{"id":6388,"date":"2016-07-09T22:28:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-10T02:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=6388"},"modified":"2016-07-09T22:32:18","modified_gmt":"2016-07-10T02:32:18","slug":"man-not-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=6388","title":{"rendered":"man, not god"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"photo-1457049946030-985b401546ce\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As I watch the events of recent days unfold\u00a0\u2014 and even more so, watch people respond to recent events, sometimes wisely, sometimes not \u2014 \u00a0my thoughts are a bit in overdrive… “How do we solve this? How do we fix the problems? And what exactly is\/are the problems?”<\/em>\u00a0… And every now and then a person avers with all certainty exactly what we are to do to fix the problem. They typically blame a singular people group. I contend that rarely, is a single people group to blame.<\/p>\n

I haven’t yet organized my thoughts surrounding the events in Dallas and Minneapolis to a place where I can articulate them concisely and well (… I have noticed that others have also not, even though some have still qualified as social media rants).<\/em> However, prior to these incidents, I was thinking of how often we think we’ve got it all figured out… “All we have to do is _____!” (… exclamation points always included…)<\/em> And then we act as if we are so wise… we know so much. And I am reminded of the following wisdom…<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you are a man and not a god\u2026<\/em>
\nthough you think you are wise as a god.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

My sense is such words were not casually written, and yet, so much of me is quick to dismiss. I think…<\/p>\n

Of course, I don\u2019t think I\u2019m wise as a god. What would ever give off that impression?<\/em><\/p>\n

And yet again\u2026<\/p>\n

Sometimes I think I\u2019m so right, there\u2019s no way I could be wrong.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes I fully declare \u201cthis is the right thing to do\u201d \u2014 and then entertain no serious consideration of\u00a0varied opinion.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes I look down on other people\u2026 (\u2026 granted, sometimes I\u2019m really good at hiding it\u2026 sometimes not\u2026).<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes I creatively chastise other people \u2014 maybe I\u2019m clever about it \u2014 maybe not. And if not verbally, I may allow the disrespectful thoughts to flow fluidly through my brain. I often fail to take such thoughts captive.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes I announce my opinion in such a way that it makes others around me feel as something lesser\u2026 less valued, less respected, less smart.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes I don\u2019t care that others feel lesser.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes I say I love and accept all people \u2014 only to love and accept only those who most often agree with me.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes I refuse to submit to anyone other than myself.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes, even, I think that \u201csubmission\u201d is a bad word.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes I act as if unity isn\u2019t important.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes still, I don\u2019t give a crud who is hurt by my expressions\u2026 (…”If it\u2019s my conviction, then I\u2019m going to state it for all the world to hear, daggone-it\u2026”).<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes I just love to hear myself speak.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes I act as if I care about the entire world, when my articulations allude to caring most about me.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes \u201cI\/me\/my\/myself\u201d are my most frequent prepositions.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes I fail to love others well.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes I don\u2019t care that I don\u2019t empathize with those I don\u2019t love well.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2026<\/p>\n

Yes, sometimes I think I\u2019m wise as a god. But I am not.<\/p>\n

It’s important that we remember that now.<\/p>\n

Respectfully\u2026
\nAR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I watch the events of recent days unfold\u00a0\u2014 and even more so, watch people respond to recent events, sometimes wisely, sometimes not \u2014 \u00a0my thoughts are a bit in overdrive… “How do we solve this? How do we fix the problems? And what exactly is\/are the problems?”\u00a0… And every now and then a person … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “man, not god”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-event"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6388"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6403,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6388\/revisions\/6403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}