Deeper Waters

As a single male who is a Christian philosopher seeking to get married, I have a love of at least there things. There are more, but today, I choose to write on these three. I love beauty. I love ladies. I love God.  Some of us might be able to think of how two of the three can be connected. How can all three though?

<> Obviously, when we men talk about ladies, one thing we do say is that we love their beauty. Let me go on and dispel any idea some might have about me. I do believe a lady’s appearance is important and I am quite drawn to that. Why shouldn’t I be? Did not God give a lady a naturally beautiful form for a reason?

I have often asked a question to men. I give them a list of things in the universe such as a distant galaxy, the Grand Canyon, a gorgoeus sunset, a pristine waterfall, a majestic mountain, a priceless work of art, a wonderously carved statue. The last item I give will always be “A human female.” I then say “Name the most beautiful.” The lady wins hands-down every time.

What is it about us men with this specimen called the human female? If we catch a glimpse of a beauty and we want to be sure we saw, we will go to the ends of the Earth for what? We simply want to see her again. Our eyes automatically give us the clue that we have seen a slice of divinity, and I would dare say we have.

The lady is the last direct creation of God in the Genesis creation narrative. I believe she is the crown of creation in that she mirrors God’s beauty. She was seen without any covering. Many of us can wonder exactly how Adam reacted to hear a rustling in the bushes and see this beauty come out of them to meet him. Many more of us single guys have wondered exactly what the first lady created by God looked like.

We cannot separate her beauty from God’s. There would be no beauty in the effect if there was no beauty in the cause. The Psalmist said that he sought to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord in Psalm 27:4. Is it any coincidence that most guys seek to look upon the beauty of the female? Could our pursuit of the female, which is fully expressed in sexual intercourse, show how we are to pursue God?

After all, which man would be looked upon nobly if when asked why he was wanting to get married said “I just want to have constant sexual intercourse.” Many a married person would say that he’s deluded at that point.  The single guy would understand the desire for intercourse as would the married person and I think it’s commendable, yet we would find one sorely missed if they merely wanted an experience.

After all, if you merely want an experience and you are not concerned about the person, then you are using the person. A person is not meant to be used though. They are meant to be loved. Persons are not things and as soon as we start treating them as mere objects, we start living out of step with reality.

Yet what if we changed this instead? What if we said we want to experience the person? Then, I think, we are on to something. Which of us would look at the nature of God and say “I merely want to know what he’s like.” That’s a good goal to have, but is it a good one to have if you say “I don’t want to know him. I just want to know what he’s like.” God is not meant to be treated like a lab rat or an object of curiosity. Neither is a lady.

In this then, we must avoid two extremes and go for the golden mean. We cannot treat God as merely an object of knowledge. On the other hand, we cannot have just an idea of experiencing God. It’s important to know who it is that you are experiencing, just as it is important to know who you are in bed with. Just ask Jacob how important that fact is.

Thus, we are to pursue God for who he is and desire to experience him based on who he is. Is this not the way we do in the romance relationship? Do we not as men pursue the girl and the more we see who she is, the more we truly want to experience her? The two are working hand in hand.

And what is this experience? Total revelation. The two become so interconnected that they are one. The sexual unity between man and woman is meant to be a lesser light pointing to the greater light of the unity of God in relationship with man. I can imagine my married friends telling me, “If that unity of God in relationship with man is greater, then wow, it must be really awesome.”

And what is the result? New life. We are the bride of Christ. He comes to us and puts his life in us. The new birth is in this case though, ourselves. We are the ones that receive the new life. It is Christ in us. We are reborn and made to walk as he did. This only comes though when we open ourselves up to him. Christ is not a rapist. He does not force anyone to receive his life. You are free to dismiss the wooing of this gentleman, but if you forsake love in its very essence, then where are you to go?

Yes. The three are connected, and should they not be? Should not all that is here point to God in someway? Does not all of creation say “I’m not it. I’m not the goal. Look past me.” Indeed my fellow men, even our women say that. Treat them as beautiful treasures that they are, but realize that they are gifts, and as wondrous as opening the gift is on the day, it will be far better to meet the source of the gift.

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There are a number of ways to answer the problem of evil. There is a rational defense of it and I’m capable of that. However, I think the reason the problem of evil hits us so hard is that it’s so real to us in our daily lives. Why do I write this today? Because today, I visited a friend in the hospital who’d been in a head-on collision. He’s going to be bed-ridden due to broken ankles until August and the other guy is dead. What do you say when they ask “Why did God allow this to happen?”

<> I don’t doubt this guy’s a Christian. He’s a great one. Yet we can all ask the question and understand why. I think it’s the proximity of it all that gets to us as well. Imagine a loved one dies that you’re close to and you go to God and you say “Why did X die?” “Well, several people die every day and you don’t say anything.” “Yeah, but why this one?”

<> You feel that pain to a degree of how close that person is to you. Every case of suffering pretty much, you’ve heard about before, but then you know someone who’s going through it and it suddenly takes on new meaning. Suddenly, you are wondering why this person of all people.

I think some things that are important is to remember the incarnation and resurrection. God in Christ lived among us and lived this wicked world for us. He did die that death for us and he did rise again. If that’s so, then naturalism is defeated and Christianity is true. If so, then the problem of evil does have an answer.

Secondly, we have to trust God. If God is omniscient and omnibenevolent and knows the beginning from the end, then we can be assured that he has a good reason for why he allows things to happen. It’s important to realize that we don’t have to know that reason and we probably won’t.

Thirdly, where else are we to go? To whom shall we go Lord? You have the words of eternal life? If you reject Christianity for evil, where else are you gonna go? Naturalism? What can that offer? That is a worldview that cannot even define evil let alone give an answer for it.

Finally, we need to be good friends to those in need and realize that God does not give us just a rational answer. He gives us himself. When the person comes suffering at first, they need a friend more than they need a philosopher. I’ve told several of my friends that if they’re in ministry and a young mother comes whose child was killed in a car accident and they want to know why, you do not become a philosopher or a theologian there. Instead, you be a minister, a counselor, a friend, etc. They need a shoulder to cry on. Later on, they might want an apologist. Now, they don’t need one.

And let’s not forget the worst evil of all. We usually think of evil as in death or injury or financial loss. What about the evil you bring upon yourself? What about the wickedness of your soul? Are you doing anything about that? You who complain about the Problem of Evil? Are you being the Problem of Evil? Are you seeking to justify yourself or are you willingly receiving justification from God?

<> More importantly, are we?

I have a friend who is a real blessing to me who came to me tonight and we started discussing hard times going through and I got told something along the lines of “Do you still see me as this kind of person even though I’m suffering now?”

 Honestly, I’ve thought the same kind of thing before. It’s amazing that we’ve got this view of life that we’re supposed to be invincible in Christianity. Are we still having Job’s doctrine, one doctrine specifically refuted by God himself in the Bible, that if we’re having problems, we’re less than Christian?

 I think of what G.K. Chesterton said. The stoics of the time prided themselves on concealing their tears. Christ never concealed his. Christ was extremely forward with his emotions. He’s the one who went into the temple and drove out the merchants and who asked the Pharisees how they would escape Hell.

Would it not be great if we would learn from that? Does it not help you whenever you see your heroes in the faith admit their weaknesses and problems? I really am blessed when the men I want to be like and feel so distant from admit that in many ways, they are just like me.

 Friend. Christ never told you to be invincible. Christ never told you to be ashamed of yourself or your emotions. Christ told you to be real. He came to give you a whole life and not part of a life.

No. Don’t be overcome by emotion either of course. Self-control is a Christian virtue. Do not become devoid of emotion however. Share your struggles. Share your sins.

And guys, this is probably harder for us. We men are taught that real men don’t cry. We learn to conceal our emotions and shut them off. Look at Jesus. If you are a Christian, will you not say real men ought to be like Jesus? Look at your idea of masculinity and look at Jesus. Do they match? If they don’t, and mine sure doesn’t, then our views of masculinity are wrong.

And to my friend who knows who they are, you rock entirely. I believe one thing that’s shaped me be the man that I am today is having a friend like you in my life. Thank you.

We have TVs where I work and it was slow tonight and myself and the lady I work with do not really care for “Cars” so we decided to put in a movie we both enjoy which would be Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This is just one movie I never tire of, particularly the Veruca Salt video.  There are times I have watched that video on YouTube and just hit the button to watch it again over and over.

<> This story is just so magical. Willy Wonka is just this amazing character who seems to be stuff that is said to be impossible  “But Willy Wonka did it!”  As you watch, you are amazed at what wonders he has in his factory, but at the same time, it is almost as if they were expected. Part of the children leaving the tour seems contrived, but at the same time, it seems like a natural progression to their actions.

<> Imagination is such a wonderful thing. It is like having a transcendent experience every time.  I wonder how many of us are like Neo and living in a dream world. Do we live in a world where adventure awaits just around the corner? Do we live in a world where the knights win the damsels and where warriors show up to slay the dragons?

This is one reason I am such a fantasy buff. I find it easy to imagine something greater beyond this world. How many of us look at our day to day lives and just watch and think “No. There has to be more to it than this.”? How many of us are reaching out and grasping for something greater than ourselves?

In this, the odd view out would be atheism. If this view is true, all that is is what is detectable by your senses. If that which you seek is not in this world, then it simply is not. There is truly no place for magic. There is also no place for wonder as why should one hold wonder at what chaos has wrought? (Odd that the skeptical worldview says that chaos can produce good in physics yet they don’t want that in morality.)

What kind of world are fantasy stories more at home in? In a theistic one. This is one reason we all love these stories so much. These stories are either our story or we want them to be our story. What little boy did not watch Superman growing up and dream of flying through the air and beating up bad guys? How many girls heard the stories of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty and thought “Someday my prince will come.”?

Yes. This is why these stories are still so popular and why so many of us become children again upon seeing these stories. We do believe there is something out there greater than us and we long for it. Our hearts thirst for it endlessly. We don’t know what it is, but we know that it is.

I believe this is the afterlife in Heaven we are seeking. This desire is described by C.S. Lewis in his autobiography “Surprised By Joy.” The world of the imagination points to that as imagination belongs to the kingdom of Heaven and not to the kingdom of this world.

Yes. Wonka casts a spell on me every time that makes me believe the good will be rewarded and that there are places where your wildest dreams come true. It is a spell I willingly submit to and have no desire to ever see dispelled.