"But the
wisdom that comes from God is first of all pure, then peaceful, gentle,
and easy to please. This wisdom is always ready to help those who are
troubled and to do good for others. It is always fair and honest.
People who work for peace in a peaceful way plant a good crop of
right-living. Do you
know where your fights and arguments come from? They come from the
selfish desires that war within you. You want things, but you do not
have them. So you are ready to kill and are jealous of other people,
but you still cannot get what you want. So you argue and fight. You do
not get what you want, because you do not ask God. Or when you ask, you
do not receive because the reason you ask is wrong. You want things so
you can use them for your own pleasures." -- James 3.17-4.3
A man criticizes another for
being five foot tall and two-hundred seventy pounds, as if he can take
credit himself for his own 5' - 10" and 180. A man criticizes another
for his dark skin and curly hair, as if he himself can take credit for
being blond haired and fair complected. A man criticizes another for
his high intelligence, as if he himself can take credit for his own.
Come on, people, get over it. We cannot take credit for being 5 - 10,
for our great metabolism, our blond hair and blue eyes, or being really
bright. We didn't get a say in those matters -- that's the way God made
us! When we criticize in stuff like that, we show our own pride and
prejudice. When we criticize in things like that, who is it that we
fight?
Lighten up! How can we
expect others to get this stuff if we do not demonstrate it ourselves?
When I suggest that a lack
of education has led to no end of misunderstanding, I am not puffing
myself up. Why? because you do not have to be ignorant. Let the ones
with knowledge teach the ones without. Don't take offense at that.
Participate. Appreciate. Become a one with knowledge.
Bill Taylor
Bill, you make some good pointsWe have no control over our
genetic makeup, and should not criticize or be criticized for the way
the Lord has chosen to make us. You are correct to point at this as
both pride and prejudice. I understand that fully.
Just before that though, you quoted verses speaking of the wisdom that
comes from God, then if I am not mistaken, you equated that somehow
with education. If I might point at my own experience with education,
particularly secular history and sociology, purity would be a rare and
accidental thing to come across while studying these subects.
