Posted on by Abe Austin

Virtue is Greater Than Vice

Performing a virtue is always more challenging, and requires greater strength of character, than to perform its counterpart vice.

If I were to tell you that one man killed for his cause, and that another man died for his cause, which man would you say held the greater commitment and resolve to his cause? Obviously, the man that was willing to die.

So, too, it is more impressive to admit the truth than tell a lie, more inspiring to give away a fortune than to amass it, and more meaningful to restore peace than to start a feud.

We do not applaud the vice because we know it is very easy to do, whereas the virtue is always accomplished by walking upstream, against one’s own nature, and thus truly extraordinary. Any man that lives by virtue is forever greater than the one that lives by vice.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Paradoxical Gospel

One of the most intriguing elements of the gospel is its reliance upon seeming paradoxes. The only way to save your life is to lose it. Christ overcame the world by letting himself be defeated by it. We only find the strength to overcome our vices when we admit defeat and surrender to Jesus. We are saved by grace, but that salvation is then evidenced by our works. In our relationships with our fellow man we are supposed to return good for evil.

It is a fascinating concept, and perhaps one day I will do a more in-depth study as to why this pattern of paradox is so prevalent in the gospel. One reason that is apparent to me now, however, is that it allows God to hide His path in plain sight. Consider the last example in the above paragraph, which is that we are to return good for evil. Jesus was absolutely clear on this point. Here are his words in Matthew 5:44:

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.

Returning kindness for cruelty goes against our human nature. It seems completely illogical. It only seems consistent that we would do good to those that do us good, and evil to those that do us evil. In the spirit of fairness, we would at least need to hurt our enemies just as much as they hurt us, and then perhaps we could build a new, more positive relationship since we were back on even ground.

But that isn’t what Christ commands us. He commands us to love even while we are the one at a disadvantage. It isn’t logical and it isn’t natural, but it is a surefire way to experience a slice of heaven here on earth. Genuinely forgiving an enemy brings a buoyancy and cheerfulness to the heart that defies all reason. And so, the evil suffered was actually the potential for good, a beautiful blessing in disguise.

And this is no secret. All of these counter-intuitive, paradoxical behaviors that unlock the greatest joy have already been laid out before us. The proliferation of the Christian gospel has made it so that all of us know that turning the other cheek will make us walk hand-in-hand with God. We all know the way, but few there be that take it because it requires us to go against our own nature and embrace the paradox.

This combination of free knowledge, but paradoxical requirement means that no one will join God by accident, but everyone that sincerely wants to join God may do so. It is an ingenious solution that allows God to save every soul that really wants it.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Blasphemous Anger Fantasies

A Smug Fantasy)

One of the most common fantasies is imagining someone who has upset us finally having to eat crow and admit that we were right all along. Here are the two most common forms of this fantasy:

  1. Picturing those that have wronged us having negative consequences for their own flaws. The very qualities that they used to hurt us end up hurting themselves, and it is so profound of an experience that they realize their entire life philosophy was wrong.
  2. Picturing those that doubted us watching on as we succeed in every measure where they thought we would fail. They wonder how they could have been so wrong in gauging our worth and they regret the missed opportunity to be a part of our success.

Both forms of the fantasy include the same central component of enjoyment at the groveling penitence of those that have wronged us. I have always felt intuitively that there is something wrong with entertaining this sort of fantasy. It’s too smug, too self-congratulatory, and too judgmental to be a good thing.

As I’ve thought about it further, I’ve realized there is something even deeper amiss with it, something about it that violates a fundamental commandment. It is, in fact, blasphemous.

Making Oneself God)

I’ve come to realize that this fantasy is all about making myself a god over the people that wronged me. Common elements in the fantasy are that the person who committed the offense:

  1. Comes to a recognition of his sin.
  2. Approaches me to ask forgiveness.
  3. Acknowledges that my philosophy and intentions are the correct ones.
  4. Submits unquestioningly to my perceptions of reality from that point on.

This goes far beyond just wanting to prove myself right. This is me wanting to be the very identity of rightness, the deliverer of its word, the voice of truth that the wrong-minded must surrender to. This is trying to claim godhood for myself, and ironically, I show what an unworthy and petty God I would be in the way that I imagine it.

These fantasies are more than unwise, they’re downright dangerous. They seduce us into a state of self-idolatry, which shuts ourselves off from being able to connect with the real God. To overcome the toxic effect of these fantasies we must surrender judgment and justice for those that have wronged us to God, and God alone.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Great Forgiveness

Great forgiveness is not passively forgetting your pain over the passage of time, but actively surrendering it while it still burns bright. Obviously, forgiving over time after the pain has died down is better than not forgiving at all, but it is only a step towards greater, more active forgiveness.

Jesus gave an incredible standard for forgiveness when he declared, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He was not only forgiving those who tortured and killed him, but he was doing it in the very moment that they were carrying out that torture and execution, not after he was resurrected and impervious to their pain. Perhaps we will never get all the way to being able to match such great forgiveness as that, but that is the ideal that we are meant to move in the direction of.

Great forgiveness is not passive, it is active.

Posted on by Abe Austin

True Forgiveness

True forgiveness isn’t about trying to minimize the wrongs of others, or to trying to justify their flagrant offenses away.

True forgiveness is knowing that what the other person did is objectively condemnable and that you would be absolutely within your rights to demand justice, but turning it all over to God anyway. It is letting God be the judge, letting Him choose justice or mercy according to His will.

True forgiveness is not excusing, it is releasing.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Need for Hope

I used to believe that I needed to make my faith so unshakeable that it would stand even when there was nothing left to hope for. Even if every promise had been broken, every desire withheld, and every ambition laid waste, I would still need to do what is right just because it is right.

Now, though, my feelings have shifted. From a pragmatic point of view, I’ve just never seen any good behavior come out of me when I am hopeless, nor have I ever heard of anyone else living a morally fulfilling life while totally devoid of hope. Hope is a virtue, after all, so it is wrong to assume that I could fill the full measure of my life without it.

What matters, I think, is what that hope is in. I need a hope in something that is transcendent, something for which there is no earthly possibility of failure, something that isn’t terrestrial. My original thoughts that I needed to have faith even without hope came about because terrestrial hopes were just about the only hopes I ever had, so surrendering those felt like surrendering hope entirely.

Even my hopes for good things like to improve my marriage, or to have my children secure in their faith, or to be secure against the storms of the world, are terrestrial hopes that will let me down sooner or later. They are terrestrial because they are based on other mortal people and resources. My marriage, my family, and my earthly foundation can all betray me, and at one point or another each will let me down.

I need to have a hope that remains even if my marriage fails, even if my children go astray, and even if my preparations fall short. I need to have hope in something that is now and forever assured, something greater than anything in this world so that nothing in this world can tarnish it. I need to have hope in the divine, in a Savior, in a redemption that has already and forever been won. A true and abiding hope in these, and these alone, will see me through every trial and tribulation.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Too Much Certainty

As I observe all of the angry discourse in our society today, I am left with a sense that we are much too certain of ourselves.

If the other side is wrong, we are certain that then we must be right, even though in most cases that is not necessarily so.

We are certain that we know causation, when all that has been demonstrated is correlation.

In the domains of definite uncertainty, where neither God nor science has spoken, we are nonetheless certain that our opinion is ultimately right.

I do believe that some things we can be certain of, and should be certain of, and should live with passionate conviction to those certainties. But I think that those are only a few, core things, and we should be nuanced enough to call all the rest a hunch, a belief, and an assumption.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Control You Give to God

The control you give God over your life
When times are good
Is the control God has to save your life
When times are evil

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Narrowing of Privilege- Part Two

A Word Maligned)

With my last post I began my exploration of “privilege,” a word that has come to have a particularly negative connotation in recent years. I gave three definitions and uses of the word that defy that narrow connotation, though, showing three positive aspects of privilege. In short, those conceptions of privilege were:

  1. A joyful obligation
  2. The reward for hard labor
  3. A gift handed down by the honest labor of one’s forebearers

Today we will look at two more definitions of privilege, then finally conclude our analysis of the word.

Two More Forms of Privilege)

Fourth, each of us are born with certain advantages built into us, certain talents and proclivities that are innate within us, things that neither we nor our ancestors made happen for us, but which give us an advantage in life. It might be a girl born with a beautiful face, or a boy born with a sharply analytical mind. It might be a rich child with an unusually charitable disposition, or a poor child born with uncharacteristic determination. These are gifts that bestow opportunities beyond one’s first demographic.

Note that this still isn’t the sort of definition that is more and more commonly used as a pejorative in our society. For these are not systemic, socially-constructed advantages, but virtues given by God. They are gifts that we do not control the placement of, and which are sprinkled across all demographics and all walks of life.

Finally, with our fifth definition, we do come to the meaning of the word “privilege” that is intended to humble the proud. Some people have a privilege that is based upon no virtue, no effort, no obligation, and no gift from their forebearers. In every land and in every time, certain people have been exalted above others, giving them advantages for no other reason than their identification with a favored group. No population has been innocent of this sort of preferential treatment, and through the push and pull of society, the pendulum has swung to favor each side in turn. Though all may get their time in the light at one point or another, it isn’t fair that it is isolated to one type of people at a time.

Conclusion)

The main point that I wanted to call attention to is how “privilege” is a complex word, that is actively being pared down to only a fraction of its original meaning. It is becoming nothing more than an epithet, which makes us all dumber by removing our ability to have alternative and nuanced meanings.

Beware the trends that seek to flatten, twist, or erase words. The maligning of a language might seem an inconsequential thing, but our minds are in large part made up of the language we speak, and so it is our own selves who end up being flattened and twisted and erased.

As it stands, I’m grateful and proud for the vast majority of the privileges that I enjoy. I’m proud of the happy obligations I take on to provide for my family, and proud of the rewards I receive for my hard labor. I’m grateful for the gifts given to me by the sacrifices of my forebears, and grateful for the gifts God has seen fit to bestow upon me. The only privilege I feel askance towards is anytime I benefit absent any of the channels mentioned above, when I receive something just because I belong to some group identity.

I thank God that I at least have enough nuance left in me to tell the difference.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Narrowing of Privilege- Part One

A Troubling Narrowness)

I was recently in a Sunday School class where the teacher asked for a definition of privilege. It was a surprising request, given that our Sunday School classes usually steer clear of social commentary. In any case, the definition that was ultimately given to us was that privilege means to have an unearned advantage.

This was a single passing moment, and I didn’t think too much about it at the time. In hindsight, though, I’ve realized that I don’t hold with that definition at all, and I believe it represents a troubling narrowing of the definitions we have for words. I call it a narrowing because the word “privilege” means several different things, and not all of them match the strictly negative connotation that modern society tries to limit it to. Today we will go through three valid applications of the word “privilege,” tomorrow we will cover two more, and then make our final analysis.

Three Forms of Privilege)

For example, as a husband and a father, I make great effort to provide and protect for my family. It is the primary function of my life to consecrate my time, effort, and resources to keeping those that I am responsible for fed, clothed, sheltered, enriched, and protected. If any of those under my care express gratitude for my sacrifice I have but one response: “it is my privilege.”

This is a common sentiment among fathers, and one that doesn’t line up at all with the idea of unearned advantage. Yes, I consider it a gift and a blessing that I get to provide for those that I love, but it isn’t like I am receiving this “privilege” at no cost to myself. From this definition, the word privilege means something along the lines of “a joyful obligation.”

A second definition of the word comes to mind when I think of my father-in-law, who built a successful company from scratch. I have heard stories of the many years and long nights spent getting a foothold in the industry, slowly but surely building a solid foundation that only yielded fruit far, far down the road. Now, decades later, my father-in-law is finally ready to retire, and selling his company has meant being wined and dined by prospective buyers who are eager to receive the keys to his little kingdom.

Does that wining and dining constitute a privilege? Absolutely. But is it a privilege that was unearned? Absolutely not. Yes, it is a reward that most people won’t attain in life, but it’s one he did the work to receive. What the word privilege means in this context is: the reward for labor.

A third definition of privilege takes place downstream of the “joyful obligation” and the “reward for labors” mentioned already. Many of us enjoy gifts and opportunities that we personally did nothing to earn, but which our forefathers sacrificed greatly for. My ancestors fought to make my country a free nation. They left their homes and crossed the plains to obtain religious freedom. They fought a war to bring liberty to all the people of this nation. They toiled before the sun and the furnace to grow crops and build infrastructure. They innovated and invented to create convenience and security. Did I earn all the benefits I now enjoy because of their labors? Absolutely not. But that doesn’t mean that they weren’t unearned!

A Complex Picture)

Here we have seen three definitions of privilege that have nothing to do with the more negative uses of the word. These definitions describe people who are dutiful, hard-working, and with a noble heritage. Tomorrow we will look at two more definitions, the last of which will acknowledge the more negative aspect of the word. It should already be clear that this word is much more nuanced and deep than modern rhetoric would have us believe.