The Wradcast: Recent Episodes
Jaek Wrad
In the book of Jonah, God tells Jonah to "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me" (Jonah 1:2). The part we usually look at is the first three chapters--Jonah doesn't want to go to Nineveh, he runs away from God, he gets tossed into the ocean, he gets eaten by a whale, he repents, he is "vomited up" by the whale onto dry land, and he goes and preaches to Nineveh as was originally planned. There are many lessons to be gleaned from those chapters, obviously, but I want to look at the final chapter of Jonah.At the end of the third chapter, Nineveh repents as a result of Jonah's preaching, and God's wrath is thereby averted. In the fourth chapter, we see that "It displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry" that God's wrath is averted--"he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live" (Jonah 4:1-3). We see that Jonah's original reason for not preaching in Nineveh was that he was afraid of being heard! He was afraid that the Ninevites WOULD believe and be saved! This seems the opposite of the attitude of Christians today (I speak mainly from my own experience) who are rather afraid of rejection or of ridicule for their beliefs (particularly in academic circles). But really, Jonah and I suffer from the same basic problem.I must admit, I don't know exactly Jonah's reasons for anger; why didn't he want the Ninevites to repent and be saved from destruction? My own supposition was that Nineveh was a foreign city--that pride and a sort of "nationalism" stopped Jonah from bringing a foreign people the word, as if he did not want "Those Ninevite dogs" to be able to receive God's forgiveness. Jonah presupposes God's mercy, and he knows the Ninevites will be saved if they repent; but he doesn't want them to be saved, so he doesn't want them to have God's word! He certainly seems to hate the Ninevites--after they have repented, he asks God to kill him, as if he deserves death for having helped the enemy, so to speak. Clearly, we could sum this up (albeit in an understated manner) as a lack of love on Jonah's part-- his lack of love kept him from (initially) speaking God's word to those in need of it. If he loved them, he would rejoice at the opportunity to speak the word to the Ninevites and would rejoice if they heard him and repented!Again, I speak my from my own experience, but I suspect that I'm not the only one who has these thoughts-- this is not a new idea! But anyway, there is often today a reluctance to speak the gospel at work or among friends, which is based in a different sort of fear. Personally, I'm usually afraid of being rejected or ridiculed for speaking about these things-- let alone the fact that I probably won't be heard. This latter concern is a lesser concern, usually. If I am heard, if those I speak to agree that the Word is the truth, then I may just feel a certain relief! Relief, that is, that they are not going to stop being friends with me as a result of my speaking the Word-- and I feel that relief instead of rejoicing that my friend has accepted God's word! The problem is an overemphasis on personal attachment, on emotional affection to those around me, at the expense of a true LOVE for them. Again, if I truly love them, then I will give them that great word of salvation! If I love them, I will desire that they might be saved! But if I am merely emotionally attached to them, then I will seek only to maintain our friendship. If talking about God might mean this person no longer likes me, or that I might be deprived of the pleasure of their company, I won't risk losing that, even if that person desperately needs God's word. So the problem is often letting my own selfish affection dictate my decisions, instead of letting a genuine, selfless concern guide me. It is a lack of love in me. (For those of you who have heard my podcast on man's tripartite nature...Love is a function of the spirit, whereas affection is a function of the soul!)Both Jonah and I allow our lack of love to prevent us from speaking the gospel. True, in his case, love is replaced by a proud, xenophobic type of hate, whereas the affection which replaces love in my case is affection, which seems "nicer" or more "pleasant"-- but both result in the same lack of love. I'm not saying that we shouldn't be nice or pleasant to people, that we shouldn't be friendly or affectionate! But only that we cannot assume that our emotional attachment to those around us is automatically a supreme guide. Indeed, this affection often has selfish roots-- it is not all bad; but if it keeps us from speaking the word, then something must be done. LOVE is the basis for the primary commandments, on which hang all the law and the prophets (Matt. 22:37-40). This love is not a "feeling", but is demonstrated in our actions. If we love our brethren, we will seek to help them in any way we can (not helping them in a paternal sense, as if we are higher; but helping them as neighbors, as siblings, as equals. But that's a different issue entirely).
"O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." (Matt. 12:34-37)These verses always make me anxious, or concerned. I'm concerned that my words are so often uttered spontaneously, or to be funny, or just generally in carelessness. So often, I say what I know will be laughed at, or what I know will bring me some sort of immediate pleasure. I guess I'm mainly writing this to apologize, in a way, because I want to say words that will help people. I don't think that most of what I say is directly harmful to anyone, nor do I think joking around is bad. I guess it's just when it takes over my speech completely that it becomes a problem. Talking sincerely about serious matters becomes more or less impossible in this state, and I feel as if I occasionally trivialize important matters for the sake of a joke. But this way of talking, and that type of joke specifically, while being immediately pleasing, do not satisfy for long--when I'm no longer in the grips of it, I'm left empty, just like with any immediate pleasure (I don't know, TV, alcohol, probably music--they please but do not satisfy).I guess it isn't always the case that everything is trivialized, or that I end up going against or discounting things that are important to me. In fact, I can't think of many really explicit examples of that happening, but it definitely has happened in kind of a veiled way. Anyway I think the bigger problem is just spending so much time talking about things that don't matter, and not talking about important things. I always things of this verse, too: "Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to ave his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand." (Ezekiel 3:17-8) I don't want to be the one responsible for anyone not knowing the thing that could've saved their life--I don't want to dance around that and never tell anyone what I know to be true.But a lot of the time, I'm extremely hesitant-- because, after all, who am I to tell someone else how to live their life? Who am I to say I know THE truth? These questions evince an attitude that's pretty common in the world (especially prevalent in academic circles). This turns the issue of spreading the gospel into an issue of PRIDE, of me standing on my soapbox and telling the world what I, Jake Ward, have discovered--or what we, as Christians, have found out to be true through our own superior minds, virtuous NATURE, or whatever other point of high-minded pride might be perceived. But this is not to be the attitude of Christians. It's something extremely tempting for many Christians, and I know I myself have fallen into this. And I think a lot of non-Christians have seen this attitude (or thought they saw it, on some occasions) and have thereby concluded that Christians are no different than anyone else with any other standpoint--anyone who thinks THEY are right will gladly go out and tell the world how wrong they are. It becomes a struggle between people-- the right people vs. the wrong people, the good people vs. the bad people, etc.But that's not how that watchman analogy works. The watchman is put in place to HELP the people of the town, he's put there to potentially save them. AND (this is important) he doesn't help them in the way, say, a king helps his people. It is NOT the superior helping out the inferior--the watchman is, essentially, a servant to the town. He is there to serve the people, he goes up the watchtower every night, sacrificing a normal sleep schedule, in diligent service to his people. This does not entail a feeling of greatness, which he proceeds to lord over everyone else-- it is a position of subservience. I know when I talk about "diligent service to his people," that sounds pretty pretentious. But this is wrong-- he's not pretentious, he doesn't think on his own greatness in serving the town. His service is not a point of pride!! This is a subtle point, and it gets me every time-- this is where pride sneaks in. Because pride is always there, and it's never warranted in our situations.Now, a real watchman, granted, would be being paid for his efforts. He wouldn't necessarily do his job just to keep everyone safe-- he could do it for money. Christians, generally, don't get paid to be Christians, and all of us should spread the gospel out of LOVE for one another, aware of our inferiority before each other (Paul calls himself "chief of sinners"...and he wrote a pretty huge chunk of the New Testament, so, where does that put me? All of us should be humble. But that's another topic.).The real watchman could also do his job out of fear-- perhaps he doesn't trust anyone else to be in the watchman position, but would rather check out firsthand what dangers are coming. I think this can be viewed as analogous to our situation. We all MUST look into these things, search out with a sincere heart what the truth is. This is not a passive thing, in which the truth will just come to us of it's own accord. But NEITHER is it based only on our own efforts, as if we can save ourselves through mental effort and diligent work. It is neither entirely passive nor entirely active. The actual watchman needs to look-- he can't just sit there and wait for something to display itself to him. If he's asleep, he certainly won't see anything. Even if he's ACTUALLY LOOKING OUT, but is looking vacantly, "spacing out," and not actively investigating the horizon and really looking for attackers, he may not see what he needs to see. So our activity is necessary.But, in our case, we cannot always decipher truth from lies on our own. To an extent, we can. But we must also realize that there are MANY THINGS WE DO NOT UNDERSTAND. This is an important point. We have a conscience to guide us, true. And we usually have an accurate concept of right and wrong. But consider also that every one of us spends time engaging in activities harmful to us on a regular basis--things we know are bad for us sometimes, but often things we don't fully understand. Here's an analogy: someone hears that if you drink three glasses of carrot juice a day, your memory will improve. What they don't know is that too much carrot juice will result in premature deafness. That's not true, but it could be. I admit, it's a terrible example-- but we all hear the "latest studies show that" stories about heath benefits and health dangers of every single edible substance. One study affirms the benefits of whatever food, the next will reveal that the same food causes cancer. This happens because we DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING. The human body is too complex, and these issues are too complex to get answers to. Obviously, science evolves and our understanding improves, and science can guide us to an extent--after all, life expectancy has improved significantly from 100 years ago. But will our knowledge of anything ever be perfect? And will normal individuals ever understand completely what's good for their bodies and what isn't? It is similar in a spiritual sense-- there are so many lies, there are so many promises of satisfaction that instead deliver immediate gratification and leave us ultimately unhappy. This, however, does not absolve us of guilt or of wrongdoing-- this is an important point. In a way, we realize for ourselves that TV, alcohol, sex, whatever else--we find out these are unsatisfying. We already know that they are, but we persist in them anyway. We put our trust in them, and are left depressed, jaded, unhappy.What I suppose I'm saying is: we know enough to know that our way is wrong. We are willfully deceived in the lies of this world. BUT also worth noting is that we are incapable of getting ourselves out of them. We can try to turn away from them, but we cannot free ourselves. We must turn to God. We must humble ourselves and throw ourselves at His mercy. In this way, we are shown that those old things are lies, and we are given strength to be free from them.In all of this, all I'm really saying is that "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Matt. 7:7). We must knock ourselves-- but we cannot open the door. It must be opened to us, it's in God's hands. It's a COOPERATIVE effort-- not because God can't do it Himself, but because He wants us to seek Him of our own free will!Again, this is mainly an apology: I'm sorry for speaking and acting in a manner that I like, that makes me feel immediately happy, but that doesn't help anyone else. My speech should edify-- all of us should edify each other, help each other. But our speech shouldn't be pretentious or proud! We do not help in a paternal sense, superiors helping inferiors. We are all in the same boat-- the watchman lives in the city, too, and he's in exactly as much danger as the other citizens when an attack comes.Again, we must speak what we know to be true and essential for life: that God exists, that He loves us and longs for us to return to Him, and that He helps those who seek Him (and ALL need His help) but that He will punish those who turn their backs on Him, who spurn Him, who reject Him, and that the day will come when we all must stand before Him and give account of the words we spoke on this earth. And if these words strike any as proud or highminded, then I appreciate being told so! If this whole note is a proclamation of my great humility, then it is worse than a waste of everyone's time. If it is a warning, if it is not about me, but about YOU, then it can be edifying!
Firstly, I'll point out to those who haven't noticed already that Wradcast I (both parts) had to be taken off the site and off of iTunes, since I only have so much space and I want to keep putting out new Wradcasts. If there are any out there who haven't already downloaded Wradcast I, but who would like to, just email me at jdward@umail.iu.edu or facebook me at Jaek Wrad and I'll get you a copy of the file.
I'd also like to say thanks again to everyone who has supported me and encouraged me in this, and I appreciate any feedback, positive or negative! Criticism or opposing arguments on anything are very much appreciated, as I do not want to lead anyone astray or confuse anyone!
This podcast focuses on a touchy issue: topics of welfare and governmental distribution of wealth, etc. I suppose my main point is that political and governmental issues aren't our primary focus; God's Word, spreading the gospel, helping those in need and those in bondage to sin--these are more important! Matters pertaining to eternity and to God's kingdom should occupy our thoughts, goals, and efforts. Worldy government is important, but it is still worldly--therefore we should not be shocked when it does not act according to God's will. That all being said, we should not be opposed to giving to those in need. The government probably won't handle this in an efficient or effective manner, but we as individual Christians CAN help others through God's work in us. We ought to give as we have been given to; we have received all things from God's hand, and so we should give our whole lives to Him, to doing His will and to helping His beloved children, our brethren. He has bought us out of the bondage of sin by the blood of His only Son, and so we ought to give Him our all, even though our all still cannot repay what we have gotten from Him! We are all dependent on his mercy--and so we should not be selfish with what He has blessed us with.
Alright, so this should clear a few things up (maybe not all that it is intended to clear up...). A few more (hopefully) clarifying points on Kierkegaard--the need for passionate committment and difficult work (the thing is, his ideas are hotly debated among scholars, and are so voluminous that it's difficult to convey them in a brief podcast...I'm just using Kierkegaard to prove my point. If you get what I'm saying without him, then just forget about him for now!). Also, some verses that I quoted but did not give book and chapter and verse numbers for are read in their entirety, and the notions of a loving, merciful God and of Christ's blood making us sinless are reconciled with the ideas of anxiety, difficulty, and perpetual feelings of inadequacy...just listen to it, it'll make more sense that way!
"As Christians, our feelings of inadequacy should be perpetual." Not the cheeriest statement, but I believe it's true. Complacency, comfort, laziness, and pride work on us continually. God seeks to make us perfect, and we must submit ourselves to His scrutiny, to His justice and discipline. Also, just bear with me for the five minutes or so when I talk about Kierkegaard...it gets hairy and I don't maintain the utmost clarity haha, but there are still a lot of good points among all the "um"s and "but"s and "I feel like"s...I'll be coming out with a Part II to this podcast soon to clarify some points!
Alright everyone get out your superpowered headphones...It's time for another Wradcast! Drawing pretty much exclusively from Watchman Nee's "The Spiritual Man", this is a discussion of man's nature--that he has three parts: Spirit, Soul, and Body. Bear in mind I'm still new to podcasting and I'm not the greatest speaker, so there're still lots of um's and awkward silences as people loudly walk by the door to my room and I lose concentration. But this is an important point, that we cannot trust in our own flesh, our own mind, our own emotions or desires to guide us...only through the spirit and through God's light can we receive guidance and unshakable truth.