But Their Foolish Hearts Were Hardened

Singer John Mellencamp, in his song, You’ve Got to Stand for Somethin’, sings,

“You’ve got to stand for something

or you’re gonna fall for anything.”

The Biblical interpretation of that is,

“Do not quench the Spirit;...But examine everything carefully;” 1 Thessalonians 5:19; 21.

The desire in every human being to obtain answers that suit us or seem good to us goes back to the very beginning. Just as Adam and Eve did, we, too, crave to extrapolate the expertise of someone else so that we, too, can become experts.

"You will not certainly die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:4-5

But again, the question I asked in the last post, “What if the statistics change?” reappears. Only this time the question, as a result of changing facts, now becomes "What happens when the experts’ thinking changes?"

Or even more likely, what if a more appealing, sexy, wholesome, easier-to-swallow expert comes along? Now whom will we follow?

“For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” Romans 1:21

Now, doesn’t this sound like Adam and Eve? I mean, you can call them a “metaphor,” but then, what do you call people alive today who do the very same thing? Are people today also just “metaphors?”

The point of the Romans verse is that, outside of God, we will fall for anything, just like Adam and Eve did. Believe me when I say that the book of Genesis is quite up to date and current.

God is the only unchanging “expert.”

“...God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 6:17-20

God knew this. That's why He sent Christ.

“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.” John 3:19

We don’t normally consider worldly seeking of knowledge as evil. But it is evil in that it keeps us from the Light of Christ.

See, as long as man goes to the serpent, the “experts,” man is kept in ignorance, and oftentimes, keeps or leads others into ignorance as well.

Seeking after human “wisdom” and worldliness hardens hearts, blocking the spiritual maturity and wisdom in Christ.

And we have ample proof of that everywhere, even in one recent NBC affiliate headline that seems to have thrown in the towel and finally and simply declared,

“Major Depression on the Rise Among Everyone, New Data Shows.”

Time and time again, I offer free counseling in Christ to organizations and individuals who only want to throw more government money at problems, hitting the repeat button on their “solution” to every issue under the sun. 

They flat out reject all Christian offers, while saying in press conferences and in interviews to the media,

“We’ll do anything to solve this issue.”

Anything but Christ.

Adam and Eve listened to and were swayed by the convincing dialogue of Satan, who appeared to them to be quite the expert.

People today are no different: willing to submit unquestioningly to human authority and human authority’s money, in an endless, futile cycle of insane false hope. And it will never bear fruit because it is outside of the just and righteous way God organized the world:

And God said, 

"Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" Genesis 3:11

"Then the LORD God said to the woman, 'What is this you have done?'

The woman said, 'The serpent deceived me, and I ate.'" Genesis 3:13

"Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." 1 Corinthians 1:20-25

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.” Romans 1:18-23

Tomorrow I will look at how human influence infiltrates Christian community.

copyright Barb Harwood

Statistical Thinking is Often Reductionist

Dictonary.com defines reductionism as:

“the theory that every complex phenomenon, especially in biology or psychology, can be explained by analyzing the simplest, most basic physical mechanisms that are in operation during the phenomenon”

and

“the practice of simplifying a complex idea, issue, condition, or the like, especially to the point of minimizing, obscuring, or distorting it.”

I’ve recently begun to wonder if the secular, natural and scientific—purported to be the holy grail of any advanced, contemporary, modern-day thinker, and positively not reductionist—is, for all intents and purposes, actually quite reductionist!

Consider, for a moment.

If statistics show that some Christians no longer believe in a literal Adam and Eve, are we to deduce that Adam and Eve, therefore, have been “proven” to have never actually existed?  Isn’t the logic reductionist?

Or, if statistics prove that Coca-Cola is the best-selling soda, does that automatically make Coca-Cola the best soda? It would be reductionist to think so.

And, if the National Centers for Health Statistics states that 31.9% of U.S. women are now having cesarean sections, does it automatically follow that cesarean sections are a normal and convenient alternative in how to give birth?

In other words, if something like c-sections are statistically proven to be widely accepted and practiced, does that alone make it automatically worthy of positive buy-in and participation, simply because a survey proved that the majority are in favor of it, or it is in fact already happening?

These stats in “expert” clothing have produced nothing but reductionist conclusions.

I’ve heard people who loathe absolutes and reductionist thought say, in the same breath, that they support something solely on statistical evidence.

But statistics are notorious for reducing complicated issues down to tidy little nuggets of absolute truth.

And people gobble them up, digesting them into their worldview and behavior.

But what happens when the statistics change?

One day coffee is a “no-no.” A year later it’s the greatest thing going.

Dr. Spock’s parenting methods are adopted readily by all in the 1950’s. Years later, his advice to position sleeping babies on their stomachs is challenged:

“The stomach-sleeping philosophy was a part of Dr. Spock’s advice for some years after studies began to render it suspect. While later editions of Baby and Child Care no longer advocate stomach-sleeping, the bad advice took its toll on Spock’s reputation as an infallible expert.” Legacy.com

(note the reference to him as being "infallible").

And then there’s the written-in-stone element to “facts.”

While people continue to quote that “fifty percent of marriages in the United States end in divorce,” current research disagrees, finding that the divorce rate is actually declining. One article states that the fifty percent number was a 1980 census prediction of divorce.

“But, as is the case with most “facts” that get repeated (and repeated and repeated), that’s (the 50% divorce rate) not quite true.” From an article by Sarah Jacoby on Refinery29.

Statistics, research and studies are not bad. Life itself is a research lab where we are constantly trying new things, listening to other people to gain perspective and counsel, and traveling to expand our mind and expose ourselves to other cultures.

It’s when the analyses and investigations take precedence over something that is constant and ultimately true that we derail ourselves into every wind of teaching, always learning but never arriving at the truth (Ephesians 4; 2 Timothy 3).

What’s really alarming is when a study, such as one that made Google headlines recently, lands on the scene as if it were the most cutting-edge information on the planet, never before revealed! Here’s what this particular piece of  “breaking news” revealed:

“Want to prolong your life expectancy by more than a decade? A new study suggests that you can do just that by following these five healthy habits: never smoke, maintain a healthy body-mass index, keep up moderate to vigorous exercise, don’t drink too much alcohol, and eat a healthy diet.” CNN, May 5, 2018

This isn’t news. My great, great, Grandma could have told me that. 

But as I thought about it, I wondered how many people, especially those growing up in the digital age of Facebook and sound bites, now wait for a study like this to direct their path. How many people are so reliant on “statistical evidence” that they can’t form an opinion or do anything without it!

Many people mock the followers of Jesus because we rely on Him for our daily guidance and worldview.

But those same people do not see their own religious fervor towards the “experts” who proclaim odes and axioms on everything from diet to holistic living:

—advocating almond milk, therefore almond milk must be a better choice;

—advocating essential oils, so therefore essential oils must be curative (the latest headlines on the effect of certain essential oils on babies would refute that);

—or the advocating of the new “open” office—designed to increase a sense of community touted by social scientists, which is now backfiring to the point that escape rooms need to be incorporated so employees can steal away to a quiet place to think or talk on the phone!

Ditto for the letter that, in 1980, cleared the way for prescription opioids to become the crisis that it is today. In that letter to the New England Journal of Medicine, a Boston University Medical Center doctor and researcher wrote:

“We conclude that despite widespread use of narcotic drugs in hospitals, the development of addiction is rare in medical patients with no history of addiction.” The Atlantic, June 2, 2017. 

(The entire article is worth reading): https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/06/nejm-letter-opioids/528840/

If we return to the opening of this blog post, and look at the second definition of reductionism, what happened back in 1980 with the blatant rubberstamping of painkillers, certainly meets the requirements. It will go down in history as one of the most notorious cases of scientific reductionism. 

The point is, all the research in the world cannot replace good old common sense and Godly discernment, a no doubt reductionist line of thinking that would drive the lovers of stats crazy!

But it was that very common sense that, for me, when I noticed the unhealthy changes in my body after naively jumping on the almond milk bandwagon, and finally read the ingredient label (very little almond to other ingredient ratio) that I jumped off.  

I had initially become an almond milk groupie simply because studies were “proving,” and everyone was obeying, the beverage guru’s decree—that almond milk is much better for you than cow’s milk. I speak for myself when I say that that just wasn’t true. Feeling healthy and normal again when I stopped drinking it was all the evidence I needed.

The problem with a statistics-based mindset is that, as with the almond milk, it makes us gullible.

With no other foundation from which to consider, discern and test what is good and true and right, what sounds good to us translates in our mind to what is good.

What someone else has announced as “ideal” is automatically adopted as our new best friend. And that is reductionism at its worst. 

I’ll explore more in the next post.

Copyright Barb Harwood

Not Everyone is a Malcontent

In the course of each and every day, we will run into or continue to be forced to interact with, malcontents.

But each and every day we will also run into or continue to interact with people who are not.

When we think about our world—or life in general—if we ask ourselves what tends to hold the place of immediacy in our thoughts, many of us will answer that it is the person who is a thorn in our side: the boss, the sibling, the spouse, the neighbor, the guy on the other end of the telephone who is giving us the run around.

But, what about the bank teller we deal with on a weekly basis that is kind, with a terrific sense of humor, who provides instant help on an issue we aren’t clear on?

What about the co-worker who is dependable and accurate, and not a drama queen?

What about the jovial mailman who faithfully delivers our correspondence and Amazon packages to our door every day, with a wave and a smile?

What about all the people who do not shove their politics, do not self-promote, do not one-up, do not backstab, do not play favorites, and do not respond with sour grapes to someone’s good news?

What about them?

One of the ways the world remains fallen but doesn’t have to is when we put the “Negative Nellies” on the pedestal of life, abdicating those who are kind, quiet, gentle and warm to the cellar where they are forgotten or never even noticed.

What if we switched gears?

What if we simply decide to refuse to take (internalize, dwell on or react defensively to) someone else’s jealousies, animosities, gossip, political partisanship, and ad nauseam critical commentaries, and instead choose to internalize the wave and the smile from the postman?

What if we reminisced about last Sunday’s brunch with friends where we mutually “oohed and ahhhed” over travel stories and photos instead of ruminating on that self-centered off-hand remark by a colleague?

What if we hung onto the words of well-wishers to our success instead of the silent scowl emanating from the person who cannot affirm anyone due to their own self-preoccupation and insecurities?

And what if we, in turn, by desiring to notice whatever is true, right, honorable, pure, lovely and of good repute (Philippians 4:8) join those who already exhibit those qualities by exhibiting them ourselves?

So we become the affirmer in someone else’s bad day, the encouragement to someone’s having just been knocked down, the person of acceptance when someone has made an honest mistake.

What if we were the person of long-suffering patience and forgiveness in a world of white-knuckle grudge-holding and keeping score? What if we allowed someone to sincerely turn over a new leaf and received him or her in that metamorphosis? 

By living this way, we will not, I assure you, remove the naysayers and sourpusses.

Unfortunately, we will still work with overbearing bosses, control freaks and gossips. We will continue to live next door to busybodies and neatniks who despise our dandelions.

We will not eradicate those who live life on a transactional, tit-for-tat basis.

What we will do is notice, embrace and make it a point to interact with the courteous, the joyous, the down to earth, the ones who persevere with a humble attitude, and those who acknowledge the existence of others with warmth and selfless interest.

Because, what I’m finding, as I shift my own vision away from the toxic, is that the felicitous and endearing exist! They are out there!

They are already in our offices, apartment communities, cities and the places we frequent.

We just need to start noticing them and giving them more weight than we do the “downers.”

Some people are villainous due to their inner dysfunction. They hurt and are lost. We must train ourselves to see this too, in order not to write people off. Seeing them for who they really are, we can, in the strength of the Holy Spirit and Christ’s love for us, grow compassion for them.

Our sorrow over their vitriolic state is what will enable us to stop giving them control over our attitude, outlook and emotions.

Although we are to heed constructive criticism from people of integrity, we are not to internalize the jibs and jabs of people who are merely disgruntled with themselves.

This becomes easier when we turn our minds and hearts to those who are not disgruntled; to those who are not resentful; to those who are not out to get us. And in turn, we, with God’s help in searching our hearts, examine and eradicate the malevolence that exists within ourselves.

The genuine, thoughtful and gracious are out there, confirming our confidence in God’s creation that, yes, although all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) He did create us and called us good (Genesis). Not innately, humanly good, due to sin. But we have the potential for good because of God’s fingerprint upon us.

“...because that which is evident about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” (Romans 1:19-21)

If we want more of God’s kind of people in the world, we first need to be that person. Secondly, we do well to notice and cherish those who already are living out godly attributes.

I’m discovering that they aren’t that difficult to find.

Copyright Barb Harwood

“Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:14-15

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things...practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:4-8; 9b

Is Everything in Life Specifically Orchestrated by God?

Some people have a Magic Eight Ball perspective of God. 

If we get a parking spot, we "see God’s hand in it."

If we sign a lease for the apartment, God wants us to live there and not at the other place we were considering. 

If a wonderful neighbor moves in next door, God specifically singled them out and brought them there. 

If Fred gets fired from his job, and uses his time off from work to go on mission trips, then God wanted him to get fired so that the Lord’s work could proceed.

Is that always the case?

Is God up there, micro-managing our every move, closing and opening doors as if we were in a constantly reconfigured maze?

As I contemplated this, I went to Scripture to see how God’s directing of outcomes might work.

And I found, in numerous verses, the connection between our growing maturity in Christ—the turning away from sinful attitudes and motivations—and the directing of our steps:

“How blessed are those whose way is blameless,

Who walk in the law of the LORD.

How blessed are those who observe His testimonies,

Who seek Him with all their heart,

They also do no unrighteousness;

They walk in His ways.” Psalm 119:1-3

“His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 1:3-8

So if Fred loses his job, isn’t it highly likely that it is his spiritual maturity that is allowing him to not be downcast but to instead find something positive to do while he is looking for another job or figuring out next steps? 

Isn’t his living out of 2 Peter what brought about his decision to go on a mission trip? And would Fred have been just as in the will of God if he had volunteered at a secular charity or if he had offered to babysit his grandchildren once a week?

Wouldn’t God have indeed been in all of those choices?

My point is, so many of us get fixated upon, and often stymied, by this idea of putting our finger on GOD’S ONE THING for us: be it that ONE spouse, that ONE city, that ONE ministry. The truth is, I don’t believe there is a ONE THING.

I do, however, believe there is personal sanctification that is always God’s will for us, with everything else in life flowing out of that.

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2

In 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 we are told to “test everything, hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.”

That verse continues on:

“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it” (Thessalonians 5:23-24).

I have heard the above Thessalonians verses used in prayers for specific outcomes:

“Lord, send us the funds we need. You are calling us to this work, and we know you’ll do it.”

We need to comprehend what these verses are actually “calling” us to: not to a specific mission field, not to a mate, not to a church plant, not to passing the exam, but to God’s sanctification and to be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful to do that; that He surely will do!

See, if we miss this point and jump to the word “call” and the phrase “he will surely do it,” we may not pray for His call to our sanctification and to our need to keep ourselves intent on living out our spiritual maturity until the day of Christ.

In other words, I don’t believe God is as interested in what country we carry the Gospel to, or what Godly person we marry, or what Christian organization we serve with, as He is with our spirit, soul, mind and body becoming spiritually mature.

So if God directs, it is because a clear conscience and a blessed life comes about at God’s hand, but not with us as automatons, and not simply because we have confessed Christ as Savior.

It is because, as fully submitted believers to Christ (not to a church, not to a belief—but to Christ alone) we will then seek Him with all of our heart, with all of our mind, with all of our soul, and with all of our strength. And that seeking is for His righteousness, not for whether we should live in apartment A or B, or whether we found a parking spot just when we needed it.

copyright Barb Harwood