First of all, the past couple days have sucked. Woke up Thursday afternoon quite ill indeed - fever, chills, feeling like I had been dragged over cobblestones while marched on by elephants. Ibuprofen seemed to help for a while but not much. I woke up Friday morning with no more fever, drenched in sweat, the sheets soaked, and TIRED. I spent most of yesterday sleeping. I seem to be myself again, though the last two days have been so surreal that it's hard to judge.
I want to highlight an exchange I had here at Street Prophets with someone writing under the moniker "The Werewolf Prophet". It may surprise you to learn from this exchange that I learned quite a lot from it. First, I learned that I am quite fed up with people who use whatever victimization they may have encountered in their lives as a badge of honor. I am going to go out on a limb here, perhaps even the slenderest of reeds, and say that the position "Wolfie" stakes out is morally obtuse and offensive. Apparently, he is the first person in the world to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. While I respect that he has escaped the narrow confines of an imposed fundamentalism, I do not respect his refusal to acknowledge the co-humanity of those who denied him his full humanity. Anger and vengeance are understandable, but we Christians, I thought, were to rise above all that.
Second, I just love the whole concept of "my truth". What a wonderful way to stifle discussion. Not only does such a move silence any questions coming from outside. It also walls up the person proclaiming "my truth" inside a prison of subjectivity so strong, it can be unbreakable. It doesn't help, of course, that I for one have not only heard this type of thing before, but have tried it on occasion myself. More fool me.
Finally, I so enjoy it when people create exceptions to the radical grace of God. "Wolfie" doesn't see forgiveness applying to those who until recently led him astray. Along with accusing me of using such words as a "weapon", he sees no reason to extend the same courtesy to those who wronged him as was extended to him by the God who loves him despite his sin.
He accuses me of preaching "law", when, as I point out, I was talking about those three virtues St. Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 13, faith, hope and love. It all flows from the same source, the grace that we cannot understand but is always there.
I also point out that, since "Wolfie" names himself "prophet" (something else I find so precious), the Old Testament prophets tended to announce, along with the righteous anger of the LORD, the simultaneous unflagging love for and devotion to the people of Israel and Judah. In one breath, the LORD would speak of the terrors about to descend, and list the indictments that were their source. Then, the prophet would announce, "How can I abandon Israel, my child?" Judgment and grace go together for the prophets. They always have. They always will. Unless you are willing to extend grace even while you are casting judgment, you aren't so much a prophet as you are a self-righteous human being acting out of "my truth".
Virtual Tin Cup
