One of the things I find to be most confusing about my fellow Christians is the zealousness with which some of them will look for signs of the end of the world. They examine the New Testament prophesies and look for any sign that might tell them when The End is coming, and who the Anti-Christ might be.

I don’t understand it; the Bible makes it very clear that we will not know when Christ is going to return. Matthew 24:36 tells us that neither man nor angel will know the day and hour, but God alone (paraphrased). Similarly, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2 says, “Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”

I’ve always considered it to be a bit egotistical on our parts to believe that we would be able to understand the Bible’s prophesies before they come to pass, when the Bible itself makes it clear that we aren’t meant to know exactly what’s going to happen. The disciples spent time with Christ himself. He very clearly stated what was going to happen to him, and yet they didn’t understand. It’s an act of the most extreme hubris, I think, for us to believe that Christ didn’t want those who were closest to him to fully understand what was coming^[a], but that he really wants us to have that foreknowledge.

If we aren’t intended to know what’s to come, then why is there prophecy in the Bible at all? I believe it’s there (at least in part) to give us reassurance, so that when the admittedly horrible things that are described in The Revelation come to pass, we will not give up hope, because God had told us in advance that they would happen.

Still, though, there’s another alternative that I hadn’t considered, one that was discussed by Isaac Newton. In Observations Upon The Apocalypse of St. John (1733), Newton wrote, “He gave this and the Prophecies of the Old Testament, not to gratify mens curiosities by enabling them to foreknow things, but that after they were fulfilled they might be interpreted by the event, and his own Providence, not the Interpreters, be then manifested thereby to the world.”

Newton believed that prophecy was given to us not to give us foreknowledge of events, or not even (or, at least, not only) to give us reassurance, but so that in the fulfillment of the prophecy, we could see the glory of God. This is a perspective I hadn’t considered, and I don’t dare to believe I know the Mind of God, but it’s one that feels like it’s at least partially true.

1. The reason they didn’t understand is that they were still looking for a physical kingdom, and hadn’t had the spiritual awakening that had come up on them later in the form of the Holy Ghost, but does anyone truly believe that if Christ had wished them to understand, he couldn’t have given them that understanding? [↩]

In the first couple paragraphs on a post about his ongoing problems trying to get a lathe to work, Steve H. wrote the following:

Human beings are not driven primarily by reason. If we were, Barack Obama wouldn’t be President, and it would be impossible to get anyone to buy heroin. You would think that intelligence would make us happier and healthier than other creatures, but it hasn’t worked out that way. Intelligence is overrated; I’ve always said so. An ounce of character is worth a ton of intelligence. I’m smart, and I’ve done so many stupid things, I could never hope to remember a tenth of them.

Emphasis mine.

This reminded me of one of my favorite quotes from the movie Harvey:

Years ago my mother used to say to me, she’d say, “In this world, Elwood, you must be,” – she always called me Elwood – “In this world, you must be oh so smart, or oh so pleasant.” Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. You may quote me.

Of course, there’s nothing that says that a person of good character or a pleasant person can’t be intelligent. What I see hidden between the lines in both of these quotes is that we shouldn’t let our pride in our own intelligence overshadow good character or pleasantness.

The Bible tells us that pride is a sinful thing. Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goeth before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” James 4:6 says, “But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says, ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’”

This is something I struggle with quite a bit. Even though I know I shouldn’t, I take a great deal of pride in my intelligence, and that leads me into trouble from time to time. I can be extremely condescending and insufferable when I’m right (or even if I’m wrong, if I think I’m right), and I have a tendency to lose my temper all-too-easily if I feel like someone is treating me as though I’m stupid.

I know I need to remember that nothing I do (or nothing that I can do) is the result of my own hard work or native intelligence. Given only my own abilities and knowledge, I would be able to do nothing. What I appear to accomplish on my own is only possible because I am standing on the shoulders of giants, so to speak. Specifically, I’m standing on the shoulders of the one Giant upon whose shoulders all of humanity’s giants have stood. With that in mind, what do I have to be prideful about?

“I plead you divulge”

Those the final words on a news story from Jaime Leygonier, an independent journalist in Cuba. Those words, for reasons I can’t quite explain, hit me hard when I read them earlier. Jaime reports the news not because his government protects his right to do so, but despite the fact that his government does everything in its power to stop him.

Think about it. American journalists are quick to slap each other on the backs when they criticize the American government, because they’re being so brave, “speaking truth to power,” as the saying goes. Of course, none of them can tell you when the last time the government cracked down on journalists en masse for telling the truth.

As a nice contrast, let’s compare Jaime’s bravery to those brave young souls at the Insurgent, a student newspaper at the University of Oregon, who bravely took a stand against the great Christian Menace. You see, the Oregon Commentator reprinted the Jyllands-Posten political cartoons that sparked so much violence a few months back, and the Insurgent, to make a point, published insulting cartoons about Christ*. The Insurgent apparently has no web presence, so the Commentator scanned and posted the issue for its online readers to see (Warning: The scanned Insurgent issue has images that are potentially very offensive.)

Apparently, they did this to “show Christians what it was like” to have their religion insulted. You know, because the faith of Christians is never mocked, so we have absolutely no idea what that’s like.

Anyway, I know there are all sorts of embargoes about trade with Cuba, but I will happily trade Castro 20 of our journalists and journalism students for every one of his country’s independent journalists that he chooses to export to us.

* Incidentally, as far as I can tell, the Insurgent’s Christ cartoons haven’t got any value as commentary, unlike the Mohammed cartoons. While you might argue whether the point that the Mohammed cartoons made was valid or not, you can’t deny that they were commentary. Despite the lack of any redeeming social value from the Christ cartoons, you might note a distinct lack of death threats coming from this blog.

Heck, you won’t even see this blog supporting any attempt to censor the Insurgent. To be honest, I imagine that the shame that they’ll feel when they, you know, grow up and are still haunted by the existence of these cartoons is worse punishment than any censorship could ever be.

In the words of TallDave4, a commenter at Protein Wisdom:

As a Christian, I’m deeply offended by this obscene mockery of my Lord and Savior. So in response, I’m going to unleash my religion’s most powerful weapon:

I forgive them.

Just one small addition to that. I’m also praying for them.

** [Update: I understood that the Insurgent and Commentator were two separate student newspapers, but it was pointed out to me (see comments) that my original post may have been confusing, so I've tried to make it clearer. The original version of the paragraph is included below:

As a nice contrast, let's compare Jaime's bravery to those brave young souls at the Oregon insurgent (Warning: that article links to some offensive images), who bravely took a stand against the great Christian Menace. You see, the Oregon Commentator (whose article is linked above) reprinted the Jyllands-Posten political cartoons that sparked so much violence a few months back, and the Insurgent, to make a point, published insulting cartoons about Christ*.

Hope that the revised version above makes things a bit clearer.]

I’m really not sure what to make of this. On the one hand, part of me wants to say that the solution is to hire a lot of people who believe in celebrating the Sabbath on Saturday, and then letting them have their Sabbath off while the rest of your employees don’t work Sunday — so everyone gets the chance to observe a religious day of rest.

However, I think it’s important to truly examine the motives behind the why of this change in schedule. Family Christian Bookstores says that they view their company as a ministry, not a business, and reaching people who may be looking for materials on the Sabbath is the driving force behind this change, not the extra money making day.

After examples of secular businesses who shut down on Sundays (Chick-Fil-A and Hobby Lobby), the article gives the company’s response:

FCB President Dan Browne told the Associated Press that his company’s decision on whether to remain open on Sundays was different than a chain like Chick-fil-A because FCB sells “ministry products.” “No one’s going to go to hell for not eating a chicken sandwich,” Mr. Browne said.

I question whether or not anyone’s going to Hell for waiting until Monday to shop at FCB, and I would urge the decision makers at FCB to think very seriously about their witness in this case. Whether they truly believe that this is acceptable because they want to be open to witness on Sunday or not, most of the secular world will believe the extra open day is being done for the money. Giving this impression to the world hurts the company’s witness, I think, and the reason given doesn’t convince me that they’re necessarily doing the right thing.

It may be a little hypocritical of me to criticize this, since I have a tendency to go shopping on Sundays and I probably shouldn’t. In light of this, I’ll need to pray and study on this issue. I hope that FCB’s decision makers would (or have) done the same.

It’s my understanding that common wisdom tells us not to discuss politics or religion in too open a place unless we’re ready to make enemies. This may or may not be something I’ve made up, but it does seem that these topics are pretty volatile. It’s very easy to make enemies very quickly. When we mix politics and religion, though, the danger of an emotional explosion increases exponentially.

La Shawn Barber and other conservative Christians often assert that it is impossible to be both a Liberal and a Christian. On the other side of the aisle, liberal Christians (I’m sorry, but I don’t know of a good example of a liberal Christian blog.) express just as much disbelief that it is possible to be truly Christian while holding conservative values. What would Jesus say? Is Jesus a Republican or Democrat? A Liberal or a Conservative?

My honest opinion is that the answer to both of the latter two questions is, simply, “Neither.”

When I think about what he would have to say about the hatred that seems to ooze forth from both sides of the debate, I simply shudder. It is never our place as Christians to judge the heart of another person. While we are called to lovingly tell others when we believe that their actions are not Biblically right, it is wrong of us to assume we can look at their actions and know that they’re not even trying, or that they don’t believe.

Both sides have a point (or two, or three, or…). I don’t see how anyone who truly believes the Bible can believe that abortion is acceptable in the eyes of God. On the other hand, we are told to care for the poor and afflicted, to show His love to all those around us, and conservative Christianss don’t always address that very well. I don’t know what Jesus would say when faced with the division that is splitting his Church (because I honestly believe there are truly faithful Christians on both sides of this debate), but I could guess.

My dad often shares the following story in Church. I’m paraphrasing because, well, my memory’s lousy. A guest in my grandfather’s house was angrily ranting about another man. He was so angry that he was talking about getting a gun and going to shoot the other man. My grandfather simply asked who had made the second man wrong the first. The first man looked at my grandfather and said, “Why, Satan.” And, who was it that was making the first man want to kill the second? “Satan.” My grandfather then asked, “If you’re both serving the same master, why do you want to kill him?”

Christian faith doesn’t require us to all be of one mind on every topic. In fact, I believe that if God had wanted an entirely homogeneous Church, he would have never given us freewill. Let’s face it: it would have been a heck of a lot less trouble for Him if He had simply made Adam incapable of even wanting to taste the Forbidden Fruit.

No political platform, no political candidate, will ever be perfect in the eyes of God. Not until Christ once again returns to this earth will we have a perfect leader. While it’s very tempting to say that one sin is somehow worse than another, the Bible tells us that isn’t so. I don’t have the verse in front of me, but the Bible says that whoever is guilty of the least infraction of the law is guilty of violating the whole law.

The wages of sin is death.

For all have sinned, and fall short of the Glory of God.

If neither position is perfect, and if God recognizes no degrees of imperfection, why do we insist on judging who is “more wrong” in the eyes of God? I strongly suspect that the reason we give into such temptations is that Satan is very capable of finding our weakest points and hitting them… hard. When we can see nothing but our anger and hatred toward Christians who stand on the other side of the political spectrum, our Christian witness in the world is severely damaged. Satan isn’t stupid. He knows that, in this increasingly carnal-minded world, Christianity is under assault from outside. If he can help divide us, we’re easier to defeat — divide and conquer, as it were.

Christians — in America and elsewhere — need to remember that we have a common ground to stand on. We need to come together and acknowledge that, even when we disagree, we are still Brothers and Sisters, still bound to do what we can to reach the lost of this world who haven’t yet found Jesus Christ. We need to stand on the Word, and we need to do whatever we can to mend the split that Satan is trying to create within Christ’s church.