Why Grief?

This past weekend, a college friend lost her 21 year old son very unexpectedly. As the family wrestles with the usual mechanics of a loss, notifying everyone and preparing for the services, there are several things that accentuate the intensity of this time:  his youth, the suddenness of his death, their first born, the ‘wrong-ness’ of a parent losing a child, the proximity to Christmas, and so on. I find myself trying to imagine myself in that situation. Has she already gotten his gift(s)? As she picks them up, and it brings fresh waves of sadness over her, what does she do with it? When they steel themselves to go through his things and find the presents he’d gotten for them, with sticky notes on them, saying “Mom” and “Dad,” ready to be wrapped, how do you begin to sort out the tangle of emotions that erupt unbidden from an already shattered heart?

They are going through a particularly brutal kind of hell. Those of us further in space and time from the rawness of the loss are faced with our own questions. Yes, we are mortal, and there are all kinds of theological reasonings for our mortality. We can even discuss how the Fall was God’s Plan A, and mysteriously draw comfort from that—how He was not and is not caught off guard by what we do, but planned for it, just as parents plan flooring and furniture options around the age and messiness of their children. When the mess, accident or violent tantrum happens, the clean up was included in the equation of what setting to live in.

But why grief? Why was that in the equation? When an ant is squashed, the other ants generally just step around it and go on with life, the vacant place filled by another with barely a blip in efficiency. Why does love have to have the negative aspect of grief instead of just the positives, so when Good-Bye happens, we can just move on?

Land of the Dying

Over the years I’ve heard social commentators discuss our culture of death, how we are obsessed with death, and yet more terrified of it than nearly any other culture, and Christians are not exempt. I have to agree in large part with them.

Funerals used to be fairly simple affairs, but today they are a huge business, and the variety of ‘options’ one can select from is, well, remarkable, given the guest of honor is completely oblivious to them. One has to ask if it really helps those left behind.

We hide ‘public executions’ inside the prisons because they are considered poor taste, yet movies like “Faces of Death” show the most dramatic and disturbing life-endings caught on film, and many enjoy violent movies with a visceral desire to see the bad guys offed. (I have to confess I fall into this category more than I’d like to admit, cracking my own glass house.)

One reason our medicine is so advanced is because of our obsession with prolonging life and its quality. This is not inherently wrong, and indeed can be very Biblical, but like any ‘good’ thing, our motivations are revealing.

We worship the young, partly out of our fear of growing old, being less able to function, and closer to the grave.

So, it was with a pleasurable revelation on many levels that a guest bluegrass/Gospel band in church today played a song with the following chorus:

“I am leaving the land of the dying

To lay hold on eternal life

And the moment you see I’ve departed,

You’ll know I’ve safely arrived.”

It is worth a few minutes to meditate on these words.

Amen.

SDG

Evil on Christmas

An acquaintance was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. In spite of aggressive treatments, she was steadily declining, but still able to get around and live life somewhat. Saturday was her son’s birthday and they had a party for him, but she was kind of out of it. Her husband gave her morphine for the first time ever that night. In the morning she was worse, so they took her to the hospital. After examining her, the doctors gave her 2-24 hours. She died that afternoon, Christmas day.

Another family that many of my friends know had a 17 year old son with a congenital heart problem and several close calls and near death experiences, which he shared on YouTube one week before Christmas. He also died Christmas day.

Christmas night, I watched the news with my folks to see three homes destroyed by fire, several robberies of some of the few businesses open on Christmas, and various shootings. And on it went.

And on it goes. Day after day.

Steve and Gordon: Two Models of Innovation and Influence

Yesterday, I wrote about how serving the Lord can lead to transformation, innovation and leadership. Today I came across two examples of innovation and transformation with very different impacts:  Steve Jobs and Gordon Ramsey.

The web is filled with the news and commentary about Steve Jobs’ passing. It was a little shocking to me to hear how soon after stepping down it happened. Pretty much everyone is singing his praises about how he transformed the world electronically. It’s a no-brainer that he influenced the world in a major way. There are several points to note about that impact.

The Sea

Nearly everyone has their issues with the Bible. One of mine has to do with Revelation and the sea. Revelation 21:1 says, “Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.”

To me the sea has always held a fascination. I loved to watch the Jacques Cousteau specials on TV in the 70’s when I was a child. Initially, in junior high, I wanted to be a marine biologist, and so on. While space may be the final frontier, I’d say we still have lots to learn about the sea.

When all is said and done and we’re in the new heavens and new earth, the scientist and explorer in me nearly drool over the idea of touring Creation with the Creator as our tour guide. “Core of the Earth? No problem.” “What does Venus really look like? Let’s go!” “Want to free dive the Marianas trench? I’ll race you!” The Xtreme sports will have nothing on us!

Teaching Encounters of the First Kind

It is widely acknowledged that true Christianity is not a Sunday morning religion but a 24/7 relationship and way of life. Similarly teaching is not limited to the classroom or even the campus.

Tonight I was hand watering some planters on my front porch when one of the neighbor kids walked by. We said hi to each other and he commented about a snake he’d been looking at. He went to his buddy’s house to take him to see the snake. They are normal boys after all. After I finished watering, I decided to wander over to see the excitement.

Syllogism of Sin

To sin is to put anything above God.

God is the self-existing one.

Therefore, He is Life and the source of life.

Therefore, to sin is to put something else above the source of life.

This puts a barrier between the one who sins and the source of life.

To be cut off from life and the source of life results in death.

Therefore, it makes sense that the wages of sin is death, as the Bible claims.

SDG

Who's In Control?

In our modern, highly technologically advanced age, it is easy to assume self sufficiency and the ability to make our wishes come true. There is an attitude in this age that if an idea sounds good or works on paper, then it should work in real life.

While some humans have always been tempted by such thoughts throughout history (mostly the young, the powerful, the rich), in today’s America and the developed world, it is easier for more people to think this more successfully more of the time, and all the more so as we have moved into climate controlled urban areas that provide readymade food, water, sanitation and other creature comforts.

There’s just one problem.

Rugged Frailty

In Perelandra, the second book in C. S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy, Venus is an Eden-like planet, complete with an Adam and Eve. Weston, a human from earth is possessed with a demon and comes to Perelandra in order to cause the Fall there. The hero, appropriately named Ransom, is sent by God after Weston to preserve the innocence of the Eve character. The longer Weston is on Perelandra, the more depraved he becomes. He mauls some frog-like creatures horribly, and Ransom stumbles upon them, and seeing their suffering condition, tries to put them out of their misery, but they will not die, because Death hasn’t entered that planet yet. Ransom realizes he’s just adding to their suffering and leaves them, since he is also unable to heal them.

What has stuck with me about that episode since I first read it in college is

Follow up to “I Want Blood!”

About 10 days ago, I attempted to explain, in response to a reader’s question, why God needs a blood sacrifice, and why it had to be Jesus Christ. I also promised to consult with folks who’ve studied theology formally to get an ‘official’ perspective and follow up. I asked four pastors and a friend about the issue, all of whom I respect highly for their thoughtful responses as opposed to ‘party line’ autonomic responses. I have heard back from four of the five, two by email and two by conversation, and the summary is that all of us pretty much have the same understanding. Tonight, I will include the two written responses, edited for clarity.

My current pastor was the first to respond, hurriedly and briefly due to giving his kids a break in caring for a sick grandchild. His first thoughts are as follows:

1. The question of sacrifice is not a "difference maker" for God. By that I mean sacrifice does not change or make a difference in God, There is no need for him to sacrifice. It is a response of man to God as you have indicated in your house analogy. He did create (sole mover) all things but the point of the sacrifice is not God's need to sacrifice. It is man's need of redemption that creates the need for sacrifice. God created us as free, moral choosing beings, and it is our choice to respond to God appropriately, in this case sacrifice, not God's NEED to make a sacrifice.

2. Jesus was not sacrificed by God. Jesus CHOSE to endure the cross and crucifixion for our sins John 15: 12-17; John 19:8-11; John 1:1-5; Philippians 2:5-11  (just a few references) {RJW Note:  yes, Jesus is God, in the person of the Son, but was not ‘made’ to sacrifice Himself by God the Father. I know, I know, the whole Trinitarian idea of 3 Persons yet 1 Being is a tough one. For purposes of this discussion, think of the Trinity as 3 independent persons whose will is completely unified in inseparable purpose. Yeah, it’s still clear as mud. Let’s move on and see if things clear up as we move downstream.}

3. I am going to give you a web address below just for some reading. Like all things on the internet, I don't agree with everything in this response (even most things) but it is a good foundation on the background of the sacrificial system and the need for sacrifice. http://www.crivoice.org/sacrifice.html

I will try to get more from him this week. The second respondent was my pastor in another town, and a former engineer with a passion for thinking things through. He and I are a lot alike, though he would cringe at the idea! :P He says:

Before getting to the blood sacrifice itself, a couple of preliminary remarks:

(1) We must begin with God's character. If He is righteous, just, merciful, gracious, holy, etc., whatever he does must align with His character, or He is no more than the mythological pantheon of gods who are not consistent, and who are not perfectly righteous, etc. If His character is not perfect, it seems foolish to worship Him other than in fear of what He might do to us.

(2) We must understand the seriousness of sin. Sin is intentionally violating God's character (e.g., if we lie, we act contrary to His character of truthfulness). And, we must understand that we are fallen creatures to our core (i.e., we sin because we are sinners, not the other way around). We sin often and repeatedly.

(3) Now, because of God's character and our character, a "great gulf" exists. As Habakkuk cries out to God, "You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness... " (Hab. 1:13). God must do something about this gulf. He can

(1) ignore it, and consign us to our fate,

(2) ignore it, and pretend nothing really happened (essentially, universalism), or

(3) deal with it justly.

We know because of His character, he cannot choose either option (1) or (2)

(4) The next key issue is, how serious is the crime? Even if we ignore the death penalty in our culture, a person who murders once is usually sentenced to life imprisonment ("usually" allows for the limitations of our legal system). So, is the scope of the crime God must deal with greater than or less than a single murder? I would argue it is much greater because (a) we ultimately are replacing God with ourselves (idolatry) and (b) Jesus tells us that if we hate another, we've committed murder in our heart. So, I would argue, the crime is much greater, so it is reasonable, based on our own morals, to expect the penalty to be much higher. So,

(5) To satisfy His justice, the penalty for the sin must be paid. At the same time, God is gracious and merciful, so how can He act to perfectly satisfy all His attributes? The cross - Jesus endured the full brunt of our sin, thus the price has been paid. Because he is God, He alone could endure the high price. So, in His death, the price was fully paid legitimately. Because he was man, He legally represented mankind and could substitute Himself for us. His blood, ultimately, implies a life was given as penalty for the severe nature and penalty of the crimes (sin). But, in Jesus, the blood is not the end - the price was fully paid, but Jesus alone, as the sinless sin sacrifice, was raised from the dead. A life was paid because of God's justice, He was raised "for our justification", i.e., showing God's perfect graciousness.

All "blood sacrifices" prior to Jesus portray the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus, but could not pay the required price because the sacrifice was not of a perfect being and was not of a legitimate substitute for man. The blood sacrifice symbolized, however, the high requirement God's justice demands for our sinfulness. The ones making the sacrifice realized (or should have!) that a life was required for life.

I hope this is of help to folks. If there is interest, as I hear more, I’ll share it. Like I mentioned above, the two with whom I discussed this in person shared similar thoughts.

SDG

I Want Blood!

{Note:  Just today, I have had two readers indicate inability to successfully comment on this site. I apologize to all who have had difficulty. I don’t know what’s going on with Blogspot. Chalk it up to using a free service. We’re getting what I’m paying for. If you do have difficulty commenting, here’s what I’ll do:  email me at scholarredeemer@gmail.com with the text of your comment & I will post it for you. Privacy is a big deal to me, so please explicitly state in your email what nom de plume you want published and if you want your URL posted as well. If you do not specify, I will only use your initials and no URL. Furthermore, I will post your comment as you send it to me, with the exception of fixing obvious spelling/grammatical errors. I’d just as soon have all commenters look as good as possible and won’t deliberately leave anyone out to dry unless it is the effect of their content. As this is a Christian blog, I will bleep excessively offensive words to keep things civil. Otherwise, the only other thing to know is that I do moderate comments, but try to publish as many as possible. At most, I have denied only one comment in TSR’s existence, if that. So send in your thoughts!}

Today’s post is in answer to a comment/question on the Unlikely Bedfellows post the other day. JW asked, “The question is: What difference could a "blood sacrifice" make to God, all-powerful as He is? He can create as many entities as He wishes, ‘sacrifice’ them in any manner He prefers, as often as He desires. Jesus appears to have been an example of such: created by/divided from God, "sacrificed" by God, to God. What exact benefit could this have?”

GREAT question, and one of the questions >I< struggled with when coming to faith, and still have to go back and revisit from time to time because it is a deep and complex idea that is foreign to our modern ‘civilized’ minds. So this is just as good a time as any to revisit it. First, a disclaimer:  I am a chemist, not a theologian; nor have I taken any theology or philosophy courses. But I do ask questions, and I think about things a lot. Thus, this is an armchair theologian taking a stab at it. However, I will also email this question to some pastors whom I respect and report back with an update. Also, this is a deep, complex theological topic that has generated controversy and a number of scholarly works over the years (centuries, millennia…), but is probably a bigger issue for us today than it was for early peoples. So, here goes.

Let’s start with a ‘surfacy’ answer, then dig deeper:  God said so. In Paul’s letter to Christians in Rome, he states, “For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) A wage is what is due to someone for their activity, so when one sins, they are deserving of death. I know. There are a lot of unhappy readers right now, for a lot of reasons. You are beginning to see the complexity. First, there is the issue of God saying so—the issue of authority. Then there is the issue of Paul saying something, but I’m attributing it to God—it is again an issue of authority. Third, how is sin defined here? How many sins? How big? How small? Fourth, is death a logical wage for sin and why? And so on… And, to me, this is the clearest verse on the topic!

There is no way I can address all of these in one post, so I am going to ask for some indulgence on your part, and roll with me. Jesus taught in parables because stories and analogies help explain spiritual truths more concisely and deeper in many ways than a theological dissertation. So I am going to follow His example and use an analogy. I’m not God, so my analogies are going to be much more limited in their effectiveness than His, but this is a picture that helps me grasp the issue on some level.

Let’s say you own a home. You invite people to come live in your home, and lay out the house rules. They proceed to completely ignore them, and even make fun of you for having such rules and for being so unreasonable as to act as if it is your house. Your home and possessions are being destroyed, and they are acting like it is their house. Therefore, you evict them.

Most of the analogy is pretty obvious. God is the homeowner and Creation is the house. We are the guests and we like to do things our way and find His rules seeming to limit our freedom. So how does He evict us and what does that have to do with blood sacrifice? Throughout Scripture, God is described as the ‘living God,’ ‘the Way, the Truth, and the Life,’ the Source of Life, and so on. Therefore, it is logical that eviction from the source of life is death.

Here’s the rub for God:  in the analogy, who the interlopers are isn’t specified, and as far as you might be concerned, you’d just as soon have the place back to yourself anyway. God is different. He loves the rabble ruining His Creation and dissing on Him. He doesn’t want us to die because He created us to have a relationship together with Him, and eternal death is a bit of an obstacle to that. So what to do?

If eviction is the appropriate penalty for violating the terms of the lease, and death is the nature of the eviction, then we are in a fix. There is nothing left of us to continue in the relationship. Therefore, to resolve the conundrum, someone must pay the penalty who can ‘afford’ it. In other words, someone is needed who has, for lack of a better term, more life than the death of eviction calls for. Someone is needed who can pay for the damage and serve as a guarantor for the behaviour. There is one more requirement:  that someone must also not be guilty of violating the house rules themselves, otherwise they would need to pay for themselves and would not be able to pay for others. The only one who is able to pay the penalty of death and not be wiped out themselves is Life itself, i.e. God. And, as He is the one who set up the house rules, He can keep them. Therefore, He is the only one qualified to pay for the eviction and still be able to restore the desired relationship.

So, the reason it had to be Jesus to redeem us and the reason He had to be God incarnate, living on this planet with us, is because He had to live under His own rules successfully before He could be evicted in our stead. Only then would He meet both qualifications of a substitutionary evictee:  He had to be God to have enough Life to pay the eviction fee, and He had to be human meet the terms of the lease successfully. What’s more, because it was an unjust eviction, you can think of it as the homeowner owing the evictee, so the evictee can apply the payment once for all of the other residents. A payment was needed and a payment was made.

I realize it may still seem a bit stiff, but please reread this putting yourselves in God’s shoes as the homeowner with rowdy, destructive, disrespectful guests. If you’ve ever had a bad roommate situation or children, it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch.

There are still many questions surrounding the topic and the analogy is far from perfect, but I’ve tried my best to answer the question asked as clearly and simply as possible. If you find this answer at least minimally acceptable, please consider the possibility that other questions and the things I haven’t touched on also have answers, and that the true, full and complete answers are better than my weak attempts to explain them.

I recommend reading the book of Romans in the New Testament of the Bible, especially the first 8 chapters. It is probably the most theologically dense section of the entire Bible, so take it slowly, read the cross-referenced passages and have a thorough commentary handy. Alternatively, an easier approach is to find online or in a bookstore various Bible Studies on Romans that will guide you through it by taking it in bite-sized chunks and asking questions for understanding. It really is worth taking the time to do this. If God is going to ask you to trust Jesus’ eviction as good for yours, then it only makes sense to understand it as much as possible, especially if you are struggling with the very idea that you have been served an eviction notice to begin with!

Like I mentioned earlier, I will get input from others who’ve spent more time studying this topic formally and update it. Also, if you do have other questions, I’ll be happy to both do my best and find more formal responses.

PS- I would like to offer one further observation:  many people have understandable difficulty with the exclusivity of accepting Jesus’ eviction as the only way to avoid our own. May I encourage you to read this article on crucifixion, and then consider the question:  why would God even go there if there were an easier way? And, given that He did go there, what does that say about how much He values you?

SDG

Comforting the Grieving

This fall, I’ve had a rather larger than normal number of funerals, a fact I think I mentioned in a previous post. This morning was the latest, a distant elderly relative, whose husband died about two months ago. In February, they were in a rollover bus accident while vacationing in Florida. They never completely recovered, and she finally surrendered last Sunday.

Their eldest son gave both eulogies, and it of course has been a very hard 9-1/2 months for the family, but there was a big difference in his demeanor. Last time he was sad, but would smile when visiting with folks afterward. Today, there was none of that. In today’s eulogy, he spoke a lot about asking the why questions, and there was a very slight edge of frustration and anger in his voice, and in fact, he ended rather abruptly, as if he continued another word, he would say things he’d regret. My heart went out to him and the rest of the family—though they are Christians, they have been through Hell this year, and the strain was showing.

The minister immediately got up and gave a rather canned funeral sermon talking about Jesus being the Way, Truth, and Life, and how we have hope because of Christ. All true, but completely missing the point of the family’s struggle right here and now. They are angry, and rightfully so. They need someone to come alongside and help them through their anger to see why hope is not only possible, but reasonable.

As I observed the service, I began thinking about Jesus raising Lazarus. Even though He fully knew He was going to raise Lazarus, He grieved deeply with the family. Scripture says twice that He wept, and was ‘deeply moved,’ the expression meaning that He had a physical, visceral reaction to the magnitude of His grief. He did not treat it cavalierly, “Cheer up folks, I’ll raise Lazzy and all will be right with the world.” In Revelation, John states that “the final enemy to be defeated is death.”

Do you see that? Death is an enemy. It is something to fight and rage against, to grieve when it gets the upper hand. We are not made for death, but life. Death is an insult, an attack on our very being, and is to be opposed. To treat it as anything else is not dealing with reality. My relatives are right to be angry—their enemy has gained a victory over them, and it is not fair in any sense of the word. We must acknowledge that truth and not dismiss or minimize it. We must also not let things end there.

Paul tells us to grieve, but not without hope as the unbelievers do. Why? Because while death still acts and has power, it is only for a time, and its destruction is already in motion. By His resurrection, Christ removed the linchpin of Death’s authority, and it will completely fall away at the end. We have hope because Christ has defeated death, and grief until the defeat plays itself out.

Not only do we have the hope of the resurrection, but we have the comfort of God’s grieving with us. Not only with Lazarus do we see this, but also in Psalm 116:15, where the Word says, “Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His saints.” When something is precious, it is valued, and carries with it a connotation of tenderness, comfort, special attention. He is not distant, clucking at us for not seeing the big picture, telling us to get over it because it isn’t a big deal. He is there with us, agreeing with our pain and sharing in it.

This victory, and the comfort that accompanies it, are not just a product of the New Testament, but a central theme of the entire Bible. Job, the oldest book of the Bible, declares in chapter 19—

“But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,

and he will stand upon the earth at last.

And after my body has decayed,

yet in my body I will see God!

I will see him for myself.

Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.

I am overwhelmed at the thought!

From beginning to end, the Bible comes face to face with the reality of death in our lives. It never sugar coats it or puts whitewash over it—it even slams those that try to. God is brutal in His acknowledgment of our situation, yet comes alongside to share in the crap with us, and then adamantly declares that He will bring us through death, beyond it, and in the process destroy both its power and its very existence.

We are not alone. We will have an end to suffering. We will live as we know we are meant to.

SDG

The Death of Despair

Today I attended a funeral for a distant relative. I know his daughters better than I knew him, and unfortunately, though we are the same age and grew up in the same town, I don’t know them as well as I’d like, and we talked today about rectifying that over the holidays.

In a strange way, I enjoy going to funerals, and it is a bittersweet experience, because you learn so many really wonderful things about the person that you really wish you’d known when they were alive. I am blessed to come from a large extended family where multiple generations have kept in touch, and while there are a few rascals, most everyone is solid salt of the earth, even some of the rascals, which makes for some good stories. The tragedy is that my generation doesn’t really have the bonds with each other that the previous ones do. And we are beginning to lose large numbers of my grandparents’ generation (we’re a long-lived clan)—one more probably won’t make it through tonight, literally. Her funeral is already scheduled for next weekend.

This semester, we unexpectedly lost one of the powerhouse professors in our department, and yet already things are moving forward administratively to take care of his responsibilities. His memorial service will be next weekend also, and it will be full of stories and remembrances and praises, as you’d expect, and as he deserves. But life goes on.

I found myself during the service today asking the question, “What is the point of living life, much less a life well lived?” As the Preacher, Solomon, observed in Ecclesiastes 2:12-16:

Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom, and also madness and folly.

What more can the king’s successor do than what has already been done?

 I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness.

 The wise have eyes in their heads, while the fool walks in the darkness;

but I came to realize that the same fate overtakes them both.

 Then I said to myself,

   “The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise?”

I said to myself, “This too is meaningless.”

 For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered;

   the days have already come when both have been forgotten.

Like the fool, the wise too must die!

The first answer to my question that I gave myself was to look around at the packed chapel to see the lives this man impacted, and knowing there were many more that wanted to be there. The cynic in me replied that it just begs the question, putting it off and the real question was why any of us was here—the cycle of life and death is just mechanistic meaninglessness, for even the universe will one day end, so what?

But God commanded us to live and declared that our existence is not only good, but very good. If He is Good and Holy, then these two facts are of critical importance. The fact of our living, and the urge to live well of necessity flow from the character and person of God. Without that being true, the Preacher is right. Even Paul concedes that if it is only for this life that we live as Christians, then we are to be most pitied of all people. Without the reality of a good God, Life is a burden, and one that should be shucked. If the destiny of our lives is annihilation sooner or later, then it really doesn’t matter which, sooner, or later.

But, if God, then everything changes.

One of my favorite verses about mortality is Psalm 116:15: “Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His saints.”  What care and comfort that the Almighty Creator sees the passing of our loved ones as precious! Anything that God deems precious can never be a waste.

Is your God big enough to redeem your mortality?

SDG