A Program Note:
The mucho awaited, Who Do You Belong To, Part Trois, is still...uh, coming along. Since it's football season (unbelievable), I’ll use a football metaphor: The Coach (being God) called a timeout and called me out of the huddle to confer on the sidelines. I’ve been learning.
Now, it’s amazing what one will find when one is messy.
To quote screenwriter Jake Kasdan’s character, Daryl Zero, in Kasdan’s film Zero Effect (1998): Now, a few words on looking for things. When you go looking for something specific, your chances of finding it are very bad. Because of all the things in the world, you’re only looking for one of them. When you go looking for anything at all, your chances of finding it are very good. Because of all the things in the world, you’re sure to find some of them.
Kasdan, perhaps wise beyond his years - was 21 or 22 when he wrote Zero Effect - had this to say through his character Gloria Sullivan: “What doesn’t kill you defines you.” (Chew on that piece of fat for a while. Seriously. The Snarky Prophet says. Lest I pray to God and He unleash marmosets upon you.)
Kasdan, perhaps wise beyond his years - was 21 or 22 when he wrote Zero Effect - had this to say through his character Gloria Sullivan: “What doesn’t kill you defines you.” (Chew on that piece of fat for a while. Seriously. The Snarky Prophet says. Lest I pray to God and He unleash marmosets upon you.)
Back to losing and finding things. I use Evernote (www.evernote.com) on my phone, main computer (this one) and my Windows tablet to copy & clip things from the Web. It’s a great electronic notebook. I have over 350 clippings and notes. The software required an upgrade so I was cruising through my entries to see what I’d lose if the upgrade tanked. I found the following that had just been sitting there, waiting me to flesh it out, I suspect. Something I wrote (yes, you can also write in Evernote) a ways back. Here it is:
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On Envy
Quote from the 2001 movie Enemy at the Gates:
On Envy
Quote from the 2001 movie Enemy at the Gates:
Soviet Political Officer Danilov apologising to his friend & rival in love for Tania, Sniper Vassili Zaitsev:
Danilov: I've been such a fool, Vassili. Man will always be a man. There is no new man. We tried so hard to create a society that was equal, where there'd be nothing to envy your neighbour. But there's always something to envy. A smile, a friendship, something you don't have and want to appropriate. In this world, even a Soviet one, there will always be rich and poor. Rich in gifts, poor in gifts. Rich in love, poor in love.
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Never has it been so true as it is today, as it was in the days of Cain, as it was in the days of Noah, as it was in the days of the Patriarchs, as it was in the days of the dynasty of King David, as it was in the Intertestamentary period, as it was in the Days of Jesus!
ENVY is a special sin. Forgive me for speaking admiringly of it. It is one of the Works of the Flesh and therefore a sin. But It is a sin of elegant power that is able to be all things to all people & therefore Envy has extraordinary power to hide among the righteous in plain sight.
ENVY is a special sin. Forgive me for speaking admiringly of it. It is one of the Works of the Flesh and therefore a sin. But It is a sin of elegant power that is able to be all things to all people & therefore Envy has extraordinary power to hide among the righteous in plain sight.
It can emulate the power of God.
It can take on the mantle of the righteousness of God, the very appearance - but appearance only - of godliness is Envy's to wear; like a fine fur coat or the hair shirt of a prophet!
Consequently, Envy is a most destructive sin, if not THE most destructive of sins. For Envy can lay waste to thousands, hundred of 1000's, MIlLIONS. And like Typhoid Mary, the envious cannot believe they carry Envy, have spread it. Rather Envy leaves its carrier believing they have acted for God, in God's interests, with the highest motives of morality and justice!
But, Envy has limits: it CANNOT masquerade as LOVE, agape love; its self-interests will not permit it. Burn this into your brains, no your souls: ENVY’s SELF-INTERESTS WILL NOT ALLOW IT TO MASQUERADE AS LOVE. So while Scripture says the Devil and his angels may masquerade as angels of light, Envy cannot masquerade as LOVE!!!
It is Envy's awesome power that makes Christians embrace it, embrace it and despite being presented with DIRECT evidence of their involvement with it, DENY it with the same smile they would use to tell their smallest child everything was all right. (Liar, liar, pants on fire!)
It can take on the mantle of the righteousness of God, the very appearance - but appearance only - of godliness is Envy's to wear; like a fine fur coat or the hair shirt of a prophet!
Consequently, Envy is a most destructive sin, if not THE most destructive of sins. For Envy can lay waste to thousands, hundred of 1000's, MIlLIONS. And like Typhoid Mary, the envious cannot believe they carry Envy, have spread it. Rather Envy leaves its carrier believing they have acted for God, in God's interests, with the highest motives of morality and justice!
But, Envy has limits: it CANNOT masquerade as LOVE, agape love; its self-interests will not permit it. Burn this into your brains, no your souls: ENVY’s SELF-INTERESTS WILL NOT ALLOW IT TO MASQUERADE AS LOVE. So while Scripture says the Devil and his angels may masquerade as angels of light, Envy cannot masquerade as LOVE!!!
It is Envy's awesome power that makes Christians embrace it, embrace it and despite being presented with DIRECT evidence of their involvement with it, DENY it with the same smile they would use to tell their smallest child everything was all right. (Liar, liar, pants on fire!)
Envy feels GOOD! (You may very well have your comfort foods but those foods are for your body. Envy both excites/enrages the soul and then soothes the soul.)
One size fits all. And we will fight to hold onto what Envy has told us is right and good and holy! We will start yet another denomination if we have to in order to protect Envy.
The Wachoski's, writers and directors of the Matrix Trilogy understood our love for artificial realities - which Envy creates - and they understood our absolute need to defend those realities. From their first movie in the Trilogy, The Matrix:
From the Agent Training program:
Morpheus: The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.
[Neo's eyes suddenly wander towards a woman in a red dress]
[Neo's eyes suddenly wander towards a woman in a red dress]
Morpheus: Were you listening to me, Neo? Or were you looking at the woman in the red dress?
Neo: I was...
Neo: I was...
Morpheus: [gestures with one hand] Look again.
[the woman in the red dress is now Agent Smith, pointing a gun at Neo's head; Neo ducks]
Morpheus: Freeze it!
[Everybody and everything except Neo and Morpheus freezes in time]
Neo: This... this isn't the Matrix?
Morpheus: No. It is another training program designed to teach you one thing: if you are not one of us, you are one of them.
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Say what?! What does Morpheus talking to Neo have anything to do with Envy?
For those who don’t know the story here’s a quick synopsis: Humanity is enslaved by intelligent, self-aware computers. The machines use human body heat to provide them with the power the machines require; we are used literally like super duper C size batteries. Rebels such as Morpheus and crew know the grift that the machines have pulled, for while people are plugged into the power plant they think they are living “real life” when in reality the machines are simply giving them an artificial reality.
Morpheus has literally unplugged Neo from the battery charger to bring Neo into the “real world” - for purposes I shall not reveal here. To unplug someone means to disconnect them from the power plant and show them the “real world” where life is cold and hard.
Morpheus is showing Neo that everyone on the street looks like them but if you unplug some of them they would reject “reality,” violently. In the meantime they’re plugged in to the machines’ artificial reality. Ignorance is indeed bliss.
Morpheus is showing Neo that everyone on the street looks like them but if you unplug some of them they would reject “reality,” violently. In the meantime they’re plugged in to the machines’ artificial reality. Ignorance is indeed bliss.
But I’ve said too much already. If you haven’t seen The Matrix I would recommend it. Buy the DVD or Blu Ray. Watch it until the neighbors or your employer calls the CDC, suspicious - from the bleeding from the eyes - that you have Ebola. This movie is HEAVY in allegory and symbolism. Buddhists have claimed the film for themselves but it’s just too Christian. Thomas A. Anderson (Keanu Reeves), aka “Mr. Anderson,” lives a double life & the Devil (Agent Smith) knows it. Mr. Anderson’s hacker name is Neo. It’s an anagram. Put a “The” in front of the anagram of Neo and see what you get.
What we’ve always known but possibly not realized is that we, each of us, who have called Christ our Lord and Savior were living double lives but now in Christ...no longer do we live for the sinful nature, no longer do we look at the world, the things and people in the world from a worldly point of view. We live ONE LIFE for Him who bought us with His own blood.
What we’ve always known but possibly not realized is that we, each of us, who have called Christ our Lord and Savior were living double lives but now in Christ...no longer do we live for the sinful nature, no longer do we look at the world, the things and people in the world from a worldly point of view. We live ONE LIFE for Him who bought us with His own blood.
Envy is there in that dialogue plainer than a nose not touched by plastic surgery. So...think about it. If you have not been guilty of Envy ONCE in the last 24 hours, you let me know. I’ve been in deep, on the edge of violence, Envy about 4 times in the last 12 hours. Going on Facebook these days is like a pig wallow of Envy.
Prove me wrong, by the Scriptures, if you can. But could your attempt to prove me wrong be motivated out of Envy or maybe...Jealousy (gasp)?!
In the meantime while you’re chewing on what Envy is, think on this too:
In the meantime while you’re chewing on what Envy is, think on this too:
- That what doesn’t kill us defines us. If you got stopped at the port of entry of Canada and they told you to define your life, what would you say, eh?
- How do you feel about being a slave? How is a slave’s life defined?
Later, mes amis, and remember, until next time, your hovercraft is full of eels.
May the peace of Christ be with you,
†Scott, V.D.M. ev
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