When I talk to someone about Christian things, I usually talk about what I have seen and heard. I share my experiences, and my theories about God, about Jesus, about the world, about people, according to ‘what makes sense’ in the real world. If I had to choose between accepting that horses exist or that [...]
When I talk to someone about Christian things, I usually talk about what I have seen and heard. I share my experiences, and my theories about God, about Jesus, about the world, about people, according to ‘what makes sense’ in the real world. If I had to choose between accepting that horses exist or that fairies exist, I would choose horses, because I have experienced it. I wonder how possible it is that the things I cannot see, or have not experienced are just as likely to be real. Is it possible that things I don’t know about may carry more importance to me than even things I can see? Could it be that God’s presence in the world is more often than not hidden, and that I can only know him through what I see in the form of parables?
Does not the bible say that the wrath of God is being revealed against the world through the process of God having handed us over to indulge in the behaviour of our own choosing (Romans Ch 1)? Therefore are not the lives we are living, that which we know and see and hear, what we touch, taste and feel, is this existence of ours, is it not our punishment? Could it be that every morning we wake to a day that proclaims the justice of God; every day we are witnesses of his glory, of his patience, of his forgiveness; not by our many or few good deeds, but by the evil in our hearts. Are not all the horrible stories we hear on the news merely testimonies to God’s greatness? God handed us over to this world not as victims or because he is cruel, but because the opposite is true. We are cruel and he has a kinder heart than we can imagine. So far saying this seems to go against the grain, and is NOT what I experience. After all “what kind of God would let children starve?”
The message of Jesus when properly understood opens a chasm before us, into which we find ourselves falling, yet never free of the edge. We are told of heaven a place free of pain, and simultaneously asked to surrender our lives in service to perpetrators of violence. We are given knowledge of the only real love that exists, of the God who surrounds us with kindness and forgiveness, of freedom from our guilt, and then we are told to hope, to wait, to endure, to maintain our focus, to not lose sight of these grand epiphanies. The bible writers were writing letters to train Christians in steadfastness. The temptation is to choose one way or the other: to believe that this world is our calling and destiny and that God’s intention is to help us live in this world; the other road to hell is to hate this world, to despise our punishment. God would have us follow the example of his Son Jesus, who neither had a home on earth, nor harbored anger towards his perpetrators; he was neither an instrument of peace on earth, nor destruction. Jesus was aware of the temporary nature of all he could see and touch and feel.
Is there a tension? What do you reckon?
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