JOLLYBLOGGER

The Truth is Uglier Than We Think, God is More Beautiful Than we Realize

I've finally found something I feel strongly enough about to write on.

Denise Spencer wrote a post a couple of days ago about Michael Spencer's last days and the upshot of it was that his last days were ugly and painful.  His last days were not the peaceful beatific kinds of days we often hear about of Christians who pass into heaven peacefully with visions of angels and loved ones.  In fact, nearly from the time he was diagnosed till his passing he never had a good day.

Denise begins her story with excerpts from several death stories she had collected where people had a kind of beatific death and how she is so tired of them because she and Michael had nothing of the kind.  Here's a summary:

Where were the visions? The angels? The heavenly music soundtrack? Michael fought a hard fight and he died a hard death. And that was that.

She shares her hopes that Michael would have had a respite and her subsequent anger at God over the whole thing.  It's hard to read, and yet essential to read.

I left a comment over that was started growing into one of those blog comments that is longer than the post, so I cut it a bit short and decided I would come and finish it up over here.

Denise's story opened the floodgates on many thoughts and emotions I have had over the last year and a half, thoughts that may be appropriate to share now.  If you read the "death stories" that Denise has collected, then read Michael's story and then read some of the comments on that post from palliative care nurses you will see that these stories of the blessed death that we like to float in Christian circles are a tiny minority. 

Indeed I have seen and heard of a few myself.  My stepfather's death was relatively peaceful and I and my family were with him at the time.  He had been sedated and in the middle of the night started a breathing pattern that my mom recognized as the death rattles and she called us all in.  His death rattles were relatively short and he seemed to pass away peacefully.  I recently heard of a friend who died who was sedated, woke up and said "he's here" and then went to sleep and passed very quickly.

On the other hand I can remember traveling from Florida to West Virginia to be with my grandfather.  We were too late, he had passed away minutes before we arrived.  But when I saw his body passed away it was in a twisted and contorted shape and had an expression of obvious pain.  It seemed clear to me that he did not die quietly and peacefully.

I am well behind Michael in my own battle, but the stories Denise shared have a lot in common with the stories I hear, on another level.  I find that very few Christians are able to accept that we live in a fallen world.  Thus, we tell the beatific stories, whether they be stories of blessed deaths or miraculous healings and speak of them as if they are the norm to which every Christian can aspire and should expect.

The truth is much uglier than that.  Most deaths are ugly.  Very few of even the most faithful Christians are healed.  In his book I Told Me So, Greg Ten Elshoff writes

Terminal cancer wards are full of patients who believe things we all know to be radically improbable.  They believe that they will be one of the very, very few who fight back and win-or that they’ll be the recipient of a miracle healing in response to the prayers of friends and family.  It’s not just that they believe that they could get better-that God could perform a miracle on their behalf.  In this they’re surely correct.  No.  They believe they will get better-that God will perform a miracle on their behalf.  Nearly all of them are wrong.  And anyone familiar with the statistics is well situated to see that they are.  But-and this is the most salient part for our discussion-nobody corrects them.  In fact, they are encouraged to persist in these highly improbable beliefs.

I have been uniquely blessed in that I have only had a small minority of counselors who fit the mold of Job's counselors.  Most of the people who surround me ask how I'm doing, tell me they are praying for me, stay quiet and listen and engage in normal conversation with me as if I were a normal human being. 

But one Job's counselor has a multiplied effect.  These are the ones who come with something to say.  Most are loaded with advice on some new horrific diet I should eat or some obscure alternative theory.  Then there are the spritual Jobians.  My first spiritual Jobian had a story of a weird undiagnosed disease that he thought was AIDS, but when he finally got right with God in the midst of this the diagnosis came in that it was nothing significant and he moved on.  His message to me was that if I would get right with God I would be healed.

All of this kind of stuff mirrors what Denise was trying to convey.  She didn't put it this way, but Christians know the glory story but they don't know the cross story.  The glory story is that the Christian path is one of glory, observable, overcoming, obviously seen glories as the Christian triumphs over all his enemies.  Thus, the Christian has ears to hear the stories of miraculous healings and beatific deaths because those are glory stories. These people live in a world where we can practice a mechanistic kind of magic with God.  For the health freaks, if I would just I would just imbibe a magic potion concocted by nutritional wizards then like magic I would be healed.  In the spiritual version, a performance of certain rituals of self-exam followed by the prescribed repentance and obedience would free me from my physical ailments.  In any case, whereas doctors are reticent to describe what brought on the cancer simply because the factors that can contribute to any given cancer are innumerable, the glory-story folks know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I brought this cancer on myself and it is up to me to reform myself physically or get right with God.  In each case, suffering is not something a Christian should have to endure and God's only role in it His deliverance of us from it, if we will meet the conditions.

The cross story says that suffering is the path of the Christian.  If you are a Christian, more than likely you will not go gently into that good night, and I am not using that phrase in its original context.  In the original context Dylan Thomas urges us to rage and fight against death until the last moment.  What I am saying is that if you are Christian your death and maybe even the years leading to it, may not be gentle. 

That is the ugly truth I want to write about and I will try to write some more about in coming days is that we still live in a fallen world.  We should no more expect an easy life and death than did the apostles who often died gruesome deaths, nor should we expect greater ease than the many Christians throughout most of history who have met Christ face to face at the end of starvation, disease, or persecution.

The ugly truth is that the fall still applies and the fall means that the Christian path is a cross bearing path - if you are a Christian expect that life will be harder than you initially imagined it would

The beautiful reality is that the fall cannot obscure God.  God is near and dear to the broken hearted.  Often in the midst of great pain one senses the presence of God - I know I have. It's not something that can be seen or articulated and in fact those who watch you suffer would probably conclude that God is not there.  But the theology of the cross teaches that God hides Himself in suffering, He does not display Himself.  I think that's one of the big differences between glory story people and cross people.  The glory-storyists want God to display Himself - obviously, to the sight, publicly, in spectacular ways.  The cross people believe that God is a God who is quiet, hidden away, is masked in His creation, but is especially made known in suffering.

I'll write a bit more on this in the days to come.  I would like to address some of the ways we Christians are less than helpful when we latch on to alternative healing techniques, charismatic healing techniques, falsely optimistic patterns of hope and the like.  The truth is that these are distractions, not only for the suffering, but for the rest of us too.

The thing that distinguishes the suffering Christian is that Christ is with Him - nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.

Jesus Manifesto by Sweet and Viola

A new book by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola has been published today called "The Jesus Manifesto ."  It is receiving thunderous acclaim from all corners of Christendom and I received the kindness of receiving a complimentary pre-pub copy of the book from the publishers, with the stipulation that I mention it on my blog here on the date it is published.  

So, many thanks to the good folks at Thomas Nelson for sending this to me and I invite you to follow either of the above links to see some of what the book is about and see some of the recommendations from leaders that many of you trust. 

As for me, I have read the first several chapters and each time I read a chapter it is hard to work up any enthusiasm for going back to read the next chapter.  It's not that they are saying anything I necessarily disagree with, in fact much of it is spot on.  But the book insinuates that these authors are telling us something new in telling us that the Christian life is all about Jesus. 

It reminds me of an incident from my childhood.  As I grew up there was a Burger King not far from my house that I could walk to and I went there often to get a cheeseburger, fries and a coke.  I loved cheeseburgers, I loved fries and I loved cokes.  But during the summer I would go visit my grandparents in West Virginia in a small town where there were no Burger Kings.  One summer my cravings for french fries overcame me and I begged my grandparents to take me somewhere to get some french fries.  Later that day the most amazing thing happened.  

I went into the kitchen where my grandmother was slicing up a bunch of potatoes and putting them in a frying pan and then she served them and lo and behold, they were french fries.  This excited me so much that when my parents came to pick me up later the first thing I did was run out the door and excitedly announce to my mom the following - "MOM! MOM! did you know you can make FRENCH FRIES out of POTATOES?   Mawmaw knows how to make french fries out of potatoes!"  My mom still howls over that one and trots the story out regularly at family gatherings. 

Frankly though, that's the feeling I get in reading this book - in announcing to the rest of us lukewarm folks that the Christian life is all about Jesus they remind me of myself announcing to my mom that you can make french fries out of potatoes. 

I don't doubt that we lose sight of Jesus, I know it's a regular practice of mine and I also like to tell my congregation that the gospel leaks, hence we must be reminding ourselves of the gospel all the time.  In that respect this book has some good stuff to say. I do think that the work of Tim Keller and Mike Horton on the topic of recovering Jesus and the gospel are far more substantive.  Also, J. Gresham Machen's book "Christianity and Liberalism" is still unsurpassed on the same subject.  

But these are just my reactions and I know I can be a bit cranky these days.  Many folks who are far better than me like the book so I'll defer to them, but I still don't see what all the fuss is about. 

The Good News of Justification

Hi everyone - here I am popping in with one of my infrequent blog posts.  This is a quote from Hywel Jones that is too good and too life giving not to share.  To fail to share this would be to deprive all of you of a great statement of the greatness of the gospel.

Only a fraction of the present body of confessing Christians are solidly appropriating the justifying work of Christ in their lives. Many have so light an apprehension of God's holiness and of the extent and guilt for their sin that consciously they see little need for justification, although below the surface they are deeply guilt ridden and insecure.

Many others have a theoretical commitment to this doctrine, but in their day to day existence they rely on their sanctification for justification drawing their assurance of acceptance with God from their sincerity, their past experience of conversion, their recent religious performance or the relative infrequency of their conscious, willful disobedience.

Few know enough to start each day with a thoroughgoing stand on Luther's platform; you are accepted, looking outward in faith and claiming the wholly alien righteousness of Christ as the only ground for acceptance, relaxing in the quality of trust which will produce increasing sanctification as faith is active in love and gratitude.

The Litmus Test of Christianity Today

The following is from the book "The Theology of the Cross" by Daniel M. Deutschlander:

What is the litmus test of genuine Christianity today? The old tests can never be completely put away; attacks on the person and work of Christ, attacks on the purpose and nature of the church, attacks on the source and authority of the Bible are renewed in every age. And yet each age has its own special litmus test in addition to these universal and ever resurfacing ones. What might a special litmus test for our day be? Could it be the theology of the cross that separates genuine Christianity from corrupted and counterfeit versions of the same?

We see on every hand a desire to make Christianity fun and happy-go-lucky. Some churches and their leaders go so far as to claim that God really wants Christians always to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. Others turn worship services into hours of self-discovery; the goal is to give the Christian personal fulfillment and better character. If the individual can learn to get along better with himself, then he will get along better with everyone else too, and God should be happy about that. Still others are obsessed with the notion that the true church should be successful, big, and influential in world and national politics. Within the church, no matter what denominational label the particular church may wear, many members want to be their own bible; they want the freedom to pick and choose what doctrines to believe and what behavior to praise or blame. Their choices change with their circumstances of the moment, and woe betide any preacher who tells them on the basis of the Scriptures that they are wrong and their choices damnable in the eyes of God. All of that is a theology of glory, a theology which lets man be his own god and turns the God of the Bible into a creature subject to personal whims of the moment.

The God of the Bible—the one, true, and only God, however, is the God of the cross. Jesus calls us to submission under his cross and then to bear the cross that he sends us and by which he marks us as his own. He did not come to entertain but to redeem us by his blood. He does not call us to be our own gods but to bend low before his cross in total submission to his Word and then to the cross that he is pleased to send. The cross of his own sending always and of necessity and by definition means struggle for us. The cross is not merely a piece of jewelry worn around the neck but pain carried on the heart and in the soul. Jesus calls us to the cross and sends one after another for us to bear. He bids us imitate him in stumbling under its sometimes crushing weight and to cry out in anguish as he did in the midst of its pain. All of that seems so, well, so un-American. We pursue pleasure, and for every pain there should be an instant remedy. We are addicted to entertainment and want church to be entertaining too. We shun any notion that we live in a veil of tears, in einem rechten Jammerthal, as our forefathers put it. We think that anyone who is in physical or spiritual pain must be sick and in need of therapy that will make him happy again—and soon!

At the same time, the Bible tells us that in the midst of suffering and under the cross, we should rejoice. Yes, it tells us to rejoice constantly and precisely because we are suffering under the weight of the cross that crushes and threatens to destroy us. It assures us again and again that those who rejoice without the cross and those who suffer without joy understand neither true joy nor the value of the cross that God has sent.

So we come again to the question: Could the theology of the cross be the litmus test of genuine Christianity in our day? The corrupt and the counterfeit push aside the whole concept of cross bearing in favor of a joy without it. Fake Christianity offers the Christian an imitation of Christ’s glory in heaven, not of his humiliation on earth. The phony and the artificial church turns worship into a spiritual happy hour devoid of repentance, with cheap absolution, with no thought of taking God seriously in either the law or the gospel. And people love it. They still get to be their own god, their own bible, their own source of ultimate truth and salvation.

Words of Comfort for the Dying

A few months ago I had occasion to read some words from J. R. Miller directed towards youth, instructing them in how to prepare for a "Beautiful Old Age."  My reaction is mixed.  The words are an eloquent plea for the pursuit of purity and holiness throughout one's youth and middle years for the sake of reaping the benefits in one's old age.  Yet, I find them strangely devoid of the gospel, except for one or two comments, almost exclusively works-oriented and prone to producing despair rather than comfort at the hour of death.

I do realize that Mr. Miller is a Presbyterian of the old school, hence he is one of my own forefathers in the tradition I follow and I realize that I could never approach his learning and zeal for Christ.  I realize that I owe him deference and respect and am more than happy to be corrected if I have misunderstood his words.  

He advises that youth need to cultivate friendship in their younger years as these friends will be there to comfort them in their later years.  So far so good.  And he says that youth need to pursue holiness and purity throughout their life so that their clear conscience (my own words to translate his meaning) may comfort them before the Lord in their later years.  This gets a bit problematic.  Yes, we pursue holiness throughout life but Miller describes this almost in the sense that we save up a bank of merit we could draw on in old age.

The most troubling comment is this:

Sin may seem pleasant to us now, but we must not forget how it will appear when we get past it and turn to look back upon it; especially must we keep in mind how it will seem from a dying pillow. Nothing brings such pure peace and quiet joy at the close as a well-lived past. We are every day laying up the food on which we must feed in the closing years. We are hanging up pictures about the walls of our hearts that we shall have to look at when we sit in the shadows. How important that we live pure and holy lives! Even forgiven sins will mar the peace of old age, for the ugly scars will remain.

Apparently forgiven sin can still torment us on our dying pillow.  The source of our peace and joy is a "well-lived past."  And "even forgiven sins will mar the peace of old age, for the ugly scars remain." 

Please Pray for Michael Spencer and Matt Chandler

Those of you who read Christian blogs regularly may know the names Michael Spencer and Matt Chandler.  Michael is one of the most well known bloggers out there, he has been blogging for years at the Internet Monk and Boars Head Tavern.  Matt pastors the Village Church near Dallas. Both have recently found out they have cancer.  I don't know much detail but it seems that both have been diagnosed very recently.  So, they may still be working through the initial shocks.  I remember how devastating it was for me and I am sure it is so for them. But, they are men of clear evangelical faith who are keeping a strong testimony for Christ.

Please pray for these beloved men, their wives and kids and the communities they serve

Hooray for the Puritans

I found a quote about the Puritans I couldn't resist posting.  It's from a comment thread on this post on the blog of Jason Stellman, author of the book Dual Citizens.

I remember as a college student (Eng. Lit.) reading in my McGraw-Hill tome The American Tradition in Literature that the puritans "in general were lovers of life; their clergy were well-educated scholars in whom the Renaissance lamp of humanism still burned. They did not forbid gaily colored clothes if they could get them; they develp a pleasing domestic architecture and good arts and crafts on American soil; they liked the drink even if they despised the drunkard; they feared both ignorance and emotional evangelism, and made of their religious thought a rigorous intellectual discipline. …In their influence on American life, there is much more to bless them for than to condemn" (8th ed., p. 6).

C. John Sommervile on Rodney Stark

As a heads up this particular post is probably of interest to a fairly narrow audience.  I have enjoyed reading some of Rodney Stark's work and I have talked to a number of fellow pastors who have also appreciated his work and have seen him quoted favorably in several places.

So I just thought I would pass something along to all of you who read Stark.  C. John Sommerville has a few brief comments you might find helpful in the May 2009 issue of a periodical called Reconsiderations.  Reconsiderations is put out by the Christian Study Center of Gainesville (a.k.a. the center of the intellectual and athletic universe).  The link is to a .pdf file and the article by Sommerville starts on page 6.  Here's the article:

Considering the Work of Rodney Stark by C. John Sommerville.

And here is the Rodney Stark page at Amazon.  

Stark is a sociologist and he comes at Christian history using the tools of sociology.  Although Sommerville says he has a secure place in "high-brow" culture, his book Rise of Christianity is one that can be appreciated by non-specialists and non-sociologists.  Just realize that he is not writing as a theologian or even as a devout believer.  But he does write as one who is sympathetic to Christianity and that article by Sommerville may help you understand his perspective and his sympathies.  I just noticed that Stark has a new book on the Crusades - hmm, sounds interesting. 

Also, just a word about C. John Sommerville.  Aside from the fact that he taught for years at the premier learning institution in America, he has written one of my definite top 10, all time favorite books.  It is called How the News Makes us Dumb. I can't recommend that book highly enough, in fact I beg you, please, please, please, please, please read that book before you watch another news broadcast, read a paper or tell someone about something you read or heard on the news.  His argument is not what you might think.  The news is not bad because it is biased or because the journalists themselves are incompetent per se.  The news is destructive to wisdom because it is daily.  Again, I can't recommend that book too highly.

And, getting back to Stark and the sociology of religion, it looks like Sommerville himself has a new book out on similar themes, only dealing with more modern times - Religion in the National Agenda:  What We Mean by Religious, Spiritual, Secular.  This too sounds interesting.

Spurgeon on Sickness as a "Greater Gift"

In recent days I have read and heard some unfortunately spoken words to the effect that it is not God's will that anyone be sick.  A friend of my daughter's told her that point blank one day, another dear friend attended a small group meeting where a lady with cancer was being prayed for and the leader of the group introduced the prayer time by saying that this cancer was not God's will for her and that God had no intention of teaching her through this experience.  In other words, deliverance and healing were the only options.  I have also recently read several books by authors claiming that God doesn't want you to be sick, and then finding out that they themselves died of illness.  One even said that we have an appointment with God to die and we need to be prepared to die, but that our appointment with death won't come by way of illness in general or cancer specifically - then I found out that author died of cancer.

How grateful I am for the more wise, mature and carefully considered words of some of our spiritual forefathers.  Here's a few words by and about Charles Spurgeon from Tullian Tchividjian.

Charles Spurgeon once said, “Health is a gift from God, but sickness is a gift greater still.” Throughout his time in this world, Spurgeon suffered with various physical ailments that eventually took his life prematurely. He longed to be well but he recognized the supreme value of being sick and he thanked God for it because it was his pain that caused him to desperately draw near to God.

John Newton on the Presence of the Lord in Dark Times

Here are some good words from John Newton for those of you, like me, who may be going through dark times:

If, as you observe, the Song of Solomon describes the experience of his church, it shows the dark as well as the bright side. No one part of it is the experience of every individual at any particular time. Some are in his banqueting-house, others upon their beds. Some sit under His banner, supported by His arm; while others have a faint perception of Him at a distance, with many a hill and mountain between. In one thing, however, they all agree, that He is the leading object of their desires, and that they have had such a discovery of His person, work, and love, as makes Him precious to their hearts. Their judgment of Him is always the same, but their sensibility varies. The love they bear Him, though rooted and grounded in their hearts, is not always equally in exercise, nor can it be so. We are like trees, which, though alive, cannot put forth their leaves and fruit without the influence of the sun. They are alive in winter as well as in summer; but how different is their appearance in these different seasons! Were we always alike, could we always believe, love, and rejoice, we should think the power inherent and our own; but it i. more for the Lord's glory, and more suited to form us to a temper becoming the Gospel, that we should be made deeply sensible of our own inability and dependence, than that we should be always in a lively frame. I am persuaded, a broken and a contrite spirit, a conviction of our vileness and nothingness, connected with a cordial acceptance of Jesus as revealed in the Gospel, is the highest attainment we can reach in this life. Sensible comforts are desirable, and we must be sadly declined when they do not appear to us; but I believe there may be a real exercise of faith and growth in grace when our sensible feelings are faint and low. A soul may be in as thriving a state when thirsting, seeking, and mourning after the Lord, as when actually rejoicing in Him; as much in earnest when fighting in the valley, as when singing upon the mount; nay, dark seasons afford the surest and strongest manifestations of the power of faith. To hold fast the word of promise, to maintain a hatred of sin, to go on steadfastly in the path of duty, in defiance both of the frowns and the smiles of the world, when we have but little comfort, is a more certain evidence of grace, than a thousand things which we may do or forbear when our spirits are warm and lively. I have seen many who have been upon the whole but uneven walkers, though at times they have seemed to enjoy, at least have talked of, great comforts. I have seen others, for the most part, complain of much darkness and coldness, who have been remarkably humble, tender, and exemplary in their spirit and conduct. Surely were I to choose my lot, it should be with the latter.