Randy Booth's Blog, page 2

It is Well with My Soul

We begin Holy Week of 2020 in isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These are unsettling times wherein many of the culture’s idols are being shaken. The fallen world has always been an uncertain place, and uncertainty is the foundation of fear. Human history is a long series of stories, of individuals, families, cities and nations that have found themselves surprised, reversed, frightened and grieved. Our extremely finite nature, living in the midst of what seems to be an infinite cosmos, leaves us (in our more candid moments), somewhere between nervous and terrified.

The vast majority of people have lived hard, short lives. We read or hear about such things and for most of us, who live relatively comfortable lives, these stories seem distant. The modern world has created many creature-comforts, which do take a lot of the edge off, providing plenty of food, medical care, leisure, and electronic devices. Our illusion of “self-sufficiency,” is actually a dependency upon civil government to be our savior; to provide, protect and solve every potential crisis. We’ve come to assume that every problem can be solved by money, science and government. But no matter how comfortable we might feel today, the threat of tomorrow, and more especially of eternity, looms over us all. Economist John Maynard Keynes articulated this well when he said, “In the end we are all dead.” We’re all lost, now what?

A microscopic virus has suddenly demanded our attention and has disrupted our routines. Mortality can be a bear. Or as Jesus asked: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? (Mark 8:36). You see, one big problem overrides everything else, and that problem is our own death. Of course, if this is it; if we’ll all soon be returned to cosmic dust to be remembered no more, then what’s the big deal?

When a newspaper article asked “What’s Wrong with the World?” G. K. Chesterton wrote back: “Dear sir, I am. Yours truly.” We all know that there’s something very wrong with the world; but not just the world, there’s something very wrong with people; there’s something wrong with us. We desperately want the problem to be “out there,” because we then have some hope that we can be saved by government or by science. But if our much bigger problem is us; if it’s inside, then we’ll need a much bigger Savior. The Apostle Paul wrote:

This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. 16 However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. 17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. —1 Timothy 1:14-17

This Friday is the day Christians call “Good Friday,” which was the day that Jesus was crucified. While the origins of the term “Good Friday” are uncertain, what makes it “good” is that Christ showed His great love for man.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. —1 Corinthians 5:17-21

We have been given a real Savior who has conquered death, which is our ultimate enemy. Once that enemy is defeated, there’s a sense in which we can relax, or have peace, even when everything else seem uncertain. That doesn’t mean we “act like nothing is wrong.” The fact is, there’s much that is wrong. Nevertheless, if we have come to know the One who rules over all the circumstances then we’re never left to languish “under the circumstance.”

“It Is Well with My Soul” is a hymn that was written by Horatio Spafford (1828-1888) and composed by Philip Bliss. Spafford was a successful lawyer and real estate investor in Chicago. He and his wife, Anna, had one son and four daughters and lived a life of philanthropy and service in their church, until 1871 that is. In that year they lost their four-year-old son to scarlet fever and a few months later the great Chicago fire wiped out the majority of their property holdings. They made it through the next two years until, in 1873, tragedy struck again. The Spaffords had planned to visit Europe as a family, but business kept Horatio behind. On the voyage, the ship Anna and their four daughters were traveling on struck another vessel and sank rapidly. Only Anna survived; she sent a hauntingly brief telegram to Horatio bearing the words “Saved alone.”

After suffering the loss of his children, Spafford wrote this beautiful hymn as a testament to the salvation he found in Jesus through the good and bad times in life. The song focuses less on what was lost and more on where hope can be found. No doubt Spafford was shattered by the loss of his daughters, but his heart turned to the faithfulness of God in the midst of loss and the work of Jesus to rescue sinners. The hymn does not diminish or gloss over pain and tragedy but rather proclaims that God is present in them and greater than them.1

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll

Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say

It is well, it is well, with my soul

It is well

With my soul

It is well, it is well with my soul

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,

Let this blest assurance control,

That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,

And hath shed His own blood for my soul

It is well (it is well)

With my soul (with my soul)

It is well, it is well with my soul

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, o my soul

It is well (it is well)

With my soul (with my soul)

It is well, it is well with my soul

https://americansongwriter.com/behind-the-song-horatio-spafford-philip-bliss-it-is-well-with-my-soul/

Palm Sunday: King of Kings!

John 12:12-19

The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:

Hosanna!

‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ The King of Israel!”

14 Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:

15     “Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, Sitting on a donkey’s colt.”

16 His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.

17 Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. 18 For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign. 19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!”

Who was/is Jesus?

There have been, and there remains, many answers to this question. On what we call “Palm Sunday,” one large group of people spontaneously assembled in Jerusalem, threw their cloaks on the ground, waved palm branches and shouted: “Hosanna to the King.” A few days later, another large crowd, in the same city, shouted “crucify him!” Those two points of view have echoed through the ages and they can still be heard today. Jesus is either everything or He is nothing. He is either the King of kings, or else He is to be despised and rejected.

In our current virus situation, based on what Jesus claimed about Himself i.e., He is the Creator of the universe and sustainer of all things (cf. Col. 1:16-17; Heb. 1:1-3); therefore, He has everything to do with this. The One who has all authority in heaven and on earth is in charge. Jesus is Lord! Again, if what He taught is true, then there is always a moral connection to the events of our lives, which is another way of saying there is meaning and purpose behind history, current events and the future. There is, in His universe, moral cause and effect.

The alternative is that Jesus has nothing to do with this. He is at best a liar and a nobody, and at worst (as many believe), a trouble-maker. He has no standing as a Savior, much less as a King. From this perspective our political leaders and experts are or saviors, but in a random and meaningless universe, which came from nothing and from no one, and is headed, in the end, to that same void, a virus is just one more product of the cosmic crapshoot, and at some point a microscopic virus may very well prove to be the most fit to survive. All the matter that we thought mattered will have turned out not to have mattered at all. We will have been just a little more dust in the dustbin of history.

And so, on this Palm Sunday, I speak to those who have chosen to take up the palms and lay down their cloaks and shout “Hosanna to the King!” Much of history and much of our world has rejected the claims of Jesus, as He said they would, but you and I have decided to follow Him; to put our trust in Him; all of it. He is everything.

On the first Palm Sunday Jesus turned over tables in the Temple. By the following Friday many would declare what they thought of Him; that He was nothing. They striped Him, beat Him, spit on Him, mocked Him, tortured Him, killed Him, and make a public display on a cross of this alleged “King of the Jews.” On the following Sunday, Jesus will turn some other tables. He who rises from the dead wins! Rome is long-gone; their power failed. This was not the first time Jesus came through what appeared to be a hopeless situation. J. C. Ryle observed:

The men of Nazareth could not hold Him when He chose to “pass through the midst of them to go His way” (Luke 4:30). The angry Jews of Jerusalem could not detain Him when they would have laid violent hands on Him in the Temple; but “going through the midst of them, He passed by” (John 8:59). Above all, the very soldiers who apprehended Him in the garden, at first, “went backward and fell to the ground” (John 18:6). In each of these instances there is but one explanation. A divine influence was put forth. There was about our Lord during His whole earthly ministry a mysterious “hiding of His power” (Hab. 3:4). But He had almighty power when He was pleased to use it. (J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John, p. 113.)

So now, at the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Jesus purposely allowed the whole Jewish nation to fix their eyes upon Him, including the Jewish Sanhedrin, which sought to kill Him. He knew what was coming over the next week. In a week’s time He went from being declared by the crowd to be “The King of the Jews” with palms and shouts of “Hosanna?” to being mocked by the Romans as “The King of the Jews.” By the first day of the next week He will be declared to be the “King of kings,” forever.

“The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” —Revelation 11:15

Grief Analogy

A friend of mine is grieving today—the anniversary of the death of her spouse. We all have our own griefs; or will have them. Grief over death is our response to a love that has been lost for now. We can’t remove grief, for that would necessitate removing the love. Therefore, we comfort and come alongside one another and speak, or pray, or just stand there with them; remembering, sympathizing, crying, and anticipating.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ―2 Corinthians 1:3-4

C. S. Lewis wrote in A Grief Observed:

We were promised sufferings. They were part of the program. We were even told, ‘Blessed are they that mourn,’ and I accept it. I’ve got nothing that I hadn’t bargained for. Of course it is different when the thing happens to oneself, not to others, and in reality, not imagination.

Our real comfort comes in knowing that there is Someone who is bigger than our grief and who can do, and has done, something about it. Without a Savior our grief stands unabated in a meaningless, purposeless cosmos. With a Savior—a Savior who rose from the dead—we learn that the story isn’t over yet.

But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.         —1 Thessalonians 4:13-14

A few years ago I ran across this anonymous analogy of grief that I found helpful in gaining some perspective:

Alright, here goes. I’m old. What that means is that I’ve survived (so far) and a lot of people I’ve known and loved did not. I’ve lost friends, best friends, acquaintances, co-workers, grandparents, mom, relatives, teachers, mentors, students, neighbors, and a host of other folks. I have no children, and I can’t imagine the pain it must be to lose a child. But here’s my two cents.

I wish I could say you get used to people dying. I never did. I don’t want to. It tears a hole through me whenever somebody I love dies, no matter the circumstances. But I don’t want it to “not matter.” I don’t want it to be something that just passes. My scars are a testament to the love and the relationship that I had for and with that person. And if the scar is deep, so was the love. So be it. Scars are a testament to life. Scars are a testament that I can love deeply and live deeply and be cut, or even gouged, and that I can heal and continue to live and continue to love. And the scar tissue is stronger than the original flesh ever was. Scars are a testament to life. Scars are only ugly to people who can’t see.

As for grief, you’ll find it comes in waves. When the ship is first wrecked, you’re drowning, with wreckage all around you. Everything floating around you reminds you of the beauty and the magnificence of the ship that was, and is no more. And all you can do is float. You find some piece of the wreckage and you hang on for a while. Maybe it’s some physical thing. Maybe it’s a happy memory or a photograph. Maybe it’s a person who is also floating. For a while, all you can do is float. Stay alive.

In the beginning, the waves are 100 feet tall and crash over you without mercy. They come 10 seconds apart and don’t even give you time to catch your breath. All you can do is hang on and float. After a while, maybe weeks, maybe months, you’ll find the waves are still 100 feet tall, but they come further apart. When they come, they still crash all over you and wipe you out. But in between, you can breathe, you can function. You never know what’s going to trigger the grief. It might be a song, a picture, a street intersection, the smell of a cup of coffee. It can be just about anything…and the wave comes crashing. But in between waves, there is life.

Somewhere down the line, and it’s different for everybody, you find that the waves are only 80 feet tall. Or 50 feet tall. And while they still come, they come further apart. You can see them coming. An anniversary, a birthday, or Christmas, or landing at O’Hare. You can see it coming, for the most part, and prepare yourself. And when it washes over you, you know that somehow you will, again, come out the other side. Soaking wet, sputtering, still hanging on to some tiny piece of the wreckage, but you’ll come out.

Take it from an old guy. The waves never stop coming, and somehow you don’t really want them to. But you learn that you’ll survive them. And other waves will come. And you’ll survive them too. If you’re lucky, you’ll have lots of scars from lots of loves. And lots of shipwrecks.

The Mystery of Meaning

It’s not uncommon for people to complain that they can’t believe in a God that would allow sickness, pain and death, and so they attempt to exile Him from their world and replace him with a meaningless machine of a cosmos; grinding away, day-after-day and year-after-year. As a result, their trials and sufferings cease to be mysteries with greater purpose and instead become only miseries to no end. When the real-life version of “survival of the fittest” shows up on their doorstep, and the random forces of mindless evolution threaten to devour them, there is no comfort to be found in a world that has vanquished a personal God.

Evil is a mystery, but if there is no transcendent God—especially a transcendent God of love—then “evil” turns out to only be a construct of our temporary minds that will soon vanish like every other molecule, to be remembered no more. There is no rhyme or reason for anything; we’re only more molecules in motion. A vague appeal to a “survival instinct” is a pseudo-scientific, worthless replacement for an infinitely wise God. In his Introduction to the Book of Job, G.K. Chesterton observed that: “The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man.” When it’s you, or your child, or your friend, you long for a person bigger than yourself. Darwin’s world gives you nothing but a big zero—there’s no one to cry out to. It is what it is; move along; next…

As a finite man I find great comfort in an infinite God. I can’t comprehend Him. If I could then He would be of little comfort to me. He has revealed in the creation and in the Bible that He is good, wise, powerful, and that He loves me. Even my worst trials have ultimate meaning and purpose. I don’t know why He does or allows most of the things He does. As John Piper noted: “God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.” Sometimes I’m a believer by default; because all the alternatives are far worse. At other times I’m a believer because I clearly see His directing hand at work, turning the mysteries into glories. Elisabeth Elliot wrote:

Because God is my sovereign Lord, I was not worried. He manages perfectly, day and night, year in and year out, the movements of the stars, the wheeling of the planets, the staggering coordination of events that goes on the molecular level in order to hold things together. There is no doubt that he can manage the timing of my days and weeks.

And theologian B.B. Warfield reminded us of how the Bible has recorded and preserved the mysterious providential working of God “behind the scenes”:

It was not accident that brought Rebecca to the well to welcome Abraham’s servant (Gen. 24), or that sent Joseph into Egypt (Gen. 45:8; 50:20: “God meant it for good”), or guided Pharaoh’s daughter to the ark among the flags (Ex. 2), or that, later, directed the millstone that crushed Abimelech’s head (Judges 9:53), or winged the arrow shot at a venture to smite the king in the joints of the armor (1 Kings 22:34). Every historical event is rather treated as an item in the orderly carrying out of an underlying Divine purpose; and the historian is continually aware of the presence in history of Him who gives even to the lightning a charge to strike the mark (Job 36:32).

 

Pastoral Advice

 

Martin Luther’s pastoral advice during the Black Plague:

“I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me however I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely as stated above. See this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.”

—Martin Luther, Works v. 43, p. 132. Letter “Whether one may flee from a Deadly Plague” written to Rev. Dr. John Hess. (HT: Tim Schroeder)

Why this Evangelical Will Vote for Trump in 2020

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I write to and for my friends, some of whom will disagree with me. If you can’t agree with me then perhaps you will, at least, be able to better understand me. I hope to better understand my friends as well. We come from different places, circumstances and experiences. We look at the world from differing vantage points, interpreting the world with our own presuppositions. We all have an ultimate authority (even if that authority is our self). My ultimate authority is the Bible, and that’s a central part of what makes me an evangelical Christian.

Genuine humility, respect, and love for one another can enable our disagreements to sharpen us. It’s commonly said that friends shouldn’t talk about religion or politics. However, these are two of the most important topics in life, and if friends can’t talk about these things, I wonder if there’s a real friendship at all. If we huddle only with people we already agree with we might feel safe, but we’ll likely never grow. Over the years some of my ideas have changed and others have been confirmed. Friends with differing views have helped me in both cases. Since I care about our country, its future and its standing before God, I hope you will consider the following.

Many have questioned why so many evangelical Christians voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and likely will do so again in 2020.* Given Trump’s many moral failings, along with his crass, petty and self-congratulatory style, the argument seems to be that evangelical support for him is hypocritical and totally contrary to traditional Christian values. Surely, evangelicals could find a nicer, more likable candidate to support. Since evangelicals’ defense of this President seems incongruous, they often are written off as ignorant, gullible or deplorable; all of which may be true in some cases. By design, it seems, inarticulate and small-minded “representatives” are specifically sought out by some in the media to be spokespersons for all evangelicals. Unfortunately, there’s always someone on your side that you wish was on the other side.

I don’t purport to speak for all evangelical Christians. I assume there are a variety of reasons, some good and some bad, as to why many will vote for Donald Trump in 2020. There are few choices in life that are truly between the ideal and the truly awful. Most often we’re left with making choices between two less-than-ideal alternatives. The world and all the people therein are broken. In a system with two dominant political parties, every four years we’re basically given a binary choice and, under the best of circumstances, we’re forced to vote for the “lesser of two evils” (I don’t mean “evil” absolutely). No angels have yet been nominated, and thus we’re left to choose between Spam and bologna, not Spam and filet mignon. Given the state of our political culture, any candidate whom I could enthusiastically get behind probably couldn’t get past the first straw poll.

So here we are again, and knowing that “character is destiny,” we’ll ultimately have to choose one of the two major candidates. Our destiny will be significantly impacted by that choice. I wrote this in an article in July, 2016:

So, I have been looking hard to find some positive reasons to vote for Trump, and not just to vote against Clinton. There are some reasons, mainly that I am certain as to what kind of Supreme Court Justices Clinton will appoint and I am simply not sure what kind he will appoint—a sure thing vs. a crap-shoot. I wish I had enough confidence in his character to trust what he says he will do.

We tend to think the next presidential election will be our salvation, but our problems are much too severe to be remedied by a single presidential election. Electing the ”perfect” President would not address America’s moral collapse and gross idolatry. This is not to say that electing a wise and godly President isn’t a worthy goal but that such a goal must be kept in its proper context. “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain” (Ps. 127:1). I believe most of us are prone to expect quick solutions to complex problems. Yet, God has most often worked slowly—even generationally—throughout history, both in blessing and in judgment. Our spiritual decline as a nation has occurred over many generations, and a spiritual revival will either entail considerable effort over many years or a cataclysm that brings even unbelievers to their knees. We’re still benefiting from the prosperity of the leftover capital (moral and material) of our country’s Christian roots but, like the prodigal son, our inheritance seems to be running out.

We have one party, and its prospective nominees, who, among other things, proclaim and promote the utterly unacceptable idea that a person has the right to end the life of their own child up to the second before birth (and in some cases beyond birth). This is a threshold issue that cannot be compromised.** We have another party whose nominee is egocentric and often lacking maturity and self-control. Both parties are spending us or some future generation into oblivion. The hubris of political leaders of all stripes is beyond measure.

A lot can change between now and November 3rd, but as it stands now the choice is imperfect but still perfectly clear. On the one hand, there is much about Donald Trump that I neither like nor support. Nevertheless, the current alternatives to Trump are far worse, promoting policies that would fundamentally change the nature of our republic and usher in a socialist nanny state, existential threats to and increased restrictions on religious freedom, and (most critically) the continuing slaughter of millions more innocent children in the womb. In regard to these three non-negotiable areas, President Trump has proven himself to be far better than I ever imagined he would be. So, convince me that these three notions mentioned above are good ideas, and the Democrats will have my vote. But, if convinced of these three things, I would no longer be an evangelical Christian and a faithful follower of Jesus Christ.

* For a more detailed explanation, see Andrew T. Walker’s article: “Understanding Why Religious Conservatives Would Vote for Trump,” (National Review Online, Feb. 10, 2020): https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/02/2020-election-religious-conservatives-trump-voters/

** For an excellent presentation of the foundational issue at stake, I recommend Nancy Pearcey’s book, Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions About Life and Sexuality, (Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI, 2018).

The Necessity of Meaninglessness

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“For myself as, no doubt, for most of my contemporaries, the philosophy of meaninglessness [evolution] was essentially an instrument of liberation. The liberation we desired was simultaneously liberation from a certain political and economic system and liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom; we objected to the political and economic system because it was unjust. The supporters of these systems claimed that in some way they embodied the meaning (a Christian meaning, they insisted) of the world. There was one admirably simple method of confuting these people and at the same time justifying ourselves in our political and erotic revolt: we could deny that the world had any meaning whatsoever.”

Aldous Huxley – Ends and Means

Underground Roots

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Love is a temporary madness, it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is.

Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being in love, which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.

Those that truly love have roots that grow towards each other underground, and, when all the pretty blossoms have fallen from their branches, they find that they are one tree and not two.

— Louis de Bernières, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin

300 Cheeses

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Antonin Scalia said that “a prominent French judge once explained to me the essential difference between France and the United States as follows: France has two religions and three hundred cheeses; the United States has two cheeses and three hundred religions.”

Antonin Scalia, On Faith, p. 100

Everything in Perspective

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Antonin Scalia, On Faith: Lessons from an American Believer

Perhaps the best lesson I ever learned here at George­town occurred during my oral comprehensive exami­nation in my major (history) at the end of my senior year. My history professor was Dr. Wilkinson, a prince of a man. He was the chairman of the three-professor panel that examined me. And I did, if I may say so myself, a smashingly good job. As the time for the ex­amination was almost at hand, Dr. Wilkinson asked me one last question, which seemed to me a softball. Of all the historical events you have studied, he said, which one in your opinion had the most impact upon the world? How could I possibly get this wrong? There was obviously no single correct answer. The only issue was what good answer I should choose. The French Rev­olution perhaps? Or the Battle of Thermopylae—or of Lepanto? Or the American Revolution? I forget what I picked, because it was all driven out of my mind when Dr. Wilkinson informed me of the right answer—or at least the right answer if I really believed what he and I thought I believed. Of course it was the Incarnation. Point taken. You must keep everything in perspective, and not run your spiritual life and your worldly life as though they are two separate operations. (pp. 57, 58)