Blue Moon

While in college, once, in the dining commons, I was sitting within earshot of a small cluster of underclassmen who were giving one of their own a hard time about being a vegetarian. She seemed uncomfortable and one of her companions in particular was especially aggressive in verbalizing his opinions on the matter. I am not a passive eavesdropper and I don't like to see people gang up on anyone so I mentioned to him some of the reasons one might want to be a vegetarian.
I had cut meat right out of my diet because I lack discipline. I was eating over a pound of meat a day simply because it was available. Bacon, sausage- of all types, hamburgers, , meatball sandwiches, lots of chicken, if it bled at one time, I was eating it in- large amounts, artery clogging, colon blocking, putrifying amounts. So I stopped. Except for Buffalo wings, I kept eating those.
In any event, I explained to her friend the differences in the digestive systems of herbivores and carnivores, the effects of meats in animals with relatively long guts, the way different components of our alimentary tracts are designed to absorb different types of nutrients from different sources, the efficiency of energy transfer from plant matter both in production and consumption, the way humans can get everything they need from a vegetarian diet and just the subjective "better feeling" one gets from eating a lot of vegetables.
His response: "No it's not." Hard to argue with that.
Dbravo on the other hand gives us a good example of the kind of discussions that are possible between thoughtful people who care about their subject even if they see things differently. I move the discussion form the comment section to the main becuae it's interresting and may be related to something else I'll want to write.
I mention that there is an immediate and ultimate consequence of sin. I don't just mean the consequence of sin completely corrupting the image of God in humanity or the effect of that on the world. I mean the immediate consequence a sin and the condition of sin has in one's life (even if that consequence or condition is not readily "reaped" or known) and ultimately the eternal separation from God and a final judgment. There may be other consequences as well, but we should be cautious. It is difficult to see the causal relationship between a sin perceived and its assumed consequence.
More important, we need to recognize sin as a conditon, more than (or maybe as much as) a specific act. One is already punished for sin, one is already dead unless alive in Christ. I don't see punishment as having ended, but I see it more broadly- the wages of sin is always death and that always is. Does this preclude any other type of consequence for a given sin? I don't think so. Does God still punish? Sure, but what does that look like? And, is that judgment? To that question I would say, "Not entirely so;" we need to recognize that judgment in light of Christ means something else.
Our use of judgment describing a given event as evidence of God's judgment is mistaken. Of course being able to impose a penalty implies that a judgment or decision has been made, but punishment does not have the value that judgment has. Punishment is punitive, whereas judgment is restorative. Though a decision must be made for judgment to be implied, such a decision already has been made. The standard of God and the measure of man are already known. So the death of Christ is judgment because it shows the adherence to the law and the restorative potential of judgment. To be clear, punishment and judgment are separate even if related.
I use the Peterson episode to make the point that it seems we think punishment is the point of judgment and at the same time suggest that we often look for punishment to do some type of completing action that it cannot do.
As for the end- it's coming and it seems the destruction of evil in the final judgment has both punitive and restorative qualities.
I don't want us to think that God neither punishes nor that anything that happens is not punishment. I just need to understand what punishment is and be slow to identify who is responsible for what I think is judgment. Remember, this is in the context of my struggling to understand the apparent rise of Islam as a foil to the condition of the Western church. This could be a convenient read, but I don't think a faithful one.

Evening Playlist
Cover Me- Bjork
Tell Her Tonight-Franz Ferdinand
Murray-Pete Yorn
The Long And Winding Road-The Beatles
Lady Sings the Blues-Billie Holiday
Where I End and You Begin-Radiohead
Take the A Train-Duke Ellington
Iron Man-Black Sabbath
We're Not Gonna Take It-The Who
Stella By Starlight-Dizzy Gillespie
Prophets of Rage-Public Enemy
Morning Has Broken-Cat Stevens
Nimrod's Son-The PIxies
Come Into My Life-Jimmy Cliff
Smells LIke Teen Spirit-Nirvana
Mr. Soul-Buffalo Springfield
Comfort Eagle-Cake
Soul Suckin Jerk-Beck
It's the Sun-Polyphonic Spree
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize-Pete Seeger
Mars, THe Bringer of War-Gustav Holst