Turning aging on its head - the lesser of two evils?

President Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race reflects wisdom that he is not given credit for. Former President Trump shows some of the same symptoms of aging, but he is not likely to back down. 

After over fifty years of labor, the Jubilee year is commanded as a celebration of God’s goodness. (Leviticus 25) This is not retirement, but trusting God to provide while the nation takes time to refresh their understanding of and commitment to God’s ways.  One major aspect of the commandment is that land is to revert to its ancestral owners. That is, poor people who sold the land they inherited are to return to it. Israelites who were forced by poverty to sell themselves into slavery are to go free. The purpose of this arrangement is to recognize that the land and the people are the Lord’s, and His people are blessed to live in it, and to be His people. The wisdom that comes with age is parallel to this, i.e., after fifty years of living before the Lord, older people should recognize the blessing that comes from heeding and obeying God’s word. (Proverbs 16:31, 20:29)

In the 1930’s, the world experienced a decade of rest (which actually began in September, 1929, just before Rosh Hashana).  But this was not a blessing to most of the world because of their failure to acknowledge God. The U.S. experienced a great revival due to necessity - people crying out to God because of need. And they did need Him. We need Him now. Godless rulers are a fact of life. (Pope Francis hit that on the head - we have to choose the lesser of two evils!) But Daniel flourished and honored God in the most trying of circumstances. And God is faithful to His word and His people. Regardless who becomes President in January 2025, Jesus is still King of His people, the King of Kings. 

Sadly, what Pope Francis said on September 13 reflects the true dilemma we face: choosing the lesser of two evils. At an age when most are basking in retirement, Mr. Trump is going all out to return to the White House. But the dilemma is the moral choices behind the primary policy thrusts of both he and Vice President Harris.

• Vice President Harris wants to legalize abortion as a matter of Federal law. After the Supreme Court ruled that this is not a Constitutionally protected right, she and her allies want a Federal Law that will override all state laws on this subject. In short, she wants to enshrine the evil of child sacrifice in Federal law.
• Former President Trump plans to secure the border and deport millions of immigrants. The  kerfuffle about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio shows several things.

• He does not welcome or tolerate strangers, even when they are fleeing evil in their own countries.
• He does not seem to care about the difference between legal and illegal immigrants.
• He believes wild rumors from social media and treats them as truth while simultaneously denouncing broadcast media as full of lies. In other words, he is unwilling to put in the effort to discriminate between truth and lies.

If he does not put in effort to discriminate at the level of facts, it is unlikely he will put effort into discriminating moral values or how God’s commands apply.

Although aging and retirement can be aligned with mental decline, they can also be the context for wisdom and celebration. The deciding factor is moral decline. Are we (the aging) aligned with God, His ways, and His word? But this question is not age related, it is only that the passage of time reveals the true condition of our hearts. This is the blessing of old age, and of the year of jubilee - that respect for and obedience to God results in fruit. Sadly, disrespect and disobedience also results in fruit, but that fruit is not desirable. One need only read the book of Jeremiah to recognize what harvest we are reaping in our country, today.

DNA methylation and Eternity

In Genesis 6:1-7, the preamble to the deluge and Noah’s Ark, we read of the elohim having children by the daughters of men, God reducing the lifespan of humans to 120 years, the Nephilim resulting from these mixed marriages, and the near-universality of evil in human hearts. Evil was universal except for Noah’s family. Implicitly these trends were time-synchronized and causally connected. Michael Heiser provided insight into the elohim having children by human women in The Unseen Realm.

The reduction of human lifespan is a topic of considerable interest, since aging is a biological reality.  Drs. Adam Sturm and Tiber Vellai have proposed that their research has identified the progressive accumulation of N6-methyladenine as an epigenetic mechanism in mitochondrial DNA that effectively sets a clock for lifespan. 

The factors that influence the methylation of genes include healthy or unhealthy lifestyles (e.g.,  diet and exercise, drug and alcohol use and abuse, smoking, BMI, etc.),  and environmental factors.  If this is indeed the mechanism that causes the effects of aging, it still leaves open the question of how God activated this in the human race. Various events are mentioned in the timeframe of Genesis 6 that may contribute.

•      The contamination of the human genome with DNA from demons. (Genesis 6:4)

•      Eating animals and everything else on earth. (Genesis 9:3)

•      Normalization of excessive alcohol use (Genesis 9:20-21)

•      Opening the floodgates of Heaven, removing a barrier to radiation from outer space damaging human genes.  (Genesis 7:11)

 The important thing is not the mechanisms God uses to limit human lifespan, but the human choice of continuous evil, intermixed with demonic fraternization. Although God promised Noah that He would never again destroy the world with a flood (Genesis 8:21), Jesus likened the time of the end to the days of Noah (Matthew 24:37-39). The first three items above seem just as rampant today as in the antediluvian world. The exposure to man-made radiation instead of cosmic rays has become a routine medical procedure, as environmental radiation has been the norm since the days of Noah.

 In Psalm 90, Moses reflected on the shortness of life

Our days may come to seventy years,
    or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
    for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

If only we knew the power of your anger!
    Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.

Teach us to number our days,
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:10-12)

 

He goes on to observe that we should take joy in God’s love and His deeds. In the context of a limited lifespan, having previously mentioned God’s judgment for sin, he is pleading for God’s mercy. And then he concludes with verse 17:

May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us;
    establish the work of our hands for us—
    yes, establish the work of our hands. (Psalm 90:17)

As Moses saw it, our perspective should be that we ask God, co-labor with God, to create a lasting legacy. Not just in our lifetimes, but for the generations to come.

Effort spent on epigenetic research and possible lifespan extensions miss the point. Eternity awaits us, in God’s presence, and our priorities should reflect this. Do our actions and priorities exhibit an outworking of the nature and character of Jesus in our life, or the working of God in our life to prepare us for heaven by building the character of Christ into us?

Book Review: Over Ruled, by Neil Gorsuch and Janie Nitze

 Subtitle: The Human Toll of Too Much Law

Neil Gorsuch, associate justice of the Supreme Court for seven years, lays out a few key points:

•      The explosive growth of laws and regulations purporting to govern every aspect of life in the United States over the last fifty years.

•      The creation of a federal bureaucracy to write the regulations, enforce both law and regulation, and review any complaints or appeals.

o   The bypassing of the constitutional balance of powers that the founders intended to protect citizens from abuse of power, by the creation of this all-encompassing bureaucracy.

•      Examples where the legitimate intent of laws and regulations has been ignored by civil servants (a.k.a. Masters) in applying them to circumstances far afield from their purpose, showing how ridiculous people in the bureaus and departments can control and destroy the lives of others through overreach.

•      The loss of local and state authority due to federal sovereignty, including the loss of flexibility to tailor laws to unique local situations.

•      Corporations’ use of legal compliance to shield themselves from responsibility.

•      What happens when sovereign, unchecked authority goes off the rails (enforcing evil social or cultural norms, such as slavery). 

My impression from the examples presented by Justice Gorsuch is that they range from human sin to demonic evil, but book does not address the spiritual dimension of governmental overreach. The author does recall historical examples from other times and places in which governmental overreach did not end well (e.g., Nazi Germany). As is appropriate to a lawyer working within our legal system, he ends with a call to begin the political process of reducing the legal and regulatory burden on our citizens. He cites one noteworthy success, the deregulation of the airline industry in 1978.

The desire to control other people goes back to the creation of humankind, and derived directly from the fall. Whether it takes the form of  chattel slavery, or laws that go beyond the basics of right and wrong to prevent others from doing things we don’t like, the free will endowed by our creator is wrongfully abrogated. Satan desires to enslave humankind, the ultimate denial of free will. Justice Gorsuch elaborates how Satan’s human dupes are implementing his plan.

Can Jesus calm The perfect storm in our schools?

The conjunction of diabolical assaults on our children includes vices that are individually deadly. In a battle with assault from multiple attack axes, our students have only one place to turn.

•      Drugs and alcohol have long been a threat to the physical and mental health of adolescents. These days, drugs are so pervasive and readily available that some school districts are allowing students to bring Naloxone to school.

•      Sexual activity has long been part of the social scene. Despite the well-understood consequences of STD’s and unplanned pregnancy, teens have long since abandoned the traditional mores of reserving it for marriage. The new enemy assaults:

•      “Gender dysphoria” is now used as a pretext for allowing teens to mutilate themselves before they are old enough to even understand what they are doing. And politicians and activists are quickly enshrining this as a legal right, that prevents parents from protecting their minor children.

•      Social media creates a social environment far beyond immediate peers to put pressure on teens to do things, or feel depressingly failures if they don’t.

•      Social media pressure goes far beyond the dating scene. Far beyond traditional peer pressure (talking to those nearby), in virtually every dimension of life, children, adolescents, young adults are made to feel they are failures if they don’t live out or live up to some influencer’s urging. So they either do stupid things (or worse), or feel depressed because they don’t, or set impossible goals that result in feeling like failures because they can’t achieve them.

 Where is Jesus? He is beside every person, calling each to Himself. Because what the world needs now is love, sweet love, it’s the only thing there’s just too little of.  Teens need real love.

 The nexus of the perfect storm is that Satan has a strategy to so overwhelm the rising generation that they cannot recognize and respond to the gospel when presented. Satan was actually defeated 2,000 years ago, and is fighting a rearguard action. The power of God, moving through the Holy Spirit, can overcome all of these attacks, the lies and temptations that Satan uses, through the blood of Jesus Christ and the invocation of His Name. The power of God can open the eyes of anyone whose heart is open, overcoming drug addiction, sexual perversion, and social media. When Peter saw Jesus walking on the water and asked to join Him, Jesus empowered Peter to walk on water. When he was out there and saw the wind and the waves, he started to sink and called on Jesus to save him. And Jesus did.  (Matthew 14:25-33) When people respond to Christ in faith, and then the storms of life frighten and seem overwhelming, He will save them when they call on Him. He is able.

 There is a glorious eternity awaiting anyone who will call on Jesus - a true Edenic paradise on a new earth, and a glorious celebration in heaven. No more pain. No more sickness. No more death. Eternal love. Jesus’ love is not waiting for that day, He is calling each person now to His loving embrace.

Nothing Really Matters?

If Christ is risen, nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen - nothing else matters.

Jaroslav Pelikan

 We seem to live in an age in which people choose to do risky or violent things with no regard for the consequences. For example, driving crazy in traffic, or engaging in gang warfare using guns without compunction. One might ask why do people insist on driving with no respect  for either laws or other drivers. The answer seems to be ‘I don’t care’ about either. Or in the case of gang wars, one might ask about the lives of bystanders or even their own lives, and get the same response. When digging a little deeper, we find out that there is no concept of a peaceful or just world, or of an existence after this life in which we will be judged. The bottom line is that those things don’t really matter, whether they exist or not. All that matters is right here and now, what’s in front of me. And I can do whatever I want, because I don’t care and no one else matters. Essentially, the first eleven chapters of Ecclesiastes (through 12:8).

 Sadly, this is exactly the opposite of God’s perspective. There are a few key truths:

•      God exists and is the uncreated creator of the universe and humans, and He cares about what happens to them. He loves them.

•      God’s existence is seen in nature, in human events, and in the human soul created in His image.

•      True joy, without side effects or adverse consequences, is the result of the practice of virtue. Pain, misery, suffering are the end result of the practice of sin and evil.

•      God plans to bring about a peaceful and just kingdom on the earth, His kingdom, in which those who follow and practice His ways will participate, but those who don’t, won’t.

This is what really matters, but what would it look like? Some major themes can be found in the Proverbs:

•      Wisdom - blessings flow from having and heeding wisdom and especially obeying and trusting God

•      Foolishness - fools, foolish actions and attitudes, have bad consequences.

•      Evil men’s acts have terrible consequences.

•      Virtues bear fruit; for example, faithfulness, righteousness, integrity, truthfulness, diligence, humility, honesty, love.

•      Sinful traits have consequences - pride, laziness, sexual activity outside marriage, alcoholism, deceit and dishonesty, greed, anger, envy, gluttony

•      Virtuous wives are blessings to their husbands

•      Raising children, honoring parents yields blessings

•      Respect for others - God and His ways, family, neighbors, rulers, and those we deal with in life - is embedded in all good things.

These themes are all repeated in the New Testament, in fact taken for granted. The seven deadly sins from church doctrine pretty much repeat proverbs in summary form. The difference is this: in the Old Testament, virtue was a choice that relied on human dedication and human strength to practice. In the New Testament we have the promise of the indwelling Christ and the anointing of the Holy Spirit to empower us once we have made the decision to receive them. Proverbs spells out the consequences of sin and, in Solomon’s day, that was the incentive to virtuous living. Under the new covenant, those washed by the blood of Christ often are spared some of these consequences, but the forgiveness of sins does not automatically guarantee freedom from their natural consequences. The empowerment of the Holy Spirit produces fruit. (James 3:17).

God often uses natural outcomes of sinful choices to disciple us to learn not repeat them. And in my experience, He orchestrates life so that repeated actions result in escalating prices that we or others pay. I do not know whether or not He does the same for those who reject Him. The Old Testament seems to indicate that it was not just Israel who was chastised for their rebellion against Him. At the very least, we know that Noah preached to his neighbors before the flood, and it seems that Lot testified to some extent to the men of Sodom before their destruction, and that God spoke to Pharaoh about taking Abram’s wife. It may be that for unbelievers, God’s primary effort to turn them from sin is human preaching, and that He backstops that with dreams and visions when humans fall short. We have Jesus’ great commission, to carry the gospel to every tribe and nation.

The prescriptions of Proverbs for a virtuous life and its fruit are perhaps the only appeal that will make sense to the unregenerate, if they have rejected the gospel. But their reaction seems to be philosophical nihilism that nothing really matters - not joy, not virtue, not eternal rewards. God’s ultimate plan is for Christ to return and establish His kingdom on the earth through the rule of the redeemed, completing what Adam was first commanded. (Isaiah 65:17-25) This really matters!

 

Hillbilly Elegy: J. D. Vance missed the true hope for the lost generations of hillbillys

Book Review: Hillbilly Elegy - A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, by J. D. Vance

J. D. Vance does not cite the four places in the Pentateuch in which  the Lord warns that He will punish to the third generation the sins of the parents. (Exodus 20:5;  Exodus 34:7;  Numbers 14:18; Deuteronomy 5:9) But that is what Vance records - not a supernatural, spiritual punishment, but a causal transmission of dysfunctional lifestyle through parenting and behavior. Moses emphasized punishment for worshipping false gods and for worshipping things in the heavens or on earth - effectively promising punishment for those who would make earthly things like wealth and power into Elohim and worshipping them. Vance describes in first-hand detail how the violence, laziness, self-centered marital behaviors, routinely screaming in disagreements, fight or flight, serial sexual partners/spouses, and drug and alcohol abuse are passed from one generation to the next. He was there. He saw it.

The book has three major themes: narrative of his parents and grandparents and the first eighteen years in which the author grew up in Middletuckey, I mean Middletown, Ohio in the transplanted Appalachian culture there; the story of Vance’s escape first by serving in the marine corps, then attending Ohio State University and Yale Law School; and discussion of the core traits that make hillbilly culture so dysfunctional and possible remedies.

At one point he touched briefly on his teenage church experiences. At the time he believed in the Christian faith, but the church did not appear to have done anything practical to help deliver him from the self-destructive vices already present in his life. He abandoned his faith until a later time when as an adult, he began to recognize biblical truth. But even then (as of when he wrote his memoir), Vance did not see the core nature of sin in this social dynamic.  He recognizes the limitations of government programs to change these behaviors (the best they can do is mitigate consequences), but does not say anything about the saving power of Jesus to deliver us from the power and penalty of sin. (Romans 8:1-6)

Vance at one point comes perilously close to discussing root cause. He identified seven common types of adverse childhood experience (ACE) and points out that these are causally linked to the behaviors that cause people to self-destruct as adults. In reviewing this list, it is obvious that almost all of us have either experienced one or more of these, or have family or friends where these behaviors are exhibited. I lived in Fairborn, Ohio twice between 1974-1984. There is a section in Fairborn we called little Kentucky. I knew people who exhibited these lifestyles. But … hillbillies aren’t the only people who behave this way. Vance mentions a couple of other groups. 

History agrees with the Biblical observation that sin brings death, not just physical death, but also the end of relationships, the death of hopes and vision and ultimately all that makes life worthwhile. Vance did not write this as a story of faith or an encouragement as to how belief  makes a difference in the lives of those who grew up dysfunctionally. But Jesus is truly the only hope for all of us, and He has the power to deliver even those raised in sin. (Romans 8:1-6)

Book Review: Planet Narnia - The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis, by Michael Ward, 2008.

In this summary of his dissertation, Michael Ward presents a detailed explanation of his understanding that C. S. Lewis built the seven books of the Chronicles of Narnia on his scholarly and personal understanding of the seven planets of medieval and renaissance  literature and culture. Ward uses the term donegality to describe the imaginative technique. This is explained in Chapter 3 as based on the attributes of Jupiter first shown in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The Jovial spirit is communicated through the main events of the plot, points of ornamental detail, and the portrayal of Aslan.  What is the Jovial spirit? Quoting from chapter  three,

We may say it is Kingly; but we must think of a King at peace, enthroned, taking his leisure, serene. The Jovial character is cheerful, festive, yet temperate, tranquil, magnanimous. When this planet dominates we may expect halcyon days and prosperity. In Dante wise and just princes go to his sphere when they die. He is the best planet, and is called The Greater Fortune, Fortuna Major.

 And then Ward gives numerous details of the book that exemplify this spirit. And in successive chapters he links each of the Chronicles to one of the seven medieval planets (celestial wanderers as they were understood in the 16th century).

•      The Lion , the Witch, and the Wardrobe - Jupiter - the cheerful, festive, peaceful, serene, generous king

•      Prince Caspian - Mars - the god of war

•      Voyage of the Dawn Treader -  Sol - the gold metallurgist, bringing shining light to make men wise

•       The Silver Chair - Luna -  ambiguity, instability, watery source of rain

•      The Horse and His Boy - Mercury -  quicksilver-like componendo et dividendo

•      The Magician’s Nephew - Venus  - the warrior goddess and infernal witch, also the source of fertility

•      The Last Battle - Saturn - the last planet, old and ugly

 As he proceeds through the planets, the author also ties in these planetary attributes to Lewis’ other writings, primarily the earlier science fiction trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength), Lewis’ poetry, and The Discarded Image, written by Lewis to introduce the concepts of the Middle Ages’ understanding of the universe as expressed in their model.

 What is the point of all this? Some observations:

•      The gospel is certainly present in the first of the books, but why seven? Because, we need to have our imaginations stirred about the way God works, as this has the potential to birth in us the attributes of God in ways that theology cannot. Ward mentions the impact that a debate Lewis had on February 2, 1948 with Elizabeth Anscombe at the Socratic Club had on his focus on writing the Chronicles.  The debate apparently showed him the insufficiency of the arguments he presented in the original publication of Miracles for the existence of God. And we know that his own faith was based on personal experience, not just apologetics or theology. So the Chronicles were written to communicate on a level of human experience, a visceral appeal. This is well received by children of all ages, far more than theological argumentation. Seven dimensions of Middle Ages mythology provide insight into different dimensions of the human psyche and its need for supernatural completion.

•      The nature and character of God, as displayed for us by Jesus on earth, are incomprehensibly transcendent. Yet they are also simple and can be received by children, in the realm of imagination.  Imagine the creation of a world filled with lush vegetation, a host of variegated animal species, and a sky populated with a sun, moon, and multitude of other stars, all through the singing of a lion. Imagine the incarnation of evil in a witch, who deceives, entraps, tortures and kills whoever she wishes, and is ultimately defeated by the voluntary offering of virtue incarnate, a gentle lion.

•       The scientific revolution has provided a world view which reduces everything to cause and effect, describable and predictable by experimentation, measurement, and analysis. But this worldview of the universe is incomplete. There is the unseen realm that is not accessible to scientific measurement, which underlies that which we see and hear. We sense itn vaguely in our hearts, our emotions, our sense of justice and morality - it is our spirit. But although this reality is described in Scripture (e.g., The Unseen Realm), it is often better coupled to our lives through imagination. The believer whose worldview is informed by the portrayal of the mysteries of the supernatural realm, writ large, may be in a better position than the theologian to deal with temptation, opposition, and suffering because he or she can recognize God’s hand at work by the nature and character of the things happening.

 The bottom line is that Michael Ward helps us understand how God’s truths and faith in Christ are communicated to readers of the Chronicles consistent with Scripture but via means similar to medieval and renaissance mythology without studying Middle Ages literature. Children can learn not only basic truths, but how to sense the presence of God, hear His voice, and recognize His hand at work in the world around them.