Wars And Rumors of Wars

Wars and Rumors of Wars

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Here is something I have heard often:

99% of church splits are not over theology, but over personality.

There was a time in my life when I actually believed this and it gave me some comfort.
Now I think it is just something people say to feel better about themselves and deflect fault and reality.

It is as if personality is some kind of blank check for acting like an idiot. Too often, personality is an excuse for not changing. "Hey, this is just the way I am." It's as if personality is not a spiritual or weighty issue.

It is imperative that we understand that we can't just wiggle off the hook that easily, as if we didn’t have the ability to change the situation since it was a personality issue.

I don't see Jesus giving us any wiggle room for disunity based upon personality differences. Study the apostle's personality profiles and you will figure out that we can't just play the personality card and allow our guilty consciences to be soothed.
Jesus picked, I think intentionally, a politically diverse group in order to prove that unity is based upon something other than sameness (uniformity).

Just another thought.


Peior est bello timor ipse belli
“Worse is the fear of war than the war itself.”

What Do We See?

Substantial healing of relationships.

This must be evident within a group of Christians.

If it is not presently observable are we practicing Biblical Christianity?

Substantial healing does not imply perfection.

It does imply that it is visibly present and observable.

When we look around at eleven o'clock on Sunday morning what do we see?

Claude os, aperi oculos!
"Shut your mouth, open your eyes."

Word Of The Day

Liminality

Def = (from the Latin word līmen, meaning "a threshold") is a psychological, neurological, or metaphysical subjective, conscious state of being on the "threshold" of or between two different existential planes.

The moment when something of importance happens to you, for the first or only time, may not be recognized at the time as a right of passage or ritual event. Only much later will you see its crucial moment in the scheme of things.

There is a word for this situation: “Liminality”

“Liminality” describes the transitional phase of personal change, when we are neither in an old state of being nor a new, not really aware of the implications of the event.

All stages of life include liminality.
Life consist of moments crossing thresholds.
As we grow older we tend to see the big picture.
Only the passage of time will reveal how these moments fit into the overall plan of our lives.



“A hundred years goes faster than you think. Don't blink”
KC

IT'S HARD TO SCORE IF YOU ARE ALWAYS ON DEFENSE

It is truly amazing to watch people, in various situations, react to things that they do not like. Throughout my academic journey in psychology I have been exposed to numerous ideas. Some are reasonable, and some are, to put it in civil terms, ridiculous. I really worry about those who enter this field without a solid Biblical foundation. They are very vulnerable to the many false philosophies that permeate the world of psychology.

As of late, one area that has caused me to intensify my study is the realm of personal defense mechanisms. Most people never give this area much thought in their daily lives, but understanding this set of concepts will open the door to better communication, negotiation, leadership, and getting along better with others in just about every area of life.

I have a favorite quote from Epictetus, a philosopher who was educated in Roman Stoicism under Zeno between (336-264 B.C.). Zeno founded the Stoa Poikile (Painted Porch), the last of the four most famous schools in ancient Athens. It reads: “What disturbs people’s minds is not events, but their judgment of events.”

From this prologue I will proceed to work through some of the personal defense mechanisms people use everyday.

First and probably foremost is:

Selective Exposure

Def = Most people will minimize their exposure to ideas that run contrary to their own beliefs

This minimizes challenges to, or challenges of beliefs. This can even happen in light of new facts emerging about the contrary ideas.

The most common outcome is that selective exposure is very likely to work in an opposite way. Studies, with an emphasis of those associated with brain washing, indicate people who do not have a chance to compare and defend their ideas are most apt to abandon them when they are confronted with an opposing view. The real astounding fact is this happens even when the opposing view is unsound.

However, those who have had an opportunity to test and defend their views are most likely to hold on to them when challenged.

Rather than welcome the chance to confront what they think is an inferior idea, and stimulate deeper thought, they seem to fear such ideas.

Bottom line:

You can often tell how secure a person is in their beliefs by how well they tolerate (not necessarily accept) opposing views. I am in no way endorsing “tolerance” as described by post-modern and relativistic minded people, but I am referring to tolerance being defined as the ability to listen to others expound their position and being prepared to defend my own. If my beliefs are secure and founded on the truth of God’s Word, listening first, and then refuting other views is not a defensive situation, but a chance to share truth with others.

An opportunity often missed by many.


I will end a little different this time with a non-Latin quote:

If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair.

C. S. Lewis

Cart Before The Horse

Quote

"Moral battles are not won in the external world first.
They are always a result flowing naturally
from a cause, and the cause is in the internal world of one's thoughts."

Francis A. Schaeffer

Saying too much

Sometimes saying less is just as informative as saying more.

Throughout my life I have written down thoughts, ideas, song lyrics, humorous quotes, and numerous lessons for teaching.

Here is a sample from my redundancy list:

“Learning process,” learning is a process.
“Belief system,” a belief is a system.
“Leadership role,” leadership is a role.

Here is a sample from my contradictory words list:

New tradition
Live recording
Jumbo shrimp
Partial cease-fire
Civil war
Silent alarm

Ridendo dicere verum
“To tell the truth while laughing”

Soul Incompetency

John Leland

Go look him up.

He was one of the most popular and controversial Baptist of the early to mid 1800s.
Leland took the concept of self-government in politics to imply personal autonomy in religion.
“We will be free, we will rule ourselves,” he wrote. Leland took the concept of religious autonomy so far that he was even opposed to parents teaching their own children. He warned that, “it is very iniquitous [for a man] to bind the consciences of his children.” This was a radically individualistic conception of Biblical teaching: He urged people to make a deliberate effort to free themselves from all cultural authorities, whether church, state, teachers, or even family.

Leland’s rejection of religious authority led him to insist that the simple and the ignorant are actually more competent than the educated leadership to read and understand the Bible: “ Is not the simple man, who makes nature and reason his study, a competent judge of things?” This is an early expression of the Baptist concept of Soul Competency.

Just a thought. I hope it provokes further study.

Licet volare si in tergo aquilae volat
“A man can fly if he wishes, if he rides on the back of an eagle”