Your brains will fall out!

Fridays are great days for me. Fresh off my (almost) off day, I saddle up to the church with gusto. One of my prayer partners and I start the day off right and then I fall into my usual office routine.

On Fridays however, I've discovered a calm that is unmatched any other day. Because everyone else is off Friday - I can work work work without any disturbances! Amazing...

One side effect of this is that I have to create my own distractions since people aren't there to save me from desk work. Thats when I turn to my blogs! Well...except on Friday.

Nothing to be found this morning, (well, nothing new) and I realized you might need some lovin too, so here we go!

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Quite some time back I stated I was going to do some posts on being open minded. That obviously didn't happen, so we will start now.

Whenever someone uses the term, Open minded - I cringe. Usually because it is used as a derogatory comment. It isn't exactly a compliment you write on the inside of a birthday card. "Sarah, you are the most open minded person I know." I'm pretty sure this is because to be open minded means different things to different people and OFTEN, someone who is open minded does not need to be reminded of it or complimented on it, it just kind of happens. There are those few among us who will claim to be open minded ourselves, but this is a dangerous proposition. Its kind of like claiming to be humble. I'd rather claim holiness than humility or open mindedness.

You think anyone ever said to Jesus, "Hey! You! Quit being so open minded! Your brains will fall out!" Because people will say that to folks who have crossed this imaginary line of appropriate behavior. Healed a blind man? Open minded! Ate with sinners? Open minded! Walk on water? Open minded!

Take for example, Jesus stance on correct observance of the Sabbath. There were those who thought you didn't do any work on the Sabbath and that is what was important - keeping the sabbath. But Jesus took an open stance about that. OR to be more accurate, dissolved the previous boundaries for Sabbath observance, thus being open minded. Those who disagreed with Jesus would say that he was flippant with the law. He disregarded Moses and all that jazz. Rob Bell would not be happy with you Jesus, thinking in your non-post-modern way. Shame on you for not knowing what emerging means!!! You are too open minded to care about that stuff huh? Yeah...we'll show you.

I say it that way because even Jesus had standards. Sure, he wanted people to know God better and there were certain ways you could do that. But Jesus was incredibly open minded! And by that I mean there were no boundaries for Jesus. Anyone and everyone could know the love God has for them.

Everyone knows being closed minded is a bad thing. It implies stupidity and rigidity. But to be open minded? hmmm... Often people imply if you are open minded you have no standards or back bone. Anything goes. Maybe even prideful. For those who like that kind of thing; its a good statement but also maybe there are better ways of saying it?

I'll leave you with this parting shot... being open minded has nothing to do with theological, political, or ethical views. It has everything to do with how well you listen to others. It starts with whether you are open to hearing those you think are close minded. OR too open minded for their own good.

- as an aside that was too good to not mention, Paul actually was accused once of being insane from too much learning. Its in Acts. Also a reference to brains falling out.

Comments

  1. and this porridge was just right; so she ate it all up

    deb

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  2. wait...brains make you think about porridge? (good call on correcting the spelling btw) ;)

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  3. I love roller coasters.

    Context is so important. when you're running for bishop or something in the future, I can see the excerpt "Even Jesus had standards" being discussed rather thoroughly.

    I love to read your blog because you look at things from such a refreshingly different direction than me that it does, in fact, help me be a little more open minded, which I think of as a good goal. So as I read this one, I could hear the hinges of my skull squeaking as they opened a bit. I've always wanted to take my brain out and play with it . . .

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  4. what do you think I mean when I say Jesus had standards?

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  5. I don't know, i'm open minded on the subject . . . what do you think you meant?

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  6. I think what I meant is probably what you think I meant.

    ha!

    Okay, I'm thinking that when I say "Jesus had standards" I think I mean that his understanding of grace, love, God, etc. is so far above ours that it is a lot to shoot for. Often, Jesus' standards are not like our own. There are appropriate and beneficial ways to know God. There are ways that God loves us that we don't think about or understand. He even includes certain people or looks differently at life than we do.

    Hence, I'm not saying Jesus is spineless or anything goes (the negative understanding of being open minded) but instead he is spineless or anything goes (his understanding of grace would cause us to question his standards).

    Did that make sense?

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  7. just yanking your chain, my man. However, since I'm here.
    I think one of our problems is that we seek standards to define the minimum requirements we need to meet to make the grade. Jesus certainly knows what is good and right. He made it obvious with all those infernal questions and sermons that he hated it when wanted standards so that we would know when we are good enough, or someone else isn't. That whole adultery/lust murder/anger in the heart deal are just a couple of examples.
    I believe Jesus standards have something to do with perfect love. That's not too easy to nail down.

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