A Karma World vs. a Cross World
All the psalms are honest, brutally so. That touches me more than even their beautiful poetry. David’s naked honesty about his sin in Ps. 51 and his fear in Ps. 56 are just two examples. Now it’s Asaph’s turn.
Who was he? He wrote eleven psalms. He was the chief musician, and he worked in the temple. It was his profession to be in the sanctuary of God, to be involved in worship. That did not keep him immune from reality. When I read this psalm, I can tell it is not written by a king. It is written by someone who sees and experiences everyday injustices, who knows about the disparities of life.
Before we look at the psalm, I want to talk about a word we hear used a lot today, that indirectly applies to understanding many parts of Scriptures, and often leads Christians astray. That word is karma. I was listening to an NPR station in Atlanta Friday when I went down there for a meeting. I like NPR because of the depth of its news coverage, but it appeals to goofy people (I would include myself in that number). Anyway, as typically seems to be the case with NPR stations, they were having a pledge drive. The station manager quoted a donor as saying, “I’m getting married tomorrow, and I need some good karma, so I’ll give to NPR.”
This donor was probably trying to be funny, but his comment betrays an ignorance of karma. Karma is a Hindu term that is part of the whole religious package of Hinduism. I am not insulting people to say that if there were two religions that were absolute opposites of one another, they would be Hinduism and Christianity. Hinduism has millions of gods, Christianity one (although Hinduism lets Jesus be one of its gods). Hinduism includes idols in its worship, Christianity is not supposed to. Hinduism is about reincarnation, having one’s atma being reborn in other bodies over and over again; Christianity says, “It is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment.” In eternity, Hinduism says, we lose our individuality; Christianity teaches that it is retained. These are just a few of the many differences.
Karma is part of Hinduism’s belief in reincarnation. As much as I hate to quote Wikipedia, “'Karma' is an Eastern religious concept in contradistinction to 'faith' espoused by Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), which view all human dramas as the will of God as opposed to present - and past - life actions. In Eastern beliefs, the karmic effects of all deeds are viewed as actively shaping past, present, and future experiences.” If one is in the street sweeper caste in India, and performs his role well as a Hindu and street sweeper, he will be reincarnated in a higher caste—or else in a lower one, if he’s not a good Hindu. So, there is cosmic justice, rewards, and retribution. The modern. popular use of Karma, a la My Name is Earl (one crazy show) takes karma away from the reincarnation realm and makes it apply to everyday life. So if I give some money to NPR, I’ll have a good marriage. The problem, of course, is that “good” actions can be defined by anyone at any time, as can bad actions. If I don’t give to NPR, will my marriage suffer? Karma becomes just another lazily and imprecisely used word for luck we earn.
Job is essentially about a misinterpretation of karma and a misapplication of it to the Old Testament world view. Job’s friends tell him he must have done something bad or he wouldn’t be in his situation, but that’s not God’s view of it. The reasons for suffering, the who, the how, and the where are different. It is true that there are consequences for behavior. However, bad things sometimes happen to good people for reasons beyond the obvious and superficial, three reasons being that we grow to be like Christ through suffering, we develop empathy through suffering, and this is an evil world that will persecute us the way it persecuted Christ, so some level of suffering is inevitable.
As the Wikipedia article implies, in Christianity, God makes the calls—not cosmic karma. That’s the who. The where might be eternity as opposed to right now. The how has to do with appearance. Those who appear on the surface to be prospering and avoiding judgment because of their sin and violence may very well not be.
Why this exposition on karma, of all things? Because Asaph is struggling with understanding why apparently good people apparently do not fare as well in life as some clearly evil people. If God is just, why do evil people get away with oppressing and killing the innocent, when godly people suffer horrendous persecution? Why is there a Kim Jong Il, who not only starves his own people to build up his army and his personality cult, but performs the worst persecution of Christians on the planet, even compared to the Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and Eritrea?
This is not a pity party for Asaph. He is not talking about himself. He sees the suffering of others and is sensitive to it, not just to his own.
Let’s look at Psalm 73.
v. 1 and the last verse are bookends. Affirmation and praise at the beginning and end, but struggle in the middle. God is good to Israel, at a level we may not see on the surface. He clarifies in the next line—the true Israelites, not just the ethnic ones. He is referring to the Israelites in whom there is no guile, who are “pure in heart.” I don’t think this phrase is a coincidence. Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Asaph’s problem is one of sight, of perception, and he realizes that only those with a pure heart will be able to work through the struggle as he is and “see God,” especially, see God below the surface of things.
We are not pure in heart because we see God; we see God because we are pure in heart. What is pure in heart? Pure means that nothing that doesn’t belong is mixed in. How does our heart get impure? One major way is what we see, what we look upon. Sure, our first response is pornography, but let’s not look the wrong way. Back in the ‘80s there was a show called “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” that was just about as bad as pornography. Soap operas that idealize falling in love with a soulmate whom you don’t happen to be married to at the time. QVC. For me, the news, which is guaranteed to make me despair for the republic.
Verse 2 shifts from God to himself. “But as for me”—this is not a good sign. “I almost fell into despair, rejection, and apostasy,” Asaph says. Why?
Verse 3: Because of envy. Where could we go if we were honest here? Envy of a bigger house, more children, a better career, more prestige, a better husband, a husband period, a better body and face, a family that conforms to my wishes, recognition for my efforts and talents. It’s not that we don’t know better; we do, we’re adults, but it’s so easy for envy to taint our purity of heart and pull us down.
As we read verses 4-12 we see that Asaph is talking about truly wicked people, and we are unlikely to envy the Bernie Madoffs and Robert Mugabes of this world. But we may still wonder about the inequities; even if Bernie Madoff spends the rest of his life in jail, he lived high for a long time and worse, destroyed many people’s lives.
So, in verse 13, Asaph says, “I’m living for God, but why? What’s it getting me?” This is his low point, the point of walking away. We don’t know what he himself went through that brought him to this place, but it is clearly not just intellectual, but experiential. Maybe what is attacking him is Satanic doubt, deep-seated envy.
Verse 15 and 16. Asaph implies that he kept it to himself. That is good—he didn’t want to discourage believers who come before and after. He can’t publicly denounce God, but he’s living in doubt to the point of despair. Let’s take him at his word, that his motives are right, not self-righteous here. On the other hand, not expressing his thoughts has a downside. He feels all alone, and is in great pain, thinking that he cannot share it with anyone.
Verse 17 is the great turnaround. I do not know what he means by “then I went into the sanctuary of God, and I understood their end.” Going into the sanctuary was his job, not something he rarely did. Does he mean a physical or spiritual sanctuary? Sanctuary means a hidden, special, holy place. I don’t think this means that going into a sanctuary will cure your doubt, but that for Asaph, it did.
My best guess is that, even if he went in just to do his job and wasn’t particularly in the mood, God intervened. It wasn’t natural. It wasn’t a human-derived insight. Karma is a human-derived insight, and this is the opposite of karma. He’s been living in a karma world, not a cross world.
In a cross world, God’s people suffer, but God has entered into our suffering. Suffering in this world and at the hands of this world is not a sign of judgment or displeasure, but the necessary outcome of a world in rebellion to God. Suffering will be redeemed, not punished. In a karma world, those who suffer are bad (what does that say about the Holocaust?) and deserving. In a cross world, we Americans are at least temporarily blessed, even though most of the Christians of this world are at best ostracized. In a karma world, imprecise-minded Americans only interpret the harsh Hindu doctrines in a typically positive light, so that all karma is good karma and reality is denied.
So Asaph’s perspective changes dramatically. The oppressors will be judged. They are not beyond grace, but if they continue on their paths, they will suffer in the next life. In verses 21-28, we see that Asaph knows it’s not about him; he is the product of God’s goodness, not karma; if karma were real, he’d be in big trouble, too. The question is not why bad things happen to good people, but why good things happen to bad people, which is all of us.
Asaph’s reflection should point us to the persecuted church every day, but this week it is particularly relevant, because November is the month of emphasis on the persecuted church.
Who was he? He wrote eleven psalms. He was the chief musician, and he worked in the temple. It was his profession to be in the sanctuary of God, to be involved in worship. That did not keep him immune from reality. When I read this psalm, I can tell it is not written by a king. It is written by someone who sees and experiences everyday injustices, who knows about the disparities of life.
Before we look at the psalm, I want to talk about a word we hear used a lot today, that indirectly applies to understanding many parts of Scriptures, and often leads Christians astray. That word is karma. I was listening to an NPR station in Atlanta Friday when I went down there for a meeting. I like NPR because of the depth of its news coverage, but it appeals to goofy people (I would include myself in that number). Anyway, as typically seems to be the case with NPR stations, they were having a pledge drive. The station manager quoted a donor as saying, “I’m getting married tomorrow, and I need some good karma, so I’ll give to NPR.”
This donor was probably trying to be funny, but his comment betrays an ignorance of karma. Karma is a Hindu term that is part of the whole religious package of Hinduism. I am not insulting people to say that if there were two religions that were absolute opposites of one another, they would be Hinduism and Christianity. Hinduism has millions of gods, Christianity one (although Hinduism lets Jesus be one of its gods). Hinduism includes idols in its worship, Christianity is not supposed to. Hinduism is about reincarnation, having one’s atma being reborn in other bodies over and over again; Christianity says, “It is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment.” In eternity, Hinduism says, we lose our individuality; Christianity teaches that it is retained. These are just a few of the many differences.
Karma is part of Hinduism’s belief in reincarnation. As much as I hate to quote Wikipedia, “'Karma' is an Eastern religious concept in contradistinction to 'faith' espoused by Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), which view all human dramas as the will of God as opposed to present - and past - life actions. In Eastern beliefs, the karmic effects of all deeds are viewed as actively shaping past, present, and future experiences.” If one is in the street sweeper caste in India, and performs his role well as a Hindu and street sweeper, he will be reincarnated in a higher caste—or else in a lower one, if he’s not a good Hindu. So, there is cosmic justice, rewards, and retribution. The modern. popular use of Karma, a la My Name is Earl (one crazy show) takes karma away from the reincarnation realm and makes it apply to everyday life. So if I give some money to NPR, I’ll have a good marriage. The problem, of course, is that “good” actions can be defined by anyone at any time, as can bad actions. If I don’t give to NPR, will my marriage suffer? Karma becomes just another lazily and imprecisely used word for luck we earn.
Job is essentially about a misinterpretation of karma and a misapplication of it to the Old Testament world view. Job’s friends tell him he must have done something bad or he wouldn’t be in his situation, but that’s not God’s view of it. The reasons for suffering, the who, the how, and the where are different. It is true that there are consequences for behavior. However, bad things sometimes happen to good people for reasons beyond the obvious and superficial, three reasons being that we grow to be like Christ through suffering, we develop empathy through suffering, and this is an evil world that will persecute us the way it persecuted Christ, so some level of suffering is inevitable.
As the Wikipedia article implies, in Christianity, God makes the calls—not cosmic karma. That’s the who. The where might be eternity as opposed to right now. The how has to do with appearance. Those who appear on the surface to be prospering and avoiding judgment because of their sin and violence may very well not be.
Why this exposition on karma, of all things? Because Asaph is struggling with understanding why apparently good people apparently do not fare as well in life as some clearly evil people. If God is just, why do evil people get away with oppressing and killing the innocent, when godly people suffer horrendous persecution? Why is there a Kim Jong Il, who not only starves his own people to build up his army and his personality cult, but performs the worst persecution of Christians on the planet, even compared to the Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and Eritrea?
This is not a pity party for Asaph. He is not talking about himself. He sees the suffering of others and is sensitive to it, not just to his own.
Let’s look at Psalm 73.
v. 1 and the last verse are bookends. Affirmation and praise at the beginning and end, but struggle in the middle. God is good to Israel, at a level we may not see on the surface. He clarifies in the next line—the true Israelites, not just the ethnic ones. He is referring to the Israelites in whom there is no guile, who are “pure in heart.” I don’t think this phrase is a coincidence. Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Asaph’s problem is one of sight, of perception, and he realizes that only those with a pure heart will be able to work through the struggle as he is and “see God,” especially, see God below the surface of things.
We are not pure in heart because we see God; we see God because we are pure in heart. What is pure in heart? Pure means that nothing that doesn’t belong is mixed in. How does our heart get impure? One major way is what we see, what we look upon. Sure, our first response is pornography, but let’s not look the wrong way. Back in the ‘80s there was a show called “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” that was just about as bad as pornography. Soap operas that idealize falling in love with a soulmate whom you don’t happen to be married to at the time. QVC. For me, the news, which is guaranteed to make me despair for the republic.
Verse 2 shifts from God to himself. “But as for me”—this is not a good sign. “I almost fell into despair, rejection, and apostasy,” Asaph says. Why?
Verse 3: Because of envy. Where could we go if we were honest here? Envy of a bigger house, more children, a better career, more prestige, a better husband, a husband period, a better body and face, a family that conforms to my wishes, recognition for my efforts and talents. It’s not that we don’t know better; we do, we’re adults, but it’s so easy for envy to taint our purity of heart and pull us down.
As we read verses 4-12 we see that Asaph is talking about truly wicked people, and we are unlikely to envy the Bernie Madoffs and Robert Mugabes of this world. But we may still wonder about the inequities; even if Bernie Madoff spends the rest of his life in jail, he lived high for a long time and worse, destroyed many people’s lives.
So, in verse 13, Asaph says, “I’m living for God, but why? What’s it getting me?” This is his low point, the point of walking away. We don’t know what he himself went through that brought him to this place, but it is clearly not just intellectual, but experiential. Maybe what is attacking him is Satanic doubt, deep-seated envy.
Verse 15 and 16. Asaph implies that he kept it to himself. That is good—he didn’t want to discourage believers who come before and after. He can’t publicly denounce God, but he’s living in doubt to the point of despair. Let’s take him at his word, that his motives are right, not self-righteous here. On the other hand, not expressing his thoughts has a downside. He feels all alone, and is in great pain, thinking that he cannot share it with anyone.
Verse 17 is the great turnaround. I do not know what he means by “then I went into the sanctuary of God, and I understood their end.” Going into the sanctuary was his job, not something he rarely did. Does he mean a physical or spiritual sanctuary? Sanctuary means a hidden, special, holy place. I don’t think this means that going into a sanctuary will cure your doubt, but that for Asaph, it did.
My best guess is that, even if he went in just to do his job and wasn’t particularly in the mood, God intervened. It wasn’t natural. It wasn’t a human-derived insight. Karma is a human-derived insight, and this is the opposite of karma. He’s been living in a karma world, not a cross world.
In a cross world, God’s people suffer, but God has entered into our suffering. Suffering in this world and at the hands of this world is not a sign of judgment or displeasure, but the necessary outcome of a world in rebellion to God. Suffering will be redeemed, not punished. In a karma world, those who suffer are bad (what does that say about the Holocaust?) and deserving. In a cross world, we Americans are at least temporarily blessed, even though most of the Christians of this world are at best ostracized. In a karma world, imprecise-minded Americans only interpret the harsh Hindu doctrines in a typically positive light, so that all karma is good karma and reality is denied.
So Asaph’s perspective changes dramatically. The oppressors will be judged. They are not beyond grace, but if they continue on their paths, they will suffer in the next life. In verses 21-28, we see that Asaph knows it’s not about him; he is the product of God’s goodness, not karma; if karma were real, he’d be in big trouble, too. The question is not why bad things happen to good people, but why good things happen to bad people, which is all of us.
Asaph’s reflection should point us to the persecuted church every day, but this week it is particularly relevant, because November is the month of emphasis on the persecuted church.
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