randomly exegeting stuff

I haven't been posting much about everyday life. Things just don't seem as interesting or inspiring lately, even tho they're as bizarre as ever. We found a random Filipino store in town with baked beans, canned tomatoes and the nice short bottles of San Miguel. It's nice to have a little variety from the normal grocer's selection. I ended up getting locked out last week while Leta was out shopping and I realized that I don't very often go walking around town without her when I was bombarded endlessly by Korean teens saying "hello, hi, nice to meet you, whats your name, how are you today, you're beautiful, i love you..." Leta had a birthday and we went to TGIFridays and she blew a hundred bux on clothes, I found out roses are pretty inexpensive even out of season. I'm getting sick of my job and some days I feel like the next big disappointment is gonna set me off to packing my bags and heading for the next ship off this peninsula. I've had every one of my favorite classes stripped from my schedule and with what I've been left with, my least favorite class is now one of my best. Been listening to a lot of Mason Jennings, Cake, White Stripes, Pedro the Lion and Shins lately and have given the lectures a break. When I realized I'd gained 20 pounds since arriving in Korea, I went out and bought a weight and a yoga mat and have been doing crunches and lifts. I've also stop having my staple omelette rice fried pork lunch delivered cuz obviously it's more unhealthy than I'd realized. One of the other teachers' boyfriend visited for a couple weeks and it was nice, if relatively uneventful, to have a new english-speaking-face around while he was. I've been downloading dozens of movies to simulate having an English movie rental place nearby. Generally discouraged about why I'm in Korea and what stage this is supposed to be in the disjointed progression of my life. It seems so meaningless compared to other travel experiences that I've had, though I'm making good money here and I had to pay for those trips. I got nostalgic and put some of the pics I have from my trip to Southeast Asia onto a blog that I might end up using to type up my journal or write reflections or something: http://thaimalayphil.blogspot.com. I was listening to some NPR podcasted debates regarding religiousity lately and today decided randomly to try to come up with a decent argument why I'm not biblically obliged to support the government. Nothing else to state about my life for the record, so here it is:

I have long been interested in the idea of whether Christians have a duty to support their governing authorities and by association their commands and decisions, short (of course) of compromising the fundamentals of one’s faith. This issue is important to me because it seems to be a case in which my feelings differ from those of traditional biblical interpretation. During the height of its power, the institutional Church in Europe supported the idea of "the divine right of kings". The divine right of kings was the view that rulers were appointed to their positions of authority by God and thus that it was according to and by his will that every ruler came to power. This mandate seems to have biblical support in some places, most notably in Romans 13:1-7 which represents one extreme view in favor of standing unanimously behind all governing authorities:

"(1) Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. (2) Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. (3) For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. (4) For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. (5) Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. (6) This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. (7) Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor." (Romans 13:1-7)

At first glance, seems to be a very clear mandate to follow government because all authorities are good and operate according to upright standards of justice. You will notice, though, that the "governing authorities" which are referred to in the passage seem to be described as unilaterally possessing good intentions and reasonable standards of justice. It does not say "submit yourself to all authorities” REGARDLESS of whether they "bears the sword for nothing." It simply says that they Christians must follow them because they are good. At the same time, it still does not imply that if the government does not live up to these standards one ought not to comply with it.

To further examine the meaning of this passage, one must step away from these words as literal commandments of God and consider them within the context of their author and intended audience: Paul the apostle to the Christian communities of first-century Rome. These Christians were vulnerable to the suspicion of dominant Pagan society, as they were seen as a group that set themselves apart antisocially by declined to participate in pagan civic lifestyle. There was paranoia among some that the Christians posed some threat to the Roman Empire and this paranoia would have been especially potent in Rome as it was the center of the empire. This paranoia would later result in the victimization and persecution of the early church throughout the reigns of many emperors.

It is plausible then to imagine that Paul would have written this passage in order to give the clear message that Christian principles advocate adherence to all standards of government, stated in such a way as to praise of the fairness and just nature of Roman leadership as a means of dispelling this paranoia.

If you look at the message in the previous chapter, it seems to lend credibility to this perspective. Paul in Romans 12:2 suggests that promoted "not conform[ing] any longer to the pattern of this world, but be[ing] transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Such a message does not directly advocate dissention, but it does encourage what could (rightfully) be interpreted as antisocial behavior. The leaders of the time regarded antisocial tendencies a serious threat to the cohesion of society in an empire who was constantly faced with the challenge of maintaining unity in the face of diversity. New sources of diversity that would keep people from participating in social events and accepting the values of social religion were seen as degenerate. Thus, by following this chapter with a mandate of submission to government, Paul clearly hoped to alleviate suspicion.

If you look at the message directly following Romans 13:1-7, you see that it suggests that the end times were believed to be even sooner at hand than had been previously understood. It advocates that the most important endeavor is to focus on refining ones own character through a holy life free of immorality. This seems to suggest that submission to governing authorities is done because the more important issue is personal preparation for salvation and because any rebellion would be a misappropriation of energy.

It does not seem that many governments, if any, live up to the standards declared in this passage. It is indisputably inaccurate that “rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong.” It seems likely, then, that Paul was appeasing the leaders of Rome and recommending that the Christian church do so as well. It seems likely that he is declaring the importance of submitting to government under ideal conditions, but his words do not seem to reveal anything of how we should deal with governmental injustice in our current times.

the bane of my life

There's a certain individual in my life, who'll remain anonymous, that causes me more grief and frustration than I can remember anybody having accomplished in the past. She lacks communication skills to such an extent that it's almost hard to imagine that it isn't an elaborate act. She is the sole vanguard of a cultural gap that she works relentlessly to keep from being bridged. You never know when she's going to try to be friendly and chat or when she's going to be grumpy and give unconstructive criticism of a problem she has with you that seems by all reason to be her own. She'll walk into a classroom full of kids participating enthusiastically in a lesson and fly into a tyrade about the importance of quiet and study. She'll walk into a quiet classroom full of kids studying for a test screaming at the top of her lungs at a crying toddler who hadn't made it to class on time. She'll continue screaming for a full minute about something unrelated to anyone in that studious class without so much as acknowledging how disruptive she is being. Her presence keeps you on edge at all times, because it is impossible to predict when some unreasonable demand or expectation will be poorly expressed in your direction. You will be told within the same day that you need to give more tests, but that too many tests uses too much paper which is unacceptable. She will suddenly thrust into your face problems that you have unsuccessfully been trying to have addressed for as long as you can remember, as if she had stumbled upon them herself long after you should have made them apparent. You will be trying to find the words to reply to these absurd accusations when she will get distracted and her blind wrath will be diverted to somebody or something else. You will not get a chance to reply or retort, and if you try to express one anyway you will be hastily told "just moment" (or with some equivalent sound) and she will not remember to return her attention to you. She will communicate just enough to make you feel inadequate, but not enough to inspire any change. It is as if you are a beast of burden and she is the taskmaster who speaks only with the whip. All of this is a ministry. I think I've vented as much as I need to to go teach my last class before the weekend.

can't sleep

As I get more and more frustrated with the monotony of life, my dreams seem to compensate by getting more and more complex and exciting. Sleeping has become by far the most entertaining activity in my life, fueled by details from shows like Lost and Prison Break with their addictive plot lines and reorganized into bizarre experiences that can't fit themselves into memories. The bad part about this is that on the more interesting nights, I end up staying in bed until responsibilities make it absolutely necessary to get up. This in turn leaves me wide awake at 5:22am on an expired Monday night. I've always hated lying in bed for longer than an hour without successfully falling asleep because after that point no position is comfortable and my brain starts to protest. At one point I thought I was going to be able to drift off when out of nowhere some rogue conclusion occurred to me about how Buddhism is opposite to Christianity. My mind probably got on the theme of Buddhism as it occurred to me how much the desire to sleep was causing me to suffer. Anyways about an hour ago I decisively got out of bed and wrote down the thought. Here it is:

"Many people have proposed that religions are all similar in goal and message. They see Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and most other religions as a general attempt to promote the values of love and harmonious coexistence over interpersonal conflict and hate. On the other hand, most religions with any sense of orthodoxy would claim that its principles and essence in practice are mutually exclusive to the practice of other religions. This lays the framework for two sides of an argument: "Are religions united by the same goal or do they lead individuals in fundamentally different directions?"

While my mind was refusing to let me drift off to sleep, something occurred to me about Christianity. Being a Christian isn't about becoming happy, because it's about accepting that we are sinners. To accept oneself as a sinner is to decide not to excuse any action as acceptable, even when one does not or cannot stop from doing it. In other words, Christianity is more about staring your sin in the face and acknowledging it for what it is than about becoming sinless. As a natural result of this, we suffer as we desire to eliminate our sinful habits and actions. It is not comfortable to yearn for this purity that we will never accomplish.

This then led me to think about the main idea behind Buddhism: that all suffering is caused by our desires and that the path to fulfillment lies in the cessation of desire. Now, Buddhism in practice involves a great deal of focus, effort and daily devotion to the disciplines taught in the Eightfold Path. That said, however, it is an essential part of Buddhism that one does not yearn for the completion of this path but instead accepts the place that their soul is at in the long journey that stretches through many lifetimes. After all, to be filled with desire to one day rid oneself of desires would be counterproductive.

Here, then, is a major dichotomy between Buddist and Christian life. A Buddhist learns not to attach themselves to the desire for change; especially not change so impossible as to live in moral and spiritual purity. Christians must forever endure the cycle of focusing on this need for change without ever attaining it in the process of "spiritual growth." Desire is as central to Christian life as it is antipathetic to Buddhist life. The pain is a necessary element of growth as one comes to understand not timeless truths and abandonment of reality, but ways to help one another and learn to live with an honest and open spirit. Buddhism as a diverse tradition is engrained in many cultures and there is much wisdom to learn from them, as God created all men with gifts. This does not however change the fact that at the center of this religious pursuit is self-centered isolation rather than empathy towards all others, a dependence on fellowship and a relentless pursuit of God."

I started this train of thought over a year ago during my trip to Southeast Asia and the train hasn't by any means reached any conclusive destination, so feel free to argue or disagree in a comment. I'm gonna try to sleep again.