THere is an error in my job. It is to prematurely make a diagnosis, before all the information is available. This is quite frustrating for coders and managers, who want everything neatly placed into their boxes, and “pathways of care” for all situations. But the mad do not neatly fit.

The problem is not the mad.

The problem is the managerial model, for it is captured by an ideology that we can manage ourselves into perfection. This we cannot do.

We see the same thing among those who virtue signal. They want simple, clean solutions, that fit within their ideology. If that is not the case, then it is not done. This leads to intellectual sloth. For prophets do come from Bethlehem.

This passage is also a stumbling block to the Unitarian, for the Holy Spirit is spoken of explicitly. They now have the problem of the trinity: Christ is either truly God or he is not, and the Spirit is either truly God or not. The creeds give us as good a model of this as we can understand — for we God are not.

And in this passage God calls us.

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!” The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

(John 7:37-52 ESV)

Christ is God indeed, and if we come to him our thirst for truth can be slaked. From a position of faith, we can see more clearly. This allows us to judge with wisdom, for the Spirit will guide us into all truth.

It is also painful. It is akin to when I put my glasses away and put the contact lenses in. The lenses hurt at times, but give me very close to perfect vision: this means I can see my typos (which I generally cannot without contacts) but I can also see the dirt on areas in the house that I thought were clean.

And this spirit shows us our sin. If we were not aware of it before, we are now. And we know, more deeply, and more painfully, how broken we are, and how little utility there is in signalling virtue.

Too many of us practice a warped secular churchianity, where we congratulate ourselves for donating a modicum of money here and there to savages we don’t know in lieu of helping our friends and allies.

But you’re not a better person for helping the stranger and ignoring your neighbor. You’re a worse person, you’re a performance artist. As Jesus himself said, even the tax collectors love those who love them and even the pagans greet their own people.

Now what does it say about you if your own behavior doesn’t even rise to their level?

Just as only the strong can turn the other cheek, only those who help their own first can help others.

Vox (Yes I have just quoted him) often will use his blog to advertise jobs. The Evil Lord of Hate, and Monster Hunter Nation, encourages book bombs for other authors.

We are given the Spirit so we can be wise. That includes being sensible about who goes where and serving and helping where there is need. Consider the context of this example: my gym coach is South African, loves the country, and she and her husband left because they were physically at risk, and that South Africa has many churches and many people trying to good things within that nation.

This is the difference between being “nice” and being “kind.” Nice is doing and saying things that make people feel good, but in reality is of no benefit. It is a word of Latin origin that literally means “not know”, i.e. STUPID. For example, a friend’s 20 yr old daughter has been raising money to be a missionary in South Africa for two years. Given the fact that South Africa is a terrible place for a 20 yr old white girl who has never even lived on her own, it would be “nice” of me to support her financially. Kind, however, is what Mike and Vox have just described and demonstrated: being useful to someone else. Giving a man a fish is nice. Teaching a man to fish is kind. Nice people get used and played the fool. Kind people are successful because they bring value to someone else.

I am kind to my family. I live in a safe bubble. One of the reasons we elect, in Dunedin, liberals, is that we are trying to be nice to others. Polite. And we are signalling our virtue. But I have family in Canada, in areas where Trudeau, (Janet Bloomfield is wrong: Ken, the Barbie doll, is more intelligent) will settle Syrian refugees. She has small children. One of my sons has chosen to go to Europe with his mother over this winter: the other son was blunter than me to both, saying the areas are now very high risk.

I should add that all my children can vote, and I can but advise. In this fallen age, being a young man in Europe is still safe, but I would have been stronger in my advise if he had sisters of his age.

Finally, Paul says that men who do not support their family and relatives are tobe accounted as idolators. He did not argue for a tithe, because he knew that some men struggled to support their families: but he advised that no man should be on the welfare roll, and only women over 60. (Younger should remarry, lest they burn).

No prophet came from Galilee, but one appeared to. Virtue signalling is not kindness, though it appears to be so. Judge with wisdom, and if you feel you lack wisdom, join me in praying for that painful gift.