Evidence - it’s the basis of Modern thought. Before believing anything it must first be seen, heard, tasted, touched, smelled, and fully experienced…and then again, just to prove it wasn’t a fluke. Provability is necessary before anything can be accepted as truth, and if it can’t be proven, it is obviously and undeniably impossible and untrue.
Though we technically live in an era that has been deemed “Postmodern” (which translated means “I believe whatever I want, and you believe whatever you want, and everyone’s happy”) the concept of provability has not dissipated. Rather, it is a timeless idea, existing long before the Modern era and one that will continue long after Postpostpostmodernism has become something in the history books.
This idea, which has transcended the boundaries of epochs and eras, has wrapped it’s fingers around Christian doctrine and students of the Bible and has continued to tighten its grip.
We acknowledge God is big, but even so, He couldn’t create the world in six literal days. We say He’s all-powerful, but He couldn't have really made it so that “all the high mountains under the entire heavens” were flooded like it says in Genesis. In fact, the whole Old Testament is filled with fictitious stories that are to teach us character lessons, not history lessons. On top of that, science has begun to raise doubts as to the viability of the New Testament as well...and somehow we're okay with that.
But God is not provable, and to say that He is shows that I don’t believe in Him…at least not the “Him” that He claims to be (Isaiah 55:8-9; Romans 11:33-36).
So here we are, standing in the midst of innumerable concepts of Christ, perceptions of the cross and the gospel, and the believers who believe only what they see. We live in a world where understanding precedes belief.
St. Anselm, Bishop of Canterbury, stood among the same lack of faith in the “Him” that God claims to be, and he responded in this way:
Nor do I seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe that I may understand (credo ut intelligam). For this too I believe, that unless I first believe, I shall not understand.
“Belief” is not belief when it’s been proven – it’s acknowledgement.
My desire is not to be a “believer” who believes only what makes sense to me. If that were true I would believe very little. I don’t know how God created the whole world in six days, but I have no doubt that He could and did. I don’t know why God wiped out everything in one flood, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He could and did. And beyond all else, it makes no sense that one who was proven to be dead is now alive and is sitting in heaven until the day He comes for His Bride, but my heart rejoices in the fact that I don’t have a useless faith (1 Cor. 15:14, 17)
I’m not a genius - I don’t understand - but I desire to have a faith that is constantly seeking understanding.
Because you have seen me you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.
~John 20:29
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
missing
The French are an intriguing breed, I think we'd all agree on that. Between their "outrageous accents", their contributions to fried potatoes, and the paradox between being considered a romantic people while also a hairy people (at least the women) they have always been able to pique the curiosity of us "normal" Americans.
Though there's much to ponder about their ways, there's one thing that they do, or rather say, that has always been of especial interest to me.
Instead of saying "I miss you" like English-speaking people, they say "Je vous manque" or as I was taught, "You are missing to me." I've always really liked that. A lot. It just seems so much more personal, so much more invested, so much more painful to say to someone "YOU are missing to ME," or in the more famous words "you complete me."
Of course, I have to say I'm gaining a much clearer understanding of what that means this summer as I'm separated from my fiance for the 2 1/2 months leading up to our wedding. He is missing to me. HE is missing to ME. He completes me.
As I think about what it means for me to actually feel like part of me is missing when I'm not with him, I can't help but come back to the simple but powerful analogy for marriage: one. One flesh. One person. One head and one body making one entity. If either part is missing, "je vous manque" the other says.
We weren't designed to be headless horsemen. We were each given one head and one body, and we understand what would happen if either was separated from its counterpart. (At this point, I could regale you with the story of the time my family killed our own Thanksgiving turkey, but I'll spare you the gory, albeit wildly entertaining, details.) I think everyone grasps that for a head to be separated from a body is to wreak havoc on that person because the two are no longer meant to be two, they're one.
Just like the body is used as a picture for marriage, marriage is used as a picture for something greater: Christ and His Bride.
So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body.
~Ephesians 5:28-30
We are members of His body: one head and one body making one entity. For the time being, those two parts are separated, and they can only say to each other, "Je vous manque."
Because I so desperately want to be with Nathan, his promises of "soon, very soon," are always welcomed with the response of "I'm ready whenever." I think I'm beginning to see why the Bride's response to Christ's promise of "soon, very soon" is so similarly welcomed. "Come, Lord Jesus."
Je vous manque.
Though there's much to ponder about their ways, there's one thing that they do, or rather say, that has always been of especial interest to me.
Instead of saying "I miss you" like English-speaking people, they say "Je vous manque" or as I was taught, "You are missing to me." I've always really liked that. A lot. It just seems so much more personal, so much more invested, so much more painful to say to someone "YOU are missing to ME," or in the more famous words "you complete me."
Of course, I have to say I'm gaining a much clearer understanding of what that means this summer as I'm separated from my fiance for the 2 1/2 months leading up to our wedding. He is missing to me. HE is missing to ME. He completes me.
As I think about what it means for me to actually feel like part of me is missing when I'm not with him, I can't help but come back to the simple but powerful analogy for marriage: one. One flesh. One person. One head and one body making one entity. If either part is missing, "je vous manque" the other says.
We weren't designed to be headless horsemen. We were each given one head and one body, and we understand what would happen if either was separated from its counterpart. (At this point, I could regale you with the story of the time my family killed our own Thanksgiving turkey, but I'll spare you the gory, albeit wildly entertaining, details.) I think everyone grasps that for a head to be separated from a body is to wreak havoc on that person because the two are no longer meant to be two, they're one.
Just like the body is used as a picture for marriage, marriage is used as a picture for something greater: Christ and His Bride.
So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body.
~Ephesians 5:28-30
We are members of His body: one head and one body making one entity. For the time being, those two parts are separated, and they can only say to each other, "Je vous manque."
Because I so desperately want to be with Nathan, his promises of "soon, very soon," are always welcomed with the response of "I'm ready whenever." I think I'm beginning to see why the Bride's response to Christ's promise of "soon, very soon" is so similarly welcomed. "Come, Lord Jesus."
Je vous manque.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Nothing
based on Philippians 2:1-11
“What are you guys talking about?” “Nothing.”
“What do you want to do tonight?” “Nothing.”
“What did you learn in class today?” “Nothing.”
Of course, we never mean nothing, but rather something less. We were talking about something less than you should know, or tonight I want to do something less than usual, or in class today I learned something less than you might hope for based on your contributions to my TMS payments.
As people, we consider ourselves to be "something" – maybe even a big "something." We work tirelessly at our jobs and our studies, we invest in our relationships and portfolios, we establish our households and our corporate empires, all in an effort to “make something” of ourselves.
But Christ saw it fit to remind us where we really fall in the scheme of things.
When He, who is in very nature God, came here – to join our world that is aimed at success and pleasure – he considered it becoming nothing. See, what we think of as "something" God sees as something less.
“…but made himself nothing taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”
To be a human was, for Christ, to be nothing. But wait, there’s more! Christ (who is naturally God) did not just make himself something less. He made himself less than something less.
“And being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross!”
God – became a man – and died. That’s not exactly nothing, but He had to become nothing to get there.
We, as the “somethings” that we think we are, are told to have that same attitude. To look at the nothingness that Christ took on, to dwell on the less than nothingness to which he humbled himself, and to see that to be something less really shows something much, much more.
From "Sacred Poems"
What did the Lamb that he should need,
When the wolf sins, himself to bleed?
Why should his unstain’d breast make good
My blushes with his own heart-blood?
O my Savior! make me see
How dearly you have paid for me;
That lost again, my life may prove
As then in death, so now in love.
~Richard Crenshaw
“What are you guys talking about?” “Nothing.”
“What do you want to do tonight?” “Nothing.”
“What did you learn in class today?” “Nothing.”
Of course, we never mean nothing, but rather something less. We were talking about something less than you should know, or tonight I want to do something less than usual, or in class today I learned something less than you might hope for based on your contributions to my TMS payments.
As people, we consider ourselves to be "something" – maybe even a big "something." We work tirelessly at our jobs and our studies, we invest in our relationships and portfolios, we establish our households and our corporate empires, all in an effort to “make something” of ourselves.
But Christ saw it fit to remind us where we really fall in the scheme of things.
When He, who is in very nature God, came here – to join our world that is aimed at success and pleasure – he considered it becoming nothing. See, what we think of as "something" God sees as something less.
“…but made himself nothing taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”
To be a human was, for Christ, to be nothing. But wait, there’s more! Christ (who is naturally God) did not just make himself something less. He made himself less than something less.
“And being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross!”
God – became a man – and died. That’s not exactly nothing, but He had to become nothing to get there.
We, as the “somethings” that we think we are, are told to have that same attitude. To look at the nothingness that Christ took on, to dwell on the less than nothingness to which he humbled himself, and to see that to be something less really shows something much, much more.
From "Sacred Poems"
What did the Lamb that he should need,
When the wolf sins, himself to bleed?
Why should his unstain’d breast make good
My blushes with his own heart-blood?
O my Savior! make me see
How dearly you have paid for me;
That lost again, my life may prove
As then in death, so now in love.
~Richard Crenshaw
Monday, April 16, 2007
darts
ffffffffffffwwwwt
Unable to dodge this time, the arrow goes straight into his right shoulder. As the pain shoots through his entire body he drops to the ground, gasping for breath. He stays on his knees, his right arm lifeless beside him, and the world around him begins to fade to black. Blinking hard, he looks up and sees his friends' faces still hard and stern with zeal. He screams and, biting the pain, raises his sword to strike another enemy through.
ffffffffffffwwwwt
Another hits him dead on, this time penetrating his stomach. Again, he falls to the ground, but quickly regains his footing. With the little strength he has left, his right arm still hanging limp at his side, he stands to continue the defenses. He blows his horn for more assistance, he strikes another blow.
ffffffffffffwwwwt
Right in his neck - but this is no arrow. He is hit with a tranquilizer dart. The enemy saw that he was too determined to be defeated by mere blades. Almost immediately he collapses on the ground. Desperate to fight through the pain he determines to stand up...but still he lies there. There's no feeling in his legs, his arms are numb, and he can't even feel the pain from his wounds. He's unable to move, unable to defend himself, unable to run to shelter. The enemy continues to shoot at him and stomp on him and spit in his face. Still, he lies there - paralyzed.
What if his allies, his closest companions, ran past him saying, "It'll go away soon," or "You need to go get help for that," or "Yeah, and look at how hard I'm having to fight."
Or what if they told him, "Pray and read your Bible"?
I've been in this battle so many times, and when you're fighting as hard as you can while your friend just lies on the ground it's so easy to say "pray about it" or "how are your devotions?" or maybe even "you must have some awful sin in your life." But when it's me lying immobile in my own blood - my enemies pummeling me - and I feel like there's no hope because I'm stuck all I want is to hear someone say "Hold on, I'm coming!"
In life I'm fighting alongside my brothers and sisters, and there are times when I get struck time after time after time. I'm wearing my armor, I'm fighting hard, I'm surviving...until finally Satan paralyzes me and I fall to the ground unable to fight him anymore. Then, with sincere pleasure and satisfaction, he beats me senseless with his hateful lies.
When that happens, there is nothing better than one of my fellow soldiers running to where I am and shouting, "Don't worry, Abby, I've got you covered!" They come to hold their shield of faith out over me, to swing their sword of the Spirit above my head. They come wearing the same belt of truth that I have (only mine has been covered in dirt and blood). These are my allies, these are my teammates, these are what I desperately need and what I want to be when my brothers and sisters are under siege.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
~Ephesians 6:12
But encourage one another daily as long as it is called Today so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
~Hebrews 3:13
Unable to dodge this time, the arrow goes straight into his right shoulder. As the pain shoots through his entire body he drops to the ground, gasping for breath. He stays on his knees, his right arm lifeless beside him, and the world around him begins to fade to black. Blinking hard, he looks up and sees his friends' faces still hard and stern with zeal. He screams and, biting the pain, raises his sword to strike another enemy through.
ffffffffffffwwwwt
Another hits him dead on, this time penetrating his stomach. Again, he falls to the ground, but quickly regains his footing. With the little strength he has left, his right arm still hanging limp at his side, he stands to continue the defenses. He blows his horn for more assistance, he strikes another blow.
ffffffffffffwwwwt
Right in his neck - but this is no arrow. He is hit with a tranquilizer dart. The enemy saw that he was too determined to be defeated by mere blades. Almost immediately he collapses on the ground. Desperate to fight through the pain he determines to stand up...but still he lies there. There's no feeling in his legs, his arms are numb, and he can't even feel the pain from his wounds. He's unable to move, unable to defend himself, unable to run to shelter. The enemy continues to shoot at him and stomp on him and spit in his face. Still, he lies there - paralyzed.
What if his allies, his closest companions, ran past him saying, "It'll go away soon," or "You need to go get help for that," or "Yeah, and look at how hard I'm having to fight."
Or what if they told him, "Pray and read your Bible"?
I've been in this battle so many times, and when you're fighting as hard as you can while your friend just lies on the ground it's so easy to say "pray about it" or "how are your devotions?" or maybe even "you must have some awful sin in your life." But when it's me lying immobile in my own blood - my enemies pummeling me - and I feel like there's no hope because I'm stuck all I want is to hear someone say "Hold on, I'm coming!"
In life I'm fighting alongside my brothers and sisters, and there are times when I get struck time after time after time. I'm wearing my armor, I'm fighting hard, I'm surviving...until finally Satan paralyzes me and I fall to the ground unable to fight him anymore. Then, with sincere pleasure and satisfaction, he beats me senseless with his hateful lies.
When that happens, there is nothing better than one of my fellow soldiers running to where I am and shouting, "Don't worry, Abby, I've got you covered!" They come to hold their shield of faith out over me, to swing their sword of the Spirit above my head. They come wearing the same belt of truth that I have (only mine has been covered in dirt and blood). These are my allies, these are my teammates, these are what I desperately need and what I want to be when my brothers and sisters are under siege.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
~Ephesians 6:12
But encourage one another daily as long as it is called Today so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
~Hebrews 3:13
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)