Martial Arts and Sanctification

Martial Arts and Sanctification, one might think the two are wholly separated, that they live in diametrically opposed worlds. This is not the case. You ask how? Over the course of the next paragraphs I will answer just this question.

The key to their union is simple: Intentionality. In both realms one must mean to do the deed. Sanctification is powered by the Spirit of God, while Martial Arts are powered by the spirit of will. Both are realized by intentional actions on the part of the individual. Both require a fight of sorts, and both require time.

In the case of martial arts, one enters a fight. This fight may seem to be spontaneous, but is often a cap to years of preparation. The martial artist, whether eastern or western, has spent much time, sweat and blood preparing for this moment. They have honed their craft to the pinnacle of ability, at least one hopes. In that moment of conflict it is that training that will sustain or destroy the warrior. It is that training that allows one to face death and destruction without fear. It is all in the preparation, the intentionality of the warrior.

On the other hand, Sanctification is a multi-stage process. It begins at the profession of faith in Christ, and is continued in partnership with the Spirit. It as well requires participation. The Spirit does the drawing, but the believer must assist as well. It can be likened to a shower after a mud football game. You return and find yourself covered from head to toe in the detritus of the field; it is attached to you like an extra skin. You enter the shower, and the steam feels great. The hot water softens the skin, but cannot wholly remove it. You have to reach up and loosen the mud from yourself, you have let it go. The steaming shower of the Spirit will soften it, help detach it, and wash it away. But, you have to help. Sanctification is an intentional act.

War and Sanctification are very much the same, and they are also quite different. In either case, it is all about intentionality and desire. We as warriors for Christ must be intentional in everything we do. There is no throw-away action in the life of the gentry of God.

Next time we will start to go through the various tenets from the Song of Roland, and perhaps start with a little of history of who Roland was.

Until then.

Fight the Good Fight…Fairly

Man of Honor: How Chivalry and Faith Combine

Right

Right now I am going through a mid-week series with a group of men at Church. We are talking about what it takes to be a “man of honor.”

Last week we spoke about what a code of conduct is and how to develop it. It was implied that many of us either don’t have one, or don’t know how to develop one. As a member of a prominent medieval recreation society, and as a member of the gentry in that society, I do have and live by one. This is not a new thing for me, but something I work through daily.

I thought it might be interesting to do a series here at Christian Warrior using the tenet set forth in the “Song of Roland.”

They are as follows:

• To fear God and maintain His Church
  
• To serve the liege lord in valour and faith
  
• To protect the weak and defenceless
  
• To give succour to widows and orphans
  
• To refrain from the wanton giving of offence
  
• To live by honour and for glory
  
• To despise pecuniary reward
  
• To fight for the welfare of all
  
• To obey those placed in authority
  
• To guard the honour of fellow knights
  
• To eschew unfairness, meanness and deceit
  
• To keep faith
  
• At all times to speak the truth
  
• To persevere to the end in any enterprise begun
  
• To respect the honour of women
  
• Never to refuse a challenge from an equal
  
• Never to turn the back upon a foe
  

I think I am going to start with something that is not in the list; the idea of Ransom. We are somewhat unfamiliar with this concept, yet we engage in it frequently. When we enter any sort of contest there is an entrance fee, we make wagers on various things; all these are types of ransom. The same was true of the members of the Chivalry, those we call knights. They would enter into competition and battle at great personal cost, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. There was much at stake. If one looks at the tenets set out above, most of them have little to do with battle, and more to do with proper behavior. The knight was a member of the king’s court, and as such he was, in fact, often the only hand and face of the king that the people saw. He knew that the king valued him and as such would ransom him if need be, at least this was true if the knight followed the rules and pleased the king.

To a Christian the concept is the same. We are often the only Christ someone may see, and we can be fearless in our pursuit of the lost, because we know we are ransomed already. Note, I said fearless not reckless. This is an important distinction, since fearless enables one to live in the moment and succeed, while recklessness will eventually cause one’s demise. Another distinction to be made comes with the idea of training for the martial arts and sanctification. In many ways they are the same, both take time, effort and singular resolve.

We will get to that next time…..until then, Fight the Good Fight, Fairly.

Book Review: Jungle Warfare- A Basic Field Manual for Christians in Sales

As a warrior of sorts myself, the concept of this book appealed to me; A 22 day journey guided by a World War II Jungle combat manual, and Scripture. While this book is certainly aimed at sales professionals, it is relevant to each and every Christian out there. Discipleship is a kind of sales, it is a learned skill, and we have to present the gospel in a way that makes people want to listen. Each chapter is divided into two parts: the first is the concept from the combat manual, and the second is room for reflection, application and relevant scripture.

Here at Christian Warrior, we think this is a great idea, and would like to see more of it. This book is compact and so it is easy to keep to hand, and it is packed with wisdom that goes far beyond just the sales field. I would recommend this tome to every Christian I know, who is concerned with spreading the Gospel effectively.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Spirits among us: Spiritualism and culture

Recently I have been reading a great deal about Spiritualism. This is not new, spirit based religions have been around since times immemorial. What is interesting though is the focus of ghost hunting. The ferreting out and containment of ghosts is also not something new, but usually it is to stay away from them, not to see what they know.

There are examples of such behavior in history, but usually ghost/spirits are not nice to meet. At the very least many people have done all they could to not meet them. It is likely that the first well know spirit medium was the oracle at Delphi. She set a precedent, and it follows today. In our modern culture we see a variety of mediums, in fact it is difficult to go anywhere and not see signs for Palmistry, Psychic Readings, Séances and other spiritually driven activities.

The Fox Sisters, Kate and Maggie, really brought this idea to American culture, and arguably launched modern Spiritualism. They would later debunk the faith they had started and die in poverty. Harry Houdini, Erich Weiss, at the loss of his mother turned to Spiritualism for comfort and found it unfulfilling and deemed it nothing more than badly executed legerdemain. He would become one of the most visible and vocal of Spiritualism’s opponents. The Davenport brothers, famous cabinet mediums, were shown to be nothing more than good magicians putting on a show. This does not discount the source behind the illusions.

Our modern culture has seen and continues to see great influence of Spiritualism; Jonathan Edwards, Sylvia Browne, Ms. Cleo and the Psychic Readers Network, to name a few. It is in our popular culture there are shows about supernatural/spiritual occurrences: Medium, Ghost Whisperer, Ghost Hunters, etc. This idea has been embedded in our culture, and perhaps is hard coded in our psyche. We wonder about the unknown, the hereafter. There is even a town called Lily Dale in New York, which is a haven for Modern Spiritualists, as well as the alleged childhood home of the Fox Sisters.

One of the more amusing interpretations of psychic phenomenon is the USA show Psych, in which the main character is openly debunking, at least for the audience, psychic phenomenon. In much the same way Simon Baker’s character in the Mentalist does the same thing, in fact that character is hard baked against anything that appears to be supra-natural. He in one case goes about outing a psychic by destroying his information network, so the psychic cannot “read” his clients.

There are answers in the hereafter, but the ghosts do not have them. Those who have gone before cannot communicate with us, the living. God has the answers, and has given them freely. We need not fear or consult with spirits, the Bible tells us we should not and that it is wrong. I will admit, at times it makes amusing television, and I am not talking about the serial shows like Psych and the Mentalist. I am rather referring to things like T.A.P.S. and their show Ghost Hunters and its spin-offs. In many cases, those same hunter discover a very mundane source for the “haunting.” In the other cases, like all ghost hunters, they see what they want to. They bring their supposition and superimpose them on the situations. In short, people see ghosts not because they are there, but rather because they want to, even if such desire is subconscious. There are no ghosts to be hunted. They can tell us nothing, because that which does not exist cannot have an opinion. What are perceived as “ghosts” are some manifestation of one’s own subconscious.

There are certainly spirits and a supernatural realm, but these are not things that we interact with regularly, and certainly should not be brought to a level of worship. This is the state of culture, and it is disturbing. We chase what we desire to have. In opposition to organized religion the soul still longs for the supernatural, for answers beyond our kin. If we dispose of God and the Bible, and the instructions contained within, we are left bankrupt and destitute. We have nothing, and something other fills that void.

Fight the good fight….Fairly

T.

Review: The Butterfly Effect: How Your Life Really Matters

As with many if not all of Mr. Andrews’ work, this book is quite inspiring. It is a small tome, but like Master Yoda, one should not judge it by its size. It is a simple idea, that one’s actions spread out and affect others. Therefore, one does really matter. Actions of others are predicated on what you do, and you do the same with actions of others. We, humanity, are all interwoven, and each individual lends untold strength to those around.

This book is short and can be read quickly. But, its implication will be working through you for much time to come.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

An Almost 5 year old talks about God Redux

It has been far more than a few days, yet Ms. Lisha’s thoughts on God are still resonating in my soul. I am a Christian Apologist, and specialized in Pagan and Animistic religions. As such, my wife and I often talk about mythology and such things are heard by the children that continuously surround us like the morlocks at Helm’s Deep.

Lisha’s observation was that our God is a different kind of God. At that time she was only 4 going on middle age, now she is soon to be a kindergartner and is a proud 5 year old. Her observation still stands though. How is God different?

In our trans-modern society is seems that everyone has some take on God and religion. It is acceptable to worship any god, because that god is just another face of whatever the Creator is. To some it is not even this, as the Creator is no longer involved with the Creation, and therefore whatever god is over above humanity, but is perhaps still a minion of the Creator god. At the very heart of this thinking is the idea of modalism, one god many hats. This is the Hindu/T.D. Jakes conception of God. Among the flaws of this thinking, at least from a Christian’s perspective is Scripture cannot support it.

If Jesus is the Father and the Boy, then he must sacrifice himself to himself to appease himself . In effect, Jesus would be on the altar of sacrifice as the lamb of grace and be recipient of that sacrifice simultaneously. This is certainly a contentious position to hold.

My original though with regard to the wise Ms. Lisha’s comments, is simply this. God is different because while he desires our worship, he does not require it to maintain his God-ness. All other forms of gods as a central tenet require that there be continual worship and appeasement. They draw their only power from this worship, and as they fall in and out of favor they gain and lose ability.

In short, we need God, He does not need us. He never did, and never will. He is not Odin or Zeus Pater or Jupiter, humanity has placed a conception of God in those terms to try and understand. Perhaps it would be beneficial to do a study of these three “head” gods and see how they compare to what we know of the YHWH GOD. It certainly seem to me that there are connections, at least mythologically, from the Biblical descriptions of GOD and the mythology of these three idols.

I leave with this question for my readers, would you like to explore this with me? Please tell me and I will be happy to share what I have learned.

Book Review: Hole in the Gospel

Richard Stearns’ “Hole in the Gospel” is a must read for every Christian. We here in America are vastly blessed. Most of us have no idea what life is like in another country. This book tells it like it is.
Many Christians sponsor a child or a whole village, and believe this is enough. Jesus however told us to go into all the world and make disciples. Mr. Stearns did just this. This book tells the actual story of global poverty, it pull no punches.
He does this by telling the stories of the actual people for whom poverty is deeper than just sleeping in a shelter or standing in line at a soup kitchen. The reality of the global poverty is a lack of clean water and food for days at a time. Here in America it is rare that anyone would know such destitution, but not elsewhere in the world.
I cannot begin to describe the stories that are recounted, but I can tell you that everyone should read this book. It is not deeply theological, but it is the utter truth as far as I can tell.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”