Morality µ (= resistance) Nimbly Engaging Pure-hearted Intellectualism
We’re through the looking glass, people.
But is it because a predatory secular society has re-trained brains to perceive mirror-wise through skewed views? As I groom, primp, perfect, and prepare in my bathroom mirror, I am guided by the image of my movements therein reflected. I have seen myself operating reverse in it for so long that interpreting my inverse movements has become more natural than ever is my negotiating from the vantage of two mirrors that show true directions in real time. Similarly, secular humanism’s reversing effect on moral truth has yielded a bumptious bumper crop of meandering minds guided by moral compasses that always point…wherever.
The Straight Path
Situational ethics refute the validity of any foundational firmament for which there can be established any moral absolutes. The absence of such is mistakenly deemed independent from the tyranny of structure.
Imagine a minefield spanning two-hundred square yards. Bisecting the field from one corner to its farthest counter is a high elevated paved walkway only one yard in breadth. Annoyed by the constriction of a pathway that allows only a straight walk, a vocal minority is successful in their efforts to have it demolished. After which, everyone becomes free to frolic in the minefield below. There, they’re unencumbered by the walk’s rule. As more and more often members of their licentious society are blown to bits, rather than admit that the walk they worked to destroy was necessary and a safe-way, the new-morality minds choose a detrimental trial and error approach. Further complicating things is their reticence to ever admit that the sidewalk was the best way. …that perhaps a greater mind than theirs conceived it and provided it foreknowing their fallibilities, and that having to inch through the field ever-aware that any misstep most assuredly proves fatal isn’t progress at all when compared with the way they were once free to safely run up and down the bridge.
I became a real Christian in my early twenties—while performing in a college Funk/Rock band [Ebony Specktrum]. It was the seventies [see 1970’s]. Amazingly for me, holiness provided more moral freedom than SID B.C. I was not one comfortable with ever being promiscuous; I have always been a romantic. The red badge of “Christian” gave me courageous license to live morally—free of having to explain myself.
“Man, I hooked us up with some―”
“I’m a Christian.”
“Oh…yeah, man. That’s cool. …uh…”
The irony of opinions purporting that Christians are brainwashed zombies is that most of the opposing sentiments are but rehashed regurgitated pre-fab opinions and gainsaying that are most often founded on illogical platitudes and prejudices. Obfuscating contextual cushions are so often used by pundits and politicians who prefer to always leave open options when “categorically stating” anything.
In Matthew 5:37, Jesus said, "Let your ‘yes’ mean yes and your ‘no’ mean no; all else comes from the evil one." When I first read that, I thought it perhaps an overstatement—as did I with several other biblical statements that I ultimately also found to be true. Nowadays, the casual listener can so easily be deceived by what they think they hear. The news is so often interpreted. Many times we're shown footage of some English-speaking person, while an English-speaking news correspondent seemingly superfluously voices over an editorialized "interpretation" for the English-speaking viewers. Many will leave the broadcast set in mind that what they've heard voiced-over were the exact words of original speaker. These persons will report in-turn what was essentially talk-over as having been the exact words of the speaker. "I heard him say it myself." It’s interesting that they’re called news programs.
The programmed will so often allege Christians are programed. Many so-called indeed are. By my estimation, there are three groups that will answer to the name “Christian”:
1. There are those who are denominational generational traditionalists. These are those who are raised in traditions of faith that were set forth by family or community. And religiously reenact gestures and poses that communicate their perception of devotion (or devotion to perceptions).
2. There are the social Christians who utilized the Christian brand as a social uniform in a pseudo-commitment to vague popularized tenants that dilute and reduce the peculiar calling to generalities like God is love, there’re are many ways to love, there’re many ways to God, religion is a private issue to be kept secret, who can say what God says is sin is wrong (a.k.a. Who are we to judge?), and the Bible has been changed over the years and can no longer be considered God’s word.
3. And finally, there are Christ’s true disciples. Those who are surrendered to Him—no longer self-owning but bought with the price of His saving sacrifice.
I have long endeavored to walk a wholly holy spiritually-informed path that falls into the third category. The first two were reasons I strayed away; they simply didn’t make sense to me. For me, it was “Great Pumpkinism”. I needed to believe in a God that would show Himself to be real, and not just be a waste of my precious Sunday mornings. When I accepted Jesus as my Lord and became a disciple in my college senior year, I asked in prayer that He not allow me to be fake. From that point on, my faith has had to present credentials daily before entering the gates of my belief. If at anytime my belief in Jesus Christ proves untrue, it will summarily be discarded. That has never happened, and as it proves itself truer as time goes by, I cannot foresee that happening.
We are in a war. This is a fight to the death for souls.
Systems of Survival
The law of the jungle is survival of the fittest. It is the nature of things natural.
So many speak on the subject of sin nature—that is, the flesh (or human nature) purposed in directions diametrically opposite to the spirit. [Romans 7:23 again] While the spirit desires to please God, the mankind's nature lives to be pleased by self-service. What must be considered and understood is human nature, which is the natural animal design of our bodies (that serves as our vehicles in the natural world—as does a scuba diving suit allow a naturally terrestrial diver to perform as if on land in a aquatic realm) is combined with a true spiritual self-passenger within. In a principle not unlike the infusion of carbon into iron to create the steel alloy, the infusion of the God-imaged spirit into natural body of mankind produces the natural supernatural hybrid human being. The natural bodies of animals are designed for survival personally and corporately by the propagation of their respective species. Sin is derived from the manipulation of the survival drives to excessive degrees. Paul writes: "The love of money is the root of all evil." The love of money begins with the understanding of its power for provision. Evil begins when the understanding of need is distorted into lustful desires to acquire more than the need. That which is designed in us to desire toward the proliferation of our kind, is designed in Godly terms to have us attracted to the opposite gender—designed to accommodate and complete—so that together, two can produce children and thereby extended the species in an optimum natural family setting. As well by proper design, the loving bond that brought the two together is further strengthened to form a dedication to the family unit as structure and security for the children’s benefit. As a little something for our troubles, God has included a little bonus...sexual pleasure. The forces of evil, stress that gracious bonus to the point where weakness turns from the selfless family directive to a selfish one that will live to satiate the instable carnal urges. We are designed so that when the tank is full, the pump shuts off automatically. The evil cultural pilots override this safety precaution, proverbially resulting in a dangerous overflow. Then, only just a spark is required to start the consuming fires. ...hell on earth.
Based on the latest these days, these are the last days; this is it. History as a forecaster would imply that society as we know it is on a tragic downturn. As a nation, we've grown from our precocious infancy—filled with its foibles—to our current rebellious adolescence. Some are making moves to ban religious [there goes that word again] expression when it is expressly Christian in nature. Otherwise, it falls under the protective cover of "culture diversity".
When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
Isn't it romantic, romancing the stoned?
Romans 7:23
We're in a war. ...the army of good embroiled in a figurative (and ultimately literal bloody) conflict against the forces of evil. The theater of battle is in the mind. [Some may contrive between-space meanings in such talk, but what I write reads like an open and forthcoming nutritional guide free of nebulous content.]Perception is reality. That which one deems real is one’s reality. If one sees modesty as a virtue, lasciviousness is shameful. If the former reflects a former primitive time of overbearing prudence inflicted upon and against the inherent freedoms of highly evolved food chain toppers to take in topless presentations and satiate salacious urges, then morality is seen as intrusive by its very existence. The desired effect of situational ethics is that everyone be allowed to crash and burn without the burden of any warning element. …to frolic in the pink mists of the minefield.
"I wish there was no Black or White; I wish there was no God."—Prince
Celebrated recording artists such as Prince and John Lennon (in "Imagine") have made a practice of lumping in "religion" along with war, racism, and the whole of select world's ills. Though I am not much for that which is colloquially deemed "religious" [see Christian categories section], I feel that blaming the wrongs of some on the entire expanse of a group is a sympathetic psycho-mechanical parallel to all bigotry and tenants of prejudice. When an NFL quarterback is revealed in the news as being involved in something as cruel and despicable as dog-fighting, few would suggest him to represent the whole of all pro quarterbacks—or semi-pro and amateur, for that matter.
A politician is caught in the wrong; murmurings buzz until they bite. After the yeast makes the dough rise, it becomes known nabob conversational currency that they all steal, fornicate, are homosexual whoremongers who're all on the special interest dole. After the incidence of perverse darkness associated with the Roman Catholic priesthood came to light, every man-of-the-cloth became fair game for comedians and sketch shows. Likewise the gospel has been skewed in the public eye by the images of disgraced religious leaders, a history of so-called Christians [see Christian categories 1 & 2] who aren't in anyway at all Christ-like.
The more Hedonistic secular society becomes, all the more often Christian (truly Christ-like) traits like fundamentalism, Bible literalist (a.k.a. Bible-thumperismicatationinenolism), and evangelical are disdained. In accordance, Jesus—by sticking by His word (that which was with God in the beginning, and was Him) and sharing Himself openly with all who would be saved by His sacrifice—is a great offender. And His disciples are moreover offensive for following in His way.
If a picture proverbially says a thousand words, a picture purposefully placed out of context will tell many lies—a very dangerous proposition if seeing is believing.
There are polls that indicate that there're many who rely of satirical "fake" news shows as their windows on the world.
The arts provide surreal presentations of the real. Surrealism distorts to emphasize, satirize, and sometimes to neutralize. A passenger-side rearview bears the caption suggesting that objects reflected may appear farther than they really are. The distortions allow a more comprehensive view than the 1:1 truth. Hyperbole in a headline draws the reader in to read the full text that will summarily dismiss the distortion as an innocent device needed to facilitate the fact being communicated. And tragically, innuendo and rumor processed from trace amounts of truth are too often adopted as fact.
Jesus exemplifies one who welcomes open debate. To say the least, He was always prepared to defend His position without disallowing countering opinions. Those opposed to religion—believe one's belief something that should be kept private (while many of the ilk celebrate the showing-off of one's privates), work diligently to prohibit and/or corral free expression that conflicts with their own beliefs or disbeliefs.
The point of it all is that the intellectual mind counsels the soul. The arts feed the soul through this connection. One of my favorite book titles is A Mind Awake—a compilation of C. S. Lewis' most profound writings. The phrase says so much about this war. We who would endeavor to enlighten must be awake at our posts. ...always thinking. "Nothing comes to sleepers but a dream.—Gap Band. The Morality-Resistant movement has, as its' major weapon, complacency and reticence toward confrontation. We are gifted to have three-dimensional sight because left and right eyes differ in their views. If The Mµne-Pi Parables fails to interest and/or entertain, it has failed greatly in its categorical purpose. But art for interests and entertainment sake alone waste the time of the idiom as well as its' consumers.
"We got a message in our music."—Gamble and Huff
What we endeavor in this endeavor is to inspire introspection, true open debate, and invitations accepted to test-drive moral notions condemned these days by popular secular closed-minded culture.
And for those of you keeping score at home, the sidewalk over the minefield remains intact. Those lost in the minefield below need only look up to see it, then scale the ladder called Christ.
M - orality-
µ = (resistance)
N - imbly
E - ngaging
P - ure-hearted
I - intellectualism
The morality resistance [symbolized by the variable “µ”, or mu (myoo)] stands in faith foundationally against favored-flavors forces of popular deception, to serve the befallen so as not to befall the very loss of our faith—stewards of intellectual property verified in fact and its expedient delivery, in fact. We serve the Truth as we serve the truth.
Please enjoy your Mµne-Pi with a refreshing swig of SIDzCarbonatedMilk. For more on this subject, please read Cancer.
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