Sunday Sermonette: Jews for Jesus

Remember that the epistle to the Romans was actually intended for the Jewish community in Rome, which Paul expected to be visiting soon. They in fact did not receive the letter before he arrived, although presumably he handed them a copy once he got there. Anyway, chapter 11 continues the argument for salvation by belief, and in turn that belief is bestowed by election. 

 

There's no way to know if Paul ever read the Gospel of Matthew.  Presumably he had read the Gospel of Luke, as Luke was his chronicler and likely his scribe, and one would think that his Gospel had been completed before he finished Acts in Rome. But in Matthew 25, Jesus propounds an entirely different path to salvation. 

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

 Unfortunately, as I say, the Christian religion was not founded by Jesus, but by Paul. So we get this instead. 

11 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. ² God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: ³ “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”^[a]? ⁴ And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”^{[b] 5} So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. ⁶ And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

⁷ What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, ⁸ as it is written:

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
    eyes that could not see
    and ears that could not hear,
to this very day.”^[c]

⁹ And David says:

“May their table become a snare and a trap,
    a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
¹⁰ May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
    and their backs be bent forever.”^[d]

Ingrafted Branches

¹¹ Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. ¹² But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!

¹³ I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry ¹⁴ in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. ¹⁵ For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? ¹⁶ If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

¹⁷ If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, ¹⁸ do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. ¹⁹ You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” ²⁰ Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

²² Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. ²³ And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴ After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

All Israel Will Be Saved

²⁵ I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, ²⁶ and in this way^[e] all Israel will be saved. As it is written:

“The deliverer will come from Zion;
    he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
²⁷ And this is^[f] my covenant with them
    when I take away their sins.”^[g]

²⁸ As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, ²⁹ for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. ³⁰ Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, ³¹ so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now^[h] receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. ³² For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

Doxology

³³ Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and^[i] knowledge of God!
    How unsearchable his judgments,
    and his paths beyond tracing out!
³⁴ “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
    Or who has been his counselor?”^[j]
35 “Who has ever given to God,
    that God should repay them?”^[k]
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
    To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Footnotes

1. Romans 11:3 1 Kings 19:10,14
2. Romans 11:4 1 Kings 19:18
3. Romans 11:8 Deut. 29:4; Isaiah 29:10
4. Romans 11:10 Psalm 69:22,23
5. Romans 11:26 Or and so
6. Romans 11:27 Or will be
7. Romans 11:27 Isaiah 59:20,21; 27:9 (see Septuagint); Jer. 31:33,34
8. Romans 11:31 Some manuscripts do not have now.
9. Romans 11:33 Or riches and the wisdom and the
10. Romans 11:34 Isaiah 40:13
11. Romans 11:35 Job 41:11

 

Wednesday Bible Study: Geography lesson

In chapter 10, Paul is mostly trying to convert the Jews. But in verses 16 through 18 he claims (quoting a psalm) that everyone on earth has had the chance to hear the Gospel news. "¹⁷ Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. ¹⁸ But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” Oops! As I said last time, God in fact did not bring the news to the vast majority of the earth's people, of whose existence Paul of course was entirely unaware. Augustine concluded from this verse that the southern hemisphere must be uninhabited. Really! 

 

As I say, this is a major problem for the whole story. 

 

10 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. ² For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. ³ Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. ⁴ Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

⁵ Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.”^{[a] 6} But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’”^[b] (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷ “or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’”^[c] (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸ But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,”^[d] that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: ⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. ¹¹ As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”^{[e] 12} For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³ for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”^[f]

¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”^[g]

¹⁶ But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”^{[h] 17} Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. ¹⁸ But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:

“Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.”^[i]

¹⁹ Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,

“I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;
    I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.”^[j]

²⁰ And Isaiah boldly says,

“I was found by those who did not seek me;
    I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”^[k]

²¹ But concerning Israel he says,

“All day long I have held out my hands
    to a disobedient and obstinate people.”^[l]

Footnotes

1. Romans 10:5 Lev. 18:5
2. Romans 10:6 Deut. 30:12
3. Romans 10:7 Deut. 30:13
4. Romans 10:8 Deut. 30:14
5. Romans 10:11 Isaiah 28:16 (see Septuagint)
6. Romans 10:13 Joel 2:32
7. Romans 10:15 Isaiah 52:7
8. Romans 10:16 Isaiah 53:1
9. Romans 10:18 Psalm 19:4
10. Romans 10:19 Deut. 32:21
11. Romans 10:20 Isaiah 65:1
12. Romans 10:21 Isaiah 65:2

 

This is really how stupid . . .

 the White House resident is. Let me translate the sludge flowing through his deteriorating brain into household level terms. This is literally, in fact, really truly what he thinks.

 

You go to the supermarket once or twice a week. Depending on how big your family is, you might spend $150 or more. You give all that money to the supermarket but they have never given you one penny! You're being ripped off!

 

So you impose a tariff.  You'll pay a 50% tax on everything you buy from them. That'll show 'em! Now you won't buy nearly as much stuff from them. And it means now you'll have an incentive to grow your own food, and you'll really be better off. Of course, that will be hard to do if you don't already have forty acres and a mule, so you might have to invest some money to buy a farm. Then you'll need farm equipment, you'll have to learn how to farm, you'll need to buy fertilizer and seed. And it will be at least a year or two before you actually harvest anything. In the meantime, you'll still have to keep buying groceries and paying the tax. You're also going to need to figure out how to make soap, toilet paper, and of course your farm will need to grow produce, grain, animal feed . . . . You need to figure out how to make cheese, butter, vegetable oil, thresh and mill your grain.

 

Actually, come to think of it, this probably won't work. And where did you get the money to buy groceries in the first place? From your employer, who gives you money every two weeks even though you've never given him one penny! You're ripping him off! If he were smart, he'd pay a tax of 50% on your salary and then he'd figure out how to get your work done without you. . . .

 

That's literally how stupid he is.  

Sunday Sermonette: Quadruple think

The first part of Chapter 9 is, as far as I can tell, complete gibberish. But then Paul gets going on the predestination beat.

 

So let's get something clear. Christian theology is actually Paulist theology. Jesus in the Gospels never talked about any of the issues Paul is spewing about here. But let me lay it out for you.

 

All humans were cursed because Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. All of them inherited the consequences of that sin, which meant they had to live hard lives and then die. God didn't do anything about it for maybe 6,000 or 10,000 years, depending on who did the calculations, then he decided the time had some to sorta kinda fix the problem. Although God is omnipotent, he couldn't just wave his hand and lift the curse. He had to send his son, who was also himself, to be incarnated as human, and then tortured to death, and then resurrected, in order to accomplish it. But it only works for people who believe this story. 

 

All these things are simultaneously true. 

 

1) If you believe the story, i.e. that Jesus is the son of God, and actually at the same time God himself, that he was tortured to death and resurrected, and that if you believe this you will be saved, you will be saved, even though you are still a sinner. 

2) If you commit so-called deadly sins, you will not be saved.

3) Because God is omniscient and omnipotent, he knew at the beginning of time who would be saved and who would not be, and there is nothing you can do about it, but . . . 

 4) You should believe and not sin because that's the way to prove that you are saved.

Of course, in reality, Homo sapiens existed for something like 250,000 to 300,000 years before all this happened, so there was never any garden and never any forbidden fruit. And when it did happen, there were millions of people in places Jesus and Paul had never heard of, including all of the Americas, Southeast Asia, the Pacific islands, Northern Europe beyond the bounds of the Roman Empire, Australia, most of Africa south of the Sahara, and most of Asia east of Mesopotamia. God didn't bother to give them even a chance to hear about Jesus and the above points for the next few hundred or 1,500 years. That doesn't seem very sporting of him, now does it? Anyway, here's your next chapter.

 

9 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— ² I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³ For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, ⁴ the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. ⁵ Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised!^[a] Amen.

God’s Sovereign Choice

⁶ It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. ⁷ Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”^{[b] 8} In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. ⁹ For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”^[c]

¹⁰ Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. ¹¹ Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: ¹² not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”^{[d] 13} Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”^[e]

¹⁴ What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! ¹⁵ For he says to Moses,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
    and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”^[f]

¹⁶ It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. ¹⁷ For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”^{[g] 18} Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

¹⁹ One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” ²⁰ But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’”^{[h] 21} Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

²² What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? ²³ What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— ²⁴ even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? ²⁵ As he says in Hosea:

“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
    and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”^[i]

²⁶ and,

“In the very place where it was said to them,
    ‘You are not my people,’
    there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”^[j]

²⁷ Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,
    only the remnant will be saved.
²⁸ For the Lord will carry out
    his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”^[k]

²⁹ It is just as Isaiah said previously:

“Unless the Lord Almighty
    had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
    we would have been like Gomorrah.”^[l]

Israel’s Unbelief

³⁰ What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; ³¹ but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. ³² Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. ³³ As it is written:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall,
    and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”^[m]

Footnotes

1. Romans 9:5 Or Messiah, who is over all. God be forever praised! Or Messiah. God who is over all be forever praised!
2. Romans 9:7 Gen. 21:12
3. Romans 9:9 Gen. 18:10,14
4. Romans 9:12 Gen. 25:23
5. Romans 9:13 Mal. 1:2,3
6. Romans 9:15 Exodus 33:19
7. Romans 9:17 Exodus 9:16
8. Romans 9:20 Isaiah 29:16; 45:9
9. Romans 9:25 Hosea 2:23
10. Romans 9:26 Hosea 1:10
11. Romans 9:28 Isaiah 10:22,23 (see Septuagint)
12. Romans 9:29 Isaiah 1:9
13. Romans 9:33 Isaiah 8:14; 28:16

 

Wednesday Bible Study: Deepities

"Deepity" is a term made famous by the late philosopher Daniel Dennett for a statement that appears to be profound but is actually trivial on one level and meaningless or ludicrous on another. Dennett particularly applied it to the charlatan Deepak Chopra, but Chopra had an excellent role model in Paul. Romans 8 is essentially a torrent of deepities. 

You can see for yourself that this is mostly gibberish but I'll just make a couple of points. The passage beginning with verse 28 introduces the doctrine of predestination, which I believe I have already mentioned is embraced by Calvinism. There's a logical problem with the concept of God. If God is all-knowing and all-powerful, than he has known since the beginning of time who will be saved and he in fact decided who they would be. So there is actually nothing we can do to be saved, whether you go for the faith or the works side of the contradiction Paul has already struggled with. 

 

The passage beginning with verse 31 -- "³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?^" is obviously false. No matter how faithful or sinless we are, God does not graciously give us all things. 

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you^[a] free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,^[b] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.^[c] And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶ The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life^[d] because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of^[e] his Spirit who lives in you.

¹² Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.^[f] And by him we cry, “Abba,^[g] Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Present Suffering and Future Glory

¹⁸ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that^[h] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[i] have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

More Than Conquerors

³¹ What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”^[j]

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Footnotes

1. Romans 8:2 The Greek is singular; some manuscripts me
2. Romans 8:3 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit; also in verses 4-13.
3. Romans 8:3 Or flesh, for sin
4. Romans 8:10 Or you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive
5. Romans 8:11 Some manuscripts bodies through
6. Romans 8:15 The Greek word for adoption to sonship is a term referring to the full legal standing of an adopted male heir in Roman culture; also in verse 23.
7. Romans 8:15 Aramaic for father
8. Romans 8:21 Or subjected it in hope. ²¹ For
9. Romans 8:28 Or that all things work together for good to those who love God, who; or that in all things God works together with those who love him to bring about what is good—with those who
10. Romans 8:36 Psalm 44:22
11. Romans 8:38 Or nor heavenly rulers

 

Death, doubt and doom loom . . .

Bazfazz. That's a quote from Pogo, I don't know exactly what bazfazz means but presumably it's an expression of dismay. I don't know if you've noticed -- I pay too much attention -- but the zeitgeist lately is full of hand wringing about appalling scenarios. I mentioned a few days ago that a fairly small group of highly organized and moderately skilled people could cause a nationwide electricity blackout by destroying a couple of dozen transformer substations. That sounds bad. 

 

It turns out that it is already possible to send out spoofed signals from the Global Positioning System and direct ships and airplanes off course. The GPS is also the source of precise time signals that are essential to many processes. In fact, GPS spoofing is already being used as part of the conflict around the Strait of Hormuz, so the only real question is why it isn't being used more widely. 

 

Then we have the clanging alarms about so-called artificial intelligence running amok, terrorist drone attacks, and the climate catastrophes that are already obviously happening. The fact is that human technological capabilities have far outrun our wisdom, and the intricate interdependencies of the global economy mean that pulling a single thread could unravel it, wholly unpredictably. That the U.S. is currently run by a demented, corrupt psychopath does not provide much comfort. 

 

I actually think that humans are more resourceful and resilient than we necessarily give ourselves credit for, and that civilization is pretty robust. While we can't just accept the human cost of any catastrophe, what may emerge on the other side wouldn't necessarily be worse than the situation we're in now. But yes, now is a time to feel a sense of urgency. 

Sunday Sermonette: Yet more self-contradictory gibberish

As we've seen, Paul repeatedly contradicts himself on the question of whether salvation is by faith alone, or by deeds. He also repeatedly contradicts himself on the question of whether Christians are obliged to follow the Torah laws. This constant self-contradiction often yields total gibberish. 

In chapter 2 he wrote "The doers of the law shall be justified." In Chapter 3, "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." Here, he makes an elaborate argument by analogy that the law no longer applies to Christians. 

 

Note that Jesus also contradicted himself on this point numerous times, according to the Gospels. E.g., in Matthew 5 he says "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or tittle shall nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven." In Luke 16, "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail," and in Luke 19, "One came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him ... if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."  Yet in Luke 16 he also says "The law and the prophets were until John [the Baptist]: since that time the kingdom of heaven is preached."

Remember that this letter was addressed to the Jewish community in Rome. At the time it was written, there was no Christian community. Paul sent it ahead of his visit, but according to Acts, they never received it. Of course he presumably shared it when he arrived in person, but the point is this is addressed to Jews. He may have been ambivalent on this point because he was chickening out. Who can say? He also spends a lot of time in this chapter beating himself up for being a sinner, and goes back to the salvation by faith alone position. Whatev.

 

7 Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? ² For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. ³ So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.

⁴ So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. ⁵ For when we were in the realm of the flesh,^[a] the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. ⁶ But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

The Law and Sin

⁷ What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”^{[b] 8} But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. ⁹ Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. ¹⁰ I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. ¹¹ For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. ¹² So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.

¹³ Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

¹⁴ We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. ¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^[c] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

²¹ So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature^[d] a slave to the law of sin.

Footnotes

1. Romans 7:5 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.
2. Romans 7:7 Exodus 20:17; Deut. 5:21
3. Romans 7:18 Or my flesh
4. Romans 7:25 Or in the flesh

 

 

Pareidolia

Ever since a psycho shot up a classroom last year and killed two students, the university has engaged in endless recrimination and self-flagellation. They promoted the chief of the university police to an associate provost position (or something like that), started locking all the doors, and even restricted where we could go with our key cards. (One floor of the School of Public Health Building is now locked with an old-fashioned metal key and you have to ring a bell to get in if your own office doesn't happen to be on that floor. Why? No idea.)

 

They hired a consulting firm to develop a safety and security plan for the university, and they've now come out with their 30 page report. The campus used to be completely open, it was just part of the city and the neighbors could walk through it, drop in on lectures and other events, and of course potential students could check all that out as well. Apparently that's over now and you'll need a key card to enter any building, or get an invitation and sign in with a security guard.

 

What I think is that this is all completely ridiculous. There is absolutely no reason to believe that a similar event is any more likely now than it has been for the previous 250 years of the university's existence. Another way of looking at this is that there are, I don't know how many but I'll guess, about 5,000 institutions of higher education in the United States and as far as I can recall, in my lifetime, there have been maybe four or five shooting rampages at a college or university. That means that over the course of more than half a century your school has about a 1 in 1,000 chance of something like this happening, and as I say, it's no more likely to happen at Brown now than it was a year ago.

 

There have been innumerable more targeted violent acts at colleges of course -- universities aren't immune from the problems of existence. Some that sorta kinda overlap with our incident are instances of failing graduate students attacking a professor. A notorious event was Amy Bishop, a junior professor who shot up a departmental faculty meeting because the didn't get tenure. However, none of these events would have been prevented by locked doors because the perpetrators were already inside and were authorized to be there.

 

Humans compulsively look for meaning in random stimuli. But there was no meaning in the shooting at Brown other than what we already knew, which is that on occasion humans become homicidal maniacs. It's rare enough that it's unlikely to affect you directly in your lifetime, and we can't structure our lives and our institutions around such a remote possibility. Again, the incident last year means nothing more than that. The situation, the risk, has not changed at all, which means there is no reason to respond to it other than to mourn the losses and move on. But people just can't seem to do that.

 

 

 

Wednesday Bible Study: Doublethink

In chapter 6, Paul realizes he's painted himself into a corner. In chapter 2, he argued that salvation comes from following the law and refraining from sin. In chapters 3 through 5, he argues that salvation cannot be by good works because everyone is a sinner, therefore salvation is by faith alone. Now he has a problem, because the obvious conclusion is that you might as well sin all you want as long as you believe in Jesus. So now he spews a lot of sophistry arguing that if you believe, you won't sin, but since he's just said that everybody will, that doesn't make any sense, so he ends up writing that "the wages of sin is death." So now we're back to salvation by righteous deeds.

 

As everyone knows, George Orwell coined the term "doublethink" to mean believing two entirely contradictory things at once. That was a requirement under a totalitarian regime. Demanding doublethink was a means of exerting absolute power. And that's what the church is, a totalitarian institution.  It requires that people not think for themselves, but blindly obey, and this particular doublethink is at the heart of the oppressive regime.

 

6 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ² By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,^[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— ⁷ because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰ The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

¹¹ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³ Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

Slaves to Righteousness

¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶ Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. ¹⁸ You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

¹⁹ I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. ²⁰ When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. ²¹ What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! ²² But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in^[b] Christ Jesus our Lord.

Footnotes

1. Romans 6:6 Or be rendered powerless
2. Romans 6:23 Or through

 

A grotesque capitulation

The disgusting and dismaying spectacle of the nation's most prominent law firms, universities, and other institutions preemptively caving to the proto-fascist regime did eventually cause a few mealy-mouthed expressions of regret. However, that hasn't stopped many institutions from continuing to do it. 

 

One of the most shocking is, get this, the American Diabetes Association. This editorial in Medscape by Dr. Irl B. Hirsch tells the vile story.  This actually happened in June but I just came upon it. The ADA had already acted cravenly by inviting quack doctor Jay Bhattacharya, Director of the National Institutes of Health, to be keynote speaker at its annual convention. In case you question whether "doctor" Bhattacharva is a quack, take it from Dr. Hirsch: "As NIH director, he has blocked the publication of studies on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness. He advocates for scaling back mRNA vaccine development (including for use against type 1 diabetes) and opposes vaccine mandates. On top of all that, he has defended the 40% NIH cuts requested by the Trump administration— ironically, as a way to shift resources away from “politicalized science” and redirect them to chronic disease prevention and nutrition."

 

An editorial deriding the NIH budget cuts and grant cancellations previously appeared in the Associations journal Diabetes Care. A few of the scientists in attendance decided to hand out copies of the editorial to attendees. They did so peacefully and quietly. As it happened, Bhattacharva chickened out and sent a flunky in his place, but that's of no consequence. 

 

So the ADA had the Louisiana state police confiscate the papers and expel the scientists from the meeting. Really. Among those expelled were Steven Kahn, Editor-in-Chief of Diabetes Care, and Desmond Schatz, a former ADA president. Writes Hirsch:

 

"The comments from the ADA during the meeting “doubled down” on its actions. We were told that those handing out the editorial broke the “code of conduct,” which I hadn’t heard of before. The apology from CEO Chuck Henderson after the meeting fell short because he did not specifically apologize for the actions leading to revoking the five scientists’ badges. Instead, he apologized to them for the “hurt, frustration, and pain that resulted” and said there would be an independent review of the events and the policies, procedures and decision-making processes that guided the actions. So, we got a pseudo-apology as social media was ablaze in fury at the ADA."

 

Hirsch rightly asks why there needs to be an "independent review" since everyone knows what happened and the ADA leadership presumably know what they did. Says Hirsch, "ADA leadership has forgotten its mission. As millions of dollars come in, do the CEO and board consider the core mission of ADA? Many of us don’t believe the mission is even on their radar." 

 

Amen to that. The sickening cowardice of so many wealthy and powerful people, whose own future is secure, in the face of these ignorant, malevolent bullies, seems inexplicable to me. Maybe you can explain it. 

Sunday Sermonette: God is a psychopath

Chapter 5 of Romans is where Paul introduces what has become the central Christian doctrine of original sin. In a nutshell, the claim is that when Adam ate the apple, the act stained every human from then on and made all of them equally guilty. However, God fixed it by murdering his own innocent son. This is so ridiculous, so perverse, and so morally depraved that words fail me. That is what Christians believe.

 I'll do another post today to make up for this idiocy.

5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we^[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we^[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we^[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹ Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! ¹⁰ For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! ¹¹ Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ

¹² Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

¹³ To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.

¹⁵ But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! ¹⁶ Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. ¹⁷ For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

¹⁸ Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. ¹⁹ For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

²⁰ The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, ²¹ so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Footnotes

1. Romans 5:1 Many manuscripts let us
2. Romans 5:2 Or let us
3. Romans 5:3 Or let us