Plato Seems Timeless

I have been working on The Dialogues of Plato for the past week and a half. I thought that I was a fairly well educated fellow. Now I know that I am not, but I am getting closer as I consume what this man had to say almost 2400 years ago. Much of what is taken as twenty first century dogma in western culture can be traced back to the thoughts and writings of this most brilliant person. I will look up some web sights for you and link them to this entry as soon as I figure out how to do it. If you are interested in pursuing more information about him and his times this may help. All this because I saw "300".

Plato's most famous dialogue is his Republic. In this work he develops a discussion between Socrates and some other Athenian citizens. The subject of much of the effort is the determination as to whether justice or injustice is the strongest of the two opposites. Plato works to define what the terms mean, what opposites represent, who is just and unjust, and how does philosophy factor into determining which is best. In the writing Plato develops a theoretical, perfect State. By doing so he brings his readers along in the process of answering the questions mentioned. The general perspective during Plato's life on government was that the strong are the ones entitled to rule and the injustice that they used was "good" in the sense that it accomplished the goals of the strong. The strong then benefited to a great degree, much greater than the just. In fact the just were stepped on and suffered and even mocked as being unjust. Society simply accepted this point of view. It was almost "Darwinian" in outlook, survival and dignity to the fittest, the strongest, the unjust. By creating a perfect republic on a "societal level" Plato was able to show that a state that operated on just principles was better than one that operated unjustly. By proving that justice worked on a large scale he argues that it follows that justice would work best individually as well. The reading is just amazing. It is a fun exercise for the mind. In it you find some phrases that the Apostle Paul used also in his letters. This interested me.

As a result I read again Paul's writings. He was sent by the Lord to witness the good news to the gentiles. The gentiles were the Romans and the Greeks as those cultures dominated the known western world. He tried to meet them where they were philosophically, at many levels. Much of the systematic thought process Paul used was perhaps "Platonic" at its root as he wanted to be listened to. An interesting thought came to me as I read Paul and compared him to Plato. Though Plato dazzled my mind...the book of "Romans" written by Paul demonstrated to me that Paul wasn't out to dazzle me. It became obvious to me that Paul loved me. He wanted me to embrace not him, but Jesus. He wanted desperately for me to live forever at the feet of Jesus. I'll take Paul any day. But, Plato helped me too. He made me appreciate Paul all the more.

Forgive Me! There Appears to be a Failure to Communicate

Please forgive me. I think that I've failed to communicate. I have reread my last blog. I am sort of cheap when it comes to purchasing things and I do let things wear out pretty bad before I replace them. However, as I looked at it I decided that it could be interpreted that I am some kind of environmental example for all young people and that I was trying to make others feel guilty about their materialism as if I had somehow reached some higher plane of spiritual existence. "Grasshopper, you must wait twenty years to have what is in your dreams." Nothing could be further from the truth. I am sure that if someone were to take an inventory of what I've prematurely thrown out in my life, if my purchases were all reviewed for their spiritual value, and every item was defined as either a want or a need...I would flunk like so many other Americans. As a matter of fact I am sure quite a few Europeans would flunk also. I too have been bitten by the newness syndrome. I have often fallen for slick marketing and considered myself before others. I have also satisfied many wants rather than being content with the answers to my true needs. My point was that we should at least take a look at ourselves, our things, and our motivations. And, we must not forget the elderly, what they are worth to God and what they should be worth to all of us.

Three main thoughts: 1) Failure to inspect, too see danger, can have terrible consequences. As a metaphor this can reach into many areas of our lives. 2) We throw things out too readily and create waste which is not something that our Lord would want us to do. Paul calls us to a spiritual contentment. Justice issues flow from this. 3) We must search (inspect our hearts) as it pertains to our elders and not marginalize them, but rather work to incorporate them into our lives in a meaningful way. We can bless them and they us beyond our wildest imaginations.

Speaking of New Decks. How About Old Friends?

The 35 W bridge that collapsed was getting a new deck surface at the time of the disaster. Speaking of new decks, to avoid the same thing at my home, but on a lesser scale, I have had our home's cedar deck rebuilt. I feel better about this new object in my life than I would about purchasing and driving a new car off the show room floor. I have dreamed about this deck for twenty years. You may think that this is odd. Here I am, a grown man, dreaming of a new deck for twenty years. You might be thinking that he could have rebuilt the deck years ago. Why didn't he just hire someone 19 years ago and get all this dreaming stuff over with. Well, its a long story.

I won't got into detail other than to say that the original deck was perfectly sound from a structural standpoint, almost up to the point that I had it rebuilt. The problem was that the deck was made almost completely out of cedar. Strange, I stated that I always wanted a cedar deck. I already had one! The problem was that the original owner, or perhaps the builder, had painted the deck with a latex, exterior paint at the time that the cedar was green. That term means that the wood had be recently cut and was fresh and not seasoned with age. Cedar will not take paint when it is green. Cedar actually is one of the most paint resistant woods out there. The result was that the paint kept peeling off and the deck looked terrible. I tried power washing, sanding, scrubbing and more. I could not get the wood back to an unfinished state as some paint always stuck enough to make it look bad. I had to repaint it numerous times starting the peeling process over again. I could not bring myself to tear up all that good lumber, that was structurally sound, just because it didn't look good. So, for twenty years I tolerated the peeling paint and the extra work to keep it up. Finally, there was enough rot in the railings, banisters, and deck that I had to do something. I didn't want someone to step through a hole in the decking or crash through a weakened railing. It had to be replaced. Now I finally have my heart's desire; as it pertains to decks.

We live in what is called the disposable culture. It seems that we dump good stuff and replace it with new stuff all the time. It is about stuff. How long should "stuff" last? Certainly it should last longer than most of us keep it. To tell you the truth I love to wear cars out. If I don't have ten years on a car I might as well be driving a new one. Currently we have a 1995,1998, and 2002. I am feeling a tad guilty about the 2002. I go to my favorite department store and buy new clothes once every 18 months or so whether I need to or not. Until I started cutting my own hair a couple of years ago I used to get a haircut three times a year whether I could see through my bangs and hear through the hair over my ears or not. My favorite shoes are Rockport walking shoes. I purchase the same style once every two years...and so it goes. Some might say that if I made more money I would replace things more often. However, I hope that isn't true. I'd like to make enough money to see if I would stick by my guns. As Teveiv in Fiddler on the Roof said,"It's no shame to be poor, but it's not great honor either."

My wife was in Honduras this year and saw first hand some people who lived at and in a dump. Their means of making a living was to sort through the garbage of the town searching for those things that could be recycled. They sought after plastic and metal objects for the most part. If they had been at one of our country's dumps they would have thought that they had struck a gold mine. On a good day they are able to perhaps earn fifty cents. That is it. There is something profoundly wrong here. There should not be such abject poverty, there should not be such terrible waste. Somewhere there is a middle ground. We need to do something to find that place where everyone can stand with dignity and say that they care for, and are good stewards of, the resources God has given them. A place where we can say honestly that we care for the other less advantaged people of the earth who are equally made in God's image. First things first. Perhaps the people before the garbage? I'll let you think about that. It is not a simple problem.

One of the world's greatest resources that we are so guilty of not taking care of is the elderly. In our society and perhaps in the Church body. I was talking to Chris Atkins the other day and he told me that he has been given a burden for the elderly by the Lord. He has developed a worship ministry specifically for older believers. It is meant to give them a place to go and hear the church music that they grew up with. It gives them a time of fellowship and worship with people who are their peers. It is called Seniors Unleashed. I admire Chris for his obedience. We miss so much when we ignore our elders. Certainly Scripture tells us to respect them. Our society does not. They get in our way so we put them aside. They walk too slowly, they always look like they are about to fall over, they slow us down at the check out line of Cub Foods as they fumble with their coupons and challenge the cashier's totals (they are, after all, on a fixed income), they drive too slow, they cause accidents (never mind that teens have accidents by the thousands more), they need help crossing the street, they cost us tax dollars for their medicines, they have a hard time voting for school referendums as their kids have been grown for 60 years, we always have to repeat ourselves because of their bad hearing, they are always going to funerals, and worst thing is that they remind us in living color that we too, someday, will be aged and finally die. How dare they? So, we put them away, aside from us in many different ways. This is to our detriment.

When one of my daughters was only seven years old she asked me, "Daddy, why are old people so nice?" I think that this question says it all. We need the elderly. We need their joy. We need their strength. We need them to tell us about how there used to be less crime, that being a gentleman is a good thing, that being a mother is of the greatest value, that there is more to life than going to the trendiest restaurant, owning the newest of cars, buying the most stylish clothes. We need them to tell us stories of trials and tribulations, of successes followed by failure followed by new successes. We need them to tell us about God's faithfulness to them through the thick and thin of life. Without them sharing with us their lives we loose perspective on not only who we are, but who we aught to be, what we should aspire to become. We need them in our lives and active so that we can become what God wants us to become. When we fail to appreciate our aged we become fools.

The old deck of mine was perfectly good though it was not as beautiful as I would have like. It served us well for twenty years. We had many a nice meal on it. We sat together as a family and with friends to listen to the birds and the wind rustling through the trees of the neighborhood. It kept us above the mosquitoes so we could be outside for an extra hour or two each night. It never failed us. Even at the point when it needed to be replaced I actually only needed to repair it. The main sub structure was still as solid as a rock. What were we able to give to the Lord in the intervening twenty years that we could not have done if we had spent over three thousand dollars on an all new one when the old was still strong? What trees were able to grow taller because their predecessors still held strong? It seems a lame example, but it is not shallow. We need to use things up properly and do it in a big time way. If we as a nation, if the world as a whole did this, things would be much better. We need to use up our elderly in a better, more godly way. We should build them up not push them away. We need to let them know that they are extremely important to us. They really are. If you don't think so you need to talk to an senior citizen soon and talk to them for a long, long time. You need to make a senior a friend. You will be the wiser for it. You will be blessed.

"...Bridge Is Falling Down, Falling Down..."

The appointment I had with the doctor was on Tuesday at 4:30 in the afternoon. I left my office at 3:30 and took Highway 36 west bound to 35W. Continuing south on 35W my car lazily meandered through the curves that mirror the Mississippi River's path and gradually went up the grade which is the bridge that crosses the river, just a tad south and east of the Metrodome. I looked out the window of my car to the right and I could see where the Twins play baseball in the summer, the lock on the river that gracefully raises and lowers boats, and the Stone Arch Bridge. That bridge is most beautiful from an architectural perspective. I am so glad that it was saved and rebuilt. Beautiful things are important. The river is low due to the hot and dry summer we are having. There was a fine dust in the air created by heavy construction machines, which were grinding away the top two or three inches of old concrete on the bridge deck, readying it for a fresh surface. Those international orange traffic cones seem to be everywhere. Some jack hammers were running. I could hear their thudding over the music I was playing on my radio. Traffic was moving along well, though only the two most outside lanes were open. They had been completely resurfaced and the construction crew had moved their heavy equipment to the middle lanes of the bridge. If I hadn't looked to the right I would not have known that I was on a bridge almost 70 feet above our nation's most written about river. I was heading towards the I-94 west exit which would take me around the southern perimeter of downtown Minneapolis, up the west bound entrance of 394 to Highway 55 and my appointment. I made the trip uninterrupted in a most uneventful way. The cabin of my car was cool as my air conditioning was functioning well despite the heat. If not for the events of the next day I would not even remember that I had made that journey. It was so routine. It was so much a normal part of my life. I have made that journey for one reason or another a thousand times in the past fourteen years. No big deal.

It became a big deal on Wednesday August 1, 2007, the "Next" day after my crossing. For some, unknown as yet reason, the bridge came "...falling down." On the deck were dozens of cars, trucks, and at least one school bus. The dust that rose was not from the machinery this time, rather it was from the crumbling of the concrete deck which turned to powder in some areas. The dust soon became augmented by black, petroleum based smoke as the fuel tanks of some cars and trucks ignited and the interiors of the vehicles melted and then flashed into open flames. Most walked away or were quickly carried away by volunteers and first responders who were randomly passing by or immediately called to the scene. Some were seriously injured and taken to the county hospital near by. Some laid pinned and or unconscious drowning as their vehicles filled with muddy Mississippi River water. There was no sound on the television screen as I watched this horrible event's aftermath, only silence, images, and my thoughts of the day before. Timing, in some very real sense...it is everything. Why them, why not me?

Being a fairly sober person I can not say that this event has cause me to have what is referred to as a sobering moment, nor was it a sobering experience for me. It has caused me to be even more reflective than I normally am. It causes me to think about my fragility from a physical perspective. It makes me think of how the things we humans build are seemingly awe inspiring, immovable, giant, forever. But they only seem that way. There are forces at play that are so, so much greater no matter how big and strong we make things. It causes me think about how life goes on as I went to work this morning, uninterrupted, even while there were bodies still not recovered, and families desperate for information about a missing loved one. The radio played the same music, people made jokes, the sun still rose, money still has to be made, earned, and spent. Groundhog Day. The bridge came to an end yesterday...lives passed into eternity along with it. A bridge will be built in its place, stronger, more spectacular, safer, more enduring. It too, someday, will come down. The ones loved will never return. Then I think that some day I will go and never return.

It begs a question for all of us at times like these. When we go, for we all went yesterday at some spiritual level, where will we end up? If you were to physically die today do you know for sure where you will go? Where will you end up? By faith I know the answer to this haunting question. I do not speculate about it. For me to be absent from my body is to be in the heavenly presence of Jesus Christ. I have the ultimate fire insurance policy. I have what we in evangelical circles call eternal security in my hip pocket. That is cool. That is tight, as my kids would say. But at a deep spot in my spirit it is not enough. I don't want to just live forever with God, whatever that means. I want more. What I want is meaning, meaning for not tomorrow, but for today. I want to know the "what for" of my being.

As I listen to the media go on and on about the poor people and the deficient bridge, the question that keeps being asked is, "Why did the bridge collapse?" Then they ask, "Who is to blame for this disaster?" "Are there other bridges that are on the verge of falling too?" "What can we do to avoid crossing dangerous, deficient bridges?" "These poor people will have died for nothing unless we can find out the why and work to avoid the again." Don't those question apply to some of our daily lives? I think some of us think that if we were to die tomorrow it wouldn't be fare. After all, we would have had so much to have lived for, we are too, too young. Our kids still need us. God should be more fare. Some of us, if we lost a loved one, would first ask who was at fault. What did my loved one do to deserve to die? And in such a way! Some will blame chance, fate, luck, others, and some, maybe most, will blame God. Many will try to live their lives attempting to figure out how not to die. They will insulate themselves from the world as best they can. They will drive as little as possible, they will never fly, they will always buckle up, they will purchase cars they can not afford because the car has the most five star safety ratings, they will wear helmets, they will always cross at the corners, and will (ironically) have great life insurance policies. Oh, and bottled water is the only thing to touch their lips. Eat a quarter pounder with cheese!? You could die! Eat an apple or have some broccoli.

Jesus Christ has given us so much more than a fire insurance policy. He came to set us free from sin and from death so that we can live our lives and live them more abundantly. Setting us free from sin...that is a right now thing! To be free from sin is to be able to really live. And why live...?...so that we can demonstrate God's mighty worth, His immeasurable value, His incomparable beauty, His wondrous grace, in every second of every day of our lives. The Apostle Paul said, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." He didn't live afraid of the bridges in his life collapsing. He lived every moment knowing the why, knowing that is was by God's grace that he lived at all, and that his heavenly father was going to keep him by His side from Paul's now to Paul's and God's forever. The bridge in Paul's journey, it was built by God and Paul knew so by faith.

There is a famous, old hymn. Its chorus goes; On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. How appropriate a teaching in light of yesterday's unfortunate event in Minneapolis. Are the bridges in your life, seeking towards God, built by men, is that where your trust is? Or, is the bridge in your life leading you to God built by God himself, for you, for your now and forever? Yesterday the gap being crossed was from the east bank of the Mississippi River to the west. For me it lead to a doctor's office the day before. To some on Wednesday it lead to home, a store, a job, a baseball game, to eternity with or without God. We trust the bridges people construct. These bridges fail us. All human bridges will fail ultimately. I am happy to say that the gap that I am crossing is the one that is between me and the wonderful God who created me. It is a gap caused by sin (my rebellious nature against God) and, by my heavenly father's grace, He has placed a bridge in the person of Jesus Christ, that will never, never fail. It will get me to my final end and way...full of joy and love. There will be no rust nor decay...no dust and twisted metal.