Yes, Virginia, in Such a World As This, Negatives Are Very Necessary!

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." Jesus speaking in Matthew 23:23-28

"Always be positive -- be an upbeat person -- have a perpetual smile on your face -- do as the song of long ago exhorts, 'Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative...!'"

Many are the voices that broadcast the "positive" message in our culture. Books by the ton have been mass produced on the subject. Not a few church leaders and pastors make no secret of the fact that being "positive" on a 24/7 basis is the only way to go.

Is there a place for negatives in today's world? As I mentioned one time in communicating with a TV news anchor person who told me I was too negative -- I said to him, "Negatives are necessary in our world -- try starting your car sometime without a negative post on your battery!"

An honest search and evaluation of the holy Scriptures will reveal quite a bit of "negative" material!

God is portrayed as a God Who can either be very positive or very negative depending on the response we humans make to His call to repent of our sins and receive His forgiveness, which for 2,000 years has been graciously offered through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Let's honestly face it for once -- God was pretty negative when He wiped out the world with a flood a long time ago with only 8 people surviving -- and He was quite negative when He destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, was He not?

If you dare, read slowly and ponder long on the messages of the Old Testament prophets -- a lot of very negative stuff is found in their statements.

But why did they so often talk a "negative" talk? The answer is really quite simple -- they lived in times of ethical, moral, and spiritual corruption. God called them to denounce the wickedness of their generations and to declare the need to repent and turn to God. Much more often than not the response was a negative -- "We will continue in our sin, and if God doesn't like it, that's tough -- we like things just the way they are with no changes being made in the way we now live!"

The best summary of the pattern is seen in 2 Chronicles 36 -- God's compassion (a very positive thing) -- His urgent appeal -- rejection of the appeal by the citizens and their religious and political leaders -- finally the crossing over the line -- and then judgment by God, which proved to be a very "negative" experience of the first magnitude!

More tragic than that historical event is the fact that the very same pattern is being repeated in a republic known as the United States of America!

Strangely, there are church leaders who, in their great emphasis on being "positive," attempt to point to Jesus as the One Who was very "positive" -- you know, all love and compassion all the time. Have you looked at Matthew 23 lately? And note especially that His remarks were directed toward the religious "elite" of the day.

Jesus also referred to King Herod as a "fox" -- a label which was not intended to be complimentary! Are political leaders deserving of such a negative term?

So long as our nation and the world of which it is a small part continue in their present courses of direction there will be a critical need for "negatives."

That's the way it is, Virginia, whether you like it or not!

"Cry aloud, spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." --- Isaiah 58:1

Always Be Positive in Thinking, Speaking and All You Do Otherwise!

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.' Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city......" --- words spoken by Jesus Christ in Matthew 23:27-34

Books have been written on the subject -- seminars have been held -- therapy sessions get into it -- talk show hosts/hostesses will hammer on the subject -- and psychologists/psychiatrists have a field day with it as they underscore the need for a healthy sense of "self esteem" -- church leaders really take this ball and run with it and sometimes it appears that United Methodist bishops try to corner the market on the issue!

And just what is the issue? Why it's this thing of always being positive -- be positive in your attitude and thinking -- and when you speak (and presumably when you preach, so far as church leaders are concerned) always be positive. Don't be negative or critical of anyone or anything! And by all means, back up your positive attitude, thinking and speech with the way you act. Seems that some are convinced (or deluded, you pick out which) that if this positive thing goes far enough and spreads among the population like a measles epidemic, then we will have ushered in a paradise on earth! Yea, I already know -- someone is going to say I have a negative and sarcastic attitude about this thing!

But hang on for a bit longer -- a question or two -- is there no place for negatives in our country and in our world at all? I remember an irate email received one time from a news anchor person at a TV station. I had written in about an issue, and yes, I had been negative in some statements I made. In his reply he made reference to the fact that I was quite negative in what I had said. So I replied in a few statements and reminded him that it is necessary to have some negatives in this world -- "...try starting your car with only a positive post on your battery and see how far you get!" was my parting statement.

It is an extremely rare occasion if a church leader or pastor makes reference to certain actions and statements on the part of Jesus. Or they may just bypass that section of Scripture altogether because it isn't something very soothing to sleep on at night! A brief quote from Jesus is mentioned above. Did you notice the "labels" He used and the persons to whom those labels were applied? If He were being considered for the position of pastor of a large suburban church and the committee responsible for determining the hiring (and firing) of a pastor knew Jesus had said the above things to very religious people, do you think He would get the job? Or in an episcopal system such as the United Methodist Church, do you think a bishop would appoint Jesus to serve a church when it was known that He was so critical and labeled persons in such negative terms? Or maybe Jesus would be put on probation on the condition that He undergo psychiatric counseling for an extended period in order to get this negative stuff out of His system!

If you chopped all the "negatives" out of the Bible and shredded them, you would have a rather thin book left -- or maybe it would more be like a booklet. You would have to eliminate major portions of the Old Testament prophets and once you got done with John the Baptist, there wouldn't be much information remaining about him either.

But why those negatives in the Bible anyway? Everything would have been positive if sin had not invaded the human race. Then came God's revelation as to what He expected by way of human performance and human relationships. Since humans are born with an inclination toward self-centered motives, defiance and rebellion so far as God is concerned, then the negatives come into play. It just isn't sufficient to say, "Now boys and girls, God is good, and we ought to listen to God and mind Him all the time." For a good example as to how the positives and the negatives are spelled out, read Deuteronomy 28, which was referred to in an earlier post here. God spells out the positives -- the blessings which will come for total obedience to Him. But then He takes nearly 4 times as much space (or statements) to spell out the negatives -- the cursings and calamities which will come upon the people for disobedience to His laws and standards!

Must a Christian be always positive -- all the time every day of every week of every month of every year? Think on this -- must your doctor be always positive? Suppose he finds some cancer growing inside you and you ask him what he is going to do. He says he will do nothing -- he is being positive and the cancer cells have as much right to live in the body as those considered to be "normal" and they should be treated with the same respect as the "normal" cells! Would you accept that, or would you insist that those cancer cells must be destroyed -- cut the body open and cut out every cancer cell because if it isn't done, you will die! But that is being a bit negative on your part, isn't it?

A parting question -- if you are a Christian, what are you attempting to do about the spiritual and moral cancer that has invaded the church and those who are infected, including church leaders? What do you think ought to be done about a church leader who says we ought not to send missionaries to foreign countries to convert people to Jesus Christ -- those people over there have their own religion and we ought not to disrupt that? Come on now, let's hear it in this day and age when we are pressured to sit down to the table and "dialog" with those of other religious expessions, put Jesus Christ on the shelf, and say in so many words, "Your religion is just as good as mine -- there are many paths to the top of the mountain, and I am committed to being absolutely positive about all religions in today's world!"

And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!" --- Jesus performing in John 2:14-16