That simple statement, “we the people,” was an answer to the 100 questions we had to study for a recent naturalization test. Following our Swearing-In Ceremony a few days ago, my wife and I can now be called “American Yankees”.
For my family it has been a long journey which began in 1991 when we migrated to America. My wife and the three children accompanied me as I pursued graduate and post-graduate studies in the Midwest. From Foreign Students to Citizens should be an interesting read of God’s faithfulness to a family that dared to trust Him.
In those 23 years, my wife also earned an advanced degree and our three children completed college. Last Sunday we were honored to witness the baptism of two of our six grandchildren. They now represent the fourth generation of Corbins coming to faith in Jesus Christ. For this we praise the Lord!
However, becoming citizens is much more than a privilege – it is a responsibility. The civics lessons learned in preparing for naturalization have helped to reinforce the solemn trust enshrined in being a citizen of a country. As American citizens we now recognize that we can be called-up any minute to serve as jurors in a court of law. In addition, we have the right to vote in a federal election.
Our acquired home, America, is “a popular sovereign” state. The people elect representatives to make laws. With the words “we the people,” the Constitution states that the people set up the government. The government works for the people and protects the rights of the people. In America, the power to govern comes from the people, who are the highest power. Sometimes one wonders if some of our current narcissistic federal and local representatives should not be mandated to pursue ongoing education classes in American Civics.
Just last week I was reminded that even the study of Civics in America is under attack. Hundreds of students walked out of classrooms around suburban Denver in protest over a conservative-led school board proposal to focus history education on topics that promote citizenship, patriotism and respect for authority.
The youth protest in the state's second-largest school district followed a sick-out from teachers that shut down two high schools. Many students waved American flags and carried signs, including messages that read "There is nothing more patriotic than protest."
The school board proposal that triggered the walkouts in Jefferson County calls for instructional materials that present positive aspects of America and its heritage. It would establish a committee to make sure materials "promote citizenship, patriotism, essentials and benefits of the free-market system, respect for authority and respect for individual rights" and don't "encourage or condone civil disorder, social strike or disregard of the law."
When interviewed, a student demonstrator, a senior at Arvada High School, said that the nation's foundation was built on civil protests, "and everything that we've done is what allowed us to be at this point today. And if you take that from us, you take away everything that America was built off of."
This is not what I learned in civics about America – “the nation’s foundation was built on civil protests?” Agreed, America has had its share of internal and foreign wars. However, can the results of those wars be considered to be foundations upon which the nation was built?
The protests among high school teachers and students in Colorado is a microcosm of what is happening across the nation – an infiltration of ideological bias in interpreting history. At times some Christians are guilty of that bias when they interpret American history to suggest that the Puritans came to America to establish only Christian communities.
A few months ago we were subjected to another ideological interpretation of history. President Obama was addressing a group of Muslims at an Eid-al-Fitr celebration. There he thanked the Muslims “for their many achievements and contributions...to building the very fabric of our nation and strengthening the core of our democracy.”
As a fledgling citizen, could someone please help me? Where in America’s history can one find the “many achievements...to building the fabric of our nation” from the Muslim community? As a melting pot of religious communities, America has become the most religiously diverse country in the world. However, as religious communities come to this country, they often adjust their religious practices to comply with American life and culture. Generally speaking, that cannot be said of many Muslim communities.
As a Christian and a new citizen, my civic mandate is greatly influenced by Jeremiah’s words to the Jewish exiles in Babylon: “... seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (Jeremiah 29: 7).
Monday, September 29, 2014
Monday, September 22, 2014
Tell Me a Story...
One of the most universal human impulses can be summed up in four words – tell me a story. According to Professor Leland Ryken, “the Bible satisfies that human demand for a story.” (Words of Delight: A Literary Introduction to the Bible – Second Edition, by Leland Ryken). Narrative is the dominant literary form found in the Bible. It is believed that some 40% of the Old Testament is narrative.
Henry Luce, founder of Time magazine would most likely agree with Ryken. Luce once quipped, “Time did not start this emphasis on stories about people; the Bible did.”
To further reinforce the point about the dominant use of narrative in the Bible, literary critic Robert Alter said, “It is peculiar, and culturally significant, that among ancient peoples, only Israel should have chosen to cast its sacred national traditions in prose.” (The Art of Biblical Narrative).
One wonders, why did the writers of the Bible, and more specifically the Old Testament, steer away from the literary forms that were commonly used among other religions in ancient culture? Put differently, why did the biblical writers prefer to use prose narrative to tell their stories?
The impulse of the Bible writers was to give a circumstantial and factual basis to their stories. The result is what literary scholars call realism. Literary realism shares with history and biography the quality of being rooted in observable reality. In addition, we associate realism with the tendency to be concrete, vivid and specific.
Part of the realism of Bible stories is the refusal of writers to omit sordid actions in the name of niceness. For instance, the choice and role of David as king of Israel is remarkable. He earned the title of “a man after God’s own heart”. However, unlike some ancient writings, the Bible does not hesitate to point out that Dave was a murderer, an adulterer and someone who abused his royal authority.
Another thing that links the stories of the Bible with literary realism is their focus on common experience and characters of average social standing. This is in sharp contrast to ancient stories like the epics of Homer, where only aristocratic characters count for much and people of lesser standing are a nameless, faceless group.
In narrative, one of the goals of a writer in telling a story is to invite readers to share an experience with the characters in the story. For the writer, the plot, characters, and setting of a story are the means by which he or she communicates aspects of reality.
Jesus illustrates this point well when asked to define who is a neighbor. He could have given a simple definition to the lawyer who confronted Him. Instead, Jesus wanted to involve the man in the answer He was about to give. So, He told the man a story.
As with any good story-teller, the story Jesus told included setting, action and character. Upon hearing the story, the lawyer concluded that the neighbor was the character who had mercy on the victim. Although that character did not have the profile of someone who would do the neighborly thing, the lawyer chose him. His choice required him to listen, to analyze and to exercise judgment.
Following that story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus said to the lawyer, “Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:38). Jesus understood that the use of narrative as a literary device draws one into encounters with characters and events and make response inevitable.
The outcome was no different when Nathan the prophet confronted King David about his despicable behavior (2 Samuel 12). David was quick to pass judgment on the abusing character in the story Nathan told. At that point Nathan exposed David as the real abuser. The character in Nathan’s story drew David into an encounter that demanded a response.
Is it possible that the frequent use of narrative as a literary device in the Bible was designed to solicit response by readers? The writer to the Book of Hebrews was convinced that biblical information had the power to provoke response. This is how he expressed his conviction: “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
That ability to convict must also be seen in the context of narratives portraying God as hero or protagonist in the biblical stories. God’s role is often unmentioned, although obvious through one character. A good example is presented in the story of the Prodigal Son.
The actual title given to the story would seem to suggest that the main character in the story is the son who repented and returned home. I would encourage that you re-read the story, viewing the father of the prodigal as the main character. Something tells me that you will walk away with an appreciation for a forgiving and gracious God rather than a mere report on a worthless son who repented.
Henry Luce, founder of Time magazine would most likely agree with Ryken. Luce once quipped, “Time did not start this emphasis on stories about people; the Bible did.”
To further reinforce the point about the dominant use of narrative in the Bible, literary critic Robert Alter said, “It is peculiar, and culturally significant, that among ancient peoples, only Israel should have chosen to cast its sacred national traditions in prose.” (The Art of Biblical Narrative).
One wonders, why did the writers of the Bible, and more specifically the Old Testament, steer away from the literary forms that were commonly used among other religions in ancient culture? Put differently, why did the biblical writers prefer to use prose narrative to tell their stories?
The impulse of the Bible writers was to give a circumstantial and factual basis to their stories. The result is what literary scholars call realism. Literary realism shares with history and biography the quality of being rooted in observable reality. In addition, we associate realism with the tendency to be concrete, vivid and specific.
Part of the realism of Bible stories is the refusal of writers to omit sordid actions in the name of niceness. For instance, the choice and role of David as king of Israel is remarkable. He earned the title of “a man after God’s own heart”. However, unlike some ancient writings, the Bible does not hesitate to point out that Dave was a murderer, an adulterer and someone who abused his royal authority.
Another thing that links the stories of the Bible with literary realism is their focus on common experience and characters of average social standing. This is in sharp contrast to ancient stories like the epics of Homer, where only aristocratic characters count for much and people of lesser standing are a nameless, faceless group.
In narrative, one of the goals of a writer in telling a story is to invite readers to share an experience with the characters in the story. For the writer, the plot, characters, and setting of a story are the means by which he or she communicates aspects of reality.
Jesus illustrates this point well when asked to define who is a neighbor. He could have given a simple definition to the lawyer who confronted Him. Instead, Jesus wanted to involve the man in the answer He was about to give. So, He told the man a story.
As with any good story-teller, the story Jesus told included setting, action and character. Upon hearing the story, the lawyer concluded that the neighbor was the character who had mercy on the victim. Although that character did not have the profile of someone who would do the neighborly thing, the lawyer chose him. His choice required him to listen, to analyze and to exercise judgment.
Following that story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus said to the lawyer, “Go and do likewise” (Luke 10:38). Jesus understood that the use of narrative as a literary device draws one into encounters with characters and events and make response inevitable.
The outcome was no different when Nathan the prophet confronted King David about his despicable behavior (2 Samuel 12). David was quick to pass judgment on the abusing character in the story Nathan told. At that point Nathan exposed David as the real abuser. The character in Nathan’s story drew David into an encounter that demanded a response.
Is it possible that the frequent use of narrative as a literary device in the Bible was designed to solicit response by readers? The writer to the Book of Hebrews was convinced that biblical information had the power to provoke response. This is how he expressed his conviction: “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
That ability to convict must also be seen in the context of narratives portraying God as hero or protagonist in the biblical stories. God’s role is often unmentioned, although obvious through one character. A good example is presented in the story of the Prodigal Son.
The actual title given to the story would seem to suggest that the main character in the story is the son who repented and returned home. I would encourage that you re-read the story, viewing the father of the prodigal as the main character. Something tells me that you will walk away with an appreciation for a forgiving and gracious God rather than a mere report on a worthless son who repented.
Monday, September 15, 2014
Just Another Book?
Most religions have sacred writings. However, Christians contend that their sacred writings are very different from the writings of other religions. Christians believe the Bible ably complies with a proper definition of sacred writings.
Sacred writings are religious writings that claim to be influenced by divine or non-human sources. In other words, the writings are supernatural in origin. Furthermore, these writings are communicated via human beings who were in direct contact with or were clearly influenced by a divine source.
The fact that the Bible is outstanding as a literary production, is not enough for one to conclude that it is sacred. Neither is it enough to say that because the Bible has influenced more persons than any other piece of literature, it is sacred. No human factor should be used to determine sacredness. Sacredness should only be determined by clear evidence of contact with a divine or non-human source.
Although the claim to inspiration is no proof of inspiration, one cannot ignore that numerous passages in the Bible which speak unequivocally as a response to the voice of God. Even the most cursory reading of the prophets reveals the constant recurrence of such expressions as “the word of the Lord came,” or “the Lord said”. Interestingly, the same cannot be said of the Apocryphal Books or other ancient writings.
Christians believe that there is internal and external evidence that attest to the Bible as the word of God. Internal evidences would be those things within the Bible that testify of its divine origin.
The first case of internal evidence is in the unity of the Bible. Even though it is really sixty-six individual books, written on three continents, in three different languages, over a period of approximately 1,500 years, by more than 40 authors who came from many walks of life, the Bible remains one unified book from beginning to end without contradiction in doctrine. This unity is unique when compared with other religious writings and provides evidence of divine origin.
In addition, the Bible contains hundreds of detailed prophecies relating to the future of individual nations. Other prophecies concern the coming of the Messiah. Unlike the prophecies found in other religious books or those by men such as Nostradamus, biblical prophecies are extremely detailed.
For instance, there are numerous prophecies concerning Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. Not only was it foretold where He would be born and His lineage, but also how He would die and that He would rise again. There simply is no logical way to explain the fulfilled prophecies in the Bible other than by divine origin. There is no other religious book with the extent or type of predictive prophecy that the Bible contains.
There is also external evidence that suggests that the Bible is the Word of God. One such area of evidence is the indestructibility of the Bible. Because of its importance and its claim to be the very Word of God, the Bible has suffered more vicious attacks and attempts to destroy it than any other book in history. From early Roman Emperors like Diocletian, through communist dictators and on to modern-day atheists and agnostics, the Bible has withstood and outlasted all of its attackers and is still today the most widely published book in the world.
The accuracy with which the Bible has been preserved, despite every attempt to corrupt, attack, or destroy it, is clear testimony to the fact that the Bible is supernaturally protected. Interestingly, no matter how the Bible is attacked, it always comes out unchanged and unscathed. The late Professor Bernard Ramm was correct when he said, “no other book has been so chopped, knived, sifted, scrutinized and vilified” (Protestant Christian Evidences).
Throughout history, skeptics have regarded the Bible as mythological, but archeology has confirmed it as historical. Opponents have attacked its teaching as primitive and outdated, but its moral and legal concepts and teachings have had a positive influence on societies and cultures throughout the world.
Globally, the Bible, more than any other sacred text, has profoundly influenced law, literature, politics, ethics, philosophy, art and religion. I believe it was also Professor Ramm who said, “No other book in all of human history has in turn inspired the writing of so many books as the Bible has.”
Unlike other religious writings, the Bible is historical at its core. Even ideas like sin, forgiveness and virtue, are presented in historical contexts. With this history one sees realism and not extreme mysticism, asceticism or mere religious theories. The historical thread of the Bible is unique in religious philosophy.
Because John was so confident that he was recording the word of God, he warned in Revelation, “if anyone adds...or takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will...add to him the plagues described in this book” (Revelation 22:18-19).
Sacred writings are religious writings that claim to be influenced by divine or non-human sources. In other words, the writings are supernatural in origin. Furthermore, these writings are communicated via human beings who were in direct contact with or were clearly influenced by a divine source.
The fact that the Bible is outstanding as a literary production, is not enough for one to conclude that it is sacred. Neither is it enough to say that because the Bible has influenced more persons than any other piece of literature, it is sacred. No human factor should be used to determine sacredness. Sacredness should only be determined by clear evidence of contact with a divine or non-human source.
Although the claim to inspiration is no proof of inspiration, one cannot ignore that numerous passages in the Bible which speak unequivocally as a response to the voice of God. Even the most cursory reading of the prophets reveals the constant recurrence of such expressions as “the word of the Lord came,” or “the Lord said”. Interestingly, the same cannot be said of the Apocryphal Books or other ancient writings.
Christians believe that there is internal and external evidence that attest to the Bible as the word of God. Internal evidences would be those things within the Bible that testify of its divine origin.
The first case of internal evidence is in the unity of the Bible. Even though it is really sixty-six individual books, written on three continents, in three different languages, over a period of approximately 1,500 years, by more than 40 authors who came from many walks of life, the Bible remains one unified book from beginning to end without contradiction in doctrine. This unity is unique when compared with other religious writings and provides evidence of divine origin.
In addition, the Bible contains hundreds of detailed prophecies relating to the future of individual nations. Other prophecies concern the coming of the Messiah. Unlike the prophecies found in other religious books or those by men such as Nostradamus, biblical prophecies are extremely detailed.
For instance, there are numerous prophecies concerning Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. Not only was it foretold where He would be born and His lineage, but also how He would die and that He would rise again. There simply is no logical way to explain the fulfilled prophecies in the Bible other than by divine origin. There is no other religious book with the extent or type of predictive prophecy that the Bible contains.
There is also external evidence that suggests that the Bible is the Word of God. One such area of evidence is the indestructibility of the Bible. Because of its importance and its claim to be the very Word of God, the Bible has suffered more vicious attacks and attempts to destroy it than any other book in history. From early Roman Emperors like Diocletian, through communist dictators and on to modern-day atheists and agnostics, the Bible has withstood and outlasted all of its attackers and is still today the most widely published book in the world.
The accuracy with which the Bible has been preserved, despite every attempt to corrupt, attack, or destroy it, is clear testimony to the fact that the Bible is supernaturally protected. Interestingly, no matter how the Bible is attacked, it always comes out unchanged and unscathed. The late Professor Bernard Ramm was correct when he said, “no other book has been so chopped, knived, sifted, scrutinized and vilified” (Protestant Christian Evidences).
Throughout history, skeptics have regarded the Bible as mythological, but archeology has confirmed it as historical. Opponents have attacked its teaching as primitive and outdated, but its moral and legal concepts and teachings have had a positive influence on societies and cultures throughout the world.
Globally, the Bible, more than any other sacred text, has profoundly influenced law, literature, politics, ethics, philosophy, art and religion. I believe it was also Professor Ramm who said, “No other book in all of human history has in turn inspired the writing of so many books as the Bible has.”
Unlike other religious writings, the Bible is historical at its core. Even ideas like sin, forgiveness and virtue, are presented in historical contexts. With this history one sees realism and not extreme mysticism, asceticism or mere religious theories. The historical thread of the Bible is unique in religious philosophy.
Because John was so confident that he was recording the word of God, he warned in Revelation, “if anyone adds...or takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will...add to him the plagues described in this book” (Revelation 22:18-19).
Monday, September 8, 2014
Another Beheading
The recent beheadings of US journalists James Foley and Stephen Sotloff in Iraq were savage acts. Many watched the videos of their murders by Islamist State militants and were horrified. Muslim organizations around the world distanced themselves from the militants and decried the brutal slaying, making it clear that the acts did not represent Islam.
Our opinion of associating beheading with barbarism is consistent with a modernized view of capital punishment. For instance, the Romans were brutal and beheading was not uncommon. In the New Testament there was the case of John the Baptist’s head on Herod’s platter. Interestingly, the Romans considered beheading to be more honorable than crucifixion. They beheaded their own people but limited crucifixion to non-Romans.
Beheading was widely used in Europe and Asia until the 20th century. Interestingly, all the European countries that previously used beheading have now totally abolished the death penalty. As recent as 2007, 153 men and three women were beheaded in Saudi Arabia. Beheading is still practiced in Iran.
Apart from being used as a means of capital punishment by a state, the act of beheading is used to obliterate enemies. According to Ian Tuttle of the National Review Institute, “beheading is not just a warning or a promise; it is a ritual expression of an ideology. That this ideology seeks to annihilate and tyrannize is clear from the jihadists’ beheading method; not a quick, clean blow, but a slow, agonizing sawing motion that keeps the victim alive to experience his own execution.”
The vicious murders of the journalists were not done as acts of capital punishment – like Daniel Pearl of the Wall Street Journal, they committed no crime. The beheadings were done in the name of religion. It would seem as though Islamists practice beheading because they believe that God has ordained them to obliterate their enemies in this manner. Their intent is to weaken the will of opponents.
According to Professor Timothy Furnish, “Islam is the only major world religion today that is cited by both state and non-state actors to legitimize beheadings” (The Middle East Quarterly: Spring 2005. Volume 12: Number 2).
Jihadist groups justify the decapitation of opponents with Qur’anic Scripture. In chapter (sura) 47 verse (ayah) 4 of the Qur’an it says: “When you encounter the unbelievers on the battlefield, strike off their heads until you have crushed them completely; then bind the prisoners tightly.” With little variation, Muslim scholars have translated the verse as, “When you meet unbelievers, smite their necks.”
Many modern interpretations of this verse remain consistent with those of early Islam. In his Saudi-distributed translation of the Qur’an, Abdullah Yusuf Ali wrote that the injunction to “smite at their necks,” should be taken both literally and figuratively. “You cannot wage war with kid gloves,” he argued (The Meaning of the Glorious Qur’an, p. 1378).
In Islamic history, beheading of captives is a recurring theme. The practice of beheading non-Muslim captives extends back to the Prophet himself. The earliest biographer of Mohammad is recorded as saying that the Prophet ordered the execution by decapitation of 700 men of the Jewish Banu Qurayza tribe in Medina for allegedly plotting against him (‘Abd al-Malik Ibn Hisham, [translated]).
Since Mohammad’s time, many Islamic leaders have followed his model. History is replete of examples of decapitation, of both the living and the dead. For instance, the Ottoman Empire was often referred to as the decapitation state. Upon their victory over Christian Serbs at the battle of Kosovo in 1389, the Muslim army beheaded the Serbian king and scores of Christian prisoners. In the early 19th century, even the British fell victim to the Ottoman barbarianism. An 1807 British expedition to Egypt resulted in “a few hundred spiked British heads left rotting in the sun outside Rosetta.”
So much for history – we do not expect such barbaric behavior in the 21st century. As people groups migrate, they take their religious ideas with them. In the process migrants are expected to live with people who share differing worldviews. As we share opportunities for advancement, we should be free to learn about the religious or irreligious views of our neighbors.
For Christians, migration brings opportunity - opportunities to learn from others and to share with others. Like Paul on Mars Hill (Acts 17), we must be ready to share our faith in the marketplace of ideas. We must listen and learn how to share our faith without attempting to destroy others who may disagree with our approach to life.
Jesus clearly taught us how to deal with people who disagree with us. He never taught violence as an option. Instead, He instructed us to pray for those who disagree with us. As an evangelistic strategy, compassion is always more effective than confrontation.
Our opinion of associating beheading with barbarism is consistent with a modernized view of capital punishment. For instance, the Romans were brutal and beheading was not uncommon. In the New Testament there was the case of John the Baptist’s head on Herod’s platter. Interestingly, the Romans considered beheading to be more honorable than crucifixion. They beheaded their own people but limited crucifixion to non-Romans.
Beheading was widely used in Europe and Asia until the 20th century. Interestingly, all the European countries that previously used beheading have now totally abolished the death penalty. As recent as 2007, 153 men and three women were beheaded in Saudi Arabia. Beheading is still practiced in Iran.
Apart from being used as a means of capital punishment by a state, the act of beheading is used to obliterate enemies. According to Ian Tuttle of the National Review Institute, “beheading is not just a warning or a promise; it is a ritual expression of an ideology. That this ideology seeks to annihilate and tyrannize is clear from the jihadists’ beheading method; not a quick, clean blow, but a slow, agonizing sawing motion that keeps the victim alive to experience his own execution.”
The vicious murders of the journalists were not done as acts of capital punishment – like Daniel Pearl of the Wall Street Journal, they committed no crime. The beheadings were done in the name of religion. It would seem as though Islamists practice beheading because they believe that God has ordained them to obliterate their enemies in this manner. Their intent is to weaken the will of opponents.
According to Professor Timothy Furnish, “Islam is the only major world religion today that is cited by both state and non-state actors to legitimize beheadings” (The Middle East Quarterly: Spring 2005. Volume 12: Number 2).
Jihadist groups justify the decapitation of opponents with Qur’anic Scripture. In chapter (sura) 47 verse (ayah) 4 of the Qur’an it says: “When you encounter the unbelievers on the battlefield, strike off their heads until you have crushed them completely; then bind the prisoners tightly.” With little variation, Muslim scholars have translated the verse as, “When you meet unbelievers, smite their necks.”
Many modern interpretations of this verse remain consistent with those of early Islam. In his Saudi-distributed translation of the Qur’an, Abdullah Yusuf Ali wrote that the injunction to “smite at their necks,” should be taken both literally and figuratively. “You cannot wage war with kid gloves,” he argued (The Meaning of the Glorious Qur’an, p. 1378).
In Islamic history, beheading of captives is a recurring theme. The practice of beheading non-Muslim captives extends back to the Prophet himself. The earliest biographer of Mohammad is recorded as saying that the Prophet ordered the execution by decapitation of 700 men of the Jewish Banu Qurayza tribe in Medina for allegedly plotting against him (‘Abd al-Malik Ibn Hisham, [translated]).
Since Mohammad’s time, many Islamic leaders have followed his model. History is replete of examples of decapitation, of both the living and the dead. For instance, the Ottoman Empire was often referred to as the decapitation state. Upon their victory over Christian Serbs at the battle of Kosovo in 1389, the Muslim army beheaded the Serbian king and scores of Christian prisoners. In the early 19th century, even the British fell victim to the Ottoman barbarianism. An 1807 British expedition to Egypt resulted in “a few hundred spiked British heads left rotting in the sun outside Rosetta.”
So much for history – we do not expect such barbaric behavior in the 21st century. As people groups migrate, they take their religious ideas with them. In the process migrants are expected to live with people who share differing worldviews. As we share opportunities for advancement, we should be free to learn about the religious or irreligious views of our neighbors.
For Christians, migration brings opportunity - opportunities to learn from others and to share with others. Like Paul on Mars Hill (Acts 17), we must be ready to share our faith in the marketplace of ideas. We must listen and learn how to share our faith without attempting to destroy others who may disagree with our approach to life.
Jesus clearly taught us how to deal with people who disagree with us. He never taught violence as an option. Instead, He instructed us to pray for those who disagree with us. As an evangelistic strategy, compassion is always more effective than confrontation.
Monday, September 1, 2014
Labor Day Reflections
According to the US Department of Labor, Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers.
It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union.
As we celebrate Labor Day 2014, it might be a good opportunity to re-examine the history of labor and capitalism, as they relate to the church. Historian Michael Novak makes the point that the Catholic Church of the Middle Ages was the main locus for the first flowerings of capitalism. Max Weber located the origin of capitalism in modern Protestant cities, but today’s historians find capitalism much earlier.
“It was the church more than any other agency,” writes historian Randall Collins, “that put in place what Weber called the preconditions of capitalism.”
The church owned nearly a third of all the land of Europe. In order to administer those vast holdings, it established a continent-wide system of canon law that tied together multiple jurisdictions of empire, nation, barony, bishopric, religious order, chartered city, guild, confraternity, merchants, entrepreneurs, and traders. The church also provided local and regional administrative bureaucracies of arbitrators, jurists, negotiators, and judges, along with an international language, “Canon Law Latin.”
The Cistercians (Catholic Religious Order), who eschewed the aristocratic and sedentary ways of the Benedictines (monastic order) and, consequently, broke farther away from feudalism, became famous as entrepreneurs. They mastered rational cost accounting, plowed all profits back into new ventures, and moved capital around from one venue to another, cutting losses where necessary, and pursuing new opportunities when feasible.
The role of the Catholic Church helped jump-start a millennium of impressive economic progress. In about 1000 CE, there were barely two hundred million people in the world, most of whom were living in desperate poverty, under various tyrannies, and subject to the unchecked ravages of disease and much civic disorder. Economic development has made possible the sustenance now of more than six billion people–at a vastly higher level than one thousand years ago, and with an average lifespan almost three times as long.
No other part of the world outside Europe (and its overseas offspring) has achieved so powerful and so sustained an economic performance, raised up so many of the poor into the middle class, inspired so many inventions, discoveries, and improvements for the easing of daily life, and brought so great a diminution of age-old plagues, diseases, and ailments.
Economic historian David Landes, who describes himself as an unbeliever, points out that the main factors in this great economic achievement of Western civilization are mainly religious:
• the joy in discovery that arises from each individual being an imago Dei called to be a creator;
• the religious value attached to hard and good manual work;
• the theological separation of the Creator from the creature, such that nature is subordinated to man, not surrounded with taboos;
• the Jewish and Christian sense of linear, not cyclical, time and, therefore, of progress; and
• respect for the market.
In addition to the contribution of the Catholic Church, we cannot ignore the role of the Puritans. They spoke of two callings – a general calling and a particular calling. The general calling is the same for everyone and consists of a call to conversion and godliness.
A particular calling consists of the specific tasks and occupations that God places before a person in the course of daily living. It focuses on, but is not limited to, the work that a person does for a livelihood.
According to Wheaton Professor Leland Ryken, “Since God is the one who calls people to their work, the worker becomes a steward who serves God.” In essence, we serve God through or by means of the work we do. As a result, all legitimate forms of work is dignified, because of God’s involvement.
Christianity has and continues to bring dignity to legitimate work. In his second letter to the Thessalonians, the apostle Paul cautions believers to avoid idleness and dissociate from anyone “who will not work” (3:6-15). Such persons undermine and degrade the Christian work ethic.
It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union.
As we celebrate Labor Day 2014, it might be a good opportunity to re-examine the history of labor and capitalism, as they relate to the church. Historian Michael Novak makes the point that the Catholic Church of the Middle Ages was the main locus for the first flowerings of capitalism. Max Weber located the origin of capitalism in modern Protestant cities, but today’s historians find capitalism much earlier.
“It was the church more than any other agency,” writes historian Randall Collins, “that put in place what Weber called the preconditions of capitalism.”
The church owned nearly a third of all the land of Europe. In order to administer those vast holdings, it established a continent-wide system of canon law that tied together multiple jurisdictions of empire, nation, barony, bishopric, religious order, chartered city, guild, confraternity, merchants, entrepreneurs, and traders. The church also provided local and regional administrative bureaucracies of arbitrators, jurists, negotiators, and judges, along with an international language, “Canon Law Latin.”
The Cistercians (Catholic Religious Order), who eschewed the aristocratic and sedentary ways of the Benedictines (monastic order) and, consequently, broke farther away from feudalism, became famous as entrepreneurs. They mastered rational cost accounting, plowed all profits back into new ventures, and moved capital around from one venue to another, cutting losses where necessary, and pursuing new opportunities when feasible.
The role of the Catholic Church helped jump-start a millennium of impressive economic progress. In about 1000 CE, there were barely two hundred million people in the world, most of whom were living in desperate poverty, under various tyrannies, and subject to the unchecked ravages of disease and much civic disorder. Economic development has made possible the sustenance now of more than six billion people–at a vastly higher level than one thousand years ago, and with an average lifespan almost three times as long.
No other part of the world outside Europe (and its overseas offspring) has achieved so powerful and so sustained an economic performance, raised up so many of the poor into the middle class, inspired so many inventions, discoveries, and improvements for the easing of daily life, and brought so great a diminution of age-old plagues, diseases, and ailments.
Economic historian David Landes, who describes himself as an unbeliever, points out that the main factors in this great economic achievement of Western civilization are mainly religious:
• the joy in discovery that arises from each individual being an imago Dei called to be a creator;
• the religious value attached to hard and good manual work;
• the theological separation of the Creator from the creature, such that nature is subordinated to man, not surrounded with taboos;
• the Jewish and Christian sense of linear, not cyclical, time and, therefore, of progress; and
• respect for the market.
In addition to the contribution of the Catholic Church, we cannot ignore the role of the Puritans. They spoke of two callings – a general calling and a particular calling. The general calling is the same for everyone and consists of a call to conversion and godliness.
A particular calling consists of the specific tasks and occupations that God places before a person in the course of daily living. It focuses on, but is not limited to, the work that a person does for a livelihood.
According to Wheaton Professor Leland Ryken, “Since God is the one who calls people to their work, the worker becomes a steward who serves God.” In essence, we serve God through or by means of the work we do. As a result, all legitimate forms of work is dignified, because of God’s involvement.
Christianity has and continues to bring dignity to legitimate work. In his second letter to the Thessalonians, the apostle Paul cautions believers to avoid idleness and dissociate from anyone “who will not work” (3:6-15). Such persons undermine and degrade the Christian work ethic.
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