Having Two Legs

Thursday, August 25, 2005

The Shadow of Atlas

I kind of feel like Sam in the Tower of Cirith Ungol, a small insignificant hobbit watching the enemy shouting, cursing, stumbling and running away. And no, I'm not trying to insinuate anything about anyone opposing me. It's just funny.

As many of you know Moscow is currently being looked after by a small group of self elected Nannies. These women apparently believe no one knows how a city is best run, not even the city officials, mind you, and so they are busy tsk-tsking with all manner of 'concerned citizen' letters regarding boys in sweater vests downtown.

There are 15 boys enrolled in Atlas this year, but if you read the letters you'd get the impression we were 60 going on 150 boys plus teachers and staff. This is what tips me off to the fact that they obviously have never been in the classrooms we use nextdoor to the Nuart although they're absolutely sure that the boys are in constant mortal danger. But I would happily agree with anyone concerned if we really were stuffing 100 boys into a telephone booth for Latin class.

The troubling thing is that most of the time these Nannies continue to maintain, straight faced, that they don't mean us any harm. They just don't think we should meet there they say. The problem is that this is a patent lie. They are on a crusade to rid Moscow of Christian Education, particularly those institutions that stand with Douglas Wilson and Christ Church, giving modernity an enthusiastic rasberry. Thankfully the veneer is beginning to come off. In at least one of the complaint letters, one of the City Nannies makes it clear that she doesn't think Moscow needs a Christian boys school like Atlas. We need more of that kind of honesty.

The other problem is that there is no zone in the city of Moscow that welcomes schools. All schools exist on a provisional use permit. And the City of Moscow has already indicated that this permit can be waived if a handful of wackos quote lengthy sections from the Holy Zoning Code. The point being, there is no safe place to do education in Moscow. Open-minded? Diverse? Multicultural? What the Nannies really want is comformity, submission and silence.

But we'll be open on Monday, and 10 or 15 young men will come downtown to learn Latin and read the Bible together. That may sound very scary, but between you and me, it's just the shadow.

Friday, August 19, 2005

Because of Sarah

Notice that at the end of Genesis 20 the reason that Yahweh had closed up the wombs of the women in Abimelech's house is translated "because of Sarah". The Hebrew actually says "on the word of Sarah" which seems to suggest that she prayed for God to protect/judge her abusers, etc. That's kind of cool. But also of interest is the fact that 'davar' (the word for 'word') has the same consonants as the word for pestilence or plague 'dever'. So there's a bit of a pun going on there. This fits because this chapter is an Exodus in miniature, with God's people being oppressed by a wicked king, God's people lying to protect themselves, and in the end being delivered from the king's hand and going out with great possessions (another example is Gen. 12). But in this instance, the 'plague' God sends is Sarah. And, as my wife pointed out, Sarah is barren. So God sends barrenness on the women of Abimelech's house. But of course after God has opened the wombs of the Philistines, He opens Sarah's womb too.

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Covenant Stuff

I haven't kept up with this stuff, and I'm sure everyone is way ahead of me here. There's a lot of great work being done on the Trinity right now and particularly the ramifications of a thorough going Trinitarian take on covenant theology.

But... I thought this was cool: Luke 22 has the last supper and the Passover and of course the institution of the Eucharist. It's weird that immediately after the Lord's Supper and the questioning as to who will betray their Lord, the disciples begin disputing about who should be considered the greatest. We know that the disciples were block heads sometimes, and so we (I) tend to read that everywhere. But Jesus doesn't miss a beat. He connects the dispute to the Lord's supper in verse 29-30. In 29 Jesus says "And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed upon Me." At least that's how it reads in my NKJV. But the word for "bestow" is the verb form of diathiki, the word for covenant or testament. Jesus is covenanting with his disciples a kingdom. There's some stuff there to unpack. But He uses the same word to describe what His Father did: "just as My Father covenanted (it might read) upon Me." Although I'm not one for 'proof texts' per se, this is a fine place to come to prove that a covenant does (or did) exist between persons of the Trinity.

That's probably old news for you. I think it's swell. But the other thing is the Kingdom-Covenant connection. The verb form for covenant has this regal connotation going on. To be in covenant is to be a subject of the King. The disciples were a lot quicker than I. They saw the cup of wine, and they heard Jesus tell them that it was His blood. When the 'testator' dies, the testament goes into effect (so saith Hebrews 9). The disciples saw the blood, heard the words and immediately they wanted to be made governors and princes. And Jesus didn't say, "No, there's no such thing..." He said this is how you get the highest position: by serving.

Monday, July 11, 2005

New View

So here's a new template. The old one was showing up with a grey background even though the coding said white. Anway, that means that I have to re-enter all the links and whatnot. I put a few up this morning, but I'm doing it all by memory so it may take me some time to remember everything I had up there.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Update

Hey all. It's been a while. Summer has been charging along at a gallop. But it has been a grand ride thus far.

My summer has a number of layers to it. I'm a teacher which means I have the gift of summer time, for which I am very grateful. I hope that I might always have at least some part in a school if for only the gift of summer. But of course I really do love the teaching part too! This year, my summer job is an internship with a small church plant in Elk, Washington. In addition to preaching and leading the service each Sunday, I am also teaching a Sunday School class on a hodge-podge of topics. I've been preaching through Genesis, and we are in the middle of some of the great passages in Abram's life; Chapter 17 will be this coming Sunday. We made a few changes to the liturgy at the beginning of the summer, adding a number of traditional spoken responses throughout the service, and a corporate prayer of Confession. The service already followed a basic Covenant Renewal pattern, but these additions add to the congregation's participation in the 'work' of worship. It's interesting that in so many Protestant churches, worship is done 'up front'. But of course that's the very thing the Reformers were so concerned about.

In addition to the internship, I have been doing some work for Veritas Press. Veritas is the East Coast flagship of the ACCS, the East Coast Logos if you will. They're working on a fabulous project called the 'Omnibus'. Designed for both homeschool and day school settings, the Omnibus will be a series of books (6 I think) that work through the literature and history of Ancient, Medieval, and Modern eras. The books consist of a thorough introduction and background on the author and historical context of each work, a worldview essay and analysis, as well as a staggeringly detailed series of lesson plans for working through the material. From Homer to Genesis, Beowulf to Chronicles of Narnia, the books are all full color with loads of pictures and suggested activities, and they even come with an interactive CD/DVD of some sort (I haven't looked at mine to see exactly what it is yet). Check the whole catalogue out here.

Between preaching and writing, we visited my family down in Grants Pass, Oregon. My dad is the pastor of Faith Church (OPC) in Grants Pass. We were there for only a few short days, but our primary purpose was to celebrate my brother, Andy's graduation from highschool. Andy finished school homeschooling, but he (like several of my other siblings) has been taking classes at the local community college for the last two years. He's an athletic guy, a strong Christian, and probably the best looking of all the boys. Watch out girls.

And of course if that wasn't enough, I'm involved in Summer Theater. Jim Nance, an elder at Christ Church and a teacher at Logos School, is directing Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream this year. Apart from the joy of just doing theater, we are putting on shows particularly for the Trinity Fest. I have been assigned the role of Bottom the Weaver, the aptly termed 'ass of the play'. The part is excessively fun, and the entire cast is a blast to work with, including my other brother, Jesse, who also has a part. I'm also really enjoying the rehearsals for the fresh air, outside on the stage at East City Park where we will be performing in August. You don't have to go to the Trinity Fest to come to the play, but of course, why would you want to miss any of it?

Another exciting challenge has been my father-in-law's recent heart surgery. My in-laws just arrived to Moscow (Troy actually) about two months ago after his retirement from 30 some odd years at Westinghouse and Northrup Grummin (sp?) which are big defense contractors with the government. The cardiac specialists in Maryland which he has visited regularly for the last several years have been assuring him that his heart was as solid as a drum. But after a month or so here and reoccuring chest pains, he went in to get checked out in Spokane only to find that four arteries were clogged or nearly clogged. We're of course very thankful that God was so kind and merciful in giving hints and clues that all was not well, the Maryland doctors notwithstanding. Although they went in to do four bypasses and came out having done five, Dad has pulled through the surgery well and is home (as of Saturday) recovering. We appreciate your continued prayers for a full recovery with no infections or complications.

Yesterday was Independence Day and, like true patriots, we went outside to enjoy our country. I took River down to the fireworks stand in the morning in order to fill up a proper quota of munitions and to procure the necessary barbque supplies at the grocery store. We spent the afternoon down in Lewiston (about 20 miles south) at Hells Gate National Park where several of our friends were camping out through the weekend. We chatted and hung out there, and let the kids run around and find gross things to put in their mouths. We also went down to the beach (read river front with sand) and splashed around a bit. We took the scenic route up highway 12 from Lewiston over to Troy and ended up at Jenny's parent's house for dinner. Hamburgers on the grill were followed by fireworks in the backyard. Some of the Jackson's neighbors had a lot more money than us, and they put on a fantastic show across the street. River took the fireworks fairly well. He really enjoyed the 'pop its', the little white bundles that explode when tossed on the ground. The real fire crackers themselves were kind of overwhelming at first, and he cried some. But by the end he was watching with awe and was apparently also too tired to feel threatened.

At any rate that's what we've been up too. We do hope you and yours are having a fantastic summer as well. We're moving (yes, again) a few blocks over into the Robinson Trailer park at the end of this month. The sad part of this otherwise really great deal, is that we have to give Porter away. So we're looking for a home for our Australian Shepherd/Boarder Collie. But he's a great dog, and we're sure he'll make another family very happy.

All the Best!

Saturday, June 11, 2005

School's Out for the Summer

Last day of school was yesterday. God has been very kind: four years now teaching at Atlas. It, as they say, has certainly flown by.

In honor of the occasion, I offer this poem which is by one of my students (one of the younger ones, mind you).

A Cave Man

A cave man sat in a cave of stone
picking his teeth with an old steak bone.
He felt he was brave,
while in his cave,
though he didn't have a light or a telephone.

But all at once, he heard a roar.
A Sabertooth Tiger was at his door.
The poor old mole
was in a hole,
and the tiger would have his hide, he swore.

But just as the tiger wrinkled his snout,
the cave man jumped to his feet with a shout.
He grabbed the back wall
and gave it a haul,
and turned his cave right inside out.

Then he was out wih the tiger in,
so he rolled up a rock with a cheerful grin.
He blocked the way
for a week and a day,
and now he's wearing a tiger skin.

Monday, June 06, 2005

Passing the Peace

Is the practice of "Passing the Peace" biblical? Is it necessary? Isn't it just something Roman Catholics and "high-Church" types do? And doesn't it just make people feel awkward? Doesn't it distract from the rest of the service?

The principle behind the practice is that being united to God means that we are united to one another. The point of the Passing of the Peace is not supposed to be an awkward point where everyone tries to think of something they might have done to offend someone else. That’s not the point at all. The ‘Peace’ is not a time of confession. Rather, it’s a time of showing our unity and communion with one another. Shaking hands and greeting one another in the Lord is a visible, tangible opportunity to show forth the unity that we have in Christ (Ps. 133, Eph. 4:1-16). The way we speak, sing, listen, pray, eat, drink etc. in worship is the pattern for how we are to live in the world. Obviously we are not required to do EVERYTHING in worship that we do in the world, but we do have specific exhortations to greet one another. Romans 16 in particular is an entire chapter where Paul gives a host of greetings to be given to particular saints in the Church of God. See verse 16 in particular where he commands us to greet another with a holy kiss! I don’t think that’s just cultural thing, and we know that this is not just a first century version of shaking hands because of the fact that it is designated as ‘holy’. This implies a kind of liturgical connection. It is a particular greeting that saints greet one another with, differently than the rest of the world because we are family in Christ. The end of 1 Corinthians 16 is another passage of greetings from Paul and another command to greet one another with a holy kiss. 1 Thess. 5:26, 1 Peter 5:14, and 2 Corinthians 13:12 also exhort us to greet one another with a holy kiss. Philippians 4:21 exhorts us to greet all the saints in Jesus Christ. The writer of Hebrews encourages us to greet all those who rule over us and all the saints (13:24, See also 3 John 1:14). We ought to see the importance of the concept simply on the grounds of how often it is repeated. I should clarify that I am not here arguing that the "Passing of the Peace" must include the 'holy kiss'. I'm rather arguing that the "holy kiss" is at minimum a principle that ought to be applied: a liturgical greeting among the saints.

Obviously ‘greetings’ are something that people often send in the mail, and we are reading first century mail (!). But greeting one another in peace and love is exhorted over and over in the New Testament because we have been brought together for fellowship and communion. The command we have to greet one another ‘in the Lord’ or with a ‘holy kiss’ implies that this is not just a “hey, how’s it going?” sort of greeting. That kind of greeting can be done before or after the service. The Passing of the Peace is a time for real, personal greeting ‘in the Lord’, extending peace and blessings to one another because that is what we have received from God through Jesus Christ.

As far as awkwardness goes, we’ve been doing it here at Trinity for the last 6 months or so, and I have not heard one single comment to that effect. Everyone I know has said that it is one of their favorite parts of the new liturgy. And again this is not a casual, “hey, how was your week?” kind of greeting. This is specifically a time to greet one another ‘in the Lord’. At Trinity we greet one another saying things like: “The Lord be with you/And with your spirit”, “The Peace of the Lord be with you/And with you”, and others just say, “God bless you!” And thus, it should not be a distraction or a sidetrack to the rest of the worship service. This, leading right into Communion is very fitting because Communion is not just a ‘me and God moment’. We are seated together at the table of the Lord, and this is a very tangible way to ‘discern the body of the Lord’ and prove the fact that there are not divisions among us as Paul warns against (1 Cor. 11:18-34).

Saturday, June 04, 2005

The Love that Overwhelms Us

In The Bondage of the Will, Luther notes that 'necessity' is an unfortunate term in describing the alternative to contingency. "Its meaning is too harsh and foreign to the subject; for it suggests some sort of compulsion, and something that is against one's will, which is no part of the view under debate." He goes on to use it, having no alternative on hand, but I appreciate the recognition of its deficiency. I'm not sure I have any better suggestions, but I agree with Luther completely here. When discussing foreordination and foreknowledge, no freedom is displaced or intruded upon; rather the sovereign will of God works in a mysterious and wonderful way upholding, enlivening and directing every last detail of the universe. We are not oppressed or coerced into the path that God would have us take. If any oppression or coercion is taking place it is solely as a result of our own freedom and will. We are only inhibited by our own nature. God does sometimes directly interfere in what we might call the 'miraculous', but the usual miraculous (if we dare call it usual) is a result of the constant joy overflowing the Trinitarian fellowship. The world is won over to God by His love. It's the sovereign grace of God that compels all things, the dance and song of the Triune fellowship that invites the world to follow the path laid out for it before the foundation of the world. It is no faceless necessity that binds us to the God of heaven. Like the perfect lover that He is, it's the rich and (seemingly) careless love of the Trinity that wins every detail of the universe. And thus the vast galaxies and every last stray atom sing his unending praises because we are all deeply smitten.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Devotional 1: Infant Baptism

We believe in Paedobaptism. This means that we believe that God has claimed our son and all children that are born into a family with at least one believing parent. They are set apart to God; they are “holy” to God in fact (1 Cor. 7:14). Leviticus 27 is one place where we learn what it means for something to be “holy to the Lord.” There, houses, fields, servants, fruit, tithes or anything else that is “holy to the Lord” becomes His property. It may not be sold for profit, but it belongs to the priests, God’s personal attendants. But we also baptize infants because salvation is of grace. Peter says that the promise of forgiveness of sins is for us and our children (Acts 2:39), and this is consistent with the Old Covenant which was a promise that flowed through generations (Gen. 9:12, 17:7, Deut. 7:9, 1 Chr. 16:15, Ps. 105:8, etc.). Also, while no children are explicitly mentioned, we do have record of early household baptisms (Acts. 16:15, 1 Cor. 1:16). The faith of one head of the household is enough for God to claim servants, children and any others in the household. The sign of the Old Covenant was circumcision, but the sign of the New Covenant is baptism. As the sign was placed upon both young and old, slave and free in the household of Abraham and his descendents, so it is with baptism in the Christian era (Gen. 17:9-14). Likewise as it was covenant breaking not to obey God in this, so it is disobedience not to baptize our children. Baptism is “circumcision without hands” according to Paul, and through the working of faith it unites us and our children to the death and resurrection of Jesus (Col. 2:11-12).
In addition to believing that we should baptize our children and all household members who are willing, we also learn an important lesson about obeying God. His Word is sufficient and clear, but He sometimes requires things of us that we must infer. Sometimes the tidy-minded want everything spelled out explicitly. But this is called legalism; God expects us to grow up into maturity and connect the right dots as we do.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

American Civil Religion

Interestingly the late 1940s and 50s saw an upsurge in ‘religion’. At this point over 90 percent of American citizens readily claimed affiliation with some religion or sect. But this was another sign not of God’s blessing but of his curse on our nation. To have a proliferation of churches and not a semblance of repentance or sorrow over sin is a sure sign of a deep blindness.

“Our government makes no sense unless it is founded on a deeply religious faith, “ President Eisenhower proclaimed, “—and I don’t care what it is.”

This generic religiosity and faith-talk substituted for real heart felt faith and sincere repentance and obedience. “The Howdy Doody Show” likewise encouraged its young watchers to worship “at the church or synagogue of your choice.” This civil religion really was fairly innocuous simply because they got along so well. Protestants, Catholics, and Jews (the big three in America) all had leading figures who spent most of their time condemning the Great Red Menace, Communism, when immorality and decadence of all stripes and flavors was spilling out of the American family.

And just to make sure, in 1954, Congress added the phrase “under god” to the Pledge of Allegiance because Atheism was the official religion or faith of the Communist party. Of course it is fairly ironic that the aurthor of the pledge was himself an athiestic socialist, but hey, that's how it goes.

It should be fairly clear from what we’ve already seen that this was never meant to be an exclusive reference to the Christian Trinitarian God; no, it has always meant the generic ‘god’ that the masses of Americans believe in with no distinctive claims or demands for anyone. As others have pointed out very clearly, this is the same god that is invoked in the National Cathedral, the god of American Muslims, Jews and far too many Evangelicals.

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

SHOD

In Genesis 35:8-11 shortly after Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, dies, God appears to Jacob, changes his name to Israel, and gives himself the name God Almighty. What I noticed recently was the fact that God's name God Almighty is El Shadai. In the context of the previous couple of verses it seems likely that a pun may be intended. Deborah was Rebekah's nurse, literaly "Rebekah's one who gave suck". "Shod" is the word in Hebrew for breast, and maybe this is a stretch, but God is also our 'nurse' in some sense. Israel literally means 'God preserves or perseveres', and there is a very real sense in which a nurse does the same thing. Just after Rebekah's nurse has died, God reveals himself as El Shadai, and shadai has the same root letters with an extra suffix. I'm not necessarily arguing against the translation 'almighty', I just think there's more going on than the English can reveal. Neat indeed.

Saturday, May 21, 2005

Jacob and the Angels

In Genesis 32, just after Laban and Jacob have made their peace, the angels of God meet Jacob as he is going on his way. Jacob recognizes that he is surrounded by the presence of God and names the place 'The Camp of God' (32:1-2). However in the next verse, most tranlsations read, "Then Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother..." But the word for messengers is the exact same word as angels. It seems incredibly odd to assume a change of characters here. It seems rather that Jacob sent the angels of God ahead of him to Esau, and these same angels returned to him in verse 6 to advise him of Esau's approach with four hundred men.

Jacob's stature is furthmore impressed at the end of chapter 32 when he wrestles with God. The man that wrestles with God is surely suited to command angels. Jacob is an ancient picture of the status of Christians, placed over all things, even judging the angels in Christ (1 Cor. 6:3).

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Cleared

Thanks to all who have prayed for Atlas over the last week or so. We received word today that we have been cleared on the zoning charges. Atlas is free to meet in the downtown district. There are always opportunities for appeals, if our enemies are so inclined, but pray that they might see the futility of further attacks.

Other than a few shuffles of class locations, we have continued classes as usual. And one hopes that the last six weeks of classes will be fairly uneventful. Thanks for your continued prayers.

Honest to God

Everyone tries to give a shot at the question, ‘what’s with the Moscow crowd?’ Or those already in town, ‘What’s with Christ Church and Doug Wilson?” So I fling this answer out just in case you care what I think. It is my blog after all. It’s what you’re here for right?

So what’s with Moscow? What’s with Christ Church? We believe that the Triune God made heaven and earth in six days. Our first parents sinned, disobeying God’s command and the world was plunged into sin and death. But God in his great mercy and kindness sent his Son to become a man and redeem us from the bondage of sin. Jesus came to set us free from sin. He did and so we are. Yeah sure, says the skeptic, lot’s of people believe that, but why Christian schools and colleges? Why poetry and stories? Why dancing and feasting? Why dark beer and drama and art? Why all the flack? The true and honest answer is that we love life. We love the God of heaven. We love the freedom we have been given. We are grateful, overflowing people astounded at the goodness of God and the goodness of creation. And we are thankful down in our bones.

But no one can love without hating. If something or someone is truly loved, that which might destroy it, is detested. Love assumes protection. Love demands a guard. The man who refuses to guard what he says he loves is a liar. We defend what we love.

We love God. We love his law. We love the freedom we have been given, and we believe it is the only true freedom. And this God and the life he has given us is more precious to us than anything else in the world. We would gladly die for it, and we will fight for freedom from sin and evil with all the gusto we can muster. That’s what we are. We are men and women and children committed to living honestly before God. We hate guilt. We hate sin. We hate every cultural attack on the freedom we hold so dear. We are freemen before God. And we are free down in our bones. We stand before God honestly, openly, and grateful. And that’s the truth, honest to God.

Monday, April 25, 2005

Joining the Fray

The last several years have seen a proliferation of attacks on anything remotely related to Christ Church. In fact for a while the intoleristas boycotted every restaurant in Moscow because they realized we ate there too. But realizing that meant they'd go hungry, they've eased up a bit and settled down in the area of zoning and building codes.

But that's pretty much the skinny. Atlas is under fire from two individuals who have far too much time on their hands.

It was only a matter of time really. You see we're scary. Boo. Gotcha didn't I? 15 boys in sweater vests. Yikes, I know. But it's true.

Pray for us that the final weeks of school would not be to disturbed. Pray that we would find favor in the eyes of city officials. And pray that God would bless our enemies with more fruitful work.

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Atlas School: Missions Update

Atlas School continues to flourish under God’s blessing. Jamin White, Mark Reagan, Mark Beauchamp, and Toby Sumpter continue to teach and lead the young men in their studies. We are also grateful for the oversight of our board: Bruce Evans, Joe Kline, Bill Amos, and Jeff Handel. As spring is nearing, many of the students have begun training for Lacrosse. The Atlas “Giborim” (“Mighty Ones”) are particularly enjoying the new equipment we have this year through a US Lacrosse grant. Coach Kline already has the guys running and sweating happily.

One of the central goals of Atlas is to instill in young men a love for life. This means among other things that our aim is to fill our days together with sacrifice. If any man would find his life, he must first lose it for the sake of Christ (Mt. 10:39). Worshipping, feasting, reading, laughing, drawing: these are all opportunities not only for joy but for service. Head knowledge is nothing without love. Please continue to pray that we would pursue this task faithfully. Pray that we would not only speak and read intelligently, but that we would do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. Pray also that God would send the right students, families, and provide teachers, as we plan for next fall. We are grateful for your continued prayers and encouraging words.

The Justice of God

The book of Romans is about the justice of God. Paul's concern from the beginning is how God can be just and still reject Israel. Isn't God being unjust or unrighteous in cutting Israel off and grafting the Gentiles in? Paul's answer is no, of course. God is just because his faithfulness and promises are still in effect to those with faith. Abraham was not yet circumcised when God vindicated him. What did God vindicate him from? God vindicated him from the taunts of his neighbors and family in Ur, who may have believed he was crazy to take up the nomadic habit. God viewed him and showed him to be in the right when he had interaction with pagan kings and other inhabitants of the land of promise. Why did God say that Abraham was right? Why did God deliver him from his enemies? Because Abraham believed God and obeyed him.

One of Abraham's great vindications was when God gave him a son from the barren womb of Sarah. Isaac was a flesh and blood declaration from God saying, 'Abraham is right for doing what he does. He's with me.' Circumcision was a seal, a physical mark that said God had made a covenant with Abraham, but it was Abraham's faith that proved he was right. Abraham believed God, and therefore Abraham was right. And if Abraham was right then all that befell him necessarily required God's justice. Abraham was in the right. Therefore God the judge, in order to judge justly, bound himself to rule in Abraham's favor. But how can this be when all that Abraham ever did was not just or right. Abraham sometimes was unjust and not right. How can God rule in his favor every time, when sometimes Abraham was bound to be wrong? God basically said to Abraham, 'I will take care of this later. For now, you're right, even when your wrong. Trust me.'

But what about God's promises? God's promises remained unfulfilled to Abraham. The story that God had told Abraham was not at an end when Abraham died. Abraham's death before seeing the rest of the story cries out for justice. Abraham's sojourning, his altar building, his household building is worthless to Abraham if he does not see God's promises fulfilled. But Abraham dies believing God, believing that God will vindicate him. That even from death, God is able to vindicate. For death is necessarily wrong. It is wicked, it is backward, and it is opposed to the very nature of God. God's justice requires that Abraham's wrongs be acquitted and his death be revearsed.

But this is of course the rest of Paul's point. When Adam and Eve sinned, they died, and sin came into the world. But this same sin and death was placed upon Jesus Christ on the cross. This would have made the cross no different than any other cross in Palestine at this time, except for the fact that Jesus was innocent. Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, having God for his Father, and therefore He was not under the reign of sin and death. But he submitted to death, humbling himself, taking upon himself the sin and death of the world. Christ's death was the answer to Abraham's (and our) wrongs. Christ's blood was the just due of all our injustice, every time we were, are, or will be wrong. But that was not the end. Christ was right and yet he died as though he was wrong. He was accused by the Jewish and Roman officials. They condemned him as a blasphemer. He was convicted of their charges, and he died before the multitude a guilty man, when he was in fact not guilty. This is the great injustice of history. This is the greatest injustice of history. Murder, rape, abuse, torture, famine, and calamity all pale in comparison. The problem of evil is here if nowhere else. How could a good and just God allow that?

And had the story ended there, God would be unjust. But it did not. The way that God has made the world is such that death cannot stick to the innocent. We often speak of life as being hard to preserve, death being difficult to beat. But for those who are right it is quite the opposite, death is hard to preserve, and life cannot be beat. Christ was right and the scribes and pharisees were wrong. Jesus was right, Pilot and the masses were wrong. How do we know this? Because Jesus rose from the dead. The resurrection proves Jesus right. It is his vindication for the world to see. Jesus paid the penalty for our wrongs, so that God might justly say that we are right, even when we have been wrong, that we are just, even when we have been unjust. And He rose from the dead both so that the world would know that Jesus was right, but so that we might know what happens to people who die being right: They rise from the dead. In this sense, the death of every believer is unjust and cries out to God for vindication. The graves of the just are memorials before God demanding his justice.

But with Abraham, we are sure that we have been and will be vindicated because we believe God. We believe God, obey Him, and He says we're right and all of our enemies are wrong. He judges on our behalf because we believe Him. Faith is what makes us right. Unbelief makes others wrong. And whatever our accusers may say, whatever accusations they may bring, whatever they may convict us of, we may live confidently knowing that the Judge of the whole earth will do right. Every wrong against us will be declared wrong, and those who plot against us will be destroyed. Justice will be served, and though we may die, life will win out over death, and we will wake up like Jesus in indestructable bodies. And we will smile at our enemies, because we knew we were right all along.

Friday, March 25, 2005

Nietzsche

Not withstanding an admittedly rudimentary knowledge of this jolly old pagan, I must give my judgment that he is perhaps one of history's greatest conspiracy theorists. To have grasped the breadth and depth of the radical and subversive work of Christ and to conclude that its fundamental traits are a sham and a farce is an accomplishment that no ordinary conspiracy theorist is capable. I raise my glass to you Friedrich on this Good Friday, the day in which we celebrate the death of all natural nobility and greatness because our hunger for joy is not so easily assuaged.

Clowney

Edmund Clowney (1917-2005): one of the Church's great generals.

Thursday, March 24, 2005

That Jolly Old Pagan

In C.S. Lewis' The Four Loves he, on several occasions, refers to Ovid as that "jolly old pagan". It's not just once mind you, but at least two or three times. Lewis' remark is striking in a couple of ways not the least of which is the fact that in all my reading of Ovid which admittedly is on the lesser side of a tad, I don't recall Ovid being all that jolly. Old? Yes. Pagan? Obviously. Jolly? I'm not so sure, but that's Lewis' point. Secondly, although jolly may be meant in a rather ironic or facetious way in regards to Ovid's actual personality, Lewis surely means that he is jolly for our purposes.

Along those lies, I would commend to you The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce. That jolly old pagan fought in the civil war, took up journalism, and when he had had enough of that, took for the deserts of Mexico and was never heard from again. But his dictionary is a handy dandy reference guide for anything remotely useful or not. In addition to the aforementioned desk tool, I might also recommend the H.L. Mencken. Another jolly old pagan who has written prolificly on nearly everything. I might also add that these last two authors are not only amusing and witty, but if you've ever wondered where Douglas Wilson gets his sense of humor, you might start here.

Go. Run along now. You've got more useful things to do. ttfn.

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