Here I go again . . . rattling cages . . .
“Thank You, Lord, for making me thus! ( but please, I wanna keep my friends!” ) smile…. : )
I introduced a book in my last post. In my opinion, the author should have left George Barna and his quotes out of chapter two. (How Dare They Leave When We’re Offending Them.) Nonetheless, there is essentially good thought to be chewed on in the book. My guess is that it’s a printed version of a live performance! Therefore it’s not really a literary work of art. But John Shore is real in a sometimes raw way. He’s up front! I appreciated his life story. It helped me understand the style of the man and where he is coming from. Perhaps it should have been told earlier in the book, but the overall concept of ‘believers being above unbelievers’ is an eye-opener!
In John Shore’s world, ‘Us’ are those christians who go to church and are hung up on the Great Commission; they are bent on winning the lost at any cost. ’Normies’ on the other hand are typically normal, everyday people we call neighbours. Unbelievers who don’t go to church. Pity is, they don’t want to go, even when invited by ‘Us’. The Normie shakes his head and provides a ready excuse not to accept! Shores book: I’m O.K–You’re Not is humourous and slightly irreverent in parts. But it packs a punch as it weighs in on the three Greats: Commission, Commandment and Great Divide. He has a good argument against over-zealous soul winning. After all, does real neighbourly love have an agenda to fix or change the other person into something they are not? Normies see Us as being pushy, dogmatic and alienating.
Every chapter has a unique ending. In fact, I found myself speed reading in order to get to that part.
For 58 years now my identifty and work has been with the ‘Us’ folks. We ‘Us’-ees share the same comfort zone. We accept and love our ‘Us’ brothers and sisters. Sad as it may sound, I and other ‘Us’ees’ are guilty of feeling ’a bit above’ the Normies. After all, God has fixed ‘us’ and made ‘us’ o.k. Whereas the Normies are broken unbeleivers who shy away from ‘us’ for various, and dare I say, legitimate reasons! I personally confess to coddling a certain silent bias towards the Normies where I live; a subtle, sub-conscious feeling of superiority. Did I learn it from other ‘Us-ee’s? Perhaps. It’s a contagious mentality within the Us group. God forgive us Us-ees!!
I attended a breakfast meeting with some pastors wives recently. We were discussing the needs of the women in our various churches. I expressed my concern that the ladies would come to a knowledge of God as a loving Father who loves his daughters very much. One of the wives defensively came back with: “My ladies already know that God loves them.”
I answered her: “In their heads, yes! But are they experiencing it? Are they loving Him back with their heart, soul and mind? Do they love themselves in a healthy, godly way? Can they love their neighbour with unbiased love?” There was no answer.
John Shore says it this way:” We cannot love our neighbour—that is, we cannot fulfill the Great Commandment—if we barely know our neighbours…..building that bridge is something we are going to have to do.” The Great Divide must be eliminated.
You love Jesus Christ only as much as the person you love the least. Now that’s a thinkable thought!
Prayer: “Dear Jesus, please bless Us with an evangelistic paradigm shift. Break Us of our ineffectiveness to demonstrate your love to our neighbour with sincerity and truth. In Jesus Name …..Amen”
Greta,
This is another thought-provoking blog. How can we remain complacent or settled into a comfy little rut when you keep serving things to chew on? Keep it coming.
The problem with religious Judeo-Christian types is this: NOT READING YOUR BIBLE – ALL OF IT!!! The Old Testament, the largest part of the "Good Book" depicts a god, prophets and "chosen people" who are savage, violent, primitive, misogynist (woman-hating), and so lacking in common sense and basic decency that they make wild animals look like angels of mercy. Go to www. evilbible.com and http://www.darkbible.com. These websites are filled with nothing but Bible stories and Bible quotes, chapter and verse. You can sit there with your Bible and check these quotes for accuracy. I think you and most Bible-thumpers would be shocked and horrified. Jesus Christ is nothing like "Big Daddy ". In fact, Jesus and "Jehovah" show nearly opposite character traits and personalities.
Also, this loving and merciful god cannot be reconciled with the idea of one birth, one death, and then eternal heaven or hell. Why would God cause one of his children to be born dirt-poor, sickly, deformed, born to an ignorant and abusive family, never to receive much affection or caring, lonely and in pain….while another baby is born healthy, bright and energetic, multi-talented and charming, born to loving, kind, well-to-do parents in a beautiful, high-class part of town? I 'm a Buddhist because their beliefs, their scripures and all their ways are kind, clear, helpful and sensible. Buddhists believe in reincarnation, karma, and multiple lives. No one has ever been able to explain the "one life – then final judgment" thing to me. They usually look at the floor and mumble something about god's mysterious ways. Then, they walk (or run!) away, never to be heard from again. For too many people, religion is just this way to feel good, to feel secure, maybe to feel a wee bit superior. They don't want to look at it too closely, discuss other views, explain their faith. All they want is a warm, fuzzy blanket of comfort. Don't examine that blanket-just wrap up tightly and pull the covers over your head.
I'm far from perfect, but I couldn't throw even one person, even a serial killer or child molester, into a lake of fire. Not even for a day or an hour or even 5 minutes. So……I'm more merciful than God!?
Wait…I know…you're going to bring up talking snakes, fallen angels, Satan and his minions, maybe witchcraft, aliens who are really just demons, ghosts, and all kinds of evil – these fearful "others" are always thwarting God's Great Plan! Chew on this: God is all-powerful and all-knowing, as well as all-good. Since God knows all about the "created beings" – and past and future cannot be hidden from him , He knew that Adam and Eve would disobey/sin; He knew that Lucifer would become Satan; He knew all the Evil which would manifest in His creation(s).
And yet, He created them, anyway. Sooooo…..ultimately, who is most responsible for the evils of everyone and everything and in this life?