Social Righteousness

May 21, 2018

Year 3, Day 141 | No Comments

Eminent historians have tracked or made observations about moral levels of general society. Gibbon saw Rome’s moral failure as one of the causes for decline of the empire. The new religion, called Christianity, was presumed by many to be the refuge to recovery. In their multiple volumes of the history of the world the Durants, Will and Ariel, included much of the impact of Christianity on history, and Arnold Toynbee contributed objectively in his observations. They saw both the good and the hypocrisies of religions. Adaptations subscribed through the centuries by some nations, were not in spiritual redemptive roles so much as in the humanistic adoption of some of the morals and values espoused in the Christian religion. Humanism (without… Read more

Common Sin

May 20, 2018

Year 3, Day 140 | No Comments

Section of Noli me Tangere by Hans Holbein the Younger

Common sin grows out of human nature. It is even found in innocent infants. A recent study offered evidence that prejudice was found in the individual before any outside education gave it added impetus and negative belief and/or conduct. The preferences of the child in reaching for and receiving this or that in a human presentation created some satisfaction for the emerging infant. Denial of the preferred thing was met with negative response and some mistreatment or misrepresentation of the alternative choice offered. Neither the individual nor society appears to know how to manage the negatives drawn from the flaws of human nature, which in theology is identified as evidence of depravity. Depravity is heartily disliked as a word and… Read more

Human Flaw

May 19, 2018

Year 3, Day 139 | No Comments

Section of Christ and the Woman of Samaria, Benedetto Luti, 1715-20

Belief in depravity (or its universal concept of flawed humanity) was a major factor in the forming of the new government of the United States of America. George Washington harbored deep concerns about the success of the new venture because he felt mankind had been deeply flawed, commonly identified as depravity. Others felt that depravity would be so strong that mankind, in some majority opinions, might prove to be more oppressive than inherited royalty. That was at base motivation of the idea of three independent institutions in one government – congress, administration, and court. Even with that model there was unease in that each was occupied by flawed human beings making decisions for flawed human beings. Europe saw the new… Read more

Starting at Go

May 18, 2018

Year 3, Day 138 | No Comments

Section of The Infant Jesus and St. John the Baptist, Guido Reni, n.d.

The Old Testament accents common grace: the New Testament divine grace. Common grace is managed by law as indicated in the code proposed by Moses to Israel, and from the model of Israel and the clarity of Scripture to the world. Through model (life experience) and language (human communication) God reveals himself in his divine nature and reveals mankind in mortal/spiritual nature. Scripture makes clear that God will not, indeed cannot, accept to his kingdom any life that violates his standard of holiness. From a truncated story of the initial creative years related to animal life, and human life in particular, the information proceeds to declare that to the animal (mankind) he gave a special added factor noted as his… Read more

Gospel

May 17, 2018

Year 3, Day 137 | No Comments

Section of Christ and the Adulteress, Lucas Cranach the Younger and Workshop, ca. 1545–50

Analysts know that in the human context there will always be change. They feel it is irresistible. Perhaps that belief is motivation that it will take place in all matters, even those that relate to God, who declares himself unchangeable. I have been something of a student of change especially related to media, education, religion and the family. Some of those changes have been affirmative, some negative. That one hand gives to the other hand may take away from that we may not want to lose. I will refer to the media for illustration. Asked what they thought to be the greatest invention of all time, several historians responded: The printing press. From it education expanded to the masses, recovery… Read more

Human/Divine

May 16, 2018

Year 3, Day 136 | No Comments

Section of The Descent from the Cross, Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1435

We do well to include in our understanding of Jesus that he lived for thirty three years, as a human being to the degree that he could without denying himself. In that physical and natural setting he presented (and continues to present) an exemplary life as model for the way in which his followers ought to pattern their lives. In our period of time we are so taken with his divinity that we may miss his modeling for natural life. That model was intense for the disciples who would, after his ascension accent the holistic Christ, the God/man who would provide a way of life in the natural world, and a preparation for the hope of life after death as… Read more

Change

May 15, 2018

Year 3, Day 135 | No Comments

Section of Sistine Chapel ceiling, Michaelangelo, 1508-1512

The certainty of change in natural life has been addressed elsewhere in these Pages, but we continue the conversation because change impinges itself on us during all the transitions of our lives, and sometimes stands as the main watchman and enforcer at the door of some transitions. We often have difficulty in sorting out the changes and their meaning, but they seem unconcerned about our opinions of them for good or ill – so continue to bug us or bless us. During my lifetime changes have been made in work (from hand skills to technical performance); in education (from personal development to professional training); in marriage/family (from gender guided family and marriage solidarity to complexity of legal personal relationships); in… Read more

Human/Divine

May 14, 2018

Year 3, Day 134 | No Comments

The casualness with which so many Christians currently take the matter of a visible church is a cause for concern about clarity and truth. The faith and conduct of true Christians themselves, who are the Church according to the Bible, is the main point and that before any sectarianism is introduced to assist in advancing the church as a social institution. The first involves all Christians who in aggregate comprise the Church, and a structure seen by all passers-by identifying a congregation as a church. The difference in spiritual congregation and the secular building (office of a congregation) is important, even vital in the understanding of the meaning of Church as it appears in Scripture, and as a guide for… Read more

Recalcitrant

May 13, 2018

Year 3, Day 133 | No Comments

Human beings are often recalcitrant, which is a nagging form of opposition, perhaps resistance so not to be lowered in the pecking order of human beings. Children resist parents, often simply because the parents are over them. They reveal themselves in their private diaries, sometimes discovered by the parents and creating a distressing period for both parent and child. The concept may be carried over to teachers, or bosses, or any authority figure if the attitude persists. (Many authority figures do communicate in styles that invite resistance from those who might benefit from what has been communicated.) We may like humility and deference in others, but don’t want more than the minimal expectation of it in ourselves. I have never… Read more

Change

May 12, 2018

Year 3, Day 132 | No Comments

Change is a recurring theme in these Pages because it is important to the understanding of so many other factors related to the course of life. Further, it is met with contradictory attitudes by both those who like change and those who do not. Infants and small children often perceive change and new experiences as threatening. We feel protective of them when they react to new contexts. They find comfort and safety in their parents or siblings who provide a sense of safety for them. Elders do not take change quite so personally, having had experience, and having been a part of change earlier that may be in the process of change again in their elder years. Often agents of… Read more

Monthly Archives: May 2018