So Cal. Bound (and Christianity from the Outside, 2.1)
I haven't been feeling well the last few days, a sore throat and fatigue, neither of which seem to be getting worse. Allergies? Maybe. Tonight Steph and I are driving to Tahoe to see Long Beach Short Bus, remnants of Sublime; she knows the guitarist from high school and she and I have met Eric the bassist a few times.
And tomorrow, we're off! (if we can get our shit packed!) Sunny so cal. Actually, it's pretty sunny where I am, but you get the idea. First my brother's in Ontario, then Two Harbors, Long Beach, back to Catalina, and then home. And maybe back again the first week of August! I have lots to do to get ready as S is working. I want to try and hook up with the so cal contingent of this blog, maybe even get the guts up to show up at Bethany for one of the hip services, but these trips are very whirlwhind and we have lots of family to see spread all over the place, plus diving with Mikey. If I get time to catch up with anyone Long Beach way (Mike, Dave, Steve F.) I'll email first and see if it's doable. But no doubt, I would dig it. And if not this trip then the next. No matter what, I'm very thankful for this blog community. Very very muy muy tres tres.
The laundry beckons.
First, though, I want to say I've had just a few thoughts about my last post. Mike responded with Pascal's quote, and it's a good one, and it's an idea others have shared throughout Christian history. It's also ominous in a way. In the gospels we see that some have ears to hear, some don't. Jesus teaches in indirect fashion so as to confuse, even piss off, those who oppose him and yet he reveals himself to those who truly want to know him. And where does one get the ears? From the self? From our upbringing/environment? From God? All of these? Are we really all pre-destined? I have no idea, and I'm not about to take that one on in this lifetime.
I'm not actually ready to respond to the 'why have faith' thing yet, but this has come up: since we all live in what Captain Picard (and plenty of scientists) call the 'space-time continuum,' or simply 'space-time,' and God declares himself to be truly 'Other' throughout all the scriptures (certainly, in Jesus' case, he breaks all kinds of natural laws, like reanimating the dead; this seems to suggest he's outside the time bound world as we know it). I mean I'm willing to reject dualism; maybe we can't exist as persons without some kind of body; maybe the resurrection is, in some sense, just that. But regardless, God, or those who say they're talking for him, declare him outside this massive (truly massive) space-time stream we inhabit. Alpha and Omega. As it was, is, and always will be. I AM (as opposed to the entropic and mutable universe).
So if God is outside the material world, yet able to be inside it, or at least to observe and interact with it in some truly unknown way (and truthfully, what we see as reality is such a small part of what is, any physicist will tell you this) it would make sense that he couldn't be 'seen' like a toaster oven. Now why the universe is constructed this way I don't know. But there are many observable wonders in the natural world which defy logical deduction, even defy one of my favorite principles of all: Occam's razor.
Genesis tells us that God walked in the garden with Adam. If I held to the literal historicity of that book, my life would be easier at this moment, but for many reasons I don't at this time. But what Genesis does tell us is that at one time God showed up (in the afternoon anyway) to commune with his creation, but that the creation disobeyed somehow, and since then the two have been estranged; though the ot and the nt show us that God made entries, through people generally, into the human universe, and finally made reconciliation possible through his son Jesus.
The library of theological problems I'm coming close to is ponderous. But looking at just the one thing, why can't I see God?, there is some reason to expect his physical absence. Whatever he's made of , it's not what we're made of. Why faith is elevated to the point of righteousness, or justification, why faith in the unseen is what God requests of most of us...that's for another day.
Be well all. May not blog for a while, but my wife will probably take pictures I'll share on return. The two areas I really want to be working on are dependence on and communion with Jesus, and loving behavior to others (including working my ocd exercises to bring that demon down); on both of these, all of this, I've been lagging. My anxieties have remained low all week, but I know better. Well, at least God is drawing me, though I remain a bent and trembling little compass needle, in the right direction.
Peace and blessings through Christ,
t
And tomorrow, we're off! (if we can get our shit packed!) Sunny so cal. Actually, it's pretty sunny where I am, but you get the idea. First my brother's in Ontario, then Two Harbors, Long Beach, back to Catalina, and then home. And maybe back again the first week of August! I have lots to do to get ready as S is working. I want to try and hook up with the so cal contingent of this blog, maybe even get the guts up to show up at Bethany for one of the hip services, but these trips are very whirlwhind and we have lots of family to see spread all over the place, plus diving with Mikey. If I get time to catch up with anyone Long Beach way (Mike, Dave, Steve F.) I'll email first and see if it's doable. But no doubt, I would dig it. And if not this trip then the next. No matter what, I'm very thankful for this blog community. Very very muy muy tres tres.
The laundry beckons.
First, though, I want to say I've had just a few thoughts about my last post. Mike responded with Pascal's quote, and it's a good one, and it's an idea others have shared throughout Christian history. It's also ominous in a way. In the gospels we see that some have ears to hear, some don't. Jesus teaches in indirect fashion so as to confuse, even piss off, those who oppose him and yet he reveals himself to those who truly want to know him. And where does one get the ears? From the self? From our upbringing/environment? From God? All of these? Are we really all pre-destined? I have no idea, and I'm not about to take that one on in this lifetime.
I'm not actually ready to respond to the 'why have faith' thing yet, but this has come up: since we all live in what Captain Picard (and plenty of scientists) call the 'space-time continuum,' or simply 'space-time,' and God declares himself to be truly 'Other' throughout all the scriptures (certainly, in Jesus' case, he breaks all kinds of natural laws, like reanimating the dead; this seems to suggest he's outside the time bound world as we know it). I mean I'm willing to reject dualism; maybe we can't exist as persons without some kind of body; maybe the resurrection is, in some sense, just that. But regardless, God, or those who say they're talking for him, declare him outside this massive (truly massive) space-time stream we inhabit. Alpha and Omega. As it was, is, and always will be. I AM (as opposed to the entropic and mutable universe).
So if God is outside the material world, yet able to be inside it, or at least to observe and interact with it in some truly unknown way (and truthfully, what we see as reality is such a small part of what is, any physicist will tell you this) it would make sense that he couldn't be 'seen' like a toaster oven. Now why the universe is constructed this way I don't know. But there are many observable wonders in the natural world which defy logical deduction, even defy one of my favorite principles of all: Occam's razor.
Genesis tells us that God walked in the garden with Adam. If I held to the literal historicity of that book, my life would be easier at this moment, but for many reasons I don't at this time. But what Genesis does tell us is that at one time God showed up (in the afternoon anyway) to commune with his creation, but that the creation disobeyed somehow, and since then the two have been estranged; though the ot and the nt show us that God made entries, through people generally, into the human universe, and finally made reconciliation possible through his son Jesus.
The library of theological problems I'm coming close to is ponderous. But looking at just the one thing, why can't I see God?, there is some reason to expect his physical absence. Whatever he's made of , it's not what we're made of. Why faith is elevated to the point of righteousness, or justification, why faith in the unseen is what God requests of most of us...that's for another day.
Be well all. May not blog for a while, but my wife will probably take pictures I'll share on return. The two areas I really want to be working on are dependence on and communion with Jesus, and loving behavior to others (including working my ocd exercises to bring that demon down); on both of these, all of this, I've been lagging. My anxieties have remained low all week, but I know better. Well, at least God is drawing me, though I remain a bent and trembling little compass needle, in the right direction.
Peace and blessings through Christ,
t
Comments
If it is doable, let's hookup while you are here. If not, have a great time anyway and we'll try it again next time you are in town.