Are You A Fuzzy Monkey?

 Is Genesis 2:18 true? After all that the Lord God had made He came to the conclusion that He had not done His best. God had made the heavens, the earth, the seas and dry land. He had made plants and all kinds of sea creatures and finally, He created man. A remarkable feat of creation when one considers the complexity of our cardio vascular system, our ability to see, and the ability of our muscles to move us and allow us to get from place to place. Add to that our mental capabilities and we are, indeed, a marvel. Yet for all this God said, "It is not good". What could possibly qualify as "not good" in the midst of all that? Oh, it is "not good for man to be alone". We were designed to be social beings. Just give a thought to the nervous system so sensitive that you to feel a stray hair tickle your arm. We were designed to touch, to feel, to know the warmth of another human being that cares for us. 

Just how important is this function of touch and tender connection? Well, as my mind has been wandering back to the early days of my education, Harry Harlow, wandered into the grey matter. Harlow is best known for his social or psychological studies using rhesus monkeys. The experiment was pretty simple. He took baby monkeys and placed them in cages with wire mom monkeys with bottles attached and other monkeys in cages with fuzzy mom monkeys with bottles attached. The wire mom babies did not fare well. In fact many died or developed severe behavioral problems. Not so with the fuzzy moms. Their baby monkeys grew up, for the most part,  healthy and normal. Harlow tested the monkeys further by putting in both a wire mom monkey with the bottle and the fuzzy mom with no bottle at all. The baby monkeys would leave the fuzzy mom, nurse from the wire mom and then scurry back to cuddle with the fuzzy mom. His conclusion was that warm, nurturing, touch was essential for proper development. He discovered that it was not good for baby monkeys to feel alone. 

What is true for rhesus monkeys is true for human beings as well. We do not do well in isolation. We need family, we need community, we need one another. It is not good for us to be alone. The touch of another human being is vital to our well being. It has been God's plan for human beings to function as a community. The Scriptures are filled with phrases that contain the words, "one another". When prisoners are put into solitary confinement or isolation it is not a reward. Children placed in mass wards in orphanages, with little human contact, do not develop well. Many do not survive. We were not created for perpetual "social distancing". We were designed for community and comforting touch.

God recognizes the need to isolate those who carry a potentially deadly disease. Leviticus 13 gives instructions to isolate someone with possible leprosy to protect the community. Quarantine for contagious members of the community was not just allowed, but necessary. However, we are now told that everyone is a potential threat. Everyone must isolate. No one should have contact with another. The message of fear has replaced the need for social interaction. We are told it is not just dangerous but life threatening to get within six feet of another human. We are told to lock ourselves away and avoid other people, even family members. Even though much research shows that the threat is not what it has been. The death rate has plummeted and the recovery rate is very high. Still the fear mongers tell us to stay alone, to avoid others, to enjoy our solitary confinement. It is for our own good. If we disagree, rules are declared to force us to comply.

There are a consequences to this mandated isolation that do not get much publicity. Throughout the United States thousands of seniors have been isolated in nursing homes and assisted living centers. Some have been denied the opportunity to be taken to the homes of their children or grand children. No, for their own protection they are locked away from human companionship, the touch of a child's hand or the embrace of a loved one. Not for days but for months. In New York alone, thousands have been isolated to die alone. Some from a virus, some from loneliness. Some, who enjoyed the simple things of life have given up in isolation. Now, depressed, they just wait to die. No fuzzy monkey available to bring some comfort or warm touch. Isolation breeds death.

The other neglected group are the recovering addicts and mentally ill who need both accountability and comfort. I personally know of those who, laid off from work, isolated at home, not able to be with friends, have returned to the comfort of drugs, both prescription and illegal. That toll in destruction and death will likely never be measured. I wrote a post a few weeks ago, "Which Spirit" reminding us that there is a spirit who desires to, "rob, kill, and destroy". That spirit thrives in the isolated lives of the vulnerable. His quiet voice calls the addict to his drugs, the depressed to their pills, those who suffer from a variety of emotional challenges and Post Traumatic Stress, to just yield to the battle and end their lives. So they do. All alone in their quiet apartment cages, longing for the touch of someone to talk them out of the pressure they feel to end the pain. However, no friend can come. No brother or sister can comfort. For they too are isolated in their own government mandated isolation chamber homes. So they die alone, protected from the deadly virus.   

Our nation, if not the world, has become an enormous laboratory experiment. "Let us see how large segments of population deal with extended isolation." "Let us see how much fear we can instill to keep the experiment going." I am not suggesting there is no threat or that the vulnerable ignore reasonable precautions, however, social science and the Word of God tell us that there will be consequences for the ongoing isolation and fear. When we violate God's design to replace them with man's edicts of "safety" there will be a price to pay. Our oldest generation has become the victim of fear and isolation. Others that government sets out to "protect" are left with wire monkey moms and no comfort as they spiral into the darkness of their own personal pain. But,we know, not all the monkeys are expected to survive the experiment. There is always an acceptable cost when we run the tests and evaluate the process. Not to sound cynical, but have you noticed the government folks, like those in white lab coats, still travel, still wander about talking to folks, still have their social calendars. Perhaps for them, they know that it is not good for man to be alone. That is just for the little monkeys. But, you know, it's for their protection.          

There is No Thanksgiving in Cartoon Land or I Want to Build a Snowman

I grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons. Mighty Mouse and Looney Tunes. Animation has come a long way since those days. I am not thinking of just the technology that allows things to be more detailed and realistic but of the writers and producers that draw us in emotionally. My heart was never moved much by Daffy being disrespected or felt tension as Elmer was hunting wabbits. However I really wanted Elsa to leave her room and help Anna build a snowman. I also have to admit that I got a little misty eyed when Carl Fredricksen’s true love dies in “Up”. After nearly forty years of being in love and devoted to Debbie, if I lost her, I might be tempted to fill my van with balloons and float off to Australia or Scotland and fulfill one of our unrealized dreams.

Yet, even with the advancements and the tug on our heart strings it is still not real. It is still two dimensional. It is still safe. For that matter so is most of our entertainment. We are spectators who allow ourselves to become emotionally invested in what is not real. But that is okay, for we can just wipe our eyes and walk away. Neither Elsa nor Daffy is offended.

Unfortunately, it seems that we have been infected with the attitude of Cartoon Land. Most of our relationships are two dimensional. They are safe. Our emotional commitment is no deeper than that to a Disney animation. This is not what God intends. This is not how the Body of Christ is to function. However, if we are honest, that is our approach fellowship with our family of faith. Having been involved in ministry for over thirty years I can attest to the fact that the Body lives much more in Cartoon Land than in agreement with the Word of God. Participation in a local assembly is a convenience, not a commitment. We keep ourselves at an emotional distance and seem far more moved by the world of make-believe that by the lives of our brothers and sisters in Christ. "This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you." So says John 15:17, Romans 13:8, 1 Peter 1:22 and about 20 other references in the New Testament.

God tells us that agape, that love, is not an option. It is a commandment. "As I have loved you" suggests more than convenience. It demands a commitment. To do this we also need to implement Ephesians 4:32, "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." Forgiveness and love is easier if we keep our relationships sort of two dimensional, you know, where you can just walk away at any moment for any reason and leave the old "body" behind and attach yourself to a new one. We should be most grateful that these verses are not reciprocal. What if Christ forgave and loved us only in the same way we loved one another? How would your relationship with Him be?

The world of medicine has made great strides in organ transplants. Taking parts from one body and implanting them in another. This surgery has been practiced to perfection in the Body of Christ from the days when the Apostle Paul was writing to the churches. We amputate ourselves from one fellowship and attach ourselves to another with barely a skip of a heartbeat. This should not be so. I understand that there are times when we are directed to move to a new ministry or some doctrinal issue demands our parting. On occasion God does lead this way.

But most of the moves I have observed are ones of personal "needs" and ambition rather than the Lord. Things like, "We need a more dynamic worship experience so we are going to X church. They have a bigger band and a better audio visual system." "They didn't pick my color for the nursery." "I don't like the direction of the leadership." The other church has more activities" and one of my favorites, "Johnny likes the other church better, the teaching is shallow but we have to make the sacrifice for him." (Because we all know that a nine year old is more spiritually aware than his parents as to where is the best place to grow spiritually.) The thing we fail to consider is that the donating body almost always suffers loss when the amputated part leaves to attach itself to a new organism. The church in America is more like robotic entities with interchangeable parts and just as much emotion. Yes, we might have to wipe a tear or two as we leave the theater but it will only be a short time when we arrive at a new show. Once again we can join the audience and be moved by the performance, step away any time we want, avoid any real commitment or emotional connection and enjoy living in Cartoon Land.

There are over two hundred "one anothers" in the Scriptures. The New American Standard has Two hundred fifty. The Apostle Paul says we are to: Love, teach, be members of, share gifts with, edify, forgive, encourage, be devoted to, submit to, speak no evil to, and do not defraud one another. Just to name a few. But, all these demand a commitment, actually a selfless commitment to others. It means becoming vulnerable and open. It means giving of ourselves and sacrificing our personal agendas for the benefit of others. It means leaving Cartoon Land and investing ourselves in the local Body we are a part of. The attitude of shallow commitment and easy departure will leave us felling safe, at least in the short run. In the long run we rob ourselves of the experience God desired us to have as a part of His family.

There is one other thing that must be realized. Cartoon Land does not just impact our life in the Body. It has the same effect in the Spirit. If we cannot love the family we see, how can we learn to love the God we cannot? So we rob ourselves of a deeper relationship with God. We protect ourselves from emotional hurt and pain with people and in so doing distance ourselves from the one true God. There are no true relationships in Cartoon Land. No real understanding of joy, or thanksgiving, No real delight in the God who loves us. We cannot shut off one without shutting down the other. Oh, we may have a few who we let in, a spouse or close friend. However, we will never know the full expression of God's love, joy, peace, patience, His fruit without one another.

God did not inspire Paul to give us the "body" illustration because it looked good on paper. He gave it so we could see how important it is for us to be bound to one another. As we have forsaken that commitment and vulnerability we have become two dimensional characters in a Disney animation. The world sees no reality in our midst. We are as plastic and alone as they are. We speak good words but at the end we just wipe away a tear or two and walk away from the theater with little or nothing to offer the world that needs to see the reality of God's loving commitment on display with one another.

In truth, we all know it is safer to live in a Cartoon Land of our own design. Here we write the endings. Here we mark the exits and concluding scenes. Here we can move freely from body to body a bit more like a parasite who feeds on others than the committed part God called us to play. There is no deep reality in Cartoon Land. No depth of love, no understanding of sorrow, no joy in restoration, no real thanksgiving. Just a world of our creation keeping people and God at a safe distance. If we get disenchanted with the director or other actors we can leave the theater at any time and write another shallow chapter and deny the life God intended.

I guess the real question is, "will you stay in the safe confines of your own emotional little room?"  A place where you can leave real commitment and relationships outside. A place where you are the only "one another" you have to deal with. Or, do you want to build a snowman out here with one another?