Murphy’s Laws of Combat for Christians
2007-01-30There are two parts to my sense of humor. The first part is the Ben-Ezra side, which tends to revolve around obscure puns. So, for example, when my brother talked about being confused by sound baffles, he was using Ben-Ezra humor. The second part is Anderson humor, which tends to be a fairly bleak gallows humor. It must have something to do with being Norse. Or maybe it’s a coping mechanism. So, when my grandfather’s hearse got lost on the way to the cemetery, we all laughed because of Anderson humor. We all agreed that, had Grandpa Anderson still been alive, he would have thought that his body getting lost on the way to his grave was pretty stinking funny.
I’ve never been in the military, but I like their sense of humor. In particular, I’ve appreciated the folkloric “Murphy’s Laws of Combat” that can be found floating around the Internet. (Here’s one copy.) On Sunday, it occurred to me that many of these could apply to the Christian life. After all, if we believe that we are in a war, then maybe some of these apply, eh?
I’ll probably come back to this from time to time until I get bored.
Let’s start with these:
No combat ready unit has ever passed inspection.
No inspection ready unit has ever passed combat.
Recently, I posted a link to Peter Leithart’s discussion of theological rigor. This is probably the follow-up point.
To wit, it seems to me as though the majority of folk who are oh so hot and bothered about preserving the true faith or standing for Reformed theology are not folks who are in the trenches of the spiritual war that surrounds us. When you are in the ivory tower of a seminary or in the backwaters of some Truly Reformed church, it’s easy to put a priority on having all the theological ducks in a row. After all, you never know when you might have to pass a presbytery exam.
But, those who are in the trenches seem to be less concerned with such things. Rather, they tend to be thinking, “What do I say to that single mother who is running out of money?” or “How do I confront that overbearing father?” or “How can I comfort this couple after their child died of cancer?” When these people minister the Word, it’s not as pretty as the first group, with all the various tensions balanced and proper vocabulary employed.
But it is effective.