"Answer Evil With the Greater Good"

Two years ago four young people--police officers with families, in the prime of career and life, and serving in their community were senselessly executed by an evil mad man.  Later that week he attempted to kill another officer only to meet his own demise--for which many of us are grateful.  Yes, that man and others prove that evil and all that is of the Kingdom of Darkness (Satan's domain) is alive on planet earth.  It will remain so as things go from bad to worse.  While we have an eternal hope in Jesus Christ, there is more in this life than that of some future utopian hope.  Such hope is not without present practice.  It is within that present practice that God's "good" is to answers such evils as was witnessed two years ago and as well other evils be they personal, national, or international.

Just as the Pacific Northwest, here in the USA was on alert for the despicable killer of those four young people, we too need to be on alert since the Devil and his ilk are on the prowl to create chaos, dissatisfaction, disconnect, and yes even murder etc.  There can be no doubt that the killer who is not worthy to have his name repeated, along with his cronies were evil--desperately evil and each worthy of the full measure of such punishment as society might impose upon them!  Not many will agree that the punishment of even those on the periphery was nearly enough.

Such evil bring suffering but it did not end with the four families, their police department, and the community in which they served.  Such evil brings suffering wherever it is allowed to roam unchecked!  This was not only true in this case but also on a broader scale.

One need only look at the suffering Christians in Muslim countries such as Egypt and in places such as Africa to understand that being a Christian is a serious business.  No other faith group has suffered what Christian have suffered and continue to suffer at the hands of Godless communism (Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot) and at the hands of other religious ideologies such as the one just mentioned.

Yet, just as those four served to keep order, preserve right, and stave off lawlessness in their community so too, we who serve the risen Christ must stand for those and other things.  Other things such as those that  bring unity among Christians who are not so in name but in relationship with the risen Christ.  That is so be they Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant.

Also, we who serve Christ, must seek to preserve that which is right, and live out the laws of the Scriptures--those things that keep us in right relationship with God, then right relationship with one another, and finally right relationship with self.  As my mother used to say, "JOY = Jesus, then Others, then You."

We as Christians often have been taught that we are a hospital for those injured by the world's treatment, fleshly failures, and Satanic attack.  That thought sounds so good and contains some truth but not the full measure of truth for no army has ever been victorious, nor has it held one centimeter of ground by being a hospital for the injured.  Aggressive armies win and so the Kingdom of Heaven's army--the Lord's Army, the Church must march forward in Scripture and prayer, living out the Lord's commands, doing good to all first to other Christians and then outward into the uttermost parts of the world.

God's Kingdom--the Kingdom of Heaven is divided into those here on earth and those now departed to be ever joined with Christ.  The earthly portion is to be the aforementioned army that fights with the weapons of earthly warfare at times but more often wages war with weapons of a spiritual nature, wages war by doing good, wages war by living out ethical truth no matter the cost, and expressing love in practical ways.  You see the weapons of the Christian are mighty to the tearing down of the strongholds built by the Kingdom of Darkness.

We who claim Christ will never be understood by those of the present world order.  Even so we must be ever on guard to do good, stay to the tasks, fulfill our calling, be ever alert at our station be it in the pew, behind the pulpit, in the work place, as a volunteer in some humanitarian enterprise, at leisure, or some other place.  All are responsible to go forward in the Lord and the strength of his might, to be spiritually strong, do good, to do their part!  All are to withstand the chaos of evil and the unraveling of this present world order.

Onward Christian, unite with one another, remember that no matter how many times an evil demented sick and despicable person such as killed the four officers attacks us, no matter how many people seek to defame us, no matter if we are martyred for Christ, lose our reputation in the cause greater than ourselves, if we die of some dread disease in a foreign land, or if we die of old age, we win.  We win because the Kingdom of Heaven of which we are a part ultimately is victorious--eternally victorious until there is but one Kingdom, that of Jesus Christ the Lord!

"Struggling To Do It God's Way"

Values, be they personal, corporate, cultural, or sub-cultural are are founded upon and guided chiefly by two influences.  First and as previous submissions have discussed there are the influences of mores, that is the prevailing standards found in the individual and the previously listed social groups.

Then second and also as previous submission have discussed, there are those transcendent objective universal truths.  These values have their origin from outside of the individual and the previously listed social groups.  A new word to the discussion is the word, "virtue" which is the acting out of these transcendent truths.

There is for some a missing piece to this discussion and it is found in the following article titled, "THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN" with the subtitle, "The Limits of Human Reason and the Knowledge of God."    

There is the seen, and there is the unseen, the material and the immaterial. That which is material can be scientifically examined and experienced, the immaterial can only be seen and experienced spiritually. These are two worlds that are only seemingly at odds with one another. If you attempt to examine that which is of a spiritual nature using a science that is by its very nature meant to explore the material realm, you will fail.

The things that are of God are far beyond the capabilities of our finite mind to comprehend. The divine can only be known through the nous, that place in the heart that is our true center. It, unlike the brain, is capable of knowledge that is beyond human comprehension, coming as it does from noetic knowledge.

The science of the soul is noetic and can be examined and experience only through the activation of the nous. The nous in Orthodox Christian theology is the "eye of the heart or soul", the mind of the heart. God created us with the nous because the human intellect is not capable of knowing Him without it. The intellect alone can not know God, for human reasoning is limited to the things that are of a material nature. God is unknowable without His divine revelation, and only the nous can perceive this knowledge. God's essence remains inaccessible without noetic knowledge. Science has it's place, but only the heart can know God.

Love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon

(article available at https://www.facebook.com/pages/All-Merciful-Saviour-Orthodox-Christian-Monastery/104578182913886)

Once again the tension between a closed (material) system and an open (Divinely influenced) system may be seen.  Transcendent objective universal truths are a reflection of the very person and nature of the Divine.  Just perhaps this is the reason that though some desire to live out these principles, they struggle.  Could it be that such understanding and practice as is necessary is only possible because of the "nous?"  Oh, yes, there are those who have such profound volitional strength that they do so but for most people such is a struggle.


It is only as God the Holy Spirit in relationship with and then because of that relationship functions within the human spirit that one can not just understand these Divine principles but also is empowered to live them out.  Such is "Christ-likeness."  Said another way "Christ-likeness" is not being conform in thought and action to mores (cultural relativism) but is simply the living out of God established principles or as others have termed it Divine character principles.  


An attendant discussion then is that to be Christ-like in a secular culture may yield the view that one does not fit in.  It might be well to remember that Jesus did not fit into His culture either.