10/29/08

Sleep, my child sleep
the sun can rise on his own
and dream, my lover dream
don't lose yourself in reality

the grave, the cursed grave
will not keep you from me for eternity
oh death, wicked death
where you go I cannot follow

but I will keep, keep your memories inside
hold your words in my heart
I will sing, I will sing you a song
like a bird to the fading light

small, always small
but you were the greatest of them all
snow, falling snow
heralds the birth of an angel

I will keep, keep your memories inside
hold your words in my heart
I will sing, I will sing you a song
like a bird to the fading light

and I will not forget
I will love you yet
keep me a place by your side
a place to call home when I die

give me a hug to say good-bye
and one more wave from the window

- Jason

We, Humanity

There is a certain comfort that Christians have begun prescribing to their humanity that follows along the lines of Shakespeare when he writes that "the Devil can cite Scripture for his purpose." The doctrine that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made" and created "in the image of God" is familiar, but not perhaps straightforward. We are God's children, created in likeness to him and loved unerringly by him. It's also true that humanity has sinned, and is fallen from birth. Our failure, however, has not caused God to turn away from us, and we find that he loves us still, perhaps even more necessarily. If God loves us at our most fallen moment then he surely continues to love us as we draw closer to him even as we continue to stumble. Unfortunately some Christians have taken God's unconditional love to acquire the idea of a grandmotherly love, the kind that accepts its object as perfect in every way simply because it's a grandchild. The grandmother view of God is harmful to the growth of Christians and nothing more than a sugar pill for sin.

Under the doctrine of grandmother love there is no need for change. God loves a man in his fallen state and God's love is really all we need, so why bother changing? This assumption is based in the idea that because God loves us, he accepts us. That is simply not so. Not in the sense that he will accept our spiritual dormancy until the day of our death when we find it necessary to have an excuse in the presence of Judgment. The apostle states this fact as so: "God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth." If we have claimed salvation through Christ we have received sanctification along with it, and if we are to practice truth then we must discontinue our living in spiritual darkness whether God loves us in such a state or not.

We do not need to worry about finding this light on our own or not being able to reach. If we submit that we are not acceptable in our present state, then God will be free to come in and work within us. Paul's words, "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus," give us hope that not only are we changing to be like God, but it is God doing the work and not us. Our job is submission to God and his work is remission of our pride.

Change will hurt us though; nothing becomes better by remaining the same. In many ways change is presented to us in the form of pain, and we all fear it very much. Part of our job then is to realize that this world is not a palace built for our happiness and pleasure, but rather more a prison of sorts for our souls. When we come to terms with the idea that pain and hardship are methods of changing us, and that we live on this earth for that very purpose, we will not look so badly on either. And above all it is imperative to remember that God loves us, that our pain does not result from a lack of God. Our response to the Father when we are in pain should follow the words of the Proverb: "My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth." In fact, our pain is often not pain in the real sense, but instead a smudge on our pride. When we do wrong and are caught openly we are hurt because our pride wants to tell us that what we did was right and that we should simply be ignored if it was not. Until we surrender our pride to God we will fear pain and disregard change. Pride cannot be a Christian's final stance on the matter. We must not consider ourselves acceptable as is even if we are lovable; we do not know God fully nor thus what he wants in a finished product, but be confident, God is not finished with us yet.

The Net

Imagine the following picture:

A ladder rests in space somewhere of its own accord and you are climbing it. At the top of the ladder, wherever it is, is Heaven, or better yet sanctification. You have struggled up this ladder for many years, making progress a few rungs at a time, then losing foot, even slipping sometimes. The process is wearying but the idea of being holy is enticing and you fight on, asking God to give you a push every now and then. When the going is really tough you ask God to help you reach nearly every next step. You're sure he will help you and one day you'll come to holiness.

Some of us may relate the above imagery to our spiritual lives. I present here a problem with this idea of sanctification: God is not at any time the focus. At best he was a momentary support. The writer C.S. Lewis made an analogy of this concept in his book The Problem of Pain writing, "We regard God as an airman regards his parachute; it's there for emergencies but he hopes he'll never have to use it." Similarly, we hope not to fall from our ladder, thus when we even start to slip we call on God to save us.

There is a logical problem with only relying on God some of the time. God is absolute; he is either always capable of saving us, or never capable. If he were never able to save us then we would not call on him even if we fall off the ladder; in fact, we might as well not climb at all. However, if God is always capable of saving us, then we can also derive from who God is that he is better able to do so than we.

Then if God can save us all the time, we struggle in vain to climb the ladder on our own. Even when we call on God we only accept a minute piece of his power for us. In order to fully be embraced by God, we must first let go of our ladder. We shall instantly find that all the while we fought to reach the top, God was the net underneath waiting for us to fall completely. He waited patiently for the time when we would realize that we were not sufficient to reach the top of our own accord. God saved us at every slip to demonstrate his true location; that he was present in surrender and failure, not at the climax of our own success. And yet we foolishly thought his salvation was proof that we were to continue striving on.

It is necessary to our spiritual growth that we realize that God is not at the end of our success, but rather at the bottom of our surrender. In My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers explains that "When we come to the end of ourselves, not just mentally but completely, we are able to 'receive the Holy Spirit'...There is now only One who directs the course of your life, the Lord Jesus Christ." We must accept that when we surrender God will catch us, hold us, and make us all we need be. Sanctification is not the goal we set at the top of our ladders, but the process of being made holy by surrendering to the only One who knows what holy is. Pride and self-sufficiency will only hinder and delay the process. Don't be afraid, let God be your net.

"I will be your God throughout your lifetime - until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you." - Isaiah 46:4

Politics

(The following is a response to a political debate between some friends of mine, thus the opening statements. Other than that, this writing is rather self-sufficient.)

I see that this debate is as beneficial as the presidential debates; arguments "ad hominem" take the place of reason. As Plato would say, "The partisan, when he is engaged in a dispute, cares nothing about the rights of the question, but is anxious only to convince his hearers of his own assertions."

Let's look at two similar quotations that are also from Plato:

"When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader."

"The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness...This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector."

Reasonably, both candidates are presenting themselves as protectors. McCain follows Plato's logic more literally, in claiming the danger of Islamic extremists and citing Islamic leaders' goals, intentions, policies, of destroying, or at least attacking, both Israel and the United States. Obama tells us that he is the protector of America, from itself more or less. He proclaims that we need protection from the economy, poor health care, etc. Now obviously each has plans relating to everything (aren't our candidates just so universal?), but looking at each candidates main point, in following with Plato, we have McCain as the protector from foreign attacks, and Obama as the protector from internal decay.

Now under this logic, I would look at which problem I feel I need the most protection from. On the one hand, extremists have bombed well...almost anything they can get explosives to; or on a more serious note, tens of thousands of innocent people. The other hand reveals that the economy is collapsing at the moment, and not everyone has health care, or education, etc. Both problems exist, but can both be fixed by government? Isn't that what we're electing after all, a man to run the government and not our lives? There's a difference, consider it.

While I'm on the topic of Plato, I'll note that he also stated that "The curse of me and my nation is that we always think things can be bettered by immediate action of some sort, any sort rather than no sort." This wisdom could be applied to both internal and external affairs at some level. However, when it comes to foreign affairs, it seems that to sit back and wait for other countries to act is foolish. What's the use in having an army that waits to be destroyed before mobilizing? That's not to say that the military should go Rambo on everything, but neither should it be completely passive.

As for internal affairs, the capitalist market is designed to correct itself and fully function without government intervention. There are of course high's and low's, but it is often arbitrary laws that restrict market efficiency as a whole. One may argue that the New Deal saved our economy in the past, that Democratic economy-fiddling is good; then I may point out that such fiddling has led to our current predicaments in some form. Hard times will come, but the government is not a financial institution. It is, however, our protector from foreign enemies.

Let our protector be elected to protect us from a real threat, and let's keep the people in power.

Falling

Could the pain get any worse?
Is your slowing breathing really living?
Don't let go of me yet,
Don't dream away the sunset.

Take me back to fields of spring,
to younger days and sunrise.
Tell me stories of old,
tell me of a life sold.

I'm waiting for the leaf to fall,
falling is the cost of love.
Autumn turns the oldest trees
to dust again, blown by the breeze.

The roots of your life
are planted in me, deep.
Let your memories slip by,
plant themselves in my mind.

I'm waiting for the leaf to fall,
falling is the cost of love.
Autumn turns the oldest trees
to dust again, blown by the breeze.

And autumn claims the best of these,
the birds, my love, and all the trees.
Oh sunny smile, warm my day,
I'll one day walk with you again.