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My, but I'm in something of a philosophical or some such mood as of late it would seem.
I ran across the perfect quote just a minute ago while reading the cs_lewis community.
"[C]hristianity is a religion of absolute truths, not of spiritual or moral ambiguity."
It really is what christianity boils down to if you think about it. As a christian, I have faith that God has given us explicit, absolute truths about the nature of life, rules, guidelines, how it all ends, and what comes after that, and so on. To be a christian means to have faith that Jesus wasn't lying when he said he was the way, the truth, and the life, or when he said that God is love, and to have eternal life is to love others as yourself. Not that we can't be confused or unsure of bits here and there. We all see things a scosh bit differently, so of course we may be finding a lack of understanding in certain areas. However, when you come right down to it, it really is about absolute truths.
This means some rather unpleasent things for some people I'm afraid, if christianity is right about these absolute truths. There are a lot of religions out there who say that they are but one of the ways, or the way resides inside one's self, but Jesus said, "look here, I am *the* way, period. If you love me, and love your neighbor as yourself, then you are following me. But I am the only bridge. Take another road and you're falling into a chasm." But there has been a shift in what people think of when the word love comes to mind. When they talk of a loving God, they really mean they want some senile old grandpa, to paraphrase C.S. Lewis, which is basically a guy who's really friendly to us, gives us nice presents, and generally forgets what the hell we're up to. And when they speak of how we should "love" one another, many people anymore mean the same thing as when they say tolerance--they want everyone to be "cool" with whatever the hell they want.
Real love isn't like that though. Sure, love means loving a person regardless of what they do or have done, but true love does not condone bad and evil actions. Real love is much the same as real parental love. The parent loves the child so much that they will punish the child, they will set limits, they will deny some things, and they will even be harsh at times, because the parent knows that in the end, the child will end up better for it. There's one other thing that a parent will do for their child--they will die for it. I know that if there were a gun pointed at me, my mom wouldn't hesitate for a second to leap in front of it. There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for another. That's what the whole Jesus thing is too, basically. We all have the gun that is sin, that is death, that is defiance against God's will, pointing straight at us all, and Jesus took that bullet. What's more, in taking it willingly, he was given new life, and in such a way that we can all have it too. C.S. Lewis calls it the good infection, and I think he's rather right. Jesus took the virus that would kill us all, came back with an immunity, and has offered us all a shot of it. The problem, as with any shot, is there are a good many who'd just rather not go through with the pain of it. They'd rather have death later on than pain now and eternal life later.
The speaker in my group last week raised two questions that every christian, nay, every person should be asking of themselves, and to an extent do anyway. Who am I, and who is He? As for who he is, Jesus said "I am" something liek 85 times in the Gospel of John so we could get a good idea. As for who we are, Luke answered rather nicely last night, saying that he always used to list out all the things he was, christian, husband, boss, etc., until he realized that there is but one thing to say to such a question. I am His. It is what we are created for, it is the life I try to lead, and the one I hope to lead after I die. It's a hella hard life to follow any given day, but it is the one I have been created for, and the only one that can truly bring joy in the long run. How can any job but the one I have been designed for bring true satisfaction? I am His and I love my God. What else is there to say?
I ran across the perfect quote just a minute ago while reading the cs_lewis community.
"[C]hristianity is a religion of absolute truths, not of spiritual or moral ambiguity."
It really is what christianity boils down to if you think about it. As a christian, I have faith that God has given us explicit, absolute truths about the nature of life, rules, guidelines, how it all ends, and what comes after that, and so on. To be a christian means to have faith that Jesus wasn't lying when he said he was the way, the truth, and the life, or when he said that God is love, and to have eternal life is to love others as yourself. Not that we can't be confused or unsure of bits here and there. We all see things a scosh bit differently, so of course we may be finding a lack of understanding in certain areas. However, when you come right down to it, it really is about absolute truths.
This means some rather unpleasent things for some people I'm afraid, if christianity is right about these absolute truths. There are a lot of religions out there who say that they are but one of the ways, or the way resides inside one's self, but Jesus said, "look here, I am *the* way, period. If you love me, and love your neighbor as yourself, then you are following me. But I am the only bridge. Take another road and you're falling into a chasm." But there has been a shift in what people think of when the word love comes to mind. When they talk of a loving God, they really mean they want some senile old grandpa, to paraphrase C.S. Lewis, which is basically a guy who's really friendly to us, gives us nice presents, and generally forgets what the hell we're up to. And when they speak of how we should "love" one another, many people anymore mean the same thing as when they say tolerance--they want everyone to be "cool" with whatever the hell they want.
Real love isn't like that though. Sure, love means loving a person regardless of what they do or have done, but true love does not condone bad and evil actions. Real love is much the same as real parental love. The parent loves the child so much that they will punish the child, they will set limits, they will deny some things, and they will even be harsh at times, because the parent knows that in the end, the child will end up better for it. There's one other thing that a parent will do for their child--they will die for it. I know that if there were a gun pointed at me, my mom wouldn't hesitate for a second to leap in front of it. There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for another. That's what the whole Jesus thing is too, basically. We all have the gun that is sin, that is death, that is defiance against God's will, pointing straight at us all, and Jesus took that bullet. What's more, in taking it willingly, he was given new life, and in such a way that we can all have it too. C.S. Lewis calls it the good infection, and I think he's rather right. Jesus took the virus that would kill us all, came back with an immunity, and has offered us all a shot of it. The problem, as with any shot, is there are a good many who'd just rather not go through with the pain of it. They'd rather have death later on than pain now and eternal life later.
The speaker in my group last week raised two questions that every christian, nay, every person should be asking of themselves, and to an extent do anyway. Who am I, and who is He? As for who he is, Jesus said "I am" something liek 85 times in the Gospel of John so we could get a good idea. As for who we are, Luke answered rather nicely last night, saying that he always used to list out all the things he was, christian, husband, boss, etc., until he realized that there is but one thing to say to such a question. I am His. It is what we are created for, it is the life I try to lead, and the one I hope to lead after I die. It's a hella hard life to follow any given day, but it is the one I have been created for, and the only one that can truly bring joy in the long run. How can any job but the one I have been designed for bring true satisfaction? I am His and I love my God. What else is there to say?
