Tag Archive for: Editor

Forgotten: Point of View

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Armodoxy for Today: The Forgotten part 3, Point of View

Not everything that is “forgotten” is due to our failure to see or to remember. Don’t discount the role of the editor, the broadcaster or the storyteller in what is remembered and what is not.

I often think about how news reaches us. I’ve had occasion to watch the news outside the United States. What strikes me is the way the news is presented. It was like watching a sitcom without a laugh-track, that is, there were no cues to when to laugh and when to cry, and the news was weighty, meaty and of substance.

Here in America, news is presented with a peppering of humor and entertainment, as a sidenote to the tragedies that take place. As bad as things may be – a natural disaster such as an earthquake or a hurricane which claimed thousands of lives – it is never so great that they can’t give you the latest football or basketball scores. Wars can escalate to genocide and scenes of cities destroyed by bombs can fill up our visuals, but fear not, the next news item is about a rapper or singer who has won a Grammy award, or better yet, will be entertaining at the Superbowl halftime event!

The consumer of that news eventually loses perspective about the weight and gravity of the different news items. Two hundred people killed in a hurricane is a tragedy with grave consequences. The love life of a celebrity may be of interest to a very large audience, but is it as weighty as the other story? Yet, the juxtaposing of these two stories back-to-back dilutes the magnitude of the consequential story. Think of your social media feed. The story about the escalation of nuclear weapons by countries is on the same feed as the picture of your neighbor sharing a funny experience with their dog. The two stories do not have the same weight or impact on life, but their positioning together desensitizes us to truly large events and stories that carry impact.

News editors are charged with arranging items such that they will be alluring and attractive to the viewer. It is the news editor and the production staff that decides which stories are worthy of broadcast and which are forgotten. Hence, the decision is made to prioritize news items for us, the consumers. Language, the perspective and the way a story is revealed, is adjusted to accommodate their goals.

Think of how we have been desensitized to the atrocities that took place in Gaza. In October 2023, Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage in Isreal. Israel retaliated by proclaiming war on the Palestinians and at the end of two years close to 70,000 Palestinians were killed. During the war Gaza was obliterated. We kept hearing the numbers. It is easy, and in fact it is natural, to compare the numbers and the scale of the war on both sides. That’s where they want you to look, instead of looking at the human side of this tragedy. Which child – the Israeli or the Gazan – is not mourned by their family? Which person – the Israeli or the Gazan – did not bleed when struck down?

We have forgotten humanity.

In Gospel of Matthew, chapter 9, a paralyzed man is brought to Jesus. Jesus turns to him and says, “Your sins are forgiven.” He did not see the physical trappings of this man. Jesus did what he knew was necessary, to heal the man of his spiritual baggage. The people were incensed at Jesus. Who can forgive sin but God? they asked. Jesus answered, “…which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’  or to say, ‘Arise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” And he arose and departed to his house.

The people who brought this man to Jesus had forgotten that he had a soul, he had a spirit. But he was not forgotten by Jesus. The man was not to be identified only by the confines of his physical body. There was another way of understanding the picture. It was by God’s rules and not by any other. We will continue tomorrow.

For today, we pray, “Lord, have mercy. Amen”

Editor

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Roots of Armodoxy: Editor

Jesus’ words are very harsh and frankly, very scary, “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.” (Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:6)

The Church has assigned this reading to the feast of the Holy Translators, among which are also the translators of the Holy Scriptures. The passage is strategically placed on the church calendar on this day to remind us of sanctity of Scripture and as a caution against those who might take the Scriptures and render a translation or explanation of these holy words.

It has always amazed me how people would never, in a million years, consider having their car brakes repaired by someone who read a book about brakes. Or watched a video explaining brake repair. You’d be a fool to trust your car’s braking system and your safety to someone with minimum to no knowledge of car repair. Or even worse, you can’t imagine someone suffering from heart disease or cancer, trusting their medical care to someone who read an article about staying healthy in AARP magazine. Yet, when it comes to spiritual care, the wellness of your immortal soul… many people are not only fine but will argue for the thoughts of someone who’s knowledge comes from a casual read of the book, even if that book may be the Bible.

The Bible is the product of the Church. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, it was the one, universal, apostolic and holy Church that put together the different books that constitute the Bible. Think of the Church as the editor – the one who goes through the material and decides what stays in and what is left out. Each of the Evangelists – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were the original editors of the life of Christ. In fact, St. John final words to his gospel are, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” (21:25)

The books of the Bible were written in ancient Aramaic, Greek and Hebrew. So everyone who encounters the Scriptures is forced to read a translated, i.e., an edited version. Furthermore, among the Protestant branch of Christianity, Scripture is the only authority, yet everyone is free to interpret as they wish. This is why there are hundreds of Protestant denominations. (For clarity we should mention that most of those denomination can be categorized under a few headings, such as Adventists, Anabaptists, Anglicans/Episcopalians, Baptists, Calvinist/Reformed, Lutherans, Methodists, Moravians, Plymouth Brethren, Presbyterians, and Quakers.)

To get to the original intent of Scriptures you have to appeal to the oldest of all traditions, namely the one, universal, apostolic Church. Herein lies the strength of the message of Armodoxy, it comes from the most ancient of all Christian traditions, namely the Armenian Apostolic Church, a body that was there at the Time of Christ, in the person of the Apostles. The Apostles and the generations that came after them made up the Church. The Church was there at the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, at the Ascension and received the tools to evangelize at the Pentecost. The Church speaks from Holy Tradition, which includes the Scriptures, but is so much more.

This is why St. John Chrysostom says that children “Should be a diligent hearer of the divine Scriptures.” The Word of God is not the black text on a white page, but it is the expression that comes from Christ’s Sacred Body, the Church. Remember, God gave us something much more sacred and precious than the Bible. He gave us His Only Begotten, and in turn Jesus gave us His Holy Body, the Church, which, inspired by the Holy Spirit, gave us the Bible. So when the Church speaks of and from Holy Scripture, it is talking from a Tradition that includes the Bible, but is not comprised only of it. The Church gives equal access to the Divine realm and doesn’t limit it only the literate.

Today’s prayer is prayed by Jesus himself, to His Father (John 17:20-26)

“I pray for those who will believe in Me through their word;  that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:  I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.  O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”