Are You a Nose Picking Goober? Ryan Blackmore in Sherwood Park, Alberta

[Parture]

The purpose of this thread is to apply Biblical psychology to Ryan Blackmore's condition in Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada.

"Be careful to avoid anything offensive. If there is a man among you who is unclean because of a bodily emission...you must have a digging tool in your equipment. God must not see anything improper among you or He will turn away from you" (Deut. 23.9-14). It also says wash yourself then come back to the camp in the evening the day of your offense. The camp was in contrast to the enemy camp before going into battle.

Prov. 30.29-33

29 There are three things that walk with stately stride—no, four that strut about:

30 the lion, king of animals, who won’t turn aside for anything,
31 the strutting rooster,
the male goat,
a king as he leads his army.

32 If you have been a fool by being proud or plotting evil,
cover your mouth in shame.

33 For pressing milk produces curds, pressing the nose produces blood,
and pressing anger produces strife.

Are you a nosepicking goober? I don't have this problem but my friend does. When I tried to get him to stop he lashed out in a violent rage. And he calls himself a Christian too. But I know he is not a Christian because he said he believes Mormons are saved. Whatever he thinks Christianity is, it is not Christianity. Mormons are hard people, believing in salvation by works. Other Christians have said to me they can see him going off the cuff. And I have experienced this rage from him before. Instead of slowly building up his anger and letting the other party know his feelings, it all comes out at once.

"Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger for the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rank growth of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves" (James 1.19-22).

To my surprise on reading up on nose picking I found this: "The Greek origins of the medical term for nose picking (rhinotillexomania) can be translated as 'nose' (rhino) plus 'habitual picking' (tillexis) plus 'rage, fury' (mania) and together they provide a very telling description of the disorder.

"It's frequently because we are feeling suppressed rage and fury that we pick away habitually at the contents of our noses, even when we do it to the extent that we cause pain, which leads to more rage and fury."

Read more here from dermatology doctors,
http://www.skinpick.com/nose-picking-rhinotillexomania

Perhaps the nose picking is like a security blanket. As the link suggests below: "there are legitimate reason that might have led you to start picking your nose" however unreasonable they may be. Instead of changing by the Holy Spirit what is wrong deep inside you that causes this rage the manifestation of nose-picking takes over.

The problem though is this person does not consider this obsessive compulsive nose picking a sin so how can he ever repent of it? The Bible says we shall know them by their fruits which is not Christian.

"By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?" (Matt. 7.16)

"Pressing ('twisting' NIV) the nose causes bleeding" (Prov. 30.33). If pressing your nose in or out can cause bleeding then stop picking it!

"Thumbing their noses at me, and provoking my anger" (Ez. 8.17). Are you thumbing your nose at God by picking your nose?

"You turn up your noses at my commands" (Mal. 1.13). Where is the self-control in picking one's nose regularly? Use a handkerchief. You're being unsanitary transmitting your cold to others by nose picking touching objects that other people have to handle. Stop being so selfish!

"The smell of thy nose like apples" (SofS 7.8). How can such a smell come about by picking your nose?

Picking your nose in the work environment is frowned upon and embarrassing. Picking your nose in social settings is frowned upon. What is wrong in public is wrong at home in private. When you pick your nose, you find yourself resisting from doing so in public so people don't see what you also do in private. This is your conscience speaking. Heed your conscience! This is God's minimum standard for you to abide in when it comes to the matter of picking your nose.

Imagine the President of the United States giving a speech and while doing so he picks his nose and swallows a goober. May you have a conscience to see how wrong nose picking is. You may need to remove buildup in your nose on occasion but use a handkerchief and wash your hands. Don't be gross!

There is no grace in nose picking, just a law one creates for himself that it is ok to do, when such a person doesn't even abide in his or her own law they try to keep because they find themselves resisting nose picking in various social or work settings.

If nose picking was perfectly legitimate with your finger and no handkerchief then touching objects people use regularly, why do you resist in nose picking sometimes?

Is it ok to stick your finger up your ass, get a little poop on it because you like the taste, lick your finger and touch a steering wheel in a car that others have to drive? I use this crass example to show people how unsanitary nose picking is and how selfish they are really being caught in this nasty and disgusting habit.

Such bad habits are induced by evil spirits and accepted by the will of man. If a person can't overcome nose picking, he naturally is more susceptible to lack of discipline in other areas of his life. Nose picking is a gateway to other unhealthy activities.

The will of man has been overrun by demonic spirits on this matter because the person no longer tries to overcome and resist this bad habit. If you are not willing to accept nose picking is a problem then you are just thumbing your nose at God! I don't know any Christians who think nose picking is a legitimate activity acceptable to God's will and glorifies Him. Though some believers may be trying overcome such bad habits, yet unsuccessful, none will claim that it is a legitimate activity pleasing to God.

It is not just the transmitting of colds scientifically and medically which the Bible has put in place cleaning laws to try to prevent. If someone with aids is releasing blood from their nose which is inevitable with nose picking that blood is exposed and liable to enter the blood stream of another person through cuts or sores or other contact.

I have seen some people try to rationalize nose picking by saying they are no longer under the law, therefore, nose picking and whatever other sin they can think of are permissible, because they are no longer under the law. In fact, they are still under the law, a law they have created for themselves that nose picking is acceptable. Scriptures say otherwise. The woman in Revelation 12 has the sun above her which represents God's grace and the moon under her feet which represents God's law. To claim one without the other is a misalignment of the Scriptures to either justify one's cavalier attitude towards the Scriptures on grace or demand law without grace be adhered too.

Alcoholics often justify their alcoholism on the same basis waiting upon some higher power to change them rather than taking responsibility for themselves to overcome their sinful propensity to put to nought the deeds of the flesh. Such power will never come. One cannot overcome by will power alone. They needs God's grace. But if a person is constantly thumbing God's grace up their nose, God will not work for them. God will not force a person to do anything or change them without a person's commensurate participation in that changing behavior. If a Christian were an alcoholic at the very least he would acknowledge his sin, but the nose picker doesn't. This presents an unsafe and unclean environment but also is disrespectful to others by not being sanitary.

It gets even more psychotic and demented when such a person blames the one who identifies their problem as being ungraceful and lash out in a violent rage. My friend blew up one day because he was caught in the act every couple of minutes. He tried to resist for about 3 hours and was successful, but went right back to doing it again without even trying to change. Why was he attempting to resist if what he now claims is true there is nothing wrong with it and perfectly natural? His behavior does not match his words. He is obstinate, contradicting himself. I suspect his wife has had many problems with this issue with him also so now he is taking it out on me. Moreover, he never said he needed me to back off reminding him for a bit, but instead all of a sudden he lashed out in a violent rage, swearing, and being very aggressive with his tone of voice. The most grace that I could provide this person is to not mention his nose picking for awhile and avoid touching objects he touches after he picks his nose. This of course restricts our activities together.

We shall know you by your fruits! Even non-Christians agree nose picking is wrong! We are saved by grace through faith, but when a person does not exhibit the fruit of that grace, one can question whether they actually have received the cross in the first place. Nose pickers show no grace to non-nose pickers, no compromise in cleanliness and no strength to resist and refuse their activity by the Holy Spirit. They actually self-exalt themselves in their nose picking by saying it is God's will they were given fingers to pick their nose, and they keep on picking away without conscience.

If you don't have the common sense to realize you yourself are picking up germs by constantly picking your nose then I am pretty sure you are hopeless case and God will treat you accordingly.

If you still can't stop picking your nose compulsively, you have rhinotillexomania. There are medical risks,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nose-picking

Some helpful advice on how to stop picking your nose,
http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-Picking-Your-Nose

Nose picking (rhinotillexomania) can lead to infections in the nose,
http://www.skinpick.com/nose-picking-rhinotillexomania

"Beloved, I call upon you, as strangers and sojourners, to keep from the fleshly (carnal, sinful) desires, that war against the soul" (1 Pet. 2.11).

"I will put my laws into their minds" (Heb. 8.10). One of those laws is don't pick your nose according to 1 Pet. 2.11, Prov. 30.33, James 1.21 (get rid of filth), Ez. 8.17, Mal. 1.13.

Have you died with Christ? If you have then God has given you power to by His Spirit to overcome the deeds of the flesh so put to nought the deeds of the flesh.

Upon reciting many deeds of the flesh in his Galatian letter, the Apostle Paul then points out that “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal. 5.24). Here is deliverance. Is it not strange that what concerns the believer vastly differs from what concerns God? The former is concerned with “the works of the flesh” (Gal. 5.19), that is, with the varying sins of the flesh. He is occupied with today’s anger, tomorrow’s jealousy, or the day after tomorrow’s strife. The believer mourns over a particular sin and longs for victory over it. Yet all these sins are but fruits from the same tree. While plucking one fruit (actually one cannot pick off any), out crops another. One after another they grow, giving him no chance for victory. On the other hand God is concerned not with the works of the flesh but with “the flesh” itself (Gal. 5.24). Had the tree been put to death, would there be any need to fear lest it bear fruit? The believer busily makes plans to handle sins—which are the fruits, while forgetting to deal with the flesh itself—which is the root. No wonder that before he can clear up one sin, another has burst forth. We must therefore deal today with the source of sin.

Babes in Christ need to appropriate the deeper meaning of the cross, for they are still carnal. The aim of God is to crucify the believer’s old man with Christ with the result that they who belong to Christ “have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Bear in mind that it is the flesh together with its powerful passions and desires that has been crucified. As the sinner was regenerated and redeemed from his sins through the cross, so now the carnal babe in Christ must be delivered from the rule of the flesh by the same cross so that he can walk according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh. Thereafter it will not be long before he becomes a spiritual Christian.

It is only when we have yielded our body to the Lord (Rom. 6.13) that it is possible for us no longer to be under the dominion of the flesh but under the dominion of the Lord. If we follow the Holy Spirit and maintain an attitude of not letting sin reign over the body (Rom. 6.12), then our feet are freed from stumbling and we experience sustained victory.

Read further on the cross and the Holy Spirit: http://www3.telus.net/trbrooks/crossholyspirit.htm

A recognition "that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be annulled" (Rom. 6.6 Darby) is indeed good; but we remain shackled by fleshly deeds if "by the Spirit" we have not "put to death the deeds of the body."

Read further on the believer and his body: http://www3.telus.net/trbrooks/believerandbody.htm