A PEEK INTO THE MINDS OF AN IDEALIST AND A REALIST - IN CONTRAST TO THE MIND OF GOD – PART ONE

And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go. Exo 5:1a

  

The idealist lives in in his mind. It is his home. But the idealist is a poor lover. He only speaks truth and the language of love hates hard facts. The realist is a good lover. His face is his cover. He lies with his eyes wide open. When a realist looks at a dead body he sees a dead body. An idealist sees a sad poetry book written on the face of the dead body. He carries that face home and ponders at the meaning of life. The realist goes to the bar where he drinks and laughs as if nothing has happened. ‘Let us drink for tomorrow we die’ is his mantra.
 

God’s call is The Ten Commandments. You are inside or you are out. The realist does not give a whiff. They are not real. The idealist sees another trick by the zealots to imprison him. And he does not care, though sometimes they prick something sacred inside his mind. The idealist hates them. But the pricking never stops. It gets intense every day. And the hatred. And the disillusionment.  If he is bold he picks a gun and pumps a bullet into his head and the pricking goes silent forever. His ideas had failed him. He dies angry. Depression killed him. But his disciples follow him to the cemetery where his grave becomes a shrine. They read his face and go home where they write tomes of books. His comrades make big money out of his death.

An idealist can be a savior or he can be a tyrant, like Stalin or Hitler. A religious idealist may be worse. They kill people in the name of God. When Martin Luther penned his Ninety-Five theses on the wall he was being both an idealist and a realist. Something needed to be done and he did it. He protested, and we have followed his example up to this day. The church had earned its bath. But we still protest. Religion is good. It can free a man completely or it can send him to the gallows or sanatorium.

But no race on earth has been affected so adversely by religion as the black man. It took away everything he had, his land, his culture, and his gods. It made him a slave. And he accepted his fate. But some rose up in rebellion to reclaim what was theirs. And ever since the black man has been suspicious of everything, especially if it’s coming from outside Africa. That is realism. Moses became a hero not just for Israel but for the black man. ‘Let my people go!’ became a rallying call for blacks (or slaves) everywhere in the world. Theology generally makes the black man suspicious. There are too many disagreements amongst its proponents. He hates it. But he is also easily enslaved. And he has stuck with the God of Mt. Sinai up to this day. But he has also a great suspicion of Paul because he did not marry, and he talked a great deal about the death of the flesh and enslavement – while everywhere people were getting freer and richer! Some churches simply don’t care about Paul. They are religious realists and not idealists. A man must marry and have children and get rich and that is that. It’s reality.

And so the rose grows dim. Its shine begins to fade. And though it smells like a rose but it is no longer a rose.

‘Where have they put my Lord?’ cried Mary. And in our day one may be led to ask the same question. The colleges we attend are too many. And the disagreements they generate are too many. It is no wonder some come out unbelieving, cynical, and doubtful. Nihilism and absurdity naturally sets it. So in the end the idealist goes to the sanatorium and the realist goes to his church. He doesn’t so much care about the God of his preacher. He has formed his own God in his mind and that is his reality. God help us to recover our ideals again, and our Jesus. Help us to become bold and submissive. Help us not buy into the ideal of the world. Help us to hear only your voice and to trust it. In Christ Jesus we pray. Amen.