Muse 011: March Edition

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ISSUE 011 MARCH 2013

MUSE

T H E WO R S H I P O F V I R G I N I T Y

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E DIT O R : M A K E N Z I E HALBER T DES I G N E R : M AT T H EW HOWEN

CONTRIBUTORS TOP ROW KOBY KRIkAc AMY SIMMONS TYLER GRIFFIN

BOTTOM ROW LAURA GRIFFITH NICK FINE THOMAS WILSON

NOT PICTURED SHAUN STEVENSON A U S T I N W AY

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L E T T E R F ROM THE EDITOR

It may be the case that I am alone in this, but I find this point in the spring semester to always be a bit difficult. We live in a state where spring is long awaited. Most days in March and April we awake hoping to see the sun and not have to wear waterproof footwear, and most days we are disappointed. The days are gloomy and the work load piles up as spring break moves towards us at what seems like an agonizingly slow pace.

I was walking outside the other day, unprepared for inclement weather, when it started pouring rain adding to the already bone-chilling wind. I ran as quickly as I could to my car and felt myself needing to repeat that, logically speaking, May has to arrive eventually. It has to.

Though this got me through my momentary frustration directed at the Portland weather, this is not how I want to approach the season I am in -- speaking both literally and metaphorically.

I was in class this past week and the professor essentially said that we serve a God who created the heavens and the earth and who daily upholds the entire universe, yet somewhere in the midst of our day we have the nerve to complain about the weather. Shouldn’t we be in awe of the power of our God? Again, maybe I’m alone, but I immediately felt the pangs of guilt when I thought back to my cursing of the rain not days before.

This may be a simple sentiment, but I want to strive to be thankful this month. I want to praise God for the rain because it makes the city I live in beautiful and green all year long, and it makes me more grateful for the sunshine that finally arrives in July. I want to be thankful that I still have a few more months left to learn from professors and faculty that have changed me as a person. I want to be thankful that the work that can at times seem burdensome is both challenging me and growing me and bringing me towards a tangible goal. I plan to embrace the slump of spring semester and I hope, dear readers, that you will join me.

Makenzie Halbert, Editor

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PHOTO BY MATTHEW HOWEN

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A f e w w e e k s a g o M u lt n o ma h held its annual Global Ministries Conference.

At the conference there are various workshops to attend and a wide array of topics are discussed. In my experience, GMC always brings to the surface perspectives and issues that I had been previously unaware of or indifferent towards. On the first day of the conference I attended the workshop featuring Dr. Paul Louis Metzger entitled, “Refugees to Citizens: What’s Next--Mosques and Temples?”

If you are a consistent reader of the Muse you may remember a short article I wrote about the topic of Christian interactions with Muslim brothers and sisters after attending the fall New Wine, New Wineskins conference. The workshop that I attended in the fall was an opportunity to hear from Harris Zafar, national spokesperson for Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA. In the recent workshop that I attended as part of GMC, Dr. Metzger showed a video of an interview he had with Zafar. On this occasion, the two discussed how we as Christians can make refugees, even those refugees that become immigrants and citizens of the country, feel welcome. The workshop was humbling as it brought to my attention the inconsistent behavior of Christians within the church being willing to reach out to refugees and those that have

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jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj been displaced but not towards immigrants who are often just refugees who have gained citizenship.

Unfortunately, prior to this workshop, I had not given the topic of immigration much thought.

Maybe you can relate to me when I say that sometimes turning on the news seems like an overload of information and an expanse of issues that one is better off to pick and choose which issues to be educated and have opinions about. It is with guilt that I admit this is often my inclination. It is because of this that I am thankful for the opportunities given to me like GMC, New Wine, New Wineskins conferences, and passionate individuals like Harris Zafar and Dr. Metzger who are eager to bring attention to the issues facing both us as a country and as a church.

U n f o r t u n a t e l y, prior to this w o r k s h o p, I had not given the topic of i m m i g r at i o n much thought.

If you missed this workshop, the next New Wine, New Wineskins conference is being held this spring, April 27th, on the topic of immigration.

We as Multnomah students are fortunate to have no shortage of opportunities to learn and grow and stretch our understandings of important issues.

While GMC proved to be effective in this sense, there is yet another opportunity, and I would urge you not to miss it.

Makenzie Halbert, Senior, English Major http://new-wineskins.org/ CLICK HERE TO COMMENT

http://multnomahmuse.com/2013/03/02/refugees-to-citizens/#respond

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PHOTO BY SHAUN STEVENSON

BY SHAUN STEVENSON Years of beer, puke, and urine stuck to my shoes as I stepped over faded carpet and found a seat near the back.

The emcee for the weekend stood up front sharing a few announce- * Some names have ments before handing the stage over to the retreat speaker. About 300 been changed to protect middle schoolers had crowded into the large hall. student identities.

The speaker opened his Bible, and that’s when James* started crying. By the time the talk was finished, James was crying even harder. The speaker dismissed the students, but invited some to stay behind and talk with God.

I stayed next to James.

He looked up at me with red eyes. “I... just don’t know...”

“Know about what?” I asked.

“Know about all this... Is God even real? Does he even love me? I mean, how can you even know?”

For a second, I didn’t know what to say. I had been letting those same questions rattle around inside my own head for weeks. God and I had been on some interesting terms, and I was wondering exactly what was going on with him.

It had been dark, and I remember sitting in my car - stars splayed out across the sky. The moon had risen somewhere off to my left, and I glanced up at it. “Okay. I know you’re there. I know you’re real. I believe everything happened like the Bible said – the cross, coming back from the dead, all of that. But...” The pause held the air, cold breath frosting my door window. “I think you are good. I just... don’t think you’re good to me.”

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A stone wall stretched out across the parking

I felt used. This knot in my gut wouldn’t go lot blocking the houses on the other side. It made away. Over and over again, I had been trying my best me think about another wall built thousands of years to be a good Christian and do what was right and ago by a man named Nehemiah. He had prayed so love people and obey God, but in some ways it felt simply, and throughout his life, Nehemiah continulike he didn’t even really care. I would watch other ally came back to one theme: remember. Remember people around me – responding in worship with the walls. Remember the trials. Remember the faithraised hands and tear-stained faces – while I felt like fulness of a God wildly out of reach. Those Israelites a cog in a huge machine ticking around and around had forgotten the former things that had come and and slowly grinding away to dust and ash. gone, and the glories of a forgotten age now floated

in the dust of a crumbled city.

God was really a Midas reaching out a cold

hand, touching people with golden fingers, and creat Nehemiah chose to rebuild. He took steps to ing lifeless trophies for the display case of history. I build the wall back up. And perhaps I needed to do was one more dusty trophy hidden down in the rotsomething similar to find what I had lost: my first ten corner behind a smudge on the glass. love.

Cold.

I glanced back over to James. “You

Forgotten.

I would watch know... Maybe it’s hard to see. Maybe

Loveless. other people around me it’s even hard to feel, but God is there.

Dead.

– responding in worship with raised Whether we believe it or not – He’s

The moon had crawled higher hands and tear-stained faces – while always right there. There’s that Psalm scraping across stars and space. And I I felt like a cog in a huge machine tick- about walking in the valley of the shadow of death, and you know what? thought about those happy Christians ing around and around and slowly That verse doesn’t say that God just all around me experiencing some sort grinding away to dust and leads us up to the valley and kicks us of life with God I could never underash. inside.

It says that He walks us through it to stand. I thought about all the people who the other side.” felt God’s love trickling out to them through

the body of believers, and I came to the conclusion:

James wiped at his eyes and looked up at me. maybe those things are just not for me.

“Have you ever told God about this stuff?”

“What do you mean?” James asked.

Preachers always talk about different gifts

“I mean, have you ever told Him, ‘God, I’m given by the Holy Spirit. They say some have gifts confused. I don’t know what to think about You.’ that seem miraculous or amazing, and some have Maybe you should ask God to show Himself to you simple, yet profound realities in their life. I realized because that’s a prayer He loves to answer.” it then: some Christians are given the gift of feeling

God’s love, but I was not.

James smiled and nodded and prayed. We asked God to be real in our lives, to reach us where

I wasn’t one of those Christians. I was meant we were at, to remind us of the walls He’s already to be the dutiful believer walking from event to built, and to remember that sometimes He’s both the event, place to place, always giving out but never builder and the wrecking ball. receiving any sort of abundant life in return.

It was a hard thought to look in the face. I Shaun Stevenson, Junior, Youth Ministry Major didn’t want to see it. http://multnomahmuse.com/2013/03/02/gold/#respond CLICK HERE TO COMMENT

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A SAFETY

BUT NO

It was only after a friend of min e told me he was gay that I started to care about homosexuali t y

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BY MATTHEW HOWEN PHOTO BY MATTHEW HOWEN

Of course I knew what I thought about it, but once I found out that the issue was much closer to me than I knew, I sensed the gravity. I was not condemning homosexuality, I was rejecting the way people — living, breathing, loving people — lived their everyday lives. I was not just opposing the way a person had sex, I was opposing the way a person held hands, I was opposing the way people cuddled during a movie, I was opposing the way people processed life and also the “who” with whom they wanted to process life. In addition to this, who would my friend go to? The Church he grew up in which he still loves? The gay community? What friends would support him? He was coming out, not leaving the Church.

I gained a healthy sense of complexity.

What I don’t want to come from this article is a buzz

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jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj about choice or genetics, sin or not, or public approval or not. Instead, I want each person who reads this to begin to be a safe place for others. I tell you this because it took many years for my friend to feel safe enough to tell me. He had his own reasons, but what is frustrating to me is that he felt the need to hide this for so long from some of his closest friends.

We were clearly not in a community that promoted safety for all people. Who he was on the outside didn’t match who he was on the inside. He was living a conflicted life, and none of us are any different.

God ha s created us one wa y, and we

To some extent there is something inside of us that insist o we do not want seen on the outside, whether it’s a sin or an n insecurity or personality contrary to what we think is excreatin pected of us. God has created us one way, and we insist on g creating ourselves another way. One of the most important oursel lessons I’ve learned is to face myself. God is patient, but ves he wants to work with us, not with the false constructions anothe which we try to maintain. r way.

For this reason I am thrilled that my friend has found the courage to finally face who he is. He is better for it, as we all would be if we faced who we are inside and let those who love us know. We would find that near to us are a lot of hurting, dirty, weird, twisted — both by themselves and twisted by others — and relieved people. We are surrounded by people hiding themselves because we are surrounded by each other. This is not a gay-straight, conservative-liberal, sinrighteousness issue. This is an issue of honesty and dishonesty. I think God’s plan is to take us from bad, to not-so-bad, to excellent, and no one has arrived yet. Have grace towards those next to you because you need the same grace.

I hope, as individuals in the Church, we can grow into a safe place for people to face themselves. I hope that our judgement of sin never encourages people to hide.

Matthew Howen, Senior, English Major CLICK HERE TO COMMENT

http://multnomahmuse.com/2013/03/02/safety-we-all-need-but-not-all-of-us-have/#respond

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Wh y d o we p re s e n t s e xual s i n i n a way t hat mak e s it seem as though God i s n ot b i g e n o u g h to re sto re u s an d re n ew u s ?

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PHOTO BY MATTHEW HOWEN DESIGN BY TYLER GRIFFIN

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A few weeks ago I read this blog post in which Rachel Held Evans asks the question: “Do Christians Idolize Virginity?” Her question is followed by fellow bloggers’ stories of their experiences in the church and how they were treated H ow pai n f u l and shamed in lieu of their past sexual sin and their loss it must be of virginity.

Their stories got me thinking: Doesn’t it seem a bit funny to make something that Christians consider virtuous--sexual morality--an idol within the church?

To bolster what I am about to say, let it be known that I too hold sexual morality as something we as Christians are called to and something that should be seen as virtuous; however, I think Evans and the numerous women who shared their stories may be onto something.

These women speak from personal places of pain and bring up various implications of the church’s emphasis on virginity. As I read and thought about the subject, coupled with my own experience growing up in the church, I came away with this:

for those in t h e c h u rc h wh o hav e s t ru g g l e d wi t h t h i s s i n to h e ar of the re d e m pt i o n o f C h ri s t o n ly to hav e t hat m e s s ag e revo k e d wh e n i t co m e s to t h e i r part i cu l ar s t ru g g l e .

The way we treat sexual immorality within the church is inconsistent with the Christian message of redemption. We are a part of a church that teaches that we are all sinners and the sacrifice of Christ paid the price for our sins once and for all. We serve a God who not only forgives us but cleanses us of and passes over our former sins (Romans 3:25, 2 Peter 1:9), a God who chooses to forget our sins, casting them behind his back (Isaiah 38:17). Yet when it comes to the loss of virginity, it is treated as a sin that forever marks the sinner. It is presented in the church as a sin that must be carried for the duration of the sinner’s life and a sin that leaves an everlasting mark of shame.

We know of course that sin is damaging and often leaves scars; however, former sins do not negate us from receiving blessings or good gifts from God. Once the sinner repents and is forgiven, that sin does not mark them, they are cleansed, the sin is forgotten, and they are made righteous through Christ.

Why then do we present sexual sin as something so different?

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This language is most often directed at women. Wherever you stand on the spectrum of the equality among or differences between men and women (this point is not solely a product of my feminist beliefs), I believe that it is never acceptable to place the value of a woman on whether or not she has committed sexual sin. One specific sin or struggle does not define our relationship with Christ and it does not define us as people.

We are always more than our sin.

How painful it must be for those in the church who have struggled with this sin to hear of the redemption of Christ only to have that message revoked when it comes to their particular struggle.

The reason this post stirred me was not just because of what these women said; it is because I have seen and heard these things taught in the church. I have witnessed people being hurt by the way sexual sin is dealt with and addressed.

The presentation of purity to young people is contradictory to the way we are taught to understand sin. We are all sinners; this much is clear. Why then do we present sexual sin as the “loss of purity”? Are we not all impure? Were we not born sinners? (Romans 3:23, Luke 18:19, Romans 5:12). Committing a sexual sin is sin, but it is not the loss of one’s purity.

We are an impure people and through Christ we are able to move closer to purity and redemption that is ultimately fulfilled in eternity with Christ. Loss of virginity is absolutely a loss of something just as any sin is, but it is not a removal of one’s purity because that wasn’t really there to begin with was it? Let’s not pretend as if these sexual desires and impulses are not an innate part of us as humans. We are not chaste by default because we are a broken people and this much must be acknowledged.

To answer Rachel Held Evans’ question: Yes, I think the way the church has addressed the issue and elevated it to ‘the most shameful of all sins’ could be labeled as idolatry. And yes, I think revision of the church’s treatment of the issue is absolutely necessary.

Makenzie Halbert, Senior, English Major http://multnomahmuse.com/2013/03/02/the-worship-of-virginity/#respond CLICK HERE TO COMM E N T

The way we talk about virginity is devaluing to both men and women. It creates a structure where the worth of both men and women rests in whether or not they have committed a sexual sin. If one has struggled with sexual immorality, they are of no less value than someone who struggles with anger or lying or stealing. We, as the church, need to stop telling those who have lost their virginity outside of marriage that they are devalued or have given away something they can never get back. We serve a God who restores the broken and brings hope to sinners.

We are never past repair. This interpretation is an error of our culture, a culture that aligns a person’s value with their sexuality.

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PHOTOS BY MATTHEW HOWEN

T WO R E S P O N S E S T O

F R O M KO BY K R I K AC &

Editor’s Note: In last month’s issue of the Muse, Quincy Robinson wrote an article titled “The Lost Art of Logic: Logic is the Foundation of Knowledge”. Two students, Koby Krikac and Thomas Wilson, submitted their responses to the article.

RESPONSE FROM KOBY

Logic, in the way that humans use it, is not the only way to arrive at truth. Are our emotions true?

Logic does not deal with emotion, and one cannot verify our emotions, yet it is true that we experience them. Are spiritual realities true? Logic does not deal with spiritual realities, yet they are also true. Logic, like math, only goes so far. In addition, because of sin, our ability to use logic is also flawed; therefore, we cannot devise a pyramid scheme of air-tight truth because perhaps our premise or foundation is incorrect to begin with. “Our premise is sure” you may say, “It is commonsense”. Well perhaps for you it is, but not for everyone.

Quincy Robinson wrote that “God is the basis of all logic. All truth is found in God. He has created the reality that we know and in which we have discovered the laws of logic. He has structured the world in such a way that these laws cannot be denied. However, we did not know God first and then learn logic from him. In order of being, God is first. But in order of knowing, logic leads us to all knowledge of God.”

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“LOGIC” T H OM A S W I L S ON

We did not come to God through logic alone; we were not saved by grace through logic, but through faith.

Faith and logic are not opposed to each other, but they are different, and by faith I know Jesus Christ. By the Spirit of God, He teaches me his thoughts and the things he has done for me (1 Cor. 2:8-12). I maintain that there is a heavenly wisdom that a natural man cannot understand (1 Cor. 2:14), a supernatural grace and miracle which takes place in our lives that changes us, like the experience Paul had on the Damascus road. Logic alone most certainly will not lead us to God, and it will especially not lead us to all knowledge of Him. It was not self-evident to Paul that Jesus Christ so richly fulfilled the Old Testament Scriptures until after his miraculous conversion, and then it was clear.

A natural man will never come to God unassisted by grace, their minds must be enlightened (Eph. 4:17-19; Col. 1:21). Only spiritual people will understand true spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:13-16). As Thomas Schreiner says, “They can only appreciate the truth about God and the world in retrospect, as they look back with a clarifying mind, informed by the Spirit, on their former corrupt and distorted existence.”

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2, after explaining that no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God and to whom he reveals them, “a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised”. We do not simply need good logic; we need the

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jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj mind of Christ and a renewed heart which opens our mind to renewal as well.

Again, a supernatural reality took place to change us when becoming Christians that logic did not cause. We do indeed use logic to come to knowledge of Him, but a true knowledge of Jesus also lies in the love and emotions, and the same goes for any relationship on earth. Post-modernism ought not to be totally rejected, as Quincy writes. Postmodernism keeps humans in check in that they cannot use only logic to arrive at or validate every truth.

Humility accepts truth when it is found (which might happen when Quincy proves my illogical response and I will have to accept it), and also accepts the inability to perfectly find truth. For indeed, we can know truth and we know in part, but we will not fully know until we are fully known!

Koby Krikac, Senior, Biblical Languages Major http://multnomahmuse.com/2013/03/02/koby-krikacs-response-to-the-lost-art-of-logic/#respond

CLICK HERE TO COMMENT

RESPONSE FROM THOMAS

In his article, Quincy Robinson says this: “reject postmodern thinking, master logic, think well, and it will be a clarity for your mind and honesty for your heart because when you learn to think well you will begin to realize that much of your fogged thinking come from a lack of evidence and good reasoning skills.”

I don’t disagree with Quincy, but I wonder how many of us really want to act and think logically. Based on observations of my own and other’s actions, I wonder how often humans really desire rationality. It seems to be the other way around—that more often than not, rationality is trumped by some “human” element like pride or desire. Austin Way, a fellow member of Aslan’s How, regularly tells me the way I cook my pasta is illogical (I put the pasta in the pot and then pour boiling water on it). Despite his objections and appeals to logic, I knowingly continue to cook the pasta the “wrong” way.

I’m also wondering how much of our fogged reason-

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jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj ing simply comes from our reticence to see and deal with ourselves, those around us, and the world as it is. The humility and honesty it would take to simply see God as He is, rather than our perversion of Him arising to compensate our insecurities, is something that seems outside of the redemptive power of logical thinking and living.

The Israelites, for instance, were given the Law, followed God around every day in the cloud, and heard his voice, yet even with all this “evidence” and good reasoning, they still refused to obey Him.

Finally, I’m interested in the interaction between humans and logic. A character in an earlier novel by the Russian writer, Fyodor Dostoevsky, rejects the laws of nature and basic rules of arithmetic such as 2+2=4 simply in order to feel like a free, autonomous individual and, thus, a human being. He sees an inhumanity in rationality—a reduction of the will—and claims that it is something humans will never desire, for they are not rational beings at their core. A character in a later novel goes insane trying to intellectually reconcile the “senseless” problem of the innocent suffering of children with logic.

Ultimately, my question is this: how do we discover those areas where we are deliberately forsaking truth and logical thinking and turning to self-serving falsehood? Is it really through logical thinking? That appears to be a circular argument to me. Instead, it seems to me that the only way we may gain clear thinking is by fixing our eyes on Christ and humbly engaging with others to let them point out where we’ve slipped into selfish illogical thinking.

Thomas Wilson, Senior, English Major

CLICK HERE TO COMMENT

http://multnomahmuse.com/2013/03/02/thomas-wilsons-response-to-the-lost-art-of-logic/#respond

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S NI MI M F F INI M I S N I I E M M I M FE F IS IS EM IS IN MI F E S M I S M I N ITNH E F M I N E M F E M F SM IS M NI IN EM EM ISM FE : M NI IN N OMR D S M I F E M M F M FFM-IW I I M S N S M S I M INI INI FE IN EMI FE FE M M M U F M M M S E FE FE INIS M F SM NIS INI I I

BY A M Y SI M M O N S L M M S M N M FE S FE NI I E M I F E S M F E MM F I S M N I S M The S M I sound S IN MIN EMI E F of it M F E M SM makes us S NI I nervous.

N MI We treat E F it as I’M A FEMINIST AND SO ARE YOU

Churches don’t like it, and your parents certainly don’t want to hear it. I happen to think we are making a big deal out of a simple word. I could tell you that feminism, as defined by Merriam-Webster, simply means “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes,” but honestly, that trick is overdone. I could give you all the verses, theology, and logic I believe points to an egalitarian church, but that isn’t even the same issue. Instead, if you will join me in collectively swallowing our pride and throwing aside our loaded terminology, we can talk about how we already believe the same thing.

vulgar at best.

I get it. You think I’m wrong. I don’t always like being associated with your beliefs either. You are not a feminist. You don’t believe in burning bras, or sexual liberation. That is just fine; bras are expensive and fire is dangerous.

Although we may have different thoughts on what gender “should” look like, at the base of your frustration I agree. We cannot simply throw our nets into the world and believe whatever we catch, but I bet we also agree that men and women are equals. Bear with me and remember that you too believe that I have no less worth than a man because of the hor-

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NI MIN FE mones or genitalia I have been given by an almighty and sovereign God.

As with any set of ideas, feminism has grown, reshaped, and learned. way, feminism has permeated the world around you.

Sixty years ago, you might never have called men and women equals simply because no one was asking you to consider the possibility.

Maybe when you hear “feminist” you think I am an angry, protesting, even a (potential) lesbian. Maybe when you think “feminism” your mind goes to picket signs, pantsuits, or harsh and vulgar women. I am not going to pretend that doesn’t describe some feminists.

I claim feminism for a single reason: I am a human being. Yes, I am a woman, but before I can even begin to approach my gender, I must recognize my very humanity. I hold no higher place; I belong in no lower one. I am human; I am broken, sinful, dirty, and redeemed. We might do well to relate to each other at this state--soul to soul and heart to heart instead of gender to gender. I hope you see how we are not so different in what we want.

Many of you believe the story ends with women bursting into the workplace in order to punish men for being born into a bit of privilege. I would beg to differ. I am feminine in many ways, and not because I’m forced to be, but because I like cooking and dresses. However, I also have a couple of qualities you’d probably think of as masculine. But here’s the thing: I am the same as a girl in cargo pants and a baggy t-shirt, or a man in a business suit, or a child living in the streets because of one thing: we are free.

We are free to be who we are because it is who we are, regardless of our sex.

In the end, I am thankful for what the movement has done for me. More importantly, I’m thankful for the freedom that Christ has offered and the hope that in Christ I am loved regardless of gender, race, or rank. It is my hope that one day the Church can set the tone for the world to re-examine itself rather than spending its days debating petty terms.

I am what is called a third-wave feminist. I can’t say I fall in line with every belief of my generation. I do not fancy myself oppressed. I cannot claim I would walk the streets in lingerie (go ahead, Google SlutWalk), but I would also not join a church like Mars Hill that puts an emphasis on being anti-feminist. The call to young women today is for all women to live in the freedom we’ve attained, and allow men to live in theirs.

Amy Simmons, Senior, Psychology Major CLICK HERE TO COMM E N T

http://multnomahmuse.com/2013/03/02/the-f-word-im-a-feminist-and-so-are-you/#respond

As with any set of ideas, feminism has grown, reshaped, and learned. Feminism is not what it was as a child. Just like you have learned to be calm, gracious and (hopefully) open to discussion as you’ve matured, so has my little movement. Feminism can recognize that it once needed a louder voice to be heard, it can be thankful for the change that has happened (although you can stop me in the halls if you want to talk about where there’s still room for improvement), and it can realize that there is no one way to be free. That is my feminism. In this

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PHOTO BY MATTHEW HOWEN

A

COMMUNITY of

PEACE

BY AUsTIN WAY

This bill would allow individual places of worship to decide whether or not to allow people to bring concealed handguns to church.

Many are seeing this piece of legislation as crucial to protecting freedom of religion and property rights.

Arkansas joins a handful of other states including South Carolina, Wyoming, and Louisiana that allow guns in churches. Though many are celebrating this legislation as “victory”, I was deeply saddened.

Earlier this month, Arkansas’ Senate and House passed—with bipartisan support— legislation named The Church Protection Act.

Gun control and religious freedom are complex and multifaceted issues that do not have easy answers, and I am not trying to give a solution to the problem. Rather, I am trying to start a conversation in the church about the role of weapons and violence in the church. My desired effect of this article is to spark discussion at Multnomah and in our churches so that we might become a community of faith that reflects Christ more accurately to the world.

It would be beneficial for American churches to resist the temptation of bringing guns into our congregations. As

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jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj the Church, we are entrusted by God to be a community As the of peace and hospitality in a world that is chaotic and hostile. We are entrusted to be a community that fosters Church, life; we are called to be holy and set apart. If we embrace the idea that bringing guns to church is all right, we per- we are petuate the belief that Christianity is a violent religion, and we ratify the allegations of our critics that we are entrusted hostile and destructive.

by God to be

It is not hard to see that we live in a world that is filled with violent realities. Things like domestic violence, a community war, school shootings, bullying, genocide are just a few of peace and things that plague our world, and these sins are a testament to the unsafe world we live in. However, we need hospitality in to rise above the clamor in order to truly reflect who we are. a world that

Currently, we are still waiting for Christ to restore is chaotic creation and usher in the future era of universal peace. and hostile.

Despite the darkness around us, we are called to proclaim the future kingdom with our lives like our Savior did even if peace on earth and good will toward men are unfashionable or difficult. As Christians, God has given us the responsibility to represent that future kingdom on earth. Allowing guns in church seems to contradict our mission as the kingdom of God.

Peace does not naturally occur. In order for our churches to become communities of peace, every individual must choose a path of peace. We need to learn to forgive our enemies and treat them with love. We need to let go of our American rights to vengeance and give them to God. We need to root ourselves in Christ and the hope of the resurrection. Peace in our churches cannot be made into a theoretical ideal; it needs to be practiced, created, and recreated through simple and small acts rooted in love for God and others. There are simple, practical steps the church can do to become a more peaceful place. One practical way to accomplish this task would be to not allow concealed handguns in our churches. Even though we might have the right to bring guns to church, it does not mean we ought to lock and load every Sunday.

Austin Way, Senior, Youth Ministry Major http://multnomahmuse.com/2013/03/02/a-community-of-peace/#respond CLICK HERE TO COMMENT

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PHOTO BY MATTHEW HOWEN

ORTHODOXY AND WHY IT iS NOT A PHASE

BY NICK FINE

A few months back I wrote an article for Muse about Orthodox Christianity, which I am a convert to.

Many people have discussed Orthodoxy with me following their own reading of the article, and also because I am pretty vocal about my personal Orthodox faith. In my interactions there is one common question usually asked of me: Is Orthodoxy just a phase?

What I think they mean by asking if this is a phase is whether or not my conversion to Orthodoxy, and the influx of conversions of other Multnomah students, is just a certain stage in life that will pass and be followed by other stages.

My answer, and the answer of my other brothers who are accepting the Orthodox faith as the true Christian faith, is a resounding and sturdy NO!

Orthodoxy is a life; it is an all encompassing faith.

Unlike the Protestant faith, as an Orthodox Christian you do not pick and chose which of the Church’s doctrines you will accept or deny; you don’t pick what worship style you’ll use, or whether or not you like saints or icons. It’s pretty simple: you take it all, or you don’t take any of it.

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Orthodoxy is a life;

it is an all encompassing faith.

Thus, Orthodoxy is a faith that cannot be entered into lightly. It demands not just your Sundays; it demands your entire existence. Orthodoxy pervades into all aspects of life from what you’ll eat on fast days (Orthodox Christians fast twice a week, on Wednesdays and Fridays), to how you’ll raise your family, spend your free time, order your activities, etc. Orthodoxy truly is an all-encompassing faith, and not one crack of life is left unfilled.

However, many Protestants these days see Orthodoxy in a different way. From my interactions, it seems that Orthodoxy is being seen as a trending expression of faith and just another in the list of possible Evangelical options.

Certain Protestants see the icons, hear the chanting, admire the beautiful churches, and ask themselves: what can I take from this? What can Protestants learn from this? What can be added to a Protestant service from an Orthodox one?

Well, because Orthodoxy is not just another Christian option that is allowed to be picked apart like every other Protestant phase, you can take nothing from it. You can’t have icons, or chanting, or saints, or liturgy because they cannot be parceled off or sold and molded to fit anyone’s use. They belong to the Church, and can only exist within the Church and nowhere else.

That is a pretty harsh statement, I’ll admit, but Orthodoxy is not an opinion or just another expression; it is Christianity. Many Protestant churches, and even the Roman Catholic church, today are changing and morphing their structures, services, and doctrines to keep people interested or engaged. All the while, Orthodoxy remains an unmoved pillar of faith. Orthodoxy is not a phase, nor has it ever experienced phases in its history. It never had seeker services, never experimented as a coffee church, never changed its genre of music to meet the current pop culture trends, it has never changed ever.

So, when one asks if Orthodoxy is a phase, I will say of course it isn’t. Perhaps the question needs to be posed back to Protestants. However, the question will not be if Protestantism is a phase, but what phase will come next?

Nick Fine, Senior, Greek Major http://multnomahmuse.com/2013/03/02/orthodoxy-and-why-its-not-a-phase/#respond CLICK HERE TO COMMENT

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jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj FOR THIS ISSUE WE OFFERED A PHOTO CHALLENGE: THESE ARE THE BEST OF THE THREE CATEGORIES . THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING .

BIBLE COLLEGE

PORTRAIT

DREW FAJEN

CHARLIE PIEHLER

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NATURE LAUREN COLEMAN

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EXPLICIT BEAUTY

by Nick Fine A woman has a beauty that can awe and inspire, but she is not art, nor paint, nor canvas, nor object to desire, But man, with pictures, moving or still, can take from her all that she has and force on his own will, These wretched men, base slave drivers all, break and crack, tarnish and destroy a very precious jewel Daily, hourly, moment by moment, the man is lead by his devil, and watches sisters, daughters, mothers, wives conform to this art of evil What dread, disgusting, and terrible life a man leads by his desire, all the while, what he sees as beauty, that meek and pure flower, he throws directly to the fire The boss is slave in this cruel game, but on and on he plays, and like the crop, that’s sold or bought, the woman an object stays Nick Fine, Senior, Greek Major http://multnomahmuse.com/2013/03/02/explicit-beauty/#respond CLICK HERE TO COMMENT

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MIDAS

By Shaun Stevenson The moon crawls higher scraping stars and space – a dull yellow glow lighting under its cold rays a garden smothered in vines and thorns and daffodils and the moon’s fingers reach a man sitting beside the bench. Wet grass soaking slowly through faded jeans and a faded sleeve the man smiles at the passersby who excitedly sit on the bench and chat – sharing pain and joy and sorrow and love and story after story after story never bothering to ask back.

Not that the man would ever speak. Because a cold Hand has touched a deep place and created lifeless gold, gold, gold – all I feel is gold – and cold – and the man stares ever upward watching the waning night, knowing the One is acting as if He’s turned to Midas with trophy after trophy after loveless – dead – trophy.

Shaun Stevenson, Junior, Youth Ministry Major http://multnomahmuse.com/2013/03/02/midas/#respond CLICK HERE TO COMMENT

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051405 B y Ty l e r G r i f f i n Black Man Black Man What you gonna do When the white man jump and crawl after you?

Black Man Black Man What you gonna do When the lil’ white mammies Make a fuss about you?

Black Man Black Man What you gonna do when the white man crawl when the lil’ mammies sprawl cuz they hate you Black Man Black Man What you gonna do?

Got rope ‘round ya neck and its tied in two

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Black Man Black Man you misbehaved you got yo self lynched you gone now slave Black Man Black Man watcha gonna do?

You at the throne now God watchin’ you!

White man White man Whatcha gonna do?

Got blood on your hands and mud on your shoe White man White man I’ll say it again cuz the man you lynched is fellow sinner and friend Tyler Griffin, Freshman, History Major http://multnomahmuse.com/2013/03/02/051405/#respond C L I C K H ERE TO COMMENT

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A TIME TO EMBRACE PT. 2 FICTION BY LAURA GRIFFITH

Photo by Belgravias

A crisp, white sign baked in the Tennessee sun. Classic black lettering read “Music News Weekly.”

Inside the air conditioned office, a handsome, darkhaired man sat behind a computer. Running his fingers through his hair, he took a drink of his iced coffee. He typed on the computer, scribbled on a notepad, snatched a piece of paper off the corner of his desk, checked his watch, and looked up as the door opened.

“Right on time,” he said with a grin, standing up and eyeing his visitor up and down.

“Wouldn’t want to be late on my first day of work, would I, Mr. Anders?” Sophie said, smiling.

“Call me Jonathan,” he replied. “I’m glad you could make it this afternoon. There’s a new band doing a show in town tonight and I want to catch them beforehand for an interview.”

“Why did you need me?” Sophie asked. Jonathan grinned.

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“They’re young men. They’ll respond better to a hot chick.”

Sophie stiffened, but laughed and bit her lip.

“Anyway, I’m just finishing up here,” Jonathan said, sitting back down at his desk. “That’s your desk there; you can check it out.”

As Sophie took a seat, she smoothed her skirt and let out an unsteady sigh. Setting her things on the desk, she began inspecting her new workplace—opening drawers, testing the feel of the mouse, trying out the computer.

“Ready, beautiful?” Jonathan said a few minutes later.

Sophie snatched her purse and notebook and said, “Yeah.”

A cab pulled up to the curb in front of the Music News Weekly office. A homeless man across the street watched an attractive couple climb out. His stomach rumbled when he heard the man say something about dinner, but they soon disappeared inside the building.

“I don’t know…” Sophie said as they were greeted by an air conditioned rush.

“Come on, I have reservations for six-thirty,” Jonathan urged. “You look so nice; I have to show you off.” Sophie turned her back and began digging through her purse.

“Well?” Jonathan asked. “Will you go with me? It’s a Chinese place, with authentic food.”

“I’m actually not that hungry,” she said over her shoulder.

“You will be when you see their fried rice.” He approached her and placed his hands on her shoulders.

“Please?” he whispered in her ear.

Sophie stepped away and turned to face him.

“What can I say?” she said with a nervous giggle. “I guess I’ll have to go.”

Triumphant, Jonathan straightened his tie, checked his watch, and announced, “Then we had better get going.”

George pushed open the door of a restaurant entirely unfamiliar to him—but a friend had recommended it. On the night he was alone, he would eat well.

After ordering Mongolian beef and fried rice, he began inspecting the other guests. An older man near the corner ate like he hadn’t in weeks. George peered further into the corner, where a couple snuggled in a booth. He was tall and dark, with a look of Chris Pine about him. Her hair was so blond it looked white.

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At the bar, he leaned close to his pretty friend.

“My birthday is coming up,” he said, tracing the rim of his glass with his fingertip.

“Old man,” Sophie teased.

“I’m going to be forty,” he said. “That’s almost old enough to be your father.”

“You’d be an awfully young father,” she answered. “You were only fifteen when I was born.”

He raised his hand tentatively to touch her chin.

“You’re so young,” he said. “What are you doing hanging out with an old guy like me?”

“Expanding my horizons,” she said.

“Trying new things?”

“Learning to love.”

He looked at her for a moment, then held up the bottle of champagne.

“Another glass?” he asked.

“You promised: just one,” she said, smiling halfway.

George rose with a start, walked just close enough to the table to see her grey eyes shining out of the shadow, and left the restaurant.

“Who was that?” Jonathan asked, resting his fingers on Sophie’s left hand.

“Just my other boss.” In her right hand, her napkin became a tight ball.

“He looked upset.”

“He was just trying to recognize you.” Her nails clawed into the napkin.

“He was probably wishing he were young enough to go out to dinner with a girl like you.”

Jonathan stroked Sophie’s wrist.

“Mm.” Sophie grabbed her glass and took a drink.

“Is this your napkin, beautiful?”

A classic, southern woman walked out of church, greeted the pastor, and yelled at her unruly son. Behind her, a far-from-classic southern belle turned her cell phone on as she stepped out into the late morning air. A middle-aged man pocketed a rarely-used comb as he caught up with the girl.

“Sophie!” he called. She stopped and turned.

“Hey, George.”

“So you got the job.”

“They say the job market’s on the rise,” she commented.

“I doubt that had much to do with it,” he said with a grimace. She placed a hand gently on his shoulder.

“I’ll work tonight if you want,” she offered.

“The guys are hung over,” George replied.

“I’ll give them another day.”

“I’m not doing anything at all today, then.”

She looked at a tuft of grass in a crack.

“How ‘bout a drink at my house?”

“Just one?”

“Just one.”

The corner of her mouth itched toward her cheek as she agreed.

George’s house wasn’t large, but it was neat. He served martinis in martini glasses and beer in mugs.

Laura Griffith, Sophomore, English Major

http://multnomahmuse.com/2013/03/02/a-time-to-embrace-pt-2/#respond CLICK HERE TO COMM E N T

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lit snip

There’s a good chance that some of you, our readers, might be interested in literature that you didn’t know existed. Your idea of literature might be a long novel from at least three hundred years ago that some people are crazy about and you are not.

There is more out there. In the February issue Matthew wrote a short work of creative non-fiction about the expansiveness of light.

The inspiration behind it was this short story, “The Library of Babel,” by Jorge Luis Borges.

He’s a writer of short stories and novels. This story is less than ten pages. The great thing about a short story is that you can read it fairly quickly, and then think for a little, then read it again, then go eat a snack, then read it again.

That is our advice for you if you read this story. Borges makes your head hurt, but you can’t leave him alone. Pick this up in the library (it’s in a collection of his stories) or find it online.

Matthew and Makenzie

The universe (which others call the Library) is composed of an indefinite and perhaps infinite number of hexagonal galleries, with vast air shafts between, surrounded by very low railings. From any of the hexagons one can see, interminably, the upper and lower floors. The distribution of the galleries is invariable. Twenty shelves, five long shelves per side, cover all the sides except two; their height, which is the distance from floor to ceiling, scarcely exceeds that of a normal bookcase. One of the free sides leads to a narrow hallway which opens onto another gallery, identical to the first and to all the rest. To the left and right of the hallway there are two very small closets. In the first, one may sleep standing up; in the other, satisfy one’s fecal necessities. Also through here passes a spiral stairway, which sinks abysmally and soars upwards to remote distances. In the hallway there is a mirror which faithfully duplicates all appearances.

Men usually infer from this mirror that the Library is not infinite (if it were, why this illusory duplication?); I prefer to dream that its polished surfaces represent and promise the infinite ... Light is provided by some spherical fruit which bear the name of lamps. There are two, transversally placed, in each hexagon. The light they emit is insufficient, incessant.

Like all men of the Library, I have traveled in my youth; I have wandered in search of a book, perhaps the catalogue of catalogues; now that my eyes can hardly decipher what I write, I am preparing to die just a few leagues from the hexagon in which I was born. Once I am dead, there will be no lack of pious hands to throw me over the railing; my grave will be the fathomless air; my body will sink endlessly and decay and dissolve in the wind generated by the fall, which is infinite. I say that the Library is unending. The idealists argue that the hexagonal rooms are a necessary form of absolute space or, at least, of our intuition of space. They reason that a triangular or pentagonal room is inconceivable. (The mystics claim that their ecstasy reveals to them a circular chamber containing a great circular book, whose spine is continuous and which follows the complete circle of the walls; but their testimony is suspect; their words, obscure. This cyclical book is God.) Let it suffice now for me to repeat the classic dictum: The Library is a sphere whose exact center is any one of its hexagons and whose circumference is inaccessible.

Excerpt from Jorge Luis Borges’ “The Library of Babel”

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---BREAK THE---

BLOCK

Free International Film Series March 4 - March 6, 2013 7:00pm

The Department of International Studies will be hosting International Education Week March 4-7th. There will be an international film series March 4-6th in the SEAC beginning at 7pm on each night. Come and learn about different cultures and languages while enjoying a free film!

http://www.cu-portland.edu/calendar/

at Concordia University Student Event & Activities Center

Carrie Mae Weems: Three Decades of Photography and Video February 2 - May 19th, 2013

Born and raised in Portland, Ore., Carrie Mae Weems is internationally recognized for her powerful photography-based art that investigates issues of race, gender, and societal class. The exhibit presents more than 200 photographs, videos, and installations tracing the evolution of Weems’ career. @ the Portland Art Museum

“Brooms, Bombs, and Bodies: How the Vanishing IndIan Made America”

March 14th, 2013 4:15 pm

Judy Kértesz, assistant professor of history at North Carolina State University, is a specialist in Native American history, public history, and early American history.

at Reed College, Psychology 105

Singin’ in the Square

Free Movie Night Every Wednesday 6:30 pm

Every Wednesday in the Lounge our staff picks from their private collections to bring the best retro favorites back to the silver screen. Every week the theme changes as well as the selection. Don’t miss your chance to see some of our favorites one more time.

@ Mt. Tabor Theater

March 30th 3:00pm - 5:00pm

Come enjoy a free community wide sing-a-long and concert.

Complimentary songbooks curated

by Thomas Lauderdale featuring over 50 songs with music will be available while supplies last.

at Pioneer Courthouse Square

F A I T H & C U L T U RE WRITERS CONFERENCE: Inspiring, challenging, and va l i d a t i n g p e o p l e o f f a i t h with their creative calling. W ith speakers W illiam Paul Yo u n g , K e n Wy t s m a , P h i l L ong, W ilson Smith, Brian Doyle, Dan Merchant, Tony Kriz, R a n d y Wo o d l e y , e t c .

Info & Registration: www.faithandculture w r i t e r s . c o m

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S H ome c oming W eek M ar c h 1 1 th - 1 6 th

D ay of P ray er M ar c h 8 th

T alent S how M ar c h 1 4 th

P re v iew W eekend M ar c h 1 4 th - 1 5 th

B ea u tif u l R esponse A pril 1 5 th - 1 9 th

S pring T haw A pril 1 2 - 1 4 th

D ay of O u trea c h A pril 2 2 nd

JSB M ay 3 rd

CAREER SERVICES Job Search and Networking

March 13th at 12:30 pm

March 15th at 10:00 am

Interviewing

April 3rd at 12:30 pm

April 5th at 10:00 am

Resumes and Cover Letters

April 24th at 12:30 pm

April 26th at 10:00 am

MUSE PHOTO BY MATTHEW HOWEN