Perhaps it may turn out a sang,
Perhaps turn out a sermon.

-- R. Burns Epistle to a Young Friend

Friday, February 22, 2013

That Kind of Faith



“And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? , Will he delay long over them?  I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” – Luke 18:7-8


I return to this passage over and over because it is about more than persistent or – love this word -- importune prayer.  The persistent widow did indeed beleaguer the unjust judge.  As I have noted before, I see the widow as representing our spiritual nature and the judge our analytical human nature.  It’s not all that different from Jesus saying to His weary and sleepy disciples, “The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak.”  The flesh is a pain in the butt. 

There are plenty of people around to tell us that our faith is useless in the physical world.  They restrict God to heaven, to an airy, ephemeral afterlife.  They deny His power and presence here.  After all, there is so much evil in the world how can God be involved in our everyday lives?  No, the Lord helps those who help themselves – which is true enough, except it doesn’t mean what some think it means. 

You know what?  I’m tired of being reasonable.  I’m tired period, but I’m really tired of trying to be understanding.  I, in fact, do understand.  The world worships power and crucifies Christ.  The reason the secular humanists can get along so well with much of Islam is because both groups focus on practical political power and control.  The reason there is no hope in a “political solution” is because politics is about the management of practical power.  There is nothing wrong with politics as a tool.  It all depends, as with any tool, on what motivates its use.  If all a person or a group wants is power and control over other people – I don’t care if such a one calls himself liberal or conservative or Islamic or Christian – he is my enemy, and – the dire news, he is God’s enemy.

I live by the law of Christ which is higher and better and purer than any law or set of statutes that man may create.  I answer to Christ, not to the world system.  The troublemaker they crucify is the King I obey.  Yes, we have a conflict.  It is time for “that kind” of faith. 

4 comments:

julie said...

...the Lord helps those who help themselves – which is true enough, except it doesn’t mean what some think it means.

Just another way of saying (↓↑).

The reason the secular humanists can get along so well with much of Islam is because both groups focus on practical political power and control.

Along those lines, I've been thinking more the last couple of days about the value of women in both Islamist and Western Feminist cultures. Even though outwardly, they are polar opposites - hefty-bagged by one, often all-too-exposed by the other - underneath there is a similar and similarly destructive motivating mindset, which is that women and femininity are essentially bad. Islamists deal with this by hiding them away and killing them when they cause problems. Feminists do so by trying to make women more and more like men, often while disparaging anything that smacks of genuine femininity.

Leftists and Islamists have far more in common than the surfaces would suggest.

mushroom said...

This is true.

Just thinking about from a man's perspective -- which is basically the only one I have -- how would I say, "This is my beautiful daughter" if I had her either bagged or turned into a boy?

I look at my daughter and my granddaughters, and they are so beautiful. They don't need to dress like hookers. I certainly want them to have freedom and opportunity to live fulfilling lives, but I don't want them to be boys. Nor do I think they are so shameful and dangerous or such devilish temptresses that they need to be hidden under tarps.

I have always like Col. Jeff Cooper's characterization of gun-grabbers as "hoplophobes".

There is "gynephobia" as well as something called "caligynephobia" (or venustraphobia), i.e., the fear of beautiful women.

Could be that. Or they could be suffering from Eleutherophobia - Fear of freedom.

mushroom said...

This is kind of funny.

I looked up phobias here.

Geniophobia- Fear of chins. That could be a problem, especially in China, which has its own special class.

Hamartophobia- Fear of sinning. Seems like a good idea to me, especially if one also suffers from Stygiophobia, Satanophobia (it's listed), or Pyrophobia.

Politicophobia- Fear or abnormal dislike of politicians. What do they mean by "abnormal"?

julie said...

Good question. At this point, I'm convinced that it's abnormal to trust them.