I am about to go on two rants that will not be thought much
of if we think of them as rants. Because
all I want to do is to make a statement, and a few related statements that
brought me to my conclusion, and to have everyone agree with me. I don’t want to huff and puff about
them. I certainly don’t want to go to
all the trouble of trying to persuade people with carefully researched
arguments – which usually doesn’t work anyway.
1. Laughing at people
should not be thought rude unless it is clearly intended to be so. Children laugh with delight – at fun things,
at spectacles, at themselves, at comedy.
It is associated with being in good humor. I know I am not often in very good humor, and
I would like justification for expressing it when I feel it. If something you say makes me laugh, please do
not think that I find you merely comic – or that I am intending to tease or
ridicule you. You delight me. Please continue.
2. I used to think I
was conservative: a conservative Christian, conservative in politics. It’s possible I am conservative about
language, or conservative with resources.
But when conservation and ideals share ground, if you are an
unsuccessful conservative for long enough, you have to stop! I can’t be conservative for the sake of conserving! I’m not conservative just to oppose
changes. The idea is that I want
something to be stable, for goodness to be maintained. But for quite a while, evil has been
gradually overwhelming my ideals. The
status quo isn’t ok with me, either in our nation’s government or in our
churches. So I am a revolutionary. I am a submissive revolutionary. Some people rather derisively (or at least
dismissively) call me an idealist.
To God be all glory.
