Faith Fellowship Church…PO Box 1586, Broken Arrow, OK 74013…Pastor Terry Dashner…
Reciprocity is our word for today. One dictionary defines the word: to give correspondingly. If you lived in Old Testament times, you might have related reciprocity in judicial terms like, “an eye for an eye.” If you are a student of the New Testament, you might associate reciprocity with the spiritual principle”…whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.” If you view the world through physics, you might relate it to Newton’s third law of motionto every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If you…I think you get the point.
I am, like you, philosophical by nature. And one philosophy I review often is this. I am today what I planted yesterday. So if I don’t like what I’ve become, then I need to change the seeds I’m planting today. In relating this concept to reciprocity, I want to say this. What I plant in the lives of others is what I’ll receive in return. Let me illustrate, please. If I pass you on the street with a smile and favorable greeting, more then likely, you will reciprocate with a similar greeting; however if I smack you, I can expect a surprise greeting.
I want to carry this thought a little further. If reciprocity and sowing and reaping are valid principles, is it any wonder why so many American youth are so quick to resort to violence when things don’t go their way. Cal Thomas writes, “Why should young people take life seriously when their overworked, aborting, day-care, euthanasia culture does not? Life is so cheap, relationships are so meaninglesschildren get the message. When you mix the ingredients for cake, you get cake. When you mix the volatile ingredients of corrupted culture, vulgar entertainment and broken, loveless families, you get child killers.” Well, maybe we should read the last part of Cal’s words as hyperbole (not every unloved child grows up to be a killer); nevertheless, we do reap what we sow into the lives of our children.
Kurt Thompson, a Washington, D.C.-area psychiatrist whose clients include adolescents, sees today’s teens suffering from ‘a horrid sense of disconnection.’ They’re connected technically through the Internet, but they’re disconnected relationally. Too many parents, he says, think by the time their children become teen-agers their job is almost done and that other forces will complete the shaping of young minds and spirits. Oh sure, we can put metal detectors at the schoolhouse door, but who makes mental and moral detectors.
Having served a number of years in law enforcement, I’m well aware that enforcing existing laws to curtail youth violence does not solve the problem. We were told in the 90s that the Brady bill would protect us against gun violence. It didn’t. We were told that passing more anti-gun and anti-violence laws would reduce teen violence. That hasn’t worked either. The reality is we already have more then enough anti-gun laws on the books, so why should we pass more legislation? Federal prosecutors are reluctant to prosecute the existing anti-gun and anti-violence laws. The answer to violence is not more regulations and more legislation. The answer is simple but requires work. The work involves sowing positive messages about the value of human life. The work involves sowing seeds like, “love thy brother as thy self.” The work involves sowing seeds like
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kindness, selflessness, caring, truth, honor, “giving honor to whom honor is due.” These seeds produce like kind.
I want to encourage you dear Christian. Although our way of life is old fashioned and spurned by many modernists, it’s still the only way. Jesus, Himself, said that He was the Way. Through His love, we address the world His waythe only waythe way of the Book. God’s Word teaches us that laying down our lives for each other, we are living the way of the Cross, and the Cross of Calvary is the best way to stem the violence. A changed heart leads to a changed way of life, which can change the world for better; therefore, reciprocate with good and note the return of a good corresponding action.
Pastor T.
About the Author
Pastors a small church in Broken Arrow, OK. 918-451-0270
Taliesin is a name like Arthur and Merlin (Myrddin). It has been around for a long time to say the least. I believe the following poem called the Hanes Taliesin tells us the story of the Merovingians back to a time even before Melchizedek.
Hanes Taliesin
1. An impartial Chief Bard
Am I to Elphin.
My accustomed country
Is the land of the Cherubim.
2. Johannes the Diviner
I was called by Merddin,
At length every King
Will call me Taliesin.
3. I was nine months almost
In the belly of the hag Ceridwen;
I was at first little Gwion,
At length I am Taliesin.
4. I was with my Lord
In the highest sphere,
When Lucifer fell
Into the depths of Hell.
5. I carried the banner
Before Alexander.
I know the names of the stars
From the North to the South.
6. I was in Caer Bedion
Tetragrammaton;
I conveyed Heon [the Divine Spirit]
Down to the vale of Ebron.
7. I was in Canaan
When Absalom was slain;
I was in the Hall of Dn {Would this take us all the way back to the first De Danaan or DNN?}
Before Gwydion was born.
8. I was in the horse’s crupper
Of Eli and Enoch;
I was on the high cross
Of the merciful Son of God.
9. I was the chief overseer
At the building of the tower of Nimrod;
I have been three times resident
In the castle of Arianrhod.
10. I was in the Ark
With Noah and Alpha;
I saw the destruction
Of Sodom and Gomorrah.
11. I was in Africa [Asia?]
Before the building of Rome;
I am now come here
To the remnants of Troia.
12. I was with my King
In the manger of the ass;
I supported Moses
Through the waters of Jordan.
13. I was in the Firmament
With Mary Magdalene;
I obtained my inspiration
From the cauldron of Caridwen.
14. I was Bard of the harp
To Deon of Llychlyn;
I have suffered hunger
With the son of the Virgin.
15. I was in the White Hill
In the hall of Cynvelyn,
In stocks and fetters
A year and a half.
16. I have been in the buttery
In the land of the Trinity;
It is not known what is the nature
Of its meat and its fish.
17. I have been instructed
In the whole system of the universe;
I shall be till the day of judgement
On the face of the earth
18. I have been in an uneasy chair
Above Caer Sidin,
And the whirling round without motion
Between three elements.
19. Is it not the wonder of the world
That cannot be discovered?”
Author of many books available at Lulu and World-Mysteries.com
