10/15/2019 (and yes, I know I skipped the 12th—not a good day for writing.)
“In the Sweet By and By” ? Is that saying we don’t know when that is or is it saying we don’t know where it is or is it saying we don’t know what is going to happen? Perhaps all 3, but it was the SIMH today. I had in my mind, an intro to this song by a very high soprano voice, singing just the chorus. That’s all I could remember. She was on a recording of this and other songs which my friend Mo Rector gave me about 20 years ago. The total song was sung by an all male choir from Dallas, I believe. Very good.
But, I wonder about the writer’s vision for the song. Sanford Bennett wrote this in 1868, just after the civil war. Mr. Bennett was from Illinois most of his young life and served with a Wisconsin unit in the war between the states, living the last 30 years of his life as a druggist in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. His lyrics sound as though he was resting from the conflict, in search of that permanent rest. I understand that. But, why a “land that is fairer than day” and “we shall meet on that beautiful shore?” It has often not made any sense to me that we were leaving this sin-cursed world one day to go to another land, yet a beautiful place to dream about. In the poem which became this well-beloved hymn, how can a “shore” fit into this place we go? A shore implies we get there by boat. Sorry, that does not compute. (Sort of like crossing Jordan to get there…hmmm, sounds like some were teaching we are part of, or a replacement for Israel. Not so, folks, not so.)
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When the rest of the world looks at an event or a speech and commences to castigate the perpetrators, do you automatically side with them? or can you take the time to examine the worth or validity of their claim? Using the resources which have rapidly fulfilled the notion that we have in our hands an information super-highway in the internet (especially having added “Siri” and other voice activated answer-intelligentsia) we can check something out for truth in a matter of moments. If we are to manage our lives solely by ourselves (obviously the safest way to live), we need to concentrate on mastering the tools to do this. We learn to “Google it!”
If we do not, we will play into the hands of whichever becomes the strongest “rumor mill” in our community, be it a small town or a metropolis. Falling prey to the “mill’s” soundbite will convert into massive mistakes, misgivings, and mis-applications of everything imaginable: from who stole little Johnny’s lunch money to a president’s promise not to lie to the people!
This brings me to a question about myself: I can see this need, and I desire to measure up and acquire the skill to learn it all, and I can buy the electronics. But, can I mentally and physically employe myself into the performance of it? Somehow, it seems, I must. Everything must be examined and investigated because few people’s word is any good any more. You know, maybe it never was. Or perhaps that was so long ago that now it is no more than a fond recollection from an old movie script. “My word is my bond,” they said.
My good friend and long time confidant, used to be fond of saying the definition of a “yeahbbit” is the long-eared hare which pops its head up whenever reason is about to prevail and says “Yeah, but” what about this or that or what if this or that or, worse: what if they, or what if they don’t, etc., etc. Many times in my life I’ve noticed he was right about this definition and how often it seems to occur. However this reality seems to be absolutely essential in todays cock-eyed world. Because when the “yeahbbit” shows up, someone goes and checks the deep fact-well on the super-highway and low and behold, the idiot interfering with common reasoning is right, and once again, we find ourselves clear out in left field with our debunked opinion.
I’ve been a strong proponent of all things internet since I first heard of it almost 30 years ago. Yet, today, I find myself wondering if it has been worth it. Would we have all been happier if we had never attached our daily lives to the ‘net? or would we have just become complacent and empty of new ideas and new factoids and new industry, and on and on the thing goes…….Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and many other such, all the way down the social media (there’s a new concept) to the little startup called MeWe: could we have done without them till now? Or would we be just sitting around watching reruns on TV or reading in a library, our own or public, while learning and believing our “news” from the TV networks, and vicariously living other people’s lives and experiences?
Guess what has stayed the same for all of these 30 years of the internet? You are correct: the Word of God. He never changes what He completed through the Apostle Paul. He never will. Just like He promised the “seal of the Holy Spirit” would last till our redemption, He promised the word of the Lord will endure longer than the world. This, my friend, is the better dependence: trust The pure word of God.
Thanks for reading, the Elder
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