Comments on: What Are We Sowing?

By: Dan Wilson

Dan Wilson — Tue, 26 May 2009 20:29:11 +0000

I understand what you are saying and perhaps I am just hoping for that “perfect 12-step program.” I suppose it’s just the frustration of not being even close to what kind of person I need/want to be.

I’ll admit it, I’m looking for an easier solution. Sometimes I get frustrated with all the ideology that seems so out of reach.

I suppose that’s why I need to continue to tell myself that it’s the journey that gets me to the end. But I so want to just jump right to the end.

By: mike

mike — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:17:29 +0000

I guess what I’m saying is that if we just throw up our hands saying: “I can’t forgive like the Bishop of Digne”, then we’ve missed the whole point. He didn’t magically get there. He learned to be that forgiving over a lifetime of trying to love the un-lovable. He worked hard at it because he understood it was the only way to get where he wanted to be. It must be the same for us. As Eliza Snow stated: “It requires a constant labor all His precepts to obey. If I truly love my neighbor I am in the narrow way.” It’s not easy and many won’t follow that “narrow” path, but we are instructed to do so.

By: mike

mike — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:11:42 +0000

I’m not sure what you are asking, Dan. Of course implementation is the hardest part and we don’t magically become the Bishop of Digne just because we wish to. All these things are incredibly difficult, but the point is that choosing the easy way will not fix the situation. Choosing the easy way just perpetuates the problems. Conservatives understand this when it comes to economics (at least they say they want to control spending when they’re not in charge), but not when it comes to the environment or education or fighting terrorism. Violence and force is a cop-out and only generates more of the same. We reap what we sow. If want to continue to reap the same stuff, let’s just say “it’s too hard” and continue on our merry way.

I know you’re not saying that, it’s just that this stuff isn’t abstract at all. It is the only real thing there is. C.S. Lewis states: “He [Christ] never talked vague, idealistic gas. When He said, ‘Be perfect,’ He meant it. He meant that we must go in for the full treatment. It is hard; but the sort of compromise we are all hankering after is harder – in fact, it is impossible. It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.”

We can call Christ an idealistic philosopher if we want, but it doesn’t change the fact that we have been given instructions and injunctions and only be working at them and seeking His grace daily will we accomplish those things. We’ve been told how to implement them: Love God, Love thy neighbor, Love thine enemy, Trust God (and not in the arm of the flesh), Don’t Judge, Forgive 70 time 7, “of you it is required to forgive all men”. We must constantly be putting forth our efforts to these things instead of what we spend most of our time doing.

If we keep waiting for the perfect twelve-step program to get us to become perfect, we won’t get there. I’ll keep talking about the “abstract” (as you call it) because it is the only reality there is and these discussions are what help me become the change I want to see in the world.

By: Dan Wilson

Dan Wilson — Mon, 25 May 2009 23:16:01 +0000

I fully agree with each of your premises, as I’m sure most “normal” individuals would.

The difficulty is really in the implementation. Not that we don’t need the consistent and constant reminder. How do we become the person that can freely give as the Bishop of Digne did? There are those that say “just do it”, Nike and myself included. But that’s much easier said than done.

I would love to be that type of man, but when the moment arrives, I don’t know that I can “cast off the natural man” and immediately forgive as the Bishop did.

The one issue I have with a lot of the great philosophers is that they deal in concepts rather than implementation. I’m an action person. Tell me what I need to do to become that person (the daily steps) and I can work on that. The abstract concepts are often exactly that… too abstract for most people.