This psalm needs little commentary. On a day when the French look like they will publish more cartoons of a false prophet, which will lead to the Muslims protesting and asking again for censoring that which should be free, let us think of virtues.
For our sanity’s sake, if nothing else. This world is crazy.
PSALM 15
1 O LORD, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill?
2 Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right, and speak the truth from their heart;
3 who do not slander with their tongue, and do no evil to their friends, nor take up a reproach against their neighbors;
4 in whose eyes the wicked are despised, but who honor those who fear the LORD; who stand by their oath even to their hurt;
5 who do not lend money at interest, and do not take a bribe against the innocent. Those who do these things shall never be moved.
Now one of the parts of this Psalm is that we should despise those who do evil. We do not necessarily need to do much to them: for if we speak the truth and we do good the contrast between what we do and what the evildoers do is considerable.
Consider, for a minute the various “insults” to Islam. A film, amateurishly done. A few cartoons, Some websites. These have cuased riots: churches burnt, Christians and Buddhists martyred — and the US Ambassador to Libya kmilled and dragged through the streets of Benghazi. The Christian response to these things is that he Pope prays for peace in Lebanon, and we continue to do good.
The Islamists, like the Germanic pagans of National Socialism or the Soviet socialists, damn themseleves by their actions. Nothing new here. And, as usual, if you follow the money you find at least some of the motivation — for Jihad and anti- Jihad are big businesses.
16One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. 17While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.” 18She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
19But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. 20When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews 21and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.”22The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 23After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. 24Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks
What we need to do is stop fearing. It is immaterial that Islam has expanded as much by intimidation and violence as any preaching — and did this from the beginning. We should not fear them. For they cannot destroy our souls, and it is our duty to speak truth.
In a similar way, we should not fear the banks, or the fascist arms of the state. We can, by careful management of our finances, mitigate the role of the banks in our lives (this is NOT a good time to buy a house in NZ: we are in an unsustainable housing bubble). Rent. Live simply. Do not travel near the USA. Keep the laws, and the policeman from your door… and then speak the truth.
Because speaking the truth and doing good will get you into plenty of trouble right now. The times are evil. We do not need to be.