_____/!\_____
At least thats what the late David Foster Wallace (DFW) said. DFW believed that everyone worshiped something. Anyway, I was intrigued by a quote of his, so I made the below… I don’t know if DFW was a Christian, but its an interesting though not well known fact that he did attend church weekly.
~ The following excerpt is from a post on Dr. David Murray’s blog, Head Heart Hand. It contains a lesson that I do not want to forget, so I am posting a part of it here. Its a note that Dr. Murray has taken from a book (down below) on Harry S. Truman, the 33rd President of the United States.
“Looking back, however, his biographer highlighted one pivotal period in his life. Truman took seriously ill with diphtheria while in first grade and was packed in snow to try and reduce his dangerous fever. He ended up being paralyzed for a year, but it was during that year when he took up reading. He read the Bible, especially Matthew and Exodus, but he also read a set of books, called Heroes of History. As he read about Moses, Cyrus, Hannibal, the Duke of Wellington, Ulysses Grant, and many others, he noticed one common trait in them all. Here’s how he put it in his diary:
“In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves . . . Self-discipline with all of them came first.”
It was a trait that he himself quietly cultivated and strengthened over many years and through many difficult providences, never realizing the greatness he was being prepared for.”
~To Do: Continue to look into 1 Corinthians 4:1-4 and also what Tim Keller says about it in his book, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness.
4 This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. 2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. 3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. 4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.
The above relates to identity.
snip: “I care very little if I am judged by you…”
Quite often people tell us who we are. For better or worse, this can have a powerful impact on us. The whole 1000+ pages of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables is all about that. Let me slip that in. Why not?
From Fantine, Book 1, An Upright Man, I., Monsieur Myriel – Paragraph 2
“Although it in no way concerns our story, it might be worthwhile, if only for the sake of accuracy, to mention the rumors and gossip about him that were making the rounds when he first came to the diocese. Whether true or false, what is said about men often has as much influence on their lives, and particularly on their destinies, as what they do.“ ~ Victor Hugo
So people – you, Joe, Jane, Jasminder, etc., judge us and in that process unwittingly tell us who we are or think we are. This can have a powerful molding effect.
snip: “…or by any human court.”
Like so with human institutions. They too can judge us and in effect tell us who we are or think we are. So and so forth.
However… here comes the “Huh?” The apostle Paul says also,
snip: “… indeed, I do not even judge myself.”
~ Huh? What does that mean?
~ I am still thinking about this and have not put my thoughts together. I will have to keep reading Keller’s book. I’m think that part of where he is going to go is that we need to be care not to go too far into self-consciousness. There is a certain kind of freedom that comes with not being too self-conscious. My 2 cent suspicion.
Ok. Ciao.
Oh yeah. Le chat! What does the cat have to do with anything here? Nothing. Just was doodling around and did it and so I thought I would throw it in. So zip. Nada. Nothing.
~ I just made this… I see too many internet wars being waged on various social media venues. A lot of it seems to involve persuading others of one’s point of view by way of fixing them, controlling them, shaming them, etc. I don’t think any of it actually works. What happens instead is that people only get hardened in what they already believed in and the rage climbs higher.
~ What people do not seem to realize is that, if you fail to persuade properly (i.e. being rude, crude, etc.), then you actually undo yourself.
~ It could have been otherwise had a less bellicose approach been taken.
~ Just something I did on the side…
Gadugi is a font style of course.
Yes. Of course!
Reworked… take n
I made this using Affinity Designer.
~ The above did not come out quite as I expected. I was doing one thing, then I got an idea for another thing and so took a detour and well, this is what I wound up with. It is something quite different than what I had done on paper. Its a bit of a blah, but oh well whatever.
As for the Hebrew up above, its a partial quote from the book of Amos and it says “The Lord roars from Zion …” Amos is a fairly obscure and unheard of book that nevertheless contains a verse which many people actually might have heard of, viz.,
~~~> “But let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” ~ Amos 5:24
This was a major motto of the Civil Rights Movement in the USA and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. also preached a sermon, “Let Justice Roll Down” referring to it. In addition, he also referred to it in his unforgettably famous “I Have a Dream” speech back in 63′, and that to wit is,
“We cannot be satisfied so long as the Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and the Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied and will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
~ The latter is worth googling if you are not familiar with it. Oks… Ciao…
~ The following is a very touching scene from a movie I saw years ago, the romantic comedy, Jerry Maguire. In this scene, Jerry (Tom Cruise) in so many words, basically affirms his undying love for this woman, Dorothy (Renée Zellweger(!)). What he says is unforgettable:
~ My thought. I’ll be honest. When it comes to the above, I am part of the cynical world. No human completes another. I mean what happens to Maguire if Dorothy dies tomorrow?
Does he go back to being incomplete?
~ The following is a post that I have had in [Draft] status for a long time. Its an essay that I’ve worked on over and over but just have not been able to fix its numerous aching defects. So… So there comes a time, when you just have to put it out there anyway. Oh well. So it goes. Whatever. So anyway, here it is. What can I say? The time has come to put this to death by giving it life.
Pablo Picasso speaks to the fallen-ness of this world. His paintings are at first blush misshapen, grotesque, distorted, tortuous and bitterly twisted! I.e. They are fallen. However on second blush, and third what one can draw out of his work is beauty. And this is an interesting sort of beauty that one can draw out, for it is something like a fallen beauty, that is to say, it is something sourced in or derived from something fallen. It is a beauty from ugliness.
This world presents to us both ugliness and beauty in all its glory. Just turn on the evening news or open up the papers. From tornadoes ravaging Iowa to an 80 year old steam pipe blast in Manhattan spewing asbestos everywhere, what we find is a glorious ugliness. This is the world that you and I live in. Its broken. However this is also the world that Picasso lived in and grappled with and therein lies hope. Consider the following painting by Picasso, Guernica.
At first blush, a Guernica world sees the world in black and white. Here truth begets truth and only begets truth. Here too beauty begets beauty, goodness, goodness, and of course lie begets lie, ugliness, ugliness and so on. Indeed here, Guernica begets Guernica and only itself. It begins with itself and dies with and within itself. It is its own grave. At first blush.
Yet Guernica is only one painting. When we look at the whole world, we see that there is also another begetting, and this is grace begetting grace. This is a very different kind of begetting, for grace begets itself through others.
On second blush, Grace draws color out of Guernica and gives one eyes to see the Guernica behind the Guernica. The world is not simply about good people doing good things and bad people doing bad things – do’s and don’ts without a divine Because. No, grace takes you out of a gaunt What and takes you to a transcendental Why, and all through a heavenly Who.
Picasso painted Guernica in 1937. He painted it in response to the Nazi bombing of the Basque village of Guernica in Spain. Picasso never really explained Guernica all that much. I don’t know why. Perhaps he wanted you to blush twice. If you think hard enough about Guernica or any work of art, you will find yourself seeking seeking something more, something greater, something wondrous, and yea even exhilarating – something that can only come by way of grace. This takes us to the primary work that is of grace.
When grace begets grace, then ugliness begets beauty. This is what grace does. It draws out beauty from ugliness, not simply beauty from beauty. When grace begets grace, it draws out good from bleak and hopeless, yea even evil situations. Grace redeems. When grace begets grace, it draws out a truth that is felt from a truth that is just bare-bones known. As it says in the Good Book, “Love rejoices with the truth” (1 Cor. 13:6). Love does not and cannot simply know the truth.
When grace begets grace, you see Picasso’s full palette.
~ I found the following article which taking a look at the Articles list at Crossway Books:
10 Things You Should Know about Sex by Paul David Tripp
~ I want to basically excerpt something that he said and post it here:
“4. Sex cannot satisfy your heart.
Sex is powerfully pleasurable, but it cannot satisfy your heart. The touch of another person stimulates your body and your heart, but it never leaves you fulfilled. …
Whether we know it or not, every human being lives in search of a savior. We are all propelled by a quest for identity, inner peace, and some kind of meaning and purpose. And we all look for it somewhere. Here’s the bottom line: looking to creation to get what only the Creator can give you always results in addiction of some kind.”
~ What is of interest to me is are the four things that Tripp mentions that he thinks all people are in a quest for. Here are the four with my own elaborations:
~ Here also is a brief clip on who Tripp is: 
Paul David Tripp (DMin, Westminster Theological Seminary) is a pastor, author, and international conference speaker. He is also the president of Paul Tripp Ministries.
~ Just made the following w/ Affinity Designer. I had in mind to do a certain something with the line work, but so far have not succeeded in doing that something. Oh. Well – another day I suppose. In the meantime, I guess I will go read something by Hemingway or someone … Siyanaras!
~ In the book of Exodus, we find mentioned, two artists par excellent. These are Bezalel and Oholiab. One place among many that you can read about them is Exodus 35:30-35,
30 Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 31 and He has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all kinds of skills— 32 to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, 33 to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic crafts. 34 And He has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamak, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. (NIV)
~ Now what I find interesting about this verse is that it is saying not only that God gave these guys the ability to do art, but God also gave them the ability to teach others how to do art.
As regards verse 34, Walt Kaiser says in his commentary,
“Verse 34 adds that Bezalel is given “the ability to teach others,” a capability of training and guiding assistants who work with these two artificers. All the abilities these gifted craftsmen own come from the expertise God has given to them.”
~ Kaiser, Jr., Walter C., Exodus (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary) (Kindle Locations 7881-7883). Zondervan.
~ I find this interesting because we meet a lot of people in life who are super-smart at Neuroscience or Astrophysics or whatever, but you ask them to explain one jot of it and in no time, they are sort of out in who-knows-where-land and you have no clue what they are talking about. And… and … they don’t quite get that you don’t get it. They just keep going, going, going. The plane is not about to land anytime soon.
All that said and aside – two quick points:
No. Point in fact, people need to be taught how to teach, not just be told to teach or assumed able to teach. Teaching is an area we all need to grow in.
~ I just discovered this quote by Russian Philosopher and Poet, Vladimir Solovyov (1853-1900). I so liked the sarcasm and humor in it, that I had to make something. Here it what I made using Affinity Designer. (Photos courtesy Wiki.)
~ I am surprised I missed this poem. I thought I had posted on it before… but in doing a search through my posts, I cannot find it. Soeee….here it is – Palanquin Bearers by the poet, writer and former President of the Indian National Congress, Sarojini Naidu (1879-1949). I have to post the poem, because it bears an interesting contrast with Song of Songs.
Palanquin Bearers by Sarojini Naidu
Lightly, O lightly we bear her along,
She sways like a flower in the wind of our song;
She skims like a bird on the foam of a stream,
She floats like a laugh from the lips of a dream.
Gaily, O gaily we glide and we sing,
We bear her along like a pearl on a string.
Softly, O softly we bear her along,
She hangs like a star in the dew of our song;
She springs like a beam on the brow of the tide,
She falls like a tear from the eyes of a bride.
Lightly, O lightly we glide and we sing,
We bear her along like a pearl on a string.
Just doodling around… two takes…
~ I am reading a really interesting article, A Way Forward For Pastor-Apologists: Navigating The Apologetic Method Debate by Joshua D. Chatraw, which discusses four echoes of God’s voice that take us beyond our everyday mundane reality (or at least push in that direction).
Chatraw sources the ideas for these four echoes from the N.T. Wright book, Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense. Since I do not have that book, I cannot source the original discussion and so I am just going to take notes by doing a cut and paste from the Chatraw article which can be found online (pdf).
Here is the excerpt which I find fascinating:
“N. T. Wright’s book Simply Christian serves as an example of what could be called soft experiential/narratival apologetics.36
Four basic human experiences,
namely
the quest for spirituality,
a longing for justice,
a hunger for relationships,
and a delight in beauty
(which Wright describes as the “echoes of a voice”), function as the threads that run through this apologetic.37 Wright takes up each of these signposts one at a time, connecting Christian belief with common human experience.
For instance, in reference to the “echo” of a longing for justice, Wright asserts that “simply being human and living in the world” means we have an intuitive desire for justice.38 The Christian story offers an explanation, suggesting that obtaining justice “remains one of the great human goals and dreams” because we have all “heard, deep within [our]selves, the echo of a voice which calls us to live like that.” Moreover, the Christian story explains that the source of this voice, God himself, became human in the person of Jesus Christ and did what was necessary in order that justice could ultimately be done for all.39
Essentially, what Wright is saying is, “Just about everyone has this sense that things are just not right with the world? So, what story best explains this intuition and provides the resources for us to respond appropriately? In addition to a longing for justice, Wright does this with each of the four human experiences—commending the Christian story as the best account of the human experience.”
~ The following is a book that Dr. Chatraw has recently published along with Dr. Mark D. Allen which also discusses the above issue.
~ I would take notes from there however, I currently have the book in audio format only, and not in print.
~ The following is an old devotional from John Piper that I do not wish to forget:
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. (Psalm 42:11)
We must learn to fight despondency. The fight is a fight of faith in future grace. It is fought by preaching truth to ourselves about God and his promised future.
This is what the psalmist does in Psalm 42. The psalmist preaches to his troubled soul. He scolds himself and argues with himself. And his main argument is future grace: “Hope in God! — Trust in what God will be for you in the future. A day of praise is coming. The presence of the Lord will be all the help you need. And he has promised to be with us forever.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones believes this issue of preaching truth to ourselves about God’s future grace is all-important in overcoming spiritual depression.
Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but they start talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking . . . yourself is talking to you!
The battle against despondency is a battle to believe the promises of God. And that belief in God’s future grace comes by hearing the Word. And so preaching to ourselves is at the heart of the battle.
~ The below painting dates back to the early 14th century. It is by the Persian historian, writer and vizier, Muhammad Bal’ami. I found it on Wiki. It is part of work called the Tarikh-i Bal’ami, which since I do not know Arabic, I cannot comment on.
~ We are all familiar with the story of David and Goliath. Here are some thoughts and snips from an email I sent to some of my friends:
“Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah. 2 Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. 3 The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.” ~ 1 Sam. 17
So the Valley of Elah is shaped like a triangle and you have the Israelites on one side and the Philistines on the other, each camped on the hills. The Valley itself is empty down below. So here is the logic of the landscape:
~ Goliath notwithstanding, whoever goes down first into the valley – whether it be the Israelites or whether it be the Philistines – are at a disadvantage. Why? (1) Those going first, will have to face a hail of arrows, javelins, spears, sling-stones and rocks coming down from the other army up on the mountainside, and (2) if they make it through all that and on to the bottom of the Valley, then they have to run uphill to face the enemy. This is tiresome.
So the question becomes – who will go down first? Who will enter the Valley first? So you taunt, jeer, and hurl challenges to the other side to get them to come down first. Or … Or you settle it quick by having your champions meet, then let them have it out, pne against the other and then let it be decided right there and then. All that simply to say…
“Walk Into Your Weakness!”
~ We often like walking or operating in our strengths. However there are going to be various times in life where we will be called to walk into our weakness. That is to say, we will have to step into an area of life where we will find ourselves unable to call a single muscle fiber to action and find ourself paralyzed – though with a thousand nerve fibers firing! And yet, we will find that when we walk into our weakness, then “…thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ”.
Why? Because 2 Cor. 12:9 tells us that God’s strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Cor 12:11 also says “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Weakness seems to be God’s preferred weapon. It is a major theme of not just 2 Cor 12, but the whole book of 2 Corinthians.
In meditating on 1 Sam 17, I see weakness in action in two ways.
First David walks into weakness, by not donning any armor, sword, helmet, etc. Contrast this with Goliath’s glitzy armored car display.
Second when David defeats Goliath (weakness triumphant!), the Israelites follow suit and walk – nay! – run into weakness.They charge into the Valley of Elah. They run into a position of vulnerability, i.e. a strategically weak position in the Valley, where they ought to meet an hail of arrows, javelins, spears, sling-stones and heck boulders being hurled or rolled down on them. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory!
So – what are your weaknesses? Could God be calling you to walk into some of them? To take off the worldly armor of Goliath and put on the invisible armor of God. So what are your weaknesses? Public speaking? Talking to a relative about anger management issues? Talking to a difficult person at the workplace? What is your Valley of Elah?
(~ Did not know that there was a movie with said name. I have not seen yet it so I am not endorsing it, although Tommy Lee Jones is a great actor.)
Where does the pursuit of the self ultimately lead us?
Nowhere but dissatisfaction . . .
~ Very recently there have been a number of disconcerting things taking place in the USA. These have to do with not only an event happening, but so also the response to them. Act and response have both been ugly. Here is my two cents worth on this:
~ While you can win a battle once and only once, you can most certainly lose it twice.
One sultry afternoon while walking the streets of Brooklyn, I snapped this…
~ I daresay, I rather like this photo, though I think I can improve upon it… If I make it back there… snap…
~ One bright sunny and very hot day while walking down Scott Street, I saw this and snapped a quick one:
Should have done a better job but I was in mid-walk and in a hurry.
The artwork here in this post is from the likes of George Tooker, Andrew Wyeth and Alex Colville. Their work has been described as being a part of a movement called Magic Realism (MR). Other Magical Realist’s are Jared French, Paul Cadmus, Frida Kahlo, Edward Hopper, etc.
Thats the artistic side of things. Magical Realism also comes in the form of a Literary movement and that is what I want to comment on here.
Magical Realism ala Literature apparently has to do with treating/perceiving what is magical as though is were everyday ordinary and everyday real. Something magical is either (a) treated or (b) perceived as just one more happening among many other happenings. Some example of Magical Realists writers are Gabriel García Márquez, Isabel Allende, Jorge Luis Borges, etc.
Example:
So for example, the Gabriel García Márquez story, A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings is about – wiki excerpt –> “… a very old man with enormous wings who appears in a families’ backyard on a stormy night. What follows are the reactions of the family, a town, and outside visitors.”
So an angel is treated as just another person – not as someone to be marvelled at or responded to with awe and wonder. The title of the story says it all – A Very Old Man…
Another Example:
Or more humorously – going back a few thousand years even, there is the story of the Exodus in the Bible, where the Israelites have left a harsh Egypt and en route have seen some pretty remarkable things like the Red Sea parting, bitter water turning sweet or living under a Pillar of Fire by night and a Pillar of Cloud by day and yet they …
“… and again the Israelites wept and said, ‘Who will feed us meat? We remember the fish we ate freely in Egypt, along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. But now our appetite is gone; there is nothing to see but this manna!'” ~ Numbers 11
That said,
IF the following approximates what MR is – or at least captures one major idea embedded in it:
Magical Realism: treating that which is extraordinary and say supra-real as though it were just plain ordinary or everyday real.
THEN I want to make a claim, that all people have within them a Magical Realist impulse to some degree. ALL. And I think I see this impulse everywhere.
(1) Daily Life:
So for example, there are atheists who will say that they do not believe that God exists. Yet when a difficult situation in life takes place, they will get angry and reply with a “How can God …?” ~ This has been documented in Psych journals.
Then there are those folks who say that they believe that God exists, yet live like there is no God. Functional Atheism?
Then there are people like me who believe that God exists and who believes that he has seen some things go down in life that are inexplicable apart from God, and yet balk when a situation demands and exercise of faith.
(2) Daily Life – In the Books – Literary Devices
Writers develop their stories via various literary devices such as foreshadowing, symbolism, synecdoche, metaphor, etc.
So when I read the Great Gatsby, its a very normal part of my reading and processing to construe the green light as something symbolic of Gatsby’s hopes, dreams and even a longing for a special someone, viz. Daisy.
Why is this normal? Why do we accept the use of literary devices so matter-of-factly when in print? What I mean is this – when I look out the window, and if it is cloudy and raining, I do not interpret this as meaning, that 10, 15 years from now my life will be dismal. No? If that were so then that would be miraculous indeed.
If symbolism does not exist in daily life then how did it creep into our literature?
Morever how are we to understand it when authors like Carl Sagan or Jean Paul Sarte use it literary capacity to make a point such as God not existing and this life, from rocks to big rocks and from atoms to molecules, i.e. little rocks, is all that there is?
Ans. Magical Realism – We have within ourselves a Magic Realist impulse.
Literary devices are mini miracles. To treat them as staid and to employ them against a cause that demands their very existence is odd.
(3) The Paradox of Fiction
– describes what happens when we treat or react to something that is not real, (e.g. fiction) as though it were real.
So the question here is – Why do I read Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and weep even though I know that none of this really happened? Its not real.
If I tell you that Joe died and Joe is standing next to you, you will not weep. Why? Because you know it never really happened. Its not real.
So why do we react to something as though it were real, when it is in fact not real?
I want to answer once again – Magic Realism – however as I keep thinking I suspect that the dot doesn’t quite connect. Hmmm… No maybe it does connect.
Authors like Albert Camus either perceive symbols as quite ordinary (the bread in The Stranger) or deliberately treat symbols as ordinary in order to argue for a world that is quite drab and really worse than ordinary.
This is Magical Realism. At the very least it belies an impulse that drives it.
Ok. I’ll end here.
All that said and aside – a disclaimer… scratchwork, patchwork, these are just loose and wandering back-of-the-mind thoughts that I am trying to stitch together. Its still rough.
~ I just put the following together in a really quick slapdash manner. I used Affinity Designer to make it. While I am behind on posts that I want to put up here – I do not want to lose sight of this quote… so …
~ I randomly made the following bird in Affinity Designer yesterday and thought to myself:
“Hey you know? This could be an Easter thing.”
~ How so? Well Easter is generally when we dress in bright colors when we are off to church. And its about the Resurrection! New Life! And its no coincidence that it takes place roughly at the beginning of Spring – when the birds start chirping, the plants – the trees start budding, the flowers start blooming and scents start filling the air. Easter is when color comes out.
So… here it is…
*Artistic Note on the side: Yes. I know – the bird needs a few tweaks here and there, but you reach that point sometimes – that “Ehhh-point!”, where you are just like “Y’know what? I’m done…So it goes.”
You might be familiar with the following verse and the idea therein:
“But, speaking the truth in love …” ~ Ephesians 4:15
What is interesting is that this verse in the original Greek,
“ἀληθεύοντες δὲ ἐν ἀγάπῃ …”
can also quite literally be rendered as,
“Truthing in love”.
(*Note: I made the above at this website: http://schooart.weebly.com/graffiti-creator.html and then modified it in Clip Studio Paint.)
TRUTH-ING!
~ I really like this word. Truthing refers not only to speaking but so also to doing – doing truth that is. Its truth in action. Truth in motion. Its truth in 3D. It is what we see in our daily lives with our two eyes. Indeed, it is truth for the eye, not just the ear.
The NET Bible puts it as follows: “But practicing the truth in love …” ~ Ephesians 4:15
~ Again, notice that the NET Bible translation indicates that truthing involves more than just talk. It involves action also. It about truth-doing. Ephesians is not the only place where you see this.
“Hezekiah … did the good, the right and the truth.” ~ 2 Chron. 31:20
or
“Thou has done truth, and we have acted wickedly.” ~ Nehemiah 9:33
or
If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. ~ 1 John 1:6
or
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship … in truth…” ~ John 4:23
There is something to be said about truth being done in 3D, that is live before our eyes. Indeed, there is such a thing as visual truth. Truth sometimes comes to us not just in books, but in a pictorial fashion. There is truth attached to our actions and behaviors. Our actions are not to be deceptive, phony, sneaky, cunning, misleading, dissimulating, etc. They – our very actions and not just our words – are to be truthful.
~~~> We are to be truthing!
For further online reading, see also:
(1) Ephesians 4: Truthing in love @ Knowing God through His Word … Day by Day
(2) Ephesians (ESV Edition): The Mystery of the Body of Christ by R. Kent Hughes
~ In this post, I want to bring to a close, a series where I attempt to explain the theological concepts of monergism and synergism. Ok… getting to it.
So I mentioned in a prior post, that synergism is what you get where both God and people in involved in some work. Its a BOTH-AND principle involving an Invisible Hand. Monergism on the other Hand(!) is what you have when God does all the work. We are involved, but only in a passive sort of a way. Lets look at these from the vantage point of the previously mentioned stories.
Manoah & Wife:
When the angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah and his wife and told them that they were going to give birth to Samson, what did Manoah and his wife do?
Did they just simply sit down at the window, watch the clouds go by and twiddle their thumbs for 9 months? Did they decide that they should just wait and do nothing until the baby just showed up?
No. Once God had told Manoah and wife that they would have a baby, then they had to get down to business. I.e. Manoah and wife had to yada yada yada in order to conceive. This is synergism. Both God and people were involved.
The same goes for Zechariah and Elizabeth, Isaac and Rebekah, Abraham and Sarah and so on. Once it was divinely revealed to them that they would have a child, then they had something to do. God had already begun to do His part. They now had to do their part.
Mary, the mother of Jesus:
Now let us step out of the above scenarios and go to Mary, the mother of Jesus.
~ As we all know, in the case of Mary, once the angel Gabriel made the announcement that she was to be with child, she was to do nothing. She was to remain a virgin. There was to be no yada yada yada with Joseph. They would not be coming together. Unlike the above cases, Mary could only passively receive this gift. Her having a child was wholly a work of God. Amen! This is monergism.
So in my previous post on the above, I said that I would try to explain monergism and synergism vis a viz instances of it in the Bible and that I would be going to a rather odd place to explain this… well here goes.
Barren Women in the Bible:
~ In the Bible, there are a number of stories told women who for whatever reason were unable to have a child. Let me recant some of these:
(1) Abraham & Sarah:
In Genesis we have the story of the angels appearing to Abraham and Sarah and telling them that come Spring, they would have a child. And come Spring thats exactly what happens. The crazy thing about this story is that Abraham is a 100 years old at this time, and Sarah, 90 years old.
(2) Isaac & Rebekah:
Another story from Genesis is that of Rebekah, Isaac’s wife (Genesis 24-25). Rebekah struggled with childlessness for many years and as the story is told, her husband, Isaac put really put it to prayer (possibly 20 years straight!) and then Rebekah eventually gave birth to the twins, Jacob and Esau.
(3) Hannah & Elkanah:
Another story is that of Hannah (1 Samuel 1). She too was unable to have children and was in deep grief over the matter. However she prayed persistently over the matter and God answered her prayers and she gave birth to Samuel.
(4) The Shunammite:
In 1 Kings we have the story of the Shunammite who I assume is an elderly woman. The prophet Elisha says to her “At this time next year you will have a son in your arms,” and to which she responds with a “No, my lord. Man of God, do not deceive your servant.” Yet at precisely that time, the following year, she gives birth to a son.
(5) Jacob & Rachel, Manoah & his wife, Zechariah & Elizabeth …
As I said, the stories can be multiplied. We also have the story of Jacob and Rachel, the story of Manoah and his wife and then Zechariah and Elizabeth. All of these are stories involving a woman who is barren for a long while and then giving birth.
(6) And yet… still one more …sort of ~~~> the Virgin Mary
And… AND… we also have the angel Gabriel appearing to the virgin Mary and telling her that she will also give birth to the Messiah.
But wait! “Mary was not barren!” you say. I know, but I need this to make a contrasting point, so I need to mention her also. Like the above stories, Mary’s was also not a run of the mill pregnancy either. The circumstances under which she gave birth were also quite unusual.
And… and I will continue on in my next and final post.
Just made this…
Its Lent, a season where we consider our wretchedness (i.e. sin) and furthermore repent of it.
~ I think Pascal’s Paradox points out our simultaneous wretchedness and greatness. However the greatness that it points out is also a wretched greatness, because it cannot get you beyond the human level. You need a greatness that transcends, and that can only come from God.
If you keep looking at human greatness, you will keep falling back into the wretchedness.
Every now and then in theology, a couple of words can crop up, viz. monergism and synergism – that can be somewhat difficult to grasp. Part of the reason why these concepts are difficult to grasp is that they often arise within the context of discussions of another theological concept that is difficult to grasp, viz. regeneration.
Regeneration refers to that first moment in time when one becomes born again or born from above. It is that moment when God imparts new spiritual life to a person, and subsequent to which various other things (faith, conversion, sanctification, etc.) follow. A key point to get across about regeneration is that it is wholly a work of God. From start to finish, it is something that God brings about in an individual. It is not something that we can muster up of our own selves. No, rather we are completely passive in the act and God does it all.
This is where the term monergism comes in. Monergism refers to any and every event where God is the sole actor. The prefix mon (i.e. mono) means one and the word erg (from ergon) means work. So from here we get the idea of One person doing all the work. Regeneration is a monergistic moment in the life a person.
In contrast we have the word synergism. Here we have a different prefix, syn, which is referring to the idea of “together with”. In synergism we are talking about two persons working together, i.e. God and man. Sanctification is synergistic. Synergism and all that can be categorized under it, flows out of that first monergistic moment.
Getting difficult? Est-ce difficile?
It is a bit difficult, no? Not to worry however because I think I bring to the fore some concrete examples of this that will clear it all up.
Ok… Lets begin. . . . at an odd place. However in the next post.
Other Stuff I’ve Written:
~ Monergism & Synergism ~ Notes…
~ I made this last night. What Müller is basically talking about is the fact that every morning, unless he was happy, satisfied and glad with God, he would not leave his room. That is how he lived his life.
