Spirituality Column No. 493
April 26, 2016
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

By Bob Walters

“This above all, to thine own self be true.” Polonius in Hamlet, Act 1, Scene iii

As antithetical as this apparently self-serving quote may appear to a Christian, it provides a valuable lesson of how not to read Shakespeare … or the Bible.

Not that anyone is going to confuse Polonius with Jesus.

Shakespeare wrote lots of stuff that has a biblical ring to it.  This particular quote shows up all the time on lists of sayings people think come from the Bible but don’t, sayings like “Moderation in all things” (Aristotle), “God helps those that help themselves” (Aesop / Ben Franklin) and others.  You get the idea.

As for biblical passages and Shakespearian tragedies, smart people have been studying them for a long time.  When we encounter inspired scripture or secular platitudes, it is wise to seek truth not in the brevity or pithiness of a single line, but in the broader context of the writing, the actual lesson being taught, the perspective of the era and the wisdom of the ages.  Truth has a way of never getting old.

Our present day New Age / postmodern / warm-fuzzy love affair with our worldly appetites and self-defined moral standards would grab this Shakespeare line about “being true to one’s self” and claim it as authoritative affirmation of self-driven ethical reality.  “My point is proven,” we assume.  “I’ll keep my own counsel,” we assert.  And we miss the deep, timeless truth of selfless – not selfish – moral high ground.

Polonius was a not-too-trustworthy Shakespearian windbag who nonetheless had a gift for saying wise things.  Here he advises his travel-bound son Laertes, a friend of Hamlet’s, to be “true to himself” because in context, two lines later, “Thou canst not then be false to any man.”  The lesson is about dealing rightly with others so as not to defile one’s own reputation.

As for Shakespeare’s historical era, Elizabethan England (1558-1603) enjoyed great power and was subject to profound Christian influence.  The age followed closely the founding of the Anglican Church by King Henry VIII (1534), was a period of great British commercial and naval might, and just preceded the King James Bible (1611).

To learn wisdom or profound timeless truth that is sometimes hidden from view, we must train and discipline ourselves to look deeper than one line of Shakespeare, or one line of scripture or first-impression evidence anywhere.

How Christians “do unto others,” “forgive others,” “love others,” “let our light shine for others” and “make disciples, baptize and instruct others” all reflect the depth, breadth and health of our relationship with God.

That’s what reveals one’s true self.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes that one’s Bible understanding enriches one’s grasp of Western literature.

Spirituality Column #492
April 19, 2016
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

By Bob Walters

“…Love your neighbor as yourself…” – Mark 12:31, Romans 13:9, Leviticus 19:18

These are the words of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark, of Paul in his letter to the Romans, and of God to Moses regarding moral holiness in Leviticus.  Gospels, Epistles, Old Testament.  Jesus, Paul, God.  Better pay attention; there is some authority here.

Notice the key word in this scripture verse is not “yourself.”  The key word is “neighbor.”

From one end of the Bible to the other, from God to Jesus to the Holy Spirit, from the Law to the Prophets to the Apostles, scripture hammers home this message over and over and over … “It’s not about you.”

What it is about, always, is the Lord.  God’s first commandment is to “Love the Lord.”  His very next, equally important instruction is to love others.  God wants us to love what He loves.

“Others” means family, neighbors, strangers, enemies, sinners, the rich, the powerful, the hungry, sick, poor, weak, whomever.  Our journey in this life is about honoring the Lord and loving our fellow human beings whom God created in His own image.  What life is decidedly not about is “Looking out for No. 1,” “Do your own thing,” “I Gotta Be Me,” or “I Did it My Way.”

These cultural catchphrases and classic song titles are instructive for evaluating modern scriptural bearings when it comes to our individual humility and Biblically ordained priorities.  The path our culture pursues is paved with overwhelming contemporary philosophical focus on being who I want to be, not who God wants me to be.  We live in a charitable age, no doubt.  School children and community groups execute endless charity-driven funding and events.  Yes, we are loving others, but are we just as actively loving God?  Maybe we think we are, but does it honor God if we are afraid to say so?

Public school children and random community groups out of necessity must eschew God’s glory in their charitable activities, because society’s mythology says we must separate church and state.  Everybody seems to think we still glorify God and fulfill a “good works” quota if we help others while ignoring God.  Goodness, what if we do what the Bible actually instructs and love and honor God through visible, proclaiming, tangible, active faith in Jesus Christ as we love, serve and help others?

And say it out loud?

One thing I know today that I didn’t know 20 years ago is that the ultimate way to help “others” is to help them find love, trust and faith in Jesus Christ.

Then the other stuff comes naturally.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) spent most of his life as a non-believer; others helped him come around.

Spirituality Column #491
April 12, 2016
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

By Bob Walters

Ignorance of the law is no excuse; neither is ignorance of the Bible.

Whether growing in one’s faith or defending one’s mind and morals, the Bible is where truth is best told and trusted.  Jesus is where truth ultimately resides.

Faced 24/7/365 with the scripturally misquoting, spiritually disingenuous, that’s-just-your-opinion, sin-enabling world around us, what do we do about that?

We hold fast to the truth, that’s what.  Identify the accurate from the inaccurate.  Know what scripture says and what it doesn’t.  Know the difference between the Law and legalism, and faith and love.  Go to trusted sources for education not only of Bible truths but about origins, contexts and differences of those who follow different gods or pervert God’s truth.  Embolden our hearts, strengthen our minds, and pray in the Spirit.

Above all, let God’s Word wash over us with peace, love, mercy, forgiveness and patience.  In other words, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” (Ephesians 6:10-20).

Jesus and the Apostle Paul are the New Testament’s leading examples of knowing one’s enemies, i.e., the devil’s schemes that play endlessly in humanity’s heart for which Jesus suffered and died to forgive, and Paul labored to expose and explain.  Both were hated by contemporary cultural authorities.

That’s kind of where humanity and Christianity still are.  The Pharisees of our day surround us with virulent, anti- and extra-biblical “truth” that plays to temporal choice, rights and convenience courting every imaginable denial of God, Jesus, the Spirit and everlasting truth.

Case in point: A “hilarious” billboard in Mississippi from a ‘humanitarian” organization protests a recent religious freedom law.  It features a shaking-my-head Jesus image that reads: “Guys, I said I hate figs, and to love your neighbor.”

Insulting, insinuated gay epithets aside, this is biblical ignorance on parade.  Luke 13 and Mark 11 tell of Jesus cursing a barren, unproductive fig tree when Jesus was hungry…for figs.  Lesson B: Jesus likes figs.  Lesson A:  Jesus curses unproductivity.  Lesson A-plus: Enabling sin is not loving one’s neighbor.  Extra Credit: “Humanitarian?”  Jesus is our true humanity.  Oy.

Removing scriptural truth from contemporary intellectual endeavor and societal normalcy deserves far more than a traffic ticket – “Sorry officer, I didn’t seen the sign …” Let’s not be part of that problem of scriptural illiteracy and cultural evil.  We can diligently, bravely and boldly, with discipline and love, stay in the Word for truth, in church for fellowship and on mission for Christ.

Jesus didn’t always explain things, and we don’t have to either.

But He did know and live the truth.  So can we.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) has missed lots of signs and gotten lots of tickets.

Spirituality Column #490
April 5, 2016
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

By Bob Walters

Jesus never said “Go your own way” or “Find your true self.”  He also never spoke much about the “religion” that would carry His name.

Christianity grew out of the reality of Christ’s resurrection, God’s eternal love, and mankind having been created by God in God’s own image.  Throughout the Old Testament we learn about God, man, the law, and man’s raucous inability to obey God’s Law, much less glorify God by his own effort.  The New Testament was a game changer because God reached directly into humanity as Christ resetting man’s relationship with God.  The Law was fulfilled in the faith, truth and love of Jesus Christ.

Jesus wasn’t and isn’t an idea, a concept or a philosophy.  He’s a real person with a real mission with a real Father in Heaven.

You want to talk about God?  No other way to talk to Him except through Jesus.

So when the modern secular world claims pagan “rights” exalting the imagined god-hood of personal preferences and lifestyle choices, and backs it up with the vapid authority that Jesus would never deny someone their “true desires” or “identities” or “choices,” the reasoning falls apart.  You cannot invoke Jesus here and deny God’s authority there; it reveals one’s profound misunderstanding of what Jesus taught and a simply vacant mental library of what Jesus actually did.

You can read about it in the Bible, but so many people haven’t.  Our crippling weakness as a society today is our willful ignorance of Jesus.

Jesus was one tough customer because He truly didn’t and doesn’t care about anything but God’s glory and expressing it with love – His love, our love, divine love.  Christ’s love wasn’t and isn’t a let-it-all-hang-out, do-your-own-thing, hippie child-of-the-’60s absence of accountability, the “Me Decade” revels of the 1970s or a Millennialist “everybody’s-a-winner” faux reality.  The sole mission of Christ’s love is to glorify God by reconnecting the “created” – i.e., “us” – freely with the Creator, who is God.

Jesus absolutely was in the “denial” business.  The first and most frequent person He denied was Himself.  Jesus had no sin, yet died for ours.  Yes, He saved the sinful woman, but didn’t say, “Go and have a good time; find yourself.”  Jesus said, “Go and sin no more.”  Jesus helped the weak, the sick, and the outcasts, made friends with tax collectors and sinners of every stripe, freed evil spirits and even shrewdly dismantled the Jewish law in the parables he told.

But Jesus never said, “Go your own way.”  He said, “Follow me.”

So don’t ask, “Who do I want to be?”  Ask, “Who does God want me to be?”

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) is saying: One’s true self is found only in Jesus.