Trolls

ByHal Hammons

Every once in a while I will deviate from my standard policy and read some comments on a YouTube video or other internet post.  I will never cease to be amazed at the willingness of complete strangers to weigh in with the most subjective criticisms imaginable.  I don’t know where the term “trolls” came from, but I like it.  It conveys the image of some semiliterate, untalented nobody lurking in his basement (which is to say, his mom’s basement), lobbing ill-conceived and ill-informed mortar fire at people who are actually doing something with their lives.

Maybe it’s American Idol’s fault.  Shows like that, in which the power to save or destroy is in the hands of regular people like us, gave us the idea that our opinions were actually worth something.  As it happens, opinions are much like vacation photos, half-eaten pastries and weird-looking moles: just because you have them doesn’t mean we want you to share.

Here’s an idea, trolls: go do something worth criticizing yourself.  Start a business.  Write a song.  Take up origami.  Be brave enough to do something that isn’t perfect.  Then stand up on stage in front of strangers with a target on your chest and brace for impact.

Think about this the next time the lunch table conversation turns to the latest example of mediocrity from the local preacher, or the most recent questionable decision made by the elders.  And ask yourself how you would like your efforts for Jesus (if you can recall any) would bear up to similar scrutiny.  Matthew 7:1, anyone? 

As I always say, ten years of cleanings doesn’t make you a dentist.

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Why?

ByHal Hammons

I am fascinated by the “Why” of things.  The “What” is usually more important, but it is also usually self-evident.  I don’t need people to explain the “What” in most instances.  I ask my children, “What are you doing?” all the time, but usually I know already — either nothing at all, something that makes no sense, or something that is taking the place of what they are supposed to be doing.  In other words, it’s a “Why” question in disguise.

Enslaved no longer

ByHal Hammons

“Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.’ ” — John 8:34-36

 

Sinners do not properly understand the principle of being enslaved to sin. They know nothing other than slavery. They have found contentment and even joy in slavery. They have convinced themselves that sin is the inevitable and preferred state of mankind. By committing themselves to slavery, though, they are prohibiting themselves from living the life that they were, in the most literal of senses, born to live.

 

1 + 1 = 2, therefore you are an idiot

ByHal Hammons

Facts are stubborn things, said John Adams.  But being stubborn does not always win you an argument.  We have all been in “discussions” in which we were correct and the simpleton on the other side of the table was not.  We laid out the facts as plainly as anyone could.  And they remained unconvinced.

Maybe they found comfort in character assassination, or muddied the waters with irrelevant information.  Maybe they just threw up their hands and left the room.  Maybe they even took a swing at you.  What they didn’t do, though, is change their mind.  Facts had nothing to do with their position, either before or after the discussion.

Buglers

ByHal Hammons

I saw that a police department was warning its citizens recently about buglers that were operating in the neighborhood.  That isn’t a typo.  Or rather, it’s not my typo. Or maybe it’s not a typo at all.  Maybe some crazy band students were running around neighborhoods playing Reveille at all hours of the night.  But I doubt it.

Lean into stress

ByHal Hammons

Run toward your fears.  That’s some billboard-variety advice I get while driving past the local university.  And as we all know, multicolored roadside signs are the most reliable source of life advice these days.

Lean into it.  That’s how the same basic sentiment was expressed in an article I read recently.  Except this wasn’t written by a nameless, faceless intern.  This was from an expert in the field of stress management who woke up one day struggling mightily to manage his own stress.