How do you live Christianly in the professions & skilled trades?

•How do you rise above the prevailing secularism?

In our modern Western world — where we have a rule of law but in which technology marches onward —, people are flexible and rootless. They can live anywhere and believe anything. In such a world how shall we live Christianly as artisans, artists, architects, designers, skilled tradesmen and professionals? Consider the Book of Exodus:

Then Moses said to the children of Israel, “See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding and in knowledge and in all craftsmanship . . . . and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. . . . as performers of every work and makers of designs. (Ex 35:30,31,34,35 NASB)

Now Bezalel and Oholiab, and every man wise of heart in whom the Lord has put wisdom and understanding to know how to perform all the work in the construction of the sanctuary, shall perform in accordance with all that the Lord has commanded. Then Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every man wise of heart in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, everyone whose heart lifted him up to come to the work to perform it. (Ex 36:1-2 NASB literal readings)

You [Moses, the prophet] shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother [the high priest], for glory and for beauty. (Ex 28:2 NASB)

First, it is striking that, in the service of the Lord our God, there is no secular and sacred split. Moses the prophet and leader, Aaron the high priest, and Bezalel the designer and craftsman are all doing the work of the Lord (Ex 28:2; 35:30). Religious ritual has no value when divorced from honorable work, righteous living in community, caring about others (including the poor and oppressed, Isa 1:10-17; Mat. 23:23-24), and dealing with the mundane matters of daily living. [1]

Next, for every professional and tradesman involved in the work of the Tabernacle (an elaborate tent structure and grounds for worship), his “heart lifted him up” (Ex 36:2). Let’s explore that expression for a moment. As I demonstrated in a graduate thesis, the Hebrew word for “heart” (actually two: leb and lebab, which are stylistic variants) is the personality center with thoughts, feelings, desires, and conscience. [2]

The closest English expression is “mind and heart.” Giving yourself to the work of the Lord – whether minister or professional or tradesman or laborer or homemaker – involves an action of the whole inward person. Then the Hebrew says “lifted up.” That is, these people felt inclined toward and stirred up for the work. They had passion. And the source of their gifts was the Lord (Ex 36:2), implying that they ought to engage in their work not only with passion but with some kind of humility before the Giver and gratitude to the divine Provider.

Third, those involved in the making of the Tabernacle, its furniture and its priestly clothes had certain characteristics (Ex 35:31) [3]. (1) Wisdom at design and construction – that is, skill. In the Old Testament, “wisdom” is prudent, consistent, experienced, and competent action to master the problems of life. So wisdom for design and construction is, more than anything else, problem solving. (2) Understanding: insight into the nature, character, and subtleties of things and ideas. (3) Knowledge: acquaintance — by means of experience — with facts, principles, learning, and formal studies of things and ideas. (4) Craftsmanship: specialized ability to something well. As part of these traits, there is also (5) an aesthetic sense (Ex 28:2). These Tabernacle craftsmen are making things “for glory and for beauty.” That is, their passionate work will create objects which display dignity and which yield a sense of delight, transcendence and well-being.

Nils Finne, AIA, is a principal of the award-winning FINNE Architects in Seattle, Washington USA. He grew up in the USA and in his 20’s spent time in Scandinavia. He told an interviewer:

Sverre Fehn, the renowned Norwegian architect, was my friend. I believe he has had a profound influence on my work. I will never forget the afternoons I spent sitting with Sverre in the living room of his house on Havna Alle in Oslo. Sverre lived in a classic functionalist house designed by his teacher, Arne Korsmo. He had an uncanny ability to understand construction and materials and then imbue a certain poetical dimension to those elements.

The skill, knowledge, and craftsmanship of these high-level architects is accompanied by profound understanding and an aesthetic sense, just like the biblical Bezalel. Mr Finne adds about the renowned Mr Fehn:

He was also a very unassuming person and was amused when the Americans awarded him the Pritzker Prize (the Nobel Prize equivalent for architecture). “Oh, yes,” he said. They sent “top secret” faxes and then flew into Oslo on their private jet. “But then, there was so much snow in many places that they could only manage to visit a few of my buildings!” [4]

Mr Fehn had a humility as if his high level of skill was the gift of Another and that he was just using this gifted skill with passion and gratitude.

Fourth, there is one huge problem with these five traits of wisdom/skill, understanding, knowledge, craftsmanship, and aesthetic sense. They are neutral and can be used for good or evil.

In the 1954 play “The Rainmaker,” N. Richard Nash tells of a drought-ridden rural town in the American West during the Great Depression. A spinster Lizzie Curry keeps house for her father and two brothers on the family cattle ranch. As the farm languishes under a devastating drought and as Lizzie desperately worries about never having a husband, a charming trickster comes along and promises rain in exchange for $100. Feeling sorry for Lizzie, he also commits fornication with her to reassure her of her attractiveness as a woman. Outraged at the violation of his sister, her brother draws his pistol and is about to shoot the Rainmaker. But the father grabs the pistol from the brother with the rebuke, “Noah, you’re so full of what’s right you can’t see what’s good.”

The playwright thereby advocates this philosophy: “There are no moral boundaries of right and wrong. There are only more beneficial and less beneficial ways of doing things. If it feels right, do it.” But the Book of Exodus reminds us that we are under the commandments of God (Ex 36:2) and not under either the out-of-control fury of the brother or the “most anything goes” latitudinarianism of the father. There is objective right and wrong which form the basis of living.

Like a drum accompanying a string quartet, in this section of Exodus (35:1 – 39:43) there are two sevenfold repetitions of “as the Lord commanded Moses” (39:1,5,7,21,26,29,31; 40:19,21,23,25,27,29,32). We are not left in doubt. We are under the authority of God. In the new covenant, the Christian is “not outside the law of God but under the law of Christ” (1 Cor 9:21). Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. . . . If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words” (John 14:15, 23-24).

Finally, there’s another big problem with these five traits of the trades and professions — a problem created by the society in which we live: legalism. After four years of exile in the USA from Soviet Russia, Alexandr I Solzhenitsyn analyzed the West for the benefit of the graduates at Harvard University on 6/08/1978. Let’s listen to his solemn voice:

When the modern Western states were being formed, it was proclaimed as a principle that governments are meant to serve man and that man lives in order to be free and pursue happiness…. Now at last during past decades technical and social progress has permitted the realization of such aspirations: . . . it has become possible to raise young people according to these ideals, preparing them for and summoning them toward physical bloom, happiness, and leisure, the possession of material goods, money, and leisure, toward an almost unlimited freedom in the choice of pleasures…. Western society has chosen for itself the organization best suited to its purposes and one I might call legalistic…. Every conflict is solved according to the letter of the law and this is considered to be the ultimate solution. If one is risen from a legal point of view, nothing more is required, nobody may mention that one could still not be right, and urge self-restraint or a renunciation of these rights, call for sacrifice and selfless risk: this would simply sound absurd…. (An oil company is legally blameless when it buys up an invention of a new type of energy in order to prevent its use. A food product manufacturer is legally blameless when he poisons his produce to make it last longer: after all, people are free not to purchase it.) ....

The letter of the law is too cold and formal to have a beneficial influence on society. Whenever the tissue of life is woven of legalistic relationships, this creates an atmosphere of spiritual mediocrity that paralyzes man's noblest impulses…. Today's Western society has revealed the inequality between the freedom for good deeds and the freedom for evil deeds…. It is time, in the West, to defend not so much human rights as human obligations. On the other hand, destructive and irresponsible freedom has been granted boundless space. Society has turned out to have scarce defense against the abyss of human decadence, for example against the misuse of liberty for moral violence against young people, such as motion pictures full of pornography, crime, and horror. This is all considered to be part of freedom and to be counterbalanced, in theory, by the young people's right not to look and not to accept. Life organized legalistically has thus shown its inability to defend itself against the corrosion of evil…. This tilt of freedom toward evil has come about gradually, but it evidently stems from a humanistic and benevolent concept according to which man — the master of the world — does not bear any evil within himself, and all the defects of life are caused by misguided social systems, which must therefore be corrected. Yet strangely enough, though the best social conditions have been achieved in the West, there still remains a great deal of crime; there even is considerably more of it than in the destitute and lawless Soviet society. [5]

Christians must rise above the legalistic system of individual rights to live out true freedom and the love of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – and the love of neighbor. A man from Louisiana never fit in as a member of his family and left for urban living in the north. Returning to Christian faith and deciding to relocate (with his wife) near his family, his Louisiana pastor laid down to him the law of Christ: “You have no choice as a Christian: you’ve got to love your dad even if he doesn’t love you back in the way that you want him to. You cannot stand on justice: love matters more than justice, because the higher justice is love.” [6]

Endnotes

[1] My wisdom literature-related thoughts for this article were greatly benefited from Robert L Deffinbaugh, “Introduction to Proverbs,” 6/02/2004. https://bible.org/seriespage/1-introduction-proverbs

[2] For the meaning of “heart,” I rely on my 1973 thesis “The ‘Heart’ in the Old Testament.” As a sample, note Gen 6:5 thoughts of the heart, Gen 6:6 a feeling of grief in the heart, Gen 8:21 intention (a desire) of the heart, Gen 20:6 with integrity of heart = with a clear conscience.

[3] For the meaning of the word wisdom [hokmah] and, to a lesser extent, for the meanings of understanding [tebuneh], knowledge [deʻat], and craftsmanship [melakah], I benefited from the analysis of Georg Fohrer “Sophia. Old Testament” in Gerhard Friedrich (ed), Theological Dictionary of the New Testament; Geoffrey W Bromiley (trans) (Grand Rapids: W.E. Eerdmans, 1971), Vol 7, pp 476-496. On hokmah, I cite his conclusion.

[4] The Finn quotes are from https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/20376965/list/10-things-architects-want-you-to-know-about-what-they-do

[5] Alexandr I Solzhenitsyn, “A World Split Apart – Commencement Address Delivered at Harvard University, June 8, 1978” http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles/SolzhenitsynHarvard.php

[6] Joshua Rothman, “Rod Dreher’s Monastic Vision,” The New Yorker, May 1, 2017. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/01/rod-drehers-monastic-vision

Trusting God - an example from real life

•The life of faith

Six years ago, a planetary scientist and the director of a major astronomical observatory told his audience in University Heights, Ohio (my summary): “Looking at the world through science – whether through astronomy or quantum physics or biology – at bottom the universe is about relationships and that fact scares some people.” If we turn to Holy Scripture, the Bible portrays the creation of humanity as God’s desire to create a walking partner (explained shortly). Thus at bottom, the spiritual life is also about relationships.

In God’s relationship with the first man and woman (whose environment was described as a garden), they encountered God “walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (Genesis 3:8). The idea of walking together implies companionship, dialogue, mutual delight, and a shared responsibility for their surroundings.

Despite the fact that the first human couple sinned and strained the relationship between God and humanity, early on “people began to call on the name of the Lord” (Gen 4:26). Enoch “walked with God” (Gen 5:22-24), Noah “walked with God” (Gen 6:9) and Abraham “walked with God” (Gen 24:40). How can we walk with the Invisible One? The Book of Hebrews tells us (11:6,8-9 NLT):

[v 6] It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. . . .

[v 8] It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. [v 9] And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents.

Therefore, faith is believing in the existence of God (v 6), following the instructions from divine revelation (v 8) and trusting in the Lord as God (v 9). We would hasten to add, in the history of God’s dealings with humanity, God sent the eternal Word who was at his side into the world as Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “Believe in God, believe also in me” (John 14:1).

What does “trust in God” and “believe in Jesus” look like in real life? My wife and I are good friends of a couple who have three sons. Last week we attended the wedding of their oldest son. At the rehearsal dinner for the wedding, the mother gave this reflection. These are her exact words (used with permission):

Proverbs 3:5,6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.”

This was one of the earliest passages of scripture I had committed to memory. I believed it and knew it well. But as with most biblical truths, it’s far easier to acknowledge truth than to actually live it. This verse, along with countless others, teach the follower of Christ to commit or give over our fears and worries to Him. But yet ... why do we insist on hanging on to them? Simply put, I think it’s lack of trust, or still wanting to be in control.

What mother doesn’t pray for God to provide a godly wife for her son? This mom certainly did. When her son made it through four years of undergrad and then another two years of grad school emerging still a single man, she began to get a bit more frantic. So naturally, she prayed more earnestly. But to no apparent success. Finally it occurred to her, why not just give the whole thing over to God? Let Him take care of this marriage business. So she prayed, “Lord, I trust You to find the right wife for my son. I give up being the one to try and find her. I just pray what’s most important in my son’s life, that he loves You with all his heart, soul and mind and that he seek first You and Your kingdom.”

A very short time after committing my son’s future to God, both my husband and I received a phone call from our son. Remarkably he began the conversation ... “So .... there’s this girl I like...” Within the next few months they were courting, attending a sibling’s wedding and then planning their own wedding! 

This mom can only stand in awe at such a gracious God, and once again proclaim the verse she declares so often, “Now unto Him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” Ephesians 3:20

What are you planting in your garden?

●Lessons learned from an African American funeral

How does the Gospel (There is one God who exists in three persons; the second person of God became the man Jesus, died for sinners, rose again to reconcile us to God, sent out the Word of God and the Holy Spirit) – how does the Gospel work itself out in real life? Today I attended an African American funeral, and saw and heard the principles of living that way on display. Let me share what I witnessed.

In inner city Winston Salem, North Carolina, Bobby Ray Crosby died at age 61 on January 30, 2016. He left behind a wife, a son, four daughters, eighteen grandchildren, ten great grandchildren; as well as a mother, two sisters and three brothers. The memorial service was today, February 6, 2016.

• “Don’t worry about living . . . Look at the birds in the sky. They never sow nor reap nor store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them” (Matt 6:25-26).

A different three-some (electric guitarist, organ-keyboardist, and lead singer) led us in gospel music at two points in the service. Before playing, the first male guitarist (an older man) said, “Bobby and I were in the hospital together. He got up from his room, went over to my bed, and said, ‘God is still in control.’ This is a celebration time!” Then the guitarist vigorously strummed his first chord.

The lead singer of the second group said, “They call me the black Loretta Lynn. My husband died four years ago. We were married 42 years. I thought, ‘I don’t know how I could make it on my own.’” Then she broke forth in robust song from the Canton Spirituals, “Glad I’ve got Jesus in my heart.”

 

• “How do you know what will happen even tomorrow? What, after all, is your life? It is like a puff of smoke visible for a little while and then dissolving into thin air” (James 4:14).

After the first gospel song, Bobby’s one brother and a minister friend of mine, gave a prayer of meditation. In part, he said, “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away [1 Pet 1:24]. Are we ready to make this journey?”

Later one of Bobby’s daughters stood up and said, “It was sad to watch my father die. But God gave me a poem”:

      God saw you getting tired and a cure was not to be.

      So He put His arms around you, and whispered, “Come to Me.”

      With tearful eyes we watched you, and saw you fade away.

      Although we loved your dearly, we could not make you stay.

      A golden heart stopped beating, hard working hands at rest.

      God broke our hearts to prove to us He only takes the best.

 

• “If I do not have love, I am only a noisy gong or a crashing cymbal. . . . If I do not have love, I am nothing. . . . If I do not have love, I gain nothing” (1 Cor 13:1-3).

A younger man and neighbor stood up and said, “We moved to Clark Avenue right next door to Bobby. He welcomed us to his front porch and to his table. He was soft-spoken, but he always had something to say if you had the time to listen.”

Although Bobby served his country in the United States Navy, he was a peaceful man. The service ended with a sermon. The preacher hitch-hiked on this thought of peace and offered himself as the example. The preacher said, “When I participated in a Martin Luther King Day march, I brought my grandson along. The boy asked, ‘Why do you do this?’ And I said, ‘It’s because, if someone does you wrong, you don’t use violence to get back at him. You use peaceful non-violence to stand up for what’s right.”

• “Then the Lord God took dust from the ground and formed a man from it. . . . The Lord God put the man in the garden of Eden to care for it and work it. . . . [Later] the Lord God called to the man and said, “Where are you?” (Gen 2:7, 15; 3:9)

The preacher asked us to think more broadly. Bobby had responsibilities in life. (He worked for the United States Postal Service. He had a wife and children. He coached little league baseball and basketball.) In the Bible God created the first man and gave him the responsibility of caring for a garden and then gave him a wife and later on children. The preacher asked, “You, too, have responsibilities in life. What are you planting in your garden? Are you being a man not afraid to cry? Are you being a man who gets down on his knees and prays? Are you being a man that says no to drugs and drunkenness? Are you being a man who works at honest employment and not 'street hustle'? Are you being a man who communicates with and appreciates his wife? Are you being a man who shows his son how to live?”

Then he reminded us of the scene in Genesis chapter three. The first man and woman had disobeyed God and had become sinners. God made a sound in the garden to make them aware that he was there. The first human pair became afraid because of their sin. So they ran and hid. God, still desiring a relationship with them, called out, “Adam, where are you?” At just the right time in history, God made a way that sinful humans could have a true relationship with him. God the Father sent God the Son to become a human being, Jesus Christ. Jesus died for our sins and rose again to invite us to stop being God's enemies and to become God's people. Now the message goes forth, “Human being, where are you? Come. Be forgiven of sin. Receive spiritual power. Have a restored relationship with God through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit.”

My friend, what are you planting in your garden?

Peace in 2016? Christians, please step forward.

• Put off the old bed clothes

Police, military and a justice system are legitimate functions of government. But, please – we all have a part, too, in making peace happen. So let me say a word to my fellow Christians, if you don’t mind, for 2016. Peace is when people are able to resolve their conflicts without violence and can live together in safety without fear (see Leviticus 26:3-6). I can illustrate it with my two dogs. They are rivals for food, for territory, and for their master’s attention. But they can actually take a nap right next to one another. There can be peace between them. They can live together without harm, fear or violence.

In Christianity, we see ourselves as rebel sinners against God and in need of peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit (Romans chapters 1-5). Having been justified (put right with God) by faith in Christ and having been united with him in his death, burial and resurrection, — we are now called to righteousness, love and truth in his power, not ours (Rom 6-12), and we are called to be at peace with others (Rom 13-16). But how? Romans 13:8 provides the key: “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” Love empowers people to resolve conflicts without violence and to live together in community without harm or fear.

Last Lord’s Day, a wonderful minister of the Word in Mebane, NC preached as follows: 2016 is a new year. It’s high time to cast off worldly ways. “I deserve to be happy – regardless of God and others.” “I deserve pleasure – regardless of God and others.” “I deserve respect and recognition – regardless of God and others.” Shake off the sleep, dear Christian. Put off those old bed clothes of a culture of me-first. And put on the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s daylight now, so live that way. And be aware that the new day of Christ’s Second Coming is not all that far away (at least from a divine perspective). To quote his text of Scripture, Romans 13:11-14:

“Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”

The fruit of Christ by the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace . . . (Gal 5:22-23). Let’s live as Christians in 2016.

How does sin affect the human mind?

•A brief answer to a friend of this blog.

In May of this year, widely-respected New York Times columnist, David Brooks (a cultural Jew), told Christianity Today, “We need to start talking about sin and righteousness.” In his study of American culture, he noted, “in the late 1940s . . . There were tons of best-selling books, and some movies, arguing that the notion of human sinfulness was outdated, and that we should embrace the idea that we’re really wonderful.” [1]

Along those lines, a friend of this blog has engaged in a quest to gain a better knowledge of sin and how it affects our thinking.  She is theologically astute and framed her question to me in technical terms. She asked, “How does ‘deprivation’ (original sin) affect the ‘sensus divinitatis’ (people’s awareness of God)?” Here is my answer and the answer will end up broadening the question. [2]

• How does sin affect the human mind?

“Deprivation” refers to the change in nature that Adam and Eve experienced when they, our first parents, sinned against God. This “deprivation” involves (1) loss of original holiness and justice and (2) a corruption of nature whereby they became slaves of sin. However, they retained their created-ness in the image of God. They were still thinking, feeling, perceiving, moral, esthetic beings. And to their posterity they passed on both created-ness (characterized by human nobleness) and corruption (characterized by human cruelty).

Romans 1:19-20 teaches that, from God’s creation, humans know God and understand his existence and eternal power – they have “sensus divinitatis,” an awareness of the Deity. The question arises, how does this corruption of nature by sin affect the human mind in its awareness of God? Scripture gives a brief answer without the nuances that a theological or philosophical discussion would have.

Romans 1:21 “For although they [humans] knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” This verse summarizes several key teachings. (1) The choice to dishonor God and not give him thanks (i.e. to love self or created things more than or rather than God) is the root cause of foolish thinking, knowing, and believing. Worship drives worldview and one’s basic life creed. (2) Sin causes futility in thinking: you really think you know the truth about reality and especially about Cosmic Reality. But actually you became stymied and come to false conclusions, not because you are human (made in the image of God) but because you are sinful (the descendent of Adam and Eve). And (3) moral darkness clouds the thinking so that a person thinks, feels, and does things that dishonor God. You think your thoughts and engage in your reasonings. But you rebel against God as supreme ruler and judge and instead make yourself as the measure of all things. As a result, your thoughts become subtly distorted.

Titus 1:15-16 “To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.” (4) Moral darkness can not only cloud the mind, but when wickedness becomes a pattern of life, the human mind can produce things are just plain detestable and unfit for other people to hear or read. Your pompousness produces impurity of thought.

Elsewhere, the Bible further describes the condition of our minds under sin [3]. Corrupted by sin, the human mind can be:

confused (Deuteronomy 28:20)

anxious, closed (Job 17:3–4)

evil, restless (Ecclesiastes 2:21–23)

rash, deluded (Leviticus 5:4; Isaiah 32:4 NIV)

troubled (2 Kings 6:11)

depraved (1 Timothy 6:5)

sinful (Romans 8:7 NIV)

dull (2 Corinthians 3:14 NIV)

blinded (2 Corinthians 4:4)

corrupt (2 Timothy 3:8)

• How may I overcome the effect of sin on the human mind?

How can we escape the powerful darkening effect of sin on the human mind? In John 12:46 Jesus Christ proclaimed, “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.” It is important to see that when Christ spoke of “darkness,” he was including the ideas of falseness and moral evil. Earlier in the discourse between Christ and a deeply religious man, it says:

The light [Jesus Christ, the only Son of God] has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. (John 3:19-21, emphasis added)

When you come to Christ – the Light of the world – you come to one who is the embodiment of truth and righteousness. You are not driven to come to Christ out of ignorance and you are not seeking to find education or spiritual enlightenment. Rather you are a thinking person concerned about the darkening effects of sin on your life – on mind, emotions, will, conscience, relationships – and you seek a proper object of love as well as seeking truth, right living, healed relationships, and a renewed mind. You are a human being with an awareness of God (unless it has been repressed), descended from the first human parents, and have the corruption of nature passed on from them.

The invitation from Christ has two parts: come to the light and continue in the light.

• Come to the Light for a renewed mind

There is one source to investigate and come to Christ: the eye-witness era documents of the New Testament from the first century AD. In the second century after Christ, many alternatives arose such as the gnostic library discovered in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, or the apocryphal gospels and epistles, of the second through fourth centuries. In our day skeptics and others bombard us with books to discredit Jesus Christ and the New Testament documents of his apostles and their associates. Yes, the marketplace of idea is filled with the thoughts of contrarians. But consider the spiritual journey of Michael F. Bird. He writes:

I grew up in a secular home in suburban Australia, where religion was categorically rejected—it was seen as a crutch, and people of faith were derided as morally deviant hypocrites. . . . As a teenager, I wrote poetry mocking belief in God. My mother threw enough profanity at religious door knockers to make even a sailor blush.

Many years later, however, I read the New Testament for myself. The Jesus I encountered was far different from the deluded radical, even mythical character described to me. This Jesus—the Jesus of history—was real. He touched upon things that cut close to my heart, especially as I pondered the meaning of human existence. I was struck by the early church's testimony to Jesus: In Christ's death God has vanquished evil, and by his resurrection he has brought life and hope to all.

When I crossed from unbelief to belief, all the pieces suddenly began to fit together. I had always felt a strange unease about my disbelief. I had an acute suspicion that there might be something more, something transcendent, but I also knew that I was told not to think that. I “knew” that ethics were nothing more than aesthetics, a mere word game for things I liked and disliked. I felt conflicted when my heart ached over the injustice and cruelty in the world.

Faith grew from seeds of doubt, and I came upon a whole new world that, for the first time, actually made sense to me. To this day, I do not find faith stifling or constricting. Rather, faith has been liberating and transformative for me. It has opened a constellation of meaning, beauty, hope, and life that I had been indoctrinated to deny. And so began a lifelong quest to know, study, and teach about the one whom Christians called Lord. [4]

The first step is to come to the documents that faithfully witness to Christ – the New Testament. You may read these, hear these read, or hear them taught. The New Testament writer John speaks for his colleagues: “Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31). But it is not enough to read and study the documents. You must personally believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Otherwise, all your reading and study is in vain. And, in your reading and study, it is vital to remember that the New Testament is incomplete without the Old Testament. You need the whole Bible.

Come, read, hear, believe in Jesus Christ, follow him, and join the community of the faithful. Hopefully, in that vein, you will be able to find a church or a Bible study committed to the faith taught by Christ and his apostles and embodied in the Nicene Creed of AD 325 – the statement of beliefs that summarize the message of the New Testament. This creed takes the confession of faith passed on in apostolic churches and then uses technical language to contrast the faith from error. Christ commanded his disciples to baptize in the name (one name = one nature and being) of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). If the group doesn’t profess one God in three co-equal, co-eternal persons, they follow some other ideology, not the New Testament.

• Continue in the Light to renew your mind

How do people renew their mind through Christ from the darkening effects of sin? To Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, Jesus Christ said:

37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. (John 5:37-40)

Just as the New Testament Scriptures are the word of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, through his apostles and their associates, so the Old Testament Scriptures (verse 39) are the word of God the Father (verse 38). And the way of eternal life and renewal of your whole being – including your mind – is by studying the Scriptures. They are a history centered on Jesus Christ. This history teaches doctrine, a worldview, and a lifestyle. And it offers plenty of examples of what to do and not to do.

In his second letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul, imprisoned in Rome and on trial for his life, makes a request, “When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments” (2 Tim 4:13). He wanted a winter coat (a tent-like garment stretching from shoulders to feet), papyrus rolls (“books”) and expensive documents written on animal skins (“parchments”). Being a Scripture scholar and a preacher, the books could easily be early gospel records as well as scholarly writings. The parchments undoubtedly included Old Testament scriptures. Thus, even at the end of his life facing a possible death sentence, Paul wanted – most of all – the word of Jesus and the word of God. [5]

How do you make use of books and parchments? A very bright, thoughtful woman tells her story [6]:

I don’t know when I first became a skeptic. It must have been around age 4, when my mother found me arguing with another child at a birthday party: “But how do you know what the Bible says is true?” By age 11, my atheism was so widely known in my middle school that a Christian boy threatened to come to my house and “shoot all the atheists.” My Christian friends in high school avoided talking to me about religion because they anticipated that I would tear down their poorly constructed arguments. And I did.

Attending Harvard to study government, during her freshman year she encountered a fellow student, Joseph, who was a Christian. He defended with reason and sensibleness Christianity’s answers to the most fundamental philosophical questions as well as to the veracity of the Bible and ethical conundrums. For instance, what about the Euthyphro dilemma: Is something good because God declared it so, or does God merely identify the good? She continues:

And he did something else: He prodded me on how inconsistent I was as an atheist who nonetheless believed in right and wrong as objective, universal categories. Defenseless, I decided to take a seminar on meta-ethics. After all, atheists had been developing ethical systems for 200-some years. In what I now see as providential, my atheist professor assigned a paper by C. S. Lewis that resolved the Euthyphro dilemma, declaring, “God is not merely good, but goodness; goodness is not merely divine, but God.” Joseph also pushed me on the origins of the universe.

She came to accept the idea of a First Cause. What shame could there be in being a Deist like Founding Father Thomas Jefferson? Later she was given a copy of J. Budziszewski’s book Ask Me Anything. She encountered the Christian teaching that “love is a commitment of the will to the true good of the other person.” This theme—of love as sacrifice for true good—changed her thinking. The Cross no longer seemed to be a grotesque symbol of divine sadism, but a remarkable act of love. And now Christianity began to look less strangely mythical and more cosmically beautiful. She notes:

At the same time, I had begun to read through the Bible and was confronted by my sin. I was painfully arrogant and prone to fits of rage. I was unforgiving and unwaveringly selfish. I passed sexual boundaries that I’d promised I wouldn’t. The fact that I had failed to adhere to my own ethical standards filled me with deep regret. Yet I could do nothing to right these wrongs. The Cross no longer looked merely like a symbol of love, but like the answer to an incurable need. When I read the Crucifixion scene in the Book of John for the first time, I wept.

But, of course, the Cross as the beauty of Christ’s love and as the answer to human sinfulness – these do not make it true. So she plunged into alternative views: the Qur’an and the books of leading skeptics. And she read contemporary Christian answers to the objections. But nothing compared, she said, to the rich tradition of Christian intellect: Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes, Kant, Pascal, and Lewis. When she finally read the masters, the only reasonable course of action was to believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

But then a problem arose. Her head full of convincing evidence for the Scriptures started to make her feel distant from the story that had brought her to tears a month prior. When reading through the Passion narrative on retreat on Cape Cod in the spring, she remained utterly unmoved. So she went out to pray and took a long walk through the woods. Reflection on Scripture caused her to realize that the will is the driver of the intellect. Who or what you worship is the root cause of thinking, knowing, and believing. In her own words:

If I wanted to continue forward in this investigation, I couldn’t let it be just an intellectual journey. Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). I could know the truth only if I pursued obedience first.

She committed her life to Christ by being baptized on Easter Sunday, 2009.

At age 66, when comedian and actor W.C. Fields was dying in a hospital, one of his friends came to see him and found him reading the Bible. The friend was shocked because Fields was anything but a religious man. He said, “W.C., what are you doing?” Fields replied, “I’m looking for a loophole.”

Friend, are willing to give the Scriptures an honest reading and hearing?

[1] Jeff Haanen, “Interview of David Brooks,” posted May 13, 2015 and printed as Jeff Haanen, “Greatness and Grace,” Christianity Today June 2015, Vol. 59, No. 5, Pg 60. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2015/june/david-brooks-we-need-to-start-talking-about-sin-and-righteo.html

[2] For an excellent theological-philosophical discussion, please read the article Stephen K. Moroney, “How Sin Affects Scholarship: A New Model,” Christian Scholar’s Review, XXVIII, pg 432-451, Spring 1999. http://www.asa3.org/ASA/topics/ethics/CSRSpring-1999Moroney.html

[3] Rick Warren, “The Battle for Your Mind (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)” address at the Desiring God 2010 National Conference, October 1, 2010. http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-battle-for-your-mind

[4] Michael F. Bird, “How God Became Jesus—and How I Came to Faith in Him,” Christianity Today (web only), April 15, 2014.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/april-web-only/how-god-became-jesus-and-how-i-came-to-faith-in-him.html

[5] William Barclay, Timothy and Titus (Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press, 2^nd edition, 1960), commentary on 2 Timothy 4:13, online version http://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dsb/view.cgi?bk=54&ch=4

[6] Jordan Monge, “The Atheist’s Dilemma,” Christianity Today, March 2013, Vol. 57, No. 2, Pg 88. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/march/atheists-dilemma.html

Pics:

(1) Kelsey Bishop, “Attitude Adjustment,” a charcoal on public display at the Gallery, Lakeland Community College, Kirtland, Ohio from January 25 to February 22, 2015.

(2) Scene at Fowler’s Mill Golf Course, Chesterland, Ohio on 9/16/2015 taken by the author.

What does the cross mean?

•And why did this man have those injuries?

A man and his wife hosted a Japanese student in their home in Cambridge, England. One weekend the student toured the art galleries of Paris. Upon her return, in the course of a meal, she suddenly asked – drawing a cross on the table – “What does this mean? And why did the man have those injuries?”[1]

Great art can depict events and people in a way that excites our emotions, captures our imagination, and stirs our minds. But only words can tell us why. The Gospel of Mark, the shortest of the four gospels, written especially for the busy Romans of old, vividly portrays in staccato-like scenes the story of Jesus and his cross. But Mark brings in enough detail to tell us both the “what” and the “why” – what does the cross of Jesus mean? And why did this man have those injuries?

• The Who

The “why” begins with the “who.” Who is this man Jesus? Mark immediately takes us to the Jordan River, which runs south through the land of Israel. There in the Judean desert a man named John, dressed like the prophet Elijah (eight centuries earlier), proclaims in fiery tones, “Repent (change your ways) and be dipped in water as a sign of your turning from your sins.”  John announces that he has come to prepare the way before the coming of the Lord, the God of Israel. 

Then a strange thing happens. Another preacher named Jesus comes to be dipped in the water of the river. John at first refuses because this Jesus is that coming King, and John is merely his servant. But John finally allows Jesus to be dipped in the waters of the Jordan River. When Jesus comes out of the water, a sound thunders from the sky, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him!” And then a being comes down on Jesus gracefully like a dove. John knows that this is the Holy Spirit of God taking a visible shape. “I saw the Holy Spirit descend,” he says.

John knew that Jesus was a human being, a fellow Jew like himself. Now he (and we) know one other important fact: Jesus is the Son of God. There is one God, according to the “Hear, O Israel” (Deut 6:4) recited by Jews for centuries. But in the fullness of God there is the Father who spoke from on high at the Jordan, the Son standing in the river who has taken on human flesh, and the Holy Spirit who descended according to the prophecy of Isaiah (Isa 61:1).

People inside and outside the land of Israel now hear this Jesus teach and see him heal the sick and even raise the dead, Mark tells us. And the disciples of Jesus hear him and see him for many months up close and personal. For instance, at Jesus’ house in Capernaum (in Galilee, north of Judea), many came to the door for healing. One time four men brought a paralyzed man lying on a mat. When they saw they couldn’t get inside the house because of the crush of people, they came up with an idea.

The four men went up to the roof of this first century Palestinian home, removed part of the roof and lowered the man down in front of Jesus. Jesus told the man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Some Scripture scholars in the house quickly but quietly said, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” So Jesus proved his divine authority to forgive sins by saying to the man, “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” Immediately the paralyzed man stood, picked up his makeshift bed and walked out in front of everyone. The Son of God is God just as much as the Father is God.

After all these experiences, Jesus asked his close disciples a simple but perplexing question: “Who do people say I am?”  “A prophet…,” they blurt out. “And who do you say I am?” he probes. They answer, “You are the Christ (the Messiah, the promised prophet, priest, and king).”[2] Jesus explains, “You did not learn this from yourselves, but my Father taught you this fact.” They (and we) learn one more thing about who Jesus is: he is God's promised prophet (speaking the words of God), priest (offering the sacrifice for the sins of the people), and king (worldwide ruler) - the Messiah.

At the climax of Mark’s story, Jesus is brutally beaten with a whip (scourged) by Roman soldiers and then killed in a slow, excruciating way on a Roman cross [3]. When Jesus dies, a hardened Roman army officer pensively concludes, “Truly this (man) was God’s Son.” Mark ends where he begins: Jesus is a man (human enough to die) and is also the divine Son of the living God. 

• The Why

But why did this Jesus have to die such a horrible death? Again, Mark’s cameos pierce the mind like arrows. On the way to Jerusalem with his disciples, Jesus tells them, “[I,] the Son of Man, came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for the many.” The term “son of man” would remind the disciples of the Hebrew Scriptures. “Son of man” is a synonym for “man” (for instance, Psalm 8:4). “Son of Man” is also the term for the universal ruler at the end time foretold by the Book of Daniel (Dan 7:13-14). “Ransom” is a sacrifice whose death buys a person back from captivity (spiritually, from captivity as a slave of sin). In the Dead Sea Scrolls “the many” are the community of believers. So what Jesus was saying is this: “I can into the world as a lowly servant to offer my life as a sacrifice for the sins of the believing community.”

Then on the Roman cross, when Jesus dies, a most unusual event happens, Mark reports. The curtain in the temple of Jerusalem is torn in two. The curtain separated sinful people from the presence of the perfect, pure, and holy God. With the death of Jesus this separation is now gone. What must we do? We must accept the death of Jesus as the ransom for our sins. We must trust in God in all his fullness – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We must become a part of the believing community. And, as Jesus had earlier told his disciples in the Gospel of Mark, we must “deny ourselves” (give up all selfishness), “take up our cross daily” (putting to death our sinful thoughts, emotions, and deeds), “and follow Jesus” as our new Lord and Master.

• Not so fast – I have my doubts

So did Ivan.[4] He was born in Iraq of a culturally Christian mother from Armenia and a liberal Arab Muslim father. When his dad had to flee Iraq during Saddam Hussein's rule, his dad sent Ivan (a teenager) to study on his own in Czechoslovakia. There Ivan lived for eight years and embraced materialistic philosophy, atheism and communion. He looked back at himself:

To me, religion was basically a waste of time. I had no respect for religion because I thought it was all made up of fantasies and myths: that people twisted things to suit their agendas and they created systems of belief to manipulate weak and disillusioned people.

One day he lost his temper with the woman he loved at the time, and she up and left him. He just couldn’t face the loss, and it showed him the weakness of his inner strength and of his materialistic philosophy of life. Suddenly he realized, “I am to be pitied like those people I pitied before.” So he started reading the Bible from its first book Genesis, later went to church, and still later joined a Bible study course that took participants through the Gospel of Mark. Sitting in the course on Mark, he had honest skepticism:

Me being from the Middle East, we always have a suspicious mind, we always think there’s something not true in what people say. So I tried to ask all the questions to find out if the leaders on my table would tell me the truth or if they would try to manipulate me or try to twist things or soften things up so I would think, “Actually it’s not so bad.” I discovered that no, they were just plainly explaining what the Bible was saying.

Through the Gospel of Mark, he started to realize who Jesus Christ really was, what he taught, and what he did – what I have called “the who” and “the why.” Ivan said of Jesus Christ:

I thought: “This is the person I always wanted to be like in my life. I never thought there was anyone who can be like this!” I was totally blown away by his integrity, and the things he did and the things he said. It was when I went on the day away, which is part of the course, that I just came to the conclusion that I could not keep denying the truth about Christ and who he is. And I just said: “That’s it—I don’t know what this is going to do to me, but I trust you and I’m ready to follow you whatever and wherever you take me.” And that was it.

What’s happening now with Ivan? In his words:

Life now has no meaning without Jesus Christ. It’s like a journey I am on with him—with the one person who we were created for. I can go walking all my life knowing that in the highs and the lows, in the sorrows and the joys, he is standing there with me, never leaving me or abandoning me. Not just that: this relationship doesn’t end with my death—actually it carries on forever. And that’s what I can look forward to—that’s what life is all about—not just now but also forever. I will enjoy that loving relationship with Jesus Christ forever.

[1] Christopher D. Hancock, “The Christological Problem,” in Donald Armstrong (ed.), Who Do You Say That I Am? (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 1999), p 10.

[2] “Christ” in Greek is the same word as “Messiah” in Hebrew and means “Anointed One,” a person designated for a public leadership function by having olive oil poured on his head.  In the Hebrew Scriptures prophets (ex: 1 Kings 19:16), priests (ex: Ex 28:41), and kings (ex: 1 Sam 10:1) were anointed with oil. “Anointed One” most typically refers to kings, both Israelite (Ps 2:2 with vs 6) and foreign (Isa 45:1).

[3] For historical background, see “Crucifixion in the Roman Period,” in David W. Chapman, Ancient Jewish and Christian Perceptions of Crucifixion (Tubingen, Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 2008), pp 69-96; and Martin Hengel, Crucifixion in the Ancient World and the Folly of the Message of the Cross (trans. John Bowden), Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1977 (entire book = pages 1-90). In Chapter 1, Hengel says: “For example Josephus, who as Jewish adviser to Titus during the siege of Jerusalem was witness to quite enough object lessons of this kind, describes crucifixion tersely and precisely as ‘the most wretched of deaths’ (θανάτων τὸν ἲκτιστον). In this context he reports that a threat by the Roman besiegers to crucify a Jewish prisoner caused the garrison of Machaerus to surrender in exchange for safe conduct.”

[4] “Ivan’s Story,” Christianity Explored. http://www.christianityexplored.org/real-life-stories/ivan. Accessed 9/4/2015.

[Pics used are photos by the author.]

Can music be a salvation to the soul?

•It has soothing power but there’s one gotcha

Take 56 men and 67 women mostly over age 50. Add a barber showing photographs of every head he’s had the pleasure to know. And put the catchy tune and lyrics of Paul McCartney’s “Penny Lane” in their ears and in their eyes –, and what do you get? The Men of Independence (Ohio) and the Greater Cleveland (women’s) Chorus singing “A Beatles Celebration” -- barber-shop style recently at a high school in northeast Ohio. [1]

In the sweet, rich four-part harmony of barbershop – unaccompanied by instruments – the lead sings the melody, the tenor harmonizes above the melody, the bass sings low harmonizing notes, and the baritone completes the chord. These two groups winnowed the sonic inventiveness of the Beatles band from 1960 to 1970 and turned 11 independent songs and a medley of 11 more songs into a-cappella sweetness. The rich sounds ran from the playful (“Oh-La-Di” 1968):

Desmond takes a trolley to the jeweler’s store

Buys a twenty carat golden ring (Golden ring?)

Takes it back to Molly waiting at the door

And as he gives it to her, she begins to sing (Sing)

And then the fest ran onto the somber (“The Long and Winding Road” 1970) and the pensive (“Yesterday” 1965):

Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away.

Now it looks as though they’re here to stay.

Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Suddenly I’m not half the man I used to be.

There’s a shadow hanging over me.

Oh, yesterday came suddenly.

Out in the hallway, after the performance, a male barbershopper momentarily stood beside the president of the women’s chorus. I overheard their conversation. I believe it spoke for the entire audience as the music of the evening had increased people’s happiness, had reduced their stress, and in a small way had given them hope and optimism.

Vicki: “Putting us [men and women] together was so good.”

Scott: “Eight part harmony!”

Vicki: “Awesome.”

Scott: “Keep stacking it up!”

• Can music sooth the soul?

The soothing power of music has long been recognized. A psychotherapist put it this way:

Music is often overlooked as a therapeutic intervention: singing, listening, and creating music of any kind will provide an immediate biological and psychological benefit for everyone. In fact, music can be a salvation and antidote to most psychological challenges: that’s why people sing in the shower and while driving the car, or simply listen to music that’s inspiring and distracting from emotional upset. [2]

In the Bible, King Saul had blatantly disobeyed the command of the Lord through the prophet Samuel (1 Sam 15). Saul had chosen to keep valuable animals from the spoils of war for himself but to offer some of them as sacrifices to the Lord. The prophet termed this to be what it is -- wickedness -- and explained in verses 22-23 (all quotations are from NLT):

      ²² “What is more pleasing to the Lord:

            your burnt offerings and sacrifices

            or your obedience to his voice?

      Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice,

            and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.

      ²³ Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft,

            and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols.

      So because you have rejected the command of the Lord,

            he has rejected you as king.”

As a result, Saul became tormented with depression and fear (1 Sam 16:14). Scripture regards this outcome as divine punishment for living in a lifestyle of rebellion against God. The spirit causing such depression and fear “came from God.” Rather than dealing with the basic issue of rebellion and its consequences, some of the king’s advisers came up with an idea and told Saul, “Let’s find a good musician to play the harp whenever the tormenting spirit troubles you. He will play soothing music, and you will soon be well again.” “All right,” Saul agreed. “Find me someone who plays well, and bring him here.”

An adviser reported, “One of Jesse’s sons from Bethlehem is a talented harp player. Not only that—he is a brave warrior, a man of war, and has good judgment. He is also a fine-looking young man, and the Lord is with him.” “Conscript him for royal service,” the king ordered. Both King Saul and his son Prince Jonathan were thrilled with David and David took over the task of being king’s armor bearer. Whenever the tormenting spirit from God troubled Saul, David would play the harp. Depression and fear would leave Saul and he would feel better (1 Sam 16). David became successful with all positions assigned to him by Saul (1 Sam 17).

• Can music save the soul?

In the meantime the Philistines waged war against Israel. A Philistine giant, Goliath, taunted the Israelites to send out a single man to engage him personally. If he were defeated, the Philistine army would all surrender. But no Israelite would venture to engage the giant except one young man: David, the shepherd. After David single-handed killed Goliath, the Israelite army defeated the Philistine army. As the victorious Israelite army returned, women from all the towns of Israel came out to meet King Saul. They danced for joy with tambourines and cymbals and sang this song:

      Saul has killed his thousands,

            and David his ten thousands!”

It was simple Hebrew poetry. There was one line of verse and the second line added punch to the first line. But the word order made King Saul extremely angry. He said, “What is this?! They credit David with ten thousands and me with only thousands. Next thing you know, they’ll be making him their king!” From that point on, Saul was filled with jealousy and kept a close eye on David. The very next day a tormenting spirit overwhelmed Saul, and he began to rave in his house like a madman. David was playing the harp, as he did each day. But Saul had a spear in his hand and, suddenly, he hurled it at David intending to kill him. This happened twice, with David narrowly escaping each time. Fortunately, David then got a remote assignment in the army, far away from the palace (1 Sam 18).

Can music sooth the soul? Yes, resoundly yes. But can music be a salvation to the soul? No, resoundly no. There can be physical causes of depression and fear. But there can be spiritual cause as well: living in disobedience to moral law, living in jealousy of others, uncontrolled anger that drives a person to commit murder or hate. Music cannot save us from such sins or from any sins for that matter. Who or what can?

The New Testament name-sake of King Saul, Saul of Tarsus, who later became St. Paul the Apostle gives us the answer:

¹³ In my insolence, I persecuted Christ’s people. . . . ¹⁵ This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. ¹⁶ But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. (1 Tim 1:13-16 NLT).

King Saul of old could not be soothed. He needed turning from sin, forgiveness of sin and cleansing from sin. Saul of Tarsus found the answer: the saving power of Christ Jesus the Lord.

[1] “A Beatles Celebration,” a musical collaboration between The Men of Independence and The Greater Cleveland [women’s] Chorus plus quartets and guest performers, Gary Lewis and Jean Flinn, directors, April 25, 2015, Solon High School, Solon, Oho.

[2] Mark Sichel, “Music Soothes the Soul; music can be a salvation and antidote to most psychological challenges” in the blog “The Therapist Is In,” Psychology Today, July 15, 2008.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-therapist-is-in/200807/music-soothes-the-soul

Pics: the singing groups in footnote one plus student art that was on display that evening in a nearby hallway.