Too Realistically X-rated for the Hallmark Channel

Book Review - The Masterpiece - by Francine Rivers

This “romance” novel could never be made into a Hallmark channel movie, in any conceivable space-time continuum. The gritty but realistic, in-depth depiction of the impact of parents’ dysfunctional lives on children when they grow up cannot be shown in a G-rated program. The story asks , can these people find love in any real sense (something beyond elevated pulse rates and swooning over steamy kisses)? Depends on a few things:

• What love is: a decision to commit to another person’s well-being.
• Growing up enough to make that kind of decision, not being driven by sentimentality, nor wallowing in wants and feelings.
• Overcoming the generational curses that adult children inherit from their parents 
• Being willing to learn from the school of hard knocks.

These are the themes that this book explores in graphic but fascinating detail.

If there is any shortcoming in this novel, it is the deus ex machina conclusion that results in the protagonists living happily ever after. Really? Three months of pre-marital counseling that is passed over in one paragraph. Granted, for a novel of this length, the reader is ready for the author to resolve all issues keeping happiness away from our heroes. But this is the Hallmark Channel approach to romantic tension and conflict. Could a novel be written (and would it be subsequently read?) that walks through the storms of counseling, of confronting deeply buried childhood wounds, breaking agreement with ghosts of the sins of the fathers visited on the second and third generation? The realism of conflict in life trumped by the fantasy of fairy tale endings. Perhaps we need these endings because our own life is so painful. 

One takeaway challenge: we as parents have transmitted our own dysfunction to our children. Everyone has, since Adam and Eve. What can we do? I see three specific thrusts, not part of this or any novel I have ever read:

• Seek out appropriate help to confront and renounce our own inherited and self-chosen sin: Counseling; pastoral care; personal self-examination (The examen prayer).
• Be honest with our children about our own failures and encourage them to seek and receive whatever practical help they can to shed the baggage we have left them. To renounce all agreements they have made with the world, the flesh, and the devil.
• In prayer, plead the blood of Jesus over our children, to break the curse of generational inherited sin.

Migrants & Human Sacrifice: A Warning From Herman Cortes

Human sacrifice is the thread that connects the ancient Israelites, Herman Cortes, and the current flood of migration. More specifically, God’s hatred of it.

• God’s judgment on societies that brazenly endorse lawlessness usually comes through external parties, such as the Israelites destruction of the Canaanites. (But not always, cf. Genesis 19:24-25). Cortes, unwittingly or intentionally, brought such to the Aztec nation.
• The Canaanites feared the Israelites because they recognized YHWH among them, and sensed that their gods could not protect them. (Joshua 2:9-11) Is fear of migrants really fear that God’s favor is not on us?
• Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob dwelt in tents as a sign to the Canaanites of impending judgment. However, it is faith and obedience that God honors, not external behaviors. 

Abraham was a migrant who is credited with looking for that city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. (Hebrews 11:10) He did not find a resting place in the world, did not receive what was promised, because God has provided something better than a city of gold. (Hebrews 11:39) The Israelites later left Egypt under duress. Joshua led them to dispossess and destroy the Canaanites under orders, because their iniquity was ripe. (Genesis 15:16)

Was Herman Cortes directed by God like Joshua, or simply God’s unwitting tool, to end an evil culture that worshipped false gods through human sacrifice? The church eventually sent missionaries and priests to follow and travel with the soldiers as the Spanish empire developed. Visible reminders of this can be seen  along the Rio Grande in New Mexico and El Camino Real in California. Coronado later searched in vain for cities of gold, with no mention of human sacrifice by the Zuni (that I can find).

In Scripture, reference to cities and streets of gold (Rev. 21:18 & 21) has the purpose of symbolizing God’s nature and character. Other places connect gold to the great harlot of Revelation. (17:4, 18:16) The difference between can be best understood in Hebrews 11:10.

Contrast this with the pilgrims and puritans who came to New England. They came looking for freedom, especially to worship without being under the thumb of the Church of England. They attempted to convert the native Americans. They prospered, but not in the sense of finding treasure troves of gold. Their legacy is the culture and belief system that underlies the founding of this nation. 

What are modern migrants seeking? Most likely, a better life. Is the attraction of moving from Central America to the U. S. as a citadel of faith and freedom to worship God according to their own conscience? Fleeing poverty and oppression?  Perhaps is the opportunity they seek framed entirely in economic and political terms? The streets of Los Angeles are not paved with gold. The most recent pictures suggest that what awaits migrants is much more akin (in physical terms) to dwelling in tents, but even so, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? (Hebrews 11:9). Unfortunately, the homeless tent encampments in major cities seem to be largely characterized by drug abuse, crime (the homeless being mostly victims), and begging for survival.  

The city of The Angels in Southern California is not the earthly realization of that City described in Revelation 21, which the heroes of faith sought per their encomium in Hebrews 11. Those already living in the U.S. and enjoying the earthly fruit of early immigrants’ heritage may or may not be inclined to share with new migrant arrivals, depending on their political persuasion. Their souls are just as much at risk as the souls of those seeking earthly empire like Cortes, if they focus on the things of this world instead of seeking the God of creation and redemption. 

Do modern human sacrifices of abortion to the gods of convenience, pleasure, craven lust, irresponsibility, or ambition result in God using migrants to destroy our society and culture just as Joshua did the Canaanites and Cortez the Aztecs? Is this really about migrants, or God’s chastisement (and warning) to us? Several states have instituted laws significantly limiting abortion, which the liberal establishment hopes to nullify through the courts. But what of the people of our nation? It makes little difference who wins in courts or legislatures if we, the people, rebel against God. Redemption is found only through repenting of and changing our mind about our own sin, and receiving the gracious gift of God, so that we change our lives.

A closing observation: The gods whom the Canaanites served with human sacrifice were powerless against YHWH. The evil of human sacrifice is ultimately impotent.  (Joshua 2:24)

The cold, hard reality of love - a review of C. S. Lewis’ The Four Loves.

What this book is not: a sentimental love prescription or description; a claim that love will fix all your problems; or an advert for The Hallmark Channel (not that their staff would have time & inclination to read such a book). Lewis translates four Greek words from the New Testament into modern language and explores them: affection (storge), friendship (Phileo), romantic love (Eros), and charity (agape). [To be clear, Lewis distinguishes Eros, romantic love, from Venus, sexual activity, despite the modern usage of “erotic”.] It is not as though types of love are mutually exclusive either in our day or in the New Testament, but to the extent they have conceptual focus, their practice and implications can be intellectually addressed.  One form of love, practiced consistently, can lead to another, or a blurring in which no clear line is drawable.

Two books bookend Lewis’ marriage to Joy Davidman. Lewis married her in 1956, the year that Till We Have Faces was published; she passed away in 1960, when The Four Loves was published. Lewis draws on his academic background in literature to cite examples that were perhaps familiar to his contemporaries, but often mysteries to us of the 21st century. He equally fluently refers to the Bible. I suspect his marriage was the strongest influence on this book.

Lewis begins by defining Need-love and Gift-love. These span the gamut of above-identified types as a basic description of human behavior. Some love out of need - for companionship, affirmation, devotion of another, sexual desire, and so forth. Others (primarily God, but humans can) love because that is their innate nature, to pour out their blessings, their life for the benefit of another. So mothers typically love their children.

Pain colors Lewis’ entire discussion of love. In the chapter on Eros, Lewis points out that Ephesians 5:25 links the headship of husband  over wife to Christ giving Himself for His bride, the church. There is pain for the lover (the crown of thorns, the cross) and pain for the beloved rising from being corrected and chastened (as the Church is). Anyone who has been married for a period understands this. But this is only one example. How does agape love respond when:

•      A son asks for his inheritance while his father is alive, then squanders it in riotous living?

•      A woman is caught in the act of adultery?

•      A leader brought from being a shepherd to ruling as a king commits adultery and arranges the murder of his lover’s husband?

•      Ones’ closest friends and disciples deny knowing him?

Phileo, storge, and Eros would all be destroyed by such actions unless there is underneath them an artesian well of agape. And so our transactional loves must give way to eternal gift-love to prepare us for eternity with God in Heaven, where we will be like the angels.

Ultimately, loving God with all of our being is still need-love because we need Him, but it also empowers loving our neighbors as ourselves. How do we respond when Love is betrayed? Humanly we would say the relationship has been smashed beyond repair. Agape that transcends comes from faith that is not merely a theoretical or abstract desire or prayer for another’s blessing, but a painful, transactional redemption - embracing the crown of thorns, the scourging, the lashes, and the cross. This is the gateway to heaven, resurrection, and eternity.

Book Review: The Lost World of the Flood by Longman & Walton

The Lost World of the Flood, by Tremper Longman III & John H. Walton, follows the paradigm of Walton’s earlier books on Genesis 1 and Adam & Eve. The core of his ansatz is that we can best understand Scripture by taking account of the culture of the people to and through whom God revealed His word, as He communicated to them (the original recipients) in language they would understand. This is not just words and figures of speech, but includes their cultural view of existence based on beliefs, history, and mythology. Professor Walton has access to a large body of archaeological ancient texts from ancient Mesopotamia. This approach confronts the literalist approach to interpreting Scripture, in that metaphors and hyperbole are taken as meaning how people of that time understood them, and not as we of the 21st century would understand them. “The whole earth,” for example, to people of ancient Mesopotamia could have meant the world they knew about or perhaps, for rhetorical purposes, to emphasize how great destruction was.

The important point of the flood narrative in Genesis is not the scientific description of a destructive flood, but the divine imperatives that God is communicating to His people. As humankind filled the earth, they had been directed to bring order out of chaos, and given other specific directives by God. As the generations passed, ignorance and rejection of divine imperatives led to a chaotic, wicked state ... but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. The authors go into considerable detail about how God’s direction and intervention in the flood differed from the interpretations of other extant flood legends which invoked pagan deities. 

Part of the book considers the arguments for and against a literal worldwide flood as we would understand it today. This is probably the weakest part of the book. Geological evidence is strong but not compelling, as it may well in the future be interpreted differently. The authors’ rebuttal to the argument that the existence of flood legends around the world point to a worldwide flood is weak, amounting to mere assertion. Fortunately, this is not the primary focus of the book. The point is to understand how the flood account fits into the Biblical narrative of sin, judgment, and redemption from Adam to Abraham. God’s plan for mankind was stymied by humanity, but maintained a continuity of faith, until He was able to initiate the plan of  salvation with the call to Abraham.

The Reality of Transcendent Prayer

Jesus’ Transcendent Prayer

Matthew 6:9-13 records Jesus’ response to the disciples’ request (Luke 11:1) to teach them to pray.  He taught them to plead with God to empower them to transcend.

Verse 9 Hallelu YHWH Ab: Eternal Father, Your Name is worthy to be praised. You are perfectly holy and perfectly loving, a perfect Father, who never approves of sin and yet always loves Your children. We cannot reconcile these except through the cross of Christ (which was yet future when Jesus taught). 

Verses 10 & 13 speak of overcoming the world, the flesh, and Satan (1 John 2:14-16) and thus package the realities of daily life (vs 11-12).

Verse 10 While we may eagerly anticipate Jesus’ second coming, His kingdom is established here and now in our daily life when we do His will. There seems to be ambiguity in the passive voice as to who is to do His will ... but as C. S. Lewis wrote, “I fully agree that ‘Thy will be done’ should principally be taken in the sense ‘God’s will has blank well got to be done even if I have to go and do it myself.’” (Letter to Valerie Pitt, May 17, 1956) The world is thus transcended with our participation in building His kingdom, before His parousia.

Verse 11 Throughout human history, probably most of mankind had to rely on God’s provision to avoid starvation. Practice of daily faith and relationship with Him thereby brings daily experience of His supernatural intervention. Talk to the homeless. That is their reality. To those of us with enough physical provision, He said “I am the bread of life.” (John 6:48-51) Manna in the wilderness, the bread of the Passover, the Lord’s supper all picture for us this spiritual reality. Our spiritual life depends on daily partaking of Him as bread for our spirit. Without His daily spiritual provision our spirit will starve to death.

Verse 12 This simple principle is terrifying in implication, transforming in application. If we do not forgive others, He will not forgive us. Eternal judgment awaits our sin unless....  But when we follow His example (Luke 23:34), we experience not only His forgiveness, but the amazing redemption of our relationships with others. He supernaturally works to bring conviction, repentance, and redemption to those who annoy us, even to those we deem evil beyond hope of salvation. 

Verse 13 The flesh is weak, and Satan seeks to destroy us. God does not tempt - that is the devil’s tool (Genesis 3:1-5). To be led away from the vicinity of temptation is to be in the proximity of the Lord. Jesus overcame both sin and evil on the cross; we need to receive His provision. He tells us to ask for it. 

And all these petitions bring us into His eternal kingdom right now: His power manifest in our life; His glory revealed; a foretaste of eternity with Him. So be it!

President’s Day - Make America Great Again?

Several possible definitions of greatness allow the speaker or listeners to apply the concept of overarching size or dominance differently. 

• The Ronald Reagan/Donald Trump call to make America great again is generally interpreted to mean economic and military pre-eminence in the world; affluence and unchallengeable military power.
• This aligns well with Jim Collins’ book Good to Great, in which greatness is operationally defined according to a number of metrics, most prominently financial performance that exceeds market averages by several orders of magnitude over a sustained period of time. 
• The Greatest Generation references our forebears who endured the Great Depression and then fought and won World War 2.  In his book, Tom Brokaw wrote, "it is, I believe, the greatest generation any society has ever produced,” because these individuals fought not for fame and recognition, but because it was the ‘right thing to do.’
• The sons of Korah sang of the attributes of God that emanate from His greatness. These include His stronghold being a joy to the earth, because human kings are terrified and defeated; the establishment of His city forever; His righteous judgments; His lovingkindness; His guidance of His people forever. (Psalm 48)
• Jesus, when asked about the great commandment of the Law, replied: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40) 
• The author of the epistle to the Hebrews makes it clear why Jesus is the great high priest over the house of God: “... we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh.” (Hebrews 10:19-21) This living way is the new covenant promised in Jeremiah 31:31-34 (Hebrews 10:16-17), and made possible by God through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The ever-present danger of ambition is that we choose the wrong goal. Jesus did not exhibit greatness in any humanly recognizable form while He was on earth, nor exhort His followers to greatness. He defined greatness by service and self-sacrifice, becoming the least in human terms. (Mark 10:43) 

Getting past the personalities of current political leaders (it’s hard, I know), can we reach a social consensus of what a greatness looks like? Mother Teresa immediately comes to mind as a role model, but as Oliver North pointed out in Congressional testimony, “Mother Teresa doesn’t go to Tehran.” King David is perhaps a more appropriate role model, or perhaps George Washington or Abraham Lincoln. What were the core characteristics that made these people great leaders? 

• Most prominent is their unwavering determination to do the right thing, as Tom Brokaw observed. They had some human failures (Romans 3:23) but defined their public life by moral and ethical choices rooted in God’s character.
• They were committed to stay the course during dark days when ruin knocked on their doorstep. David fled from King Saul for many years. George Washington led his men through Valley Forge’s cold winter, also retreating from Boston and New York City. Abraham Lincoln dealt with an unbroken string of military defeats in the first two years of his Presidency.
• They opposed members of their own government who sought to compromise principle to gain practical advantages. They were going to achieve good ends solely by moral means.
• They focused, perhaps by circumstances of their times, on righting the most important wrongs. It may be that the times make the man - that great crises produce great men - but these leaders were distinguished by rising to the challenge, both moral and social.

Is our perception of great political leadership is forged only in war or national calamity? Despite the goals of President Johnson’s ‘Great Society’, his name is seldom mentioned in a list of great presidents. FDR is more commonly (but not by universal acclaim) noted as great, because he led the nation through both the Great Depression and World War 2. Although King Solomon led ancient Israel to prosperity, built the temple, and epitomized wisdom, few classify  him in the same level of greatness with his father, King David. 

Looking beyond President’s Day and individual heroes, is greatness found in a society that is just, generous, tolerant, compassionate, and so forth, or in a society that challenges each individual to rise in moral character? Mother Teresa exhibited compassion and generosity, and challenged her fellow nuns and her donors to likewise rise to this standard (as per Matthew 25:35-40). I do not know if her ministry encouraged the objects of their charity to rise to moral excellence. When people are borderline starving, should Jesus’ sheep go beyond feeding them to share with them the empowerment of the gospel, to be free from the penalty and power of sin through the blood of Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit? Are such qualities already the norm among the homeless living on the edge of starvation?

It is not the role of Caesar to share the gospel, and any effort by any human government to force Christ-like behavior would be both tyrannical and ludicrous. From this perspective, it is impossible for any governing authority - politician, law, or court - to make a nation great. While we have a concept of in loco parentis, usually applied to schools or foster parents, it would be effectively a dictatorship to extend that role to the government as a whole. Since the greatness of God’s character (holiness and love) only rises in individuals by their voluntary decisions,   the challenge of our time, and of every age, is how to encourage these choices. We share Jesus’ greatness only when we follow in His footsteps.

Redeeming politics

The recent problems facing the governor and lieutenant governor of Virginia call into question the basic fabric of civic discourse. The trigger for this course of events was an interview in which Governor Northam advocated the legalization of infanticide in Virginia, just as the state of New York did. One of his medical school classmates responded by posting the now-infamous yearbook page with a picture, likely taken at a party, of drunk medical students toasting humor in mocking a humorless historical reality. This led to the continuing uproar, condemnation, and calls for resignation. When attention focused on his potential successor, charges of decade-old rapes were raised against Lieutenant Governor Fairfax. 

How can Jesus redeem this? Let’s start with honesty. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) In the original sin, man and woman chose to make moral judgments just like God, but apart from Him. (Genesis 2:17, 3:6) It appears no one can resist this temptation these days, at least not journalists and political actors. The tributary sins of murder, rape, kidnapping, follow from human choice separated from God.  (Romans 5:12). Fortunately, God knew all about these things and made provision through the propitiatory death of Christ. The condition for His provision is acknowledgement of our sin and asking God in all humility for forgiveness. None of this is news. But how can the gospel be applied to the circumstances of Ralph Northam and Justin Fairfax?

Things that won’t work:

• Denial; maybe the facts are being misrepresented, but to claim nothing happened is simply not credible either before man or God.
• Self-defense; just because it’s human nature (being fallen) is not an excuse. “It wasn’t really all that bad” will be unacceptable to a holy God. Journalists and politicos who have usurped His prerogatives will likely have a similar assessment.
• Return fire; one of the most offensive behaviors of people, Christians or not, is passing judgment on others. It will not solve anything.

Whether Fairfax and Northam have made peace with God is between them and their Maker. Pundits and wannabe political operatives fail the third bullet above. Their self-righteous pontification filling the airwaves offends both man and God. But ... does this mean there are no standards beyond statutory crimes? Shouldn’t the state’s chief executives exhibit a higher standard of behavior than just not breaking laws? In the days of the MeToo revelations, it has become obvious that men’s carnal desires have been allowed to disrespect women and, regrettably, get away with it. The legacy of slavery that persists in racism continues to buttress disrespect for all other ethnicities. 

The power to live without sin is not in humans, unless they are aided by the grace of God. Consider the case of John Newton. What we need is a Holy Spirit revival! The alternative, a world in which humans choose to do whatever they feel like, continuously pass judgment on each other, and disrespect anyone and everyone, will end up a broken society, political anarchy, as we see in many third world countries. It should be obvious that our only choices are national repentance or social breakdown. We need another John Wesley, not an Oliver Cromwell.