Limitations of Power and Reputation

Power - it's really bad when not checked with love and compassion for people!  (Which, by the way, He Man did have love and compassion for people).

Every October The Lord's Church in Greenbelt (now defunct, merged into the Bowie Church of Christ) used to have our fall retreat at an awesome facility called Camp Eder, a beautiful Church of the Brethren camp  in Fairfield PA, just outside of Gettysburg. We would drive up from the DC area, through the Catoctin Mountains of northern Maryland, into Southern PA.  It was a beautiful drive - if we could get the family together and leave in enough time to beat the Washington DC friday rush-hour exodus and get there before it got dark!

We would always pass this quaint little college called St. Mary's University, right off of   US 15, traveling north.  I didn't know anything about this college - that it was the 2nd oldest Catholic University in the United States and that they would soon be pursuing and inviting my daughter to visit who currently attends a Catholic high school in Washington DC.

The school is now in the news and the center of controversy involving the real heart and attitude of their new president, Simon Newman.  Newman came with the vision to "raise a lot of capital and start a lot of programs and start the university on a more aggressive growth trajectory" (Baltimore Sun, Dec 8, 2014).  I don't know this man, but I do know my own desire for power and reputation.  I also know, that as a man, I want to succeed professionally and in some sense, gain a little human-centric esteem!  I want the skills and ability to raise a lot of capital and to have an aggressive professional and even spiritual growth trajectory.  What's wrong with this desire?

The problem is that desire and plans and strategies like this must be ultimately for the benefit of others - not just a select group of others, but others, period.  For Newman, he may have wanted to raise the reputation of The Mount and improve the institutions academic standing, but to do so at the expense of students already matriculated is a bad idea.  To further expose his heart, apparently in a private conversation or in a private email note he explained that sacrifices need to be made to achieve the goals of growing the institution.  Newman referred to students who were likely to fail out academically as "cuddly bunnies". The imagery then turned dark!  He said, "You just have to drown the bunnies … put a Glock to their heads".  WOW!!  His heart, in secret, is revealed.

The limitation of our human desire for power, success, reputation, achievement, and the like are evident throughout history.  It's true on a national and global scale, corporate scale, within a family and it's true on a personal level.  The "win at all cost" philosophy just doesn't work.  Even a confessed atheist such as Sir. Richard Branson knows this and he's very successful.  He is actually considered a very kind man by the people who know him and work close with him.

To have the skills to bring about change and growth BUT not have an overtly altruistic and benevolent spirit will eventually limit the effectiveness of ones power.  Sure, such skills may be effective when you don't have to deal with people as much - which was proven by Mr. Newman's reputation as evidenced by his background.  He had 30 years' experience in business and finance, was the managing director of JP Capital Partners, a private equity firm, and CEO of Cornerstone Management Group, had successful started four businesses, and has raised more than $3 billion in equity funding.  HOWEVER, in role of a University President at a Catholic institution, it is imperative to show compassion, virtue, faith, and love - grace, mercy, benevolence, and concern for others should probably be internal character traits shown, in some way, by any candidate for such a job.  I'm not saying Mr. Newman doesn't care for others - but what we say in private does reflect our heart.  I'm certain he cares for his wife, children, friends and others - but the drive to accomplish a goal, a mission will sometimes make us forget what life is really all about.

I pray that Newman and Mount Saint Mary's University will make it through this difficult time - and I'm sure they will, even if Simon Newman steps down as a result of this.  I'm certain that the beauty of this campus on US 15 north, right there in the Catoctin Mountains, will continue to do what they've done since the very beginning, in 1808.   

Gonna Do it Anyway,

I just had a discussion with my daughter about a really stupid movie she wanted to go see - it's called, "The Boy".  It's a silly horror movie and teenagers love this stuff.  It only got ONE star by RottonTomatoes.  To humor her, I went and watched the trailer on youtube.  It is, indeed, a ridiculous premise, a ridiculous plot, and a ridiculous movie.  However, it really isn't supernatural - real people are doing the evil stuff when the babysitter is not looking.

Regardless, I took the discussion in the direction of the supernatural and the idea of seeing the devil face to face.  If you saw any kind of supernatural being that you could validate beyond the shadow of a doubt - I mean, in absolute certainty, you have experienced an encounter with the unseen, supernatural realm... if you saw or experience such an entity even from Satan's domain, what would it mean?  In short, it would mean that this realm actually does exists, albeit, inappreciable with tools and instruments from our 3-dimensional world. Sorry Ghosbusters - there is no way to invent and use a P.K.E. Meter i.e. Psychokinetic Energy Meter, or Proton Packs, or any other psychic or metaphysical detection device .

By the very definition of supernatural spiritual, no such tool can be created that can reach into this realm to detect anything there.  However, also by definition, things from that realm can enter into our world.  From a Christian point-of-view, this would include angels, demons, heavenly beings, satanic beings, and of course God himself (itself?) as well as Satan.

So, the discussion went something like this - if we saw the devil, what would that mean?  It would mean that he is real, thus God is real, thus there really is a supernatural realm. However, I went on to explain that unfortunately, even the solid, proven belief with evidence of the existence of such a realm would NOT cause many people - if not most people - to actually change and strive to live for God.  Why?  BECAUSE WE DON'T REALLY CARE!  You see, many non-believers say that if they saw real miracle, a certifiable, authentic, real-life miracle, they would then believe in God. However, this is simply not true.

You see, we have free will, and thus, we will ultimately do whatever we really want to do.  Most of us, if speeding, will slow down when we see the police car just ahead - unless it is an emergency and the priority, for example, of saving a child's life who is dying in the back-seat, become higher than getting a speeding ticket.  However, there are a few people who simply just don't care!  Aside from psychological or emotional dysfunction or damage, some people - and we can all probably think of someone in our past if we have lived long enough - will simply do whatever they want, regardless of the expected undesirable outcome OR the anticipated joyful and wonderful outcome.

You see, we have the uncanny ability to hold in our heads ideas that are logically mutually exclusive, and function as if both ideas are absolutely true.  Young people do this more.  Old people tend to become cynical as they discover that certain realities exists and what we want or wish for cannot change such things.

We see this in the Bible with real people - they will witness the miracle and do something stupid anyway.  David sins with Bathsheba (2 Samuel chapters 11-12), Peter is prejudice against the gentile Christians (Galatians 2:11-14), Elijah runs for his life (1 Kings 19:1-18), and the list goes on and on and on.  The obvious is during the exodus from Egypt, these people saw the power of God and yet, they still rejected God, especially the Golden Calf incident as recorded in Exodus 32.  However, mankind isn't the only beings susceptible to such idiocy.  As James so clearly points out, even the demons believe in God but it does them no good! (James 2:18-19).

I'm not sure how to overcome this tendency.  I succumb to this in my thinking more so than in my actions.  Logic and wisdom says one thing, but my passions and desires say something different.  As Woody Allen is purported to have said about marrying Soon-Yi Previn (Soon-Yi was 21, Woody was 56 and she was his girlfriends adopted daughter), "the heart want's what the heart want's".  Yet, it seems that, outside of mental illness or major hormonal imbalances, we DO have some control over our emotions, including all forms of love - family, friendship, and romantic based love.  The sad part is that most people don't know this or don't believe it so they don't try.  As a result, regardless of the consequences, we are going to do what we want to do!  Our brains are driven by our unbridled emotions and say to our bodies, "I'm gonna do it anyway".

The Bible does teach that we have some control over this tendency and change what we want emotionally.  We are told to "train ourselves to be godly" (1 Timothy 4:7).  The following ideas are ways we can do this:

1. Col 3:1-4, “set your minds (and hearts) on things above…”, - a volitional command.
2. Phil 4:8, “…whatever is true, right, noble… think about such things.” – a volitional command
3. 2 Cor 4:18, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen…”, - what to think about/focus on.
4. 2 Peter 1:5-8, “add to your faith goodness… knowledge… self-control… theses qualities…will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ”. - character values to develop on purpose.
5. Romans 12:2, “be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” - modifying the mind so that it is "renewed", i.e. naturally godly

With that said, we really don't have to "do it anyway".  I fact, I think we can even change what we think about and dream about based on what we read, watch, listen to, people we hang out with, etc, etc, etc.  As Christians - if you are a Christian, then if you and I devote ourselves to changing in this way, we will minimize our hypocritical tendencies and literally change from the inside out to become the saints and sages this world needs as a moral compass AND to authentically reflect the God of the universe to a loss world.