Write about a time when you didn’t take action but wish you had. What would you do differently?

Today’s prompt brings me to the very regretful time when 😢:

First they came for the UNVAXXED, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was a spineless🐍coward!

(cf., Luke 13:10-17; Zechariah 11:17)

💭 🤔

Then they came for the JOURNALISTS, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was not a “TRUTH TELLER”.

Then they came for THE WHITE, CHRISTIAN, MALE and I still didn’t speak out—
     Because I am neither “white,” nor “religious.”

Then they came for my HOT-PINK, “Electric-Powered” Barbie® Mobile—and then I stood up and put my foot down; but there was no one left to hear me. 🎄 🪚 (cf., Luke 13:10-17; Zechariah 11:17) 💭 🤔

😔 😭

If I had it all to do differently, I would switch to using the Telegram app instead:

OVERVIEW

philistine

QUICK REFERENCE

A person devoted narrow-mindedly to material prosperity at the expense of intellectual and artistic awareness; or (as an adjective) ignorantly uninterested in culture and ideas. This sense of the term comes from the insulting label Philister applied by German students to their non-academic neighbours in university towns, likening them to the enemies of the chosen people in the Hebrew scriptures; it was given wide currency in English by the poet and critic Matthew Arnold in his book Culture and Anarchy (1869), which attacks the philistinism of the British middle class. Arnold usually applied the term ‘the Philistines’ to the prosperous bourgeoisie, especially to its nonconformist Liberal representatives.

Reference entries
philistine
in The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms (3)
Length: 108 words

amoral (adj.)

“ethically indifferent,” 1882, a hybrid formed from Greek-derived a- “not” + moral, which is from Latin.

1. Said of a person: Devoid of moral sense.

2. Said of a human work, especially artistic: That of purpose dispenses with the moral end.

“Milk for babes and meat for strong men”

~Hermes Trismegistus

parable (n.)

“saying or story in which something is expressed in terms of something else; allegorical or metaphorical narrative, usually having a MORAL FOR INSTRUCTION,” late 13c., parabol, modern form from early 14c.

Why did Jesus speak to the multitudes in parables?

By The FISHER of MENSIS

With many similar parables Jesus spoke God’s ·message [word] to the multitudes—as much as they were able to ·understand it [hear]. Indeed, He would not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own ·disciples [disciplined students], he explained everything. ~ Mark 4:33–34
(cf., The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares: Matthew 13:24-30; God favored Jacob over Esau ·UNCONDITIONALLY [Prior to moment of conception] — “not because of works but because of Him who calls” ~Romans 9:11).

The disciples, bewildered by Jesus’ parables and wanting him to speak more directly, came closer and asked Jesus, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” (Matthew 13:10).

This is why He spoke to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.” ~ Matthew 13:13

Jesus was revealing that they were indifferent legalists who did not understand the kingdom of God (cf., Matthew 12:10; Hebrews 5:11-14; Leviticus 5:17; Jeremiah 8:8):

Romans 2:13-16

13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by ·Christ [the Way; the Truth; and the Life Eternal].

English Standard Version

Jesus told his disciples that—in an incredibly important sense—the world is divided into two groups: those who hear and understand the parables, and those who hear but do not understand
(cf., The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares: Matthew 13:24-30; God favored Jacob over Esau ·UNCONDITIONALLY [Prior to moment of conception] — “not because of works but because of Him who calls” ~Romans 9:11).
The Gospel of Mark highlights this division when Jesus told the disciples: “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside everything is in parables” (Mark 4:11).

The disciples must have been shocked by Jesus’ response, and if we are honest, we will feel that same shocking power today. Parables reveal and conceal simultaneously. They divide their listeners into two worlds. In one world, a parable reveals the secret of the kingdom of God. But in the second world a parable is still just a parable, nothing more.

We now see more clearly what is at stake in the parables and why Jesus used them practically every time he taught. It turns out that our response to the parables reveals everything important about us, with eternal consequences. Each of the parables is a shocking revelation of the kingdom of heaven, so if we hear the parables and all we hear is a bunch of “stories,” something is profoundly wrong with us.

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

~Mohandas “Mahatma” Karamchand Gandhi

Christ Is Lord of the Sabbath

6 One Sabbath while Jesus was passing through fields of standing grain, it happened that His disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. ² But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” ³ Jesus replied to them, “Have you not even read [in the Scriptures] what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him— ⁴ how he went into the house of God, and took and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful [for anyone] to eat except the priests alone, and [how he also] gave it to the men who were with him?” ⁵ Jesus was saying to them, “The Son of Man (the Messiah) is Lord [even] of the Sabbath.”

⁶ On another Sabbath He went into the synagogue and taught, and a man was present whose right hand was withered. ⁷ The scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely [with malicious intent], to see if He would [actually] heal [someone] on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse Him. ⁸ But He was aware of their thoughts, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward.” So he got up and stood there. ⁹ Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you directly: Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil, to save a life or to destroy it?” ¹⁰ After looking around at them all, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand!” And he did, and his hand was [fully] restored. ¹¹ But the scribes and Pharisees were filled with senseless rage [and lacked spiritual insight], and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

9 understanding the fact that law is not enacted for the righteous person [the one in right standing with God], but for lawless and rebellious people, for the ungodly and sinful, for the irreverent and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers,

27 Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

1 Timothy 1:9; Mark 2:27
Amplified Bible

Healing on the Sabbath

¹⁰ Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. ¹¹ And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had an illness caused by a spirit (demon). She was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. ¹² When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are released from your illness.” ¹³ Then He laid His hands on her; and immediately she stood erect again and she began glorifying and praising God. ¹⁴ But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days in which work ought to be done; so come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” ¹⁵ But the Lord replied to him, “You hypocrites (play-actors, pretenders)! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead it away to water it? ¹⁶ And this woman, a daughter (descendant) of Abraham whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?” ¹⁷ As He was saying this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things that were being done by Him.

¹⁰ A man was there whose hand was withered. And they asked Jesus, “Is it lawful and permissible to heal on the Sabbath?”—they asked this so that they might accuse Him and bring charges into court. ¹¹ But He said to them, “What man is there among you who, if he has only one sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? ¹² How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful and permissible to do good on the Sabbath.”

“Woe (judgment is coming) to the worthless and foolish shepherd
Who deserts the flock!
The sword will strike his arm
And his right eye!
His arm shall be totally withered
And his right eye completely blinded.”

²² “The eye is the lamp of the body; so if your eye is clear [spiritually perceptive], your whole body will be full of light [benefiting from God’s precepts]. ²³ But if your eye is bad [spiritually blind], your whole body will be full of darkness [devoid of God’s precepts]. So if the [very] light inside you [your inner self, your heart, your conscience] is darkness, how great and terrible is that darkness!

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money, possessions, fame, status, or whatever is valued more than the Lord].

The Cure for Anxiety

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, stop being worried or anxious (perpetually uneasy, distracted) about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, as to what you will wear. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Luke 6:1-11; 13:10-17; Matthew 12:10-12; Zechariah 11:17; Matthew 6:22-25

Corazón lleno; panza contenta 😊

The Fisher of Mensis (cf., Proverbs 23:1-5; Matthew 6:23-25)

“History has produced a montage of flavorsome firebrands like Adolf Hitler, Vladimir Lenin and Chairman Mao. But Elfego Baca is not one of them. Elfego’s gentle manner, directness, and few words exude a level of confidence that is still unparalleled today.”

¡Viva Elfego Baca!

~The FISHER of MENSIS

The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca:

A QUAKER STEW

A bubbling pot of Quakerism with just a dash of ecumenical spice

December 05, 2015

The writer of Hebrews is warning his readers about the dangers of falling away from the true faith in the face of severe persecution. This is Nayler’s intention too. The tract reveals the importance of suffering within early Quaker spirituality and demonstrates that, in the way of Jesus, evil is always overcome NON-VIOLENTLY. Below is a simple summary of Nayler’s message:

Suffering leads to spiritual maturity and brings us closer to God…

JAMES NAYLER’S TRACT – ‘MILK FOR BABES AND MEAT FOR STRONG MEN’
at aquakerstew.blogspot.com

fisherofmensis.blog