April 09, 2015
Disingenuous
A few months ago I listened
as a politician publically accused a constituent of being disingenuous. Since
it’s not part of my normal vocabulary, I checked out Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary who defined disingenuous as, “Not
truly honest or sincere; giving the false appearance of being honest or
sincere.” I suspect that had the politician used a more familiar vocabulary (liar,
insincere, two-faced, or hypocrite) the accusation would have been challenged by
either the constituent himself, or someone in the audience. In this instance
the politician got away with his derogatory characterization. Referring to the wicked
and evildoers the Psalter said, “They sharpen their tongues like
swords and aim their words like deadly arrows. They shoot from ambush
at the innocent man; they shoot at him suddenly, without fear” (Psalm 64:
3-4 IV).
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----Generally speaking, Paul agrees with the politician; everyone is disingenuous, like he wrote to the Romans, “Let God be true though every man be false.” (3:4) When I try to emphasize the spread of a particular characteristic across every single element of a general population, I use the same expression as Paul did in this verse…every man, every one. Between the politician and the constituent, though, this truth might be an irrelevant technicality. I wasn’t there. You were. For you to state this about the politician in the manner you did, I assume you noticed that the constituent was being sufficiently genuine.
-----I am always impressed by the three major titles the Bible gives to Satan: Destroyer, Deceiver, and Accuser. Accusations are extremely dangerous things to make. If you are wrong, you become the Accuser. Most of the time an accusation can be made about anybody over almost anything given enough light shed upon willing technicalities. Some accusations stand on more than technicalities and are critically important to make: Joseph Tsarnaev, Ken Lay, Barrack Obama.
------But the ambiguities of life lay important mistakes inside these three characteristics of Satan. Before City Market south and the beauty of the rest of that business district could be built, Southside Auto Salvage, a bunch of sage brush, and some alkali had to be all destroyed. When the SS inquired about hidden Jews none of us would have quickly blurted, “Sure! Anne Frank is hiding upstairs behind my toilet!” But just try to accuse Barrack Obama of anything! It’s the borderline of ambiguity Satan uses to really destroy our social fabric. And capable liars surf it like a choice breaker. But Jesus is coming. He will calm the waves.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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