The painting The Good Shepherd by Bernhard Plockhorst (from here (en.wikipedia.org))
When did respect die???? Well, respect actually has not died, but it is beginning to feel that way. Why? Contemplate the meaning of this passage from the Bible.
1 Corinthians 1:18-31 New American Standard Bible
The Wisdom of God
18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who [a]are perishing, but to us who [b]are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.”20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the [c]message preached to save those who believe. 22 For indeed Jews ask for [d]signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23 but we preach [e]Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For [f]consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to [g]the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, 29 so that no [h]man may boast before God. 30 But [i]by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, [j]and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, 31 so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
In first century, Christians were rare. Paganism, a form of Atheism, ruled the Roman Empire. No one but the Jews would have said all men are made in the image of God, and the Jews called the Gentiles “dogs” and “unclean”. Then Jesus, The Good Shepherd (see here (biblegateway.com)), began to preach, and the prideful hated him. He told them they had nothing in themselves to boast about. If we do not humble ourselves and become one of His sheep, then we cannot even boast in the Lord.
Too many of us have failed to follow our Shepherd. Too many of us have failed to lead our children and our neighbors to the foot of His cross. Therefore, too many of us take pride in ourselves instead of our Lord, and divisive beliefs have take root in our land. Thus, we now see the strangest, most insane things.
- Racists preaching racism preach against racism.
- Gender activists preaching gender supremacy preach against sexual identity.
- The super rich advocate the redistribution of the wealth, supposedly.
- Ethnic diversity advocates denigrate America’s culture and demand open borders.
- The prideful insist that everyone has his or her own truth. Yet these same people demand a conformity of thought.
- The supposedly inclusive seek to “cancel” the supposedly exclusive.
- And so it goes….
With all that in mind, please read when did respect die???. Here is how it starts, with the quotes below. Then, the author, Julie, tells a story.
“Above all, don’t lie to yourself.
The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he
cannot distinguish the truth within him,
or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others.
And having no respect he ceases to love.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov“It may be important to great thinkers to examine the world,
to explain and despise it.
But I think it is only important to love the world, not to despise it,
not for us to hate each other, but to be able to regard the world and ourselves
and all beings with love, admiration and respect.”
Hermann Hesse(continued here (cookiecrumbstoliveby.wordpress.com))
In the time leading up to the election and afterwards we must pray for each other. As Christians we must do our best to follow the teachings of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Instead of giving way to our passions, we must obey Him and love our neighbors, even those who behave poorly. We must seek through our own example to bring even the unruly to the foot of His cross so that they too can become one of His sheep.
Prince William-Manassas Family Alliance 
Thank you Tom for sharing and for clarity—not dead yet, but certainly gasping for air!!!
Tom, Cookie
Cookie’s and your posts focus on respect and Bible wisdom waning in our society.
The list of Cookies examples of what the young are being taught or influenced to believe differs from what Cookie and I seem to have been taught.
Sadly, our contemporary society, because teaching the wisdom of the Bible is waning in our Nation, we are, in my opinion, repeating the same folly of forgetting the “poor wise man analogy” 1000 years prior to Jesus Christ in my recent post series, ‘The Wise Man saved the City.’
I often ponder a thought if God perhaps sent his Son to teach us to focus on Love because the Wisdom, he sent us was not working.
Or because we keep forgetting that either Wisdom without Love, or Love without Wisdom doesn’t work very well.
In my opinion, we have to somehow return to teaching our children our religious values.
In our contemporary times without school choice or school vouchers financial help, too many families will never be taught the Wisdom and Love needed for our society to prevail very well in the future.
And in my opinion, as our religious teachings and values continue to wane in our families, what we are experiencing now may only be the tip of the iceberg of the folly coming in the future.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
If Interested
https://rudymartinka.com/2020/09/10/final-post-six-the-wise-man-saved-the-city-king-solomon-blog/