In the last few months I’ve had cause to put a lot of thought into both free will and righteous anger. Did you know both are God given super powers? You don’t realize you're powerful, but both are the means by which we shape the world we live in and both are gifted to us by God.
Recently, I was discussing with a co-worker the current attitudes we’re seeing as a result of the fear our media and government have instilled in people over Covid-19, and we now pay witness to these riots and the planting of new seed in the freshly plowed field of racial division. I see that now is the time to dust off those super powers and use them for the betterment of man, in a real, tangible way.
I’ve made it no secret how I feel about all these restrictive measures being forced on all of us because of Covid-19 and I know I’m not alone in that, but many will express the same and in the next moment they will don their masks and head to Walmart to follow directional arrows and stand on the little marked X’s like obedient little sheep. As if that could save them from a super virus.
I realize we were dealing with something that we had never encountered before, that we needed a moment to get a handle on how this virus spread from animals to humans and what that meant to us, and that there was legitimate cause for concern given the information, true or not, that we were getting from China. It behooved us to take precautionary measures.
However, given the widely conflicting reports we were getting once everyone had a moment to dig into the matter, and how YouTube and Twitter reacted to the release of that information, I was legitimately shocked by the progress of this shut down, how quickly the fear of neighbors developed, and the extremes that were being taken to “keep us safe”. It’s even more confusing to me that it continues with no end in sight, and that people are not only willingly participating but are demanding more. I don’t think I’m alone in the fact that I feel like I’m watching a train wreck in slow motion.
How did we get here? Let me offer this one observation for your consideration. What is the one gift given to (wo)man that the angels, the devil, and even God Himself, can not / will not violate? Do you even remember? It’s free will. This is the single most important, and powerful, gift endowed by our Creator. In reality, while the church teaches you about free will, and while the government appears to encourage you to exercise your free will, both frown on your use of that gift, and will be quick to set you straight, if your “free will” doesn’t fall within the constraints they have placed upon you, and that, my friend, is the exact opposite of “free will”. If one is “compelled” to believe something, or to behave in a specific way, by anyone or anything outside oneself, that is not “free will”. How can you have free will when you’re operating within a contrived system that binds you with a never ending list of laws, restrictions, rules, and inevitable punishments?
So, what can you do when your free will, or the free will of others, has been usurped? Righteous anger. That’s right. Step into your righteous anger. But what is righteous anger? Righteous anger is the tool by which we correct a wrong in the right way. Don’t get it twisted though because the definition of righteous is “the quality of being morally right or justifiable”.
For example, what we are seeing, more and more often, in reaction to the moral wrongdoing of this group or that group, is in no way justifiable. Herein lies the disconnect. I can see the moral injustice. I believe the anger at that injustice is justifiable, but your expression of that anger is in NO way “righteous”, and by your actions and my unwillingness to participate in them, you have now deemed me “part of the problem”. No, sir. Just because I don’t agree with the expression of your anger, doesn’t mean that I’m not just as angry over what I see happening every day in this world.
It’s not the “act” that is dividing us more and more each day but your actions in response to the “act”, because now I, and the majority of society, can no longer join with you AND exercise our free will or our righteous anger. So, now, it appears that I, and others like me, are taking NO action. You assume that I am not angered and therefore must be complicit to “the act”. You have not only muddied the waters, you have effectively tied my hands. I can’t be associated with it, so now, you turn your anger on me, on your neighbors, and even family members, because we won’t take part in YOUR wrong-doing, or join you in the giving away of your free will.
If you had a gold coin, or one hundred gold coins, and someone tried to take one from you, there would be swift and justifiable actions against the one digging in your coin purse. But the value of that gold coin is fleeting and determined by man. It only has the measure of worldly value assigned to it. Free will and righteous anger, however, delivered to you by the hand of God, has untold value. It also brings immense responsibility in the exercise of those gifts in His stead, for we are His presence in the flesh. Therein lies the super powers given to each of us, the tools by which we can complete God’s work on this earth. Yet you will not only willingly hand it over freely, but you will condemn me by your words and deeds because I recognize the value you overlook.
I can’t stop you from giving away your free will. I can’t make you channel your anger toward a righteous resolution because of your free will. But, I won’t give you mine, and I will save my righteous anger for the day when the air is cleared of the stench left behind by your actions; some future time when clearer heads will prevail. Free will and righteous anger will win the day, believe me, but how much quicker could we resolve the issues we face if you learned to properly exercise both your free will and righteous anger? See how that works? You’re not helping; you are hindering. ~ gmj
Recently, I was discussing with a co-worker the current attitudes we’re seeing as a result of the fear our media and government have instilled in people over Covid-19, and we now pay witness to these riots and the planting of new seed in the freshly plowed field of racial division. I see that now is the time to dust off those super powers and use them for the betterment of man, in a real, tangible way.
I’ve made it no secret how I feel about all these restrictive measures being forced on all of us because of Covid-19 and I know I’m not alone in that, but many will express the same and in the next moment they will don their masks and head to Walmart to follow directional arrows and stand on the little marked X’s like obedient little sheep. As if that could save them from a super virus.
I realize we were dealing with something that we had never encountered before, that we needed a moment to get a handle on how this virus spread from animals to humans and what that meant to us, and that there was legitimate cause for concern given the information, true or not, that we were getting from China. It behooved us to take precautionary measures.
However, given the widely conflicting reports we were getting once everyone had a moment to dig into the matter, and how YouTube and Twitter reacted to the release of that information, I was legitimately shocked by the progress of this shut down, how quickly the fear of neighbors developed, and the extremes that were being taken to “keep us safe”. It’s even more confusing to me that it continues with no end in sight, and that people are not only willingly participating but are demanding more. I don’t think I’m alone in the fact that I feel like I’m watching a train wreck in slow motion.
How did we get here? Let me offer this one observation for your consideration. What is the one gift given to (wo)man that the angels, the devil, and even God Himself, can not / will not violate? Do you even remember? It’s free will. This is the single most important, and powerful, gift endowed by our Creator. In reality, while the church teaches you about free will, and while the government appears to encourage you to exercise your free will, both frown on your use of that gift, and will be quick to set you straight, if your “free will” doesn’t fall within the constraints they have placed upon you, and that, my friend, is the exact opposite of “free will”. If one is “compelled” to believe something, or to behave in a specific way, by anyone or anything outside oneself, that is not “free will”. How can you have free will when you’re operating within a contrived system that binds you with a never ending list of laws, restrictions, rules, and inevitable punishments?
So, what can you do when your free will, or the free will of others, has been usurped? Righteous anger. That’s right. Step into your righteous anger. But what is righteous anger? Righteous anger is the tool by which we correct a wrong in the right way. Don’t get it twisted though because the definition of righteous is “the quality of being morally right or justifiable”.
For example, what we are seeing, more and more often, in reaction to the moral wrongdoing of this group or that group, is in no way justifiable. Herein lies the disconnect. I can see the moral injustice. I believe the anger at that injustice is justifiable, but your expression of that anger is in NO way “righteous”, and by your actions and my unwillingness to participate in them, you have now deemed me “part of the problem”. No, sir. Just because I don’t agree with the expression of your anger, doesn’t mean that I’m not just as angry over what I see happening every day in this world.
It’s not the “act” that is dividing us more and more each day but your actions in response to the “act”, because now I, and the majority of society, can no longer join with you AND exercise our free will or our righteous anger. So, now, it appears that I, and others like me, are taking NO action. You assume that I am not angered and therefore must be complicit to “the act”. You have not only muddied the waters, you have effectively tied my hands. I can’t be associated with it, so now, you turn your anger on me, on your neighbors, and even family members, because we won’t take part in YOUR wrong-doing, or join you in the giving away of your free will.
If you had a gold coin, or one hundred gold coins, and someone tried to take one from you, there would be swift and justifiable actions against the one digging in your coin purse. But the value of that gold coin is fleeting and determined by man. It only has the measure of worldly value assigned to it. Free will and righteous anger, however, delivered to you by the hand of God, has untold value. It also brings immense responsibility in the exercise of those gifts in His stead, for we are His presence in the flesh. Therein lies the super powers given to each of us, the tools by which we can complete God’s work on this earth. Yet you will not only willingly hand it over freely, but you will condemn me by your words and deeds because I recognize the value you overlook.
I can’t stop you from giving away your free will. I can’t make you channel your anger toward a righteous resolution because of your free will. But, I won’t give you mine, and I will save my righteous anger for the day when the air is cleared of the stench left behind by your actions; some future time when clearer heads will prevail. Free will and righteous anger will win the day, believe me, but how much quicker could we resolve the issues we face if you learned to properly exercise both your free will and righteous anger? See how that works? You’re not helping; you are hindering. ~ gmj
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