On Anarchy and Monarchy
Putting the boring historical facts aside, the legend of Robin Hood is quite interesting. Most people remember Him from robbing from the rich and giving it to the poor. However, even doing so would make him little more than a common thief. However, there is an interesting tension in his character that arises him to the ranks of great fictional personae: He was both an anarchist and a royalist.
On the one hand he did rob from the rich. But not from any rich, only those who oppressed the poor. Hence he did not really steal wrongly from the rich, but only return to the poor what the rich had wrongly taken from then. What seemed like injustice was therefore actually justice.
In essence he was an anarchist. He did not recognise the government he perceived as corrupt and oppressive, but started to do what he believed to be right independent of the rulers. Had he not been an outlaw already (been tricked by the very same authorities) this line of action would have made him one.
However, even in his anarchy, he was not without rules. He rejected the authority he judged to be illegitimate, but recognized as legitimate, namely the right king Richard (not the imposter prince John). According to Walter Scott, Richard later pardoned his gang.
A clear example of this attitude is that Robin Hood refused to attack the king, not because he would have been afraid of the guards, but due to respect. The king, who wanted to meet Robin, had to disguise himself as an abbot to get hijacked by his gang. This also shows the outlaws other trait, that he was a royalist, loyal to the just and rightful government.
Anarchy is not living without laws, it’s living without hierarchies. Obedience to the true King still remained. The popularity of this legend speaks of how people in general relate to his ideals: it is acceptable to defy the authorities, if the authorities are unjust, but even then they one should remain loyal and obedient to the rightful king.
This principle extends directly to the Kingdom of God. Jesus is King, and the kingdom is organised in a way that is supposed to serve the interests of the King. But if the subjects of the King find, that these institutes rather prohibit the interests of king, for example by demanding division in different churches and forbidding communion, the right thing to do is to disobey them and rather do what they know to be the will of God.
This naturally makes these people outlaws in the eyes of those institutions. And like Robin Hood and his merry men, they can expected to be exiled from the safety and prosperity of the safe “cities”. But they have themselves become the threat to the oppressing authorities in those cities. And they are the ones who obey the king.
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Lullaby – My Adaptation
During the first tiresome weeks of our 5-months old, I adapted this lullaby for her. (Yep, I think “night” rhymes better with “child”.) As we are in habit of speaking English every other week, I keep singing this to her those weeks:
As I lay you down to sleep,
Angels watching over you, my child,
I pray the Lord your soul you’d keep,
And angels watching over you.All day, all night
Angels watching over you, my child,
All day, all night,
Angels watching over you.Should you die before you wake,
Angels watching over you, my child,
I pray the Lord your soul He’d take,
And angels watching over you.All day, all night…
Should you live another day,
Angels watching over you, my child,
I pray the Lord your to guard your way,
And angels watching over you.All day, all night…
Should you live another day,
Angels watching over you, my child,
I pray the Lord your to guide your way,
And angels watching over you.All day, all night…
Yes, it is a prayer, a blessing. Feel free to add new stanzas and repeat ad infinitum 
Feeling dizzy…
I’ve had a bit of a flu lately, and way too little rest. Sometimes I really wonder if what I’m doing is worth the trouble. Some of the stuff I’m working on is quite heavy to work on…
Good news is that I have much of it written. Bad news is, that it is written in Finnish. Making it worse, whenever I try to rewrite something, I make changes. And not just a word here or there. Often I change most of the stuff. That’s how I am. So no hopes of getting the final word out of me: when I have finished, I’m already thinking of another way of saying it
But just to give an idea of what kinds of things I’m thinking right now, and why are they so difficult.
To get an idea what Christianity is all about, one has to start from the beginning. Or rather even from before the beginning. What was God thinking when He created the universe?
Children. God wants children. And not only in this time. Even before He established the universe, He had planned to make us holy and pure, but it will take until the heaven and the Earth disappear until this plan is complitely finished.
Creating the universe was just the first part of the plan. Having created everything, God created man in His image. Fall was the event where man left to walk on his own paths. We could say that the core of the fall is, that we know ourselves what is right and what is wrong. In other words we have a moral of our own, separate from God. When we do naturally what we think is good, it is innatural for us to leave decision about what is good, to God.
Therefore fallen man is not only separate from God, but also incapable of living according to the will of God. Even when he manages to do deeds that are in line with the will of God, these deeds are based on him judging himself – perhaps using the godgiven law – what would be right in the eyes of God. Therefore his deed, which is in line with the word of God, originates from his knowing good and evil, in other words from the fall and sin. So even when he does deeds that are in line with the will of God, these deeds originate from his fallen nature, and thus have the stain of sin.
God’s plan of salvation is two-fold. On one hand it is about atoning the sinful deeds we have done or will do, and on the other hand it is saving us from this state, where everything we do essentially is sinful, growing out of sin.
And here’s where I run into problems. The original skips right ahead to the latter part, but I feel that I need to bite into the first issue too. And even while that too should be pretty straightforward, it is as if there was some spiritual resistance. Wonder why?
*sigh*
P.S. Does anyone happen to know any smiley plugins for WordPress?
In the beginning…
- Doctor! Doctor! I think I’m God!
- What has happened? Tell me everything from the beginning.
- Well, in the beginning I created a blog…
I just love to play with words
So, today I have created a blog. I have also started this blog, which is nice – and important – but ultimately just something of my own. The other blog I wish get a life of its own. I feel that at this point it needs so much CLAP that I don’t even want to say it aloud just yet.
I’m excited. That’s the word
P.S. CLAP: Care, Love, Attention & Prayer.