Verbum Humanum

Not sure why I was thinking about this today, but I asked myself what the difference between giving someone a compliment and flattering them was.

compliment: An expression of praise, congratulation or encouragement; To pay a compliment; to express a favorable opinion
flattery: excessive or insincere praise

So it seems that you can say the same thing to a person ("You look really beautiful/handsome today"), and it can be a compliment or flattery depending on the sincerity and motive of your heart.

Interesting that in the Christian life, the "sinfulness" of certain things depends on the heart attitude.  This is why the renovation of the heart, and not the outward manifestations of the heart attitudes, is the main goal of sanctification.  Clean the river at the head, and downstream all will be well.  Try and start cleaning downstream, with a contaminated head, and it's only a matter of time before all the work is undone.

He who has ears...

My family and I spent the past weekend in upstate New York with some of our closest friends, courtesy of my pastor's parents.  Their house sits on the side of a large, steep hill overlooking forests, farms, and one of the Finger Lakes.  To say the scenery is spectacular would be an understatement.  There was something very incongruous about playing soccer in the backyard and looking over your shoulder to see this vast expanse of nature, not a tall building in sight.  Being so high up, you were really able to take in the "big sky".  I remarked to my friend Steve that this was "God's country".

Having grown up on Long Island and having spent many years working in Manhattan, trips like this are very refreshing.  One interesting thought I had (among many) was the contrast between the city and the country: in the city, we behold skyscrapers and other equally impressive buildings, the work of man's hands, and we marvel that man could create such wonder.  In the country, we behold the work of God's hands, and marvel that God could create such wonder, ex nihilo.  The city is built to serve man's wants, desires, lusts, to display his mastery over the elements, over technology.  In the country, man works the land with has hands, coming into direct contact with creation, and cultivating it.

I am not editorializing about the merits or shortcomings of either the city or the country.  There can be much wickedness on a farm in the middle of nowhere, just as righteousness can flourish in a city.  Man carries his wicked heart with him wherever he goes.  Calvin's idea that the heart is an idol factory is one to keep in mind.  I also acknowledge that in beholding the wonder of man's creation in buildings and architecture, I am implicitly beholding the glory of God, in whose image man is made.  That said, I still think the contrast is interesting.

I grew up in a Christian home, and became a Christian myself 13 years ago.  In that time I have been to a lot of different churches (Nazarene, Roman Catholic, Vineyard, Pentecostal, Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Messianic Jewish) and been exposed to the theologies of each (Arminian, Calvinist, charismatic, etc.).  On the one hand I wish I would have grown up learning the Catechism and Confession of the Reformed worldview.  On the other, I am thankful for the experiences and lessons I learned being around such diverse expressions of faith.  It is not at all dissimilar to the difference between being a kid who never left his small hometown his whole life, and one who was able to travel, if not the world, then at least the country.  I am not saying one is better than the other, just making an analogy.  Draw from it what you will.

For the first 25 years of my life, my father was the biggest influence in forming my theological views.  He did this via an ingenius two step process: he taught me how to read the Bible, then he inspired me to read it.  He accomplished both almost unintentionally.  First, he had a great library of theological books from his Bible college and ministry days.  He encouraged me to learn about the historical context of Scripture and taught me how to use a concordance and expository dictionary.  Secondly, he never actually forced me to read my Bible.  When I was younger he tried the "I'll give you $1 for every verse you memorize" trick, but it didn't work.  No, I developed a hunger for reading the Bible from watching him.  One memory I will always have of dad is him sitting on the couch reading the Bible, highlighter in hand.  This happened mostly after dinner.  It was very routine for him.  As a young boy, watching dad do something made me want to do it, and obviously as I took my own faith more seriously, I read even more.  There were countless times where dad and I would hang out and talk theology, but it was his example more than anything that influenced me.  He used to like the old proverb, "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime".  My dad taught me how to fish with respect to the Bible.

I say he was the most influential over my first 25 years because I no longer live at home, and I interface with other men on a more regular basis now when it comes to theological issues.  We still discuss ideas and issues, but I think I have become my own man when it comes to these things.  We differ in some areas, but these I consider non-essential.  I still bounce ideas off him, and I always seriously consider what he says.

So what does this have to do with staying focused?

My theological framework has been hard won.  I have wrestled with theological and philosophical issues on a very deep level.  For me, these ultimate questions are not merely academic.  Those who knew me well in my late teens and early twenties, when I was going through my first exposure to serious philosophy, can testify to the serious bouts of depression I went through while working through tough ideas.  One of the most important lessons I learned was this: Christ is paramount.  Christ is everything.  I was struggling so much to understand things that were probably beyond me that I was neglecting real, personal relationship with the living Savior, the man who came into space/time history, died a real death on the cross, and was physically resurrected from the dead, who literally ascended into heaven and who sits at God's right hand, praying for me every day.  When I was tempted to enter into ultimately fruitless debates with friends about this or that theological point, I stopped to ask myself: "Will this bring me closer to Christ"? Most of the time the answer was no, and so I avoided the conversations.

A number of things happened when I adopted this modus opeandi.  One was that, over a short amount of time, I completely lost my appetite for Christian theological debate.  I think now some of my friends mistake my reluctance to engage in debate as a sign of weakness, or a sign of ignorance.  In all honesty, it's neither.  Most things, I find, are not worth the trouble, and most of the time people's motivation is not to educate but to puff themselves up.  It's a narcissistic ego trip.  There have been times when I felt someone has adopted a view that is contrary to the essence of Christianity, and in those situations I step in.  But they're few and far between.  I find myself now discussing matters of practical application: what kind of movies should a Christian man watch and why?  How should I raise my children and educate them in the faith? And so on and so forth.

My words of warning: watch out for the ego-puffed debater.  This person, Christian or not, will try to debate with you and draw you into fruitless discussions about anything and everything under the sun.  They will try and wow you with philosophy in an attempt to a) make you feel dumb or b) make themselves feel smart.  Most of the time it's both.  But you, stay focused on Christ.