Better Or Worse?

There is a strange tension in the air. It’s hard to describe but people are talking about it, even though they aren’t really sure what they are feeling or expecting. They just know that we are on the brink of something life-altering. Christians see it from the spiritual side as the fulfillment of Biblical prophesy of the end of days. Folks who closely monitor earth changes see an alarming rise in numbers of catastrophic events like meteors,  volcanoes, earthquakes and mega storms portending major global upheaval. Political watchers see rapidly advancing power grabbing, society watchers note negative cultural change that has slowly eroded the standards of core family which threatens to destroy humanity on the cellular level.

In an effort to reduce the confusion to a manageable concept, bloggers keep asking the question, “Are you better off today than four years ago?” which is a quote attributed to Ronald Reagan during a presidential campaign. Clearly the question is specific to a political timeframe but I decided to examine this in broader terms, i.e., is the world better or worse today than in any other era?

First of all, it needs to be noted that this is a loaded question and therefore must be broken down to specifics if we hope to come to a meaningful answer. The question must be posed, better or worse than what? Some conditions are historic, perpetual and endemic and must be temporarily set aside for the sake of the ideological side of this discussion. 

For example, what era would you, if you could, choose to live in? How about the Middle Ages? Life expectancy was about 42, religion and politics were largely oppressive to the masses who were mostly enslaved to the ruling elite. How about the revolutionary periods like, the French Revolution or the Bolsheviks’ overthrow of Russia? The American Revolutionary War? The Civil War? World Wars I &II? Any war? What about during the Industrial Revolution when children were strapped to machines in factories for ten hours a day? This still happens in many third world countries you know. Slavery did not begin in America. Human trafficking and the sex slave trade flourishes right under our noses in the most charming of towns across the US. 

Okay, let’s admit that there haven’t been any eras where humans haven’t treated other humans in inhumane ways as long as they can get away with it. It’s part of the human archetype–the fallen state. Therefore, universally similar deplorable human circumstances exist, regardless of the era. What is the litmus test, then, for determining better or worse? Is it material things? Is it fame, fortune, comfort, security, happiness? 

No doubt the answer will be as individual as there are individuals. For me it lies not in what I think we have gained but rather in what I see we have lost. Those who tout modern convenience, commonly perceived elevated life-style, sexual liberty and extended life as the argument for this being the best era ever, do not see what I see.

What I see is mounting fear–fear of nearly everything. Fear of rising violent crime, ever overreaching intrusion of government into the minutia of our daily lives. I see fear of speaking even the most mundane opinions or words lest one might offend another, fear of allowing children to play outside in their own neighborhoods or walk or ride their bikes to school. Fear of doing anything without mandated protective gear. Fear of being molested and humiliated for simply trying to board an airplane. Fear of our every move being watched and videoed, recorded and monitored. Fear of breaking rules or laws that we don’t even know exist. Fear of trusting anyone, especially our neighbors. Fear of being “de-friended”.

I’ve lived long enough to remember that, while life ten, twenty, thirty years ago was not in any way perfect, and provided many things for the average human to worry about, there was once less general fear. Hope and dreams and the freedom to pursue personal interests took precedence. Being “safe” was less important than being free to take risks because risk was something entirely different from simply walking to your car in the dark. 

For all the ongoing problems of living day to day, there was a better, healthier balance between things to worry about and things to be optimistic over. There was an unspoken baseline of acceptable social behavior that allowed for a common trust between humans in all manner of interactions. When the state of being fearful and worried becomes the normal condition of the general population to the point of living in constant angst, second guessing every move or hindering the spirit of standing on a principal, something is very wrong and leads one to conclude that, indeed, something wicked does this way come–and maybe is already here. 

And then there is the decline of intelligence. For all our high tech innovations, speed of communication and instant access to information, humankind seems to be losing ground in terms of general knowledge, common sense, logic, problem-solving, self-sufficiency and overall ability to think critically. The advantage of modern living is modern convenience, but it is a very bad trade-off for the downside which is capitulation of real intelligence to artificial intelligence, all the while believing that this is smart. 

My conclusion: I can say that, if only attributing it strictly to the creature comforts of this modern age, I am better off materially speaking, at least for the moment, until someone decides that what I have ought to be given to someone else. Where I am not better off is in my spirit as I grieve for the substantive things lost and/or replaced with the hollow, intelligence-reversing, soul-killing, shallow substitutions that hold hostage the focus of this contemporary world and that have contributed to giving us longer, comfortable lives even as they simultaneously have generated a new fear-based culture striped of its ability to reason outside of the boundaries of Group Feel.

The upside is knowing that when you belong to Christ, you are in this world but not of this world. It’s in this place where there is no fear and I can live here confident that no matter how bad it might get, better is coming. 

For Christ,

Meema

(Romans 12:2) And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, and ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  

It Seemed Like A Good Idea

(Mark 2:21-22) No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If they do, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. ²² And people do not pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.

When my oldest grandson turned sixteen, I helped him locate and purchase his first car–a 1992 Amigo. I’m trying to think of a word that would best describe it. Rough is pretty close. We’ll go with that for now, I’m sure something else will come to mind.

Regardless the shape it was in, he loved it. To say it was was well broken in is being kind. It had a nice assortment of dents, an interior that had all but forgotten better days. It had a rag top that was more or less rotten, on the immediate need triage list was tires, and a host of small things. Over time, we replaced nearly everything vital, one part at a time. Battery, top, back seat, which we found in a junk yard, lights, hoses, transmission, brakes, alternator. It was a full time ongoing project just to keep it running. I created a personal relationship with an online auto parts warehouse that stocked hard to find parts. We could have done better by getting something newer and paying a monthly payment. Hindsight.

But the Amigo was his first car so he had a fondness for the rattle-trap that was hard to explain and we managed to keep it going for a couple years until he went off to college, four hours away. Many prayers went up when he headed off down the driveway. It made the trek to and from college a couple times and then, one Sunday as he was heading back to school, he called me, an hour away from getting there. Something happened. It lurched and clunked and rolled to a stop. He managed to coast off the highway and into a gas station. I told him I’d call him right back. I got on my knees, “please dear Lord, start that piece of junk and get him back to school.”

I called him and he said he turned the key and it started up. He made it to the dorm parking lot. It never started again. The head was blown. There’s no way it could have started that one last time without Divine intervention. Of this I have no doubt. 

For all the trouble it was, the Amigo will always be a fond memory for my grandson. What comes to mind when I think of that vehicle is something more philosophical and analogous. 

America–I think of America.  

It started out shiny new. All the parts fit together and it worked. It wasn’t perfect, even from that momentous day in 1776 when it rolled off the assembly line neither did it start out as a fine-tuned precision machine, like a Rolls Royce, but it had good solid bones and the potential to be reliable for a good long time for whomsoever owned it. It began as a vehicle for the common driver; nothing fancy, just a hard working sporty little conveyance to get from here to there and the freedom to try.

But as often happens, time took its toll. Things started malfunctioning and over time jackleg mechanics who had no idea what they were doing did patch jobs, like installing the wrong battery. Somewhere along the line, someone decided to remove the back seat, maybe so it could be used more like a truck than for passengers. Little by little as it slowly aged, various owners who were responsible to keep it serviced and running well, just let it go. And you know when something isn’t cared for anymore, decay happens. Dents and scratches don’t matter, because, who cares? No need to wash it because once deconstruction begins it looks the same whether clean or dirty. 

By the time the last owner comes along, the one who sees the damage but also the potential and tries to shore it up with new parts, it’s already too late. Outside of a complete overhauling, starting over and remaking it from the inside out, the only possible outcome is that one day it simply fails. What happens then is the yet unfinished story. Does it end up in the junk heap of history like other once great notions or is it refurbished and restarted? 

The odds are not in favor of the hopeful scenario.

The week before my grandson was to drive his Amigo off to college the first time, I had it serviced. Rotten hoses replaced, tune-up, oil changed, gaskets, broken motor mounts replaced, hoping this stop gap repair would give the car enough new life to keep it running a little while longer. But stop gap repairing of a disintegrating car is like putting a new patch on old fabric or pouring new wine in an old wineskin ... or trying to patch a reprobated nation, that is already too far gone, with too little too late retrofitted parts of morality and values. Sometimes God answers prayer and lets an engine roll over one more time for a short term, a reprieve for the sake of His elect. Historically speaking nations that turn their backs on God find that there has never been a man-made glory  too big to fail. 

There is good news in this grim report. Some of us still cling to prayer and faith and believe that, no matter what, when God be for us, who can be against us? That doesn’t mean we might not be in dire straights sometimes, and have to call on Him for mercy and help but at least we know we can.

For Christ,

Meema  

(Hebrews 4:16) Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Easter

(Matthew 15:16) And he said, Are ye also even yet without understanding?  (15:17) Perceive ye not, that whatsoever goeth into the mouth passeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?  (15:18) But the things which proceed out of the mouth come forth out of the heart; and they defile the man.  (15:19) For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, railings:  (15:20) these are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not the man.      

Apparently there is a movement underway to change the word “Easter” to “Spring” when referring to real eggs dyed, plastic ones filled with candy, hidden, rolled and gathered up into baskets on or about the Sunday that Christians commemorate the highest holy day of their religion. This crusade is not unlike the campaign to remove Christ from Christmas but this one is weighted down with even more incredible irony. If the atheists knew anything at all about Christian traditions and their pagan origins they’d leave it alone. To make a big deal out of it is really doing a favor to Christianity. 

Easter happens in the spring, when new birth and renewal is celebrated. The word Easter comes to us from several sources but most notably from the pagan goddess of fertility, Eostre. Most of the other common symbols of Easter, that have nothing to do with the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, i.e., cute bunnies, roast lamb, and, yes, eggs, are add-ons that attest to how a pure thing can be easily adulterated if given enough time. 

So, is it wrong to dye eggs, or fill plastic eggs with candy and hide them for children to find?  The short answer: if you think it’s wrong, it is; don’t do it. Many fundamentalists have stepped out of the mold and refused to participate in traditions of men, Christmas, Halloween, Easter. Sometimes they go overboard and make a new religion of austerity out of their own perceptions of holiness. Humans are a predictable lot; they go from one extreme to another with minimum facility.

The real question is, what does Christ think about it? 

That answer resides within the individual. Sometimes God asks us to come out and stay away from things the world revels in. Sometimes, because He knows our hearts and our willingness to obedience, He calls us to focus on more serious, pressing things of the Kingdom. God knows what He considers sin and disobedience and He is more than capable of laying on us what He wants from us. Our job is to have a clean and open heart, ready to receive orders. 

And really, this is the crux of it, how clean is your heart? All the overtures to “do” holiness, to work out your own perfection often easily masks a heart that leans toward idolatry. There are all manner of ways to look righteous and yet not be even close to what God considers truly righteous. Plenty of that going on in the church, regardless of denomination, nowadays.

Frankly, in this late hour, I have to admit I am weary of all the hyper focus on minutia.  Truly we swallow camels and strain at gnats. These things are distractions to keep us busy manufacturing pseudo holiness while the wolves in sheep skins are busy devouring the sheep. If your treasure is in worldly things, worldly traditions and trappings, you’re not going to have an open heart and a single eye focused on Christ anyway; do what feels good, reap the consequences.

The significance of the world-changing event Christians have referred to as Easter for centuries defies all human efforts to minimize or trivialize it. It stands outside of and above all else, regardless what we call it or what day we honor it. No doubt He would prefer we celebrate this in our hearts everyday instead of just one day per calendar year; everything changed because of it. When it occurred is probably way less important than the fact–it did. 

Because of that Day, He is our all in all, our Sabbath Rest, our Feast Days, our Latter Day Rain, our First-Fruits, our Redemption and Eternal Salvation, the Holy Priest of the Third Temple which is now the Spiritual Temple not built with hands. It’s all about HIM, His sacrifice, His cross, which we are now encouraged to take up and follow Him. He is not just the reason for the season, He is the only reason for all seasons. If you understand and honor this and teach it to your children, then whether or not you dye and hunt eggs is not even on the short list of ways we can please or displease Him.

For Christ,

Meema

(Matthew 6:21) for where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also.  (6:22) The lamp of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.  (6:23) But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness!