1 Maccabees, Chapter 13, Verse 17-18
17 Simon knew that they were speaking
deceitfully to him. Nevertheless, for fear
of provoking much hostility among the people, he sent for the money and the
boys, 18 lest the people say “Jonathan perished because I would not send Trypho
the money and the boys.”
Simon Maccabee now with
the assumed death of his brother Jonathan becomes the next leader of the Jews
but unlike his brother Jonathan does not become the high priest. Yet because it
is not certain that his brother is dead he is prepared to pay the ransom that
Trypho demands which is money and two of Jonathans sons as
hostages which guarantee that when Jonathan is set free he will not revolt
against Trypho. Trypho invades the land of Judah bringing Jonathan along as
prisoner. If Simon refuses the exchange the people will hold him responsible for
Jonathan’s death. If he accepts he is making a deal with a deceitful,
treacherous, and ambitious animal called Trypho. Simon has no choice and pays.
Trypho of course reneges, marches and ravages as he goes. Simon delays his
march on Jerusalem. Thus Trypho prevented from taking the city of God, like
Napoleon at the attempted taking of Moscow must retreat back to Syria when a
seasonal snowstorm comes and before he goes kills Jonathan and probably his
sons as well. This is tribalism at its worst.[1]
Marilynne Robinson, noted author, express’ some of her fears
to what is happening today in many of the churches and inside many of us,
namely, new forms of tribalism and fear are reducing our wondrous God to a
‘tribal deity’ and our own ‘local Baal’. The God of all nations, all families,
and all peoples, she asserts, is too frequently being invoked by us as a God,
more exclusively, of my own nation, my own family, my own church, and my own
people. She cites various examples of this, including her own sadness at how
sincere Christians cannot accept each other’s authenticity: “I must assume that those who disagree with
my understanding of Christianity are Christians all the same, that we are
members of one household. I confess that from time to time I find this
difficult. This difficulty is owed in part to the fact that I have reason to
believe they would not extend this courtesy to me.” This, she rightly
asserts, is unworthy of God, of Christianity, and of what’s best in us. We know
better, though we usually don’t act on that and are thus indicted by what Freud
called “the narcissism of minor differences.” And this takes its root in
fear, fear of many things. Not least among those fears is our fear of the secularized
world and how we feel this has put us on a slippery slope in terms of our
Christian heritage and our moral values. To quote Robinson here: “These people
see the onrush of secularism intent on driving religion to the margins, maybe
over the edge, and for the sake of Christianity they want to enlist society
itself in its defense. They want politicians to make statements of faith, and
when merchants hang their seasonal signs and banners they want them to say
something more specific than ‘Happy Holidays’. Robinson, however, is
distrustful of enlisting political power to defend Christianity. Why because
“this country [the United States] in its early period was largely populated by
religious people escaping religious persecution at the hands of state Churches,
whether French Huguenots, Scots Presbyterians, English Congregationalists, or
English Catholics”. She adds: “Since my own religious heroes tended to
die gruesomely under these regimes. I have no nostalgia for the world before
secularism, nor would many of these ‘Christian nation’ exponents, if they
looked a little into the history of their own traditions.” Inside our fear of
secularism, she suggests, lies a great irony: We are afraid of secularism
because we have, in fact, internalized the great prejudice against
Christianity, namely, the belief that faith and Christianity cannot withstand
the scrutiny of an intellectually sophisticated culture. And that fear lies at
the root of an anti-intellectualism that is very prominent inside many
religious and Church circles today. How much of our fear today about
Christianity being on a slippery slope can be traced back to this prejudice.
Why are we so afraid of our world and of secularized intellectuals This
fear, she asserts, spawns an antagonism that is unworthy of Christianity. Fear
and antagonism are very fashionable within religious circles today, almost to
be worn as a badge of faith and loyalty. And is this a sign of health? No.
Neither fear nor antagonism, she submits, are “becoming in Christians or in the
least degree likely to inspire thinking or action of the kind that deserves to
be called Christian”. Moreover, “if belief in Christ is necessary to
attaining of everlasting life, then it behooves anyone who calls himself or
herself a Christian, any institution that calls itself a Church, to bring
credit to the Faith, at very least not to embarrass or disgrace it. Making God
a tribal deity, our local Baal, is embarrassing and disgraceful.” Fear and antagonism
do nothing, she adds, to draw respect to Christianity and our churches and to
the extent that we let them be associated with Christianity, we risk defacing
Christianity in the world’s eyes. But saying that in today’s climate is
to be judged as unpatriotic. We are not supposed to care what the world thinks.
But it is the world we are trying to convert. And so we need to be careful not
to present Christianity as undignified, xenophobic, and unworthy of our
wondrous, all-embracing God. Why all this fear, if we believe that
Christianity is the deepest of all truth and believe that Christ will be with
us to the end of time Her last sentences capsulise a challenge we urgently need
today. “Christianity is too great a narrative to be reduced to serving any
parochial interest or to be underwritten by any lesser tale. Reverence should
forbid in particular its being subordinated to tribalism, resentment, or
fear.”
Why not
invite your unfriends over for hotdogs and a cold beer!
National
Hot Dog Day Facts & Quotes
·
The
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has stated that hotdogs contain
carcinogenic (cancer
causing) compounds, are high in fat, cholesterol and salt. In fact, a
recent study by the Harvard School of Public Health has found that a single daily serving of processed meat
can increase the risk of colorectal cancer by 21%. These will kill you
quicker than a gun!
·
According
to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, the proper etiquette required to
eat a hotdog is finish the hot dog in five bites. In the case of a
foot-long wiener, only seven bites are appropriate.
·
Across
the United States, consumers spent more than $2.5 billion on hot dogs in 2014.
Los Angeles residents consume more hotdogs than any other city. In 2014,
Los Angeles consumed more than 39 million hotdogs.
·
Every
year on July 4th, Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs hosts a hot dog eating contest in
which contestants must consume as many hot dogs as possible in 10 minutes. The
current male record holder ate 69 hot dogs while the female record holder
inhaled 45 hot dogs in only 10 minutes.
·
A
hot dog at the ball game beats a roast beef at the Ritz. - Humphrey Bogart,
Famous 1940s actor.
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