Love them Anyway - or Hate in TBI

The Golden Rule - Do Unto Others
as You Would Have them Do Unto You.

Do you remember the Golden Rule that we were taught when we were young?  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  I am sure someone told me this was from Luke 6:31, but I don't remember much about church or Sunday school, or about being young. (This being one of the least awesome benefits of having TBI.) The reason that I show a Ruler, also called a rule, instead of using the standard definition of a rule, being something we have to follow, is the context of Luke 6.  I seems that Jesus is telling us to just treat others they way we want to be treated, but rather it is a different way, a bigger way, to look at the Lords Prayer.  In the Lords prayer we ask God to forgive us as just as we have forgiven others.  In other words, we are not forgiven unless we forgive others.  More on that later.

It came as a shock today when I was looking for some background on a quote from Mother Teresa poem about "Do it Anyway." As it turns out, the poem credited to Mother Teresa was a spiritual re-write of The Paradoxical Commandments by Dr. Kent M. Keith.  The reason I was shocked was because I assumed it was a simple instruction to treat others well. It is not.  It is a total life style change, that requires me to understand what I am about; what my value to others and to God's plan is.  It demands of me more that I can give, yet I give it anyway. Do It Anyway By Keith, Kent M. (Google Affiliate Ad).

Let me start at the beginning.  One of the many oddities of my TBI is the difficulty social activities and driving adds to my daily functioning.  We took a karate trip once to Italy.  Everyone in the group was very social. They hung out, talked and did all the things that my wife really likes to do.  I on the other hand, get massive migraines, get sick, as in power hurling, and even lose vision and to some degree the ability to speak.  If the activity is challenging and long enough, the symptoms might last for weeks.  So when they come up, I leave the situation as quietly as I can.  The only problem is, when you are on tour, in Venice Italy, and you have no short term or long term memory, there is a better than even chance you will get lost, and never find you way back.  No the astute reader will be thinking about now, why not just ask someone the way back.  That would assume you knew the name of your hotel, you remembered where you key is with the name of the hotel, you remembered to bring your wallet with a note it it, and that asking for help from a stranger would not cause to to get even sicker. Putting all that aside, however, I would tell my wife that I was going to go away for a while, or go back to my room.  Then leave, before I made a huge mess of everybody elses trip.  My wife, being the saint that she is, would come too, knowing that I would never make it.  We would then go off and explore on our own.

Much later, I was verbally assaulted by the leader of the group.  One of the great evils that he pointed out about my life, was that I would just walk away from the group on trips, forcing my wife into bad situations.  He thought that was unmanly.  I didn't tell him the truth.  Truth is irrelevant when people have made up their minds.  Just let it go.  He hurt me.  Many years latter I found out that it was only I he wanted to hurt.  My daughter and wife were good people, but I was a pariah.  So my behavior cost me a relationship, and my whole family.  I could have let them continue in their relationship, but that option was never given to me.  My wife the saint again.  So it still hurts. I hate that part of my life, and no one that was involved will ever understand.

We used to train at a friend's school about 1.5 hours away from our house.  He was a Christian and a very good teacher.  He invited us to his staff class, and out of respect and a desire to be one of the boys, my wife and I made the effort.  The class was 8am, so we had to wake up at 5am to get to the class, and then drive 1.5 hours to get there, take the class, with people all of whom were 20 years or more younger than I, and then drive 1.5 hours back.  No biggie.  It was worth it.  Today I found out why we stopped going, and why the relationship broke down.  I always assumed it was because of a business mess up of one of our former friends, but as it turns out, it was not.  It seems that after I drive 1.5 hours I get to experience one of my unique forms of seizure activity, where I start losing my speech, some of my vision in my right eye, and a migraine that takes hours to days to get rid of sets in.  I don't remember this stuff because, well, I have TBI.  Worse than that, the social pressure had a like impact, and the 1.5 hours back also had a cumulative impact. What was the result?  A separation between this friend of long standing and I.  It gets deeper by the year.  Seems no one can understand.  Seems I am expected to man up and face .... or something like that.  That hurts.

Earlier this week I was talking to a friend of mine that also has TBI.  Seems that this is a common experience for us.  I may have known that at one time, but I don't remember.

Back to the Golden Rule.  John 6:27 is an imperative.  Love you enemies and do good to those who hate you.  But the love that Jesus is talking about is super natural Love.  It can only come from the Lord.

It gets worse in 6:28.  Here we are told to pray for those who hurt us, and bless or be a blessing to them.  This one anyone can do.  Do good things for them.

So that means I need to allow this stuff to happen, and not ruin their day with the useless truth.  Just smile, and take it.  Love them anyway.

But it gets worse.  In 6:29 we are told to suck it up when we are assaulted.  They want 1 pound of flesh, offer them 2.  Give more than they would take from you on their own.  What????

But it gets far worse.  In 6:30 we are told to give things to ANYONE who asks, and NEVER try to get it back. Give me a break.  Just give it to them.

Now, finally we are at the golden rule.  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  This is far more challenging that it seems on the surface.  Jesus means us to never assault anyone for any error.  You know, when you make a horrible mistake, and you go and tell the truth, you are hoping they hug you and forgive you, but instead, they post their hate on facebook.  What did you want?  Forgiveness.  What did you get?  Hate.  Jesus says to not only forgive them, but go the extra mile.  And when you are done, go the extra mile again.

So, what I learned to day was to let it go.  I do karate to help people.  I do help people.  Some of them kick me in the teeth, because they don't understand.  I love them anyway.  They hurt me and mine, but I love them anyway.  Why?  Because I love Jesus, and that is what he did for me.

Love them anyway.

I Hate the Attack Mode - Be the Blessing not the Curse

I am Not a world class biblical scholar or a classical linguist. Just me, with the aid of the Holy Spirit and a near infinite supply of Bible Translations on my computer and/or on my phone, combined with a all too overwhelming supply of historical work and real time translation of Greek and Hebrew. But mostly, just reading the bible everyday, for 20 years.

One of the sorrows in my life is hearing the word twisted and pointed at a Christian Denomination or a Pastor, as if we, or more personally, I, am not twisted too. As if I am somehow the second human in the history of the world to have avoided the contamination of sin, and am so clean, I can be my brothers or sisters Judge.

Most assuredly, the scripture asks, no, tells us how to correct a brother we think is in error, and demands that we do so; but notice, when I quote it below, that there is no ancient equivalent to "post it on face book," or "Twitter Bomb," them if they are evil. There are many directives on not hurling curses at them however. Think about it for a second. If your final conclusion is that they are not of Christ, why waste your energy on condemning them; it's not your job. They are of the world, and we are NOT to hold them to our standard. A really good example of what Jesus would do in the face of "capital" sin, by one who did not claim knowledge of God, is John 8:7 (ESV) When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

 Just Love them, just as Jesus did. If they are a fellow follower of Jesus, to whose advantage is their public slaughter, other than Satan of course.
Matthew 18:15-17 (ESV) Tells us how to deal with issues with brothers. "“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector."  (Just a question though.  How did Jesus talk to and treat tax collectors?  You know, like Matthew, they guy who the Holy Spirit used to write this Gospel. Matthew 9:9  (ESV). )

Why talk to him the first time alone,  rather than just go tell him how evil and un-Godly his behavior is? 

I will give you an example.  A close friend recently gave me some news about a pastor, whom I follow and read and trust, dealing with Eastern Thought, specifically Meditation.  I know quite a bit about that, because in the '70s I was into TM hook line and sinker.  I was way past exploring it, I have since discovered it's non-biblical roots and its traps.  For me, it was the serpent that encouraged me to be god, rather than follow God. I flipped out at hearing this news.  How Could he, I thought.  That particular form of eastern thought is a pillar in a non-Christ religious system.  When the founder was asked in the late 70's why they had dropped the official sanction of religion in TM, he said that it did not matter if the practitioners knew they were talking to the cosmic consciousness or not.  They were talking to he/it, and he/it talked back.  In other words, if you practice mediation like TM, you are hooked on not-God even if you think you are not.  So I whipped out a killer crush email to this pastor.  Good thing for me that it was stopped by his official office staff wall of protection, as I got standard boiler plate email in response.  Like you get from your Representative to congress when you email them.  Thank you for caring.  Pastor XXXX is happy to help. Blah Blah Blah.Etc.  

Now I was really angry.  I tried step one, talking to him directly, and failed.  Well, kinda step one.  Writing and email is not like talking to someone face to face or on the phone.  It is the cowards way out.  Face to face or voice to voice requires a higher degree of social grace.  Any fool can email.  I was any fool.

So I skipped step two, and went to my pastor to tell him how wrong he was, and did not know he was wrong, because his friend was sponsoring this evil pastor who was dealing with Eastern Thought.  Shame on him.  My super power personal experience would be enough to convince anyone with a lesser experience.

My pastor listened to my rant.  When I came up for air, he told me that this pastor was NOT suggesting the use of meditation as I knew it.  Rather, he was allowing these non-christian elements into his sphere, because it was most likely the only way he could get them into a church, to hear the gospel.  He was operating under the totally Christ-like behavior of talking to everyone, especially the tax collections and thieves, buy showing them the churches love, and then telling them the truth.

Oh, I said.  He is preaching to them when they are in his church?

Yes, that is the only reason he is doing it.

I do that in Sunday School.  I don't care which friends the students bring.  Saved, or unsaved, Jesus loves them.  Unsaved, however, need the word even more.  Yea to the unsaved coming to Sunday School because it is Fun, rather than for God.  Who cares why they first came, as long as all the time they hear the word and feel the love of Christ.

So, now all such attacks seem the same to me.  Catholics are twisted.  Really?  Without them, there would be no church.  They stood up for Christ when no one else would for 1500 years.  Did the Catholics make mistakes?  Sure.  Has your denomination?  Sure.

I teach martial arts.  In my town some not so nice person is putting up posters everywhere that tell you to google Martial Arts and Sex Crimes.  Why?  Because he wants people to think there is a connection.  What do you think you will find if you google that?  Martial Arts and Sex crimes is my guess.  Duh.  If you would google Martial Arts and Changing Lives you would find a lot too.  You get what you look for.  This guy is angry.

So, let me google some things for you.

Is 1.2 Million a Lot?

1.4 Million for Those Who Preach Christ

I'm a Baptist ....  Am I therefor Evil?

If you are looking for dirt to throw at your fellow Christians, it's not hard to find. But that is not what we are supposed to do.

I know we are supposed to be each other's humble servants: John 13:14 (NIV) "Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet."

I know we are supposed to honor one another: Romans 12:10 (NIV) Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

I know we are supposed to be convinced that we are all full of goodness: Romans 15:14 (NIV) I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.

I know we are supposed to be patient with each other: Ephesians 4:2 (NIV) Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

I know we are supposed to encourage each other so sin will not get us down: Hebrews 3:13 (NIV) But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

So, I want to apologize for all the harsh not so blessing filled things I have ever said about or to any fellow brothers and sister's in Christ.  We are not supposed to be about that.  We are supposed to be about love.

Spread the Word.  God is Love.  None of us is worthy at all, much less more worthy than another fellow Christian. Spread the Word.  We are the hands and feet of Christ, and each other's servants.  Let us begin to change the world with the Word and Power and Christ. Today.  Right Now.

Does God Serve You?

Psalm 86:9 (ESV) tells us: "All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord," and shall glorify your name."  


Pretty clear, we are to serve God by glorifying his name and worshiping him.


However, there is more to this verse than meets the eye.
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Digression into a rant:One of the worst uses of the bible the Internet has made worse.  You can now, with the speed of the computer, find a verse for nearly anything, if you don't bother to look at the context.


this, however, is not a NEW problem, it has been around as long as the Bible has. Here is an example for the early 17th century. Galileo proposed that the Sun was the center of our solar system, and the planets circled it, rather than the Earth being the center of the Universe, and everything circling the Earth. Some things about Galileo you have to know before you can understand how strange this part of our history is.  First, he was a STRONG Christian. If you would like to read more on this, and science in general as it relates to Christians, read: The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.  

Credit: Free photos from acobox.com

This position was arrived at on the behalf of God, on the basis of Pslam 93:1 (ESV) "The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed; he has put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved." (Italics added)  Seems "it shall never be moved," is violated by  Galileo's ungodly belief that the Sun is the center of our solar system.


Yet, the sun IS the center of the solar system.  Great example of the using 1 verse to prove what you want to prove, backing it with "The Word of God," and still being wrong.  Worse, you drag God's name through the mud too.