Focus on Easter

Focus on the task at hand. It’s always been a sort of plan of mine, an ideal to live by. Block out the distraction and forge ahead. This is true for work mostly but it bleeds into my personal affairs. When I sit down to write I have to close out my browser or I’ll waste time on Facebook and Youtube. Tasks aren’t smooth and plans get disrupted constantly. Like most people I tend to waste time on trivial things. Christians need reminding, frequently, that people all around us need help. Easter is perfect for such reminding. Easter recognizes the risen Savior, the eternal promise fulfilled, hope for mankind. 

In the gospel of Luke the Angel tells Mary “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” This was Sunday morning, when Mary went to visit the Lord’s tomb and found the stone rolled away. We can almost sense a “What next?” aspect to this surprising news. We can even ask ourselves today if what we are seeking has lasting value.   

 Am I seeking life where it doesn’t exist? What regrets keep me from fully pursuing truth and purpose? Am I spending too much time with worthless pursuits? Not inherently evil plans but selfish distractions and empty victories. Do I put myself first in all things? 

By “life” I mean eternal, purposeful steps that lead others to truth and meaning. I don’t believe anyone can really pursue eternal 'good' unless Christ has changed their heart. There are countless examples of humans all over lifting up others through education or jobs, food and general welfare. Warren Buffet alone is responsible for incredible charity in both the US and around the world. The ability to change a heart isn’t possible through charity though. Only through surrender to Christ does a heart change.   

People everywhere seek happiness. We seek power, truth, pleasure and meaning. Often we need to rebuild our priorities from the ground up. It all gets to be too much. Stress and disappointment eat away at our soul and we forget about the larger picture in life. Or we just waste away assuming our past mistakes or victim status determine our future.

There is a great picture of God's grace from John 21:15 when Peter (Simon) sees the Lord after his Resurrection. The last time they saw each other Peter vehemently rejected even knowing Jesus. He did this on 3 separate occasions. Most of us fail the first time we’re squeezed. Jesus could drill Peter with talk of betrayal, shake his head in disgust. He zeroed in on Peter's regret and urged him to move forward instead.

So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these? He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.”

He asked this of Peter 3 times, removing the burden from Peter’s mind and giving him a task. "Feed my lambs".

Why do you seek the living among the dead?

 For us it’s a cautious warning, don’t waste time with traditions of men. Don’t waste time regretting past decisions. Forget how you were raised, the people you hurt and the ones who hurt you. People everywhere need to understand the eternal. You must tell them. Tombs are for the dead. He is not here; He lives! Go and find them. In the short time between the Lord’s reappearance and his transfiguration into heaven He emphasized the ‘gospel’. “Go into all the world and preach the gospel…” (NIV)

Meaning and purpose and value aren’t found in the ‘dead’ things in life.

   

Easter is a reset for life. It’s a little like New Year’s Day but with an eternal purpose, a new hope. How can a 2000 year old story be a “new” hope? Easy. Death was defeated for all time for anyone who believes, a superhero story written by a divine author. One who loved His audience so much He wrote His own Son into it. 

So don’t seek the living among the dead. Look for the eternal purpose in every action and leave the past behind. We can now. The Savior is risen!

Papers For Sale

Students pay big for college level essays. Essay mills aren't confined to just higher education but the ‘importance’ of getting into universities drives much of the cottage industry around essay writing. Both buyer and contractor are guilty if the writing is meant for a classroom assignment. Cheating on tests and papers comes in different forms but most people still know that paying for work and calling it your own is wrong.

Plagiarism comes in different forms. One way is to make up quotes, attribute it them Abe Lincoln and select a random history book for the bibliography. This is nearly impossible today because you need to document your sources. Sources that can be easily checked with a google search in most cases. A less blatant form of plagiarism is when an idea isn’t attributed to its original creator or original source. It’s more common because with research comes the mixing and melding of ideas. When you assume a particular line of thinking is common knowledge and don’t properly cite, it’s an understandable mistake. But it’s still wrong.

Most of us have at been tempted to use a paper that someone else turned in for a grade in a different class. Change the title and the author name (hopefully) and present it to the professor with a sleepy look in your eyes. It’s tougher to do this than it used to be, especially if you buy one from a website selling papers with subjects on everything from 'human anatomy' to 'farming practices in ancient Mesopotamia'. The software catches subjects and themes that have been used before. My favorite story is about a student submitting an essay they bought from a website with the original title still on it, something like “Web Order Number 254”.  I imagine professors have some type of shared database that scans across all disciplines. Maybe they just use Goggle. Either way it’s tough to get around it and the downside to getting caught is steep, expulsion.

Some writers make a living doing work for wealthy clients. Vice has a great article here from a freelance writer who does all the typical nonsense blue chip schools want to see before they admit kids. From admissions papers to reflection articles about how some particular art trip made them feel. Apparently this is a real problem for Korean and Chinese students in particular. For anyone who speaks English as a second language, the requirements for processing and getting up to standard are extremely difficult. It’s no excuse for cheating of course, but it does suggest a handful of undergrads probably aren’t cut out for the rigors of a top notch school. If the recent scandal with the Hollywood actors caught buying scholarships proves anything, it's that Americans are likely to use shortcuts as internationals.  

It’s easy to point at wealthy elites who pay to get around roadblocks, but the writer taking their money has no right to do so. Is the crooked cop taking bribes any better than the gangster who pays them? He’s basically saying I can’t believe how corruptible the system is that I profit from; I think you’re scum, are you hiring?

 I had an experience in college during my second year where my own ethics were tested. I was friendly with one of the athletes in my class, a foreigner on a sports scholarship. It was one of those requirements that everyone in the major had to take. He shared notes with me on a quiz I’d missed so I could study it before the final. Here is the rub. He did me a favor because I wouldn’t have known what to study otherwise.  Later that same year he offered me a $100 to do an assignment that he couldn’t finish, a paper of some kind. He needed to get back home (he said). I don’t remember the reason. I refused to do it and he asked for a recommendation. I told him I thought it was cheating and I wouldn’t help. I’m sure I was careful with my words but he got the message. He assumed that his helping me with the quiz constituted a quid pro quo. What the hell bud, I help you out of a jam and you call me a cheat? He never said that but it’s the feeling I got. 

For all the different ways people bend rules or fudge numbers, most things are black and white. The grey is the unusual, the rarity, the one off. Cheating might be a sliding scale, an orders of magnitude problem, but most of us understand when something is wrong. Here is a test for students if you aren’t sure, tell someone what you are considering. Tell a whole lot of people, friends, other teachers. Take an informal poll. If the idea of letting anyone else know what you are up too feels like it would ruin it, it’s probably cheating.