One of the primary purposes of journalism is to expose. And when it comes to crime, their job in that regard is to shame. This then works to educate the rest of us as to the consequences of crime in order for us to think hard before we choose to participate in illegal activity.
Every US / Mississippi citizen isn't gifted a copy of the "Rule Of Law". Instead, we (hopefully) learn of it through lawbreakers' misfortune and subsequent exposure.
Now, this is not a perfect methodology to communicate the "Rule Of Law", but it's how it works here in the western world. This is one reason impoverished communities may be overrun with crime. For poverty often equates to poor education. Poor education means you can't read. If you can't read, you're screwed overall, but especially in light of how convicting it typically is whilst engaging with quality journalism.
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The Bible is a model for this journalistic approach, particularly within all manner of the books within the Old Testament. You'll find story after story of Bible characters whose narratives so often involve sin and the consequences of that sin. And this also often includes God's point of view as well regarding that character's situation. These narratives can be very helpful to us as Christians for it teaches us what God's expectations are (& the consequences for choosing to ignore those) with ease. Therefore, if we'll study these stories, essentially we can be forewarned in advance of the consequences of taking part in unrighteous behavior ourselves. As such, we have a good God who provided us with the Good Book.
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I've talked often about my parents within various former blog posts, and as you'll recall, they were both teenagers when they got pregnant with me. From there (a few months after the pregnancy), they chose to marry. As a result of me being the bastard child (I suppose), neither of them ever behaved like actual parents or really even a married couple (in my midst). What I mean by this criticism is they didn't know shit about how to parent me, therefore they didn't. That being said, they did care deeply for me. It's just that it never transcribed into the normal parenting realm. Plus, they never, ever demonstrated their romantic love for each other (in front of me). To expound on that last point, I've never seen my parents kiss or hold hands or hug. Ever.
As you might imagine, that made for quite a weirdmo house to be reared within. Yet, it was Rob's version of normal.
So what does it mean to parent a child? It's providing specific / timely instruction to that child on behalf of their future well-being. Instruction on all manner of subjects - from grooming to finance to sexuality to romance to education and on and on and on.
And if the household is Christian, the Bible is an awesome resource to complement parents' parenting work.
Great communication in this regard increases one's chances of ending up with children who stay out of the newspaper / off jounalists' radar.
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Samson Society meetings provide weekly opportunities to read the newspaper - so to speak - in strictest confidence. Essentially, you're there to see men expose themselves and their sin. And the good in this comes from the learning therein.
This is why I can get so flustered when pagans show up to Samson meetings. And this is because they typically have quite the diluted concept of sin. As such, they may just only share info that's on par with the local weather report. And as a result, everyone's left wanting by said forecast.
Samson meetings are also designed to reduce the chances of guys glossing over their sin. And again, this is super helpful to everyone else fortunate enough to be in the room during that juncture. For sin is hideously ugly and decrepit.
And this is what makes Samson Society meetings so sacred. This helpfulness & insight (direct and indirect) that comes from all this raw honesty.
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If you know me at all, you know me as an extremely observant individual. And a lot of that is due to my training as an architect. But even as a child, I never had any issue paying attention to behavior / circumstance. But this was especially true after I was born again in middle school. What I'm trying to say here is I deciphered right from wrong from all that I observed - family (extended and immediate), church, school, etc.
And that was why the chronic homosexual lust issues were so suffocating to young Rob. For I was keenly aware of my enslavement to private fantasies that represented deep seated regret and wretched moral failure on all fronts.
Yet, no one, NO ONE had ever shared with me first (or even second) hand how they'd also been in bondage similarly to this repetitive fantastical escape. Therefore, I was completely isolated as such. And that's exactly where Satan wanted me to be. It made for a bad, bad situation.
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This morning, I encountered (what I assumed) a lesbian couple whilst out running. They were walking through the same botanical garden trail I was during my halfway point. And as such, I looked hard at them and their (again assumed) sexually sinful partnership.
I came away from that further resolved to never (me, myself) choose to go down that same road. For I could see in them what I did not want to become / be a part of despite my homosexual orientation.
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My oldest friend telephoned me yesterday. He excitedly announced his new position as a state of MS employee. From there, he went on to describe his job description, and then he stated whom he'd be directly reporting to within his new (7/1) position.
My heart sank.
And then I just got pissed.
I wanted to say to him, "Why didn't you reach out to me prior to agreeing to take this state government position? Especially considering that when I was an employee of the state of Mississippi (from 2006 - 2012), I also directly reported to this exact same individual."
But I didn't. Instead, I said what I say to guys who can't seem to consistently commit to Samson Society meetings.
I hope next time you'll choose to involve yourself within community. I'll be praying for you.
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