Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Philippians 4:8

Woe to those who call evil good
    and good evil,
who put darkness for light
    and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
    and sweet for bitter.

Isaiah 5:20

The other day I talked about dealing with “poison pen letters” and petty trolls on my blog. I pointed out how responding rather than deleting seldom works out to be as constructive as I would have hoped. I talked about how grateful I am for this opportunity I have, daily, to point the way toward Jesus.

One person – “Omoore” – responded beautifully:

“Derek, I get so much from your posts. Evil always tries to put out the light. But the light always outshines evil. Please keep shedding the light.”

Omoore

Thanks. It’s so important to, as Jesus, instructs, “So let your light shine among people….” (Matthew 5:16)

Then of course there was pushback, too. I was going to ignore it, and honor my inclination to take no notice of anonymous haters. But then I thought, “You know, this may be instructive for my readers. Let them see an example of what ‘trying to put out the light’ looks like.”

(You will see that – once again – the individual in question does not have the courage to use their own name. You will see that he has a fraught relationship with reality. You will detect some connection to “conspiracy theory” thinking. You will sense that he has some kind of a personal axe to grind. You will likely scratch you head and say, “What…?”.)

So here’s the “comment” – it’s in response to my “Don’t You know me?” post.

Derek, you claim to be a Christian thinker? Ha ha ha. I’ve heard a bunch of nonsense from you for years.

Your blog is really all about you, photos of yourself, oh yeah, and you cut copy paste Bible verses.

I remember hearing you say that the Corona virus was transmitted by the UNvaccinated. You really weren’t thinking.

Your wife said, in church, that there was no election fraud and that Biden was the President. 81 mullion votes? Ha! Are you thinking about that now? Neither one of you do much thinking.

Anonymous

I won’t get into a debate, because I take Billy Joel’s classic advice on arguing (Movin’ Out). But I will offer the following:

• I am a Christian; I think about my faith; God both invites and blesses serious consideration of faith. Ergo, I am a Christian Thinker.
• Yes, this blog is about my personal journey as a pilgrim in progress. That’s what blogs are, they’re personal. And I admit that, yes, that is my photo over the byline: “NC writer, Derek Maul”.
• That’s right, Covid-19 really is more readily transmitted by those who are not vaccinated. It’s called “science”, and it is very much related to thinking!
• As to the 2020 election? President Biden received 81,283,098 votes (51.3 percent of the votes cast). Trump earned 74,222,958 votes (46.8 percent of the votes cast). Trump won the 2016 election. Biden won the 2020 election. It’s called “democracy” and if you don’t like democracy the USA may not be the best place for you to live.
• This is your last hurrah, anonymous hater. I will not publish any more of your comments. I am, however, willing to meet you for coffee and a chat if you really are local. Just let me know.

Again, I am sharing this with my readers because I believe it is important to understand how desperately sad this misinformation game is.

Let’s not forget to keep the wide-open invitation of Jesus front and center. It’s about the Good News Story; it’s about being reconciled with God; it’s about living full and abundant lives, unencumbered by guilt and by shame.

So, yes, what Isaiah said…! “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”

In love, and because love sets us free – DEREK