I have recently been disillusioned with this "The Christian Forum" website, as it has so many conflicting people writing conflicting blogs and comments on it. Therefore I stopped reading the blogs. Yet now I see it as just a microcosm of our world, which is a bigger picture of conflicting people communicating conflicting ideas. This is the definition of "microcosim": a community, place, or situation regarded as encapsulating in miniature the characteristic qualities or features of something much larger:
So in these microcosms, what is a person to do? My guiding word in life has been "balance", and my guiding verse (among many) has been 1 Thessalonians 5:21 "Prove all things, hold fast that which is good." As I think of readers on CF seeking guidance, I think of the stars in the night sky. There are constellations and individual stars that all seemingly hold their position in relation to the rest of the stars around them, but then they all seem to slowly move together across the sky through the night, eventually changing the direction we find them in. None of them seem to be in the same location from hour to hour, but seem to have moved some 15 degrees to the west each hour, all except one. One single star, among the thousands that we can see with the naked eye (as well as with a telescope), doesn't appear to move at all, holding the same position in the sky at all times. This is the North Star (Polaris, in the constellation Ursa Minor). Some stars appear on the eastern horizon when the sun fades and night appears. Hours later they are in the south, and still hours later they are in the west, or below the western horizon out of sight! They are not "easily" dependable to be navigated by. But we can always find our sense of direction when we look at the North Star, for it is always in the exact same direction. Planets are just the opposite of stars, in that they do not continually hold the same position in regards to the stars around them. Mars can even appear to change directions on a certain night. So what is the application to CF. Some of the people one might read, are like the planets. They are undependable in guiding people correctly. Others are good, but difficult to follow as they are among so many other writers (stars), and they are not always available to read (having gone over the western horizon at times). Then there is that North Star; one that always can be found in the same place, in the same direction, giving one an accurate point of reference to where they are. Now I am not saying that I am like the North Star in that I am the only one to follow, but that we need to find Christian leaders that we can count on to give us the correct reference to where we are in relation to God. God is actually are "North Star", not the representatives He also gives us (Ephesians 4:11-12). Once we find those leaders (certain bright stars) that can properly direct us, we can learn to basically ignore all the other stars around them (for navigational purposes) and follow those trustworthy ones.
So in these microcosms, what is a person to do? My guiding word in life has been "balance", and my guiding verse (among many) has been 1 Thessalonians 5:21 "Prove all things, hold fast that which is good." As I think of readers on CF seeking guidance, I think of the stars in the night sky. There are constellations and individual stars that all seemingly hold their position in relation to the rest of the stars around them, but then they all seem to slowly move together across the sky through the night, eventually changing the direction we find them in. None of them seem to be in the same location from hour to hour, but seem to have moved some 15 degrees to the west each hour, all except one. One single star, among the thousands that we can see with the naked eye (as well as with a telescope), doesn't appear to move at all, holding the same position in the sky at all times. This is the North Star (Polaris, in the constellation Ursa Minor). Some stars appear on the eastern horizon when the sun fades and night appears. Hours later they are in the south, and still hours later they are in the west, or below the western horizon out of sight! They are not "easily" dependable to be navigated by. But we can always find our sense of direction when we look at the North Star, for it is always in the exact same direction. Planets are just the opposite of stars, in that they do not continually hold the same position in regards to the stars around them. Mars can even appear to change directions on a certain night. So what is the application to CF. Some of the people one might read, are like the planets. They are undependable in guiding people correctly. Others are good, but difficult to follow as they are among so many other writers (stars), and they are not always available to read (having gone over the western horizon at times). Then there is that North Star; one that always can be found in the same place, in the same direction, giving one an accurate point of reference to where they are. Now I am not saying that I am like the North Star in that I am the only one to follow, but that we need to find Christian leaders that we can count on to give us the correct reference to where we are in relation to God. God is actually are "North Star", not the representatives He also gives us (Ephesians 4:11-12). Once we find those leaders (certain bright stars) that can properly direct us, we can learn to basically ignore all the other stars around them (for navigational purposes) and follow those trustworthy ones.
