Seems to me that I'm just too easily baffled. There are so many things in this world that confuse me when everyone else seems to be just fine with it. There's so much stuff around me that I just don't get.
Take, for instance, the ubiquitous "Out of Order" sign. What does that mean? I will see it, as an example, on a vending machine in a row of vending machines. The suggestion, then, is that this particular machine is not in the right place in the line. It is in the wrong order. But if that was the case, wouldn't there be another one in the wrong order? Shouldn't there be two? Well, okay, so maybe it should just go to one end of the line or the other. So why not move it? Seems like an easy thing to do. Or could it be that there is some larger order in mind? I wonder that when I see a lone machine or a bathroom stall with the "Out of Order" sign on it. Is there some grand plan where this machine or that stall is actually supposed to be somewhere else on the planet, and someone foolishly put it here? How do they know? What took them so long to figure it out? How could such a thing happen? It's all so confusing.
Take, for instance, women's clothing. Women will wear blouses with sharp drops in strategic locations or messages across the chest. There is no way to conclude that people are not supposed to pay attention to it because it was put there intentionally for that purpose. Yet, I have repeatedly heard women complaining (not to me, but in general), "My eyes are up here." You know the context. What's up with that? Why would someone draw attention somewhere away from where they want it to be and then complain when we're trying to read the odd and often self-demeaning message they intended us to read (as an example)? Doesn't seem either reasonable or fair.
Take, for instance, Christians who knowingly and willfully defy Christ. They claim to be Christians and deny that Christ has the authority that He claims. They claim to be believers and don't believe what He said. They know what is right and wrong to do and choose not to do right and choose to do wrong instead. They consider themselves "Christian" in behavior while more closely mimicking the behavior of the world. Now, I'm not saying that I expect everyone to be Christian. I would be extremely foolish to think that those who are hostile to God would be willing to follow His commands. I get that. And I understand that not everyone who says to Christ "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom. I get that. But in this world that is largely anti-Christian and in this society that is largely anti-"biblical morality" and in this culture that is quick to discard the Bible as man-made, why bother making the claim when it's the farthest thing from the truth? Why demand that Christians be less like Christ? Why call on believers to ignore what they believe? You don't agree? That's fine. But why call yourself a Christian and demand that others follow you as you refuse to follow Christ?
You see? It seems like there are a lot of things in everyday existence that are baffling to me.
2 comments:
Schaefer talked about the fact that the track of liberal theology has led to a walling off of the possibility of knowing anything about God. The wall complete, man simply puts beyond the wall whatever he likes. Christians put a symbol of Jesus on the other side of the wall that represents what they want him to be. Hence we get "what would Jesus drive", and prayers to this symbol that an Anti-Christ baby killing president would win the election, or a "clergyman's" rebuke to a newscaster who dared suggest that a wayward Buddist sports star seek forgivness through Jesus.
If I had a symbol like that to pray to I suppose I would pray that he would beem me up!
Not, I suppose, if praying to that symbol did no good, eh?
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