On Jesus
"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phil 2:5-11
I've done alot of thinking about Jesus the past few weeks. That might seem like a "So what?" statement - after all, I am a Christian. Don't I think about Jesus alot? Aren't I always thinking about Jesus?
Err... yeah...
Anyways, as I took a break from blogging I had more time to think, read, and pray. I wish I could say I used all of that time wisely - there were alot of movies rented in the last month - but by and large this was a very insightful time for me. I did alot of introspection, alot of soul searching. I suppose it was inevitable that while searching my own soul I would come across Jesus.
As I mentioned months ago, I have a very special relationship with nature. Going to the lake summer after summer, being alone in the woods, staring up at an infinite sky untainted by city or even country lights... it was a blessed childhood. And I grew so much during those years, learning my lessons from breeze and tree and sky. God was great, and powerful, and as far above me as the stars. This I learned very well - that there was a mindful creator behind the beauty I saw, and it was unreachable. Utterly Beyond. The Great... uh, Whatever-He-Was. Awesome. Powerful.
Inhuman.
I learned this very, very well. And for a long time - even after becoming a Christian, which at the time I did mainly to avoid hell (gotta snap up that "Get Out of Jail Free" card when you can, folks) - I could not escape this view I held of God. It frightened me, and also galvanized me with a strange sort of fury. I could not recount to you all of the Job-like nights spent raging against heaven for the suffering of my fellow person. How could God do this to us? How dare he! He lets children ache with hunger pains, women live in fear of their husbands, allows us the pain and sorrow that accompanies life and that drives so many to suicide - why, if you gave any of us the choice, would we not rather choose oblivion than a life of suffering and then death? Such was my mindset at the time.
It changed since then; I cannot say when exactly. But over time I came to understand that this was not the God of scripture. The person that brought me to this understanding was Jesus, and it was this process that I was reflecting on over the past month.
A good friend of mine once said (accurately), "Dan, you seem to hate God the Father, and the Holy Spirit you could do without. You're lucky that God's not a duo, because I don't think you'd be a Christian without Jesus." And he was mostly right. I would read the gospels and agonize with Christ when he was in agony, feel for him when he wept, rejoice with him when he was happy. I watched him live and breathe and do all the things the rest of us did, and it made me feel something I couldn't quite understand.
I began to understand a bit better when I read the passage above - "though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death." I read it and something clicked -Jesus was a human being. He lived and died just like the rest of us. And he didn't just get born and then die, as our church calander may suggest - he actually lived. As in, he loved, cried, bled, sweated, laughed, smelled, farted, was scared and doubted himself - just like one of us! And yet he was also God, wholly and completely. God experienced all that we do. He was not hiding in the wings, watching our performace with a critical eye. He was onstage, active and tragic just like one of us.
In Deism, God is removed and impersonal. He sets the universe like a gigantic pocket watch and leaves it to run. But the Christian God - Christ - is personal, as in A Person, and he is genuinly interacting with us. Because he was human, we can know him, and because he is God, he can save us.
I've said it before, but for me, that earns him my worship. And that's what I've been thinking of and realizing again the last few weeks. So thanks for reading.
I've done alot of thinking about Jesus the past few weeks. That might seem like a "So what?" statement - after all, I am a Christian. Don't I think about Jesus alot? Aren't I always thinking about Jesus?
Err... yeah...
Anyways, as I took a break from blogging I had more time to think, read, and pray. I wish I could say I used all of that time wisely - there were alot of movies rented in the last month - but by and large this was a very insightful time for me. I did alot of introspection, alot of soul searching. I suppose it was inevitable that while searching my own soul I would come across Jesus.
As I mentioned months ago, I have a very special relationship with nature. Going to the lake summer after summer, being alone in the woods, staring up at an infinite sky untainted by city or even country lights... it was a blessed childhood. And I grew so much during those years, learning my lessons from breeze and tree and sky. God was great, and powerful, and as far above me as the stars. This I learned very well - that there was a mindful creator behind the beauty I saw, and it was unreachable. Utterly Beyond. The Great... uh, Whatever-He-Was. Awesome. Powerful.
Inhuman.
I learned this very, very well. And for a long time - even after becoming a Christian, which at the time I did mainly to avoid hell (gotta snap up that "Get Out of Jail Free" card when you can, folks) - I could not escape this view I held of God. It frightened me, and also galvanized me with a strange sort of fury. I could not recount to you all of the Job-like nights spent raging against heaven for the suffering of my fellow person. How could God do this to us? How dare he! He lets children ache with hunger pains, women live in fear of their husbands, allows us the pain and sorrow that accompanies life and that drives so many to suicide - why, if you gave any of us the choice, would we not rather choose oblivion than a life of suffering and then death? Such was my mindset at the time.
It changed since then; I cannot say when exactly. But over time I came to understand that this was not the God of scripture. The person that brought me to this understanding was Jesus, and it was this process that I was reflecting on over the past month.
A good friend of mine once said (accurately), "Dan, you seem to hate God the Father, and the Holy Spirit you could do without. You're lucky that God's not a duo, because I don't think you'd be a Christian without Jesus." And he was mostly right. I would read the gospels and agonize with Christ when he was in agony, feel for him when he wept, rejoice with him when he was happy. I watched him live and breathe and do all the things the rest of us did, and it made me feel something I couldn't quite understand.
I began to understand a bit better when I read the passage above - "though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death." I read it and something clicked -Jesus was a human being. He lived and died just like the rest of us. And he didn't just get born and then die, as our church calander may suggest - he actually lived. As in, he loved, cried, bled, sweated, laughed, smelled, farted, was scared and doubted himself - just like one of us! And yet he was also God, wholly and completely. God experienced all that we do. He was not hiding in the wings, watching our performace with a critical eye. He was onstage, active and tragic just like one of us.
In Deism, God is removed and impersonal. He sets the universe like a gigantic pocket watch and leaves it to run. But the Christian God - Christ - is personal, as in A Person, and he is genuinly interacting with us. Because he was human, we can know him, and because he is God, he can save us.
I've said it before, but for me, that earns him my worship. And that's what I've been thinking of and realizing again the last few weeks. So thanks for reading.
posted by Grey Owl at 8:52 a.m.
9 Comments:
hey Dan! Great to have you back. I've missed you. I tried to make a post yesterday but the blogosphere ate it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I hope to see more in the near future.
And I'm trying to figure out this "letter bomb" business...
Thannks cindy,mit's good to be back. I'm still not sure how active I'll be in the blogosphere for the next few weeks, but hopefully I can catch up with everyone's articles and start commenting again soon.
bob - ever watch CSI: Miami?
I laughed when I considered Jesus farting, as I imagine that'd be pretty funny, but it reminds me of this painting some guy did in the sixties or seventies called Jesus Laughing. It was a headshot of Jesus, eyes closed, tears rolling down his cheek, head thrown back and mouth wide open, laughing his ass off. It caused this big utrage amongst the Christians of the time who thought this sort of behavior was unseemly from their god, but there was a big counterreaction from people saying "Jesus was human and full of love, why would he never laugh?" and I think that's what brought about the image of Jesus in the nineties and so forth as a loving personal friend type of god, and I think the same thing applies to Jesus farting. Maybe I should make a Jesus Farting painting.
mc - I've seen that print of Jesus laughing. It's probably one of my favorite pictures of him. I think the reaction to it was sad, if unsuprising.
BTW - if you do one of Jesus farting, will he be blaming it on one of his disciples, or will he take the blame for it?
Damn. I was all set to comment on Jesus farting and MC sneaks in from the wings and steals my thunder. I guess I will have to take the more serious approach that was my fallback.
Unfortunately, that angle is simplistic in presentation, and much more complicated in delving into. I aim for the former for the moment if not pushed.
Jesus lived and acted, reacted and lived some more. We have the stories. How does that help you? Whether removed by distance or centuries, He is still removed. You stand in the same position.
You either allow God to live in your heart, and then He is real and now, or you allow Him to live removed. This primary choice is yours, the semantics don't change with some good anecdotes from millenia ago. Jesus becoming man doesn't help us commune with God now. We still have to rationalize it now, or give up on it.
It seems you did the former, but not (I think) because of the specifics of the story. God is in your heart or not. You can't get any clearer than, or any alternative to, that.
(Okay, so I took the middle road on complicated.)
It wouldn't show either; it'd be him looking up and away from the group, like people do when they're trying not to draw attention, whistling innocently, as everyone around him was making "I smell fart" faces and looking at him.
Either that or it would be him lying on his back with his knees pulled up to his chest and one of his disciples lighting said fart.
I might also do one of Jesus reading The Da Vinci Code, but I can't imagine how to connote visually, portrait style, him going "Yeah, I did that"
Welcome back, Dan.
grey owl, you are missed. Even MC misses you over on Wanderer's site.
I pray all is well with you.
Post a Comment
<< Home