day no. 17,468: experiments in education

"In this age of child-psychology nobody pays any attention to the actual psychology of the child. All that seems to matter is the psychology of the psychologist and the particular theory or train of thought that he is maintaining against another psychologist. Most of the art and literature now magnificently manufactured for children is not even honestly meant to please children. At best they are meant to please the child-lover. At the worst they are experiments in scientific educational method." — G.K. Chesterton,  Child Psychology and Nonsense

It is one thing to consider how kids think and it is quite another to consider how you think kids ought to think. The first is merely observing the lay of the land, the second is landscaping. I point this out, not to imply that landscaping itself is a problem, but to point out that those who do it should have the integrity to be honest about it. 

God has called parents to shape their children's affections and conceptions. This is landscaping. It is pruning and trimming back and shaping a mind in a particular direction and for a particular purpose. That is all good and glorious and just as God intended. 

What the modern psychologist does is project his or her own idea of what he or she thinks children ought to be like into the child. It is not an objective study of the subject, but an invasive injection of a foreign object. They claim to be hands off and yet they meddle. Their dishonesty is, however, only half the problem. The other half is what they project onto the child. They anachronistically accuse the child of ideas only adults have. They read back into childhood that which the observer is experiencing in adulthood.

"Obviously, it ought to be the oldest things that are taught to the youngest people; the assured and experienced truths that are put first to the baby. But in a school today the baby has to submit to a system that is younger than himself. The flopping infant of four actually has more experience, and has weathered the world longer, than the dogma to which he is made to submit. Many a school boasts of having the last ideas in education, when it has not even the first idea." — G.K. Chesterton, What's Wrong With The World

In many cases the child is more experienced than the model he is expected to submit to. The ideas on the child's head are older than the theory he is being asked to consider. Modern educators see themselves as experts and our children as their test subjects. Instead of teaching subjects like math, science, etc... to our children, they experiment on our children like they are subjects.

day no. 17,443: unorthodox obedience (exhortation outline)

Christ Church Leavenworth

Jenny Geddes Day

July 26, 2026

Unorthodox Obedience

INTRODUCTION

Our text for this morning is Numbers 25:1-13, these are the words of God.

“While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before the Lord, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.’ And Moses said to the judges of Israel, ‘Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor.’

And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting. When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.

And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy. Therefore say, “Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.”’”

This past Thursday marked the anniversary of one of the most memorable episodes in the history of the Scottish Reformation. The time was July 23rd in the year of our Lord 1637 and the place was St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland. That morning, James Hannay, the dean of the church, ascended to the pulpit, the same one behind which the great John Knox himself had once stood and preached; and standing there, he opened his mouth and attempted to supplant the liturgy of John Knox's Book of Common Order with a newly published Scottish version of the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer. I say “attempted” because he never finished. Before he could finish the reading, a simple milk maid in the congregation thwarted his attempted coup. Who was she and how did she do it? Her name was Jenny Geddes and the way she stopped him was by throwing her stool at his head. The Ballad of Jenny Geddes, a poem by John Stuart Blackie, colorfully recounts the details of that day.

‘Twas the twenty-third of July, in the sixteen thirty-seven,

On the Sabbath morn from high St. Giles the solemn peal was given;

King Charles had sworn that Scottish men should pray by printed rule;

He sent a book, but never dreamt of danger from a stool.

The Council and the Judges, with ermined pomp elate,

The Provost and the Bailies in gold and crimson state,

Fair silken-vested ladies, grave doctors of the school,

Were there to please the King, and learn the virtues of a stool.

The Bishop and the Dean came in wi’ muckle gravity,

Right smooth and sleek, but lordly pride was lurking in their e’e;

Their full lawn sleeves were blown and big, like seals in briny pool;

They bore a book, but little thought they soon should feel a stool.

The Dean he to the alter went, and, with a solemn look,

He cast his eyes to heaven, and read the curious-printed book:

In Jenny’s heart the blood upwelled with bitter anguish full;

Sudden she started to her legs, and stoutly grasped the stool!

As when a mountain wildcat springs upon a rabbit small,

So Jenny on the Dean springs, with gush of holy gall;

Wilt thou say mass at my lugs, thou popish-puling fool?

No! No! She said, and at his head she flung the three-legged stool.

A bump, a thump! A smash, a crash! Now gentle folks beware!

Stool after stool, like rattling hail, came twirling through the air,

With, well done, Jenny! Bravo, Jenny! That’s the proper tool!

When the Devil will out, and shows his snout, just meet him with a stool!

The Council and the Judges were smitten with strange fear,

The ladies and the Bailies their seats did deftly clear,

The Bishop and the Dean went in sorrow and in dool,

And all the Popish flummery fled when Jenny showed the stool!

And thus a mighty deed was done by Jenny’s valiant hand,

Black Prelacy and Popery she drove from Scottish land;

King Charles he was a shuffling knave, priest Laud a meddling fool,

But Jenny was a woman wise, who beat them with a stool!

Simple obedience to God will sometimes require a radical defiance to men. We saw this both in our text with Phinehas and in our story with Jenny Geddes. Walking with God will sometimes require you to step outside of your cultural moment. In the days of Phinehas, some people were laying down with the wrong people and the rest were weeping about it. The moment called for someone to stand up, and that’s what Phinehas did. In the days of Jenny Geddes, some people were compromising with Rome and the rest were silently watching it happen. The moment called for someone to take a stand, and that’s what Jenny did.

Where disobedience has become orthodox, obedience will look unorthodox. If everyone around you is compromising, taking a stand will make you stand out. Being moved by the world requires nothing more than drifting along, and nothing is easier to do than nothing. So, compared to those around them, the faithful will often appear unconventional. Our neighbors may find our faith a bit too much, but our descendants will honor our zeal as they admire the stars in the skies that stand out against the blackness.

Here is your application: if you don’t like the way things are going, don’t complain about it, do something about it. Consider Philippians 2:14-17, “Do all things without grumbling or complaining, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life.” Phinehas and Jenny are numbered among the stars. There are, of course, many others; so many, in fact, that Abraham could not count them, and if you stand up in the midst of this crooked generation, you will join them in standing out against the darkness. In order to do this, however, you will have to be willing to look unorthodox. When darkness is the reigning paradigm, light can break the pattern.

Douglas Wilson once noted that, “Desperate times call for faithful men, not for careful men. The careful men come later and write the biographies of the faithful men, lauding them for their courage.” There is a reason people write poems about Jenny Geddes and name their sons after Phinehas. We honor those who stood up when others were laying down. We recognize their courage and their unconventional approach to unconventional times. When the situation is desperate, a doer is more necessary than a documenter, but once the doing has been done, someone must document it. That is how good stories are made and that is how they are preserved. I am grateful for the actions of Jenny Geddes and for the words of John Stuart Blackie, and I stand on them both. I am inspired by the stand of Phinehas and by the words of Moses that tells his stor.

There is a place for both kinds of people. So, make sure you are telling the stories of our brothers and sisters who stood with God and then do something your kids will want to write stories about. We do not honor the likes of Phinehas and Jenny Geddes by compromising with our culture. We honor their unorthodox obedience by defying the darkness in our own day. This will require you to be unconventional, but all heroes are. That is why we tell their stories. So, preserve the memory of our ancestors by celebrating their achievements and bless the work of our descendants by giving them something else to celebrate.

CALL TO CONFESSION

Well, since we are so often too scared or too shy to take a risk in standing out and because we are often too quick to take for granted and forget those who did, we are reminded of our need to regularly confess our sins, whether they be these or others. So, if you are able, please kneel with me and confess your sins, first privately and then corporately using the prayer found in your bulletin.

CORPORATE CONFESSION

Almighty and merciful Father, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We justly deserve Your present and eternal punishment. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us. Renew us and lead us by Your Holy Spirit so that we may delight in Your will and walk in Your ways to the glory of Your holy name.

DECLARATION OF PARDON

Arise and hear the Good News! The assurance of pardon today comes from Romans 5, “While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person— though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” 

Jesus did not die for those who deserved it, He died for those who didn’t. That is good news for sinners like you and me. He stood out as a light in the darkness and He now calls us to walk in a manner worthy of that reality. That begins by stepping out from the darkness within so that we might stand up to the darkness that is without, and that is what we just did. So now, having done that, go forward in the light of Christ, because in Him your sins are forgiven… THANKS BE TO GOD!

Now let us ascend to the presence of God in all worship and praise.

day no. 16,995: Babel off

“When God confused the tongues at Babel, the result was that men scattered, divided by their different languages. When God gave different languages at Pentecost, the intent was to move men in the opposite direction, to gather them all to Christ. At Babel, the different languages scattered. At Pentecost, the different languages gathered.” — Douglas Wilson, Babel and Pentecost

Babel is the photo-negative of Pentecost. At that time in that place, men came together to defy the living God's command for them to fan out and fill the earth. In response, God confused their tongues in order to prevent them from working evil together any longer. 

Pentecost is the reversal of the curse. In that place at that time, men came together to hear the Word of the living God's command for them to come together in Christ. God provided clarity in the form of flaming tongues that crossed language barriers to help them carry on with the good work as they went.

day no. 16,651: those watchful dragons

“I thought I saw how stories of this kind could steal past a certain inhibition which had paralysed much of my own religion in childhood... But supposing that by casting all these things into an imaginary world, stripping them of their stained-glass and Sunday School associations, one could make them for the first time appear in their real potency? Could one not thus steal past those watchful dragons? I thought one could.” ― C.S. Lewis

There is no stealing past those watchful dragons. Dogma and doctrine are not the et cetera, they are the main thing — everything else is the et cetera. The creeds are not the accouterments, they are clothing.

You cannot domesticate Christianity. You cannot slip past it. There is no safe space for spiritual soliloquies. Those watchful dragons of doctrine do not stop watching. They don't misfire. Many think they can neuter them or distract them. But no one ever has and no one ever will.

Jared Longshore recently brought this up as it applies to the recovery of singing Psalms. Psalms have a way of forcing you to face those watchful dragons that K-Love attempts to sidestep. You are forced to see things about God from His perspective and to consider the world according to His Word instead of ours. If you want revival and reformation, you have to want to get caught. If you are thinking, "Things can't go on like this forever," then you will have to embrace a new way of doing things, which turns out to be an old way of doing them: that is, by the Book.

day no. 16,616: story always wins

"Lewis explains, 'Most of us know what we should expect to find in a dragon's lair, but, as I said before, Eustace had read only the wrong books. They had a lot to say about exports and imports and governments and drains, but they were weak on dragons.' Eustace had subsisted on the wrong stories... His imaginative training had not prepared him to deal with dragons -- and so he becomes one." — Christiana Hale, Deeper Heaven

Story always wins and a hard heart is no defense against a soft head. A starved imagination will be revenged. You cannot keep narrative at arm's length. If you try, you only succeed in being an unlikable character. You cannot cram facts into your skull in order to keep story out. Your mental closet cannot be so packed full of material and moth balls as to keep the magic out. In fact, Edmund only discovered more magic in that wardrobe upon further inspection, not less.

If you ignore dragons, you become one. If you avoid thinking about your sin, your thoughts will be sinful. You cannot keep the plot at bay. There is no such thing as a narrative-less existence. You cannot crawl off the page. You are a printed word. You can either be emboldened or struck through, but you cannot blot yourself out. You were printed at a price and the ink of your existence does not belong to you.

day no. 16,607: chesteronian calvinism a la wilson via lewis

"On many questions and specially in view of the marriage bed, the Puritans were the indulgent party, if we may without disrespect so use the name of a great Roman Catholic, a great writer, and a great man, they were much more Chestertonian than their adversaries." — C. S. Lewis

The term, "Chestertonian Calvinism," was coined by Doug Wilson, but I had not previously considered that it's inspiration came from Lewis. That only adds another layer of joy to the cake. So, in using the term, you not only get the soteriological precision of Calvin and the benevolent gratitude and wonder of Chesterton, but also the imaginative medieval power of Lewis. The term itself then is a fine dish consisting of Calvin, Chesterton, and Lewis, but was served to me at a restaurant run by Wilson. All that to say, Chestertonian Calvinism about sums it all up.

day no. 16,594: pride or shame in forgetting

"In the story of creation, Adam met Eve in a garden. In the story of redemption, Jesus met Mary in a garden. Adam met a woman with a disreputable future. Christ met a woman with a disreputable past. We must always remember this because we are so prone to forget it. And when we forget it, when we forget our name of Magdalene, we usually do so in one of two ways. We either become self-righteous because we have forgotten our past, or we are guilt-ridden because we have forgotten our future." — Douglas Wilson, Scripture Stores: Live and Times

Eve has trouble in her future; Mary had trouble in her past. But our troubles are no trouble for Christ. With man these things may be impossible, but in Christ they are not only possible, but passed over, accomplished, in His own words, "Finished!"

Pride is a self-righteous product of forgetting yesterday's sins;

Shame is a self-condemning product of forgetting tomorrow's salvation.

Christ has saved us, He is saving us, and He will save us.

Our pasts are forgiven and our futures are secure — let us not forget lest we too fall by standing proudly or make a stand in a shame spiral.

day no. 16,512: cut down the proud

Isaiah 51:9

Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?

This is the way.

Always has been, always will be.

Awake, O warrior, and clothe yourself in strength. Come to the aid of the captive and set her free. Cut down the proud and slay the sly. Rise up and put the proud down.

This is the constant backdrop behind every story, the soundtrack playing behind every scene:

“Kill the Dragon; Get the Girl."

The cry of the captive has always been, "Save me!" and the cry of the knight has always been, "Here I am. Send me."

The dragon is always a threat to the people and the knight is always a threat to the dragon. For every firebreather, God raises up a firefighter. For every proud serpent, God provides a slayer.

Psalm 118:11

They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side; in the name of the LORD I cut them off!

The reign of the tyrants evaporates when the Son comes out.

day no. 16,415: therapy-speak is the orc-talk of the moderns

“Canaan was a land filled with giants. The invasion of Canaan was a war of giant-killing, and a type of the giant-killing Gospel. Giant-killing is a motif throughout Scripture… we all know the story of David and Goliath — but it must also be seen as part of a larger, ongoing war on giants. In the New Testament, Christ bound the strong man: what we find in the life and death of Jesus Christ is not an example of a godly giant fighting a puny devil. Rather, Christ became one of us, and, as a son of David, He bound and defeated the Goliath of that age. Christ takes all the strong man’s armor (his panoply) and divides his spoil. The Christian faith is a religion of world conquest. Are the giants who confront us big enough to qualify as giants? And have we taught our sons what they are supposed to do when they grow up? Part of fulfilling the Great Commission involves climbing the beanstalk.” — Douglas Wilson, Future Men

There is good reason for our long-standing literary tradition of giant-killing and dragon-slaying. These motifs are common in Christian writing because they are anchored in ancient, sacred Scripture. We were made to slay serpents and to cut giants down to size. God raises up Grendels as He raises up Beowulfs. He writes a dragon into the story, but never without a St. George to slay him.

“Christians are a race of dragon-fighters. Our sons are born to this. Someone ought to tell them.” — Douglas Wilson, Future Men

We need to tell our children these stories, not because we need them to believe in dragons and giants, but because we need them to believe in dragon-slayers and giant-killers.

"Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.” ― G.K. Chesterton, Tremendous Trifles

Without the legends, we are left with just the dragons. We know the dragon from birth from within and without, but we have no hope of seeing either dethroned. Unless, we’re told the stories. Tyranny is understood intuitively; liberty is only learned through story-telling.

“Dragon-lore is truer than therapy-speak.” — Douglas Wilson, Future Men

Fairy tales have a firmer grasp on reality than Freud. If we don't read the right kind of stories, we will lose our place and page. We won't find truth within, but we can find it up a beanstalk. Lounging on a couch has nothing on Logres and if you only have an hour, spend your time with the Pendragon instead of with positive thinking. Therapy-speak is merely the orc-talk of the moderns.

day no. 16,315: a little less fetched

In talking with my kids the other day, I made the joke that some tall tales could stand to be a little be shorter. The idea was that the tale is not made taller simply by adding chapters to it. Its tallness isn't best expressed in length, but in depth. A tall tale that was shorter in the sense of less fantastic, wouldn't be a tall tale at all; it would simply be an off-the-rack story. Tall tales need to search for special shops in order to find their clothing. A story that is far fetched can stand to be a a little less fetched at times. All that to say, too much fetch does not a better story maketh.

"Stop trying to make 'fetch' happen." - Mean Girls

Oh, it's happening. Maybe a little less fetch than what some may have wanted, but more than enough to get things off the ground.

day no. 16,302: out of Egypt one way or another

"God's saints left Egypt in different ways. Joseph came a slave and died a prince. Moses grew up as a prince and left with all the slaves. Joseph left after he died, when his bones were moved. Moses left before he died." — Douglas Wilson, Empires of Dirt

Joseph and Moses were both rightly related to the State even though they related to it very differently. Joseph served a State that had enslaved him and Moses left a State that had adopted him. God brought Joseph to Egypt and was with him while he was there. God led Moses out of Egypt and was with him in his exodus. Joseph acquired Egyptian gold and nobility while Moses abandoned the riches and titles of Egypt. Both Joseph and Moses were men of God and both lived in Egypt, but neither were buried there. Joseph's bones were brought back home and Moses was buried only God knows where in the wilderness. Joseph's affluence provided for other's poverty while Moses' poverty provided others with affluence. Joseph put on Egyptian clothes and Moses took his off. God promoted Joseph to an official place of power and God employed Moses to show off His power. God used Joseph's influence to save Israel and God used Moses' witness to save Israel. Two men, one God, two approaches, one State, one outcome.

May God grant us wisdom to overthrow Pharaohs as well, whether by winning them over or by winning against them in battle. May God deliver us as well, whether by blessings or by curses. May God always free Israel from Egypt. Amen.

day no. 16,070: story problems

"Theology is thought, whether we agree with it or not. Mythology was never thought, and nobody could really agree with it or disagree with it."  -- G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man

Plot and thought are two different things. A plot can be a thought and a thought can be the plot, but they need not be the same. They are related and often appear together, but the power of plot and the power of thought are two different strengths. Truth is beautiful and beauty is true, but they are not the same thing; but neither can they be separated. 

In a math class, you often are given story problems. Now, the problem with story problems is that they are insufferably bad stories. They make a way for you to add 4 and 2, but they don't make a way for you to enjoy addition. They ruin the power of plot and the efficiency of thought. 

A good story, however, always has problems. So, the problems are not the problem. Everything has problems. So much so, in fact, that the problem with a lack of problems, is a dull story. A good story, though, makes sure that everything adds up in an admirable way. It produces an increased appreciation of fiction and fractions. The marriage of truth and beauty make for a good story.

day no. 15,991: a Person and a Story

"The only two things that can satisfy the soul are a person and a story; and even a story must be about a person." -- G.K. Chesterton, The Priest of Spring

Stories are personal. There are no abstract, disinterested stories. They are about, by, and for people. Stories about other things are anthropomorphisms; because if they aren't, they aren't stories; they're merely instruction manuals or textbooks.

“I had always felt life first as a story: and if there is a story there is a story-teller” ― G.K. Chesterton

Stories connect people because stories are made in the image of God. God is a Story-teller and begins His story by speaking words. Those words became flesh called sun and moon and dolphin and rock. That Word would one day take on human flesh in order to dwell inside His own story. The Author descended to become a character in order to reconcile them to the Author and Perfector of their faith.

Hebrews 12:2

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith

Story always wins.

day no. 15,678: we die daily

"Throughout Scripture, sleeping is a type and image of death (e.g., 1 Cor. 11:30; 15:51), and it follows from this that waking up in the morning is an image of the resurrection. God knows that we are slow to grasp this lesson of death and resurrection, this daily reminder of His ultimate intention for us, and so He goes over the lesson again and again.

...Every day is a miniature life. Every day follows a pattern, and has a story arc, and if you live faithfully in the course of each day, you will be learning the very best way to go to sleep. For someone who works as he ought to, going to sleep is one of the most glorious experiences God gives to us. This should teach us about the death of God’s saints, and why God considers a faithful death precious. But this only works if the day is fruitful, and not squandered or frittered away in laziness and sin. And waking in the morning with the hope of a full day before us is even better than going to sleep was. But of course, this daily training program is only possible through Jesus Christ. He helps us form each daily letter on the page so that by the end of our lives, we will have written the larger story He has for us." - Douglas Wilson, Bone of My Bones

Every day is an entire life lived in microcosm. Our lives are made up of our days and our days are like an entire life lived. We wake up as though born as the light erupts on the horizon, we live as though alive as the light marches across the sky and we lay ourselves down as the light descends and the darkness again covers the landscape. We wake in Christian gratitude for being born again yet another day. We live in Christian faith for the day we've been given. We lay down in Christian hope of the resurrection and entrusting our day’s work to His forgiveness for our shortcomings and to His righteousness as our blanket.

Ephesians 5:14
Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

We die daily. But we also rise daily to new mercy and a reminder that He has conquered the grave. We have this daily reminder of His birth, life, death and resurrection on our behalf on display in our days. May we by grace and in faith appreciate this daily lesson and have our hearts full of "Thank You" as we live lives full of faithfulness and lay them down nightly entrusting our souls to the God of resurrection hope and glory, world without end... and amen!

day no. 15,648: morality is a daring conspiracy

A friend of mine asked me to read over Chesterton's A Defense of Detective Stories paying particular attention to the final paragraph. A friend of his had sent him a snippet from this implying that Chesterton was opposed to morality and that social justice could cure temptation to sin.

"There is, however, another good work that is done by detective stories. While it is the constant tendency of the Old Adam to rebel against so universal and automatic a thing as civilization, to preach departure and rebellion, the romance of police activity keeps in some sense before the mind the fact that civilization itself is the most sensational of departures and the most romantic of rebellions. By dealing with the unsleeping sentinels who guard the outposts of society, it tends to remind us that we live in an armed camp, making war with a chaotic world, and that the criminals, the children of chaos, are nothing but the traitors within our gates. When the detective in a police romance stands alone, and somewhat fatuously fearless amid the knives and fists of a thieves’ kitchen, it does certainly serve to make us remember that it is the agent of social justice who is the original and poetic figure; while the burglars and footpads are merely placid old cosmic conservatives, happy in the immemorial respectability of apes and wolves. The romance of the police force is thus the whole romance of man. It is based on the fact that morality is the most dark and daring of conspiracies. It reminds us that the whole noiseless and unnoticeable police management by which we are ruled and protected is only a successful knight-errantry.
 -- G.K. Chesterton, A Defence of Detective Stories

Here was my response:

I think Chesterton is saying the opposite of what your friend wants him to be saying in his "defense of detective stories" essay. From what I can tell, and taking into account what I've read in Chesterton's other writings, I believe he is turning things on their heads (in typical Chesteronian fashion) to make a larger point. He is employing the terms in the opposite way we're accustomed to them being used. In other words, he's saying that we think of the world as "moral" and the outlaws as "immoral," so criminals are the "abnormal" and police forces the enforcers of "normal." But he's saying the world since the Fall of Adam is in actuality predicated on sin and immorality as "normal." Thus, criminals are the "norm." No sin has overtaken them which is not common to all men (1 Cor 10:13), and so the police officer is the "rebel," the "outlier," the one imposing this foreign thing called order and reason and morality. He is picturing the detective as the renegade because morality is abnormal in our world where sin and darkness are the norm. Morality is a conspiracy to overtake the immoral ruling elite. Law and order are a plot to assassinate the presiding darkness which casts itself in certain lights as the enlightened.

In other words, morality (in this scenario the detective/police) is the conspiracy against the immoral ruling elites. We experience the detective story confused and in the dark; we sit back in awe of the criminal who pulled it off, but the detective knows something we don't and proves to be wiser than either the criminal's or our own ideas of reality.

day no. 15,549 continued... bears, bears, they got no cares

Tonight, we watched the first episode of Leave it to Beaver, season 2 wherein Beaver was assigned to write a poem. Ward ended up writing the poem for him about a bear. The whole thing inspired me to render my own bear-inspired rhyme.

And it goes a lil sumptin' like this... hit it:

Some bears are brown 
While others are black 
None live in towns
Unless they be whack

Some bears eat cherries
While others eat fishes
All bears are hairy
But none uses dishes 

day no. 15,432: a quest is merely a question incarnate

"A quest is a lived question." -- Peter Kreeft, Three Philosophies of Life

A genuine question seeks resolution. It produces its own source of energy and excitement and resolve and perseverance. A quest is merely a question incarnate. Every quest is an attempt to answer a great question. Can evil be defeated? Can a righteous life really satisfy? These are questions that are lived out in the form of a quest if taken seriously. The long, dangerous, narrow road of this quest is filled with adventure and ends in the answer of God's, "Yes," and "Amen" in the Person of Jesus.

God prompts the question, God empowers the quest and God is the resolution and answer.

day no. 15,418: angel horses and good dragons

2 Kings 6:17
Then Elisha prayed and said, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

In his talk, "The Word is Rated 'R'," N.D. Wilson drew my attention to the verse above.



There are angels horses. That's a thing. It's right there. Read for yourself. What did Elisha pray his friend would see? A heavenly host composed of angels, horses and flaming chariots. And not just one or two, but enough to fill a mountain. And those are just the ones Elisha saw at this moment. There could be more.

So remind your children, especially your daughters, that there are angel horses awaiting those who live by faith.

Also, for every bad dragon, there are two good ones.

Revelation 12:3-4
And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth

Again, it's right there. How many angels fell and followed Satan, 1 out of 3. That leaves 2 out of 3 loyal to the Lord. If the fallen angels are dragons, how dangerous are those that remain close to God where true power and authority actually generate? 

So, tell your sons not to fear dragons, for behind every nasty dragon stands two righteous ones employing their fire for purity and their teeth for justice. 

day no. 15,345: division is not the arch enemy of multiplication

"So when our first parents disobeyed Him at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they did not introduce division into the world. What they introduced was a fragmented, inharmonious division, which is what sin always does. The division between one note and a completely different note is what makes harmony possible—but it is also what makes a discordant lack of harmony possible. We sometimes think that our first parents’ sin brought differences into the world, but what it actually did is take a world already full of glorious differences, and make them all jar and clatter against each other. The differences in themselves were good and necessary." -- Douglas Wilson, Bone of My Bones

God likes distinctions.He said so, on record, in the beginning. The differences He deliberately created were good, very good in fact. So when we speak of sin, we cannot speak of it as the agent of division. Sin takes advantage of those divisions by exaggerating them beyond their created arrangement by either bringing them too close to each other or too far away. The widening or narrowing of the divine distinctions create disharmony, just like complementary notes shifting too far away from or toward their proper stations produce discord. 

Division in the not archenemy of multiplication.

God divided the world and infused creation with distinctions not to parcel it out into tiny, disconnected, disinterested factions, but to make it possible for harmonious fruitfulness and multiplication.

day no. 15,344: the greatest story ever told

"On the other end of their wilderness wandering, they had fashioned the ark of the covenant by this time, and so that is how the presence of God was manifested at that crossing, causing the waters of the Jordan to stop flowing (Josh. 3:8) And the next time the mercy seat came down to the Jordan it was to be baptized by John (Matt. 3:13). And when He came down to this same river, the waters didn’t part—but the heavens did (Luke 3:21-22)" 
-- Douglas Wilson, Psalm 114: The Song of the Exodus

I love the story of the Bible. The mercy seat crossed over Jordan and parted the waters as God led His people into the promised land. Many years later, the Mercy Seat made flesh made His way to the Jordan and was submerged under its waters that the Heavens may part and provide safe passage for God's people into His very presence.