I tend to pick on some well known pastors and authors out in the blogosphere whom I actually like, or at least I think they may have some redeeming qualities buried deep down in the dark abyss somewhere. People like Joel Osteen, John MacArthur, Tim Keller, and even the Blind Pharisee of Sherwood Forest himself, Doug Wilson.
Those I adore well, those I have nothing to say about at all, because I would probably just cheerfully lop off a man’s ear with a sword for them.
This all tends to really skew the blogging perspective. Or as someone recently said to me, how come you never complain about anybody woke?! That’s a valid point. Well, primarily because they are just depressing as all get go and hardly worth my time. There’s something to be said about not casting pearls before swine.
But ask and ye shall receive! Ladies and gentlemen I give you John Pavlovitz and when I say “give” I mean, please take him with you when you leave.
So John wrote a charming post called “Dear Judas.” This would be a good time to mention that we should be very careful about pointing fingers at others because we will always have four more fingers pointing right back at us. Or as someone smart recently said, “You know what an accusation from a narcissist is?” A confession.
That’s the darn truth! They are often staring right at a mirror thinking they are looking at you, but they are not. What they are really seeing is their own reflection.
What they are complaining about, disgusted by, and rejecting, is really just their own reflection. You’re simply the target. Collateral damage.
Something very different about Pavlovitz and I, he like many pharisee, jumps on the chance to condemn Judas, to declare he’d “forfeited his soul,” to revile and delight in his suffering, to practically salivate over how Judas is now consumed by “guilt, in a searing, sweaty panic,“ and experiencing a “sickening moment of clarity-come-too-late.”
Oh, and as he is just rubbing his sweaty little palms too, hoping that very thing happens to you. He’s got a gleeful flush just thinking about it.
That’s how a pharisee thinks, how a religionist thinks! Those of us who follow Jesus Christ are more like, So how in the world did Jesus ever manage to calmly sit down and break bread with people He knew were planning to betray him, deny Him, and sell Him out?
He knew! He knew He would be betrayed, mocked, scorned, but He loved them anyway and He laid down His very life for them……. and for me!
Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
So Pavlovitz, you privileged, pusillanimous plate of soggy pasta, all sitting up on your high horse perched on a hill far away from all the other sinners, that’s the problem right there. If you don’t fully understand that it was your sin, your betrayal, your inadequacy that Jesus went to the cross for, that you are the one who betrayed Him, you’ve kind of missed the whole message of the gospel.
Luke 7:47, “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven-as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
That’s all the wisdom I have to offer today, free of charge. Like many others Pavlovitz will probably completely ignore me and be worst off for it.
Amen! Jesus came to save us sinners, not condemn us. So glad for His mercy and grace. Sad to see the face of the religious elites. Jesus is weeping over the hate and vitriol.
Blessings for speaking the truth.
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It’s appalling! On the bright side, I take comfort in the fact that Jesus wasn’t so pleased with the religious elites of His day, either.
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Pingback: “Dear Judas….” | Talmidimblogging
I guess I have to forgive you for sending me over to that poor misquided soul’s post, for I was very much like him at one time.
By the way, I once pointed my finger at my son and told my him about the four fingers pointing back at him. He informed me that there were only three fingers pointing back at me. You can learn even from a Smart Alec son.
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Ha! The smart alec sons are the best. Those skills will serve them well later in life. 🙂
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It really does come down to how a personal relationship with Christ illuminates my life, that others might wonder and some even know that I have been with Him. I can’t possibly have any idea or basis to say anything about others I am merely instructed to Love!
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Exactly. Reflect and multiply His love. We really are like a mirror or a conduit that receives His goodness and then pours that out.
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I like him for his moral condemnation of Trump and I am totally mystified why you even bother with Pavlovitz at all.
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I’m not sure why you’re mystified, but I do notice that quite a few lefty pastors are known for their moral condemnation for Trump. Like, that’s all they ever do, condemn Trump and Trump supporters. Much like you said, you like him for his moral condemnation.
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…..of Trump.
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Joel Osteen and John MacArthur? Wow, what a range. If these guys who set you off are further left than Osteen or further right than MacArthur, they must surely be far out! I’d say you are not narrow minded.
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LOL! Thanks, Oneta. That’s very true, I tend to like pretty much everybody, so you really do have to be way out there before I get cranky. 🙂
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Yes! Lest we forget the center of SIN = “I”. We’re ALL Judas until Jesus redeems us. Saved from sin is really being saved from self.
“There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” – Pr. 14:12
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Amen, MJ! That is a great analogy or acronym. The center of sin is “I.” A lot of the social justice people or the woke ones, are seeking atonement from external sources and usually that means all you other sinners have to change. There is actually all this shame and guilt, environmental guilt, racism shame, capitalism shame. And who needs to deal with all that alleged guilt and shame people are experiencing? You do! Here, let me hand it all off onto you. Nah, not working for me. 🙂
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I read the Pavlovitz piece to see what you were talking about. (I don’t generally read him) I continue to get irked at people who think Trump held the Bible upside-down. I mean, criticize Trump all you want (not like he doesn’t give folks enough chances), but that one’s just a) inaccurate – it’s right-side up, and b) inconsequential. Other than that, though, gosh you’re reading an awful lot into Pavlovitz that he himself doesn’t say. I suppose folks can instinctively agree with you without any pretense of being fair-minded, but making straw men out of people really doesn’t do your cause any good in the long run.
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First of all, most people who fling about the word “strawman,” have no idea what that even means, but they like to use it because it makes them sound sophisticated.
Second of all, I don’t have “a cause” I am trying to “do any good to in the long run.” I am a total unapologetic, not the least bit concerned about winning people’s favor or approval or bringing them over to my team. Go right on being wrong, makes no difference to me.
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Would “strawwoman” mean the opposite?
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You’re right. Most people who fling about the word straw man don’t know what it means. You do not aver, however, that *I* used it incorrectly. I did not. By smear and caricature, you constructed an image of Pavlovitz in order to destroy his argument – but your image of him is not what he actually said in his blog. So unless and until you can detail exactly what he said that so irks you, you are just spewing your impression of him. It’s not careful. And not helpful. Incidentally, if we’re going to start talking about the misuse of terms, you accuse Pavlovitz of partaking in “narcissism”. However, the subsequent statements are a description of projection, not narcissism. Finally, I was going to conclude with something like “whatever cause you actually have”, but I was certain you’d find that too snarky for you. I see that leaving it off was also too snarky for you. It seems to me that you actually do have a cause: to inflame your readers, to titillate, to spark some sort of emotion based on shallow rhetoric by attacking whoever happens to have ticked you off recently. In the end, it’s masturbatory porn in the form of a blog. I get it. Porn sells. By the way, are you willing to say who you are. Why is this? Why hide yourself?
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Masturbatory porn in the form of a blog? I will simply have to put that one in my Rave Reviews, LOL. 🙂
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In front of God and everyone, too! 🙂
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@ unitedpastor
Believe me when I say that I am NOT instinctively agreeing with IB here. I read that piece of hot garbage as well, and I’m perfectly capable of forming my own opinion. IB and I have tussled it out on more than one occassion; we are by no means in lockstep on every theological matter, but on the essentials we are pretty simpatico.
“God is in control” is just another way of saying “I trust God to work this out for good”.
This is not about sitting on our hands and letting sin rip – who says that?? Of COURSE we should do what we are able, when we are able, to relieve suffering in the world. Nobody is saying that we shouldn’t. (What was that again about “reading an awful lot into it”?)
No, this is about “in Whom do we put our trust?” I hate to have to point out the obvious, but God remains in control regardless of who sits in the White House. We entrust ourselves to HIS care, not man’s, and frankly, the idea that God’s work in this world is dependent upon us *doing our part* (including voting for the “right” candidate) is rank idolatry.
Jesus did not come into the world to bring “social justice”. He came to bring salvation, and with it, True Justice. He has already declared His justice for us: Forgiven. Raised in Him.
Thanks be to God that we get HIS justice and not man’s! Jesus hung upon the cross, where He bore and suffered for our sins. He took your punishment – the justice you deserve – so that YOU WOULDN’T HAVE TO. The social justice warriors would just as soon “cancel you”; they’d see you upon that cross and delight in it.
If you want to cast your lot with Man, go ahead. Just don’t be surprised when you find yourself tied to man’s justice as well. You can’t have it both ways, putting your trust in man but expecting God’s mercy.
It is not wrong to be concerned about inequality in the world, to desire fairness and justice for all. That is a holy desire. It is a mistake though, to believe that it will come about through OUR efforts. We are not called to “resolve” the problem of suffering in the world, we are called to be merciful, to relieve suffering where we can, and suffer WITH those who suffer when we can’t.
Jesus never promised to eliminate suffering in this life, but He did promise to provide a way through it, and each of us is gifted to participate in that work in our own unique way.
By all means, vote according to your conscience if you believe that it will have a salutary effect in this world of suffering. You are right to do so. But give the same grace to other Christians whose consciences differ from your own. Nobody died and made you (or Pavlovitz) God, the arbiter of all consciences. Our consciences are bound to Christ and none other.
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