A tolerant, open-minded, non-judgmental attitude is publicly presented as the creme de la creme of progressive secular humanism and group think. It is often represented by those bumper stickers that leave a tickle of annoyance to squirm through the back of your mind: "COEXIST" and "TOLERANCE" being the main examples wherein the letters are scrawled out as major religious symbols (i.e. the "t" is a cross, the "c" is the star and crescent). While thinking about this, I ran across a quote attributed to G.K. Chesterton: "When a Man stops believing in God he doesn't then believe in nothing, he believes anything."
...And believing in "anything" can get you killed because having true wisdom tends to shut one's mind to foolish, man-made ideologies that have no capability to save or enrich (Consider this passage from Proverbs 1). Wisdom brings life but a belief in "anything" breeds foolishness. The image below conveys the fallacy of open-mindedness and tolerance between competing and wholly different ideologies and philosophies.
I have seen quotes from Muslims and atheists that fall along the lines of "We love death more than you love life." Such people will lord their authority over those who are not willing to sacrifice their life to protect what is good and holy. Where can we find such a person? I thank God that through Jesus Christ we have such an advocate and defender. Only Jesus has the strength to save us from our enemies in this life and our final enemy which is death. All those who put their trust in Him will by no means be put to shame.
I've been meditating on a popular idiom that originated in the 16th century by an English farmer and writer named Thomas Tusser. He wrote, "A fool and his money are soon parted." It is oft quoted as a Bible verse (even by myself, mistakenly) but in fact is not one. The closest the Scriptures come to making this statement is found in the book of Proverbs 17 verse 16. It states, "Of what use is money in the hand of a fool, since he has no desire to get wisdom?" Tusser must have been thinking of that particular passage when he wrote down his famous bit of popular wisdom.
My reason for pondering these truths began last Monday when a couple of homeless women named Tommy and Marcy approached me asking for a couple bucks to get themselves dinner. They had supposedly not eaten for two days. After some brief conversation I said I could do better than that and took them to the nearest restaurant for some hot food on the condition that I eat with them. I chuckled in the line and made the comment to Tommy that I had been praying for opportunities to be generous.
After we sat down, I asked them for a favor. They accepted and I said, "Do you know Jesus?" They gave me the deer in the headlights look (which I expected) and I laughed and told them that I just wanted to pray for the meal in His name. The weight of religion was immediately lifted from their shoulders and they broke out into wide grins and chortling laughter and said that they would LOVE to pray with me! They extended their hands out to me and I thanked God for His grace, compassion, goodness, mercy and provision. When we released hands, I chuckled again and mentioned the looks on their faces. I told them that I could "totally understand" why they were nervous.
We feasted, buffet style, for about 30 minutes, at which point I had to take off. We packed up the left-overs for them and I asked if I could take them anywhere for blankets or anything else they might need. Tommy started crying and Marcy soon followed and they just started giving me hug after hug after hug. It was an experience. They told me that they needed to do their laundry because the deluge of rain the previous week had soaked all their clothes and blankets (this is where my foolishness entered the picture). I gave them enough money to do their laundry and quite a bit beyond that. I didn't even bother to think that they were homeless because they were probably irresponsible with money. They started crying even more and thanked me for the money with hugs and smiles.
Still, God is able to redeem even foolishness with His amazing grace. Wanting to have the opportunity to share the love of God with them again I asked if we could meet at the same place on Friday evening. They agreed and the time was set...for precisely when I was supposed to be getting to my second job! I don't know how I forgot about that one. My mind was obviously on other things. That proved to be providential, however, seeing as a young man should probably not be meeting up with a couple of homeless women. The Lord offered me a great opportunity through my own lack of organization and foolishness!
When Friday rolled around, I stopped by a (cheap) hole-in-the-wall Mexican food joint and bought a couple orders of rolled tacos for them. I drove to our meeting point and, right at 5 pm, saw Tommy on the corner. I got out of my car with the food and walked over to her. It was great to see her again! Marcy was not there because she was apparently sick. I said that I had stupidly organized our meet up during work hours and gave her the food. I also gave to her a card for my church which providentially was right down the street and invited her to show up on Sunday morning if she wanted help to get back on her feet. I mentioned that I could understand the vicious cycle of trying to work as a homeless person. She had no home, no convenient bathroom facilities to clean up, no decent clothes, etc. She indicated that she would show up because her lifestyle was "getting old" but only if I promised to be there. She basically made me promise three times.
We'll see if Tommy and Marcy truly want help and are able to make it some Sunday morning. What a blessing from God that would be! In the meantime, I am considering the truth behind a few other amazing Scriptures and have determined that I am thankful, even in my foolishness, for I would rather part with my money temporarily and learn the goodness of God more greatly because of it. I will not have the same lack of wisdom again! I desire only to know God more. Here are those Scriptures:
Proverbs 16:16 - "How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver!"
Luke 12:15 - "Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
Matthew 7:7-8 - "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."
This video is a must watch. A crazy woman discusses why Adam and Eve stopped walking around naked then segues into the transgendered mayor segment and blasts into various other topics such as how Oregon would rather pay to euthanize a woman rather than paying to treat her cancer. I will focus on the crazy woman.
The crazy lady (Rae), says, "Adam and Eve were naked and everything was just fine until they ate bad food and then they got really self-conscious." Perhaps Adam and Eve became farty and bloated when the bad food fermented in their bellies. In light of this, I'm sure that their first clothing was, in fact, a thick diaper woven from fig leaves and animal pelts. Praise Gaia that this woman purged the mysterious "bad food" from her diet and shed her FigSkin Depends.
A friend of mine said to me, "Now I know to keep eating bad food so my clothes don't decide to fall off..." Her hilarious comment reminded me of the country song by Joe Nichols, "Tequila makes her clothes fall off." In place of Tequila, substitute what Rae says about bad food and you'll understand her shining brilliance (PBUH). Oh, how like a laxative it penetrates even the deepest of dark places within diapers to release the flood gates of "truth!" To put it bluntly and with less sarcasm we would say in the Marines, "If it looks like crap and it smells like crap it must be (you guessed it) CRAP!" I mean, at least Joe Nichols gives a probable reason for why a person would disrobe, but bad food? Give me a break!
Defying reason, Rae manages to construct an unholy union between good food and nakedness and becomes, herself, a great, stinking love child of twisted thoughts and lies. My wisdom would be on par with her's if I stripped after drinking grape juice. After all, it could have been wine, right? I would just be looking forward to the promise of fermented liquids in my belly to release my inhibitions... Although, in actuality, the inhibitions I would be releasing (like Rae's) could only be contained in the largest loin cloth of Adam and Eve's invention described above.
Like the king in Hans Christian Andersen's famous fable, "The Emperor's New Clothes," this woman is clothed in shame that she can't even see. She does not wish to appear stupid and so, to avoid the shame of her private fable, she has gone public with her nudity and is laid bare. Though the proverbial child has pointed out her nakedness, she holds her lofty head up high and flaunts her foolishness for all to see.
I write this only to point out the absurd claim of this woman. I mean to judge her words and conduct because it is proper to unmask the lie. To be honest though, it is a perfect mental picture for me of what I am like before God. I have lived in a world that to one degree or another has been contrived by my own lies. I subconsciously live by the famous mantra that "if I repeat a lie often enough it becomes my truth." I am just more skilled than Rae at hiding my heart from those around me.
There is One whose eye has pierced every layer of my clothing and knows even my innermost being. I shall one day stand before His judgment seat and He will demand that I give an account of my life. Will He see that it was built upon the lie of my own desires or, as Rae says, "whatever feels right"? Every one does only what is right in their own eyes. Thus, how worthless my gifts will be to God when I stand before Him naked with my heart fully exposed. As Paul says in Romans 7:24, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?"
Thus, it was not "bad food" that made Adam and Eve "self-conscious"; it was their disobedience and sin towards God that made them ashamed. However, God, in His love, covered their shame (or nakedness as it were) because He took compassion on them. The covering He provided for them (animal skins) was a sign of Christ's sacrifice which alone could cover all sins perfectly and remove their shame. He was naked on the cross when He suffered the shame of our sins. He was exposed and laid bare so that in a very real way we could approach God without guilt as "naked" ones. He bore the wounds of our iniquities so that we could be healed in truth (unlike Rae's healing lie).
In Christ, we have nothing left to hide and can close with the rest of the thought from Romans 7:25 where Paul writes, "Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
