Bubba Goes Fishin' and "Catches On"
Bubba was leaning over the side of his boat to retrieve his hook from the brush he'd pulled up out of the murky depths of Stumpwater Lake when a vision came to him and he jerked his hand back from the water. As the tangled line and mud-covered limbs sank back into the watery darkness, Bubba dug in his pocket for his old yeller Case knife to cut the line.
"No use foolin' with that mess anyhow," he muttered, but the vision in his brain still remained, that of a 20-foot bass porpoising out of the depths to chomp his old 1955 jon boat into kindling, and in the background, he could hear the theme from that classic fishing documentary ""Jaws".
His imagination wasn't being fueled by no six-pack today, but by something he'd read.
He was sure that the guys writin' for Conspirator's Weekly weren't all that far off their pier when they exposed that the Aggie Scientists down at Texas A & W University (Footnote 1) was secretly experimentin' with crossing Hybrid Bass with giant Sea Bass for size and using Shark DNA to make 'em a tad more aggressive as a sport fish.Ever since the '60's, when he'd seen the dairy cow they'd modified by installing a window in her side, so's you could actually see the ruminatin' a'goin on, he knew that whatever those boys at A & W had set their mind to, that "nothing would be restrained from them, which they imagined to do," as it said back there in Genesis.
After rigging another small sinker and a No. 4 Eagle Claw, he dug around in the coffee can for a Nightcrawler and proceeded to mount all eight inches of the snake-like worm onto the one-inch hook. He'd fish in the shallower water for some big ole perch until the nightmarish vision of boat-eatin'-fish passed.
"Just some good old boys", he hummed, trying to drown out the "thump-thump, thump-thump" theme.
"Never meaning no harm."
The "thump-thump" began to fade, but continued, along with the vision of a Jurassic size "hawg"(2) choking down his old boat. He wondered if fear could inspire the faith needed to run, not walk, on the water."Been in trouble with the law since the day they was born", he sang aloud, and the vision of leapin' leviathans was blotted out by a hurdling Dodge.
" 'Sides," he thought, "monster fish always ate skinny-dippers or teenaged, tourist swimmers first, and boats later."That's when Bubba began meditatin' on what the world looked like to a fish, which is how he came to understand a "new truth", for him.
"Fish and fishin' is Biblical," pondered Bubba. "Look at Jonah. That probably was the inspiration for "Jaws" anyhow." The thump-thump started again, but Bubba shook it off.
"And then there was Noah, every bassmaster's (3) hero. The Eternal told him that since the whole world was already "in the toilet", He was agonna "pull the chain". Then He gives Noah the plans for the biggest bass boat ever built. It was impervious to thunderstorms and as self-sufficient as a "luv" boat. He had it stocked with snacks to last a year and with all those animal droppings and hay, he could have raised Nightcrawlers bigger than snakes. Even had room for his "missus" so's she wouldn't get mad that he stayed out on the water so long. Okay, so maybe it was more like a "party boat" (4)."Anyways, Bubba's reflectin' on his reflection in the water, when it dawns on him that he was seein' the fish's perspective of the situation and that's when he came to understand this "New Truth". The "new truth" not bein' that fish have paradigms but something more significant.
Bubba had been puzzlin' over all the differences of opinions in the DCOG (dis-associated churches of God) for some time. It used to be that everyone said, or leastways pretended, they was agreed on everything, except of course the stuff where's speculatin' was allowed, but even then, most everyone quoted some rank(ing) preacher as the final word on subjects of conjecture.
Nowadays you couldn't find any two people who agreed for more than 30 minutes of discussin' without at least disputin' over the finer points and more often than not, finding some "big" differences over some of the "emotional" dogma like the calendar and such.
Bubba knew that the Creator and his Son weren't confused but it appeared that down here, either everybody was wrong, or at most, only one person had perfect understanding. Bubba didn't believe in the latter case but some seemed to be searching for "such a one." Bubba had studied and prayed and meditated until he was confident that what he understood was true, but then, so had everyone else he knew in the various groups.
Staring into the water, imagining the slope of the lake bottom by projecting the angle at the shore and knowing, from his broken fishing lines, where the brush was located, Bubba could visualize the scene below sorta like, "through a glass darkly". He knew from experience that the fish could see light and shadows and movement above the water but that a fish's eye, designed to focus under water couldn't focus out of water, just as Bubba was nearly blind under water without a scuba mask. The fish knows, by instinct he guessed, that sudden movement or noise, or changes in light and shadow can mean danger and that submerged brush and rocks, or deep water, is a place of safety.
For the fisherman however, underwater rocks or brush is a hiding place for snakes and deep water can drown a careless fisherman.
Both Bubba and the fish were living with "truth" but what was true for the fish was not true for Bubba and what was true for Bubba wouldn't work for the fish.
Both existed by the design of the same Creator, but until Christ returns, each would have to deal with "truth" as he knew and understood it.
"But," wondered Bubba, "would this apply to spiritual truths?"On the one hand, the Holy Spirit was promised to "guide us into all truth" (5). So there was, or is, a point where one expects to eventually arrive at "all truth", but the word "guide" would indicate a journey, or a process, not an event.
Bubba had read about water temperatures and the life cycles of fish. He had studied the underwater charts for Stumpwater Lake and had come to a better understanding of the fish's environment and had become more effective at catching fish.
There was more than one fish in the lake, however, which had darted around submerged brush or rocks, tangling the line and gaining enough slack to "throw" the hook loose. Some had snagged the line such that Bubba had to break it and the fish swam away with the hook. Sometimes this backfired on the fish, and he remained anchored there, becoming food for his own neighbors. Bubba thought, "There's some good spiritual analogies in there somewhere.", but he was trying to concentrate on figuring something else out at the moment.
He knew that some fish can take the bait of a hook without getting caught. Fishermen are convinced that this is due to skill and experience on the part of the fish. However, wives of fishermen believe it's due to the lack of skill on the other end of the line. Whatever the case may be, at least one, if not both parties, through education and experience, modify their "truth" according to additional learning.
"But what about the instructions for "unity"?", wondered Bubba. "The preachers can't agree on anything beyond salaries and health insurance. Of course, some said, that more or less indicated that they were just employees and not really leaders or "wise" men.
If it was just a matter of "lovin'" one another regardless of understanding, then all them PromiseMakers and the ecumaniacal folks would have the truth. But Bubba had a lot of neighbors who were PromiseBreakers and knew ecumaniacals who were only religious in church, on church day. Otherwise, with mighty few exceptions, they did just as much lyin', road-ragin', finger-waving, tax-cheatin', adulteratin', boozin', snortin' and toke-smoking as anyone else. 'Course, he knew some in his own past fellowships that were just as bad.
So sweet-talkin' and praisin' didn't prove anything, especially if'n all one did was just stand around on church day and say, "praise the Lord!", or sing it. Bubba snorted. Chanting or singing, "Praise the Lord!" was like saying "Impeach the President!". Sayin' it and doin' it was two different things.
So how could anybody ever be unified? Now that he thought about it, Paul wasn't saying that anyone had ever done it, he was just exhorting folks to try to do it. Maybe that's why he came to realize that if one doesn't have "charity" (love) for others, then he isn't worth spit, cause his understanding of truth wouldn't be of help to anyone he didn't love, and neither will folks accept opinions from someone who is offensive or uppity. As Paul pointed out, if folks don't understand, and they can't understand if they're not listening, then Paul would just be talking to himself.The Son talked about us being "one" like He and his Father. Bubba understood closeness. He loved his missus more than anything in the world but even they didn't always see everything exactly the same way. In spite of that, they were still best friends and lovers after years of being married. Now if the two of them couldn't understand every detail of everything the same way, he figured it'd be impossible for any group to ever get together and stay together without a lot of divine teaching suddenly goin' on plus a whole lot of humility and a bunch of crow-eatin'.
Meanwhile, Bubba was pulling in an occasional keeper and, unhooking another one, paused to stare at it, sorta eyeball to eyeball and thought to himself, "Yore life has been one of trying to find food without being eaten by the bigger fish." "Well, friend, I've been physically "in the world" and spiritually, "in the church" and I know exactly how you feel!"
Dropping the fish into the live well, he realized that while he and the fish each had truth for themselves, which only conflicted when the two of them met, both versions of the truth here, were only physical truths and therefore were subjective and not absolute.
When Christ said, "My word is truth.", Pilate, wondered aloud, "What is truth?"
Bubba wondered if Pilate had ever gone fishing.
Absolute truth, to be absolute, would have to outlive the physical world, otherwise, like humans, it would be "subject to vanity" (useless, transient, unprofitable) (6).Bubba remembered reading that salvation is a solitary activity (7) done in the proximity of others (8). In other words, we are told to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (7) and that no one else is to be trusted with our salvation (9).
Even though the DCOG had once been the most sociable group of people Bubba had ever known, the disassociation reminded him of the story of the Tower of Babel. Back then, everyone wanted to build a tower to get to heaven or at least to stay above the Noachian flood level, and today it seemed like everyone wanted to make salvation a group activity. In fact, some acted almost as if potlucks and fundraisers were all there was to it.Now there was a scripture somewhere about "the shepherd being smitten and the sheep being scattered"(10), but Bubba hadn't found any prophecy about any other "shepherd" being involved in any sort of sheep round-up other than the sheep "knowing His voice" (11) and responding to it.
As for teachers, Bubba had come to understand the difference between being taught by the Holy Spirit and by men, because the "voice" was different (11). Then there was also Job. 12:8, which he often used to justify his fishing trips, "...speak to the earth and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.", which wasn't no exaggeration, considering we were told to understand the unseen things by those that are seen (12). Bubba thought combining meditatin' and fishin' was efficient time management.
So, adding it all up, Bubba decided that the answer to the confusion involved the following elements:
1) In the world: While the Creator made both the fish and the fisherman, what's truth for one isn't truth for the other. When Christ promoted fishing (27) [including cash prizes for fishing (13)], he encouraged man to discover the confusion of physical "truths", or "truths" regarding physical people and things, otherwise known as subjectivism.
In the churches: The Father didn't create confusion in doctrinal understanding (14) but he directed events which simply exposed it(15)
2) In the world: You're not really fishing, if someone else does it for you.
In the churches: The Son died so that we would have a relationship directly with the Father, without any mid-level managers, or "sales associates", or government bureaucrats, or politicians or someone with a B.A in B.S (16), or an "Aggravate" (17) telling us "how the cow ate the cabbage" (18).
3) In the world: Fishing guides may lead you to fish, providing they get paid, and even then you may not catch any fish, but don't expect a refund. Also, you never know if one is always telling you the truth, because, if he admits the fish aren't biting today, you won't hire him.
In the churches: Sometimes teachers are helpful (19), and they're supposed to be so (20) but they can't be trusted without reservation (9).
4) In the world: When you get too many fishing lines in one spot and everyone starts to jabbering, they don't pay attention to fishing, the lines get tangled and no one catches as many fish as the lone fisherman , who concentrates on fishing.
In the churches: Group activities are usually fun, but salvation ain't one of them. Git yore own (salvation)(7).
5) In the world: Fishermen still prefer to have a buddy along, for the safety factor, as well as having someone to swap fishing stories (lies) with.
In the churches: Folks are very nervous about being spiritually alone (they discount God as sufficient company). This desire to be part of a "herd" is probably why the Creator calls us "sheep". We are told to not "fear" anything except Him (21), and to "be of good courage"(22). Now whoever heard of a "courageous" sheep? "Lamb Chop", even in a bad attitude is not a Ram-bo.
6) In the world: The measure of a good fisherman is not how many fish his buddies catch, nor how many other people are fishing in the same spot at the same time, nor how many others are using the same bait.
In the churches: If numbers or popularity were proof of truth, then atheists or non-Christian religions would be more likely to have the truth. Elijah was alone, for all he knew, until God told him differently(23). Even then he didn't go round up the 7000 and start a "work". How many of the others were also "alone", for all they knew?
7) In the world: Every fisherman is convinced that he has the best bait or lures to fish successfully. But he's always curious about what others are using.
In the churches: No believer, believes he's deceived or confused. But some are curious about what others believe.
8) In the world: Regardless of the bait or tackle or experience, a successful fisherman is known (recognized by other fishermen) by his "catch".
In the churches: Regardless of the background, education, previous affiliation, or previous understanding, a true follower of Christ is known (discerned by other true followers) by his "fruits" (24), just as a wolf will be known [discerned by those who "beware" (be aware)] " by his fruits" (25).
Now it came to pass, that after Bubba had concluded all these things, and having filled his "limit"(26), that Bubba journeyed home to share his "catch" and his "catching on" with his missus.
********
* Bubba's wife added some notes after explaining to Bubba that not everybody had the advantage of a proper backwoods education and the might not understand some of his vocabulary.
Footnotes:
1."A&W"; Some called it A&M, but Bubba preferred "Agricultural and Wiccan" since the scientists started fooling around modifying life forms.
2. "hawg"; Fishing term for largemouth Bass, referring to large mouth and aggressive attitude.
3. "bassmasters"; Self-applied term for serious, successful bass fishermen, as opposed to contemptible terms such as "perch-jerker". Some bassmasters are closet perch-jerkers when their bassin' buddies aren't around.
4. "party boat"; Large boat for groups of people wishing to fish, or to socialize while pretending to fish.
5. John 16:13
6. Rom. 8:20
7. Phil. 2:12
8. Heb. 10:25
9. Jer. 9:4, Col. 2:8
10. Mat. 26:31
11. John 10:27, 4, 5
12. Rom. 1:20
13. Mat. 17:27
14. 1 Cor. 14:33
15. Acts 13:41, Rom. 9:28
16. "B.A. in B.S."; Bad Attitude in Baloney Science
17. "Aggravate"; One who possesses an aggregate of all these skills, i.e., a professional
preacher.
18. "cow/cabbage"; Obsolete saying.
19. Acts 8:26-40
20. John 21:15-17
21. Mat. 10:28, 2 Tim. 1:7, 1 Jn. 4:18
22. Deu. 31:6
23. 1 K. 19:18
24. Gal. 5:22-26, Phil. 4:8-9
25. Mat. 7:15-16
26. "limit"; State-imposed limit on quantity of fish allowed per fisherman, per day.
27. Mat. 4:19
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