It’s been a long time since I’ve heard the phrase. I don’t tend to hang around with people who use foul language, but it used to be out of respect for those who might have been offended Mr Fourletter would say, “Pardon my French.” I always used to correct them and say that first it was not French it was called Anglo-Saxon and second it’s not like I wasn’t in the army and hadn’t heard these things before.
Back in an earlier age, when there was a bit more real class and genuine culture, people tended to behave properly when in public. Sure they might go goof-ball after a few drinks at the local bar on a Saturday night. When they went to school to meet with their children’s teachers, they knew what it was to behave properly. Everybody knew. For the most part everybody did it. I think most of it was respect for others, as well as an acceptance of cultural norms.
I think that we tend to like to put on a front with God. Somehow, people are convinced that if they show up on Sunday morning for church, God ignores the other six days. They don’t seem to think that God sees those looks being cast at that fine looking person walking down the street. They think that God is as gullible as their employer who doesn’t know they are taking a break in one of the storage rooms.
It doesn’t work very well because He sees us all the time and is aware of everything about us. He sees us when we pick our nose. He sees us when we make certain gestures behind peoples backs. He hears us in the car making comments about other peoples driving. He doesn’t filter it out. He knows it. And I guess you could say He’s a bit used to it. You may impress your mother-in-law, by knowing which fork to use but God saw you eating spaghetti with your fingers yesterday.
I think that maybe one of the reasons why people are so offended by the God of the Bible is He knows a fraud when He sees one. He doesn’t play games. They like to act like it’s some big philosophical issue like the problem of evil or the fact that accepting God created the universe takes faith, whereas believing that the singularity just popped into existence is scientific fact. Like so many things in life we tend to think that if we ignore it, it will go away. We think things are true, because we want them to be true. I’m sorry to say it doesn’t work that way.
homo unius libri
Pages
▼
Amen!
ReplyDeleteAnd I think that was originally Hebrew.
DeleteGrace and peace