...then the lies should bind until it hurts.
Lies should hurt so badly that we scream for the truth. But lies on top of lies are numbing until we lose our ability to move, to act, even to think. We think we're free, but we're not.
Real life-giving truth is surely an art of discernment--we need not only to find a way to speak the truth, but to hear the 'ring' of truth no matter what words were used to convey it.
And then we have be able to 'do truth.' Take authentic action. At this time it is next to impossible, but the time may be coming...
Truth was hard to find after the 2000 election, but now it has simply left the scene altogether ...even Jesus Christ would have a hard time discerning a shred of the truth he left behind...particularly since his flock was fleeced by Karl et al...
In the piney woods of Shelby County, Texas there are sayings and idioms that are as hard to understand as anything you'd hear from the mouths of Christian politicians these days, or for that matter any of the parables from Christian politicians 2000 years ago. But East Texas sayings can be just flat strange--e.g., 'If I tell you a hen dips snuff, you can look under her wing.' It's not exactly straightforward--it's better, actually--because you get the point and some flavor to go with it. Although Texans have been known to exaggerate, discerning the truth isn't that tough if you come from here and you understand the lingo.
Just so, listening to Christians can also be daunting in understanding the lingo and the odd ideas--Virgin birth, three-in-One, transfiguration...it's a pretty long list. But still, there's a deep truth in there somewhere that isn't that tough to discern if you come from there. Most of the time. We'll see. For example, from the so-called 'Christian' Right:
"There may not be any fossil evidence showing dinosaurs and people in the same place at the same time. But it is clearly written that they were alive at the same time." --Mark Looy, co-founder of Answers in Genesis, commenting on paleontologists' fossil evidence that dinosaurs and humans were separated by more than 60 million years.
For Mr. Looy the short version is 'If it's in the Bible, it's the truth.' As he discerns it, the Truth is reading things in black and white and absolutes. The intent is to be straightforward, but the result is misguided, and they either don't know it or they can't feature it because their discerni-meters are unplugged.
And then there's the Democrats. The democratic leadership at least says what we voted for them to say-- that the war in Iraq is a flawed policy wrapped in illusion...and they SAY they are for the withdrawal of our troops. So it looks and sounds like straightforward truth. But, in fact, truthy-sounding words were used to lie. And worse, they know they lied...because they said one thing, and they voted for another, passing a bill to fund the war without any restrictions on this president and without bringing any troops home.
That was an act of betrayal, if not treachery.
So. Do you reckon at least the intellectual conclusion is that we're better off not knowing what the hell they're talking about? Because he unfortunate MORAL conclusion is that TRUTH is something we'll never be able to discern from anything any of them are saying or doing--neither the right nor the left, neither Christian red nor Christian blue.
'Turns out, too many politicians posing as Christians are suspect, if not flat out dangerous. They send our people off to start and to sustain a war that has absolutely nothing to do with the freedom of this country, nor is it for the freedom of the country we invaded. These politicians do not care one whit about freedom, but care everything about protecting the all-powerful oil business interests that have corrupted the United States beyond redemption. These Christian politicians wouldn't recognize the plain truth about the war in Iraq if they were hit over the head with the Liberty Bell. Which is cracked anyway. So much for the ring of truth.
More likely we're better off on our own, muddling along, trying to discern our own tiny truths...knowing and speaking and acting with as much integrity as one can these days, and sometimes even distancing oneself from other so-called Christians, whether they're in the white house or the church house.
Because Truth lived out demands integrity. If all we did was to be humble and to love others we might have a shot at living The Truth...such as taking care of the poor, and being good stewards of the earth and everything in it. For sure, Jesus Christ is not the hot property of the republicans or the red states or anything remotely right-wingnut. And, looking at the voting records, he doesn't fall in the blue camp either.
Reckon God always tended 'more to Green anyway. . .
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