Tools, Concepts, and Actions they all matter

Have you ever wondered what a gun really is? It’s a tool is it not? A gun is typically made up of metal, plastics, and/or wood (any combination of these plus others I am guessing). I’m not much of a technically savvy person but I do understand some of the basic workings of a gun. There is a hammer which slams into the bullet (also a metal contraption) which cause an explosion to erupt inside the chamber. The pressure caused by this sudden explosion causes the bullet (minus some of that metal now) to slide down the chamber and out the nozzle. Why does this matter? Guns are really simple. I mean sure the precision of one gun’s construction over another would make it more effective, but a gun is a simple instrument. Guns are easy. Anymore just about anyone I know could pick one up and probably find their way around it in about 5 to 10 minutes (of course I would like to be nowhere near them while they are doing this). So what am I getting at here you’re probably asking. You’ve already told us you’re a pacifist Vince so why do we care what you say about guns. I care about the flippancy I see when we discuss such matters. A gun is a gun is a gun. It is a simple tool not a solution. No solution no conclusion no fulfillment in a gun. It is we as people who give a tool like a gun purpose. We can practice shoot, hunt, war, murder, and/or give threats with guns. And we do and we are good at it too. Our guns have gotten bigger over the centuries too. Our guns can fly! Our guns can swim underwater! Our guns can hit a target thousands of miles away in just a short time! Our guns can sneak around at night! Isn’t it strange how simple the concept of flying metal has morphed into so many different forms?

What if I asked the gun for its opinion on my possible use of it before I actually used it? What if all the guns refused to be fired? What if all the guns said enough? Well we’d be shocked that a tool would refuse the will of its maker. Newsflash when any tool (guns included) is used in hate the user has refused to do the will of his or her maker. My problem is not with guns because guns are not the problem. Hate is the problem and you cannot shoot, strangle, interrogate, bomb, or punch hate. Hate can only be overcome by love. Some say fight fire with fire. We’ve tried that and we’ve gotten burned. People also say insanity is the repetition of a practice expecting a different result eventually.

Hate is insanity, because hate only has its own practices and those always lead to the same result; hell. War is a glimpse of hell. Murder is a glimpse of hell. Torture is a glimpse of hell. Bombings are a glimpse of hell. Souls are at stake here people! Dignity is under siege! The image of God in each and every one of us is violated when hate’s insanity reveals another depth of hell here in our present situation.

I firmly believe we were not intended to know hate. We have the capacity to be compassionate, caring, hopeful, and even to love sincerely. We all desire to act on those deep desires to love and be loved by one another. And it is those desires that can lead to the defeat of hate and its insanity.

The first step is to put down the tools that we use to put our hate into this world. Pencils, pens, musical instruments, satellites, money, computers, knives, guns etc. all are to be put down if used in the name of hate. From there we can begin to see ourselves in each other, and it here that compassion can begin to grow in hope and lead to love.

A lesson learned is a process

Ecclesiastes 1:1-2

The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem,

"Meaningless! Meaningless!"

says the Teacher.

"Utterly meaningless!

Everything is Meaningless!"

Now I am going to be honest I would probably not think to start my book in this way. I can say that I usually go to books believing there is a purpose and therefore meaning in them. For a book to start off by saying everything is meaningless brings out the cynic in me and I say "Well if everything is so meaningless then why read this book!" Maybe I am crazy, but I don't think my reaction is that different than most people's when begin reading this book. Like all good things though this book takes some time to get to know. Thankfully I am going into this book with a group of guys and we keep one another accountable to the consistent reading of maybe the hardest book I've ever undertaken. After illustrating the meaninglessness of human activity through illustrations of natural events that surround us the Teacher concludes the first half of chapter 1 with these words, "No one remembers the former generations and even those yet to come will be forgotten by those who follow" (Verse 11). If ever one needs to be put in their place after stepping on to a pedestal greater than their human hubris one needs only to turn to these first eleven verses of Ecclesiastes. However, I am not interested in only humbling myself and neither is the author. The Teacher as he is called is interested in the tragedy of man.

Wisdom only brings more sorrow, because more knowledge means more grief. (1:18 annotated)

"I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My Heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor." Conclusion, meaningless (2:10-11)

2:12-16 Wisdom vs. Folly: same fate will overtake the fool and wise man and both will be forgotten.

2:17-23 Toil is meaningless too because it does not prevent fate from overtaking anyone and the fortunes it brings are not enjoyed by the one who achieves them and abused by those who inherit them. Meaningless.

If you're still reading awesome! Something happens at this point that makes reading all the earlier passages meaningful. In 2:24-25 the Teacher writes, "A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too I see, is from the hand of God for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?" Given the previous passages the only answer to this question the Teacher asks is no one can eat or find enjoyment without God. This can only be because something is so intrinsically different about God's nature as compared to that of man.

God alone provides satisfaction to all of man's needs. Man needs food and God provides. Man needs drink God provides. Man needs satisfaction and God fulfills. Nowhere better are these needs fulfilled than in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Mark 14:22-26, Matthew 26:26-30, and Luke 22:14-20 we are given the account of Jesus breaking bread and sharing wine with his disciples. He calls the bread his body which is broken for you, and the wine his blood of the covenant which has been poured out for many (Mark passage used). Jesus sacrifice is necessary and intentional. The covenant which brings salvation to God's people has always demanded a sacrifice. Exodus 12 gives account of the first passover. The angel of death PASSOVERed those houses which had the blood of a lamb on the door posts thereby giving salvation to all the occupants. Jesus blood is given in the same way so that those who have received his blood may be delivered. Jesus blood fulfills the need of sacrifice. His body fulfills the hunger of man. The body is the Church.

The Church as I have said before is made up of many parts working together (like a body). These parts only find satisfaction in their work when they work together as a body for a common purpose. This purpose is the confession, annunciation, and the bringing forth the reality of God in the community at large. It is here and only here that man or woman has meaning.

So yes without Christ it all is meaningless.

Blessings in Christ!

Say what you gotta say

I have the feeling that what I do does in fact impact you. Think about it. In the simplest sense my typing is giving you something to read which means you are processing the words I am putting together at least well enough to continue reading this.... However I think my actions impact you on a deeper level just as yours do likewise to me. We do this primarily through communication which itself as many manifestations. The primary split of communication is that of auditory and physical language. I think it is fair to say that you understand the idea of auditory communication. My concern is our physical language and what exactly it is we communicate to one another sometimes without even realizing what we are "saying" (pardon my inability to find a more appropriate word for the idea if you think the pun was lame I do not apologize).

Have you ever asked someone how their day was? When they answered you did you believe them? Our belief is not always based on that person's words but rather their physical language. When answers with "I'm good!" but their shoulders are slumped, eyes to the ground, face downcast, and all the telltale signs of a defeated soul wouldn't you stop and ask them "Really?" It is not always this easy to pick out the physical communication of a person though. I think even a simple change in posture in a person can communicate very different things. When I am in class and I lean my head on my arm 90% of the time I am tired, and with that comes an inattentive ear with a mild case of daydreaming. All of physical language is work and someone else can argue over the fact if this work is always active action of the one who does the work or if the person is a passive victim of their inner feelings. Personally I believe that my physical language is actively dictated by my will. In the simplest sense those who know my mannerisms best will be able to understand my non-linguistic communication most.

What you communicate to me affects what I might communicate with you. Your action impacts my action. Do you see, hear, pick up, and/or understand what I have said?

Blessings always!