Bunker Blog: Notes from Underground

4.12.2020 Somewhere in Michigan, USA

The virus has continued to spread. 

I am underground, waiting for whatever comes next.

It has been 10 days since my last human contact. 

Who knows what is happening above me, in the world. 


 Actually, I am underground. I am in my basement office, bored. I actually haven't seen any friends, in person, in over a week. It's called isolation and we are using isolation to combat a deadly virus. I am writing this on Easter Sunday and the United States is still grappling with an outbreak of COVID-19. This is life in quarantine.

But, it is actually not so bad! I've got my family. We go for hikes, play board games, watch movies. You know what? It is actually quite nice! As strange as it is to say, I have sort of enjoyed this whole experience so far.

I am one of the lucky ones.

 People in health care are struggling to keep up with an outbreak that preys on the lungs and kills indiscriminately. They are forced to give help to people without the resources they need and they are fearful about their capabilities. That fear is real.

First responders all over the world go to emergencies, fearful of what horrors they may breathing while rendering aid. That fear is real.

 People are frightened all over this planet, praying for the pandemic to end, hoping that they and their loved ones will survive. That fear is real.

There are a lot of people who are scared of something all together different: the Apocalypse. Is that fear real? Is there reason to believe that this current crisis will bring the world, as we know it, to a halt?

While I'm quarantined for the next few weeks, I will be trying to sketch out some of the ideas behind this belief. Mostly, I will be focusing on Christian ideas of End Times, but we will also touch on futurology and some secular beliefs about the fate of our species.

I think that we will find that there is something within our human condition that is weirdly drawn to doomsday scenarios. When that draw is combined with religious fervor and spiritual schematics, it can be an intoxicating poison.

I should say that there are genuine existential threats to the world. There are wrongs that we should be actively trying to right. There are messes of our own creation that we need to clean up. There are problems in this world that can end it.

The question is, how can we think about these things with sober clarity, instead of paranoid hysteria? I think the best answer is to get our history straight, which I will be trying to do, with your help.

So, where is this world headed? What do people believe and project about the End of the World?

I hope you can spare some of your isolation time to explore this topic with me.

BUNKER BLOG 1 Reasonable

BUNKER BLOG 2 - Unreasonable

BUNKER BLOG 3  - Religious

Resurrection Day

On this Easter Sunday, I am reading portions of JR Daniel Kirk's wonderful and exhaustive A Man Attested by God. The book is a scholarly argument for the emphasis put on the humanity of Jesus by the writers of the Synoptic gospels.

Resurrection is usually a celebration of the divinity of Jesus: The conquering god, resplendent in power, tramples death itself. Messiah Jesus is revealed to the world as Almighty God. Divinity is proven. Alleluia! 

That is not the story of Scripture. The story of Resurrection, is a story about the Son of Man. It is the story of a man who appeared so divine that Mary Magdelene mistook him for a gardener! He said "Hi" to the women that came to perform burial and told them to stop grabbing his feet.

The resurrected Jesus walked with a few disciples on the Road to Emmaus. They ticked him off so much that he insulted them and lectured them. He was hungry enough to be talked into a meal. They didn't even realize that it was him until he blessed the meal and broke the bread. When he appeared to them later in Luke 24, he challenged them to touch him. He ordered them to see his flesh and blood, his hands and feet.

He was also still hungry. He ate some fish.

Here was a celebration of Immanuel - God is with us. He is with us so much that he is one of us. God had become so human that he died. God had become so human that even in conquering death, he had the dirty hands of a gardener and the famished stomach of a weary traveler. 

Like much of the Gospels, the Resurrection story presents no insecurity about Christ's divinity. It goes out of its way to be a human story. A wild and crazy story, but still a human story. In this human story we can find ourselves. Its a story about injustice and corruption. It is a story about tragedy and death. It is a story about the grief of those who loved someone who has died. It is a story about reunification. It is a story about confusion and shame when a tomb is found empty.

There is plenty of theologizing occurring on this Resurrection Day. But today, I'm reading the story as it is and letting it wash over me. I am not looking for truth. I am looking for myself.

We do not need to engage in a free-ranging investigation to seek out and construct who and what God truly is, and who and what man truly is, but only to read the truth about both where it resides, namely, in the fullness of their togetherness, their covenant which proclaims itself in Jesus Christ.

- Karl Barth

credit: https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/

Jeremiah 5.1 Ideological Annexation

Jeremiah's Temple Sermon

Chapters 7 and 8 bring us Jeremiah's Temple Sermon. He stands in the gates of the temple and commits treason.

The monarchy had managed to co opt the theology of the Temple. The predominant teaching at that time was that the great Covenant was unconditional. God would love the people of Judah, no matter what. It did not matter what they did. It did not matter how unfaithful the people were. God was unchanging in his dedication to them.

Does this sound familiar? Of course it does. Such preaching is common today: it does not matter what you do, God loves you.

On its face, there is really no problem with this theology, this teaching. Doesn't it portray a loving, dedicated deity? Yes, but love and dedication should never be a precursor to predatory behavior or self destruction - Jeremiah accuses the people of both.

Love and Peace? Great! But beware the one gathering crowds with these words while holding a gun. 

Jeremiah 4.3 Think About It

When the people get duped, it is not only the fault of their leaders. It is also the fault iof the people.

Communication is a reciprocal responsibility. If I tell you something, it is important that I speak clearly and present information responsibly. However, it is also the hearers responsibilty to understand and responsibly evaluate.

This is especially true of propoganda. Everyday, we are inundated with messages from leaders - political leaders, social leaders, and religious leaders. We need to understand what they are communicating both explicitly and implicitly. It is our responsibility to think critically in evaluating what they are saying or trying to say.

The people of Judah failed at this. Sure, the political leaders failed to communicate the correct information. Their society's leaders had disengaged the nation from its ethical moorings. And the religious leaders completely blew it in. But the people - the hearers - were in part responsible to evaluate the messages they were recieving.

Jeremiah is clear. There are no innocents. They chose not to hear the message of the prophets of God, and instead closed their ears. However, when the false prophets preached, they were willing listeners.

Jeremiah indicts everybody - "from the least to the greatest." Children and parents, young and old, leaders and listeners, everybody is culpable. Jeremiah accuses them all of buying into what Brueggemann calls an unprincipled economic system - the economics of greed.

Have I ever considered myself a culpable participant in my society's economics? If I am part of a society's indictment, am I also a part of the judgement? The citizens of Judah certainly were.   

Jeremiah 4.2 Mutiny

The rain made things colder and even more miserable than they already were. It fell from the gray sky into the brown of the mud and soup that the Lieutenant's map said was a road. The rain was getting the Lieutenant's map wetter and less legible, but he stared at it nonetheless. No matter, his hands were shaking so much he couldn't have read a perfectly dry map.

We looked at the trembling young lieutenant. Then, we looked at eachother. His hands weren't shaking from the cold.

As we stood at the fork in the mud, voices could be heard amidst the wind and the rain. The enemy was somewhere out there in the forest.

"We can't stay here, Lieutenant" I ventured.

Sarge glared at me and growled, "Nobody asked your opinion."

The lieutenant started to put away his map. "We'll k-k-keep heading south."

I couldn't believe it. We had been cut off for over three days. First, we lost touch with the rest of the battalion and then we got completely lost. Then foolowed a pathetic repetition of errors. Every place we bumbled into, there were enemies. Shooting ensued, one or two men would be left behind as we ran for our lives. Then, we would do it all over again.

"Before we head off," the Lieutenant ordered, "let's give the radio a shot."

"The radio doesn't work, sir" Sarge offered.

"Well," the lieutenant responded, "maybe we are in range now." 

"Sir, the radio was plugged full of holes in that last scrap we got into. It's useless."

The lieutenant was completely overmatched. It was his first command and he had bungled every part of it. Men were dead or captured because of decisions that he had made. Only half of us were left.

"Sir," I pleaded, "if we keep heading south, we're screwed for sure. There's a whole enemy division out there. We've seen them and heard them."

"We are heading south," the Lieutenant chortled. "I realized we got a little lost, but by now the major and the rest of the battalion must have made it to the rendezvous point."

"Are you crazy?" I blurted out. "Do you really think the major wants you to march through an entire enemy division? What the hell is the point? You're going to get us all killed!"

"That's enough!" Sarge suddenly roared. He stepped between me and the lieutenant. "You will do as you are told. Get your ass moving! That goes for the rest of you. Move out!"

I stood firm. I was tired of marching in the exact wrong direction. I had enough of following a leader who was clueless. I had been pleading for days that we had strayed too far west. We needed to head east. He was leading us in the wrong direction and now was the time to make a stand against this maddening waste.

Sarge moved menacingly toward me. I looked to my squad mates. They looked back at me, uncertain. They all knew I was right. This bumbling idiot was going to lead us right to our graves.

"C'mon, guys. We're heading the wrong way! This - "

I didn't even see Sarge swing. One moment I was on my feet, then I was on the ground with a bleeding lip. Sarge threw in a kick to the ribs, for good measure.

I lay on the ground for few moments. After a while I lifted my head. My vision was momentarily blurred. When it cleared, I saw the men had turned their backs to me and were walking in line. They were headed south. Mine was a mutiny of one.

I rolled over on to my back and lay in the mud for a while. I touched my busted lip and wiped the rain off my face.

Slowly, I got my legs back under me. I picked up my rifle and my pack. The company was out of sight by this time, somewhere south in the darkening forest. I hurried to catch them. I rounded a bend, and saw them no more than 100 yds ahead just a  hidden machine gun nest opened up. Half the men fell in seconds, the rest dove for cover. The woods exploded as into motion as several hundred enemy soldiers poured out to complete the ambush.

My first extinct was to run toward the massacre, but then I stopped. There was nothing I could do. They were all dead or dying.

Horror paralyzed me. They were fools following a fool, but they were still countrymen and friends. And now they were gone. Even as I saw enemy soldiers pointing and gesturing toward me, I stood motionless. The enemy soldiers ran toward me, screaming. Even I understood their language, I wouldn't comprehended anything. My ears were filled with a strange ringing. It drown everything else out.

I dumbly looked down at the rifle in my right hand. I dropped it to the mud below. It was useless. It was all useless.   

Jeremiah 4.1 Stay Calm, Ignore the Prophet

They had preached "peace, peace" when there was no peace. They had said "it could never happen here," and when it did happen, the kings, the priests and even the prophets were stunned.

Jeremiah wasn't.

Jeremiah may have been taken aback, horrified, and even saddened by the sight of destruction, but it was no surprise. He had seen it coming, and he had warned everybody that would listen, and he warned those who wouldn't listen. That very fact had made him an outcast, an exile within his own land.

He sounded crazy, no doubt. The people had been told by everyone else that there was no danger, no threat. The kings had said it. The priests had said it. Even other prophets were celebrating peace and safety.

Usually, if you're the only person who sees something, you're crazy.

Have you ever felt like the crazy person? Nobody else sees the problem. Nobody else sees the issue. You stand up and tell the people to open their eyes. "Shhh! Sit down, be quiet." You go to the leadership and warn them of the dangers, you show them where they had taken the wrong path. They smile and nod and thank you and surreptitiously roll their eyes.

The irony is, of course, that Jeremiah was an island of sanity in an ocean of madness. Leadership was exactly what those in charge should not have been given. They had no idea where they had been, where they were, or what lay on the path ahead.

Have you ever been, Jeremiah? The lone mope at a party? Have you ever sat in worship or fellowship and thought, "What the hell are we doing here?"

One of the lessons in Jeremiah is that your concerns, feelings, paranoias, shames, fears, frustrations, visions, and prophecies are exactly what are needed. The reason that everyone else seems delusional is because they have in fact deluded themselves.

One of the feelings you may have received  from your tradition is "Stay calm, ignore the muttering prophet." Then, everybody turns and looks at you, the supposed lunatic rabble-rouser. Then, is your chance. Now is your chance! Barring a psychotic break, you have a chance to lend voice to the voiceless, to speak the essential dissent. That is the very moment that you should climb Golgotha and give your community a beautiful gift: your voice - your beautiful (probably crazy) unique voice.

Those who do, be blessed and blessed.

Jeremiah 3.3 Political Intermission

This is probably something that I should have covered in introduction, but I am bogged down by it now.

Politics.

I'm stumped about how to interpret and apply Jeremiah's politics. Jeremiah's prophecy is full of practical politics. Should today's readers practice such spiritual realpolitik?

The big issue at the time was with whom Judah should ally itself. The dominant powers were Egypt to the south and Assyria/Babylon to the east. At the beginning of Jeremiah's time, Assyria was a waning regional power and was eventually overtaken by Nebuchadnezzar-era Babylon.

Jeremiah pulls no punches. He pointed east. He pleads with Judah's leaders to forget about Egypt and ally with Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar is portrayed as an instrument of God's power and judgement.

Parenthetically: I am aware this political element of Jeremiah's prophecy may be a classic example of playing the results. Later redactors may have used the eventual Babylonian domination as a means of saying "see, you picked the wrong horse." So, what? It is all too meta for our mediations herein. The text does not give the reader the leeway to bring history into play, though it is important to remember the overwhelming influence of history on the bearers (and editors) of the text.

Theologists, preachers, and prophets don't seem to pick sides these days. There is a very wise effort to NOT pick a side - to NOT become a lackey for some political person or position. But, Jeremiah did. It is a significant element of his preaching.

To Jeremiah, God, though transcendent, is also imminently involved in the affairs of the world. HE appoints kings and emperors and he clearly chooses sides in political divides.

Several complications have probably led to my confusion. These complications are rooted in the significant differences between a modern reader like myself, and an ancient hearer like those who first heard and retold the prophecy.

1. LAND - geopolitics involved the land of Promise. LAND = PROMISE The very dirt of the nation was a theological issue. GOd's promise was the land. So, marauding invaders, or a land laid bare and emptied meant something theologically. Either God had broken his promise or the people had. Any divine revelation would have to explain that.

2. SOCIOLOGY - modern (especially Western) readers see firm divisions between the theological, political, and religious. No such divisions existed for the ancients. We may recoil from such mixing of faith and politics, but the ancients knew nothing of it. Side note: I know many Christians who see the grace of God every time they are able to locate a lost set of keys, so maybe the theological/political divide is not so rigid.

3. REALPOLITIK - clearly part of Jeremiah's motivation was the welfare of the people. Part of the judgement stemmed from the fact that the Judean kings failed to care for their subjects amidst all their scheming and plotting. Bruggemann pointed this application out:

if we carry the Jeremiah oracle toward our common civic life, the mandate that may arise from God is an invitation to a deep breath and a fresh generosity, and a move beyond petty and deep resentment toward embrace of the other.

4. EXILE - This, perhaps, is most significant. Jeremiah (and later redactors) is in part concerned with what to do without typical societal institutions. In exile, all that was is no longer. The priest class is barely recognizable, and there is no temple anyway. The monarchy is gone. The faith of the nation looks forward to a new restoration, but what to do in the meantime? The word of God would have to explain what had occurred as well as revealing a path forward that would maintain the Covenant.

Certainly, political preaching is a dangerous path in our day and age. Political preachers tend to be dismissed as partisans and, thus, lose their authoritative voice. If you sound just like the political hacks on TV, why would I care what you have to say about more transcendent matters?

Yet, I also think about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the other great civil rights reformers. Most were people of faith. Most were Christians, but there were Jewish reformers and Muslim as well. For most of the civil rights movement, their faith prompted political action. They clearly chose a side. History has also proven that they chose God's side.

Stepping into the political arena is different now than it was for Jeremiah, but there is still a place for it. For Jeremiah, it was part of the job. For current preachers, it is not like that, and a political stance is likely a difficult stance. A basic rule remains the same, however:

Make damned sure you're right.