Post by Josh on Jan 29, 2007 17:29:05 GMT -8
Originally posted 11/20/06:
The following was written in response to an email from a friend who said that after watching the movie the Passion he had begged God to speak to him for the first time in a long while, but still he heard nothing:
Dear ----,
This email has really been on my mind. I'm torn between two different reactions.
The first is empathetic: I've been there, my friend. I know the feeling of begging God to speak, of feeling his silence. I won't downplay that experience; it is an experience as old as man.
But having heard his voice, I can also see the other side of the coin.
We could go back down the long roads of discussion we've already trodden: if there is a God, it seems He's playing hard to get, and if He is, then he must after all be a real prick. And I have felt that too at times, but I've made peace with God on that, and I've come to trust Him to do the speaking at the right time. And He does know the right time, my friend. I say that
honestly, not in any way condescendingly.
I guess maybe it's important to ask you what it is you were expecting. A thunderclap? A bolt of lightning? An audible, booming voice? Those are the things that I have wished for many a time. Some people do get those, but that's not His normal operation- not even in 'bible times'. It's something we get more from cartoons that reality or the bible itself. His normal mode of communication is in the 'still, small voice'. This still, small voice heard only in the deep recesses of your heart runs the risk of being explained away, it runs the risk of being second guessed sometimes (though sometimes it is more insistent than anything you've ever heard), it runs the risk of being psycho-analyzed. Yet it frequently tells you the very things you wouldn't think it would tell you if it were just your subconscious. The more you listen to God, the more you hear.
A friend of mine [Hume] has pointed out that God has remarkable respect for our free will. He is, if you will, reluctant to overwhelm us with supernatural communications that would 'force' us to believe. He says, "Seek me, because you have glimpsed something of me, not because my presence is so overwhelming you can't do otherwise. God, in fact, delights in using common things to speak through: other people, movies, music, and sunsets.
The center of the Christian faith is, after all, that God took on the form of humanity and communicated to us in the most profound way as a man. Maybe he likes using humans to do his work because it does us so much good to be used in this way. It's not really at all strange that God would often communicate to us through indirect means, particularly the words, actions, or creations of humans.
So, my other reaction to your email is that, ---, He was speaking to you during the whole movie! It's almost as if after a long conversation with God, you then demanded that He speak to you! He is speaking all the time to all of us. He speaks in everything beautiful, praiseworthy, true.... Now, I know you were hoping for a different kind of 'speaking'. Like I said, I can relate. But maybe He had said everything He needed to already to you while you were absorbing the movie.
There's a story about this kind of thing in the Bible. Jesus tells the parable of a man who dies and then begs Abraham to let him go back and warn his brothers (who are still living) of his fate, at which Abraham replies, "They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them". "No, father Abraham," said the rich man, "but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent". Abraham responded, "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead." Jesus is saying that miracles are superfluous to faith in the final analysis; we are always looking for signs and wonders when in reality He has already spoken and is speaking all the time.
Again, just for reflection, I ask: what was it exactly you were looking for? Maybe we could dialogue on it some more if I had a clearer idea. Please don't take any of this as pompous. It's just that I have learned that God doesn't usually respond when put to the test- when given ultimatums. He responds when we choose to believe; the book of James says as much. You must make a leap of faith to encounter him, just as Neo could never understand Morpheus until he had swallowed the pill.
Now, some ‘religionists’ would have you believe that this leap of faith is totally blind. I'm not saying that. Neo had good reason but not proof to accept Morpheus' claims. And so do we of God's; but we must 'go down the rabbit hole' instead of demanding proof. I know you don't want to hear that; I know it probably seems all too nebulous: the elusiveness of religion.
But that's how it is; you must trust first....
Josh
The following was written in response to an email from a friend who said that after watching the movie the Passion he had begged God to speak to him for the first time in a long while, but still he heard nothing:
Dear ----,
This email has really been on my mind. I'm torn between two different reactions.
The first is empathetic: I've been there, my friend. I know the feeling of begging God to speak, of feeling his silence. I won't downplay that experience; it is an experience as old as man.
But having heard his voice, I can also see the other side of the coin.
We could go back down the long roads of discussion we've already trodden: if there is a God, it seems He's playing hard to get, and if He is, then he must after all be a real prick. And I have felt that too at times, but I've made peace with God on that, and I've come to trust Him to do the speaking at the right time. And He does know the right time, my friend. I say that
honestly, not in any way condescendingly.
I guess maybe it's important to ask you what it is you were expecting. A thunderclap? A bolt of lightning? An audible, booming voice? Those are the things that I have wished for many a time. Some people do get those, but that's not His normal operation- not even in 'bible times'. It's something we get more from cartoons that reality or the bible itself. His normal mode of communication is in the 'still, small voice'. This still, small voice heard only in the deep recesses of your heart runs the risk of being explained away, it runs the risk of being second guessed sometimes (though sometimes it is more insistent than anything you've ever heard), it runs the risk of being psycho-analyzed. Yet it frequently tells you the very things you wouldn't think it would tell you if it were just your subconscious. The more you listen to God, the more you hear.
A friend of mine [Hume] has pointed out that God has remarkable respect for our free will. He is, if you will, reluctant to overwhelm us with supernatural communications that would 'force' us to believe. He says, "Seek me, because you have glimpsed something of me, not because my presence is so overwhelming you can't do otherwise. God, in fact, delights in using common things to speak through: other people, movies, music, and sunsets.
The center of the Christian faith is, after all, that God took on the form of humanity and communicated to us in the most profound way as a man. Maybe he likes using humans to do his work because it does us so much good to be used in this way. It's not really at all strange that God would often communicate to us through indirect means, particularly the words, actions, or creations of humans.
So, my other reaction to your email is that, ---, He was speaking to you during the whole movie! It's almost as if after a long conversation with God, you then demanded that He speak to you! He is speaking all the time to all of us. He speaks in everything beautiful, praiseworthy, true.... Now, I know you were hoping for a different kind of 'speaking'. Like I said, I can relate. But maybe He had said everything He needed to already to you while you were absorbing the movie.
There's a story about this kind of thing in the Bible. Jesus tells the parable of a man who dies and then begs Abraham to let him go back and warn his brothers (who are still living) of his fate, at which Abraham replies, "They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them". "No, father Abraham," said the rich man, "but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent". Abraham responded, "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead." Jesus is saying that miracles are superfluous to faith in the final analysis; we are always looking for signs and wonders when in reality He has already spoken and is speaking all the time.
Again, just for reflection, I ask: what was it exactly you were looking for? Maybe we could dialogue on it some more if I had a clearer idea. Please don't take any of this as pompous. It's just that I have learned that God doesn't usually respond when put to the test- when given ultimatums. He responds when we choose to believe; the book of James says as much. You must make a leap of faith to encounter him, just as Neo could never understand Morpheus until he had swallowed the pill.
Now, some ‘religionists’ would have you believe that this leap of faith is totally blind. I'm not saying that. Neo had good reason but not proof to accept Morpheus' claims. And so do we of God's; but we must 'go down the rabbit hole' instead of demanding proof. I know you don't want to hear that; I know it probably seems all too nebulous: the elusiveness of religion.
But that's how it is; you must trust first....
Josh