Settling Up & Losing Out

Sometimes people do things that get on my nerves. It's true.

And what really gets on my nerves is when people know their behavior is getting on my nerves, and yet seem unwilling to stop what they're doing.

What's even worse is when someone intentionally goes out of their way to "stick it to me" personally. As if my face (or more likely, my back) has a big red bull's eye spray painted at its center. Times like that make me wonder, "What did I do to deserve it?"

It's a great feeling when we're singled out for praise, honor and acclaim. But feeling singled out for criticism, contempt and abuse is a completely different thing. Feeling singled out, unfairly treated, picked on, or ridiculed can spark an impulse to strike back and hurt the person we deem responsible for our hurt feelings.

If a person obsesses on all the ways he's been mistreated, victimized and held back, that person is likely to start believing that the only way to get equal is by getting even.

Settling scores, paying back, teaching a lesson, putting the shoe on the other foot and getting even all mean the same thing: taking revenge for the hurt we feel we've endured. We may want to take revenge simply to show the other person how powerful, cruel or indifferent we can be: we want to extract our revenge, jab a thumb in the other guy's eye and ask him, "How do you like it now?"

But no matter how we say or phrase it, taking revenge means Losing Out. We lose out because settling scores and taking revenge is a sin.

Scripture says so.

---

But but but you don't know the situation! You have no idea what it's been like! You don't know everything that's happened to me!

That may be true, but remember what happened to Christ after he was arrested that night in Gethsemane? He was slapped, flogged, stripped naked, flailed, spat upon and forced to carry his own cross through the streets to the place where he'd be crucified. Yet even after he was crucified the ridiculing, taunts and insults didn't stop, and a sign was placed on his cross to further mock him: THE KING OF THE JEWS.

And what happened after Jesus was resurrected? Did he hunt down Judas and teach him a lesson? What about the false witnesses and the temple priests? Did Jesus suddenly materialize in the middle of the Sanhedrin and start teaching the chief priests a lesson? Did Christ ride a lightning bolt down into Pilate's bed chamber, kick him out of bed and start settling the score? No, Jesus didn't do any of those things.

What he did was tell his apostles "Peace be with you" ... and remind them that all authority in heaven and earth had been given to him.

Not to thee or to me or to our hurt pride or our feelings.


Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.
- Romans 12:19

God's not done

I believe that when the Holy Spirit convicts a sinner's heart and leads him or her to repent and accept Christ as savior, that person has crossed over from death into life. I also believe that nothing can cause that person to fall from God's grace and lose their salvation.

Yet we all know of folks (possibly ourselves) who confessed their sins, accepted Christ, got baptized and yet within a couple of weeks, months or years seemed to fall away from their faith and become "backsliders," doubters, hellions or apostates.

So how do we reconcile those two realities? How can a person be "Once saved, always saved" yet later still resist God and pursue a sinful life ... as if the moment of their salvation never happened? Can such a person be rebellious and rife with sin, yet still feel that God's grace is upon them? Was that person "really truly genuinely sincerely and authentically" saved, or not?

---

The Holy Spirit isn't fairy dust, a magic potion nor an obscure allegorical symbol. Scripture is clear that the Spirit is living, equal with God and with Christ ... which makes the Spirit as powerful and as righteous as God.

Which means the Spirit doesn't aim and misfire, make mistakes or say "Maybe." When it comes to the Spirit's impact on a person's life, there's no such thing as a tie. The Holy Spirit never needs overtime to win, because the Spirit can't be defeated.

Once a sinner's repented, surrendered and is reborn through Christ, God will never throw up his hands in despair, turn his back, walk away or forsake him: when it comes to his own, God doesn't forget, quit or give up.

Described another way, sometimes lost lambs don't cry out for the shepherd until they've been surrounded by wolves. Being pathetically short-sighted, lost lambs may not see that no matter how far their sinful wanderings have been, the Good Shepherd has never once forgotten or let them out of his sight.

Arrogant Attitudes, Religious Rules & Pompous Piety

Those things happen when people measure their importance by their righteousness.

Things like surrender, humility and forgiveness happen when people measure themselves by God's grace and his righteousness.

Riskiest Cybercrime Cities

(tech news)

- from cnet.com

You may want to start keeping a closer eye on where you click if you live in Seattle.

Among 50 U.S. cities studied for their vulnerability to cybercrime, Seattle came out on top as the riskiest place, followed by Boston, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, according to the report "Norton's Top 10 Riskiest Online Cities," released Monday.

In an effort to study and rank the nation's riskiest cities for cybercrime, Symantec partnered with research firm Sperling's BestPlaces. The two companies used their own internal research and also checked out key facts and figures on each city, including the number of malware attacks, the number of spam zombies, the number of infected computers, the levels of Internet access, and the number of Wi-Fi hotspots.

What's the world gonna be like when I wake up tomorrow morning?

I don't know either specifically or generally and have no reason to start guessing or predicting.

But I do know that no matter what happens, regardless of what takes place or however horrible things might seem at the moment, God's still in control. Just like he's been from the beginning and just like he'll be at the end.

Being The Almighty, he's exactly always like that.

The way we treat each other

Marriage is a big, big deal. The popular saying is that the choice a person makes about marriage is the second most important decision they'll ever make (the most important is the decision to accept Christ).

Single, lonely people might be more likely to pay attention when they're taught that God has a plan for their lives, and that his plan includes setting them up with the "perfect partner." I'm not arguing with that perspective; whether we're single or married, as believers we need to listen to God's will ... just as we all need to follow his commandments.

But if we're single, with no bright prospects shining at the horizon, we might be eager to drone daily (or hourly) prayers asking God to address our singleness shortcoming, hoping to wake up one fine morning to discover that the Almighty, the Creator of the universe, has rewarded our prayerful neediness and emotional urgency by dropping the perfect mate into our lives ... with little or no effort required on our part.

Until then, because God is so busy staying on top of all the troubles and sinfulness in the world, we don't at all mind helping him out a little bit when it comes to finding us that perfect spouse ... and don't feel inconvenienced taking time to speed things up by specifying blue or brown eyes, blonde or dark hair, a certain background or lineage, a range of heights and a margin of weights or physical types ... oh, and a certain income range and lifetime earning potential fits nicely within our "spec" list, too.

So why is God having such a hard time getting things right?

After all, we tell ourselves, doesn't God want us to have the very best? Aren't we therefore entitled to a mate who's super-attractive, smart, witty and filthy rich? Don't we feel we're entitled to all those things simply because we're special? Shouldn't God be eager to move life along and provide us with that perfect someone ... the magic person whose mere appearance will fix everything, soothe our lonely wounds and make us feel as special as we're convinced that we already are?

God I'm tired of playing games, so just give it to me.

--

That was an illustration.

The point is that if we're single, could be that because we trust God's will and divine purpose, we don't mind at all asking God to drop the perfect mate into our path. In fact, we actually want God to make such an encounter unavoidable. We're eager to focus on that one thing and to believe God's gonna solve our "mate-lessness" because, so far as we can see, being single is a priority problem #1.

Funny that we're willing to pray for our perfect expectations to be met ... and that we'll trust God's will and divine purpose when it comes to delivering a perfect husband or wife to us, but let's stop talking about self-made goals of blissful marriage and perfect partners for the moment. If we accept God's will and purpose in every aspect of our lives, then let's talk about the other people God places in our paths ... whether we're single or married ... the people we tend to overlook because their presence in our lives isn't something we spent time praying and wishing would finally happen.

How are we supposed to treat those other people? Should we look forward to treating the strangers we meet in our day to day lives as part of God's perfect purpose and divine plan, in the same way we anxiously expect to meet that perfect God-given mate? Or do we treat everyone else, the people who fail to meet our expectations, as nuisances, disappointments, obstacles and annoyances ... dead-ends who serve no other purpose but to irritate, disgust and perplex us?

What if some of those other people are lost and don't know Christ? What if God put some of those people in our path both before ... and after ... we meet that perfect mate? Or does God's perfect plan just work one way?

"Lord, this doesn't have to be so complicated and besides, I'm not very good at sharing my faith. Just give me what I want so I can be fulfilled in every way and start being happy for the rest of my life. Amen."

---

Christ commanded us,

" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

- Matthew 22:37-40

He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

- Matthew 25:45

Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.

- Hebrews 13:2

"When are you coming home?"

(blog time-out)

When I visited Africa in 2005 I carried a small blue notebook in my hip pocket and used it as a daily journal. Back in the States, my friend Ken Wilson suggested I start an online journal (a web log) so folks could keep up with my experiences once I moved to Africa full time.

That's how Notes from the Blue Book began.

I'd never kept a journal and had never taken any writing classes (beyond the requirements) in school, so it seemed that "blogging" offered almost limitless opportunities for self-embarrassment and public humiliation, and I'm not just talking about my meat-grinder grammar and confused punctuation ... I'm talking about the idea of committing a thought or impression to the digital page, a format that literally allows anyone with access to a computer, whether today, tomorrow or at any time in the future, to find, read and catalog my words. Forever.

It was easy to imagine looking back at my blog three, five or 15 years in the future, shaking my head as my face turned red and wondering, "Did I really say that?"

Several years and 2435 posts later, I've learned a few things about blogging and about being a blogger ... particularly about trying to avoid "me" from becoming the focus of any post, as well as the importance of writing truthfully, honestly and with accountability to the Holy Spirit. Sometimes that's hard: my blog Dashboard probably has dozens of incomplete, never-published posts that I abandoned, regardless of their state of completion, simply because I saw my words wandering too far away from what I needed to say.

Sometimes, too, I wonder whether some readers are inclined to fret and pounce upon a particular word choice, make unintended associations and point to all kinds of shaggy tails hanging behind the horse. Like a blog Rorschach test: "Oh look, I see a roach in there."

I want every post to be roach-free and pray that every word is Spirit-driven.

--

A friend mentioned once that my blog had become "too preachy," meaning that my words sounded like I was pointing fingers at sinners and at "back sliding believers" or otherwise holding myself out as spiritually superior. Ouch ... that has never been my intention: I'd estimate that 75% of my posts are aimed at me, as reminders that I do know better, while the remaining 25% are observations about things I've seen happening around me.

About 90% of my posts, just like this one, come from an idea that occurs to me while I'm walking, 5% come just after I've climbed into bed and none because I've felt like I had an ax to grind or a score to settle.

I haven't, ever, used my blog to surreptitiously attack, insult or find fault with any one else or to make fun of their church. My feeling is that if I don't have the conviction to mention a person, church, organization or institution by name, then neither do I have the conviction to slide innuendos or secret sarcasm between my words. I don't have the authority to criticize, ridicule or find fault with anybody.

Nobody.

If writing in general terms about a topic has left anyone with a different impression, I plead mea culpa ... for not being more clear, because I believe we're commanded, as believers, not to criticize but to encourage and support each other instead.

---

Sharing Jesus, trying to live like him and as he intended, is The Thing ... and compared to Christ, I fail miserably every day. Even when I want and try to do better I still fall short. That's why it's not up to me to judge others; the posts here amount to a transcript of journey to be more like Christ in every way, and of my inadequacies. What I notice most are my own failures, frustrations and shortcomings ... and I can't fix anyone else's by pointing them out.

---

Twice today I had friends in South Carolina ask me the two same questions, "When are you coming home?" followed by "... Or is Baltimore home now?"

It might sound strange that after living in South Carolina for more than half my life, I don't feel like it's my home. I no longer own a house there or anywhere else, but then ownership of real property has nothing to do with "home" ... what I miss is my church and my friends.

I grew up in Florida and moved to Colorado shortly after college ... but I miss Florida and hardly ever think about Colorado. I miss the island neighborhood where I grew up and I miss going to professional wrestling at the Armory on Tuesday nights with my father. I miss hunting with my brother and my grandfather and I miss talking with grandmother and her sense of humor, too. I miss visiting Granny and Pa after church for lunch on Sundays and I still think about seeing movies with my mom at The Tampa Theater. But I left Florida almost half my life ago, and Florida's changed a lot since I was a kid.

Despite what's been written in the newspapers and dramatized on TV, Baltimore ... nicknamed "Charm City" ... has the friendliest, most courteous and most polite people I've ever met. Seriously and no kidding, it's amazing. During last month's record blizzard I stopped by the grocery store and found lines of shoppers extending from the width of the cash registers down the entire length of the building to the Meat Department. How many is that? Twenty, or maybe twenty-five, shoppers standing in line for each cashier? If each cashier needed 5 minutes to check out and bag each order, how long do you think the wait was for the folks curling the back of the line around the meat cases? 90 minutes? Two hours?

While I was there, not one time did I see anybody raise their voice, get impatient, cut in line, roll their eyes or start barking orders about "Hurrying it up." Nobody felt special or acted entitled, no one threw a temper tantrum and no one started screaming or cursing.

What I described from that night in the super market isn't exceptional: that's normal in Balmore, hon.

Strangers routinely say "Excuse me," "Pardon me," "Please" and "Thank you," hold doors open for each other and just generally go out of their way to be helpful, polite and considerate. Some churches are like that, but I've never seen anything like such friendly politeness on such a large scale; I still can't get over it.

But charming as it is, Baltimore isn't home, either. Wasn't ever intended to be, and I'm just here for the present.

The place I'd like to see most is Havana but if I could push a button and be any place on the planet, I'd be in Arusha. Not Switzerland, not London nor Paris nor Barcelona nor Venice. For the five weeks I was there, Tanzania felt like home.

But Tanzania would only be temporary, too.

--

A short while after selling my house a friend asked me where I was living and then remarked, "So you really don't have a home, do you?"

The answer is Yes, I do ... even if I've yet to see it.

Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ

- Philippians 3:19-20

Who's Ready?

I was planning on being here for two weeks; two weeks is about to become two years.

Baltimore has the third highest homicide rate in the nation: it's seven times the national rate, six times the rate of New York City and three times the rate of Los Angeles. I've heard first-hand that HBO's series, The Wire, does an accurate and life-like job depicting what life in Baltimore's public housing projects is like.

I've met several men and young women who didn't watch The Wire; they grew up living The Wire. I've also met men younger than me who own 8-figure yachts ... "wizard businessmen," entrepreneurs and heirs who quickly became bored motoring their multi-million dollar palaces around the world.

Lots of churches would probably welcome well-dressed guests with out-stretched arms; many fewer would likely to extend such a welcome to visitors with needle tracks on their arms or to guests who smelled like they'd been living under an overpass for the past six months.

But who do you think has seen the bottom of life's pit and is most ready to receive the gospel?

The bored yachtsman and his trophy, trendy wife, who're looking for the latest temporary thrill? Or the addict or the street prostitute ... the people who're literally dying, daily, to find what's Real and Everlasting before they lose their lives?

Who's ready to hear the words Christ and Forgiveness, and immediately understand what Salvation means?

Sharing the gospel isn't like the Olympics, with one church earning this year's bragging rights because it earned more gold medal salvations than another church across town. Spreading the gospel is deadly serious business, the only one having eternal consequences ... with the outcasts, the misfits and all the "I'd Rather Not Include Them" people ... the ones who're different from us ... the prostitutes and the addicts in-between, facing the consequences of indifference.

When we stop paying attention ...

(- from ClaytonKing.com)

This applies to every believer, but especially to pastors and leaders.

1. Are you paying attention to your attitude? When we are grumpy, irritable, negative, jealous, or envious of others and their successes, we ought to ask ourselves why we’ve grown so unpleasant and take steps to change our sorry attitude. If you’re not paying attention to your attitude, I guarantee you others are, and they will be happy to tell you about it if you ask them

2. Are you paying attention to your health? Ministers learn to push through tough spots. We grunt it out, ignoring the impending health crisis that lurks on the other side of the current crisis. And we are killing ourselves by ignoring our exercise patterns, eating habits, waist lines and weight, sleep habits, and stress levels. It’s not God’s will for you to kill yourself doing ministry. Pay attention to how you feel, how you act, and how you handle stress.

3. Are you paying attention to your family? When my kids act unruly and hard to control, or when my wife seems short tempered or snappy, the last thing I want to do is ask myself what I have done to cause this, but it is the FIRST thing I should ask because usually, they reflect back to me the way that I am acting or treating them. If I pay attention to their disposition, it will tell me volumes about where I am emotionally and spiritually because they are a mirror that reflects back to me my own disposition.

4. Are you paying attention to Jesus? The strange irony for Christians in general and ministers in particular is that the very source of our lives and ministries, The Lord Jesus Christ, is often the first person we toss aside in times of busy-ness and stress. Are you ignoring time with Him each day? Do you hurry through your schedule and to-do list without prayer or worship? Are you paying attention to the One who has the greatest affection for you?

Wake up and pay attention to the things that matter most in your life. If you ignore them today, you will have to deal with the consequences tomorrow.

the limitless potential of personal preference and fixing things

(blog lite)

I understand the frustration, anger and sense of helplessness that can make believers want to rally together and use democracy (and political contributions) to thwart the spread of evil both abroad as well as inside our nation.

Watching the nightly news on TV, it doesn't take much to start wondering what the next ten, fifteen or fifty years will have in store ... not just for US citizens, but for people no matter where they live on the planet. We start wondering why evil seems to be making such headway while the body of believers is doing so little to stop it. And it could be that some believers start imagining that what we need is for Christians to stand up, put their feet down and finally elect "a truly Christian government."

Doesn't that sound like a solid plan?

It does, at least until you start wondering if, to pick an example, Primitive (or "Hardshell") Baptists would be thrilled about seeing believers from the Catholic faith take control of the nation's political process. What about believers who handle snakes, drink poison or speak in tongues ... would it be OK for them to rule the country? Or maybe what you meant was that you'd like to see representatives from your faith at the nation's helm?

OK, but would you want members of that church across town (the one with the same faith as yours, but their congregation is too "stuffy") take control of the White House and start writing the national agenda? Or what about members belonging to your faith, but who just happen to be of a different race or national origin?

No? Then maybe you'd rather have your pastor, or the one who served before him, serve as our next President ... and then your church's deacons could also serve as his Cabinet and national security advisors. How's that sound?

Uh oh, that's probably not what you had in mind either.

What you really had in mind, maybe, is YOU sitting behind the big desk in the Oval Office, making all the big decisions, telling the rest of the country how to behave and issuing threats that make the rest of the world scared of what you might do to enforce your will.

Hmm. Wonder what the folks in your church would think about you having the ultimate say-so in decisions affecting the most important and private concerns in their lives?

I imagine there'd be singing and rejoicing in the streets, for sure.

---

At the end of the day no matter what our best intentions politics, political parties, preferences and politicians are no answer at all.

Improving on the instructions?

I live alone on a boat. I know a few people here at the marina but they're either married, engaged or on the road to becoming engaged, and I'm neither dating nor seeing anyone. Which is starting to sound like a too-long way of saying that when it comes to meals, I eat alone. And I cook about 99% of what I eat.

I started off with a few basic recipes and slowly learned the difference between Cumin and Turmeric and I know, generally, how to chop an onion or a green pepper without lopping off a finger (a recent event with my first food processor proved that sharp blades are my nemesis).

With a recipe for a food I enjoy staring me in the face, I seldom run into a problem that can't be resolved by simply re-reading the instructions ... so it doesn't make sense to spend time wondering why a recipe's creator would say, for example, to use 1/3 of a teaspoon of Saffron instead of 3 tablespoons of Basil. I adhere strictly to what the recipe says, without trying to second guess or interpret the written words staring me in the face.

But see, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Especially when I start feeling bold and decide to spice up a "boring" recipe according to my own ideas and imagination. Like, I remember the occasion when I thought I'd save time making rice by turning up the heat twice as high and letting the rice boil for half as long.

The results looked (and tasted) like wood glue.

Another time I thought it'd be a good idea to substitute tomato paste for tomato sauce. Or to substitute celery seeds for garlic. Or to use chili powder instead of red pepper flakes or to substitute olive oil for butter.

Inevitably, instead of creating a delicious meal my improvisations, short cuts and good ideas about "Why can't I do it this way instead?" begat heinous culinary disasters that'd make a starving hyena turn up his nose and gallop off the other way.

---

When it comes to scripture's instructions I take God at his word, too.

Improvisations, short cuts and "good ideas" about "Why can't I do it this way instead?" ... defying God in other words ... is truly a recipe for lifetime disaster.

When Moses went and told the people all the LORD's words and laws, they responded with one voice, "Everything the LORD has said we will do."

- Exodus 24:3

But they mocked God's messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.

- 2 Chronicles 36:16

As for God, his way is perfect;
the word of the LORD is flawless.
He is a shield
for all who take refuge in him.

- Psalm 18:30

For the word of the LORD is right and true;
he is faithful in all he does.

- Psalm 33:4

Your word, O LORD, is eternal;
it stands firm in the heavens.

- Psalm 119:89

Just a few small differences

Ever imagined being on the other end, and wondered what hearing your own prayers would sound like? Here's two possibilities:

1) Lord please trust me that I really want this, so please magically work things out to let me get everything I ask for. Amen.

2) Lord I trust your will be done, so please take away everything in my life that tempts and distracts me, to let me know and follow you. Amen.

When you criticize another church or point a finger at its pastor ...

... as the old saying goes, there's three fingers pointing back at you.

In other words, criticizing another church or its pastor means nothing's there pointing others toward Christ. So stop doing it.

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"Thank goodness I'm not like all those sinners!"

No, don't thank "goodness." Goodness doesn't count because none of us are "good." Not preachers, not deacons, not missionaries, not the guy who hasn't missed a single church service in the past 25 years ... none of us are good compared to Christ, and Christ sets the only standard that matters.

What about the person who claims to be different from birth, and argues "Because I'm saved, that means I'm chosen ... and it says so in scripture!"

(The whole predestination thing, the idea that God created some of us in advance to be saved and others no option but to be condemned, goes back to 16th century French theologian John Calvin. Calvin enjoyed describing rules for everything from excommunication to the manner and frequency of "the Lord's supper" to when congregational singing was appropriate. Calvin even revised marriage laws, too.

(Calvin was also instrumental in having his theological opponent, Michael Servetus, burnt alive at the stake in October 1553. For some people, Calvinism and the idea of being "born saved n' special" has lots of appeal ... even more appeal than scripture.)

In his mercy, God chose to save us: there is nothing we can do, no good work we can perform, no scheme or plan we can design and thereby chose to save ourselves.

Because we've done nothing to save ourselves, how can a believer mock or feel superior to a sinner? None of us were born good or righteous or holy in God's eyes, and scripture teaches us to follow Christ, not some warped and self-serving man-made theology, and Jesus never turned up his nose at anybody.

One last thing: it wasn't "sinners" who demanded Christ's crucifixion; it was the "good" church people, including the temple leaders, who felt threatened not just by Christ's words and miracles ... but by his example, too.

The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

- Matthew 25:40

He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

- Matthew 25:45

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

- John 13:34-25

Quietly rejecting Christ

Two thousand years later, it's easy (and safe and comfortable) to look back at the Pharisees who had Christ arrested and tried before the Sanhedrin, and shake our heads wondering how those men could've been so selfish and so evil that they lied and conspired to crucify God's only son.

We might even feel a bit self-righteous explaining to non-believers that the temple priests were eager to crucify Christ because he threatened the religious order by whipping money-changers and by calling the priests and Pharisees hypocrites.

In other words the temple priests and the Pharisees, the most religious folks of their time, rejected Christ because they disagreed not only with what he said and with who he said he was, but also with his authority to Command those things.

Good thing we're not like that today, isn't it?

Today we can sit back and feel free to pick and say Amen! to those parts of Jesus's words we agree with ... just as we feel free to ignore the commands we disagree with (or simply feel don't apply any more), without fear of rejecting Jesus or mocking him or calling him a liar, right?

No, that's not right at all.

Rejecting Christ's teachings ... meaning ANY of them ... because they might contradict "what we think God is really like" is the same as putting our own interests ahead of God's.

Which is exactly the same thing the Pharisees and temple priests were thinking two thousand years ago when they arrested, tried and crucified the Messiah. And still somehow left us shaking our heads 2000 years later.

For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

- 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8