Don Kerr is right on the mark when he quotes the Bible: "Perfect love
casts out fear." Our organizations must be led by compassionate people who
have "servant hearts". My offering of the biblical teaching on the
sinfulness of humanity, in no way implies t hat we should not deal
compassionately with others. It is the underpinning of the learning
organization that is my concern here. We must build our organizations on
reliable foundations. Saul of Tarsus, as Don astutely points out, was a
zealous persecutor and an accessory to the murder of Christians (not
really a serial killer as such).
But "Did God see Paul in Saul?" Don asks. The answer is "yes", but
not in the sense that I see potential in my children to someday be great
singers, ball players, or social workers.
Paul himself answered Don's question by saying that basically he had
"nothing good " (Romans 7:18) within himself. Anything good that came out
of Paul was strictly the work of God's Holy Spirit in him, for which he
claimed no credit (Romans 7:24,25). In fact, Paul called himself the chief
among the sinners, echoing King David's confession from the 51st Psalm:
"Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conveived
me." (v. 5).
Paul wrestled out-loud with his dilemma that he could never seem to
do the good he intended to do, but often did the evil he intended to avoid
(Romans 7:15-25). In one of his letters, he lists his religious
credentials and then said he counted all of that as a "loss compared the
surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord , for whose sake I
have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and
be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the
law, but that which is through faith in Christ; the righteousness that
comes from God and is by faith." (Philippians 3:8b-9)
I empathize with Don, in that I would like to "go back to the garden"
to an age of innocence before the rebellion of humans against God.
However, we live between the fall and the resurrection. The reality of
this world is "all have sinned and fall sh ort of the glory of God."
(Romans 3:23).
Jesus did not call out "good" people to be his followers. Nor did
Jesus call out the good in people. Jesus said to be his disciple you have
to die to yourself ... your own desire to be the boss. When the eager
crowds surrounded him wanting to make him their leader in a political or
religious sense, the Bible records that Jesus rejected than option: "But
Jesus would not entrust himself to them (the crowds), for he knew all men.
He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man."
(John 2:24)
Another LO friend e-mailed this morning to repeat the age-old attacks
against Christianity --- all the evil done by men in the name of God, &
etc.; and to rebuke me for discussing "theology" on the LO. He expressed
pity for me that I saw everyone as " evil" and was therefore "surrounded
by all those demons every day." Most of all he said he feels sorry for
children who, unless they accept my god, I have condemned to being mere
puppets of my satan. He also justaposed "free thinking" with my faith in
Je sus Christ as God.
First, I'm truly sorry if anything in my manner of writing has
offended anyone. I believe that the subject of human nature is of utmost
importance in developing human organizations. The Biblical record and the
statements of Christ and his follower P aul seem to offer a different
paradigm through which to view learning organizations. However, there is
nothing in the Bible that says we need to look at people in general as
"demons". Each person is created by God, in the image of God, and with the
purpos e of having an eternal relationship with God. Jesus Christ tore
down the barrier between God and humans, and allows us to have an intimate
relationship with our creator such that we may view God as a loving
parent, not simply a righteous judge. We must ac cept or reject that
offer...unfortunately, there is no middle ground. That's the gospel. To
judge Jesus or the Bible based on the actions of the sinful humans who
have misinterpreted and twisted the message, is a bit absurd. I read a
story in the pape r t
oday under the headline "Mentally Disabled were used in tooth decay
tests". This is another in a long series of abuses carried out in the name
of science. But should I reject science because humans have misused it and
harmed others in the process?
The Christian does not live depressed in a world full of evil people
who are "satan's puppets". Following Jesus means seeing people through the
compassionate eyes of a creator God who longs to restore communion with
humanity. It also means lovingly c ommunicating with people so they will
know that God desires that relationship with them... not because of
something good inside the humans, but because of God's mercy, grace and
love. Grace means unmerited favor, and that's the kind of love Jesus wants
hi s followers to convey to all people.
This is not just theology, it is essential to our understanding of
people and therefore to the development of learning organizations.
Grace & Peace,
Scott Ott
sott@nkcsd.k12.mo.us
[Note: Any statements I make on the LO are my own and not the opinion of
my employer.]
--Scott Ott <SOTT@nkcsd.k12.mo.us>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>