Those who rationalize “cause something
to seem reasonable”
For instance, the attempted assassin
of Donald Trump surely thought it was reasonable to shoot the former
president for some unknown cause. The assassination attempt was the effect (or
action) of some unknown cause that seemed reasonable to the shooter. Perhaps he
really did believe that Trump was a threat to democracy; after all, according
to Aldous Huxley in Brave New World, thousands of repetitions make one
truth.
The media had repeated even
millions of times that Trump was a threat to democracy without even naming how
so! “Repetition” was the means to kill Trump to prevent him from destroying their
skewed version of democracy.
What is the truth? Trump is
patriotic and does want America to be better again. He has demonstrated that
when he was president before.
However, this is not a commentary
about politics. It is about people like Thomas Matthew Crooks who thought it
was reasonable to murder a man just because so many do not like the man.
Crooks indeed was an extreme
example of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Crooks was the deranged one because he
could not live with the man with whom he disagreed so intesnely. He thought it
worth giving his own life so that Trump was silenced. Hos death even meant that
never again would he need to see nor hear Donald Trump ever again. He was so
agitated with his enemy that he did something irrational. Who was hurt the
most? Crooks himself who died because his imagination led him places that were
unreasonable.
Was shooting Trump worth the
latter’s silence? Even with Trump dead, the movement would still live on and
perhaps with even more enthusiasm. Shooting at the former president was an
irrational act that the shooter thought a reasonable thing. His mind was
apparently so deranged that it was worth dying for it to cease the agitation it
was experiencing.
Most of us would never even think
of shooting someone else for various reasons. However, many vicariously murder
others. How so? They experience or realize “through imaginative or sympathetic
participation in the experience of another” (ibid).
Many Americans wanted Trump dead.
They never pulled the trigger, but they imagined that they did so by wishing
the bullet had hit its mark. They rationalized, just as Crooks, that the nation
would be better with Trump dead.
Those with Trump Derangement
Syndrome would have their anxieties alleviated if the bullet had hit the
target. Crooks was not shooting at the former president’s heart but his mind.
He wanted the thoughts of Trump dead and gone!
Now we can test that with the
Bible.
Jesus said, “Whosoever looks on a
woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart”
(Mat 5:28). The “heart” in that verse is the human will. Whosoever lusts has
already committed the act vicariously. He envisions that the pornography that
the others are doing is himself doing those things.
Vicariousness is not limited to
imaginary sexual encounters. “Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer: and you
know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15). According
to that, millions of people wanted the former President dead. Crooks was the
shooter but those with Trump Derangement Syndrome made it possible for him to
pull the trigger. He almost fulfilled the fantasy of the mob. He fulfilled the
thoughts of Biden and Harris.
Incidentally, the Jews did not
kill Jesus alone. They were vocal about it but the others in the mob, even
those who remained silent, wanted Jesus dead; not because He was guilty of
anything, but they were uncomfortable with His teachings.
Who killed Jesus in their
attempts to murder Jesus? The Father killed His own Son because that is what
the mob wanted. Then mob was out to get Yahweh by killing His Son. Yahweh
sacrificed His own Genome to the mob.
Nimrod, millennia before, had
hunted God on His own turf but failed to kill the invisible God — Yahweh.
Now, there on Calvary was the very visible Image of God, so if they could
topple His Image, then God was as good as dead. They were not out to kill Jesus
but to vicariously kill Yahweh. Jesus was the acceptable sacrifice for Yahweh
Himself. If Jesus had remained dead, then to them, Yahweh would be dead,
and they all could do what they wanted to do with impunity.
The killers had to get to Yahweh
by killing Him vicariously because, despite what Muslims believe, phantoms cannot
be crucified!
Who killed Jesus? Yahweh
did not do the work, but He could have saved Jesus. Jesus revealed to Pontius
Pilate, “You could have no power at all against Me, except it were given you
from above: therefore, He that delivered me unto thee has the greater sin” (John
19:11).
Judas did not deliver Jesus, nor did Caiaphas nor even Pilate. Yahweh delivered Jesus to His death because Jesus was the only acceptable sacrifice:
(Jesus) who gave Himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father (Galatians 1:4)… And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2)
When Jesus walked peacefully to
His death; it was self-sacrifice; as Yahweh God in the flesh; it was Yahweh
who took on the sins of the world and even toppled His own Image — the Man,
Jesus. Yahweh murdered Himself in a vicarious manner; it was as if Yahweh
drove the nails and fled!
The people did not hate
Jesus, the man. They hated Jesus, the God.
Hatred (misio in the Greek)
is as the name implies; they were miserable that they could not do whatever
they wanted to do.
Just as love (agape) is goodwill
toward God and man, miseo is ill-will toward God and mankind. Them all,
even those who did no actions themselves, had ill-will toward Yahweh and
His Image, Jesus. Their ill-will was the tough Law that Jesus invoked — the Law
of Love. Love is a hard thing to do!
Jesus wanted them to be loving
and kind and that was just not their nature. They preferred Jesus Derangement
Syndrome to the Law of Love on that dreadful day.
“Whosoever,” the ones in John
3:16, who hates his brother has already murdered vicariously. No, they did not
pull the trigger nor drive the nails, as the case must be, but they all are
guilty if they hate the man that intensely. Whosoever cried out, “Crucify Him”
(Mark 15:13). They did not drive the nails but did the dastardly, even bloody,
act in their minds!
Jesus seemed to be lying
about who He was. It was irrational at that time for a man to be truly God. They
had seen many men who made that claim come and go, and for them, Jesus was just
another pretender god. The others had died, so why not Jesus? That seemed a rational
and reasonable thing to do!
Paul did not think that killing
someone else for your own wrongs was a reasonable thing to do, so he said, “You
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service” (Rom 12:1).
God had already made the
vicarious sacrifice for your trespasses with the propitiation of the blood of
His own Son; now it is your turn. Yours need not be a bloody sacrifice at all,
but merely a turning away from sin in the same manner that God turned away your
sin by presenting Himself. Your propitiation is not even your flesh but the desires
of your flesh. You must have goodwill toward God and others. You must not think
about getting even but getting them saved!
Hatred is ill-will. It is as if
murdering another person, and murdering a creature of God is vicariously murdering
God again. Each time you hate another, that is driving another vicarious,
imaginary nail into the hands or feet of Jesus.
Why do people have hatred in
their hearts (minds)? Because they have “People Derangement Syndrome.” (Yes,
sometimes I too am guilty of that).
Even Christians oftentimes cannot
stand the idea that others are not Christians. They even get pleasure out of
shunning!
Not dining with those who reject
God is a noble commandment (1 Cor 5:11), but if it is implemented ignobly, then
that is as if murdering the sinful person, and makes the shunner the murderer.
The “knife” is the commandment,
so to speak, but having pleasure in using the commandment is ill-will with the so-called
“Christian.” Having pleasure in inserting the commandment into the heart and
soul of the sinner is wrong… you know, the one (whosoever) that God loves so much!
Sin is hateful. It is as if crucifying
Jesus all over again with each sin. Jesus has been re-crucified, even by
Christians like me daily.
Sin is the thoughts of God as dead
so that the penalty of sin is not justified.
Rationalization is
self-justification: The inquiring lawyer inquired of Jesus about who would lie
forever. The lawyer pleading his case was “willing to justify himself, said
unto Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” (Luke 10:29). speaking about the one
that he must love.
Jesus used the example of the
non-Christian, non-Jew — the Samaritan. The lawless Samaritan showed love and
He was not obeying commandments, but he had goodwill for the dying man whereas those
under the Law did not.
In other words, love (goodwill)
is not to be only mouthed but put into action. The Pharisees were the
mouths of the Law, and Jesus called them vipers. Those who press the Law unto
others are the viperous generation of whom it is written (Mat 3:27).
The Law is good, but those who
joyously make others obey the Law that even they cannot do, are the snakes even
if they teach the gospel. Hence, Christianity is not strict obedience to the
Law but a willingness to do better than the Law, even to love, not just
neighbors, but even enemies. Jesus said, “Love your enemies, bless them that
curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully
use you, and persecute you” (Mat 5:44). So, what do Christians do so often? Either
sue or persecute you!
Having ill-will toward those who
do wrong things to you may be the command, but it is not the intent of
the Law. Christians must overcome their hatred of their enemies and out-perform
the Law. Worse yet is the satisfaction so many get in vicariously knifing their
enemies.
Picture credit Pop Classics
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