A Way of Being Human

March 26, 2007

March Madness

Filed under: recommendations — brianmclain @ 5:08 am

I love this time of year! There’s nothing like seeing the underdog upset the favorite, or the last second shot, or the wild celebration of a team and it’s fans after a big victory…. unfortunately, there hasn’t been many of these moments in the NCAA Tournament this year. Oh, there’s been a few minor upsets – VCU over Duke, Winthrop over Notre Dame – but really, these weren’t earth-shakin’ moments. But as I sat down Saturday to watch the big Ohio State/ Memphis game, I happened upon the second half of the NCAA Division II Championship. Barton College vs. Winona State. Who? That’s what I said. I had to look them up on the computer to figure out where they’re from. But let me tell you, this was by far the best game I’ve watched this year. Here’s a little background: Winona State is the most dominant Division II team in years. They won the championship last year and they haven’t lost a game since the first week of January…. of 2006. Barton College got to the championship game with a lot of luck, scrappy play, and a few close calls. Winona State breezed into the game and pretty much had control the whole time…. until the last 45 seconds. If you have a few minutes, sit back and enjoy these last moments of the Division II Championship. It’s as good a game as you’ll ever see.

Oh, and by the way, Winona State’s in Minnesota, Barton College is in North Carolina.

March 25, 2007

Righteous Lying?

Filed under: theology — brianmclain @ 1:15 am

Is it ever ok to lie? Really? And just what kind of lies would we be talking about? Little white lies? Bold faced whoppers?

Whenever this topic comes up in Christian circles, the answer is usually the same – although maybe not to the same degree. For instance, everyone would agree that the answer is “no,” but when your wife asks you about her new hairdo, well, that’s less about lying and more about “building her up” (or protecting your hide, as the case may be). The true life example that seems to frequently pop up in these discussions is the World War II scenario. Was it wrong for Christians to lie to the Nazis and hide the Jews in their homes? I have heard more than a few respected people say “yes,” believe it or not. To their credit, its because they hold the Word of God above all else, and desire to uphold His commands – regardless of the consequences. Unfortunately, I believe their understanding of what the Bible says on this issue is wrong (Its a good thing Anne Frank didn’t come knocking on their door!).

So what are the parameters for lying? Where does the Bible draw the line in the sand? First of all, lets look at the various categories of lying. St. Augustine divided lying into three categories:Playful lies, which are told in jest or performed on stage by actors; Obliging lies, which are told to protect someone else; and the Destructive lie – this is the bad one, a violation of the ninth commandment. The Playful lie is not wrong because it is done in jest, and can even be enjoyable – as long as it is not mean-spirited and it is clear it is playful. The Obliging lie refers to the World War II scenario given above. I like what Luther has to say about it: “[the obliging lie] not only serves the advantage of someone else, who would otherwise suffer harm or violence, but also prevents a sin. Therefore it is not proper to call it a lie; for it is rather a virtue and outstanding prudence, by which both the fury of Satan is hindered, and the honor, life, and advantages of others are served. For this reason it can be called pious concern for the brethern, or, in Paul’s language, zeal for piety.” (This was taken from Luther’s Lectures on Genesis).

Luther touches on something here that I think is worth noting – he says that the obliging lie shouldn’t be called a lie at all. Ok, but its still not telling the truth, isn’t it? So maybe a distinction should be made here – there is a difference between lying and deception. But if quacks like a duck, and waddles like a duck…. it may just be a beautiful swan.

So what does the Bible say about lying? Thou Shalt Not Lie! Well, not exactly. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. The context: the covenant community. The command: Do not lie to your brother. I don’t want to get into a discussion here about who our neighbor is, because for all practical purposes, I believe this command – applied to believers today – extends beyond the scope of the covenant community. But I do want to point out who our neighbors aren’t – enemies of God, specifically Satan.

Satan is the Great Deceiver. With his sly tongue he tricked Eve into eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil - while Adam stood by and failed to protect her. Because of this, Adam, Eve and the serpent were cursed. The Lord God said to the serpent…..”I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” And thus began the greatest battle between good and evil.

What’s interesting to note is that both parties – the woman and the serpent – would have offspring. Clearly the ultimate fulfillment of the woman’s offspring is Jesus – who crushed the serpent’s head on the cross – but there are many minor fulfillments as well – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, etc. And the battles these godly men fought were covenant battles – Satan’s seed trying to destroy the woman’s seed by destroying the covenant. A good example of this is the story of Moses’ birth. The serpent (Pharaoh) tries to destroy the woman’s seed by killing all the male Hebrew babies. Naturally, he failed.

But how, exactly, did he fail? By the strength of an army? By the appeals of a great leader? No, by the deception of the Hebrew midwives. But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?” The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” (Liars!) And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. So, the midwives feared God, lied to protect the seed, and God blessed them. Later on in the same story, Moses’ mother and sister use deception and are blessed as well.

I’ve already noted that the offspring of the woman would be engaged in battle with the offspring of Satan. But where, exactly, is this offspring coming from? The godly seed is the easy one – through the covenant. God called Abraham to be the father of many nations and the line of David (and ultimately Jesus) can be traced back to Abraham (Matthew 1). But what about the seed of Satan? Well, I think in one sense the curse in Genesis 3 refers to the fact that wicked people would also come from the woman. This is clear right from the get-go, when righteous Able is killed by wicked Cain. And obviously the trend continues with the stories of wicked offspring throughout the book of Genesis (Ham, Esau, etc.). I think there is another sense as well, though. Throughout these Old Testament stories Satan tries to cut off the offspring of the woman, and he uses his wicked offspring to do it. In fact, over and over again we see the woman being attacked by the serpent, and her husband must defend her. He must become a new Adam – one that pictures the Second Adam (Christ), not the first one. But its interesting how the husband defends his wife in these stories. God uses godly men to defeat Satan at his own game – through deception and lies. Abraham is first. He protects Sarah twice by lying about her being his wife – first to Pharaoh, then also to Abimelech. Had Abraham not lied, he most likely would have been killed, Sarah would have been taken, and ungodly offspring would have been produced – the line would have been cutoff. Instead, Abraham deceived the rulers by making them believe Sarah was only his sister – which is only a partial truth. Abraham was blessed because of this – in each incident he grew more prosperous and powerful. The same goes for his son Isaac, who protected his wife Rebekah from a new serpent, when he lied to another Abimelech and said Rebekah was his sister. Again, the one who preserved the covenant was blessed and made mighty.

Perhaps the greatest example of righteous deception, though, is that of Jacob and his mother, Rebekah. In his later years, Isaac grew wicked and became serpent-like. He knew Jacob was to inherent the covenant. He also knew that Esau had despised his birthrite and had legally signed it over to Jacob. But it didn’t matter. Isaac loved the beastial Esau more than the righteous Jacob and decided to go against God’s command. The covenant was in danger of being broken and the godly seed cut off. But through the shrewd deception of his godly mother, Jacob was able to thwart Satan’s plan. And just like with the pagan king Abimelech, God used this deception to cause Isaac to repent of his sins. And of course, Rebekah and Isaac were blessed. I highly recommend Jim Jordan’s book, Primeval Saints, for an excellent treatment of this story and righteous lying.

It’s a shame that the actions of these godly people have been judged unfavorably through the years. The common sentiment is that God made things right despite their sins – but this is not how the Bible describes their actions. And these are not isolated incidents either. The Bible is full of them. In the Old Testament we can point to Jael’s deception on the battlefield, Joseph’s deception of his brothers in Egypt, Nathan’s deceptive story in order to bring David to repentance, as well as the wise woman of Tekoa’s deceptive story in 2 Samuel 14. The Bible is not primarily a moral code book, full of shall and shall nots. The Bible is primarily a story, a story of God’s people and their redemption through covenant – fulfilled in Christ Jesus. The story doesn’t make sense when we pick and choose parts to apply to our lives,  and as the case with lying, we can completely lose the context and miss the point. Of course, in many cases, lying is wrong, but it’s not always wrong…. it’s sometimes righteous.

March 18, 2007

She can stand the heat

Filed under: Family life — brianmclain @ 10:25 am

Check out Molly and Katie’s new kitchen. Their Mimi and Grandpa (my mom and dad) made it for them recently.

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Where the Wild Things Are

Filed under: Family life — brianmclain @ 2:27 am

Recently, the McLain clan went to the Birmingham Zoo. We used some Christmas money to buy season passes. img1450_045.jpgimg1449_044.JPGimg1451_046.jpgimg1452_047_0001.jpgimg1464_058_0001.jpgimg1466_060_0001.jpgimg1474_068_0001.jpgimg1477_071_0001.jpgimg1480_073.jpgimg1482_075_0001.jpgimg1484_077.jpgimg1471_065_0001.jpg

Molly’s favorite animal was the giraffes, Katie’s was the snakes. Personally, I think the hippos are pretty cool.

March 17, 2007

Reign Over Me

Filed under: recommendations — brianmclain @ 3:50 am

 A friend and I went to a premiere of Adam Sandler’s new flick, Reign Over Me. There has recently been a lot of advertising for it, so many of you are probably familiar with it. Here’s the gist: A man (Sandler) who lost his family in the September 11 attack on New York City runs into his old college roommate (Don Cheadle). Rekindling the friendship is the one thing that appears able to help the man recover from his grief.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Believe it or not, I would be very surprised if Sandler is not nominated for an Oscar. He was outstanding! I realize many people throw around high praise when a comedian does drama, but Sandler’s performance was as good as any I’ve seen – by anyone – in a long while. He completely becomes his character and makes you believe in it.

The rest of the cast is very good as well – Cheadle is in excellent form (as usual). The script is excellent too. Considering the subject matter, they don’t go for the easy tearjerker moments or climatic breakthroughs.

I was afraid that the writers would use some sort of postmodern hooha to explain the issue of loss or help the character find his way, but I was pleasantly surprised. In fact, there were a few conservative moments – especially in regards to family. I also liked that all the characters were very multi-dimensional – even the ones with small roles. A few roles could have easily been generalizations (the stingy Jew, for instance), but they turn out to have a few surprises in store.

Even though I highly recommend this movie, it does contain some strong language – but it is not prevalent throughout the movie. There is no other objectional material.

Pretty in Stink

Filed under: creation — brianmclain @ 2:54 am

Well, Spring time is here… the Bradford Pear trees are blooming.  Many of you live in Florida, so you don’t get to experience these beautiful trees, but they’re pretty common throughout the rest of the U.S. (excluding other really hot/humid climates). What I find interesting about these trees is that they only bloom for a few weeks. It seems like overnight they go from being completely bare, to completely pure white – they look like they’ve had a full snow cover them. But if you blink, you’ll miss ‘em. They’re already turning green. Right now they’re a perfect balance of green and white, which makes them seem a little blurry during the dusk and dawn hours. Soon they will be completely green and stay that way until fall, when they will turn a beautiful deep red before the leaves fall off. The pears that these blooms produce are only about an inch in diameter, which is why it is less a fruit tree than an ornamental tree.

 

The most interesting fact about this beautiful tree, though, is the fragrance it omits during its short blooming period. You would think that something this lovely would have an equally lovely smell…. that is not the case. If I had to compare the smell to something familiar, one word comes to mind – fish. Yes, this remarkable tree is easy on the eyes and hard on the nose. In fact, the Bradford Pear tree lines many of the neighborhood streets in Birmingham, but because of its smell, there are a number of community campaigns to have these trees removed. Personally, I think this is a little silly. Yes, they stink, but its only for a short, short period of time, and its beauty makes up for it.

It’s a good reminder that life can be bittersweet.

March 16, 2007

Lost – Best yet

Filed under: Lost — brianmclain @ 4:29 am

Last night’s episode was excellent. Claire’s backstory was good – especially the revelation that Jack’s father was also hers – and I like that Desmond told her about the visions he was having of Charlie’s death. I especially liked, though, the other story involving the rescue party. Locke has turned into a pretty brutal dude! The ending killed me, though. Jack playing football with the Others! I’m beginning to run some possible scenarios through my head – nothing with any weight to them, but I’m thinking cloning might be an issue – what with the children being kidnapped, the Others being medically gifted – especially Juliet’s ability to make her barren sister pregnant (!) – Jack acting like he was having fun (was it the same Jack??), plus the flashbacks, which might be the clones remembering/downloading the real human’s memories.

Anyways, just a thought… next week looks good!

BTW, the best three weeks in sports has started – March Madness!!!! I have UCLA in my office bracket, and Georgetown in my seminary buddies bracket.

March 10, 2007

Lent

Filed under: church life — brianmclain @ 9:54 pm

Well, now that ya’ll have had sufficient time to ponder my previous entries on Lent, I will continue where I left off.

As I mentioned before, Lent is the 40 days before Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday and ends the day before Easter. It is a time of deep reflection and repentance. During this season, the church remembers her Lord during His 40 days in the wilderness.

Many who observe this season do so by fasting. Contrary to popular belief, fasting does not mean starvation or dehydration. It also is not a religious “weight watchers” program. Fasting can take place on a number of different levels – traditionally the orthodox church recognized 5 levels: 1)abstaining from meat 2) abstaining from meat, eggs, milk, butter, and cheese 3) abstaining from meat, eggs, milk, butter, cheese, and fish 4) abstaining from meat, eggs, milk, butter, cheese, fish, oil, and wine 5)abstaining from all foods and beverages except bread, water, juices, honey and nuts. This last one is probably close to the fasting that Jesus observed in the wilderness – except for the bread.

Traditionally, during Lent, the observer chooses one or two items to omit from their diet. Usually it is something that you enjoy on a regular basis. It is a disciplined diet, rather than starvation. Practically, when you get a craving or appetite for a particular food, it will remind you that you are fasting from that food, which reminds you why you are fasting. You can then use that time to pray. As I said before, the main point of fasting is not to lose weight or even establish healthy eating patterns – although that may be a side benefit. For example, I initially decided that I would fast from soda and sweets for Lent, but as I thought about it, these were things that I was trying to cut back on anyways. I wanted to fast from something that I enjoyed and would continue to enjoy. So, in addition to soda, I added milk and sweet tea to the list. This has been hard, but it constantly reminds me of why I am fasting (which makes it a little easier).

One more note about fasting – the truth is, there are 46 days from Ash Wednesday to the day before Easter – what’s up with that? Well, it’s not bad math, it’s that the Lord’s Day is not included in the season. This is because the Sabbath is a time for celebration, a time for covenant renewal, a time for rejoicing that God has drawn near to us!

And a time to drink sweet tea :) !

I’m Back

Filed under: Family life — brianmclain @ 3:44 pm

I was without internet service for the last two weeks or so. I didn’t realize that one of the benefits of being a paying customer to our particular internet service provider is mediocre service that best suites their schedule. Anyways, a lot has happened in the last couple of weeks (not to mention all the stuff banging around in my skull), so you can expect an influx of posts to catch you up.

As far as our family goes, health has recently been on the decline. Denise usually goes through a short period of queaziness during her pregnancies and right now we’re in the midst of it. She seems to live off of water and saltines. Plus, she could sleep for 20 hours a day if she was able…. of course, that’s throughout most of the pregnancy. Both girls have been sick as well – both had bad colds and Molly recently has had a stomach virus – I think this was going around our church. As for me, I got the cold thing from them – it was really no big deal. I did fall at work, though. I injured my hand, my knee, and my butt. Although I am in some pain, it looks a lot worse than it feels. My left buttock has a nasty bruise about 8″ around. It was swollen quite a bit as well – it felt like I had a third cheek.

Denise and the girls will be flying down to Florida next Wednesday for her sister’s wedding, so if you think about it, please pray for safe travel.

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