Perhaps it may turn out a sang,
Perhaps turn out a sermon.

-- R. Burns Epistle to a Young Friend

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Close Quarters Combat



   

Vain is the man who puts his trust in men, in created things.

Do not be ashamed to serve others for the love of Jesus Christ and to seem poor in this world. Do not be self-sufficient but place your trust in God. Do what lies in your power and God will aid your good will. Put no trust in your own learning nor in the cunning of any man, but rather in the grace of God Who helps the humble and humbles the proud. – Imitation of Christ, Book 1, Chapter 7 (excerpt)

The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.  Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. – 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12


Paul’s warning sounds a little like the statements of atheists, even those of good will, who believe that religious people in general and Christians in particular are deluding themselves.  I have yet, though, to hear a non-theist correctly state what I believe.  This isn’t too surprising since I have trouble stating it myself.  To me, there is one basic assumption of what we usually call God – but you can say Being, Consciousness, Intelligence, Ground, and so on.  The Tao that can be named is not the true Tao.  The God who is named must be an expression of the One True God.  This is why the Trinity is not a problem – one God expressed in three Persons.  Expression, by the way, is biblical as Jesus is described as “the exact expression of His nature” in Hebrews 1:3 (HCSB).

The cosmos, too, is an expression of God.  That it contains intelligence and understanding, that there are laws  by which it operates and that we can, to some extent, comprehend those laws, tells us something about the creative nature of God and about why we are here.  There is nothing evil about learning and knowledge, but knowledge can lead us astray.  We find it rather easy, even comforting to deceive ourselves. 

We pick and choose those things to which we give our attention.  We are always analyzing, incorporating and discarding, shifting and sifting among the myriad inputs we receive in any given instant.  What we perceive depends on the template we are using, the size of the net, the shapes in the grid we are using to filter. 

If we want the truth, if we want reality, we are going to have to set aside our desires.  The way to find the truth is to try the truth.  Go back to the Word, to the Law, to the commandments of God and live in obedience to God’s will.  When we do that, we will free ourselves of many illusions about how the world is supposed by many to function.  There are lots of people with lots of opinions, with long resumes and the alphabet behind their names who claim to be authorities.  The well-informed can be just as deceived as the ignorant.  Truth is not information. 

 

3 comments:

John Lien said...

If we want the truth, if we want reality, we are going to have to set aside our desires.

You know, one good aspect of getting older is that, although painful, the options dwindle in your life because time is running out. For example, I'll never be able to achieve X because I don't have what it takes to achieve X. If I did, I would have by now.

So, you rid yourself of silly notions about yourself and focus on reality.

mushroom said...

I know exactly what you mean. That could be part of the plan. Only the good die young.

Rick said...

I can't tell you the projects I wouldn't take on at this stage that I did take on once. What a relief.
Bob has a saying, "you spend the first 40 years becoming somebody, then the last 40 becoming nobody."
Don't know where he heard it. It reminds of, "I must decrease, so that He might increase."