Garbage In…

Church was fantastic last night. It doesn’t seem to matter what the subject of the sermon is; it always turns out to be just what I need. On this occasion, the pastor started out by asking us if we had ever known anyone who just could not tell the truth. I exhaled loudly. I could not help it. He really hit a nerve. This is a problem I’ve been dealing with a lot lately.

The sermon was not really about liars. The bit about lying was his way of moving into a discussion of Philippians 4:8, which I will now paste:

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Here’s the NIV; I think that’s the version he used.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

It was a weird transition. It went like this. He said when people lie to us, we are likely to sputter something like, “That’s not TRUE. That’s not RIGHT.” And from there, he went into the rest of the verse. I don’t know why he started that way, but he really woke me up when he asked that question. It got my ears working.

The basic message was that the things we think about determine what we are and what happens to us. I think that’s accurate. And I have found it to be true.

One of the big problems with participating in the Internet is that you are exposed to society’s collective id. You will be confronted with cruelty, perversion, and hatred, the likes of which you would be very unlikely to encounter in real life. I don’t have to give you examples, unless you just bought your first computer. And we also come across a lot of negativity and sin when we watch TV, read books, go to movies, or listen to music. It has an impact. It can make a Christian feel left out. It can trigger the herd instinct and make you want to conform to the standards of the unsaved world. If you spend too much time thinking about these things, they will degrade your faith and steal the pleasure you take in life.

In order to be a realist, a Christian has to be an idealist, because we live in more ideal world than the rest of humanity. To most people, the world is an unfair place where there is no hope of justice. It’s a place where there is no arbiter to right wrongs. There is no one to pray to. Often there is no reward for doing right, and doing right may actually bring punishment. But Christians know God hears them, and that he is stronger than the world, and that very often, he will intervene in their lives and make them work. This is why leftists often attack us with the claim that we live in a fantasy world. Their world has no meaning and no order, and they assume ours is the same way, so when we persist in praying and trying to do right instead of abandoning morality to achieve our goals, they think we’re idiots.

Example: if a teenage girl gets herself pregant (and women DO get themselves pregnant, unless it happens without their consent), a leftist will propose a mechanical, worldly remedy: tear the baby apart in the womb and suck it out with a hose. Because raising kids is hard for unwed mothers, and unwanted babies never amount to anything, and so on and so on. A Christian, on the other hand, will say God rewards people for repenting and taking responsibility for their sins. A Christian will say a girl who turns to God and refuses to harm her child will have doors opened for her, and that her curse will turn into a blessing.

You can’t think like the godless and expect to have faith. You have to believe that morality works. It’s easier to think that way if you don’t spend your evenings watching porn and listening to rap and generally exposing yourself to primitive, immoral thought.

A few years ago, a friend of mine suggested I watch the Horatio Hornblower TV series on DVD. He said it was good entertainment, and he also said it presented wonderful morals. I took a look, and he was right. After you watch one of these shows, and you witness the hard moral decisions the characters make, you feel improved. And there are plenty of other examples of good moral models in entertainment and literature. Many older movies carry good messages. That’s something I’ll think about in the future, when I decide what to put into my mind.

They gave us rubber bracelets last night, with “THINK 4:8” stamped on them. The pastor told us to print out the verse and post it where we could see it. I think I’ll do that. I’m not a bracelet guy, but I am okay with putting scripture where I can see it. I find that thinking about this verse gives me strength. It makes me want to be a better person.

One of the benefits of marriage is that it gives you someone to whom it is your duty to improve yourself. But not everyone is married. Not everyone has kids. Maybe it’s possible for single people to find the motivation in verses like this one.

Modern culture is nothing but mental pollution. It’s crippling. Like sprinkling poison on your food. I need to recognize that and use this knowledge to shape myself.

Things are going so well for me, I don’t understand it. I spend more and more of my time in a peaceful, optimistic state that comes from knowing God and letting him work in my life. Things are working out. My problems are shrinking. I almost feel as if it’s unfair to talk about it, because it’s hard to believe that it’s reasonable to expect other people to get the same results. I don’t want to be like a freak success story in a diet commercial, claiming everyone who tries the product will be like me and lose 90 pounds in three weeks. But what is happening, is happening. I can’t keep it a secret or lie about it.

I keep looking over my shoulder, wondering if it’s supposed to be like this. Christians do have problems. When you go without a real problem for a certain length of time, it’s hard not to get antsy. I remember what Robert Duvall said in the movie Tender Mercies: “See, I don’t trust happiness. I never have. I never will.” Maybe it’s okay to trust it, when it’s built on a solid foundation. I seem to remember a verse or two that support that notion.

If this is what Christianity is supposed to be like, I can understand why people like the Apostles were so in love with it and why they wanted other people to try it. Maybe the yoke really is easy, and the burden really is light.

I suppose I should trust the person who said that.