Darkness, because daylight hides the unknown.
The moon, because the sun cannot be looked upon.
The worst, because the best is yet a lie.
The sigh, because the song will end.
Violence, because peace is fragile.
Savagery, because civilization is the refuge of cowards.
Chaos, because order is a prison.
The unspoken, because words have spaces in between.
Broken, because perfection is an illusion.
The awake, because the dreaming must awaken and the awake must soon fall asleep.
The present, because the past and the future are non-existent.
The mystery, because the obvious is treacherous.
The lament, because the ode must never hit a false note.
Death, because life slips away.
For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together
Friday, May 20, 2016
Sunday, May 15, 2016
Some Other Words For Grace Besides Amazing
No other word for grace but amazing.
But I would like to offer some runners up: inexplicable, incongruous, cognitively dissonant, perplexing, scandalous, subversive, disruptive, inconceivable, difficult, strange, humiliating, liberating, enslaving....
Grace is the biggest hurdle for the unbeliever, and for many believers as well.
What concept is more integral to humanity than merit? What could possibly be more disruptive to fairness than grace?
More impossible than acceptance of the supernatural to the sensibilities of a good person is the idea that no good we can do could ever determine our goodness, and that no bad we could do could ever place us outside the limits of redemption.
I have said before that modern secular humanists, with their incremental, legalistic creed of achieving goodness with no eternal ulterior motive, with no hope of reward, have taken pride to dizzying, unprecedented heights, but it seems I had forgotten a monument called Babel. I have expressed incredulity at the hubris of a current presidential candidate who said he believes in God, but has never felt he needed His forgiveness, but it seems I had forgotten myself.
It is the plain, insipid truth that pride is not merely in our DNA, it is both rails and each rung of the twisted double helix. We, I, will be good enough, or "I" will not. No proffered hand, no vicarious atonement will be tolerated. If I cannot be good, it is revolting and insulting to allow the possibility that something could be a Substitute, a Scapegoat bearing my sins sent into the wilderness while I go unscathed and guiltless back to camp.
Do the math. If I do more good than bad, I am good, even if, no, especially if, there is no scorekeeper.
It could be said that the good atheist is a spiritual libertarian, taking responsibility for his own goodness without incentive, and the good christian is the spiritual statist, abjectly grateful for every undeserved crumb that is thrown him.
Gratefulness is a vile anethema; self preservation a cowardly sellout.
And yet, here am I, the fiercely independent political libertarian, the UPS guy who dismisses all offers of assistance with numerous or overweight packages with "Nah, it ain't heavy." only occasionally aware of the filthiness and raggedness of my own goodness, but living by the almost subconscious certainty that grace is my only hope.
But I would like to offer some runners up: inexplicable, incongruous, cognitively dissonant, perplexing, scandalous, subversive, disruptive, inconceivable, difficult, strange, humiliating, liberating, enslaving....
Grace is the biggest hurdle for the unbeliever, and for many believers as well.
What concept is more integral to humanity than merit? What could possibly be more disruptive to fairness than grace?
More impossible than acceptance of the supernatural to the sensibilities of a good person is the idea that no good we can do could ever determine our goodness, and that no bad we could do could ever place us outside the limits of redemption.
I have said before that modern secular humanists, with their incremental, legalistic creed of achieving goodness with no eternal ulterior motive, with no hope of reward, have taken pride to dizzying, unprecedented heights, but it seems I had forgotten a monument called Babel. I have expressed incredulity at the hubris of a current presidential candidate who said he believes in God, but has never felt he needed His forgiveness, but it seems I had forgotten myself.
It is the plain, insipid truth that pride is not merely in our DNA, it is both rails and each rung of the twisted double helix. We, I, will be good enough, or "I" will not. No proffered hand, no vicarious atonement will be tolerated. If I cannot be good, it is revolting and insulting to allow the possibility that something could be a Substitute, a Scapegoat bearing my sins sent into the wilderness while I go unscathed and guiltless back to camp.
Do the math. If I do more good than bad, I am good, even if, no, especially if, there is no scorekeeper.
It could be said that the good atheist is a spiritual libertarian, taking responsibility for his own goodness without incentive, and the good christian is the spiritual statist, abjectly grateful for every undeserved crumb that is thrown him.
Gratefulness is a vile anethema; self preservation a cowardly sellout.
And yet, here am I, the fiercely independent political libertarian, the UPS guy who dismisses all offers of assistance with numerous or overweight packages with "Nah, it ain't heavy." only occasionally aware of the filthiness and raggedness of my own goodness, but living by the almost subconscious certainty that grace is my only hope.
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