Gadfly's Muse

It's Not A Question of Making Sense....

[image: Hanging Ivy, 2013, JAVanDevender]

(1Co 15:14 NKJ) "And if Christ is not risen, " 

After 43 years of marriage one learns that there are certain questions that don't really rate asking.  Such as "Why would we grow English Ivy inside the house when we have to constantly be uprooting it and pulling it off the trees outside?"

The "logic" of the circumstance just doesn't apply.  You just accept it for what it is, find your own framework for dealing with it, enjoy what ever benefits it provides and suppress whatever other remarks might come to mind.  There is a beginning point for logical argument... by definition, whatever precedes that beginning point is not subject to logical justification.  It just is.

One of the comments that I hear sometimes about Christianity is that "it just doesn't make any sense!"  The folks who advance this argument usually do so in a sneering fashion.  The whole, derisive,  "Flying Spaghetti Monster" argument lurks in the background.  They will call the entire idea of religion a by-product of evolution, that whatever form it takes it is arbitrary, that whatever deity is offerred in it is more a product of man's imagination and wishful thinking than anything else.  Almost always, they will come down on its "irrationality" because it is not based on "empirical" reasoning... it doesn't reflect the "real world"... and, ultimately, it does more harm than good because it distracts people from pursuing the only possible solutions to the problems of the world.

What lies at the heart of this type of argument though is a very simple proposition.  God does not submit to man's determination of what is "reasonable" or not.  In a very narrow sense, God says, it's not about what is "rational", it's about what is "True."  

Paul is affirming this same point when he argues for the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and ultimately for all that the resurrection means.  He says that if the resurrection didn't happen then for all practical purposes we are fools.  If the resurrection has not happened, if God has not acted in time and space in a manner which defies logical explanation, which is not explanable from causes that are restricted by space and time, then we of all men are most to be pitied, because we are dead wrong.  But....  But.... if God has acted in such a manner then all of man's reasoning stands under the judgment of that event.  All man's thinking has to start there and draw conclusions from that beginning.

 

What A Great Community!

[Image: Community, Annapolis, MD 2013, JAVanDevender]

1 Thessalonians 4:9–10 (NKJV)

⁹ But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; ¹⁰ and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more;

Annapolis is a small town with all the attendant charms and irritations that are associated with that status.  There are other states where the capitol is dwarfed by other cities in that state (e.g. New York, California, etc.) but I cannot think of another state where the difference is this extreme.  I can easily imagine a resident of Annapolis knowing not only every store and buiding in the city, but also being on facial recognition and perhaps first-name basis with most of the owners or workers in them.  To those who consider themselves "native" Marylanders, which means family history dating back well before the Revolution, Annapolis is not a town but a "community."  There is a sense of settledness, self-identity, humorous tolerance, etc. that characterizes their relations.  On the negative side there is that old "them & us" aspect also.  If your family didn't arrive until the late 1800's then you're still a "newby" and, well, you know.  

That idea of "community", redeemed through Christ, lies at the heart of Christianity and what it means to be a disciple of Christ.  When Jesus told Peter that He was going to build His "church", His "ecclesia", on Peter's confession, He meant just that.  He was going to build a unified community, a group, a cohesive clan, a fellowship, a distinct people, a family bound together by bands stronger than steel and more intense than biological family relations.  The Church was to be a group of people who existed in "brotherly love" (as with the Thessalonians above) and whose "fellowship" (koinonia) was one of the strongest attractions to their Pagan neighbors.  It was the witness of the "community" comprising its distinct morality, its internal affection, its selfless and spontaneous good works, and the egalitarian respect shown to its members, that so distinguished it from the prideful patronage lying at the heart of the Roman social order and was the basis of its appeal.  The Church prospered, even under persecution, not first and foremost because of its doctrine, but because of the highly attractive witness of its community which brought people through the door to where the Word could be heard.

Over the years I have realized just how far my own experience had been removed from this ideal.  I was a product of my culture rather than the Scriptures, especially when it came to religion.  Revivalist mentality had communicated to me that the essence of Christianity was private spirituality.  But as I began more and more to study God's Word and to teach it, I began to see just how differently Scripture presents the Kingdom of Christ.  It is, foot to scalp, a community.  Christ came to save a people not individuals, one at a time.  The Exodus was for an entire nation.  John's revelation speaks of myriads of men and women, all united together and dressed in the same white robes.  Heaven is a community and brotherly love here is a down payment on what we will have there.

Community doesn't come easy in our culture though.  It didn't come easy in ancient Rome either.  But, through God's leading and provision of Apostles, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers, community was formed and the world was changed.  

That's what we need to be building now.  Separate communities of God's people, who live distinctly different lives frorm the world around us, and nowhere more distinct than the way we honor, love and serve each other, with Christ as our head.

 

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Happiness: Going With "The Flow"

[image:Downtown, Annapolis, 2013, JAVanDevender]

Statues are of Alex Haley reading "Roots" to kids.  He was in "the flow". 

Psalm 1:2 (NKJV)

² But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.  

What do work-a-holics,  professional combat soldiers, dedicated artists of all venues, high performing athletes and serious "gamers' all have in common?  They are "happiest" when they are doing stuff... not when they complete whatever it is they are doing.

A Hungarian-born Psychologist with the apparently unpronounceable name Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi has spent his life pondering the phenomenon of human happiness.  His inquiry was directed to the state itself as well as the factors or causes which bring it about.  He's gained quite a bit of traction over the years and is responsible for introducing the idea of "flow" as the experience of happiness into our vocabulary.  "Flow" in his terminology is that state of total "being" that is present when a person is fully engaged in an activity that consumes their total focus and brings forth out of them their maximum capabilities.  In his words, "it is not the anticipation of a beautiful picture (that so enthralls the artist) but the process of painting itself. ..."  And it is not a state that is restricted to highly talented specialists.  He found it to be universally present whenever a person is "actively involved in a difficult enterprise, in a task that stretches our physical and mental abilities. ... any activity can do it." [quotes from The Evolving Self, Harper Collins, 1993]

How about that?!?  Human beings like to do stuff, are happiest when they are doing it, and are not designed to sit around in blissful couch-potato fashion whiling away the hours brainlessly watching some inane program on TV.  Who would have ever thought?

Professor M. C. is fairly objective in his observations (not so much his conclusions).  He observes that these same people, who have such intense "happiness" during times of "flow", are often prone to some pretty negative times when the "flow" is gone.  The work-a-holic who has to deal with retirement.  The athlete whose youth and abilities are past.  The professional soldier in times of peace.  He notices that in order to "transform life into a unified flow experience, it helps to have faith in a system of meanings that gives purpose to one's being."  

How about that!  Life itself, the entirety of life, has to be the object of desire with the same kind of total focus, total absorbtion, that characterizes the creative process in art or sports.  Dr. M. C. understands that a life of "happiness" would be one in which a person was totally engaged in a process... the process of living... which is directed toward an end, the desireability of which furnishes our motivation and excites our zeal and which, by the way, stretches us to the limit of our capacities in order to do it well.  This over-arching 'purpose' for living is appropriated by 'faith.'  Dr. M. C. of course denies the validity of religion as such but he is careful to acknowledge that these ancient practices, of whatever type, did in fact furnish just such a ground for viewing life this way.  In other words, religions sought (erroneously, in his view) to give people a reason to find "delight" in life, to live in the "flow", to have, quoting a far more greater Thinker, "life, and that more abundantly."

Dr. M. C. wants human beings to embrace his idea of "The Evolving Self", to take charge of the process of evolution, to come to grips with who we are as community, relational, activity oriented animals and discover that we can devote our lives to the betterment of all the world and discover happiness there.  This is, of course, poppy-cock.  There is that whole problem of sin, total depravity, etc. which he blithely dismisses as being a mere obstacle to overcome.  Dr. M. C. is on the verge of truth... he has had a glimpse of something important.. but he falls into the chasm separating fallen unregenerate humanity from the knowledge of God. What a pity.

What is true is this.  God has designed man to live life abundantly.  God has designed man to find his happiness in activity.  Man was created in God's image and God is a creating God, a sustaining God, a God who is totally engaged in process.  (Anthropologically speaking only, I am very aware of God's "simplicity" and that He is definitely not a God in process Himself.  I speak only in terms of the categories He has given us to understand Him.)  Man is thus happiest when he is following God, imitating God, striving in God's work, giving his all to the Kingdom, being engaged, stretched, and excited about what is happening.

Each of us has all that open to us.  Life is worth the living of it and "flow" is a useful concept.  If we understand our lives as the canvas on which we, through God's Holy Spirit, are painting a Master-piece, then things begin to click... difficulties are understood differently... irritations are put in their place... and ultimate despair is avoided.  

The man described in Psalm 1 is a happy man.  He is going with the flow.  He is walking in the pathways of God and his delight is in how the law of the Lord illuminates, gives meaning to, and energizes his walk along, the path God has set him on.  

So it is, Dr. M. C. was correct.  Man, in order to live a life of "flow" needs a bigger picture than just the immediate activity.  He needs "faith" in a system.  Such a system is present in this world.  It is called the "Kingdom of God" and it is a victorious work which engages our total person.  Let's "go" with that.

 

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4 Area's of Flow

Book 'Larning'

[Books, 2013, JAVanDevender]

 

Ecclesiastes 12:11–12 (NKJV)

¹¹ The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails, given by one Shepherd. ¹² And further, my son, be admonished by these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh.

"Hello, my name is Gadfly and I am a book-a-holic."  I might as well get that out of the way.  Books have some kind of compulsive hold on me that could easily turn into, if it is not already there, an obsession.  There are something over 2000 volumes sitting on shelves in various spaces distributed between home and office.  I haven't even attempted to survey the e-books, .pdf files, etc. that fill out the "ones and zeros" of the dedicated hard drive attached to my computer.  I have not read them all, of course.  A fairly large percentage I have, I am acquainted with the contents of another large percentage, some are in the "I've got to read this someday" list, others, not many, mostly just look good on the shelf.   

It would be very hard for me to quantify the effect those books have had on my life.  It's somewhere between zero (I would be virtually the same if I had never read or purchased any of them) and 100% (I am the product of what I have read filtered through the screen of my experience).  How can anyone seriously evaluate the degree to which anything has shaped their own person?  But there is the fact... the books are there... and I have spent a serious amount of time doing something with them.  Some reflection on that fact might be in order.

Somewhere near the core of the question is our view of what "books" represent and to what end are they directed?   Each of us differ on this point and each of us probably go through stages where we answer differently.  At one point I viewed serious books in an almost mystical way.  They represented "wisdom", an acquired attribute that people who were a lot smarter than me gained through the magical and infallible process of higher "education."  The guy must be smart... he wrote a book.  That kind of thing.

That stage didn't last too long.  

What I have evolved to is the point where any book I read is a conversation with the author.  To be charitable, some authors are idiots, but not all that many.  Every author is a person, dealing with something that is important to him or her, and even though they may be long dead, it is possible to interact with him or her, to scribble furiously in the margin, to pause and try to make sense of what was said, to laugh out loud at their humor, to get a feel for the heart that lies behind the sentences.  

All this is to say that I no longer (and have not for a while)  view books as bastions of propositional truth, removed by design from the personality and character of the author.  These folks got up in the morning, put on their trousers or panty hose like the rest of us, lived their life, thought about things, and, like some of the rest of us, got some kind of personal relief out of writing stuff down.  Some of them are delightful, some are pompous prigs, most are just folks.  

How can you help not immediately liking a guy (Michel de Montaigne) who introduces his deservedly famous "Essays" with this remark:

"Thus, reader, I, myself am the (subject)  of my book: there's no reason thou shouldst employ thy leisure about so frivolous and vain a subject. Therefore, farewell."  Now there's a guy, with whom I would like to have shared a drink and a pipe.  

But Ecclesiastes is right. "Of the making of many books there is not end."  If we think that reading a bunch of books is going to inevitably endow us with much wisdom, we are in for a pretty sad experience.  There's only one Book and one Author from whom actual  Wisdom can truly be gained.  If reading lots of books by human authors is out of proportion to my seeking understanding through Scripture, then my compulsion with books would not only be counter-productive, it would be deadly.  I must not only view the Scriptures differently than other books... I must view the Author quite differently.  Here is wisdom... to know and be taught by God through His Word. (Psalm 51:6)

Now, back to my reading.   .... 

 

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Unsecured Debt: A Loaded Gun

[Image: public domain]

"Owe no one anything except to love one another,..." (Rom. 13:8)

"Indebted American households have a substantial amount of credit card debt: of the estimated 46.7% of households that carry a balance, the average debt is a whopping $15,257 as of December 2012." [statistics: Fed Reserve, quoted here]

Christians are called to live in such a manner as to be a distinct ("peculiar") people, aliens from another culture, within the secular society they inhabit (1Pet 2:11, et al).  Probably nothing will distinguish Christians so readily, statistically, as a separate group as would their debt status, IF they lived as the Scriptures clearly command them to do.  

When Paul says "Owe no man anything except to love one another.." he means it.  The goal is to "owe" nothing.  A couple of questions to ask: (1) "does this mean that all financial debt is sinful?", with its corollary (2) "why is financial debt to be avoided?"  

The answer to question (1) is "no."  Secured loans (debt) are not treated as inherently sinful in the Scriptures.  They are an option available to folks and are to be understood under the heading of "last resort" rather than modus operandi.  God's Word treats life as it is, very realistically.  It recognizes that sometimes financial hardships, perhaps through no fault of our own, requires that an individual secure a loan to help him get through.  Such a "pledge" is to be understood as an honorable option (Deut.24:10-13) and the one asking for a loan must be treated with respect.  The Scriptures allow for a person's service, indenture, to also be given as such a pledge.  So, the principle of a secured loan is not prohibited by Scripture.

Neither, in principle, is that of an unsecured loan.  The unsecured loan is understood in terms of a business proposition wherein the lender understands the risk and is seeking a profit.  In such a case there is no sin if the business fails and the lender loses  his investment.  It happens.  Here the general principle is to be "wise as serpents..." (Mat. 10:16)

But, in answer to (2) we have to acknowledge that a large percentage of debt, as most likely reflected in the statistics above, is not only ill advised (unwise) but reflects sinful motivations and it is here, above all other considerations of debt, that Christians should be distinctly different.

There are two approaches to debt that Christians must avoid.  

First, they must avoid the modern tendency to treat it casually.  Debt is a moral issue first and a financial issue second.  When a Christian enters into debt he/she is placing their moral character on the line.  Their "word" and their "witness" are at stake.  The option of declaring "bankruptcy" does not remove from them their moral obligation to repay their debts.  (Here I am considering personal not corporate debt.  Business propositions that fail do fall under the shared risk principle above.)  The pressure of "immediate gratification" that motivates most of the debt accumulation in our culture should be entirely foreign to Christians.  Yes, one can have a mortgage... but a mortgage that reflects your intention to live first for the glory of God and not as a slave to the mortgage company.  If it requires two incomes to pay the mortgage one has to ask whether the Christian family is putting Christ's Kingdom and its righteousness first in their lives.  That is not to say that it is unChristian to have two wage earners in the marriage.  It is to focus on how they are acting as stewards of their income first.  How much more are Christians to avoid debt that is entirely discretionary?  When it takes six months to pay off the principle and interest of the credit card debt undertaken to buy Christmas presents, one has to ask what was really being celebrated around that Christmas tree?  Debt is not to be understood casually.  It reflects a fundamental disposition or character of the person undertaking it.

Which leads to the second consideration.  Debt is to be understood as a threat to life and character.  It is to be treated with great caution by Christians.  There is no evidence in Scripture that our Lord ever borrowed anything.  (It's an interesting thought that He owned it all anyway no matter to whom He has leased it first.)  He lived simply, with no pillow other than a rock and no blanket other than His cloak.  There are many examples in Scripture of God's people acquiring great wealth and that it is, in an absolute sense, not sinful to do so.  But Jesus did say that wealth makes it harder to enter the Kingdom of God.  Easy debt can be a temptation to live as a rich person even though you are not.  Unsecured loans (such as credit card debt) are tools Satan uses to arouse lustful desires and distract God's people from their fundamental calling, to bear witness to Christ and His Kingdom.  

If credit cards are to be used, except in cases of true emergencies that dictate immediate and extraordinary financial needs, they MUST be used only within the limits of not accumulating debt, in other words, such that they can be paid off without incurring interest charges.  If a person can pay off a credit card debt in six months without undue financial hardship, then there is no reason why the person (other than an emergency) could not have saved up the money over a six month period and then make the purchase.  There are some exceptions but the general principle holds.  

Debt is a loaded gun pointed right at a Christian's external witness.  It should be treated with great caution and it should be eliminated as soon as possible.  Mortgage loans and student loans both are legitimate reasons to incur debt, but they should be treated under the general principles above.  A young person does not have to go to Harvard to get a good education.  If you can't really afford it, go somewhere else.

We should owe no one anything, exept the obligation to love.

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Does It Have To Be This Way???? Nope.

[Beaver Dam & Houses, 2009, JAVanDevender]

image taken near Bog River, NY.

"....and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Gen 1:28, NKJV). 

If you look closely you can see two beaver huts just prior to the tree line near the center of the image.  Stopping along the road, trying to shield the camera lens from the drizzling rain and, with even more difficulty, attempting to stablize the camera in the freezing wind, I had to grit my teeth to finally get a workable image.  But I'm glad I did.  Those beavers had done a beautiful thing, taking a marshy stream bed and transforming an entire meadow into a life sustaining haven for all kinds of creatures.  And on top of that, they made it beautiful.

I think there's something to glean from that idea.  Those beavers didn't go around making alot of noise about what they were doing.  They just started work where they were placed, grunted and groaned in hauling their logs, fought off the foxes and the hawks, went to sleep when they were exhausted and then got up the next day and did it again.  And, in God's good time, a lot of change had been made.  Why aren't we Christians more like that?

I recently was given a copy of a sermon preached by B. M. Palmer many years ago.  It's entitled The Transforming Power of the Gospel.  In that sermon Palmer asked two very good questions:  "What would be the effect on the world if all men were sincere Christians? and on the other hand, "What would be the effect upon the world if all men were consistent infidels?"  Those are good questions to ponder.

I think the answer to the last question is easier for us to envision.  We look around us and we have all too much evidence of what those who are, in fact, consistent infidels have produced.  Extend that to all men and you pretty much have the world as it existed when Noah was building his ark.  It's the other question that is more difficult.  

I think it was G. K. Chesterton who once said that "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, rather, Christianity has been found difficult and never tried."  There's some truth there.  If we Christians really embraced the power of the Gospel, the transformed reality of our regenerate humanity, the potential that is inherent in the promised Holy Spirit, and set our eyes to see the world around us in terms of the mandate given in Genesis 1:28 (quoted above), I think there is an awful lot of change that we not only could, but absolutely would make.  Think of the impact on our culture if that huge percentage of our society that professed Christ, actually came to grips with what it means to be a Christian.

Think of the impact of our social order, on the institutions we have so complacently handed over to Satan as well as on the selfish materialism which rules our economy and seals us unto an overly prideful competition.  Think of how millions of Christians, laboring in concert, dedicated to the Kingdom of God and mindful of its righteousness, could transform the marshy, unhealthy, vile smelling mud hole that presently kills our spirit and perpetuates our sin, into something far more beautiful... far more healthy... far more conducive to Christ's Spirit.

Do I believe that a truly Christian social order can exist at any given time prior to the Lord's return?  Yes and no.  A self-perpetuating secular social order, even one that is founded on Christian principles and which truly reflects God's Presence, is not possible.  Such a social order has to be continuously re-created, sometimes every day, certainly every generation.  It does not automatically self-perpetuate. Satan's attacks are vehement and deadly.  Our cry is always semper reformanda, "always reforming".  But such a social order is in fact not only possible but commanded.  It is called, in Scripture, the "ekklesia", the people of God, who as a Holy Nation, a Royal Priesthood, build within their community a beautiful testament to the power of Christ.

We need to stop selling the Holy Spirit short.  His work is not just to the gaining of spiritual converts and sealing them to eternal bliss.  His work is also and, in fact teleologically, purposefully, to the end of causing those converts to walk in the good works that God has ordained for all eternity for them to do (Eph. 2:10).  

So, come on beavers, rise from you slumbers... there's work to do.

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.... But What Am I?

[On The Beach, 2009, JAVanDevender]

Image was taken at Lake Erie, Eastern Shore, NY.

 

Job 7:17–18 (NKJV)

¹⁷ “What is man, that You should exalt him, That You should set Your heart on him, ¹⁸ That You should visit him every morning, And test him every moment?

  Following from  Essay on Man, Alexander Pope

Know then thyself, presume not God to scan
The proper study of Mankind is Man.
.....
Created half to rise and half to fall;
Great Lord of all things, yet a prey to all,
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd;
The glory, jest and riddle of the world.

We all go through periods when certain topics, infatuations, projects, obsessions, what-ever occupy our minds almost to the exclusion of all else.  You know, when something claims your attention and consideration so much so that you can actually become irritated when ordinary life intrudes and demands equal time.  Such has been my case recently with... hang on... wait for it... "man" himself.

I've been reading quite a few things, coming at this whole idea of "what is man?" from several different vantage points.  I don't particularly see this as anything exceptional, at least not any more.  What is very clear is that the question has occupied man for as long as he has had a chance to do something other than fight off the saber-toothed tiger whose answer to the question "what is man" was "lunch".  In the list of attributes that distinguishes man from other creatures, certainly the sense of "self" is at the very top.  We know that we are "somebody" and that as "somebody" we are distinguished from other human beings and other cats and dogs and reptiles in a fundamentally significant way.  But what does that mean?  "Who" or "What" am I is a question that demands an answer for a very simple reason.  It fundamentally affects every facet of our daily life and every expectation we have of the future.  

Philosophers have grappled with it, theologians have tried to nail it down, sociologists have sought a statistical description, psychiatrists have given it their best shot, and, after thousands of years, all we can say is... it's a mystery.  I don't think anyone has said it better than Pope in the quote above - man is the "glory, jest and riddle of the world."  

On the one hand we know that we stand in a superior relation of some sort to all the rest of creation (glory).  On the other hand, strive as we might to be rational in all that we do, to build structured lives of reason and discipline, yet, our lives are not only punctuated by but often times dominated by irrational behavior.  We just do stuff... on impulse or willfully or just because we feel like it... with no way to explain it.   How can we better describe ourselves than as "silly clowns" and hence the "jest" of the world.  And lastly, how do we bridge the gap between our thinking selves and our physical selves?  How do we explain that complex reality which is but cannot be explained?  How can we go from acknowledging our deterministic body that is physically carefully responsive to all the demands of medical analysis but conversely is directed in its endeavors along the lines of a clearly undetermined will that directs it from other than physical causes?  How can we be both determined and free?  Aye... that's a riddle for you, but that is man.

But here, as always, even as we revolve around the circle that always terminates on the mystery from which we began, there is the inescapable conclusion. Whatever man is, he is and must always be, in relation.  Even as we consider the individual, walking along the shore,  we cannot even conceive him, except as he exists in relation.  Job cries out "what is man that You should exalt him?" or think about him, or deal with him, or anything.  Job thought about man, particularly himself, but only in terms of relation to the most High God. Man exists in relation.  The most clear and concise statement that man can make about man is this: "Man IS and man IS NOT alone!"  Thinking about man, confronting the mystery that is man, leads inevitably to the conclusion, that whatever it is about man that makes him man, at the very same instant establishes the reality of the "Other."

John Calvin said that all knowledge is comprised under two heads: knowledge of God and knowledge of self.  I would suggest that both "heads" are in fact one.  For that which makes man in fact man, is the image of God that he bears, and no knowledge of man is possible (for it does not exist) which is not at the same time knowledge of God.  

Descartes in his famous statement ("I think therefore I am") might be best taken in a different sense than he presented it.  "I think therefore.... Yahweh (I AM)".  Man is God's witness to Himself.  If all my pondering leads me to that conclusion, it is not wasted.  Now, if I can just live my life, as He has given it, striving to truly fill that role, then all the rest will fall into place.  Thus this knowledge will indeed shape and inform everything I do.

"What are you?"

 

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Killing Lincoln: Some Thoughts On The Right To Bear Arms...

[Garrett Farm, 2009, JAVanDevender]

Judges 3:20–22 (NKJV) 20 So Ehud came to him (now he was sitting upstairs in his cool private chamber). Then Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” So he arose from his seat. 21 Then Ehud reached with his left hand, took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. 22 Even the hilt went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the dagger out of his belly; and his entrails came out.

The book and the screen play "Killing Lincoln" are big these days.  Garrett Farm (in Maryland) is where John Wilkes Booth was finally run to ground and killed.  Stopping and viewing it at the close of day, as I did here, and noticing its serene beauty, it's not hard to imagine that Booth himself and his pursuers saw this same sight during those hectic days.  Booth was a radical zealot.  He thought of himself as a patriot.  He considered his action in killing Abraham Lincoln as the necessary step, now that the South had lost the war, to ridding the country from the control of a tyrant.  History has judged him wrong and roundly criticized him as a murdering scoundrel.  

Ehud did pretty much the same thing and from all appearances, the Scriptures do not contradict the general idea that he was a hero.  Israel was under the domination of a ruthless tyrant, Eglon.  Ehud using shameless deception, out-right lies and a concealed weapon killed the King of Moab.  It was an assassination plain and simple.  There were no gathered armies... there was no glorious combat (if there is such a thing)... there was no noble sentiments expressed.  Ehud gained his ear... drew his knife and did the deed.  For this he was called the "deliverer of Israel."

This is a pretty difficult passage to apply to our daily walk.  "Go and do likewise" just doesn't seem to be God's command here.  But there is no denying the fact that God does not condemn Ehud either.  What can we say about it.

Well, first, it appears that killing a tyrant is not necessarily an evil thing, either up close and personal or by pushing a button from 4000 miles away.  Jesus' Kingdom is not brought to earth by the sword but that doesn't mean the sword does not have a place in that Kingdom.  There may be times when "bearing arms" in defense of the oppressed, the unjustly treated, the enslaved, etc. may indeed not only be justified but absolutely necessary.  

But didn't Jesus change all that?  After all, this is the Old Testament, not the New,  right?  Well the short answer is "yes" and "no."  Yes, He changed things in such a way that Christians are not called to wage war in order to capture land on which to build houses.  The conquest of Palestine was a metaphor for God's intention to bring the whole world under His covenant.  But Jesus changed the weapons of war used in conquest, in bringing down the gates of Hades, to His Word and His Spirit.  So, "yes" it has changed in that way, but "No" it hasn't changed in another.  God has not changed.  And the righteousness of Ehud has to do with the overthrow of tyranny rather than the conquest of land and I think, therefore it still applies.

God has given the sword to the magistrate (ruler) to use against unrighteousness.  It is the sacred duty of those whom God has raised up to govern a land to use force, including deadly force, to punish and suppress those who work unrighteousness.

But what about the instance where the magistrate is the tyrant and his rule is evil and oppressive?  Can we not say that the arms taken up by revolutionary forces in 1776 were rightly and righteously done?  Some still say no, they were wrong to do it.  Generally, I think their actions were vindicated.  The bottom line is, that just as Ehud had a private weapon, so it is right and proper for Christians to bear weapons to defend their families, their homes and if necessary those who are unjustly and evilly persecuted.  Just as a Christian soldier or sailor is not sinning when he kills in the line of duty, so duty sometimes may demand that a Christian private citizen take up his arms and act.  

 In another difficult passage, Jesus said: 

(Luke 22:36–38 NKJV) -³⁶ Then He said to them, “But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. ³⁷ For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: ‘And He was numbered with the transgressors.’ For the things concerning Me have an end.” ³⁸ So they said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.” And He said to them, “It is enough.”

There is only one reason why Jesus would tell his followers that a person without a sword should sell his garment and buy one.  That is because, in the coming turmoil, the unrest and chaos that these followers would be facing, when they were dispossessed from their homes and without the protection of lawful magistrates, that they would need them to defend themselves, their families and each other.  Jesus certainly did not command a totally passive, non-resistant ethic.  Here, it appears, that under some circumstances a private sword may be necessary.

Christians should think long and hard about this.  Too much talk is going around these days about taking up arms against the government.  Too much talk and political action is being directed toward restricting the private possession of firearms.  There is a desperate need for Christians to take a balanced approach here.  Ehud was called by God to assassinate Eglon.  John Wilkes Booth was a murderer and a scoundrel.  The difference between the two lies not in the action they each took but in the heart and motivation that prompted them.  Seek first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness and then let that govern any decision about either owning guns or using them.

 

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Discouragement

[ClimbingRose, 2012, JAVanDevender]

Note - this is not a Cherokee rose.

 

Nehemiah 4:9–10 (NASB95)

Discouragement Overcome

9 But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night.

10 Thus in Judah it was said, “The strength of the burden bearers is failing, Yet there is much rubbish; And we ourselves are unable To rebuild the wall.”  

Early on in my life, when I was stationed at my very first fleet squadron, we lived in Jacksonville, Fl.  It was a time of firsts.  We also had our first house, a 3 bedroom, 2 bath rancher that set us back a whopping $25k.  We had our first son.  It was an exciting time in many ways and one of my favorite periods of life.  One thing I started doing was growing roses.   I put in some raised beds to hold a layer of topsoil over the sandy stuff that comprised our lawn area.  Only St. Augustine grass could grow on it and St. Augustine grass could grow in a desert.  There was one rose however, a Cherokee climbing rose, that did in fact prosper in sand and I planted it at the corner of the house.  That rose grew like crazy.  Nothing could seemingly kill it.  When it threatened to take over the entire wall I whacked it unmercifully.  It didn't care.  Rain, drought, blazing heat, icy winters... it simply did not care.  It might be discouraged for a while but after some time it came back stronger than ever.  And the blooms!!!!  That vine was gorgeous in full bloom (not so much when they wilted).  But nothing, apparently, could stop it from doing what God put it on this earth to do, put out flowers for the world to see.

Our life can be like that also. It certainly was like that with Nehemiah (see quote above).  Everything and everyone seemed to be conspiring against him.  It was very discouraging.  But he prayed and somehow found the strength to go on.

Sometimes the idea that we are to grow and prosper where we have been planted is a matter of some doubt in our mind.  Sometimes it seems as if the entire environment that we face is conspiring against us.  Sometimes we sense the pain and irritation of countless little life-sucking stings and attacks.  Sometimes we don't seem to get adequate nourishment, either physically or spiritually.  Sometimes the effort it takes to bear fruit, to produce flowers, seems to be more than the value they contribute.  Sometimes... sometimes... it is just plain discouraging.

However, we need to remember that it is exactly when God's glory is most evident.   As I observed with some degree of humor the way that Gentle Ben (as we called the rose) seemed to come back from each "discouragement" stronger and more vital than ever, so, through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit God points to us, as He did to Job, and calls on Satan and all the heavenly powers to look and see how amazing His work is.  You see, this is the life that can only be explained in terms of God's absolute, sovereign, all empowering Spirit.  His children face discouragement, wonder where they are ever are going to find the strength, fall on their face and confess that they just can't take it any more and that they are at the end of their rope, and then... miraculously... incredibly.. they get up, walk in His strength and not their own... and not only persevere Stoically but burst out in blooms of good works of eternal value.  Someone, standing at a distance, is inspired... or encouraged... or confronted... or ..... and God is not only pleased, He is exalted above all measure.

When the going gets tough... the weak, worn out, wobbly, victorious people of God are able, not only to persevere, but ultimately to see the victory of God.  Nehemiah built the wall God gave him to build.  So will we.

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Just Around The Corner....

[Image: Eglon, 2012, DCJohanson]

 

1 Corinthians 13:11–12 (NKJV)

¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. ¹² For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

The image is another fine capture by my friend Dave Johanson.  The actual file title includes the word "god" in it, but his accompanying notes did not actually refer to anything spiritual, and the title was not self-explanatory.

I don't think anyone walking with him that day, in the cool quiet of the gathering stillness and seeing the near horizontal rays illuminating the path ahead "just beyond the bend" could help but feel a sense of "otherness", the root idea of "holy."  Going from darkness to light in characteristic of religious thinking and is not solely confined to Christianity but the manner of achieving "light" definitely is.

This photo communicates "anticipation."  There is a brilliant moment in our immediate future.  We reach that bend in our path and we will see the world and all that is in it with increased clarity.  Our vision will not be obscured by the shadow producing objects around us.  We will not be hindered by the elevated horizon over which we cannot peer.  No, there will come a moment when all that is behind us and in the soft, warm but totally brilliant light that shines on us and all about us, we will see that which during our walk we were not able to see.  

Christians understand this, in contrast to other religions, as being an experience, an illumination, a transtion of some kind (no word is quite precise enough to fully communicate it) that is external to ourselves and beyond our ability to bring about.  Peter says that, as a "chosen generation" we have been "called out of darkness and into His glorious light."  What is emphasized here  is God's sovereignty and mercy on us.  We who possess some light, who walk this path we are on, encompassed by shadows but still with our path illuminated before us, should understand that the very light we have is a gift of God, an unmerited bestowal of grace, and yet, it is not the fullness of light that yet awaits.  All other religions and philosophies put man in the driver seat in the attainment of light.  Christians understand it as a gift of God which is a downpayment on more to come.

Now we see as through a one-way mirror... only dimly perceiving what is on the other side.  But there is a day, yet to come, when with blinding certainty our eyes will see and our minds will comprehend and our hearts will rejoice in vistas presently hidden.  We will know even as we are known.  The God who called us out of darkness and into His light will no longer remain hidden from our physical sight.  We who love Him whom we cannot see (1 Pet 1:8) will see Him and rejoice.   Others will see Him and mourn.  But there is a day pressing down upon us, it is just around the bend, when the light will fully illuminate us all.  That is the truth and that makes the path ahead of us, no matter how difficult it may be, well worth walking.

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