Religious Musings, Pt. 2
Alright, so recently I've attempted to explain Christianity to a few people. It is weird how much more difficult it is to someone who doesn't have all of the "Sunday School" background that so many of the people in our little sheltered, Baptist-youth-group lives have had. It turns out it is a huge thing that is difficult to capture in a few minutes of explanation (who knew?). So I'm going to give it a shot here, and all my readers can feel free to try to poke holes in it or refine it however they see fit. Maybe at the end of it, we'll all have a better idea of what it means to believe. I'm trying here to develop it with little to no Bible lingo, so bear with me if it gets a bit philosophical or esoteric.
There is a God. This is evident to anyone who looks at the universe or at his own consciousness. Many people (seemingly smart ones, at that) don't buy this, which amazes me, but I cannot explain the existence of matter in our universe or the human consciousness without an all-powerful, infinitely intelligent Creator. However, I admit that this is not the final argument by any means, but for the remainder of this discussion, I am going to assume a Creator-God who is perfect in nature, intelligence, and every other manner. Also, I think it is worthwhile to mention that I think perfectly pure nature implies perfection in every feature of nature: perfect love, since a perfect God has no room for the impurities that corrupt love (such as jealousy, insecurity, etc.), and perfect justice and righteousness. I think these two will be relatively sufficient for this discussion.
Based on these ideas, a perfect God would not create creatures that he did not love. The alternative picture, a being creating things only to destroy them out of spite or a desire to feel more powerful, does not fit with a perfect nature. Again, some smart people throughout history have disagreed with me, and so I don't presume that this argument is final, but I don't want this little essay to get too long.
If there is an infinitely powerful God who created everything we see, including us, then our only response should be one of worship of him. By worship, I don't mean a group of created, primitive humans doing chants and dances around a fire to appease the God who created them. I simply mean that we should assign worth to this being because He is the only thing worthwhile that exists. Everything we do should be with respect to this being. Doing otherwise would be worse than my Lego creations defying my nature and saying that they knew best, since I didn't really "create" them, I just put them together, and I am not a perfect creator in the first place.
However, humans don't do this. We rebel against God on every level of our existence. We try to find joy in places where it does not exist because we want to be in control. Instead of simply resting in the divine nature that created us, we want something that is impossible: to be God ourselves. We seek "pleasures" that make us feel important or sexy or powerful or rich, even though these things will pass away like dead grass and mean nothing. This basic attitude is what the world today knows as Sin. Even though God loves his creatures, part of what it means to have a perfect nature, as mentioned above, is perfect righteousness or justice. Based on this rebellion and treason that humans commit and have been committing every day since we've been around, our just punishment is the end which we've been chasing: apartness from God. We futilely try to find joy and fulfillment apart from God, and so we are banished to that state.
Fortunately for us, God, in his perfect love for us, planned a solution for humanity's rebellion: Jesus. God's nature was incarnate in human form in the person of Jesus. Jesus lived an infinitely perfect life on Earth and was subjected to the suffering and horrible death and pain that we deserve. Most importantly, he was subjected to the banishment from God that all deserve through this death. In this way, God's righteous judgment for the sins of man was poured out on the one man who lived perfectly. He then was resurrected by God, therefore overcoming the curse of sin in mortality and death. We must acknowledge our own sinfulness and our need for restoration. We must put our trust in that work to regain fellowship with our Creator, the end for which all men were created. We must spend our lives striving to participate in the divine nature by living according to it, summed up by the moral law given in the Bible (Ten Commandments, Jesus' teachings, Paul's teachings, etc.), although nothing we can do is worth anything in comparison to Jesus work -- God loves us only because Jesus' righteousness counts for ours. We should also, as a natural reaction to the mercy we have been shown, care about other people and want them to have the joy that we have, since we didn't deserve it any more than they did, and since doing so is sharing in the restoring of humanity that God is doing. The Bible is the story of God's restoration of man, culminating and centered completely around the person of Jesus. All of this was done for the glory of God in the way of our enjoyment of and participation in his nature.
Alright, I know this was really long, and I'm sure I left out some stuff. Try reading this as someone who has no idea about anything relating to Christianity. If you find yourself saying something like, "But I don't understand how that necessitates that," feel free to mention it.
There is a God. This is evident to anyone who looks at the universe or at his own consciousness. Many people (seemingly smart ones, at that) don't buy this, which amazes me, but I cannot explain the existence of matter in our universe or the human consciousness without an all-powerful, infinitely intelligent Creator. However, I admit that this is not the final argument by any means, but for the remainder of this discussion, I am going to assume a Creator-God who is perfect in nature, intelligence, and every other manner. Also, I think it is worthwhile to mention that I think perfectly pure nature implies perfection in every feature of nature: perfect love, since a perfect God has no room for the impurities that corrupt love (such as jealousy, insecurity, etc.), and perfect justice and righteousness. I think these two will be relatively sufficient for this discussion.
Based on these ideas, a perfect God would not create creatures that he did not love. The alternative picture, a being creating things only to destroy them out of spite or a desire to feel more powerful, does not fit with a perfect nature. Again, some smart people throughout history have disagreed with me, and so I don't presume that this argument is final, but I don't want this little essay to get too long.
If there is an infinitely powerful God who created everything we see, including us, then our only response should be one of worship of him. By worship, I don't mean a group of created, primitive humans doing chants and dances around a fire to appease the God who created them. I simply mean that we should assign worth to this being because He is the only thing worthwhile that exists. Everything we do should be with respect to this being. Doing otherwise would be worse than my Lego creations defying my nature and saying that they knew best, since I didn't really "create" them, I just put them together, and I am not a perfect creator in the first place.
However, humans don't do this. We rebel against God on every level of our existence. We try to find joy in places where it does not exist because we want to be in control. Instead of simply resting in the divine nature that created us, we want something that is impossible: to be God ourselves. We seek "pleasures" that make us feel important or sexy or powerful or rich, even though these things will pass away like dead grass and mean nothing. This basic attitude is what the world today knows as Sin. Even though God loves his creatures, part of what it means to have a perfect nature, as mentioned above, is perfect righteousness or justice. Based on this rebellion and treason that humans commit and have been committing every day since we've been around, our just punishment is the end which we've been chasing: apartness from God. We futilely try to find joy and fulfillment apart from God, and so we are banished to that state.
Fortunately for us, God, in his perfect love for us, planned a solution for humanity's rebellion: Jesus. God's nature was incarnate in human form in the person of Jesus. Jesus lived an infinitely perfect life on Earth and was subjected to the suffering and horrible death and pain that we deserve. Most importantly, he was subjected to the banishment from God that all deserve through this death. In this way, God's righteous judgment for the sins of man was poured out on the one man who lived perfectly. He then was resurrected by God, therefore overcoming the curse of sin in mortality and death. We must acknowledge our own sinfulness and our need for restoration. We must put our trust in that work to regain fellowship with our Creator, the end for which all men were created. We must spend our lives striving to participate in the divine nature by living according to it, summed up by the moral law given in the Bible (Ten Commandments, Jesus' teachings, Paul's teachings, etc.), although nothing we can do is worth anything in comparison to Jesus work -- God loves us only because Jesus' righteousness counts for ours. We should also, as a natural reaction to the mercy we have been shown, care about other people and want them to have the joy that we have, since we didn't deserve it any more than they did, and since doing so is sharing in the restoring of humanity that God is doing. The Bible is the story of God's restoration of man, culminating and centered completely around the person of Jesus. All of this was done for the glory of God in the way of our enjoyment of and participation in his nature.
Alright, I know this was really long, and I'm sure I left out some stuff. Try reading this as someone who has no idea about anything relating to Christianity. If you find yourself saying something like, "But I don't understand how that necessitates that," feel free to mention it.
posted by Abe at 11:35 AM
9 Comments:
One of my questions would be that if God is perfect and made his creation with perfect love, why would we be rebelling against him? I think at least a brief explanation of the Fall is important to answer this.
I was trying to think of some good stuff to say, but another source, I think, says it better. (Though I had to cut quite a bit to get it into as few sentences as possible...)
"The doctrine of original sin is, so to speak, the 'reverse side' of the Good News that Jesus is the Savior of all men, that all need salvation and that salvation is offered to all through Christ. [We] cannot tamper with the revelation of original sin without undermining the mystery of Christ.
"God created man in his image and established him in his friendship. [But] man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God's command.
"[After the Fall, Adam and Eve] become afraid of the God of whom they have conceived a distorted image - that of a God jealous of his prerogatives. The harmony in which they had found themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed. Harmony with creation is broken. Because of man, creation is now subject 'to its bondage to decay.' Finally, the consequence explicitly foretold for this disobedience will come true [id est, death].
"After his fall, man was not abandoned by God. On the contrary, [we have in Genesis] the first announcement of the Messiah and Redeemer, of a battle between the serpent and the Woman, and of the final victory of [Jesus]."
(CCC 389, 396-397, 399-400, 410)
That was great stuff. Where did you find that?
Also, while maybe it is sort of an abstraction or two up on the theology ladder, I would say God created the Devil, sin, and evil because the tension between good and evil and the eventual victory of good brings that much more glory to God and his nature. However, humans are still responsible for choosing wrong. The dichotomy of a sovereign, foreknowing, predestining God and human responsibility is one of the hardest things to grasp, to me.
very good summary, and you probably understand your own theology better now that you had to write it out. i should do that.
one little thing i would take issue with is in the beginning where you said something about God not being jealous because He is perfect. i assume that was just an oversight because surely you know that He refers to Himself as jealous, and that it's not wrong for Him to do so because He actually does deserve all the glory.
thank you for being a thoughtful blogger and not always telling us what you wore today and then using 12 emoticons.
Yes, good point, Jill. When I say "jealous" in this post, I guess I meant in the sense that we humans feel it, which is always driven by insecurity.
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It's from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It's about the closest thing you can get to a "one stop shop" for Catholic theology. There's plenty in there that differs from Protestant theology, but I also feel there's quite a bit that transcends those boundaries. I have a print copy, but if you're interested, it can be found online here.
thanks. I actually found it earlier today from a friend who knew what that abbreviation meant. alright, and who deleted their comment? come on, confess...
I think that believing in Christ is a very logical thing, you can see the reasoning in it, but the problem, as you pointed out, is showing it to others. Lately Islam has greatly bothered me because of its threat to peace and Christianity...how can you make fanatics listen to a theological argument with an open mind? A mission trip to the Middle East would most likely be treacherous and the message would fall on deaf ears.
Moiz procured for me a paperback copy of the Qur'an...do you or does anyone know of a Christian who has read it?
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