Aerosmith Revisited

I wrote the other day about something being wrong in the world today. I feel even more strongly about that this morning. Last night Penny and I went to the Cub/Card game in St. Louis. (Thanks Giudeon.) It is always a good rivalry between the two teams. And there is always good fun to be had by the fans ribbing each other. That is to be expected. If it didn't happen, you would think something was really wrong in the world today. The game had its good moments and it also had it boring ones. Normal game.

What got me thinking again was the 4 people that sat behind us. They were Card fans. You would expect some ribbing from them. But these people were just plain obnoxious. They were not ribbing another fan for the love of the game. They were doing it just be plain old nasty. The more they drank. The worse they became. They weren't even cheering on the Cards. All they could do was sit there and say derogatory things about the Cubs and their fans. They picked on one person after another, just being mean about what they were saying. When Mrs. Price (Rev. Price's wife) and I told them to stop, they did for a half inning. Then they started in again, this time even worse.

Why were they doing it? Because they could. We live in a world that says it is all right to express yourself and it doesn't matter if you are hurting someone else or not. It doesn't matter if you are offensive as long as you express yourself.

I was raised differently than that. I was raised to respect the other person no matter what. My folks taught me that the Christian way to live is to hold your tongue, even if you want to tell someone off. Why? Because it isn't right to let your sinful nature run your life.

But in today's world, we are taught that it is all right to say things that are mean, nasty, and down right self-centered. In fact if you don't, then you might be "harming" yourself. So go ahead, be obnoxious, be mean, be nasty, it is the way that we are told to live.

My friends, that is wrong. There is something wrong in the world today and unless we return to a world with Christ at the center, it will get worse. People will abuse others because they feel like it, and for no other reason. They will say things that hurt, because they can and feel like it. They will attack others, hurt others and be unkind to others for no reason at all other than their sinful nature is running their lives.

It will only change through Christ. Then again that is the only way anything changes. So in a way, I am not saying anything new. I just hope that we wake up before it is too late. In truth, I don't think we will.