Both Night Wind and Pastor Wilson have continued to embiggen the conversation that I touched on here in abornormally normal. I call this sort of thing, “solving the world’s problems” and it is probably best done in a pub over a pint of ale. It is unlikely you will solve any of the world’s problems, but hey, at least you’ll be in a pub having a pint with some friends, so it’s all good.
Laughing here, but it need not be a pub either, a coffee shop, a talking place, the point simply being, time spent in the company of friends, time spent in relationship hashing things out, really is how you solve all the world’s problems.
So Night Wind wrote a follow up post called, ”Normals, New Normals, and the Sense of Direction.” and Wilson has gone and written ”The Revolt of the Normals part two.”
As for me, the other night someone in my neighborhood decided to disturb the peace by having an uncontrolled detonation of some pipe bombs. Prayers for everyone involved because the injuries are likely quite serious and there was a child impacted. Besides giving my house a good shaking, there were hours of sirens and helicopters. I just mention it because as I was meditating on solving the world’s problems I was thinking, we really better get on it, I seem to be living in a blasted war zone.
Or perhaps not?? Perhaps the existence of first responders and fire trucks are signs of civilization, evidence that the world has not yet descended into complete chaos? Mr. Rogers, regardless of any flaws he may have had, once said that in times of chaos to, “look for the helpers.” That is one reason why sitting down to solve the world’s problems is such important “work.” Somebody out there is drowning and desperately looking about for the world’s helpers. Does anybody in the world even care? Is anybody out there trying to make it better?
I use the word “work” somewhat facetiously since we are sitting around talking, but “work” in this sense could be writing a novel or raising kids or planting a church or building a marriage. Or pouring coffee. Or perhaps chasing down cold case files because no one should ever go missing and be forgotten. Everybody deserves a name.
Back to the uncontrolled detonation. This is a small town, everybody knows everybody, and this guy is not a terrorist or evil or whatever. Obviously he’s foolish and now suffering major consequences, but not evil. So social media doesn’t care anything at all about human relationships or even about the truth. Social media cares mostly about gossip and political causes, opinions and alleged social justice. It’s very important for us to be aware of the fact that the media, including social media, presents a very distorted representation of reality.
The moral standard, the normal, the evidence that we still have some shared values around right and wrong worth fighting for, comes from living them out, walking them out, and demonstrating that we are His disciples by our love for one another.
That is how you revolt, or rage against the dying of the night, or as our pastor likes to say, that is how you fight right.
Julie (aka Cookie) said:
I do wish y’all could move
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insanitybytes22 said:
LOL! Thank you for saying that, it really is the secret desire of my heart to escape. Unfortunately my mother needs care, our kids are here, and hubby is 4th generation.
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Julie (aka Cookie) said:
I know— hence why I know you want to move— for all sorts of reasons! 🤣
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insanitybytes22 said:
Ha! So true. At this point I would settle for a weekend away. I did get to drive out of town for a few hours, so that is something. 🙂
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Sam said:
I read sometimes:
Benedict Option FAQ
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/benedict-option-faq/
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insanitybytes22 said:
Good stuff, Sam! I’m glad you read. My eyes are pretty open and yet I am still shocked by how converged the church is. Not all mind you, not everyone, but here where I live many are still closed. What am I supposed to think when every other pew is roped off with caution tape, and people are wearing masks trying to sing, “no longer a slave to fear?” Colonized is a great word.
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Citizen Tom said:
@Sam
There is more than one way to skin a cat, but we have to remember the point of skinning a cat, a small rug I guess. Never had much desire to skin a cat.
Job 28:12-28 provides an explanation of the value of wisdom and points to where wisdom is to be found. The Bible does not actually define the difference between good and evil. Nevertheless, if we read the Bible, we soon know the difference.
The Bible (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) tells us to teach ourselves and the our children what the Bible says, to dwell upon its words. The Bible doesn’t tell us to become monks. The Bible tells us to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength. We glorify God by joyfully living in the world He has made for us by living as He commands. We glorify God by obeying Him, by doing what He says is good and refusing to do what He says is evil. Unfortunately, most people don’t know what the Bible says.
We want to fix our churches? We need to insist pastors teach what the Bible says. Moralistic Therapeutic Deism isn’t Biblical.
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Citizen Tom said:
Not good when people set off bombs. Sigh!
I commented on the Night Wind’s post here => https://nightwind777.blogspot.com/2021/06/normals-new-normals-and-sense-of.html?showComment=1623804119886#c257786120235938824.
The problem with the word normal is that it means different things to different people. We do need to define our terms, especially when the lawless deliberately confuse our language. So it is that you, Wilson, and The Nigh Wind all define normal differently.
I have heard it said there are only two kinds of people, the saved and the unsaved. True, I suppose, but which of us knows who is saved and who is unsaved.
Individualism is to some a crime. Yet, I think the decision to follow the teachings of God and His Bible is an individual choice, one which everyone who makes that choice makes and executes imperfectly. Not something we can change, but Satan hates such individualism. He wants us to be like everyone else, a sinner whose excuse is that sin is normal.
What can we do? We can each strive to make it “normal” to follow the teachings of God and His Bible by making that choice ourselves. Otherwise, there is not much point in complaining about the normality of sinful men. Since we are all fallen and sinful, all of us sin. Some of us resist sinning, and some of us don’t. Some of us sin, feel shame, and repent. Some are shameless. If anything separates The Night Wind’s normal from the rest of mankind, I suppose it is the shamelessness of some sinners.
When Adam and Eve sinned and saw they were naked, that was a good thing. They had sinned, and they knew shame.
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