The Nature of Man

     What is the nature of man? Is man inherently good or evil, and can he bring himself to a position of being fully good or not? These are the questions that try men's souls. If man is good on his own, then by his own wit and ability to reason, he can create a society that is perfect and a utopia. Such has been the topic of many a novel and motion picture, however, none come to pass in the movies or in reality. Because there is inconsistencies with "man being good' and what the Bible has to say about it.

      In Romans it talks about man being fully depraved, since man is depraved we cannot trust the systems that are not foundation-ally built on something higher than himself. Such as a domestic system, if the idea of marriage doesn't come from God, then the covenant is said unto what? There is no higher thing you are bringing into the picture, and since we are only basing it out of ourselves, and since we can change our minds, it logically follows that man cannot be his own standard. This is the problem with culture, since we have gone out into an age..a "new age" we now believe that the only standard necessary to be measured against is what we create for ourselves.

      In a world where we cannot be held accountable to anything except ourselves, then any kind of moral justification is possible. The unborn being slain, or who is to say that a person can't logically get to the point where any person with tan skin is not experiencing the utmost pleasurable quality of life and therefore doesn't deserve to be alive.

     We don't like to believe in the most extreme examples but that is the logical implication. If I say that tan is not good, and what is say is the standard I go by, then it is ok that tan is not good. Since I am "good" then what I say is therefore good. The logical incoherency is irrelevant when you are only justifying right and wrong and what is good and bad simply by the standard you create.

     This is the post-modern world that we now live in, where according to polluck the artist everything is irrational and by chance, and a hodge podge of religions can make up my moral code. Whatever the group with the loudest voice determines what rights are for individuals, and the one with the most say so can determine what society looks like. Be warned and vigilant, this is the culture we live in.

A Day with Plato

A Day with Plato

On a day not so unlike today, giving off feelings of newness and intrigue, there was a wisp in the air that could not be described. A man approached in what would be obviously ancient garb. He walked with a kind of sophisticated step, however his shoulders were moving with little gyration, making one think of nothing but humility. The strong faced, bearded man came staring into the working gears of my mind. The fact he had accepted his invitation to council with me and discusses theological matters like those at the council of Nicaea. Sitting down, he simply stared waiting for the beginning of the Socratic journey that is before us.

            The first thing was to greet as was the tradition of almost all cultures throughout time. Being very appreciative of him coming to listen, telling him that there is some good news that may perhaps bring relief to his wandering mind. The news that was being referred to is only relevant to him because of the epoch he was born in. He came from a time that was more or less unaware of Jewish culture. He knew nothing of the age of Christ. The entire purpose for this meeting is to bring into the mind of the one of the greatest influencers of thought, the coherency and persistence of truth that can be found in Christianity. If there was a world in which Plato who brought philosophy as a newborn into this world, believed and understood the worldview concerning Christianity, this would be a different world.

            So, the bearded Plato, with a slight grin his head at a slight tilt and his right eyebrow raised, as curious as a cat in a room full of empty boxes asks me, how does this “Christianity” answer the problem of a deity? Does it say that there are a plethora of deities all governing a different thing, or perhaps that you have a monotheistic view that you must sacrifice to in order so that it remains content. The simple reply is the beginning of a potentially profound discussion. I quickly began to use his own tactic of Q: and A: dialectic, and so the discussion begins.

            Plato, do you remember when you came up with the formation of what is concrete and what is subjective philosophically? Well of course I do, he replied. So you also remember the nature of all things intelligible and knowledge and intellect are of a more concrete nature I suppose, and that also if I recall you believe that a man’s soul is perfectible of able to be made more pure if it is ambivalent toward all things emotional. You believed that things outside of intellect and knowledge, things that are simply of this world are conceptually “shadows” of the true reality correct? Again with an affirmative response, as he cocked his head again the other direction with a curious look, retorting what are you getting at, I do believe in what all that you say. I then began to elaborate on how these are things that have been tested by time and some have stood true even without revelation of Christ. In a similar way as Einstein’s theories still are accurate in this current age although he lacked the technology to verify what he believed, Plato lacked a key factor but still hit the nail on the head in a lot of areas.

            Plato, There has been a great new understanding of a human incarnate deity that had come to the Jews. In him, and through the overarching creator that has become spread across the world, truth has been revealed. As you believed in a reality that of which is far more true than ours is, in the teachings of this religion, it is explained that there is a place called heaven (similar to your Elysium retrospectively) that of which God has created that exists in which everything follows down logically from the supernatural to the natural. In the explaining of this, elaborating on the fact we are made in the created image of a monotheistic deity being as some philosophers have said “The greatest conceivable being”. The characteristics of this deity are the virtues that you found to be so highly supreme in regard to all things, however his super intendancy is not restricted to simply those things, although he is those things, he is also the creative genius and the emotions that man feels but in a perfect stat. Let me ask you, can you truly do away with emotion? The answer was an abrupt “well, frankly I’m not entirely sure”. Then let us look at this critically. An emotion we will define as a particular feeling that of which you are experiencing relevant to your relationships or environment or concepts outside of the “environment”. By this definition, seeing as though we cannot truly remove environment or relationships, it seems as though we cannot remove them. Perhaps I am being daft, correct me if I am wrong? Plato nodded his head in agreement. So then if we cannot truly remove relationships because the relationship we will always have is with our self and the dialogue in our mind. The environment is not something we can earnestly speaking, completely destruct or do away with, for even if you are alone in a cave, you will still be afflicted with the emotion that of which you will have about being in said place all alone with [the relationship of] yourself. Would you agree then that we cannot do away with emotions since we cannot remove them? With a slightly noticeable tightening of muscles in the right corner of his mouth he nods with signs of contempt. I would like to suggest to you then that emotions and such other things of neither good of bad pejorative connotation that all men have and cannot be done away with were just passed down from God and his pure state which is Holy and Righteous. In this religion there is neither supremacy in the intellect nor the supremacy intuitive.

            Considering man has these things along with an inevitable ability to do evil, man is contingent would you agree? He answered; of course man must be contingent especially in light of the reality of “ ’ouk oude” in Greek, or more commonly known as “ex nihilo” in Latin. Plato conversed with me for a while on the necessity of man to have come from somewhere; this is partially why he came to the conclusion that there must be a higher truer reality than this one.

            Out of this I began to have discernment about it being opportune time to intellectually offer Christ as a means of salvation to a man in such a desperate need of not simply truth, but of The Truth. Plato I asked, have you ever noticed that there is perhaps a daunting feeling of emptiness that has plagued you and so many of those who were your cohorts in life? Plato responded distraughtly replied, that he believes all men are at times subjected to such a folly of the mind. That it should not be allowed to cause you to think or act differently, just something that the mind must arduously work away from. So I then asked do you thing purpose it is because there is a creator out there, so unlike the Greek anthropomorphized gods, that simply wants to be in relation to you. He who is not contingent has made he who is contingent simply to bring His own glory down and to be in relationship, not to bully or to make a man to abuse him, but to love him. Love truly is the embodiment of your highest virtues and nobilities. The creator is referred to in this religion as love itself, a never wavering or abandoning love that of which is constantly calling out to us. This is the hope which is what I believe is necessary to fill that empty void in the hearts of man. Not that any amount emotional indulgence, or as you would say, artisanal or fleshly indulgence, or intellectual arrival at truth, but an acceptance in a Creator that of which is above all things. Plato broke out into tears expressing himself as one who has been spending his entire life learning and seeking after an intellectual answer to the problems of life that of which could not fully be understood. Morality, ethics, such things needed a base that is outside of this reality to be true, but he could not find such a base except a more true place then here. He told me that this has given him a new ideological perspective on how to view purpose. That he has a long way to go but an eternity to think about. Shortly after this, Plato begins to hear his name be called out but a familiar voice. In a brief eclipse of the present, he found himself lying down in a meadow being called by a young Aristotle to talk with. Plato now has something to think about, that is, if he remembers his dream.

More to life than this

 The more I see how culture in America has been shaped and formed in the United States, it truly begins to make me sick how much Christians are backing down. I don't mean Christ isn't still working, or that Christians aren't still doing what they can and helping others "come to Christ" but that's where we tend to stop.

     I think our culture as a whole has forgotten what the meaning of the cross truly is. It isn't simply a tool to a one-time occurrence of living knowing we are going to heaven. The cross was the entirety of the promise of God to the human race, in the old testament. Mankind as a whole has been given more than just a ticket to heaven, but a  season pass to healing, restoration and renewal.
 
    The most incredible aspect to it all isn't that you have accepted Christ and now don't have to worry about working for a spot in the afterlife, but that you accept the reality that God is providentially and relentlessly pursuing your life. It is the same as having the person you look up to the most in life, or even a famous person coming to you and saying, I want to live life with you. You are my greatest joy, and I have laid my life down for you, now walk with me.

     I don't suppose using a celebrity of human figure is quite appropriate, but it gives us the idea of how significant it really is. Truly the more I think I have things figured out, God allows another layer, or wall to come down and let me grow through that. Almost like molting as an insect, You see yourself only as your flesh, as you allow it to come off, although it is a struggle it is freeing and you have grown through it. The great thing is though, is that we will always have another layer that will eventually be ready to come off, because we never stop growing.

     Every moment we surrender over our wills to His, our life becomes something more than living day to day paying bills purposeless. Life isn't about just making it until Christ returns, but a perpetual conflict filled tool God uses to grow and shape us for His will and Glory. The world isn't secular and Christian it is all God's whether it is not filled with His light or not. That is our purpose here though, To reclaim any territory in the enemies clutches, as Kuyper says.


"there is not a square inch in the whole domain of human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over, does not cry, Mine!"

     Let us not get lost in the mentality that our lives are our own for there is nothing in this world we truly can govern and control that our Christ has not already owned and seen. Healing, and restoration is God's desire for our lives and our hearts. He does not send troubles our way to test us, He is like a father watching their child suffer. His greatest desire is to see us want Him, above all things, and admit we need him.

     Why fight what is for our own good, I pray we do not.

Salvation in Christ

We as man have spent most of our days seeking and pursuing truth and life. Everyone wants to be accepted, everyone wants to be loved. These are universal truths among all peoples and among all cultures.

Humanity has spent so much time seeking truth, especially regarding religion, that it is easy to forget why we began to look in the first place. When it comes down to it, all men feel that there is something missing, an emptiness that cannot be filled no matter what we try to fill it with. I think it is safe to say that when we attempt to fill it, it may feel good for a while but brings us right back to where we started, and that is seeking to fill that hole.

Truly I think Christ is the only thing that can fill such a whole that has been laid inside of us. It only makes sense that man is incapable of filling it himself since he is created and not complete in himself. It takes a soft heart and an open mind to be able to accept it, but Christ in Christianity is the only example of self-sacrifice in an act of service to bring all of man to a position of holiness so that he may be close to his creator. No other religion in the world teaches that man is fallen and can’t do anything to save himself, but simply has to rely on a just, loving God.

Romans 3:23

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

 It seems indefinitely difficult to wrap our minds around becoming in touch with God once we realize that we have a sin barrier between us but there is hope.

John 14:6 says

“For I am the way the truth and the life and none come to the Father except through me”

If we choose to accept the one who has accepted all the suffering and pain of the world so that we know God which truly is life, then there is salvation in that. It is not difficult and requires no works or acts for us to be saved. It simply requires a hint of faith.

Romans 10:9

“If anyone believes in their heart that Jesus is Lord and confesses with their mouth that He rose from the dead, they will be saved”

If you believe and confess the verse above, you are a child of the living God and a part of the kingdom of Christ. If you have any desire to know more or learn more about this, leave a comment.

Selflessness or Love?

      C.S. Lewis brings up a remarkable point in one of his daily devotionals. He brings to light the realization that if we ask someone what is the greatest action or character trait we can show or portray to other people, people would answer selflessness. What's the problem with that right? Well it seems that it does truly show that our culture has become so narcissistic that even when we are talking about how to be "pious" we are still absorbed in the idea of self. The answer really implies that by my neglecting of self I am showing everyone else nobility and Christ. The reality is that we should be showing love that is the answer, not SELFlessness, which is making it about others instead of making it all revolve around self. 

     I think this shows a level of feeling inadequate, we desire sometimes to be so Christlike we in our own minds make it about how we can keep from granting our own desires or ambitions. We fear being selfish to a point where in the attempt to love others, the motive is to be the opposite of selfless instead of love itself. This is all very revelational especially to me because I am one of those people who feels the need to see my actions as selfless or selfish, trying to judge myself and every action and motive. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but my phrasing and mindset is wrong, I should be trying to show love in every action and thought. Christ doesn't call us to be selfless toward others and toward God, he calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves and to love God with all our heart and soul and mind. We can't get lost in the notion that it is about us even when making it about others. This is something I felt needed to be shared on a more widespread note. 

      No need to rant on about this idea, be blessed hope you enjoyed it!