Tag: Social Media

Psalms & Proverbs, wisdom for every season

The Voices We Listen To Shape Our Lives | Wisdom from Psalms & Proverbs

by Matthew Stidham, posted in Proverbs, Psalms, Scripture

Today I’m reminded of the dangers of the company we keep. I’ve started reading through Proverbs and Psalms again every day. One chapter of Proverbs per day (today is the 22nd, so I read chapter 22), and 5 Psalms today (today is the 22nd, so 106-110). Allow me to share a few of the words of wisdom that struck me this morning.

“Drive out the mocker, and out goes strife; quarrels and insults are ended.” – Prov 22:10

“Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared.” – Prov 22:24-25

“Blessed are those who act justly, who always do what’s right.” – Psalm 106:3

“He loved to pronounce a curse—may it come back on him. He found no pleasure in blessing—may it be far from him.” – Psalm 109:17

Over and over again in today’s reading, it contrasted the ways of the Lord with those of the world, and what stood out to me was eye-opening.

The way of the Lord is to bless others, and in doing this they will be blessed.
The way of the evil one is to curse others, and in doing this they will be cursed.

The way of the Lord is to sing praises to him.
The way of the evil one is to mock others.

The way of the Lord is to seek justice.
The way of the evil one is cover up, deception, and depriving others of justice.

The way of the Lord is peace, driving away those who are divisive and cause endless arguments.
The way of the evil one is mocking and insulting others, constantly looking for an argument.

I could continue on and on from just the 6 chapters I read this morning. But those 6 chapters were a good reminder. Now let’s take this one step further.

In your family, do you speak more blessings on others, or curses? Are your mouths filled with praises of God, or mocking and insults of others? Does you work to pursue justice in all things no matter the cost, or are you ok with depriving others of justice so long as things work out the way you want? Do you strive for peace, or is there always an argument to be had?

How about in your circle of friends?

How about in the media and entertainment you consume?

How about in your social media feed?

Do people see the way of the Lord, or the way of the evil one in how you speak and interact with the world?

Perhaps there’s some conversations I need to have in a different way. Perhaps there’s some “friends” I need to remove from my feed. Perhaps there are some voices I need to stop listening to, and some influencers I need to stop allowing to influence me.

Just some thoughts that have been floating through my mind this morning.

“With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord; in the great throng of worshipers I will praise him. For he stands at the right hand of the needy, to save their lives from those who would condemn them.” – Psalm 109:30-31

Jesus and Facebook in John’s Gospel

by Matthew Stidham, posted in Gospel of John, Scripture

This week’s Gospel reading comes from John 7:25 through the end of chapter 8. This passage probably contains a note in your Bible. The NIV includes this statement:

[The earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53–8:11. A few manuscripts include these verses, wholly or in part, after John 7:36, John 21:25, Luke 21:38 or Luke 24:53.]

The New International Version. (2011). (Jn 7:53). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

This troubles many people, but the translators are actually trying to help the reader here. Let’s look at a few things together.

    1. Was this passage originally part of John’s Gospel? Most likely, no. The further we remove ourselves from the date of the writing (later manuscripts) the more likely the text is to have things added by later generations of people. This is why scholars strive to find the earliest and best manuscripts to translate from.
    2. So should we not have this story in our Bibles? No! We absolutely should! The stories of Jesus were passed along in oral form long before, and long after they were written down by the New Testament authors. The fact that this passage appears in many manuscripts in multiple places within John’s and Luke’s Gospel can show that this was a well known story of Jesus. Therefore, we can have faith that it actually happened.
    3. Should we view this portion of Scripture as uninspired, or not the true Word of God? No! The Holy Spirit inspired over 40 authors over a span of 1600 years in three languages on three continents to write 66 documents with a unifying theme that can only be explained by a God at work behind its writing. Do you not think he could inspire the church to want to include that story later?

 

 

Within the text there are several things we modern western readers need to pay attention to. First, there is a woman caught in adultery. Adultery isn’t a solo act. So where is the man? We really don’t know. But it would seem if you catch the woman, you also catch the man. This gives us at least two thoughts: 1) This was a trap to catch the woman, thus her guilt may or may not be correct, 2) The group really didn’t care about what the man did, thus this is a sexism at work.

We should also notice that when Jesus tells the crowd to feel free to stone her as long as the sinless people cast the first stones, it is the oldest ones that left first. I think the weight of our sin becomes more obvious the older we get.

Finally, notice how Jesus does something that many Christians feel is impossible today. Jesus does not condone her sin (in fact he tells her to leave her sinful life), but neither does he condemn her. (8:11) What you are seeing is a grace-filled righteousness offered by Jesus. This woman has been through hell in this ordeal. Heaping verbal abuse upon this woman would likely push her further from the Father. Instead Jesus calmly and lovingly tells her to leave her sinful life in a non-condemning way.

Perhaps Christians today could learn a thing or two from Jesus’ interaction with this woman.

Question: How should this grace-filled conversation play out in a modern context, such as discussions on Facebook?