The Meaning of My Life? I Sure Hope So!

A youth told me on the mission trip that I had taught them that it was okay to be weird, and that this was what had really stuck with them from our relationship. If this be the meaning of my life, they my life is a successful one indeed.

Reflections On The Mission Trip

Well, the 2013 St. Thomas EYC Senior High Mission Trip to Austin, Texas was a smashing success. We worked at a food service organization called Angel House, which is run very well and I was impressed by what they do there. We helped organize a Food Bank. We worked on the grounds of an adult education center (landscaping work is a staple of mission trips), and we headed up to West, Texas where a plant explosion has devastated the town. Our job there was debris clean-up.

Beyond the physical work, mission trips are where real ministry takes place. Some look at mission as us going out and "being God's hands" in the world. This is a good missiology and I wouldn't detract from it, but it is not my own emphasis. I rather think of God being 'out there' where we are going, and that through our work, our worship and our fellowship God is going to minister to us. I get to spend time with youth I've not yet formed a deep connection with, and real counseling goes on, and we all learn to see the world in a new way. A mission trip is really an education, a way to help train ourselves how to be and how to see the world aright, every day.

The simple truth of the matter is that we could do more material good than we do on mission trips by simply raising money and giving it to the organizations that do the work that they do so well. But for the Christian, spiritual goods trump material goods, and the spiritual goods provided for those who go are beyond calculation. This trip is like a family vacation, where we go and spend time with the rest of the Body of Christ, out there in the world removed from our home church. It is meeting and relating to Christ in a way different from what we normally do, and that helps us make what we 'normally do' less 'normal'. That is a very good thing. By all of these standards, the mission trip was indeed successful, and I am happy to have been a part of it.

This was my 20th mission trip. Every trip has highs and lows. Behind the church ministry that takes place, I personally experience a spiritual struggle that seems hidden to others. I experience spiritual struggles within that are of monumental proportions. Every stress, every threat to the safety of the crew, every danger and spiritual road bump manifests itself demonically, and what may seem to others to be the pitfalls and successes of mission trips, are to me battles that are won or lost, with cosmic consequences. Mission is warfare. This manifests itself in my internal moral struggles, in my dreams, and in my visions. I can feel the devil doing all he can to push us out of the place God wants us to be, and I can see all the ways God pushes back onto the path of His message. God is saying something to us on a mission trip. The bombs and traps of the devil are ways to drown out His voice. In that sense, mission trips are simply the Christian life: they are spiritual warfare manifesting as a ministerial adventure. That is just what life is all about.

Mission trips are physically wasting and spiritually ascending, as I've said all hard Christian work is. I have a condition called Spastic Colon or IBS, and my stomach gets ground into a pulp. My sleep is disturbed by increased visions. The physical work can be oppressive for someone like me. Spiritually I have extreme lows and highs. But when I get back, and I relax and reflect, I am elevated in a way that is hard to describe. I feel united with all things, and especially with God, and I am better for it. This is what mission trips are about. That is what this mission trip was about. And that, my friends, is real success.

Movies, Messages & Literature

Movies are the literature of our time: love it, hate it, it is the truth. Christians who cut themselves off completely from popular culture rob themselves of the language of our day. Films form a kind of vocabulary for people. If you are lacking in it, you are lacking in the ability to spread the gospel. Being familiar with pop culture, and finding ways to reach people on a spiritual level through films like MAN OF STEEL or TOY STORY, is as necessary today as translation of the Bible into the vernacular was during the Reformation.

A Long But Excellent Post From MavPhil

http://maverickphilosopher.typepad.com/maverick_philosopher/2013/06/anthony-flood-on-philosophy-as-misosophy.html

Fear, Hope & The Present Moment

There are times when the big problems of the world, particularly global warming, threaten to shatter the peace God has given me in Christ Jesus. But then I remember that because Christ is GOD, anything is still possible. There is always hope. I'll pray in the darkness not expecting, but hoping. Things can still work out. I also remember that because CHRIST is God, then every human experience is visited upon God. And so the present moment has an eternity. If I can make this moment all it can be, then what I do now matters, whatever the future might hold good or bad. The future matters, and we must exist as future-oriented beings, at least partially. But the present moment matters too, and so acting righteously has substance even if the future is not as bright as God intends it to be.

Ben Kingsley's Moses

As much as I like the Charlton Heston film THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, and I do, I always found the portrayal of Moses to be too much Hollywood and too little Bible. Moses in the Bible starts out mousey, weak, and shrewd. He has a stutter. His transformation from that person to a confident leader and servant of God is the real central story of Exodus. The film THE KING'S SPEECH is a good allegory for Moses' journey, really. This film above, the Turner Bible Series film on Moses, starring Ben Kingsley, is much closer to the Biblical record. Kingsley as Moses is amazing. I highly recommend it.

The White Lantern

I think that the creation of the various Lantern Corps is a work of mythological brilliance on the part of DC Writer/Editor Geoff Johns. The idea of each color corresponding to a facet of the psyche, all revolving around the interplay of light and dark and life and death, captivates me. It matches up with the whole life/death dichotomy and the centrality of moral struggle in Biblical religion. Just recently I was listening to a rabbi talk about the tension between life and death and the importance of that tension for the Jewish purity laws. I am not making this stuff up, I learn it from those who know. This picture embodies the power of that myth perfectly. There is something salvific in this image. It is the blending of eastern concepts of self-control and Christian concepts of salvation. I love it.

Notes On Colossians 1:1-2:3

From my unpublished Bible Study on the Book of Colossians:

Chapter 1:1-2:3

              Notice that the letter begins like Philippians and Philemon did, with an introduction and an exhortation. The cadence and structure of the letter match that of the other Pauline writings perfectly. It is without doubt that whoever wrote the letter had written with Paul before. It lends a lot of credence to my view, I think, that Paul wrote at least part of the text. Paul acknowledges Timothy as his cohort yet again. Paul and Timothy’s relationship must have been remarkably close, given how often Timothy is acknowledged as Paul’s companions in the letters (he is mentioned in nine of the Pauline letters, so almost every one of them). We know that Timothy had a Jewish mother and a Greek father, and that he zealously helped Paul and Silas in their ministry. He is a remarkable figure in the New Testament, and it is doubtful that Paul was closer to anyone. This brings up an interesting thought: could Timothy himself have been the one who finished the letter for Paul? It makes some sense, given how close the letter stays to Paul’s original writings.

              Yet the letters to Timothy are themselves likely written by Timothy himself later in life, a much later reconstruction by memory of some of the things Paul wrote to him. The majority of scholars reject the idea that Paul wrote the letters to Timothy (1 & 2 Timothy) himself. That is because certain words used in that book did not really exist until after 90 AD, long after Paul had passed away. Timothy is the possible author of those books, re-creating some of what Paul had written to him and adapting them for a new time and new context. But in 1 & 2 Timothy, the writer methodically avoids speaking of the raising from the dead as Paul did in most of his letters. So if Timothy was a later reconstruction by Timothy himself, it seems he picked up Paul’s method of speaking of the resurrection only in future tense (except, of course, when it comes to Jesus himself).

                Whether Timothy wrote a good chunk of Colossians or not, it is significant that he is mentioned here. Timothy was close to Paul throughout his life, and was probably there with him at the end. How powerful is friendship? A book of the Apocrypha, Ecclesiasticus or Jesus Ben Sirach, says it wonderfully, “a faithful friend is a good defense, and he that hath found such a one hath found a treasure” (6:14). Think about the lessons concerning friendship that we learned all the way back in Ruth. The image of Timothy here towards the end of Paul’s life is the same kind of thing.

                The Colossians were a faithful community never visited by Paul personally, but started by a pupil of his named Epaphras, who is mentioned here (1:7). Paul’s commendation of the man is a way of reinforcing Epaphras’ authority. Those who are seeding false doctrines into Collosae’s Christian community are opposing Epaphras. Paul is saying, in essence, that Epaphras is right and that his doctrines are the correct ones.

The church there is growing swiftly and strongly. This period marks one of the highest points in the Church’s history, and you can feel that here when the writers liken the growth of the community at Colossae to the growth of the church everywhere. Early on in the church’s history, persecutions were sporadic and limited. There was no official Roman policy towards Christians, because Christians were not really distinguished from Jews at this point. Jews could not be forced to take part in the Roman Imperial Cult, and since all Jesus followers were technically still Jewish, persecution of them had no firm legal basis. The Church grew rapidly and effectively, all over the Roman Empire. It seemed to many that this growth would continue until the Second Coming, which most people expected relatively soon. Paul certainly did. It wasn’t until the split between Jews and Christians solidified after the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD and the canonizing of the Jewish Bible in 90 AD that persecution of Christians became official Roman policy. At that point, many Christians experienced a crisis of faith. The animosity of Rome and the problems this created for Church growth confused many members of the church, who looked back to prosperous times when it seemed the growth of the church would never end as signs of God’s favor. The writers’ mention of the success of the truth is a sign of these particular times.

The writers go on to send out a prayer for the Colossians. They pray for wisdom, understanding and spiritual power for the readers. The power they pray for is the same kind of power Paul spoke of in Philippians: the power of God given to those who make the Cross manifest in their own lives. The prayer for knowledge and wisdom makes sense, as the writers are seeking to guard the community against the doctrinal mistakes of those who oppose Epaphras.

                      Notice the contrast between the darkness and Christ. Christ is the light who opposes the power of darkness. One of the supreme dichotomies or conflicts in the Bible is the contrast between light and darkness. Darkness is identified with evil and ignorance and folly. Light is knowledge, and the power of God. It is hard to overstate the importance of this juxtaposition. Light is all-giving. It is in itself invisible, but it illuminates everything it touches. Darkness, on the other hand, absorbs light. It takes and does not give.  This contrast between light and dark, and the vision of light and dark as in conflict, can be found through religions and throughout cultures. For Christians, the living and giving character of light is reflected in the life of Jesus. Jesus is the light of God. To follow Him is to see the Truth, and to have all God has given to you. This is the power that the writers pray for the Colossians to have. It is obviously connected to the hope for wisdom and knowledge as well.

                     One of the remarkable things is just how in line this is with modern science. Science has come to realize that light is the most fundamental physical thing in the universe, and that it is also one of the most mysterious. Quantum physics tells us that everything in the universe, all matter and all energy, is just light quantized in different states. This is the meaning of Einstein’s matter-energy conversion formula E= MC² and it is not too much to say that in modern physics, it is the key to everything. Yet light remains in many ways a mystery, as Arthur Zajonc shows beautifully in his book CATCHING THE LIGHT. It behaves in ways that defy rational explanation and continues to confound scientists with it’s ability to break all the rules of what we normally call ‘reason’. Ancient peoples perceived this on a more intuitive level. For Christians the importance and mystery of light which so captivated all people was experienced directly in Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus Christ was the mystery to which all religions were reaching when they became obsessed with light.

                   This all might seem very abstract and heady, but it is absolutely necessary that one reflect on these two verses: 1:13-14 in this kind of way if one is to fully grasp the next section. So stop for a minute and reflect upon all light means for life, for matter, for everything, and try if you can to see the connection early Christians made between Jesus and light. For as Philippians’ central text was a hymn, so too does Colossians turn on a very early Christian hymn, one that deals with the ramifications of identifying Jesus with the Kingdom of Light. Verses 15-20 are very much like the second chapter of Philippians, that sought to connect Christ to the struggles of the Church and to the very foundations of the cosmos. Here we have a supreme vision of the Cosmic Christ, the whole of creation holding together in this simple man on the Cross. The implications are mind-boggling, and very exciting. To think that when you read the Gospels you are reading not just the story of one man (though you are), but the very story of the cosmos now. That everything in the universe, every swirling atom and every booming supernova, can be understood through Jesus Christ.

             The Greeks were always searching for the Logos, the thought or idea that could tie all of the universe together. Jews had a similar idea called Wisdom, which was the very mind of God personified. This angelic being, this living expression of God’s mind was a kind of co-worker with God in creation. This is expressed specifically in Proverbs 8 and in the book The Wisdom of Solomon, in the Apocrypha. Paul or his followers, in writing Colossians, is establishing Christ as similar to these ideas, but superior to them. Jesus is the supreme co-creator with God. Think about the foundational place light plays in science. Jesus plays the exact same role spiritually. That is the significance of identifying Jesus with the light.

This hymn plays out that significance in beautiful poetry. Additional to Christ’s place as the foundation of all physical reality, Jesus is also creating in and through the Church. The Church is a physical outpost, an outward and visible sign of the Son’s hidden place within all of reality. And through the Church Christ seeks to bring the physical in line with the spiritual. We are Christ’s hands and feet creating the world with God.

This mystical reality, Christ alive, is what brought the Gentiles from the darkness to the light. Verses 21-29 are all classic Paul. There is little doubt in my mind that he wrote this part of the letter. That idea, that Logos or Wisdom which God has seeded in nature is made plain to the mind of the Church, according to Paul. By holding fast to that truth, by conforming oneself to the idea that is the foundation of all things, the idea that Christ embodies, one is forgiven of all sin, and stands as a perfected being before God.

                  Paul ends this section by re-establishing the pattern we saw in Philippians. By embodying the Cross in our own lives, we make the power of God manifest. Paul is telling the Colossians that his sufferings mimic those of Christ, so that the Church (Christ’s physical manifestation on earth) can be built up. The Cross Paul experiences leads to the power that builds up the church. The talk of the Gentiles having a place almost primary above the Jews in verse 27 is not in line with anything written in Paul’s undisputed letters, but the real meaning of the words is vague, and it may not be as un-Pauline as it first appears. Notice the ecstasy with which the writers speak of the hidden mysteries of God. Whoever wrote these words has seen a vision, a vision of the Great All, the Foundation of existence, coming into this physical world as Jesus. He sees in Jesus the key to all mysteries, to all truth. That vision is clearly in line with the Paul’s own. So whether his follower or the man himself, the message is what really matters: that man, that Jesus who died on the Cross, is the very presence of Ultimate Reality, and the Foundation of All That Is. Colossians is all about sharing that vision with the reader. If we can get just a taste of it, if we can see but a glimpse, then we too can share the power that Paul prayed would come to the church at Colossae.

Apologies To My Readers

I apologize that I was unable to post this week. I was on mission trip. I don't announce my mission trips online for various reasons, until they are over. I hoped I'd be able to organize some way to post on my blog but no dice. The mission trip was good. I will be posting about it Sunday or Monday. Until then, get ready for a flurry of posts I had intended to put up this week. God bless you all...it is good to be home.

Away From Keyboard

I will be working a lot in the next week, I mean a LOT. I will be unable to post much. Most of my posts will be very short, like this one. But I am going to do my level best to get something to my readers every day.

Off-Topic: My Plan For A Green Lantern Movie Trilogy

If I had done the Green Lantern Film, this is how it would've gone:

Film 1: THE GREEN LANTERN- It would've borrowed heavily from the animated film GREEN LANTERN: FIRST FLIGHT as the AVENGERS MOVIE borrowed heavily from the ULTIMATE AVENGERS animated films (1 & 2). Hal Jordan finds a crash landed Abin Sur, and gets the Green Ring. A few weeks later a cadre of lanterns from Oa meets to take him to the Guardians for a period of testing. There he is partnered with Sinestro who takes him on a journey to find Sur's killer. The whole thing is like TRAINING DAY in space. Hal is troubled as he finds Sinestro more and more corrupt or suspects he has some dark secret. Sinestro is really the one behind Sur's death, and is trying to find the Yellow Lantern Power Battery to defeat the guardians. When he suspects Hal is too close, he sets Hal up to be sent home. With Hal out of the way, Sinestro finds the Battery and attacks the Guardians. The lanterns are neutralized. Somehow one of the guardians gets the ring back to Hal, who faces Sinestro in a battle royal. Hal defeats Sinestro, who disappears, seemingly dead.

Film 2: GREEN LANTERN: THE LANTERN WARS- It has been a few years since Sinestro assaulted the Green Lanterns. Hal is a well-established hero with a great reputation across the Cosmos. At the edge of space a new threat is encountered. A new Lantern Corps has appeared that threatens the peace of the universe. The Red Lanterns are wreaking havoc and threaten to bring war even to Earth. Soon other Lantern Corps appear, including the Blue Lanterns who join with the Greens, etc. Perhaps this is when Star Sapphire first appears and threatens Hal. Eventually Hal discovers the real power behind it all: Sinestro and his new ally Larfleeze. Allied with blue Lantern Saint Walker, Hal gives his life to end the destructive war.

Film 3: GREEN LANTERN: BLACKEST NIGHT- In the wake of Hal's death, a new Lantern from earth has been chosen: Kyle Rahner. Kyle is facing the growing threat of the black lanterns: an undead army of darkness that threatens to swallow up the whole universe. Allied now with former lantern enemies, Kyle leads a Green Lantern Corps to what seems like it should be an easy victory, only to discover at that the head of this dark army is none other than the long-dead Hal Jordan himself! Hal has been manipulated and twisted by the evil god Nekron to lead his terrible army. The combined Lantern Corps fall at Hal's feet, and Kyle has to undergo a series of trials to learn how to access the whole of the emotional spectrum, to become the life-giving white lantern, the only force that can light up this blackest of nights. Along the way, new lantern corps are discovered (indigo tribe), and Kyle must stop the army just as it is about to destroy Hal's home planet of earth.

What The Book of Jonah Might Reveal About Pauline Salvation

People interpret Paul in a number of different ways. Pauline theology is hard, because Paul isn't a very systematic thinker, and because the letters occasional: they deal with specific issues, in specific churches, and we can't be sure what those issues are, based solely on Paul's side of the conversation. Reading Paul's letters is very much like listening in on one side of a telephone conversation, with all the difficulties that accompany it.

One interpretation of Paul's understanding of salvation goes like this: Abraham, because of his faithfulness to God, was adopted by God into a relationship of Grace. His descendants were likewise adopted. So God, by His Grace, extended salvation to the Jews. This adoption, this election and grace-gift, are irrevocable. As part of this grace relationship, certain responsibilities were given to the Jews to set them apart, and make them holy. This was the reason for the giving of the law. But that setting apart, which was a gift to the Jews, was a curse to everyone else. For it showed how lost the rest of the world was, how in need of grace it was, but how lacking was the grace it needed.

During this time, the only way for a non-Jew to access God's grace was by becoming Jewish, and the only way to do that was to adopt the Law. But parts of the law were prohibitive for non-Jews, most notably circumcision. Additionally, the only way to be saved was to initiate divine contact, to reach out to God through your own actions. This was tantamount to making the Law the saving force, which for Paul is ridiculous. So Paul believes that Jesus, by His faithfulness on the cross, extended God's grace to all people. All have now been adopted as the Jews were. God's grace is freely given to all. So the role Abraham played for Jews, Jesus played for all people.

This is one interpretation of Paul, but not by any means the only one, and certainly NOT the dominant one. But let us assume it is the right one, just for the sake of argument. It seems to me that The Book of Jonah helps us understand what Paul is (or rather might be) talking about.

For in the Book of Jonah, Jonah can do no wrong. Jonah is quite disobedient: he runs from God. He is also uncaring: he sleeps, confident that God will save him, while the boat he ran away in is threatened by a storm. He questions God's justice and invites death, but God refuses to kill him. The whale that swallowed Jonah, in the context of the Book, is not a punishment but a grace. It justifies Jonah's self-confidence that God will save him no matter what. What Jonah selfishly expected, God did. The creation of and destruction of the plant, far from being a punishment on Jonah, is God's attempt to to help Jonah see the world as He does. Jonah is rotten, selfish, mean, and disobedient, but God never stops loving, and never even looks for repentance before He saves. Jonah stands as a man graced beyond belief.

The non-Jews in the story also receive God's grace, but only after they do something to initiate a relationship. The sailors pray to Yahweh and throw Jonah overboard without God's direction. They grope into the darkness, hoping that God will stop the storm, and after they do as God wants them to, they are saved. They become Yahweh-worshippers simply by dumb luck...they must stumble upon the truth, unlike Jonah who always has it. The Ninevites are given no hope of repentance when Jonah preaches. They are simply told that destruction waits for them for their evils. They, too, grope and hope in the darkness, doing all they can to try to invite God's relenting of the punishment He has promised. They to are saved and God proclaims His love for them. But this happens only AFTER they, without prodding, take up the burden of repentance. They are not even shown a way out, they must find one for themselves.

So Jonah, while a beautiful and generally universalist book, maintains some level of Jewish exceptionalism: for the Jews, symbolized in Jonah, are always under God's grace, and seem all but incapable of every losing it, whereas non-Jews must initiate contact with the True God, and must seek out salvation themselves.

From a certain Pauline perspective, this is what Jesus saves us from: the need to go seeking God's grace. We do not have to become Jews to be saved or have a proper relationship with God. I think Jonah, then, is a wonderful representation of the Pauline problem I spoke of earlier. Interesting how these connections can be made. It is why the Old and New Testament should both be studied, together.

Might As Well Face It You're Addicted To God

Marx called religion 'the opiate of the masses'. It must be realized that when he originally said this, he didn't mean it negatively. He wasn't insulting religion, he was commending it for it's alleviation of suffering. He did indeed think that the need for religion would disappear and it would become a vestige of the past, but the often-quoted 'religion of the opiate of the masses', so often used derisively, was not originally a negative statement.

Religious types may shy away from the idea that religion is in some way 'like a drug', but there is truth in this. It is the same truth that is found in the philosophy of hedonism, a variety of which (Christian Hedonism) I ascribe to: it seems rational to pursue happiness as a primary if not the primary goal of one's life. The reason drug addiction is hard to kick, and I know that it is from experience, is that drug addiction stems not from a delusion, but from a realization: feeling good is important.

When I left drugs I mourned what I had lost, because what I had lost was the most joyous and exciting experiences of my life. I had never been as happy as I was when I was high. Yet somehow, in the faintest way, I had come to realize that feeling good was not all there was: doing good mattered to. I had become a total waste, and I didn't like this thought, though I could not see any way to be happy and not be a total waste.

I knew that some religious-types had claimed to achieve a kind of nirvana, a state of being that was matched by nothing else. Some said faith could bring the confluence of goodness and happiness I sought. So I put myself behind a particular religious vision and gave it my all. Life did improve, but for a long time I still did not know the happiness I knew when I was on drugs. But I had decided, committed myself, to putting my all behind this way in the hope that some day, some how, perhaps not even in this life, I'd find the happiness I once had and perhaps something greater, without sacrificing the other values of life as well.

It took years of meditation, prayer, scriptural study, and life changes to start experiencing things equal to, and then beyond, what I had when I did drugs. Today, I truly can get higher without drugs than with drugs. And indeed, this is a big reason why I am a person of faith.

But it is not true that I have traded one drug for another. Or it is not necessarily true. A secularist will look at my transformation in just this way, though the person I am now on religion is so much better than the person I was then on drugs. You wouldn't want to know me then, there is at least a chance you might want to know me now. But I don't see this as trading one drug for another. Rather, I see drug addiction as a form of idolatry. It is seeking from something other than God what you should be getting FROM God. Drugs are demonic, they provide a genuine experience, but without the spiritual-moral struggle and without genuine contact from the divine. They pull worship from God. Drugs are the idolatry of our generation.

But just as the Bible does not deny that pagan gods can give their adherents power, I do not deny that there is some similarity between the activity of drugs and the benefits of genuine spirituality. If there were not, drugs would have no power. However, the gifts of God are greater, and fuller, and they change one's life for the better. It just takes more work to get them.  It's like Yoda says, the dark side is not stronger than the light, it is just quicker, easier and more seductive.

One-Post Wednesday: Homily On Superheroes & Salvation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zgiT9bGzEY

Our Owners

The Very Picture of Consumerism

Is this not the very image of consumerist culture and of all the dark and turbid forces that assault our heart and soul? This is a perfect picture of the devil as I've seen him.

See also:

http://ljtsg.blogspot.com/2013/06/consumers.html

http://ljtsg.blogspot.com/2013/06/quotable_14.html

http://ljtsg.blogspot.com/2013/06/not-really-off-topic-they-live.html

http://ljtsg.blogspot.com/2013/03/media-book-of-revelation-1.html

Episcopals In THEY LIVE

The center of resistance against the apocalyptic aliens in THEY LIVE is an Episcopal Church. The people there know the truth, but all they can do is talk about what they should do. They are informed and know what others don't but they are ineffectual. One has to wonder if one of the creators was Episcopalian. Any Episcopalian will know why I say that.

Of course this is a stereotype, but it is not without foundation. I love the Episcopal Church, especially the Book of Common Prayer. It is the Bible turned into worship. At it's best Anglicanism holds in tension a multitude of influences that can produce perhaps the purest Christian vision in the world. At it's worst, those tensive forces ossify and prevent creative action. As with most institutions, the Episcopal Church reaches its best far less than it is dragged into it's worst.

Graham Priest

He is provocative and brilliant. Agree or disagree, I think you have to consider what he says. His book BEYOND THE LIMITS OF THOUGHT was a tough read. I only understood about 1/3 of it. But what I did understand blew my mind.

An important article by the man here:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/paradoxical-truth/?smid=fb-share

Short But Sweet...

Such will be my blog posts today, as I am extraordinarily busy.

Not Really Off-Topic: MAN OF STEEL, Again Warning: SPOILERS

Sick of my harping on about Superman? I'm sorry if it is annoying some of you, just skip over these posts. I find it hard to resist commenting on the chatter going on around this film. One big issue some have is that they Christian Allegory, so they say, is too overt. Some are accusing the film of 'beating you over the head with it'.

I didn't find this to be so. There is no doubt that the allegory aspect is there, and it had to be in any big-picture Superman project. The allegory is just part of the mythos of the character. No, what was very prominent in the film was the fact that many of the main characters were, in fact, Christians. They ask questions like, 'is this a miracle?' and 'what is God's will for my life?' Scenes others took to be making connections between Superman and Jesus really came off to me as just indicating that Clark himself was a Christian. Which isn't a surprise since his parents apparently were, and he grew up in a small town in Kansas.

The film, I thought, was brave my making the moral struggle within Superman a RELIGIOUS moral struggle. His central question seemed to be what God wanted him to do. That is a big deal for a big Hollywood movie like this. And I, for one, found it refreshing.

Consumers

Re-watching THEY LIVE has reinforced my strong negative reaction to consumerism. It seems there are forces in this world that want to turn us into homo consumerus. When the economy gets bad, everyone worships at the altar of consumer confidence. The Fed constantly reduces interest rates, spurring consumption but ignoring the massive waste and malinvestment that results. Turning people into consumers is just another way of objectifying them, and it should be resisted. My conservatism is based on my own desire to be a saver and creator, rather than a consumer. Though conservatives too have become co-opted by this particular dehumanizing force.

What Is Wisdom?

In the SEVEN FACES OF DOCTOR LAO, the main character tells us that the only wise person is the one who does not know what wisdom is. In STAR TREK, the android Data tells his daughter that wisdom is 'the difference between knowledge and experience.' There seems to be truth in both reflections.

Wisdom is strange. It is hard to quantify. Experience no doubt does tend to teach wisdom. Yet I have heard and seen great wisdom in children who had little experience, and have seen a complete lack of wisdom in older people who had experienced quite a bit. All wisdom is practical, yet it can be stated abstractly. Or at least one can use abstract formulas to express it. It is a little bit of art, and also a bit of rational reflection. It comes and it goes. I can be wise one minute, and not so wise the next. It seems to me that wisdom is very much like the wu-wei concept of Taoism. It is just an action, or a reaction, attenuated properly to the issue at hand.

I think Lao is right in that I think that Wisdom is something heartily mysterious. As soon as I have my have my mind around it, I've lost it again. A person can be trained to be wiser, wisdom can become more likely through instruction, but instruction is no guarantor of wisdom.

In the Bible Wisdom takes on almost mythic proportions. In Proverbs 8 Wisdom is seen as a person, as a living being that is God's apprentice in creation. Wisdom can be sought or wooed, but she cannot be forced. She comes to those she chooses. And indeed it does seem that people of great wisdom seem in some sense 'chosen' for the role of wise person. It is like knowledge, but it is more than that. It is found in experience, but one can be experienced it and miss it altogether. It comes through self-reflection and abstract thought, but also the daily doing of deeds. Certainly the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon is right in raising the experience of wisdom to the level of the mystical. Divinity dwells here. No wonder the Wisdom tradition was so important to the New Testament writers.

Off-Topic: Does Superman Kill? MAJOR SPOILER ALERT

Some people are upset by the fact that Superman kills some of the Kryptonian villains in MAN OF STEEL. They are going on and on about how this violates the basic character of the icon. There are news reports about how comic book fans are 'up in arms' about this aspect of the film. Well, I'm a comic book fan, and I am not up in arms. Nor should any true comic book fan because Superman has killed several times in the comics, and in other media as well. The only people complaining about this are people who want to claim the authority of knowing the comic book literature, but really don't at all. It bothers me.

Superman hates to kill, but he will on occasion. The parameters under which he will kill are very tight. In the comics he has killed other Kryptonians that threatened earth, Darkseid, Doomsday, Hank Henshaw (ostensibly), and Solaris the Sun-Eater. Superman will (reluctantly) kill any being of evil intent that has powers equal to or greater than his own. It isn't out of some sense of self-preservation, but because of a basic characteristic of the icon, a REAL basic characteristic: his desire to see men free.

Superman self-limits his powers. He is literally godlike, but rarely displays just how godlike. That is because he doesn't want to infringe on the human right to self-determination. So great is this desire that he has at times put up mental blocks that literally keep him from using all his powers, blocks he's had to consciously work to take down when facing a threat equal to or greater than himself. When faced with such an adversary, he is faced with the loss of all he holds dear: this is a being whose very existence threatens to rob humanity of their freedom. In such cases, Superman will if he deems it necessary, kill. The deaths in the film are perfectly in line with this character trait.

The Pain of A Broken Father/Son Relationship

Without getting into too many details I have to say that Father's Day really has me down this year. Especially after watching MAN OF STEEL yesterday, which was heavily focused on the father/son relationship. I honestly don't know why things are so bad. I know I haven't been perfect, but I honestly feel like I have done all I could reasonably do to make the relationship good. The limits of my ability to heal are represented by the other relationships in my life. I cannot give to my father to the detriment of, say, my relationship with my wife, which I believe strongly has to take precedence. Not that my father wants that necessarily, though sometimes it certainly feels like he does.

Yes, I feel like I've done what I can. But that doesn't make it hurt any less. I love my father, still, though I doubt he believes that. Much of what is good in me is the result of his activity in my life, though mostly when I was younger. The truth is he's had little influence over the last decade or so, and that is by design. It just hasn't been a good adult relationship.

I have other family members where the reverse was true. Things were rough when I was younger but now they are extraordinarily positive. And I am a weak man, I cannot maintain relationships that are not positive. I'm too moody, and I get to depressed. I don't hate people who can't form these kinds of bonds with me, but if I can I avoid them. If I don't I am no good to anyone else and I have too many people who rely on me to work any other way. Maybe that is selfish, but I never claimed to be anything other than a sinner.

But, again, this all hurts. It hurts to have no kind words from a person you love. It hurts when you have no words at all to give back, because the words you use seem to come out wrong, or are taken wrong, or whatever. Maybe some relationships are like butterfly wings: once damaged, they never get off the ground. However, I won't sacrifice my own self-fulfillment at the altar of a dead relationship. God is a God of the living, not the dead (John 8). I feel like if I just continually expose myself to a relationship that is broken, for whatever reason: my fault, their fault, both, whatever; if it does not good, if healing is not possible except at the sacrifice of other roles I know God calls me to first, then I am doing nothing but engaging my own masochistic tendencies. It sure feels like my old self-mutilations problems when I do that. If my heart convicts me, as 1 John says, then God convicts me. Whether other people think it is the right thing to do, I know when I'm giving into destructive patterns.

So I accept this as the limit of my power, I cannot fix this problem. I will reach out and hope for creative interaction, but if destruction rears its ugly head, I am running the other way. I have been down that road too many times. The door is open, the limits and boundaries are set, I will live with my father within them or not at all. To do otherwise is a kind of personal apostasy. An idolization of an ideal that simply does not exist. If silence is the end game in this world, I will put everything in Christ's hands, confident that in Him all things truly are reconciled to each other and to God. That is the only honest thing I can do.

Off-Topic: My MAN OF STEEL Review (Caution: Some Spoilers)

Okay, I saw the film MAN OF STEEL today, and a review is in order:

Let me start off with the good: this is a good film. It was entertaining, and meaningful, and it was a far better film than the last attempted reboot of the series, SUPERMAN RETURNS. Most of the scenes really worked. All of the actors did their jobs and did them well, and most of the dialogue was solid. I liked the mythological scope of the film. I don't think there has been a film that explored the Messianic aspect of the character in more detail. This is a very Christianized Superman. And I mean that on a multitude of levels. The film has been very polarizing. People seem to mostly love it. Critics are split, some love and some hate it. I cannot imagine hating this film, it has nothing in it that commends such an attitude. I can only assume that some of the critics were turned off by the heavy dose of Christian imagery and references.

Now for the negatives: it was a good film, but not a great film. And it would've been easy to turn into a great film. The flashbacks made the film a little too jumpy. It was borderline too much. But some of the flashbacks were repetitive, and easily could've been edited out of the film. In fact, there were several scenes that didn't work or simply repeated something that had already been dealt with that could've been vivisected out with ease, and made for a much better film. It was about 20 minutes too long, and didn't have to be. Henry Cavill did a great job as an actor, but he's a hairy guy, and sometimes his chest hair would stick out of the costume. It was distracting, and weird, and easily dealt with.

In the end, I came out of this film feeling a lot like I did about BATMAN BEGINS. That was the weakest of Nolan's BATMAN Trilogy, and the problems in it were easily solved. One got the sense, though, that a strong foundation had been laid for the future, and that is indeed what happened. One gets the same sense about MAN OF STEEL. It has it's problems, but it was overall a good movie. Unfortunately the problems, though small, were numerous enough to lower the film in my view. I said that the endings of BATMAN BEGINS and THE DARK KNIGHT lowered the films (as opposed to THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, which had an ending that elevated the film. BATMAN BEGINS went from great to good in the last fifteen minutes. THE DARK KNIGHT went from one of the best films of all time to a great film. I feel the editing problem in MAN OF STEEL lowered it from a great film to a good film. But good is good enough, when you think about how badly DC Movies have been screwed up in the past, a la THE GREEN LANTERN. It'll do....it'll do.

On Superheroes & Salvation

I was watching this interview with a movie critic. He was talking about summer blockbuster movies and how there is an over saturation of the film marketplace which has the potential to turn very bad for the industry. There is a lot of truth in what he said, though I think we simply need to remember that not all blockbusters are created equal. 

But that is not my concern right now. He said something in the interview that I thought had great theological significance. He asked rhetorically, "how often can you see a conflicted but ultimately good hero overcome incredible odds to save the universe? It gets boring after a while." My first thought was, " Doctor Who does that every other week and his stories remain fresh and interesting. He has a huge fan base and has been on the air for fifth years." 

Then almost immediately something bigger hit me. The church has been telling that story for 2000 years repeatedly and it has an even bigger audience. Week after week, the church basically retells the same story. Communion is a replaying out of God's saving act for Creation. But it continues to captivate us, just as comic books revisit the same story in a multitude of ways but continue to draw readers in. 

The reason is that these stories speak to our sense that creation is ultimately good, and that in the overall, in the big picture, "all will be well". Salvation is an experience we all want or have, and re-experiencing it is always new and always vital. The truth is that the summer blockbuster superhero experience is simply that of people reaching out to touch the face of God, whether they know it or not. In the end human brokenness, and our inability to save ourselves is as present to us as any thing in sensory experience. Our need for salvation is real. It must be satisfied on some level, in some ways. And since our need never ends, our satisfaction in the experience also never ends.

For those of us who know the truth of our salvation, the basic satisfaction is already there, but a cycle of remembering and reaffirming is still necessary. The current path people are taking, movies, may cease it's central role in that process. But the need will remain. Only Christ can truly meet it. 

Quotable

“They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of snakes is under their lips. Their mouths are full of bitterness and curses. And in their paths, nothing but ruin and misery, and the fear of God is not before their eyes. They have taken the hearts and minds of our leaders. They have recruited the rich and the powerful. And they have blinded us to the truth. The human spirit is corrupt. Why do we worship greed? Because outside the limit of our sights, feeding on us, perched on top of us, from birth to death are our owners.”- From THEY LIVE, Paraphrasing Romans 3 

Three Brilliant (But Very Short) Posts From MavPhil

http://maverickphilosopher.typepad.com/maverick_philosopher/2013/06/a-life-prolonged.html

http://maverickphilosopher.typepad.com/maverick_philosopher/2013/06/the-company-we-keep-away-from.html

http://maverickphilosopher.typepad.com/maverick_philosopher/2013/06/a-life-well-lived.html

Not Really Off-Topic: MAN OF STEEL

Some early reviewers are saying the new Superman movie really emphasizes the Christ allegory aspect of the character. I hope this is true. I am looking for these connections to become more well known. I think recent turns in pop culture are great bridges for evangelism. The stronger my faith becomes, the more of a DC Comics (as opposed to Marvel) I become. This is not incidental yet as a movie fan, I recognize Marvel is doing a much better job at developing their intellectual property rights cinematically. I really hope DC is getting their act in gear.

Aftershocks Of A Writing Session

After working on the THEY LIVE Bible study today, I feel ultra-sensitive to certain aspects of consumerist culture on television. That movie touched on something deep and true. Triangulating that truth with Biblical insights definitely had some effect on my soul. I love it when my work changes me.

Not Really Off-Topic: THEY LIVE

If you are 18+ you should check out John Carpenter's THEY LIVE. It is a powerful social commentary and perhaps one of the best examinations of spiritual warfare and oppression in the entire history of science fiction. The Book of Revelation is a powerful influence on the film. Worth checking, more than worth it.

Quotable

"To every man upon this earth, death cometh soon or late; 
And how can man die better than facing fearful odds, 
For the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his gods"- From Horatius At The Bridge by Lord Thomas Babington Macauly

Off-Hand Questions

What qualifies one as a 'fan' of something? Is it just loving it? Or is it loving it through thick and thin? Can one say "I used to be a fan of that"? Or does the passing of the interest indicate that one was never a fan? Fan, after all, comes from the word 'fanatic'. Does the true fanatic ever leave the path?

Off-Topic: On Fair Weather And Foul Weather Whovians

Re-Posted From Facebook:

Through its history, DOCTOR WHO has had ebbs and flows in terms of fan base. There were times when EVERYthing in Britain was Doctor Who, and times when only complete "losers" watched the show. In the US, we never really had a time like we do now, when the fire catches on and 'everything' is Doctor Who. Now, I want you to know, I got my bona fides. I've been watching DOCTOR WHO since I was 6 years old. In High School I had a resurgence when stuff started coming out on DVD and tapes were being sold cheap, and I got to re-live some of my favorite episodes. In my early 20s I was a member of NITRO9 the Doctor Who Fan Club. I'm saying this because I want you to know I'm in this for the long haul. When the fire dies down and everyone complains that the show has gotten stale and only 'losers' are watching again, I'll still be there. Because the show has been going on and off for fifty freaking years, and there have been good times and bad times. Even in the bad times there were moments of greatness and in the good times moments of complete stupidity. There are some who are upset about the explosion of fandom and are sick of hearing about it from all corners. I'm not. I know it has been like this before, and besides it is cool to be in the in crowd, if only for a little while. I know I'll be on the out crowd again. Some of you will come with me, some won't. But as long as you're a Whovian, whether for an hour or a lifetime, you're my people.

A Passing Thought On A Wonderful Dream

I had a dream last night in which this equation was revealed to me that was supposed to be the one unifying theory of everything. Staring into it was like looking directly at the Logos, like the foundations of creation were laid bare. It was pretty awesome. I could not reproduce it if I tried. It made some sense to me (though in no way perfect sense) in the dream but now it slips away. What I do remember clearly is that on one side of the paper was all this math and on the other the math sort of transformed into beautiful artwork. The message to me was clear.

Reality is one. Underneath the multiplicity there is some kind of unity. To be a monotheist, or a pantheist for that matter, is to be convinced that this is so. Scientists so rarely recognize the religious underpinnings of their convictions. The search for a Grand Unified Theory (GUT) or a Theory of Everything (TOE) is motivated by a religious inclination. It is the 2000 year dominance of belief in One God that has made this quest so all-encompassing for the scientists of our day. I do not think the over-riding conviction of there being one all-encompassing theory of everything would be as strong as it is had polytheism maintained it's dominance in the west.

Religiously, we also seek a Grand Unified Theory of sorts. The First Great Commandment for Christians is "Hear O Israel your God is One, and you shall love the Lord Thy God with all your heart, mind and strength." We are motivated by a sense of underlying unity. Yet the unity that underlies the universe cannot be simply expressed in a mathematical formula. For even if all facts were included in such a formula, there would be left out the quality of those facts. And if the quality is included in the facts there remains the quality of the quality (Whitehead). Science is a grand scheme that tells us much, but it doesn't tell us everything. Art, philosophy, religion, these too are ways to gain truth about the world, and they have to have a place in an over-arching vision if the whole of human life is to be included. Indeed, a good sense of aesthetics is useful to adjudicated scientific theories. So the art bleeds into the math and the math into the art. The religious quest is to be able to take that outside view and see into the equation, to recognize the qualitative truths of what one is looking at.

Yes it was a good dream, and reminded me of a profound truth. Sad that my mind is too small to hold onto it all. I must wake up from every dream and every trance and move from the overall back into the particulars. After all, there is still much work to be done in the world of multiplicity, even as one slowly moves back home to the world of Unity.

One-Post Wednesday: Homily On Hope

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnB07nxheG4&feature=c4-overview&list=UU24p_hWKMSyDxrcySffDh3A

Environmentalism & The Combat Myth

Part of the problem environmentalism has faced is it's close association with secularism. There is no over-riding religious narrative and that is a problem.  The truth is that the language of sin and satan would do well to motivate people to action. Religion is power people, it is the power of God made manifest in the human condition. It is intended for good but easily corrupted to evil. To recognize the evil and leave it alone because of that is short-sighted and self-defeating. This is the essence of Alfred N Whitehead's project: to tap into the spiritual power of the moral experience.

In The Image Yet Fallen

We contain within us the image of God and the fallenness of satan. Any philosophical anthropology that fails to do justice to these two experiences is bound to bring disillusionment and to impede creative action. Within us are armies of angels and demons. Only in Christ is peace found and unity restored. Jesus suffering and resurrection embodies in a single unity the warring experiences of both. Within ourselves the war continues on. But in faith, we make sense of the whole. Jesus Christ proved the truth of monotheism. The thing He really saves us from, is unbelief.

Hope Vs Security

You gotta have hope. Life without hope is no life at all. A big shift in the Bible is a shift from looking at God as pushing history from the past and guiding it from the future. In the early part of the Bible, people looked back to the beginning of time, when God supposedly set the world in motion and decided it's fate as sovereign. As people got more sensitive to the problem of evil, the Bible stops looking back as much as looking forward, to a time in the future when God will make all things right.

Humans are future-oriented creatures. Living in this world, we have to have something to at least possibly look forward to. Now, I don't believe God is in all ways all-powerful. People who do rest in a kind of certainty that the future is set and that all will be well in every aspect of life. I would contend that this kind of certainty is not really hope. For hope implies uncertainty. Hope is what we believe can happen, and wish will happen, but do not know will happen. People who rest in certainty do indeed have the future-orientation that is necessary for happiness, but they get it at the expense of a sense of urgency of action. They lose their awareness that the future is to some degree in our hands. It isn't set. As such, they get complacent and put others at risk, for they do not see that there really are no guarantees in life. Life is an adventure, this is the ground of belief in God for me. But being an adventure, the possibility of failure exists, at least at points. The Universal Project may be vouchsafed, but individual projects within it cannot be, or else our lives are meaningless.

Of course, they are meaningless if there is no hope either. To believe that God is not all-powerful is not to believe that God is powerless. I believe that so long as I am here and tomorrow is a new day, anything is truly possible. For the world is ruled by a God who constantly seeds the universe with new ideas, and those new ideas, if they take root, can accomplish amazing things. I act in hope, in the belief that the world could get better. But not in the assurance that it will get better. We have a role to play, and we can impede the action of God. This gives me enough urgency of action to take up my cross daily, but keeps me from the illusion that the weight of the entire future is on my own shoulders and keeps me from despair. Religion's goal should be to undergird and make sense of meaningful, creative moral activity in the world and help us make sense of the experience of grace. A God that gives hope but not certainty accomplishes this, I think.

Not-Really Off-Topic: Great Scenes From THE SEVEN FACES OF DOCTOR LAO

In this one Appolonius of Tyana tells a very self-centered woman her fate in this world. It is one of the most frightening things I've ever seen in a movie, really. So well done, so powerful, such an important message.

Here a cynic gets a look in the mirror. He doesn't really like what he sees.

Here that same cynic is given a lesson in human nature and honesty.

Here Doctor Lao gives a lesson in the meaning of life itself. I saw this the first time when I was very young. When I saw it again as an adult I realized how deeply it must have affected me. So many of my beliefs today revolve around these kinds of ideas. I simply love this moment. It is truly significant.

Quotables

"Dr. Lao: My specialty is wisdom. Do you know what wisdom is?

Mike: No sir.

Dr. Lao: Wise answer."

-From THE SEVEN FACES OF DR LAO.

When Forgiveness Is The Best Revenge

The devil's goal is always to get us to hate and resent. To forgive is to defeat him. Indeed many of his minions on this earth wish to twist our hearts to justify their own hatred. To forgive them is to rob them of the victory they seek. Forgive often, and don't let anyone live in your own head rent-free. If someone is miserable they are likely to try to visit their misery on you, to make you afraid and worried and anxious so your own life matches theirs. Your emotions are not totally under your control, but to the degree they are, don't let them gain this victory. Fight, fight, and fight some more to find your godliness and happiness. It is your Christ-given right to something better. It was too costly for someone to take it from you. And when you find that place you can revel in it, revel in the light of God, which is greater than the darkness that threatens you. Sometimes forgiveness is the best revenge.

On The Power of Faith And Salvation

I had a dream the other night where I was floating around the city of my very mind. Most of the city was well-run, but there was a sector of town that was dirty, and rundown and dark. So very dark. At first I decided to float away from that area, but I realized that leaving depression and darkness to lie fallow is self-destructive. So I went to that part of the city to light it up. Now adjusting light levels in dreams is very difficult. But I knew I needed the light to fix the darkness. So I cried out, remembering a line from Bob Marley mentioned in a recently-watched film I AM LEGEND, I cried out "light up the darkness" and indeed the light came from on high, and it lit up and fixed that part of the city. And I woke up feeling like a million bucks.

The Devil Doesn't Like To Lose...

This I have learned well in my life. For years I was his footstool. I am no longer. For years after I was his occasional tool. Those occasions are getting less and less. Every time I make an internal, spiritual achievement, every time I take one long step closer to my Lord, I can see the devil doing all he can to punish me for it. People he uses to oppress me, and thoughts and images. This requires no magical thinking. It is not a supernatural also-ran. It is in the social fabric of our world. People hate to see people who are doing better than them: morally or aesthetically, in terms of attitude or material success. Envy is the law of satan, and it runs through much of the world. So when I feel myself a step closer, grabbing that offered rope and with God's mighty help pulling myself just one step closer, I feel all the powers of evil aligning against me. It is a massive assault, a cosmic assault. On my own, I know that this should destroy me, or cause me to fall back. But the grace of God is a powerful thing, even in the hands of a loser like myself. I may stumble, but I will not fall. I may be crushed down, but I can never be destroyed. Truth once seen is just too grand to give up.

Quotable

"Light up the darkness."- Bob Marley

The Fight For Faith

I've had some rough stuff happen to me the last week. This has caused an undue increase in worry, fear and anxiety. The week before that a disconcerting thought threatened depression. Over the years, I've learned that at times like this only one thing is the answer: faith. Faith in what is good and true. As long as I remember that Jesus is Lord, and what that really means, I am fine. Better than fine, I'm good.

But my faith vacillates. It is stronger at times and weaker at other times. I have faithless moments and periods. During those times, I have to find a way to strengthen my faith. So I pray more, I study the Bible, and I meditate. As much as I possibly can. I also begin to dream journal more because I know that bad times bring about negative dream images which themselves contribute to depression. I theorize that negative dream imagery which is unremembered but leaves emotional scars is one of the causes of the epidemic of depression in this world. I lucid dream and try to move my internal imagery in a possible direction.

When this increase in introspection begins, it is difficult and painful. Often all of the negative emotions rise up to the surface and attack with gusto. The devil sees and opening and begins a full-on assault. The trick is not to let this pain dissuade you. Push on through, and you'll find on the other side is something wonderful. It takes patience, practice and prayer. Prayer is usually a safer form of introspection, as it is a reaching out rather than a reaching in. It helps 'prime the pump' to make the meditative practices more effective. It helps weed out the lies of the evil one. But they must be waded through, you cannot go around the swamp to get to the garden. You have to muck your way through it.

Helpful during these times is also regulating very tightly the input I receive. I read more comic books, especially ones about the hero saving the day. As I said I read the Bible both as an object of study and devotionally. I try to watch films that are uplifting, especially kids movies I enjoy. I listen to music with positive messages only, surround myself with positive people and friends, and I talk openly about whatever is causing my downturn. We often think we have to keep our pain inside to keep from inflicting it on others. But in fact, the darkness is dispelled by the light of truth. Openness with friends is a strength, not a weakness. And it is no burden so long as you are a person who reciprocates.

If you do this long enough, you will find your way back to faith, and when it comes back it comes back like a flood. There is a moment of insight, a vision in a dream or while meditating, some voice from the other side beckoning to comfort. A whisper of a positive message. All of a sudden a wave of life-giving water floods into the swamp, and you are carried safely to the other side. This is the power of faith, this is the light of truth. My recent hardships are still there. I can feel them pecking at me. But their power has been robbed. They moved from being terrible demons to annoying imps. I have a sword of light to kill what's left. Thanks be to my Lord Jesus Christ, for the gift of faith and the power it holds.