| It
was during a long lecture, which I will
review at a later stage, that I heard this
thought-provoking statement. And the more I
think about it, the more I see the accuracy
in it.
I often am confronted with writings,
articles, responses and so on, containing
the words "positive" and
"negative". No, I'm not an avid
reader of electricity manuals. And I'm not
involved in photography either.
We're speaking about material related to
my Christian faith and spirituality.
Religion, if you will or must.
"Positive" and
"Negative" have become code-words
in what is generally known as
"Christianity", and especially
inside the circles of western evangelical
Christianity.
I often speak out against the so-called
"Christian Industry", and
especially it's "Reggae" branch.
The Christian faith has become a product and
the faithful turned into merchandize. Sure,
all very negative stuff.
As acknowledged by the Industrialists and
their minions in whom I am sometimes having
a discussion or confrontation with, that is.
They will agree with me that my speaking out
is very negative indeed.
But that's where the agreement stops. For
many seem to think that "positive"
and "negative" are standards
according to which we must conclude our
statements and beliefs and expressions. We
must be "positive", "stricktly
positive" as one organization
advertises their products, eer, message...
Some might think in their ignorance, that
"positive" and
"negative" are just other words to
express "good" and
"evil", or "right" and
"wrong".
But is that really so?
According to the Christian Industrialists
and their minions, speaking out against the
merchandizing of the Christian faith, even
speaking out against the false teachings
that that they preach to an often ignorant
"public" or flock, is
"negative".
But is it wrong? Is it evil?
Throughout the entire scripture, you will
not find the words "positive" and
"negative". But you will find a
lot of positivity and a lot of negativity.
You could say, that "positive"
is everything that can be agreed with,
anything that can be embraced, and
"negative" is everything you
should not embrace, you should deny it and
disagree with it.
But you cannot say, that not embracing a
certain philosophy, or being in disagreement
with the theological statements of certain
self-proclaimed "preachers" and
"teachers" and
"pastors", in short: being
negative, is therefore wrong.
The Most High Himself told us to have
discernment. He Himself is negative a lot of
times. But is Jah "evil" or
"wrong"? I would not even dare
thinking such a thing.
So we can simply conclude, that being
negative does not mean being wrong or evil.
But it's very difficult to be negative in
a dictatorship of alleged
"positivity". The word is a
keyword for a lot if not most people who
profess themselves to be
"Christian". Being brainwashed
into somehow equating "good" and
"right" with "positive",
they have been conditioned to see
"negativity" as "wrong"
or even "evil".
Their alleged "positivity"
(which in reality is really not that
positive) is in reality a word to express
their own chosen ignorance. It is a word
that describes their comfort-zone. Their
critical thinking faculties are not
challenged, and in the same time they can
follow their fleshly lusts for even more
comfort (calling it "blessings" or
"being anointed") under the guise
of "good": it's
"positive".
You can't speak about differences, you
can't expose false teachers and preachers,
you can't speak out and try to wake up those
who profess to be Christians because they
believe in "positivity" rather
than Truth.
The result?
They have lost their identity, they have
lost their foundation, they have lost their
uniqueness with which they were created.
That is because they never bother to deal
with negativity. Everything that people do
which enhances them in their "comfort
zone", will drive them further away
from being an individual and more into
becoming a mindless slave of the political
correctness of the day.
And then there came that statement.
"Your negatives define you".
And it's true!
The positivo's (I didn't make this one
up, it's a national Dutch joke) don't have
any identity. They could just be the next
man. The Christian could be the Muslim. They
don't deal with negativity, remember?
So their "positiveness" doesn't
define them.
In fact, they don't want to. They call
that "negative". It's
"negative" to say that you do not
believe Buddhism is the truth. It's
"negative" to say that Christian
Reggae Artists should not put themselves
into their own little ghetto where they can
safely make the Christian Faith into a
product in a self-proclaimed "Christian
Industry".
And with that, they even expose their own
illogic. For the positivo's are often very,
very negative.
When I read sometimes what certain people
write about me, for example, just an
example, is very negative too. And of
course, it cannot be different. It
identifies them for what they are: principal
rejecters of critique, whether it truth or
not. It defines them, for they do not love
the truth as the truth is not their
standard.
And when you look to the things I speak
out against, the things where I am negative
about, you will get a pretty good
description of me too.
Of course I have positivity too. I think
very positive about Reggae Music as a music,
for example. And so I positively review
music, even of artists where I do not agree
with their own chosen spirituality or
religion if you will or must.
So that doesn't really define me...
On the other hand, I speak out against
Babylon. I speak out against "Hippieness"
and other forms of Post Modern weakness. I
speak out against false teachers and
preachers who in the Name of my Saviour make
my faith into a product in their Industry
which they even named after the Lord to
complete their list of sins with using His
Name in vain! I speak out against those
doctrines that the Bible calls
"doctrines of devils".
And these negatives do indeed define me.
They identify me as part of a group of
people who are being negative about a
certain thing.
The very word "Church" which
proper use is to describe all those who know
themselves to be born again through the Holy
Spirit in Yesus' Name from all times and
places, means: "group of people who are
being called out of something". The
real Christian Church is negative by it's
very nature: it is a group of people that
steps out of something.
This stepping-out defines the Christian
Church.
So I tend to agree with the statement.
Sure, I know there are some flaws in it, but
as a general rule I think it's true and it
can be of a tremendous help to see this
statement working in reality as well.
|