Keeping the Books

I was in High School when I first heard about businesses keeping “two sets of books”. My father was a manufacturer’s representative, and he dealt with small, medium, and large sized companies. Almost all of them, he told me, kept two sets of records regarding their income, expenses, and salary. One set was what the government saw and showed lower income for the business and lower salaries to the owners and higher expenses. This caused the business and the owners to pay less in taxes. My dad was always amazed at how little people actually gained by doing this, especially compared to how much worry and fear it caused them.

I’ve recently started keeping “two sets of books”. I used to write in my journal in the evening and keep a log of my daily activities in a separate notebook. The log comes from an unpleasant experience with a pastor who demanded to know what I was doing with my time, and I had no records to show him. What started out as something to protect myself from rabid pastors has become something I’ve enjoyed. I’ve found over the years that I enjoy looking back on those logs, to see what I did when. The journal was a reflection on the day, and it may have mentioned one or two things that happened, but never all of the things recorded in the log. Now, I keep them both on my desk. The log is still there to record the basic details of the day, but beside it is the journal keeping more than basic facts. In it are my reflections on conversations and readings, descriptions of encounters and ideas that seem to come at the strangest times. The two books work well together.

The church in the US seems to have become comfortable with our members keeping two sets of books on their lives. One set is the one that they show when in church that records their good works or surface attitudes. The other book is more truthful, keeping track of what happens when they are alone or in relationships and situations outside of their “official” church activities. In Christian Education, we can teach people how to be honest about their books, the records of their lives, through encounters with the Church and its doctrine, the Spirit, the Scripture, and the Savior. It means, of course, that educators have to be willing to move beyond the easy questions and demand more than the easy answers when we discuss discipleship issues in the church. It also means that teachers needs to look at their books, and be honest about their journey and their discipleship.

Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sat on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. 12And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books. Rev 20:11-12

Hmmm…Another set of books. Well, I guess we’ll all find out who was honest in their bookkeeping at some point.

On the journey together, Greg