Context is Everything

I recently listened to a sermon where the pastor cited a verse from a Christian inspirational calendar.  "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me."  A beautiful sentiment- especially for those prosperity preachers.  But there is a problem- that phrase comes from Satan in his temptation of Jesus.  (Matthew 4:9).  You see, if you don't know the context, then you may misunderstand the true meaning. 

    

The importance of context has really been driven home to me over the past few weeks.  You see, I have become a bit of a Reformation Geek.  And one of the tenets that has been driven into me is "God alone is Lord of the conscience."  You find it in the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter XX (or XXII depending), paragraph 2 and you find it in The Baptist Confession of 1689, Chapter 21, paragraph 2.  Again, this sounds great- God is the Lord of my conscience- and I can do whatever I feel God is leading me to do.  

But then we come to context. In this case, that phrase is only part of the first sentence.  "God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are in any thing contrary to His Word, or not contained in it."  (Baptist Confession.  The Westminster Confession substitutes, "or beside it in matters of faith or worship" for the underlined clause).  In other words, we must pray to God for guidance and rely on our conscience only where the teachings and rulings of humankind are contrary to the Word of God or in some way are not clear.

   

Now, this means that you have to believe that the Bible is the Word of God- and I'll get into that in a subsequent post.

Law and Luddites

An email I received recently made reference to a decision handed down by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct.  I don't normally read these decisions; they have no application to my practice.  But somehow this one struck a chord.     

It seems that a town court justice resigned while under formal charges for failing to fulfill various judicial, administrative and financial responsibilities.  This is a reported case, and for those of you who really care, you can look up the details.  I will leave the judge unnamed because there is no need to embarrass him anymore than he has already been embarrassed.   

The Commission cites three charges, but lists four.  Of interest to me are the failure of the judge to monitor his official court email account or respond to emails received by that account for more than three years, AND failing for at least one year to activate or utilize a computer and software provided to him by the Office of Court Administration for the purpose of facilitating the issues raised in the first two counts.     

The judge at issue was admitted to the bar in 1977 and took office in 1990.  In all honesty, he probably did not have a background with computers and their use.  His unfamiliarity with computers in conjunction with his age made their use intimidating.  Besides, the old way probably worked well for him.     

Times have changed.  My cellphone has more memory and computing power than my first three computers- COMBINED.  It is now incumbent upon all of us to "keep up with the times."  I'm sure that I've caused some consternation because I like to mail letters to counsel and the court rather than email or e-file.  I keep copies of my document saved on my computer and on a separate hard drive.  But I also print out a copy- just in case.  I also have my own anxiety issues over correspondence, no matter how it is transmitted.  Which makes me sympathetic to this judge.  But it doesn't change the underlying fact that I must keep up with the times and do a better job- lest I end up before disciplinary poo-bahs in PA.

Disillusioned

"To be perfect for television is all a President has to be these days."  Gore Vidal.

OK, so we know I'm not necessarily current on my reading, which is why I just finished "Killing Reagan: The Violent Assault That Changed a Presidency," by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard (Holt and Co., 2015).  Caveat: I was a fan of Reagan and to an extent I still am.  On the day he died, I was on my way to a gig in Chambersburg.  As soon as I got home, I ordered a ball cap from the aircraft carrier named in his honor.

The research on this book was amazing.  One might imagine that O'Reilly would paint a rosy picture of Reagan.  Although this is definitely not a "hatchet job," the authors portrayed Reagan honestly, warts and all.  From his numerous affairs to his disinterest in fatherhood we learn that Nancy Reagan may have been the best thing to happen to him- even though she had her flaws.

The accomplishments that were achieved during Reagan's presidency cannot be disputed.  Nor can the misses be excused.  It should be noted that many of those accomplishments, and not a few of those debacles, should be attributed to his staff- and Nancy ran that staff with an iron fist.  And, as much as I personally minimized rumors and reports, I must now concede that horoscopes, psychics and the early stages of dementia were all factors in Reagan's ability to govern.

Reagan was the right man, with the right people, at the right time.  I am thankful for that.  His shortcomings serve as an illustration as to how we can idolize people not worthy of our unconditional loyalty.  Vidal's quote was prefaced, "As the age of television progresses the Reagan's will be the rule, not the exception."  We all need to carefully understand the person behind the those presidential images.

Gifts from God

If I may be so bold, at one time I was a talented trumpet player.  Not the best, not the worst- but I had some skills and enjoyed playing.  In my life, I played for symphony orchestras, more than two dozen different musicals, polka bands, jazz bands, weddings and more church services than I could even begin to count.  A ventral hernia slowed me down for several months, but I came back just as strong.

Then there was the tumor and the subsequent emergency surgery (which I refer to as being gutted like a trout).  That was the end of my trumpet playing (well except for one more "gig" that I did without my wife's knowledge- until she saw me on stage and it was too late for her to stop me).

I could have been bitter.  But I wasn't.  I was sad, but that didn't last.  And the reason that I wasn't bitter is the purpose of this post.

It starts with the belief that everything I have is a gift from God.  God gave me the gift of being a capable trumpet player (I Peter 4:10-11).  Musician is a noble calling- it was one of the earliest careers listed in the Bible (Genesis 4:21).  However, God can change our callings and gifts.  God gave me the gift, but the gift always belonged to God and God was free to recall that gift at any time.  It is my job to live the life to which God has called me (I Cor. 7:17).  But when God decided that my calling no longer involved the trumpet, it was God leading me to be content (Phil 4:11).  That doesn't mean I don't miss playing the trumpet- it just meant that God had/has a new plan for my life and that is exciting!  Without faith, I would have had nothing; with faith, I have new opportunities.  And that is a glorious realization.  Sola Fide!!