Just What the Doctor Ordered

(This article originally appeared on One Flew Over the Church)

A bright spot. Well, sort of. I have recently been able to exchange correspondence with someone that I find completely fascinating. I have seen a movie about and have even sought out some of the real-life facts about a man that is, in my humble opinion, an excellent example of the works that we learn about in James 2:19 & 20 "19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?"

The man I am referring to has some of the most unorthodox methods of medicine you can imagine. He believes that "healing should be a loving human interchange, not a business transaction" and with this belief backed with works, he provided free medical care for 15,000 patients between 1971 and 1983. His belief is that his institute is "an experiment in holism with a medical focus based on the belief that one cannot separate the health of the individual from the health of the family, the community, and the world. (It) is a sociopolitical act that grows out of a deep concern for the quality of people's lives in a world dominated by the values inherent in greed and power." I thought this sounded a lot like the descriptions we at One Flew have sought for church and faith, including treating people as people and not as checks or numbers.

So, seeing works and wondering about the impact such methods could have on the Christian faith, I sent off a letter to Dr. Patch Adams. I asked him for advice on how his philosophies and approach to medicine could be translated to use in ministry and what roles Christianity could play in reforming our health care system And shortly thereafter, I received the following response, handwritten in the margins of a photocopied magazine article that helped answer a lot of the questions I was asking myself.

Dear Sam, Thank you for your inquiry. Actually never in my life have I had a religious or god thought. I am very well read (my library is 28,000 books - all important - no John Grisham) and can speak of the massive murder and injustice done in their name to have an aversion to it. I have seen a level of hypocrisy all my life, to tell a "Christian" audience it would be nice if you were. I met a (sorry couldn't make out the word) Christian (Buddhist, Muslim, etc) that actually lives their faith and am tickled to meet them. Politically, Christ was a communist (acts) and I like to let Christians know. Bush said he was a Christian and to me he was a fascist mass murderer.

Christ's mandate is get off your ass and serve humanity. If you have any excess, use it to help others. I'm motivated by my love of humanity that I got from my mother. There are religious people in our work - we like it all - if your presentation of self is happy, funny, loving, cooperative, creative and thoughtful.

If one loves Christ, they must work for peace and justice or they are not Christians.

I love Walt Whitman, Nietzsche, Dostoevsky, Virginia Woolf, Faulkner, Dickens and a thousand more. I am a nerd. I've never read about or discussed with anyone that help me make any sense of god. It makes only sense as an invention of men (I think to ease their fears and for social control).

I don't use computers. I am happy for you to put what I say on your website. Please discourage people from writing to convert me. I am totally clean.

In peace, Patch

Now, to say that I agree with what Patch said word for word would be a bit of a stretch. But I have learned a valuable lesson in the last few years. If you don't immediately dismiss people who have an opinion different than your own, you just might learn something. So I looked past the man's religious beliefs (or lack thereof) and looked at his works. I can't say that anyone in my (former) denominational circle has provided free medical care for 15 people, much less 15,000. I have a lot of evidence that shows that there is a staunch belief that "eternity is all that matters" - make converts and get them in here. I have seen that influence is relative to giving potential and not spiritual maturity or works. Excess is rarely focused on the needs of the community or even the less profitable members of the congregation. Instead, any excess is spent on bigger, newer buildings or other amenities for converts. I want to honor Patch's wishes and discourage "Patch-centered evangelism" by saying that this man has works that are a reflection of his beliefs and considering how lacking the modern American church is of these works, let's not ruin his passion and hard work by trying to make him like us.

So, what is a dissident to do?

I can continue to stand in the street and scream about the injustice and inhumanity of the modern church or I can, as Patch so eloquently put it, "get off my ass and serve humanity". Since I don't color inside the lines, I'll choose both. So, now that my platform is back, I'll be "doing unto the least of these" as I try my best to fight for justice and peace in an organization that is supposed to be a model of those traits. And until it does, I guess I'll look to atheists to demonstrate some of the standards that should be embraced by believers.

"On Writing" Review

(This review originally appeared on One Flew Over the Church)

Since One Flew Over the Church has such a contingent of writers, both as contributors and as users, I thought that a review on a book about writing was appropriate for the site.

A few weeks ago, I picked up a copy of "On Writing" by Stephen King. It came with a recommendation from my wife, an English and writing teacher and a pretty good writer, if I do say so myself. She mentioned this book in the same breath as "One Writer's Beginnings" by Eudora Welty. If you knew how my wife feels about Welty, you would know what an endorsement this was.

I had already heard of the quality of the work from a good friend who is also a writer. He had shared the recommendation with a mutual friend of ours who was trying to get started in serious writing. Having heard recommendations from two people who I respect as writers as well as being good friends, (yes, I'm one of those guys who considers his wife to be his best friend. And after reading this book, I'd say that Stephen King feels the same way about his wife, Tabitha.) I just had to check this one out for myself. So, I borrowed my wife's personal copy and dove in.

More often than not, the name Stephen King on a book is a big enough endorsement to judge the quality of a book by it's cover but this was non-fiction. I was interested to see what King was going to do in the real world and away from horror and fantasy. I was not disappointed.

King starts out his book with an excellent autobiographical piece that provided answers to the question that I have always had when enthralled in one of his plots - "What kind of sick, twisted nut case would even think of such things?". Well, now I know. His candor about several events from his childhood, college years as well as adulthood gives the reader an insight into the mind of this genius. It was enlightening, if not encouraging, to see the difficult time that he had trying to just get his early work published.

After the reader gets to know King a little better, the author then opens the door of his study and offers a glimpse of the process he goes through to go from a simple idea for a story all the way to walking to the mailbox to get the royalty checks as they begin coming in. There is advice on the writing process, editing, building a respectable writing resume, finding a literary agent, seeking a publisher and how to get their attention. There is even a writing exercise and an example of King's own editing process - his actual manuscript and editing notes from the opening of "1408".

King makes enough references to "The Elements of Style" by William Strunk and E.B. White (yep, that E.B. White) that if you have a copy, it can almost be used as a companion piece. Strunk and White, as well as several other people who impacted King's writing, receive grateful appreciation for their contributions throughout the book.

The autobiographical portions of the book are very interesting and a good read. The writing portion of the book is a little more work to read but delivers information that makes the effort worthwhile and King sticks to his promise to keep this portion brief.

So, now you are thinking "Wow, Sam, are there any negatives to the book?" And my answer to you is "That depends on you". Let me say it this way. If you are a person that cannot look over or tolerate profanity, save your money. If you a not willing to "read a lot, write a lot", give up a little TV, and aren't interested in a sideline career as an adverb assassin, you are wasting you time reading this book. If you are not interested in writing, the writing part will not be enjoyable.

On the other hand, if you can let the "F-bomb" go in one ear and out the other (with any luck whacking Sister Bertha Better-Thanyou upside the head), if you love to read and love to write, if you think the book is better than the movie and you are willing to seek out and kill adverbs without mercy or remorse, then by all means, get to a library, a book store or your favorite on-line book seller and get your hands on a copy of this book.

Stephen King

On Writing, a Memoir of the Craft

ISBN: 0-7434-5596-7

The Swamp Fox of the Gospel

(This article originally appeared on One Flew Over the ChurchFri, 10/17/2008 - 11:54)

I find it important to pass certain aspects of our "family culture" to my sons. That being my point of view, I can tell you that it is very important to me that I pass down my faith, lessons from history from our world, our nation and definitely our beloved South. So, my oldest son and I are currently reading through a book together about Francis "The Swamp Fox" Marion - a professing Christian, Revolutionary War general, American Patriot and Southern legend. As we were reading about the adventures of the man that helped inspire the character known as Benjamin Martin played by Mel Gibson in the motion picture "The Patriot", we learned about the events at the "Battle of Fort Motte" and words jumped off the page at me.

And yes, yet another seemingly normal, everyday occurrence led me to an idea for an article.

Marion was well known for sipping on a mixture of vinegar and water as well as his ability to ambush much larger forces, cause chaos, delay movements of reinforcements and materiel, confuse British officers and then vanish into the swamps of South Carolina like the mist. All of this required him to be constantly thinking outside the box and to keep people around him that thought that way themselves.

Which brings us to Fort Motte. As was often the case (or else there wouldn't have been a war to begin with) the British had forced an American from her home, this time a widow named Mrs. Rebecca Motte. The Redcoats built a wall around her home made from stout American timber. The wall was so thick and stable that the small artillery piece in Marion's possession was incapable of penetrating it. So, some of the people that were serving with Marion suggested setting fire to the British headquarters inside the fort with an idea from the past. Among Marion's men was a private named Nathan Savage who had learned some archery skills from the Native Americans that lived near his home. He knew how to construct bows and arrows and, more importantly how to use them. With the widow's enthusiastic support - and a tribal bow her late husband acquired on a trip to the East Indies - Private Savage carried his archaic implements into a protective trench and set up within bow range of the headquarters, lit the fiery arrows and let them fly, landing them on the roof where the fire would be more difficult to extinguish.

As was so often the case with Marion's tactics, the British were thrown into chaos. A bucket brigade was formed and the Redcoats, in a mad panic, began trying to douse the flames. The small artillery piece that was incapable of penetrating the log walls had been repositioned to a location that enabled it to land grapeshot on the frantic bucket brigade. It didn't take much of the grapeshot to convince the British captain that this was the end of his fort and he surrendered on the spot. The men that were cheering the fire now joined the bucket brigade and helped save the widow's home.

Here is what speaks to me. The book's author, Stewart H. Holbrook, used this line: "It was perhaps as odd a battle as any during the entire war; to win it the Americans had used the 'modern' artillery and also the bow and arrow of ancient times. Major Eaton and his little brass gun and Private Savage with his long bow were its heroes".

The ancient and the modern used together simultaneously to win the battle.

I've heard something like this before:
Matthew 13:52 He said to them, "Every teacher of the law who has been taught about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house. He brings new treasures out of his storeroom as well as old ones." (New International Version)

I know that these are modern times and that we have to be persistent in finding new and creative ways to keep our method as relevant as our message. The message is always relevant but our presentations sometimes need to be updated. But I wonder if sometimes the best way to update our methods is to turn back the clock five, six, 20 maybe even 50 centuries. I wonder if we need to be modern and ancient in our method. I wonder where in our battle against the evil in this world can the fiery arrow from a primitive bow help the cannon do what it can not do alone. What did the church fathers know about presenting the Gospel to the people of the 21st century? Maybe more than we think.

This is what I want to do with this article. I don't know the answers to this question...but I want to. I want to see anyone who is willing to either make comments below to share with all of the readers here, myself included, what fiery arrows from ancient times you would you like to see used in conjunction with modern artillery to bring the message of the Gospel to this modern world. What Malay bow would you recommend? What arrows are in your closet waiting to be used by your Kingdom? Where does the ancient meet the modern in our struggle?