You're right, Laird Klavan (reading a lot of Scottish novels lately). Jesus said, "I am the way, the TRUTH and the life", so it makes sense that ALL truth relevant to reality will cohere with the Word of God, both the written Word and "the Word made flesh."
Are you really suggesting that two things can be true at once!? That on an individual level we should lean in and develop our personal religious practices AND on a societal scale we should broaden the scope to pursuit of the good and the beautiful? The audacity!
It certainly makes sense that if God is omnipresent—everywhere present—His truth is as well, since He is Truth Itself. His Word, being in the beginning and being God, can be used as the ultimate litmus test: anything true we find outside of His revelation will also be reflected inside of it.
An interesting side note: D.T. Suzuki, who is credited with introducing Zen Buddhism to the West, was in his early adulthood an enthusiastic reader of Emanuel Swedenborg, whom he dubbed the “Buddha of the North.” There is tremendous overlap between Swedenborg’s explanation of our spiritual nature and journey in his Christian theology and the encounter of the self in Buddhist practice.
There has been a Eucharistic revival going on for several years now, culminating in the national Eucharistic conference in Indianapolis beginning July 17. Does God continue to present himself day after day as more than an icon? I hope inquiring minds want to know.
So true that the Gospel embraces all truth. All religions have a portion of truth revealed to them. Yet there is something to be said for seeking the true and living church of Jesus Christ as he organized it while here. Only that will ultimately satisfy our God-given appetite for truth and light and nearness to Him.
Related to the C. S. Lewis lines quoted in your letter is these two lines from A Grief Observed: "All reality is iconoclastic." and "He is the great iconoclast."
You're right, Laird Klavan (reading a lot of Scottish novels lately). Jesus said, "I am the way, the TRUTH and the life", so it makes sense that ALL truth relevant to reality will cohere with the Word of God, both the written Word and "the Word made flesh."
Are you really suggesting that two things can be true at once!? That on an individual level we should lean in and develop our personal religious practices AND on a societal scale we should broaden the scope to pursuit of the good and the beautiful? The audacity!
It certainly makes sense that if God is omnipresent—everywhere present—His truth is as well, since He is Truth Itself. His Word, being in the beginning and being God, can be used as the ultimate litmus test: anything true we find outside of His revelation will also be reflected inside of it.
An interesting side note: D.T. Suzuki, who is credited with introducing Zen Buddhism to the West, was in his early adulthood an enthusiastic reader of Emanuel Swedenborg, whom he dubbed the “Buddha of the North.” There is tremendous overlap between Swedenborg’s explanation of our spiritual nature and journey in his Christian theology and the encounter of the self in Buddhist practice.
There has been a Eucharistic revival going on for several years now, culminating in the national Eucharistic conference in Indianapolis beginning July 17. Does God continue to present himself day after day as more than an icon? I hope inquiring minds want to know.
Solomon asked God for wisdom, and God gave Solomon wisdom. 1 Kings 4
You can ask God for wisdom too.
So true that the Gospel embraces all truth. All religions have a portion of truth revealed to them. Yet there is something to be said for seeking the true and living church of Jesus Christ as he organized it while here. Only that will ultimately satisfy our God-given appetite for truth and light and nearness to Him.
Related to the C. S. Lewis lines quoted in your letter is these two lines from A Grief Observed: "All reality is iconoclastic." and "He is the great iconoclast."