A Wise and Warning Word!

John Notehelfer's most recent "Sunday Musings," which he distributes by email weekly, is worth passing on and pondering by anyone reading my blog. Society has a right to expect of us as Christians a sense of balance that is sadly missing these days. At the very least it is much in need of civility in our common discourse, and who living by God's grace should be more dedicated to that than disciples of Christ? John's quote from C. S. Lewis might well be a litmus test for us all. Could it be describing you--or me--more so than the Spirit of our Lord?

"Greetings to all of you on the front lines of kingdom work abroad and at home.

"This Sunday musing is premature because we are leaving on summer vacation(s) in August. But this one I had to get off my chest -- digest it next Sunday afternoon or whenever.

"An editorial in our local paper is headed, “How a good woman was thrown to the wolves.” It was triggered by the overreaction of both the press and government to some blogger’s edited video of what Shirley Sherrod, an African-American USDA worker, said some years ago – she was wrongfully fired on the spot for those remarks about race which had been taken completely out of context. The immediate result: all the ugly finger-pointing about racial hatred consuming our talk-shows and blogs.

"The writer of the editorial is as puzzled as I am about the current trend of knee-jerk overreactions. I caught his words, 'This sorry episode shows the extent to which we’ve lost sight of the most basic elements of fair play, responsible reporting, and common decency in this society.'

"So I find myself reading this week in A Year with C.S. Lewis (July 27) his excerpt from Mere Christianity entitled -- The Real Test!!

“'Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out. Is one’s first feeling, ‘Thank God, even they aren’t quite so bad as that,’ or is it a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies as bad as possible?

'If it is the second then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is beginning to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head, later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as black.

'Finally, we shall insist on seeing everything—God and our friends and ourselves included—as bad, and not be able to stop doing it: we shall be fixed for ever in a universe of pure hatred.'”

Thank God for C.S. Lewis!!! Take his cautions and his test to heart, my friends."