Flipped

Historical revisionism, political correctness, and pseudo-theology have successfully flipped perceptions resulting in people’s thinking things are the opposite of what they actually are. There is a perception that Democrats have always been against the violation of civil rights and that Republicans have always been the violators of them. Truth is, not one slave holder was a Republican and most were Democrats. Every law of segregation in the South was passed by Democratic legislators and signed by a Democrat governor. (Please, this is only an example and not a call for debating political party legitimacy.) Nationalists are equated with and maligned as radical-conservatives, as if no liberals are nationalists. Truth is that Hitler was a socialist, as was Gandhi, Mussolini was arguably a Marxist, and Castro was a communist; all were extreme nationalists. Such flipped misconceptions exist in the Church world as well. Christians who espouse applications of Biblical principles in a way that result in a conservative life-style are labeled legalistic Pharisees, thus, equating conservatives with Pharisees. Actually, Pharisees in their day were considered liberals; that, because the Pharisees took the liberty to go beyond the Biblical text in the formation of all their traditions and demands. Churches that utilize only the latest contemporary genre of music, the latest songs, are considered open-minded, and, thus, leading edge. Churches that still employ hymns as a part of their worship are considered closed-minded, and, thus, stuck in the mud of the past. Truth is a church that only endorses and embraces a single genre from the small slice of time of the latest contemporary music is not very open-minded. A church that sings songs from a multiplicity of Christian genres, songs published over the spectrum of centuries isn’t closed minded at all. The first church only serves one dish and all others are castigated as old and unfit. The second serves many dishes judging each on its own merits of being conducive to worship. My point is we live in a world where folks are emotionally reacting to each’s perceptions (actually, preconceptions) and little attention is given to ascertain what the reality of the matter is. Read the post and counter-posts in a Facebook “debate.” The bulk is emotional, opposing reaction to someone’s perception. Most often, the reaction itself is a perception. Objective truth is not often even considered. Folks will not agree that the circle is round and then disagree whether round is good or not. No. One says, I like circles because they are triangular and another says I dislike circles because they are square. If a geometry expert points out that all circles are round, the one that doesn’t like them will only say, “Well, to you they might be round, but to me they are square.” Sadly, often when people debate an issue in Christianity an observer does not hear, “But, the Bible says,” or, “But, this Scripture means…”. The observer would only hear, “Well, I think…,” “To me it means…,” “In my experience…,” “In my opinion…,” “The way I see it…,” “For our times it means…,” Unless rooted in the intended meaning of Biblical texts, all those are simply perceptions. They may be correct. But, they may be actually flipped.

Flipped

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