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- Written by Rex M. Rogers
Most people, at some point in their lives, fantasize about greatness. Many people take it to the next level and actually aspire to greatness, and a few make genuine attempts to achieve it.
What would it be like to be elected President of the United States? Wouldn’t it be great to gain fame as a social reformer like Rosa Parks, or to be considered the epitome of compassion like the late Mother Teresa? Or maybe you’d like to be the world’s greatest athlete—like Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, or Lance Armstrong—renowned for your competitive prowess and skill in some favorite sport.
Or perhaps in your fantasies greatness is equated with financial success or net worth. So who is greater? Oprah Winfrey or Donald Trump or Bill Gates or Queen Elizabeth?
Dreaming about greatness is pretty common stuff. We’ve all done it. We all do it. From the business executive to the soloist, from the researcher to the kid playing ball in the park, dreaming we’ll be the greatest is as much a part of life as breathing. It comes from something inside us, a desire for more.
Aspiring to greatness can be selfishly driven, as in a Nixon-like quest for power and control. It can be selflessly driven, as in St. Francis of Assisi’s, “Preach the Word at all times; when necessary, use words.” It can be other-centered, as in a mother’s hope for her child.
Our dreams of greatness are rooted in an intrinsic desire for meaning, for significance, for doing something that matters. Our humanity makes us want to be somebody. We want to do something that lasts, something that makes our mortal selves immortal.
In the Bible God tells us the “why” and “for what” of our lives should be about obedience of his moral will, service in his calling, and excellence in our works. In this divine scenario greatness is possible. Greatness is always providential though not always predictable. Greatness is, rightly grounded, a blessing, a gift to be used for good, an outcome more than a goal.
The Bible never identifies greatness as a goal unto itself. Jesus asked his disciples, “Who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves?” (Luke 22:24-27). His answer was “the one who is at the table,” reminding us that God blesses those who love and give.
The word “greatness” is used more than twenty times in the Old Testament book of Nehemiah, all referring to a great trouble, great call, great opportunity, great compassion, great Lord, or great joy, not a great man. Nehemiah did a great work for a great God. The prophet Micah says it this way, “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (6:8).
Greatness is a rare disposition that is always a by-product of obedience, service, and excellence. Obedience determines whether our actions are in accordance with our Creator’s definition of reality. Service determines whether our activities are noble or ignoble. Excellence determines whether our work attains a level worthy of appreciation or admiration.
The New Testament book of Colossians says "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men" (3:23).
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2011
*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Rex or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com or follow him at www.twitter.com/RexMRogers.
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- Written by Rex M. Rogers
Who wants to be sued? I don’t. I doubt most people would. Why would they?
On the other hand, if you’re the one doing the suing, the plaintiff, than perhaps lawsuits aren’t all bad. They offer people a legal remedy by which they can pursue restitution or a sense of justice or closure or in some cases punitive action.
“A civil suit is a lawsuit whereby the plaintiff claims that the defendant’s actions or negligence caused damages (losses and/or suffering)… If a defendant is found guilty in a civil suit, they are typically required to pay restitution to the aggrieved plaintiff…In some cases, where the wrongdoing was intentional or malicious, the court may also order punitive damages. Punitive damages in a civil suit are intended to punish the defendant and deter them and others from committing similar acts in the future.”
After a year (1995) of televised circus-like trial in which O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murdering his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, her family, not surprisingly, did not feel justice had been served. So in 1997 the family, along with the family of her murdered friend Ron Goldman, brought civil suits against Simpson, ultimately winning a $33.5 million “wrongful death” judgment.
Did this judgment bring Ms. Brown or Mr. Goldman back? Of course not. Did it heal the Brown or Goldman families’ pain? Probably not. But it did give them some sense of accountability and justice served.
In 2001, lawsuits were filed in the United States against priests of the Catholic Church who were said to have sexually abused victims, now men, when they were children. Suggestions of such charges had surfaced in the 1980s, but in the 2000s they reached well over ten thousand victims and nearly five thousand priests worldwide. Ultimately, the Catholic Church has paid approximately $1.3 billion in damages related to sexual abuse by priests.
Did this money remove victims’ pain? I doubt it. Did it hold priest pedophiles accountable? Not really, for the most part. It did force the Vatican to reexamine and reorder certain practices and policies that will, hopefully, reduce the likelihood of this kind of thing happening (as extensively) in the future.
Lawsuits and trial attorneys get a bad rap and likely some of them deserve it. Certainly we live in an overly litigious society and tort reform is needed. But not all lawsuits, like not all trial attorneys, are about greed and avarice. When civil suits are properly pursued and administered they serve to remind society that truth and justice matter.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2011
*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Rex or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com or follow him at www.twitter.com/RexMRogers.
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- Written by Rex M. Rogers
It’s a common view: Christians shouldn’t sue other Christians, or for that matter anyone—ever. You’ve probably heard people make this comment if you haven’t heard a pastor preach it.
1 Corinthians 6:1-8 is the most extensive treatment of lawsuits found in Scripture. Here the Apostle Paul warns the Corinthian Church away from taking personal disputes to the courts, asking non-Christians to adjudicate them. Paul’s primary point? For Christians to take internal church or personal matters to court is a poor testimony. It undermines the unity, fellowship, and moral credibility of the Body of Christ. Christians should have the maturity to handle our own problems.
So despite forming the foundation of a widely held erroneous interpretation these verses really do not say Christians may never ever sue. Actually, this passage is about church fellowship, not criminal behavior and, for that matter, not civil lawsuits protecting rights or seeking justice. Yet the passage has long been cited as the traditional proof text for the principle variously stated as “Christians should never sue.”
There are other passages relevant to this question. Matthew 18:15-17 details how Christians should seek to resolve conflict: approach the offending person; if the person doesn’t respond, approach the offending person along with two or three others; if that doesn’t work, take the issue to the church. Few people I’ve ever known have gotten past the second step or needed to if they followed the process sincerely. But this process isn’t always applicable, for example in terms of civil liberties threatened by government or instances wherein laws have been broken.
Matthew 5:40 recommends Christ’s ethic of love. If persons sue you and want to take your coat, Jesus said let them have it—the coat that is. Here the message is one of compassion, turning the other cheek, loving ones enemies, or doing good to those who persecute us. All of these attitudes or behaviors are aspects of the Christian ethic and should be lived. But these injunctions are not absolute for every circumstance and do not displace other passages of Scripture in which Paul, for example, cites his rights as a Roman citizen (Acts 16:37-40) or in which government is ordained by God to secure order, liberty, law, and justice (Romans 13).
Nowhere in Scripture does it say Christians may never sue. It says we should not sue for frivolous personal matters outside what can be handled amongst believers. Scripture says we should bless those who seek to harm us and not seek vengeance. It says we should, as much as possible, live at peace with one another. But this is not always possible even when we behave wisely, so Scripture indicates we may employ duly appointed governmental means to overcome evil.
I thought about this matter a few years hence as I watched in shock the unbelievable number of people who came forward attesting to the abuse done them during their childhoods by Catholic priests. It was and is a sickening story.
I’ve been thinking about this matter again recently as I’ve watched a grievous case in which a Christian perpetrator harmed many people via actions now long ago and long hidden and, it appears, actions at least in part known, mishandled, and covered up by a Christian organization.
Deciding whether to seek justice (not vengeance) via civil lawsuit is a complex matter. What’s right or best to do is not always unambiguously spread before you.
I thought most victims of priest abuse acted responsibly when they pursued class action lawsuits seeking not simply money but truth and justice. Since I am not privy to all details on the recent story I cannot say I know exactly what the harmed should do. They will have to make this decision based upon their evaluation of how the Bible calls for us to integrate truth, justice, and grace in our lives. In any event, I believe Christians sometimes must sue and can be biblically justified in doing so.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2011
*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Rex or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com or follow him at www.twitter.com/RexMRogers.
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- Written by Gayle
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- Written by Rex M. Rogers
Cats are a lot like people. You never know what they’re going to do next. And like people, they come in all shapes and sizes, varied personalities, and capacities for mischief.
A cat can be lying perfectly still and with a shocking suddenness bolt with lightning speed to another part of the house. Just like that, faster than a speeding bullet. How do they do that?
But this trick is not the cat specie’s most impressive. No way. Cats are at their finest when they demonstrate their talent for indifference. Cats can sleep, lounge, or practice the art of snootiness in a room stuffed with 25 people. You can stand on your head, whistle, or recite the Gettysburg Address in front of a cat, and if it’s so inclined, the cat will ignore you with an insouciance James Bond couldn’t match. Yes, cats “do apathy” with enthusiasm—ah, an oxymoron, enthusiastic apathy. But that’s cat behavior.
I had a relative—won’t tell you what kind for the relative was a good person—who didn’t like cats. Fair enough. It’s a free country. But the relative periodically told tales of men or boys in the relative’s childhood hometown who liked to kill cats. I don’t know whether the relative ever did this, but even as a wee lad, these stories didn’t engage me.
I, thankfully, had a father who grew up on the farm. And the farm was still five minutes away throughout my childhood. So not only did my father love and respect animals of all kinds, so did I. Even cats like the ones on the farm that would sit patiently near my grandmother as she hand-milked a cow, waiting for her to aim a part of the cow’s anatomy at them and squirt milk into their eager mouths. If you’ve never seen or participated in this trick you haven’t lived.
I remember, I don’t know why, Dad holding kittens once. I think we were somewhere other than home. But the point is I remember him intervening to protect these kittens from I can’t remember what and then gently petting and talking kindly to them. It’s just a blip from childhood, but it is a powerful memory, one that helped form my love for animals and later interest in wildlife preservation and “the outdoors,” what we now call the environment. I'm glad for Dad's example.
I admit cats are not my favorite domestic animal. Dogs hold that position. But cats are endlessly creative, energetic, and interesting animals. To me they’re fun to watch while dogs are fun to physically enjoy, i.e. wrestle and roughhouse.
I know all the arguments about feral cats and too many cats and why do we need cats and cats kill small game animals. But those are people issues, not cat issues. If people took proper care of cats we wouldn’t have cat problems.
So here’s to cats: one minute calm the next minute over the moon. Cats are a lot like people.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2011
*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Rex or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com or follow him at www.twitter.com/RexMRogers.