Anger and hostility
Proving your own way right
Do we speak for God?
Do we know His voice better?
My skin turns red
And I feel hot inside
Why won’t the others
Think like I do?
If I have all the correct ideas
And can prove them better
Does that make me right?
And does that make a difference?
If following the Bible is so important
And it truly is
Where does God ever feel the need
To explain Himself to unbelievers?
To embrace logic and not science
Seems very odd indeed
But greater oddity is in
Mixing business logic with religion
The art of persuasion
Is not effective
If you are trying to prove your point
How do you expect the other to respond?
The wisdom of God
Is foolishness to the wise
Why would you expect
The wisdom of the world
Would help bring people to Christ?
Christianity is not an issue to be debated
Or is an intellectual discussion or decision
Christ is a person not just an idea
Living as a Christian
Is more about doing or rather not doing
Rather than winning a debate
The Christian ethics most exemplified by Christ
Are humility and compassion
Not knowledge and power
We need to be very careful
About mixing God’s words with our own
The greatest Biblical scholars of the time
Could not accept Christ as their Lord
And many of Christ’s followers
We’re uneducated but later wrote Scripture
We will not be saved by knowledge
Does our current world situation not prove this?
No one can convince anyone of anything
The information has reached a saturation point
Few people write about new ideas
Even as many more books are written
Few people read much any more
But webpages continue to get
Filled with writing
Democratizing knowledge does not
Make people happier or wealthier
Teaching others more
Does not increase their potential
For those who would shun the world
To preserve our supposed purity
Why do we embrace the doctrines of the world?
Why do we fight using the same methods?
If the battles are spiritual
Why do we engage each other
With carnal weapons?
If we do not want to accept
The ways of the world
With open arms and uncritical acceptance
We have to spend time listening to unbelievers
And spend less time lecturing them
You cannot effectively deal with
What you are unwilling to take the time
To understand and learn from
If you want to keep away from stumbling
You have to open your eyes
Much as you may want to shield your face
From injury or disfigurement
Open eyes will save you from suffering
It is like going to another country
Without first learning the language
Or launching into a new career
Without any additional training
Yes the wise can be foolish
And even teachers often have agendas
But without questioning what you have learned
You effectively buy into and follow
What you have been told
You cannot study religion purely by fact alone
And then get to the point of having faith
Faith by its very nature requires you
To not fully understand
If we want to please or understand God
We need to approach the study of Him
Though faith first
It is as important to have times of reflection
And times of interaction with unbelievers
As it is to memorize Scripture
Christianity is still the most revolutionary concept
But not in the way most people hear about it
And that is when they hear it directly from us
Why do you think Christ did not convert
The entire Roman and Persian Empires
When He was on earth
But rather focused mostly on 12 people?
Why did Christ not argue against
Those who beat and killed Him
Even when given a chance for rebuttal?
Much of what God wants us to do
Is to refrain from doing certain things
And He wants us to change ourselves
We are less responsible for others
If politics was so important to Christianity
Why did Jesus never get involved
And why did the early Church never get involved?
If we have a duty to engage in politics
Because our country claims we have the opportunity
Why doesn’t the church engage in the academic world
Or make itself more a part of the online world?
There is wisdom in merely waiting on the Lord
Unbelievers need Christians among them
You do not win over dedicated followers
When you minimize the long term commitments
Or try to win them over by telling them they are wrong
Proving your own way right
Do we speak for God?
Do we know His voice better?
My skin turns red
And I feel hot inside
Why won’t the others
Think like I do?
If I have all the correct ideas
And can prove them better
Does that make me right?
And does that make a difference?
If following the Bible is so important
And it truly is
Where does God ever feel the need
To explain Himself to unbelievers?
To embrace logic and not science
Seems very odd indeed
But greater oddity is in
Mixing business logic with religion
The art of persuasion
Is not effective
If you are trying to prove your point
How do you expect the other to respond?
The wisdom of God
Is foolishness to the wise
Why would you expect
The wisdom of the world
Would help bring people to Christ?
Christianity is not an issue to be debated
Or is an intellectual discussion or decision
Christ is a person not just an idea
Living as a Christian
Is more about doing or rather not doing
Rather than winning a debate
The Christian ethics most exemplified by Christ
Are humility and compassion
Not knowledge and power
We need to be very careful
About mixing God’s words with our own
The greatest Biblical scholars of the time
Could not accept Christ as their Lord
And many of Christ’s followers
We’re uneducated but later wrote Scripture
We will not be saved by knowledge
Does our current world situation not prove this?
No one can convince anyone of anything
The information has reached a saturation point
Few people write about new ideas
Even as many more books are written
Few people read much any more
But webpages continue to get
Filled with writing
Democratizing knowledge does not
Make people happier or wealthier
Teaching others more
Does not increase their potential
For those who would shun the world
To preserve our supposed purity
Why do we embrace the doctrines of the world?
Why do we fight using the same methods?
If the battles are spiritual
Why do we engage each other
With carnal weapons?
If we do not want to accept
The ways of the world
With open arms and uncritical acceptance
We have to spend time listening to unbelievers
And spend less time lecturing them
You cannot effectively deal with
What you are unwilling to take the time
To understand and learn from
If you want to keep away from stumbling
You have to open your eyes
Much as you may want to shield your face
From injury or disfigurement
Open eyes will save you from suffering
It is like going to another country
Without first learning the language
Or launching into a new career
Without any additional training
Yes the wise can be foolish
And even teachers often have agendas
But without questioning what you have learned
You effectively buy into and follow
What you have been told
You cannot study religion purely by fact alone
And then get to the point of having faith
Faith by its very nature requires you
To not fully understand
If we want to please or understand God
We need to approach the study of Him
Though faith first
It is as important to have times of reflection
And times of interaction with unbelievers
As it is to memorize Scripture
Christianity is still the most revolutionary concept
But not in the way most people hear about it
And that is when they hear it directly from us
Why do you think Christ did not convert
The entire Roman and Persian Empires
When He was on earth
But rather focused mostly on 12 people?
Why did Christ not argue against
Those who beat and killed Him
Even when given a chance for rebuttal?
Much of what God wants us to do
Is to refrain from doing certain things
And He wants us to change ourselves
We are less responsible for others
If politics was so important to Christianity
Why did Jesus never get involved
And why did the early Church never get involved?
If we have a duty to engage in politics
Because our country claims we have the opportunity
Why doesn’t the church engage in the academic world
Or make itself more a part of the online world?
There is wisdom in merely waiting on the Lord
Unbelievers need Christians among them
You do not win over dedicated followers
When you minimize the long term commitments
Or try to win them over by telling them they are wrong