Post 166--From Murder to Execution in Peace

Jim Denison of the Denison Forum shares a story with us today that highlights the story of one person's movement from crime and murder to one of peace in execution. It is not a unique story; it happens time and again, but it is not often told in public. It is a deeply Christian story, though I will not claim that such stories can happen only in Christianity. It is a demonstration of the power of forgiveness on the part of one deeply hurt, though the real moment of change had come earlier.  Please read slowly to let the story sink into your heart and captivate your emotions:

Kenneth Williams was serving a life sentence for killing a cheerleader. He escaped in 1999 and was involved in a traffic wreck which killed a man named Michael Greenwood. Williams then killed another man, Cecil Boren, while on the run. He was executed last night by the state of Arkansas for murdering Boren. Michael Greenwood's daughter, Kayla Greenwood, learned a few days ago that Williams had a twenty-one-year-old daughter he had not seen for seventeen years and a three-year-old granddaughter he had never met. Kayla's mother then bought plane tickets so Williams's daughter and granddaughter could fly from Washington state to Arkansas to see him a day before his execution. Kayla Greenwood sent a message to Williams through his attorney: "I told him we forgive him and where I stood on it." When Williams found out what they were doing, "he was crying to the attorney." Here's the rest of the story. Williams told an interviewer that he has been "stabilized and sustained by the inner peace and forgiveness I've received through a relationship with Jesus Christ." He chose to appear before a prison review board, not because he expected to receive clemency but "so I could show them I was no longer the person I once was. God has transformed me, and even the worst of us can be reformed and renewed. Revealing these truths meant more to me than being granted clemency. I'm still going to eventually die someday, but to stand up for God in front of man, that's my victory." No one is beyond the reach of God's forgiveness: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9, my emphasis). Do you see any loopholes or ambiguity here? If "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15), are any sinners exempt from his grace? However, the body of Christ is often the means by which we experience the grace of Christ. We are called to pardon those who sin against us because we have been pardoned and to demonstrate such grace to the world. It's harder to believe that Christ forgives us if Christians won't forgive us. It's easier to believe that the Father loves us if his children love us. In a graceless culture that measures us by what we do and how we look, agape love is a powerful and lasting witness. Our benevolence and unity point others to the One we love and serve (John 13:35). St. Gaudentius of Brescia (died AD 410) explained that the bread of the Lord's Supper is an appropriate connection to his body "because, as there are many grains of wheat in the flour from which bread is made by mixing it with water and baking it with fire, so also we know that many members make up the one body of Christ which is brought to maturity by the fire of the Holy Spirit." Gaudentius extended the metaphor to the cup as well: "Similarly, the wine of Christ's blood, drawn from the many grapes of the vineyard that he had planted, is extracted in the wine-press of the cross." Our broken culture measures Christ by Christians. Who is your Kenneth Williams?

Post 153—Ash Wednesday Posted…. This Wednesday (2 days ago) was called “Ash Wednesday.” The following is the introduction to the liturgy of Ash Wednesday observed this week in the First Baptist Church of Vancouver, BC, where my wife and I frequently worship. The service itself consists of Scripture readings, prayers, meditations and the singing of hymns. Somewhere during the liturgy, all came forward in order to receive in the form of ashes the sign of the cross on our foreheads. Two days later, right now, in fact, the cross has blurred, but the black ashes are still there to remind me and everyone else I meet this week. Here, then, the introduction, which was followed up with a reading of Psalm 103, which is reproduced below. Since the beginning of the Church, Christians have observed the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection with great devotion. It became one of the greatest traditions of the Church to prepare for these events through serious examination of our spiritual lives. The passion of Lent is a time of penitence, discipline and renewal. In the Ash Wednesday service, we are reminded of our mortality, we confess our sins, and we experience forgiveness through Christ’s death and resurrection. The “imposition of ashes” is a central part of the service. You are invited to come forward to

Post 153—Ash Wednesday                                                     

This Wednesday (2 days ago) was called “Ash Wednesday.” The following is the introduction to the liturgy of Ash Wednesday observed this week in the First Baptist Church of Vancouver, BC, where my wife and I frequently worship. The service itself consists of Scripture readings, prayers, meditations and the singing of hymns. Somewhere during the liturgy, all came forward in order to receive in the form of ashes the sign of the cross on our foreheads.  Two days later, right now, in fact, the cross has blurred, but the black ashes are still there to remind me and everyone else I meet this week. Here, then, the introduction, which was followed up with a reading of Psalm 103, which is reproduced below.  

Since the beginning of the Church, Christians have observed the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection with great devotion. It became one of the greatest traditions of the Church to prepare for these events through serious examination of our spiritual lives.

The passion of Lent is a time of penitence, discipline and renewal. In the Ash Wednesday service, we are reminded of our mortality, we confess our sins, and we experience forgiveness through Christ’s death and resurrection.

The “imposition of ashes” is a central part of the service. You are invited to come forward to receive the ashes on your forehead in the form of a cross. In Scripture, ashes serve both as a symbol of mortality and as a sign of mourning and repentance.

But neither sin nor death are the final word. We leave the service in confidence and gratitude, for Christ has conquered death, and nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Here are the words of Psalm 103. Read it through slowly and thoughtfully. Allow it to enter your heart and into your soul. Let it speak to you and ponder….

Praise the Lord, my soul;
    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
² Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits—
³ who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,
⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

⁶ The Lord works righteousness
    and justice for all the oppressed.

⁷ He made known his ways to Moses,
    his deeds to the people of Israel:
⁸ The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
    slow to anger, abounding in love.
⁹ He will not always accuse,
    nor will he harbor his anger forever;
¹⁰ he does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

¹³ As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
¹⁴ for he knows how we are formed,
    he remembers that we are dust.
¹⁵ The life of mortals is like grass,
    they flourish like a flower of the field;
¹⁶ the wind blows over it and it is gone,
    and its place remembers it no more.
¹⁷ But from everlasting to everlasting
    the Lord’s love is with those who fear him,
    and his righteousness with their children’s children—
¹⁸ with those who keep his covenant
    and remember to obey his precepts.

¹⁹ The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
    and his kingdom rules over all.

²⁰ Praise the Lord, you his angels,
    you mighty ones who do his bidding,
    who obey his word.
²¹ Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts,
    you his servants who do his will.
²² Praise the Lord, all his works
    everywhere in his dominion.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

For those not used to the language of the Bible, perhaps the version called “The Message” is more easily understood, since it says the same time in more ordinary language, less formal but still beautiful to hear a and meditate upon:

A David Psalm

103 ^1-2 O my soul, bless God.
    From head to toe, I’ll bless his holy name!
O my soul, bless God,
    don’t forget a single blessing!

^3-5 He forgives your sins—every one.
    He heals your diseases—every one.
    He redeems you from hell—saves your life!
    He crowns you with love and mercy—a paradise crown.
    He wraps you in goodness—beauty eternal.
    He renews your youth—you’re always young in his presence.

^6-18 God makes everything come out right;
    he puts victims back on their feet.
He showed Moses how he went about his work,
    opened up his plans to all Israel.
God is sheer mercy and grace;
    not easily angered, he’s rich in love.
He doesn’t endlessly nag and scold,
    nor hold grudges forever.
He doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve,
    nor pay us back in full for our wrongs.
As high as heaven is over the earth,
    so strong is his love to those who fear him.
And as far as sunrise is from sunset,
    he has separated us from our sins.
As parents feel for their children,
    God feels for those who fear him.
He knows us inside and out,
    keeps in mind that we’re made of mud.
Men and women don’t live very long;
    like wildflowers they spring up and blossom,
But a storm snuffs them out just as quickly,
    leaving nothing to show they were here.
God’s love, though, is ever and always,
    eternally present to all who fear him,
Making everything right for them and their children
    as they follow his Covenant ways
    and remember to do whatever he said.

^19-22 God has set his throne in heaven;
    he rules over us all. He’s the King!
So bless God, you angels,
    ready and able to fly at his bidding,
    quick to hear and do what he says.
Bless God, all you armies of angels,
    alert to respond to whatever he wills.
Bless God, all creatures, wherever you are—
    everything and everyone made by God.

And you, O my soul, bless God!

Post 104—Admission, Confession and Total Depravity

Behind the Scene

A reviewer of one of my writings wrote that I write as I talk. Well, yes, I guess that is true. Another characteristic of my writing is that I like to converse with you, my readers, about, for example, the reason for my choosing this or that subject. Today’s topic is kind of an ugly one that I do not particularly enjoy dealing with. The subject arose in my mind in the context of my posts of last month on the World Council of Church and its suggestion that religions should “heal” themselves from their “obsession with conversion.” Just how or why today’s subject arose in that context, I do not quite remember. However, it lead me to write the main body of this post. I did not like the subject and so kept postponing publishing it. However, neither do I like to waste time writing stuff I do not publish.  Besides, ugly as it is, it is a very important truth that cannot be ignored if we wish to understand human history in general or today’s current events or even our individual selves And, oh yes, I am very aware of how politically incorrect the subject is, and how insulting to proud secularists, but, then, I am not known for political correctness. So, here, just as I am and just as we all are-- with no further soft kind of apology.

This post should have been written earlier like in post 100, right after 98 and 99.  Other issues intervened so that the flow of thought was broken. So, while I hope you found the intervening posts helpful, please refresh yourself by going back to posts 98 and 99 in order to get into the right mood for this one—if that’s even possible!

First, a confession or admission.  For a moment I was not sure which is the proper term in this context. I really want to go for the latter, since the concept of confession usually includes an element of guilt. What I’m about to admit here is partially due to ignorance, which in turn, was due to incomplete information, but does not involve any sense of guilt, at least not a heavy dose of it. Don’t worry, if there were heavy guilt involved, I would know it, sense it, recognize it, for as a Christian I am very aware of guilt in all I do, for we confess it regularly in our church services, if not in our personal spiritual life.

In fact, my particular version of Christianity subscribes to the teaching of “total depravity.”  Perhaps you recognize this version as the Calvinist or Reformed or Presbyterian, three terms referring to the same tradition. The last century the term “Kuyperian” and related terms have appeared to point to a sub-group within the Calvinist tradition. It is the “brand” to which I subscribe and which sets the tone for this entire blog as well as my website < www.SocialTheology.com >.

So, “total depravity.”  What an awful term, don’t you think? Even though I subscribe to it, I don’t like the term. Even less do I like its awful reality, but reality it is, believe me. No, don’t take my word for it. Just look around you in the world, in fact, all of world history as well as current events, and it faces you everywhere. But it does not mean what it seems to say on the surface. It does not mean that the human race only does evil, not even its most immoral or amoral members.  But it does mean that everything we do, even the very best, has a negative or sinful aspect to it.  It may not be dominant; the good in a particular action may far outshine that negative part, but it is there without exception, even in the life of the most saintly.

The most saintly missionary of the ancient church, the Apostle Paul, cried out that he, of all men, was the most miserable precisely for this reason. And I am quite sure that even Sister Theresa would have been very conscious of that negative side of her life. Saints, the best people in the world, are usually the most aware of this reality in their own lives. And I say this of Sister Theresa, even though she was a Catholic, a church that rejects “total depravity.”  Her Church may reject it; she personally would have been very conscious of it without approving or using that term to describe it. It’s just part of being a saint: To be aware of your own shortcomings, your own selfishness, etc. A saint never feels that she’s arrived, always feels short. ( Not sure I would dare say this about this lovely Saint if she still were living among us. She just might sue me! You never know what lawyers can talk us into!)

The Heidelberg Catechism, one of the most popular creeds of the Reformed churches, teaches that our wills are “so corrupt that we are wholly incapable of doing any good, and inclined to all evil.”  This needs to be taken with a grain of salt.  This creed was coined during the hefty years of the Reformation when both sides were inclined to extremes and often threw out babies with the bathwater.  Once the totally aggravated spirits of Europe simmered down a bit and they came to more moderate opinions, they turned to the more moderate opinion I already mentioned. Yes, we are totally corrupt; that is, we can do nothing perfectly; it is always tainted by sin to some degree. But to claim we “are wholly incapable of doing any good” surely goes too far. Was Gandhi, the Hindu, incapable of any good?  Come on. You can’t take that seriously. He has become a human icon and hero to almost all the world. Even Christian leaders like Martin Luther King followed his lead. Gandhi did a whale of a lot of good. Nevertheless, if one were to dissect his soul and mind, he would find that negative factor called sin in the mix, most likely more than you might have expected!

So what is the admission to which I referred in my opening sentence? The conference I discussed in Posts 98 and 99 was held way back in 2006—a decade ago!  I wrote as if it were a current event. This happened because the source as it came to me was undated and I failed to check that out on the internet, even though I gave you the website of WCC in Post 98.  I did not know and I did not practice due diligence, the very failure of which I accuse Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Now is this an admission or a confession? I chose to characterize it as the former. However, I also admit (or confess?) that this failure skirts confession. I did not know, but I could have and should have known by practicing due diligence.  My failure may not be earth shaking, but it was a failure that should not have happened. Failure of due diligence does have an element of guilt or irresponsibility.

In the meantime, I took you along a diversion to one of the most unpopular and unpleasant teachings of Calvinism—but also one of the most realistic ones. 

The wonder of it all is that it has not turned me into a sour puss or miserably negative person. In fact, I am a cheerful person because the other side of the coin is being born again, something I wrote about in an earlier post, and about being forgiven. That combination takes away all the stress of that negative reality. It is still there, but it is trumped by the reality of the other two. Halleluiah!

Note: I will be away camping at a place north of Langley, BC, on the shore of the Fraser River. I expect to come home next week Wednesday, for the weather woman tells me it will rain on that day. During this period, there will be no new posts. And upon my return, there will be so many emails and other stuff needing my attention that it may be a week before you see a new post. But you never know. If the weather changes unexpectedly, I may return home earlier. So, I invite you to keep checking every couple of days. The next post will be on the lighter side of Trump! I suspect you’ve heard of him? As strange as it may sound to some, you will see that there is a lighter side to him. 

Post 71--Born Again—What Is It?

It’s theology time! The term “born again”  has a long history, something to be expected, since Jesus introduced it two millennia ago. It has undergone a long process of definition and redefinition, also something to be expected, since Jesus himself associates it with the Spirit and His unpredictable directions. 

The more “professional” theological term is “regeneration,” which may be defined as “that divine act by which the sinner is endowed with new spiritual life and by which that new life is first called into action.” Or, more simply, “implanting of the new life in the soul.”  It brings about “a radical change of the governing disposition of the soul, under the influence of the Holy Spirit”  (L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology, pp. 467-469). 

My favourite American theologian and late friend, Gordon Spykman, wrote that  regeneration “refers to a profound change in our condition, its fundamental redirection, the starting point of a renewed life. It is born of the overpowering initiative of the sovereign grace of God.”  It is a “decisive turnaround” that “is a result of the unfathomable work of the Holy Spirit.”   That Spirit “makes us new creatures—our old nature has been buried with Christ and we are now raised with Him to newness of life. The life-renewing Spirit enlightens our blinded minds. He liberates our enslaved wills.”  Once this has happened, “we can never be the same again.”  “Regeneration may be an undateable event. Its time and place may escape us. Yet it marks the dawn of a new day. With it comes a new lease on life. Like a seed sown in the ground, it may remain hidden for a while, but eventually it germinates and bears fruit. Rebirth (Boer: a “delatinized” version of the word) therefore is a total…renewal of the whole person,… the decisive change of the direction….”   (Reformational Theology: A New Paradigm for Doing Dogmatics, pp. 488-489).

The question is: Why born again? What’s the reason? The answer is already embedded in the previous paragraph.  Did you notice “our blinded minds” and “our enslaved wills?”  Over against these stand “newness of life” and enlightenment.

The New Testament (NT) says:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ² in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world … gratifying the cravings of our flesh^[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath (Ephesians 2:1-3).

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins (Colossians 2:13).

The above are only a few of the many verses in the Bible that describe our desperate situation. We are dead in our “transgressions and sins.” That’s a pretty ugly situation. That’s the short and long of it. It’s something we don’t like to hear or consider. 

But that’s not where it stops. That’s not the last word and not even the most important word. Being born again means that, according to the above verse, “God made us alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins.”  It doesn’t get better than that. There’s no better news than this.  That’s why we need to be reborn, regenerated. It enables us to live the new life, the life that is guided by the standards of the Kingdom of God.

I am bold and grateful to say that I am born again.  God has reworked me. Put a new life and mind in me. The posts of this blog are kind of an illustration of such a person, along with the mistaken thoughts that still occur, for we are still surrounded by worldly standards that sometimes creep back into our minds.

I am very conscious of continued shortcomings, but that does not depress me or make me sad. My main emotion or attitude is one of joy and gratitude for forgiveness and the new life given me. Those are the final words: forgiveness, and therefore joy and gratitude. 

This is all very short about a profound reality. If you wish to pursue it further, scour the internet for books on the subject. There should be plenty. But let me tell you: Being born again is a great experience that’s with you for ever.  And it has nothing to do with the scornful caricatures we come across in the media. It has everything to do with seeing the world and your neighbor with new eyes and new values.

In closing for the day, here’s a joyful and grateful sound in the NT from one who experienced this rebirth—I Peter 1:3

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

That’s how the more formal New International Version puts it. A more informal translation is that of Eugene Peterson’s The Message:

What a God we have!  And how fortunate we are to have Him…! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts right now.

And then he goes on:

I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime.

I’m tempted to keyboard the rest of that joyful passage for you, but you can find it in any Bible. Go, read it, and you’ll notice the joy and laughter this born again thing produces in its happy recipients, the citizens of the Kingdom of God with its new ambitions, new values, new hopes and new visions—a completely new and upbeat life for which people throughout the centuries literally give up their lives. Taste and see that the Lord is good!