The whole prison shudders
The stones shake
The bars creak
In terror
A whisper runs down the hall
Do you think you can hold Him down here?
Down in the labyrinth of forgetfulness
You would chain Him up
With snide arguments
You would shut Him up
Behind thick doors of disdain
But He built this fortress
From the loftiest tower
To those deep dungeons
And it remembers His touch
It all happened before
He taught the trees to grow
And they hung him on slabs of wood
He coaxed obstinate rock into malleable metal
And they impaled him with iron nails
He gave the earth its form
And they threw His corpse inside it
He was there when Death was born
And trembled at their reunion
Lay down your arms
Put aside your tools
They will not obey you anyway
Even now they mutter to each other
Gossiping of the unfolding plan
Watch as you lead Him to His cell
See how the prisoners stand up straight
See how the guards salute
Welcome to the new base of operations
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Saturday, January 7, 2012
God's Sovereignty
When I became a Christian, the one doctrine that gave me more trouble than any other was that of God's ultimate sovereignty, that its, His ultimate authority before which we literally have no rights. It is the idea that there is no part of my life that I can claim to be fully and rightfully my own. It is something that is central to the entire Christian mindset and lifestyle, but it was also something that nearly a decade and a half of secular upbringing had left me quite uneasy with. Ultimately, I found the answer to this difficult question of how God can have such authority in another question, that of where purpose comes from or (to put it another way) that what the meaning of life is.
What is Meaning?
To start, there is the issue of the definition of meaning (I should mention that while there may be some technical differences, for now I will be using the terms "meaning" and "purpose" interchangeably). This is a very difficult question to answer as the most obvious (and perhaps the most sensible) answer seems to simply be that it is what it is. It is almost too raw, too fundamental to describe. However we may get a somewhat more extensive answer by considering the phenomenon of a dying person reflecting on their life and asking if it was meaningful. In this quite human scenario, we are first able to discover that meaning is "above" the meaningful person just as beauty is above a beautiful object. If someone on the verge of death finds that they are satisfied with their life then their life is pleasing because it was meaningful, not meaningful because they are pleased with it.
Thus it is clear that the "height" of purpose above us means that it is what gives us value, or at least that some aspect of our value comes from it, but from this same scenario we are also able to glimpse another aspect of purpose. This characteristic is the timelessness or eternal nature of meaning. The dying individual is concerned with purpose in a new way because they have a sense of judgement (even among atheists and agnostics I believe this to be true, when we see our lives coming to an end it is part of our nature to anticipate some kind of summing up of our life) and when we search for meaning we tend to ask what we will leave behind. When it comes to the anticipated judgement it is worth noting that we are rarely concerned with skills and entirely amoral accomplishments and while I may be wrong I also suspect that the interest in pleasure is something that emerges when death is simply in the near future and that it is typically withered away when death is just around the corner. This is because all these things are temporal and we expect to leave them behind (even with skills which we might expect to keep we still see how vulnerable they are to death as we often see so many of our most reliable faculties all but obliterated in the final days) whereas our purposefulness is the one thing we expect to carry on with us to the great hereafter. It is the subject matter of our judgement when we must leave everything else outside the courtroom. Do not be deceived in this matter; meaning is either eternal or it is one big fraud, no matter how many millions of years it might last. The issue of death is not simply that our mortal lives are too short, it is that they end at all and if meaning also has such an end then it counts for nothing.
Does Morality Demand Meaning?
So how far does the reach of purpose extend over the abstract and spiritual realm? Can we have morality without meaning? I ask this question because there are many who would say they are content not to have objective meaning in their lives; I have even seen bumper stickers reading "the purpose of life is that there is no purpose." As far as I can tell, such individuals are split between the nihilists who reject the objective existence of any non-physical entities such as purpose or beauty and the postmodernists who find liberation in rejecting such objective and powerful standards as ultimate meaning. In both cases, one thing that neither of these groups are able to genuinely let go of for so much as a single day of social interaction is morality. Those who reject anything beyond the natural world often regard the spreading of scientific knowledge and naturalist ideas as the right thing to do, postmodernists quite paradoxically insist on treating other systems of ethics fairly and open-mindedly, and both groups tend to insist on a moral standard when it comes to human interactions (such as not harming others without just cause) in their own daily lives. In either case those who would deny objective moral law might argue that they only advocate the efficient and safe functioning of human civilization which is to say that they are advocating pleasure, but at the same time it is often true that putting the good of society first (while being perfectly beneficial for the majority of people) causes more harm than good for the individual in question. What's more is that if there is no objective good then the desire to live a moral life is quite arbitrary and there is absolutely no argument that can be given against someone who chooses to live the "fun but short" way.
So morality is inescapable. Does that then mean that anyone who would live an ethical life must also bow to purpose in general and ultimately to whatever "ultimate purpose" there might be for life and the universe as a whole? Can we have morality without meaning?
The answer I ultimately come to is "no" partially because I find the separation of ethics and purpose literally inconceivable (to quote C.S. Lewis, "I mean that the act of believing" such to be true "is one that my mind simply will not perform. I cannot force my thought into that shape any more than I can scratch my ear with my big toe or pour wine out of a bottle into the cavity at the base of that same bottle. It is as final as a physical impossibility.") and also because of one very practical difficulty. Every culture in human history has adhered to a system of right and wrong and they have also all accepted the same fundamental laws of morality, however every culture differs in regards both to how certain laws should be honored and in the level of emphasis they place on each law. The result is that we are able to see things done in one society in obedience to morality that are considered abominations in another society as both cultures believe in the same ethical laws but at the same time differ in their views on which laws have priority. The laws of ethics must clash, and in that clash there must be something else that decides the victor, something that transcends them. In other words, for moral law to function, it must do so in obedience to purpose.
Can We Create Our Own Meaning?
Now since all earthly things eventually pass away, if we are to find purpose we must address the question of ultimate meaning, of why anything exists at all, in order to find the eternal root of meaning and to understand what is and is not meaningful. But in order to tackle the question of why we are all here we must first answer one simple question: Can we create our own purpose?
The answer, not surprisingly, is that we cannot. If we derive value from meaning and if we have any sense of judgement attacked to the idea of meaning, then it must come from something greater than us. If meaning comes from us then it is not meaning just as a square that has only three sides is not a square. This may seem obvious, but it is essential to the question of why we exist in clearing away the nonsense. For instance, going by this principle we must accept that we do not exist to be happy since that would mean we exist for our own sake.
What Other Options are There?
But what does that leave? What ultimate meaning can we find that does not violate this principle? Do we exist to do good deeds? that can't be it firstly because the definition of "good deeds" comes from meaning and secondly because the most common and universally recognized good deeds are actions by which we serve other people and if neither I nor my neighbor are good enough to justify our own existence then it makes no sense to say that we are good enough to justify each other's respective existences. Do we exist for family and friends? The same problem emerges. Do we exist for friendship and kinship themselves? But if we are living within those two abstractions then we are doing so by not regarding them but rather the actual friends and kin. Do we exist for nature? But nature is just as mortal as we are and besides that what could we ever do for it?
The only way we can have purpose is if it comes from something or someone so inherently good that it has no need to justify its own existence. The only possible candidate is God.
So, returning to the original question, how can the doctrine of God's absolute sovereignty over our lives be justified? I think a better question might be "How can we ever justify holding anything at all back from God and live even one second of our lives for the sake of anything that excludes Him?" The answer to that question is easy: we can't.
What is Meaning?
To start, there is the issue of the definition of meaning (I should mention that while there may be some technical differences, for now I will be using the terms "meaning" and "purpose" interchangeably). This is a very difficult question to answer as the most obvious (and perhaps the most sensible) answer seems to simply be that it is what it is. It is almost too raw, too fundamental to describe. However we may get a somewhat more extensive answer by considering the phenomenon of a dying person reflecting on their life and asking if it was meaningful. In this quite human scenario, we are first able to discover that meaning is "above" the meaningful person just as beauty is above a beautiful object. If someone on the verge of death finds that they are satisfied with their life then their life is pleasing because it was meaningful, not meaningful because they are pleased with it.
Thus it is clear that the "height" of purpose above us means that it is what gives us value, or at least that some aspect of our value comes from it, but from this same scenario we are also able to glimpse another aspect of purpose. This characteristic is the timelessness or eternal nature of meaning. The dying individual is concerned with purpose in a new way because they have a sense of judgement (even among atheists and agnostics I believe this to be true, when we see our lives coming to an end it is part of our nature to anticipate some kind of summing up of our life) and when we search for meaning we tend to ask what we will leave behind. When it comes to the anticipated judgement it is worth noting that we are rarely concerned with skills and entirely amoral accomplishments and while I may be wrong I also suspect that the interest in pleasure is something that emerges when death is simply in the near future and that it is typically withered away when death is just around the corner. This is because all these things are temporal and we expect to leave them behind (even with skills which we might expect to keep we still see how vulnerable they are to death as we often see so many of our most reliable faculties all but obliterated in the final days) whereas our purposefulness is the one thing we expect to carry on with us to the great hereafter. It is the subject matter of our judgement when we must leave everything else outside the courtroom. Do not be deceived in this matter; meaning is either eternal or it is one big fraud, no matter how many millions of years it might last. The issue of death is not simply that our mortal lives are too short, it is that they end at all and if meaning also has such an end then it counts for nothing.
Does Morality Demand Meaning?
So how far does the reach of purpose extend over the abstract and spiritual realm? Can we have morality without meaning? I ask this question because there are many who would say they are content not to have objective meaning in their lives; I have even seen bumper stickers reading "the purpose of life is that there is no purpose." As far as I can tell, such individuals are split between the nihilists who reject the objective existence of any non-physical entities such as purpose or beauty and the postmodernists who find liberation in rejecting such objective and powerful standards as ultimate meaning. In both cases, one thing that neither of these groups are able to genuinely let go of for so much as a single day of social interaction is morality. Those who reject anything beyond the natural world often regard the spreading of scientific knowledge and naturalist ideas as the right thing to do, postmodernists quite paradoxically insist on treating other systems of ethics fairly and open-mindedly, and both groups tend to insist on a moral standard when it comes to human interactions (such as not harming others without just cause) in their own daily lives. In either case those who would deny objective moral law might argue that they only advocate the efficient and safe functioning of human civilization which is to say that they are advocating pleasure, but at the same time it is often true that putting the good of society first (while being perfectly beneficial for the majority of people) causes more harm than good for the individual in question. What's more is that if there is no objective good then the desire to live a moral life is quite arbitrary and there is absolutely no argument that can be given against someone who chooses to live the "fun but short" way.
So morality is inescapable. Does that then mean that anyone who would live an ethical life must also bow to purpose in general and ultimately to whatever "ultimate purpose" there might be for life and the universe as a whole? Can we have morality without meaning?
The answer I ultimately come to is "no" partially because I find the separation of ethics and purpose literally inconceivable (to quote C.S. Lewis, "I mean that the act of believing" such to be true "is one that my mind simply will not perform. I cannot force my thought into that shape any more than I can scratch my ear with my big toe or pour wine out of a bottle into the cavity at the base of that same bottle. It is as final as a physical impossibility.") and also because of one very practical difficulty. Every culture in human history has adhered to a system of right and wrong and they have also all accepted the same fundamental laws of morality, however every culture differs in regards both to how certain laws should be honored and in the level of emphasis they place on each law. The result is that we are able to see things done in one society in obedience to morality that are considered abominations in another society as both cultures believe in the same ethical laws but at the same time differ in their views on which laws have priority. The laws of ethics must clash, and in that clash there must be something else that decides the victor, something that transcends them. In other words, for moral law to function, it must do so in obedience to purpose.
Can We Create Our Own Meaning?
Now since all earthly things eventually pass away, if we are to find purpose we must address the question of ultimate meaning, of why anything exists at all, in order to find the eternal root of meaning and to understand what is and is not meaningful. But in order to tackle the question of why we are all here we must first answer one simple question: Can we create our own purpose?
The answer, not surprisingly, is that we cannot. If we derive value from meaning and if we have any sense of judgement attacked to the idea of meaning, then it must come from something greater than us. If meaning comes from us then it is not meaning just as a square that has only three sides is not a square. This may seem obvious, but it is essential to the question of why we exist in clearing away the nonsense. For instance, going by this principle we must accept that we do not exist to be happy since that would mean we exist for our own sake.
What Other Options are There?
But what does that leave? What ultimate meaning can we find that does not violate this principle? Do we exist to do good deeds? that can't be it firstly because the definition of "good deeds" comes from meaning and secondly because the most common and universally recognized good deeds are actions by which we serve other people and if neither I nor my neighbor are good enough to justify our own existence then it makes no sense to say that we are good enough to justify each other's respective existences. Do we exist for family and friends? The same problem emerges. Do we exist for friendship and kinship themselves? But if we are living within those two abstractions then we are doing so by not regarding them but rather the actual friends and kin. Do we exist for nature? But nature is just as mortal as we are and besides that what could we ever do for it?
The only way we can have purpose is if it comes from something or someone so inherently good that it has no need to justify its own existence. The only possible candidate is God.
So, returning to the original question, how can the doctrine of God's absolute sovereignty over our lives be justified? I think a better question might be "How can we ever justify holding anything at all back from God and live even one second of our lives for the sake of anything that excludes Him?" The answer to that question is easy: we can't.
God is Glorified
What does it mean for God to be glorified? Typically, when we talk about glory we are talking about fame and renown, but that can't be all there is when we talk about God's glory. In fact, even when I consider what it means for Christians to be glorified in Heaven what I find is not enough. In that instance I conclude that "glory" refers to approval from God, the delight of knowing that we have pleased our Father, but surely God's glory is not a matter of Him patting Himself on the back. The Bible says that we exist to bring God glory, so what does that mean? If we are talking about miracles or transformed lives bringing glory to God on earth it is enough to say that glory refers to fame, but at the same time the reason God desires that kind of glory is in order to love and be loved by us. It is a means and not an end. Is God better off for having received our praise? I should think not. Is He better off because we love Him? If that relationship really does cause Him to be "better off" then surely it is because it allows Him to love us rather than because our love for Him. So then how is He benefitted (while I would never say that God could not have been perfectly fine and eternally joyful without having ever created a single other living thing, I seriously doubt that Creation was the result of a whim) by loving us? The only answer I can produce is that by loving us God is able to be more Himself. It is in the nature of God for Him to be creative, wise, beautiful, humble, and, most of all, loving and through Creation and the drama that has unfolded since then He has been able to demonstrate and act upon those qualities. The Bible even says that God is love, which I take in a very literal and platonic sense. For God to be glorified (in a cosmic sense) is not for Him to be famous or approved of, but rather is the pouring out and fulfillment of God's own inherent nature and goodness.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Whispers
There is something on the winds
There is a breeze coming out of Bethlehem
There are whispers in the air
Out to the East
There are whispers
"Look up to the sky"
They softly say
"Look up and see
The celestial celebration
Hidden in plain sight"
A sigh goes out to the East
"Look up and see
The sign of the Anointed"
Out to the mountains
To the forests
To the depths
There are whispers
"The Maker is back"
They say with gentle ferocity
"Can't you feel the Artist's touch?
Can't you feel the slow return to completion?"
Up into the Temple
Into the very Holy of Holies
There are whispers
"The Child is coming"
They proclaim into the solemnity
"The One with the authority
To break the seals
He will make you new
He will clear away
That by which you are shamed
And He will pour you out into the world"
They drift into the ancient tombs
Inserting themselves
Into the sleep of the prophets, the judges, and the kings
The dark silence of Sheol
Is interrupted by single message
"The Promised One is born"
Down into the streets
To a child born blind
Among others
"A day is coming soon"
They announce cheerfully
"The Prince has been born
So that He may deliver to you
Your inheritance
You will be cut off
Marked by the Angel of Sorrows
Cut off from the world
So the Prince of that world
Will not find you"
Across the skies
Upon the breeze
The whispers go out
They break open
The breeze unlocks
Over shepherds in the night
And the song of angels
Is heard with all its terror and wonder
"Glory to God in the Highest!
And peace on earth to those
On whom His favor rests!"
There are whispers on the air this night
Of a baby lying in a feeding trough
Of a Savior who cannot speak
Or care for Himself
Or control His own bladder
There are whispers this night
Of the God who
By His greatness
Became small
Who in His wisdom
Became ignorant
The Baby
That would destroy
And the remake
This wretched world
The God of all-comsuming
Undignified Love
There is a breeze coming out of Bethlehem
There are whispers in the air
Out to the East
There are whispers
"Look up to the sky"
They softly say
"Look up and see
The celestial celebration
Hidden in plain sight"
A sigh goes out to the East
"Look up and see
The sign of the Anointed"
Out to the mountains
To the forests
To the depths
There are whispers
"The Maker is back"
They say with gentle ferocity
"Can't you feel the Artist's touch?
Can't you feel the slow return to completion?"
Up into the Temple
Into the very Holy of Holies
There are whispers
"The Child is coming"
They proclaim into the solemnity
"The One with the authority
To break the seals
He will make you new
He will clear away
That by which you are shamed
And He will pour you out into the world"
They drift into the ancient tombs
Inserting themselves
Into the sleep of the prophets, the judges, and the kings
The dark silence of Sheol
Is interrupted by single message
"The Promised One is born"
Down into the streets
To a child born blind
Among others
"A day is coming soon"
They announce cheerfully
"The Prince has been born
So that He may deliver to you
Your inheritance
You will be cut off
Marked by the Angel of Sorrows
Cut off from the world
So the Prince of that world
Will not find you"
Across the skies
Upon the breeze
The whispers go out
They break open
The breeze unlocks
Over shepherds in the night
And the song of angels
Is heard with all its terror and wonder
"Glory to God in the Highest!
And peace on earth to those
On whom His favor rests!"
There are whispers on the air this night
Of a baby lying in a feeding trough
Of a Savior who cannot speak
Or care for Himself
Or control His own bladder
There are whispers this night
Of the God who
By His greatness
Became small
Who in His wisdom
Became ignorant
The Baby
That would destroy
And the remake
This wretched world
The God of all-comsuming
Undignified Love
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Parables: The Two Villages
Once there were two tribal villages, and in these villages there was a man found guilty of having murdered a son of the other village's leader. There was no doubt that he had done it, there had been no provocation, and there was no one who had tricked him or egged him on. In short, there was no one to blame but the man in question. Not only that, but his act had driven a wedge between the villages so that the friendship that had existed between them could only be restored if he was given up to be executed, and if his village did not offer him up there would be war.
As it was, there was another man who was the elder brother of the murdered boy. This man (let us call him Blameless and the other Guilty) had been living for a year in the village of Guilty and was regarded by all as an upstanding fellow who was true to his word and was joy to everyone he met. Now, when Guilty was brought forward and his punishment was being prepared Blameless came forward and volunteered to take his place. If anyone else had stepped forward it would not have been allowed. However, because Blameless was the most loved and righteous man in either village his greatness was a match for Guilty's sin. He was also loved by all so that the woe and mourning necessary to seal such a reconciliation would be present in his death. Finally, as the brother of the murdered boy the offense was against him more than it was against any living member of the village except for his father.
There are two ways that this story can end. The Disney ending would be for the willingness of Blameless to be enough and for Guilty to be let off the hook. This is not inconceivable as a real scenario, and it would be enough to restore the status quo of the villages. However, that is all it would do. On the other hand, Blameless could be taken up on his offer and executed in the place of Guilty. If this were to happen the villages would be reconciled but there would also being something more. For on thing, the relationship between the two would actually be greater than it had been originally as they would be bound in kinship through the blood of Blameless. And this bond is one of blood that is spilled, not of blood that is mixed; it is one thing to be brought into a kinship through marriage and another thing entirely to be brought into a kinship through costly, irreversible sacrifice. For another thing, there would be a difference in the character of Guilty. He is now indebted to Blameless in a way that he can never just shrug off so long as he has even the slightest bit of goodness in him. Moreover, to return to his old self is not something that he has any right to do even if he had some right to begin with; even if all his sins never hurt another living person he would be giving the greatest possible offense to Blameless. He is convicted.
There are two ways that this story can end. The Disney ending would be for the willingness of Blameless to be enough and for Guilty to be let off the hook. This is not inconceivable as a real scenario, and it would be enough to restore the status quo of the villages. However, that is all it would do. On the other hand, Blameless could be taken up on his offer and executed in the place of Guilty. If this were to happen the villages would be reconciled but there would also being something more. For on thing, the relationship between the two would actually be greater than it had been originally as they would be bound in kinship through the blood of Blameless. And this bond is one of blood that is spilled, not of blood that is mixed; it is one thing to be brought into a kinship through marriage and another thing entirely to be brought into a kinship through costly, irreversible sacrifice. For another thing, there would be a difference in the character of Guilty. He is now indebted to Blameless in a way that he can never just shrug off so long as he has even the slightest bit of goodness in him. Moreover, to return to his old self is not something that he has any right to do even if he had some right to begin with; even if all his sins never hurt another living person he would be giving the greatest possible offense to Blameless. He is convicted.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Peekaboo
The darkness closes in
Like a converging sea of claws
A canopy of ashes blotting out the stars
A manifest gloom smothering the candlelight
An army of unseen horrors
Toppling the places of law
And raising up their infernal banner
There was a hope
A hero to save the day
A plan to break the curse
A revolt to restore the King
A light to fill the darkness
But it all failed
The hero is dead
The plan is in ruins
The soldiers are cornered
The light is dimming
We had hoped this was a comedy
But the approaching end
Can only be tragic
The fairy tale is over
The dread witch has won
But then the sun comes out
Not slowly
Not peeking fearfully over the mountains
But instead faster than all perception
As if with instantaneous speed
It leaps to its zenith
And blasts the night away
We were holed up in the highest tower
With the enemy filling up every chamber and corridor
The whole fortress filled with depravity and despair
When we made one last suicidal charge
And now the gates are all closed
And everywhere
The gargoyles are waking up
Opening their jaws
stretching out their claws
Waking to the sight of enemies
From the heights
The shofar sounds
And in answer
From the depths
A song rises
As if it were all
A divine game of peekaboo
As if God had covered His face
For just a moment
During which we
Of little faith and little mind
Thought He had disappeared entirely
During which the vile
Thought it safe to come out
Now the Hands come apart
Now the Face is shone
With delight for the beloved
With victory for the faithful
With deliverance for the poor
With unending joy for the sinner
Caught in the snares of repentance
And the schemes of grace
But what of those
Who would hurt
His bride?
They will be caught
In traps which they laid
They will fall before His fury
The veil is parting
And on the other side
Are chariots of fire
Like a converging sea of claws
A canopy of ashes blotting out the stars
A manifest gloom smothering the candlelight
An army of unseen horrors
Toppling the places of law
And raising up their infernal banner
There was a hope
A hero to save the day
A plan to break the curse
A revolt to restore the King
A light to fill the darkness
But it all failed
The hero is dead
The plan is in ruins
The soldiers are cornered
The light is dimming
We had hoped this was a comedy
But the approaching end
Can only be tragic
The fairy tale is over
The dread witch has won
But then the sun comes out
Not slowly
Not peeking fearfully over the mountains
But instead faster than all perception
As if with instantaneous speed
It leaps to its zenith
And blasts the night away
We were holed up in the highest tower
With the enemy filling up every chamber and corridor
The whole fortress filled with depravity and despair
When we made one last suicidal charge
And now the gates are all closed
And everywhere
The gargoyles are waking up
Opening their jaws
stretching out their claws
Waking to the sight of enemies
From the heights
The shofar sounds
And in answer
From the depths
A song rises
As if it were all
A divine game of peekaboo
As if God had covered His face
For just a moment
During which we
Of little faith and little mind
Thought He had disappeared entirely
During which the vile
Thought it safe to come out
Now the Hands come apart
Now the Face is shone
With delight for the beloved
With victory for the faithful
With deliverance for the poor
With unending joy for the sinner
Caught in the snares of repentance
And the schemes of grace
But what of those
Who would hurt
His bride?
They will be caught
In traps which they laid
They will fall before His fury
The veil is parting
And on the other side
Are chariots of fire
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
My Firm Foundation
You want to know why I'm out here?
Why I'm taking this risk
Putting my reputation
My name
On the line?
It's not because I'm brave
And there's no way in Hell
That it's because I'm so wise
Or strong
I've been told
That everyone I ever trust
Will fail me
Including myself
But that wasn't quite right
It was understated
Because out of everyone I've trusted
Out of every named I've staked my fortunes on
The greatest failure is me
No one ever betrayed me
Like my very own self
You want to know
Where I get my knowledge?
How I can discern these things?
It's not my own intellect
It's not my education
Have you seen that mess out there?
The hundreds of philosophies?
The wonders and miseries of history?
The billions bits of trivia?
I don't care how smart you are
I don't care how educated you are
There's still so much you don't know
So much you can't account for
I don't care how good your aim is
You can't hit that bullseye
You want to know
Where I get my hope?
How I can care about these things
And not go hang myself?
How I can look at death
Without fearing
The vast unknown?
It's not positive thinking
It's not some politician
Some hero who's here today and gone tomorrow
It's not some twelve-step plan
It's not some national plan
Sure a few of those might be okay
But what they leave behind
It spoils
Withers
Burns
I can give my life
To an earthly cause
But if I give it my soul
Then I'm just screwed
You really shouldn't have asked
You know the answer
It's the same as the answer
To the question your rolling eyes ask
"Why don't you ever shut up
About that Jesus?"
He is my Rock
My Firm Foundation
If I am ever bold
It's because I'm under orders
From the Maker of mountains
It's because I'm not fighting
With my own strength
If I look brave
It's because I've been praying for hours
Shaking and trembling and weeping
And the I Am has answered
If I have any wisdom
If my thoughts on a thing
Are within even a thousand miles
Of the thing as it really is
It's because I'm not wandering in the dark
For metaphysics I start with Genesis
For ethics I start with the Sermon on the Mount
For history I start with the Empty Tomb
To know the heart of all meaning
To answer the ultimate "why"
I look in Exodus
To the I Am
If I have any hope
It's because my ransom is paid
It's because my King
Has already squared off with death
And He let everyone know
Who won that war
It's because my inheritance
Will never decay
Will never be lost
Will never be stolen
It's because there is nothing they can do to me
That will not vanish in the coming dawn
It's because my fate is in the hands
Of the I Am
He is my Rock
My Firm Foundation
Why I'm taking this risk
Putting my reputation
My name
On the line?
It's not because I'm brave
And there's no way in Hell
That it's because I'm so wise
Or strong
I've been told
That everyone I ever trust
Will fail me
Including myself
But that wasn't quite right
It was understated
Because out of everyone I've trusted
Out of every named I've staked my fortunes on
The greatest failure is me
No one ever betrayed me
Like my very own self
You want to know
Where I get my knowledge?
How I can discern these things?
It's not my own intellect
It's not my education
Have you seen that mess out there?
The hundreds of philosophies?
The wonders and miseries of history?
The billions bits of trivia?
I don't care how smart you are
I don't care how educated you are
There's still so much you don't know
So much you can't account for
I don't care how good your aim is
You can't hit that bullseye
You want to know
Where I get my hope?
How I can care about these things
And not go hang myself?
How I can look at death
Without fearing
The vast unknown?
It's not positive thinking
It's not some politician
Some hero who's here today and gone tomorrow
It's not some twelve-step plan
It's not some national plan
Sure a few of those might be okay
But what they leave behind
It spoils
Withers
Burns
I can give my life
To an earthly cause
But if I give it my soul
Then I'm just screwed
You really shouldn't have asked
You know the answer
It's the same as the answer
To the question your rolling eyes ask
"Why don't you ever shut up
About that Jesus?"
He is my Rock
My Firm Foundation
If I am ever bold
It's because I'm under orders
From the Maker of mountains
It's because I'm not fighting
With my own strength
If I look brave
It's because I've been praying for hours
Shaking and trembling and weeping
And the I Am has answered
If I have any wisdom
If my thoughts on a thing
Are within even a thousand miles
Of the thing as it really is
It's because I'm not wandering in the dark
For metaphysics I start with Genesis
For ethics I start with the Sermon on the Mount
For history I start with the Empty Tomb
To know the heart of all meaning
To answer the ultimate "why"
I look in Exodus
To the I Am
If I have any hope
It's because my ransom is paid
It's because my King
Has already squared off with death
And He let everyone know
Who won that war
It's because my inheritance
Will never decay
Will never be lost
Will never be stolen
It's because there is nothing they can do to me
That will not vanish in the coming dawn
It's because my fate is in the hands
Of the I Am
He is my Rock
My Firm Foundation
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)