Daily Old Testament: Daniel 2 and My Own Book "Leadings: A Catholic's Journey Through Quakerism" (Part 2)

Daniel 2 – Two years into service for Nebuchadnezzar, the king has a terrifying dream and he “called in his magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers, and he demanded that they tell him what he had dreamed” (2:2). They assure him that if he tells them what he dreamed they will be able to interpret it, tell him what it means; but he thinks they should be able to tell him what it was he dreamed, not just its meaning.

He threatens the sages [wise men] to tell him what it is as proof that they will be able to interpret it. He also, somewhat mysteriously, sends men to go and kill Daniel and his friends; they must also have been thought to be among the “sages” serving Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel asks for a little more time to tell the king what he wants to know. He goes and tells his friends what has happened, and “he urged them to ask the God of heaven to show then his mercy by telling them the secret, so they would not be executed along with the other wise men of Babylon” (2:18).

That night “the secret [is] revealed to Daniel in a vision. Daniel is taken to the king, and he says, “While Your Majesty was sleeping, your dreamed about coming events. . . And it is not because I am wiser than anyone else that I know the secret of your dream, but because God wants you to understand what was in your heart.” (2:30).

The dream was of a “huge, shining statue of a man” (2:31). The head of the statue was made of gold, the chest and arms were of silver, the belly and thighs were of bronze and the legs were made of iron. The feet were a combination of iron and baked clay. He tells the king, “As you watched, a rock was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands. It struck the feet of iron and clay, smashing them to bits” (2:32-33). The whole statue was crushed and the wind blew it all away; but “the rock that knocked the statue down became a great mountain that covered the whole earth” (2:35).

Then Daniel interprets the dream as follows: “Your Majesty, you are the greatest of kings. The God of heaven has given you sovereignty, power, strength, and honor. He has made you the ruler over all the inhabited world and has put even the wild animals and birds under your control. You are the head of gold. But after your kingdom comes to an end, another kingdom, inferior to yours, will rise to take your place. After that kingdom has fallen, yet a third kingdom, represented by bronze, will rise to rule the world” (2:37-39). And so on down the statue. One kingdom after another will come and go. The kingdom represented by the feet, the mixture of iron and class, will be kingdoms that try to be strong through alliances and intermarriages. “But they will not hold together, just as iron and clay do not mix” (2:43).

“During the reigns of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed or conquered. It will crush all these kingdoms into nothingness, and it will stand forever” (2:44). That will be like the rock.

Nebuchadnezzar rewards Daniel for interpreting this dream with a “high position and gave him many valuable gifts. He made Daniel ruler over the whole province of Babylon, as well as chief over all his wise men” (2:48). He also appoints Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be “in charge of all the affairs of the province of Babylon, while Daniel remained in the king’s court” (2:49).

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From Leadings: A Catholic’s Journey Through Quakerism

Before moving on in this part of my story – ending up back in the Catholic Church - I feel I should recount a little about how I FIRST ended up being a Catholic back in 1964. For that I have to go back to earlier chapters of my book. I’ll do that for a while and then get back to my SECOND time back. This part is much more autobiographical than anything I’ve posted before, but my faith rests on the life I’ve lived.

My story is very ecumenical and has been from the beginning. My parents were very convinced atheists – Marxists, yes, even Communists for a while. But I did not grow up with them. They split up when I was two and I ended up in the care of my maternal grand-parents who were Catholics – my grandmother faithful but quiet about her faith, my grandfather long-lapsed. I wasn’t baptized as an infant or even when I started living with my grandparents. My parents would not have permitted that. 

We lived for a time with my mother’s brother and his family, and then moved for a little while to another place with just my grandparents. It wouldn’t be for long. We would soon be back with this same uncle. My mother had serious psychological problems all her early life, but when I was eight, just after the first move, two things happened that changed my life: my mother became deeply psychotic – paranoid schizophrenic and ended up hospitalized in a NY State psychiatric hospital and my grandmother died.  Another family member, an aunt – sister of my mother – stepped in and tried to be the woman caretaker in my life. Though raised a Catholic as my mother was, she had moved to the Episcopal Church several years earlier and got the OK from my father to have me baptized in that church so I could participate in that with them.

It wasn’t something I chose or thought about at all, but I remember walking down the aisle of the crowded church to the baptismal font near the front. I remember feeling the water on my head and hearing the priest asking what name I was to have. I attended church with my aunt and her family for a little while, but when I was nine, we moved back with the uncle we had previously been with, and I no longer had anyone to take me to church. This move was a turning point in my life, one that brought me close to God and really laid the foundation of everything that was to happen to me later on.

Daily Old Testament: Micah 6-7and My Own Article on "Continuing Revelation" (Part 5)

Micah 6 – The mountains and hills will be witness to Yahweh’s accusations against his people – the very foundations of the earth. God has given us so many blessings – how shall we return thanks? Sacrifices? Libations? First-born children? NO!! “What is good has been explained to you, man; this is what Yahweh asks of you: only this, to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God” (6:8).

But what we do instead is keep the standard of the world – we gain wealth by cheating and violence (6:11-12). Omri and Ahab set the bad example then, but there are similar models in our day.  Because they [and we] follow these bad examples the Lord says, “I will make an example of you, bringing you to complete ruin. You will be treated with contempt, mocked by all who see you” (6:16).

Micah 7 – The prophet is miserable. “The godly people have all disappeared; not one honest person is left on the earth” (7:2). Corruption is everywhere – “the man in power pronounces as he pleases” (7:3). But punishment will come from the North (the traditional invasion route). Micah says, “for my part, I look to Yahweh, my hope is in the God who will save me” (7:7).

“Do not gloat over me, my enemy: though I have fallen, I shall rise; though I live in darkness, Yahweh is my light" (7:8). This does not happen just once in history and it does not apply to only one people. We today also yearn for God’s care and his word to be felt palpably in our lives, both personal and corporate. “As in the days when you came out of Egypt grant us to see wonders” (7:13).

“What god can compare with you: taking fault away, pardoning crime, not cherishing anger for ever but delighting in showing mercy?” (7:18). Have pity on us. The great faithfulness of God is celebrated by Micah.  God, who gave promises to Abraham and Jacob, whose people so often fail him and run off after other gods; this God of ours will never fail to deal with the guilt and sin of those who seek Him out.  The promise always remains though only a small remnant of those under the promise respond.

From Leadings: A Catholic’s Journey Through Quakerism -

“Continuing Revelation”

Part 5

The idea of checking one’s own sense of who Christ was with the Christ of Scripture was an important one to me. I remember wondering how modern Friends could be so cavalier about not feeling they needed to be familiar with the Scriptures, when really the only way we could be introduced to Christ was through these early writings. That he was more than the writings, I could accept; but that he could be known without first being revealed to us through the men who had known him or known others who had known him—this I had trouble seeing. The Scriptures were not dispensable even if they were not completely exhaustive.

The other part of the Friends’ discernment approach that I found meaningful was the way they used the idea of the cross—that the life Christ offered us was on the other side of the cross. The way this worked was simple—you could test a leading by asking yourself if the leading would bring you satisfaction and a sense of fulfilled desire or restraint and self-denial. If the leading served your “worldly desires” or gratified you in some immediate way, it was probably not from God. I know this sounds crazy to modern ears, perhaps a little masochistic too. But it was not. Maybe it was oversimplified, but the idea of it was that if something you felt called to do simply served you, your wishes, or your will, it probably was something rooted in your own will. And what you strove to come into as a Friend was to stand in God’s will and come into a life that stood in his will. The testimony of Friends was that this life would ultimately be much richer and much better than any life you could conceive of in your own power.

Another important principle of discernment among Friends was the principle of testing individual leadings against the corporate judgment of the gathered Meeting. This was the whole purpose of what later came to be called the Meeting for Business. Here “clearness” could be sought by individuals who felt burdened with some “leading” or “call” they needed support for—like traveling in the ministry or undertaking some project requiring resources beyond those personally available. The Meeting could also step in if it was united in believing that a Friend had overstepped his or her guide or brought disrepute on the Society.

The principles outlined here created among Friends a conservative way of containing the dangers inherent in their new covenant approach to Christ’s gospel. And when they were combined with making changes in the established decisions and conducting the practical affairs of the Society, they were very stable indeed. Indeed, it was difficult to make any changes to established ways of conducting community business or articulating the principles of the Society. Any policy or practice formally instituted by a Meeting or Yearly Meeting for its constitutive Meetings was impossible to change without there being “unity” to change it—and unity meant fundamental accord among everyone involved in the business session called to consider the policy. There were a few ways around this demand, but very few. It would be too complicated to describe in detail the business procedures Friends instituted in the early days of the Society, but they have kept the Society’s formal documents (the minutes and disciplines published by Meetings and Yearly Meetings) very “traditional”, very consistent with early documents and statements.

Daily Old Testament: Micah 2-3 and My Own Article on "Continuing Revelation" (Part 2)

Micah 2 –People lie awake at night thinking of evil things to do. “When you want a piece of land, you find a way to seize it. When you want someone’s house, you take it by fraud and violence” (2:2). The Lord will repay these evils with dire punishments. “You will no longer walk around proudly, for it will be a terrible time” (2:3).  Others will be placed in charge of them.

The people have no ears to hear any of this. They would prefer the words of false (optimistic) prophecy. But Micah does not leave the people without hope. He does predict that there will be a restoration someday. “Someday, O Israel, I will gather you; I will gather the remnant who are left. I will bring you together again like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture” (2:12). The land will someday be restored and a leader will lead them out of exile. “Your king will lead you; the Lord himself will guide you” (2:13).

For the Old Testament prophets, the idea that the Lord was ultimately their one and only true leader was deep. The idea that an entity called a “state” with a “King” or “Absolute Ruler” was troublesome from the start. They finally got a good balance between the need for a centralized state and a king, but the king was never a god. God was god. His rule was what we were to look to.

Micah 3 – The leaders of Israel “are supposed to know right from wrong, but [they] are the very ones who hate good and love evil” (3:1-2). Then when these same leaders cry out to the Lord for help, they are foolish to expect that He will answer them.

The prophets who fill the ears of the people with false prophecies in hopes that they will be rewarded with food and other rewards, but they will be put to shame. Micah, though, says, “I am filled with power—with the Spirit of the Lord. I am filled with justice and strength to boldly declare Israel’s sin and rebellion” (3:8). Jerusalem is being set on a foundation of murder and corruption. Because of them “Mount Zion will be plowed like an open field; Jerusalem will be reduced to ruins!” (3:12).

From Leadings: A Catholic’s Journey Through Quakerism -

“Continuing Revelation”

Part 2

One of the best vehicles modern Friends used to get across the Quaker idea of continuing revelation was a story George Fox’s wife told in her introduction to the 1694 edition of Fox’s journal. Margaret Fell Fox and her first husband, a prominent judge, lived on a large estate in northwest England, Swarthmore Hall. The Fells were known for the hospitality they typically extended to traveling preachers of all kinds, so Fox and a friend of his stopped by and met the lady of the house. Judge Fell was away. Margaret Fell went to hear Fox preach at her local church and was moved by his plea that people needed to experience Christ in their own lives and not rely so exclusively on the Scriptures or others’ interpretation of Scripture to define the truth about Christ. She recorded the words Fox addressed to the congregation:

“You will say, Christ saith this, and the apostles say this; but what canst thou say? Art thou a child of Light and hast walked in the Light, and what thou speakest is it inwardly from God?” This opened me so that it cut me to the heart; and then I saw clearly we were all wrong. So I sat me down in my pew again, and cried bitterly. And I cried in my spirit to the Lord, “We are all thieves, we are all thieves, we have taken the Scripture in words and know nothing of them in ourselves” (Quoted in Faith and Practice, sec. 19:07).

The truths contained in the Scriptures were truths that we could know in immediate and personal terms. They were truths we could embody in words of our own. God was alive and guiding men and women today just as he had guided them in Moses’ time, in the prophets’ time and in Jesus’ time. It was one thing to recognize the Scriptures as authentically recording the words and truths opened to godly men and women in former times, but it was quite another to deny that God could speak in and through people in other times and places.

God’s revelation cannot be limited to a prescribed form of words, whether scriptural or creedal; it continues and sometimes even changes as our understanding of God’s will evolves. The example most often given of this is the change that occurred when Friends in the eighteenth century decided that slave-holding was inconsistent with Christian profession and would henceforth be prohibited for members of the Society of Friends. God did do new things in history—not contradictory things, but things that revealed the underlying order and coherence of his will. It is clear from reading the Scriptures that there was a time in history when the holding of slaves or participation in slavery systems was not understood by even holy men and women as being fundamentally inconsistent with God’s redemptive plan. But such an understanding did come to pass, and Friends were among the first to grasp it.