I started writing a post yesterday and the more I typed, the angrier I got. I had unknowingly stepped on a soapbox and I couldn’t seem to find my way off. So I took a break and checked my email. That’s when I got the email from Michael and posted that instead. I took my focus off of the soapbox and put it on who Jesus is to me and I calmed down immediately. My heart rate went back to normal and the red drained back out of my cheeks.
It’s a new day, and the soapbox is still there, but I can calmly address it now, as I think I’ve addressed it before. Here goes:
I believe God gave me a brain and He expects me to use it. He even promises to give me wisdom if I ask for it. In today’s society, as in every other society that has existed, we’re taught to use our brains, then we’re criticized if we do. If you think outside of the box then you’re admired by a few and thought crazy by many. We’re taught both subtly and blatantly to go along with public opinion. Exactly who is “public opinion” and why do I have to agree with them?
I am reminded daily how I don’t “fit in”, and my ideas are strange and sometimes offensive to others. What I do believe, I hold to strongly, but I don’t expect everyone else to agree with my every belief. I rarely read the newspaper anymore because I don’t agree with the agendas presented. I view watching the news the same way. You CANNOT believe everything you read and hear from the media, your doctor, your neighbor, or your hairdresser. There are agendas being presented, and some of them are very contrary to the way God directs us to live our lives. It can be very difficult to live in the world and not be just like the world. You have to view everything as a tool for decision making, not as the decision itself.
I guess my challenge to you, and always to myself, is to THINK.
I aim to think outside of the box in everything I do, but sometimes find myself doubting because it’s always been done a certain way. I think we all struggle to think creatively sometimes. We are so spoon fed by the media, big corporations, pharmaceutical companies, and even our educators that life is a certain way and we need to just get on board. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being told what to do. I know it’s an obedience issue, and I thank God that I have it. He and I have been working on my obedience to Him my whole life. But I have a hard time blindly obeying the world when they feed me their knowledge and direction for my life. Afterall, things that were once thought crazy are now a normal part of our society. We’re a fickle people, being tossed about on the winds of change when it comes to Science, Medicine, School Reform, and Worshipping our Creator.
There is only one thing (Person) that remains the same through time, so I bring all of my questions and decisions to God. On the things He chooses to remain silent on, I do my best to use the brain and heart He gave me and decide for myself. That’s more important to me than any celebrity endorsement, expert opinion, or popular opinion. What do you need to strip away to be able to see with a clear head and discern between what the world is telling you to believe and how God is telling you to live?
In high school my favorite shirt was a t-shirt that had a tank full of fish swimming one way, and the icthus (Christian fish symbol) swimming in the opposite direction. I don’t wear such t-shirts today, but if I did, I’d want the icthus to be swimming the same way as the other fish. I believe I can “swim with the crowd” and still be different enough that the other fish take notice. This would have been considered a dangerous thought by the adults who were afraid I’d look just like the world. Why would you tell a teenager to swim with the crowd??? Because if you’re not with the crowd, you’re not heard or even noticed. Example: Do you think the streetkids even care what the well-dressed church people are doing on Sundays? If you walk in downtown Denver and see a well meaning guy playing Christian songs on his guitar and handing out sandwiches, you’ll see the streetkids staying away from him, or maybe taking a sandwich then immediately walking away. The guy means well, but what is he doing? Trying to get a little Jesus on the streetkids by singing at them? When we walk with the streetkids for a while, or ride the bus with them while they’re trying to keep warm, they notice. When we play pool with them and take them to their court dates, they notice. When we hold their babies, or feed them week after week and it’s not just a quarterly service project, they notice. THAT’S who I want to be – who I am. The world tells me we need to just make the homeless problem go away. I had to THINK for myself.
The following is a note from a man who thinks. I do not fully endorse his website because I am unfamiliar with most of it. I’ve only begun to scratch the surface of healthier living, as Dr. Mercola calls it. He has some good ideas that make sense to me. (Bold type added for emphasis)
Check him out at www.mercola.com
It is amazing how much of the forward progress made in history has been by people who weren’t conventional, but rather thought in odd, new ways. That has to be the case, doesn’t it? If they didn’t think in different ways, they wouldn’t have come up with different ideas — even though that probably made them seem somewhat off-kilter to those around them.
New ideas in our culture typically follow a familiar pattern. They are usually:
First derided
Then attacked
Then finally accepted
I have been working iconoclastically to overthrow popular modern American medical concepts for many years now and am VERY familiar with the process. Can’t tell you how many thousands of people have labeled me as a quack only to have the same people years later recant and confirm that the ideas I was teaching were indeed true.
Always be careful to think for yourself and check out new ideas when you hear about them. Many of the practices of “alternative” medicine that used to be viewed as fringe or crackpot are now accepted as common sense, and many more that are still viewed as fringe or crackpot are, frankly, better for your health than conventional medicine.
Whenever you hear about a new, odd-sounding idea, think for yourself, don’t blindly accept it. Take the time to thoroughly examine, investigate and determine the truth as best you can. Believe me, it is FAR easier to do this now than it used to be. With the Internet and a bit of time, in a matter of a few hours you can become more knowledgeable in a topic that 10 years ago would have taken a person months to achieve.
We are in the middle of a massive paradigm shift and most of us don’t recognize it. You have access to incredible power and tools that only a few years ago even the wealthiest and smartest people on the planet would have been envious of.
