Our commentary on Billy's "Seinfeld vs. Andy" is becoming quite involved now, and one of our cohorts here has introduced in those comments the old bluegrass standard that Andy often "scrubbed off" with the Darlings -- "Dooley." I confess I wish they had decided to play "Don't Hit Your Grandma with a Great Big Stick," at Charlene's wedding, but Charlene protested with, "No, Paw, that one made me cry." Perhaps the greatest line in Andy Griffith history is from that episode -- when Andy was helping Briscoe Darling put on his tie, Briscoe said, "Ever since I saw a hangin', I been nervous about wearin' one of these things." I feel that way every Sunday morning. I tell people if you see me in a tie, it must be Sunday, or else somebody died. (While I do have most Seinfeld episodes memorized, I had to go to the web for help with these quotes -- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053479/quotes)
Now to ole 'Dooley. Yes, Dooley was just the kind of guy that Suburbanites idolize. He lived "below the mill," but he didn't work at the mill like the rest of the community around them. Instead, he supplied them all with their brain-damaging, family destroying, bankrupting moonshine. Just the kind of guy every Suburban community needs (AND HAS!). The original American Idol! The modern day equivalent is the homeschooling, stay-at-home, meth-lab operator. Steve Earle provided music fans an update of Dooley when he penned "Copperhead Road." Ice-T brought Dooley into the modern era with "Cop Killer."
Dooley was "a good old man" in the eyes of the world. He was a family man --
he worked side by side with his wife (maybe by "common law") and his daughters. But don't say he was a "bad person" (the most intolerable insult in modern Suburbia). That's judgmental, because there are no moral absolutes (even Andy didn't have any apparently). He's just a "good old man" ... "trying to make a dollar." And he even extended good credit to his patrons. "Give me a swaller, and I'll pay you back someday." I wonder which came first: Dooley or Wimpy ("I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today!"). Perhaps we have found the origin of our culture's addiction to consumer debt. "Give me a plasma screen TV, and I'll pay you back someday." "I will gladly pay you Tuesday for an SUV today." (And don't even get me started about the SUV obsession in Suburbia).
Well, ole' Dooley ran into some legal trouble when the intolerant and tyrannical "revenuers" came to shut his industry down. What? Did they not care about his family? About his financial entrepreneurship? Man, the nerve! But Dooley was smarter than they are (the bad guys usually are). He didn't get caught, didn't loose any product. Just like the smooth operators I see plying their wares across the fence at the hotel beside my office.
And sure enough, the day came when Dooley met his maker. But let's don't think unpleasant thoughts on such an occasion. Let's just say, "Dooley's on the mountain he lies there all alone;
They put a jug beside him and a barrel for a stone." I wish that were true. One thing I miss about being an atheist is the belief that when lost people die, they just fade to black and their remains are thrown into the ground. But I don't believe that. I can't believe that. Dooley is not on the mountain. Dooley is in hell. And those who knew him best don't care. They aren't crying because Dooley will perish eternally. They are crying because they lost their supplier. (Cue Roy Orbison, "Cry-iii-ing over you!"). I have preached many a-funeral, and when I know that the deceased was an unbeliever, I am overwhelmed by the emotion expressed by his or her loved ones. But most of all, I am appalled at the fact that their outbursts are only reflective of the human loss -- no more fun, no more picnics, vacations, holidays, no more family get-togethers. There is no concern for the fact that the dead relative or friend is perishing eternally apart from the presence of God.
By the way, I am equally as appalled at some "Christian funerals" when the high mark is the celebration that "We will all get to see this dear friend again when we get to heaven!" John Piper asks, "Would you be happy in heaven if God was not there?" Meaining, suppose you could go to heaven, see all your dead relatives, never be sick, never have any need for anything, and the only thing is, God isn't there. Would you be happy? Piper says if you would, you aren't saved, or else you are desperately immature in your faith (I would recommend "God is the Gospel" to read more in this line of thinking by Piper). The highmark of a Christian funeral OUGHT to be that this loved one has received the inheritance laid up for him or her through the cross and resurrection of Jesus and is standing face to face with Christ at this very moment. Anything less than that is blasphemous!
Back to Dooley. Not on a hill, but in hell. Not alone, though I guess it feels that way in the place of outer darkness separated from God's presence. He's a "good old man." Just not good enough. Because none of us can be "good enough." God's righteous standard is higher than any of us can achieve. So is God unfair? No. Because He came to us and satisfied the standard on our behalf in the person of Jesus Christ. And after He did that, He died to take our place under the wrath of God. And after that, He conquered death on our behalf in the Resurrection. And He did not do this so we could scatter candy-filled eggs all over the yard and lie to our children about some overgrown, egg-laying bunny rabbit. He did it to save sinners. He did it for all the "Dooleys" out there -- sinners like you and me. Christ did all this to make sinners holy, not to make good people better.
Maybe if little churches in little towns like Mayberry, and BIG churches in BIG Suburbs, would start preaching that message instead of the Seven Snappy Secrets to Soul Satisfying Sex, or the Pillars of Productive Pet Ownership, or the Building Blocks to a Better Batting Average, or The Critical Need for Spelling Reform in Our Day (my apologies to C. S. Lewis on that last one, see "Screwtape"), people like Dooley could find out before it's too late that God isn't looking for "good men and women." He is looking for absolutely-completely-totally-perfectly-sinlessly righteous and holy people. And there aren't any. But God offers to take sinners like you and me and Dooley, and remove the stain of our sins, and cover us in the absolutely-completely-totally-perfectly-sinlessly righteous holiness of Jesus if we will bow the knee to Him as our Lord and Savior.
So, Happy Easter, Dooley. Wherever you are. And Happy Easter to all those like Dooley. He did it all for you.
Click here to hear "Dooley" (Right click to open in a new window)
8 comments:
Dooley is definitely from the suburbs, and the suburbs clearly illustrate the depravity of man. To live in the city is to experience genuine community. Yes, it’s difficult, and one will often find himself or herself making sacrifices for the benefit of his or her neighbor. But isn’t that a picture of Christianity?
The same can be said for genuine rural living. People in rural areas have no choice but to depend on one another. Again, Christianity is illustrated. It should be no surprise that our eternal dwelling place is referred to as the “city” of God (no sacrifices made there; it will be the perfect community), nor should we be surprised to see the Psalmist refer to the beauty of the country-side as a means by which God’s beauty and glory is exhibited.
But what do we see illustrated in suburbia: Selfishness, self-centeredness, envy, pride, and a total disregard for the environment.
As suburbia closes in, I must endure it for a season. However, I take delight in knowing that there will be a day in which I can experience real community in the city of God.
Amen.
It has long been established that you have indeed gone crazy Josh. However, in truth, I was glad to move from the suburbs to the city. While I am not in an urban hi-rise or anything (we do have some grass), the noise of living is all around me. The thing I love best about raising two children in the city is that they will not grow up with the delusion that everyone out there is middle-class and caucasian. That to me is worth a little risk, and well worth the faith that God will take care of them.
Living in the suburbs is NOT sinful. Charlotte has fallen victim to urban blight to the point that one practically has no choice but find a dwelling in the outskirts of town. Nevertheless, we’re talking about pictures. We see the city in the Scriptures; it illustrates something godly. We see the country-side in the Scriptures; again, it illustrates something godly. We cannot see suburbia in the Scriptures for the social structure itself has man at its center.
By the way, guess what causes urban blight? ...... Suburbs!
Cars: Yea, I have one. No, I don’t like it. Yea, they kill. No, I will not drive one in the city of God. Was convenience in mind when man invented the car? If so, does convenience bring glory to God? Is taking up one’s cross and following Jesus convenient? Maybe the Amish do have it right.
Sun Screen: Yea, I use it. No, I don’t like it. The sun was created by God, but its damaging effects are the result of the fall (just as suburbs are the result of the fall); thus, sun screen is necessary due to the fall. I will not use it in the city of God.
Alarm clocks: Yea, I have one, but I rarely use it. No, I don’t like it. Yes, God does intend for us to sleep. Why do we need alarm clocks anyway? Is it because we try to do more each day than God intended causing us to either get in bed too late or rise too early? The necessity of alarm clocks speaks to man’s depravity almost as much as suburbs. Yea, alarm clocks are clearly the result of the fall. I will not need an alarm clock in the city of God.
The only thing that keeps one from being a bank robber is the grace of God; due to the fall anyone of us is capable of robbing a bank.
No, you didn’t argue from silence; all of these things speak to the brokenness of the world...
Down with the burbs!
Man Billy, that makes me want to get rid of my car and my alarm clock. By the way, I saw a guy at the Tampa airport last week with a t-shirt that read "Yoder Dame: Home of the Fightin Amish." Hilarious. Having lived around the Amish, I can say that there is much to commend about their way of life, but there is also much Pharisaism among them too. Even the Amish are depraved. But my wife and I came away from those 5 years saying, "We could live that way, as long as everyone else around us did. But we can't drive a buggy down Highway 222, while SUVs and minivans are passing us."
My final thought on the suburbs will have to come later as I will quote extensively from Nicholas Wolterstorff's Art in Action.
Russ,
Actually, the Amish remark in my previous comment was my own stab at sarcasm. I never meant that because suburbia is not in the Bible, it must be evil. The fact that suburbia is not in the Bible is beside the point, and I was making NO argument from silence. Suburbia is evil because it is a man-made, man-centered social system; therefore, it could never be used as an illustration to describe the beauty and glory of God as the social systems in the Bible so accurately and poetically do.
Those living in the suburbs are NOT sinning for doing so, but the system itself speaks to the depravity of man. Land on the western side of my county (Charlotte side) is developed by a hand-full of developers who make millions of dollars doing so. These developers are not responsible for new roads, new schools, new utilities, etc. An increase in taxes throughout the entire county becomes necessary. I have read stories in the local newspaper of farmers in eastern Union County having to sell land that had been in their families for generations simply because they can no longer pay the taxes on large tracts of farm land.
Taxes paid in eastern Union County are used to build schools, sewer treatments plants, and other utilities in the western part of the county while the eastern residents continue to send their kids to old schools, drink water from wells loaded with iron, and use septic systems in ground that is not suitable for septic systems.
What’s even more insulting is that the land developers are threatening to sue the county if an “Adequate Public Facilities Ordnance” or “APFO” is passed by the county commissioners. This ordinance would pass the cost of development onto the developers rather than the eastern farmers and the working poor. Developers are already “pumping” their money into their own candidates for the county commission seats that are up for grabs in this year’s election.
This is not just a Union County problem; it is a problem with suburbia as a whole. The law firms that are being retained to fight the APFO are the same ones that have been used by developers in other states as well as a recent lawsuit in Rowan County, NC, in which the developers won.
Please forgive my sermon, but I am witnessing land developers become millionaires at the expense of the poor and the exploitation of the environment. This system is evil, and it does not ascribe glory and honor to God.
Billy
I definitely agree. I am convinced by now that Josh does not. So, we'll say this for sure: Everyone has a right to live where they want to live. But, we also all have a stewardship to maintain -- that dominion that God created us to exercise over the earth. And we need to be mindful of how we express that dominion in our choices. We also have a social obligation to love our neighbor as (I like to substitute the words "instead of") ourselves. So our choices of where to live must also be a reflection of the commitment to that obligation as well.
I think that is a good summary statement (if I did write it) which imposes no legalistic boundaries on anyone, but at the same time points to the theological issues involved. I can't remember who it was, if I read it, heard it, or maybe the voices inside my head said it: "Can you use the bathroom to the glory of God?" While that question will seem absurd to some, it points out the overarching purpose of all of life to be lived to the glory of God. Paul said, "Whatsoever you do ...." So, in our choices of where to live, we should choose to the glory of God.
Once I can get my hands on my Wolterstorrf book, I will post a seperate piece (not the be confused with the morbid book I had to read in middle school entitled A Seperate Peace)on his comments about the Art of the City.
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