A divine moment captured on earth

I am seeing something tonight that warms the soul. My friend knows someone in trouble. He and his wife's extended families are gathering around this person to show that they still believe in this person, that no one has been discarded. That resonates with every fiber in my core. It's what the Teacher taught. No one has to stand alone and be condemned even if society thinks differently. I cannot think of stronger measures to show the Teacher's message. It's not a parable or words on a page. It's a reality, not a reality show with a script. It's true, unadulterated reality. The Creator of the universe has to be weeping tears of happiness—tears for the trouble the person is in, happiness for the number of people standing behind this person with unfiltered care. I am truly touched.

What I see happening on the human scene tonight and tomorrow morning reflects what will happen in a future, more heavenly scene captured in a statement written at the end of the book Discerning the 7 Sealed Scenes.

"The broken seals reveal God's urgent and emphatic message—broken people proudly exhibiting His mark of ownership and approval. Notably, the broken seals reveal that broken people are not discarded. God's broken people are never discarded! Never! God dresses them in brilliant white robes. That is assured!" (page 70).

Empty sounds

From time to time people tell me that those whose actions have been an impediment to progress have changed and have said that they want to work with the one they have been causing grief to. My first reaction is that their words are deceptive. Words have to have accompanying actions. Otherwise, they are empty sounds in the wind. While it is true that words can be a precursor to good actions, it is usually true that words are mere vapors that dissipate before actions can be put in place. That's why we have the expression in English, "Words are cheap." So when an enemy has a change of heart based on his words, I just laugh. I'll believe it when I see it. Hit me up in a month and tell me the same thing. I'll check the book of actions and see if the words are true.

Desire confused for truth

One matter that irritates me most is the dishonesty that comes when people confuse their desires with the truth. I know a lady who is on her second doctoral level course (she has just started her program). She wants the Ph.D. so badly that she has already signed her name and put Ed.D. following it. But it's not true. She goes around proudly saying, "research says thus and so," but when admonished to produce the research, she can't or doesn't. She doesn't know the research like a doctor would. She recently wanted a particular educational instrument to be purchased for her school district so badly that she sent an email to the powers that be stating that most schools in the US used this instrument. There are precious few pieces of curriculum that most schools in the USA implement, and this instrument is not one of the precious few pieces. Such a lie. It's hard for me to tolerate the above actions and other ones on their own merits, much less when they come from the lips of someone who has the same religious roots I do and still espouses Christian tenets. I would think honesty should be near the top of the list for such a Christian. I have to take action next week because I can no longer understand nor stand for dishonest behavior. I eschew in the most vehement terms expressible the deception of this person who confuses desire with truth. I will take this action next week in the clearest of conscience. I have seen this person's fruit. It doesn't pass muster.

Matthew 7
The Tree and Its Fruit
15"Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep, but are really wolves that will tear you apart. 16You can detect them by the way they act, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit. You don't pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles. 17A healthy tree produces good fruit, and an unhealthy tree produces bad fruit. 18A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. 19So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. 20Yes, the way to identify a tree or a person is by the kind of fruit that is produced.
New Living Translation

Honesty is not always direct

It's interesting to hear people speak when they don't know how to speak double-speak. They say things transparently, but they also don't understand what is being said from when someone uses double-speak on them. That makes them vulnerable. They think language use is for purely straightforward communication.

There's a certain arrogance to that view. They usually are not diplomatic people nor are they people-oriented people. And although directness is sometimes necessary, to be direct always is not the same as being honest always. They're different most of the time. It's an arrogant person who always wants direct communication because they feel that they are always honest. People who know how to be indirect with grace are more the work of beauty than those whose pragmatism stunts their use of indirect language.

From my experience, transparency, directness, pragmatism, and honesty only converge in rare moments. People who want those qualities to merge all the time either get hurt a lot or do not get out much around people. Even the greatest teacher used parables in much of his teaching.

The enemy paradox

Sometimes the enemy is one who is least expected. People get close, learn all they can, and fire away. It's sad, but it happens at times when least needed. The master teacher said to "pray" for such individuals. He doesn't say what to pray for them. If "request" is meant by prayer, then I request that their plans be exposed, thwarted. If "carry on a conversation" is meant by prayer, then I would like to explain my position and ask how in the world that position needs to be brought down or attacked. If "ask a blessing" is meant by prayer, then I simply make that request and leave it in the hands of the judge of all to take action. I'm not in control of my enemies, so I guess I will trust the Maker of those enemies to deal with them justly (and me for that matter).

Matthew 5
43 < 44But now I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may become the children of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun to shine on bad and good people alike, and gives rain to those who do good and to those who do evil. 46Why should God reward you if you love only the people who love you? Even the tax collectors do that! 47And if you speak only to your friends, have you done anything out of the ordinary? Even the pagans do that! 48 R52 You must be perfect---just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Riveting drama

I guess the thing that I most liked about this weekend was a TV show from My Great Big Obnoxious Fiance. It is supposed to be hilarious for viewers to see how people aren't nearly as committed to making money as they think they are. However, in this episode, the show met its match. The family picked was one that every American family ideally desires. A family that stuck together even in the face of great difficulty. The action of the show was riveting because normal people, not actors, provided the drama of every day life. I think I liked it because, under conditions of great duress, a family did not split apart. It cracked in several places, but it did not come apart. It was a work of beauty. My wish is just that for every family tonight. I know people are working hard so that splits in the fabric do not unravel. I know immense pressure is brought to bear on families. But, my wish is for those families to stand firm tonight.

Walking in a sun basin

This morning I got to see in 3D what every newspaper runs on the front page this time of year after an ice storm. Papers usually run some picture of a tree glistening in ice. My 3D experience this morning was that picture times 100 in its beauty. The park's walking path is ringed in trees which in winter looks pretty bleak since the leaves are all gone from the trees' branches. It was still and quiet. Very little movement by either nature or humans was perceptible. The sun had been up for about 20 minutes. As it shone through the glistening ice waxed onto the trees, the park looked as if it was a part of a sun basin. The brilliance was much brighter than high noon on a summer day. The walk with the Maker this morning was like being in Heaven already. The words spoken there seemed like they lasted a couple of minutes rather than the 20 they actually lasted. What a pleasure to walk in beauty and talk in time suspension.

Dump the childishness

The Creator has built in one of the best ways to perpetuate a value system. Our brains learn through repetition because they build dendrites and create synapses all the way through youth so that our values become "second nature" to us. Although we continue to build dendrites at will in adulthood, it is the "will" part that slows down the process in adulthood.

The problem lies with our will in adulthood. We humans have the capacity and hardwired ability in our brains to continue seeing situations and forming informed repsonses. Instead, we rely on the values in place from childhood. Why should we stop there? I know that a proverb from the Hebrew sacred tradition says that if principles are given when people are young, they will not depart from those principles when old. That is an accurate observation, but it is because lazy people in adulthood depend on the value system formed in their childhoods. That's why cultural differences exist. Some people, to give an example, have been conditioned to burp after a meal in order to show their appreciation for the meal. Other people have been conditioned to burp silently, if at all, because the burp is a show of ill manners. It was a value taught in youth and perpetuated into adulthood.

If the idea of this topic is applied to our sacred traditions, then people get nervous for tampering with something "holy." What I like about the Master Teacher's principles is that they are born from experience or are designed for practical application to situations that change from culture to culture, from one generation to the next. Arguments for the existence of God change from one generation to the next and from one culture to another. Which of the master's teachings to highlight change from one generation to another. Three generations ago, the judgment aspect was highlighted, today the love aspect is.

As a child I learned that "going to church" was important. There was a principle behind that, but the outward manifestation of attending a church service became the value that I put in my system. As an adult, I find that stimulus from life's journey really should allow the information traveling through the synapses formed about sacred traditions to change. Church meeting attendance absolutely has nothing to do with the principles of living according to the One who represented the Creator. Or when I read, "You have heard it to be said that you must not commit adultery, but I tell you not to even think about others in wicked ways," I can see that I am bound to repsect other people's personal space. Otherwise they might see my lack of respect for their space and invite me in, or they might reject me and quit listening to other aspects of my life that are worthy of respect. But how does one teach this understanding of adultery to a child? Of course, it is for adult understanding.

So adults need to continue forming synapses so the message from the Teacher can have a refined understanding, not a childish one. Why do so many adults want the rigid teachings designed for children to last on into adulthood? They're lazy. They don't want to allow life's stimuli to grow new synapses or reroute existing ones. New stimuli causes conflict with some of the manisfestations of childhood values. Familiarity with an idea makes it comfortable. Comfort turns into routine. Routine becomes "second nature," opinions and notions. It is not necessarily accurate or refined adult reality.

So, when my heart speaks to others in honest moments, I wish for them to see adult illumination for the real journey through life, the one that leads us all to our home not seen through our earth-bound eyes.

Viva Bill!

Recently I heard from a man who is 76. I called him. He is half Indian and half white. But he is pretty proud of his Indian heritage. He cares a lot about those on the reservations because he sees it as the main reason for the demise of his people, that and alcohol. So, he is busy contacting chiefs, 4 of which he has had some success, in order to tell them of the message of the Great Teacher. At 76! Now that's impressive. Also at age 76 this is his second year to be learning Biblical Hebrew. Power to him. He is still trying to get at the heart of the message. That's commendable. I can only wish to be as active as he is when I reach his age. He's raised 5 children and still is able to help give money to his grandchildren's college funds. I can only wish to be so generous at his age. In an age when we all need models, I certainly adopt this man as one of mine. Viva Bill!

"The answer is blowing in the wind"

I see all kinds of Christians. Many act in ways that are different from the way I interpret the Bible. I have struggled in the past with this. I know how to be tolerant of others' viewpoints. That's not the struggle. What about the people who decide to come against me in one arena or another other than religion. What about the person who asks me to support him in an election by writing a letter to the editor (which I did) and then turns around about a month and a half later to tell me how offensive my interpretation of prophecy is. To me there is a disparity. Or what about the person who attends a Christian church but decides to ensure that I get no money in the work place as a part of a budget I am supposed to oversee because he wants to see my programs fail. To me there is a disparity.

I don't know what to think about these 2 situations when I read John 3.8.

8 The wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

What was the Teacher trying to say? I can't judge others because I can't see their spirits which have been born again? Or I can't tell when God has moved in someone else's spirit since I don't have the big picture? Or I should be able to judge another's spirit if I hear the sound of a spirit?
Or this is a corollary passage to the one Paul writes about the fruits of the spirit because one should see evidence of the blowing of the wind?

In the passage, Nicodemus didn't understand about a second birth. I guess I don't understand either since I think a second birth ought to relate to actions that are consistent with decent intents and motives from those who have the sound of the wind in their lives. In the park in the morning, I will try to feel the wind on my face in hopes that illumination can happen about the "wind passage."

A mere speck of sand

Sometimes we get caught up in living for the moment. I certainly am guilty of that. Then like tonight, I watch a science documentary of the eras of the earth. That makes my puny number of years lived on this earth a grain of sand in comparison. It's hard to imagine the immensity of the universe, the number of years the earth has been around, the number of terrains extant on the plot of land my house sits on, or how many more number of terrains into the future that those alive then will see that I don't. But, what is not hard to imagine is the small impact any single life has. Even the people history has designated as great, really have no impact except in an era that will disappear into oblivion. Who were the great people of 25,000 years ago or 5000 years ago? What criteria made them great? What was their daily life like? What did they think of when they thought of the Creator? Did He communicate with them? How? But even if I knew, I would see the changes in that just like a geologist does the earth or the astromer does the heavens.

So, getting caught up in the moment will probably happen again to me. But, I have plenty of reminders that my space of a speck of sand is not that important. So, I just need to focus on the path in front of me that leads me through my era to another place prepared for me.

No talk of history

I don't know why some people have the need to wallow in bringing up unpleasant past events on a regular basis. I suppose it fills some need or they wouldn't do it. What is the need? Perhaps they need to feel superior in some way. Perhaps they need to feel that they should punish someone else since they themselves perceive that they are suffering some kind of persecution. Maybe it's the willingness to live in misery since they don't deserve better. Maybe the subtle idea that torturing someone else actually feels good is attractive to them.

I realize that revisiting the past can have productive ramifications if continuous improvement is the plan. Or revisiting is good if resolution of something unresolved is being achieved. But to bring the same events up on a regular basis for the same reasons to make the same points seems sadistic or masochistic.

It's like people won't accept the youth changing the language in some regard or another just because of their conditioning to other, more familiar ways. I'm with Bill Parcells. In a press conference before their first playoff game in 3 years, reporters wanted to know why the Cowboys lost 3 of the last 4 games even though they had cinched the playoffs. Parcells told them if they wanted to talk about history, they needed to go to the museum down the street. If they wanted to talk about the playoffs that 20 other teams were not getting to experience, to go ahead with questions. Go Bill. I'm all for making a better future, not bemoaning the past.

Why can't youth change meanings?

I had an interesting conversation a few days ago with a colleague of mine. It was about words. In general, all words are created equal. However, society takes words and assigns meaning to them that suits its needs. It is well known that any or all words could change in a generation's time. So, as I was talking to my friend, the idea that the current young generation (16-26) is "the harshest-talking generation" came up. The word "bitch" was used as an example. It was said that young people use bitch as easily as they drink water. They don't think twice about it. Then I said that that was probably good because that means that the stigma that society had assigned to the word had been overcome. There's some truth to that. I know because familiar words begin to also show up in variant forms. I hear "biatch" about as often as I do "bitch." I also know that the word has broadened its meaning. Men could never have been referred to as bitches. Now men refer to each other as bitches.

It's hard for the older generation to accept changing mores from the younger generation. But on this matter, I think change is good. Why would an old fogie want to go to the grave always assigning taboo meanings to words when they were all created equal in the first place? That is just sheer stubbornness. Why not allow something to change from evil to good for a change, and an overdue, welcome change at that?

Time's up

I'm sure everyone has been asked the answer to a riddle, been given a certain time in which to guess it, and then hears the familiar refrain, "Time's up." The person gives you the answer since you have been stupid enough not to come up with it. Every December 31st I think, "One more year I have looked for the answers to life, and although I may be a tad bit smarter, I am not that much closer to finding the answer. I hear, 'Time's up.'" Then I start another year's search.

The truth is that whenever I find a little of the truth, I know it is just for me. Seldom does it also apply more widely to friends, siblings, children, spouse, relatives, co-workers, or people in organizations. Even those who share the same goals don't actually get the same truth. I have a friend who has been invited to teach a class at a univerisity on the interpretation of the New Testament. We both know that interpretation underlies the value system we have, so we try hard to develop a sound system of interpretation. But we have differences on what "sound" is. He and I even talked at length about and agreed on the validity of the chapter headings and subheadings of the book he will use in the class. But, given enough passages, there will end up too many choices and our interpretations will be different. For example, when authorship of any book of the New Testament is in question, my friend will argue well for a particular author different from mine, usually, and then decide that it doesn't matter who wrote it because the book was canonized. It does matter to me, on the other hand, because certain positions of "doctrine" may not be deemed important if the author is not who he is purported to be.

That's what makes life and truth so illusive. Multiply the number of interpretive choices (sound ones, even) times 300 million people in the US and 7 billion people in the world and the web of truth becomes so entangled. Ultimately, one year will be the final earth year for me, and when I hear "Time's up" that time, I will want my value system to have reflected the principles of decent living that the Creator expected me to learn in the small increments from one year to the next, piecemealed.

I would like to include the first post I wrote on Blogger.com about 2 1/2 years ago. It shows that I haven't come very far in discovering truth.
---------------------------------------------
Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Convolution

The more the world spins on its axis, the more that everyone is out for him(her)self. The more the truth gets expounded upon, the more truth becomes relative. The more one knows about the people around him (her), the more one becomes comfortable with his(her) own positions in life. No solid ground exists—only a jello surface morphing and dancing beneath one's feet. I think learning to live means learning that jello is tasty even if it is not solid.

posted by Dwordman @ 7:22 PM 0 Comments