Sexual divergence in post-modernity

Monday, October 26, 2009
Sexual divergence in post-modernity


Introduction

Imagine a you-tube video that is directed towards Homosexuals which goes viral. It’s not offensive and not full of hate. It points out that its producers are not posting it because of their hate for gays but rather their intense love for their soul. It makes clear that God does indeed love homosexuals yet does not condone their sin. It shows that the creators are not merely tolerant but care enough for gays to tell them that they need to change and that God has a plan for their salvation. Some homosexuals might get saved while others may get angry. This is the nature of preaching of the gospel. Jesus said, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”[1]

The Social consequences of evolution:

What we in general, and our youth in particular believe about origins will determine the moral choices they will make in the future. The ruthless assassin Vincent played by Tom Cruise in the movie 'Collateral', says as he goes about his killing, "..Improvise, adapt to the environment, Darwin, ---- happens..whatever, roll with it". He says again, "Millions of galaxies of hundreds of millions of stars..each a speck on one in a blink..thats us lost in space" [2]. This is part of his rationalization for the terrible things he is doing! Its not an accident that both evolution and the idea of a godless universe are used by the writers when they created this amoral fictional character. He believes he is alone in the universe and has no moral qualms about killing people to get what he wants. The question then, that should be asked is, how do these 'celebrated' scientific theories filter down into our psyche and affect the moral choices we make everyday?


Man, a law unto himself, Secularism

Evolutionary theory along with the big bang theory have set aside or altogether replaced the creator God making man seemingly unanswerable to Him, His moral laws or judgments! This has been and still is a huge split with Christianity whose tenets include that there is a day of reckoning, a day of judgment and accountability serving as a strong moral deterrent (when conscience goes awry[3]*)! These scientific theories, at times overly presumptuous in their claims of having cornered the truth have garnered a faithful following. Together with anti-religion and atheistic philosophies, these theories form a wedge between genuine faith and honest science that seeks to ascertain the truth. Religious faith is being usurped its effectiveness as a moral & spiritual agent in a needy world. Some such philosophies have gone as far as to state religion to be a sinister plot by certain men to keep certain other groups of men under subjugation[4], making a "prison for their minds"![5] This is seriously doubtful since the progenitors of these faiths were themselves poor or belonged to lower economic and social strata and getting ahead was never their motivation in preaching and establishing their message, "The Lord Your God is one"![6]


The Anti God age

Under the sway of the 'Evo-bang' theories and philosophies that permeate our world, man is left to make his own moral boundaries and decisions, making them up and changing them as he wills to fit his own selfish motives. Traditional social norms have been eroded and replaced by irreverent cultural mores leading to what one might call an amoral/immoral society and a type of a biblical Sodom that would unashamedly say, "Bring out the men so we can know them".[7]

Therefore, "Thou shall not lie, steal, commit murder or covet your neighbors property" and other divine laws and tenets that were given to be honored and have served societies well in the past have been weakened or have a convenience clause added to them or are denied altogether! (Think of the rising divorce and crime rate in western societies)[8]. Science has also been wrongly used to furnish some of the justifications (By painting a godless universe and by sometimes blurring the lines between right and wrong) for which certain moral and spiritual principles are to be abrogated for 'better' ethics and man made laws plunging us straight into an Anti God age (Anti-Christian[9] if you will, to invoke Nietzsche) where we find ourselves today and where we have been for a while now! This might spell our demise! Unknowingly, we are cutting away at the pillars and limbs that support the very fiber of our society, its laws, education, its government and most of all the family structure! As it is said of the Anti-Christ, "He will change times and laws"[10] . May God help us if we cast away and forget these eternal words and principles by which we were created that have upheld us up to now. Perhaps indeed the end is near!

Darwinian roots to bold sin

Evolution is but a scientific denial of God and that under girds the thick unbelief prevalent in our world today especially among the elite. There is actually a relationship between Homosexuality and Homo erectus. 'Homo-Erectus' was coined as a Latin phrase to represent a precursor to modern man in the evolutionary development, meaning the erect human or a hominid who stood up straight. (The theory goes something like this: Supposedly our ancestors lost the curvature of their spine through painstakingly slow incremental physiological changes, that took thousands or millions of years , when one sunny morning a baby hominid came about who would not gallop the hillside and would not skip trees in the tundra anymore but stood erect on his(her) two feet!?) Fast forward to old Canaan land in Bible times. Can you imagine poor Mr. Lot, who was living in the ancient party town of Sodom, as some 'Homo-Erectus' men came and wanted to forcibly have sexual relations with a couple his guests? Ok, this is not that much of a funny joke! Especially to God, because according to the bible, that kind of attitude resulted in the whole town being overthrown due to his fierce anger.


Evolution and its affect on cultural and sexual norms

One of the influences of evolutionary theory on modern life may have been that it has made certain sexually taboo activities to be more acceptable as it has filtered down into the beliefs of so many of today's people both young and old. One man with such a disposition, when engaged in a religious debate, said the following. "Even 30 percent of animals including elephants engage in homosexual activity". He added that, he thought he himself was an accident of nature. His defense of his life style and actions was based on science droppings, evolutionary dogma and knowledge that had been gained from National geographic and Nova cable channels. We replied, "Not only was he not an accident but that he is a veritable miracle". We also wanted to add, that all the earth was in a fallen state and as such does not always act in line with the highest purposes intended for it.

Another individual angrily shouted that being gay was what he chose to be and do, when pressed by people he felt had misunderstood him. The politically correct term a 'lifestyle choice' resulted from terminology designed to protect his rights under the constitution. However, some other men claim that if they could help it, they would rather be heterosexual, implying that they act and live in such a manner because that's who they are and that's what they must do. For yet others it seems to be an experiment in an experience, which is to be prolonged or aborted, based on how one enjoys the initial and/or subsequent experiences. "Of course" they say, "You should try everything at least once". In a generation where 'Survivor' and 'Fear Factor' and other reality based shows have come to be popular, this seems to be the approach people take towards a lot of things including sexual encounters with individuals of the same sex.


Nature, nurture or spirit?

This leads to the question, how exactly is homosexuality to be understood and how does it arise? Some people will say, "Its all in the genes. You can't fault someone if they were born with that disposition". Hence we have the term 'sexual orientation', which is believed to be an outcome of one's genetic and/or psychological, make up! This leaves all of us to overlook our apparent gender identity and wonder if we don't have a bio-genetic makeup that disposes us to certain sexual pulls and attractions. It also puts a shadow on what we all should be able to take for granted. I.E. that our original gender bestowed upon us at our inception is what determines how we are to behave socially and sexually after we grow up.

Here we will introduce yet another possibility. Namely, that such pulls and a disposition toward such activity might lie in the spiritual aspect of our make-up rather than the biological or the psyche. In the book of Romans Chapters 1 & 2 Paul says that denying the evidences of God's created work (evolution?), banishing Him out of one's thoughts and failing to acknowledge and worship him as such will lead to being given over to a reprobate mind and what he calls unlawful and unnatural desires. This might explain why people who have been seeking a remedy in the psychology department have not been able to be successful.


Robbing the glory off of the children, Unholy entertainment

"From their children have you taken away my glory forever" Micah 2:9[11]

On a wider context, if we enlarge our subject to include all of our youth, we find that alarming trends are happening with respect to their sexual behavior. The effects of conditioning happening through lewd images that inundates the print media, the entertainment industry and new technologies like the Internet is incalculable. Porn is readily available over the internet, coming right into the rooms of most young people today, who have the internet savvy to get around any and all protection that parents might install on their computers. It’s an understatement to say that they are being corrupted and being initiated into all kinds of debauchery and lewd acts or what the bible collectively calls as 'sexual immorality'. Fewer and fewer children have the opportunity to grow up with their innocence intact and without being exposed to violent or sexually charged images or lyrical gyrations of lewdness. A large part of the responsibility goes to those who are profiting from the production, publication and dissemination of this kind of smut. You can go to some college campuses today and see a form of ancient Caligula-like pleasure romps happening with youngsters as onlookers and participants (Sometimes with authority figures as advocates)! [12]


Criminal behavior, hiding behind science

Coming back to the issue at hand, if it were true that there was some other hidden biological determinant, this on its own, in one stroke, would undo all old world taboos and superstitions having to do with ancient moral codes, permitting one to engage in activities considered very sinful and even abominable by society and especially by religious faiths, their adherents and institutions. THIS WILL LEAD TO A LOT OF IRRESPONSIBLE AND DANGEROUS BEHAVIOR, opening the floodgate to ungodliness and immorality, an abyss for which there is no bottom! This kind of thinking is behind the various amoral social groupings seen on the rise today where its ok to do anything and everything that would otherwise be considered morally repugnant. May God give us the grace to repent and open our eyes to see! On a recent web blog article, former homosexual Greg Quinlan denounces fallen artist Ray Boltz as false in a reaction to his recent confession that he is gay. He adds, “The director of the Human Genome Project, Dr. Francis Collins, said this: homosexuality is not hardwired. There is no gay gene. We mapped the human genome. We now know there is no genetic cause for homosexuality”[13]

For some, science has become a fig leaf with which to hide one's nakedness by passing responsibility for one's selfish behavior to individual genes or one's biological makeup. (Granted certain ailments and disorders have bio-genetic roots, all behavior may not be so rooted. Notice how certain criminal defenses are mounted today to evade responsibility! With respect to our discussion our Lord places the sources of such sins squarely within our evil hearts, Mark 7:21) We can only hope (said sarcastically) that scientist will soon find the individual sins (..er genes) that have to do with murder, rape and violence so that we can either quarantine and/or neuter people before they actually commit their first crime. In ethics for a brave new world, the two Feinbergs invoke Evelyn Hooker as saying the following.

Thus, Evelyn Hooker is most likely correct. Homosexuality is the result of a variety of causes, none of which decisively determines sexual preference. There may be some biological factors which either predispose or contribute to homosexuality, and the home environment is also a significant factor. Still, in cases where all of these elements are present, one will not necessarily become a homosexual[14]

After arguing that no scientific study has conclusively supported a biological cause for homosexuality, Richard Kirby comes to the following conclusion, “ Scientists may indeed discover a clear biological predisposition to sexual orientation. But a predisposition is not the same as a determination.”[15]

However there is are political reasons for the insistence that bio-genetic causes are responsible for sexual orientation even if studies on the subject may not be conclusive,

Many have concluded there is a genetic reason for homosexuality. Of course, this claim is extremely important to homosexuals for at least two reasons. First, if homosexuality is something innate or constitutional, then homosexuals are no more responsible for their sexual orientation than for eye color or height. Attempts to get homosexuals to change their sexual orientation will also be useless. Second, this claim has political ramifications. If there is a biological basis for homosexuality, then there will be pressure to grant them minority-rights status. This is a special civil rights status that would protect them from discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation.11,[16]


As a man thinks of himself so is he!

Could it be that We become who we believe ourselves to be! As the old but true wisdom adage goes, "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he"[17] and so he will do and act. How we see ourselves can determine how we act. The Issue then becomes whether we are doing the things we are doing because we are helpless victims of our nature or whether we are allowing ourselves to be overcome by our lower, baser selves? The answer may be somewhere in the middle, where our flesh and spirit constantly strive against one another. Although our biological makeup has a lot to do with our inclinations and behavior we have also been given a conscience and a will that we ought to exercise in making the right decisions. Further, being informed of our creator's intentions for our life can aid us in making the right decisions concerning how we are to keep and utilize our bodies so we can progress from the realm of sensations to the higher and fuller life that God intended for us to have. Yes, we are spiritual beings who live in a physical body with dual natures and created with the higher purposes of worship and communion (and definitely not for a one night stand hookup down at Oreilly’s pub for some sexual gratification). It all revolves around a question of anthropology and the nature of man.

On the other hand, if we think of ourselves as animals we will act as animals! In fancy scientific terms, if we think that we are some half-baked by product of evolution that inherited genes with a confused gender roll, we will act and live that way. (The argument will go something like this: After all biogenetic information is being recycled and passed in a continuous cycle of conception, birth and dying. Surely, there is bound to be an error where certain of the files with ones bio-genetic information got lost or confused with certain other files: This argument assumes a universe without an all powerful creator and sustainer of life). It is this latter view that we consider false and seek to challenge here. It is a fatal error to assume man to be just a biological without a soul, genetically pre-programmed to act in a certain way without recourse or choice. The real truth may be that there are both biological and spiritual aspects to our nature that are susceptible to various kinds of temptations. It might be closer to the truth to say that there are spirits (entities that beguile, tempt and even possess us) behind these and other types of human behavior, that can take over and control our lives in the absence of Godly influence and resistance on our part[18]


Who we are


Our mind is subject to tremendous outside pressures in the modern world that wants to imprint its own impressions on us, vying for our allegiances. Therefore, we need to have an honest mirror as a reflection of our true self and that mirror is the Word of God. We cannot see ourselves in a true light unless we have experienced regeneration. Who we truly are has always been a question of anthropology and theology. Jay E. Adams says the following of man’s nature, “ In all parts and aspects of his(Man’s) life he is depraved”[19]


Hope for a remedy, washed and changed

It seems that one of the illusions of being under the sway of gender-bending spirits is to believe this to be one's permanent biological state or condition or one's inborn nature! For those who seek hope or remedy, we dare suggest, that if it be a spiritual problem it has a spiritual solution. And even if it were a physical or biological ailment, God is the God of all flesh, its maker sustainer and healer! Having full faith in the maker's love for mankind, we dare suggest that one can have full deliverance and recovery if one were to come to Christ seeking it! Our hearts are full with faith to say, its possible in God for one to have restored the natural desire that one should have for a spouse of the opposite sex and lead a natural fruitful life! In the Corinthian church, there were former homosexuals who had been saved. Paul says to them in effect, “some of you used to be homosexuals and used to make yourselves into women, such things can leave one out of God's kingdom, but now you are washed and changed, sanctified and justified in the name of our lord Jesus and by his spirit”[20] What a powerful testimony this is of a transformed life. Even so today we have gospel ministers and singers who have been taken out of these lifestyles and been transformed. One famous example of this is the gospel singer, Donny Mcklurkin.

Helpful Websites


Changed to live the higher life! Homosexuals who changed![21]
http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/ex-gay.html
http://www.exodus-international.org/[22]


Conflicting Paradigms and the Arts


Homosexuality and the media


However, there will always be powers that will want to maintain the status quo of sinfulness and who do not want change (spiritually speaking) and would rather battle to keep things as they are. One can always circumvent biblical morality by creating ones own religion or infiltrating the religious institutions with ones prophets and messiahs. Proponents of the gay rights movement have taken the battle to all fronts of society all the way from the streets, to the media, to the courts and into the church. The struggle would also have to include using the arts to propagate one's message by putting it in movies, music, the theater, sitcoms, talk shows and all the mainstream venues and media outlets. The gay cowboy movie, Broke Back Mountain is an example of this as well as the sitcom ‘Will and Grace’. It also proves how powerful these groups can be in being able to share their message of ‘understanding and tolerance’ (toward sin) and fighting ‘hate’.

For better or for worse, we saw all these things take place just within the last few years, as homosexual people fought to have their lifestyle acknowledged as a viable and healthy way of living worthy of acceptance of all. However, art cannot make sin beautiful any more than adding a realistic touch to Monet's paintings (by having some dog-pie appear on the left frame of his water lilies or flower beds) will make his work look better!

This has left people of faith sometimes reeling and seeking to strike a balance on how to resist this mounting assault while simultaneously showing love to people within their families and communities by providing the right spiritual guidance and support on such issues. It has not helped that in recent years, some mainline churches have lost the moral high ground to speak down on such debauchery because of scandals that took place in their parishes that have reverberated in the media, making it hard for everyone to decide on whom to trust on such issues. In a recent well publicized story one formerly abused man, accused a priest that allegedly abused him of "making him into a homosexual!"


Christ: The only ethical approach towards the homosexual community

The lord is interested in sinners and loves them. so we must also be and do likewise. This is the basis of compassionate ethics. Reinhold Neibuhr states, “ The crown of Christian ethics is the doctrine of forgiveness. Love as forgiveness is the most difficult and impossible of moral achievements”[23] Therefore, this paper is not an ant-gay diatribe! It's a pro-righteousness treatment of this issue with the hopes of winning hearts to the truth or truths set forth in the bible and mainly of the deep love that God has for his miss-stepping creation. Hatred of anyone within the reach of God's grace (and who isn't) although they engage in sexually divergent sins (and who hasn't) is wrong. It's the sin to be hated and not the sinner himself; because most of us whether we like to admit it publicly or not, have done things that have made us ashamed. Some of us have done even worse things while hiding behind a religious cloak and should be pointing a finger at ourselves not others.

The Theology of sin and redemption

The simple truth is that God loves all men (and women) and wants to save them when bent on things that will eventually destroy them and further, He wants to make them His own by saving them to the uttermost*[24]. And why does He hate sin in man? This is because sin is like a flaw or a blemish in an otherwise beautiful and beloved image of Himself. Because it subverts the creators intentions and hopes for the one created so much so that it frustrates and grieves and saddens Him. Therefore He hates it much like a father grieved by a wayward son who is doing drugs, carousing or involved in criminal activities. He is also forced to approach man in two ways I.E. Through the whip or through the loving Word calling him to repentance.


The Good news concerning overwhelming sin & substitutionary atonement

God must punish sin[25] but instead of making us know the full burnt of His wrath, He let His son Jesus Christ carry that wrath[26] fulfilling His own requirement for justice. Through the substitution of Jesus (He was made sin for us![27]) in our stead, our sins have already been bourn by our savior and therefore we can have forgiveness and reconciliation when we trust in Him.

Here is the good news concerning this or any other sin. This is simply that, you can be forgiven and also be totally and completely cleansed from it! Through The Blood of Jesus applied to your life when you believe, you are able to be purified and stand before your loving father with a pure conscience through the work of His grace, and subsequent sanctification. Jesus said that all sins that men do shall be forgiven them except one(and homosexuality is not that one). The Bible counsels us to flee "sexual immorality" and to keep our eyes and mind on things good, wholesome and spiritual.

Related links:
Swedish pastor convicted for preaching against homosexuality
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/nov/05111504.html[28]


Bibliography

Bible

All verses have been quoted from The King James Version of The Bible

Books

Anderson Kerby, Christian Ethics In Plain Language. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2005

Marx Karl and Friedrich EngelsThe Communist Manifesto,

Nietzsche Fredrick, The Antichrist, 1895

Feinberg, John S. ; Feinberg, Paul D. ; Huxley, Aldous: Ethics for a Brave New World. Wheaton, Ill. :

Crossway Books, 1996, c1993, S. 189

Cal Thomas, “Sexual Preference Is Not Determined by Genetic Factors,” DH, September 6, 1991.

Adams Jay E., A Theology Of Christian Counseling, P.141

Neibuhr, Reinhold An interpretation of Christian Ethics. New York Harper and Brothers 1935 P. 223

Website sources and links

http://blog.nola.com/faith/2008/09/gospel_singer_ray_boltz_admits.html

www.cbn.com/cbnnews/news/050315a.asp

http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/ex-gay.html

http://www.exodus-international.org/

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/nov/05111504.html

Movies

Mann, Michael Collateral film directed by and written by Stuart Beattie. 2004 crime/thriller

Wachowski, Larry and Andy The Matrix written and directed by, 1999 science fiction-martial arts-action film

Footnotes.

[1] John 15:18-19 (KJV)

[2] Collateral is a 2004 crime/thriller film directed by Michael Mann and written by Stuart Beattie.

[3] Proverbs 1:7 (King James Version)

[4] The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-martial arts-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, ‘The blue-red pill scene’ also
[5] The Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
[6] Mark 12:29-31 (New King James Version)

[7] Genesis 19:5 King James Version

[8] Kerby Anderson, Christian Ethics In Plain Language. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2005. P.136, 143

[9] Fredrick Nietzsche, The Antichrist, 1895

[10] Daniel 5:7 King James Version

[11] King James Version of The Bible, Micah 2:9

[12] www.cbn.com/cbnnews/news/050315a.asp

[13] http://blog.nola.com/faith/2008/09/gospel_singer_ray_boltz_admits.html

[14]Feinberg, John S. ; Feinberg, Paul D. ; Huxley, Aldous: Ethics for a Brave New World. Wheaton, Ill. : Crossway Books, 1996, c1993, S. 189

[15] Kerby Anderson, Christian Ethics In Plain Language. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2005. P.112

11 Cal Thomas, “Sexual Preference Is Not Determined by Genetic Factors,” DH, September 6, 1991.

[16]Feinberg, John S. ; Feinberg, Paul D. ; Huxley, Aldous: Ethics for a Brave New World. Wheaton, Ill. : Crossway Books, 1996, c1993, S. 187

[17] Proverbs 23:7, The King James Version of the Bible.

[18] Ephesians 2:2-3 The King James Version of The Bible

[19] Jay E. Adams, A Theology Of Christian Counseling, P.141

[20] I Corinthians 6:9-11Paraphrase King James Vesrion

[21] http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/ex-gay.html

[22] http://www.exodus-international.org/

[23] Reinhold Neibuhr, An interpretation of Christian Ethics. New York Harper and Brothers 1935 P. 223

[24] Hebrews 7:25

[25] Roman’s 6:23 KJV Bible

[26] 2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV Bible

[27] 2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV Bible

[28] http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/nov/05111504.html

An intelligent & powerful man who lusted

Solomon had transcended his Jewish identity and had become a cosmopolitan leader. He was married to Pharaoh’s daughter. His fame had also spread far and wide to the point where dignitaries like The Queen of Sheba came to Solomon to learn from his wisdom. His ministry and effect was not confined within the borders of Israel.

A young vibrant Solomon, who had been just anointed king, prays for wisdom that will allow him to rule the great nation of Israel. This The Lord grants to him in abundance. How much understanding was he given? It must have been considerable[2]. There were 3000 proverbs and 1005 songs that he had authored and he had knowledge about animal and plant life or what we today would call things like the Biology of fauna and flora[3]What we have in proverbs is a collection of only part of Solomon’s brilliant mind given to him by God. The amount and range of this collection is considerable adding up to thirty-one chapters of godly sayings, advice and counsel that address and pertain to numerous crucial issues of life.

[1] C. Hassle Bullock, Poetic books, an introduction to OT. P. 172
[2] Ist Kings 4:29
[3] Ist Kings 4:32

The Aftermath of Failure

We will accept with tradition and Biblical scholarship that says that Solomon is indeed the author of this Ecclesiastics.
.

Vanity of vanities all is vanity, begins Solomon…

It’s Motivation

4For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. [1]

This book, is believed to have been written during Solomon’s latter years. A Solomon well endowed in years begins to reflect at the ruins, ashes of his life and the one enduring eternal “Rock” who never fails. The sense of pathos starts from the beginning where one senses’ his regret. This is also why he must have needed to leave behind a recorded legacy of a partly wasted life that could have and should have been, lived better. One can speculate in this way when trying to narrow down Solomon’s motivation to write this book. He had indeed started well but did not finish as well as he would have liked so he, at least, tries to redeem the wastage by warning those who would live after him and would be confronted with similar choices. He can still get up, walk and pen words so he gets busy. He is not like the Rich man in hell whom Jesus talked about who is told its too late for him to warn his brothers. He writes an open letter to all those who would come after him to consider their ways.

Historical context: Solomon, Israel’s wise peace time ruler

Alas as it turns out a lot of the Israelite dynasty that continued after him had the same or worse problems but Solomon needed at least to give a warning to these subsequent leaders of Israel. What a well-lived life he had. Here was a man that had set his heart aright early on through the instruction of his father David and his mother Bethsheba[2]. He was a man who enjoyed world renown as a statesman of great wisdom. He had also enjoyed unprecedented wealth in a time of peace and prosperity. Israel was at the peak of her statehood with no enemies in sight.

9And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice,

He was also spiritually blessed to have had no less than two visitations from the Lord[3] in which the Lord had appeared to him to grant him not just the wisdom he had asked for to govern but also prosperity as an added bonus. As the one commissioned with building the temple he witnessed an inauguration attended by the visible glory of God’s presence. What days those days must have been? It makes one realize why those who had returned from Babylonian captivity had wept remembering Solomon’s temple. All of this would end in a low note at the latter end of his life for having forsaken the ways of the lord and amassing inordinate number of wives and concubines from heathen nations of which he had been warned would turn his heart away from God[4]. The decline of Israel and the period of the divided kingdom begin as soon as he is gone.

The Message of Ecclesiastics

Speculations aside, what is he saying to us? There is a type of layered wisdom in the book of Ecclesiastics that is different from the concise advice in pill form found in proverbs. Vanity of vanities all is vanity, begins Solomon and starts on a down turn with a problem. He is not unlike other Old Testament prophets in this way, who spell out their society’s problems. However Solomon does not direct his outcry at a particular group of people but towards the world at large and to himself.

In The beginning chapters Solomon demonstrates the futility of life, wisdom and the pursuits of pleasure and the amassing of wealth. What an important message this is to every generation of people who have lived on this earth. Don’t get caught up in those things because they all turn out to be meaningless empty pursuits.

He does not speak this like a philosopher but like a scientist who had been in a libratory and had experimented with all these things and found them disappointing. It’s a difficult book in this way that it does not advocate abstaining but preaches from the hindsight of one who has partaken of all these things. It seems to say you need not make those same mistakes ‘I’ have made instead of delineating a line that must not be crossed. In contrast Jesus and the New Testament draw a line and command us, don’t do these but if you do and fail you have an advocate with the father. That is why The Lord is greater than Solomon and everyone else. We all preach from a lesson learned after failure like Solomon. We say, I backslid into drinking, or pornography but you shouldn’t do that to yourself. It useless vanity and only leads to greater disappointments!

While chapter one states the problems of excess. Chapter two shows us how to live a contented life with measure. This idea is also found in proverbs. Solomon continues by sharing with us the importance of timeliness. He says to us, one of the most quoted sayings from the Bible, “There is a time for everything”. This ties in to the excesses of the beginning chapter because we need not have all things right now, rather good things will come to us in their appointed time which The Lord has ordained. So here again he lets out the other secret of contentment, which is trusting the lord’s timing for our life. God’s sovereign rule over the earth is also developed in this chapter. Solomon develops the themes of ‘futile pursuits’ in the rest of the chapters.

What he failed to do in life he tries to set aright on paper to forewarn others and leave a legacy of remorse that says, “learn from my mistakes” Solomon continues to rummages through all the let down’s of life (like work, politics, family, religion etc) but concludes by putting us on a nice comfortable hill that we can hope and trust in, That of The Lord’s.

12:1Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;[5]

13Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. 14For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.[6]

What is the conclusion of a man whose life that had digressed on a tangent of amorous and greedy pursuits? Fear The Lord who will bring all to account!
[1] 1 Kings 11:4 (KJV)
[2] 1 Kings 11:9 (KJV)
[3] Ist Kings 11:9
[4] I kings 11:1-3
[5] Eccles. 12:1 (KJV)
[6] Eccles. 12:13-14 (KJV)

Intimacy

Song of Songs: The book of Intimacy

This book is not just ‘The song’ but the ‘song of songs’. The title indicates, in what esteem this beautiful book was held by Solomon and perhaps also to subsequent Jewish tradition that had incorporated it as part of its community and spiritual life. It’s the Psalter of the young. The young don’t always have the blues that a mature audience would experience. You can imagine young Jewish men and women, girls and boys, perk up while its read in a synagogue. It adds balance to a spirituality that might be devoid of romance, physical love or intimacy. It validates the love God had obviously intended to be there between couples. But does this book hold another mystery key related to our own spiritual life?

7I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please. Song 2:7 (KJV)

This is obviously a book about love and its intricacies. Love is a wonderful and necessary emotion that adds meaning and substance to all human experience. There is much sense to the notion that it was written while a young Solomon inspired by an immense love he has for a mysterious Shulamite woman, authors a short two or three character musical play about their love. Solomon waxes poetic about this Shulamite woman. The bible codex generally uses modest language in describing the relationship between a man and woman but here one gets more intimate language that affirms the love between a man and a woman.

Who is the Shulamite woman?

One might speculate, maybe the long legged models in ancient Israel dwell in region of Shulam or shunem. The New American Bible has the following footnote as to her identity. “Shulammite: so called either because the girl is considered to be from Shulam in the plain of Esdraelon (cf 1 Kings 1:3) or because the name may mean "the peaceful one," and thus recall the name of Solomon”.[1] We know of a Shunamite woman in the Bible who was given to David as a wife in his latter years. [2] Therefore, Solomon’s Shulamite could have been from the land of Shunem or (Shulam). Since we know Solomon to have had many wives she may have been the one among the many that made his heart skip.

The Theme of Song of songs

8I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love. [3]

Love is the one prevailing theme of this book. So in its content it’s New Testament counterpart would be John’s gospel and his 1st epistle which have an over abundance of the word love (more than twenty times each). The word love is used many times in the sense of the love between God and man. What a profound concept! The love between a single soul or a collection of souls, which is his church and God can be said to be the greatest love of all loves without it being considered a travesty of interpretation. It’s no wonder then that this book has been allegorized to indicate this great love. Even while applying a literal interpretation it still can be used to illustrate that great love between Christ and his church[4].

30For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

It’s Application: Speaking the Language of spiritual love and doing God’s works

The application of this book cannot just be thought of as a call to keep the home fires burning or rekindle romance with one’s spouse, although that is perfectly valid. We should be able to use intimate language in our worship and prayers to express our love for the Lord. We should ask, when was the last time that we told The Lord, “I love you Lord!” and sang the love songs of the church with a genuine and a true heart? Sometimes the cares and problems of this world can make our hearts cold and make us forget to tell The Lord how much we love him. Jesus had predicted that in the iniquitous last times “The heart of many will wax cold[5], and faith will have disappeared[6].

It was also a charge he had brought against the Ephesians church “You have left your first love… Do the first works”[7] We should also then love the Lord by doing the ‘first works’ and continue in the works he has ordained for us to do since the foundations of the world.[8] Do we still pray, read our Bibles, go to church and pray? If not we may have left our first love and may need to repent. The question is, how is our love life today not what have we attained so far? Jesus had said in another place, “If you want to abide in my love, keep my commandments”[9] In other words he was saying for us to do the things He cares about not the things we ourselves want to do. Such was also the call for Peter to take care of His Sheep, “Do you love me Peter, if you do, feed my sheep and flocks”[10]


Opening up to Intimacy with God

The language of intimacy is not unique to Song of Songs, David says, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.”[11] Jesus goes even further in wanting to share himself with the materially rich but otherwise wretched Laodicean church.

17Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 20Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.[12]


2I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. 3I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? 4My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. 5I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. 6I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.[13]


Transcending the elementary principles of hermeneutics for a minute and seeing the Bible as one whole unit that is God breathed we can glean the following understanding. When we see the above two scriptures in tandem we see illustrated, the problems that emanate from substituting intimacy with The Lord with something else like politics. The solution also becomes glaringly apparent. Many times we can be closed to the type of intimacy God wants to have with us which would have availed us much. Put simply, It’s all about Loving The Lord and spending time with Him. When was the last time we had a long deep intimate time of prayer?

[1]http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/songs/song7.htm
[2] 1 Kings 1:3)
[3] Song 5:8 (KJV)
[4] Ephes. 5:30-33 (KJV)
[5] Matthew 24:12
[6] Luke 18:18
[7] Revelation 2:4,5
[8] Ephesians 2:10
[9] John 15:9
[10] John 21:17
[11] Psalm 42:1 (KJV)
[12] Revelation 3:17-20
[13] Song 5:2-6 (KJV)

Insight into human suffering from Job

Introduction

Job’s tragedy, the resulting dialogue and exchanges and final restoration have powerful lessons for all of us. Life can dish out some grief even when we have done our best to live righteously but we can hope for a better end and outcome especially if we are believing Christians. This comforts every person that has been hit with tragedy, sorrow and misfortune. This is the purpose of this book. To answer the questions, Why do the righteous suffer? How should we deal with our suffering and what will the end of be?

What manner of a man?

16If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; 17Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; 18(For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;) 19If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; 20If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; 21If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: Job 31:16-21 (KJV)

According to these verses Job was not only obviously a man of faith but also one through whom kindness flowed to others. He helped the poor and the widow (v.16) he had sheltered and shared his food with orphans (v. 17-18). He had helped and clothed the needy (V. 19). Jesus had also said, when you have a feast invite the poor and needy not the rich (Luke 14:3). James tells us such kindness is pure religion when combined with holiness (James 1:27) Job also describes his walk in the ‘holiness’ department as above reproach. No wonder The Lord had boasted about this man’s ways and his fear and reverential respect for him (Job 1:8).

9If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door; 10Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her. 11For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges. Job 31:9-11 (KJV)

In the above quoted chapter and especially in the verses indicated, we get a vivid picture of what Job was like. Job relates a mini-biography that would make the best of Christians look bad. These poetry portions are even more revealing than the prologue written in prose about Job’s character in understanding the type of man Job was.

It will not just do Job justice to say, Job was a really good man but a sinner like all of us. Why was Job called a good man without par in all the earth? ”Wow!?, In all the earth?” Only a few exceptional men have had the distinction of being called the most humble, most wise in all the earth and these were Moses and Solomon respectively. Job in his just dealings must have reached the highest bar that can possibly be attained by men, yet his problems were just about to start.


Spiritual Warfare

Job’s bafflement of the events that had overtaken him emanated from the impeccable life he had lived. Why me? That he was a good man was not just his own evaluation but also God’s and negatively Satan’s, although the latter attributes self interest to Job’s motivations. This perfect life, surprisingly enough seems to be the reason he gets caught in-between God and Satan (Job 1:8,9). Such warfare, it’s proven, no one will escape who lives, past, present and future including even our Lord Jesus. This single profound truth can become one of the great lessons from Job. Life in its spiritually bare form is a battle and a warfare that involves us with colossal spiritual forces. This parallels what the rest of the Bible says on the subject. See for example Jesus’ temptation or the verses in Ephesians that clearly depict this warfare[1]

12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.[2]

The Reasons For Suffering

Satan Challenges even The Lord’s testimony about Job and God permits a temporary trail period for Job by Satan with certain conditions. Why? Because God is sovereign and able to command anything and everything he wants concerning his creation. That was also the sum of The Lord’s answer to Job at the end[3]. One need not ask “Why?” one needs only to trust God. That seems to be one of the important lessons conveyed by this marvelous book. Another important lesson is that others who witness our suffering will more often than not misinterpret it as God’s wrath and fall into judgment themselves.

But the real reason for suffering is not as satisfactorily answered as in other New Testament portions concerning the subject of suffering. However, Job must have come to a realization of ‘the why’ himself and gives us the following hint.

10But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.[4]

A fuller more satisfying explanation of suffering from the New Testament can be found in the apostle Peter’s epistles who also had a theology of suffering as a fellow Christian sufferer and one who had seen The Lord suffer.

4:1Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;[5]

10But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.[6]

Why God permits the temporary suffering of his own becomes one among many theological questions that posit themselves to the reader of Job’s story. According to Peter, Suffering works in us sanctification. Therefore, the questions Job posits for its reader gets its full answer in The New Testament in Christ. This is perhaps also an answer and a solution to the questions and riddles of our own lives.

A Blessed End For the Sufferer

God is the ultimate authority on the outcome of suffering and He must anticipate a good end for it. This we can believe and rejoice about knowing that the reality of suffering is inescapable for every soul but its end will always be beneficial to it. The end for Job was a theophany[7] and a blessing and a restoration that exceeded his initial state and ownings[8]. Job had the joy of seeing the lord which is the heart desire of all devout men yet granted to only a few like Moses, Daniel and Isaiah. “The pure in heart shall see God.”[9]

[1] (Matt. 4: 1-10. Eph 2:2).
[2] Ephes. 6:12 (KJV)
[3] (Job 401; 42:1
[4] Job 23:10 (KJV)
[5] 1 Peter 4:1 (KJV)
[6] 1 Peter 5:10 (KJV)
[7] (Job 42:5)
[8] Job 42:12,15
[9] Matthew Ch 5