Skip to main content

Chimps and Champions


If you have been reading blogs for very long you know how easy it is to lose complete track of time in them. If you have a favorite blogger that mentions his or her favorite blog, you're very likely to click a link and go see for yourself what the attraction is. We adults trade links to blogs like kids trading or playing a game of cards. If someone doesn't have a blog that addresses the issue you are looking for there is always Google so you can 'go fish.'

One of my dear friends gave me a link the other night and I clicked it. I feel a bit like Cypher in The Matrix, I wish I had taken the blue pill. The world that opened when I clicked that link catapulted me out of the safety of my naive little world and plunked me into the middle of a controversy. I wasn't shocked but I was dismayed and saddened. It wasn't the topic of the conversation that bothered me, it was the tenor of it. While this medium leaves entirely too much interpretation to the reader regarding tone of voice and such, meanness and blatant attempts at hurtfulness are difficult to disguise. Much to my horror the participants were, for the most part, professing Christians.

I wish I could take a class in the social psychology of blog readers and those who post comments. It would be a fascinating observational study. I keep poking my head in and watching the participants and making mental notes. It reminds me a bit of an assignment I had as a physical anthropology student at a secular college. I was asked to go to the San Francisco zoo and spend several hours observing various primate behaviors. It meant sitting for hours and waiting for something to happen and then documenting the activity. We were told to look for particular behaviors; play, posturing, aggression, dominance and the like. The chimpanzees put on quite a show for me.

A couple of the chimps decided to play and then others joined in. Soon frolicking got rough and somebody became angry. Hoots and hollers turned to screams. Then the beatings started happening. The whole troop became involved. Suddenly those chimps who weren't game enough to join in before found themselves in a position to either join in the fight or run for cover. Displays of teeth and terror came next and almost as suddenly as it started, the two chimps at the center of the fray were done. They had been stared down by an old chimp, regained their sense of chimp propriety and sat quietly. Some of the onlookers carried on for a bit and managed to get in a couple cheap shots at the two and some others in the group they weren't too friendly with. Soon even they settled down and order was restored. It occurs to me when I compare the two incidents, is it any wonder the world thinks we evolved from apes? We tend to act just like them.

There are people I love and admire on both sides of this cyber donnybrook. Mercifully, not all comments were sinful. Sadly, some were. As heartbreaking as it is to see the hurtful things being posted, there was a incredible thing that I might have missed the full significance of if it hadn't been pointed out to me. First, one of the participants asked for forgiveness. I wish I could say that the cacophony of chaos and nasty words ceased at that moment. Alas, people still shot words like poison arrows dipped in the venom of their own opinions and pride. But there in the middle of it one brother asked for forgiveness and was heard by another brother who not only granted forgiveness but asked for it in return. These two men modeled the gospel like champions right before our eyes. A beautiful symphony of grace that will be missed by those who cannot seem to remember their responsibilities as recipients of the gospel.

Ephesians 4:1-3
1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,
2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love,
3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7
4 Love is patient, love is kind, {and} is not jealous; love does not brag {and} is not arrogant,
5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong {suffered,}
6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.


Philippians 1:27
27 Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ; so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
(NAS)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Character Flaws, Sin and Remediation

I have been thinking about my last post in which I offered to talk about how having a job has shown or magnified my character flaws. Before I do though, I want to distinguish between character flaws and sin. My character flaws predispose me to sin in certain areas more readily than in others. Indulging in my character flaws is sinful. Entertaining the idea of indulging my character flaws is sinful. They are the weaknesses in me where my flesh makes itself known by screaming, "You know you want to!!" Too often I hear Christians lamenting that they "make mistakes" or are victims of their genetic make-up and intimate that they should, therefore, be excused from culpability for being prone to certain activities. Our cultural dependence on a medical model to define our behavior has given many what they see as a plausible excuse for sin. I don't see that caveat in the Word. For Christians, the Word is always our standard. It is the standard by which all will be j
7 comments
Read more

Fear Down, Hope and Peace to Go!

Last night I had the honor and privilege to present some information to the women of my church. I cannot begin to tell you how much I love and appreciate them. The seminar I did was on fear. God is clever and He had me present the information to them because I needed it. It's not that I don't want to study things for my own benefit and growth, but whenever I do a topical study to teach it, I see how badly I needed it and how much more I have to repent of than I realized. Sometimes you don't know what you don't know. That's a topic I want to return to in another post. I want to talk about the ladies for a moment. They are an incredibly loving group of women. Women who seek God and are teachable. They have gone out of their way to include me and love on me, which speaks volumes of their characters because I am not all that lovable. I am not being self-deprecating here. I am a mix of endearing and maddening qualities like anyone else. What I am telling you is
1 comment
Read more

Super Church a song for the Emergent-sy

In the early 70s I was in a youth choir at my church. Our youth pastor was a musician and his way of connecting with us as a group was through the choir and music. Somehow there was an affiliation between him and The Continental Singers, New Hope and Jeremiah People. He was worked with Moishe Rosen of Jews for Jesus too, I think. Are any of these names familiar to you? Though I remember the church fondly I was a profoundly lost and troubled young woman during my years there. That and time have muddled the memories quite a bit. Today I was digging through some old paperwork and one of the books to the musical we did. It's Getting Late For the Great Planet Earth, a folk rock oratorio by Cam Floria. Yes, that's right. Cam Floria put Hal Lindsey to music. There's a lot to laugh about and some to groan about but as I was looking through the songs and remembering, I found this little ditty and I only wish I could sing it for you. Just remember that this is circa 1972 and even th
8 comments
Read more