The Boomerang Paradox
and on the Theology of Islam, and a bunch more
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1/ Waiting (Psalm 38:15)
2/ The Boomerang Paradox
“You can’t hit happiness by aiming for it.”
I’ve been reflecting on this little truism for a few months now, and I think it unlocks a bunch of Biblical truths. So I’ve given it a name: The Boomerang Paradox.
A boomerang (at least the kind you buy at the toy store) doesn’t fly straight. Which means if you throw it at something, you will miss. You are guarantied to miss.
Which is why no one seems to be happy nowadays. They are trying to be happy. That guarantees a miss. If you aim for happiness you can’t hit it.
This is true for just about every important thing in life: meaning, purpose, fulfillment, love, and even life itself. You aim for it, you miss it. (Not to the point of this little article, but this also includes authenticity, spontaneity, and creativity.)
See Ecclesiastes.
I suppose this is part of the mystery of life. The ends are contingent, connected to other things. Happiness, for example, is connected to service. When I serve or bless someone else to my own inconvenience the surprising result is happiness.
But here’s where it gets even trickier (and where the boomerang illustration falls short). Once we see these connections (Happiness is connected to service, character and hope are connected to suffering, etc.) we are tempted to reverse engineer the process.
We see that throwing the boomerang at the tree misses three feet to the left, so we aim three feet to the right. We go and serve someone so that we will be happy. But we still miss. Why? Our aim, it turns out, is always our aim. If my happiness is baked into my motivation to serve, then that act of service is diluted.
Now this is dangerous territory: motivation. As a pastor I’m always warning people away from thinking about their motivations, why they are doing something right or wrong. But let’s put on our safety harness and think about it for a little bit.
If I go to serve my neighbor, lets say, serving soup at the shelter, but I’m doing it to feel better about myself, the boomerang paradox still kicks in. Happiness is an unfurling. Joy it a gift.
It must be lost before it is given back, dead before it is resurrected.
Jesus teaches this most profoundly in Matthew 10 and 16:
He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it. (10:39)
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. (16:25)
Jesus interrupts our pursuit of happiness, of life, of whatever, and redirects us. “Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Our aim is the kingdom of God. We are throwing the boomerang at His righteousness. And if happiness comes along, that’s not our concern.
Thoughts?
3/ The Relevance of Islamic Theology
The entire world is trying to understand what is happening in Israel and Gaza. I submit to you that it is impossible to understand with out understanding the theology of Islam. Here is a very helpful article from Dr Francisco about the Relevance of Islamic Theology. Click Here.
Islam depoliticized is not Islam.
If you want to dig deeper, Dr Francisco references a work, Toward Understanding Islam, that can be found online. (For example, here.)
4/ Notes on Chiliasm (Dispensationalism)
I wrote this essay analyzing Dispensationalism in seminary. I think it is still helpful. I leaned heavily on five essays by Theodore Engelder, which I found this week, and put all the links together in one place.
https://wolfmueller.co/notes-on-chiliasm-dispensationalism/
5/ Christ and the Church, A Marriage Devotional
For purchase, or free download, from Steadfast Lutherans here: https://steadfastlutherans.org/2023/10/new-release-from-steadfast-press-christ-and-the-church-second-edition-by-rev-andrew-richard/
6/ Suffering is not being forsaken by God
Please add your own theological recommendations in the comments.
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Lord's Blessings, Pastor Wolfmueller
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
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More than one paradox. A powerful Luther quote found in "The Structure of Lutheranism" by Werner Elert:
"Of him whom He wants to make pious He makes a despairing sinner.
Of him whom He wants to make wise He makes a fool.
Him whom He wants to make strong He makes weak.
Him whom He wants to make alive He puts into the jaws of death.
Him whom He wants to lead to heaven He lowers into the abyss of hell, and so on.
Him whom He wants to honor, to bring to happiness, to power, to exalt and make great, on him He inflicts every disgrace; He damns him, makes him a servant, base and small.
Here the verse applies: 'The first, the last; the last, the first.'
He who wants to be great, let him be small.
He who wants to walk in front, let him walk in back.
Now this is the wonderful and strange King; He is closest when He is farthest away. And He is farthest away when He is closest."
( WA 19, 154, 22.)
All God's deeds are done in this paradoxical manner.
Everything God does is contrary to reason (alles widdersynnisch, was Gott machet) (WA 24, 569, 31; Enders 5, 182, 29).
I take my dogs for daily walks through the park. One day as I was upon my stroll, I ran across a boy standing near the edge of a woods... just adjacent to one of the many paths of the park. I noticed that the boy was throwing something...what I thought looked like a boomerang. I asked the youth, "does it really come back"? "Does what come back?"...he replied. "Your boomerang.". The boy simply laughed and said, "No, never". He shrugged, "These are just broken twigs and fallen branches!" as he furled another deep, very deeply into the woods. "So, why do you do it?" I further inquired, feeling the gentle, but persistent tug of my dogs in their leashes ready to continue their own canine pursuit of life and happiness. The little boy without pause, picked up another piece of wood and chucked it... "to save them!"... what appeared to be a distance more than half a football field, but it was hard to tell with all the tree limbs blocking my clear view. "Save them? Why... they're dead!! It doesn't matter if you throw them back into the deep woods!!!". The boy gave me a smirkish grin and then heaved another stick deep into the woods as the clattering of a crescendo of sounds echoed through the forest. The boy turned, looked straight at me, and said, "Well, it mattered to that one." I walked on with my two dogs.