Tired of the dominant dating culture? (You know, where people are considered disposable.)
You probably have more company than you realize.
Image by Jeff Jacobs from Pixabay
It is almost a truism in Christian circles that “God never changes.” One oft-cited verse is found in the Old Testament book of Malachi: “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” (Malachi 3:6, NIV) A reading of the entire chapter makes clear that the context here is God’s moral judgement of wrongdoing. God is a moral being, and His morals and judgements do not change.
But is there any sense in which God might change? It is worth reflecting on what we celebrate at Christmas—the Incarnation, God becoming one of us: “The incarnation of Christ (or Incarnation) is the central Christian doctrine that God became flesh, assumed of human nature, and became a man in the form of Jesus, the Son of God and the second person of the Trinity.” (Wikipedia, extracted December 24, 2024) That is to say, the second person of the Trinity (Jesus) was not human before the Incarnation, but he was human after. That indeed is a remarkable change!
God became human and in so doing declared oneness with humanity. By taking on flesh and blood—which are part of the created order—God likewise tied himself to the Creation. As one theologian poignantly observed, the baby Jesus looked out from the manger towards the heavens to see the stars that he had created.
That is something to celebrate. Merry Christmas!
With another federal election approaching, we may again be asked to consider whether the Church should have anything to say about politics or whether it should avoid that subject entirely. The notion that Christian teaching and practice should be relegated to a personal or private sphere, while excluded from the public square, does not hold up to scrutiny. This is clear, for example, when considering the lives and teachings of John the Baptist and Jesus.
“And with many other words John exhorted the people and proclaimed the good news to them. But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done, Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.” (Luke 3:18-20, NIV)
As these verses make clear, John the Baptist did not stop at offering words to the masses. He publicly rebuked the leading political figure for doing “evil,” words that eventually cost him his life. Jesus was likewise critical of Herod, calling him a “fox” (Luke 13:32), and he had especially harsh words for the Pharisees, religious leaders who also wielded a measure of political control. Their reaction to his words and lifestyle was to want to kill him, which they ultimately did.
When church leaders decline to address something because it is “political,” I believe they are motivated by a desire to avoid controversy. And when people say the Church should stay out of politics, what they really want is for the Church to avoid taking a stand they find offensive. Truth always offends those who disregard it.
In retrospect, would it have been better had Christians in Germany been more active in politics as the Nazi party was gaining influence? To ask this question is to answer it. And here is a related question: What evils do we face in our society and in the world today?
In our idealistic moments, we may find ourselves thinking about how to “save the world” from all its ills or drawing up a list of its problems along with ways to fix them, one by one. Some of the problems facing us are more technological in nature (we need energy), while others are sociologically oriented (crime rates are rising). Regarding the latter, what if some of those problems have a common root cause? In that case, addressing one or more root causes would be more productive than attacking the problems individually.
Sociologists have long decried the breakup of the family as a root cause of much of what is wrong with our society. When a family breaks up, the children are at greater risk of poverty, neglect, criminal activity, educational challenges, unwanted pregnancies, and so on. Significantly, those children are in turn at greater risk of going through a divorce themselves (https://archive.unews.utah.edu/news_releases/research-suggests-children-of-divorce-more-likely-to-end-their-own-marriages/). One can imagine a sort of generational domino effect, in which each subsequent generation finds itself in a more difficult situation than the previous one. If it were possible to wave a magic wand and eliminate family break-ups, many of society’s problems would be mitigated as a result.
What can be done to turn the tide? A fair bit of energy is being expended to keep families together, at least within religious communities. There is marital counseling, and before that, pre-marital counseling designed to give would-be couples a sense of what they will face when married. In my experience, however, by the time people are engaged, it is difficult to persuade them to step back from making an unwise choice. Their strong inclination is to plow ahead and get married regardless, even if they have doubts.
Wouldn’t it be good for people to think seriously about serious relationships before they get serious, rather than after? Our time would be well spent educating people, especially young people, about the perils and pitfalls of relationships—and how to think rationally about them—before they find themselves caught up in one. When people think soberly and rationally about romance, sex, and relationships, we see better choices in a life partner, fewer divorces, fewer unwanted pregnancies, and better results all around.
It seems that the lives of so many are careening out of control, and broken relationships often play a part.
Some of my thoughts on this are found in the attached video presentation. A rosy future is more likely when not wearing rose-colored glasses. Let’s (re)think this.
Photo by Karsten Winegeart on Unsplash
After the military defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, the extent of the atrocities there became clear. Many millions of people had been executed, including several million Jews. The genocide of the Jews became known as the “Holocaust,” and many resolved that it should never happen again.
This was and is a noble sentiment, but the fact is that the mass extermination of people, including genocide, has happened many times since 1945. One thinks of Mao’s Cultural Revolution in China in the 1960s, the mass killing of Cambodians by Pol Pot in the 1970s, and the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia in the 1990s, among others.
Recent events demonstrate that the genocidal spirit is still “alive and well.” Ukrainian civilians have been intentionally targeted by Vladimir Putin, and the terrorist organization Hamas recently carried out racially motivated attacks against Israelis. A world in which mass killings will never again happen has not materialized, and indeed recent history demonstrates that the killing goes on again and again. Human nature has not changed since the Fall.
We should pray for and desire institutions, leaders, and political arrangements that provide a check on people’s worst instincts, knowing that a perfect world will always elude us. Only God can change the human heart.
Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay
The subject line has been used in various contexts to grab people’s attention. What is knowable—and what is not—has been the subject of philosophical discussion seemingly forever. I am reminded of Woody Allen’s quip: “Is knowledge knowable? If not, how do we know?”
At a more mundane level, people are inclined to plead ignorance of certain truths when it suits their purpose, maybe even demanding “proof” of something without specifying what kind of proof would be sufficient. But I believe that people know much more than they let on or are willing to live up to. Consider the following examples and their implications:
-Everyone is going to die—and we all know that—but this is not something we want to acknowledge. This becomes a serious problem when we live on a day-to-day basis as if we will never die or think that death is so far off as to be somehow irrelevant.
-We know deep down that human life is special, in a way that other life forms are not. We might feel bad about stepping on a bug or running over a squirrel on the road, but we know that those things are qualitatively different than squashing a human being. But do our attitudes, actions, and laws necessarily reflect the value of human life?
-Everyone recognizes that no one is perfect. We even have a phrase for this: human nature, which is typically used in reference to shortcomings inherent in all of humanity rather than any “goodness” it possesses. So much finger pointing and posturing, whether in the public square or the private realm, is simply hypocrisy.
-We all want to be treated in accordance with the Golden Rule and know that it is morally preferable to selfishness. Indeed, we object when we are treated badly. The Golden Rule is almost universally acknowledged but is not universally practiced, for reasons of convenience.
The disconnect between what we know to be true and how we live is the cause of much unhappiness and injustice.
A poll by the Wall Street Journal/NORC (U. of Chicago) has quantified what many have sensed for some time now: religion, patriotism, and having children are much less important to Americans than they used to be (https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253962/religion-patriotism-and-having-children-diminish-in-importance-for-americans-wsj-poll).
Only 39% of Americans say that religion is very important to them (down from 62% in 1998). Similar results were found for the questions of having children and patriotism. Although being religious, wanting children, and being patriotic are not one and the same, it is easy to imagine how someone disconnected from God’s love would find it harder to love one’s country or want to make the effort to raise children. Secularism is the soil in which all sorts of selfish impulses thrive.
What these latest findings portend for the country is not pleasant to think about. America’s second president, John Adams, though himself not a trinitarian Christian, famously observed that “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” What would our nation and its government look like without a “moral and religious people”? We may soon find out, and indeed warning signs are already here.
Over the centuries, America has been a melting pot of nationalities, cultures, and even ideas. Recently, the secularist mindset in America has become increasingly intolerant of anything and anyone espousing contrary opinions. Agreeing to disagree is no longer viewed by many as a reasonable response to disagreement, with some form of punishment being preferred, such as loss of employment, physical violence, or social ostracization (“cancelling”). This is an unwelcome development for the body politic, and increasing strife seems likely.
It is tempting to believe that we can turn things around by doing the right things, saying the right things, or praying the right prayer. But there is no guarantee of success in this undertaking, if success is understood to mean a massive cultural and spiritual reversal in the near term. Consider the example of Jesus of Nazareth during Holy Week—the perfect witness to God’s Kingdom, who did, said, and prayed all the right things but was still rejected by the crowd.
As we stand opposed to the Western World’s decline and offer Christianity as the countercultural antidote, perhaps we would do well to not discourage ourselves by fixating on the decline but rather to focus on reaching one person at a time, viewing that as success in its own right. As the saying goes, think globally, but act locally.
Photo by Corinna Lichtenberg from Pixabay
Dietrich Bonhoeffer said celebrating Advent means being able to wait (“Advent feiern heißt warten können”) and that important things are worth waiting for. A pastor from my youth suggested that it should be a time of preparation, leading to a changed life that would only be evident in retrospect. He suggested that the proper response to the question “Did you have a good Christmas?” would be: “Ask me a year from now,” when it will be possible to look back more objectively. Indeed, Ted Olsen observed: “Like the Lenten season before Easter, Advent was once a [time of] solemn preparation…” (https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2008/august/happy-advent.html)
How much waiting, preparation, and time can be involved in God’s timetable? I was reminded recently that Isaiah, who foretold the coming of Jesus, preceded him by 800 years. (To put that in perspective, consider that the Pilgrims celebrated Thanksgiving “just” 400 years ago.) And now it has been 2000 years since Jesus walked the earth.
So, let’s make the most of the next few weeks.
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel;
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Is technology improving relationships? With each passing year, it becomes more difficult to make the case that it is. The landline telephone made it possible to stay in touch with distant friends and relatives (and spared people from running errands), which were widely viewed as good things. Television was more of a mixed blessing. More so than radio, it tended to preoccupy the viewer, since both of the dominant senses were involved; as a result, communication with family often got crowded out. (“Not now! I’m watching TV!”) Years ago, I first saw something that I found jarring at the time: a couple was out for a stroll, but each one was talking into their own cell phone. (Presumably they were talking telephonically to other people, not to each other.) Since then, phones have gotten “smart” (i.e., visual, with lots of information), so now you can be preoccupied on the phone without even speaking to someone.
The Internet and its related electronic devices have taken the user’s level of engagement to another level. It can be reasonably said that preoccupation has given way to addiction. In the January 2022 issue of IEEE Spectrum (“AI’s real worst-case scenarios”; https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9676367), Natasha Bajema observes how smartphones and the algorithms behind them work to “steal our attention away from our jobs, families and friends, responsibilities, and even our hobbies. To make matters worse, the content often makes us feel miserable and worse off than before.”
Her characterization rings true: stealing our attention from what matters, like friends and families. What are the long-term implications of such technology? What will our society look like when a generation of children grows up having been robbed of meaningful time with other family members? Even more sobering is the prospect of that robbed generation raising their own kids, without having first experienced a proper family life for themselves. What will become of their kids?
It’s incumbent on each of us to make wise choices in how we spend our time. I once heard a pastor make the point by stating the obvious: “When you come to the end of your life, it will be spent. Everyone spends their life somehow.” It’s become too easy to spend your life in a virtual world, instead of the real one.
Photo by Ihor OINUA on Unsplash
War represents a breakdown in relationships, when rational discourse is no longer welcomed. It stands in contrast to the hope and renewal associated with Easter.
War—on a scale the world hasn’t experienced in years—is all over the news and grips the senses. Winston Churchill, no stranger to war himself, famously remarked that “nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.” Not much is left to the imagination anymore, now that soldiers can record carnage and report it on social media.
Beyond the violence, war confronts us with fundamental God-related matters such as life and death, what really counts, what really lasts, and right and wrong. We are confronted at the moral level especially when atrocities are committed, but war itself is always an atrocity that can be laid at the feet of someone or some group.
When tyranny raises its head, we should oppose it and support freedom. My prayer and hope are that the forces of evil will be defeated, those guilty of it will be brought to justice in this world (as well as the next), and the affected peoples and nations will one day be reconciled.