This is Holy Saturday. We pray it is quietly powerful and helpful in your daily walk. It is a day of stillness, but much is happening. For Jesus' followers it is the Sabbath, a day of prayer. Early that morning the chief priests and the Pharisees visit Pilate to request a guard for the tomb, suspecting that His followers might try to steal Jesus' body. Pilate ordered the tomb to be guarded and sealed. According to our Creed, Jesus, "descends into hell," on this day. He does so to free the just who had died before Him. He brings salvation to complete fulfillment. His redemptive work is for all men, at all times and in all places. For us it should be a day of prayer, fasting, reflection and somber meditation. The only permissible sacrament is Baptism in the face of imminent death. Many traditions encourage holding a vigil that commences after sundown (darkness) on Saturday evening and ends before daybreak on Easter morning. [Matt. 27:62-66] "and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins." [1 Cor. 15:17]
Please remember that you bless us with your presence, and may the Holy Spirit bring you His comfort and His peace. Join us!!!
Zoom Link:
For Study, Prayer and Fellowship - 8:00 AM PDT on 04/19/2025:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82968961343?pwd=LzcwVjJKcWVESDRURlhDcXlNV0JUdz09
Meeting ID: 829 6896 1343
Passcode: 77299ere:
04/19/2025 – Prologue – Risen Christ, in our sorrow and despair, you call us to hope. Transform our hearts with the power of your resurrection. Help us witness your love and peace in a broken world. Because you live, we dare to hope and build your kingdom.
As Americans assess the costs and benefits of President Trump’s America First brand of statecraft, they need a better understanding of the connection between the impulse toward isolationism [Isa. 2:4; 19:2] and the American experience. America’s current yearning to pull away from foreign entanglement constitutes a sharp departure from its recent record of active foreign engagement, this inward turn resonates strongly with our further past.
President George Washington warned Americans in 1796, “to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.” The isolationist impulse embraced by Washington and other Founders guided the nation for much of its history until the attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Isolationism, unilateralism, protectionism, were all features of America’s approach to the world from our beginning well into the 20th C.
Americans wanted their unique democratic experiment to spread to other countries, they sought to change the world only by the power of example, not by extending their strategic reach beyond North America. Americans were determined to protect the unique character of their nation by keeping the world at bay. Limiting foreign entanglement served America well, clearing the way for its ascent during the 19th C. During the 1930s, the United States ran for cover as virulent nationalism and militarism began to engulf Europe and East Asia. The United States was a passive bystander during one of history’s darkest decades.
During WWII and the Cold War, Americans split from their isolationist past and embraced a brand of internationalism. America’s global leadership led to a more stable and democratic world. Since the end of the Cold War, Americans have over-reached, lured off course by the idealistic ambitions of Pax Americana. The nation’s “forever wars”, [Matt. 5:9; 26:52] political polarization, and COVID-19’s painful economic impact have taken a toll on the nation’s internationalistic appetite. The folks are tired of unlimited foreign commitments, isolationist sentiment is making a comeback. The strategic, political, and socio-economic conditions that made Americans hostile toward foreign ambition still exist. Will the United States be isolationists? Americans need to weigh the pros and cons as we seek a sustainable brand for this new statecraft. The case for nationalism: American power has gone off track; especially with its policies of regime change. We need to re-examine the OT vision of political order. We are all victimized by the attempt to hold a philosophical double standard. One view is world-wide, by which the rule of law is enforced upon all nations based on the power of a single nation – America. The obverse is a collection of self-determining nations. We give this idea lip-service via Art. 1 and 15 of the UN charter. We are very selective among people groups around the world, this is inconsistent. Definition: a nation is a collection of tribes with a common language or religion. The leader would be elevated from the people.
The Biblical inference comes from Israel’s experience in dealing with various empires: Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, Persia, and Rome. The Babylonian king Hammurabi claimed. “bring the four quarters of the world to obedience.” The pretext for this obedience was to save mankind from war, disease and starvation. The Bible is clear – Egyptian subjugation was based on embracing their gods, who deemed any sacrifice was permissible if it advanced the imperial realm of peace and kept the grain bins full; thus creating “a house of bondage.” The thrust of the Bible states, governance is not to be an empire, but a unified nation living in justice and peace among other free nations. These nations are not to be governed by leaders appointed by a ruler from a far distant land. Politics is local and conducted by folks, known to the citizens, who are better able to understand their needs.
Bonhoeffer on Stupidity (entire quote) [Prov. 17:11-12; Isa. 44:18-19; 2 Tim. 2:23-24] (N.B. the Biblical references are mine)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: 02/04/1906 – 04/09/1945, was a German Lutheran pastor, neo-orthodox and anti-Nazi dissident. His writings on Christianity's role in the secular world have become widely read; his 1937 book, The Cost of Discipleship [Matt. 28:18-20] is a modern classic. Bonhoeffer was known for his staunch resistance to the Nazi dictatorship, including vocal opposition to Hitler’s euthanasia program and genocidal persecution of Jews. He was arrested in April 1943 and imprisoned at Tegel Prison. He was transferred to a concentration camp. He was accused of associating with the July 20 plot to assassinate Hitler and was tried with other accused plotters, including former members of the German Military Intelligence Office. He was hanged on 04/09/1945 as the Nazi regime collapsed. Germany surrendered on 05/07/1945
The letter was written to three friends and co-workers in the plot against Hitler. He is one of my personal heroes. He was successfully encouraged to leave Germany prior to WWII. He originally went to London, but then went to NYC. I found this letter researching this study – it is a classic and very appropriate in understanding the left in America today.
“Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of good than malice. One may protest against evil [John 1:5;Eph.6:12; Rom. 12:21] it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion as it leaves behind in human beings a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless. Not protests nor the use of force accomplish anything; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s, pre-judgement simply need not be believed, in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical – and when facts are irrefutable, the facts are pushed aside as inconse-quential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack. For that reason, greater caution is called for than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.
“If we want to know how to get the better of stupidity, we must seek to understand its nature. This much is certain, that it is in essence not an intellectual defect but a human one. There are human beings who are of remarkably agile intellect yet stupid, and others who are intellectually quite dull yet anything but stupid. We discover this to our surprise in particular situations. The impression one gains is not so much that stupidity is a con-genital defect, but, under certain circumstances, people are made stupid or that they allow this to happen to them. We note further that people who have isolated themselves from others or who live in solitude manifest this defect less frequently than individuals or groups of people inclined or condemned to sociability. And so, it seems that stupidity is perhaps less a psychological than a sociological problem. It is a particular form of the impact of historical circumstances on human beings, a psychological concomitant of certain external conditions. Upon closer observation, it becomes apparent that every strong upsurge of power in the public sphere, be it a political or a religious nature, infects a large part of humankind with stupidity. It would even seem that this is virtually a sociological-psychological law. The power of one needs the stupidity of the other. The process at work here is not that particular human capacities, for instance, the intellect, suddenly atrophy or fail. Instead, it seems that under the overwhelming impact of rising power, humans are deprived of their inner independence, and, more or less consciously, give up establishing an autonomous position toward the emerging circumstances. A stupid person is often stubborn and must not blind us to the fact that he is not independent. [Isa. 12:4; Gal. 5:1; 5:13; Rom. 9:21; 1 Peter 2:16; 2 Cor. 3:17] In conversations, one feels that one is dealing not at all with a person, but with slogans, catchwords and the like that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being. Having thus become a mindless tool, the stupid person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil. This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy human beings.
“Yet at this very point it becomes quite clear that only an act of liberation, not instruction, can overcome stupidity. Here we must come to terms with the fact that in most cases a genuine internal liberation becomes possible only when external liberation has preceded it. Until then we must abandon all attempts to convince the stupid person. This state of affairs explains why in such circumstances our attempts to know what ‘the people’ really think are in vain and why, under these circumstances, this question is so irrelevant for the person who is thinking and acting responsibly. The word of the Bible that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom declares that the internal liberation of human beings to live the responsible life before God is the only genuine way to overcome stupidity. But these thoughts about stupidity also offer consolation in that they utterly forbid us to consider the majority of people to be stupid in every circumstance. It really will depend on whether those in power expect more from people’s stupidity than from their inner independence and wisdom.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from ‘After Ten Years’ in Letters and Papers from Prison (Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works/English, vol. 8) Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2010.
Carlo M. Cipolla, The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity, Self-published, Italy, 1976.
Appendage: In October 1776, the Virginia legislature defunded the Church of England not to disestablish religion in America, but to cut ties with the British. In 1784, a bill to use tax dollars to support Christian teachers was back. Discussion: “How a regulation, so unjust in itself, so foreign to the authority of Congress, so hurtful to the sale of public lands, and smelling so strongly of antiquated bigotry could have received the countenance of a committee is truly a matter of astonishment. Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians to the exclusion of all other sects? Whilst we assert for ourselves a freedom to embrace, to profess, and to observe the religion which we believe to be of divine origin, we cannot deny an equal freedom to those minds that have not yet yielded to the evidence which has convinced us. If this freedom is abused, it is an offense against God, not against man. [Acts 5:38-42] AMEN
Cell: 541-973-5442
No comments:
Post a Comment