Mempsimoiros

Friday, October 10, 2008

This post has little to do with my physical health and mostly to do with what is on my heart.

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Mempsimoiros.

That’s the Greek word for the English word “Faultfinders”.

So what?

Well, it caught my eye the first time I came across it while reading in a New Testament book and I found it impressively descriptive, yet when I looked it up for other usages in scripture, I found that it was only used the one time and that it was a direct translation from the Greek. My New King James bible does not include the same word; it uses “complainers” instead and, had I only been reading in that version, I would have missed such a applicable word. “Faultfinders” is found in the NIV book of Jude, verse 16a. Know this up front; I am NOT a scholar nor do I profess any biblical eloquentia. I’m just a learner in a continental classroom studying His-Story. My views are my views, shared for the pure purpose of sharing and provoking thoughts.

Again, “So what?” Well, I got to thinking about this while I was reading Jude and I re-read it again just a little while ago, and a thought quickly surfaced; in the United States, we actually have people who are trained (discipled, if you will), sought out, employed and paid to be faultfinders. This is done in a vast majority of industries to very little exposure and community awareness, however, it is front page and prime time broadcast material every 4 years, like clockwork. You can expect that we, the people, will know even more specifics about a candidate’s failures and *faults*, sometimes even more that we will know of their specific electoral game plans. Sure, we’ll hear all about the generalities of their campaign, but it’s when the electoral road gets muddy, that we are fed a visual and audible meal of distain and mistrust every day and night until the election day. This has always grieved me, for as long as I can remember. No candidate is stain-free in an election of a presidential nature; there is no good guy and some would argue that there is no bad guy either. It will be said that it’s just part of the campaign process and is to be anticipated, expected and prepared for.

It’s interesting to me that Scripture actually refers to faultfinders in a literal sense and not in any way positively. When Jude wrote this, I don’t think that there was even a conception of politics, whatsoever. I do believe that Jude was writing concerning affairs of the church and who/how to contend with those who were diverting believers from the true Gospel. Here is the included portion of scripture itself for contextual purposes:

Jude 1:14-23 (New King James Version)

14 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” 16 These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. 17 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: 18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit. 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22 And on some have compassion, making a distinction; 23 but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

For 3 different interpretations of verse 16:

The NIV reads: Jude 16 “These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.”

The New King James reads: Jude 16 “These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage.”

The Amplified Bible reads: Jude 16 “These are inveterate murmurers who complain, going after their own desires; their talk is boastful and arrogant, [and they claim to] admire men's persons and pay people flattering compliments to gain advantage.”

I was convicted when I read through Jude. I was also greatly encouraged as well. I believe that God hates when people tear one another down, whether we justify it with political reasoning, corporate reasoning or even just because we want to hurt someone back for hurting us. I think I am supposed to be grieved by bitter campaign tactics and I also believe that those media products do, in some remote or close manner, reflect the honor and dignity of the campaigner, right or wrong.

I think that God is calling me back to some pretty fundamental basics about respect of others, assurance of my salvation, being diligent in watching for and protecting against those who tweak the Gospel for any other gain that God’s own, and exhorting others to stand firm in His Word and be loving in and to a love-less world. Has God instructed us to judge others? Or, was it that He told us to hold fellow believers accountable and to love those who don’t believe or know Him personally? I believe it is the latter. What do you do when you have to evaluate between “believing” candidates? Well, I don’t know what you are going to do, but I am going to do my best to connect the dots between the candidate’s messages and His message, and whoever has the least amount of connections will hopefully receive the least amount of votes.

I also need to remember that I am living the very same world that has historically, repeatedly walked away from Him due to sin and that these times, though new to me, are not new to Him.