Things I Think…
1. The lady stocking vacuum cleaner bags at Walmart was in her late sixties…the man screaming at her was 42 years old. I know this because he was shouting at her that he was 42 years old and didn’t have to wear a diaper on his face. He had rights and among those rights were not wearing a mask when he didn’t want to and evidently, terrorizing elderly women who are still working to survive. ..and trying to do so without contracting Covid19. His last blast was that she should stay at home if she was afraid…as if she wrote the mandate. “I wish I could”, she whispered…
2. The big controversy among the Reformed this week was over whether or not “empathy” was a sin. Empathy is sinful, they say, because it involves entering in to the emotions of another person…sympathy is acceptable because you maintain your distance. Digging deeper, empathy results in liberalism, sympathy keeps you from being stained by such. This is insane…thankfully Christ didn’t keep his distance…
“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”
(Philippians 2:1–7 ESV)
3. I’ve written about this before, but was reminded again after seeing clips of the Grammys…the music of my childhood was country music, old rock and roll, and 70’s power ballads…they communicated certain values and emotional aspirations that formed the soundtrack of my life…good in some ways, not so good in others…what does a generation raised on rap aspire to?
4. The new pejorative for mask wearers is “Safeists”. Naturally, I learned this from a Christian leader using it as a slur…
5. “Cancel culture” isn’t new, nor is it confined to a particular political disposition. The difference is that when the culture cancelled someone, (Richard Nixon was a good example)…after a season of penance the person was restored. The difference now is that we want to make the ban permanent and retroactive…
6. I keep writing this…but of the church cared half as much about the issues within her own walls as it does about politics, we would have real reform …
7. When you start mocking instead of persuading, you signal that you now view someone as an enemy to be defeated, rather than a person to be persuaded…the key to all sin against another is to first dehumanize them…then label them…you have to convince yourself that the other no longer possesses the image of God and God wants them gone as well…we’re all getting too good at this…
8. I think some sort of secession is inevitable…and no matter how many splits there are, I still won’t fit in any of them…
9. The older I get the more I believe that heaven will be populated by many folks with great hearts and bad doctrine…and not the opposite…
10. Hope doesn’t just happen…it has to be cultivated and protected like a new plant…do those things that bring even the smallest amounts of joy and light…avoid those people who are only happy in the dark…even when they call you by name to join them…
Michael,
Regarding #1:
If I were you or the lady, I would have called the store manager and have him insist that the 42-yr old toddler either wear a mask or leave the store. PERIOD. It is Walmart corporate policy that all employees and customers wear masks in the store. If he refused to wear a mask, then have this Karen removed from the store either willingly or unwillingly (assisted by LEOs if need be). Depending on how much of a public temper tantrum he showed, I would have him trespassed from the store and/or arrested. PERIOD. In short, perhaps something like this:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/05/08/off-duty-officer-body-slams-upset-walmart-shopper-who-refuses-wear-mask-store/
You DO NOT placate these adult toddlers anymore than you do when your 2 year old has a tantrum because they could have a cookie before dinner. PERIOD.
He left raging before security arrived…this is a daily occurrence at that store…
#2
Good Lord.
I consider myself mildly Reformed….but sure as hell not that kind.
#7
Beautifully said.
As a follow-up, that 42-yr old toddler may have a future meltdown that goes viral and ends up in the Karen Hall of Fame. I am sure his conduct will reflect well and result in him having be formerly employed at a company.
Michael,
Simple, have someone record or take pics. They and along with the security cam footage can be be used to give him a trespass warning next time he shows up. No different at being tossed out a club for being an a** and having the bouncer not let you in next time.
Ironic that the 42 year old man was screaming about wearing a diaper on his face…
#3…The grammys:
Sigh. It’s not about music anymore, but about only the latest “pop” stars (here today, gone tomorrow), and their overly engineered and fake music. What do kids raised on rap aspire to nowadays?
Nothing.
And #2…empathy and the Reformed.
Sigh again. Heartless.
Poor little old lady….
Wish he’d yelled at this old lady – hed have regretted it 😇
HAHA Em…I know he would’ve!!
Yes, there’s really weird things going on in the church universal and in the culture, and a lot of it coincides. For example, the culture remains highly patriarcal, as does much of evangelical churches. The problem becomes, as I see it, when people are not taught well but they understand just enough to lord it over women and minorities. In other words, they don’t understand the gospel at all.
Meanwhile, over on Twitter, I interact with a bunch of younger people, many of whom are in seminary right now. Most of them get it, and get it good. It gives me hope for the future of the church. These youthful future church leaders understand the vacuousness of Trumpism and Christian nationalism; They seem to understand the biblical narratives well, but are highly critical of again, the patriarchal structures.
This being the case, the women seem to be rising to the top and leading. Example: Beth Moore quitting the SBC. Remember Deborah from Judges?
The gates of hell will never prevail against Christ’s Church.
Very sad to report, the Atlanta shooter was a strong SBC member, albeit with issues…
I do see women rising in some spheres as a consequence of the void created by men who have abandoned their roles as leaders in those spheres. Due to the complementary nature that male and female have been created and ordered by God, women rising may not always be a proper substitute for a man fulfilling their ordered roles.
bob1, sad? Yes – but churches are full of people with issues, no?
Em,
Sure…but is it normal to go on a shooting spree with so much death and destruction?
# 2 These same reformed theologians are all clamoring to open their churches so they can “minister” to their flocks with their cold, distance sympathy. Many people have been so traumatized from COVID and it will take years to get over. My prediction is that many of their church members will find their ways to more caring places.
Speaking of music (Dan), I just found the Canadian duo Crown Lands. Blues Rock leaning. They just released a tribute to Neil Peart of Rush. I won’t post the YouTube link, but it’s “Context: Fearless Pt. 1” The drummer- singer is First Nations and identifies as “two-spirit” but no Cardi B type images.
Thanks TNV! Always on the lookout for new/unique/off the beaten path music!
@ Nr. 1:
I’m convinced that the things the Almighty hates the most is meaness and cruelty to others.
I was once like that @$$|-|ole of a 42 year old, but God brought me low and showed me the error of my ways.
2 The precise question being asked by the Reformed crowd seems misplaced. Empathy is nowhere condemned as sinful but it can miss the mark. Lots of empathy works mischief in human relationships. Just now we approve many perverse things because of empathy. So the matter is more complex than an either/or position.
3 we celebrate WAP — yes that says it all
5 There does seem to be something terrifying in the necessity of punishing offenders of politically correct protections. It’s headed toward a very totalitarian outcome.
7 Dehumanization does allow elimination and its universal. Collectivist inclinations have us headed there.
8 I’m seceding from as much as I can. It’s like all running away — there we’ll be. I just see war… Ole Joyner is stoking the flame.
9 Nice redux of the old “road to hell” pavement. Not entirely in agreement but yes I see it.
Rick Joyner?
Is this the same imbecile who’s been spouting Civil War crapola since the 1990s?
Fool me once…
#3 Grammys
Despite the grumbling of old white guys, Grace Potter is right, rock is the jazz of the current era. It has been reduced to a niche. That being said, Haim rocks. The Black Pumas are simply great and even the throw back sound of Silk Sonics has merit… it is not yet the fall of civilization as we know it! 😁
There are times I fear war…not the conventional type, but guerrilla actions against specific targets.
That will be what war looks like in this age.
Over the years I’ve watched as people have armed themselves and “trained”for such.
Leftists wouldn’t stand a chance…the far right has the weaponry and attitude…
I didn’t watch the Grammys…all my people are either dead or infirm.
I did see some clips of pornographic contorting to rhythmic noise and a tribute to the great Little Richard without historical context.
Get off my lawn and take your dancers with you…
Empathy has been the new sin for a while…empathy is what gives us the power to listen to the other and understand , even if we disagree.
That is deadly to the type of division we have and continue to foment…so the emotion itself must be arrested.
The New Crusades will be led by former Facebook friends…
TNV and Dan from GA,
Here is an interesting article/interview with another legendary drummer/percussionist Stewart Copeland reminiscing about Neil Peart (towards the bottom part of this article):
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/stewart-copeland-police-quarantine-998438/
Regarding the Atlanta gunman,
I suspect he was radicalized with all the Q-anon and Trumpista conspiracies and lies. We will see what the LEOs find out in their investigation. Unfortunately Cherokee County in GA is more rural and a lot different than say Gwinnett or even Hall County. So I am sure there will be a temptation for the good ole boys there to dismiss both the racial and Q-anon/Trumpista conspiracy angle.
The rise in anti-Asian sentiment and racially-motivated crimes is quite noticeable, ever since Trump and his cronies were in power. But since GA is a death penalty state, justice will be served. Interestingly, he could be potentially charged under Federal Law for federal capital crimes. Nice to know his Orange Dear Leader re-instated the firing squad for federal capital offenses. Perhaps this perp will get to experience it firsthand.
It looks like the gunman’s church is part of the Founder’s Ministries sect of the SBC and I am sure they drilled in all kinds of stuff regarding courting, purity, “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” books, etc. Apparently he decided to deal with any sort of cognitive dissonance by killing the massage therapists to rid himself of whatever sexual temptations he had.
“ Long told police he had frequented massage parlors in the past and launched the attacks as a form of vengeance against “a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate.””
How is this different from a Taliban killing a woman for not wearing a burka because he cannot practice self-control and keep it zipped? Oh that’s right, it isn’t.
Michael, can you point me to where you saw #2? I’m reformed but this is insane To me this is horrible doctrine which speaks to your #9. Doctrine is important as long as it’s correct and not B.S. like #2.
Steve,
You must not be on Twitter.
James White and Doug Wilson are spouting this along with others.
I was shocked at the Atlanta parlor shootings. I expected it would be racist- conspiracy -China Flue. Never saw the pornagraphy motive coming.
If you’re reading the CP, porn is one of the secondary level obsessions. PornHub is a specific focus. It makes sense now. If you preach against the demon of HornPub, somebody is going to reach for a gun, and fight those demons.
This is not a popular opinion…but I would hesitate to blame anyone but the shooter.
Twisted freak who couldn’t find a girlfriend combined with fundy guilt …but the majority of that ilk don’t slaughter other people.
The only thing that gives me pause is I know all too well the teachings that all women are Philistines and are to blame for our sexual incontinence.
!!! Just scanned AM headlines @CP.
-Playboy reporter joins in Biden policy protest
– Call for criminal investigation of HornPub
-Throuples
-Equality Act mentioned in two separate headlines.
Michael (regarding your comment @ 9:37 AM),
Very well said. The gunman is responsible for his own actions, he is an adult. As you said, the environment in which these unstable individuals live does give us pause. I wonder if he had other un-diagnosed issues like Bipolar or something (which of the course the church and religious background would be loathe to mention, consider, or suggest treatment in a clinical setting).
I’ve been pondering the O.T. accounts of God’s dealing with societies that denied Him…. I’m not sure that the N.T. instructs us born again ones to practice empathy to practicing God denyers…
It seems to me this morning that standing just may require understanding, but none of what we used to call “greasy grace.”
Do we overlook those who have heard God’s truth and have chosen to manufacture their own? Overlook the heart choice of the rebel against God Truth?
Just pondering……
Nathan,
Shades of the rock music lyrics controversies of the 1980’s. Or the violent video games controversies of the early 2000’s. Or the pr0n controversies in the late 1970’s early 1980’s with Moral Majority, Jerry Falwell, etc. While they are at, why don’t they put Edwin Meese front and center again? After all, this Pr0nHub thing is right up his, Donald Wildmon’s and the AFA’s alley.
Em,
I don’t think at this point I would blame anybody for rejecting what much of the visible church has become and it’s warped depiction of Christ.
If I were a young person today I shudder at the vitriol I would spew toward evangelicalism…as it is, if I weren’t drafted, I’m not sure I would sign up…but Christ has waded the sewers to find me.
Nathan and Michael,
It’s funny those on TEAM BLUE blame the gun for the various infamous shootings and crimes, those on TEAM RED blame the pr0n, video games, rock music, etc. Seems to me both of them want to use the levers of governmental power for control and to shred the Constitution. I see as these social “conservative” Evangelicals in many ways as no different than the gun-grabbers on the left.
P…nHub deals in human trafficking and is as satanic as hell…don’t get me started…
Michael @ 10:01…… AMEN…
Up here in the mountains i don’t see much of this distortion of Evangelical Christianity… but there is very little on the many Christian TV channels that edify me…. No one seems to have the discipline to teach, too much fluff, perhaps?
Em,
I came to faith because a friend in my high school had empathy for a high school kid with a family that was falling apart and a failing grade in algebra 2. She listened to all my issues, tutored me in algebra (free!), and shared the gospel with me. At the end of the school year, she invited me to the after school Bible club, where an invitation was given, and God drew me to himself. That kind of empathy understands the human condition (we’re all lost), but at the same time doesn’t condone sin-but it does realize that there but for the grace of God go I.
Michael,
I am not saying those sites not exactly what you said. But if the guy was beset by all of this, why didn’t he go for what Jesus himself said:
“And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.”
– Matthew 5:29-30 (KJV for the poetic way these verses sound)
It would have been better if he put out his own eyes or castrated himself rather than gun down and kill 8 people.
Michael,. I have no desire to be in twitter. James White I always viewed as a talented debater. Doug Wilson is not someone I care to follow at all. I’ll try to investigate this more because maybe I’ll decide to be less reformed if this is what they are spouting off about.
I can’t believe actual hair-splitting is going WRT empathy. Good Lord. No wonder so many can’t stand the hard-core Reformed…
Isn’t the Incarnation itself the model of God’s empathy for humankind?
And aren’t we called to follow the Incarnate One?
Even though the New Testament does not employ the actual word, empathy lies at the heart of the Christian faith. The New Testament believes that God is an empathetic God; that God’s empathy extends beyond the capacity to understand human experience to actively entering into human experience.
More here….
Empathy and the NT
https://www.mcmaster.ca/mjtm/3-1b.htm#:~:text=Even%20though%20the%20New%20Testament,actively%20entering%20into%20human%20experience.
Linn @ 10:16…. Well defined! ! ! Empathy/caring should not be confused with condoning
I, too, benefitted in my H.S. years from caring Christians who did not compromise, but opened the door for me to find redemption
#7
https://verysmartbrothas.theroot.com/author/damonyoung13
This stuff gets echoed often and widely — it will bear fruit
Let’s see we rush to call out racism as if we learned nothing from the hell loosed by rushing to racialize George Floyd’s death.
We rush to condemn Baptists because we know how evil ‘those people’ are.
One SBC leader rushed to throw racial kerosene on the fire. It has become important to condemn first and loudest.
Lots of condemnation of groups without clear evidence. But then as the author in the Root tells us evidence is not necessary. It’s all in.
How do we think all of this sowing into wells of hate will produce good fruit.
These are the reasons I see terrible things in the future. When people cannot talk they fight. There have been calls for both hope and truth on this blog lately and they’re drowned out in the comments.
The pale horse is riding
I’m nevertheless kingdom optimistic but first these other kingdoms must go. When we pray ‘thy kingdom come’ we know not what we ask.
BD, You come across as very esoteric, and I think it is intentional. A defense, mechanism perhaps? Yet I know that you have compassion, and yes, maybe empathy as well. Most of us who have spent our lives toiling in real life trenches do not have the luxury of being esoteric. God bless.
Bride
Yes I hate the popular mind and don’t want it to applaud me
Compassion?
44 years of pastoral ministry. Let them decide.
Empathy?
It’s the road to perdition but along the way we can snatch a few from the flames. So yes
Congress loves to make laws whenever a moment arises that allows them to obliterate rationality.
Churches make policies every time someone makes a mistake. I forbade this every time. Relationships not policies heal us. Every moment like this is a power grab by opportunists. A pox on them.
Freedom is what the heart craves and it is the place of mischief — let it be
CM, I am so happy that you posted your 7:24 comment comparing societies that force women to wear Burka’s to compensate for male ‘s lack of control to what Southern Baptists and fundamentalists teach about women. Mike Pence”s whole , ” I’ll never meet with a woman in any setting who isn’t my wife”, is as equally insulting to women. Some fundamentalist churches in America won’t even allow women to wear sleeveless blouses, because they think a woman’s bare arms will cause a man to stumble. Thank you for placing the responsibility on men, where it belongs, and for illustrating how often women are scapegoats for men’s failings.
Pence’s rule is about him not them.
I have the heart of a man — desperately wicked
This thread and all the comments about the Atlanta shooter, whose at fault, burkas and so on has descended into the very abyss itself. Reminds me about how everything is now racist when the greatest racist are the ones making the most noise about how everything is racist.
My point, men have lusted after women since the beginning. Only through teaching each generation, and a mutual efforts to between men and women can the curse be held and at bay. It will never end just be temporarily controlled; that is until the culture devolves (as it has in the US), into chasing after its most base thoughts and desires.
If we needed a place to start it might be shutting off the TV and shows like the Grammys (money talks). BTW a Grammy isn’t a bad thing, but sexualizing women in the way young performers have to gain personal fame is.
“Pence’s rule is not about them (women)” Perhaps, but how would you feel if Vice President Harris refused to meet with you about an important matter unless you brought a chaperone with you? I’m guessing that you would be more than a little annoyed.
No I always respect someone’s faith. Why is it always the Christian whose faith is lampooned and rejected?
People of conviction do offend us by they also ennoble us. No, a person of principle does not annoy me.
I went down the twitter rabbit hole of “empathy is sin” and my take away was that we can be come so emotionally involved that we may start to accept behavior that is really sin because we don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings or lose a relationship with them (this might be especially true for our kids, or other family members) Yes, we want to be caring and compassionate but it can lead to the slippery slope of accepting sin. IMHO we need to love and care for people always, but sometimes loving and caring for them needs to be telling them they are in sin.
DH, Then I suppose it’s time to start using some of that “tough love” on all the divorced sinners in the Church. Jesus hates divorce, forbids Christians from divorcing – the Bible is very clear about this. So how should we treat divorced Christians and homosexual Christians? They are all living in sin according to God and our Holy Bible .( And the Pope if you are Catholic). I’ve been married for 40 years and I have never been divorced, so I feel very confident about raising this question.
“Sometimes loving and caring for them needs to be telling them they are in sin.”
Slippery slope of accepting sin? Better not be too empathetic, then…danger, danger, Will Robinson!
Who’s gonna tell the gluttons that they’re in sin, according to your interpretation of God’s Word?
What about idolaters?
Guess we all need to be sin sniffers…wouldn’t that just be a lovely world?