Don’t Add to the Ugly…

So I saw the above video on Facebook the other way. No I’m not an evolutionist. To be clear the evidence of micro-evolution is everywhere, where small changes in creatures take place over time as species adapt to their environments. It’s macro-evolution, where one species becomes a totally different creature over the course of billions of years, with which I take issue, but this post is not about that. I watched this video with great fascination, and I almost shared it on Facebook, but then I read the comments underneath. They were ugly.

It always amazes me how some people can be so quick to belittle someone else’s deeply held beliefs. Disagreement I get, but the venom and nastiness is pretty tough to take. When I see a video like this, I marvel at it, and yes it’s true, I see it as evidence of my beliefs in a creator God. To me the complexity of everything around me rules out anything but intelligent design. Other people disagree with that, and that is their right. As a believer, my goal should be to pray and lovingly try to share what I believe. To be honest, after reading the comments, “lovingly” was not first on my agenda. No, I wanted to add to the ugly.

Oh it’s true. I wanted to call these people out. I wanted to highlight the hypocritical intolerance I saw in comment after comment. I wanted to refute every mean spirited thing I saw. I wanted to slam every person who made some ugly comment about the God I love. I wanted to jump into the fray and bash the bashers, especially the ones who were so mean to people who just wanted to marvel at what they see, what I see, as evidence of God. I wanted to throw their venom back. I’ll say it again, I wanted to add to the ugly. But is that what God wants? I don’t think so.

See every comment I make, does two things. First it spreads the venom. In my need to vent, I give the disagreeable behavior of the people in question a wider audience, all my friends, many of whom would also be tempted to add to the ugly. This would only escalate the matter. More importantly, when Christians add to the ugly, it entrenches people in their argument. It hardens their belief that there is no God and that is the last thing God would want. No, if we can’s speak the truth in love, we’re better off not speaking. When we see things that are disagreeable and even mean-spirited we need to remember why we’re here and remember our mission. My mission is not to make everyone be fair and kind and supportive of my beliefs. No my mission is to help people to come to belief in the one who loved me and freed me, in hopes that they will experience His love and be set free. Further our mission as creators is to create beauty that points to the Creator of beauty. I can’t do that if I add to the ugly.

Don’t add to the ugly.

Okay, How Would You Interpret This Parable Creatively?

I’m at my church’s annual conference this week. Today both out Bible Study and the evening message were about the same parable, The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. The whole time I was listening, I was thinking that’ll preach and now I want to do it as a presentation. The thing is, I’m having a hard time thinking of the creative element. I will keep praying and I know the Lord will provide, but I thought I’d put it our there. How would you express this passage creatively?

Matthew 20:1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” (NIV)

Don’t worry I won’t knock off your idea, I just want to see how others would approach it.