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DISABLED CHRISTIANITY

Discussion of issues related to Christianity/theology and persons with
disability, and disability ministry hosted by Jeff McNair, a Special Education
professor. Jeff and his wife Kathi have been involved in ministry with adults
with intellectual disabilities for 40 years. (all entries are © Jeff McNair).


“DURING TIMES OF UNIVERSAL DECEIT, TELLING THE TRUTH BECOMES A REVOLUTIONARY
ACT.” GEORGE ORWELL






THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 01, 2022


LOAN FORGIVENESS VS. SUPPORTING AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES



 Over the years I have come to know many people with various disabilities who
are living at or below the poverty line. Several have literally been waiting for
over 10 years to get onto section 8 in order to receive housing benefits. In the
community where I live, a small apartment is about 1300$ per month. If you
consider that social security is a little over a thousand per month, you can see
the difficulties people face just making ends meet. And you also realize that as
you work your financial benefit decreases. So, these are people in desperate
need of assistance that the government doesn't care about. 

But if you make over 100 thousand per year, they can find 10,000$ to give you to
pay off a student loan. In all, they can find 300 billion dollars. I don't care
what your political preference is, but it is easy to see my frustration with
this. This is not caring about the needs of citizens. If we were really
interested in the needs of citizens we would care for citizens who are the most
needy and we don't. 

My friends wait for help so they can live above the poverty all the while being
told there is no money available. While those in government are quick to give
money to those who they think will help their political aspirations and bring
them power. Otherwise they could care less about you. 

If you would like to disagree, tell me how people with student loans that they
chose to take on are more in need than those with disabilities who through no
fault of their own live in poverty. Tell me why we can find money for loan
forgiveness but not for housing aid.  

This is just the latest from uncaring power motivated political hacks who call
themselves "leaders."

McNair


at 9/01/2022 04:29:00 PM No comments:





WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022


FREE BIBLE LESSONS DOWNLOAD ON PHILIPPIANS FOR ADULTS WITH DISABILITIES



 Jeff and Kathi McNair have been facilitating an adult ministry that
particularly includes adults with intellectual disabilities. They have published
3 curricula for this ministry on Psalms, Romans and Hebrews. With each of these
curricula, Jeff wrote the lessons, taught them, and then revised them such they
are in the final form you see. 

They have just released a new curriculum on Philippians as a FREE download. The
download is available here.

Lessons from the Light & Power Company: Philippians

We hope you will enjoy trying out this curriculum!

McNair


at 4/20/2022 01:23:00 PM No comments:





TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2022


BE AWARE OF MANIPULATION



It has been interesting over the years of ministry with adults with intellectual
disabilities, that there have been several occasions, only a few, where those
with higher functioning disabilities have manipulated those with a bit less
intellectual abilities.

One happened about 10 years back when two women got into a sequence of
altercations. The higher functioning woman seemed to instigate the
confrontations. Because she had a better command of language, she would
typically frustrate the other. This happened repeatedly until ultimately the
woman with less command of language in frustration pushed her such that she fell
down. The result was the the first woman called the police, filed an assault
charge and basically scared the other half to death. I would reassure her that
nothing would happen as a result and nothing did, but it forever scarred the
less capable woman and she never returned to our ministry the other for a while
would show up with her Cheshire cat grin.

Most recently, a similar situation occurred between two women and a man in our
group. The women being the higher functioning and the man less so. We ultimately
came to understand how the two had been manipulating the man. I spoke to him on
several occasions trying to explain to him what was happening to him and also
spoke to one of the women telling her to stop the behaviors she was engaging in.
But she continued and her manipulation was too powerful for him. Ultimately it
set him off to where he became mildly physically aggressive but it might have
been much worse. As it stands, all three of the group are not involved in our
ministry. The man through input from his family has separated himself from our
ministry, probably a wise move on his part, and the women were asked to leave
for a period of time. I plan to continue to facilitate friendship with the man.
Hopefully they will follow our request to refrain from the social media
interactions and posts that led to the altercation.

The take home lesson is that people are people and will often do the kinds of
things people will do. Particularly if the see that they have some power over
others. If you are aware, try to protect those in your group who might seem more
competent than they are and can be bullied by others. I was grateful that the
altercation didn't escalate more than it did.

McNair


at 4/12/2022 12:45:00 PM 5 comments:





TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2021


THE PLAN OF SALVATION



 

Years ago, I believe I shared this pictorial presentation of the gospel message.
I have used it literally for decades to teach about the plan of salvation to
persons with intellectual and other disabilities. I draw the picture on the
whiteboard and then go through it with our group. 









 

-First picture of sad face shows that we are all sinners, we all do bad things.
We are NOT right with God.

Romans 3:10-12 As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous – not even one. No
one is truly

wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No
one does

good, not a single one.”

 

-Picture of cross – but Jesus died on the cross for our sins.

Romans 3:22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ.

 

-Smiling face and gift – If we place our faith in Jesus we are forgiven. Our
forgiveness is a free

gift.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal
life through

Christ Jesus our Lord.

I will sometimes say at this point, “You know, if we work real hard and try to
do what is right, then God will give us a pay check of forgiveness and life with
Him in heaven, right?” They have come the expect this joke and will respond, “No
Jeff, it is not a paycheck it is a free gift.” Which I will affirm. “Yes! It is
a free gift we get if we believe in Jesus.”

 

-Picture of the dove – God then gives us his Holy Spirit to guide us. The dove
is based upon Jesus' baptism where the spirit descended on him in the form of a
dove. Because of my picture, I also always get the comment that we receive the
"holy chicken" which is always good for a laugh!

Romans 5:5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly
God loves

us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Romans 8:26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness.

 

-Picture of the house – Someday we will be with the Lord in Heaven because of
our faith.

John 14:1-3 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in
me. There is

more than enough room in my father’s home. If there were not so, would I have
told you that I

am going to prepare a place for you.

2 Corinthians 5:8 Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from
these earthly

bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.

I always ask our group, “What will you say when you go to the place that Jesus
has prepared for

you?” They respond, “I am home!”

You might ask if people in your group believe this. If it is for the first time,
you can pray with

them. We have actually used this picture as a way that people can explain their
faith such that

they can be baptized and join the church.

Hope this helps!

McNair


at 9/14/2021 03:00:00 PM 5 comments:





MONDAY, MAY 17, 2021


SOW WHAT? A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE ON THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER



 

Galatians 6:7 -  Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he
sows.

A farmer was having trouble with a crop that he was attempting to grow. In
desperation, he called the county agricultural office who promptly sent an
expert to help him solve his problem.
     “Thank you so much for coming!”
     “We are here to help. What seems to be the problem?”
     “Well, it’s like my field isn’t producing the right crop. I plant the
seeds, but never get exactly what I have planted.” The farmer rubbed his chin.
“I don’t’ know what is wrong.”
     The expert began to walk through the field as the spoke.
     The farmer continued. “I know the story about the seed falling on rocky
ground but as you can see, no rocky ground here. And also about the birds eating
the seeds or the weeds choking them out. The birds are always a challenge, but
they wouldn’t cause the kind of problem we are having. As you can see, the crop
itself looks pretty pure. Not a lot of weeds growing up.”
     “What exactly are you planting?” asked the expert.
     “Oh, just wheat.”
     The expert knelt down to the plants. He brushed his hand across the top of
the stubby, short growing, green blades. He picked a few of and studied them.
     Watching the expert, the farmer continued, “The only thing I can figure is
that there must be something wrong with the soil. Why wouldn’t it grow, why
wouldn’t it produce the right thing, the thing I am planting?”
     The expert took off his hat and scratched his head. “You say you are trying
to grow wheat?”
     “Yep. Have been trying to grow it for years. Always get the same result.
Most of the farms around here have the same problem. At Friday morning coffee we
get together and can’t understand what is up. I mean we all get our seed from
the same place. They have a self-service kind of an operation, so we pick out
our own seed that we plant.”
     The expert reached down and pulled up a small plant from the field. “Look
at this plant” he said as he held it out to the farmer. "Forget about what you
are trying to grow and tell me what this plant looks like.”
     “Well, yeah. It looks like grass to me. But all the other farmers are
producing the same kind of plants.”
      The farmer stood silently.
     “Let me see you seeds.”
     The farmer reached into a bag, pulled out a handful, and held out his palm
covered with the seed.
     The expert shook his head and scoffed. “This is grass seed! It looks a
little like wheat, but you aren’t getting wheat because you aren’t planting
wheat.”
     “What?!”
     “C’mon, you are a farmer. At least I thought you were a farmer. You want
wheat to grow, you need to plant wheat seeds. You can’t plant grass seed and
expect wheat to grow.”
     The farmer just stared surprised at the expert with open mouth.
     “I would bet that the farmers that taught you how to farm didn’t know the
difference between wheat seed and grass seed either…”


In my experience, all around the world, churches are places where people with
disabilities are too often not sought out, not invited in, not included and
loved like anyone else. How could we literally have generations of Christian
communities where this is the accepted practice? Perhaps for generations, the
farmers, the leadership of the Christian community, have been planting the wrong
seed. The soil, in other words the congregation, is not necessarily the problem.
It is the seed that is being planted by the farmer, what is taught and expected
from the leadership, that is the problem.

McNair


at 5/17/2021 08:43:00 AM 3 comments:



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THE CANCEL CULTURE AND ALLEGIANCE TO IDEAS VS ALLEGIANCE TO RELATIONSHIPS: THE
PROPHETIC PRESENCE OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

 It has been a while since I have posted here! I am hoping to get back into
posting so cross your fingers! Recently, I have been thinking ab...




HEBREWS CURRICULUM FROM THE LIGHT & POWER COMPANY


Third in curriculum series. Joins Psalms and Romans curricula.



MEOWOOF


Juvenile fiction that helps with the understanding of what it is to be
different.



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JOURNAL OF THE CHRISTIAN INSTITUTE ON DISABILITY


Scroll through the journal issues to find free articles available here!



BEYOND SUFFERING CURRICULUM


Excellent curriculum for churches on disability ministry which has been taught
around the world!



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VIDEO LINKS

 * Light & Power curriculum: Lesson 8
 * Unconditional friends
 * Weird glasses people
 * Dis Life Mark




LINKS

 * Podcast of interview with Jeff McNair
 * What would be better?
 * Social ramps/Universal social design
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If you would like to do something interesting, read George Orwell's Animal Farm
in the light of today's media and politics. I sometimes feel like Snowball...


 


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