Friday, March 21, 2008

Spring Break: the words sound like a time of intense boredom—excuse me, relaxation. For us, it is simply a switching over of guests. Our local home-from-the-war-on-furlough-soldier, Donnie showed up for a visit. Donnie, Dathan and Josiah are a deadly combination. I spent the majority of the visit dodging them, recovering stolen shoes from the rooftop gutter, the porch rafters or other random spots of concealment. Donnie hasn’t changed one single cubic centimeter. Reading his notes from Iraq, how the bodies come in mutilated and he has to identify them and file reports, how the most comforting sound is the sound of a helicopter shooting scud missiles, simply because he knows those are friends, protecting him, how other American soldiers cheer when they see the bodies of Arabs, while he sees only the end of a life—a soul gone to judgment. He neglected to tell us today was his twenty-second birthday. Twenty-two years old, and he’s a platoon sergeant, responsible for a whole host of tasks, with death constantly staring him in the face. Twenty-two years old, and separated from his new bride by a commission and an ocean. Wars and rumors of wars, Jesus promised, until the return of the Prince of Peace.

The movie I went to such labor to procure from the Tech library was titled “Inherit the Wind.” Tonight we watched a critique of it, under the name “Inherently Wind”. Enlightening it was to see the background on the Scopes Monkey Trial—in which the state laws regarding teaching man as descended from apes was put on trial, in one of the most famous and most fake trials in history. “Ah,” said the defense. “When any one theory is taught exclusively, then is there only room for bigotry.” Less than a century later, what do we see? One theory taught: the theory that man evolved from apes. Bigotry? I could hardly agree more. Propaganda, the movie was. Hardly a hint of fact, with an overt stab at the character of Christians in general. Any movie, so inflammatory about any other “type” of people, would be banned from public schools. Instead, this one is shown in English classes, and discussed as “a great classic.”

Zach dived through the doors in time to send Dathan rolling across the floor. Everyone seems to find Dathan an irresistible rag-doll. We’ll have a full breakfast table tomorrow morning.

“Be silent and listen, O Israel! This day you have become a people for Yahweh, your God. You shall therefore obey Yahweh your God, and do His commandments and His statutes which I command you today.” So Moses began the lengthy curses from Mount Ebal, followed by the blessings from Mount Gerizim. “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life in order that you may live: by loving Yahweh your God, by obeying His voice, and holding fast to Him.” Disobedience to God brings a curse. “This commandment is not too difficult,” Moses insisted, and yet, even he failed and disobeyed God, and was prevented from entering the land. How is life? By loving Yahweh, obeying His voice and holding fast to Him. Those who would choose life, Yahweh saved on credit and sent their souls to a place of refuge until the Way the Truth and the Life should come and pay their ransom and redeem them and lead them to paradise—the heavenly promised land. It is He of whom Moses spoke, “The Word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart.” If you confess with your mouth, Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. Choose life in order that you may live.

Lord, I stand upon Mount Gerizim,
And gaze into the promised land,
Thou spoke the blessing long ago,
And led Thy people by Thy hand

But this same blessing that Thou spoke,
The Word, blessed every man in Thee.
By Thy grace, I have obeyed
And chosen life eternally.