My Little Devotional #126: “Mad About ‘Mongering'”

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bias, Bible, character, Christian Life, Christianity, compulsion, conviction, Crystal Empire, devotional, God, inspirational, integrity, Jesus, mercy, motivational, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, persuasion, prejudice, racism, The Times They Are a Changeling, Thorax, will power

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “The Times They are a Changeling”

There’s a new word trend in the USA in recent years: “(Insert-negative-word-here)mongering” (i.e. hatemongering, fearmongering, etc.). In politics it’s basically a cruder and more blunt way of performing the Appeal to Emotion logical fallacy. It’s trying to push forth a policy based on fear or hate toward something. Sometimes it’s applied correctly and sometimes it’s used as an excuse or misrepresented. I’m not going to use this devotional to pick on that, however, but rather to pick on the variant on the same practice that occurs in society, and in particular, once again, on the Internet.

This refers to the tendency to get people worked up over something by picking on a subject that can be hated or feared. While in it’s most basic form it’s just a variant on racism, stereotyping, and/or prejudice, I personally feel it’s a bit more of a special case or even its own thing. In the situation of more “pure prejudice”, there can ultimately be no justification for the fear and hate other than bias, misperception, or prejudgments. By comparison (and what makes it more potent) the latter situation usually involves at least one very real incident in which harboring a bit more fear and uneasiness about the subject at hand would have prevented a disaster. Just as a quick example, let’s consider the MMORPG “World of Warcraft”. Some people have become so addicted to it that they neglect their own lives and even, in some cases, the lives of their children to play it. If someone was to suggest that the game needed to be banned as a result of that, they would point to those instances even if they don’t represent everyone who plays the game. A bit simplistic and “light”, but it illustrates the point.

That’s the situation in today’s episode. Obviously, the Crystal Empire took a rather strong reaction to the presence of a potential Changeling…probably an overreaction. On hearing a report that there was a Changeling in the area, the entire Empire virtually went into lockdown, guards were hunting for Changelings in all corners, and even friends and family members of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance had to pass an identity test before they would be allowed anywhere near Flurry Heart. When the Changeling was actually spotted and everything degenerated into a witch hunt, even the rulers who instigated the situation began to wonder if they were taking things too far.

The problem, however, was that there had been a case in recent history in Equestria where not enough caution was used around Changelings. As a result, both Shining Armor and Princess Cadance were impacted, and all of Equestria ended up being put in jeopardy and nearly conquered by Queen Chrysalis. In addition, none of the residents of the Crystal Empire had ever encountered a “nice” Changeling before. So while everyone did go into a panic and, when the Changeling in question, Thorax, revealed himself they reacted unfairly with hostility and fear, it was unfortunately more justified and understandable in this situation. Even if they wanted to stomp or capture Thorax on sight, considering a rather bad past event, most others in Equestrian society would have thought nothing of it.

As a Christian, I think the ultimate thing that we preach that the world will not accept, will possibly reject, and (especially in many developing countries) will react to with violence and suppression is the saving message of our Lord Jesus Christ and His Sacrifice for salvation of the world. Yet as Jesus told us to be the “light of the world”, I’ve always believed that this wouldn’t be the only thing. After all, if the only difference between a Christian and an atheist is a Christian tells you to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior or spend eternity in Hell, then Christians aren’t much better (and possibly worse) than the other world religions we claim are false. To me, being a Christian also means outreaching to those in the world that have been rejected and made outcasts, to love the unlovable, and to stand up for those who no one else will stand for. That’s what Jesus did, and in His infamous parable about the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) He set out quite clearly what it means to care for one’s neighbor as well as expressed how great of a commandment that was.

Yet one of the greatest fallacies that Christians fall into that conforms them to the world rather than to God’s image is falling victim to societal bias based on fear and suspicion. Christians may fear and reject certain people from entering their communities, or favor or oppose certain national policies, or endorse certain practices that all are contrary to much of the Bible; but they do so anyway because they’ve moved away from considering the Word or the viewpoint of Jesus and moved toward thinking about things in worldly terms, including fears and biases.

I don’t want to dig too deeply into this to try and prevent snap judgments and reactions, so I’ll focus on just one example for now: the death penalty. This is a situation that not only are most Christians in favor of maintaining, but so many are in favor of it that a Christian being anti-death penalty is the exception rather than the rule (enough to where most pro-choice individuals justify themselves against pro-life individuals by pointing out they’re in favor of the death penalty, meaning they obviously “don’t think life is that sacred”…but getting off topic). There are religious arguments that can be made for it, but that’s not what I see people defer to. I see people pointing out the most heinous of offenders and venting their raw hate and disgust of them, saying how there’s no point to keep such despicable people alive on a taxpayer’s dollar. Some of them, they might point out, are not only clearly guilty but totally unrepentant, although even if they were (such as with the Son of Sam serial killer) no one would ever risk having them in society again. Sometimes they even bring up cases like with Ted Bundy, a serial killer who escaped police custody to kill others before he was captured again. And if they want to make a “Christian” argument, it’s that it would be better to protect innocent people by killing these offender than keeping them at risk by leaving them alive.

I can’t answer for everyone, but for me personally…even if I was to completely ignore Jesus’ defense of the woman caught in adultery (a capital offense) (John 8:2-11), the fact is our justice system is beyond biased. Just as one example, African-Americans who are found guilty of killing Caucasian-Americans are far more likely to get death penalty sentences than Caucasian-Americans found guilty of killing African-Americans. Furthermore, in one state alone in this country, Illinois, over a twenty year period 12 inmates were executed…while 20 on death row were exonerated in the same period. There were more people wrongfully waiting to die than people actually put to death. Even DNA tests are only as good as the agency that performs them, yet the magic word “DNA” automatically biases a jury into thinking someone is 100% guilty. It’s a tragedy whenever we hear of people who spent decades serving life sentences only to be cleared of all wrongdoing, but at least then they have a chance of regaining their lives. Not so with someone executed.

If I wanted to quote the Old Testament, which most consider to be nothing but God’s wrath and vengeance, even then it would be revealed that God would have spared Sodom if there had been only ten righteous people in it (Genesis 18:22-33). If God finds sparing ten people worth letting thousands endure in wickedness and depravity, I personally think that God would think for the sake of sparing the lives of  wrongfully sentenced individuals it’s worth tolerating keeping many genuinely wicked people alive.

Of course, this is only one example. Stances on pro-life and pro-choice, immigration, foreign policy, national charity, outreach to others, issues with the homeless…those are all things that I feel God’s Word says one thing and, due to fear or distrust, Christians flock to the “world view” because it’s safer and easier. It’s these points, as well as in witnessing, that we are challenged to go against what the world says is acceptable and even, in many cases, to risk their ire. Probably in these situations more than ever. After all, decisions made out of fear and distrust are usually based on a societal fear and distrust. To go against these likely means we’ll not only become an object of fear and distrust ourselves, but that people will misread our motives and level accusations against us, as people tend to do. From personal experience, I’ve had a moment in my life I was fearful to come out publicly with my stance on something because I knew my own close relatives would call me foolish and idealistic at best and a traitor at worse; even though neither were true and I knew they weren’t in my heart.

But ultimately, a serious question we all have to ask ourselves is whose interests we’re wishing to defend and who we want to look good in the sight of: the world or God.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you for your Word, the Bible, which gives man insight into who you are as well as direction for eternal life. Give me a love for it so that I can know the mind of God and what he wishes for this world and for others, and then help me to follow that in spite of what other powers in the world try to do to dissuade me or persuade me. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

My Little Devotional #39: “Mislabeled”

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bias, Bible, classism, devotional, fandom, fear, God, inspirational, Jesus, labeling, motivational, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, prejudgment, prejudice, racism, sexism, stereotype

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “Baby Cakes”

It’s only a brief moment in today’s episode, but it made me think of something that’s one of my “pet peeves” as a Christian, and what is likely the same for everyone regardless of religion, race, gender, or background. It’s the moment in which Pinkie Pie, feeling overwhelmed by suddenly having to babysit a pair of troublesome twins, calls in Twilight Sparkle for assistance. Yet it’s not long before she’s ushered right back out the front door again. The reason? She makes the insinuation that Pinkie’s own wild-and-crazy nature when it comes to parties and fun means she’ll naturally be too irresponsible and scatterbrained to care for children.

The interesting part is that Pinkie was willing to throw in the towel and admit defeat until that point, conceding that she wasn’t ready to handle the job of babysitting a pair of foals with no experience other than playing with them. Yet as soon as Twilight indicated that she was “the kind of pony” who naturally couldn’t handle it, the sheer offense and insinuation caused her to redouble her efforts; for better or for worse (for better in this case, but that’s besides the point).

This may not have been the full intention, but it illustrates a simple and yet powerful point: no one likes to be prejudged. No one likes a few choices they make, good, bad or even neutral, to determine how the world judges their worth as a whole. And certainly no one likes identifying with one group or another leading to a whole laundry list of prejudgments made about them.

The reality is that it’s simply unfair to individuals. One clear example is, of course, in racism. People see a skin color and immediately make assumptions about socio-economic background, demeanor, trustworthiness, etc. They believe that person will always vote a certain way, use a certain type of product, have a certain type of work ethic, come from a certain type of family background, and all because their skin color is one type. Sexism, of course, is another big culprit too. Applying one standard based on gender to an individual in regards to dress, behavior, toys and games such a person as a child is “allowed to play”, or even how much their life is worth as a soldier…all of which you would never apply to the other gender. Of course, those are only two big examples of discrimination based on stereotypes or type-casting. I could fill up a couple blog posts on all of the ways that are simply the ones you can bring suit against in a court of law.

However, there’s lots of smaller examples too which are no less infuriating and unfair. One of the reasons that standardized testing gets slammed is because it analyzes a low level of cognitive ability on the part of students, and then only in a limited circumstance (namely multiple-choice test-taking), and makes a judgment about a child’s entire ability to learn  and/or intelligence based on that. Hitting a bit more pertinent to this particular blog series, people often assume that individuals who like “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic” are childish or even deranged because it’s not entirely the “norm”. Then there’s political views…which can be absolutely frustrating.

Case in point: whenever I attended a rally or meeting in college that tended to attract a predominantly “leftist” crowd (such as a peace rally), I would get into the topic of my beliefs. In situations like that, I would occasionally let it out that I was anti-abortion. And on those occasions, usually someone of the pro-abortion mindset would come up to me and ask me if I was in favor of the death penalty. I know perfectly well why they were asking that; it’s because likely every Christian they ever encountered who was strongly pro-life was also in favor of the death penalty, because that’s the platform of the Republican party and most Christians in the country identify with Republicans. In other words…two prejudgments at once about me based on pro-life, and they planned to call me out on it for being a hypocrite.

Well…there’s usually a momentary pause on the individual’s part whenever I tell them that I am, in fact, against the death penalty. And I am. Seriously. There’s one study after another that shows how horrendously biased and flawed it is, and these continuous overturned convictions after 20-25 years in prison, which would have been killing innocent people if the inmate had been on death row and not serving a life sentence, is proof that it has become a cruel and unusual punishment. It makes logical sense as a Christian to be anti-death penalty to me. But because that’s not the position many, if not most, Christians share, individuals who ask me that actually have to pause for a moment to process it before, often, they admit “at least you’re consistent”.

I enjoy finding common ground with these people, but at the same time I’m a bit upset that they went ahead and assumed that right off the bat. Because they assumed that, they were automatically turned off to me when they met. And that’s not even a real “big deal”. Nothing like when a person has to worry about bias when pleading their case to an officer, or looking about a store and being accused of loitering, or trying to unlock a car that has keys stuck inside, or trying to get a job or get a loan. Those are things that impact one’s ability to advance in society or make a living. And that’s really serious.

Jesus was never someone who “lumped people into a category”. He always treated everyone as an individual by their own merits and not simply how society or norms said He should have treated them. This included tax collectors, prostitutes, and even non-Jews. In fact, He was actually disliked because He associated so freely with people who were stereotyped against by the religious community of the time. Likewise, one of the early tenets of the Church was emphasis about how all are equal regardless of how they are born or what background they have in the eyes of the Lord. In Romans 2:11, Paul echoes a similar lesson Peter learned in Acts 10:34, “For God shows no partiality.” This is elaborated a bit more in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

The thing is this isn’t necessarily limited to the New Testament either. There were verses in the Old Testament emphasizing treating all people equally as well. 2 Chronicles 19:7 reads, “Now then, let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Be careful what you do, for there is no injustice with the Lord our God, or partiality or taking bribes.” Likewise, in Deuteronomy 10:17-19, it reads, “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.”

The problem is not that this instruction is missing from the Bible, but that people are so loathe to apply it and so quick to make exceptions for it. People try to excuse themselves from holding to this teaching in the name of fear, or caution, or economy, or anything else that suits the situation…when the fact remains if the individual in question was more like themselves the same standard would likely not be applied. And unfortunately in some cases stereotypes or prejudgments are so lodged in our brains that even if we embrace a policy of being more loving or accepting of others, we’ll subconsciously endorse and act upon our private fears.

It is true that in God there is no partiality, and it is also true that people are flawed and liable to biased judgment. Yet it is further true that God desires truth in our inmost being and for us to aspire to become more like Lord Jesus, which includes purging our hearts and minds of our prejudices, stereotypes, and tendencies to lump people into categories. This may be difficult, but I don’t feel we can call ourselves true Christians unless we work toward it and make a conscious decision against bias every day of our lives.

One suggestion toward accomplishing that end is something I try myself that tends to work pretty well. If ever I find myself distrusting or anxious around someone of a different race, creed, gender, or sexual orientation, and I feel I’m about to make a decision based on it that I feel is logical, I try to pause and ask myself one more question: “Would I be making this same decision if the individual was my own skin color, demeanor, sexual orientation, and/or religion?” This goes a long way to helping me realize any subconscious bias I might be experiencing.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, thank you for the ‘wondrous variety’ you have placed in this world in not only the landscape, the weather, the plants, the animals, and the seasons, but also in the human race. Thank you for always seeing individuals as who they are and not based on who they belong to, and that in spite of who I am or what I have done you see into my inmost being and know the real me. Please forgive me for all the times I have failed to do the same to my ‘fellow servants’ and help me to do so from this day forth. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

My Little Devotional #8: “Seeds of Untruth”

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bias, Bible, Christian Life, Christianity, devotional, fandom, God, gossip, inspirational, Jesus, motivational, My Little Pony, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, New Testament, Old Testament, prejudice, racism, rumors, stereotypes, Twilight Sparkle, Zecora

Inspiration for Today’s Devotional: “Bridle Gossip”

On the surface of this episode, it’s easy to get distracted by what is more “obvious”. This episode obviously deals with racism, stereotypes, prejudice, and preconceived notions about other people. And those are things to keep in mind to be on the lookout for in life. However, to me, the bigger and more important lesson about the truth regarding racism happens to be in the progression of Twilight Sparkle.

I like to think we all start out in life as she starts out. We don’t have any preconceived notions when something “new” arises. We don’t have any biases or frames of reference or deference to authority or to others. We simply see a situation involving a new person and we respond accordingly based on our own curiosity and expeirence.

Then the same thing happens to us that happened to Twilight. We start talking about it to others who we trust and value the opinions of. And, since people are imperfect, occasionally we’ll get rumors. “Oh, their kind is always lazy.” “I worked with someone of that race and she was always on her cell phone.” “They always complain about everything and want it for free.” “They’re the type who are always doing all the shootings.” “You know they only came to this country to try and blow it up.” Now, I think most people don’t pay much attention to those at first. They realize that it’s just biased judgment or they simply use reason. Because not everyone of every race, creed, gender, or religion behaves one way, and that’s a fact of life. And we go on our way.

But…then comes media. Then comes online stories. Then comes reports. Then comes pretty much anything that casts a group of people in a negative light. And then those same people we talk to jump in and say: “Aha! You see? I told you that’s how they act!” And you may ignore it again. But then the same thing happens again. Maybe it’s because your source for news is itself biased. Maybe it’s simply that we tend to ignore similar crimes or misdeeds from our own race, creed, gender, or religion because, in that case, we know enough to judge the individual’s character rather than the group as a whole. Just like Twilight, we keep seeing evidence, and we keep hearing the same explanation proposed for it rather than anyone trying to seek a different one out.

And if that keeps up over time, day after day, month after month, year after year…we can find our hearts turning. Our minds twisting. Until finally we reach the point where we become like Twilight Sparkle and join in with the rest of the crowd.

Words, and in particular gossip, are the most powerful and potentially deadly forces known to man. The Bible attests to the power of words well. In James 3:8-9, it cautions: “But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.” And in terms of gossip, the Book of Proverbs (16:28) warns: “A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.”

Yet when it comes to gossip and talking about others, I think the greatest quote from the Bible to pay attention to is Proverbs 18:8 – “The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body.” As the news media and politicians have made more than obvious, bad news sells. People prefer to listen to stories of strife and discord and anger against others than about peaceful things…or at the bare minimum pay more attention to them. What more, if there is any hate or bias or fear or prejudice in my heart or your heart, rest assured…you’ll find evidence to back it up in the world. Especially in the age of the Internet.

The fact of the matter is it doesn’t matter if any of this slander or gossip or hatred was true for 99.9999% of cases. God calls us to a higher standard and higher living. Even if there was a group of a million who had 999,999 who were “rotten to the core” and only one individual was good, don’t you think God would want us to treat everyone kindly for the sake of that one individual? And since that isn’t the case, what excuse do we have for prejudice? If there’s anything in my heart that makes me look at another human being and automatically conclude certain things about their personality or who they are, then it needs to go. I need to recognize it and focus on rooting it out.

And on that note, I must also watch well who I choose to listen to and who I want to hear. Just like the Bible cautions, so long as I have a bias or hatred inside me burning like a tiny flame, it’s going to actively seek more fuel to feed it. It’s yet another one of the evils in the world that we are called to rise above and constantly be on guard for.

Suggested Prayer: “Lord God, please help me to ever be vigilant for the sin of partiality or gossip. Help me to guard my ears from being attentive to words of hate and slander and my mouth restrained from speaking anger and malice, so that my heart may not turn cold and my mind corrupted. And if there already be seeds of racism, prejudice, irrational fear, and stereotypes in my heart that drive me away from being what you want me to be and reaching who you want me to reach, then help me to identify them, recognize them, and root them out. Gratefully in Jesus’ Name, Amen.”