It is a temptation to want to join a gang - and it is a temptation felt by Christians as much as anybody. Some gangs of the past were good, overall (e.g. some churches at some times and in some places; some guilds, some professions...).
But the time has come when all the main gangs are bad.
We still feel the urge to join a gang, usually because we are more afraid than ever (whether for ourselves, or our loved ones) - yet any gang we might join that has the power to protect us will actually make us worse, will make us more afraid (of the gang itself); and will not protect us: in this world our loyalty will count for precisely nothing.
This is the existential crisis of this era - the end of all gangs.
We are being forced into a stark choice; and maybe that is no accident.
Proverbs 30:27
ReplyDeleteSorry I also want to put in my previous comment as a corollary
ReplyDeleteExodus 23:2
I know literally dozens of people who have suffered so much, along with Jesus, that the thought of joining a gang has no temptation to them.
ReplyDeleteMany of them are dead, here in 2018, but many are alive. If you were to wake me up in the middle of the night and ask which are which I would not be able to quickly and accurately answer. Most Christians my age probably feel the same way.
Here in 2018, I know many people who have suffered so much that the thought of "joining a gang", when compared to the thought of living out the rest of their lives, in the friendship of Jesus, who knows and feels compassion for the level of suffering that the many people I know who have suffered so much have suffered - well, maybe I am just blessed beyond belief that I know so many people who would never join such a gang, but who would rely simply on their friendship with Jesus - maybe I am just blessed that way. ...And when I think of how much I have suffered, and then think about my friends who have suffered even more than me - well, I hope Jesus, in his infinite goodness, makes good use of our suffering,
I am not disagreeing here, Bruce, with anything you said. And of course you are on to something with the "joining gangs" description. But I have learned something - the people who have been the least kind to me do not have guardian angels who were not, along with my guardian angel, that great and lovable creature, present at so many of the great days that God and his pals experienced before we were born. I wish I had not missed those days, but I did. I never talk to anyone about anything important without wondering if that person may not have missed those days. Like I said, I appreciate your efforts at speaking the truth. It is not easy to say what is in one's heart, and I know you try, and I know you have love in your heart.
Non-sense. Gangs are an existential reality. The problem is there are no good gangs. That will change.
ReplyDelete