VOX C L A R A STANFORD’S JOURNAL OF CHRISTIAN THOUGHT
Winter 2022
FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS A CALL TO EVANGELISM WHILE EMBRACING THE HOLY SPIRIT, 8 SIN FORGOTTEN, 16 LOVE OF MAN, WRATH OF MEN, 22
ABOUT VOX CLARA OUR MISSION Vox Clara is a journal of Christian thought at Stanford, dedicated to cultural inquiry in the light of faith and reason. We seek to provide a forum for Christians and non-Christians at Stanford to engage in dialogue related to Christianity, culture, and life’s biggest questions. We believe it is important to address issues of faith in the university community. As Jane Stanford’s words on the wall of Memorial Church attest: “There is no narrowing so deadly as the narrowing of man’s horizon of spiritual things. No worse evil could befall him in his course on earth than to lose sight of Heaven. And it is not civilization that can prevent this; it is not civilization that can compensate for it. No widening of science, no possession of abstract truth, can indemnify for an enfeebled hold on the highest and central truths of humanity. ‘What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?’”
T H E AU G U ST I NE CO L L ECT I V E Vox Clara is part of the Augustine Collective, a network of student-led Christian journals on college campuses throughout the United States amd the UK. There are over thirty journals to date, all committed to the premise that faith and reason belong together. For more information, see augustinecollective.org.
T H E NI CE NE CR E E D We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father; through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became truly human. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
D I S CL A I M E R The opinions expressed in the articles contained in this publication are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of Vox Clara or its staff members.
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ABOUT VOX CLARA
VOX CLARA
STAFF T R I STA N WA NG President, Designer
A B I GA I L S CH W E I Z E R Vice President, Designer
B ECCA D E LO S SA NTO S Financial Officer, Designer
J ACK M c K I NNO N Content Editor
B RA ND O N A P O NT E Content Editor
A D I T YA P RAT H A P Content Editor
STAFF
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 6
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DEAR G OD Becca De Los Santos
A CALL TO EVA NGE LISM W HILE EMB RAC ING THE HOLY SPIR IT Brandon Aponte
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C ONTRADICTIONS & CONTINUIT Y How Scripture Nullifies the Teachings of the Mormon Church Jack McKinnon
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
SIN FO RG OT T EN Elijah Negron
UND ERSTA ND ING T HE T IMES Glen Davis
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L OV E O F MA N, W RAT H O F MEN A Short Story Aditya Prathap
VOX CLARA
EDITOR’S NOTE “For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14, ESV). This message, originally delivered by Mordecai to the newly crowned Queen Esther, was an urgent admonition to leverage her providential placing in the royal court to save her people from extermination. To follow through with her plans of intervention meant risking her life. Yet despite her initial reluctance, Esther brought an appeal for mercy before the Persian king in the understanding that God would provide her with everything she needed, to do what needed to be done. None of us have crowns upon our heads, kings to stand before, or imperiled subjects to deliver from the sword. Yet as Christians, we believe that God has uniquely positioned and provisioned us to make impactful choices within our circles of influence. We know all too well that there is no place on Earth that is devoid of injustice and suffering. Often, we experience the temptation of feeling too eager, too broken, or too feeble to improve a damaged world on our own terms. But we endeavor to take heart, knowing that God extends to us an invitation to participate in His good plans, for the purpose of His glory and the strengthening of our faiths. The essays contained in this issue serve as tributes to some of the essential challenges of our time, and as reminders of how we all, by God’s grace, can rise to meet them. We hope they inspire you. In Christ,
Tristan Wang President
EDITOR’S NOTE
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DEAR GOD B ECC A D E LOS SA N TOS
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wrote this letter over two years ago and submitted it with great hesitation to Stanford. Yes, this was my Common App essay. It wasn’t an account of my scholastic successes, but a mere conversation with the One who didn’t need a letter to understand everything. So often, we resort to bitterness, stewing in the emotions of our trials. And we ask God: “Why me?” It’s an exhausting question with endless, non-productive answers. Frankly, it’s a question that we must let go of. As the night passes and a new day dawns, we can find joy in the morning. One that doesn’t replace or eliminate grief, yet gives us a better understanding of the goodness of God in the midst of a sinful world. It gives us a better understanding of who we are in the light of the Creator’s abounding grace, for we were made for such a time as this even when people, events, and us ourselves, are far from perfect.
October 12th, 2019 Dear God, We both aren’t surprised that I’m back here. I’ve done it many times before, attempting to resolve Your greatest creation and our greatest mystery: life. I hope You aren’t too tired yet, because it’s looking like I just might be back again. Today is an extraordinary day. Four years ago, I last saw Dad on the night he took his life. I’ve put some thought into this one rather than the normal frustrations and wayward prayers. I didn’t want to walk into that dreaded room, where policemen stood around my mother like a barricade, and she was the town under siege. They had come the
VOX CLARA next morning, following Dad’s disappearance, to deliver what seemed to be the heaviest news of all. I watched these strangers carry out their task, yet my mind was still numb from shock and my body felt robbed of all that was sentient and right. It was wrong for him to leave. It was wrong for him to take his life. Four years later, while I still don’t believe it was right, I do believe it wasn’t wrong in the scheme of life. Pressure pushed progress. My role as “Daddy’s Girl” had ceased to exist, and I was far from knowing what role to play out now. The title of “Widow’s Daughter” didn’t seem enticing, nor was it. Tragedy didn’t have to stunt Mom’s and my relationship even more. Years of taking sides made her my foil. I knew her weaknesses and she knew mine, from my cleaning skills to my emotional insecurities. Yet there she stood, naked of her identity, Colonel’s wife and loving partner. Our shared sorrow raised the veil, and I saw that my resistance was not because we were opposites, but because we were equals. Four years later, I choose to invest in her, as I know now that our comprehension of one another went past the
bounds of our imperfections. In Death’s face, grief is funny like that. When you feel the farthest is when it’s the easiest to become closer to others. Four years later, I bear the legacy that had been planted in my father by his, an immigrant who had risen from poverty to be the first of his family to set foot on mainland soil. My brother and I are the triumph over alienating adversity, a task that was once designated “The American Dream.” No longer is it their dream, but our reality that we indulgently live. Our grandfather didn’t move Heaven and Hell just to reap the profits himself. Dad didn’t instill a reverence for education so that I could merely foster an appreciation for it. It was now my realization to realize: education is futile when thought of as an amenity, and fruitful when it’s a charge to be cherished. I must ask, would I have felt the need to confront change and pursue more than just the ordinary if Dad was still here (this was supposed to be a rhetorical question, but Your omniscience defeats the point of asking)? So here we are, after four years of still contesting tragedy’s definitive tendencies, dream-chasing in Europe, writing chapters of my eventually finished unfinished books, passing through tests, embracing a new stepfather and four step-siblings. What You would call four years of “life.” And all I can do in response is to say “Thank You.” Thank you, Death. Although you never were right, you were never wrong. You make our lives livelier and our deep relationships deeper. You transform choices into persistence rather than simple survival.
In Death's face, grief is funny like that. When you feel the farthest is when it's the easiest to become closer to others.
Thank you, Dad, for teaching me there’s always more progress to be produced. The end doesn’t mean the work is over. And thank You, God, for doing what You do, whatever it is that You do. I certainly wouldn’t be here or have done it without You. ❖ Becca De Los Santos is a sophomore studying French and History. She is deeply passionate about language and how humans have communicated over time, especially concerning the greatest message to communicate: the Gospel.
DEAR GOD
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A CALL TO EVANGELISM WHILE EMBRACING THE HOLY SPIRIT B R A N D ON A P ON T E
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ear readers, it is by God’s grace that we are placed on such a beautiful, influential campus to proclaim the Gospel message. As Christ instructed His disciples prior to His heavenly ascension, we too are left with the following command: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”[1] Known by Christians as the Great Commission, this command is the guiding, foundational
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principle that drives believers to follow the Bible and live convincingly devout lives — exemplifying the fruits of the Spirit as described by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatian Church — that prompt unbelievers to commit themselves to Christ.[2] While it is our calling as Christ’s modern-day disciples to evangelize, we mustn’t compromise our beliefs to please the world. That is, Christians mustn’t become more like the world to reach the world with the Gospel. Regrettably, Christians cast aside their moral convictions to ap-
VOX CLARA pear more like the unsaved that they are witnessing to than the very Savior who provides the gift of salvation. After writing about the mystery of salvation in Romans 11, Paul addresses this issue of conformity and provides the following Biblical solution: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”[3] Paul is urging the believer to transform their state of mind to align more perfectly with Christ; this mental transformation allows us to become more pleasing in the sight of God. Although Paul’s words appear straightforward, their application is not. Due to the amoral condition of the world, a believer is always weaker when relying on his or her own strength than on God’s strength. Paul makes it clear in Romans 7 that, although his intentions to live a Godly life are pure, “for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.”[4] In short, what Paul wishes to do, he does not since he is bound to his sinful nature — a byproduct of the fall of mankind.[5] This leads us to the question of how Christ empowered His Church to compensate for our innate weakness throughout the last two millennia. In the Book of Acts, Christ foreshadows our spiritual baptism with the following statement: “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”[6] In response to the question posed above, therefore, we must rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to compensate for the sinful nature inherent to all humans. Namely, believers must allow the Holy Spirit to act as our spiritual representative. Paul encourages the Roman believers to let go of the self and allow the Spirit to work: “For we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”[7] God not only empathizes with but has personally endured — through His Son incarnate — our innate weakness as human beings. Today, His Spirit communicates to God on our behalf, discerning and relaying our most visceral desires to the Father. Praise be to God that He has provided His Church with the Holy Spirit, who can intercede on our behalf to the one who created us. As Paul instructs the Galatians, we too must heed the following command: “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”[8] What exactly does walking in the Spirit entail for believers? In short, to walk in the Spirit is to be filled by the Spirit.
We have no excuse but to live in accordance with the Great Commission: to boldly proclaim the Gospel wherever and whenever we are called. This involves allowing the Spirit to control every aspect of your life: to willingly abstain from the desires of the flesh (as noted above), to choose joy and shun fear,[9] and to rely on the Spirit to guide each thought, word, and deed. [10] As it grows increasingly difficult in the United States for Christians to thrive, it grows all the more important that we as believers ardently cling to Biblical truths and unwaveringly allow the Spirit to move in our lives, particularly as it pertains to evangelism. Simply put, we have no excuse but to live in accordance with The Great Commission: to boldly proclaim the Gospel wherever and whenever we are called. Turn to the martyrs in other nations for a model of total, unwavering spiritual dedication to evangelism in the midst of anti-Christian persecution. Take Christians who reside in Ethiopia as an example; I cite Ethiopia due to its intensifying retaliation against native Christians. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Christians were discriminated against for their faith when medical aid was distributed, and many Christians were denied access to treatment for COVID-19. Historically, Christian women are forced to marry Muslim men and renounce their faith in Christ, and if a woman converts to Christianity in a Muslim region, she will be divorced by her husband and lose custody of her children. Despite this persecution, many Ethiopian Christians readily embrace this suffering and discrimination. One such individual, Khalid, describes his predicament as follows: “They refused to give me food and shelter. They even threatened to kill me … In spite of all these things, God’s protection saved me.”[11] It is beautiful to witness a fellow believer call upon the name of Christ for protection amidst trial, and we can certainly learn a lesson from these believers who remain faithful despite persecution. During a time of intensifying moral degra-
A CALL TO EVANGELISM WHILE EMBRACING THE HOLY SPIRIT
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dation in the United States — burgeoning racial tension, collapse of the family unit, and cultural promiscuity — it is imperative to remain vigilant and, above all else, promote the Gospel. Our unwillingness to more readily share the Gospel is inexcusable provided the harsh reality that our persecution — primarily verbal and rarely involving physical violence — does not compare to that endured by our spiritual brothers and sisters in hostile nations. As I conclude this piece, I am reminded of Vox Clara’s mission statement: “Vox Clara is a journal of Christian thought at Stanford, dedicated to fostering meaningful conversations in light of faith and reason.” Our mission statement echoes the words of the Great Commission, and its words fuel my soul with a strong desire to foster my own Gospel-infused conversations with those around me. At Stanford, my peers constitute intellectual young adults who, like me, are searching for their own truth. In today’s culture and secular environment, however, very few people will discover the one and only truth of the Bible, much less the Gospel message, on their own. Therefore, it is our responsibility to minister, witness to, and disciple these individuals. The Great Commission must be fulfilled and believers must rely on the Holy Spirit during the process. Thanks be to God for bestowing upon His Church the very power of Christ through His Holy Spirit, and may we honor Him with our obedience. ❖ [1] Matthew 28:19-20, KJV. [2] Galatians 5:22-23. [3] Romans 12:2, KJV. [4] Romans 7:15, KJV. [5] Genesis 3. [6] Acts 1:8, KJV. [7] Romans 8:26, KJV. [8] Galatians 5:16, KJV. [9] Philippians 4:6, KJV. [10] Romans 6:11-14, KJV. [11] “Ethiopia,” Open Doors USA, January 2, 2022, https://www. opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/world-watch-list/ethiopia.
Brandon is a sophomore pursuing a degree in economics and biology. His academic interests include macroeconomics, cellular biology, and classical music. Aside from Vox Clara, Brandon serves as an active leader in Chi Alpha, studies classical violin under Robin Sharp, conducts COVID-19 research under Dr. Bhattacharya, and investigates the cellular mechanisms driving lipoprotein translocation under Dr. Sharaf. After Stanford, Brandon hopes to potentially work at a think tank, where he will conduct research to further advance healthcare policy.
CONTRADICTIONS AND CONTINUITY H OW SC R IP TU RE N U LLI F IE S T H E T EAC H IN GS OF T H E M O RM ON C H U RC H J AC K M c KI N N ON
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n lieu of the injunctions by Christ and His apostles to beware of false teachers, antichrists, and not give in for a moment for the preservation of the truth,[1] I wish to highlight the importance of such commandments with a case analysis of the teachings of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints. My main contention is that the message of Joseph Smith and subsequent teachings of the church of LDS compromise the essence of the Gospel and are therefore false. I assert that LDS doctrines on God and on Christ are irreconcilable with the Old and New Testaments. We, as Christians, ought to be on guard against the teachings of the LDS church and recognize it as preaching a false gospel. CONCERNING THE DOCTRINE OF GOD The Mormon church teaches that God is not Triune and that God the Father was once a man. Therefore, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young teach that God is not infinite, nor eternal, nor immutable, nor spirit, nor necessarily existing but was created. From Joseph Smith we
find the following taught: “God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man … We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and take away the veil, so that you may see … he was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did … and you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all gods have done before you …”[2] And further, Smith adds in the same Discourses that “[God] is our Father — the Father of our spirits, and was once a man in mortal flesh as we are, and is now an exalted Being. How many Gods there are, I do not know. But there never was a time when there were not Gods …”[3] Yet Scripture testifies that God is an immaterial, incorporeal, necessarily existent being, who does not change. There are no Gods other than the one true God, who
CONTRADICTIONS AND CONTINUITY
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exists as a Trinity of persons, united by essence and not by mere will. Several examples from holy scripture may suffice to prove this point: “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”[4] Although the verse itself is rather clear, it becomes even more so when the context is applied. Jesus says earlier in the same passage that the time is coming when humans shall worship God neither in Mount Gerizim nor in Jerusalem, as though God was locally contained in these areas. Rather, it is on account of God being spirit that the new way of worship is to be ushered in through Christ — one of truth and one of spirit accessible to all people regardless of ethnicity or race. Jesus elevated the Samaritan woman’s mind to spiritual realities from the Samaritan ignorance of thinking that God could be locally or spatially confined (hence their exclusive worship at Mount Gerizim). This verse complements and completes the other verses that we have concerning the immateriality and invisibility of God. God is not visible because He is spirit and hence has no body. In accordance with his Master, Paul writes the following concerning the nature of idols: “Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.”[5] Paul here does not affirm that there are many gods but one God. He contrasts the beliefs of the Greek pagans in Corinth who affirm the existence of many gods and lords who Paul shows are not really gods, but they are so-called gods. It is the Christians that assert there is only one God in contradistinction to the pagan pantheons.[6] Moreover, God has created all things through Christ. This is in contradiction with Joseph Smith’s teachings that there were things existing before God because Scripture affirms that everything that exists has its existence bestowed to it by the gracious and free choice of God.
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Scripture affirms that everything that exists has its existence bestowed to it by the gracious and free choice of God.
The Old Testament furnishes us with further proofs: “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”[7] Here, as in other passages, we have a univocal statement: God is not a man. If God the Father were indeed a man with a now glorified and exalted body who ascended to deity, then he would still have retained his human substance and thus be a man. This reasoning is made clearer if we consider our own state. When the just are resurrected and go to eternal glory, they are glorified indeed but they do not have a new substance of divinity. Rather, their existing nature — human nature — reaches its fullest potential, specially granted by God. One substance with an essence — a man with a human nature, for example — cannot become a God because that would be a change in essence which would annihilate the identity of the substance. In other words the man would no longer be a man; he would no longer exist if his prior essence is destroyed. So we are left either with an incoherent and contradictory concept of the Divine essence or with a very low doctrine of divinity. And from Exodus we have God telling us Who He is:
“God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’ And he said, ‘Say this to the people of Israel: I am has sent me to you.’”[8] God shows His aseity. This means that God and God alone is the eternally existing, self-sufficient being. He relies on nothing to sustain His existence outside of Himself. It is of His very nature to exist. This shows, in contradiction to the Mormon teaching about God, that He was never created nor was ever a man. For a man to claim this is blasphemy. God is not comprehensible by a mere man and is of a totally different being than us. Against Joseph Smith’s teachings, God Himself tells us that He is not the same species as man. Furthermore, note that from this verse we may deduce that God the Father is spirit and not a corporeal body. The argument runs thus: anything that has matter or a corporeal body is subject to corruption and anything that is subject to corruption can change. Yet we know that God does not change.[9] Additionally, God cannot change in essence, because He necessarily exists.[10] Anything that is subject to change is a contingent being, i.e. it is possible that it fails to exist. Therefore, God is definitionally not corporeal nor a glorified human body because a human body implies the contingency and the possibility of substantial change which God does not have in His essence. CONCERNING THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST
The Mormon church teaches that Jesus Christ was born of God (in a carnal way) and has not existed from eternity past with the Father. Rather, Jesus Christ is a created being who followed the same life as God the Father. That is, Jesus Christ became a man, died, was resurrected, and was glorified to the status of deity. Jesus Christ was once a man and not God, but then became God through his merit. See the following proclamations of the Mormon church: “Every person who was ever born on earth was our spirit brother or sister in heaven. The first spirit born to our heavenly parents was Jesus Christ, so he is literally our elder brother.”[11] “Jesus is the only person on earth to be born of a mortal mother and an immortal father. That is why he is called the Only Begotten Son.”[12] Yet Scripture testifies that Jesus Christ is indeed God and has existed for eternity past. He is the agent of creation through whom all things hold together and exist. Jesus Christ is uniquely divine and is as the Father has been because both have always been and always will be fully God. Thus, Paul says: “Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped.”[13]
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Anyone who preaches another gospel than that which was preached, though it should come with mighty signs and wonders, is not of Christ.
Paul tells us in his epistle to the church at Philippi that Christ was equal with God because Christ was of the same form as God. The Greek word for “form”, used here also means essence or nature.[14] Thus, Christ is of the same essence as God and therefore is God. Then we have the Apostle of Love and Son of Thunder testify plainly that: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”[15] Joseph Smith mistranslates verse 1 as saying that the Son was with God the Father and the Gospel alone.[16] But the Greek rendering is καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος — the word order shows that all of the attributes of God apply to the Word before the Word took on flesh since the word translated as “God” comes before the subject of the sentence which is “the Word.” This is done to show that the essence of God is predicated on the Word who is Christ, the subject of the clause. This is manifestly against the doctrine of Joseph Smith and the LDS which teach that Christ is a created being and not God. Against any vain notion that Christ was preeminent
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among created beings, but not coequal and cosubstantial with the Father, Paul writes in the Holy Spirit to the church of the Colossians: “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”[17] This final passage contradicts LDS doctrine in two ways. First, Christ is shown, once more, to be the image of God. In other words, Christ bears the same image of God because He is God. He is the firstborn in the sense of the Hebraic context where the firstborn is he who obtains the inheritance. Second, Christ is said to exist before all things, and that He Himself created all things. This would not be possible were Christ just a God among many Gods who existed before Him in infinity past. With the brief evidence of the above Scriptural passages — of which many more abound — I hope it is evident that the Gospel of Jesus Christ as contained in the Old and New Testament is radically different from the gospel of Joseph Smith. The teachings of the church of LDS are those that Christ Himself and His apostles after Him warned us to be on guard against. As St. Paul enjoins to the Galatian church, “even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God's curse!”[18] In this, the whole of this paper is contained. The Gospel was delivered once and for all to all the saints, and anyone who preaches another gospel than that which was preached, though it should come with mighty signs and wonders, is not of Christ. We ought to be sober in spirit lest the Church be led astray by false Christs or false teachers.[19] The true Holy Spirit will not and cannot testify to anything other than the truth.[20] Furthermore, these inconsistencies with the message of the apostles and the message of the church of LDS, specifically from Joseph Smith, testify that the church of LDS is not the true Church of God.[21] Therefore, from Christ’s own apostles and the Lord Himself, it is shown how we may dis-
cern the Spirit of truth and a spirit of error. The spirit of the church of LDS and of Joseph Smith, by Scripture's own witness, is one of error as detailed here and above because they teach and listen to teachings opposed to those of the apostles of Christ. Lastly, I want to make clear that we as Christians ought to correct and rebuke in love those who are in error. Many are zealous for God, there is little doubt, for we have seen as much in our daily lives, but this zeal is not based on knowledge, but from a spirit of falsity.[22] Let us, therefore, press on towards the true Christ and the true Gospel, while holding fast against heresies new and old which the Church has done and shall continue to do until the consummation of all things. ❖ [1] 2 Peter 2:1. [2] Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith, compiled by Alma L. Burton, 1977, pages 340-341. [3] Journal of Discourses, volume 7, page 333. [4] John 4:24. [5] 1 Corinthians 8:4-6. [6] Deuteronomy 4:35. [7] Numbers 23:19. [8] Exodus 3:14. Jesus Himself would proclaim to be this very God. See John 8:58, which reads: “‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am.” Jesus identifies Himself with the great “I am who I am” revealed in the Old Testament before His crucifixion and resurrection. This is an identity statement equivalent to deity. [9] Malachi 3:6. [10] That is to say, it is impossible for God to not exist. [11] Gospel Principles, page 11. [12] Gospel Principles, page 64. [13] Philippians 2:5-6. [14] μορφή. [15] John 1:1-3. [16] Joseph Smith’s translation of John 1:1 reads: “In the beginning was the gospel preached through the Son. And the gospel was the word, and the word was with the Son, and the Son was with God, and the Son was of God.” [17] Colossians 1:15-17. [18] Galatians 1:8. [19] Romans 16:17-18. [20] John 16:13. [21] Hence John says: “We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” [22] Romans 10:2.
Jack McKinnon is a junior studying Philosophy and Classics. He plans to pursue professional degrees in both Philosophy and Theology. His main academic interests are metaphysics, Church History, and Patristics.
SIN FORGOTTEN E L IJ A H N EG RON
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he Church has forgotten how to teach about sin. This is not a new observation, and it might even be a tired one. However, the effects of this failure of the Church are slowly working into the way that a new, younger generation of Christians is thinking about life and faith. There is both a mass walking away from what has become viewed as a draconian, simplistic, and regressive body of Christ, while at the same time those within the mainstream of American Christianity are less biblically literate, less involved, and becoming altogether lukewarm. The dominant attitude of many prominent churches is one primarily of comfort. Environments that, rather than confronting the real, evil nature of humanity, focus solely on generalized, inaccurate summations of
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ELIJAH NEGRON
Grace. I think of congregations singing thoughtlessly: “You didn’t want heaven without us, so Jesus you brought heaven down.” Oh, the reckless love of God. I have vivid memories of growing up in this type of church environment. I would hide in the bathroom during services to avoid hearing the messages and stand silently and uncomfortably during worship. I didn’t know why I hated being there as much as I did, and from that frustration spouted confusion about whether or not it was possible for me to be a Christian when it seemed like I hated everything Christianity represented.
Then I picked up the Bible. Contrary to the Church that makes a focus of its evangelism telling worldly people that they are “children of God,” the Bible tells us that “friendship with the world means enmity with God.”[1] When the Church minimizes the weight and prevalence of sin, or represents them as mistakes that generally good people make, Paul tells us that “the wages of sin is death”[2] and that “all have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”[3] There is a sign of the depth and severity of humanity’s sinful condition. That is Christ crucified. On the cross God shows us in full display the punishment that every human person deserves for violating the perfect commandments of a wholly good God. We see ourselves spit on, humiliated, and whipped. We see nails driven into our hands and feet, and the whole of our body weight suspended on those wounds. Our own deeds require a just punishment from a just God.
There is a sign of the depth and severity of humanity's sinful condition. That is Christ crucified.
Instead of being humbled by this, I see in today’s Church signs of exactly the type of hypocrisy that Jesus condemned so fiercely in the Jewish religious leaders of his day. The presentation of a clean facade which judges the world for its transgressions, and a filthy interior — and as a reaction to this, many self-identified Christians externally celebrate their internal uncleanliness, expressing to non-christians that they are not in need of a savior. Christians, ignorant of their own condition, curse people in ignorance of their own nature. Oftentimes, churches turn to emphasizing works as a way to God, and in doing so forget that Jesus tells us “do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set,” and in doing so emphasizes that attempting to reach God through doing good according to the law can only condemn us.[4] Other times, churches will instead turn to making sin out to be unimportant after praying a prayer and “accepting Jesus into your heart,” making a quick one and done alter call the center of Christian belief. In doing this they forget that Jesus says: “Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.”[5] In our lives we are called to perfection we cannot achieve, the realization of how important that failure of ours is calls us to understand our need for a savior. When we see God’s grace given to us “while we were still sinners,” and rather than taking Jesus’ sacrifice as a ticket to heaven, the overwhelming weight of that Grace drives Christians to take up their cross and follow Jesus for the rest of their lives.[6] We are condemned by the law of God, and yet, when we
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see the face of the crucified man, we see that it is Christ. The king of the universe takes our punishment on himself, and in doing so demonstrates the most profound humility and love that has ever been demonstrated. What can this breed but the most authentic humility and joy? Yes, we are condemned by the law, but we are saved in Christ! One part of that declaration cannot be forgotten. A Church that has truly accepted both parts will be a Church that increases in righteousness, but is conscious of the damage of sin. A church that loves the people lost in the world, but hates the world they are lost in. A body that lives in worshipful service to God and rejoices in suffering. What could preach the gospel louder? It is time to stop preaching the gospel in any one easy way. Everyone wants to believe they can be a good person and deserve access to heaven, and likewise anyone would want to believe that any sinful thing they do is unimportant because of the sacrifice of Jesus. Neither of the lifestyles that stem from this thinking are emblematic of the Christian message, neither will lead to a life of selfless servitude like the one that Christ lived, and neither will be salvific. The message is simple, the message is also offensive. And yet, if the Church has any desire to reverse the move towards secularization in the West, the simple and offensive gospel is exactly what they should be sharing. The world has no interest in adding a holy book to their already self-centered philosophy. But, when the true gospel is preached, every once and a while its weight impresses itself on someone willing to listen, and another sinner hopelessly lost finds rest, joy, and endless mercy in a God worth serving here and forever. ❖ [1] James 4:4, NIV. [2] Romans 6:23, NIV. [3] Romans 3:12, NIV. [4] John 5:45, NIV. [5] Matthew 7:17-18, NIV. [6] Romans 5:8, NIV.
Elijah is a freshman, and a prospective philosophy major interested in increasing access to important conversations about philosophy and religion to a wider, excluded audience.
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ELIJAH NEGRON
UNDERSTANDING THE TIMES G LE N DAVI S
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Chronicles 12:32 mentions warriors from Issachar “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.”
Sadly, the verse describes a period roughly 3,000 years ago. If only we had warriors from Issachar today who could see through the confusion of our culture and speak confidently about how we should live in response. Since they have long since decomposed, if godly people are to discern the times they must arise from within our own ranks. Perhaps you, dear reader, will be one of those whom later generations regard with admiration for your foresight and shrewd actions. Here are some rules of thumb you might find useful as you seek to understand the times. READ AUTHORS REPRESENTING A VARIETY OF VIEWPOINTS As Proverbs 18:17 reminds us, “In a lawsuit the first to speak seems right, until someone comes forward and cross-examines.” The goal of reading widely is to be able to pass two tests: the humility test and the ideological Turing test. The humility test is this: can you think of someone smarter and better-informed than you who disagrees with you? If not, perhaps the situation is really that clear-cut (it turns out that the earth is round and those who dis-
agree are simply ill-informed), but perhaps your inability to find someone impressive who disagrees with you is because you’ve never been exposed to a strong case for another viewpoint. I recently read an op-ed that claimed “there is no legal argument” for the pro-life view. How silly! Of course there are legal arguments for the pro-life view. How else do cases wind their way all the way to the Supreme Court? Cases with no merit are tossed out long before they escalate to that level. And yet these otherwise intelligent people genuinely believe there is no argument to be had, presumably because of the intellectual circles they have isolated themselves within. Perhaps the arguments are flawed, perhaps they are persuasive. Legal scholars will disagree on the merits. But that the arguments exist is obvious to any honest person. The ideological Turing test is an idea I got by reading the economist Bryan Caplan. He says you should aspire to “state opposing views as clearly and persuasively as their proponents.” If fairly arguing for a position forces you to change your mind, all the better. On the other hand, if you can fairly argue for a position and still reject it, you should feel more confident about your rejection. If you are unable to pass the ideological Turing test, then you are insufficiently informed to pop off about your view in public. Here are some journalists and entertainers who represent a variety of views.
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When someone is being silenced, there is a good chance they are making arguments that their opponents don't know how to rebut.
If you lean left then you need commentators to read on the right: David French, Russell Moore, Jonah Goldberg, Rod Dreher, Tyler Cowen, Ross Douthat. If you lean right then you need commentators to read on the left: Ezra Klein, Matt Yglesias, Freddie deBoer, Bari Weiss, Jesse Singal, Elizabeth Bruenig. And whatever your political preference you should find humorists on both sides: they will ruthlessly expose the weaknesses of the other side. Sources on the right include the Babylon Bee and Ryan Long. On the left, look for John Oliver or Trevor Noah. PAY EXTRA ATTENTION TO PEOPLE WHO ARE BEING CANCELED OR OTHERWISE CENSORED Acts 7:57 describes the actions that preceded the first Christian martyrdom: “They covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him.” People who seek to cancel others today are just as foolish as those fanatics were two thousand years ago. When someone is being silenced — when everyone stops up their ears and yells loudly — there is a good chance the ones being silenced are making arguments that their opponents don’t know how to rebut. This is true on a smaller scale as well as on a larger scale. For example, if someone at a city council meeting raises a point and receives only ad hominem attacks in
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response, consider their point carefully. Or, if a journalist is pressured to resign from a high profile publication for deviating from the accepted orthodoxy, then starts a Substack which is regularly embroiled in controversy, subscribe to their Substack. PAY EXTRA ATTENTION TO PEOPLE WHO ARE STANDING AGAINST THE CURRENT This cuts in many directions. On the right, pay attention to the politicians who are standing against their party and censuring Donald Trump. On the left, pay attention to the senators who are withstanding party pressure to vote in lockstep. In academia, pay attention to studies which make claims most academics find distasteful (for example, Woodberry’s research on the positive impacts of conversionary Protestant missionaries). In the media, pay attention to journalists who report against whatever the prevailing narrative is. And above all, pay extra special attention to people you expected to be on your side of an issue who stake out the “wrong” position. As Proverbs 27:6 reminds us, “Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.” These contrarian voices will not always be right, but even when wrong they are usually raising points that we would be wise to consider, and which may affect our strategy moving forward. And sometimes they will be completely right and the dominant cultural voices completely mistaken. This was often the case during the COVID-19 pandemic, when listening to the expert consensus was consistently and demonstrably worse for your health than listening to prominent contrarian voices. DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE DEEP CURRENTS OF OUR CULTURE The temptation when trying to understand the times is to become a news junkie. This is usually counterproductive. Most people seem to understand less of what matters the better-informed they are about the latest tiff on Twitter. Colossians 2:8 warns us to beware of “hollow and deceptive philosophy.” And yet, if we only know the news, we won’t understand the philosophical framework that is framing the news. Journalism may answer questions,
but it is the philosophy governing the journalists that determines which questions will be asked. When we understand the premises — even the flawed premises — that inform much of the news, we will better be able to understand and apply the biased reporting that we encounter. Understanding the climate of our culture rather than the weather that is our news will require engaging something more substantive than a meme. For a thoughtful, well-educated Christian, I recommend the following three works as good places to start: 1) How (Not) To Be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor by James K.A. Smith is a readable summary of Charles Taylor’s magisterial (and considerably less readable) A Secular Age. Read it for a solid analysis of faith and doubt in the contemporary environment. 2) To Change The World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World by James Davison Hunter is about how cultural change actually occurs. Read it to understand how faith and politics have related to one another in America. 3) The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution by Carl Trueman is dry but insightful. Read it to understand how a sentence like “I was
If we only know the news, we won’t understand the philosophical framework that is framing the news.
born in the wrong body” progressed from being seen as an incoherent utterance, to a place where it now needs no explanation. The days of Issachar are long past, but our need for the wisdom they represented is greater than ever. May the Lord raise up shrewd people today who understand the times and know what God’s people should do! ❖ Glen Davis, an ordained Assemblies of God minister, has been the advisor of Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship at Stanford since 2002. He blogs at theglendavis.com and is on Twitter @theglendavis.
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LOVE OF MAN WRATH OF MEN A S H ORT STORY A DI TYA P RATH A P
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VOX CLARA
T
he two brothers stood over the mangled remains of a frisbee, their mouths gaping open in an expression of shock and admiration. They lingered for a minute in silence, until one cleared his throat loudly.
Jacob shouted out to his brother: “You know that —”
“Look, Jacob, I’m really sorry.” He looked down at his feet and tried clearing his throat again, but it felt awkward and he swallowed conspicuously instead.
It was not an invitation as much as it was a calculated, tested method to force Jacob to tag along on Esau’s various escapades. For although he knew that his brother’s stubborn conscience loathed the foolish games in which Esau was an expert, he also correctly predicted that the same conscience would revile abandoning his brother even more. Jacob, not having enough time to object, began following his brother in a brisk speedwalk at a pace just fast enough to keep sight of his brother, but also slow enough to air his vexation silently. He mumbled to himself that he was “not afraid, obviously not afraid, what a crazy idea …” and that “I’ve already told him that he’s going to get himself hurt one of these days …”
Jacob sighed. “Don’t worry about it, man,” he said as he turned to look at his brother. “I could have tried a bit harder to catch it. I mean, Esau, you of all people know how lousy I am at this game.” A vague sense of guilt remained in his brother’s knitted eyebrows, but the slightly upturned corners of his mouth betrayed his readiness to forget the whole ordeal. “Who even knew these things were so flimsy, anyways?” he exclaimed as he gingerly picked the ugly plastic wad up with two fingers, before almost instinctively tossing it to the side. Jacob was slightly annoyed, but he was much more impressed by his brother’s characteristic nonchalance regarding his own mistakes. Nonetheless, recognizing the impossibility of reprimanding Esau and softened by his now jovial attitude, Jacob heaved another sigh, this time with slightly added emphasis. “Well, it wasn’t exactly designed to withstand things like him,” he said as he nodded toward the fenced-off area to the right. The rottweiler could be heard pacing with his meaty, treestump legs, his fortified metal chain hanging underneath the sway of his thick neck and jowls. He whispered one more guttural growl and lashed out a few sharp barks, as if reminding the brothers that he’ll take more than their frisbee if they stick around any longer. Esau had been fidgeting the frisbee with his foot, but now spontaneously straightened up and kicked the remains away with a shout. “Let’s go to the forest!” he whispered with contained animation. If Esau had continued looking at his brother for a mere half second longer, he would have noticed him instantly begin to shake his head, as if by habit, and his playful expression melting into a frown and furrowed eyebrows. But just as Jacob opened his mouth to speak, Esau dashed away, galloping toward the sheet of shrubs smeared across the deep end of the backyard, behind which a messy dirt path leading deeper into the forest jutted out.
“Oh, come on! Don’t be so scared. We’re not children anymore.”
Jacob’s vexation, however, did not detract from the awe he felt toward the sheer beauty of the brown-green cascade that now surrounded him. The waves of leaves above the towering oak trees swayed and glittered in the melting daylight, dancing against a backdrop of red-orange sky. The branches jounced as squirrels chased one another across the hanging tangle of wood. A stream could be heard gurgling alongside the sonorous song of birds that sweetened the air. The ground and the plants and the animals absorbed all the superfluous noise, all the distractions that disrupted the steady thrum of the forest; it seemed for a moment that the rest of the world had passed away without a sound, and only this hushed pocket of life remained. Esau turned around abruptly. “Ain’t this wonderful?” he crooned. Hearing Esau’s voice reminded Jacob of the reason for their being here, and the charm of the forest vanished like a blanket torn away from a man in deep sleep. “This isn’t smart. Remember how —” He paused and frowned as he realized that Esau had started galloping toward the sound of water nearby. Jacob jogged up to his brother. “Look, let’s just go to the park. The park is great! Remember that time we …” Jacob decided to save his breath, for he recognized that look in his brother’s eyes, that whimsical focus that he inevitably adopted in response to advice. It was both a frustrating and strangely endearing expression, but Esau’s natural charm rarely failed to magnify the latter impression over the former. A smile cut short the sigh that escaped Jacob’s lips.
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They stepped onto the shore of the humble river, strewn with tiny pebbles smoothed flat by time and nature. “Let’s just relax here for a bit,” Esau said as he bent down with a grunt, gathering a handful of stones in his left hand. “Betcha I can get more skips than you, loser,” he mocked, and launched a stone downstream across the bubbling sheet of water. It sank with a plop. Jacob’s initial scowl of disapproval had completely disappeared by now, and it gradually grew into a cheeky grin as more stones were flung and the sun sunk deeper into the horizon. It was completely submerged by the time the brothers had sprawled across the stony bank with laughter in their eyes and the first drop of rain tore through the surface of the stream. The fiery sky had cooled into a frigid gray; it was a frightful shade, the color of dirty ice and violent sea. With a contemptuous stoicism toward the warmth it now chased away, it descended upon the world below in an illuminating shadow as the squirrels and birds retreated to their homes and the insects of the night emerged. “When do you want to start —” “Just stop. Please,” Esau interjected. Jacob sat up on an elbow and looked down on his brother. The familiar playful stubbornness had given way to knitted eyebrows and a stern frown. “What do you mean, stop? We have to go home at some point and it’s —” “— starting to rain and it’s getting dark. I know, you don’t have to remind me.” A cold silence hung in the air. “Okay, man.” Jacob sat up and looked back toward the water with screwed-up eyes. He waited for his brother to say something, but the same silence remained. Ten minutes passed as Jacob watched the water crawling over the rocks jutting out of the stream. He turned to Esau. “Hey … is something wrong?” he whispered. Esau exhaled through his nose with exasperation and squeezed his eyes shut. “Don’t get started with this again, Jacob. You know it pisses me off.” “Look, I’m just asking —” “What makes you think something is wrong with me?” He opened his eyes but continued glaring into the blue sea of
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dim stars. “What? I never said that —” “You said ‘something is wrong.’ So do you think there’s something wrong about me?” “I never said that.” “What else would you be saying!” “I …” Jacob sighed and, closing his eyes, rubbed the bridge of his nose out of habit. “Let’s just get out of here.” Esau turned and looked at his brother with contempt. His mouth twisted with bitterness, his brow deeply furrowed, and eyed squinted into a glare of disgust. But the expression passed as quickly as it came, and by the time Jacob turned back toward him, he had resumed looking at the sky and had adopted the same cold, stern countenance. “You can leave if you want. No one’s forcing you to stay.” Jacob opened his mouth, but could not find the words to say. He had talked to Esau about this before, and they had even agreed to work on it together. And yet, it would always take no longer than a week for another display of sarcastic bitterness, always unexpected and always directed toward Jacob. “Seriously, is everything okay?” Jacob repeated. Before Jacob even finished, Esau whipped his body toward him, sitting up on a hand that dug into the stones below. “How many times do I have to tell you to shut up?” he snapped, his eyes wide open. “Just leave me alone. It’s really not that hard.” He began to slowly lay back down. Jacob watched meekly. As always, Esau’s anger did not make him indignant. It only planted a sorrowful aching deep in his heart, a pity that desired to reach out and console his brother, but he knew that doing so would only push him further away. The feeling demanded both distance and tenderness, space and comfort, and as it sunk deeper and its roots spread wider, Jacob felt his heart being torn apart. “Esau, why are you saying this?” Esau had almost decided to entirely forget his brother’s nagging, but something about the paradoxical weakness and false authority with which Jacob spoke jarred him. The puerile tone, the patronizing analysis of his character, it all presented itself to him as a feigned obsequiousness
VOX CLARA that was actually designed to make him ashamed … for something. But it did not matter. Esau recognized the arrogant display of moral superiority and, in a moment of clarity that had slowly been accumulating over the years, he felt embarrassed for having never seen through the charade. He sat up abruptly. “Do you hear yourself? ‘Why, why, why!’ You keep asking me why I do this or why I do that … as if I have to give you a reason for everything I do! When did you become the judge of what’s right for me and what isn’t? You don’t know me. You don’t understand what it feels like to be in my shoes, to be constantly told that I fall short of a standard that isn’t even real! People create for themselves and then demand that I — that everyone — follow it.” Jacob dropped his eyes. He noticed a sensation of shame settling in, but could not understand why. “What do I have to apologize for?” he thought. “Does he really see me this way? Does he not realize that —” He squeezed his eyes shut and nervously ran his hands through his hair. Noticing his breathing quicken and his mouth becoming more dry, he became even more desperate. “I’m trying to help you! Don’t you see how wrong it all is? You have to … You won’t be able to live with yourself if you —” “I’ll be just fine! You’re saying all of this as if I’ll start killing people or robbing banks. Do you really think that little of me? You’re always judging me, looking at me as if your life is so much better than mine. Yes, yes I’ve seen the way your face changes every time I say I can’t go to church or that I can’t pray or that I don’t want to talk about religion. I’ve seen you force that same condescending smile every Sunday, or even every day! Fine. If you want to believe in God, fine! Want to talk and read and write about God? Go right ahead. No one is stopping you. But the more you try to force me to live the way you do, the more I want you to leave me the hell alone. You call yourself a Christian, but where in the Bible does it say it’s okay to make people feel so … shitty about themselves? Would Jesus have done that? Would Jesus have —” “How do you know what Jesus would have done?” “That’s not the point! It’s not about Jesus! It’s about your hypocrisy. It’s about the forgiveness, love, mercy, all of the things you’re always preaching about, does that all not matter once you’re talking to someone who doesn’t believe in your God? You’ve become so … deluded by all this
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talk about God and Jesus that the only reason you would ever even think of talking to me, of helping or loving me, is so that one day … one day … I’ll see your charity and realize that it must be from heaven! Or is it because you want a reward in heaven? Is it because you’re so selfish that …” Esau paused to breathe and continued staring at the rocks next to his feet. He wanted to look at Jacob, but he could not. It was not because of shame. No, he was not ashamed, but afraid, afraid of looking into his brother’s eyes and feeling his own hatred fester at the sight of that pathetic condescension. “You used to care about me because of me. It’s not the same anymore.” “Of course I still care about you! Why would I not?” Jacob craned his neck to make eye contact with Esau, but he continued stared at the ground. His mouth seemed to twitch as if he were about to cry. “Why would I not?” Jacob whispered.
“I won’t say it! No, I won’t say it, because I don’t know. I don’t know, and neither do you. What I do know is this … I know that if you continue the way you are, you will destroy yourself. You think only about yourself, and you push away anything that could even possibly hurt your ego … if you continue, it will become more and more difficult to see reality at all. You’ll exchange the truth for comfort, and you might not suffer much at first, but without truth you’ll become less than human, and that’s an even worse suffering.” “To hell with truth, damn it! To hell with your twisted definition of ‘humanity,’ too!”
“Esau, I don’t —”
“Please, Esau, try to understand! Truth and humanity won’t be in Hell, Esau — they can’t be. You don’t want truth, you don’t want God, what do you want then?” Jacob paused, but Esau remained silent. Jacob continued, “You want yourself, you want only what makes you feel good in the moment … and that makes you exactly like an animal. Insects may only pursue their instinct, but it takes a human mind to know what is right. The more you live only thinking about your pleasure, the more of an insect you will become! And no matter how far you go, no matter how much you try to embrace your inhumanity, your conscience will never be unable to recognize how much more you could have been! You’ll spend your whole life as an insect, and you will die an insect knowing that you could have been a man. That is Hell on earth, Esau, and you can’t say that it is God’s fault for you being there!”
“Say it!”
“An insect! You’ve started calling others inhuman now!
“Do you think I’m going to Hell?” “Esau, you … you know what I believe.” “Say it.” “I don’t know what you want me to say.” “Say that I’m going to Hell.”
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VOX CLARA
Keep on sermonizing, keep warning me about ‘Hell on earth’ and preaching about this useless philosophy you’ve constructed for yourself … it's just a convenient way for you to avoid talking about the real Hell in your holy book! Even you must know how disgusting of a notion eternal damnation is …” “The real Hell is only an extension of this concept. Hell on earth is feeling that you are an insect while knowing you could have been a man … and the divine Hell is feeling that you are an insect while knowing you could have been greater than a man …” “Are you serious? ‘Greater than a man’ … so you’re worshipping yourself now! We’re one and the same! How ironic, and yet you say that I’m the one without any values, without any principles.” “I know that you have values and principles, but they all only serve your pleasure. And when they do not, you toss aside your principles and carve out space for exceptions … so is it principle or pleasure that you value?” Esau began to speak, but his words caught in his throat. He stood up suddenly. Looking down contemptuously at Jacob, he clenched his fists and dug his nails into the flesh of his palms. “Judge, judge, judge! All you do is judge and condemn … and you call yourself a Christian!” Jacob jumped up hastily. “I’m not condemning you. I’m trying to save you!”
but the confusion in his heart prevented him from thinking lucidly. Only now did the brothers notice that the rain had begun to pour violently. The forest was submerged in a murky green-gray smear, blurring almost everything within ten feet. Nonetheless, neither Jacob nor Esau felt the slightest desire to start toward home. They both knew that their conflict was not resolved, but that there was something more. As the brothers came back to their senses from the heat of the altercation, every feature of the background came together slowly into an unsettling image of reality. The blinding deluge, the thick bitterness in the air, the sound of the river ripping through the air forcefully; it seemed that this pocket of the world, this rainy patch of forest, was pregnant with a horrible violence. Fear gripped Jacob and Esau’s hearts, and they both felt that something had gone terribly wrong. The dark anticipation was pierced by the shrill sound of bushes rustling, and the brothers turned around abruptly to face the thicket of damp, tangled leaves. A bony hand pulled the branches away to reveal a thin boy stepping into the clearing. “I thought I heard you fools here,” he jeered. Esau took two steps forward. “What the hell do you want?” he thundered as his nostrils flared with spite. Jacob recognized that familiar grayness in his brother’s eyes. It was the same dead emptiness that remained after the rain washes away all the color from the world, after the clouds heavy with tears chase the blue sky away.
“I don’t need a savior! It’s all self-righteousness … you think you’re better than me because of all your philosophy and psychology, but they’re all just empty words. They’re fairy tales that people like you invent to numb themselves into forgetting just how uncertain they are about heaven, about God! Come back to me when you can see, touch, or smell this ‘truth.’ Or, even easier, come back when every ‘Christian’ knows the evidence for their faith! Until then, your truth is a fantasy, and the vast majority of your religion is only following fantasies dressed up in pretty language. As for me, I’ll continue being an insect … I would much rather be a free insect than a mindless Christian!”
“We need to leave now, Esau.”
Jacob’s mouth gaped open, he was silenced by the shock that he felt upon hearing those last words. An insect rather than a man? Surely he does not actually … he thought,
“Come a little closer and say it again.”
The boy in the bushes ignored him and continued staring at Esau murderously. “You know you’re not allowed here. How many times I got to tell you?” “And what makes you think I care?” “Esau, come on, just —” “Looks like you’ve grown a pair since last time, huh?” He laughed. “You still look like a moron though.”
“Esau! Please —”
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“Shut up!” he snapped, turning slightly to look at Jacob’s feet. He flung his glare back toward the boy, whose cheeks were now stretched back in a morbid grin. “You heard me. Call me a moron one more time!” He threw his head back and released a guttural laugh. “Do you really think I’m afraid of you, moron? I haven’t forgotten what you said the last time I caught you here.” “And I meant it!” His grin disappeared dissolved suddenly into a scornful, twisted frown. “Come show us how much you mean it, then, you cockroach. Meet me at Skull Hill,” he slurred. “And leave this useless piece of garbage behind,” said the boy, spitting at Jacob. The wind howled, the bush rustled, and the brothers were now alone. One stiffened with horror and the other burned with malice. “A cockroach! He called me a cockroach, an insect … I’ll show him what sort of insect I am. I’ll show him …” “Esau, please, stop!” Jacob stepped toward him and opened his arms to grab Esau’s shoulders. “Please, you can be so much —” Jacob felt his brother’s knuckles split the skin on his left cheek and fell onto his back in a flash. Sitting up frantically, he saw Esau running toward the outskirts of the forest, haphazardly shielding his face while barreling through the branches that swarmed his path and reached out to cut him. The slowly welling blood on Jacob’s cheek mingled with the water that streamed down his face and eyes. He looked up at the weeping darkness above. “Esau, Esau, I’ve tried to warn you so many times, but why are you not willing?” The desperate cry was quickly drowned out by the harsh storm. As the blood and salt from Jacob’s face soaked into the earth, Esau crawled up the side of the hill, digging his nails into the flowing torrent of mud and spilling curses. “No one understands,” he mumbled between breaths of air. “They only see me as an insect to be crushed! No, not any more. I’ll be the one doing the crushing!” For a moment, he was shocked at the vicious images that began to flicker through his mind. But, remembering the words of his brother, his shame quickly became a rabid excitement. “No more acting, no more images! This is me … yes! What is there to be ashamed about?” As he scaled the hill and stepped onto the flattened grass, Esau felt the liberation flowing through the blood in his veins.
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ADITYA PRATHAP
VOX CLARA Through the hazy darkness, Esau could see no trees, paths, or mounds of dirt. The image of the empty, undifferentiated field seeped into the forceful streaks of rain, and Esau felt a lonely disorientation, as if everyone else had been swept away by the water and only he remained. For a moment, the dizzying fear gripped his heart once more and made the sensation more real than the fear itself. Gasping for air, Esau searched desperately for something recognizable, something to anchor him back to the world of objects and to pull him out of the nightmare that threatened to pull him apart. A faint silhouette materialized out of the blackness. No … more than one! Oh, thank God! The horde moved closer, and Esau could see something dripping from their limbs and skin. Trembling feverishly, they seemed to heave their bodies in a drunken stupor. Esau felt the fear wash over him once more, but this time, he felt it in his fingers, his feet, his throat, his lungs, and he began to drown. Suddenly, the wind began to roar aggressively and pushed Esau back. As he tried moving his feet to regain his balance, he realized that the mud had swallowed his feet and grasped his ankle tightly. In a swift motion, Esau’s back slammed against the rocks behind him and all the air painfully escaped his lungs. His foot flew from the ground and sent him hurtling down the side of the hill. The sharp stones and rough swaths of wood pierced into his skin. He felt his neck, his joints, his whole body twisting and folding under him. Brown and black and blue streaked across Esau’s vision in a cycle that seemed to last for minutes until, like a slap in the face, his spine dug into an emaciated tree trunk protruding from the ground halfway down the hill. The sound of rain droplets tearing through the wall of leaves above pounded in Esau’s dirt-packed ears. Esau laid still for a minute with closed eyes, listening to the downpour and the sound of his own furious breathing. Everything seemed to slow down just enough for him to experience a moment of peace. Another minute passed. Esau’s heart slowed, his hands stopped shaking, and he opened his eyes. For some reason, the sight of the gloomy sky tucked away behind the trees sent a blinding flash of reality through his mind, and all thoughts of rest were replaced with realization of what awaited at the top of the hill. Jumping up, he looked up at the place from which he fell. His eyes widened slowly until his pupils seemed mere points in a sheet of white, and he froze in terror. Another pair of white circles pierced through the darkness like headlights. An expression of meek terror sur-
rounded the flashing eyes, and the face to which they belonged moved violently as nails tore it apart and feet pressed it into the dirt. “No,” Esau thought. “No, no, no! What is this? This wasn’t supposed to —” He heard it all. The ripping of muscles, the beating of limbs, the crushing of bones; he could hear his brother’s skin breaking, his flesh tearing, his skull shattering. Esau could hear nothing but these sounds and could feel nothing but his own mind being eaten away by the gruesome reality in front of him. He felt his vision blur, his feet weaken, until a single shrill cry muffled by blood and dirt shattered the black night: “Esau … Run! Run!” Esau ran. He ran until the sound of his heart throbbing in his throat was louder than the hideous din behind him. He ran until the pain in his legs pushed away the pain of the aching that pounded against his temples. Esau ran and ran, but regardless of how long he ran or how far he went, he could not silence the image of his brother’s expression flashing through his mind. The fear, the desperation, it seared itself deeper into his soul with each frantic step, and it began to consume him. At the top of the lonely hill, Jacob’s body laid mangled and mutilated, his arms spread out as if he was trying to gather the sky into his heart. His brother’s name no longer remained on his lifeless lips. All that was left was a simple, childlike smile that shone through the dark as Jacob’s mouth filled with rain. ❖ “We are accustomed to accepting the course of the Lord’s life on earth as predetermined. Because it is as it was, we conclude that it was meant to be so. We judge everything by its outcome and forget how monstrous — in the eyes of both God and man — the means by which it was accomplished. We have entirely lost the middle ages’ reaction of horror at the thought of God’s murder. We must strip ourselves of our customary callousness and realize how frightful the whole procedure was, how hardened men’s hearts, how paltry Jesus’ reception! Not until we have felt our way back to this attitude will we understand Christ’s words: ‘But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.’” — Romano Guardini, The Lord Aditya is a sophomore studying philosophy and political science. His main interests include philosophy of religion, ontology, and political philosophy. He plans to explore these subjects further through either graduate school, law school, or Catholic seminary.
LOVE OF MAN, WRATH OF MEN
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CREDITS AU T H O RS Brandon Aponte Glen Davis Becca De Los Santos Jack McKinnon Elijah Negron Aditya Prathap
ART & P H OTO GRA P H Y Clouds, by Fabrizio Conti (https://unsplash.com/@conti_photos), on the front cover. Sunrise, by Ravi Sharma (https://unsplash.com/@ravinepz), p.6. Dove in flight, by 卡晨 (https://unsplash.com/@awmleer), p.8. Man standing before bonfire, by Adam Wilson (https://unsplash.com/@fourcolourblack), p.10. Woman reading the Bible, by Priscilla Du Preez (https://unsplash.com/@priscilladupreez), p.13. St. Athanasius Overcoming Arius, by Peter Paul Rubens, Wikimedia Commons, p.15. Cross on the mountain, by Hugo Fergusson (https://unsplash.com/@fergussh), p. 16. Rolling hills, by Oliver Hae (https://unsplash.com/@oliverhae), p.18. Hands raised at protest, by Chris Slupski (https://unsplash.com/@kslupski), p.21. Clouds lit by sunset, by Nika Benedictova (https://unsplash.com/@nika_benedictova), p.22. Sunlight filtering through trees, by Hannah Grace (https://unsplash.com/@oddityandgrace), p.25. Water flowing over rocks, by Leo Rivas (https://unsplash.com/@leorivas), p.26. Starry sky above forest, by Vincent Ledvina (https://unsplash.com/@vincentledvina), p.28. Man hiking across mountains, by Simon Berger (https://unsplash.com/@8moments), on the back cover.
SPECI A L T H A NKS TO Carlos Armenta & Folger Graphics
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CREDITS
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NEXT STEPS
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THIS IS FOR YOU Atheist, Christian, agnostic, religious — wherever you are in the journey of seeking truth, this journal you’ve picked up or been handed is meant to be read by you. We from Vox Clara, Stanford’s Journal of Christian Thought want to encourage you to think, ask, and have conversations about life’s big questions. Life is challenging but we have each experienced God transform the darkest areas of our lives and lift the burdens of our hearts and minds. We do not wish to impose our beliefs, but rather to serve as faithful conduits of our faith to everyone at Stanford who, like us, is searching for meaning, for truth, and for Love.
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