Different Views

Isn’t it amazing how the many facets of a fly’s eye combine to provide the information it needs to survive. Those different views do not negate the reality the fly sees.

After reading yesterday’s post, some clicked on the link to the MSNBC article mentioned. There were over a hundred comments, the majority of them deriding religion. Some of them echoed the thought “Imagine there’s no heaven … no religion.” Those who worship are considered unlearned, or in one instance, irrational:  “Religion and conservatism are classified by the American Psychiatric Association as forms of MENTAL ILLNESS.”

I have long held that reading comments on media articles is not a good idea. They follow a variation of Newton’s third law, changing it to read:  “For every post there is an equal and opposite vitriolic post.” A Christian posts a verse or doctrine, a non-believer posts a laugh at mythological beliefs. These anonymous grenade-slinging battles occur on bulletin boards, too.  Even on ones ostensibly for the same belief system.

There were divisions in the early church, too, and they didn’t have the ease of communication that exists today. Paul addressed these differences:

Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. (Philippians 2:2 KJV)

He continued with additional information to get his message across that our goal is to be more like Christ.

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. (Philippians 2:3-4 KJV)

That doesn’t mean living through another’s life, though.  Matthew Henry’s commentary puts it better: 

We must interest ourselves in the concerns of others, not in a way of curiosity and censoriousness, or as busy-bodies in other men's matters, but in Christian love and sympathy.

God’s love for men is defined by Christ in John 3:16, just as Christ’s mission is defined in Luke 19:10. As Christians, these are words we are to live by.  If we do not, we fail to share His love, and fail to be the light He has for us to share:

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16 KJV)

So, I do not post responses, even the ones that hurt me the most. Instead, I think of Paul’s advice to Timothy:

O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:20-21 KJV)

I am not called to apologetics, only to share what the Bible means to me.