Stone Life

I understand that God has called us to pray, but Scripture seems to speak clearly to the fact that God will hear only those prayers that are prayed in accordance with his will. This leads me to believe that prayer is therefore an act of obedience, not an agent of change. It is similar in this way to baptism. There is nothing in the act of baptism that transforms one into a Christian, but it is commanded by God. Why? It seems to be an outward showing of an inward change. So too is prayer an agreeing with God on His will. I can pray all day to move a mountain, but if it does not accord with the will of God, then no measure of faith will make a difference. It cannot even be faith if it is not in line with God’s good pleasure.

The issue that I have with Piper and Co.’s explanation of God dispersing His grace through the prayers of his people is that it does not logically make sense with the concept a sovereign God. It is trying to have it both ways; a God that “…is in Heaven and does as he pleases”, and a God that works through the prayers of His people. Either God acts independent of any outside stimulus or He is bound by causality. By definition, God is the first-cause, which means that He must necessarily act on His own volition. Were He to react to the prayers of men He would lose a measure of power.

My main point of contention, then, is in the term: unconditional election. If God is granting grace according to prayers of believers, isn’t that a condition? I’m not trying to be cute, but it seems that conversion is conditioned on one’s prayers. In theory, couldn’t believers then damn someone to Hell by refusing to pray for them, or could they not do the reverse through the fervent prayers of many believers? It seems to bind God’s hands, conditioning his election.

If I hold that God is completely sovereign it seems to me that I cannot be a factor in any one of His actions. Have I been called to pray, to witness, to be baptized, to fast, to study….etc? Of course, but it seems that these are acts of obedience on my part, and have no bearing upon the providence of God.

Like I said before, I do not doubt Scripture, and my goal is not to disprove anything, but in my opinion Christianity must stand up to philosophic scrutiny, and I don’t know if this one does. I don’t see the problem with acknowledging that my prayers do not accomplish one’s salvation any more than I see a problem with realizing that though I thought I chose God, he in fact chose me. Why should that one make us uncomfortable and the other not? Just some thoughts; comments always welcomed.

This week is amazing! My kids are testing again this morning, so I have time to write yet another irresponsible and hurried rush to judgment on some issue I have no business discussing. In other words, I can blog again. (on a side note: I really enjoy this site…it’s a nice outlet for my thoughts…like a journaling each day on a billboard).

Jamie gave another prompt on her site this week, and it deals with The American Dream. I enjoying abusing that phrase as much as the next guy, blaming it for most of the U.S.A.’s woes, for bringing the church down to a weekly therapy session, making me hungry for more of everything…..etc, etc, etc. I take a different stance today, though. Where did this idea come from? Any sixth-grader can tell you (and I know, because I taught sixth-grade History this year) that America was founded on a dream.

Whether it be based on religion, economics, personal rights, or any other cornerstone, America has always been a haven for freedom. People have flocked to this country since the days when we ravaged the Indians, because they/we wanted freedom from oppression in all of its forms. The problem with freedom is that it works both ways. The same freedom that allows me and others to blog about our lives and thoughts allows for the Nazi-propagandist to spread his hate speech. I am free to worship at an Episcopal church each Sunday morning, but so too do atheists have the right to not be inundated with religious language in public school. I am free to have 30 children if I choose, but others must then be free to prevent themselves from having any. The same freedoms that I enjoy are those that others hate, and vice-versa.

The American Dream has led to a world of evils. Capitalism has created a nation of greed, the rights of the individual have trumped the common-good, our legal system has made at the same time legal and illegal, and the list could go on, but it also has paved the way for the Christian lifestyle that many of us enjoy. We are free, truly free to worship. Other countries do not enjoy that freedom. Our churches and rights as believers are protected by the government itself. I teach in a Christian-school, wear t-shirts that reference Scripture, listen to music that is mass-produced and proclaims the gospel, hear these bands in bars and coffee houses, own several Bibles, and this is all owing to the freedoms afforded by this dream.

As I said before, I love to bash The American Dream as much as most believers do, but the honest truth seems to me that I exist because of it. Are there pitfalls and a massive downside? Of course. Am I an example of how to successfully live as a Scriptural-Christian in America? Hell, no! I recognize I do it terribly badly, but I can’t in good conscience bite the hand that feeds me.

Jamie (who seems to be a conduit for lots of blogging lately) posted something yesterday that caught my attention. I have several friends who profess to be Calvinists, and so I have an honest question for you: How can you pray for the salvation of the lost? I’m sure you have an answer, and I think I’ve heard some, but I’m asking for some good, intellectually-honest reasoning.

I have some questions to ask:

1. If God has chosen whom he has chosen, why would my prayers make any difference? Couldn’t I pray for the next billion years for Essau, yet God would still hate him?

2. Is it just an act of obedience as a Christian? If this is the case, am I really praying for that other person or for myself? What I mean by this is that if my prayers do not affect the outcome, and they are only an act of obedience on my part, then I am praying for my benefit, not theirs.

3. If my prayers do somehow sway God in his choosing, is he sovereign? To give man any credit for the working of God is to take a measure of credit away from God, and doesn’t this negate the doctrine of Calvinism (maybe it doesn’t….I really don’t know)?

My past dogmatism in almost all areas has suffered a violent death, and so I find myself somewhere in a postmodern-middle ground on most issues, including Calvinism (I know, you’ll say that’s not possible….sue me). I wrestle with prayer as it is, but it seems to me that a professed Calvinist would run into some of these problems.

So, Calvinists, Unite!!! Let me know.

Half of my class is at the district track meet today, so we couldn’t do normal work. Instead, for the first one and a half hours my 7 students and I read the Biblical account of Samson together, stopping to discuss it as we went along. I know, I know, it was a completely self-serving act, but I enjoyed it. Hopefully they did too.

I left convinced, and a few of them as well, that Samson’s strength was only loosely related to the length of his hair. It seemed to serve more as a symbol of his commitedness to God, and the act of cutting it (which he knew Delilah would do) was symbolic of his turning his back on God. It was after this that Judges says that God’s Spirit left him, but he did not realize it. Even after his shaving, he did not realize his strength was gone. If he knew his strength was in his hair he would have known immediately, wouldn’t he?

Also rather interesting is the fact that each time Samson aocomplished a great feat of a strength it says, “The Lord came upon him in power”, as if he was not strong before. Is it possible that he did not have super-human strength as is commonly thought? His strength seemed to come directly from the hand of God as specific times.

Two more things:

1. When he brings down the stadium in the end, his motives were not to glorify God. He prays for strength to destroy the Phillistines in order to avenge the gouging of his eyes, not the avenging of God’s honor.

2. His story is one of continual sin, but begins and ends with God’s promise to use him to deliver his children from the Phillistines. I find it fascinating when God breaks His own laws through his children to accomplish his purposes. It was sin for him to marry a foreigner, but it says God told him to. It was sin to murder, but had he not murdered those men he would not have been imprisoned, and had that not happened he would not have been able to destroy the Phillistine-empire. As in many cases, God suspended his laws to accomplish his purposes. Sometimes our faith is strange.

Mercifully, the semester is coming to a close, and in my Milton class we have finished our study of Paradise Lost. I must admit that I enjoyed it more and more each week, but I am also thrilled to have completed it. It was by no means a long book, but I was forced to pour over each word and sentence, noting minute details. Needless to say, that is not the most relaxing way to read a poem.

We are finishing the semester by reading one of the two works that were coupled together after the release of Paradise Lost. Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes were published together, but due to time constraints we were forced to choose one to study. We chose Samson, because most of us had not read it, and those who had would benefit from a closer reading. We spent nearly 2 hours out of the 3 last night talking about the form of the poem, and not specifically the content. Milton’s writing is fascinating in many ways, but part of his genius is in the fact that he plays so well in the realm of ambiguity.

Samson, though written as a play, is called a closet-play, because it was never meant to see the stage. This seems a bit strange, but it makes sense when one understands the nature of the theatre. Every time a play is presented on stage interpretation is required. One must assign defnite meaning to the lines, characters must be visualized…etc. This would mar Milton’s vision, because what allows for the depth of his writing is in the fact that it works on many levels. Were it to be acted out the mysteries would necessarily be solved, whether solved rightly or wrongly.

The most interesting thing from last night, though, which brought me back to the book of Judges this morning, was dealing with the main thrust of the Miltonic interpretation of the story. The very title, Agonistes, refers to ‘struggle’ or ‘toil’, and the play is filled with Samson’s inward and outward struggle while in captivity in Gaza. Just as in Paradise Lost, Milton navigates through dangerous waters by filling in the gaps where the Biblical account is vague. Samson’s struggle is in accepting the blame for what has happened to him, and trying to understand the concept of ‘God’s will’, to put it in common language.

I won’t give every detail, but throughout the play several implied questions are raised, one of them dealing with the origin of his strength. Did he know where his strength came from? From the time we are children we are told of Samson’s hair being a source of strength, but this does not seem clear from the Biblical account. And it certainly is questionable as to whether or not Samson would have thought so. He tells Delilah, but this is after more than a few lies to that end. When the Philistines come upon him, even after his head is shaved, he does not realize that his strength is gone. He attempts to fight as he did before, but to no avail.

God’s command to Manoa and his wife concerning Samson was to raise him as a Nazarite, which included several things along with the long hair, but that was not a key point. So one might assume that God’s presence left him because the cutting of his hair was symbolic of breaking his Nazarite covenant with God, but he had already done so on several occasions. He had eaten honey out of an unclean carcass, married a foreigner, fornicated with prostitutes, and engaged in a serious relationship with another foreigner (not to mention the hubristic-cruelty to his enemies). So what is the cause of God’s deserting of him?

Samson and others in the play debate this question, whose answer is tougher than children’s (or adult’s) Sunday school makes it out to be. What was so different about his sin with Delilah that caused God’s favor to leave him? It’s an interesting debate to say the least.

I was terribly dismayed as I pulled into the parking lot this morning at my school. As most of you know, my school is run by an Evangelical Methodist Church (think ultra-conservative Baptist), and they have a huge glowing sign hanging out into the street that usually boasts those horrible quotes, like, “Think it’s hot in Texas…” or , “Faith Depot: You can do it, we can help”. On one hand it disturbs me, on the other, I get a kick out of it.

Today, though, they ripped off a great saying of St. Anselm’s, and now I suppose that I must retire it from my repertoire. Pop Christianity, and anything written on a church-sign qualifies as such, has cheapened it. It’s a shame.

So, for the last time I will repeat the great saying (though I never say it correctly),

“Preach the gospel always, and, if necessary, use words.”

In a dysfunctional effort to communicate more with my wife, I have started her a blog. We keep begging her to, and now she has no excuse. It has been started, and all she has to do is type. We look forward to your comments, Julie.

Accountant in Training

I realize that by some strange perversion of the psyche that you parents out there see your children as one of these (see left) for their entire young lives. You coddle them and protect them in the 6th grade as if they were the same innocent creature that they were when they were this (again, see left).

I have news for you, in case you didn’t know. They aren’t this anymore. They are some strange, almost indefinable hybrid of child/teenager/adult, but one thing is for sure…they are no longer cute and cuddly, and they must accept a modicum of responsiblity for their actions.

I was called into the administrator of my school’s office yesterday and lambasted for my methods, grading, inexperience, apathy, communication skills, and in a round about way my spirituality. In short, I was beaten down, all on account of some parents that don’t believe their child should be treated like a 12 year old. “How can _____ be expected to actually turn in his work if the teacher doesn’t email or call everytime he ‘forgets’?” “He doesn’t make himself as available as his last teacher (and there’s always a better, last teacher).” You get the point.

Allow me to offer some alternatives:

1. Your child is lazy – he has not turned things in for the last 30 weeks, and when he does; let’s face it, a blind monkey could do better work.

2. It’s your fault – I know you don’t like hearing this, but where have you been for 30 weeks? You signed failing papers, report cards, progress reports…etc each week, and now you’re concerned? Why don’t you hold up your end of this bargain and be more than an advocate in the death chamber, begging for a stay of execution? You should have cared long ago.

3. Your child is not smart – you have him enrolled in a private school that boasts high academic standards that he is not living up to. Maybe he and his bad work ethic need to be elsewhere. Not every school is this tough on their students, and it’s not fair to other students to demand that we lower our standards to meet the needs of one.

These kids wouldn’t be half so bad if they didn’t have parents. So, here’s my unsolicited advice to you parents (like a virgin giving advice on sex): they and you are not perfect; suck it up and don’t take it out on some 25 year old who makes just above minimum wage.

It was a good weekend to be a Stone. Due to a hybrid of getting most of my studies done prior to the weekend and neglecting the other part of them, I was able to really enjoy myself for a few days.

1. I completed my Milton paper. This is the last paper that I am writing for the semester, and all I have left to do is email it to my professor tonight. What a relief!

2. I watched at least a part of all 8 eight NBA playoff games Saturday and Sunday. It was great! I get giddy with excitement about the playoffs like others get about March Madness, and so I set aside as much of my weekend as possible to watch the first round of games.

After Game 1 of each of the series, my predicted winners are not terribly different than they were a few days ago. I think that all of the higher seeds will advance except the Suns and Nuggets. The Clippers are on a mission to get out of the first round, and the Nuggets just didn’t look as good as LA. The Suns should be scared, though. They played out of their minds, Kobe had a sub-par game by Kobe-standards, and they still only one by 5 points. I predict bad things for them.

3. My motorcycle was repaired and given back to me. It has not run well this entire year, but I finally paid to the money to get it worked on, and now it runs great. I even drove it to work this morning.

4. Probably the highlight of the weekend was Saturday night, though. With my good friend Leslie from Denton, I went to see one of my favorite artists of the last 5 or so years. Patty Griffin played a small show at the Ft. Worth Arts Festival, and it was awesome! She is a folk singer that is full of soul, and her best albums have always been those in which she strips it down to acoustic guitars that highlight her powerful vocals. She knows how to put on a show. She spent an hour and a half belting out her songs with only her guitar and one other guitarist to accompany her. It was a nice mix of blues, folk, and americana that couldn’t have sounded better if it was played on one of her cd’s in my stereo. She’s the kind of artist whose songs all sound like classics. She completes the trifecta of good bands I’ve heard in the last few weeks.

That was my weekend…..I have to teach now.

The most glorious week of the school year is upon us at Christway right now. It is test-time. Private schools do not do TAKS testing, but we do Stanford tests that take 5 mornings. We can’t give homework during this week, and so I have nothing to grade each day, and for about an hour at a time I get to read, blog, etc… This once again proves that teaching is the greatest gig on the planet!

So here is what you can expect in the coming days (or hours) from StoneLife:

1. A run-down of the first round of the NBA playoffs (I’m giddy…this is like my March Madness).
2. Patty Griffin concert
3. Potential job
4. German tutor’s story (first-hand account of German history)

For now I have to grade last week’s papers, but I will return soon.

Viva La Tests!!!