Has been busy and satisfactory. Since the semester ended, I've finished Lone Survivor and The Perfectibility of Man, and read Flying Colours (a Hornblower novel), and The Swiss Family Robinson (a hardbound copy of which I picked up at a thrift store for 50 cents. I love thrift stores). And now I'm 100 pages into Les Miserables; when I went into Borders to buy that, I discovered a store which presents a gigantic temptation to impulse buying. I only meant to buy Les Miserables and ended up with that, Glenn Gould's recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations on Piano, and Dvorak's New World Symphony. I almost ended up with The Hunchback of Notre Dame and several albums of Liszt, Saint-Saens, and Prokofiev (and some more Bach, of course), but sanity kicked in somewhere along the line....
On that note, I actually have cash in my pocket for once, because I have gone back to work at Carlos O'Kelly's. I was blessed with favor in that--it initially appeared that I'd be picking up only shifts that people had to drop, but I was put on the schedule and picked up a few extra shifts to boot. I think I worked 7 last week (there are the lunch and dinner shifts) and, especially considering it was my first week back at work, made out quite satisfactorily. Most of it is, of course, being saved for school, but some of it is making its way to expanding my literary and musical libraries.
A short digression: waiting tables is a crucible for refining patience and dependence on the providence of our Father. Waiters are paid below minimum wage by their employers, and are dependent on tips--we are, in a way, at the mercy of the customers. And there are some, that, no matter how kind and attentive you are, will be unkind and demanding, and then leave a token pittance. Then there are some that, even when you have fumbled over your introduction and brought them the wrong drinks and brought out their appetizers with their meal, will monetarily bless you far beyond the tipping standard that I, at least, was taught--not to mention the supreme blessing of their kindness and understanding and good humour through it all. And ultimately, I can have confidence that the Lord will provide all I need to work His will--their hearts are in His hands. Just as God moved the heart of Cyrus (and many others who did not know Him) to bless the nation of Israel, so does He move the hearts of men to bless His spiritual Israel and fulfill His plan for us. Amen.
And I received my Army uniform for LTC today.... :-)
I've come across about half a million references to the military life in one way or another in the last month or so, so I think I'm about due to write that series on it that's been on my mind. One should go up tonight (since it will be mostly other people's writings), and I hope to get a few others up before I go to LTC (next Friday!!!!). Some topics I hope to cover:
--The sacrifices of the military wife and mom
--Why I'm joining the military, and some sources that have influenced my thought on the matter (perhaps a two- or three- parter)
--Life as a military child
Showing posts with label grace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grace. Show all posts
27 May 2008
01 May 2008
Tagged
I've been tagged. But before I go into that, I want to share a wonderful new word that I discovered while reading National Review last week.
The word is "logorrhea." The context was something along the lines of "Bill Clinton made $50 million in speeches, which, when they're several hundred thousand a pop and the writer is logorrheic, isn't hard to do." Those who are acquainted with the rudiments of Greek may recognize in the first half of the word the root for a word that occurs three times in John 1:1.
And, yes, the meaning of the second half is what you think it is. If you haven't followed me thus far, look up this charming Neo-Latinism (or so says my dictionary, but the roots are Greek) and have a good laugh. :-)
Okay, so for my tag...
I was tagged by Miss Elizabeth Brown, from whose blog I copy the following instructions:
Here are the rules:
1. Write your own six word memoir.
2.Post it on your blog, and include a visual illustration if you so desire.
3.Link to the person who tagged you in their post.
4.Tag five more blogs with links.
5.Remember to leave a comment on the tagged blogs inviting them to play.
My six word memoir is simple--and you should be amazed that I'm able to say ANYTHING in six words. That doesn't happen often.:
"But for grace, there go I."
The most striking thing about that painting by Rembrandt is that the man in the beret, depicted as helping to raise the cross, is the painter himself. Ah, "have mercy, on me, a sinner," O Lord. Oh, the depths of grace..."O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!"
I hereby tag the following, with the injunction that they comply or face the everlasting wrath of...something or other. Anyway, I'm tagging
Michael K.
Shane A.
Ashton B.
Zach T.
ANNNNNNDDDD....
Mrs. Knipp!
I'll hand out the tags later...
In other news, my paternal grandparents and one of my uncles drove out here from North Carolina and have been here for the week; we went to the Old Market and an art community up in northern Omaha today. :-)
Oh, and I do have some news, too, but I'll write on that later, too.
The word is "logorrhea." The context was something along the lines of "Bill Clinton made $50 million in speeches, which, when they're several hundred thousand a pop and the writer is logorrheic, isn't hard to do." Those who are acquainted with the rudiments of Greek may recognize in the first half of the word the root for a word that occurs three times in John 1:1.
And, yes, the meaning of the second half is what you think it is. If you haven't followed me thus far, look up this charming Neo-Latinism (or so says my dictionary, but the roots are Greek) and have a good laugh. :-)
Okay, so for my tag...
I was tagged by Miss Elizabeth Brown, from whose blog I copy the following instructions:
Here are the rules:
1. Write your own six word memoir.
2.Post it on your blog, and include a visual illustration if you so desire.
3.Link to the person who tagged you in their post.
4.Tag five more blogs with links.
5.Remember to leave a comment on the tagged blogs inviting them to play.
My six word memoir is simple--and you should be amazed that I'm able to say ANYTHING in six words. That doesn't happen often.:
"But for grace, there go I."
The most striking thing about that painting by Rembrandt is that the man in the beret, depicted as helping to raise the cross, is the painter himself. Ah, "have mercy, on me, a sinner," O Lord. Oh, the depths of grace..."O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!"
I hereby tag the following, with the injunction that they comply or face the everlasting wrath of...something or other. Anyway, I'm tagging
Michael K.
Shane A.
Ashton B.
Zach T.
ANNNNNNDDDD....
Mrs. Knipp!
I'll hand out the tags later...
In other news, my paternal grandparents and one of my uncles drove out here from North Carolina and have been here for the week; we went to the Old Market and an art community up in northern Omaha today. :-)
Oh, and I do have some news, too, but I'll write on that later, too.
17 April 2008
Psalm 90
I recently re-discovered that my Geneva Bible came with a CD-ROM containing the Geneva Bible in PDF format, along with the Apocrypha, AND the Metrical Psalms. The Metered Psalms were quite well done, and here is Psalm 90 (which happens to be my favorite), for those who are interested.
Domine refugium. Ps.90.I.H.
Moses seeing the people neither admonished by the
brevity of their life, nor by plagues to be thankful,
prayeth God to turn their hearts, and continue his mercy
toward them and their posterity forever.
Sing this as the 78 Psalm.
Thou Lord hast been our sure defense,
our place of ease and rest:
In all times past, yea, so long since,
as cannot be expressed.
2 Ere there was made mountain or hill,
the earth and all abroad:
From age to age, and always still,
forever thou art God.
3 Thou grindest man through grief and pain,
to dust, or clay, and then,
And then thou saist again, return
again, ye sons of men,
4 The lasting of a thousand year
What is it in thy sight?
As yesterday it doth appear
or as a watch by night.
5 So soon as thou dost scatter them,
then is their life and tread,
All as a sleep, and like the grass,
whose beauty soon doth fade.
6 Which in the morning shines full bright,
but fadeth by and by:
And is cut down ere it be night,
all withered, dead and dry.
7 For through thine anger we consume
our might is much decayed:
And of thy servant wrath and fume
we are full sore afraid.
8 The wicked works that we have wrought
thou setst before thine eye:
Our privy faults, yea, eke our thoughts
thy countenance doth spy.
9 For through thy wrath our days do waste,
thereof doth naught remain:
Our years consumes as words or blasts,
and are not called again.
10 Our time is threescore years and ten,
that we do live on mold:
If one see fourscore, surely then
we count him wondrous old.
11 Yet of this time the strength and chief
the which we count upon:
Is nothing else but painful grief,
and we like blasts are gone.
12 Who once doth know what strength is there
what might thine anger hath?
Or in his heart who doth thee fear
according to thy wrath?
13 Instruct us Lord to know and try,
how long our days remain:
That then we may our hearts apply
true wisdom to attain.
14 Return O Lord, how long wilt thou
forth on in wrath proceed?
Show favor to thy servants now,
and help them at their need.
15 Refresh us with thy mercy soon,
and then our joy shall be:
All times so long as life shall last
in heart rejoice shall we.
16 As thou hast plagued us before:
now also make us glad:
And for the years wherein full sore
affliction we have had.
17 O let thy work and power appear,
and on thy servant’s light:
And show unto thy children dear,
the glory and thy might.
18 Lord let thy grace and mercy stand
on us thy servant thus:
Confirm the works we take in hand,
Lord prosper them to us.
Domine refugium. Ps.90.I.H.
Moses seeing the people neither admonished by the
brevity of their life, nor by plagues to be thankful,
prayeth God to turn their hearts, and continue his mercy
toward them and their posterity forever.
Sing this as the 78 Psalm.
Thou Lord hast been our sure defense,
our place of ease and rest:
In all times past, yea, so long since,
as cannot be expressed.
2 Ere there was made mountain or hill,
the earth and all abroad:
From age to age, and always still,
forever thou art God.
3 Thou grindest man through grief and pain,
to dust, or clay, and then,
And then thou saist again, return
again, ye sons of men,
4 The lasting of a thousand year
What is it in thy sight?
As yesterday it doth appear
or as a watch by night.
5 So soon as thou dost scatter them,
then is their life and tread,
All as a sleep, and like the grass,
whose beauty soon doth fade.
6 Which in the morning shines full bright,
but fadeth by and by:
And is cut down ere it be night,
all withered, dead and dry.
7 For through thine anger we consume
our might is much decayed:
And of thy servant wrath and fume
we are full sore afraid.
8 The wicked works that we have wrought
thou setst before thine eye:
Our privy faults, yea, eke our thoughts
thy countenance doth spy.
9 For through thy wrath our days do waste,
thereof doth naught remain:
Our years consumes as words or blasts,
and are not called again.
10 Our time is threescore years and ten,
that we do live on mold:
If one see fourscore, surely then
we count him wondrous old.
11 Yet of this time the strength and chief
the which we count upon:
Is nothing else but painful grief,
and we like blasts are gone.
12 Who once doth know what strength is there
what might thine anger hath?
Or in his heart who doth thee fear
according to thy wrath?
13 Instruct us Lord to know and try,
how long our days remain:
That then we may our hearts apply
true wisdom to attain.
14 Return O Lord, how long wilt thou
forth on in wrath proceed?
Show favor to thy servants now,
and help them at their need.
15 Refresh us with thy mercy soon,
and then our joy shall be:
All times so long as life shall last
in heart rejoice shall we.
16 As thou hast plagued us before:
now also make us glad:
And for the years wherein full sore
affliction we have had.
17 O let thy work and power appear,
and on thy servant’s light:
And show unto thy children dear,
the glory and thy might.
18 Lord let thy grace and mercy stand
on us thy servant thus:
Confirm the works we take in hand,
Lord prosper them to us.
15 April 2008
My Car
I love my car. Not in any of the three Greek senses do I love her*, but I do so rather as one may love an inanimate object with which one is well acquainted and comfortable. The more do I love it as I reflect on how much of an unmitigated blessing it was to me. We have spent quite a bit of time together over the last year, and had some adventures, but let me tell you how we met.
Concurrently with seeking a job last year, I began car-shopping. Given my rural location, a mode of transportation faster than my legs or a bike is almost a necessity.
I am not picky in my cars. I’ve never been interested in sports cars; if I ever wanted to be “cool” by means of my conveyance, I effectively killed that possibility by starting off in a 12-passenger van. And, frankly, my dream car is a pre-1990 Ford F-150. Someday when I’m retired and can afford the gas, I’d still like to get one. But in the meantime, I have been perfectly content with the idea of starting off with a sedan or station wagon. Some wags might suggest that the only reason I would want a family car is as a selling point (with the parents, at least) when the time should come for me to a go a-courtin’:
“Oh, Mama, Henry has such a beautiful Ford Mustang; he’d drive safely with me, though, I’m sure.”
“Yes, but honey, don’t you think that a 5-seat sedan is much better for a couple planning to start a family?”
“But Mama, it’s so mundane…I can’t be a soccer mom from the very beginning of the courtship!”
“Well, it could be worse: he could have a mini-van.”
But that advantage aside (and though I didn’t choose it for that purpose, I’m not about to spurn the hand of Providence, either), sedans are cheaper on all counts—initial cost, gas, and insurance. Oh, insurance. What a curse did Cain lay upon all succeeding young men when he rashly beat his brother—one may justly suppose that he was also one for camel-races. Be that what it may, we young men have a reputation for being high liabilities on insurance policies. Young men with sports cars only exacerbate the problem. So, as a part of my Christian duty (and in keeping with my constitutional aversion to spending money on frivolities), I alleviated the problem by desiring a sedan.
Some fellow drivers would say that I don’t alleviate the problem at all; I’ll just say that I’ve not touched another car once, but there were times when it was grace alone that I didn’t. There was the time that I spun it over a ten-foot dirt embankment, but that’s another story for another time….
I preferred American-made cars, but that was not a big sticking point. My dad asked me what color I’d prefer, and I discovered that I did not have much of a preference—except that I detest yellow and all pastel shades. I hinted that I would paint whatever car I bought with military-issue olive drab anyway, but it was hinted in return that such a monstrosity would not reside on the premises, so that idea died in committee and my mental senate returned to maintaining the status quo (yes, I have one of those).
When it got down to it, I was planning (and dreading) to spend rather more than I wanted to on even a used car. Oh, ye of little faith. My dad is pretty good friends with a deacon in our church, who, by God’s providence, was looking for a minivan for his growing family at the same time. He had a 1998 Ford Taurus and was willing to sell it when they bought the minivan.
Now, let me say this about the Ford Taurus: it is a nice-looking car, and common enough that it doesn’t stick out. Actually, common enough that it occurs quite often—eerily so—that I park and find four other Tauruses and a Mercury Sable or two in the same row. If I’m not mistaken, it was the most widely sold car in its class while it was made. Given that I hate flashy things and like to blend in (without fitting in), this was a perfect fit. Oh, and the color was dark green. Score!
The bluebook value was in the $2,500-$3,000 range, but it had been salvaged anyway, and the transmission had some minor trouble—only that it leaked enough that it required a few bottles of fluid a year—so he took off the price of a new transmission in anticipation for my eventually replacing that.
That brought it down to a much more palatable price, which I was prepared to pay; and then my parents decided to bless me even further by paying the good deacon themselves. That made the sticker shock upon taking it to the DMV rather easier to handle...
My car has her* idiosyncrasies, of course, but then again, she puts up with me. On occasion, there will be an electronic beeping for no apparent reason (it did this for the former owners, too, and the car folks had no idea what caused it), but this is in keeping with the weird habits of pretty much all of my electronic equipment. I suppose if my car can handle the lengthy lectures I give her on random subjects, I can handle a little bit of reciprocal conversation. I can probably make more sense of that electronic beeping than anyone can of what I ramble on about, anyway.
But in all seriousness, I was more than blessed with my Ford Taurus, on all counts. Even besides the money-for-a-car-or-for-school issue (the solving of which was immeasurable grace by itself), everything about it, from the type of car to the color, was amazingly orchestrated (and was far more than I deserve). And, of course, we get along well, and there is easily enough room in the back seat and trunk for my guitars and amps, my other loves…but that will have to wait for another post.
Until then,
Colin
*Of course a car takes the female pronoun. She certainly has a personality, and the masculine wouldn’t sound quite right. Her name is Good Queen Bess, but that’s a story in itself.
Concurrently with seeking a job last year, I began car-shopping. Given my rural location, a mode of transportation faster than my legs or a bike is almost a necessity.
I am not picky in my cars. I’ve never been interested in sports cars; if I ever wanted to be “cool” by means of my conveyance, I effectively killed that possibility by starting off in a 12-passenger van. And, frankly, my dream car is a pre-1990 Ford F-150. Someday when I’m retired and can afford the gas, I’d still like to get one. But in the meantime, I have been perfectly content with the idea of starting off with a sedan or station wagon. Some wags might suggest that the only reason I would want a family car is as a selling point (with the parents, at least) when the time should come for me to a go a-courtin’:
“Oh, Mama, Henry has such a beautiful Ford Mustang; he’d drive safely with me, though, I’m sure.”
“Yes, but honey, don’t you think that a 5-seat sedan is much better for a couple planning to start a family?”
“But Mama, it’s so mundane…I can’t be a soccer mom from the very beginning of the courtship!”
“Well, it could be worse: he could have a mini-van.”
But that advantage aside (and though I didn’t choose it for that purpose, I’m not about to spurn the hand of Providence, either), sedans are cheaper on all counts—initial cost, gas, and insurance. Oh, insurance. What a curse did Cain lay upon all succeeding young men when he rashly beat his brother—one may justly suppose that he was also one for camel-races. Be that what it may, we young men have a reputation for being high liabilities on insurance policies. Young men with sports cars only exacerbate the problem. So, as a part of my Christian duty (and in keeping with my constitutional aversion to spending money on frivolities), I alleviated the problem by desiring a sedan.
Some fellow drivers would say that I don’t alleviate the problem at all; I’ll just say that I’ve not touched another car once, but there were times when it was grace alone that I didn’t. There was the time that I spun it over a ten-foot dirt embankment, but that’s another story for another time….
I preferred American-made cars, but that was not a big sticking point. My dad asked me what color I’d prefer, and I discovered that I did not have much of a preference—except that I detest yellow and all pastel shades. I hinted that I would paint whatever car I bought with military-issue olive drab anyway, but it was hinted in return that such a monstrosity would not reside on the premises, so that idea died in committee and my mental senate returned to maintaining the status quo (yes, I have one of those).
When it got down to it, I was planning (and dreading) to spend rather more than I wanted to on even a used car. Oh, ye of little faith. My dad is pretty good friends with a deacon in our church, who, by God’s providence, was looking for a minivan for his growing family at the same time. He had a 1998 Ford Taurus and was willing to sell it when they bought the minivan.
Now, let me say this about the Ford Taurus: it is a nice-looking car, and common enough that it doesn’t stick out. Actually, common enough that it occurs quite often—eerily so—that I park and find four other Tauruses and a Mercury Sable or two in the same row. If I’m not mistaken, it was the most widely sold car in its class while it was made. Given that I hate flashy things and like to blend in (without fitting in), this was a perfect fit. Oh, and the color was dark green. Score!
The bluebook value was in the $2,500-$3,000 range, but it had been salvaged anyway, and the transmission had some minor trouble—only that it leaked enough that it required a few bottles of fluid a year—so he took off the price of a new transmission in anticipation for my eventually replacing that.
That brought it down to a much more palatable price, which I was prepared to pay; and then my parents decided to bless me even further by paying the good deacon themselves. That made the sticker shock upon taking it to the DMV rather easier to handle...
My car has her* idiosyncrasies, of course, but then again, she puts up with me. On occasion, there will be an electronic beeping for no apparent reason (it did this for the former owners, too, and the car folks had no idea what caused it), but this is in keeping with the weird habits of pretty much all of my electronic equipment. I suppose if my car can handle the lengthy lectures I give her on random subjects, I can handle a little bit of reciprocal conversation. I can probably make more sense of that electronic beeping than anyone can of what I ramble on about, anyway.
But in all seriousness, I was more than blessed with my Ford Taurus, on all counts. Even besides the money-for-a-car-or-for-school issue (the solving of which was immeasurable grace by itself), everything about it, from the type of car to the color, was amazingly orchestrated (and was far more than I deserve). And, of course, we get along well, and there is easily enough room in the back seat and trunk for my guitars and amps, my other loves…but that will have to wait for another post.
Until then,
Colin
*Of course a car takes the female pronoun. She certainly has a personality, and the masculine wouldn’t sound quite right. Her name is Good Queen Bess, but that’s a story in itself.
13 April 2008
Announcement and excerpt from USH2 paper
After about half a million edits...
Last Tuesday, I began turning a number of scenes that I've had in my head for a while into a story which I hope could end as a novella, at least. I have only the first chapter written and know what I want to do with the last two chapters; unfortunately, I only know the direction I want to take with the middle section, not the storyline. So I'm not going to bind myself to a set deadline for posting the next chapter, but if you'd like to read the first chapter at least, I've posted it to my Fiction/Poetry blog. I also submitted it, with a few poems, to the PHC Stylus literary publication. Input and criticism (from fellow Lit Snobs and all of my other friends who put up with our delusion that we're the coolest) is appreciated. I'd especially like suggestions for a main title; I currently plan for "Where the Wind Wills" to be a subtitle (and it is, by the way, a reference to John 3, not "Bohemian Rhapsody"...).
Also, our US History 2 paper is a comparison/contrast of Whittaker Chambers's Witness and Booker T. Washington's Up From Slavery. Up From Slavery was written in the late 1800s with Southern Reconstruction and the plight of the former slaves in mind, Witness in 1952 about the attempt to expose American Communism, but "for all their differences, they were both tales which brought the epic struggle between good and evil to a human level and made the principles applicable to the ordinary man by showing how ordinary men had fought and struggled with specific manifestations of that war," as I wrote in my paper.
The chief difference, though, in the authors' respective outlooks is one that struck me deeply as I was writing, and I devoted about a page to exploring that facet of their works. I may post more of the paper later, but here is the relevant excerpt for now:
"Washington was inspirational because he extolled the ability of men to raise themselves up from the ashes, and warned them not to allow their circumstances to dictate their future in such a way that they would never improve themselves. He was optimistic that the problems could be resolved and that the American people could put their dark past behind them in the next few generations. While acknowledging the faults of both parties in the past, he truly believed that they could be overcome by hard work and virtuous living—he believed that his object was attainable and that success lay within the volition of him and his fellow man.
Chambers was inspirational for nearly the opposite reason: he acknowledged that he was weak, and insisted that his role was thrust upon him against his will—but it was precisely the knowledge that this was his mission, arranged for him by destiny, that gave him the strength to fulfill it, because he knew that the same Providence that had assigned this terrible ordeal to him would direct the results, whether or not those results included his destruction. Chambers was willing to abandon all for the sake of the world and for the sake of destiny--and for his witness against Communism and for truth. He was pessimistic that his sacrifice would result in the ultimate salvation of the world—if it was not destroyed by Communism, it would fall prey to something else—but was certain that the guiding hand of God would nevertheless have a purpose even in this.
He thus inspired to play their part even men who are all too conscious of their own weakness. Their part need not be so crucial as his, nor need it be successful in human terms—whatever their part was, no matter how seemingly large or small, it formed a cog in the plan of Providence. He disagreed with the idea that the world would linearly improve; his hope lay in the ultimate end of the world which no human eye could yet see. This fundamental difference between Washington’s and Chambers’s presentations goes as deep as the level of their worldview, and could be described in religious terms as running as deeply as the difference between the theological concepts of merit and grace, for this is precisely the difference between them."
Last Tuesday, I began turning a number of scenes that I've had in my head for a while into a story which I hope could end as a novella, at least. I have only the first chapter written and know what I want to do with the last two chapters; unfortunately, I only know the direction I want to take with the middle section, not the storyline. So I'm not going to bind myself to a set deadline for posting the next chapter, but if you'd like to read the first chapter at least, I've posted it to my Fiction/Poetry blog. I also submitted it, with a few poems, to the PHC Stylus literary publication. Input and criticism (from fellow Lit Snobs and all of my other friends who put up with our delusion that we're the coolest) is appreciated. I'd especially like suggestions for a main title; I currently plan for "Where the Wind Wills" to be a subtitle (and it is, by the way, a reference to John 3, not "Bohemian Rhapsody"...).
Also, our US History 2 paper is a comparison/contrast of Whittaker Chambers's Witness and Booker T. Washington's Up From Slavery. Up From Slavery was written in the late 1800s with Southern Reconstruction and the plight of the former slaves in mind, Witness in 1952 about the attempt to expose American Communism, but "for all their differences, they were both tales which brought the epic struggle between good and evil to a human level and made the principles applicable to the ordinary man by showing how ordinary men had fought and struggled with specific manifestations of that war," as I wrote in my paper.
The chief difference, though, in the authors' respective outlooks is one that struck me deeply as I was writing, and I devoted about a page to exploring that facet of their works. I may post more of the paper later, but here is the relevant excerpt for now:
"Washington was inspirational because he extolled the ability of men to raise themselves up from the ashes, and warned them not to allow their circumstances to dictate their future in such a way that they would never improve themselves. He was optimistic that the problems could be resolved and that the American people could put their dark past behind them in the next few generations. While acknowledging the faults of both parties in the past, he truly believed that they could be overcome by hard work and virtuous living—he believed that his object was attainable and that success lay within the volition of him and his fellow man.
Chambers was inspirational for nearly the opposite reason: he acknowledged that he was weak, and insisted that his role was thrust upon him against his will—but it was precisely the knowledge that this was his mission, arranged for him by destiny, that gave him the strength to fulfill it, because he knew that the same Providence that had assigned this terrible ordeal to him would direct the results, whether or not those results included his destruction. Chambers was willing to abandon all for the sake of the world and for the sake of destiny--and for his witness against Communism and for truth. He was pessimistic that his sacrifice would result in the ultimate salvation of the world—if it was not destroyed by Communism, it would fall prey to something else—but was certain that the guiding hand of God would nevertheless have a purpose even in this.
He thus inspired to play their part even men who are all too conscious of their own weakness. Their part need not be so crucial as his, nor need it be successful in human terms—whatever their part was, no matter how seemingly large or small, it formed a cog in the plan of Providence. He disagreed with the idea that the world would linearly improve; his hope lay in the ultimate end of the world which no human eye could yet see. This fundamental difference between Washington’s and Chambers’s presentations goes as deep as the level of their worldview, and could be described in religious terms as running as deeply as the difference between the theological concepts of merit and grace, for this is precisely the difference between them."
01 February 2008
An interesting passage from my Freedom's Foundations II reading...I have often pondered some of the problems of the modern evangelical church, and while I don't think all of them are directly traceable to this point, a good many are. As J. I. Packer wrote in his introduction to Luther's Bondage of the Will, it is debatable whether Luther and the other Reformers would even claim the "evangelical" church as their descendants--indeed, the Synod of Dordt (1619) declaimed the Arminian Remonstrance as a return to Romanism in its central principle. The Arminians (and free-will theologians generally) claimed to retain the Protestant principle of justification sola fide without works, but, by making faith an act of man's will rather than a gift of God, essentially made it into a work (and it's worth noting that the word translated "work" in Ephesians means any action, not just "works of the law"). Anyhow, from Russell Kirk's Roots of American Order (pp. 232-233).
"What were the knottiest questions dividing the Catholic establishment and the Reformers? The Protestant leaders, though they attacked the corruptions of the sixteenth-century Church, argued that the visible Church's moral decay was the result of theological errors into which the papacy and the heirarchy had fallen. Both Martin Luther and John Calvin declared that the profoundest difference between Papists and Protestants was the question of freedom of the will. Luther debated this subject with the Dutch humanist Erasmus, in 1524. Is the will free or enslaved? This is "the real essential thing, the real knotty problem," Luther said; "instead of...tiresome trifles about the papacy, purgatory, indulgences, and other futilities of the same order."
Now the medieval church, with Aristotle as its classical philosophical authority, gradually had modified St. Augustine's doctrine that man is wholly corrupt--that so far as man has free will, this is opportunity only to choose among evil acts. Man is a creature of mingled good and evil impulses, the Church had come to teach: in the depths of the soul, there lingers an essence or spark of divine substance, potentially enabling man (if given grace) to exercise his will for good. This medieval teaching...the Reformers denied utterly; they returned to the stern teaching of St. Augustine. "For man cannot but put self-seeking first, loving himself above everything else," said Luther: "this is the root of sinning."
Because man is utterly corrupted by self-love, the Reformers reasoned, man enjoys no freedom to act for the good. He can be saved from his total depravity only by the arbitrary grace of God. Because the Church, or rather its heirarchy, had fallen away from this dogma, the Reformers continued, the Church had been corrupted; the notorious system of indulgences for money was merely one of many abuses resulting from abandonment of the pure doctrine of original sin. Therefore the Church might be purged of corruption only if its ancient dogmas should be restored."
"What were the knottiest questions dividing the Catholic establishment and the Reformers? The Protestant leaders, though they attacked the corruptions of the sixteenth-century Church, argued that the visible Church's moral decay was the result of theological errors into which the papacy and the heirarchy had fallen. Both Martin Luther and John Calvin declared that the profoundest difference between Papists and Protestants was the question of freedom of the will. Luther debated this subject with the Dutch humanist Erasmus, in 1524. Is the will free or enslaved? This is "the real essential thing, the real knotty problem," Luther said; "instead of...tiresome trifles about the papacy, purgatory, indulgences, and other futilities of the same order."
Now the medieval church, with Aristotle as its classical philosophical authority, gradually had modified St. Augustine's doctrine that man is wholly corrupt--that so far as man has free will, this is opportunity only to choose among evil acts. Man is a creature of mingled good and evil impulses, the Church had come to teach: in the depths of the soul, there lingers an essence or spark of divine substance, potentially enabling man (if given grace) to exercise his will for good. This medieval teaching...the Reformers denied utterly; they returned to the stern teaching of St. Augustine. "For man cannot but put self-seeking first, loving himself above everything else," said Luther: "this is the root of sinning."
Because man is utterly corrupted by self-love, the Reformers reasoned, man enjoys no freedom to act for the good. He can be saved from his total depravity only by the arbitrary grace of God. Because the Church, or rather its heirarchy, had fallen away from this dogma, the Reformers continued, the Church had been corrupted; the notorious system of indulgences for money was merely one of many abuses resulting from abandonment of the pure doctrine of original sin. Therefore the Church might be purged of corruption only if its ancient dogmas should be restored."
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