TRICKED BY DISTORTED MIRRORS

Any who have gone into a Carnival Fun House have been amused when they enter the room that has many mirrors that distort the appearance of the one who looks into to it. One will show the individual skinner than they are, another taller, another shorter, another fatter, etc. A rather stout woman once was overheard to say, as she viewed herself in one of the distorted mirrors, "I like that mirror, see how slim it makes my waist look.

Presently, our society has been infected with what I term as the "Politically Correct Syndrome". By that, I mean it is not the popular and accepted thing to speak out against another persons ungodly behavior. To do so will incur the wrath of those infected by the "Politically Correct Syndrome". Consequently, we shy away from speaking out against wrong behavior. No one is guilty of misbehavior, they are the victims and are to be given compassion and understanding, not censure. It has become unloving to speak out against unacceptable behavior. If one should do so, the are looked upon and spoken against as some kind of "holier than thou" individual and tabbed as a "Wacko" or a "Right Wing Religious Fanatic". Sadly, we are slowly developing into a silent majority that won’t speak out against wrong behavior for fear of being verbally attacked and labeled with an unflattering title.

Consequently, the ones engaging in unacceptable behavior see themselves through the distorted mirrors of silence. Many truly believe they are victims or see their unacceptable behavior as acceptable and those who would dare have a different view as individuals who have some sort of problem. It has become a classic case of calling "evil good, and good evil" - Isa 5:20.

Truly, this is a sad state of affairs. Even more shocking, this "Syndrome" has crept into the Church. It is seem across the land by how some of God’s children view religious people belonging to various denominations. I will be the first to admit there are many in denominations who are really good people and do a lot of charitable work for the unfortunate in our society. What really concerns me is that because of this, some Christians feel they are acceptable to God and upon their death will be gloriously accepted into heaven. The matter of how they conducted themselves religiously is unimportant, they good they do through the distorted mirror of society’s values is what is really important - Matt 15:9; Matt 7:21-23.

The rational for coming to this conclusion comes about in the following way. These good folks are compared to a member of the Church who is either an obvious hypocrite, a none spiritual fruit bearing Christian, a fault finding Christian, or one who is obviously not acting in harmony with God’s Word. The "good folks" in the denominational world are compared to those Christians who are in spiritual jeopardy and the conclusions is then reached the behavior of the "good folks" in denominations is obviously better than that of the spiritually jeopardized Christian they are compared to. Thus, they are saved. They are viewed through the distorted mirror of an individual’s emotional reasoning. By this reasoning Cornelius in Acts 10 and the Jews talked about in Rom 10:1-3 were saved and did not really have to obey the gospel of Christ.

The flaw is this reasoning is found in 2 Cor 10:12, "For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise."

Beloved, let us see others’ spiritual condition as God sees them through the mirror of His’s word (Jas 1:23-25) and not through the distorted mirror of our own emotional reasoning.

By Dick Millwee

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