06.22.09

My Comments on Zermatt

Posted in Book Reviews, Church Issues and Bible Interpretations, God, Uncategorized at 1:00 am by Administrator

Okay, so I did another one of my reading-like-an-idiot routines.  I just finished reading Frank Schaeffer’s book, Zermatt, and was looking for the 3rd book in this trilogy when I found that I had just read the third part.  Apparently,  Saving Grandma is the second of the trilogy, not the third, so I read this out of order.  Why I got that confused, I don’t know, but anyhoo, I just finished reading Zermatt and found it hilarious, but kind of sad, too.  As part three of the Calvin Becker trilogy, Zermatt is a continuation of Calvin Becker’s coming of age story amidst his reformed Protestant missionary family.  Normally, coming-of-age stories aren’t my first choice topics to read about, but since Calvin’s coming-of-age is intertwined with being part of a reformed Protestant family, I find the story much more interesting.

The story starts out funny enough because Calvin is part of such a bizarre family. It’s like how the Munsters are so different that the family itself is amusing to watch, and Calvin’s growing interest in females and how that conflicts with his religious upbringing just adds to the comedy.  However, what I like about the story is that it goes beyond just the coming-of-age theme and delves into theological issues seen through the eyes of a young man.  I also find the interplay between the male and the female characters interesting and reminds me of the book, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, especially the one dinner discussion scene where Ralph is telling the women “how men are very different from women.”  I think it is widely accepted that men and women are very different and handle life situations differently, however what caught my interest even further was where Ralph’s conversation starts to point out that women want to take over or control situations.  Here’s a portion of that conversation.

“‘. . . and I tried,’  Dad was saying when I tuned back in, ‘I really did, kids, but then something began to happen and I started to see how this woman, who had driven me nuts, was going to drive you kids nuts too.

“‘Well, it was already too late for my daughters.’  Dad glanced at my sisters, then looked back up to the window tops.  ‘Elsa had you girls wrapped around her little finger.  Then I started to watch Calvin.  At first I saw Elsa and you girls were only trying to turn him into a pietistic idiot.  I figured what the hell.  But after that the ‘Talks’ started.  And suddenly I realized what Elsa was trying to do was to turn Calvin into a girl!’  Dad looked at Mom and his voice got loud and harsh.  ‘Yes!  Don’t deny it!  You wanted him to be a girl because women are the real leaders of the Protestant churches and have been since that bitch Carry Nation started driving men out of bars with an ax!  Oh sure, you let a man preach from the pulpit, but who drags all the men to church every Sunday?  Who runs the show?  Who does the preacher have to please unless he wants to get kicked out?’”

That portion hit me because I have heard about comments from pastors that women are more godly than men because women tend to go to church more often than men, and it’s the women who generally drag the men to church. What piques my interest in this is the concept in the Bible that men are to be the leaders, not the women.  The explanation being that women are more easily deceived than men as evidenced by Eve being deceived by the serpent.  That concept coupled with my belief that church meetings should have an atmosphere similar to Paul’s description of church order in 1 Cor 14.  The atmosphere should allow for men to have discussions, unlike how our modern-day churches leave no room for group discussions in favor of only one speaker, the pastor, while all the men just sit there passively and do nothing.  When I think of it, why do women have to drag men to church?  But no woman has to drag a man to a bar.  What do men do at bars?  Well, one of the things they commonly do is “converse” with each other, sharing news and other events.  Men tend to want to know what’s going on, and they will gather together for that purpose “without” being dragged there by women.  Maybe this is a more natural setting for men and why early churches were set up so that men could converse about the faith in a similar fashion, rather than just sit there and be “preached at.”

Another part that stood out to me was earlier in the same discussion where Ralph was pointing out the sexual nature of men.  He calls to mind certain men of the Bible.

“‘But I ask you girls:  Who was the man after God’s own heart?’  Dad waited.  No one spoke.  ‘I’m talking to you, Elsa,’ snapped Dad, and he stopped smiling.

“‘King David,’ whispered Mom.

“‘Ha!  And was he some kind of eunuch? Did he talk about his ‘Little Thing’ and his ‘Precious Seeds’? No!  Damn your stupid euphemisms!  He charged, dick out straight into the Philistine throng, then speared himself everything in a skirt that moved!  They were still bringing him virgins to warm his bed when that horny old bastard was a wrinkled geezer and lay dying!  And Solomon was just like the old man. What did he have, Elsa, a thousand wives and concubines?   Don’t forget the concubines, Elsa!  We’re not talking about chopped liver!’”

This part brings to my mind people who think that just covering up women’s bodies makes much of a difference to men’s sexual desires.  Sure I understand that men are visual and will look at female bodies especially when exposed, but who are we kidding?  Even when women are covered from head to toe, men will still think about women’s bodies and wonder “what’s under all the cloth?  Calvin’s character is a perfect example of that.  The more the women tried to “hide” their womanly things, the more Calvin was curious about what they were hiding!  Regardless of whether he was exposed to outright nudity or not, his mind was consumed with the thoughts of women and their body parts.   It’s my impression that when we start to go overboard with all this modesty stuff then we’ll probably end up like the Muslim women wrapped up from head to foot with only holes for eyes.  And knowing that our bodies need sunlight to be healthy it seems a contradiction that God would make our bodies require sunlight for health then turn around and require that we cover up so much that no sunlight could hit our skin.  We know that one of the best sources of Vit D is sunlight to the skin.  Now this is not to say that I think we should not have some discernment about what we expose ourselves to, especially our children.  But I do think it says something about moderation in all things.

The part I thought was sad in the book was when Ralph thinks he’s the cause of Calvin’s “sin” and punishes himself.  The poor guy is already miserable and trying to “free” himself, but ends up back where he was trying to get away from, and then living with guilt to boot.  But in actuality, I would say, “Doesn’t God say to confess our sins and He is faithful to forgive us?”  Then why must he flog himself?  And along this thread of the story, it sure makes Elsa look horrible.  What an evil and conniving women she turns out to be!  Yikes!  Doesn’t put a good light on Protestant women. . . yeeesh.

And finally, while there could be a few more things to discuss, I’ll just comment on one more aspect of the book–the idea that there is no truth or reality, but just words we use to describe our experiences.  I will argue from the biblical standpoint that there is truth.  There are actually quite a few references to truth in the Bible, but I’ll just pick out a couple.
John 8:31

Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;  32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

God’s Word is truth, but we can be mislead as Satan is constantly trying to mislead us.  And what better trick is there than to have us believe that there is no truth?  This world is too complicated to have formed by itself from nothing.  So if something out there formed this world, then He has the truth.
2 Timothy 2:15

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

How do I rate Zermatt?  Hmm, not a book I would have children read. . . But, I did find it entertaining and even theologically engaging.   I would recommend it to any mature person who is willing to honestly look at and evaluate his/her own religious beliefs.

Marlakins

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