One generation after the next being forged in it all.
All evil requires is one spark set to an expanse of dry wood. Only one part evil to a million parts people who are good, but inert. People like you and me. Who merely allow it to happen. Who say nothing. Who do nothing. Whether Facebook, or face-to-face. Who have bought the lie that virtue is the absence of conflict. Who are more unsettled by one shouting "fire!" than the burning building. Or those in it.
Who are more fearful of the opinion of men than that of God.
Accordingly, one moral line after another gets erased. Until we're down to our very foundation. Which is now collapsing. Foundational pillars once represented by terms such as "male," or "female," or "marriage", or "race," or "church," or "faith," or even "truth" have become institutionally weaponized to bolster an unsustainable anti-God, anti-human existence.
We are the proverbial frog in once cool water that is now boiling.
We are a people living in amnesia. We've not simply forgotten who we are, we've forgotten Whose we are. Even the most pious among us. Too many of us have become, as Pope Benedict has warned, "practical atheists." We may connect all the religious dots, but most of us look little different from the rest of the world. Too few of us have solid, vibrant, daily prayer lives overflowing into our marriages, families, and homes. Too few of us are making an impact for the Kingdom. Claiming territory. Too many of us measuring success of church more by what's in the pews than by what's happening in those in the pews. Overflowing to the world.
Accordingly, when we distance ourselves from the God who is Light, Love, and Life we are left in darkness, alienation, and death. Is there any wonder we now have the highest rates of depression, despair and suicide in recorded history? Even among professed "believers."
So, on the necessity of calling out:
It's impossible not to judge. To disagree is to prove my point. Not in the biblical sense of "to condemn," but in the sense of "to morally evaluate." Without judgment, all organized society, including every law, every "do" or "don't," is absurd. What matters is that we judge rightly. (CCC, 1778)
We are morally responsible: "Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act." (Deitrich Bonhoeffer)
1) MIRROR. You will be measured by your measure. (Matt 7:2) Always look harder in the mirror and be eagerly availed to (and grateful for!) being called out on anything.
3) HEART. Prayerfully and genuinely seek the heart of the Father for this person. (John 15:12) What are his unique circumstances, pressures, and challenges? Have the highest regard for what is objectively true and good.
4) PERSONAL. Where possible, be anchored in relational currency with a greater concern for winning people than positions. Address them personally first. (Matt 18)
5) HONOR. Only publicly implicate if actions are publicly known and owned. (Matt 18)
6) ACCOMPANY. Be eager to come alongside and make the difference. (1 Cor. 9:22)
7) LIFE. Be all the more committed to speaking life. (Eph. 4:29)
Accordingly, one moral line after another gets erased. Until we're down to our very foundation. Which is now collapsing. Foundational pillars once represented by terms such as "male," or "female," or "marriage", or "race," or "church," or "faith," or even "truth" have become institutionally weaponized to bolster an unsustainable anti-God, anti-human existence.
We are the proverbial frog in once cool water that is now boiling.
We are a people living in amnesia. We've not simply forgotten who we are, we've forgotten Whose we are. Even the most pious among us. Too many of us have become, as Pope Benedict has warned, "practical atheists." We may connect all the religious dots, but most of us look little different from the rest of the world. Too few of us have solid, vibrant, daily prayer lives overflowing into our marriages, families, and homes. Too few of us are making an impact for the Kingdom. Claiming territory. Too many of us measuring success of church more by what's in the pews than by what's happening in those in the pews. Overflowing to the world.
Accordingly, when we distance ourselves from the God who is Light, Love, and Life we are left in darkness, alienation, and death. Is there any wonder we now have the highest rates of depression, despair and suicide in recorded history? Even among professed "believers."
So, on the necessity of calling out:
It's impossible not to judge. To disagree is to prove my point. Not in the biblical sense of "to condemn," but in the sense of "to morally evaluate." Without judgment, all organized society, including every law, every "do" or "don't," is absurd. What matters is that we judge rightly. (CCC, 1778)
We are morally responsible: "Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act." (Deitrich Bonhoeffer)
Conditions on virtuously calling out:
1) MIRROR. You will be measured by your measure. (Matt 7:2) Always look harder in the mirror and be eagerly availed to (and grateful for!) being called out on anything.
2) GRAVITY. We're all working out our salvation. (Phil. 2:12) Calling out corresponds to someone's persistence in something demonstrably evil, immoral, or wrong (including negligence) that has significant implications.
3) HEART. Prayerfully and genuinely seek the heart of the Father for this person. (John 15:12) What are his unique circumstances, pressures, and challenges? Have the highest regard for what is objectively true and good.
4) PERSONAL. Where possible, be anchored in relational currency with a greater concern for winning people than positions. Address them personally first. (Matt 18)
5) HONOR. Only publicly implicate if actions are publicly known and owned. (Matt 18)
6) ACCOMPANY. Be eager to come alongside and make the difference. (1 Cor. 9:22)
7) LIFE. Be all the more committed to speaking life. (Eph. 4:29)
8) SUFFER. Be willing to suffer for the very ones causing it. This is the highest mark and measure of being in Christ.
Looking for the vision, tools, and concrete support in making your home a place of ever-deepeing encounter with Jesus Christ? GO:
Looking for the vision, tools, and concrete support in making your home a place of ever-deepeing encounter with Jesus Christ? GO:
