A people who reject facts will wander in the wilderness and die. This wilderness wandering phenomenon is evident in all the political systems and in the pastimes of the associated surrogates and sycophants.  It defines the lack of productivity in a Christian; it is not a type of death.  There may be people who seem to have started the journey of following Christ but give up or turn back.  Many still want to pursue the American dream even when it it clear that there are structural barriers designed to make a disconnect from human dignity essential to realizing the dream.  This is the inhumanity of racism and religious corruption. 

Nothing compares to or replaces the excellent things of Christ.

Doublespeaking Warriors

Christians have a set of beliefs topped off with a main profession or confession.  Sometimes the expression is private: self talk.  Sometimes it is public testimony.  Sometimes people are just shooting the breeze.  In the vast majority of cases the expressions have a significance that attaches to who the speaker is.  A popular trope is faithful.  It has come to mean responsible,  faultless,  beyond reproach, and of course sinless.  It is rare to hear faithful used to mean full of faith or free from unbelief.  Our doublespeaking habits are most in play when evidence is required or when someone wants us to believe something for which they have no relevant evidence.   The result is a ring of false humility, triumphalism, fables and speculation around mountains of doublespeak.

Understanding the conditions under which confessions happen

When exactly does one say the following?

• I am not a politican
• I am not perfect
• I did not go to school to study Bible
• I am not a scientist/expert
• I am not a leader
• I am not a sinner
• I am not a saint

When exactly does one say the following?

• I am perfect
• I am a politican
• I did go to school to study Bible
• I am a scientist/expert
• I am a leader
• I am a sinner
• I am a saint

Perhaps the most commonly abused term is perfect. One hears it applied to God and it admits no “shadow of turning” to use James’ phrase. God’s perfections were not given to Adam. Adam was a complete and good product of God’s creative work, and only the shortsighted and contentious try to make Adam a perfect creature. If a perfect creature can unleash the misery of expulsion from Eden and the lockout of all human beings then we have to conclude that perfection like that leaves much to be desired.

We are more than conquerors because of God’s love, not when we gain advantage or acquire some material or spiritual property.

It is both profound pretense and insensitivity to talk about human identity and destiny apart God’s eternal plan to save.