Why people at my church rock:
Adam: "We should keep up this Wednesday night meeting."
Father David: 'Yeah, we could be the Inklings! And hey, you guys are off contract over the summer, right?'
Adam: "Yeah! Hey! We could be the Drinklings!"
Father David: "I can see it now. Priest lets Biola people have a drink. That'd raise an outcry!....Let's do it."
*sigh* Naturally, it really only works when you know Father David and know the funny look he gets when he says silly stuff like that. Oh well. Trust me, it was funny.
Thursday, May 6
Monday, May 3
I have been having significant problems with my eyes this week: they are highly sensitive to light, and I am wearing dark glasses, even indoors. So, naturally, I've been thinking a lot about light lately, both what we know as physical light, and what you might call metaphysical light.
We are not well-suited to seeing light. The sun is 98 million miles away, and it still blinds us. One small eye infection renders us incapable of living in any kind of light. Dante had to go through both Hell and Purgatory before being able to properly see the light.
Why can't we see the light, even though it's all around us? We are obviously made to see it, but somehow we cannot; at least, not without much effort and training.
Artists study light for years before they can accurately represent objects illuminated by it. Philosophers work at their studies for long hours, trying to argue through to the light of truth. Students spend months searching for it in their texts, and occasionally finding the divine insight that they seek.
And, for some reason, this leads me to think of Moses, asking to see the glory of God. He wanted God, he earnestly desired to see the light. God passed in front of him, only allowing Moses to catch a glimpse of the back of His glory. Even that little glimpse so illuminated Moses that when he came down from the mountain, carrying the commandments, his face shone so that none could bear to look on him.
What did Moses see? What would the back of the glory of God look like?
I wonder if the light Moses saw was the Star, shining over a small stable, announcing that God walked among us.
comments: e-mail tinidril_of_perelandra@yahoo.com
We are not well-suited to seeing light. The sun is 98 million miles away, and it still blinds us. One small eye infection renders us incapable of living in any kind of light. Dante had to go through both Hell and Purgatory before being able to properly see the light.
Why can't we see the light, even though it's all around us? We are obviously made to see it, but somehow we cannot; at least, not without much effort and training.
Artists study light for years before they can accurately represent objects illuminated by it. Philosophers work at their studies for long hours, trying to argue through to the light of truth. Students spend months searching for it in their texts, and occasionally finding the divine insight that they seek.
And, for some reason, this leads me to think of Moses, asking to see the glory of God. He wanted God, he earnestly desired to see the light. God passed in front of him, only allowing Moses to catch a glimpse of the back of His glory. Even that little glimpse so illuminated Moses that when he came down from the mountain, carrying the commandments, his face shone so that none could bear to look on him.
What did Moses see? What would the back of the glory of God look like?
I wonder if the light Moses saw was the Star, shining over a small stable, announcing that God walked among us.
comments: e-mail tinidril_of_perelandra@yahoo.com
Sunday, May 2
Demons and Angels
I think that many of the people around me do not take the idea of angels and demons seriously. Oh, they believe they exist alright, but I don't think they attribute much to them. The purpose of demons is to fight angels, and the purpose of angels is to fight demons, and so forth.
But this view is a bit ridiculous. The spirit world affects us ALL THE TIME. Human beings are, in a sense, amphibious: we are indubitably physical, yet our souls instruct every move of our bodies. I think "I will raise my arm," and my arm raises(which raises the intriguing question of how my thoughts move from the realm of thought to the physical world). My spirit affects my body. So why can't another spirit affect it? Spirits are not coporeal, and more than one can occupy one physical space.
I have felt demons around me before, and have (more than I should) opened myself up to spirits.
It is a strange world: it is often too much for us humans, yet we live in it anyway. We walk every day in the spirit world, and we forget it at our peril. The two worlds are not even truly two worlds, but two parts of one world. Everything I do, every action I take, affects my spirit, and the spirit of those around me.
This is the true power of sin, and the true power of habituation and the spiritual disciplines. We often think that a spiritual sin (pride, judgement, etc) affects only our souls, and that a physical sin (premarital sex, murder, etc) affects only our body. But these two cannot, and must not, be seperated. This is why the spiritual discplines of fasting, silence, etc, are still important. These physical actions also act in the spirit. I must train not only my body to be in submission to my soul, but must also train my soul to be in tune with God, so that it may correctly guide my body. It is all one.
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner in body and soul.
Speak the word only, and my soul shall be healed.
comments: e-mail tinidril_of_perelandra@yahoo.com
I think that many of the people around me do not take the idea of angels and demons seriously. Oh, they believe they exist alright, but I don't think they attribute much to them. The purpose of demons is to fight angels, and the purpose of angels is to fight demons, and so forth.
But this view is a bit ridiculous. The spirit world affects us ALL THE TIME. Human beings are, in a sense, amphibious: we are indubitably physical, yet our souls instruct every move of our bodies. I think "I will raise my arm," and my arm raises(which raises the intriguing question of how my thoughts move from the realm of thought to the physical world). My spirit affects my body. So why can't another spirit affect it? Spirits are not coporeal, and more than one can occupy one physical space.
I have felt demons around me before, and have (more than I should) opened myself up to spirits.
It is a strange world: it is often too much for us humans, yet we live in it anyway. We walk every day in the spirit world, and we forget it at our peril. The two worlds are not even truly two worlds, but two parts of one world. Everything I do, every action I take, affects my spirit, and the spirit of those around me.
This is the true power of sin, and the true power of habituation and the spiritual disciplines. We often think that a spiritual sin (pride, judgement, etc) affects only our souls, and that a physical sin (premarital sex, murder, etc) affects only our body. But these two cannot, and must not, be seperated. This is why the spiritual discplines of fasting, silence, etc, are still important. These physical actions also act in the spirit. I must train not only my body to be in submission to my soul, but must also train my soul to be in tune with God, so that it may correctly guide my body. It is all one.
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner in body and soul.
Speak the word only, and my soul shall be healed.
comments: e-mail tinidril_of_perelandra@yahoo.com
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