Ponder This
These three thoughtful quotations have been stirring around within me.
Reasonable people drive fanatics nuts. - Steve Brown
I have found that just asking questions or bringing things up can really set people off. When I say that our healthcare system is broken, I usually get the response, “You’re not for socialized medicine, are you?” I can see that the person’s blood pleasure is rising. Then I reply that maybe I am since we pay far more for healthcare than any nation in the world and there are so many people without medical insurance. Then the person’s blood pressure goes through the roof and I get called a liberal or socialist. The opportunity to engage in helpful debate is not there. I wonder why we can’t ask hard questions about complex problems and receive the input from all perspectives that we need. I think the answer has to do with vested interest and maybe having to say we were wrong, which leads me to the next quotation.
The church operates from an insecure center. - Kevin Shinn (I think.)
Why else would we have to affirm our finite believes in an infinite God? For a long, long time, I have been thinking that we don’t have God as figured out as we think we do. Again, we leave no space, no welcoming place for the questioners. If something is true, it can withstand questioning. I can’t picture Jesus operating this way, which leads me to the next interesting quotation.
Sin is about control. - Guest on the God Journey Podcast
I sin because I want to control my life. When I think God isn’t doing such a great job, I get mad at him and want to try to control things myself. Husbands try to control wives to get their needs met, when they find out they can’t, they get mad. Sometimes, they get divorced. I have seen parents obviously trying to manipulate their children, even into adulthood to meet their needs, when they don’t, they get mad. The way of freedom and grace is to try to discern how to get in rhythm with God’s ways, which is always a somewhat mysterious for us. We usually stumble around a lot bobbing and weaving in and out of sinful control.
When I started writing, I had no idea that there was a relationship between these quotations.
April 30, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Very true, very ponderable. I’ve about come to the end of being able to figure out things like this, but as you’ve posted, they fit together “better” than we could’ve known.
April 30, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Rick- I thought it interesting that there would be a relationship between what I thought were random thoughts.
April 30, 2008 at 11:27 pm
I guess my thought is this: if God is soooooooo big and we are sooooooo small, what makes us think we know much of anything about him at all?
And the sin is about control on was very good. Wow. Because it’s true. I have always thought sin was about self (or selfishness) but this is a better way to put it. Thanks for sharing all that.
April 30, 2008 at 11:28 pm
OK let me rephrase that first part. The bible is about God and we take much of what we know about him from that. But there are so many people who read the same bible who vehemently disagree about the things that are in it. That was my point.
May 1, 2008 at 9:57 am
Erin- Yep! I am amazed at how insightful people like the guys I quote can cut against the gain and to the chase in one sentence!
May 1, 2008 at 11:25 am
The only thing I am not certain about regarding your posting is if sin is about control.
I think most of the time that can be true.
Sometimes though there are things we call sins that are addictions. I think about how the cigarette company knew exactly what level of toxins could make people addicted. For years the church viewed smoking as sin and now we know that there is a chemical equation to the problem. Maybe the initial inhale was sin (maybe) but when the chemicals create addiction- there becomes MORE to this.
I use that example because I think of sin as an addiction problem.
I believe that we have “holes” in our lives- whether it be from wounds as a child, needs not being met, our own unmet expectations…….
and we fill those voids with “stuff”, and not with the spirit of God.
Sometimes it is because we cant; sometimes it is because we don’t know how and sometimes it is about control and we chose not to….
That is how I see it after working with teenagers in the child welfare system for years.
Un married sex is more than simply “sin” and more than “control”.
The complexities of these lives- including our own- speaks to the complexity of what SIN is.
I think that is why I love the scripture verse that speaks to only GOD knowing the heart of a man.
It is the heart that has the holes….
and it is only God who knows how we all fill those holes and why.
sex, drugs, food, tv, lies, gossip, all these are simply actions that are reflective of a hole trying to be filled in correctly.
Just my opinion…..
May 1, 2008 at 11:26 am
can you correct my response>?
We feel those voids…..should have been fill those voids.
May 1, 2008 at 11:29 am
and incorrectly …
sorry
May 1, 2008 at 11:52 am
It’s OK Jane. I counted at least three typos in my comments and at least one in Glenn’s response. You’re in good company.
May 1, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Jane ~
I agree with you about sin being addictive. I would take it even further. I believe all sin is addictive by its very nature. Therefore, we all have an addictive personality. The Scripture speaks of the sin that so easily besets us and Paul talks about the mastery that sin can have over us. So, in wanting to take control of our lives, we loose it.
You are right, too, about us having holes in our lives and trying to fill them with stuff. Pain leads one to do crazy things. Again, we try to take control and loose control, but the initial motive of trying to take control remains, even if it stems from being on the receiving end of someone else’s sin.
It seems like sin creates victims who turn to sin to try to alleviate their pain and then cause more pain and hurt more people. It’s an ugly cycle. I thank God that he looks on sinful, messed up people (like me) lovingly and redemptively and gives us the privilege to join in his kingdom to do the same.
P.S. We feel the voids and then try to fill them. No apologies needed. I am the world’s worse proofreader and a little dyslexic. If you can put up with my consistent writing sloppiness, I deal with an occasional mistake. I didn’t have a clue about your mistake or Erin’s! Thanks for an insightful comment!
May 7, 2008 at 4:09 pm
I think all three are somehow tied to teachability. If we are ideological fundamentalists, or if we have decided we have achieved theological mastery, or if we wish to maintain control over our lives - none of these leave room for teachability nor humility.
May 7, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Sarah - I think you are right.