I hate it when someone takes
an unflattering photo of me. Never mind that it is reality, I don’t want
reality. I want what’s in my head to be what’s caught on camera. I find a similar
reaction in some of the pastors from the churches I write about. They offer to
help me write, proofread and edit the article. With bruised egos a couple of
pastors have poked back at what they see as mischaracterization and
misunderstanding of their worship service. I feel their pain, but I stand with
Paul when he says, “Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every
opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace,
seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (Col 4:4-6
NIV).
3 comments:
Gail;
-----Even simple concepts are perceived rather differently by different people. The “why” isn’t complicated. The only way anything is perceived is by the mind. But the mind isn’t something that God just dropped into the head all finished and organized by Him to be proper and perfect. The mind results from years of figuring out the things and events it has experienced by relating them to what it previously figured out. The profound problem for us is that reality gives too few tests immediate enough to verify whether or not the mind figured things out accurately. And searching out good tests just isn’t human nature. So, we always fall for some amount of misperception being involved with our perceptions. And since we can not use anyone else’s mind except our own to figure something out, our figuring is always being done in accord with some degree of misperception previously accepted. Therefore, some degree of error is always factored into the mind. It is not only inescapable, but every mind is unique in its own set of misperceptions.
-----The error factor is not the only problem. We can only see useful details of things within a few feet of us. Sure, we can see far out yonder, but we can only perceive in general what we see way out there. Our hearing isn’t much better. Therefore, the data we collect for knowing things in detail is pretty limited. And that’s merely a spatial limitation. There’s also a time limitation. If you’re not at a place at the right time, then you will not experience what happened there then. You will need to hear about it. And what you hear will always be the product of someone else’s rather misperceiving mind. If all that is not bad enough, we also have a resolution limitation. Reality is made of countless details far too intricate for us to perceive. Man lived thousands of years before ever knowing matter by its electrons, protons, and neutrons. Certainly the Greek atomist philosophers, some twenty-five-hundred years ago, came close to understanding the general principle of the particulate nature of matter, but their ability to observe in fine enough detail to actually know particle physics was just not possible.
-----Paul was very right. We see dimly as in a mirror. And if we see dimly, then we perceive dimly. And if we perceive dimly, then we know dimly. And if we know dimly, then we get many wrong impressions about folks, including our own selves, and about what they think and why they say and do things. It is no wonder that many of these preachers would love the chance to edit what you say about their churches and sermons and stuff.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
You could tell them to start their own blog and see if anyone would read it but that would not be kind, would it.
Grace and peace.
Pumice,
Now that's an idea...I think I can wordsmith it and wrap it in kindness!
Gail
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