“Some people find it easy to believe everything written in the Bible. Others say it is a great strain to believe a book in which almost every page contains supernatural elements. I, for one, find it very difficult to believe in something if I can’t see it or hear it or smell it or trip over it. I have never seen the laws of physics suspended and I have seen enough hoaxes to doubt the claims of any whom say they have. Because such miracles are completely outside my experience (and frauds are an everyday occurrence), I find it quite a task to believe that any miracle ever happened in the past. Yet here we are, living proof that somehow, sometime in the past, everything must have come out of nothing-and there is just no natural way for such a thing to occur. It turns out that physicists are saying that the universe has been very precisely fine-tuned to make life possible and this puts me in a bit of a dilemma. Here I am, disbelieving in miracles while the whole universe is apparently an indescribably enormous miracle. How does the skeptic resolve such a dilemma? Is it resolvable?”…Fred Heeren who, in his book “Show Me God”, cites the following quote in George Barna’s “The Invisible Generation: Baby Busters”
“All I want is reality. Show me God. Tell me what He is really like. Help me to understand why life is the way it is and how I can experience it more fully and with greater joy. I don’t want the empty promises. I want the real thing; and I’ll go wherever I find that truth system”….Lisa Baker, age 20.
It occurs to me that, while the above statements were expressed concerning man’s wish to define his existence, they also reflect my present mood with the current Presidential debate. An Alaskan governmental official being interviewed last night put forth her opinion of this country presently being the “Divided” States of America; and, while I agree with her, if one examines our history, it’s pretty well a condition we’ve shared from the very beginning. At no time have we ever been “united” other than in our common belief that all men possess a God-given right to freely pursue their own course. Argument has always been there, a part of the process. It’s when disagreement is allowed to fester and ferment, to “boil in our bellies”, that problems develop. It’s that word “far” that turns right and left thinking into a gun, a bomb, violence rather than co-existence….
Is Obama the anti-Christ? Is McCain just four more years of Bush-nomics? I’m with Lisa Baker. All I want is reality. All I desire is integrity. I’m tired of politics as usual and I’ll go wherever I find, as best I can, that truth system. I learned long ago that peace can not be found in a person, but through an inner connection with the One who can take all my mental anxieties, drop them into a Holy Ghost “plop-plop-fizz-fizz-oh-what-a-relief-it-is” remedy, and let me relax in the knowledge of His hand in life. Show me God. The rest is all just circumstantial…..
(For those pondering my title, check out the September 4th post on Under the Overpass)
Saturday, September 06, 2008
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8 comments:
Just finished "Nixonland" by Rick Perlstein, and his thesis is pretty much the same: We've always been divided (or fractured into many parts). There is no consensus; the country is too diverse and too big. Sometimes it's a pretty benign divide, sometimes it's pretty violent, but it's always there. So I find all this talk about "regular" people versus "elites" hilarious. Your regular versus my regular, I guess.
Chuck: The image I can't get out of my mind at the present is both the lady who came down the aisle at the RNC spewing venom and with hatred in her demeanor. I've seen it on both sides of these issues and, while I recognize it as who we are in our humanity, surely it is not symbolic of sanity. When our disagreement becomes reason to commit violence in any form, we have left the very foundation upon which this country is anchored....
Jim, by reality do you mean truth? I probably don't see it. It amazes me at times how this country is divided. It also amazes me that 15 miles south of my wealthy suburbs, students get so much less funding for their schooling. Since it is illegal for me to steal from the rich and give to the poor, and since the rich don't seem eager to do it, I will hope for a gov't that brings about social justice.
Wayne: When I speak of "reality" or "truth", I refer to a Christ who, who via the Indwelling we claim to possess, enables us to walk by His Spirit rather than ours in all that we are. Most of us simply operate out of our heads connected to our emotions; and, while I do realize that we remain human in our Christianity, I yet maintain that is no excuse for an exemption from what Christianity expects of us in all aspects. I may be against abortion; but when I bomb the clinic, I have left my faith. Define "social justice" for me and then I'll ask you when we have ever known it to come to us via government, at least in terms that all will agree with you in your definition of it. The best we can do is "Christ in me" and that comes dow to me, to you, to McCain, and to Obama; but the only guy I can answer for is me. We vote by our personal convictions as best we can; then trust Him to iron out the wrinkles....
Jim-- as I just said at under the overpass, in more words than I said here... the problem I have is how they end up spending it after they get the taxes. I agree no gov't I have seen has truly behaved that their main priority was for caring for those Jesus says we see himself in when we care for them. From what I hear LBJ's attack on poverty was rather unique if flawed. laws make certain that wealthy families send students to better public schools... yes, there are many who see those laws as a just and right way to educate our youth, I don't.
There is just enough bureacracy in government to allow dishonest people to hide and to mess up honest people.
It's funny that you use the word "reality", Jim, as I was just yesterday, talking with hubby about that very concept with regards to truth as mentioned by Wayne. For example, I was saying that lately I've felt it necessary to correct people when they take credit for something they didn't do or they misplace where they give credit. I don't do it all the time but when I really feel that a reality check is in order. Now, when the credit is due me, it goes against everything I've been taught about humility to straighten them out but, I've done it a couple of times because I felt like it was a symptom of disease; mine, if I let it go by just to keep a few people thinking well of me and theirs for making it up as they go along and thinking that's okay. Know what I mean?
Now, I'm not looking to become a jerk about it but I'm beginning to see my part in the pretense and that's the part I can do something about. And, I suspect, that the Spirit very much has a hand in this. In very small amounts, the light is being shed on the dark recesses in me and I can't help but take a good hard look.
But I'm with you and Lisa Baker. Reality in every pot! How's that for a campaign slogan. :P
Mich
Mich: When I speak of a "reality", I not only mean "truth", but "peace" as well. "grace" as well. I refer to a resurrected Christ within me Who embodies all such terms in their fulness. When you speak of the Spirit having a hand in what you are experiencing, "light being shed on the dark inner recesses", you are in sync with my own understanding of "Christ in me". My group just returned from another visit to the Youth Detention Center this morning and I spoke to the kids about this and, as wonderful a visit as it turned out to be, it will no doubt show up in my next blog entry....
Cool, Jim. I look forward to hearing about that visit. And yes, I agree and appreciate your use of reality as it encompasses all those words. Me, too. That's why I'm drawn to that word these days.
Mich
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