Monday Morning Music Ministry

7-3-23

I once made a deal with my late wife that we would split the duties facing us, the issues we had to deal with as a couple. I mean, it was a sort of a deal. My plan was that she would handle the minor things like utility bills, car payments, and house repairs. I would concern myself with larger issues like world peace, nuclear disarmament, and the energy crisis.

It seemed like an intelligent plan, to me.

The human mind, or in my case the “mind,” has an infinite capacity for self-deception. Beyond that, self-delusion. Even further afield… well, you see a pattern. And recently, here, we considered the matter of “Progress” as a false god, evanescent at best; a cruel chimera at worst.

I invite us to switch our consideration from material miseries to those pathologies of “self,” as we started listing above. Self-ishness can be a positive motive when it inspires prudence, protection, and preservation. As with airplane safety procedures, we can best care for others when we properly tend to ourselves.

In a Christian context, I frequently remind believers who are active, very active, in ministries and missions, that Jesus came to earth to save them… individuals… you and me… not (primarily) our programs, plans, and priorities. Those things will follow, but He died for our sins, not those of some committee or organization.

Is that “selfish” in the pejorative sense? No – especially if we identify it as Jesus’s point of view. Is it selfish, grabbing glory for ourselves? Heaven forbid. In fact when we truly consider who we are, it is, instead, very humbling.

Of all the things increasingly in short supply in the world today, I say that Humility is the most threatened of resources. Being humble. And the opposite of Humility is Pride. Ah, Pride – which I consider the deadliest of the Deadly Sins, and which to me is the wellspring of all other sins. From back in the Garden, down to every hour of every day in our own spheres.

Pride preceded rebellion against God: “We know better than Him.” Pride: “I can ignore God’s commandments; I’ll bet He spares me the punishment.” Pride: “If God is good, how can He keep me from Heaven?” Pride: “I am not as bad as a lot of horrible people around the world.” Pride: “I give to charities; I care about the poor people. Isn’t that enough?” Pride: “Why should I bother God with my problems?” Pride: “Thank God I am not like other people…”

To be filed under “Unconscious Irony,” Pride Month has just ended. By proclamations and the movement’s very flag, this Pride is not about academic achievement or conquered diseases or even material advances, but the celebration of sin. It is as if a month, or special holidays, were devoted to cheating on one’s taxes or betraying marriage vows or abusing children. Yes, my seat belt is fastened; these are incendiary remarks these days. But this new, branded Pride also encompasses choosing to ignore or overrule or endorse things that the Bible condemns, over and over.

Humankind’s Pride assumes many forms, many of which are not so obviously toxic; but sin is sin. I remember debates some short years ago when computers played chess matches against humans, and sometimes won. “Is this the end of humans’ dominance in the world?” people asked, with some prescience. My reaction was that if computers won such competitions… computers had been created and programmed by humans, so didn’t “we” win after all?

The same “long view” is needed in the current discussions about Artificial Intelligence. This bundle of Brave New World technologies (and projected consequences) has dominated a lot of research and development; is actually fueling some stock-market booms; and animates a lot of hopeful dreaming. But it is prompting apocalyptic fears, too.

It is my opinion that if “machines” become able to fool us, influence our decisions, steal our independence, and lull us into deadly slumbers… this will not be a perversion of liberty, but the natural consequence of unbridled liberty. The history of humankind – our natural tendencies; “human nature” – has been a chronicle of fooling each other, influencing unsuspecting people, and stealing goods and ideas. In the 21^st century we merely have better tools.

So the fault, dear Brutus, is not in the stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.

With the Bible as our road map, so to speak, throughout history, we can know the way forward. History’s second best-seller, The Pilgrim’s Progress, is a brilliant if thinly veiled metaphor of life – its pitfalls, detours, dangers, and its ultimate joy-filled destination. Some people “get it”; that is, wisely choosing between Pride and Truth. But even John Bunyan himself learned it after mistakes, failings, and persecution – he wrote The Pilgrim’s Progress from a dank jail. John Newton only was able to write Amazing Grace after almost suicidal remorse for being a slave-trader.

Those experiences qualify as major ingredients in Humility, as discussed above. It might seem unfortunate, but nevertheless true that Wisdom usually follows stupid decisions. Liberation cannot come except from bondage. Salvation is from sin. Joy is measured against misery. Are these paradigms in fact unfortunate? No, it is a way that Life works. Let us learn.

And let us pay attention to words, the way we express our understanding. Artificial Intelligence: we should be a little skeptical – humble – about what constitutes Intelligence. And we need to respect the qualifier, Artificial. Some things we don’t understand; some things we never will understand.

That is God’s way. There is “Intelligent Design” – I think God planned Life so that for all the manifold things we cannot understand, we seek Him.

For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding; He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly (Proverbs 2: 6,7).

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A precious example of someone who has had a right to ask “Why?” and want to understand things in life is Joni Eareckson Tada, the talented singer, artist, speaker, and paraplegic. I interviewed her at Billy Graham’s retreat center The Cove a few years ago. Here, with Joni and her mom; and Cliff Barrows and George Beverly Shea of the Billy Graham Association. Please click on Joni’s brief testimony and song:

Farther Along, We’ll Know All About It

4-26-21

That is the title of a Vietnam-era movie. About World War II-era Italy. It was the time when the early symptoms of Vietnam-war opposition manifested themselves in movies and books and TV shows that mocked war in general, denigrated the Vietnam war, and led to varieties of pacifism through American society.

In one way or another, the disaffection with things military has persisted, sometimes flagrant, sometimes dormant. The abolition of the draft, now 50 years ago, has insulated the majority of Americans from the most negative aspects of military life – interrupted careers and personal dangers, for instance; but also from service, discipline, sacrifice, and patriotic fulfillment.

The United States is not the only country without mandatory universal service. However, there are many nations that do require military conscription, training, and service. That list includes Brazil, Denmark, Iran, Mexico, North and South Korea, and Russia.

Famously, Switzerland requires that young people serve in the army for several years, and maintain weapons back in civilian life. Only a few years ago there was a referendum about abolishing this requirement, and it was defeated, including by three-fourths of young people. Famously also, little Switzerland, surrounded by many hostile and often expansionary neighbors, has not been invaded in more than 500 years. (Citizens are required to bear arms.)

Israel too is noted for its drafting of men and women into its military service. Without those men and women in uniform, one wonders whether modern Israel would only be a memory now, as of the ancient Israelites.

Whether viewed as good genii or evil spirits, there is no reentry to the bottle. It is hard to imagine America returning to a situation where its entirety of young men and women would be efficient in uniform, trained for combat and facing danger. No time… no ready resources… and, I regretfully believe, no physical competence nor emotional will.

A sad effect of the prosperity and “progress” in Western societies has been the loss of those virtues that once insured national safety and independence. Human nature does not change, and America’s false sense of security is built on several premises that all live somewhere between the naïve and suicidal – We trust in a monstrous military force. We believe that smart guys who invent things will protect us. We assume our political leaders make the right choices in diplomacy and military strategy. (HUH?)

We also, as a society, have an almost superstitious belief that countries that can challenge and defeat us… but, well, they just won’t, right? Or that countries that covet our land, our resources, our power, our riches… well, would not ever threaten or try a takeover, right? Nations that hate our history, our religion, our traditions… well, they’ll just leave them alone, right? They will pass over you and me and our neighborhoods, right?

All the times in history that every empire has fallen, it has been from internal decay and outside aggression beginning around the fringes. But… it will be different with us???

These are what we call rhetorical questions. For the here-and-now – this discussion – I want rather to bring it not to global matters or the sweep of history, but to you and me, and the people we see in our mirrors, and the families we care about. I return to that movie title, What Did You Do In the War?

Because in the drift we have charted (no, none of us are wholly innocent) we all will be combatants.

In the war to redeem Western Civilization, to salvage American institutions, and to defend the God’s church… there can be no draft-dodgers.

We can not rely on that modern version of a slave economy, the “volunteer military”… they are not slaves, but they are considered that, functionally, to many citizens who are not in uniform.

In the deadly (yes) battles to come, we will be required to go beyond the acts we think sufficient today… voting “correctly,” signing petitions and attending rallies, boycotting TV channels, and such.

We must think hard, and imagine the worst scenarios, because things are closer than you think. You must stop imagining “where things will lead,” and realize we are already in the middle of crises. You must stop trusting to the future, and see that the future is here – a dystopian future, the ugly opposite of Utopia.

Read ahead to the Book of Revelation. Revisit the lines in church songs like Onward Christian Soldiers. Realize: The Battle Hymn of the Republic is not a museum-piece but remains an inspirational call to action.

And Keep On the Firing Line – do you know it? – is not a Sunday School song from Rally summer camps.

What will you do in the war, Daddy? Mommy? Young man? Young lady?

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If you’re in the battle for the Lord and right,
Keep on the firing line;
If you win, my brother, surely you must fight,
Keep on the firing line.
There are many dangers that we all must face,
If we die still fighting it is no disgrace;
Cowards in the service will not find a place,
So keep on the firing line.

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Click: Keep On the Firing Line
Wally Varner and Calvin Newton – Keep On the Firing Line