Now Moving On

Psalm 139:14 (NLT))


Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

Today my preacher gave a message that turned the page for me forever regarding the science/religion debate. David Miller’s sermon is found here: http://pastordavidmiller.wordpress.com/2013/10/06/psalm-65-sermon/ . He remarked (not spending a great deal of time on the matter) that there are two ways of looking at things. For example, when I suckled at my mother’s breast I was in the arms of someone who would come to have profound and complex meaning for me even as a child—she was, after all, my mother. Now it is entirely possible to say that in reality she was a mammalian nursing her young—that she was a Homo sapiens (brain volume at least 1400 cc) with a skeletal structure and other complex biological systems operating according to the exacting laws of organic chemistry before, during, and after my birth. Has any child or even well informed adult ever perceived or surmised that only one or the other of these ways of seeing their mother is factual and true—and that the other way is false? Of course not, it is a silly question. Now, moving on…..

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Regarding the Desire to Have a Buzz

It is a very sad thing when people must get a buzz to feel blessed. We cash-in the unspeakable blessing of sound mind for unreality. I decry the buzz not only for its impairment of the mind, but I decry it for its symbolic aspect—the penchant for addressing the hurts of life with escapism. Let me repeat my warning—we assume mind altering drugs (including marijuana and alcohol) only temporarily affect perception. There is no evidence whatever for this assumption and the likelihood of this being true is nil considering the complex structure of the brain on all levels. To the contrary, a lasting beneficent impact upon perception through inebriation is as likely as my thrusting an ice pick through a fine watch and expecting it to improve the timekeeping function. It is high time we address the causes of pain in the world and use the mind to assuage them in a way and for the purposes God set from the beginning.

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NO BUTS!!!

 
Remind me that you measure achievement not in terms of public recognition, but in terms of faithfulness to you [God] and your cause. Let me not underestimate my ability to serve you in whatever capacity you call me, and give me the wisdom to make the most of every opportunity. (Through the Year with Jimmy Carter, page 229).

Today I was talking privately with a friend who Monday will interview for a position at work. She told me with complete earnestness that she wanted God’s will to be done in the candidate selection. I was in the process of saying “Yes, but [I hope you get the job].” She cut me off abruptly after I said “but” and she shook her finger at me and said “NO BUTs!” It is important to understand that for the past weeks she has assiduously studied the job duties for the position in question and has efficiently and effectively filled in for that position after the former occupant retired. In other words, she has been what I like to call an “earnest player.” And it is deeply significant to note that she is not alone in the desire that God's will take precedence. Earnest players—while doing their very best in leading towards an outcome—still can hold that God’s will is of final importance.

In a few months I will be retiring from work. I have longed for a high-profile task of significance. However it may well be in God’s will that I continue after retirement “under the radar” in a private one-on-one prison ministry. With God’s help the stance I will assume is that I will be content with wherever place and whatever task God assigns me. It is a lesson I may never fully comprehend. Yet it is a long-established fact that those things God holds as significant often contrast sharply with the world’s notion of noteworthiness. In other words, my firm response must come to be such as my friend’s—NO BUTs!!!

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One Year Ago

Today I printed out my time sheets for one year ago. They indicate that one year ago next Wednesday through next Friday I took off vacation time from work. This was set aside for the time that Kathy and I would travel to the mountains of north Georgia to see my brother Bob and his wife Linda. Kathy and I were excitedly planning our trip and looking for to a road trip together and a visit with Bob and Linda who are unfailing gracious hosts. On the visit Bob and Linda took special effort to ensure that Kathy could find and take interesting photos (Kathy loved photography). None of us knew by the middle of the following month Kathy would have passed following an unexpected sickness.

Today I have been listening to the hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy.” That was Kathy’s and is my favorite hymn. All night long I have had it playing filling the house with an emotive quality that cannot be duplicated. Kathy and I will always share our love and look forward to being together forever.

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Enemies as Blessings

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48 NIV)

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Hear and follow in text a full-length sermon of Dr. Martin Luther King on the topic of loving your enemies:
http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/documentsentry/doc_loving_your_enemies/

Practically speaking how can I come to love my enemy since the drive inherent within human nature to retaliate after a perceived hurt is virtually insurmountable? The answer lies in our coming to see even our worst enemy as a blessing; for even our worst enemy can teach us something about human nature and thus about ourselves—and coincidentally can give us the liberating and creative opportunity to be generous and forgiving (increasing our own self-esteem in positive rather than destructive ways). That is, rather than tit-for-tat destructiveness; we can attain the greater good—especially for ourselves—by responding with the attitude and actions of love. Surely we must realize that when Dr. Martin Luther King responded to his enemies in love rather than hatred, the most immediate if not chief beneficiary was himself. When we are tempted to see only bad in our enemies and only good in us, let us realize that we are only doing what comes naturally. Jesus calls us to see even our most exasperating neighbor as a blessing and an opportunity to be of service to ourselves and to our enemy. Only in this way—as seeing our enemy as a blessing—can we hope to respond with redemptive love.

I know right off we think of extreme cases. Was a victim of Nazi genocide at Dachau by self-talk and attitude adjustment magically to come to see the Nazi’s as a blessing? Well, I’m constrained to say that self-talk is extremely important in all cases where we have somebody who hates us and thus almost reflexively enrages us. There may be nothing we can do in the present moment to control or affect the person attacking us. At the moment we cannot change the thoughts of our neighbor and may have limited to no control over their actions. But we can exercise some control through self-talk and attitude adjustment of our own responses.

Now, as to action we are in some sense limited. It is much easier relatively speaking to control our own actions when flowing from a sense of gratitude; when through goodwill we come to love our enemy even though their best lights and ours markedly differ on a single instance. Now it is true that we can be called upon to limit the harmful actions of others—especially when those harmful acts affect not only us, but perhaps a wide spectrum of innocent individuals. Thus sometimes it is necessary to obviate as much as possible the actions of others.

The police power of the state of course frequently finds itself as the instrument of action and justice. In other words, rather than taking vengeance into our own hands, we let a third party (the state) arrive at a considered response to hurtful provocation. In this situation we do not ask that police power be inflamed in a retaliatory way with hatred. Law officer professionalism as much as humanly possible seeks to propagate effective and limited action without being driven by the excesses and inflammations of personal hatred. Even though a legal structure can dampen hatred in some instances, we are left with the million and one animosities that do not rise to the level of criminality.

In these areas self-talk as to mercy, graciousness, forgiveness, empathy (putting oneself in another’s shoes), the realization of the mystery of human conscience, motivation, and perception; all can lead us to seeing even our enemies as an unfathomable blessing that provides us with opportunities for positive and constructing creativity born of elemental respect if not effusive goodwill. We quite intentionally withhold putting ourselves in God’s judgment seat elevating ourselves to the final judge and arbiter of other people and events—not even of our enemies or events in which we are intimately involved. We are to keep fully in mind that we are far from a disinterested party and the related consequential mischief such an identity can have upon our most enduring perceptions. We must needs proceed with strength and firmness guided by our own best lights, throwing ourselves before the mercy seat of God.

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E Pluribus Unum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

E Pluribus Unum included in the Seal of the United States, being one of the nation's mottos at the time of the seal's creation
E pluribus unum (/ˈiː ˈplʊərɨbəs ˈuːnəm/; Latin: [ˈeː ˈpluːrɪbʊs ˈuːnũː])—Latin for "Out of many, one" (alternatively translated as "One out of many" or "One from many")—is a phrase on the Seal of the United States, along with Annuit cœptis (Latin for "He approves (has approved) of the undertaking") and Novus ordo seclorum, (Latin for "New Order of the Ages") and adopted by an Act of Congress in 1782. Never codified by law, E pluribus unum was considered a de facto motto of the United States[citation needed] until 1956 when the United States Congress passed an act (H. J. Resolution 396), adopting "In God We Trust" as the official motto.

Origins
 The motto was suggested in 1776 by Pierre Eugene du Simitiere to the committee responsible for developing the seal. At the time of the American Revolution, the exact phrase appeared prominently on the title page of every issue of a popular periodical, The Gentleman's Magazine, which collected articles from many sources into one "magazine". This in turn can be traced back to the London-based Huguenot Peter Anthony Motteux, who used the adage for his The Gentleman's Journal, or the Monthly Miscellany (1692-1694). The phrase is similar to a Latin translation of a variation of Heraclitus's 10th fragment, "The one is made up of all things, and all things issue from the one." A variant of the phrase was used in Moretum, a poem attributed to Virgil but with the actual author unknown. In the poem text, color est e pluribus unus describes the blending of colors into one. St Augustine used a variant of the phrase, ex pluribus unum, in his Confessions.

While Annuit cœptis and Novus ordo seclorum appear on the reverse side of the great seal, E pluribus unum appears on the obverse side of the seal (Designed by Charles Thomson), the image of which is used as the national emblem of the United States, and appears on official documents such as passports. It also appears on the seal of the President and in the seals of the Vice President of the United States, of the United States Congress, of the United States House of Representatives, of the United States Senate and on the seal of the United States Supreme Court.

Meaning
Traditionally, the understood meaning of the phrase was that out of many states (or colonies) emerge a single nation. However, in recent years its meaning has come to suggest that out of many peoples, races, religions and ancestries has emerged a single people and nation—illustrating the concept of the melting pot.

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from The Apostles Creed

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of the saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

The longer I live the more I have come to appreciate the wisdom and truth embodied in the phrases “E pluribus unum” and the “holy catholic Church” [the church universal derived from unity in Christ but diversity in fellowship]. Both have the meaning that there is unity in diversity. Sometimes it is assumed the Kingdom of God will cover the earth with a blanket of abject uniformity and from that we will of necessity derive great happiness. Is this really what we want? Is this really what we need? The surest path to survival and abundance in the long term suggest the need for a portfolio of diversity. We certainly can see the necessity of this in the dynamics of human nature. Once any one institution or person or party is assigned the attribution of being “It” or “The One and Only” or “The Great I Am” great mischief is sure to follow. The human psyche just can’t deal with that kind of power and disastrous consequences result.

Now in American we have great dissension present in national politics. Nevertheless, we must conclude that anything is better than total conformity. Down that route disaster would not only be in the offing, it would be certain—despite perhaps a temporary high of phony good feeling. The essential problem is that if any person or institution is assigned the role of God, delusions already evident would escalate into utter escapism. The motto of the United States “In God we trust” means that we must always hold total and absolute trust in God alone—not in any other being (to include any institution or person). So we must conclude that we should be grateful for diversity, and thank the surpassing wisdom of God Almighty for our political opposition—though this not always is an easy thing to do. E pluribus unum is the common page upon which we all can write and forms the paradox upon which true strength resides.

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The Little Matter of Ownership

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

(Psalm 139:23-24 NLT)

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However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—

these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, 

“Who has known the mind of the Lord
so as to instruct him?”

But we have the mind of Christ.

(1 Corinthians 2: 9-16 NIV)

When I think of my person, I can say with confidence that this is my foot; this is my hand. It is another matter entirely however when I consider my mind and sexual being. In these matters “mine” becomes “ours”. These faculties, through the Holy Spirit, do not belong to me alone. Who, then, exactly makes up the “our”? The other constituent of “our” (other than myself) is the Godhead alone—Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. It immediately must be added that this does not make me a cut above anyone. This is the felt reality for all believers and comes with significant responsibilities and sacrifice.

 



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