The good news is that people seem to increasingly understand that they have committed some terrible sins, and they are seeking information from their ministers and priests about forgiveness. They want to know if God, particularly through Jesus Christ, since it is through him the promise is made, forgives all sins. The bad news is that many who provide this spiritual direction give false information based on their own lack of understanding of the scripture and also the temptation to sugar coat bad news.
The hub of the problem is to distinguish between God’s ability and willingness to forgive all sins, even the worst of them (Yes) and God’s assurance that he will forgive every sin (No). In this blog post I will use “can” to indicate that certainly God is able to and has an infinitely merciful heart to be able to and to be motivated to potentially forgive even the worst of sin. I will use the word “will” to indicate what people are seeking, which is the absolute assurance that God will forgive their particular sin. Why is there a difference? Because there is, to put it in modern terms, an “eligibility requirement” for the forgiveness of sin, one that while it seems like one requirement, it actually has two parts. Far, far, FAR too many ministers and priests urge the first half and gloss over the second half. They thus give false hope to certain people that God has forgiven their particular sin.
Even the best of the best fall into this trap, such as the Rev. Billy Graham, who people know I greatly admire. Here is from a recent column. Title: “If you confess, God has promised to forgive you.” Question: “I’d give anything to know that God has forgiven me for a terrible sin I committed many years ago. But how can I know if he has? Maybe he decided I don’t deserve to be forgiven, and he’s condemned me to carry this burden the rest of my life.” The good news is that I fully support the majority of the Rev. Graham’s assurances that it is exactly for this reason, to demonstrate his love, but his hatred for sin, that God sent Jesus Christ his Son. People need to realize that anything (with one exception) can be forgiven by God. The one exception is that as Jesus states, offense against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. As I have blogged repeatedly, even Judas would have been forgiven if only he had not despaired and taken his own life. Imagine how he could have been one of the greatest witnesses to God’s mercy if he stayed alive and sought the forgiveness of Jesus Christ, who resurrected from the dead and appeared to the Apostles only three days after his crucifixion! So God is obviously, in his own words, but to put in modern terms, “ready, willing and able” to forgive even the worst of the worst. However, there are conditions and this is where I see ministers gloss over the second half of the conditions.
Excerpt from Answer: “What must you do? First, turn to Christ and confess your sins to him. Then trust him alone for your salvation and receive him by faith into your heart and life. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord!” (Romans 6:23).
Sounds good, but here’s the problem. What does it mean that one MUST “receive him by faith into your heart and life?” Too many ministers make it seem as though to be forgiven of a sin one must only confess and trust in Jesus. Yes, sure, but you also must totally convert your sinful ways. It is not a coincidence that Paul uses the analogy of a paycheck “the wages of sin is death.” It’s not a fee for a one time sin. One must not only confess one’s sin but totally remove one’s self from the nesting place of that sin and stop encouraging it and enabling it, even if your hands no longer commit that sin. God will NOT forgive a sin until that is done. THAT is what it means to receive Christ into your heart and life.
Let’s use two modern analogies before getting into the actual scripture. The modern analogies help you to hone your discernment so you read the scriptures more correctly and thus get my point better.
Analogy One:
Jesus Christ went to medical school so that all people will be cured of cancer. Would you agree with this? Obviously you should not agree. Even if Jesus Christ went to medical school, he did not do so in order to eliminate all cancer, since anyone can see that if anything incidents of cancer have increased, not decreased. However, if you want to defeat cancer you emulate Jesus Christ and go to medical school. You do not claim that either Jesus, your yourself, will eliminate cancer.
Analogy Two:
You work for an investment bank and you totally ripped off a client, bankrupting him. You used legal tools and products available at the bank, but used unethical guidance. You ask God to forgive you of destroying that person’s life (and you’ve done nothing to fix his problem, perhaps he died in poverty since that was his retirement account). Yet, putting aside that you can’t fix what you did, here is the heart of the problem: You continue to work for that bank and that place of low ethics. Even though you never bankrupt the innocent again, you continue to work for an institution who can and does do so. Your “hands are clean” but you provide income by working at that bank for people who continue to have dirty hands. Why in the world would you think that God will forgive your sin in that circumstance?
Whoa, you are probably yelling at the screen. How do I know this? THAT’s not in the Bible you shriek or sniffle. Oh, but it is.
As you know in the Bible, Rome controlled the entire empire and collected taxes from all people, including the Jews. The tax collector appointed by Rome has the job title of “publican.” When you read the Bible you will observe that an entire group of all people who performed a single job, tax collector, were condemned not only by the people, but in God’s eyes, as being sinners en masse. When you read the Gospel of Luke (who was a professional himself, a physician), you understand this very clearly since he includes detail on not only the public’s opinion but that of Jesus Christ.
Luke 3:12-13
Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? And he said unto them, “Exact no more than that which is appointed you.”
We see in the passage when John the Baptist is baptizing and preaching that publicans approached him and asked “what shall we do?” Why would an entire job class of people come to him and ask how to get out of a jam? Because this is evidence of what I am saying that the entire class of publicans, whether an individual was sinful or more just than the others, was viewed as notorious doomed sinners. John does not reply, “Oh, don’t worry, individual sin is between you and God and all will be forgiven.” No, John recognizes and validates the entire class of sin problem immediately by telling them not to exact more taxes than what is assigned to them (taxes were like bonus payments back then, where if the tax collector could get more from a person than Rome expected, he could pocket the rest). See the problem? Even an individual “good” tax collector was part of and supportive of an oppressive sinful system, and this is why they are all viewed as doomed sinners.
Here, Jesus has just finished teaching and preaching, when this occurs:
Luke 5:27-32
And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom [the tax collector’s place of work]: and he said unto him: “Follow me.”
And he left all, rose up, and followed him.
And Levi made him a great feast in his own house; and there was a great company of publicans, and of others that sat down with them.
But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying “Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners?”
And Jesus, answering, said unto them, “They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Here is what you see as hard evidence in the scriptures:
1. Jesus calls Levi, who will become named Matthew, out of his place of work in total. Unlike the fishermen Apostles who continue to fish to feed their families, Jesus does not let Matthew “stay in the job.”
2. Publicans are throughout the Gospel identified by name as, here, as a group of doomed sinners, despite the behavior of any individual, just or not, within them. Tough luck: that is reality. By distinguishing publicans from the other “sinners” common thought is that they are not only sinners like the other average Joes, but doomed as a group.
3. Jesus does not discourage that attitude. He in fact acknowledges that publicans as a group are on his list of sinners in need of repentance.
4. This is why you can see that Jesus goes a step beyond John the Baptist (which is why Jesus is Jesus and John the Baptist is John the Baptist). He doesn’t just tell Levi to continue working but take no more than what is due to him; Jesus removes Levi in total from the publicans, something he did not do to those who fished among other fishermen for a living.
Yeah. I thought you might not have noticed that.
Luke 5:37-8
And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles, and both are preserved.
You must read the scriptures with your eyes and your fingers, but also in a holistic understanding of the action that is taking place, as it is Jesus role modeling the truth. Jesus does not lecture the crowds that they are being “mean” to publicans and “discriminating” against them. In fact, he demonstrates, by voting with his feet, that he loves Levi as an Apostle, even though he is a publican, but hence removes Levi entirely from the context of sin he was in. We, of course, do not know since the scriptures do not say if Levi was one of the good, moderate, or bad publicans, if he was a huge sinner or a moderate sinner within the context of publicans. All we know is what the scripture demonstrates is that his sins were forgiven and he was made an Apostle only because Jesus removed him in entirety from the group of publicans.
John the Baptist was not incorrect, as he, presumably, baptized the publicans and told them not to gouge the people with extra taxes for their own benefit. But John did not speak for God. Jesus spoke for God, both in his speech and in his actions, which we must emulate in total for any assurances of what God promised is possible.
5. We can now notice the fifth point, which is that Levi throws a dinner for Jesus and invites many publicans.
Levi is no longer of the publicans, but he immediately, through the grace he has already received in just one day from Jesus, upon his calling by Jesus and his acceptance to Jesus, casts a life net for those he has totally left. Levi did not stay within the publicans, since Jesus took him totally from them, but through grace immediately throws the life net to the publicans by inviting many to meet Jesus. Too many ministers focus only on the lesson that Jesus reached out to sinners and miss that other point. Levi and Jesus both underscore through their actions that not gouging people is not enough: people within a group of sinners must have a total conversion of life and heart, symbolized here by their being invited to meet Jesus outside of the sinful workplace, to totally leave their participation therein. They must do their outreach and ministry from the outside, not the inside. That is another way to understand the parable of the new wine being placed in new bottles, and not put into old bottles, where both will be destroyed as they are now incompatible.
When one has committed a dreadful sin, one must not only find God through Jesus and repent, but he or she must also with total and immediate sincerity, as Rev Graham puts it, “receive him by faith into your heart and life.” That’s heart AND life. It’s not enough to love Jesus but still live within the conditions that caused not only your sin, but enables others to continue doing so. To be forgiven in such circumstances, like the publican, you must leave in entirety and belong in your life totally to Jesus. As Paul explains it, you can no longer continue to obtain your wages via sin. If you are still paid by or enabling the people who promote the sin that you committed, you cannot remain among them and be at all assured that God has forgiven you for that sin. No one is being kind or doing you a favor by telling you otherwise. You must follow Jesus and the scriptures for any certainty, and not wishful thinking.
Is it not abundantly better to follow precisely the role model of someone who you know was saved, Levi who became Matthew, as specified in scripture, rather than read into God’s infinite capacity for the forgiveness of sins a free pass that is not truly there? If it was “OK” for Levi to remain a publican but he is now “a good one” and does that work in order to, like the fishermen Apostles, financially support the early Christians, then Jesus would have done so, I mean, duh. Jesus removed Levi from the group that everyone everywhere considered doomed sinners. John the Baptist kind of told them what was wrong with them, that they had to stop gouging extra money from the tax payers who were suffering under the burden, but only Jesus can “fix it.” Yes, Jesus died because of humanity’s sinfulness and also for the forgiveness of sins, but scriptures clearly demonstrate that Jesus did not give a clear pass for continued tacit participation and lack of full repentance from sinful situations.
Ministers and priests must emphasize their own words of spiritual direction so that they and others do not listen with half an ear, hoping for the easy answer. Do not be the one who tells someone that God has forgiven their sin, and then when that person dies they find themselves in hell or at the very least some very tough purgatory. I mention purgatory not to get in a quarrel with those Christians who deny purgatory but, rather, to not totally freak out people in the situation such as the author of the question to Rev Graham. God knows all the circumstances of the terrible sin, since he is, as I constantly remind all people, the All Knowing. It is possible that even a person with an unforgiven sin, that God in his mercy will strip away the sin in purgatory and allow what remains of the soul to enter heaven. But it is also possible, since God knows all the circumstances, that he will cast into hell the person who thinks they were forgiven but are not, since they did not bring Jesus into their life and their heart from that point in their confession onward. If they continue to earn their wages in the place of the sin, that does not look good for forgiveness. But it really is that easy to obtain forgiveness from God, when one follows exactly, not through wishful thinking, what is documented in the Gospel as said and done by Jesus Christ who alone spoke for God with authority. If you remain in the sin factory or the sin wagon where your individual, but genuinely, regretted terrible sin occurred, you are still reaping the wages of sin and have not completely brought Christ into your life and heart, which is required for total forgiveness of sin. Believing that Jesus existed and trusting that he’s a good and merciful guy, and even loving him is not enough if you do not also have him dwell in your heart and your life, peeling away the wages of sin.
I hope that you have found this helpful.
Showing posts with label ordinary life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ordinary life. Show all posts
Friday, August 21, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Recent deaths in all faiths or no faiths
I hope that recent deaths of individuals who belong to the full spectrum of faiths (both those highly observant and not-so-observant) plus those who die of no faith and outright disbelieving is understood by all that as is repeatedly taught in the scripture (and through secular common sense) that "belonging to the right religion" is absolutely no "life insurance."
I continue to be astonished how people can claim to understand God, yet at the same time fall into the ancient pagan trap that if one "belongs" to the "right" faith that one is somehow "protected" from early death, mishap or sinful conduct. Never has any sort of guarantee been given to anyone of the monotheistic faiths, yet I am just amazed at how difficult it is to eradicate over the centuries that "belonging to the right club" mentality toward God. Genuine piety is worshipping and serving God without any delusion that somehow one is "buying" some sort of "insurance policy."
I continue to be astonished how people can claim to understand God, yet at the same time fall into the ancient pagan trap that if one "belongs" to the "right" faith that one is somehow "protected" from early death, mishap or sinful conduct. Never has any sort of guarantee been given to anyone of the monotheistic faiths, yet I am just amazed at how difficult it is to eradicate over the centuries that "belonging to the right club" mentality toward God. Genuine piety is worshipping and serving God without any delusion that somehow one is "buying" some sort of "insurance policy."
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Belgians mourn creche deaths and wounds
I am with the Belgians in spirit and solidarity, praying for those who have had to bear such an unbearable loss.
It is difficult to imagine, but unfortunately, no longer impossible, to contemplate a 20 year old man painting white face with black eyes, telling a child creche minder he "had a question," and then slashing and murdering tiny babies with a 12 inch knife. One victim was six months old. One was nine months old. A 54 year old woman died protecting the infants. The assailant sought out every baby to slash and attempt to kill, though leaving aside some of the "older ones," toddlers. My God in heaven, this is what the world has come to.
And here in the USA the Screen Actors Guild is full of themselves, handing out to each other awards, especially praising the late Heath Ledger's performance as "The Joker" in the Batman movie "The Dark Knight." The Joker had a question too, "Why so serious?" That question was parlayed for months on the Internet as the "promo" for that film, and specifically for that knight of chaos and nihilism performance. When the warning signs were there, when the role began to haunt him, disturbing his sleep, did anyone wonder why people should see this? No and instead, the narcissists praised Ledger's brilliant and intense "commitment" to "acting," until the morning he no longer woke up and they could not praise him, except, of course, in now seemingly endless "tributes." I suspect Mr Ledger's soul has quite a different perspective about how "inspirational" his performance is on the world today. But not Hollywood and not the media. There is no downfall like one that is wilfully in perpetual motion, driven by hubris and greed, and a lack of understanding of simple and good life, not one filled with angst and self inflicted pain.
Who could out joker The Joker? Someone who slashed the throats of babies in a creche, I guess.
People, as Belgians mourn and wonder how their peace of mind could be so ruined by such a deed, I must remind everyone that nihilism, violence, and contempt of children is viral. No country, no culture, no small town like that sad place in Belgium is safe from the viral culture of dark nihilism, one that amplifies and distorts the increasing neutrality if not even disdain that much of the culture has for infants, for innocence, for the helpless, and for the pure.
How can you not all see that, as New Agers like to parrot, "it's all connected," except unlike them I am not speaking of airy-fairy "karma" and "coincidences?"
I am talking about empty people, those who are impoverished of the spirit of life, who then, vampire like, fill that emptiness with imagined or real notoriety, fueled by Internet and media magnification of the freak show who then, with ready access to knives, guns and other forms of mayhem, frighten, wound and kill the most innocent, in order to create the most "shock value" in a society with less and less values and more and more shock.
In the Columbine school massacre one of the shooters asked a teenage girl, as he pointed his gun at her, "Do you still believe in God?" When she said yes, he drilled her with his bullet.
It is all connected. Those who fall into the pit of nihilism, one that is widened, deepened and honored by the media culture, whether they are considered "insane" or merely "depraved criminals," look ever increasingly for innocence, which is harder and harder to find. So they kill those who still believe in God, they kill children, and then, to find those who are the purest of all, they kill the babies.
The youngest of these nihilists grew up in a society where abortion is not only normal and was always legal in their memory's time, but also a "right" to be "fought for." Not a sad and regretful reality, but something to be praised, to be fought for like Lara Crofts wielding a suction equipment and scalpel.
So the nihilists are confused, but certain in one thing. There is no innocence, but for the greatest shock value, one must kill the innocents, so where do you go? To the Internet to kill them visually, to video games to kill them at play, and to the creche to kill them in reality.
"I thought these things only happened in the United States," one mourning Belgian said. This is what I am trying to tell you, what I have been warning about for years. It is a viral horror that has not only been unleashed on the world but is glorified by the media mandarins who actually profit and praise each other's artistry as the world falls into nihilism, one tragedy, like a dripping faucet, at a time.
I am reminded of how Britain is reeling from so many youth knife murders and I recall how years ago, Britain was astonished when a crazed man murdered little school children in Scotland. What did people say then? "I thought these things only happen in America." I remember watching, with horror, the news coverage. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_massacre
These days the Britons, who are excelling at a whole generation of nihilistic yobs all on their own, know what the Belgians do not yet know. It may have at one time been "only in the United States," but no longer, no longer. The United States may not have Islamic terrorism but it sure enough has its own terror export, cultural nihilism combined with violence.
Some Americans say, "Why do they hate us?" Well, if things do not change, be prepared to wonder that some more, because unless the world has totally lost their basic ability to see and to reason, more and more will start to wonder about America media's unique mixture of nihilism together with violence-much of it targeted toward children, as both victims and consumers-and they will start to connect the dots.
I am praying that everyone will come to their senses and climb out of the dirt soon.
In the meantime, there is the usual infant murders here in the United States. One "father" asked to see his toddler only once, so he could kill him and not have to make child support payments (allegedly). This was a few weeks ago. Every day, however, there are beaten and dead infants reported in the paper, usually by "the boyfriend of the mother." Today we read that the ex girlfriend of a pro basketball player was found shot in her apartment. Oh yeah, and her nine month old infant girl was shot dead too.
Young people in particular, I can only assure you that there was once upon a time, not all that long ago, but it seems a galaxy and a century away, when it was not just "news as usual" that a tiny baby is murdered, at all, for any reason. It was absolutely unthinkable to murder a baby as recently as fifty years ago, with very few exceptions. The worst dirt bag and thug in the world might do something dreadful to an adult (again, nothing like these days though) but would never harm the baby, never touch the child.
Young people, I beg you not to accept this murderous nihilistic culture that you have been fed for the last generation and worse, you actually pay for and enrich those who are perpetuating the downfall of culture and society.
However you feel about a woman's "right to choose," for example, understand one thing. A culture such as that of the United States cannot have three thousand pregnancy terminations A DAY and have a populace that is unscathed emotionally. You are not the same people as those who lived when terminating a pregnancy was an unthinkable agreed cultural prohibition, reflecting the value of the innocent baby's life. You can still believe in a "right to choose," but be intellectually honest enough to recognize the truth of what I am saying that like post traumatic stress disorder, you survive the violence but you are not the same. This society is unrecognizable and you, young people, have been cheated of peace of mind, whether you realize it or not. Worse, you've been taught to applaud those who cheat you of your peace of mind, to honor them, to admire them, and to give them money and your precious attention and time.
When, young people, will you explode not in violence, or a frenzy of attention deficit behavior, but in an explosion of righteousness? When will you all finally bust loose and demand decency and peace of mind based on loving genuine life, not a nihilistic love of artificial existence? When, when, when?
You must stop drinking at the dark water fountain of nihilism and narcissism and say "no" to it, and instead, fill yourself with goodness, no matter what the stresses are in life, again. The cure for the hardship and stresses of life is not nihilistic behavior or "entertainment," as that not only increases stress and alienation, but it is the rapid road to ruin, despair, and ultimately the loss of one's soul for all time.
You must not only stop yourself from going to that dark and dank water of nihilism, but you must take a family member, a friend, or a member of your community by the hand and lead them away from it too. You will not change society if you only take care of yourself; you must also partner and buddy system someone else who is at risk away from the nihilistic side and back to the light of normal life.
Fight to get genuine and uplifting entertainment and shun the darkness of the violence and depraved genres, and wean your friends away from it too.
I was at a mall where there was a display of student computer graphic artwork. I was so saddened to see much of what was on display as kind of half human half cyborg visions of self and society. Young people, you have been so brainwashed and deprived that, as I've written about before, you seem to have such a dark agenda behind all of your scripts, your art work, your creativity, your advertisements, everything that you produce. It is like you no longer can think of just drawing a landscape or a tree, without having a leering robot face or demon in the clouds. Don't expect your art teachers to point out your options, because we all know the older generation, the "teachers" are the problem, because they are the ones who have taught despair and nihilism as "speaking 'one's truth.'" What a lie that is.
I never thought I'd see a time where an entire village in Wales is suffering through youth after youth killing themselves because they think they are achieving some sort of solidarity of Internet immortality! Yet, there you have it. I am in my fifties and I think about the extra cool classes I could have taken in university, but didn't because I was eager to go to work, and here young people who have not even started to work or go to college are killing themselves to be "immortal on the Internet."
I spoke to a young woman who is a college major in advertising and I loved hearing about her classes and her potential thesis topics. The world is so good and so filled with wonderful things that people can enjoy, yet so many do not even try, opting instead for some bizarre quest for supernatural "fame," which simply does not exist. Without sounding like a mother hen, or at least trying not to be obvious, I encouraged her to think of new and more positive and wholesome (and yes, one can still be daring and "edgy" without being depraved) ways that she can contribute to the advertising field. I worry about all of you because like I said, I have seen the changes in your art, your creative production, and your mindsets.
So try to find your way back to a place where you have a peace of mind and a love for the core and potentials of life, even if things are dismal in specific problems. Avoid substance abuse at all cost because "even a little" tarnishes greatly one's ability to ever have genuine peace of mind and fondness for life and fellow human beings. I live next door to a man who often thinks about with great regret of how he raised his children in his previous drug using lifestyle, and how they all paid prices for that. Mend yourselves and take someone by the hand and using buddy system mend them too.
Avoid gangs and cults and help a friend to avoid their temptations too.
If you can't have a baby, help someone out who has one. God knows that today we can't even trust anyone as a babysitter, with sitters doing unspeakable things to infants and the helpless. If you are of honor and integrity, give up some of your dark and bull crap Internet surfing and volunteer to work with infants and children in need. And take along a reliable friend.
If you do these things then in some larger picture the deaths of these innocent people in Belgium, and elsewhere, will not be so in vain.
It is difficult to imagine, but unfortunately, no longer impossible, to contemplate a 20 year old man painting white face with black eyes, telling a child creche minder he "had a question," and then slashing and murdering tiny babies with a 12 inch knife. One victim was six months old. One was nine months old. A 54 year old woman died protecting the infants. The assailant sought out every baby to slash and attempt to kill, though leaving aside some of the "older ones," toddlers. My God in heaven, this is what the world has come to.
And here in the USA the Screen Actors Guild is full of themselves, handing out to each other awards, especially praising the late Heath Ledger's performance as "The Joker" in the Batman movie "The Dark Knight." The Joker had a question too, "Why so serious?" That question was parlayed for months on the Internet as the "promo" for that film, and specifically for that knight of chaos and nihilism performance. When the warning signs were there, when the role began to haunt him, disturbing his sleep, did anyone wonder why people should see this? No and instead, the narcissists praised Ledger's brilliant and intense "commitment" to "acting," until the morning he no longer woke up and they could not praise him, except, of course, in now seemingly endless "tributes." I suspect Mr Ledger's soul has quite a different perspective about how "inspirational" his performance is on the world today. But not Hollywood and not the media. There is no downfall like one that is wilfully in perpetual motion, driven by hubris and greed, and a lack of understanding of simple and good life, not one filled with angst and self inflicted pain.
Who could out joker The Joker? Someone who slashed the throats of babies in a creche, I guess.
People, as Belgians mourn and wonder how their peace of mind could be so ruined by such a deed, I must remind everyone that nihilism, violence, and contempt of children is viral. No country, no culture, no small town like that sad place in Belgium is safe from the viral culture of dark nihilism, one that amplifies and distorts the increasing neutrality if not even disdain that much of the culture has for infants, for innocence, for the helpless, and for the pure.
How can you not all see that, as New Agers like to parrot, "it's all connected," except unlike them I am not speaking of airy-fairy "karma" and "coincidences?"
I am talking about empty people, those who are impoverished of the spirit of life, who then, vampire like, fill that emptiness with imagined or real notoriety, fueled by Internet and media magnification of the freak show who then, with ready access to knives, guns and other forms of mayhem, frighten, wound and kill the most innocent, in order to create the most "shock value" in a society with less and less values and more and more shock.
In the Columbine school massacre one of the shooters asked a teenage girl, as he pointed his gun at her, "Do you still believe in God?" When she said yes, he drilled her with his bullet.
It is all connected. Those who fall into the pit of nihilism, one that is widened, deepened and honored by the media culture, whether they are considered "insane" or merely "depraved criminals," look ever increasingly for innocence, which is harder and harder to find. So they kill those who still believe in God, they kill children, and then, to find those who are the purest of all, they kill the babies.
The youngest of these nihilists grew up in a society where abortion is not only normal and was always legal in their memory's time, but also a "right" to be "fought for." Not a sad and regretful reality, but something to be praised, to be fought for like Lara Crofts wielding a suction equipment and scalpel.
So the nihilists are confused, but certain in one thing. There is no innocence, but for the greatest shock value, one must kill the innocents, so where do you go? To the Internet to kill them visually, to video games to kill them at play, and to the creche to kill them in reality.
"I thought these things only happened in the United States," one mourning Belgian said. This is what I am trying to tell you, what I have been warning about for years. It is a viral horror that has not only been unleashed on the world but is glorified by the media mandarins who actually profit and praise each other's artistry as the world falls into nihilism, one tragedy, like a dripping faucet, at a time.
I am reminded of how Britain is reeling from so many youth knife murders and I recall how years ago, Britain was astonished when a crazed man murdered little school children in Scotland. What did people say then? "I thought these things only happen in America." I remember watching, with horror, the news coverage. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_massacre
These days the Britons, who are excelling at a whole generation of nihilistic yobs all on their own, know what the Belgians do not yet know. It may have at one time been "only in the United States," but no longer, no longer. The United States may not have Islamic terrorism but it sure enough has its own terror export, cultural nihilism combined with violence.
Some Americans say, "Why do they hate us?" Well, if things do not change, be prepared to wonder that some more, because unless the world has totally lost their basic ability to see and to reason, more and more will start to wonder about America media's unique mixture of nihilism together with violence-much of it targeted toward children, as both victims and consumers-and they will start to connect the dots.
I am praying that everyone will come to their senses and climb out of the dirt soon.
In the meantime, there is the usual infant murders here in the United States. One "father" asked to see his toddler only once, so he could kill him and not have to make child support payments (allegedly). This was a few weeks ago. Every day, however, there are beaten and dead infants reported in the paper, usually by "the boyfriend of the mother." Today we read that the ex girlfriend of a pro basketball player was found shot in her apartment. Oh yeah, and her nine month old infant girl was shot dead too.
Young people in particular, I can only assure you that there was once upon a time, not all that long ago, but it seems a galaxy and a century away, when it was not just "news as usual" that a tiny baby is murdered, at all, for any reason. It was absolutely unthinkable to murder a baby as recently as fifty years ago, with very few exceptions. The worst dirt bag and thug in the world might do something dreadful to an adult (again, nothing like these days though) but would never harm the baby, never touch the child.
Young people, I beg you not to accept this murderous nihilistic culture that you have been fed for the last generation and worse, you actually pay for and enrich those who are perpetuating the downfall of culture and society.
However you feel about a woman's "right to choose," for example, understand one thing. A culture such as that of the United States cannot have three thousand pregnancy terminations A DAY and have a populace that is unscathed emotionally. You are not the same people as those who lived when terminating a pregnancy was an unthinkable agreed cultural prohibition, reflecting the value of the innocent baby's life. You can still believe in a "right to choose," but be intellectually honest enough to recognize the truth of what I am saying that like post traumatic stress disorder, you survive the violence but you are not the same. This society is unrecognizable and you, young people, have been cheated of peace of mind, whether you realize it or not. Worse, you've been taught to applaud those who cheat you of your peace of mind, to honor them, to admire them, and to give them money and your precious attention and time.
When, young people, will you explode not in violence, or a frenzy of attention deficit behavior, but in an explosion of righteousness? When will you all finally bust loose and demand decency and peace of mind based on loving genuine life, not a nihilistic love of artificial existence? When, when, when?
You must stop drinking at the dark water fountain of nihilism and narcissism and say "no" to it, and instead, fill yourself with goodness, no matter what the stresses are in life, again. The cure for the hardship and stresses of life is not nihilistic behavior or "entertainment," as that not only increases stress and alienation, but it is the rapid road to ruin, despair, and ultimately the loss of one's soul for all time.
You must not only stop yourself from going to that dark and dank water of nihilism, but you must take a family member, a friend, or a member of your community by the hand and lead them away from it too. You will not change society if you only take care of yourself; you must also partner and buddy system someone else who is at risk away from the nihilistic side and back to the light of normal life.
Fight to get genuine and uplifting entertainment and shun the darkness of the violence and depraved genres, and wean your friends away from it too.
I was at a mall where there was a display of student computer graphic artwork. I was so saddened to see much of what was on display as kind of half human half cyborg visions of self and society. Young people, you have been so brainwashed and deprived that, as I've written about before, you seem to have such a dark agenda behind all of your scripts, your art work, your creativity, your advertisements, everything that you produce. It is like you no longer can think of just drawing a landscape or a tree, without having a leering robot face or demon in the clouds. Don't expect your art teachers to point out your options, because we all know the older generation, the "teachers" are the problem, because they are the ones who have taught despair and nihilism as "speaking 'one's truth.'" What a lie that is.
I never thought I'd see a time where an entire village in Wales is suffering through youth after youth killing themselves because they think they are achieving some sort of solidarity of Internet immortality! Yet, there you have it. I am in my fifties and I think about the extra cool classes I could have taken in university, but didn't because I was eager to go to work, and here young people who have not even started to work or go to college are killing themselves to be "immortal on the Internet."
I spoke to a young woman who is a college major in advertising and I loved hearing about her classes and her potential thesis topics. The world is so good and so filled with wonderful things that people can enjoy, yet so many do not even try, opting instead for some bizarre quest for supernatural "fame," which simply does not exist. Without sounding like a mother hen, or at least trying not to be obvious, I encouraged her to think of new and more positive and wholesome (and yes, one can still be daring and "edgy" without being depraved) ways that she can contribute to the advertising field. I worry about all of you because like I said, I have seen the changes in your art, your creative production, and your mindsets.
So try to find your way back to a place where you have a peace of mind and a love for the core and potentials of life, even if things are dismal in specific problems. Avoid substance abuse at all cost because "even a little" tarnishes greatly one's ability to ever have genuine peace of mind and fondness for life and fellow human beings. I live next door to a man who often thinks about with great regret of how he raised his children in his previous drug using lifestyle, and how they all paid prices for that. Mend yourselves and take someone by the hand and using buddy system mend them too.
Avoid gangs and cults and help a friend to avoid their temptations too.
If you can't have a baby, help someone out who has one. God knows that today we can't even trust anyone as a babysitter, with sitters doing unspeakable things to infants and the helpless. If you are of honor and integrity, give up some of your dark and bull crap Internet surfing and volunteer to work with infants and children in need. And take along a reliable friend.
If you do these things then in some larger picture the deaths of these innocent people in Belgium, and elsewhere, will not be so in vain.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
An inspiring life even with deep sadness
Read about Maud Nightingdale, who just died. Every life is so precious and the bravery of those who suffer loss with grace, like this lady, is everyday inspiration. I hope that someone does come forward with some information.
In her life you can read about some of the things I have touched on in my blog: memories of World War II and patriotism, a traditional marriage, large family (10 births!), children that die young, the consequences of drunk driving on the innocent, being widowed, violence and how it tears at a mother's heart, and the joys of a children who had a real homemaking mother.
http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/Nighta39s-mum-dies-without-seeing.4839989.jp
snip
Nighta's mum dies without seeing killers caught
Published Date: 02 January 2009
By Lisa Nightingale
Crime reporter
ALL she wanted was to see her son's killers brought to justice.
But for Maud Nightingale it is a day she will never see after she lost her fight for life on Christmas Eve.
For 12 years the 85-year-old struggled to come to terms with the brutal murder of her youngest child Kevin. Since he was gunned down in 1996, Mrs Nightingale spent every moment clinging onto the hope that one day his killers would be caught.
The 33-year-old was shot on the doorstep of his home in Drake Close, South Shields. His killers have never been caught. Last year, on the 11th anniversary of his death, Mrs Nightingale broke her silence about her son's death, weeping as she begged the people of South Tyneside to help find the person who pulled the trigger.
Daughter Jen Bullock said: "Since Kevin died her health went downhill. "The only thing that kept her going was the hope there would be a prosecution. "It just breaks our hearts knowing she will never know who killed her son." The family have vowed to continue their fight to bring the father-of-two's killers to justice, not only in his memory, but for their mother. Mrs Nightingale (nee Shaw) was born and grew up in South Shields.
At 17, she left her hometown to play her part in the war effort working in a munitions factory in Birmingham. When she returned to South Shields, she took up singing and dancing in various clubs in the town until she met and married her husband Andrew Nightingale.
The couple went on to have 10 children; Andrew, 63, Thomas, who died when he was just nine months old, Richard, 61, twins Elizabeth and Ethel, 60, John, 58, William, 56, Jen, 53, Diane, 50 and Kevin.
Described by her family as a strong-willed lady who loved playing bingo, she took on the role of both mother and father to her children after her husband was killed by a drink driver as he crossed John Reid Road, aged 49. Her son Richard said: "Dad's death devastated the family, but she kept us all together and made sure we never went without. She did everything to protect us. "They were good parents who did the best they could.
"They were good providers and always made sure there was something on the table for us.
"And what she couldn't make with rhubarb wasn't worth knowing about – she was a fantastic cook and a tremendous mother."
Mrs Nightingale died in her sleep at her home in Bainbridge Avenue, Simonside, after suffering a heart attack. She was with her two daughters Ethel and Diane. A church service will take place for Mrs Nightingale at St Simon's Church, Wenlock Road, on Monday at 10.30am, followed by a service at Harton Cemetery at 11.15am, where she will be buried next to her husband. Mrs Nightingale leaves eight children, 20 grandchildren and 35 great-grandchildren.
*Anyone with information on the killing of Kevin Nightingale is asked to contact police on 03456 043 043 or crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. All calls will be dealt with in the strictist of confidence.
In her life you can read about some of the things I have touched on in my blog: memories of World War II and patriotism, a traditional marriage, large family (10 births!), children that die young, the consequences of drunk driving on the innocent, being widowed, violence and how it tears at a mother's heart, and the joys of a children who had a real homemaking mother.
http://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/Nighta39s-mum-dies-without-seeing.4839989.jp
snip
Nighta's mum dies without seeing killers caught
Published Date: 02 January 2009
By Lisa Nightingale
Crime reporter
ALL she wanted was to see her son's killers brought to justice.
But for Maud Nightingale it is a day she will never see after she lost her fight for life on Christmas Eve.
For 12 years the 85-year-old struggled to come to terms with the brutal murder of her youngest child Kevin. Since he was gunned down in 1996, Mrs Nightingale spent every moment clinging onto the hope that one day his killers would be caught.
The 33-year-old was shot on the doorstep of his home in Drake Close, South Shields. His killers have never been caught. Last year, on the 11th anniversary of his death, Mrs Nightingale broke her silence about her son's death, weeping as she begged the people of South Tyneside to help find the person who pulled the trigger.
Daughter Jen Bullock said: "Since Kevin died her health went downhill. "The only thing that kept her going was the hope there would be a prosecution. "It just breaks our hearts knowing she will never know who killed her son." The family have vowed to continue their fight to bring the father-of-two's killers to justice, not only in his memory, but for their mother. Mrs Nightingale (nee Shaw) was born and grew up in South Shields.
At 17, she left her hometown to play her part in the war effort working in a munitions factory in Birmingham. When she returned to South Shields, she took up singing and dancing in various clubs in the town until she met and married her husband Andrew Nightingale.
The couple went on to have 10 children; Andrew, 63, Thomas, who died when he was just nine months old, Richard, 61, twins Elizabeth and Ethel, 60, John, 58, William, 56, Jen, 53, Diane, 50 and Kevin.
Described by her family as a strong-willed lady who loved playing bingo, she took on the role of both mother and father to her children after her husband was killed by a drink driver as he crossed John Reid Road, aged 49. Her son Richard said: "Dad's death devastated the family, but she kept us all together and made sure we never went without. She did everything to protect us. "They were good parents who did the best they could.
"They were good providers and always made sure there was something on the table for us.
"And what she couldn't make with rhubarb wasn't worth knowing about – she was a fantastic cook and a tremendous mother."
Mrs Nightingale died in her sleep at her home in Bainbridge Avenue, Simonside, after suffering a heart attack. She was with her two daughters Ethel and Diane. A church service will take place for Mrs Nightingale at St Simon's Church, Wenlock Road, on Monday at 10.30am, followed by a service at Harton Cemetery at 11.15am, where she will be buried next to her husband. Mrs Nightingale leaves eight children, 20 grandchildren and 35 great-grandchildren.
*Anyone with information on the killing of Kevin Nightingale is asked to contact police on 03456 043 043 or crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. All calls will be dealt with in the strictist of confidence.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
God, Christmas, awe of God, and the ordinary
One of the greatest stumbling blocks to both belief in God and in acceptance of Jesus Christ as Son of God and Savior is the inability to reconcile awe of God with God’s attention to ordinariness. The faithful and agnostic secular skeptics need to understand the awe and the ordinariness in order to discern an accurate image of God. This is an especially fruitful consideration during both Christmastime and Hanukkah. Equally, Muslims who have recently conducted the Hajj can also perceive this challenge between the awe of God and God’s attention to ordinariness.
This fundamental contrast, which is a challenge to many, is only revealed in the first place if the believer (and the inquiring skeptic) reads and contemplates the sacred literature in its entirety, and then sits back and lets it somewhat holistically “soak in.” The Jews have the greatest history of understanding that God is awesome and awe inspiring beyond comprehension, yet has a proven history of interacting with his Chosen People in minute detail where necessary. By this I do not mean God as “micromanager” through the Law but, rather, I mean the Biblical stories that demonstrate his intervention and mercy in even small matters of an ordinary person. The same God of all of creation, who appeared to Moses and the Israelites in the great Theophany sent his prophet Eliseus among not just the kings of Israel, but among the ordinary people who suffered, performing great miracles on their behalf. In 4 Kings 4:1-7 one reads how a woman who was a poor widow was about to lose her two sons because the creditors would take them from her in cost of unpaid debts. Eliseus gave her a miracle of an oil jar that was continually filled (this is cooking oil, not oil as we mean nowadays as in petroleum) so that she could sell from this continually filled jar, pay off the debts, and then she and her sons could live off of the income of the this continually filled oil jar without worry. In this one example one comprehends the awe of God, where his prophet can deliver such a miracle in God’s name, and also the ordinariness, for this woman’s name is not even mentioned, we only know that she was the poor widow of a man who “was one that feared God.”
Jesus later explains this aspect of God, his awe inspiring glory and yet his concern for even the smallest and the most ordinary among the world. When telling the Apostles not to be afraid, Jesus said the following:
Matthew 10:29-30
“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s leave. But as for you, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
Let me first translate the analogy that Jesus is saying before providing you with commentary. People ate sparrows for food, and two sparrows for a farthing are a low price. Jesus is saying that not even the most humble and low priced animals sold for the most humble and lowly meal is beneath not only the notice of God, but also God’s permission, for God is the one who has provided the food of creation, and is aware of every animal life, and every human meal, no matter how small and humble. It’s like Jesus would remind someone today in modern times that whenever they eat even the dollar menu chicken strips that God not only knows of the meal, the chickens that provided it, and the low price, but is also the ultimate provider of food and humanity’s ability to survive and thrive in the first place. Then, Jesus tells the Apostles to think about it: if God knows the disposition of even the smallest animal in the lowliest meal for a human, likewise, God knows every detail of every person, down to knowing the number of individual hairs on one’s head. Jesus then assures them that since God attends to even the most humble animal in the most humble meal, and has equally detailed constant awareness of each human, how much more value is each and every person to God: “You are of more value than many sparrows.” Jesus thus in the course of a longer lesson and discourse to the Apostles, at one point in comforting them, offers this contrast that I am commenting on now: God’s all knowing and mercy are awesome beyond human imagining, yet God is also concerned about every animal, every meal, and every human to their most ordinary existence and well being.
Jesus performed so many miracles of curing ordinary people that they are not even enumerated in the Gospels. Jesus clearly went above and beyond performing “just enough” miracles to “authenticate” who he was, and how he performed miracles on the behest and mercy of God.
Matthew 15:29-31
And when Jesus had departed from there, he went along the Sea of Galilee; and he went up the mountain and sat there. And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the dumb, the blind, the lame, the maimed, and many others; and they set them down at his feet, and he cured them; so that the crowds marveled to see the dumb speak, the lame walk, and the blind see. And they glorified the God of Israel.
Jesus cured as many who were brought to them, so many that the Gospel authors just describe these scenes in general terms, because it was God’s will that Jesus put a face on God’s mercy and concern for the ordinary person, who suffered ordinary woes in life, such as disabilities. One miraculous cure per location would have been more than sufficient to establish the God given authority of Jesus, yet Jesus went ahead and cured each and every of the suffering who were brought to him. And the people, then, just as Jesus wanted, glorified not him but God for his mercy.
One miracle that Jesus performed brings to mind the miracle of Eliseus as described above. When you read the miracle known as “The Widow’s Son,” (which I’ve discussed in previous posts), remember that the loss of a widow’s son was virtually a death penalty for her too, as she no longer had any means of support or even a provider of food.
Luke 7:11-17
And it came to pass soon afterwards, that he went to a town called Naim; and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. And as he drew near the gate of the town, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a large gathering from the town was with her. And the Lord, seeing her, had compassion on her, and said to her, “Do not weep.” And he went up and touched the stretcher; and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to thee, arise.” And he who was dead, sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother.
But fear seized upon all, and they began to glorify God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited his people.” And this report concerning him went forth throughout the whole of Judea, and all the country roundabout.
Eliseus (also spelled Elisha or Elijah) performed his miracle of the oil to save the sons of the widow some eight hundred years or so before Jesus raised from the dead the son of this widow. This is an example of what I describe as the necessity of reading the entire Bible in order to have a holistic or overall view of God; not just focus on citations or “episodes.” Only when one reads the entire Bible can one notice the constancy of God; God is constant and consistent through all eternity and is demonstrated in his interaction with generation after generation of humans. Thus one can see Eliseus have concern for an unnamed impoverished widow who is about to lose her sons and livelihood to seizure by creditors and then hundreds of years later, Jesus in the name of God raise from the dead the only son, and thus love and livelihood, of the unnamed ordinary widow woman of Naim. People who say that God is “arbitrary” are as dumb as a sack of rocks and clearly have never read the entire Bible with any degree of attention or mindfulness to the supernatural constancy of God: a constancy that is rarely recognized or thanked. This is why when I relate the above examples of Jesus’ miracles, I include the passages that relate how perfectly the crowds understood what was happening, that Jesus was not there to glorify himself, but do demonstrate the constancy of God’s complete awareness and love for the ordinary, for those who suffer and endure losses.
I’m writing this on the eve of the fourth Sunday of Advent, just days before Christmas, and that timing is exactly why I am writing on this particular topic. Christmas-celebration of the Nativity of Jesus Christ-should be recognition of the constancy of God that seems contradictory only when modern humans are narrow minded. The ancient Israelites and those in the time of Jesus did not have the stumbling block of thinking that if God is so awesome on one hand, why does God seem to do “ordinary” things on the other hand. Life is one hundred percent ordinary; it is only humans who glamorize certain classes of people and certain elite events. There is no contradiction at all between being constantly struck by the awesome power and might of God, and his unfathomable mystery, and yet understanding that he knows and cares about “every hair on every head.” It is only modern people who do not comprehend that, who then as a result have doubt and even sacrilegious thoughts about the Nativity of Jesus Christ. The mourners at Naim had absolutely no need for explanation or “proof” by this unnamed stranger, who walked up to them, had compassion for a widow, and raised her son from the dead for her. Notice they never even asked his name or his “credentials;” they did not need to, for they saw and believed, and they felt immediately the fear of God (awe) in the miracle wrought by Jesus. Moderns refuse to believe, or they discount God’s awesomeness, thinking he must not be so awesome if he sent Jesus, his Son, to be poor, in a manger, to live anonymously most of his life before two or so years of public ministry and a cruel death, before resurrection. To find the humility of Jesus and his birth among the ordinary people a sign of God being any less all powerful and awesome is a modern affectation and affliction that is truly contrarian and baffling.
This is another reason one must read and with a wholeness of attentiveness have a holistic appreciation of the Bible: one must look not only to the prophets and saints as role models, but to the ordinary people. What did the people of Naim “think” when the unnamed stranger of Jesus Christ walked into their funeral procession, dried the tears of the mother widow, and raised her son from the dead? Did they say, “Well, God must not be so awesome if he sent some ordinary human to do his deeds?” Of course not; people used to understand that it is a sign of God’s awesomeness, power and mercy that he raised up his prophets of the people and among the people, not as some unfathomable creature that is outside of human experience. What the people of Naim instantly said was ““A great prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited his people.” The two reactions most clearly acknowledged the awesome might and mercy of God, and the fact that God was working among the people. Jews had thousands of years of experience, well known in Torah study that God raises his prophets from among the people, not as an “outside force,” and also that God “visits” his people. The people of Naim instantly recognized such a gift of God, a concern and love for the ordinary people, in Jesus, before even knowing his name.
Notice something else, in the first line of that passage: “he went to a town called Naim; and his disciples and a large crowd went with him.” This is mentioned often in the Gospel that the disciples walked with Jesus from region to region in his ministry, but that also large crowds of ordinary people also traveled with him. Again, one learns to emulate the behavior of ordinary people who lived in the extraordinary Biblical times. They fully retain their awe of God and their glorification of God alone, but they accept the gift of ordinary human to human interaction with what they recognized was this mighty prophet of God, Jesus. This is how moderns must also be and to do so they need to realign their attitudes out of the mushy, meaningless and erroneous “middle.” Humans need to stop being lukewarm about God himself, and have a complete return to being totally blown away by God’s all powerfulness, his mercy and his awesomeness. Likewise they need to stop making every interaction with the divine be only “meaningful” and “impressive” if it is tinged with the occult, the supernatural or the strange. It’s like moderns have so thoroughly forgotten what ordinary life is really like (a curse of narcissism, prosperity and cynicism) that since they no longer know what their own ordinary reality is like, they can’t recognize when God is “into the details” of the ordinary and “visits his people.” Instead of having some “go ahead, impress me” attitude toward God that is rooted in the mushy meaningless middle, people need to remember and regain with a jolt fear of the Lord, of the awesomeness of God at one “extreme,” and at the same time, recognize God’s deep concern for every ordinary person throughout their ordinary life at the “other extreme.” When one sticks to the blah middle one totally misses understanding God at all.
This is how I hope that those of you who read my commentary think of the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus Christ in the upcoming days, and then going forward in your faith and life journey. You cannot understand this holiday, understand God, or even understand one’s own life and human condition if you do not understand the constancy of the “two extremes,” which is total awe for God and his mystery and power, and acceptance of God, and his offer of company, love and concern for you, most especially through Jesus Christ, into your ordinary life. When one wonders, “Well, why would God have a ‘son’ born of a virgin in a manger in poverty ‘only’ to be ‘killed,’” one need only to recall one of the many events that defy that reductionist mentality, which is to think of the virgin’s son walk to Naim and raise the unnamed son in compassion to give him back to his ordinary mother, and hear how the crowds saw and believed. A depressive reductionist mentality about the mutual divine blessedness and humanity of Jesus Christ is totally uncalled for and quite erroneous and in violation of the very clear facts.
I hope that you have found this helpful.
This fundamental contrast, which is a challenge to many, is only revealed in the first place if the believer (and the inquiring skeptic) reads and contemplates the sacred literature in its entirety, and then sits back and lets it somewhat holistically “soak in.” The Jews have the greatest history of understanding that God is awesome and awe inspiring beyond comprehension, yet has a proven history of interacting with his Chosen People in minute detail where necessary. By this I do not mean God as “micromanager” through the Law but, rather, I mean the Biblical stories that demonstrate his intervention and mercy in even small matters of an ordinary person. The same God of all of creation, who appeared to Moses and the Israelites in the great Theophany sent his prophet Eliseus among not just the kings of Israel, but among the ordinary people who suffered, performing great miracles on their behalf. In 4 Kings 4:1-7 one reads how a woman who was a poor widow was about to lose her two sons because the creditors would take them from her in cost of unpaid debts. Eliseus gave her a miracle of an oil jar that was continually filled (this is cooking oil, not oil as we mean nowadays as in petroleum) so that she could sell from this continually filled jar, pay off the debts, and then she and her sons could live off of the income of the this continually filled oil jar without worry. In this one example one comprehends the awe of God, where his prophet can deliver such a miracle in God’s name, and also the ordinariness, for this woman’s name is not even mentioned, we only know that she was the poor widow of a man who “was one that feared God.”
Jesus later explains this aspect of God, his awe inspiring glory and yet his concern for even the smallest and the most ordinary among the world. When telling the Apostles not to be afraid, Jesus said the following:
Matthew 10:29-30
“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s leave. But as for you, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
Let me first translate the analogy that Jesus is saying before providing you with commentary. People ate sparrows for food, and two sparrows for a farthing are a low price. Jesus is saying that not even the most humble and low priced animals sold for the most humble and lowly meal is beneath not only the notice of God, but also God’s permission, for God is the one who has provided the food of creation, and is aware of every animal life, and every human meal, no matter how small and humble. It’s like Jesus would remind someone today in modern times that whenever they eat even the dollar menu chicken strips that God not only knows of the meal, the chickens that provided it, and the low price, but is also the ultimate provider of food and humanity’s ability to survive and thrive in the first place. Then, Jesus tells the Apostles to think about it: if God knows the disposition of even the smallest animal in the lowliest meal for a human, likewise, God knows every detail of every person, down to knowing the number of individual hairs on one’s head. Jesus then assures them that since God attends to even the most humble animal in the most humble meal, and has equally detailed constant awareness of each human, how much more value is each and every person to God: “You are of more value than many sparrows.” Jesus thus in the course of a longer lesson and discourse to the Apostles, at one point in comforting them, offers this contrast that I am commenting on now: God’s all knowing and mercy are awesome beyond human imagining, yet God is also concerned about every animal, every meal, and every human to their most ordinary existence and well being.
Jesus performed so many miracles of curing ordinary people that they are not even enumerated in the Gospels. Jesus clearly went above and beyond performing “just enough” miracles to “authenticate” who he was, and how he performed miracles on the behest and mercy of God.
Matthew 15:29-31
And when Jesus had departed from there, he went along the Sea of Galilee; and he went up the mountain and sat there. And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the dumb, the blind, the lame, the maimed, and many others; and they set them down at his feet, and he cured them; so that the crowds marveled to see the dumb speak, the lame walk, and the blind see. And they glorified the God of Israel.
Jesus cured as many who were brought to them, so many that the Gospel authors just describe these scenes in general terms, because it was God’s will that Jesus put a face on God’s mercy and concern for the ordinary person, who suffered ordinary woes in life, such as disabilities. One miraculous cure per location would have been more than sufficient to establish the God given authority of Jesus, yet Jesus went ahead and cured each and every of the suffering who were brought to him. And the people, then, just as Jesus wanted, glorified not him but God for his mercy.
One miracle that Jesus performed brings to mind the miracle of Eliseus as described above. When you read the miracle known as “The Widow’s Son,” (which I’ve discussed in previous posts), remember that the loss of a widow’s son was virtually a death penalty for her too, as she no longer had any means of support or even a provider of food.
Luke 7:11-17
And it came to pass soon afterwards, that he went to a town called Naim; and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. And as he drew near the gate of the town, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a large gathering from the town was with her. And the Lord, seeing her, had compassion on her, and said to her, “Do not weep.” And he went up and touched the stretcher; and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to thee, arise.” And he who was dead, sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother.
But fear seized upon all, and they began to glorify God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited his people.” And this report concerning him went forth throughout the whole of Judea, and all the country roundabout.
Eliseus (also spelled Elisha or Elijah) performed his miracle of the oil to save the sons of the widow some eight hundred years or so before Jesus raised from the dead the son of this widow. This is an example of what I describe as the necessity of reading the entire Bible in order to have a holistic or overall view of God; not just focus on citations or “episodes.” Only when one reads the entire Bible can one notice the constancy of God; God is constant and consistent through all eternity and is demonstrated in his interaction with generation after generation of humans. Thus one can see Eliseus have concern for an unnamed impoverished widow who is about to lose her sons and livelihood to seizure by creditors and then hundreds of years later, Jesus in the name of God raise from the dead the only son, and thus love and livelihood, of the unnamed ordinary widow woman of Naim. People who say that God is “arbitrary” are as dumb as a sack of rocks and clearly have never read the entire Bible with any degree of attention or mindfulness to the supernatural constancy of God: a constancy that is rarely recognized or thanked. This is why when I relate the above examples of Jesus’ miracles, I include the passages that relate how perfectly the crowds understood what was happening, that Jesus was not there to glorify himself, but do demonstrate the constancy of God’s complete awareness and love for the ordinary, for those who suffer and endure losses.
I’m writing this on the eve of the fourth Sunday of Advent, just days before Christmas, and that timing is exactly why I am writing on this particular topic. Christmas-celebration of the Nativity of Jesus Christ-should be recognition of the constancy of God that seems contradictory only when modern humans are narrow minded. The ancient Israelites and those in the time of Jesus did not have the stumbling block of thinking that if God is so awesome on one hand, why does God seem to do “ordinary” things on the other hand. Life is one hundred percent ordinary; it is only humans who glamorize certain classes of people and certain elite events. There is no contradiction at all between being constantly struck by the awesome power and might of God, and his unfathomable mystery, and yet understanding that he knows and cares about “every hair on every head.” It is only modern people who do not comprehend that, who then as a result have doubt and even sacrilegious thoughts about the Nativity of Jesus Christ. The mourners at Naim had absolutely no need for explanation or “proof” by this unnamed stranger, who walked up to them, had compassion for a widow, and raised her son from the dead for her. Notice they never even asked his name or his “credentials;” they did not need to, for they saw and believed, and they felt immediately the fear of God (awe) in the miracle wrought by Jesus. Moderns refuse to believe, or they discount God’s awesomeness, thinking he must not be so awesome if he sent Jesus, his Son, to be poor, in a manger, to live anonymously most of his life before two or so years of public ministry and a cruel death, before resurrection. To find the humility of Jesus and his birth among the ordinary people a sign of God being any less all powerful and awesome is a modern affectation and affliction that is truly contrarian and baffling.
This is another reason one must read and with a wholeness of attentiveness have a holistic appreciation of the Bible: one must look not only to the prophets and saints as role models, but to the ordinary people. What did the people of Naim “think” when the unnamed stranger of Jesus Christ walked into their funeral procession, dried the tears of the mother widow, and raised her son from the dead? Did they say, “Well, God must not be so awesome if he sent some ordinary human to do his deeds?” Of course not; people used to understand that it is a sign of God’s awesomeness, power and mercy that he raised up his prophets of the people and among the people, not as some unfathomable creature that is outside of human experience. What the people of Naim instantly said was ““A great prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited his people.” The two reactions most clearly acknowledged the awesome might and mercy of God, and the fact that God was working among the people. Jews had thousands of years of experience, well known in Torah study that God raises his prophets from among the people, not as an “outside force,” and also that God “visits” his people. The people of Naim instantly recognized such a gift of God, a concern and love for the ordinary people, in Jesus, before even knowing his name.
Notice something else, in the first line of that passage: “he went to a town called Naim; and his disciples and a large crowd went with him.” This is mentioned often in the Gospel that the disciples walked with Jesus from region to region in his ministry, but that also large crowds of ordinary people also traveled with him. Again, one learns to emulate the behavior of ordinary people who lived in the extraordinary Biblical times. They fully retain their awe of God and their glorification of God alone, but they accept the gift of ordinary human to human interaction with what they recognized was this mighty prophet of God, Jesus. This is how moderns must also be and to do so they need to realign their attitudes out of the mushy, meaningless and erroneous “middle.” Humans need to stop being lukewarm about God himself, and have a complete return to being totally blown away by God’s all powerfulness, his mercy and his awesomeness. Likewise they need to stop making every interaction with the divine be only “meaningful” and “impressive” if it is tinged with the occult, the supernatural or the strange. It’s like moderns have so thoroughly forgotten what ordinary life is really like (a curse of narcissism, prosperity and cynicism) that since they no longer know what their own ordinary reality is like, they can’t recognize when God is “into the details” of the ordinary and “visits his people.” Instead of having some “go ahead, impress me” attitude toward God that is rooted in the mushy meaningless middle, people need to remember and regain with a jolt fear of the Lord, of the awesomeness of God at one “extreme,” and at the same time, recognize God’s deep concern for every ordinary person throughout their ordinary life at the “other extreme.” When one sticks to the blah middle one totally misses understanding God at all.
This is how I hope that those of you who read my commentary think of the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus Christ in the upcoming days, and then going forward in your faith and life journey. You cannot understand this holiday, understand God, or even understand one’s own life and human condition if you do not understand the constancy of the “two extremes,” which is total awe for God and his mystery and power, and acceptance of God, and his offer of company, love and concern for you, most especially through Jesus Christ, into your ordinary life. When one wonders, “Well, why would God have a ‘son’ born of a virgin in a manger in poverty ‘only’ to be ‘killed,’” one need only to recall one of the many events that defy that reductionist mentality, which is to think of the virgin’s son walk to Naim and raise the unnamed son in compassion to give him back to his ordinary mother, and hear how the crowds saw and believed. A depressive reductionist mentality about the mutual divine blessedness and humanity of Jesus Christ is totally uncalled for and quite erroneous and in violation of the very clear facts.
I hope that you have found this helpful.
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