Tuesday, August 12, 2014

What's Your Guide?: Aaron Tippin, Martin Luther, and Jesus Christ

Do you have a guiding principle or idea that is the foundation for your decision making? Is there one thing that is the thing that you measure everything else by?

I have developed a habit on social media with friends, and people I know with good senses of humor, that when they post something that is completely opposed to what I see as reality (or especially what they profess to believe themselves), I comment the opposing view to what they posted. 

Just yesterday someone posted that we need to first love ourselves, and from our self-love we then love others. As far as I know this person is a Christian, so I commented that I have nothing loving, or lovable, in me. It is God's grace and His love which fills me that I then pass on and share with others. Any love I might possess of myself is inadequate to the task of loving others. Oddly enough, this friend "liked" my comment. 

And I get this a lot! People giving agreement to the exact opposite idea of what they just stated. These ideas cannot both be true. Logicians call it The Law of Non-Contradiction. You cannot have "A" and "not A" at the same time. Opposite truth claims cannot both be true.

Then a few days ago, I saw this:


So which is it? Do you tell someone you love them or not?

The picture on the left was posted by a lady, the mother of a girl from my youth group who recently moved away. The one on the left was posted by the girl. And mom showed her agreement by "liking" it. 

These two pictures occurred in my news feed almost right on top of each other (There was post between them that was a sponsored "you might like this" sort of thing, so I don't think it really counts). They had been posted and "liked" within minutes of each other by the same people.

Two opposing ideas being liked and agreed upon by the same person. 

I see this sort of thing often, especially with the youth I work with. They have no guiding principle for determining what is true. 

I'm reminded of Proverbs 18:17, "The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him."

It's as if we just jump from one thing to the next neat thing without any critical thought about what is actually true. And if this is what we do with catchy slogans and minor details, is it what we are doing with the weightier matters of life?

Does God exist? Well, at church I think so, but at school or work my friends or co-workers make sense that He doesn't.

Is it wrong to lie? It makes sense when the pastor explained it, but now it doesn't seem like so big a deal.

Is it ok to have sex before marriage? My parents sounded like they knew what they were talking about when they said not to. But my friend says its no big deal when they do it. But my pastor says God doesn't want me to. But my boyfriend/girlfriend really loves me .. and is really hot. The talk about diseases worries me, but all my friends are doing it and they don't have diseases. My older friend got pregnant on her first time and tells me its not worth it. My other friend does it all the time and hasn't gotten pregnant. 

It all makes so much sense, and depending on who we are listening to at any given moment, our "hey that sounds good" response just goes along with the latest idea.

I never liked country music growing up. My mom had one of those bumper stickers that says "There are 2 types of music: country & western." But I often joke that the older I get the more country music makes sense. 

I believe it was Aaron Tippin who said, "You've got to stand for something, or you'll fall for anything." 

So what are you standing for? What are you standing on? What is the foundation for the way that you view the world and make decisions? 

In Matthew 7 Jesus says that our lives should be based on His words. That to do otherwise is to have your house (life) built on shifting sands, and it cannot hold when the storms come.

"Feelings come and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving. My warrant is the Word of God -- Naught else is worth believing." - Martin Luther

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