Western Lit. 1-10: Ethics and Sanctions in the flood narrative

    In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and it was good. On the sixth day, God created man and said it was very good. God gave unto him every plant in the garden except one, the tree of choosing the knowledge of good and evil. The fall from grace occurs with the choice of mankind to govern themselves rather than follow God. It is with this choice that spiritual death becomes a reality, The result is that man was cut off from God and began a spiral into sin. The flood narrative explores what can occur when mankind becomes totally depraved and without goodness.

    Unlike in its contemporary Gilgamesh, the biblical flood is not about a natural disaster explained by an annoyed god. The disaster is the direct result of the ethical choices of mankind. According to the story, Great men (or Nephilim) began to gather wives and wealth for themselves instead of leading. As for the common man "Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. So the LORD was sorry that He had made mankind on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart." Clearly, the problem was the ethical implications of man's choice to subvert God's legal sovereignty for his own. As a result of this rebellion, God chose to re-create the world with water, the image of chaos. 

    As the flood was the result of an ethical decision it is important to note we worship a God who is not only just, but who defines justice. God Might have chosen to destroy all of mankind. Instead, God chose to show grace to those who followed his laws, and Noah was one of those people. The Arc is the image of God's grace. Because of his faith, God told Noah about the coming destruction, and he gave him a way to save himself by preparing for judgment day. We can learn from this that God appoints morality, and he appoints sanctions, like judgment and grace, to uphold that morality. The floodwaters are an allegory for the chaos we drown ourselves in when we subvert the moral authority of God. They are a sanction for rebellion. in the same way the arc is the image of the grace through faith that preserves us against this evil

    After the period of judgment on the earth, Noah gave a sacrifice of clean animals. This sacrifice represents how the worship of God should be set apart, it was not an ethical judgment. However, the sensation of this sacrifice has marked a new period in history. "The LORD smelled the soothing aroma, and the LORD said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done". God is not only promising to leave the world as it is, but as we will see, this is a promise to restore creation to its goodness. 

    Genesis 9 marks the start of a new covenant with mankind. this covenant is not a contract, nor is it a moral convention. The covenant is imposed from above. it claims that its moral sanctions are absolute and from God. The commands that follow include these. Man should be fruitful and multiply, he may eat every living thing, but without it's blood in it because blood is tied to sacred life. God also commands that Nobody should ever kill another man because they are in the image of God. God also promises to never again destroy the earth. It is with this covenant that God lays down his bow and promises to never again destroy life in this way. Implied by this is the idea that he will one day save the earth from the sin that corrupts it. Sadly this sin returns quickly to the world through the cursed sin of Ham. 

     "Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard. He drank some of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it on both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. So he said, “Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers.” He also said, “Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant. “May God enlarge Japheth, And may he live in the tents of Shem; And may Canaan be his servant.”"

    Now what could this possibly mean? For centuries the most popular interpretation was race. Rabbi and preist alike saw it as a sanction for slavery on the grounds of sin. This is not the case however. The significance of this passage is as an allegory for sin. A concept connected to the concept of sin is that it must be covered. The father here is representative of your future past self. The idea that you father your future yourself. The thought is that the sons of Noah ritually covered their sins so that they could maintain their status before the divine, but Ham failed to do this. The image of covering sins is like repentance, covering his past self and moving forward without looking back. Instead He arrogantly announced his sin to the world. Because of his failure to repent of his sin, his violation of himself, he castrated and sodomized his past self, therefore his future was tarnished. That is why one of his sons was punished and not him. There is an idea that he had other potential selves whom, like their uncles, repented of their past sin and moved on. But there was a form of himself which failed to do this, Cannan, who was always in conflict with God because of his arrogance and refusal to repent. He was sanctioned to suffer the wrath of god forevermore because of that.

    In conclusion the story of the flood is an ethical one. It teaches us that God has moral standards which need to be upheld in order to preserve the world from chaos. God chooses to place sanctions on mankind according to his justice. All men commit evil, but God preserves the faithful in a great vessel of grace. Those who stray from his path drown in their own evil. In order to progress we must cover our past sins and walk out without looking back. The failure to repent results in a life of suffering and torment for us from which we cannot escape. That is the story of the flood, a story of Ethics and Sanction by God for our moral depravity and refusal to repent. The story of a people saved by grace, who still choose to stray from it. 

Scouting the Patrol Method

    This is a letter written to the members of my Troop about the matter of patrols and their necessity to our mission and for my own consideration on the topic. 

In any project, we define success as meeting our goals. It follows that in order to be successful, you must first have a goal. In scouting, we have not just a goal, but a great mission. This is the development of the character of the youth, particularly through leadership. It is not enough to be led, good citizens and scouts are to Be Prepared for any situation. Living up to that ideal may seem like a monumental task for the unprepared, but as Baden Powell said in Aids to Scoutmastership, Scouting is simple. It works through the Patrol method, a way of assigning leadership to as many boys as possible. Without this framework for scouting, we are not equipped to teach true leadership, the foundation of character "The patrol system is not one method in which Scouting for boys can be carried on. It is the only method." —Lord Baden-Powell, Scouting's founder.

In order to understand the method, we first look at the structure. By ‘scouting’ we mean the character of all great and rugged individuals: backwoodsmen, explorers, and frontiersmen. “In giving the elements of these to boys we supply a system of games and practices which meets their desires and instincts, and are at the same time educative” (Page 6) 

Baden Powell understood that the youth have a tendency to form long-term ‘gangs’ for everything from play, to mischief and loafing. “From the boys’ point of view Scouting puts them into fraternity-gangs which is their natural organization, it gives them a smart dress and equipment; it appeals to their imagination and romance; and it engages them in an active, open-air life.” (Page 6) This exclusive sense of fraternity is a fundamental aspect of human psychology, even apes exhibit this tendency. It is this sense of exclusive fraternity. Something which he can call his own and be proud of. Scouting, in essence, fuses the two. It undertakes the instruction of great character in a natural and compelling way for all youth. 

The fundamental view of scouting as a fraternity of good character has been established, but the importance of the small group cannot be understated. “The main object of the Patrol System is to give real responsibility to as many boys as possible.” (Page 32) 

By working through patrol leaders leadership is dispersed to as many youths as possible, and in return, the boys have a real chance to develop and self-actualize. It is one thing to be led, but to be responsible for your own development is something that really appeals to the youth. Nobody wants to be told what to do, but the chance to lead his fellows in a kind of great, virtuous outdoor adventure is irresistible. The troop facilitates this by providing a support structure for patrol leaders to develop along the right track. 

The scout troop is not to be understood in terms of the collective. The success of the organization is to be evaluated on the basis of its mission. It is Individual character development through group leadership. Individual responsibility is a crucial part of that character development. It is quickly realized through patrol leadership. Accountability for the actions of his unit, and accountability to them for their development and enjoyment in the whole program comes quickly. But this can only happen when he is made the leader of a distinct and long-term group. In the entire world of scouting, there is a brotherhood of idealism, uniformity, and discipline created by shared values and experience. In each troop, there is a sense of competition and identity created by patrol activities. The troop works by supplying the patrols with structure and provisions. It oversees their activities and keeps them on the right path. In each patrol, there are inseparable bonds of friendship forged by teamwork and the completion of difficult goals. The members of a patrol all work together because of their shared identity which they seek to uphold. They do this through games, outdoorsmanship, and scoutcraft which substantiate a reason for interest and an avenue of teaching those skills necessary for a good life. The entire structure works together to support the individual and enhance the overall experience. This is the model of leadership and the way to growth.

This method is the one thing that makes scouting visibly distinct from all other organizations, it is the bedrock of progress in leadership and the prerequisite for truly engaging activity. Without patrols, we may as well have a church youth group. Most youth groups have activities appointed from the top down. Many of them go camping a few times in the summer and all of them have games like tag, relays, and even hot potato. Most of the kids enjoy their mandated fun, but it can't compete with sports or video games. Fun is beside the point, those groups have another mission, games are a tool to them, not a method. The main reasons for membership in a youth group like that include religious commitment and parental compulsion, you know it's true. This troop has it all confused. Games aren't supposed to be what keeps people in the troop, it’s the challenge of leadership and the call of adventure that separate us. “The Patrol System is the one essential feature in which Scout training differs from that of all other organizations, and where the System is properly applied, it is absolutely bound to bring success. It cannot help itself!” Aids to Scoutmastership. 

In youth programs, there is a common spectrum. It exists between the extremes of martial discipline and the finest imbued knowledge imaginable. In the excellent book "The Patrol Method" - Bill tries to convince adults we are presented with this dilemma. On one end there are football team mentalities. They have martial discipline and only focus on the activity. On the other side, there is a sort of science club mentality. They know little of discipline but memorize every small fact. Each group appeals to only one aspect of psychology, and both suffer from it in some way. Scouting is the fusion of these two ideas into one through leadership. The program offers a sense of uniformity and discipline with physical activity. It also allows for the learning of many unique and useful skills through merit badges and scoutcraft. It is only able to do this because of the excellent program of patrol leadership in such an appealing setting. It beacons to adventure and challenges the youth to virtue. You cannot compel scouts to feel this way, but you can teach them to live it. 

How to summarize all of this? Scouting is a program that seeks to develop the individual character of the youth. It does this by presenting a call to adventure for the youth, the great outdoors, the image of chivalry, and moral virtue in the oath and law. By splitting the youth into patrols it distributes leadership to as many of the boys as possible. Patrols create a sense of identity which fosters competition and teamwork. This closeness allows the youth to bond more tightly and chooses common interests to share in activities. Instead of pleasing many youths, only eight friends need to agree. These units form a troop that is more entertaining and constructive as a whole. Smaller groups mean that more activities can be done, fewer materials are needed at a minimum and competition is more vigorous. Youth are more likely to attend meetings because their very closest friends will be there, and they will have the chance to do what they enjoy as a group. The SPL should not be a dictator of fun. He is the conduit of will from the PLs to the scoutmaster. The troop should not be an amorphous collective to appoint fun, but a government to guide developing leaders in their patrols. 

Since it has been established that the patrol method is the core of our movement, and the only method by which scouting can be carried on it is fitting to include a plan here of how to implement it. According to the BSA “Patrol Leaders carry out planning, leading, and evaluating patrol meetings and activities, and assure patrols are prepared to participate in all troop activities.” This concept should be introduced at JLT Training through the web page. Newley elected patrol leaders will be taken for 30 minutes to learn more in chapter one of the Patrol Leader Handbook. They will follow along with a copy of the book and write answers in this study guide. 

The handbook will become an eight-week course which will be continued at the first meeting after the elections at JLT. Over the next eight weeks for 30 minutes before each meeting, PLs will attend a course of study with a senior scout and scoutmaster to read through the handbook. Each week the patrols will be introduced to activities as they are provided in the book. Chapter two covers patrol spirit. That meeting will allow them to use all the skills covered in the chapter. The chapters may be read out of order as needed. By the end of January, we should have covered the entire handbook, leaving newly trained leaders until June to develop. During that whole time, a special emphasis will be placed on patrols. Over time Patrol leaders will become more independent. It is important to know that the more responsibilities you give them, the more they will respond.

At the end of my term as SPL, I hope to have guided the troop on top of the right, straight, and narrow path of scouting.  My goals are the goals of scouting, and I submit my will to them. “Each patrol leader is given full responsibility for the behavior of his patrol at all times. The patrol is the unit to work or play. Responsibility and competitive rivalry are established, and a good standard of development is ensured throughout the troop from day to day.” The Patrol - Troop Leader Resources

“My ideal camp is where everyone is cheery and busy, where the patrols are kept intact under all circumstances, and where every patrol leader and Scout takes a genuine pride in his camp and his gadgets.” The Patrol - Troop Leader Resources

Troop 1048 patrols until November 

Troop 1048 patrols after November 

Citations and recommended reading: 

Scouting For Boys  

—Lord Baden-Powell, Scouting's founder 

The Patrol - Troop Leader Resources 

AIDS TO SCOUTMASTERSHIP 

"The Patrol Method" - Bill tries to convince adults

Western Civ. 1-5: Hebrew history, from Abraham to Moses

Hebrew history, from  Abraham to Moses

    The biblical narrative of the patriarchs and the exodus is a highly compelling one from a historical perspective. The biblical narrative itself has religious significance and is known by Jew and Christian alike. In this blog, I hope to summarize this period of history for the reader while adding some notes to suggest the reliability of the text.

    The story of Abraham begins in the city of Ur, often wrongly translated as Ur of the Chaldeans. This is incorrect, however. Many scholars now believe Ur refers to the city of Ur-Kasdim, a city in southern Turkey.  The story continues with God promising him a son and imposing a covenant with Him. Abraham was to leave with his nephew lot and wife Sarah for the land of Cannan where they would found a great nation. After a season of waiting for this child, they become distraught and Abraham seeks to produce an heir through his slave Hagar. This union produces Ishmael. Later Issac is born and Ishmael is cast into the desert, allegedly founding the Arabic peoples. As the story continues God demands Abraham sacrifice his son, but provides a ram instead. This ram is the image of christ sacrificed for our sins. When his wife dies he buys a cave for burial in Hebron. at the end of his life, he sends his servant to find a wife among his own people, and he returns with Rebecca to marry Issac. 

    The life of Issac is less detailed, but the bible records him living in Cannan and becoming so wealthy he was driven out by the people around him. He also had diplomacy with the kings of the area. During a famine, he went to the philistines on the coast and relived the steps of his father before him. Much like Abraham, he told them she was his sister so they would not kill him over her beauty. After he became too wealthy in the land the philistines feared him and drove him away. He went to the valley of Gerar and dug three wells. Each time he dug a well he was forced off the land. Finally, he was allowed to camp. After that, he went to Beersheba and the covenant was reaffirmed. King Abimelech approached him and made peace there too. When he was old his son Esau married two Hittite women which grieved him and his wife much. 

    The story of Jacob begins with the birth of the twins. Sarah prays to God and he tells her she will birth two nations and the older will serve the younger. The Bible chronicles that Esau was born first and Jacob last. Jacob lived among the tents and Esau became a great hunter. After returning from the wilderness  Jacob extorted his brother out of a birthright for a bowl of stew. A few chapters later as Issac is blind on his deathbed he prepares to give his blessing to Esau, who is told to prepare a meal. Instead, Rebecca helps Jacob deceive his father and receive the right instead. In order to escape his brother Jacob flees to his uncle Laban beyond the Euphrates. On his way, he receives a vision from the lord and builds an altar. While he is with his uncle he spends 14 years laboring for his wives Rachel and Leah. After he left that land his brother found out and began looking for him. In order to save his family, he split his caravan into droves all as presents for his brother. After his family crossed over the Jabbock he was left alone and was forced to wrestle with a stranger all night. in the morning the man dislocated his hip and revealed he was God. Because of this, He praised God for this. Jacob was surprised to have a peaceful reunion with his brother. After going to live in Shechem the son of Hamor was so attracted to his daughter Dinah that he raped her. On account of this Hamor asked the sons of Jacob to intermarry with them so there would be no shame. In return, Jacob required them to be circumcised which they agreed to. On the third day after this occurred, the sons of Jacob rushed into the city, took back their sister, and killed every man there. this was a curse on the family. Jacob's name was changed to Israel after a few chapters. 

    When Israel had twelve sons he favored the youngest, Joseph. Joseph prophecied and was given a cloak, for these reasons his brothers hated him and sold him into slavery. In Egypt, he became the servant to the aristocrat Potepher, but was accused of rape and sent to prison. In prison, he became the warden's right-hand man and interpreted dreams for the prisoners. After a cupbearer to the Pharoah was pardoned Jacob was summoned to interpret a dream. Jacob predicted seven years of prosperity followed by a seven-year famine. Jacob was made the man second to the Pharoh and saved for the famine. During this time his brothers were sent to buy grain and return to their father. Through this Jacob was able to reveal himself to his brothers and was reunited with his father, who came to live in Egypt. 

    After 400 years in Egypt, there was a new pharaoh who made the descendants of the family slaves or at least pressed subjects in the region of Goshen. When all of the babies were ordered to be killed one boy was sent down the Nile by his mother to preserve them. this boy was Moses. He was adopted by the pharaoh's daughter as a prince but still took interest in his people. One day he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and killed him. He fled to the Negev desert to avoid punishment. He had a family there but one day God appeared to him in a burning bush that commanded him to deliver his people out of Egypt to the promised land. He returned to Egypt and demanded Pharoh let his people go. When Pharoh refused God sent ten plagues after which he relented. The Hebrews went away and crossed the dead sea into Sinia where they wandered for two generations. during that time Moses gave the law and the ten commandments. Moses' death marked the time for the Hebrews to enter the holy land.

Western Lit. 1-5: Hierarchies in the creation narrative

Hierarchies in the creation of narrative

A wise man once said the degree of fundamentality in a text is dependent on the number of its dependent texts within the culture. Another way to say this is that literature is an extension of civilization. The aspects of the Bible reflect themselves on the people who read it, including us. When we talk about subjects such as hierarchies we need to be aware of the texts which influence our perspectives. Genesis 1-3 in a sense is the MOST fundamental text in the entire Bible, itself the corpus of the most fundamental texts to the west. Therefore, in order to understand the western idea of hierarchies, we will examine this story. 

     Before we begin, we must define our terms to reach meaningful conclusions. Hierarchy is best defined as a ranked order of competence. If we define the ultimate competence as the divine, the sum of all ultimate competence is what we call God. Such a being would by nature be set apart from anything lesser. With those ideas in mind, we open to Genesis one. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. We then receive a description of God as a being hovering above the waters he has just created. the idea is that he is set apart from the chaos of the material realm in his perfection. As God goes about creating he makes statements about the quality of his creation, that they are 'good' or 'very good'. This establishes that God is competent to establish hierarchies of value in nature, placing himself at the top of the list as the origin of it. 

    On the sixth day, God created man from dust in his own image and breathed life into him. The first thing God says about man is that he is 'very good', or better than all of creation. God then gives him dominion over all creation. He was to rule over creation and subdue it. This establishes man as the highest being in creation below God. This also means that animals are in subjugation to him. Man is the ultimate in competence among the created. Everything living thing is his subject. A few verses later  Eve is created as his companion. The language used to describe her is like a helper that completes him at his side. Eve is clearly his subordinate, but both are equally low before God in his ultimate nature. 

    Another thing we should consider is the fall. At the time of the fall Man was considered the master of nature, but why was he deceived by a serpent, a form of nature? I think the serpent is an allegory, but a powerful one. The man was supposed to be the master of the serpent, but because of his sin, he was deceived by it, and so lowered himself below the serpent in the mastery hierarchy. This idea that sin makes you lower than you ought to be is compelling for us today.

    In conclusion, We have examined the hierarchies of genesis 1-3. This has been a simplistic examination but a further study would require a far longer philosophical discussion. However, it is rather apparent that hierarchies are fundamental to the story. To summarize the text, God is the ultimate in all hierarchies, completely apart from creation in perfection. Man is the master of creation and is supposed to rule over it with his helper, woman. Sin means that you fail to master the nature which is yours, the serpent within. When you do that you lower yourself from God's divine image for your life.

Gov. 1A-5: Is the Family a Legitimate Form of Government?

Is the Family a Legitimate Form of Government?

    In a culture dominated by the influence of the state, it is a common misconception that the state is the final sovereign. However, if we seriously study human government it becomes clear that society is regulated by a number of other institutions. the most universal among these is the family. Every human society we know of has been governed by the family. Recently the validity of the traditional family has been called into question. This blog will examine the definition of a government, its proper function, and whether the family meets them legitimately.

    So what Is a government? Most people will define government as the state, or at least inseparable from it. Furthermore, they believe that the Government is intrinsically involuntary, or at least governed by a social contract. However, this is not the case. The proper definition of a government is "a body that conducts the policy, actions, and affairs of a state, organization, or people." This definition would have us reexamine our perspective on the role of government in society.

    A definition like this allows us to explain what a government is, but this cannot be very descriptive about its role in society, or if that role is legitimate. In order to understand this, we turn to those who study such relationships. Gary North, a PhD. in History and respected economic philosopher said all governments function on two premises. The authority to exclude or place sanction, and the authority to command obedience from members. The family certainly requires those powers to act, but we need to be more descriptive.

    North also said governments are faced with five fundamental questions. The first is sovereignty, who is the final authority in the family. Within most cultures, this is the patriarch. There is the question of Higherarchies, or chain of command. The elders rest at the top of the hierarchy and there is a clear chain of command down through the structure to the youngest child. Similarly, the law is determined by the parents, its application is locally monopolistic. Under law is the category of sanctions, which are the right of parents to grant. Finally, the patriarchal family structure establishes a succession of authority, ensuring the government has a future. Governments also have an economic system, in the case of families, this is joint-ownership. 

    Given these descriptions of the role and challenges faced by governments, we can demonstrate that the family is a legitimate institution. It meets both the definition and the role of government in society. There is the possibility of a marxist challenge to the family on the grounds of power politics. I cannot address this here but the marxist objection is illegitimate. A further examination of te topic is necessary to prove the fundementality of family government to civilization, but suffice to say, the family is by all accounts a form of government.