Once again, Mark, you show great courage (foolishness?) by your willingness to "poke the bear".
A good sermon always seeks to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
The Scripture presents us with the recurring theme, starting in the garden, of our mistaken belief that life is a zero-sum game; where for me to gain anything you must lose. And the only way for you to win is for me to lose. That is the basic foundation beneath all our fears and desire to lash out instead of give and understand.
God shows us in His vision of kingdom living is that He has assured us of everything we will ever need has already been given to us in abundance. It can only be expressed through self-sacrificial giving to others. And that only by giving of ourselves will we ever really gain the peace and confidence that He intends for us.
Nobody can take from you what He has promised you is yours forever. Anything that can be taken from you is temporal and not worth fighting for to retain. To give up what you cannot keep and be left with what you cannot lose makes you the kind of person that lives by the perfect love that casts out all fear.
Regarding Divine Discomfort and misandry: Do People of Color discriminate and have prejudicial feelings towards white people? Yes. But the primary problem in this country regarding race relations is far and away the evil way White people have treated People of Color. Let us make sure that our priorities are in order. And in the same way, how often do we hear about men being mistreated, raped, beaten, used as sex objects by women? Once in a great while? So the burden of responsibility continues to remain with men as the primary perpetrators of misogyny.
This touchy subject was well analyzed and dealt with in this article!
Thanks, Mark for your (as usual) very thoughtful words.
Once again, Mark, you show great courage (foolishness?) by your willingness to "poke the bear".
A good sermon always seeks to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
The Scripture presents us with the recurring theme, starting in the garden, of our mistaken belief that life is a zero-sum game; where for me to gain anything you must lose. And the only way for you to win is for me to lose. That is the basic foundation beneath all our fears and desire to lash out instead of give and understand.
God shows us in His vision of kingdom living is that He has assured us of everything we will ever need has already been given to us in abundance. It can only be expressed through self-sacrificial giving to others. And that only by giving of ourselves will we ever really gain the peace and confidence that He intends for us.
Nobody can take from you what He has promised you is yours forever. Anything that can be taken from you is temporal and not worth fighting for to retain. To give up what you cannot keep and be left with what you cannot lose makes you the kind of person that lives by the perfect love that casts out all fear.
Regarding Divine Discomfort and misandry: Do People of Color discriminate and have prejudicial feelings towards white people? Yes. But the primary problem in this country regarding race relations is far and away the evil way White people have treated People of Color. Let us make sure that our priorities are in order. And in the same way, how often do we hear about men being mistreated, raped, beaten, used as sex objects by women? Once in a great while? So the burden of responsibility continues to remain with men as the primary perpetrators of misogyny.