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.

Friends: We as humans pursue unconditional love, but only God gets it right.  See the column below. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #987

October 14, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Close, But Not Quite …

By Bob Walters

“[May you] grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” – Ephesians 3:17

“Only unconditional love in some facet of your life gives you the proper perspective to appreciate what is great about transactional things, but allows you to see them for what they are, which is transactional. There’s no Valhalla at the top of Rock Mountain. – Billy Corgan

Valhalla is the mythical, majestic mountain where Norse god Odin houses warriors who died bravely in battle. At Valhalla the warriors feast at night but train during the day to fight alongside Odin against giants in the ultimate battle at the end of the world.  One could say Valhalla is sort of the Norse version of Heaven, but not quite.

Billy Corgan is/was an alt rock music star – the lead singer for The Smashing Pumpkins (very big in the 1980s and 1990s) – who was recently on Bill Mahar’s show. I have seen Corgan interviewed before and he is well-spoken and a deep thinker.

At the top of “Rock Mountain,” he noted – i.e., his music career – no amount of fame and money truly fill and complete one’s life. He asserted such things are “transactional,” meaning you give something, then get something, then … dial tone.

Billy is saying that only unconditional love – something that isn’t a trade for anything, something that isn’t tangible, or a measurable condition or return for something you yourself do – provides the mystical, fulfilling, next-level, beyond-this-world understanding of the limitations of worldly success. Worldly success falls short; worldly love is imperfect.

Unconditional love is not a transaction; it is a revelation of divine experience.

This would all make complete sense if Corgan were speaking as a Christian, of the love of Jesus Christ, of the grace, mercy, and righteousness of the One True God, of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and the eternal hope and promise of Heaven. But Billy is not quite there. 

In the interview he goes on to talk about the unconditional love of his family, which is worth more than all the trappings of a glittering rock and roll career.  But a “trap” is what money and fame often are, and we know, as Shakespeare said, “all that glitters is not gold.” Billy sees truth, but imperfectly.

Mahar is an entrenched atheist, but reasonable when confronted with life’s mysterious human truths of love and loyalty. He just can’t see far enough up the mountain to understand human truth is actually God’s truth, and that it is not for sale.

Corgan eloquently describes unconditional love, but you want to nudge him to move from the imperfection of human love to the only perfect love, that of God. Billy’s observation is a great object lesson for Christians whose faith tends toward the reward and punishment dynamic of what we “earn” with our worldly actions as opposed to what Jesus promises us in our divine faith: the unconditional love of God.

Billy's thoughtful description of "transactional" shortcomings in the material world got me thinking.  We miss a key aspect of God's love and Jesus's sacrifice when we say Jesus "paid for our sins" or even that he was "punished for our sins," both of which are considered heresy in the Orthodox tradition because Christ’s work is unconditional love, not a trade or a cost.

Today's marketing oriented, transactional Western culture insists that if we do something bad, we should be punished, and if we do something good, we should be rewarded.  Pay or be paid.  That, sadly is what the modern Western church has largely come to, and it’s not quite right.

The purest love I have in this world is with my wife and my sons, but I don't pay them, and they don't pay me. The very purest love of all is God's, and how could God or Jesus or the Spirit pay or be paid for anything? They can’t and they don’t.  Of that, I am sure.

None of us is going to get a "bill due" when we get to heaven.  We'll either get a hug (I like to imagine) and invited in, or ignored – "I never knew you" – and exist elsewhere. The transactional will stay right where I believe it belongs ... in this not quite satisfying world.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) believes God’s love is transcendent and transforming, and thanks Peter Heck’s Dashboard Jesus podcast for noticing Bill Mahar’s interview with Corgan.

Friends: A book has been published containing several of Abba Philemon’s letters to our great spiritual friend George Bebawi. The story and a link to the book is below. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #986

October 7, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Letters to George

By Bob Walters

“He is very dear to me … both as a man and as a brother in the Lord.” – Philemon 16.

From the fall of 2004 through 2017, Dr. George Bebawi (1938-2021) taught a series of Bible and theological classes in the fall and spring at East 91^st Street Christian Church here in Indianapolis.

All who spent any time in the class remember George’s copious pre-class notes filled with his own observations, writings of the ancient Christians, various Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Aramaic Bible translations with contexts and evaluations of modern Christianity.  This was no light Bible study; it was a deep dive into the spirit of the Lord.

And a special treat most weeks would be a brief piece of wisdom tucked in his class handout, a letter excerpt from George’s spiritual mentor, a monk he once knew named Philemon at the Monastery of St. Macarius in the desert north of Cairo, Egypt.

George grew up Jewish in a Muslim neighborhood in Cairo, learning the Koran with his young neighbors and then preparing for rabbinical school as a teenager. Raised by his Jewish maternal grandmother, George’s father, a Christian physician, was the one who said George ought to learn about the people around him, mostly Muslims.

This obviously gave George a 360-degree perspective of the Abrahamic religions, but the big surprise came at age 18 when both he and his grandmother converted to Christianity. George soon went to seminary, and became a priest in the Coptic (Egyptian Orthodox) Church founded by St. Mark in the first century.

It was early in his priesthood that George investigated becoming a monk and on a visit to Macarius monastery met Abba Philemon, an older, quirky brother of extreme biblical learning and spiritual depth whose birthplace and birthdate were unknown.

In his mid-20s, George was off to Cambridge University, England, for a masters in Christian Theology and a doctorate in Orthodox Studies. George became a renowned Eastern church scholar and expert on the Patristic period of the church fathers in the earliest Christian centuries.  Google “George Bebawi” (or GeorgeBebawi.com) and many resources pop up including his organizations and full Wikipedia biography.

Until Philemon’s passing in 1977, George regularly corresponded with him on deep personal and spiritual matters. This included frequent letters from Philemon in reply to George’s questions or difficulties. They also had numerous conversations at the monastery which George recorded from memory. Philemon claimed to be uneducated and most brothers thought him illiterate, but his letters belie a powerful intellect.

George often regaled our E91 class with stories about Philemon, many of them situated between hilarious, charming, and Oh My God revealing anecdotes. I still have 14 years of George’s class handouts plus my own notes, all peppered with Philemon’s erudite nuggets of faith, truth, Godly love, scriptural revelation, and the truth of Jesus.

The class ended in December 2017, and George died February 4, 2021.  Three years later, a surprise showed up, a book of Abba Philemon’s Letters to George (LINK).

Last fall a friend of George’s wife May – my classmate Joyce Van Atta – handed me a small book of Philemon’s letters to George. I couldn’t find any information about it then, but now it is available on Amazon.

George was a good man and a dear brother in the Lord, and I know many of his students and friends will be happy to hear that Philemon’s words live on.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) coordinated George’s classes at E91, but has no idea who actually published the Philemon book.

Friends: Charlie Kirk’s memorial service Sept. 21, 2025, brought unprecedented Christian witness from public officials broadcast to a gargantuan live, national, and global TV and Internet audience. Who might sing a new song? Blessings! Bob

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Spirituality Column #985

September 30, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Sing a New Song

By Bob Walters

“… by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation … Worthy is the lamb who was slain …” – Revelation 5:9, 12

It is generally useless to quote scripture to people who don’t believe the Bible, trust the person of Jesus, acknowledge the reality of God, or accept the Holy Spirit.

Share the Gospel? Absolutely! But the first step is to share God’s truth with one’s own life, love, and kindness. Shouting out John 3:16 and 14:6 – “God so loved the world that He sent his only Son so that whoever believes in Him shall have eternal life”, and “No one comes to the Father except through Jesus” – is beautiful language to a believer but a clanging gong to a hostile soul where pride blocks grace’s entry to its humanity.

Let the Holy Spirit capture a human heart and spirit, though, and the richness and authority of the Bible blossom into an eternal and previously unseen palette of purpose, possibility, faith, and embedded truth in a regenerate human heart.

My own heart regenerated for Christ at age 47 not because someone handed me a Bible or quoted a verse, but because I saw Christians I respected believing the Bible, worshipping Jesus, and living in His truth. I discovered a whole new land that I knew almost nothing about – Christian faith – except that now it was real, trustworthy, and inviting me in. I heard a new song, and didn’t want to stop listening. Only, to learn and grow.

I think that was the overwhelming power of Charlie Kirk’s memorial service.

Hostile hearts may well remain hostile hearts; there are those who have been and will continue beating their breasts in rage and contempt not just at Jesus but for the politicians who spoke of Jesus and even for Kirk’s memory. Softened and perhaps seeking hearts who paused for the spectacle – whose ears could suddenly hear and whose eyes could suddenly see – augment the joy I perceive. Faith grew that day.

The hundred thousand in attendance inside State Farm Stadium in Phoenix, a total 277,000 active cell phones (i.e., people) in the immediate area, millions watching the video in our nation and nations worldwide, thousands of requests for Turning Point USA chapters, and nonstop media and internet discussion should call to more than a few unbelievers that Christ is something – and somebody – to reverently pursue.

“Worthy is the lamb who was slain” (Revelation 5:12) refers to the heavenly host praising Christ in heaven.  Millions and millions see Charlie Kirk as a slain lamb in the service of Christ.  Charlie’s death – and his memorial – were momentous national, international, and eternally significant, events. Who now believes? Who now can see?

As for critics who decry “Christian nationalism,” fine. No sane person wants a theocracy. But I did not see Christians wrapping themselves in the American flag; I saw Americans wrapping themselves in Christ. I saw a grieving widow forgive her husband’s killer in the name of Christ.  I saw American leaders offer bold, powerful, persuasive, and in my experience unprecedented witness for Jesus Christ as Lord, Savior, King … and the Way, the Truth, and the Life alone. I saw and sensed peace and resolve, not violence.

I saw U.S. President Donald Trump, a grossly underappreciated defender of Christian freedom, wander off script (he does that) but land in a Christian confessional: he hates his enemies while citing Erika Kirk’s admirable forgiveness, grace, and mercy in Christ.

Trump, with humor and possibly a touch of humility, implied he “needs to work on it.”

I did not see Christian nationalism; I saw Christian revival.

Christians are dealing with modern pharisees on all sides, whose anger ratchets up as Christ’s message grows. Let us keep singing louder; Jesus was ransomed for all.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) watched all five hours of the memorial, through tears,  and shares this 2013 Passion Conference “Revelation Song” video link of Kari Jobe who performed with Hillsong at the Kirk memorial. Walters also notes a pattern he has observed: the more a Christian likes Donald Trump and watches Fox News, the more likely they were to know of Charlie Kirk. Oppositely, Christian non-fans of Trump who never watch Fox News generally knew little about Kirk until he was assassinated. Charlie was a gifted conservative political protagonist, but also the Christian apologist of recent years with the biggest megaphone. Pro-Jesus and pro-Trump, the legacy media rarely mentioned him.

Friends: Truth has a freeing effect, where lies tend to gum up the works.  Whose side is Satan on? - Bob

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Spirituality Column #984

September 24, 2024

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Tell the Truth  

By Bob Walters 

“If you hold to my teaching, then you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” – Jesus, John 8:31-32. 

“When [Satan] lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” – Jesus, John 8:44

Is it just me, or has our politically divided country the past couple of weeks been more consumed than usual with calling everyone on the other side “liars”?

Who’s lying? Who’s telling the truth? How do we tell the difference?

We can study scripture for eternity and not know precisely whether late night talk show raconteur Jimmy Kimmel should have been fired for telling a mockingly absurd lie about Charlie Kirk’s murderer. It’s “Free speech!” don’t you know. Who’s the sinner here?

Was it even Kimmel’s job to tell the truth? I can’t remember the last time, if ever, I cared about or believed what he said.  Ditto Stephen Colbert.  Both were shouting into a sophistic, leftist, disingenuous television abyss of dissension and hate that played narrowly to like-minded but dwindling audiences. I ignored them; some folks reveled in them. Leftists have a hysteria-laced, apocalyptic opinion about it. Freedom of speech is crucified!

It’s the end of the world as we know it, and nobody feels fine. I say, “Maranatha.”

Lies are – unconditionally – a product of this world, i.e., Satan. Who is the “father of lies”? See John 8:44. Who is the “prince of the world”? See John 12:31. How will we know truth? By Jesus (John 8:32) whom we implore prayerfully in our hearts, minds, and souls.

Scripture will never tell us the truth about late night television employment decisions. I would actually know nothing about Kimmel or Colbert (or many others) over the years if Fox News didn’t use video clips of their shows and other network “late night comedy” and daytime talk show commentary as fodder for critical and heated expressions of conservative outrage. It just so happens I’m more likely to agree with Fox’s outrage than with the drum-beat, lock-step leftist outrage / narrative of most other media. But that’s just me.

I remain mindful of truth, or the absence of it, and strive to discern the sincere pursuit of factual objectivity vs. disingenuous narrative. My dad was an honest journalist in the 1950s and 60s, and I received a journalism degree in the 1970s. Then, objectivity was still a thing. Headlines, for example, were written to inform, not incite. Freedom included responsibility.

Most media and 100 percent of leftist politicians are currently at DefCon1 decrying “Trump is destroying free speech!” Yeah, well … free speech, not the truth, is their weapon.

As Charlie Kirk rests in peace with Jesus, many, many of us would like to grieve in peace here.  Holman Jenkins writing in the Wall Street Journal noted that Trump administration FCC chairman Brendan Barr (who is probably toast) applied some ill-advised “easy way or the hard way” pressure to the networks. Even Ted Cruz objected … strenuously.

Jenkins added, truthfully, that TV news and talk shows have long been unprofitable so networks didn’t fight to defend money-losing properties. But I think Barr’s optics were bad.

I was disappointed Fox News focused only on “market forces” and low ratings while ignoring the administration’s thumb on the scales. There is a lot to this as a complex, multi-tiered business / political / media / freedom story, as well as a network affiliates “community standards” story. Still, I believe Kimmel’s dismissal is a step in the right direction by pouring disinfecting sunlight onto wildly irresponsible commentary and leftist strictures on truth.   

Insensitive and untrue? Yeah, Kimmel was that and will continue to be. If ever a fellow had “his own truth,” it’s him. But like the guy who shot Charlie Kirk, shouldn’t we pray for their salvation, since they “know not what they do”? Interestingly, Kirk believed in capital punishment.

Truth, generally, brings love, righteousness, and closeness to God. Lies do Satan’s work of attacking God’s glory and fomenting hateful chaos. Discern wisely, and speak truth.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes the left didn’t yell “Free Speech!” when Trump was earlier hoaxed, deplatformed, and censured. Defending free speech is different from defending truth. Btw, “DefCon1” (“nuclear war is underway”) is from the 1983 movie War Games.

Friends: Charlie Kirk was a political, cultural, and Christian voice for youth.  Here is how some kids I know reacted.  May we all sow hope, not despair. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #983

September 16, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Turning Point

By Bob Walters

“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” – Jesus, John 12:24

A typical early morning at Mission Christian Academy is a joyously chaotic affair.

The orderly car drop-off line at 8:15 that in 15 minutes delivers 500 students to the Fishers, Indiana, K-12 school for an 8:30 start produces approximately 15 minutes of high energy pandemonium in the gym where most of the middle and high school students congregate. Shouts, laughter, basketballs, volleyballs, and footballs echo and bounce throughout the former newspaper production plant. Homeroom begins at 8:30.

Last Thursday morning was different.

Through tears following the assassination of Charlie Kirk Wednesday afternoon, MCA administration called a Thursday morning prayer gathering of grades 6-12. At 8:30, the gym bleachers were packed with 300 silent teenagers.

Charlie died late Wednesday afternoon. What I didn’t know until discussion in Thursday’s ensuing classes was that virtually every student knew who Charlie Kirk was, knew of his ministry and faith, knew of his patriotism, and knew of his common-sense, cheerful worldview. The cesspool that is social media, ironically, over the years presented this beacon of hope and faith for our students to emulate … and now mourn.

Thursday was also 9/11, a day thankfully still revered and remembered.  But for these kids, those attacks were years before they were born.  It is the similar historical distance of my sixth grade year in 1965-66 going back to 1941’s Pearl Harbor attack 24 years earlier. Kirk’s death will be their Kennedy, King, and Kennedy memories.

What I sensed among the students at that prayer service, and then in class discussion throughout the day, wasn’t despair or fear.  While I was sad and angry, the kids, as well as they could understand, were focused and resolved in their faith.  They “got” that Christian life requires courage.  It is in the Bible, and here it was in life.

At the prayer service, MCA founder Shawn Moore and operations chief Jerry Ackerman spoke.  Before campus pastor Andy Waite closed in prayer, Shawn’s son Travis, a 2024 MCA grad who had pitched the convocation idea to his dad the night before, sang “Reckless Love of God” accompanying himself on an acoustic guitar.

Oh my.

With no amp or microphone, Travis’s music filled the gym. The previously silent students joined in, and led by a half-dozen junior boys down front who quickly rose to their feet, the entire student body was soon standing, singing loudly and worshipfully.  I was holding my wife’s hand, watching the kids, tears streaming down our faces. This was love; a Holy Spirit, kingdom moment. This was praise for and growth in Christ.

What a blessing to be a part of it.

What a blessing to see the budding fruit of the seeds that family, friends, pastors, MCA – and Charlie Kirk – planted.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) has endless thoughts on Kirk’s assassination, his evangelism, cultural and political acumen, and a profound appreciation for being close to these youth who exude faith, hope, and courage. Walters teaches history at MCA; his wife Pam, English. With her nearly 40 years in secondary education, Pam was floored at the silent respect the students showed.  And those juniors who quickly stood?  They comprise the classroom cadre who require vigorous seating charts spreading them apart from each other. On this day, they were leaders – a Christ-like gang for Jesus.

Friends: Where is our nation headed when we have senators and media who no longer understand where human freedom originates?  Some thoughts on God in modern U.S. civics. 

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Spirituality Column #982

September 9, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Whither Freedom?

By Bob Walters

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” – Paul, Galatians 5:1

Paul’s assurance here of Christian freedom from the Hebrew old covenant Law vs. modern political freedom uniquely and divinely assumed into American government are today’s topics of discussion. And it was Virginia U.S. senator Tim Kaine’s egregious and ungodly civics fumble last week, comparing the U.S. Constitution to Islam’s Sharia Law, that necessitates a refresher about both God’s intent and man’s understanding.

Let’s briefly sort out human freedom as it applies to the three Abrahamic religions, U.S. founding documents, the Ayatollah’s current reign in Iran, and Kaine’s horribly errant take on a “core pillar of the American experiment” (hat tip: Peter Heck).

In case you missed it, Kaine offered this howler in a Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing last Wednesday: “This notion that rights don’t come from laws and don’t come from the government, but come from the Creator … that’s what the Iranian government believes. …  So, the statement that our rights do not come from our laws or our governments is extremely troubling.”

So, rights from our Creator are “extremely troubling.” Really? Thomas Jefferson’s take in the Declaration of Independence differs a bit: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Genesis 1:27 tells us humans are created in the image of God.  Thinkers through the ages – including Aristotle, John Locke, and Jefferson – have noted man’s special agency in divine freedom subject to God’s righteousness, which Paul understands is imputed to us through Jesus Christ. In Romans 13:1-7 Paul lays out the necessity of government and Christian compliance, but also our ultimate duty to glorify God.

Islamic Sharia Law, without getting into the tall grass, dictates that law and government are ordained by God – theocracy – with little mention of individual rights.

It scares me, but I’m not surprised, that a U.S. politician could be so far afield as Kaine seems to be.  He is saying our rights come – or should come – from government. Wow. Kaine could not be more wrong in theory, but is far from alone in his ignorance.

Going back to Galatians, cited up top, my Bible mentor George Bebawi called this letter “a stick of dynamite” as a broadside exposition on how Christian salvation by faith in Jesus is different from Hebrew compliance with the Law. Paul is expressing freedom in Christ, not slavery to “law that brings sin and death” (Romans 8:2). Paul’s self-proclaimed “slavery” was his declaration of love for and faith in Christ. That’s OK; most of us make ourselves slaves, i.e., are supremely dedicated, to that which we love. 

Founding father John Adams famously said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Those morals – collective, objective agreement on right and wrong and ultimate Godly purpose – are what Adams is citing, not non-Christian “religious” symbols and systems.

People possess rights from God apart from government. Or, is government the sole arbiter of human freedom? These are very, very different philosophies, Mr. Kaine.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) recommends these articles on Kaine by Peter Heck and The Daily Signal. Kaine, btw, was Hillary Clinton’s VP running mate in 2016. Also, Walters checked and saw no coverage of Kaine’s comments on so-called “legacy media.” This tells us the media does not understand Kaine’s comments. Pity.