jeff’s blog

With the release of the 7th book of the Harry Potter series, Lisa and I have been discussing the interesting and complex question of evil, and whether it is necessary to use evil in order to combat it. This idea is certainly not new - I’ve quoted Nietzsche here before in a different, but related discussion -

Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. Und wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein. - “He who fights monsters must take care that he not become a monster himself. For when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back into you.”

The discussion isn’t confined to literature and theoretical philosophy - it’s immediately practical to the political and personal situations we find ourselves in daily. Is it acceptable to torture prisoners in order to gain information that could save lives? Are we justified in striking back at “the terrorists” in order to “preserve our way of life”? More importantly, at what point do we corrupt ourselves and become worse than the thing we are fighting? Commander Adama puts it very succinctly - “It isn’t enough to survive - one must be worthy of survival.”

The discussion is complicated by numerous difficult and potentially unanswerable questions - what exactly constitutes evil, and is any conception or definition we come up with able to be complete? Is justice simply another name for justifiable evil, since the intentional miscarriage of justice to an innocent person would often be seen as an “evil” act? And, moving back to Harry Potter briefly, is Dumbledore right - is love truly powerful enough to destroy evil alone?

While Rowling and other authors have the luxury of forging their own universe where their idealism is ultimately realized, it is often much more difficult for us to maintain an idealistic stance in the face of what sometimes seems to be overwhelming evil. My prayer for myself is that I would be more idealistic and less willing to compromise, more willing to be taken advantage of, knowing that in the end, love does triumph.

I bought a new Bible today. Several years ago I found a Bible that was bound in a soft leather - one of those special edition things that was out a few years before it would be cool. I didn’t get it, but have searched high and low (well… not really that high or low) to find one since.

Little did I know that my opportunity would come today.

Lifeway Christian stores were having a promotion today - 40% off of any one item on the Fourth of July, if you had a coupon. My family and I drove over to see if there was anything we couldn’t live without, and the best thing we could come up with to get was a Bible.

While we took advantage of the promotion, I will admit that the entire idea of the sale struck a bit of a nerve with me. When, outside of a marketing ploy, did a Christian bookstore decide that the nation’s birthday was an event worthy enough of recognition that it merited a sale? Do Christian bookstores in Mexico offer a 16% off sale on the 16th of September?

I don’t necessarily blame Lifeway - I think their marketing campaign was intelligently directed at a group of people who equate patriotism with being “a good Christian”. What I do question, however, is this assertion that somehow says that if we’re not out waving flags on the Fourth, that somehow God loves us less, or that we’re not really as Godly as the people who are, or, really, that we’re somehow less patriotic than the next guy.

What I truly wish is that we as Christians would examine our marriage (on the whole) with a narrow political ideology, and that we would evaluate it in the context of Christ’s teaching and mission, and that, if necessary, we would consider a divorce.

Today I resolve not to make excuses.

When I am wrong,
I will admit it as soon as I can.
I will not blame my mistakes on others.
I will not pretend my choices are not my own.

I will recognize that I am not perfect,
and will not pretend to be better than I am.

As far as possible, I will be honest,
not denying what I have done
or imagining what I haven’t,
I will own the consequences of my actions,
instead of justifying them.

Today I resolve to listen better.

I will not simply hear the words people speak, but endeavor to bring them into my heart.
I will wait until people finish speaking before I start to talk.
I will not give unwanted advice.

I will do my best to remember
that people feel what they have to say matters,
and they wouldn’t say it otherwise.

As such, I will not discount people’s words as unimportant or trivial.
Rather, I will try to listen not only to what people say,
but also what they mean.

Today I resolve to not take myself too seriously.

I will not think of myself as being more important than I am.
I will not think everything I do is imperative.

I will try my best to do something silly.
I will try my best to do something only for the fun of it.
I will try my best to remember that it is as important to play as it is to work.

Today I will,
as much as possible,
remember there is more to life than being serious,
there is more to friendship than deep conversation,
and there is more to a person than how profound they are.

Today I resolve to be cheerful.

I will not be discouraged by things that are petty.
I will not be distracted by things that don’t matter.
I will not worry about things I cannot change.

I will not allow tomorrow’s worries to destroy today’s cheer.
I will not allow the unexpected to alter my attitude.

I will try to greet each person with a smile,
and say no negative word.
I will try to take the best view of every situation,
and refrain from being cynical.

Today I will do my best,
whatever happens,
not only to be cheerful,
but to spread cheer,
hopefully making the world a better place to be.

Today I resolve to value others.

I will treat each person as if they are the most important person in the world.
I will listen to people’s hopes and dreams and treasure them.
I will listen to people’s fears and worries and respect them.

I will not use people.

Instead of trying to get something from others, I will do my best to give something to them.
Instead of trying to use others to elevate my own position, I will always attempt to elevate their position.
Instead of trying to make other’s think I’m special, I will find something special in every person.

Today I resolve to treat every person I encounter
as if they are God’s treasured creation,
as if they will teach me something essential,
as if there is no one I would rather have in my life.

Today I resolve to be a more trusting person.

Instead of thinking the worst of people, I will think the best.
Instead of acting like everything will go wrong, I will trust in a God who can make things right.
Instead of trying to do everything myself, I will place important tasks in the hands of others.

I will believe that all people are worthy of second, third, or fourth chances, no matter what they’ve done in the past.
I will believe that what people show on the outside isn’t necessarily who they on the inside.

In all of my actions and interactions,
I will strive to give people the benefit of the doubt,
I will desire to treat people with less suspicion and more conviction,
and I will,
to the best of my ability,
continue to be a more trusting person,
even when it leaves me open to being hurt and vulnerable.

As I sit here writing this, I’m hungry.

It’s not that I haven’t eaten. Earlier today I discovered my tortilla supply to be contaminated with mold and my bread supply to be 2 months old, and as a result of not wanting to walk across the local grocery store parking lot in the rain, I made the decision to drive through a local fast food restaurant for dinner. No problem, right?

It’s not that I don’t have anything to eat. Those of you who know me realize that I am the owner of more snacks than could possibly be consumed by a human being, in spite of the fact I rarely consume snacks. As a result of several semesters of Aggie Mom’s and parents’ visits, I have no shortage of snacks and food that could instantly be marshaled in order to assuage my hunger.

So why haven’t I done anything about it?

Even now, as I glance down beside me to a bag of Chex-Mix (my all time favorite snack food, and indeed a danger to my health, if I’m not careful), I am reminded of the thousands of people who didn’t get the first meal I had tonight, people who don’t have the ability to run into the kitchen and grab a Star Crunch or heat up a piece of pizza.

I’m a person who doesn’t deny myself very often. If I want something, I generally buy it. If I need something, I get it. If I’m thirsty I get a drink, and if I’m hungry I get something to eat. It’s very rare for something I truly need (or in many cases even want on a basic level) to be out of my reach.

I think there is tremendous value in self-denial about small things, if for no other reason than it helps us practice self denial in bigger things, and reminds us that many others aren’t as fortunate as we are.

As we go about our days, my prayer is that we, and specifically I, would remember to not rush instantly to satisfy every desire, but rather would act with moderation in all we do.

I was reading an article in a Christian magazine recently, and in the middle of the article, the author attempted to support his point with a bulleted list of reasons why he was right. I cringed a bit when I read the first reason: “It’s commanded in the Bible.”

Now I’m not here to suggest that Biblical commands aren’t justification enough for doing something for Christians. What I am here to suggest is that they are no justification at all for doing something if you don’t believe the Bible. Furthermore, in an increasingly post-modern age where the Bible is looked at less as a set of commands and more as a narrative, it is likely to become more and more difficult to extract command out of the narrative as opposed to example and principle.

What does it say about our subculture that ultimately the best reason we can give for doing something is that we feel (legitimately or not) that it is commanded in the Bible? As I listen to arguments about women’s roles and instrumental music and baptism, again and again the top sheet reason given by the opposition in each of these cases is that “It’s commanded in the Bible.” As my good friend Jeremy Hegi recently said, “When someone stands up and stridently says, ‘The Bible clearly teaches …’, that’s when red flags should start to go up.’”

In reality, a biblical command argument will only be accepted if the following two conditions are met: 1) you believe the Bible and 2) you agree with the arguments interpretation of what the Bible says. A perfectly good example of this is regarding the women’s roles issue. “Women are commanded in the Bible to be silent,” one group would say, “therefore they should not be allowed to lead prayers during church services.” The response, “Fine. Make them be silent. Don’t let them talk or sing or make any noise for the duration of the service.” “But that’s not what the Bible says!”, comes the protest in reply. “Ah contraire, that is *exactly* what the Bible says.” “But that’s not what the Bible means!” At this point, however, we are no longer in a discussion about what the Bible *says* in 1 Timothy 2, but rather how we interpret what the Bible says - which is really the core issue of citing Biblical command as a compulsion for action, even among Christians.

Consider, for a moment, what alternatives might reach people outside our own way of thinking, and indeed outside the Christian subculture altogether. Consider whether reason is the arena and argument the commodity that will succeed in a landscape less and less often governed by “truth” and “correctness”, and more often governed by community. If we cannot shift our thinking away from reasoning based primarily on our own letters of the law and our own comfortable interpretations of Scripture and toward practical, creative, relevant approaches to a culture already skeptical of dogma, the long term future of our institutional churches is in serious doubt.