America is the New Rome (Sort Of)

This weekend one of my friends asked me “True of false? America is the new Rome.” I didn’t get a chance to fully answer his question, and he should really know better than to ask me questions like that, because it ends up in posts like this.

There are a couple of ways to answer this question, depending on what the original meaning was. I think there are two likely interpretations, which are not mutually exclusive, but which I’ll take one at a time.

1. America is the new Rome = The cultural context of 21st century America is similar to the cultural context of the 1st century Roman Empire.

The answer: “sort of.”

There are interesting similarities like:
- The Roman Empire had an extremely globalized culture (common language, moral values, forms of entertainment [all Greek – thanks Alexander the Great!]) with people from all walks of life open to a wide range of political, cultural, and especially religious ideas – that sounds like America
- The Roman Empire undoubtedly had the top-notch military in the world, and “peace and safety” was part of its mantra – it proclaimed itself the peacekeeper of the world – that sounds like America
- The Empire thrived or fell on economic trade and how well the money flowed – that sure sounds like America
- The run of the mill citizen cared a lot more about their own well-being and popular entertainment than any of pressing social or political issues of the day, summed up in the phrase “bread and circuses” – that sounds like – Whoa! Did you hear the stars of “Twilight” broke up? Will Angelina and Brad have more kids?

But there are important differences:
- The Roman Empire depended on slavery to function – although you could make a pretty good case that the third world workers who we depend on for our stuff aren’t in a much better situation
- We (usually) don’t worship our leaders, present or departed, like the Romans did Caesar, although a 1st century Roman citizen, seeing some of the fine products you can purchase which feature Presidents current, recent, and past, and things like this:

Might be forgiven for thinking that we do.
- We don’t watch people kill each other as form of entertainment – we have refined that into football, which most people recover from

The important thing about these similarities between current America and ancient Rome is that ancient Rome was the culture into which Christianity was born, and thrived, even when it was violently persecuted. It thrived by standing in opposition to the idolatrous gods and empty promises of the age – where Rome worshipped Caesar, money, power, meaningless entertainment, and the handy ability to kill anyone who stood in their way, Christians worshiped Jesus, shared with those in need, served the forgotten and downtrodden, made strangers into family, and proclaimed the power of the gospel of the resurrection from the dead. The modern church should take a lesson.

2. America is the new Rome = America can be substituted into the place of Rome in interpreting Biblical prophecy (especially Revelation).

The answer: a very, very carefully worded “sort of.”

Revelation is one of my favorite books of the Bible. You should ask me about it sometime when you’ve got an hour or so and a Bible handy. The reason it’s my favorite, though, is because of the very clear picture it paints of the sovereignty of Christ and the fulfillment of God’s purposes for the world through Him. But carrying Revelation over into the present day is risky business. I remembering clearly hearing that this guy was the Anti-Christ:

The mark of the beast, right there on his head!!!

I think we can now say with confidence that Gorbachev was not the prophesied Beast of Revelation (there’s no Anti-Christ in Revelation, by the way).

So equating America, or any other modern nation, concretely with Biblical prophecy is tricky. Let me see if I can illustrate. I read the other day a line in a book by a semi-famous conservative Christian author who writes a lot about prophecy. He said, “One of the most frustrating things for American students of prophecy is that there is no clear mention of the United States in prophecies of the end times.”

Yes, yes that is frustrating. You know what would have been more frustrating though? To be any of the people who read the Bible prior to 1776 and would have wondered, “Where the heck is America?”

Revelation is so powerful because it pulls double duty as 1) a word of prophecy and encouragement to the people who first read it in the 1st century, and 2) a word of prophecy and encouragement in the 21st century. It was also, lest we forget, a word of prophecy and encouragement to people in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, etc., centuries.

And the message throughout all the centuries, 1st to 21st, has been the same. The point of the book is in the title – the revelation is that no matter how much it looks like the forces of evil, and sin, and death are winning, God and His Son are ultimately in charge of history.

Interpreted this way, any believer who finds themselves surrounded by powers opposed to God can say that they are in Rome. American Christians, faced with the idolatry of money and power, can be in Rome. Chinese Christians, faced with persecution, arrest, and accused of being traitors, can be in Rome. Even Christians in Rome can be in Rome! Wherever the powers of this world are opposed to the power of the gospel, that’s Rome.

And Rome, by the way, wasn’t always Rome, so to speak. In Revelation, although it’s pretty clear they are talking about Rome, it’s referred to as Babylon! And when the Israelites were in exile in Babylon, the prophets referred to it as a new form of slavery and exodus from Egypt! The last pivotal time of persecution, exile, and oppression for God's people serves as a model for the current generation.

And the good news? "The gospel," if you will? In each case, God delivers.
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and His Messiah, and He will reign forever and ever.” – Revelation 11:15
“Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” – Revelation 22:20

Jesus Tweets or Following Jesus...on Twitter

This is not an entirely original idea, but I don’t think anyone’s done it quite this way before…

The scene: Jesus has begun his ministry in Galilee. His friends in the south, like Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, wonder how it’s going. These are some the tweets they might have received from their friend…

sonofman1 Preached in home town today. Started off really well, then they tried to kill me. Will have to tweak that sermon…

sonofman1 Got my first disciples today! Fishermen, brothers – sort of a rough bunch, honestly, but good-hearted.

sonofman1 In Capernaum, very busy day. Taught at synagogue, cast out demon, healed Peter’s mother-in-law. – Wait a minute – Peter’s MARRIED?!!

sonofman1 Everyone is looking for me. I think I need to get away to a lonely place and pray.

sonofman1 Teaching in a house today and some guys dig a hole in the roof. Never seen such faith. Anyway, paralytic healed, home-owner got skylight. Everybody wins!

sonofman1 Got into argument with Pharisees today over Sabbath. Ugh! Those guys make me so mad!

sonofman1 In Caesarea Philippi, did “you judge the speck in your brother’s eye, but have a log in your eye” lesson. Nothing! That line killed in Capernaum.

sonofman1 Healed a demon-possessed man, inadvertently killed 100 or so pigs. Long story!

sonofman1 Coming into town next Tuesday. Martha – relax! The house doesn’t have to be perfect!

Bible Verses That Freak Me Out # 25 – Mo Money, Mo Problems - “Render to Caesar to things that are Caesar’s” – Mark 12:13-17

Happy tax day, everyone!

We all know Jesus hung out with tax collectors, even including a former tax collector in his group of twelve disciples. But what did Jesus say specifically about taxes? And what did He mean…

“And they (the chief priests) sent some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to Him, in order to trap Him in a statement. And they came and said to Him, ‘Teacher, we know that you are truthful, and defer to know one; for you are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not? Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?’

But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, ‘Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at.’ And they brought one. And He said to them, ‘Whose likeness and inscription is this?’ And they said to Him, ‘Caesar’s.’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.’”

A couple of interesting things about this passage:

1. The Pharisees and the Herodians were NOT friends. They teamed up in “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” move. The first group was anti-Rome, anti-Greek, anti-everything except the Law of God (as they perceived it). The Herodians, as you might could guess, were Herod’s posse. Big fans of Rome. Whatever straight answer Jesus gave “Sure, pay the tax” or “Don’t pay the tax” there was a group there to cry foul.

2. “You defer to no one and are not partial to any” – is their way of saying “If anybody doesn’t care what Caesar thinks, it’s you.” They are encouraging Him to get in touch with his revolutionary side.

3. You want to talk about taxation without representation? The first-century Jews were an occupied territory. Their taxes funded a government that was, in their minds, evil and idolatrous.

4. Speaking of idolatrous, most Jews regarded Roman coins as idolatrous. If the picture of the emperor weren’t enough, the inscription, which in this period probably read “Tiberius, son of the divine Augustus” certainly was. “Son of the divine?” Nice.

5. “Render” here means more than just “give.” It has the specific meaning of giving back someone something that belongs to them.

So, what does Jesus mean? Is Jesus teaching “separation of church and state?” That’s a pretty common interpretation – that Jesus is slyly acknowledging the temporary sovereignty of Caesar, but holding out the true sovereignty of God.

But there’s something else going on here, too. Jesus is saying “no” to a particular way of revolution, and encouraging people to say “yes” to His way. Not paying your taxes is not the way to conquer Rome, Jesus is saying. “Pay back Caesar what is his” may mean “the only appropriate thing to do with junk like this is send it back where it came from.” It may mean “God doesn’t want or need your money. If Caesar wants it, he can have it.”

“Render to God the things that are God’s.” What belongs to God? Who bears God’s image? How do we give that which belongs to God back to Him? Jesus answered those questions in His teaching, His ministry, His death, and His resurrection. That’s the real revolution.

Further reading if want to have your mind blown:
"Hard Sayings of Jesus" - F.F. Bruce
"Jesus and the Victory of God" - N.T. Wright
"The Politics of Jesus" - John Howard Yoder

Better Living Through Zoology: What Not to Do at the Zoo

Dear zoo-goers,

Animals really only need three things, in this order:

1. To sense that they are safe and healthy
2. To get enough to eat and drink
3. To socialize to whatever extent is usual for their species (including mating and raising young)

And that's pretty much it. The people who build and run zoos (especially modern ones) know this. You'll notice that "space to roam" or "freedom" didn't make the list. This may be a controversial opinion, but the only reason animals need space to roam is so that they can fulfill all of those other needs in a wild setting.

As a visitor to the zoo, your responsibility is to help the zookeepers fulfill the first part of need #1. The zoo will take care of the health part, and the feeding, and the socializing, and most of the safety. The only thing in the animals' environment that the zoo can't control is you. So help them and yourself by not jumping into the enclosure with the animals. They won't feel safe. Especially if you do it while need #2 is being addressed.

So, by all means, go to the zoo! You get to learn about and experience the fascinating wonders of our world, imbue a love of animals in yourself and your children, and get to help preserve endangered species in the process.

But please, help the animals feel safe, and teach your children to do the same!

Bible Verses That Freak Me Out #24 - "My God! My God! Why have You forsaken me?"

Five days before, he had entered the Holy City in triumph. The masses hooted and hollered and paved his way with palm branches and threw their dirty and torn robes into the street. “Son of David!” “Messiah!” “King of the Jews,” they called him. He humbles his enemies, disrupts worship in the temple – all preparing the way for the coming of the great and glorious King!

Behold the King, high and lifted up!

Crucified.

His title now became his accusation. Guilty. The crime - being King of the Jews. The real king of the Jews, Herod, found their first face-to-face encounter the night before disappointing. This Messiah was not nearly so entertaining as the last one, that Baptist fellow whose head he had to give up. Even more removed, the real king of kings, the real ruler of the Jews, Tiberius Caesar, didn’t even know this crucified peasant king existed. He had provincial governors and other bureaucrats to deal with these sorts of petty insurgencies. If a Caesar ever had to take such matters into his own hands, you could bet there would be no more Holy City, and no more talk of Messiahs.

Those who fancied themselves the spiritual kings of the Jews rejoiced in the punishment for this blasphemer, and mocked him, quoting from one of their psalms. “He saved others – he can’t save himself! He is the ‘King of Israel’, let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ‘He trusts in God – let God rescue him.’”

And the crucified King says nothing. Except – another quote, from the same psalm his enemies quoted. One last debate about the meaning of the scriptures between the priests and the prophet – the last word on the meaning of the life – and death – of the Son of Man. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?!” He didn’t even say it in Hebrew. His last words a soul-wrenching exclamation in the common tongue.

G.K. Chesterton, in “Orthodoxy:”
“That a good man might have his back to the wall is no more than we knew already; but that God could have His back to the wall is a boast for all insurgents for ever. Christianity is the only religion on earth that has felt that omnipotence made God incomplete. Christianity alone has felt that God, to be wholly God, must have been a rebel as well as a king. Alone of all creeds, Christianity has added courage to the virtues of the Creator. For the only courage worth calling courage must necessarily mean that the soul passes a breaking point – and does not break. In this indeed I approach a matter more dark and awful than it is easy to discuss; and I apologize in advance if any of my phrases fall wrong or seem irreverent touching a matter which the greatest saints and thinkers have justly feared to approach.

But in that terrific tale of the Passion there is a distinct emotional suggestion that the author of all things (in some unthinkable way) went not only through agony, but through doubt. It is written, ‘Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” No; but the Lord thy God may tempt Himself; and it seems as if this is what happened in Gethsemane. In a garden Satan tempted man; and in a garden God tempted God. He passed in some superhuman manner through our human horror of pessimism. When the world shook and the sun was wiped from heaven, it was not at the crucifixion, but at the cry from the cross: the cry which confessed that God was forsaken of God. And now let the revolutionists choose a creed from all the creeds and a god from all the gods of the world, carefully weighing all the gods of inevitable recurrence and of unalterable power. They will not find another god who has himself been in revolt. Nay, (the matter grows too difficult for human speech) but let the atheists themselves choose a god. They will find only one divinity who ever uttered their isolation; only one religion in which God seemed for an instant to be an atheist.”

The last word – “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Except…

There is the small matter of Sunday morning, and a certain empty tomb…

"The Screwtape Letters" and The Theory of Humor

In C.S. Lewis’ classic The Screwtape Letters, there are many chapters filled with wit and wisdom. One of my favorite of those is the chapter on humor. Discussing a sense of humor is tricky to do – like explaining a joke, if you have to talk about what makes something funny, you’ve probably missed the point. But I find Lewis’ description in the following passage very insightful.

If you aren’t familiar with The Screwtape Letters, the conceit of the book is that it is advice from an old demon to a young demon on how best to tempt humans. It’s also one of my favorite books. Lewis hilariously re-imagines the epic rebellion of the fallen angels in Paradise Lost devolved into a sort of demonic religious bureaucracy, with under-secretaries, handbooks, and such. It’s important to remember then, when you read “The Enemy” it’s a reference to God, “our Father” is a reference to the devil, and “the patient” is the person being tempted.

“I divide the causes of human laughter into Joy, Fun, the Joke Proper, and Flippancy. You will see the first among friends and lovers reunited on the eve of a holiday. Among adults some pretext in the way of Jokes in usually provided, but the facility with which the smallest witticisms produce laughter at such a time shows that they are not the real cause. What that real cause is we do not know. Something like it is expressed in much of that detestable art which the humans call Music, and something like it occurs in Heaven – a meaningless acceleration in the rhythm of celestial experience, quite opaque to us. Laughter of this kind does us no good and should always be discouraged. Besides, the phenomenon is of itself disgusting and a direct insult to the realism, dignity, and austerity of Hell.

Fun is closely related to Joy – a sort of emotional froth arising from the play instinct. It is very little use to us. It can sometimes be used, of course, to divert humans from something else which the Enemy would like them to be feeling or doing: but in itself it has wholly undesirable tendencies; it promotes charity, courage, contentment, and many other evils.

The Joke Proper, which turns on a sudden perception of incongruity, is a much more promising field. I am not thinking primarily of indecent or bawdy humor, which, though much relied upon by second-rate tempters, is often disappointing in its results. The truth is that humans are pretty clearly divided on this matter into two classes. There are some to whom “no passion is as serious as lust” and for whom an indecent story ceases to produce lasciviousness precisely in so far as it becomes funny: there are others in whom laughter and lust are excited at the same moment and by the same thing. The first sort joke about sex because it gives rise to many incongruities: the second cultivate incongruities because they afford a pretext for talking about sex. Find out which group the patient belongs to – and see that he does not find out.

The real use of Jokes or Humor is in quite a different direction, and it is especially promising among the English who take their “sense of humor” so seriously that a deficiency in this sense is almost the only deficiency at which they feel shame. [In my experience, you can substitute “The American teenage or college age male” in for “the English” and get the same truth] Humor is for them the all-consoling and (mark this) the all-excusing, grace of life. Hence it is invaluable as a means of destroying shame. If a man simply lets others pay for him, he is “cheap;” if he boasts of it in a jocular manner and needles his fellows about getting one over on them, he is no longer “cheap” but a comical fellow. Mere cowardice is shameful; cowardice boasted of with humorous exaggerations and grotesque gestures can be passed off as funny. Cruelty is shameful – unless the cruel man can represent it as a practical joke. A thousand bawdy, or even blasphemous, jokes do not help towards a man’s damnation so much as his discovery that almost anything he wants to do can be done, not only without the disapproval but with the admiration of his fellows, if only it can get itself treated as a Joke.

But Flippancy is the best of all. In the first place it is very economical. Only a clever human can make a real Joke about virtue, or indeed about anything else; any of them can be trained to talk as if virtue were funny. Among flippant people the Joke is always assumed to have been made. No one actually makes it; but every serious subject is discussed in a manner which implies that they have already found a ridiculous side to it. If prolonged, the habit of Flippancy builds up around a man the finest armor-plating against the Enemy that I know, and it is quite free from the dangers inherent in the other sources of laughter. It is a thousand miles away from Joy: it deadens, instead of sharpening the intellect; and it incites no affection between those who practice it.”