D-Day: Remembering Their Sacrifice

As we pause to remember the sacrifice of so many who stormed the beaches of Normandy 75 years ago, most of us have no direct contact with either a veteran of World War II.  Separated by multiple generations and often hindered by only a limited knowledge of American history, we hear and read accounts of this great struggle and think of it as only useless clamor on some foreign planet. 

I was fortunate to have a good education in American History, and to learn more by direct though very limited conversation my Uncle Glen “Shorty” Silvius who had participated in the D-Day invasion and later, the Battle of the Bulge (December, 1945 to January, 1945.  My uncle seldom spoke of the horrors of war during the 20 some years that I knew him.  But after his death, I had opportunity to read several of the letters which he wrote to his mom and dad, my Grandma and Grandpa Silvius.  Here is an introduction to a letter which he entitled “Something to Forget:”

There are times in the lives of people that incidents occur and one hopes to cherish the happy remembrance of the events.  In times of battle, many of these happy moments are buried or become totally eclipsed by the sight of results from the inhuman work of man.  In any direction you look, the same sights are prevailing, all effort to evade unpleasant scenes are in vain.  In any area where forces have met in organized combat, these scenes are only to be expected.  The strain of nerves anyone must endure is so great that in time even the person who has some chance to use better than average personal protection must return to places where surrounding conditions are more quiet.  It is not always possible to maintain the proper organization and control of units.  The result of such situations only leads to increase the degree of disaster.  No words will explain this except the famed words of the statesman who said, “Together we stand, separated we perish.”

Wars throughout history have generally not started because someone loved war and set out to start a war.  But there have been individuals who became so proud and so convinced that their vision of the world was the right one that they were willing to bring it about at any cost.  Men who come to mind in this context are Adolph Hitler (1889-1945), Joseph Stalin (1878-1953), and Mao Zedong (1893-1976).  These men were directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths of an estimated 17 million, 23 million, and 49-78 million, respectively.

War does not begin when armies amass against one another.  Instead, war begins in the human heart where such vices as anger, hate, pride, and lust for power originate.  James, the half-brother of Jesus writes:  Where do wars and fights come from among you?  Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?  You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war.  Yet you do not have because you do not ask (James 4: 1-2).

General Robert E. Lee is quotes as saying, “It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.”  Yet Lee’s own personal experience teaches us that once the sins of human hearts lead to conflict, it is difficult for anyone to stop it from becoming all-out war.  But thankfully, each of us has access to the One who is called the Prince of Peace—Jesus Christ who came to bring peace to replace the war and turmoil of our hearts.  He said, In the world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer.  I have overcome the world.   Thankfully, one day, Jesus Christ will come to rule upon Earth for 1,000 years to demonstrate what truly godly rule by one man really looks like.  Then, he will defeat the Devil and sin, and the “last enemy,” death itself (1 Corinthians 15: 26).

My uncle was beset by at least a mild case of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but seemed to have found peace with God during his post-war years.  I was privileged to discuss God’s Word with him and to share the truth of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.  Although my uncle is now deceased, occasions like the D-Day remembrance serves to remind us not only of the great sacrifice of so many but also of our responsibility to thank veterans and those in uniform today, and to encourage those who carry the emotional wounds of war.  

Life as It Ought to Be - Part 2: Set Free…to Renew Our Minds

Tomorrow is Inauguration Day and many Americans will be watching as Donald John Trump is sworn in as the 45^th President of the United States.  But indications are that America has never been more divided at any time since the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, in 1861, near the beginning of the Civil War.  Voices of opposition and distain for Trump are heard from people representing the sciences, politics, human rights groups, and the entertainment industry.  Here is a sampling:

America was also divided in 1861 at Lincoln's first inauguration.

I am literally on a remote tropical island and I, even I, don't feel safe. – Hollie Smith (singer-songwriter) 

Having a person in the position of U.S. President who does not acknowledge scientific facts establishing the clear reality of human-caused climate change is a disgrace. -- Dr. Twila Moon, (University of Bristol)

We will fight to make sure that Planned Parenthood health center doors stay open, and that people in this country can get access to basic reproductive health care…   Cecile Richards (president, Planned Parenthood)

The world will never be the same.  – Cher (singer-actress)

Winning the electoral college does not absolve Trump of the grave sins he committed against millions of Americans.  If Trump wants to roll back the tide of hate he unleashed, he has a tremendous amount of work to do and he must begin immediately.  -- Harry Reid (U.S. Senate, (D) Nev.)

We've let a hatemonger lead our great nation.  We've let a bully set our course.  I'm devastated.  -- Chris Evans (actor—“Captain America”)

The battle of angry words and rude behavior between Election 2016 winners and losers has continued right up to Inauguration Day.  Thanks to the internet, these angry expressions are broadcasted far and wide.  Occasionally, President-elect Trump throws fuel into the fire with angry tweets of his own.

What makes us act this way?  The cause is not Donald Trump.  Nor is it the two-party system; or, the internet.  The cause is not even fear of “losing our rights”—e.g. reproductive rights, gender rights, voting rights, health benefits, welfare entitlements, government job security, etc.  The ultimate cause lies deep within the human heart—i.e. the mental frameworks of logic and values each person has constructed with their mind.
 

When we are honest with ourselves, we admit we have personal struggles with pride, lust, and deceit.  These in turn influence our moral beliefs and hence how we think about the social and economic issues listed above.  Regardless of our stand on these issues, many of us experience fear and angst over how the new administration will influence our future.  When we reflect on the violence and destruction throughout human history we realize that humans are not naturally “good-at-heart,” or should I say, “good-at-mind.”  The Bible states, there is none righteous, not even one (Romans 3: 10).  And, the Apostle James asks (James 4: 1), What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you?  Scripture answers immediately-- Because of your lusts that war in your members.
   
All of us have to deal with lust, an intense desire for something that is not rightfully ours to have.  Although many including Google mistakenly limit lust to “sexual desire,” it applies more broadly to any inordinate desire. We may lust for things like food, wealth, fame, intellectual prowess, or power.  The root of the problem is not that sex, food, guns, or fame are bad.  Instead, it is the way we think about these gifts of God.  What’s worse, we can use our minds and thought processes to deceive ourselves into believing that we don’t lust, or at least not very much.  As the prophet Jeremiah explains (Jeremiah 17: 9 NET), the human mind is more deceitful than anything else.  It is incurably bad.  Who can understand it?

Thankfully, God’s moral revelation in Scripture comes to us with the Spirit and power to help us attack the root of the problem within our minds.  In Part 1 of “Life as It Ought to Be,” we emphasized how God has power to “set us free….to serve Him.”  As the Apostle Peter writes (1 Peter 3:18), For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit…  Sin, is rebellion against God as a result of the prideful, lustful, and deceitful ways of thinking in our minds.  But sin does not need to have dominion over us.  Paul writes in Romans 8: 10, If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

In Part 1, we explained how God sets the sinner free from sin’s mastery and gives the person of faith His Holy Spirit to reside within as a “New Master.” The “old master,” representing sin, selfishness, and Satan can now be brought under the righteous authority of God’s Spirit.  But, as a believer, I must submit to God’s Spirit as His Word tells me to …consider yourself dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus…[not allowing] sin [to] reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts...(Romans 6: 11-12).  Specifically, I must recognize that I cannot serve two masters.  My “death to the old master” representing sin, as expressed in pride, lust, and deceit becomes reality as I submit to my New Master, Jesus Christ.  Romans 12: 1-2 describes what God asks me to do daily (emphasis mine):   

…present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not [let your mind and thinking] be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Notice that our responsibility is to continually allow God’s Spirit through His Word to renew our minds so that our wills are attuned to God’s will.  Dr. Caroline Leaf, a communication pathologist and audiologist has conducted research for years in the field of cognitive neuroscience.  She believes that God created our minds in His image and has given us the “free will” to choose how we will think and react to our circumstances.  Dr. Leaf writes in her book entitled Switch on Your Brain (Baker Books, 2013):   

Your mind is the most powerful thing in the universe after God, and indeed fashioned after God.  Free will and choice are real, spiritual, and scientific facts. Your mind (soul) has one foot in the door of the spirit and one foot in the door of the body; you can change your brain with your mind and essentially renew your mind.

Dr. Leaf rejects the view that the human brain is hard-wired and unchangeable, a view that gained popularity in the 1980’s.  She has based her research on her insights gained from the Scriptures such as Romans 12: 2 in which God commands us to be transformed by the renewing of your mind and Deuteronomy 30: 19 in which God lovingly invites us to choose life in order that you may live….  Dr. Leaf reasons correctly that God would not ask His image bearers to exercise choice if He had not created us with brains that have the neurological capacity to change, and with the free will to make right choices that in turn help build healthy brains.  

In a future article, we will address more specifically how our mind can affect the status of our brain and in turn how we think when we use our God-given free will to make right decisions through the power of His Spirit and the guidance of His Word.   But for now, notice how James 4: 5-10 reveals the blessed benefit of submitting our minds to God’s will.  When we submit to God, we realize that His Spirit is actually longing for relationship with us.  What’s more God wants us to turn our longings back to Him as our Creator.  Listen to God’s loving mind speaking out to our minds (emphasis mine):

Or do you think the Scripture means nothing when it says, “The spirit that God caused to live within us has an envious yearning”?  But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.”  So submit to God.  But resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded.   Grieve, mourn, and weep.  Turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into despair.  Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.

How does a God Who created mankind explain the current division in America, and the divisions and strife around the world?  As we have explained, God’s Word tells us that our minds are naturally prideful, corrupt, and prone to lust or desire that which we do not have.  Therefore, God’s Spirit desires that each person submit to Him and allow their minds to be transformed by the renewing of their minds so that each will know what God’s will is for them.  The above challenge from the Apostle James seems very pertinent to this year’s politics.  It is the prideful, lustful, deceitful mind that causes the outpouring of prideful speech and actions.  Our only remedy is to allow God’s Spirit through His Word to go deep into our system of thought, causing repentance (change of heart/mind), submission to God, and confession of sin.  These actions bring New Life in Christ for the unbeliever, and they bring regular renewal and spiritual growth to the Christ-follower. 

If all goes as planned, tomorrow Donald J. Trump will be our new president.  Life will not immediately be “as it ought to be.”  But, if we take to heart the instructions of the Apostle James to submit to God Who will help us resist the devil, God will enable us to replace our own tendency toward divisiveness, anger, and rudeness with the virtues like patience, kindness, and self-control.   We can then be a much-needed, fresh aroma in our struggling homes, schools, workplaces, and churches.  The inspired Word written in a letter by the Apostle Paul to Titus during harsh times of the Roman Empire ought to encourage us to be thankful for the privilege of watching the inauguration and then praying for the Trump family and his new administration (emphasis mine):

Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men.  For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.  But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior so that being justified by His grace we would be mad heirs according to the hope of eternal life. – Titus 3:1-7

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How about You?   If after reading this article, you sense that you need to do some mind and soul searching, here is a suggestion.  Read Part 1 of this series and prayerfully consider and apply the “four disciplines” outlined there to assure our daily submission to the “New Master.”  They were (1) forging ahead for God while confessing and forgetting past failings; and, being disciplined to (2) feed on God’s Word, (3) adopt a lifestyle of prayer and repentance, and (4) seek fellowship regularly with fellow believers.  If you have particular questions or comments, please use the “Comment” box below or e-mail me at silviusj@gmail.com

Dealing with Dangerous Weapons – Guns, Cell Phones…What Else?

Our Advent Wreath and Candles

During this holiday season, I have been impressed by a series of “Christmas contrasts.”  First, Christmas lights have seemed brighter when they are surrounded by the deepest darkness.   Second, Christmas Joy and Hope have been more assuring to me in the midst of our nation’s troubling economic and political climate.  And third, Christmas songs of peace and the promises of Christ’s return have fortified me when I was made aware of several tragic events in the news and then faced some disappointing happenings like we all face in the holiday season.

But sharp contrasts have been part and parcel of Christmas since the joy of Mary, Joseph, the shepherds at Jesus’ birth was punctuated by the murderous threat of King Herod.  I am reminded of the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in the third stanza of the old hymn, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day:”

And in despair I bowed my head
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”

Why is it that even in the season of peace on Earth we find so many intrusions by events that remind us that hate is strong and mocks the song, of peace on earth, good will to men?  Perhaps those who favor gun control are right.  When we control or even eliminate guns perhaps that will eliminate murder.  But, let’s see—then we’d also have to eliminate other potentially dangerous tools like clubs, knives, and even matches.  Then what about drugs and poisons, and why not eliminate the big soft drinks and foods with trans-fats.  Finally, we almost forgot the most dangerous weapon of all.  This weapon, our tongue, is according to the apostle James one that is humanly impossible to control (James 3: 5).  Short of surgical removal, how can this dangerous member be controlled?

James 4: 1 provides an answer:

What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you?
Is not the source your desire for pleasures
that wage war in your members?

Spiritual warfare within us erupts in the form of fighting and quarreling (v. 2) and by an uncontrolled tongue (James 3: 1-12).  All of these expressions in one combination or another have been part of human strife since Adam uttered blame toward Eve for his sin in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3: 12), and Adam’s son Cain killed his brother Abel.  

The weapons for killing have advanced over the years from clubs to semi-automatics and aerial drones.  What we have stated elsewhere in Oikonomia (“No Gun Control without Self Control” should be obvious.  We must address the deeper cause of violence, the human heart.  Jesus set a higher standard than the Old Testament law, “Thou shall not murder.”   He pointed us to the same “war within our members” that we have just read from the pen of His half-brother James.  Jesus said (emphasis mine):

But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother
shall be guilty before the court;
and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,'
shall be guilty before the supreme court… -- Matthew 5: 22

Notice that Jesus is pointing out the “early warnings” in a progression beginning with anger and hateful speech that could lead to fighting and even murder;.  These warnings from the Lord Jesus are even more important in our present culture.  Just as the weapons for killing become more advanced and plentiful, so also the vehicles to spread hateful words have advanced from simply word-of-mouth to the printed page to telecommunications and the internet .  Whereas, it once required weeks or months to spread damaging speech from continent to continent, it can now occur within seconds!   

Justine Sacco, while traveling by airplane from London to South Africa, launched a few careless words on Twitter about the AIDS crisis in Africa.   While her plane was still flying toward Cape Town, her words were being retweeted thousands of times and was picked up by media outlets around the world!  The fiery exchanges that resulted from the tiny spark from Sacco’s phone has led to her firing as a communications director, in spite of her apology.   

Just before Christmas,

If James’ warning in the first century about the tongue is to be taken seriously, how much more in the internet age should we heed the starkness of its warning that

the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity;
the tongue is set among our members
as that which defiles the entire body,
and sets on fire the course of our life,
and is set on fire by hell. – James 3: 6

But, knowing and accepting the warnings of Scripture is only the beginning.  We must recognize and confess our own sinful nature as also described in Scripture; then, surrender to the lordship of Christ and profess faith in His atoning death for us.  In marvelous return, God will fill us with His Holy Spirit Who will then help us to gain victory over the “deeds of the flesh” which are listed in Galatians  5: 19-21 including “…impurity [and] outbursts of anger….”  In place of these evil deeds, the Spirit produces fruit of righteousness including “…love, joy, peace, patience…self control…” (Galatians 5: 22-23).

If the above teaching of Scripture sounds simple, it is not.  God knows as does the disciplined Christian that the pursuit of self-control and control of the tongue is a continual progression of climbing and falling, and sinning and confessing (I John 1: 9).  In regard to this difficulty, James adds the following:

For we all stumble in many ways.
If anyone does not stumble in what he says,
he is a perfect man,
able to bridle the whole body as well. – James 3: 2

James issues another stark warning (James 3: 1) out of his recognition that Christian maturity requires time and patience to develop:

Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren,
knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.

Because the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity…and is set on fire by hell the Spirit emphasizes through James that the pulpit, platform, and microphone are not to be given to those who cannot control their tongue; nor should undisciplined believers undertake such responsibility.   God is not honored by leaders in church or school who do not demonstrate self-control and the other fruit of the Spirit.  The body of Christ in a church setting or in an educational institution is taught and edified when the preacher or teacher is a godly “professor” of his or her faith.   A “professor” is one whose behavior matches his or her words; one who professes by both lips and life.

God’s plan is that the body of Christ on Earth will be the shining example, or what the Puritans called “a shining city on a hill” for the world to see and be drawn to Christ themselves.  But, as we’ve noted above, the victory is only assured by a daily disciplined effort in which we submit to God’s authority, confess or sins, and pursue His peace and joy.  If we offend another person or persons, God makes a provision that we should take seriously:

Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar,
and there remember that your brother has something against you,
leave your offering there before the altar and go;
first be reconciled to your brother,
and then come and present your offering.  – Matthew 5: 22-23

This formula for reconciliation applies to both the offended and the one offending.  However, this formula is also a test of our humility.  The proud person refuses to “leave the altar” or his or her religious activity, but waits for another person to come to them.  However, many of us can testify that obeying this biblical teaching will surely end days or even years of grief and separation from God and from our neighbor.  Forgiveness and reconciliation brings the peace and joy God intends for us.

Peace on Earth at Christmas or at any time of the year will not come by surrendering our guns or knives. Nor can we blame our tongues, cell phones, or social media, each of which can be useful tools to build up one another.  Rather, we must address the source of our quarrels and strife – a prideful heart that ought to submit to the authority and work of God’s Spirit.  May God help us to be peacemakers and builders as we surrender our hearts to Him so that

… out of the good treasure of our heart
we can bring forth what is good…
for our mouth speaks from that which fills our hearts.

 – Luke 6: 45

No Gun Control Without Self-Control

What do firearms, knives, and words have in common?  All three can protect or save lives; and, all three can destroy by sharp and deadly replies. 

Thanks to the First and Second Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, we Americans have freedom of speech and freedom to bear of arms, respectively. These freedoms also mean relatively few restrictions against fiery tongues and fiery guns.  Nevertheless, our protection from both tongue and gun is rooted not in civil law but in the moral code.  The moral law is grounded in Jesus’ teaching that it is out of the heart [that] come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders (Matthew 15:19).  Therefore, the answer to a safe and civil society is not found alone in “tighter controls” on guns and speech.  Instead, there must be a revival within institutions that nurture a godly disposition of the heart; namely, the family and the local church, both within the context of caring communities.

All Violence Comes Ultimately from the Heart

I believe government is ordained by God to establish rule of law, execute justice for lawbreakers, and protect the nation from foreign invasion.    But, for such a system to work requires both leadership committed to just enforcement of the laws of the land; and, a citizenry that recognizes its individual moral and ethical responsibility to higher authority--and ultimately to God.  This relationship requires no less than a partnership between government and religious institutions, both functioning in their respective roles to maintain order.  While civil authorities encourage social behavior by external laws and deterrents to anti-social behavior; family and church nurture character qualities that promote self-restraint, personal responsibility, and benevolence.  Alexander Solzhenitsyn, in his essay "Repentance and Self-Limitation in the Life of Nations," underscores the necessity of strong character in individuals if a society is to prosper:

Whatever feelings predominate in the members of a given society at a given moment in time, they will serve to color the whole of that society and determine its moral character.  And if there is nothing good there to pervade that society, it will destroy itself or be brutalized by the triumph of evil instincts no matter where the pointer of the great economic laws may turn.[i]

Although many believe that government shouldn’t “legislate morality” or “engineer” society, still federal, state, and local governments continue to move in this direction.  Perhaps the moral laxity and the decay of the nuclear family have created the vacuum that government now seeks to fill.  Leadership in Washington, through “ObamaCare” has taken on the management of human health care and even the ‘health’ of planet Earth.  At the local level, the city of New York is attempting to ban big sugary drinks as If to occupy the vacuum left by an adult population that seems less responsible for both their own nutrition and that of their children. But government efforts to legislate individual and planetary health are both doomed to fail without a revival of godly human character and personal responsibility.

The Bible emphasizes individual or personal responsibility under the concept of stewardship.  Stewardship is managing that which is not ours but has been entrusted to us by our Creator—our abilities, our time, and our opportunities to become responsible, members of society.  Stewardship is taught in many parts of the Bible as I have previously highlighted in Oikonomia.  Of particular relevance here is Colossians 3: 23-24 where Paul states:

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,
knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance.
It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.

In order to fulfill our responsibility as stewards of creation, we have been entrusted with great potential as image bearers of the Creator Himself.  We are to be God’s caretakers who represent His interests as we rule over His creation.  But instead of representing God’s interests, our father Adam acted on his individual interests and consequently brought God’s judgment upon him and all his descendents.

In spite of the fall of man and the curse upon the creation, mankind was allowed to remain as stewards of  creation.  What followed was a steady march of “human progress” in the development of more sophisticated technology.  Each development increased the reach and power of humans to utilize the richness of creation’s treasures of soil, water, minerals, metals, fossil fuel, and biodiversity.  And, with each new technological advance from club and arrow to gun and bullet, and then, to rocket and drone came the challenge to use the potential of that technology either for human benefit and God’s glory, or for human destruction and God’s dismay.

The table below lists several common technologies that are influential in today’s culture.  (Click on table to view.)  The middle and right columns demonstrate that most technology can lead to either morally “good” or “bad” outcomes.

There are differing viewpoints about the moral component of technology[ii].  However, I believe the quality of moral character, judgment, and personal responsibility of the individual user is the chief determiner of whether a morally “good” or “bad” outcome will result from the use of technology.  For example, the same firearm used by an elementary school policeman to protect the students and teachers from the murderous intent of intruders can also be used by the same policeman in a fit of rage to commit the horrible act he or she is hired to prevent.  It follows that our society will not prosper amid a myriad of guns, gadgets, and goodies unless greater attention is given to the importance of each individual taking personal responsibility for his or her actions.

Mass shootings like the ones at Aurora, Colorado [See Oikononia, July 25, 2012] and Sandy Hook, Connecticut have prompted requests for new laws to prevent such tragedies.  Sadly, the moral and spiritual principles voiced by our clergy at memorial services for the dead are not allowed into our public schools, universities, and halls of government where attempts are being made to make sense of such behaviors and to prescribe ways to stop needless killing

Dr. Alveda King told Newsmax (March, 2013) that both her grandmother and her uncle, Dr. Martin Luther King, were killed by guns; but her father was mysteriously killed with no gun involved.  She concludes that,

…rather than giving all of our effort to gun control, we need to start looking at the hearts of the people and even consider when you do things like taking prayer out of schools…or just cut off all efforts to give people value systems, and morals…

Solzhenitsyn claimed that the only “way out” is through repentance:

What way out remains to us?  Not the embittered strife of parties or nations, not the struggle to win some elusive victory -- for all the ferocious causes already in being -- but simply repentance and the search for our own errors and sins.  We must stop blaming everyone else -- our neighbors and more distant peoples, our geographical, economic, or ideological rivals, always claiming that we alone are in the right.  Repentance is the first bit of firm ground underfoot, the only one from which we can go forward not to fresh hatreds but to concord.  Repentance is the only starting point for spiritual growth. ‘For each and every individual.  For every trend of social thought.’

Shouldn’t we who are so rich and surrounded by gadgets—we who are even shaped by them, and who are killing and being killed by them (whether gun, knife, or pen)—shouldn’t we TAKE the only “way out?”  Solzhenitsyn’s “way out” of this rings consistent with God’s heavenly call recorded in the Old Testament:  If…my people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land (II Chronicles 7:13 (part)-14). 

Taking the only way out?   Perhaps during this Holy Week, we can begin by setting aside a quiet time (away from distracting gadgets if possible), obtain a copy of the Bible, and read God’s Word.  Christ’s “Sermon on the Mount” recorded in Matthew Chapters 5-7 may be a good place to start.  Then, pray in communion with our Creator God, allowing His Spirit to illuminate our reading and our medication upon His truth claims.  After all, isn’t …the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12)?

Prayer:   Thank you Father for being a loving God and even “Father” to those who have simply surrendered their pride and rebellious hearts to receive forgiveness for sin based on Christ’s sinless sacrifice on the cross.  Help us to recognize that our hearts are deceitfully wicked without your transforming work through your Holy Spirit.  Without your transformation of our dispositions from pride and hate to humility and love, no amount of man-made legislation will bring resolution to the problems we face in our homes, churches, schools, governments, and environment. Conversely, as we surrender to You, be pleased to mold and shape our hearts so that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds [so that we may] prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2).

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[i] I am indebted to Dean Ohlman for recent discussions in which he pointed me to Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s essay cited herein.   He has developed these thoughts very well at http://wonderofcreation.org/2012/07/03/confessing-for-the-church-part-2/

[ii]  Admittedly, there is disagreement as to where the moral component resides, whether in the technology itself, in the human creator, or in the interaction between creator and technology.  For example, see the following source:  Latour, Bruno.  2002.  Morality and Technology: The End of the Means.  Theory, Culture & Society  (SAGE, London, Thousand Oaks and New Delhi), Vol. 19(5/6): 247–260