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J. Williams · September 25, 2014 at 1:31 pm

I have a question about this sermon and the issue of trust-I feel it is possible to trust Jesus to guide my life-but I am sorry, unwarranted, unconditional trust of others is not acceptable-in fact it is, has been, and will be DEADLY. Remember all of the nice young women who gave Ted Bundy a lift, because they saw a guy with a cast on his arm and though he “needed help” ? Unfortunately, Reverend Kim, there are too many Ted Bundys out there-I trust myself to do the right thing by people as far as I am able, and as Jesus instructs, but I do not see blanket trust in others as a viable option. Personal safety is a real need-I don’t see sacrificing my self to serial killers, thieves, embezzlers, abusers and liars as meat for their consumption- and there are PREDATORY people out in the world who will consume you-just because you are dumb enough to let them- it’s entirely true that every day, millions of people perish prematurely at the hands of such people for no good reason-no sacrifice in aid of anything important, they have just become meant for our intra-species predators.If blanket trust were pursued as a policy, then we all might as well just go throw ourselves in the street in front of cars and “trust” that no one would run over us-because of an ASSUMPTION that they could/would want to avoid hitting us because they are Christians-when they are not. As much as I hate it, the right sentiment is actually on our money ” in GOD we trust” (sad to say we find that there-and of course on a piece of currency that really means “in government AS GOD we trust”)-but trusting GOD and trying to live out the teachings of Jesus is really all we can do. People don’t automatically deserve trust-I think they deserve an attempt on my part to UNDERSTAND them-even their bad parts, since nothing ever occurs in a vacuum and understanding how they get to be the way they are is important to the development t of compassion for them. We need to worry less about trusting others and learn to trust ourselves- in the sense that we are sure that we are actively pursuing Jesus’ “policies” (teachings) and not the world’s. Yes, I believe some intimacy is lost-or maybe it just takes more time, because we have to get to know other people just as we have to get to know ourselves…too often, trust is asked for or sought by people who don’t actually want to be trusted, they want to be “deified” within friendship, marriage, relationships (parents are great wrongdoers here), romantic relationships, etc. Acceptance of a person however they are -even knowing them well enough to know you CAN’T trust them-and knowing this about them without bitterness or anger-works better for me. I have tried the “trusting” route with too many people who did not merit my trust- for me it’s a surefire recipe for learning how to hate everyone! (smile) I think especially in most relationships, friendship should grow in slowly like hair and fingernails…not because there should be “tests” and “ordeals” for people to “pass”, but because people have to figure out what they WANT to mean to each other. We ARE harmed by trusting to easily or too readily-and to do so runs in direct opposition to wanting to live – I do not see our own instinctive desire to take another breath as sinful or something that on a daily basis should be sacrificed to the whim of others. I want my human existence-though not at the stake of my spiritual existence-and I think it’s natural that each person’s life and safety ARE important to them…. I do trust in being led by the teachings of Jesus, but have no trust in anyone else who would dare to suggest to me how important my life, and my desire to live it should be-at all. So for practical purposes, the trust you envision for people is beautiful-we all desire this deep down-and I do think the stress involved in not being able to trust shortens a life span-because it’s a source of stress and stress kills-but I do think human beings are limited and there are limits within whatever dynamic you create with them. That’s just our human or earthly nature. We as you say, should try to live as fearlessly as possible, but I don’t think that that precludes normal human caution. Now, maybe I am misunderstanding you-that’s a distinct possibility- I yearn for being able to have perfect trust with people-but to my mind, we are limited in what we can do and that would include offering and eliciting trust.
I think what is referred to as our “earthly nature” has been corrupted in meaning-by what you refer to as the “logic of empire”. People have gone beyond their “earthly nature” which is part of how GOD created us, and have been for centuries now, been embarked on the creation-each one of us- of a monstrous nature/persona which we feel is the only way that we can cope with “the logic of empire” The main thing that “the logic of empire” demands is that we ABANDON our humanity including our true “earthly nature” and become INHUMAN.
I have had a bad time trusting people-I prefer to emphasize being trustworthy myself-I have a strong urge NOT to do to others what has been done to me-but my capacity to trust others is no longer a box of Kleenex I feel disposed to pass around to others. Again, maybe I have misunderstood you, maybe not-I find your sermons brutally truthful and refreshing and I have been enjoying them online…however, I don’t think trust in Jesus’ teachings and in His example should be extended to just anyone in the world. Let’s be honest-most people DON’T “deserve” anyone’s trust-they SHOULD have to earn it, because most of them are not even trusting of themselves-that requires self-knowledge-they have to know themselves-and if they don’t know who they are, how is anyone else to know who they are? You don’t know if you can trust them at all or even in certain things if you don’t know who you are dealing with because they don’t even know who they are. As you can tell I am troubled by this-muggers and junkies and thieves and con artists are all around just like good people-I don’t think it’s sinful to employ powers of discernment in understanding a person’s character or nature to know if you have encountered a good person or one who will slit your throat. People have become desperate and evil because as you refer to it” the logic of empire” has made the world into which we were born, by no volition of our own evil-and too many people knuckle under to being evil to cope with evil-they are not interested in fixing it-they feel that the cost of their survival should directly be your loss of YOUR survival-which dictates that they will do monstrous, psychopathic things in order to survive in a world that has been made artificially evil…they have been weakened to that point by the system in which they have been forced to live…and weakness and viciousness and fear and callousness are all parts of a matched set in those circumstances; they are traits that are found together in the natures of too many people. As I say when you speak of trust, perhaps I am misunderstanding you, but if you have the time, could you respond and perhaps qualify or describe further if I have not heard you correctly?
Thank You!

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