This morning during the sermon a question was asked. That question sparked two others. So for anyone who stops by, 3 questions. I'd love to hear some thoughts.
How do we trust God when our perception of reality is shattered?
Why do we trust our perception of reality more than God's?
Why is service such a big part of recalibrating our perception of reality?
Discuss.
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15 comments:
Wow. Would love to hear the context for these...
1.) Trusting God in chaos--Tough one. Humility-we are not God. Frequently we have to be reminded that God (and reality for that matter) is larger than our perceptions of God or reality. So, for that purpose, God gives us a Word-made-flesh, to show us what He is really like and what He really cares about. The answer to the question? As for most questions about the human predicament--Look to Jesus! That way, God is able--by the Spirit's power--to shatter my perceptions of reality on a daily/hourly basis.
2.) This one is easier. Sin, idolatry and pride. We want our perceptions to be valid, so we worship them and give them divine status. Classic depravity.
3.) I think what you're asking can be linked to Jesus' washing of the disciple's feet and how He asks us to go and do likewise: Service (even menial stuff, especially that) takes us out of the problem in #2. Witness Paul hanging out with Gentiles, Peter being asked to eat pork, etc. God's call to ministry takes us out of our little fiefdoms of the ego and places squarely in the middle of His purpose. That's providence!
Hmm...briefly:
1. I would say that one would have to have some kind of idea of God that is bigger than one's perceptions. That is - faith in God as a mystery that is larger than one's understanding.
I would also say that a pre-existing relationship with God would be crucial. I can trust close friends, my wife and (most of) my family even when my perceptions are broken because I have a history of them being trustworthy and of them loving me and having my best interests at heart even when they disagree...
2. I think its impossible to trust God's perception of reality more than our own - we can't even conceptualize of God without using our perceptions, even if it is just in the imaginitive sense. Our perception of God's perception of reality is as close as we can get - as far as my thinking goes, anyway. I know there are others who believe they can perceive as God does and understand much more fully than I think I can - and I have no idea what that would feel like.
(I am also skeptical when I see that people who claim that kind of special knowledge aren't noticeably distinct from your average person - you'd think that if someone had objective knowledge of God, it would *show* in who they are and how they act)
3. My belief - we are most fully who we are when we are using what we have for the good, when our hands are dirty and our backs tired because we have worked on behalf of what is right, what leads to the flourishing of all life, to justice, to the ideals we talk about all the time. We are better healers when wounded, better workers when overwhelmed, better leaders when humble, better vessels when empty.
Through service, we come to know ourselves, and at the same time, our place in the world, and as we understand that more, we understand the one who placed us where we are and made us who we are as well.
***
Your blog title got a chuckle from me, by the way.
John Shuck has such power... :)
Toby & Doug,
Thanks for the thoughtful responses, I hope maybe some other folks will drop by and comment. I'd really like some more thoughts. Feel free to pass it on.
Toby, I'm not sure I want to do contect here (I'm interested in answers without context), but would be happy to give some elsewhere.
Doug, It's interesting since the shuckites haven't necessarily found it too amusing. I just wanted to express how silly it is to limit commenters to only google bloggers, and then to berate me (in an e mail) because I didn't want to jump through his hoops. Until this it has been just for fun (unlike my other blog), but I may move in another direction occaisionally.
Howdy, Craig.
My 2 cents:
How do we trust God when our perception of reality is shattered?
We trust that God IS, not that God DOES, or Gpod WILL DO. The Jewish Scriptures that we inherited as Christians have God declaring His name to be I am that I am -- which, is a verb. Not a noun. As a verb, God then is Someone we experince, not a subject we count on to act, or an object we count on to substantiate our trust. We jump into the Verb of Life, which is God -- and hold on tight.
Why do we trust our perception of reality more than God's?
Not sure what this means, but it presupposes than we have a clear view of God's perception. We have neither a clear view of God's perception or our own. I don't know what else Paul could have meant when he said we see as through a glass, darkly. Myself, I trust no perception. I throw mysef onto the Cosmos and All That Is and I trust God.
Why is service such a big part of recalibrating our perception of reality?
Again, not sure what your asking. But there is no Christian faith that is not also "service." It is not some thing that is separate from "faith." It is all of a piece. And we do it -- we love, we give, we help -- not to recalibrate anything or for brownie points or for any other reason that Our Lord asks us to, and if we love Him we will do as he asks. Then, we often find we are being healed. But if we don't do those thing, and more, then we have no faith in the first place.
Peace.
Good questions.
1. Just go back to his word. He is the only one we can really trust, and the one we compare all other things to in determining what is true (Acts 17:11).
2. Sin of pride.
3. We focus on others instead of ourselves. We discover yet again that Jesus was right - it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Thanks Guys
If 'perception of reality' is shattered, how can one possibly take comfort in God whom NO MAN has ever seen? I understand the appeal to scripture and agree, but God is present everywhere... not just scripture. The Earth is very well ordered. Cause and Effect are fundamental laws of this universe. One need only look at nature to find something to have have faith in... gravity holds everyone's feet firmly on the ground. I'd say look to your surroundings and find the steady rock of Order... There can be no order without God.
We trust our perceptions more than God's because our eyes, our skin, our noses, tongues, ears... these are the only windows through which we have EVER experienced reality. Paul was blessed with a glimpse of heaven but was commanded to tell no one of what he saw. John got a glimpse and was told to write it all down... except for a portion of Revelation 10. Thomas said, "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." Jesus answered, "blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." In John 17:20 Jesus prayed for all of us who "have not seen" but through our own earthly perspective... "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word."
It is easier to trust our own senses; the proof of our own sight and knowledge, than it is to trust what the pages of a book 3500-1900 years removed from our lifetimes has to say.
Lastly, a person who buries his talent in the dirt sees no increase, reaps no profit, gains nothing. Ask Neil about service. Mission trips are a great way of seeing the increase God desires in our lives. Work in the fields, with the proper attitude toward God, can heal any shattered perception of reality.
To quote Lennon and McCartney,
"The love you take, is equal to the love you make"
That at least is the human ideal.... God has promised us more than an equal return for our faith and service. How do you compare twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years of service in the LORD to the eternity He promises us in return?
Talk about shattered perceptions!
I'll have to say that I'm not sure that the three questions make much sense to me, I'm sure I'm just not understanding, though. Perhaps you can illuminate.
1. Our "perception of reality is shattered"? What does that mean? It's never happened to me (as far as I know) that my perception of reality has shattered.
I HAVE decided that I was mistaken in an understanding or in what someone else represented, but I would not call that a shattering of my perception of reality, so I'm not entirely sure what you mean.
2. Why do we trust OUR perception of reality more than God's? Do we KNOW what God's "perception of reality" is?
We understand what we understand, as well as we understand it. We can be and often are wrong or incomplete in our perception of reality.
Again, I'm unclear on the point.
3. I'm not sure what you mean by "service." Service to others? If that is what you mean, then this comes closest to being a question I feel I can answer.
When we serve others - especially when we serve WITH (as opposed to "TO" or "FOR")the least of these, we get a more complete understanding of reality - that we often have things pretty well off and that there's almost always someone worse off than us. This can't help but increase our understanding of reality.
Is that what you're asking?
Nice name for a blog, by the way.
Although I'm not entirely sure what THAT means, either...
Was directed here by Erudite Redneck (he asked for a plug, and being a good on-line friend, I couldn't refuse).
1) An interesting question that begs all sorts of others. Perhaps you mean some kind of life-altering event such as a sudden, unexpected illness or tragedy? Perhaps you mean the collapse of meaning due to depression? I guess I'm not sure what, exactly, such a question means. One's "perception of reality" can be shattered by God - such as a transforming mystical experience, or the kind of "heart-warming" experience John Wesley described, or Martin Luther's revelation of the power of grace through faith. In those instances, what else do we have to cling to but God?
In the former instances - a sudden tragedy or the loss of meaning - I guess my answer would be that even people of faith have the freedom to scream out at God, "Why?" Part of faith is the demand that there be some kind of order. Of course, in calmer moments, we content ourselves that God's order and our order coincide. It is that moment when they separate and we are challenged that we might have a deeper, more profound understanding of God's love and desire for our lives.
2) As for this one, I think Neil is partly right. Not much more to say about that . . .
3) I guess service shatters our comfort zone.
When our perception of reality is shattered we are once again faced with the realization that God is more than we thought. I've often found that "reality" has more layers and nuances than I am willing to allow, and when those confines are shattered God is still there. How can I not trust God? I may be angry or hurt or disillusioned for a while, but God can take it, I think.
I fall into the camp of all we can trust is what we perceive (about reality or someone's interpretation of reality). All we know about God's reality is what we think we perceive to be God's reality. So as the journey goes, so our perceptions grow and become more complete-ish.
Service is the existential participation in God's creation, someone once wrote. I kind of like that idea.
What do you think?
Dan,
I will try to provide some clarity (although I'm much more interested in peoples reaction to the questions without much direction)
#1) I think that we (for the most part) expect things to go a certain way (or at least stay within some kind of broad limits). There are times when God does something/allows something to happen to us that is so far outside what we expect that it changes how we see everything.
#2 To me this boils down to "is our perception of reality even reality?" Or is God's?
#3 Yes, in this context, I am referring to serving others.
Hope that helps.
As far as the name, the short version is I was trying to comment on a blog that would only accept comments from google bloggers. I got a little ticked and came up with the blog name. It has mostly been a chance to tweak the folks over there. Until now.
Like Dan Trabue, I don't really understand the questions, but your explanations to him help.
But whether I understand the first question or not, my answer to it is that I trust God because he is God. My trust in him isn't based on any perception of reality or anything that is part of any particular situation in life; it's based on him, and he is the definition of trustworthiness. Whatever happens, I trust him.
As for the second question, I don't know that I do trust my perception of reality more than God's. What he says is right and ought to be done is what I know I ought to believe and do, whether it makes sense to me or not. I do understand that for many people this comes out differently; in many situations, they go with what feels right to them rather than what God's Word says. And this is probably because it's just plain easier, and often more socially acceptable. But it has always made sense to me that if God is God, then he must know more about everything than I do.
The third question kind of has me baffled because I don't relate to the part about recalibrating our perception of reality. Maybe I just really don't get the questions at all. But I do know that service is something that God calls us to, and so it's part of obeying him, and therefore it must be part of learning to see things as God sees them.
This was a pretty muddled answer, I'm afraid.
I like Doug Hagler's answers very much. If I had been taking a different approach and not thinking about myself personally, I might have said something similar.
1. How do we trust God when our perception of reality is shattered?
In that we can never know what reality is outside our perceptions of it, if our perception is small enough to be shattered then we need to re-build a larger and stronger perception. Yes, God is outside of our perception, to realize that, is to realize how small God is to most people.
2. Why do we trust our perception of reality more than God's?
We only know our own, and can not know God's. Beside if we dig so deep into ourselves and go so far out to the extremes of the cosmos that we begin to approximate God's perception, then it scares the shit out of us and we run back into the comfort zone of our own perceptions.
3. Why is service such a big part of recalibrating our perception of reality? I beleive that there are and have been and will be many paths to God. Most of these paths share the rule that you must do to or for others what you would have done for or to yourself. They all require that you love others and that you love God. Providing for the needs of others is the esscence of "service". Providing service is expressing God's grace.
I love the way you phrase the third question...Why is service such a big part of recalibrating our perception of reality?
Really makes me think!
brad
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