THIS WEEK’S POST IS WILL BE A LITTLE DIFFERENT, a little more personal than usual. Here’s why.
The online course I’m offering, “Jesus and the Feminine in the Gospel of John,” begins next week (see my note below). Although I’m offering it through my local church, the course is open to the public at large. So, last week, I posted an ad on Facebook in hopes of generating a few additional registrations. A few months ago, I did the same, trying to attract new readers to this blog and to my book.
The jury’s still out on the course registrations, but so far, my second experiment with boosting a Facebook post about Jesus and the feminine has been … well, let’s say, instructive.
The responses from the handful of people whose interest has been high enough to comment on the post have stirred up in me both emotional and intellectual reactions. All but one of the comments posted have been negative, nasty even. The nicest of them called my offering “nonsense” and “a joke.” The worst condemned it as satanic. Yes, I know, Facebook is the home of the trolls. Still, no one enjoys being trolled.
The intellectually instructive aspect of the responses is that all of the negative comments have come from people who clearly believe themselves to be devout, Bible-based Christians, folks who believe they absolutely know the truth.
What a tragic irony it is that anyone professing to be a Christian would be so quick to judge and condemn, so quick to post public comments so dripping with hateful disdain. I’m sure they feel they must defend their faith by steering others away from a “false prophet” offering “false teachings.” A few of them said as much.
In their rush to show their love for God, however, these commenters demonstrated to the world (well, to a small part of the Facebook world) a lack of love for their neighbor. Living one of the great commandments while ignoring the other seems to me to be missing the mark altogether, because love for God can only be lived by loving one’s neighbors.
What’s more, some of these Bible-believing Christians don’t appear to know the Bible all that well. And in a final irony, the hateful judgments they post probably do very little to win readers to the faith they want to defend. The days when judgmental “hellfire and brimstone” apologetics could bring hordes of weeping converts to the altar are over. Aren’t they?
Still, when you’re convinced you know the truth (the whole truth, and nothing but the truth), I guess hateful judgments of “others” are inevitable. How else can you quiet those underlying anxieties and unconscious doubts?
Faith, I believe, is not about belief as much as it is about trust. Faith doesn’t banish our doubts. Instead, it allows us to live the questions, trusting that God’s grace and our godly intent will keep us on track as we hope, day by day, to see more clearly, to love more dearly.
Starting Thursday evening, April 15, I’ll be teaching a course called “Jesus and the Feminine in the Gospel of John.” Sponsored by Christ’s Episcopal Church in Castle Rock, Colorado, the course will be held on Zoom. It is open to all, but enrollment is limited. So, if you’re interested, please click here for details and registration.
Soul Spirit Wisdom 
Sorry that you have had this happen, Bob. I know your efforts to teach are very sincere.
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Thanks, Jackie.
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Well spoken, Bob!
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Thank you.
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Hi Bill,
So I see you have experienced the unholy spirits of Simeon and Levi. It happened to me back before Facebook, on Yahoo Groups. They are quick to judge because they have yet to judge themselves. Whatever they don’t understand, they fear, which gives power to these two unholy spirits:
“SIMEON and LEVI, the unholy spirits of ANGER and CONTROL. Kindred spirits. Where there is one, you will find the other… The soul is not to come unto their “assembly,” referring, outwardly, to the religious assembly, the church filled with false beliefs, as the temple was filled with false images in the days of Josiah, the temple symbolizing the heart of man. The anger and lust for control that is so prevalent today is a direct result of the false religious and personal images or beliefs that we have all set up in that spiritual temple called the heart. It was in the temple that Jesus expressed righteous anger in response to the false images set up upon tables— upon “the fleshy tables of the heart.” Let us use our anger to do right, directing it toward the false image or belief, which through our sincere desire to overcome will bring us the truth that destroys them. Many choose to accept these false religious beliefs because it gives them a feeling of empowerment, and peace, but it is a false empowerment, and it is a false peace. This false peace is symbolized by the wall that should be brought down, and will be brought down when the reality of what is taking place in the world does not match the religious image they bought into (Ezekiel 13:13-15). And if you challenge their beliefs, you will see their anger rise up, although many control it so as to appear righteous. I’ve experienced this anger and control for many years now. They slay you with nasty words if what you teach conflicts with their religious doctrine, just as the religious assembly in Jesus’ time saw to it that he was slain for attempting to bring them a new, yet ancient, spiritual truth— “for in their anger they slew a man.” Along with their anger is their lust for control, through which “they digged down a wall,” symbolizing the invisible wall of protection they would have entered through spiritual obedience, which is to put action to the spiritual or internal works that Jesus spoke of and illustrated for us while he was on this earth.”
Read full article: http://thebibledecoded.com/2021/04/02/signs-in-the-end-times/
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Nicely said: “They are quick to judge because they have yet to judge themselves.” It’s an arrogance that survives only until honest self-reflection forces you to accept the truth of your humility. And then, faith becomes possible.
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The “red pottage” that Esau forfeited his spiritual birthright for symbolizes this “dangerous arrogance.” We demonstrate our humility when we get ourselves down to a metaphorical “Jordan,” meaning “a descender,” humbling ourselves to the spiritual works or judgment symbolized by the twelve stones placed in the Jordan, through which we perfect (prove) our faith. The number twelve represents judgment.
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This must have been hard, though it is the instructive experience you mention. Facebook is a sinkhole. I don’t go there much any more. I hope you want this collection of comments burrow a little hole in your soul. Among those you respect, you are held in esteem. We’re glad to have you in our lives, and as our teacher. Brenda
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Thanks, Brenda.
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