Dale Cresap's blog

Are you familiar with the tradeoff between quality and quantity? Quality costs more per unit, but represents greater value. Do you understand that this concept is not limited to economic issues? What about friendship? You can’t be intimate confidents with everyone because you have a limited budget for investment. So do you go with many or with few who are very close? There are times when you need a friend who is closer than a brother, and it is unrealistic to think that you can have this with everyone.

Are you discouraged by the trend you see in human conduct? Are you alarmed at the deterioration of civility into a culture of contempt? It took many years for the development of human thought to embrace the ideas of toleration and freedom of conscience. You should recognize the common humanity you share even with those who disagree with you, and so should everyone else. Do you think the world would be a better place with greater regard for civility and respect for the dignity of every person knowing that they are my handiwork? Why stop there? Why not love your enemies?

 What do you owe your fellow man? You are familiar with the wrong answers of not being your brother’s keeper and the right answer that you are to bear one another’s burdens. Please understand that this is not a legal question, but one of moral philosophy. You won’t go to jail for being indifferent to those around you in need, but do you admire and affirm those who are kind and generous and realize that those who are not are diminishing their own humanity as well as that of others? Everyone you meet is made in my image. The Good Samaritan understood this. Do you?

Have you ever been the victim of the wrongdoing of someone else? What is your reaction in this case? Crying out for justice or vengeance? Are there other alternatives? Are you familiar with the story of Joseph? If anyone had a basis to feel like a victim and cry out for justice it would be someone sold into slavery by his own brothers. Yet how did Joseph respond? He was faithful to me and prospered even in captivity. A long time passed before he saw his brothers again, and when he did he was in a position of advantage. And what did he say? What you meant for evil God meant for good.

Do you ever think about your funeral? There is no reason to live with a morbid fixation, but have you been to enough funerals to learn what matters in life? Have you discovered that on the day you die no one cares about how much money you made, or how much fun you had? Yet these things are very highly rated in life. If they don’t matter when you die, then what does? The human connections you make will be broken, but they represent the value of your life, and are the substance for which you will be missed.

Do you think that everyone is spiritual? People of good conscience differ on this question. My answer is only those who are created in my image. Do you know anyone who doesn’t like music? There are many types of music and everyone has their own tastes, but have you ever met anyone who didn’t like any type of music? Do you see these as being related questions? What is the content of music beyond the lyrics? Do you see music and other forms of art as doorways to the transcendent? This works universally, even on people whose profession is to reject any belief or creed. It is unavoidable.

In regard to dietary laws I said that it wasn’t what went into a man that defiled him, but what came out, referring to slander, blasphemy, and false speech. Beware what you say. What about the positive side of the same question? Is it what comes out of a man that edifies him, or what goes in? Have you ever met anyone in love with the sound of their voice? This is a common human affliction. Yet those who progress to spiritual maturity learn that they can’t engineer their own transformation. If you are to experience deep change that is real and enduring, it will come to you from beyond.

Have you ever had an epiphany? This is a sudden and unexpected realization of eternal truth. It is a quantum leap in spiritual awareness. You can make incremental progress in your understanding by study through intentional effort, but you can’t schedule an epiphany. It comes to you when you least expect it. People use the term in jest, but real ones are rare, perhaps once or twice in a lifetime, but they are of sufficient intensity to make a permanent change. They are a means of transformation. Even though you can’t arrange an epiphany you can position yourself to receive it.

Do you see any purpose in suffering? Is there anything else that people go to such great lengths to avoid? Christians are quick to point out that they don’t need to suffer for their redemption, for that has already been done, and they are saved by grace rather than works. Could there be any reason? The Bible says he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. Paul listed all the credentials he could claim and then systematically devalued every one. Yet when it became necessary for him to assert his authority he referred to the scars he got from serving me.

Have you ever had a contagious disease? Have you ever given one to someone else? Disease is transmitted by mechanisms well understood by medical science. Do you think of pain as being contagious? It isn’t transmitted in the same way that disease is, and this is more of a psychological question than a medical one, but have you met people in pain who are very effective at transmitting their pain? What is the alternative? Suffering in silence? Is it possible to do better than that? Could your pain be transformed into redemptive purpose that is also contagious to other people?