Remember those who were taken to preserve we who are left behind;Pray for we left behind that we will preserve the honor of those taken.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Rambling on About Spiders and Moths
In "Design", Robert Frost asked what brought the spider to that height, what brought the moth; Predestination or chance? We also must ask what brought the man to the edge of the cliff in the last post. Spiders spin where spiders spin and moths fly where moth's fly, but people wander where they wish. Spider's may be predestined to spin webs to catch food and moth's may chance to be caught in sticky strands, but humans act with free will.
When I go on a walk, I choose from many venues. There are factors that play into my choice, yet often it is because I enjoy variety. Chance seldom, if ever plays a part in where I walk, unless you say when I was in Washington DC I walked around the mall and when I was in New York I walked up Broadway. If I walked well-worn routes in strange cities it was because I was in a strange city to me, not by chance. There were reasons I was in that city.
I do not see predestination in where I walk near where I live. Most of those walks are uneventful, just a bit of exercise enjoying the peace of my surroundings. Sometimes something does happen and it is significant that I happen to be there when it happened. In some such cases, I believe God did direct my feet in that direction.
God is not easily understood and even harder to explain. For instance, Matthew 11:29-30 quotes Jesus saying, "take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Yet just a
few verses earlier in Matthew 10:38 Christ states, "and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me". This seems contradictory.
When one thinks of bearing their cross, they have to envision Christ bearing his cross up Golgotha, beaten and bloody, going to his death in torture. If we are yoked to Christ in this, how can it be easy and light? Because the cross is for the flesh and the yoke is for the soul, and understanding the concept and knowing the experience does not make it easy to illustrate in words.
Frankly, we all bear our crosses. If we are alone, disconnected to God, these crosses will weigh greatly upon us. If we carry our crosses yoked to the Lord that weight will be distributed and easily carried and we will know at the top of our hill we will find rest. See, very, very difficult to convey this.
But what disconnects us from God and adds so much weight to our crosses? Sin. When we yoke to Christ he lifts away our sin and our burden is lightened and we are connected to God.
If we are yoked to Christ, connected to God in this way, then isn't that a form of predestination? After all, if two oxen are yoked together, don't both go in the direction the stronger ox turns? If we are yoked to Christ, who is God and thus the stronger of us, then we must go where God leads, must we not?
No. Christ offers his yoke and says "take my yoke". It rests upon us gently and lightly, unlocked. We have the free will to step from under that yoke. We are not prisoners in a chain gang, forced to obey God's will. We who have put on the yoke with Christ want to obey God's will. But sometimes we slip away and then we add weight to our crosses until we ask to come back under the yoke. Again, hard to make clear with our limitations of language.
One thing that should be clear, however, is how strong our own will can be and that alone should prove against predestination ruling every aspect of our being. If this were not so, then God would have been guilty of the sin when Eve and Adam ate the forbidden fruit, for it would have been predestined to happen. They would have been helpless to resist. I believe man and woman were created perfect, but to be perfect there must be ability to choose. Eve and Adam choose to give into temptation and made themselves imperfect, and their imperfection has been passed down to us all.
Jesus Christ was as much human as he was God, that is, he was all human and he was all Divine. Again, another of those things difficult for us to fully understand. He was born of human egg, but not of human seed. He did not carry Adam's sin in his birth. Still that didn't protect him from human frailty. He was prone to all the hurts and pain of any other human, including all the emotions we feel. Look at his life and you see him tired, you see him joyful, you hear him weep, you watch the fury of his anger, you see the anguish in his prayers just before his arrest. You also see him tempted, but unlike Eve and Adam, he doesn't succumb to the tempting. He resists, he stays in obedience to God the Father and he remains perfect.
But you see in these things that he faced that choice, as do we. Only there have been times I have missed perfection. There have been times when I have stepped over the cliff and clung to some convenient root hoping it would hold me. Fortunately, I believed the voice above that told me to let go and He would save me, and I let go of the roots.
The photograph of Jesus was taken by Nitewrit at the Nashville Country Music Wax Museum in 1975.
When I go on a walk, I choose from many venues. There are factors that play into my choice, yet often it is because I enjoy variety. Chance seldom, if ever plays a part in where I walk, unless you say when I was in Washington DC I walked around the mall and when I was in New York I walked up Broadway. If I walked well-worn routes in strange cities it was because I was in a strange city to me, not by chance. There were reasons I was in that city.
I do not see predestination in where I walk near where I live. Most of those walks are uneventful, just a bit of exercise enjoying the peace of my surroundings. Sometimes something does happen and it is significant that I happen to be there when it happened. In some such cases, I believe God did direct my feet in that direction.
God is not easily understood and even harder to explain. For instance, Matthew 11:29-30 quotes Jesus saying, "take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Yet just a
few verses earlier in Matthew 10:38 Christ states, "and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me". This seems contradictory.When one thinks of bearing their cross, they have to envision Christ bearing his cross up Golgotha, beaten and bloody, going to his death in torture. If we are yoked to Christ in this, how can it be easy and light? Because the cross is for the flesh and the yoke is for the soul, and understanding the concept and knowing the experience does not make it easy to illustrate in words.
Frankly, we all bear our crosses. If we are alone, disconnected to God, these crosses will weigh greatly upon us. If we carry our crosses yoked to the Lord that weight will be distributed and easily carried and we will know at the top of our hill we will find rest. See, very, very difficult to convey this.
But what disconnects us from God and adds so much weight to our crosses? Sin. When we yoke to Christ he lifts away our sin and our burden is lightened and we are connected to God.
If we are yoked to Christ, connected to God in this way, then isn't that a form of predestination? After all, if two oxen are yoked together, don't both go in the direction the stronger ox turns? If we are yoked to Christ, who is God and thus the stronger of us, then we must go where God leads, must we not?
No. Christ offers his yoke and says "take my yoke". It rests upon us gently and lightly, unlocked. We have the free will to step from under that yoke. We are not prisoners in a chain gang, forced to obey God's will. We who have put on the yoke with Christ want to obey God's will. But sometimes we slip away and then we add weight to our crosses until we ask to come back under the yoke. Again, hard to make clear with our limitations of language.
One thing that should be clear, however, is how strong our own will can be and that alone should prove against predestination ruling every aspect of our being. If this were not so, then God would have been guilty of the sin when Eve and Adam ate the forbidden fruit, for it would have been predestined to happen. They would have been helpless to resist. I believe man and woman were created perfect, but to be perfect there must be ability to choose. Eve and Adam choose to give into temptation and made themselves imperfect, and their imperfection has been passed down to us all.
Jesus Christ was as much human as he was God, that is, he was all human and he was all Divine. Again, another of those things difficult for us to fully understand. He was born of human egg, but not of human seed. He did not carry Adam's sin in his birth. Still that didn't protect him from human frailty. He was prone to all the hurts and pain of any other human, including all the emotions we feel. Look at his life and you see him tired, you see him joyful, you hear him weep, you watch the fury of his anger, you see the anguish in his prayers just before his arrest. You also see him tempted, but unlike Eve and Adam, he doesn't succumb to the tempting. He resists, he stays in obedience to God the Father and he remains perfect.
But you see in these things that he faced that choice, as do we. Only there have been times I have missed perfection. There have been times when I have stepped over the cliff and clung to some convenient root hoping it would hold me. Fortunately, I believed the voice above that told me to let go and He would save me, and I let go of the roots.
The photograph of Jesus was taken by Nitewrit at the Nashville Country Music Wax Museum in 1975.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Solitude
I have not posted in a few days. I have been up in the solitude. In my mind I have been seeing that Snow-drop Spider and the kite-like white moth. The poet asked what brought them to this height. I can't answer that question.Was it by design or happenstance? The poet proposes two possibilities: predestination or chance. But spiders spin where they spin and moths fly where they fly. It is only you and I and poets who ponder about this.
And therein lies the other possibility. We are different than bugs and arachnids and all other creatures. I want to ruminate about what it is, this third possibility and that concerns free will verses God's will, sin and suffering, all those little issues.
So I have been silent and listening. I tell you the truth, I do not understand everything about God; but God understands everything about me. He made me, not I Him. I proceed in my musings with caution and prayer. It is not wrong to wonder about the ways of the Lord, but I am sharing my thoughts here and I ask that I don't proceed in error and lead anyone astray.
...let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance--
for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise. Prov 1:5-6
and let the discerning get guidance--
for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise. Prov 1:5-6
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Mia Culpa
I made an egregious assumption the other day. You know what happens when you assume? You make an ass out of U and me. I don't think I made an ass of anyone except myself. Sometimes one over thinks and just as over thinking the distance from one dry rock to another, one may take a fall into the mud.
It began innocently enough with reading comments on my friend's blog. This is a sentence I read: "Meanwhile, please forgive me, but I have tagged you for one of those annoying blogging memes."
Well, there is where I went into over think gear associating the comment with a long running philosophical discussion of what is a meme and an oft-sited association to a social virus. Obviously being naive to the greater world of blogging, I missed the mark.
I added a comment on my friend's blog that was sarcastic and stupid. "Gee, Ron, this has my curiosity in gear. Does he mean he wants forgiveness for having tagged you as an "annoying blogging meme" or he still does tag you as such? I'd like an explanation of why he sees you as a meme? Are you a replicator or replicatee? Am I endangered of becoming part of your memeplex? Of course, my site would be dismissed immediately by the memetics because of its faith-based aspects, so be careful, Ron, I’m considered a virus."
I was defending my friend, where no defence was called for. The tagging was nothing but a harmless game where one answered some questions and then passed the questions along to other bloggers - tagged them. My intentions were honorable, but then they say the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. It is very easy to slip off the sidewalk or perhaps off one's high horse. In being ignorant, in thinking I was coming out against the derision of my friend, I basically derided another who was not guilty of the first. I broke my own standards.
A man who lacks judgment derides his neighbor, but a man of understanding holds his tongue. Proverbs 11:12
Thus we are always learning just how short we do fall from what God expects. This is an example of having a plank in your eye as you pick at the splinter in another's. Too often we ignore that plank, don't we? Often that which we criticize most in others is actually our own biggest fault and we don't see it. I examine myself and examine myself, but just like I proofread and proofread something I write, there always seems to be a flaw overlooked, a mistyped phrase, a misspelled word. Here I find myself trying to be too wise by double and looking quite dumb in the process.
My friend in turn sent me an astrological profile of me which he believes fits me well. I am not a believer or practitioner of astrology. To me this profile is proof of its inaccuracies. Some of what is in the profile, I do believe fits, but those things are flattering and much I have seen in such profiles is just that, flattery. Most of this I don't see in myself at all.
Moody, emotional. May be shy. Very loving and caring. Pretty/handsome. Excellent partners for life. Protective. Inventive and imaginative. Cautious. Touchy-feely kind of person. Needs love from others. Easily hurt, but sympathetic.
I won't say what I agree or disagree with. I am curious how I am perceived by others. There are some who read this blog knowing who I am. You know you can comment on these posting anonymously. If you want to say what of this profile is me in your eyes, feel free.
Uh, just remember, it says I am easily hurt. Don't be cruel now, y'all.
It began innocently enough with reading comments on my friend's blog. This is a sentence I read: "Meanwhile, please forgive me, but I have tagged you for one of those annoying blogging memes."
Well, there is where I went into over think gear associating the comment with a long running philosophical discussion of what is a meme and an oft-sited association to a social virus. Obviously being naive to the greater world of blogging, I missed the mark.
I added a comment on my friend's blog that was sarcastic and stupid. "Gee, Ron, this has my curiosity in gear. Does he mean he wants forgiveness for having tagged you as an "annoying blogging meme" or he still does tag you as such? I'd like an explanation of why he sees you as a meme? Are you a replicator or replicatee? Am I endangered of becoming part of your memeplex? Of course, my site would be dismissed immediately by the memetics because of its faith-based aspects, so be careful, Ron, I’m considered a virus."
I was defending my friend, where no defence was called for. The tagging was nothing but a harmless game where one answered some questions and then passed the questions along to other bloggers - tagged them. My intentions were honorable, but then they say the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. It is very easy to slip off the sidewalk or perhaps off one's high horse. In being ignorant, in thinking I was coming out against the derision of my friend, I basically derided another who was not guilty of the first. I broke my own standards.
A man who lacks judgment derides his neighbor, but a man of understanding holds his tongue. Proverbs 11:12
Thus we are always learning just how short we do fall from what God expects. This is an example of having a plank in your eye as you pick at the splinter in another's. Too often we ignore that plank, don't we? Often that which we criticize most in others is actually our own biggest fault and we don't see it. I examine myself and examine myself, but just like I proofread and proofread something I write, there always seems to be a flaw overlooked, a mistyped phrase, a misspelled word. Here I find myself trying to be too wise by double and looking quite dumb in the process.
My friend in turn sent me an astrological profile of me which he believes fits me well. I am not a believer or practitioner of astrology. To me this profile is proof of its inaccuracies. Some of what is in the profile, I do believe fits, but those things are flattering and much I have seen in such profiles is just that, flattery. Most of this I don't see in myself at all.
Moody, emotional. May be shy. Very loving and caring. Pretty/handsome. Excellent partners for life. Protective. Inventive and imaginative. Cautious. Touchy-feely kind of person. Needs love from others. Easily hurt, but sympathetic.
I won't say what I agree or disagree with. I am curious how I am perceived by others. There are some who read this blog knowing who I am. You know you can comment on these posting anonymously. If you want to say what of this profile is me in your eyes, feel free.
Uh, just remember, it says I am easily hurt. Don't be cruel now, y'all.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)