Stu's Blog

You never know what might happen if you engage the culture. I’ve been thinking a lot about why evangelical conservative Christians don’t engage the culture more. I think there’s a lot of fear that holds us back. It might be dangerous. Others might disapprove. We might have been trained to avoid possible morally compromising situations. We were taught to “abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thess. 5:22). The NIV renders it “avoid every kind of evil,” KJV says “abstain from all appearance of evil,” and for some of us it has morphed to “avoid every appearance of evil,” or “flee from the appearance of evil.” This is what I was taught. The last two are not a proper translation as far as I know, but none the less became guiding principles for many of us. The meaning becomes: “The world is a dangerous place. Stay away.” From this it’s an easy step to: “Come into the church. It’s safe here.” The only problem is that it’s pretty hard to be missional if you’re bound tightly to the institution of the church. You actually have to get out and engage the culture.

I’ve been making forays into the culture. It might look a bit wild to those inside the Christian sub culture. See this video of an evening on the terrace at University of Madison.

The fellow dancing is one of the professors at the university. He was not a hippie nor was he at all inebriated. He was definatly having a good time. We had a nice chat after the set. I also chatted with another professor, a hair stylist who enjoys hang gliding and sky diving, and a bunch of other people who I’d never meet inside a church. There were about 1500 people out on the terrace that night. I’m thinking more and more about how I must be more missional and must therefore intentionally make forays into the culture. By the way, it was a lovely evening.

Couldn’t help myself… Today’s reading has Thomas à Kempis imagining a conversation between Christ and a disciple.

I shall teach you those things which are right and pleasing to Me. Consider your sins with great displeasure and sorrow, and never think yourself to be someone because of your good works. You are truly a sinner. You are subject to many passions and entangled in them. Of yourself you always tend to nothing. You fall quickly, are quickly overcome, quickly troubled, and quickly undone. You have nothing in which you can glory, but you have many things for which you should think yourself vile, for you are much weaker than you can comprehend. ¹

And so on, etc., etc., etc. I am determined to get to the end of this book, but this is pretty depressing stuff. I question how helpful it is to engage in extended self scrutiny and abasement. This is essentially omphaloskepsis in search of sanctification.

No wonder people like Joel Olstein. I’m continuing my slog through “The Imitation of Christ” and today’s reading offers this:

Consider your sins with great displeasure and sorrow, and never think yourself to be someone because of your good works. You are truly a sinner. You are subject to many passions and entangled in them. Of yourself you always tend to nothing. You fall quickly, are quickly overcome, quickly troubled, and quickly undone. You have nothing in which you can glory, but you have many things for which you should think yourself vile, for you are much weaker than you can comprehend.¹

Perhaps you prefer:

When you are tempted to get discouraged, remind yourself that according to God’s word, your future is getting brighter; you are on your way to a new level of glory. You may think you’ve got a long way to go, but you need to look back at how far you’ve already come. You may not be everything you want to be but atleast you can thank God that you’re not what you used to be.²

Or this:

Be more splendid, more extraordinary. Use every moment to fill yourself up.³

Me? I’ll go with this:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Rom 15:13 ESV)

The June 21, 2010 issue of Time ran the story “Health Checkup: Hope in the long battle against malaria” by Alex Perry. In the story is a sub story about Ray Chambers, an extremely successful businessman turned philanthropist who is the present U.N. special envoy for malaria. Ray made a fortune inventing the concept of leveraged buyout, but wasn’t happy with his life. He started giving away his fortune by promising to pay the college tuition of 1000 inner city kids “if they stayed the path.” Ray enjoyed the experience a lot more than making money. In the space of the next 5 years he gave away $50 million. The sub story about Ray got me thinking about why people give.

Some (most?) give out of duty. We give because we must. Most of us get more joy out of deductions than paying taxes. Many give out of a genuine sense of loyalty and commitment. Tithing, supporting aging parents, children in trouble, missionaries, politicians, universities, the local radio station, and other causes we believe in represent this kind of giving. Some giving results from coercion and trickery. I will say no more on this to keep out of trouble.

Some people, like my wife, give for the joy of it and the desire to do something nice for someone else. Some of us really enjoy giving. Some of us give grudgingly. Most of us don’t have tons to give. Some do. Why does my wife find it so easy to give? It’s not because she has a ton of cash. Bill and Melinda Gates have become famous for giving away money. Lots and lots of money. So has Bono. Gates used to be famous for starting Microsoft (some spell it Micro$oft) but is becoming better known for his philanthropy. It is interesting that he really got into this after he got married. Maybe Melinda has more to do with this than meets the eye. He was so successful for so long at making lots and lots of money. I wonder if he’s a lot happier now that he’s giving it away. I think Ray is, or at least that’s what the article lead me to assume.

I must confess that I don’t find it easy to give money away. I do give it away and at least it doesn’t bother me too much when I do so. But I don’t give it away like my wife does. What’s her secret? Someone said, ‘In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’”‘ (Acts 20:35). Many recognize these words but perhaps are not aware of the context. Paul said this as he was getting ready to depart for Jerusalem probably on a relief mission. It was also going to be his last. Paul knew how to give money away. He’s famous for starting churches but should really be more famous for collecting money. Paul believed in the redistribution of wealth. He got that from Jesus. The verse from Acts refers to these words: “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay” (Matt 10:8). You might think that’s easy for him to say. He had no car payment, no credit card debt, no house, no kids to put through college.

Why does it seem hard to give money away? No doubt part of the problem is our addiction to consumerism. But there’s something more fundamental. I think it may have a lot to do with our need to feel secure in the present. We don’t really think too much about the future, the past is over with and can’t be changed, but we become fearful in the present, for this is where we live, and our security seems most vulnerable right now. Something bad could happen any moment. Of course, something good could happen any moment too. But the world has a lot of bad people in it and a lot of bad things are going on all the time. In the same issue of Time is this quote: “Those who at times are not good, let them for just four weeks be good,” Jacob Zuma, president of South Africa, speaking of hope for peace during the World Cup and desire that evil people would take a break for just four weeks.

So what if the times are not good and there are bad people out there. Naked we came into the world and so we will leave it, or at least we won’t take anything with us when we go. In the meantime we will probably make it to tomorrow in about as good shape as today, whether we give anything away or not. It is even possible that we’ll make it to tomorrow fine if we give something away today. We might even enjoy it. That’s the best reason to give. A pastor friend says we should give not out of duty but out of joy.

In another life, I write code. Lots is throw away code. Useful but short lived. For those who think the previous three sentences are in code, I’m referring to computer programs. I don’t often write lengthy multi-page programs. I write a lot that run a half a page to a page, but mostly I write very short programs, often just one line long, or sometimes one long line. I may have a repetitive, tedious, and error prone task to do, and if I can write a one-liner that does it correctly, even though I’ll never use it again, I will do so.

I love the elegance of a well crafted one-liner. One can pack a lot of stuff into one line if one is creative. And when you can make it look good, even beautiful, no make that elegant, well, there’s something really satisfying in the endeavor. Of course there are pithy one-liners that have nothing to do with code, though you might be right in suggesting that compressing a lot of meaning into a few words is a kind of codifying. Putting words together in an elegant and compact way that expresses something substantial is both an art and a craft. One-liners done well can express significant values, persuade one to belief and action, and can overwhelm a book full of words.

C.J. Mahaney recently blogged an article titled “Keep Reading.” A colleague rang me up the other day and we began talking about it. I had recommended a book titled “How To Read A Book (in programming the preceding might be called a circular reference) by Mortimer Adler and my friend had just picked up a copy when he read Mahaney’s article. Mahaney quoted a bit of an old post by John Piper titled “Quantitative Hopelessness and the Immeasurable Moment” where Piper said:

What I have learned from about twenty-years of serious reading is this. It is sentences that change my life, not books. What changes my life is some new glimpse of truth, some powerful challenge, some resolution to a long-standing dilemma, and these usually come concentrated in a sentence or two. I do not remember 99% of what I read, but if the 1% of each book or article I do remember is a life-changing insight, then I don’t begrudge the 99%.

Thus the power of one-liners. You too can reduce an entire book to a sentence. That was said tongue-in-cheek as this is not a post to critique reductionism. Actually, I’m in favor of one-liners. I also forget much of what I read. I’m lucky to get one good sentence out of a book sometimes and get it lodged somewhere in my memory so that I can actually recall it and use it later. Since I ran across three gems in the space of two days, I decided to post them. I especially love it when there is a bit of humor in the one-liner. I must confess that some of this is going to go a bit over the one sentence rule, but I believe it stays within the spirit of the challenge. Here they are.

The first one is from a book dealing with difficult people in the church.

When attacked by dragons, our normal response is to become upset or defensive, and when we feel threatened, we usually wind up dousing the fire with gasoline.¹

This next is from Calvin’s Institutes (3.9.4) speaking of those who are not overly concerned with this life and have their hopes fixed on the next (of which he approves highly):

I confess, indeed, that a most accurate opinion was formed by those who thought, that the best thing was not to be born, the next best to die early.²

This last is from the famous pitcher turned preacher Billy Sunday. Sunday was really famous for his one-liners. This was supposedly offered near the end of his colorful life:

“I’m against sin,” he once said. “I’ll kick it as long as I have a foot. I’ll fight it as long as I have a fist. I’ll butt it as long as I have a head. I’ll bite it as long as I’ve got a tooth. And when I’m old and fistless and footless and toothless, I’ll gum it till I go home to Glory and it goes home to perdition.”³

I wish I could write like this. Maybe I can a little bit, even if it’s mostly in code.

“Poverty and disgrace come to him who ignores instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is honored.” (Prov 13:18) To have good people call you to account is a great gift. Living well in isolation is impossible. Navigating decisions and interactions with others in life is like driving at night through the fog with bad wipers and one headlight out. “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” (Prov 27:17) Accountability is opportunity for reflection, correction, clarity, commitment, repentance, forgiveness and healing. “My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights. Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.” (Prov 3:11-18)

A symptom of the “bubble” is the gradual inclusion of CCL (Christian Code Language) in everyday conversation such that we become increasingly incomprehensible to the mainstream community. Dan Kimball, in “They Like Jesus But Not The Church” says: “We find ourselves regularly using Christian words and cliches, such as backsliding, prayer warrior, fellowship, quiet time, traveling mercies, ‘I have a check in my spirit.’ … The transformation is complete. We have become citizens of the bubble.”¹ Theologians often use technical language to talk about God because they can’t figure out how to say what they want to say in simple language. At least they are intentional. We often coin and use Christianese because it distinguishes us from “normal” people. It’s kewl to know the secret lingo. There are websites for those who need to study up – google Christianese. Some other goodies: “when I used to be in the world,” “bless his heart,” “she caused me to stumble,” “I don’t mean to judge, but the truth is,” “truthfully,” “Lord willing.” I have a few questions for you: 1. Are you in the habit of using Christianese? 2. Do you care that non-Christians have no idea what you’re talking about when you use Christianese? Actually, they will have an idea, but it’s probably not what you intended. 3. Should you care? 4. Why should you care? 5. Did you notice that Jesus, though at times hard to understand, didn’t coin new language to talk about God but used familiar language about things that grow, losing and finding stuff, fighting, working, loving, families, friends, enemies and such?

On the heels of 1 Chron 29:14,¹ I was reading Num 11:1-15 in the TNK² and this caught my eye: “Now our gullets are shriveled” (Num 11.6a TNK). If you ever needed a primer on complaining, look to Numbers 11. A good complainer must be 1. ungrateful, 2. a creative articulator, 3. know how to whine, and finally, 4. be willing to gorge themselves on what they complain they lack. If you are human, you probably know from personal experience a little about each of these essential qualities, but hopefully don’t excel to the degree that these folks did. The translation of v6 is somewhat ambiguous³. I like shriveled gullets. It has zing! Really good whiners don’t use plain vanilla language. Even Moses does a bit of whining: “Where am I to get meat to give to all this people?”  (Num 11:13 ESV) The NLT says whine/whined/whining is vs 10,13,18,20. The TNK substitutes weeping in vs 10 which leads me to believe that weeping is occasionally an appropriate substitute for whining. The BDE ups the ante by including vs 4 when you look for weeping. But I prefer whining as weeping is somewhat ambiguous. So what can you expect in return for a good whine? How about fire from heaven? “and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some” (Num 11:1 ESV). If that doesn’t finish it, you might just get what you asked for. “18 Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the LORD, saying, ‘Who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt.’ Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you shall eat. 19 You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, 20 but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you. (Num 11:18-20 ESV). This is serious stuff, but you too can be a first class whiner if you try, and it seems that complaining is part of the human condition. We have no need for instruction as this comes quite naturally. Where does this come from? Is there an antidote? Please, no simple moralisms. Been there, tried that.