Today, I looked back at an article I wrote about what it means to me to be my friend. I begin to think about how Christ meant that word. Just now, Thom has said the greatest service he can give to his friends is to know them. Christ calls all men his friends, no matter what they do. How much then does Christ know us?
In the ancient pagan tradition, to be forgotten meant to cease to exist. One of the worst insults, up even into the 1700s was “Forget you”, which may have morphed into “Fuck you”. At funerals, we speak of how we remember the dead, who then pass from our memories by and large within a few years. Jesus, at his death, thought of his friends. He knew them. He knows us. He knows his friends, who they are, what they need, why they are the way they are, and that is why he can do for us what he does.
From an analysis of the language, we get some clues into what happens between people who do not take the time to get to know one another. One of the speakers in church yesterday made a joke that they dated for 11 months which means that unlike other couples in Provo, UT, they actually knew one another. From the German ‘vergessen’ we get the following origins: 'gietan' - Old Norse = beget, obtain. The opposite of that word would be "throw away" or similar and opposite of beget would be "disown" maybe or in the URL world "Unfriend"? I have only done that once.
To “Unfriend” someone, in the language of Facebook, then becomes one of the most offensive things a person can do. As we do that, we tell them we forget them, that we choose to treat them as the strangers they have earned the right to be. Sometimes we didn’t really know them anyway because they were UnReal Lives (URL), but if we learn that we don’t know them even if we met them In Real Life (IRL), and we reduce them to a virtual essence, they cease to exist for us. The worst thing good men can do to bad men is to ignore them completely. That is what Christ has promised to do to the sons of perdition, “and then will I profess to them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matt 7:23) ”
I am wary of URL relationships. It is hard enough to get to know someone IRL and realize if you know the real person. Part of the trouble is that we know them in a single context, which is only part of their true self. I believe that’s part of why people say “I don’t know you at all, man” or why couples break up. Until they get to know the whole person, do they really know you? Until they see you in enough situations, how good of a relationship can you really have?
I can be your friend. Let me get to know you. Ask me questions about me. When we know each other, we can really be friends, and when we are friends, perhaps we can be more.
In the ancient pagan tradition, to be forgotten meant to cease to exist. One of the worst insults, up even into the 1700s was “Forget you”, which may have morphed into “Fuck you”. At funerals, we speak of how we remember the dead, who then pass from our memories by and large within a few years. Jesus, at his death, thought of his friends. He knew them. He knows us. He knows his friends, who they are, what they need, why they are the way they are, and that is why he can do for us what he does.
From an analysis of the language, we get some clues into what happens between people who do not take the time to get to know one another. One of the speakers in church yesterday made a joke that they dated for 11 months which means that unlike other couples in Provo, UT, they actually knew one another. From the German ‘vergessen’ we get the following origins: 'gietan' - Old Norse = beget, obtain. The opposite of that word would be "throw away" or similar and opposite of beget would be "disown" maybe or in the URL world "Unfriend"? I have only done that once.
To “Unfriend” someone, in the language of Facebook, then becomes one of the most offensive things a person can do. As we do that, we tell them we forget them, that we choose to treat them as the strangers they have earned the right to be. Sometimes we didn’t really know them anyway because they were UnReal Lives (URL), but if we learn that we don’t know them even if we met them In Real Life (IRL), and we reduce them to a virtual essence, they cease to exist for us. The worst thing good men can do to bad men is to ignore them completely. That is what Christ has promised to do to the sons of perdition, “and then will I profess to them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (Matt 7:23) ”
I am wary of URL relationships. It is hard enough to get to know someone IRL and realize if you know the real person. Part of the trouble is that we know them in a single context, which is only part of their true self. I believe that’s part of why people say “I don’t know you at all, man” or why couples break up. Until they get to know the whole person, do they really know you? Until they see you in enough situations, how good of a relationship can you really have?
I can be your friend. Let me get to know you. Ask me questions about me. When we know each other, we can really be friends, and when we are friends, perhaps we can be more.
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