Blind Spot

Matthew 6:22-23, "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness."

I have been reading a book called, "The Illness and Cure of the Soul in the Orthodox Tradition" by Archim. Hierotheos Vlachos and it has given me pause to think about Genesis 1-3 from a different perspective. 

First of all, the Orthodox Tradition has been in my heart and mind for the last four years. I have studied it personally and now professionally with a zeal to understand a faith that, quite frankly, I was never told about in all my years of education (now going on 185 or so it feels that way) and if any of their mysterious doctrines  came to the surface they were quickly dismissed or aligned with Roman Catholicism. I was never encouraged to examine them or to  investigate them lest I should be theologically swayed to heresy. But what I am finding out is that a church tradition that is linked to first century Christianity has a lot to teach me about my faith. While not embracing all of their theology, I am growing to appreciate much of it. It has opened up the Scriptures for me and given me a deeper understanding. 

I have always wondered what the above verse in Matthew was talking about. At best it was metaphorical. But the Church Fathers seem to indicate that the soul is made up of three parts:  the nous (mind), reason (understanding), and spirit (love). What I find interesting is that the mind is more of...as we would say idiomatically, the mind's eye. It is the ability or potentiality to "see" God. It is spiritual illumination. 

When Adam and Eve sinned we run to the legal aspects of this and say that they broke the law of God. God said don't do this and if you do then death will happen. It becomes what we call forensic or legal in nature. In fact, John in his epistle tells us that sin is a violation of the Law. However, that is not the only way of looking at what transpired. 

The Eastern Orthodox view this quite differently. Sin is a brokenness of spirit, a brokenness of relationships. The soul has become sick; it has become spiritually dark. And the cure is illumination of the soul again. It is to put man back into his proper relational place but even further, to move him to be divine. 

So when I read the words of Jesus they make sense to me now. If

my eye, my spiritual gate of illumination is good then my whole being will be good for it sees as God sees; it sees God and it sees what is not of God (in this context it is equated with greed). But if my eyes are bad, if they are blinded by the darkness of sin, then my whole being will reflect that darkness. 

Jesus, instead of being my cosmic Lawyer who stands before the Judge, is viewed as the divine Physician who brings the cure to my soul. He is the Light of the world and calls me out of a world of darkness. 

I still struggle with what this all means in my Protestant context. If I have embraced Jesus as my Savior and yet still struggle with an eye that seems to be dark in certain areas, have I truly applied the cure? Perhaps its as simply as this is a journey and not an event. I guess I'm not blind but for some  reason I haven't taken the sunglasses off. It takes a while to look directly at the son without going blind. Ironic isn't it. 

Lincoln

"The greatest among you will be your servant." (Matt. 23:11)

A boring Saturday night gave rise to a Red Box visit at our local

McDonalds and an opportunity to view the movie, "Lincoln." It is a docu-drama about the last 4 months of Lincoln's life and his attempt to pass the 13th Ammendment that made slavery illegal in the United States. 

For my wife, who is not a history fan, it was a bit drawn out, but for myself, it was incredibly interesting. 

I can't imagine the horrors of the civil war and the weight of signing hundreds of Confederate prisoners of war death orders each day. It must have been a horrible burden. 

On top of this put the grief of losing a child and a crazy wife and you have an opportunity for a mental breakdown. 

I didn't like the film in that it demolished my pristine image of a man for whom I found to be next to Jesus. He was a politician. And as politicians go he was just as corrupt as those who had gone before him. We could say that his was a just corruption or the ends justifies the means but honest Abe wasn't so honest after all. 

A couple of lessons the film taught me was that greatness comes at a high price. And that truly great people don't seek it. Greatness finds them as they pursue something greater than themselves. 

I have often prayed that I would do great things for the Lord, and this film reminded me of the above two things: that it often comes at a high price and that it will only come when I pursue something or someone greater than myself. 

There is a reason I avoid the theatre and rent from Red Box. 

Guilty as Charged

In honor of Mother's Day...

It's interesting to look at this cartoon and see the truth in this for many people. Instead of a relationship being one of mutual respect and love, it is one of manipulation. It is sad because the desire is the same...to be loved, to be needed, to be appreciated. 

I think as kids we all feel a bit of guilt in regards to our parents. I'm not sure if it is a guilt laid upon us from the Holy Spirit or our culture/society, but none-the-less it is there. It is all those "I wish I would haves or wish I could haves" that we go to our own graves with and that our children will probably bear as well. 

I have been talking about Genesis 1-3 of late. And I posed a question to a seminary professor today. "What is the difference between guilt and conviction?'  When someone says, "I feel convicted about something," what does that mean? Are they saying that they feel guilty over something?" It could be in that context. It could be a synonym. It could be that conviction is the inner pricking of the conscience by God - good or bad - and innocence or guilt is established based on the evidence.  Here is where my conversation would like to take a turn. 

The normal pattern of thought would be, "I feel convicted because I

have violated a law of God. If taken to the holy courtroom, I would be found guilty." In our Protestant theology this is where Jesus comes in to play. I am guilty and yet Jesus takes my punishment. I believe this. I believe in the substitutionary atonement of Jesus for my sin. But then I sin again. And Jesus' precious blood covers me ...each and every time. 

But it keeps me in a guilt system. I am and will always be guilty and feel guilty over past, present, and future sins. 

What if we approached this differently? What if instead of starting at Genesis 3 where everything is broken and Adam and Eve are guilty...what if we start instead with Genesis 1 and 2. 

Humanity's history does not begin with the Fall. It begins with being made in the image of God - we are created to imitate and reflect our Creator God. 

What if we think in these terms rather than the guilt issue terms. When I sin it clearly is a violation of God's holy Law - the  law of the heart (Rom. 2) and the Law given to Israel. I am not denying this. But...we tend to forget that sin is also a re-imaging of ourselves. When we sin we move away from what we have been created to be and begin to image and reflect the opposite of God. Sin in not just transgressing the Law but moving away from our intended purpose - to be the very image of a holy God. In this case its not an issue of guilty or not guilty; its an issue of directionality and proximity. 

The questions become, "Are you heading toward the very purpose for which God created you - to be in His image?" "Or are you moving away from that image?" "If you are heading toward that image, where are you in proximity to that perfect image of Jesus?" 

Jesus paid it all for me and cleansed me with his redeeming blood.

It is no longer and issue of guilt but of image, reflection, nearness. Do I fail and return to sin in my life? More often than I would care to admit. But I'm on the continuum, and after I confess that reversal I press on toward the mark of the high calling of God - to be made in his image and likeness. 

I might still be convicted by the Holy Spirit but it will be because He is working on transforming me into the likeness of the Son not because He desires to confirm my guilt. 

And by the way...mom...I'll be sad when you leave this old broken world, but not guilty...O.K., O.K....I'll call more often...I'll try and visit you more often.... I'm a bad son. 

Innocence

Genesis 3:22, "And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." 

"A group of sex education 'experts' has suggested that pupils should be taught in school about pornography, on the grounds that it is not “all bad” and can even be “helpful” to them.

Yes, you read that right.

The Sex Education Forum says in a new publication for 
schools that pornography should be taught in terms of 
'media literacy and representation, gender, sexual behavior 
and body image.'” [from the Philadelphia Trumpet - which I do not subscribe to theologically (Armstrongism) but who have some pretty sharp European culture watchers.] 

By the way this is to be taught to 13 and 14 year old young people.

What stupidity. 

My dad and I were in a paint store one day and one of the store employees heard that I had never been to a bar and had a good

"drink." He proceeded to playfully harass me until the Lord gave me a good lead into the conversation.

I said to the gentlemen, "Have you ever put your hand down a known rattlesnake hole?"

He said, "No...why in the world would I want to do something stupid like that?" 

"Nor have I," I replied. 

"I don't have to try something that I know is going to bite me in the end." 

The point was made with a smile. 

Where has our sense of innocence gone? 

In discussing this passage in Genesis with a brother in Christ he told me that he never really knew that anyone died until he was almost 9 years of age. 

I long for those days of blissful ignorance. 

Think about what it must have been like to be Adam and Eve: Living in Paradise, walking with God in the cool of the evenings, having your hands always produce the best yield, complete harmony with your world. You have no knowledge of evil or wicked things. 

It was how God created you to be. 

You have no knowledge of the destructive nature of pornography or war or famine or disease. You have no knowledge of what inhumanities man can do to humanity. 

It continues to be a lingering prayer and biblical hope for all things to be restored to their original innocence. 

I believe that is the blessing of the book of Revelation. Some day...some day soon, I hope...my Jesus will come and fully restore all things to the Father as they were in Paradise so many years ago. When John describes living with God he says that this is a place where there is no tears, no sadness, no death. This is a place of restored innocence. It's why its called "Heaven." 

I think we are in store for a world described aptly by the prophet Isaiah - where people call good evil and evil good. We have lost our moral boundaries but...more than that, we have lost our moral compass. Our world has acquired what the Apostle Paul deemed "seared consciences" and "gods of their bellies." It represents stupid decisions by school boards to allow such things. 

Yes...I know that some kids are having sex before they are 12 years old. It's the same old mantra of "they're going to do it anyway so we might as well keep them safe or teach them appropriately." 

How about saying, "It's wrong. It's not what God wants for you. Don't give up what God has graciously given you by way of your innocence." 

I'm not talking about naivete. Naivete will not help you navigate your world but you don't have to participate in it. 

Don't lose hope. It must get worse before it gets better or should I say, "It must get worse before it becomes perfect." 

Perhaps the Lord will grant us a little returned innocence in the meantime, if only in our minds. 

Live in hope and keep your hands away from known rattlesnake holes.