tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1893204038198431673.post4859324725889812515..comments2023-04-04T01:19:43.025-07:00Comments on The Flog – The Fabry Log: Living at the Level of OutrageChris Fabryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04659256097054720180noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1893204038198431673.post-92029839809406576232014-04-02T08:59:56.346-07:002014-04-02T08:59:56.346-07:00I wonder if the question "What would Jesus do...I wonder if the question "What would Jesus do?" is naive. What does that questions really mean? What are we really asking?<br /><br />I think we are usually asking, "What would a middle aged, single man (whose primary purpose in life was to bring salvation to sinners) with no one for whom he was responsible and no community responsibilities and no opportunity to change his culture do?" However, very few of us find ourselves in that situation as Christians, especially in the United States. Instead, we find ourselves directly responsible for the political and cultural system in which we find ourselves as well as spouses, children, congregations, etc..<br /><br />Asking "What would Jesus do?" (in the naive way it is typically asked) is hardly useful when a man comes upon a gritty, real-life situation. What would Jesus do when he sees a man verbally abusing a woman in the street? What about when this man grabs his girlfriend by her hair and begins dragging her away? "WWJD" suddenly loses its clean sensibilities. <br /><br />While I agree that we need to avoid <i>living</i> at the level of outrage, we should beware that we are not condemning outrage itself. Chip Ingram has a very valuable view on anger. In <i>Overcoming Emotions that Destroy</i> (<a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CD4QFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Flivingontheedge.org%2Fovercoming-emotions-that-destroy.pdf&ei=DSw8U5v2G-SvsQS70oGYDg&usg=AFQjCNE-6F-yl7lbzdS7rqPo7KeiJQZ-dA&sig2=aXjfpHQNJJpZ0qzP2HmYqw&bvm=bv.63934634,d.cWc&cad=rja" rel="nofollow">link</a>), he writes, "[Anger] can be a healthy emotion that motivates us to correct attitudes, behaviors, or injustices that we perceive to be wrong." Outrage can be good.<br /><br />In fact, if not for outrage, there would be no United States. If not for outrage, there would still be slave ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean. If not for outrage, that man would have drug that woman by her hair to who knows what end. <br /><br />Yes, outrage should not be the default of our Christian experience. However, the naive "WWJD" does not fit all circumstances. Honestly, it is sometimes a blind to hide our cowardice. Then we can continue along our path of convenient non-engagement.<br /><br />Perhaps that is the real issue. Whether it is persistent outrage or cowardly sublimity, our lives are hollow without follow-through. As I have heard it put before, albeit uncouthly, "Put up or shut up." <br /><br />Therefore, maybe the better question is, not "What would Jesus do?", but "What should <i>I</i> do?"Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12367524222975210578noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1893204038198431673.post-35460148145807447842014-04-01T22:37:02.607-07:002014-04-01T22:37:02.607-07:00I can tell you are feeling the outrage and it is w...I can tell you are feeling the outrage and it is wearing thin on your nerves. I find myself listening less and less to cable news programs. I wanted to stay informed but l found l was staying frustrated and argumentative. I know we need to have the programs such as the World Vision discussion...but l am much more drawn in to a person's story...and you provide your listeners with some great ones. I've been introduced to people such as Ann Voskamp, who encourages me to cultivate a grateful spirit which promotes praise to God. And when l am offering my time back to Him in praise, l don't dwell on the contentious, argumentative environment that is seeping in to everything in my world like fog. God is on the move in your life, Chris Fabry. Follow the pillar of fire!Marilyn Peppersnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1893204038198431673.post-3262391375242493012014-04-01T13:57:29.380-07:002014-04-01T13:57:29.380-07:00Hi Chris,
I listen to all the outrage comments a...Hi Chris, <br /><br />I listen to all the outrage comments and sympathetic to all but I think that too many times we have gotten too preoccupied with our own sense of justice that we forget that as Christians we are suppose to act like Christ at all times. <br /><br />BethAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1893204038198431673.post-17140498899776598752014-04-01T13:55:24.667-07:002014-04-01T13:55:24.667-07:00Church America is too quick to pick up stones in o...Church America is too quick to pick up stones in order to rid their world of the next person or group that offends them. I was reading a divosional written in the late 1800's and a missionary was sharing that he had just spent 30 years looking for Jesus in the faces of people he did not agree with. How humbling that is! I am right now sitting in a coffee shop with a man born in the mission field who, two years after coming to the US to live, has left the church because they have no real compassion. BrotherBill54https://www.blogger.com/profile/08250361261030745091noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1893204038198431673.post-14844466227471092772014-04-01T13:54:08.227-07:002014-04-01T13:54:08.227-07:00Hi Chris,
I listen to all the outrage comments a...Hi Chris, <br /><br />I listen to all the outrage comments and sympathetic to all but I think that too many times we have gotten too preoccupied with our own sense of justice that we forgot that as Christians we are suppose to act like Christ at all times. <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1893204038198431673.post-43215145722818646492014-04-01T13:27:47.105-07:002014-04-01T13:27:47.105-07:00I was recently outraged at my dr's office for ...I was recently outraged at my dr's office for withholding information on a blood test (Incompetent nurse, in my opinion, who focused on a minute reading of potassium i.e. .2 off and he bypassed the more critical issue of my liver enzymes that were way off!!!!!)Also outraged at outright "lie" that I HAD to come in for a physical vs simply reordering my prescription---from new supplier. Once in the office, my dr. said to me, "I don't understand why you're here for a physical..." Very frustrating, irritating for me!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1893204038198431673.post-17293944854166376562014-04-01T13:08:53.503-07:002014-04-01T13:08:53.503-07:00I am upset about the injustice...one of my passion...I am upset about the injustice...one of my passionate complaints..outlawing the filming and reporting of abuse of animals in the food industry. I cannot believe a bill would pass outlawing it to record and film abuse and be jailed for it. There are numerous others..but animals cannot speak, call out ..and the Lord create all and breathed his breath into all . The very "lack of respect" for the LORDS creation disturbs me. Thank you and Peace.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com