tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25820211911408154332024-03-16T14:51:34.912-04:00A Stranger HereThis world is not my home . . . but someday it will be.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger645125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-14366009550626606432023-09-10T07:30:00.001-04:002023-09-10T07:30:22.148-04:00Saturday 3 Things<p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li> On <a href="https://quillette.com/2023/09/09/a-cartographer-for-the-ages/" target="_blank">Samuel de Champlain</a></li><li><a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/appalachias-north-south-divide" target="_blank">Appalachia North & South</a></li><li>We're living in the <a href="https://plus.thebulwark.com/p/joe-biden-problem-isnt-his-age-its-our-age" target="_blank">Age of Performative Politics</a></li></ol><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-346420394260045602023-08-11T08:56:00.013-04:002023-08-14T07:34:24.510-04:00"Sir Francis" of Two Rivers, a Waterloo Veteran<p>My wife's Irish ancestors came to the province of New Brunswick, Canada, before eventually moving to Bangor, Maine. The surnames involved are Wright, Mackey, McClay, and Flynn.</p><p>The earliest known Wright ancestor is Francis M. Wright (Laurie's 3rd great grandfather), born in 1777 in Ireland. He and his wife, Frances "Fanny" Bowman immigrated to Miramichi, New Brunswick, in 1819 (according to his obituary). Miramichi was a lumber town, although the lumber economy began to decline after 1825 (says Wikipedia). </p><p>He entered the U.S. in 1848 at Buffalo, according to his naturalization record (although his obituary gives 1847). In the 1850 census Francis and Fanny are living in Milwaukee. He gained citizenship in 1854. In 1860 they are in Two Rivers (about 90 miles north of Milwaukee on the western shore of Lake Michigan).</p><p>Francis and Fanny may have had as many as 14 children along the way, but the one in Laurie's direct line would be Francis "Frank" B. Wright. Although there is some uncertainty here, he was born around 1811 (but possibly later) in either Ireland or New Brunswick (my money's on Ireland). This kind of inconsistency is not uncommon in these matters, but what we do know is that young Frank married Mary Ann Mackey in 1840 in Miramichi. </p><p>But Frank and Mary Ann did not enter the U.S. along with Frank's parents in Buffalo. They, like the rest of my wife's Irish ancestors, stayed on a little longer in Miramichi and eventually traveled down to Bangor, Maine.</p><p>Now, Frank and Mary Ann would have a daughter, Catherine, my wife's great grandmother. She was born in 1844 in New Brunswick, and her death cert would report her coming to the U.S. in 1855, presumably along with her mother and father.</p><p>So here's the timeline of relevant dates so far:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>1877 Francis M. Wright is born in Ireland.</li><li>1811 Birth of his son Frank B. Wright.</li><li>1815 Takes part in the Battle of Waterloo.</li><li>1819 Immigrates to New Brunswick (though this might have happened earlier)</li><li>1840 Son Frank marries Mary Ann Mackey in Miramichi, New Brunswick.</li><li>1844 Frank and Mary Ann's daughter, Catherine, is born in Miramechi.</li><li>1847 Francis moves to Wisconsin (according to obituary).</li><li>1850 Francis and Fanny are living in Milwaukee</li><li>1854 Francis' naturalization</li><li>1855 Frank and family come to Bangor, Maine, from Miramichi.</li><li>1860 Francis and Fanny are living at Two Rivers, Wisconsin.</li></ul><div>When Francis M. Wright came to Wisconsin 1847 he was already about 70 years old. When he became a naturalized citizen he was 76. He was known as "Sir Francis" to his neighbors and friends and there is some reason to believe, according to family lore, that he self-reported as English, not Irish. He would live to the ripe old age of 95, telling stories about Waterloo to all who would listen. The closing line of his obituary is worth noting.</div><blockquote><div>He retained all the powers of a vigorous mind to the last days, particularly the scenes at Waterloo on the 18th of June, 1815, in which he took part under Wellington.</div></blockquote><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiem9XhtJsYq3OZgurk6xXFSvkvTRHe9mH02qUZdlPT1KPRSmDvQPTnMeQLAUhQ7kCI8SG39foj-tW5-3jLD_cPk96RwLAxgxA3upSWlnsuCT-y5E54MSnsy3-vEm_P1_5xhTA4OuZudX4BxDFKe3zt-yLOqadcde1pyIch9Z-lRXFVF2Gmx8ky-wFq2JMK/s591/Waterloo.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="591" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiem9XhtJsYq3OZgurk6xXFSvkvTRHe9mH02qUZdlPT1KPRSmDvQPTnMeQLAUhQ7kCI8SG39foj-tW5-3jLD_cPk96RwLAxgxA3upSWlnsuCT-y5E54MSnsy3-vEm_P1_5xhTA4OuZudX4BxDFKe3zt-yLOqadcde1pyIch9Z-lRXFVF2Gmx8ky-wFq2JMK/s320/Waterloo.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p> </p><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-85049060182486163312023-07-31T07:11:00.004-04:002023-08-01T05:53:19.205-04:00We live in a dangerous times<p> Beware the despotic.</p><p>Beware the crass and the brutal, the anger-driven, the scoffer.</p><p>Beware above all the absence of grace, replaced by name-calling and hate-mongering.</p><p>Have fear for your nation when these traits begin to blossom into movements with leaders and followers. Leaders who can do no wrong, followers who hear no evil.</p><p>Beware reviling speech, shouted from dais or pulpit, and beware the crowd that cheers it on.</p><p>Beware lies, and especially their thoughtless repetition.</p><p>Have nothing to do with unreasoning spite, with paranoid fantasies, or with power-seeking ranters who use these things to groom a loyal, unquestioning mob.</p><p>Beware the mob. Beware when its self-serving leader stoke it to a dangerous frenzy.</p><p>Stay clear. Instead, look always for the gifts of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. And if you see a loved once treading the broad and lethal way of the mob, try to draw them back with love and tenderness.</p><p>For we live in dangerous times.</p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-67818336013818472522023-07-30T08:24:00.004-04:002023-08-03T06:59:41.397-04:00Saturday 3-Things (a day late!)<p> 1.</p><p>I haven't listened to it yet, but <a href="https://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2023/07/dale-ahlquist-on-g-k-chesterton/" target="_blank">here's a conversation</a> about G. K. Chesterton</p><p>2.</p><p><a href="https://www.crossway.org/articles/10-key-bible-verses-on-being-happy/" target="_blank">10 Bible Verses on Being Happy</a></p><p>3.</p><p><a href="https://modernreformation.org/resource-library/articles/the-medium-is-the-mania-anxiety-as-a-feature-not-a-bug-of-digital-media/" target="_blank">The Medium is the Mania</a>.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-81829544032727091482023-07-28T06:54:00.003-04:002023-07-28T06:54:24.904-04:00How then shall I live (my retirement)?<p> I didn't retire early--more like right on time--but sometimes people say I don't look old enough to retire (I'm 66). I've heard it said that Americans often don't retire until they absolutely have to (as their ability to do their jobs begins to deteriorate). There's a great reluctance to do so, partly because people worry about the future and want to secure the best possible financial footing before retiring.</p><p>I get that. But I also believe there is something to be said for retiring while you're still in good health and can enjoy your post-work life to the fullest. In my case, I asked the people who manage our retirement account if it was safe to retire, and they answered in the affirmative. So my idea was, take it while you're still hale and hardy. Retirement is post-work but it is not post-purpose.</p><p>I'm only two months in, and I've spent that time doing what I pretty much said I was going to do, cycling around the countryside and reading books. I feel about as "hale and hardy" as I have in years. So that's how my retirement's going.</p><p>My plan was to relax through the summer, but be thinking about how best to be fruitful in my retirement. I've come to no conclusions yet. People suggest charity volunteering, then there's the possibility of getting involved with a church ministry of some sort, and of course there's always that shadowy writing project idea.</p><p>What does the future hold? I haven't been at the doorstep of so much mystery since I got out of high school? Retirement so far has been fun, but it has also been a kind of quiet quandary. I don't really want it to be all about self-indulgence and fun-seeking. I want it ultimately to be other-oriented and God-pleasing, and joy producing. The question before me, before all of us, always and ever, is how then shall we live?</p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-6271991890502319542023-07-26T07:17:00.002-04:002023-07-26T07:17:47.846-04:00What the Bible means by "world"<p> I was talking about the love of the world <a href="https://robertspencer.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-love-of-world-it-may-not-be-so-bad.html" target="_blank">yesterday</a>. Running the risk of seeming to oppose the Apostle John, I took the stance that we must love the world, that it is natural and healthy for us to do so.</p><p>But I never really addressed the question, what is the world? Or, more precisely, what do the Bible authors mean by "the world" in various parts of Scripture?</p><p>I asked Google to show me, and the <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/world/" target="_blank">this</a> was at the top of the list. It comes from <i>Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology</i>. Let me summarize:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>"The world" often means the sphere we call earth or perhaps even the whole created universe. So that moss-covered stump I was admiring yesterday on my traipse through the local nature preserve, that was a thing of the world in this common sense. I don't think anyone, not even John, will have a problem with loving such things.</li><li>Or "the world" refers to the human world, perhaps we might call this "culture." We're talking here about people and what they have made. Some of it is very evil, but some very good and beautiful. Discernment is recognizing when something is a reflection of that image of God which all men and women are capable of reflecting, or of that which is fallen, that which is selfish, in rebellion against the Creator. Both of these things exist, and all human things are compromised, yes, or as Lewis would say "bent," but the beauty of our origin is still present in us and in the things we create.</li><li>Sometimes "the world" refers to a subclass of people that are "indifferent or hostile to God." When John says the world hated Jesus he is using "world" in this sense, for there were some who clearly loved Jesus, and many who'd never heard of him. John cannot mean here all people "the world over."</li><li>And sometimes "the world" refers to the present age in which the kingdoms of this world hold sway, as opposed to the coming age, where Jesus is king forever.</li></ul><div>I think what John had in mind in <a href="https://www.biblestudytools.com/1-john/passage/?q=1+john+2:15-17" target="_blank">1 John 2:15-17</a> is something akin to the third and fourth category above. Elsewhere the Bible authors use terms like: "this present age," "the kingdoms of this world," "the powers of this dark world." </div><div><br /></div><div>In the world we walk through (a world made by God for people), we see everywhere the evidences of the Creator's glory, which we despise at our peril, and also the clear evidences of sin's marring effect, deadly and grim. So my conclusion: be discerning. There is much to love in this fallen world that God is redeeming. And there is much to hate that reflect more of the "powers of this dark world" than they do the glory of God. </div><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-40481952188371014842023-07-25T12:30:00.005-04:002023-07-25T12:38:10.308-04:00The Love of the World... it may not be so bad<p> What's really wrong with the world? Or, what's wrong with loving the world?</p><p>It's Biblical, right? "Do not love the world or anything in the world." 1 John 2:15</p><p>So it's bad to love stuff that's "of the world." An old guy in church told me in casual conversation how much he loves Johnny Cash. Then he quickly caught himself: "Well, I don't love him. Let's just say I like him a lot."</p><p>I've run into this phenomenon other times as well. I told someone I love the Red Sox, and he responded, "Love? Don't you know you're not supposed to love the things of the world?"</p><p>So you better watch out about what you say you love. Don't want anyone to think you're worldly!</p><p>Of course Christians have been making this distinction between the things of God and the things of the world, spiritual things and fleshly things, Kingdom of God things and the kingdoms of this fallen world, since time immemorial.</p><p>And yet . . .</p><p>One cannot get through this world without loving it. I love sunrises and sunsets, flowers, lightning bugs, a good cinnamon pastry, just about any pasture or field, a well-turned double play, Doc Watson's guitar playing, dogs, that breeze blowing through the window right now, and yes, a good Johnny Cash song. Oh, I could go on. I could go on a long, long time. I love so many things.</p><p>And so do you, I'm sure.</p><p>You see we were meant to love, we were built for it. Maybe you love a Monsted landscape (so do I).</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz3-mSDGGH8T9r5hVURIaxt_5ABPyRpCiHkKuTcaz91yUM_TfQ6hZfGG_Z7wZQqXOIqW63lI7Lr33wHFXyINCKhqF0tlh9z4C0YdXB0_Ip-EmL4TQTw_Rz9JforQFeueCKz4ZoXPccIp8TKn1VjoHkAKkKUaG_UqpUdmD-1s6wUKKc9k6tRb826R9oGkIX/s3200/monsted.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2231" data-original-width="3200" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz3-mSDGGH8T9r5hVURIaxt_5ABPyRpCiHkKuTcaz91yUM_TfQ6hZfGG_Z7wZQqXOIqW63lI7Lr33wHFXyINCKhqF0tlh9z4C0YdXB0_Ip-EmL4TQTw_Rz9JforQFeueCKz4ZoXPccIp8TKn1VjoHkAKkKUaG_UqpUdmD-1s6wUKKc9k6tRb826R9oGkIX/s320/monsted.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><br /></div><p></p><p>What are you supposed to do? Are you supposed to be ashamed of yourself for loving a thing of this world?</p><p>Maybe we should ask ourselves what John meant by this remark. Look no further than the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20John%202:15-17&version=esv" target="_blank">the following verses</a>. "The desires of the flesh, the desires of the eye, and the pride of life." An ESV footnote says that last part, the pride of life, can be translated, <i>pride in possessions</i>.</p><p>Also to note: that word translated "desire" by the ESV is often "lust" in other translations. The <i>lust</i> of the flesh, the <i>lust</i> of the eye. Oh, we all know what that is, don't we, and it really has nothing to do with loving a summer breeze, a Beethoven sonata, or an exquisite rose, a well-made table.</p><p>In fact, if you were to go through life determined not to love the "things of the world," you would not only be a very unhappy person, surrounded as you are by those things, but all the people around you would be unhappy too. You might even be one of those people who thinks heaven is a purely spiritual place, and someday we will shuffle off this fleshly sin-soaked body and be nothing but pure spirit. Your determination to live by 1 John 2:15 would have led you in an old and infamous heresy.</p><p>I asked a pastor about all tihs once, and he said, "As long as you don't love them [the things of the world] more than God." That sounded right, but then it gets me into this mode of measuring my love. Is my love for a summer breeze surpassing my love for God? Should I be worried? Now I'm mired in uncertainty. Am I loving this campfire-toasted marshmallow a little too much?</p><p>Of course this is nonsense. It saps the pleasure from things. There is much to say about "the world," and how it can draw us away from following Jesus. Think of Demas, who loved "this present age" and deserted Paul in his time of need (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Timothy+4%3A10&version=ESV" target="_blank">2 Tim 4:10</a>), but I'm pretty sure my friend at church can go ahead and love Johnny Cash. His sanctification does not hang in the balance!</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-42517099244350108772023-07-22T07:19:00.004-04:002023-07-22T07:44:15.938-04:00Saturday 3 things<p> 1. <a href="https://blog.ayjay.org/my-new-title/" target="_blank">Alan Jacobs</a> speaks of the Christian Renaissance in the 20th century. I was looking into Lippman's <i>A Preface to Morals</i> the other day and was amused by his presumption that Christianity and thus Christian ethics was in demise.</p><p>2. <a href="https://mereorthodoxy.com/augustine-and-the-order-of-love" target="_blank">Augustine and the Order of Love: Debunking a Dumb Christian Nationalist Argument</a></p><p>3. R.I.P. Tony Bennett. "Sing, You Sinners"</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XH33S5JxSZQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="XH33S5JxSZQ"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Footnote to #3: In <i>The Screwtape Letters</i> Wormwood says that in heaven there are two sounds that are both detested by the demons: singing, and silence. In Hell there shall be neither, but only cacophony.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The song agrees: "Whenever there's music, the Devil kicks / he don't allow music by the river Styx."</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-87152823328520178142023-07-20T07:48:00.003-04:002023-07-20T07:59:33.275-04:00Screwtape on Christian Nationalism?<p> I've been rereading <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Screwtape_Letters" target="_blank">The Screwtape Letters</a> (for maybe the third time, I guess), and there's a passage in chapter 7 that seems incredibly relevant to the moment. Screwtape is instructing Wormwood on how to tempt his "patient" with regard to the outbreak of war. As is often the case, Screwtape brings up two opposing and yet equally effective temptations. One would be to make his subject a pacifist, and the opposing tactic would be to make him a patriot.</p><p>I'm focusing on what he says about patriots here. You may recall, if you've read the book, that Screwtape is advising a younger devil, Wormwood, on how best to tempt his subject away from faith, or if possible to twist his faith into something else altogether, though he still may think of himself as "faithful."</p><p>This is Screwtape on the subject of the temptation to Patriotism or Pacifism for Christians:</p><blockquote><p>Whichever he adopts [Pacifism or Patriotism] your main task will be the same. Let him begin by treating the Patriotism or the Pacifism as a part of his religion. Then let him, under the influence of partisan spirit, come to regard it as the most important part. Then quietly and gradually nurse him onto the stage at which the religion becomes merely part of the "Cause," in which Christianity is valued chiefly because of the excellent arguments it can produce in favor of the British war effort or of pacifism.... Once you have made the World an end, and faith a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing. Provided that meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes, crusades, matter more to him than prayers and sacraments and charity, he is ours--and the more "religious" (on those terms), the more securely ours. I could show you a pretty cageful down here.</p></blockquote><p>As I said, what interests me here is how this applies to "patriotism," or in our current setting, <i>Christian Nationalism</i>. I think every point Lewis is making here applies to pacifism as well (or environmentalism or any other good cause), but it is the form of patriotism known as Christian Nationalism which seems to be swamping the church these days.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-76500210569224316952023-07-17T08:27:00.001-04:002023-07-20T07:50:15.759-04:00Notes on Lewis<span style="font-family: georgia;">I've volunteered to give a talk to our men's group about C. S. Lewis, the next in a series of talks featuring exemplary Christians from the past. We've had a few athletes (it's a men's group, after all), a little known Scottish evangelist, a founding father, and, in my one previous talk, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.</span><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">When I was asked to do the next talk, my mind immediately went to Lewis, one of my own heroes, and so I've started reacquainting myself with some of his work. I'll soon have reread <i>Mere Christianity</i> and will go on to <i>The Screwtape Letters</i> next. I'll reacquaint myself with his biography via Wikipedia, and look for summaries of some of his other important works (the sci-fi trilogy, The Abolition of Man, etc.).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">That's the plan anyway. I've only got a few weeks to get this done, so I can't go back and read everything. But here's what I'm wondering about? How to make the life of this intellectual Irish-English academic a compelling and inspiring story of a bunch of guys that probably only know him for the Narnia series, if at all.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lewis has a great influence on my thinking even before I came to faith. His brand of apologetics was helpful to me, and when I wanted to know what Christianity was all about I naturally gravitated toward <i>Mere Christianity</i>, based on his series of radio talks in the 1940s. Rereading it now after many years, I still admire his careful avoidance of theological language (theolingo?) and his refusal to plump for the Church of England or any other denomination, or to take sides in Christianity's contentious issues. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">But I'm worried that this will all seem rather dull to my audience. What is it about Lewis that might make him compelling to an audience of men used to heroizing sports figures and warriors?</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">What are the basic details of Lewis' life? He was born in Belfast in 1898. He served in WWI and saw action at the Somme, where he was wounded by an enemy shell that killed two other men. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">Raised in the church, he became an atheist at the age of 15. He went on to become a scholar at Oxford University, specializing in Renaissance Literature. He was brilliant, well-read, a lover of poetry and fairy tales. The rebirth of Lewis' faith came gradually in the post-war years, influenced by writers like George MacDonald and G. K. Chesterton, and then crucially by his Oxford friend, J.R.R. Tolkien.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia;">As he wrote in his autobiography, Surprised by Joy:</span></div><blockquote><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen [College, Oxford], night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.</span></span></div></blockquote><p>What about Lewis as a writer? After his return to the faith he pursued what he saw as his calling as a Christian apologist. Christian Apologetics is a reasoned defense of the faith, taking on the arguments of atheism and materialism, etc. Lewis is probably the foremost popularizer of Christian apologetics in the 20th century, and has been rightfully called "the apostle to the skeptics."</p><p>In addition to that, like Tolkien Lewis was a Christian fantasist. By that meaning he was a creator of modern fairy tales and fantasy literature that prominently featured, like most fantasy, magic, strange creatures, and cataclysmic battles between good and evil, all with a clearly Christian sense of spiritual realities lying behind the material and strictly sensory aspect of the world. These fantasies include his most famous work, the 7-volume <i>Chronicles of Narnia</i>, and the under-appreciated science-fiction triliogy.</p><p>Now, what does C.S. Lewis mean to me and why did I choose him for my presentation this morning? Skeptics always believe themselves to be the most rational persons in whatever room they're in, and Lewis showed me, a skeptic myself, that rationality--thinking--and faith were not necessarily mutually exclusive. He taught me to be skeptical about my skepticism, to question it with at least the same incisiveness that fancied I brought to my questioning of Christianity. Lewis didn't make me a believer--God did that--but Lewis cleared a lot of the ground, removing some of the intellectual roadblocks that prevented me from treating the case for Christianity with and open mind.</p><p>So I honor Lewis for the role he played in my own coming to faith, but I honor him also as a great wordsmith and composer of elegant and effective prose. His <i>Chronicles</i> will enrapture you, his space trilogy will startle you, his apologetic writing will stimulate as well as amuse you (for Lewis was at times a very amusing writer), his imagination will inspire you.</p><p>Takeaways: I've noticed in the previous presentations in this series people tend to have three takeaways that we can draw from the life of the subject, 3 pieces of advice or words of encouragement. As a man whose heroes are all writers, my main takeaway is, READ! Much of today's popular culture conditions us--and it does this intentionally, I might add--to shortened attention-spans and superficial thinking. My advice is, be a rebel and encourage in yourself a disciplines sustained program of reading. We are, after all, a people of the Book. We are meant to be readers!</p><p>In today's world this will make you just a little strange, but as Christians we should be accustomed to that. And as with any discipline, you will have to start where you're at and seek to make progress by increments. Just as we often advise young Christians to read the gospel of Mark first because it is short and sweet (whereas, say, John's Gospel can seem more challenging), you might need to start with Narnia before moving on to Lewis' deeper water. </p><p>Another piece of advice: don't look down your nose at fiction. The Spirit's sanctifying work is done at all levels of the mind and heart. Humans have always been a story-telling kind, because stories can embody deep truths and get them across in powerful ways. </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-31955683555960970612023-07-15T06:47:00.004-04:002023-07-16T05:20:17.072-04:00Saturday 3 Things<p> <a href="https://michaelfbird.substack.com/p/is-the-gospel-believed-or-obeyed?r=1iost" target="_blank">Is the Gospel Believed or Obeyed</a>, by Michael F. Bird.</p><p><a href="https://www.patheos.com/blogs/eidos/2023/06/the-power-of-dissenting-societies-a-thought/" target="_blank">The Power of Dissenting Societies: A Thought</a>, by John Mark Reynolds</p><p><a href="https://www.acton.org/religion-liberty/volume-33-number-1/flawed-greatness-thomas-jefferson" target="_blank">The Flawed Greatness of Thomas Jefferson</a>, by Wilfred McClay</p><p>Bonus: <a href="https://www.johno.blog/p/30-days-of-hope?sd=pf" target="_blank">Thirty Days of Hope</a>, by John Onwuchekwa</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-7070017231342887162023-07-08T19:55:00.005-04:002023-07-08T20:00:42.707-04:00July Reading Report<h4 style="text-align: left;"> Books I'm Reading</h4><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Dominon: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World</i>, by Tom Holland</div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Parable of the Sower</i>, by Octavia E. Butler</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I'm nearing the end of both of these and would like to finish them this week, making room for some of the other books waiting in the wings.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><b>Books I've (perhaps foolishly) Just Started Reading</b></h4><div><i>Conscientious Objections</i>, by Neil Postman</div><div><i>Mere Christianity</i>, by C. S. Lewis</div><div><i>Revelation for the Rest of Us</i>, by Scot McKnight</div><div><br /></div><div>The first of these has been on my shelf for a few years (a pick-up from a Little Free Library). I'm on a mission to read these books that have been waiting for ages to be read, so this one is up next. And of course Postman is always engaging and thought-provoking.</div><div><br /></div><div>As for <i>Mere Christianity</i>, this will be my third read (at least), but my first in many years. This book and others by Lewis was helpful to me in the years before I came to faith. Now my church men's group has asked me to give a presentation on Lewis next month, so I'm hoping to read this and <i>The Screwtape Letters</i> in the meantime.</div><div><br /></div><div>And then there's the McKnight book. I'll be taking my time with that one. One chapter every now and then.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">Books I Intend to Read as soon as I Get a Chance</h4><div><i>A Swim in a Pond in the Rain</i>, by George Saunders</div><div><i>Ethics</i>, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer</div><div><br /></div><div>The first was a gift. It's an appreciation of some of the great 19th century Russian short stories, so it looks like I will be reading some of those as well. We're talking Turgenev, Gogol, Tolstoy, Chekov.</div><div><br /></div><div>As for Bonhoeffer's <i>Ethics</i>, well, Christian ethics or Christian moral philosophy is something I've been</div><div>wanting to get into. I'm hoping this will be the first of a series on that subject.</div><div><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: left;">A Book I'll Be Reading for the Foreseeable Future</h4><div><i>A New Testament Biblical Theology</i>, by G. K. Beale</div><div><br /></div><div>A little bit before bed each night. It's gonna take me years to finish this beast!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-26514660421966125142023-07-07T07:34:00.008-04:002023-07-14T07:11:27.895-04:00Some thoughts on Goodness<p> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We so want to believe we are good people. Even if sometimes the outward evidence may say otherwise, we have this fallback: "I’m good inside." Or, "but my heart is good."</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-e4955952-7fff-9ea6-d03f-67083347659e"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I’m inclined to doubt all that. I’m inclined to believe that the outside </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">is</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> the inside, so what you see is what you get. Most people I know are good by any useful standard you want to name, but we all do things that fall short of our own standard (let alone God’s).</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The trick then is to say, well, yes, I sometimes act selfishly, but in my heart I am, here it comes, basically good. It’s a way of lessening the significance of our shortcomings (they're not the real me) and perhaps the beginning of an answer to the vexing question, why do I do the things I do?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But it is a statement of faith, one that cannot be proven. Indeed, when we seek to examine our heart (our true self or inner being) in order to discover that seat of goodness, we only get tangled in our own self-deceits. Things get complicated quickly. Better to fall back on a neat statement of faith about our inner goodness. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Even if the evidence runs counter. Because it can't be denied that outwardly I sometimes do what is not good, and this requires an explanation. Was I mistaken about my inner self? What if I am not truly “good inside.”</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This doesn’t mean I’m </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">bad inside</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">. It may be I’m a sort of mixed bag, both good and bad. To insist that somewhere in me there is this good essential identity that the outward me does not always reflect requires me to see myself as two people; the inward me (who is good), and the outward me (who is not always good). I must insist on this divided two-person me in order to sustain this faith in my own innate goodness.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But what if our outward behavior perfectly reflects our essential being, our so-called inward self. What if we are not divided into an inner and an outer self that are sometimes in conflict? What if we are one being with contradictory impulses? What if what we do IS who we are?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This perspective doesn’t feel like an evasion of the evidence (at least). The real me, the essential me, may be difficult to accept. I don’t necessarily want to be that person. It is much better to be </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">essentially good</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I will admit that “goodness” is a vexed subject. Sometimes we Christians talk about it in ways that are not useful. As soon as I say someone is good, there’s some Calvinist out there saying, “No one is good! We all fall short. Etc.”</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The problem is, people have to have a working definition of goodness that can differentiate Mother Teresa from Pol Pot. Because the former is obviously better than the latter, right? Mother Teresa no doubt had her bad days, because we are all a mixed bag, but we are not all exactly the same mixed bags. Some through discipline and prayer (or whatever else) have leaned more toward goodness, some have leaned toward evil. It's useful to be able to tell the difference, as a matter of our own survival perhaps. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I know some good people, and I have also known some few nasty people. I don’t think people are “basically good,” but I do think there’s a lot of good in people generally. I have known some who reserved their good impulse for those close to them, their family and friends, but conducted themselves very differently with all others, a practice which in the end spoils all our goodness in my opinion.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Anyway, it’s a vexed subject, this matter of goodness. In the Christian tradition we say that we need our hearts changed, and that the Holy Spirit, the third person of God, can do that. So self-reliance is replaced by God-reliance, and the Great Surgeon goes to work on our hearts in a process that results (we say in faith) in increasing the goodness in us and a cleaning out of the selfishness, etc. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Lord, may it be so.</span></p></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-83031160651148406032023-07-02T07:13:00.002-04:002023-07-02T07:13:20.934-04:00Best Band Ever<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZKxxyMei-VhPuQJVESATqs3HEB1bUIHTp9i_3cv4WvCfNmMdPpXkQPzTJMhsXHHEQxgQIItNZveX3NJFuc0a5L4kdgqBy0BJmR6IEKKwWxeXaC2BjVLqjni16GnsH5DVYJqyFwaKq5-5qlrePjkIdYl4bxAQOfI5uax25kHG4bQUkcBchBfOyWWc0FKRY/s1350/Fz9uvvmXwAEyXPR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1350" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZKxxyMei-VhPuQJVESATqs3HEB1bUIHTp9i_3cv4WvCfNmMdPpXkQPzTJMhsXHHEQxgQIItNZveX3NJFuc0a5L4kdgqBy0BJmR6IEKKwWxeXaC2BjVLqjni16GnsH5DVYJqyFwaKq5-5qlrePjkIdYl4bxAQOfI5uax25kHG4bQUkcBchBfOyWWc0FKRY/w428-h342/Fz9uvvmXwAEyXPR.jpg" width="428" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-31739359606995995882023-07-01T06:59:00.003-04:002023-07-01T06:59:27.118-04:00Wondering about Dissidence<p> I haven't yet read the 3rd chapter of McKnight & Matchett's <a href="https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwi5--CHpe3_AhWox-MHHQEVDcIYABAIGgJ5bQ&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESbeD2LHqP3olqatrjPOpNmPuQuvVb_AFtoINufophHYwP_ynp07c33ckrpbRRR1_NiWW58f7kj8IMC5auWJfL0qqdPvacNuLcLjS-gkMl_YFtXd1047QzbM_dxDxZ0fYP9npH6DVwJOqZKHm2Khs&sig=AOD64_0_2BWpiNIvfvw3b-1_Lxjh1PhlLQ&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwiZm9iHpe3_AhWImIkEHXrwC3EQ9aACKAB6BAgEEAw&adurl=" target="_blank">Revelation for the Rest of Us</a>, but I wanted to pause for a moment to consider the question, Is a Christian a dissident?</p><p>To this question the authors answer an affirmative, "Yes, by definition, a Christian is a dissident."</p><p>And of course we have a long history of Christian dissidence. I was just reading yesterday in Tom Holland's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dominion-Christian-Revolution-Remade-World/dp/0465093507" target="_blank">Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World</a> about a fellow named <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/quaker-comet-greatest-abolitionist-never-heard-180964401/" target="_blank">Benjamin Lay</a>. He was a Quaker who spent much of his life campaigning against slavery. A noteworthy, colorful, and heroic figure, and a certainly a dissident!</p><p>Christian dissidence is real, and it is constant, for we will always be crosswise with the world (the system, the governing authorities, the powers (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%206%3A12&version=ESV" target="_blank">Eph. 6:12</a>). I'm with Stanley Hauerwas in believing that Christians are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resident_Aliens" target="_blank">resident aliens</a> in whatever country they finds themselves. The ideal is, we are <i>in but not of</i>, isn't that right?</p><p>But none of this means--or does it--that a Christian is by definition a dissident. Wikipedia says a dissident is a person who "actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy or institution." And all of McKnight's examples in chapter 1 are true activists in this regard, as are Wikipedia's. None of this "they also serve who stand and wait." </p><p>I think the case is well made that many Christians will be called to active non-cooperation with Babylon (along with, of course, many non-Christians), and even at times civil disobedience. We all have to wonder about the hidden degrees of complicity with evil that just being participants in a market society involves us in. The Amish, for example, have drawn that line in a very different place than most other Christians. And many of us have probably not thought deeply enough about where that line should be. What shall we boycott? When shall we march? When do we move from prayer to activism? And is "activism" a requirement of the faith?</p><p>When do we move from a personal "no" to an active coaxing of the people around us to also say "no"?</p><p>And have we not seen many examples of activism seeming to supplant faith? Is there a way that activism can come to seem as worldly as happy complicity? </p><p>We are resident aliens in Babylon. Wherever we live, we are not truly at home. Babylon is here, around us, infiltrating and shaping us more than we know. We are less <i>in</i> and more <i>of</i> than we care to admit. In John's Revelation we have a call to remain strong and endure, even if by being crosswise with the world we may provoke the world's anger against us. </p><p>I look forward to reading more of what McKnight and Matchett have to say about these things. </p><p>Well, I'm just wondering aloud here. Perhaps I'm "kicking against the goads!" Faith is not simply in inward disposition, it is walked out. </p><p><br /></p><p>Here we might look to the Amish, who are certainly actively trying to maintain their separateness from the world, but are they in fact dissidents? Their lives embody a critique of the world as it is, but they are not really activists trying to change the world, only to remain untainted by it.</p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-35373653608004722252023-06-29T07:38:00.003-04:002023-06-29T07:43:52.532-04:00Random Randomness<p> Another misty morning here in the Great American Northeast. This June has been the coolest in many years, and lately the rain has taken a bite out of my gardening and bike riding plans, but my reading life has been enhanced. I'm mainly focusing on 3 books:</p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dominion-Christian-Revolution-Remade-World/dp/0465093507" target="_blank">Dominon: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World</a> by Tom Holland</p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Parable-Sower-Octavia-Butler-ebook/dp/B0BZHT26LV/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=parable+of+the+sower&s=books&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Parable of the Sower </a>by Octavia Butler</p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Revelation-Rest-Us-Prophetic-Dissident/dp/0310135788/ref=sxts_entity_rec_bsx_s_def_r00_t_aufl?content-id=amzn1.sym.a36c3969-f821-4d5b-a8e8-be129cf4aa4a%3Aamzn1.sym.a36c3969-f821-4d5b-a8e8-be129cf4aa4a&cv_ct_cx=revelation+for+the+rest+of+us+by+scot+mcknight&keywords=revelation+for+the+rest+of+us+by+scot+mcknight&pd_rd_i=0310135788&s=books&sr=1-1-ef9bfdb7-b507-43a0-b887-27e2a8414df0" target="_blank">Revelation for the Rest of Us</a> by Scot McKnight</p><p>We never used to see foxes in my neighborhood, or rarely, but now I see them every morning. Our yard seems to be on some sort of fox thoroughfare. They always look like their on their way somewhere but sometimes stop to glance at the ground under the neighbor's feeder (they are screened by a cluster of irises), trying to catch a small bird unawares. Sometimes they pass through with a squirrel clutched in their jaws.</p><p>Been thinking lately about the meaning of "dissent" and of what it is to be a "dissident." John Mark Reynolds has some thoughts: <a href="https://www.patheos.com/blogs/eidos/2023/06/the-power-of-dissenting-societies-a-thought/" target="_blank">The Power of a Dissenting Society</a>.</p><p>I always enjoy Matt B. Redmond's <a href="https://mattbredmond.com/2022/07/02/random-thoughts-for-the-weekend-104/" target="_blank">Random Thoughts</a>.</p><p>Back to reading books. I tend to read multiple books at once, but they must be books that are distinctly unlike one another. Maybe a novel, a history book, and a book on Biblical theology or something. Three distinct reading tracks, I guess you could say.</p><p>I also try to read at least one daunting "classic" each year. Last year it was <i>The Hunchback of Notre Dame</i>. Which direction should I go this year? Alan Jacobs has been reading and thinking deeply about Charles Dickins' Bleak House. His latest rumination is <a href="https://blog.ayjay.org/the-system-2/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p><p>The sun's coming out today, they say. It will be nice to see the brightfaced stranger!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QfOFy_WJrG0" width="320" youtube-src-id="QfOFy_WJrG0"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-45006813991283158242023-06-28T07:10:00.004-04:002023-06-28T07:25:39.364-04:00Notes on Revelation for the Rest of Us (part 2)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkNJ52qzDhlAfv9jKYp-r4rbpPoJ3UVfpfTYM9mQndNq4iMmaE8EdK5Kw5F0EnJGiT9yWNI5-IzVh2S55zJ7KuLA20ITNEW9nTuv2wlipLzIxre1wNUI5pdbExPyBd1VzKp8rMg7YujKW-36fniBnupr-k6HSyo-JMw2oM76pvtCYpnREU9AXJaW7zPwfK/s1035/Revelation_cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1035" data-original-width="680" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkNJ52qzDhlAfv9jKYp-r4rbpPoJ3UVfpfTYM9mQndNq4iMmaE8EdK5Kw5F0EnJGiT9yWNI5-IzVh2S55zJ7KuLA20ITNEW9nTuv2wlipLzIxre1wNUI5pdbExPyBd1VzKp8rMg7YujKW-36fniBnupr-k6HSyo-JMw2oM76pvtCYpnREU9AXJaW7zPwfK/s320/Revelation_cover.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Moving on to chapter 2 of McKnight and Matchett's <a href="https://zondervanacademic.com/products/revelation-for-the-rest-of-us" target="_blank">Revelation for the Rest of Us</a>. This chapter is called, "For Whom Was the Book of Revelation Written? (Take a Deep Breath)."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">At the start of the chapter the authors explain that John was a leader in the churches of western Asia Minor (the "seven churches"). It seems that "the Roman way of life was penetrating these churches," and John was speaking out against that, so the authorities put him in prison/exile on the island of Patmos.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The Revelation is John's response. So it is John "speaking out" (a phrase that is going to recur here). It was intended for the churches, and so everything in it would have been, though at times difficult, comprehensible to his audience.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The authors say that as a result of Rome's destruction of the temple at Jerusalem in 70AD, Rome became the epitome of evil in Jewish eyes. Then there would come the persecution of Christians under Nero, and in response "a tradition of dissidence begins to take root."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>My response: I don't think the author's do a particularly good job of describing just what was going on in the churches that the authorities had a problem with. These things are well-known, after all. I'm also not sure they make a convincing case that the Jesus-communities in Asia Minor were, by worshipping Jesus, practicing a kind of dissidence against Rome akin to the Jewish dissidents at Masada. </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On page 17 the authors give us this:</div><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In the book of Revelation Jon instructs the seven churches of western Asia Minor on ow to live as Christian dissidents in an empire racked by violence, power, exploitation, and arrogance... This is a book that calls us to civil disobedience.</div></blockquote><p> The authors go on to define dissidents as people of hope who imagine a better future and then begin to embody it in the world. They speak out against injustice. Then we get a list of modern dissidents as examples: Gandhi, Fannie Lou Hamer, Mandela, King, etc.</p><p>Having tutored the reader on just what a dissident is and does, McKnight and Matchett then explain that John was a dissident also, or as MLK said of Christians, a "transformed nonconformist." His "speaking out" is in response not only to the power of Rome but to the churches who have let themselves be infiltrated by those powers. "[John] saw too much of Rome in the church and not enough church in Rome."</p><p>The authors say that one key to understanding <i>Revelation</i> is to understand that John is speaking out both against Rome and against the churches (p.23). It's a "dual critique." And finally, it "speaks a powerful encouragement to be dissident disciples.</p><p><i>My response: Although I do think Christians are to be nonconformists, as King said, I'm not convinced we're all called to be dissidents like Gandhi, etc., or that such is the main thrust of John's Revelation. I'm still waiting for the book to convince me.</i></p><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-38900856834291911942023-06-26T13:39:00.006-04:002023-06-26T13:41:55.381-04:00On Finishing Well (5): Teachability<p> I've been looking at a fine article, written a few years back, about <a href="https://www.nae.org/finishing-well" target="_blank">Finishing Well</a>, by which the author means, "following Christ to the very end of our lives." I'm interested because, well, I've recently entered upon that potentially <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/benighted" target="_blank">benighted</a> state known as retirement. "Benighted," as you will see if you click on the link, means "overtaken by darkness." I don't want that to happen!<br /></p><p>The article posits six characteristics of those who finish well. Of these, I have a word or two to say about the first three: <a href="https://robertspencer.blogspot.com/2023/04/on-finishing-well-2-jesus-centered.html" target="_blank">Christ-centered</a>, <a href="https://robertspencer.blogspot.com/2023/05/on-finishing-well-3-avoiding-fatal.html" target="_blank">focused</a>, and <a href="https://robertspencer.blogspot.com/2023/06/on-finishing-well-4-discipline.html" target="_blank">disciplined</a>. You will notice that Christ-centered would seem to be an obvious one for one who wants to "follow Christ to the very end." But <i>focus</i> and <i>discipline</i> are more generic. They come together, for me, under the heading, <i>avoid distractions</i>.</p><p>The next trait in this author's list is <i>teachable</i>. Yes, I like that one. We are talking, keep in mind, about retirement, and so usually about people of a certain age. Gray-hairs, I might call them. Or in my own case, no-hairs. And it is not necessarily a common trait of our set to be teachable: to be willing and eager to learn.</p><p>I find it to be a rare trait. Many people, once they achieve a certain age, seem to disable their internal teachability mode. As with focus and discipline, this trait exists on a spectrum that not necessarily Christian. After all, one doesn't have to be a Christian to be teachable. Its my contention tat wen a Cristian pursues focus or discipline or teachability she pursues these things all along tat spectrum, not simply te Christian end of it.</p><p>So . . . advice to self: be always learning. Learn the names of those weeds growing in your lawn; learn how to fix a broken spoke on your bike; learn to read music, or the case for and against something before making up your mind, etc. There is, it seems, always learning to be done. </p><p>As for the particular connection between being a Jesus follower and being teachable should be obvious. The very word <i>disciple</i> means student. The disciples often called Jesus "Teacher." By definition, a disciple places himself or herself in Jesus classroom, ready and eager to learn from the teacher. Our concern is for what Jesus says and what he does and where he leads. </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-18472496781076180822023-06-25T06:26:00.006-04:002023-06-28T07:25:23.138-04:00Notes on Revelation for the Rest of Us (part 1)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqnIcXRI-FvfWpC6N-VVaGQE7pS8oLg2h3g0Xja2P-eC3ym0HFJnNrorDaUMFVUc3VpcKT26nU8hn8VnAQHuGD7rBnxzdkbLB32Lr6s2Cqvp_9IuGQqUYJejBlSXJ3EY3nvZj3sLgbYsPbcy34XunUrBMTBD5_VNBchScrawDvmUjOzblTIQ4R1kdzXjzE/s1035/Revelation_cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1035" data-original-width="680" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqnIcXRI-FvfWpC6N-VVaGQE7pS8oLg2h3g0Xja2P-eC3ym0HFJnNrorDaUMFVUc3VpcKT26nU8hn8VnAQHuGD7rBnxzdkbLB32Lr6s2Cqvp_9IuGQqUYJejBlSXJ3EY3nvZj3sLgbYsPbcy34XunUrBMTBD5_VNBchScrawDvmUjOzblTIQ4R1kdzXjzE/s320/Revelation_cover.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>I've started reading <a href="https://zondervanacademic.com/products/revelation-for-the-rest-of-us" target="_blank">Revelation for the Rest of Us</a> by Scot McKnight and Cody Matchett. I'm going to take notes here on the blog as I read. These will just be raw notes, attempts to capture the main points along the way, as well as my own occasional responses, questions, bafflements, etc. </p><p>The subtitle of the book is "A prophetic call to follow Jesus as a dissident disciple." Those last two words jump out at you, right? I mean, there are many books on discipleship, but dissident discipleship? </p><p>The description on the flap might help us understand it a bit:</p><blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">John designed his book of Revelation to disciple readers into dissidents of the ways of the world and empire, describing the empire with the term "Babylon"--a timeless image of empire, militarism, economic exploitation, injustice and oppression. John's disciples can discern the presence of Babylon in our world and learn to speak up, speak out, and walk in the way of the Lamb.</p></blockquote><p>This is the part that really resonated with me and it's why I bought the book in the first place. You sense right away that McKnight and Matchett are providing a counterpoint to the rampant Americanism and Christian Nationalist in the church today.</p><p>In the first chapter the authors talk about the typical ways in which Revelation has been interpreted. He quotes G. B. Caird: Revelation as become "a paradise for fanatics and sectarians."</p><p>This is not a book that is going to map contemporary world events against the blueprint of Revelation. McKnight and Matchett are not treating Revelation as a predictive text that readers should mine in search of the date of Christ's return or the true meaning behind the headlines on our news feeds.</p><p>They call tis the "speculative approach" and much of the chapter is devoted to explaining the weakness of the speculative reading of Revelation. It leads people to read the text predictively, literally, premillenially, and vindictively. But this is not how the church has read Revelation throughout history!</p><p>But many of us are so used to thinking this way about John's mysterious book, we can think of no other. Here's a quote from Nelson Kraybill: "The last book of the Bible is not a catalog of predictions about events that would take place two thousand years later. Rather, it is a projector that casts archetypical images of good and evil onto a cosmic screen."</p><p>Getting back to that word "dissident." When I think of that word, <i>dissidents</i>, I think of Russian dissidents in the 70s, like Sholzhenitsyn. They were dissidents against "the powers that be." The authors say we need dissident disciples, willing to dissent against corruption in both church and culture.</p><blockquote><p>The book of Revelation, when read well, forms us into dissident disciples who discern corruptions in the world and church. Conformity to the world is the problem. Discipleship requires dissidence when one lives in Babylon.</p></blockquote><p> As I said, this resonates with me. A Christian is, as the tagline of this blog says, not at home in this world. This world is our Babylon. But I have some hesitation with thinkin of myself as a <i>dissident</i>. I want to be a quiet Cristian, following Jesus were I live, not shouting from the rooftops (or in my dissident <i>samisdat</i>). We'll have to read on to see what McKnight and Matchett have to say to hesitators like me!</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-87310029634297368922023-06-24T08:13:00.003-04:002023-06-26T13:41:06.040-04:00Retirement Report<p> I have been officially retired now for a few weeks. One of the things I like about retirement is doing chores like lawn-mowing when they need to be done, not having to wait till the weekend. I'm enjoying yardwork and gardening, bike rides and walks, cooking, and of course plenty of reading.</p><p>Besides a couple of quick trips to see family it has been a quiet retirement so far. I expect this thing to unfold slowly and gradually as a I move from R&R into a more mission-minded approach.</p><p>The mission I speak of could be any number of things of course--write that novel, bike across country, build a bomb-shelter in the back yard--but I'm thinking more along the lines of my mission as a Christ follower, a disciple.</p><p>What do disciples do? They learn from their Teacher and follow his instructions. Right now I'm in the learning--or better, re-learning--phase. There have been a lot of distractions in recent years--oh, come off it, there are always a lot of distractions--and my hope is to shed some of these, and to focus on the Teacher himself, Jesus. That's why I'm journaling through the Gospel of Mark, for instance. Let's get back on track!</p><p>With that in mind, I recently purchased Scot McKnight's <a href="https://zondervanacademic.com/products/revelation-for-the-rest-of-us" target="_blank">Revelation for the Rest of Us: A Prophetic Call to Follow Jesus as a Dissident Disciple</a>. I'll be reporting back on that one soon.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-16113211604947110742023-06-23T06:36:00.005-04:002023-06-26T13:41:34.097-04:00On Finishing Well (4): Discipline<p> We're talking about discipline. It's the 3rd of six traits listed in Donald Sweeting's article about <a href="https://www.nae.org/finishing-well" target="_blank">Finishing Well</a>. The first was Christ-centered, the second was focused, and now we arrive at the third trait, disciplined.</p><p>You can kind of see how discipline might be an issue for some people who have recently retired (like me). I mean, all of the sudden you have time on your hands! How will you use it? Piper famously said to young people, "Don't waste your life," but time-wasting and life-wasting are keenly felt issues for many retired people.</p><p>When Christians talk about discipline they're inevitably talking about spiritual disciplines like prayer, Bible reading, etc. As for these things, I'm not a great "prayer-warrior" type, but I'm trying to pray every day. I'm also journaling through the Gospel of Mark (something I talk about briefly <a href="https://robertspencer.blogspot.com/2023/04/journaling-word.html" target="_blank">here</a> and again <a href="https://robertspencer.blogspot.com/2023/06/jesus-and-traditions-of-men.html" target="_blank">here</a>).</p><p>For spiritual disciplines, that's the tale of the tape. that's what I'm doing. I hope that it helps keep me a little more Jesus-centered, and a little more focused. Jesus knew the Scriptures well and he often stole away to pray. In delivering his all-important message he was focused and, yes, disciplined.</p><p>One thing I want to emphasize though is that there is no necessary bright line between so-called spiritual disciplines and other kinds of discipline. It is difficult to be disciplined about spiritual things but undisciplined (careless, heedless) about the rest of your life. This is why we teach children to make their beds, to be diligent about getting their homework done each day, and to hang in there against the inside pitches. Discipline is a spectrum, and these "little things" lay the foundation for greater things, greater kinds of discipline that they will need as they grow.</p><p>Me, I have not discovered yet what I will do for the Kingdom in my retirement. How specifically can I put my retirement to work for the Kingdom? And I will not find that answer apart from discipline: discipline in the little things, and discipline in the big things, the spiritual things. All these are disciplines that help me <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians%201%3A10&version=ESV" target="_blank">walk in a manner worthy of the Lord</a>.</p><p>The series so far: <a href="https://robertspencer.blogspot.com/2023/04/on-finishing-well-1-ask-for-ancient.html" target="_blank">Introduction</a>, <a href="https://robertspencer.blogspot.com/2023/04/on-finishing-well-2-jesus-centered.html" target="_blank">Christ-Centered</a>, <a href="https://robertspencer.blogspot.com/2023/05/on-finishing-well-3-avoiding-fatal.html" target="_blank">Focused</a>.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-51561387697602452582023-06-22T08:58:00.001-04:002023-06-22T08:58:09.431-04:00Summer Wind<p> First full day of summer, so this song seems like an appropriate one. I love Frank's version, of course, but Willie lets the great Johnny Mercer lyrics really breathe. Mercer has to be one of my top 3 songwriters of the Songbook era. For a long time he was noted for comical lyrics and novelty songs--Lazy Bones, I'm an Old Cowhand--but he wrote some beautiful love songs along the way (my favorite, I Thought about You). Late in his career his tone became elegiac and wistful, as with Moon River, Days of Wine and Roses, and Summer Wind.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ekRUV3aoSY0" width="320" youtube-src-id="ekRUV3aoSY0"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-32862938265184905512023-06-21T07:42:00.002-04:002023-06-21T07:45:29.142-04:00Jesus and the Traditions of Men<p> As I mentioned <a href="https://robertspencer.blogspot.com/2023/04/journaling-word.html" target="_blank">here</a>, I've begun journaling through the Gospel of Mark. I started on April 30, and haven't exactly been at it daily, but I'm up to chapter 7 now. </p><p>This is not in-depth study but simply reading a passage and jotting down my thoughts. It's an attempt to let the text meet me where I am. Not that my thoughts are particularly deep or would be useful to anyone else (that's why it's a <i>private</i> journal), but it's my attempt to walk with Jesus. To familiarize myself with his words and ways. </p><p>In chapter 7 the Pharisees are disputing with Jesus again. Mark's narrative goes back and forth between these disputatious encounters with religious authorities, episodes of miracle-working, and parables that serve as teaching moments with the disciples.</p><p>Anyway, in chapter 7, verse 13, Jesus says of the Pharisees, "you invalidate God's word through the traditions you teach." That's Wright's translation. In the KJV it says, "making the word of God of none effect through your tradition."</p><p>That's a harsh criticism, one Jew to another, wouldn't you say? Or moving to the Church era, one Christian to another.</p><p>Did people in the post-Acts era ever think the church, just then in its beginnings, would produce a lot of Christian Pharisees, elevating their traditions above the word of God? I've been reading Tom Holland's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dominion-Christian-Revolution-Remade-World/dp/0465093507" target="_blank">Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World</a>, and that book indicates we've been elevating tradition in this way from the start.</p><p>Which brings us to the question, are we still doing that? My gut tells me yes, because human nature hasn't actually changed in the last 2,000 years, but I don't have an example to hand. Keep in mind, Jesus is not criticizing tradition itself, but the putting of tradition in place of Gods word. Since the two greatest commands of God are to love God and to love one's neighbor as oneself, a tradition that stands between us and the neighbor, that separates and excludes, might be what we're looking for. The Pharisees--one gets the distinct feeling--esteemed themselves better and holier than those people that did not keep the traditions as assiduously as they did. </p><p>What's the conclusion here? Be on your guard, Christian. Whatever comes between you and your neighbor, creating a hurdle the neighbor must cross before you can count him as a loved one, is probably a "tradition of men."</p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-60120832984294598662023-05-07T08:14:00.004-04:002023-06-26T13:40:37.796-04:00On finishing well (3): avoiding fatal distraction!<p> Thus subject is focus, so let's try to, you know, FOCUS.</p><p>In Donald Sweeting's article, <a href="https://www.nae.org/finishing-well" target="_blank">Finishing Well</a>, where the author lists six traits of those who finish well, the second of these traits, just after "Christ-centered," is <i>focus</i>.</p><p>I suppose focus is a prerequisite for doing anything well, so there is no doubt then that it is crucial to finishing your life well. I should add here that when Sweeting uses this phrase, finishing well, he means "following Christ to the very end of our lives."</p><p>So I'll need focus, yes. The more so since everything about this culture, the very culture I've steeped in for nearly 67 years now, seems specifically designed to steal my focus, lessen my attention-span, and keep me always distracted. </p><p>Neil Postman warned about just this in his 1985 book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Amusing-Ourselves-Death-Discourse-Business/dp/014303653X" target="_blank">Amusing Ourselves to Death</a>, but he died before the rise of social media, which has only proven Postman all the more prophetic.</p><p>I think of Jesus, driven into the desert by the Holy Spirit after his baptism in the Jordan River, facing down the devil and his three temptations, each of which would have distracted him from his mission and thereby destroyed his mission (<i>fatal distraction</i>). And I think of Jesus "setting his face like flint" for Jerusalem, knowing all the while that crucifixion awaited him.</p><p>Jesus was nothing if not focused, and he was focused even under extreme duress. </p><p>What are our main causes of distraction? First, I think, is time on our hands. Oh yes, I know, everyone is busy, but most of all still spend plenty of time flipping through the stations on TV or scrolling our social media feeds or trying to beat our personal best at Candy Crush.</p><p>Secondly, there are things in our life that we'd like to stop thinking about. We use distraction to take our minds off our worries or even our physical pain. Distraction as sedation!</p><p>And again, there is the pool we're swimming in. The commercial culture in which most us were raised is built to produce easily distractable beings. So to focus, to set your mind on one thing and not be turned to left or the right, feels like swimming against a mighty current. </p><p>What can we do? Well, as a general practice, a discipline, we can cultivate long-term mental engagement. We might want to fast from social media now and then. We will probably have to increase our ability to focus by increments, and we'll have to work at it, but I think it is best to begin doing these things long before you reach retirement. </p><p>I'm two weeks away from that blessed milestone, and I want to be sure that I have a focused finish. </p><p>* * *</p><p><a href="https://robertspencer.blogspot.com/2023/04/on-finishing-well-1-ask-for-ancient.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a>, <a href="https://robertspencer.blogspot.com/2023/04/on-finishing-well-2-jesus-centered.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2582021191140815433.post-57412094531151106322023-04-30T08:59:00.001-04:002023-04-30T08:59:12.704-04:00Journaling the Word<p>The last couple of posts have been interactions with Donald Sweeting's article, <a href="https://www.nae.org/finishing-well" target="_blank">Finishing Well</a>, published some years back by the National Association of Evangelicals. I'll continue that interaction with at least 5 more posts, but for the moment I want to talk a little about journaling.</p><p>This blog is a sort of public journal, but private journaling is far more important. I've been journaling on-and-off for most of my life, and the very act of tapping a keyboard (or scraping a pen across an empty page) is a very comfortable feeling for me. And it seems helpful.</p><p>So this morning I started journaling through the <i>Gospel of Mark</i>. I guess this is one way that I'm going to try to center my days on Jesus (see <a href="https://robertspencer.blogspot.com/2023/04/on-finishing-well-2-jesus-centered.html" target="_blank">my last post</a>). Since we meet Jesus most directly through the four Gospels, to the Gospels I will go.</p><p>And speaking of journaling the Scriptures, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/scripture-engagement/journaling-scripture/home" target="_blank">here a good overview</a> of the subject from Bible Gateway.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0