Make Par While the Sun Shines

09/11/2008, 10:24 am -- by | No Comments

What is it with golfers? I can’t tell you how many times I have been watching the ESPN ticker thing and see stuff like BELLSOUTH PGA INVITATIONAL….Singh (-3)…Leonard (-1)…suspended on account of darkness… Like it was a surprise that the sun went down! They didn’t know it was going to get dark when they started?

The Christian Stoic

09/5/2008, 3:00 pm -- by | No Comments

Acts 17:18 — “Then certain. . . Stoic philosophers. . . “

Once while studying the text above, I found that the Stoics believed in something called “suspended judgment.” They did not believe in responding to things immediately, and saw no value in forming opinions about, or reacting to, everything that happened around them — hence, our concept of the stoic, unemotional person.

I like that idea. I think people have too many opinions. Maybe it\’s just my natural laziness, but I have no interest in pursuing things outside my realm of concern. It\’s a waste of time and energy. Forming an opinion is hard work — or at least it should be — and doing so about a subject that doesn’t concern me is like voluntarily writing a 50,000-word essay for a class I’m not in, just to get in on the discussion.

Several years ago in New York, our senior pastor suddenly left the church, taking about one-tenth of the people with him to start another church in the same town. It was a painful and confusing time for all of us. Around that time, one of the young men from the church came to our house for lunch; as we sat around talking, he asked me my opinion of the man who had left.

I said, “I don\’t have one.” He said, “What? Are you sure?”

I remember searching my heart for a few seconds, then responding, slightly embarrassed, that I honestly had no opinion of the man and his recent actions.

After a pause, he said, “You\’re the youth pastor…you\’re part of the leadership! How can you not have an opinion?” After thinking again, I remember shrugging my shoulders. “Because I don\’t have to?”

The truth is that God had called me to that church, and while that man was there, he was my pastor. But after he left, he was no longer my pastor, and ceased to hold any interest for me in that regard. I loved him, I prayed for him, but I didn\’t feel any need to judge him, examine his actions, or form an opinion about him. Other people in positions of authority might have had to form opinions and deal with him on a disciplinary level but — thank God — I was not one of them.

Ten years after this, while I re-read The Pilgrim’s Regress by C.S. Lewis, I ran across a passage (reprinted below) that I first read around that same time. I guess it must have sunk down deep, because although I had no specific recollection of reading it before, it perfectly summarized a chief foundation stone in my personal philosophy: I refuse to force myself to have an opinion on everything that crosses my line of sight.

I read once that worry is a “bevy of inefficient thoughts whirling around a point of fear.” I wonder how much of our examination of people and events springs from worry. How many of our opinions are produced by inefficient thoughts that surround the fear in our lives? How much sweeter it is to find that point of fear and remove it, so that your thoughts can work on something that does require your attention. I hope you take a minute to read this passage below, and that you find it as liberating as I have.

The main character, John, is speaking with a character named Reason, trying to determine if the island he seeks is real or imagined. This passage begins with a question from Reason.

Who told you that the island was an imagination of yours?
Well, you would not assure me that it was anything real.
Nor that it was not.
But I must think that it is one or the other.
By my father’s soul, you must not — until you have some evidence. Can you not remain in doubt?
I don\’t know that I have ever tried.
You must learn to if you are to come far with me. It is not hard to do it. In Eschropolis, indeed, it is impossible, for the people who live there have to give an opinion once a week, or once a day, or else Mr. Mammon would soon cut off their food. But out here in the country you can walk all day, and all the next day, with an unanswered question in your head; you need never speak until you have made up your mind.
But if a man wanted to know so badly that he would die unless the question was decided — and no more evidence turned up?
Then he would die, that would be all.

Sarah Palin or Plain Sarah

09/4/2008, 10:34 am -- by | 1 Comment

Do you know what I love about Sarah Palin (among many other things)?  All those liberals who like to paint right-wing Christians as knuckle-dragging barbarians who think women belong barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen should all be eating their words about now. I have not been so excited about a candidate since Reagan — and every Christian man I know down here in Alabama feels the same way.

Best of David: The Two Wells

09/2/2008, 1:00 pm -- by | No Comments

Originally published on June 28, 2007.

As long as I’ve been a Christian, I’ve always loved the balance between the Old and New Testament, and I’ve always found a fullness in reading both on a regular basis. One of the best examples of what comes from this dual exposure is found in the stories of Genesis 24 and John 4.

Genesis 24 recounts the story of Isaac and Rebekah. I have heard it preached as the ultimate love story between God and His beloved — father Abraham (God) sending his servant to bring a bride for his only son Isaac (Jesus). The criteria are set and the woman must pass the test. She must, at Abraham’s request, be pure, of the right lineage and race. She must, to fulfill Eliezer’s prayer, be kind and have the heart of a servant, to not only give him water when asked, but also offer it for all his camels. She must be a virgin and fair to look upon.

It’s a lot to ask, but God leads Eliezer to the perfect choice, and she returns with him. Isaac is meditating out in the field and when he sees her, he takes her as his wife. Moreover, we are told that he loves her. It is truly a beautiful story.

If you’re like me, though, your story was a little different. Perhaps it’s a bit more like John 4, in the New Testament. In this love story, everything has gone wrong. God the Father has sent His servants repeatedly to draw His beloved, but they have been stoned, sawn asunder, persecuted and killed. At last He sends His only Son.

He finds the woman at the well, but she is not pure at all. She is not even Jewish. She’s a Samaritan, of mixed race and idolatrous religion, despised by the Jews. But Jesus uses the same test of character anyway, asking her for a drink. She answers with sarcasm and smart remarks, questioning His motives and arguing about religion. And not only is she not a virgin, she’s had five husbands and is currently living in sin with yet another man. There is no mention of physical beauty.

But she is the one — and He loves her! She receives the fullness of all He has reserved for His beloved. Jesus told the Pharisees, when they questioned His penchant for hanging around publicans and sinners: “I have not come for the whole, but for the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

This is the true love story. The Old Testament story was the way God wanted it to be. The New Testament story is the way it is. For all of us.

How can pride exist under such circumstances? Not one of us can meet the criteria of the Rebekah story. And how can any of us deny the love of a God who sees us as we are, chooses to love us, and then makes us worthy of that love?

Road Armor Under Investigation

08/22/2008, 12:00 pm -- by | No Comments

–WASHINGTON, D.C.

The Office of the Attorney General announced today that a Texas company is being investigated after their products failed another series of federal safety testing. San Antonio’s ROAD ARMOR, which specializes in marketing protective armor to “at-risk” animals like opossums, once again received the lowest safety rating available.

“This company has repeatedly preyed on these poor animals, promising them a level of protection on today\’s highways that, frankly, they do not and cannot attain,” said spokesman Ronald Fletcher. “It\’s high time someone stood up for these animals, and we are the ones to do it.”

Studies have shown that the use of “armor” by opossums may actually increase fatalities, as many become careless and prone to high-risk behavior such as crossing an interstate at rush hour.

ROAD ARMOR spokesman Lilly Matthews disagreed, pointing to the company’s disclaimer warning animals of the risks and limitations of their product. “Everything that we do is designed to make these little critters safer and happier, and we succeed at that. End of story.”

Response to an Atheist

08/15/2008, 2:00 pm -- by | No Comments

From a letter to my newspaper’s editor this week.

Listening to an atheist comment on the Bible is like having an illiterate man read you the evening newspaper; there may be some imagery he can grasp through the photographs, but the mass of content and nuance is certainly lost on him, and will only lead him into erroneous inferences about the meaning. The Bible is a spiritual book, and makes the case itself that it can only be rightly understood by those who have received God’s Spirit through their faith in Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice.

The latest atheist to comment on the Bible here in the newspaper argued that the Bible is not a fit source for morality because so many Bible characters exhibited immoral behavior in their lives. The erroneous assumption here is that Bible characters were superhuman beings, designed to model perfection for the human race. They were not. They were human beings who, like any Christian today, were meant to model grace, mercy and redemption to the world.

If God had seen fit to whitewash the lives of the saints depicted in Scripture, He could have done so, but where would our hope be? Our hope is in the fact that a sinful person can be reconciled to God through his Son, then participate with Him in the great work of redeeming lost souls. The Bible is the right source of morality for the human race because God has deigned it to be so, not because we, as human beings, have found that it fits our idea of morality.

The Tortoise and the Hare

08/8/2008, 10:30 am -- by | No Comments

Once upon a time the animals of the forest decided to hold an election to see who would be their president. After a grueling primary season, the two sides nominated their candidates: Tortoise McCain and Hare Obama.

The news spread like wildfire through the forest, and all the news reporters showed up to watch Obama train.

“Mr. Obama,” said the CNN correspondent, “how fast can you run to Washington?”

“Washington!” scoffed Obama. “Watch this!!”

And with that, he disappeared in a blaze over the horizon. Before the reporters could even take a breath, he reappeared with souvenirs from Europe.

“I got this for you in Berlin,” he said to one reporter. “This came from Paris for you.”

“McCain,” said the NBC reporter, “where can you go to show us your speed?”

“Um, uh… does anyone want some French fries from Burger King or a bratwurst from German Town?” he replied.

The reporters broke out into hysterical laughter, and silly old Mr. McCain retreated to his house to train for the big day.

To be continued — this could actually end well for McCain, if you believe in fairy tales…

My Own Terms

08/1/2008, 10:00 am -- by | No Comments

I have been called a cynic. I have been called a pessimist. I have been called a skeptic. And I don\’t mind being called these things, as long as I can define the terms myself.

If by “cynic,” you mean Oscar Wilde’s definition — “someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing” — then I am not that man. I know the value of things, but I also know there is a vast difference between gross and net value. Even something good is never quite as good as it seems to be. A man never gets a thousand dollars from life, no matter what he does; he gets $677.50 after taxes, and lives with the disappointing list of deductions accompanying the payout — if the check is even good.

When I say that I am a cynic, I mean that I am old enough to know I don’t have to order before midnight. The commercial will be on again tomorrow. And what they”˜re advertising today as “Not Available in Stores!” will be on the rack at Wal*Mart tomorrow, under the banner “As Seen on TV!”

When I say I am a pessimist, I mean that I have resolved the age-old question to my satisfaction, and believe that the glass is definitely half-empty. Any moron can tell you that a glass, left to its own devices, never again fills up. It’s constantly emptied, by consumption or evaporation, and indeed could only have been filled to be emptied. The natural state of the glass is dissipation: the occasional break during a trip to the dishwasher, storage in the cupboard, and eventually another foray into emptiness.

Pessimism gives me the greatest chance at happiness. If you always expect things to go poorly, you will either get what you expected or be pleasantly surprised. But if you expect good things to happen all the time, what then? Either life turns out the way you thought it would (no big deal), or you\’re disappointed, because it didn\’t.

And a skeptic? All that means is that I subscribe to the ancient philosophy of “suspended judgment.” I like to think about things before I put my weight on them. This world could use a little more of that — with the way we jump on the latest bandwagons, use the freshest buzzwords, and buy the newest fashions, all to make us feel hip and wise.

So, yes: cynic, pessimist, and skeptic I am. But on my own terms.

The Broken World

07/22/2008, 10:00 am -- by | No Comments

One consistent observation I draw from my contact with atheists is that they inevitably base their disbelief in God, partly or entirely, on the fact that the world is a wicked and hurtful place, filled with inequity and injustice — something (in their opinion) that no loving God could ever allow.

It never ceases to amaze me that their hostility toward God is neither abandoned nor abated by their decision not to believe in Him. It doesnʼt seem logical to me to be so hostile toward someone that you donʼt believe in. Iʼve never had a salient thought concerning Santa Claus, good or bad, since I stopped believing in him, and I canʼt imagine spending one ounce of energy defaming him or attacking his followers.

I started thinking about this again after reading a wonderful opinion piece by Michael Novak in USA Today. I believe that when a person suspends belief in God and attacks Christianity over the wicked condition of this world, it is due to ignorance of what the Bible actually teaches about Creation. When a tree limb succumbs to disease or age and falls from the tree, it is certainly no proof that the Creator is cruel or indifferent — or worse yet, nonexistent — even if the limb falls on someone, causing death or injury.

It is simply part and parcel of living in a broken world.

This world does not exist in the state in which it was created. That fact should be no mystery because sin and the fall of man are basic Christian doctrine, known by the entire world. Perhaps it is not widely believed by non-Christians, but by now, it should be well-known enough that we don’t have to explain it over and over.

The world is broken. Argue all you want about Godʼs motives in allowing it to happen, but this world has fallen, and we fell with it (actually vice versa). What we see now is the result of that fall; what the Gospel offers is the solution.

What I Really Wanted

07/15/2008, 10:00 am -- by | 1 Comment

In the semi-autobiographical allegory The Pilgrim’s Regress, C.S. Lewis traces the life of John, a man raised in a nominally Christian culture who becomes separated from his hypocritical religious faith, then rediscovers it after a long spiritual journey. Drawing from a theme also addressed in The Problem of Pain, Lewis’s character finds that God has placed him into the world with a desire and capacity for something that cannot be found in that world. As Billy Graham said, each of us is born into this world with a God-shaped void in our hearts — and until we meet Jesus, we spend our lives trying to fill it with anything else.

In the book, John stumbles onto several carnal pleasures that he thinks are the fulfillment of his longings, only to find that when the infatuation wears off, he remains unsatisfied. He finds himself repeating, over and over: “That\’s not really what I wanted.”

After thirty years as a Christian, I still find myself experiencing this feeling. The objects vary, but the swirling infatuations remain. The distraction may be a new relationship, a new friend, or a new job — perhaps a new car or house. With me, it was most recently holidays and family.

On Memorial Day weekend I started planning for the 4th of July; my grandkids were coming for two weeks, my nephews were visiting from New York; I was going to build a fabulous multi-level deck with hanging plants and a fire pit; we would grill out and play guitars and sing and laugh and shoot off fireworks. In the end, it was even better than I hoped for, as my son and daughter-in-law made a last-minute trip from New York, with another friend.

It was perfection.

Yet when it was all over, I found myself saying again, “That wasn\’t really what I wanted.” As sweet as it was, it was just a shadow of the realty that I long for. I long for heaven, the fellowship where there is no parting, where there will be no sad goodbyes, no returning to work exhausted and empty, no constant grasping for the elusive need that first drew me to the Cross.

One Hundred Words (23)

07/8/2008, 9:00 am -- by | No Comments

“Will ye steal, murder and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations?’ Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD. But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.”

There is no free pass.

–DFS

When They Were Eighteen

06/20/2008, 12:00 pm -- by | No Comments

I grew up in the 1960s, watching movies about World War II. It settled into my psyche as just another piece in the giant puzzle of life here in America. It meant nothing more or less to me than the death of JFK or the rise and fall of Richard Nixon; it was less important than the Oakland A\’s or the New York Yankees; it was certainly no more relevant than the Revolutionary or Civil Wars. It was all just history, until I met my father-in-law.

He passed away a few years ago, but I have a picture of him hanging in my hallway: a young man in his army uniform, leaning against a stump in some woods near where he grew up in the Adirondacks. He served in the Army and participated in the retaking of the Philippines, among other things, and I had 20 years to listen to his stories about those days.

He looks so young in that picture.

Now, when I look back at World War II and hear those men and women called “The Greatest Generation,” I think of him — and I am dumbfounded at their accomplishments. When I was 18, it was an adventure to have my own license and car; it was scary going off to college, even a little community college in my own hometown. When they were 18, they were sent halfway across the world, to kill or be killed. I can\’t get my mind around it.

When my son was 18, I was worried sick when he was 30 minutes late getting home from his job at the grocery store two blocks from our house. I can\’t imagine the horror of a father sending his children off to war, never seeing them alive again.

When I was 18, I had dreams like anyone. I wanted to be a newspaper reporter. I wanted to meet a woman who would be my best friend and lover for the rest of my life. I wanted to have children and grandchildren, and watch them grow up.

When they were 18, I\’m sure they had all those same dreams: college, marriage, children. I can\’t imagine teenagers surrendering all that to die in the fields and forests of Europe; to find their final resting place on the blood-soaked beaches of France, the jungles of the South Pacific.

When they were 18, they saved the world.

How do we ever thank them?

217 Words on Marriage

06/13/2008, 4:00 pm -- by | No Comments

I have heard marriage described as agreeing to spend your life in a room that is too warm with a person who thinks it is too cold. It\’s also agreeing to drink weak coffee with someone who thinks it\’s too strong; spending a third of your life in a bed that’s too soft with someone who thinks it\’s too hard; having to be too hard on your children while she is being too soft — or vice versa.

Marriage is compromise — but the good kind, not the bad. When Paul wrote, “He who is unmarried cares for the things of the Lord ”” how he may please the Lord. But he who is married cares about the things of the world ”” how he may please his wife,” he wasn\’t being critical. He was just being honest.

After 26 years of successful marriage I think I can safely say: “He who is married and cares not for how he may please his wife, will soon enough be spending his days fishing, drowning his sorrows alongside other unmarried saps, whining about how impossible women are to live with.” The most ridiculous advice I have ever received about how to be a “real man around my house” consistently came from men whose wives fled long ago.

Viva le wimp!

Sabbath Musings

06/6/2008, 2:00 pm -- by | 2 Comments

What do we know about the Sabbath? There was a Sabbath for Jews in the Old Covenant — it was the seventh day of the week, what we now call Saturday. It was ordained of God as a day of rest, so work and travel were forbidden. After the return of the Babylonian captives, Nehemiah and Ezra founded the synagogue and developed the tradition of calling all of Israel together on the Sabbath to be taught their own language and Scripture. All of those facts are still true and in effect in the Jewish religion today.

Now, in the New Covenant, what do we have? The “Lord’s Day,” as John called it in Revelation, the first day of the week, on what we now call Sunday. This was the day Jesus rose from the dead, the day when the early church met to celebrate his Resurrection. It was never called “the Sabbath” in Scripture and the early church did not view it as the Sabbath.

In fact, according to Pliny\’s letter to Emperor Trajan in 110 A.D., the early church met early on Sunday morning, went off to their jobs and livelihoods, then came back together in the evening to share a simple meal together. And these were slaves and poor tradesmen — none of whom had the ability, or the moral compunction, to tell their masters, “I have to be off on Sunday. It\’s the Sabbath.”

So where does the confusion come from over a Christian Sabbath? As with most Christian corruptions, the idea of the Sabbath was introduced into the church when it succumbed to the gentle nurturing of a well-meaning but unspiritual Roman emperor named Constantine.

To quote Henry C. Sheldon’s History of the Christian Church:

“The law of Constantine issued in 321, relative to the observance of Sunday, contains the following prescription: ‘On the venerable day of the Sun, let the magistrates and the people residing in the cities rest, and let all workshops be closed’ ” (Vol. 1, at 487).

To be fair, Constantine did not originate the idea; it\’s something that happened logically in Christianity. The early church felt that their Lord’s Day was emblematic of the Jewish Sabbath, and should carry with it the concept of “not thinking your own thoughts” or “doing your own deeds.” It was to be a day dedicated to the worship of Jesus Christ — but it was only a manner of time until the blundering emperor would cast it into stone as a Sabbath, plunging us back under the law.

Why did the church leadership accept it? The concept of a Sabbath, combined with mandatory tithing, gave them great control over the populace, and access to great wealth. If these things were mandatory, people had to come to church, and they had to bring 10% of their money.

Why did the common man accept it? Because then, as now, it was much easier to conform to a law than to walk with God. Who wouldn’t want to give God one day a week and 10% of their money and be done with it? It\’s a great deal if you can get it. The problem is that he owns every day of your life, and every penny you have. He can ask for any — or all — of it, whenever he likes.

Why should we care? Because you cannot — please listen — you cannot take portions of the Law, drop them into the New Covenant, and expect them to work. The Law, according to Paul, came to produce frustration, ungodliness, and eventually death, to show us our need for Christ. When you apply it to a Christian now, it does the same thing! Preaching the Sabbath or tithing as mandatory obligations for Christians only puts people in bondage and hinders their walk with God.

When should Christians meet? I lean toward Sunday, out of tradition, and because that is when most of my fellow Christians meet. Is it a sin to meet on Saturday? No, no more than meeting on any other day or night. Paul makes it clear that under grace, such things are no longer used to judge us.

One Hundred Words (10)

05/29/2008, 9:00 am -- by | No Comments

In the spirit of Proverbs 10:19, our newest regular feature will be a series of posts of 100 words — or fewer. Comments under ten words!

My heart was broken on some forgotten yesterday
when there wasn’t time to stop and fix it
So the part of me that sees is here today
but the part that feels is not

If I had faith like Joshua
I could stop the sun,
make the world stop spinning,
freeze time,
let the scattered fragments catch up,

and I’d be whole again.

But I doubt that such a selfish act
could ever pass for faith with God.

–DFS

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