Yesterday I put a quote up by Linus. The comment section from that piece was interesting. A lot of people said that you should have professional standards of behaviour. That Linus is wrong to abuse people via email: to vent.
And then the programmers said that the only way to stop silly ideas is to mock them, and shoot them down. Harsh language is useful. Things are not always nice. And that mandated politeness leads to foolish policies. A lot of people used the Marine version of professionalism, which is completing the mission, niceness be damned.
Christ taught we could be judged by our fruit, and not all would be productive. Christ was many things. Nice was not one of them.
1Again he began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3“Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. 6And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. 7Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.” 9And he said, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”
10When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; 12in order that
‘they may indeed look, but not perceive,
and may indeed listen, but not understand;
so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.’”13And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables? 14The sower sows the word. 15These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy. 17But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing. 20And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.
We are not called to be nice. We are called to endure, to be righteous, to each day habitually do that which helps others and glorifies God.
We are taught to not get entangled in the cares of this world. The newspaper this morning is full of news of increasing earthquakes in Wellington, and the precautions people are taking so that the CBD is not full until the quakes are lessening and the buildings have been checked out. We spend a lot of time (and we should) talking about how to live, how to act, in a way that builds each other up… and how to avoid living in manner that tears people down.
Because you can tell those who are evil, those who want power, by the people cast aside in their wake. This is true. It ain’t nice: it’s harsh.
[An alternative theory, of course,] is that Jesus was in fact not joking when he said the way is “narrow” or when he told people to “bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance.” A girl who decides to get pregnant with no plan or thought to have a man to provide for her is “worse than an unbeliever.” A boy who knocks up skanks and skips town is “worse than an unbeliever.” Decide to no-fault when you’re 40 and screw over your spouse and kids? You’ve denied the faith, and you’re worse than an unbeliever.
Harsh stuff. There really doesn’t seem to be an out that doesn’t involve repentance, and I mean the actual kind, not the Lutheran “I feel bad about this” kind.
By your fruit you are judged. Do not be worse than an unbeliever.
