Samson's Father Was a Dolt

Things I never noticed in the Bible

Judges 13
I remember Samson's father Manoah being dumb in this chapter.
And I remember Samson having some serious moral failings later.

I've just never seen a possible connection between them before.

In Judges 13, God appears to Manoah's wife (she is never named), announces Samson's birth, and instructs her how to raise him.  Manoah seems unwilling to believe her and asks God to appear again.  God does but says no more to him than He did to her.  It's an indirect rebuke: you could have listened to her!  After the appearance, their conversation shows her to be the wiser one, spiritually.  Manoah was a spiritual dolt.

What I never noticed:  Samson did not have a strong spiritual role model for a father.  Did that have a direct effect on Samson's later impulsivity, lust, violence, and general lack of self-control?  I won't go so far as to assume and assert that, but it IS a warning to the rest of us fathers.  Give your sons an example of self-control, and the Spirit will use it in their own souls to help them follow the Lord better.

Not that their spiritual state is up to your actions, in a works-righteousness way, but you want to "work with the grain" of the Spirit's work in your sons' lives, not cut against it.

Gideon was Afraid

Things I Never Noticed in the Bible: Judges 7

When God whittles Gideon's army down to 300, His first step is to send home anyone who is afraid.

Then, when God tells Gideon to go fight Midian, Judges 7:10-11, God gives him the option to sneak down with just his servant to check it out, first, if Gideon is afraid.  Gideon takes that option.  He himself was afraid!

But he fought anyway.

Yahweh, Moses, and Joshua

Things I Never Noticed in the Bible

Joshua 5:13-6:3 – The same theophany, Jesus appearing to Joshua and telling him to take off his sandals, seems to continue into chapter 6.  I realize it is “commander of Yahweh’s army” in chapter 5, and “Yahweh” in chapter 6.  But it is a replay of the burning bush.  

God sets apart the mediator, names His Name, Yahweh, then gives instruction on what to do.  God appeared to Moses at the burning bush, and told him to take off his sandals (Ex 3:5).  He named Himself Yahweh for the first time, there (Ex 3:14).  It's the same in Joshua 5-6.  Yahweh gives Joshua instruction on HOW to execute the exodus-now-conquest.

The Door Before

The Door Before by N.D. Wilson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The Door Before, review

I can’t remember the last time I read a book in 24 hours.

Maybe it was the holiday. Or that I hadn’t read a book geared to youth in a long while. The Door Before was a real treat.

A prequel that connects to his 100 Cupboards and Ashtown burials series, N.D. Wilson explores themes of courage in the face of evil, learning about yourself, parenting young people wisely, and more. On the writing side, sometimes the author tries too hard and it shows. But usually his writing is vivid, striking and fresh.

Some themes I found interesting:



Courage in the face of evil

The world is a dangerous place. It’s Author has made it so. Wilson has traced that theme in non-fiction in “Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl.” The evil witch-queen simply steps into our world and wreaks havoc, unbidden and unwanted.

In a world clamoring for safety, especially now during a pandemic, Wilson swims against the tide. Perhaps ways between worlds aren’t inherently evil and wrong, just because it caused a lot of damage that first time. The author definitely leans toward going out and fighting evil, instead of “mitigating risk.”

This isn’t an absolute, of course. Sometimes the good guys retreat, but it’s always to regroup and fight again. We attack the gates of hell, in Jesus’ metaphor, but most of our spiritual energy seems to go to repelling Satan’s attacks. Maybe there should be more to the picture we have of our Christian lives?

Wilson paints the portrait deftly, with the main characters set on mission to go conquer the witch, while side characters offer resistance and objections, but come along in the end. There are echoes there of Jesus going to Jerusalem to die, with Peter objecting.



Learning about yourself

The main character, Hyacinth, discovers she has a secret magical power, and learns to use it on the fly. My interpretation may be simplistic, but magic is usually a metaphor in fantasy for spiritual power generally, and/or a natural talent given to some and not others. In The Door Before it is a bit of both.

It’s important for kids to learn what they can do well, what they enjoy, and how they can be useful in the world. And where those three intersect is the vocational sweet spot. Showing that in a story kids can identify with gives real hope, when they are wondering about their future.



You can’t!

Institutional opposition is a common theme in youth literature. It’s an overdone yawner for me, but maybe that’s because I’m not 17 anymore. Yes, Hyacinth’s secret power of course is forbidden by her social group, the Order of Brennan, but she uses it anyway, and it’s a good thing she does! Wilson on this point inadvertently plays into an individualism he tends to oppose otherwise. He may have a point, though, that the strength of the individual is to fight evil more courageously than an institution can. The Order of Brennan I think may have been RIGHT to have a general policy against opening ways between worlds, but can exceptions be made? Institutions tend not to, even when they should, to be consistent. Wilson may be pointing out true flaws in institutionalism, I just wish he’d swim against the tide here as elsewhere, and point out the flaws of individualism in going off half-cocked, too. The shooting of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia recently may be an example.



Irreconcilable War

Wilson opposes individualism well in showing the true-to-the-Bible war between the seed of the woman and seed of the serpent. One characteristic of that war is that it is inter-generational. Because she was born into the Smith family, her loyalties are with the O of B, against the witch and her ravens, and so on. We are all situated in specific life circumstances without our input: gender, family, religion, geography, etc.

But this is not fatalistic. For one thing, kids need to adopt or reject the view of life they’ve been given and raised in. Wilson shows this well with the parents fighting evil with the kids knowing little about it, at the beginning. But they learn and start to fight, too. For another thing, the author has a couple scenes that show people discerning where the loyalties of others lie, when it’s unclear. The acid test: how do they respond to obvious evil and to clearly good characters? This gives growing kids an excellent tool kit to know how to read new people who come into their lives.



Parenting young people wisely

One subplot is the parents. How much do they tell the kids? When do they release them into the dangerous world? The parents make a mistake or two here, and they belong to a group bigger than the family that points it out to them. That is good. One thing parents tend to do is withhold information when adolescents are crying out for it. Instead we (I’m a parent of 4 teens!) let them figure life out on their own, while we are occupied with other things, to their detriment. Taking the time to explain why we do what we do is important. Else when they hit the world, they are engaging without critical information.

That’s enough for now. The Door Before is packed with good stuff like this.
I recommend it for young and old alike. There is a fair bit of violence described – probably best for 11 or 12 years old on up.



View all my reviews

Spiritual wisdom when reopening church // Out of Touch

Good article here on our motives and intentions when reopening church together.


"Out of Touch"
This 2-minute short video is pretty good.  I know it's exaggerated, but I hope we're not heading for a version of this.
I would rather risk viruses and germs than never shake hands again.  Paul calls believers to greet each other with a kiss.  Apostles gave each other the right hand of fellowship.

Taliban Brutality // Back to Work? // Doctor's Orders? // Dictators Lie

Brutal in Kabul

The Wall Street Journal yesterday had a front-page picture of a soldier rescuing a bloody baby from a hospital attacked Tuesday.  The Islamic State or the Taliban most likely carried it out.  They shot up a maternity ward leaving 16 dead, including 2 babies.  As the Journal put it, even in war-torn Afghanistan this struck a nerve.  Sitting at the breakfast table with my wife that was certainly the case.  Why aren’t these people wiped out, I asked.  Why allow them to exist, when we know what they intend and we have the capability to take them out by satellite and drone?  Maybe that’s extreme.  Maybe we can’t find those responsible.  But America doesn’t seem to have learned it’s a bad idea to go half-in instead of all-in, in a land war in Asia.

Back to Work?

My local paper had a front-page article on a restaurant in town that has called employees back to work.  Those that don’t answer the call promptly have been let go.  But they couldn’t arrange child care.  But the employer needed to employ folks at 75% to keep their loan money from the government.  But the employees were concerned about the health situation.  But the employer could provide for that adequately.  What a mess!  Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has been pushing for liability protection for businesses for a while, and now I see why.  So many lawsuits coming…

Doctor’s orders 

On the virus, I’ve been having this thought lately.  When doctors give advice for treatment, they aim for optimal health without regard for the cost of treatment.  When things are serious, you go along and thank God for insurance if you have it.  But there ARE times the doctor prescribes a treatment, and you weigh the benefits against the high cost, and decide to forego the treatment.  This is not a moral travesty, nor is it inherently reckless.  The American people are leaning toward this course in their increasing resistance of shutdowns.  Doctors and politicians cannot maintain an iron grip on an entire society, even during a plague, to control completely our levels of activity.  People need to be responsible health-wise, and also not freak out if someone moves into their 6 foot zone.  This whole thing is a case study in how powerfully the media can affect our thinking the way they want it.  See here for that.

Dictators lie

Okay all humans lie, and America isn't exempt.  Granted.
Chinese hackers are trying to steal virus treatment and vaccine information from the U.S.  Amazing.  They won’t give the world important information about it, and now they try stealing what we do know.  The US denied approval to a Chinese mask making company to sell them to America, since they aren’t up to quality standards.  Meanwhile Putin’s Russia lies about its role in World War II, and about how bad the virus is there.

Sing! // Re-Humanizing // Humility-Charity Needed

The Church misses its singing in these times, World Magazine magazine wisely points out.


How do we stop seeing others only as a viral threat?  Not sure, but this article shows us deep in that dismal reality.


A call for humble charity in these times of accusation and demagoguery.

Thoughts on reopening church

Liberty

Yes, churches have the right to worship, regardless of what a government says.  When the government closes down a church because it sees the church as a threat, that is persecution, and we should find a way to worship anyway.  But when the gov’t asks churches not to meet while also asking businesses and theaters to close, all for health reasons, the church should be inclined to comply.  Church leaders should check into the health reasons as best they can, so they can see and explain how closing is protecting their people.

Medical/Health Concerns

I’m not an expert, so take this for what it's worth: there is a highly contagious, airborne, and deadly virus out there that we have no effective treatment for.  So to breathe the same air with 200 other people in the same room for 2 hours doesn’t make much health sense.  This is why churches agreed to close.  Now, the virus appears to only severely affect the sick and elderly, and it is geographically limited to dense populations.  As we learn these things, it should change how we respond.  It seems the lockdown worked, in that it lowered the number of cases so the city hospitals could handle the load.  Whether we need to continue on this course is not at all obvious to me.  Next point:

How long? 

At the beginning of this quarantine, we all had the feeling that if we just did this for a month or so, we could get back to normal.  Now that we’re 2 months in, we’re getting restless and talking about our freedoms and our livelihoods.  Our governor just extended lockdown to the end of May.  I’ve recently read the Johns Hopkins medical guidelines for how governors should go about reopening.  It speaks of taking a small step to reopening, wait 2-3 weeks to get new data, then hopefully take another small step, then wait 2-3 weeks again.  If the data shows more cases, you clamp down again.  The timeline is far more extensive than was let on early on, and people are not taking that well.  What that means for church is this: going without worship for 1 month is do-able.  Considering this path for 3-6 months is not.  Churches will start meeting again, and they already have.  And this brings me to my last point.

Public perception of risk

I expect people will generally refuse to remain quarantined for that long.  They’ll start to accept the risk of going back to work and shop.  Especially the younger and healthier will accept that risk.  They will social distance the more worried they are, but they’ll start regaining a sense of normalcy.  Getting this virus is nothing to sneeze at (pun intended).  But it’s hardest on the elderly and those already sick.  Those people will see the risk as too great, and stay home.  But the rest are moving away from accepting CDC and Johns Hopkins procedures, which are extremely risk-averse to the point of tanking our economy.

Will people come back at this point?  Or will it take people a while yet to feel safe enough to be in crowds?  I myself have noted a high level of risk-aversion, yet.  But to maintain it at that level such that we don’t hold worship services until there is a vaccine is just not going to happen.  Church leaders, like state governors, may need to lead their folks back out into the church sanctuary, even when some think it’s too soon.

New expectations

Churches will need to make more accommodations for absent members to watch the service from home.  They’ll need to make clear that it’s okay to not attend if they don’t want to take the health risk.  May God give church leaders and members all wisdom to navigate these issues, and charity with each other when we come to different conclusions.

An Open Letter to Politicians and Media

Dear President, Governors, and mainstream media,

In a time of crisis, society needs its leaders to act for the good of the nation, not for their own selfish interests.  You are deepening in our nation the infection of a culture circling the drain. 

Media: CNN, MSNBC, New York Times, The Atlantic, etc.,

We know the political Left has a vested political interest in hurting the economy as much as they can right now, which is their best chance to hurt Trump’s chances of winning in November.  And we know you are an arm of that left.  You pursue that agenda hard, with every broadcast and issue.  You ask “gotcha” questions of our President all day.  Would the Trump daily press conferences be as hostile if Hillary Clinton were the president?  Would the Cuomo pressers be as friendly if it were a conservative?  No, you have an agenda that is no longer even hidden.  This is journalistic malpractice and you should stop it.  

Stop making your opinion the news, and report the facts.  There was a time journalists knew enough not to inject their views into their work.  Stop highlighting only the good of Democrats and only the faults of Republicans.  Why is Georgia’s governor the devil, experimenting with human sacrifice (an actual headline of yours!!) for reopening, while Democratic governors who have taken similar steps get a pass?  Your agenda is obvious and despicable, given your high-flown rhetoric about the importance of journalism, and its role in preserving free speech.  You abuse your media platform for your own purposes, which will degrade first amendment freedoms for all of us in the long run.

Civil leaders:  Mr. President, Governors,

Please don’t blindly follow one set of experts over others.  You take medical opinions as undoubted truth, and conform an entire nation to its prescription, regardless of the cost.  No, it is up to you to weigh input from various fields and set your policy.  Have the courage to do this, rather than just do whatever the doctors say.  Thomas Sowell has described well the difference between liberals and conservatives.  Liberals see the world as a place of goals and visions, and obstacles to them.  Conservatives see the world as a place of tradeoffs between various worthy priorities.  I would urge you to see your task in terms of the latter.

Avoid self-congratulatory answers to questions.  Be honest with us about the risks of the policies you pursue – there will inevitably be some in this crisis.  You don’t have a fool-proof, bullet-proof, fail-safe policy, so be straight with us.  Stop prioritizing you getting re-elected, over serving the people.  In these times, the two can conflict, and your political courage is badly needed to help us.

Why must we remain in lockdown now that the curve has flattened, and medical capacity was not exceeded?  We all know a second wave is coming, but we must also restart an economy that has had a heart attack, and is now going without oxygen to the brain with each passing week.  Medically, and economically, this causes longer term damage the longer it goes on.  We cannot wait until there is a vaccine or until there is little risk of infection to reopen.

Let us follow the path of Sweden, reopen, risk more cases as our supply of ventilators, etc., increases, develop more immunity, and get back to work.  We are not looking to you to keep us completely safe and disease free – that is not your job, and we will not fault you for it come election time.  But making decisions that only take one (medical) factor into account, no matter any other cost, will be catastrophic for our society and your political future.

Finally, politicians, please trust us to do the right thing and social distance as best we can.  Your role is not to mother us with detailed edicts, threats and penalties, but to provide information for responsible citizens to act upon as they see fit.  We understand the need in a medical crisis to act all together according to certain strict hygienic standards.  But many of us would rather take the medical risk than forfeit our freedoms to your overdone injunctions and civil penalties.

Signed, 

We the people, of the United States of America, whom you are called to serve.