Culture of Questions

"I know the question of 'ends' cannot safely be mentioned in the polity itself, because that would imply that some 'lifestyles' are better than others. We do not want that sort of sentiment around. Virtue cannot be a viable option, for that would mean that some things are vices. Still, as an act of rebellion, it is good to wonder about things that we are not supposed to think about."

Fr. James Schall's thoughts from On The Unseriousness of Human Affairs bring up an important facet of life which is easy to pass over: asking questions. In the hustle and bustle of each day, finding the time to sit back and contemplate life isn't easy. And, to be honest, contemplation sounds both heady and boring to most of us. Between our lack of time and the apparent lack of practicality, our culture doesn't encourage asking questions.

Or, perhaps we should say our culture does not encourage asking the right questions. When you think about it, there are all sorts of questions that we regularly ask. Who will win the next game? Is the stock market up or down this morning? Did you hear about the latest gaff from that celebrity? What is the best way to do ____? How will the President respond to this crisis? What are the polls saying about that hot button topic?

The list could continue. When we look at our questions though, how many do you see directed towards "ends?" That is, how many are focused on the purpose or reason for things? As Fr. Schall says further on:

"Those things that flow into us and those things that flow out of us belong to one world. We are not complete if we do not reflect on the highest things, or even on our own things. Nor are we complete if we do not seek to relate all things to one end, not just to any end, but to the truth of things."

Thinking about "ends" involves seeing how things fit into the truth about the world around us. While everything is unique, they are also specific parts of a whole - the whole of reality. Schall emphasizes that seeing this whole requires contemplation - specific focus on each of these facets and how they relate to and are part of the whole. Of course, in order to do this, we must know what the whole is, or at least have the framework from which to hang the other facets we encounter.

Francis Schaeffer communicated similar thoughts when he indited the Church for seeing "things in bits and pieces instead of totals." Schaeffer's concern was that focusing on the differentiation of subject matter prevented us from seeing how all of reality works together. Viewing the world as a series of compartments makes it easy to forget that these facets are part of a whole. Until we understand and know the whole, we will not be able to make sense of the facets.

This idea of knowing the whole implies that there is an absolute truth to the world - truth that applies to everyone all the time. This is why Schall regretted that questions of ends could not safely be asked in our culture- if they were to be accurately answered, we would find that some people were living life wrong because they were pursuing wrong ends. Still, he encourages us that, counter-cultural as it might be, these questions about ends are worth asking. After all, there are some things which are important enough for us to contradict the culture.

In the end, Schall and Schaeffer remind us that questions about ends are important because they require us to see reality as a whole - and in the process realize that Truth is something we see, not something we create.

In light of their thoughts, there are several questions we should ask ourselves: Do we agree that these questions ought to be asked? If so, does our personal culture and the culture we add to those around us support and encourage asking these questions? How do we encourage this kind of culture?

Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts and answers. I'd be interested to hear your perspective!

"I'm the Only One"

I'm the only one. It's just me. There's so much that is is going wrong in the world around me, but the tide of evil can't completely be turned because, well, I'm the only one fighting against it. 

Sound familiar? This seems to be Elijah's perspective after the showdown at Mount Carmel. In first Kings, we read his explanation of the situation to God:

He said, “I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” (1 Kings 19:14, ESV)

Does this ring any bells for you? If so, listen to God's response as Paul reports it in Romans 11:

Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” But what is God's reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” (Romans 11:2b-4, ESV)

This exchange between Elijah and God points out several things to us:

1. Our Vision is Limited: Elijah thought that he was God's last true servant, yet there were seven thousand others still serving God faithfully. Just because we can't see others faithfully serving, it doesn't mean that they aren't there.
2. Not Everyone's Service is in the Lime Light: As we touched on in an earlier post, serving God faithfully does not always mean that our work will be front and center. Instead, it could easily be backstage, at least for most of the world. That does not make it any less important to the Kingdom. This is key to remember both when we are worried that our work isn't making an impact and when we are worried because we can't see others working. Not everything that God is doing will be visible to everyone.
3. God Knows What is Going On and is in Control: The turn of events for Elijah wasn't unforeseen by God, nor was the need for servants to advance His Kingdom. He was already prepared for it and had the needed reinforcements all set. As it is, we should also keep in mind that numbers (or the lack thereof) do not hamper God's ability to achieve His goals. This fact is ably shown in Gideon's defeat of Midian (Judges 7). Who is on the roster list isn't important - faithfully serving where we have been placed is.

It is also worth noting that this sense that "I'm the only one" applies to groups just as much as individuals. The only difference between "I'm the only one" and "we're the only ones" is the plural terms. Both thoughts focus on our finiteness and frailty while ignoring God's sovereignty and omnipotence.

In other words, God, who has already won, is marshaling his armies and has all that is needed to bring about His victory. Given this fact, we are never "the only one" in the fight. Odds are, there are others in the trenches that we just aren't aware of. More importantly though, God Himself is working in and through us. We are not alone because He is with us, ensuring that His will is carried out. Or, as we learn in Joshua: One man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, just as he promised you. (Joshua 23:10, ESV)

What are God's directions for your life right now? If you don't know, how can you learn them? If you do know, what can you be doing to pursue them more effectively?
Do you think God normally has people work on their own or in teams? Why? How should this impact the way we pursue the goals He gives us?

Living Like You Are A Human

"...the Christian is called to exhibit the characteristics of true humanity, because being a man is not intrinsically being sinful man, but being that which goes back before the Fall, to man made in the image of God."

Schaeffer's thoughts from The God Who is There indirectly touch on an interesting facet of how we define what it means to be human. We often tend to think of people solely in the context of Genesis 3, The Fall. After all, one of the basic facts of life is that everyone is fallen, right? What we miss is that in order to fall, you first need to have been standing. Genesis 3 doesn't make any sense without Genesis 1-2. You have to start with a good creation for that creation to fall. Evil isn't original - either in chronology or it's ability to create. It is proceeded by good and can only twist what is already there.

This perspective should impact how we live life in at least two specific ways:

1. Recognize the Twisting Effects of Evil - it touches everything, including the people with whom I interact. In the Truth Project, Del Tackett presents a helpful analogy: People who believe the lie of sin are POWs, not enemy combatants. The fact that they have been fatally messed up shouldn't prevent me from seeing that they were created to be something good. 
2. Enjoy Life Fully - Following God and enjoying life is a both/and proposition. G.K. Chesterton puts it this way in Orthodoxy: "The more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild." Good things running wild, life filled with zest, places and people enjoyed simply because God created them and they were created to be enjoyed - that's part of the life others should see in us. It's easy to evaluate experiences solely in light of their practicality: How much does this cost? Will I be learning something valuable? Is there a more profitable way to spend my time? Those are the questions that I have been quick to ask in the past. While there is a place for questions like these, we also need to recognize that they can completely miss the fact that some things we ought to do simply for the sake of enjoying God through his creation.

Following God and enjoying the world is a both/and proposition. In fact, on some level enjoying the world provides us with a unique way to worship God. With this in mind, what are some ways that you will be enjoying God through His creation in the near future? What are other facets of living a truly human life which we should be thinking about?

Flags Jump-Starting Discipling

Yesterday was a big day for my family. Flag Day. While there is historical significance attached to this day, it is not the history which makes this a big day for us. Rather, for years this is also the day on which we get up a couple hours early and run house to house setting up roughly 1,200 flags through several local neighborhoods. What can I say - strenuous work has a way of asserting itself as a priority for us.

As we got started going, I was mentally gearing up for loping at a decent pace and finishing the task as quickly as practical. I mean, as fun as running/walking for several hours is, there's no point to extending the time any longer than needed. Which is why I was a bit put out when my younger sister, no more than 2 houses into the day, had a question about how to stick the flags into the ground. "Really", I thought to myself, "there goes hopes for a quick, smooth day."

This was followed by a reminder from the Lord of what this really was - an opportunity to teach my sister. Indeed, you might even say it was an opportunity to disciple her. As that thought stuck with me, there were several facets of discipleship which our flag run highlighted for me:

1. Discipleship Isn't Convenient - I had this conception of discipleship as something which I could control. That is, it could happen at the pace I wanted to make it happen, almost as if it could be added to a calender and scheduled in advance. The truth is, that's not always the case. It's a process which is happening all the time. You can't turn off when you are speaking into someone's life - even if it would be more convenient to impact them at a different time.
2. Discipleship Happens in a Historic Context - As was mentioned above, we've been running these neighborhoods for years, generally several times each year. Most of what I was teaching/modeling for my sister was skills which I'd learned walking with my Dad when I was helping him as a young tyke. When disciplining others, it is helpful to remember that there is history behind what they are learning. That history helps give a context for the idea/skill being taught as well as added authority to the one teaching.
3. Discipleship Doesn't Always Look Like Teaching - My passion includes sharing new ideas with people. There aren't many things which get me quite as excited as seeing the lightbulb turn on and knowing that someone has picked up a new idea and will be seeing the world in a new way moving forward. Not all teaching is going to happen in a pre-planned, structured environment. Conversation in the car, project we are working on, putting flags in the ground - there are plenty of times where I'm discipling others that aren't in a classroom.

Down the road, I'll be trying to learn from my from our flag running experience. Specifically, I'll be trying to keep a closer eye out for the unexpected platforms which God will give to impact the lives of those around me. That being said, I know that discipleship covers quite a bit more than I've been able to look at in this post. With that in mind, I'd love to get your input. What facets of discipleship have you found to be important to keep in mind? How are you planning to be more intentional about your discipleship of others moving forward?

Stress and Recentering

Stress - I recently had a run in with this friend. Much as I'd like to leave it behind, my experience so far has been that stress is an inevitable part of life. Like it or not, we'll all continue to run into it through life. While pondering my immediate circumstances, I was reminded of several facts which added perspective to the situation. Before jumping into them though, we should set some Scriptural context.

While I didn't realize it at the time, the path my thoughts took was based on a sermon I heard a year or two ago in Moses Lake, WA. The pastor of the Church I was attending was working his way through the Psalms of Ascent. For Psalm 121, the first verses set the focus for the sermon: "I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth." (Psalm 121:1-2, ESV)

The thrust of the message was that our constant response to life needs to be one of looking back up to God. In so doing we consciously make Christ the center of our focus, rather than the circumstances. This ends up pushing our focus up and beyond the immediacy of what we are walking through.

With that background, there were two facets of looking to Christ which jumped out at me:

1. God's Providence - Stress is a perfect opportunity to practice trusting in God's control over life. I wish I could say remembering this fact magically changed my circumstances. It didn't. The hand I was working with was still the same. What it did do though was add a fuller context to my view of life. These weren't simply a set of random circumstances I may or may not be able to control. Instead, they were pre-planned activities which God arranged for my benefit and His glory. Even though the stressful circumstances remain, remembering that God is in control is part of centering our focus back on Christ.
2. Limited Horizon - The other facet which which jumped to the forefront of my mind was the fact that I didn't have much perspective on what was actually happening. The space between the here and now and when I hit the horizon line of the future is pretty limited. That's not limited to just a few occasions. For just about everything that life throws at us, the horizon of our perspective is very close. Sure we'll be able to see further in some cases than others, but rarely will we have anything close to an adequate vantage point from which to understand the path we are walking on at the moment. Realizing this should also help us remember to focus back up on Christ, whose vantage point encompasses all of history.

And, there you have it folks - nothing to deep or brainy, but hopefully some thoughts which help you in your walk today. Look up to Christ and center your focus on Him. He knows both where you are at and what is coming. Further, He has planned it for your ultimate good and His greatest glory. It's hard to ask for more than that.

Spring and Beauty

Today, there was a lovely little bit of poetry which I wanted to share with you all. It must be all the greenery surrounding me that brought it to mind. Whatever the case, this poem was written by Gerard Manley Hopkins and is titled Spring. Through his words, Hopkins highlights for us the beauty of Creation while reminding us of the shadow which the Fall casts over that beauty.

"Nothing is so beautiful as Spring--
  When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
  Thrush's eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
  The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
  The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.

What is all this juice and all this joy?
  A strain of the earth's sweet being in the beginning
In Eden garden.--Have, get, before it cloy,

  Before it cloud, Christ, lord and sour with sinning,
Innocent mind and Mayday in girl and boy,
  Most, O maid's child, thy choice and worthy the winning."

What are some of the things you find most beautiful about Spring? What makes them beautiful? How do you like to enjoy the beauty?

It's Just a Minor Task...

A couple weeks ago, I had the chance to combine a few of my favorite things - great people and making music. While on a retreat with a group of fantastic young adults, I pulled out my Mountain Dulcimer, was shortly joined by a Guitar, and pretty quickly we had a group of folks singing along.

As we were going around picking out hymns to sing, I began to question the necessity of my playing. At that point, my contribution consisted solely of playing melody lines. Additionally, it was quite possible that most of the people around couldn't really hear even this simple contribution. Later on, it struck me that life often appears this way. Most of us aren't front and center, making huge impacts on the world. Our sphere of influence is limited. We have what appears to be a simple supporting role. Think crowd extras in a movie. This fact usually leads me to the following conclusion: I've failed. After all, if I was really doing all I could, my impact would be larger. There are three false assumptions (and a lot of pride) behind this thought:

1. "I have an accurate perception of my impact" - As a finite human being, I can't fully comprehend how God is using my actions. Only God has the perspective to know the true importance of my actions.
2. "My work isn't necessary" - The fact that I'm making a minor impact on the world does not automatically mean that what I've been given to do is optional. The tasks to which God directs us are not busy work to keep us occupied. We are directed to them because they need to be accomplished.
3. "God is more pleased with others work because their impact is bigger" - Paul had some great advice about comparing ourselves to others: Don't (2 Corinthians. 10:12-18). God's pleasure is not based on how we stack up with others. Instead, God's pleasure is based on how well we used the opportunities given to us.

In order to correct these ideas moving forward, two steps are required. First, I need to place God and His glory at the center of my focus and desires. Worrying about whether my impact measures up to others' comes from wanting to glorify me and my work. Second, I need to take the advice of the author of Ecclesiastes to heart: "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might..." (Ecclesiastes 9:10 ESV). The opportunities I have to glory God and expand His kingdom should be pursued to their fullest.

Most of the time, the opportunities presented to us will not be glamorous. However, when God and His glory is the focus of our desire, following Him will be more important than how our results stack up to others'. 

What current opportunities has God given you to glorify Him? What is your next step in pursuing them?

"The hands of a king are the hands of a healer"

"The hands of a king are the hands of a healer." As the last part of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series unfolds, this sentence clues us in on one of the ways that the people of Middle Earth will recognize the True King. At the same time, Tolkien's words also identify a facet of Christ's character.

Before the impact of Tolkien's words can be appreciated, there is an important fact which needs to be understood: The world around us is broken. Completely broken. And, as Schaeffer points out The God Who Is There, this brokenness creates separation. Separation from God, separation from who we are, separation from those around us, and separation from the world in which we live. Because of sin, the world is not as it should be, nor can we relate to it the way we ought.

Understanding the state of the world opens up part of what Christ's salvation means - healing. Paul expresses this in Romans 8:
"For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God." (Romans 8:19-21 ESV) As Paul unpacks for us, the whole world was caught in our fall - but it will be restored as Christ's victory is completed.

The hands of a King are the hands of a healer. Christ demonstrates His authority through the healing He brings to the world. Christ does not seek merely to subdue the rebellion against His rule, He pursues a re-creation of the world which was damaged by this rebellion. The Gospel is not just a message about the defeat of sin. It is a message about God making all things new. This has two distinct impacts on our lives right now.

First, we can trust Christ to completely heal us, eradicating sin at both its deepest and widest reaches in our lives. When Christ restores, the impact is felt in all of our relationships. Being set right with God also means being set in right relationship with the rest of God's world. It means that the death which sin brought to the core of our being and to every area of our lives has been and is being removed. Some of this healing will be an ongoing work through the rest of our lives, but we can trust Christ to provide the healing, strength, and grace to outwork this new life each day.

Second, the effect of the Gospel on our lives is a witness to others of Christ's authority. Schaeffer puts it this way in The God Who Is There: "What we are called to do, upon the basis of the finished work of Christ in the power of the Spirit through faith, is to exhibit a substantial healing, individual and then corporate, so that people may observe it. This too is a portion of the apologetic: a presentation which gives at least some demonstration that these things are not theoretical but real; not perfect, yet substantial." In other words, our witness to others is not solely that the Rightful King has returned and we can prove His credentials, but also that His rule has brought healing to our lives. The healing impact of the Gospel in and through the Church demonstrates to others that Christ is the foundation of reality.

The hands of a king are the hands of a healer. A life that is justified at the Cross will be a life characterized of substantial healing in the world around them - the result of an application of the Gospel to all of life. Not only will their life be healed, but they will then extend that healing to the world around them.

As you look back on your life, can you see areas where Christ's healing has changed you? What opportunities do you have to extend His healing to the world around you?

It's Not Enough To Be Right...

For those of you who were not aware, I just completed a major undertaking. I finished reading Les Miserables. The work was worth it! If you haven't read it, you're in for a treat once you get there. Since I just wrapped it up, I thought I'd share one of the ideas which jumped out at me from the book.

"It's not enough to be right. You have to be right for the right reasons." Dr. Bauman hammered this key idea into us at Summit's Semester program. Arriving at the right conclusion for the wrong reasons leaves you with a weak foundation that ultimately will not support you. Victor Hugo pictured this in the character Javert.

To understand Hugo's picture though, we need to get to know Javert a bit. For Javert, right and wrong were determined by the state. If one was on the side of the state, then they were in the right and those opposed to it were in the wrong. To quote Hugo's description: "On the one hand he would say, 'A public official cannot be deceived; a magistrate is never wrong!' And on the other, "They are irremediably lost; no good can come of them.'"

Over the course of the book though, Javert's life intersects several times with Jean Valjean, the ex-convict whose life was turned around by his encounter with Bishop Myriel. Witnessing Valjean's changed life, including an act of mercy extended to Javert himself, leads to Javert to to rethink his view on the world. In the end, Javert's world is rocked:

"His ultimate anguish was the loss of all certainty. He felt uprooted. The code was no longer anything but a stump in his hand. He was dealing with scruples of an unknown species. Within him there was a revelation of feeling entirely distinct from the declarations of the law, his only standard hitherto...An entire new world appeared to his soul...a mysterious justice according to God going counter to justice according to men. In the darkness he could see the fearful rising of an unknown moral sun; he was horrified and blinded by it. An owl compelled to an eagle's gaze."

Javert had, generally speaking, arrived at the right view of the world. The government is designed to enforce God's rule. To the degree that it does, rebellion against it is rebellion against God. However, Javert's foundation was the assumption that the government is infallible and therefore the standard for right and wrong. Discredit that assumption, make God the foundation, and nothing makes sense anymore for Javert. "He felt uprooted...An owl compelled to an eagle's gaze."

There are two lessons here for us. First, why you believe what you believe is just as important as what you believe. We shouldn't be content to settle for what seems to be the right answer - our goal should be to know why it is the right answer. Second, we should remember where absolute truth resides - in God. As hard as we work to understand "why", we will inevitably go astray, or find places where we have gone astray in the past, or find that we don't understand "why" as much as we should. The fact is, these discoveries can be unsettling. Suddenly realizing that the house you had worked hard to build was built with cards can be deeply disturbing. Remembering that God is the source of truth can help us to realize that what we are experiencing is not the world falling apart, but us realigning with the world as God created it.

I've found myself in Javert's shoes before and it's a pretty safe guess that I'll be back in them before long. Odds are, you're in a similar boat. Let's learn from Javert's experience and realize that even after doing our due diligence in studying out why we believe something, we could be wrong. Unlike Javert, finding out that we were wrong should not destroy us. Instead, we can turn to God as the source of all Truth for the answers we need and build again on a solid foundation.

Have you had an "owl compelled to an eagle's gaze" experience before? If so, what have you learned from it - whether a change in your thinking or lessons for how to work with similar experiences in the future?

Roe v. Wade - An Object Lesson

Today is the 40th Anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision which practically legalized abortion in the United States. Looking back on this decision, there is some value in evaluating it from the prism of what it means to be a human being. As we will see, how you see human beings and how you describe them has huge effects on how you treat those around you.

For the purpose of this post, I am going to assume that unborn babies are human. I'll grant that in a discussion about the morality of abortion this would be the key point. However, that is not the discussion that I'm aiming for in this post.

There are two basic ways to view human beings. They are either the highest entity in the world or they are the highest created creature. The difference between these two literally ends up being the difference between life and death.

When you hold to the first view of humanity, the foundation of the value system is strength - physical, mental, ability to build things ect. Whatever gives you an edge over those around you, that is what gives you value. After all, that's how humanity in the first place has been valued as the highest entity on the globe. Unfortunately, that also means that human beings which either have no value, no "edge" or ability to defend themselves, don't need to stay alive. From this view, the Roe v. Wade decision makes sense. If an unborn baby doesn't seem to be worth the costs of being born and raised - costs such as money, pain, effort, time - then why keep it alive? Kill it and save the expense.

The other view of humanity operates on the value system of the Creator. If humans are the highest creature, it is because the Creator values them as His highest creation. Taken from the Christian view of the world, the value that the Creator has placed on humanity is that it is made in his image. This being the case, to be human is to be valuable - irregardless of the practical value they appear to add to the world. From this perspective, the Roe v. Wade decision is a devastating tragedy. It is the legal permission to kill people - legal permission to destroy value.

Examining the merits of each viewpoint isn't the goal of this post - though it is something that you should do if you haven't by this point. Instead, the goal is to challenge us to pay more attention to how we define what it means to be human and then consider the results of our definitions. As esoteric as the question may sound, "What does it mean to be human" has serious practicality to all of our lives. Failing to answer this question and have a good reason for that answer leaves the floor wide open for others to answer it - and their answer might not be one that you will be able to live with.

What do you think it means to be a human and why have you come to that conclusion? How does this affect the way you interact with those around you? There are quite a few facets here - not all of them are as drastic as the example that my post centered around. Feel free to branch the conversation out to other aspects of what it means to be human by leaving a comment - your thoughts are very welcome!

Giver of Pain and Forgiveness?

When it comes to pain, the first impulse for most of us is to try and avoid it. This is certainly true for me and I'm assuming you'd probably agree. There might be some differences in how much pain we're willing to endure, but sooner or later we'd all have enough and look for the way out. This being the case, I found the following verse intriguingly counter-intuitive:

"The people did not turn to him who struck them, nor inquire of the LORD of hosts." (Isaiah 9:13 ESV)

A moment for context. Preceding verses (v. 8-12), inform us that Israel is facing God's judgement. In fact, there have been repeated judgments. Throughout this pain though, God expects Israel to run back to Him. Okay, I'll admit that this doesn't sound super foreign, after all, that's how repentance should work, right? It's certainly a familiar concept for most of people who have spent most time in church. Read that verse again though:

"The people did not turn to him who struck them..."

That is not the typical viewpoint that you will get of repentance. When repentance comes up in sermons or conversations, it will more likely be surrounded by descriptions of God's love and willingness to forgive. Those are both aspects of God's nature, but they are not the facet that Isaiah uses when looking at Israel's lack of repentance. Isaiah examines their response from the fact that God is the one dealing out the punishment. God inflicted the pain and Israel was supposed to run back to Him. I don't know about you, but I find running back to love and forgiveness much more appealing than running back to the source of pain and punishment.

Granted, these two concepts are not really separated like I have described them. Repentance involves turning back to God who has both punished us and desires to forgive us. However, I wonder how often we separate them and focus solely on the love and forgiveness and forget that God is also the one Who deals out justice on me. And in so doing, what have we lost from our knowledge of God that would impact how we live? For instance - consider the dichotomy that I presented above: punishment vs. love and forgiveness. Is God's punishment actually another facet of His love? If this is true, how should it effect our interactions with each other?

These are questions that I haven't thought all the way through before, so I don't necessarily have great answers for them. However, that's the advantage of starting a conversation, you don't need to have all the answers ahead of time! In other words, you are formally invited to join the conversation. Leave a comment with your thoughts - I'd be really interested in hearing them.

To restate them, here are some of the questions under consideration: What, if anything, is lost from our understanding of God when we ignore His role as corrector? Is God's love separate from his punishment? And, how should our lives change in light of the answers we give to these questions?