Wading through the dross...

I have made no secret of the fact that I find the new Facebook home page/news feed confusing.  I do believe that such a change makes it harder for those who are cognitively challenged and those who find learning new technology difficult. The more I have been of need of accessible measures, the more I have them lacking. The more I am in need of adaptive options, the more I see that few in my quotidian existence give them a single thought.  Honestly, I doubt they even give thought to my needing them.

I really do feel as if I might explode each time someone tells me I will figure something out or I will be able to do something if only I want to do so, if only I try.

For one, I am hearing that I am not trying, when, in fact, I have been trying harder for over a year now than I ever have in my life.  For another, the simple reality is that I am one who rides elevators because she cannot figure out which button to push.  Yes, I can still call to mind some of what I know and, at times, I can still think strategically. I still have things to offer with the gifts that God gave me.  But I am one who oft cannot figure out which button to push.  Believe me, when I tell you, I try very hard when I am in that elevator.

Just as I concentrated with my whole being to remember Bettina's wedding or practically any of the wonderful times we have spent together.  To know them as more than mere stories.  I could not. I need to ask her to tell me more stories, at least. For I hate the hole that is in my mind when it comes to my best friend.

However, aside from true difficulty in navigating the changes and dealing with the distraction of the ticker is the actual content of the ticker.  People have said that you are only seeing that which you would have seen if you went to every one of your friends pages and then followed all of their posts, but you see more.  But I purposely do not do that. I purposely have been trying to narrow down my Facebook world.

A friend said to think about it like my home.  I need only invite those whom I want in my home.  As conflicted as I have felt about it, I systematically unfriended all those whom I felt pressured to accept or who felt pressured to friend or who simply do not interact with me.  I see no point in filling their world with my life. And doing so made me feel vulnerable.  I worked to make my Facebook home safe.  Now, it is as if Facebook has broken down my door and left me defenseless.

On the ticker, I saw a comment from someone who claims to be a Christian, even a Lutheran, but who regularly blasphemes the Word of God.  I find it offense and uncomfortable--the latter because I know beneath many of his words is a rage that has not been addressed. I do not want him in my life.  Caught by his comment, I read the thread.  Doing so made me wretch.

Is is wrong that I think differently about those who stand against Christ without professing to believe than those who stand against Christ as they claim His name?  Growing up in a non-Christian family, living in a largely non-Christian world (meaning my small patch of life), I have this immunity of sorts.  I know sin is there.  When openly practiced because without the Holy Spirit, the person is incapable of fearing, loving, or trusting God, that sin does not bother me more than the wretchedness of our fallen world as a whole.  But when the arrows of our foe are being flung out of the mouth of one who claims to be one of Christ's own, I cannot stomach it.  Less so now than ever before.  And, I would argue--in complete seriousness--that that growing intolerance has nothing to do with my current weakness of spirit. Though...I could be wrong about that.

Am I merely upset to read such stuff or to hear it because it reminds me too sharply of my own struggle?  I mean, I do not openly stand against God. I struggle to believe the for me at times, to remember my baptism.  I do not give praise to God's wife.  I do not claim that Yahweh is merely an evolution of a Canaanite god.  I do not claim that there are many types of hell in the bible. I do not claim the bible is merely a representation, a guide, for us to use as we search our heart of hearts, but one full of errancy and discrepancy. Such LIES do not fall out of my lips, rest in my mouth, fill my mind, rattle around my heart.

Others do though.

Is there no difference between us?  Am I denying the Word of God as is he?

I really, really wish I had not read the message thread.  It is very hard to set aside what I read.  Only wading through the dross I did come across a most precious treasure.  I wanted IMMEDIATELY to call an undershepherd and beg to have it confirmed and explained.  Even having not done so, I want to go ahead and post it here, for an ex-undershepherd is the one who wrote it.  And, to me, it resonated with that which I have learned.

The New Testament lies hidden in the Old, the Old Testament lies open in the New. We, as Lutherans, hold to the principle of SOLA SCRIPTURA. That means we base our doctrine, our teaching(s), and our confession(s) on the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible. Internally in the Bible, we see revelation unfolding from Genesis to Revelation. But that doesn't mean God changes. This unfolding of the revelation is like a rose (which Luther used in his coat of arms). We see more of the rose as the rose opens its petals. So also the revelation of God as we read through the Bible.  ~ Daniel Thomas Moriarity

SIGH.  Is not the first sentence simply beautiful?  This is what I have been experiencing, most especially with the Psalter.  I have found the Gospel, the whole of the Gospel, buried in there. I have discovered Jesus and baptism and the Lord's Supper, most especially. I have found the weight of the Law and the freedom of the Gospel.  I have found forgiveness, dying and rising with Christ.  But I have also found Christ elsewhere, in places I never would have expected, all through out the Old Testament, even in a favorite passage of mine in Zephaniah, that I thought was just pretty words for Israel, not for me.  

Shout for Joy, O daughter of Zion!

Shout in triumph O Israel!

Rejoice and exult with all your heart,

O daughter of Jerusalem!

The Lord has taken away His judgments against you,

He has cleared away your enemies.

The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;

You will fear disaster no more.

In that day it will be said to Jerusalem:

"Do not be afraid, O Zion;

Do not let your hands fall limp.

The Lord your God is in your midst,

A victorious warrior.

He will exult over you with joy,

He will be quiet in His love,

He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.

~Zephaniah 3:14-17

Think about Jesus.  Wow!  Sounds familiar, eh?  The Holy Spirit has brought about such a fundamental shift in opening my eyes to the pure doctrine, filling my ears and sowing the seeds of true faith...even if I find them to far smaller than I would wish.

The New Testament lies hidden in the Old, the Old Testament lies open in the New. 

The Living Word is whole and complete and without error.  There was no editing of God to fit life then that needs to be adjusted to life now.  There was no crafting of clever allegories not meant to be taken as real.  There was no re-creating a Canaanite god to fit Israel's desire for just one god out of the many choices available. Our Triune God is the only God that ever was or is or will be. God created the world, rather than allow it to evolve. His Son was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born, lived, healed, forgave, taught, suffered, died, and rose again--all without sin, taking on our sin to be our justification, an act whole and complete in and of itself. The Holy Spirit came to bring faith, through Word and Sacrament, that those born in sin might believe and be saved from eternal death for Christ's sake, for His faith.  This I believe.

Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!