Skip to main content

Faithfulness Is Often Boring

 I have ignored the latest events in Minneapolis, because it does not serve to make bold pronouncements and attach the name of Jesus to them. To leave no room for a variance of interpretation is its own form of blasphemy. I will say that I'm praying for the soul of Alex Pretti, and everyone affected by his death.

I can also say that the general restrictionism of the administration and its deportation quotas increases the chances that innocents get caught up in the web of immigration enforcement.

I once heard that faithfulness was a long obedience in the same direction. I think evangelicals find that boring. That's why "Red" evangelicals like to pretend they are being persecuted by a desperately wicked left-wing secular government--even if this narrative isn't wholly meritless--and "Blue" evangelicals like to pretend that this administration is the reincarnation of the Third Reich, even attaching the name "Gestapo" to ICE, and all of its actions--not to say that all criticisms lack merit--and so on.

For my part, if I cannot determine precisely what is true, I can't make firm moral judgments about it. Denzel Washington once said that if you don't read or watch the news, you're uninformed; if you do, you're misinformed. In that spirit, I refrain from comment on every detail of every event. I don't intend to say that great passion will never have a place; I do say my passion will wait.

To believe the gospel of Jesus Christ is heroic in itself. To obey Jesus the Lord is our portion. If I'm called to rescue the vulnerable, or overthrow a tyranny, I will receive the grace to do those things. But the saints weren't ever self-aware of being the Frodo Baggins of their times; they simply knew that if the wicked took their lives, the Resurrection and the Life would vindicate them. They weren't self-appointed inquisitors of the errors and idolatries of others, either.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dear Alyse

 Today, you’re 35. Or at least you would be, in this place. You probably know this, but we’re OK. Not great, but OK. We know you wouldn’t want us moping around and weeping all the time. We try not to. Actually, I guess part of the problem is that you didn’t know how much we loved you. And that you didn’t know how to love yourself. I hope you have gotten to Love by now. Not a place, but fills everything in every way. I’m not Him, but he probably said, “Dear daughter/sister, you have been terribly hard on yourself. Rest now, and be at peace.” Anyway, teaching is going well, and I tell the kids all about you. They all say you are pretty. I usually can keep the boys from saying something gross for a few seconds. Mom and I are going to the game tonight. And like 6 more times, before I go back to South Carolina. I have seen Nicky twice, but I myself haven’t seen your younger kids. Bob took pictures of the day we said goodbye, and we did a family picture at the Abbey. I literally almost a...
Post a Comment
Read more
Hilarious Com-Box Quote of The Day: "I was caught immediately because it is the Acts of the Apostles, not the Acts of the Holy Spirit Acting Erratically."--Donald Todd, reacting to the inartful opposition of the Holy Spirit and the Magisterium. Mark Galli, an editor at Christianity Today, had suggested that today's "confusion" in evangelicalism replicates a confusion on the day of Pentecost. Mr. Todd commented after this reply , and the original article is here. My thoughts: By what means was this Church-less "consensus" formed? If the Council did not possess the authority to adjudicate such questions, who does? If the Council Fathers did not intend to be the arbiters, why do they say that they do? At the risk of being rude, I would define evangelicalism as, "Whatever I want or need to believe at any particular time." Ecclesial authority to settle a particular question is a step forward, but only as long as, "God alone is Lord of the con...
17 comments
Read more

A Friend I Once Had, And The Dogmatic Principle

 I once had a friend, a dear friend, who helped me with personal care needs in college. Reformed Presbyterian to the core. When I was a Reformed Presbyterian, I visited their church many times. We were close. I still consider his siblings my friends. (And siblings in the Lord.) Nevertheless, when I began to consider the claims of the Catholic Church to be the Church Christ founded, he took me out to breakfast. He implied--but never quite stated--that we would not be brothers, if I sought full communion with the Catholic Church. That came true; a couple years later, I called him on his birthday, as I'd done every year for close to ten of them. He didn't recognize my number, and it was the most strained, awkward phone call I have ever had. We haven't spoken since. We were close enough that I attended the rehearsal dinner for his wedding. His wife's uncle is a Catholic priest. I remember reading a blog post of theirs, that early in their relationship, she told him of the p...
Post a Comment
Read more