Love and Law

Common advice oft given is not to talk about politics or religion. These, after all are the most controversial subjects. It’s safer to talk about the weather. “It’s hot in Texas, but we hope it cools off soon.” It’s safer to talk about sports. “Did you know my current school, Texas State University, used to employ live mascots at the football games? Yeah, Bobcats! I hope the other team was so scared they lost. Or maybe the Bobcat gets to eat our team captain for poor performance.” This kind of talk is safe. It’s comforting like a warm mocha on a rainy fall afternoon. It’s also boring. So, let's  bring out the spicy hot red button political issues and in case that doesn’t give you indigestion, top it off with some vodka strong spiritual talk.

It’s time that the main priority for politicians became not enforcing religious values, but rather good governance. I’m not saying that morality and politics are separate. George Washington is correct: religion helps support morality. Yes, the government has a benefit in supporting morality. But where that line gets drawn is hazy for some and clear cut for others.

I used to be far right politically. I mean I believed that the government could create laws that would promote a moral society. I believed that if a politician only wrote the right laws based on Chrisitianity, then America would be saved and we would all go back to the happy picture of the 1950’s that is “I Love Lucy,” and “Leave it to Beaver.” Now, dissecting those two T.V. shows would take a team of anthropologists and psychologists, and likely the students of my former college composition class who must discuss such lame topics, but suffice it to say the characters seemed real happy.

In the West we have a Judeo-Christian ethic. Our laws have some of their origin in the Old Testament. This is why there is less corruption in the West than in other parts of the world- the principles of not stealing and lying are important to us Westerners. So yes, not stealing, not lying,  not murdering, these are important. So is not committing adultery, fornicating and having homosexual relations. But here is the catch- what do we take and what do we leave from that Old Testament? Do we stone people for adultery? Say slavery was okay because it was considered an acceptable part of culture back then? Most reasonable folks would answer no to both of those questions. So, while Christianity does change a culture it is introduced to, that is where change must occur, within the culture. Christianity is not now and was never meant to be a trickle down process where people follow it's dictates because someone in authority made them do so.  Behavioral change doesn’t happen because someone somewhere wrote a law saying that something is or is not acceptable. Behavioral change happens in one’s emotions and spirit and emanates to their actions. This is why those who have been hurt, trampled on and abused must have their hearts repaired before they can see themselves living healthy lives.

So my challenge to Christians is this. Let’s start living by the laws that sum up all the other laws. These laws aren’t written by the U.S. Congress, but I guarantee they are the best ever. 1) Love God 2) Love others as you would have them love you.

We can no longer waste the Church’s precious energy fighting costly political battles and alienating those who are far from God by seeking to regulate their behavior. It’s a failed strategy that continually fails. Rather, let’s seek to live in a society that expresses tolerance for all faiths, but demonstrates that the faith that offers the Way, the Truth and the Life, is one that is attractive. Love people. Today, do just that. Show you love. Show them that you love others 100% right now even if they never change. Because that is the unconditional love God has for you.

Playing Chess to get Life’s Great Lessons:

A few weeks ago I was in Winslow, Arizona seeing family. My youngest brother is 12 years old and had learned how to play chess since the last time I saw him. My chess game is rusty and the little guy beat me soundly more than once I am proud to say. Well, embarrassed for me, proud for him. I think we can all derive some life lessons from the chess board, so I wanted to present a few here.

Lesson #1: Always play chess with those who are better than you.

This is a lesson that was grilled into me as a kid growing up. It was my father’s way of telling me that if you surround yourself with people who are better than you, you will learn from them. There is some Biblical evidence for this. Proverbs says that “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another (Proverbs 27:17, NIV).” Conversely, the book of Proverbs talks about how if you hang out with people who aren’t up to par, your own standards may start to slip. Proverbs also states that “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed (Proverbs 13:20, KJV). I have found when I talk with smart people it not only encourages me to study more, it sharpens my intellect incredibly.

Lesson #2 Analyze and utilize your pieces so as to maximize your effectiveness.

Your rook performs a different function than the knight, the king a different function than the queen. In our society, we have so much confusion over the roles of individuals and lifestyles that we have become accepting of almost anything. Now more than ever, it’s important to know why you believe what you believe and to be able to convey it rationally to others. The friend needs to treat her or his friend as such, not as a friend with lover benefits and no strings attached. Similarly, lovers must each treat their significant others with respect or the relationship erodes in a vicious cycle of hurt and wounding. If you know what you are good at in life, rejoice in that. Don’t spend your time comparing yourself to others or wishing you were someone else.

Lesson #3 Watch the clock.

Timed chess games require you to move within a set period. If you are smart in life, you will not order your time around what you feel like doing, but rather you will live within a disciplined schedule so as to maximize your productivity, making time for both work and play.

Lesson #4 Always think two or more moves ahead.

Life is a game of grand strategy. A professor recently told me a good diplomat or politician will analyze how an action in one country will affect the region and what the dominoe affect of an action will be. It’s more than thinking two steps ahead, it’s living a life of purpose where every move is made with the knowledge of how this will benefit you in the long run.

Lesson #5  Know when to trade in your pieces.

Paul told the Corinthians in the New Testament that in his opinion it was best to be single, but that he knew that most people needed a mate. So, if you’re really good at the game of life, perhaps you can do it all on your own and you don’t need your queen to win. If I captured my younger brother’s chess queen the response was predictable from him. “Oh no, Lena! The game is over! You took my queen!” I would have to remind him that he had many other pieces on the board, and that really it was okay to trade a pawn in for a queen. Oftentimes I think adults hold onto dead relationships. You’ll know when a relationship is dead. It starts to stink. It ceases to be any fun and is all work. The comments coming from your significant other are consistently abusive and promises of reform can be made with months or years passing and you haven’t seen evidence that they were real in that time period. Comments I have heard for hanging onto dead relationships include “Sunk costs” the time that you’ve placed investing in the relationship. I suggest you consider “future costs.” There is a difference between being a loyalist and a martyr, assess which you are. Why waste your future being miserable?  Don’t think that  flowers covers up the stench of a dead relationship. It just makes it a little more momentarily pleasant. The roses fade and the stench returns. Know when to trade the pawn for a queen since you don’t do well at check mating in the game of life without her.  

Lesson #6: Study to become a Chess Master.

No one got good at anything without discipline. In International Relations, you want to study history and previous policies to analyze what could have happened for better or worse. Sports is the same way. Perhaps a football strategy makes more sense to you than a military one. Either way, get strategy in your life. Study those who are better than you, and like rule number one says, hang out with them!

Lesson #7: You tell me. What has chess taught you about the game of life?

The Dangerous Game of Reading Pop History

I recently read for my 20th Century Russian History class a book by historian Margret MacMillan called "Dangerous Games: The Uses and Abuses of History."

I have just started into my second semester of graduate school for a Masters in International Studies at Texas State University. I've been trying to get back into the rigors of academic grind. So, when I found out I had a book report and 20 minute presentation shortly after the semester began, I was none too thrilled. I got off easy compared to other students who had 500+ pages to read for their book reports. MacMillan's work is a simple 172 pages and it reads like a novel. Not too shabby of an assignment for a girl's whose last name comes at the beginning of the alphabet which inevitably means beginning of the semester presentations.


Then I read the book. First off, MacMillan has her credentials. She's presently employed by Oxford University and prior to that, was at the University of Toronto. You can find many reviews of the book online, as its academic literature that's mandated reading in courses taught in many schools including Harvard University. Secondly, the lady is great with her style of writing. She doesn't spend a whole chapter on one political event, but takes you all over history with a concise use of words to prove her various points.


My gripe was that a brilliant historian made two errors. First, she allowed bias to shape her opinion in a way that was so evident as to be nonacademic. Secondly, she didn't back up that bias with citations proving it.








She writes on page 172:

"When archaeological excavations called into question many key components of the Old Testament and its whole chronology, many fundamentalist Christians and Israelis refused to believe the findings or simply remained indifferent. Many ancient historians and archaeologists have come to believe that the Israelites may never have been in Egypt. If there was an exodus, it may have been only a small affair with a few families. The Israelites may not have conquered the land of the Canaanites, and Jericho probably didn't have walls to fall down at the blast of a trumpet. The great kingdom of Solomon and David, which was said to stretch from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates, was more likely to have been a small chiefdom. Remains from the time indicate that Jerusalem was a small city, not the magnificent one of the Bible. So why, asked Ze'ev Herzog in the respected Israeli newspaper Haaretz, has what is a major change in views about the biblical past not provoked a reaction, even from secular Israelis? His conclusion is that they find it too painful to contemplate. "The blow to the mythical foundations of the Israeli identity is apparently too threatening, and it is more convenient to turn a blind eye."

Her rant continues on, as she explains how a Palestinian professor came under attack for suggesting that Israelis use the faulty archeology to stake their political claim of Israeli land. In the back of the book there is a recommended reading list where you can find the persecuted Palestinian professor's book. Oddly, I didn't see any pro-Israeli book featured on her list.

The author floors me with her own abuse of the facts of history. The subject of archaeology is controversial and cannot be given any depth in her short analysis of it. The book "The Stones Cry Out: what Archaeology Reveals about the Truth of the Bible," cites evidence from Jericho that fits the Biblical account. The author Dr. Randall Price has his credentials as well, TH.M. Old Testament and Semitic Languages from Dallas Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern Studies, from the University of Texas at Austin. He has also done graduate studies work at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and has taught on Biblical archaeology at the University of Texas. I wish Dr. MacMillan would cite some of his work!


There is certainly a bias against Judaism and Christianity evidenced in today's scholarship. I've talked to two professors about this book. One said while he couldn't criticize his colleagues book assignment, he wouldn't put much stock in a book that doesn't cite it sources. He further stated that it's difficult to know if the author gets it right or wrong unless you come to read the book already possessing a working knowledge of history. Here's where the danger is. The temptation is to agree with MacMillan that the Bible is simply out dating current politics and is in fact mythology today. But a more careful look into academic thought on the matter reveals it still is a reasonable position to take the God of Scriptures at His Word. To his credit, my professor who assigned the work requested that I talk to the class about what I am critical of in her work. I am prepared to do so.