Letters from Mugwort

I’m currently rereading C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters so thought I might add to the tradition of “advice from a devil.”

Dear Milquetoast,

As you are beginning your career and have been assigned your first patient, stick to the basics of what you’ve learned in Training College. There are a few principles to undergird your work, and these can often be inculcated through simple thoughts:

“I’m spiritual but not religious.” As the patient looks at the hypocrisy of Christians around him, he’ll begin to feel superior to them and believe he can do better on his own than in any kind of faith community. If he does happen go to a church, be sure to remind him of the flaws of those standing next to him. They don’t even have to be big issues—something as simple as singing off-key or wearing a stained shirt may be enough to distract him from the meeting. It doesn’t take much to discourage most people from attending church services on a regular basis. Also, don’t forget to suggest to him that the church is a place to go to and nothing more. Certainly don’t let him get too cozy with Christians who actually follow the Enemy. Small groups can be either helpful or harmful. It depends on who participates and what they do, so be careful there.

“The Bible is full of errors.” We don’t mind if a man reads the Bible occasionally, but we don’t want him to make a habit of it. It’s best if he reads it through a lens of scientific and philosophical criticism, and not with any desire to learn or apply the words of our Enemy. Provide him with biased reference materials so he doesn’t accidentally find any truth or accuracy in what he reads.

“My thoughts and prayers are with you.” While it is true (as Cousin Screwtape said) that we don’t particularly want our patients to pray, it is not always bad to allow them to pray provided their prayers are thoroughly vague and meaningless. Phrases like “be with them” or “bless them” are usually safe. It makes the patient feel righteous for “interceding” while giving no real benefit to the subject of his prayers.

“Forgive and forget.” This is one of those twisted ideas that Christians love to misapply, believing it to be the instruction of our Enemy. It is an excellent tool for heaping shame and guilt on those who have been hurt by someone else, when they find it hard to let go of the pain. The more you can get your patient to focus on his distressing feelings, the less likely he is to remember that forgiveness is a choice, not an emotion. It’s always helpful to stir up bad memories just when he starts to feel any charity toward the person who hurt him.

“God helps those who help themselves.” I’m not sure who first used this phrase, but a lot of people have tossed it around as being our Enemy’s words. The beauty of it is that it puts all the burden on the person to guide his own life, and he will make decisions based on what is best for himself, with no risk of him consulting our Enemy for direction. Throw in the occasional “blessing” to reinforce his choices, like receiving a promotion at work, and he will gladly keep himself at the center of his life. (A similar phrase, “God blesses those who serve him,” can similarly be warped to turn the patient toward self-righteousness.)

With careful application of these phrases and diligent watch over your man’s choices, you will soon be granted more patients to work with and more souls will add to your account. I expect great things from you.

Your mentor and cousin,

Mugwort

© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Silence

After reading a biography of Fred Rogers, I just started reading The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers, by Amy Hollingsworth. The first chapter got me thinking about silence. In an interview with Fred Rogers he said,

“I think, for me, I need to be myself... And so, for me, being quiet and slow is being myself, and that is my gift... It seems to me, though, that our world needs more time to wonder and to reflect about what is inside, and if we take time we can often go much deeper as far as our spiritual life is concerned than we can if there’s constant distraction. And often television gives such constant distraction—noise and fast-paced things—which doesn’t allow us to take time to explore the deeper levels of who we are—and who we can become.”

Hollingsworth goes on to say:

“Yale psychologists comparing Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood to Sesame Street... discovered that children were better able to follow the stories on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood than the faster-paced, hip and hip-hopping world of Sesame Street. Another study concluded that Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood led to an increase in ‘tolerance of delay,’ meaning that children in the study who watched the program were more likely to be patient in waiting for materials or for an adult’s attention.”

Now I don’t have a degree in child development (though I do have one in Educational Ministries), but it seems to me that we need to take a step back and look at the world we are creating with our instant gratification and “always on” media. I’d say the vast majority of the Western world is overstimulated, and we are reaping the consequences in our schools and churches and families. Hollingsworth includes this quote from the demon Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood in C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, “We will make the whole universe a noise in the end.” I don’t think we are far off from that now.

Conversely, Scripture is replete with references to “be silent,” “be still,” and “wait.”

• “Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent” (Psalm 4:4 ESV).
• “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted in the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10).
• “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from Him” (Psalm 62:5).
• “But the Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him” (Habakkuk 2:20).
• “Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is near” (Zephaniah 1:7a).

As Christians, most of us would say we want to hear from God, and yet we make little effort to listen. We want our answers just a click away. Even our church services typically have very little space for silence. (I admit that when I’m preparing our sermon audio for the podcast, I typically shorten any pauses that are more than five seconds.) I was reading recently about the regulative principle of worship—that churches should not add anything to worship services that is not specifically permitted in Scripture (https://www.gotquestions.org/regulative-normative-worship.html). I think to some extent it is true that “simpler is better.” I won’t say that it’s necessarily bad for churches to project lyrics and Scriptures, or to use praise bands or accompaniment tracks, but it does concern me when some worship services are indistinguishable from concerts and other performances. Silence is one way of pointing people back to the reason for worship. When all the external noises are stilled, we have fewer distractions from the voice of the Holy Spirit who was given to “teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26).

In the noise of this world, it can be hard to find silence, and I believe the church is uniquely suited to providing that break from routine. Many families experience no silent moments unless the kids are asleep; however, kids need silence too. I believe the admonition in James to be “quick to hear, slow to speak” ought to be applied to all types of situations, not just potentially controversial conversations.

I remember an exercise during training to be a Resident Assistant in college. We were to go into a dorm room and respond to whatever scenario was presented. It happened that the room I got was a person who was upset about a difficult relationship. I didn’t really know how to respond, so I just listened to her talk. Afterward, the students observing (as well as the actress) said that even though they wanted to jump in and start talking, my silence was probably the best response in that case. How often do we really listen instead of jumping in with answers or reassurances? Job’s friends were at their best before they opened their mouths, and Job too had to learn to put his hand over his mouth.

My challenge for this week (and you’re welcome to join me) is to stop the noise. Take time away from the TV and internet to be still. Find a time and place to stop and listen for the “low whisper” of God’s presence (1 Kings 19:12). And then extend that listening to those around who just need to be heard.

“When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour” (Revelation 8:1).

© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Watch Out!

I can’t help but write what’s on my mind, and at the moment that the problem of anger. A few miles away a teen shot and killed another teen at school last week. I recently thought I might have to break up a fight between two women in the Walmart checkout line. I’ve gotten to where I hate to drive, because either I’m angering other drivers or they are angering me. Anger is not just a problem in the world but in the church too. People say or do things that cause conflict, perhaps intentionally, but often unintentionally—failing to talk to someone, assuming too much, pushing a person out of a job, etc. The color of the carpet, the music, and budget allocations have been known to cause church splits. James wrote,

“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions” (James 4:1-3 ESV).

I had always read James 4:2-3 as instruction on prayer, but nowhere does James say that. Rather, might he be saying that if you would talk to the other person you would find no reason to covet and quarrel? So many conflicts could be avoided simply by communicating better. Most of us probably don’t murder or fight, but we’re experts at snide remarks and angry thoughts. Jesus said that “everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the fire of hell” (Matthew 5:22). I doubt that anyone is innocent under those criteria.

The Apostle Paul wrote,

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these... Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another” (Galatians 5:19-21a, 26).

I find it interesting that his list can almost be divided into two categories: lust and anger. I suspect that most pastors would also identify those as the two biggest areas of sin in their churches. The Apostle John summarized it this way, “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from that Father but is from the world” (1 John 2:16).

Anger doesn’t occur in a vacuum. There is always some underlying cause, and often there are related emotional triggers—pride or shame, fear, jealousy, desire, prejudice, or some combination of those. David Powlison said “sinful anger is an expression of your playing God according to James 4:12. Who are you if you judge your brother? Who are you if you speak evil of him? Well, you are God. You are acting as though you are lawgiver and judge.” We believe we are god of something, so we balk at being dethroned.

Thinking of a recent situation that angered me, I realize it was a result of 1) lack of clear communication of purpose and expectations, and 2) jealousy over losing control of something that I once believed to be my domain (along with some other tangential issues). Some explanation helped, but more necessary is an ongoing surrender of my rights to rule or to judge others who do things differently. I know the world would be better if everyone would just do things my way! God must say the same thing every day about the choices that we make and the ways we try to take over His throne. One day the King will come and remind us all Who is really in charge.

“Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom... But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (James 3:13, 17-18).

© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

Blessed?

Many people like to use the hashtags #blessed or #soblessed when something good happens. I have no problem with that; however, a quick browse of those tags on Twitter reveals some alarming and even blasphemous comments. I will no longer assume that a person saying “I’m blessed” is necessarily Christian. I think there is a bigger issue at stake even among Christians who use the word “blessed” on a regular basis. Psalm 67 says, 

“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us, Selah, that Your way may be known on earth, Your saving power among all nations… God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear Him!” (1-2, 7 ESV).

God doesn’t bless us just to make us happy. He blesses us so that He will be known to be God and people will turn to Him in repentance and faith. And God’s idea of a blessing is often far different from our own. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that the blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted (Matthew 5:3-10). When was the last time you told people you were #blessed that way?

Oftentimes, the greatest blessings of faith come through times of trial, pain, and suffering. It is when we are weakest that we realize our need for God, and His unfailing love is all the blessing we really need. Through suffering our faith can be strengthened, our lives can be purified, and our witness can be clearly seen. The Apostle Paul said, “I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses” (2 Corinthians 12:9b-10a). It’s been said that no one can claim that their faith grew most when life was easy and free from trials, “for the testing of your faith produces steadfastness” (James 1:3).

With that in mind, here are a few blessings in my life:

• I am blessed with periods of depression, for then I remember that life isn’t about the pursuit of happiness.
• I am blessed with times of loneliness, for then I see what the Body of Christ is intended to be.
• I am blessed with singleness, for in isolation I learn to turn my attention to God and His Word.
• I am blessed when God convicts me of sin, because I know it is by grace I have been saved and I’m being sanctified.

Through blessings such as these I am learning to hunger and thirst for righteousness and to pursue purity of heart, and one day I’ll receive the final blessing of seeing God’s face and being truly satisfied in Him.

By all means give thanks for the good things in life, but don’t forget the blessings of suffering as well. “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Let’s look beyond the blessings of family, friends, homes, and jobs to the greater spiritual blessings that are ours in Christ alone.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him” (Ephesians 1:3-4a).

© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

One Body

Lately our church has been discussing the biblical basis for church membership and what that should look like. As Sam Allberry points out in this video clip, in Hebrews 10:25 the “opposite of not going to church is encouraging one another.” How can we encourage one another when we have no relationship? How can we obey all the “one anothers” of Scripture if we aren’t actually with one another on a regular basis?

Along those lines, it struck me that the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 says, “Forgive us our debts…” It’s not “Forgive me as I have forgiven others,” but is rather a corporate statement of our need for forgiveness as a Body. (Not that we can’t pray it individually, but that shouldn’t be the only way we pray.) I think inherent within the prayer to “forgive us” is the need for forgiveness between members of the Body of Christ. Just prior to these verses Jesus had said, “So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (5:23-24 ESV). I don’t think it is inconsequential that the order in Jesus’ teaching is: 1) reconcile to your brother, 2) go make your offering, 3) worship together as the body and confess your need for forgiveness. It is similar to Matthew 18 in confronting a brother for sin first privately and then increasingly publicly if he refuses to listen.

The point is that our actions as individuals do not just impact our own lives but also the Body of Christ. God has joined us together through the blood of Christ, and “What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:6). The sin of one member of the Body effects the rest of the Body, and we need other members of the Body to help us walk in the forgiveness and newness of life that we have in Christ (Romans 6:4). As Paul pointed out in 1 Corinthians 5, one person’s sin was a bad influence on all of them, “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” (5:6). Those in the church were told “not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty… Purge the evil person from among you” (5:11, 13).

Obviously some sins are much more visible than others, and some sinners require much more rebuke than others because of their hardness of heart. One person might need to be publicly disciplined while another needs only a quiet word from a brother. It is true that each of us individually can confess to God and receive His forgiveness, but it’s also true that God designed us to live in community. As such, we are meant to be exhorting and encouraging one another in our fight against sin. There is strength in numbers (Ecclesiastes 4:12).

After studying Greek in college, I realized that we need to read the epistles from a corporate mindset. The vast majority are written in the plural, which does not come through in English, and we can miss a lot by reading from a singular, independent viewpoint. First Corinthians 6:19 could more accurately be translated (in Southernese), “Do y’all not know that the body of y’all is the temple of the Holy Spirit in y’all, whom y’all have from God? Y’all are not your own.” Paul isn’t just saying that each of us individually belong to God, though that is true, but that we belong to Him together and we belong to one another as well (1 Corinthians 12:14-20).

I know Christians who see no need to be involved in a church, and there have been times I’ve wanted to disengage as well. But I don’t think that is really an option for anyone who loves God wholeheartedly. He didn’t just adopt us into relationship with Him as our Father, but into a family with one another as brothers and sisters. Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15), and many of the commands in Scripture are to be carried out in relationship with one another in His Body. How can we choose to ignore those commands and still claim that we love Jesus?

In Ephesians 5, Paul writes about how we are to relate to one another. He didn’t totally change subjects when he hit verse 22 and started talking about marriage, he simply zeroed in on one type of relationship within the larger context of the Body of Christ. The marriage relationship is intended to reflect the relationship that Christ has with the Church (5:32). Being part of the Body of Christ is not always easy, just as marriage is not easy. It requires sacrifice of time, energy, and personal priorities, “submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (5:21), nourishing and cherishing one another “because we are members of His Body” (5:30).

If we think that church is something we can simply add on like a new hobby, we are missing the point. We cannot function as individual parts if we are not connected to the Body. We cannot grow in Christ if we are not involved in the life of His Body. As Pastor Matt said, “We grow together or we don’t grow at all.”

“So as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another” (Romans 12:4-5).

© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

National Conference on Christian Apologetics

Here are a few brief notes and links from some of the sessions I attended at the National Conference on Christian Apologetics. I chose several sessions related to biology because that is what my first degree was in and I still enjoy it. It was an encouraging and educational time.

1) God’s Crime Scene: Evidence for God’s Existence from the Fine-Tuning of the Universe- J. Warner Wallace (Cold Case Christianity)

Can the finely tuned systems of our universe be explained by something within the universe? No, there are far too many variables for chance to have created the universe as we know it. There had to have been an outside force that was both purposeful and powerful. The existence of morality implies that the force was also personal. The answer to our questions is not a “what” but a “Who.”

http://coldcasechristianity.com/

2) The Age of the Earth: A Charitable Approach- Eric Gustafson (Southern Evangelical Seminary)

Though there are many areas for disagreement, old earth and young earth Christians should be able to agree on these points:

a) Biblical interpretation- Creation passages are historical rather than metaphorical, though not scientifically precise.

b) Scriptural genealogies refer to real people in real history, but are not necessarily comprehensive (ie. generations may have been skipped). Genealogies are not intended to provide exact details but key people.

c) Death before the Fall- Only humans are endowed with a spiritual nature. No humans died before the Fall; however, animals were most likely mortal from creation.

d) Presuppositionalism- Can non-believers correctly interpret general revelation? God’s general revelation properly interpreted will never contradict His special revelation properly interpreted.

3) It’s Time to Do Biology as if Darwin Had Never Been Born- Randy Guliuzza (Institute for Creation Research)

Darwin essentially said that changes in environments cause changes in organisms, thereby making adaptation externalistic. He said that the changes in organisms were copious, small, undirected mutations over long periods of time. However, ongoing research disproves that theory. A single species without any changes in DNA can adapt different characteristics based on how it senses its own environment through Continuous Environmental Tracking. These changes can take place within a single generation and are predictable, not just genetic drift and survival of the fittest.

http://www.icr.org/article/stick-spider-adaptation

4) The God Who Wants Us to Test Him: Testing Genesis with the Latest Science- Hugh Ross (Reasons to Believe)

From an old earth perspective, scientific research continues to reveal that the order of events in nature corresponds with the order as outlined in the Bible in Genesis 1 and Job 37-39. Previously assumed disparities have been disproved. For example:

• Vegetation fossils have been found which prove that plants existed before animals.
• Fossils continue to show no transition species.
• Continents emerged more quickly than originally believed.
• Genetic diversity of closed populations increase faster than predicted, so we could have all come from two original humans.

The more we learn about science, the more reasons we have to believe the Bible.

https://www.reasons.org/explore/blogs/todays-new-reason-to-believe/read/todays-new-reason-to-believe/2018/06/11/rapid-landmass-emergence-affirms-creation-day-3

https://www.reasons.org/explore/blogs/todays-new-reason-to-believe/read/todays-new-reason-to-believe/2018/06/18/hazy-early-earth-more-affirmation-of-creation-day-4

© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.

More Than Anything

Reading in the Old Testament recently I noticed something I hadn’t seen before. In 2 Samuel 9, King David asks, “Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?” (9:1 ESV). He is introduced to Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth, who is crippled in both feet. Mephibosheth is invited into the palace and dines at the king’s table for the rest of his life. In contrast, in the next chapter David sends condolences to Hanun when his father, the king of the Ammonites, dies. Hanun’s response is to disgrace the messengers, which leads to a massive battle. If he had received the messengers graciously, he could have avoided a war.

It seems to me that in both these chapters King David was a model of God. He extends grace to two different men—one accepts it and becomes like a member of the family; the other person rejects it and brings condemnation on himself. Likewise God has extended the offer of forgiveness and adoption to all, but we can choose whether or not to accept it. “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:17). “God sent forth His Son… so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5).

Mephibosheth is one of my favorite characters in the Old Testament. He knew he had nothing to offer the king. He could barely even get around. He was simply grateful to be honored by David. After a misunderstanding when David temporarily fled the palace and Mephibosheth got left behind, Mephibosheth turns down an offer of land, because all he cares about is that his king has come home (2 Sam. 19:24-30). All he wants is to dwell with the king who brought him into his family.

I think we could all learn from Mephibosheth. It’s tempting to desire the blessings more than we desire God. We feel entitled to certain benefits, and when suffering comes we join Job in trying to argue our case before God (Job 13:3 et al). We aren’t content to eat at the King’s table and enjoy being part of His family. God gives us Himself and we want more! (Check out Natalie Grant’s song “More Than Anything.”) We may be poor witnesses for the Gospel if we seek the gifts more than the Giver. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:4-5). It is His mercy that matters, not our blessings.

If Christianity were inextricably linked to health, wealth, and other visible blessings, we wouldn’t have any trouble convincing people to join up. But what God offers us is reconciliation with Him and adoption into His family for eternity. That may not sound too appealing to many people. Who needs that when they can have all that they want without having to read the Bible or obey God?

May we learn the contentment of having peace with God. In that way our lives can reflect the glory of the God who saved us in our sin and weakness.

“Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God, without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life” (Philippians 2:14-16a).

© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com. The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or employer.