The Clouds by Aristophanes

Strepsiades is an older man from a rural background who “married up” to a woman with higher class notions.  Together they had a son (Pheidippides) who is more interested in horses and racing than in working the farm.  Strepsiades has gotten himself into significant debt which he blames on his son’s spending habits.  He would like his son to be gainfully employed, but it doesn’t appear that is going to happen.  So, instead of his son going to school with Socrates, he goes himself.  His intent is to learn how to use speech to talk his way out of his legitimate debts.  He tells Socrates “a galloping consumption seized my money.  Come now; do let me learn the unjust Logic that can shirk debts.”

Socrates is presented as a double-talking charlatan.   Through the use of twisted logic and changing the subject, he convinces Strepsiades of the error of a number of beliefs commonly held.  Among these is the notion that there are gods.  Specifically, he says that Zeus doesn’t exist, and that it is actually the Clouds which control man’s destiny.  When Strepsiades inquires as to how the clouds cause thunder, Socrates’ answer is to liken it to the rumblings of ones stomach after consuming something that doesn’t agree with him.  He makes reference to flatulence as the explanation for multiple things.  (i.e. he uses bathroom humor)

Socrates eventually pronounces Strepsiades too stupid to learn, and Strepsiades convinces his son to enter the school.  At this point, “Right Logic” and “Wrong Logic” enter in to a debate in front of Pheidippides.  Right Logic advocates the “old ways” of truth and justice and manly behavior.  Wrong Logic pokes fun at this and advocates dishonesty and promiscuity.  Wrong Logic ends up winning the argument and so Pheidippides accepts it.

The problem with this is that it backfires on Strepsiades.  Pheidippides starts beating him because Wrong Logic once employed makes it perfectly acceptable for a son to beat his father and his mother. 

Strepsiades then sets the house of Socrates on fire.  Socrates yells that he is suffocating.  Strepsiades again claims to believe in the gods.  The Clouds, for their part, are pleased with the outcome saying, “We find a man on evil thoughts intent, and guide him along to shame and wrong, then leave him to repent.”

I wonder how his contemporaries reacted to Aristophanes’ plays.  I suspect they found them wickedly funny, although from my perspective he makes quite a bit of humor from bodily functions.

                e.g.  Strepsiades trying to convince Pheidippides how carefully he tended him as a child:  “And you could hardly say “cacca!” when through the door I flew and held you out a full arms’ length, your little needs to do.”

The play drips with sarcasm and irony, and Aristophanes clearly didn’t think much of philosophers in general and Socrates in particular.

Hezekiah's Plea

I have been reading the books of I and II Kings recently.  There are many fascinating stories of these ancient rulers of Israel and Judah.  None of the kings of Israel between Solomon and the time of Israel going into captivity in Assyria are recorded as being wholehearted followers of God and obedient to His commands.  Judah, however, did have several kings who attempted to live righteously and destroyed idols and the places in which they were worshipped.  Among the “good guys” was Hezekiah.

Hezekiah reigned for almost thirty years beginning when he was twenty-five.  Although his father Ahaz had not followed God, Hezekiah did.  “There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.  He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses.” (II Kings 18:5-6).  God consistently blessed him, including an occasion when Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, besieged Jerusalem with over 185,000 soldiers.  Hezekiah pleaded for God’s protection and was delivered when God sent an angel at night and put 185,000 Assyrian soldiers to death.  Sennacherib broke camp and went back to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria.  There he was assassinated by two of his sons.

Shortly after this, Hezekiah became deathly ill.  He apparently had a boil and the infection was spreading.  We sometimes forget that antibiotics to fight such things were not even discovered until the 1920s.  For the millennia preceding our time, such infections were often a death sentence.  Hezekiah inquired of the prophet Isaiah as to whether he would live or die.  The Lord gave Isaiah the message that Hezekiah should put his affairs in order, because he would not recover.  Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and wept bitterly.  He pleaded for his life, asking the Lord to remember that he had been faithful and wholeheartedly devote to God.

Isaiah had not yet left the palace when God told him to go back and give Hezekiah the word that He would not die and that God would give him 15 more years.

Now comes the part that fascinates me.  When Hezekiah did die after those 15 years, it was his 12 year old son Manasseh who became king.  That means that Manasseh was born in the time period God granted Hezekiah, because he begged for additional life.  Manasseh is recorded as one of the most wicked kings of Judah.   The places of idol worship which had been destroyed by Hezekiah were rebuilt at Manasseh’s direction.  He worshipped multiple false gods.  He even sacrificed his own son to Baal.   “Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end…” (II Kings 21:16)

Through His prophets, God pronounced severe judgment on Judah, because of the sin of Manasseh and the fact that the people followed him in this sin.  “I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle….I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.” (II Kings 21:1213)   Eventually, this did happen as the people of Judah went into captivity in Babylon.

I can’t help but wonder how the situation would have played out if Hezekiah had died when first predicted and Manasseh had never been born.  I don’t understand how God’s sovereignty and our prayers combine together to bring about God’s purposes in human history.  But, this story does give me pause.  If I am ever given the diagnosis that I am terminally ill, I’m thinking I won’t plead for my life.  I’m hoping I won’t weep bitterly and try to remind God of all the “good” I’ve done.  The most perfect person who ever lived said, “…not my will, but yours be done.” (Luke 22:42)

That Whole Bathroom Thing

The issue of who can use which bathroom has created a firestorm of emotional commentary, and what appears to me to be crazy accusations.

On the one hand, I am extremely uncomfortable with the idea of people actually making physical changes in their bodies to conform to the gender they believe themselves to be in their minds.  In some of these cases, the gender confusion is probably the result of outside influences.  In others, there is apparently innate and genuine confusion.  I don’t believe that allowing a person to alter their body before they are a mature adult is wise.  Emerging sexuality sometimes comes with confusion.  This is probably more common today with all of the sexual influences and pressures our society imposes.

I believe that homosexual activity is morally wrong.  I do believe the Bible when it lists this among sins.  However, there is no reason to believe that this is the greatest sin.  There is no reason to believe that homosexual orientation is sinful, if it does not include homosexual conduct.  Heterosexual conduct outside of marriage is equally a sin, if one believes the Bible.

So, we have here a very messy and complex issue.  A person who is biologically female may be attracted to other females.  At the same time, she may believe herself to be either male or female.  A person who is biologically male may be attracted to other males.  He may believe himself to be either male or female.  A person may be attracted to the opposite of their biological gender and involved in a heterosexual relationship that is sinful for a variety of reasons.

None of this has anything to do with use of the bathroom!  I have seen women go into the men’s room, because the line was shorter.  They may get funny looks, but if they are desperate, they ignore them.

I personally know someone who is biologically female, but very masculine in her mannerisms and in the way she dresses.  She has had the experience of asking for a public restroom key and has been handed the key to the men’s room.  This made her very uncomfortable.  On the other hand, she has told me that she is uncomfortable going into a women’s shower room.

All of this inward confusion, does NOT make a person a sexual predator.  They may be confused, but they are not necessarily dangerous.  How a person dresses or how they “identify” is not the problem.  There are, and always have been, perverted people in this world, who want to force themselves sexually on vulnerable individuals.  It has always been a possibility that a man would dress up like a woman, slip into the ladies’ rest room and lurk about looking for a child or other person weaker than himself.  This did not begin with the new bathroom rules.

A parent should not allow a child of either gender to go into a public restroom alone.  When we were out in public as a family, I always went into the restroom with our young daughters, and my husband always accompanied our son.  On the occasions when I traveled alone with our son, I would instruct him before he went in the restroom.  I would say that I was going to be right outside the restroom door, and that if anyone bothered him, I would not hesitate to come in.  I would say to him, “I am a nurse and have seen pretty much everything.  I have had to go into men’s rooms before to assist male patients.  I am NOT afraid to come in there.”  Then I would stand right outside the door and make eye contact with men entering, so that they knew I was paying attention.  Of course, now there are many places with family restrooms which avoids this problem.  But in situations where they are not available, parents need to accept this responsibility.  It may interrupt your meal or your pleasant conversation with someone, but your child’s safety is more important.

We live in a sin-sick society.  We may want to believe that people who are gender confused are somehow “bad” or worse than we are, but the truth is that we are ALL sinners in need of a Savior who is also a Healer.  Every person is precious in His sight and needs to be treated with compassion.  Put yourself in the shoes of the gender confused person who probably doesn’t really feel comfortable in either restroom.  Relieving oneself should be a non-event, not a gut wrenching crisis.

Appointment in the Produce Department

I got myself ready for the day in pretty leisurely fashion this morning.  I spent quite a bit of time sitting and staring into space pondering my current existence and what may be coming in the next decade.  What am I supposed to be doing with the rest of my life?  Do we stay here or move to a senior community?  Do I keep trying to write?  How many rejections do I tolerate before I decide I have no potential as a writer?  Should I involve myself in something more in the community?  I don’t want to waste my remaining years on myself.  I would like to do something productive that is helpful to others.  I want to fit into God’s plan for me.

Part of this reverie occurred while I was in the tub.  As the water got cold, I came around to the fact that I had probably spent too much time in this lollygagging, and needed to commence with life.  I scolded myself a bit for wasting time.

Eventually I headed for the grocery store.  After passing the specials on the way in, I went to the produce department, and there, in a case of split second timing, I ran into the reason why my life was timed the way it was this morning.  A dear friend was coming toward me with tears in her eyes.  Had I spent more or less time in contemplation this morning, I would not have run into her, and she needed to talk.  She needed someone to listen, to understand, to encourage, to say “I love you, friend.”

I don’t know what I am supposed to do with the next decade….if I have a decade left.  But, I do know I was supposed to be in the produce department at exactly that time.

Last week, I ran into an acquaintance near the gas pumps at a convenience store.  He brought up the political scene and after we chatted for a few minutes, I told him that I was consoled by the fact that God is sovereign.  He said, “You still believe that!!!”  Yes, I do.  I believe that God allows people to come into positions of power and leadership, because it suits His purposes.  We may not understand, but we do not have God’s mind and don’t know His plan for bringing about His kingdom.  He will accomplish His purposes in the world…and He will get me to the “appointments” He has ordained for me. 

God sees the big picture and the smallest of details.