{"id":22978,"date":"2014-05-18T08:01:58","date_gmt":"2014-05-18T12:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=22978"},"modified":"2014-05-18T08:01:58","modified_gmt":"2014-05-18T12:01:58","slug":"tickled-ears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2014\/05\/tickled-ears.html","title":{"rendered":"Tickled Ears"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Rebecca Trotter has a wonderful treatment<\/a>\u00a0(which I was reminded of recently)\u00a0of the reference in 2 Timothy to people preferring those who \u201ctickle the ears\u201d to those who speak the truth. Here is a sample:<\/p>\n

Any clear headed assessment of the evidence would lead one to conclude that there\u2019s nothing more common, more universally accepted and more fervently defended than angry, wrathful deities. You can\u2019t throw a stone in a history book or at a map without hitting a religion or teacher which says that God is good and pissed all the time \u2013 especially at those guys over there \u2013 and that to be faithful to him, one must be a good rule follower, willing to be belligerent, rude and unbending in dealings with others \u2013 sometimes even to the point of violence. This isn\u2019t just a Christian thing either. You see it in Islam, in Judaism, Hinduism, some tribal religions, and believe it or not, even among some Buddhists in central Asia.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, spiritual teachers have been trying to convince us that the most important things are love, compassion, mercy, forgiveness and humility since time immemorial. Clearly that message has struggled mightily to really take hold, although I think we\u2019re making progress. So, based on the evidence, I think that it\u2019s reasonable to assume that the ear ticklers probably aren\u2019t those who err on the side of grace and love over condemnation and judgment. Rather. there seems to be something very deep in the human psyche which is drawn to wrath and condemnation and fear. And I think that the people Paul is warning Timothy about are those who appeal to this darker, uglier side of human nature.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ironically, those most likely to quote that text and apply it to their opponents turn out to be those most likely to resemble what is being criticized in 2 Timothy.<\/p>\n

Click through<\/a> to read the rest.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rebecca Trotter has a wonderful treatment\u00a0(which I was reminded of recently)\u00a0of the reference in 2 Timothy to people preferring those who \u201ctickle the ears\u201d to those who speak the truth. Here is a sample: Any clear headed assessment of the evidence would lead one to conclude that there\u2019s nothing more common, more universally accepted and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":23265,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[12590],"class_list":["post-22978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2-timothy","tag-tickled-ears"],"yoast_head":"\nTickled Ears<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rebecca Trotter has a wonderful treatment\u00a0(which I was reminded of recently)\u00a0of the reference in 2 Timothy to people preferring those who "tickle the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2014\/05\/tickled-ears.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tickled Ears\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rebecca Trotter has a wonderful treatment\u00a0(which I was reminded of recently)\u00a0of the reference in 2 Timothy to people preferring those who "tickle the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2014\/05\/tickled-ears.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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