Extremism.
What comes to mind when you think of this word?? People going overboard in their beliefs?? People going beyond the measure of what’s needed??
Perhaps you think of these things and alot more. You might even question whether such extremists are acting over the top on beliefs that are moderate to start with, or whether their beliefs are extreme to start with. In any case, we are living in a time where it’s easier to find discord in one another rather than unity, wherein more are viewed as an outsider rather than a companion.
But extremism takes many forms and affects everyone. If you view extremism as the opposite of balance, you can begin to put into perspective how even something like our personal time management can be seen as extremism. What are we giving our time to?? Are we working too much?? Do we find ourselves behaving selfishly too often?? Do we make time for others?? These are simple examples of extremism at work in our lives, but remember what is at work in our personal lives, multiplied by hundreds of thousands and tens of millions, is what is at work in our society as a whole.
Therefore, the extremism shown to a child, whether intentional or not, innocent or not, will rub off on the child as a growing participant in society. And in that society, over time and especially in America, we have seen a shift of extremism, and in countless forms.
In fact, it is a swinging pendulum.
While extremism occurs in small ways, it also occurs in ways that affect people as a group, as a country, and of course, as an individual. Such extremism can be found in hot topics such as racism, homosexuality, politics, and religion. And at King Solomon’s Court, these four issues will be discussed in four parts, all in relation to the notion of balance and God’s Word.
Racism.
This one word represents all that is superficial, lacking knowledge, but full of insecurity, lacking compassion, but full of false pride, lacking familiarity, but full of hypocrisy.
In James chapter 2, James discusses how favortism should be forbidden. In verses 3-5, it states:
If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?
And in verses 8-9 it is written:
If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.
In 1 John 3: 16-20 it states,
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
And lastly, in 1 Samuel 16: 7, it states:
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
So with just these few verses as a reference, it is evident that racism and favortism should have no place in society, yet they do. But how does this relate to the swinging pendulum??
People are racist for a number of reasons. In some cases, the apple hasn’t fallen very far from the tree, meaning that kids pick up the attitudes and bigotry held by their parents or those close to them. Some like to assume one bad apple equates to nothing but bad apples in the entire barrel. And the list goes on and on. This has been the case as directed, in general, toward minorities, and to make the playing field even, lawmakers have come up with things like Affirmative Action to counterbalance the years of historical unfairness. But incorporating that is, at best, a temporary solution. It cannot be a long term fix because itself is discrimination in reverse. The pendulum is swinging from one extreme to another, from the discrimination of one end of the spectrum to the discrimination of another end of the spectrum. And only true balance is achieved in society when a man’s ability is based on his ability, not his skin color. But until then, we have the swinging pendulum, where one wrong is being used to correct a previous wrong that should never have been in the first place. But in the meantime, we need balance where there is none, until one day, we can have true talent over demographics and mere appearance of equality, and opportunity that triumphs over poverty and idleness.
