The Dead Baby Society

 The Dead Baby Society

What we believe

Life is hard 

    for you are either in the midst of a hard experience or

    you just survived a hard experience or

    you are moving toward your next hard experience

Hard experiences bring perspective

    perspective gives us broader vision

    broader vision gives us room to learn

    learning gives us better discernment

Better discernment gives rise to wisdom

    wisdom teaches us to choose the best

    better choices gives rise to hope

    having hope gives rise to courage

In the midst of our hard experiences we choose to do good

    doing good shows that evil is defeated in spite of it's existence

    doing good gives us meaning in spite of our hard experiences

    doing good is contagious as others see and gain perspective

As Mary held the baby Jesus in her arms Simeon greeted her with these words, 'Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed and a sword will pierce through your own soul also, so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed'

Mary held and Mary heard. "appointed, a sign, opposed, a sword...." Mary pondered. Mary and her baby were moving toward their next hard experience. 

The Incarnation of Jesus is the how and the why we believe these things. Like Mary holding Him close we know that the sword that pierces us also went through Him. Because He is in solidarity with our humanity, we can become partakers of His divinity. 

So His words My peace I give to you, have real experience in spite of the hardships and evil in this world. 

Fixed vs Fluid

 I didn't attempt to be poetic, but after rereading this I thought I should post it. 

What if things that are fixed became fluid?
Things like the sun always rises at this point at this time.
Monday always turns into Tuesday never Sunday.
Acorns grow into oaks. Is their growing fluid or fixed?

And what if things that are fluid became fixed?
I can choose meat or vegetables. I can travel to Paris or Rome.
I can study math and football yet become a gardener.
Gardners planting acorns are growing oaks. Is their planting fixed or fluid?

Where is the boundary between things fixed and things fluid?
Between land and sea, between air and outer-space, between life and death?
What if Alice in Wonderland woke up inside Groundhog Day?

--

You set a boundary that they may not pass,
so that they might not again cover the earth.
 Psalm 104:9

 Ordinary Criminals Like You and Me

The Seventeen Stages of Evil

1 Establish a set of ideals and beliefs that insinuate your superiority over others. 

2 Provide logical justification for implementing your beliefs.

3 Have clearly defined behaviors that the members of your group must endorse. 

4 Reinforce steps 1, 2, and 3 as often as possible through discussion and written material until they become your primary beliefs. 

5 Have members contractually agree to the above steps– this reinforces a sense of obligation to the group and it’s leaders. 

6 Select a charismatic spokesman to advertise your group and reinforce your beliefs. 

7 Create a range of punishments for those who do not conform. 

8 Emphasize the importance of conformity and punishment to help members aspire to your ideals. 

9 Insist that each member find new initiates to join the group. 

10 Institute severe penalties for those who may wish to leave the group.

11 Limit alternative perspectives and communication between members of your group.

12 Exclude, as much as possible, contact with people from outside the group.

13 Identify a group that opposes your beliefs and ideals.

14 Depersonalize and denigrate those who are not members of your group.

15 Gradually increase hostility and aggression toward the out-group.

16 When dealing with the “enemy” create a sense of anonymity. a) Don’t use names for your victims. b) Give impressive titles to active members of your group. c) Wear a uniform or a mask, or some other distinctive marker.

17 The final solution: eliminate the enemy.

“ The first 5 steps can be found in the dynamics of nearly every group, whether social, political, religious etc. Farther down the list, groups become more authoritarian and cult-like. The final steps are used to coerce members of hostile fringe groups into carrying out socially disruptive acts. Nearly all these steps are used to various degrees by military and prison authorities throughout the world.”

 “ We can conclude that moral behavior is highly dependent on our personal interactions with others. The more anonymous we can be, the easier it is for us to behave immorally.”

I hope that you, as I did, became more and more uncomfortable as I read down this list. Especially once you passed #6.

Take My Yoke Upon You - Meditation from Matthew 11:28-30

The artist is named J D Kelly. He was Canadian and lived from 1862-1958. Many of the subjects of his paintings were from the War of 1812.

This image takes me back to my childhood. We spent many summers and Christmases in the High Sierra Mountains in Northern California. My mother’s father had built a cabin during the depression on forest service property and it was full of nostalgic stuff from before I was born. There were calendars in each room from different years, all of them expired. But they adorned the otherwise bare walls with Coca Cola Girls, Pipe Tobacco Tins, and Sportsman’s Scenes of hunting and fishing. That on one level is why I like this picture. It reminds me of those calendars from those happy days.

On another level, and one that makes me ponder deeply, I hear the words of Jesus as I look at the oxen. In Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Jesus tells us about his heart. It is lowly and gentle. And he asks us, come to him, take his yoke, and learn from him.

Driving a team of oxen is a lost art today. There are a few associations of enthusiasts that compete in pulling events, but beyond that the tractor has taken over. But as I look at this picture I see that the flourishing and prosperity of the family is directly related to the team of oxen. With them they traveled to this place, cleared the land, plowed their field and are now harvesting their crop. This was how my grandparents and great-grandparents lived.

On a spiritual level this painting is a metaphor of relationships. There is a relationship within the team of oxen. One of them is the lead ox. There is a relationship between the team, the farmer, and his family. In order for this family to be successful in their work they need the team. So then if Jesus bids us to come, take up the yoke, and learn of him that makes him the lead ox. Our task is to wear the yoke he gives us. To learn of him while wearing the yoke is easy as we do exactly what he does because we are connected. When the lead ox put his head down so does the other. When the lead ox moves in any direction so does the other. The ox that follows learns to take instructions from the yoke and movement  is then in concert. So we take our instructions from our Lord and as we submit to him teamwork is achieved. So then relationship to my family, my church, is one of being yoked to my Lord. And the purpose is to provide flourishing and prosperity. I hear people in the church complain about their pastor. Why doesn’t he do this or that. Why isn’t it like this or whatever. And I wonder, don’t they see that their pastor needs a team? The work of ministry in the church is not done by the pastor alone. It requires each of us to take up our yokes and pull together.

Good Friday Meditation

Jesus spoke from the cross as he was dying. Seven words as they have come to be known. From these words we can hear whom our Lord addressed in his time of suffering.

First word; “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”. This of course is spoken to the Father on behalf of those crucifying him.

Second word; “Today you will be with me in paradise”. This is a surprising word to us. Our Lord suffering as a prisoner of Rome speaks to his fellow inmate. Words of comfort and assurance. Can any more powerful metaphor be given to show us our state and our responsibility to our fellows?

Third word; “Woman behold your son….behold your mother.” A conversation with the one who bore him and the disciple who loved him.

Fourth word; “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This is traditionally taken as Christ’s cry in agony. I don’t dispute it, but I wonder if it could also be the common method of teaching; quoting the first line from the Psalm would in the mind of the hearer recall the entire Psalm. Psalm 22 verse 1 is being quoted and if you were to read the Psalm you would see it describes the crucifixion event to the tee.

Fifth word; “I thirst”. We assume our Lord is thirsty, parched upon the cross. But his consistent compassion echos his earlier words “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” His thirst for the will of the Father as he spoke to the Samaritan woman, “Give me a drink”, answering his disciples he said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work”.

Sixth word; “It is finished”. This is a continuation of the previous word. “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” Accomplish and finished are English translations of the same Greek word, teleo.

Seventh word; “Father into your hands I commend my spirit” Another quotation from the Psalms this time Psalm 31:5. An appropriate prayer at such a time. All who know him would know this to be our Lord’s default prayer. Confirmation that his Father was with him. “He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”

Habakkuk 1:13 Misunderstood

“God cannot be in the presence of sin or even look upon it.”

This is one of the most ridiculous statements I have ever heard.

It is based on half a verse in Habakkuk 1:13. “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity”

God is omnipresent. This is one of the things that makes Him unique. It’s one of the things that makes Him God. No one else has this characteristic.

Take Psa 33:13-15 for instance: “13 The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man; 14 from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, 15 he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.”

Here we are told that God does indeed look at all people, and all their deeds; good or evil. He sees everyone which is only possible for God, it’s one of the attributes that makes Him God.

Acts 17:27-28: “27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’”

God is not far from each one of us, evil or good, sinner or righteous. For we have our very “being” in Him. All creation is held together by Him. (cf Eph 4:6).

God’s presence can not be limited by sin! That idea is pure nonsense. Omnipresence is present everywhere, in every place and time. With or without sin God is present. The real question is; How is God present with sin? Not whether He is or isn't. 

For Psa 139:7-12 teaches us that is just not so. “Where shall I go from your Spirit?

Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning

and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

and the light about me be night,” 12 even the darkness is not dark to you;

the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.

From this misrepresentation a teaching of what Christ was saying from the cross when he spoke the words “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?” in Matt 27:46 (quoted from Psa 22:1) has been totally misunderstood.

The idea that the Father turned His face away from Jesus as he took upon Himself the sins of mankind while upon the cross. This is the explanation that is offered for Jesus’ quoting Psalm 22:1,
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Because from Hab 1:13 it is argued that God can not look at sin, therefore He couldn’t look at Jesus as he took upon Himself the sin of mankind. All that needs to be done is read the entire Psalm, verse 24 says plainly that this idea is just not so. “24 For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.”

We even sing songs with this misrepresentation.

How deep the Father’s love for us,

How vast beyond all measure,

That He should give His only Son

To make a wretch His treasure.

How great the pain of searing loss –

The Father turns His face away,

As wounds which mar the Chosen One

Bring many sons to glory.

Words from How Deep The Father’s Love For Us by Stuart Townsend.

I love this song but… I can’t say it’s scriptural.

Scripture to reflect on:

Matt 1:23; “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us).

John 14:15-18; “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

“If you feel far from God… Guess who moved”

When I was a young Believer I found a bumper sticker that said, “If you feel far from God… Guess who moved”. I placarded it across the glove box. I supposed I needed it’s constant reminder. Tim Anderson’s very readable book, Into His Presence a Theology of Intimacy With God, is an awe inspiring work. He takes a common experience that crosses all traditions and shows us all the significance of it and the theology of it. He teaches us to think biblically and theologically about our shared experience.

Chapter one gives us a biblical basis of intimacy with four elements. First there is a scriptural movement towards intimacy; seeking, turning, and coming. Second there is God’s intimate knowledge of us. Some things are known to us and God alone; some things about us are known only to God. Yet God seeks to share with us knowledge of Himself, “He invites worshipful believers into His secret counsel and knowledge of Him (Ps 25:14; Prov 3:32; Jn 7:17; 17:25, 26).” Third there is an intimate place. And it is not a matter of miles but of experience as in brokenness and humility. Fourth is intimate touch as when the father embraces and kisses the prodigal son upon his return.

Chapters four and six were especially helpful in that the exploration of metaphor and symbols are rich in providing what I would call a point of contact. I have always had difficulty as a male with “bride” images. I have found much help in taking another look at how to understand these metaphors.

Chapter eight Suffering and Intimacy is perhaps the capstone chapter and of deep significance to me personally. During our deepest grief and suffering why do we experience God as silent? Anderson uses the examples of Moses, Elijah, Jesus, and Stephen to show how “God reveals His nearness to them, in order for them to bring others near to Him.”

I recommend this book to anyone seeking to be near to God and who desires gain a deeper theological understanding of what that means. It would be a good tool for a group study since reflection questions are at the end of each chapter. I would have preferred a full bibliography but a good scripture and author index is provided as well as footnotes. Thanks to Kregel Publications for a review copy of this book. My views are my own and given in the hope to be an assistance to those pondering whether or not this work would be a good read for them. Happy reading.