Wise Words for Confused Times…
Dr. Jenell Williams Paris is the author of The End of Sexual Identity: Why Sex Is Too Important to Define Who We Are. She told Relevant that Christians need more than rules to live chastely. What’s often missing, Paris believes, is a compelling story and an understanding of the “whys” behind the rules. To explain what she means, she uses the example of parents teaching their little girl to look both ways before crossing a street:
A young child may follow this rule solely because of the power of her parents’ authority, which is appropriate. As she grows, the child [continues to look both ways,] but for a deeper reason that she owns for herself. She sees the broader context of traffic, understands the benefits and dangers, and makes choices accordingly. Rules are external and authority-bound: Maturity requires knowledge of why to do the right thing, not just what the right thing is.
Read more here…
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If…
a person can’t trust the collective wisdom of the Church over time to help them discern the truth of the Scriptures why should they trust themselves?
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Just Reading…
an article on sexuality where a person in favor of abandoning the historic Christian wisdom on this quotes the Golden Rule, urging the readers to allow others to follow a different path rooted in a permissiveness based on how they would like to be treated themselves. If you enjoy marriage how can you follow the Golden Rule and deny others the right to the same?
Well, as it turns out if I get caught up in some form of darkness I hope people, inspired by love and in a firm but caring manner, come to my rescue. I hope they would do this for me not because they are malicious but because they care. Yes, it would be hard to hear. Yes, it may not be received by me at the moment as words I wish to hear. Yet I would wish to have that done to me, to have someone say “John, have you considered the path you are taking can be laden with trouble?” “Have you considered that where you are at might not be the healthiest place?”
At its heart the Golden Rule is not about “Live and let live” so much as it is a call to remind those who are helping the other, who are encountering the other, to do so in a manner reflecting not harsh judgment or exalting oneself in the face of another’s sins and struggle but rather to be both truthful and merciful, to approach the wounded, the other, the lost, the struggling, as you would like to be approached if the positions were reversed. It reminds us of our mutuality as sinners with each other and also of the grace that is available to all as well.
Yes, Virginia, there is right and wrong and a right and a wrong way to proclaim and live it as well. Thus the Golden Rule.
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I Think…
that perhaps one of the reasons the imperfections of the world, both minor and horrible, are allowed to continue is to stop us in our tracks, remind us of what might be, and call our thoughts higher. Everything here is temporary. Everything here, no matter how good or beautiful, is tinged with sadness, colored with imperfection, flavored by a struggle. Its a kind of wisdom to understand this and to, upon reflecting on it, live lightly on this Earth and fully in the Kingdom of God.
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I've Just Woken Up…
from a most beautiful dream as I often dream deeply in the early morning.
I was in an Orthodox Church and it seemed it was just before the service. As I left the sanctuary I saw a former parishioner of St. George Church, George Strickland, who recently reposed after an illness, censing the church. This caught my attention and I came up to him and said “George what are you doing?” There was no answer but I gave him a hug, he was a big guy and although his sickness had taken the weight off he was healthy. In the dream I recognized that he had died and I asked him if he was okay. He responded “Yes” and then I asked him if he was with Jesus and he answered “Yes.” He then said to me “I’m praying for you.” and the dream ended as I walked the streets of a town elated and light in spirit.
May God give rest to the soul of His servant George and great comfort through this dream to His handmaid, Jennie, who stood by George as his wife, caregiver, and friend in George’s journey.
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Good Words…
No wonder, then, that it is so hard to be Christian–it is not hard it is impossible. No one can knowingly accept a way of life which, the more truly it is lived, leads more surely to one’s own destruction. And that is why we constantly rebel, try to make life easier, try to be half-Christian, try to make the best of both worlds. We must ultimately choose–our felicity lies in one world or the other, not in both.
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On Politics…
Politics becomes fierce and divisive precisely when people trust in it as a kind of transcendence, a structure that gives overarching meaning and direction to their lives and their world. As politics replaces God its ebbs and flows gain a significance well beyond the normal transitory flow of life. There is a kind of transcendent, even eternal, aspect to it so that wins and losses are not just things that can be changed in time but rather reflect on the core of the personhood of the people who hold the political opinions. For Christians politics is always about lesser kingdoms, temporary kingdoms, and when it achieves the substance in the Christians mind of the Kingdom of God it has warped itself into something dark and even unholy no matter how good the motives may appear to be.
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Wisdom…
What do I need? There is nothing on earth that I need, except that which is most essential. What do I need, what is most essential? I need the Lord, I need His grace, His kingdom within me. On earth, which is the place of my wanderings, my temporary being, there is nothing that is truly mine, everything belongs to God and is temporal, everything serves my needs temporarily. What do I need? I need true and active Christian love; I need a loving heart which takes compassion on its neighbors; I need joy over their prosperity and well-being, and sorrow over their sorrows and illnesses, their sins, failings, disorders, woes, poverty; I need warm and sincere compassion for all the circumstances of their lives, joy for those who are joyous and tears for those who are in tears. Enough of selfishness, egoism, living only for oneself and acquiring everything only for oneself: riches, pleasures, the glory of this world; enough of spiritual dying instead of living, grieving instead of rejoicing, and carrying within oneself the poison of selfishness, for selfishness is a poison that is continuously poured into our hearts by Satan. O, let me cry out with King David: Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides Thee. My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart. Grant me, O Lord, true life, dispel the darkness of my passions, disperse their power with Thy strength, for with Thee all things are possible!
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A Voice Worth Hearing…
and a blog worth reading. I live, by choice, in a racially mixed urban neighborhood and we need more voices like this for blacks to hear and whites to listen.
