Category Archives: ethics

February 5, 2020 · 4:46 pm

Sad

I am sad today.

Maybe it’s the fact that I didn’t sleep.

Maybe it’s the fact that I can’t speak what is on my mind. I know the fallout that will happen as soon as I post this. But I can’t be silent.

God gave us Ten Commandments. They define for mankind what is right and what is wrong. Moses said, “And he added no more”. He also wrote these commandments on the hearts of men and women whether they are God’s people or not. The conscience bears witness to that. When God’s people sinned, God sent prophets to them.

Isaiah begins his book like this:

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem which he saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2 Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the LORD speaks, “Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me. (Isa 1:1-2)

Here’s the rundown. Uzziah, not a bad king. He was on the right side politically.

Jotham was a good king. He was on the right side politically

Ahaz, wicked king. Liberal. Changed Judah’s worship. Made an alliance with Assyria and built an alternate altar on the temple grounds. Offered his children to Baal.

Hezekiah, a good king.

But when they sinned, Isaiah rebuked them in the name of the Lord, no matter who they were. Harshly. That is what he was called to do.

Today we only have one standard of right and wrong:

For half the country – if a Republican does it, it is right. If a Democrat does it, it is wrong. If I Republican says it, it is true. If a Democrat says it, it is a lie.

For the other half of the country, if a Democrat does it, it is right. If a Republican does it, it is wrong. If a Democrat says it, it is true. If a Republican says it, it is a lie.

And, as Bob Dylan famously put it, “we have God on our side”…no matter what party you are. You are right. They are wrong.

Ethics by political association. How did that happen?

Shouldn’t we, as God’s people, define right and wrong by what God has written in his word?

Please don’t comment. I don’t think I can stomach it.

I’m not concerned that corrupt people of both parties are in power. That is the way it has always been.

I am concerned that our lives and our ethics are driven by our politics. I am concerned that the “others” are ridiculed, mocked, insulted, and hated. We can’t even open a dialogue without starting an all-out war.

We are so terrified of the others we can’t even associate with them? Treat them as human beings? Listen to them?

I remember that I used to be like that. Then I realized that life is more complicated and people more complex than political sloganeering and slandering.

Then I realized that almost every single political statement on social media runs the risk of violating the 9th commandment in the eyes of God. Are we more afraid of the other party than the wrath of God?

Are we so sure that we our sources are so infallible and that our opinions so wise and holy that we can repeat the latest slogan and not be guilty of bearing false witness?

The only solid place to put our feet is the word of God, and political platforms are not that.

When was the last time someone in power voted their conscience rather than the way their party told them to? When was the last time you agreed with something that the other party did?

Do you really believe that the other half of the country has NO morals, no wisdom, no opinion worth hearing, nothing good whatsoever to offer, no scrap of humanity left?

Should we not, as the people of God, speak for what is right no matter what the political party is? And should we not speak out against the wrong, no matter what the political party is? Are we nothing more on this earth than yes-men to the rich and powerful?

Last night, I read “Night” by Elie Wiesel as a cheerier alternative than the current political spectacle.

Maybe this is why I am sad.

When we get to the point where half the country is, in our mind, idiots, brutes, fools, stupid, worthless, dangerous, enemies of the people, not really human, reprobate, scum, cockroaches –

When we get to that point, we are simply one tiny, tiny step away from watching the cattle cars hauling our neighbors away.

Comments are moderated. For the sake of my sanity, every comment for or against any political party will simply be deleted.

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September 12, 2018 · 4:31 pm

Worrying about worry

Today I was reminded that worrying is a sin. So I started to worry about whether I worried too much.

And then I started thinking – it is true that worrying is a sin, but how do you overcome the sin of worrying. Do you worry about worrying? Do you work hard trying to overcome worry? But it seems that working to overcome worry simply involved more worry.

At least, I worry that it might.

And then I started thinking about the relationship of good works to the gospel. We know that our only righteousness before God is the righteousness of Jesus put on our account by faith. We know that we cannot ever do even one work that can stand before the judgment throne of God.

We also know that those who continue to live in sin have no inheritance in the kingdom of God. How these two concepts relate is sometimes difficult. The Reformed Creeds (such as the Heidelberg) put good works into the category of thankfulness to God for our redemption. The Bible teaches that good works flow from a thankful and renewed heart. But how does that work?

There are particularly yelly preachers that like to yell at people about everything that they are doing wrong. They like to make sure that you know that worry is a sin, and lusting is a sin, causing people to lust is a sin, They yell about gossip and slander and anger and covetousness. They usually then add a list of other things that aren’t sins  just in case someone is getting away with doing something fun. It’s as if they ran out of sins to yell about so they had to invent a few more. So they yell about alcohol and cigars and dancing and tattoos and movies and boycotting Disney and ABC and what you can and can’t do on the Sabbath. They yell about cakes and piercings and rock ‘n roll (or maybe not that one so much anymore) and haircuts. But there is always something. And when you confront them with the gospel of Jesus, they will say, “yes, but now that you are a Christian you are supposed to be thankful. BE THANKFUL. WORK HARDER AT IT. MORE GRATITUDE, YOU TOTALLY DEPRAVED SCUM!”
You know the type.

So I wonder about whether they have the relationship between the gospel and works right. Are good works those things that we do because we feel guilty about causing Jesus to go to the cross to begin with? Are they those things that we do so that we make sure that we really do make it in the end – proving that we are actually thankful enough to earn the free gift of grace? Is God the harsh slave driver just waiting for us to worry about something so that he can zap us and teach us a lesson for our own good?

Think about the Sabbath. The yelly preacher will be happy to give you a whole list of things that you are and are not allowed to do on the Sabbath. In fact, he will probably shout them at you. It’s a day of rest and thankfulness, you scum. Work harder at being thankful. Rest more now or God will get you, you filth of the earth…
Do you see the problem? How do you work hard at resting? Should we worry about whether or not we are resting enough? That doesn’t really seem like rest to me…

And as I think about worry, it occurs to me. Worry is a sin. Jesus made that clear. But that highlights my sinful nature, doesn’t it? The only thing I can do with a command to rest is to work harder at it, defeating the purpose. The only thing I can do with a command to not worry is to worry more about whether I worry too much and try harder to stop it…

And then I see what the writers of the catechism meant when they wrote, “I daily increase my guilt.”

That can’t be the gospel. So let’s think about the sin of worry.

Yes, I worry. And, yes, worry is a sin.

The gospel teaches me that the perfect righteousness of Jesus is put on my account, and that all of my sins – including the sin of worry – is nailed to his cross, put away forever. If I worry about that, that one is nailed there too.

And whether I worry or whether I don’t worry, Jesus has it all covered. He cannot love me more. I cannot be any more righteous that I am right now.

So I have nothing to worry about…

Do you see, now?

I can rest. I can stop worrying, because even my worrying is paid for by the blood of Christ, now and forever. I can give it to him and put it away and rest.

And I move a little closer to understanding what resting in the gospel means and what it means to put off worrying. I won’t get it perfectly in this life, but I don’t have to worry about that anymore, because Jesus already knows, already died, and lives forever making intercession for me, preserving me, guiding me.

His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.

The gospel is not a Bobby McFerrin song. The gospel is not a yelly preacher screaming at you to quit worrying, work harder, do more, stop being such a horrible sinner, you jerk!

The gospel is the most liberating, freeing, comforting message you can imagine. Jesus is the propitiation of our sins, and not our alone, but the sins of the whole world.

This is the only way we can put off worrying. That’s the only way we can put off any of the other sins as well. By looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We abide in him, for without him, we can do nothing.

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