Resolution

If you’re looking for the typical New Year’s Resolutions in this my first post of the new year, you won’t find any here. Those types of resolutions have never changed the world. It takes  a revolution to change the world. During this past several weeks, as I prepared for this New Year’s Post, I struggled with the words resolution and revolution, and the large families of words associated with them. I also struggled with health concerns that derailed my intention to post a New Year’s Post on or close to New Year’s Day. Another New Year’s Resolution bites the dust.

The words resolution and revolution have many things in common, other than nine letters. One of the most interesting commonalities to me is the fact that each word has a number of distinct, and very disparate meanings.

The word “resolution” has at least four distinct definitions. The first is the common meaning associated with New Year’s Resolutions. It is simply a statement of intent to do or perform something. If you believe the numerous surveys conducted concerning New Year’s Resolutions, then for most people a resolution is nothing more than the statement of intent. There is no firm commitment to follow through. In other words there is no resolve to really do something.

The second meaning of resolution has some relationship to the first. A resolution is a formal legal statement of a legislative body expressing an opinion or intention, such as the United States Congress declaring New Year’s Day, January 1st, as a National Holiday.

The third meaning is a stretch from the first two. It refers to the act or process of separating something, such as an image, a chemical reaction, musical work or an argument, into its constituent parts or elements. For example, the recommended screen resolution for many desktop computers is 1024×768. This means there are 1024 pixels or dots horizontally and 768 pixels vertically, creating the image seen on the screen.

The fourth meaning brings the word “resolution” back closer to the word “solution”, which is one of its base words. A solution when dealing with problems refers to the settlement, completion or conclusion of the matter. A “resolution” in this sense is the process of bringing a situation to a conclusion. The “resolution” of an injury lawsuit can result in a financial settlement for the plaintiff.

The word “revolution” has multiple meanings also. The first is a fundamental change in structure. In human history, these revolutions may be political, social, economic, technological, religious, or various combinations of these factors.

Examples of political revolutions are the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Boxer Rebellion, the Russian Revolution, the Spanish Civil War, the Chinese Civil War, the Cuban Revolution, and the many ethnic cleansings throughout human history. All of these revolutions included violent upheavals in the affected societies. Examples of social revolutions include the abolition of slavery, the rise and fall of Prohibition, the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, the sexual revolution, the dismantlement of the Apartheid System in South Africa, and societal changes brought about by groups such as feminists and the LGBT coalition. Many of these social revolutions were accompanied by violent upheavals in society.

In the history of mankind, a list of the most significant technological revolutions would have to include the invention of simple tools, the invention of writing and paper, the invention of steel, the invention of gun powder, the invention of the printing press, the harnessing of electricity, the invention of photography, the invention of the internal combustion engine, the invention of the airplane, the invention of radio, the invention of the telephone, the invention of rocket propulsion, the invention of television, the harnessing of atomic power, the invention of the computer, and the minification of electrical devices. All of these inventions have greatly affected society, warfare, economics and even politics. The impact on society and history of these revolutions could be considered immeasurable.

The first great economic revolution was the invention of money and a switch from a bartering system to commerce based on monetary exchanges. A second great economic revolution was probably the Industrial Revolution which  brought about a switch from an agricultural based economy to a capitalistic economy. A third impactful economic revolution was the Information Revolution which brought about a switch from an economy based on manufacturing to an economy based on technology, data and information . Since there were many concurrent, social changes, it is difficult to say whether the economic revolutions were the cause or the result of the social and technological changes.

There are two types of religious revolutions. The first consists of large scale societal changes which we can label macro-religious revolutions. The second type is confined to individuals. In these micro-religious revolutions, individuals completely turn their lives around from one belief structure to another.

There have been numerous macro-religious revolutions throughout human history. One of the first was the rise of Judaism and its reaction to the polytheism of the world around it. A second was the rise of Christianity, reacting against not only the almost universal pagan culture of the day, but also the Jewish culture out of which it developed. A third revolution was the battle between the three major world religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam,  whose roots are firmly grounded in the Middle East. A fourth revolution was the splitting of Christianity into at least three segments, Roman Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, and the Reform movements. A fifth revolution in the Muslim world has pitted two main segments of Islam, the Sunnis and the Shiites, against each other and against people of all other faiths. These individuals are labeled infidels. In the modern world, there is a new revolution that pits a growing segment of the population that wishes to either deny the need for any religion or to accept all religions as equal avenues to truth, happiness and paradise. All of these religious revolutions have included significant changes to patterns of societal thought, beliefs and behavior. Many have also resulted in violent upheavals of the social and political structures.

The second definition of the word “revolution” is related to the physical motion of an object spinning or rotating on an axis. One example of this is the rotation of the earth one time each day on its axis. This creates a period of day and night every 24 hours, at each location on earth with the exception of those regions near the polar ends of the axis. In these polar regions, light and darkness may last for months at a time. A second example of a rotational revolution is the earth rotational motion around the sun once each year. This movement creates four seasons each year for most locations on the earth’s surface.

This definition of revolution does include the concepts of motion and change. However, one important difference between this type of revolution and the complete structural changes of the first definition is that after one complete revolution, the spinning object has returned to its original position. In one sense this represents no change. In structural revolutions, the structures and outlooks have completely changed. Thus a structural revolution could be considered half of a rotational revolution.

The second type of religious revolutions, the micro or individual religious revolutions, have occurred daily throughout human history. I have labeled them micro revolutions because I want to focus on the difference that these changes make in the lives of individuals, not large groups of people.

In most orthodox, post-reformation Christian churches, the most important question a person faces is, “What is your relationship to God?” Scripture teaches us that all of us enter into this world estranged from God. Romans 5:12 says

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned (JKV).

To be reconciled to God, we must accept the free gift of his atonement. In Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians, we read:

2 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.  (Ephesians 2: 1-10 JKV)

This passage shows the revolution that must occur from walking in darkness to walking in the light. It’s not enough to resolve to walk in the light. We must do it, which can only be done through God’s power. Paul’s epistle to the Romans teaches us that:

14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. (Romans 7:14-25; JKV)

Thus, coming to salvation and living a life pleasing to God takes far more than a resolution. It takes a revolution. Have you joined the revolution? Although these are micro revolutions in that they involve only one person at a time, the sum total of these micro revolutions is world changing.