A Good Day to Die By Valorie Bender Quesenberry

It's a good day to die. Yes, somewhere, every day, I'm finding an altar awaits. An altar of sacrifice and surrender. And, at times, the trip to the top seems unbearable. Bring them here.  Bring the dreams still soft with dew. Bring the wishes quietly guarded.  Bring the desires long stowed away. Bring it here. The prize you imagine in secret daydreams. The goal you long to realize. The thing you cannot forget. Bring to this place. Your unyielding desire for what seems good. Your painful longing for an answer. Your naïve belief that you know best. Bring to the altar. A heart laid bare. A soul in surrender. A will relinquished. Bring this all to Him, And put on the yoke of waiting. Accept the blade of sacrifice. Acknowledge the mastery of His love. At the altar, death blows give way to life in the thicket. Smolders become the fragrance of faith, the bitter cup holds the liquid of redemption. There is, no joy without suffering, no triumph without battle, no glory without surrender. Bring. Submit. Rise.  Your altar will be to you a place of brilliant beauty, polished with tears, illuminated by heaven's comfort. What dies here was not what He willed. What goes forth from here will not die. The altar of surrender reveals the hidden life we cannot know until we approach the craggy summit.  And in its stony embrace, we find Him.  He is enough.

Hast Thou No Scar?

Pondering this powerful poetry by Amy Carmichael, pioneer Methodist missionary to India in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Hast Thou No Scar?

Hast thou no scars?

No hidden scar on foot, or side, or hand?

I hear thee sung as mighty in the land,

I hear them hail thy bright ascendant star:

Hast thou no scar?

Hast thou no wound?

Yes, I was wounded by the archers, spent.

Leaned me against the tree to die, and rent

By ravening beast that compassed me, I swooned:

Hast thou no wound?

No wound? No scar?

Yes, as the master shall the servant be,

And pierced are the feet the follow Me:

But thine are whole. Can he have followed far

Who has no wound? No scar?

Amy Carmichael

Justice and Love in a Postmodern Age

Justice and love are the legacy of Judeo-Christian influence. No other world religion has embraced justice and love to the same measure, nor can it ever do so.

Islam cannot. It rests upon principles of punitive justice and retribution. 

Hinduism cannot. Its historic track record of burning widows alive and sending orphaned daughters into forced temple prostitution compromise its moral and theological underpinnings beyond recovery. 

Shintoism cannot. It is founded upon a noble respect of elders that expresses itself in a burdensome and inescapable shame, devoid of any redemptive potential. 

Marxism cannot. The only expression of motive is power. Power is always expressed in control and oppression, no matter the source of the power or the object of control.

Even secular critical theorist, Jurgen Habermas, recognized the reality that justice and love are the moral high ground of the Judeo-Christian tradition.

"Universalistic egalitarianism, from which sprang the ideals of freedom and a collective life in solidarity, the autonomous conduct of life and emancipation, the individual morality of conscience, human rights and democracy, is the direct legacy of the Judaic ethic of justice and the Christian ethic of love. This legacy, substantially unchanged, has been the object of continual critical appropriation and reinterpretation. To this day, there is no alternative to it. And in light of the current challenges of a postnational constellation, we continue to draw on the substance of this heritage. Everything else is just idle postmodern talk." (Jürgen Habermas - "Time of Transitions", Polity Press, 2006, pp. 150-151, translation of an interview from 1999).

Historically, social justice initiatives have been birthed by noble Christian souls, disturbed beyond their complacency by the cultural sins of their day. John Wesley felt a moral obligation in his soul to right the wrongs of British slavery, work houses, and child labor. William Wilberforce, acting upon the influence of the Holy Spirit through the testimony and correspondence of Mr. Wesley, successfully put an end to slavery in Great Britain.  

The Civil Rights movement in the United States of America was birthed in Christian churches, both black and white. 

The social justice warrior initiatives of today have departed from defending Christian values of justice and love. These have extended to promoting values, lifestyles, and behaviors antithetical to Judeo-Christian principles. Progressive social justice initiatives advocate for LGBT rights, abortion rights, and and forcible redistribution of wealth. These misguided postmodern initiatives are based in a rejection of historic Judeo-Christian virtues, and bear little resemblance to the call to justice and love they represent. Nevertheless, social justice warriors parade themselves in the interest of their causes. 

The misguided pursuit of fairness and justice in the current immoral climate of our culture is made possible because of the Judeo-Christian ethic of our culture. Honest, and even disingenuous, conversations about currently popular causes are only made possible because of the surviving influence of the Old Testament value of justice, and the New Testament value of love. 

Even in our sinful rebellion, we  cannot escape the longing for justice, fairness, love, and mercy. The lingering stamp of the image of God from creation, imago Dei, longs for virtue even while embracing sin.  The plan of God, revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, beckons us to the real, even when we are trading it for the counterfeit versions.

"He has shown you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justly,

To love mercy,

And to walk humbly with your God?"

Micah 6:8 NKJV

Why I Don't Play the Lottery

My grandfather was a coal miner in the mountains of Appalachia. I admired Papaw. He had lost both of his thumbs in coal mine machinery. His eyes twinkling with glee, he often wiggled his stubs at us grandkids while popping his dentures in and out of his mouth. The hideous expression resulted in granddaughters’ screaming with disgust in flight from the demonstration.

I prayed for my grandfather’s salvation all of my young life. When I was 18 years old, my grandfather gave his heart to Jesus and was gloriously converted. It was May 16, 1979.

But Papaw possessed a secret shame from his younger years that had left scars upon his children. He wanted to escape the gripping poverty of a depression-era that enslaved coal miners, Appalachians, and other working poor of his generation. He wanted to hit the jackpot, discover a get-rich-quick scheme, and gamble his way out of oppression. 

But it never worked. 

As much as Papaw longed for riches, he was a really bad gambler. 

My mother remembers Papaw’s failed attempts at a game of dice, a night of cards, or a venture at the pool table. The failure was symbolized in a package of ice cream bars that he brought home with him as a peace offering for Mamaw and their seven children. 

My mother told me these stories of grinding poverty throughout my childhood. She never criticized Papaw. She never objectified his failure or demonized his character. But she always pointed out the evils of gambling and made me hate it. 

My daddy had similar aversions to gambling. We never had a game of playing cards in the house. Dice were taboo. In their place, Daddy made a spinner so that we might play Monopoly. He told me of witnessing games of chance in his childhood. He had a practical disdain for just giving away hard-earned money in a game.

Extreme? 

Perhaps. But nevertheless effective. 

In 1986, Governor Wallace Wilkinson signed state-wide lottery into law in my home state, the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It was sold as a cure to raise funds for education. It did not. At least, not in any discernable way. 

Mother’s stories gave me a holy hatred for gambling. I objected. I have never participated. 

Mississippi became my home several years ago. Recently, our state has changed its position on the lottery. Regressive taxation of the poor and marginalized has become the law of our land for raising public dollars. Graft and corruption rise along with it. Every gas station and convenience store will sell the snare of scratch-offs and numbers. Choice between hunger and chance will be made at thousands of cash registers around our state. 

And we are engaging in this social sin because the state needs more money. Hmmph…

No people can ever prosper by raising public dollars through gambling. 

Why?

Gambling appeals to the corrupting influence of greed. Greed is no respecter of social class or wealth. Poor folks are just as greedy as rich folks. Perhaps more so. 

Gambling exposes a citizenry to deeper corruption by legalizing the art of swindling. It’s renamed. “Playing the odds.” 

Gambling invites graft, corruption, and the compromise of the moral fiber of a people group. Instead of seeking legitimate means and motives to acquire wealth, illegitimate means become normatized. Get-rich-quick schemes are legalized and celebrated. Reality shows document the opulent journey from trash to treasure. Even the acquisition of wealth is often short-lived. Plenty collapses under the weight of ignorance, obligation, and squander.

Some Christians ignorantly spout, “The Bible does not say, ‘Thou shalt not gamble.’”

But the whole counsel of God’s entire Word speaks against the motives and means that drive the industry: greed, swindling, lust, materialism, injustice, and exploitation of the weak and the innocent. 

My papaw’s mine-sheared thumbs.

My daddy’s homemade spinners.

My momma’s childhood memories of a box of ice cream bars. 

That’s why I don’t play the lottery. 

Created for Order

This blog initially appeared on the Stand 

https://www.afa.net/the-stand/faith/2018/08/created-for-order/

Do you remember forming a club when you were a child? What is the first thing you and your friends did? You created rules and membership requirements, of course.

“No boys allowed.”

“No girls allowed.”

“Meet at the hideout every day after school.”

Why?

You were only a child. Yet, you were seeking order and predictability through rules.

Why?

I submit to you that you are more than a product of your heredity or your environment. You are created by God and in His image. God made you with a quest for order, government, rules, and predictability. He created you to transcend chaos.

The Genesis account describes the divine creative conversation.

“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” Genesis 1:26-28 NKJV

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in conversation. Holy Trinity acting as One. “Let us.” Humanity was created in the image of God, male and female, and given the mandate to procreate and dominate over creation.

Imago Dei. Order from chaos. Predictability from randomness. Beauty from blight. Safety from danger. Redemption from sin. God made us in His image.

However, sin tragically entered the picture of human history, the moral character of humanity was blighted. God made the first blood sacrifice in order to cover Adam and Eve with animal skins. And sin was passed down from the first generation of humans to each successive generation. Then, God became flesh to become the once-for-all sacrifice for our sins. Jesus, the sinless Son of God, became the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world.

We were created for order.

Return to the clubhouse hideout with me for a moment. There you are with your friends. You are making your rules. Something within your humanity demands it.

As we grow into adulthood, we resist the control of others’ imposing rules upon us. We rebel against parents. We revolt against governments. We resist the military might of nations. We reject the sexual mores of civilization. We abandon the religious traditions of previous generations that have brought us to the present.

The 1960s are a perfect example of broad-based cultural and moral revolution. The American Baby Boomers cried out, “Down with the system.” They objected to the moral codes of their parents. Rejecting the old morality, they installed a new morality to rule in its place.

But the new morality was just the old immorality.

“Free love.”

“Sex, drugs, rock ‘n roll” became the anthem of a generation.

But when the sinful rebellion was all grown up, it left heartache in its wake. Disease, divorce, fatherlessness, spiraling poverty, and the constant insistence that bad was good and good was bad.

The revolution against righteousness was underway. Humans need order and predictability. When the sacred text of Holy Scripture is rejected as a social and moral compass for a people, a new set of rules must fill its place.

Political correctness stepped forward as the perfect candidate. It offered order while ensuring the flexibility of constantly changing rules.

However, the new rules are simply a rejection of the old rules.

The old morality said, “Sex before marriage was sinful.”

The new morality proclaims, “You only live once. Have as much pleasure as you can.”

Consequences are disregarded at best and concealed by exponential immorality at worst. The results are demonstrated in spiraling disease, divorce, abortion, and fatherlessness.

The old rule said, “Sex is limited to one man with one woman.”

The new morality claims, “If two men love each other and are committed to each other for life, who is the church or the state to deny them true love?”

The social justice warrior advocates for its distorted caricature of fairness, and against all historical and biblical standards of morality and righteousness. Opponents of the social justice agenda are simply enemies who must be destroyed by any means necessary. The social justice warrior takes pride in protests, litigation, publication, destruction of lives, and the assassination of character.

Neo-Marxist social justice warriors attack each “oppressive system” insisting upon revolution as the solution. Demonizing opponents, the social justice agenda vilifies all objectors. It mutes all opposing evidence. It irrationally insists that “What we claim to be true is true simply because we claim it to be true.”

Cyclical reasoning.

The rationality of refutation is never entertained, allowing no alternative dialogue or data. Emotions rule.

Is there anything holy about such assassination of people, character, and culture? Is there anything just about such violently arrogant and anti-rational methodology to correct purported wrongs?

Tragically, when we depart from God’s plan for order we are bound for destruction.

But here is the beauty, the hope, and the wonder within it all. God made us for order. Even when we reject His order, we attempt to create our own order.

Humanity demands predictability. We cannot escape this reality.

Even in our rebellion, and our rejection of truth, we set up our revolutionary notions as if they were true. We respond to our relativistic fabrications as if they created order, predictability, and meaning within our universe.

Our very insistence upon a socially constructed falsehood to which we respond as if it were true, is a continual and constant witness to Creator God who made us in His image.

With our fists raised in rebellion to the heavens, our voices cackling with our proclamations of our distorted and purported truths, we betray even our rebellion, testifying to the reality that He made us for Truth.

God made us for truth. Every time we insist our lies are true, we bear witness to our Creator.

We cannot escape the reality that we are creatures and He is Creator. We are imago Dei.

When You have Won

I Chronicles 22:17-19 NKJV
"David also commanded all the leaders of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, 'Is not the Lord your God with you? And has He not given you rest on every side? For He has given the inhabitants of the land into my hand, and the land is subdued before the Lord and before His people. Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God. Therefore arise and build the sanctuary of the Lord God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord and the holy articles of God into the house that is to be built for the name of the Lord.'"

God is with us. When God called Beth and me to Wesley Biblical Seminary, He called us away from everything we knew and loved. The call was to leave everything and follow Jesus. The call was to the unknown. "Go where I send you." The old spiritual provides the direction, "Children, go where I send thee," and then asks, "How shall I send thee?"

How, indeed? God is with us. He sends us. Yet, He accompanies us. He is with us each step of the way.

God is our Victor. The battles of conquest are often fierce. But He is our Victor, our Champion, and He brings the angel armies with Him to the fight. In obeying God to come to Wesley Biblical Seminary, we were faced with the greatest challenge of our lives. Yet, God has worked the greatest miracles of our lives. Financial provision, enrollment, friends, healthy governance, debt resolution, real estate sales, and relocation. These miracles have been brought about by faith, industry, relationships, and utter dependence upon God.

God is our rest. He subdues an out of control, violent land. Unrest surges before us like the waves of the sea. He subdues the turmoil, the chaos, and brings peace. But we have to maintain our trust, commitment, and poise amidst the chaos and uncertainty. We must depend upon Him.

Seek the Lord. Seeking the Lord is a matter of the heart. David told Solomon to "Set your heart." Chaos demands that we turn our face from the surging conflict that seems to flood us, and move our attention, focus, and person into God's Presence. The unremitting waves of conflict dictate dependency upon divine intervention. David recognized that God had subdued the land from all of the warfare, bloodshed, and unrest that had defined his kingdom.

The chaos and conflict of battle have a way of focusing one's attention. But when there is peace in a subdued land, distractions abound. Resolve must be maintained. Intention. Purpose. Laser-like focus.

Advance. The task before Solomon would be the temple--a house of worship--a dwelling place for God. 

What is the task God has put in front of you? This is not the season of ease. This is the season to possess and build. This is the season for which you fought the battles. You are victor through our Lord who has fought for you. Fulfill the purpose for which He has brought you to this moment. You have won the war, now win the peace. Advance.

Objective Truth

I just saw the news headlines. A former President of the United States of America, in a speech to an international audience called for a rediscovery of objective truth. Although I seriously doubt the integrity of the challenge. If sincere, I applaud the call for objective truth.

In recent centuries, Western thought has been shaped by three lines of reasoning: science, subjectivism, and socialism. The Enlightenment gave us science with its focus upon truth, an external knowable reality, and hypothesis testing. Science advanced by forming educated guesses, or hypotheses. Then scientists gathered data, analyzed it, and drew conclusions that either supported or refuted their hypotheses. The quest was for truth.

Subjectivism gave us the study of art, literature, and culture. Subjectivism reduces truth to the individual's perspective. Subjectivism provides insight into relationships saying that where two people's subjectivity overlaps in a shared way, they may enjoy meaningful connection and relationship. The quest is for meaning.

Socialism reacted against science. Socialism claims that power is the only dimension that matters. Some have it. Others don't. Power exists where the subjective claims of the intellectual elite insists it exists. This invisible group of elitists intersubjectively share in an attempt to bring about revolution to upend the socially constructions of power in a culture. The quest is for social justice through revolution.

Science is agnostic about God, meaning, and justice. Subjectivism loathes truth at the price of meaning. Social justice abhors objective truth, preferring to advance its socially constructed agendas, conferring popular truth claims upon them.

We have ceased to think. We only feel. We only feel what culture tells us to feel.

The following quote may seem obscure; nevertheless, I believe it is important. WWII Germans were faithful to the Nazi agenda out of deluded duty to country. They embraced a socially constructed truth that turned out to be a lie.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: "Those who limit themselves to duty will never venture a free action that rests solely on their own responsibility, the only sort of action that can meet evil at its heart and overcome it. People of duty must finally fulfill their duty even to the devil."

If science fails us, subjectivism fails us, and socialism fails us, there must be a better way to know what we know! Philosophers call the way we know anything our epistemology.

I call you to truth in the person and presence of Jesus Christ, who said, "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32 NKJV).

In Jesus Christ there is objective truth: "You shall know the truth." One Person is truth.

In Jesus Christ there is subjective meaning: "You shall know the truth." This truth is personal. You can possess this truth, this reality, in relationship to a living Person, Jesus Christ.

In Jesus Christ there is social transformation. "The truth shall make you free." The transformation that Jesus Christ brings is not one of constantly shifting, politically correct, social justice. The transformation that Jesus Christ brings is one of social holiness in which you are transformed spiritually, personally, relationally, culturally, and socially. You become a person of peace, joy, and love in Him.

All epistemology collapses in one Person, Jesus Christ. He is the Holy Spirit conceived, virgin born, holy, crucified, resurrected, ascended, and coming Lord of Lords! You are a free moral agent with rational choice. Choose Jesus Christ. Choose truth. Choose action. Choose to do that which is morally right and good.