Jonathan Edwards Quote

"Resolved: that all men should live for the glory of God. Resolved second: that whether others do or not, I will."

-Jonathan Edwards

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War

So I was in Branson, Missouri last week and found myself engulfed in a culture that was a bit different than I’ve grown accustomed to. Quite certain if you were to take a poll most of the people there were “red state” kind of people. It got me thinking about what it means to be a Christian that lives in the states; and thinking subsequently led to writing of course (click here for my post on patriotism and here for my blog on government). I knew that inevitably, I couldn’t approach this monster topic without approaching the issue of war as the military is a major facet of a country and its government. I’ve been excited to tackle it and try to look at it in the scope of the New Testament/ New Covenant theology that I believe the Bible presents. And yet, its obviously a very touchy subject, because the military is something that people give their lives to and in turn are revered for their commitment. With that in mind, I feel like I’m supposed to give a disclaimer and say that these are my personal views and do not necessarily reflect those of Hidden With Christ (as if people care what a non-profit NGO completely unrelated to the military cares about war). And I certainly hope that people would want to help HWC because of the mandates of scripture and the work that we do amongst orphans, not because of the views of one of their missionaries - how’s that for starting with a disclaimer?

So I heard it said not long ago that Branson is Vegas without teeth, or maybe it was dentures, I can’t remember. At any rate, one of this city’s major attractions are its performance shows. My parents have taken a liking to this interesting city tucked away in the Ozarks and wanted to take me and Melissa to their favorite show, Pierce Arrow. It is a variety show and while I don’t typically listen to southern rock, country or gospel music, I was entertained. The show was going well and as it came to its finale, I started feeling a little uncomfortable. The comedian came out and for the first time in the show was being serious. He said that they do shows often and never want to miss a chance to honor the military veterans that come. He asked all those that have served in the military to stand up and I was astounded as I saw what seemed like half the men in the theater rise to their feet. The people then began to give them a huge round of applause and one of the singers came out to begin a very patriotic song. The grand crescendo and finale of the show had every singer as well as the comedian and band singing the song as American flags waved across the TV screen and red, white and blue confetti fell from the ceiling. I was blown away.

There is something that the Lord has put inside of people that drives them to want to live for something bigger than themselves. Many people ignore this and live domicile lifestyles. While others take up a cause that is bigger than themselves. Not all of these causes are worthwhile - I’m sure that you can think of some cause  (NRA, PETA, countless world governments, etc.) that you personally disagree with. I believe that this desire for something greater is part of being created in the image of God. God knew that He is bigger than us and to live for Him would require us to have something inside us driving us to such a life. I believe that sometimes that desire becomes misdirected to something other than Christ.

Jesus knew that His Kingdom was the only one that was worth living for; His Kingdom is the only one in which people get it right and live right. Every person in the world ought to follow Jesus and advance the Kingdom of Heaven. There is nothing else worthwhile. Any part of our lives that doesn’t see His glory and His Kingdom as the focus is a waste. We ought to repent and walk in His ways. As a human, I fully realize in my own life that there are aspects, be them desires, thoughts or actions, that are twisted and wrong. Lord have mercy on me.

Jesus talks about this Kingdom of His in John 18:36 as he converses with Pilate before His execution. The first phrase is something that people often hear, its become trendy even. You can’t drive for more than fifteen minutes without seeing a car that has “Not Of This World” on it. But that’s not the end of the verse.

MLK Quote

"Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars... hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Cover of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Government

*Note to reader: I’m doing a three part series on America and the gospel of Jesus. The first one on patriotism is here. You may or may not want to check that out before reading this one. Now back to our regularly scheduled blog…


One of the things that I love about studying Jesus in the Bible is that in all His interactions, He doesn’t seem to leave any stone unturned. All of His teachings and actions have huge impacts across all facets of society.  His economic stance is that there’s enough for everyone, like with the loaves and fishes. His thoughts on race are that it doesn’t matter if you’re Jewish or a hated Samaritan, or any other Gentile for that matter, He invites you into the Kingdom, like the woman at the well. As he teaches His family values in the sermon on the mount, He says that marriage is sacred and binding. And then there’s this other area of our society.


A bit more controversial I suppose is Christ’s view on government. I believe that Jesus and the Bible say a lot about government and politics. People tend to camp around different flags as to what they think a biblical view of government is. Some are apathetic, believing that Jesus wasn’t political at all. They think about the fact that He perpetually dodged the idea that the Messiah would come and set up an earthly government right away. Others belittle His interaction in American politics, relegating Him to little sayings like, “The Father is a Republican, Jesus is a Democrat and the Holy Spirit is Independent.” No matter what stance an individual takes, they are quite certain that God is on their political side.


As we try to become like Christ and model our lives after the principles that He teaches us in the Bible, we must maintain this solemn stance: God is holy. He’s entirely different and He doesn’t fit nicely into the little boxes that we’d like to put Him in. There are very clear mandates and principles throughout the Bible that we can bank on, but there are also areas that appear more gray that require a more discerning eye and a gracious understanding of His magnitude. When we try to say that God is on our side with our particular party, we should always remember this stance of humility.

Patriotism

This week, I found myself in a bit of a culture shock. You’d think that after spending time in different countries on different continents that nothing would surprise me anymore. Especially after actually living in a very unique culture such as northern Tanzania. Nonetheless, in the middle of my own home country, I indeed have been shocked.


This week, I at moments felt bombarded by the cultural ideal of what I can best call uber-patriotism. The reason that I say that this patriotism is cultural, is because I’ve been in other countries where this level of patriotism is not seen. Not that those countries don’t appreciate their country nor that they don’t feel a sense of pride and affection for their country. However, the level of patriotism in the states as exemplified through the praise and pomp of the people, I have yet to see matched in other contexts that I’ve been in. Undoubtedly, this patriotism is held by some states and certainly some people more than others, but go with me here.


It would be quite ethnocentric to say that other countries don’t express themselves in such ways, because they, in fact, aren’t as good as us. It sounds harsh when I word it like that, but how many times have you heard various Americans say that the United States is the best country or best nation in the world. What does that imply about other countries and the people that live in them? I assure you not only of America’s follies, but also the positive aspects of many other countries. The playing field is more level than you might realize, yet we maintain an air of superiority.


A messy thing that often gets mixed in with this patriotism is the name of God. There is this perception that the founders of this country were all Christians. I don’t have the time to get into all that for this post, but I certainly don’t buy such a thought whole-heartedly. There were many deists among the founding fathers and ungodly practices such as slavery were commonplace. Nonetheless, this romantic view of the nation’s founding has snowballed over the years amongst many to the point that the lines between America the beautiful and Christianity as we know it run together, blur and intersect all at the same time. We are God’s chosen people as some would suggest.

Poetry Corner: Constance

Last night, Melissa and I found ourselves watching hip hop videos on YouTube and I showed her this one. I wanted to put it out here, because hip hop is close to my heart and is the reason I got into poetry in the first place. This song is intense and quite sad, but the heart behind it is so good. Mr J Medeiros shows what hip hop ought to be and that's an art form that expresses truth in a way that is bigger than the form itself. More of this meaningful music is what I would love to see and certainly what I dream for for hip hop. 

Survival

Last week I found myself doing something quite odd, something that I would take no pride in nor aspire to do. I watched an episode of  American Idol. My mom is a fan of the show and Melissa’s interest was peaked so as the Magic were making a big comeback against the Heat on another channel, I was sitting in the TV room watching twenty-four people trying to become one of thirteen people that would advance to the next round. Its an interesting situation to be sure. American Idol has apparently been the number one show on TV for several years now (not that I helped it become as such) and there have been myriad other shows (Survivor, Last Comic Standing, The Apprentice, etc.) that have this survival mentality that I find quite fascinating.


As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been reading Searching For God Knows What by Donald Miller. It is an interesting social commentary and in it he introduces an analysis called the lifeboat theory. In a nutshell, it says that people want to rank themselves in an order of whose the greatest. If a group of random people were in a lifeboat and somebody needed to be thrown off to save the rest, who would it be? This predicates the power play of survival. How that plays out in society is that we are constantly striving to be seen as important so as to receive the much needed security that comes from living in the lifeboat. For the society at large, I think the analysis is spot on. 


When you look around popular culture in the United States, its quite clear that in every realm of society this hierarchy is formed. Donald Trump is important because he’s got a lot of money. Tyra Banks is safe in the lifeboat because she‘s beautiful. Natalie Portman‘s important because she won an Oscar. Lebron James is safe in the lifeboat because he plays basketball well (not as good as Kobe though). Jerry Brown is important because he’s a powerful politician. You get the idea. 


And while such people sometimes set the culture’s pace, this isn’t just about those famous people out there. You find this mentality anywhere you find a group of people. Think about the popularity contest that is junior high and high school. Beyond that you can see the power play in full effect amongst college coeds that are vying for position as the real world approaches. The same mentality translates to the office, the business and yes, even the church. Its not hard to see where a guy like Charles Darwin would come up with a theory like survival of the fittest, when we’ve been playing this odd ranking game for so long. Its active in ways in the animal kingdom and when we choose to not allow God to define our identity and worth, it happens in our lives as well.

Don Miller Quote

"If we are preaching morality without Christ, and using war rhetoric to communicate a battle mentality, we are fighting on Satan's side. This battle we are in is a battle against the principalities of darkness, not against people who are different from us. In war you shoot the enemy, not the hostage."

-Donald Miller

Searching For God Knows What

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Complicated

Sometimes my desire to write exceeds my ability to do so. I, perhaps, find myself in such a position right now. I’ve ingrained it into my psyche that I need to write on a regular basis for some odd reason; be it a false illusion that what I write matters or a need to organize my thoughts into something meaningful. And yet at this particular moment, I find myself bound and debilitated by the complexity of life. 


My mother has always said that I’m a very black and white person, my fiancé agrees. I often wish that things in life were clearly marked and that dashed lines were drawn everywhere we go, showing us what is good and what is bad. The gray areas are by definition hard to discern and I really hate that. I feel like when Thing A happens then the natural progression should result in Thing B occurring. And if Black is Black and Black is bad, then I shouldn’t do Black ever. Unfortunately for simpletons like me, some things are dark gray which means sometimes they’re okay even if they normally aren’t. Its all quite confusing to be sure and a Christ follower ought to realize that a godly spirit of discernment is much needed at all times. 


I’ve been seeing just how complicated life can be more and more recently. For example, this morning I was reading in the book Searching For God Knows What and Donald Miller was talking about the circus and his love for elephants. In a brief side note, he questioned why we keep elephants in circus cages. In my mind, even such an off-hand comment sends me into this inner dialogue where I argue with myself, “Yeah! Let those elephants out! They weren’t created in cages, so don’t keep them there.” “But we have dominion over them and we ought to be able to do with them as we please. And its not like we’re torturing them, people ought be allowed to enjoy them.” “Asian elephants belong in Asian jungles and African elephants belong in African savannahs. If people want to see them they can go on a safari in their natural habitat.” “Oh, but that would be an awful waste to spend all that money on airfare and the like just for the sake of tourism.” And so on and so on.