George Washington: A Worthy Hero?

During my elementary school years, the month of February was one of my favorites.  As winter daylengths grew longer, February brought Valentine’s Day and the excitement of exchanging Valentines with my classmates.  I gave special attention to preparing and then exchanging Valentines with the girls in my class.

On a more serious note, February invited my teachers to offer interesting projects and studies of two of our greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.  I was always impressed that, unlike my birthday, theirs was honored with red numbers on calendars--February 12 and 22, respectively. 

George Washington (1732-1799) was born in Westmoreland Co., Virginia, south of what would become our nation’s capital, now named for him. His vocations were varied and significant:  Virginia farmer, Ohio valley wilderness land surveyor (1749-1750), commander of the militia in the French and Indian War (1754-1763), commander in chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War (1775-83), contributor to the drafting of the U.S. Constitution (1787), and first president of the United States (1789-1797). 

Washington’s accomplishments became familiar to me very early in my study of American history—accomplishments that made him one of my most worthy heroes.  Later, I learned to associate George Washington with other titles—Anglican, Deist, Freemason, slaveholder.  More recently, the era of political correctness has labeled Washington as simply “a dead white guy.” 

Peter A. Lillback’s 1,200-page treatise which now rests heavily on my lap is entitled George Washington’s Sacred Fire.  Lillback attempts to portray Washington accurately from his extensive references to the historical records.  I highly recommend this book, and have chosen to include only a few excerpts here in defense of Washington’s integrity and faith in God.

The most frequent attempt to deny that George Washington had placed his faith in Jesus Christ as his Savior and as his hope of Eternal Life claims that he was a Deist.  Many who label Washington as a Deist would align him with the agnostics who claim neutrality on the issue of whether God exists.  If God does exist, He has been so uninvolved in the world that He is unknowable.

The Deist label upon Washington can be soundly dismissed.  In Sacred Fire, Lillback notes that the practice of prayer was gradually abandoned by Deism.  After all, why pray “to a Deity who on principle had abandoned all contract and communication with his creation?”  On the other hand, Washington is documented as having adopted a “lifelong practice of prayer.” Sacred Fire contains references to and excerpts from over 100 prayers that Washington had written out!  In addition, according to Lillback’s research, “There were numerous accounts from family and military associates—too numerous to be dismissed—of people coming across Washington in earnest, private prayer.”

Regarding our first president’s practice of the Christian faith, Lillback writes, “George Washington was not a perfect man. He occasionally lost his temper, he drank wine—maybe too much when he was a young man…he had a revenue producing distillery on his Mount Vernon estate…he owned slaves…which was not uncommon for a Southern gentleman of his day.  Like other human beings, [Washington] struggled with personal challenges such as illness, fatigue, pain, deaths of loved ones, loneliness, financial pressures, and step-parenting challenges, to name but a few.  Yet, as we can see from his writings, he attempted to walk according to the duties of the Christian faith.

George Washington’s Farewell Address (September 19, 1796) near the end of his two terms as president expresses his humble faith in the Almighty, a love for the nation he helped to form, and a hope that his contribution of over forty years would be viewed with good will for many years after he has gone to his eternal rest:

Though in reviewing the incidents of my administration I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence and that, after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.

I’ve lived through many February’s since I first celebrated Washington’s birthday.  But, having read portions of George Washington’s Sacred Fire, I am pleased to say that he remains one of my heroes.  Any of us who study the history of Washington or any other historical figure ought not to miss the blessed evidence of the hand of Providence in the lives of imperfect men and women.  As for me, I must especially remember that their lives are now history, but my race is still to be run to the finish. 

Lord, may we who fix our eyes on You lay aside the encumbrances and sin that weighs us down, and run with endurance.¹  May we speak and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty² –the liberty that causes us to live in the Joy of our salvation and to be gracious and merciful to others because of the costly grace and mercy Christ purchased for us and extends to all who will receive.

-----------------------
George Washington:   Monday Evening Prayer:³
Most Gracious Lord God, from whom proceedeth every good and perfect gift, I offer to thy divine majesty my unfeigned praise & thanksgiving for all thy mercies towards me. Thou mad'st me at first and hast ever since sustained the work of thy own hand; thou gav'st thy Son to die for me; and hast given me assurance of salvation, upon my repentance and sincerely endeavoring to conform my life to his holy precepts and example. Thou art pleased to lengthen out to me the time of repentance and to move me to it by thy spirit and by the word, by thy mercies, and by thy judgments; out of a deepness of thy mercies, and by my own unworthiness, I do appear before thee at this time; I have sinned and done very wickedly, be merciful to me, O God, and pardon me for Jesus Christ sake; instruct me in the particulars of my duty, and suffer me not to be tempted above what thou givest me strength to bear. Take care, I pray thee of my affairs and more and more direct me in thy truth, defend me from my enemies, especially my spiritual ones. Suffer me not to be drawn from thee, by the blandishments of the world, carnal desires, the cunning of the devil, or deceitfulness of sin. Work in me thy good will and pleasure, and discharge my mind from all things that are displeasing to thee, of all ill will and discontent, wrath and bitterness, pride & vain conceit of myself, and render me charitable, pure, holy, patient and heavenly minded. be with me at the hour of death; dispose me for it, and deliver me from the slavish fear of it, and make me willing and fit to die whenever thou shalt call me hence. Bless our rulers in church and state. Bless O Lord the whole race of mankind, and let the world be filled with the knowledge of Thee and thy son Jesus Christ. Pity the sick, the poor, the weak, the needy, the widows and fatherless, and all that morn or are borken in heart, and be merciful to them according to their several necessities. Bless my friends and grant me grace to forgive my enemies as heartily as I desire forgiveness of Thee my heavenly Father. I beseech thee to defend me this night from all evil, and do more for me than I can think or ask, for Jesus Christ sake, in whose most holy name & words, I continue to pray, Our Father.

------------------------
¹Hebrews 12: 1    ²James 2: 12  
³From:  George Washington’s Sacred Fire, page 807 (Providence Forum Press, Byrn Mawr, PA)

Science Research: Is Smaller Better?

Today, a large percentage of scientific research is conducted in large, collaborative teams.  But according to a paper published in Nature yesterday (February 13), “researchers may be better off working in small teams.”  The Nature study, led by James Evans of the University of Chicago, was reviewed by Ruth Williams’ article in today’s online edition of The Scientist.

Evans et al. studied the citations of tens of millions of research papers and patents.  Papers were evaluated for degree of innovativeness or “disruptiveness” based on the degree to which subsequent research articles cited the papers alone without including citations used in the paper itself.   Highly disruptive papers, those cited alone by subsequent authors, were found to contain research that was more transformative.  Such innovative papers provide a ‘jumping-off point’ for a new field of research,” says sociologist Jason Owen-Smith of the University of Michigan.

A closer look at the disruptive papers revealed that “big teams tend to work on existing theories rather than instigating new ones.”  The analysis showed that “the most disruptive papers, patents, and software products tend to be produced by small groups, and that, as team size grows, disruptiveness declines.”  Interestingly, even an individual scientist’s disruptiveness tended to drop as the number of co-authors increased.

At a time when big government funding has contributed toward major inflation in cost of health care, housing, and college tuition, the Nature report affords the scientific community a timely opportunity to consider how research funding approaches affect research progress.  According to Anita Woolley, who studies organizational behavior and teamwork at Carnegie Mellon University, funding agencies often “push us in the direction of having bigger and bigger teams.  This [research] is really calling that into question.”

I thank my friends Roger and Margaret Riffle who have long ties to West Virginia for sharing an article by Connor Griffith, business editor of WVNews.  The article, entitled “Touchstone Labs: Growing Business and Sending WV Coal into Space,” features the innovative research by a small R & D firm, named Touchstone Research Laboratories.  Touchstone was launched in the basement of a monastery, in 1980, by president and CEO, Brian Joseph.

Since its founding, Touchstone Research Laboratories has become a “three-time Tibbetts Award recipient for its broad-based product development research philosophy, which focuses on the development of next-generation, over the horizon materials and products.”*  Since its founding, Touchstone has formed a research park and has spawned three other companies. Other spin-off companies are in the works.  According to Joseph, “This is not that far off from Thomas Edison’s whole approach.  He called his place the Invention Factory and what we basically have is an invention factory.  Everything we’ve been spinning out, we invented this stuff.”

One of the companies spawned by Touchstone is CFOAM, named after its principal product, CFOAM®, short for “carbon foam.”  CFOAM is produced by pulverizing coal (something West Virginia has plenty of), foaming it under pressure, then heat-treating and cutting it into desired shapes.  This structural foam is light-weight and can withstand temperatures above 6,000 degrees!  CFOAM is now used in place of ceramic tiles on space shuttles, and its future is promising for applications not yet discovered.

Touchstone Research Labs also developed Metpreg, the world’s strongest aluminum.  Metpreg is now used in bicycle frames where it provides as much strength as current commercial frames at one-third of the weight.

I’m sure that Touchstone is but one example of the many “invention factories” that have arisen from the innovative ideas of small groups of researchers.  Such stories make it tempting to conclude that the future of science and technology rests in the philosophy that “small is better.”  However, Ruth Williams concludes her article in The Scientist with a reasonable assessment by Jason Owen-Smith who believes “we need a combination of big teams developing and strengthening existing ideas and small teams performing high-risk, high-reward, innovative projects.

The fact that there seems to be no end to the creativity of humankind is a testimony to our Creator God in whose image we were created.  The Genesis account in Scripture records that, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters (Genesis 1: 1-2).  Into this formless void, God began to create order and diversity of mineral, microbe, plant, and animal.  God created these things with the capacity for further development and diversification through science and technology.  And then, He created Adam and gave him and his descendants dominion over creation with a mandate to exercise servant stewardship as His representatives on the Earth.  The current article seems to have featured some of the more positive examples of God-given creativity in science at work.

-----------------------
* https://www.sbir.gov/sites/default/files/SBAsuccess_TRL_FINAL.pdf

LOVE: Part 6 – Humbly Received, Graciously Given

Valentine’s Day helps us focus on the love we share with special people in our lives.  We express our love by sending cards, candy, flowers, or more extravagant gifts.  In most cases we do not create the gifts.  We purchase them, add a few tender words, and share them with our love.  In doing this, we are acting out the meaning of stewardship—i.e. handling things which we didn’t create and which ultimately do not belong to us.

If we agree that buying and giving gifts is a form of stewardship, we might say that being loved and loving others is the ultimate core of stewardship .  As explained in LOVE Part 2: “It’s Out of This World”, love does not originate from us.  Like a Valentine gift that we didn’t create, love enters our lives and relationships from God.  God’s love (agapeo and phileo), like the sweet fragrance from a flower, is the central essence of His character. As 1 John 4: 8 states, God is love.  God’s inspired Word and His actions continually express His limitless love for His creation and humankind--expressed ultimately through the Life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Since Christ’s resurrection some 2,000 years ago,  His Spirit has been transforming sinners into Christ-followers who submit to the authority of God’s Word.  These who follow Christ, do so as stewards of the gifts of His Spirit, including love—or, as 1 Peter 4: 10 states, we are stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Reverential Fear of God, Repentance, Forgiveness
Christ-followers demonstrate by their love for God and for one another that they have died to self, have submitted to the Word of God, and have yielded to the rule of Christ as Lord of their lives.  This submission begins a life of repentance, humble confession and rejection of sin and selfishness.  These spiritual disciplines are motivated by our reverential fear of God our Supreme Judge, and by our emersion (baptism) into His love.  [See LOVE: Part 2 – It’s “Out of this World.”]  In love and mercy, God responds to our repentance, cancels our “sin debt,” and withholds His harsh judgment of us as rebellious, undeserving sinners.

The psalmist understood the relationship among three elements: 
(a) God’s holiness and justice,
(b) His mercy and forgiveness, and
(c) our reverential fear of God.  In Psalm 130: 3-4, we read (emphasis mine),

LORD, if you kept a record of our sins,
who, O Lord, could ever survive?
But you offer forgiveness,
that we might learn to fear you.

But, how is that?  How do Christ-followers "fear” a loving, forgiving God?  If this seems contradictory, see LOVE: Part 5 - Is God-Fearing Love a Contradiction?

Our Motivation to Love:  God Has Canceled Our Debt.
Forgiven sinners, freed from the burden of their sin, in reverent fear and submission to God’s Spirit, offer the sweet aroma of God’s love (fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5: 22) back to God.  They also extend this love to their neighbor.  If we truly love God, then according to 1 John 4: 21, …he who loves God loves his brother also.  Christ-followers are empowered to love God and neighbor out of a spirit of thankfulness for all God has done and continues to do.  Their remembrance of God's forgiveness causes them to extend mercy and forgiveness toward others, even their "enemies." 

Love originates from God and transforms humans and
our relationships to God, neighbor, and creation.

Loving God and loving our neighbor falls short unless we love what God also loves.  God loves our neighbor, but also His creation (Genesis 1: 31).  As I have explained in Fundamentals of Conservation, Part 1, our stewardship of creation is an integral part of our obedience to God’s plan.  Thus, loving our neighbor should include adopting a lifestyle that rejects materialism, needless consumption, and waste that can adversely affect soil, groundwater, air, community health, and conservation of creature habitats.   That said, Christ-followers must be wise in evaluating current assessments of human impacts on the environment, or creation. Thankfully, God has lovingly commanded that we observe a weekly Sabbath rest to enjoy His provisions and to take stock of our purpose and place in His plan for us.  [See Creation Care– Doing It Our Way?]

God’s love calls us to remember the Cross on which Jesus died.  Our regular focus on the Cross of Christ serves to impact and so permanently mark His followers that we become forever grateful.  Juanita Byrum’s song, “Forever Grateful,” should express our response:

And I'm forever grateful, Lord, to You
And I'm forever grateful for the cross
And I'm forever grateful to You
That You came to seek and save the lost

Still, I’ve been asking myself how it is that God’s love can become more real to me each day. 
God’s Spirit answers my question through His inspired Word—Man shall not live by bread alone but on every word that proceeds from the  mouth of God (Matthew 4: 4).  We “feed” the life of Christ in us by “eating” (reading, studying, meditating, memorizing) God’s Word which reveals the Life of Christ and His teachings.  Through both His Life in us and His teachings, we learn how to love others.  For example, a parable of Jesus known as the “Parable of the Unforgiving Servant,” recorded in Matthew 18: 21-35, teaches me three things: 
(a) the infinite magnitude of my sin debt
(b) the infinite mercy shown when God cancelled my sin debt
(c) the proper response—my love shown by thankfulness and forgiveness of others

The parable tells of a servant who owed him the equivalent of several million dollars in today’s market (Matt. 18: 24).  Jesus wanted us to understand that this debt was larger than the servant could ever hope to pay off.  The master …commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made (v. 25).  The servant’s response was to fall down and beg his master for mercy, 'Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all (v. 26).'  He was so desperate and fearful of the consequences of not being able to pay that he promised more than he could ever do.  Jesus wants sinners to realize from this story of the unpayable debt that we are great debtors facing a similar fate. 

Our Motivation to Forgive:  Realizing the Magnitude of Our Debt
Psalm 49: 7-9 helps us realize the human impossibility of paying our “sin debt” to God: 

Yet they cannot redeem themselves from death
by paying a ransom to God.
Redemption does not come so easily,
for no one can ever pay enough
to live forever and never see the grave. 

Now, back to my question—“How can God’s love become more real to me each day?”  I must focus on the Cross of Christ where I realize the great love and mercy of a Holy God who made possible the cancellation of my sin debt, thus sparing me of eternal judgment.  In light of this realization, my love for God and my neighbor ought to flow freely—loving God in return, and loving others through patience, mercy, and forgiveness.  This is not a small task for me in day-to-day human relationships with spouse, family, friends, and frustrating world and national news—especially, because relationship challenges reveal my own lingering selfishness.

Beloved pastor-teacher, Timothy Keller, refers to a scene from his favorite novel, Lord of the Rings, to illustrate the habit of remembering the costly suffering and death of Christ for our salvation.  Keller asks us to picture Pippin, a Hobbit, standing at the gate of the city which is about to be attacked and destroyed by the demon king.  But then, there is the sound of horns from the Riders of Rohan who arrive in the nick of time to save the city.   But the cost was great. The King of Rohan gave his very life in the battle.   Pippin’s greatful reaction is a model for us:

Pippin remembered the sound of the horn.

“For the rest of his life, Pippin could never hear a horn off in the distance without bursting into tears. Why?  Because every time he heard a horn in the distance it reawakened the memory of his salvation and the memory of the one who died for him.”  Keller then asks his audience (and all Christ-followers): 

“How do you listen to a distant horn?   What are your distant horns?”  What music, people, places, activities, or Scriptures helps reawaken in you the memory of the victory that Christ purchased for you there on that rugged hill?

Back to Jesus’s parable, the unforgiving servant represents those who forget the King and the sound of His horn.  The unforgiving servant’s desperate plea melted the heart of his master who then forgave his multimillion-dollar debt—entirely!  Jesus does not describe the response of the servant to this life-changing show of mercy and forgiveness.  If the forgiven servant had any gratitude, it was shallow and soon forgotten because we read that the unforgiving servant immediately went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him [a few thousand dollars]: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.

Just that quick, the unforgiving servant had forgotten the love and mercy his master had shown him.  So, he suddenly became unforgiving and merciless to his fellowservant.  Jesus ends the parable, warning us that we will not receive mercy and joy of forgiveness if we refuse to forgive our brothers and sisters from our heart (v. 35).  Genuine repentance and acceptance of God’s mercy ought to give us true joy and make us loving and forgiving of others.  Matthew Henry writes, “How justly will those be condemned, who, though they bear the Christian name, persist in unmerciful treatment of their brethren!  The humbled sinner relies only on free, abounding mercy, through the ransom of the death of Christ.  Let us seek more and more for the renewing grace of God, to teach us to forgive others as we hope for forgiveness from him.”

I am thankful for God’s provisions that help us remember what He has done for us:  His commands (really, loving invitations) to worship together on the first day of each week (Acts 20: 7; Hebrews 10: 25) and to regularly observe the sacrament of Lord’s Supper.  These are essential disciplines that bring us into communion with our Savior and with fellow blood-bought brothers and sisters in remembrance of the wonderful Cross.

Of course, Valentine’s Day provides an annual reminder to express love to God and to our friends (and enemies).  Since Valentine’s Day last year when I wrote about love and marriage, in Valentines and a Better Love, I have been reading and thinking much about “true love,” hopefully from a Christian worldview.  As I conclude this sixth part in my series on LOVE, I confess that I haven’t even scratched the surface.  Nor has my stewardship of sharing God’s gift of love reached anything like the fragrant love that emanates from Jesus.  But, my prayer is that you and I, and all who come across these writings will be drawn closer to Jesus the Source of this Love and to the Cross where Love met God’s judgment of sin, and prevailed! 

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine
I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah.
-- From Reckless Love, by Cory Asbury

How About You…and I?
This Valentine’s Day, I am asking myself:  Do I truly love God, my Creator and Savior, even though at times He seems distant?  Do I love my wife as God’s gift for nearly 50 years, even when one of us is grumpy?  Do I love my family, my friends, many of whom pray for us and encourage us every day?  Do I love and pray for our leaders and for Christians living under very hard, dangerous conditions; and for the millions who are homeless, both locally and internationally?  The answer rests not on me alone but on Christ alone, by faith alone, in His Word alone, by His grace alone.  For it is not that we loved Him but that He loved us while we were yet sinners (Romans 5: 8).  Christ demonstrated His love through His death, resurrection, and promises of His return.  Until that time or until He takes me home, I want to be a good steward of His love.