Jacob's Folly

Rebecca Miller, daughter of playwright Arthur Miller, has written a novel called "Jacob's Folly", the story of a Jew who died in Paris in 1783 and finds himself reincarnated as a fly in Long Island in 2013. The fly proceeds to be mischievous in an Orthodox Jewish household, as who wouldn't once you know you were a Jew and have been reincarnated as a fly? This fanciful novel violates a few tenets of Judeo-Christian theology with its reincarnation premise, among others, but it really has a lot of fun doing it.

Just imagine how freeing it would be to wake up and realize that you used to be a Jewish guy in Paris, but that now you have been reincarnated as a fly. The character is angry when he realizes this, but really, think about it: now you know that there's no spiritual afterlife, and if this is as bad as it gets, like, what's the big deal? Just do whatever you want, for tomorrow you die (again).

This liberating idea is just what the Enemy would like us all to believe. At least it seems liberating at first. If God is just some random recycling machine for the soul, he isn't really much of a god. The comical rules by which Orthodox Jews (or any other religious group) live don't count for anything. Instead of replacing these rules with the loving personal grace offered by Jesus, there is only whimsy. I can't make a convincing argument for that going bad when large numbers of people follow this path; whimsy seems pretty harmless, if eventually boring. It could go bad, of course, but it doesn't really have to.

All I can offer as an objection is that it isn't true. God actually IS the creator of this world; He knows everything that has happened in it, and has already personally paid the price for everything that has gone wrong with it. He may appear to have lost the bet on Adam and Eve, but the final result will be something vastly greater than seemed possible at the outset. The final state of this work of performance art we call the universe will reveal the fullness of God's loving intimacy and creativity in those of us who choose to join with Him.

Have a Merry Christmas

I have always been of two minds about Christmas. On the one hand, I harbor a wistful nostalgia that I think comes from when I was a young enough child to have no social concerns, and thus was free to anticipate what Santa was going to bring me. I lived in the north then, so there was also the imminent onset of winter, which was not a hardship for a kid with enough clothes and a warm house to live in. On the other hand, I have long harbored a resentment of the worldly commercial sensual goading that goes on supposedly in the name of celebrating God's greatest gift to us.

As I got older and found out there was no Santa Claus, the responsibility of buying presents for my family and friends weighed on me; I wanted to get everybody just what they wanted, fulfilling the promise of Santa's magic. Of course I seldom succeeded to my satisfaction, nor did anyone else. And of course I also absorbed the popular complaint that Christmas was becoming too commercial.

When I became a Christian, it added a great deal to my appreciation of the season, taking the time to meditate about the significance of Christ's coming to live among us; but it did not diminish that social responsibility of present-buying, nor the tension it creates regarding the budget and the time it takes out of a busy mid-life career. I also began to resent Christmas as being tainted by the pagan winter festival, the part so many unbelievers seemed to enjoy so much. It made me more and more Scrougey. Humbug! I esteem all days alike.

Now I'm getting older and I have been thinking of that holiday in slightly different terms. It appears that many Christmas traditions do have roots in pagan celebration, but rather than seeing it as tainted by them, I see that the early Christians tried to redeem the festival and apply it to celebrating the birth of the Christ Child, not a bad recyling job. The pagans are the ones that should feel tainted, as now they are beginning to express. Oh well, like a marriage ceremony, Christmas is a thorough melding of spiritual and carnal aspects of this life. Being older helps a little bit with a sense of perspective for present-buying too. I know I can't fulfill Santa's magical gift of giving people exactly what they wanted, don't even want to now, but I can show them I love them by getting something I at least think they will like. In this life, that will have to do.