Category Archives: Scriptures

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Dear Pat…

Dear Pat Robertson,

As you well know, last Tuesday, thousands of Haitians were forced to reckon with what is likely the trial of their lives, an earthquake that decimated tens of thousands in a matter of seconds. All around the globe, acts and words of compassion have flowed like a river and will hopefully help restore and replenish what is left on this dusty isle.  But your words, Sir, do not seem to be compassionate or healing.

According to stories I have read, you have accused the Haitian people of bringing this disaster on themselves by “making a pact with the devil.”  Since you claim to be such a Biblical scholar, I know you are familiar with the words of Ecclesiastes 3. In this poignant chapter, God points out that there is a time for everything. There is a “time to weep and a time to laugh.” There is a “time to love and a time to hate.” “There is a time to be a silent and a time to speak.” Given that is a time to weep for Haitians, would it not be the time for us as Christians (or ones who profess to know Jesus Christ) to speak words of love and if we have none, to keep silent?

As a Christian, I do believe that our actions have consquences, but as we Christians also know that Jesus “causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous.” (Matthew  5:45) But no where in that verse does God say that we human beings can determine who God believes is good and evil or righteous or unrighteous. But apparently, Sir, you have been afforded the unique ability to connect some supposed pact with the devil made hundreds of years ago to what happened last Tuesday. I wonder if you have read Matthew 7 in a while. In its opening verse, we are cautioned not to judge others and that what we use to judges others will be used to judge us.  Because of that verse, I know I cannot judge you. But I do ask to that you look at verses 21-22. According to those verses, everyone that says “Lord, Lord” and professes to speak on His behalf and prophesy in His name does not necessarily know the Lord.

Finally, I want to point out Luke 14 to you. In this chapter, the religious leaders of the day, named Pharisees, asked Jesus if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath. In fact, they brought a sick man before him. We Christians know that Jesus in His lovingkindness commands us to rest on the Sabbath to replenish ourselves after six days of work. And so the Pharisees who were known to love the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law expected Jesus to say that not even healing could be done on the Sabbath. Jesus did not even respond in words then. Instead, he healed the man and sent him on his way. And then he spoke. “If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?” The Pharisees did not have anything to say.

Pact with the devil or not Pat, I wonder if you had family members who lived in Haiti, would you have uttered those words. Somehow, I doubt it…Again, I don’t want to judge you as that is not my right, but I do hope that you consider the words of the Bible as you speak in the future. And let us not forget that while we are not commanded to judge, we are commanded to pray. Let’s pray for the Haitians and help in their healing.

Sincerely-

Jacqueline J. Holness

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Who created Cain’s wife and other questions the Bible does not answer…

kinda funny depiction of Adam & Eve...

Hello World!!!

As I said in a previous post, my Bible study class is reading the book of Genesis and apparently, we will go through the entire Bible over the course of several months…

Since I grew up in church, I have read passages in probably most of the books of the Bible over the course of my lifetime, but I’ve never gone through the Bible from start to finish. I’m sure that I will learn volumes although my parents made sure that I had a solid Biblical education along with my academic education.  But I must admit, there are some lingering questions that I’ve had over the years that never seemed to be answered to my satisfaction.

And now that my class is going through the entire Bible, I’m sure those questions will resurface. One of those questions resurfaced during a telephone conversation I had over the weekend. And I had to admit, I didn’t have the answer. It is clearly stated in Genesis that Adam and Eve were created by God. The couple had two sons, Cain and Abel. It is also mentioned that Cain had a wife….well, who created that wife if only Adam and Eve were created by God? Hmmm…something to think about, huh?

Also during the telephone conversation, I was asked why Jesus Christ was called Jesus Christ when the letter J was not existent at the time Jesus Christ lived on earth….I asked my Bible study leader the answer to that question last night, and he said, I think,  that Jesus’ name was originally Yeshua and was translated to Jesus by the Greeks…I plan to ask him to explain that answer in more detail when I go to Bible Study tonight, God willing…

The ages of people in the Old Testament has also puzzled me. In Genesis 5, it is stated that Methuselah, a descendent of Adam, lived to be 969 years old. Shoot, Adam lived to be 930 years old. I didn’t attend Bible College so I pose this question to Bible scholars – Were years determined differently than they are today? If not, it is very hard to believe people lived for hundreds of years when in modern time, humans are blessed to live for even 80 years….

I’m sure more questions will be raised as I continue to study the text and discuss it with the people in my life. But the truth of the matter is that belief in the Bible itself, no matter what the passage, is an exercise in faith…I mean if some random man came up to me on the street today and said, he is the saviour of the world, I would gingerly back away from him and hope he did not chase me down the street. And if one of my girls told me she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit although she was a virgin, I would talk about her behind her back to my other girls. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen… I know what that sick boy’s father meant when he said to Jesus, “Lord I do believe. Help my unbelief.” (Mark 9:24) And Jesus healed his son right then. And this Bible verse below also applies to the situation.

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6

Because God is God and we are finite creatures, I imagine there will be questions that will not be answered while we are here on Earth, but I do believe that God will answer those who earnestly seek answers. Aside from all of that, I believe in Jesus Christ, Yeshua, Jehovah, the Prince of Peace, the only Begotten Son, Messiah, the Great Shepherd, the Amen, the Ancient of Days, the Alpha and the Omega and on and on because I’m seen Him at work in my life and in the lives of those around me…

How can I explain the answers to countless prayers…I cannot except I have in faith in God…And how is it anyway that I can get down on my knees and say words out loud in the air or inside of my head and God hears and answers…And how is that sometimes as I sit in church I can feel this joy that wells up inside of me so much that it spills out of my eyes in the form of tears…I cannot except I have in faith in God…and how is it that I’ve known people healed of all sorts of addictions and disorders that threatened to kill them…I cannot except I have faith in God…

I cannot explain the Holy Wars or why people in the name of Jesus have managed to commit crimes against humanity. I cannot explain why some church folk are more judgmental and nasty than the average person walking down the street on any given day. I cannot explain why people have used the Bible to enslave others. I cannot explain why a pastor would flashy a phony badge intending to impersonate an officer when he was stopped for speeding. Ridiculous! Human beings are fallible , Jesus Christ isn’t…

Any thoughts?

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My Glass is Half Full…

Hello World!!!

As of today, at least according to me, we are officially in the Thanksgiving season…and no matter what displays are already out in department stores, we are not in the Christmas season yet…

This year, I would like to focus on gratitude for the whole month of November rather than just on Thanksgiving Day…So what was the catalyst for this decision…Last week my manfriend aka my boyfriend D (do you really have a boyfriend if he is a fully grown man? I don’t know…) challenged me about my penchant to focus on negativity in some areas and predict negative outcomes…

I don’t think I’m an overall negative person but sometimes I do fall into the habit of focusing on what I don’t have rather than what I do have. He pointed out that everything in his life is not how he wants it to be either, but that he would rather focus on what he has. He said he always sees his glass as half full rather than half empty…

So the next day as I performed my work, I made an effort to see my glass as half full no matter what happened and be thankful for life just as it is.  And God pointed out to me in numerous ways that I have a lot to be thankful for even if He chooses to never bless me with anything else…As a part of my job, I have to park in several parking spaces all over town. As you would expect, I always try to find the spaces closest to my destination and luckily for me, that usually happens.

But the day after I decided to see my glass as half full, I ended up getting a parking space at a location a little farther away from where I am usually able to park – it was if as God was saying, “Ima see if she is going to be thankful if she has to go out of her way to get to her destination…” (Now some of y’all are probably saying, “You can’t pray to God to get a good parking space” or “God isn’t concerned about something as insignificant as a parking space.” Well,  in Bible study, we are studying the creation story in Genesis, and it is clear to me that God is so magnificent and magnanimous that He is concerned with everything that concerns His beloved creation – even parking spaces.) So as I was walking to my destination, I noticed a man getting out of his jeep, which was parked in one of the spaces that I had my eye on….It probably took at least 15 minutes for the man to get out his jeep as he walked with two canes…Obviously, he needed the space more than I did. As I watched him painstakingly make his way to his destination, I had to be thankful I could jump out my car, slam the door and be on my way in less than a minute. My glass is half full…

On any given day, I would like to be a few pounds thinner – seriously…but I was reminded last week how I used to be obsessed with my weight and control my food intake like it was a life and death situation…I mean I used to weigh myself several times a day and say all kinds of negative things to myself if I wasn’t at my desired weight. I.WAS. CRAZY…for real…Yeah, I still have my moments when I obsess about my weight for sure, but trust me it’s a long way off from how I used to be…My glass is half full…

If you have read my blog posts over the past year, you know that I would like to be a published book author…I feel like I’m destined to be a published book author and still it hasn’t happened…(Yes, I know about self-publishing…) But thanks be to God that I do get paid to write already…And I received a freelance writing check in the mail yesterday as I was working on my monthly budget (Shout out to Sonia!). Ain’t God good…My glass is half full…

I could rattle off more, but I want to hear from you…How is your glass half full?

And if you know me and you hear me saying a negative statement, you have permission to tell me to stop right then and thank God for my glass being half full…

Whatever happens, give thanks, because it is God’s will in Christ Jesus that you do this. I Thessalonians 5:18

Any thoughts?

P.S. I have also decided to bless rather than curse situations by speaking positively as “the tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Proverbs 18:21

I love this song about being thankful…I feel you girl…I hope to be singing this song one day…