Stupid Human Tricks – Appearance of Evil

Greetings Dear Reader,

I have always been one to play with words.  I twist them, turn them inside out, and force them to reveal their innermost nuances.  When I do this out loud it often drives my children mad.  It also allows me to look at things from many perspectives. 

For years whenever I sought council from my Christian leaders about things that might be good but questionable I was told to “Avoid every appearance of evil.”  This comes from 1 Thessalonians 5:22 where it

reads “Abstain from every appearance of evil.”   According to my early advisers this meant that I was to never look like I was doing wrong.  This advice was used to manipulate me into following rules that have nothing to do with the Gospel. 

Taken in context (when reading the Bible context is EVERYTHING), the particular phrase is instructing me to abstain from evil whenever it appears.  This is always sound advice. 

It occurs to me that it is too easy to manipulate words.  One must assure that one does not use the valuable truths of the Bible for the purpose of manipulating others.  It is one of the stupid human tricks that minimizes the Gospel and hinders others from seeing Christ for who he really is.

I must assure that I avoid evil.  I must also assure that I do not use the Word of God for my own purposes.  It has its own purposes and those are much more vital than anything I could wring out of the words.  I will, however, continue to perform root canals on the Word of God to assure that I am doing what it says.  I want to live the truth and not just some stupid human trick version of it.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."