DISQUS

Jonalyn Fincher · 3 months ago

This is beautifully meditated through, Dale. My favorite line: "The mystery of mystery is that God’s generosity puts us in a world too big for us, inviting us to know all we can and marvel in what is beyond."

Pkenney86 · 3 months ago

Dale,

These are thoughts have been thinking a lot lately. My friend who goes to Fuller was in town this week and he, Savannah, and I sat in our living room for about three hours talking about youth losing their faith after graduation. Some were questioning and the church refused to deal with them and they gave up. Few went to college and saw a world were sex, drunkeness, and illegal drugs was okay in some peoples eyes. With their acceptance of these attitudes came the acceptance of an entirely new world view. We talked for a long time about how we have seen this in people closest to us, and how did it happen? Why did it happen? What can be done?

Abraham Heschel said that God is not a hypothesis to test out or an awareness of God is not a missing link in a syllogism, it is getting away from the idea of a syllogism all together. He meant simply that God is a person, a relation to be entered into - if we only deal with God as an abstract hypothesis we will never find the God of the Bible. As you said, He is a Creator and not a First Cause. Your thoughts about mystery resonate in my mind and heart. I have been dealing with mystery in my life and have come to similar conclusions. Relationships are mysterious at times.

The Professor I am a GA for would love this post. To him, the heart of Judaism is the relation with God and man. Moreover, the more I study Judaism the more I realize it is not a legalistic religion as we like to think. It is a relational religion.

Good post, Dale.

Dale Fincher · 3 months ago

Philip, good words. Your last line I coincidental... I was speaking in a very conservative audience recently and shared how theologically, the universe is more relational than legal. Lots of question marks popped up, squinting eyes, scratching heads. How we see the universe will determine how we live: legalistically or lovingly. That may become my new "test" question when trying to help people see their own zeitgeist.

I'm with you on Judaism being a relational "religion..." I think we need to continue to do more work on what the "law" refers to in the New Testament. Reading James a couple of days ago, it sounds like he's rebukes those who follow the law and then encourages his readers to follow the law anyway ("Love your Neighbor")... obviously, he's not rebuking the Law of Moses else he's in obvious contradiction with himself. There is something more going on. It's that something more I want to understand better, especially since James was writing specifically to Jews (v. 1).

I hope your GAship is going well. Always good to read you, Philip. Hello to Savannah!

susyflory · 3 months ago

Hi, Dale. This was a very interesting post to think of in terms of marriage. I've been married now for 25 years, and I think I know my husband better than anyone else on the planet. Yet, he surprises me. Often. I like that I don't know him through and through, and that there are depths to him that I'm not even aware of and may never be aware of. He is a marvel to me, a faceted being who chooses to love me. He's a picture of God, as we all are. And knowing some of him in these 25 years makes me know what some of God is like...and makes me want to know more. Thank God we have eternity to get to know each other, and to get to know Him. Love this post. Thanks.

Dale Fincher · 3 months ago

Thanks, Susy! Good words. I love that we can be scholars of our spouses and still find mystery.

heathermather · 3 months ago

I have found that as I have gotten older, I am more willing to "sit" comfortably in my ambivalence concerning the mystery of God. The interesting thing is that this has allowed my relationship with Him to go to greater depths than if I had continued to force Him into my little box of legalism.

Dale Fincher · 3 months ago

I'm with you, Heather. I'm reminded of Annie Dillard who said that as she grew as child, she happened upon the discovery that the world outside her bedroom window was the same one outside her front door.

I think we realize as we honestly age that we cannot keep it altogether, that we understand very well. So it's either accept mystery, or go insane. As Chesterton said, "The mystic wants to get his head into the heavens; the logician tries to get the heavens into his head, and his head splits!"

Thanks for stopping by!

thiteral · 3 months ago

"We get to grow up in our knowledge too, taking in all that we are capable of. “When I became a man, I put away childish things.”"

This verse always concernes me, because I believe we take it too much in face value. Yes we should put away our chilish things, but we should never put away our childish wonder of God's creation and our purpose in it. As I've matured over the years I still try to maintain that 'childish wonder' when seeing the world thru my eyes (Much like your discription of the 'white woods').
That 'childish wonder' keeps the love of the Mystery and allows the questions that lead to maintaining our relationship with God.

I believe the Mysteries are intentional, and the questions expected...how else do we learn about the Glory of God and our relationship to it all.

Dale Fincher · 3 months ago

Indeed the mysteries are intentional... we are meant only to hear the music of a country we've never visited...

I do think Paul's reference I quoted from 1 Cor 13 about was about growing spiritually mature. I do not think he's referring to "wonder" or "humility" or "love" that children tend to exude more easily than some adults. Then again, I think adults who lack these qualities are only biological adults; not spiritual adults.

Putting "childlike" in front of wonder isn't a Biblical idea. We just attribute it to children more readily. Yet, I believe truly imaginative, humble, and mature adults often have more wonder than a child. Some of the most wonderful things I've seen in this world are through the eyes of the poets. And I think all healthy humans are capable of having this wonder. But it's likely a matter of learning to pay attention with the fear of the Lord than it has to do with the naivety of children... just a thought.