The world is an unsafe place, ever since Adam and Eve sinned their way out of God's perfect protection of Eden. It does not matter how "good" or "wicked" you are, nor what your intentions are behind your deeds, or your motivations behind your thoughts or actions, nor what religion or not that you are, and certainly not how "gifted" or "enlightened" you think you are. The world remains an unsafe place because mishaps and death are a fact of life.
Having said that, the one way to be the safest possible in a physically unsafe world is to use one yardstick, one measure, in all your thoughts and deeds, and even your day to day actions. Do not do anything unless you dedicate your action to the greater glory of God first and foremost. If you do something based on your own pride, you are more vulnerable to mishaps and death.
Pride causes people to take chances that they do not need to risk. Pride causes people to crave money, power and media attention with public adulation. Pride causes companies and governments to not have the correct attention to the correct risks, dangers and problems that they and other people face. Pride causes people to mistrust other people's good advice.
Proverbs 16:18
Proverbs 18:12
If you pause before anything that you do, and ask yourself just very quickly, "Is God glorified in what I am about to do, or am I about to do something based on pride?" I guarantee that while death and mishaps still will occur, one's priorities will be more correct and many mishaps will be avoided.
I hope that you have found this helpful.
Sirach 6:16-18
A faithful friend is a life-saving remedy, such as he who fears God finds; for he who fears God behaves accordingly, and his friend will be like himself. My son, from your youth embrace discipline; thus will you find wisdom with graying hair.
Proverbs 16:18
Pride goeth before disaster, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Proverbs 18:12
Before his downfall a man's heart is haughty, but humility goes before honors.
Showing posts with label humility. Show all posts
Showing posts with label humility. Show all posts
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Saturday, December 26, 2009
My opinion regarding bishops attached to abuse charges
I am writing this to give my opinion about bishops who are, with good reason (not witch hunt false charges), attached to the sexual abuse charges of either covering up or, equally as bad, being negligent in overseeing the purity of spiritual subordinates.
I believe every one of you who covered up or who looked the other way, or who should have investigated but did not, should offer your resignations. This is why.
Being a bishop does not, no matter how much the verbiage and process sound like it, confer higher status or spirituality. I'm saying this in comfort, not in criticism. You must not become so attached to the responsibilities, authority and prestige of being a bishop so much that you view stepping away from it as a diminishing. The highest genuine honors of serving God, and one's flock, is to be a parish priest or priest to a community, or even the contemplative life.
If any of you bishops (including ones who are not in some sort of hot water) cannot follow the imagery I am going to offer you, you have to do some prayer and soul searching.
Imagine that you are no longer serving a bishop's capacity, but you are back to being a parish priest, or one attached to a seminary in a formation capacity, or even entering contemplative service in a monastery. How much of this image makes you feel diminished? Compare this to the feeling of release and of being freed of burdens that separate you from first hand contemplation of God through celebrating the Mass, hearing confessions, prayer, etc.
It is not just humility that caused many saints, when priests, to literally flee when the role of bishop was thrust upon them. Most saints genuinely preferred being parish priests, or members of a community, or contemplatives than they did seeking that princely office. Some of them feigned madness or stupidity to avoid it ha.
If you are really in service to God and his flock, most of you should feel that if your bishop responsibilities were taken from you, that it would be a relief and that once again you are getting down to the brass tacks (American slang for back to the basics, the fundamentals). The more a person seeks being a bishop (or outside the Catholic church, giving themselves that title) the more I wonder why they are seeking it so very much. Usually the answer is that it is viewed as a promotion.
Friends, brothers, though, remember one thing. A promotion upward in human circles is usually a lateral promotion or a downward promotion away from God. Layers of artificial concerns intrude upon even the most well meaning bishop's office. If you stop thinking of a bishop's chair as being a promotion or "increased authority," you will move closer, again, to God. This is why I think this is a valuable mental imagery exercise of visualization for even well functioning bishops who are serene and capable in their calling. Once in a while remember that it's not really a promotion and, further, the most humble duties of a priest is usually that which is closest to God's heart.
I hope that you have found this helpful.
Honoring always JMJ.
I believe every one of you who covered up or who looked the other way, or who should have investigated but did not, should offer your resignations. This is why.
Being a bishop does not, no matter how much the verbiage and process sound like it, confer higher status or spirituality. I'm saying this in comfort, not in criticism. You must not become so attached to the responsibilities, authority and prestige of being a bishop so much that you view stepping away from it as a diminishing. The highest genuine honors of serving God, and one's flock, is to be a parish priest or priest to a community, or even the contemplative life.
If any of you bishops (including ones who are not in some sort of hot water) cannot follow the imagery I am going to offer you, you have to do some prayer and soul searching.
Imagine that you are no longer serving a bishop's capacity, but you are back to being a parish priest, or one attached to a seminary in a formation capacity, or even entering contemplative service in a monastery. How much of this image makes you feel diminished? Compare this to the feeling of release and of being freed of burdens that separate you from first hand contemplation of God through celebrating the Mass, hearing confessions, prayer, etc.
It is not just humility that caused many saints, when priests, to literally flee when the role of bishop was thrust upon them. Most saints genuinely preferred being parish priests, or members of a community, or contemplatives than they did seeking that princely office. Some of them feigned madness or stupidity to avoid it ha.
If you are really in service to God and his flock, most of you should feel that if your bishop responsibilities were taken from you, that it would be a relief and that once again you are getting down to the brass tacks (American slang for back to the basics, the fundamentals). The more a person seeks being a bishop (or outside the Catholic church, giving themselves that title) the more I wonder why they are seeking it so very much. Usually the answer is that it is viewed as a promotion.
Friends, brothers, though, remember one thing. A promotion upward in human circles is usually a lateral promotion or a downward promotion away from God. Layers of artificial concerns intrude upon even the most well meaning bishop's office. If you stop thinking of a bishop's chair as being a promotion or "increased authority," you will move closer, again, to God. This is why I think this is a valuable mental imagery exercise of visualization for even well functioning bishops who are serene and capable in their calling. Once in a while remember that it's not really a promotion and, further, the most humble duties of a priest is usually that which is closest to God's heart.
I hope that you have found this helpful.
Honoring always JMJ.
Another meditation about God's love
Here is another thought about that subject, so that it can help you to better understand God and his mercy (which is not extended to the blatantly unrepentant, but that's another subject). God is the source of and the capacity for infinite love, on such a dimension of vastness that humans cannot comprehend. Here is a real life recollection of mine so you can compare (and also see things a bit from my point of view).
Years ago I had great affection and ardor for a man who did not return it (and indeed, was quite insincere). One of the women who worked for me, and who was on a friendly basis with me (though I cannot call it a friendship as she would never socialize with me beyond the occasional work luncheon) commented basically the following to me:
She said, with some disdain (kind of like she thought I was a rather pathetic sort) something like "I would find it a great turn-off to love someone who didn't love me in return." In other words, she thought it rather stupid and pathetic of me to care for someone who did not care for me in return.
I thought, but could not say at the time (since as my regular readers know, I was not public in my witnessing at that time, since it was both not my time yet and also a matter of my safety): "Wow, it's sure a good thing for YOU and for everyone else that God does not feel the same way!"
You see, God is used to loving humans who do not love him in return. In fact, if you think about it, there's no human that deserves his love at all, yet he continues to pour it onto them, mostly through the constant urging and nudging of the Holy Spirit, who tries to reach and soften even the hardest of hearts.
If God felt the way this lady suggested, there would be no human beings at all, none would be created and none would be alive.
God understands that no one can love him the way he is able to love a human. He doesn't expect even a fraction of what he can extend in love. But constant scorn and negligence of God is not only foolhardy but also such a wasted opportunity, since God extends such leeway in the amount of love that he would find pleasing from any human being. If God was "turned off" by a human not loving him in return, well, let's just say earth would be abundant in plant and animal life, a garden of Eden, with no non-loving humans!
But God created humans in his own image and as a result 1) they all have the capacity to love God and 2) the Holy Spirit works constantly to touch the heart of every human being with love, whether they believe or not, and whether they love in return or not.
For you idiot cult believers, she was a Libra ha ha, you know, the sign of "relationship experts" har har har.
How can humans ever spiritually advance, say nothing of being saved, if they consider love a "you first then maybe I will love in return" game?
Really, it is sad.
Another thought, what if before Jesus was born, Jews were given ballots with a brief description of him in advance, and could vote whether he was worthy of their love before "allowing" him to be born? Like I said, if God waits for the love first, none of you would be around, alive, at all, that is for sure.
I hope that you have found this helpful.
And, to show you I always think of you.... Hey again, my young people readers and fans! I wish that I could speak with you in person. When you wrestle with love and its issues, be sure to think of what I just said, which is that God loves you first, no matter how much love you offer him in return. Believe me, if you begin to know God as he really is, you would not be able to halt in loving him, no matter how much you tried! :-)
Years ago I had great affection and ardor for a man who did not return it (and indeed, was quite insincere). One of the women who worked for me, and who was on a friendly basis with me (though I cannot call it a friendship as she would never socialize with me beyond the occasional work luncheon) commented basically the following to me:
She said, with some disdain (kind of like she thought I was a rather pathetic sort) something like "I would find it a great turn-off to love someone who didn't love me in return." In other words, she thought it rather stupid and pathetic of me to care for someone who did not care for me in return.
I thought, but could not say at the time (since as my regular readers know, I was not public in my witnessing at that time, since it was both not my time yet and also a matter of my safety): "Wow, it's sure a good thing for YOU and for everyone else that God does not feel the same way!"
You see, God is used to loving humans who do not love him in return. In fact, if you think about it, there's no human that deserves his love at all, yet he continues to pour it onto them, mostly through the constant urging and nudging of the Holy Spirit, who tries to reach and soften even the hardest of hearts.
If God felt the way this lady suggested, there would be no human beings at all, none would be created and none would be alive.
God understands that no one can love him the way he is able to love a human. He doesn't expect even a fraction of what he can extend in love. But constant scorn and negligence of God is not only foolhardy but also such a wasted opportunity, since God extends such leeway in the amount of love that he would find pleasing from any human being. If God was "turned off" by a human not loving him in return, well, let's just say earth would be abundant in plant and animal life, a garden of Eden, with no non-loving humans!
But God created humans in his own image and as a result 1) they all have the capacity to love God and 2) the Holy Spirit works constantly to touch the heart of every human being with love, whether they believe or not, and whether they love in return or not.
For you idiot cult believers, she was a Libra ha ha, you know, the sign of "relationship experts" har har har.
How can humans ever spiritually advance, say nothing of being saved, if they consider love a "you first then maybe I will love in return" game?
Really, it is sad.
Another thought, what if before Jesus was born, Jews were given ballots with a brief description of him in advance, and could vote whether he was worthy of their love before "allowing" him to be born? Like I said, if God waits for the love first, none of you would be around, alive, at all, that is for sure.
I hope that you have found this helpful.
And, to show you I always think of you.... Hey again, my young people readers and fans! I wish that I could speak with you in person. When you wrestle with love and its issues, be sure to think of what I just said, which is that God loves you first, no matter how much love you offer him in return. Believe me, if you begin to know God as he really is, you would not be able to halt in loving him, no matter how much you tried! :-)
Saturday, November 28, 2009
How is the humility business coming along?
I hope people are making progress in realizing that they are not 1) players or involved in "divine" matters in any way and 2) not reincarnated at all. I'm concerned that still too many people are realizing that upon their death and it is exactly too late.
God has promised that the worst punishment will be for the prideful and the false prophets. It's all there in the Bible (and the Qur'an).
God has promised that the worst punishment will be for the prideful and the false prophets. It's all there in the Bible (and the Qur'an).
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Understand real Satan not cartoon Satan
Satan is a very real risk to all humans, both believers who risk their faith being disturbed, and non-believers who risk never opening their hearts enough to believe and be saved. So I am always glad when I hear a preacher remind their listeners that Satan is a continual reality that cannot be ignored.
However, it is, like all topics related to faith, important that one protects one's self by understanding the real threat, and not a misrepresentation or cartoon of the threat and as always one has to rely on God's word in the scriptures, and the actual events depicted within.
We know that Satan is the leader of the group of angels who, after being created by God, when given the choice of free will (a gift God gives to all whom he loves, both angels and humans), chose not to serve God. Because of this they were cast out of heaven. Satan is allowed to roam the earth at will and has great influence over human world events (which is why he is scripturally refered to as ruling on earth... he's not THE ruler of earth, but he receives that title because by not serving God he can only serve and thus influence things of the world. In other words he is both in the world and "of" the world. Christians in contrast are taught by Jesus to be "in the world" but not ruled by the world, hence they are not "of the world." Their priority, unlike Satan's, is heavenly directed in service to God even while alive on earth and not in heaven).
So there are two aspects of Satan that sound alarming and powerful on the surface, especially the non-scriptural depictions, but are not all that difficult to refute and to have some peace of mind about. One is that Satan is obviously not THE ruler of all earth since he obviously, both in scriptural and in secular earth history, does not run around undoing God's creation. Satan does not blow up mountains, destroy cities, poison the water, kill baby animals as they are born, uproot trees, change the weather, etc. God is still in control of his creation, which he has declared "good" upon the making of each component, and Satan has never had any power, authority or ability to use godly powers to harm life or the natural processes and features of earth. If Satan had that power then there would be nothing left of earth a long time ago, as he would have caused havoc everywhere. But the scripture reports that Satan just wanders around the earth, tempting people to sin against God and each other at every obvious opportunity. Thus it is totally wrong and alarming for no reason to have any concern at all that Satan has some sort of like running amok, evil destroyer, invading alien, anti-life, kicker of sand in the faces of baby dinosaurs type of ability or impulse. Satan's sole interest is to tempt human beings.
And that is the second reality check that people need to keep in mind. As I've pointed out before in my blogging, and I've heard more preachers allude to it recently, Satan by no means denies the existence of God. That is a weird misconception that is pretty recent and is refuted by any even casual reading of the Bible. Satan, actually, is by his obvious existence and interaction with God (the Book of Job detailing a far from hostile conversation between God and Satan) is kind of the ultimate witness to God's reality! People who want to get into witchcraft and so forth or believe strange things have recently thought of the impossibility that Satan is like an "alternative possibility" to believing in God. That's obviously ridiculous since the scriptures show that Satan continues to not only acknowledge God's reality, but interact with him, including promptly showing up to test and tempt Jesus Christ at the beginning of his ministry. Further, Satan obeys God when God establishes limits on how much Satan can afflict Job. Demons and so forth who serve Satan are the first to recognize Jesus, before Jesus even speaks to them, and they rapidly proclaim their belief, their alarm and their subservience to Jesus' authority to cast them out. So people who think that maybe there's a real powerful Satan but no God are totally delusional on two basic points. Satan has very little power and controls none of the infrastructure of earth or the life upon it AND Satan himself is the first on most scenes to acknowledge God's reality and his movement in human matters.
So, if Satan does not deny God AND Satan has no actual power except to tempt, how is he so persuasive, so effective and so dangerous? This can best be understood and thus defeated by thinking of the common saying "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." This old saying means that many humans end up going to hell because they did something evil, wrong and sinful because they "meant well." In a way, Satan is very much like the humans who go to hell because they do wrong things but self justify that their "intentions were good." Don't get me wrong because I'm not using the word "good" with "Satan," but I'm preparing you for the analogy. Satan's basic error is that he cannot grasp God's All Knowingness; he just doesn't get within the core of his being that God already knows all that there is to know. Satan's a bit condescending to God, thinking that he knows better than God, particularly when it comes to human weaknesses.
Realistically, can anyone of even weak faith think that God knows less than Satan in any scenario? But that is the Achilles heel of both Satan and human beings, which is why they are such a potent mixture. Satan thinks he knows better than God and thus is even somewhat "protective" and condescending toward God. We see this in the Book of Job, where Satan is debating with God whether Job is really truly faithful to God and if he would stay faithful if God's protection were removed from him. Um, duh, Satan thinks that God doesn't already know every "what-if" scenario already? I've blogged before how one must realize God's All Knowingness by using analogies humans can grasp, such as how God knows every subatomic particle that ever existed or will exist in the universe and all the places each particle was and will be. So God doesn't know what Job will do when hardships befall him? God knows everything already because he is God and he is the only All Knowing.
But you can see that Satan honestly thinks something like this: "Wow, that God is naive. Sure Job loves and worships God now, since he's blessed by God and has a great life and many possessions due to God's protection. I've got to show God that he can't trust Job to stay faithful to him once things start going bad for him." Satan simply does not grasp that God already knows everything, absolutely everything. We know this because Satan recognizes who Jesus is, and promptly shows up to tempt him, and Satan thinks, what, that God didn't know that Satan is going to tempt Jesus? And that Jesus, as the Son of God, would be temptable? It's like Satan thinks that maybe God didn't prepare Jesus enough, or send him with enough power, and thus there is some actual chance of tempting Jesus to disobedience to God!
So the crux of understanding Satan and his enormous power over many human beings is to realize that Satan just does not grasp and ultimately does not have faith in the All Knowingness of God. Satan has plenty of faith that God exists because more than anyone he's been there around God "from the beginning" and so obviously God's reality is Satan's continual focus. But what Satan just does not understand is God's greater plan, which is, of course, the culmination of God's All Knowingness.
And that pride, since that is indeed what we are describing, a condescending pride of Satan's, is exactly the same prevalent flaw in many human beings. Can you think of many humans who do not at some point think they know "better" than God does? Or that God "needs their help?" Brothers and sisters, you know exactly what I mean.
While few people would confess to actually thinking that God needs their "help" or that they "know better than God," they do it all the time when they cherry pick what part of God's word they choose to believe. When they discard or ignore large parts of scripture, (or even just small parts that prohibit one's favorite sin), that is more than being someone of weak faith, or maybe a hypocrite. Secretly, subconsciously, that person is thinking that he or she knows "what God really meant" and that he or she can thus figure that "God would agree with me that this part of the Bible is out of date, and that part doesn't apply to me, but that I can go along with that other stuff because those sinners out there (not me) don't do enough of the good things and God needs my help" and so on and so forth. That is music to Satan's ears and fertile ground for him to sow weeds.
This is why some people are such willing and easy dupes and tools of Satan, while others seem to have a Teflon coating and barely notice Satan's existence. Satan works best with humans who do not believe in, have faith in, or trust God's All Knowingness. The people who diminish God's power in their minds but magnify and glorify their own potential roles in both earthly and, imagine that, heavenly matters are natural allies and pawns of Satan, since they have the same weakness and "philosophy." People who lack fear of God but magnify their own spirituality, resourcefulness and role in life are the most prone to be influenced at alarming speed and depth by Satan. People who fear God (in the way I've explained in previous posts on this subject) and who are humble about their role in the major matters of divinity tend not to be tempted by or hear Satan at all. Satan totally gives a pass by to those who are shielded by their sincere fear of God and their sincere humility.
Now, some of the most devout saints suffered from great torments by Satan. I'm about to say something that is not meant to be unkind or unloving, since these were indeed genuine Christian saints of great sanctity. However, even some saints have insufficient fear of God and humility to render themselves safe from any attacks (or imagined attacks) from Satan. Some very revered Christian saints who were indeed sanctified and worthy of God had the all too human flaw of being sucked into thinking that they are linchpins in some sort of huge "good versus evil" striving. I mean, how scriptural is that? Not at all. What do I mean? Here is what I would have said to some medieval saint in the making who is afflicted by torments he or she feels is sent by Satan:
Read the scripture about the Last Supper and the betrayal of Christ by Judas. Judas, the most ripest, the biggest target of all who ever existed for temptation, was only entered by Satan at the moment he left the table to betray Jesus. Satan spent only a matter of minutes, until the betrayal was done, in Judas. Why in the world do you think Satan is having supposedly hours, days, months or years of battle within YOU?
Sometimes you have to be a tough spiritual director, even with the most sanctified of people.
Humans all are in constant grave danger of the "road to hell is paved with good intentions" weakness and pride. Saints are no exception except in one matter: their suffering (even if self induced or exaggerated) never destroys their faith in God or takes them from their sanctity of service. But I explain this problem with certains saints in order to point out to you the scriptural basis for what I am saying: Satan does not occupy or vie with human beings. Satan only strews temptations that those who fear God and are genuinely humble never even notice, while those who do not fear God and who are prone to pridefulness catch themselves up in the temptations all of the time. Satan's temptations are like lint or dust on furniture: you don't even notice it unless you think it is your job to clean it up. That's the danger of not believing completely in God's All Knowingness and over exaggerating your role in "helping" God. You start thinking that you are the one who has to dust all the furniture, and thus those hundreds and thousands of tiny nearly invisible temptations to sin, like dust motes, gather together as you focus your attention on them. The rest of us live with dusty furniture ha ha. (Just some levity for a serious subject... please excuse the humor, I so rarely get to demonstrate it!)
Do you see what I mean? This is why an analogy is so powerful. Satan is constantly scattering tiny harmless temptations, most centered around insufficient faith in God and excess pride in one's own judgment and supposed "goodness." People who are not vulnerable to temptations of hubris, pride or vanity, and who are firm in their fear of God and trust in his All Knowingness, never even notice the tiny dust motes of temptation. But those who are prone to scrutinizing the dust particles start to pick them up in quickly growing clumps that stick to them and they are now accepting of and subjugated to Satan's temptations with alarming weight and rapidity.
Taking upon one's self a perception that you personally are "battling Satan" is a grave and not-scripturally based error. Remember, Judas himself did not "battle" Satan, nor was he owned by Satan or possessed by Satan. Rather, Judas picked up a lot of "dust particles" of pride which estranged him from his basic trust in God's providence, and then Satan only had to enter him for a few minutes to actually perform that greatest betrayal. If you think that you are in combat with some supposed spiritual forces, you have deviated from the truth of what is in the Bible (no one in the Bible is combating Satan etc on a personal basis). What they are doing is resisting Satan's temptations. There is a huge difference between the two.
This is why Paul said that Christians must be "dead to sin." When one is dead one is inert and like a chemical that just won't react with anything. Being in a hypersensitive and combative stance toward anything is not being "dead to sin." Rather, like collecting the dust motes, it is a problem of insufficient protection (study of scripture, faith in God's power, cultivating fear of God and humility) while completely over exaggerating one's own interaction with temptations. People, like that class of afflicted saints, who think they are in some sort of numinous and supernatural "combat" against "evil forces, such as Satan" are driving themselves nuts by collecting every dust mote of temptation that Satan has laid out there for them. Who in the Bible is actually "combating" Satan? Jesus did not even waste an hour of his earthly time doing so. Moses didn't. David didn't. Isaiah didn't. Joseph and Mary didn't. John the Baptist didn't. All the prophets and holy people of the Bible were focused on two things 1) teaching God's will based on righteousness to the people and 2) strengthening their faith so they resist all temptations, both the worldly everyday ones and the opportunistic ones by Satan himself.
Here's another analogy, with pop culture. Remember how in "Lord of the Rings" Gandolf is going crazy trying to open the door that is secured by a magic spell? He is reading the sign that says "Speak friend and enter." He thinks that if you are a real friend you will be able to guess the secret magic password phrase, but all his guesses are wrong. After a painfully long time he realizes that the password IS to speak "friend."
Satan and his temptations are exactly that obvious. There is no secret profound "battle" between humans and Satan or other "evil forces," one where humans must "help out" the obviously hapless God who is just not handling things without the supposed wisdom and combativeness of humans. You just don't pick up the temptations of Satan; it really IS AS SIMPLE AS THAT. Thinking you are battling him personally and that God is just kind of hanging around waiting to see what happens IS one of Satan's most effective temptations: "Guaranteed to work on saints and sinners alike."
I hope that you have found this thought provoking and helpful. Read the Bible (or Qur'an, of course, for my Muslim friends). It really is that simple. Fear of God and humility regarding the puniness of humans compared to the All Knowing of God is the best protection from temptation, such that those who attain it barely notice temptation even if there was a ton of it piled in front of them because, like those particles of dust, the truly faithful and humble just don't even notice worldly or Satan provided temptations.
However, it is, like all topics related to faith, important that one protects one's self by understanding the real threat, and not a misrepresentation or cartoon of the threat and as always one has to rely on God's word in the scriptures, and the actual events depicted within.
We know that Satan is the leader of the group of angels who, after being created by God, when given the choice of free will (a gift God gives to all whom he loves, both angels and humans), chose not to serve God. Because of this they were cast out of heaven. Satan is allowed to roam the earth at will and has great influence over human world events (which is why he is scripturally refered to as ruling on earth... he's not THE ruler of earth, but he receives that title because by not serving God he can only serve and thus influence things of the world. In other words he is both in the world and "of" the world. Christians in contrast are taught by Jesus to be "in the world" but not ruled by the world, hence they are not "of the world." Their priority, unlike Satan's, is heavenly directed in service to God even while alive on earth and not in heaven).
So there are two aspects of Satan that sound alarming and powerful on the surface, especially the non-scriptural depictions, but are not all that difficult to refute and to have some peace of mind about. One is that Satan is obviously not THE ruler of all earth since he obviously, both in scriptural and in secular earth history, does not run around undoing God's creation. Satan does not blow up mountains, destroy cities, poison the water, kill baby animals as they are born, uproot trees, change the weather, etc. God is still in control of his creation, which he has declared "good" upon the making of each component, and Satan has never had any power, authority or ability to use godly powers to harm life or the natural processes and features of earth. If Satan had that power then there would be nothing left of earth a long time ago, as he would have caused havoc everywhere. But the scripture reports that Satan just wanders around the earth, tempting people to sin against God and each other at every obvious opportunity. Thus it is totally wrong and alarming for no reason to have any concern at all that Satan has some sort of like running amok, evil destroyer, invading alien, anti-life, kicker of sand in the faces of baby dinosaurs type of ability or impulse. Satan's sole interest is to tempt human beings.
And that is the second reality check that people need to keep in mind. As I've pointed out before in my blogging, and I've heard more preachers allude to it recently, Satan by no means denies the existence of God. That is a weird misconception that is pretty recent and is refuted by any even casual reading of the Bible. Satan, actually, is by his obvious existence and interaction with God (the Book of Job detailing a far from hostile conversation between God and Satan) is kind of the ultimate witness to God's reality! People who want to get into witchcraft and so forth or believe strange things have recently thought of the impossibility that Satan is like an "alternative possibility" to believing in God. That's obviously ridiculous since the scriptures show that Satan continues to not only acknowledge God's reality, but interact with him, including promptly showing up to test and tempt Jesus Christ at the beginning of his ministry. Further, Satan obeys God when God establishes limits on how much Satan can afflict Job. Demons and so forth who serve Satan are the first to recognize Jesus, before Jesus even speaks to them, and they rapidly proclaim their belief, their alarm and their subservience to Jesus' authority to cast them out. So people who think that maybe there's a real powerful Satan but no God are totally delusional on two basic points. Satan has very little power and controls none of the infrastructure of earth or the life upon it AND Satan himself is the first on most scenes to acknowledge God's reality and his movement in human matters.
So, if Satan does not deny God AND Satan has no actual power except to tempt, how is he so persuasive, so effective and so dangerous? This can best be understood and thus defeated by thinking of the common saying "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." This old saying means that many humans end up going to hell because they did something evil, wrong and sinful because they "meant well." In a way, Satan is very much like the humans who go to hell because they do wrong things but self justify that their "intentions were good." Don't get me wrong because I'm not using the word "good" with "Satan," but I'm preparing you for the analogy. Satan's basic error is that he cannot grasp God's All Knowingness; he just doesn't get within the core of his being that God already knows all that there is to know. Satan's a bit condescending to God, thinking that he knows better than God, particularly when it comes to human weaknesses.
Realistically, can anyone of even weak faith think that God knows less than Satan in any scenario? But that is the Achilles heel of both Satan and human beings, which is why they are such a potent mixture. Satan thinks he knows better than God and thus is even somewhat "protective" and condescending toward God. We see this in the Book of Job, where Satan is debating with God whether Job is really truly faithful to God and if he would stay faithful if God's protection were removed from him. Um, duh, Satan thinks that God doesn't already know every "what-if" scenario already? I've blogged before how one must realize God's All Knowingness by using analogies humans can grasp, such as how God knows every subatomic particle that ever existed or will exist in the universe and all the places each particle was and will be. So God doesn't know what Job will do when hardships befall him? God knows everything already because he is God and he is the only All Knowing.
But you can see that Satan honestly thinks something like this: "Wow, that God is naive. Sure Job loves and worships God now, since he's blessed by God and has a great life and many possessions due to God's protection. I've got to show God that he can't trust Job to stay faithful to him once things start going bad for him." Satan simply does not grasp that God already knows everything, absolutely everything. We know this because Satan recognizes who Jesus is, and promptly shows up to tempt him, and Satan thinks, what, that God didn't know that Satan is going to tempt Jesus? And that Jesus, as the Son of God, would be temptable? It's like Satan thinks that maybe God didn't prepare Jesus enough, or send him with enough power, and thus there is some actual chance of tempting Jesus to disobedience to God!
So the crux of understanding Satan and his enormous power over many human beings is to realize that Satan just does not grasp and ultimately does not have faith in the All Knowingness of God. Satan has plenty of faith that God exists because more than anyone he's been there around God "from the beginning" and so obviously God's reality is Satan's continual focus. But what Satan just does not understand is God's greater plan, which is, of course, the culmination of God's All Knowingness.
And that pride, since that is indeed what we are describing, a condescending pride of Satan's, is exactly the same prevalent flaw in many human beings. Can you think of many humans who do not at some point think they know "better" than God does? Or that God "needs their help?" Brothers and sisters, you know exactly what I mean.
While few people would confess to actually thinking that God needs their "help" or that they "know better than God," they do it all the time when they cherry pick what part of God's word they choose to believe. When they discard or ignore large parts of scripture, (or even just small parts that prohibit one's favorite sin), that is more than being someone of weak faith, or maybe a hypocrite. Secretly, subconsciously, that person is thinking that he or she knows "what God really meant" and that he or she can thus figure that "God would agree with me that this part of the Bible is out of date, and that part doesn't apply to me, but that I can go along with that other stuff because those sinners out there (not me) don't do enough of the good things and God needs my help" and so on and so forth. That is music to Satan's ears and fertile ground for him to sow weeds.
This is why some people are such willing and easy dupes and tools of Satan, while others seem to have a Teflon coating and barely notice Satan's existence. Satan works best with humans who do not believe in, have faith in, or trust God's All Knowingness. The people who diminish God's power in their minds but magnify and glorify their own potential roles in both earthly and, imagine that, heavenly matters are natural allies and pawns of Satan, since they have the same weakness and "philosophy." People who lack fear of God but magnify their own spirituality, resourcefulness and role in life are the most prone to be influenced at alarming speed and depth by Satan. People who fear God (in the way I've explained in previous posts on this subject) and who are humble about their role in the major matters of divinity tend not to be tempted by or hear Satan at all. Satan totally gives a pass by to those who are shielded by their sincere fear of God and their sincere humility.
Now, some of the most devout saints suffered from great torments by Satan. I'm about to say something that is not meant to be unkind or unloving, since these were indeed genuine Christian saints of great sanctity. However, even some saints have insufficient fear of God and humility to render themselves safe from any attacks (or imagined attacks) from Satan. Some very revered Christian saints who were indeed sanctified and worthy of God had the all too human flaw of being sucked into thinking that they are linchpins in some sort of huge "good versus evil" striving. I mean, how scriptural is that? Not at all. What do I mean? Here is what I would have said to some medieval saint in the making who is afflicted by torments he or she feels is sent by Satan:
Read the scripture about the Last Supper and the betrayal of Christ by Judas. Judas, the most ripest, the biggest target of all who ever existed for temptation, was only entered by Satan at the moment he left the table to betray Jesus. Satan spent only a matter of minutes, until the betrayal was done, in Judas. Why in the world do you think Satan is having supposedly hours, days, months or years of battle within YOU?
Sometimes you have to be a tough spiritual director, even with the most sanctified of people.
Humans all are in constant grave danger of the "road to hell is paved with good intentions" weakness and pride. Saints are no exception except in one matter: their suffering (even if self induced or exaggerated) never destroys their faith in God or takes them from their sanctity of service. But I explain this problem with certains saints in order to point out to you the scriptural basis for what I am saying: Satan does not occupy or vie with human beings. Satan only strews temptations that those who fear God and are genuinely humble never even notice, while those who do not fear God and who are prone to pridefulness catch themselves up in the temptations all of the time. Satan's temptations are like lint or dust on furniture: you don't even notice it unless you think it is your job to clean it up. That's the danger of not believing completely in God's All Knowingness and over exaggerating your role in "helping" God. You start thinking that you are the one who has to dust all the furniture, and thus those hundreds and thousands of tiny nearly invisible temptations to sin, like dust motes, gather together as you focus your attention on them. The rest of us live with dusty furniture ha ha. (Just some levity for a serious subject... please excuse the humor, I so rarely get to demonstrate it!)
Do you see what I mean? This is why an analogy is so powerful. Satan is constantly scattering tiny harmless temptations, most centered around insufficient faith in God and excess pride in one's own judgment and supposed "goodness." People who are not vulnerable to temptations of hubris, pride or vanity, and who are firm in their fear of God and trust in his All Knowingness, never even notice the tiny dust motes of temptation. But those who are prone to scrutinizing the dust particles start to pick them up in quickly growing clumps that stick to them and they are now accepting of and subjugated to Satan's temptations with alarming weight and rapidity.
Taking upon one's self a perception that you personally are "battling Satan" is a grave and not-scripturally based error. Remember, Judas himself did not "battle" Satan, nor was he owned by Satan or possessed by Satan. Rather, Judas picked up a lot of "dust particles" of pride which estranged him from his basic trust in God's providence, and then Satan only had to enter him for a few minutes to actually perform that greatest betrayal. If you think that you are in combat with some supposed spiritual forces, you have deviated from the truth of what is in the Bible (no one in the Bible is combating Satan etc on a personal basis). What they are doing is resisting Satan's temptations. There is a huge difference between the two.
This is why Paul said that Christians must be "dead to sin." When one is dead one is inert and like a chemical that just won't react with anything. Being in a hypersensitive and combative stance toward anything is not being "dead to sin." Rather, like collecting the dust motes, it is a problem of insufficient protection (study of scripture, faith in God's power, cultivating fear of God and humility) while completely over exaggerating one's own interaction with temptations. People, like that class of afflicted saints, who think they are in some sort of numinous and supernatural "combat" against "evil forces, such as Satan" are driving themselves nuts by collecting every dust mote of temptation that Satan has laid out there for them. Who in the Bible is actually "combating" Satan? Jesus did not even waste an hour of his earthly time doing so. Moses didn't. David didn't. Isaiah didn't. Joseph and Mary didn't. John the Baptist didn't. All the prophets and holy people of the Bible were focused on two things 1) teaching God's will based on righteousness to the people and 2) strengthening their faith so they resist all temptations, both the worldly everyday ones and the opportunistic ones by Satan himself.
Here's another analogy, with pop culture. Remember how in "Lord of the Rings" Gandolf is going crazy trying to open the door that is secured by a magic spell? He is reading the sign that says "Speak friend and enter." He thinks that if you are a real friend you will be able to guess the secret magic password phrase, but all his guesses are wrong. After a painfully long time he realizes that the password IS to speak "friend."
Satan and his temptations are exactly that obvious. There is no secret profound "battle" between humans and Satan or other "evil forces," one where humans must "help out" the obviously hapless God who is just not handling things without the supposed wisdom and combativeness of humans. You just don't pick up the temptations of Satan; it really IS AS SIMPLE AS THAT. Thinking you are battling him personally and that God is just kind of hanging around waiting to see what happens IS one of Satan's most effective temptations: "Guaranteed to work on saints and sinners alike."
I hope that you have found this thought provoking and helpful. Read the Bible (or Qur'an, of course, for my Muslim friends). It really is that simple. Fear of God and humility regarding the puniness of humans compared to the All Knowing of God is the best protection from temptation, such that those who attain it barely notice temptation even if there was a ton of it piled in front of them because, like those particles of dust, the truly faithful and humble just don't even notice worldly or Satan provided temptations.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Understanding the Bible through clothes!
Hey there. Hi again, especially to the younger folks. As part of modern culture becoming so different from Biblical times, even some obvious info is missing nowadays that older folks would have been cool with. So here's a fun and essential part of backfilling that knowledge that you all need to understand a frequent reference in the Bible.
In Biblical times in the Holy Land people basically wore really loose wraps of fabric around their body, held together and in place with a belt. There was usually an under layer of fabric and then an outer layer, often a robe. Most people possessed only one set of clothes! At most they had everyday work outfit and then possibly a ceremonial or good occasion outfit, but that was it.
Thus the belt was really important since it held the fabric close to the body and everything "in place." In Biblical times the belt is called the "girdle." Ah ha! They were not trying to conquer belly fat when they all wore girdles, LOL. A girdle was a belt made out of leather or fabric.
(I've just had to paws, I mean pause, to pet a friend's dog who I am taking care of while she is away. He misses his "mom" and needs lots of attention :)
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...voice input would be helpful right now, ha....
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Here is from a bible dictionary in the back of my 1955 New Standard bible, Authorized King James etc but exceedingly cool because of the beautiful engravings along with comprehensive dictionary.
"Girdle, an essential article of dress in the East, and worn both by men and women. The common girdle was made of leather, like that worn by the Bedouins today. The girdle was fastened by a clasp of gold or silver, or tied in a knot so that the ends hung down in front.
It was worn by men about the loins (Isa, v. 27, xi. 5). The girdle of women was generally looser than that of the men and was worn about the hips, except when they were actively engaged (Proverbs xxxi, 17). The military girdle was worn about the waist; the sword or dagger was suspended from it (Judg. iii. 16; 2 Sam. xx. 8; Ps. xlv. 3). In times of mourning girdles of sackcloth were worn (Isa. iii 24; xxii. 12)."
...the dawg's lonely again and needs more petting..... *saves*.....
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Thus the normal garment was a loose cloth robe that is floor length held together with the girdle. When the person, man or woman, needed to work in the fields or at other chores, or needs to run, they "girded their loins." This meant that they pulled enough fabric up under the belt and tucked it in so that the floor length robe is shortened to being middle of the leg in length, thus making it easier to work or to "make haste."
Here's the modern equivalent. When someone is ready to "get down to work" they often say they are "rolling up their sleeves." Quite a difference between desk and studio oriented modern life, and active outdoor life of the past, where one today frees up the arms from long sleeved shirts while in the past it was to free up the legs in order to work outdoors or to walk/run in haste!
When one understands the culture it makes the Bible much easier to understand, the messages clearer, and certainly more enjoyable and less mysterious! See, even though one hundred years ago westerners were not wearing robes, being farmers and pasturalists, and other outdoor craftsmen and women, they would have still understood right away when reading the Bible what "girding one's loins" meant and implied since they could envision doing their outdoor work and the difficulties if they were wearing floor length robes. Today young people need to have such things explained, as many good Sunday school teachers do.
A small Christian church in Syria has a girdle that is credibly said to have belonged to Mary, mother of Jesus.
Now you can understand even better the very famous part of Proverbs 31, starting with 10: Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. Girdles are referenced twice in describing this woman, once figuratively and once literally. She is admired for "making fine linen, and selling it; and delivering girdles unto the merchant" (24). So this proverb admires a woman who makes cloth, a fine cloth, linen, and also items that are the most essential besides the basic garment itself, which is the girdle. Then it is also used figuratively, "She girds her loins with strength, and strengthens her arms" (17). They don't mean just body building strength, LOL, but rather strength of dependability and ability to do what is necessary with wisdom. See, they use the image of the girdle, which prepares one for swift movement, to invite one to imagine a virtuous woman girding her loins (the place a man would wear the actual girdle) and her arms wi
th strength, rather than leather. With one simple image the Proverbs has provided those who get the analogy with a great image of action-oriented and wise dependability of what is still a very feminine figure.
Jesus said in Luke 12:35 Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning.
St. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
You can thus now understand from knowing the type of clothes and what it meant to gird up to be prepared for action how Jesus warns (in the context of a larger parable) and Peter, who would have heard Jesus discuss this many times, confirms that one has a duty to be constantly prepared for action mentally and spiritually if one expects to receive gifts of grace from God.
Many take this too literally (because they read what Jesus said but miss Peter's practical explanation) to mean "be ready when Jesus comes again in the Second Coming." Um, no, not exactly. Jesus, and thus Peter, are explaining that one must always be in a good state of being to receive from God, and not lolling about with high expectations but low readiness to comprehend God's will and wishes for you. Many people do not hear when God does reply to their prayers because they expect drama or they expect only what they expect, and are not alert to grace that they do receive, which is just about one hundred percent subtle and not glorious drama filled gifts that flood the sky with your radiance, LOL.
People girded their loins when they slogged out into the fields every day to weed (by hand) the food their family depended on, or when they have to run with an important message, or when one must tote or lug heavy things, or clean out the sheep pen.... the normal everyday things. If grace and gifts from God were drama filled and obvious, why would the most humble everyday symbol of garments be used by Jesus, and further explained by Peter? Precisely.
So that is why one cannot even actually substitute "roll up one's sleeves" as an equivalent, since that is mostly for desk jobs and white collar jobs, these days. And the point is missed on the T-shirt generation ha ha.
Rather, when one understands and immerses one's self in reading Bible passages such as these as to understand the lifestyle of those hearing (and speaking), one understands what God, through Jesus, and the prophets and the other holy people of the Bible are truly saying.
Think about what Jesus says to keep "your lights burning." He means your constant receptivity to God's will for you, even if it's not something you expect or like very much. You are not "covered" by leaving a light bulb on in a room all the time, egads. Again, think about those times. No one left a fire or lamp burning in an unattended room. But Jesus is saying that all of you need to keep your lights burning. This means to be serious and in constant attendance to all that God has said and taught you. This is why Peter says to be sober (both literally and figuratively). The bottom line is that these images mean one can never be frivolous and inattentive toward God at all. You are in a mental and spiritual state of having loins girded, not because you are waiting for something to happen, but because you are in the Kingdom of God on earth where continual service to him is required. You are always driving an auto in service to God, to use another modern and more apt analogy, so you can never risk being "asleep at the wheel." Can you say your light is burning if you barely think about God in a day, and do not have a day that is prayerful when one has opportunity?
See, people who think that they just need to noodle along on kind of a cruise control and only pay attention when a crash is imminent 1) probably cause the crash and 2) miss the whole point. Do not be "prepared" for Christ's Second Coming, but be asleep at the wheel of daily service to God.
There is much value in parsing each step of what Peter advises.
1. Gird up the loins of your mind (be knowledgeable and ready to understand God's plan and will for you),
2. Be sober (both literally and figuratively, because no delusion or frivolity must be allowed to distort God's relationship with you),
3. And hope to the end (in other words, live in a constant state of hope, no matter what, and never give up on God because he does not give up on you unless you surrender yourself irrevocably to sin)
4. For the grace that is to be brought unto you (grace is brought to you; you cannot manufacture or create or invoke grace upon yourself)
5. At the revelation of Jesus Christ (grace is brought to you by understanding and obeying what Jesus has said and demonstrated, through faith and belief and all subsequent behaviors that come from having genuine faith and belief).
People like to look for signs and deeper meanings, and here I can oblige you some. Please do not OCD overdose on symbolism though, LOL.
As I've already stated, the girding of the loins is such a humble and lowly, poor man or woman working everyday image, yet it is exalted in the speech of Jesus, of Peter, the first Pope, remember, and throughout the Bible, as we saw in Proverbs. Once again the humble and the everyday is exalted. Not "pretend humility" or "scripted humility," but the real humility of the meaning of girding one's loins. Kings wore decorative girdles of gold and did not gird their loins to work in the muck or to run from the fields in an emergency. The everyday people who were subsistence and poor girded their loins. The genuinely humble and genuinely everyday is always exalted by God.
My second point is to invite you to ponder, is it any coincidence that probably the only preserved girdle from that time in the Holy Land is the one of Mary in Syria? Was there anyone more genuinely humble, pure and non-drama oriented than her? Is it any wonder that the plain brown cloth (as best as I can see in the image) girdle of Mary, left behind at the household of someone in what is now Syria as she accompanied Jesus through all his preaching and ministry, in a small humble church in what is now an Islamic country remains?
God speaks everyday in a "small voice." The Bible records the dozen or so storm and thunders of his great miracles and the Theophany... but 365 days of each year God speaks in small deeds, small graces bestowed, and small opportunities to do his will and to serve him and through him each other.
Matthew 3:4
And the same John [the Baptist] had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leather girdle about his loins.
Ephesians 6:14
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breast-plate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
Just as an aside, this is another reason why "modernizing" sacred art must be totally resisted. One hardly understands girding if one looks at vulgar "art" that has Bible figures in something like modern clothing. Yes, sure, medieval art clothed the figures in unrealistic rich garments of the time, but they were conveying a spiritual point, not dropping important Bible life imagery. What I mean is that it is important to convey realistic and not modern agenda driven images of Biblical figures. Let me use a quick example. What if some "artist" thought that drawing the occupying Romans in let's say Nazi uniforms for "symbolism" sake was a cute idea? Well, that would deprive, visually, through its erroneous and shocking power, viewers of easy access to the facts that Romans came to Jesus for miracles (the centurion) AND that Roman soldiers often converted enmasse to Christianity, being martyred in the dozens on the spot. Art "symbolism" can be very dangerously misleading. So this is just an educational aside to those of you in the arts, especially young people, that you must not accept the starkness of false, sweeping "symbolic" representations to "make a point," because 1) the point is often totally wrong and 2) the point can be so powerful that it erases the viewers access to the more moderate and more factual, nuanced reality. Artists should not make "points" at the cost of truth.
In Biblical times in the Holy Land people basically wore really loose wraps of fabric around their body, held together and in place with a belt. There was usually an under layer of fabric and then an outer layer, often a robe. Most people possessed only one set of clothes! At most they had everyday work outfit and then possibly a ceremonial or good occasion outfit, but that was it.
Thus the belt was really important since it held the fabric close to the body and everything "in place." In Biblical times the belt is called the "girdle." Ah ha! They were not trying to conquer belly fat when they all wore girdles, LOL. A girdle was a belt made out of leather or fabric.
(I've just had to paws, I mean pause, to pet a friend's dog who I am taking care of while she is away. He misses his "mom" and needs lots of attention :)
...
...
...
...voice input would be helpful right now, ha....
...
Here is from a bible dictionary in the back of my 1955 New Standard bible, Authorized King James etc but exceedingly cool because of the beautiful engravings along with comprehensive dictionary.
"Girdle, an essential article of dress in the East, and worn both by men and women. The common girdle was made of leather, like that worn by the Bedouins today. The girdle was fastened by a clasp of gold or silver, or tied in a knot so that the ends hung down in front.
It was worn by men about the loins (Isa, v. 27, xi. 5). The girdle of women was generally looser than that of the men and was worn about the hips, except when they were actively engaged (Proverbs xxxi, 17). The military girdle was worn about the waist; the sword or dagger was suspended from it (Judg. iii. 16; 2 Sam. xx. 8; Ps. xlv. 3). In times of mourning girdles of sackcloth were worn (Isa. iii 24; xxii. 12)."
...the dawg's lonely again and needs more petting..... *saves*.....
....
....
....
...
Thus the normal garment was a loose cloth robe that is floor length held together with the girdle. When the person, man or woman, needed to work in the fields or at other chores, or needs to run, they "girded their loins." This meant that they pulled enough fabric up under the belt and tucked it in so that the floor length robe is shortened to being middle of the leg in length, thus making it easier to work or to "make haste."
Here's the modern equivalent. When someone is ready to "get down to work" they often say they are "rolling up their sleeves." Quite a difference between desk and studio oriented modern life, and active outdoor life of the past, where one today frees up the arms from long sleeved shirts while in the past it was to free up the legs in order to work outdoors or to walk/run in haste!
When one understands the culture it makes the Bible much easier to understand, the messages clearer, and certainly more enjoyable and less mysterious! See, even though one hundred years ago westerners were not wearing robes, being farmers and pasturalists, and other outdoor craftsmen and women, they would have still understood right away when reading the Bible what "girding one's loins" meant and implied since they could envision doing their outdoor work and the difficulties if they were wearing floor length robes. Today young people need to have such things explained, as many good Sunday school teachers do.
A small Christian church in Syria has a girdle that is credibly said to have belonged to Mary, mother of Jesus.
Now you can understand even better the very famous part of Proverbs 31, starting with 10: Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. Girdles are referenced twice in describing this woman, once figuratively and once literally. She is admired for "making fine linen, and selling it; and delivering girdles unto the merchant" (24). So this proverb admires a woman who makes cloth, a fine cloth, linen, and also items that are the most essential besides the basic garment itself, which is the girdle. Then it is also used figuratively, "She girds her loins with strength, and strengthens her arms" (17). They don't mean just body building strength, LOL, but rather strength of dependability and ability to do what is necessary with wisdom. See, they use the image of the girdle, which prepares one for swift movement, to invite one to imagine a virtuous woman girding her loins (the place a man would wear the actual girdle) and her arms wi
th strength, rather than leather. With one simple image the Proverbs has provided those who get the analogy with a great image of action-oriented and wise dependability of what is still a very feminine figure.Jesus said in Luke 12:35 Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning.
St. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
You can thus now understand from knowing the type of clothes and what it meant to gird up to be prepared for action how Jesus warns (in the context of a larger parable) and Peter, who would have heard Jesus discuss this many times, confirms that one has a duty to be constantly prepared for action mentally and spiritually if one expects to receive gifts of grace from God.
Many take this too literally (because they read what Jesus said but miss Peter's practical explanation) to mean "be ready when Jesus comes again in the Second Coming." Um, no, not exactly. Jesus, and thus Peter, are explaining that one must always be in a good state of being to receive from God, and not lolling about with high expectations but low readiness to comprehend God's will and wishes for you. Many people do not hear when God does reply to their prayers because they expect drama or they expect only what they expect, and are not alert to grace that they do receive, which is just about one hundred percent subtle and not glorious drama filled gifts that flood the sky with your radiance, LOL.
People girded their loins when they slogged out into the fields every day to weed (by hand) the food their family depended on, or when they have to run with an important message, or when one must tote or lug heavy things, or clean out the sheep pen.... the normal everyday things. If grace and gifts from God were drama filled and obvious, why would the most humble everyday symbol of garments be used by Jesus, and further explained by Peter? Precisely.
So that is why one cannot even actually substitute "roll up one's sleeves" as an equivalent, since that is mostly for desk jobs and white collar jobs, these days. And the point is missed on the T-shirt generation ha ha.
Rather, when one understands and immerses one's self in reading Bible passages such as these as to understand the lifestyle of those hearing (and speaking), one understands what God, through Jesus, and the prophets and the other holy people of the Bible are truly saying.
Think about what Jesus says to keep "your lights burning." He means your constant receptivity to God's will for you, even if it's not something you expect or like very much. You are not "covered" by leaving a light bulb on in a room all the time, egads. Again, think about those times. No one left a fire or lamp burning in an unattended room. But Jesus is saying that all of you need to keep your lights burning. This means to be serious and in constant attendance to all that God has said and taught you. This is why Peter says to be sober (both literally and figuratively). The bottom line is that these images mean one can never be frivolous and inattentive toward God at all. You are in a mental and spiritual state of having loins girded, not because you are waiting for something to happen, but because you are in the Kingdom of God on earth where continual service to him is required. You are always driving an auto in service to God, to use another modern and more apt analogy, so you can never risk being "asleep at the wheel." Can you say your light is burning if you barely think about God in a day, and do not have a day that is prayerful when one has opportunity?
See, people who think that they just need to noodle along on kind of a cruise control and only pay attention when a crash is imminent 1) probably cause the crash and 2) miss the whole point. Do not be "prepared" for Christ's Second Coming, but be asleep at the wheel of daily service to God.
There is much value in parsing each step of what Peter advises.
1. Gird up the loins of your mind (be knowledgeable and ready to understand God's plan and will for you),
2. Be sober (both literally and figuratively, because no delusion or frivolity must be allowed to distort God's relationship with you),
3. And hope to the end (in other words, live in a constant state of hope, no matter what, and never give up on God because he does not give up on you unless you surrender yourself irrevocably to sin)
4. For the grace that is to be brought unto you (grace is brought to you; you cannot manufacture or create or invoke grace upon yourself)
5. At the revelation of Jesus Christ (grace is brought to you by understanding and obeying what Jesus has said and demonstrated, through faith and belief and all subsequent behaviors that come from having genuine faith and belief).
People like to look for signs and deeper meanings, and here I can oblige you some. Please do not OCD overdose on symbolism though, LOL.
As I've already stated, the girding of the loins is such a humble and lowly, poor man or woman working everyday image, yet it is exalted in the speech of Jesus, of Peter, the first Pope, remember, and throughout the Bible, as we saw in Proverbs. Once again the humble and the everyday is exalted. Not "pretend humility" or "scripted humility," but the real humility of the meaning of girding one's loins. Kings wore decorative girdles of gold and did not gird their loins to work in the muck or to run from the fields in an emergency. The everyday people who were subsistence and poor girded their loins. The genuinely humble and genuinely everyday is always exalted by God.
My second point is to invite you to ponder, is it any coincidence that probably the only preserved girdle from that time in the Holy Land is the one of Mary in Syria? Was there anyone more genuinely humble, pure and non-drama oriented than her? Is it any wonder that the plain brown cloth (as best as I can see in the image) girdle of Mary, left behind at the household of someone in what is now Syria as she accompanied Jesus through all his preaching and ministry, in a small humble church in what is now an Islamic country remains?
God speaks everyday in a "small voice." The Bible records the dozen or so storm and thunders of his great miracles and the Theophany... but 365 days of each year God speaks in small deeds, small graces bestowed, and small opportunities to do his will and to serve him and through him each other.
Matthew 3:4
And the same John [the Baptist] had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leather girdle about his loins.
Ephesians 6:14
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breast-plate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
Just as an aside, this is another reason why "modernizing" sacred art must be totally resisted. One hardly understands girding if one looks at vulgar "art" that has Bible figures in something like modern clothing. Yes, sure, medieval art clothed the figures in unrealistic rich garments of the time, but they were conveying a spiritual point, not dropping important Bible life imagery. What I mean is that it is important to convey realistic and not modern agenda driven images of Biblical figures. Let me use a quick example. What if some "artist" thought that drawing the occupying Romans in let's say Nazi uniforms for "symbolism" sake was a cute idea? Well, that would deprive, visually, through its erroneous and shocking power, viewers of easy access to the facts that Romans came to Jesus for miracles (the centurion) AND that Roman soldiers often converted enmasse to Christianity, being martyred in the dozens on the spot. Art "symbolism" can be very dangerously misleading. So this is just an educational aside to those of you in the arts, especially young people, that you must not accept the starkness of false, sweeping "symbolic" representations to "make a point," because 1) the point is often totally wrong and 2) the point can be so powerful that it erases the viewers access to the more moderate and more factual, nuanced reality. Artists should not make "points" at the cost of truth.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Bible Reading: Luke 9:46-49
Now a discussion arose among them, which of them was the greatest. But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their heart, took a little child and set him at his side, and said to them, "Whoever receives this little child for my sake, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives him who sent me. For he who is the least among you, he is the greatest."
But John answered and said, "Master, we saw a man casting out devils in thy name, and we forbade him, because he does not follow with us." And Jesus said to him, "Do not forbide him; for he who is not against you is for you."
Monday, August 11, 2008
(continued) Understanding God's plan for each
So in the previous post I reminded you that Jesus affirmed that what happens to a person in life, specifically to the topic at the time, hardship, has nothing to do with God punishing them or placing them in that position because of some imaginary individual or family sin. Instead God creates an individual soul, with accompanying guardian angel, for each and every new person conceived, and each soul is clean, new, loved and equal in God's eyes.
I understand that it is hard for humans to understand this. Humans tend to think, well, if God "knows" in advance everything that is going to happen to a new person, if it is a "bad" and "hard" life, won't he send a "stronger" soul, or make some sort of other discrimination about which soul to which body? No, absolutely not, because that is a human mindset, not God's. The only time a soul was ever "assigned" to a body in anticipation of earthly events was obviously Jesus Christ, who was fathered and whose soul was provided by the "overshadowing of the Holy Spirit." That should be obvious to anyone. This is another way for those who puzzle over God having "a Son" to understand it. Jesus was the only one who was given his soul as part of the pre-existing plan by God and you know that because of the giving of his life (and obviously soul) by the actual indwelling of the Holy Spirit. All other human beings receive a new, clean and equal soul at the time of their conception and quickening (first life impulse) in the mother's womb, one that is not "matched up" with what God "knows" will happen, but one that is individually created through God's grace.
How to help you better understand this from "God's point of view?" Well, think about angels. There are uncountable numbers of angels, yet each one is individual. They are individual even though they don't really "do anything" easy or hard, except dwell in the presence of God and for a few, manifest his will among humans. So each individual angel is absolutely unique even though they do not have individual corporal bodies and in fact humans cannot tell them apart unless they self identify. For example the four cherubims that appear to Ezechiel appear identical to him (Ezechiel 1:5-7). Yet obviously God created them individually and "can tell them apart." It is like the humor we have about some of God's animal species here on earth where a human can't tell male or female of the species, and the punchline to the joke is that "Well, they can tell the difference!" :-)
So God being God, obviously, creates and perceives an uncountable number of his creatures, in this case angels, that are equally loved and yet unique in his eyes. It is therefore using this analogy easy to see that at the time an embryo is conceived that God creates one of his individual but equal clean souls to send, just as he did the uncountable number of angels.
Think of all the preborn babies who have died. I do not mean to be sad here or to raise the topic of abortion, so just think of it as the miscarriages of babies that have occurred throughout human history. Each baby received a unique and equal soul, and none of them lived an actual life since they died before birth. Yet they each had a unique soul and they each go to heaven with their one soul that has been shaped by their experience of being alive, no matter how brief, since they resided, even very briefly, in their body, which is the temple of the soul. Suppose the baby was in a mother who experienced deprivation and starvation, and that was the reason she miscarried? The pre born child shared with her the experience of not having enough calories, of having to perhaps travel long miles for a handful of food. The baby did not suffer consciously in this case, and so the baby was serene, even as it did not thrive due to lack of calories and died. Yet as a soul the preborn baby shared the hardship of being in a body that could not thrive and did die. Therefore when the soul goes to heaven (as all infants do) the soul will have been shaped in a pattern that has some of the glory of martyrdom and sacrifice, and will join with members of the family already there (grandparents for example) in a way that is a full member of the family and with that "orientation." In other words, even a few months of life as a pre-born baby gives a dignity and individuality of life that is equal, within heaven, to someone who lived for a hundred years.
So this illustrates the second part of God's individual plan for each person which is equality in love and equality in soul "maturity" and potential access to heaven regardless of the actual length of the human's life. There is no such thing as an "old soul" or a "young soul." All souls are the same "age," whether the human body lived for a few months as a pre-born baby or a full life span of one hundred and twenty years or more. A pre-born baby who died from starvation due to its mother's deprived calories as in the example I give up above is as "old" in soul as a person who died after a full life and achieved heaven. To help you to understand that, think of a soul's "age" as not being about time (which does not exist in heaven), but about virtue. A baby who shared his or her mother's suffering and lost their life as a result is as full of virtue as a human who, on and off, pursued a good and worthy life and even with sins, repents and finds heaven. A soul's "age" is not about time frames or "lessons," but the amount and type of individuality and virtue the soul lived, however short the time.
And that illustrates the third part of God's individual plan for each person which is that regardless of what happens to that person when they are alive, the potential for God to find the good and to steer them in that direction is consistent for everyone, but obviously varies according to their environment of birth. A pre-born baby that starves in the Sudan, for example, is dependent on the limited earthly options offered to the mother. It's not like if the mother walked long enough that she could reach a grocery store and find a wallet full of money. So God's "plan" for that pre-born baby is not that he or she should starve and be miscarried. God's "plan" for that baby is that 1) the baby obviously is a child of God's and will achieve paradise and 2) the Holy Spirit will continually move to try to bring people with grace to bear on the situation so that some good can come from even corners of the world that suffer.
So, for example, a fourth part of God's individual plan for each person is to promote charity and goodness in the surrounding individuals so that no matter where one is on earth there is no total absence of goodness and hope. It may not be enough to result in a long life, but it is part of that individual's "plan" by God that agencies, governments, individuals and religious groups feel the stirring of both brotherly and sisterly love AND God's love so that they try to bring peace, they try to bring medicine, they try to bring food. In a way, the starving pre-born baby, even if never individually known about, is like a glowing light that tries to pull goodness toward him or her, by the calling of people who care who try to remediate the larger situation of hunger, poverty, refugee status, violence victim, and war. So in both a spiritual way and in a bodily way, God's "plan" for that pre-born child who does die of starvation is that no life is wasted and that even the greatest sadness attempts to bias other humans toward the performing of greater good, if for no other reason than "this type of thing should not happen again." While humans are very numbers driven, God is not. For example, every child who dies of starvation has "equal credit" and "soul maturity and virtue" in heaven for resultant good deeds that develop from their hardship.
So think it through along with me. Humans tend to think in terms of receiving a report with an outrageous number of starvations, which they call a "humanitarian crisis." This will focus awareness and initiate intervention programs. There are also humans who have a "local" focus, who strive to eliminate starvation and hunger in their own village, for example, or on a local scale in a needy place of the world. So let us suppose that the pre-born child who is miscarried due to starvation of the mother is one of thousands that occur in a given place and time. Let us also suppose that at some point agencies, governments and individual food programs say, "Enough is enough" and they get some relief to the area, although obviously months or even years after our example pre-born child has perished. Obviously the people who made the intervention exhibit virtue and gain grace because as Jesus said, "he" was hungry and they "fed" him, through the poor. But you need to look at the "flip side" of what has happened to understand how God perceives humans and their souls. That pre-born baby "receives" "equal virtue" and "credit" as if he or she was the very child that was the last number of deaths that made the agencies etc. say, "Enough is enough" and send the aid. Every child who dies of starvation, for example, is honored in heaven as if he or she is the one whose death brought the saving food for everyone else after them.
I understand that it is hard for humans to understand this. Humans tend to think, well, if God "knows" in advance everything that is going to happen to a new person, if it is a "bad" and "hard" life, won't he send a "stronger" soul, or make some sort of other discrimination about which soul to which body? No, absolutely not, because that is a human mindset, not God's. The only time a soul was ever "assigned" to a body in anticipation of earthly events was obviously Jesus Christ, who was fathered and whose soul was provided by the "overshadowing of the Holy Spirit." That should be obvious to anyone. This is another way for those who puzzle over God having "a Son" to understand it. Jesus was the only one who was given his soul as part of the pre-existing plan by God and you know that because of the giving of his life (and obviously soul) by the actual indwelling of the Holy Spirit. All other human beings receive a new, clean and equal soul at the time of their conception and quickening (first life impulse) in the mother's womb, one that is not "matched up" with what God "knows" will happen, but one that is individually created through God's grace.
How to help you better understand this from "God's point of view?" Well, think about angels. There are uncountable numbers of angels, yet each one is individual. They are individual even though they don't really "do anything" easy or hard, except dwell in the presence of God and for a few, manifest his will among humans. So each individual angel is absolutely unique even though they do not have individual corporal bodies and in fact humans cannot tell them apart unless they self identify. For example the four cherubims that appear to Ezechiel appear identical to him (Ezechiel 1:5-7). Yet obviously God created them individually and "can tell them apart." It is like the humor we have about some of God's animal species here on earth where a human can't tell male or female of the species, and the punchline to the joke is that "Well, they can tell the difference!" :-)
So God being God, obviously, creates and perceives an uncountable number of his creatures, in this case angels, that are equally loved and yet unique in his eyes. It is therefore using this analogy easy to see that at the time an embryo is conceived that God creates one of his individual but equal clean souls to send, just as he did the uncountable number of angels.
Think of all the preborn babies who have died. I do not mean to be sad here or to raise the topic of abortion, so just think of it as the miscarriages of babies that have occurred throughout human history. Each baby received a unique and equal soul, and none of them lived an actual life since they died before birth. Yet they each had a unique soul and they each go to heaven with their one soul that has been shaped by their experience of being alive, no matter how brief, since they resided, even very briefly, in their body, which is the temple of the soul. Suppose the baby was in a mother who experienced deprivation and starvation, and that was the reason she miscarried? The pre born child shared with her the experience of not having enough calories, of having to perhaps travel long miles for a handful of food. The baby did not suffer consciously in this case, and so the baby was serene, even as it did not thrive due to lack of calories and died. Yet as a soul the preborn baby shared the hardship of being in a body that could not thrive and did die. Therefore when the soul goes to heaven (as all infants do) the soul will have been shaped in a pattern that has some of the glory of martyrdom and sacrifice, and will join with members of the family already there (grandparents for example) in a way that is a full member of the family and with that "orientation." In other words, even a few months of life as a pre-born baby gives a dignity and individuality of life that is equal, within heaven, to someone who lived for a hundred years.
So this illustrates the second part of God's individual plan for each person which is equality in love and equality in soul "maturity" and potential access to heaven regardless of the actual length of the human's life. There is no such thing as an "old soul" or a "young soul." All souls are the same "age," whether the human body lived for a few months as a pre-born baby or a full life span of one hundred and twenty years or more. A pre-born baby who died from starvation due to its mother's deprived calories as in the example I give up above is as "old" in soul as a person who died after a full life and achieved heaven. To help you to understand that, think of a soul's "age" as not being about time (which does not exist in heaven), but about virtue. A baby who shared his or her mother's suffering and lost their life as a result is as full of virtue as a human who, on and off, pursued a good and worthy life and even with sins, repents and finds heaven. A soul's "age" is not about time frames or "lessons," but the amount and type of individuality and virtue the soul lived, however short the time.
And that illustrates the third part of God's individual plan for each person which is that regardless of what happens to that person when they are alive, the potential for God to find the good and to steer them in that direction is consistent for everyone, but obviously varies according to their environment of birth. A pre-born baby that starves in the Sudan, for example, is dependent on the limited earthly options offered to the mother. It's not like if the mother walked long enough that she could reach a grocery store and find a wallet full of money. So God's "plan" for that pre-born baby is not that he or she should starve and be miscarried. God's "plan" for that baby is that 1) the baby obviously is a child of God's and will achieve paradise and 2) the Holy Spirit will continually move to try to bring people with grace to bear on the situation so that some good can come from even corners of the world that suffer.
So, for example, a fourth part of God's individual plan for each person is to promote charity and goodness in the surrounding individuals so that no matter where one is on earth there is no total absence of goodness and hope. It may not be enough to result in a long life, but it is part of that individual's "plan" by God that agencies, governments, individuals and religious groups feel the stirring of both brotherly and sisterly love AND God's love so that they try to bring peace, they try to bring medicine, they try to bring food. In a way, the starving pre-born baby, even if never individually known about, is like a glowing light that tries to pull goodness toward him or her, by the calling of people who care who try to remediate the larger situation of hunger, poverty, refugee status, violence victim, and war. So in both a spiritual way and in a bodily way, God's "plan" for that pre-born child who does die of starvation is that no life is wasted and that even the greatest sadness attempts to bias other humans toward the performing of greater good, if for no other reason than "this type of thing should not happen again." While humans are very numbers driven, God is not. For example, every child who dies of starvation has "equal credit" and "soul maturity and virtue" in heaven for resultant good deeds that develop from their hardship.
So think it through along with me. Humans tend to think in terms of receiving a report with an outrageous number of starvations, which they call a "humanitarian crisis." This will focus awareness and initiate intervention programs. There are also humans who have a "local" focus, who strive to eliminate starvation and hunger in their own village, for example, or on a local scale in a needy place of the world. So let us suppose that the pre-born child who is miscarried due to starvation of the mother is one of thousands that occur in a given place and time. Let us also suppose that at some point agencies, governments and individual food programs say, "Enough is enough" and they get some relief to the area, although obviously months or even years after our example pre-born child has perished. Obviously the people who made the intervention exhibit virtue and gain grace because as Jesus said, "he" was hungry and they "fed" him, through the poor. But you need to look at the "flip side" of what has happened to understand how God perceives humans and their souls. That pre-born baby "receives" "equal virtue" and "credit" as if he or she was the very child that was the last number of deaths that made the agencies etc. say, "Enough is enough" and send the aid. Every child who dies of starvation, for example, is honored in heaven as if he or she is the one whose death brought the saving food for everyone else after them.
Think of a modern day adult example, such as a pious person who dies of cancer. The suffering ill person may have prayed and believed, and their family may have prayed and believed, yet still they die. This is because it is the natural way of things where there are illnesses and failures of body, and it is up to humans to be charitable (and earn a living, there is nothing wrong with that) in researching cures, or better lifestyle practices and choices, or working on cleaner environments with less cancer causing chemicals and compounds. And someone says to the grieving family, "It is God's plan." Now you can see with discernment how it is God's plan, but not in the self hurting way that many humans perceive "God's will."
It is not "God's plan" or "God's will" that the person die of that disease and at that time in life, but it is God's will that humans do not live forever and that humans have resources to allocate according to their ability and charity to solve medical and other societal problems. However, one can look at the flip side of the example to understand that "God's plan" for that person is that if all else is equal (the person is a believer who lived a good life and sincerely repented of sin) that the person who dies of cancer has the credit and virtue in heaven of having been "the one" who stimulated cancer research, cancer palliative remedies, cancer home aides, stimulus to clean the environment if there is an associated cancer risk, etc. God's "plan" is to turn even the worst and saddest hardship that a person experiences into the maximum good, in ways that humans cannot see or fully comprehend (though I obviously hope that you understand more as a result of reading these two postings!) The person's soul will be shaped by their cancer experience so that they have the virtue just as if theirs was the "enough is enough" case of cancer that causes all of the good things to be stimulated as a result of the desire to mitigate the disease and condition.
See, one does not have to be a "superhero" or a "suffering martyr" to achieve heaven and to be honored there. Likewise one does not have to live long lives of super virtue and numerous charitable deeds to have a soul worthy of heaven (and in fact, works without grace is not the ticket). Soup kitchens without honoring God and having a prayer life, for example, is problematic. But this is why the average Joe or Mary has the easy road to heaven. If they live good lives of believers they arrive in heaven with the virtue of say a Mother Theresa. Suppose the average Joe lives a good life and dies of cancer. Like I said, Joe is viewed in heaven as one of the warm flames of inspiration that draws out of others around him on earth and after his death to do good deeds in the name of mitigating the cancer disease in others, even if no one ever knew Joe existed outside of his family. A guy who has a big breakthrough in cancer is "inspired" to do so by "Joe," even if Joe died years ago and he never knew him outside of being one in a table of annual cancer death statistics for research. That is because God "credits" the soul of Joe with the virtue of having the condition that caused him to suffer or lose his life, but stimulated charity and goodness (and as I said, economic stimulus) to be directed toward the problem of cancer.
So God's plan for each person is indeed individual, but it is not a checklist of things the person "must" experience. God knows in advance what will happen, obviously, because God has created the universe, and knows all and sees all. But the new person is conceived because of human free will (we all know the biology behind that), not because God has a checklist saying, "OK, it's now time for this person to pop into being!' When humans conceive according to free will and since it is God's will that humans be fruitful and pro-life, God gives the embryo a soul and the guardian angel, and the individual soul now has "a plan." That plan is to help the person navigate through the many, or the few, choices in life offered to him or her, not to rack up accomplishments or EITHER grace or works. Like I said, the pre-born infant who dies of starvation has the grace, honor and virtue as if he or she had personally caused the "inventor of the way to end hunger" to achieve their goal! So how can a human think, "Well, if I volunteer at 100 soup kitchens I am closer to heaven and better off than that other person over there?" While God exhorts humans to be good and to do good, they cannot begin to "keep score" or make assumptions about how the soul is viewed by God. And when hardship occurs, humans can only have human and neighborly charity toward their fellow human; they cannot begin to answer the "why" and the "how will they be judged" questions.
Generations of humans understood this, though obviously not to the detail that I've explained through this analogy. But modern humans are all caught up in their own double thinking complexity that is often entirely wrong. Why has this happened? First of all it's because modern humans have become so detached from the glory of normal life. It is less and less easy for people to have the simple desires that their ancestors had, for a spouse, a place to dwell, water, food and children. So as life has become more sophisticated, humans have become more unrealistic in their views of themselves, and thus see life itself as some weird and complex puzzle of risk and reward, forgetting entirely that life itself really is as simple in its foundational reality as it always has been. The second problem is that modern humans have much less faith in God, and so they become paranoid and restrict in their minds the possibilities of how good God really is and how God actually might, you know, being all powerful and everything, might actually see things differently than humans, less numerically, less scoring, less debits and credits and certainly more lovingly. Being loving does not mean telling humans that sin is "OK." Being loving means that God does everything he can for humans to understand his realness, his love and his mercy and forgiveness, and most of all, that God's love is for everyone, not segregated by human types of imaginings. So, for example, as I've shown you, even a life that is cut short in the womb can and does have individuality and virtue when the soul arrives in heaven that often is more than a "do gooder" who had a long check list of hundreds of charitable activities, but does it without love and understanding of God in his or her heart. Humans cannot even begin to understand God's goodness and how truly easy it is to achieve heaven if one only resists chronic sin and who works for the humble greater good, not the self glorying or "butt covering" greater good.
I hope this also helps you to better understand that not every little thought that enters your head and every deed that you do is prompted by God's "plan." Just like the guy going to work and stopping at the stop sign, you have a list of to do things, but you have both conscious and unconscious life plans. You may turn to God to ask what is his will in, for example, vocations, or a relationship. But remember, the first thoughts that pop in your mind are your own assumptions, both desires and fears (and random dopey thoughts that people have). Even when praying, you are still a human and your own noise can sound profound, but it is not. The wise saints knew that one must be open to God's will not so much through hoping for a "message," but by prayerful living and getting on with it. You cannot know all the implications of every decision, and the more you try the more you become astray from truly and actually understanding God. God knows what you will choose and do, but that does not mean he is "telling you" what to choose or to do. As I demonstrated, even the pre-born child who has no choice in action at all accrues virtue and individuality of their soul. Adults humans tend to be too achievement, yes/no and action oriented to actually be quiet (as in serene and open) enough to trust that God will help them to do the best that they can with whatever they choose to do (assuming it's not a sin OF COURSE!) Though God will still try to help mitigate and give chances to the person to clean up their act. God does not "send lessons" or "instructions," God travels along with you in your journey and the Holy Spirit continually influences all humans to bias toward goodness and faith.
I hope this helps!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Bible reading for those tempted by mouthiness
Read Lamentations 3:22-30. I'd type it in but there is a "scheduled outage."
Friday, July 4, 2008
Bible reading, commentary, with modern event link
One of the Bible readings for this Sunday, the fourteenth week of Ordinary Time, is Zechariah 9:9-10. Zenit has the Pontifical household preacher’s usual wonderful commentary:
http://www.zenit.org/article-23111?l=english
If you read it you will find that he touches on some of the very things I had so recently discussed about who is truly imaginative and able to comprehend the transcendent, and how it is often not those who consider themselves modern and full of knowledge.
But I was happy, even though it is a sad news event, to see how the reading from Zachariah could be shown to you as a very valuable example of how to honestly relate the words and prophecy of the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, to modern events. In this verse from Zachariah the arrival of the Messiah is prophesied:
From the Catholic Missal: First Reading
See, your king comes to you humbly.
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Zechariah
Thus says the Lord: Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem. See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, meek and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass. He shall banish the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; the warrior’s bow shall be banished, and he shall proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Now, generations of preachers obviously focus on the primary message of this passage with correctness, which is the literal prophecy that the Messiah, Jesus Christ, will arrive riding on a humble colt of an ass, and on the broader message that the greatest King and holder of power who is true is humble in his demeanor, not proud. So those are the two messages that are correctly gleaned and discussed in many sermons.
I want to give you, though, an honest and accurate way to relate today’s Sunday reading to a real life event and thus learn how the scripture does indeed live on in many dimensions of human experience as the truth. I also hope this shows how people can be weaned from looking at every Bible passage for grist as a literal “prophecy” and rather as a truth that is demonstrated to be true time after time.
This past week a construction worker took the front loader caterpillar from his site and ran amok in Jerusalem, killing three innocent people by crushing them and injuring up to forty others. Despite the fact that he yelled “Allah, Akbar” (God is great) just before officials were able to stop and kill him, the continuing examination of his past indicates a drug addicted maladjusted individual. He has a criminal record, a problem with violence, including spousal abuse, and apparently was a drug addict.
The Bible reading warns that “your king,” the true king, will come to you “meek and riding on an ass,” who will banish “the chariot” “the horse” and “the warrior’s bow.” These three items are possessions of the mighty and powerful. The true king, “a just savior” will “proclaim peace” and “His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”
Dear friends, I have often explained that drug addiction is the worship of a false idol and deludes the user into thinking he or she has special power. This man, who had a violent past either caused by or worsened by drug usage, seizes a “chariot,” a front loader caterpillar, and crushes innocent people, including a baby’s mother, in his snapped moment of rage. For a few moments of rage he has “the power” but it is the false power of the arrogant and inflated, and it is cut down on the spot by police, military and brave bystanders. This is a impressive real life example of how to ponder a Biblical readings and relate it to the real world. Only the humble Christ with his power is the eternal ruler, bringing peace and not power through violence. Those who possess “the chariot,” “the horse” and “the warrior’s bow” and who use them not for peace and justice but to oppress and murder, as this man did, are false, lacking humility and doing only damage in their time. For a few moments this man rode his “chariot” through the streets, just as the arrogant ancient aristocracy and warriors did, and all that was achieved is broken bodies, ruined lives and his demise. But those who recognize the humility of authentic power, the saving power of Christ, join into a dominion blessed by God that is based on justice for all eternity.
Who knows what that man would have been like had he not been a drug addict? Only God knows, in the fullness of his wisdom. But the drugs, the mental illness, the issues, or whatever provoked this rampage with the “chariot” trashed whatever humility he had, and humility is the key to authentic power and good judgment, the sign of the worthy king blessed by God.
So you can see that there is a real day to day demonstration of what is in the sacred words of the Bible without twisting and forcing passages into being: “Oh look, what does chariots really symbolize in real life? Is it prophecy about cars, trucks, trains, planes, UFO’s?” Did the Bible “foresee” this guy rampaging through Jerusalem? Of course not. But to those who are humble, alert and open minded, it is a way to make the Sunday reading illuminate a broader lesson in a modern day event. The poor people fleeing from this maniac could not help but be “impressed” with his power, for it overwhelmed cars, buses, crushing them and extinguishing human life. But this was not everlasting and real power. Likewise, modern people must not be blinded by those who seem to have the “chariots,” the “horses” and the “warrior’s bow” and assume that this gives them true might, power and wisdom. The Bible repeatedly teaches and with total accuracy that it is the truly humble (not the fake humility) that is a hallmark of the wise, the righteous and of ultimately, the true king and savior Jesus Christ.
http://www.zenit.org/article-23111?l=english
If you read it you will find that he touches on some of the very things I had so recently discussed about who is truly imaginative and able to comprehend the transcendent, and how it is often not those who consider themselves modern and full of knowledge.
But I was happy, even though it is a sad news event, to see how the reading from Zachariah could be shown to you as a very valuable example of how to honestly relate the words and prophecy of the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, to modern events. In this verse from Zachariah the arrival of the Messiah is prophesied:
From the Catholic Missal: First Reading
See, your king comes to you humbly.
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Zechariah
Thus says the Lord: Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem. See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, meek and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass. He shall banish the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; the warrior’s bow shall be banished, and he shall proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Now, generations of preachers obviously focus on the primary message of this passage with correctness, which is the literal prophecy that the Messiah, Jesus Christ, will arrive riding on a humble colt of an ass, and on the broader message that the greatest King and holder of power who is true is humble in his demeanor, not proud. So those are the two messages that are correctly gleaned and discussed in many sermons.
I want to give you, though, an honest and accurate way to relate today’s Sunday reading to a real life event and thus learn how the scripture does indeed live on in many dimensions of human experience as the truth. I also hope this shows how people can be weaned from looking at every Bible passage for grist as a literal “prophecy” and rather as a truth that is demonstrated to be true time after time.
This past week a construction worker took the front loader caterpillar from his site and ran amok in Jerusalem, killing three innocent people by crushing them and injuring up to forty others. Despite the fact that he yelled “Allah, Akbar” (God is great) just before officials were able to stop and kill him, the continuing examination of his past indicates a drug addicted maladjusted individual. He has a criminal record, a problem with violence, including spousal abuse, and apparently was a drug addict.
The Bible reading warns that “your king,” the true king, will come to you “meek and riding on an ass,” who will banish “the chariot” “the horse” and “the warrior’s bow.” These three items are possessions of the mighty and powerful. The true king, “a just savior” will “proclaim peace” and “His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”
Dear friends, I have often explained that drug addiction is the worship of a false idol and deludes the user into thinking he or she has special power. This man, who had a violent past either caused by or worsened by drug usage, seizes a “chariot,” a front loader caterpillar, and crushes innocent people, including a baby’s mother, in his snapped moment of rage. For a few moments of rage he has “the power” but it is the false power of the arrogant and inflated, and it is cut down on the spot by police, military and brave bystanders. This is a impressive real life example of how to ponder a Biblical readings and relate it to the real world. Only the humble Christ with his power is the eternal ruler, bringing peace and not power through violence. Those who possess “the chariot,” “the horse” and “the warrior’s bow” and who use them not for peace and justice but to oppress and murder, as this man did, are false, lacking humility and doing only damage in their time. For a few moments this man rode his “chariot” through the streets, just as the arrogant ancient aristocracy and warriors did, and all that was achieved is broken bodies, ruined lives and his demise. But those who recognize the humility of authentic power, the saving power of Christ, join into a dominion blessed by God that is based on justice for all eternity.
Who knows what that man would have been like had he not been a drug addict? Only God knows, in the fullness of his wisdom. But the drugs, the mental illness, the issues, or whatever provoked this rampage with the “chariot” trashed whatever humility he had, and humility is the key to authentic power and good judgment, the sign of the worthy king blessed by God.
So you can see that there is a real day to day demonstration of what is in the sacred words of the Bible without twisting and forcing passages into being: “Oh look, what does chariots really symbolize in real life? Is it prophecy about cars, trucks, trains, planes, UFO’s?” Did the Bible “foresee” this guy rampaging through Jerusalem? Of course not. But to those who are humble, alert and open minded, it is a way to make the Sunday reading illuminate a broader lesson in a modern day event. The poor people fleeing from this maniac could not help but be “impressed” with his power, for it overwhelmed cars, buses, crushing them and extinguishing human life. But this was not everlasting and real power. Likewise, modern people must not be blinded by those who seem to have the “chariots,” the “horses” and the “warrior’s bow” and assume that this gives them true might, power and wisdom. The Bible repeatedly teaches and with total accuracy that it is the truly humble (not the fake humility) that is a hallmark of the wise, the righteous and of ultimately, the true king and savior Jesus Christ.
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