A truism of modern communication

How to begin.... What does one say when anger overtakes him? 

Frustration takes root alongside bitterness...

Several months ago I determined to quit Facebook, even to the point of a blog post over it(http://mysoapbox2.blogspot.com/2012/08/quitting-facebook.html)... yet in the end I felt my justification was petty, and selfish.  But there are matters that Facebook and e-mail bring to bear on society and at times I really struggle over them (http://mysoapbox2.blogspot.com/2012/11/you-hypocrite.html).  The last time it was a FB Post with obscenities and so it was this time...

 Looking for discernment in a virtual world...  I guess you could say that I am struggling with the old Christian tightrope of being "in the world, but not of it"  (1 John 2:15) And as I struggle I begin to recall the words of the Psalmist, Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. (42:5) And being reminded of Him who is the Sovereign reminds me of how quickly I fall back to believing the great lie.

What is that great lie?  Why – It’s the lie that says I shouldn't be frustrated, that I should have everything wrapped around my fingers. The lie that, in Satan’s words, "You will be like God" and I recall in my humility the words of Psalm 42 again, "These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival." (42:4)

I have been a deacon in the church.  I have preached His Word.  I have counseled the downhearted, the sick.  …Yet I am nothing.  It was all Him who works effectually within me (Gal 2:8).  But I remember...as the Psalmist did, and find myself in need of an attitude adjustment. 

I struggle as I see in me a form of hypocrisy and do not know how to reconcile it.  Here are the 2 great commandments:

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matt 22:37-40) 

Yet in my day by day relationships I uncritically tolerate bad behavior and bad speech from my co-workers... while at the same time being quite critical of a niece's choice of picture to post...  And I ask myself - why?  I SHOULD love my neighbor (anyone I come across, according to Luke 10:29-37) as much as I love myself- as much as I love my family, as much as I love my niece, but I do not.  I don't hold my co-workers to the same standard as I do my family and I reckon that I should... 

I also wonder how I reconcile the idea of separation from wickedness with the ideas already presented.  It's easy spot a bad behavior or action and condemn it. It's not so easy to confront a loved one (and all OUGHT to be loved ones) in a loving manner.  So how am I doing?  Not so good lately!

And I'd like to blame it on the medium.  Truly, the modern sound bite text message world DOES place obstacles before our communicating in any manner, let alone lovingly.  And working in the world today, I have learned certain "rules" if you will, to do so... 

-          Never address an important email until it’s properly composed (you wouldn't want it to accidently be sent because of one errant keystroke!)

-          Never send a passionately written message until you have cooled down... for the same reason - Passion can get in the way of rational thinking. 

There are others.  But how to communicate lovingly - I don't have a rule for that... And I have yet to find a way to communicate adequately some things.  I believe that it may be a truism that some matters are ONLY communicated lovingly in person, period.  And therein we see the dilemma... We live in a cyber world where many of our friendships and relationships are rarely close enough physically to have that periodic visit over coffee or whatever and have caring heart to heart talks with one another. 

May the LORD grant discernment to us and may we patiently bear up under all circumstances. 

Those who seek the Lord understand...

Evil men do not understand justice,
But those who seek the Lord understand all. (Proverbs 28:5)

There is a word which describes the evil mindset – twisted.  And one whose mind is set upon evil ways – His conscience bothering him(Romans 2:15) will seek a way to sooth it, to justify his evil ways.  And in doing so he deludes himself that his ways aren’t nearly so evil – after all, look at the good things he does.  After a while he sees the evil path as the good way and righteousness does not even appeal to him, for it appears to be twisted to him…

Yet the pang of conscience is not over – before he is finally given over to the wicked way he knows the justifying of evil by a good act does not follow – at least in the beginning he knows that that is true.  However, once he is given over – none of these ideas cross his mind and his delusion prevails. (Romans 1:21)

But those who seek the Lord understand all.

This is not to say that the righteous know all.  In fact, the verse does not even speak of the righteous.  It speaks of, “those who seek the Lord”.  These ones understand all.  What does that mean?  Certainly not that they know all things, but that understanding will be given them.  It could be said to understand God is to know all…

All of us are twisted at some level.  All of us have gone astray (Isaiah 53:6) – yet those who seek the Lord understand justice especially – for to seek the judge of all the earth is to find oneself judged for all those twisted ways.  And to find that this judge will in no way cast aside any (John 6:37) but he himself seeks all to come to repentance. (I Timothy 2:4) This judge is a righteous judge who will not ignore sin – yet so loving a judge that he volunteered his own son to stand in your place that justice might be meted out as required and still be righteous in letting a sinner go free.

Evil men do not understand justice,
But those who seek the Lord understand all.

Come to the Lord and humbly submit to His lordship – He will by no means acquit the guilty (Numbers 14:18), yet his love knows no boundaries. (I Corinthians 13) From the least to the greatest of sinners, all may be set free. 

Don’t make the mistake of letting pride stand before a Holy righteous judge.  It does not follow that he could let you go on your own merit – unless he is an unrighteous judge.

The battle is the Lords!

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.  (2 Cor. 10:4-5)

Yesterday I saw spiritual blindness.  A young man apparently bound in the chains of Satan.  This 14 year old was easily distracted.  He had fanciful tales of ghosts.  Claiming to see spirits of the netherworld regularly.  Claiming to feel negative or positive energy from people or from rooms.  Oh! He was VERY spiritually minded, but just not at all Biblically minded. 

At the first I let other Christian brothers and a sister speak with him...but as I listened in I heard more and more concerning things from this young man.  We were showing him how spiritual battles are fought, from Ephesians 6:10-18.  We also showed him that some of the very things he claimed to be doing in reference to the spirits he saw were outright condemned verbatim in the law of Moses. He was clearly surprised and very confused at this.  He had thought he was doing well in these matters... 

The point of my relating this story is to share a great concern I had for this young man and for many people today.  I heard him say certain things that were to me, huge red flags.  "So when I see these unholy spirits” he said, “ I ask God for power to overcome them?"  My response was to tell him that is exactly the wrong thing to do.  No! We do not treat God like our genie in the bottle, or a good luck charm that we hold up to ward off the devil.  He is not to be conjured up, to be used by someone claiming against Him with magic words.

Another time, because we were extremely focused on the words of Scripture he began to say, "So I pray the words of God against them and..." I cried out , "NO!  You call on God's Word, not 'words of God' as though these were the words of power or magic.  We do not in our own strength stand.  It is only as we clothe ourselves in Christ that we are protected.  Don't call on His words, call on Christ!  ‘It is not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit’ says the Lord.’”  (Zech. 4:6)

At least one other time it was clear that this young man was not thinking rightly about spiritual matters.  I am convinced that he needs Christ.  Two different times he used deflection techniques on one of us speaking to him.  Trying to convince us that he felt the presence of evil in our children or in their room.  But I was not dissuaded.  Praise God that I trust Him.  My family may be in the throes of evil - but we trust Christ, and in that we stand.

Interesting thoughts have been stirred up in me.  The chief of which is how sorcery is being subtly taught to our young people.  Games like "Magic" (the card game), or Dungeons and Dragons, and many, many, video games do this.  They do this not by teaching certain spells or procedure to the kids... but rather by teaching them that power can be had by this or that procedure.  Witchcraft is the worldview of power through manipulation.  It is taught everywhere, even sad to say in the Christian marketplace...

I know that I have written this before - but it is apt as an example here.  For us to use our power in numbers to boycott this or that group is patently wrong!  (See my post here: http://mysoapbox2.blogspot.com/2012/06/boycott-battles.html)  And I am becoming convinced that it is satanic, in that it teaches such an unholy worldview.

I finished my counsel with this young man by taking him to a very familiar story, but a not so familiar passage - I Samuel 17:45-47.  It is the passage concerning David & Goliath.  The particular verses here show us in just what power and strength David killed Goliath.  Here we have a spiritual battle not simply cloaked in the language of battle, but on the very physical battlefield itself.  And though David used a small stone and slung it with the strength of the physical arm God gave to him, it is plainly shown where David's strength was to be found:

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”

Oh Lord! – May you give us discernment in this age of evil.

 Amen

You hypocrite!

I wonder if this is just going to devolve into a rant...

I just saw another Facebook post from a family member that was in less than good taste.  I have been bugged by this for some time and wonder how I should approach the topic.

On the outset, some of you may wonder... Facebook?!  I thought you quit Facebook?  I did - and then I relented.  Some time ago, in April of 2010, my brother Scott passed away, and no one knew his passwords, so his page on FB became sort of a memorial page, where family & friends periodically post memories, and I was not sure I wanted to lose access to that.  Although the loss of PerSEC (Personal Security, Thanks to RB for that terminology) Facebook still fulfills a role in relationships, so... I relented.

Back to the subject at hand.  I have found myself more than a few times offended by the language used in posts on Facebook.  I've struggled with myself on the issue, saying to myself - why be offended?  Why am I offended?  It's not as though the posts were directed at me.  Yet offended I am.  This led me to ask myself what kind of language offends more and why.  Thus I discovered there are 3 kinds of offensive language, Profanity, Obscenity, and Vulgarity.  Aren't these terms just used interchangeably you ask... By some,  perhaps.  But by dictionary definition they are 3 different kinds.  And my very different reactions to the 3 types are indicative to these definitions.

• Profanity - For me, this is the most offensive of the 3.  by definition this would be words that offend the religious sensibilities of people.  For me as a Christian the use of God's holy name as a curse word leaps out to the front.  Utterly offensive..  But even the more benign use of God's name such as Oh my ___ or the abbreviation OMG.  And Profanity is not limited to offending one religeous group over another.  Muslims can claim profanity against one who uses the name of Allah without due reverence.  (I am not an apologist for Islam, just demonstrating the uses of Profanity.)
•   Obscenity - This would be that which offends the sensibilities of the average person due to the reference to sexual conduct or other bodily acts which usually are kept private.
•   Vulgarity - One might arguably be considered the same or nearly the same as Obscenity.  It would be words that are coarser than is necessary, and from which one usually may substitute a gentler word to get the point across.  

OK - Now that the definitions are out of the way, let’s get to the main issue - the lowering of our standards.  It is not as though these words are just now being coined.  Instead the generations of the past had more shame to use them publically.  People today are just not ashamed of anything.  It's as though they feel like it's better to be ugly but true instead of pretty but a lie.  Let me say it another way... No one likes a hypocrite.  At least not in the sense of its hiding what we really are.  But the problem is that people somehow think that they're being genuine, being real, or true to self and actually not artificial.  They think, comparing themselves with one another, I'm better than they are, and I'm also not a hypocrite... but in saying that very thing, they prove that THEY ARE the hypocrite they claim themselves not to be!

One of the buzz words of the day is to be authentic.  People want others to feel they are the real deal.  But who among us hides nothing?  Isn't it the case that we all have skeletons in our closet?  (I have spoken to those who claim no skeletons... but I would say that even if this were true in their case, then their authenticity is in danger of losing its attractiveness due to their pride)  There ARE some things that should stay in the closet.  That's what closets are for!  Some things ought never to be spoken of.  Of course saying this will get me in trouble with all sorts of psychologist types, but it's the truth.  The reality is that we are really so much worse than we care to admit and we DO hide things, if not from others, from ourselves.  And while it IS the case that we ought to deal with these hidden matters, it is usually best to deal with them in the council of the LORD, and not publically. 

So what about my offense... Should I be offended?  Can't I just look the other way?  Shouldn't I just chalk it up to immaturity and get over it?  Why is anyone offended in the first place?  Isn't it that to be offended means I have to examine a matter (in this case, language) and find it is lacking in standard.  And that means, of course, that I will judge the words, spoken, written or posted of someone else.  And that goes against everything in our culture.  I do not have the right to judge anything?  Who am I to judge?  BUT PEOPLE - WE DO IT ALL THE TIME!  Who among us doesn't examine the vegetables carefully to get one that isn't overripe or already going bad?  And what is wrong with discrimination between this or that food?  Nothing you say.  Then why is it wrong for someone to judge another’s' actions? 

When we judge the actions of another person, since we are people, we cannot do so, for to do so is to force your values upon a person.  The whole matter became polemic when the term "discrimination" was applied to race wrongly.  Racial discrimination can be wrong.  Make no doubt about it.  But it isn't always wrong.  Let's consider the oft put forward phrase, "racial profiling".  As typically applied, it refers to the police action of checking, verifying, examining a person, strictly because of his race.  Now - in many cases this is patently wrong, because the race of the offender is not known, and due to the hateful actions of a particular policeman toward a group of people.  I remember a fellow alumnus (David Anderson) of MBI relating how he was pulled over 3 times in 15 minutes in Elgin, Illinois by 3 different policemen, because he was black, and was driving an older, somewhat rusty car.  No crime was committed in the area and the police had NO REASON to be stopping him.  However, if it be shown that the there was a crime in a given area, for which the race of the perp was known, they should discriminate among possible suspects.  Why should they stop granny when it was a 21 year old they should be looking for? (Here the TSA wins ribbons!) 

Folks - We should be offended when offense occurs.  It's OK!  And we should hold a standard up.  We need to tell people privately, but gently when we are offended. Not to say that we are better and pump ourselves up, but because God created us good.  Yes - we have fallen.  Yes we are a wicked lot - every one of us.  But we play into the adversary's hands when we live such vulgar lives.  Let's strive to live above ourselves - for the sake of Christ.  And perhaps our children will not get the message of hypocrisy that we send out, when we pretend we are wholly authentic.  This means we might have to say we are sorry once in a while, and admit ourselves to be wrong.  But that is so much better than the pride of pretending we are something we are not.  Humility ought to be our coat.

Our Sovereign God

I recently read a blog post a good friend mentioned to me, and I guess, I have decided to "wade in" as it were with my 2 cents worth.  This post was asking the theological questions of God's responsibility for evil in this world.  The Pedestrian Christian (heretofore referred to as TPC) particularly took offense with a description of Sovereignty that makes God THE controlling factor in all the events of the world - Evil or Good.  TPC was not making straight straw man arguments, and my own introduction of his blog post is woefully poor.  The post can be read here: http://thepedestrianchristian.blogspot.com/2012/10/god-doesnt-give-deformed-retarded-or.html

 

As I read this article, there were several points at which I was very glad.  One might be the additional understanding of Sovereignty as to being His Rule over the whole of creation.  I appreciate that!  Our God is more than a control freak, if that is what some might think.  But I would not want to give up the idea that he does orchestrate all events and has his hand in them, at least in a secondary manner.  

TPC made this comment which is to my eyes the first clue as to his orientation, "God saw down through the corridor of time that you would make this decision and that decision and decreed to permit that history to take place, thus he ordained it to be so. Therefore, those decisions you made and will make are not ones God has forced or predetermined that you will or must make, rather ones God decreed or ordained to permit you to make them and his decree or ordination makes that a certainty."

This statement is the clue to his Arminian leanings.  But let me state at the outset, though I see this, and call the statement as it is, I do not say that Arminian’s are outside of Orthodoxy.  I strongly disagree with this doctrinal position though. It raises Mankind up too much, stealing Gods glory over and over again.  But I digress...

I cannot name the theory or idea which I have used to comprehend the Sovereignty of God and the freedom of men, but I can describe it.  It is much like this... God, being Sovereign, knows all that could or might happen to occur in any set of eventualities, and He has chosen the Best set of occurrences, or state of the universe, that would get Him the most glory and therefore, while we have freedom, it is within the sphere of His authority.  He has already considered every possible choice, and every follow-up choice, for every person ever alive or who ever will be, and has by decree, chosen that set of decisions which glorifies Him the greatest.  

While I agree with TPC on his analysis of this statement, "In other words, “God does bad in order to do good”. Wrong, wrong, and wrong" it does not represent the reformed view properly, at least as I understand it.  I would say that God allows evil, but He is not the author of it.  It is much like the rug which has on one side a beautiful pattern but the underside is confused and ugly.... We see only the underside at this time.  God sees the whole.  Job during his lifetime NEVER knew of the conversation God had with Satan regarding him.  One wonders how Job's worship of God is now, while in glory - and in possession of the upper side of the rug, as it were!

The Book of Job demonstrates this well.  It is Satan that DOES the evil.  God allows it.   And here it is that I want to bring in another theological premise, that of the "Will of God"  I am not (technically) a theologian, so I may not use the proper terms, but, at the least we can admit that God does have more than one kind of will, and TPC doesn't really address that.  To understand God's purposes we must understand His will.  I know of at least 3 "wills" of God, though there may be others theologically, which I have not considered. There is His Revealed will, that which He has directly spoken, such as when He told Abraham that He will make him a great nation.  There is his Secret will, which is not known to men, as shown in Deuteronomy 29:29.  And then there is the Permissive will of God, as shown in the book of Job, where God uses Satan's evil intent to ultimately Glorify Him.  Confusion of the intent of God regarding His will is really at the heart of the matter.

TPC makes a statement, "Joseph’s brothers could have made another decision and we would be reading a different account but with the same ending, God working his purposes."  In theory, yes - but in the actual working out of eternity, it did not happen.  We cannot begin, as men, to venture too far into the events of eternity past without trampling on Gods' Secret will.  Is this statement a capitulation of the argument?  Perhaps, from our (human) point of view.  But I would rather trust Him, than my own comprehension into these matters.  They are deep and to some extent mysterious.  

Some months ago I wrote a post which addresses some of these matters as pertains to Providence.  I invite you to review it here: http://mysoapbox2.blogspot.com/2012/02/on-skinning-my-knee.html

 

To TPC - I do hope you can still call me brother, though we have significance differences theologically.  I greatly respect your handling of the subject.  Your tenderness is evident.  I think we will be seeing each other in glory one day brother. 

What's my standard?

I have for some time found myself in a discouragement so hidden I could not even identify it.  I could only tell that something seemed amiss.  Only my daily time in the Word has helped, as has my faith in the unswerving God.  If He loves me – no matter the trial – I can stand.  Yet my standing was without knowledge, without understanding.  And in that trial I could see a complete leaning upon Him.  Proverbs 13:6 unlocked for me a door of understanding: Righteousness guards him whose way is blameless,

But wickedness overthrows the sinner.

As I read this verse, my thoughts turned to the wicked age in which I live and how righteousness is defined.  People today frequently, without having a moral compass to follow, use the government as a standard.  Most would recognize it as an imperfect standard, but accepted it for the most part, holding to a private ethic where the legal definition offends their sensibilities.  This all works fine for the most part.  One need not go to God for that standard – for that would also betray their great lack before His perfect moral standard.  In addition, one’s arguments are easily defended, if the government is standing behind you – so he need not wrestle about the intellectual oversights this ethic holds….

Until the law changes…

This house of cards quickly falls down as the legal definitions change from time to time and place to place.  In fact, today there are so many ambiguities in the government ethic that one will find himself a lawbreaker, no matter where he turns. 
I personally have struggled with this, not to say that I look to the government for my ethical standard – but that as a Christian – who does not want to pour shame upon my Lord’s head, and who seeks to follow the laws as my country had defined them, I found myself at odds more and more frequently, to the point that I despaired of even avoiding such entanglements. I am reminded of a quote from Ayn Rand in Atlas Shrugged, “One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt.”  Nevertheless the bottom line is that I am guilty – regardless of the right or wrongness of the law and I must pay.
And then the Lord had me read todays’ verse:  Righteousness guards him whose way is blameless, but wickedness overthrows the sinner.

And freedom is given.  Even though I seek to obey this world’s law, I had forgotten the cardinal standard of righteousness is not legality, but the moral truth of this most Holy God I serve.  And though found wanting before Him, there is an escape – the grace of God through Jesus Christ’s perfect life and sacrificial death on the cross for me.   And I have freedom. 

Righteousness (true moral righteousness of Christ) really does guard him whose way (my way does not, but Christ’s life and death were substituted for me) is blameless.  Praise the Lord!

Quitting Facebook...

     FYI - to all you my friends (real friends!!!)  -  I have quit facebook, and my account is being deleted.  I am just too influenced by other's posts and I also feel that there is a HUGE privacy issue I'd rather not be a part of.  We can still be friends though, right! ;-) 

     I still have e-mail.  I suppose some of you might think me a hermit, after all, isn't Facebook the modern equivalent to television?  Well, call me crazy Dave, but don't call me late for dinner!  I have spent my whole career in computers and there really is such a vacuum in the world of cyberspace.  Real relationships with real people in the flesh is so much more....real.  But they also take work, and perhaps that is the issue at hand.  Facebook is a chore.  It's wonderful to have some contact with so many, but how many CLOSE friends can someone have?  I read somewhere (long before FB) that men usually have only 4-5 close friends at any one time in their lives.  If that is true, and we seek to have many times more "friends" on FB, how does that devalue those friendships?

     We have all felt the pain of someone misunderstanding your opinions, posts, etc.  I sometimes think, that in an effort to make FB seem all the more real, we put things out there that perhaps ought not to be.  Think about what you would say verbally, when people are present.  Sure we don't want to be fakes - but neither do we want to be so emotionally exposed that people don't really know us.  Think about how much easier it is to explain something to someone face to face - where you can hear voice inflection and see facial cues.  And how many of us have sent an e-mail off only to find out how easily it was misunderstood... or worse yet, typing it out in a fit of passion, but never intending it to be seen.... but it does!  Oops!  We all make mistakes and the fatal flaw of the convenience of Facebook, e-mail, and the cyber-world, is that we do so much with such ease we frequently overlook the appropriateness of our words.  Sure, I don't want to be politically correct just because that’s the elitist way, but what is wrong with a little discretion? 

     I will be the first to tell you that I have been occasionally offensive in my posts.  I have tried NOT to be, but the nature of the medium, is what it is.  So my plan is to periodically post a blog entry.  This will be a little window into what I am thinking, without having to consider every newsy item that scrolls by the news feed.  The world moved by just fine before FB, and I think it will be just fine afterwards. 

     So I haven't gone anywhere, just pulling the plug on Facebook. 

     As for the MANY photos I have uploaded, I have even more than those on the computer, and will plan I categorizing them and putting them on a DVD/CD for all family members who want it.  Thanks,

Dave