The Castle of The Dead

The king one day decided that his realm needed a castle. For too long, he and those who came before him had lived in huts, tents, and other simple dwellings. They had served their purposes well, providing shelter and a capital of the kingdom, but lately it had been growing, amazingly so. The people were content and prosperous, more so than in any memory one could conjure up. The rulers had been a constant presence in the land for longer than even the myths had recollection, but it had always been a symbiosis: the people needed the king, and the king needed the people. And now that Eruves was sovereign, both needed a castle.

How to go about it? he wondered. He could not force the ruled to build it for him, that would violate the unspoken but essential rule on which his kingdom stood. Eruves was instead left with only one option: he must build it himself. Decided on this course, he gathered his closest friends, all as devoted to the kingdom as he, and began.

The work was slow, and painful with so few laboring to build the monument to the kingdom’s success. Their blood, sweat, and tears, however, made it all worthwhile, and when the spires finally rose into the sky the whole nation rejoiced. The castle was a symbol of their might, their advancement as a society, and it also served as a bastion of hope when the times were rough, when the people’s spirits were almost defeated: so long as the castle stood, the kingdom stood. It could not be stopped. It could not be conquered.

***

The time eventually came for Eruves to die. He had lived a good life, loved by many, but was not without the struggles no man avoids. Learning from this, on his deathbed he appointed his successors: reordering the government of the land into a council of many. These greatest minds of the time could work together to surmount challenge unsurmountable by one alone.

And they did. If during Eruves's rule the kingdom was a haven, during the council's it was the garden of Eden. It flourished beyond all expectations and the castle grew as a testament to it. As society and its technology advanced, the council applied the changes, making the castle a beautiful harmony of traditional majesty and modern innovation. Many came from outisde the kingdom, far and wide, to see its glory.

***

But it also eventually came time for the last council member to die. Some had lived longer than others, but old age and the horrors of battle—many were jealous of the kingdom's dominance and success—inevitably claimed them all. The children of the councilmembers took the crown.

The children were not like their parents. They did not like the prestige and the glory of their forerunners and instead wanted a more personal rule. Shedding the pomp and propriety always associated with the rulers, they spoke to the people as fellow men. Why should they view themselves as any better? How could they?

***

As was unavoidable with such an attitude, the once-great castle soon began crumbling. As whole towers and keeps fell, the young council attempted to patch up the breaches, but with their lack of knowledge of how their fathers first built the grand building, the haphazard repairs did not stay.

After a while, the castle fell, but by then nobody seemed to notice. Nobody seemed to care. They were fine with huts.

What Should Have Been

In sickness and in health, this is what it should have been.

Thank you God for giving me a hundredth chance. Thank you God for giving me what I do not deserve. Thank you God for giving me salvation from my own intentional rebellion.

Thoughts on Total Depravity

Until yesterday, I never fully understood the interaction between God's grace and human free will. It is obvious that from our perspective, we choose to do one thing or choose to do another: we do whatever we will to do. Yet scripture makes clear that in our fallen human condition we do not and are in fact incapable of seeking God or performing any truly good act. How do these reconcile?

Through a two-hour conversation with a friend on the subject last night, I've finally come closer to understanding this. Here's what I came up with (not trying to give all credit to myself, she just already understood better than I did!):

1. Let there be a set of actions irrespective of reasons, SHOULD, which contains all the actions scripture instructs us to do.
2. Let there be a set of actions with reasons, GOOD, which contains all the actions in SHOULD but with the additional constraint of being performed only through conforming one's will to God's.
3. Let there be a set of actions with reasons, BAD, which contains every action not in GOOD. This includes actions in SHOULD performed for the wrong reasons, such as self-glorification or any other than a desire to do so simply by having your will conformed to God's.

To further clarify the sets given above I will give examples:

1. Helping an old lady across a street is a SHOULD.
2. Helping an old lady across a street because of a God-given desire to is a GOOD.
3. Helping an old lady across a street so that people will like you is a BAD.

Notice that the same action in SHOULD can be either GOOD or BAD when it is actually performed.

Is, however, having our will conformed to God's the only way to truly be good? St. Paul tells us in Philippians 2:12-13,

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

We, as Christians, perform good works by God working in us to change our wills.

Now, we are all born sinful and apart from God, as Psalm 14 (cited in Romans 3) indicates:

The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.

They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.

Thus, before accepting Christ all we can do is BAD, "there is none who does good." After accepting Christ, however, one may perform GOOD and BAD deeds. Recall the definition of a GOOD deed: one can only perform a GOOD deed after having his will conformed to God's. This conforming, however, is GOOD in and of itself as shown by Paul's instruction in the above-referenced passage from Philippians. This complication leads to the following contradiction:

1. One may only perform a GOOD deed after having his will conformed to God's. (premise)
   
2. Having one's will conformed to God's is GOOD. (premise)
   
3. One conforms his own will to God. (premise)
4. Following from the above three premises, one can only conform his own will to God's after conforming his own will to God's. This is an infinite regression and therefore incorrect.

There must be something wrong with one of the premises. As I have already shown #1 and #2 as scripturally sound, #3 must be incorrect. It is absolutely impossible for one to conform his own will to God's. We need an external force: the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, we as humans are incapable of performing any good except by God's own conforming of our wills, which is totally outside of our power. We cannot even ask Him to do so in our depraved state as that would be a GOOD action and therefore outside of our power.

However, this knowledge should not in any way discourage us that have received God's salvation from putting our best efforts into serving Him. Not only are we still (justly) morally accountable for our actions (a point I will cover in a later post), but scripture exhorts us to do so, "I therefore [...] urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called" (Ephesians 4:1). I still do not understand how our free will and God's grace interact, but this above instruction from Paul clarifies that we are to put our own human efforts into walking in these good works even though God has predetermined them.

αὐτω ἡ δόξα.

A fire

Dear Susan,

I understand that
the fires of life shall not be buried
under a whitened sepulcher.
But instead be quenched by

Love,
David

Speculations

Being a computer science student, my life itself is probably not of interest to the general public so I won't be talking about that. (That's for my emo myspace. :P) Instead I will try to explain various realizations I have come to during my walk with God and through life in general.

I hope that my words will have some meaning to you, no matter who you are!

Sporadic

As I am just an unromantic computer science student (is there any other kind?), the updates here will be few and far between but I'll try to make them worthwhile, so help me God.

Of course, they'll probably be worthwhile just by virtue of being short and not by virtue of inspired content. ;-)