Avoiding the Word

"Words mean things."

That's what the great philosopher and theologian Rush Limbaugh said on many, many occasions. Truer words have never been uttered.

"1984," being one of the most important novels ever written, and a personal favorite, should be read by every American. And everyone!  I have read it more times than I can say. (I think it may be about time for a reread.)

Words are what separate us from the animals. They allow us to think and grow as rational beings. With words we formulate thoughts and prayers. (Although, yes, some prayers are unutterable.) With words we attempt to express our joy, our sorrow, our hopes and our anguish. The most discomfiting thing for many a man is trying to find the right words.

I remember my dad telling me that the most frustrating thing about being a father, when we boys were infants, was that, when we hurt, we couldn't tell him what hurt. He had to try to guess and discern. (Fortunately, mothers do truly seem to have an instinct for such things.) I found that when I became a father and my baby girl was making her, shall we say, discomfort and dissatisfaction known, I experienced the same frustration.

Many a lover's quarrel and ultimate break-ups come from a failure to communicate. Businesses have been ruined and wars started over nothing more than simple misunderstandings of words. Misunderstood words have also lost more than a few battles. Obversely, many victories have been won and the tide of battle turned because just the right soldier thought that his command was "advance" when it was actually "retreat." 

Holy Scripture says, "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." God gave us His Word. Pretty straightforward, right? There was nothing more precious, or more binding, to the all-rational, all-eloquent, all-knowing God who made all things than to give to us the One by whom all things were made. He gave us the best part of Himself. His Word.

Now, it is worth noting, and a large part of my point, that this is not the first appearance of the Word of God. Obviously, His Word is eternal. (Sorry, Catholics and the SBC, the Son is not eternal.) He, yes, He, appears to us in the earliest parts of God's Holy Scriptures. We see Him referenced in even the very first verses of the book of Genesis.

"And God said..."

It should not be a continental leap of theology to realize that when God speaks, that is His Word. It would certainly be ridiculous and contradictory, I believe, not to see this expression of God as such. He spoke the world into existence. "All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made." (John 1:3) This speaking is very God! Trinitarian or Oneness, you would certainly, methinks, have to have your mind, heart and eyes closed to not see as much.

It is not long thereafter that we see, perhaps rather, hear this One appearing again. On the sixth day, God made man and told him the good news, the Gospel, as it were. He told him of all the things He had made for man's pleasure and joy, but warned him of the one thing God wanted to reserve to Himself. 

It's another blog to discuss the things that God reserves to Himself.

I've heard much discussion from some theologians over whether or not, had the Holy Couple not sinned, would have ever granted them the knowledge of good and evil. They seem to forget, this was God's plan all along. (Rev. 5:6) To quote one occasionally wise theologian: "God has no Plan B." 

Strange, it seems, that God would not want His newborn son, Adam, to know the difference between good and evil. Right and wrong. 

I ponder, would we want our little children, fresh from the womb, to be saddled with the responsibility of having to make the choice of what is and isn't good? Knowing as an infant the things that adults must contend with? Wouldn't we want them to retain their innocence as long as they could? Wouldn't we want them to be children, our children, as long as possible? To not grow up too quickly?

God, sets rules, boundaries and parameters for our own protection and demands, yes, demands, that we operate within them. You know, much like the no running or pushing rules at the pool. Society, today wants to pervert the process and rush children to physical adulthood, though, of course, not emotional, rational adulthood, as quickly and early as possible. Though, it's only for their own nefarious reasons. 

So, the Word soon appears again. He is walking as the Voice of God in the cool of the day. Apparently, not finding Adam where Adam normally would be, He called out for him. The Word, the Voice, the part of God that made all things cried out for his little boy saying, "Adam! Adam! Where are you?"

He knew with a breaking heart exactly where the man was and exactly what he had been doing. Adam, as if he had never even met his Father, made a miserable attempt to cover his shame and hide from the One he least wanted to disappoint.

We know the story of the curse and the promise. We know the death and shame both brought. We also know of the glory ultimately obtained.

I want to talk a little more about the silly man trying to cover his nakedness with leaves from a fruit tree, hiding behind a tree, (is that a blog?) as if he didn't know God would find him. As if he was stupid enough to think he could avoid the very Word that had made him. As if he had something to fear.

Well, did he?

Men today fear words. Nay, they are terrified by them! Most men stumble and mumble through a conversation, doing, for the most part, little more than Tim Allen caveman grunts, feebly attempting to express themselves. Scared to death that someone might see the dirty-faced, frightened and sinful little boy inside. Still trying to pathetically hide his nakedness from God.

Our nakedness is uncovered in our actions, but, mostly, by our words. We know nothing, but try to hide it behind the garbage we pitifully stitch together, feebly, ineptly, trying to cover our weakness and exposure. What we make leaves us, (pardon the pun,) uncomfortable and in worse condition than if we had merely just stood there naked and defenseless. It is a never ending source of amazement to me how we so easily choose our own horrible way of dealing with our problems rather than the simple, effective words of God.

It's been pointed out, (I believe it was R.C. Sproul,) that the idea of being naked implies an absence of clothing. An absence of covering. Almost as if there was suddenly, as in a change, something missing. As if something was there before, but is gone. Before it is absent. One word used in one dictionary is "deprived." The connotation seems to me that they were covered only to be uncovered.

What is it that would've covered them before they became uncovered? They were naked, but, yet, covered?

When speaking of the nation of Israel on the Mount of Olives on Palm Sunday, our Lord pined that He would have covered them as a mother hen does her chicks, had they only allowed Him to do so.

Luke 13:34 KJV

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!

Are we not all covered by God? If we will only let Him do so? Like little children, in their ignorance, are covered under the wings of a merciful God.

I'm sure I have covered, pun again, in another blog, or will, my thinking on why children, along with the adult ignorant, go to the same Heaven as those of us who are born again. In short, it has everything to do with that "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." (Rev. 13:8)

So, so many, like father Adam, choose otherwise. Alas, we intuitively choose our own utterly inadequate covering rather than the glorious, righteous, holy, complete, perfect covering offered to us by the Savior.

Yes, I am almost off the surbject here, but the fact remains, that we, like him, try to hide from the Truth. We create our own little religiosity, struggling to ignore the fact that we are poor, blind and, yes, naked. (Revelation 3:17 KJV)

It's an ongoing battle for me on Fascist-Book, and elsewhere, trying to provoke my fellow Christians to drop their pride, stop pretending like they inherently know the meaning of every existing word and actually invest some time and effort into researching them, or maybe even actually trouble themselves, (O, bother) to look them up in a good dictionary! Perish the thought!

Now, why would anyone want to be, not blissfully, but willfully ignorant of something so basic as what the words they use mean? How could one be so disinterested in having the most basic ability to both understand and convey abstract thought? To be able to communicate!

I have a theory or two on this matter. 

Yes, there is always laziness, poor teachers, a lack of inspiration, a lack of intelligence, a lack of proper experiences and the simple fact that other, less disturbing things, often fill the mind of man. Sports, music, fishing, cars, women, etc., always occupy our consciousness, making it difficult to make room for, shall we say, the things requiring more mental discipline. All those distractions that I talked about keep men as the shallow puddles that, sadly, we are. We fill our lives and thoughts with those less important things. We think, we convince ourselves, it's enough. 

Since we don't really want to invest the effort in covering our nakedness in a Godly manner, we try to cover our nakedness with our own convention and invention.

We need more work and concentration on the things that matter. We need more fasting and praying. (Mat. 17:21) And all the NIV people say, "What?"

Since Adam, men have tried to hide from the Word. We fear what the Word might have to say to us. We fear the truth that He might bring. The truth that we are most ineptly attempting to avoid. 

Men still not only fear the presence, the knowledge of the Word, but we even fear words. Just good, old-fashioned, regular words. 

We really don't want to know. We only want to know, or, rather assume we know, enough to be able to close our minds to a world that rages around us. We sing, "I Wanna Know More about My Lord." The problem is, we don't know what we don't know. And we are quite content in that lack of knowledge.

We make bad choices to only double-down on the bad choices we've previously made. Adam didn't obey God's Word, so he looked around for something he stupidly might've thought would hide him.

Scratchy fig leaves make for a terrible, perhaps, itchy substitute. They're not only insufficient, they're uncomfortable. (No, I've never worn clothes made from fig leaves or any leaves, for that matter, but they would never be my first choice for fabric. Cotton breathes, ya know.) The very fact that they invested so much time and effort into stitching these crummy outfits together suggests that they put more time and effort into fashioning clothes than they did into thinking whether or not they should have ever eaten that furshlugginer fruit!

Would this have any connection to why Christ cursed the fig tree? Sounds like maybe another blog?

So many substitutes are out there for the true Word. Man has been incredibly creative in his attempts to avoid words. (I'm not sure when I should be capitalizing "word" at this moment.) He has replaced words, muddied the meaning of words, changed the meaning of words, (not through natural, societal evolution, but by fiat,) has concocted words, (not coined,) and has done all that he could conceive through stubbornness and malice to convince himself that his ideas (logos) are correct and good, never admitting how sticky and uncomfortable they actually are.

I laugh when I hear people, generally, young men who are wannabe nerds, professing their utter boredom. They sound like Vyvyan on "The Young Ones." "Bored! Bored! Bored!" He would cry out these words while breaking up the furniture and knocking holes in walls.

I usually take this as my opportunity to tell them, "I don't believe I've ever been bored in my life. But I've got a secret and most people just ain't interested in it."

For those few who are curious enough to bite and ask my secret, I say, "I'm always talking to God. How can I be bored when I'm talking to God? And if I am still bored? That's because I'm talking too much and ain't listening enough. He's got great stories, ya know."

Most respond incoherently, merely shrugging me off. It seems to be more than they are willing to invest. Surprise! Surprise!

Even as I write these words, I wonder, am I doing more talking than listening? It's such an easy trap to fall into. The danger is ever present.

Adam, of course, assumed he knew what was right. Hadn't he eaten of the tree that gave him knowledge of good and evil? Of right and wrong? Shouldn't he have known now? Didn't he now have a clear understanding and what was the right way? Didn't it seem good to make some uncomfortable clothing and try to hide his sin? Adam proved he was a man: he assumed he was right. Well, he may have been wrong, but he was never in doubt.

Adam's first sin was in disobeying his Father. His second was in thinking he could fix the problem.

Did he maybe check with the Source? Did he ask God what to do now that he had fouled up his entire life? No, he just guessed and he most certainly guessed poorly. He did what he did out of fear, arrogance and sheer stubbornness. Imagine that! A man being stubborn?

Also, typical of a man, deep down he knew his plan was a stinker. If he had thought the fig leaf clothes were such a good covering, why did he hide in the trees too?

Adam's pride kept him away from his father. He didn't want to admit his wrong, because he was embarrassed at the situation in which he had placed himself. He pathetically tried to cover his guilt and shame with his own ideas about what a covering should be. When the Voice of God called him from the tree he was hiding behind, He showed him, with the sacrifice of a Lamb, what is the Truth. (Or, of course, rather, Who.)

Whether it's a plan, an idea or, yes, even a word. If you presumptuously think you understand and are just too intellectually lazy to actually consider that you might be wrong and that finding the answer might take research and maybe some prayer and fasting, you are letting the flesh rule you and are missing out on the true word/Word. You're missing out on the Truth!

There are so many times in the Bible where men have fled the word, like when the nomadic Israelites, having gathered at the mountain of God to hear His Voice, fled to their tents, telling Moses, "You speak to us and we'll listen, but don't let Him speak to us or we'll die." (Yeah, I wrote about this in another blog.) Saul hid from his calling as king among the "stuff," and Elijah, well, he hid in a cave. Peter hid behind lies and Judas hid behind a kiss.

We too find ways to hide. (As if we could.) We hide behind ceremonies, catechisms, or even sometimes chaos. How many times have I heard a Christian say, "We had a great service today. The preacher didn't even get to preach!" Been there; done that. 

Many dance and shout and jump the pews. They think they are "dancing" in the Lord, but it's not so unlike something you might see at a pagan ritual or a Saturday night honky-tonk. It's about the show. Mostly, it's about being seen. Few can see past the facade that hides the emptiness within.

Millions of Christians today hide from God behind verbal fig leaves. They try to cover their ignorance, lack of curiosity and fear of true knowledge and experience in a cacophony of noise that a century or more of preachers, using Scriptures out of context and some witty phrases, have convinced them is the highest form of praise, the most special exchange, the very pinnacle of a relationship with God. 

Will we never allow ourselves to simply be quiet? To be still, to be quiet, and know that He is God. The outlook after years of talking to the average Christian? It ain't looking good! 

I was infuriated by a woman recently on Focus on the Family. (A high estrogen show that I can hardly stomach to listen to anymore.) The sad, silly, simpery voiced woman advised Christians that when they get "stuck" praying and don't know what to say, just start quoting Bible verses.

Sheesh!

Doesn't she understand that's exactly where God wants us to be? Is it all that difficult for us to just shut up and let God speak to us? Don't we understand that we can't hear Him when our mouths are open? 

All the words, syllables and sounds emanating from our mouths cannot draw us one inch closer to Him. All the noise is no more than a tinkling brass or a sounding symbol.

I know, it's terrifying, but He truly wants us to know His heart! We can't be quiet and know Him when we are drowning out His Voice with our own frivolous clamor. 

Be quiet and experience that I am God. Psalm 46:10 ADV 

Baptists, Pentecostal, Methodists, et al., all make their own brand of noise to muffle what God might actually have to say to them. We don't want Him messing around in our, er, knowledge. What we know, we hold near and dear to our hearts. After all, it's our own. Our precious!

We talk and talk until we run out of anything to say, but we keep talking. Like the Pharisees who thought they'd be heard because of their long prayers. Mark 12:40

Many believers continue to seek ways to hide from the Word. (As if we could.) We hide behind ceremonies, catechisms, or even sometimes chaos. Millions of Christians today hide from God behind verbal fig leaves, claiming that the pinnacle of their relationship with their Savior is expressing themselves, to put it bluntly, in gibberish. They try to cover their ignorance, lack of curiosity and fear of true knowledge and experience within a cacophony of noise.

They just don't really want to listen to the Voice of God!

Not to pick on Charismatics, but I once spent over three hours on my knees in a Charismatic prayer room. After an hour, or less, of praying for everyone I could think of, I spent the rest of the time just listening and marveling. No, I couldn't understand a word they were saying, but they seemed passionate in their endeavor.

It didn't occur to me then, but I now realize that they were all simply sewing fig leaves together for aprons that they thought would hide their nakedness. I mean, who wants to be naked in front of God, right? So, like little children, like us all, they concoct futile methods for hiding their true selves from God. 

If you've ever failed to lock the door properly and had someone walk in while you're on the throne, as you desperately reach for anything, pants, that magazine you're reading, vainly attempting to cover yourself, well, you know how embarrassing it is to be, literally, caught with your pants down. You realize too late, that you should have followed the rules and made sure the door was locked.

I remember my daughter, peeking out from behind the kitchen table leg when she was a toddler. As if, even as small as she was, that table leg would hide her. No, the table leg didn't hide her very well at all. I would pretend like it did, though. She was adorable and it was a fun game. No harm done. 

Alas, much harm was done in Adam's case.

It seems to me that God was much less concerned about our progenitor's lack of clothing than He was about how Adam & Eve had suddenly acquired the knowledge that they didn't have any. He wanted them to tell Him where they obtained that little piece of information.

"Who told you you were naked?"

Yes, we know about the excuses made by the Holy Couple, the buck that was passed and who Adam ultimately blamed. God! 

Still, God being God, didn't worry too much about their excuses. He merely offered a solution. God never avoids the issue!

Alas, to this day, men, even Christians, avoid the word/Word. They don't want to actually know the meaning/Truth of most things. Particularly spiritual things. To know as much brings responsibility. Knowledge is power, they say. And you know what Uncle Ben said about what comes with great power. 

So, if you trifle and guess and presume and assume, then you can believe things mean whatever you want, whatever suits your fancy at any given moment and then you, like father Adam, can be like God. You can govern and decide in your own way. Make up your own rules. Your own ideas. Your own definitions. Nobody is the boss of you. Certainly not Webster and certainly not God.

The Help Meet

I was listening to a sermon by R.C. Sproul recently in which he was discussing the Temptation of Christ in the wilderness. I always enjoy his sermons and books and mostly agree with what he has to say. Mostly.

In this instance, he said something that really captured my attention. Something that he passed over very quickly. I've no idea if he had given any particular thought to what I noticed, but, though I listened to the rest of the sermon and feel I gained much from it, his initial point, to me, was the salient one.

He began by describing the circumstances of Jesus baptism, including the argument against it by John, the descending of the Dove and then the call into the wilderness. He pointed out that Christ, being the second Adam, faced temptation with the difference being that the first Adam had a mate for support, but Jesus was all alone when facing the devil. 

A mate for support? That didn't work out so well for Adam.

Incidentally, what would've happened had Eve succumbed and Adam had not? This requires more time and words, but, in short, Eve would've been banished and Adam would've been alone. Remember, God said, "It is not good for man to be alone." (Gen 2:18)

This part of his discussion really set my mind to thinking. I wondered, why didn't Jesus have a mate and why was he alone? What was the point in the devil's questions, other than the obvious, and why did he go after these particular areas of our Lord's life? Yes, I have heard many valuable sermons on this matter, but they, I suppose, always lacked in something for me.

My father loved the Church! He was a pastor and his job, his family, his life revolved around supporting, promoting and edifying the Body of Christ. He taught me so many things in this regard and, though I might not recall his exact wording, he taught me to always look for two people when studying the Scriptures: the Bride and the Groom.

If you look for them, they are on every page of the Holy Bible. From Genesis and the first wedding to Revelation when the "Spirit and the Bride say, "Come!" (Rev 22:10) They are there, hidden in this wondrous and sometimes mysterious tome.

So, it occurred to me, why isn't Satan going after the bride first, like he did with Adam? Is there a bride to attack yet? A bride who would lead her mate into a fall as the first bride did?

Now, we know, if we know anything, that trying to line God up with time and bind him into any sort of chronology is a fool's errand. God created time and is not bound by it, but is all through it or outside of it or around it or wherever and whenever He chooses to be.

So, if I say, there was not exactly a Bride of Christ yet, I'm in dangerous territory. No, I don't suppose there actually was because Christ had not yet washed Her in His blood and there was yet no death, burial and resurrection, so I'll just say, tentatively, that Christ was truly alone in the wilderness with no one by His side. (Though I also remember He was a "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." (Rev 13:8)

Sadly, the Bride has become so diminished and so overlooked due to the Fundamentalist storming of  fairly all of our American Christian denominations, that She is almost an anachronism in current theology. The problem is, there is nothing and no one as important as She is to the Groom! She is His one True Love. She is His heart's desire. She is the One washed in His blood and presented blameless before His Father. She is the One Whom Jehovah declared would ensure that the man was not alone. She would be his "help meet"!

His "help meet." His helper. Or as one description even says, "one comparable to him." 

This was why the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He had a wedding to attend. His own!

Don't forget, His first miracle was at a wedding. The party was about to crash because they had nothing to drink. Not until He provided it, at least.

I am just trying to emphasize the importance of the Bride of Christ to the Bridegroom here. As my father always said, a wife is more closely related to her husband than their own children. The twain are one flesh.

Okay, so, did the tempter know this? Did he understand this? Did he comprehend this? I'm going to say, no, but he is a master at finding the weak points. Certainly, he doesn't understand love, commitment or attachment, but he does see the importance of it in our lives and is an old hand at using such unknowns against us.

Now, here is Jesus, ragged, tired, hot and hungry. Searching for communion with His Father. I love to ask, I wonder what He was talking to His Father about on day thirty-nine. 

Along comes old slue-foot and, in short order, hits him hard with three temptations. Our Lord of course, passes the test with flying colors, the devil flees, for a time, and the angels come to minister to Him.

You know the story, how He is tempted in three things. (No, you can't be tempted if it doesn't cause you to desire it.) Sustenance, adoration and recognition. These were all things our Lord desired, though He knew He couldn't trust the one making suggestions to Him.

Okay, so where is the connection?

All the things that Christ was tempted with were things that a husband should expect from his spouse. 

Now, these concepts I present will be very old fashioned, but, I think, Jesus was an old fashioned guy.

Trying to keep this PG, most men, firstly, expect a woman to fulfill his physical needs. Cooking, caring, etc. They expect their wife to sustain them physically and mentally. Even to the point of producing offspring for them.

The second thing a husband might expect would be recognition. He's been out all day fighting the dragons and the traffic and when he brings home the bacon for his lovely wife to cook, he wants to know she'll recognize his value as a bread-winner and protector and the "man of the house." Why do you think men whine and cry about how hard their job is?

Thirdly, and these last two are closely related,) men seriously expect worship for what they do. (It's no small thing that in King James' English, "worship" means "respect." He wants his wife to tell him how great he is and how strong and virile. Yes, he wants to be put on that pedestal that men think they've earned.

Yes, these are likely over generalizations. And let's be clear, the Lord was not a selfish, arrogant man. Still, we are a reflection of Him and His Bride, so the parallels are obvious if we look for them.

So, Satan, in essence, was telling Him that He really didn't need His Bride. He could achieve everything that He needed without Her.

"Feed yourself. Jump off the temple roof and, when the angels catch you, everyone will know who you are. Just give me a little worship, and the entire world will worship you too."

Yeah, simple enough. Big problem! It wasn't God's plan. Worse yet, it would've meant that the Son of God would be alone, never knowing true love as God intended it.

Incidentally, that last bit was a bridge too far for the devil for sure. He betrayed his own desires by asking for worship from Him Who deserves all glory and praise. Yes, Satan is envious of God! He is, unlike our Savior, all alone.

Scripture says that, while Eve was deceived, Adam was not. (I Cor 2:14) He purposely chose his Bride over his Father. And rightly so. (Yes, I've written about this elsewhere.)

Yes, there are many lessons to be derived from this story, but, as Moses said, "The twain shall become one flesh." So, I suppose, the devil, by design or by instinct, went after the heart of our Lord. His aim was to cause Him to do the opposite of what the first Adam did. To choose Himself over His Bride.