Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
In the Houston Flood, People at a Day of Reckoning

In the Houston Flood, People at a Day of Reckoning

Last updated on: September 4, 2017 at 11:10 am by John Mark N. Reynolds

In the Houston Flood, People at a Day of Reckoning 2017-09-04T11:10:47-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In the Houston flood, I saw people come to a day of reckoning and for many it became a day of glory. I fear for a few it was a day of doom.

The Day of Reckoning: Doom or Glory

In Iliad some warriors come to a moment, a day of glory, when everything goes their way and they are heroes. This happens as the musical says: oh what a beautiful feeling, everything’s going my way. Classical paganism got it right: sometimes you are a hero, because the fates all line up correctly. Our strengths are the right strengths for just this fight, our answers are the proper answers, and we woke up in a good mood.

And then there is the day of doom. This is the day when the fates go the other way. No matter how awesome a man is, say Hector, he cannot win. His friends, human and divine, are gone or abandon him. He cannot choose and like Hector, running around the wall from his enemy Achilles, there is no dignity in death.

flood bank Judaism and Christianity take both ideas and transforms them. We know that both days are days of reckoning. The day of glory, that perfect day, can be a bad day, because often we get swollen with pride. Ask Bellerophon, hero turned loser: a big victory, a winged horse, and soon you are taking on the gods only to die from your hubris. Too often the day of glory is the prelude to the day of doom and there is no rec0very.

The day of doom is also a day of reckoning, because things can turn out well for a man or badly. If you end up on RMS Titanic that seems like a ticket to doom, but it might not be. It depends if you are a Bruce Ismay or an Isidor Strauss. Ismay, chair of the White Star Line that built the ship, escaped to live as a known coward. Strauss died like a man so others could live. We still know both men’s names, because when the day of reckoning came, Ismay made it doom and Strauss glory.

First, for a Greek the afterlife, controlled by cruel gods with no good God in sight, was nothing to desire. Nobody buys a vacation cruise on the Styx. Christianity thought harder, had a revelation that there is a good God in the person of Jesus Christ, and got hope for eternity. When a society loses sight of eternity, then it makes short term, selfish decisions easier to make.

Second, Christianity denies our fate is fixed by gods or the stars. As our greatest English playwright has a character say:

Men at some time are masters of their fates;

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,

But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that “Caesar”?*

Brutus faces a day of reckoning: kill Caesar and “save” the Republic or let his friend become a King. The greatness of the play is that Brutus, an honorable man, chooses, history is changed, and we are not sure to the very end whether it is doom or glory. Christianity understands that men are in God’s image and so can choose, badly or well.

Houston Flood and the Reckoning

Aerial_views_of_the_Houston_Texas_28005u This week I spoke to many people and saw them respond to a crisis. Some people escaped the flood and then spent days serving other people. I saw my son-in-law and daughter spend days cleaning up for friends and mentors. The day of reckoning came and Jane and Jacob found some glory. Other folk lost everything and when I called them were cheerful, moving ahead, and finding ways to help other people in the moment of tragedy.

As the flood rose, some picked programs over people, safety over service. For them the flood was a chance to profit and charge fellow Houstonians too much.

Thank God that has not been the norm. For every story of profiteers I heard, I knew five people who were giving so others could have what they needed. For every church with closed doors, I saw ten with round the clock ministry to the hurting.

The day of reckoning came and churches like Saint George, West U Baptist, and others in Houston served for God’s glory while others found doom in dithering and delay. We never know when the day of reckoning will come. To be ready, we must practice putting service over self-promotion and prayer over profit.

God help us.

___________________________________________

Culture

Spiritual Reflections

Previous Post

September 3, 2017

Houston Flood: Prayer Keeps Working, Pity the Critics

Next Post

September 5, 2017 The Unexpected Pleasure of the Vinyl Record

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Apologetics Art Culture Education On Books On Education Philosophy Politics Pop Culture Spiritual Reflections Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 July 2025 June 2025 September 2024 July 2024 June 2024 December 2023 June 2023 September 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was a biblical talent's weight?

Select your answer to see how you score.

75 pounds 60 pounds 40 pounds 50 pounds

Books by This Author John Mark Reynolds

See All Titles »