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4.20.2005    |    Ugly people
One of my guilty pleasures is watching the Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) series, most especially the one set in Miami. This past Monday night's show included a "dating" service, a/k/a upscale whorehouse, in which potential male clients were accepted or rejected on the basis of their outward appearance. In other words, a stand-in for how much of the world judges others.

We all do this, to some degree or another. Make instant decisions about a person based on how they look. The best we can hope to do, I believe, is to get past any such first impressions, and deal with the person behind the façade. For many of us, we never actually get to do this, having made irrevocable decisions based on those critical first impressions.

So, why care about this? After all, there are many people you will meet in the world around you who may actually be less than they first appear. Just as there surely are many who are more. Well, the point is not to obtain a good average at judging others. The point is to attempt to get past judging others at all.

As with most things, we have some guidance from the Author. He tells us, in the first book of Samuel, one difference between us and the One Who made us in His image:
...the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)
Now, here's the kicker, just in case any of us think that we're off the hook because we are, after all, not the Lord. Matthew 5:48:

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
This is clearly our goal. That we fall short is not surprising. That we must keep on trying is our lifelong duty if we are to follow Him.

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About this site and the author

Welcome. My name is John Luke Rich, (very) struggling Christian. The focus here is Christianity in its many varieties, its fussing and feuding, how it impacts our lives and our society, with detours to consider it with other faiths (or lack thereof).

Call this blog my way of evangelizing on the internet.

Putting it differently, we're only here on this earth a short time. It's the rest of eternity that we should be most concerned about. Call it the care and feeding of our souls.

I was born Jewish, and born again in Christ Jesus over thirty years ago. First as a Roman Catholic; now a Calvinist by persuasion and a Baptist by denomination. But I'm hardly a poster boy for doctrinal rigidity.

I believe that Scripture is the rock on which all Christian churches must stand -- or sink if they are not so grounded. I believe that we are saved by faith, but hardly in a vacuum. That faith is a gift from God, through no agency on our part -- although we sometimes turn a deaf ear and choose to ignore God's knocking on the door.

To be Christian is to evangelize. Those who think it not their part to evangelize perhaps haven't truly understood what our Lord told us in Matthew 28. We must preach the Gospel as best we are able. Using words if necessary.

Though my faith waxes and wanes, it never seems to go away. Sometimes I wish it would, to give me some peace of mind. But then, Jesus never said that walking with Him was going to be easy...

Final note: I also blog as Jack Rich on cultural, political and other things over at Wrong Side of the Tracks

Thanks for stopping by.