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Communal/Generational Sin

Many white evangelical Americans have a very individualistic view of sin, wherein we cannot understand how we could carry any responsibility for something that our ancestors/relatives/friends/police/leaders did or continue to do. [I’m sure that’s also true for some other types of Christians too, but I see this view being especially prevalent among fellow white evangelicals]. Yet that is not a fully biblical view of sin: God calls his people to enact justice and righteousness for the entire community, not just in their own personal lives. Hence the prophets’ warnings to the entire nation of Israel, or Jesus’ warning to entire groups of people like the priests and Pharisees. It is tough to shed our solely individualistic view of sin and adopt the Bible’s more balanced view, but understanding communal guilt is absolutely essential if we are able to ever tackle massive, widespread sins in our society like racism. 

In 2017 Tim Keller, a white pastor from NYC, gave a short talk explaining the biblical view of communal guilt. It is more of an overview than a deep-dive, but it’s a good overview of the concept. However, I will say that the absolute best way to adopt a biblical view of sin is to just soak A LOT in the Bible and learn more about the ancient Middle Eastern culture(s) in which the Bible was written. As a start, check out these Bible passages below that address the idea of systemic/communal/generational sin and evil. It took me barely about an hour to find all these passages, and I know there are many, many more!

As you read them, ask yourself: What would it look like for white American Christians to adopt a similar mindset in our day? What would it look like to actually confess, repent, and make amends for the systemic sins that are present in our culture? And what are the costs if we continually reject the Bible’s complex and multi-faceted view of sin in favor of a purely self-centered one?

Daniel 9:4-5 And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.”

Isaiah 6:5: “5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Ezra 9:5-7 “5 Then, at the evening sacrifice, I rose from my self-abasement, with my tunic and cloak torn, and fell on my knees with my hands spread out to the Lord my God 6 and prayed: “I am too ashamed and disgraced, my God, to lift up my face to you, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens. 7 From the days of our ancestors until now, our guilt has been great. Because of our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been subjected to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation at the hand of foreign kings, as it is today…”

Leviticus 26:40-42: “40But if they will confess their sins AND the sins of their ancestors—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, 41 which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, 42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.”

Judges 9:56-57: “56 Thus God repaid the wickedness that Abimelek had done to his father by murdering his seventy brothers. 57 God also made the people of Shechem pay for all their wickedness. The curse of Jotham son of Jerub-Baal came on them.”

Matthew 23:31-36 “31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started! 33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.“

Deuteronomy 24:7: “If someone is caught kidnapping a fellow Israelite and treating or selling them as a slave, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you.”

1 Corinthians 12:25-26: “25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”

Matthew 25:31-33: “31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left….”

2 Chronicles 7:14: “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Matthew 12:41-45 “41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here. 42 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here. 43 “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”

Isaiah 24:5-6: “The earth is defiled by its people;
    they have disobeyed the laws,
violated the statutes
    and broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore a curse consumes the earth;
    its people must bear their guilt.
Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up,
    and very few are left.“

Malachi 3:8-9: 8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings.9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me.“

Revelation 18:1-5: “After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. 2 With a mighty voice he shouted:
“‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’[a]
    She has become a dwelling for demons
and a haunt for every impure spirit,
    a haunt for every unclean bird,
    a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal.
3 For all the nations have drunk
    the maddening wine of her adulteries.
The kings of the earth committed adultery with her,
    and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.”
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say:
“‘Come out of her, my people,’
    so that you will not share in her sins,
    so that you will not receive any of her plagues;
5 for her sins are piled up to heaven,
    and God has remembered her crimes.“

Making Life Decisions After College

[Note: I recently published this as an article for Franklin & Marshal College’s TrueBlue alumni network, accessible to anyone affiliated with F&M by clicking here.]

Making decisions about one’s career and vocation is always challenging, and that’s especially the case during this global pandemic, when much of the economy is on hold. Yet, as someone who works with college students and recent alumni in central Pennsylvania, I often see people get stuck in very narrow modes of thinking about their careers, ending up trapped in indecision or languishing in jobs that aren’t a good fit. I’ll be sharing a few thoughts below, and while these are just a few of my personal reflections, hopefully there will be something that is helpful!

Career choices

When I enrolled at Franklin & Marshall in fall 2008 as a double-major in History and Government, my plan after graduation was to go to law school and eventually become employed as a federal judge or politician. Suffice to say, none of that has gone according to plan. Instead, I worked as a middle school science teacher for two years in Baltimore, later married fellow alum Liz Albright Berg ’12, and then began a career with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in central Pennsylvania. (Most excitingly, Liz and I are expecting our first child, due in October!). But, compared to my original plans, my career trajectory is one that might be considered “downward mobility.” My salary is lower than my parents’ and most of my college-educated peers, and my job title less prestigious. I live in a small Pennsylvanian town (Carlisle) that most people have never heard of. Despite all that, my life satisfaction, values alignment, and overall happiness have never been higher.

However, to get to this place I have sometimes had to make decisions that go against typical American capitalist values. Typically, society usually tells young adults that there are only two worthwhile metrics for making career decisions: how much an opportunity pays, and how prestigious it is. Thus we jealously admire those who acquire six-figure consulting jobs or who are accepted into Harvard Law right out of college. But while those are certainly relevant factors for choosing a career path, they are not the only ones. Besides pay and prestige, here are some other criteria that I believe can be helpful in making a decision in where to live, work, or attend grad school after college:

  • Friends. Loneliness is an epidemic among young people. To fight that, some of my peers have intentionally chosen to live in places where their friends live, so that they have meaningful community and support close by. What if you prioritized living with a group of friends, and then looked for a job/grad program nearby?
  • Geography & Culture. Some of my East Coast friends have taken opportunities to move out to the West Coast, the Rockies, or even to other countries, simply to be in a different climate and culture. Consider choosing a path that allows you to experience a new place and environment.
  • Family. In the white American culture I grew up in, family obligations often took a backseat to individuals’ professional pursuits. But given the fragility of life exposed by the pandemic, perhaps it’s worth choosing to live in close proximity to parents, siblings, or other relatives so that one can enjoy time with them.
  • Passions and Values. It’s often the case that our jobs don’t line up with our deepest, most important values, and that’s OK. Sometimes we just need something that pays the bills or is a stepping stone to another job. But that said, if an opportunity comes along to be paid to do something you’re passionate about…it might be the opportunity of a lifetime. For instance, I love helping young people grow on their spiritual journeys, so I jumped at the chance to work for InterVarsity even though it is less prestigious and pays less than some of the other options I was considering. It’s possible there is a job out there for you that fits your exact passions and values.
  • Social Justice. Most young adults are passionate about fighting injustice, racism, and poverty, but aren’t sure how to do so. Consider living in a place where you can have an impact in that realm. Is there an organization you admire that you can volunteer for in a certain city, like Black Lives Matter, Amnesty International, or the Sierra Club? But consider–it may be that you can have an even bigger impact in a small town or rural area. As my mentor (Jesse North) once asked me, “Why does it feel like all the ‘woke’ people who care about social justice end up moving to cities? Suburbs and rural areas need people who are passionate about social justice too!” Perhaps returning to your hometown and starting a new social justice initiative is the best way you can give back to the village that raised you.
  • Romance & Children. While it’s a bit counter-cultural in the college-educated demographic, who’s to say you shouldn’t get married and/or start raising children before you’re 25 or 30? While marriage isn’t for everyone, if you find the right person that you can be partnered for an entire lifetime with, it may be worth committing to them instead of chasing a job that you might leave in a few years anyway. For me personally, I got married just before turning 24 and will become a dad this fall; this is younger than most of my F&M peers, but I have no regrets.
  • Growth Opportunities. Working for two years as a teacher in Baltimore city was an immensely challenging, difficult choice right after F&M. But I wouldn’t have skipped that growing experience for anything. I grew in confidence, skills, and awareness of my own privilege and inner biases. What if instead of chasing a high-paying job, you looked for one to grow you in a certain skill or virtue? Consider checking out the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, Habitat For Humanity, or other similar opportunities that stretch you in mind, body, and soul.
  • Faith Community. If you actively practice a certain faith or form of spirituality, it’s important to find a like-minded community where you can practice it alongside other people. (Note: digital faith communities are fine during coronavirus, but usually are not a good long-term substitute for actually meeting in person). Unfortunately, depending on where you want to move, it may be difficult to find a suitable community that meets your needs. So if you’re religious, consider: is there a faith community near where you want to live and work? Does that community reflect your perspectives on core questions of faith, or will you experience significant dissonance?
  • Cost of Living. Imagine two job offers: one job is located in Manhattan and pays $75k a year, and the same job pays $70k in upstate New York. All else being equal, you will most likely make a lot more money living in upstate NY simply due to lower cost of living. Consider also how smaller, cheaper cities like Baltimore or Pittsburgh might be a better choice compared to bigger cities.
  • Commuting Distance. Do you hate long commutes, or do you find they are an opportunity to read and listen to podcasts? Given how much most of us sit for our jobs, it’s worth considering if you’re willing to face a long commute or not.

At the end of the day, deciding what to do and where to live after graduation is complex, and there is usually not one “right” answer. I personally believe that there is usually a plethora of paths that a person can take, most of them just as good as the next. But it may be helpful to consider some of the criteria listed above when determining what is actually the best path forward, rather than reflexively going for the job that pays a few bucks more. Money is necessary for food and clothes (and Lord knows we need those), but life is so much more than that.

Coronavirus Hot Take #2

Virtually every government in the world has put in place quarantine/social distancing protocols to combat the spread of coronavirus, and invariably citizens wonder if those protocols are too stringent, or not stringent enough. It’s fair to wonder about those things and long for society to reopen. Perhaps there’s room to argue that certain measures were unnecessary, counter-productive, or too costly.

But as far as I can tell, only in the United States are some people convinced that the lockdown is a hoax/conspiracy/scare story perpetrated by American politicians and/or the American media (hence the armed protesters we’ve seen demanding that governors force hairdressers and restaurants to re-open). Given that every government in the world — both “liberal” and “conservative”– have put in place some version of the lockdown, why is there this idea that this is just a hoax hatched by a few US governors and media personalities?

Check out this list of which countries have put in place lockdowns and social distancing protocols. Even if they aren’t legally binding, virtually every nation has recommended policies of avoiding public places and closing down non-essential businesses. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-52103747

If countries as politically diverse as Israel, Iran, Venezuela, New Zealand, Germany, UK, Russia, China, India, etc. ALL agree on the need for lockdowns and social distancing, then maybe this isn’t just scare tactics. In other words: let’s stop having such an American-centric view of the world. Not everything is Democrats vs. Republicans; sometimes there really are things that are just matters of global importance that everyone is (generally) agreed on.

Now, if protesters want to say: “I believe every government in the world is wrong about how serious the coronavirus is, and we are right,” then say that. But don’t say that this is merely a case of American fear-mongering, because that’s not the case. Moreover, even if the United States had practiced ZERO social-distancing, the global economy STILL would be tanking right now because other nations are practicing it (and then of course we’d be facing many, many more deaths here in the US). Even Sweden, who tried to save their economy with less stringent protocols than other nations, is wondering whether their high death toll was worth the lower restrictions.

All this to say: Stop with the lies and conspiracy theories about coronavirus being a plot by American liberals. The truth is literally a world bigger than that.

A Good Friday Historical Realization

[Written on Good Friday 2020]

I’ve been reading Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian wars, which occurred a few centuries before Jesus’ life. In reading his work, it struck me how after every single battle, the victorious army would set up a “trophy” made up of the armor, shields, and weapons of the defeated soldiers. These “trophies,” which were also usually dedicated to a god, would be erected on the battlefield as makeshift monuments displaying the power of the victors over their enemies. The Romans would continue the Greek tradition of setting up trophies in commemoration of major battles they won.

Anyway, I decided to Google “what did ancient trophies looks like”, and…well…they looked a LOT like what happens in a crucifixion! Do you see the resemblance?

All images from this link

In other words, Jesus’ death on the cross looked very similar to a trophy, the ancient militaristic symbol for a victory. This blew my mind, so I did some more research and it turns out early Christians (who actually lived under the Romans) made this connection as well. Tertullian, writing in the 2nd Century CE, said “The Cross is a trophy, a sign of…victory over death.”

Isn’t that fascinating! On Good Friday, Jesus inverts the intended cultural message of the Roman Empire’s practice of crucifixion. While the Romans wanted every crucifixion to be a public “trophy” that displayed the unlimited power and victory of their Empire against any mortal that dared resist it, through the cross Jesus actually is the one who conquers! As Paul says in Colossians 2:15, “Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he (Jesus) made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” And as Christians believe, at the cross Jesus isn’t just conquering the Roman empire, but every power of hell, sin, and death. The irony is that in dying on Calvary, the site of Jesus’ greatest “defeat” is simultaneously the site of his greatest victory.

To put it another way, theologian Brigette Kahl writes, “Crosses and trophies are twin images in the Roman visual world of the first century CE, omnipresent as signposts of imperial power over the bodies and minds of the conquered. While crosses expose armor-less human bodies to torturous dying, … trophies are the body-less armor of an already dead enemy. Both are images of triumph and merciless retaliation against the non-compliant… Seen through the lens of the trophy, Paul’s theology of cross and justification by faith emerges as a resistant messianic counter-visualization, as the body of the crucified empowers a rebellious re-embodiment of the dis-embodied.”

There’s probably a lot more symbolism here, and if anyone is a student of ancient history or of Christianity, I welcome your input. All this to say: this yet another reason why studying history is important. Without it, we are lacking the crucial pieces of cultural context that can inform and enrich our deepest beliefs.

May everyone have a very blessed Good Friday.