Jamie Greening's Blog, page 4

What in the Name of Colonel Harland Sanders is Going On Here?

This post is silly, and if you are easily offended you might want to stop reading.

Do remember the best fun is when we are poking fun at our own people, our own tribe.

With that in mind, I learned yesterday that apparently Chick-Fil-A is in negotiations to launch it’s own streaming platform. Here is an article CLICK HERE I found randomly on the internet about it if you’re the kind of person who needs third-party confirmation.

As outrageous as it sounds, as soon as I heard it, I could see the entire week of programming laid out in my head. I think it would go something like this:

Monday Night: This is classic chick flick night. Except, different kinds of chicks — right, this would be chickens, particularly, how to cook them. Think turn of the century Food Network. Maybe they’ll even get Alton Brown to host it. If he is not available, Greenbean would love this!

Tuesday Night: Crime Drama night. The premier is a riveting two hour movie featuring Detective C. M. Wings who needs to find out who is trying to steal the recipe for the secret Chick-Fil-A sauce. It sets the stage for ongoing dramas where he continually gets help from a forensic scientist, Dr. Pepper, and a streetwise youngster who goes by the nickname Frye. Special guest star: Kirk Cameron.

Wednesday Night: Documentaries and more documentaries. The big one is a splashy new theory put forth by a Sunday school teacher from Mobile who, though he has no training in biblical languages or antiquities, has discovered a lot copy of the Gospel of Mark that seems to indicate Jesus feed the 5000 not with fishes and loves, but with loves and two chickens. He made them chicken sandwiches. Narrated by John Hagee.

Thursday Night: College football, of course. But this isn’t riveting rivalries. What Chick-Fil-A TV will show are small Christian colleges getting destroyed by Division 1 programs for their homecoming.

Friday Night: Family Night, which means lots of reruns of Touched by an Angel (starring Roma Downey), The Rifleman, Leave it to Beaver, Growing Pains, and Seventh Heaven. After 10PM, add in a little Hercules, Heartland, and Matlock.

Saturday: You’d think college football, but no, that is too obvious. Saturday’s are men’s development programming with important ‘how to’s’ like how to balance your bank account (Dave Ramsey) or how to build that amazing deck (Tim Allen) and then important relational shows about how to teach your wife to submit.

Saturday Night: Family Dramas, think Hallmark but even more wholesome. Regina was worried about her courtship with David until he got a new job at Chick-Fil-A and now all he can talk about is Courtney. The home school association is all abuzz with gossip. Yet David has a secret, and only Courtney understands.

Sunday: No programming available. Just a screen that says, ‘My Pleasure’ all day long.

Daytime TV: Live feeds from Chick-Fil-A restaurants around the world and ‘person-on-the-street’ interviews with patrons. Occasional shows about insider things such as ‘how the drive through works’ or ‘where does all that frying oil come from’.

There has to be a name for this platform, and for my money, there is only one that does it justice: WaffleTV

A Non-Political Analysis of J. D. Vance

There will be time for policy discussions later. But for now, let’s deal with more important things to consider about Senator Vance.

He actually looks old for 39, don’t you think?He has a beard. This cannot be understated. The last bearded veep was Charles Curtis who served under Herbert Hoover. Thomas Dewey had a mustache, but of course he famously lost to FDR and Truman. The beard is a big deal, and will probably earn about five billion votes all by itself. Someone said he looked like me. I think that might be the beard talking, but I can see a little similarities. Keeping that thread going — J. D. are my initials, too, except my name is Jamie Dwayne, which is not as presidential as James David. I wonder if he ever becomes POTUS if he will be known as JDV in the way LBJ and FDR are known by their initials, because JDV is a pretty cool set of letters — not as cool as JDG, but you understand.I didn’t read the book, but that movie Hillbilly Elegy is powerful. He is from Ohio, which is probably a strike against him, and apparently graduated from The Ohio State University, which apparently has to have The in front of it because someone might confuse it with Oklahoma State University or something. Vance is 39 years old. I feel bad for the guy because he will turn forty next week (August 2) and turning forty is usually one of those ominous milestones as we age and hit middle-ageish and Vance has to do it while campaigning. Brutal. Now, about this age: he is a millennial. Which means Gen X was skipped over again. Why does Donald Trump and the Republicans hate Gen X so much?

Links to blog posts about beards: Beards are Awesome, BEARD TREK, THE ENJOYABLE TASK OF DESCRIBING BEARDS AND THE MEN WHO WEAR THEM, Riker beard and PAUL RYAN’S BEARD.

Re-Reading A Book I’ve Read

I did something last week I almost never do. In fact, I really don’t think I’ve ever done it, except for Shakespeare’s plays, especially Hamlet. For many years it was my practice to read Hamlet during the penitential season of Lent. But last week, I did indeed re-read a book I had read before.

It is not just any book, though, it is one of my favorites, and may indeed be my favorite book of all time.* It hits so many themes that ring in my soul — history, faith, speculative fiction, vivid landscape, biblical references, and glorious dialogue. The book I am referring to is shockingly under-read and not well known outside of niche groups. It makes no ones list of top books ever, but boy should it! I am talking about A Canticle For Leibowitz, blessed be his hame. If you’ve never read it, do yourself a favor and do so. I chose to re-read this particular book because it is my favorite. If you do read it, remember, it was written in 1955 yet somehow it is prophetic in its contemporary application, especially the second and third parts.

My 1988 pulp paperback copy. Can you smell those old pages?

I never read books again for there are so many great books that I’ve yet to read, therefore, it seems a waste of time to revisit a narrative already attained. C. S. Lewis argues the contrary, though, that if reading a page gave you pleasure the first time, why not read it again? I understand the logic of that thought for how many times have I seen every episode of Star Trek — it all its forms? Many. I can quote Star Trek II almost verbatim. Ship . . . out of danger?

So why not similarly enjoy a book? Well, this week I did so and I can tell you, I am glad I did. I perhaps enjoyed it even more this reading than the previous reading years ago. Having read it before, I could see many of the connecting lines I’d previously missed as well as drink in the delicious setting and dialogue structures because I wasn’t rushing to ‘find out what happens next’ which is what happens when you read a really good book, you jump too fast from one paragraph to the next. I’d also forgotten the emotional intensity of the ending, and I had mis-remembered the actual sene at the end of the book. Reading it again made it clearer, and better.

I’ve already started on my next read, which is one I’ve not read before and is 1000 pages — historical fiction set in ancient Rome. I may, though, when I finish that and get caught up on all those old issues of National Geographic, re-read something else. Here is a list of possible re-reads for me.

All the Pretty Horses/Blood MeridianThe Foundation novels (because I’m watching the Apple TV show, and that feels way different than what I read so long ago so I want to compare, maybe, but this would be a big undertaking)Quiet (not a novel, but this book meant a lot to me)David CopperfieldThe Martian Chronicles

There are some others, but these are on my short list. But how knows, I may catch a wild hair and re-read for the third time of Saint Leibowitz and the bookleggers and memorizers of his monastery and marvel again that Lucifer Has Fallen.

*This statement, of course, excludes the Bible. This probably should go without having to mention it but I would not want anyone to jump to an unreasonable and illogical conclusion based upon a statement that was never intended to be a creedal claim about scriptural authority.

It Sounds Like A Good Idea, But . . .

Louisiana — famous for mud bugs, Popeyes Chicken, bayous, beignets, Huey Long, and Justin Wilson is now famous for something else; it is the first state to pass a law requiring classrooms from kindergarten thought to state funded universities to post The Ten Commandments. For a pretty straight forward accounting of it, click here to read the article from New Orleans Fox Affiliate.

But First, a Review

Let’s start by refreshing our memory. There are two tables to The Decalogue — the first one is God focused and contains the first four commandments. We can summarize them as:

Have no other gods.Make no graven images.Do not abuse the name of God.Keep the Sabbath

As a deeply committed Christ-follower, I love these. Or to be more precise, these commandments go a long way to informing the way I live my life. I would wager, when most people think of The Ten Commandments, though, these are not the ones they think about. They think of the second table, the moral code. Again, summarizing:

Honor your parentsDo not murderDo not commit adulteryDo not stealDo not perjure yourselfDo not covet

These are the commandments people think of when they mention The Ten Commandments.

Again, I affirm these very much because they are wonderful and a marvelous gift from God to help us structure our behavioral ethics.

All ten of these commandments were given by God to Moses as the terms of the covenant between Yahweh and his people. They are found in their original historical context in Exodus 20 and are repeated by Moses in a sermon in Deuteronomy 5.

But our question is concerning the wisdom of the esteemed lawmakers of the State of Louisiana in advocating for these to be posted in classrooms. Should it be done? I understand the sentiment and I am sympathetic, but for me, it is a hard no. I do not believe we should be posting The Ten Commandments in public education classrooms. I present you three reasons.

Three Reasons Why Louisiana Is Wrong

The first reason is that I don’t want the state interpreting the meaning of these commandments. Do you want, and I mean this literally, do you want a high school football coach who is working on his third divorce, can’t say a sentence without taking the Lord’s name in vain, and who is a lapsed Roman Catholic teaching an impressionable young boy or girl the significance of The Big Ten? Do you trust him to differentiate between the words ‘kill’ and ‘murder’ and just war and the death penalty and why is it okay to kill animals for meat? There are a thousand pitfalls here. A thousand. Do you want a radical leftist communist telling your children the only way to not steal is to adhere to Marxist collectivism? Me neither.

The second reason is I do not believe these should be posted is that the language of the law seems to relegate them to ‘historical’ significance. For those of us who love The Ten Commandments, these are not like The Declaration of Independence or Mayflower Compact or Gettysburg Address. The move toward historicizing the Bible creates the idea in our children that it is about the past and not their future. The Declaration of Independence is specific to a people and a time and place. We don’t believe that about The Decalogue. We believe it is universal.

The third reason is for fear of hypocrisy and disagreements about what these mean. What mean I of hypocrisy? The state posts The Ten Commandments which says keep the sabbath holy. Yet, the local NFL team will play on Sunday, restaurants are open, and the government will continue to function in part on Sunday. The state is hypocritical. That hypocrisy then further drains the commandments of power because the answer is ‘well, that was for Ancient Israel but not for us’ which then leads the student to think, ‘so too is adultery, and lying, and maybe even murder.’

What mean I of meaning? Let’s keep with the Sabbath theme. I am a Christian, and I heartily endorse the New Testament tradition of meeting on the Lord’s Day, which is Sunday, the day Jesus rose from the dead. The Christian sabbath is Sunday, but Moses meant Saturday which is the technical meaning of Sabbath. If a Jewish person or Seventh Day Adventist is teaching the class, he or she will, and understandably so, heavily emphasize that understanding. The children will have questions. The teens will have squabbles. The college students will rebel. Does the State of Louisiana want to endorse Saturday as a holy day?

I could go on forever, so allow me to give you another example. I believe the second commandments that prohibits graven images, or more specifically, any likeness of God, carries forward to Jesus. I believe it is a violation of this commandment, and therefore a sin, to paint a picture or carve stone or wood, that is intended to look like Jesus. If Jesus is God, and he is, then making his image is a sin. Jesus has already given us his image — it is other human beings, for we are made in his image and he became flesh and blood like you and me. I reject images of Jesus in favor of seeing Jesus in the man or woman across from me, the little child in the park, or the dying man in the hospital. That is what Jesus looks like.

And there, that is the main point I urge you to consider: The Ten Commandments are beautiful and wonderful, but they must be taught from the convictions of our faith and not from the desk at the classroom because to understand them in a modern context requires theological reflection and biblical education; public schools have neither these.

One more random thought: I doubt many churches, certainly not mine, even have Ten Commandments posted in every classroom and most likely not even in the sanctuary. This causes me to think this issue is not about faith, education, or even good public policy. It is election year virtue signaling and that, that makes me a little more nauseous, for God is not mocked. To use him and his word for votes is really distasteful.

Shaking. My. Head.

I returned from children’s camp Thursday afternoon with the usual battered feet, sunburnt nose, and disgusting clinging odor as always. Technically this is not children’s camp we went to, but Pre-Teen camp. I still don’t know why Pre-Teen is a thing, because we already have a word for a pre-teen: child. These were little boys and girls who’ve completed third grade through sixth grade.

All-in-all it was a good camp experience and was meaningful to the boys and girls we brought from our church, which is one of the reasons we do this every year. There were seven-hundred and sixty campers from all over the region at this particular camp.

That’s a lot of lost water bottles, mangled name tags, and nighttime meds.

I’m thinking I need to add a bandana
to my non-camp wardrobe options

But that is not what this is about nor why I am shaking my head. What has me shaking my head is an amazing lesson on spirituality and American culture which might just serve as instructive on some defects we carry with us. These defects are not new, the problem is we accept them and even glorify them.

Enough preamble: here is what happened. The camp had a reward system for any camper who could recite successfully the week’s theme verse.

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you is faithful and will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:6

The reward was a pin — not a pen but pin — to stick on the lanyard of their name tag. It is a good idea, I think. A little reward system isn’t bad to help children orient themselves in the proper directions. The pin they earned was the word ‘Refine’ and thus it was the refine pin. They sold pins of various kinds in the camp store, but you couldn’t buy the refine pin. They were not for sale. You could only get this special pin by reciting the verse. That was the only way any camper could have it — say the verse to a camp staffer — voila you got the pin. I think most all of our campers from our church earned their pins.

We arrived Monday afternoon. By Wednesday morning the refine pins were selling for $30 on the camp black market. That is not a lie or an exaggeration. The camp muckety muck said it in the morning assembly and he implied that was a bad thing and that students needed to memorize the verse, yet he said it in a way that also implied he was impressed with the supply and demand he had created in the microeconomic system of children.

Let’s not even address why children have that much cash on hand for a camp where everything is paid for. That is an altogether different topic, yet it does run parallel to these thoughts.

What we really need to address is the whole concept of a spiritual goal or spiritual task which is neither earned nor bestowed from God but that which is bought and paid for. There were children who wanted the appearance of having memorized Philippians 1:6 but who actually didn’t want to do the work, so they just bought it. They were willing to spend a proportionately large amount of money to get it, too. Does that not sound like some kind of phenomena you have seen before? Don’t blame these children, they learned it from their parents! The idea we can buy a meaningful devotional experience by purchasing a fancy new Bible or study book is rampant in Evangelical life when in reality you don’t need a new Bible as much as you need to study and learn the one you have. Or, authentic worship at church is hard, so let’s pay someone to come entertain us that way we look spiritual without actually having to worship God. And wouldn’t it be cool to have fog machine and dazzling lights? We can buy worship! Building a church community is hard and takes time, but with enough money we can construct a building and spend lots of money on marketing and WHAMMO — instant church without the spirituality that goes with it.

One of our little boys earned his pin the first day. He is very smart and has a great personality. He told me Wednesday afternoon, ‘I’d never sell my pin, I don’t care how much they offer.’ I told him, ‘Sell it, take the money, then go find another camp staffer and say the verse again, because you know it, and then you have the money and a pin.’ We had laugh over that, but I regret saying it to him. I was wrong. Yes, he’d have the money and the pin, but he would be an accomplice in someone else’s spiritual shortcut, a lesson a boy from another church will learn that, if you have enough money, you don’t need to do the spiritual work of growing in Christ. You can just buy it, because someone is always selling. I am a confirmed capitalist, but the Kingdom of God is not for sell.

Then Peter and John laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money saying, ‘Give me also this power so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.’ But Peter said to him, ‘May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain God’s gift with money!’

Acts 8:17-20

Former President Trump’s Conviction: An Observation

Thursday May 30 was not a good day for America. I think that is true, regardless of what politics you hold.

Let me begin now with a re-statement of what I have been saying for some time now: I was never in favor of prosecuting Donald Trump for any crimes. The primary reason I feel this way is not because of him, but out of respect for the millions of people who voted for him, twice, and the untold who support him so fervently. The second reason is respect for historical precedence. We’ve never done this before, and don’t tell me we’ve not had people commit crimes before who were running, in office, and after office. It is likely that both Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan broke the law at some point in their many scandals. But we don’t send presidents to jail. We do have a long history of sending their lackeys — just look at the number of people who have gone to jail from the Trump Administration, the Clinton Administration, The Nixon Administration and so forth. Chuck Colson comes to mind. A third reason is the respect I have for the office of the president. It is greater than the person, but the person is certainly part of it.

It would be better to prosecute vigorously all those around him rather than to go straight to Donald Trump. Better for whom? Better for America. This feels like a sort of Rubicon, although I freely admit since the arrival of Donald Trump on the scene we’ve had one Rubicon after another.

Yet now, the deed is done, so to speak. I would like to see the governor of New York intercede and issue a pardon or a commutation if Judge Merchan actually imposes jail time. I also would like for President Biden to advocate for this publicly. We can’t go to the place where former Presidents are jailed, especially when they are running again. It is a dark place.

To my Democratic friends I ask you to not gloat or take glee. This is sad. Even if you think he is guilty as sin and did all of these things, surely you can see the long-term repercussions of this? The question is not did he deserve it. The question is do we deserve this? Do we deserve to live in a country where after every election there will be some prosecutor somewhere coming after the former President. New York did it now. Do you not think Alabama, or Texas, or Florida will not try it with Biden? Even if it unsuccessful, it is a terrible price to pay.

With careful leadership this can be fixed. For all their faults, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter show us a way forward for healing these kinds of scars. But it will take gutsy leadership, and what I find is we face a crisis of true leadership.

To my Republican friends, primarily the MAGA Republicans, I ask two things. First, stop with the disgusting memes comparing the trial and crucifixion of Jesus to that of Trump. Donald Trump may not be guilty of all they say, but he did indeed sleep with a porn actress while his wife was pregnant with his son and then he attempted to give her money to keep it quiet. He may be many things, but he is not innocent. Just like Eisenhower was an adulterer, and John Kennedy was a perverted womanizer, and Bill Clinton should have been kicked out of office for abuse of power, former President Donald Trump is a man of very low morals who has nothing in common with Jesus other than the overlapping Venn diagram of some followers.

To everyone, I ask we respect the legal process. I’ve sat on two juries in my lifetime. Sure, they were nothing like this, but I can tell you getting twelve people to agree to convict someone of a crime is not easy. Most jurors are looking for any kind of out for the defendant, even if they find him against their own values. Yet, in spite of their decision, there is an abundant appeals process. If it is overturned, those who cheer the system today need to cheer it then, saying truth has won. If it fails, then we need to recognize the jury was accurate in its assessment.

All the defense needed was one. Just one juror who couldn’t be swayed. Yet, in light of the evidence, they found him guilty of all thirty-four counts. They didn’t find him a little guilty, they found him very guilty.

Politically, things are dicey. The problem Donald Trump has is there is a percentage of the population who simply will not vote for him now that he is convicted. What is that percentage? I don’t know. But in a close state like Arizona, or Georgia, or Wisconsin, two to five percent could be the difference. There is nothing that can be done to change this, either. To continue our Rubicon reference, alea iata est, the die is cast.

The Democrats, I think, have a worse problem. Joe Biden has not shown himself as competent as he proclaims himself to be, and he is becoming incredibly feeble. His unpopularity is almost as much a shackle as Trumps. If anyone else were running for them, I think this would be a slam dunk for the Democrats in the fall, especially with abortion rights, the Supreme Court, and IVF hanging in the balance. If Biden does poorly in the 78 year old verses the 81 year old debate later this month, look for the Dems to pressure Biden to step away, release his delegates, and thus enter into a brokered convention in August. What fun that would be!

Actually, I hope the GOP does the same.

Is it too much for a man to hope to be able to vote for someone who doesn’t need to take a dementia test?

Is it too much to hope to never hear about Stormy Daniels again? Or Hunter Biden’s laptop? Or Access Hollywood? Or can he walk up the stairs to the plane? Or that thug Michael Cohen? Or . . .

Again, politically, if we end up with a Biden or Trump choice in November, then we deal with the fact both candidates have lost voters, and we will find out who has lost the most. I don’t know, and until November 7 or 8 no one will know. What we do know is it will likely come down to a handful of states: Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, Nevada, North Carolina, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Biden needs three or four of those, Trump needs five. It took him pulling an inside straight in several close states to win in 2016. He would need to do that again. He could, but who knows? The electorate is irritated, and how they turn is anyones guess. I remind you, that in 1980, three or four weeks before the election, it looked like Jimmy Carter was cruising to a fairly easy victory, until he didn’t because America was irritated. I suspect a lot of people will not decide until the night before.

Speaking of hope, that is a good place to wrap this up. Regardless of who wins this year, in 2028 there will by necessity be a new cast of actors. It is only four years from now, but the electorate will be dramatically different then as America continues to age and transition. Biden will be out of the picture and so will Trump — if he wins he is ineligible to run again, and if he doesn’t he will be 82, and likely past the moment. If Biden wins, he will likely not make it through the term, and if he does, then likewise he will be ineligible.

Can we survive four more years of either one? Sure we can, because our nation is strong. Remember two things. First, What makes the United States great is not our politicians, but our people, and the people of the country are the best — both blue and red people. Second, and most importantly, as a person of faith, my hope is never tied to machinations of power and politics, but on the grace and power of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the one true King.

Book Review — Air and Apologetics

Over the weekend I finished one of the most unexpectedly delightful books I’ve encountered in a long time. I remember picking it up, on a whim, really, in a book shop in Seattle. That was last summer. That is how far behind I am in my TBR pile! But I am glad I got to it.

The title is The Air We Breathe and was written by Glen Scrivener. Scrivener is an Australian minister in the Anglican Communion and he writes with a definite lean toward England yet he is clearly well versed in Western culture as a whole and seems to know a great deal about the American experience.

The opening chapter is the weakest. It is an introduction that tries to tie the title, the idea of breathing, and the context of advocating for Christianity. He seems to belabor the point at the onset, which is something no one really needs. The point he belabors is Christianity and Christian values have defined modern sensibilities. He likens this to the air we breathe — we all breathe Christianized air. And of course, he is right. The building blocks for the modern world are Christian. No other blocks could do it.

Once I got past that rather pedantic opening chapter, the book opened up. From there we have another sort of introduction which is much better, and then each chapter covers the different values cherished by most all modern people: Equality, compassion, consent, enlightenment, science, freedom, and progress. The book finishes with two conclusion chapters, the strongest of which is the first. Indeed, the more I think on it, as wonderful as this book is, it would be better if the first and last chapters were both lopped off. It would read just fine without those and be much tighter.

But don’t let that minor criticism make you think it too terribly problematic. It is not. Scrivener writes with a witty, informed, and classical approach that is right in my proverbial wheelhouse. He quotes modern news stories as well as ancient Romans with ease and skill, weaving it in a way that is compelling. What he is doing is high level concept apologetics. Rather than arguing, say, a Christian apologetic against evolution, he takes the higher road and says we would’t even have the scientific principles upon which Darwinian thought rests without the Christian worldview that we all take for granted.

This argument is particularly compelling on issues of equality. Scrivener invites us to consider why we think we should be fair to anyone? The ancients wouldn’t have thought anything of it. No, it was Christianity, and Jesus’ teachings, that taught us fairness. Thomas Cahill makes a similar argument, though briefer, in his book, The Gift of the Jews. Scrivener takes it from a more faith filled position and expands the scope significantly.

He is at his best when he holds up the problems within modern Christianity and says, justly so, how awful it is that priests are aggressive sexual predators and then protected by church law, and then points to how the way we think of them as being so awful is actually a Christian ideal — we judge ourselves by our own values.

He says he has three audiences for the book, but in my mind it is a book primarily written for those who are ‘deconstructing’ their faith. The book gives reasons why no one should abandon the Christian movement, because the Christian movement has already set he agenda for the categories of the world and that can’t be deconstructed. Jesus is already ‘baked into’ just about any conversation you could ever have. It is to these young people in their 20s and 30s he is writing to – that is his audience – those people who are sorely tempted and persuaded by the world that says, ‘abandon your faith and come be real with us’. Scrivener provides an apologetic that says such talk is nonsense, for our faith is already the ‘air’ everyone breathes, whether they know it or not.

I highly recommend this book. It would be ideal as a gift to recent high school or college graduate, or perhaps as a curriculum study of sorts for church small group, particularly one that is youngish or who cares about their youngish children and grandchildren.

Free Speech Is Hard, Harder Than Pronouncing Butker

Recently a football player for Kansas City made the news.

No, it wasn’t celebrity singer songwriter’s boyfriend Travis Kelce. Nor was it All-World Quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Nope, it was the kicker.

I know, right? The kicker.

What he did was have the audacity to say what he really thought about something. Click on his picture to read the full transcript of his speech, a commencement address at Benedictine College.

Some people are applauding him as a brave voice of dissent. Others are criticizing him as an intolerant spokesperson for religious bigotry.

Whether you agree with him or not, the right to free speech is one of the fundamentals of our way of life. I am a fierce proponent of free speech which gives him the right to say these things, and gives others the right to criticize him. What I don’t appreciate at all is his workplace, the NFL, attempting to punish him or censor him. That is ridiculous and that kind of censorship, or cancelling, must not be tolerated.

A persons livelihood and work should no more be threatened by political or religious views than it is by color of skin or sexual orientation. If free speech is not free to everyone on any topic, then it is not free to anyone on any topic. I am very, very optomistic about Gen Z and Y and millennials but they err in this one thing: their desire to control what other people say.

It also seems a little like we are seeing an in-family fight here. Butker is a Catholic, and he is calling on other Catholics (Checks notes, discovers name of the school is BENEDICTINE COLLEGE) to adhere to Roman Catholic teaching and calls out President Biden, a very public Roman Catholic, for not doing so. Now, I am not a Roman Catholic — but this is just Catholics being Catholics. I felt a similar situation back in the 90s when President Clinton, a Southern Baptist, was engulfed in so much turmoil for his sins. My criticism of him was stronger because he was supposed to be one of us.

But I return to the free speech issue. We must safeguard these foundational principles and rights that have been bought and paid for with blood over and over again, or we will lose them. Just because it hurts feelings, or presents an uncomfortable moment, or seems to be unpopular, shouldn’t be cause for punishment, and we should all be concerned about people and movements who want to silence any opinion they don’t like. The left and the right are both guilty of this infringement.

One more thought on this whole issue of punishing people for their views, or cancelling. Freedom, if it means anything at all, means freedom from worrying about who made the sandwich, what the politics of the person who owns the store are, or who your friends voted for in the last election. I am free from that, and so should you. Therefore I buy from Home Depot and I eat delicious Jesus Chicken at Chick-Fil-A. I also drink Starbucks coffee and greatly prefer a Mac over a PC. I have friends who voted for Biden and I friends who voted for Trump. You know why, because I am free to live my life from having to keep up with everyone else’s views.

So next year, when Butker goes out to kick a field goal, I will not wish him or the Kansas City Chiefs ill will based one his views. I will wish them ill-will based on who they are playing or how the moment is going, or I will cheer him on if they are playing a hated franchise (Philadelphia, New York, Washington, New England — pretty much anyone from the Northeast or the Dallas Cowboys).

The Word Abides: John 15

I have continued my work in John. To be truthful, I’ve been all over the place with the Fourth Gospel in various ways. Perhaps someday I will share more of what I’ve been working on. But today I bring my translation of John 15 from the Greek New Testament.

Theological Notes

The key idea here is abide. Jesus has abided in the father and what he was told, and he expects his followers to abide in him. He defines abiding as obedience to the commands given. The abiding is then tied to efficacy in prayer as well as love for one another. There are likewise themes of election – ‘I chose you, you didn’t choose me’ as well as persecution – ‘they did this to me, they will do it to you.’

For me one of the more fascinating lines is one we rarely focus on. In verses 22-24 Our Lord indicates in some way the people were innocent of sin until Jesus came. Does this mean they were better off? It does seem hard to imagine that the presence of Jesus made things worse, but that is not the point. The point he is making is that they have been told the truth, and having been confronted it, they hated it. We are not talking about people who are good people but never heard of Jesus or gospel. This is about true character and intention being revealed by the presence of God.

Translation Notes

Before we get to the text itself, here are a handful of issues of translation for you to consider.

It is nearly impossible to encapsulate the subjective and imperative mood of this passage. ‘If you could just . . . ‘ or maybe a ‘wouldn’t it be nice if you . . .’ is in many of the sayings but then often it is set up or followed by a ‘you must!’ or perhaps ‘it is imperative that you . . . ‘ This subjective mood is not intended to be rooted in the possibility people could obey, but that if they do obey, then this is what will occur. There are a lot of reflexive statements in here, ‘you yourselves’ and ‘me myself.’ American English doesn’t use these very much any more (Microsoft Word hates them as the world hates the Lord v. 23). I have included a tiny number to give the feeling, with one right off the bat. The main construct of verse 6 is an aorist passive ‘if anyone does not abide in me he might was thrown out . . ‘ but the indication is clearly future. Yet, aorist is completed action which muddles the grammar but if you think about it hard enough presents a compelling image.The verb is a past tense “was” rather than future but to make sense it must be a present in English because the disciples fruit bearing and discipleship is still up in the air, therefore being glorified through them hasn’t happened yet.Verse 10 has a future/subjective combo that is just beautiful.I added the word ‘awareness’ to make it flow. Without something being added, Jesus awkwardly says, ‘If I had not come and spoke to them, they would not have sin.’ I don’t perceive Jesus is rewriting the idea of humanity sinful condition as conditional upon hearing but rather his focus is upon their perception of themselves. Jesus quotes Psalm 35:19 and, there is some debate about the meaning. I can tell you in the Greek the language is clear, to me, that what Jesus is saying is ‘They hated my gift.’ Other renderings emphasize an alternate rendering that says, ‘They hated me without cause.’ You can do your own research, but the language here is, ‘They hated me (as) (a) gift.’ As I said earlier, the key word is ‘abide’ which is in and of itself harmless enough but it can mean so many other words and is often translated intermittently as ‘remain’, ‘dwell,’ or ‘stay.’ I have chosen abide, and stick with it throughout but it is a durable word. If ‘you must remain with me and I with you’ communicates to you, then, go with that.

Now, without any more delay, here is the text.

John 15 From the Greek New Testament

1. I myself am the true vine. My father is the vintner.

2. He cuts off every branch in me not bearing fruit. He prunes every branch bearing fruit so that it might bear more. 

3. You are already pruned by the word I have spoken to you.

4. You must abide in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to bear fruit alone if it doesn’t abide on the vine, so neither will you if you do not abide in me.

5. I am the vine. You are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in him bear much fruit. You are unable to do anything apart from me.

6. If anyone should not abide in me, he is thrown out like a withered branch that is gathered, thrown into the fire, and then burned. 

7. If you should abide in me and my words abide in you, then ask whatever you want; it will happen for you.

8. My father is glorified in this way, that you become my disciples and bear much fruit.  

9. Just as the father loved me and I loved you, you must abide in my love.

10. If you could keep my commandments then you would abide in my love, just as I have kept the commandments of my father and I abide in his love.

11. I have spoken these things to you that my joy be in you and your joy might be full. 

12. This is my commandment: you should love one another exactly as I have loved you. 

13. No one has greater love than someone who might give his life for his friends. 

14. You are my friends if you do what I command you. 

15. I no longer speak to you as servants, for a servant knows not what his master does. Instead, I have called you friends, because I made known to you everything I heard from my father. 

16. You yourselves did not choose me. Rather, I chose you myself. I appointed you that you might go out and bear fruit – fruit that abides – so that whatever you ask the father in my name he will give it to you. 

17. These things I command you, so that you might love one another. 

18. If the world hates you, you must know it has hated me first. 

19. If you were from the world, then the world would love you like its own. Yet, you are not from the world, for I chose you out of the world. This is why the world hates you. 

20. You must remember the word I said to you, ‘The servant is not greater than the master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my words, they will keep yours. 

21. They will do all these things among you because of my name, for they do not know he who sent me. 

22. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have awareness of sin. Now, though, they have no excuse for their sins.

23. Those who hate me hate my father. 

24. If I had not done works among them no one else did, they would not be sinful. Yet, now having seen, they have hated me and my father.

25. Nevertheless, ‘They hated my gift,’ as the word of the law from the scriptures could be fulfilled.

26. When the Paraclete comes, whom I will send to you from the father – the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the father – he will testify about me. 

27. You will also testify, because you are with me from the beginning.      

John 14: Paraclete, Peace, and The Path

Over the Lenten season I worked on John 13 quite a bit. Since Easter, I’ve been translating and pondering John 14. My text is below, but first I have some notes on translation and theology.

Notes On The Translation

1. I chose to not capitalize common words, including ‘father’ and ‘son’. I know that goes against some people’s understanding of language, but I actually think it weakens what Jesus is saying to overemphasize these words in such an unusual way. I would not capitalize it if I were speaking of my father or yours. 

2. The New Testament word ‘paraclete’, which Jesus uses here twice, is a sticky word to render. It can be mean all kinds of things – comforter, guide, advocate, helper, teacher – just about anything positive we might want or need is what paraclete can mean. I think it is such a great word and almost has the feeling of name or title, that I chose to transliterate it and capitalize it. 

3. Verse 2 is very familiar to most Christ-followers, nevertheless it is famously hard to communicate. The idea is simple enough: Jesus is going to prepare us a place to live inside God’s great big dwelling. How to render this – rooms inside a mansion, houses in a gated community, homes in a neighborhood – is a little bit harder. 

Notes On The Theology

1. Jesus teaches the exclusive nature of access to heaven and the father. He, and he alone, is the path to heaven and to the father. There are no other roads. 

2. For The Paraclete to come, Jesus must leave. But he will not leave them alone or withour guidance. 

3. The most fundamental factor for believe and inclusion in the Jesus community is obedience to Jesus’ words, primary of which is to love one another.

4. Some stumble over Jesus words in verse 28 where he seems to take a subordinate position to the father, ‘the father is greater than me.’ I do not understand it relationally but instead positionally. The context is that of Jesus going to heaven, and heaven is better than here. He is leaving this world (on the cross and resurrection) and going to the greater place where the father is. It is similar language we use all the time with the euphemism of death as ‘going to a better place.’ 

5. I wish Jesus would have elaborated on the ruler of this age who is coming for him (v. 30), but he does not. Instead, he tells us to not be upset and don’t be cowards. Seems like steady advice for always – keep your head clear and be brave!   

John 14 From the Greek New Testament

1. Do not let your heart be upset. Believe in God and believe in me.

2. There are many living spaces in my father’s house. If this were not so, then I would not have told you I am traveling to prepare a place there for you. 

3. If I travel and prepare a place for you, then I will come again and receive you myself, so you may be where I am. 

4. You know the path to where I go.

5. Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know to where you go, so how are we able to know the path? 

6. Jesus said to him, ‘I am the path, the truth, and the life. Nobody comes to the father except through me.

7. If you know me, then you will know my father, so you already know him and have seen him.’

8. Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the father and that will be enough.’

9. Jesus said to him, ‘I have been with you such a long time, and still, you do not know me, Philip? If you see me, you have seen the father. How then can you say, ‘show us the father’?

10. Do you not believe that I am in the father and the father is in me? The words I myself say to you are not what I speak but the father who abides in me. He does his works. 

11. Believe me, then, I am in the father and the father is in me. If not, then believe because of these works.

12. Isn’t it true what I say to you, those who believe in me will do the works I do, but also greater, for I travel to the father. 

13. Also, whatever you might ask in my name, this I will do so that the father might be glorified in the son. 

14. I will do whatever you might ask in my name. 

15. If you love me, then you will keep my commandments. 

16. I will ask the father and he will give you another Paraclete so he can come be with you in this age. 

17. He is the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him nor know him. You know him because he abides in you and will be with you. 

18. I will not leave you as orphans. I come to you.

19. A little while yet and the world will not see me, but you will see me for I live, and you will live.

20. You yourselves will know on that day that I am in the father, and you are in me, just as I am in you.    

21. The person who has and keeps my commandments is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.’ 

22. Judas – not Iscariot – said to him, ‘Lord, what has happened that you intend to reveal yourself to us but not the world.’ 

23. Jesus answered him, ‘Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my father will love him. We will then come to him and make our home with him.’ 

24. Those who love me not keep not my words. What you hear are not my words but my father’s who sent me. 

25. I have spoken these things to you while I remain with you. 

26. Yet the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit whom the father sends in my name, will teach you everything and he will remind you everything I said to you. 

27. I leave you peace. My peace I give to you. I do not give in the same way the world gives. Let not your hearts be upset nor act cowardly.

28. You heard when I said to you, ‘I leave and I will come again to you.’ Now, if you loved me, you would rejoice, for I am going to the father, and the father is greater than me.

29. I have spoken to you now before it happens so that when it happens you might believe. 

30. I will no longer say many things to you. The ruler of this world comes for me, but he has nothing over me,

31. for the world must learn that I love the father and I do just as the father commanded me. Get up. Let’s get out of here.’