Good Grief. Who Do We Think We Are?

I'm beginning to age. And that's okay. It's the established process of life. 

However, in my older years, certain things stand out more than others, as I consider my life and experiences. Telling lies, even living those lies, has become so acceptable; cheating of all kinds has become more than marginally okay, provided one can find some kind, almost any kind, of excuse for it; living behind a false and perhaps glorified facade of hypocrisy has become okay, even expected.

Not to say that deliberate deceit, dishonesty, and manipulative deception are somehow new; they obviously are not. Yet, there's an acceptance, an approval, a shutting of the collective eyes more and more to these immoral practices that concerns me.

Lying and cheating are curses that will grow along with children as they grow, and once they get good at it, usually increase pretty quickly, and it is nearly impossible to correct. Pinocchio's elongating nose leads inevitably to a donkey. Each lie makes the next one easier to tell. Now, politicians, theologians, and celebrities of all types have learned to tell the really big lie, then "sincerely" apologize as a foolproof way to further whatever their cause or need.

Watching the USA's society generally slipping into moral decay causes me to feel very old---and tired. While I'm at it, let me consider another practice that I'm observing that I don't believe was prevalent when I was younger. Most Americans have a very strange and sentimental grasp of the meaning of unconditional love. God's love has conditions; He is not Big Daddy ready to supply our every whim. He is the creator, the Lord, of this majestic universe. Pardon me, as I dip my feet into the waters of theology, just to wade out a little way.

Even in the Garden of Eden, God gave humans a condition---we could eat of anything in the garden freely, EXCEPT the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Later, God sent his son Jesus to die for our sins---God's integrity, His justness, His holiness, His love are conditional upon the cross and Jesus' death and resurrection. Our eternal future is completely conditional upon our faith in this expiation, this mandatory reconciliation.

Love, true love, involves the ebb and flow of innumerable responses on our part---and our responses are always conditional. God has good will [love] toward Man alright, but outcomes of this love depend upon our responses. God's love in His relationships with us is always available, but conditional. So what?

God's love has conditions---His conditions. We should not conclude that all He really wants for us is happiness and easiness and possession of all our wants. Life is about Him, not us. Heaven will be about Him, not us. We are to worship Him, not His worshiping us. So . . . quit being so full of yourself and look to God and look to other humans---build your life there in love for them.

God's love is not some small, wimpy, Romantic, slobbering-all-over-you, you-gorgeous-wonderful-you, love. He doesn't somehow owe you that, nor does He ask me to love you in that manner either. It's a love that is intentional, thoughtful, purposeful, and freely given.

That's what I'm seeing in my old age:  People are living in a pseudo-world of narcissism and seem not even to be aware of it. Even in the Church, God's Church, humans have become more important than God and His will. Ah, but I ramble . . . that's what old age will do to one.

Hmm . . . more important than God and His will? Good grief, who do we think we are? Get over this false interpretation of unconditional love and quit basing your life on lies and cheating.

Walking Down the Aisle of a Local Walmart---Forlorn

The frightening part of it is the drooling hate, the random raging anger---the I-don't-give-a-hoot-about-you part of it. Our Jesus said very simply and definitively we are to love our neighbor. But, so many folks out there, worldwide, are willing to hurt you, without flinching. It's as though you are merely worthless flesh to be stepped on to get someone somewhere else.

I saw it yesterday in as simple an event as walking down the aisle of a local Walmart, less deadly but just as symptomatic. The oncoming customer willing to walk straight through my physical being, shoving me, if necessary, out of the way---acting as though unaware of my presence and the whole incident. An uncaring-ness superb! What else would one expect in a society that nonchalantly ignores the killing in abortion, overlooks so easily the plight of the homeless, shows no interest in the distorted lives of many veterans? Oh, sure, listen to the hypocritical righteousness of our wonderful "liberal" brothers! Their high-sounding talk. Stare insistently into your cell phone and walk on by. Ignore the real-ness of the world. I am so guilty!

I surely know that Jesus is right . . . but, it is so herculean to love people who are so completely invested in the horrendous dung prolific in our world! He knew what He was commanding us. And He knows that we cannot live that way---that it is not within us to love that way. So, where are we?

We are lost and alone! Jesus commanded us to love others as He loved us (John 13:34). He told us that if we cannot love those we know, we cannot love Him (1 John 4:19-21). He said we should count others more significant than ourselves and should be as concerned about their interests as our own (Phil 2:3-4). He went so far as to say we should love those who misuse us---anyone can love those who love us (Matt 5:43-48). So . . . we are lost and alone. He knows we cannot love that way. Jesus, you ask too much of me!

I know that you promised to be with us . . . yet, my faith is often too small to find you nearby. Sorry. I look into the swirling fog of hate and murder . . . and I cannot find you. I pray. You said that faith the size of a mustard seed (Matt 17:20) would allow me to move a mountain. I cannot even move myself to one small good deed. I am so forlorn and faithless and weak!

I pray for strength from You, for just a shadow of faith, for a recognition of opportunities to love, for an understanding of Your will in this most sinful world. Your intercession through the Holy Spirit is all I truly have. My entire hope. And, yep, I come back to what I first recognized when I accepted You as my Lord and Savior. I have and I am nothing without You. There it is! Everything good in my life is completely dependent upon You!

That's where we are, folks. Totally and hopefully dependent upon our God. Chaos all over our own countryside. Chaos all around the globe. Love each other, pray, smile and cry, cherish family and friends, learn to have faith in a good and all-powerful Friend who does His best work behind the scenes. Be true. Be persistent. God bless! Don't despair!

Islam and God-Less Liberal Cream Puffs

It seemed to me ex-Pres. Bush (the one dancing in the blue suit) might have had one too many before the memorial service for the five slaughtered Dallas policeman. Or, perhaps, he deliberately took this last opportunity to make Michelle Obama's life as miserable as possible as she seemed to have found herself in the most awkward position she had ever known---holding hands unwillingly with a smiling, swaying, older white male at, of all things, a funeral. And, Pres. Obama holding tightly to all his old-time ideological training just had to mention gun control once again . . . one more time---his sense of decorum is so feeble. There's so much he just doesn't get.

Now, abruptly, my easy, pleasant, old-white-man's evening is interrupted by first, the news of 30 dead in Nice, France---then, later 73 dead, who knows how many in the final count. In my musing on this, black deaths and white deaths roam freely about. Dead gays in Orlando. Blacks killed being arrested lie dead. Cops killed in the line of duty lie dead. Americans are so used to violent death nowadays. And the blame gets thrown around haphazardly and randomly like the treacherous voices that speak to the insane.

Speaking of voices, there will be in the hours ahead so many talking-head voices (75, now, they say) spouting endlessly opinions and tiny bits of egoistic truth, while doctors and nurses, doing the real business of life, are busily attempting to stop the bleeding and stabilize their patients. Talk is such a cheap commodity. I hear just now that "the civilized world must wipe out ISIS like the rats they are." I wonder what this emoting will sound like tomorrow morning. Time tends to soft-pedal the intensity of our emotions. We tend to look for less aggressive ways to solve our problems when given time to re-consider. Isn't it time, though, finally to stop compromising?

Our leaders are so impotent now, as our country has adopted a value system driven mainly by tolerance and general approval of anything and everything. Civility and Godly love have vanished as protocols for behavior. The definitions of courage and manhood have been "grunged" into complete blurriness. 

I, for one, am sick of all the apologizing that I hear from our leaders. If we are to survive as a civilization, we must obviously admit and deal with our faults and weaknesses, but more importantly we absolutely must protect our values. Fight for them, if necessary. Islam must conform to us, liberal cream puffs must be removed from policy-influencing positions---yes, we must "cling to our guns and our religion." And if that doesn't suit you, tough! Domestically and on foreign shores, we must resolve to quit allowing ideological bullies to control our lives. 

Not the Janitor in a Culture of Narcissists

". . . no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God" (1 Peter 1:21).

You know, there's great drama in the failure of the human will---great literature and art and music have chronicled that spectacle over and over again. And there's emotional majesty when weak and anemic man overcomes. But, really, ultimately, who cares? I mean, really, who? Many in America now would say we all simply die and disappear into mindless, emotion-less dustiness . . . and live their lives on that premise---a subjective position that suggests that nothing is important other than our personal experience of life, hence, allowing for the many irresponsible, contorted behaviors of this day and time.

It seems today that tolerance and approval and minding one's own business are expectations for any and every situation. And, if one cannot operate under that protocol, then one is simply a bigot, hyper-opinionated and unworthy of further note. This mindset, this sentiment, seems most dramatic in cultural matters. One is either 'all for' or 'all against' something.

I don't find myself fitting comfortably into the acceptable pattern. I believe, as the apostle Peter suggests, that all true inspiration for living man comes from some form of intercession by the Holy Spirit. To aggravate the matter, I believe that death is not a finality---a permanent dustiness. Good grief!

The first Jesus-disciples---common men and women---were completely and intensely convinced of His resurrection. Upon His return, they "saw" Him; they "heard" Him; they even "touched" Him---they experienced Him firsthand! So convinced were they of His non-death that they would give up their lives if it be necessary. I, too, believe in that resurrection---too often, I fear, however, in a simple, nonchalant, secondhand religious correctness.

Like Peter, I believe that prophecy and any genuine and ultimately significant truth comes through the Holy Spirit of God, not through human understanding. Therefore, in Him is my faith and trust---not in the human will in any ultimate form or shape. You? . . . believe whatever you choose or must---live however you wish. You are your own person, and I've been commanded to love you no matter what your sin(s) may be. I try, but often, very often, I'm afraid, I fail to be accepting and forgiving and compassionate for you. "When the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about me" (John 15:26).

That amazing helper is mystically present in our lives once we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. If you haven't, I invite you to invite Him into your life on that basis. Then, you'll become one who really "cares." The Spirit will then indwell you.

As a Christian, my main assignment is to tell other persons about the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I am commanded to love God and to love my neighbor. A tributary effort is to have a positive effect, then, on my culture. But, I am NOT ordered to be the janitor in a culture of narcissists---a fact I must remember, to protect myself, to avoid stress, frustration, and general distress. So . . . I pray that you will be accepting of me, as I will be of you as a person. But, never expect me to be approving of your self-focused, sinful actions.

Good Grief! We Are So Shallow

I came across this quote on fb the other day by William Booth:  "The chief danger that confronts the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, Heaven without Hell." It got me to thinking. We ARE that coming century. I cannot but marvel at the accuracy of Booth's observation. But, more captivating still is the fruition of each of his concerns. Booth was a British Methodist and founder of the Salvation Army, which targeted the helping of the poor.

The modern Church has nearly perfected itself by eliminating almost entirely the Holy Ghost from its premises. No room here for God. The cleansing has white-washed the walls and emphasizes the human-ness of it all. Now, the emphasis can be on the power of Man and significance of Man's doctrines and on his authority and half-sung songs and illustrious sermons. Now, sin can slither inside, not simply to be overlooked, but rather to be apotheosized as tolerance and godliness. Now, the real power can be Man and not the Holy Ghost. Good grief.

Once we have eliminated the Holy Spirit, other improvements can be instituted. Christianity without Christ is possible---the pastor, the elders, the Board, the people, whatever, can now be our guides and mentors. So much more humane, don't you think. Now, a belief system can be inaugurated with a more flexible God, a more human God. Now, the Bible doesn't have to be our only guide, and we can study and include other spiritual standards. Now, religion can be more open-ended, tolerant, and loving. [Maybe even our pets can be valued as much as our friends.] Good grief.

Forgiveness without repentance? Hmm. Celebrities and politicians have learned to "apologize" for their crimes---to more easily preserve their status . . . and it works in our culture today. Christians today want forgiveness with no price tag---a Heavenly gift with no conditions.  Blasted conditions! We need none of that. Surely God is good and loving and Big Daddy enough not to ask us to repent. What an ugly word. How discriminatory is the whole concept of having to "turn away" from something. We humans are so shallow and yet would claim to be God if we could. Good grief.

Regeneration---transformation and rebirth---is too complicated. Let's just sprinkle a head or two or say a word or two in a memorial rite of some kind, baptism will do, and go about our merry way. Let's keep this as simple as possible. God would want that. Right? This concept of a "life-altering encounter with God" must surely be some overly dramatic and Romantic mistake. God is good and loving; He doesn't demand anything of us, does He? He's tolerant, right? Good grief.

We are gasping our way through another election cycle. It's been going on for months and months. It never ends. It's eternity. It's exhausting. It has nothing whatsoever to do with God. [His name is sometimes mentioned in a drooling, insulting aside meant to keep those evangelicals happy.] No one today wants God to be anywhere near their politics. The very idea! Good grief. Without God, politics is completely amoral. The bigger the lie, the better.

The idea of Heaven without Hell suggests the human effort to be known for the tolerance of our love rather than for our convictions. Universalism misses the mark. God's grace and unconditional love for us does require that we choose Him, the Way, over all and anything else. Moderns don't want to do that. Mainly, we want to choose ourselves---our egos and our happiness and our experience---our world view. However, it is a grave mistake of moderns to simply omit God's justice from the Heavenly view. God is good, and God is also just.

Booth referred to all of these as "dangers." Many (most I'm afraid) today would not see them in that light at all, but would even attribute them to progress. Good grief. We are so shallow.

That Arrogant, Fun-Loving Narcissist

Well, the transgender population (ca .3% of Americans) wins the prize---Pres. Obama's support and backing. They will be allowed, if he has his way, to enter the restroom, shower, locker room, dorm of their choice, the one that fits their gender identity. "Who cares?" you say---I do . . . and apparently hundreds of thousands of others.

Some states are going to fight the Federals over this issue, but short of the unlikely events of another civil war or withdrawing from the Union, they are doomed to failure, I fear. So, where do we stand? 

Some say we who disagree need to modify our attitudes to more closely match the modern state of tolerance and protecting the rights of the minorities. I'm thinking it's time we begin again to focus on the "common" good and "common" rights. I'm thinking I, too, have rights [esp. privacy] that should also be protected. Conflicting rights, eh? Now what do we do?

Some reasonable solution(s) is surely out there. Pres. O(bomb)a dropped this on everyone with no real prep of any kind. I'm guessing that arrogant, fun-loving narcissist is having a good laugh about this in the privacy of his luxurious bedroom at night with his spouse. 

Despite our prankster-President's glee, many folks in our country now have pointed at them a loaded gun full of stress bullets. School administrators---administrators of any sort---must now decide how to deal with the myriad problems and lawsuits this directive would create should it be enforced as law. 

I think the costly solution is probably the best one: Begin the process of modifying current restrooms somehow into individual, private stalls. [Brings to mind the nifty two-hole outhouse we had when I was a kid.] Super expensive? I know. Make bathrooms in all new facilities individual-use ones. Retail store managers have the same potentially expensive and legally lethal problems as public administrators.

Another approach is to just ignore it:  It will go away just as did the furor over abortion---just as we're able to overlook various genocides around the globe. We Americans are getting better and better at looking the other way, rather than dealing with explosive and repulsive problems.

Hey, I think maybe I'm already not seeing it as such a . . . . .

At the Forefront of Our Being

Not sure where I got this: "Nothing can touch me unless it first passes through the will of God." Maybe, it's mine. But, I absolutely believe it, and the idea is alive within me and has been ever since I became a Christian---actually, longer than that I think. I attended many a church service and participated in many a Bible study (admittedly as a child) before I became a confessed and commissioned Follower in my 30's. 

If "everything" that happens to me is "allowed" by God, then I guess that means it has His sanction---His green light, so to speak. And if that is the case, then it's my function to accept it and deal with it and keep on driving through it, no matter what I may think of it. God might give Satan permission to enter one's life, as He did with Job, which suggests Satan cannot crawl into the lives of those in the Body of Christ through simply his own volition. And I give them eternal life; and they shall never perish, nor shall any man pluck them out of my hand---John 28:10. And I think, by extension, no angel. God's permission is completely necessary. Other Biblical examples revolve around the vulnerability of the unsaved and the good that Christians can gain and our ability to bear the tribulation.

Well, that got fuzzy, didn't it? I look at the pathetic condition of our current American culture and cannot help but believe that we have pushed God to the point of setting Satan completely free. He is already the Prince of this world, but God has up to now placed some restrictions upon him and has, at times, intervened in human history against Satan's desires (most notably in the Christ's appearance as a lowly human). Evil behavior is threatening to open doors to even greater evil behavior---and devastation.

Perhaps, it is not as gloomy as it appears on the surface. Perhaps, we can still smile and laugh out loud. Perhaps, a revival is at hand. Perhaps, we may in greater numbers recognize again the wonderment in the event of Christ's resurrection---and the pending possibility of our own, if we claim Him. There is hope for this world and those in it. We must keep the cross and resurrection of Jesus at the forefront of our being, every moment of our living. We must because through our years we must drive our way through pain, guilt, and loneliness---difficulties of various sorts. Only God can comfort us now, and only God can provide us an eternal life of Goodness.

And so, even yet I contend . . . Nothing can touch me without first passing through the will of God.