I recently got some much needed glasses and I must say that the world is a vastly different place than my prior level of perception led me to believe. There is just so much detail, so much clarity, just so much—vivacity in the things that surround me that at times I’m honestly left breathless. I am amazed by all of this because at some point I must have known that this world was so enthralling and so how could I have forgotten? Be that as it may, I am captivated by just how much there is to see, by how bare and unbridled the earth presents herself to me, in short, by exactly how much red there really is within the colour red.
Now, I have never had a conversion experience but this affair made me wonder if this was perhaps how such an event should feel like. The occurrence of having ones eyes opened to the beauty that is so very much within their reach and to realize that—to steal from Shakespeare—there are more things in heaven and earth, than are dreamt of in our philosophy. There is much to be learnt from nature and this isn’t the first time that I was privy to such a lesson. Back then as indeed now, I felt as if I beheld the very seat of beauty. As if I teetered on the edge of my world, and “the place where all the beauty came from” lay only a horizon’s crossing away. More than I could know and more than you could imagine, I wished firmly that this moment could last forever. That I could stay there forever to live in “the place where I ought to have been born.”
As wonderful as the event was, it did end in heartbreak—if only for a season—and the memory thereof will for a long time be accompanied by a deep-seated longing. A pain. A sharp pain that is obtrusive yet not entirely unpleasant for the fact that in the degree that it hurts, such also is the degree of my love for beauty. Though, since pain is a hurt nonetheless, as a Christian I am not left without some comfort. To my bewilderment, the nature which I have seen and which has mesmerized me is but a shadow of the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. And this perfection has imparted me with promises he can’t help but keep, promises which can’t but come to fruition.
He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away [...] They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever [...] These words are trustworthy and true.
– Revelation 21:3-4; 22:4-6 ESV
Hello,
Thought I would send a quick comment to see how things were going for you. Hope all is well with school and life in general. How is your series on Islam for God Omnipotent working out? God bless,
Eden
Hey Eden, sorry about the late reply. I haven’t had a chance of being on a computer in a while. My exams went great and am just waiting for the last of my results right now though I’m not too worried, the year went great. Life is going good as well, not the easiest but it could always be worse, you know? Anyway as far as the God Omnipotent blog goes, I’ve received a few comments that I’ve yet to approve (I will though, it’s just I found out about them today and want to write a reply to them) and I plan to make a post specifically concerning these comments and a recurring hypocrisy stemming from one of the authors. Anyway that will most likely be after Christmas. How are things with you by the way?
Tim
Congrats on doing well on your exams! Glad to hear all is going well for you and God Omnipotent is still alive and well. Things are going pretty well here, thanks for asking. Need to get myself into the habit of reading and writing more. I need to come up with a topic for a guest post on another blog but my brain seems to be rebelling on me in that department lol. Have a Merry Christmas and a great New Year!
Eden
Hey there Tim,
Yes, I was able to come up with something for a guest post, praise God :) I was notified just this evening that it will be going up tomorrow (Wed). I’ll be posting the link on my blog.
Good job dueling with Unitarianism by the way. Keep it up! Hope all is going well,
Eden
Oh alright, I’m glad to see that things have worked out for you. Thanks for the encouragement. The individual does seem fairly sincere so I hope that he does think about the issues I have raised especially given the fact that the verses he has raised so far (the ones from James and Paul) only seem to agree with him when they haven’t been placed within their specific context. Unlike the individual who brought up James 1:13 in the Joshua Evans thread, I’m hoping that this person will at least respond. That said, I guess we’re getting somewhat off-topic…
Any luck getting a response from Landsway on your last post?
Also, just wanted to throw this out there. Nick Welford at Ebs and Flows is looking for people to do guest posts. I don’t know if you would have the time with school and all, or if you would want to, but it might be a good way to call more attention to God Omnipotent. Here is the link: http://nwelford.wordpress.com/2011/01/09/guest-blog-alert/
Blessings,
Eden
He has not replied to me per se, that is, he has not responded to a single one of the points which I had brought up in my article safe to say that I shouldn’t be so quick to use the word blasphemous when talking about what he believes (although I think that there was a small misunderstanding but anyway, I guess he has a point). He has however started a series to once more explain what he believes concerning Jesus and the Trinity but once again does not deal with the issues which I brought up. He says:
Jesus claimed to be the Son of God and the Bible states plainly that he is the Word of God. Yet many will still claim a trinity is true. We can look at some scripture and substitute the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost for the word God and see how the scripture looks and sounds when we do that. One of the most well known of all scriptures is John 3:16 which would read; “For the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost sent His Son……” John 3:17 would read; “For the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost sent not His Son to condemn the world…….” If the Son is the second member of the Trinity then we should be able to read scripture always substituting the distinct members of the trinity in the place of the word God. When we do so; however, the scripture makes no sense. [...] For me it just makes sense that if God is made up of three persons, we should be able to list them every time we see the word God, and we cannot and maintain the integrity of the scripture.
The above might sound persuasive but it’s simply not true. If we are to believe what he says above and also believe that God is only the Father, then in every place where scripture speaks of God we should be able to insert the words “the Father” in there yet when we do so, some verses cease to make sense:
“No one has ever seen the Father, but the one and only Son, who is himself the Father and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.” — John 1:18 NIV
If God is merely the Father, then we should be able to substitute “the Father” everywhere we run into the word “God” but as the above example shows, if we were to do so, scripture would not make sense because it clearly teaches that Christ is not the Father (in fact this teaching was another heresy in the history of the Christian religion). Another example of the above would be to read Hebrews 1:8 in conjunction with Psalm 45:6-7 and try to insert the words “the Father” for every instance of the word “God” and see if scripture isn’t bastardized. So there’s simply a lack of consistency with his arguments given that he wouldn’t even be able to prove his own point by the criteria he has given. Inconsistency is the sign of a failed argument. Anyway, I don’t mean to sound arrogant but I’m just sayin’ …
That said, I’ll think about the guest blogging thing but it might be somewhat hard to do with school and God Omnipotent and life
and a decent amount of shynessand also the fact that I don’t really know what I could talk about…but we’ll see.Your post made me remember my first day with glasses after years of struggling to see at distances. Truly, we can speak the words of God and proclaim that creation “is good”. Thank you for your words.
Thanks for reading! I still can’t believe how much I missed out on (and for how long). Creation really is good.
Hello Tim,
I don’t know if you are into this kind of thing, and I know you are busy, but I am trying to get a sort of online Christian literary journal going where other people can “publish” their poems, fiction, or song lyrics. The site is called Idylls For the King (http://idyllsfortheking.wordpress.com). If you write that sort of thing and ever want to contribute, just send me an email.
How are you doing? Hope all is going well for you. Blessings,
Eden
Oh i see, and I’ll check that out. Sorry about the late reply (again!) life’s fairly hectic. I guess that the best I can say is that I’m not great, but not miserable…merely surviving. Things should get better after this semester is over though.
Hang in there Tim. If you’re studying law (I remember reading that somewhere?) not doubt you have a lot to do. I’ll be praying for you.
Eden
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