Your writing today reminded me of a period in my life in which I existed without a belief in God. I had turned my back on Him and denounced Him because of an overwhelming mountain of unanswered prayers. I had been raised to believe but only now, looking back, do I understand that I had been told about Him but had never experienced Him in my life, at least though I had thought. I hadn’t seen Him then in the countless ways I now know Him. The God I worshipped then was nothing more than an image in a stained-glass window or on a holy card. My faith, adequate for a child had never matured. It remained childish (not childlike) and when life piled on disappointments and heartbreaking loss, I retreated, threw in the towel.
But if I thought life would be different, easier, I was quickly disabused of that pipe dream. Life continued to bear down on me only now I was alone in this out of control world, without an anchor. Life only grew darker and more hopeless. Still I resisted. It took three long years and the countless prayers of caring and loving friends to shine a light in my dark places, for me to realize in the absence of the God I thought He was, I found the God He is. I too had an epiphany of sorts. I too heard a voice but I know it was the Creator of the universe who spoke to me because the voice was low, a whisper and the message a simple one. The message He sent me, very appropriate on this day of love was, “I love you.” Even though I had turned my back on Him, He had never turned His back on me. Such a love as this.
“Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” ~Luke 7:47
Just realized that as I’m reading this on Palm Sunday , the Gospel reading includes the account of this beautiful love lavished on Jesus who proclaimed that whenever the Gospel would be told, this woman’s story would be included.
This is so good. Thank you for this blog and these words today. I am reminded of my pastor's sermon this past Sunday where he stressed how many times Paul writes "in Him" and "with Him" regarding our lives (Colossians 2:8-15). I used to struggle with the idea of dying to myself. And how much worse does nirvana sound, with utter annihilation of self? But in Christ, my life is hidden with Him. I begin to think it becomes more easy to die to myself because I know that who I really am is found in the life I live in Him.
I'm connecting what you said at the end about Christianity offering the revelation of a a person named I AM in the burning bush to the Judeo Christian answer to who/what created all these things.
Genesis 1 is a revelation that there is an eternal Someone who creates everything. John 1 connects the eternal Someone to "a person made manifest in Jesus Christ".
Aristotle suggested that there is an eternal something being the creator. My guess is that Buddhism says there is an eternal nothingness. (I'm not familiar with Buddhism to be sure about the last statement). Modern scientists (e.g. Mlodinow and Hawking) propose that many universes were created out of nothing. "According to M-theory, ours is not the only universe. Instead, M-theory predicts that a great many universes were created out of nothing."
Frauline Maria has more sense than these scientists when she says, "Nothing comes from nothing."
Seems that if life is "an illusion" then there is no reality. If there is no reality then why follow its rules and precepts? After all, it isn't real. That line of thinking presupposes today's current scientific and cultural nihilism. We are nothing and everything is nothing.
Might I recommend "The Ox Herder and thr Good Shepherd" by Addison Hodges Hart (and his substack The Pragmatic Mystic)? I have spent much time with Hart's work. He is pithy and dense (a powerful combination in and of itself) while being at once humorous, irenic, and humbly wise.
Thank you, for your thoughts on this💕 I’m really enjoying The New Jerusalem. Happy Valentines Day❣️🙏🏻 God Bless Happy Ash Wednesday 🙏🏻
Your writing today reminded me of a period in my life in which I existed without a belief in God. I had turned my back on Him and denounced Him because of an overwhelming mountain of unanswered prayers. I had been raised to believe but only now, looking back, do I understand that I had been told about Him but had never experienced Him in my life, at least though I had thought. I hadn’t seen Him then in the countless ways I now know Him. The God I worshipped then was nothing more than an image in a stained-glass window or on a holy card. My faith, adequate for a child had never matured. It remained childish (not childlike) and when life piled on disappointments and heartbreaking loss, I retreated, threw in the towel.
But if I thought life would be different, easier, I was quickly disabused of that pipe dream. Life continued to bear down on me only now I was alone in this out of control world, without an anchor. Life only grew darker and more hopeless. Still I resisted. It took three long years and the countless prayers of caring and loving friends to shine a light in my dark places, for me to realize in the absence of the God I thought He was, I found the God He is. I too had an epiphany of sorts. I too heard a voice but I know it was the Creator of the universe who spoke to me because the voice was low, a whisper and the message a simple one. The message He sent me, very appropriate on this day of love was, “I love you.” Even though I had turned my back on Him, He had never turned His back on me. Such a love as this.
“Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” ~Luke 7:47
Just realized that as I’m reading this on Palm Sunday , the Gospel reading includes the account of this beautiful love lavished on Jesus who proclaimed that whenever the Gospel would be told, this woman’s story would be included.
Blessings on this beautiful Palm Sunday 🙏
Numbers 24:17a
“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.”
Beautiful. Thank you
One last thing is that what you say reminds me of the lyrics to “Could it Be?”, a song by Michael Card:
“Could it be You make Your presence known
So often by Your absence?
Could it be that questions tell us more
Than answers ever do?
Could it be that You would really rather die
Than live without us?
Could it be the only answer that means anything
Is You?”
This is so good. Thank you for this blog and these words today. I am reminded of my pastor's sermon this past Sunday where he stressed how many times Paul writes "in Him" and "with Him" regarding our lives (Colossians 2:8-15). I used to struggle with the idea of dying to myself. And how much worse does nirvana sound, with utter annihilation of self? But in Christ, my life is hidden with Him. I begin to think it becomes more easy to die to myself because I know that who I really am is found in the life I live in Him.
Jesus said “without me, you can do nothing”.
I'm connecting what you said at the end about Christianity offering the revelation of a a person named I AM in the burning bush to the Judeo Christian answer to who/what created all these things.
Genesis 1 is a revelation that there is an eternal Someone who creates everything. John 1 connects the eternal Someone to "a person made manifest in Jesus Christ".
Aristotle suggested that there is an eternal something being the creator. My guess is that Buddhism says there is an eternal nothingness. (I'm not familiar with Buddhism to be sure about the last statement). Modern scientists (e.g. Mlodinow and Hawking) propose that many universes were created out of nothing. "According to M-theory, ours is not the only universe. Instead, M-theory predicts that a great many universes were created out of nothing."
Frauline Maria has more sense than these scientists when she says, "Nothing comes from nothing."
Hawking must have had to put aside Occam’s Raxor.
A Raxor is an entirely different thing from a Razor, especially a Jeremy’s Razor.
A Raxor is definitely a horse of a different color. Oh wait, perhaps even the foal of a donkey. I am reading mg this on Palm Sunday after all.
Yep. Having too much fun. 🤣
Oops. Occam’s Razor 😜
That last paragraph… shivers. Absolutely beautiful!
Seems that if life is "an illusion" then there is no reality. If there is no reality then why follow its rules and precepts? After all, it isn't real. That line of thinking presupposes today's current scientific and cultural nihilism. We are nothing and everything is nothing.
“True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,
As those move easiest who have learn'd to dance.”
You no-relation Klavans have truly learned to dance.
And in the lyrics of Garth Brooks (though a far cry from Alexander Pope):
“I could have missed the pain,
But then I’d have had to miss the dance.”🎶
“That “for my sake,” though — that makes all the difference.”
Yes. He does make all the difference.
Thank you, Drew.
Might I recommend "The Ox Herder and thr Good Shepherd" by Addison Hodges Hart (and his substack The Pragmatic Mystic)? I have spent much time with Hart's work. He is pithy and dense (a powerful combination in and of itself) while being at once humorous, irenic, and humbly wise.