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~ The Extreme Middle ~

2/15/2023

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*This is a rapid fire piece. I have so many ideas backlogged and I want to put something out each month, but I just can't bring myself to write a ton of full-length pieces. I decided to start a less formal format where I quickly lay out some thoughts I had. These pieces are often first thoughts, and should be taken with an even bigger grain of salt than pieces I've spent more time on.
Most people advocate the idea that life and morality are best exemplified by the avoidance of extremes. If you err in one direction, you end up being licentious, and if you go in the other direction, you end up being uptight and legalistic. The letter of the law or no law at all. Both are problems. 

But when you try to apply this concept of avoiding the extreme, you end up with a life that doesn't depict radical Christianity at all. Let's just take economics as an example. If you were to tell the early church in Acts to avoid extremes, you'd tell them not to horde their money, but also not to give their money away "unwisely." They should live modestly, but they also should make sure to save enough to put their immediate family first, to put their kids through college, and to have a safe, comfortable retirement fund to provide for their future. You certainly wouldn't tell them to share all their possessions and to give to those in need to a point that it hurts them and their families. Yet that's exactly what the early church did. 

The thing is, God's commands are extreme. So hording for self and spending in excess for self both fail to demonstrate love, just in different directions. They're both egoistic. But selling possessions, giving to the poor at cost to yourself, and sharing in common are extreme measures, but they are beautiful goods. I think we have to nuance the term "extreme" or else we equivocate on it. When we say don't go to extremes, what we should mean is that we shouldn't err to either side, either extremity, or either direction. What we shouldn't mean is that we live a life devoid of actions which are extreme and powerful. Think of it like driving on the road. When you stay in the middle - in your lane - you go at high speeds and have purpose and direction. But when you go into either ditch, you hit ruts, signs, fences, guardrails, and you slow down or crash. Extreme speed can only be maintained when avoiding the extremity of the road.

Chesterton has a wonderful discussion on this in his book "Orthodoxy." Chesterton argues that Christian virtue is not the avoidance of extremes, but rather the furious joining of two extremes. Courage, for example, comes when one counts his life as lost while simultaneously desiring to preserve his life. To only count one's life as lost is to be a suicide, while to only care about the preservation of one's life is to be a coward. Courage, like most/all Christian virtues, can only be held if one holds both extremes in the middle. The Christian life is an extreme life and we ought not to use this idea of "avoiding the extreme" to water down how we are called to live. 
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Theology of a Tattoo

10/1/2022

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I know most people think tattoos are stupid decisions, but I have never regretted my decision to get one. Part of the reason I have no regret is because my tattoo is infused with meaning. Whether or not you agree with the decision to get a tattoo, I'd like to share with you the theology lessons you can pull from my tattoo, should you ever see me shirtless at the pool and aren't blinded by the white. 

Trinity: The most recognizable part of my tattoo is probably the center, which is the trinity knot. The trinity knot represents the trinity by having three points (for the godhead) as well as being a never ending loop (with a circle) to represent the infinite, never beginning, and never ending aspect of the godhead. The trinity is the center because God is the center of everything. 

Upside Down Kingdom: At the bottom you can see a kingdom which is upside down. I was first introduced to the "upside down kingdom" terminology by Donald Kraybill, whose book is of course titled, "The Upside-Down Kingdom." The book was revolutionary for me, and started me on a journey that would revolutionize my Christian thought and actions in the world. The concept is essentially that Christ's taught us an upside down way of living. The last are first. Slaves are free. The least are the greatest. Masters are to serve. Christ's way overturns the powers of this world not through aggressive force, but through sacrificial love. This is the foundation the world is built on. In fact, we see it in the Garden of Eden, for the first thing that happened when sin entered the world was that humanity recognized their nakedness. It was the first time they had looked to themselves, for before they had only looked to serve each other, God, and nature. The upside down Kingdom is God's way.

The Garden and the Tree of Life: It is on the foundation of God's upside down Kingdom, whose center is the godhead, that the utopia of the garden and the tree of life are built. 

The River: The river represents the streams of living water which flow forth from God's utopia. Jesus said that he is the living water, and it is he who brought the upside-down Kingdom to earth, bringing us restoration and salvation so we could live with him again in utopia upon our resurrection. But this river isn't just isolated to the Garden. Isaiah shows that this river flows forth from Christ, through his people, and out into the world. This is why the river flows out of the garden and extends to my arm. Through me - and all other believers - God moves through the world and brings life and restoration to his creation. He is making his enemies his footstool and he is calling others to himself, and he has chosen to use us as his ambassadors to do it. 

The Heart: This image is placed over my heart, as it is the godhead dwelling in me, through the Spirit, which transforms me and enables me to be the hands and feet of Christ in the world. 
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His Stripes and Our Stripes

7/26/2022

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Photo by  Brandon Harrell  on  Scopio
For a podcast version of this with some revisions, follow this link.

​It is easy for each generation to look at social changes and view them as negative changes in morality. Whether it is the development of more revealing clothing, more open use of swearing and crude words, the legalization of pot, or any other number of changes - it can seem to an older generation that the sky is falling. But at the same time, there are changes which happen socially that clearly fall within the moral realm. Loosened sexual ethics, sentimental spirituality refusing to plug into a church body, or the increasing acceptance of certain birth control methods, like the day after pill, are all examples of social changes which, from a historical Christian standpoint, clearly cross the threshold of immorality. While I could harp on any one of these issues and bemoan the degradation of modern, liberal Christianity, I instead want to point fingers at my own group and ask for our personal reflection as I highlight what I think is a troubling trend which undermines our ability to critique modern culture.

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Circumscribing God

5/18/2022

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Image by Sidharth Bhawsar on scop.io
I often read the Bible with an air of arrogance. Sometimes I elevate myself above the foolish Israelites who, even after seeing God part the red sea or deliver them from empire, still choose to rebel against this omnipotent and benevolent God. At other times I am appalled at the Ancient Near East’s barbaric practices like that of sacrificing their own children to the gods. Clearly, I am so much better than they are. But perhaps there is no greater area in which my pride is pandered than when reading about ancient peoples and idolatry. How is it that people could be so ignorant and foolish as to attempt to house their gods in inanimate blocks of wood or stone?
​
A few weeks ago, I read George Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language.” Towards the end of the piece Orwell said something which slapped me in the face, as he revealed to me that I, in a way, am an idolater no better than those ignorant ancients depicted in the Bible. Orwell said,

“When you think of a concrete object, you think wordlessly, and then, if you want to describe the thing you have been visualizing, you probably hunt about till you find the exact words that seem to fit it. When you think of something abstract you are more inclined to use words from the start, and unless you make a conscious effort to prevent it, the existing dialect will come rushing in and do the job for you, at the expense of blurring or even changing your meaning. Probably it is better to put off using words as long as possible and get one’s meanings as clear as one can through pictures and sensations. Afterwards one can choose – not simply accept – the phrases that will best cover the meaning, and then switch round and decide what impression one’s words are likely to make on another person." ​

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Face to Face with the Consuming Fire

1/16/2022

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Image from creative commons by John K.
​Three verses have long been troubling to me: Exodus 33:20, I Timothy 6:16, and John 1:18. Each of these verses declares that God cannot be seen, either because he is invisible and spirit, or because if we saw him we could no longer live. What is particularly troubling about these verses is that they seem patently false. Genesis 32:30 tells us that Jacob saw God face to face and Exodus 33:11 tells us that Moses spoke with God face to face. This is doubly troubling because the author of Exodus tells us that we can't live if we see God only 9 verses after telling us that Moses saw God face to face. 

Today in church the passage on Moses's inability to see God was brought up again, and a strange thought came to my mind. It struck me that not only did Moses and Jacob see God face to face, and arguably a few others, like Isaiah - but the New Testament tells us that humanity has now seen God face to face in Jesus. Jesus is the perfect representation and image of God (Col. 1:15 and Heb. 1:3), and Jesus told us that when we see him, we have seen the Father (Jn. 14:9). So humanity has seen God face to face, and we continue to see God in the life and teachings of Jesus. 

Many have seen God, yet we all have lived.

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A Morality of Being

9/27/2021

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Photo by  Mariyah Khan  on  Scopio
Click here for an audio/podcast version of this article. 
CONVERSION AND TRUTH
​​​Everyone's an evangelist whether they know it or not. You may not be an evangelist for some large, organized religion or cult, but I guarantee you’re an evangelist for some belief. You are likely affronted by my calling you an evangelist because the term has taken on some very negative connotations in our age. The fervor, pushiness, judgmental nature, and self-righteousness of many evangelists likely fuels our aversion to the term - and rightfully so. Nobody wants to be evangelized because nobody wants to be objectified, and objectification is exactly what many evangelists do to potential converts. The evangelist's subject (or victim) is often merely seen as malleable gray matter - a fertile host into which the evangelist (or parasite) can inseminate their ideas. 

As an evangelist for Christianity, I take exception to these negative connotations of evangelism, though I certainly understand and agree with their application most of the time. Such an acknowledgement of evangelism’s misuse is a sober warning to me that even in my noblest of desires, my self-centeredness may be the overwhelming motivation with which I lead. But potential egoism isn’t the only way in which I might err. When evangelism fails to be a good thing, its failure must be seen as in one of two areas: the objectification of another (which simultaneously entails the self-centeredness of the evangelist) and/or the untruth of the message - the "good news" being preached.​

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Sin Eaters

8/18/2021

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Photo by  wasswa james  on  Scopio
​Rights are strange things. They're something which most people have not possessed throughout history. Women possessed few. Children possessed practically none. Minority groups and the lower class had few. Historically, rights just weren't recognized or given. Even today we see many groups who perceive that their rights are being infringed upon. 

​But as a Christian, I've struggled with this whole notion of rights. While I applaud the justice aspect of rights being received by all groups in society, I fear what such a fight has done to the church. It just seems a bit off when I see Christians mustering up fear and intensity around each election cycle, as we seek to ensure that our religious rights are secure. It seems strange to me that our personal rights or the rights of our church warrant our sacrificing of other moral requirements for political leaders, or the sacrificing of the rights of others so that our rights may be secured. The invocation of rights by Christians, especially in our politically charged climate, so often seems to be antithetical to the Bible, as we seek the sacrifice of others that we may not have to die to self. 

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Reformed Catechisms and Prophetic Witness

12/1/2020

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Photo by  David Schliepp  on  Scopio
There are two things I particularly love about Reformed theology: its ability to drive one towards humility, and its emphasis on upholding the importance of doctrine. First, Reformed theology is perfectly equipped to drive one to humility through its doctrine - doctrine which demands introspection. The Reformed are well known for using the saying, "There but for the grace of God, go I." Due to the strong doctrine of total depravity, God's grace, and an understanding that our hearts are wicked and deceitful, Reformed believers have no grounds to be shocked when the most godly leader in the world falls, and no grounds to think that anyone is above any sin, even and especially oneself. There is a fear and trembling that Reformed doctrines should produce in our daily living, as well as a converse wonder and awe at the beautiful and extravagant grace of God. Reformed doctrines ought to drive us to humility..

Second, Reformed doctrines are equipped to drive us towards holding doctrine in high esteem. If humanity's problem is a looking to self and a forcing of God into the dark recesses of one's heart and mind, then the knowledge - the true and accurate knowledge of God and his son Jesus Christ, revealed in the Word, through the Spirit, ought to be core to our conversion and continued sanctification. Reformed faith should drive us to seek the knowledge of God in our theology, because right theology ought to cause us to become more and more conformed to the image of Jesus, who is the perfect image of God.  ​

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Political Resources

9/16/2020

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Photo by  Jonathan Tobias  on  Scopio

The following sample of resources are some of the pieces which I've read or created while thinking through the issue of politics. I attempted to use a broad selection of authors, from conservative Christians to the secular, so you can get different angles. Regardless of where you land, my hope is that you'll begin to see the world through the eyes of the gospel first, and politics second (or tenth).

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God Loves the Wicked: A New Theodicy

8/6/2020

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Photo by  Matteo Fantuzzi  on  Scopio
[For an extended audio version of this article, check out the podcast episode]

Theodicies are a big deal. Whether you know the term "theodicy" or not, you probably know a theodicy or two if you're a Christian. It's pretty much required, as remaining a Christian without knowing a few theodicies would be intellectually difficult. Whether you yourself have struggled with doubt about God and his goodness, or whether someone you know has struggled with tragic loss and God's seeming silence, the problem of evil is an issue we must all face and attempt to answer. In fact, the problem of evil seems to me to be one of the biggest hindrances to the faith for many today. A theodicy, then, is just our attempt at providing a possible explanation for the evil we experience and see, as well as the seeming silence of God and his goodness through such evil.

Theodicies have been weighing heavily on my heart recently. It's hard not to dwell on the problem of evil when evil so apparently abounds in the violence, racism, and abuse we see throughout the world, and even more despairingly, in the church. And it's hard not to address the problem of evil daily when it seems to be on everyone else's mind, especially on the minds of those who aren't Christians. We live in a nation where so many claim to believe in God, his goodness, and the power of prayer despite mounting evidence that those things are impotent and ineffectual in the face of evil and tragedy. Thoughts and prayers are too often given without any indication of their effectual merit, as evidenced by the next tragedy which inevitably comes. Beyond the man-made tragedies which weigh on us all, there are also those tragedies which seem inexplicable. I was talking to a former Christian just the other day and he told me that he didn't want to deal with any other Christian apologetics if I couldn't answer the problem of natural evil. I can pin moral evil on free creatures, but how can I possibly explain how a good God could exist when creation is so clearly fashioned in such a way that requires pain and death (e.g. 2nd law of thermodynamics and entropy, plate tectonics and volcanoes, storms and winds/lightning/floods, bacteria and viruses, animals clearly created to prey on other animals, gravity and our fragile bodies, etc)? 

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