A Friend Who Was Wrong, But Not Wrong About Everything

 As a preacher I've made and not kept this promise many times; I'll be brief.

Over the past few years, I have appreciated David French's commentaries on culture and American life. Recently, he came down in support of the Respect for Marriage Act. Fellow Evangelical Al Mohler criticised him sharply for this. (You can look up the exchange if you want.) I've kind of mulled this over for several days. While I admire French's desire to respect pluralism in American life, I think he crossed a line on this one. I agree with Mohler. Marriage is a definable thing. It can't be remade into whatever we, or the zeitgeist of our time desires. It's a line we shouldn't cross.

Let me explain that while I have appreciated French's thoughtful approach to big questions, I haven't appreciated him enough to pay for his stuff. My interaction with him has been largely limited to a free article that comes my way once a week, or so. This morning, I saw the freebie in my inbox. "Should I read it?" I thought. "I mean, he was wrong about the marriage thing."

Well, I'm glad I did open his piece. Actually, his piece did, sort of, have something to do with what I'm saying, but that wasn't the point he was making. If you read his piece, you may say he is actually saying the opposite. We can discuss that in the comments. For now, I'd encourage you read what he says, "Remembering What Repentance Looks Like."

A Word from One of Israel's Kings that is Relevant for Thanksgiving 2022

 Lord willing, I'll be preaching on Jehoshaphat's utterly weird battle strategy in 2 Chronicles 20. The plan, which led to the complete rout of an overwhelming enemy, sounds more like the script for a praise
concert than a plan for a battle. 

You can read the Chronicler's account here.

You can hear the story put to music here.

As I was reading through the passage, I was fascinated with the word, "stand."

The Hebrew word is very common in the Old Testament and, not unlike our English word "stand," it takes on a number of nuances.

In 2 Chronicles 20:5 the word describes Jehoshaphat's stance, he "stood in the assembly." As he prayed, he made a declaration on behalf of the people of Judah, perhaps a challenge or appeal more than a statement of settled fact. "We will stand before this house [the temple] and before You [God]." The response was what the king had hoped it would be. Verse 13 finds all of Judah "standing before the Lord." "We do not know what to do, but we will look to you" (v. 12). It was a stance of attitude--a conviction, an act of the will. That comes across even more clearly in verse 17, "hold your position." We might say "stand firm." In verse 21, Jehoshaphat "appointed" singers (this is where the strangeness of the battle plans comes in). The appointment was telling them where they stood in this operation,

   “And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say, “Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever.” And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed. For the men of Ammon and Moab rose [stood] against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction, and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another.” (2 Chronicles 20:21–23, ESV)  

In brief, the enemies of Judah took a stand against Jehoshaphat and his people. Their clear intention was to utterly defeat them in battle and take all of their possessions as their own. Instead, they ended up standing against one another. The internal struggle between the enemies of Judah was so complete that by the time the singers had finished their concert, God had given Judah complete victory. 

I can imagine two of the singers surveying battle field. "It had to be that high-note I sang at the end of the first phrase," said a tenor. "No," objected a bass, "it was that booming rhythm I kept up all during the song." in reality:

   “You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”” (2 Chronicles 20:17, ESV)  

• Know what the Lord says. In our day, that means knowing--really knowing--the Bible.
• Believe it.
• Do it.

Where do you stand this Thanksgiving?

2 Articles & a Statement on the "Respect for Marriage" Act:

The two articles, one from a respected Evangelical magazine and the other from a widely read online, Evangelical commentator,  agree on the basic facts of what the act does--mainly codifying recent SCOTUS decisions, particularly Obergefell. The CT article puts a positive spin on it, while Dennison takes a darker view.

I think the CT article is only available to subscribers. You may find it elsewhere. It is by Carl Esbeck.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/november-web-only/same-sex-marriage-religious-liberty-respect-marriage-act.html

https://www.denisonforum.org/daily-article/does-the-so-called-respect-for-marriage-act-threaten-our-religious-liberty/

In the Theological sense, I am an Evangelical, the LDS church is not. They have, however, been co-belligerents with us in many of the social battles of our time. The first line of their statement indicates that they still profess to be on our side in regard to a proper definition of marriage. 

https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/respect-for-marriage-act-statement
I wonder, though, in our age of freedom to worship (in private), but not necessarily freedom to proclaim truth lest it offend, is the Mormon statement a retreat into a sort of modified Benedict Option (HM's brief definition: withdraw, hole up, and hope, wait, and pray for better days).

Not all slopes are slippery, but, clearly, some are. 

Christian leaders need to be wise. All of us need to pray for clear courageous thinking.

Knowing too little...part 2

 

Without getting too technical--I don't know enough to be very technical--& staying brief (I'm not good at poking a cell phone) here is an update & some further thoughts, maybe lessons.
Life has parallels with a journey. It is a frequent trope in writing & cinema. The journey Kathy & I are presently on is epic in proportion, at least for us. We are incorporating family along the way. I’m starting this at my brother's home and finishing it at my son’s. The fact that our trip is taken in recognition of our 50th Anniversary, makes it especially symbolic.
I'm not the dumbest guy around when it comes to cars & trucks, but I couldn't hire myself out as a mechanic, either. My knowledge about auto mechanics & my adequate, but limited, financial situation have struck a pretty good balance over the years. Partly by using my limited knowledge, & a willingness to get my hands greasy, I've saved thousands of dollars over the years. But on this occasion, I was 2,000 + miles away from home. I wasn't sure what was wrong & I had no way to fix it.

All I was sure of was that something was wrong--VERY WRONG. I had worn out both rear tires on the car in about 3,500 miles—new tires, on freshly aligned wheels. In case you don't know, that's bad.

Ok. I realize that there are very bad problems in life and in the world. I also know this isn't one of them. Nobody died, and no countries were invaded. Still, my problem was at least a nuisance.

As I intimated in the previous post, relationships were key in reaching a solution.

1) Even though I was far away from my safety net, I still knew it was there. Kathy and I have family and friends for whom the, "If you need anything . . ." statement is much more than idle, polite-talk. These folk have our back even when our back is far away. You need to have that kind of people in your network. The best way to have the kind of person who will show up for you, as part of your team, is to be willing to show up for them. Don't take such folk for granted. Cherish them. In mine & Kathy's lives, you know who you are. Thank you.

2) Know which friend to call on for which purpose. When I noticed the rubber that meets the road was being rubbed off by the road that meets rubber at least 10-times faster than it should be, I was pretty panicky. "What am I going to do?" A friend I contacted didn't immediately solve my problem. In fact his first stab at it was wrong (Keep in mind he was 2,000-miles away & was trying to figure something out bàsed on my lame description.) Wrong though he may have been, the direction in which he pushed me was exactly right. "Howard, this, isn't unsolvable. It's not caused by some kind of a vulcanized demon. Calm down! We'll figure it out." That's not anywhere close to what my friend actually said, but it is a reasonable summary of what I heard. It was exactly what I needed to hear, even though some of his message wasn't what I wanted hear.
Boy, do we need friends who know the truth & will tell us the truth. I ask myself, "Am I a person who is receptive to truth? Do I communicate to others that I am someone who is committed to living by the truth, so they can be confident that shooting straight with me isn't a waste of time?"

3) The third part of wrestling my problem to the ground involved 2 people I had never met & will probably never meet again. Yet, some relational skills that I, by God's grace, have learned over the years helped me a lot.

All of us want to be good at what we do, and we appreciate it when our expertise is recognized. This syndrome can easily become pride, but, at it's best, it's just simple honesty. "I know what I'm doing, and if you will recognize that I can probably help you."

It was Friday. The manager of the tire shop, Armando, deftly handled a steady stream of demands, from customers, inquirers, shop personnel, suppliers, folk in a hurry, others who had been waiting a while. I saw him make a promise, get interrupted, quickly move to field the interruption, only to be interrupted again. I watched as he triaged it all. I tested him in my mind. "Will he get back to that promise?"

He did.

I saw him cycle through this scenario several times. Not only did he pass my quiz, he, from time to time, would insert some responsibility, outside the scope of my observation, into the flow. Kind of like a guy juggling chainsaws and giving directions to the nearest McDonalds, all the while keeping the saws buzzing and flying. Not only was he good, he was good in 2 languages, and humorous in both.

"Armando, I know it's not your job to solve my problem, but I sure could use the benefit of your expertise."

In about 90 seconds Armando kindly told me what I didn’t want to hear, what I needed to hear, and then went on to suggest a solution. A friend of mine, who is with the Lord, now, used to say, “It is hard to beat a man at his own trade.” By appealing to this man whom I had never met—at the time I didn’t even know his name—on the level of his competence, and asking him to help me out of kindness rather than demanding that he stop everything and adopt my problem as his own, a micro friendship began.

Armando is about the age of my sons. The first step in his solution led to an encounter with Benito. Hanging around a tire shop all day gets pretty boring. I went outside to stretch my legs and let the New Mexico sun bake some of the AC-induced chill out of my bones. It didn’t take long. From my vantage point outside the alignment bay, I could see Benito using his flashlight, searching under my car for something. Not a good sign. Seeing me outside, Benito invited me to join him under the car. He showed me the critical part, then he took me to his computer screen. Two things were apparent, even to a non-expert like me.

1) The big red box on the screen fairly screamed, “Something’s not right!”
2) The “thing-a-majig” (sorry for the technical language) that the computer said was supposed to be on my car, the thing that needed to be adjusted to make the red box go away, wasn’t there. Further searching in the computer and consultation with a manual offered no help. Further examination of the part revealed “FOMOCO” (Ford Motor Company) stamped on the part. Whatever the problem was, or wasn’t, came from the factory. It wasn’t some after-market add on.

Benito is a guy closer to my age than his boss’s. I sensed by the way he searched for an answer and the way he listened to my suggestions that he is the automotive equivalent of the orthopedic surgeon to whom I owe my mobility. I remember Dr. Shuler saying to the resident with whom he was working, “We hate to meet a break we can’t fix.” I figure Benito had been doing wheel alignments back when computers were only things one read about. He didn’t want this thing to beat him. My problem became Benito’s problem to solve.

In our world we find many things that about which we disagree. We get a lot more done on common ground, though.

Benito and Armando got their heads together. They called an unknown ally at the local Ford garage. He put them in touch with an even more unknown Ford alignment guru who shared the secret that got me back on the road.

Suffice to say, unknown to the computer, my car has a funky and hidden means of adjustment. Later when Benito brought the print-out from the computer (sans red-boxes) showing me the tire-eating problem was solved, I could see the satisfaction on his face. We live in a world full of problems. The image of God within us compels us to fix them when we can. When we are able to restore a measure of shalom to this messed up world—even if it is just a properly turned bolt on he belly of a Ford—we feel the “ahh-ness” that sin and the fall stole from the world. Though it is fleeting, it feels good.

But, the fallen-ness of the world was not finished with its peace thievery that day. Shortly after the unseen alignment guru pointed Benito to the hidden adjustment that would correct the pigeon-toed condition of my Ford, word came that the truck that was delivering the replacements for my two worn-to-the-belt rear tires was broken down. Another truck had been dispatched.

At this point, I’ll cut to the chase. As the staff was closing up the store for the weekend Kathy and I got back on the road.

Perhaps you are amused with my tale. I hope so. But, is there more? Again, I’m hopeful.

To use the words that Cornelius Plantinga used as the title for his great book, clearly this world is “Not The Way It’s Supposed To Be.” Shalom, in big and little ways, is snatched away at every turn. Yet what Kathy and I have seen on this trip confirms that in spite of that we can still see God’s creative hand. Beauty still abounds. We saw that in the luxurious fields of grain, the magnificent sunrises and sunsets, the rising moon that looked like we would drive right into it in just few miles, the magnificent mountains and the  incredible canyons. We felt an Edenic “ahh” as we stared up at the Ponderosa Pines, watched the Aspens shimmer in the breeze, or heard and saw  the ocean waves lap onto the shore.  We were reminded, though, that the greatest repository of God’s good things shines from the hearts of people when they do what is right. Let’s thank the Lord when we see that. Let’s live that way. And, let’s share the Shalom-restoring Good News of Jesus, which will one day restore this world to the way it should be, and, because of the common grace of God, poured out like rain on all people, gives us moments of peace down here where the rubber meets the road.

Knowing too little, but needing to know more:

 I’ll be a bit vague in order not to incriminate the innocent, Kathy, or the guilty, me.

The fact is, sooner or later we find ourselves in a place where we need to make a decision, or decisions, with not nearly enough information, and little if any opportunity to get more. It is frustrating. 

I find myself berating myself. Why didn’t I study this more—more web searches, more conversations with experts—I could have taken a class.😧

The fact is, though, except for a few remarkable folks—and I’m not one—information doesn’t have all that long of a shelf life. I heard an interview with John McEnroe the other day (to prove my point, I don’t remember how to spell his name, if I got it, it was a guess) Mc quoted a basketball player, “The older I get, the better I used to be.” These days I find myself remembering that I used to know something, but I don’t remember what it is that I used to know.

I have to make a gut decision. Problem is my gut isn’t like the junk drawer in my shop. If I put a 3/8 x2” bolt in that drawer, it’ll be there. I’ll have to rummage, but it’s there. Often, what I need to know just isn’t there. Rummaging morphs into worry, as in, “Be anxious for nothing.” I am to often anxious for nothing. The nothing I find in the junk drawer off my mind, sets me to worrying.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not promoting blissful ignorance. Blissful ignorance is overrated. It is also expensive, to the ignorant one and to others in the neighborhood. I’m still working to add some stuff to my junk drawer. I’m even sorting it to make retrieval easier. But experience has taught me that a whole chest of junk drawers is not enough to meet life’s needs. I need more.

Maybe I’ll share more later, but let me say here, what I find most useful is not to know something more, but to know someone better.

My relationship with the Lord and with His people is what really gets me through.

It’s trite, but not really. It’s not what I know, but Who!

At the campground.

 Our little Frolic among the behemoths.

Most folks’ comments include the word “cute.”

Treating Others Right, Even Those Who Don't Deserve It

 I read Amos in my devotions this morning. To be honest, it is a pretty dismal book, full of words of condemnation. Here is one example.

    Thus says the LORD: 

    "For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom. So I will send a fire on Moab, and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth, and Moab shall die . . .."  (Am 2:1–2)

When I read that, I asked myself, "Hadn't I already heard about Edom from the Prophet Amos?"

Yes, I had.

    "Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity; he maintained his anger perpetually, and kept his wrath forever. So I will send a fire on Teman, and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah [2 cities in Edom]." (Am 1:11-12)

So the Lord pronounces judgment on one nation and then pronounces judgment on another nation for basically doing what the Lord said He would do to that same nation?

Yes, pretty much. Why? 

Certainly, it is above my paygrade to explain the ways of the Lord, but let me surmise for a moment. I think I have something instructive and useful in mind. Could it be that the Lord is like a human parent who challenges the right of an unrelated adult to discipline the parent's child and then proceeds to discipline their child for precisely the offense that motivated the outsider's intervention? "This is my child, I'll take care of this."  Romans 12:19 lends some credence to this theory.

   “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”” (Romans 12:19, ESV)

I see, however, behind this apparent conflict of judgment a principle that we need to remember in our contentious age. Even our enemies deserve to be treated with respect. The principle reaches as far as animals:

   “If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.” (Exodus 23:5, ESV, emp. added)  

Let's keep in mind that even bad people are people. We should treat them as such.