Gadfly's Muse

The Problem of Right & Wrong

Psalm 49:16-20  16 Do not be afraid when one becomes rich, When the glory of his house is increased;  17 For when he dies he shall carry nothing away; His glory shall not descend after him.  18 Though while he lives he blesses himself (For men will praise you when you do well for yourself),  19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers; They shall never see light.  20 A man who is in honor, yet does not understand, Is like the beasts that perish.

A man, though he be held in great honor among his peers, his contemporaries... though he be lauded in the press and awarded prizes for his “contributions”... though all manner of earthly significance is accorded him... if he does not understand... is no different than a beast!

I’ve been thinking quite a bit recently on this whole business of “doing rightly.”  The Scriptures seem to think it’s pretty important (Rev. 22:14 comes to mind).  In fact, apart from “doing rightly” there doesn’t seem to be much hope that we can even trust that we have faith (James 1:22-27, especially v. 26).  But, as this Psalm tells us, woe be to the man who “does rightly”, even to the point of gaining glory from men for his great deeds, but “does not understand.”  That man (this is scary thought) is no different than an ox or a dog or ... hang on... even a cat.  So, “doing right things” apart from “understanding rightly” is ultimately an exercise in futility.

So.... how might it fit together and “who cares?”  I care and all the rest of us do also at some point although we might go for days, weeks, months or years without thinking about it.  The Bible is not a rule book when you get right down to it.  God knows .. boy does He ever... that if He gives us a bunch of hard and fast, specific, black and white, rules and tells us “Do this and you will live” that two things will happen: First we will completely lose sight of God in doing them ( we won’t UNDERSTAND) and secondly - we won’t do them and therefore will fall into despair because we have blown it... again.... and again.

So God gives us commandments and statutes and instructions and advice and an overwhelming amount of teaching to go along with them.  He sends prophets and teachers and His Son to explain things.  He reaches out to us over time and space and calls us to Himself in the midst of our lives - and in all of that He says over and over again... Do good... but the only good you can do is that which flows from understanding.  Sometimes - show mercy.  Other times... demand justice.  There is a time to kill... there is a time to heal.  Understanding!... that’s the “problem” of right and wrong.  It’s seeing Christ in every question and responding to Christ in every instance and evoking Christ in every conversation and dying to Christ in every moment.  Only then does the whole “problem” even begin to make sense.  We want “black and white”... God gives us a Person.  It’s a puzzlement but it is “a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.” (John 4:14)

Jesus lvs u & hs a grate pln 4 ur lfe

I wonder how the modern phenomenon of “text messaging” is affecting us, especially our kids? 

Functional literacy in adults in the USA, according to a 2004 National Endowment for the Arts study, declined by more than 10% during the twenty years between 1982 & 2002.  An interesting corollary to this statistic is that associated with this decline is a general contempt for the correct spelling or grammar usage.  Those who have their ill use of language brought to their attention generally disparage the correction, usually pointing out that “you know what I meant”.

What seems to be lost on our modern culture is the way language shapes and informs our thinking processes.  The degree to which language enables thought as well as reflects it, is only dimly understood but the synergistic effect is well established.  What should be a concern to us is that poor language skills not only reflect poor thinking capacities but actually hinder or perpetuate them.  The specific thing that concerns me in this meditation is “What does it say about our ability to deal with the language of the Scriptures if the focus of our ordinary communication is through the language of text messaging?”  Quite frankly, it scares me.