My children do not live in the same family. Although this may seem like a nonsensical statement, it’s actually so obvious that most of us never recognize it until it’s pointed out.
In his six years, Spencer has experienced two years as an only child of novice parents, two years as an older brother of one boy with slightly more able parents, and two years as an older brother of two boys with yet even more competent parents. In his four years, Ethan has always had an older brother, and his parents were never amateurs. And in his brief 22 months, Sage always had two older brothers and basically expert parents. One simple implication of these facts is that whereas Spencer sort of knows what it’s like to be alone and then to lose aloneness, Sage will never even have a mental picture of privacy.
But more important than the fact that each boy is raised by very different parents and accompanied by different siblings is the fact that even in the same family at the same time, every child experiences it from his own point of view, a unique vantage never quite replicated in anyone else. And, of course, all of these differences are only compounded in families with divorces, remarriages, larger time gaps between children, or radical changes in location of residence or the occupations of their parents.
And once I realize that none of my children really live in the same family as each other, I become more aware of how I must adjust my own expectations and treatment of each of them as individuals who might just as well come from three different families rather than from the same one.
Should a Christian ever boo?
Brandon Phillips, the second baseman for the Reds, shot his mouth off about the Cardinals when they played in Cincinnati last month. This led to a fight in which Johnny Cueto, a Reds pitcher, started kicking wildly into a bunch of players, giving the St. Louis backup catcher Jason LaRue a concussion that ended his season.
When the Reds came to St. Louis Friday, the fans booed Phillips so loudly that the announcers couldn’t be heard over the noise. These boos only became louder as he proceeded to make four outs. In the words of one commentator, the crowd was “merciless.”
As a Cardinals fan and a Christian, I found this particular word choice fascinating. Of course, it’s correct. They showed no mercy. Just as clearly, he was only getting what he deserved. But should they have been more merciful to him?
As a fan, I would have been willing to give him applause rather than boos under one and only one circumstance. If he had apologized, contritely admitting he was foolish and that words have consequences, I would cheer him. Punishment encourages repentance, and repentance encourages mercy.
When the Reds came to St. Louis Friday, the fans booed Phillips so loudly that the announcers couldn’t be heard over the noise. These boos only became louder as he proceeded to make four outs. In the words of one commentator, the crowd was “merciless.”
As a Cardinals fan and a Christian, I found this particular word choice fascinating. Of course, it’s correct. They showed no mercy. Just as clearly, he was only getting what he deserved. But should they have been more merciful to him?
As a fan, I would have been willing to give him applause rather than boos under one and only one circumstance. If he had apologized, contritely admitting he was foolish and that words have consequences, I would cheer him. Punishment encourages repentance, and repentance encourages mercy.
Why humility matters.
Humility really needs a better press agent. Those people in our culture who might be in a position to promote it have for the most part long since decided that arrogance pays better. But like so many other Divine virtues, that’s sort of the point.
Humility comes from the premise that your ideas may be flawed because you are a sinful person in your very nature. Thus, you share them cautiously, carefully, and with an ear eager for criticism. But what happens when we don’t speak humbly?
Well, last week, an unstable man attempted to destroy the Discovery Channel headquarters because he believed they weren’t doing enough to stop the parasitic virus we call humanity. Who inspired him? Environmental activists former Vice President Al Gore and author Daniel Quinn. Are they at all to blame? Of course. Why? Because they have been consistently unhumble in their pronouncements regarding humankind and the earth.
Now, of course James Lee was an unstable person. But when unstable people act on the warnings of alarmists, those who used the most extreme language must bear some degree of blame for the evil done in the name of their ideas. To conclude otherwise is to deny any moral responsibility for what we say and how we say it.
Humility comes from the premise that your ideas may be flawed because you are a sinful person in your very nature. Thus, you share them cautiously, carefully, and with an ear eager for criticism. But what happens when we don’t speak humbly?
Well, last week, an unstable man attempted to destroy the Discovery Channel headquarters because he believed they weren’t doing enough to stop the parasitic virus we call humanity. Who inspired him? Environmental activists former Vice President Al Gore and author Daniel Quinn. Are they at all to blame? Of course. Why? Because they have been consistently unhumble in their pronouncements regarding humankind and the earth.
Now, of course James Lee was an unstable person. But when unstable people act on the warnings of alarmists, those who used the most extreme language must bear some degree of blame for the evil done in the name of their ideas. To conclude otherwise is to deny any moral responsibility for what we say and how we say it.
Good and true is not enough.
RC Sproul recently reminded me of an essential paradigm in the way Christians think about the arts. He admonished us to promote the good, the true, and the beautiful. Good, of course, means morally good (as opposed to being of high quality). True means doctrinally or evidentially correct. And beautiful means captivating and enchanting.
It reminded me of why I find myself so frustrated with the way Christians tend to evaluate the definitively modern art form: films. In order to approve of a movie, they want it to show morally good behavior, forgetting that the Bible often preaches virtue by contrast. They also want it to teach true ideas, forgetting that error spoken by a villain can be edifying and that truth spoken without love can be destructive.
But beyond both of these, this sort of Christian completely neglects beauty, clamoring instead for cleanness. He mistakenly believes that clean and beautiful are synonyms, an error immediately dispelled by the Cross.
As Christians making and discussing art, we must demand better than merely good, true, and clean, just as we must earnestly warn others against that which is evil and false but beautiful.
It reminded me of why I find myself so frustrated with the way Christians tend to evaluate the definitively modern art form: films. In order to approve of a movie, they want it to show morally good behavior, forgetting that the Bible often preaches virtue by contrast. They also want it to teach true ideas, forgetting that error spoken by a villain can be edifying and that truth spoken without love can be destructive.
But beyond both of these, this sort of Christian completely neglects beauty, clamoring instead for cleanness. He mistakenly believes that clean and beautiful are synonyms, an error immediately dispelled by the Cross.
As Christians making and discussing art, we must demand better than merely good, true, and clean, just as we must earnestly warn others against that which is evil and false but beautiful.
The wonder of wonder.
When I look around this world, I am regularly amazed. I stand in wonder at sunsets, stars, mountains, trees, birds, fireflies, and thousands of other features of our universe, in addition to being amazed by humanity, language, love, and art. And of course, such thoughts always lead me to an amazed wonder at the God who gave it all to me. But doesn’t it seem a bit wonderful that we have wonder at all?
I mean, if the naturalists are right, then I am very well-tailored to this world. That’s why my species survived. But well-tailored is what we call clothes that fit just right. You never notice them, just like fish never notice water and ants don’t marvel at dirt. Besides, how would such a capacity help them survive? If anything, wonder slows us down and makes us vulnerable.
On the other hand, if God made me to love Him and be amazed by Him, the fact that I find Him and His creation wonderful seems perfectly expected. In a world without Him, it’s hard to imagine why a being like me who wonders about wonder would ever even exist.
I mean, if the naturalists are right, then I am very well-tailored to this world. That’s why my species survived. But well-tailored is what we call clothes that fit just right. You never notice them, just like fish never notice water and ants don’t marvel at dirt. Besides, how would such a capacity help them survive? If anything, wonder slows us down and makes us vulnerable.
On the other hand, if God made me to love Him and be amazed by Him, the fact that I find Him and His creation wonderful seems perfectly expected. In a world without Him, it’s hard to imagine why a being like me who wonders about wonder would ever even exist.
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