Fulfill Quarantine Order in Love

Throughout February, international news reports focused on the exponential spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and the administration of individual nations to mitigate its often deadly impact. Outside of China, (northern) Italy seems hardest hit and brethren in France have urged their family & friends in the U.S. to take serious the threat and not brush off quarantine recommendations.

On Mar 4, 2020, California’s Gov. Newsom declared a state of emergency in California. As the leader of the most populous state, he made this strategic decision as a prerequisite to seek aid from the federal government, mitigating the potentially overwhelming strain on healthcare systems. Note: (only) 55 infected individuals and 5 deaths had been reported.

On Mar 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared a pandemic… and Gov. Newsom advised against public gatherings of more than 250 people. With weekly Lord’s Day services of at least 700, our local church family and its biblically-minded leaders needed to discern obedience to God’s command to gather for corporate worship from deference to the governing authorities God Himself ordained over us.

Our local church family wasn’t alone. A brother in Christ expressed his frustration with panic-buying of groceries, increasing restrictions on churches, and inaccurate perception of essential service providers on March 14 & 15:

So, stores are open (where) way more than 250 people are breathing on each other… But most churches are closed… Jesus says, don’t worry about temporal food, focus on that I am the bread of eternal life! I can go to McDonalds now and get breakfast, but I can’t hear from most pulpits the Word that leads to eternal life?

Please don’t post if your only comment is going to be that a livestream or the ability to evangelize your neighbor is a worthy substitute for church. If that’s true, we might as well rip the Book of Acts and all the pastoral epistles right out of Bibles.

Oh church family, my heart breaks this morning! What an opportunity we have to open our doors and be bold in the face of so many millions of people scared out of their minds because they don’t understand the eternal hope we have in Christ!

To clarify, being bold does not mean being stupid. Millions of Christians are sick or live with immuno comprised people or are over age 65; they should be extremely careful. But our churches should at least be open for everyone else, believers or not, who need to hear the Word of God from a pulpit, from a hymnal, and FROM EACH OTHER!

Social media is both a blessing and a curse. It can be used to invite other people into our lives to become more familiar with us, but without the foundation of authentic personal relationships, social media can repel people from us. I’ve had the privilege of sharing life with this brother for a decade or longer. While he is a like a bull in a fine china shoppe, he eagerly desires to guard the integrity of Christ’s bride… not only the local church to which he belongs.

Nonetheless, mutual acquaintances who are mature believers asserted that his remarks are ‘discouraging and disrespectful to church leaders who have very prayerfully and lovingly made their decisions‘… regardless of local church leaders ‘in states more hard hit then California’ who chose to literally open their doors and preach.

From what motivation do they preach, in defense of the First Amendment or the gospel (Phil 1)? The persecution and suffering that the apostle Paul or we experience is temporary, and God’s greater purpose – the display of His glory – will come to fruition.

Also on March 11, pastor and social commentator, Dr. Al Mohler, Jr. offered the following guidance for Christians wrestling with anxiety about political leaders, coercion or trust:

… something else that Christians need to keep in mind… The Bible makes clear that the worst possible condition under which human beings can operate is anarchy; in the Old Testament, we are told the danger is that every man will do what is right in his own sight. In Romans chapter 13, the apostle Paul tells Christians living in Rome of all places, the capital then of the Roman empire, an idolatrous God hating empire. At that time, the apostle Paul reminded the Christians living there and the Holy Spirit through that book reminds Christians right now, wherever we live, that government itself is one of God’s gifts. And government has responsibilities. Christians would understand that one of the most important responsibilities of government is care for neighbor.

What we’re looking at now is the fact that we need government authorities. We need government experts. We need people who are serving in places such as the Centers for Disease Control. We need government controlling borders and monitoring who is coming in and going out of this nation. We need government to establish certain structures and even to give assurance, trust, and confidence to the American people as well as factual-based advice, warning, and policy — so that we know what to do in the face of this kind of infectious threat.

When my husband and I first began regularly attending our local church, the senior pastor was expositing verse-by-verse from Romans chapter 13. Since God is sovereign, there’s no coincidence that two years ago, our household was being prepared to fulfill the law through love (Romans 13:7-14). Owe no one anything except to love each other… Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. 

I’m especially grateful the Lord has provided biblical and humble shepherds from whom we see Romans 14 exhibited. These men of God are grieving the inability of our church family to gather in-person — over an undefined period of time — to sing and praise the goodness of our eternal king. Walking in love, they lead us to pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding of one another … as well as the neighbors with whom God has surround us and tasked us to be holy examples. (Romans 14:15, 19)

Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord… Give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. (Romans 12:11, 18b) Christ-followers should not wait for (secular) law to compel them to preserve life. In the sermon on the mount Jesus asks, “If you love those who love you, what reward to you have? … You therefore must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matt 5:46-47) 

Today, on Mar 19, 2020 — with more than 1,000 infected individuals and 22 deaths reported — Gov. Newsom has issued a statewide shelter-in-place order. Unlike past recommendations, this request is legally enforceable.

 

Coronavirus tests most repressive governments

In 2008, Adam Kushner of Newsweek defined the suppression of the Internet and ideas it disperses as “Repression 2.0”. Two years later, Joel Simon of Columbia Journalism Review described government repression going digital. From China to Iran, governments have been leveraging software to monitor, filter, and block the flow of information to citizens and residents. They continue to develop and refine strategies to control people’s activities, or expressions of their thoughts.

Simon wrote, “According to media reports, Nokia Siemens, a Finnish-German joint venture, sold Iran technology that allows authorities to monitor any communications across a network, including voice calls, text messaging, instant messages, and Web traffic… Countries like China and Iran take a more sophisticated approach, allowing broad access to the Internet but limiting the dissemination of certain kinds of critical content. This requires manpower and technology.”

Despite the vast extent of IT survelliance China deploys over its people, the “coronavirus is testing the government’s system of information control,” writes Han Zhang of The New Yorker. Eight hours after a doctor at Wuhan Central Hospital warned his college-classmates, mostly fellow physicians, about patients being quarantined, he was summoned to the municipal health commission. Days later, the local police station called him in to “sign and fingerprint an admonition letter for spreading ‘untrue speech’.” The doctor anonymously told his story to a Party-affiliated newspaper, which published his account and deleted it about an hour later.

From Politico, “Coronavirus is China’s fastest-spreading health crisis,” says President Xi Jinping, “This is a crisis for us and it is also a major test.” He vowed that the country needs to learn from the “obvious shortcomings exposed” in its response, so it could improve its ability to handle future crises.”

Outside of China, the coronavirus death toll in Iran is the largest according to Al Jazeera.

What a reminder of God’s sovereignty! Isaiah 40:17-18 reads, “All the nations are as nothing before Him, they are accounted by Him as less than nothing and emptiness. / To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with Him?”

Verses 22-23 read, “It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; / who brings princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.”

Sigal Samuel of The Atlantic shared insights from Timothy Grose, a China expert at the Rose Hulman Institute of Technology: “The Chinese Communist Party allows for and even celebrates most ethnic diversity. But when that’s animated by religious nationalism, what the Party fears (are) forces that originate outside China, which they can’t control.” Maya Wang, a senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch, elaborates, “To make (citizens) loyal subjects of the Chinese Communist Party, (the party) needs to reengineer their identities and to tightly control them.”

Again, turn to Isaiah chapter 12, verse 2: “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.” Chinese, Iranians, people needn’t fear the coronavirus or government repression. “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea; of Jesus Christ shall the nations inquire,” declare Isaiah 11:9b and 10b, respectively.

 

SCOTUS: Establishment, Free Exercise clauses

Months ago, I wrote about the evangelical significance of the cross as journalists hinted at a U.S. Supreme Court decision in the The American Legion vs. American Humanist Association. The case is an attempt to precipitate the separation of church and state as the Peace Cross in Bladenburg, Maryland was once erected by private citizens to memorialize World War I soldiers and is now under the jurisdiction and maintenance of local government.

On June 20, 2019, the Court ruled that the cross does not violate the First Amendment’s ban on government establishment of religion.

Writing for five justices, Alito acknowledges that the “cross originated as a Christian symbol and retains that meaning in many contexts (but) the monument (does) not primarily convey a religious message (now).”

Justice Alito wrote that the act of removing an old monument poses different problems, “A government that roams the land, tearing down monuments with religious symbolism and scrubbing away any reference to the divine will strike many as aggressively hostile to religion.” (What would you take down, and what would you leave standing?!)

Also in the majority, Justice Kavanaugh wrote his own concurring opinion: “The court’s ruling allows the state to maintain the cross on public land. The court’s ruling does not require the state to maintain the cross on public land.”

Theologian and social commentator Albert Mohler raises awareness to the free exercise clause, equally important to the establishment clause. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the very first amendment in the Bill of Rights, states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

David Skeel, a professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania, believes the most important, future challenges faced by the Court are likely to be over the free exercise clause rather than the establishment clause.

(Mohler continues) for most Christian believers in the United States, the biggest challenges we face to the free exercise of religion (might well be) from … the coercive power of culture exercised through, for example, mandates handed down by employers or others. The most graphic example of this threat to Christians is the constriction of free speech and that includes the free exercise of religion on America’s elite college campuses, becoming aggressively to many arguments including Christian arguments.

Meanwhile in California… on June 4, 2019, Assembly Concurrent Resolution 99 was introduced and on June 24, amended. According to the Legislative Counsel’s Digest, “This measure would call upon all Californians to embrace the individual and social benefits of family and community acceptance, upon religious leaders to counsel on LGBTQ matters from a place of love, compassion, and knowledge of the psychological and other harms of conversion therapy, and upon the people of California and the institutions of California with great moral influence to model equitable treatment of all people of the state.”

In an op-ed article on The Christian Post, the President of the FIRE School of Ministry (North Carolina) Dr. Michael Brown writes, “Legislators have proposed a bill that would dictate what pastors preach from the pulpit… telling pastors and spiritual leaders to throw out the Bible, disregard the Lord’s will, ignore the testimony of thousands of ex-gays, and conform to extreme political correctness.”

 

Good Saturday

Thank you, shepherd Mark, for guiding us through thought-provoking and soul-stirring teaching on Good Friday. What does it mean to know, or experience, perfect patience and forgiveness from the Good Shepherd — and then to demonstrate it to people who are weak and hypocritical like I?

In Colossians 3:19-17, Paul exhorts sheep to examine themselves. If dry bones indeed have become flesh and now contain the breath of God (Ezekiel 37), then the new creations are called to share Jesus’ attributes. Being a moral person doesn’t meet the qualification for righteousness to which the Lord calls His adoptees.

During Holy Week this year, our study of Colossians has taken on deeper implications. Through the filter of only one attribute, namely patience or long-suffering, we can see the full extent to which Jesus exhibited this virtue.

In days leading to the cross, the messiah answers petty questions and resolves foolish debates about earthly issues as hypocritical priests (pharisees, sadducees and scribes) try to entrap Him. They want to use His words and have Roman authorities punish Him. Nonetheless, Jesus still speaks truth for the benefit of other souls in the audience as well as the possibility that truth will penetrate and soften hardened hearts of the conspirators. cf. Mt 21:23, 22:15, 23, 35, 23:23

He not only shows self-restraint in showing annoyance to His enemies, but also to disciples who had been accompanying Him for the better part of three years. Although logistics for the Passover meal were made, nobody took responsibility to honor Jesus by washing His dusty, weary feet or even coordinating a servant to do so. Moreover, the disciples argue about being the greatest; two brothers (and their mother) blatantly ask to be appointed to the position of highest favor. Then, as Jesus feels the most anguish — to the point of sweating blood, and after He had repeatedly told His friends that He is going to the cross — His friends fall asleep instead of vigilantly praying with Him. He knows these men will scatter once the Shepherd is struck. cf. Mt 26:19, 31, Lk 22:24, Jn 13:1-5, Mt 26:40, 43

Finally, on the evening Jesus is arrested, the sacrificial lamb doesn’t answer the frenzied priests who hold a false trail against Him. The accused remains silent before both the Jewish leaders, Pilate the Roman leader as well as soldiers, the crucified thief and several bystanders who mock Him. cf. Mt 26:62-68, 27:24, 27, 32-44.

What if Jesus wasn’t perfectly patient? 

We don’t have to wonder about this issue because Zechariah 11 graphically describes what the righteous Son of God was entitled to do:

⁸ In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. ⁹ So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another.” ¹⁰ And I took my staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. ¹¹ So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. ¹² Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. ¹³ Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter. ¹⁴ Then I broke my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to me, “Take once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶ For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.

We also needn’t wonder about this issue because the New Testament recounts Immanuel’s perfect submission to the will of His Father. For this reason, repentant sinners can celebrate Christ’s resurrection every day of the year!

photo credit videoblocks.com

On Guard, Part 3

Part 1 of my reading of On Guard: Preventing and Responding to Child Abuse at Church by Dr. Deeepak Reju describes the stewardship of children that God delegates to parents. In Part 2 myths or stereotypes about predators are dispelled; knowledge of disturbing behaviors, thinking and sinful nature are advantageous to effective protection of kids and youth.

Children are a gift and blessing… Christian parents are accountable to God, not only for how they feed and educate their kids, but also for how they protect and shepherd their souls. (107)

Since Jesus values children, church should place a high value on children. Children’s ministry is not just day care, but an opportunity to shepherd souls. Staff and youth group leaders as well as volunteers (should) take seriously their responsibility to care for kids — including preventing and responding to abuse. (111)

Part 3 of my review outlines critical aspects of child protection policies and practical processes. In the book, Dr. Reju provides plenty of specific and thus helpful suggestions in Section Two: Eight Strategies for Protecting Against Abuse.

A Child Protection Policy (CPP) is a set of self-imposed guidelines a church implements after careful planning to the best of its abilities to protect and nurture children in its care. Define the parameters for a safe environment before a problem arises. (49)

Key elements include (1) vision and mission for children’s ministry, (2) policy parameters, (3) general guidelines and expectations from which arise (4) some specific rules and procedures. Signs of abuse, an ethics code, a sample volunteer applicant screening form and state guidelines for mandatory reporting may comprise appendices.

Protective rules of thumb include decreasing isolation of a (targeted) child, increasing accountability among adults and children, and requiring screening procedures for everyone who works with children.

A CPP creates an opportunity for the church as a whole to talk about abuse. (59) The church makes a clear statement to offenders that it isn’t passive about this sinful issue. It preserves the gospel witness by taking sin seriously. It affirms redemptive hope and identity in Christ as victims receive help through individual counseling and support as they heal. (111) The church testifies to biblical authority by upholding a high view of God-designed intimacy in marriage (110) as well as agape-inspired discipleship within its membership. (109)

Many people expect to be able to volunteer immediately in a church without having to make any type of formal commitment… because they’re often able to. However, a careful, deliberate membership process can help decrease the likelihood of predators infiltrating children’s ministry. Church leaders and staff have time to get to know people rather than giving them immediate access to precious kids. Both the membership and children’s ministry screening processes will cause offenders to think twice about joining — since other churches don’t have a firewall and potential “prey” are less secure. (69)

No plan is foolproof, but there are ways to reduce risk.

 

On Guard, Part 2

Part 1 of my review of the book On Guard: Preventing and Responding to Child Abuse at Church by Dr. Deeepak Reju describes the stewardship of children that God delegates to parents.

Here, in part 2, I call attention to myths and truths about predators. Dr. Reju advises his readers to become familiar with the problem of child abuse. Then they can effectively plan prevention.

False assumptions made by parents make their kids vulnerable. They think, “It will never happen to us” and “Perpetrators are monsters; they’re nothing like us!” When parents under-estimate the amount of corruption and evil in the fallen world, they tend to over-estimate confidence in their own abilities and their control over circumstances.

“In fact, (the predators) are a lot more like us than we could ever imagine (21).

photo credit | retiring fed [at] wordpress

Types of predators

Keep a better lookout by recognizing your enemies and their cunning.

Power predators overtake prey by force like kidnapping.

Persuasion predators use charm or personality like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, convincing others that they are harmless. They are far more likely to infiltrate church communities.

The Techniques of Persuasion Predators

• • Grooming the church community
    gaining trust to lower defenses and thus, access to children

• • Grooming the prey
    All kids are not equally vulnerable. Children who aren’t craving an adult’s attention are less likely to be targeted by predators (33). Offenders look for the easiest target. They’ll deliberately choose children with family problems, socially withdrawn, perhaps disabled, or too young to articulate the crime of abuse. Predators carefully begin to blur the line between appropriate and inappropriate behavior, leading to increasing risks.
  • Counting on silence or disbelief
    Abused kids will be confused by inappropriate actions by “trusted” adults. They’re unlikely to speak up because offenders instruct them not to tell anybody. A few victims may tell somebody, but they often receive reactions of disbelief.

Parents, love your children so they won’t feel the need to seek the attention of another adult — in order to get the love they should be getting from you. (33)

Peaceable Assembly

Today is the first Lord’s day since the horrific shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in which 49 people died and another 50 were injured. 1

As I prepare to attend weekly corporate worship service, I don’t want to take for granted the liberty to peaceably assemble with my brothers and sisters in Christ — in order that we may grieve the evil of the Australian perpetrator, ask the Holy Spirit to comfort grieving individuals, and honor to our Savior & Lord.

The U.S. Constitution, namely the Bill of Rights affords citizens the freedom of religion and the right to peaceably assemble. I pray that Muslims or everybody who is not a Christ-follower would put their faith in the perfect obedience and hope of Christ Jesus who died on the cross for the sins of repentant believers. As both the Son of God and a human, Jesus brokers peace between repentant sinners and holy God, who created every person.

God has created each person in His image. In other words, He delegates some of His authority to people in order to manage or steward the world He created. In addition, God creates humans to resemble Him in having a free, rational, personal spirit. 2 Regardless of a person’s desire to honor or reject God, God has endowed each person with an unalienable right of religious freedom or free will. The pinnacle of humans bearing God’s image is their desire to honor and reflect God’s holy character.

I’m sickened by the hatred and terror caused in Christchurch on Friday, March 15th when the gunman targeted human lives during Muslim congregational prayer, when the number of people gathered is higher than on any other day of the week. About 300 to 500 people would have been present at one of two mosques.

Radio New Zealand reports that police have deterred Muslims from gathering at their places of worship til further notice, especially in the event that other mosques are “under threat”. Patrol and protection by local authorities have been increased.

As Muslims hold (Friday) prayers in homes, Christ-followers everywhere ought to pray for the physical security of these individuals. And as Christians assemble for (Sunday) services, let us pray for spiritual security of all souls in Christ Jesus.

On Guard, Part 1

While my husband and I don’t have kids, I’m grateful my former church family taught me the privilege and responsibility of parenting. As a single person, I learned how Sunday school teachers and church members help parents by striving for and exemplifying holiness to which God calls His adopted children.

credit dailymail.co.uk

Now that my husband and I are in a new church family, one in which we’re cultivating new interpersonal relations, I attended a meeting for individuals who are interested in working with children. Policies presented seemed reasonable and expressed consideration for valid concerns parents may have for the physical safety and spiritual wellbeing of their kids or youth. What struck me most was the recommended reading of On Guard: Preventing and Responding to Child Abuse at Church by Dr. Deeepak Reju. I had no idea a book on these issues existed, let alone a treatise written by a pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist, a church I greatly respect for its commitment to bible-centered teaching and transformative living.

When I received this book in the post, the book cover — colorful scribbles outside the lines of a black and white illustration of a quaint church with a steeple — mentally prepared me for the jarring topic of “predators in the pews” explicitly printed on the back cover. A series of blog entries will summarize or call attention to the excerpts from chapters in the book.

In the beginning, God created man and woman in His image, to reflect His moral attributes of love, peace, patience, kindness, etc. He delegated authority to them to steward the world He created as well as image-bearers they reproduced. The Lord intended married couples to reproduce, filling His creation with people who worship and reflect His glory back to Him. (Genesis 1:26-2:24)

Children are to be cherished, respected and loved. The stewardship of image-bearers of God is an enormous privilege with weighty responsibility. Sacrifices parents and church workers make for children should stem from their love for the great God who has entrusted the kids to them (Reju, 12-14). In addition to the fundamental responsibility to teach children to know God’s laws and to fear the Lord (Deut 6:4-6, 31:13), all believers have an obligation to protect them, the most vulnerable members in our society (15).

photo credit dailymail.co.uk

Genesis 3 chronicles the entry of sin in the world and thus, corrupted everything. In a fallen world, some men and women are so distorted by sin; they are evil people who willingly commit atrocious acts against children (5). They try to infiltrate churches and deliberately prey on kids (9).

These offenders exploit human weaknesses, getting away with their crimes and sins because churches are ignorant or make the following false assumptions (18).

• It will never happen to us.
  Like a prowling lion, evil is a real part of the world in which we live (19). We must rely on God and His wisdom, not depend on protective bubbles we create in vain. While our efforts have good intensions, the fallen world is characterized by futility. (Genesis 3)
• Perpetrators are monsters, nothing like us.
  Satan (easily) deceives people. (John 8:39-47, 2 Corinthians 11, 1 Peter 5:8-9) Grossly inaccurate caricatures about him and offenders will lead astray believers. When our defenses are lowered, enemies will strike because we were not vigilant (21).
• We know the people in our church.
  Wherever believers or religious people are gathered, hypocrites will be present too. External appearances may mask hearts full of all kinds of evil (22). Submitting to God requires a humility that believers may neglect to cultivate. In pride or self-confidence, people may hastily judge other people by outward appearances but the Lord looks upon hearts. (1 Samuel 16)
• Our church is safe for our kids.
  Don’t take for granted what your church is doing. If pastors and children’s ministry leaders don’t care to protect kids, consider helping them to recognize their stewardship before you start to think about leaving (24).

What does the Cross mean to you?

The majority of justices on the Supreme Court of the U.S. (SCOTUS) suggested the 40-foot cross on public land in Bladensburg, Maryland that was built to honor fallen World War I soldiers does not violate the separation of church and state.

Many may argue the cross is the latest symbol of a constitutional fight between (cultural) Christians and atheists, agnostics, nonbelievers and secularists.

Erected nearly a hundred years ago when bereaved mothers wanted to memorialize their fallen sons, the unignorable monument and its maintenance has been the responsibility of a public agency — namely, a local parks commission — since the 1930s.

Days leading up to the SCOTUS decision, NPR’s Nina Totenberg asked, “Can a Latin cross be nonreligious?”

She reports that the memorial is emblazoned with the words valor, endurance, courage, and devotion. Although the controversial site is nicknamed the “Peace Cross,” secularists cite that it was called “the Calvary Cross, evoking the message of Jesus Christ at the dedication ceremony.”

CNN’s Ariane de Vogue reported the following opinions:

Justice Elena Kagan noted that after World War I, crosses “became, in people’s minds, the preeminent symbol of how to memorialize World War I dead.” She suggested in such a case the particular religious content of a cross could be “stripped of” significance.

Justice Stephen Breyer suggested the court could draw a line, saying “past is past,” allowing the cross in question and others with similar historical context, but saying “no more” similar memorials could be built in the future… We are a different country now.

What does the cross symbolize, objectively?

The South African Medical Journal published an abstract about crucifixion and the science behind executing a person by binding him/her to a cross. Relief and Cilliers wrote describe this form of capital punishment as “one of the most brutal and shameful modes of death.” It likely originated with Assyrians and Babylonians and became systematically used by Persians by the 6th Century… (but) Romans “perfected” it and reserved for the most serious of criminals. The upright wooden cross was the most common technique.

Max Lucado researched and described that “every aspect of crucifixion was intended to not only hurt the victim, but to shame him.” In his book He Chose the Nails, Lucado emphasizes that crucifixion was so abhorrent Cicero wrote, “Let the very name of the cross be far away, not only from the body of a Roman citizen, but even from his thoughts, his eyes, his ears.”

To put it into a modern day context, consider a hypodermic needle used for lethal injection or an electric chair for electrocution. The chair, the needle, the cross — all remind me of the evil that sinful humanity can demonstrate. Then I consider the vast number of crosses on the graves of soldiers who have died in battles and wars, violence people have perpetrated against other people who are made in God’s image. In a word, the cross objectively symbolizes death.

What does the cross symbolize, subjectively?

While I don’t readily endorse violence and war, history is full of lessons and warnings to avoid repeated failure. Despite the atrocities of World War I, soldiers were committed to fighting. The Telegraph estimates only 0.18 percent refused. Though their motives varied, many soldiers identified a cause(s) worth dying for, worth sacrificing their physical lives. “The men were prepared to risk their lives so long as there was a chance of success. As soon as that went, so too did morale,” explained Dr. Jonathan Boff, a lecturer in war studies at the University of Birmingham (U.K.)

Considering this, the cross symbolizes sacrifice. In particular, Jesus Christ willingly surrendered His physical life to be executed on a wooden cross as a response to false allegations by Jewish religious leaders who coerced the Roman government to ultimately accomplish God’s plan. The 66 books of the bible describe this plan of redemption first alluded to in Genesis chapter 3. Conceived miraculously and born in Bethlehem, Jesus lived for 30-something years and died on the cross in perfect obedience to God’s will — providing atonement and righteousness to sinners who seek God’s forgiveness. Individuals who have personally experienced this freedom from sin and the burdensome guilt associated it often feel a sense of compulsion to tell other people about the new life and hope they savor. In this way, the cross coerces them to live with great appreciation and thanksgiving.

NPR reported the American Legion and other proponents of cross-like monuments on public land called SCOTUS to adopt “the coercion test.” Do these symbols coerce religious minorities to believe something that is against their principles?

In legal briefs, Principal Deputy Solicitor General Jeffrey B. Wall wrote that “passive displays” like the Peace Cross “typically do not compel religious belief; coerce support for, or participation in, any particular religion or its exercise; or represent an effort to proselytize or denigrate any particular faith.”

Individuals who don’t seek God’s forgiveness for the offense of their sins against His holiness are highly unlikely to have experienced liberation or to feel coerced to believe truths against their principles.

What does the cross mean to you?

Dipping Hands with His betrayer

credit livinglocurto.com

He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me.

Matthew 26:23

Today isn’t the first time I’ve read the account of The Last Supper, but I’m thankful for and struck anew by a deeper understanding of the magnitude of Jesus’ grace.

During this Passover meal on the night before Jesus is arrested and eventually crucified, He is acutely aware of the events that will unfold. He is fully God, knowing which disciple has sold Him out… and although He is fully human, his body language doesn’t show repulse toward His betrayer. He doesn’t flinch. His face doesn’t become flush. He doesn’t become so angry His hands shake. He remains calm under pressure, even washing the feet of and later dipping His hand into the same dish of food with Judas Iscariot.

The Son of Man demonstrates perfect self control.

Although the disciples made arrangements for the Passover meal, they first went to Jesus for direction and referral to a homeowner. (See Mt 26:17+) Was the homeowner or were the apostles to blame when the common practice of footwashing failed to occur? Nonetheless, Jesus takes on the role of a slave. He wraps a towel around His waist, takes the basin, kneels before each and every disciple in the upper room, and gently cleans one grimy foot after another.

Jesus knows the very feet that He cleanses will scatter in fear as He is later arrested in the garden of Gethsemane. Two feet will stay with and follow Him to the false trials, but the mouth of the same person will deny Him three times. One pair of feet will even lead the chief priests, elders and detachment of Roman soldiers to the familiar place of prayer.

Jesus understands His unique appointment on a cross at Calvary.

After dinner, He institutes communion, instructing His disciples to break bread and drink from the cup to commemorate His impending death (and more importantly, His eventual return).

Later, when the timing is appropriate, Jesus appeals to the Father and prays to the point of sweating blood and asks God to remove the bitter cup of God’s judgment against sin.