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The Chameleon Research Paper

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"and, "A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message--which is also what they were destined for." (1 Peter 2:8) God's desire to give all of his creation the ability to protect themselves has always fascinated me. The "walking stick" an insect that looks like a twig and can hide itself from predators. Butterflies or moths with spots on their wings to give (many believe) the appearance of eyes looking up to ward off anything wanting to eat it. Most famous of all, is of course, the chameleon. Not only can the chameleon adapt to its environment, but it's able to adapt to any environment. It has the natural ability to camouflage itself and hide in the background. …show more content…

As long as the chameleon is still it can fade into the background and become invisible. It isn't seen. It doesn't bother anyone, and nothing bothers it. It becomes completely inoffensive. As a United Methodist, I've always loved our denominational symbol of the Cross and the Flame. It represents the uniting of the Methodist and United Evangelical Brethren churches. It symbolizes both our need for redemption in the cross and the ongoing sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit to bring us to Christian Perfection. It reminds us of our Wesleyan distinctive of both Personal and social holiness (and how the two are intertwined.) There is a lot to be proud of in our symbol. The only problem with it is that it really doesn't truly represent us. Th cross and the flame are bold. They are distinctive. And they are bound to offend someone. And there is the rub. They are bound to offend someone. And if there is one thing in our culture that has become the unforgivable sin it's saying or doing something that offends someone. I'm not sure when it happened but somewhere along the way we went from being the "Greatest Generation" to "The generation that takes offensive at …show more content…

While well done, they go out of their way to not talk about Jesus. Or that He is the only way. Or the Cross. With an emphasis on community service, they could easily be recruitment ads for the Rotarians or the Kiwanis. Both fine service organizations. Bu they aren't the church. The church offers Jesus, And Jesus is always going to be offensive. He just is. Take some time and read, really read the Gospels. Jesus says all sorts of truly offensive things. Things like He is the only way to Heaven. The only way to salvation. He offended the religious establishment by calling out the hypocrites. He offended the rich by lifting up the poor and disenfranchised. He offended the sinner by not accepting his/her sin as a part of the human condition, but as brokeness that God could change. He offended the Romans by hiding that His truth was eternal and not bound to the shifting sands of cultural acceptance. Those who followed Jesus were offensive as well. That's why they were martyred. In fact the closer the followers of Jesus become Christlike, the more offensive they were to the world. We live in a world that doesn't want to see there is a better way. They don't want a God so invasive He can change someone's

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