{"id":9854,"date":"2014-07-07T17:40:16","date_gmt":"2014-07-07T21:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=9854"},"modified":"2014-07-07T17:40:16","modified_gmt":"2014-07-07T21:40:16","slug":"getting-sucker-punched-by-satan-pope-francis-bookclub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2014\/07\/getting-sucker-punched-by-satan-pope-francis-bookclub.html","title":{"rendered":"Getting Sucker Punched by Satan [Pope Francis Bookclub]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In 2014, I\u2019m reading and blogging through Pope Francis\/Cardinal Bergoglio\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>Open Mind, Faithful Heart: Reflections on Following Jesus<\/a>. \u00a0Every Monday, I\u2019ll be writing about the next meditation in the book, so you\u2019re welcome to\u00a0peruse them all<\/a>\u00a0and\/or read along.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In this week\u2019s chapter from\u00a0Open Mind, Faithful Heart<\/em><\/a>, Pope Francis is discussing the danger of punching down (in slightly more highfalutin language).<\/p>\n

For those experiencing tribulation, the great temptation is fatigue. \u00a0The constant exposure to evil makes us lose a proper notion of time so that we end up \u201crunning aimlessly\u201d or \u201cbeating the air.\u201d \u00a0When persecution is long and drawn out, we frequently begin to imitate the tactics of the enemy. \u00a0The arena of war\u2013God\u2019s war\u2013gets reduced to minor skirmishes where we are at the enemy\u2019s mercy. \u00a0We lose sight of the goal, and our strategy gets muddled. \u00a0We see only the occasional sniper that the enemy sends our way to wear us down in a difficult stretch. \u00a0One sign of our disorientation is our tendency to lash out against people who are really only minor enemies, and we often do so with a force that should be reserved only for our true foes.<\/p>\n

\u2026The prince of this world, however, usurps [the] power to govern and wages his own war. \u00a0If there are any souls he cannot recruit or overcome, he seeks to win the battle by making them fight in his own arena and with his own crude arms.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When we feel under threat, it\u2019s natural to cast around for an opportunity to comfort ourselves by showing our strength, and that often means catching and hurting bystanders. \u00a0Or, as the cast of\u00a0Urinetown<\/em> puts after\u00a0\u201cSnuff that Girl\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

TINY TOM: Let\u2019s bring our message of hate to the entire world!
\nHOT BLADES HARRY: Easy, friend, a message like ours works best under extreme unbalanced circumstances.
\nBOBBY: No one\u2019s going to be killing anyone around here.
\nSOUPY SUE: But we\u2019re so afraid, Bobby. Killing her might make us feel powerful for a moment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The panicked viciousness of the\u00a0Urinetown<\/em> cast is played for laughs, so I appreciate that Pope Francis acknowledges in his chapter that sometimes we\u2019re actually striking out at real enemies in our fear, confusion, and boredom. \u00a0The blow is still as empty as the chorus\u2019s attempt at assassination if the fight we\u2019re picking is a distraction from the one we ought to pick.<\/p>\n

On facebook, I see a lot of reshared links that are just examples of sucky arguments from people on \u201cthe other side.\u201d \u00a0These threads wind up being opportunities to rehash invective that feel perilously productive. \u00a0Because we\u2019re saying bad things about the other team, it feels like we must be advancing our own side, even though our complaints won\u2019t be seen by our opponents and our own side has gained nothing from this expenditure of our time (surely we\u00a0already<\/em> knew there were dumb people on the other side).<\/p>\n

Just getting drawn into a sterile argument (as dogpiles and flamewars tend to be) is shifting from God\u2019s arena to the crude arms and cramped ground of the prince of this world. \u00a0The only people who hear us in our own echo chamber are us, the only people who will learn or be changed by the experience are us. \u00a0So, what serves us better? \u00a0Outrage porn or getting together to volunteer, build a trebuchet, or read a play aloud?<\/p>\n

I try not to post anything I disagree with to facebook or email unless I have a question about the thing I\u2019m linking rather than just a putdown. \u00a0And I stay out of comment threads of this type, unless I have something substantive to say (usually better to say in person!) or can trust myself to stick to a simple \u201cGevalt.\u201d<\/p>\n

These countermeasures help keep me safer online, but I\u2019m still working out better habits in person. \u00a0When I\u2019m face to face, I have more trouble detangling myself from a useless fight, because my pride gets invested in not looking weak<\/a>. \u00a0I somehow don\u2019t think saying, \u201cSorry, you seem like a mere sniper in the larger fight I\u2019m interested in\u201d is the best approach either. \u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t like how I\u2019m behaving in\/approaching this disagreement\u201d is a little better (and pleasantly vague). \u00a0Any better suggestions?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2014, I\u2019m reading and blogging through Pope Francis\/Cardinal Bergoglio\u2019s\u00a0Open Mind, Faithful Heart: Reflections on Following Jesus. \u00a0Every Monday, I\u2019ll be writing about the next meditation in the book, so you\u2019re welcome to\u00a0peruse them all\u00a0and\/or read along. In this week\u2019s chapter from\u00a0Open Mind, Faithful Heart, Pope Francis is discussing the danger of punching down (in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":9855,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[227],"class_list":["post-9854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-pope-francis-bookclub"],"yoast_head":"\nGetting Sucker Punched by Satan [Pope Francis Bookclub]<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In 2014, I\u2019m reading and blogging through Pope Francis\/Cardinal Bergoglio\u2019s\u00a0Open Mind, Faithful Heart: Reflections on Following Jesus. \u00a0Every Monday, I\u2019ll\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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