I’ve had to change the comment policy on this blog. From now on, you have to be registered in order to post a comment and the comment has to be approved by me first. This isn’t done to eliminate or block people who want to make legitimate comments. The problem is I keep getting hit with bunches of spammer and Trojan-horse type attacks through the blog.

Part of the problem is “open source software” - the idea that software source code should be delivered rather than locked-up binaries. The idea is generally good, and I agree with it in principle. Software application developers waste thousands of hours each year trying to solve problems that could be easily dealt with if they had access to the source code to the programs they must manage. Unfortunately, open source software also allows reprobates to study the software looking for flaws to exploit. There’s the rub, as the saying goes. When a good piece of open source software (like WordPress that runs this blog) gets widely distributed, it makes it much easier to hack into the systems that use it. By comparison, proprietary software that is only available to a few programmers and installed in a few places is very hard to “crack” and abuse.

Ah, but that is the nature of human existence. There is no concept in most people’s minds of how their actions affect others. It’s all “Me, Me, Me…” in most people’s minds. By coincidence, I was listening to some Stevie Ray Vaughn last night on TV, and it’s like he sang in “Crossfire” - what ever happened to the Golden Rule?

Put simply, there is no understanding of the “Golden Rule” anymore (if there ever really was). The words that Jesus spoke, also echoed in the famous Stoic philosophers, the Chinese philosophers, and many others, it too high of a moral concept for their reprobate minds…

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Have you ever thought about the logic behind that statement? How much of the world’s evil is simply nothing more than vengeance against others spawned by a desire to “get back at them” or satisfy the person’s own greed and lusts? Most all of it. Forget about all the conspiracies, the secret societies, the occultism and such for a minute, and just think about the things that cause you grief, anger and bitterness on a day to day basis. Isn’t it just “ordinary people” who won’t apply the Golden Rule? Yep.

And so… we are “Caught in the crossfire” of the evil in men’s hearts…

Crossfire by Tommy Shannon/Chris Layton/Reese Wynans/B. Carter/Ruth Ellsworth

Day by day night after night,
blinded by the neon lights
Hurry here hustlin’ there,
no one’s got the time to spare
Money’s tight nothin’ free,
won’t somebody come and rescue me
I am stranded, caught in the crossfire
Stranded, caught in the crossfire

Tooth for tooth eye for an eye,
sell your soul just to buy buy buy
Beggin’ a dollar stealin’ a dime,
come on can’t you see that I
I am stranded, caught in the crossfire…

I need some kind of kindness,
some kind of sympathy oh no
We’re stranded, caught in the crossfire 

Save the strong lose the weak,
never turning the other cheek
Trust nobody don’t be no fool,
whatever happened to the golden rule
We got stranded, caught in the crossfire
We got stranded, caught in the crossfire
We got stranded, caught in the crossfire
Stranded, caught in the crossfire
Help me

My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained this that is, I have not already been perfected but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead, with this goal in mind, I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Php 3:10-14)

Do you sometimes wish that God would just reach out and ZAP ZAP ZAP, make everything perfect? Wouldn’t that be nice? Some seem to think that’s what God should do. I don’t think they really understand what God thinks of as “perfection” and if He were to do what they suggest they might get a little upset…

Paul’s idea of “perfection” here in Philippians is a quite a bit different from what most would think of. It’s right there at the start of the passage I quoted – “to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death.” Oh…

Yep, that’s the tricky part. Our imperfections have to be killed off and most of us just don’t want to have that happen. Removing evil from Creation means removing the evil that is in man. Fortunately, God is longsuffering and patient or we would all be gone from here in a flash.

What that leaves us is with the “striving” part and it is also part of what God wants to bring forth in our lives. His desire is for us is, in part, to desire His perfection to the point we are willing to treat everything else as “dung” and race towards the perfection that He has set in front of us as an example. It is the ultimate in faith as it requires us to trust God to the point of dying to self, putting aside all things other than Him.

Ahh, but instead of striving for the prize, man will make up all sorts of things they consider perfection, and pat themselves on the back about having obtained it already. Paul has something to say about that also:

Therefore let those of us who are “perfect” embrace this point of view. If you think otherwise, God will reveal to you the error of your ways. (Php 3:15)

In case you didn’t get it when you read it in some other translation, Paul is being a little sarcastic here. It’s a kind of pun because the word “perfect” really means having come to the end, or reached a level of maturity. So, since he knows that none of us has reached the perfection he talks about, he is saying those who are mature should understand that there is a ways to go yet. And to those who think they are mature, but don’t quite get it, there is a bit of a warning. If you continue to think you got it all done, all complete, God’s gonna show you where you are wrong and still lacking. Usually, it’s not much fun when He does that. So, even those who have a mature understanding should be of the same mind as Paul – there is much “dying” yet to be done before the “resurrection” can take place.

Now, here is something else I get from this passage. It’s only inferred, not stated directly, but once we realize we are all striving, we should be able to gain a deeper sense of compassion for the strivings of others. Not yet being perfect in our “dying” we can look at the struggles of others and see in their lives a reflection of our own imperfections. Out of that can come a better compassion for their weaknesses. We do not play God and try to ZAP ZAP ZAP them into our own supposed “perfection” but rather realize their own struggle is a mirror of our own.

Well, OK then! We are not perfect, so that’s the perfect excuse for our failings! HAH HAH. Not so fast…

Nevertheless, let us live up to the standard that we have already attained. (Php 3:16)

We may not be at the end yet, but for those who have come a long way on this spiritual journey, we can at least live up to the level of understanding we already have. No excuses. We are striving together to a common end, even though one may have been at it a bit longer. So, Paul finally encourages the Philippians:

Be imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and watch carefully those who are living this way, just as you have us as an example. (Php 3:17)

Paul has already said he isn’t yet perfect, so clearly he isn’t suggesting that the Philippians take him as a model of perfection. Rather, just as Paul is is striving to attain the prize, they should also be striving in the same way.