Thessalonica and Mechanicsburg

The church I have been attending (I'm not yet a member- something to be corrected) features expository preaching. We have been moving verse by verse through Paul's first epistle to the Thessalonians.  Paul had established a church in Thessalonica and wrote this message somewhere in the AD 50's- one of his earlier epistles.  Apparently there was some confusion amongst the Believers that required the instruction of Paul, along with Silas and Timothy.

Paul encourages these new Christians to "Be at peace among yourselves," and to "See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone."  (I Thes 5: 13 and 15; ESV).

Recently I had a discussion with a client regarding divorce. In Pennsylvania there are two types of divorce: fault and no-fault. A divorce based on fault achieves the same end as a no-fault divorce, but serves to enrich the attorneys. There are also two types of no-fault divorce: one where the parties co-operate and the other where the parties do not co-operate. Again, the end result is the same, but a non-co-operative divorce enriches the attorneys. I also posited another way- one that involved personal harm. It was meant- and received- as a joke.

Divorce is never pleasant. There is always some level of regret and some level of wrong-doing by both parties. And there is always the desire to repay "evil for evil."  Look around and you will see the attorneys that thrive on repaying "evil for evil." This is where less mature Christians or non-Believers will trot out the old "eye for an eye" excuse. But we must read the Scriptures in the manner and method they were written.

  

"But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."

(Ex 21: 23-25; ESV)

What was the purpose of this law? To provide definitive retribution to eliminate evil and promote the holiness of God. Remember, these laws were given to Moses by God- they were not capricious. Furthermore, the goal was retribution- not revenge. Verse 26 shows that this law only applied to the free Israelite- if the wrong was perpetrated on a slave, the slave was to be set free.

As Christians and citizens of the US, we are no longer bound by the Mosaic Law. Instead, we are called to follow the second half of verse 15, "always seek to do good to one another and everyone." God, help me to remember to practice law as in I Thessalonians and not as in Exodus.

The Moment of Truth

Among the books that I have recently read, of great interest to me is The Moment of Truth by Dr. Steven J. Lawson.  I had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Lawson preach- and I do mean pleasure.  He is the founder and president of OnePassion Ministries and the executive editor of Expositor magazine (remember them?) and host of the Institute for Expository Preaching.  With his bona fides established, I heartily recommend his writings, preaching and anything else to which he may lend his name.

The book itself is a collection of sermons, organized in three parts: The Reality of Truth, The Rejection of Truth, and The Reign of Truth.

Since you are reading this, you probably recognize The Reality of Truth.  But if I may digress, I was recently exposed to this graphic:

https://chrisharrison.net/projects/bibleviz/BibleVizArc7small.jpg" /

Taken from www.ChrisHarrison.net, "The bar graph that runs along the bottom represents all of the chapters in the Bible. Books alternate in color between white and light gray. The length of each bar denotes the number of verses in the chapter. Each of the 63,779 cross references found in the Bible is depicted by a single arc - the color corresponds to the distance between the two chapters, creating a rainbow-like effect."

Imagine the number of authors, the level of education, the length of time over which the Bible was written, and the inter-relatedness of the most intricate details.  While there are many fine apologists with great proofs for the existence of God- to me this is one of the most stunning proofs.  (And that includes my "Rice Krispies" theory).

But, returning to Dr. Lawson, the most interesting part to me was The Rejection of Truth.  Dr. Lawson thoroughly analyzes the movement from Science v. God to Anti-science v. God.  Secular society is no longer interested in facts.  Instead of truth, we hear phrases such as "social construct" and "your truth" which may be different from "my truth."  But where have we heard this before?  Pilate asking Jesus, "What is truth?" (John 18:38).  Even in law school, I was told, "Truth is whatever you can convince a judge is truth."  But as Believers, we may deny certain aspects, but we know that Jesus is "the way, and the truth, and the life." (John 14:6).  And therein lies the victory, The Reign of the Truth.

White Nationalists and Orthodox Jews

White Nationalists.  Neo-Nazis.  Alt-Right.  Their views are repugnant.  I hope all of you reading this post agree with me.  I don't want to hear the hate they spew.  And if they all just "disappeared," I'd be fine with that.

  

So if Facebook wants to take down their posts, fine.  Same with YouTube.  Same with Snapchat, Twitter or any other social media platform.  Deny their permits for marches and rallies.  After all, who needs them?  I'm sure 99% of humanity would agree.

Orthodox Jews.  Their New York communities are the epi-center of a severe measles epidemic.  We can discuss the value or dangers of vaccines, and most of us believe that vaccination is valuable.  So as long as their measles stay in their community, I'd be fine with that.

So if local officials want to fine them for spreading the disease amongst the general populace- why should we complain?

Therein lays the problem.  It is easy to demonize groups with which we disagree.  Racism is an easy one because their opinions are reprehensible.  Orthodox Jews are easy because they are a minority of a minority.  If a few people are deprived of their Right to Express their views, as long as the majority approves, well, democracy is served.

Except democracy is not served.

When Americans start turning on other Americans, we need to worry.  These are easy examples because the supression of their views is popular.  That is not to say that we must agree with their views.  But to silence or force majority opinions on others is not the way.  For the racist, the marketplace of ideas will win.  For the Orthodox Jew or others opposed to vaccines- that is the right to the self-determination.  When we start shutting down opposition, we must begin to worry that our "opposition" may be next.  When they came for the Jews....

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!!