Three Temptations

On comparing the three temptations of Jesus in Matthew 4:1-11 to John’s three aspects of worldliness in 1John 2:16, I was challenged with what should be our response when in similar situations. Just reviewing, John identifies worldliness as the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does (NIV), and the Lord Jesus’ temptations were for food when hungry, for recognition of who He was, and for all the wealth and power of the world.  His answers help us to respond to opportunities to act contrary to the character of God, and go beyond a list of do’s and don’ts.

When faced with hunger (the desires of the flesh -ESV), Jesus reminded Himself (and the devil) that clearly hearing and taking in every word that God says takes precedence over satisfying our physical wants. In fact all the physical realm including our senses to enjoy it, came into existence by the word of God. (Heb.11:3)  When faced with the opportunity to be recognized as being the Son of God (the boasting of what he has and does), He observed that wanting to be exalted is usurping the place of God. And He recognized that the desire for wealth and power was idolatry, as He later remarked, “You cannot serve both God and money.” (Mt.6:24) Paul also observed that a greedy person… is an idolater.(Eph.5:5)

We will likely be faced with any one, or all three, of these types of temptations today. With the power of the Spirit of God, it is possible to answer them as the Lord did rather than struggling with our list of legal requirements that are so easy to talk ourselves  out of. We will still struggle, but can rightly see it in light of every sin being: not trusting God to provide for our physical needs, wanting praise that is rightly His, or worshiping created stuff above the Creator.  –philw- June 2013

Agnostic Diagnosticians

At a Mayo Clinic lecture, we were challenged to be “agnostic diagnosticians”, or “unknowing knowers”. That is to approach each question with openness to all the facts available before coming to a conclusion and acting on it.

It struck me that we can have this same approach to philosophical and spiritual questions. Our inclination may be to land prematurely on a religious assumption, and seeing it as holding to our convictions, refuse to seek and recognize truth. This mindset feeds religious hatred, irrational presumption, and the self-righteous arrogance that speaks louder to onlookers than any pious platitude the adherent might attempt to convey. This one makes a “diagnosis” without having to be humbled by not knowing.

On the other hand, the sophisticated liberal minded religious philosopher might take so much pride in being open-minded that he is content with remaining “agnostic”. Since we are mortal and finite, and can never know the whole truth, he reasons that it is delusional to hold on to anything as true. While not taking security in religious dogma, he yet finds it in the fact that no one can prove him wrong, and that he is free to turn any way his fancy takes him, while being consistent to his premise that no one can know if there is a right way. Without ever making a “diagnosis” he does not have to defend a position, nor act on it.  

So we are challenged to consider all of the information available, and recognizing that we only see in part and are encumbered with biases, still arrive at positions that we are willing to defend and act upon. –philw- May 2013

Distractions and Conspiracies

It’s remarkable how the news media can obsess for weeks over the personal indiscretions of a politician, while ignoring world-changing international events that are more difficult to encapsulate, less titillating, and probably more truly frightening. Sometimes it appears that national leaders deliberately  encourage focus on these trivialities in order to more freely make large moves that might otherwise attract criticism and debate. It’s the classic strategy in games as well as war: do a feint to distract the opponent while you are moving in with the real offensive.

So, considering some of the high profile concerns now in the socio-political scene and proportional media coverage, we see world leaders being whipped into basing energy policy on the possibility of a 2° temperature rise over the next 100 years while their citizens are invited to consume more resources and produce more garbage. We see a public grieving over potential shifts in the polar bear population while passionately defending the practice of killing our own unborn. We have complex laws to punish what are determined this year to be sexual offenses, while every sexual deviance imaginable is openly offered to people of all ages as entertainment.  We identify “bullying” as a prime cause of social ills and alienation, while we see systematic dismantling of sacred marriage and parent-child relationships. Meanwhile we are bullied into being “tolerant” to whatever marginal practice we might disagree with, with the underlying premise that disagreement is irrelevant because there are no moral truths.  And free speech against what is sacred is praised while speaking out against violations of the sacred is punished.  We fret over young adults emerging from the educational system with a low esteem for self and others, and regarding life in general as meaningless, while requiring by law that the educational system teach them exactly that we are irrelevant accidents in a meaningless universe.

If these are strategic feints, then what is the actual agenda? It is entertaining for little people to think about the powerful conspiring to manipulate everything for the gain of the elite. But the above social phenomena, while useful at times to economic powers, are too pervasive to be systematically initiated by them.  The apostle Peter noted that we have an enemy who prowls about like a lion seeking to devour. Although any conspiracy theory verges on paranoia, I would still suggest that what our social engineers are viewing as in the best interest of all, is, without their awareness, consistent with a supernatural strategy to lead us into worshipping and serving the creation rather than the Creator. –philw- April 2013