was a call played out in the here and now.

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Frequently Asked Questions
Electronic Check Processing
    Answer:  I Perhaps the most logical response in the Protestant tradition is that we are very
    careful not to appear to Catholic.  We all descended from the Roman Catholic Church and many
    times consciously avoid symbols or traditions that might appear catholic, ie: ashes.

    The kneeling is actually what is called genuflexing which literally mean bending one knee to the
    ground and theologically taken from Philippians 2:10, “At the name of Jesus every knee shall
    bow.”  This act is an attitude and gesture of humility and penitence.

    Historically it was adopted as a form of reverence toward Bishops and Priests and not until 1502
    did it become common practice in the liturgy of worship.  The understanding is that genuflexing is
    a practice that recognizes the presence of Christ either at the tabernacle, altar, cross, or
    sacraments.  This practice is always done facing this presence and not toward the pew.

    The practice and symbolism of making the sign of the cross can be much more complex.  There
    are several types (3) of signs made by either parishioners or priests but the most common is the
    sign made while genuflexing which affirms the trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and redemption
    by Jesus’ death.  The crossing to some also symbolizes the following: forehead – heaven, chest –
    hell, left shoulder – evil, right shoulder – Jesus sitting at the right hand of God.

    In the UMC we embrace whatever ritual, practice or symbolism brings you closer to God’s
    presence.  As in any practice that becomes rote and continual it is vital to understand what is
    meant but what we do, whether we are Catholic or UM.
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Here are some questions that have been asked of Pastor Mark.  If you would
like to submit a question by email, just click this link.  Please be sure to write
FAQ as the subject.  Thank you.

    Answer:  Define faithful – “Loyal, reliable, worthy of trust, consistent reality”

    It does not include the words, perfect, martyrdom, flawless, completely.

    The issue here is the constant struggle to compartmentalize God.  Often we see life as embracing
    “God things” and “our things”.  On one hand we have God stuff which includes our church,
    devotions, committees, missions and holy stuff like worship.  Then we have our stuff like family,
    self care, recreation, vacation and hobbies.

    With this theology we often carry enormous guilt and a martyr syndrome where we think if our
    eyes aren’t drooping and we aren’t running on fumes we evidently are doing enough to serve God.  
    How can one ever be faithful and play golf at the same time, it has to be one or the other, right?  I
    reply wrong……….

    Can we always do more?  Yes, but it is the wrong question.  When our spirits are driven only by
    tasks, events and to do lists, we often become “me” driven and the result is often anger, fear and
    brokenness.  We all have been there.

    The question we need to pose is, can I be more?  This is when we are driven by the moment of life,
    where every breath is directed, fed, led and made whole to possibilities.  For example let’s take
    worship.  If we are event driven then we are here so check it off your to do list but if we are
    moment driven we look at how we can make this time more complete and abundant.

    Answer:  This truly is not so much about whether God punishes or rewards as it is a question of
    your theology.  In other words who is God and what does God do.  There are as many camps as
    there are people discussing theology.  For example here is one from the Rev. S. Tusing:

    Not only is it in the New Testament but I have lived it. In 1991 while I was in prayer the Lord told me
    to quit smoking, but I told the Lord, "No, I will cut down but I will not quit!" A few days later my left
    lung collapsed. I went to the hospital, was treated and released in a couple of days. During the next
    few days I had smoked about 7 cigarettes. My lung collapsed again. After my release from the
    hospital I finally quit. I have no doubt that God was punishing me because of my sin.
    If your theology embraces a theistic being who hovers in the sky with nothing better to do than
    keep score of every human being and not only tally the scores but render punishments and
    rewards than this understanding makes sense.

    Now, I understand that I would be hard pressed to say that scripture does not have examples of
    God’s wrath, punishment and theocracy.  However, in such writings and understandings most
    anything outside the realm of normal was seen as God intervening to either curse of bless you.  If
    one was ill, had epilepsy, bleeding, leprosy, etc it was always deemed as God’s punishment for
    either their sin or the sin of the family.  It is my hope that we have evolved in not only in our theology
    but also in our understanding of science, biology and physiology.

    We tread on some very shaky theology when we proclaim that even natural disasters are the
    wrath of God as many televangelists have alluded too.  Whether it is homosexuality, sins of the
    Haitians, that causes planes to crash into buildings or tsunamis to destroy societies because God
    is angry, my belief is that this understanding truly limits our perception of God and reduces it to the
    great accountant in the sky.

    I embrace that in this life there are natural laws and often when we violate these laws we either
    blame or assert the consequences to God.  To put it another way, we have a tendency to relinquish
    responsibility and use God as a scapegoat, which I feel makes us theologically weak and God no
    more than a celestial dictator.


    So we are left with passages like Hebrews 12 that talk about punishment and discipline but I think
    our responsibility is to look within.  To see how we are the cause of our demise and brokenness
    and see God as a path to wholeness and restoration not by condemnation but by grace and mercy.
    Answer:  Angels are The question of the ages:  Who is in and who is out?  Who is going to
    heaven and who is taking the trip to the bottom floor?  There are as many answers and
    interpretations as people willing to provide so-called truth, who claim, by scripture only, to know
    the complete and total will and mind of God.

    It would seem to me from that premise that the conclusion is terribly flawed.  That somehow we
    could even fathom the God’s will, mind and ways.  No don’t get me wrong, religion has figured out
    that if we can convince people that we do know God’s mind then they can control behavior, purse
    strings, fear, procreation and generational beliefs, then life becomes much more controllable and
    simpler.  If religion can become, judge, jury, jailer, executioner, interpreter and bailiff, then what
    else is left to conquer?

    Again I believe the premise is flawed when we entertain discerning completely, “I am”, the maker
    of heaven and earth, eternity, “Word of God”, where God’s call in life is to solve the questions
    rather than live the questions.

    “Whenever you take a theological stance, your not just marrying a spouse, you’re getting a set of
    in-laws as well.”  Theological ideas have consequences and the more specific your position the
    more likely it is you will carry baggage you had not intended.”  For example, if we take John 14:6, “I
    am the way, the truth and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me.”  This is the
    fundamentalist playground for exclusive salvation where in that line of thinking it becomes the
    newly married spouse.  May I introduce some of the unexpected in-laws when it comes to
    salvation or as most Christians understand, “getting to heaven?”

    Lk 18:29 “I assure you that anyone who leaves home or wife or brothers or parents or children for
    the sake of the kingdom will receive eternal life.”  Ie: cults.

    Mt 12:36-37 “You can be sure that on judgment day everyone will have to give account of every
    useless word they have ever spoken.  Your words will be used to judge you – to declare you either
    innocent or guilty”

    Mt 25:45-46  “I tell you, whenever you refused to help one of the least important ones, you refused
    to help me.  These then, will be sent off to eternal punishment, but the righteous will go to eternal
    life.”

    My litmus test is this in my theology, “God is Love”.  In every situation how is love being lived out,
    transforming and witnessed.  If I understand anything about the life and ministry of Jesus it was
    always taking the exclusive certainty of the religious establishment and turning it upside down and
    backwards.  Jesus always took the supposed outsiders, the unredeemed; the cast offs from the in
    crowd and embraced them.  His ministry was never one of abandonment and elitism but one of
    inclusiveness.

     “There are many rooms, “In my Father’s house” – why do we assume this is heaven?  Mt, Mk, Lk
    always refer to the overall message of Jesus as the KOG where John translates it as “Life” or life
    to the full”

    “The place where I am going?”, Is this really heaven?  Many scholars believe that it is the place of
    suffering, death and crucifixion in which he must go alone.


    I continue to struggle with what I call Geographical salvation, that is dependant on genetics, culture
    and world view vs. God’s love that is transcendent, merciful, providential, majestic, and creative
    which from the very beginning in God’s word, was good!

    Am I confident that someone incapable of understanding God will be saved, yes!  Am I confident
    that those who have never called on the name of God, as we know it, will be saved?  I am confident
    that God’s ways are not my ways and that God’s way is far deeper, wider, longer and greater than
    my understanding when it comes to the thought that, “God is love”.
    Question 7:  In the Catholic Church, people kneel before entering a pew and
    make a sign of the cross so why don’t we do that in the UMC?
    Question 9:  Does God punish us?
    Question 10:   Can you explain about the salvation of handicapped persons
    and those of different religions?