Perplexity

I don’t know about you, but I’m perplexed.  The world has become so complicated for me. I find myself struggling to understand what is going on.  I wonder if it is simply something that happens as one ages.  I don’t understand, for example,  this whole Cambridge Analytica debacle of recent days.  Can such things be done in and through Facebook?  Do such people like those in that company who thrive on that kind of stuff really exist?   I guess so, but I don’t understand it and am greatly perplexed by it. Should I be on Facebook? I’m confused sometimes, wondering if I’m in possession of all my mental faculties, when I watch and listen to Betsy DeVos (Education Secretary) testifying before the Appropriations committee.  I’m baffled by the multiplicity of school shootings and our unwillingness as a people to do something about stricter gun control, especially when it is reported that 97% of the American people lean in that direction.  I’m bewildered by my alleged evangelical brothers and sisters who were once so militant in their moral stance, but now say nothing about bullying, name-calling, and the defamation of the innocent. Yes, I’m perplexed, confused, bothered, baffled, and bewildered.  Aren’t you?

One of the great assets of the Christian faith (when true to itself) is that it has always helped people to avoid becoming naive about the human situation.  The Christian faith does not preach natural human goodness.  It has always recognized that sin is potential in every human heart.  No one is exempt. This sin is in priests, lawyers, presidents, members of congress, and church members, just as it is in all persons.    It is not limited by sex, race, or age, or position.  Sin (self-centeredness) can enter in at any level of society and is present in every human institution. Christians must never be complaisant and we must always maintain a delicate combination of realism and hope,  which means living in perplexity.

Thus, as a Christian, I cannot be a Pollyanna, nor can I live in an ivory tower.  Nor can I   ignore the perplexities and simply bide my time until God calls me home—which, by the way, is an extremely self-centered attitude. I must face the hard problems of human life and that means living in the midst of bafflement, confusion, and bewilderment. I know this world  is not a  perfect world, but I must do all that I can to help make it better, to bring it into alignment with the  “world beyond” on which I have bet my life exists.

Dr. Doolittle talking to the animals in Peru--2006