Skip to main content

Clanging Cymbals

             If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. (I Corinthians 13:1-3)

Virtue Signaling: the public expression of opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one's good character or social conscience or the moral correctness of one's position on a particular issue.

I’ve told the story of watching Fellowship of the Ring with a friend, but I need to tell it again today. She commented about how noble the characters were. Noble? They were filthy, struggling, often pathetic sorts. Of course, there were Strider and Legolas…but noble? Then I realized that they were noble. My definition was filthy, struggling, and often pathetic because, for me, noble meant detached, clean, and somehow superior.

When it comes to love, I suspect we all have some pieces of our definitions that are filthy, struggling, and pathetic. We can fall into the trap of seeming. We do things we think will show others how loving we are, but doing so isn’t loving. It might be virtue signaling. That’s what Paul was discussing in today’s passage.

When I looked up the definition above, it had an example of the term that mentioned that a great deal of virtue signaling involves standing on the sidelines (or computer screen) and screaming about how much one hates something. That’s supposed to translate into others understanding how much one loves something else, but the key issues are that it’s more about the virtue signaler than it is about what the virtue signaler loves. It’s the clanging cymbal.

The other thing about virtue signaling is that it doesn’t involve our actually doing anything to help anyone. It’s like the “awareness raising” posts that say, “Look at me. I’m raising awareness about ____. It’s important. Like me! Share me! Raise awareness about this critical issue!” How much have you learned about the issue? If you ask someone, they’ll tell you the point is for you to drop everything you’re doing and spend the next as much as fifteen hours researching the subject they couldn’t be bothered to take five minutes to tell you about. Clanging cymbals.

Another example of clanging cymbals is the celebrity raising money to help some charity. The celebrity makes a million dollars a year and calls a press conference to donate $10K. Or, a bunch of celebrities get together and while their combined wealth is ten times (or more) greater than the amount they get others to contribute, we’re supposed to applaud them for their love and compassion.

Love requires reality and connection.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more