Manuscript Archives - Page 6 of 12

LIE: I can safely ignore God

Lie: I can safely ignore God.
Truth: I can ignore God, but not safely.

We’ve become good ignorers – those who’ve learned to ignore things extraordinarily well. It seems we’ve been forced to become so as a matter of survival, especially those of us crammed into cities, stacked in apartments, employed in corporate parks where 95% of the faces that continually pass us in the halls pass as strangers – we assiduously look down or away and without a drop of conscience.
And think of all the ads, the background music/Mazak, the SMS texts, the Instagram feeds to which we’ve frivolously subscribed, the robo-calls, the signs, the spam, the junk mail, the news and information – it never stops coming. To have any chance . . .

LIE: Christians shouldn’t get discouraged

We usually think that joy and sorrow are mutually exclusive – you can’t have both at the same time. But that’s simply not true. In his second letter to the Corinthian church, which most regard as his most autobiographical, Paul says:
” . . as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing . . .”

LIE: Sleep is a waste

Lie: Sleep is a waste.
Truth: Sleep is a rehearsal for death and resurrection.

It’s one of life’s most familiar daily routines but at the same time one of its greatest mysteries. It’s something we all do each night but something we could not avoid even if we tried. What am I talking about? It’s that phenomenon where we go involuntarily unconscious for hours, commonly known as: sleep.

LIE: Passive use of the Internet is harmless, part 3

Lie: Passive use of the Internet is harmless, part 3
Truth: Passive use of the Internet is participation in a system of systems designed to create a false and idolatrous reality.

In part 1 of this series, I described the data collection and control system and its components. I did that to give some context for part 2, which outlined the spiritual problem with this system. Now in this part 3, I’ll extend the outline of the problem in terms of how it appears to be rolling out, right under our noses. But before we get to that, let’s revisit a couple of things. What do I mean by ‘passive use?’

LIE: I cannot create anything unless I have an ideal plan

Lie: I cannot create anything unless I have an ideal solution.
Truth: Ideal solutions do not exist. We participate in God’s act of new creation by planting the seeds of words, deeds and of our own lives.

Well over ninety percent of our waking (and sleeping) lives are now lived in interior, engineered environments. The walls, ceilings, floors, windows, car interiors, appliances, furnishings and systems that surround us represent years, decades, centuries even, of designed perfection. But it was not always so.
Being constantly surrounded by this designed perfection obviously has its benefits, but it also has its down-sides. One of those down sides is the feeding of this lie: I cannot create anything unless I have the ideal solution. So let me . . .

LIE: Churches must be named

Lie: Churches must be named.
Truth: Naming churches divides the body of Christ.

Where I live four churches lie within a quarter mile or less on the same street, each with its own designer sign. To get to my church I have to pass two of them. Something is wrong with this picture.
We’ve grown accustomed to the thousands of denominations that dot the landscape and even consider it normal. Most of the Christian church in America believes that our churches – to be a legitimate church – cannot exist unless . . .

Lie: Things I can’t sense do not exist, and if they do, it doesn’t matter

Lie: Things I can’t sense do not exist, and if they do, it doesn’t matter.
Truth: Most of reality, even most of what is important, cannot be seen or sensed at all.

We see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. — I Corinthians 13:12

We experience so much today – our eyes are assaulted with images, our ears with sounds. We are drenched – overstimulated by a world of TV images, phone apps, YouTube, iTunes and more. The sheer volume of sights and sounds quickly overwhelm our senses. It’s no wonder we forget the unseen world when the seen-world fills our vision.

LIE: Passively looking at human images is harmless

Lie: Passively looking at human images is harmless.
Truth: Passively looking at human images reduces our ability to relate to people.

Until the early 1800s the only images of the human face and form were reflections from reflective surfaces and portrait artwork. But George Eastman’s invention of roll film triggered a landslide that continues to build, even today.
It’s estimated here in 2018, that the average person in the western world sees hundreds, if not thousands of images every day, many of which are, or contain, images of human faces and bodies.[1] Since the advent of the Internet . . .

LIE: Evil is more powerful than good

Lie: Evil is more powerful than good.
Truth: Good is much more powerful than evil.

God did not abolish the fact of evil: He transformed it. He did not stop the crucifixion: He rose from the dead. — Dorothy Sayers, The Greatest Drama Ever Staged

Light overcomes darkness – every time; so also warmth overcomes cold, reason beats irrationality, and smiles and laughter win over frowns and frenzies. There’s a power in goodness that transcends and overcomes evil, but good power doesn’t look like ‘normal’ power because most don’t think of goodness as a kind of power. That’s because . . .

LIE: I cannot succeed unless I promote myself

Success is usually measured in terms of enumeration – things that can be counted: bank balances, house square footage, annual income, tax dollars averted, etc. Success also inhabits the related domain of the numbered: number of subscribers, of customers, of widgets sold, number of congregants, Twitter followers, IQ score, etc. In one sense, there’s nothing wrong with this. After all, Jesus . . .