Vox populi #2

Pull My Finger

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’m not sure if this practical joke translates across culture borders, but in the west, “pull my finger”, is the stuff of practical jokes [meaning: I will pass gas] perpetrated by wily uncles and mischievous grandfathers. My friend’s grandfather used to go around displaying his gastronomical talents with all of his grandson’s new friends, offering his finger for the proverbial pull. It’s not just the musings of elderly gentlemen, but is also a perfect illustration of cause and effect.

Cause and effect is an important concept for discussing the values of Jesus Followers. How’s that for a leap?

I was reading about the life of Israel and people of the ancient near east (ANE), and one thing that struck me was their concept of that which is personal and those things featuring more of a national concern. Life for people of the ANE was never lived in a vacuum, and they did not compartmentalize the way they lived their lives into personal and corporate life. They saw the way they lived their lives as much an issue of the corporate as the personal. Matters of cause and effect factored into the way they lived. Their actions had consequences beyond themselves.

Funny, it didn’t take long for personal agenda to make its way into the community psyche, and by the Greco-Roman era we find the apostle Paul writing to the Corinthian church to remind them that their gastronomical choices had implications beyond their personal desire for carnivorous worship (1 Corinthians 8). He tells the people that while they have individual rights and freedoms, as believers our personal freedoms sometimes need to be subdued or subject to the needs of others. On the question of eating meat sacrificed to idols his advice is to abstain for the sake of the weaker believer so as not to cause that person to stumble. There is a cause and effect relationship in the body of Christ.

Cause and effect factors into our soldier’s covenant too. I am astonished at the cavalier attitude of believers in relation to issues of behaviour. My covenant is not about fulfilling a checklist of do’s and don’ts, but rather, a life lived for the sake of others. I could, in all honesty, purchase a weekly lottery ticket for $1.00, and my family will not go hungry nor will my life fall apart. That isn’t the point though. I have friends, believers and soldiers who play Texas Hold’em Poker, the most popular vice to hit pop western culture in recent days, and the argument they offer when challenged is, “we’re not playing for money”. That isn’t the point. As Salvationists, we don’t engage in these activities because our neighbours, friends, family, the people we serve struggle with these activities. It harms them, so we don’t. It’s a cause and effect relationship we have with our community.

Our soldiers covenant is not about living in a spiritual vacuum, but speaks to our relationship with God, and our relationship with our community - others. It’s a relationship which beckons us to subject our needs to the needs of our people… cause and effect.

Vox populi: Rick Zelinsky and his wife Deana are posted at The Salvation Army College for Officer Training in Winnipeg, Canada. They are missional officers with a passion for serving with the poor and marginalized. Rick is a gifted communicator who loves connecting the truth of God’s word with the stuff of everyday. He believes the Church is called to minister the grace of God and freedom of the Holy Spirit as it reconciles the world for God through Jesus Christ. Rick is a duff golfer, closet comedian and in his spare time you’ll find him doing table magic for community events. Rick and Deana have three children and as a family are active in ministry.

1 Comment to Vox populi #2

1. Rick
   You seem to have hit the nail on the head here. The standards and rules we individually live by are not due to trying to obey the law , to follow the law so as to be holy . We do such so as not to cause our fellow believer’s a problem with their life.
   As you so clearly state with your reference to Texas Hold Em Poker there are activities we can be involved in which are not de facto sin but which can be harmful to others.

   John
John Stephenson on October 5th, 2007

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