Legalism at its Finest

In this week's reading, one of the things we read over that I honestly found appalling were the laws that Charlemagne put in place to Christianize the Saxons. If ever there was a set of ideas that embraced legalism and altogether rejected grace, this had to be it. Obviously, I am in no place to judge his heart or his intentions in putting these in place. However, I think it is safe to say that the picture of Christianity we see in these laws is simply not even close to biblical.

The second law, starts with "If anyone has fled to a church for safety" and ends with "let him plead his case as best as he can and he shall be judged." Even worse, if you were to eat meat during Lent, you got the death sentence! I may be completely ignorant in saying all this because I guess these laws may have somehow led some people to Christ, but many if not most of them might as well be heresy.

Charlemagne clearly never understood the whole "no righteousness by the law" thing.

PS I commented on Rebekah's "Hastening towards heaven"

To be or not to be...that is the question

Should we be like Benedictine monks or not? And just how many people are like Benedictine monks nowadays? We get so caught up in our stuff and ourselves and forget to serve others, pray to God, worship him, and take things a little slower. No, I don't think everyone's called to separate themselves from the outside world, but I think that they had a lot of good principles that we should put into practice today. Essentially, they were following the bible. I thought it was interesting how they ordered the commands. First of all, you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself and then you were to follow the 10 commandments. A lot of these ideas of giving up everything we own and having our freedom taken away from us seems foreign for the most part. Especially considering where we live. But I think that obedience is better than apathy any day.

Connections

My mind draws strange connections sometimes. Like a connection between “The Sound of Music” and Benedictine’s rules. When I first saw the Sound of Music, over 10 years ago, Maria’s explanation for her clothing never really made much sense to me. It wasn’t until reading Benedictine that it did. When Benedictine says to put the clothes in the abbots drawers in case one of the monks leaves for good it is so that anyone who leaves will not take that which belongs to the order nor will he leave naked. It is the same for those living as nuns. The Abbess keeps the clothing of the novices in case any decide that they are not called to Abbey life.
My mind may make strange connections, but a migraine keeps them from being coherent. I apologize.

Tantum e tenebris receptum constabit

~Meghan

PS I commented on Skylar’s post.

Perspective

"You can make of your fortune what you will; for any fortune which seems difficult either tests virtue or corrects and punishes vice" (Boethius p. 99).

This line reminds me of what we thought Lady Philosophy's goal was - changing the perspective of Boethius. She made a startling claim, saying that all the things we face are really good (p. 97). This partially depends on perspective, but it also recognizes that everything has purpose. In the King James Version of the Bible, Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." For believers, this should be our perspective - that our circumstances lead us to what is good.

P.S. I commented on Tinsley Griffin's post.

Open Apology to the Honors Council

To Mallory and the Rest of the Honors Council:

In my "Open Letter to the Honors Council" I publicly wrote some things that were less than charitable. My intent was never to start a fight. In my attempt to rectify the problems, I only aggravated them; in my effort to unite, I only divided; in setting out to correct failure, I failed you all. I meant well, but the intentions do not justify my actions.

I damaged some reputations: my own, yours, and the program's. I posted hastily, not anticipating the consequences. I acted disrespectfully, not considering the possible hurt feelings. I wrote presumptuously, not taking these points privately to the Council before making it a public issue. Intellectual freedom requires intellectual responsibility, and I am taking responsibility for my words.

Council, class, professors: I am sorry. I am willing to accept correction, and perhaps discipline, for the things I've said and the way I went about saying them. I am utterly distraught over my sins.

There are people in the Honors program who want reform, and they went about telling me respectfully. The grace they showed me I did not show in kind to the rest of you. Please do not let my wrong actions cast negative light on their concerns. They only want what is best for the program, as do I.

Pretty Amazed

I really appreciated Tuesday's article about monks. When I think about leaders in Christianity, monks never come to mind. But now that I think of it, monks really are leaders. The example that they have set for others is amazing. They live their life in complete obedience to the Lord. They have given everything that they have up so that their primary focus can be on God. In all honesty, I don't know how I would handle giving up everything that I have. I am a Christian, but I know that I would definitley struggle and complain out of selfish disobedience. I definitley admire these people and applaude them for their dedication. If we would be just half as dedicated as they are, the world would see what true Christianity is.

I commented on Amanda's "Leading By Example"

Separating "American" from "Christian"

I am American, and naturally that says something about my identity beyond simply where I was born.  My nationality is apparent in the way I eat, speak, walk, dress, and interact with others.  Even if I wanted to, I couldn't hide my "American-ness."  But I always thought I knew where it ended. I thought that I could separate out parts of myself and still be left with what makes me essentially me.  Because of several events occurring over the last few weeks, I have come to realize that I couldn't be more wrong.  Even worse, I'm not sure I can separate my Christianity from my American-ness.  

While reading Karl the Great's "Saxon Laws,"I was deeply disturbed.  Sure, the death penalty for those crimes involving murder make sense to me, but death for eating meat during lent and fines for delaying baptism? What about religious fre... oh... wait... that's American.  But this certainly can't be supported scripturally, can it? Except for that whole old testament law thing...  Punishing people for not accepting Christianity feels so un-Christian to me.  And maybe I could argue that some how through scripture, but even if I can, I have to admit, on this one, I confused being a Christian with being an American, and that is unsettling to me.   

On the other hand, This did give me a completely new perspective on the way past cultures must have felt.  They weren't Roman/Greek/Anglo-Saxon because of the way they thought and behaved, they thought and behaved the way they did because they were Roman, etc.  Even if they adopted Christianity and were truly saved, those traditions and mindsets remained.  Moral dilemmas (that do need to be thought out) aside, I was born American, but I became a Christian.  I'm not entirely sure how they are supposed to mix (there will be further study, trust me), but I maybe instead of doing away with my many identities (American, Southern, Daughter, Sister, Aunt, etc) He is repurposing them... The temple isn't being destroyed, just the idols. 

Note: I apologize if this was difficult to follow, but please comment if you have a thought. I am really trying to make sense of this. 

P.S. Commented on Tyler's "A Blast From the Past"

Benedict's view on the afterlife

Benedict states to "live in fear of Judgement Day and have a great horror of Hell." It seems that Benedict wants the monks to believe in God and follow his precepts for fear that they may be doomed to an eternity of suffering if they do not, but Benedict seems to miss the grace and love God has offered humanity and the gift he has bestowed upon us all. Benedict has forgotten the other facet of God as a loving God but rather portrays the suffering of going against him as something to be feared which no doubt it is but he has a very gloomy view on the life and the perils we face every day. Sin is part of our nature and we should guard against it but on the other hand God wants us to enjoy nature and the world he has created. My point is that sure we should not fear Judgement Day if we have truly loved and therefore feared God in a reverent way.

I commented on Becca's Post

Leading by example

I think that there is some worth in Benedict's Rule, after all, he said "As we progress in this way of life and in faith, we shall run on in the path of God's commandments, our hearts overflowing with inexpressible delights of love." However, their way of living this out seems a bit backwards. I completely understand (after class today) their need to withdraw from society and focus on what truly matters- following Christ- especially in the "world-ending" type times they were experiencing, but their way of life was only beneficial for themselves.    In the reading, the description of the abbot stood out to me, "Anyone who receives the name abbot is to lead his disciples by a twofold teaching: he must point out to them all that is good and holy more by example than by words, proposing the commandments of the Lord to receptive disciples with words, but demonstrating God's instructions to the stubborn and the dull by a living example." This is the very life that Christ lived on earth. He was a rabbi, and rabbis in those times were teachers who led by example. They took what they studied and put action to it; their transformation became the catalyst for others to recognize the good and follow by becoming disciples. However, there was very little opportunity for the abbot to demonstrate God's word to the stubborn and dull as a living example when he remained cloistered away from the ones needing instruction. The difficulty of becoming a monk was also outlined in our reading, which shows that one did not become a monk (or apparently a disciple) very easily. I greatly respect the discipline and self-sacrifice monks required of themselves, and I believe it did allow them to become more in tune with God. However, I think that there is a much more efficient way of making disciples. Let's take a lesson from their discipline and willingness to suffer and apply it as we go tell others about the hope that we have in Jesus!
commented on Tinsley's post

None My Own

     Earlier this week I had a conversation about devolping a relationship with Christ, beyond the basic acceptance of His existance and "becoming" a Christian. The conversation came down to a single point: when you accpet Christ, you have the fullness of the Holy Spirit within you, it's just a matter of escaping the flesh and allowing the Holy Spirit to consume you.
     The section on 'Monks and private ownership' from "Excerpts from Benedict's Rule" deals with possesing personal objects, like cars or property. It says that "all things should be common possesion of everyone, as it is written, so that no one presumes to call anything his own". This excerpt serves as a perfect comparrison to how, we as Christians, should escape the flesh in the same way that the monks gave up private property so that we are not disstracted from our relationship with Christ. As we are commanded to die to ourselves daily over and over again in Scripture to grow in spiritual maturity.
    

"The Great Commission" vs. The Great Contradiction

Monastic Life… Apparently for some people, this is ideal. I fail to see why it is so great. Sure, Christ was a homeless dude who hung out with his twelve buddies, but I don’t believe that he called us to get rid of everything, hole up in a building and never get out again. If we are following his example, then yes, by all means, go ahead and sell all you have. That isn’t where the problem is.

I don’t think there is any reason to stow away from the world around us. Jesus didn’t say, “All authority in Heaven and on Earth has been given to me, now sell all you have, move away from the people around you and don’t show them any love other than pray for them.” He DID say to go to all peoples of the world and spread the Gospel. It seems that these monasteries were bringing people in to do the opposite of what they said they believed. It doesn't help the lost if we live on UM's campus for the rest of our lives and never show them the love of Christ that we claim to have. It just seems backward.

I found our discussion of the concept of evil according to Augustine and Boethius fascinating.  After all, when we retouched on this discussion in class on Tuesday, it again sparked major discussion, so I want to work through some of the thoughts on this one.
If God is good, and God is the creator of all things, how did evil come about?  Is evil a living, tangible thing, or is it merely an absence of God, and absence of good, merely a lesser good?  Both Augustine and Boethius agree that if God is good, He cannot create evil.  So, where does evil come from?  These early christian philosophers agree that evil s merely an absence of good, as darkness is the absence of light, and cold is the absence of heat.  This got me thinking about what God explicitly calls good and not good, so naturally I turned to the creation story in Genesis 1. God calls everything that He made "good," but calls one thing "not good."  What in this perfect world is not good?  The lack, or absence of something:  The lack of companionship for Adam.
So, is evil actually "not good"; is it the lack of goodness?  I'm not sure if I'm totally convinced, but interesting thoughts :)

P.S.: Commented on "The Greater Good."

A Life without Laughter?

Today the question was asked to a couple of people if they would be able to live by Benedict's Rule and be a monk or a nun. While there were some things I think I could survive with such as not having to worry about what clothes I'm going to wear or not having to own any private property or even not having to worry about the awkward conversations at the dinner table there was one thing in particular that would probably cause me to get kicked out of a monastery.

In the section title "The tools for good works" there was a part where it talks about being careful of everything you do including what you say. It says that you must, " Guard your lips against harmful or deceptive speech. Prefer moderation in speech and speak no foolish chatter, nothing just to provoke laughter; do not love immoderate or boisterous laughter." I am completely on board with guarding what I say,  I unfortunately have no control over my laugh. I could not imagine life without laughter or someone not cracking a joke every once in a while. I would be seen guilty of loving "boisterous laughter" because I simply just love to laugh!

The Bible talks about laughter and it says in Ecclesiastes 3:1-4  "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance." It also says in Psalm 126:2 "Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, 'The Lord has done great things for them.'"Laughter is clearly evident throughout the Bible and for me it is always a feeling of joy and happiness. It is not something done in a sinful way. Having to live a life where I had to control my laugh and not make a joke to help put a smile on someone's face is simply a life I would not want to live. Laughter is a gift from God and a way of expressing joy that everyone should be able to experience on a daily basis.

p.s. commented on Rebekah Dye's "Hastening towards Heaven?"

Persecution for the sake of Justice

One of the tools for good works in the Excerpt from Benedicts Law states the verse Matthew 5:10, “Endure persecution for the sake of justice.”  I think this verse is very important not only to the monks who’s existence came about due to persecution of their civilization but also to the modern day people. So many nations despise Christians for a number of reasons. From the beginning of time Christians have dealt with persecution. The Hebrews struggled with it for the majority of their existence. Once upon a time, the United States of America was lead by a Christian government system, but that has slowly faded away. As Christian citizens of the United States of America, we now have the freedom to worship any way we want to as long as it doesn’t interfere with government. This is a form of persecution; however, we must learn to endure this persecution for the sake of justice. One day there will be no more injustice. Genesis gives us some insight to the future.  Genesis 3:15 says, “And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers. You will strike his heel but he will crush your head.” We might have some hostility between us and the rest of the world, but in the end none of this will matter. Our persecution will no longer exist because someone greater is coming to free us from that persecution. Praise the one who is greater than he who is in the world!

I commented on Danielle's blog!

From Boethius to Benedict

It is strange to me to see how one goes from Boethius and the happy life to Benedict's rule. They don't necessarily seem as if they oppose one another. Boethius is trying to reconcile the pains of this world to achieve happiness, and he does this through philosophy. Philosophy rationalizes natural desires as bad, ultimately calling us to give up false goods and to pursue the true good. This pursuit for Boethius was never truly described in detail, only by motives and desires. For the monks, it becomes the most practical way of life, so that in everything they might be pursuing the true good, which is God. I tend to look as many things with a skeptical eye, so while the original intent of the monks sound good, they could be taken to the extreme. If the intent of this monastic vow is to grow closer to the Lord, especially in a time of desolation, it is great. As long as their desire is knowing the Lord intimately, that is awesome. Legalism seems like a dangerous threat, though, for unless you have a love of the Lord your good works and abstinence from worldly things is meaningless. I think this is admirable and that we can learn from it, but I could not partake in it myself.

Commented on Rebekah Dye's

A Blast From the Past

Correct me if I am wrong, but I cannot help but see a very noticeable comparison between the Monks and the Old Testament Jews prior to the period of kings.  The Jews had a complicated set of rules and regulations that existed to help each Jew live a more healthy, god-centered life.  The Mosaic Law served as the guidebook to the Jewish life.  Jews did not typically pursue the hearts of other nations; instead, Jews only accepted new-comers in the event that they came by their own choice or were conquered by the sword, issued according to God's command.

[Fast forward to the time of the Monks]

Benedict's guidebook for the livelihood of Monks is interpreted as a national law for all within the monastery (like the Mosaic Law was for all Jews) and is intended for individual sanctification.  While he based most of his rules on Christ's teachings, Jesus was not a Monk.  He rarely secluded Himself, and when He did, it was only for a short time before multitudes of people crowded around Him again.  Jesus did not live in solitude whilst praying to the Father; instead, He was actively doing work among the people of the world (hence, the Great Commission)  This is not to say that Monks aren't honoring God, but it seems to me that they are doing it in a way that resembles ancient Jewish worship.  Their focus is not spreading the gospel and intermingling with the world; instead, they seek to live holy and pleasing lives to God by removing all distractions.

Hastening towards Heaven?

Tonight I'm going to cheat a little and talk about something from tomorrows reading.
While reading the excerpts from Benedict's Rule, I found one point he made extremely challenging and necessary for every day living.

In the except entitled, "Tools for good works" Benedict says, "Live in fear of Judgement Day and have a great horror for Hell. Yearn for ever-lasting life with holy desire."

I really loved this because how often do we get caught up in living for the here and now? How often do we as Christians push aside the thoughts of Hell because we are already saved from it?

We should always remember that Hell is a place to be feared, reverenced, and even respected. A very real, scary place. It IS important to remember that we ARE already saved from it, but it is necessary to remember just how scary it is, so that we will go out and share with others how to be saved from it.

We must ultimately live with Heaven on our minds. The excerpt ends with a question..."Are you hastening towards your Heavenly home?" We must be reminded that our goal is to press on, towards our Heavenly goal. We are to live each day, thinking about eternal things and remembering how important they truly are as opposed to earthly things.

P.s. I commented on Becca's post from last weeks reading, "Water in the Well"