I had an interesting thought today; We had a friend over last week and I told the individual some Mexican guys came over and gave us a bid on a roof project, after I said they were mexicans she asserted that I was being racist. I was very bothered over the following week. I was at first confused why in using a national term one would then imply that I resented that nation of people (or more specifically that I myself was a bigot). Then I speculated why this individual might say that and my mind landed on the topic of category. That categorizing a person is often times, through a liberal perspective, racist.
There is a cynical view of this necessary and needed element of its intellectual and social function. First, intellectual we categorize as a natural function to efficiently structure and relay information in our brains, that's easy. Second categories serve important social function.
To destroy categories is to destroy boundaries and to some degree to attack definition. Instead of having categories, functions and roles we become equalized as a mass of humanity which is the outcome of two philosophies first being socialism and the second being anarchy. Both philosophies are alive and full of power in the thinking of our generation.
The ultimate aim of these philosophies is to tear down roles of family and society (Husband - Wife / Father - Son / King - Servant). These systems of belief have no respect for authority (they believe education is the great equalizer and authority should bow to education [Man's Discoveries]) Therefore they desire to exalt themselves above God's ways, (i.e. the Bible can only be validated if science validates it).
According to these philosophies all authorities should be equalized or better yet done away with. No authority means, "frees," oneself to serve the desires of their bodies rather than someone or something in authority (i.e. The Bible, God's law). Christians who assent to these beliefs may quote scriptures like Eph 5:21, Rom 10:12 and Gala 3:28 which are all about equal value as members of a new nation but have nothing to do with equalizing or abolishing governmental roles in family or society.
Karl Marx said In his book German Ideology: "In communist society, where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticise after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, herdsman or critic."
One would never become those things because those roles would have been abolished. And not just those roles but roles of Mother-Father, King- Servent, etc. For Marx proletariat - capitalist. Those Roles being God ordained.
Dr. Mary Jo Bane, Clinton's Assistant Secretary of Administration for Children and Families in the Department of Health and Human Services, said: "If we want to talk about equality of opportunity for children, then the fact that children are raised in families means there's no equality . . . In order to raise children with equality, we must take them away from families and communally raise them." Dr Bane is not asserting that we do such a thing but rather such a thing logically follows equality.
To destroy category destroys authority. Back to my first example, "You can't say Black Guy." These thoughts follow, He's just a guy like you and me he's not black or white he's just human, and so follows and strengthens the tearing down of definition then roles. I would say yes he is human and also most definitely a black guy and also many other things. Could it be one day the word parent will be a discriminatory term,? Will we have replaced it with the term Legal Guardian? Will the word Father will be discriminated against because, "What about a two Mom household? You Homophobe!" And as we know the term boss, or king has and will continue to be a source of mockery. Think of any popular sitcom, the secretary is the smart witty one and the boss (Like a Michael Scott) is a fool, a buffoon.
These philosophies are direct attacks against basic Biblical Principles:
Romans 13 1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
Philosophies like those mentioned sound closer to hell than heat is to flame:
Isaiah 14:The Fall of Lucifer12 “ How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,[b] son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!13 For you have said in your heart: ‘ I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’
The root of both socialism and anarchy resides in self exaltation (pride). That is the fuel which tears down roles of authority so one can feel exalted. That has always been the heart of criticism, pulling someone down to lift oneself up.
Numbers 16 1Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took action, 2and they rose up before Moses, together with some of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, chosen in the assembly, men of renown.3They assembled together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, "You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves abovethe assembly of the LORD?"
You can clearly see that on their heart was not good will for the people of Israel but rather self exaltation, which is the Devil's bread and butter. Self exaltation is how humanity fell in the first place, it is Satan's most potent weapon because it is what he has done since heaven.
Self exaltation is the opposite of Jesus' way. Jesus came to earth and submitted to human skin, parents, John the B, local governing authorities (even honoring the Roman Centurion) and finally submitting to a brutal execution. Although Jesus was the only one without sin he still submitted and was exalted, not by himself or by creating an authority bashing ideology rather Jesus was exalted by the Father.
( an editorial comment: Racism is a real, vicious evil and we should not be flippant in our judgment of a persons heart. Also real racism does not exist in category but rather the heart of one who exalts one race over another. Race itself is tough definitionally. Legally it finds it's definition as coming from the the Latin Radix, where we get radius, one could envision products emanating from a center point or peoples having there root in a place or ideology. There is "racism" between people originating from the country toward people originating from the city and vice versa, people originating from a place of higher education toward people originating their knowledge from the street (see book, Same kind of different as me). As earlier stated racism is about self exaltation the same root which in a different outfit calls for the destruction of all categories.
Also our dear friend is neither a socialist or an anarchist, although she has like many of us been reared in systems of thought that seethe these philosophies)
Luke 815 But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.
The parable of the sower and the seed has always been astounding to me. I was reading it last week and a new element stood out to me. The element of nobility. The hearts that received the seed and produced thirty, sixty and one-hundred fold, were hearts that were noble and good. Two questions immediately arise; the first being what does it mean to have a noble heart and the second being do I have one?
To the first I'm not sure. Nobility has a direct relationship with birth, as one primarily becomes noble by no actions of their own, but is rather born into nobility. There is also a action oriented sense of the word being noble. Being noble is certainly connected to honesty, sacrifice and charity. I personally like the element of honesty. I imagine a nobleman's word is his bond. But it the sense of receiving the gospel there is a different kind of honesty that must be applied. The nobleman's self honesty is a difficult and continual process. Digging through the proverbial weeds of our heart and live in a state of honesty with our state. Not one where we see weeds and exalt them but recognize and diligently remove them. Weeds are interesting because they don't immediately damage the plant, they are much more insidious. They stunt growth, take nutrients that should be applied to the plant and feed something that is essentially a waste of life.
Noble of heart receive the gospel because they first recognize they need it and after receiving it they diligently protect it.
Nov 23rd.
I am so tempted to use some hackneyed global warming line, but alas I will restrain. I like snow, particularly after having been removed from a large part of it over the past ten years. In the Catskill's of N.Y.'s Appalachian range we'd get blasted very frequently. The dancing, swirling chaos of the falling snow brings back great, holiday-esque memories. Your hands start feeling like machines and your lungs feel like they've been frosted. It's a cleansing feeling for sure. My Dad wrote a book called white like snow. you can read a snippet of it or purchase it at whitelikesnow.com
I spoke this past Sunday about the parable of the talents found in Matthew 25. As I did my browsing style research (looking in the windows until something catches my eye) I noticed that the word talent, had nothing to do with what I consider natural talents.
The Biblical Talent in the NT was a unit of economic reckoning amounting to about twenty years wages. Our common use for the word talent actually be-little's the significance of the scriptural talent.
The Average American household makes approx 45000.00 a year. the biblical talent in our economy would then be 900,000.00 Dollars.
In the story the talent was given by the Master at his departure, a sure and direct correlation to Christ's departure. Philippians re-iterates when he (Jesus) ascended he gave gifts to men.
Lets think, did he give them the ability to sing great songs? Did he release skiing talents and hacky-sack talents and people that are talented at baking? When Jesus died for all Humanity and then ascended to the father did he release the talent of writing or skateboarding?
The answer friends is a clear and resounding NO. Those natural abilities were not what the parable referred to and certainly not what Jesus died for. When Jesus ascended he released million dollar sized blessing on Humanity.
That Blessing is a person and his name is the Holy Spirit. To compare your talent of cross-stitching with the power of the holy spirit is like comparing a tricycle with a Lamborghini.
I'm all for hacky-sack but we have been told that we need to use our, "talents," for the Lord when the reality is quite the reverse, he wants to use His talents through us. Applying them through what your good at is OK. It'd be like putting the tricycle in the passenger seat, nothing wrong with that, but the adulation goes to God when humanity doesn't see you as someone who is just great using their natural gifting, but supernatural in their expression.
Applying the real meaning of the word to the parable brings a whole new light to the story. The Master gave each according to his own ability and even the dude with the least bit of ability was still well off in anyone's book. It then makes sense why the master was upset because a huge resource was granted the servant and he buried it. The illustration is clear, he put it back down on the inside of himself, turned it off, whatever you wan to say.
Hear the Message if you are interested.
I like the sound of trumpets. I didn't much care for them in the fifth and sixth grade, when I played one. It was hard to play. My lips would hurt and I could never seem to remember the correct finger patterns and of course the wretched sheet music. I really only chose it because I wanted to hang out with my friends who were going to band practice. I think it was either that or work on Math homework. Looking back I definitely should have done the Math. I wonder about music and relationship. Music is great but outside of the context of relationship it doesn't hold the same force or value. I think it's probly like that with all art or all human productivity. Without relationship things are flatter. I can listen to certain songs that sound great and feel warmed by them but songs about relationships are the ones that move me. I hear a song one time and it had a line in it about a singer trying to sing with a choir but didn't have the ability to hit the right notes. The Correlation was living in accordance to a divine value system seeing the beauty of it even joining but not being able to live how you want to. I think what that has to do with the Trumpet is the desire for relationship that is real and authentic and beautiful and you are forced to do things you thought previously you were incapable of and you were you needed outside force applied to your, Heart, Mind, Soul and Strength.
It's the greatest relationship, Man and God.
I was thinking more about the Love of God today. Wondering how many people feel like God loves them. I presume most churchies would say yeah of course God loves me he sent his son, so on and so forth. But if the question was asked does God really like you and not out of obligation but just like the way you are... I'm not sure the answer would be a definitive of course.
In Genesis God is obviously presiding over creation, creating and doing all that cool universe making stuff. But then the first recorded time he sets foot on earth, he is searching for Adam in the cool of the day or in the wind of the day. God was looking for Adam not just because he wanted to check on his experiment; he could have just created a giant heavenly telescope or he could have just shouted to Adam. But the picture we're given is God searching for his friend, not out of love-duty but rather out of love-like.
The cool of the day is significant because it's when we don't work. usually we work during the heat of the day and in the evening the cool of the day we relax. God didn't set up a schedule with Adam like, I'm going to scedule a 2:30 at the tree of life, I want to make sure you figured out how the porcuines work and then it's back to heaven 'cause I have stuff to do.
God was looking for Adam because he liked him. and he likes us. This is the gospel that the Father sent the Son to reconcile us with him. Not out of cosmic duty or obligation but out of like.
I was in a house trying to light it on fire. I poured olive oil all over the carpet and was trying to light it. An old friend and his companions lived in the house and he was trying to stop me from burning down the house. He is about as strong as I am so it was very hard for me to light the carpet. So I punched him in the face and jumped out the window on my left. As I was running away from the house I noticed a handful of red-coat soldiers on the way into the house. I had a feeling they were coming to arrest or kill the people in the house. I ran and hid on the roadside. I was watching 17-18th century vehicles go by on the road while ducking on the edge of the roads embankment. A lady came up to me and said God finds beauty in what you see as imperfection and then she said the grace of God is that he is revealed in broken vessels.
