Turn the other cheek - seriously?

This is from my devotional blog. How far are we really supposed to go in this? How literally are supposed to take Jesus' words? Can we really give up our shirt when someone steals our coat. Can I really be expected to respond to a curse with a blessing?

“But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. – Luke 6.27-31

I don’t think anyone could doubt that we live in a tribalist, sectarian, divided, disunified world where debate and discussion is riddled with hatred and rancour and vitriol and where everyone if ready to fight at the drop of a hat.

Sadly Christians are right there in the middle of it. We can hate with the best of them. We can fight and scrap and insult our way to victorious ‘debate.’

But what does Jesus say about these kind of things?

Love your enemies?

Do good to people who hate you?

Bless people when they curse you?

Pray for those who spitefully use you?

If someone slaps you on the cheek turn the other?

If your enemy ask for you cloak give him your shirt as well?

Give to those who ask of you?

If someone takes your stuff don’t ask for it back?

Treat them the way you want to be treated?

What?? Is that any way to win a fight? If I do that they are going to take advantage of me. Nobody can expect me to act like that.

I look at that and it really goes against my fleshly grain. If I am insulted I want to insult. If somebody does me wrong I want to get them back. I don’t want to pray for people who use me. I certainly don’t want to help people who are my enemies.

A brief mull prompted by my devotions

I often have these random thoughts through the day. I never think to write them down, but with the fresh 3rd or 4th relaunch attempt of this blog I figured I have a perfect place to jot them down.

As part of my devotions I do a read through the Bible programme This morning I was reading in 2 Chronicles 6 and came across this, probably controversial passage:

"Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for the sake of Your great name and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm, when they come and pray in this temple; then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is called by Your name. "When Your people go out to battle against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to You toward this city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name, then hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.

Now, if I were to mention this as a principle that might be applied to immigrants coming in a nation I would hear that 'O, well, you have to look at the context. This was for Israel, you cant' apply it to countries today.' 

But then when we come across a verse like 2 Chronicles 7.14, just a little bit after that passage, it says:

if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

That does apply to modern nations and it is a promise we can claim.

What am I missing?

Conversation

I saw this post on Facebook today and thought it worthy of discussion, I think a lot of people, like me, have just decided to stop talking about anything controversial on a social media platform.

Sadly, that leads to less and less understanding of each other and a drawing deeper into our own views. We don't want our ideas questioned, we don't want our thoughts disagreed with, and anyone who disagrees with me must be wrong. Civil discourse is gone out the window. Sides have become so convinced of their rightness that if you say something they don't like they are convinced that you are doing it to cause trouble or stir the pot.

I like to learn why other people think the way they think. I like to learn why they take certain views that I don't understand. I want to understand how they can see things so differently than me. We can't do that if our first response to another point of view is to shout them down and call them a libtard or a fascist or socialist or much, must worse. If my side does it it's right and if your side does it it's wrong and you disagree with me you are an idiot. The debate stops there, nobody has learned anything, and we are further divided.

I am not even talking about Christian principles. I am talking about common respect for my fellow man, including those who I disagree with nearly 100%. It is sad that I can have a more civil debate with my atheist friends that many of my Christian friends.

We have lost the ability to discuss issues and have rushed to replace that with personal attacks. The bad thing is, a lot of times it works. Somebody gets shouted down and the winner gets another notch in his gunbelt.

How can we relearn the ability for engage in civil discourse about difficult issues?

Is it worth it to try again?

I have always wanted to keep this blog alive as a place for me just to express my views and ideas and my thoughts, but I keep forgetting about it. Facebook is at the point where there is no room for debate or discussion or dialogue. I still love it and love the good it does, but it is nearly impossible to talk about an issue without being attacked or accused of trying to cause trouble. I am going to try this platform one more time.

It's late June 2018. It's been nearly three years since my bypass surgery and it feels like I am doing well. I saw the cardiologist in February and he said not to come back for two years. Cholesterol numbers are down and everything else in under control. I have a walking streak of 994 days and, Lord willing, will break 1000 next week.

Nest week is the 20th anniversary of our Kids Klub Kamp. Our numbers are down by choice because of lack of workers, but we are praying for a good week.

I had devastating news yesterday that one of the students at Youthreach has been arrested and will be tried for murder - hard to get through that.

I will try to get back to some thoughts about world affairs and my thoughts regarding those later today or tomorrow. Enjoying (or enduring) the World Cup at the moment.

Well, lets see how I do this time :-)

Jehovah-Shalom

And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die.

Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah-shalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. – Judges 6.23-24

I love the Jehovah names of God in the Old Testament. It has been many years since my pastor, Greg McLaughlin taught a series on these names on Wednesday nights. 

I was intrigued and it led to a lot more study on my own. These are usually the names of places or altars established to remember Jehovah, or sometimes they are used to refer to God Himself. 

I am sure that Gideon was a bit intimidated and maybe even a little worried about the task God was calling him to. 

I may not be facing the Midianites, but I certainly understand the lack of peace that comes with facing the unknown. One of my spiritual weaknesses is looking down the road at a long term problem, not seeing a solution that suits me, then losing the ‘peace of God that passes all understanding’ because I ignore the instruction to ‘be care-ful’ for nothing. 

Both Gideon and me can take great comfort from the name of the altar Gideon builds here, Jehovah-Shalom, or ‘The LORD is my peace.’

‘God is my peace’ is something that is a constant theme, but some of us struggle with it. If we could just really grasp this thing we could know the truth of things like ‘great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them.’ We could claim the peace that Jesus promised when He said ‘my peace I leave with you.’

There is no need to live in turmoil and despair. There is no benefit to worry and fretting. We have the God who is ‘God Is My Peace.’ 

Can I rest at the altar of Jehovah-Shalom? 

Only if I really believe that God is my peace, and indeed my only peace. 

So what happened - part 1

A month has passed since my entry. I thought maybe we should go back and do a recap. 

In the middle of July I had an infection in my throat and armpits. I had it treated with antibiotics, but it didn’t seem to get better and toward the end of the month things were not right. My walks were shortening and I was becoming more and more tired and had to stop on my walks. I thought the infection was spreading to my chest. 

Dr Ahern as mentioned previously sent me to A&E with my heart arrhythmia. The angiogram, as I learned later showed, showed a near 100% blockage, a 95% blockage, and one that varied from about 50% to 80%. The only option was the triple bypass. 

After a whole battery of tests and examinations I was moved out of CCU to the Moat Ward to await transport to St James’ Hospital on the 7th of August. The following Sunday I had a terrible pain in my angiogram leg. They never figured out what it was, but I think a bruise pinched a nerve and finally released (while Eddie was praying by the way). 

On Monday I started hearing the operation might be the next day, the 11th. 

After a long evening wait I was transferred to St James’ for my operation early in the morning of the 11th of August. 

Friday, 31 July, 2015 – From the Coronary Care Unit at Naas General

Who would have thought just a few days ago that I would be writing those words. I had not been feeling great since I was sick a few weeks ago, but who knew! 

I have lost a bunch of weight, I walk forever, I watch what I eat, I don’t drink or smoke. I could this be? 

I came to hospital on Tuesday after a visit to Dr Ahern. My heart was out of rhythm and racing. I was admitted through A&E and the search began. The first couple of days everything looked okay. Blood counts are good, cholesterol is good, etc. 

So let’s find out what the problem is. 

So off to Tallaght for my angiogram. The wait wasn’t too bad, but the news wasn’t great.I have three partially blocked arteries, one of them 90%. So here I am, at a healthy 60 years old, having triple bypass surgery. I have quite a wait, and it looks like it might all be in the hospital. 

I can only guess there must be lessons to learn here. There must be something I need. 

It will be an interesting road. 

On the Confederate flag debate

I have been watching the flag debate from afar, but the Confederate flag debate is an issue that I think I need to finally comment on. 

Though not born in the South, I am an Alabama boy. I lived there from the time I was 5 in 1960 until I got married in 1978. I then lived Chattanooga until 1984 when we moved back to Alabama and stayed there till we moved to Ireland in 1995. I am a Southerner and yes, I am proud to be from the South. 

I went to primary and secondary school in Alabama. I went to college and seminary in Tennessee. 

My secondary school had a huge Rebel flag on the wall of the gym. We were called the Rebels. We waved the flag and sang Dixie at sporting events. I never gave the racial implications a second thought. 

As the years have gone by I have become totally ambivalent about the flag. I, as a rule, think folks can get far too worked up over a symbol on a piece of fabric. 

I have been amazed at the speed with which the Rebel flag has become the target of a backlash  of the Charleston shootings. It seems like the strangest of targets. The banning and removal of this symbol will be accomplished and everyone will feel much better about themselves. 

But what is really going to be accomplished? Will racial hatred be abolished. Some white guilt might be assuaged, but will the next black church be any safer from a lunatic racist attack? 

Of course not - the removal of a symbol is not going to do anything of real value, And, outside of public and government facilites the Rebel flag will be more popular than ever. Cancelling 'The Dukes of Hazard' will be agreat victory over racism. Everyone will feel better, but nothing of substance will be accomplished and racism will be as popular as ever. 

So take down the flag, repaint the General Lee, cancel the shows. 

But some day we are going to have to face the real issue here.

A recommendation

Stop Worrying About Politics

A lot of Christians seem confused today about the relationships between and our responsibilities to our heavenly kingdom and our earthly nations. This excellent little book is concise, well written, and thought provoking.

Heterophobia?

Something has crossd my mind over the last few days. I have been a little surprised at the absolute contempt and near hatred expressed by some gay activists and not so acttivists against those who disagree, even respectafully disagree, with them. 

I 'lost' a very dear friend last week simply because I expressed a few that America has much greater sins that gay marriage. I watched a video where a gay avtivist crowd resonded to street preachers with pure anger. I am sure that the preachers were there to antogonise, but the response was way over the top. This week in the White House several gay activists were photographied 'giving the finger' to a portrait of President Reagan with 'f*** Reagan' captions. 

It does not seem to be enough to be tolerant. It looks like those who do not agree with gay marriage and the gay agenda should not only tolerate, but must embrace the concept with open arms. I saw this years ago with a gay character on a televison programme told her mother 'I don't want you to just accept what I do and love me, I want you to love what I am.'

So while some see every straight person who disagress as being 'homophobic' are we not seeing a rise of 'heterophobia?' 

Half way through another year

Half way through another year

In my mind 2015 still sounds like a date from some futuristic science fiction story. When I was young 2015 seemed like it was some far off time when we would be moving around in flying cars and perhaps going into space on holiday. Images were of a whole different world where people walked around in shiny clothing and, according to the story, we had reached either utopia of dystopia.

And yet here we are. We are still using our inefficient and polluting internal combustion engines. We have not run out of oil or food or water. We have not conquered cancer or heart disease.  We don't have world peace. We don't life in some horrendous post apocalyptic world. Life has changed a lot, but if the twenty year old me had travelled here from 1975 it would not have taken long to adapt and figure things out. Life has changed, but it has remained the same.

In just a few days I will enter my 61st year of life. Turning 40 and 50 didn't phase me, but for some reason turning 60 is a wake up call of some sort. No matter what happens I have lived more years than I will live. It is an old saying but the weeks and months and years are flying by now and I wonder how I am using my time.

Am I, as I am challenged to do, redeeming the time? Am I working while it is day? Indeed the time is coming when no man can work.

I was challenged recently by a message I listened to about how those of us who are slowly inching closer to eternity need to be those who are most motivated to redeem our time for Christ. That idea has really sunk in - when I find myself wasting time I wonder what I could be doing to serve God.

As our society turns further and further from God and goodness and morality I need to be motivated to stay busy and stay active and stay serving. May the passage of time and new years and half years and birthdays always motivate me to be steadfast and immoveable and always abounding in God's work remembering that none of my labour for Him is in vain.

Huh?

I have seen this posted on Facebook a few times over the last few days. I am not sure why it is appearing, but I think it is evidence that people don't grasp the world's relationship with God.

My answer to the photo is - of course. The world is at enmity with God. What do we expect? Do we really expect society to he careful not to offend God?

Frankly, I am surprised at how much respect the world DOES show God.

Today's message

A whole lot of Christians are up in arms right now about all kinds of things going on. I don't know if is is just social media or not, but it seem like Christians main focus is a mixed bag of disliking President Obama, defending their rights to own an arsenal of weapons, keeping their Confederate flags, and thinking the legalisation of gay marriage is the end of civilisation as we know it.

This world is not the safe haven for believers and their ways that it was once was. It never was meant to be that way.

As I preached today from 1 Thessalonians 5.16-17 I was impacted by how dissimilar our response is to what Paul told the Thessalonian believers. I intended to preach in a much larger segment today, but only got through theses two verses and the three lessons they give.

So what do we do when things are going? Do we tell the world through Facebook and Twitter how we are not going to put up with it?

Paul doesn't say that. He says:

Keep on rejoicing
Keep on praying
Keep in giving thanks

I wonder how we would do if instead of telling the whole world how upset we were we we rejoicing, praying, and thanking God? What if our social media presence was full of joy and prayer and thanksgiving?

I wonder which would have a greater impact for the cause of Christ? I wonder which would better tend to draw men to the Saviour?

To the new readers

Thanks to those who have expressed an interest. Please ignore the earlier posts if you wish. I didn't know where I was going with this page. Please feel free to input and ask questions. I am looking forward to this new venture.

Thoughts on recent events

In the last few weeks both my birth country and my adopted country have taken a major step in societal change. Back in May Ireland adopted gay marriage by national referendum and yesterday the Supreme Court of the United States decided that gay couples have the right to marry in all fifty states.

This ought to be an easy issue for me.I am a Christian and the Bible is clear that marriage was designed by my God as between one man and one women and it is designed to last for one lifetime.

But as a matter of civil rights I am not so clear. Apart from what the Bible says it is hard to come up with a solid reason why any two people should not be permitted to make a legal commitment to each other. There are plenty of non-conjugal and conjugal situations where two parties could afford themselves of legal protection of property, possessions, and even the right to make decisions on the other's behalf in case of incapacity. I think those civil rights should be preserved and protected.

My issue is with marriage and the fact that we have allowed government bodies to get involved in it. To me there is a simple solution. The state should issue a civil contract and then the parties involved could decide how to proceed with their concept of marriage.

I voted no in May - but only because I could not endorse a legal redefining of the word marriage. That is God's domain and as a believer I must hold to His definition.

I was frustrated yesterday when I read posts coming out of America that implied that this was the final straw for God and now He must act. This redefining of marriage pales in comparison to other national sins like the legalisation of the killing of unborn children. I could go on with other heinous national sins, but don't want to get started.

The church needs to cease its efforts to moralise the world around us. This world is not our home, we have a better heavenly kingdom. Our focus must be to go into all the world and preach the gospel creature. The legalisation of gay marriage is not our death knell - it may be our rallying cry to love and share the word of God more and more.

And then there is the whole concept of love - 'above all else' we are told 'put on love.' 'Faith, hope, and love remain, but the greatest of these is love.' 'Let your love be without corruption.' When Jesus summarised the Law he said simple 'love God and love others.'

Our attitudes and responses must always be motivated by, based on, and covered in love.

And then we leave the rest to God and keep our eyes open for our better heavenly country.

Another attempt

I am going to try this one more time. While my blog has morphed into a devotional blog I have wanted to have a place to post random thoughts and notions. I want to put them down some place since this was already here.

If I fail this time I'm going to shut it down for good :-)

Just a little snow

We had a really good weekend all around. The church had a 'Welcome to the world' party for our little Alfie after church Sunday.

I am excited because I have a sermon series for the next 12 weeks as we do an overview of the Minor Prophets. I used to love to preach on these books but have not done so for a while.

Woke up to a lovely little coating of snow today. Should be enough to cause any road problems, but a nice coating in the grass. Poor little Jasper about froze on our walk this morning.

Oh well, half six and time to get going.

Life goes on

My devotions this morning was from Acts 13 where Paul and Barnabas challenge the new believers to just 'continue on in the grace of God.'

That is so apt for me today. Our lives are nothing spectacular. Most of my life is just going on doing my best trying to serve the Lord. Get up, go for a walk, get the devos done, and head into the day.

I'll be pretty happy if I can just be a continuer for Christ.

Thirty five years

Tomorrow, the 21st of January 2013 will mark 35 years since God gave me the most amazing gift possible. On that day, on a snowy mountaintop in Tennessee, Mary Margaret Sheridan said 'I do' at Jump Off Baptist Church.

It seems almost impossible that so many years have passed. I truly feel like it was just yesterday.

The wonderful thing about these three and half decades is that I have not for a moment regretted that wonderful day.

Life has brought it's struggles and difficulties. But Mary has been the strength by my side that has made it all possible.

Thank you God for 35 amazing years. May by His grace He grant us many more.

Sadness

Our house awakes to sadness this morning. Our dear little Jingo was hit by a care and killed last night. I say sadness because that is the feeling. If it were a child we would be devastated, crushed, heartbroken and in deep mourning.

But today we are sad. Sad because of all we will miss. I couldn't sleep last night thinking of all the good memories of Jingo. I missed getting him to let him out this morning. I missed his stretching to wake himself up. I missed the jangle of his dog tag. I keep thinking that he is behind my of the little sofa in the office.

I am going to miss him on my walk this morning.

I know we will move on. I know I will always miss Jingo. But for today sadness abides.