Life Lessons from the National Parks

November 22, 2010

For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty…But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. 2 Peter 1:16, 20-21

In a little over a year, Ford’s Theatre National Historic Site will open its Center for Education and Leadership, right across the street from the place where John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln. The $25 million center is a partnership between the Ford’s Theatre Society and the National Park Service.

The center will “explore Lincoln’s legacy and the aftermath of his assassination,” according to an article in The New York Times. It will complement the theatre’s museum which, along with the theatre itself, is being overhauled in anticipation of the center’s February 2012 opening, 203 years after Lincoln’s birth.

The approach at the education center, however, will be somewhat different from that of the museum, say theatre society director Paul Tetreault, and historian Richard Norton Smith, an advisor on the project. The center hopes to “provide a wide range of views on Lincoln and his legacy, allowing visitors to come to their own conclusions,” the Times piece summarizes. As Mr. Smith puts it, “This at least feels to me like a fresh attempt to examine what is in some ways a never-ending story from multiple perspectives over different generations.” (Frankly, I didn’t realize there were a whole lot of perspectives or opinions left to explore on Lincoln and his presidency.  Guess that’s why I’m not a historian!)

One interesting feature of the new center is a three-story tower of books, a sculpture stacking replicas of works written about Lincoln, just to show just how many there are. Which got me thinking about the number of books written lately about God. Here’s a list of some of them:

The Grand Design – Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow
Women, Food and God – Geneen Roth
The Shack – William Young
The God Delusion – Richard Dawkins
The Case for God – Karen Armstrong
The Evolution of God – Robert Wright
God is Not Great – Christopher Hitchens
The Reason for God – Timothy Keller

I haven’t read any of them (although my pastor says the last book is very good), so I can’t really speak about them with any authority. I suspect that I’d find Stephen Hawking hard to follow, since I don’t have a very science-oriented brain, and wouldn’t think much of the books by atheists Hitchens and Dawkins (as for God Himself’s opinion—He finds them laughingly pathetic, according to Psalm 2:4). My husband Joe found The Shack strange and kind of New Age-y, even though it’s targeted to a Christian audience.

But here’s what I find most interesting about all the God books: it seems people would rather read them than read the one book that’s the real authority on God—the Bible. And it shows. The recently released Pew Forum U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey finds that “Mormons, black Protestants and white evangelicals are the most frequent readers of materials about religions. Fully half of all Mormons (51%) and roughly three-in-ten white evangelicals (30%) and black Protestants (29%) report that they read books or go online to learn about their own religion at least once a week.”

And even though the survey says that, “many Americans are devoted readers of Scriptures,” only 37% say they read the Bible at least once a week, not counting worship services.

The survey goes on to report that only 71% of Americans know Jesus was born in Bethlehem (hellooo—doesn’t the Christmas carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem” give a clue?!), and 63% correctly answer that Genesis is the first book of the Bible. And little more than half know that the Golden Rule—“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”—is not one of the Ten Commandments (it’s found in Matthew 7:12).

Houston, we have a problem…

When people who call themselves Christians aren’t going to the definitive source to find out how to live as a Christian…well, the church is in deep, deep trouble. If all we know is what we’ve read about the Bible, instead of reading and studying it for ourselves, we leave ourselves open to the influence of perspectives that may or may not lead us in the right direction. And while coming to our own conclusions about Abraham Lincoln won’t do us much harm, our ignorance or superficial knowledge of Scripture can make all the difference in the world—in this one and the next. We fall victim to a “pick and choose” kind of faith, one of our own interpretation, and that’s dangerous. As Peter emphasizes in the verse I quoted at the beginning, the Bible didn’t just magically come together from stories people made up based on myths and old wives’ tales. It contains eyewitness accounts from those who were involved in the events, both in the New and Old Testaments, to whom God, through the Holy Spirit, gave the impulse to write down what happened.

Not that faith in the Bible is always easy. Peter wraps up his second letter by admitting that, “some things [are] hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. But, he goes on, “knowing this beforehand, be on your guard lest, being carried away by the error of unprincipled men, you fall from your own steadfastness” (2 Peter 3:16, 17).

So here’s a challenge for you, if you’re not doing it already: commit to studying the Bible. Not just reading it, but really getting into it. You can do this by regularly attending a group study, of course, but I mean a personal study, all by yourself. And I don’t mean reading a daily devotional either. I’m not knocking them, but using only publications like Our Daily Bread and The Upper Room to study the Bible is like subsisting on milk instead of solid food (and that’s a Biblical analogy found in Hebrews 5:12-14).

I happen to like the InterVarsity Quiet Time Bible studies—they’re down-to-earth yet thought-provoking, and really go to the heart of the Scriptures. If you go to InterVarsity’s website, you can download a study each day and get past studies, all for free (click on “Current Quiet Time” and “Bible Study Schedule” on the right side of the page). There are also lots of low-cost study guides you can buy from the site or at Christian bookstores. Or ask your pastor for suggestions, or just go to your local Christian bookstore, browse the shelves and pick one.  And while you’re there, buy two other great Bible study tools—a concordance, with which you can find specific words in the Bible (a study on a particular word or topic using a concordance is an enlightening–and even fun!–kind of study), and a commentary (I prefer Wycliffe’s) to further aid your understanding. They’re both a little pricey (and heavy!), but they’re good investments. Ask for them for Christmas!

You too can have the confidence Peter does, as he writes, “And so we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19), a probable reference to Jesus Himself (Revelation 2:28, 22:16).

May He and His words burn brightly inside us as we come to know Him better.

Comments (4) Nov 23 2010

November 2, 2009

And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight… others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated…wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. Hebrews 11:32-34, 36-37

This Saturday, November 7, will be a special day in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Seven years after Congress authorized its creation, the Flight 93 National Memorial will finally break ground.

This site will overlook where United Flight 93 plunged into a remote field on September 11, 2001, while its passengers and crew fought to resist a terrorist attack on our nation’s capital. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar heads the delegation of elected officials, relatives of those who died, first responders and National Park Service representatives who will gather for the solemn occasion.

What took so long, you might ask? Well, as a National Parks Traveler post notes, there were all kinds of problems getting to groundbreaking day. The severely criticized master design had to be reworked. Fundraising is still $20 million short of its goal. Land acquisition hit many snags. September 11, 2011—the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks—is the memorial’s hoped-for Dedication Day.

Family members at Saturday’s event will undoubtedly be flooded with both comforting and difficult memories. Speeches about the bravery of the forty people on board Flight 93 will most likely be included. They will be called heroes, and rightly so.

When I think of heroes, I’m always reminded of the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11. An interesting exercise is to read through the entire chapter, then go back in the Old Testament and read about each person and episode cited. But beginning at verse 32, the details change, and no more specific names and stories are mentioned. As The Wycliffe Bible Commentary puts it:

The writer [the author of the book of Hebrews remains uncertain] resorts to piling
up examples, because of the impossibility of taking each case separately. The list
is impressive including some of the Judges, the greatest of Israel’s kings–David,
and one of her greatest prophets–Samuel.
The list of deeds is equally impressive. In some cases the incidents referred to are
well known; in others they are more obscure. In each instance, however, something
typical of those who live by faith is brought out. The faith that makes such deeds
possible, deeds of valor, might, courage, or perseverance. And those are the
kinds of experience that those who live by faith are called upon to endure.

WHAT? We should expect being sawn in two?? Not necessarily—unless, of course, you become a magician’s assistant. Seriously though, the sobering, uncomfortable truth bluntly stated by the apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 3:12 still stands: everyone who wants to live a godly life in Jesus will be persecuted. Sure, most of us may never be subjected to the mistreatments recounted in Hebrews 11—thrown into a den of lions, tortured, beaten or put in jail, or forced to live in a cave because of our faith. (If you’re like me, when you hear about the trials and tests of fellow Christians in other parts of the world, you pray for them, wonder how you would react in the same circumstances, and then pray again that you’ll never find out!) But Scripture is pretty clear that we should be prepared for some kind of negative consequences as we follow Jesus.

Oh, but there’s a memorial in the works for those who stand firm in the faith! It may seem like a long time coming, but it’s on the way, says the apostle John:

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it…
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne,
and the books were opened. Another book was opened, which was
the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had
done as recorded in the books…Nothing impure will ever enter [heaven]
nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those
‘whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
(Revelation 20:12, 21:27 )

Whatever we are called upon to endure in serving the Lord, whatever deeds of valor, might, courage or perseverance we might perform in His service, let us press on for this highest honor, the most fabulous heroes’ welcome we could ever imagine, straight from the mouth of the Hero of Heroes:

“Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:21, 23)

Comments (4) Nov 05 2009