Dazed and Confused
There are a lot of things that baffle me. For example, I don't get why girls like to wear extra tiny, extra tight jean shorts. They cannot be comfortable. Seriously, why not just wear more flattering, more comfortable, and probably less revealing, underwear. I also don't get, leggings as pants. How is that still a thing? Admittedly, more comfortable than the skimpy jean shorts, and they do protect your legs from mosquitoes, but is it worth it! You are giving the world a free show, and, usually, it isn't even a good show?
Other things that I don't get, why does Pixar insist on making you sob before you laugh? I am pretty sure Nemo would have been just as exciting without having to witness his mother get brutally murdered in the first 5 minutes. It confuses me why people ever purposely choose sad fiction. It's made up! WHY would you make up something more depressing and hopeless than real life? How does that make any sense? The real world has enough sadness on its own without anyone adding to it. It is mind boggling.
I mean it is MIND BOGGLING what we, as humans, have done in this world. I am overwhelmed by confusion and sadness. I do not get why being different is scary, or why we insist on labeling anyone who thinks, believes or looks different than ourselves as hateful bigots? Why do we assume we can understand someone's experience when it was nothing like our own? Or, why do we think we are smart enough to solve centuries of injustice in a tweet of a 140 characters or less? Why do hurt people continue to hurt people since they themselves know how it feels to be hurt? Why do we continue to answer hate with hate and expect a different outcome than hate? As a culture, why do we glorify death and killing instead of mourning, praying, and fasting over the murder of a human life?
Why do we keep blame shifting and villainizing the "other" when history, the great equalizer, has proven humanity's flaws? To name a few there were: the crusade of the "Christians", the holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, slavery, Ben Ghazi, ISIS, Hiroshima, the Sudanese boy soldiers, the Catholic church Sex Scandal, the Khmer Rouge Regime, the growth of the global sex trade, the Colombine High School Massacre, the Aurora movie shooting, 9-11, the Charleston Church shooting, the Orlando night club shooting, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and the Dallas Cop Massacre.
I have more questions than I have answers, more confusion than solutions, but of course, for the believer, I have a few personal suggestions.
Other things that I don't get, why does Pixar insist on making you sob before you laugh? I am pretty sure Nemo would have been just as exciting without having to witness his mother get brutally murdered in the first 5 minutes. It confuses me why people ever purposely choose sad fiction. It's made up! WHY would you make up something more depressing and hopeless than real life? How does that make any sense? The real world has enough sadness on its own without anyone adding to it. It is mind boggling.
I mean it is MIND BOGGLING what we, as humans, have done in this world. I am overwhelmed by confusion and sadness. I do not get why being different is scary, or why we insist on labeling anyone who thinks, believes or looks different than ourselves as hateful bigots? Why do we assume we can understand someone's experience when it was nothing like our own? Or, why do we think we are smart enough to solve centuries of injustice in a tweet of a 140 characters or less? Why do hurt people continue to hurt people since they themselves know how it feels to be hurt? Why do we continue to answer hate with hate and expect a different outcome than hate? As a culture, why do we glorify death and killing instead of mourning, praying, and fasting over the murder of a human life?
Why do we keep blame shifting and villainizing the "other" when history, the great equalizer, has proven humanity's flaws? To name a few there were: the crusade of the "Christians", the holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, slavery, Ben Ghazi, ISIS, Hiroshima, the Sudanese boy soldiers, the Catholic church Sex Scandal, the Khmer Rouge Regime, the growth of the global sex trade, the Colombine High School Massacre, the Aurora movie shooting, 9-11, the Charleston Church shooting, the Orlando night club shooting, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile and the Dallas Cop Massacre.
I have more questions than I have answers, more confusion than solutions, but of course, for the believer, I have a few personal suggestions.
- Be intentional to seek out a multi-ethnic church community. The walls of gender, race, and socioeconomic divides are obliterated in the gospel and yet Sunday morning is still the most segregated time of day. News flash, we are on the same team. (Ephesians 2:11-22)
- If you are personally a part of the majority culture, make it your priority to intentionally put yourself in positions where you are in the minority. Put yourself under the leadership of someone in minority culture.
- Stop saying you are not a racist because you have a... black friend/white friend/Mexican friend. The gospel life isn't a token friend it is a blended family. For the church, it is not a "black" "white" or "brown" issue, it is a family issue. We will start seeing it as a family issue, when we start living and acting like family.
- If the gospel that you believe has not changed everything you live for and everything you are willing to die for, than you need to reevaluate if you are living for the true gospel.
- When we are confused, overwhelmed, angry and frustrated, we must trust that God's way is the right way. Yes, RESPOND. Respond, because you are an ambassador of God. Respond because He has given you a new heart and new eyes to bring light into darkness. Respond because you want to represent God accurately to the world, grieving what He grieves, loving what He loves. But, do not respond to injustice like the world. It is much harder to love than pull a trigger. Remember, vengeance is the Lord's, and He will repay (Romans 12:11-21).
"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, a man will reap what he sows." Galatians 6:7
Comments
Post a Comment