The Situation and the Terrain

Chaplain Carl said something really profound the other day. Something so meaningful that I felt it needed to be expanded upon. By me.

He said, “I can lead you into a world of Legalism, and you will live lives of sin. Or I can teach you about Grace, and you will sin no more.”

A religious life centered on a list of do’s and don’ts, rights and wrongs --Legalism -- will indeed lead us to a life of sin. Because we will make mistakes. We will mess up. And then we will have Committed Sin.

But a religious life based on Grace and immersed in God’s never ending love of us will lead us to lead lives filled with goodness and mercy and kindness and compassion and right thinking. Sure, we’ll still mess up, but we will not have lost any of God’s love or moved away from Him or be less entitled to his Grace.

Some people want the list of do’s and don’ts. They like the certainty of always knowing exactly what is right and what is wrong. But life isn’t that simple.

A lie is not always a sin. It’s very easy to imagine circumstances where a lie is actually an act of kindness and compassion.

Long time ago, I had a friend who liked to say that in Tactical Theory Class at West Point the correct answer to almost any question was “It depends on the situation and the terrain”. Here’s a situation where I should have thought about that.

Many years ago, I worked at Pizza Hut as a waitress. This was back when pizza was a big deal. There weren’t any five dollar hot and ready deals. No cheap buffets. For some of us, eating out at a pizza parlor was a big night out. I can remember when my kids were small, counting pennies to see if we could also get a salad. When I was waiting tables there, they also offered a pasta dish. Wagon wheel pasta and your choice of what went in it, onions, pepperoni, green peppers. In a little dish that looked like a boat.

 

So this man came in with his three kids, and they each ordered one of these pasta dishes and each one wanted it a different way.  No onions in one, pepperoni and sausage in another.  I don’t think the man ordered anything but the terrible coffee we served there.  And then a few minutes in, he calls me over and tells me that each dish was wrong.  The kids looked uncomfortable.  I offered to make them over or give him the meal for half price.  He opted for half price.  A week later, the same thing happened.  And then again.  The third time, I made very sure that the dishes were make correctly, and when he started to complain, I said no.  No, I know they’re right.  And we never saw the man again. 

In my mind at that time, I was doing the right thing.  I was playing by the rules, and he was lying.  I was standing up for a principal.  But now that I have children and I’ve been poor, I understand that he was just trying to feed his children, give them a treat he could not afford.  My loyalty should not have been to a corporation but to a father who was struggling.  I should have cared less about the rules, the principals, the Legalism, and more about kindness to a person.  I should have said, Oh, I’m so sorry, I don’t know why we can’t get this right.  Comped his meal and sent him home with a pizza. 

 

For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.  1 Corinthians  1:25

Keep it Simple

On a recent episode of “Bones”, Temperance justifies Booth’s anonymous act of charity by quoting an abbreviated version of the Love Verses from First Corinthians.   But instead of “love”, she inserted “charity”.

Charity is patient.  Charity is kind.  It doesn’t sing its own praise.  It doesn’t keep score.

Which is all well and good.  Except that the Love Verses aren’t about Charity.  They are about Love.  This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this.  In fact, I raised a bit of a stink during a Bible Study class when someone else tried to do this.  The Love Verses are about Love, not Charity.

Maybe you could say Love and Charity are interchangeable, but I won’t buy that either. 

I myself used the Love Verses on my wedding invitation, which is also a misrepresentation.  I knew it, but I did it anyway.

It’s a misrepresentation because the Love Verses are about God’s Love for us, Agape love.  They could be used as a model for how we should love each other, which was my justification for using them in my wedding invitation, but they are about God’s unending, unwavering, nonjudgmental love for us, his terribly flawed children, and viewing them as Agape gives them even more strength.  Especially I think the one about not keeping score.

 

We do this a lot.  We take a piece of scripture out of context or with liberal interpretation and we pervert the original meaning until it says what we want it to say.  Some verses do stand on their own, but others need to be in context, or they can only be properly understood when you know who they were spoken to or what the circumstances were that Paul was addressing in that particular letter.

This is generally more scholarship than most people have time for. 

I myself have said “Judge not” when someone is being catty about someone else.  But the real warning of the Judge Not verse is that God will use the same yard stick that we use to judge others by when He judges us. 

 

I watched a news program the other night which featured a reporter spending a week end with the Westboro Baptists.  He questioned one of their signs which said “Fags are Beasts” and used 2^nd Peter 2:12 as the basis for that scripture.  The reporter said I don’t think that’s right, and the kid holding the sign, who seemed a little unsure to me, said it was “an interpretation”.

That could cover basically anything.  If I say 2^nd Peter 2:12 says that Apples are Oranges, I could justify that by saying it’s an interpretation, when what I really mean is it’s a mis-interpretation.

For my thinking, if you have to go more than two steps past the original meaning you’ve over interpreted the verse.

But be that as it may, let us look at 2^nd Peter 2:12.  I wasn’t familiar with it, so I looked it up.  On my phone.  I just love having a Bible in my pocket.

Second Peter, Second Chapter is about “False Teachers and Their Destruction”. 

This is the NIV version:  But these people blaspheme in matters they do not understand.  They are like unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals they too will perish.

Verse 10 says These People are those “who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority”.  So maybe you could say that These People are Homosexuals.  Maybe.

But to get from Verse 10 to Verse 12, you have to read Verse 11:  yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not heap abuse on such beings when bringing judgment on them from the Lord.

Interpret that how you will.

It is easier of course to just refute everything the Westboro Baptists preach with one simple verse.

 

God is Love.  1 John 4:8

 

Lead to It

One day while we were preparing for Bible Study, we were discussing bibles.  I have a copy of God’s Word which has been highlighted and tabbed and flipped through, and it’s starting to look a little battered.  I call it my Working Bible.  And while the translation is usually fine, there are times when I want something different, or something to compare it to, so I was saying that I needed to find another Bible, and the Lord said to me, Half Price Books, Beth.

And I felt really dumb.  Why hadn’t I thought of that?

So, the next time I got paid, I went to Half Price Books, and there was only one Bible on the shelves which appealed to me.  It is a New Revised Standard.   It has the Apocrypha, and before each Book is an explanation of where the book came from and what we know about it historically, and in the back is about sixty pages of history and explanation. 

I am not working right now.  I have had lots of time to do some writing and to do other important things like get a gold on every level of Farm Frenzy 2 (except one, still can’t beat that one) and play Megapolis on my new phone.  I also decided, just because, to also try to learn to speak Mandarin.   Wo xue zhong wen, bu hui shuo zhong wen.

I had been thinking for a while about trying to take a course on the Bible from one of the online universities, so one day, when I had exhausted all my other activities, I got on the internet and searched for a free online course that wasn’t too tied to some particular denomination.  I didn’t find one, but I did send off a query to an online university, thinking I was just going to get a course description.

Instead I got two phone calls and an application for admittance.  Part of the application was an agreement to sign a Declaration of Faith which said that you believed certain things. 

Most of it I had no problem with, but one of the articles was that there would be a Judgement Day and people would stand up from their graves.  I don’t believe that.  I do not believe that, for example, my father is going to climb out of his grave on a certain day because I believe he is already in Heaven.  And this is exactly the kind of thing I don’t like to waste a lot of time on. 

But that is only a small aside to the point. 

The reason I really couldn’t have signed that Declaration, even if I had the money to go to their school, was that I do not believe that my getting an education with them should hinge on identical beliefs, and moreover, I do not think that God requires each of us to believe exactly the same thing or to do exactly the same thing or to perform exactly the same job.

I believe that you have a conversation with God, and He tells you what He expects from you.  But He bases His expectations on who you are, where you’ve been and what you’re capable of.  And He doesn’t expect the same thing from each of us. 

He knows each of us intimately, and He understands that one person may be full of love and kindness and open to ideas of vast forgiveness or charity, that another has been so battered and abused by life that they are struggling just to say a kind word.  And for now, a kind word is all He expects from them.

When I was sorting these thoughts out for myself, I had such a moment of clarity that I had to write it down. 

And I decided to use that Bible that the Lord led me to, and educate myself with all those essays and histories and footnotes.  But first I decided to read the story of the Gospel in chronological order, skipping back and forth between Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and here is the first verse that struck a chord with me.

 

Do not put the Lord your God to the test.  Matthew 4:7 and Luke 4:13 and Deuteronomy 6:16

Am I the only one....

 

I am hoping to get a job working for a couple who are Christians.  This would be good for many reasons.

For one, I really need a job.  My money is gone, and my car is dead.

But it would also be nice to work for someone who is actively Christian.  I am sure there are many people on the backside who believe, they just don’t go to church, or openly pray, or thank the Lord when they win a race.  And it would be nice to be among people who do.

Of course, it also raises the question of who would I witness to, if the people around me already believe.  I just spent three months in a miserable situation with a miserable woman who made everyone around her miserable.  I don’t know what kind of witnessing I did there, except the turning the other cheek thing, the not getting in her face and yelling back thing, which I can tell you, I really wanted to on more than one occasion.  Maybe she will never recognize that it was my Christian heart that was trying to be kind to her over and over again, when she was slapping those kindnesses back in my face.  But maybe someday, she will.

I often feel that I am the only one in the crowd.  The only Christian who isn’t using my faith as an excuse to preach hate and exclusion rather than love and charity.  I spend too much time listening to well intentioned intelligent people, who I would listen to gladly on any other subject, try to prove that my faith is just a bunch of superstitious nonsense.  Maybe my hanging onto it is a form of witnessing, I don’t know.

I don’t know if these blogs serve any purpose.  It would be nice to know that someone reads them and thinks, I needed to hear that.  Or I was thinking that, too.  Or someone stumbles onto them and hears something they haven’t heard before.

There are days when I am so filled with love, so overwhelmed by grace, and it just seems a shame to keep it to myself. 

Let your light shine before others, so that may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.  -- Matthew 5:16

Did you hear the one about...?

I believe in testimony. It’s a simple way for us to remind each other of the power of God in our lives, of where we are and who we are and what we represent. It’s a good way to reach out to a neighbor and give them a goose, a pat, some encouragement. It’s really good if you’re in a small, informal church, like the ones I attend, so you know everyone and everyone who wants to speak has a chance to.

Recently, I gave a testimony. It was preceded and followed by testimonies about brain tumors disappearing and families being saved from paralysis through the power of prayer, about God hearing a prayer said during a coma and passing the word on to the physician. That was a really good one.

Here is an amplified version of my testimony:

Since I came to Houston, I have been given many opportunities to help others by giving them some money. When I have the money, I do this, because I have never reached the end of the week and thought If I just hadn’t given that guy $2 for food or $20 so he could a room on a cold night, I would have enough money to get what I need.

(My mother says you should do this because you never know when they might be angels. The guy I gave the $20 to wanted to pray with me and hold my hand, and the whole time I just kept thinking I am going to get the flu from this guy. But I didn’t.)

This week we saw a guy digging through the trash at McDonalds, and I asked him if he needed something to eat, and he said yes. So I gave him $6. And then other things came up, (I adopted a kitten and had to get him some stuff), and I was worried that I was going to run short. And I was thinking that maybe I would need to count that Alms-giving as part of my Offering and give less at church.

It was time to do laundry, and I gathered up all the quarters we had and I got a $20 bill and put it in my pocket. We got to the laundromat and got the machines loaded, and it was time to get the quarters, and I looked in my pocket for that bill, and it wasn’t there. I had two fives and four ones and the quarters, and no twenty. I looked and looked. I looked in pockets I knew I had not put it in, and I thought well, I must have set it down instead of putting it in my pocket.

But we got the laundry done, and were down to the last dryer, and thought maybe we needed one more dollar’s worth of quarters, and I put my hand in my pocket, and there was that twenty dollar bill.

Now, you can say I am just a crazy old woman who can‘t keep track of things (or if you’re one of my kids, that the Brownies have been in my pockets, although I certainly hope they have not), but to me, that was God saying “As long as You’re with me, there will always be enough“.

That was my testimony. Everyone enjoyed it. The Chaplain said that it was good because we frequently forget to acknowledge God in the little things that happen in our lives.



The next week, it was time to go to Chapel, and I put some treats in the kitten’s bowl, so he wouldn’t follow me, and that was the last I saw of him. I was distraught. I am crazy about this kitten. And I prayed and prayed. Please bring him home. And someone did. He was just a few rows over, and when Paul Nolan found out I was looking for him, he carried him home.

So, I go back to Chapel, and people are giving testimonies. But this time, I didn’t stand up and say The Lord brought my kitten home. The Lord gave me a friend, who knew I was missing my baby and took the time to catch and carry him back. Thank you, Paul. Thank you Lord.

Other people where telling more stories about blindness turning into light, more brain tumors disappearing, and I just didn’t think a kitten coming home noting mentioning.

But I was wrong. I should have said so. It was God’s Hand and it should have been acknowledged.

So I am acknowledging it here, and I am saying this is what I was reminded:

God is in the Big Things.

God is in the Small Things.

Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. -- 1 Peter 4:10

An Imaginary Conversation with An Atheist

The Atheist is a personable young man, nice looking but nothing extraordinary. He is wearing a brown checked blazer and an unexplained dark red shirt. I am me. In a lilac tea dress.

We are seated at a little round table on a sunny veranda with an expansive view. Like a balcony at Kings Landing or something out of a Maxfield Parrish painting.

The Atheist has a carafe of red wine which he offers to share.

“I don’t drink.”

“Oh, yeah, because you’re a Christian.”

“Because I made a decision not to drink, and I don’t miss it. And I don’t like red wine. I prefer a blush or rose.”

“Oh,” he says. Then, “So why are we here? So you can convert me?"

“Not at all.”

I can see in his face that he doesn’t trust that response. “Isn’t that your mission?”

I make a non-committal noise. “Some people, yes. But I am not an evangelist. My ministry, if you will let me call it that…”

“Call it whatever you like,” he says, not unkindly.

“Thank you. I like to call it a ministry. My ministry is for those who already believe. To share ideas and experiences and help Christians lead a Christian life in a difficult world. And if I pick up some people along the way, that’s okay, too.”

“So what do you want to talk about?”

“I would like you to entertain the idea that there are other possibilities.”

“There are no rational possibilities.”

“And I would like you to stop insinuating that because I believe, I am intellectually inferior to you.”

He wants to chuckle. He cannot make that concession.

“Perhaps instead we can say that you are spiritually stunted.”

“Spiritually stunted? What is that?”

“A joke actually. I don’t want to get snarky. Maybe you wouldn’t mind being spiritually stunted.

“You know, belief in a higher power is inherent in mankind. Remember when they found that lost tribe in the Amazon, and it turned out they were fake? The first person who doubted them was a linguist who found that they had no reference to God. Maybe there’s a reason for that.”

“Belief in a higher power is always more prevalent among the uneducated. Exposure to the world, to intellectual pursuits tends to lessen the need for religion. Amazonian tribes believed eclipses were the Gods. Evidence proved them wrong.”

“Evidence can lead to any conclusion if you look at it the right way. Like the Ancient Aliens people. Have you seen the guy with the crazy hair?” I wave my hand around my head to illustrate, and he knows exactly who I mean. “If you only look at the evidence that supports your conclusion, you can conclude anything is true.”

“I could say the same thing to you.”

“That’s true, you could.”

“There’s no evidence that the Jews were ever held in captivity in Egypt.”

“Yes, I’ve heard that.”

“That kind of throws out about half the Old Testament, doesn’t it? And how can your version on God be the only just and true version, and an Islam’s version of God also be the just and true God?”

“Those are really big questions and valid questions. But just because I don’t have the answers doesn’t mean I discard the whole concept. It’s a little conceited to think that just because I don’t understand something it’s invalid. I can’t do the Saturday New York Times crossword, but that doesn’t mean it’s stupid. I am.”

“Not the same thing.”

“No, not quite. I watched a stand up routine that Bill Maher did a few years ago.”

“That must have been fun. Were you forced?”

“No, I love Bill Maher. What bothered me the most was this little fake nervous laugh he had affected. He was talking about the dichotomy of God and Jesus being the same thing, and he couldn’t wrap his head around it. So he just threw it all out. As if there couldn’t be any concept in the Universe bigger than his own mind. That’s what I would like you to stop.”

“I am not Bill Maher,” he says.

“Not today,” I say, but he doesn’t get it, so I move on.

“You know, when you die, if I’m right, you’re going to have a lot of explaining to do. But when I die, if you’re right, well, no one will ever know.”

We laugh.

“Is that supposed to change my mind?”

“No, just an observation. Is there anything I could say that would change your mind?”

“No, is there anything I can say that would change your mind?”

“No.”

“I don’t see how you can believe in a God who allows so much suffering in the world. And so much of it done in the name of religion.”

I am silent for a moment, because it is hard sometimes to accept that God lets babies dies or thugs beat up old women for the few dollars in their purse or that He allowed AIDS to happen and in its horrible aftermath, people, otherwise good people, to hate the ones who got sick. That sort of thing. Sometimes it’s even hard to remember to call on Him when you feel like He’s left you in a deep dark hole.

“There’s a bird that lays two eggs. Not at the same time. The second one is just insurance in case something happens to the first one.”

“Yes,” he says. “Golden Eagles, for one. The Cain and Abel birds.”

“Yes, the Cain and Abel birds. So the second one doesn’t get fed, eventually gets crowded out of the nest, falls to the forest floor and dies. Probably gets eaten by weasels or something. When I first heard about these bird, I used to lay awake nights, thinking how cruel that was.”

“Was this when you were a child?”

“Early twenties, I think. It still bothers me. There had to be a way for that bird to evolve that didn’t involve such suffering. Other birds did it. But Nature is what it is.”

“God is what he is?”

“Yeah, and He presents us puzzles and unanswered questions and unbearable cruelties and things we just can’t fathom. And joy and happiness and kindness and love that are also unbearably good.

“I can’t change your mind, because belief in God in not an intellectual process. I believe what I believe because of the Power of the Spirit.”

“And I am Spiritually Stunted.”

“I hope not. I hope you’re just Spiritually Asleep, and someday you’ll wake up. Because you may be imaginary, but you seem very nice.”

The Atheist shakes his head and orders a carafe of White Zinfandel.

Don’t you realize that it is God’s kindness that is trying to lead you to him and change the way you think and act? Romans 2:4 [God's Word]