Sabbath Run Amok ...

Perhaps the most challenged Commandment of the Ten, and most challenging to keep, is the fourth one that ordained in stone what Adam and Eve were long ago familiar with.  The Sabbath is more than just a Commandment God gave to Moses on Sinai.  It is an institution established at the very creation of our world.  It is something God setup to mark the conclusion of His creation of this world, and His intent to fellowship with us His new creations.  It was setup before sin.  As was marriage and family, institutions God setup with no expiration date, or need to change them.  Sin did not alter what God setup, at least from God’s perspective.  But sin caused us to pollute what God setup and what He intended.  Both marriage and family as well as the Sabbath fellowship with God have suffered and decayed over the 6000+ years since they began.  But all of God’s institutions will be restored when we are taken home, purified from the effects of sin and evil, and restored to the plans God created that were not intended to expire in the first place.  But if you look around you today, you see the entire concept of the Sabbath as one of great controversy (not unlike what is happening with the state of marriage and family as well).  What God setup, Satan is intent on tearing down.

Between Adam and Noah institutions like the Sabbath were handed down Father to Son orally.  While this period lasted 2000 years, the generations that lived before the flood had long average ages so there were not actually that many of them between creation and the Flood.  From Noah to Abraham the same tradition of Father to Son were present, but men had even less desire to keep to a fellowship with God.  By the time Abraham arrives on the scene he is forced to ponder who God is, and because he is nearly the only one looking, he is the only one who finds our God.  Once again Father to Son is established.  But many years later Egyptian slavery nearly wipes out the traditions and Moses must establish a written tradition to commemorate the Sabbath in stone written by the very finger of God. 

When the children of Israel wander through the desert, they are given a living example of the freedom of Sabbath when manna comes in double portion on Fridays that will last through Sabbath, but on no other day does it behave so.  As the years go by the prophet Isaiah writes of celebrating the Sabbath (note the concept of celebration) in heaven for eternity.  Isaiah is given a glimpse at what God had in mind for the Sabbath as it was God’s day off with us (not the other way around).  We did nothing to make the Sabbath Holy, God did that with His particularly special presence.  We were supposed to remember that, and honor His time with our time, insuring we do not impend on anyone else’s time with our same God.  Yet instead of a celebration, the Sabbath became an institution of rules; of can’s, and cannot’s.

By the time church leadership was done with it, the Sabbath became an onerous, nearly unkeepable, fully depressing period of time, people were guilted into following each week.  The idea of time off with God was replaced with what you cannot do, a list so long it was way too hard to remember at all.  In our day Sabbath observance for those who believe the day has been changed to Sunday (though there is not a single example of this in scripture, or in the behavior and example of what Jesus did or said) consists of “going to church”.  Once church is complete, the day returns to the worshipper to do with as he sees fit.  When you ask folks who believe Sabbath is on Sunday how they celebrate it, the most common answer is “going to church”.  When you ask them what they do after that, the celebration breaks down fairly quickly to whatever routine tasks they do any other day.  But don’t jump on the criticism bandwagon too quickly just yet. 

For those folks who believe Sabbath is on Saturday as God originally created and intends for eternity; the answer to how they celebrate Sabbath is exactly the same.  Number one answer: they go to church.  When asked what they do after that, there are a few other activities that come up.  Potluck feasts, sundown worship sessions, and maybe some nature related activities when weather and location permit.  Sounds better in principle, but not that much in reality.  Most of these folks in reality spend Sabbath afternoons sleeping (cause there is not much else they are allowed to do).  In either case, you will hear a million different excuses about why Sabbath observance is not really needed anymore anyway other than to pay it the nominal attention of “going to church”.  After that it is up to the worshipper what they do on it, no matter what day they believe Sabbath is on.  A degeneration based on a rules philosophy and enforced by the enemy of God that would see the celebration of Sabbath with our God descend into something else entirely.  Namely routine.

Routines are something we humans cling to very tightly.  We use them to keep from “breaking” the Sabbath.  The Pharisees has the same concept more than 2000 years ago in the time of Christ.  But what you and I think is on the list of do’s and don’ts is not even how God thinks at all.  For Jesus the Sabbath is awesome because for at least one day in seven, we turn our eyes to Him.  He is always with us, but we so rarely turn our eyes away from what we normally do, and give Him any attention at all.  He set aside His time to be with us.  Just in doing that Jesus made Sabbath Holy.  His presence makes something Holy.  When Moses approached the burning bush, God asked him to remove his sandals because the place were he was standing was “Holy” ground.  That patch of land was not normally holy.  It was holy because God was there.  The same is true of Sabbath, it is Holy because Jesus is with us.  And in the time of Christ, this was never more true.  Jesus was there.  And when Jesus was there, the fellowship with God was really ALL that mattered.  The Pharisees (and most of us unfortunately) don’t even come close to this way of thinking.  We are looking for lists of restrictions, while God is looking to spend focused time, without the distractions of the norms of our lives.

And so conflict between the position of church leadership and our God was sure to reveal itself.  Luke recounts this conflict in the sixth chapter of his gospel letter to his friend about our beliefs and why we hold them.  Keep in mind Luke wrote his gospel long after these events occurred.  If there had ever been a change in the day from Saturday to Sunday, Luke could have easily noted that in his gospel.  He did not.  No change had occurred, nor should man presume he is able to change what God setup, and still call it Holy.  More like disaster.  But the conflict back in the days of Christ was not about which day Sabbath was on, but about what is “allowed” to do on the Sabbath at all.  Luke picks up in verse 1 saying … “And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. [verse 2] And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days?”

A little irony for you, the church leaders telling the author and creator of the Sabbath, what He and His people can do on His day.  But the Pharisees had taken the example of the Israelites in the time of Moses where manna was given in double portion on Fridays and lasted without spoiling all the way through Saturday as a “law” that food preparation should be done the day before the Sabbath so that no cooking was ever done “on” Sabbath.  The idea of serving others on Sabbath never entered their minds.  The idea of loving others through service freely given never entered their minds.  The Pharisees had a very self-centric viewpoint of Sabbath.  The Sabbath is about me.  What I do.  What I cannot do.  Others are only incidental to my Sabbath.  I shall not employ them.  But other than that, they are irrelevant to “my” Sabbath.  The response of Jesus did not reprimand them for their desire to minimize food preparation to make the Sabbath even more free from distraction.  Instead Jesus points them to David (one of their heroes) and recalls an incident where David ate food prepared for priests alone, and gave it to his men as well.  It was not the act of David that was Ok.  It was the Lord over the rules who loved His servant and made an exception for David, as Jesus could make an exception for His disciples valuing fellowship and trust, more than strict rules that destroy fellowship altogether.

Luke continues in verse 3 saying … “And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was an hungred, and they which were with him; [verse 4] How he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the shewbread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone? [verse 5] And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.”  Jesus identifies Himself as LORD of the Sabbath.  God created the Sabbath.  Therefore Jesus is also our Creator and God.  This example of the disciples feeding themselves (gleaning in a field) is not one to endorse theft, or eating out on Sabbath, or minimizing food preparation, or making your act of love serving others food on Sabbath.  This was about keeping your eye on the ball.  Being with Jesus is more important than ANY other distraction.  “How” you honor Jesus is not up for debate.  “That” you honor Jesus is the salient point.  If your idea of honoring time with Jesus is to force or hire others to serve you in order for you to be free (you forget that your love for those others should have left them free to honor our God as well).  Making the excuse that they would have working anyway whether you are there or not, is not making any statement about them, but it does make a statement about you, about how you think, and about how you value them, or love them.  Loving others drives a different way of thinking about the celebration of Sabbath.  Not about what you can and cannot do, but about how you can share the love of God, and thereby fellowship with Jesus even when Jesus cannot be seen today.

But the Pharisees had established routines far more extreme than this.  They had lost all value for others.  The care of the sick did not outweigh the obligation to do no work on the Sabbath.  Get that, people, less than rules.  The sharing of love was fully absent in that thinking.  But it was and is not absent in the thinking of our God.   Luke continues in verse 6 saying … “And it came to pass also on another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man whose right hand was withered. [verse 7] And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against him. [verse 8] But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered hand, Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth. [verse 9] Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it? [verse 10] And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as the other. [verse 11] And they were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus.”

And here is where popularity goes right out the window.  Jesus healed on Sabbath because our God does not take the concept of Him taking a day off as meaning He abandons everything He does to keep us alive and well.  If God just stopped turning planets, sending rain, reminding you to breath – we all die in an instant.  That is not His idea of making a day Holy.  It is about spending time with us.  When we see the suffering, how can we just leave them in that condition, just because it is Sabbath – then call ourselves Sabbath observers.  Love does not take a day off.  Love is constant ever present.  But then Love does not ask for anything in return either.  Jesus did not demand payment for services rendered.  So many purported Sabbath keepers pick medical careers in order to be able to “work” on Sabbath.  And so they do.  They “work” in the service of healing, but share no love because they feel no love.  They get paid for services rendered because why wouldn’t they?  They get overtime and shift differentials and actually prefer to work on Sabbaths because it pays better.  And hey it is all legal – because of this story in the gospels.  But legal is not the goal – loving is.

How Jesus healed, was why Jesus ate with His disciples.  Because He loved them and us, and wants to share with us in the joy of fellowship.  His joy is not blind to our needs, but ever trying to meet our needs.  It is a reflection of His love for us.  Love does not demand payment.  Nor does love look for distractions from a time with God.  For those who heal, or serve others in any capacity on Sabbath, because it is a reflection of their love for others – no man should judge.  Many work on Sabbath serving communities, or nations, or the sick, or in critical functions like utilities – where if they should stop working many others would suffer or die.  These professions are honorable.  And if they serve from love, they honor the Sabbath of their God.  But if they merely serve for careers, thinking not about who they serve or why, and focusing more on the money it takes to support them, their debts, their families, than they do about sharing love.  Perhaps they should find different professions, or seek the Lord, to find different hearts in the same professions.  The Sabbath is not about what we can and cannot do.  It is about who we love, how we love, and how we honor God’s time with our own.

Putting away distractions we can do any other of the six days in our week, allows us to focus on Jesus even more on His day.  I can shop anytime.  But on His day, I want to do something for Him.  I can entertain myself anytime.  But on His day, I want my entertainment to bring me closer to Him, to give me another insight into Him, and to motivate me to do something for Him.  I work because I need to,  But on His day, I want to free myself from the concerns of my career.  I want to keep as many others as I can free from theirs as well, avoiding putting them in positions where they are required to serve me.  But none of this matters, if I forget who I love, how I love, and why His love can live in me in the first place.  My Creator is also my re-Creator.  His gift of the Sabbath to me, is more precious to me than gold.  And I only hope He will continue to help me find better ways to explore the celebration of His day, in this world, and in the next one.

 

Sabbath Wars [part one] ...

How hard will you fight, in order to rest?  Most of us have jobs that pay us money we use to survive, to keep food on the table, a roof over our heads, cars running on the road.  The “bosses” we report to set priorities they believe are extremely important, can impact the company’s success, and “need” to be done on time … or else.  So many Americans are reluctant, at best, to take the full vacation time they are allotted any given year.  We fear that our absence from work might remind them that they can get along without us.  We fear that should we take time away, another co-worker who chooses not to, will get that promotion because of their “dedication” and our “carefree” attitude towards the priorities of our jobs.  We fear the results of our decision to take time away and rest.  And if that fear exists for vacations which only happen seldom in a given year, it can apply to weekends, nights, and pretty much every other day of the year as well.

Now given the insecurities we all wrestle with, with respect to our own balance of “home” vs. “work” needs; imagine the incongruity of attempting to dictate to someone else, exactly “how” and exactly “when” they must rest.  I am not talking about telling someone they need a break.  I am talking about telling someone exactly when that break should occur, and exactly what they will do on that break, and exactly how they will do it (down to the number of breaths to take during the supposed “break”).  It makes no sense.  If I dictate to you that you “must” rest, how can you rest?  If I dictate to you “how” you should rest, am I not inherently imposing restrictions that will keep you from “resting” whether you are doing something different than you were or not? 

The Pharisees (or church leaders in the days of Christ), have a lot in common with many of my Seventh Day Adventist friends.  Convicted of the “truth” of the Sabbath doctrine, and certain of its prominence within the Law of God, they studied to insure “we” would all understand “how” to keep it holy.  There were already some guidelines within the Law itself, the prohibition of “work” for example.  There also exists in the same passages the prohibition to have others “work” for us.  So the true students of the Law began to examine - what does it mean to “work”.  If I do an activity in exchange for compensation, is that the definition of work?  But what if I am already an unpaid “employee” such as a housewife or househusband, whose work is to cook, clean, and serve the household?  Should I then refrain from any “chores” on Sabbath?  There is the example of daily manna in Israel that allowed for a double portion collection and preservation on Friday’s, in order to not have to do this chore on Sabbath, that would seem to support the idea that God cares about “household” workers on His Sabbath as well.

But if I extend this same thinking about work prohibitions for myself and my family, to all those who might be considered as serving me … what could I do that would not require someone else to do “work”.  Oh sure it’s easy to say that walking into a restaurant, or theme park on Sabbath will surely require someone else do perform services directly for me.  But when I turn on the water, or electricity, in my home, or use the Internet; I am aware that somewhere there are employees in utility companies who monitor the systems of plumbing, pipes, wires, cables, routers, and infrastructure that deliver “services” to my home.  Am I not also requiring them to work for me on Sabbath as well?  If I drive, the police, and city traffic monitors, are also sort of “required” to do their jobs to keep me safe on the road.  Even if all I do is go to church; even in that action, am I not requiring the often paid music team to perform, the paid pastor to preach, and all the household people who perform “services” for me at church to do their respective “chores”?

Depending on how we define the term “work”, and who we apply that definition to, we could easily get as proscriptive as did our spiritual forefathers about the difference between walking 1,000 steps per day (deemed as recreational) and walking 1,001 steps per day (deemed as crossing the line between re-creation and working).  Of course the problem in this entire line of thinking is that inevitably we will be “working” harder to keep Sabbath holy than any other day, and in so doing completely miss the idea of rest in the first place.  When we consider the entire point of Sabbath rest was to be able to spend time with Dad, and “remember” that Dad takes His time off, in order to be with us on this special day in a special way, it might flip our ideas and notions about Sabbath observance on their heads.  The Sabbath was supposed to be a cornerstone of our relationship with God.  It was time set aside for us to literally be with Him.  In the Garden of Eden, that meant God physically coming to our world to “hang out” with Adam and Eve.  Yes, God heard their prayers during the rest of the week, and liked walking through the garden in the evenings with them.  But on Sabbath, it was a full day to hang out with God, a day that “HE” took time off of HIS work, in order to be with us.  Time HE set aside as holy to be with us.  And how do we respond?

When the rules no longer govern the time, but the anticipation to literally be with Dad takes over, the number of steps we take, breaths we take, or venues we find ourselves in matter a whole lot less than the fact that we are literally hanging out with God.  That is what Sabbath was like for Peter and the other disciples.  They were not just “observing” a day of rest with Christ along for the ride, they were literally with GOD and HE was with them on this special day.  This was how Sabbath was intended to be honored and remembered.  Whatever you find yourself doing literally “with Jesus” on Sabbath day is more than just OK, it is awesome!  The same feeling you get when you are eating a romantic dinner with your spouse, away on a vacation from work, away from the stress of the everyday needs, and able to enjoy time alone in a special way.  Whether in Paris, or Rome, or Fiji, that feeling of getting away from your home, away from your routines, and rediscover the intimacy of the person you have loved for so many years … this is what Sabbath was intended to be like between us and our God.  And God gave us this gift of HIS time, in such a special way, but only every seven days. 

He will be there for us all the time, but on this time, it is going to be AWESOME!  Neither of us are going to allow the routine distractions we “have to do” to get in the way of what both of us know we WANT to do.  We will free our time and our minds up, so we can really get to know each other, and find pleasure in the small things, in the time away, in the intimacy we offer each other.  The reason why vacation recharges and re-energizes us when we get back to work, is the same effect the Sabbath can have on us every week.  When we allow ourselves to put away distractions, and find Christ intimately, learning to love others like He loves others, what we do changes and why we do it changes.  Anything that would get in our way of intimacy with Christ gets put aside, because intimacy with God and the specialness with which He treats this time, is just too important for us to treat it any differently.  And so it was with Peter.

The Pharisees however, did not recognize Christ as God, so the beauty of hanging out with Dad, had never entered their minds.  All they had was the Law.  So the Law governed their thinking.  Peter recalls how the war to restore Sabbath began in the gospel of John Mark in chapter two and verse 23 saying … “And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. [verse 24] And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful?”  So Peter is hanging out with Christ, walking through a corn field.  In those days (and since Israel emerged as a nation), farmers would reflect the love of God to others in the form of leaving corn on the stalks for the poor to come and glean.  God had instructed the farmers NOT to be so greedy as to harvest every single ear of corn or grain of wheat from the fields they borrowed from Him.  They left some of it, so the poor, and those who did not “own” land could come and “work” to feed themselves due to the mercy of the “landowner”.  How interesting that today we would see this as irresponsible waste, yet God saw this practice for what it was, charity and love for others.

None the less, to “glean” in the fields was still considered “work”, therefore for Peter and the others to be picking corn on Sabbath was decidedly against the Law of God from the perspective of the Pharisees.  And they were quick to point this out to Jesus, a Rabbi who should know better than to allow His followers to do these unlawful acts.  Peter recounts Jesus’ response for John Mark to chronicle in verse 25 … “And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? [verse 26] How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him?”  If it is a matter of Law alone, Jesus will challenge them on this basis. 

To enter the temple itself, in the holy place was a privilege reserved for the priests alone.  To eat the showbread was a part of sacred ceremonies again reserved for the priests alone.  To defy these rules, and defy God, was to risk sure, certain, and immediate death.  The high priest wore bells on the bottom of his robes and a rope tied to his ankle when entering the most holy place on the Day of Atonement.  For should he be judged unworthy by God, he would be struck dead, and no one could enter to retrieve his body, or they would be struck dead (thus the bells to let folks know he was still moving, the rope to get him back if they ceased ringing).  Messing with the rules of the temple in days past saw an immediate consequence to breaking them, handed out by God Himself.  So Jesus points out to the Pharisees that there is something beyond their understanding of the rules, there is an intimacy with God that David is acquainted with that these rulers are not.

John Mark continues in verse 27 … “And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: [verse 28] Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.”  The Sabbath was made for Man.  It was a gift to us.  It was our Dad setting aside His time and His work to be with us.  He makes the rules, we don’t.  He alone can make “time” itself holy, we can’t.  It is through His presence that a thing can move from what it was, to being holy.  The ground Moses was walking on near the burning bush was not inherently holy, it was holy ONLY because God was standing on it as well.  Any given day is not holy on its own, it is only made holy because God is doing something on that day, making His presence known in a special way, hanging out with us that makes Saturday into Sabbath.  Otherwise it is just another day at work.  We are NOT holy on our own, but when He dwells within us, His presence can take what was profane and make it Holy when He is in us, when we love like He loves.  It is His presence alone that makes a thing holy.

Whether you pluck corn on Sabbath or not, does nothing to make the Sabbath holy or not.  It is not the activity of plucking corn that is in question here, it is the context of the story.  Peter and the others were “with Jesus” literally.  They found themselves walking through a field with Christ, and they picked corn due to the charity of the landowner to enjoy with their Lord.  The gift of the time of the Sabbath with Christ, in combination with the gift of the charity of the landowner, where love was being shown from everyone to everyone.  Only the Pharisees missed all the love for their focus on the Law.  Only the Pharisees were so obsessed with the accuracy of their scriptural interpretations, that they missed the love of being with God on His holy day.  What a loss!!  They could have spent Sabbath with God on earth, but they were too busy reciting their ideas of the rules to God.  Are we any different?

We rationalize what we do on Sabbath to ourselves.  We make distinctions between turning on a light switch, driving to church, listening to a sermon … and causing someone else to work to feed us afterwards.  We excuse shopping on Sabbath because clerks and cashiers would be there whether we were or not.  The one key theme that emerges in our all focus on the adherence to the law, is a focus on what it means in practical terms to “me”.  I am obsessed with my own convenience and activities on MY day that I call Sabbath.  Sabbath is MY day off.  Sabbath is MINE and therefore what I do on it, is up to me.  But in this thinking I have lost the time and special intimacy that comes with hanging out with Dad, appreciating His gift of His time with me.  I ignore what is possible with Him, and instead focus on what I might do, that might bring joy to me.  Jesus did not say that “we” were the Lord of the Sabbath, He said He was.  The Sabbath is only the Sabbath because He made it that way, blessed it, and gave it to us.  It was supposed to be about spending intimate time with us.  We enjoy Sabbath, when we spend it hanging out with Dad, on vacation from our everyday lives.  If we treat Sabbath like we do every other day of the week, focusing on what makes me happy, or the concerns of my survival, we “lose” the beauty of what it was intended to be.  The punishment for this loss, is the loss of what was possible.

The lesson Christ was trying to teach us was a restoration of how we should “think about” Sabbath.  He was not abandoning the rules, but was trying to put them in context.  Time out with Dad was the most important thing.  Sharing in the joy of loving each other was the most important thing.  We will “guard” the Sabbath properly, when we visualize Sabbath properly in our own minds and priorities.  We will treat the gift of Sabbath like so much used toilet paper when we do not.  Going to church does not make Sabbath holy.  Hanging out with Christ does.  When we so long to be with Him, we would not find ourselves anywhere else but in His presence we will come to know the JOY of being with Christ.  When we treat Sabbath like a vacation from our routines, we will come to experience the joy of loving others, like He experiences that joy.  Shopping and eating out on Sabbath are hardly the point, being distracted by something other than spending real intimate time with Dad is.  I don’t have time to shop on Sabbath, my Dad is making time to be with me, and I don’t want to miss a minute of it, to do something as menial as shopping.  I am not interested in dining out on Sabbath, because I love you enough to not be the reason you are missing your time with our Dad.  If I find myself in church it is my privilege to serve you in any capacity I occupy because in this way I share the joy of loving others with Dad, I cannot consider this privilege a “chore”.  I don’t want to be paid to play music at church, or to speak, or minister … I do not want to come to think of the gift of my service as being a mere “job”. 

A different perspective on Sabbath and the gift it is to us, is what Jesus Christ was beginning to teach us in a simple corn field long ago.  But this challenge to the current ideology, and leadership of the church, could not go unanswered, lest anarchy arise.  So having been put to silence on matters of the Law, the religious leaders of the day (His, and ours) set out to look for the next “signs” that this upstart Rabbi was not “really” a member of this church.  If Jesus dared to challenge conventional ideas about the observance of the Law, then He could not be God (i.e. if Jesus disagrees with us, He is the wrong one).  Has anything changed?  Adventists are so certain that the fourth commandment will become the ultimate test of loyalty to God in the end of days.  We are so certain, we have begun to rationalize how we keep the other nine commandments.  We are so certain, we have lost sight of how to keep a thing holy, but maintain that it must be kept that way lest our salvation be lost.  We espouse the need to keep Sabbath holy, but like our spiritual forefathers, we have no clue what that really means in practical terms.  So like them, we rely on traditions, habits, and our scriptural interpretations of the Law.  We lose sight of the beauty of time out with Dad, we lose sight of what it means to share in the joy of loving others, and instead we focus on the facts, the rules, and our rigid ideas of right and wrong.  We make the papacy the enemy of our delusions.  And in so doing, we find false comfort that our real enemy is not found in the mirror, when in truth, that is only place the real enemy can be found.

To see where this line of thinking will end, we need only continue to look at what happens next …