Why Not?
It isn't that we have such great lives, and that man as a whole is not living in his own squalor, but it's the fact that there is a reprieve offered. There is a way out of suffering, out of heartache, there is a peace that can be found here on earth that few really allow themselves to see. One could argue that man has a desire to suffer, living in destruction, to harm one another to then receive harm. We know that if people are suffering in the world that even as calloused as we have become, saturated with news of horrors unheard of in our own life, that we still hurt because others hurt. We can continue to distance in our minds of the suffering of other people, but we hurt, or we distance ourselves from the reality of it.
When we start, in one way or another, to distance from the reality of human suffering, we all suffer. Think about when you read a memoir about some horrors a man or woman has lived through. We read these things as stories, yet there is a thin strand of reality that tells us at the worst parts, this really happened. The problem is, that through adapting a calloused heart, we then may also be guilty of thinking, but did it though?
Even the victims of crimes and those that suffer have cried wolf in an attempt to persuade others that what happened to them was completely separated from their own actions. Events that happen to people, without their say makes them victims, complete and total victims. The stories one hears about someone lying, or that a pastor claimed Jesus but then was found with prostitutes or being a mega millionaire and talking of worldly suffering. People see these stories and hold them dearly in their minds. We all do.
The media does a great job of saturating our brain with news stories with biased, agenda-pushing opinions and stories that are reported as first-person eye witness accounts that too have an agenda they want to push. Nobody simply conveys the truth and as man's adaptability in the wild has shown us by way of the human race's resiliency, we become callous to any truth, not to mention the Bible.
Yes, the Bible taught by poor preachers with worldly lusts and self-idolatry or an agenda that became skewed to be liked or popular rather than speak the truth, have hardened some people's hearts. People stop relying on faith and scripture as a basis to live. Cutting off the valve of an open heart to hear and adopting a superficial, media-image induced version of love that means all people can do what they want when they want and if we do not agree then we are bad people because of it. It is in this same mindset that people hurt. We are hurt because of our wrongs, and yet we continue to justify them as though they are "our freedoms." Would we continue to poke holes in a life raft because we were adrift at sea and bored? The truth will offend people.
Man is not right, none of us are. We are all wretched sinners, made from sinners, raised in sin, and therefore those who have accepted Christ as their savior may be the worst of all. We know it, we asked for forgiveness. I know my thoughts, my past actions, my judgements, all of it. Every day I personally acknowledge my own disgusting self, and submit. I give that man away, the more I sinned, the more grace I receive. It is only through the wakening of the Holy Spirit within me that anything good comes out.
We cannot continue to rely on our feelings, or judgement of things if we want to see the truth. That is like claiming you are god. Even the most defiled of religions will not claim you as the creator of the universe, but maybe a power bestowed on you or some work within you, but you and your naive mind does not know any other time than now and still somehow thinks that you know the best route? Do we not occasionally look back on our life and think that we could have never predicted we would be here, now, for our decisions did not lead to this work but a work within us.
When we start, in one way or another, to distance from the reality of human suffering, we all suffer. Think about when you read a memoir about some horrors a man or woman has lived through. We read these things as stories, yet there is a thin strand of reality that tells us at the worst parts, this really happened. The problem is, that through adapting a calloused heart, we then may also be guilty of thinking, but did it though?
Even the victims of crimes and those that suffer have cried wolf in an attempt to persuade others that what happened to them was completely separated from their own actions. Events that happen to people, without their say makes them victims, complete and total victims. The stories one hears about someone lying, or that a pastor claimed Jesus but then was found with prostitutes or being a mega millionaire and talking of worldly suffering. People see these stories and hold them dearly in their minds. We all do.
The media does a great job of saturating our brain with news stories with biased, agenda-pushing opinions and stories that are reported as first-person eye witness accounts that too have an agenda they want to push. Nobody simply conveys the truth and as man's adaptability in the wild has shown us by way of the human race's resiliency, we become callous to any truth, not to mention the Bible.
Yes, the Bible taught by poor preachers with worldly lusts and self-idolatry or an agenda that became skewed to be liked or popular rather than speak the truth, have hardened some people's hearts. People stop relying on faith and scripture as a basis to live. Cutting off the valve of an open heart to hear and adopting a superficial, media-image induced version of love that means all people can do what they want when they want and if we do not agree then we are bad people because of it. It is in this same mindset that people hurt. We are hurt because of our wrongs, and yet we continue to justify them as though they are "our freedoms." Would we continue to poke holes in a life raft because we were adrift at sea and bored? The truth will offend people.
Man is not right, none of us are. We are all wretched sinners, made from sinners, raised in sin, and therefore those who have accepted Christ as their savior may be the worst of all. We know it, we asked for forgiveness. I know my thoughts, my past actions, my judgements, all of it. Every day I personally acknowledge my own disgusting self, and submit. I give that man away, the more I sinned, the more grace I receive. It is only through the wakening of the Holy Spirit within me that anything good comes out.
We cannot continue to rely on our feelings, or judgement of things if we want to see the truth. That is like claiming you are god. Even the most defiled of religions will not claim you as the creator of the universe, but maybe a power bestowed on you or some work within you, but you and your naive mind does not know any other time than now and still somehow thinks that you know the best route? Do we not occasionally look back on our life and think that we could have never predicted we would be here, now, for our decisions did not lead to this work but a work within us.
“You are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl; instead it is put on the lampstand, where it gives light for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:14-16Submission to truth that man is a sinner, nobody is perfect, and that yes, people lie, steal, cheat, but that is nothing but reminders to not put faith in man. Do not count on being liked or supported, just like we cannot count on news to give us an unbiased story. When we put faith in man whether it be to get likes or to speak of their version of truth, we will always be let down. The truth offends, shines light on the dark spots we'd rather not address. I figure if you become offended and callous to truth, there is one place to look. The Bible has truths to live by and reading with an open heart, not looking for things to negate or argue will allow you to see that we are loved, we need to accept this love, and not just because man has fallen so hard, but because the creator of the world sent His Son to die on a cross for something He never did.
"But if we could be forgiven and then could be permitted to love sin, to riot in iniquity, and to wallow in lust, what would be the use of such forgiveness? Might it not turn out to be a poisoned sweet, which would most effectively destroy us?" - Charles Spurgeon - All of Grace.
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