Finish

Synopsis

A review of and quotes from Catch-22 by American author Joseph Heller (May 1, 1923 – December 12, 1999)

• Paul:   Burn 🔥
• Matthew:  Burn 🔥

A review of and quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by English author Douglas Adams (March 11, 1952 – May 11, 2001)

• Paul:   Burn 🔥
• Matthew: 

A review of and quotes from Do The Work by Gary John Bishop

• Paul:   Burn 🔥
• Matthew: 

A review of and quotes from The Enneagram:  A Christian Perspective by Richard Rohr & Andreas Ebert

• Paul:   Burn 🔥
• Matthew: 

A Bible Study on Finish

Introduction

By Paul Anderson

Well, I thought I would finish out the year on the topic of "finish" since I was having a hard time finishing things.  Even in my chess games, I noticed that I was losing games not because of mistakes in the opening or missed tactics in the middle game, but rather because I was running into time trouble and not finishing the endgames correctly.  I have always known that the end of a chess game is far more important that the beginning.

A good beginning is half the task.
Photo by Paul Anderson

It seems to me that books are the same way.  An interesting story that starts well can just leave a sour taste in your mouth if you don't like the ending.

I had high hopes for Catch-22 as it started with a chess reference.

The captain was a good chess player, and the games were always interesting. Yossarian had stopped playing chess with him because the games were so interesting they were foolish.

And the writing seemed like it was going to be witty and clever throughout.

He was going to live forever, or die in the attempt.

However, the 1961 satirical war novel by Joseph Heller soon became tiresome and repetitive.  The story is about a World War II, B-25 bombardier, Captain John Yossarian, who is trying to get out of his service alive and as soon as possible.  I didn't care for the unique approach of having the same story told over and over again by the different characters.  Especially since none of the characters are likeable.

"Women just don’t seem to like you. I think they think you’re a bad influence.”

“Women are crazy,” Yossarian answered, and waited grimly for what he knew was coming next."

In the beginning, the mystery of the Catch-22 was enough to hold my attention.  I was eager to discover how the Catch-22 was different from just a regular catch.  The best description occurs early in the book.

 There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane, he had to fly them. If he flew them, he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to, he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.

"That's some catch, that Catch-22," he observed.

"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.

However, over time the repeated use of the Catch-22 to highlight all the absurdities of war and the government bureaucracy surrounding it began to muddy the waters.  The phrase lost all meaning, and I soon began to think that a Catch-22 was any idea that everyone understands mentally, but no one can explain verbally. 

You know it's a burn 🔥 when you turn the audio speed up just to finish the 20 hours of listening material in a month.  I couldn't help thinking that I should have just watched an half-hour episode of M*A*S*H (with Colonel Flag) to get the humor, without all the rape and murder.  Although, I may have to watch the movie.  My favorite comedian, Bob Newhart, is in the film version.  But I may have to burn 🔥 that, too.

Another book for which I had high hopes was The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy by Douglas Adams.  It is a comedy science fiction story adapted from a radio series in 1979 about the only man to survive the destruction of Earth.  It sounds like literary Monty Python. 

"One Thursday, nearly two thousand years after one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change, a girl sitting on her own in a small café in Rickmansworth suddenly realized what it was that had been going wrong all this time, and she finally knew how the world could be made a good and happy place. This time it was right, it would work, and no one would have to get nailed to anything.

Sadly, however, before she could get to a phone to tell anyone about it, the Earth was unexpectedly demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass, and so the idea was lost, seemingly for ever."

But it also sounds like a theological Catch-22 set in space.

Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mindbogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen it to see it as a final and clinching proof of the non-existence of God.

The argument goes something like this: "I refuse to prove that I exist," says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing."

"But," says Man, "the Babel fish is a dead giveaway isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED."

"Oh dear," says God, "I hadn't thought of that," and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.

After finishing this book, I understand how it came from a spoken, radio broadcast.  Douglas Adams must have been  reciting this story, as he seems to have put little thought into the ending.

If they don't keep on exercising their lips, he thought, their brains start working.

Actually, I finished this book twice because I had missed the ending the first time when I was cutting down a tree.  So, I re-listened to the last 30 minutes, and it turns out there is no ending, but, at least, I caught this humorous line the second time: 

"Well, I mean, yes idealism, yes the dignity of pure research, yes the pursuit of truth in all its forms, but there comes a point I'm afraid where you begin to suspect that the entire multidimensional infinity of the Universe is almost certainly being run by a bunch of maniacs. And if it comes to a choice between spending yet another ten million years finding that out, and on the other hand just taking the money and running, then I for one could do with the exercise."

Of course, worse than finishing bad is starting bad and finishing worse.  This describes how I felt after listening to Gary John Bishop's Do The Work.  Its only redeeming quality is that it is short.  It is one-tenth the length of Catch-22.  Thank God.  He reminds me of the Mike Myers character, "If it not Scottish, IT'S CRAP!"  He offers a lot of platitudes but gives few details.  Thirty years ago, I got the advice that a relationship is not 50/50; it's 100/100.  I finally realized 100% + 100% would make the relationship 200% or 2 people.  The Bible has it just the opposite where the 2 become 1 (Matthew 19:6).  Definite Burn. 🔥 "Debrief: what have you learned about yourself from this assignment?" Nothing!

So, I thought I would see if the finish was just as important in the Bible.

Here are my top 12 verses on Finish:

Jesus On Finish

Matthew 28:18-20 King James Version

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Mark 13:13 King James Version

13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Luke 14:28-30 King James Version

28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,

30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.

John 19:28-30 King James Version

28 After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.

29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.

30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

Finish In The New Testament

2 Timothy 4:7 King James Version

7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

Hebrews 12:1-2 King James Version

1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

James 1:12-15 King James Version

12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

2 Peter 2:20-22 King James Version

20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Finish In The Old Testament

Genesis 2:1-3 King James Version

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

1 Kings 6:11-14 King James Version

11 And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying,

12 Concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father:

13 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.

14 So Solomon built the house, and finished it.

Ecclesiastes 7:8 King James Version

8 Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

Daniel 9:24 King James Version

24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

Conclusion Of The Whole Matter

The word "finish" occurs 54 times in the Bible while the word "end" occurs 474 times.  However, many of the occurrences of "end" come other words that have the same first three letters.  So, the actual total is closer to 300.  In either case, the topic is clearly well developed in the Bible, and I tried to choose verses from each category to highlight the importance of finishing in the Bible.  From God finishing creation, to Solomon finishing the temple, to Jesus finishing His work on the cross, it seems that there couldn't be a more important topic.

Just like chess, the end is better than the beginning.  So, even though your faith may not start strong or may waiver from time to time, all that matters is how you finish.  

Finish strong.

To help me finish strong, I read The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective.  The book is similar to the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator, but instead of 16, it has 9 personality types.  I was thinking I should steal this idea for my chess book and create 6 personality types from the different chess pieces.  By understanding your personality type, you can supposedly overcome your vices and focus on improving your virtues.

The first part of the book is a lot of selling the Enneagram and not explaining it.  The main author, Richard Rohr, warns about many people having suffered damage from its improper application.  Richard Rohr is a former Catholic turned new age, psychologist.  I was surprised when he said Jesus never told the Jews your father is the devil.  So, he hasn't sold me.

The Enneagram has three centers - head, gut, and heart with 3 types in each center.  I thought I would be a type 5,6, or 7 since they reside in the head center, and as a chess player, I tend to be lead by my mind.  However, the book doesn't actually offer a test for your type, but rather leaves it up to you to figure out which type you are.  

It is easier to rule out the types to which you don't relate.  As I listened to the chapters, I said to myself, "I am not a One.  I am not a Two.  I am not a Four.  I am not an Eight."  Although, I liked the Biblical recaps from the chapter on Eights, especially the one where Samson "escapes the attempts by the Philistines to checkmate him."  I thought my son might be a Five as this type identifies with Great Britain, likes the color blue, and has a spirit-animal of a hamster 🐹.  The problem was is that Fives usually wear glasses, but my son doesn't!

I thought I might be a Seven with a preference for avoiding pain and a vice of gluttony (although I have lost 130 pounds), including a head center, but the optimism took a wrong turn for fitting with me.  I might be a little 7 since this type identifies with Ireland, and I am one-sixteenth Irish (just a wee bit Irish).  However, I decided to rule out a Seven since Mozart is an example of a Seven, and Sevens are supposed to be lighthearted.

I guess I could be a Nine. I like the type's animal and color:  Elephant & Gold.  The vice is sloth, which I see as my greatest weakness.  The virtue is action according to the Enneagram, but fortitude is the counterpart from Augustine.  I am not sure I am strong with either of those.

This book reminds me of a placemat at a Chinese restaurant:  entertaining but no real meaning.  I guess there is more wisdom in a fortune cookie than on a placemat. 

A soulless theology and a godless psychology are nothing.

54 Bible results for “finish” from King James Version.

• Old Testament (33)
• Genesis (2)
• Exodus (2)
• Deuteronomy (1)
• Joshua (1)
• Ruth (1)
• 1 Kings (8)
• 1 Chronicles (2)
• 2 Chronicles (8)
• Ezra (3)
• Nehemiah (1)
• Daniel (3)
• Zechariah (1)
• New Testament (21)
• Matthew (3)
• Luke (3)
• John (4)
• Acts (2)
• Romans (1)
• 2 Corinthians (1)
• 2 Timothy (1)
• Hebrews (2)
• James (1)
• Revelation (3)

474 Bible results for “end” from King James Version.

• Old Testament (377)
• Genesis (13)
• Exodus (25)
• Leviticus (3)
• Numbers (4)
• Deuteronomy (20)
• Joshua (11)
• Judges (5)
• Ruth (4)
• 1 Samuel (10)
• 2 Samuel (8)
• 1 Kings (8)
• 2 Kings (5)
• 1 Chronicles (3)
• 2 Chronicles (19)
• Ezra (4)
• Nehemiah (2)
• Esther (1)
• Job (14)
• Psalm (83)
• Proverbs (11)
• Ecclesiastes (9)
• Isaiah (28)
• Jeremiah (27)
• Lamentations (2)
• Ezekiel (20)
• Daniel (25)
• Amos (5)
• Obadiah (1)
• Micah (1)
• Nahum (4)
• Habakkuk (1)
• Zechariah (1)
• New Testament (97)
• Matthew (14)
• Mark (4)
• Luke (8)
• John (4)
• Acts (5)
• Romans (8)
• 1 Corinthians (4)
• 2 Corinthians (5)
• Ephesians (2)
• Philippians (1)
• 1 Thessalonians (2)
• 2 Thessalonians (1)
• 1 Timothy (2)
• 2 Timothy (5)
• Hebrews (17)
• James (3)
• 1 Peter (6)
• 2 Peter (2)
• Revelation (4)

Scripture contributions for December 2023 by: Paul Anderson, Matthew Anderson