Sweet Nothings

Sweet nothings.

What in the world does that term mean?

As a child while I was growing up I always wondered what this meant. It intrigued me. I could never understand it. How can you whisper something that is sweet, but at the same time nothing?

As I’ve grown older, the years wearing their toll on me, my ignorance has dissipated. I’m pretty sure I know what it means now. Although I might not fully understand it, at least I understand it a little more.

Now instead of sensing ignorance I have replaced it with a sense of curiosity. With the fading ignorance another form of intrigue took its place – curiosity. It was a curiosity as to the experience, the sensations, and everything else that something like that entails. No, longer was I intrigued by the meaning of the term, but rather now the experience itself intrigued me.

To be quite honest the term is not a simple one, and for the mind of a child it really makes no sense. How is it possible to whisper something that is nothing? It doesn’t matter if it is sweet or un-sweet. It is simply impossible to whisper that something is actually nothing.

In a way I have experienced the whispers of sweet nothing throughout my life. Unfortunately not in the typically intimate sense of a boy and girl, but I have, in my own way, experienced it. Someone who loves me has often leaned close to whisper in my ear – that person is Jesus.

Typically when we consider the great discourses Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount is the one that comes to mind. Sometimes we consider His predictions and parables. Ravi Zacharias argues otherwise. In his book, Jesus Among Other Gods, he suggests that the most powerful discourse Jesus ever delivered was His silence before the counterfeit accusations He endured prior to the cross.

When I am seeking answers, trying to discern God’s will, I turn to His word. This is the logical thing to do, the practical thing to do. After all if you want to know what God’s will is, then what better place to turn to than to His word? God still speaks, and in His word, the Bible, He has provided all the answers to our questions. The Bible is a book of revelation – not confusion.

Yet when I turn to the Word I often turn to it unfairly. I turn to it with expectations, unfair expectations. There is a chasm of difference between faith and expectation. Often I expect God to speak loudly, that He ‘thunder’ out some clear, audible sign. Or else I expect it to be a clear earth-shaking (‘earthquake’) sign.

I am not alone in my expectations, or my reactions. It doesn’t happen only to the spiritual weaklings, it can even happen to the spiritual giants. Elijah was pretty much the same way. He expected God to be loud and clear or to shatter his world. But He didn’t. Instead God preferred to communicate through a ‘the sound of a low whisper.’ (I Kings 19:12 b). God whispered.

Here we bump into my original dilemma. It is impossible to whisper nothing. When two young lovers whisper ‘sweet nothings’ into each other’s ears they are actually whispering something. When God whispers He says something. God always has something to say. In fact when Jesus didn’t respond to the accusations He was actually, really, saying something. He was expressing His love. Like a Lamb He went to the slaughter and didn’t say anything but at the same time He was communicating the greatest message ever known to man. That was the sweet nothing He had to whisper.

According to C. S. Lewis God whispers in our pleasures. God still whispers messages of love, sweet nothings, to me. Mostly He uses the Bible as His preferred mode of operation, but He is not limited to that. Nature and all of Creation can also be channels of divine sweet nothings. The redeemed man (as well as the lost) is an incredible example of this, particularly through their conversations, art, and writings. These are the sweet nothings that God whispers into my ear whenever I draw near enough to hear.

On the Edge

We are all now embarking on something we really know nothing about. We all have no idea where or how this will all end. In fact right now we are only sampling the ‘edges’ of His ways. That’s good. God is not a God of confusion, but rather He is a God of revelation. And yet He will only show us what we need to see today. So stick to His ways, even if they are just the edges. And actually, the edges are just enough for us right now.

Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, and how small a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand? – Job 26:14

But take advantage to listen to His whisper. For if we stick to His ways, even the edges of His ways, He will be pleased with us. And, according to Lewis, God will shout in our pain but whisper in our pleasure. Therefore, in His pleasure of you and what you do for Him He will have many ‘sweet nothings’ to whisper in your ear. Pay attention.

Amazingly enough although now you catch only the whispers and walk along the edges, what you do during this life will resound throughout eternity. The music you make now through your ministry will resonate throughout eternity in loud and thunderous tones. You’ve no idea the long-range effects of what you will do over this life. But that’s okay. You don’t need to understand His power, you just need to trust it.

The results may not be immediate, but neither are the rewards. Just trust God, He’ll cover for you. As Richard Sibbes said, “There will be a resurrection of credits as well as of bodies. We will have glory enough by and by.”

The Lord repay you for your work and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge. – Ruth 2:12

True Nature of Love

To ask that God's love should be content with us as we are is to ask that God should cease to be God: because He is what He is, His love must, in the nature of things, be impeded and repelled by certain stains in our present character, and because He already loves us He must labour to make us lovable.

C.S. Lewis in The Problem of Pain presents the true nature of Love. Love does not love "tolerantly." It labours. It labours brutally, physically, arduously, tirelessly, unwaveringly. And it does so to make us lovable or lovely. R.C. Sproul also writes on this, the true nature of Love, in In Search of Dignity.

Some describe true love as 'unconditional love.' The concept can be a golden coin or a gilded rock in the frauds bag of tricks. It can ring with the clink of sound metal or echo the thud of the counterfeit mixed with dross. It is at once true and grossly false depending upon how it is understood. The preacher who smiles benignly from his pulpit assuring us that 'God accepts you just the way you are' tells a monstrous lie. He sugarcoats the gospel of love with saccharine grace. God does not accept the arrogant; He turns His back on the impenitent. He maintains love toward His fallen creatures, inviting them back to restored fellowship, but strings are securely attached as we must come on bende knee.

To Tattle or Not to Tattle

To err is human, true, and only he is cursed who having sinned will not repent, will not repair. He is a fool, a proved and stubborn fool. Give death his due, and do not kick a corpse. Where is renown to kill a dead man twice?

This was taken from Antigone of the Oedipus Rex series. Several years ago I encountered incriminating evidence on a co-worker of mine. It was damaging. I didn't know what to do with it. To take it to the authorities would be, I thought, dangerous. Not only dangerous for my own well-being, but dangerous "spiritually" as well. My intentions were not the most honourable. Quite frankly I disliked (even hated) my co-worker. I didn't mind him losing his position, I just didn't want to be involved too heavily in it all. Plus, it seemed almost as if I were "tattling" or "ratting" him out if I told of what I knew. I took it to someone who pretended to be a friend of mine, a counselor. He gave me the verse Proverbs 28:13, "He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion." This verse was, he said, a clear sign of approval for tattling on others. By knowing of the sins of another I am an accomplice to their sin, and, unless I tattle, I am concealing their sin, which is in part mine as well. On to a quick rabbit trail, this verse is excellent for it encourages not only a confession of sin, as for Catholics, but asks also that those sins be forsaken. It is not enough to "Hail Mary" your sins away and never really abandon them. But now back to the subject at hand. Apparently my counselor and pseudo-friend neglected to mention that there was a code of ethics mapped out for us on how to relate to those who've sinned. The Bible maps it all out rather clearly - first is a one on one conversation with the offender. Then it escalates until coming up to rather drastic but necessary conclusions. Unfortunately I ended up ratting out my co-worker and he ended up without his position with us. He was, in a sense, fired. Terminated. The funniest thing is that after several months of being without us he and I ended up becoming fast friends for the next two years.

Sentimentally Viewed

Is it "spiritual" to praise a God of judgment? Personally, I don't know how we can avoid it! If we worship the Lamb that was slain, then we must believe in God's holy judgment of sin. If God could judge His sinless Son, who became our substitute, why can't He judge sinful nations and rebellious sinners who destroy His earth? A sentimental view of the cross leads to a sentimental view of sin; the result is a condescending God who is complacent toward sin and tolerant of sinners. But this isn't the God who elicits the praises of the hosts of heaven!

Warren Weirsbe, Real Worship

Flowing Thoughts

There is a flow to history and culture. This flow is rooted and has its wellspring in the thoughts of people. People are unique in the inner life of the mind -- what they are in their thought-world determines how they act. This is true of their value systems and it is true of their creativity. It is true of their corporate actions, such as political decisions, and it is true of their personal lives. The results of their thought-world flow through their fingers or from their tongues into the external world. This is true of Michelangelo's chisel, and it is true of a dictator’s sword.

Francis Schaeffer explains the flow of our thought process and how it determines "history and culture" in his book, How Should We Then Live. Our thought process (aka, philosophy) determines the personal, that is private, life, but also the life of society. When we infringe on the lives of others with our philosophy we can be considered revolutionaries or radicals. Sometimes that is a good label, as in Michelangelo's case. Sometimes not so good, as in the case of "a dictator's sword."

His Name

I need to know this: Wherever I go His name is great. Whoever I am with His name is greater. Whatever time of day His name is great.

For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; in every place incense shall be offered to My name, and a pure offering: for My name shall be great among the nations. – Malachi 1:11

No matter where this life leads you exalt His name. No matter who this life leads you to exalt His name above others (pedestals are only bad if they remove from His preeminence). No matter what time of day it is exalt His name. His name must be above all names.

Concern yourself with His name. It’s all that matters. That was Joshua’s biggest concern. It wasn’t for his own name or for the name of Israel, but for God’s name.

For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name? – Joshua 7:9

Shakespeare was wrong when he said that a good name was “the immediate jewel of our souls.” Our names really mean nothing apart from what they mean in Christ.

But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O, and He who formed you, O: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine. – Isaiah 43:1

And they shall call them the Holy People, the Redeemed of the Lord, and you shall be called Sought Out, a City Not Forsaken. – Isaiah 62:12

In Christ we now have a new name – His name. There is no other name so worthy as His name. So bear it with grace. No matter where. No matter with whom. No matter what time. Take advantage to share it. Take advantage to exalt it. Even during the difficult times, hopefully not too difficult, but those times of being on edge, of feeling stressed, and all the rest of the drama that will accompany your life, keep His name lifted up.

So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. – Acts 5:41

Whatever you do during this life remember whose name you bear.

Girl Needed But...

He did not want them [girls] themselves really. They were too complicated. There was something else. Vaguely he wanted a girl but he did not want to have to work to get her. He would have liked to have a girl but he did not want to have to spend a long time getting her. He did not want to get into the intrigue and the politics. He did not want to have to do any courting. He did not want to tell any more lies. It wasn't worth it.

He did not want any consequences. He did not want any consequences ever again. He wanted to live alone without consequences. Besides he did not really need a girl. The army had taught him that. It was all right to pose as though you had to have a girl. Nearly everybody did that. But it wasn't true. You did not need a girl. That was the funny thing. First a fellow boasted how girls mean nothing to him, that he never thought of them, that they could not touch him. Then a fellow boasted that he could not get along without girls, that he had to have them all the time, that he could not go to sleep without them.

That was all a lie. It was a lie both ways. You did not need a girl unless you thought about them. He learned that in the army. Then sooner or later you always got one. When you were really ripe for a girl you always got one. You did not have to think about it. Sooner or later it would come. He had learned that in the army.

Ernest Hemingway's short story Soldier's Home presents us with the typical boy-girl dilemma. This goes beyond the introductory short cut (one night stand style) that men prefer. The ability to abandon the complications and move in to the substance. Skip the courtships and the dalliances and just get the business done (for a Christian that would mean marriage). Women generally take longer in their decisions, hence the complications. But that's not the point. No, the point is not to distinguish from which planet came which creature. Men can very well be from Mars and Women from Venus, that's not the point.

No, the point is: do men need women? I mean, sure we needed them at one point. Adam needed Eve, but was that just because there was no other real conversationally intimate material available? I mean, I'm sure he didn't get much of a response from the animals prowling about. So he needed someone to talk to and KA-ZAM! Eve arrived on the spot. But I guess even though we now have all sorts of people around us and can have a ton of friends in our own social circles I suppose we still need women. We need them for sex. More importantly though we need them to keep our race - the human race - alive. Without them there will be no future for our civilization.

Still I rub up against the idea of men needing women. I rub up against it and feel a little disgruntled. I admit I want them. I admit I need them. But I do not want to be dependent upon them. It has, it seems, become an obsession. Women have infiltrated every area of masculinity by means of the media. You can't get much more macho than the wilderness or the army. Both of these arenas will place women in the proper perspective. Important, yes, but not irresistible. In fact, it is, as I've noted before, much more important to find a girl who is irreplaceable than to find one who is irresistible.

Women have not only infiltrated everything masculine but they have also come to dominate it all. With my own penchant for the arts I observe this most forcefully in this arena more than in any other. The arts have become a strong source of feminine propaganda. Perhaps not of their own will or choosing nevertheless they are in film, music, art, literature, and all other art form as a sort of object worthy of worship. One is told again and again to not objectify the female sex. It's true that ought not be done. Yet it is done, again and again, by all of these art forms.

Another Father

Lord, what father has a man but Thee? Lord, when a man says he is a father, he is wrong from the first word. For Thou art the Father, Lord. Lord, take away from us the conceit that our children are ours...For I have stood between Thee and my children; I've had my way with them, Lord; I've stood between Thee and my children; I've cut 'em off from Thee because they were mine. And they've grown twisted, because of me....Lord, if it hadn't been for me, they might ha' been tree in the sunshine. Let me own it, Lord, I've done 'em mischief. It would ha' been better if they'd never known no father.

Drawn from The Christening by D.H. Lawrence. Although Lawrence was a very controversial and disturbed author he presents a fascinating point in this prayer. What Father is there but our very own Heavenly Father? The Scriptures say that we are never orphaned with Him. Sometimes parents, the physical ones, can distort children. Although my father has always proven himself as a man of godly character he has also proven himself to be human. Sometimes I have almost idolized him. And sometimes it has been, I might say, within reason. He is the best Dad I've ever had. He is practically superhuman. Interestingly enough that has been for his godliness that I've been impressed by him. Although I love him and honour him and even look up to him I must understand that I am to grow strongest when I bask in the sunshine of my real Father.

Complacency or Contentment

The search for significance is not wicked in itself; no evil dwells in the desire of achievement. To improve our performance adds to self-esteem while making us more productive in the process. If our climb is over the dead and mutilated bodies of other people, then the aspiration for significance has run amuck.

R. C. Sproul in In Search of Dignity presents a very interesting concept. More than interesting it is one that has intrigued me. Yes, the desire of achievement is honourable, but what of contentment? Complacency is certainly evil, but so is a lack of contentment. How much is enough? How far is enough? I am often driven by my ambitions, sometimes I am also haunted by them. The Bible encourages ambition in I Timothy 3:1 ("If any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do." NASB). I suppose what matters is the intention or heart behind it all. Many times my ambitions are self-driven. Being an overseer is an honourable intention because it is not for self-promotion but for the promotion of others. It is not about climbing "over the dead and mutilated bodies of other people" but about caring, healing, and even resurrecting other people. So as long as the intentions that govern my ambitions are honourable (basically of a selfless nature) they are appropriate. That is, I guess, the point. To be content with your own station in life but never complacent of others. Rather to be always expectant of them. Good expectations, naturally. Nothing too crazy or out of the way.

Pushed through the Portals

I love the way a short story can offer a sharp concentrated insight like a stiletto thrust. I love the way you can experience a whole lifetime in a few pages, as you do in the lines of a poem.

Andrea Lee words it so well. I am a big fan of books. I've liked books ever since I was little. It all has to do with my family. My family reads. They read a lot. I suppose the biggest culprit has been my brother. There has been a one-sided competition with my brother ever since I was little. That competition has always come from my side (hence it is one-sided). I've looked up to him since I was little. Literally too, since he is 6'3'' and almost 8 years older than me. But I really mean it in the figurative sense. He has always impressed me with his intelligence. I've been jealous of it all for years. Now, well now, I guess I'm just grateful. He was the one that opened the portals to fantastic literary worlds. He was the one that opened the portals and then pushed me through. Since then I have felt those "stiletto thrusts" time and again as I open the covers to various books. No book has, of course, impacted me as much as the Scriptures. In that book I have experienced not a whole lifetime but a whole new life. It is like "the lines of a poem" only so much more.

Studying Success

Alexander Pope in Ode to Solitude concludes with the following stanzas.

Sound sleep by night; study and ease,
Together mixt; sweet recreation
And innocence, which most does please
With meditation.

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown,
Thus unlamented let me die,
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lie.

The first stanza is excellent. It serves to balance work with pleasure quite well. This is great. It is quite a feat to succeed in these tasks (yes, even pleasure is a task at times). In fact, the man that succeeds at these is, I suppose, successful. That is not meant to be redundant. It is just that that could be one of the, if not the, key to success. But don't quote me on that. I'm not sure. After all, I am not too familiar with success. Especially in those two realms. I often get crazy and confuse the two so that I produce nothing but chaos. Either I am too driven and ambitious that I become borderline workaholic. Other times, much more frequent, I am just plain lazy. But now on to the second stanza.

The second stanza is not excellent. It serves to paint a picture of morbid humility. No, not even that. That is not humility. It is a sham. Pure hypocrisy. To leave the world and remain unseen, unkwown, and unlamented is pitiable. If no one sees you or knows you or grieves your absence than there is something very dreadful to be said about your presence. Someone once asked if our absence was more appreciated than our presence. That is awful. But even worse is to remain unacknowledged. Ignored. What kind of a legacy is that?

You know what? I was wrong. Yes, success can begin to be measured by a well lived life. But it is, I belive, measured out in full once that well lived life ends but still lives on. Although my life may end, in fact, it certainly will end, I hope I will be able to live on. No, not spiritually. That's already been granted me because of the secure eternity I have with Christ. Not even do I necessarily mean to live on vicariously through my children or others. No, it's not that. It's just that I want to leave a legacy. That is, I think, the true sign (or one of the true signs) of success. I life that is lived successfully and then dies or ends without having left any value is a life wasted. It is only failure. But true success comes when your presence is not only missed but lingers on even after you are gone.

Evil, Nasty, Awful People

Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busybody, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil. But I who have seen the nature of the good that it is beautiful and of the bad that it is ugly, and the nature of him who does wrong, that it is akin to me, not (only) of the the same blood or seek, but that it participates in (the same) intelligence and (the same) portion of the divinity, I can neither be injured by any of them, for no one can fix on me what is ugly, nor can I be angry with my kinsman, nor hate him. For we are made for co-operation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of upper and lower teeth. To act against one another then is contrary to nature; and it is acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away.

This is the first "proverb" from Book Two of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. The very first entire sentence of this "proverb" struck me as quite interesting. Marcus Aurelius begins his morning with a sort of self dedicated prayer. In a way it was his To Do list or plan of action for the day. Perhaps we should begin the day by telling ourselves the same thing. "When you wake up this morning you will meet evil, nasty, awful people" (a very rough paraphrasing). But the important part as you recite this is to acknowledge that you too are one of those people. You are an evil, nasty, awful person. I am an evil, nasty, awful person. Paul claimed the title "chief of sinners." I think I often vie him for it. Sure, there are other evil, nasty, people in the world. I bump into them on a daily basis. But I think I am caught up in there with them.

Starry Starry Night

To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds will separate between him and what he touches. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.

From Ralph Waldo Emerson's Nature we can see the delight nature produced for him. It should produce a similar sensation in our own heart. It is, after all, part of God's wonderful handiwork. Yet, as Emerson noted, we see them [stars] every night. We have grown to look on them almost as contemptible. Someone once suggested that familiarity breeds either contempt or boredom, perhaps both. Although Emerson began by addressing the spiritual discipline of Solitude, and it's true, it is a discipline much neglected. Yet there is something more here. Perhaps another discipline, and, yes, I would dare to call it a spiritual one as well, is that of delighting in Nature. Both of these disciplines are one's I overlook. There are excuses available, both of them can be discarded on the fact that our schedules are just too busy. There is no time for Solitude and there is certainly no time for Nature either. But that's not true. Those are invalid excuses. There is always time. We have all the time in the world, and if we don't have enough time than we need to make time. Quite honestly I am not much of a "tree-hugger." I've never been what some call "nature freaks." I am a city boy (and proud of it), but I need to get back in touch with my roots. No, this is not some ridiculous nature cry. I am not a pantheist (although I do enjoy pantheistic poetry). This is not about the circle of life or anything evolutionary either. No, this is just about learning to appreciate the beauty God has given us. It was once handed over to us, placed, in a way, under our care or dominion. Let's see if we can head back and appreciate Nature a little more. Just because the stars don't come out once every thousand years does not mean that they should not be appreciated. Let them recall the wonder they have evoked in others, and even in you, as you gaze up at them.

True Beauty

Ask not overmuch for fair
Form and face: let women be
Good: beauty is but a snare:
Gladly woo, if good is she.

After the strewn leaves of roses
Richer the rich mind uncloses.
Boorish is he, and unwise,
Who judges women by the eyes.

Heinrich von Rugge penned this poem (He That Loves A Rosy Cheek) and it was later translated by Jethro Bithell. This poem is really quite simple, while being, at the same time, profound. Almost everyone knows that the truest beauty is not measured only physically, for men that is visually. It must go deeper. It's not only the corporal that must be observed, but also her character and her conduct and so much more. Yet, though we know all this still we allow ourselves to be seduced by the plainer form of beauty, external or physical beauty. It is a lot harder to search beyond the surface. There is, of course, no one capable of claiming perfection but there is much more beauty to be found underneath the exterior than there is on the exterior. This is not to say that the exterior (physical beauty) should be completely overlooked in a mystical (or martyrial) sort of way. No. It is to say that one must not reduce oneself to cheap thrills. Those do not satisfy. True satisfaction is found when true beauty is found.

Twilight Zone

Sometimes in one night we go through
what the Torah goes through in an entire year,
and sometimes on a good day
we go on rolling, further and further,
past the Torah, past the death of Moses,
through Kings and Prophets and Writings all the way to
Chronicles, to the Chronicles of Love
and back to Genesis, the creation of light and of the world.
And each day God says: "And it was evening
and it was morning,'' but He never says
"twilight." Because twilight is for lovers only.

In this, the second half of his poem, Yehuda Amichai acknowledges God's decree of "It was morning" and "It was evening." God did this throughout Genesis and ended by concluding that "It was good." It sure was. He also created twilight and not only that but inspired (therefore also sanctioned) what goes on at twilight. It's not the creepy nonsense of the Twilight Zone, but rather the secretive and sweet beauty of twilight.

Willingness to Love

There are more people who wish to love than there are willing to love.

S.R. N. Chamfort

Sometimes I wonder why I think about all the crazy things I think about. Usually I come up with a simple answer. Usually that answer comes up pretty quickly. And easily. And frequently. That answer is - Selfishness. Yup, unfortunately, that is right. I think very selfishly. To make matters worse I act very selfishly too. When I think about love it is to think about me. When I think about marriage it is to think about me. When I think about sex it is to think about me. When I think about ambition it is to think about me. When I think about anything at all it is to think about me. But the worst is this - when I think about God it is really just to think about me. I have reduced God to a sort of vending machine. He is a Sunday habit. He is a devotional discipline. He is so many things. He is the one that answers my prayers. He is the one that makes me happy in a self-righteous sort of way. He is the one that takes care of my future plans, particularly the after death eternity related ones. I fold Him up and try to stick Him in my pocket like a good luck charm. That's not the way it should be. He is willing to love me even with all this. In spite of all this. Am I now willing to love Him?

Guards Up

There is a superstitious belief going about that once you meet the "right" girl all other girls will lose their appeal. That's not true. Girls are attractive (sometimes dreadfully so). But the key is, I suppose, never to compare them to the "right" girl (your girl). Ravi Zacharias once suggested that saying yes to one girl meant saying no to every other girl. This is true. Love can be pretty exclusive. But there will be other girls who will be pretty. Perhaps even just as pretty and there even might be others who will seem prettier. Or better. It's not all about prettiness. It also has to do with finding others who for some reason or another seem more compatible or something. That is, of course, not negotiable. Commitments never are. That is why we, as men, need to keep our guards up.

Sick at Heart

The rise of a new religious spirit in recent years is marked by disturbing similarities to that earlier 'revival' under Constantine. Now, as then, a quasi-Christianity is achieving acceptance by compromise. It is dickering with the unregenerate world for acceptance and, as someone said recently, it is offering Christ at bargain prices to win customers. The result is a conglomerate religious mess that cannot but make the reverent Christian sick in his heart.

With the above words A. W. Tozer basically echoed St. Paul's call for Christians to be non-conformists. We are not to conform to the world but be transformers of it. We are to be sick at heart (even stomach) with the state of things today. Even within the Church!

Detecting Foolishness

Some cocktails are dangerous. The following literary cocktail has proven quite dangerous, but sometimes it's good to live on the knife's edge. Danger serves to provide a sort of reality check. My literary cocktail has been the combination of Solomon and Kreeft. Yes, that's right. The Solomon of the Bible and the Peter Kreeft of Philosophy put together. Quite a concoction! Well, I paired them (or rather, they paired themselves) in the book Three Philosophies of Life. In this book Kreeft addresses Ecclesiastes, Job, and Song of Songs. It is in his observations of Ecclesiastes that he suggests, "Vanity cannot detect itself, just as folly cannot detect itself. Only the wise know folly; fools know neither wisdom nor folly."

The Bible condemns foolishness time and again. Agatha Christie said, of stupidity, that it was the one sin that could never be forgiven and was always punished. Of course, it is rather unfair of me to fuse foolishness and stupidity as one and the same thing. They're not (at least I think they're not). But, anyways, that's not really the point at all. The point is that as Christians we are called to be discerning. We are called to examine everything. This means that we must detect folly (foolishness). Precisely because we are Christians this should not be a difficult thing to do. Foolishness is, after all, rampant. We see it all the time in the movies or on TV. It's everywhere. The problem is we detect it and then do nothing about it. In fact we usually allow ourselves to be seduced by it. Instead of detecting and destroying foolishness, we detect it and become a part of it. That is just plain foolish. Where have our standards gone? To the gutter? We are heavenly creatures - not gutter creatures.

Reading Myself

The story Three Girls by Joyce Carol Oates tells the story, presumably fictitious, of two girls encountering Marilyn Monroe in New York City's bookstore, the Strand. At one point in the story, still in silent awe (and shock), the two girls, self proclaimed poets, watch Marilyn browse through several poetry books. Oates goes on to write, "You could see that this individual [Marilyn Monroe] was a reader. One of those who reads. With concentration, with passion. With her very soul. And it was poetry she was reading, her lips pursed, silently shaping words. Absent-mindedly she wiped her nose on the edge of her hand, so intent was she on what she was reading. For when you truly read poetry, poetry reads you."

The last sentence is the one that most forcefully calls my attention. Literature as a whole is an extremely powerful influence, poetry though is certainly the most powerful from within that entire realm. Just as theology is the queen of all the sciences, poetry is the theology of literature. Yet of all literature, including poetry, there is one book which rises above all others. If poetry, or other forms of literature, are capable of reading onself, that is, reading the reader than this book is certainly the one most capable of performing such a feat. The Bible pierces through the pages of our life, scrutinizing even to the very marrow, or, to put it more literarily, it can even read between the lines. The Bible is a wonderful book, it is even capable of reading you!

Religious Sex

Sex is like religion not only because it is objectively holy in itself but also because it gives us subjectively a foretaste of heaven, of the self-forgetting, self-transcending, self-giving that is what our deepest hearts are designed for, long for and will not be satisfied until they have, because we are made in God's own image and this self-giving constitutes the inner life of the Trinity.

Peter Kreeft just compared s-e-x to religion! In How to Win the Culture War, he takes sex and parallels it to religion. Outrageous! Audacious! But, the question is, is it true?

Sex is (and all I am about to write is purely theoretical, not experimental - yet) certainly a beautiful thing. It is a transcendental thing. It is the epitome of sublime ecstasy. It is a moment of joy. Just as David being in love with God wanted to spend every day in the courts of the Lord, so a lover will want to spend every night in the bed of the beloved.

A Wholesome Love

"Why do you think I want you for my wife?...Because you're some kind of baby factory? What kind of man do you think I am? I love you, not your procreating ability. So we have a problem. Well, we'll learn to deal with it, on eway or another."

The above lines are Kai's response after learning that the one he loves is unable to bear children. Faye, his love, continues, quite forcefully, to deny him marriage and a life of love with her. Still Kai responds,

"Don't you know? Don't you see? I don't have a choice. I never did have a choice, or a chance. Not since I met you and fell in love with you. I don't want anybody else, don't you understand that? I want you, only you."

..."Look at me, Faye. No other woman can give me what you can - yourself, your love, your warmth, your sense of humour. All the facets of your personality that make up the final you. I've known other women, Faye, but none of them have ever stirred in me any feelings that come close to what I feel for you. You're an original, remember? There's no replacement for an original. There are only copies, and I don't want a copy. To me you're special, and you'll have to believe it, take it on faith. That's what love is all about."

The entire selection is drawn from the tenth chapter of Karen van der Zee's novel A Secret Sorrow. In the selection there are different points of interest. Kai begins by underscoring the fact that he loves her and not her baby producing abilities. Then he observes that his love for her was, in a way, irresistible. He had no choice (or chance). Neither did he want a choice or chance, actually he was quite willing to surrender himself for this love - he wanted to love her. Then, in the final paragraph of our selection, he observes that she is not only irresistible. She is also, which is more important, also irreplaceable. He then tries to pinpoint those things about her that make him love her or draw him to her. He concludes by saying that it is the combination of all the facets of her personality. In other words, it's her. There is nothing in particular attractive about her for him, but rather she is wholly attractive to him. Then he closes the paragraph stating an omniscience on what love is really "all about."

I've come to notice again and again that true love does not focus on any particular facet or quality but rather loves wholly. This is true love because in this love inevitably the faults of the one beloved must be included, as are, of course, their virtues. It is easy, perhaps necessary, though, to observe those qualities and facets which are most forceful in the crossfire of attraction.

Scriptural Answers

Margaret Atwood claimed that "The answers you get from literature depend upon the question you pose."

Is this true?

It may be true of some literary forms, but certainly not of the Scriptures. The Scriptures present the answer and then we deal with the problem. It does, I'll admit, present the problem as well, but the Scriptures are certainly more about answers and not about questions. Questions will inevitably arrive - we do not have the mind of God (or a strong grasp on it). But the answers the Bible presents do not depend on the questions we pose, rather our questions should depend on the answers it does pose. I think I'm not making much sense, but it sort of (not fully) makes sense in my mind.

Worth Dying For

"Christ died for men precisely because men are not worth dying for; to make them worth it."

C.S. Lewis, The World's Last Night

According to one of my professor's Christ came to pay for a debt that He did not owe but that He alone could pay. That debt was a debt that we owed and yet could never pay.

Dignity and Depravity in Humanity

"'You come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve,' said Aslan. 'And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor in earth.'"

C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian

There is, in our humanity, both a sense of dignity and depravity. Our dignity is elevated when we are most Christlike. On the other hand, our depravity is most evident in the absence of our Christianity.

Double Standards

"This year, or this month, or, more likely, this very day, we have failed to practise ourselves the kind of behaviour we expect from other people."

C. S. Lewis, The Case for Christianity

We demand high standards of others - expectations, if you will - but of ourselves we are insanely relaxed. This is a selfish double standard. What we expect of others we must expect also of self. When we demand a stricter standard of another we must not allow ourself any license in that same realm.

93,000 Sex Scenes

"A research study estimates that the average person views approximately 9,230 sex acts, or implied sex acts, a year on television. Of that sexual activity, 81 percent is outside the commitment of marriage. This means that if the average young person watching ten years of television from age eight to eighteen, watched 93,000 scenes of suggested sexual intercourse, 72,900 of those scenes would have been pre- or extramarital."

The statistics presented are drawn from Why Wait? by Josh McDowell.

The statistics are revolting. They are also alarming. I've grown up in a godly home where we were carefully monitored on what we watched and didn't watch. My parents were very strict on their selections of what we watched. Even so some scenes inevitably filtered in through the cracks. Not the graphic scenes of course, rather those scenes which were of an "implied" nature. Over time the shock of affairs in marriage and even of sex out of marriage wore off. It just happens. It's natural. At least that's what it seemed like. All the popular shows enforce casual sex or sex that is not held up to proper Christian standards. It's not really their fault. They enjoy it and don't know any better. Can't quite judge non-Christians by Christian standards. That just doesn't seem fair. Yet I do have to judge myself. The Bible encourages me to judge or "examine" myself. And so now I ask myself what am I doing condoning these acts or scenes? Certainly the Scriptures also contain some pretty freakish things (God urges a prophet to marry a prostitute!), but nevertheless that is not condoned but rather condemned. It is presented as something to be corrected in the Scriptures, whereas here, in our society, it is presented as common and completely alright.

Unsatisfied Eyes

There will never be one last look that will satisfy you.

Proverbs 27:20, “Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.”

And it was William Blake who said, “The naked woman’s body is a portion of eternity too great for the eye of man.”

There is a theory that says our eyes advance following our thoughts. It could be said that our eyes advance following our appetites. The Bible warns us of not making our bodies and our appetites (or ‘bellies’) our gods.

Love and Lust

Love…subordinates (especially at first) our merely animal sexuality; in that sense, love is the great conqueror of lust.

C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Lust is, of course, quite a strong, almost harsh, word. That is because we have abused the use of it in our contemporary vocabulary. Originally the word "lust" simply meant passion. Passion is a word we can apply with variations - sometimes it's beautiful, other times it is quite ugly. Well, such was the case as well with lust. Of course, the difference is found according to context. In the Scriptures (the New Testament) it was always (or most always) used in a negative - that is, sinful - sense.

Everyone struggles with the negative version of lust. The important thing is, I believe, to struggle. Lust is something which must be fought off (tooth and nail, if you will). In this, our combat with lust, there is one weapon which will ensure victory - love. Love to God is, of course, the surest remedy, but a love to someone will also help achieve that victory.

Good Poets

Speaking of Basil Hallward, an artist, one of the characters from the Oscar Wilde novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, the following comment was made.

"Basil, my dear boy, puts everything that is charming in him into his work. The consequence is that he has nothing left for life but his prejudices, his principles, and his common sense. The only artists I have ever known, who are personally delightful, are bad artists. Good artists exist simply in what they make, and consequently are perfectly uninteresting in what they are. A great poet, a really great poet, is the most unpoetical of all creatures. But inferior poets are absolutely fascinating. The worse their rhymes are, the more picturesque they look. The mere fact of having published a book of second-rate sonnets makes a man quite irresistible. He lives the poetry that he cannot write. The others write the poetry that they dare not realize."

Dare I, therefore, consider myself -in an absolute absence of humility - a "great poet"? I write of things that I dare not (as yet) realize. I am thinking of the more sensually charged pieces I've developed (erotic, if you will), but also of my other pieces. What about the more appropriate ones? Even the "Christian" ones? In these, the latter, I am depicting the kind of person that writes about walking on water (aka, faith) or performing heroic feats of spiritual calibre, and yet I fail to see that in myself. I aspire to it (just as I aspire for the sensuality) but it isn't a part of me. At least not yet. It will be one day (I hope).

Intentional Irritations

The eyes of the Lord are upon us. That can be a comforting thought, or it can be quite frightening. Isaiah 3:8 says, of Israel, "their tongue and their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory." So much for the King James Version, now let's try a translation of the Reina Valera. Roughly it says, "for their tongue and their works have been against Jehovah to irritate the eyes of his majesty."

It struck me as I read this that these people are not receiving the welcoming gaze of the Lord, who with fondness will declare, "Well, done." He is not looking at them with satisfaction, but rather with repulsion. It would seem that these words and actions performed by the people of Israel were not accidental. They were done "to provoke," which means they had a purpose (aka, purposeful). So, now the question remains: are my words and actions purposeful? If so, to what purpose? Am I intentionally irritating Him, or am I purposefully pleasing Him?

Controlling our Conversations

The Bible speaks, I believe in one of the Gospels, that our speech flows from the abundance of our heart. Vance Havner, famous Southern Baptist preacher, wrote, "What we love usually manages to get into our conversation. What is down in the well of the heart will come up in the bucket of speech." This is altogether true, sometimes fortunately so and other times not so fortunately. Whenever I get together with a particular friend of mine we talk a lot about sex. Mhm. Yeah. That nasty yet beautiful three letter word. The problem is that with this friend our talk always descends to gutter depths. Our talk of sex crosses from the proper to the improper. Afterwards (often during, as well) I can't help but feel dirty. Yet with other when I converse of sex I feel just fine. There are other friends with whom I talk of sex with as well, several of them, in fact, and they can keep it up to the proper standard. But still it is interesting to note that I talk of sex with several of my friends. Hopefully this will not besmirch my character and make me out as some sort of "sex fiend." I talk of sex, in one way or another, with both guy and girl friends. Is this a right or wrong topic of conversation for me? I honestly know nothing (or very little at least) on the matter so I don't know why I bother to talk of it at all. Is it, then, something that wells up in my heart, a desire, if you will? Probably. Should I then feel "bad" about it? Isn't sex a very natural desire, sensed by all (or most) people?

A Legacy

They cal thee rich; I deem thee poor;
Since, if thou darest not use thy store,
But savest only for thine heirs,
The treasure is not thine, but theirs.

The poem Treasure by Lucillius, and translated by William Cowper, does not, I believe convey a proper point of view on what one must truly treasure. It is not what I can get out of life, but rather what I can give to life. What I leave behind. This is what a "legacy" is all about. So it is that to leave as a legacy a family who is cared after one is gone is greater treasure than to indulge in personal riches gained by oneself and kept for oneself. This poem does away with the maxim that it is "better to give, than to receive" and we know that although it is sometimes hard it is always true.

Truth, Genius, and Beauty

Beauty is truth, truth beauty, - that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

A thing of beauty is a joy forever;
Its loveliness increases. It will never
Pass into nothingness.

The poetry of earth is never dead.

John Keats penned the above poem (To Autumn). The initial lines, where beauty and truth equal each other, are the heart throb of every heart beating with romanticism in it's veins. This being a lower case romance and not the upper case Romance (though perhaps of this one too).

Oscar Wilde culminated the Aesthetic movement (begun by Keats) with his death, yet before his death in his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray one of the characters says, "And Beauty is a form of Genius - is higher, indeed, than Genius, as it needs no explanation. It is of the great facts of the world, like sunlight, or spring-time, or the reflection in dark waters of that silver shell we call the moon. It cannot be questioned. It has its divine right of sovereignty....Beauty is the wonder of wonders. It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances."

Beauty cannot be equalled to either Truth or Genius. It is neither above nor beneath these two virtues. Rather Beauty must occupy its proper rank right alongside them. Too many times we underestimate the value (and even virtue) of Beauty. On the other hand I do believe that both Keats and Wilde overestimated it in their equalizations of it to Truth and Genius. It is poetically wonderful (and accurate) though to note that Beauty does indeed not require explanation. No one explains the sublime Beauty of sunlight or other such wonderful and yet natural phenomenons. More so, then, with a human. Male and female - these two must and often do compose the essence of what is Beautiful. They must and also often do compose the essence of Truth and Genius. Unfortunately humans do not always succeed in doing what they must. They, or rather, we, fail at being Beautiful, Truthful, or Genius.

Quibbles

I doubt not God is good, well-meaning, kind,
And did He stoop to quibble could tell why...

These two lines introduce the poem Yet Do I Marvel by American poetess, Countee Cullen. I have struggled for some time in understanding those men in Scriptures who thought themselves worthy opponents in an arguing (or quibbling) match with God. There have been, after all, several of them. Some of the ones that come to mind are Cain, Moses, Job, Jonah, Elijah, and several others (they are not, as you can tell, in order). Yet these men, and so many others, chose to quibble (aka, argue) with God. Some of them foolishly, others though seemed to be quite rational in their arguments. And then, to even greater surprise, there have been those who seem to have been succesful in their quibblings. Yes, it would almost seem that God "lost" or gave in to their arguments. How is that possible? Are not our arguments a sign of doubt? Doubt, being insecurity, or lack of trust in who God is, and this, according to some a sin. I admit doubt can be a sin, but I am not sure I could dare to say that it is always a sin. Now, as much as I would love to answer my question, I'm afraid I can't. I still don't know. I still argue with God, yes, I do. I am quite an arguer. I argue with everybody, including God. I probably shouldn't, but I do. And yet, I'm not sure if I should do it or not because of sin or for another reason. Quite frankly I am feeling very confused over this entire matter.

The Bliss of Ignorance

My previous post had to do with Love. Reflecting over many of my posts I've arrived at the realization that many of them do deal with this theme. It is the theme of Literature and of Life and of everything that makes our worlds revolve. Yet it is a theme of which we write with as much wit as can be mustered and expound upon with all our potential eloquence and still fail. Still we fail to grasp it. Could it be then, as Duke de la Rochefoucauld, wrote "It is with True Love, as with Ghosts and Apparitions, a Thing that every body talk of, and scarce any body hath seen."?

I still recall hearing elderly couples tell of how much they've changed through the years. How much they've grown together in learning of Love. So for me to write of Love now, at my age (a mere 23), seems rather ridiculous. Still I have, I believe, nothing better to write of and so I will continue trying to solve the riddles. My ignorance of Love is, right now, bliss. Because although I do not know it or understand it altogether right now, what I do know and understand (as little as it is) is so utterly wonderful (or blissful) that my appetite for the ripening of Love unto old age (and the wisdom which generally accompanies such an age) is quite anxious for it is certain to discover even more bliss.

Selfish Enjoyments

All this flashy rhetoric about loving you.

I never had a selfless thought since I was born.

I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through;

I want God, you, all friends, merely to serve my turn.

Peace, reassurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,

I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin;

I talk of love - a scholar's parrot may talk Greek -

But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.

The above poem was written by C. S. Lewis.

Recently I've been entertaining thoughts on the Selflessness of Love. Our Loves are, altogether, Selfish. We usually don't realize it, but if we look deep enough and hard enough we can't but come to the conclusion that we are Selfish Lovers. We aren't supposed to be, yet, unfortunately enough, we are. Everything we do - in the name of "Love" - seems to carry in its core the seeds of Selfishness. It's not supposed to, at least I don't think it is. Christ's Love was Selfless. If ever a Love could merit the description of Selflessness it would be His. But upon the examination of our own Loves I can't seem to see much of His Love in our own Loves. We always end up expecting something in return. Someone once told me that the gifts given in the name of Love should not expect anything in return - not even the courtesy of a "thank you" or the pleasure of a smile. Is that so? Is that really the way it should be?

C. S. Lewis also wrote (in The Problem of Pain): "There are rewards that do not sully motives. A man’s love for a woman is not mercenary because he wants to marry her, nor his love for poetry mercenary because he wants to read it, nor his love of exercise less disinterested because he wants to run and leap and walk. Love, by definition, seeks to enjoy its object."

Can we not free ourselves of those chains with which we've chosen to bind ourselves? It is, after all, not God who binds us. Nor you (presumably, from the poem, a woman, probably his wife, Hellen Joy Gresham, but this is mere assumption). Nor friends. No one imprisoned Lewis but himself, and no one imprisons me but my self. My self imprisons itself in selfishness. But it can be free! It can be free by not searching out too far or too deep or too long into the intentions behind every action. The action is good, whether the intention be so or not. By no means, do I suggest that the intentions be overlooked, but rather that the action be not also ignored by the scrutiny of the intentions. Enjoy Love, that is, after all, according to Lewis, it's definition. Enjoyment. Selfish or otherwise it is to be enjoyed.

Clothes Cleaner

As muddied garments dirty
All that you sit upon
So, when one virtue tumbles,
The rest are quickly gone.

This was taken from Panchatantra, the "oldest extant collection of stories in Sanskrit literature." These particular lines are from the Ryder translation of Handsome and Theodore.

Reading this today was particularly appropriate as I recently finished two loads of laundry. If there is one chore that I despise above all other chores it is doing the laundry. As easy as it may sound for others to use those machines I always seem to make a mess of it all. I never know just how much soap to put in. Once I fill the cap to the proper limit I end up filling it again and putting double in the machine. I figure that it'll make my clothes cleaner and even better perfumed. But then once I pass the wet, soggy mess into the dryer I realize I never have any of those fuzzy little static removing sheets. That is, I suspect, the reason for why my clothes always come out super wrinkled (including my jeans!). That just means I have to pull out the iron and I hate that as much as all the rest of laundry related work. Ugh. I hate doing the laundry.

But my disdain for doing the laundry should not be as great as my disdain for the loss of virtues. Yet these lines prove to be very accurate. With one sin - with the license of just one sin (usually of the ones termed "respectable" sins) - I make a mess of everything. Sin is crouched at the door, always ready to pounce. So it doesn't matter, I suppose, whether I open the door wide or simply ajar. Sin will attack. Once it attacks, subtly or strongly, everything is ruined. It all tumbles, according to the piece.

Thankfully there is a clean-up cure for my tumbled over virtues and my dirty sins. Yes, Christ can cleanse me (again and again, if seen through the eyes of confession, or once and forever and for always as seen through the eyes of sufficiency).