A Beautiful Mind

"However, as it is written: 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him' - but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us." I Corinthians 2:9-12.

When I watched the movie "A Beautiful Mind" I can remember weeping at the moment I realized his genius mind was falling apart. In the movie "The Notebook" my heart was wrenched from my chest when I realized who this elderly woman was and that her mind was truly escaping her clutches. But I did not realize how truly precious my own mind was to me until recently.

I came home one day from an extremely enlightening seminar in which I had discovered my spiritual gifts and how I was to use them in the body of Christ. I was so excited I wanted to share my thoughts with anyone who would listen. I called my mother and told her of my elation. I was so excited I even wanted to tell my husband. You may think it odd that I say even, but if you knew the relationship it would not be so odd. Spiritual matters are not something my husband takes much interest in and whenever I approach the subject of spiritual matters he tends to shut off and become frustrated with me. So I have learned over time to not bring up spiritual conversations but to instead live out my spirituality in my every day life.

But at this moment I was so excited I did not even care... I wanted to share it anyway. When I recognized the blank tuned out expression my heart fell. I was devastated. Over the past year, my spiritual journey with God has skyrocketed and I love the thoughts and moments I receive from God. Sometimes I am so excited I burst at the seams to tell the world - and I usually do. But the more I have grown, the more my mind has turned towards God and most of the things it produces are in relation to spiritual matters. I have a beautiful mind and the person I felt I should be closest too did not care to know my beautiful mind. I was heart broken. I did not voice these sentiments, I kept them to myself and pondered and cried over them. Over the next two days I hurt so deeply but I did not know how to put a voice to it. I crawled into my closet one morning and I told God my feelings - how hurt I was. And in the stillness of the morning He spoke. "Do you know my mind?" What? "Do you know my mind?" ...uh... "I have an exquisite and beautiful mind too. Do you know my mind?"

Our trichotomous nature consists of body, mind, and soul. In our romantic relationships we focus on knowing each others bodies. We search, explore and take delight in the body. We know each other's souls - the seat of our emotions. We know what makes the other person angry, sad, or happy and we learn how to cultivate our actions to stimulate those emotions. But do we ever know each other's minds. Do we search to know the mind as we do the body and soul? I have a beautiful mind. I realized over the course of those several days how much I yearned for my husband to know my mind and how much it broke my heart that he did not care to know my mind. And in my pain, God showed me His soul, His hurt when we do not yearn to know His mind. We focus on the body of Christ, getting to know each other and becoming Christ-like. We focus on the soul - the seat of emotions, the sentiments and elations of the Spirit. But we do not place an even amount of focus on the thoughts and mind of the Father. We fear to know the mind, because to know the mind takes us to an all new plateau of intimacy and relationship. It is also a level of higher accountability. When we truly know the mind, we cannot ignore the motives and intimate desires of God. 1 Corinthians talks about how to know the mind of God. Only the Spirit knows the thoughts of God and He has given us His Spirit so that we may know His mind and thoughts. Know the Spirit and know the mind of God. It is a beautiful mind.

Da Vinci - Genius, Conspiracist, or Pervert?

Over the past several years there has been an increasing interest in the work of Leonardo Da Vinci. Much of this attention is due to the controversy which arose out of the fictional claims of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. Lately I too have taken an interest in Da Vinci's work. I researched many views on what his work entailed. One of the favorite things people like to do is to impose mirror images of Da Vinci's work on top of the original and make images out of those results. They claim that these images are what Da Vinci was attempting to hide in his work. I am not convinced. I think a lot of times people assume since what they put together was so easily accomplished on a computer then naturally it could be accomplished just as easily in hand. But this is not so. In order for Da Vinci to impose mirror images on top of each other he would have had to create his masterpieces several times to accomplish this. I don't see him going through all that trouble. What did spark my interest is that Da Vinci enjoyed mirror writing. Which was simply writing backwards. This he could easily have accomplished by placing a mirror directly beside his notebook. And then I began to wonder... what if he did this with his paintings. What if instead of imposing images... he simply mirrored a story - a story that could only be finished when aligned with its mirror reflection. And so I began to twist and turn his photos aligning them in mirror forms...and here is what I found.



This is the painting known as the "Virgin on the Rocks". This is only one mirror image of the painting. When reversed to view the opposing mirror image a different picture takes form. But focus a minute on this painting and see if you do not find something rather odd about the formations as they come together. If you are female and you feel the need to blush then you have indeed found the hidden image. In the reverse mirror image a different picture emerges.




So my question I pose to anyone who will take the time to analyze is this: What was Da Vinci intending to convey in these paintings? I do not think the images emerging are accidental. I attempted the same thing with remakes of his works and the pictures do not form as they do in his originals. Many of his paintings yield results in coming together to form interesting new stories. This is the only one I will focus on today but what do you think he intended the viewer to find? This painting in particular was contracted by the Roman Catholic Church to depict the Immaculate Conception. Does it do that? Or does it tell a different story? There is no right or wrong answer; I am merely curious as to how others would interpret this.

P.S. No, there is no spiritual take away from this. It is merely the result of an extremely boring day.

Objectification

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Objectification is a term which refers to behavior in which one person treats another person as an object and not as a fellow human being with feelings and consciousness of his or her own, in other words, as without agency. Sexual objectification occurs when a person is seen as a sexual object; when their sexual attributes and physical attractiveness are separated from the rest of their personality and existence as an individual, and reduced to instruments of pleasure for another person. This is a disregard for personal abilities and capabilities.

The lure of physical pornography is in the passivity it allows in one’s sexual life. There is no commitment required. We allow ourselves to circumvent the demands of the relationship for respect, giving, and interaction and yet still experience the sexual sensations and releases of true physical contact. We objectify each other as human beings. In doing this we are lulled into addiction and a false representation of physical pleasure; a rush of euphoric sensations without the committal of intimately knowing another individual. As a part of God given to the church to come alongside in our aid as the Great Paraclete, we know surprisingly little concerning the person of the Holy Spirit. As a body we are torn between extremes of sensation and cessation of the works of the Holy Spirit. In our resistance to know the true nature of the Holy Spirit we allow ourselves to remain distant from the consequences of relationship.

By not coming to know the person of the Holy Spirit we are allowed this same sense of false pleasure. We objectify the person of the Holy Spirit, abusing the gifts and sensations without truly understanding or intimately knowing the depth of the power God has made available to us. We come to church every Sunday expecting man’s orchestration of spiritual programming to invoke for us that “feel good” experience. We fail to recognize the divine nature within us and to regularly cultivate that in growth and instead content ourselves with “quick fixes” of the Holy Spirit. Through the objectification of the Holy Spirit we are allowed a level of passivity in our spiritual lives. Our reluctance to delve into the actual person of the Holy Spirit enables us to treat this precious gift of God as impersonal. The moment we recognize the uniqueness of the person of the Holy Spirit we are called into accountability to respect, and intimately know God in order to partake of His nature. We are forced to let go of our view of the Holy Spirit as a means of bending God’s will to our own and must instead acknowledge the power which partners with us, alongside of us instead of the power we wield. The Holy Spirit is a person who comes alongside of mankind, demonstrating power in proportion to our faith. Much in the manner that we sexually objectify women, we spiritually objectify the Holy Spirit.

Our desire of the Holy Spirit is pure in intent but just like our earthly relationships there are conditions and requirements for a healthy relationship. Exercise of the gifts without love for the Spirit is pointless and futile. We cannot love what we do not know; therefore we must know the Spirit. When a breakdown of relationship happens, or when there is never a relationship developed to start with, then a depersonalization of the individual occurs. We begin to place value only on what can be done for us; how we can benefit from the other person instead of appreciating the actual person. When is the last time we thanked, praised, cherished or loved the Holy Spirit for the gifts and works done on our behalf?

Little Break

This week I'm receiving my first full feedback on my book, so I am going to be taking a little break to make some adjustments and such. I have also decided to add a new portion on "Objectification of the Spirit". For those of you familiar with the content of the book, this new portion compares the experience we have in the physical realm of objectifying human beings to what I feel some extreme (and sometimes not so extreme) charismatic groups do to the Holy Spirit. We recognize the extreme beauty and power of God in the person of the Holy Spirit but we never go far enough to discover that person thereby allowing us to objectify the Spirit and abuse the gifts. The same thing happens in our human relationships. When we do not put in the effort to really get to know people, we end up only valuing them for what they can directly offer us. Sometimes it is intentional, other times not.

Some of the things I will be looking into are the charismatic movements over the last one hundred years. I will also be studying 1 Corinthians 12-14 in some depth. It always struck me as odd that wedged in between two powerful chapters on the gifts of the Holy Spirit is a random chapter on Love. I do not think this is an accident and may have deeper implications for warning us of the dangers involved in exercising gifts of manifestation without really getting to intimately know the person of the Holy Spirit. By remaining "distant" in our relationship to the Holy Spirit we allow ourselves to objectify both the Spirit and the gifts. Anyway... much more to come on that. If you have opinions or comments on the topic or if you'd like to join me in researching on the subject I would absolutely LOVE that. If you are not comfortable posting publicly on the matter, then feel free to email me your thoughts.

Much Love,
Debbie

P.S. For those wondering what the heck the picture of the shamrock is... it is the cover I chose for my book. Since my book is about being created in the image of the Trinity I chose the shamrock (St. Patrick used shamrocks in his analogies of the Godhead as three in one.)

The Divine Nature

What is the divine nature? This phenomena is only mentioned twice in the New Testament. The first time it is mentioned is in the book of Romans. "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." - Romans 1:20 The divine nature is again mentioned in 2 Peter. "Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." - 2 Peter 1:4

What we do know is that the divine nature that we partake of is somehow wrapped up in our salvation. So then, what does the act of salvation entail. Salvation occurs when we come alive spiritually; when we are born of the Spirit. So salvation is surrounded by the concept of new life. With that in mind, let's explore the concept of new life in the world as Romans 1:20 advises us to do. New life in the world comes about through the seed. In the story of creation, the seed is mentioned six times alone, placing a significant amount of importance on where each creation contained this seed of life. But what we know of seeds is that they do not exist alone. New life within the seed cannot begin until there is a meeting between the masculine and feminine entities. At this meeting new life is quickened within the seed. This is not only confined to plant life but is evidenced in all life. The masculine gives birth to thought - the decision to act. The seed is then given of the masculine. The feminine receives the seed and within her is new life quickened and awakened and begins to grow.

So how do we see this occur in the divine nature? Well, we have the Father. The Father gave of himself, his only begotten Son. The Spirit within us enables us to proclaim that the Seed, Jesus Christ, is Lord. When we come to that profession of faith, new life is quickened and given birth to in us. We see the phenomena evidenced all throughout nature, take place in our very own spiritual life. As new life is born within us we allow the work and presence of God within us to grow and take shape. The more fertile we allow ourselves to be the more fruit we bear. Our fertility and openness is cultivated by the Spirit at work within our lives. As we grow in this divine nature we take on the likeness of Christ; we become more like him. The food that is used to nurture our spirits is that of faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and finally love. (2 Pet. 1:5-7) When we possess these nutrients in increasing measure, we become effective and productive in Christ (2 Pet. 1:8) (paraphrase mine).

The divine nature is none other than the process required for all new life to begin. The difference being that the source is directly from God and is evidenced spiritually within each and every one of us who are "saved". When we come to accept God's presence within us for what it truly is then we can partake of the divine nature as God intends. As seen in all new life, the conception is only the beginning and first steps. We must then continue on allowing the Spirit to nurture us and stimulate growth within us. It is a continual process of maturation until we reach our fullness in Christ.

Prayer, Snow, and Blueberry Muffins

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:6-7

Today is the National Day of Prayer. Don't forget to pray for your leaders, your country and your communities today. And please pray for the body of Christ that we may come together in unity and speak truth to the world through our words and actions.

On that note...who prayed for snow today???!! You are on my bad list! This is what I woke up to this morning... in MAY!! Craziness... Note to self: replant sunflowers in June.


On a better note... I made protein free blueberry muffins today for the first time and they turned out great. I was extremely shocked. My first attempts at low protein recipes never turn out right but these did. Praise God!


And here's my little munchkin enjoying them...


And of course here's another picture of her once she realized I had a camera out... she's such a ham for the camera...

Wherein Lies the Sin?

"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." - Genesis 3:4-5

As I was going through the concept of opposites, I came to the conclusion that good and evil are not in fact true opposites. Evil is instead the breakdown of something initially designed as good. With that in mind, I understood Eve's desire to obtain wisdom and knowledge pure in intent but faulty in her logic that she could obtain it without God and instead attempted to obtain it through the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The second half of the lie told to Eve was that she would become like God. What does that mean? Was Satan telling her in a deceptive way that through the tree of knowledge of good and evil she would be able to partake in the divine nature? And is that intent evil? We are told in 2 Peter 1:4 that we are to partake in the divine nature through God. So to want to be part of God or like Him is not evil in intent... or so I assume from this verse. But where the evil lies is in attempting to become like God, without God in the equation. You cannot have a pure good without the source of all good. If you attempt to obtain good without the source of all that is good then you accomplish evil instead - because it is a twisting and break down of pure good.

With that train of thought we must then wonder how we are to truly partake of the divine nature and what exactly that means. In 2 Peter 1: 3-10 we are given a blueprint for cultivating and nourishing the divine nature within us. It begins with the seed of faith. We receive this faith through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1:1). Faith is the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things. When we reach that point in life it does not simply end. We must continue on... it's much like raising a child. The life of a child does not end at the decision to conceive, nor does it end at birth; it is at these points that life begins... there is more after. And it is up to the parents to nourish and minister to the needs of that child. Following faith we must then nourish the divine nature with virtue. By virtue it means a virtuous course of thought, pure motives and good intentions. When you have arrived at this point you then nourish the soul with knowledge. Knowledge is to learn to know, to come to know, gain a knowledge of, to become acquainted with and intimate. Notice that there is reason also for the order. Knowledge without pure intentions or motives can be highly destructive. The next step is temperance. Temperance means to have power over, by strength, mastering, controlling, restraining; the power over sin (Gen. 4:7). When you have reached the point of mastering control over sin you are then at a point in the life of the divine nature to add patience. Patience means to endure, remain, abide, not receding or fleeing; to bear bravely and calmly with perseverance. The next step is godliness. Godliness is the point in life where we truly recognize the need to worship, and revere God; to be devout. After godliness we arrive at Philadelphia. At this point we recognize the divine nature within the other souls around us and we love them because we are a family; we have the same Father and are born of the same Spirit. All of these nourishing elements of the divine nature lead us to the ultimate goal which is agape. Agape is the love, affection, and good will towards all life; a contentment in all aspects of life.

All of that may seem pretty overbearing and hard to digest. It may even seem too overwhelming a task to accomplish, and you would be right - it is. But we are not to attempt it alone. This is a task we accomplish with God. It is His nature, and we are partaking in it. We have been given the Holy Spirit to nurture and comfort us through this growth as a parent to a child.

The word "add" in this passage which refers to the different elements of nourishment to the divine nature is "epichoregeo". "Epichoregeo" here is translated as add, nourish, or minister to. But in direct translation and break down of the word it means to lead a band of dancers in chorus. It is almost as if our divine nature is a symphonic production of nourishing elements that when brought into harmony present us with the song of true life. The conductor begins with Faith, it is the foundation of all music, the rhythm, percussion. Then come the winds, followed by the strings, and then add the brass. Altogether the elements create the music of the divine nature within us. Our pursuit of the divine nature, becoming like God, does not end at the moment of salvation - that is only the beginning of life. We continue on, nourishing that seed of life within us, element by element adding into the score, until it develops into an orchestral performance of God's presence within us. In this context we become like God. When we attempt to become like God without God, therein lies the sin. If God did not intend for us to become like Him, then He never would have created us in His image. Can you hear the music of the divine nature in your life?

Act Your Age! - Not Your European Pant Size

"Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace." Proverbs 3:13-17

It never ceases to amaze me how shallow and superficial women can be at times. I've been going through a women's study lately on how to better recognize your worth as a woman and the chapter this week was focused on the different stages of a woman's life. The more I read on the different stages the more apparent it became to me how important the roles are that we take on in each of those stages and how they help to mold and define other women around us as well.

I notice a lot lately, women's reluctance to take an active and functional role in the life stage that they are in and are always trying to progress or digress out of the place that they are supposed to be in. When we're young, we always wish to be mature, older, and independent. As we age we desire to throw off the responsibilities we so desperately desired to have earlier in life and return instead to that duty free era. It's almost as if we live in a perpetual state of discontentment with where we are in life, which makes us extremely ineffective in speaking to and influencing the women around us for the better.

Women were created at the dawn of time with an incredible gift for influencing people around them. It is not a responsibility you can just slough off, it is a matter of life! You are a woman, therefore you are influential in the lives around you. It is how we choose to use that influence that defines who we are. Will we use it for good, to improve the lives of all those around us or will we use it for evil to tear down those around us. You do not have an option to just plain not influence... you can only choose how you will influence.

So much more today I see women in a later stage of life attempting to throw off the responsibilities of the stage they are in and "fit in" with a younger crowd. We spend thousands of dollars trying to look younger so we can squeeze ourselves into this culture's idea of what makes a woman special. We plump up our lips, butts, and boobs and suck all the fat out of our legs and waists. We stretch and contort our faces till they don't even move with expression any more all for the sake of ironing out a few wrinkles and taking what we think looks like a few years off of our faces. It never even occurs to us that if we'd just stress less in the stage that we're in, live life to the fullest, and influence those around us for the good that those telltale signs of age and hard partying wouldn't add on as fast as they do.

Relax. Stress less. Influence those around you for the better. Act your age.

Yoga

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7

As I age, I become increasingly concerned with my health and fitness. I desire to live a long and full life in addition to aging gracefully. I have been studying Yoga exercise lately to see what benefits there are from it and what precautions, I as a Christian, should take in assuring the integrity of my own spiritual journey. One cannot really argue the physical benefits of Yoga. Yoga reduces anxiety and stress and improves mental clarity. There are four major motivations to exercise in this manner: to stimulate the immune system; to reshape your body in areas of strength, flexibility and balance; to reduce stress and tension, and to improve circulation. In a physical aspect alone the benefits of Yoga are indisputable. But what about the spiritual aspect of Yoga?

The word "Yoga" means to "yoke" together and the spiritual take on that meaning to bring together the mind, body and spirit. With that in mind I am uncertain as to the purpose behind the meditation in Yoga which always tends to focus on separating mind and body. If the goal is to bring them together then what possible benefit is there in attempting to reach an "out of body" experience. Don't we want them all to come together instead? If the point of Yoga is to unite body, mind, and soul as it claims, then it goes completely against the grain of this philosophy to encourage mind and soul to leave the body. In order to accomplish this, most meditation practices encourage the "emptying" of the mind. It is my own personal view that our minds were not meant to be "emptied". We are encouraged however to bring our minds to a state of peace; to be "transformed by the renewing of our minds." As Christians we are instructed to do this by casting all our worries and cares on God, which does not involve "emptying" our minds but instead allowing God to take our anxieties on Himself instead. The spirituality involved in Yoga claims to lift our burdens. If you have ever read John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress you know that the true lifting of our burdens can never occur by our own efforts but only through God's redemption.

One of the phrases commonly expressed during Yoga sessions is "The divine light within me bows and honors the divine light within you." Do we have a divine light within us? Of course we do. It is the presence of the Holy Spirit within us which is the source of the divine light. So what is wrong with this phrase? Well... there is only one Spirit and it indwells us all. Does the same Spirit in one person worship the same Spirit in another? That doesn't make much sense, now does it?

I like the ideas behind Yoga of bringing your body into harmony with mind and soul. I think all too often we forsake our bodies and overtax our minds and souls throwing us out of proportion. The idea of finding a quiet, peaceful location to bring the three into harmony is extremely appealing in our fast-paced, hassle-filled lives. So how does a Christian not wanting to meddle in the spiritual entrapment of Yoga benefit from the physical aspect? A woman by the name of Laurette Willis who spent 22 years exploring and taking part in the New Age movement provides many insights on the pitfalls associated with "freeing" the mind. She has recently developed a Christian alternative to Yoga which she calls Praise Moves. Laurette incorporates the physical exercise of Yoga and combines it with nourishing and beneficial, God-focused meditation. Her website is www.praisemoves.com.

After much research and praying I think this is a safe way for Christians to partake in the physical benefits of Yoga while not allowing the spirituality normally associated with it to create a foothold in your life for other influences to enter. As Christians we should be concerned for our physical well-being as well as our spiritual. Our bodies are one of the areas of responsibility we have in this life and it is the part of ourselves that the world first sees. Taking care of your body can be as an effective witness to the world as your spiritual health. Our bodies, minds, and souls are our witnesses to the world and the reflection of God within us. Let us make those aspects a desirable window to the world of God's presence within us.

Science, Philosophy, & Religion

"By wisdom the Lord laid the earth's foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; by his knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew." (Proverbs 3:19-20)

The constant theme of wisdom, knowledge and understanding greatly populates the books of Wisdom in the Bible. Almost as if not one of the elements can survive without the others. Is it possible for us to pursue all three in unison? Or does our society today not allow the unity of the these three?

Science is the pursuit of knowledge through experimentation. Philosophy is the pursuit of wisdom. Religion is the pursuit of truth and understanding. So in theory what Solomon is telling us in Proverbs is that Science, Philosophy and Religion should work hand in hand to explain the mysteries of the Cosmos to us. But for some reason those three do not work together today. Science refuses to consider the wisdom in philosophy or the truths in religion and attempts to work completely alone in order to explain life. Religion is reluctant to look at the developments of science and use that information to help better understand and pursue God. Philosophy is somewhat ignored by both Science and Religion as the pursuit of foolery. If we have come this far with such a warped view of the inner workings of these three, how much greater could our future be if we actually worked together?

A week ago I finished reading Dan Brown's 'Angels & Demons' and contrary to popular fears, the book had nothing to do with any kind of spiritual warfare but was instead a brilliant attempt by Mr. Brown's fictional genius to appeal to the world on issues of Science and Religion working in complement to each other. Now because I say this it does not mean that I approve or support what Dan Brown writes but merely that his overall agenda in this book had merit. Also a week ago, I went to see Ben Stein's documentary, Expelled. It was fascinating. The basis of the documentary was to point out the lack in the science community of exploratory theses in the area of intelligent design. It has been a pattern over the last several decades to completely ostracize anyone claiming they support a view of validity in intelligent design as if it could not possibly be genuine science. Ben Stein's point was that in an attempt to disprove intelligent design, modern day Darwinism has an overabundance of holes in the theory which cannot be reconciled to other areas of science. But instead of pursuing other alternatives to explain the phenomena in the area of intelligent design they continue to pursue "dead ends" in an attempt to cling to the theory. In my opinion the documentary did not take sides on the truth of the matter but only pointed out that perhaps the two should work together to come up with better solutions instead of both running into dead ends constantly, progressing nowhere.

We have been given truth in religion (obviously in my view that truth is contained within the pages of our bibles) and we have the tools to appropriately philosophize. Our scientific truths should then fit into the equation of Knowledge, Wisdom, and Truth. If you believe in God then you must believe his Word is truth and we know that science is also based on proven truths. If that is the case then they must agree. I think it is a great injustice to the world to constantly insist that science and religion do not belong together. They are both pursuits of truth and as such they should inevitably fuel each other in defining our understanding.

Science and Philosophy in the past have aided tremendously in helping us to better understand the Word of God. Anyone who regularly reads the bible can tell you that it is alive in context. Meanings and lessons in Scripture are constantly molding to the circumstances surrounding our lives. It is no secret that during the renaissance period the Church was extremely opposed to progressions in science. Why? Because it meant modifying views of a set belief system. But once these scientific truths were embraced we were allowed to see the truth of the Word take on a new dimension as well. If the Word is constantly being clarified by the presence and progression of science and philosophy then can you see the enormous handicap we create for ourselves in not combining these truths? The world of religion, science and philosophy are in a perpetual war of trying to disprove each other when instead they should be working in unison to find absolute truths.

Opposites

Day 1:
Recently I have been studying the concept of opposites. In cases of opposites they usually include two extremes that have a purpose in working together to form a complimentary result. An example would be ‘hot’ and ‘cold’. In their extremes they are harsh and brutal producing damage and destruction. But when they are utilized in compliment to one another they yield a result of ‘warmth’. ‘Wet’ and ‘dry’ is another example. In their extremes they produce flood and famine, but when used in compliment to one another they yield agriculture.

But…there is one set of characteristics that we normally consider opposites that I must question the validity of. It is the concept of ‘good’ and ‘evil’. In their extremes only one is bad and they serve no complimentary purpose on one another. One must then question if they are truly opposites. The concept of opposites is that the two extremes are equal and opposing forces that yield purpose when they come together. To say that evil is an equal and opposing compliment to good is an inaccurate assessment of the concept. If we believe that all that is good is of God and all that is evil is of Satan then to say that evil is an equal and opposing force is to implicate that Satan is some sort of opposing equal to God… and he is not that. Evil does not even come close to manifesting the power of good. They are not equal in any sense of the word. In light of that I must ask… what is the concept of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ all about then since they do not follow any of the rules of opposites. Thoughts… ideas?

Day 2:

New thoughts for a new day…

Good = pleasant, agreeable, appropriate, to be delightful, joyful, to be pleasing.

Evil = bad, disagreeable, malignant, giving pain, injury, calamity, to break, shatter, to be broken.

So I guess they are opposites but not in the sense of a complete reverse characteristic. In order for evil to exist there must first be good. When good is shattered or broken then we come to the result of evil. It does not work in the reverse however because you do not need to have evil first in order to then have good. Evil is only a result of shattering what is good. Good can come when evil is fixed or restored but the ultimate source was always good.

This thought process came about when I was trying to define the source of evil. We know that for Adam and Eve the source was in the serpent’s presentation of a broken logic to them. But where did it come from before that? In Satan’s fall from grace it was as a result of his pride in something of genuine goodness. He was created beautiful and had extreme talents for glorifying God but he took that good and broke it, wanting instead to be glorified himself. He could not however be the source of evil, since Satan has no creative power and therefore could not create evil. Evil’s ultimate source is good. It is the brokenness and shattering of a pure intent. Therefore, the only way for evil and sin to come about is to distort, break, or shatter something that is originally intended as good. Evil begins with good, but good does not begin with evil (unless you are originated in a sin nature)…aha… the story takes on new shape. We are born broken and shattered because of the “fall”. But we have a means to return to good - Jesus Christ. So our entire existence is based in our pursuit to return to good which was the original source of everything.

(My brain hurts… I think I’m going to go find something less thought provoking to do… like plant flowers.)

These are just my thoughts today… they may be different tomorrow if this logic proves to be “broken”.

Day 3:
I finally made it outside to plant sunflowers. I planted a total of 30 yesterday afternoon and they're still alive today so things are looking up. I am somewhat weary of the birds though... the sprouts look amazingly similar to shiny worms and I think curiosity may get the better of them. I think I'll look into scarecrow options... pesky little critters.

My thoughts for today are sourced from Galatians. "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealous, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the life. I warn you, as I did before that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other." (Gal. 5:16-26)

Why this passage? Well firstly because my mother called me this morning with it and said it might help my search in defining the concept of 'good' and 'evil', and secondly because it outlines some characteristics associated with 'good' and 'evil'.

As I look over the characteristics of the sinful nature, I see a common pattern with the qualities of good and that is that they both attempt to achieve the same goal. The difference in the two sides is that one is attempting to reach it without God - evil - and one is attempting to achieve it with God - good. They both try to reach a place in life that "feels good". What makes one evil is that it is an attempt to reach that which is good without God who just happens to be all that IS good. It would be like trying to breathe without air - it is futile.

Like my sunflowers, when we receive the Seed that the Father has for us, which is Jesus Christ, the Spirit comes into our lives and new life begins to grow. We are the soil, Christ is the Seed, and the Spirit - giving birth to new life within us - nurtures and waters our souls as we grow in God. As we grow in God we begin to bear the fruit of the Spirit and we learn to attain that which is good, through God. We begin to see all that is good as intended by God. Without God, we can never reach this level of spiritual or emotional maturity. We may try to reach a similar place through our sinful natures but we will never be able to reach the ultimate source of good, who is God.

Adam and Eve desired wisdom and knowledge. Satan tricked them into thinking such qualities were contained within the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We know now, from looking over the Scriptures that wisdom and knowledge are qualities endowed by God. They had access to the source all along and could have attained it through good. But instead they chose to try and reach it through the tree and without the help of God - and evil entered the world. Evil is our attempt to reach something good without God. Are good and evil truly opposites?... my quest continues.

Joining the World of Personal Blogs

I realized recently that I have a significant amount of friends blogging so I finally decided to add my own. I don't have much going on this week; its a semi-relaxing week. Usually I'm writing, researching or running errands but this week the focus will be on exercise and cultivating my spring fever. I started growing a bunch of sunflowers about 2 weeks ago and they're ready to move outside, I just can't figure out where to put them for optimal visibility. Sunflowers are meant to be seen, otherwise God wouldn't have made them so huge. I think I have a good idea as to where they should go, but it involves moving rocks and re-landscaping a tad... so now I'm just waiting on motivation to do it. That's it so far this week. Fun fun...