Listen.

My inspiration to write this blog post comes from Wednesday of Week II’s reading from Evening Prayer. But to be honest, when I first read it I thought to myself, “Tell me something my mum didn’t already tell me when I was 3.” I thought to myself that I have a practical knowledge of the statement that the apostle James so eloquently states in Chapter 1:

“[19]This you know, my beloved brethren, but everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; [20]for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”

Then I said to myself, “Josh, if you know this so well and are confident that you are such a fantastic guy, then you must act on this and do the things that James talks about, right?”

I am writing this post on purely selfish instincts. I’m writing this as more of a reflection on my life rather than to lecture or instruct others how to live. I hope that you might draw from this whatever you can.

Anyway, there are several points that I’d like to attack here:
- James’ use of endearment, “My beloved brethren”
- “Be quick to hear and slow to speak” and
- The issue of anger

As I sit here in front of my computer screen, I reflect. How James can address people whom he doesn’t even know as he does? He is instructing the twelve dispersed tribes (major groups of people spread out among many countries) with gusto on how to live a better, more full, and more Godly life. This implies that these people weren’t living a very holy life in the first place. As I thought/am thinking about this I asked myself how I typically think about or address people who are not being intelligent. I call them things like “jackass”, “idiot”, “moron”, “dumb ass”, and they only get progressively worse. And yet James calls them, his “beloved brethren”. He speaks to them with almost serene patience. All the other letter writers in the Bible also use this language, addressing people as their brothers and sisters...even in the face of their idiotic tendencies.

“Be quick to hear and slow to speak.” Yeah, yeah, yeah, you were always right, Mum. I should listen before I talk. I should be a better listener than talker. I should listen to peoples feelings. Yadda, yadda, yadda. While all this stuff is great, I’m reflecting on what I think are the deeper cues and hints in which James might be trying to get at. I am just wondering what the world would be like if we took this statement, “Be quick to hear and slow to speak,” to its most extreme limit. If we could never speak and could only listen. What would the world be like then? Imagine the things we would hear: a more profound whisper of the wind, the intricacies of Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major, the howl of a distant coyote, the sigh of a stressed passerby, and the tick of the rushing second-hand of my watch. I have more than enough to say but how much of it is truly influential to the world or even to those that are immediately connected to me? I know for a fact that I have taken the common sounds that I hear every day for a grain of salt, but without that grain of salt I would have nothing, eh? I figure I should talk a whole lot less and perhaps not worry internally so much and genuinely listen to the beautiful sounds of things around me.

Also, on this note, not only would I hear just the physical things that surround me, I imagine I might hear the voice of the One who created these sounds. Maybe I should try this out more often.

Lastly, anger. Probably one of my greatest weaknesses. It rarely amasses to anything substantial but a little bit of it everyday always manages to squeeze itself into my daily routine. This little bit of frustration tends to sometimes overwhelm me. I think that in these situations, if the previous two points that James make are taken care of then we will be ready for action. Imagine for a second how incredible we could feel if we responded to a sticky situation with an address of endearment and then listened to the person or hear out a nasty situation. If I could only take a step back and comprehend what is going on and hear out the beauties of humanity, then I highly doubt there’d be any room for frustration. If I am constantly reflecting on the subtle complexities of what I am surrounded by, is there any room for any feelings other than the desire to call an idiot my friend and to embrace the internal beauty upon which I should be reflective upon?

With all this under our belts, we may not be as fantastic of people as we think we are. There is always stuff that needs fixing. End of story.

Life.

My last post was all about death and after reflecting I thought some very profound thoughts. What else is also guaranteed about us? Life is. 10 out of 10 people live. You must live before you die. What is tragic about this fact though? We live in a society that believes that this is not a fact or that we can control this. We have begun to shift the way we think about life, as if we control it. We have introduced death into the world in the evil form of abortion.

Abortion is the termination of that which is living. There is dispute within the argument of life; "when does life begin?" My answer is simply--WHO CARES? Let us look at the problems of abortion in a the light of truth-since that is what people care about...and yet truth has been ignored.

Whether the life begins at conception or at birth, abortion is still wrong because:
- it is not natural,
- it is harmful to the mother,
- and it is not the intention of God

The act of sex is natural. Babies are natural. Sex produces babies. Therefore it is necessary that we expect that which is natural: babies are intrinsically expected to come from sex. It follows from this logic that we should have sex with full intent of having a baby, unless you don’t mind a surprise. To terminate the baby is to take away from the essence of nature. In the act of abortion we are overriding the forces of nature.

Abortion is not safe. Here are just a few complications that may arise as a result of abortion: bladder Injury, bowel injury, laceration of the cervix, breast cancer, higher chance of having ectopic pregnancies in the future, hemorrhage, infection, perforation of the uterus, placenta previa, dramatically increased chance of miscarriages, and sterility. These are not small issues and none of these things are safe. There is nothing safe about abortion. If, for just a moment, we were to assume that the death of the child was a good thing, then it still does far more harm to the mother and her future wanted pregnancies even if the ultimate end of an abortion was good.

The previous two reasons against abortion are pitter-patter compared to what I am about to propose. Given that you believe in an all-powerful God, then we believe that everything that is enacted is because He willed it. If He wills everything then we must believe that our God intends for life to be embraced and cherished. If a young lady is to have a child then it is because God has intentions for her to have a child (that He has hand made for her). Who are we to make the ultimate decision to end that life? By having an abortion we are ending God’s own intention.

You’re probably asking yourself, well then if God wills everything then wouldn’t He will us to have abortions. To me this is just silly. When have we ever known God to be a God of death? Because of our free will we have introduced evil and abortion to the world. Our sinful nature is the inverse of God. Abortion is definitely not God’s will. Why would He enable something just for it to be ended?

Forgive me, I am no expert on the matters of abortion but it seems to me that life is the most important thing that we have been given, so how do we have the right to take this away? We, of course, produce the baby but after this the life-giving process is out of our hands. God’s will is that there is to be a baby. It is sad to think that we have the nerve to strip an all-powerful God of His own intentions. I don’t know about you but I would not want to try to stop God and His intentions.

Life is not something for us to determine. Naturally speaking, there is nothing good that can come from an abortion. Abortion is something that has irreversible harms that go hand in hand with each other. Spiritually speaking, there is nothing good that can come from abortion. There is an evil that goes hand in hand with abortion.

The true fight against abortion boils down to a spiritual battle. This war will not be won at rallies or protests. This battle will be won on our knees. We need retreat to prayer and embrace our God of life.