We've come to a spot in human history where the masses of people who are considered "good," are considered so not because of what they do, or how they live, or who they help, or what they practice (these things are all considered "works," and today, especially in Christianity, "works" are stressed as bad, you can't earn your salvation! they cry), but purely by what they SAY. Say the right thing, and you are in like Flynn.

    We have entered a time of "Talking Christianity," on the whole. And the more you talk it, the better a Christian you are (but don't walk it, no, oh don't you dare walk it, because then, my friend, my sister and brother, you are of the -- cult). And if you add the Name "Jesus" on to your average, workaday sentences, you get extra points, such as "Me and Jesus are going to the market to do our grocery shopping, and I sure am glad that I never have to walk alone, that Jesus is with me, and that the Holy Ghost aids me in picking out the best peanut butter, praise the Lord!" (Uttering a sentence such as this will not only get you the aforementioned extra points, but just might get you gold trimming on your mansion just over the hilltop, not to mention all the jaw-dropping by those lowly brothers and sisters about you that can't work in so many Names and titles in one sentence.)

    So those who talk a lot, but don't do much, are considered "Good Christians," while those that live what the Bible actually teaches, but are not as vociferous as their loud-mouthed third-cousins, are termed "legalists" or "under the law" and "unsaved." Cult!

    Does this seem a tad off-kilter? The Bible is pack-jam-full of what this is about, chiefly that "talking the talk" does not mean too much, not in the eyes of God. Of course, Spiritualistic Christianity has flip-flopped what the Bible actually teaches into "you can create reality by speaking," and that "words have literal magic of God's creative abilities" and "as God created by speaking, as we are gods so we can create by speaking."

    Talk the talk, but don't walk the walk.

    But Jesus brings up the point of someone who is told to go and he says I won't go, but then after thinking about it, he changes his mind, and he goes. Whereas another one says I definitely will go, and then he blows it off and does not go. The one who went is the genuine article. Of course, the point being, with time, and with God's working on us, we will eventually become the one who says "I will go!" and then we go.

Yes, we speak (but this speaking does absolutely nothing except express our intention) and then we DO. Our mouth is in agreement with our little tootsies. The one that says they will go and then does not? A liar, and liars will take their place alongside all the others on the scabrous list leading to roast toasties.

    That's why the Bible says to be not only HEARERS of the Word, but DOERS of the Word. Don't just be a speaker, but a doer, a liver, a believer (as opposed to a make-believer).

    Then there is the parable of the guy who does a whole bunch of stuff, builds up a great fortune, and then sits back bragging: "Now I'm going to take it easy, living off of the fat of the land, Glow Ray Hail Lay Lou Yeah!" And is promptly assured: "You presumptuous numskull, you don't know it, but you are dying tonight."

    Living right is definitely more important than talking right, but the natural process is that living right always leads to talking right. Talking right does not necessitate a path to living right. It generally leads to hypocrisy and secret sins.

    If you are not walking the walk, just shut up. You don't have to talk. It is not a sin to keep silent when you are utterly ignorant. If need be, slap some electrical tape across your mouth.

    It is much, much better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open your big trap and be certified an idiot.

when papa was a little boy

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