Opus 2025-344: The Spark

If I were a peasant toiling in the fields of China during the Ming dynasty, if I were a peasant harvesting rice in the Mekong Delta centuries ago, if I were a slave working in the fields of Rome, if I were a slave digging diamonds out of the mines in South Africa, if I were a slave hoeing cotton in Alabama, I would still be a human being created in the image of God.  I would be someone who was born with that spark within me, which made me more than an animal.

Can that spark be destroyed?  I would hope not, but I’m sure that it can be at least diminished or smothered to the point where we don’t know that it’s there.  What dulls a person to the point where they see no purpose in life?  Why would a peasant farmer in medieval Europe get out of bed in the morning and go to the fields knowing that there was no hope for the future?  When I was working a job that was nowhere near being a slave, I still had to stop at the door to my children’s room.  I still had to look in and remind myself why I was going to work instead of just finding a stump to sit on.

Then, why do so many people go through life with eyes dimmed to the point of being totally unaware of the potential around them?  It seems there are millions of young people who have been born with a silver spoon in her mouth, have all the opportunities and comforts that life could offer, have the world open in front of them, and they bury themselves in some kind of addiction.  The Bible talks about getting drunk and being addicted to alcohol, and seems to understand that if your life is pointless and hopeless, then getting drunk is reasonable.

Proverbs 31:6-7 (KJV) 6 Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.  Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

What about those who are responsible?  Such an avenue is denied.

Here’s where I have to get theological.  In John we are told that there are some people who embrace the light and some people who embrace darkness.  It seems to be their personal choice which way they go.  By in large those who embrace darkness end up doing so because they want to be the light instead of allowing God to be the light.  Eventually their light is very dim, and they can’t see a way out.  While God is willing to forgive and restore, they are not willing to humble themselves to that point.  It makes me think of the joke about some people caught in a flood and trapped on the top of their house praying that God will deliver them.  They refuse several opportunities to get out and then when they drown, they ask God why He didn’t save them.  God answers He sent several people, but they refused all of them.  It seems God did not do it their way.

If you are a dog, a cat, a cow, or a lion you do not have the spark that represents the image of God.  If you are a human being, no matter how beaten down, the spark is there.  Reach for it.  Know that it comes from Almighty God.  Turn to him if you’re in a time of need.  He has a long track record of answering.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-231: Middle Class Morality: Prohibition

Middle Class Morality (MCM) frowns on the abuse of alcohol.  Immature males tend to look at drunkenness as a joke.  That is not MCM.  It also often condemns its use as a beverage.  Part of the heritage historically is Prohibition.  Another attempt to regulate booze were the blue laws which made it illegal to purchase alcohol on Sunday.

Most people have heard of Prohibition.  This was a time when the Constitution was amended to make it illegal to sell alcoholic beverages.  The time gets a lot of bad press.  A lot is made of the rise of organized crime that came as a result.  What you don’t hear about is the way in which the non-front page news got better.  Physical abuse of wives and children decreased in that time.  I would imagine if there were statistics they would show that traffic deaths declined.  The many ways in which alcohol undermines civil society were curtailed.  But people want their booze so all you heard was what the press wanted you to hear.  Some things never change.

The basis for all this was Biblical teaching.  For example,

(Proverbs 23:20 KJV)  Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:

That is just one example in Proverbs.  Much more is found at the end of the chapter and other places in scripture.  While having a glass of wine at dinner did not seem to be a problem, getting drunk was a clear sin.

(Proverbs 23:21 KJV)  For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

Another interesting part of this that I find in Proverbs is the insight that alcohol is a drug to dull the pain of the lower classes.

(Proverbs 31:6-7 KJV)  Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.  Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

So if you are hopeless and have given up, drink up.  If you believe in the future and the power of God to change and redeem then abstain.

Viva la middle class morality.

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-98: On the Street: Tax Day

It was incredible.  The highway was empty.  I thought the rapture had happened and I missed it.

Then it occurred to me that this was April 15.  Taxes were due.  People were probably home frantically trying to get all their records together.

Or maybe they were out at the local bar.  Maybe they were following the Biblical mandate.

(Proverbs 31:6-7 KJV)  Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.  Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

Just think of how much wiser the government is in using the money they took from you.

Be glad you don’t live in the People’s Republik of Kalifornia.

homo unius libri