Righteousness and freedom are intractably, inextricably linked. The popular notions of these concepts are disingenuous to the point that some work in definitions will be necessary before the link can be clearly seen.
Righteousness is the state of being in right relation with an external standard. The only external standard worth following is the highest standard, God. The common understanding of righteousness as either following a set of rules or attempting to coerce others to follow a set of rules is plainly inadequate and diabolical. God as Creator seeking the highest good of all sets the standard as unconditional love. In our aspect of being external to God we are objects of this love and observers of the most ostentatious display of good will. As emanations of God and inseparable from His being we are part of God, part of the celebration of love. Right relation, righteousness, is accepting instead of fighting this principle of the universe, love.
Freedom is the ability to choose. Every discrete intelligence seeks its own highest good. The question is, is our conception of our highest good congruent with reality? The concept of freedom has attracted some parasites. Things like materialism, patriotism, and environmentalism have attempted to conflate themselves with freedom. But it can never be as simple as an –ism because the ability to choose the highest good for an individual must be a unique set of values. Reality is unique to the perceiver. The highest good for God is to seek the highest good for His creation. Our highest good is found in that.
God created everything, sustains everything, is always present everywhere and God loves. As expressions of the divine personality we have freedom to say no to God, no to love because without freedom righteousness isn’t right. Where freedom is used to pursue notGod it devolves into dependencies, becomes slavery.
Freedom and Righteousness are not principles, because principles are drawn from a source. Freedom and Righteousness are a person, The Person. They are The Source. Since they are one and God is one they are intractably, inextricably linked.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
National Day of Prayer vs. the Freedom From Religion Foundation
JP - I just looked at the ffrf (freedom from religion foundation) website and contrary to c's assertion it looks like not just people who don't want to be bothered by religion but rather it portrays a group dedicated to removing religion from every aspect of society using any possible means including lawsuits, pressuring public officials, satire, mockery, historical revisionism, subject conflation and outright falsehoods. That said, I thank God for ffrf and the attention they have brought to the NDoP (National Day of Prayer). Finally, in a sense, religion is what you do consistently or to put it another way, religiously. Thus we all have a religion. A religion of purposeless meaningless no-reason for existence may justify inherent selfishness but just ask yourself if the religion of no-reason is really satisfying intellectually, philosophically or personally. We all search for the biggest thing in universe. The theist answer is God. The atheist answer is self. The practical outworking of believing that I am the most important thing is evident in the disintegration of society.
SP - But isn't God all powerful? If society is disintegrating, isn't God allowing it? Maybe it's what he wants.
JP - God's power is not reduced by his patience.
Not stopping something is not the same as wanting it to happen.
The stop-think employed by SP is Orwellian.
SP - Then what is God actually doing?
JP - He is patient, hopeful and kind. Patiently hoping that men and women will let Him give them rest. The rest of a clean conscience. Rest from guilt. He is kind enough to give good things even to those that hate Him. The sun and rain, freedom, choice, minds to think with, all come from Him, given out of kindness even when none is returned.
SP - Yes, but what about the bad things, why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good things happen to bad people?
JP - God's point of view is eternity therefore what He considers evil can vary significantly from what we consider evil. Every inconvenience and thwart to our will can feel evil but can actually be for our ultimate good or could just be because stuff happens and we're not the center of the universe. His purpose is our highest good and that can vary significantly from our perceived good. This is the sticking point, to trust or to revile? If it helps, any God worth the name has to be bigger than we can understand.
SP - So we don't know what God considers evil, and he's bigger than we can understand, so why pray to him? Or worship him? Why would he care?
If his plan is already decided then it doesn't matter what we do, because that's what was going to happen anyway.
JP - God's purpose is our highest good. To that end He gave us free will. The inexorable abuse of that gift was also covered by Jesus' death in our place. The ball (sorry calvinists) is in our court. To accept that, though we don't deserve it, God has gone to great lengths to enter into relationship with us or to reject the possibility of relating to the eternal, omnipotent, immanent, holy God. Simple curiosity should lead us to at least ask if this is possible.
SP - But how do you know that Christianity is right and say, Islam, is wrong? There are clearly some contradictions between the two.
JP - I'm not an islamic scholar so if I'm gravely mistaken I apologize but as I understand it Islam basically says that if you are really good and do things right you might get to heaven. In contrast, Christianity states that no one is good enough but God would rather die (cross) than leave us that way therefore not because of anything we do or don't do we can have forgiveness and enter into relationship with Him.
SP - But isn't God all powerful? If society is disintegrating, isn't God allowing it? Maybe it's what he wants.
JP - God's power is not reduced by his patience.
Not stopping something is not the same as wanting it to happen.
The stop-think employed by SP is Orwellian.
SP - Then what is God actually doing?
JP - He is patient, hopeful and kind. Patiently hoping that men and women will let Him give them rest. The rest of a clean conscience. Rest from guilt. He is kind enough to give good things even to those that hate Him. The sun and rain, freedom, choice, minds to think with, all come from Him, given out of kindness even when none is returned.
SP - Yes, but what about the bad things, why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good things happen to bad people?
JP - God's point of view is eternity therefore what He considers evil can vary significantly from what we consider evil. Every inconvenience and thwart to our will can feel evil but can actually be for our ultimate good or could just be because stuff happens and we're not the center of the universe. His purpose is our highest good and that can vary significantly from our perceived good. This is the sticking point, to trust or to revile? If it helps, any God worth the name has to be bigger than we can understand.
SP - So we don't know what God considers evil, and he's bigger than we can understand, so why pray to him? Or worship him? Why would he care?
If his plan is already decided then it doesn't matter what we do, because that's what was going to happen anyway.
JP - God's purpose is our highest good. To that end He gave us free will. The inexorable abuse of that gift was also covered by Jesus' death in our place. The ball (sorry calvinists) is in our court. To accept that, though we don't deserve it, God has gone to great lengths to enter into relationship with us or to reject the possibility of relating to the eternal, omnipotent, immanent, holy God. Simple curiosity should lead us to at least ask if this is possible.
SP - But how do you know that Christianity is right and say, Islam, is wrong? There are clearly some contradictions between the two.
JP - I'm not an islamic scholar so if I'm gravely mistaken I apologize but as I understand it Islam basically says that if you are really good and do things right you might get to heaven. In contrast, Christianity states that no one is good enough but God would rather die (cross) than leave us that way therefore not because of anything we do or don't do we can have forgiveness and enter into relationship with Him.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Constitutional commentary
The constitution was written to detail the limited powers of the federal government. The intent was to proscribe the actions of politicians and justices never to limit the freedom of citizens. The bill of rights was a controversial addendum precisely because it muddied the intent of the document by addressing rights of citizens rather than limits of government. The bill of rights was never intended to limit the free actions of people, rather it delineates, as examples, the sorts of things that the federal government is not allowed to stick its nose into.
Philosophically, in exchanges between divergent powers the more powerful gives to the less. The constitution empowers citizens by making them the grantor of limited authorities to the federal government. Which granting also means that upon these authorities abuse they can be revoked. The common misconception of the government as a grantor of certain liberties is exactly what the framers were trying to get away from. Let us please have no more talk about constitutional rights, since the idea is upside down. Let us rather speak about renewing our commitment to limiting the power of the juggernaut that once was and ought to be our, the people's, servant.
Philosophically, in exchanges between divergent powers the more powerful gives to the less. The constitution empowers citizens by making them the grantor of limited authorities to the federal government. Which granting also means that upon these authorities abuse they can be revoked. The common misconception of the government as a grantor of certain liberties is exactly what the framers were trying to get away from. Let us please have no more talk about constitutional rights, since the idea is upside down. Let us rather speak about renewing our commitment to limiting the power of the juggernaut that once was and ought to be our, the people's, servant.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
I didn't write this, but I wish I had
The fewer the laws and the more clear and simple they are the less liberty is violated. All laws do violence to liberty, they are straight lines in a world where none exist. Both crime and the laws to deal with crime compromise liberty. When the laws do more violence to liberty than the crimes they prevent we have a dysfunctional government.
Today we have a government so dysfunctional we have laws written not to prevent crime but to create crime out of liberty itself.
“With liberty and justice for all” is an ideal better kept simple and imperfect. The only reason to improve justice is to enhance overall freedom. But we seek to perfect justice for it’s own sake freedom be damned.
Tyranny is justice thus perfected to the end the laws are repugnant not only to the ideals of freedom but to freedom in practice. The people have forgotten what government is supposed to be and what it is supposed to do.
Our modern quest for justice is not a noble quest. We seek to bring about less accountability and less responsibility by feeding on the fortune and freedom of our countrymen. A form of cannibalism of the spirit. A self deluding narcotic convincing us our safety and security is assured of only we as a people were not free.
All freedom is dangerous. Especially the freedom of others. Whenever a law is found lacking to intervene and prevent the least slight we enjoin our public servants to produce the remedy with yet another law. We are destroyed by laws. We destroy each other with laws. All injustice is intolerable and freedom is the first suspect in every crime real or invented.
It is an exercise in cowardice and petty power. Our public servants invite us to the feast of our neighbors. The laws they write are our forks and knives with which we carve out our share and ever more as we are able. We drink each other’s blood and devour each other’s flesh in an orgy of control. With unanimous consent we eagerly sacrifice our own liberty to take part in the consumption of America and her future.
Today we have a government so dysfunctional we have laws written not to prevent crime but to create crime out of liberty itself.
“With liberty and justice for all” is an ideal better kept simple and imperfect. The only reason to improve justice is to enhance overall freedom. But we seek to perfect justice for it’s own sake freedom be damned.
Tyranny is justice thus perfected to the end the laws are repugnant not only to the ideals of freedom but to freedom in practice. The people have forgotten what government is supposed to be and what it is supposed to do.
Our modern quest for justice is not a noble quest. We seek to bring about less accountability and less responsibility by feeding on the fortune and freedom of our countrymen. A form of cannibalism of the spirit. A self deluding narcotic convincing us our safety and security is assured of only we as a people were not free.
All freedom is dangerous. Especially the freedom of others. Whenever a law is found lacking to intervene and prevent the least slight we enjoin our public servants to produce the remedy with yet another law. We are destroyed by laws. We destroy each other with laws. All injustice is intolerable and freedom is the first suspect in every crime real or invented.
It is an exercise in cowardice and petty power. Our public servants invite us to the feast of our neighbors. The laws they write are our forks and knives with which we carve out our share and ever more as we are able. We drink each other’s blood and devour each other’s flesh in an orgy of control. With unanimous consent we eagerly sacrifice our own liberty to take part in the consumption of America and her future.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Not Forsaken
The majesty of mountains, the power in the sea, and the glory in a sunrise are all reflections of their Creator, and surety of His immanence. The care a new mother lavishes on her babe, the patience of a father with his toddler learning to walk, the love between a couple engaged to be married all reflect relationship in God and from God to man. Every day in thousands of ways we are surrounded by God. Even the most unrepentant, sinful, evil man has been cradled each day of his life in reminders of his Creator’s care and patience. We have never ever been forsaken.
There is one who was forsaken. He hung upon the cross and worse than any physical pain was the excruciating agony of a total separation from the Father that no living man has ever endured. The complete rejection suffered by Christ was exactly the punishment justice demanded from me. The pain of losing even the memory of beauty is what my choices and actions deserve. That Jesus would volunteer to suffer that for me, in my place, to save me from this fate is the greatest miracle. There is no adequate response to this.
We ought to be awestruck, but too often we have forsaken, ignored and marginalized the duty we owe to so great a grace. We have been unrepentant, sinful and evil. It shocks us to read of the soldiers who spit upon and beat Jesus. On the contrary, it ought not to shock, it ought to chagrin, for we are guilty of worse. They mocked without knowledge but we express contempt for the call of righteousness knowing full well the power of the resurrection. Those soldiers will stand in judgment and condemn us.
We live in a time of enervating hyperbole. We are so constantly deluged by over the top messages that we automatically take a notch or two of importance out of everything that vies for our attention. We must not do that with the message of God’s grace. I use strong language in describing our depravity and the contrasting grace and glory of God but even the most superlative verbiage falls short as a forty watt bulb used to model the sun. We should meditate on these things and allow a view from lofty heights to fill us with the mystery of the ineffable until it becomes a refuge of transcendence for our souls as we navigate the muck of daily life. Every time we hear, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” it should shake us to the core. Let us continually ask for hearts of flesh to replace the stony hearts we have tolerated too long.
There is one who was forsaken. He hung upon the cross and worse than any physical pain was the excruciating agony of a total separation from the Father that no living man has ever endured. The complete rejection suffered by Christ was exactly the punishment justice demanded from me. The pain of losing even the memory of beauty is what my choices and actions deserve. That Jesus would volunteer to suffer that for me, in my place, to save me from this fate is the greatest miracle. There is no adequate response to this.
We ought to be awestruck, but too often we have forsaken, ignored and marginalized the duty we owe to so great a grace. We have been unrepentant, sinful and evil. It shocks us to read of the soldiers who spit upon and beat Jesus. On the contrary, it ought not to shock, it ought to chagrin, for we are guilty of worse. They mocked without knowledge but we express contempt for the call of righteousness knowing full well the power of the resurrection. Those soldiers will stand in judgment and condemn us.
We live in a time of enervating hyperbole. We are so constantly deluged by over the top messages that we automatically take a notch or two of importance out of everything that vies for our attention. We must not do that with the message of God’s grace. I use strong language in describing our depravity and the contrasting grace and glory of God but even the most superlative verbiage falls short as a forty watt bulb used to model the sun. We should meditate on these things and allow a view from lofty heights to fill us with the mystery of the ineffable until it becomes a refuge of transcendence for our souls as we navigate the muck of daily life. Every time we hear, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” it should shake us to the core. Let us continually ask for hearts of flesh to replace the stony hearts we have tolerated too long.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Sola
Is man a morally responsible agent with the ability to choose or predestined by eternal omniscience with only an appearance of free-will? This is obviously biting off more than I can chew but I think a few comments might not be too dangerous.
Since God is omniscient and omnipotent and desires all men to come to repentance how can we reconcile the fact that not all men will come to repentance? One point of view says that since God’s will cannot be thwarted it must be God’s will that only the elect will come to repentance. This slights the explicit statements of Jesus that God is not willing that any should be lost. On the other hand the view, that because God is not willing that any be lost God will eventually save everyone, denigrates the many statements in the NT that show that many people will not come to repentance but be eternally lost. Additionally, both views could lead to a sense that evangelism is not required or necessary which is directly opposed to Christ’s command to make disciples everywhere teaching them to obey everything He commanded us.
If then, a pure predestination view is unsatisfactory what part does the free-will of men play? First, let us understand that no act of human will can remove sin. In fact, we are assured that our will cannot turn toward God at all without the prevenient work of the HS. Our will did not figure in creation. There is in fact only one place where the will of man becomes visible, disobedience. What does it mean that man disobeyed God? Is it really about an apple? Isn’t the apple and all the following misery really about disbelief? God said, “don’t”, but man said, “I don’t believe you.” This is the essence of the problem thus the answer to the problem is belief.
All the things that we mess up by saying no to God, God went to extraordinary lengths to set right. Jesus became the propitiation to God becoming not only our priest but the very gift upon the altar. He provided every necessary thing to bridge the gap between us and Him, even the power to cross the gap. He redeemed us out a slavery we had sold ourselves into. The Father justified us declaring us righteous via the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. The only act of will we contribute is the smallest nod of assent. Which tiny act is itself only possible by the power of the HS, an act so small it’s as if God filled in the Grand Canyon and I added a teaspoonful of dirt on the top and thus claimed that I had a part in God’s work. And I surely did, for otherwise I had no part. This indication of belief suffices to bring the mighty works of God to bear on the believer’s life.
An objection to this is that it is unconscionable that human will should thwart Divine will. Does it impugn the omnipotence of God if human wills can resist His will? No, just as it takes nothing away from a strong man to be gentle with a baby, God’s forbearance and gentleness with men does not lessen or contradict His power. It is not and never could be that any one has the ability to resist God but he condescends to allow our will, infinitely miniscule by comparison to His, to impact our eternal destiny. As C.H. Spurgeon said, “Since expiation is made, God is able to forgive without shaking the foundation of His throne.”
Since God is omniscient and omnipotent and desires all men to come to repentance how can we reconcile the fact that not all men will come to repentance? One point of view says that since God’s will cannot be thwarted it must be God’s will that only the elect will come to repentance. This slights the explicit statements of Jesus that God is not willing that any should be lost. On the other hand the view, that because God is not willing that any be lost God will eventually save everyone, denigrates the many statements in the NT that show that many people will not come to repentance but be eternally lost. Additionally, both views could lead to a sense that evangelism is not required or necessary which is directly opposed to Christ’s command to make disciples everywhere teaching them to obey everything He commanded us.
If then, a pure predestination view is unsatisfactory what part does the free-will of men play? First, let us understand that no act of human will can remove sin. In fact, we are assured that our will cannot turn toward God at all without the prevenient work of the HS. Our will did not figure in creation. There is in fact only one place where the will of man becomes visible, disobedience. What does it mean that man disobeyed God? Is it really about an apple? Isn’t the apple and all the following misery really about disbelief? God said, “don’t”, but man said, “I don’t believe you.” This is the essence of the problem thus the answer to the problem is belief.
All the things that we mess up by saying no to God, God went to extraordinary lengths to set right. Jesus became the propitiation to God becoming not only our priest but the very gift upon the altar. He provided every necessary thing to bridge the gap between us and Him, even the power to cross the gap. He redeemed us out a slavery we had sold ourselves into. The Father justified us declaring us righteous via the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. The only act of will we contribute is the smallest nod of assent. Which tiny act is itself only possible by the power of the HS, an act so small it’s as if God filled in the Grand Canyon and I added a teaspoonful of dirt on the top and thus claimed that I had a part in God’s work. And I surely did, for otherwise I had no part. This indication of belief suffices to bring the mighty works of God to bear on the believer’s life.
An objection to this is that it is unconscionable that human will should thwart Divine will. Does it impugn the omnipotence of God if human wills can resist His will? No, just as it takes nothing away from a strong man to be gentle with a baby, God’s forbearance and gentleness with men does not lessen or contradict His power. It is not and never could be that any one has the ability to resist God but he condescends to allow our will, infinitely miniscule by comparison to His, to impact our eternal destiny. As C.H. Spurgeon said, “Since expiation is made, God is able to forgive without shaking the foundation of His throne.”
Monday, March 15, 2010
What can I do?
You're my summer day
Warm air
Soft breezes
You brought light
When my whole world was gray
But everyday has its end
We go to dream
As night decends
And every night I dream
I dream about you
What can I do?
I'm in love with you
The little birds that sing so sweetly
They sing a chorus that tells completely
All the things my heart is longing to
Your're the one with whom I share
The ups and downs
My joy and care
'Cause life's not life
If you're not there
What can I do?
I'm in love with you
Warm air
Soft breezes
You brought light
When my whole world was gray
But everyday has its end
We go to dream
As night decends
And every night I dream
I dream about you
What can I do?
I'm in love with you
The little birds that sing so sweetly
They sing a chorus that tells completely
All the things my heart is longing to
Your're the one with whom I share
The ups and downs
My joy and care
'Cause life's not life
If you're not there
What can I do?
I'm in love with you
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