Sin is a Private Matter…?

Traffic-flow-under-different-types-of-traffic-conditionMaintaining the idea that sin is “private,” is a misnomer.

You can think of it as the flow of traffic.

Adam and Eve

When Adam and Eve chose to take a bite of that apple, they tapped their brakes and everyone behind them was compelled to slow down (Rom 5:12).

If a couple chooses to live together rather than getting married, they affect the perspective of those who observe what they see on the surface and adopt a potentially unhealthy regard for the problems represented by “playing house” rather than building one (Matt 7:241 Cor 6:18). At that point, they’re not just tapping their brakes, their locking up their wheels and causing a legitimate bottleneck.

And when you get into behaviors such as adultery and homosexuality, at that point, you’re coming to a complete stop in the middle of the road and the collective result is a breakdown of the family and ultimately society in general.

Killing the Family

Think about it…

We are all the sum total of our education and life experiences. Every bit of that occurred within an environment that either provided a rock solid foundation upon which we were allowed to grow and flourish, or an unstable base that fostered uncertainty and failure.

The “family,” as God created it, is not just a sitcom or a holiday inconvenience. It’s supposed to be an intimate fellowship characterized by confidence, guidance and affirmation all based on the Absolute of God’s Character and Love.

And that’s the thing…It’s God’s Character and Love. It’s not just a piece of paper or an agreement that can be “legally” edited according to a person’s sexual orientation. It’s called, “Holy Matrimony” for a reason and the only impetus for questioning whether or not marriage should be solely between a man and a woman is a desire to remove the Bottom Line of God’s Reality from the human experience.

That’s what makes sexual immorality such a bogus enterprise. Sexual infractions are not merely rebellious moments of pleasure. They devour the strength and the integrity of what a family is and how it’s supposed to function according to God’s Design.

The more deterioration the institution of the family is subjected to, the more damage is being done to people who may look fine on the surface, but are dealing with some gaping holes in their psychological and spiritual makeup. And when you multiply those wounds over the course of several families, you start to impact the culture as a whole and the ramifications are dramatic.

And it’s Not Just Sex

But it’s not just, “sex.” It’s sin in general. Even lying can have a mammoth impact. The Watergate Scandal started off as a single lie that had to be covered up with more and more deceit until it finally erupted into a national scandal that resulted in many doubting the integrity of institutions that, up to that point, were considered trustworthy.

Watergate changed our culture and it introduced a level of cynicism that continues to this day.

It’s Not a Private Matter

Sin is not a private matter. It affects those around you just like the way you affect the flow of traffic on a busy road with the way you drive.

And the results can be disastrous.

But Wait…!

But here’s the thing..

The opposite is just as True and even more powerful.

When you take your cue from God, as far as the way in which you route your sexual energies as well as your philosophical pursuits, your practical fortunes have just improved dramatically.

God’s Guidelines, as they’re documented in Scripture are not “rules” as much as they’re “tools” He’s given you to avoid all the pain that accompanies head on collisions and instead be able to enjoy the open road that leads to a genuinely fulfilling life.

Bottom Line

Sin isn’t a private matter, but neither is obedience. Both affect those around you and while your ultimate inspiration to obey is to please your King, knowing that your choices impact others is a good motivator as well!

Muscular Christianity Billboard

What Would Your Billboard Say (Part III)

Muscular Christianity BillboardIt’s one of those questions that can take you by surprise in that conventional church culture puts a lot of emphasis on who we are apart from Christ.

Many of the sermons and a lot of the Praise and Worship we sing focus more on the insufficiency of the believer rather than the all sufficiency of God. As a result, the inclination is to process one’s relationship with Jesus as something that comes to bear primarily in the context of a crisis rather than a Resource that’s poised to positively impact every play you deploy on the field rather than something that only applies when you’re on the sidelines.

You are more than your wounds and better than your sin. Not because of who you are but because of Who Christ is in you. To restrict Christ’s Influence to crisis situations only is to overlook both the Attitude and the Ability He’s given you to excel and not just endure.

Bear in mind, when God says, “excel,” He’s talking about all things at all times (2 Cor 9:8). That includes your performance at work, the way you love the people you care about, the way you work out, even the way you mow your lawn.

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Col 3:17)

Do you smell that that? That’s the aroma of excellence!

It’s What You Do Believe

javamanWhen you hear an atheist talk about what they don’t believe, it’s often articulated in a way that sounds as though his perspective is based on an empirical foundation characterized by reason, science and compassion.

  • There’s nothing mystical or “miraculous” about their approach to the human experience.
  • They don’t subscribe to anything other than what can be proven and observed.
  • They don’t believe in Creation, they’re not overly concerned about life after death and they have a real problem with any kind public reference to the Christian faith in that they see it as a violation of the “separation of church and state.”

But, here’s the thing…

It’s not what you don’t believe, as much as it is what you do believe.

When you pop the hood on the philosophical framework subscribed to by the atheist who supposedly refuses to accept anything other than what can be scientifically verified, you encounter some scenarios where a fantastic leap of faith is required in order to justify their mindset. In addition, you’ve got an approach to morality and one’s sense of purpose that reeks of personal preferences more than absolute standards which is like a football player insisting he scored a touchdown, not because he moved the ball down the field, but because he moved the goalposts.

As a born again Christian, you see yourself as someone who was on Christ’s screen long before your parents ever met. You were “fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps 139:14)” and equipped with everything you need to make a difference and not just an appearance (2 Pet 1:3). You embrace the moral guidelines coming from God as “tools” and not just “rules” that allow you to, not just succeed and prosper (Josh 1:8; Matt 6:33), but also avoid all of the pain and baggage that goes along with driving on the wrong side of the road (Matt 7:26). And when it’s all said and done, the curtains come up and rather than the show being over, the real performance begins (Rev 21:1-4).

As an atheist…

You’re a pointless piece of machinery that exists due to a series of lucky accidents that simply ceases to function the moment you cease to breathe with a purpose and a perspective on ethics that you basically make up as you along.

Doesn’t sound nearly as sophisticated now, does it?

It’s not what you don’t believe, it’s what you do believe.  And when you look at what an atheist actually believes – what they submit as a substitute for God, as far as explaining the origin of life and a basis for morality and significance – their platform is revealed as the nonsensical attempt to declare themselves as their own deity.

It’s not what you don’t believe, it’s what you do believe.

Bonus: The atheist platform is presented as being a non-spiritual approach to the human experience. But regardless of it’s substance, it is nevertheless a “religious” framework in that it functions in exactly the same way as a faith based paradigm as far as it being a response to those questions pertaining to creation, life after death, moral absolutes and one’s sense of purpose. From that perspective, any complaint coming from the mouth of an atheist about the “separation of church and state” is not so much as a “concern” as much as it’s a campaign to establish their “religion” as the only religious school of thought permitted in public. In that way, they are the very thing they claim to despise.

The Liberal and the First Amendment

There is no Referee

The Liberal and the First Amendment

first_amendmentEliminate the stained glass windows and the sacred texts and “religion,” from a purely philosophical perspective, is how you answer four basic questions:

  • Where did you come from (origin)?
  • What happens when you die (destiny)
  • How are you supposed to behave while you’re here (morality)?
  • What’s the point of your existence (purpose)?

However you answer those questions, whether it be from an atheist standpoint of the Christian faith, that is your “religion.”

Despite the fact that most Americans believe in God, Liberals are constantly asserting the idea that public prayer or the display any kind of Christian icon in the marketplace is a violation of the separation of church and state.

But when you take into consideration that the Liberal is just as “religious” as the faith based community they oppose, the true nature of their platform is revealed. They’re not looking to promote the “freedom of religion” or an environment where there can be no public expression of any one creed. Rather, they’re looking to establish their religion as the singular faith that is allowed in the public square.

Ponder that the next time you hear a Liberal complain about the “separation of church and state.” While they pretend to be the champions of the First Amendment, they are the thieves that rob the country of it’s most profound heritage – the Christian foundation upon which we are based – by establishing itself as the only religious conviction that can be practiced in public. In that way they violate the very thing they claim to protect and their hypocrisy is as sinister as it is nonsensical.

There is No Referee

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The Liberal disposition towards God is similar to a football player who’s on the field, playing the game, but doesn’t believe in a Referee.

There are no penalties, only plays. The idea is to move the ball down the field and enjoy the fulfillment that comes from putting points on the board. That is not only his goal, it is his right and with that sense of entitlement comes the authority to define the standard by which his conduct on the field is measured.

Should someone challenge his approach, because he’s unwilling to acknowledge the Reality of a “higher authority,” he sees it as a situation where he’s being compelled to adjust his perspective according to only the traditions and preferences of those on the other team and he will look at them and demand to know why he has to play by their rules and refer to them as judgmental and fascists.

There is no Referee.

This is why any conversation pertaining to morality or politics or the cultural in general is destined to fall short of anything influential because until he’s willing to acknowledge the Reality of God, he is his own bottom line. And his philosophical apparatus will interpret anything that comes across as critical of his behavior as not only a negative appraisal of his performance, but an attack on his dominion over all that constitutes the difference between right and wrong.

There is no Referee.

The answer to those four questions define one’s spiritual creed. Whether you answer those questions according to the Christian faith or a humanistic worldview, both are “religious” viewpoints.

Oftentimes the debate that happens between Democrats and Republicans ceases to be about policy as much as it becomes an argument about morality. The moment it becomes a moral issue, it is therefore a spiritual topic in light of what God specifies in Scripture. But if there is no Referee, than the only Standard by which moral conduct is defined and measured is whatever best promotes the humanistic agenda lurking behind the behavior being discussed. And what applies to one team may or may not apply to the other and what may be an infraction today may not even resonate as a headline tomorrow.

On the surface, the argument that defends the idea that there is no Referee can sound compelling in the way it suggests that to assert a Biblical position is to violate the separation of church and state and force a person to adopt a particular religious disposition that may or may not coincide with their personal convictions. But the idea that there is no Referee is a religious disposition in that it establishes man as his own deity. It’s not just a question of what the Liberal doesn’t believe about God as much as it’s what they assert as an acceptable replacement for the Role that God plays in, not only determining the difference between right and wrong, but the origin of the universe, the question of life after death as well as the purpose for one’s existence.

The answer to those four questions define one’s spiritual creed. Whether you answer those questions according to the Christian faith or a humanistic worldview, both are “religious” viewpoints. And to strip our nation of it’s Christian foundation by insisting that any reference to a religious framework is to violate the separation of church and state is revealed as a sinister absurdity once it becomes apparent that the atheist’s perspective on the human experience is just as much of a “religion” as much as Christianity and in that regard they are the very thing they claim to despise.

Yet, hypocrisy is only recognized as such when there’s a concrete Truth in place to flag when a person is being hypocritical.

But that’s not something that concerns a Liberal because…

…there is no Referee.

You Have to be More Than Nice. You Have to be Christ!

aceChristianity is not just loving your neighbor and giving to the poor. That’s the easy part. Anybody can smile and write a check. The real challenge is loving God. That’s the first and greatest commandment and it’s the way in which you love God that will shape the way you love others (Matt 22:37-39; 1 Cor 13:2).

For example, God says that if you love someone, you’re going to be willing to stand between them and a bad decision they’re getting to make (Eph 5:11). In other words, you’re going to try and improve their situation by showing them how their current decision making process is going to lead to a dead end based on, not your opinion or experience, as much as it’s based on God’s take on the matter (Prov 27:6).

So, first of all, you have to be able to accurately determine that their mindset is flawed – that’s going to require a familiarity with God’s Perspective as to whether or not their approach is wrong (2 Tim 2:15). And knowing God’s Word is part of loving God (Josh 1:8; Jn 14:21; 2 Tim 3:16-17).

Secondly, you can’t just tell someone they’re wrong. You want to be wise in the way you phrase things so they can see the advantages represented by godly behavior (Prov 25:11). Otherwise, it can come across as a self serving / judgmental confrontation that can make a bad situation even worse (Matt 7:1; Jn 7:24).

Knowing how to say something and when to say it requires a willingness to take your cue from God rather than simply blurting out something that satisfies your particular set of criteria (Lk 12:12). Again, that flows from being committed to God and not just your sense of convention.

Yet, sometimes, it doesn’t matter how you say it. You can be reeking of God’s Manner, Motive and Mindset and still have to contend with a negative response (Lk 9:5).

But here’s the thing…

You don’t refuse to run the ball down the field and put some points on the board just because you’re afraid of getting tackled. And you’re not “loving” someone when you have the opportunity to help them avoid the inevitable consequences of driving on the wrong side of the road and you say nothing (Ez 3:18).

That’s not love.

In that moment, you might be nice, but you’re not Christ. And you have to be more than nice!

That’s a combination of cowardice and neglect and no matter how you want to position it either as a “Christian” or a “loving” response, you’re contributing to their demise. And if you’re doing that, “in the Name of Christ,” you’re casting God as Someone Who’s indifferent to rebellion and the pain that goes along with it which is not only misleading, it’s toxic (Jer 23:16).

So, be careful when you’re hearing someone attempt to reduce God and the command to be like Christ to a situation where you’re like a firefighter who yells encouraging words to those inside a burning house, yet makes no attempt to put out the blaze.

In that moment, you might be nice, but you’re not Christ. And you have to be more than “nice.”

That’s what “love” is when you refuse to help the one you care about by telling them that what they’re doing is wrong – be it a situation where they’re oblivious to what they’re doing or they’re fully aware of they’re being off target and they’re just not considering the consequences.

That’s not love. That’s not being like Jesus, it certainly doesn’t happen when you’re loving and obeying God as you should…

…and that’s not Christianity.

Let it Burn

Apartment on Fire - 2If a building is on fire, you don’t criticize or restrict anyone who is helping to put out the blaze. Not unless you want to see the building continue to burn…

Everything you hear about COVID-19 is framed around “cases” and “death tolls.” Whenever any effort is made to include in the conversation recovery rates and successful treatments, those contributions are dismissed as cruel and insensitive distractions.

Just because the virus is real, doesn’t mean that everyone is getting sick.

Just because there are some getting sick, doesn’t mean everyone is being hospitalized.

Just because some are being hospitalized, doesn’t mean that everyone is dying.

And those who have passed away, in many instances didn’t die because of COVID-19 as much as it was a situation where the virus irritated pre-existing conditions to the point where their body ceased to function.

These are both valid and important distinctions that much of the media is ignoring. Couple that dynamic with the way in which they demonize the doctors who’ve gone on record insisting that the virus can be treated and cured based on the way it’s impacted their patients and you’ve got a situation where it’s obvious…

…somebody wants to see this building continue to burn.

It’s not about glossing over those who are genuinely suffering, but to use those cases as something that’s representative of the population as a whole is not only unethical, it’s genuinely sinister. Reason being is that now you can establish new rules based on “compassion” that would normally be immediately recognized as bogus and denounce anyone who disagrees as someone who is selfish and uncaring.

Again…

…somebody wants to see this building continue to burn.


freedom_doctors

click on the above image to learn more about how some Doctors are being told by Pharmacists how to treat their patients…

FYI: According to the “Post and Courier,” there have been no reported deaths as a result of the vaccine. But if you head out to openvaers.com, you can read for yourself the deaths, hospitalizations, office visits, cases of Anaphylaxis (acute allergic reaction) and Bell’s Palsy (temporary paralysis of the muscles in the face) experienced in the aftermath of the vaccine.

You can ethically say that these conditions are not the result of the vaccine, but only if you ignore the fact that no history or symptoms of the conditions experienced by the patient existed prior to being vaccinated. And to make matters even more disconcerting, according to a Harvard study, less than 1 % of vaccine side affects are actually reported.

In additionBoston University published an article in October of 2020 saying that the death toll among Americans could actually be much worse than originally thought.

But at no point in the article does it reference with any real clarity the fact that 94% of those who struggle with COVID-19 have serious pre-existing conditions.

The Washington Examiner published an article in March of 2021 saying that the World Health Organization has recommended not to use Hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19.

This, despite the fact that a study by the Henry Ford Heath System, showed Hydroxychloroquine to be capable of significantly cutting death rates among COVID-19 patients.

So, which is it?

In addition to the obvious questions that arise as far as why the WHO would discourage the use of a treatment that’s been found to be very effective, what’s even more disconcerting is a statement made by the Henry Ford Health System that was made in an open letter entitled, “Hydroxychloroquine: An Open Letter to Our Community and Beyond,” written by Adnan Munkarah, M.D., Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer of the Henry Ford Health System and Steven Kalkanis, M.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Academic Officer, also of the Henry Ford Health System. A portion of that letter reads as follows:

Unfortunately, the political climate that has persisted has made any objective discussion about this drug impossible, and we are deeply saddened by this turn of events. Our goal as scientists has solely been to report validated findings and allow the science to speak for itself, regardless of political considerations. To that end, we have made the heartfelt decision to have no further comment about this outside the medical community – staying focused on our core mission in the interest of our patients, our community, and our commitment to clinical and academic integrity.

There are other voices and other aspects of this virus that are being either silenced or ignored entirely. Most of what we use to shape our perspective on important issues is what we allow into our inbox. In a lot of cases, that’s perfectly fine. But when you consistently encounter situations where both physicians and patients testifying to the effectiveness of different treatments are being intentionally buried beneath a mountain of selected statistics and biased professionals, you can bet you’re not being informed as much as you’re being influenced and those you’ve entrusted with the task of giving you an honest portrayal of current events…

…they’re not interested in putting out the fire.

They want to see this building continue to burn.

 

A Good Christian vs a Resurrected Hardcharger

emblemIn about an hour, He’ll come off the cross. He’s been there since 9:00 am this morning and it will take only six hours for Him to finally breathe His last. While some will take longer than that to finally pass away, they didn’t even have to break His legs. After the beating He got before they even put Him on the cross, He was close to dead by that point anyway.

The only two people that stayed were John and Mary. Everybody else has bolted and all those that were yelling His Name and applauding His entrance into the city only a few days before are now collecting their things after having shouted, “Crucify Him” and moving on.

The show’s over.

It’s a sad day. It’s sad because you’re watching God in the flesh being beaten, humiliated and betrayed to the point where you can’t help but feel sorry for Him. Granted there’s enormous theological implications to what’s happened and it’s going to land in a great place, hence the “gospel” which literally means, “good news.”

But the sick and twisted amount of despair is overwhelming. He’s God, but He was also a friend and a Teacher. Not only are those He offers salvation to laughing as they reduce His body to a tortured sack of flesh, everyone who ever proclaimed any kind of allegiance or admiration for Him has suddenly vanished and left Him utterly alone.

It’s not over though. You’ve got to keep reading.

Not only is He going to stand up, take off the grave clothes and proceed to change the hearts and minds of His disciples as only a risen Messiah can do, He’s going to institute something that’s been on the books for centuries as far as a “New Covenant” – a paradigm that distinguishes the Christians faith from every other religion on the planet in that you can’t merit your own salvation. You’re not, you don’t, you can’t and you won’t. But with Christ, you can, you are, you will and you do and it’s not because of who you are, but because of Who Christ is in you.

It’s awesome! But here’s thing that struck me about the title of today and where we are as a culture.

We can’t afford to be “Good Christians” anymore.

By “Good Christians” I mean those who get stuck on Good Friday and never make the practical trip to Resurrection Sunday.

You are more than your wounds and you are better than your sin. That’s not “positive thinking,” that’s “profound thinking.”

We need to be “Resurrected Hardchargers” – believers who are making a difference by reeking of excellence in everything they do, think and say. Applying the Holy Ghost Rocket Sauce that’s cruising through your veins in what you do, how you vote, the quality of your work, the way you love, how you drive, how you cut your lawn and – when it’s time – how you explain Who Christ is, why He makes a difference and why you should even care.

I was listening to a radio show yesterday that featured an interview with a former KGB agent that was explaining how our enemies are waging a war by allowing the US to destroy itself from within through what he called, “…the demoralization of America.”

No morals – no values. More specifically: No God – no point. And from there, it’s just a matter of time before all that which is based on a Divine Absolute goes away and we’re applauding as it’s escorted out of the building (Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Rule of Law, Moral Absolutes, etc).

There’s good news, though! You are more than a solitary voice and you’ve got more than two hands. We’ve got the One who beat death in our heart and in our mind. Hand Him the keys, let Him drive and stop rehearsing Friday and start living Sunday. That’s how you make a difference and not just an appearance. That’s how you succeed and not just prosper and that’s how you avoid being a “Good Christian” and instead be…

…a Resurrected Hardcharger!

Reconciliation

wokeRacism is an important topic to discuss in that to be a Racist qualifies you as one of the more detestable human beings on the planet. Wherever it shows up, regardless of to what extent, it needs to be identified and addressed as the godless and evil disposition that it is.

A Manufactured Majority and the Promotion of Socialism 

These days, however, Racism isn’t always a “topic” as much as it is a “tactic” and you can tell which approach is being taken simply by observing the extent to which the person speaking uses labels, mobs and crowds to make their point.

By using a faceless collective or the actions of a solitary figure to represent an entire people group (White Privilege, White Fragility, White Evangelicals, Black Crime Rate, Police Brutality), you can avoid having to elaborate on the personal history or individual character of those persons that make up your manufactured majority.

With this approach in place, you can characterize an entire race as cruel, a particular profession as sinister or make a criminal appear heroic.

But you can’t assume the conduct of one individual defines the morality of an entire group any more than you can use the behavior of a group to define the morality of an entire race. To do so makes you a Racist and it’s here where those who use Racism as a tactic become the very thing they claim to despise.

In that instance, it’s not Racism being contested as much as it’s Socialism being promoted.

Socialism doesn’t acknowledge the existence of fools. In the mind of the Socialist, there are only two categories of individuals:

  • The System which consists of the rich and the corrupt
  • The People who are poor and abused

Psychological Extortion

This is why everything you hear from the Democrat camp is framed around the “victim.” In addition to it being consistent with the paradigm they’re wanting to establish, you can’t criticize someone who’s in pain or the person who’s trying to help without appearing insensitive and cruel.

This is how you…

  • shut down anyone who challenges your platform
  • prevent anyone from seeing your true purpose
  • justify demonizing anything or anyone associated with your opponent

Still, you can’t claim to be a casualty of a flawed system if the majority of your wounds are self inflicted. Your cry for equality is nothing more than a demand for immunity if your personal record is littered with bad decisions and your appeal for “justice” is revealed as a veiled attempt to vaccinate yourself from the consequences of your actions.

When any kind of psychological extortion is being deployed – when certain assumptions are being forced into the conversation by claiming to be hurt and ignored – you’re not championing a platform as much as you’re concealing a poison. As least, that’s how you’ll be perceived by anyone who values the Truth over a soundbite.

From a Biblical Perspective

From a Biblical perspective, Racism doesn’t exist in the mind of God or anyone who understands the substance of Grace.

26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Gal 3:26-29)

You are responsible for your actions. Not your parents…

30 “Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. 31 Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? 32 For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live! (Ez 18:30-32 [see also Jer 31:29-30])

43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. (Lk 6:43-45 [click here to read about the “generational curse”])

…nor your environment:

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. (Jas 1:13-14)

No Posing

Posing as a victim in order to avoid taking responsibility for your actions is futile, selfish and wicked…

No matter how you want to make your situation appear in the eyes of others, God sees your heart and nothing gets past Him:

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7)

If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done? (Prov 24:12)

“I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” (Jer 17:10)

and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Rom 8:27)

Blaming others is cowardly and demonstrates an unhealthy preoccupation with one’s self. As has already been referenced in the context of Ezekiel 18:30-32 and James 1:13-14, God evaluates your morality according to your heart and your actions and not the behavior of others.

In addition, you can see throughout Scripture examples of individuals attempting to pose as a victim of someone else’s influence in order to avoid being held accountable for their actions. In each scenario, not only did it prove to be a pointless effort, it revealed the true nature of the heart behind the sin.

Here’s a few examples:

When God confronted Adam and Eve about eating the forbidden fruit, Adam started off by blaming Eve: “The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” (Gen 3:12). Eve responded by blaming the serpent: “Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Gen 3:13)In both instances, you’ve got an individual who’s trying to pose as a victim of outside forces rather than admitting the fact that they’re nothing more than a victim of their own poor decision making. As a result, not only did their attempts to avoid discipline fail, they showed just how weak their resolve was to obey God in the first place. In 1 Samuel 15, King Saul was instructed to destroy the Amalekites and their livestock. Instead, he spared the king and the best of the sheep and the cattle. When he was confronted by Samuel, he started by lying and saying that he had done as he was told and when pressed, he said, “The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”Whatever doubts may have been lingering about Saul’s true character, they were laid to rest when Saul attempted to conceal his own wrongdoing by implying that he was being blamed for the actions of other people. You could say that he was insisting he was a victim of a an unjust system…Samuel responded by informing that Saul would no longer be king… In Luke 19, Jesus tells a story of three men who were entrusted with different amounts of money that they were expected to invest and multiply. Two of them came back having done just that, but the third man had done absolutely nothing and attempted to blame his boss by saying that, “I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.“The fact of the matter was the servant was both lazy and wicked. He was lazy in that he failed to do what would’ve been a simple and easy thing by simply depositing the money and letting it gain interest. He was wicked in that rather than admitting his guilt, he not only attempted to make excuses, but he went as far as blaming his master – the one who gave him the money to begin with – for the shame that he now had to contend with.

In the Absence of Truth

In John 7:24, Jesus says to stop judging according to mere appearances, but instead judge correctly. In other words, be certain that you’re basing your convictions on what’s true – an evaluation of all of the facts – and now just on what’s accurate, which oftentimes is nothing more than a manipulation of just some of the facts.

In the absence of Truth, Love is Neglect, Compassion is a Subsidy and Justice is Favoritism.

Moreover, Reconciliation, in this instance, assumes that someone has been wronged and the oppressed is now magnanimously reaching out to the oppressor and offering forgiveness.

But if there is no “oppression” – only a campaign to either blame someone else for the mistakes you have made or a resolve to evaluate an entire demographic based on the character of a select few – than Reconciliation is nothing more than the Psychological Extortion that was referenced earlier, but on an even grander scale.

Now, you’re not just blaming another individual or even a select group of people. You’re blaming another race and labeling every Caucasian as being a problem, not because of who they are as an individual, but because of the pigmentation of their skin.

There’s a word that describes that mentality…

Racism.

Bottom Line

You and I are perpetually poised on the threshold of great things because the One Who made us has equipped us for a life characterized by purpose and fulfillment (Josh 1:8; Jer 29:11; Eph 2:10).

It’s True! It’s not “positive thinking.” It’s “profound thinking” and it’s right out of the Bible.

But we can’t blame something or someone else for wherever we failed to do something right (Gen 3:12-13). Nor can we expect our best performance to always be embraced and applauded if we would reach that place where we’re able to experience the life that God offers to those who trust and obey (Jn 16:33).

Those that we admire not only owned their mistakes and learned from them, they also persevered when they encountered disappointment and didn’t rush to demonize those who enforced a certain standard without first ensuring they were able to meet that standard themselves before voicing any concerns or criticisms (Matt 7:1; Lk 19:20-26).

The bottom line is that these days, in order to label something as “racist” you have to be a Racist yourself. The question isn’t, “Is he a black man?” or “Is he a white man?” The question should be, “Is he a good man?” That’s the mindset advocated by Dr. Martin Luther King and, more importantly, that’s the only criteria used by God when He evaluates the conduct and the character of an individual that He has made (1 Cor 3:12-15).

As long as your platform consists entirely of labels, mobs and crowds as a opposed to a name, a person and a choice, you’re employing the very same sinister mindset you would condemn in others and you are the very thing you claim to despise.

This is why Reconciliation, Woke, BLM, Reparations etc. fails to secure the collective endorsement of the public in general because of the way each of these campaigns reek of the very thing they supposedly detest.

Whatever racial tension or injustice exists, you’re not going to defeat it using the same mindset it is founded upon. In other words, you don’t destroy racial prejudice with more Racism and until those that are truly concerned about the welfare of those they represent focus on the individual character of the people being considered and not their skin color, they’re not helping anyone, they’re just making a bad situation worse.

You Have to Talk to Thomas

thomasApart from first hand knowledge, everything we know about the world is based on what we’ve been told.

Provided your resources are credible, you’re on solid ground in the way you formulate your convictions.

But when there’s more than one perspective being circulated and it all seems to be based on something authoritative, what might otherwise be a consensus is now a disparate group of passionate voices all convinced that they’re right and everyone else is just trying to catch up.

In such a situation, it’s difficult to separate fact from fiction and what’s true becomes defined more by one’s philosophical preferences than actual events and whole conversations.

In the end, the truth is going to be defined by evaluating all the facts. That, as opposed to scenarios where the commentator is manipulating just some of the facts.

Take, for example, the Resurrection of Christ.

You could talk to Pilate and get one perspective. You could talk with John and get something entirely different. If those two individuals are your only sources of information, in the absence of something undeniable, you will be drawn to the personality championing the platform more so than the platform itself.

But at some point, you have to talk to Thomas.

Pilate sentenced Jesus to death, John saw Him die but it was Thomas who refused to believe anything as nonsensical as Jesus having come back to life unless…

…unless he was able to physically touch where the spikes had gone through His wrists and put his hand into the wound created by the spear that had punctured His side.

The NIV Text Note for this particular verses says, “Hardheaded skepticism can scarcely go further than this.”1

Unless you talk to Thomas, or at least objectively consider his experience, your take on Jesus having conquered death is going to be based more on what you want to believe than what’s actually the case.

You have to talk to Thomas.

And the same thing applies to similar situations where you have a variety of viewpoints.

You have to consider all of the players involved and give extra consideration to the one that represents, not just an eyewitness, but someone whose testimony makes no sense apart from it being absolutely true.

And when you encounter a differing viewpoint who would accuse you of being biased in an effort to make their perspective appear more credible, figure out who the “Thomas” is, make sure you’re familiar with what “Thomas” said, and then say to your opponent…

You have to talk to Thomas.

 

1. NIV Study Bible, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1985, p1637