Strings Attached

I knew a woman once who insisted on buying me a new suit every year. She was also adamant it be a nice suit, expensive and tailored. Knowing my propensity to go cheap, she made me promise not to buy off-the-rack, discount stuff. Naively I believed she did this because she cared about me and wanted her pastor to look nice, and she knew with my salary and four sons I would never purchase these for myself.

She, on the other hand, had other ideas. She was, in her view, tying strings to my hands and legs, preparing me to dance to her tune as she pulled the strings. That became clear when she invited me over one afternoon for coffee and a visit. According to her, she knew exactly what kind of music God most enjoyed and it coincidentally coincided exactly with her preferred musical tastes. After I explained that I wouldn’t be following her “suggestions,” she reminded me of her “gifts,” thereby revealing her true motives. That didn’t sway me, and I grew wiser.

When the King of Sodom offered Abraham the spoils of war, Abraham refused, saying, “I would not take a thread or sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abraham rich.’” Later, after Sarah had died and Abraham was looking for a burial plot, he again refused to receive something for nothing. Despite the Hittites’ entreaties to take it freely, Abraham paid the fair market value for Sarah’s gravesite.

Be wary of people bearing gifts. Free stuff is rarely free.

Love, Liberty, Tyranny and Anarchy

Ten years ago or so, when her adult children or grandchildren would mention something about Facebook, with a sigh of disgust mom would comment, “That Myface thing is evil.” Out of respect, we would decline to respond. We would just roll our collective eyes. She, after all, carried a $25 flip phone, was incapable of texting, had no computer or internet service, and didn’t know Google from grapefruit. She was a technological Luddite. One we loved, for sure, but a Luddite nonetheless, or so we thought.

Now, I’m wondering if mom was a prophet, stepping out of the wilderness of a forgotten past, seeing the present danger with clear eyes, and trying to call off us back from the broad road of destruction. The tech geeks are taking over. They aren’t alone, but they’ve taken over the theatre. They’ve written the script. They decide on whom the spotlight shines, who stands on the stage, and who holds the mics. The narrative will be theirs’ alone. They’ll decide what the audience sees and hears.

If by chance some disapproved voice, some rebel who wants to tell a different story, should interrupt the play, should someone sing a different song, the mobs of mad minions will grab their verbal pitchforks and beat and bully them from the stage and silence the dissenting voice. It takes a lion-hearted man to depart from the approved narrative in today’s world.

A new tyranny is rising, following in the iniquitous tradition of the Red Guard and the Brown Shirts. There is no interest in winning an argument with superior ideas. They want submission and they want it now. Views that oppose the narrative aren’t allowed. Think for yourself? You are bigoted, racist, or anti-science.

What are we to make of this? We should look at the root to understand the fruit. Jesus is often and accurately quoted as saying, “The truth shall set you free.” Paul, taking his lead from Jesus, said, “For freedom Christ has set us free,” (Galatians 5:1). Christ, through His death, burial, and resurrection, has set his people free from the dominion of sin. Therefore, we can live as free people. There is no need to tyrannize people who walk in the Spirit. They practice love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no need to control someone who can control themselves (Galatians 5:22-24). After all, they are using their freedom, not as an opportunity to indulge sinful urges, but to serve others through love (Galatians 5:13).

Turn a rabid Pit Bull lose and someone is going to get hurt. Release a well-trained, gentle German Shepherd and someone is going to get slobbered on and feel loved. One, because of its nature, requires a cage and a chain. The other, because of its nature, can be trusted to freely roam.

The further people move from Christ, the more tyrannical their world will become. When people can’t rule themselves, they will be ruled by others. When a culture isn’t being lifted by love it will be crushed by hate. The silencing and censorship, the demands for less – not more – freedom of speech, the coercive bullying of dissenting voices, these are all symptoms of a deeper problem. Tyranny indicates an abdication of truth. If freedom is birthed by truth, tyranny is a fruit of treachery. 

Pride and Praise

When my son Daniel was four or five I took him fishing at a pond near our house. I baited the hook, cast the line, caught the fish, and then handed the pole to Daniel so he could reel in the fish. After he got it to the bank, I pulled the line up and took the hook out of the fish’s mouth, and then released it back into the water. Then we did it all over again. After about ten fish, Daniel looked up at me, grinned, and proudly proclaimed, “I’m catching all the fish and you ain’t catching nothing!”

David’s ascendancy to the throne of Israel was not a straight or easy path. Although God had already made it clear that David was to be King of Israel, Saul wasn’t handing the crown over without a fight. David was forced to flee. He had hidden among the Philistines for a while, convincing them he was insane and no threat. He resisted the temptation to remove Saul himself when he had more than one opportunity to kill him. He had to deal with his wife’s betrayal, bring together a loyal band of warriors, and win the hearts of the Jewish people.

David’s leadership, character, and wisdom excelled at every turn. Yet, when finally, David’s enemies were subdued and his kingship established, David claims no credit for himself. He writes Psalm 18 (also found in 2 Samuel 22) to reflect on what had transpired. In that song, he credits every victory and accomplishment to God. He sees the battles in spiritual terms and his strength as being a divine gift. He doesn’t say, “I’m catching all the fish and you ain’t catching nothing!” He recognizes that if he jumped over a wall (Psalm 18:29) it was by God’s power. If he escaped from his enemies’ hands it was because God rescued him (Psalm 18:16-19).

When we look back and reflect on whatever successes we had in life we would do well to follow David’s example. Certainly, we played a part. We had to get up and get after it. We had to study and learn and work. I’m not denying that. Neither is God. He will be the One who will say, “Well done, you good and faithful servant.” But for our part, we should turn our eyes upward and recognize whatever strength, wisdom, and abilities we have are gifts from God. God made you big, or smart, or creative, or talented. Offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips that acknowledge his name. (Hebrews 13:15)

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

Unless it was Henny Youngman’s inspiration for his classic one-liner, “Take my wife…Please” no one is fist bumping Abraham for the way he handled his fear of Abimelech (Genesis 20:1-18). As appalling as Abraham’s act of handing his wife over to Abimelech was, his reasoning was solid. It went something like this:

• These people don’t fear God
• Therefore, there is nothing to restrain them from killing me to take Sarah
• So, I’ll save myself and sacrifice Sarah

When a people no longer have any fear of God, to quote Geena Davis, “Be afraid. Be very afraid.” (The Fly, 1986). After taking three chapters to detail for us what happens when a people reject the knowledge of God, Paul caps it off with a string of six Old Testament quotations that end with Psalm 36:1, “there is no fear of God before their eyes.”

That’s a problem. A big problem. Abraham saw that. His strategy was flawed and faithless – Surrender my wife to save my skin – even if his reasons were reasonable. In his case, God spared him and delivered him from his foolishness. God intended to and did fulfill his purposes through Abraham. Nevertheless, Abraham is a warning.

The biggest problem we face today is not political. It is spiritual. Increasingly, “there is no fear of God before their eyes.” This is Abe…Abe surrendered his wife…Don’t be like Abe. Don’t seek to save your life, you will end up losing it. Instead, pray, be faithful, do what is right and, most of all, for Jesus’ sake, die to yourself.   

The Magic Loogie

“The Magic Loogie” Seinfeld episode is a hilarious parody of Oliver Stone’s “JFK.” That was produced back in the day when comedy could still poke fun and be offensive. Watch it. You’ll laugh and get the point. Since the assassination of President Kennedy, theories have persisted about CIA plots and multiple shooters. Panels and studies and movies have delved into these theories. It isn’t the only major event that has attracted alternate theories of explanation. Some people still insist man never walked on the moon. Others claim the evidence of alien life is being secretly hidden at Area 51 in the Nevada desert.

These ideas have come to be known as “conspiracy theories.” A conspiracy theory is an attempt to explain an event as a secret, and often nefarious plot, usually carried out by a powerful group of people or an organization. The term itself now has an accusatory ring to it. To be charged with advancing a conspiracy theory is to be accused of being a tin-foil-hat wearing lunatic who has paranoid delusions and is probably an end-times survivalist prepper.

While that caricature may fit some people, “conspiracy theory” is also used as a thought-blocking term. You don’t have to think about it because it is a “conspiracy theory.” Use those words and you shut down discussion, you don’t have to present counter arguments or refuting evidence because, well, they’re simply crazy loons who don’t deserve a response. Even worse, more sinister, dangerous, and counter-productive, is the way media and tech giants have taken it upon themselves to be the arbiters of truth and the gateways of information. They have been aggressively censoring ideas and narratives with which they disagree and damming up the free flow of ideas.

You can argue whether or not that is within their rights to do so and that is a fair argument to have. My point is not whether it is their right, but whether it is wise and good. My argument is that these actions undermine the American principle of freedom of speech (and powerful people are openly saying the first amendment is flawed – ironically, that is something they are free to say because the first amendment protects their right to say it).

I would also argue that these acts belie an underlying contempt for the American public. It suggests that people aren’t smart enough to weigh the evidence and come to a commonsense verdict. When you block the free exchange of ideas, you are saying that you don’t trust people.

Further, this kind of thing is counterproductive. It fosters the very thing it is trying to stop. When Twitter blocks tweets and shadow bans people, when Facebook puts people in “Facebook jail,” when WordPress deplatforms groups it only makes people wonder, “what are they trying to hide?” Suspicion and distrust grows as a result. It ends up promoting the very thing they are trying to keep people from reading about. I knew nothing about QAnon until someone recently accused me of being a QAnon believer. After checking into it to see what I was accused of I can say I’m not a subscriber to QAnon, but by their accusation, they inadvertently spread that which they were opposing.

Let people have their say. Don’t silence them. If you disagree, present your counter arguments and evidence to the contrary. People are smart. They’ll figure it out. And transparency will build trust. Will some people still insist that the world is flat and 9-11 was a false flag event? Yes. But the vast majority of people will follow the evidence to a reasonable conclusion.

Giving a conspiracy theory a platform has a real potential benefit. It can force those who oppose it to strengthen their arguments and be clear about the reasons not to believe the theory. Just condescendingly saying, “that’s a conspiracy theory” is not a valid argument. It is a dismissive, unhelpful, name-calling exercise.

After Jesus’ resurrection, the Chief Priests quickly came up with a conspiracy theory of their own: “Tell the people his disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.” Years after the fact, while Matthew was writing his Gospel, he said, “this story [conspiracy theory] has been spread among the Jews to this day.” (Matthew 28:13-15). Thank God for it. Because of that and other conspiracy theories surrounding the resurrection of Jesus, a lot of good work in apologetics has been done to defend and present evidence for the resurrection of Christ. Great books like, “Who Moved the Stone,” and “Evidence that Demands a Verdict” have been written.

So, lean on the side of liberty. Let people speak. If you want to win the argument, win the argument with truth, logic, and reason and not censorship, condescension, and bullying.

No Big Sign in the Sky

Mr. Beller, one of my high school teachers, used to famously say, “There’s no big sign in the sky that says fair.” This was his reply, of course, to the common complaint, “that’s not fair.” We humans start making that complaint almost as soon as we can talk. We usually quit saying it once we reach the age of majority, but we never stop feeling it. We go from cradle to crypt with a profound sense that life isn’t fair, that justice is rarely just, and that some people never pay the price while others never catch a break.

We aren’t wrong to feel this way. God is just and we are imago Dei – the image of God. We have imprinted in our hearts a sense of what is just and what isn’t. Even if her perception of what is fair is wrong, when the child cries, “that isn’t fair,” she is reflecting the image of God. And, of course, when you live in a fallen world, there are plenty of opportunities to register complaints about the unfairness of it all.

This isn’t new. We aren’t alone. Asaph confessed, “my feet almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (Psalm 73:2-3). He came to a resolution before he completely abandoned faith and threw in his lot with the wicked when he went to the sanctuary of God. There he “discerned their end.” He either learned or was reminded that no one is getting away with anything.

They still aren’t. The books will one day be opened and everyone, great and small, will give an account for everything. No one, I repeat, is getting away with anything. Not you. Not me. No king. No pauper. That is a terrifying thought, isn’t it? I mean, I’ve got plenty to answer for myself. It isn’t just those people who I find so frustrating, who seem to have a special status, who live in a bubble of not me but thee justice. It is me too. And you.

Isaiah an epiphany like this. “Woe unto you,” is his repeated accusation through the first five chapters of his prophetic book. Then we are told in chapter 6 that Isaiah saw the Lord in all of His resplendent holiness, and he then crumbled into a heap of brokenness crying, “Woe is me.” It’s perfectly alright to cry, “Woe to you,” but save some Woeing for a solid “Woe is me” too.

So, while I appreciate the sarcasm in my former teacher’s mantra about the obvious lack of heavenly billboards proclaiming fairness, I would suggest he was looking in the wrong place. While God hasn’t put signs in the sky, he has written truth in a book. And that book, the Bible, tells us that justice will be served.

Before we start feeling all smugly satisfied that “they’re going to get what they’ve got coming to them,” we should acknowledge we will stand in the dock and be judged too. What are we to do? Thankfully, God in Christ has done it for us. There is forgiveness with the Lord. It is not without cost. It is not cheap grace. It comes at the cost of the death of Jesus. On the cross Christ became our substitute, taking the penalty of sin on our behalf. The thing is, forgiveness is not an abandonment of justice, it is given through the carrying out of justice. Sin was still paid for, but Jesus paid it for us.

So we either stand before God apart from Christ and receive the just penalty for our sins in ourselves, or we stand before God in Christ, forgiven because he has received the just penalty for our sins in himself. Either way, justice is done.

We Fools

We fools who preach

Eternal truth whose weight

We betray with mortal tongues

These stammering ordinary tones

Would hide the glory

With flesh-tone veils

Save for Him who speaks

With fire and light

Burning and shining

In and through and by

We fools who preach

A Man Called Ove

The first people to break the laws of bureaucracy are always the bureaucrats themselves.

“A Man Called Ove,” by Fredrik Backman is the story of Ove, a stern Swede whose harsh, legalistic exterior and regular conflicts with his neighbors masks a genuinely caring heart. Woven throughout the story of Ove’s life is his continual battle against bureaucracy and bureaucrats, whom he calls the one’s in the white shirts. He battles them over eminent domain when they take his childhood home, about his wife’s needs for handicap accommodations, and over their decision to institutionalize his friend against his wife’s desires.

There is an irony in the story of Ove. He is a man who obeys the rules and demands others do as well. Yet he finds himself at odds with the rule-mongering bureaucracy. But it wasn’t the rules Ove disdained as much as it was the hypocrisy, the cold dehumanizing machine that cared not for the people over which it ruled. It was the unbending nature, and unwillingness to listen to reason that grated on Ove. So, the man who insisted on following the rules ironically fought against the bureaucracy.

Backman, whether intentional or not, vividly depicts what citizens despise most about the governments under which they live. The story of Ove illustrates why government is the wrong institution to be put in charge of decisions that involve the health of it’s citizens. While individuals within the bureaucracy may be kind and caring, the systems themselves aren’t and never can be. Bureaucracies, however they start out, always become institutions whose primary mission is to perpetuate themselves, not serve the people. They end up becoming machines with layers upon layers of red tape, forms to fill out, and hoops to jump through. They refuse to listen, and they grind down the very people they were created to lift up.

And of course, the most damning thing about bureaucracy is “the first people to break the laws of bureaucracy are always the bureaucrats themselves.” The bureaucratic motto seems to be, “one set of rules for me and another set of rules for thee.”

I am a conservative with a strong libertarian bent. “A Man Called Ove” gave me a reason to cheer on a grumpy old Swede when he finally got his chance to stick it to the man who had been sticking it to him for years. I highly recommend it.

A Teachable Moment

Returning from rescuing Lot, his nephew, Abraham encounters Melchizedek. Melchizedek was a shadowy figure, a man who suddenly appears and disappears from the historical record. He was the King of Peace (Salem), and a priest of God Most High. He comes to Abraham with bread and wine (hmmmm…) He blesses Abraham saying:

Blessed be Abraham by God Most High; Possessor of heaven and earth…

Subsequently, Abraham meets with the King of Sodom. The King wants his people who were taken captive returned but offers Abraham the other spoils from the battle. Abraham declines, wisely recognizing the King of Sodom would eventually rob God of his due glory for blessing Abraham.

Replying to the King of Sodom, Abraham says, “I have lifted my hand to the LORD, God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth…” He echoes the language of Melchizedek. As far as we are told, this is the first time Abraham uses this name of God. He has had a teachable moment. Through the words of Melchizedek, Abraham has come to a fuller understanding of God.

We have been indoctrinated to think of teaching and learning as almost exclusively classroom activities. There is a room, a teacher, a student(s), a subject, a curriculum, lessons, assignments, and tests. This is how education happens. This is how we learn. It is formal, intentional, and planned. We get grades, diplomas, and degrees to prove we have mastered the information. This is being educated.

While there is nothing wrong with that, I have multiple degrees, it is not the only, or dare I suggest the most important teaching and learning we do. We are not mere bystanders or cheerleaders in the process of the dissemination of truth. We are all teachers and learners, disciples of one another through and in our daily interactions. What we do and how we speak teaches. Like Melchizedek, who taught Abraham about God through how he spoke about God and not through a lecture on theology proper, what we say in the normal course of conversation teaches.

Therefore, don’t waste your words. Be thoughtful. Be careful. Be intentional. Most of all love. Care about those with whom you speak.

“Speak the truth in love,” means more than “rebuke others but be nice about it.” It means to love others by viewing every conversation and interaction as a potential teachable moment. Our words are like seeds scattered abroad in the hearts and minds of those to whom we speak. We need to care enough to want those seeds, if they should sprout and put down roots, to produce good and godly fruit.

“You’re So Heavenly Minded”

“Some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good,” suggested Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. The thought seemed so logical, so compelling, so irrefutably true that the venerable Country Music legend Johnny Cash incorporated it into a song on his 1977 album “The Rambler:”

You’re so heavenly minded

You’re no earthly good

You’re shining your light yes

And shine it you should

You’re so heavenly minded

You’re no earthly good

The power of a well-structured sentence is proven, not by its truth, but by its ability to become a proverbial maxim, whether true or not. Those two simple lines were so well crafted that, not only did Cash put it in a song, but preachers and laymen alike have repeated it like they are words from Jesus himself. Red-letter stuff. Holmes, a writer and poet, was at his best here. The statement has symmetry – four words in each line. It has rhyme – “no” and “so.” It sets in juxtaposition two realms – heaven and earth. It puts in stark contrast two supposed ways of living – dreaming about heaven or living on earth. It challenges the hearer in an accusatory way with “you’re” and implies repentance is needed with its tone of disgust. It hits you, but it does so with a velvet glove. Brilliant.

You hear it and think the people standing around in a church on Sunday morning singing “I’ll Fly Away” are like friends showing each other travel brochures for their next vacation destination and doing nothing while their neighbor’s house is burning down. It suggests that the mind filled with thoughts of eternity has no room for cares about time. Occupation with the perfection of glory can’t possibly leave any room to think about suffering now, or so it is assumed.

Before you’ve even had a chance to consider the accusation bound up in those two lines and defend yourself against the chare, you are ready to throw the hymnal on the floor, run out the door, and give a fiver to the first homeless man you see to prove it’s not true. But wait. Is it true? Is it possible that the opposite is true?

I came across this prayer written by William Wilberforce that started me thinking about this:

And grant, O Lord, that we may all live under a becoming conviction of the shortness and uncertainty of life and be aware that death and eternity are at hand. May we continually bear in mind that we know not how soon we shall be called away. May we live therefore as those who wait for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with our loins girded and our lamps burning.

Wilberforce was a fierce opponent of slavery. He worked tirelessly for the abolitionist cause. It was his life’s work. He was also a committed Christian and he thought a lot about heaven and eternity. And it is the realization of the brevity of life and the certainty of death that drove his good work. We can rightly say “He was so earthly good because he was so heavenly minded.”

And what about those who avoid thoughts of death and eternity and judgment? What are we to make of those who believe this life is it? Are they not more likely to adopt the “eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die” philosophy? Aren’t they more likely to care less about now because they are careless about then? I know I am speaking in generalities. As did Holmes.

Jesus told us to not lay up treasures on earth but to lay up treasures in heaven. Did that mean we aren’t to care about the here and now? No. Obviously not. What it means, and what most Christians instinctively understand it to mean, is we don’t live this life in the pursuit of material wealth, and our goal is not to get as much as we can and live for our own pleasures. We lay up treasures in heaven by the good we do on earth. So, Christians who give and serve, who do good for their families and their community, do so, not despite, but because of their heavenly-mindedness.