the action of surrendering or ceasing to resist an opponent or demand
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I chose this word because of its eery similarity to "recapitulation", a word which here means restating something for the purposes of summation.
It's also a biology term implying the repetition of an evolutionary process during growth (Yay, I can do biology stuff too!).
So what is the significance? I have no idea. It just thought it was funny.
I could say that all your talk about soaponification will make me either ask you to recapitulate what your talking about, or I will have to capitulate trying to follow you, but I still enjoy following what I can and I will try harder next time!
Anyway, I said I was going to talk about Heaven eventually, so here it is.
Oh yes. If ever there was a subject that will provoke discussion between us, this is it!
(On a side note, I just want to remark that I like how bringing up religion makes the both of us want to talk more to each other, whereas usually it's the exact opposite with pretty much everybody else. Yay!)
I just want to clarify first off that this post is a combination of both what I believe and what I have learned while studying here at TWU. Not that the two are separate, but I want to ensure that I give credit where credit is due and say that a lot of this I didn't think of myself or willingly accept as soon as I learned it. Theses ideas of Heaven and Earth came from a lot of different classes, discussion and time in prayer and thought.
In that way, these thoughts are not my own, but rather an accepted scholarly interpretation of the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament. But I stand by them and I will defend these beliefs, which only through God's revelation I could ever understand and only through my own wrestling I have come to believe.
Also, I in no way completely grasp the complexities of Heaven (and neither will any human being on Earth ever be fully able to) and the revelation of the Kingdom of God is something I a constantly learning new things about every day.
Sorry about the length of that, but I just wanted to put that up front first. OK here we go:
The other day you sent posted this comic, which I though was brilliant:
I'll get back to it very soon, but first I want to talk about St. Augustine.
I know you read Confessions, and I'm sorry I can't reference it because I haven't read it. But I will talk about his City of God, in which St. Augustine calls Christians "dual-citizens". By this, he means that we as Christians are residents of two separate cities: heaven and earth.
The city on earth, the city of man, is defined by the fallen nature of humanity. The people are greedy, self-centered and often cruel. These people, I mean, we, are always in pursuit of finding the best way of living, which we will never perfectly achieve. It is imperfect and temporal.
The city of heaven, that is, the city of God, is defined by the perfection of God and true justice through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus. This is the perfect city run by the perfect King, the Trinity of Father, Son and Spirit. It is eternal and defined by divine love.
These cities were completely separated because of the fall of man and the entrance of sin into the city of man. There was a wall between the two cities, but Jesus, in talking on the image of man (in the reverse of the way He made us to bear His image), performed the ultimate act of humility and broke the wall between the two cities.
This is where the Venn Diagram comes in. If you think of the blue quadrant as Earth and the yellow as Heaven, it shows how Jesus brought His Kingdom into our own. The two are now connected, but not the same. When Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God, he says it is coming but that is not here yet. That is, that Jesus brought Heaven to us, but not fully. In his death and resurrection, Jesus redeemed us of our sinful ways and gave us the first appetizer of the greatest feast in existence.
In theology, we refer to this as the "Already, Not Yet" mentality. Heaven is here, but not fully. We are forgiven of our sins, but that doesn't mean we are now blameless or sinless. We are still in a fallen world, and as citizens of that world, we still have an obligation to it.
I think this is where most people start misinterpreting how the Kingdom of God works. Like you said, many people become so preoccupied about how Heaven is here that forget that it is not fully here and we still have to wait for Christ to return. We still need to live our lives for Christ and spread the news of His Kingdom throughout the world while keeping our own lives an imitation if His.
Like Augustine noted, as dual citizens, we need to live in light of both realms. Paul notes in Romans 13 that we must still submit to the authority of this world, seeing as we are still living in it. The only time we should not follow the rules put on by this world is when those conflict with the reign of the Kingdom of God, which has the final say over all the world and as Christians, it is where we owe our allegiance. So like you said, we can't lose sight of our obligations to both cities we reside in.
The other point where most people get mixed up is what the Kingdom of God actually is. The biggest misconception we have is thinking the Kingdom of God is a location that we have to go to.
The idea that we have to "go up" to get to heaven, although an interesting way of looking at Heaven, is Biblically false. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that we have to leave Earth in order to get to God's Kingdom. Rather, because of the power of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, Heaven has been brought down to us.
Usually couple with the idea of us having to ascend to Heaven comes the notion that this world is not meant for us. The notion that we will leave Earth behind and spend the rest of our days in the clouds, away from grass, trees and ocean is also false, a dualistic idea first introduced by the gnostics (which Moorhead talked about quite a bit I think)
God gave us this world and said it is good. It is only because of sin that God's creation has become fallen. So, in the same way that God will redeem humanity, so too will creation be renewed. The book of Revelation talks about a New Heaven and a New Earth, together in God's Kingdom.
God's Kingdom, which I apologize I haven't defined up until this point, is not a place and it's not a time. God's Kingdom, like God, exists outside of time and space. Rather, God's Kingdom is a system.
It's is God's reign over all of creation that manifests itself by divine revelation through his people.
The church, as God's people, is the means for this Kingdom to be shown to all people in the world. We are bearers of the great message, the gospel, that God reigns over all people, whom he loves. This rule then, is shown through acts of kindness, charity and love.
Bottom line:
This isn't heaven.
This is.
And this.
And even this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hope everything is going well at UBC and I can't wait to make Scandinavian Igloos again!
Oh My Graphics, did you see the snow today?! It was so awesome!!! I can't wait for winter break, it'll simultaneously be the bomb and the cat's pajamas!
Thanks again for the birthday message! Thanks so much Tim! I really appreciate how much effort you put into our friendship as well as how much enthusiasm you put into it, just as you put enthusiasm into everything you care deeply about. In that way, I can tell how much you really care. That's why I love every time you flail or shout expressively, because it shows that no matter how silly or preposterous the thing is that we're doing, you care about it and can't help showing it. Thanks so much Tim! You NFTBA as I know you won't!!!
Also, you may see some "crazy" photos on facebook in which I am tagged as both burnt popcorn and a firetruck. The implications of these photos do lead to a startling truth in which I inadvertently set off the fire alarm in my building by trying to make popcorn too close to the smoke detector.
The worst part is that my dorm had just got back from winning a game of football and everyone was taking showers when the alarm went off. So at least three people from my dorm were standing outside in the rain in towels all wondering aloud, "I wonder who set it off this time?" This is the part where Caly slunk away silently.
Another proud moment for the minister of BS.
Anyway, less than a month of school left! See you real real soon!!!
-Clayton
No comments:
Post a Comment