Timothy King Lent on LinkedIn: A Meditation on Psalm 49: Go Back, O Human Creature by Timothy King… (2024)

On the Student Protests at Columbia University, Yale University and New York University,byTimothy King LentToday, on the campuses of Columbia University, Yale University and New York University, not a few pro-Palestinian protesters are — in addition to their “peaceful” protests — exhibiting anti-Semitic behavior, insulting, ridiculing and even assaulting Jewish students. Why? It is not for anything they have they done but for whom they are — Jews. Being concerned about the security of their persons, they fear for their lives.By permitting anti-Semitism, the universities are creating a social “climate” of intolerance. Imagine the irony of that: Institutions of higher education, which are typically known for their “spirit” of tolerance, are allowing the intolerance of Jewish students. In allowing intolerance, those institutions are also violating the core principles of higher education, namely, “diversity” and “inclusion.”The anti-Semitic student protesters are acting as though they were uneducated in either denying or not knowing a biologically indisputable truth, namely, that Jews are fully human beings, humans persons. That truth is also so obvious, commonsensical, that it should not, in the 21st century, even need to be defended.In the “language” of personalism, Jewish students are subjects, not objects; persons, not things; ends in themselves, not merely a means to someone else’s ends. As human subjects, Jewish students have human rights; the same rights as all other human beings. They have, for example, the right to life and the right to the protection or security of their own persons. They have the same human dignity or worth as all other human beings and should be accorded the respect of human beings. Universities, perhaps above all other American institutions, should know that!

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A Biblical Response to Anti-Semitism in America: The Jews are Still God’s Chosen PeoplebyTimothy King LentUnder both the Abrahamic Covenant of the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Covenant of the New Testament, the truth of God’s relationship to the Jews or Jewish people remains the same:“God did not reject his people” (Romans 11:2a, NIV), “for God’s gifts and his call [of Israel] are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29, NIV). In other words, “The concern that God has had with Israel,” beginning with his call of the Patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - neither has nor will change.1 Thus, the Jews are still God’s chosen people.2Paul the Christian, the Jewish apostle to the Gentiles, being under the New Covenant, writes,"I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew" (Romans 11:1-2a, NIV).Paul refers to his own Jewish "brothers" and "sisters," his own people, as God's people. Paul the Christian teaches that "God did not reject his people." Even to this day, then, the Jews are still God's people. Of the three major monotheistic religions of the world - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - the Jews are the “‘elder brethren’ in the faith of Abraham.”3Because the Jews belong to God, no one, especially no religious nor terrorist organization, can destroy them. Even to this day, they remain under God's watchful "eyes," his providential care. They will remain as long as the sun and the moon endure, that is, until the end of time, for God, who is faithful, remains faithful to his people, the Jews.May there come a time, then, when Zechariah’s words to his people will be fulfilled, reaching their deepest meaning, as he proclaims,“‘In those days ten people from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you’” (Zechariah 8:23b, NIV).Therefore, God is not finished working in the lives of his ancient people, accomplishing or fulfilling his will for the Jews.Endnotes1. Joseph A. Fitzmyer, “The Letter to the Romans,” in The Jerome Biblical Commentary, eds. Raymond E. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, et. al. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968). The edition from which I am quoting is the one book in two volumes, Vol. II, p. 324.2. Kallistos Ware. 1 May 2007. Has God Rejected His People? In Communion: The Orthodox Peace Fellowship. [Web:] https://lnkd.in/edvkk_Ha [Date of access: 19 April 2024].3. Catechism of the Catholic Church (Liguori, MO.: Liguori Publications, 1994), no. 63.

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A Minute Meditation on Genesis 1:1, Part IIbyTimothy King LentHow, then, do people know that there is a God? They know it by faith! As the author of Hebrews teaches,“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command” (Hebrews 11:3a, NIV, 2011 ed.). Faith is a spiritual understanding that transcends human reason, being a higher knowledge than reason, but not against it.The same author makes a similar point, writing,“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6, NIV).Therefore, a person must approach God by faith. Besides, if a person could totally reason his or her way to God, then why would that person even need to have faith in God? Faith would be reducible to reason, with faith in God being unnecessary.Why, then, does Genesis 1:1 simply state “In the beginning God,” not attempting to prove God’s existence? The reason is that faith in God is for everyone, not just for academics or scholars, say, for Ph.D.s. God will not have such people reason their way into a spiritual relationship with him, for they just might become proud of their intelligence, of being so smart, “looking down” on the masses of people that only have faith in God. Even Blaise Pascal, as brilliant as he was — being a scientist, mathematician and “philosopher” — denied that he reasoned his way into a spiritual relationship with God, writing, “‘God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob,’ not of philosophers and scholars” (Pensées, no. 913).Human reason must know its own limitations; one of which is that it cannot “bypass” faith and reason its way to God. As Pascal observes,“Reason’s last step is the recognition that there are an infinite number of things which are beyond it. … If natural things are beyond it, what are we to say about supernatural things?” (Pensées, no. 188).What, therefore, does Genesis 1:1 mean? Precisely this: Time began with the supernatural God creating the natural or material world, the physical universe of the heavens and the earth. That is an article of faith, because finite, human beings cannot understand “how” God did it. But they know, by faith, “that” a supernatural God did it. In the first words of the Apostles’ Creed,“I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.”

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A Minute Meditation on Genesis 1:1, Part I byTimothy King Lent“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1, NIV). The very first verse of the Bible begins with God. The author of the Book of Genesis presupposes or assumes that there is a God, writing, “In the beginning God” (Genesis 1:1a). The author, then, does not attempt to prove the existence of God by using any kind of logical or philosophical arguments. In other words, the author simply begins with a statement of faith, the belief that there is a God and that God “created” the world, “the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1b).Nor can the God of the first verse of the Bible be subject to any kind of proof in a scientific laboratory. That is to say, the existence of God is outside the scope of science, which deals with observable matters that can be tested again and again in a controlled environment. Genesis 1:1, though, is not anti-scientific, against science. Rather, the verse is non-scientific, for science can neither prove nor disprove the existence of God.The author of Genesis takes the words “In the beginning God,” “as a matter of course.” In other words, it is “a given” or “taken for granted” that God exists and is the Creator of the world. Belief in God, then, is “properly basic.” That is to say, people, in general, “just know” that there is a God. For such people, there is no need to prove that God exists, because God’s existence is “immediately obvious” to them, even if it is not obvious to other people.

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Long Live LibertybyTimothy King LentIn my opinion, I am beginning to think that pro-Palestinian is roughly equivalent to anti-Semitic, anti-Jew. After watching the recent “protests” in America, I am also concerned that for not a few protesters, pro-Palestinian is roughly the same as anti-American. Some protest flags even support Hamas, while other protesters chant, “Death to America.” I support the rights of the Jewish people — over the entire globe — to be recognized and respected as human beings, having the same rights as I, especially the right to life and freedom from persecution, including the right to exist as a nation. As an American, I would neither say nor chant, ‘Death to America.’ Rather, in keeping with the best of American ideals, I say, ‘Vive la liberté,” “Long live liberty” and, thus, the United States of America (despite its moral shortcomings), a beacon of liberty to the world.Since not a few protesters support Hamas; and since they hate America, they still have, in international law, the human right to migration. It is enshrined in the 14th Article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, namely,“Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution” (Section 1).Therefore, while I, as an American, cannot force the protesters to leave America, nevertheless, they may seize upon their human right to live in another country, if they choose. And if they do, may they find “peace” in the nation that aligns with their political, religious and moral values.

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Healing, Part II: On the Need for Physicians and NursesbyTimothy King LentJesus of Nazareth, the Founder of Christianity, stresses the value of being a nurse, when twice he says,“I was sick, and you visited me” (Matthew 25:36, 43, NASB). The Greek verb translated “visited“ (ἐπεσκέψασθέ) may also be rendered “looked after” (NAB), “cared for” (Knox) or “came to my help” (NEB). It is better translated “nurse.”1 There is, then, a human need for nurses to care for the sick.Jesus also recognizes and presupposes that human beings need physicians and medications, saying, “‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick’” (Matthew 9:12b, NIV).Not a few Christians, though, believe that taking medications prescribed by a doctor or nurse is indicative of a lack of faith, of not relying on the Lord to heal the human body. For example, Minirth and Meier, themselves medical doctors, note,“Even after penicillin was discovered, many Christians died of pneumonia because they wanted to trust God alone and not medications. We know of several Christians who have died in the past few years because they refuse to have a cancer surgically removed.”2Paul Tournier (1898-1986), who was a rather well-known Swiss medical doctor and, of course, prescribed medications for his patients, observed that the Bible “does not condemn medicine.3 Rather, Scripture, in Galatians 5:20, condemns pharmakeia (φαρμακεία), which is abusing, not rightly using, medications, that is, preparing or mixing chemicals that, ultimately, poison and destroy the human mind and body. In itself, though, the word pharmakeia simply means “the administering of drugs.” From the Greek word, the English words “pharmacy” and “pharmacological” are derived.The apostle Paul writes to Christians, “I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say” (I Corinthians 10:15, NV). In other words, Christians have the same God-given, basic or fundamental faculty as other human beings, namely, “practical wisdom” or “common sense.” Now, the human body itself is a part of nature, being derived from the material elements of the earth (cf. Genesis 2:7). Nature, then, aids in the healing of nature. In other words, the human body may be healed by medications, which are derived from nature. Therefore, Christians, being endowed by their Creator with the faculty of human reason, should not reject legally prescribed medications by physicians and nurses for the healing of body and mind.Endnotes1. Benedict T. Viviano, “The Gospel According to Matthew,” in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, eds. Raymond E. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer and Roland E. Murphy (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1990), p. 669.2. Frank Minirth and Paul Meier, Happiness is a Choice, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids, MI.: Baker Booke, 2013), p. 152.3. Paul Tournier, A Doctor’s Casebook in the Light of the Bible, trans. Edwin Hudson (London: SCM Press Ltd, 1954, 10th printing 1977), p. 109.

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On Maintaining Mental Health through Rest, Meditation and PrayerbyTimothy King LentO, my soul,a restless sea,tossed about bythe troubled waves of the world,with all its conflicts, hatred,disease, destruction and death;take some time, however briefly,away from it all,meditating on your God,finding rest, peace and renewalin the Divine Presence.Amen.