Jack Pelham

By what manner of delusion does she think
That the Jesus who was so often angry in the Bible,
Is never mad today at any believer for his incorrigibility?

The novice twists a truth and his deceit is quickly laid bare by the investigator. But the veteran of wickedness twists a thousand truths, so as to overwhelm those who would try to sort it all out. To the disproof of the one, he answers with 999 lies, making a mockery of truth by his show trial of unreasonable reasons. And then he prances around as the victor when the challenger throws up his arms and walks away.

Why should any person want to chain himself to a theological system, which has predecided for him individual items of doctrine that he has no intention of learning/studying/mastering for himself? What’s the motivation here?

If it’s important, why not look into it bit by bit for himself?

He rejects the fruit of the Spirit in several ways,
Including that he has no patience for studying the scriptures
That God had delivered to his generation,
Yet he expects the self-same Spirit to grant him understanding
Of those same scriptures.

He fights against the evil that’s in your heart,
But not against the evil that’s in his own.

If you are like many, you will reject some lies,
Sometimes even daring to stand up in front
Of your fellow man and call the lies out.

And if you are like many, you will do
Such rejecting and calling out—
Even as you are embracing yet other lies
A promoting them to this smart/stupid world.

Just because mankind was given intelligence
Doesn’t mean he always uses it well.

If you listen to a group discussion—especially about a controversial topic—and I mean really listen, like you had to write it all down just right all by yourself—what you’ll likely be hearing, whether you can get your head around it or not—is a few keen comments and questions buried in a sea of sloppy, ill-defined, poorly-stated, and poorly-vetted ideas.

I see in Christian circles a good deal of talk about empathy these days, and in that discussion, I think I perceive a wide movement that’s conflating excusing with forgiving. Here’s what I mean:

Jesus says this about forgiveness in one of his parables:

Is it wrong to think that a person is obligated to live as God has obligated all humans to live?

Is it wrong to remind him of the same and to hold him to it?

If on the forehead of every human there were magically to appear a number in neon red—from zero to ten—put there by God himself to show to the world in undeniable terms how much each person cares about God, I suppose that half or more of the collective pressure of pretense in this world would immediately vanish—supplanted by surrendered shame in some cases, and humble vindication in others.