Acts 28:1-10, On the Island of Malta

1When we came ashore, we learned that the island was called Malta. 2The local people were very friendly, and they welcomed us by building a fire, because it was rainy and cold.


3After Paul had gathered some wood and had put it on the fire, the heat caused a snake to crawl out, and it bit him on the hand. 4When the local people saw the snake hanging from Paul's hand, they said to each other, "This man must be a murderer! He didn't drown in the sea, but the goddess of justice will kill him anyway."


5Paul shook the snake off into the fire and wasn't harmed. 6The people kept thinking that Paul would either swell up or suddenly drop dead. They watched him for a long time, and when nothing happened to him, they changed their minds and said, "This man is a god."


7The governor of the island was named Publius, and he owned some of the land around there. Publius was very friendly and welcomed us into his home for three days. 8His father was in bed, sick with fever and stomach trouble, and Paul went to visit him. Paul healed the man by praying and placing his hands on him.


9After this happened, everyone on the island brought their sick people to Paul, and they were all healed. 10The people were very respectful to us, and when we sailed, they gave us everything we needed.

It's typical...we look at the physical evidence and make our judgment.

"This man must be a murderer! He didn't drown in the sea, but the goddess of justice will kill him anyway."


But, of course, the snake didn't kill him so the folks had another thought.
 
"This man is a god."
 
And...neither observation was true. You'd think such wild inaccuracies would discourage people from speculating. Nope. We have developed a new thought in jurisprudence: What I say is absolutely true until you prove it to be absolutely false. Nevermind the impossibility of proving a negative.
 
Then again, that doesn't account for the times I contradict myself by making mutually exclusive claims.


I know a priest who lives with a friend. It's surely a "no win" situation. If the friend were a woman folks would say he was having an inappropriate relationship with her. The friend is a man so the claim is...they are homosexuals.
 
So really...a priest has no choice be to live alone...just to satisfy the inquiring minds of a heathen world? The Catholic Church itself discourages that. But...the world just won't believe people can live by another set of standards.
 
I'm not commenting on the veracity of the testimony. I don't know the truth. What I am saying...for sure, is that there is always a lot more than meets the eye. And really...why do we pronounce judgment anyway? I believe it's a sin. Generally, in scripture, when judgment was pronounced people said something like "thus saith the Lord!"
 
None of that today...just gossip.
 
The real truth is, I'm not as good as I appear. Neither are you.  God has set a divine example by keeping my sins just between Him and me (and then...He buries them). That might be the best path to follow. I know we love to "make sense" out of things but God has already done that through His son. So, what would have been the proper response for those folks around the fire? "In the light of Christ...what does this mean?"
 
I can't really expect the world to do this but I have a right to expect the Body of Christ to conduct itself properly.
 
Live boldly out there today...