God Spotting: Episode 1

Disclaimer: the rules of engagement are:
1) I heard the story first-hand from the person who experienced it.
2) I trust this person. I am sure they are telling the truth.
3) I'll respect the person and keep their identity a secret.
4) I leave it to the reader to decide if they believe in a God who...

This was many decades ago. He was a child, perhaps 5 years old, when it happened.

He was in his house playing next to the fireplace, doing whatever he was doing. No one else was near him. There was a fire going in the fireplace, and his father was in a different room... shaving in the bathroom, to be precise.

All of a sudden, his dad came rushing into the room, grabbed him and forcefully threw him away from the fireplace.

And just then it happened. The fireplace exploded.

An aerosol lying among some garbage in the fireplace had blown up.

He could have been injured. Blinded? Killed? Hard to know.

Because it didn't happen. His father threw him to safety.

Why? How did his father know? This question haunts him to this day.

It's not that he lacks an answer. It's the answer itself that haunts him.

"How did you know?" he had asked his father.

"God told me," his father replied.

I've shared this story with a few friends since hearing it, and I found myself puzzling over one detail. I went back to him with a question.

"God-spotter, why was the household garbage in the fireplace? It was in your house, right? Did you burn garbage that way back then?"

"No, Pilgrim. That wasn't our ordinary practice. My sister threw the bag of garbage into the fireplace that day. She had never done it before, and she never did it again."

"So your dad had no idea she had done that?"

"No. For all my life I cannot escape it. I know God saved me from harm that day."

The Downside Of Soccer As A Religion

Two more games. Then the curtains fall for World Cup 2014.

Once more, however I find myself reflecting on bigger themes as I watch these sometimes riveting games.

I don't think I'm breaking any fresh news as I note that Brazil got decimated yesterday. 7-1. Wow.

It's not nice to wish for someone's downfall, but frankly I was hoping for it all along. Never happier than to see a long-overdue thrashing. Watching their pathetic flopping (Neymar even flipping) with Columbia and other teams was a puke-inspiring event. Wasn't the tone properly set by that PK-winning flop in their very first game against Croatia?

But now that Brazil has gotten their come-uppance, one I don't doubt will be doubly sealed on Saturday against Netherlands...

I confess that I now feel sad for them.

Not that they didn't need this moment. I just hope they move on quickly. But. But. To what? Move on to what?

Well one avenue of thought would be an improvement in their soccer program. I heard a talking head suggest that during the aftermath.

But I'm thinking bigger than that. I've got a better idea.

I hope Brazil ditches their graven image. Their sick, sick idol.

Yes, soccer is a very sick and twisted religion in Brazil. Does anyone need to see their national anguish to realize how very much they have placed into this game? The soul of the very nation is in anguish.

Jesus had something to say about that.

Matthew 6:20-21
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

It's not hard to see where Brazil stores a hell of a lot of their treasure. They're a second-rate nation, economically speaking. But in soccer they have always fancied themselves a first-rate nation. Shoot, they thought they were God's gift to soccer.

At some point I think the devil had a hand in the matter, however, because God's not into spotted white idols that bounce.

So trouble was bound to come back to roost. Yesterday it did.

I'm reminded of a passage from the Old Testament where some pathetic soul gets his collection of stone idols stolen. Here's his lament, given to the very men who stole his rock collection.

Judges 18:24
He replied, “You took the gods I made, and my priest, and went away. What else do I have? How can you ask, ‘What’s the matter with you?’”

Or was that what Brazil said to Germany after yesterday's game? Perhaps I'm mixing up my sources.

No, I don't think soccer balls make for good idols.

But the USA does well to note: neither does a stellar GDP.

My treasure is in heaven, with God. It's really, really safe there.

I'll enjoy soccer. But it's just a game.

Someone needs to tell that to the folks in Brazil.

Severe Mercy

Denied the goods that would have pleased
We turn to best, though not with ease.

They weren't poor fare, which caught our eye
But these can blind and best deny.

It was a mercy that loosed our grasp
From things most prized and tightly clasped.

For when we lost all hope for them
Our eyes turned onward, and we saw Him.

The One Benefit From Knowing The Final Score

In just a week the World Cup will be over. Around that point, I might stop thinking about parallels between soccer and life.

For about 4 years. Then World Cup 2018 begins and all bets are off.

But that's a week from now, and my mind was at work today.

Yesterday I unfortunately discovered the final score on the Germany vs. France game before I had the chance to watch it.

Bummer.

I watched the game anyway, and it was well played by both sides. That said, the drama was (for me) missing. I knew who would win.

There was an upside too, though, and it got me thinking.

When you know you're going to win, there's nothing to worry about.

Duh. A tautology. That insight won't win me any prizes.

But it nevertheless reminded me of just how very often in life I worry pointlessly. It's rather pathetic, when you think about it.

The Soccer Game

A corner kick. Normally a nail-biter. I could get worried...

But I know the final score. I remain calm.

A yellow card and a free kick against my team. I could get upset...

But I know the final score. I remain calm.

Opponent blatantly flops. Referee falls for it. I could get upset...

But I know the final score. I remain calm.

Life

Something goes wrong in my day-to-day routine.

I know the final score, but I still get stressed and upset!

Someone wrongs me. Gets away with it.

I know the final score, but I still get stressed and upset!

On and on we could go. But it makes no sense. I shouldn't be worried.

But I am.

How stupid is that? But we all do it a lot.

Worst part? Jesus knew we would. That's why he repeats himself.

Matthew 6:25-34 (heavily abridged)
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry...
Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes...
So do not worry...
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow..

We know how it all ends. Isn't it time we stopped worrying?

We should worry much less and risk much more. We're going to win.

The Beatitudes Revisited: Always More To See

Matthew 5:1-3
Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.
He said:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Luke 6:17-20 (abridged)
[Jesus] went down... and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over... who had come to hear him...
Looking at his disciples, he said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God.

So begin the two accounts of Jesus' Sermon On The Mount. And anyone who reads them side by side carefully will notice something that has occupied commentators for centuries: they're not the same. Not the same at all. Similar? Very much so. Different? Very much so.

There are three basic solutions to these textual discrepancies. I'd like to dispose of the first two quickly.

1. The Unbeliever's Response: It's all fiction anyway.

Nope. Not gonna fight that battle here. People don't usually come to Jesus through fact-finding missions or scholarly debate, but rather because they cannot resist him or his words. I assume here that we already love Jesus and/or want to understand his words. Moving on.

2. The Inerrantist's Response: There are no discrepancies.

This solution insists that either (1) Matthew and Luke recorded two different sermons, or (2) the sermons were in perfect accord when Matthew and Luke wrote them down, but over the centuries diverged due to transcription errors. Yeah. Someone else can fight that battle. Abandoning hills nobody should have died on in the first place is one of my favorite activities these days.

3. My Response: We might have a problem here...

It never bothered me that the sermons weren't quite the same. As has been pointed out by all rational observers, if you ever find two 50-page historical accounts written by two different people about the same topic, you're not looking at history. You're looking at either plagiarism or a conspiracy.

I'm glad that Luke and Matthew are not in verbatim agreement. They're reconstructing (imperfectly) a real sermon that Jesus really did preach several decades earlier — and not inventing a new one.

No, my problem begins with the fact that the sermons were different.

Here too, if both meanings were easy... that wouldn't be a problem.

"Those who love God will care for the poor."
"Those who love God will be kind to their enemies."

These two statements differ in both word and intent... but since neither statement is controversial, it's less vital to determine which one really came from the sermon as quoted.

But Matthew and Luke give us no such luxury. For Luke, it's the poor who are blessed. For Matthew, it's the poor in spirit who are blessed.

Those are two entirely different kettles of fish, and neither claim is the sort of truism we can pass over with the wave of a hand. Why?

Because the blessing promised is heaven itself.

Ahhh... Therein lies the problem.

Christians get their underwear bunched up in a very big wad on that "Who gets into heaven?" question. To be sure, it is indeed a very important question, though I would never phrase it that way.

So now, depending upon what baggage we bring to the table, we might have an awful lot riding on which version of the beatitudes is right.

Luckily for me, and for the length of this blog, I don't. Why?

Because today I discovered something new about these beatitudes that I had not noticed before. This gem comes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's The Cost Of Discipleship but no doubt has been discussed elsewhere for centuries. For me, however, it's new stuff.

The obvious part I had not notice for three or four decades is this: Jesus didn't preach the beatitudes to just anyone, but rather to his disciples. Go see for yourself! Reread the above passages carefully!

To be sure, there is a crowd nearby. But Jesus speaks the beatitudes to a much more limited audience. His disciples. And it's a truism that all of Jesus' disciples are saved.

If Jesus addressed the beatitudes specifically to his disciples...

The beatitudes are promises given to followers of Christ.

That unwinds not a few complications for me!

A true disciple of Christ can expect to experience poverty. That same disciple can also expect to experience poverty of spirit. Jesus assured his disciples that they'd endure hardships.

But neither flavor of poverty is the true source of the blessing. Nor mourning. Nor hunger. Or thirst, figuratively or otherwise.

The blessing comes to them because they belong to Jesus.

I wanted to end this blog with the above sentence, but Luke throws us a twist that demands further reflection. The woes.

Luke 6:24-26
“But woe to you who are rich,
    for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now,
    for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
    for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
    for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

Someone playing the devil's advocate (a game I play all the time) might point out that these woes hardly make sense if also preached to the disciples directly. How does one square that problem away? That's a perfectly fair question, but notice the next verse.

Luke 6:27
“But to you who are listening I say...

Verse 27 indicates that Jesus is no longer addressing solely his disciples. He's now addressing the entire surrounding crowd, and it only makes sense that he's been addressing them ever since he began to speak about woes. It makes no sense at all for Jesus to preach damning woes to his own select disciples.

So Luke's careful wording ushers us out cleanly of that conundrum.

Thank you, Matthew, Luke, and Dietrich. I'm much obliged.

What Jesus And Tim Howard Have In Common

I heard this one from a friend...

Q: What's the difference between Tim Howard and Jesus?
A: Jesus had 11 guys he could trust…

I loved it, but felt there was another approach that could be taken.

Try this one on for size...

Q: What do Jesus and Tim Howard have in common?
A: Both worked with a team, but it ended up a solo project.

Alternative answers wait like low-hanging fruit... Such as...

A2: They were both good at saving.
A3: ...but both had to die before it was over.

And for this soccer fan, there's always the hope that resurrection will figure in the future for USA at the World Cup.

Of course, anyone who knows me knows I hate it when sports becomes a religion. So this is all very tongue-in-cheek.

But it proves I do have a sports bone in my body, after all.


[For extra credit... and this will only make sense to Monty Python fans.]

Q: What does the 2014 World Cup US Soccer team have in common with Monty Python's King Arthur?

A: Both enlisted the aid of a wizard named Tim while seeking to obtain a precious cup.

Ba-da-dum.

I made that one up all by myself!

James Bond Was Right: The World Is Not Enough

[Alternative title: Soccer and End-Times Eschatology...]

So I finished my prior blog with a question.

When God reviews our lives, which parts would he call highlights?

More on that in a bit. First, an opening rhetorical question. Is God holding back the final day pointlessly? (Said another way, does God like boring, scoreless soccer games that lack highlight-worthy plays?)

No. God has stayed his hand because there are things yet to be done.

What needs to be done? How long will God wait? The following scripture passage hints at answers to both questions.

2 Peter 3:3-10 (abridged)
Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come... They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” But they deliberately forget that ... the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
But do not forget this one thing, dear friends... The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare....

Many Christians, whether they know this particular scripture passage or not, are in agreement with two key ideas that can be found in it.

1) God is waiting because he wants more souls in heaven.
2) When Jesus returns, the whole universe will be doused with fire.

What's dangerous about these two thoughts is that they are both true.

Few things are more dangerous than an incomplete truth.

What do I mean? I mean that there is a third idea that gently glides in on the heels, seemingly implied by ideas #1 and #2.

3) God doesn't care about anything in the universe besides souls.

This third idea makes the Christian objective between now and judgement day quite clear. Focus like a laser on saving souls.

And that's exactly what Christians often do (if indeed they do anything publicly with their Christian faith at all). Many Christians treat this planet like it's a rapidly sinking ship — one from which we must hurriedly rescue dying souls.

The problem is, idea #3 is not true.

When we only value human souls, we miss the scope of God's plan.

So... What is the scope of God's plans? For starters, it's big. Really big.

Colossians 1:15-20 (abridged)
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible... all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven...

What I take away from this passage is that when Christians fail to live in line with the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20), we not only miss the mark, but in fact miss it by orders of magnitude.

Let's be clear about this: in this universe there are many things. And only a few of them are human souls. If Paul had wanted to be more specific and restrictive, he could have chosen other words.

But he did not! To the contrary, Paul makes it clear that Jesus is in the business of redeeming stuff that's not even on this planet.

Meaning? It's not simply "all about souls". It just simply isn't.

God is in the business, rather, of redeeming all of creation.

But Christians often treat the Earth like it's temporary and disposable.

Bad enough that we Christians frequently fail to demonstrate our allegiance to a God who wants to reconcile all people to himself.

Worse still, we even more frequently fail to demonstrate our allegiance to a God who wants to reconcile the universe to himself.

As I write this, a part of me squirms. God can create entirely new universes at whim. In that sense, this universe is rather disposable. And surely people are the pinnacle of creation. God's finest work.

But we must always remember how the Bible begins:

Genesis 1:31
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

No less important! We must also remember how the Bible ends:

Revelation 21:31
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God...

A new earth? Then the old one is disposable! Not so fast. The new earth is situated squarely in the midst of the old one. That's why in Revelation 22 we see a reference to a tree situated next to a river of life which flows down the middle of the new Holy City.

Revelation 22:2b
"And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations."

Think for a moment. If God were planning to start entirely from scratch, there would be nothing to heal, right? But that's not the case.

It's a fact that God prefers to redeem things. Not destroy them.

So let us align the words of Peter next to those of Paul and John. God loves his universe and has a long-term plan for it. Yes, Judgement fire will indeed come. But it will refine all things. Not obliterate them.

[This blog is already overlong, but this tangent beckons... John the Baptist fell into the same error we risk here. He completely misunderstood the nature of the coming fire. He knew the Messiah would come and baptize "with fire" — and clearly thought it would be a consuming fire of judgement. Jesus, the Messiah, carefully turned that ship around, gently correcting his cousin's error.

And when the fire finally came? Tongues of flame hovered the heads of his believers. The fire of the Holy Spirit came not to consume, but to bless. We do well to guard our own assumptions about how God will use fire in the future.]

Concluding Thoughts

A moment of Christian honesty. Close your eyes. Listen to these words. "We need to save the animals and protect our land and air!"

Now imagine where you are. Who said these words?

Are you at church? Did you just hear a pastor's voice? Or are you hearing the words of some movie star at a Greenpeace rally?

For me, the latter scenario is easier to imagine. That's very sad.

I'm now ready to take a swing at that original question.

When God reviews our lives, which parts would he call highlights?

I don't precisely know. But I can say this much with confidence.

1) God cares a great deal about how I treat other people.
2) God cares a great deal about how I treat animals.
3) God cares a great deal about how I treat his planet.

Suggest #1 in an American church and you're safe.
Go on to suggest #2 and you might get a few sideways glances.
Throw in #3 with references to climate change and oil consumption?

In America, that could mark the start of a good church brawl.

I found this comment in someone else's blog. It's a good closing word.

Martin Luther is reputed to have said, “If I knew the world would end tomorrow, I would plant a tree.” The saying does not appear in his collected works, but it’s the sort of thing Luther could have said, maybe even should have said. It’s very similar to a Jewish saying, “If you have a sapling in your hand and they tell you that the Messiah has arrived, first plant the sapling and then go out to greet him.”

Trees figure prominently in Eden. And in the Holy City yet to come.

Could my planting a tree now be counted among God's highlights?

Quite possibly. God clearly likes them a lot.