Friends: George Bebawi hated modern Christmas but thoroughly understood the uniqueness of Christ.  First of a Christmas series. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #994

December 2, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Unique Gifts, Part 1

By Bob Walters

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth …” – John 1:14

I am sure there is no better Christmas gift than God joining humanity; or a better Christmas wish than embracing, adopting, and internalizing God’s grace and truth.

This is what we have in Jesus Christ, and He is why we celebrate Christmas.

It is a unique thing, this Christianity. There is nothing else in the human or cosmic experience like Christ, and no other religion on earth replicates its saving relationship with God.  Jesus is unique, alone, different, the Son, the beloved, sender of the Holy Spirit, and our only way to the Father. He is the only peace that counts, our only gate to the eternal, our only escape from sin, and our one and true meaning of life.

Woe to the person who says, “All religions are the same.” That is a bare admission of poor, absent, or lazy scholarship. And while knowledge of Jesus is a fine thing, it is not a saving thing.  Faith in Jesus is a saving thing; it is the only saving thing.

In these weeks leading to Christmas, let’s examine the uniqueness of Christ. I’ve pulled off my shelf the first teaching series George Bebawi presented at East 91^st Street Christian Church back in the fall of 2004.  George – an Egyptian Bible translator and Cambridge PhD / Divinity lecturer who retired to Carmel, Indiana earlier that year – presented weekly Bible / theology / Christology / church history and doctrine lectures.

To George, ironically but seriously and with a droll sense of humor, modern western “Christmas” practice is a vile deformity of its true meaning, to wit: “And the Word became flesh.” The Word of God, the Logos – i.e., Jesus the Incarnation, fully God, fully man, fully worthy – entered humanity through the fleshly womb of Mary.

George provided deep, complex, historical citations of the great theologians, but thankfully, he also had simpler, accessible lists of nearly everything. Beginning with the uniqueness of the revelation of Jesus – His arrival on earth taking on human flesh – here we will stick with George’s simpler axioms and then I’ll throw in a thought.

1.    Christ united God and humanity with his person and thus abolished the importance of time, seasons, rituals, and shrines as a means of reaching God.

George frequently made the point that while the old covenant relied on the strict temporal and physical observations by Israel of God’s laws, Jesus in his new covenant of faith brought God’s heart – the Holy Spirit – to dwell in man’s heart perpetually.

2.  By making faith the first and the only requirement of being in fellowship with him, Christ abolished all possible mediators and established fellowship in the human heart; thus following Him means nothing other than believing.

George was keenly aware of fallen humanity’s mistaken attraction to works of obedience as a measure of “earning” one’s way into the Kingdom. If I learned anything from George, it is that God’s love is pure grace, not a transaction; love, not payment.

3.    Jesus revealed in Himself divine love as a personal relationship.  This love is not subjected to our imagination but is part of His divine revelation where His death on the cross is the seal for divine love and any authentic love.

God is transcendent – apart from us – but also with us personally in the Son and in the Holy Spirit. This relationship is not something man conceived, but is God’s eternal plan for those created in His own image: humanity. God did it purely, uniquely, for love.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) has all 14 years of George’s E91 lecture notes, and back in April presented this column: Person of Faith with George’s “Ten Reason’s to Believe the Incarnation.” It’s a good refresher for the reason for the season.

Friends: Thankfulness isn’t something we owe, it is a gift that buoys our soul. Happy Thanksgiving! - Bob

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Spirituality Column #993

November 25, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Spirit of Thanks

By Bob Walters

“I thank my God every time I remember you.” – Philippians 1:3

Twenty-four years ago last week, I, at age 47, was baptized into the Spirit of God through Jesus Christ in the water at East 91^st Street Christian Church in the Castleton area of northeast Indianapolis, Indiana.

My great mentor, minister Russ Blowers, who passed November 10, 2007, once told me in a random conversation, probably over lunch at the old King Chef restaurant near the church, about not saying, “I baptize you …” when performing baptisms. His view was that people don’t baptize people; the Holy Spirit baptizes people.

Very thoughtful, and I wonder how many hundreds or thousands of baptisms Russ either performed or inspired in his 56-year ministry. And while he performed the baptisms of both my sons, John in 2004 and then Eric in 2005, he didn’t perform my baptism. That was Dave Faust, then senior minister at E91, who on Sunday evening, November 18, 2001, after the last session of his four-week “Walking with Christ” class, put out the invitation.  I stood up with two others, and off to the baptistry we went.

I don’t remember anything Dave said in the baptism; I only remember him pulling me out of the water and my profound, smiling peace knowing something new was in my life.  I wrote Dave a thank-you email the next day, and have sent a thank you letter / faith inventory to him every November 18^th since: 24 years, 25 total letters, infinite thanks.  Here’s a lightly edited piece of the letter I sent to Dave last week:

“Dave … your spirit, ministry, and presence have been precious in so many lives.  My own gratitude for the direction you’ve guided in me I know is not merely a memory; it is and always will be at the core of my Christian being.

“If I need to explain that, I’m well aware you are not Jesus, but you reflect and inveigh the Spirit, and give a good name to the saints of this earth. I know my thoughts and appreciation for you are shared by many, many others. … I know a person can only be thanked so much before it gets embarrassing, but the true Kingdom gift isn’t for you to know you are appreciated; it is the appreciation we are privileged to bestow. Thankfulness is a great gift to pour onto others; it buoys our own souls.

“That leads me to a doctrinal comment about the value of gratefulness, obedience, loving others, loving our enemies, perseverance in trial, humility in abundance, courage amid dread, and confidence while overcoming doubts. These, and many other actions and thoughts, are too often seen primarily as that which pleases God.  Follow the Ten Commandments! Go to church! Help your neighbor! Read the Bible! Tithe!

“Yet as we imagine we do these or other things to please God, God is already as good as He can get. Exhibiting our Christian character indeed honors God, but these varied obediences are actually gifts that God bestows on us; the source of our joy.

“I am not bribing or impressing God with my good works; my works are the happy outpouring of purpose and of knowing the truth of a loving God.  We don’t impress God; we imitate Him.  We imitate Jesus. We imitate the Spirit. 

“I do not recall ending a day at Mission Christian Academy hoping I had somehow impressed God with my teaching.  I end every day grateful for God sharing these kids with me and praying that they learn something about truth and love and faithfulness.

There is joy in those efforts, and thankfulness for a God who provides the opportunity. I have no idea whether I am a good and faithful servant, but life is brightened by the opportunity to try.”

Walters (rlwcom@aol,com) violates no confidences; Dave has mentioned Bob’s letters in various open church settings over the years. ’Tis the season of thankfulness; remember the Spirit this week. Btw, I met my wife Pam at Russ’s funeral.

Friends: This is about finding love you didn’t know existed.  Blessings, Bob

(P.S. Our close friend Cheryl Cowden passed away last Monday, Nov. 10. A link to her obituary appears after the column. Cheryl and Pam were in a small group together for more than 40 years.)

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Spirituality Column #992

November 18, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Newly Found Love

By Bob Walters

“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38

It is Pentecost fifty days after the Passover that witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus, and now Jesus has ascended and the Holy Spirit arrives. Acts 2 presents us with the Apostle Peter’s first sermon and the changing of the holy guard forever after.

The traditional Feast of the Pentecost celebrating the ancient arrival of the Torah at Mount Sinai – God’s covenant with the Jews – now marked the arrival of the new covenant of faith in the Messiah; the Spirit’s promise that brings new life in Christ for all.

This was horrifying news for the Jews who, through Peter’s preaching, just then understood who Jesus was and what they had done to the Messiah Christ: calling for the murder of their savior. For forty days the resurrected Jesus appeared to, and spoke and ate with, his disciples and hundreds of others. Then, He ascended to heaven.

As Jesus promised at the Last Supper and again in His resurrection, the Holy Spirit would be God’s gift of understanding and comfort from the Father who loves the humanity He created. The assembled Jews, who had seen tongues of fire above them and mysteriously heard Peter’s sermon in many languages, were “cut to the heart;” The Holy Spirit had arrived.  Panicking, the Jews begged Peter, “What shall we do?”

On that Pentecost, the Law was past and so arrived “a new covenant with the house of Israel” (Hebrews 8:8, 13). The Jews were told, “Repent and be baptized!”

“Repent,” the Greek metanoia, means, “think anew.” It means, here, stop thinking like a Jew in the Law and start thinking like a Christian in faith. Salvation no longer resides in obedience and behavior, but in faith and trust in Jesus Christ, the Son of God who died for our sins.  In His forgiveness we have the hope, the promise, of eternal life with God in heaven. In our faith, Jesus saves us; baptism in the Spirit declares our faith.

Where the Law instructed Jews on the impossible task of being perfect before God, salvation in Christ is now a gift in this life revealed in love and peace knowing our relationship with the father is restored “for all whom the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:39). Our lives lived in faith can be seen by the spiritual fruits of our faith: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22).

Notice that these fruits not only bring us closer to God and others; they are the road markers of purpose and joy in the life we live now. Sin will always present challenges to these temporal fruits, yet our works and attitudes reflect our eternal faith.

Neither the Jews nor the entire world knew of either the presence of, or our human need for, the saving grace of Jesus.  Nobody had asked for it, nobody saw it coming despite hundreds of scriptural prophecies, and nobody at first knew quite what to do with it. Generations of “fear the Lord” became a new world of “fear not” … for the Lord has saved us: from our sins, and into eternal life with God. We had no idea.

Through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, God delivers his love to all of us. What a blessing when, in the here and now, we find it, believe it, join it, and live it.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) was baptized November 18, 2001, 24 years ago. Then on November 18, 2007 had his first conversation with Pam, whom he married in 2009. These are two great examples of newly found love Walters never expected.

LINK: Cheryl Cowden obituary

 Friends: When ill winds blow in our culture, who can we trust? Bob

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Spirituality Column #991

November 11, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Gales of November

By Bob Walters

 “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” - Psalm 12:2

My greatest comfort as a Christian, despite my disquietude with the world – especially at this moment in history with socialist domestic elections, failed national legislative agendas, ridiculously skewed media narratives, murderous international persecutions of the faithful, and irresolvable wars – is knowing I can trust Jesus.

“God is in control.” Really? As a matter of fact, yes. What we are seeing in these contemporary November political storms writ large is the freedom God has given man to screw up the dominion He bequeathed to us, i.e., the Earth. God rules; we rebel.

God has a plan for our salvation, yes; it is faith in Jesus Christ. We are thus delivered eternally from our sins, yet mired in our temporal human desire – yea, surely our inability – to supplant God’s simple truths of love and grace by exerting our fallen nature of pride, greed, lust for earthly power, and rejection of our need for God.

Satan has got us pretty good at the moment; there appears nowhere to turn.

So, we turn away from God? Blame God? Double down on our own fallen, human mistakes and insist we can cobble together a better, more equitable, more just life on Earth if we seek freedom not in Christ but in our own truth? That’s the error of the world; that’s Satan. His goal is to destroy God’s glory and image; i.e., us.

We needn’t replay the particulars of the fall of mankind we see in Genesis 3, nor is there space here to catalogue the manifold foibles of humanity revealed throughout scripture.  In the here and now, the plenipotential cacophony of human communication whether the Internet, news media, politicians, academia, online screeds, or violence in the streets, assaults our senses daily and easily matches the chaos of the Bible.

What’s missing?  The hope of the Bible.  My first time through the Old Testament, or any part of the Bible, well into my adulthood, left me shaken with the images of violence, deceit, and the question of questions, “How could a good God …?”

In time I came to see that the Old Testament is a testimony of what doesn’t work for humanity seeking God’s Kingdom, and that God’s righteousness – like it or not – is unassailable. Later, I realized the New Testament – with its righteousness, sacrifice, grace, love, faith, and truth – is our path to eternal hope, life, and relationship with God.

That is what we trust God controls. That is why our joy in the Lord is our strength.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?” (Psalms 27:1). In times like these, we trust the Lord and pray for his wisdom and strength in our battle against the powers of darkness. Darkness is that which seeks to displace Jesus as Savior, replace peace and hope with fear and guilt, and misplace aspiration with desperation.

Trust in the Lord, and fight the good fight. Don’t be lured by false peace or seduced by panic. Be able “to acknowledge the truth” (2 Timothy 4:7, vv1-7). Pray. Seek God’s wisdom and strength in battles you may have to wage. Freedom isn’t free.

Life as we have known it may indeed be changing, but while politics, false gods, suspect economics, and AI technology may change our circumstances, our human machinations will never change God’s truth. That’s the one thing we can trust.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) is aware God allows sin and corruption because it is in our subsequent failures and suffering that we learn the most about reliance on Jesus and God’s love. It is a recipe for joy one would not expect, but a truth we can count on.  Walters wanted to write a breezy piece about November memories. Maybe next week. 

Friends: Not everyone who complains about the same politics is rooting for the same outcomes. P.S. – This begins our 20^th straight year of weekly columns. Thanks for being here!

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Spirituality Column #990

November 4, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Strange Bedfellows   

By Bob Walters

“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers…” – 2 Corinthians 6:14

What I hope to say is a bit tricky, but first let’s understand that by “yoked” I’m not talking about – nor do I believe here Paul is talking about – marriage or race.

Paul is talking about the yoke of Christian faith: faith in Jesus Christ, faith in the body of Christ, faith in God, the Spirit, heaven, eternity, and God’s truth, love, and goodness. Paul had been a Jew who understood and ferociously lived the Law, but now lived as a vibrant believer in Jesus Christ and an apostle to the gentiles, i.e., the non-Jews, Greeks, and pagans.  Paul knew well the struggles of mixed-faith relationships.

As Christians, our lives make more sense and are more peaceful when we congregate with like-minded believers. I am thrilled, any time, to share faith and “give the reason for the hope that I have” (1 Peter 3:15). But it is nice being around people who share and understand that same faith and hope and not having to argue about it.

That said, let’s throw a different log on the same fire as it regards not just religion but current American politics and culture. For what they are worth, here I hope are some salient observations about why people with very dissimilar belief systems and cultural backgrounds wind up yoked and voting for the same issues, though for differing ends.

Consider the Democrats and their odd-fellow line-up of socialist leftists, Muslims, Jews, LGBTQ, the hyper-rich, the hyper-poor, and minorities generally. The vast majority of academics, public educators, and media dwell in that same dugout.

Catholics tend to trend Democratic, which on the one hand is odd because of the Church’s stance against abortion, but on the other makes sense because of the Catholic stance for charity, a common Democrat value. One could start by saying they all simply agree that Trump is icky and power crazed – “a danger to democracy” – but plenty of thinking folks on the Christian right say the same thing.  Why the coalition?

This past week I heard Victor Davis Hanson say something that sorted through 90 percent of what, for me, are glaring conundrums in these alliances. Such as, why do Jews vote for Democrats who reject Israel? Muslims kill homosexuals in the Middle East but in America vote alongside LGBTQ? Hyper-rich capitalists cozy up with leftists / socialists / communists? Among these dissimilar cohorts, Hanson noticed two things.

1. Marxism (leftism, et al), Muslims, and Jews all deny Christ, and their various ultimate ends depend on destroying the authority of Christ as the Savior, Son of God. And, 2. Only when these groups eradicate the truth of Jesus can they enforce their own control of whatever social, economic, religious, political, or cultural program they desire.

The shared goal in all these groups is power and control, not freedom and faith.

Opposite of the “No Kings” hysteria, what Trump’s supporters see is not an authoritarian endgame; it is the expression and value of human freedom, responsibility, and aspiration; i.e., Americanism. Alas, Trump’s Republican detractors see him only as a disruptive, bombastic pain; I’m not sure there exists a way for them to see otherwise.

God ordained a wonderful government in America two and a half centuries ago, one where the church wasn’t running the show but believers in Christ would comprise, as John Adams admonished, “a moral and religious people” freely operating within it.

I will continue to yoke myself to Jesus Christ and freedom, and hope for the best.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) knows the only sure truth is the truth of Jesus Christ, and that secular America has been working vigorously against God for a hundred years.

Friends: Politics, education, and God. We have nearly educated ourselves out of unity in Christ and into political ignorance. See the column below ...

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Spirituality Column #989

October 28, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Long Division   

By Bob Walters

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” Psalms 133:1 ESV

Let’s discuss politics, education, and God – the 30,000-foot view – in the context of humans getting along with each other. You may have noticed that lately, we aren’t.

Next week, all indications are that the good citizens of New York City will elect a Muslim Democratic Socialist as their mayor. At issue – truly – are neither religion nor party affiliation; at issue is bad American civics education laced with the dual despair of ever-rising prices and ever-falling hope. New Yorkers crave free stuff to face a fracturing future.

“Free stuff” is always an illusion, mind you, yet an attractive mirage for the poorly educated – college degrees and accreditations notwithstanding – in our current misguided though abating DEI cultural era. Illuminating human experience and philosophical wisdom have been beaten down in recent decades by entrenched socialist trends away from aspiration and merit, and toward equal outcomes for all. “Fairness” is a canard of a rallying cry, and a lie that destroys human flourishing. Division replaces unity.

It's not fair.

Lately, I’ve read two mind-focusing books of recent vintage on American public education. One is titled, The Marxification of Education by James Lindsay. The other is Hide Your Children: Exposing the Marxists Behind the Attack on America’s Kids by Liz Wheeler. Where education has led our nation astray is in our overall ignorance of what Marxism, socialism, and communism actually are: vicious, freedom-wrecking wolves in the sheep’s clothing of “fairness.” College education departments bit the apple long ago.

Socialism has been the overriding template of education training in America’s universities for the past century.  While history departments should be teaching about how America won its precious freedom and how to value freedom as a gift from God, bards of American education theory like Horace Mann, John Dewey, Paolo Freire, and others preached lock-step, socialist obedience in stultifying, one-size-fits-all curricula designed to defeat free-thinking. Once upon a time, to produce employees. Now, to foment activism.

There is truly no mystery why it is often the C students and dropouts who are the entrepreneurs. What we notice about socialism is a distinct lack of entrepreneurship.

Anyway, as I read these books full of anti-socialist scare quotes, what the books didn’t offer was a concise answer to the obvious question, “So, what’s wrong with socialism?” Despite our educational institutions based so heavily in clandestine socialist theory, free Americans still retain a visceral distaste for actually being called socialist.

I think the answer goes something like this: Americans value freedom, and freedom requires – above all else – personal responsibility. Christians are called to love God and love others, and to do unto others as we would have others do unto us.  This requires accountability and an objective, ultimate belief in the reality of truth, good, evil, and God.

What socialism deletes, first, is God, because socialism cannot abide any truth greater than itself. Next goes personal responsibility and with it, freedom. Socialism is people controlling other people; God gets in the way, as does one’s faith in God.

While Marxist/socialist/communist philosophy insists that workers are oppressed and everyone is owed fairness, its “leaders” replace God as arbiters of truth. That’s the lie: socialism calls itself a march out of oppression, yet replaces freedom with slavery.

Sadly, much of America falls for that lie because that’s what we’ve been taught.

There is no unifying force between the divisive, controlling diktat of Marx  and the flourishing of human freedom under the divine and unifying love of the Creator God.

How pleasant it is when humans are united, and how ugly is life when we aren’t.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) believes God unites us through Jesus; Satan hates it.

Friends: Hope in Christ operates beyond all doubt. See below.

Blessings, Bob

P.S. – Happy birthday 10-21 to my favorite editor, Pam Walters.

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Spirituality Column #988

October 21, 20225

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Unconditional Hope

By Bob Walters

“Always be prepared … to give the reason for the hope you have.” – 1 Peter 3:15

Prior to coming to Christ, attending church, and reading the Bible – all when I was 47 years old – I had attended enough weddings that I had one Bible verse down pat, from 1 Corinthians 13: “And now these three remain, faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

I would not have known in those pre-Christian days that it was verse 13, or that Paul wrote it, or that it was a letter to a mess of a church in Corinth, or much of anything else about the New Testament. Well, I knew the Gospels were Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and that 1 Corinthians 13 was the “Love Chapter.” But that’s it.

Wouldn’t you know that my first day in church as an adult, the sermon was about I Corinthians 13, the crescendo of which was wonderful preacher Russ Blowers – on September 2, 2001, celebrating his 50^th anniversary of service to East 91^st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis – laying out the following about verse 13:

“Faith is about the past, hope is about the future, and love is about right now, in the present. That is why it is most important.” Or words to that effect.

For reasons I could not even guess, that line struck me as the most rational, graspable, philosophically divine Bible explanation I had ever heard.  And remember, at that point, I knew virtually nothing about the Bible. Raised in the Episcopal Church in the 1960s and serving as an altar boy, I knew the Book of Common Prayer, the Nicene Creed, the communion service (Holy Eucharist), and when to ring the bell. That’s it.

The Bible, writ large, remained opaque in my understanding until I was 47. But that day with Russ in the pulpit, something clicked in my soul.  I call it my “Awake Date,” not as a boast, but as thanks for where life in Christ has led me from then until now.

Russ’s “argument” was simple. The past is where we have seen and trusted God’s presence in life and Creation, giving us faith.  We haven’t seen the future, but our faith in what has been leads us to hope in what will be.  And love is what we know right now, the present of God’s presence and life that guides us moment to moment.

That put God in my life right now. God was, is, and always will be present. I believed, and tears welled in my eyes.  I knew this was truth; moreover, that truth existed, and that it existed in the person of Jesus Christ.  I can’t define another’s hope in Jesus, but this is the reason for the hope that I have, and I want to tell everyone.

Last week I wrote about God’s unconditional love not being a transaction but a personal, divine experience. We strive for that in our humanity but only God does it perfectly: an always present relationship with God through Jesus who covers our sins.

Today I’d like to turbocharge the meaning of “hope” up from a conditional doubt about the future to an unconditional, steadfast divine gift of God’s truth, as real as love.

Faith offers proof from the past; we have seen it, thought about it, and know it.  Hope on the other hand often bears a tacit burden of uncertainty.  Because we have not yet seen, we are forced to consider what we “hope for” to be eternal reality dangling by an un-securely tethered cord into this life’s as-yet unseen future. I.e., “What if?”

Hebrews 11:1 says “Faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see.” I may hope, with legitimate doubt, about this life’s twists and turns. But divinely, my hope assures God loves, Jesus is King, and the Spirit abides.

Unconditionally.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) will publish column #1,000 January 13, 2026 … Lord willing.