“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” -Romans 3:22-24
One of my most memorable moments of young children was at the home of a friend where we had gathered for a birthday party. Our friend’s youngest child, at one point, came running out of the house amidst great tears announcing to the world his moral outrage, “It’s not fair! It’s not fair!” The child could not have been much more than 2 years old. So how did this child develop such a keen and dreadful sense of “fairness” at such a young age? Could it be that we are created with a God given conscience that early on raises its head in absolute indignation at perceived wrongs? Is there a universal sense of rightness and wrongness stamped on our image? And where did that come from?
Dr. Frans de Waal, an Emory University primatologist, spoke recently and demonstrated how primates share with us traits of fairness and moral outrage in some very unique experiments. His point was to show how a sense of morality could evolve without religion or God. It was troubling at first to witness this clear and undeniable demonstration. As Christians, we believe man is uniquely different from the animal kingdom especially when it comes to morality. Mankind has generally prided itself on its finely developed moral code embedded in law and government that sets us apart from the laws of the jungle. Dr. de Waal suggested we were just sitting a little higher up the evolutionary ladder from our ancestors and aren’t all that different.
Troubled, I began to reflect on just how different we are from the animals. One can surely see that there are many human emotions that are mimicked in the animal kingdom. Playfulness, anger, loyalty, loneliness, empathy, and even sorrow are to be found among our animal friends. Dr. de Waal has now demonstrated that chimps can exhibit a sense of fairness and moral outrage when suffering unequal treatment.
As much as our very concepts of “right” and “wrong” are still, in themselves, indicators of the existence of a moral universe, especially when they are so universally similar around the world, this is not the key factor that marks us as uniquely different. Everyone knows not to mess with a dog’s dish while he is eating. What truly marks us as unique is our sense of guilt; a lingering remorse over wrongful doing. It is real and it is painful. While we can see examples of empathetic sorrow in the animal kingdom, what we don’t see are examples of animals driven to suicide through their complicity in evil. But we as humans do it all the time; every day, in fact. While we can get some relief from the pain of guilt through the forgiveness of others, there is a very real sense of guilt for the very self-centered nature we share with Adam. That sense of guilt finds no solution on earth. It is an offense against God our creator that cannot be muted, forgotten, or easily erased as much as we might try. Freud says it is a societal construct imposed by others. Marx says it was invented as a means of control by the upper classes. Dawkins would say it is just silly; a waste of time. Just maybe it is real, and it cries out from the ground of our being every bit as much as Abel’s blood cried out from the ground to God.
I had to remove a student from a kindergarten class not too long ago for not cooperating with her teacher. It was a first for me. She sat the rest of the day with a sour and painful expression on her face. After an earnest meeting with her father that night, the young student came to school the next day along with a big shiny apple she insisted on giving to her teacher. Suitable apologies were made and reconciliation was achieved. Following school, she ran down to her mother and with a beaming expression she cried out, “I’m forgiven! I’m forgiven!” No primate will ever know such joy. And such should be ours day after day as we walk in God’s forgiveness. Such is the privilege of being fully human and fully a child of His.
Mercy and Truth, Mr. Moe
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Clear Light of Day
You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again?-Matt. 5:13
In 1933, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote to his grandmother, “The question is really: Christianity or Germanism? And the sooner the conflict is revealed in the clear light of day the better.” Bonhoeffer was able to see in those very early days prior to the maelstrom of the Third Reich that there was a creeping effort afoot to co-opt the German church to serve the rabid purposes of Nazi ideology. Later that same year, over 80% of the audience that turned up for a key church conference wore the brown shirts of the Nazi party. From then on, true Christians were forced underground. The church was thus effectively silenced through intimidation, pressure tactics, and overt political action and made to further the ideology of Hitler’s perverse dreams.
We have witnessed this again and again when oppressive forces seek to make religion subservient to the wishes of a secular state. During the French Revolution, church leaders were at one point forced to take an oath to the Constitution under penalty of losing their positions and were to be prosecuted as disturbers of the public peace if they continued to lead worship in any way. This new Constitution had completely destroyed the role of the church in public life and was opposed by the overwhelming majority of church leaders. On 5 February 1791, all priests who had not taken the oath were banned from preaching in public. Thousands of priests, nuns, and bishops suffered dismissal, deportation, and death as a result.
In the wake of the Communist revolution in Russia, “believers were never officially attacked for being believers, but they were officially attacked for perceived or invented resistance to the state and its policies.” We can read in a document entitled Separation of the Church from the State and the Schools from the Church: Decree of the Soviet of People's Commissars, 12 January 1918, “the free performance of religious rites is granted as long as it does not disturb public order.” In China today the government has a policy for religious management that requires Christians to join the strongly politically-charged National Committee of Three-Self Patriotic Movement or else their various religious activities (including congregation, worship, ceremony, formation of church, construction of church buildings, and evangelism) will be severely restricted and suppressed by various governmental management departments. Totalitarianism always seeks to silence any opposing voice and does so in the name of preserving the public order and the public peace. Despotism never likes to be disturbed.
At the risk of being alarmist, I am seeing some very uncomfortable developments here at home. Christian organizations on university campuses across our land are under attack. At stake is their right to conduct their fellowships according to historic Christian doctrine. Forty one different universities are contemplating challenges to student organizations according to the latest prayer letter from Intervarsity. The Obama administration is in the midst of a serious fight to impose birth control and abortifacient provisions on Catholic schools and charities under the name of health care. Protestants and Catholics alike are rallying to challenge this serious threat to religious freedom of conscience. Presently, our courts are intense battlegrounds arbitrating the rights of Christians to resist the imposition of politically-correct definitions of diversity and marriage.
What I think we are witnessing is an effort to bend Christian doctrine to serve the interests of secular dogma or to silence it altogether. Strident voices are coming out of various closets which have never been heard in public before. Unfortunately, Christian doctrine is proving to be disturbing to the public order. I agree with G.K. Chesterton that, “We do not need a church that is right when we are right. We need a church that is right when we are wrong. We do not need a church that moves with the world. We need a church that moves the world.” Maybe we should be saying, the sooner the conflict is revealed in the clear light of day the better.
In 1933, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote to his grandmother, “The question is really: Christianity or Germanism? And the sooner the conflict is revealed in the clear light of day the better.” Bonhoeffer was able to see in those very early days prior to the maelstrom of the Third Reich that there was a creeping effort afoot to co-opt the German church to serve the rabid purposes of Nazi ideology. Later that same year, over 80% of the audience that turned up for a key church conference wore the brown shirts of the Nazi party. From then on, true Christians were forced underground. The church was thus effectively silenced through intimidation, pressure tactics, and overt political action and made to further the ideology of Hitler’s perverse dreams.
We have witnessed this again and again when oppressive forces seek to make religion subservient to the wishes of a secular state. During the French Revolution, church leaders were at one point forced to take an oath to the Constitution under penalty of losing their positions and were to be prosecuted as disturbers of the public peace if they continued to lead worship in any way. This new Constitution had completely destroyed the role of the church in public life and was opposed by the overwhelming majority of church leaders. On 5 February 1791, all priests who had not taken the oath were banned from preaching in public. Thousands of priests, nuns, and bishops suffered dismissal, deportation, and death as a result.
In the wake of the Communist revolution in Russia, “believers were never officially attacked for being believers, but they were officially attacked for perceived or invented resistance to the state and its policies.” We can read in a document entitled Separation of the Church from the State and the Schools from the Church: Decree of the Soviet of People's Commissars, 12 January 1918, “the free performance of religious rites is granted as long as it does not disturb public order.” In China today the government has a policy for religious management that requires Christians to join the strongly politically-charged National Committee of Three-Self Patriotic Movement or else their various religious activities (including congregation, worship, ceremony, formation of church, construction of church buildings, and evangelism) will be severely restricted and suppressed by various governmental management departments. Totalitarianism always seeks to silence any opposing voice and does so in the name of preserving the public order and the public peace. Despotism never likes to be disturbed.
At the risk of being alarmist, I am seeing some very uncomfortable developments here at home. Christian organizations on university campuses across our land are under attack. At stake is their right to conduct their fellowships according to historic Christian doctrine. Forty one different universities are contemplating challenges to student organizations according to the latest prayer letter from Intervarsity. The Obama administration is in the midst of a serious fight to impose birth control and abortifacient provisions on Catholic schools and charities under the name of health care. Protestants and Catholics alike are rallying to challenge this serious threat to religious freedom of conscience. Presently, our courts are intense battlegrounds arbitrating the rights of Christians to resist the imposition of politically-correct definitions of diversity and marriage.
What I think we are witnessing is an effort to bend Christian doctrine to serve the interests of secular dogma or to silence it altogether. Strident voices are coming out of various closets which have never been heard in public before. Unfortunately, Christian doctrine is proving to be disturbing to the public order. I agree with G.K. Chesterton that, “We do not need a church that is right when we are right. We need a church that is right when we are wrong. We do not need a church that moves with the world. We need a church that moves the world.” Maybe we should be saying, the sooner the conflict is revealed in the clear light of day the better.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Final Exam
“You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up.” -Deuteronomy 11:19
This is ancient history to most of you and to the general college scene of today. But back in the 1960’s, Mrs. Moe and I faced our final hurdle in our senior year at Wheaton College in a much dreaded ritual known as Senior Comprehensives. The very words of “Senior Comps” struck fear and trembling into student hearts. For three years we pretended that they were afar off and not to be contemplated. But in that last year, we had to run the gauntlet of a 4 hour exam that covered both general knowledge and our major field. Rumors abounded of students who didn’t pass and had to repeat in order to graduate. There was also no real way to study for it. You either knew it or you didn’t. We never saw a score. You either passed or failed. Fortunately, we both survived.
I have no intention of subjecting our high school students to such an ordeal, but the thought is tempting at times. And if I did, the subjects I shared in last Thursday evening’s Parent In-Service would be the heart and soul of it. A number of you were interested enough in them to ask for a copy. I share them with you here and will also send out an electronic copy as well. What I do hope to do is to weave these issues into our high school studies so that as one point or another all students will be able to understand the questions and be able to speak to them from a Christian world view by the time they graduate. I believe that in doing so they will be prepared to be salt and light in our dying culture. It is imperative that we understand what we are up against in the increasingly hostile world in which we live. In disseminating these questions, I covet your eagerness to learn as well by listening, reading, and even researching these topics yourself so that your dinner table conversation can be sprinkled with lively discussion of the issues that matter to our life and times. I will also be sending out a power point presentation for you to help you understand why a Christian world-view is so important and how we are communicating a world-view whether we realize it or not. My simple proposition is this; that all students graduating from RECA should be able to demonstrate the following:
• The ability to make a rational argument concerning the dangers and threats of relativism as opposed to objective truth.
• The ability to articulate an argument for “original intent” as a method of interpreting our Constitution versus the idea of “a living document” and how that will shape our future.
• A full understanding of the effects of evolutionary thinking upon culture, law, medicine, and the rights of man.
• The ability to define what it means to be fully human and what distinguishes us from the animal kingdom.
• A full understanding of what separation of church and state meant to our forefathers (civil and religious) versus today.
• A knowledge of what is at stake in the debate over diversity and multi-culturalism.
• An ability to argue a defense of traditional marriage.
• An ability to articulate the right of religious people to speak to moral issues in the public square from their religious base.
• An understanding of a Christian view towards the environment.
• A demonstrated understanding of reasons for the reliability of the Scriptures.
As I see it, this is where the battle lines are being drawn within our nation for this next generation. Let’s help equip them for the fight. And it is never too early to start. I would hope that bits and pieces of this conversation would be taking place well before high school. We are making disciples for spiritual warfare. Preparing them for college is just a side show.
Mercy and Truth, Mr. Moe
This is ancient history to most of you and to the general college scene of today. But back in the 1960’s, Mrs. Moe and I faced our final hurdle in our senior year at Wheaton College in a much dreaded ritual known as Senior Comprehensives. The very words of “Senior Comps” struck fear and trembling into student hearts. For three years we pretended that they were afar off and not to be contemplated. But in that last year, we had to run the gauntlet of a 4 hour exam that covered both general knowledge and our major field. Rumors abounded of students who didn’t pass and had to repeat in order to graduate. There was also no real way to study for it. You either knew it or you didn’t. We never saw a score. You either passed or failed. Fortunately, we both survived.
I have no intention of subjecting our high school students to such an ordeal, but the thought is tempting at times. And if I did, the subjects I shared in last Thursday evening’s Parent In-Service would be the heart and soul of it. A number of you were interested enough in them to ask for a copy. I share them with you here and will also send out an electronic copy as well. What I do hope to do is to weave these issues into our high school studies so that as one point or another all students will be able to understand the questions and be able to speak to them from a Christian world view by the time they graduate. I believe that in doing so they will be prepared to be salt and light in our dying culture. It is imperative that we understand what we are up against in the increasingly hostile world in which we live. In disseminating these questions, I covet your eagerness to learn as well by listening, reading, and even researching these topics yourself so that your dinner table conversation can be sprinkled with lively discussion of the issues that matter to our life and times. I will also be sending out a power point presentation for you to help you understand why a Christian world-view is so important and how we are communicating a world-view whether we realize it or not. My simple proposition is this; that all students graduating from RECA should be able to demonstrate the following:
• The ability to make a rational argument concerning the dangers and threats of relativism as opposed to objective truth.
• The ability to articulate an argument for “original intent” as a method of interpreting our Constitution versus the idea of “a living document” and how that will shape our future.
• A full understanding of the effects of evolutionary thinking upon culture, law, medicine, and the rights of man.
• The ability to define what it means to be fully human and what distinguishes us from the animal kingdom.
• A full understanding of what separation of church and state meant to our forefathers (civil and religious) versus today.
• A knowledge of what is at stake in the debate over diversity and multi-culturalism.
• An ability to argue a defense of traditional marriage.
• An ability to articulate the right of religious people to speak to moral issues in the public square from their religious base.
• An understanding of a Christian view towards the environment.
• A demonstrated understanding of reasons for the reliability of the Scriptures.
As I see it, this is where the battle lines are being drawn within our nation for this next generation. Let’s help equip them for the fight. And it is never too early to start. I would hope that bits and pieces of this conversation would be taking place well before high school. We are making disciples for spiritual warfare. Preparing them for college is just a side show.
Mercy and Truth, Mr. Moe
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