3 posts tagged “bible”
Those colloquies that are more negative and abrasive in nature are naturally the ones that cause the most turmoil. People seem to either listen silently or immediately become concerned for my mental health and eternal security. Over time, I've learned to cope with either reaction.
For those that have known me for some time, or are unusually perceptive, they seem to grasp the nature of my often dramatized ramblings. They understand that while I can sometimes sound impressively bitter and angry, I simply need to vent. I obviously prefer to hear a summary of their feelings on the subject as well, but it isn't integral to the process.
The trouble is usually seen with people that don't know me very well. During two such discourses here at school, the reactions were a bit stronger than what I'm used to. After the first, one of my many bitter diatribes about women, one of my friends recommended counseling. After the second, an argument for more trust between Christian colleges and their students, I was told "I'm scared for you Michael. It seems like your bitterness and lack of respect for authority are going to destroy you if you continue." Now I really appreciate that these people were concerned for me, but their comments seemed very out of the ordinary.
Given that I'm studying the Bible, I've been reading through and journalling the New Testament. In Matthew 23:13-36, we come across Jesus' righteous rant. Now I'm a big fan of Jesus. Being God incarnate, His actions are blessed with a certain wisdom that's hard to come by outside of the Bible. It's obvious from the text that Jesus is mad, and he sure is offending people:
15"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
How would you feel if someone said this to you? Not good I imagine. These are harsh things, and you can sure bet he got a strong reaction. Jesus is stereotypically pictured, in art at least, as a peaceful, quiet, smiling, caucasian man. I have never seen his face stretched in the frustration he must have felt as he said these words.
I'm certainly not likening my own rants to those of Jesus. But I do want to be careful that when I do rant, I'm as Christ like as possible. He argued Biblical principles, and made irrefutable points. If I was careful to do that every time I opened my mouth, I'd be silent for a much greater portion of my life. If I spent those times thinking of Christ's way to argue that point, myself and those around me would reap the blessings.
When I'm at college, there's always something to do. When I first started, I spent a lot of time worrying about how I was going to get it all done, get good grades, and be a perfect student. After a month or so of that nonsense, I realized that the quest for academic "perfection" could easily destroy me. When I make a mistake, I think of myself as a failure, instead of just taking it in stride and resolving to do better next time.
Worry is always a problem. Jesus is pretty straight forward about it. In Matthew 6:27 he says, "And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?" He makes it pretty plane. Anxiety is an emotion that takes so much of our energy, yet accomplishes nothing.
Looking back, from the relationship issues that I've been through, the financial stresses that I've run into, the concerns for my future, and the self-conciousness that I have about the thoughts of others, none of the stressing or worrying that I put myself through helped. If anything, matters were made worse.
I'm just so glad that I can look back on those things now. I look forward to what's coming knowing that there will be good in it no matter what. There will be joy in spite of sadness, there will be love in spite of pain, and there will be trust in spite of betrayal. Not matter how bad things get, we can always find the good. How would we know the good if the bad didn't exist?
Is the ability to be horrified a gift? Dr. Paul Patton thinks so. He recently gave a message that really caused me to stop and think. It’s been six days and I’m still thinking. Dr. Patton shared about horror stories from the Bible. He talked about the passage that begins with a Levite spending the night in a Benjamite with his concubine and servant. Here is the story:
22As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, worthless fellows, surrounded the house, beating on the door. And they said to the old man, the master of the house, "Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may know him." 23And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, "No, my brothers, do not act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, do not do this vile thing. 24Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out now. Violate them and do with them what seems good to you, but against this man do not do this outrageous thing." 25But the men would not listen to him. So the man seized his concubine and made her go out to them. And they knew her and abused her all night until the morning. And as the dawn began to break, they let her go. 26And as morning appeared, the woman came and fell down at the door of the man's house where her master was, until it was light.27And her master rose up in the morning, and when he opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, behold, there was his concubine lying at the door of the house, with her hands on the threshold. 28He said to her, "Get up, let us be going." But there was no answer. Then he put her on the donkey, and the man rose up and went away to his home. 29And when he entered his house, he took a knife, and taking hold of his concubine he divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel. 30And all who saw it said, "Such a thing has never happened or been seen from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt until this day; consider it, take counsel, and speak."
-Judges 19:22-30
This isn’t a Bible story that I learned in Sunday school. The first
time I read it, I was confused. I didn’t really think that the Bible
contained records of evil so horrible and perverse. The story goes on
to show that the rest of Israel united against the tribe of Benjamin
with God’s blessing and destroyed almost all of them.
So what’s the point? To quote Dr. Patton, “Horror stories at their root serve as examples of the monsters that we can become… We must steward our ability to be horrified like any other gift from God.”
The People of Benjamin were obviously not horrified. Their sin had gotten so far out of hand that became monsters, literally gang raping this woman to death. Our ability to be horrified becomes of paramount importance. We are one step away from becoming murderers, rapists and sadists.
Sufjan Stevens wrote a song called John Wayne Gacy Jr. about the man by the same name who raped, tortured and murdered thirty three young men and buried them under his Chicago home. His neighbors could never believe that he was capable of this, because on the outside, he was normal and even likable. The last line in the song is particularly haunting: “And in my best behavior, I’m really just like him. Look beneath the floorboards for the secrets I have hid.”
There’s an evil side in all of us. It’s an incredible work of grace
that we are able to identify it. We all have our secrets, Our “dead
bodies” under the floorboards. Thanks be to God that we are horrified
by them.
