FEBRUARY 2014

    In an election year that could prove as momentous as the 2010 elections, conservatives desperately need to focus. Currently, the GOP is like watching a fuzzy movie in the theater. Because of this fuzzy message, many just think that conservatives are against Obamacare, and against immigration, and against raising the minimum wage, and against homosexuality. But the message of conservatism is primarily against the liberty-stealing tendencies of government and in favor of preserving and restoring personal liberties. If conservatives do not find focus on that fundamental position, we will deliver a blurry message that turns people away, rather than giving people a picture that is sharp and clear of a better society with more freedom.    The key to this message must focus on minimizing the expanse and the expense of government. This of course, has implications on a variety of issues. But in every case, our stance on those issues should be based not on personal preferences, but on this conservative principle of preserving individual and state liberties and minimizing the reach of the federal government. Why are conservatives concerned with Obama’s health care plan? Why do we oppose sending so much money to foreign dictators? Why are we against the high taxes required to fund a bloated bureaucracy? The most fundamental answer to these questions is that these things all increase the expanse and expense of government. Better for this authority and for these funds to stay in state and local government, or for the individual citizen to retain more of their liberty and capital.

    In the next installment of “Conservative Corner” in March 2014, we will describe why conservatives are so passionate about having a smaller federal government, and why the Founders and the Framers recognized the necessity of this as well. But for now, the point is that this message needs to be our focus. Big government suggests that it can give individuals money, health care, education, but it only does so at the expense of individual freedom. When individuals have more freedom, they will have less taxation, less regulation, and less obstacles. Thus, they will have more liberty to earn (and keep!) more money, to buy their own custom-fit health care, and to pursue education for themselves and their family. They can have the freedom to worship how they want, and to promote views that accord with their own faith.

    This is what makes our country exceptional; it is not just that we think that we are better than other people—most countries exhibit some kind of jingoism. Whether we are better or worse than other countries according to certain metrics, America is unique and exceptional because it is strives to preserve individual freedoms and responsibilities in a way that few other countries in human history have. 

    Focused conservatism is this simple: less government, less taxes, less foreign dependency will give individual citizens more freedom, more wealth, and more opportunities. That is better for citizens, and thus, better for the country.  That is what America is about. With increasing government intrusion, this is a powerful message that could both refute the increasing entitlement mentality in our society and that will resonate with the American people. This is the message on which conservatives and 2014 conservative candidates need to focus.

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT: Creep in the Congregation, Jude 1:4

For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

    Termites and mold are just a few things that can creep into the safety and security of our home, and create havoc and destruction. Sometimes this phenomenon happens in our churches as well. Strange doctrines, secular practices, corporate-styles of leadership rather than Biblical leadership, not to mention apathy and complacency . . . these are just a few of the dangers that creep into our churches and take our focus off of true Christianity.

    This is not a new phenomenon. Jude also mentions how wrong thinking and erroneous theology was creeping into the churches of his own day, and he recognizes how urgently the early church needed to fight against the errors that were creeping into the congregation.

    Having exhorted his audience to “contend for the faith” in v. 3, Jude encourages them to do so in v. 4 because contending for the faith defies internal adversity.

    Note the first word in verse 4: “For.” That word “for” explains what Jude mentioned in the previous verse about changing the tone of his letter from instruction to urgency. The reason is clear: “For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you.” The word “secretly slipped in” or “infiltrated” is used only here in the New Testament. It carries the connotation of stealth and subtly. I have heard many stories of members of cults or fringe (i.e., wacko!) Christian groups infiltrating churches by starting Bible studies in churches, and thus, leading good Christian people down a road of false doctrines or practices. But just as easy as it is for falsehood to infiltrate churches and secretly creep in among our ranks, so also is it possible for evil habits to slither into our own lives.

    Jude says, “They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.” There is a progression in this verse which is significant to seeing how evil works and how apostasy develops.  This progression is repeated throughout Jude’s letter and this pattern of apostasy constantly manifests itself in our own lives and churches. It begins with “ungodliness,” or, “godlessness” as some translations render it. This is a volitional rejection of God's will, a willful and intentional refusal to follow God. This volitional rejection proceeds to a moral rejection of God as seen from verse 4 saying that they “change the grace of our God into a license for immorality.” After a volitional denunciation of God’s ways and a moral departure from God’s ethical standards comes the inevitable intellectual denial of Christian truth. Note again at the end of verse 4 that these people “deny Jesus Christ our only sovereign and Lord.” Despite all their activity in Christ’s church they deny the essential doctrines of Christ’s Gospel. So, in explaining apostasy and internal adversity, Jude shows us in v. 4 how they progress from volitional to moral apostasy and then to intellectual apostasy (Thomas L. Constable, “Jude,” Expository Notes, p. 2.).

    We are not immune from this happening in our own lives when we make a volitional decision to not yield an area of our lives to God. This snowballs into moral failures of many kinds, and may eventually result in an intellectual denial of the truth of God’s Word, even if all we do is to stop reading it or believing it. What is the remedy for avoiding this in our own church and in our own lives? The antidote for avoiding the tendencies and activities of false teachers is to do what Jude said in v. 3, to fight for the faith. Contend for the essential doctrines and practices which shape the New Testament and which distinguish Christians from others outside the community.

    At this point also we should say a word about grace, because the grace of God as expressed in Scripture also distinguishes his grace from the grace of any other religions’ deity. It is dreadfully important that we have in our minds a clear understanding about God's grace. Verse 4 mentions that people who believe falsely twist grace and use it to justify their license. It is notable that a parallel phenomenon occurs in Galatians wherein Paul writes about other false teachers who also distort grace through legalism. In Galatians 2:21 Paul says, “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” Just as the false teachers of whom Jude wrote were ignoring grace by practicing license and immorality, the people of whom Paul wrote were “setting aside” grace through legalism, supposing that they could become right before God by strict adherence to the law. Again Paul says in Galatians 5:4, “You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.” We find that in both cases people within the community of believers were distorting grace either by using it to rationalize their wickedness or by ignoring it to excuse their legalism.

    Now again, let’s not think immediately about the cults and the false religions which plague the world with their own custom‑made distortions of grace; each believer should reflect upon his own life and whether he has a Biblical understanding of grace. We expect false teachers to twist God’s grace, but we must eradicate false pretenses about grace from our own hearts and minds.

    Three comments about grace here may be helpful. The first would simply be this: God’s grace does not exclude law. We no longer bear the expectation of the law as did Old Testament saints, but just because it was very involved doesn't necessarily mean that it was evil, or something to rid ourselves of. God’s Word testifies about the goodness of God's law. David attests in Psalm 19:7‑8 that the “law of the Lord [that is, the Mosaic Law] is perfect, reviving the soul. . . . The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.” Paul said in Romans 7:12 that “the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.” Just because the New Testament emphasizes grace, doesn’t mean that certain parts of Scripture should not be heeded by us. For even when it was given to the Israelites through Moses, the law was a gift of grace, meant to reveal God’s character and to keep the Jews from the self‑destructive sins of her neighbors. Like the sins of our society, sexual immorality, self‑worship, tolerance of falsehood, apathy toward God’s expressed will the sins of Israel’s pagan neighbors may seem fun or expedient in the short term, but they ultimately produce dissatisfaction, pain and death. God’s law is a gracious warning beacon to turn us away from paths which result in destruction.  That said, we as believers in the NT are not under Old Testament Law, but we have been freed from the expectations of the OT Law and to live according to the law of Christ (1 Cor 9:21; Gal 6:2; see also James 1:25; 2:12).  

    The opposite of law is not grace. The opposite of law is lawlessness and God’s grace gives us the proper motivation for obeying God’s statues and God’s word. Since we have been saved entirely by God’s grace through faith apart from the works of the law, we do not have to work to attain God’s favor and salvation. It has been given to us as a free gracious gift. So now, we still strive to obey Scripture not in order to maintain covenant fellowship with God, but to conform to the likeness of Christ who is perfect in all His ways.

    This leads naturally to a second comment about grace. The first was that grace does not exclude law. The second is that grace is not an excuse for disobedience. The false teachers of Jude were misinterpreting God’s grace to mean that they could cast off any moral restraint and indulge in any behavior they like, because, after all God’s grace is greater than all our sin. However that same grace is not an excuse to entertain every lustful or materialistic whim and wish, or, as Jude puts it in verse 4, grace is not a “license for immorality.” This is a temptation for us as well, to take advantage of grace and forgiveness. One commentator quipped: “It is hardly surprising that men accepted the indicative of pardon and forgot the imperative of holiness” (Michael Green, The Second Epistle General of Peter and the General Epistle of Jude: An Introduction and Commentary, p. 162).

    Rather, and here we come to the third comment about grace, grace demands obedience. The love of God displayed for us when Christ died on the cross and the grace poured out upon us from the Father impacts us such that we are compelled to reciprocate his grace with our obedience. Can we earn salvation through our good works? Absolutely not! But can we invest in eternity through our good works, the reading and study of Scripture, a life bathed in prayer, witnessing to unbelievers, and exercising the fruit of the Spirit? Absolutely! Thankful obedience to God in response for His saving grace is well expressed in Isaac Watt’s hymn “When I survey the Wondrous Cross,” the last verse of which reads, “Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a gift far too small, love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.” Grace does not exclude law; grace is not an excuse for disobedience, but rather it demands obedience, and submission and loyalty.

    In Jude 1:3, the author urges his readers to contend for the faith, and in verse 4 he encourages us to fight for the faith against internal adversity. This is not an easy task, but it is what we have been put here on earth to do. We will therefore deprive ourselves of blessing and appreciation of life if we do anything less than contending for the faith, shunning the distractions of the ease and luxury of this world and running for the prize and heavenly reward that God has laid before us.

BROWNCOAT BAY: What Made It To The ‘Verse

    ***Spoiler Alert: This article may contain spoilers for the Firefly episodes described.***

    It seems that much of the history and culture of Earth-that-was has been lost to legend by the 2500s. This is odd, given the emphasis in our own culture on data storage and preservation. However, they apparently don’t have Wikipedia in the ‘Verse!

    Therefore, it is intriguing what the writers of Firefly speculate will be preserved five centuries in the future. Less than one may think seems to have been preserved, excepting the broader cultural elements, such as the use of English and Chinese, as well as certain place names. But smaller pieces of earth’s culture—both grand and mundane—did make the transition. Here are just a few notable examples scattered through the episodes and the movie.

    Duct Tape. What would our world be without duct tape; certainly dozens of planets and hundreds of moons would need to be held together with duct tape also! In “Serenity” the pilot, Jayne asks Mal if he could stop Kaylee from being cheerful. Mal responds, “I don't believe there’s a power in the ‘Verse that can stop Kaylee from being cheerful.” He then he playfully comments, “Sometimes you just want to duct tape her mouth and dump her in the hold for a month.” While he is obviously kidding, and she clearly recognizes it, he still is familiar with the utility of duct tape, and recognizes its diverse functionality.

    Egypt. Ancient Egypt is still remembered in the ‘Verse, but perhaps, more so by the intellectual elite, such as Simon, rather than, well, most of the rest of the crew. Enough information about the great cultures of Earth-That-Was remains for Simon to make a reference to ancient Egyptian civilization. In the iconic episode “Jaynestown,” Simon recognizes that the “Mudder’s milk” they were drinking was similar to a substance used in ancient Egypt to feed slaves enough nutrients for them to be strong, but with enough alcohol in it to sedate any rebellious tendencies. The implication is that the Mudders toiling in Canton are like those slaves of old, and therefore, they were that much more grateful for the money that the Hero of Canton had “graciously” dropped on them. Of course, Egypt is hard to forget, being one of the most formidable ancient cultures in human history. The rest of the crew seem to know enough to recognize the reference to Egypt, but seem to know little else about it. In fact, Simon qualifies his reference to the Egyptians by reminding them that it was “back on Earth-That-Was,” as if initially, the rest of the group may not have been able to locate the referent.

    The Mona Lisa. In the teaser to “The Message” Inara alludes to the Mona Lisa. Mal and Inara are walking down a corridor in an eclectic space trading post called Li Shen’s Bazaar. They are there trying to sell the Lassiter, a laser weapon acquired in the episode “Trash.” Inara suggests that the Lassiter will be difficult to sell because it is “universally known.” Even collectors would be reluctant to purchase such a well-recognized, but pilfered prize. To make her point, she compares the recognizibility of the Lassiter to the Mona Lisa. The point, however, is somewhat lost on Mal, who, after fighting off a market urchin that was trying to pick his pocket, responds, “Mona Who?” What is telling about this reference is that Mal seems completely unfamiliar with one of the most well-known paintings that Earth-That-Was ever produced, referenced by Inara, again, because she thinks it is so universally identifiable. It seems like everyone in our culture has at least heard of this painting and its iconic smirk. Yet, we are led to believe that the Mona Lisa is, in the twentieth-sixth century, as with ancient Egypt, merely the mental property of the culturally elite, of which, Inara, on account of her companion training, is a part, and Mal is not.

    “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” The poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is alluded to in the movie Serenity. The Operative likens River to an albatross, which could help guide a ship, but a curse would reign down on the ship if anyone aboard killed this unique bird. Here, literarily, Mal has the upper hand: the Operative’s reference to the albatross was more of the popular image of a burden hung around someone’s neck. Mal’s correction is more in keeping with the poem: it could provide guidance to a boat, but to “kill it”—in this case, handing River over to the Operative, perhaps a fate worse than death—would be bad luck, or at least, bad form, for Mal and crew. Thus, to the Operative’s misconception, Mal replies, “Way I remember it, albatross was a ship’s good luck, ‘til some idiot killed it.” Even Inara is amazed at Mal’s uncharacteristic literary acumen; sensing this, Mal turns to Inara and dryly says, “Yes . . . I’ve read a poem; try not to faint.”

    Two points are significant about this allusion to Coleridge’s poem. First, Mal has done more than just “read a poem”; for “Rime” is among the longest of Sam Coleridge’s poems (about 17 pages in my Norton Anthology!). It is amazing, therefore, that when Mal says that he’s “read a poem,” he was referring to such a long work, not just something the length of a Shakespeare sonnet. And when he says that he “read a poem,” does he mean that he sat down and read and studied the entire thing – I mean, he doesn’t really seem the poetic type! – or does he mean that he happened to hear at one point that there was a poem about an albatross and ships? But he would have to have more than just a cursory-glance knowledge of the poem in order to so numbly correct the Operative’s misuse of the referent. Perhaps, his own experience as a space mariner drew him to look more closely at an ancient poem that he perhaps recollected from his school days.

    In fact, River, while somewhat of a burden, is much more in keeping with this correct portrayal of the albatross in “The Rime.” At the beginning of the film, she provides guidance to the crew at the trading post, pointing to the person in the room who was an undercover Alliance agent. Soon after, she alerts the crew to the presence of Reavers, allowing them enough time to escape, though barely. River also guides the boat to Miranda, a critical place from where Mal can retrieve evidence of the Alliances’ atrocities. These parallels are not lost on Mal who, when speaking to River at the end of the BDM, refers to her affectionately as “little Albatross.”

    Religion. Despite the agnosticism of Joss Whedon, several elements of religion made it to the ‘Verse. Not the least of these is the Bible itself, which is heralded by Shepherd Book and ripped apart (metaphorically and literally) by River. Christianity is reflected in Book’s monasticism as well as in the form of pop religion, such as the cross around Mal’s neck that he kisses in “Serenity” the pilot. Buddhist influences are also seen throughout, especially in the film Serenity in relationship to Inara. A statue of the Buddha adorns the entryway to the ball in “Shindig.” Also, in “The Message,” a flashback shows Mal, Zoe and Tracey fighting the Alliance in the Battle of Du-Khang ironically using a Buddhist temple as their base. Thus, for all the cultural elements that have been lost in the transition to the ‘Verse, it seems that many religious elements persisted, though with various reactions to each, as here. 

    So there’s our first pass at the question of what made it to the ‘Verse. But I’m sure we’ve missed enough to fill a follow-up article. Let us know what else made it to the ‘Verse by sending a wave to feedback@eclectickasper.com.

ECLECTIC FLASHBACK -- THEOLOGY: A Biblical Response to Reincarnation

    Originally from the May 2011 edition of The Eclectic Kasper, with minor modifications

    “We Are All Hindus Now!” claims religion editor Lisa Miller in the August 31, 2009 edition of Newsweek. Miller explains: “Recent poll data show that conceptually, at least, we are slowly becoming more like Hindus and less like traditional Christians in the ways we think about God, ourselves, each other, and eternity.” One way in which she demonstrates this Hindu trend is in the relatively high percent of Americans that believe in reincarnation.

    Reincarnation (samsara), a hallmark of Hinduism, asserts that individual souls are on an ever-revolving wheel of life, death, and rebirth. People’s karma, their good or bad deeds that they accomplish in life, determines the kind of existence (human, animal, insect, etc.) they are assigned to in the next life. According to Hinduism and several of its offshoots like Jainism and Buddhism, people are ignorantly trapped in an endless cycle of reincarnation which perpetuates human suffering. The goal of religion is to be reincarnated into increasingly higher levels of being until one can attain nirvana (release from the material world) or moksha (liberation). An individual strives to climb the caste system from life to life via good karma gained through Vedic rituals, meditation, devotion and by fulfilling religious and social duty (dharma).

    Miller discusses the contrast between the Christian and Hindu perspectives on the afterlife:

“Christians traditionally believe that bodies and souls are sacred, that together they comprise the ‘self,’ and that at the end of time they will be reunited in the Resurrection. You need both, in other words, and you need them forever. Hindus believe no such thing. At death, the body burns on a pyre, while the spirit‒where identity resides‒escapes. In reincarnation, central to Hinduism, selves come back to earth again and again in different bodies. So here is another way in which Americans are becoming more Hindu: 24 percent of Americans say they believe in reincarnation, according to a 2008 Harris poll.”

    Twenty-four percent! About one in every four Americans that you interact with believes that their soul has traveled through numerous past bodies before inhabiting their current one. That 2008 Harris Interactive poll also discovers that almost another quarter (23%) of Americans are “Not Sure” if they believe in reincarnation or not!

    Reincarnation retains a strong foothold in the New Age Movement. “It is believed by many sages [that] the collective energies contained in our etheric body at the time of death form the karmic blueprint that shapes our next incarnation. The theory is if all negative energies are cleared, there is no reason to take a physical body again unless it is for service to humankind. If uncleared, we bring the samskaras [defined previously as ‘ingrained behaviors’] with us to face once again” (Suzanne Matthiessen, “Spiritual Etiquette in the World: Shadow Energy Detox – Part 1,” Oracle 20/20, January 2007, p. 12). For many in the New Age Movement, the belief in reincarnation is not based on the text or dogma of a specific religious system, but extrapolated from experience or assumed from their spiritistic worldview.

    The belief in reincarnation is rare in the ancient near-east. The worship of Ba’al in ancient Canaanite religion understood the seasons to represent a cycle of Ba’al’s death in the Winter and resurrection in the Spring. However, resurrection, including repeated resurrection, is different from reincarnation: with resurrection, one’s soul reanimates the same body; in reincarnation, the soul cycles through the birth-life-death cycle in different bodies. There are occasional references to reincarnation in Greek and Egyptian writings. The Roman poet Virgil discusses reincarnation in Book VI of the Aeneid. The hero Aeneas descends into the underworld to receive advice from his deceased father. In the midst of their conversations his father shows Aeneas, “The spirits to whom fate owes a second body, and they drink the waters of the river Lethe, the care-less drafts of long forgetfulness” (Book VI, 940-943). Note, however, that these spirits are apparently only granted a “second” body, as opposed to multiple bodies. Also, they are assigned a human body, as opposed to that of an animal or insect. Furthermore, this second chance privilege is portrayed by Virgil as only reserved for a few who are deemed deserving by fate. It is also difficult to know if Virgil posits this semi-reincarnation as a valid belief system, or if he is just describing it out of poetic license.

    Scripture is clear that each individual has one life, one death, and one judgment. Even without the advanced revelation about the afterlife that New Testament writers were given, Old Testament authors still understood that the afterlife state was permanent (Genesis 3:19; Job 17:13; Ecclesiastes 9:10; 12:5; Isaiah 38:18) and a condition from which one cannot return to the present existence (2 Samuel 12:23; Job 10:21; 16:22). Later OT writers and NT authors build on this by affirming that all individuals will be resurrected to a permanent afterlife of either glory or condemnation (Is 26:19; Dan 12:2; Matt 25:46; John 5:29; Acts 24:15; 1 Cor 15:51-52; Heb 9:27; Rev 20:11-15).

    So why do 24% of Americans believe in reincarnation? I think that the affirmation of reincarnation is primarily emotionally driven. Modern people want to believe in a second chance, an opportunity to do better next time around. Whereas Easterners of the Vedic traditions affirm reincarnation as a way to eventually escape the suffering of life, many Westerners probably affirm reincarnation because they are disillusioned with the world and disappointed with life. They want a new start for joy and peace, and many feel that their mistakes in this life weigh them down from being all wish they could be. The belief in reincarnation provides them a sense that they can have that new start, but without the shackles of their current existence.

    In contrast, Scripture affirms that ultimate freedom from suffering, disillusionment and condemnation, either from God or from self, is found in Christ alone (John 14:27; Rom 8:1, 18; 14:17; 15:13; Phil 4:7). Joy, peace, and contentment will be realized by those with new and eternal life, and not by breaking free from a pattern of reincarnation.

The illustration above is of souls by the Lethe River before their reincarnation as discussed Book VI of the Aeneid.

The portrait is called 'Serenity,' by Henri Martin (1860-1943).