2012, the year I graduate, the year the world ends, the year that many people will die and many more will be born. A year that I have been looking forward to for a rather long time.
New Year's, a holiday, which like snow and rain and other such cleansing precipitation reminds me and many others of fresh starts. Where we reevaluate our lives and the direction that we have been going in and try to make drastic changes overnight in hopes that this time it will FINALLY be different and we will FINALLY have the fortitude to keep the promises we've made to ourselves. Deep down we know that this will not be the case, but humans are a forever optimistic bunch and love to fool themselves.
To be honest, New Year's has always felt like a very hollow holiday to me. Sometimes I am convinced that the only real reason that Americans keep it around is so that they can justify saying "Happy Holidays" around this particular portion of the winter. If New Years were suddenly to stop existing, they might be forced to start saying "Merry Christmas" again. The horror!
I suppose that if New Year's went away we would simply make a holiday revolving around football. My dad cheers on the Browns from his iPad as they go against the Steelers. 5 seconds left for a touchdown and they win. Will they? WILL THEY?! Oop, nope. All done, Steelers have bragging rights for another year.
Joking aside, why do Americans get so excited about New Year's? It feels so artificial, so fake, and yet we relish the idea of new starts so much that we cling to this odd holiday like a scared baby baboon to his mother. We are such an apologetic culture, we feel guilty for everything that goes wrong in the world. Some of the most prolific and effective advertisements in the USA are the ones that prey upon our innate guilt. "Don't you DARE hurt mother earth!" "You have so much, this poor kid has nothing. You aren't giving to him? You suck!!" It's condescending and base, and yet we gobble it up like Thanksgiving stuffing.
We want to feel clean and whole and new so badly. We want redemption, and we are looking for it in all the wrong places. There is nothing significant about a new calendar year that will miraculously cause you to be a better person. You are no better at cooking on the 1st of January than you were on the 31st of December. The passing of 24 hours does not make it easier for you to put down that cigarette.
So what gives us this fresh start, this new beginning that we all so desperately desire? Well... think back a week, exactly 7 days. What was seven days ago? Christmas. Christmas is the real new start. Christmas is the day that we commemorate which changed everything. It changed the shape of human history and is the root of new beginnings. Of course this new beginning was in the making since the beginning of time. But for those of us confined by timey-whimey stuff, December 25, AD 4ish marked the true beginning, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. (I'm going off of the documentary The Star of Bethlehem for the validity of the the 25th as the actual date of Christ's birth.)
In the 33 years of his life, the Godhead used Christ's ministry and walk to alter the course of history. "Time can be rewritten." (And yes, I am going to continue to randomly insert Doctor Who references.) God used this to "Subdue the nations" and "use them as a footstool." Christ's birth cannot but be viewed in conjunction with His death, the are the beginning and the end of the same story. Anyone familiar with Old Yeller cannot think about the story without the context of how she began as a loyal family dog and ended as a rabid animal that needed to be put down. Simply saying "Old Yeller" often brings all that to mind.
Similarly, when someone mentions "Christmas" we ought to not only think of Christ's nativity, but also His death and how we would redeem all the world. Images of subjecting demons and healing the sick and the blind ought to leap to mind at the thought of Christmas. It is one story. It is one narrative.
Not only must we keep the grand narrative in mind, but we must also realize that Christmas, NOT the hollow celebration of New Year's, is the true new beginning. The Almighty Creator of the universe sent a part of Himself to come and not only change the Russian novel that is life, but through this act, He granted His own creations the ability to change themselves. Not only this, God helps us STAY changed, and that is what we so desperately look for in New Year's resolutions. But we cannot, and will never be able to muster the ability to stay changed ourselves. It must come externally. It must come from Christmas.
Christmas is the start of the new year... and is in fact the start of ALL the new years to follow. Christmas is my new beginning.
Cheers,
JSTT
Showing posts with label Christian culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christian culture. Show all posts
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Friday, November 11, 2011
Batman and the Kingship of Man
There are many interesting character relationships that are detailed in the pages of Batman comics, and nearly as many have been analyzed to death by modern philosophers, literary and pop culture critics. But I have yet to see a decent analysis of the relationship between Batman and Jim Gordon.
Anyone familiar with Batman comics and the lovely locale that they inhabit will know that calling Gotham City “not a good place” is an understatement of the highest caliber. Gotham City, itself influenced by New York City, has been described by comic book author Dennis O’Neil as “Manhattan below Fourteenth Street at eleven minutes past midnight on the coldest night in November." (See footnote 1) And it’s not just the weather that’s cold. Gotham City is home to some of the most dangerous criminals and brutes to ever inhabit the printed page. And against this oncoming hoard of scum and villainy stands the stalwart police commissioner James Gordon; the only straight cop in a world of corruption. That is, until Batman came along.
It is Gordon who is usually responsible for lighting the bat-signal, calling for the Caped Crusader’s help. The public comes to Jim Gordon, and Gordon in turn looks to Batman. While in many origin stories the alliance begins with much distrust on both sides, Batman and Gordon always seem to have some sort of conversation before any given story is over. Besides his trusty butler Alfred, Commissioner Gordon is just about he only friend that Batman has.
Now would probably be a good time to bring up the notion of human kingship, specifically that God created man in the beginning to be the ultimate ruler of the created universe and that God would in turn rule over him. (See footnote 2) This specifically harkens back to God’s mandate for man to populate the earth and take dominion over it. (Genesis 1:28-30 and again in Genesis 9:1-3) It is also generally accepted that man was to become a ruler of the earth had he not fallen, and this is made the case again since Christ (the Son and Crown Prince of the High Throne) came down to make intersession for and redeem his people. Since He came back for us and didn’t simply let us abstain from our throne, we are now once again “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:17)
Back to Batman: I view Batman as a sort of imperfect Christ figure. As I put forth in my previous essay, he is imperfect because (among other things) he never truly triumphs over evil, but seemingly co-exists with it. But Batman is a sort of Christ figure nonetheless. This is particularly apparent in Christopher Nolan’s portrayal of Batman in the film The Dark Knight. In the film Batman defeats all sorts of evil, but in the end must run from the very people he swore to protect… taking the fall for the crimes that so many of Gotham’s citizen have committed themselves.
Nolan, widely held to be a nihilist due to his films like Following and Memento, portrays Batman as a scapegoat, a sacrificial lamb… but in a heroic way; and the film it self became at the time the second highest grossing movie of all time. This is what we call common grace at work, my friends. (See footnote 3) And not simply content to leave Batman as a willing sacrifice, Nolan realized that his story was not finished and ultimately decided to make a third Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises. (Are you seeing anymore Christ-like parallels here?) Nolan, a secular and a pagan, could not leave the hero in the dark; the nihilist could not end with nihilism. Strange, huh?
So if Batman is Jesus, then Commissioner Jim Gordon is Noah, he is Adam, he is David, he is Lot, he is us. Commissioner Gordon is the one righteous man in a sea of sin and iniquity. He strives to raise a faithful and good son, he stands up for the just, and condemns evil… no matter the price. He has been on the receiving end of both mockery and car bombs… and he simply could not do it anymore. Suddenly, without warning, and just in the nick of time comes Batman. A thief in the night, a righter of wrongs, a Knight… and Knight who takes on the Clown Prince of Crime (Prince of Darkness anyone?). He sacrifices himself to this end: to defeat evil for good, and to return to city of Gotham to the glory it once had and restore it to the good people who inhabit it.
If and when Batman won and was no longer needed, Bruce Wayne would return to his seat as king of Gotham. (Yes, I know that I am extending this metaphor pretty far.) And from his tower he would watch as Gordon and those whom he had put in positions of authority after disposing of the corrupt leaders took charge and ruled the city under him. They would have inherited Gotham after and long and bloody battle. They would have a newfound dominion over Gotham. A rule and dominion that Batman fully intended to give to them all along.
(1) O'Neil, Dennis. Afterword. Batman: Knightfall, A Novel. New York: Bantam Books, 1994. 344.
(2) For those of you who will upset by my choice of words, let me assure you that when I refer to “man” I am using it as John Frame and the entirety of the Scriptures us it: to refer to all humankind; male and female. I am not a feminist, but I do want them to read what I write. So let’s just call this clarification a compromise so that I don’t have to compromise. For a further and more exhaustive explanation, please see the preface to John Frame’s book The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God.
(3 )Reformed systematic theologian Louis Berkhof defined common grace this way: “[Common grace] curbs the destructive power of sin, maintains in a measure the moral order of the universe, thus making an orderly life possible, distributes in varying degrees gifts and talents among men, promotes the development of science and art, and showers untold blessings upon the children of men.” More simply put, this means that while not all people will be saved, all will retain some sort of common instinct of holiness and understanding of good that God placed in them… even if they choose to suppress it. For more awesome stuff that Berkhof said, check out his book called very simply: Systematic Theology.
Anyone familiar with Batman comics and the lovely locale that they inhabit will know that calling Gotham City “not a good place” is an understatement of the highest caliber. Gotham City, itself influenced by New York City, has been described by comic book author Dennis O’Neil as “Manhattan below Fourteenth Street at eleven minutes past midnight on the coldest night in November." (See footnote 1) And it’s not just the weather that’s cold. Gotham City is home to some of the most dangerous criminals and brutes to ever inhabit the printed page. And against this oncoming hoard of scum and villainy stands the stalwart police commissioner James Gordon; the only straight cop in a world of corruption. That is, until Batman came along.
It is Gordon who is usually responsible for lighting the bat-signal, calling for the Caped Crusader’s help. The public comes to Jim Gordon, and Gordon in turn looks to Batman. While in many origin stories the alliance begins with much distrust on both sides, Batman and Gordon always seem to have some sort of conversation before any given story is over. Besides his trusty butler Alfred, Commissioner Gordon is just about he only friend that Batman has.
Now would probably be a good time to bring up the notion of human kingship, specifically that God created man in the beginning to be the ultimate ruler of the created universe and that God would in turn rule over him. (See footnote 2) This specifically harkens back to God’s mandate for man to populate the earth and take dominion over it. (Genesis 1:28-30 and again in Genesis 9:1-3) It is also generally accepted that man was to become a ruler of the earth had he not fallen, and this is made the case again since Christ (the Son and Crown Prince of the High Throne) came down to make intersession for and redeem his people. Since He came back for us and didn’t simply let us abstain from our throne, we are now once again “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:17)
Back to Batman: I view Batman as a sort of imperfect Christ figure. As I put forth in my previous essay, he is imperfect because (among other things) he never truly triumphs over evil, but seemingly co-exists with it. But Batman is a sort of Christ figure nonetheless. This is particularly apparent in Christopher Nolan’s portrayal of Batman in the film The Dark Knight. In the film Batman defeats all sorts of evil, but in the end must run from the very people he swore to protect… taking the fall for the crimes that so many of Gotham’s citizen have committed themselves.
Nolan, widely held to be a nihilist due to his films like Following and Memento, portrays Batman as a scapegoat, a sacrificial lamb… but in a heroic way; and the film it self became at the time the second highest grossing movie of all time. This is what we call common grace at work, my friends. (See footnote 3) And not simply content to leave Batman as a willing sacrifice, Nolan realized that his story was not finished and ultimately decided to make a third Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises. (Are you seeing anymore Christ-like parallels here?) Nolan, a secular and a pagan, could not leave the hero in the dark; the nihilist could not end with nihilism. Strange, huh?
So if Batman is Jesus, then Commissioner Jim Gordon is Noah, he is Adam, he is David, he is Lot, he is us. Commissioner Gordon is the one righteous man in a sea of sin and iniquity. He strives to raise a faithful and good son, he stands up for the just, and condemns evil… no matter the price. He has been on the receiving end of both mockery and car bombs… and he simply could not do it anymore. Suddenly, without warning, and just in the nick of time comes Batman. A thief in the night, a righter of wrongs, a Knight… and Knight who takes on the Clown Prince of Crime (Prince of Darkness anyone?). He sacrifices himself to this end: to defeat evil for good, and to return to city of Gotham to the glory it once had and restore it to the good people who inhabit it.
If and when Batman won and was no longer needed, Bruce Wayne would return to his seat as king of Gotham. (Yes, I know that I am extending this metaphor pretty far.) And from his tower he would watch as Gordon and those whom he had put in positions of authority after disposing of the corrupt leaders took charge and ruled the city under him. They would have inherited Gotham after and long and bloody battle. They would have a newfound dominion over Gotham. A rule and dominion that Batman fully intended to give to them all along.
(1) O'Neil, Dennis. Afterword. Batman: Knightfall, A Novel. New York: Bantam Books, 1994. 344.
(2) For those of you who will upset by my choice of words, let me assure you that when I refer to “man” I am using it as John Frame and the entirety of the Scriptures us it: to refer to all humankind; male and female. I am not a feminist, but I do want them to read what I write. So let’s just call this clarification a compromise so that I don’t have to compromise. For a further and more exhaustive explanation, please see the preface to John Frame’s book The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God.
(3 )Reformed systematic theologian Louis Berkhof defined common grace this way: “[Common grace] curbs the destructive power of sin, maintains in a measure the moral order of the universe, thus making an orderly life possible, distributes in varying degrees gifts and talents among men, promotes the development of science and art, and showers untold blessings upon the children of men.” More simply put, this means that while not all people will be saved, all will retain some sort of common instinct of holiness and understanding of good that God placed in them… even if they choose to suppress it. For more awesome stuff that Berkhof said, check out his book called very simply: Systematic Theology.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Batman and Dualism
Like all superheroes, Batman has died time and time and time again. There have probably been as many funerals for the Dark Knight as there have been for the Man of Steel. Like all DC Comic’s heroes, however, he is always back and locking baddies in Arkham within the month.
But there is something very unique about Batman’s many funerals: the attendees. The Dark Knight’s entire rouge gallery is nearly always in attendance. Poison Ivy weeping quietly, propping up her head against Harley Quinn. Penguin looks absolutely devastated, and the Joker… the Joker looks the saddest of all… as if his best friend in the entire world has just passed away. What is going on here?
One of the central philosophies surrounding the Batman mythos is that the crime that pervades Gotham created him, and that he in turn is the reason that crime in Gotham continues. Hugo Strange even explicitly states in Arkham City that Batman is the reason that the criminals exist; the corruption in Gotham is his fault. (See footnote 1)
The Joker, however, is the main character to espouse this belief. The Clown Prince of Gotham truly is the antithesis of Batman. He is joyful where Batman is gloomy; he finds immense satisfaction in what he does while Batman is often conflicted and unsure of what he is supposed to do next. Their stories are often like a dark and intricate dance; the Joker initiating an event and daring the Dark Knight to chase him down and solve the mystery, right the wrong, save the citizen. Sometimes the Joker seems to do it simply for the pleasure of the crime, but more often than not, it becomes clear that he simply missed Batman and wanted to “hang out”… even if it is on his own terms and in his own twisted way.
In Grant Morrison’s Arkham Asylum there is even a sexual undertone to the Joker’s relationship with Batman, even though it is not reciprocated by Batman himself. The Joker wears high heals throughout this book, and occasionally makes quips about the fact that the person closest to Batman is a young boy (Batman’s sidekick Robin). In Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, the Joker even goes so far as to wear makeup.
As I said before, what on earth is going on? Dualism, my friends.
Josiah, what’s dualism? Well, to understand dualism we’re going to have to go back a bit… And by a bit, I mean a lot.
Dualism started with the Greeks, or at least the Greeks gave it its most prevalent form, in that good and evil coexist, always have coexisted and always will. Dualism does not necessitate the belief that good and evil will continue to coexist forever , but the most consistent dualists view both as co-eternal. A more common dualistic view is that of good and evil both existing at the beginning of things and then one triumphing over the other by the end of time. Examples include Norse mythology where chaos will ultimately triumph over good, and Platonism where the opposite is true.
This notion of dualism has even permeated the circles of Christian thought, where it is now incredibly hard to see a world where God existed and evil did not. (See footnote 2) Most Christians readily accept the fact that God and Christ will triumph over Satan and death at the end of time, but for most modern Christians, it is very hard to separate God from the world we live in. But as Christians we must accept that He is completely self-sufficient. He did not need us, but made us solely because He willed it and for His own joy.
The central philosophy of the modern Batman flies in the face of the idea that good can exist without evil. While it would probably be accurate to blame the Dark Knight’s eternal fight against crime on the comic industry’s need for continued sales, since Batman is one of DC Comic’s most popular characters, it does not negate the fact that he never triumphs. Batman is locked in an eternal struggle where he can not defeat his enemies and his enemies cannot defeat him. One or the other may die, but eventually Batman and the Joker will be back at it again with some new quarrel.
Paul Dini’s Arkahm City is the closest I have seen a Batman story come to closure. (WARNING, SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!) The story chronicles the story of Arkham Asylum after super villain Hugo Strange expands the madhouse to take up the entirety of Gotham’s northern island. Batman, while looking for Strange, and trying to shut down the Asylum expansion (which has become a liability for Gotham itself and its citizens), he is kidnapped by Joker, who infuses Batman with some of his blood. It turns out the Joker is dying of a chronic illness and with the blood transfusion he has given the disease to Batman as will. Batman scrambles to find the cure, running into many of his old enemies along the way. Eventually Batman is able to procure a treatment for the disease and takes it to Joker. The Joker, however, wants the cure all for himself and intends to leave Batman for dead. In the resulting scuffle, Joker destroys the last vial of half-drunk antidote, which would have been used to save his life.
The Joker realizes that he is finally finished, and laughs as Batman tells him that if had he not destroyed the vial, he actually would have healed the Joker. The final scene depicts Batman cradling the dead body of the Joker and carrying out of Arkham into an impending dawn.
While this story will probably not be accepted as the canonical death of the Joker, I like to view it as such, for it ends the dualism of Batman. Evil is finally defeated for good, yet Batman himself never caves to murder, and remains untainted as the compassionate defender of Gotham City.
(1) This was not always the case. The yin-yang relationship between Batman and the villains that he is continually fighting is a modern notion that began in the 70s and 80s when British writers like Grant Morrison and Alan Moore took over writing the adventures of the Dark Knight. They decided to take a rather pessimistic view of Batman as a sort of reaction to the happy-go-lucky tone of Batman comics in the 50s and 60s. I blame this on the pessimism of the period, not on the British, of course.
(2) This is dealt with in Saint Augustine’s theory of sin and evil as the absence of God. However, this is about Batman and dualism, not Augustine, so that will have to wait until another time.
But there is something very unique about Batman’s many funerals: the attendees. The Dark Knight’s entire rouge gallery is nearly always in attendance. Poison Ivy weeping quietly, propping up her head against Harley Quinn. Penguin looks absolutely devastated, and the Joker… the Joker looks the saddest of all… as if his best friend in the entire world has just passed away. What is going on here?
One of the central philosophies surrounding the Batman mythos is that the crime that pervades Gotham created him, and that he in turn is the reason that crime in Gotham continues. Hugo Strange even explicitly states in Arkham City that Batman is the reason that the criminals exist; the corruption in Gotham is his fault. (See footnote 1)
The Joker, however, is the main character to espouse this belief. The Clown Prince of Gotham truly is the antithesis of Batman. He is joyful where Batman is gloomy; he finds immense satisfaction in what he does while Batman is often conflicted and unsure of what he is supposed to do next. Their stories are often like a dark and intricate dance; the Joker initiating an event and daring the Dark Knight to chase him down and solve the mystery, right the wrong, save the citizen. Sometimes the Joker seems to do it simply for the pleasure of the crime, but more often than not, it becomes clear that he simply missed Batman and wanted to “hang out”… even if it is on his own terms and in his own twisted way.
In Grant Morrison’s Arkham Asylum there is even a sexual undertone to the Joker’s relationship with Batman, even though it is not reciprocated by Batman himself. The Joker wears high heals throughout this book, and occasionally makes quips about the fact that the person closest to Batman is a young boy (Batman’s sidekick Robin). In Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, the Joker even goes so far as to wear makeup.
As I said before, what on earth is going on? Dualism, my friends.
Josiah, what’s dualism? Well, to understand dualism we’re going to have to go back a bit… And by a bit, I mean a lot.
Dualism started with the Greeks, or at least the Greeks gave it its most prevalent form, in that good and evil coexist, always have coexisted and always will. Dualism does not necessitate the belief that good and evil will continue to coexist forever , but the most consistent dualists view both as co-eternal. A more common dualistic view is that of good and evil both existing at the beginning of things and then one triumphing over the other by the end of time. Examples include Norse mythology where chaos will ultimately triumph over good, and Platonism where the opposite is true.
This notion of dualism has even permeated the circles of Christian thought, where it is now incredibly hard to see a world where God existed and evil did not. (See footnote 2) Most Christians readily accept the fact that God and Christ will triumph over Satan and death at the end of time, but for most modern Christians, it is very hard to separate God from the world we live in. But as Christians we must accept that He is completely self-sufficient. He did not need us, but made us solely because He willed it and for His own joy.
The central philosophy of the modern Batman flies in the face of the idea that good can exist without evil. While it would probably be accurate to blame the Dark Knight’s eternal fight against crime on the comic industry’s need for continued sales, since Batman is one of DC Comic’s most popular characters, it does not negate the fact that he never triumphs. Batman is locked in an eternal struggle where he can not defeat his enemies and his enemies cannot defeat him. One or the other may die, but eventually Batman and the Joker will be back at it again with some new quarrel.
Paul Dini’s Arkahm City is the closest I have seen a Batman story come to closure. (WARNING, SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!) The story chronicles the story of Arkham Asylum after super villain Hugo Strange expands the madhouse to take up the entirety of Gotham’s northern island. Batman, while looking for Strange, and trying to shut down the Asylum expansion (which has become a liability for Gotham itself and its citizens), he is kidnapped by Joker, who infuses Batman with some of his blood. It turns out the Joker is dying of a chronic illness and with the blood transfusion he has given the disease to Batman as will. Batman scrambles to find the cure, running into many of his old enemies along the way. Eventually Batman is able to procure a treatment for the disease and takes it to Joker. The Joker, however, wants the cure all for himself and intends to leave Batman for dead. In the resulting scuffle, Joker destroys the last vial of half-drunk antidote, which would have been used to save his life.
The Joker realizes that he is finally finished, and laughs as Batman tells him that if had he not destroyed the vial, he actually would have healed the Joker. The final scene depicts Batman cradling the dead body of the Joker and carrying out of Arkham into an impending dawn.
While this story will probably not be accepted as the canonical death of the Joker, I like to view it as such, for it ends the dualism of Batman. Evil is finally defeated for good, yet Batman himself never caves to murder, and remains untainted as the compassionate defender of Gotham City.
(1) This was not always the case. The yin-yang relationship between Batman and the villains that he is continually fighting is a modern notion that began in the 70s and 80s when British writers like Grant Morrison and Alan Moore took over writing the adventures of the Dark Knight. They decided to take a rather pessimistic view of Batman as a sort of reaction to the happy-go-lucky tone of Batman comics in the 50s and 60s. I blame this on the pessimism of the period, not on the British, of course.
(2) This is dealt with in Saint Augustine’s theory of sin and evil as the absence of God. However, this is about Batman and dualism, not Augustine, so that will have to wait until another time.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
In the Spring...
"In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Isrealite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem..." -2 Samuel 11:1
This is the precursor to King David's great sin--his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah. The entire passage is prefaced with this thought: the simple fact that David was not where he was supposed to be. He begins the entire story with neglecting his duties, being lazy and abusing his power. How could things NOT go wrong?
Most great sins, I would argue, start this way. One bad decision deserves another afterall. Abraham let his wife get pawned off on a king not once... but TWICE, because he made the mistake of going into foreign lands and then lying about the relationship he had with Sarah; calling her his sister. Why did this happen? Because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time: Egypt, the anti-promised land.
But the opposite is also true. Take Samuel himself as an example. Right place at the right time with the right attitude. And so it goes throughout Scripture. Things do not start big. They progress, they escalate. Sins and victories both. They stack on top of each other. Make sure you are in the right place doing the right thing-- or you are going to get sucked down.
This is the precursor to King David's great sin--his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah. The entire passage is prefaced with this thought: the simple fact that David was not where he was supposed to be. He begins the entire story with neglecting his duties, being lazy and abusing his power. How could things NOT go wrong?
Most great sins, I would argue, start this way. One bad decision deserves another afterall. Abraham let his wife get pawned off on a king not once... but TWICE, because he made the mistake of going into foreign lands and then lying about the relationship he had with Sarah; calling her his sister. Why did this happen? Because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time: Egypt, the anti-promised land.
But the opposite is also true. Take Samuel himself as an example. Right place at the right time with the right attitude. And so it goes throughout Scripture. Things do not start big. They progress, they escalate. Sins and victories both. They stack on top of each other. Make sure you are in the right place doing the right thing-- or you are going to get sucked down.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
The Kids
Sometimes I wonder: why am I here?
"To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Duh!"
But... but that answer is so enigmatic, so opaque.
"That's a horrible thing to say... you realize that, right?"
Well, yes... but no. I mean, how does that play itself out? How can I grab hold of that purpose and run with it? How can I make it my own?
*other voice is silent*
This is a conversation that I often have with myself. Life gets long, and it is incredibly short at the same time. It seems to drag on and on and on, and then the good bits just fly by like a Chinese rockets, bursting into a glorious spectacle of flame and then gone.
It took me a while, but I remembered something: the kids. Those little mites that are between 2 and 4 feet tall. The ones that feel more deeply than I can at this point in my life. The ones that laugh louder, cry harder, and set their eyes on goals with a fury that I can scarcely even imagine attaining myself.
I was that young once. I am not anymore. I have tried pretending to be that young again, but it rarely (if ever) works. More often than not I simply end up shirking duties that I DO have, and the short bout of childishness ends up not fulfilling after all. I need to stop kidding myself (pun not intended, honest), I am now an adult. We ALL need to stop kidding ourselves. Our attempts at innocence and childishness often fall so short of the real thing. Why is this? Because we spend too much time with other adults and far too little time with real children. We should just watch them. Watch. Listen. Learn.
Not only that... but we ought to invest. We ought to be investing in those that will come after us. Take their fire and use it to stoke yours. Share the spark that they have not yet lost. Chase down your life with as much passion as they do. This is not easy. In fact, it may be one of the most difficult things in the world. Jesus commanded we become like little children. I know you've probably heard that a million times... but think about it: Jesus commanded it. Since when did Jesus command us to do anything that was easy?
In summary: Being a kid is tough. Don't kid yourself. But don't stop trying, because, in a word, it's why we're here.
"To glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Duh!"
But... but that answer is so enigmatic, so opaque.
"That's a horrible thing to say... you realize that, right?"
Well, yes... but no. I mean, how does that play itself out? How can I grab hold of that purpose and run with it? How can I make it my own?
*other voice is silent*
This is a conversation that I often have with myself. Life gets long, and it is incredibly short at the same time. It seems to drag on and on and on, and then the good bits just fly by like a Chinese rockets, bursting into a glorious spectacle of flame and then gone.
It took me a while, but I remembered something: the kids. Those little mites that are between 2 and 4 feet tall. The ones that feel more deeply than I can at this point in my life. The ones that laugh louder, cry harder, and set their eyes on goals with a fury that I can scarcely even imagine attaining myself.
I was that young once. I am not anymore. I have tried pretending to be that young again, but it rarely (if ever) works. More often than not I simply end up shirking duties that I DO have, and the short bout of childishness ends up not fulfilling after all. I need to stop kidding myself (pun not intended, honest), I am now an adult. We ALL need to stop kidding ourselves. Our attempts at innocence and childishness often fall so short of the real thing. Why is this? Because we spend too much time with other adults and far too little time with real children. We should just watch them. Watch. Listen. Learn.
Not only that... but we ought to invest. We ought to be investing in those that will come after us. Take their fire and use it to stoke yours. Share the spark that they have not yet lost. Chase down your life with as much passion as they do. This is not easy. In fact, it may be one of the most difficult things in the world. Jesus commanded we become like little children. I know you've probably heard that a million times... but think about it: Jesus commanded it. Since when did Jesus command us to do anything that was easy?
In summary: Being a kid is tough. Don't kid yourself. But don't stop trying, because, in a word, it's why we're here.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
God the girlfriend
“You’re my escape/ From this messed up place/ Cuz you let me forget/ you numb my pain/ How can I tell you just all that you are/ What you do to me/ You’re better than drugs/ Addicted for life/ Feel you coming on so fast/ Feel you coming on to get me high”
Sounds like a perverted cross between Song of Solomon and a heroin dream, right? No…they’re the lyrics to a song by on of the largest “Christian rock” bands out there: Skillet. The song, for all the average kid in the average youth group can figure, is about how much the singer needs God… or a girl, or his next drug fix.
The problem is not simply in the music that we listen to, however, but it is now in the way we think. Recently, a friend of mine posted something about having a new girlfriend on Facebook. The comment was rather ambiguous, something to the effect of: “Whatshisface has a special someone now!” That by itself would not have bothered me at all, but it was one of the comments that followed the original post that worried me. A mutual friend of me and this guy (we’ll call him Bob) posts a reply saying: “OMG! Like… it’s Jesus isn’t it?”
Too often since the advent of Christian Contemporary Music (CCM) nominal Christians everywhere have started referring to God in the shallow and demeaning terms of drugs, ambiguous girlfriends and feel good kicks. Not very edifying terms to use when referring to the Almighty Creator of the universe. And now, even stronger Christians, secure in their faith and walk, are falling into this trap. We must stop.
If anything, the way we address the relationship we have with Jesus Christ should be the other way around. The Church is the bride of Christ; Christ is not the girlfriend of the individual Christian. He is not there to make you “feel good” and take away all your problems. This is by and large one of the huge and dangerous symptoms of charismatic theology: theology based on feelings. Feel good, you’re doing pretty well spiritually. Feel bad? Well, then you probably screwed up somewhere.
At the beginning of John 9, Jesus and His disciples come across a blind man who has been blind from birth. The Disciples immediate question is: “Who, sinned Lord, this man or his parents?” “Neither,” Jesus replies. "But this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”
Hard times are used for God’s glory, not always because we did something wrong. We are married to Christ, He is not here to make us feel good, or give us a pick me up or a temporary solution to temporary pain. He is here to provide salvation. He is here to save us. The end of the world is a wedding, and Christ is the one putting the ring on our figure. It’s not the other way around.
Sounds like a perverted cross between Song of Solomon and a heroin dream, right? No…they’re the lyrics to a song by on of the largest “Christian rock” bands out there: Skillet. The song, for all the average kid in the average youth group can figure, is about how much the singer needs God… or a girl, or his next drug fix.
The problem is not simply in the music that we listen to, however, but it is now in the way we think. Recently, a friend of mine posted something about having a new girlfriend on Facebook. The comment was rather ambiguous, something to the effect of: “Whatshisface has a special someone now!” That by itself would not have bothered me at all, but it was one of the comments that followed the original post that worried me. A mutual friend of me and this guy (we’ll call him Bob) posts a reply saying: “OMG! Like… it’s Jesus isn’t it?”
Too often since the advent of Christian Contemporary Music (CCM) nominal Christians everywhere have started referring to God in the shallow and demeaning terms of drugs, ambiguous girlfriends and feel good kicks. Not very edifying terms to use when referring to the Almighty Creator of the universe. And now, even stronger Christians, secure in their faith and walk, are falling into this trap. We must stop.
If anything, the way we address the relationship we have with Jesus Christ should be the other way around. The Church is the bride of Christ; Christ is not the girlfriend of the individual Christian. He is not there to make you “feel good” and take away all your problems. This is by and large one of the huge and dangerous symptoms of charismatic theology: theology based on feelings. Feel good, you’re doing pretty well spiritually. Feel bad? Well, then you probably screwed up somewhere.
At the beginning of John 9, Jesus and His disciples come across a blind man who has been blind from birth. The Disciples immediate question is: “Who, sinned Lord, this man or his parents?” “Neither,” Jesus replies. "But this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”
Hard times are used for God’s glory, not always because we did something wrong. We are married to Christ, He is not here to make us feel good, or give us a pick me up or a temporary solution to temporary pain. He is here to provide salvation. He is here to save us. The end of the world is a wedding, and Christ is the one putting the ring on our figure. It’s not the other way around.
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