Walt Whitman

Today in American Literature class (just as a forewarning, it is highly likely that a lot of my future posts will start with this phrase. This class really gets me thinking. :)

So, today in my American Literature class, our professor read to us sections of Walt Whitman's poem called "Song of Myself." He introduced it by pointing out that Whitman was the "Poet of America," and that he embodied ideal American radicalism.

Okay, that's cool.

So usually when I read poems by myself as a homework assignment, I try to read into it and make sense of it in my head (it usually ends up just going over my head completely). However, when I'm in class and the teacher starts talking about it, it seems the poem has the most obvious meaning on earth.

So that's what happened here. The professor started reading it and adding explanations along the way that made me feel like I was the worst English major ever. It was alright for a while. Whitman was talking about cool stuff like abolition of slavery and the equality of man. I was like "Yeah, man. You're pretty cool."

Then it got kinda weird.

Apparently Walt Whitman's idea of radicalism meant tearing down the veil of human sexuality (including homosexuality). Alright then.

We went on further in the seemingly endless poem. I wasn't really bothered until we got to these lines: "Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch or am touch'd from...This head [is finer] than churches, bibles, and all the creeds."

Now THAT made me squirm in my seat. The first time I read it I thought, "Wow. He's equating himself with God." It's not really unusual in poetry to do that so it wasn't really shocking, but I read it a few more times....Whitman's not only equating himself with God, he's suggesting that he is better than God.

Um....what?

Just wait, it gets better.

Near the end of the poem, Whitman says,

"I have said that the soul is not more than the body,

And I have said that the body is not more than the soul,

And nothing, not God, is greater to one than one's self is...

And I say to mankind, Be not curious about God,
For I who am curious about each am not curious about God,

 (No array of terms can say how much I am at peace about God and about death.)

I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least,

Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself.

Why should I wish to see God better than this day?"

I had to blink a few times to make sure I saw that right. It made me a bit angry. It didn't really help that my professor often interjected with comments like "Isn't that just a beautiful thought?" throughout the entire poem.

The more I thought about it though, I became very sad. What a desperately lost soul he was!! This is something that I've been thinking a lot about in this class....Americans have so abused the freedom we have in this country. The freedom to praise God without persecution is an amazing blessing, but people have fallen deeply into self-focused, individualistic lifestyles in the freedom they possess here. Our culture cultivates and encourages it though. Whitman was a perfect model of how extreme one can become in abuse of freedom. He not only embodies radicalism...he embodies a fallen sinner whose self-focused mindset has led him to believe that man does not need God because man has himself.
How sad it is to read the thoughts of a soul so lost which has never tasted the joy that comes from knowing God!!

But then I thought about how I could have just as easily been another Walt Whitman. If God had allowed my sin to just keep on going, I could have been just as bad, if not worse. But God has saved me from enslavement to sin, freeing me from the freedom in America which cultivates and promotes self-importance and self-focus. We as believers are no longer lost souls! Oh praise Him!

Hallelujah, we are found!!!

"What would you do if you knew you could not fail?"

That's something a lot of us have heard, and it's a good thought to ponder. It encourages us to be confident and to do great things which may seem difficult because of our fear of failure.

But here is my question for you: What would you do if you knew Jesus could not fail?


Revelation 12:7-12

And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying,
“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”

One day this is going to happen. Satan WILL be defeated once and for all, and he will no longer be able to tempt us or attack us. Christ WILL overcome him, and already has overcome sin and death on the cross.
Perhaps the most encouraging part is that because of Christ and what He did, WE WILL OVERCOME. No matter how defeated you may feel at any time in this life, know that we will overcome in the end. And we will overcome because of the hope we have in Christ and because of our witness to others of our testimony of salvation. Christ is the One who has done the work and given us this power through Him to defeat the sin in our lives, no matter how many times we fail.
What would we do then, since we know this to be true? Pray!! Ask God for strength to put your sin to death!! Spread the gospel WITHOUT FEAR!!

What a life we could live if we truly believed we could not fail in Christ...

Lord, forgive my unbelief and help me to live like this.