{"id":6833,"date":"2022-11-26T15:31:10","date_gmt":"2022-11-26T20:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelbray.org\/?p=6833"},"modified":"2022-11-28T10:47:10","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T15:47:10","slug":"those-foreign-martyrs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelbray.org\/?p=6833","title":{"rendered":"Those Foreign Martyrs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We tend to crown folks as martyrs from those who are &#8220;over there.&#8221;&nbsp; We just can&#8217;t muster up the sympathy for, or respect due, martyrs who are <em>nearby<\/em>.&nbsp;&nbsp; <em>Neighbors<\/em> just aren&#8217;t to be respected as heroes!&nbsp; They are &#8211; just neighbors.&nbsp; Common folk disconnected from those super-hero martyrs who come from somewhere <em>over there<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is a kind-of proximity disorientation.&nbsp; A moral far-sightedness.&nbsp; Holiness is a <em>distant<\/em> thing which <em>cannot be near us<\/em>;&nbsp; it cannot be seen, lest we become too uncomfortable with it.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An understandable human condition, indeed,  when we consider the gravity of our fallen nature.&nbsp; We are woefully derelict and shamefully unacceptable to a holy and just and good God!&nbsp; Such qualities as holiness, we imagine, must be kept from coming too close to our sinfulness.  It is found &#8220;over there.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(Ah, but we who are justified by His blood and saved by Him, alone, thankfully and humbly accept our status as fellow heirs of the Kingdom of God &#8211; life eternal.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You are surrounded with martyrs when you gather with His people and break the bread!  Rejoice!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">26 Nov.,&nbsp; 2022, p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We tend to crown folks as martyrs from those who are &#8220;over there.&#8221;&nbsp; We just can&#8217;t muster up the sympathy for, or respect due, martyrs who are nearby.&nbsp;&nbsp; Neighbors just aren&#8217;t to be respected as heroes!&nbsp; They are &#8211; just neighbors.&nbsp; Common folk disconnected from those super-hero martyrs who come from somewhere over there. It [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,57,54,23,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-character-or-not","category-citizenship","category-ecclesiastical-matters","category-position-papers","category-salvation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6833"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6839,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6833\/revisions\/6839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelbray.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}