Ransomed from every language, Part 2

Last May, I wrote a post that suggested that in heaven all the redeemed might speak our individual languages, rather than learning some universal, heavenly language.

I was thinking more about this thought this morning, and, being in the process of reading gobs of Augustine on his theology of love for an upcoming paper, I had another thought. Perhaps we won’t gain the capacity to understand every other language, as though St. Peter gave us a universal translator at the gates of heaven, but perhaps it will be that our glorified and perfected love for one another will constrain us to spend the time necessary to learn the languages of other people groups. Sure, this would take a lot of time, but we have eternity, right?

At the moment, languages are barriers that we are often content to leave up, and sometimes for good reason–why should I take the time to learn Swedish if I don’t even know any Swedes? In heaven, though, the Swedes will be my brothers and sisters, and it would seem that my perfect love for them in Christ would not rest until I had learned their language enough to communicate with them and enjoy their fellowship (and vice versa).

This, of course, is all speculation, but it makes me yearn for glory. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Seen on a Church Marquee Sign

“Running low on faith? Stop in for a fill-up!”

Is there anyone who would actually be enticed to go to a church because of a sign like that?

A New Way to Make Mammon…er…Money

Link (PC World): Errant E-mail to Me Will Cost You

Since I have a new domain name–http://www.jacobdgerber.com–I might give this a shot.

I also thought that it was pretty funny.

New (Sort of) Harry Potter Book

J. K. Rowling is apparently (re-)publishing another book from the Harry Potter universe called The Tales of Beedle the Bard, which is a collection of Fairy Tales “translated” from ancient runes by Hermione Granger. (Rowling references this work in The Deathly Hallows.)

According to the Wikipedia article, she had created seven handwritten and illustrated copies that were sold for ginormous amounts of money, but she is now publishing the book for the general public.

I was not aware of the first 7 books (perhaps I am the only one), so I find this very exciting–I love Fairy Tales, and I think that this is the best way for her to continue to work in the Harry Potter universe without muddling the story of Harry Potter himself. It is possible that she might end up with something like the legacy of J. R. R. Tolkien, who published countless Middle Earth stories along with the very popular Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit.

Wells Fargo Buys Wachovia

Even though there aren’t any Wells Fargo banks in Alabama, I have nevertheless endured over two years of doing without a local bank during my time in seminary through a combination of direct-deposited paychecks, cash-back purchases at grocery stores, and mailing any other checks to my home bank in Hastings, NE.

I was planning on giving up that life of seat-of-the-pants banking when I got married in December by getting a local bank account until I heard this good news, that my hometown banking empire had bought up all the Wachovia banks that I see everywhere down here in the South. I’m rescued–civilization has come to me!

Link

Augustine on Coercing People into the Kingdom

Does anyone doubt that it is preferable for people to be drawn to worship God by teaching rather than forced by fear of punishment or by pain? But because the one type of people are better, it does not mean that the others, who are not of that type, ought to be ignored. Experience has enabled us to prove, and continue to prove, that many people are benefited by being compelled in the first place through fear or pain; so that subsequently they are able to be taught, and then pursue in action what they have learnt in words.

Some people suggest the following maxim from a secular author: “I am sure it is more satisfactory to restrain a child by shame and generosity, than by fear.” This is certainly true. However, just as boys guided by love are better, so boys reformed by fear are more numerous. Indeed, if we want to reply to them by quoting the same author, they can also read in him: “You can’t do anything properly, unless trouble makes you do it!” (Augustine: Political Writings, 186)

…

Is anyone able to love more generously than Christ, who laid down his life for his sheep? Now when he called Peter and the other apostles, he did so with a single word. However, Paul, formerly known as Saul, who was to become a great builder of his church, was at first a fearsome destroyer of it; and Christ did not restrain him with a single word. Rather, he used his power to knock Paul down: with the aim of encouraging a man who had been raging in the dark of faithlessness to long for light in his heart, he first struck him with physical blindness. If that was not a punishment, he wouldn’t have been healed later on; and if his eyes had been sound (when he could see nothing with them open) scripture would not have described how something like scales, which had been covering them, fell from them when Ananias laid his hands on Paul, so that their gaze was opened up. Where do they get that cry of theirs? “We are free to believe or not to believe: did Christ apply force to anyone? Did he compel anyone?” Look–they have the apostle Paul! They should realise that Christ first used force on him and later taught him, first struck him and then consoled him. It is amazing, moreover, how Paul, who came to the gospel under the compulsion of a physical punishment, afterwards struggled more for the gospel than all of those who were called by word alone; although a greater fear drove him to love, still his perfect love casts out fear. (187)

Thoughts?

Augustine on Sparing the Wicked

Augustine took the view that the Church should advocate in the secular realm on behalf of the wicked, that governments might not punish the wicked for what they deserve. This inspired a letter from someone claiming that to do so would, in effect, give approval to the actions of the wicked. Augustine responds in a long letter (pp. 71-88 in Augustine: Political Writings), and I found this point intriguing:

In my view, the only reason that a harsher legal code of retribution was energetically put into effect in the Old Testament, in the time of the ancient prophets, was to show that it is right to establish penalties for the wicked. Consequently, when the New Testament, in its forgiveness, warns us to spare them, it must either be as a saving cure which might lead to our own sins being spared; or else in order to set an example of gentleness, so that by sparing them, Christians might allow the truth that is preached to be loved as well as feared. (80-81)

I’m thinking of this in the context of whether or not the death penalty is lawful toward those who have murdered. I have written in favor of the death penalty before (here and here–by the way, I’m sorry that I never finished this series; perhaps I will take it up soon), but Augustine gives me a bit of pause here.

I think that I have often heard those against capital punishment articulating something to the effect of grace without justice, much the same as those who speak of salvation in Christ apart from the wrath of God. There is no gospel without first making known the wrath of God–Jesus Christ is not a great savior unless we are in great need because we justly deserve the wrath and displeasure of God for our sins.

Augustine seems to position himself against the death penalty not because it would be undeserved–indeed it would, he would say–but rather because the gospel should move us to behave like our heavenly father. We should absolutely uphold the idea of justice, noting that murderers deserve the death penalty; however, Augustine suggests that, parallel to the gospel itself, we should also advocate waiving the just requirements of the law in order that grace might abound.

Rather than either justice or grace, Augustine suggests full justice and full grace. Our kindness, then, should (hopefully) lead murderers to repentance. Even if it doesn’t, however, Augustine points out that God nevertheless makes his sun to rise and his rain to fall on the just as well as the unjust (Matt. 5:43-48)–that is, sometimes mercy does not have to be results-based.

Hmmm…I’ll have to consider this.