People say "you cant fix stupid" - but if by stupid you mean ignorant that can be fixed with knowledge or facts. Apathy on the other hand, which is what I think of when people say "stupid", can only be fixed by the person suffering the ailment. The most dangerous form of "Stupid" though is the highly educated apathete. I know I just made that word up, but it should be a word in my humble opinion. It may be, in actual etymology and Latin roots that it is a legitimate construction... regardless you heard it here first. Apathete: person characterized or motivated by an uncaring lifestyle, they cross the entire spectrum of this life without distinction in nationality, station, class, gender or race.
The funny because it's true joke about the difference between ignorance and apathy gives its own answer: What's the difference between IGNORANCE and APATHY? "I don't know" and "I don't care".
You can't help anyone who doesn't care and they are highly unlikely to help themselves or anyone else while they blunder around like proverbial bulls in a china shop. Methinks apathy is actually the greatest problem facing humanity today - a total lack of care about anyone other than yourself. Apathy causes even the most knowledgeable people in the world to be - well, stupid. Apathetes are hurtful with their knowledge and facts, drawing no practical applications while purporting to do just that. Their logic works something like this: "If you do A - B is the result. Since we are seeing B then we must not be doing A." Although that has root appearance of Truth, the callous fruit of indifference and the haughty spirit it engenders declares to me that it is essentially Salvation by works theology which inadvertently denies both the cosmic effects of sin and the cosmic effects of redemption through Jesus Christ. In the practical world of politics that line of logic can be even more convoluted and the worldwide consequences more devious. With no foundation in righteousness logic is likely to have even little net positive benefit to humanity. Is it any wonder that the relatively few pieces of sound logic from centuries of philosophers happen to stringently adhere to Biblical Truth? But I digress into a discussion not to be had this day.
If I had to point to one item as the starting point for this blog today it would be the article linked to a friends Facebook page regarding Christians being their own worst enemies.
Here's the link: http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/24/opinion/granderson-christians/index.html
My personal take is the article is well framed, and well presented as far as it goes. I don't think it needed to go farther, it really did what it set out to do in every way. I particularly appreciated the linked articles within the column itself accurately supporting his positions. Good article and thanks to my Facebook and personal friend Mackie now known as Maxx for bringing it to my attention. The reader commentary following was enlightening as well, in a mostly sad way. Only two of the commentators out of the 50 I took the time to read (4600+ were just too many), accurately expressed a balanced view of Christian response and lamented the unfortunate examples of public misrepresentation. I hope that little amount of salt will be enough to season what someone takes from the discussion, and just enough to make them curious enough to seek the Living Water.
If we have genuine care and love for one another, we're much less likely to ever break a piece of pottery while we experience the china shop that is God's Creation through Jesus Christ. If we say that Jesus is our example we must spend a greater time meditating on the description of the Messiah recorded by the Old Testament Prophet Isaiah in 42:3 reiterated in the quotation of the New Testament Gospel of Matthew in 12:20. Jesus 'healed them all' in Mt 12:15, do we, do I? Or do I spend more time applying Scripture and drawing parallels and extrapolating reasons for unfolding world events because it's easier to sit in my man cave with my bookshelves full of Bibles and commentaries and books than getting my hands and feet dirty in the real world, where real, muscular, Biblical love would actually change someone's experience of this china shop. For me it is not either/or - it is both/and. I have very Biblically, Spiritually informed and well founded opinions on a host of issues. But I agree with some points made by Joyce Meyers in her book Love Revolution:
I have learned that some people are hurting too badly to hear the good news that God loves them; they must experience it and one of the best ways for that to happen is for us to meet their practical needs, in addition to telling them they are loved.
We must beware thinking words are enough. Jesus certainly preached the good news, but He also went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed (see Acts 10:38). Talking is not expensive, nor does it require much effort, but real love is costly. It cost God His only Son, and allowing real love to flow through us will also cost us.
People don't care how much I know until they know how much I care. Simply explained regarding my personal walk:
For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8 (NKJV)I love because Christ first loved me, and that means following His example in keeping love as a verb and unconditional. It does not mean I will like every one. It does not mean I agree with you on every point. It does not mean I nod my head or shrug my shoulders when you are deceived and espousing a lie that leads to death or destruction on micro or macro scale (Eph 4:14-15 says we don't just go with popular teaching we speak the Truth in love so everyone can grow up into Christ). True love snatches people from the flames or pushes them out from in front of a bus about to run them over (Jude 23). It does not mean I tolerate unacceptable behavior or abuse, I'm not meant to be your door mat (Isaiah 51:23 tells me only afflicting tormentors want to walk all over me). It does not mean I keep my mouth shut when an argument is set up against the Love and Truth of God (2Cor 10:4-5). And just because you say I'm paranoid doesn't mean 'they' aren't out to get me. There is a real Hell. There is a real Heaven. Heaven isn't for people afraid of going to Hell, it's a prepared place for a prepared people who love God and accept Him according to His terms as He has presented Himself. We want people to accept us for who we are, but we have a different expectation or standard we falsely try to apply to God. We want God as we want Him/her/it to be. My understanding of the Bible is that's idolatry, but I digress from my topic of apathy.
If someone has come to repentance and placed their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, then you will know the difference, you will see the difference in their life. They won't just abide by the inhibitions of Galatians 5:19-21, they'll produce the fruits of 5:22-23. Without the love of God in us, working through us by the cleansing of Jesus' blood on the cross and the guidance of the Holy Spirit who is the promised deposit of our security until the day of redemption - all we can be is apathetic because all we can care about is ourselves. We may make a life of social activism that has the outward appearance of caring and righteousness, but if the root of the tree isn't Jesus, it's a dead idol we have carved out and nailed down and we parade it around and point to it as proof when all along it was simply a tree we decorated.
The theological conclusions and public declarations of those who think God is doing anything other than weeping at the tragedies in your life and throughout this present Creation, are puffed up knowledge making them look good rather than Christ Jesus. They are knowledgeable apathy. They may even present 100% Truth, but if they have not Love they are worthless. Bad stuff happens to good people, good stuff happens to bad people. God makes his rain to fall on the evil and the good. There are inherent consequences and personal responsibilities to our every action. Your every action has effects outside yourself whether you like it or not, whether you can easily draw a causative line of logic or not. The effects of sin are real and cosmic, not just personal. Earthquakes, hurricanes, famines, mass murders, may all indeed have their roots from the tree of sin, but LOVE doesn't take the time to analyze them, draw unwarranted parallels and conclusions, and wrap it up in a definitive and concise theology - it grabs the towel and washes the feet of the those invited to supper. Love reaches out and touches the leper, and righteousness becomes contagious.
No comments:
Post a Comment