Celebrating the Resurrection

This time of year is a time to celebrate the fact that Jesus rose from the grave, defeating death. The resurrection is understood as the most important day in all of history. With Jesus' birth and ministry, the old covenant began its end. Jesus' death and resurrection brought an end to the old covenant. This is not a mere trifle of doctrinal detail, this is world changing. All old covenant laws and rules have been fulfilled and ended. We now no longer live by externals but by the direction of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church.

There are several Protestant camps that expend a lot of time and energy on debating the extent of authority of OT law for the modern day believer. This debate stems from the issue of lack of authority within Protestantism. This is not an issue within Eastern Orthodoxy. The Orthodox Church can and does articulate the historical view on particular doctrines. And they do so with apostolic authority.

But back to the topic at hand. Jesus' resurrection has so drastically changed and defined absolutely every detail of human history that it would take a lifetime to understand its far-reaching effects. Death has lost its power and blessing and curse has moved from the temporal to the eternal. Under the old covenant, God blessed or cursed his people (the Israelites) within the realm of the physical. He did so because that was all the mankind had to look forward to. Once man died, that was it. He was doomed to linger in the shadowy realm of death, waiting for Jesus' redemptive work.  But now, since Jesus has defeated the power of death, blessing and curse are in the realm of the eternal. This temporal life is merely a preparation ground for eternity, where we can anticipate sinless life in the immediate presence of God.

So the resurrection? Unarguably the most important event in human history. One that we should celebrate in a big way and seek to understand even more.

An Open Letter to Adam Darski (Nergal)

Adam, I have been familiar with your project, Behemoth, for several years now and would finally like to take the time to make a few philosophical/worldview comments on the meaning and direction of the band. I would like to start by recognizing your apparent well-educated perspective on things spiritual and mystical. You seem to be well read on the dark, Nietzschean philosophical perspective and explanations, and, judging by your recent video "Lucifer", have some exposure to Eastern Orthodoxy, at least Eastern Orthodox icons.

But I would like to make a few comments on your perspectives, at least as explored in your videos and lyrics. As I see your videos or read your lyrics, I have to wonder at why you find such appeal in darkness, ugliness and death. The worlds you create and the fantasies in which you revel are strictly the fruit of your own imagination, there has never been and never will be, a reality that mirrors your fantasies. What seems especially odd to me is this obsession with darkness, evil and destruction in light of your recent diagnosis of cancer. When you received a diagnosis of cancer, you expended much energy and time to defeat the disease. In that circumstance, you chose to seek after life and to fight against sickness and death. Why?

I would suggest that deep inside your person, you understand that light and life are superior to death, darkness and destruction. The meaning and strength that you seek are found only in historic Christianity. The depth, the mystery and the beauty of the historic Christian faith far surpass anything in Babylonian or Egyptian lore, or the human imagination.

The trouble that so many people have is the failure to rightly see the historic Christian faith.  A large part of this problem comes from the very distorted example of Christianity as represented by Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. These two deviations from the historic Christian faith have dangerously altered the common view of Christianity.

As you are someone well educated in history, I strongly suggest that you pursue a deeper understanding of the historic Christian faith. This would begin with you instigating a dialogue with someone in the Polish Orthodox Church. I would suggest:

Father Darius Jozwik

Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church

ul. Traugutta 45, 80-221

in Gdansk, Wrzeszcz

telephone # 58 341 95 30

I really hope that you are willing to pursue this challenge and honest enough to embrace the results of such an investigation. I am praying for you.

Extreme Ways

The extreme things that some men do reveal that of which all men are potentially capable. Extreme sports, body piercing, branding, scarification, murder, torture, and cannibalism, while under normal circumstances are not issues with which we have deal, when situations move out of the normal, men do resort to these extremes. This happens when the likely ramifications drop to unlikely. When the threat of undesired results is minimized, men, unfortunately, sink into depravity and perversion. This is not necessarily a radical diversion from what is normal but a revelation of what is in the heart.

When someone has nearly unlimited power, they will sink to horrible lows. Or, when someone has nearly unlimited wealth, they will then too sink into terrible depravities, in most cases.

In short, what we see in both of these cases is the necessity of authority with actual power. When limitations are practically removed, man's baser nature is revealed. We see this on a small scale in our own lives as well. When we have free time, what do we do?  When we receive an unexpected monetary bonus, how is it spent?

Our use of time and money reveals who we truly are. Of course judgment about whether these uses of time and money are right or wrong depends upon the standard one uses to define right and wrong.

The Driving Force Behind Our Actions

I think it’s pretty obvious that everything we do has some sort of motivation behind it. No one sane acts arbitrarily or randomly. Even if someone claims to do so, they are choosing to do so for a reason. So it’s not really random.

As Christians, there ought to be some very specific and thought out reasons what we do. While I am certainly not claiming that we can or do act perfectly, but merely that we should have thought through every action before we act.

The Protestant document, the Westminster catechism, a 17th century Presbyterian standard, proclaims in its first question and answer (Question: What is the chief end of man?  Answer: Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.) 

While that answer may or may not be true, I want to suggest that practically speaking, not theoretically, but rather how it actually plays out in ones life, that this kind of thinking tends toward temporality, and sensuality.  From my own experience and from the many, many highly educated Calvinists that I know, a daily struggle in sanctification is not at the forefront of ones life, but rather an "enjoyment of God's creation", to quote one prominent minister. To quote another, "life is not for fasting, but for feasting, God has saved us, we need to celebrate. It's about "With whom can I share this Rocky Road ice cream?""

The Eastern Orthodox perspective is somewhat different.  Instead of a "Jesus' work is done, let's party" attitude, the Orthodox response is one of repentance. Jesus' work is done, now we are able and responsible to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). We recognize just how sinful we are, how darkened our souls are, and how much of our thinking has to change, that our plates are full. A soldier in boot camp is not celebrating his role in the army; he is conditioning his body and will to obey the commands of the officer in charge. He is making his body do what it is told and he is pushing the limits of his ability. That is a picture of our life on earth.
     In short, we have so much progress that we need to make before we enter eternity.  Our goal should be to be as much like Christ as possible.  I believe that rules out a "eating Rocky Road ice cream" kind of lifestyle.

The Other Side

I've often spoken of not judging others based on the bad things they do. But the thought occurred to me that we often do the opposite. We will see someone who seems particularly wonderful and we elevate that person. We then start thinking, why can't my spouse/son/daughter/parents/godparents be like that?

The main problem with this sort of thinking is not that there are some genuinely good people who often do very good things, things which should be emulated, but that these same people have sins and struggles that we don't see or know about. Of course this is intentional. No one wants others to know their weaknesses and downfalls. Everyone wants to make a good impression and to a very large degree, we should make the very best impression we can, so as to most truly represent Christ in us.

But on the other side of this is our response to those around us. To elevate someone is to have a false image of that person and attribute to them things that simply are not honest. It sets a standard of expectation for others that cannot be met. It will ultimately lead to disappointment.

This is really a matter of balance. On one hand, we should think the best of people and never judge anyone for the sins and weaknesses. But on the other hand, we need to realize that people are sinful and often do stumble. The goal is to have a standard for which we strive, actually strive to attain it and understand that we will often fail in our attempts to do so. But also to assume that others are in the same position as we are. We simply don't know the details of their story.