3xl has been rather distracted recently with visitors and things to think about. Just this week 3xl had the strange privilege of attending a friend's funeral. I say privilege, because in so many ways it was hard for me to feel sad even though the loss of a dear one like her, was felt deeply by many. I found myself smiling in the midst of the service, rejoicing that a one so loved of the Lord was now with Him and feeling a strange sense of this being how it should be in spite of my heartfelt feelings and wishes to have my friend around.
Her passing was all the more remarkable for its speed. No sooner had 3xl left for Azerbaijan praying for his friend who was a little unwell, did he hear the notification that it was cancer, and then, upon arriving back, finding she had already died, sometime as I was over the Atlantic. Of course in the kingdom of God things are a little different. Events take on a different meaning and significance, and the expected, usual and normal are given a back seat.
It would be normal for 3xl to pray hard for healing for his friend, to battle through the evil of cancer to the good of healing. I mean is there any good reason for anyone to die early? As the sisters said to Jesus, Lord if you had been here then our brother would not have died, but even in that death there was a kingdom perspective that the dear friends of Jesus had not appreciated.
As I prayed for my friend I realized that I was not to battle but to give her over to the Lord that we both served all our lives, to commit her into the arms of the King and the Father and to allow Him to deal with her in His infinite mercy and love. No wonder then, that her passing was remarkably quick and merciful and for that we are thankful.
The memorial service was full of hope and life and a sense so clearly that this was not the end of anything at all in the life of this dear saint, this was a completion of stage 1 and marked merely a passing to more wonderful things. The family spoke with thankfulness and joy and I noted that this was not the kind of thing that the ones without the hope of the kingdom could ever understand.
Is not all death in some ways loss and defeat?
Apparently not. To those in the kingdom death is merely the release of that which is of God within us, to the freedom it has been waiting for, the falling in to the ground and dying of wheat to rise again fruitful and mature. The eyes of faith see it, and heart of the given over ones know it deep within, though we miss and grieve for the loss of a friend in what is left of our Earthly life.
So why then is it so hard for us to keep it kingdom? What is it about our view of the eternal, that is so obscured by the life we so strive to maintain and preserve here on Earth and why do we still view this Earth and all that occurs within it as if we had never tasted eternity? It is the world that has been pulled over our eyes, a la Morpheus, so that we speak as if we believe in the kingdom but all the while order our lives as if what we saw, smelt, touched and heard was all there was?
Having felt the sting of death of loved ones that did not know the kingdom news, and seen in their eyes the fear mixed with bewilderment and defiance, as they held on tight to the life they were accustomed to, I know that these are not things that we speak of lightly, they cut deep and are eternally significant. They are also the events that have throughout history caused the most heart searching and introspection. Little wonder then, that it was the sudden death of Jesus that had a greater effect than all the acts and words of Jesus in the lives of those that looked on. It was the exclamation point to His life deeds, that gave what preceded it the power and significance that it would have throughout history and eternity.
His resurrection would be the start of an entirely new paragraph, a crossing off the map, that still continues in the lives of all those who claim dual citizenship for a while, before fully entering into the suzerainty of the King in His Kingdom. It is the border crossing that concerns us.
So 3xl speaks to himself when he says keep it kingdom, forget normal, it is much over rated, believe in nothing but that which can never be shaken and walk in the faith that pleases God rather than the sight that reassures me, and remember that just because you are weird, it does not mean you are wrong, in the realm of the normal.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
What's so original about sin....if they are all doing it?
All the way from downtown Istanbul....here's 3xl back on track after 12 days of enforced blogging silence, and I know I speak for myself when I say...I missed it.
No answer is required from you.
So 3xl was walking into the office in Baku of a local church and he noticed on the desk a book called Original Sin. He spoke with the pastor a little about it and made a wry comment about we evangelicals believing in original sin only until a baby's memorial service then all of sudden we get all Pelagian about it. Theologians never laugh at these things though, but one can always try to understand and declare what you believe the truth is however small your comprehension, in I hope questioning and real ways.
So 3xl did a little study on it and found that there is an incredibly wide and divergent range of opinion on the whole subject. Defining the concept is difficult, knowing that the Jews have never had the concept of OS and still do not is interesting, and even the words used differ a great deal among those who do believe in it, from original corruption, to sin nature, to imputed or committed. From total depravity to pre disposition, I tell you, it can make your head spin if you think about it and great people have strong arguments on every side.
When 3xl did his Law degree his chiseled old Irish Criminal Law Prof threw out a question to us. He said "what is a crime." Much sputtering about law and evil and wrong doing issued forth from the naive assembly, and the prof shook his head and cut through it all.
"A Crime, he said stridently... is a breach of the criminal law..." We all thought duh, because we had grand metaphysical notions of conscience, transgression and intent and guilt, but as far as the law is concerned a crime is not always a sin, but it is always a breach of whatever jurisdiction one finds oneself under as you traverse this world. Good to remember that sin is not law and that before the law there was something else that affected people's notions of what was wrong in their actions, call it natural law or conscience...wherever that came from.
Taking the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not a crime and under other circumstances might not have been a sin but disobedience of God's explicit command not to take of the fruit created the line that was not to be crossed. Did Adam have a conscience, or did that get implanted after being caught in fragranto delecti, and was that passed on to us all from Adam, since there seems to have been understanding of what was the right thing, or not, even in the Kids, God after all appealed to Cain to do what was right, thus assuming he knew what was right. No one said you shall not kill, so when murder entered the world courtesy of Cain(actual original death came for the animal that provided coverings for the newly branded sinners) he tried to do his own sin covering, knowing it was wrong
So what is conscience and why is it not clearly present in some, or strong in others? Is it a product of environment or training, or a primeaval hark back to something implanted by an act of disloyalty, disobedience and disavowal. Was it the result of entrapment by the original sinner himself, Satan, playing on the naivete of the paradise struck couple, or a part of that eternity God placed in our hearts, that we might constantly seek Him, an Aquinasian natural law embedded along with our now natural proclivities to concupiscence according to Mr Hippo himself Augustine, and being a bit of a lad in his former pre regenerate life, he knew a bit about that. Truth is, 3xl does not know, and from what he has read, neither does anyone else but we can fall on certain sides of the debate about this.
So 3xl would rather talk about some things that are far more original than OS.
I mean, how original can it be if everyone's doing it ?
Thus 3xl would like to finish this first posting of the month with a celebration of some far more original things.
Firstly, Original Love. The kind of love that is God and must be expressed even at great cost and hurt. The kind of love that creates and nurtures, and bestows the love of a parent and so much more and does it perfectly. Now that is original, and not the kid of thing that you see every day.
Secondly, Original Grace. Even more rare than OL, OG is the kind of grace that forgives wilfull, malicious rejection and the kind of desire to inflict pain on the innocent that goes far beyond my ken, and overwhelms it with OL, even when destruction is only whim away for the evildoer. Why redeem, why justify, why propitiate(why try saying that whilst eating a cracker) why strive continually with the hearts of men to forgive and save. OG is the answer that poses more questions than we have time for. Outrageous in its unfairness, it takes orignal to a whole new level.
Thirdly, Original Sacrifice. Some clever theological people will say that the killing of the animal to cover the revealed nakedness of the First lady and her man, was the first religious act that showed God covering over the "sin" of people, via the sacrifice of an animal. What is called a "foreshadowing" of the whole system of Law and sacrifice that would guide the Jewish people over the millenia. 3xl would like to say for the purposes of this blog, that it does not get any more original, any more, the one and only, than what the Lord did at Calvary where he was made naked, took the punishment for sin in his body uncovered, and chose to stay till "it is finished," when he could have removed himself from the scene and been the glorious hero and conquering one. Yet he chose to stay and drink to the bottom, the dregs of thousands of years of humanity's wrongdoing, original or not.
Understanding Orignal Sin is hard enough, Original Sacrifice makes 3xl's ears swell and his head fall off, as the cockneys say, "can you Adam and Eve it !!!" No you can not and will never be able to fathom the depth of love that causes Father to create and love in spite of all things, the Spirit to strive continually with man to turn to God , or the Son who made it possible.
Lastly let me just note one more. Original Original. God is both the first and final, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
In the beginning before all, there was God.
So in honor of this fact, 3xl coined a new name for God... The Origin of Origins.
3xl signing out bewildered and astonished by God...
No answer is required from you.
So 3xl was walking into the office in Baku of a local church and he noticed on the desk a book called Original Sin. He spoke with the pastor a little about it and made a wry comment about we evangelicals believing in original sin only until a baby's memorial service then all of sudden we get all Pelagian about it. Theologians never laugh at these things though, but one can always try to understand and declare what you believe the truth is however small your comprehension, in I hope questioning and real ways.
So 3xl did a little study on it and found that there is an incredibly wide and divergent range of opinion on the whole subject. Defining the concept is difficult, knowing that the Jews have never had the concept of OS and still do not is interesting, and even the words used differ a great deal among those who do believe in it, from original corruption, to sin nature, to imputed or committed. From total depravity to pre disposition, I tell you, it can make your head spin if you think about it and great people have strong arguments on every side.
When 3xl did his Law degree his chiseled old Irish Criminal Law Prof threw out a question to us. He said "what is a crime." Much sputtering about law and evil and wrong doing issued forth from the naive assembly, and the prof shook his head and cut through it all.
"A Crime, he said stridently... is a breach of the criminal law..." We all thought duh, because we had grand metaphysical notions of conscience, transgression and intent and guilt, but as far as the law is concerned a crime is not always a sin, but it is always a breach of whatever jurisdiction one finds oneself under as you traverse this world. Good to remember that sin is not law and that before the law there was something else that affected people's notions of what was wrong in their actions, call it natural law or conscience...wherever that came from.
Taking the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not a crime and under other circumstances might not have been a sin but disobedience of God's explicit command not to take of the fruit created the line that was not to be crossed. Did Adam have a conscience, or did that get implanted after being caught in fragranto delecti, and was that passed on to us all from Adam, since there seems to have been understanding of what was the right thing, or not, even in the Kids, God after all appealed to Cain to do what was right, thus assuming he knew what was right. No one said you shall not kill, so when murder entered the world courtesy of Cain(actual original death came for the animal that provided coverings for the newly branded sinners) he tried to do his own sin covering, knowing it was wrong
So what is conscience and why is it not clearly present in some, or strong in others? Is it a product of environment or training, or a primeaval hark back to something implanted by an act of disloyalty, disobedience and disavowal. Was it the result of entrapment by the original sinner himself, Satan, playing on the naivete of the paradise struck couple, or a part of that eternity God placed in our hearts, that we might constantly seek Him, an Aquinasian natural law embedded along with our now natural proclivities to concupiscence according to Mr Hippo himself Augustine, and being a bit of a lad in his former pre regenerate life, he knew a bit about that. Truth is, 3xl does not know, and from what he has read, neither does anyone else but we can fall on certain sides of the debate about this.
So 3xl would rather talk about some things that are far more original than OS.
I mean, how original can it be if everyone's doing it ?
Thus 3xl would like to finish this first posting of the month with a celebration of some far more original things.
Firstly, Original Love. The kind of love that is God and must be expressed even at great cost and hurt. The kind of love that creates and nurtures, and bestows the love of a parent and so much more and does it perfectly. Now that is original, and not the kid of thing that you see every day.
Secondly, Original Grace. Even more rare than OL, OG is the kind of grace that forgives wilfull, malicious rejection and the kind of desire to inflict pain on the innocent that goes far beyond my ken, and overwhelms it with OL, even when destruction is only whim away for the evildoer. Why redeem, why justify, why propitiate(why try saying that whilst eating a cracker) why strive continually with the hearts of men to forgive and save. OG is the answer that poses more questions than we have time for. Outrageous in its unfairness, it takes orignal to a whole new level.
Thirdly, Original Sacrifice. Some clever theological people will say that the killing of the animal to cover the revealed nakedness of the First lady and her man, was the first religious act that showed God covering over the "sin" of people, via the sacrifice of an animal. What is called a "foreshadowing" of the whole system of Law and sacrifice that would guide the Jewish people over the millenia. 3xl would like to say for the purposes of this blog, that it does not get any more original, any more, the one and only, than what the Lord did at Calvary where he was made naked, took the punishment for sin in his body uncovered, and chose to stay till "it is finished," when he could have removed himself from the scene and been the glorious hero and conquering one. Yet he chose to stay and drink to the bottom, the dregs of thousands of years of humanity's wrongdoing, original or not.
Understanding Orignal Sin is hard enough, Original Sacrifice makes 3xl's ears swell and his head fall off, as the cockneys say, "can you Adam and Eve it !!!" No you can not and will never be able to fathom the depth of love that causes Father to create and love in spite of all things, the Spirit to strive continually with man to turn to God , or the Son who made it possible.
Lastly let me just note one more. Original Original. God is both the first and final, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
In the beginning before all, there was God.
So in honor of this fact, 3xl coined a new name for God... The Origin of Origins.
3xl signing out bewildered and astonished by God...
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