From My Perspective - - -

Sooner or later, one will have a moment of Human Latency! No one is exempt! It is just part of who one is and how one innately functions. Do you think you’re exempt from such a moment or period of time? Or, do you believe that of all people on this planet, you would be exempt? Have you ever found yourself thinking or saying: “that thought never crossed my mind”? If so, attribute it to Human Latency! Have you ever been in a situation where you allowed “my mind went blank”? If so, you experienced Human Latency! Have you ever found yourself in a situation that left you “speechless”? Once again, that is Human Latency! The most common amplification for the phrase Human Latency is: “It’s a buzzword or phrase that refers to the gap in communications as a human being responds to new information. Example: If someone calls you on the phone and tells you something that leaves you gasping for breath and groping for words, that gap is Human Latency.” This happens to everyone from time to time.

In the political culture and diatribe currently being inflicted upon the public, one would welcome Human Latency on the part of more politicians. They pay to communicate to people who have grown weary of their empty and vain declarations; their bloviating and hallucinations about what they have done or will do; their contributing the media frenzy for trashing an opponent. It should be about relevant issues that concern the citizenry – not the gutter-trash-talk and innuendo about others. The Media should perform its proper function and report facts in terms of what a person currently believes and what he/she will do if elected to office. Instead, we are seeing a resuscitation of what a politician of forty-years ago opined when he referred to the Media as: “Nattering Nabobs of Negativism.” It was Vice-President Spiro Agnew who expressed those words because of his particularly acrimonious relationship with the press - whom he also deemed "an effete corps of impudent snobs…” According to the Congressional Record, these terms were first used during Agnew's address to the California Republican state convention in San Diego on September 11, 1970. In context, it was used together with another well-known Agnew alliteration: "In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism. They have formed their own 4-H Club -- the Hopeless, Hysterical Hypochondriacs of History.”

Practical Principles for Faith and Practice are contained in The Holy Scriptures, such as:

Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 gives good advice and a sound principle for life: “Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.”

The New Living Translation is: “As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut! Don't be a fool who doesn't realize that mindless offerings to God are evil. And don't make rash promises to God, for he is in heaven, and you are only here on earth. So let your words be few.”

The Message Translation states it bluntly and succinctly: “Watch your step when you enter God's house. Enter to learn. That's far better than mindlessly offering a sacrifice, Doing more harm than good. Don't shoot off your mouth, or speak before you think. Don't be too quick to tell God what you think he wants to hear. God's in charge, not you - the less you speak, the better.”

Similar counsel and another principle is given in James 1:19-23, “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

October 31st is Reformation Day for the Christian Church. One premise upon which it was based is Romans 1:17, “The just (righteous) shall live by Faith…” As Individuals and as a Nation, we desperately need Reformation – not succumbing to the Traditions and Politics of man, but to the Principles of Scripture and the Standards of Almighty God. Consider these things with me!