Have you ever taken a college class where the professor was downright incompetent? As a linguist, I sometimes find myself stuck in language classes which were very arbitrarily thrown together. While the Defense Language Institute is famous for its breakneck pace and rigidly structured curriculum, some of the smaller language schools the Navy subcontracts to for shorter classes are abysmally poorly prepared. I don't ultimately blame the school; the fact is that many of the languages I'm expected to learn are relatively unknown to non-natives, and finding a local native speaker who actually has professional teaching experience is almost a one-in-a-million shot. Sometimes I'm literally placed into a classroom with nothing but a notebook and a foreign immigrant and ordered to learn. 

In situations such as this, it behooves one to be proactive about one's learning. When a "teacher" is woefully unprepared to provide structured learning, it becomes your job to ask smart questions, seek out supplementary resources, and ultimately to take control of your own learning process rather than passively waiting to be fed. Some teachers take it as a personal affront if you suggest to them that perhaps their teaching style, or lack thereof, could be improved upon. In those situations, cultural and interpersonal differences can sometimes turn ugly.

While it can be a tolerable inconvenience to have a bad teacher in a collegiate setting, in my current line of work people's lives may very well depend upon my ability to provide accurate and timely translation. There simply isn't time to waste when learning a new language for the military.

We have all dealt with bad instructors at some point in our lives. Unfortunately, some of them mistake their role as a teacher for the idea that they somehow control us, or that they are the infallible lord of knowledge to whom we must bow if we expect to receive any of their precious insights. One place where I see this often, sadly, is in church.

I've heard it said that the ice bucket challenge is another case of "slacktivism," like the failed KONY2012 and other wanton attempts to make the public feel empowered whilst simultaneously demanding little to no action in return. While it can hardly be disputed that flippant cash donations are probably not going to change the world, I think some action on a given subject is better than no action at all, don't you?

When it comes to raising awareness for ALS, I'd say the ice bucket challenge has been an overwhelming success. Not only have they filled up your news feed with their viral marketing strategy, they've actually raised a very respectable amount of money for research, and in doing so have also made this formerly virtually-unknown disease now a household name. That sounds like a win to me.

When it comes to church life, I find a similar trend of slacktivism at work in almost every corner of the Body. It seems every week a new outreach ministry or building project is announced, to the joy of many members of the congregation. Worse still, there are even more people, like the ice bucket naysayers, who are content to simply sit at the back of the church and roundly criticize anything and everything going on at the front. When the church announces some new pet project, it's all too easy to sit at the back with folded arms and wonder aloud how that money might better have been spent. To be sure, I too have been guilty of such a crime. 

In Philippians 1, Paul mentions that there are an entire faction of preachers within the upstart church who, frankly, are terrible. While Paul is quick to point out that their outward appearance of piety is not at all genuine, he also acknowledges what I believe is a very important point: they're still preaching Christ.

Even though I have at several times in the last few weeks and months taken aim at the motives and methods of several people who claim to be doing God's work, I think it bears acknowledgement that, at the very minimum, these people are all behaving in line with what they believe to be God's Word. Though their interpretation of God's commands may drastically differ from my own, it would be unbecoming of me as a believer to say that their interpretation of the Scripture is wholly wrong.

When it comes to church ministry, as when it comes to raising money for medical research, I think that some action is better than no action, and half-hearted support of a semi-worthy cause is far better than idle naysaying. Better still, would be to put your money where your mouth is, if you'll pardon the pun, and come up with what you believe is a suitable alternative.

In response to the Robin Williams situation, I posted the following message on my Facebook page:

The response I received from it was surprisingly positive. The more I contemplated what I said, the more I realized I should probably explain it in a little more detail.

People often ask why God created Satan if he knew in advance that he was going to rebel. I think in a way, that question answers itself. He knew. God is an all-knowing, all-powerful being. He never needed to create anything or anyone, but he chose to do so from what I believe was a desire to reveal his own Glory. It must have been very boring to exist before the existence of all things. There was no substance, no matter, and noone to talk to or interact with. So naturally, to entertain himself, God built a chess board.

He created a universe with specific rules, and then populated it with pieces who could be moved and manipulated to do his bidding. It started with simple pieces, such as angels, who are inherently obedient to the will of their creator. Then, however, he went even further, and created an unpredictable piece which can either choose to obey its creator or not. Thus was born mankind.

As he was making the chess board, he also realized that he would need a suitable opponent, because playing a game against yourself is obviously not fun. Thus Lucifer was created, and with him the proud desire to usurp power from his Creator. The game had begun.

From the very first moment when the Serpent entered the garden, humans have been the pieces of a cosmic struggle between Good and Evil. They can be manipulated, coaxed, coerced, and tempted to do all sorts of good and/or evil action. Naturally, we know that round one went to the Enemy. The game didn't end there though. Like any truly gifted chess player, God was thinking further ahead than simply the next move or two. He was looking all the way to the Cross, so he created a Savior to set things right.

I use the term 'created' loosely here. In Christian theology we say, "begotten, not made" when describing Jesus. Since Jesus is God he must, by his very definition, be eternal and un-created. The reason why Satan will never be God's equal is precisely because he was created, and therefore is not eternal. Even though God created in Satan a magnificent opponent, he did not create an equal, as he did with Jesus.

That's why we win. That's why this cosmic game we call life is slanted in our favor as members of God's covenant. Even though we can be manipulated and even destroyed by God's opponent, the game will ultimately end in victory for us, because God has seen every move that will be made all the way to the very end of time.

Finally, I bring you a scriptural illustration:

Job 1

6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.

8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."

9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.

12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.

Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

Just to be clear, our loving God directed the Destroyer's attention to one of his pieces, and then Satan essentially says, "I can break him," and our loving Father's response amounts to: "Ok, I'll take that wager."

We all know what happens next. Job experiences untold suffering, loss, and misery at the hands of Satan. Though he blames God and at times rails against the injustice of his Creator, Job never goes so far as to deny his faith in God. At the end of the book, when God finally responds, he essentially says to our man Job: "Shut up. You can't see the chessboard from my perspective. I will always win in the end"

Before we begin, please read the entirety of Revelation 20.

Done?

Seriously, did you read it all?

Good.

I find it interesting that just a few weeks ago, I wrote that how we die might be equally as important, if not more important, than how we live as Christians. It's unfortunate that I had to be proved right in such a short time, and in such a horrific manner.

My goal here is not to sound like an alarmist, end-of-the-world doomsday watcher (God knows we have enough of those hilarious people polluting our air waves as it is). There have always been parts of the world where it is a dangerous gamble to identify yourself as a Christian. The simple fact is though, persecution and genocide have found their way into our midst as a body of believers.

Whereas in the past you might have heard that certain countries are hostile towards the gospel, now for the first time in our modern age we're witnessing first-hand the systematic eradication of believers. While governments of the world have been quick to condemn these acts of brutality, and even recently we've begun to see the ponderously slow arrival of material aid, it remains sadly true that, by and large, the world is still sitting on its hands.

Again, if I alarmed you in my previous post with the assertion that it might be a good idea to buy a gun, please understand my intentions clearly: I know that Jesus did not call us to be a people of violence, but to be fair he did also warn us that it would be prudent to have a means of self-defense.

If that seems too militant for your liking, I can only ask you this: If a band of armed men came to your house one night intending to rape and murder your family, would you let them?