Smackin' Him Down

I'm short on time today, but I'll refer you, reader, to Justin Raimondo for an extended analysis of the McChrystal business; and then to IOZ for the one-sentence post I wish I'd written:

On the other hand, I am glad to live in a world where the ongoing slaughter of civilians is a resume-builder but badmouthing the boss is a firing offense.

This Week's Hope & Change

This, surely, requires almost no comment:

Washington (CNN) -- A firm affiliated with the former Blackwater security company has been awarded a contract to provide protection to U.S. consulates and diplomats in the Afghan cities of Herat and Mazar-e Sharif, a U.S. State Department official confirmed on Saturday.

Be sure to vote, now. Voting changes things.

The Word for Wednesday, June 16

Continuing with 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, verses 12 - 23:

For our proud confidence is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you. For we write nothing else to you than what you read and understand, and I hope you will understand until the end; just as you also partially did understand us, that we are your reason to be proud as you also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus.

And in this confidence I intended at first to come to you, that you might twice receive a blessing; that is, to pass your way into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and by you to be helped on my journey to Judea. Therefore, I was not vacillating when I intended to do this, was I? Or that which I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yes, yes, and no, no at the same time? But as God is faithful, our word to you is not yes and no. For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us -- by me and Silvanus and Timothy -- was not yes and no, but is yes in Him. For as many as may be the promises of God, in Him they are yes; wherefore also by Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us. Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.

But I call God as witness to my soul, that to spare you I came no more to Corinth. Not that we lord it over your faith, but are workers with you for your joy; for in your faith you are standing firm.

Although I should know better than to presume to offer writing advice to an apostle, inspired by the Holy Spirit, it does seem to me that the second paragraph of this passage would have been easier to read had Paul used a few quote marks around some of those yeses and noes. Of course, in my ignorance I don't even know if quote marks were used by first-century writers of Greek. Maybe not. But surely they were known to the translators who produced the New American Standard, so perhaps my suggestion should go in their direction. Anyway, no matter. A careful reading clears up any confusion.

What I take from this passage today is an appreciation of the mutual responsibility of believers. Paul is conscious of himself as a blessing to the Corinthian church, and of them as a blessing to him. His reason for seeing himself this way is that he has behaved with integrity, both toward them and toward people in general. He is, he says, a worker with them for their joy. And because he can't rightly be accused of false dealing with anyone else, either, they need not be ashamed to be associated with him. Contrast this with some who are identified with Christianity in our day. It would be hard to say, "Yes, I'm a Christian. You know, a Christian ... that's right, like that fellow Ted Haggard that you've heard about." More to the point, it's much harder to be taken seriously in that context.

As always, click here for more Words for Wednesday.

My Daily Extremist Narrative

Gonna tell you all a story 'bout a man named Jed
A poor mountaineer, barely kept his fam'ly fed
And then one day he was shootin' at some food
When up through the ground come a-bubblin' crude ...

Or lithium, or diamonds, or gold, or whatever ...

I'm sure it will do no good to suggest that, perhaps, what's under the ground in Afghanistan is purely the concern of those who live there, and that any development deals or assistance they might or might not want from Western concerns, they can be relied upon to negotiate for, just like real grownup people. 'Cause, you know, that would just be a lot of kum-ba-ya singing on my part, no doubt. Still, you can always count on some realist to say something that's really funny, in a hideous sort of way:

Some experts cautioned the U.S. to avoid giving the impression that it has designs on the country's mineral wealth.

"That would play right into the extremist narrative that the West is out to subjugate Muslims and plunder their resources," said Paul Pillar, a veteran CIA official now at Georgetown University.

No, we Americans would never, ever, ever consider subjugating Muslims and plundering their resources. I'm guessing that Veteran CIA Official Paul Pillar has probably never seen any bumper stickers saying:

NUKE THEIR ASS
AND TAKE THEIR GAS

I've probably never seen one either. I'm probably just imagining things. You know how it is with us extremists and our narratives.

Flag Day

I was just reminded that it's Flag Day. And I know I haven't been here much lately -- a combination of otherwise-busy and burnt out -- but I didn't want to let this special day slip by unobserved. So:

God bless Iraq.

The Word for Thursday, June 3

Second Corinthians, chapter 1,verses 1 through 11:

I, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout Achaia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort; who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers in our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort. For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us, you also joining in helping us through your prayers, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed upon us through the prayers of many.

In his sermon, "The Weight of Glory," C.S. Lewis remarked, "The cross comes before the crown, and tomorrow is Monday." In the passage above, we can see the close linking of sorrow and joy, suffering and relief, death and life, cross and crown. One might ask whether the suffering and sorrow are really necessary. The answer, I think, is "no." It is true that, in Adam, all have sinned; and yet, that wasn't true of Adam himself. For him, sin was optional. Once that option was taken, all else -- the ages of misery and death, and our redemption by Jesus -- followed by necessity. Other things are also necessary, though. If we humans are to be able to love God (and if "love" is to mean what we think it means), we must necessarily be free to not love Him. We must be free to sin. And then the nature of God makes it necessary for Him to redeem us, or at least those who are willing to be redeemed, at a vast price to Himself. The chains of necessity: how strong they are, to bind even the Creator of all! His chain is consistency to His own nature; He cannot simultaneously be Himself and not Himself.

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