Signs hanging inside a Costco store notified customers that they were out of supplies on Monday, March 2. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
What’s my topic? That’s the first question every writer must answer before starting. Sometimes topics suggest themselves easily. Other times, coming up with an appropriate subject can be a bit daunting.
With all the events of last week – coronavirus, and the stock market crash to name two – you’d think that finding a topic would be easy. But it’s been more of a challenge than may seem at first.
I had a number of ideas coming into today and had even written an outline for a possible series addressing ways in which entrenched vested interested manipulate events and the reporting on those events, giving people a false sense of reality and allowing them to surreptitiously advance their own hidden agendas.
Lord willing, I hope to be able to write that series. But today, it just didn’t seem right.
What really drove this home for me was going to church this morning. Attendance was only about 20% (maybe less) of what we normally have. Whatever the dangers, real or perceived, of the coronavirus, the reality is that it is having a significant impact on our lives. It suddenly became real for me. These are not normal times we’re living in.
Although it hasn’t yet been finalized, very likely my company will move all employees to a work from home schedule beginning next week. There is no word on when that will change.
All the sports leagues are cancelled. The NCAA even shut down the basketball championship tournament, the so-called March Madness, due to the threat that large numbers of people together could act to spread the virus.
The fear of a pandemic is having an impact on all of our lives. In some ways big. In some ways small. All of them unsettling.
The ongoing collapse of the financial markets may prove to have an even greater impact over time.
And I haven’t even touched on the uneasy political climate here in the US.
Taken together, all of these disruptions are more than a bit unsettling.
All that, and nothing really serious has happened. Yet. For the most part all systems are still functioning normally.
What if we have a major breakdown somewhere – loss of power, a full-on economic depression, food shortages?
How will most people react?
I don’t know. Probably not well.
So why do I bring all this up? Because today brought into focus for me why I write this blog. In general, I’ve always enjoyed teaching, introducing new ideas to people, and giving them a new way of looking at the world. More specifically, it’s been my aim to expound and apply the Scripturalism of Gordon Clark and John Robbins to events we all face in our daily lives. What does the Bible say about immigration, about prepping, about the economy, about politics, about the Roman Church-State? These are some of the questions I’ve attempted to answer in the now eleven years of writing Lux Luxet.
A lot of people have a hard time taking interest in the “ivory tower” theory of Clark and Robbins, supposing that theory has little or no practical application. But as John Robbins wrote, “The ivory tower, however, is the control tower of a civilization.” And if the ivory tower is the control tower, then, counterintuitively, of necessity it is theory – the ideas one has about the way the world works – that ultimately has the most practical value.
Take, for example, the central idea of Scripturalism: The Bible has a systematic monopoly on truth. On our view of this proposition depends our reaction to the events we face.
If we disbelieve that the Bible has a systematic monopoly on truth, naturally we will seek for truth outside of the Scriptures. There are thousands of websites where one can go to get expert advice on what to do about the virus or how to invest your money. Some of them may prove useful. But usefulness and truth are not the same thing.
The laws of science are useful, but, as Gordon Clark demonstrated, all of them are false.
One can find knowledgeable financial experts, but the best one’s will tell you that that their advice is only opinion and not truth. Now opinions can be useful. They may even be true. But they are not knowledge.
Knowledge is justified true belief, but the most a financial advisor can do is to give you an opinion supported by observable evidence, which to some degree or another is in error.
You can consult a doctor concerning how to avoid coronavirus or to receive treatment in the event you catch it. But the most a medical professional can give you is an opinion. If you think about it, this idea is embedded in our language. We talk about getting a medical opinion. Sometimes, we go and get a second opinion. This is good language, for it accurately states what it is we receive from a doctor. We get an opinion, which may or may not be correct. We do not receive medical knowledge when we go to see the doctor. Knowledge is always true. We receive medical opinions, which may or may not be true.
None of this is to say that we should not consult financial advisors or doctors. But the most even the very best doctor or financial advisor can do is to give you their best professional opinion. They cannot furnish you with knowledge.
The One Thing Needed
Luke records for us that Jesus visited a certain village and that a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. Martha had a sister named Mary, who was also with her. While Martha was distracted making preparations for the meal, Luke tells us that Mary, “sat at the feet of Jesus and heard his word.” When Martha became upset with Mary and asked Jesus to tell her to help out, Jesus replied, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her”
So what was that “one thing needed” that Mary wisely chose?
Hearing the words of Christ.
What a picture this is! How convicting!
When I’m honest with myself, I know well that many times I have played the part of Martha, busying myself with many things while ignoring the one thing that is needed. I have sinned in this regard in normal times and in exceptional times. How easy it is to search the internet to find the latest commentary on this or that, all the while putting off prayer and reading the Scriptures.
In the current crises, both medical and financial, the one thing needed by us is to hear the words or Christ. Other things may prove helpful. But there is only one thing needed.
This is Scripturalism.
This is the Christian faith.
It’s amazing how practical theory can be.
In closing, may the Lord of truth guide you in all truth in the days, weeks and months ahead as we face what appears to be the beginning of difficult times.
May the Lord bless and keep you and grant you peace.
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Lux Lucet 
Coronavirus, Financial Collapse, and the One Thing Needed
March 15, 2020 by Steve Matthews
Signs hanging inside a Costco store notified customers that they were out of supplies on Monday, March 2. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
What’s my topic? That’s the first question every writer must answer before starting. Sometimes topics suggest themselves easily. Other times, coming up with an appropriate subject can be a bit daunting.
With all the events of last week – coronavirus, and the stock market crash to name two – you’d think that finding a topic would be easy. But it’s been more of a challenge than may seem at first.
I had a number of ideas coming into today and had even written an outline for a possible series addressing ways in which entrenched vested interested manipulate events and the reporting on those events, giving people a false sense of reality and allowing them to surreptitiously advance their own hidden agendas.
Lord willing, I hope to be able to write that series. But today, it just didn’t seem right.
What really drove this home for me was going to church this morning. Attendance was only about 20% (maybe less) of what we normally have. Whatever the dangers, real or perceived, of the coronavirus, the reality is that it is having a significant impact on our lives. It suddenly became real for me. These are not normal times we’re living in.
Although it hasn’t yet been finalized, very likely my company will move all employees to a work from home schedule beginning next week. There is no word on when that will change.
All the sports leagues are cancelled. The NCAA even shut down the basketball championship tournament, the so-called March Madness, due to the threat that large numbers of people together could act to spread the virus.
The fear of a pandemic is having an impact on all of our lives. In some ways big. In some ways small. All of them unsettling.
The ongoing collapse of the financial markets may prove to have an even greater impact over time.
And I haven’t even touched on the uneasy political climate here in the US.
Taken together, all of these disruptions are more than a bit unsettling.
All that, and nothing really serious has happened. Yet. For the most part all systems are still functioning normally.
What if we have a major breakdown somewhere – loss of power, a full-on economic depression, food shortages?
How will most people react?
I don’t know. Probably not well.
So why do I bring all this up? Because today brought into focus for me why I write this blog. In general, I’ve always enjoyed teaching, introducing new ideas to people, and giving them a new way of looking at the world. More specifically, it’s been my aim to expound and apply the Scripturalism of Gordon Clark and John Robbins to events we all face in our daily lives. What does the Bible say about immigration, about prepping, about the economy, about politics, about the Roman Church-State? These are some of the questions I’ve attempted to answer in the now eleven years of writing Lux Luxet.
A lot of people have a hard time taking interest in the “ivory tower” theory of Clark and Robbins, supposing that theory has little or no practical application. But as John Robbins wrote, “The ivory tower, however, is the control tower of a civilization.” And if the ivory tower is the control tower, then, counterintuitively, of necessity it is theory – the ideas one has about the way the world works – that ultimately has the most practical value.
Take, for example, the central idea of Scripturalism: The Bible has a systematic monopoly on truth. On our view of this proposition depends our reaction to the events we face.
If we disbelieve that the Bible has a systematic monopoly on truth, naturally we will seek for truth outside of the Scriptures. There are thousands of websites where one can go to get expert advice on what to do about the virus or how to invest your money. Some of them may prove useful. But usefulness and truth are not the same thing.
The laws of science are useful, but, as Gordon Clark demonstrated, all of them are false.
One can find knowledgeable financial experts, but the best one’s will tell you that that their advice is only opinion and not truth. Now opinions can be useful. They may even be true. But they are not knowledge.
Knowledge is justified true belief, but the most a financial advisor can do is to give you an opinion supported by observable evidence, which to some degree or another is in error.
You can consult a doctor concerning how to avoid coronavirus or to receive treatment in the event you catch it. But the most a medical professional can give you is an opinion. If you think about it, this idea is embedded in our language. We talk about getting a medical opinion. Sometimes, we go and get a second opinion. This is good language, for it accurately states what it is we receive from a doctor. We get an opinion, which may or may not be correct. We do not receive medical knowledge when we go to see the doctor. Knowledge is always true. We receive medical opinions, which may or may not be true.
None of this is to say that we should not consult financial advisors or doctors. But the most even the very best doctor or financial advisor can do is to give you their best professional opinion. They cannot furnish you with knowledge.
The One Thing Needed
Luke records for us that Jesus visited a certain village and that a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. Martha had a sister named Mary, who was also with her. While Martha was distracted making preparations for the meal, Luke tells us that Mary, “sat at the feet of Jesus and heard his word.” When Martha became upset with Mary and asked Jesus to tell her to help out, Jesus replied, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her”
So what was that “one thing needed” that Mary wisely chose?
Hearing the words of Christ.
What a picture this is! How convicting!
When I’m honest with myself, I know well that many times I have played the part of Martha, busying myself with many things while ignoring the one thing that is needed. I have sinned in this regard in normal times and in exceptional times. How easy it is to search the internet to find the latest commentary on this or that, all the while putting off prayer and reading the Scriptures.
In the current crises, both medical and financial, the one thing needed by us is to hear the words or Christ. Other things may prove helpful. But there is only one thing needed.
This is Scripturalism.
This is the Christian faith.
It’s amazing how practical theory can be.
In closing, may the Lord of truth guide you in all truth in the days, weeks and months ahead as we face what appears to be the beginning of difficult times.
May the Lord bless and keep you and grant you peace.
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Posted in Scripturalism, Theology | Tagged Coronavirus, Financial Crisis, Scripturalism, Scripture Commentary | Leave a Comment
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