M!ke

M!ke

44p

78 comments posted · 0 followers · following 0

11 years ago @ Ars Moriendi - The Bandwagon · 0 replies · +1 points

Well I was referring to me getting back on, but I mean if you want to get on the Mike Bandwagon I won't stop you. It's a popular wagon.

B-)

11 years ago @ Ars Moriendi - Darkness · 0 replies · +1 points

Hey man, sorry for the delay in responding. I don't think there's anything wrong with not having experienced God as "daddy." To be honest I also don't experience it, and I cringe a little at how casual many evangelicals make the relationship sound. I think, like with most aspects of faith, it becomes a "problem" if we make something out of it that it's not meant to be. Yes, Jesus called God the father "Abba." Jesus also walked on water and multiplied bread and fish and did a host of other miracles, and I don't see how it should be any easier for humans to do this one. If some people can do it, great. I think the problem arises when we claim that it's something that everyone can and should easily experience. It just isn't so. It makes me cringe when I see bumper stickers that say "If you're not feeling close to God, guess who moved." That's just not how it works, and I think the Bible is less likely to agree with that bumper sticker.

In my opinion, the evangelical emphasis on God as "daddy" also betrays a fixation on certainty and experiential knowledge of God, which I know we've talked about before. I don't think much of the church throughout history would place such a heavy priority on being absolutely certain about one's faith. But in light of the two thousand years between Jesus and us, in light of problematic passages in the Bible that are difficult to parse and difficult to understand in the context of a loving God, in light of many other challenges in professing a Christian faith, evangelical Christianity still emphasizes certainty of belief. And what's the best way to be certain of God's existence and character if his revelation through Scripture doesn't do it for you? Experience him yourself. Maybe that's why such an emphasis is placed on God as "daddy," but again I think it's important to remember that this isn't the way the church has historically operated -- or at least it's not the way the people I've read seem to operate. You would know better than I would.

I don't know if those thoughts address yours at all or if I've missed it. I know I've shared this quote with you before but it bears repeating. I think Lewis gets more at what the reality of our relationship with God is like:

"Humans are amphibians - half spirit and half animal... As spirits they belong to the eternal world, but as animals they inhabit time. This means that while their spirit can be directed to an eternal object, their bodies, passions, and imaginations are in continual change, for to be in time means to change. their nearest approach to constancy, therefore, is undulation - the repeated return to a level from which they repeatedly fall back, a series of troughs and peaks. ... Now it may surprise you to learn that in His efforts to get permanent possession of a soul, He relies on the troughs even more than on the peaks; some of His special favourites have gone through longer and deeper troughs than anyone else...

... For his ignoble idea is to eat the cake and have it; the creatures are to be one with Him, but yet themselves; merely to cancel them, or assimilate them, will not serve. His is prepared to do a little overriding at the beginning. He will set them off with communications of His presence which, though faint, seem great to them, with emotional sweetness, and easy conquest over temptation. But He never allows this state of affairs to last long. Sooner or later He withdraws, if not in fact, at least from their conscious experience, all those supports and incentives. He leaves the creature to stand up on its own legs - to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish. It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be ... Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys."

12 years ago @ Ars Moriendi - Stagnation I: On Floating · 0 replies · +1 points

Adeline, you're very welcome! I'm so glad if it was helpful. Bless you too!

12 years ago @ Ars Moriendi - Rationalization: Enoug... · 0 replies · +1 points

Thanks, Alicia. I'm glad if it was helpful.

12 years ago @ Ars Moriendi - But You Kind Of Do - G... · 0 replies · +1 points

Thanks, Linds.

12 years ago @ Ars Moriendi - But You Kind Of Do - G... · 0 replies · +1 points

Too true, and yours are especially appreciated. Glad you could get something out of it :-)

12 years ago @ Ars Moriendi - Not Yours To Fix · 1 reply · +1 points

Why thank you :-) maybe I should just start transcribing all of my dreams.

12 years ago @ Ars Moriendi - The Calm; The Storm · 0 replies · +1 points

Thanks, Kelsey. I'm glad you like it!

12 years ago @ Ars Moriendi - The Calm; The Storm · 0 replies · +1 points

Thanks, Alicia :-) I am doing ultimately well, I think.

12 years ago @ Ars Moriendi - Black Holes Red... · 0 replies · +1 points

Basically the message here is each guest should be allowed only a specific quantity of snacks, as determined by the host and/or resident mathematician.