Thursday, June 25, 2015

Increased Temptation?

I don't usually overlap my FB and AVI posts, but I thought this was too long for wone and too short for the other, so I did both.

"As many of my FB friends are Christian I thought I might risk a short sermon. The rest of you can listen in and see if there is anything valuable for you.

Screwtape is never far from my mind. When we congratulate ourselves on our own symbolic morality, as the nation is now doing instead of mourning, we might not be trading up and becoming better. Our goblins may only be retreating deeper into the mine, chuckling. Division and tribalism are not exceptions to human behavior,... they are the default position. I don't exclude by race - but I have several other exclusions, equally ugly but Less Unpopular.

This is not just theoretical. I see this not only in myself, but in many others, online and in person, who are entirely oblivious to their exclusions and condescensions. I am not seeing victory but fearing temptation this week. Jesus never called anyone out for racism or our other popular sins. He did call people out for self-righteousness. A lot. It scares me deep in the night sometimes."

6 comments:

james said...

A good reminder.

Grim said...

Indeed.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

You both should know that the person I was most thinking of - and therefore the person I worked hardest to remove from my mind while I was composing - wrote a clever reply that showed he had read Screwtape and understood the point.

And yet completely oblivious to the fact that he keeps writing "douchebag," and "batshit insane" about anyone his disagrees with - he thought I referred entirely to how Confederate Flag lovers might get worse now that their symbol was taken from the. A nice, bright young man who I used to work with. Occasionally shows some wit in drawing back from leftist rhetoric. All for nought.

I am close to despair.

jaed said...

A blind spot the size of half one's visual field can only be ignored if no one he can see mentions that he seems to be ignoring half the world. The media he has contact with almost certainly won't mention what he's missing, so...

Sam L. said...

Sometimes it takes a 2x4 to provide the significant emotional experience such people need to realize that there is another POV and that others do have reasons for having that POV.

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