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…and what is to be done.
Through a link from a post by Chuck Baldwin: I Hope America’s Evangelicals Are Sleeping Well, I found the following: ‘Death to Christians’: Violence steps up under new Israeli gov’t
Jerusalem – Nothing about the attack or what happened since surprised Miran Krikorian. The Armenian owner of Taboon and Wine Bar in the Old City of Jerusalem was not surprised to receive a call the night of January 26 that a mob of Israeli settlers was attacking his bar in the Christian Quarter and shouting “Death to Arabs … Death to Christians.”
Attacks against Christians in Jerusalem have been on the rise.
A couple of days later, Armenians leaving a memorial service in the Armenian Quarter say they were attacked by Israeli settlers carrying sticks.
It isn’t only Armenian Christians:
Hostility by fundamentalist Jews towards Jerusalem’s Christian community is not new, and it is not just Armenian Christians who suffer from it. Priests of all denominations describe being spat at for years.
At the beginning of the year, 30 Christian graves at the Protestant Mount Zion Cemetery were desecrated. In the Armenian Quarter, vandals spray-painted “Death to Arabs, Christians and Armenians,” on the walls.
And keep this in mind the next time you hear something from Christians United for Israel:
At the Church of the Flagellation, someone attacked a statue of Jesus with a hammer.
About a century ago, the Christians made up a quarter of the population of Jerusalem; today, they represent less than one percent. Consider that under Ottoman Muslim rule, the Christians were better protected than under the rule of Israeli Jews.
There are thirteen churches in Jerusalem; a small population divided so many ways. It has come to the point where the fragmented Christian population is starting to understand that they must come together if they are to survive.
Christians in Jerusalem are starting to increase engagement within and between communities.
“The new generation is growing up with the idea that Christians must cooperate with each other in the city to keep the Christian presence,” said Dzernian. “If we keep saying that we will work alone, we will lose in the end.”
“Occupation makes people very cold, very separate. ‘I am [Syriac], I am Catholic, I am Orthodox, I am Evangelist’,” remarked Hani the restaurant owner. “But with the threats, the violence, the vandalism, now the people are coming together. The churches are waking up. We were blind for 50 years, but no more.”
I find this entire story very applicable to Christians in the West – really, the United States – today. So much arguing, hostility, etc., between denominations and traditions. Fighting about trees and losing sight of the forest. We will continue to have less influence until we come to the point of Jerusalem’s Christians, it seems.
But by this, I don’t mean to include all who label themselves as Christians. Those who cheer on the war machine, those who bow down at the call of masks and close churches at the whim of some politician, those who see the state of Israel – even with this persecution of Christians – as a state worthy of Christian devotion, those who cannot understand that God made them male and female; I exclude them all. None of these will be useful in this fight.
Which brings me, once again, to Doug Wilson: A Ham Sandwich With 34 Slices of Felonious Cheese. The first part of this is just hilarious; he is speaking of the charges against Trump:
Not only is this banana republic stuff, it is not even competent banana republic stuff. Trump himself would tell you that if you are going to be a banana republic, you ought to be the best banana republic, putting all the other banana republics in the shade. All the other banana republics ought to seem worthless in comparison. But no, DA Bragg had a better idea. Why not a lame sauce banana republic?
This is beyond risible. This is what happens when any one of the 3 Stooges finally graduates from law school, and a well-connected relative gets them a cushy job as a prosecutor.
But that isn’t the important part. At the end, he sets up the path forward:
…I have been saying “don’t take the bait” for long enough that a number of you have asked, in various ways, “Okay, but if we shouldn’t take the bait, what do we take?” It is not enough for me to be telling you all what not to do, what should you do?
He says, sure – vote, go to the county commission meetings, speak out. But this isn’t the important stuff. He gets to the important stuff – and saying better what I have been saying for some time:
But that is not where the real action is. The real action is within the church.
I have been saying this in the context of moving this society toward liberty. I have been saying this as the means by which the meaning crisis is addressed.
The main thing that Christians need to do now is get engaged with the government of the church they belong to. They should petition the elders to have the pastor address the sins of our generation from the pulpit.
Which comes back to my paragraph above: what are the sins of this generation? Cheering on the war machine, bowing down to masks and to closing churches, worshipping the state of Israel, ignoring the order in which God created man and woman – and the purpose of each in His creation. That’s my list. Here is Wilson’s:
Ask your elders to have your pastor preach on the sins of cowardice that have afflicted the leadership of the evangelical movement for a generation or more. There should be some recognition in it that the whole lockdown/masking issue as applied to the church was simply a tyrannical beta test, used to gauge the softness of the church. Turns out it was pretty soft. Ask your elders to have the church recognize that we are in a time of cultural revolution, and to state from the pulpit that your congregation stands against it, and that when the time of testing comes, your church will not comply.
And, he concludes with the same idea I propose – that not all Christian churches will take on this task:
And if you say to yourself, “this kind of thing will be really difficult to get them to say,” you at least now know where the actual problem is.
Exactly.
Conclusion
To tie these two stories together: we, like today’s Christians in Jerusalem, will soon enough figure out that denominational differences are irrelevant given the fight we are in and given the enemy of those arrayed against us. The sooner this realization penetrates, the better. Better for liberty, better to fight against the meaning crisis.
Which brings me back to the verse for our day:
Ephesians 6: 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
My wife and I appreciate your articles. May I humbly submit you are close to the solution but not there. Please consider a followup. The root cause is the 'conflict of interest' that 99.9% of US churches have in the past few decades, which is becoming corporations and replacing the headship of God with gov't. It used to be 0%. Elders asking pharisees to change sermons is a broken bandaid. The pharisees are glad to discuss these topics, with enough tickling of the ears to keep its paying customers happy. I feel like John the Baptist crying in the wind, because only a handful of real christians see this. Look at upriver bible church's homepage for the best summary. I've searched thousands of churches to verify all this. I'm from Florida and have no connection with upriver. It's the only church in the US that is 'unregistered' and has normal doctrine. Yes, Baldwin has about 10 churches in his network, but they all also adhere to this bizarre KJV-only idea, which is ironic because it was a state-endorsed version by a maniac king not too different than Joey Biden. The KJV also has dozens of indisputable errors like other long-standing versions, so we should use multiple versions. The KJV authors even advised that!
ReplyDeleteGiving up the 'charity' tax exemption is a good idea. Weak men in the pulpit are there because there is a buck to be made. This is good advice. The KJV-only people that I have met all practice 'magical thinking' which despite what many think is deadly to the faith. Calvin said somewhere in his Institutes I am not gonna look it up now, that the only real enemy of superstition is true faith. I have seen on several occasions that the road from KJV-only to open witchcraft is startlingly short, I think that it is a road made of magical thinking.
DeleteAmen and Amen!
ReplyDeleteThis hits the nail! I've been a pastor 50 years. We are told we have over 300,000 "christian churches" in America. We have more seminaries, Bible colleges, books, sermons, Christian music .. and yet have minimal influence in our culture. Very few pastors even address the root problems. One of the root issues is that most christian families send their children to public schools and follow the world, instead of bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Without addressing this, nothing will change.
ReplyDeleteYes, we are moving quickly to the same situation in Jerusalem: we must unite with other true Christians and become a true counter culture in our local communities or else we will all perish. We must focus on the forest instead of the leaves. Listen to Chuck Baldwin and Doug Wilson.
True Christians must find a far more Biblical, earth-focused vision: Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth and it is in heaven. Jesus prayed for all who believe in Christ, that they would all be one .. so that the world may believe.
This idea of a rapture before the tribulation has caused many Christians to not care about how chaotic our society has become (and, to be clear, I am not making a case that this idea of rapture is false; I am merely commenting on how it informs the thinking of many Christians who believe it to be true).
DeleteChrist won the victory upon His death and resurrection. The kingdom is now, and here. I still find that the best picture of this is in an Orthodox Church, with Christ Pantocrator in the dome, the saints all around - the apostles, the Old Testament prophets and patriarchs, saints of the church - dozens of icons. And seated, or standing, today's congregants. It is both horizontal (today's believers) and vertical (believers through time).
That is a wonderful picture of the kingdom of God, with Christ at its head. It is here today, and regardless of one's eschatological views, demands actions from all Christians here and now.
A hearty Amen there B.M.! Recently Myself had some words of charity spoken to me from 2 of the Brothers on hereabout things going on with me and my wife. Can not tell you how much that was like the living water to my troubled soul. When I told my protestant friends I was going to a conference at a Catholic University they about choked them selfs. Your post makes my point. And for GC the Preacher, while reading about the Anabapists, came across a group called the Bruderhof ,wow I like them there is a group near here and am going to check that out. Also Like the seventh day advent folks with their focus on health. You told me once find some where and sit down get plugged in we gonna need each other .
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this, Kevin.
DeleteSo you are saying that "white evangelicals" are the only bulwark against the moral decay of the US today? Some of you know what I am referring to. I think that is generally true in a political demographic sense. At the same time there are exceptions to the rule and it is easy to misunderstand the idea.
ReplyDeleteNot sure if Wilson's solution is correct but it still needs to happen. Others I follow say that the only way out of our current situation is a right wing authoritarian movement that will be at least nominally Christian.
Some American evangelicals see orthodox Jews as allies. Maybe this violence will show them that isn't the case. From the US the easy response should be to end all aid for Israel and remove their lobby from the government. At least that is what Christians should want to happen.
https://thecrosssectionrmb.blogspot.com/2023/03/the-ethics-of-liberty-children-and.html
RMB, as you may recall, many Christians hated Ron Paul when he ran for president, for two reasons: he called for an end of American militarism overseas, and he called for an end to all foreign aid - which, of course, meant an end of aid to Israel. Such Christians were wrong on both counts....
DeleteI think Christians along with other right wingers are changing to a more skeptical stance on war and Israel. Even those who support the existence of an Israeli state can be convinced, that giving them money is not in America's best interest. The bully mentality of the Israeli lobby can also be used to convince Christians to change their minds. At least I think those are the best chances we have to convince Baptist, premill sorts.
DeleteAmerican Christians are not ready to repent of the sins of Empire and Arsenal. We have been raised to see our military as virtuous and godly, perhaps the saddest, most deluded dream that we ever had.
DeleteThis clinging to the State of Israel is exactly what allowed the militarists, the Neocons, in to the patriots camp.
To respond more generally to your points about preaching on sin being necessary, I think that we need to ask why preaching on sin has become so rare, and even when we preach on sin we seem to accomplish little. May I suggest that pastors instinctively shy away from preaching on sin not primarily out of a desire to please the congregation, although that is certainly part of it, but because they know or fear that they lack a solution to the sin?
'By the Law is the knowledge of sin' but no solution to the sin. To bring back powerful preaching on sin, we must bring back sharp distinctions between Law and Gospel so that the preacher and the christian in the pew will have a weapon to fight the sin once it is exposed. We know what happens when you expose a swampbeast that you aren't ready to fight and most of us instinctively avoid it. Fearless exposing of sin must be built on an unconditional Gospel.
'The Father's Good Pleasure is the whole of the Gospel, start to finish, front to back, cover to cover. We are a fearful Little Flock. The Law and the wolves are at our door. We have no righteousness nor any method for obtaining righteousness. The protections that we once thought we had are evaporating like mist in the hot sunlight of reality. We are not only the refuse of humanity but unrepentant idolaters. Our only hope is the one that we ought to really fear, the one who when He is done killing us can cast us into Hell, as Christ warns us at the beginning of our chapter. And none of that matters. All of reality, all of the Universe, physical, social, moral, spiritual whatever joins together in telling the Little Flock, "NO." But there is a Father who reserves to Himself the right, the power, the freedom to say, "Yes." He doesn't need a reason. He doesn't give an explanation. He gives us the whole kingdom, everything just cause He wants to. Protocol be damned.
The Father has prepared food for you. The body and blood of Christ. He has prepared clothes for you. The righteousness of the Perfect Messiah. He has prepared the whole kingdom for you. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? The table is set. All you are called to do is eat.'
https://comfortwithtruth.substack.com/p/the-ravens-and-lilieshtml
Jon, you comment prompted a thought. Preaching against sin is the negative - do not do. People need a positive to live a meaningful life - what to do? And that is to love, as Jesus commanded.
DeletePreaching love must go hand in hand with preaching against sin, as preaching against sin is one aspect of demonstrating love.
It is also the solution to the meaning crisis, as we have gained complete liberty even over our created being and have correspondingly lost any sense of ourselves.
Absolutely but not merely or even primarily preaching love as 'what to do' but preaching the love that we have received as the power to conquer sin. People don't want to look at sin when they know that there is nothing they can do about it. People will only confront sin with a focus on the Saviour.
DeleteAmen. But most people will really only confront sin in their life if they can see or get to know a living person who has become victorious over sin (because of Christ living in humans). This is what should happen in every church -- but rarely does. Many churches are not victorious over sin, and therefore turn into hypocrites that feign outward righteousness, whitewashed tombs as Jesus said. For most people, the gospel of Christ must be seen, experienced to be believed.
DeleteI have to disagree. One of my favorite quotes, from towards the end of Bondage of the Will, is 'No man can know or feel himself to be a Christian. It can only be believed or not believed.' There is nothing that we will ever see or feel or encounter in this life, or maybe the next one(after 2000 years I'm still with John 'It doesn't appear what we shall be'), that will make the Gospel one bit more believable.
DeleteThe situation of the Gospel in our own lives is much like the historical situation of the Resurrection. Much as I appreciate all of the archaeology, all of the stories about people who tried and failed to disprove the Resurrection, fundamentally there is no evidence that makes it any easier to believe that a dead man rose. Nothing in human experience can offer one bit of plausibility to that. 500 witnesses can't change the fundamental question, 'Do dead men rise?', my heart and my mind say 'No, of course not.', but there is one greater than my heart or my mind.
The Gospel is not about moral improvement. It is not about me no longer doing some list of things that is marked as wrong. It is about believing that though I remain a sinner I AM RIGHTEOUS.(I apologize for the all caps but this comment system doesn't offer any bolding etc.) In my own eyes, nothing has changed 33 years after my profession of faith and 21 years after my call to the ministry. Still an a-hole, still addicted to porn, still think I am better than everybody else. No reliable signs of improvement on any front. But I am not the judge. And our judgment either of ourselves or others, even if we are judging them to be 'victorious' is not what is called for or what is helpful.
What is called for is to disbelieve our feelings and our senses and believe the Word of God. To believe that ourselves or other men are righteous, though we don't meet any of the standards that we have, even if derived from Scripture, because Our Lord has declared it to be so. Christians are hypocrites not because we can't conquer sin but because we can't stop trying. We are hypocrites because we can't admit defeat. The prophets accuse Israel or Judah almost exclusively of two sins: idolatry and disregarding the Sabbath.
As I argue here: https://comfortwithtruth.substack.com/p/the-shark-of-covenanthtml
Idolatry is not principally the replacement of God but adding someone else, whether ourselves or Baal as a partner to God, and there is nothing more divine and therefore more blasphemous to claim partnership in than conquering sin.
I trust that I don't need to point out that the Sabbath is about abandoning all of our works and resting in the finished work of Christ? But this is a cure that to our hearts is worse than the disease, and we remain hypocrites because we can't stop working and can't admit that our work accomplishes nothing.
https://comfortwithtruth.substack.com/p/the-killer-cure-e66
Love and peace, jc
Jon, thank you for the thoughtful reply. I agree with much of it, especially that our faith drives how we understand.
DeleteI will comment on one point: "The Gospel is not about moral improvement." I agree that it is not solely about this, nor is it primarily about this. But it is about this.
What is meant by "Gospel"? If it is the whole of the New Testament (or even more broadly, all of Scripture), then certainly it is about (among other things) moral improvement.
If it is solely regarding the four Gospels, I cannot read the Sermon on the Mount (among other passages) without coming away with the call for moral improvement. The Golden Rule is right there, smack dab in the Sermon.
God has set a standard. We are commanded to obey His standard, all the while knowing we will never achieve it. Yet, nowhere are we therefore granted license to ignore or violate His standard.
It always comes down to the distinction between Law and Gosepl doesn't it? All other fights are playfights. :)
DeleteOur minds are so obsessed with 'What can I do to be right with God' that adding even one drop of works to the bucket of Grace taints the whole thing. Tullian Tchavidjian(sp? I'm not looking it up) made famous the line 'Jesus + Nothing = Everything', a good line with a lot of truth in it. The less snappy converse that is just as true is 'Jesus + Anything = Moses(in the sense of Law without Gospel no personal offense meant to Moses)' We are determined to answer the question of 'What must I do?' with something other than 'Believe in God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.'
The Sermon on the Mount is incredibly heavy. I have spent 30 years trying to understand it and am not much closer. The Lord 'turns the Law up to 11', He makes any hope of fulfilling any of the commandments He gives here utterly hopeless, but I agree that we are not therefore given license to ignore the Law.
While I would not argue for what is called antinomianism, the fact is that trying to fulfill any of God's commands is the surest road to failure. We are commanded to try, that we may fail and thus know ourselves. 'By the Law is the knowledge of sin.' There is a world of difference between a man who has sincerely tried and genuinely failed and a man who never attempted what he knew was impossible. Actually, only the first one is a man in a strict sense. The second, who has never seen himself in 'the perfect law of liberty' as a hopeless(but for One Hope) failure is still just a boy.
So, I stand by everything that I said provided it is understood that those, and only those, who give up all hope of moral improvement do not /actually/ scorn the Law as so many fear that they will when they hear uncompromising Grace preached.
"...adding even one drop of works to the bucket of Grace..."
DeleteI am not, of course, speaking of this. Especially as I try to stay away from theological debates.
I am speaking to the fact that my pastor regularly suggests that I avoid sinful behavior. When I reply, "Why? I am saved by grace and not works," he looks at me like I fell off a turnip truck.
Why does he do that? Is there something wrong in my thinking, or is there something wrong with my pastor?
The real question is 'what is sinful behavior?', and the answer is that 'anything that does not come from faith is sin'. The Law has already been perfectly kept on our behalf, we can't sin against the Law and we can't keep the Law any better by behaving a certain way, the Law for believers is a closed account.(being an all or nothing pass/fail grade only emphasizes that point)
DeleteSo, we can be certain that Christ did not establish new laws or rules, because the first law was faultless, the fault was in us not the Law. The only way for a Christian to sin is to sin against the grace that he has received, by thinking it needs something added to it or taken away from it, by imagining that Christ's work in him is something other than perfect(for the point in time that it is at, even God's perfect works develop and unfold, but the whole perfect kingdom is in the seed that we have received)
But, and here's the weird part, the Spirit that we have received, that directs our actions, doesn't direct us to do immoral or evil things. You can't trust yourself but you can trust the Spirit you were given. I don't know you or your pastor well enough to offer an opinion on the last question, even assuming it isn't a hypothetical. But one thing that I have learned is that people don't see us the way that we see ourselves. We look at ourselves and still see the old sinner and frequently other people look at us and see the righteousness of Christ. That can be very confusing, for both parties.
There is something wrong with the theology. Salvation is a handshake with God. We must do our part, but our part alone is not sufficient. Justification is a journey, not an event.
Delete"If you love me, keep my commandments" John 14:15
Jon: "The only way for a Christian to sin is to sin against the grace that he has received..."
DeleteI think this thread has gone on long enough. There is too much in the Bible that contradicts your statement and, therefore, calls into question your line of thinking.
And the pilgrim shakes the dust off his sandals yet again. And you seek to purify the world with a Gospel that is compounded of the very things that you are against.
DeleteAs often as I refer to Ephesians 6:12 to explain our world, I also use this scripture to explain the process.....
ReplyDeleteHebrews 5:12-6:20 | Bible Exposition Commentary - Dr. Grant C. Richison
Characteristic of baby Christians is their lack of formation of biblical principles. They do not see the value in what the Word of God can do in their lives. The reason for this is they have not acquired a taste for what the Word can do for them. They do not believe in the operational value or what forming these principles can do for them. They would rather live by their biases about life. This becomes operation bootstraps, a life lived by constricted human viewpoint. Divine viewpoint remains obscure and remote to how they live. There is a biblical belief shut-down. Their belief system is something other than what God has to say; it is what they prefer to believe......
Full text at
https://crushlimbraw.blogspot.com/2022/06/hebrews-512-620-bible-exposition.html?m=0 - found it in DaLimbraw Library as usual
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThat Calvin guy preached grace and eternal security ,talked big about Gods forgiveness but He killed at least one guy for disagreeing with him. Story goes at least he had some mercy or a form of godliness because rather than burn him as a steak He just lopped off his head so he has that.
ReplyDeleteMore than once Jesus said your sins are forgiven go and sin no more.
The Statan learns from our mis takes. He know how to trip us up.
Have been going to 4 churches lately seventh day adventist, Jehova witness, a protestant one sort of along the baptist line and a catholic one.
They sound like politicians each one claims the others are incorrect.
So what is a dumbass like me self spoda do?
Take a side? Naaa.
The Modern church has lost it's way.
God is Faithfull He will accomplish His Mission.
All there is to do is Love Him with ALL my heart mind and strength and love my neighbor as myself.
Works and Grace are not mutualy exclusive as Paul wrote , Show me your faith without works and I will show you faith through the works I do.
Now myself am no expert , unschooled and uneducated except for what i have been able to read.
I talked to some folks from the Bruderhof lately and they do not even want me around LoL.
I give them credit for that.
The Early "Church" did not just go happily off to their churches and live happily ever after.
They were kicked out of the roman free bread and circus and the Temple also invited them to get the heck out.
So yeah they was on their own.
Many sold all their stuff and laid the proceeds at the apostles feet.
Who does that, Is their even an Apostle around any more?
The sons of sceva tried to do churchy things and the Satan kicked their buts.
Addictions?
Have been through rehab and other programs christian and otherwise.
The only thing that worked for me is Just sayno.
HUH? am i nuts? ah huh.
But it is a choice to pick up.
We love to introspect and try to figure out what is wrong .
We can't fix it.
But The Holy Spirit can.
We make room for what we want, What we treasure in or hearts rules us.
We make lots of claims.
We have lots of debates.
But the time is upon us to make our salvation sure.
How is that done?
I do not know? But it has been revealed to me what i must do and that same Holy Spirit will reveal to each of us what to do.
Not in the big things of life, our doctrines and ideas but in the miniscule moment when we are awake and moving about in the world.
Jesus said once He only did what He saw the Father doing.
Good starting place.
Be Ye perfected! If it was not possible He would not have said it.
"a voice comes yet more fleet
Lo! naught contents thee, who is not content with me.
Naked I wait thy loves uplifted stroke.
My harness piece by piece thou hast hewn from me."
Francis Thompson hound of heaven.
The Natural Man may hear and read these Spiritual Matters, but he can never comprehend them, as St. Paul saith; (I Cor.c.2) The Natural Man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God. If you condemn it, you condemn your self to the number of the wise men of
this World, , that God imparts not this Wisdom to them, as he does
to the simple and humble, though in the opinion of Men they be ignorant.
Mystical knowledge proceeds not from Wit, but from Experience; it is not invented,
not read, but received; and is therefore most secure and
help and plentiful in fruit; it enters not (Mat.II.) into the Soul by Ears, nor by the continual
Reading of Books, but by the free Infusion of the Holy Ghost, whose Grace with most delightful intimacy, is communicated to the simple and lowly.
Not sure that I understand all of that. I did want to comment though on your reference to the trial and execution of Michael Servetus. Calvin was neither the judge nor the prosecutor nor the jury in that trial. He was called as an 'expert witness' to demonstrate that Servetus had committed the crime of blasphemy(or heresy I forget the exact wording) that he was accused of. Calvin did his duty and read passages from Servetus' books that demonstrated a denial of the doctrine of the Trinity and if I recall correctly Servetus' claim to be the archangel Michael. Calvin's only other role was to plead for mercy as a friend of the court.
DeleteThe idea that 'Calvin ruled Geneva' is almost wholly untrue. He had influence on the Consistory and the Small Council(I think that was the name), the elected bodies that ruled Geneva, as one of their pastors, and a rather prominent one. Influence which he was not afraid to use to do what he saw to be his duty, unlike the wimps in our pulpits. It should be pointed out that Calvin was so far from ruling Geneva that he was frequently at odds particularly at this period when Perrin was leading the council, and that this trial was probably partially intended as an attack on Calvin which backfired because all of Christian Europe was against the strange heresies of Servetus, he had already been condemned to death by several cities both catholic and various protestants.
Thank you Jon for that clarification.
DeleteGlad you corrected me on that historical event.
Sad you missed the rest of it.
But that is how we are strain on a gnat and swallow a camel.
one more metahporic story There was a farmer who grew excellent quality corn. Every year he won the award for the best grown corn. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors. “How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked.
ReplyDelete“Why sir,” said the farmer, “Didn’t you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.”
So is with our lives... Those who want to live meaningfully and well must help enrich the lives of others, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. And those who choose to be happy must help others find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all.