Lost Crusader #138 Same Difference

 “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.

“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.”

1Corinthians 12:4-7

The world outside the Church strives for homogeneous thoughts, words, and deeds in the name of diversity. Christianity, as one body and one Spirit, strives for true diversity in the name of unity. No wonder this diversity in practice is confusing to those on the outside looking in.

No sane disciple of Christ believes their way is the absolute correct and sole way of doing and understanding the things of God. You may quote me. Sane and disciple are the operative words and do not preclude the existence of the egomaniacal or the developmentally challenged who claim Christianity.

Diverse gifts, different callings, many multiples of activities, there is room for all of these in the Divine life shared by Christ with those who love Him. We pass through death to God, but not to become lost like a drop entering the sea. Our individuality, our gifts, and our talents find their full bloom in the God-life. We will never be more ourselves than when we drop this mortal body and don an eternal one.

When one rises above the toddler-class Sunday School lessons of heaven, and into the maturity of an exercised spiritual union with Christ, it becomes evident that this life is more than a warmup, it is part and parcel of the life to come. If you do not enjoy life in Christ here and now, you will not suddenly find that joy by dying.

Can you sing? Sing! Do you teach? Teach! Take whatever God has given you (and He has given you gifts; you were born with them) and run with it. When the scripture admonishes Christians to “speak the same thing in love” it does not mean to mouth the same words, it means to express the same love—the love of Christ—in your own special way.

The Spirit in you is God’s gift to you—given to you to share His blessing with everyone as no other can do.

Maranatha

The Colonel #100 Memories

 “…that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that the government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.”

Abraham Lincoln

This weekend some Americans will barbeque and drink a few, some will be offended that we have rights they don’t like, some will burn flags, and some will steal across the border to join in. Then, there are others who will enjoy the holiday while remembering why it exists in the first place.

If you feel moved to thank a veteran today, be sure to choose the right veteran. The ones you need to address your thanks to this weekend lie beneath those plain white stones decorated with little flags. Take time this weekend to walk down the rows and read the names. It doesn’t matter whether you knew them.

They died without knowing you. They did this because America is something bigger than all of us. It is a spirit that we share. Those men and women lying in neat rows thought the spirit of America was worth preserving. They thought it was worth dying for. President Lincoln speaking at Gettysburg thought we owed it to them not to let their sacrifice be in vain.

School children used to memorize those words and pledge themselves to the country for which their fellow Americans gave their lives. That exercise has faded into distant memory, our history erased because it hurt someone’s feelings.

I can’t tell you if it hurts to die. It hurts to think of all the people who have died fighting for my freedom. And it hurts to wonder if that government of the people, by the people and for the people is perishing from the earth.

“Patriotism is supporting all the time, and your government when it deserves it.”—Mark Twain.

Sic Semper Tyrannis

Know Jack #349 Both Sides

 “I’ve looked at life from both sides now, From win and lose and still somehow, It’s life’s illusions I recall, I really don’t know life—At all.”

Joni Mitchell

Rather than repeat Hemingway’s advice to write drunk and edit sober, I picked Joni Mitchell’s song to illustrate a point—or maybe I should say viewpoints because two opposing views are needed to produce a good book. The view from within and the view from without. A look at the story from both sides is required, but anyone telling you they know all about it really doesn’t know writing at all.

As I suspect is true of most people, I have a favorite side. One view is not better than the other, they are just different.

I don’t know how others do it, but I tend to write from inside the story. I watch the story unfold through my characters, to see things with their eyes, I hear their voices and sometimes think their thoughts alongside them. The more I hold to the rational sense of writing, the less able I am to live it. It’s like writing drunk in that inhibition, deliberation, and the need to make sense of things is forgotten—for the moment anyway.

I think this is what people mean when they tell you to just write. That’s all well and good, except that, on its own, it will never do. Stories have to make some kind of sense, follow a timeline and have a certain cohesion.

That’s where the view from outside comes in. As nice as daydreaming your way to writing success might sound, cold water dashed in your face by a reader will make for better writing. Imagination will stitch together a monster and send a jolt of electricity through it bringing it to life. Examination will make sure it doesn’t fall to pieces when it gets off the slab.

What drunkenness does for flair; sobriety does for quality. Editing and revising are not as exciting as that wild rush of writing. However, a sober look at sales can make you giddy.

I’ve looked at writing from both sides now. From drunk and sober and still somehow, it’s writing’s illusions I recall. I really don’t know writing at all.

Maranatha

Lost Crusader #137 Tell Me the Story

 “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.”

2 Peter 1:16

The scriptures say that faith comes by hearing. That was never truer than in the days before the written canon existed. It is still true today though the story may be read as often as it is heard. The point I wish to stress is that the gospel is a story. As Peter said, that doesn’t mean that the story is false or made up by the writer’s imagination.

What it does mean is that the surest approach to the gospel is as a story. Rather than dissect it, outline it, or hunt for hidden subplots and meanings—step inside. See the story; live the story.

Christians speak about studying the Bible and they should engage in thinking about what it says and its application to their situation. Contemplation and meditation are sound Christian disciples to be neglected at their own peril.

Christianity, is more than reading, praying, and studying. It is first and foremost to be lived—to enter physically, mentally, and emotionally into the very life and story of Christ as a participant. C.S. Lewis described this as the practice of enjoyment or joy. Christianity is to be enjoyed.

It is difficult to see this from the outside, just as it is hard to enjoy a story by looking at the cover of the book or reading reviews. I have yet to understand how some young people get excited about watching others play video games even though an entire industry has sprung up around the practice.

Watching Christians live the story is disappointing. Since no one plays it perfectly or even in the same manner we might think they should. The story can only be understood and appreciated from within. The “fable” was written by those living it for those who would like to join in living it.

The good news of the scripture is life and living the ongoing story of Christ.  

Maranatha 

The Colonel #99 Entitled to the Truth

 “A dogmatic belief in objective value is necessary to the very idea of a rule which is not tyranny or an obedience which is not slavery.”

C.S. Lewis

While “times they are a’changin” humanity is not. The differences between the Founders and Progressives are many, but perhaps the biggest one is how they viewed/view truth.

The Founders believed in an objective truth that all men are to obey. It is wrong to steal, murder, or lie—see Commandments 4-10. This does not mean they thought, that one day everyone would do those things to any greater degree than was done in their day or had been done throughout human history. Neither did they think that passing laws would end those behaviors. It means they considered right and wrong as real things that marked the positive and negative sides of unchanging human nature.

They had studied human nature as it played out in governments over centuries, found government a necessary evil, and did their best to design a new government without trying to regulate every human interaction with voluminous laws that no one understood. The Constitution is designed to protect the people from those elected to govern.

Progressives believe in subjective truth—“My Truth”. That is, something is wrong because I feel it’s wrong or somehow offensive. Thus, a natural law, if one ever existed, is immaterial. How I identify myself is the indisputable truth. I think, therefore, all must conform.

Progressives say this is possible because humans (except maybe white males, right-wingers, Christians and Republicans) have evolved and are morally improved. Old laws and ways are outdated, unable to keep up with our technological genius, and therefore don’t apply. The Constitution needs to grow with us to allow more freedom for the expression and functionality of My Truth.

Denying an objective truth, “organic” government is built on the shifting sands of subjectivism—you know the kind of government that depends on what each person’s definition of “is” is—has but one end. Whether that government calls itself communist, socialist, fascist, democratic or republican, the end game is the same, rule by an elite strong enough to impose their “truth” on everyone else and reducing people to the status of animate objects subject to the will of their betters.

The ascension of a subjective “My Truth” is evident in the formation of corporate fact-checkers guarding “community” standards, boards run by government agencies to counter “disinformation” and the reaction unleashed by a billionaire’s statement that he bought a company to restore freedom of speech.

Living the utopian lifestyle to which each person is entitled will, if allowed, become reality for all. The big shock is going to be finding out from the masters their truth about what you’re entitled to.

Sic Semper Tyrannus

Know Jack #348 Fairy Tales Are Not For the Faint of Heart

 “Someday you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.”

C.S. Lewis

 

Writers must have a sense of child-like wonder. You may be writing of war, horror, and grisly death, but you get there by allowing your sense of wonder to open the door—even if there is a monster on the other side—or perhaps because there is one. Readers will not suspend disbelief and enter the story unless you lead the way.

Jesus wasn’t a writer, but he was a storyteller. He used to say to his hearers, “He that has ears to hear, let him hear”. He knew everyone was not buying into what he had to say, but he was also aware that there were those who were hungry to hear, willing to listen and enter his kingdom as little children.

Picasso spoke about how difficult it was to learn to paint with the abandonment of a child. The heroes of Stephen King’s It, won by suspending the disbelief of adulthood. Hemingway’s “Write drunk, edit sober” is a bit coarser way to endorse the same idea of leaving behind our inhibitions and plunging into a story.

Ironically, there’s a certain maturity required in allowing yourself the luxury of child-like wonder and imagination. You must be secure enough to leave behind the comforts of everyday life. We like to complain about jobs, commitments, and the annoying people on Facebook, but there is a familiar safety there of which it is difficult to let go.

I hear people say they are done with drama. I fear they will not be reading fairy tales anytime soon. Our modern world seeks to homogenize everything and everyone. My college algebra teacher used to say the key to success was to set up the formula correctly. Once you have the problem in the proper form, he would say, “Just do the math”.

The ”math” of enjoying fairy tales is easy once you put life in the proper form—or, perhaps the better word is perspective. Wonder, imagination, and dreaming of what if are the true treasures of living.

Maranatha

 

Lost Crusader #136 What Price Victory

 “For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ…because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.

2 Corinthians 1:5,7

What would you give in exchange for your soul? For Christians, there can really be only one answer—their life. That is often understood as being executed or murdered for your faith. That’s not an easy thing to do, but harder still is the decision to live every day in service to Jesus.

Though it is often taught, preached, and believed by some that prosperity is the Christian’s due and anything less signifies a lack of faith, this is nowhere found in the scriptures. That is not to say you cannot prosper or be wealthy and be a Christian. It simply means that this is not guaranteed and earthly suffering or lack is not God’s retaliation for a life ill-spent.

Jesus invited all who labored at living and found that load heavy, to come to him, and he would provide rest. When that rest would come is open-ended. This was not some slick marketing ploy. It was an opportunity to look at the life he lived and the manner in which he lived it and do the same, no matter how imperfectly you performed.

Now, the scriptures describe Jesus as both a man of sorrows acquainted with grief and a man anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows. When faced with the excruciating pain of crucifixion, he endured it by seeing the joy that lay beyond.

This is not blind faith. It is seeing the hardships of serving God and choosing to endure them anyway because you believe the reward—everlasting life lived in the Spirit and in the fellowship of God is worth the difficulties.

In most cases, coming to God is not the end of our problems, but the beginning of a struggle that will push you out of your comfort zone at every single turn, while at the same time, giving you the chance to use your natural talents to their fullest.

That alone is worth the price of admission. Tests are not a punishment, as school children believe, they are a challenge that bears a reward. There’s no one I enjoy competing against more than myself. Life continues to be a challenge. I admit that there are times I fuss and fume and am frustrated with myself beyond measure at not meeting the challenge in a triumphant march. Sometimes I crawl into the next challenge.

“In your patience possess ye your souls.”

Maranatha

The Colonel #98 Phantom Rights

 The Declaration of Independence expresses the American ideal that government should exist to protect our natural right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. As stirring as Jefferson’s (…et al) document may be, it is only a statement of principle. It is not the law of the land. The declaration says, “this is what we are trying to do. The Constitution says, “this is how we will achieve it.”

There is, under the framework of how the government is to operate, no guarantee to life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness. Violate the law, and one or all of these may be taken from you. Everyone does not get a trophy.

As a result, “phantom rights” not found in the document, (written in invisible ink?) have sprung up everywhere.

The most recent case to catch my eye is the case of two fathers arrested for causing a disturbance at a school board meeting. Personally, I am in favor of raising a ruckus with school boards, but that is immaterial. I quote from the internet news…

“The fathers alleged that the defendants violated their rights to petition the government for redress and violated their rights to exercise free speech without retaliation.”

The italics are mine, added to emphasize the phantom right to free speech without retaliation. There is no such thing. The First Amendment guards our right to free speech, that’s true, but there is no safeguard from retaliation, and neither must a platform for your speech be provided to you.

When your free speech disturbs the conducting of public business, the governing body has a duty to have you removed. Go peacefully and you can stand on the corner and shout your opinion until doomsday, you can post it on Facebook, or write a letter to the editor of the local paper.

Most of you are too young to remember the Dixie Chicks, popular Country and Western singers. They decided to use their status as celebrities to publicly criticize the President. There’s nothing wrong with that. However, they made fools of themselves by subsequently whining (as snowflakes do) that they were being treated unfairly because fans quit buying their records.

President Coolidge noted that he never got into trouble for things he didn’t say.

Too bad the Chicks weren’t up on Presidential quotes. But then Presidents aren’t always up on the Constitution either.in committed to protecting a

“I remain committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose and this fundamental constitutional right.” Obama, formerly a law professor, obviously must know that this “right” does not actually exist…”

Maybe Obama was absent that day.

That his own second in command, his party, and pro-choice advocates everywhere do not believe the My Body, My Choice slogan Obama espoused was made glaringly evident by Covid.

Slap on that mask, no going outside, no family gatherings, and roll up that sleeve, we have magic serum to inject.

One final phantom right.

One final phantom right.

“Indeed, I’ve come to believe that the Constitution is perfectly willing to allow people a “right to health care,” and it’s in the Ninth Amendment.”

The Ninth Amendment says that “the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” Consequently, liberals say, if you claim a right, and there’s nothing in the Constitution that denies your claim, it’s your right.

Hey, Pandora here’s a box for you.

The Constitution doesn’t expressly deny a right to walk into a bank and demand they hand over the cash. Do I have a right to do that? No, seems not, there is only a right to do that with taxpayers.

I can remember debating the right to healthcare with my nursing colleagues. When they had talked themselves into a corner, as they invariably did when discussing the Constitution, they resorted to—but don’t you think everyone deserves healthcare?”

I thought my kids deserved to go to the college of their choice—unfortunately, I could no more afford that than the government could afford to host a healthcare buffet. (Sorry kids, you were born a generation too soon.)

When you are raised and schooled that you are entitled to whatsoever your heart desires, it soon becomes your right—your due—and any twisting of logic becomes permissible to attain it.

Sic Semper Tyrannis