Theres a neat little story in 2 Samuel 10.
I'm going to type it out here, and you should probably read it.
It takes place during the reign of King David over Isreal, and documents the defeat of a people called the Ammonites:
In the course of time, the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun succeeded him as king. David thought, "I will show kindness to Hanun son if Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me." So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father.
When David's men came to the land of the Ammonites, the Ammonite nobles said to Hanun their lord, "Do you think David is honoring your father by sending men to you to express sympathy? Hasn't David sent them to you to explore the city and spy it out and overthrow it?" So Hanun seized David's men, shaved off half of each man's beard, cut off their garments in the middle at the buttocks, and sent them away.
[2 Samuel 10:1-4, NIV]
-Now, first of all, David had perfectly good intentions.
He just wanted to show his respects to the new Ammonite king after his dad died.
But the advisers to the king were morons and deceived the king- theres a lot more you could probably say about that.
Secondly, eww gross. How much would it stink to have someone cut a hole in your pants where your bum is?
anyway, continuing on:
When David was told about this, he sent messengers to meet the men, for they were greatly humiliated. The king said, "Stay at Jericho till your beards have grown, and then come back."
When the Ammonites realized that they had become a stench in David's nostrils, they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth Rehob and Zobah, as well as the king of Maacah with a thousand men, and also twelve thousand men from Tob.
[10:5-6]
-So David was a pretty cool king, and saved his messengers the humiliation of having to show themselves with their beards cut off (beards were a big deal back then). Props to him on that.
The other thing is, wouldn't you think the smart thing for the Ammonites to do would have been to apologize?
Like, they knew they screwed up, and they should have been like, "oh man, my bad, have some money or servants or something, and don't hate us".
Instead, they pulled one of the dumbest Foreign Relations mistakes possible and mobilized to attack. "Maybe if we kill them, they'll forget that we're morons"
...yeah. not happening.
On hearing this, David sent Joab out with the entire army of fighting men. The Ammonites came out and drew up in battle formation at the entrance to their city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were by themselves in the open country.
Joab saw that there were battle lines in front of him and behind him; so he selected some of the best troops in Israel and deployed them against the Arameans. He put the rest of the men under the command of Abishai his brother and deployed them against the Ammonites. Joab said, "If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you are to come to my rescue; but if the Ammonites are too strong for you, then I will come to rescue you. Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in his sight."
[10:7-12]
The story wraps up with everyone running away from the Israelite armies, and the Ammonites pretty much getting owned.
But my point here is that last statement.
"The Lord will do what is good in his sight."
In the book, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day that pastor Nate gave to the uturn leaders/student leaders, i just read a chapter that was all about changing our prayers to what God wants instead of what we want.
Soooo many times in life, we have an idea of what we think we want.
A car, a job, a house, a girlfriend... so we pray for a car or a job or a house or a girlfriend or something else like that.
But for all we know, God might not want you to have what you think you should have.
He could have an entirely different plan for you.
And who wants to be praying for something against God's will?
no one.
That's why Joab's mindset is so good.
He wasn't concerned so much with, "OH EM GEE WE HAVE TO KILL THEMS AMMONITES ENEMIESSSS" as much as he was concerned with, "Fight bravely and God will have his way."
It's like he's saying, "Buckle down and do your Best, and everything will go the way God wants it to go."
It didn't matter to Joab if they were outnumbered or outsmarted or anything like that.
He knew that no matter what, all he had to do was his best, and God would pull through no matter what that meant.
That's pretty cool.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
On Walking Alone
This blog is a few months in coming.
There's a Dunkin Donuts down the road from my school, and a popular after-school activity involves walking and/or driving there to get some eatables so we're not hungry until 5:00.
I've frequenced this walk by myself numerous times; one time, i got thinking about it.
I enjoy walking alone.
When my parents started letting me drive myself places, i rather liked being alone in the car.
I'll tell you why.
Tuesday night I was watching the music video for Avril Lavigne's "Complicated".
i know, i know... laugh.
Everything that avril lavigne writes makes me want to throw up.
Like, its too catchy, the lyrics are stupid, and just in general... eww.
BUT.
This is the only song that's tolerable.
Because:
a) its got a thoughtful message
b) the bassline has one really cool harmony near the end
c) it made me think
anyway, watch the video.
then come back here and finish reading.
Alright.
So the video details a bunch of friends who go crash a mall.
They act like complete idiots.
For all we know, they live in rochester new hampshire.
So think about that for a moment.
What would you do if you went to the mall alone?
answer: you'd go shopping.
not shopping as a sport; that's something you do with friends.
When you go shopping, you actually buy things you need.
Consider a concert:
You go to a show alone, you go for the band.
But there's a subtlety that gets factored in when you go with friends;
you are no longer there just for the music.
Who pays $40+ to see a band if there's no one to share the experience with?
And that's exactly it.
You do things with friends for the experience.
Now go back and watch the video and listen to the words.
She's talking about how a guy (or possibly people in general) puts on a show for all his/our friends; he's not genuine like he is when he's alone.
The modifying factor here being other people.
So here's my point.
Humans are social creatures.
When you go to a show or the mall with friends, you're no longer there for the mall or a band. you're there for your friends.
Essentially, your focus switches; it goes from shopping or watching a band to hanging out with your friends.
Are you seeing what i'm saying?
When you go somewhere with your friends, you don't even think about where you're going; your destination isn't important.
What's important is the people you're with, and what you're doing with them.
When you go somewhere alone, you're more concerned with your destination; that's all there is to think about.
As a matter of fact, most of the time, what exactly you're doing is entirely unimportant.
You say, "lets hang out", and after you're hanging out, you figure out something to do.
So what's my point?
Think about your life.
Then think about your life without your friends, work, school, and other various distractions.
What's your focus?
Are we really doing anything except hanging out with friends and performing menial labor?
One of the first lines in that song is, "lay back, its all been done before".
And really, just about everything has been done before. (Unless you're an engineer)
So are we doing anything else besides re-tracing the steps of countless years of civilization before us? People have been hanging out with friends since before last names existed.
So yes, there is a way to do what's never been done before.
Most importantly for us as individuals is to have our focus on God all the time.
That's 100% an individual, personal relationship.
Sure, theres things like fellowship ("koinonia"), youth group, church, etc which we do together. But when you go home at night before you go to bed, we're talking about one-on-one with God.
That's something you have to do alone.
That's why i like walking and driving alone.
When there's no one around, you can let your mind wander, and you find out pretty quickly what your focus is on.
If you're hungry, you think about food.
If you're lonely, you think about other people.
Or maybe you start talking to your savior; maybe you start singing to him; maybe you dance around a little bit.
That's a good focus to have.
I found this verse highlighted in my bible:
"I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man in concerned about the Lord's affairs- how he can please the Lord. But a marriend man is concerned about the affairs of this world- how he can please his wife- and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord's affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world- how she can please her husband."
-1 Corinthians 7:32-34
If you take that out of context of marriage, you can apply that verse to what i'm saying here. Paul wanted the people of Corinth to be unconcerned with this world, because he wanted their full focus to be on God.
There's a Dunkin Donuts down the road from my school, and a popular after-school activity involves walking and/or driving there to get some eatables so we're not hungry until 5:00.
I've frequenced this walk by myself numerous times; one time, i got thinking about it.
I enjoy walking alone.
When my parents started letting me drive myself places, i rather liked being alone in the car.
I'll tell you why.
Tuesday night I was watching the music video for Avril Lavigne's "Complicated".
i know, i know... laugh.
Everything that avril lavigne writes makes me want to throw up.
Like, its too catchy, the lyrics are stupid, and just in general... eww.
BUT.
This is the only song that's tolerable.
Because:
a) its got a thoughtful message
b) the bassline has one really cool harmony near the end
c) it made me think
anyway, watch the video.
then come back here and finish reading.
Alright.
So the video details a bunch of friends who go crash a mall.
They act like complete idiots.
For all we know, they live in rochester new hampshire.
So think about that for a moment.
What would you do if you went to the mall alone?
answer: you'd go shopping.
not shopping as a sport; that's something you do with friends.
When you go shopping, you actually buy things you need.
Consider a concert:
You go to a show alone, you go for the band.
But there's a subtlety that gets factored in when you go with friends;
you are no longer there just for the music.
Who pays $40+ to see a band if there's no one to share the experience with?
And that's exactly it.
You do things with friends for the experience.
Now go back and watch the video and listen to the words.
She's talking about how a guy (or possibly people in general) puts on a show for all his/our friends; he's not genuine like he is when he's alone.
The modifying factor here being other people.
So here's my point.
Humans are social creatures.
When you go to a show or the mall with friends, you're no longer there for the mall or a band. you're there for your friends.
Essentially, your focus switches; it goes from shopping or watching a band to hanging out with your friends.
Are you seeing what i'm saying?
When you go somewhere with your friends, you don't even think about where you're going; your destination isn't important.
What's important is the people you're with, and what you're doing with them.
When you go somewhere alone, you're more concerned with your destination; that's all there is to think about.
As a matter of fact, most of the time, what exactly you're doing is entirely unimportant.
You say, "lets hang out", and after you're hanging out, you figure out something to do.
So what's my point?
Think about your life.
Then think about your life without your friends, work, school, and other various distractions.
What's your focus?
Are we really doing anything except hanging out with friends and performing menial labor?
One of the first lines in that song is, "lay back, its all been done before".
And really, just about everything has been done before. (Unless you're an engineer)
So are we doing anything else besides re-tracing the steps of countless years of civilization before us? People have been hanging out with friends since before last names existed.
So yes, there is a way to do what's never been done before.
Most importantly for us as individuals is to have our focus on God all the time.
That's 100% an individual, personal relationship.
Sure, theres things like fellowship ("koinonia"), youth group, church, etc which we do together. But when you go home at night before you go to bed, we're talking about one-on-one with God.
That's something you have to do alone.
That's why i like walking and driving alone.
When there's no one around, you can let your mind wander, and you find out pretty quickly what your focus is on.
If you're hungry, you think about food.
If you're lonely, you think about other people.
Or maybe you start talking to your savior; maybe you start singing to him; maybe you dance around a little bit.
That's a good focus to have.
I found this verse highlighted in my bible:
"I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man in concerned about the Lord's affairs- how he can please the Lord. But a marriend man is concerned about the affairs of this world- how he can please his wife- and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord's affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world- how she can please her husband."
-1 Corinthians 7:32-34
If you take that out of context of marriage, you can apply that verse to what i'm saying here. Paul wanted the people of Corinth to be unconcerned with this world, because he wanted their full focus to be on God.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
On Forrest Gump
So honestly, i'm not sure if i've begun to repeat myself in these blogs... im pretty sure i've written about what i'm about to write about before, perhaps several times... but this is what was running through my head last night, so this is what i'm committing to. And i'm suddenly quite sick. So i'm not going to spend much time deliberating.
Anyway, last night i watched the last 2/3 of Forrest Gump.
It ranks amongst my favorite movies, mostly because i've always dreamed of being insanely rich on accident and not caring about money one bit.
But one of my favorite parts of the movie is when he starts running.
He says he doesn't know why he started running. He just figured he'd run to the end of the road; then he just never stopped.
He ran for like 3 years or something ridiculous.
To quote the movie, "When i was tired, i slept. When i was hungry, I ate."
Now, clearly the movie writers didn't bother figuring out HOW or WHERE he slept and ate.
But that image stays with me: a guy running, with nothing on his back, nothing in his hands, just some dirty Nikes and a mass following.
Something that i've always wanted to do is to take a trip somewhere far away, and bring nothing but a wallet. Recently when i've gone places like my grandmother's house or youth convention, i've done as much as i can to pack as little as possible.
There's just something that strikes me about being completely unprepared, on purpose.
Even though Forrest Gump is fake, there's something inspiring about him. Everything he needed was right there in front of him, except a razor and scissors to cut his hair. He didn't need his mansion or anything like that to get by. He was entirely self-dependent.
Now society values self-dependency.
In history class this year, the theme has been "The American Identity", and one of the key parts of the "American Identity" is the Self-Made Man. Think Benjamin Franklin, or Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, etc. We look up to people who have made it to their perch in society on their own strength, without being pulled along by those ahead of them.
Consider the image i made below:
This would be a continuum of self-dependency verses dependency on others.
Note that most of us probably fall around the middle.
Society, and most people in general, consider the far right side to be the most ideal place to be, whereas we lump hobos (not necessarily their fault), moochers, and 23 year olds who live with their moms on the far left.
Now, why are you bothering to read about what you already know?
Try to stay with me here.
In Luke 12:33&34, Jesus is in the process of telling his disciples not to worry about their lives, that God will take care of them: "Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourself that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."[NIV]
There comes that image of Forrest Gump again, running without anything but the clothes on his back. Jesus also said, "I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes." (Luke 12:22)
Bill Gates and Benjamin Franklin were self-dependent. But God doesn't want us to be self-dependent.
God doesn't want us to be model citizens that society looks up to. God has something more epic planned for us.
Consider this second diagram:
Our first diagram was one-dimensional; it had a left and a right.
But God ads a second dimension to this little outlook.
God says be neither dependent on others or your own strength.
Rather, be dependent on the one who has infinite strength, infinite ability, and will provide everything we need. Rely on something way bigger and way higher than what there is here on the earth.
Forrest Gump never did that, but he sure did become a fishing boat captain...
Anyway, last night i watched the last 2/3 of Forrest Gump.
It ranks amongst my favorite movies, mostly because i've always dreamed of being insanely rich on accident and not caring about money one bit.
But one of my favorite parts of the movie is when he starts running.
He says he doesn't know why he started running. He just figured he'd run to the end of the road; then he just never stopped.
He ran for like 3 years or something ridiculous.
To quote the movie, "When i was tired, i slept. When i was hungry, I ate."
Now, clearly the movie writers didn't bother figuring out HOW or WHERE he slept and ate.
But that image stays with me: a guy running, with nothing on his back, nothing in his hands, just some dirty Nikes and a mass following.
Something that i've always wanted to do is to take a trip somewhere far away, and bring nothing but a wallet. Recently when i've gone places like my grandmother's house or youth convention, i've done as much as i can to pack as little as possible.
There's just something that strikes me about being completely unprepared, on purpose.
Even though Forrest Gump is fake, there's something inspiring about him. Everything he needed was right there in front of him, except a razor and scissors to cut his hair. He didn't need his mansion or anything like that to get by. He was entirely self-dependent.
Now society values self-dependency.
In history class this year, the theme has been "The American Identity", and one of the key parts of the "American Identity" is the Self-Made Man. Think Benjamin Franklin, or Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, etc. We look up to people who have made it to their perch in society on their own strength, without being pulled along by those ahead of them.
Consider the image i made below:
This would be a continuum of self-dependency verses dependency on others.
Note that most of us probably fall around the middle.
Society, and most people in general, consider the far right side to be the most ideal place to be, whereas we lump hobos (not necessarily their fault), moochers, and 23 year olds who live with their moms on the far left.
Now, why are you bothering to read about what you already know?
Try to stay with me here.
In Luke 12:33&34, Jesus is in the process of telling his disciples not to worry about their lives, that God will take care of them: "Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourself that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."[NIV]
There comes that image of Forrest Gump again, running without anything but the clothes on his back. Jesus also said, "I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes." (Luke 12:22)
Bill Gates and Benjamin Franklin were self-dependent. But God doesn't want us to be self-dependent.
God doesn't want us to be model citizens that society looks up to. God has something more epic planned for us.
Consider this second diagram:
Our first diagram was one-dimensional; it had a left and a right.
But God ads a second dimension to this little outlook.
God says be neither dependent on others or your own strength.
Rather, be dependent on the one who has infinite strength, infinite ability, and will provide everything we need. Rely on something way bigger and way higher than what there is here on the earth.
Forrest Gump never did that, but he sure did become a fishing boat captain...
Monday, May 5, 2008
On the Allegory of the Cave
Anyone who's ever taken a philosophy course or read any books about philosophy is probably familiar with one of the oldest, most famous thought experiments.
Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher, came up with what is known as the "Allegory of the Cave".
Essentially, here's what Plato suggested:
Suppose there's a cave. In this cave, a prisoners have been chained against a wall since childhood; they can't move their limbs, they are only able to look at a blank wall, and these conditions are all that they know.
The entrance of the cave is behind them, as well as some puppeteers. Shadows of the puppets are projected onto the wall from the sunlight, and the prisoners watch these shadows. When a puppeteer speaks, his voice bounces off the wall and it appears that the shadow is talking.
They live their life by looking at the shadows moving about. This is all that they know.
Now, Plato suggested a number of things about these prisoners.
Suppose, for instance, one of the prisoners was unchained and forced to turn around.
Immediately, he will be blinded by the direct sunlight that he has never seen. In his blinded state, when he sees the puppets, they will seem less real than the shadows that he has seen all his life.
After his eyes adjust to the light, the former prisoner would, understandably, want nothing to do with the cave.
He'd be able to experience life as it actually is, rather than by looking at shadows on a wall.
BUT, suppose he goes back to free his friends.
When he walks into the cave, his friends will see his shadow and will just suppose that he's part of their false reality.
Obviously, no form of explanation would be able to convince the prisoners of how lame and pathetic their life is. They would have to get up and turn around and go through exactly the same process that the original person had to go through before they understood.
Now, there's plenty of different interpretations of the allegory.
Platos' interpretation dealt with education.
But we can make our interpretation as well.
In Luke 10:21, Jesus says, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, father, for this was your good pleasure."
There's a lot of different philosophies and teachings out there in the world today.
People invent new religions every day.
But when it comes down to it, the vast majority of people are just looking at a wall with shadows dancing across it.
They try to interpret what they see.
They think they understand what's going on.
But in Isaiah 6:9-10, God says, "'Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing but never perceiving.'
Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."
We can say that the allegory of the cave is analogous to people's general inability to understand the world as it actually is, to how it was designed, and to how we're supposed to live. And we can try to make people turn around and see life for what it really is.
make sense?
Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher, came up with what is known as the "Allegory of the Cave".
Essentially, here's what Plato suggested:
Suppose there's a cave. In this cave, a prisoners have been chained against a wall since childhood; they can't move their limbs, they are only able to look at a blank wall, and these conditions are all that they know.
The entrance of the cave is behind them, as well as some puppeteers. Shadows of the puppets are projected onto the wall from the sunlight, and the prisoners watch these shadows. When a puppeteer speaks, his voice bounces off the wall and it appears that the shadow is talking.
They live their life by looking at the shadows moving about. This is all that they know.
Now, Plato suggested a number of things about these prisoners.
Suppose, for instance, one of the prisoners was unchained and forced to turn around.
Immediately, he will be blinded by the direct sunlight that he has never seen. In his blinded state, when he sees the puppets, they will seem less real than the shadows that he has seen all his life.
After his eyes adjust to the light, the former prisoner would, understandably, want nothing to do with the cave.
He'd be able to experience life as it actually is, rather than by looking at shadows on a wall.
BUT, suppose he goes back to free his friends.
When he walks into the cave, his friends will see his shadow and will just suppose that he's part of their false reality.
Obviously, no form of explanation would be able to convince the prisoners of how lame and pathetic their life is. They would have to get up and turn around and go through exactly the same process that the original person had to go through before they understood.
Now, there's plenty of different interpretations of the allegory.
Platos' interpretation dealt with education.
But we can make our interpretation as well.
In Luke 10:21, Jesus says, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, father, for this was your good pleasure."
There's a lot of different philosophies and teachings out there in the world today.
People invent new religions every day.
But when it comes down to it, the vast majority of people are just looking at a wall with shadows dancing across it.
They try to interpret what they see.
They think they understand what's going on.
But in Isaiah 6:9-10, God says, "'Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
be ever seeing but never perceiving.'
Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."
We can say that the allegory of the cave is analogous to people's general inability to understand the world as it actually is, to how it was designed, and to how we're supposed to live. And we can try to make people turn around and see life for what it really is.
make sense?
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