So today, Ken has a post up at ??N linking to Ingrid. What’s Ingrid so upset with? Well, Tim Challies wrote a piece about evil as entertainment. Here’s my favorite quote by her

Challies does not bother to specifically address what blogs/bloggers he is talking about, and as a result, anyone who reads a news and views blog can be made to feel that they may be in sin for doing so.

Here’s my question, How can anyone make anyone else feel that they might be in sin. For that matter, if her conscience is clear before God, why is she worried about one lone blogger? There’s a Shakespeare quote that comes to mind about protesting too much.

Commenting on Jesus’ miracle of raising the dead son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-17), Todd Hunter writes:

‘God is back, looking to the needs of his people!’ And the news spread. This is how the rule and reign of God out to be experienced among us today. Caring for the needs of others is what I have in mind, not just the spectacular part about the boy’s resuscitation. I like the thought of others experiencing Christianity ‘for their good.’ But because of two dynamics, Christianity is seldom seen as being good for others. First, many Christians believe that our relationship with God is a private matter–just between Jesus and me. Second, when we do extend our beliefs into the public sphere, we are noted for nagging, for being judgmental, argumentative or holier than thou. But we see neither of these in Jesus.” –Todd D Hunter, Christianity Beyond Belief, 112-113

Yes. I do believe Mr Hunter is correct here. I can tell you from first hand experience that this type (the self-centered, judgmental type) of ‘christianity’ simply must die.  And, to be sure, I believe it will.

“There is nothing more disgusting than to see Pharisaical legalists splitting theological hairs, rigidly maintaining opinions at the expense of peace and harmony in the Body of Christ.”–Fred W Smith, The Plea, October 1951, volume 7, no. 8

I haven’t forgotten about this series of posts and I’d like to bring it back into play by going back to one of my favorite bands, Metallica. The idea behind this series of posts is not to necessarily agree with, approve of, or advocate everything that a particular artist is saying, and certainly not to endorse any particular manner of living or conduct of the artist, but, as the title says, to listen. What are they saying? What are they commenting upon? Can they in any way instruct the Christian and help us better understand how the world sees things in order that we might better minister to them? The only thing we ask is that this series not devolve into a discussion about the salvation status of the artists we discuss. That is not the point of the posts.

Previous installments of the series are as follows:

Learning to Listen to Jackson Browne: The Rebel Jesus

Learning to Listen to Joan Osbourne: One of Us

Learning to Listen to Styx: Show Me the Way

Learning to Listen to Metallica: Master of Puppets

Learning to Listen to Alice in Chains: Down in a Hole

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As stated, this installment comes again from the band Metallica. This particular song was a breakout song for Metallica. I remember being 17 and going to a Monsters of Rock tour event at the old Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, PA. There were several bands there that day (Scorpions, Dokken, Kingdom Come, Van Halen (Sammy Hagar version unfortunately), and of course, Metallica) and it was a long day of music. Metallica was, at the time, only beginning to break out of it’s so-called underground status. The were still touring in support of Master of Puppets and the record that produced One, …and Justice for All, was still in the works. They played one new song that day from the Justice record, sadly I don’t recall which one it was. I’d like to think it was ‘One’.

Anyhow, ‘One’ was a blockbuster for Metallica because it was the first song they ever produced a video for. I seem to recall them being somewhat anti-video back then so it was a big deal when the video first showed up on Headbangers Ball on MTV (back when MTV actually played music on television). It remains to this day one of the best songs they ever wrote (recently it was included on Guitar Hero III). The video is one of the best videos ever made because the video actually helps us understand the song better (many videos make things worse). I have included the lyrics as well and at the end I’ll share a couple of thoughts.

__________________________

__________________________

One, by Metallica

I can’t remember anything
can’t tell if this is true or dream
deep down inside I feel to scream
this terrible silence stops me

now that the war is through with me
I’m waking up, I cannot see
that there’s not much left of me
nothing is real but pain now

hold my breath as I wish for death
oh please God, wake me

back in the womb it’s much too real
in pumps life that I must feel
but can’t look forward to reveal
look to the time when I’ll live

fed through the tube that sticks in me
just like a wartime novelty
tied to machines that make me be
cut this life off from me

hold my breath as I wish for death
oh please God, wake me
now the world is gone I’m just one
oh God, help me hold my breath as I wish for death

darkness imprisoning me
all that I see
absolute horror
I cannot live
I cannot die
trapped in myself
body my holding cell

landmine has taken my sight
taken my speech
taken my hearing
taken my arms
taken my legs
taken my soul
left me with life in hell

_________________________

Where does one begin when it comes to war? It’s not a popular topic–unless you benefit from it financially or politically. My brother is, right now, on his second trip to Iraq; his wife will be going as soon as he returns. War is ugly. It is despicable. I hate that my brother is away from his family.

Allow me a confession. I remember when we were first attacked on September 11, 2001. You know what my first reaction was? War. That was all I could think of; war. I didn’t think pity. I didn’t think sorrow. I didn’t think grace. I didn’t think mercy. I thought revenge. Someone has to get even with these people for what they have done to us. In the ensuing days, there was a lot of debate about war both in the mainstream of the public and in the theological sector. It seems every journal, every theologian, every preacher, and every pope had an idea about what ‘constituted a just war.’

Did anyone care? I wasn’t particularly concerned if it was just or not. All I knew is that someone had attacked ‘my’ homeland and the government had a responsibility to protect me and to avenge the dead, and to, in Paul’s words, ‘be the sword of God.’  Just? That implies justice of some sort. I wasn’t too concerned about justice. I was thirsty. I, like 95% of America, wanted blood.

Learning to Listen

What this song teaches me is probably twofold. One the one hand, it shames me because it shows me that there are probably times when those who know not the peace brought by Christ desire that peace more than I do. I heard once that no one makes a war movie because they are in favor of war. I wonder if it is true about war songs? Probably. Yet some of the loudest voices I heard in the days following that dreadful day were from church folk who were convinced that we should retaliate. What followed was certainly a travesty of the term just. ‘Just war’ is an oxymoron. One would think that since Christians of all people know the Prince of Peace, that quite a few more songs about peace would have been written during that time. Yet the loudest voices calling for peace were from the secular audience.

Second, it reminds me that war is mindlessly stupid, that it hurts too many innocents no matter how just, and that it is, frankly, contrary to the work of Christ who brought an end to violence by absorbing violence into himself (a very Scriptural idea that has gotten a lot more tread lately. Rob Bell discussed this a great deal in the latter chapters of Jesus Wants to Save Christians.) We are pros at creating weapons of death–often, I think, because we can. People get paid to do little more than discover ways to kill other people. One of those ‘weapons’ we create is the soldier. Again, Metallica recorded a great song on this called ‘Disposable Heroes’ on the Master of Puppets record. But why death? Why war? Why are we so prone to celebrate that which is so appalling, so horrifying, so unjust? And what about the innocents who suffer unjustly because someone has decided that a war is just? This is not just the USA either. This is not just the Republican party. This is humanity’s way. We are a people of war.

The Bible and War

The problem is that Solomon and Jesus talked about war. Solomon said ‘there’s a time for war’ in Ecclesiastes. Jesus said ‘you will hear of wars and rumors of wars’ in Matthew’s Gospel. I think what Christians have done is we have read this along with Romans 13 and concluded that the inevitability of war necessarily justifies it. You know, just because it will be means that we should be the catalysts of it or that it should be our first option and never our last or that we are always justified–even when it is a matter of defense.

It also works on the assumption that violence must be met with violence (another Metallica song from the Ride the Lightning record is ‘Fight Fire with Fire’); that the only way to win peace is with war; that the best way to live life is to a) get them before they get us or b) secure peace through force and violence. (A good book to read on this is Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie which is a fabulous book about the Biafran War of the 1960’s. It paints a mesmerizing picture of the stupidity of war. Or if you are not into African stories, try Stephen Ambrose’s Band of Brothers among others he wrote. Also Winston Churchill’s history of WWII is a brilliant read. A more recent collection is by Rick Atkinson called The Liberation Trilogy.)

But I’m not sure. We follow the Prince of Peace. Doesn’t that count for something when we, as Christians, develop a theology of war? Can those who follow the Prince of Peace ever say they are in favor of war? Any war? War at any cost? Maybe our response should be different. Maybe Jesus has made a different response to war possible and the church needs to reconsider ever supporting in any way a war. I know we cannot necessarily ask a civil government to act in a Christian way or act with a Christian conscience. But we can ask more of ourselves and I shall suggest a few different responses to war below.

War and Peace

This is all very preliminary to be sure. I’m sort of thinking out loud even as I reconsider my own support of the War in Iraq and the War in Afghanistan and live with a long history of military service in my family. There are other issues that I’m not discussing in this post. A couple are as follows:

• What does it mean that ‘Jesus came to bring the sword and not peace’? Does this factor into our discussion at all? (I happen to think it is a separate issue altogether, but there it is.)
• What about the Sovereignty of God in this matter? Why does God allow wars? Do they play any part in his sovereign working out of things?
• What about the wars of the Old Testament? What justification is there for what Israel did in Canaan? (I listened to some lectures by Dr John Currid from Reformed Theological Seminary and his take was basically that Israel had no right to dispute what God told them to do. He’s God. That’s enough. I wonder.)
• Was Paul justifying war in Romans 13? Can disputes be solved apart from war and violence? Is the civil government always under obligation to protect its citizens by obliterating opposing or threatening nations?
• Other issues?

Toward a Christian Response

In this final section, I’d Iike to offer a few suggestions for a Christian response to the problem, the sin, of war. I will offer seven quick responses.

1. We can stop rejoicing as if war is ever, and I mean ever, a good thing. I have had to grow a lot concerning this. Like the intergalactic bug said in the original Men in Black, “War. Good. More food for my family.” I think even if war is inevitable, even just, it should break our hearts and sadden us. War is the outworking and presence of sin. It is the opposite of the presence of Christ.
2. We can stop acting as if war is always and necessarily a part of God’s plan. War happens precisely because people have rejected God’s presence in this world. War stands opposed to the Prince of Peace. War stands in contradiction to the one who defeated the principalities, powers, and authorities.
3. We can work for relief for people and places affected adversely by warring politicians. We should not allow people to be painted with brands of ‘traitor’ or ‘coward’ because they conscientiously object to war. We can help those displaced by violence. We can minister to those who suffer indignity because of war. We can hold war criminals accountable for their actions. You get the point.
4. We can pray for peace. The fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace…we can pray for peace in this world and work to make peace a reality.
5. We can be not so quick to condemn or put down those who protest war.
6. We can help promote alternatives to the endless cycle of revenge, even while seeking Justice. International Justice Mission is one such agency that is working to bring peace by promoting justice.
7. We can remember the horror of war and not pretend like it isn’t real or that it is all glory. Perhaps if we are quicker to remember what war really is (one reason I like modern war movies much better than old war movies is that they are quite justified in their portrayal of the serious, hideous, violent nature of war and the pain and suffering it inflicts on people made in God’s image) we won’t be so quick to reach for the trigger or the button.

Ultimately, only the Gospel holds out hope for peace in this world. Only the proclamation of Jesus Christ as the one who triumphed over the vices of this world will bring the sort of lasting peace that will necessarily accompany the Kingdom. At minimum, this post is designed to make one point: The loudest voices protesting war should not be coming from those who know not the Prince of Peace. Rather, those who know of Christ and his work should be at the front, working for peace, justice, healing wounds, and being merciful to the innocent and the afflicted and the perpetrators alike.

Tags: war

With all the arguing we do around here at times, I thought maybe a reminder of something we have in common might be a relief. I’m not making any statements. I just like the song and thought you might be blessed. The pictures are kind of corny, but the song, by Kenny Chesney and Randy Travis, is wonderful. Be blessed!

This morning on CBS’s Morning Show.

A beautiful portrait of God’s ability to heal and restore. And timely with Eugene’s post.

Notice what the interviewer says at the 4:40 mark.

Watch CBS Videos Online

Grace and Peace.

Brant Hansen has truly outdone himself this time, demonstrating what awesomely awesome parody looks like.  In a week that I can use the extra laughs, Brant has delivered.

Apparently, Brant visited a “Books-a-Million” this past week, and his visit required Extra Discernment (TM), particularly when he picked up the John MacArthur Study Bible.

There’s this “John MacArthur Study Bible”.  I don’t know much about John MacArthur, but apparently, he likes to kinda dilute stuff.  I flipped open to Matthew 23, where, as everyone knows, Jesus climbs the turnbuckles, and goes off the top rope onto the religious teachers who thought they were big stuff.  Or, at least, that’s what I thought:

But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

MacArthur says that doesn’t really catch it, though.  Jesus really meant that religious teachers shouldn’t tie up loads that aren’t Bible-based and put them on people’s backs.  Biblical loads?  Go ahead.

So I guess Jesus wasn’t so rad after all.  He was just saying they were putting the wrong loads on people.  Bible-centered weights?  Well, hey, you need those, and that’s what we teachers are for, I reckon.

And, as only a denizen of Kamp Krusty can do, Brant finishes up with a flourish that ought to be recognizable to any casual ADM reader:

I don’t want to criticize this fellow’s Study Bible. Everybody has a God-given right, in this country, by golly, to write their own Study Bible, and I will defend that right — the one to write a Study Bible — to the death. I just don’t think people should water down the Truth. They shouldn’t make it less dangerous, or less scandalous, or less offensive, or less shocking. Or less bold. Or — you know– less manly. I’m not saying he’ s a false teacher, but beware false teachers.

That’s my opinion.

Priceless.

And even the comments are worth a good read, with this gem by Kate:

Kind of a wimpy way to critique it, if you ask me. A less wimpy way to put it would be, “Those who read and follow the notes contained in The MacArthur Study Bible will be led to the same place MacArthur is going, that is, the blackness of darkness (2 Peter 2:17), where all unbelievers go, the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8).”

(I googled MacArthur and this http://www.atruechurch.info/macstudybible.html is what came up)

Who knew that even MacArthur had been consigned to outer darkness by his own ADM’s?

[Well, other than the all-knowing Template of General Disdain, Chris P...]

Recently a friend of mine engaged in a conversation at his church over good and evil. Somone in the conversation said that he only knew what was good because he had seen evil happen.  This sparked another discussion amongst other friends of mine.  So that has brought me to this post and you, our wide and varied readers. Some questions:

1. Do you agree with the guys statement? (He only knows good because he’s seen evil)

2. If not, how would define evil? How do you evil?

Personally, I think the guy has watched a few too many romantic comedies. (Can’t you see the Romeo saying to his Juliet, “I know you’re good, because I’ve seen so much evil”), and that he has it backwards. But I want to know what you the people believe.

Came across this quote recently in some reading I am doing.

Since faith fastens on God’s benevolence, it yields gratitude, which in turn sponsors risk-taking in the service of others. Grateful people want to let themselves go; faithful people dare to do it. People tethered by to God by faith let themselves go because they know they will get themselves back.
Grateful people overflow a little, especially with thanksgiving and passed-on kindness. But they do not therefore lack discipline. In fact, self-indulgence tends to suppress gratitude; self-discipline tends to generate it.

Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin
~pp. 35

I’ve been thinking and

listening. We

are broken.

Even

our words,

and sentences,

are fragmented.

I wonder

if

we are

helping,

or

hindering.

I

Like

these lyrics by a band

called

Switchfoot. And I

thought perhaps they speak well

to what we hope

to accomplish

here

at .info, or,

and,

the Church.

“Adding To The Noise”

What’s it gonna take
to slow us down
to let the silence spin us around?
What’s it gonna take
to drop this town?
We’ve been spinning at the speed of sound.

Stepping out of those convenience stores
what could we want but more more more?
From the third world
to the corporate core
we are a symphony of modern humanity

If we’re adding to the noise
turn off this song
If we’re adding to the noise
turn off your stereo, radio, video

I don’t know
what they’re gonna think of next
genetic engineers of the most high tech
A couple new ways
to fall into debt
I’m a nervous wreck but I’ll bet
that that T.V. set
tells us what we’ve wanted to hear
But none of these sound bites
are coming in clear
From the third world to the corporate ear
we are the symphony of modern humanity.

be blessed:

The LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

” ‘ “The LORD bless you
and keep you;

the LORD make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;

the LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace.” ‘
“So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

have a blessed weekend. And
don’t
forget the
words
of the
apostle:

Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.
For,
“Whoever would love life
and see good days
must keep his tongue from evil
and his lips from deceitful speech.”

your friend,
in
Christ,
jerry