WORLDVIEW - From where you're standing you can't see what I see!

WHAT’S BEHIND DOOR NUMBER ONE? [2 Corinthians 6:13-18; Culture, Others, Outreach, Perspective, Separation]

A couple drove several miles down a country road, not saying a word. An earlier conversation had resulted in an argument; now, neither party would concede their position.

As they passed a pig farm with several mules in a nearby pen, the husband asked sarcastically, “Relatives of yours?”

“Yep,” the wife quickly replied, “In-laws!”

This illustrates how two people, viewing the same scene, can see two entirely different things.

How we look at things (our prejudices, presuppositions; our knowledge or ignorance) determines our position on issues and our attitudes toward others.

If two people walked into a room from opposite doorways and found a man holding out a ball, between thumb and forefinger, and where asked what they saw, both parties would say, “A ball!”

However, if asked to describe the ball one might say, “It’s a white ball.” While the other might say, “It’s a black ball.” If prodded for more details, one might say, “It’s a hard, white, cue ball,” while the other might say, “It’s a soft, black bouncy ball.” How can this be? There’s only one ball, yet they both describe it differently.

The fact is the ball is half-black and half-white … both people are correct from their point-of-view (i.e., they approached the object through different doorways). Additionally, each person’s data retrieval system did a search for information on balls: one white ball, the other black balls … they each answered based on their knowl-edge (aka: prejudice).

Life is like that. If we approach a subject (e.g., politics or religion) with a presuppositional belief in abso-lute truth, existence of a sovereign God and His creative power (something out of nothing), our view may be decidedly different from that of our neighbor. Why? Because he approaches the same subject through the presup-positional lens of a belief in relativism, the ascendancy of man, and the ‘big-bang” theory; each of these is covered with his life experiences like icing on a cake.

Take any subject and you will find those with whom you interact holding view-points varying from your own.

Now, instead of a man holding the ball in the middle of the room, assume it hangs by a string from the ceiling. Instead of a rectangular room, assume a circular room. Instead of just two doors, assume an indetermin-able number of doors around the inside circumference.

Finally, assume the other person is free to enter any door in the room; you, however, always enter through the same door (assuming your beliefs are fairly stable). Now, take notice of the following phenomena:

1. If he enters the same door you entered, his view of the object should be the same as yours.
2. If he enters the door exactly opposite yours, his view will be a polar opposite of yours (if yours is righteous, his will be unrighteous; if his is conservative, yours will be liberal; rigid versus flexible; knowledge-based versus ignorance-based; and so on).
3. The closer to your door he enters the room, the greater the similarity between views … that is, the more common ground you have.
4. If the object changes, someone whose views were only slightly different than your own will, more likely than not, enter through a different door on the new subject (aka: issue).
5. Notice, between divergent viewpoints: a.) the greatest possible good is accomplished when there is common ground; b.) the least hope for accomplishment is when there is no common ground; and c.) the least efficient scenario is when there is common ground, but one or both parties is determined to work on uncommon soil.

Every institution known to man, especially the church, would benefit from this insight.

Divergent world-views certainly do separate people, but Christians must not fear engagement with the enemy. The “whole armor of God” protects us; and besides, God’s “grace is sufficient” for every contingency. And, as Paul told Timothy, “God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” [2 Timothy 1:7]

You would be right if you said, “This sounds good but it sounds too much like psychology. Who’s to say one view is better than the other? Isn’t this too much like relativism?” Yes, it is, if all we have is the stage and the two actors; only the stronger of the two has any hope of prevailing.

However, someone hung the ball on the string (The String-hanger/God). This someone knows whose view is the right one; if you’re a true believer, so do you!

For those who practice the doctrine of absolute separation this insight holds no value; but for those who grasp the meaning of the Parable of the Good Neighbor (aka: Samaritan) [Luke 10:25-37] and Paul’s words in about “others” [Philippians 2:3-7] much can be done to woe people to “The Door.” [John 10:1-18]

END TIMES / ESCHATOLOGY: The Really Last Days!

As & Cs ARE HERE, BUT THE Bs ARE MISSING (Where Will All the Flowers Go?) [1 Thessalonians 4:17; other topics - Pre-Trib, Rapture] (New 31 May 2007)

A recent report by Joel Garreau, a WaPo Staff Writer, gives us some food for thought. I found this very interesting ... explains how God could bring about an end to runaway Western materialism. Garreau writes ...

In "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," just before Earth is destroyed to make way for a hyperspatial express route, all the dolphins in the world disappear, leaving behind just the message: "So long, and thanks for all the fish."

Now, around the world, honeybees are vanishing en masse, leaving their humans engaged in a furious attempt to figure out the meaning of their exodus. Entire colonies are following the Shakespearean stage direction, "Exeunt omnes." They're flying off and not returning. Commercial beekeepers open their hives and find them empty except for a queen, a few immature bees and abundant honey and pollen. The rest of the bees are simply gone, leaving behind not even dead bodies.

A third of our food supply - including much of the boredom-relieving stuff, from cranberries to cucumbers - is dependent on animal pollinators like the honeybee. As a result, this mystery is rapidly joining the all-star ranks of millennial end-time run-for-your-lives threats, right up there with Y2K, mad cow disease, West Nile virus, SARS and avian flu.

Of equal note is the way the bees are setting a new standard in human emotional resonance. Absolutely no one yet knows why the bees are checking out, though not for lack of abundant effort on the part of the world's scientists. This dearth of data allows us to project our greatest anxieties onto the bees.

No bees, no pollen; no pollen, no flowers; no flowers, no agri-business; no agri-business, no shirt ... and as the old saying goes, no shirt, no service.

Source link >>>

TAGS:
Bees, Great Tribulation, Left Behind, Rapture, Science

DEVELOPED NATION’S PROBLEM [2 Timothy 3:1ff; Sin; Social & Moral Values; Youth]

In a poll conducted by NBC News and The Wall Street Journal “three out of four respondents said they didn’t trust politicians when they talked about social and moral values."

The public’s apparent contentment with the state of the nation and its economic prosperity appears to have been shaken, partly as a result of a spate of murders by students at public schools from Pearl, Miss., in 1997 to last April’s massacre in Littleton, Colo. "Youth violence" was ranked highest among respondents’ personal concerns about American society.

“By a lopsided margin -83 percent- the Americans surveyed in the poll agreed that ‘parents not paying enough attention to what’s going on in their children’s lives’ has become a ‘very serious problem.’

“More than two out of three poll respondents said that ’the influence of sexually explicit or violent media on children’ has become a ‘very serious’ social problem. And 63 percent identified ‘the high rate of divorce and the breakup of families’ as a very serious problem for American society.

“When asked what change in American society over the past 15 or 20 years has most disturbed them, the highest number of respondents cited ‘the lack of respect for authority and elders.’

“The NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey was conducted by pollsters Peter Hart and Robert Teeter. They surveyed 2,011 adult Americans between June 16 and June 19. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 2.2 percent.”

I was told many years ago that third world and underdeveloped nations don’t have the problems with their children like we have with ours.

[Adapted: Tom Curry, MSNBC, June 24 (1999)]

FEATHERED STOWAWAY [Matthew 22:11-14; other topics - Day of the Lord, Wedding Feast, Preparation]

Steve Harvey writes a weekly humor and miscellany column, “Only In LA,” for the L. A. Times. In his July 24th column he tells the story of a fine-feathered friend who found himself in a place where he was not welcome.

It seems the small bird stowed away on an Air Canada flight before leaving Los Angeles International Airport. He either had help or imitated a passenger so well no one noticed. Once discovered, the pilot announced the unwelcomed guest would be put off upon landing and the door would be shut forever to reentry.

In another place and another time, there will be those who will want to join a wedding party; they will be denied entry ... because they won’t have the right ticket. Others will attempt to gain entry through stealth, but their clothing will reveal them as uninvited guests. They, like the bird above will each and every one be put out and the door will be shut forever to entry.

NO ESCAPE! [1 Thessalonians 5:1-3; other topics - Day of the Lord, Judgment, Second Coming]

Recently, The Los Angeles Times (May 7, 2002, A10) reported on a Palestinian thief who has single-handedly embarrassed the entire Israeli security service. Mahmoud abu Jamous, 31, a kind of local folk hero and jailbird, recently escaped from an elaborate security effort while being transported from one jail to another. Abu Jamous was locked inside a special cage, inside an armored police van, with leg restraints and handcuffs, and watched by no less than 10 prison guards. What’s more, his vehicle was preceded and followed by two other security vehicles.

The sad but comical part of this fiasco is that none of the security personnel noticed the felon was missing. A motorist called the local police and reported that he saw Abu Jamous drop from a barred window of the van and run away. He’s not been seen since.

Paul tells of another day when all of the world’s security systems will fail. He writes:

“Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.” [1 Thessalonians 5:1-3]

There will be no folk heroes among the unrighteous who will escape; no one is going to slip out a window unnoticed.

NOTHING BUT THE SKIN ON YOUR BACK [Revelation 13:1; other topics - Nakedness, Old Nature, Sin]

Reuters News Service reported “a naked man was found dead [July 6, 1999] on the back of a killer whale in the tank at SeaWorld Orlando.” The man was found laying nude on the whale’s back - absent any signs of trauma. He evidently hid until after the amusement park was closed.

Many in the world think life is just one big amusement park, where they can play and play to their hearts content. They think they can play with the beasts and hide while they do it. But like this man, they will end up naked and dead on the back of a beast that has risen up from the sea.

SOME PEOPLE ARE REALLY HARD HEADED! [Matthew 5:30 & Revelation 6:15-17; Hope, Hopelessness]

CNN recently reported on a Pennsylvania construction worker who inadvertently severed his hand with a power saw; then repeatedly shot himself in the head with a nail gun, apparently hoping to stop the pain. The young man had no fewer than a dozen 1-inch nails protruding from his skull, reports said. Thankfully, surgeons reattach his hand. The twenty-five-year old was hospitalized in stable condition. [excerpted from CNN, 25 January 2001]

This is no joke. More than once construction work supported my family while a bivocational pastor … personal experience reminds me how easy one can be injured in this demanding work. Thank God He made some of our heads harder than others.

The shock and despair at the moment of a severe injuries are extreme; first a sense of stupidity arises, then despair … the more serious the injury, the greater the despair. Obviously, this fellow’s despondency exceeded his wound.

When Christ comes again, however, more than a few people are going to wish they had severed offending hands, when they had the chance; their despair will be so great they’ll hope more than a nail gun to assaults their heads.

VEILED: [Hebrews 10:19-20; other topics - Separation, Veil]

A lens cover not only protects a camera's lens but it prevents the camera from seeing the scene right in front of its eye.

In the same way, the veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies prevents anyone seeing the scene right in front of them.

Remove the lens and voilà, the panorama unfolds as a image within the camera. Likewise, remove the veil and there is no more separation between man and God. [New 20 February 2007]

TAGS:
Christianity, End-times, Separation, Veil