TRUMAN AND THE BOMB: NOTHING HAS MEANING WITHOUT A CONTEXT

President Harry Truman was the only president of the 20th century who didn't attend college (he was educated beyond the college level today, being able to read Cicero in Latin). Truman had some idiosyncracies: he hated air conditioning, daylight saving time, and time zones. (He carried two watches, one for Washington DC time and the other for "real time," the time in Missouri, his home state.) He disliked television which was just coming into American homes; he predicted that television would turn politics into showbusiness. (Was he ever right!)

Another thing about Truman--he has been vilified for dropping the atomic bomb to end the war with Japan in August of 1945.

One commenter sarcastically wrote about Truman's character, "It takes 'character' to drop an atomic bomb on defenseless civilians? How many women, children, and elderly were killed as a result of the fire bombing raids and two atomic bombs dropped on Japan during WWII ordered by Truman?" (He wrote this after viewing a speech at the University of Texas by David McCullough during a lectureship series on the inner character of the presidents of the 20th century. Historian McCullough had high praise for Truman's character. The commenter disagreed, hence his sarcastic use of "character."

This brings up an issue pertinent to those who teach and preach the Bible. But first, we need to examine what we should do in reference to the issue of Truman and the bomb: we have to place Truman's decision in the context of the history, that is, the circumstances in which Truman made the decision.

We should ask, "What was happening in WWII in the Pacific?" Anyone familiar with the Japanese knew that they were going to fight to the last man, the very end. To surrender in the Japanese culture was a disgrace. It was to "lose face." Anyone familiar with what was going on in the war in the Pacific knew that the closer American soldiers came to mainland Japan, the bloodier the fighting became. Various battles as the U. S. came closer and closer to the mainland of Japan had been bloodbaths with high losses of life.

For example, there was "Operation Iceberg, the April 1945 assault on the island of Okinawa, 400 miles from the Japanese mainland but politically part of Japan proper. For three months, the Japanese fought almost to the last man. Meanwhile, wave after wave of kamikaze aircraft dove on U.S. and British Commonwealth ships (even the super-battleship Yamato made a suicide sortie). The result was more than 50,000 U.S. casualties and more than 400 Allied ships sunk or damaged." (In contrast, when the Allies stormed the beaches of Normandy that day, the invasion cost 2,499 American lives. The Japanese lost a quarter of a million military and civilians. But an invasion of the mainland would have made Operation Iceberg look like a picnic."

Also occurring at this time were the U. S. air raids on Japan which were daily killing an estimated minimum of 20,000 to a maximum of 80,000 on some days. With all of those facts in mind, David McCullough writes, "Truman and his advisers made the only decision they could have made; indeed, considered in the context of World War II, it wasn’t really much of a decision at all." Truman made that decision to shorten the war and save lives, both American and Japanese. And that's what happened.

Having said all of that, the point is that before one denigrates Truman for a lack of character, he needs to read history and thereby put Truman's decision in the context of the times, after all, nothing has meaning without a context.

And there's another point to all this: those who teach the Bible should be readers, readers of the context of the times in the ancient world of the first century and of the context of the times in which the Israelites of the Old Testament record lived. They didn't live in a vacuum, they lived in space and time, that is, history. The context of the times would explain why Jonah hated Nivivites. The context of the times explains why a man told Jesus that he couldn't follow Him because he had to bury his father. What did he mean by that? The context of the times explains why God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Abraham, rendering it impossible for him to walk through the two halves of a sacrifice laid out on the ground. Nothing has meaning without a context.

So, teachers, be readers, but not just readers, become voracious readers. George Washington's library contained 884 books. Thomas Jefferson owned at least 6,487 volumes. Warren Buffet said, "My key to success was reading 500 pages of material every day. Ravi Zecharias' library consists of 7,000 books; Warren Wiersbe had 14,000 tomes in his library.

Winston Churchill said, "If you cannot read all your books, at any rate, handle, or, as it were, fondle them — peer into them, let them fall open where they will, read from the first sentence that arrests the eye, set them back on their shelves with your own hands, arrange them on your own plan so that if you do not know what is in them, you will at least know where they are. Let them be your friends; let them, at any rate, be your acquaintances.” 

What are you reading? How about looking at II Timothy 4:13?

JANE AND JAYBOB

[The following is true, only the names have been changed.]

Jane, a single mother, is getting her life back on track; she wants to live a responsible life for the sake of her young son. Jane has a new job and she's earning, but not wasting a paycheck on drugs.

As time passes, she's doing so well that her manager, Doris, promotes her to shift supervisor. Jane is pleased with herself and is determined to make Doris proud of her and show her that she has made the right decision by giving her the promotion.

Jane is in line at the bank one day. The line is one of those slow-moving ones and Jane is getting impatient, needing to hurry so she won't be late to work. In her new life, it's important to be punctual, a trait that shows you're dependable. Three people are behind her in the line and one of those three is Jaybob who starts watching Jane as the line crawls forward.

Finally, it's Jane's turn to be served by the one teller on duty. When Jane finishes transacting her financial affairs, she begins to walk out of the bank.  Jaybob leaves his place in line and catches up with her, and stopping her, tells her that she's dropped a bill in her haste to leave. He introduces himself and she tells him her name as they shake hands.

Jaybob says that it would be great if they could get together some time for a beer. Jane, smiles and agrees. Then he asks Jane for her phone number, which she writes on his hand since neither of them has any paper.

[Note: at his point, Jane has just told a complete stranger her name and has given him her phone number.]

With a week or so, Jaybob calls her and they go out together.

[Note: at this point, Jane goes out with a total stranger; the only thing she knows about him is his name.]

They continue seeing each other and within a short time, they move in together.

[Note: Now Jane is living with someone she knows little about.]

After work one day, Jane is leaving her office with a male co-worker, each one heading toward their cars to go home. At his point, Jaybob comes around the corner and seeing the two walking together and talking about work, is suddenly angry, but not only angry, he's in a jealous rage. He's ballistic, getting in the face of here coworker and threatening him. Jaybob is out-of-control-angry. Seething, he tells Jane that if he ever sees her with him again, she'll regret it.

[Note: Now Jane is concerned. But she continues the living arrangements.]

It's not too long before Jane shows up at work with one huge tomato-red bruise on her right arm. Doris realizes what's happening and tells her to go back to her apartment, pack up and get out and get out now. Jane objects, but Doris is insistent, telling Jane that once the abuse starts, it doesn't end, no matter what has been promised. Jane is convinced. After Jane rushes back to the apartment which is only two minutes  away, Jaybob shows up at her office, looking for her, can't find her, and heads toward their apartment. Doris knows he could turn violent if he catches Jane packing, so she picks up the office phone and dials 911.

When Jaybob gets to their apartment, he finds Jane as she's leaving with a suitcase. He drags her back into the apartment, hits her and tells her that if she ever leaves him, he'll kill her. At that time a policeman arrives, knocks on the door and Jane screams for help. The policeman draws his gun and plaeces Jaybob is under arrest. But within a few days, he's out on bail, paid for by his mother who claims, "He's a good boy." Jane has no idea that he's out of jail.

Doris talks Jane into coming to live with her and her husband while Jane's new living arrangements are being finalized. One night as Jane, Doris, and her husband are at home, Jaybob charges into their home with a gun and demands that Jane come with him. When Doris objects, Jaybob shoots and kills her while Jane is screaming at what's transpiring. Doris' husband rushes into the room and Jaybob kills him and drags a screaming, hysterical Jane out to the front lawn. A neighbor who's heard all this commotion comes out of his house. Jaybob kills him and, securing Jane in the car, takes off.

The police arrive and see that they have a triple homicide on their hands with the killer is on the loose in Baltimore with Jane. He takes her to a heavily wooded area in the Baltimore area and they keep moving after he ditches his car and steals another one. They are both exhausted and check into a seedy motel for the night, but Jaybob gets nervous and decides they have to leave because he's been watching TV and sees that almost the entire Baltimore police force is looking for them.

He takes her out to the motel parking lot and as he does, a police car, there on another matter, drives up. Jane knows this is a make or break moment and runs, screaming toward the officer. Jaybob runs to his car and takes off. Jane is safe, but the killer has once again escaped. In spite of a massive force of police combing the area, they can't find him. Jaybob is gone. The police put Jane in protective custody.

A few days later, Jaybob crashes into Jane's mother's house, demanding to know where Jane is, pointing his gun right at her mother, demands to talk to Jane.

The police, after learning the location of Jaybob, surround Jane's mother's house, but Jaybob isn't giving up. He demands Jane, but the police know that he'll kill her if they let her try to talk to him in person. Finally, after four days, Jane's mother drugs Jaybob by putting Xanax in his iced tea and escapes through a window; he's asleep on the couch with his weapon on his lap. This stand-off has lasted four days.

With Jane's mother now safe, a SWAT team moves toward the door. They break it down which awakens Jaybob. He stands up, aims his weapon at them. They open fire and shoot Jabob 27 times. He's dead. It's over.

But now, all because Jane gave her phone number to a stranger, three people are dead and her mother, who could have been murdered, has been through an agonizing ordeal. Jane lives with the guilt of those three lives lost to this day. She will never be free of it.

In all of this, does anyone ever think about the Bible? 

Proverbs warns  the reader not to form relationships with those who are angry. They'll bring us to ruin. We're naive if we think, I'm going to change them. We're not. Proverbs 22:24: "Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered. . . and get yourself ensnared."

Proverbs 29:22: "An angry man stirs up strife, And a hot-tempered man abounds in transgression."

Ecclesiastes 7:9: "Anger lodges in the bosom of fools." We remember the first murder--anger was its parent: "So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The LORD said to Cain, “. . . 'Sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.' . . . And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him."


That one decision. "Here's my phone number," Jane said to a person she didn't know. Three people die. Jane is scarred for life.

BANISHING DOUBT

Sometimes believers have doubts. (This is a truth no one likes to discuss.) Doubts occur in the form of, "Am-I-really-saved?" We call such doubting a loss of assurance. It doesn't mean that a person has lost their salvation, it means that they have begun to doubt that they have eternal life and therefore don't have the assurance that they're saved.

There are those who mistakenly tell the doubters to X-ray themselves, that is, to look at their lives for proof of their salvation. One author writes, "Surely a Christian cannot claim to be saved and yet hate his brother or sister." He goes on to write, "Christians still sin, but they do not remain in sin or keep on sinning as if nothing is wrong." Not stopping there, he says, "If you have no desire or interest to share the gospel with the lost, then you do not have the same kind of desire that God has for those who will perish without Christ." He points to another test to see if you're saved in the form of a question: "Do you visit orphans and widows?" 

A popular author tells us (wrongly) that John gives three tests so you can know if you're saved: the moral test (obedience to Christ); the relational test (love for others); and, the doctrinal test (believing the truth about Christ). 

Each of these authors is missing the point of the Epistle of I John. They are going against John's statement of the purpose which is his letter on maintaining an abiding fellowship with God, not giving "tests" to see if the reader is saved. In the epistle, he knows that they are saved and assures them that they have eternal life. He knows they're saved because he calls their faith "a world-conquering faith."

What does I John tell us about having the assurance that we're saved? If one looks to his life and deeds, it is certain he won't have any assurance because I John 1:8 says that we (believers) are tainted by sin day in and day out. Are we to look, as the author noted above says, to our obedience to Christ? if so, how does that bring any assurance? To look at our performance of obeying Christ destroys assurance. Who among us can even say that we're trying our best to obey Christ? Are we to look and see if we "love the brethren" as one author says to see if we're saved or not? If so, that's an assurance killer, to be sure. 

So, how does John tell us that we can be assured we're saved? It's by going by the Word of God, specifically, His promises and His testimony that Jesus is His Son. To put our examination of our experience of obedience, loving our fellow believers on the same level as the promises of God is getting close to blasphemy. 

If you need assurance of your salvation, go back to the promises God gave you. These promises will bring assurance. (John 3:16, 18, 36; 5:24; 6:35-40, 47, et al.) Our assurance rests on the “testimony of God.” This is the only testimony that has such authority. We aren’t to base our assurance of salvation on the lives we live. It’s putting our human experience with its limitations and errors, on par with the perfect word of God. 

The Bible is clear: those who believe that Jesus is God come in the flesh, who believe that He died for their sins and rose the dead, trusting Him ALONE (no works, no church, no trying to be good) have everlasting life and John wants his reader to be assured that they do have that eternal life through faith alone in Christ alone.