Mary vs Martha

Many choose the path of Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus. Lu 10:39  This is a good thing but often admonish Martha for not doing the same.  Jesus even says "But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her."  This begs the question, should Martha stop what she is doing in favor of what Mary is doing?  Jesus didn’t invite her to.  He didn’t say that Mary has chosen the thing that everyone needed to be doing at that moment.  He said that she was doing what was good and everlasting.  Whenever two words are used in tandem such as verily, verily or Martha, Martha, it is for emphasis but not necessarily condemnation.  The scripture ends here on this subject so we don’t know what Martha decided to do.  We do have other references though.

In John 11:20, we get a picture of Martha leaving the comfort of friends and family to run to Jesus.  She then says in mature faith that she wished that Jesus had been there to prevent her brother from dying, but everything is still ok.  Jesus is pleased with her belief and trust.  Then Mary runs to Him, says virtually the same thing as Martha and Jesus is grieved because of her doubt.  Jesus groans when He sees her (and everyone else’s) tears and hears their lament.  The term used here is Embrimaomai which means to groan or admonish, but clarification comes from its root, Brimaomai which means to snort with anger.  It next explains that Jesus wept (Jn 11:35).  He wasn’t weeping because he was sympathetic or missed Lazarus!  He was weeping because the woman sitting at his feet didn’t have the full knowledge of what was happening or who He was, like her sister.  He groaned (embrimaomai) in His spirit and wept.

The point that I wish to make, is that too often people stay simple and unclear about their beliefs.  They would often tend to just sit at Jesus’ feet as reasoning to do nothing; study or commune forever and never do the dishes.  Although Martha got “caught up” in the work which needed to be done and either missed an opportunity or didn't recognize the importance of what was happening with her sister, she still knew that she was called to do the work, and by reference already had an understanding of the saving grace which Mary was just learning.  The next time you get the inclination to brag that you are more of a Mary than a Martha, read back through John 11 and recognize that Martha was the one with the mature and solid faith in Jesus.

A time of war, And a time of peace

Balance!  We all need to be able to know when to do what.  Just like when driving down the road and coming to a traffic light, safely continuing on your way is all about timing.  Driving through when the light is red is not a good idea and neither is sitting still at a green light because you may get run over.  The same goes for everything that we do.  Eccl 3:1,8 state, “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to love, and a time to hate; A time of war, and a time of peace.”  The questions are how do we know when the timing is right, when do we prepare and what do we prepare for?

Timing is everything!  Sometimes things seem obvious to us even though we do not have all of the information.  How do we know when and what to do; we ask God.  There is no substitute for this.  One clear example would be in 1 Samuel 30.  Allow me to paint a picture.  David and his entire mighty army return home after wanting to kick some butt only to find their city and homes destroyed and their families kidnapped as slaves.  My very first thought would be, “Don’t even dismount our horses, let’s go get our stuff back”.  They were fresh and ready!  That’s not what David did. David asked God whether he should pursue or not, even though his own men were threatening to stone him to death.  Fortunately, God told David to go after them and he would get everything back.  Was the time that it took David to ask God what to do vital in recovering all?  Speculatively yes, but the point is, he asked first.

Prepare ahead of time.  Note that Noah didn’t wait until it started raining to build a boat.  When it came to war, there was always a call to those who were ready; God called the prepared.  Joel 3:9-11  “Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up… Cause Your mighty ones to go down there, O LORD.”  This isn’t a call to start working out and get into shape.  The time was now and all of those who were fit were called into service.

We are called to do as John the Baptist did and prepare the way for Jesus and make the way straight.  Another way of describing this would be "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”  Understand that John was mightily prepared.  He quoted scripture AND explained it.  John proclaimed that God was coming to Earth to both save whoever will and proclaim war on the rest.  In other words, choose sides NOW and there are no innocent bystanders.  Pick a side and prepare yourselves to do what is asked of you.

Now what are you called to do and are you prepared? 

Who Made THAT Decision?

Growing up in a Christian home, Christian community and in a Christian region, it was difficult for me to prepare myself for the reality of a large world with alternate views of reality.  It may come as a shock to many, but it was so difficult, that I explored other options, like atheism, Krishna, Buddhism, Taoism, etc in College.  I had come face to face with a reasonable adversary which I didn’t even know existed.  There are many in our new age of reason who are about to turn a corner and run head on into what will turn out to be an ambush of thought and reason.  They will not be prepared or equipped to fight this battle just as I wasn’t. 

Who makes the choices which govern our current world philosophies, adventures in science and even interpretation of history?  Why is it that when we turn on the news, we see decisions which leave us scratching our head because they are so dramatically counter cultural to our own thoughts?  How did abortion become legal?  How is embryonic stem cell research allowed?

I would like to introduce you to but a few of the predominant motivators of the turn in moral thought.  Note that ALL of these examples began their life in a Christian home with Christian values.  Also note that ALL of these examples are contributors to our next decision makers in higher education.  These are some of the people who are teaching our kids and leading the fight for a different religious and moral order.

Peter Singer - is an Australian philosopher. He is the Ira W. DeCamp professor of bioethics at Princeton University, and laureate professor at the Center for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics(CAPPE), University of Melbourne. He specializes in applied ethics, approaching ethical issues from a secular utilitarian perspective.  He has been voted one of Australia's ten most influential public intellectuals.  His primary stance is that the continuation of life, whether human or animal (speciation), regardless of age, should be determined by its contribution to society. 
He quotes “…we should recognize that the fact that a being is human, and alive, does not in itself tell us whether it is wrong to take that being's life.”
“Get rid of religious value of life in favor of what it can offer.”  Note that he is in favor of abortion and euthanasia.

Singer argues that newborns lack the essential characteristics of personhood—"rationality, autonomy, and self-consciousness" so "killing a newborn baby is never equivalent to killing a person, that is, a being who wants to go on living."

Singer argues that sexual activities between humans and animals that result in harm to the animal should remain illegal, but that "sex with animals does not always involve cruelty" and that "mutually satisfying activities" of a sexual nature are ok.

Singer, Peter. Heavy Petting, Nerve, 2001.

Taking Life: Humans, Excerpted from Practical Ethics, 2nd edition, 1993

Rethinking Life and Death 105.

Abortion 1995

Anthony Flew – was an English philosopher who lectured at Oxford  and the University of Aberdeen, accepted professorship at Keele University and then at Reading University.  He wrote “An Introduction to Western Philosophy” which is widely used in college classrooms.  Flew was born of a Methodist minister yet became an atheist at the age of 15 since there were no viable answers to questions about the amount of evil in the world.  He is best known for his books arguing against the existence of God and for atheistic principles (“God and Philosophy”, “The Presumption of Atheism” and “Atheistic Humanism”).

Flew is considered one of if not the father of modern atheistic thought and has over 35 titles he has contributed to his cause over a period of 75 years.  It was not until his last publication that he became a theist “There is a God”.  The millions of atheists that he has fostered claim that his mental faculties had diminished.

Flew Speaks Out: Professor Antony Flew reviews The God Delusion

Richard Dawkins – is a British national who was born in Africa and raised Anglican.  He was content with his Christian upbringing until doubts began to creep in at the age of 9.  By his teen years, he was a professing atheist and has gone on to become “Darwin’s Rottweiler” for his ferocious advancement of atheism as the only intelligent and educated option.  Dawkins was the professor of zoology at University of California, Berkeley and then moved to become lecturer at Oxford University and was then appointed as Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science with the understanding that he would “be expected to make important contributions to the public understanding of some scientific field”.  He currently is a huge advocate of evolutionary biology.

In response to the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, he is quoted, “Many of us saw religion as harmless nonsense. Beliefs might lack all supporting evidence but, we thought, if people needed a crutch for consolation, where's the harm? September 11th changed all that. Revealed faith is not harmless nonsense, it can be lethally dangerous nonsense. Dangerous because it gives people unshakeable confidence in their own righteousness. Dangerous because it gives them false courage to kill themselves, which automatically removes normal barriers to killing others. Dangerous because it teaches enmity to others labeled only by a difference of inherited tradition. And dangerous because we have all bought into a weird respect, which uniquely protects religion from normal criticism. Let's now stop being so damned respectful.”

He has been a strong critic of the British organization Truth in Science, which promotes the teaching of creationism and intelligent design in state schools, and he plans, through the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, to subsidize the delivering of books, DVDs and pamphlets to schools, in order to counteract what he has described as an "educational scandal".  His latest book, “The God Delusion” is currently translated into 31 different languages.  Its success has been seen by many as indicative of a change in the spirit of the times, central to a recent rise in the popularity of atheistic literature.

Dawkins currently has 10 literary titles and 8 film documentaries to his credit, 78% of which are targeted anti-theist (Christian) and the balance are illusory.

Dawkins, Richard (1986). The Blind Watchmaker. New York: Norton. p. 6

Dawkins, Richard (15 September 2001). "Religion's misguided missiles". London: The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4257777,00.htm

Now there are some names associated with some actions.  We pray against the powers and principalities, but do we perform our due diligence in preparing our youth to defend against the attack using logic and reason?  Who will be the next Christian youth converted to atheism because they were not armed with information?  Who will be the next Christian to champion the mindset of the atheist, humanist or pluralist?  Is there a David out there to be a champion for God and show that God is the God of mercy, the God of forgiveness, the God of peace as well as the God of reason, science and logic?  I certainly hope so.  Hosea 4:6

It has been said that “the generation that killed its children will in turn be killed by its children” referring to abortion and euthanasia.  There were 50 million deaths from all causes last year not including abortion.  There were 40 million legal abortions performed last year.

Cape Town 2010 Congress “Emerging Technologies and the Human Future”. John Wyatt and Peter Saunders