I want to comment on the proposed question of whether Heaven will be an exclusive community. Everyone has the choice to believe in God or not. He, himself does not exclude anyone. We, ourselves, choose whether or not to accept him. Heaven can be a place for everyone if they choose. People who do not choose to accept Him would have a prospective that heaven would be an excluded community, but in reality they chose not to believe.

The Greek system on the other hand would be an exclusive community. The people within the system choose who they want to join their sorority or fraternity. When one chooses to join either one of these organizations, their loyalty to that group is a must, but not to an extent that anyone who is not in your sorority can not be your friend. There are activities within a sorority that exclude non-members, such as chapter meetings and such things as that.

One thing I picked up on during Dr. Hubbs¡¯ lecture was the comment that loyalty is a special relationship. Loyalty has two sides; inclusion and exclusion. Loyalty can be a good thing if it is for the right purpose because we all put loyalty in our lives somewhere, whether it is in school, work, friends, organizations, or family.

Professor Hubbs' lecture put a spin on loaylty and really made me think when I applied it to my own life experience. I was not fortunate to be sitting up front listening intenely, but instead was sitting in the very back row behind someone else's chair having multiple leg cramps from the hard surface. None the less I did get some things out of it. I heard bits and pieces of a "Gone With the Wind" concept and how it is very pioneer-like. Moving on, I would like to answer Mr. Tatter's questions on loyalty. I am Jewish and have have always grown up with lots of non-Jewish friends. I have been in many circumstances where I was offered something not Kosher, being that food, and I've needed to explain why I must not consume that particular product. I have been asked to attend youth group or church's with friends and families and have been asked to bow my head in the church basketball court when I was 8 before the game. Each time I kept my head up because I was afraid God would hate me for not being loyal. I have obviously become much more optimistic since those instances and have developed a more independent outlook on my religion. All of these situations I have been faced with are examples of loyalty. I was taught rules and regulations to live by in pure respect adn loyalty to my religion. I never thought I was better than anyone because they were eating meat and cheese, nor did I think the cross was a negative symbol. I simply respected it for what it was, but have remained loyal to my religion because it gives me a sense of accomplishment. I do not want to think I have cheated on Judaism or have been sneaky in my ways. Over the years I have definitely tapered down the rules and I am not harsh on myself with the rules like I used to be. I have realized that loyalty is not wethere or not I wait 2 hours to eat dairy after meat, or wether or not I put cheese on my burger. These are simply traidtions that I can choose to weigh myself down with. I believe in them from a reformed view but do not find it necessary to treat them like I did when I was younger. Loyalty is dedication and respect to one's community and it helps one with there dignity. If they nkow they have not done anything deceitful, then they are being loyal, and it has it's benefits of feeling respectful and accomplished

What does it mean to discriminate? Is it always a bad thing? If one is loyal does that mean that he or she is discrimanatory? Well, first let me give you an example: I have hopes to one day attend medical school and receive my doctorate. I must possess good grades, show strong leadership and dedication qualities, perform well on the MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test), and go through several interviews, this is just to get in to Med School. Once I am there the work only begins, but I want to back up for a moment and talk about the selection process. As I have shown, it is not simple to get into Medical School, but if it were would you trust jsut any doctor with your life? I know I wouldn't. This whole process of becoming a doctor is designed to be discriminatory, but that does not mean it is a bad thing- it simply sets apart the qualified from everyone else. So, discrimination does not have to be a bad thing, and loyalty does not ever require one to hate another. Therefore, discrimination is sometimes necessary, not always bad, and loyalty has little to do directly with discrimination. I want to talk today about the more heavenly side of discrimination, God's discrimination

I am a believer in a Holy God, who by His sovereign choice created man in His own image. He did not choose to make any of the animals or plants in His image, but us! He also chose to give us the freedom of choice. Sometimes we make a bad choice and we face the consequences, but none the less, we can make our own decisions. God also "created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1), and because of man's sin, a place called Hell. Every man/woman who sins is punished to spend eternity apart from God in Hell, but (please don't miss this) being the wonderful Creator he is, God created a way for man to escape this punishment; God sent his Son, Jesus Christ to be the atoning sacrifice for all who have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. For the Bible says, "In fact, the law [Old Testament law] requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" (Hebrews 9:22). So what does this have to do with discrimination? Jesus' blood only covers those who accept God's gift of grace through faith, and the only way to accept that gift is through Jesus. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). Therefore, heaven is a place were only those people who have accepted Christ will abide eternally. How can I join this community? The bible says in Romans,"That if you confes with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised [Jesus] from the dead you will be saved" (Romans 10:9).

Community is one of the things that Professor Hubbs mentioned in his lecture. I had often considered the term "community" only to mean a place in which a person lives, but then I realized that it wasn't a city or neighborhood that made up the community, it was the people. Just as God created the heavenly community as a place for all those who accept Him as Lord, so did the people of Greensboro, AL create a community of people that have a common way of life. Pofessor Hubbs said that when the men from Greensboro got back home from the war there was a stronger sense of community among all the residents. It is my prayer that when this life is over I will be able to see all of you in God's community.

So I've been thinking about the concept of loyalty for the past few days, and I can see the negative and positive aspects of it. True, loyalty in a community is important because a basis of trust is established. However, does loyalty mean that you completely exclude anyone new from joining a group?

At my old high school if someone came from a rival high school, we would ultimately accept them but still give them a hard time about where they came from. To me, that's ridiculous but if that's what is considered loyalty then so be it. I remember sitting at the football games and seeing the clear division between the home team and the rival and how the crowds interacted with each other. I also remember the fits people threw when someone would wear another school's baseball or football shirt. When it comes to college, does loyalty mean that I can't wear my University of Pittsburgh Panthers shirt just because I go to BSC? Loyalty comes in different shapes and sizes and I think it just depends on who you are and how you interpret it.

Ok back to community. My community was very "clique-ish". If you lived in "Indian Fields" everyone knew each other, went golfing together, and chances are the kids all drank and partied together. It was never exclusive to outsiders, but there was some sort of strange comradery that was hard to break into if you weren't and insider. I'm not really sure how I feel about that.

I have to admit, I have a group of friends that I'm extremely close to and I react differently to someone who wants to join the group. Someone once said to me that it was if there were 3 main girls, and everyone that came along were the supporting actors. I could see that. Maybe I'm just loyal to a certain number of people or certain people in particular.

Lastly, heaven. I can't answer that question because I don't believe in the concept of heaven. If others believethat heaven is going to be inclusive and exclusive, that's fine and dandy. I choose not to believe in it at all.

I attended Professor Guy Hubbs's discussion on the origins of southern distinctiveness. However, i was sitting in the very back of the theatre and could not hear much of his discussion. However, I did notice how everyone acted during the discussion. As i was seated in the back, I couldn't hear Professor Hubbs due to the lack of microphones, but I also could not hear him due to people talking during his lecture. I was astounded to how students treated some of these cultural events.

By listening to Dr. Tatter in lecture, I recieved an overall summary of what was mentioned during Professor Hubbs's lecture. Loyalty was a major point in Professor Hubb's lecture. I began to think of what I am loyal to. Some might say they that are loyal to a specific sports team, or religious group. I believe that I am loyal to myself first. I am also loyal to my favorite football team, Auburn Tigers. Loyalty is a very important characteristic. I believe that if someone is not loyal then that person can not be trusted.