Absolute

Remember the Good News that I carry, ‘Jesus Christ risen from the dead, sprung from the race of David’.
2 Timothy 2:8 Jerusalem Bible

Μνημονευε Ιησουν Χριστον εγηγερμενον εκ νεκρων εκ σπερματος Δαυιδ κατα το ευαγγελιον μου

“Truth is so absolute, so real, so personal…”

We have grown so accustomed to be told that what we believe or know to be true is just our opinion, that we have retreated into a subservience, into a state of submission, to the prevailing culture, where there are no absolutes in anything.

Yet, most of the facts of our everyday existence, as well as the findings of hard science and the immutable laws of mathematics, are absolute truths. We fail to notice this, or else are forced to think that these are ‘objective’ while everything else is ‘subjective.’

The world wants us to believe that there are no either/ors in the world of truth, only a continuum of opinions, infinite at both extremes, and as long as we’re willing to be located at some point on that continuum, smiling in both directions, they are happy.

Yet, if we are Christians, it is not because we belong to a ‘faith tradition’ but because we have come to know a Person, and we have evidence that He has come to know us, and not only come to know us, but has changed us in a very absolute way.

Something called ‘the Good News’ really exists. It has an ‘objective’ reality. It is not something we made up, nothing we could have invented, any more than we could have invented the flow of history or the principles of mathematics. It’s real ‘all on its own.’

Yet, some Christians think that it’s their private possession, a kind of consolation prize for having to put up with living in such a contrary and sinful world. Owning it justifies them in feeling superior, or embattled, foxes unable to eat the wild grapes.

This Good News is absolute, is real, and is personal, no matter how you look at it. Jesus Christ risen from the dead, sprung from the race of David. Either it’s true, absolutely true, real and personal, or it’s simply false, a personal opinion, an assertion.

If it is true, why are we not shouting it from the housetops? If it’s true, why are we not living as if it really happened? If it is true, why do we let people tell us, ‘it’s your opinion, it’s just a story, like every thing else that’s too good to be true’?

No, brothers. There is absolute Truth. You can’t own it. He owns you. It’s not a spade to dig with, unless you dig your own grave. It’s not a crown for you to wear, but one for you to cast at His feet. Never surrender to the lie, not even by being nice.

There is absolute Truth. He is there, always, and He is with those who accept Him. He has made them the children of God. There is also the lie, and the father of lies, and however he dresses it up, the lie is still what it is, a denial of Him who is.

As holy apostle John writes,
‘Children, be on your guard against false gods.’

Certainty

A Christian brother left this comment on my post Tampering…

"I'm wondering how we distinguish between counter-productive tinkering and the passion for constant improvement that has been a chief strength of such companies as 3M and Walmart."

His thought brought forth in me this immediate response, which I have tried to put into words…

We don't have to wonder how to distinguish them. Not in advance, not in general. We distinguish them as they come, availing ourselves of the discernment given us by the Holy Spirit.

It's not as if we were judging others, or even the world system, by some predetermined and exclusive philosophical viewpoint. That would make Christianity into an -ism or a religion, like all the others that follow dead gods.

We have the gift of discernment through the Holy Spirit, so there’s no need to wonder about anything. This gift is a “point of use” article of our spiritual armament. It’s meant to be used at the right time, in the right place, and in the right way.

That gift isn't so lofty or otherworldly that we should only use it on formally ‘spiritual’ matters. The gift of discernment is given exactly to use in the situations I am describing. This is where our Christianity leaves the coffee social after the service and the delightful bible study fellowship and strikes terror like a divine lightning flash into the guts of demons who amuse themselves by small, incremental unimprovements to their patients (for they are doctors, only of a very different sort from the great Physician).

Our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, is the one who was dead but is now alive, and lives for evermore. Their gods, whatever they call them, were never alive, are dead now, and dead for evermore.

Holy prophet Isaiah keeps reminding us of this over and over again, yet we still can’t seem to keep our feet on the Rock and our eyes on Jesus. But when we are able to stand firm on the Rock of His written word, the divine scriptures, the Bible, discernment is given us when, where, and how we need it, and not for our own glory. We don’t use it, as much as by means of it, He uses us, to testify again and again to the Truth.

Truth is so absolute, so real, so personal, so powerful, so able to conquer through apparent defeat, so able to live even though it is constantly put to death, that when we simply live in the Truth, absolute certainty is granted to us. Again, not the false certainty of triumphalism and religion, but the certainty of the Kingdom of God, in which we knowingly live as first-born sons and citizens of heaven.

That certainty replaces all guesswork, all anxiousness, all doubt.
It comes to those who use the gift of discernment,
and do not just talk about it.

Let love be genuine

Let love be genuine;

hate what is evil,

hold fast to what is good;

love one another with brotherly affection;

outdo one another in showing honor.

Never flag in zeal,

be aglow with the Spirit,

serve the Lord.

Rejoice in your hope,

be patient in tribulation,

be constant in prayer.

Contribute to the needs of the saints,

practice hospitality.

Romans 12:9-13 RSV

Tampering

The Americans have this saying, “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.” Spell checker, I don’t care if you don’t like ‘ain’t’, ‘cause that’s just how we talk, so get over it!

I’m sure every nation under heaven has a saying that means the same as this one. If something is working as it was intended to, just leave it alone, and let it do its work.

Although gradual, incremental change is good, in fact, is the way of nature itself, the hallmark of the current age is to tinker with something until it finally falls apart.

Modernism, in my mind, is the idea that we think of the world in the Greek manner, examining things scientifically, brushing aside unnecessary accretions, to find the best.

Post-modernism, what we have today, is the idea that we think ourselves so far superior to all that came before, that we can rule, disorder, vivisect and undo, to find our pleasure.

The company I work for was humming along just fine. It was small but we didn’t need much, because our product was unique, had no competitors, sold itself on its merits. Our customer service was entirely personalized and also drew additional business, just from our attitude of “do as you would be done by.” We did business on a handshake. The natural growth of the company was well underway, without losing any essential characteristics, but then, the owner, who had not had a university education and was feeling “out of league” with other “world class” companies, went to Harvard Business School. When he returned, he was a changed man.

All at once, everything was thrown into a frenzy of irresponsible tampering and tinkering. Actually those two words are really inadequate to describe what happened. The first step was bringing in outsiders well-versed in the new managerial mysticism and armed with a new selection of games for us to play. Magic words were thrown around, ISO certified, lean manufacturing, Five S, kaizen and poka-yoke.

Lots of big posters were hurriedly designed, printed and plastered all over the walls. We were forced through a sieve of mental manipulation that made some of us think of the brainwashing techniques used by the enemy in the cold war.
A template was forced on us that didn’t fit. In the end, it ruined the company which, even without the current economic conditions, is now a vague shadow of what it was, depleted completely of the good will and enthusiasm that it once had.

Why are we even still around?
Because the owner, unrepentant but quietly burying the history of the past five years, fired all of the managers that he hired to tamper, just as the economic collapse started. We have about a third of the people we had before and our output is a fifth. How do I know? Because I used to be the General Manager and I’ve kept all my weekly production records. Used to be? Yes, because I was morally incapable of joining in the fun of managerial devolution, I was demoted overnight to the status of an entry level worker, and allowed to do menial clerical tasks. I got over it, but not without a struggle. I still work there because the owner has some traditional notions in him that he couldn’t kick, even with all his “education” — the feudal lord’s responsibility to his faithful serf.

“If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.”

After having that very personal experience of the effects of the spirit of tampering, actually during that experience, my eyes were opened to what was happening around me in the world at large.

Being a historian by nature and education, I am surprised I didn’t notice this from my studies. History has a way of being written by the victors, who never tell you about the devious means they used to achieve their ends. When you actually live history and look at it with open eyes, you see something that you rarely find in history books.

We are, the human race is, a species that is currently under vicious and pre-meditated attack by spirits who want to take us apart piece by piece and reassemble us to serve their ends, not what we were created and designed for. Sound familiar? Well, yes. That’s because it is the same old war we’ve known about since we were placed at enmity with the serpent. It’s not just a myth, you know. It’s for real.

From scientists taking apart and reassembling DNA to engineer what is not in nature, to sociologists taking apart and reassembling society to engineer what is not human, to economists taking apart and reassembling markets to engineer what is not just, to religionists taking apart and reassembling the Bible to engineer what is not holy, the pattern is all around us. It needs no brains at all to see it, and it’s not a conspiracy theory. Perhaps it’s so pervasive that we tend to accept it as normal, as an abused spouse accepts a bad marriage as normal.

Is engineering just another name for tampering? Well, yes and no. Everything in creation can be used as it was intended, or abused, including engineering, which is part of the Greek mind, of modernism. What has happened is that it is often hijacked by the spirit of tampering, of post-modernism, of devolution. It’s just a word. Abuse of engineering is also an abuse of the name.

When and where has the spirit of tampering affected you lately? In a vital or a peripheral area? Or, are you one of those who is doing it, or contributing to it? Sometimes we’re forced to, because our livelihood depends on it. In fact, that is possibly true of most of us.

Where we can make a difference is to stand our ground on what really matters.

If you are a Christian, believe your Bible as it is, be the Church wherever you are, don’t let religious professionals tamper with your life, don't let economic gurus dicker with your values, don’t let social engineers tinker with what you know is right. In your social and employment network, stand for what is right, new or old, again, keeping your eyes on Jesus, doing what He does, saying what He says, thinking what He thinks.

Have you noticed that when you do this, you’re actually more in the driver’s seat of your own life than when you follow the cosmic managers with their tinkering schemes?

That’s because what the Bible says is true, and you can depend on it.

When Christ freed us, He meant us to remain free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1 Jerusalem Bible

τη ελευθερια ουν η χριστος ημας ηλευθερωσεν, στηκετε και μη παλιν ζυγω δουλειας ενεχεσθε

In the bosom of the Father

No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

John 1:18 King James Version

θεον ουδεις εωρακεν πωποτε ο μονογενης υιος ο ων εις τον κολπον του πατρος εκεινος εξηγησατο

This post is about an ikon.

Ikons are painted, two-dimensional images which have been used by the Church for centuries. They say that the first ikons were painted by holy evangelist Luke, using the encaustic method which was contemporarily used to paint images of the dead on their coffin lids in Hellenistic Egypt. This is certainly a possibility. Others like to point at the images painted on the walls of the catacombs and say that those were the first ikons.

If it were a matter of simply painting a picture of Christ, or a saint, the catacomb art might be considered ikons, but they also painted mere symbols there as well. What ikons are considered today is something different. It is said they are written, not painted. They are supposed to depict only what is historically true, though they can mix elements anachronistically in the same ikon. They are meant to be "windows into heaven," and a graphic equivalent of the Bible, which is why they must adhere to very strict rules.

The ikon of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Triad of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is supposed to be depicted only from what is explicitly or implicitly revealed in the Bible. As such, the two most common ikons of the Trinity are (1) the hospitality of Abraham, and (2) the baptism of Christ. In the first, the Triad of angels that visited Abram and Sarai at the oak of Mamre are the Trinity in a mystery. In the second, the baptism of Christ depicts the Triad as the Voice (the Father, sometimes shown by His hand), the Dove (the Spirit) and Christ Himself.

Today, as I was hunting for an ikon of Mark the Evangelist to use in my Greek New Testament blog Η Καινή Διαθήκη, I ran across a Chinese website that had a large selection of ikons, some of which are very unique. Though I did not find the ikon I was searching for, I did find two others that I saved, and I added the site to the Christian Art link list in the side bar, as 正教圣像 Orthodox Ikons. If you go to this site to view the ikons, at the bottom of the page, clicking on a small flower image will take you to the main page with additional links. Everything is in Chinese!

Back to the topic, a certain ikon, in fact, the ikon at the top of this post.

The name of this ikon at the website is Paternitas, which is Latin for Fatherhood, I think. This is actually an ikon of the Holy Triad, but not in the traditional, scriptural form. It really impressed me, nonetheless, and then the word came to me, "the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father." This unusual ikon really is a depiction in visual form of this bible verse, John 1:18. The Dove for the Holy Spirit is borrowed, of course, from the baptism ikon, and the surrounding of seraphim, from the ikon of the vision of holy prophet Isaiah, but everything is still biblical.

One other ikon from the site is a massively detailed ikon of the Resurrection of Christ and His Descent into Hades. It is an excellent example of how an ikon can depict a theological panorama (> Greek, pan = everything, orama = view), provoking questions and suggesting answers, drawing our attention always to the scriptures, and through them by the Holy Spirit's leading, to the living Christ, thus completing the cycle of illumination. An ikon never causes us to stop and stare. A true ikon drives us into the wilderness to seek the Truth.

Yes, I am making a road in the wilderness,

paths in the wilds.

The wild beasts will honour Me,

jackals and ostriches,

because I am putting water in the wilderness,

rivers in the wild,

to give My chosen people drink.

The people I have formed for myself

will sing my praises.

Isaiah 43:19b-21 Jerusalem Bible

The beginning of the Good News

The beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ,
the Son of God.

Mark 1:1 Jerusalem Bible

This is how the gospel according to Mark begins—the beginning of the Good News. But notice that this beginning is actually the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Good News, spoken long before by the Holy Spirit of God through the prophets, especially through Isaiah.

John the evangelist says, "A man came, sent by God. His name was John" (John 1:6).

Mark says that this man "appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" (Mark 1:4).

The beginning of the Good News, though, could be said to have started with the prophesying of Isaiah, centuries before its fulfillment. John the honorable Forerunner and Baptist "appeared in the wilderness."

He had fed upon the prophetic Word of God and was full of it.

"He came as a witness," says John the evangelist, "as a witness to speak for the Light" (John 1:7). What Light? "The Word," says John, "was the true Light that enlightens all men, and He was coming into the world" (John 1:9). As for the man, "sent by God whose name was John," he knew the Light was coming, because he was a man full of the Word. He didn't have to read the scroll of Isaiah. He had eaten it. "The people that walked in darkness has seen a great light" (Isaiah 9:1) reverberated in his spirit and even in his flesh. That's what made him jump even in his mother's womb when the mother of the Light came near. "As soon as Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leapt in her womb" (Luke 1:41).

John's word did not depart from the Word, but faithfully recounted all that he heard by the Spirit Holy that lived in him. Did he know or understand how he was the book of the consolation of Israel in human form? His every word and action was that Word set into movement to fulfillment. Isaiah prophesied. John enacted.

"Console My people, console them,

speak to the heart of Jerusalem

and call to her

that her time of service is ended,

that her sin is atoned for,

that she has received from the hand of Yahweh

double punishment for all her crimes."

(Isaiah 40:1-2)

"A voice cries, 'Prepare in the wilderness

a way for Yahweh.

Make a straight highway for our God

across the desert.

Let every valley be filled in,

every mountain and hill laid low,

let every cliff become a plain,

and the ridges a valley;

then the glory of Yahweh shall be revealed

and all mankind shall see it;

for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.'"

(Isaiah 40:3-5)

"A Voice commands, 'Cry!'

and I answered, 'What shall I cry?'

—'All flesh is grass

and its beauty like the wild flower's.

The grass withers, the flower fades

when the breath of Yahweh blows on them,

but the Word of our God remains forever.'"

(Isaiah 40:6-8)

God spoke through Isaiah, enacted through John,
and fulfilled, in a mystery, through his Only Son.

"Shout without fear,

say to the towns of Judah,

'Here is your God.'"

(Isaiah 40:9b)

"Look, there is the Lamb of God

that takes away the sin of the world."

(John 1:29b)

"Here is the Lord Yahweh coming with power,

His arm subduing all things to Him.

The prize of His victory is with Him,

His trophies all go before Him.

He is like a Shepherd feeding His flock,

gathering lambs in His arms,

holding them against His breast

and leading to their rest the mother ewes."

(Isaiah 40:10-11)

John cried, echoing the prophet Isaiah who was alive in him,

"Did you not know?

Had you not heard?

Was it not told you from the beginning?

Have you not understood how the earth was founded?"

(Isaiah 40:21)

He announced with every particle of his being,

having fed on the sweetness of the Word,

"Here is My Servant whom I uphold,

My Chosen One in whom My soul delights.

I have endowed Him with My Spirit

that He may bring true justice to the nations.

He does not cry out or shout aloud,

or make His voice heard in the streets.

He does not break the crushed reed,

nor quench the wavering flame.

Faithfully He brings true justice;

He will neither waver, nor be crushed

until true justice is established on earth,

for the islands are waiting for His Law."

(Isaiah 42:1-4)

This is the Word which nourished the flesh and spirit of prophets

through endless ages leading forward not to the end

but to the true beginning of all things,

which is the Good News

of Jesus Christ,

"I, Yahweh, have called you to serve the cause of right;

I have taken you by the hand and formed you;

I have appointed you as covenant of the people

and light of the nations,

to open the eyes of the blind,

to free captives from prison,

and those who live in darkness from the dungeon.

My name is Yahweh,

I will not yield My glory to another,

nor my honor to idols.

See how former predictions have come true.

Fresh things I now foretell;

before they appear I tell you of them."

(Isaiah 42:6-9)

The beginning of the Good News—when is this beginning? When did it happen? Was it in the days of the prophets who, moved by the Holy Spirit, prophesied what was to come?

Was it in the days of the earthly life of our Lord Jesus Christ whose life-giving death and glorious resurrection and ascension, were a single act of victory, granting the world great mercy?

Yes, but there is more. The beginning of the Good News is that moment when a human soul entrusts itself utterly to the providence of God, believing the Word without reserve, receiving, accepting Christ the Word as He is, as He is revealed, for "to all who did accept Him He gave power to become the children of God, to all who believe in the Name of Him who was born not out of human stock, or urge of the flesh, or will of man, but of God Himself" (John 1:12-13).

To receive power to become a child of God is no small thing. Therefore, let us "throw off everything that hinders us, especially the sin that clings so easily," and "let us not lose sight of Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection" (Hebrews 12:1b-2a).

The beginning of the Good News is, was, and is to come.

And the Good News is Jesus Christ.

Truth Funnies

Here is a poster I have had for almost 30 years, or so it seems. I've posted a couple of the cartoon panels to illustrate my posts in the past, but I don't believe I've ever actually posted the entire poster, which I am doing now. Neither the poster nor I intend to offend anyone, but simply to testify to the Truth that is Who not What. This poster illustrates my saying, "In this world it should be what you know, not who, that gets you ahead, but it's usually the other way round. In the world to come, it's the opposite, it's not what you know, but Who, that gets you into heaven." That's the truth of Christianity "in a nutshell." It's not about religion; it's about a Person. And here's a poster for you that is "comparative religions in a nutshell."

Click on the image to enlarge it to full size, and then you can download it, and print yourself a copy…

Tenderly care for Jesus

Never have I heard it said this way, and now that I have, I know something about the ikon of Vladimir that I could feel sometimes but not understand. In Orthodox ikons, Mary the mother of Jesus, is almost never portrayed alone but, as we commonly see, is always shown with her divine Son. Why? Because it is He who makes her what she is.

In a blog that I sometimes read, Mystagogy, there is a wonderful post about Kievan Russia quoted from a Protestant author, and I want to quote a passage that gave me this new insight about ikons of Mary with the child Jesus.

God dwelling among men—here, I believe, we see the fundamental faith and reality of Christian blessedness motivating Kievan Russia. The emphasis in communal worship lay on making God's person and Real presence visible and touchable. "The same desire to see spiritual truth in tangible form" is embodied in Kievan Russia's icons or paintings of Christ, His blessed mother, and the saints. Protestant Christians rightly fear and proscribe the idolatry incipient in man-made images of holy things and human "saints." Yet among a people converted but recently from serving pagan "nature gods," as were eleventh-century Kievans, their Christian art including icons probably did an indispensable service of Christian nurture. We must remember that "there were no complete versions of the Bible, let alone independent theological syntheses, produced in early Russia." Some early Kievan art nurtures and even converts human hearts and minds in our own time.

What Christian, what student of the Bible can look at the early twelfth-century icon of the Virgin of Vladimir and not be touched by Mary's tenderness toward her Holy Child Jesus? Is not the lesson at hand — that we, too, should thus tenderly care for Jesus conceived and growing in our hearts after we have been visited by the Holy Ghost and overshadowed by the power of the Highest (Luke 1:35)?

As I was reading the post, and appreciating it in detail, my mind kept leading me back to the Word of God for another illumination, to Psalm 131, which also somehow relates to the ikons of Mary holding her infant Son. This time, it is the image of the tenderness with which our good and loving God cradles us, cradles me.

Yahweh, my heart has no lofty ambitions,
my eyes do not look too high.
I am not concerned with great affairs
or marvels beyond my scope.
Enough for me to keep my soul tranquil and quiet
like a child in its mother's arms,
as content as a child that has been weaned.
Israel, rely on Yahweh,
now and for always!
Psalm 131

To the Word, co-eternal

To the Word, co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit,
born of the Virgin for our salvation,
let us, the faithful, give praise and worship.
For he willed to be lifted up on the cross in the flesh,
to suffer death and raise the dead
by his glorious resurrection.

—Ton Synanarchon Logon,
Resurrectional Apolytikion, Tone 5

First of all, the bible is not technically God’s Word.
Christ, the Divine Logos, is God’s Word.
That’s what Logos means, as everyone knows.

Second, the bible is the written icon (or image) of the Word of God.
It no more fell out of the sky from God’s lips than did Jesus.
Jesus had to be born into the human world
as a man through a woman’s body.
The bible had to enter the human mind
as a body of literature written by a multitude of seers.
You already know this too.
I’m just organizing the thoughts.

Third, every limitation voluntarily accepted by the Christ
when He incarnated as a man is applicable
in its own frame of reference
to the written icon of the Word of God.
Both suffer a diminution or reduction in the process
of being translated from heaven to earth.
In neither case does this veiling of glory
diminish or dilute the absolute Truth of the Word of God in any way.

Fourth, the bible is infallible in its unity and infallible in its parts,
but the application of this infallibility always depends
on the intervention of the Holy Spirit,
who alone knows how, when and where to apply it.
Without the intervention of the Holy Spirit,
the bible cannot be known as infallible,
indeed cannot be known at all for what it is.

A medicine may be infallibly effective,
but if it is not applied or ingested in the right way,
at the right time, and in the right place,
it can have even the opposite effect, possibly becoming lethal.
Only the physician knows how to apply it in every case.

The Holy Spirit lives in the Church,
and the Church lives in the Word of God.

And what of the use of proof texts and the like,
which can be applied in sometimes disastrous ways
by persons who have not ingested the whole of scripture
by constantly and daily feeding upon it without mixing it,
but who rather begin to teach their partial understandings
(some of which may be wholly true, others wholly false)
without being first built upon the sure foundation of faith?

It is not how educated and learned one is
that qualifies one for understanding and interpreting
the written icon of the Word, nor is chronological age a criterion.

Spiritual maturity rather than chronological age,
practical application, even incarnation, of the scripture’s tenets
rather than academic prowess or a prodigious memory,
these are what put a man in the place where the Word of God
can employ him as an agent of divine Truth.

Remember who the Word of God is,
and do not trifle with the arguing spirits.
Rather apply yourself to knowing and living the Word,
who is alive and active,
and in so doing demonstrate on the battlefield of your own body
the victory of Christ, who is Truth come unto His own in you,
and by thus receiving Him,
receive also the power to become
the son or daughter of the Most High.

Originally posted June 3, 2009.

Again and again…

…because the truth never changes.

All praise for every good thing belongs to God alone, because it is Only He that prepares us for every good work and gives us the means to do the work.

If my actions and love for anyone can teach any lesson, it should be this: The Kingdom of God has already begun, even here on earth while we are alive and waiting for Jesus to come in glory.

The proof that we are the Church, His Body, is that He is among us even now, as the Risen Christ, and if we believe this, we will see Him walking among us and hear His voice speaking. Then, all we have to do is follow Him every day, and do the work we see Him doing, and speak the words we hear Him speak.

This seems like a mystery, but really, it is also quite practical.
Holy apostle Paul says that the mystery is Christ among us, that gives us the strength to do every good work.
We are still the Early Christians, and we can keep living as they lived, even now.

Love one another as I have loved you, says the Lord Jesus, and no greater love is there but for a man to lay down his life for his friends. Jesus is not asking us to lay down our lives and die for Him, not yet anyway, but we can at least be kind to one another, and help each other whenever we can.

If God provides the means, we do the work. If He withdraws the means, then we stop working, and wait for Him to move again, and wherever He goes, we follow.

No worry, no anxiety.

Why? Because it is not we who are working, giving, suffering, loving, being patient, being generous, being helpful, no, it is not us, but Christ in us.

Again, as holy apostle Paul calls it, the mystery of Christ among you. So, it is not I, but Christ living in me.

You are called to this very same kind of life, but it is not your job to try to make yourself into what you think God wants. All you have to do is follow closely behind Him, and you will begin to change into His image, as you do what you see Him doing. It is the easiest thing in the world to do.

That's why Jesus says, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:25-26, 28-30 NIV)

For those who missed it, this is a reprise, originally post on May 14, 2009 under the same title.

Something important

At the end of the first part of their walk to Emmaus, two of the disciples experienced something that I and my best friend Brock have also experienced when we used to work together. Every day without exception, we would get together in some out-of-the-way place, and pray, mornings before work, evenings after work. And every day without exception we would eat lunch together, usually going out and purchasing our daily bread at a local restaurant or lunch counter.

Every time we had lunch together in sincere fellowship, calling on the name of our God, even at a lunch counter, we experienced a non-ritualized version of the same Presence of Jesus with us that can be experienced in the Holy Communion service. That's why even if there were two bread rolls and two of us, we still broke each roll in half and shared it, the same with the cheese, the grapes, the olives, whatever we were eating—if it could be divided and shared, we did it. That's because the sharing was better food than the eating.

In the context of worship, communion takes on a glorious and supernatural aspect. At the humble dinner table of love's bread, Christ comes among us in no less real a manner, just humbly, intimately. It's there that we can really touch Him in touching each other, love Him in loving each other, and share His generosity in the literal breaking of bread.

"When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him…"
Luke 24:30-31 NIV

The reminiscence above is taken from an old post on this blog, Thinking of Communion. It's one of my very favorites and I've adapted it only a little by adding more biographical detail, such as revealing that it was with my best friend and co-laborer that I shared these kairós moments. What made me think of it, is some astonishing things I just read in Fr Stephen's blog, at his post The Sacrament of the Present Moment. Let me conclude with the passages in his post that really spoke to me, sharing them with you.

It has been a common observation that when various reformers set about to reform the Church, they declared “all days to be holy days,” and thus rid the calendar of any particular holy day. The unintended result was that before long not only were all days not holy days, no day was a holy day.

In the same way, the decrees concerning the “priesthood of all believers” rather than making every individual a priest, became a meaningless phrase, for without the sacramental priesthood, the phrase lost its reference of meaning. No one had seen or dealt with a priest so to be told that they had some kind of “priesthood” from Christ was meaningless.

The same has been true of the more recent democratizations of the liturgy where the “people” gather around the altar and God is in our midst. Somehow, God becomes lost. All boundary between myself and the holy disappear and I can no longer know the holy.

Strangely, most of these reforms were not misguided. They were rooted in Scriptural truth and embodied a certain amount of truth. But invariably they were reforms that were lost in the “law of unintended consequences.” The general principle triumphed over the particular instance and the result was the abolition of something important.

But God is indeed “everywhere present and filling all things.” One of the clearest examples of this in Scripture is to be found in the resurrected Christ’s encounter with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They conversed and the disciples did not recognized Him. Indeed, their hearts “burned” within them as they walked along and He instructed them in Scripture concerning the Christ. But things became clear – they recognized the risen Lord when He stopped with them for the evening meal. There He “took bread, blessed, broke and gave it to them,” and we are told, “their eyes were opened.” Those four verbs, “take, bless, break, and give,” are always used in Eucharistic encounters in Scripture. They are keys for our understanding. Nonetheless, the Scriptures do not say that there was a “formal” liturgy or even a clearly demarcated sacred meal. Only that Christ was present, and that He “took bread, blessed, broke and gave it too them.” And He was made known to them.

The Eucharist reveals Christ to us. But as Fr. Alexander Schmemann always noted, the Eucharist not only reveals Christ to us, it also reveals the true nature of creation to us. Bread can no longer be the same if Christ has taken it and made it His body.

It is always possible, indeed it has already happened, that we build a fence around that sacred moment and confine it to the liturgy itself. Outside the service, everything returns to “normal and ordinary,” and the Orthodox become as secular as every Christian around them. This is a denial of the Orthodox faith.

You are right, Father Stephen, you are right!

But it doesn't have to be that way.

Indeed, it mustn't!

Apocalypse now

Our God is very economical in His dealings with us. He never arrives too early or too late. He never provides too little or too much. He harmonizes all that He creates to function symphonically, synergically. Everything, as He creates it, He declares good. He makes nothing without the Son and the Holy Spirit, thus revealing Himself to rational beings through Them, as the Father, and together with Them, as Holy One and Unearthly Triad.

He has taken from us words that He spoke by His holy prophets, proved by the history of His holy nation, sent out by the writings of His holy apostles, and sealed by the testimony of His holy martyrs, transforming them by the human and divine nature of His Son the Word, and given them back to us as the only divine scriptures on earth, the Bible. There it is, a Book transfigured into a Door.

Open it and you meet not just human words, but the Word. Entering with bowed head and bended knees, we are made to stand upright again with heads held high and straightened backs, renewed in the Father’s image, the God-man Jesus Christ, as we find Paradise as Him, and find ourselves in Paradise.

Yet our God is very economical. He knows what we are made of, because He makes us. He knows our nature from within, having become One of us. From the first-created Adam to the last-born Adam, He knows us all in our billions. The Book that He has given to us is written in words drawn from us. It speaks of things He wants to tell us in our own human language, precisely so that we can understand them.

The book of Revelation, the Apocalypse, is a book that the Church has almost avoided since the beginning, because it contains so much of a mysterious nature that it can easily be misunderstood. At one extreme, the Orthodox Church never reads it in the context of services, and at the other extreme are the many personality cults that are practically erected on the foundation of some man or woman’s interpretations of it.

Let’s listen to what the book of Revelation itself says and, without presuming to interpret the mysterious elements, pay attention to the things it plainly reveals, for they are not few. Approaching the Apocalypse, the phrase that immediately greets me at the door is the word of Jesus Himself, Μη φοβου! “Don’t be afraid” (Revelation 1:17). We can trust Jesus here just as we trust His words in every other book of the Bible.

Many people even forget that it is Christ who is speaking to John and revealing these things, but if you have a red letter edition of the Bible you’ll see that there’s a lot of red printed in the book of Revelation. Like the rock that followed Israel in its migrations and gave them water to drink wherever they went, the Apocalypse has been following the Church in its earthly pilgrimage and follows us still.
Are we drinking from its living water?

For us and for every generation it is the Apocalypse now, and time itself has been carrying within it the seed of its own destruction, as the Day of the Lord draws closer to us. There never was a time not to do as the book of Revelation prescribes, “Read the prophecy aloud, listen to it, and keep what it says.” Why? Because John, the servant and beloved disciple himself testifies, “it is the word of God guaranteed by Jesus Christ,” and “because the time is close” (Revelation 1:2-3).

The book of Revelation contains things both hidden and plain. It is our privilege to have this prophecy and our blessing to do what it says. Even in the first three verses comprising the Prologue, we find the truth both hidden and plain.

Hidden? When John writes “about the things which are now to take place very soon.”

Plain? When he writes, “John has written down everything he saw and swears it is the word of God guaranteed by Jesus Christ. Happy the man who reads this prophecy aloud, and happy those who listen to him, if they keep all that it says, because the Time is close.”

The hidden? The meaning and significance of the apocalyptic visions, when they are to take place, or whether they already have, and how, and where; the meaning of “now” and of “very soon.” Notice that these are exactly the things which have caused divisions, provoked and supported pride, and given occasion to scandals and crimes among the believers, allowing the planting of bad seed among the good. Christ says plainly to us in the gospels, “No man knows the day or the hour.” Believing and obeying His word, we are saved from the despoliation of the hidden, wherever in the Bible we find it.

The plain? What is written as having factually occurred, “John has written down everything he saw.” What we can trust on the word of an eyewitness and disciple of Jesus, “he saw and swears it is the word of God guaranteed by Jesus Christ.” What will be the result for us if we follow the instructions in faith and obediently, “Happy the man who reads this prophecy aloud, and happy those who listen to him, if they keep all that it says.” Why we should have faith and obey, “for the Time is close.” Notice that the Lord never tells us too little or too much.

Brethren, I encourage you always and ever, to read the Apocalypse now because it is like a fifth gospel, the final seal of the good news, which began in the preaching of John the Baptist, was accomplished in the sacrificial and life-giving death of our Lord on the tree, and which is “now” about to be perfected in us and in our world. Be like the humble and wise, who receive with joy and obedience the clear words of their Master and await with patience for the revelation of all that He will accomplish at His glorious coming, the parousía.

Remember what the Book plainly states, “The One who guarantees these revelations repeats His promise: I shall indeed be with you soon,” and by our faith and obedience to His word, let us say with the saints, “Amen; come Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20)

Your true worth

How much good we miss that is handed down in other cultures around us! Today I went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch and while there picked up a Spanish language magazine and began reading it. There I found a short tale written by the Argentine author Jorge Bucay. I liked it so much because it reminded me of you, and so I want to tell it to you, son. I will translate it for you, but also leave the original text for others who can read Spanish.
“Talk boldly when you gotta speak, my son. Walk slowly like you don’t know how to run…”

El anillo / The Ring

por / by Jorge Bucay

“Vengo, maestro, porque me siento tan poca cosa que no tengo fuerzas para hacer nada. Me dicen que no sirvo, que no hago nada bien, que soy torpe y bastante tonto. ¿Cómo puedo mejorar? ¿Qué puedo hacer para que me valoren más?”
“I come, teacher, because I feel so small that I have no strength to do anything. They tell me I’m good for nothing, that I don’t do anything right, that I'm clumsy and rather silly. How can I improve myself? What I can do that will make them think well of me?”

El maestro sin mirarlo, le dijo: Cuanto lo siento muchacho, no puedo ayudarte, debo resolver primero mi propio problema. Quizás después. Y haciendo una pausa agregó: Si quisieras ayudarme tú a mí, yo podría resolver este problema con más rapidez y después tal vez te pueda ayudar.
The teacher, without looking up, replied, “I'm sorry boy, but I can’t help you. I have to solve my own problem first. Maybe later.” But after a pause, he added, “If you would like to help me, I could solve this problem faster, and then maybe I can help you.”

Encantado, maestro titubeó el joven, pero sintió que otra vez era desvalorizado, y sus necesidades postergadas.
Though delighted, the youth stammered to the teacher, feeling worthless as usual, his needs again subordinated.

Bien asintió el maestro. Se quitó un anillo que llevaba en el dedo pequeño y dándoselo al muchacho, agregó: toma el caballo que está allá afuera y cabalga hasta el mercado. Debo vender este anillo porque tengo que pagar una deuda. Es necesario que obtengas por él la mayor suma posible, pero no aceptes menos de una moneda de oro. Ve y regresa con esa moneda lo más rápido que puedas.
“Well, then,” agreed the teacher. He took off a ring he was wearing on his little finger and gave it to the boy, saying, “Take the horse out there and ride to the market place. I have to sell this ring to pay a debt. We have to get as much for it as we possibly can, but don’t accept anything less than a gold coin. Go, and come back with the money as quickly as you can.”

El joven tomó el anillo y partió. Apenas llegó empezó a ofrecer el anillo a los mercaderes. Estos lo miraban con algún interés, hasta que el joven decía lo que pretendía por el anillo. Cuando el joven mencionaba la moneda de oro, algunos reían, otros le daban vuelta la cara y sólo un viejito fue tan amable como para tomarse la molestia de explicarle que una moneda de oro era muy valiosa para entregarla a cambio de un anillo. En afán de ayudar, alguien le ofreció una moneda de plata y un cacharro de cobre, pero el joven tenía instrucciones de no aceptar menos de una moneda de oro y rechazó la oferta.
The youth took the ring and left. As soon as he got there, he started offering the ring to the traders. They looked at it with some interest, until the youth said what he wanted for the ring. When the young man mentioned gold, some laughed and others turned away, and only an old man was kind enough to take the trouble to explain that a gold coin was too much to pay for a ring. Eager to help, someone offered him a silver coin and a few coppers, but the youth had been instructed to accept nothing less than a gold coin and rejected the offer.

Después de ofrecer su joya a toda persona que se cruzaba en el mercado, más de cien personas, y abatido por su fracaso, montó su caballo y regresó.
After offering his jewel to every person passing through the market place, over a hundred people, and dejected by his failure, he mounted his horse and rode back.

Cuanto hubiera deseado el joven tener él mismo esa moneda de oro, podría entonces habérsela entregado él mismo al maestro para liberarlo de su preocupación y recibir entonces su consejo y ayuda.
How much the youth wished that he had a gold coin himself that he could give the teacher and release him from his worry, and then receive his advice and help.

Entró en la habitación. Maestro dijo lo siento, no pude conseguir lo que me pediste. Quizás pudiera conseguir dos o tres monedas de plata, pero no creo que yo pueda engañar a nadie respecto del verdadero valor del anillo.
He entered the room and told the teacher, “I'm sorry, I couldn’t get what you asked. Maybe I could’ve gotten two or three silver coins, but I don’t think I could’ve convinced anyone of the true value of the ring.”

Qué importante lo que dijiste, joven amigo contestó sonriente el maestro Debemos saber primero el verdadero valor del anillo. Vuelve a montar y vete al joyero. ¿Quién mejor que él para saberlo? Dile que quisieras vender el anillo y pregunta cuánto te da por él, pero no importa lo que ofrezca, no se lo vendas. Vuelve aquí con mi anillo.
“How important is what you just said, my young friend” responded the teacher, smiling. “We must first find out the true value of the ring. Get yourself together and go to the jeweler. Who better than he to tell us? Tell him you would like to sell the ring, and ask him how much he’d give you for it, but no matter what he offers, don’t sell it. Come back here with my ring.”

El joven volvió a cabalgar. El joyero examinó el anillo a la luz del candil con su lupa, lo pesó y luego le dijo:Dile al maestro, muchacho, que si lo quiere vender ya, no puedo darle más que 58 monedas de oro por su anillo.
The young man rode back. The jeweler examined the ring by lamplight with his magnifying glass, weighed it, and then said, “Tell the teacher, boy, that if he wants to sell it right now, I can’t give him more than 58 gold coins for his ring.

58 MONEDAS !!!!!!!!! Exclamó el joven.
58 COINS !!!!!!!!! cried the youth.

Si, replicó el joyero, yo sé que con tiempo podríamos obtener por él cerca de 70 monedas, pero no sé... si la venta es urgente.
“Yes,” replied the jeweler, “If he had more time, he could probably find a buyer at 70 coins. Otherwise....”

El joven corrió emocionado a la casa del maestro a contarle lo sucedido.
The excited youth hurried back to the teacher’s house to tell him what happened.

Siéntate dijo el maestro después de escucharlo. Tú eres como este anillo: una joya valiosa y única. Y como tal, sólo puede evaluarte verdaderamente un experto. ¿Qué haces por la vida pretendiendo que cualquiera descubra tu verdadero valor?
Y diciendo esto, volvió a ponerse el anillo en el dedo pequeño.
“Sit down,” said the teacher after listening to him. “You are like this ring: a worthy and unique jewel. The only person who can understand your true worth is an expert. Why do you go around expecting that anyone you meet on the street knows your true worth?” So saying, he put the ring back on his little finger.

No turning back…

…and it's over three years since I first wrote the following words. I just thought it might be helpful, to me at least, to read them again, as the Word says, "Keep alive in yourselves what you were taught in the beginning" (1 John 2:24).

Who is this Man?

The discussion of Muslim versus Christian beliefs is irresolvable, because it demands that one side admit that the other is right and then cease to exist, like the meeting of matter and anti-matter.

If there were a real resolution other than mere peaceful co-existence between Islam and the faith of the Bible, I think we would have found it by now, after fourteen centuries. But this is simply not a resolvable issue. To bring up the differences at all is, I think, asking for trouble. One or the other faith is a fabrication. And if there is a place where being wrong is more dangerous than this one, tell me about it.

We can all start out being "nice" to each other, that is, to people of different faiths. We can call our viewpoints "faith traditions" as it is fashionable to do now in the ecumenical movement within Christianity. That's possibly very dangerous, even within Christianity, because we're using humanistic humdrum like "faith traditions" to cover up real differences that can come back and bite us.

But when we're dealing with any belief system that denies that Jesus is the Christ, it's best to just be honest and give our testimony. We can still be friends, and even brothers on the human level, and live in hope of the salvation of those who now deny Christ. But it's just 'soft soap and wishful thinking' and 'boys' philosophy,' as C.S. Lewis says, when we try to make people comfortable with things that should make them very un-comfortable.

If followers of Jesus were more willing to speak the Truth in love instead of abdicating and compromising with the world, maybe even suffering, maybe even dying for their truthful testimony, then maybe at least some of the Muslims, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Baha'is, Buddhists and others would see the suffering of Christ (in our suffering) and turn to Him and be saved.

This is the hard Rock of Truth.
Let's not be wishy-washy and make our home in a sand castle.

I don't go looking for opportunities to offend, as you should know, but if the Lord gives me a word for someone, I try not to hold back.
I spent the first 50-odd years of my life doing that. That's over and done with now, come what may, no turning back.

The bottom line is that it really is love for my brothers that forces me to speak, and not some dogmatic obsession or triumphal attitude. You should know that, if you know me at all from my testimonies.

Our sure destination

Christ is the Master of all of us, and He is the one who keeps us standing in Him, regardless of our condition, knowledge, devotion, lifestyle, opinions, even beliefs.

All beliefs are nothing compared to just standing in the Presence and adoring Him. They were never meant to be anything but placeholders for that experience, and we can stand in the Presence even now, but how much more fully when we finally become alive.

People talk about the saints as if they were dead
and about themselves as if they were alive, but the opposite is true.

Only those who have died are really alive, and that is where Jesus is going as He walks ahead of us, and that is our sure destination too, as long as we keep following Him.

Greater than all

For Christ, Orthodoxy doesn’t exist. There is absolutely nothing that He says or does in the gospels that we can jump on and say we are following Him when we extol the perfections of Orthodoxy as against the defects of other religions, especially other Christianities.
Now I realise what it was that always made me so uncomfortable to be around new converts to Orthodoxy, and why after a couple of years of being one myself, I began to distance myself out from them, and get closer to the cradle believers, who didn’t seem to understand what a great treasure they had in Orthodoxy. I used to think they were that way because they took the faith for granted. It might be that, but I’ve known too many who were merely Christians, willing to help you, console you, witness to you, on the spot and without self-consciousness or fanfare, and then quietly return to what they were doing. Sometimes with their lips they couldn’t belt out a prayer on the spot, but they prayed with their hands and hearts and with the love in their eyes. God answered their unspoken prayer even as they were offering it. “Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8).

What sparked the thoughts I just expressed?

I had been reading an essay by archimandrite Fr Raphael Karelin, titled Differences in the Religious Thinking Between the East and the West. Very well-written, very eloquently written, the author carefully locates the temporal source of what became a growing and finally irreversible divergence between not only ideas but attitudes in the Christian West and East. In the essay I could not find a single appreciation of anything that the Christian West believed, practiced or accomplished, except for some hollow exaltation of Saint Augustine, only to bring him back down to earth by comparing his spiritual feats to the prowess of the Eastern fathers, who were incomparably superior.

There is so much about other Christians that we are unwilling or unable to face. We have defined so rigidly and infallibly our own positions on just about everything, that it isn’t even a matter of disagreement on doctrines or practices—we already know we’re right—but simply an issue of “they don’t belong to us, because they’re not part of us, and so they can’t possibly be what we are, that is, Christ’s.” We don’t talk ourselves out of it, we forget as easily as if we never knew, that others besides ourselves have the Bible, believe in Jesus Christ according to what they’ve received from the apostles, and even from the first councils. We treat them, if we recognize them at all, as less than ourselves, and even as non-Christians, justifying this by saying, “we don’t know what they believe,” and, “outside the Church, the Bible is a closed book.”

What if it were true, that in the mystery of the Holy Eucharist, we were joined in real communion with the Lord Jesus Christ, and with all those who ever looked to Him with faith, and followed Him, some even to the extent of dying for Him, in other words, with all saints of all times and places… and creeds, or lack of them? Whose anathema could be raised against that mighty host who lived so completely for the Lord that they did not see anything and anyone ahead of them but Him, and who followed Him wherever He went? Do we think that anything we could do, anything we could demand from them to conform to us, could keep them from the communion of the saints? Never fear, they are there, and it is we who, hoarding as our own what belongs to all, might do well to fear being cast out.

Not in contradiction, but plainly beyond the reach of all that human wisdom devises as a safeguard for the deposit of faith, the word of Jesus lays the only foundation that none can replace,

“My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish;
no one can snatch them out of My hand.
My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all;
no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
I and the Father are one.”
John 10:27-30

I was asked

How do I evangelize?

Nothing more than just always being ready to tell people about Christ and how He has helped me, keeps me alive, and is saving me, and this not by words only, but first by actions, following my Lord, who says, "Your light must shine in the sight of men, so that seeing your good works, they may give the praise to your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:16)

My strategy is just as I keep saying over and over in my blog…
"Love the people around you and serve them, but do not get caught up in their fantasies, but by clear thinking and straight action, without correcting them or trying to rule them, show them the way that is shown to you by Christ and the apostles. Just follow Jesus, and do unto others, say unto others, what you see Him doing, and hear Him saying. Nothing else."

Names

What we call something, or someone, is very important. This has been known since the dawn of mankind, everywhere, by every people. Hence, the sacredness of one’s personal name. Hence, the prohibition of the taking the Name in vain. Yes, this applies to the Name of G’d as expressed in the third of the Ten Words (Exodus 20:7), but as we have been created in the Image of Him who is, everyone knows this has something to do with our own personal names. We are patterned on Him. We are His being uttered in a different key, as we might say ‘on a smaller scale’ bringing our perceptions into it.

This is not about personal names, but about the names we give things and ideas. We little suspect how much the language we speak and the names we give things affects what we believe or think we know about them. Terminology is not a trivial science, but a pivotal one in defining and setting up our world. This is why it was an unheard of privilege for Adam the First-created to be given the task of naming—first, naming the animals and, by extension, all things that weren’t himself, and finally, even naming his helpmate, “This is to be called Woman (ishsháh), for this was taken from Man (ish)” (Genesis 2:23).

Every word that is the name of something is a loaded entity. As soon as we hear it, we usually find that our minds have already been made up. Why is this? Well, firstly because we have learned the dictionary meaning of the term. Secondly, from seeing how the word is applied in our culture and day to day lives, we also have a fluent understanding of many of its undocumented meanings. Finally, often the word has very personal meaning to ourselves: we have defined it in relation to our own being.

A good example of what I mean can be drawn from Christian terminology. Many of the words that are used in the Western world to describe things and ideas pertaining to life in the Church (for that is what being a Christian seems to mean) are drawn from Latin, and they have an immediate mental impact on those who use them. “Sacrament” is one of these. This word has a strict dictionary definition, and if it stayed there it might be a fitting word to use. Instead, it has accrued to itself meanings and connotations which have contributed to the religious sickness of Western society, both feeding into it and drawing from it, divorcing itself from its scriptural meaning. For that reason, it is best to return to the Greek term mystírion or mystery. True, “mystery” has its own set of suppositions and meanings, but it has existed in its original, scriptural meaning for two thousand years, hidden from the eyes of most Christians in the West, and as such, it can now resurface into the culture with its ancient meaning intact. It removes the idea of what it represents from the devolution that the word “sacrament” has experienced for fifteen hundred years. It returns us to the gospel, not to a religious category. And the gospel, evangélion, is not “religion,” it is “the good news.”

In a different frame of reference, one more secular but which may illustrate my point better, are the words we use to define sexuality. These are very loaded words. “Gay” versus “straight” is the common parlance of the day, with the first term infiltrating languages other than English. As soon as we hear these words, we know what they mean, and we have decided already what we think about them. They provoke no questions in us to search for truth. They simply tell us what’s what, and then proceed to categorize us to ourselves. If we hear the words, “homosexual” and “heterosexual” some of us feel like we’re on more solid ground, we feel somewhat scientific. We think we know what these words mean, what they tell us about other people and what they do, but do they really allow us a little freedom and incentive to ask questions, to try to arrive at truth? I don’t think so, for they still assume things about people that may not in fact be true. They insist that given a set of facts, another well-defined set of acts will result. Again, a false assumption. Finally, a phrase like “same sex attraction,” which seems on the surface to mean “homosexual” but actually doesn’t. This phrase doesn’t have an opposite partner in everyday speech, apparently because none is needed. This phrase is not loaded like the previous terms that seem to be its equivalents. You can use this phrase and give it the meaning of the other two, but you don’t have to. Instead, you can let it provoke questions in you, to launch your mind on a quest, for the truth. What does it mean? What does it imply? What are its conditions? What are its results? Instead of being told, as you are with the other terms, that if you “suffer” from this, you will do this, and be that, it lets you discover for yourself, apart from the dominant “culture,” what it really means. And that might be quite different. And in fact, it is.

We must be very careful in naming ourselves and others, as well as naming our conditions, objectives, principles and so on. You can call yourself a Catholic, a Protestant, or an Orthodox, but what does this mean? Is there anything you can depend on in a person who is identified as one of these? Very little, I think. Very little that really matters, anyway. We can look up the words in a dictionary, and go from there, but until we actually meet one of these self-named creatures, we won’t have a real understanding of what these words mean. Even when we do meet them, we will be utterly confused. Why? Because these are mere labels thrown over what cannot be defined that way. Isn’t this nothing more than saying the obvious, that you can’t categorize and judge people? Bingo!

Still, names are important, otherwise Adam would not have been told to start the process of naming that continues down to the present day. It’s too bad that very few names can hold on to their original meanings as well as “pick” and “shovel.” Wait a minute! pick! What did you mean by that?

Do the words we use to name people, things and ideas cause our minds to fall into a groove of thoughtless conformity and our day to day lives into equally mindless actions? Or do we use words that provoke thought, questioning, and questing for what really is true about people, things and ideas? The world that results from the first is the broken world we see around us. The world that arises from the second, well, what can I say better about it than what Aslan said to Mr. Beaver in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,

“All names will soon be restored to their proper owners. In the meantime we will not dispute about noises.”