Leadership Notes
November 1, 2023 {Yikes!}
First, an observation:
“Why were there pro-Palestinian protests immediately after
October 7th when Israel had yet to retaliate for the massacre of
1,400 of its citizens?”
- Gad Saad
Now, a theological reflection from Pastor Darrell B. Harrison, on a video of angry crowds storming an airport building in search of Jews from a flight from Tel Aviv:
It’s been said that those who don’t learn from history are
destined to repeat it.
Well, I beg to differ.
To whatever degree society is “destined to repeat” history, it
isn’t because we don’t {or won’t} learn from it, but because our
nature as congenitally sinful human beings doesn’t change –
that’s the fundamental reason why we’re destined to repeat
history!
The moralist will look at this video and say, “We must stop
this!” The humanist will say, “We must be better than this!” The
evolutionist will say, “We must unite against this!” But none of
these responses serves to identify and address what is THE core
issue here: hatred in the human heart:
>“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}
>“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” {Jeremiah 17:9}
>“And when he had entered the house and left the people, his
disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them
‘Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see
that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile
him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is
expelled?’ (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said
‘What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from
within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual
immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness,
deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these
evil things come from within, and they defile a person.’” {Mark 17:17-23}
Humanity’s universal sinfulness – “Surely there is not a
righteous man on earth who does good and never sins”
{Ecclesiastes 7:20} – is precisely why in 2023, this video conjures
up images of how Jews were hunted down in like fashion some 80
years ago! Hearts must change! That’s the only way to stop this
from being repeated.
How is a nation to respond to such horrific, hate-fueled attacks? Reading accounts of the October 7th attacks sicken us. What are we to do in this sin-sick world?
Here’s what I know.
When our boys were growing up, we would have all kinds of interesting conversations around the dinner table. Often, we’d play a forced-answer game. It ranged from the silly to the serious.
For example, if you could eat only one kind of dessert for the rest of your life, what would it be? Or if you could only eat one type of food {Mexican, Italian, Chinese, etc.} for the rest of your life, what would it be? If you could only watch one genre of movie for the rest of your life, what would it be? You could not pass or alter the choices in any way, shape, or form. It was a fun game.
Sometimes, it would get a little more serious. If you had to lose one of your senses, what would you choose? If you could donate a kidney to a family member or friend who needed a transplant, would you? And so on.
Imagine, for a moment, that someone is threatening a loved one. Your spouse or parent or child or grandchild, for example. They will kill the person dearest to you. The only way you can stop that person is to choose an action that will not only kill the heartless ghoul, but also members of their family/inner circle. What would you do? You fail to act, and your loved one dies a horrible death. You save the one you love, and others will die. What a difficult moral dilemma. What do you choose?
We live in a wicked and fallen world. While consequences come with all of our choices, there are some I would not hesitate to make.
And now, your Moment of Spurgeon:
In Light of This, I Am Always Striving to be of Good Cheer,
Richard
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