The Bible explains in constant and plain terms what is in our heart. You know the heart is not to be trusted. Yet, so often we hear idioms about the heart, and believe them as if they were true.
Heart-to-heart means a serious conversation between two people in which they talk honestly about their feelings Best interests at heart means to make decisions based on someone’s best interests Heart of gold means a person is truly nice, deep down One can set one’s heart upon something, meaning, one desires and expects something Out of the goodness of one’s heart means doing something simply because one is kind
All lies. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)
“The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5)
“And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.” (Genesis 8:21)
“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10)
The Lord our God is merciful. He knows what is in our heart, and He made a way. In the Old Testament, circumcision was a picture of how the heart is covered but the Lord cuts away its foreskin.
“Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.” (Deuteronomy 10:16)
“And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:6)
Pulpit Commentary explains, “As circumcision was the symbol of purification and sign of consecration to God, so the Israelites are enjoined to realize in fact what that rite symbolized, viz. purity of heart and receptivity for the things of God.”
In the New Testament, Paul spoke about the circumcision of the heart,
“But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.” (Romans 2:29)
Our hearts are desperately wicked from birth and the inclinations of our heart are only evil continually. Only the Holy Spirit can purify the heart. Only Him. Paul is arguing that true circumcision is a matter of the heart, an operation only the Spirit can perform.
Left, Salvador Dali, The Veiled Heart
The beauty and grace of our merciful God is that He does clean us. If we repent, He will purify us and establish us as His adopted heirs, His very children. What Good News!!
Don’t believe your heart, but believe Jesus. The Book of Revelation calls for repentance 10 times. The entire New Testament in the ESV calls for repentance 53 times. The entire Bible calls for repentance 75 times. The first word John the Baptist uttered in his public ministry was repent. (Matthew 3:2). The first word Jesus uttered in His public ministry was repent. (Matthew 4:17).
We are NOT “basically good.” Our heart is not something to depend on but contains the things that are evil, things He hates. Sin. Only Jesus can clean our heart, cleaning us from the inside out. He is the Resurrected Savior who shed His blood, died, and rose from the dead to perform this very act: forgiveness.
I wrote recently about a trad wife who presents a display of homemaking to the world that most women cannot achieve because they are not as wealthy as it turned out the trad wife indeed is. This results in a hypocritical presentation, because hers is just aesthetic and not real. My point was the hypocrisy of presenting an unreal lifestyle as achievable to the common woman. Yet some comments appeared under my post and centered on the wealth of the trad wife, complaining about her ‘privilege.’
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We have turned into a bunch of complainers, whiners, and victims. Shake it off, ladies. Grow up.
It is a biblical fact that some people are indeed privileged to have been born into a wealthy family, and/or have had the benefit of money or education or tutoring or good schools… There is nothing wrong with that. Having wealth is OK. Having privilege is ok. 1 Samuel 2:7 says
“The Lord makes poor and rich; He brings low, He also exalts“
When someone complains against another for having what they themselves do not have, there are two issues- first, have you worked for it or just expected it to land in y our lap? And second, the Lord decides who is rich and who is poor, who gets advantages and who doesn’t.
I’m glad for that trad wife that she had the advantages of money and continues to benefit from that advantage.
The problem isn’t wealth or privilege. The problem is hypocrisy. It’s pretending one does not have the advantages they do, it’s pretending they’ve done it all by themselves, and it’s failing to acknowledge the LORD for His work in one’s life.
The other problem with the privilege complainers is that the so-called “social justice” movement has conflated privilege with oppression. The movement & the culture has linked those together. As in, if you’re privileged, you MUST have oppressed someone else to get it.
Not always so.
Did Abraham oppress others? Did King Solomon, the richest man on the planet? Had Joseph of Arimathea who possessed wealth enough to cover the Lord’s body in spices costing years worth of salary? Job’s wealth drew the attention of satan who tried to get at Job relentlessly. God protected Job, until He didn’t. Joseph had the advantage of working for Potipher, until Mrs Potipher caused Joseph’s fall. Privilege comes with risks.
Many people in the Bible are wealthy. Many have benefited from advantage of knowing someone to get a leg up. Moses did- Pharaoh gave him advantages he would not otherwise have had. Eventually Moses declined it so as to identify with his people- who were legitimately oppressed. The Rich Young Ruler would not make that trade, to his eternal regret I’m sure.
Privilege comes with snares and it comes with responsibility. Do not think for a moment that wealth solves all one’s problems. It doesn’t. I am sure the trad wife who is actually a millionairess, has issues in her life we know nothing of. A few of the snares wealth brings are-
an increasing desire for wealth, (1 Timothy 6:10), excessive worry about money (Matthew 6:25-34), the temptation to trust in wealth rather than God (Luke 12:16-21), and turning one’s wealth into an idol (Matthew 6:24).
Wealth brought responsibility to Abraham, he was responsible for many people, including his wayward nephew Lot.
It is God who gives wealth, it is God who brings poverty. He gives advantageous privilege and He makes low. Privilege isn’t what you think it is and wealth has its snares.
But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. (Psalm 75:7)
The GREATEST privilege of all is to have been chosen by God for no reason or merit in us, to become one of His children. Salvation is the greatest privilege. His grace is privilege beyond compare in the entire universe.
Before complaining about privilege next time, remember if you are a believer, we all stand at the same blood-soaked ground before the cross, as humble orphan lost children needing a Fatherly Shepherd.
In the wilderness it was He who fed you manna which your fathers did not know, in order to humble you and in order to put you to the test, to do good for you in the end. Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’ But you are to remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth… (1 Samuel 2:16-18a).
I can understand why doctors and counselors are saying more than ever, teens and youths are depressed. If they are on social media often, and they are, spending hours each day, then they are absorbing the tenor of that social media, which is negative.
Christians are doing the same in many cases, sad to say. Everything is bad, politics arguments, false teachers, apostasy, fights, quibbles, misunderstanding, brouhahas, then the inevitable calls to stop fighting…repeat.
Now while it is true that the world is sinking at lightning speed into darkness, violence, and evident sin, and while it is true the church in the US (and elsewhere probably) is the same, what we believers do NOT need to do is comment on it every minute.
We have the joy of the Lord despite outward circumstances. I write this because a pastor posted this on Facebook about being a pastor:
THE PRICE OF BEING A PASTOR
Being a Pastor is listed among the four most difficult professions in the United States because, a Pastor must be:
•Keeper of the Temple •Cleaning staff Every Pastor constantly confronts
Reviews like:
The Pastor doesn’t visit me Sermon don’t fill me up The Services are to long Temp is either to cold or to hot Pastor’s children are not an example according to others.
One of the most difficult things in the life of a Pastor is to know that at some point the people they love will abandon or even betray them.
The Pastor is often the loneliest person in the congregation.
You may see a Pastor be surrounded by people, but very rarely people who are interested in their problems, needs or even in their lives. And let’s not mention the demands that congregations place on Pastors’ children.
For this I would like to give you advice: if you have a Pastor or have as friends Pastors’ children take care of them, pray for them, connect with vision that God gave them, support them, but above all love them. Remember they are human and in the same way they go through the same needs as you.
Even if you don’t believe it, many Pastors and their Families have sacrificed comforts, rest, personal plans and so many things including some of their own family’s needs to attend God’s call.
Value the time a Pastor puts into work, the prayers he makes for everyone, the burden he voluntarily carries for ministry. You don’t know how much he’d appreciate knowing you do.
Jeremiah 3:15, And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
… For all pastors
–end of sad pastor’s comment
OK, all that is true. One thing he didn’t put on the list is that a pastor must sometimes face persecution and death, at least the ones often do who minister outside the US.
All this is scriptural and expected. I know he didn’t post it as a complaint but simply as a reminder to be fair, nice, and encouraging to one’s pastor or elder. All well and good. But where is the joy?
Well my friend Pastor James Bell posted a response. Now, the Shepherd’s Conference just concluded last week where 5000+ men from all over the world gathered to be ministered to, encouraged, and to worship together. This is a conference founded by Dr. John MacArthur at Grace Community Church in CA. He is almost 85 years old. He is this and the last century’s Spurgeon. His output continues to be like no other living man on earth. His 55 years of ministry in this one church is astounding in the days of church hopping, fame-seeking pastors who like to create brands, author books to ‘rise higher’. JMac is famous in a good way. (and I love him!)
But guess what? For every more well-known MacArthur faithfully and steadily expositing the scriptures, persevering amid trials, betrayals, splits, and pressures from government, and dire health issues, there are 50 more who are not known. Who anonymously preach, love, discipline, repeat- week after week.
One of these I happen to know is James Bell. He is in TN. He is very soon to be 80 years old. He ascended his pulpit just 6 years after MacArthur did and has remained for 49 years. Get that. Forty-nine years. He has preached longer than that but his length of time at one pulpit being faithful to the Lord is something to be noted and praised for the Spirit leading him there and sustaining him all these decades.
Well anyway, on to the response Pastor Bell posted to the sad pastor listed above:
Pastor James Bell of Southside Baptist Church, Gallatin TN, source Bell’s FB profile
Having been a full-time pastor for 55 years, (one congregation for 6 years, the next for almost 49) … yes, I’ve had a ‘few’ experiences AND tough times … Amazingly, I have survived several church wars … etc… etc… HOWEVER, although there is SOME truth in the long list under ‘The Price of being a Pastor’ and some truth in similar POSTS placed on FB from time to time– I, for one, DO NOT LIKE such presentations.
WHY? Such lists do not have a proper BALANCE; they have the wrong FOCUS; they easily degenerate into feeding a PITY PARTY.
1. Every Christian in a local congregation faces many TOUGH, difficult situations… there will be differences in each one’s list; BUT ALL FACE DIFFICULTY…
2. The Bible gives clear instructions as to how we are to treat one another… and some special ones, as to relating to Elders/pastors.
3. As a pastor/elder, MY FOCUS is not to seek sympathy from the congregation– BUT TO MODEL AMAZING GRACE in the midst of whatever trial I may be facing; to be focused on THE HIGH CALLING… the privilege to have the opportunity to function as the LORD’S servant.
4. My real tests, trials, troubles, etc… ARE MY OPPORTUNITY to MODEL CHRIST in the midst of the congregation and before a watching world. LET US NOT CALL ATTENTION TO OURSELVES… nor to seek pity… but let us REJOICE and be FOUND FAITHFUL in our high calling.
5. IN A WORLD OF growing self focus among pastors– let us forget ourselves and deny ourselves, and take up our cross daily, and be those in whom and through whom others will SEE CHRIST!
Now. THAT is wisdom! THAT is joy! That is a clear view of the pastorate, the congregation, the church life, and a good scriptural perspective.
For me, the key word in Pastor Bell’s post was “balance”. I write discernment essays and cry out against false teachers. That’s a ‘negative’ work if you want to look at it that way. But there are also posts about grace, joy, song, praise, spring’s renewal, triumphs, and more. Each and every ministry should have balance. Each and every Christian should have balance and display that balance to the world.
Social media is increasingly used by our Adversary for ill, and part of that ill is an ever quickening slide into darkness, negativity, anger, gossip, screed, and so on. Social media reflects the world. We Christians are not of the world. We are in the world, but we have a peace and joy that surpasses understanding. Sometimes, you’d never know it if all you do is view us on social media, (as pagans and teenagers do).
My encouragement to you (and me also) is to recollect your recent conversations, review your recent posts, check your recent texts. Are they skewed to one side, the dark, angry, or negative? Joy is a fruit of the Spirit says Galatians 5:22. Let’s bear fruit for the Name of Jesus.
A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up the bones. (Proverbs 17:22)
I love to read. With the New Year and all the ‘Reading Challenges’ that emerged in January as people make decisions back at the start of the year, I’d decided to go back to reading for pleasure. This is an activity that had fallen by the wayside as I got busier, and my eyes grew more tired at night. Aging. It’s not for sissies, lol.
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I do need more often to shop my own shelves rather than buying more books! But I’m weak, lol. If I am of a mind to read fiction, I usually stick with the same novelists I’d read before (Grisham, Charles Martin, Will Thomas, and the like). When I find one author I like I tend to read more of their books, because the first one was ‘safe’ so I figure subsequent works have a higher likelihood of being be ‘safe’ too.
A while ago I had read The Rain, a self-published work by Chris Skates and Dan Tankersley. It is a fictionalized recounting of the Biblical Flood. There is a lot of ink in the Bible about the lead-up to the flood, the flood itself, and the aftermath. The authors didn’t have a lot of holes to fill. But still, dialog must be constructed, extra-biblical characters created, and some gaps must be filled by imagination. I thought they did a great job. I enjoyed the book.
That’s why I was disappointed in their sequel, The Tower. To be sure, there is little ink in the Bible about the Tower of Babel. Only 245 words, I’ve heard. So the authors had to invent more. Theirs IS a book of fiction. So I get it. I am not quibbling about filling gaps in a fictionalized biblical story.
But two things bothered me about the book. Full disclosure: I read very little of it. First, the modern language. In The Rain, the dialog, while imagined, was of a tone that seemed old timey. It wasn’t stilted, but the authors kept modern words and idioms out of the characters’ conversations. They didn’t put idioms into the characters’ mouths that a person would say today. As a reader visualizing any scene in The Rain, I could picture the characters saying what they said.
In The Tower, the idioms, words, tone, and language were very modern. It was jarring. As an author, what you want to do is create a bubble for the reader to relax into. It’s a delicate bubble, but if you can hold the reader’s attention, they will descend into your world and stay IN the bubble. You don’t want to jar the reader out of your constructed reverie and become distracted. A distracted reader stops reading. This is what I learned in journalism class. You do not want to do anything to break that bubble.
Turris Babel from Athanasius Kircher, source wikipedia
In addition to modern language in The Tower that jogged me out of the bubble I was trying to stay inside of, the authors needed an editor. Badly. It was a self-published book as mentioned, and often than means not employing a skilled or professional editor, or even a copy editor. Copy editors check copy for wrong words, punctuation, mechanical errors in the text.
The authors used wrong words several times in the few pages I read. For example, gig for did. Site for sight, twice. Ugh. There is nothing that gets me more irritated than wrong homophones, unless it’s spelling errors. So this book had issues with the text itself. That, combined with the issues of language, meant I couldn’t read in relaxed fashion, I kept being booted out of 2300BC. I quit reading won’t pick the book up again.
If you would like information on the Tower of Babel from a credible Bible-based ministry, here is Answers in Genesis’ answer to the question, “When was the Tower of Babel Built?“
Some people object to fictionalizing stories from the Bible. Can we fictionalize biblical stories by recounting them and filling in gaps with our own imagined characters or situations? Hmmm, yes and no.
The most important point is, have you read enough of the Bible, OT and NT, to be familiar with what SHOULD be presented in a work of fiction based on a biblical story? If you’re reading a fiction book about Rachel, have you first read and are familiar with the actual Rachel of the Old Testament? If not, then you are at risk of accepting the author’s version of a true biblical person.
I thought The Rain did a good job of sticking to the biblical concepts. Though I personally have not read The Chronicles of Narnia, people tell me CS Lewis did a credible job with creating a biblical allegory that mirrored biblical concepts. As did John Bunyan in The Pilgrim’s Progress. The television series The Chosen did not do a good job of gap-filling, but twisted the Bible to suit man’s desire to diminish Jesus and hide attributes He has which make man uncomfortable.
The problem with fictionalizing, or making plausible leaps where the Bible is silent, is that very thing- our flesh gets in the way.
And our flesh has an agenda. So does satan.
So in a way, Christian fiction books are the most unsafe books of all. Take the book The Shack, for instance. This was a runaway bestseller back in 2007-2008 and onward. It was sold in Christian bookstores as a Christian book. Its author, William Paul Young, wrote about a man who was staggering under heavy grief due to the kidnapping and death of his little daughter, her death had occurred in a derelict shack.
One day the man received a handwritten note in his mailbox to go to the same shack. Reluctant but curious, he goes, and there he ‘meets’ Jesus and the Holy Spirit in addition to being greeted by ‘God.’ It turns out that according to Young’s presentation of the Trinity, God is a woman, as is the Holy Spirit. The book goes on to present discussions between the persons of the Trinity and the man, regarding sin, evil, salvation, judgment, and other doctrines. The book teaches that sin is its own judgment and there is no other, that hell exists to purge away unbelief (not punish for sin), that there is universal reconciliation, among other aberrant, non-biblical doctrines.
Many credible leaders in the faith negatively reviewed the book. I reviewed it negatively also. A common rebuttal to our negative view of the book was, “Lighten up. It’s only fiction!” Or, “It’s only a novel!”
Dear reader, novels teach an author’s point of view, either subtly or overtly. It’s no different for Christian novels. Novels with Christian themes use narrative to teach. We must all be Bereans and check to see that these things in the ‘Christian’ book are so, in whatever form the doctrines are coming to us. Doctrine is taught in songs, poems, sermons, lessons, theological books…and fiction.
Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr. serves as president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Mohler offers thoughts on the missing art of evangelical discernment as encapsulated by evangelical response to The Shack. He wrote:
“In evaluating the book, it must be kept in mind that The Shack is a work of fiction. But it is also a sustained theological argument, and this simply cannot be denied. Any number of notable novels and works of literature have contained aberrant theology, and even heresy. The crucial question is whether the aberrant doctrines are features of the story or the message of the work. When it comes to The Shack, the really troubling fact is that so many readers are drawn to the theological message of the book, and fail to see how it conflicts with the Bible at so many crucial points.” [underline mine]
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In that article, we see that Christian fiction is deliberately used to bring heretical ideas to the masses and worse, popularize them. Christian reader, beware! It’s not “just fiction”! Simply because a book is listed as Christian fiction does not mean we can let down our guard. We need to put up higher guards!
“When we think about the role of reading in our spiritual formation, we generally think of non-fiction books that help us understand scripture and theology, but fiction powerfully shapes the ways in which we think faithfully about God and the world.” C. Christopher Smith
Fiction is storytelling. Christian fiction walks a thin line between green pastures of heaven and boiling hot lava, in that the story an author is telling is based on the Bible but the Bible is not fiction. It’s history; true, and real. It’s dangerous to tinker with God’s word, yet stories must be told. CS Lewis did it well with Screwtape Letters and Bunyan with Pilgrim’s Progress. William Paul Young did it badly with The Shack, Dallas Jenkins with The Chosen.
Be discerning. The worst Christian fiction often popularizes heresy. The best Christian fiction prompts a reader to run to the Bible to absorb more truth. It also glorifies God.
Dr. Mohler said that even Christian fiction is a work of sustained theological argument. Let’s compare two books to see how this fleshes out: Elmer Gantry and The Shack.
One of my favorite books is Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis. It tells the story of a false convert who rose to fame and celebrity pastor status, all the while not being a believer in any sense. The Bible tells us that this will happen, it’s a biblical concept. The message of the book was to illustrate how this can happen, not to promote that hypocrisy is to be accepted. The sustained theological argument of Elmer Gantry is that hypocrisy happens in religion and it is always bad. It wasn’t promoting hypocrisy or apostasy as good. Meanwhile, the sustained theological argument in The Shack is that God does not punish sin and everyone will eventually be reconciled to God.
We must be Bereans and test every theological argument that we absorb. If this sounds like a lot of work, it is. Paul repeatedly advised his readers to be vigilant. (For example, 1 Corinthians 16:13). We are on a battlefield in a war, and we don’t only hear the cannons booming, but we must be alert for snipers, too. When it comes to accepting things not of the Lord, it all matters. Christian books are never “just fiction.”
Words are interesting. I like the word ‘gloaming’. It’s a more romantic and atmospheric word than just ‘dusk’ or even ‘twilight’.
Merriam Webster says of gloaming: “Originally used in Scottish dialects of English, the word traces back to the Old English glōm, meaning “twilight,” which shares an ancestor with the Old English glōwan, meaning “to glow.” In the early 1800s, English speakers looked to Scotland again and borrowed the now-archaic verb gloam, meaning “to become dusk” or “to grow dark.” Source Merriam Webster.
A less academic and more poetic treatment of the word, which is a weather word after all, comes from weather.com:
Gloaming stems from the Old English glōmung, which itself is a derivative of glōm, which means “twilight or darkness.” Dictionary.com notes that gloaming comes from the same root as glōwan, a verb that means “to glow like a coal or fire.” So, while twilight literally means “second light” or “half light,” and emphasizes the light itself, when you use gloaming, it stresses the way the landscape is glowing, the way it looks strangely alive, rather than the light itself.
EPrata photo of clouds at gloaming time
I went outside at sunset because I heard ducks. Aa bunch of them were waddling toward the pond across the street. What I saw when I looked up to the sky was amazing. A storm front was moving through with boiling clouds scudding from west to east. But they looked like mountains. The scene was of mountains marching to the sea, a stately, purposeful a march with the light behind them changing by the second. The gloaming light tinged the edges of the clouds with gold and silver. They glowed. I was mesmerized.
The light changed from orange to pink to red to yellow moment by moment. The mountainous clouds slid by as if on skates, gliding in a regal progression too majestic to notice mere tiny humans. The photos don’t nearly capture it.
Did you ever wonder why God chose to reveal Himself in words? He could have done so in pictures or in other ways our limited human brains can’t even fathom. But He chose words.
He created worlds, the stars, and us. He set the sun in its course to rise and set, and have it paint the sky while it was rising and setting. He chose color in the world.
My own words aren’t poetic enough to reach the heights of elegance that the clouds and sun and sky reached as I viewed their magnificent display. But God’s mind is such that He chose to give us words. One of them is gloaming. And He chose to give us beauty in the world. God gave me a demonstration of beauty in the gloaming I would not soon forget.
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have set in place; 4What is man that You think of him, And a son of man that You are concerned about him? (Psalm 8:3-4)
My Life with the Walter Boys is a Netflix television series based on Ali Novak’s 2014 novel of the same name. The premise is that high school sophomore Jackie Howard, who attends an expensive NYC prep school and is on the track to Princeton, is informed of a tragedy that killed her parents and older sister. According to an old will that had not been updated, Jackie is to go live with her mom’s best friend and her husband on a remote ranch in rural Colorado. The will was drafted when mom’s friend had 3 boys, but they now have 9 boys and a girl. Several of the boys are Jackie’s age.
As I watched episode 1, I noticed that the acting is good, and the production values were also good. The scenery is gorgeous. I could overlook the implausibility that Jackie’s wealthy and famous parents had failed to do something something as important as keep up their will regarding their children. The show needs a premise, OK fine.
As episode 2 went on, several things began to trouble me. The plot was setting up a love triangle between 2 of the oldest boys and Jackie. This is problematic. Firstly, the girl is grieving the loss of her entire family and her only known way of life. Even her desired future is at risk because her Colorado High School does not offer the necessary Advanced Placement courses she needs to keep up her GPA for an Ivy League school such as Princeton. Her grief needs to be dealt with.
However the guardian dad is too busy dealing with imminent bankruptcy of his ranch, the parasite invasion ruining his orchard, and the veterinarian mom is always busy also. They are depicted as caring, but not deeply involved and thus, unaware.
Full disclosure: I abandoned this series halfway through episode 3. There are ten episodes. So maybe the parents clue in later. I don’t know. I don’t care.
Secondly, setting up a premise of the character’s tension/problem being a love triangle is nauseating. The guardian parents and the elder brothers constantly reassure Jackie she’s “part of the family now.” Thus, any love triangle among them all living under the same roof has an incestuous tinge to it.
Oh but that’s not all that bothered me.
The actual ethnic make-up of Colorado is as follows, according to the US Census:
White alone, percent
86.2%
Black or African American alone, percent(a)
4.7%
American Indian and Alaska Native alone, percent(a)
However, the tv show forced a diversity into every scene with numerous characters of Hispanic, Indian, and Asian origin. The population looked more like New York City than rural Colorado. I am not against other ethnicities. Not at all. I am all for a melting pot. But if you’re going to set the story in a rural, mostly white area, but then force an ethic diversity that doesn’t exist in real life, it’s jarring. It’s woke. And it’s not believable.
If you desire to purposely show many ethnicities, set the show in San Antonio, or the state of Washington or outside Vancouver. There are options. (The show is actually filmed in Calgary, Canada).
Below, the High School counselor meets a new substitute, who apparently is of Pakistani/Nepalese/Indian ethnicity. Sure. In Colorado.
And that’s another problem, the counselor appears in every scene in which I saw her, wearing low cut dresses or blouses like she is below. In a High School? No. Boys of that age lust after dryer lint. Flaunting deep cleavage like that in a supposedly clean show is again, unnecessary. It’s also not believable that a High School staff member would dress that way.
And next up we have the homosexuality issue.
One of the Walter boys is secretly gay. I knew it the minute I saw the below scene, where he comes across a guest in their house washing paint off his shirt. The actor was so good in conveying his rush of lust in seeing the fit teen shirtless in the bathroom that I instantly knew. I looked up “Walter boys gay” and there it was, confirmed. Later in the series, the two share a kiss.
If that’s not enough, there is just one other issue I’ll raise. In the series, the second oldest boy, the oldest one living under the roof, and the one Jackie is in the triangle with, is a sexual exploiter. He plays the field, sleeping with girls who throw themselves at him because he supposedly has tons of magnetism the girls call “The Cole Effect.” Cole is in a dating relationship with one particular girl but he sleeps with whoever. So there’s fornication and ‘adultery’.
In one scene, Jackie leaves her room early in the morning to go for a run and bumps into a half dressed girl from school leaving Cole’s bedroom. And the girl is not his girlfriend. Cole is the boy Jackie ultimately chooses… the casual player, the known fornicator who cheats? Where’s the ’empowered grrl self-respect’?
Said the fornicating underage adulteress to the ingenue…
It seems that the focus on wokeness and diversity, and its hyper sexuality especially seen in the world’s desperation for everyone to be gay, eventually finds a home in media like TV. In most new shows, even the ones touted as “family friendly” issues like immodesty, sexual dalliance, and homosexuality will be present. I do not recommend it.
Netflix is notorious for presenting shows then canceling after one season. However, this particular show has already been renewed for season 2. Of course.
Updated later in the day:
I should put in a recommendation for Free Rein on Netflix. It has a similar plot- teen and younger sister visiting grandparents on a rural island off the coast of England, struggle to settle in, make friends, and deal with her parents’ separation from each other. The scenery is gorgeous, the acting is good and the struggles of the teen are realistic without being scary or overdramatic. The series is rated G. I saw the first season so I cannot vouch for succeeding seasons, but to my memory, the show is clean and actually family friendly.
Used with permission. Kay Cude is a Texas poet. Right click to open larger in new tab. Or see below
WHEN WE PICTURE THE TRINITY TO BE A SINGLE PEARL
I set before you the One Deity and Power, found in the Three-in-Unity, embracing the Three one-by-one, equal in essence and nature…
“Picture the Trinity to be a single pearl, alike on all sides, equally glistening. If any part of the pearl is damaged, the whole loveliness of the precious stone is gone. So when you dishonour the Son in order to honour the Father, the Father doesn’t accept your honour. How can the Father glory in the Son’s dishonour? Likewise, if you dishonour the Holy Spirit, the Son doesn’t accept your honour. For though the Spirit doesn’t come from the Father in the same way as the Son, yet He comes from the same Father. Either honour the whole or dishonour the whole, and so have a consistent mind! I can’t accept your half-godliness. I would have you altogether godly.”
Source: Oration 37, Gregory of Nazianzus, (AD 330-390) “Shapers of Christianity,” Nick Needham Banner of Truth Magazine, No. 706-July 2022
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (1 Peter 1:3)
Well that says a lot! Each phrase is an encouragement. I’m focusing on living hope today. Our living hope is not a dead hope. It is not surmise, speculation, or empty ‘what if’. It is a living hope because we are IN Christ and He is living and He is our Hope.
Gill’s Commentary says
Saints are both begotten again to the grace of hope, and to the glory which that grace is waiting for”. Our hope is because of Christ, it is in Christ and it is Christ. It is a living hope
Genesis 22 has the story of the great test of faith of Abraham. God called to Abraham one day, and Abraham answered “Here I am!” God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, his only son, who Abraham loves. Abraham was to do this on Mt Moriah, a place God initially told Abraham would be a place He would tell Abraham. Not even initially knowing where, Abraham hastened to obey, and the two hiked to the fateful spot.
Theologians have examined this scene and compared it to Christ’s sacrifice so I am certainly not plowing new ground. I have no deeper insights. But in this day and age, with fears and tribulations, and griefs and apostasy, it is always refreshing to keep our eyes on Christ. It is always edifying to see how in the word, the LORD God has it all under control and His plan is unfolding from that day to this in magnificent fashion, and will continue to do so.
Italian Renaissance painter Caravaggio’s depiction of the sacrifice of Isaac:
Comparison of Old Testament texts with New Testament texts. Isaac pre-figures Christ.
The cross is the epitome of redemptive truth, foreshadowed in the acceptable sacrifice of Abel, foreshadowed in the ark of safety that saved Noah, foreshadowed in the sacrifice provided on Mount Moriah–a ram in the place of Isaac, prefigured in the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, where Moses said, “The Lord is my strength, and my song, and He has become my salvation.” We see the cross foreshadowed in the smitten rock in the wilderness that brought forth water to quench the thirsty people. We see the cross foreshadowed in the Levitical ceremonies, sacrifices and offerings. We see it foreshadowed in the serpent lifted up in the desert for healing. We see it even in Boaz, the kinsman redeemer. We see the cross detailed in Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53. We see the pierced and wounded Savior in Zechariah, chapter 12–all the way through Scripture. J. MacArthur
Scripture is amazing and wonderful. Read your Bible today.
I used to study King Arthur, chivalry, armor, and heraldry. I think the Age of Chivalry was fascinating.
Getty Art website explains, “Chivalry first developed as a code of honor that emphasized bravery, loyalty, and generosity for knights at war in the 11th and 12th centuries. By the later Middle Ages illuminated manuscripts had helped establish chivalry as a system of values that permeated almost every aspect of aristocratic culture.“
During this age, chain mail was common until plate armor became more popular. Popular because it protected the knight or soldier better. Chain mail was then often worn underneath the plate armor.
Armor requited constant upkeep. It needed polishing (usually the squire’s job). Its attachments needed mending. The knight could not gain weight, the metal didn’t stretch or grow with him! And it was expensive, so acquiring another suit of armor at the drop of a hat (in just the right size) for purchase was unlikely, and obtaining one as booty even more unlikely.
You know the paragraph at the end of Ephesians, right?
The Spiritual Armor section from chapter 6. Here it is in case you’re not familiar-
The Whole Armor of God
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
**The Spiritual Armor section has usually been taught that we, the believer, possess various pieces of armor which we put on (as verse 11 says). Each piece corresponds to a different aspect of the believer’s life. It is not solely defensive. Spiritual warfare is actually offensive, too.
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