Tuesday, November 20, 2012

This is not a movie review: Dredd

I have written about movies before and I am thinking that I'll start a little blog sub-feature on it, This Is Not A Movie Review.  No reason, and it certainly doesn't mean I won't offer my completely unqualified opinion of whatever I've seen, but that won't be the point.  As is my wont here, the point is to reflect theologically on what I've seen.  Today I'm in a mood to reflect a little bit on the high-powered action movie Dredd, which came out near the end of September.


The movie is based off of the British comic book character Judge Dredd, who was previously the subject of a 1995 film of the same name starring Sylvester Stallone.  Unlike most Americans I actually have read a lot of the comics and was very intrigued to see the new spin this movie would offer.  The Stallone film fell short in a lot of ways, but the primary ones were a lack of understanding of the character and his world, and the fact that they tried to shoehorn the concept into a standard Hollywood action blockbuster format.  The two problems really play off each other: Judge Dredd is not a superhero, by far.  If he is remotely close to any hero Americans are familiar with it would probably be Batman, but more because in the DC realm some of the Elseworlds comics that see Batman's style carried to extremes (like the graphic novel Kingdom Come) show some serious fascist undertones, but even then Batman operates under strict rules against killing opponents and saving innocents when he can.  Judge Dredd, on the other hand, is an iron-fisted enforcer of the law, with no qualms about executing the guilty.  "Anti-hero" is probably the best descriptor of what he is. Furthermore, unlike many American action heroes, he anything but the "everyman."  He is purposefully the opposite of that: a clone of the founder of Justice Department, trained physically and programmed psychologically to be an unyielding enforcer of the law.  Dredd is a lot of things, but "sympathetic" is not one of them.  He is not "one man against the system"--he is the system, or as his catchphrase puts it, "I AM the law."

Before I start analyzing this movie, a couple qualifications: yes, this movie is extremely violent.  If that means you give me the stinkeye because "How can you be a Christian and watch that?!" well, I'm sorry.  That's not really my point of getting into this, and I don't have an intention of getting into arguments over at what point violence becomes gratuitous.  I would definitely argue that in this movie, the level of violence is crucial to imparting the hopelessness of the world this is set in.  So let's set aside the hand-wringing over the children and talk about what this movie is saying like adults.

The concept of Judge Dredd was developed in the 70s, not exactly the most optimistic of time periods.  In the future America, a nuclear war has left the middle of the continent an all but uninhabitable desert, with American civilization surviving only in three megacities, one on each coast and the third in Texas.  They are overcrowded, with most citizens living in high-rise apartment buildings called "city blocks" that are often named after random celebrities or fictional characters from the past (though the one this film is set in is just given the generic name "Peach Trees").  Due to virtually all industry and jobs becoming automated or performed by robots, unemployment is rampant; I believe in the movie they say 97% of the occupants of Peach Trees are unemployed and on welfare.  Of course, how such an economy could possibly persist long-term is never addressed, but it's not terribly relevant to the larger story.

In this world people exist to basically fill their minds with entertainment, commit crimes to relieve boredom, and in general just try to get by day by day.  Crime is beyond out of control, and the Judges were established to streamline the justice system.  Due process is out, instant sentencing is in, including executions on the spot.  Two kids make the mistake of pulling a gun on the judges, and Dredd just glares at them and says "Juve cubes or body bags, makes no difference to me" before showing the one tiny amount of mercy displayed in this film and hitting them with stun shots from his gun. (I suppose that even the producers of a film as gritty as this one balked at showing teenage kids shot down without so much as a second thought)

In this world there is very little evidence of hope, of mercy or compassion; certainly no faith.  It is the ultimate world of consumerism: people live, get their checks, and spend what little they're given on feeding their hunger--for food, for entertainment, for a trip away from their mind and the drudgery of the world outside.  The massively selfish nature that has consumed humanity combined with the utter boredom of such a routine and the lack of any good reason to care about anyone else, results in a world where crime is almost literally everywhere.  And what happens in such a world?  People beg for security from the government, and it gives it to them the only way any government can: with an iron fist.

Lots of potential reactions to it all, but I am always struck in watching films portraying a dystopian future that people have utterly abandoned any semblance of faith in God or anything else beyond themselves.  What strikes me about it mostly is that it's probably the one element of these films that has the least relation to how the world actually works itself out.

I think in general, when someone living in free Western civilization sits down to write about a future that's been affected by either cataclysm or encroaching fascism (and this film's world is the result of both), they imagine that such hardships will drive men to utter levels of despair and abandonment of any semblance of faith in a God or anything good beyond them.  Man's ability to take joy in his world is rooted utterly in his circumstances, according to this philosophy, and therefore a decline in those circumstances will destroy the ability to take any level of joy in one's life.

But the problem here is twofold: from a strictly humanist perspective, man has always demonstrated far more resiliency than those who first wrote and drew the world of Mega-City One attribute to them.  People live in conditions ranging from "delightful" to "deplorable" and still manage to find reasons to celebrate and love their communities and families.

From a Christian perspective, the argument is that God has historically done His best work in the midst of hardship.  Mark 10 displays the reality that wealth, in fact, is a hindrance to joy in many cases.  Iron sharpens iron, and likewise a piece of steel that spends its existence wrapped in silk cloth will take much longer to become a sword than one that is heated in fire, tempered and hammered.  This is not to say that wealth or relative ease precludes knowing God, but having met many people who lived in nations which oppress their people I can say without much fear of contradiction that strife, pain and even official oppression in the form of discrimination, arrests and even executions has done little to stifle Christianity in those nations.  On the flipside, Western countries are certainly struggling much more with regards to general apathy and drawing people into the church.  "Attractional" ministries have sprung up and while I will not question the hearts of people brought into a saving faith in Jesus in these ministries, I have to question their methods and how deep one can really be led in the walk when entertainment is one of the big draws.

So what's the point of this rambling diatribe?  I'm not going after the movie or calling it on the carpet, because I think the idea that fascism could come even to the shores of America, that people would be willing to surrender their liberty for security, are very real and good points to consider.  But I believe that no matter what the future holds, the three qualities from 1 Corinthians 13 of faith, hope and love will not evaporate, for two reasons: firstly, because they are encoded in our beings as men and manifest themselves in every culture and situation, and secondly, because we do not live in a world that tumbles along on the winds of chaos and chance, but in one where God's purposes continue unabated and unthwarted, and where every bad thing intended by man, every bit of destruction wreaked by nature is ultimately intended by God for our good.  Knowing that, and seeing the way that God has moved in my heart through the work of the Holy Spirit, through godly men and women loving me and living out the Word around me, I have been empowered to walk in a place knowing that there is no government, no law and--indeed, no earthly Judge--who can separate me from the love of Christ.  May such assurances bolster us as we move into an unsure future.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Escape is not an option

It's another post-election day, and I think it's safe to say that, as usual, no one is really happy.  The losing side sees doom on the horizon, and the winning side is frustrated that while it didn't lose, it also didn't gain anything; essentially, the status quo remains.  Not totally, of course, but it seems that the nation is in something of a stalemate. 

So you all know what that means: let's talk about Jesus!

I've written before about the limitations of politics mixing with Christian ideas and where both sides fall short, as it were, of what the Bible actually calls us to be in Christ.  Of course, the most obvious place is that neither party puts its glory in God but rather in men, in leaders elected who achieve success of some kind or another.  They put their faith in personalities, or ideas, or desires, but not in the God who "removes and sets up kings."  On the same token, hope does not lie with men--thankfully.  Hope lies with God, who is the one who establishes governments for His glory and at the same time, provides all things for His children. 

Yesterday was sort of a strange day for me; while I certainly am not pleased by the result of the presidential election, I saw God move to display the next few steps in our path in the form of a company I've been working to get a job with extending me an offer, which I accepted.  I will be leaving Brook Mays at the end of the month and moving to a company called Uline, to work in inside sales.  It's a great opportunity for my wife and I, and we're both very excited about what lies in store for us from here.  But the attitude of many of the people of a similar political vein to me that I read or that I'm friends with has been pessimistic as of late.  Probably the most stark writing was this post on Instapundit from late last night, an email from a reader which is essentially a call for those who work hard to produce to throw in the towel and "go Galt," borrowing the concept from Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged, wherein the members of society who have been responsible for its economic growth and prosperity grow tired of a government that demonizes them and takes and takes to buy the votes of those who have less, that enslaves their efforts for its own purposes.  While I sympathize with the feeling, the frustration of knowing the direction that a growing welfare state will send this country and yet seeing so many people either not believing that we will end up there or actually desiring it, this is where Christianity and conservatism part ways.  "Going Galt" is not an option for someone who has been transformed by the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Firstly, I will remind what I said the last time I spoke on matters political: the person who stands on the other side of a political issue from me is not my enemy.  I will absolutely speak my mind on what I think is good policy, I will participate in the process, but this election should be a lesson to all that political victory is both fleeting and ultimately out of our control.  There is a call on us as Christians to stand against immorality in our culture, to speak the truth of the Gospel no matter how angry it makes those on whom it shines light, but more importantly there is a call on us to use what God gifts us with to love those around us.  If God is setting me up on a path to more earthly success, it is not my role to hoard in in fear of losing it, because it belongs to God and He'll give and take it as He pleases.  I will continue to speak out in favor of liberty and policies that promote greater prosperity, and against the wickedness of abortion and a culture that is so willing to dispose of anyone who is too great an expense or inconvenience, but all of it falls within the umbrella of the ministry of reconciliation.  My goal is not to hammer home a victory over my political opponents; I'd rather see a relationship grow with him that lets me share the Gospel and, God willing, watch the seed of God's word planted grow into a renewed life. 

Easier said then done, of course.  My inclination, as those who knew me in my youth can no doubt attest, is to go into battle swinging away.  But that too is part of Jesus' ministry of reconciliation, transforming me from someone who seeks to use the gifts of logic and language given to me for my own glory, to be "the guy who is right," and to instead seek a humbler end through them. 

This has been long and somewhat rambling, and I don't know if I've been effective in really making a point here that someone on either side will take a liking to.  I will wrap it up with two brief statements: 1) my hope does not lie in men, in elections or laws or matters of policy, but with the truth of the Gospel and the transformation God continues to effect in my heart and in the lives of my wife and myself, and 2) whether the country enters a new era of prosperity or declines in the same way Europe has, I will continue to celebrate that hope. 

Let brotherly love continue.  Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.  Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.  Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.  Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
    I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”
 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.  Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.  We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat.  For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.  So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.  Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.  For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.  Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.  Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.--Hebrews 13:1-16
We do not seek after escape from the troubles of life, but instead let us stand firm on the rock of Jesus Christ and know that no storm coming will shake us loose.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Changes



I mentioned earlier that I was closing in on marriage, and most of my posts lately have not been terribly personal in nature.  This is my fault, it's my nature to look at things from 30,000 feet, to take something small and use it as a microcosm of a larger picture.  And I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with that, but it's only so helpful to myself or to others.  At the end of the day if I'm talking with someone who doesn't know Jesus, maybe someone who's even offended by the whole idea, being able to discuss big points of theology is only so useful.  It's absolutely necessary, and I have no intention of stopping, but being able to express Jesus' impact on my heart and my life requires more than an ability to explain the concept of atonement and propitiation.

And so, how has Jesus affected me?  Well, he has made me able to love a woman, to desire to be a godly husband to her and to be willing to give up my self for her own sake.  Those are not things I would willingly do on my own.  If you came to me ten years ago and said "Okay Dave, here's a woman, and she's going to do things you don't like and you're going to disagree on some things and there will be points that certain things you like will have to be let go of," I would have told you to kindly move along, I had no interest in such things.  But because I saw exactly how much Jesus was willing to give up for the sake of saving me--His life--and through His gentleness and grace shining through all the crud in my life to lovingly pull me closer in to Him, I have had the desire to be likewise with Jessica.  Rather than begrudgingly going along so that "I get what I want" out of a relationship, the Holy Spirit has planted in me a desire to become a husband that looks like Jesus in the way that I am with my wife.

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.  Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.  In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.  For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.  “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”  This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.  However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.--Ephesians 5:22-33
Now, I want to make one thing clear: the difficultly in expressing personal things here really comes from the fact that the work being wrought by the Spirit sounds so much more straightforward and simple than the actual path and walk through life while enduring it.  As I said: my natural inclination is to do what I want.  Doing what I want by its nature precludes being able to be the sort of husband described above: giving of all of my self for another's sake, seeking to present her without blemish rather than taking what I want, loving her as I love myself.  It is only by God's grace that the desire to be this way has been given to me, and I'll tell you right now...there are still times where I just want to say "Screw it, I'm gonna sit this event out."  There are times that I encounter that old, selfish self and again by God's grace, I'm able to be aware of it, to not be enslaved to sin but instead to know the danger lurking in front of me.  When those times come, there are still times where I have done the wrong thing...but God has been gracious to give me a loving and forgiving wife that prays with me and for me.  And so through up and down, sinful desire and frustrated prayer, God has slowly, lovingly continued His work to create a new man where an old angry, bitter, selfish one once stood.  My daily prayer is to endure day by day and rely solely upon the grace of Jesus on the cross, knowing that now He is my great high priest, interceding for me and providing what I need daily.

One point of contention that has caused frustration and conflicts that have required us both to spend a lot of time talking and praying for guidance has been church.  We come from different church backgrounds and while I have been a member of the Village for some years now, it seems that she has never been able to find a place there.  I have no intention of dragging her to a place she does not desire to be, but I am also concerned that we end up in a place that is a good watering ground for growing in the Gospel.  We live in the Bible Belt, with a seemingly endless number of churches around us--but many of them are run by "peddlers of God's word," endorsing self-help philosophies and theological notions that have nothing to do with the Gospel of Jesus and more to do with feeling better about yourself and hoping in earthly gain of some kind, whether of the health and wealth type or of the self-righteousness type.

I do not pretend that there is a perfect church out there, because all churches are run by men and will have things that just don't work or end in the right place.  But after spending so much time in a church run by and filled with men and women who desire to submit themselves to the Gospel and have a deep love for Jesus, I can't bear to settle for less than that.  Jessica and I will have to work through and find a place that satisfies us, but I know that for both of us it will be a matter of sacrificing and of God working in our hearts to transform us further into the image of Christ.  We have had moments of frustration and charged discussions about it, but we love each other and we know that God is working actively in our lives to achieve the greatest good.  And so, we trust Him and walk forward, praying for a light to guide each step.

I've also been taking time away from the performing world, and I have stopped performing with the band I had played with for several years.  There are a few reasons, but it can be summed up in feeling that God was calling me at least out of that position.  More pragmatically, my job had become too much to deal with sudden trips out of town and the wedding preparations demanded more attention.  But again, here was a place that God had moved in me to make me open-handed about it, rather than trying to cling to it desperately until God had to painfully pry me out of it.  His mercy worked slowly, gently to change me, and I am thankful for His grace.  I'd like to get back into playing, and I have some plans I'm kicking around but I will probably wait until after the wedding and the busy season of work to start initiating them.

I don't know where God will take me, and to be honest I don't think I expected to be here.  But one thing that's been made clear, from all the work He's been doing in my life, is that He will not stop until He's accomplished what He set out to do when the Gospel fell in my heart.  I praise His name for that, and I desire that the things that hold me back from living it out fully would be healed and removed, so that more people would see the love of Christ in me.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Utterly dependent

Fireworks still echo outside, both from the seemingly infinite city-sponsored shows surrounding my neighborhood and from the many people who have taken the liberty of shooting off their own.  It's fun, and certainly there are few other American freedoms that can be enjoyed more viscerally than blowing crap up.  The reason is certainly a good one as well: the establishing in words of the founding principles of this nation, principles worth fighting for to be sure.  God blessed this nation with founders who were able to take a collection of loosely affiliated states that had plenty of their own squabbles and problems with each other, and found a nation based upon those ideals.  Founded and further forged in the fire of war, God has done mighty works in this country for His glory. 

But this is not a "And it's all going downhill because of those dang liberals!" speech.  If you look a couple posts down, you'll see something much longer I've written on the same general subject, but I felt this deserved revisiting on this, the day we celebrate our independence from England: our nation is one established by God, for His purposes and glory, subject to His will, and nothing will disrupt that.  Last night I flipped on the radio and heard a host earnestly addressing his audience that it is utterly imperative that we defeat Barack Obama in the general election--and in general, I agree that I would prefer this outcome.  I think his policies are bad and that they've had a measurably destructive effect on the country, economically and otherwise. 

But he insisted that Obama will "destroy this country" if he's reelected, that there is little to no chance of recovery if he does.  Is he right?  Maybe, in the sense that this country may tend towards socialist ideals and a notion that one may as well just accept the handout, rather than fight the growing machine.  But this country's destiny is in the hands of God.  It his the common grace of law and order that He has extended us that has maintained it, and God willing continue us into the future.  He has appointed our leaders for His purposes and it is his nation to give and take away.  I will vote, I will discuss and debate, but my desire for those opportunities, and especially for the words I speak is that they point to Jesus as the real hope of the world.  There is no ultimate political solution, no government that will perfectly rule, no politician or despot or king that will organize a society into perfection except for the King of Kings. 

I do pray for God's mercy on this nation, but that mercy may look like difficulty and struggle as God goes after hearts and removes comforts from our lives so that we cannot shut Him out.  Friends of mine who have been working on mission in nations that actively persecute Christians report that believers there will sometimes pray that we here will undergo more persecution ourselves, that we might become more active and less complacent about our walks.  I don't know if I'd care to ask for that myself, though I do ask that God would begin to transform many hearts across this land and historically, that has not happened during times of great wealth and comfort. 

My hope is in no elected or unelected man.  It is in Jesus, and in God's grand design to transform men's hearts from rebellious and sinful into obedient and loving, to break the bonds of sin for all of us by showing us the cross of Christ and letting us know the immense price paid for our salvation.  I pray that I would love the Lord more and that I would shed sins that hold me back from displaying that love, things like selfishness and greed, and a lust for earthly things.  We are a free land, but we are utterly dependent on a God that loves us and calls us to live as adopted and redeemed children, heirs of the greatest treasure in the universe.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The innermost lie

Each day I load up my Facebook homepage, and I see a growing cascade of frustration and anger roll down the page. My conservative friends and my liberal friends, seeing grave threats in the other, commenting harshly and posting links to their favorite bloggers/columnists/videos that impugn their target. Doom is spelled out, should the other win--and not simply because the other believes certain things, but because there is a moral imperative to victory, and an immorality to the other, to the point where anyone even speaking in defense of said other simply cannot have a conception of anything right, like someone who believes down is up and the moon is the center of the universe.

There have been a lot of concerned writings out there calling for a return to some sense of decorum, for people to return to a more civilized discourse; while I would certainly prefer that, that's not my point. My point here is to call the dichotomy we see in our world a lie: the man across the street with an opposing political sign in his yard, or who is attending a protest against what you want, or who is on TV running for office in opposition to your candidate, he is not your enemy. We look back on the past and scoff at how foolish people were, how they could endorse some of the hatreds humans held in the past, yet today we embrace all new hatreds and defend them with just as much fervor as before. We are able to consider each other evil, and therefore believe that other people are so below contempt that it would be better if they were dead. An exercise that might be helpful here is to consider the thoughts that pass through your head as you have conversations or read the news: who can you regard thusly? How are you able to justify in your mind speaking evil of other men, no matter how right you may consider yourself to be?

I contend that while humanity has discovered much of the wonders of the universe and amazing technologies that link our world together and let us do incredible things, the idea that humanity is somehow more advanced in its heart and mind than in centuries and millenia past is a conceit of the modern age, not true by any observable definition. Even the good things we do become excuses to embrace self-righteousness and attack others for not being as charitable as we are.

This manifests on a larger scale in the political battles going on, carried to a personal level through the reposting of articles, videos and images on social media that are designed to transform "the opponent" into "the enemy." The man who holds an opposing view is not to be contended with, to be engaged in reasoned debate. He is to be villainized and demeaned; find the worst, most awkward picture of him, put a snarky caption on it and your job is done: he is now beneath you. The question of what this does to one's heart raises, but being Right is more important.

Two passages always cross my mind when I see these things scroll by on my Facebook homepage no matter the political stripe. The first is perhaps the most obviously applicable, Ephesians 6:12: "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." Paul is speaking to believers telling them to engage in life in the strength of the Lord and not their own strength. This verse, as is normal for the Bible, cuts two ways: it calls believers to rest in God knowing that He provides strength to engage the challenges we face. But just as much, it serves as a reminder that the men and women around us, no matter how belligerent, disagreeable or even dangerous, are not our enemies. The only thing separating us is grace, a grace which we are called to preach and walk in lovingly towards them.

And most important to remember, Paul was not writing to an audience of free Americans who can go or not go to a religious service of their choice. He lived, and died, in the Roman empire at a time when being a Christian didn't simply earn scornful Facebook remarks--it was likely to earn death. Paul is speaking to an audience of people who could have been arrested and murdered for their beliefs and telling them, "The man who comes to arrest you, the governor who sentences you, the executioner who picks up the axe or sword or opens the lion cage: pray for them, preach the Gospel to them, love them. All they can do is send you to Jesus, and there is no greater gain a man could ask for." And not one to live different from his preaching, Paul did the very same, as documented in Acts and his letters.

I have been blessed to be a part of a church that is not single-minded politically by any means, and having a campus in a college town like Denton and another in middle class Flower Mound helps that quite a bit. It brings a constant reminder that Jesus was not about political ends, nor did He come to endorse a platform for election. I think at all churches Christians need to remember this: your opponent is not your enemy. Your opponent is not who you are defeating, and no matter where you stand on an issue, no matter how close it is to your heart, your ultimate goal is to be able to speak the truth of the Gospel in love into his life.

The other passage is a little more complex as it relates to this, but I think it bears discussing:

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are being saved, both Jews and Greeks, the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.--1 Corinthians 1:22-25

Paul sets up two camps, Jews--in a more global conception, religious types--and Greeks, Gentiles--those with a secular worldview. The religious root their wisdom in the idea of a deity who they are able to please, and therefore because they are able to perform the right acts and not perform the wrong ones, they feel justified. The Jews had the law and sought to live by it, though because our rebellious human nature is opposed to living in this way there was of course a system put in place to atone for sin, of which there was no end.

Those from the secular viewpoint seek to understand the world, believing that the power of man's mind and the understanding he can unlock of the world, there is an end to suffering and pain, a perfection that awaits all people arriving on the same page. Yet all attempts to reach this hit one huge roadblock: as broken people, we have no true conception of what such a thing looks like. Any system set up to try to enforce a particular image inevitably becomes tyrannical and murderous towards those who would point out its flaws, while systems like our own that seek to balance debate and allow people to pursue their own lives become targets for those who point out the injustice in letting the weak and helpless fall to their own fates.

And so, we arrive at Jesus, the power and wisdom of God. God gave the Jews their religious system, but laced throughout it was blatant images of what the Messiah would do when He came, how atonement would once and for all be wrought. But because Jesus came not as a conquering king but as a lamb led to slaughter, a man who was cursed and died accursed, he was a stumbling block for the religious, just as He is today. Whether 2000 years ago or in the present day, the religious demand a Messiah who will justify them as they are in their own righteousness, not call them to a deeper righteousness rooted in a faith that is itself a gift which cannot be earned.

And of course, the whole idea makes little sense to a man who is wholly earthly and irreligious in his views; the problem is error, the solution is correcting the error. But if the lens through which you look is broken, each correction simply leads to new error, ultimately leading to a state of being utterly and completely lost. It is only by the grace of God that a man who sees himself through that cracked lens is able to suddenly know the truth of the state of his heart: to see the sin piled up, the wrongs committed against others and against God, and yet in that moment to know that God reveals this for the purpose of calling him to Himself. That great love has cracked open so many hearts hardened by the world, puffed up by knowledge but not finding truth.

We look at each other, seeing the faults, knowing the wrongs and pointing to them, demanding correction while we excuse our own. We see the hypocrisy all around us, but try to hide our own. It is a part of the human condition; in John 21, even Peter reveals his willingness to run to this defense when speaking with Jesus:

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”--John 21:15-23
And again, in Galatians, Paul talks about how quickly Peter retreated into Jewish legalism for fear of how he was being seen by other Jews:

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”--Galatians 2:11-14
Each of us is called to be accountable to God for ourselves, for what he has given us as responsibility. We are not excused by the error of the world or of others, nor by our inability to perform up to par; indeed, it is that inability to live up to the standards of true righteousness that convicts us. However, we are justified by the Gospel, by the fact that Jesus died and absorbed the wrath of God for sin, and in believing and walking in that faith we are free to pursue God's call on us to the best of our ability. Our mistakes, our slips and struggles are not merely excused--they are covered up, and what is seen is the pure righteousness of Jesus Christ in our lives. We could ask for no better gift from God.

I close with a reminder that this is not a plea for a return to civility, for civility is nothing more than a covering of the lie within our hearts. This is a call to believe in the Gospel and be saved, to be truly free.