Why is it God would allow one of His children that once had served Him to fall away?
It's the same reason He would allow a man that murdered His children to come to Him for forgiveness.
God allows us choice: we can choose God, or we can choose Not God. That means we can choose good, which comes from God and is defined by everything that God is, or we can choose the other way--evil. God never curtails our ability to choose for ourselves, from the moment we begin our lives to the moment they end.
God has created an environment in which each of us can choose the path of our own lives. That means in everything in our lives, all things are in balance: good and evil, right and wrong. Evil is not balanced with good because it is equally strong; evil is balanced with good because God gives us equal opportunity to choose either.
May we make our choices mindfully.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Monday, July 16, 2007
Absolutes
<<
OBI-WAN: (continuing) You have allowed this Dark Lord to twist your mind until now . . . until now you have become the very thing you swore to destroy.
ANAKIN: Don't lecture me, Obi-Wan. I see through the lies of the Jedi. I do not fear the dark side as you do. I have brought peace, justice, freedom, and security to my new Empire.
OBI-WAN: Your new Empire?
ANAKIN: Don't make me kill you.
OBI-WAN: Anakin, my allegiance is to the Republic ... to democracy.
ANAKIN: If you're not with me, you're my enemy.
OBI-WAN: Only a Sith deals in absolutes. I will do what I must.
>>
(from Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith, Scene 195, by George Lucas)
<<
Once I kill Ben Skywalker, once Mara and Luke find out that it's me--and that day will have to come--then they'll hunt me down. I'll bring down the whole Jedi order on my head.
Who would be his apprentice then?
It'll finish the Jedi.
He just wanted things to become clear when the time came. He had to trust his destiny. He was too far along his path to stop now.
>>
(from Sacrifice in the Star Wars: Legacy of the Force series, by Karen Traviss, p.122)
<<
Past the point of no return
no going back now:
our passion-play has now, at last, begun . . .
Past all thought of right or wrong -
one final question:
how long should we two wait, before we're one . . .?
When will the blood begin to race
the sleeping bud burst into bloom?
When will the flames, at last, consume us . . .?
Past the point of no return
the final threshold,
the bridge is crossed, so stand and watch it burn . . .
We've passed the point of no return . . .
>>
(from The Point of No Return in The Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber)
On an airplane flight, there's a point on the flight path at which the plane no longer has enough fuel left to return to its point of origin: it's called the Point of No Return.
When light approaches a black hole, there's a point at which, no matter what path the light is travelling, it cannot escape the pull of the black hole: this is called the Event Horizon.
What about life? Does our life path have a point of no return? Are our lives defined by an adamantine point that seals our destiny? Can we pass an absolute horizon in our lives and be sucked inexorably into eternal darkness?
I believe the life we live is not one of absolute light or total darkness; our world is full of shadow, of shades and of greys. Some of us have striven to lead a life of complete purity. Some seem to follow a path of sheer evil. Yet, what good does it do any? Can any mortal achieve pure goodness? Can a person become truly evil?
It's not for man to be absolute. No human finds a point in his life at which he's beyond the ability to sin against God or man. No living soul can reach a point at which he's incapable of doing good.
In our lives, we never reach a point of no return--we always have the choice to do good or to do evil. We always have the capacity to choose to walk a different path than the one on which we've placed ourselves. For as long as we draw breath, we've been given the power to change.
This is not the message despair teaches us. When you feel guilty, how many times have you said to yourself, "I'm never going to change. I'm never going to get better! I'm hopeless!" That's the message preached by the darkness in our souls, and it's a strong temptation to believe it.
Don't believe it! Never give in to it!
In my life, I've often had the feeling that I'm not good enough to change. I believed that I wasn't good enough for God to bother with. I felt that I wasn't worth the trouble it would take for God to fix me. So many of us have thought that we've done too many bad things for God to care about us, to accept us.
Our hearts are heavy, my friend. Haven't you felt it yourself? We need something, deep in our souls, and so often we feel that we've taken the wrong path and that we're stuck on it and we can't get off.
Jesus said, "Come to Me, anybody who's overworked and exhausted, and I'll give you rest."
When God came down to man, who was it, do you think, He wanted to come and see and spend His time with?
Obvious, right? God wants to be with 'god'-ly people. Who else?
Of course it's obvious; we see it all the time. Have you ever gone to a public luncheon?
If it's a work party, you'll see engineers sitting by engineers and talking about their projects and showing off their Blackberries. The administrators sit by the other administrators and talk about the office. The sales reps go around to the other sales reps and swap notes. Cooks talk to cooks, drivers sit with drivers.
If it's a school event, you see the sports jocks hanging out with the other jocks. The cheerleaders hang out together. The smart kids sit in their group, the preps gang together, the goths are in their own world (where they like it), and everybody that doesn't have a group just tries to look like they don't need anybody else anyway.
So, obviously, when God hits the earth scene, where's He going to go, if not to hang out with the people like Him?
What do you think? Would you have made it into God's clique?
But what did Jesus do when He went out into Israel and began His teaching? He went and He ate with thugs and sluts and scoundrels.
Imagine what the good people thought! If you saw a gospel preacher walking into a party with crackheads and stoners, what would you think?
Be honest, now. You and I both would look at each other and shake our heads and have a good laugh. Yeah, okay. He's a preacher. Whatever. Then we'd go tell our friends who we just saw getting wasted. Cuz if he thought he was going to preach to that crowd, he was obviously on something.
I'm pretty sure you've known at least one person that thought you were a complete waste of time. I know I have! The point is, we know exactly how it felt to be one of these sinners. Nobody cared about them. Everybody thought these people were worthless--they were too far gone. These sinners couldn't change, even if they wanted to, and nobody wanted to waste their time hanging out with them.
But Jesus did. Jesus didn't think the publicans and the prostitutes were too lost to save. He said, "It isn't the healthy that need a doctor, but sick people. I haven't come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repent." Jesus didn't care what these people had done. Whatever they had done, however bad they were, however sinful, however guilty, Jesus thought they could change. He though they were worth spending time with. He thought they were worthy to be His own sisters and brothers!
He thought they were worth dying for.
Jesus thinks the same about you and me. We've messed up, maybe more times than we can even count. Sometimes, we don't feel like we could ever be the kind of people that God would want. Sometimes, we're not even sure that we want to be--and that makes us feel even worse.
But no matter how far I go, no matter how sinful I am, God gives me the chance to choose my own fate.
There is no point of no return. As long as I can still want to change, God is still willing to help me change. Jesus forgave us while He was nailed to a cross, bleeding and bearing terrible shame and pain. If He loved me then, what will ever make Him stop loving me? How could He ever stop loving you?
OBI-WAN: (continuing) You have allowed this Dark Lord to twist your mind until now . . . until now you have become the very thing you swore to destroy.
ANAKIN: Don't lecture me, Obi-Wan. I see through the lies of the Jedi. I do not fear the dark side as you do. I have brought peace, justice, freedom, and security to my new Empire.
OBI-WAN: Your new Empire?
ANAKIN: Don't make me kill you.
OBI-WAN: Anakin, my allegiance is to the Republic ... to democracy.
ANAKIN: If you're not with me, you're my enemy.
OBI-WAN: Only a Sith deals in absolutes. I will do what I must.
>>
(from Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith, Scene 195, by George Lucas)
<<
Once I kill Ben Skywalker, once Mara and Luke find out that it's me--and that day will have to come--then they'll hunt me down. I'll bring down the whole Jedi order on my head.
Who would be his apprentice then?
It'll finish the Jedi.
He just wanted things to become clear when the time came. He had to trust his destiny. He was too far along his path to stop now.
>>
(from Sacrifice in the Star Wars: Legacy of the Force series, by Karen Traviss, p.122)
<<
Past the point of no return
no going back now:
our passion-play has now, at last, begun . . .
Past all thought of right or wrong -
one final question:
how long should we two wait, before we're one . . .?
When will the blood begin to race
the sleeping bud burst into bloom?
When will the flames, at last, consume us . . .?
Past the point of no return
the final threshold,
the bridge is crossed, so stand and watch it burn . . .
We've passed the point of no return . . .
>>
(from The Point of No Return in The Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber)
On an airplane flight, there's a point on the flight path at which the plane no longer has enough fuel left to return to its point of origin: it's called the Point of No Return.
When light approaches a black hole, there's a point at which, no matter what path the light is travelling, it cannot escape the pull of the black hole: this is called the Event Horizon.
What about life? Does our life path have a point of no return? Are our lives defined by an adamantine point that seals our destiny? Can we pass an absolute horizon in our lives and be sucked inexorably into eternal darkness?
I believe the life we live is not one of absolute light or total darkness; our world is full of shadow, of shades and of greys. Some of us have striven to lead a life of complete purity. Some seem to follow a path of sheer evil. Yet, what good does it do any? Can any mortal achieve pure goodness? Can a person become truly evil?
It's not for man to be absolute. No human finds a point in his life at which he's beyond the ability to sin against God or man. No living soul can reach a point at which he's incapable of doing good.
In our lives, we never reach a point of no return--we always have the choice to do good or to do evil. We always have the capacity to choose to walk a different path than the one on which we've placed ourselves. For as long as we draw breath, we've been given the power to change.
This is not the message despair teaches us. When you feel guilty, how many times have you said to yourself, "I'm never going to change. I'm never going to get better! I'm hopeless!" That's the message preached by the darkness in our souls, and it's a strong temptation to believe it.
Don't believe it! Never give in to it!
In my life, I've often had the feeling that I'm not good enough to change. I believed that I wasn't good enough for God to bother with. I felt that I wasn't worth the trouble it would take for God to fix me. So many of us have thought that we've done too many bad things for God to care about us, to accept us.
Our hearts are heavy, my friend. Haven't you felt it yourself? We need something, deep in our souls, and so often we feel that we've taken the wrong path and that we're stuck on it and we can't get off.
Jesus said, "Come to Me, anybody who's overworked and exhausted, and I'll give you rest."
When God came down to man, who was it, do you think, He wanted to come and see and spend His time with?
Obvious, right? God wants to be with 'god'-ly people. Who else?
Of course it's obvious; we see it all the time. Have you ever gone to a public luncheon?
If it's a work party, you'll see engineers sitting by engineers and talking about their projects and showing off their Blackberries. The administrators sit by the other administrators and talk about the office. The sales reps go around to the other sales reps and swap notes. Cooks talk to cooks, drivers sit with drivers.
If it's a school event, you see the sports jocks hanging out with the other jocks. The cheerleaders hang out together. The smart kids sit in their group, the preps gang together, the goths are in their own world (where they like it), and everybody that doesn't have a group just tries to look like they don't need anybody else anyway.
So, obviously, when God hits the earth scene, where's He going to go, if not to hang out with the people like Him?
What do you think? Would you have made it into God's clique?
But what did Jesus do when He went out into Israel and began His teaching? He went and He ate with thugs and sluts and scoundrels.
Imagine what the good people thought! If you saw a gospel preacher walking into a party with crackheads and stoners, what would you think?
Be honest, now. You and I both would look at each other and shake our heads and have a good laugh. Yeah, okay. He's a preacher. Whatever. Then we'd go tell our friends who we just saw getting wasted. Cuz if he thought he was going to preach to that crowd, he was obviously on something.
I'm pretty sure you've known at least one person that thought you were a complete waste of time. I know I have! The point is, we know exactly how it felt to be one of these sinners. Nobody cared about them. Everybody thought these people were worthless--they were too far gone. These sinners couldn't change, even if they wanted to, and nobody wanted to waste their time hanging out with them.
But Jesus did. Jesus didn't think the publicans and the prostitutes were too lost to save. He said, "It isn't the healthy that need a doctor, but sick people. I haven't come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repent." Jesus didn't care what these people had done. Whatever they had done, however bad they were, however sinful, however guilty, Jesus thought they could change. He though they were worth spending time with. He thought they were worthy to be His own sisters and brothers!
He thought they were worth dying for.
Jesus thinks the same about you and me. We've messed up, maybe more times than we can even count. Sometimes, we don't feel like we could ever be the kind of people that God would want. Sometimes, we're not even sure that we want to be--and that makes us feel even worse.
But no matter how far I go, no matter how sinful I am, God gives me the chance to choose my own fate.
There is no point of no return. As long as I can still want to change, God is still willing to help me change. Jesus forgave us while He was nailed to a cross, bleeding and bearing terrible shame and pain. If He loved me then, what will ever make Him stop loving me? How could He ever stop loving you?
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