Search Results

October 16, 2024   Ideas have consequences!  In that little sentence lies an important truth.   That little sentence became the title of a book, written by Richard Weaver (1948).  In the book, Weaver traces the history of some ideas introduced into Western thought in the Middle Ages and analyzes their long-term impact on the decline of Western Civilization.    From one perspective, Christianity has enjoyed a good “run” as a cultural “influencer” (to use le terme du jour ).  For roughly 1500 years Christian ideas about human nature and the good society were the rising, or the dominant, influence in the “West.”  But for the last 250 years or so, Christian standards have been in retreat and Christianity, as a cultural force, has been waning.    The French Revolution (1787-1799) is the first major evidence of this process.  Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1768), Karl Marx (1818-1883), and Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) are three of the big-name philosophers who attacked Christian culture.  (Marx is, in my mind, the most influential intellectual of the last 200 years.)   Since the mid-20th century, the decline of Christian cultural influence” has accelerated, to the point where today, not only is its influence absent in the West, even people’s “cultural memory” of that influence is gone; hence, we have entered the Age of cultural “Posts:”   Post-Christian Post-Modern Post-Truth   and Christians find themselves in an increasingly obvious “strange land.” (The list could include other posts-, but those are the top three.)   Each of these terms identifies a shift in cultural beliefs – that is, in the ideas that shape people’s worldview, what they value, and, therefore, how they behave.  Taken together such ideas form what has been called a “paradigm.” So, we have seen a paradigm shift .    The emergence of the Christian West 1500+ years ago followed a paradigm shift.  That shift could be called post-pagan , as Christian (Biblical) ideas displaced a once-dominant pagan outlook.   Since ideas have consequences, a change in ideas brings new, or different, consequences.  So, what are the consequences that come with a Post-Christian, Post-Modern and Post-Truth culture?  And what causes the shift in ideas that lead to those consequences?  I find these of great interest.   I think it is self-evident that changes in ideas and beliefs do not result from change in our bodies: no change in the brain or in the way people are “programmed,” or from some “disease” or “virus;” rather, it’s the changes in what people believe and how those new beliefs affect their desires and outlook, and how these, in turn, impact what they see as acceptable and “good” choices.   If this strikes you as an odd or puzzling, consider this…    In recent years we have seen behaviour which was unimaginable 20 years ago, behaviour that has become socially acceptable to some, but is “strange” fruit to others, including me.  Transgenderism is probably the most obvious example.  Some (many?) critics of the Trans phenomenon often describe it as “crazy” or “insane.”  This frames the explanation of the phenomenon as mental illness – in other words, as a medical problem.  I think this is mistaken, and misses the reality that the phenomenon is the product of a spiritual condition.   I will proceed – slowly – to make my case for that in posts to come... Coming up: Restoring Reason - 1

October 10, 2024   What does it mean to be a “stranger” in a “strange land?”   Typically, a stranger is simply a person you don’t know and vice versa – one would be a stranger among those you had not met. But “stranger” also has an edgier meaning: an alien; a foreigner; someone with a different outlook than the mainstream culture, different customs, different values; someone who, thus, doesn’t belong.   And, for the most part, the idea of the “strange land” parallels that: a place that is foreign, a “land” where people’s outlook, values, and customs are alien to mine; a place where I am an outsider, where I do not fit, and have the sense that I do not belong.   The phrase “stranger in a strange land” is intended to sound Biblical. Throughout scripture we find various mentions of strangers: “sojourners” – temporary residents – and “exiles” (see, for example, Ex. 2:22; Ps. 119:19; 1 Chr. 29:15; 1 Pe. 2:11;).  Abraham sojourned – was a stranger – in Canaan; his descendants sojourned in Egypt for 400+ years, and most of that time as slaves; the Jewish exiles sojourned in Babylon for 70 years.  (In Psalm 137:4 their lament asks the question “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange  land?)  And Peter, among other early Christians, saw the early Church as sojourning in the Roman Empire.   In God’s providence and plan, this is the status of His people in this world; and so it should be, for, Paul writes in Phil. 3:20: “our citizenship is in heaven.”  Paul has the Christian’s ultimate citizenship in view.     Only recently I have come to see that being a stranger in a strange land is not, properly understood, situational .  In the Biblical examples cited above, the strangeness looks  situational – the circumstances in each case are difficult, challenging, and even oppressive – but the underlying issue is structural .  A Christian may feel comfortable in the broader surrounding culture, but he or she is still living in a strange land as a stranger/sojourner/foreigner.   As I look back on my life – which covers a little more than six decades – I can see that I have long failed to appreciate this reality.  Living in a place and time where I have enjoyed a fairly affluent and peaceful life, I have expected things of this world that it cannot deliver because – as good as God’s creation remains – this fallen world, and everything in it, is cursed.   It has taken events of the past few years – the culture’s spiraling descent into sexual and social chaos, and the many revelations exposed by the response to Covid, to name two, - to strip away the illusions under which I had long lived. I have awakened to the fact that my Christian faith makes me a stranger in this increasingly strange place.   Periodically, in occasional fits-and-starts, I have written down some thoughts related to this change in my thinking, and toyed with the idea of blogging… And so this blog begins in earnest, after a “false start” a couple of years back.  You see the evidence of this in the previous posts.  We shall see if I have the self-discipline to keep this going for any length of time.    Next time: From Pillar to Post-

The initial launch didn't go so well. After a hiatus of two years, it is time to relaunch...

The 1st in a series of posts exploring the Church’s compliance with government orders forbidding public worship through the lens of idolatry. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 1 Corinthians 10:14 If I were to stop people at random on the street and ask them any kind of question about Covid and the idols that the pandemic revealed, we all know what the reaction would be: a look of alarm, a thought about “What kind of crazy man is this?” and a hasty departure in another direction. Of course, among secular folks, this reaction is to be expected and is, I think, understandable. But how would Christians react? I am not sure that the response would be much different. It seems “safe” to say – based on the verse from 1 Corinthians quoted above – that Paul saw idolatry as a serious issue, and a serious threat to the Church. This is consistent with how the Bible treats idolatry throughout. I am doubtful that it is an issue with sufficient profile in today’s Church in this part of the world. Hence, I think that any attempt to address idolatry must get past a number of questions: How closely does our understanding of idolatry overlap with the Bible’s understanding? What things – let’s call them “objects” – can serve as idols? In what ways might idolatry be a problem for the Church, in responding to the secular/pagan world in which we live? In what ways might idolatry be a problem within the Church? What are the consequences when the Church mishandles idolatry? These are questions that I will address in future posts, but today I want to answer another question – one that arises from Paul’s exhortation to “flee from idolatry:” How can Christians flee idolatry unless they recognize the idols from which we are to flee? Under the theme of Covid and Its Idols, let me briefly describe three idols that have been – for all who have “eyes to see” – clearly visible during the pandemic and that impacted the decision of many, many churches to shut their doors and to not gather in person when the government ordered this: Safetyism – Faith in safety as a redemptive objective - i.e. the elevation of safety to the level of something to be “worshipped” and as something with the ability to “save,” as evidenced by the strong desire among many people to gain a feeling of safety by use of various control measures: masks, (anti-) social distancing, lockdowns and self-isolation, etc. Processism – Faith in processes (laws, regulations, and medical and administrative practices) to "save" people from the Covid virus by stopping its spread. This includes faith in human processes to, not just mitigate risks posed by the virus, but to eliminate risks – something that is, alas, not humanly possible. Statism – Faith in the authority and ability of “big government” to control virtually every aspect of human life, even if this curtails so-called rights (thus confirming the notion that all-powerful government is the giver of “rights,” which are, in truth, privileges). This authority included the power to control the comings-and-goings of healthy adults from one’s place of residence and to forbid Christians from gathering for corporate worship. I have intentionally styled each of these idols as an “ism” because they belong to a group of political “isms” that attract many believers in our day. Each is an ideology – a set of beliefs, doctrines and policies that claim to be a path to some form of secular/political “salvation.” They are many: Marxism, Communism, Socialism, Fascism, Feminism, Environmentalism Existentialism, and so on. From a Biblical point of view, each is an idol – and a de facto religion –because each answers the Big Questions about the origins of the universe, the meaning of life, distinctions between good and evil, and our ultimate destiny as human beings, without any reference to God’s revelation in His Word.* As this series continues, I will explain how and why Safetyism, Processism, and Statism have come to serve as idols for many. For now, let me simply note that they are not new idols; they pre-date Covid, and yet, the pandemic has brought them to new levels of importance. For instance, “Caesar” – my pet name for civil authority – forbade corporate worship not just for safety, but in deference to Safetyism. The Church, however, does not owe this deference to Caesar and his idol(s). In giving such deference – and I understand that this was done largely without awareness of this and with the intention of “honouring the Emperor” (1 Pe. 2:17), I believe most churches failed to “fear God,” as we ought to have feared God. * Of course, there are many “isms” that are not political. For a much fuller list of “isms”, see https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary_of_philosophical_isms . BTW, I was tempted to use the term Methodism instead of Processism, but thought better of it, for obvious reasons. J

… in which we establish certain “rules” that will be followed as matters are discussed and arguments are set forth. “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5 Common Sense is dead! As to the when and why of its passing, the answers to such questions are for another time. Were Common Sense still alive, this post would be unnecessary; the points covered below would be taken for granted in the broader culture. Everyone would understand them, by intuition if not by explicit definition. Thus, we now sally forth to review some assumptions (ways of understanding) that are distinctively Christian and I want to set them before readers as “Rules of the Cave.” (NOTE: while I mark them as distinctively Christian, I am not saying that they are exclusively Christian.) These “rules” are the standards – or norms, if you will – that are to frame the approach taken to the topics to be discussed. (The typical courtesies that go with blogging - about rudeness, crudeness, respect, and so on, for this type of Blog, you are assumed to know.) In brief, these assumptions are: 1. Reality, with a capital “R” is real and exists apart from us. It is built on objective content. This is true of both tangible reality (physical stuff) and intangible reality (ideas and principles). Yes, we experience reality subjectively, but there is always an real external reference point. 2. Revelation and reason are “above” feelings. Psychology is subordinate to philosophy, which is subordinate to theology . 3. The objective content of reality is built on the 3 laws of classical logic: i. A thing is what is it is. (A = A)(Up is always up) ii. A thing (i.e. a proposition) cannot be true and not true at the same time and in the same relationship.(A ≠ Non-A) (The light cannot be On and Off – that is, On for you and Off for me.) iii. A thing cannot be neither true nor false. (neither A nor non-A) In other words, a truth claim must be either true or false. 4. Reality dictates that these laws are universal in their operation. There is no time, place, culture, or language in the universe where they do not operate. Of the three Laws of Logic, the 2nd Law (ii.) is the one most frequently violated in our secular culture of relativism. It is traditionally known as the Law of Non-Contradiction (LNC). Although I never studied logic in school – much to my lasting regret! – I have long been acquainted with it: in the late 1980’s I taught a Grade 7-8 Sunday School class to whom I explained – multiple times – that the light in our classroom was either On or Off (as I flicked the light switch for dramatic effect). When I say the law is "violated," I mean that people make truth claims that, logically, cannot be true - and that are, therefore, nonsense: Example: abortion can be right for me and wrong for you. 2nd example: there is no Absolute Truth. Well, actually, the truth claim that there is no Absolute Truth is being made as the one truth claim that is absolutely true. And this is where the Law of Non-Contradiction has real “bite:” in every case where you deny the LNC, you cannot avoid affirming the LNC. Note that the Laws of Logic have great practical application throughout the entire universe. At one level, they apply functionally: they are the basis of order in physical matter and energy (electrons opposite protons). At a deeper level – that I would call “foundational” – we use them every time we think or speak. Words only have meaning, and sensible communication is only possible, as long as the Laws are honoured. The secular culture persists in ignoring or denying the Laws of Logic, especially the Law of Non-Contradiction. To the extent that it “succeeds” in this, the culture descends ever more deeply into confusion and chaos, i.e. disorder. We shall devote more attention to this in future posts; for today, we observe that this is what makes our world increasingly strange and disorienting. What I find most striking about the Laws of Logic is their “Trinitarian” structure that is expressed in Scripture. Take note: i. The 1st Law (The Law of Identity): A = A; a thing is what it is, reflecting the pattern of God’s (Yahweh’s) personal – I Am Who I Am (Ex. 3:14). ii. The 2nd Law, the Law of Non-Contradiction is confirmed in: “… God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” (1 Jn. 1:5) iii. The 3rd Law – that a truth claim must be either true or false – is clearly behind Jesus’ statement, ”Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Mt. 12:30, ESV) As I said, these distinctives are not exclusive to Christianity, but they are clearly among Christianity’s distinctives, and they are the Rules for Elijah’s Cave. Their proper use is essential if we are to understand our culture and to respond faithfully. I will follow them rigorously. Feel free to “call me out” when I fail.

In the style of Coles' Notes, what follows is a brief outline of the forthcoming "plot" of this blog... “Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. Exodus 13:3 In North America, most people have short memories – and even shorter attention-spans! (For the latter, I blame Sesame Street!) We don't expect people to remember much or for long. The Bible, on the other hand, places a great deal of value, and of emphasis, on remembering. The “Header Verse” above is but one example of this, among many found in scripture. And remembering is important when it comes to the Church’s experiences with various responses to Covid. While posts that re coming will range far-and-wide in the topics it considers, I want to organize the opening series of posts around a Church-related theme of remembering the recent past: What lessons should the Church learn from the ways in which people and governments responded to Covid? With that in mind, here is a short list of key questions… Was the Church ready for Covid? The answer is “No.” I say this as an observation about the Church, not as a statement passing judgment. The default reaction to the onset of Covid was one of widespread hysteria and panic. Remember? Many far-reaching decisions were made – remember the “run” on toilet paper? – driven by hysteria and panic. When people are panicked, do they make good decisions? Wise decisions? Again, the answer is “No.” This means that mistakes were made. Surely, it is necessary to remember and to ask: What were the mistakes, and what are the negative outcomes? How should we then learn/adapt so that these mistakes are not repeated in the future? Was the level of hysteria and panic much different between those who are not Christian and those who are? Once again, the answer is “No.” (I have a little anecdotal evidence to support this view: having asked a number of Christians this question, I have not found anyone yet who has answered “Yes.”) I ask these questions in support of a plea to the Church: Now that the crisis has past, and in light of the certainty of mistakes, may churches not fail to take the time and make the effort to remember what we have been through, and to examine how we have glorified God and how we may have failed to glorify God. In days when short memories and attention-spans are the rule, this will be a challenge, even for the Church. And we can add to that residual(?)pride that makes it difficult to confess mistakes – and sins. (Of the pride problem, I speak from abundant lived experience!) Our path of reflection begins with attention of a great scriptural theme: idolatry. What are the idols to which people turned during Covid? We will look at several, starting with the next post.

From an obscure incident in the life of the prophet Elijah comes the title for this blog. Read on... 9 There he came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 1 Kings 19|:9 Poor Elijah! Surely we find the low point of this great prophet's ministry in 1 Kings 19:4-10. Afraid and exhausted, overwhelmed by the "evil days" of his times, he flees into the wilderness, and eventually makes his way to a cave at the Mountain of God (Horeb). Elijah is reacting to threats to his life and a deep sense of alienation from his culture. He tells God (v. 10) that the people of Israel have turned their backs on God’s law, replaced the Lord’s altars with idols, and killed God’s prophets. “Even I, only, am left,” he laments. As I write in the summer of 2022, I am struck by how a “pandemic mindset” lingers. True, it is hard to measure, but masks are far from rare – and still seen in the outdoors and on folks driving alone. One hopes that lockdowns and other restrictions are things of the past, but Canadian governments have only “suspended” pandemic control measures and there remain various politicians, health care "experts," and media outlets committed to pandemic restrictions. I have a sense of being a stranger in a strange world - and the culture's response to Covid is only part of it: the moral decay of our culture continues apace and, indeed, seems to be accelerating. Trying to make sense of life in an age where Truth has disappeared makes it a struggle to separate sense from nonsense. Who among those in positions of authority is to be believed or trusted? Living through the last two-and-a-half years has brought me to sense a greater kinship with Elijah. Even this great prophet of God was not ready for the circumstances which overwhelmed him at one point in his ministry and drove him to flee. I was not ready for the pandemic; I do not know of any individual, agency or organizations that was. That includes the Church. Remember the panic buying of toilet paper when Covid arrived in March 2020? My reaction was that this was madness. It seemed like most North Americans had lost their minds! And it left me – along with other aspects of my pandemic experience – with a growing sense that I was now in a strange place where I did not belong. And, apart from the pandemic response, I am not sure I am ready for the onslaught that seems to be coming at us from “Woke Culture.” Now, the “toilet paper caper” might be dismissed as silly, but I think it offers some real insight into the character of our culture; and, to the extent that many Christians got caught up in this “caper,” I think there are also insights to be had about the state of the Church. These are matters – among a host of others – to be addressed in due course. In his moment of weakness, Elijah serves as a model for us. In the cave at Horeb, God gave Elijah a refuge where he could be refreshed, in both body and spirit. In the safety of the cave, Elijah could reflect on and meditate on the things of God and then, renewed, go forth to serve the Lord faithfully. The purpose of Elijah's Cave is not to find a place to hide, but to have a haven from which to go out and live in hope - hope in the gospel! So, again, welcome to Elijah’s cave, from whence to go forth… * I use Church (with an uppercase "C") to indicate the wider church - many congregations, one or more denominations, and so on. When church (with the lowercase "c") is used, I am referring to one or more particular church congregations.