Introduction
The Church is first and foremost a fisherman ? So, pray tell, what bait ought it impale on the hook to fish for the children of Adam and Eve ? What is the sales pitch? What induces the children of Adam and Eve to participate in the new Exodus, served by the new Moses, the Church, that is making its escape on the Christian escape route through the Valley of Tears from slavery under the yoke of Pharaoh to freedom with God and his holy family in the promised land, the land of milk and honey ?
Jesus impaled on the Cross like a worm on a hook is the bait that the most Holy Trinity cast into the Valley of Tears to fish for the children of Adam and Eve . The fish take this bait hook, line and sinker. The modern Church, however, no longer baits the hook with the Cross of Christ. Yet, it is surprised that it is no longer catching fish. To succeed, the modern Church needs to stop baiting the hook with bricks.
We have heard and believe the testimony of the witnesses to the truth, testimony about the sourness of godlessness and testimony about the sweetness of paradise. Because we have heard and believe the testimony, we are making our escape through the Valley of Tears fleeing the sourness of godlessness and seeking the sweetness of paradise.
Are you a student who looks up to God to study the truth about him? Do you share your discoveries with your neighbors? Or are you just a king who looks sideways at your neighbors to try to rule them? Witness or king? What percent of your day do you devote to being a witness and what part to being king?
More revelation; less regulation. More foundation; less roof. More pizzazz; less nitty-gritty. More Mary; less Martha. No change in doctrine; just a change in emphasis - a tweak, nothing more. Can we stop excluding God from the conversation? Can we devote at least 25% of the conversation to God? Is 25% too much to ask?
Why do I frequent the holy places that define the escape route through the Valley of Tears? Why ought you? At the holy places, we perfect our knowledge of God through close encounters with our gentle God. Close encounters with our gentle God only take place at the holy places. At the holy places, we become students of God.
The testimony of wtnesses about the truth pushes and pulls us along the escape route through the Valley of Tears. Therefore, the truth is important. All truth? No, just the subset of truth that pushes and pulls us, that is, the truth about the sourness of godlessness and the truth about the sweetness of paradise. The Church needs to focus on the truth that matters. The "game" is won or lost by the subject matter of the testimony and the credibility of the witnesses.
Is there a relationship between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection? If so, how are they connected together? What is the yoke that binds the two events into a team?
The Crucifixion and the Resurrection are two pieces of a single puzzle. To complete the puzzle, they need to be put together. The way they connect together is invisible until you are informed of the existence of the connection and try to see it for yourself. Then the connection becomes obvious. Startled by this epiphany, you smack yourself on the head with the palm of your hand, wonder why you never saw the connection before and, like Archimedes, exclaim,'Eureka' !
The conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection is apocalyptic.
The source of a perfect understanding of God is the apocalyptic conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection,
God, the author of reality, staged a violent collision between his dearly beloved Son, Jesus, and the evil that we did to him. The violent collision was bigger than the Big Bang and larger than CERN's Large Hadron Collider . Incandescent truths erupted from the violent collision that illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany.
The Crucifixion and the Resurrection are two parts of one conversation - an interrogation to be precise. Are you privy to the conversation? What question did we ask him? What answer did he give us?
In the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, Jesus revealed to us the good news of great joy.
In the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, Jesus wrote the Autobiography of God - he painted God's self-portrait.
The evil that we did to him was the key that opened the treasure chest of Christianity. His asymmetric reaction to the evil that we did to him is the treasure.
Evil propagates itself, like a wave, across the gap between evildoer and victim, contaminates the victim, and transmogrifies the victim into the most miserable and hideous of loveless beast. Christianity tries to build a firewall between the evildoer and victim. The firewall that Christianity tries to build is a heart filled to the brim with love.
Our God is different than us . When evil is done to us, it follows a predictable pattern. It jumps the gap between the evildoer and us, contaminates us, and transmogrifies us into the most hideous and miserable of loveless beasts. At the very least, it pisses us off. It antagonizes us. It earns the evildoers a place on our shit list. It provokes our instinct for justice. "An eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" . It triggers our reflex for revenge, retaliation and retribution. But not so with God. Not so. Jesus deviated from the predictable pattern . The reaction of Jesus to the evil we did to him was radically asymmetric. Jesus refused to let the evil we did to him transmogrify him into the most hideous and miserable of loveless beasts. Instead of releasing his grip on love, He clung to his love for us, held tight and refused to let go. He maintained his resemblance to God. Because his most sacred heart stayed filled to the brim with love for us, Jesus was able to say "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Jesus's radically asymmetric reaction to the evil we did to him illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany.
Question: "Who are you, Jesus? Identify yourself! Friend or foe?"
Answer: "I am your friend not your foe. I want to help you, not hurt you, as you pass through the hostile truth of the Valley of Tears. I am the love note that our Father composed for you in heaven and sent to you at Bethlehem to console you in your misery here in the Valley of Tears. I am the ladder of truth. My bloody wounds are its rungs. Climb on them out of the Valley of Tears and back to your home in paradise. Establish your residency in the kingdom of the gentle God. The trip through my bloody wounds from the Crucifixion on their near side to the Resurrection on their far side will give you a perfect understanding of the nature of God. I am the way . "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me." . I shall deposit my bloody wounds into the bread and wine of the most Holy Eucharist to remind you that they are as essential to your survival as eating and drinking. Without consuming food and drink, you die of hunger and thirst. Without consuming my bloody wounds, , death is just as certain. So eat the bread and drink the wine of the most Holy Eucharist in memory of my bloody wounds
His bloody wounds connect the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. To escape from the Valley of Tears, we must pass from the Crucifixion on the near side of his bloody wounds, through them, to the Resurrection on their far side. Our passage through his bloody wounds sanctifies us.
"What a paradise it is for a soul when the heart knows itself to be so loved by God." (St. Faustina - Notebook VI, 1756).
Chapter 1
The Valley of Tears
The Valley of Tears is hostile territory. In the Valley of Tears, we find ourselves behind enemy lines. We are in danger. Our predicament is dire.
Trapped between the hammer and the anvil
Pursuing us from behind through the Valley of Tears is the new Pharaoh, the serpent, and his minions, the army of the new Egyptians. They are the hammer. The hammer is driving us toward the anvil. The anvil in front of us is the Red Sea of death.
Without a miracle, our destiny in the Valley of Tears is to be crushed between the hammer and the anvil.
Who will save you from slavery under the yoke of the new Pharaoh? Who will part the Red Sea of Death for you? Do you have the power to do it yourself? Will God part the Red Sea of death for us as he parted the Red Sea for the Jews so we, too, may safely pass through it to the promised land , the land of milk and honey ? "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?" . Hasn't the script already been written? Will the immutable God rewrite the script?
Chapter 2
The Teeth and Tongues of our Crosses
As we pass through the Valley of Tears, many and merciless are the crosses that besiege us.
The sharp teeth of our crosses chew us up into bits and pieces.
Through the tongues of our crosses, the serpent broadcasts powerful anti-god propaganda.
The Tongues of our Crosses Taunt our Souls
While the sharp teeth of our crosses chew us up into bits and pieces, their sharp tongues taunt our souls saying, "Where is your Savior in your moment of need?" "Nobody is coming to rescue you." "If rescue were in store for you, you would be rescued now." "Despair!" "You are alone and forsaken."
The taunts are highly persuasive. They broacast powerful anti-God propaganda.
While we are nailed alive to our crosses and our savior is nowhere in sight, it is difficult to conceive that our God is our almighty lover . In our despair, we cry out, as Jesus cried out, “Eli, Eli,[a] lema sabachthani?” . While buried in the anti-god propaganda, the sweetness of paradise cannot pull us along the escape route through the Valley of Tears to the promised land
Chapter 3
Rescue
The False Sense of Security We Derive from Riches
"And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God" .
A rich man thinks that he can fend off the crosses that beseige us as we pass through the Valley of Tears
. His riches can hold them at bay. However, not even a rich man can rescue himself. The predicament of the rich man is just as dire as the predicament of the poor man.
Even a rich man needs God's help.
A rich man has not spent enough time thinking about his imminent need for the parting of the Red Sea of Death. His resources will not accomplish such a miracle. Standing like a colossus at the nexus between the entrance of paradise and the exit of godlessness is Jesus. Through his bloody wounds the great leap is made from time to eternity . He is the way . "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me." .
All of the resources of a rich man are not enough to pay the toll for entry into the kingdom of God. The toll is not found in one's pocket. The toll is found in one's heart.
The toll for entry into the kingdom of God is not found in one's pocket but is found in one's heart. Do you have the toll? Your pocket may be filled to the brim with coin but is your heart filled to the brim with love?
Wretched is the poor man without coin in his pocket and without love in his heart.
Happy is the poor man without coin in his pocket but with a heart filled to the brim with love.
Chapter 4
Our Ecape Through the Valley of Tears
A baby cannot bypass the womb. The children of Adam and Eve cannot bypass the Valley of Tears.
There is no shortcut by which we can avoid the Valley of Tears. It is not a Maginot Line that we can go around. There is no bridge over it or tunnel under it. We must pass through it. As meat passes through a grinder, we pass through it. As grist passes through a mill, we pass through it. No exceptions. However, there is an escape route through it. Furthermore, the Church has the map and knows the way.
Fire! Fire!
The Valley of Tears is on fire. It is burning down. Meanwhile, we are asleep in our beds blissfully unaware of our dire predicament. Amid the smoke and the flames, our Church bells are ringing. They sound a fire alarm. The Holy Spirit is ringing the bells to wake us up from our slumber. He is urging us to escape from the smoke and flee from the flames. Do you appreciate the exigency of your situation?
Have you not yet smelt the smoke and felt the flames?
The Holy Spirit is tugging at our souls. The curious are following the tug back to its source. Along the way, the curious are exploring the mystery, majesty and magnificence of God.
Are you not curious?
Abandon Ship!
To the life boats! To the life boats! Abandon ship! Abandon ship! Godlessness is a sinking ship . We are its passengers. The Church is its crew. God gave the Church a rescue mission. However, the rescue mission that God gave the Church is not to save the ship. The rescue mission that God gave the Church is to save the passengers.
The Exodus is A Powerful Allegory
The exodus of the Jews is a powerful allegory that the genius of God embedded into the history of humanity to inform us about our place in the Big Picture of life here on earth. The Jews made their escape through the hostile desert. So, too, Christians. We are making our escape through the Valley of Tears. The Valley of Tears is our hostile desert - everyone's hostile desert.
It is not safe to put roots down into the toxic soil of the Valley of Tears. Far better to be pilgrims passing through it than settlers roosting in it.
The Paradigm of Escape is the lens through which Christians view the world - or ought to view the world. Is this your paradigm? If not, what is yours? Do you even have your own paradigm? Do yourself a favor: articulate it! Do not let it hide within you ineffable. Furthermore, does your paradigm take into account the elements that the Paradigm of Escape takes into account? Does your paradigm take into account fewer elements or different elements or more elements? Moreover, with regard to the Paradigm of Escape, which element of the escape do you understand the best and talk about the most? Is your understanding balanced? Or are some aspects of the escape under-emphasized and other aspects over-emphasized?
The Performance Now Taking Place on the Stage of Life
The escape of the new exodus through the Valley of Tears from slavery under the yoke of Pharoah to freedom with God and his Holy Family in the promised land is now being performed on the stage of life. Whether we like it or not, we are characters in it. Our role is to escape through it.
Everything revolves around the Escape. Anchor your understanding of the purpose of life here on earth to our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears and the Escape of the New Exodus therefrom.
The Escape Route
To rescue the children of Adam and Eve from the sour truth of the Valley of Tears, God built an escape route through the Valley of Tears , defined the escape route with holy places, made a map of them, established a Church, entrusted the map to the Church and gave the Church the job of serving the new exodus as the new Moses. The Church has the map and knows the way .
The Church is in charge of participation in the New Exodus. God is in charge of transformation. The Church goes off the rails when it tries to do God's work.
Progress on the escape route through the Valley of Tears is made only when the New Exodus is exposed to the testimony of witnesses to the truth. We need witnesses to the truth. Kings to rule us - not so much.
The Church is the Tour Guide
As the curious are making their escape through the Valley of Tears, the Church, when functioning properly, tries not to be a king who rules us but a tour guide who points out the sights to see along the way. Still in business after more than two thousand years , its experience has given it great confidence - and should inspire confidence in us as well - that it knows a thing or two about the escape of the new exodus through the Valley of Tears.
Christianity is a religion that is involved with our escape through the Valley of Tears from slavery under the yoke of Pharaoh to freedom with God and his Holy Family in the promised land, the land of milk and honey . We become Christians as we make our escape - as we take part in close encounters with the living God at the holy places that define the escape route. God transforms us. We do not transform ourselves. The Church does not transform us. Only God transforms us and he does so at the holy places. The Church is in charge of participation in the escape. God is in charge of transformation of the participants. Therefore, get thee to the holy places. Run to them. Make haste! At the holy places, sinners are transformed into saints.
Chapter 5
What are the Benefits of stewing in the Hostile Truth of the Valley of Tears?
In the Valley of Tears, God lets us put our fingers into the flames so we learn for ourselves that the fire is hot. There is no higher or better persuasion about the truth than first-hand experience with the truth. Whoever puts his fingers in the flames comes to the conclusion that the fire is hot. The conclusion is ineluctable.
The pedagogy of the Valley of Tears is effective but cruel - brutally cruel.
Can we infer from the cruelty of the Valley of Tears that God is cruel? Yes, such an inference is legitimate - we can infer that God is a sadist - but only if the cruelty has no purpose and God failed to provide us with the means to mitigate it.
Stewing in the Hostile Truth Defangs the Serpent
The serpent testified we become gods without God in the Valley of Tears . God testified that, without God, we perish .
Our first hand experience with the hostile truth of the Valley of Tears defangs the serpent. It drains the serpent's illusion of its power to deceive. The hostile truth is the sledgehammer that shatters the illusion conjured up by the serpent that sugarcoated the Valley of Tears. It shatters the illusion as a hammer shatters glass.
We learn from the hostile truth that, contrary to the testimony of the serpent, we do not become gods without God in the Valley of Tears .
Without God, we perish .
Stewing in the Sour Truth Establishes the Credibilty of God and the Serpent
The serpent testified that we become gods without God in the Valley of Tears
. God testified that without God we die . The Valley of Tears is autodidactic. We learn from the hostile truth of the Valley of Tears that we do not become gods without God.
Hence, our experience in the Valley of Tears raises the credibility of God and lowers the credibility of the serpent. By stewing in the Valley of Tears like pickles in a barrel of toxic brine, we learn the hard way that the serpent is a bullshit artist and that God saith sooth.
Is the problem that God needed to solve the problem of us getting the gift of paradise or us keeping it? Lucifer, the gaggle of angels who followed Lucifer, Eve, Adam and the prodigal son all got the gift of paradise. But none of them kept it. Ergo, ...
The prodigal son is never going to return to the pig sty. Neither will we.
Stewing in the Sour Truth Reduces the Risk to Near Zero that We Would Let the Gift of Paradise Slip Through Our Fingers After It is Delivered to Us
Even though we abandoned him in Eden, God did not abandon us in the Valley of Tears. God is actively executing his plan to rescue us at this very moment. God plans to deliver the gift of paradise to us just as God delivered the gift of paradise to Adam and Eve. God is the gift giver. His nature is to give his creatures gifts. God will not be less generous with us than God was with them. Adam and Eve were the first beneficiaries of God’s love for us. They were not the last. God’s philanthropy did not end with Adam and Eve; God’s philanthropy began with them. This is good news of great joy - very good news for us indeed . However, God does not want us just to receive the gift of paradise. God wants us to keep it as well. Moroever, God wants us to keep the gift of paradise without turning paradise into a prison, God into our warden and us into his prisoners. A cage is still a cage no matter how gilded. Baptizing us in the sour truth of the Valley of Tears before delivering the gift of paradise to us ensures that we keep it. Will we let the gift of paradise slip through our fingers? Will we fumble the ball as Lucifer did, as the gaggle of angels who follow Lucifer did, as Adam did, as Eve did, and as the prodigal son did? They were given the gift of life and the gift of paradise simultaneously. With us, God inserts a delay between the gift of life and the gift of paradise. During the delay we stew in the sour truth of the Valley of Tears like pickles in a barrel of toxic brine. Stewing reduces the likelihood of fumbling the ball to near zero, don't you think? Will the prodigal son ever return to the pig sty? Will we? The sour truth is harsh but effective medicine. It cures us of our "butterfingers", a condition otherwise known as original sin.
The Fork in the Road
When we are baptized in the evil of the Valley of Tears, a fork in the road is created for us. We can take the high road and cling to love, hold tight and not let go. We can fill our hearts to the brim with love. In this way, we maintain our resemblance to God. The greater the love we hold in our hearts, the greater is our resemblance to God.
"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" . Love deifies us.
Or we can take the low road and release our grip on love. We can let evil transmogrify us into the most miserable and hideous of loveless beast. God is interested in which fork in the road we take - the road of the beast or the road of God. He delights when his creatures take the high road and is disappointed when they go low. He is disppointed because he knows that love is the "grease" for the wheels of our passage through the Valley of Tears. Without the "grease", the friction of our passage through the Valley of Tears becomes too much to bear.
Jesus took the high road. Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses. Jesus gave us the pedagogy of the Cross to mitigate the cruelty of the pedagogy of the Valley of Tears.
When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung, love as Jesus loved. Hold tight and refuse to let go of love, sufferings invincible foe. The Son of God demonstrated for us that the technology of applying love to suffering works by using it himself. He donned the jet pack and flew to show us that we, too, can fly. What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was!
Jesus did not just issue a declaration of his identity - that he is the love note sent from God to us. Jesus produced a demonstration of God. Jesus demonstrated his identity as God's love note from the platform of the Cross. We tortured and killed him. He suffered and died. But he did not stay dead and he did not stop loving us. He emerged from the dead still alive and still in love with us. He and his love for us survived the evil we did to him. So, who are you? What will your baptism in the evil of the Valley of Tears tell you about yourself? What fork in the road will you take? In the Valley of Tears, you will be given opportunities to reveal yourself. Give ear to the Gospel of Rationality. For your own sake, pick the high road.
It is contrary to your self-interest to do otherwise. It is crazy to do otherwise. It is self-destructive to do otherwise.
The love note that God sent from heaven to earth was not verified by the issuance of a declaration about God. It was verified by the production of a demonstration of God. The demonstration of God consisted of a violent collision between Jesus and the evil we did to him. Incandescent truths erupted from the violent collision to illuminate the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious birth of epiphany.
Stewing in the Sour Truth Gives Us The Opportunity To Rise To The Challenge of the Cross and Conquer It
Our crosses present a challenge to us. They present us with two (2) options:
Option #1: Surrender
Our crosses can crush us under their unbearable weight. They can squeeze out the love we hold in our hearts as paste is squeezed out of a tube. They can transmogrify us into the most miserable and hideous of loveless beasts.
Option #2: Resistance
We can resist. We can deny ourselves. We can fight against our natural, reflexive tendency to release our grip on love when our crosses nail themselves to us. Instead, we can pick them up and carry them .
The choice is ours.
We are born in the image and likeness of God . God endowed us with the capacity to love. The greater the love that we hold in our hearts, the greater is our resemblance to God. God wants us to fill our hearts to the brim with love . When we fill our hearts to the brim with love, we become a high fidelity representation of the reality of God .
Love gives us strength. Love transforms us into superman. Only creatures who love can pick up and carry their crosses . "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" .
Success in the challenge of the Cross takes place when we refuse to let evil transmogrify us into the most miserable and hideous of loveless beasts. Success happens when we cling to love, hold tight and refuse to let go. Failure happens when we become the loveless beast, miserable and hideous.
God is not interested in transforming us into creatures who follow a book of rules . He is not interested in transforming us into creatures who are obedient. He is not interested in transforming us into a flock of docile sheep . God isn't such a small thinker. He has a higher goal and a bigger plan for us. He is only interested in transforming us into creatures who love - like himself .
God presents us with his challenge to pick up and carry our crosses as we pass through the valley of tears in the hope that we will transform ourselves into creatures who love.
No challenge; no transformation.
Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses. When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung, love as Jesus loved. Hold tight and refuse to let go of love, sufferings invincible foe. The Son of God demonstrated for us that the technology of applying love to suffering works by using it himself. He donned the jet pack and flew to show us that we, too, can fly. What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was! The technology of applying love to suffering is the "grease" for the wheels of our passage through the Valley of Tears.
Chapter 5
Why is Rescue Delayed instead of Immediate?
The Good News of Great Joy
God plans to deliver the gift of paradise to us just as he delivered the gift of paradise to Adam and Eve. God will not be less generous with us than he was with them. Adam and Eve were the first beneficiaries of God’s love for us. They were not the last. God’s philanthropy did not end with Adam and Eve; God’s philanthropy began with them. This is good news of great joy - very good news for us indeed.
God inserted a delay between his gift of life and his gift of paradise. Why?
Simultaneous Delivery
God delivered the gift of life and the gift of paradise simultaneouly to Lucifer, to the gaggle of angels who follow Lucifer, to Eve, to Adam and to the prodigal son.
Sequential Delivery
To the children of Adam and Eve, God delivers the gift of life and the gift of paradise sequentially. God inserted a delay between the gift of life and the gift of paradise. We call the delay the Valley of Tears. We stew in the Valley of Tears like pickles in a barrel of toxic brine for a lifetime.
Why is Rescue Delayed?
Why? Why the change in God's gift-giving policy? Why isn't rescue immediate? Why does God let us stew in the sour truth of the Valley of Tears like pickles in a barrel of toxic brine? What the f%#k is going on?
God's conception of Rescue is different than Our Conception of Rescue
Our conception of rescue is different than God's conception of rescue .
We want God to eliminate our crosses. God, however, does not. God wants us to pick up and carry our crosses . There is a difference in opinions. His prevails.
Why does God want us to pick up and carry our crossses?
What benefit do we derive from picking up and carrying our crosses ? There is only one way to pick up and carry a cross. God wants us to discover the way. Only love gives us the strength to pick up and carry our crosses. Without filling our hearts to the brim with love, our crosses crush us under their oppresive weight and stop our progress to paradise dead in its tracks. God challenges us with our crosses to teach us to love.
The Technology Jesus Transported from Heaven to Earth
Jesus transported from heaven to earth the technology that enables us to pick up and carry our crosses. Furthermore, the Son of God demonstrated for us that the technology works by using it himself. He donned the jet pack and flew to show us that we, too, can fly. What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was. Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses. When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung, love as Jesus loved. Hold tight and refuse to let go of love, sufferings invincible foe.
The Challenge of Our Crosses
Our crosses poke holes in our hearts when they nail themselves to us. They punctuate our hearts. Buckets of blood pass through the holes and out of our bodies. Our very lives themselves are carried out of our bodies through the holes on a cataract of blood. But what else? What about the important stuff? What about the content of our hearts?
Our crosses are the serpent's inquisition . They are his inquisitors.
The holes are question marks. Our crosses are putting us to the test. They are interrogating us. They are asking us a question. It is a simple question. What type of creature are you? Who are you? Identify yourself.
Are you God or are you a beast?
Our crosses have the malign power to drain our hearts of love.
Do we permit them to do so? Do we let our crosses transmogrify us into the most hideous and miserable of loveless beasts. Or do we deny ourselves? Do we resist? Do we refuse? Do we defiantly say, 'No!' to our crosses. Do we keep our hearts filled to the brim with love?
The challenge of the Cross is the only significant question that each of us is called upon to answer during the course of our lives. Nothing else matters but the answer to this question.
God presents us with the challenge of the Cross as we pass through the Valley of Tears in the hope that we will transform ourselves into creatures who love. He is not interested in transforming us into creatures who follow a book of rules . He is not interested in transforming us into creatures who are obedient. He is not interested in transforming us into a flock of docile sheep . God isn't such a small thinker. He has a higher goal and a bigger plan for us. He is only interested in transforming us into creatures who love - like himself .
No challenge; no transformation.
Love deifies us. Therefore, Jesus wants us to download love from the Cross of Christ and, with it, fill our hearts . Download and install. The Cross of Christ is the Github of heaven at which the source code for success in life is kept.
You are trying to fill your pail to the brim with stuff. STOP! Instead, fill your heart to the brim with love.
Chapter 6
Mitigation
Jesus gave us the pedagogy of the Cross
to mitigate the cruelty of
the pedagogy of the Valley of Tears.
The pedagogy of the Cross dilutes the cruelty of the pedagogy of the Valley of Tears in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of coffee.
The pedagogy of the Valley of Tears is the harsh but effective medicine. The medicine, however, is not without its pernicious side effects. The pedagogy of the Cross addresses the pernicious side effects of the medicine.
Mitigation
Wouldn't a merciful God mitigate the direness of our predicament in the Valley of Tears? Wouldn't a merciful God show us the best way to pass through the hostile truth of the Valley of Tears?
The brevity of life is proof of the mercy of God. Only a misanthropic god would make us stew in the hostile truth of the Valley of Tears for more than a lifetime.
Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses. He did not just tell us - he showed us - the best way to deal with our crosses as we pass through the Valley of Tears. When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung, love as Jesus loved. Hold tight and refuse to let go of love, sufferings invincible foe. The Son of God demonstrated for us that the technology of applying love to suffering works by using it himself. He donned the jet pack and flew to show us that we, too, can fly. What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was!
The technology of applying love to suffering is the "grease" that lubricates the wheels of our passage through the Valley of Tears.
The Atomic Bomb of Mitigation
The most powerful tool that we have in our arsenal to mitigate the hostility of the Valley of Tears is the technology of applying love to suffering. The technology of applying love to suffering is the atomic bomb of mitigation. It dilutes the bitterness of godlessness in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of coffee. Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses. Jesus refused to permit the evil we did to him to transmogrify him into the most miserable and hideous of loveless beasts. He clung to love for us, held tight and refused to let go even though we tortured and killed him. In this way, he maintained his resemblance to God. The greater the love we hold in our hearts, the greater is our resemblance to God .
"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" .
Love is the life preserver that keeps us afloat in the rough waters of our baptism in the Valley of Tears . A word to the wise is sufficient.
What is the best way to pass through the Valley of Tears? Love is the "grease" that lubricates the wheels of our passage through the Valley of Tears. The best way is to love our way throught it. When will the Church start to share this "secret" with the children of Adam and Eve?
The Economy of Paradise is Based on the Currency of Love
The economy of paradise is based on the currency of love. With ordinary currency, the more we spend, the poorer we get. It is a paradox, but with the currency of love, the more we spend, the richer we get. God paid us a visit at and about the city of Jerusalem in a region of our planet known as the Middle East more than two thousand years ago to introduce us to the currency of love and to establish the economy of paradise for us here on the earth.
What kind of guest was Jesus? Was he an empty-handed guest? Or did he bring a gift when he paid us a visit at and about the city of Jerusalem more than two thousand years ago? Furthermore, was the gift that Jesus transported from heaven to earth to give to the children of Adam and Eve useful to us in this world, the natural world as we pass through the Valley of Tears or was the gift only useful in the next world, the world of the supernatural?
Does the Church realize that it has practical and valuable advice to give the children of Adam and Eve who struggle as they pass through the Valley of Tears - advice that matters here and now not just in the hereafter? The Church has the map and knows the way. It knows the best way to handle the crosses that besiege us. The Church that contemplates the Cross understands the technology of applying love to suffering. Its job is to distribute the technology to the children of Adam and Eve. Get to work!
Chapter 7
The Application of The Theory of Christianity to the Facts
Condolences to Parents Who Lost A Child
I cannot imagine your loss. It would crush me under its unbearable weight. But, please, don't let it crush you. I understand that the magnitude of your loss can make you deeply bitter. It can change you. It can squeeze the love from your hearts. Please, for your own sakes, resist. Do not surrender! Fight back! Have courage and fight back!
I may sound trite but I have come to realize late in life that the only way to cope with loss is to cling to love, hold tight and refuse to let go. Love is the "grease" that lubricates the wheels of our passage through the Valley of Tears. Love is the secret sauce that enables us to pick up and carry our crosses - only love - nothing else. Therefore, find somebody to love. Hug and kiss each other. Hug and kiss your other children and granchildren. Love your way through this. Continuing to love is the only way to heal the wounds of your loss. Love won't take away your wounds. You will always bear the scar of your loss. But, love will stop the bleedings.
Please, for your own sakes. Do not turn your backs on love.
Chapter 8
What Role Does The Truth Play in the Escape of the New Exodus
The truth comes in two flavors: 1) sweet and 2) sour, like the chicken at a Chinese restaurant.
The sour truth is the engine that pushes the new exodus to the exit of the Valley of Tears.
The sweet truth is the engine that pulls the new exodus to the entrance of paradise.
The Nexus Between the Sour Truth and the Sweet Truth
The two engines of truth generate the current of salvation.
The current of salvation carries us from the sourness of godlessness to the sweetness of paradise. Only a recalcitrant few swim against it. The playing field is not on the level. The "game" is rigged. It is tilted downhill from godlessness to paradise to help us reach our salvation.
Standing like a colossus at the nexus between the entrance of paradise and the exit of godlessness is Jesus. Through his bloody wounds the great leap is made from time to eternity . He is the way . "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me." .
I am not God. I am not a deputy of God. I do not stand in persona Christi. What I am is a witness to the sweet truth and to the sour. Hearken to my testimony.
The energy that powers the escape of the new exodus is the truth.
The Engines of Truth Drive the New Exodus
The truth is the engine that drives the new exodus along the escape route through the Valley of Tears from slavery under the yoke of Pharaoh to freedom with God and his Holy Family in the promised land.
The engines of truth generate the current of salvation. The current of salvation flows from the sourness of godlessness to the sweetness of paradise. The mighty river of truth sweeps us off our feet and carries us to our salvation. Only the recalcitrant few try to swim against it.
On God's palette sit two pigments of truth.
The Sour Truth
The sour truth is the medicine, harsh but effective. For the children of Adam and Eve, the sour truth fills the delay that God inserted between his gift of life and his gift of paradise. The vessel that holds the sour truth is the Valley of Tears . The gift of life marks the beginning of our escape through the Valley of Tears.
The gift of paradise marks the end. As we make our escape through the sour truth held by the Valley of Tears, we are baptized . We eat the bread of adversity and drink the water of affliction . Our baptism in the sour truth is the price of admission into paradise, the land of milk and honey .
The Side Effect of the Medicine
The medicine, however, is not without a deleterious side effect. It broadcasts powerful anti-god propaganda into every nook and cranny of the Valley of Tears.
The Sweet Truth
The sweet truth is the sugar that helps the medicine go down . The sweet truth is God's challenge to the serpent's anti-god propaganda. It is the argument that God makes to us in the courtroom of our rationality to dispute the the serpent's anti-god propaganda. The sweet truth helps us to reach the right verdict about God. The sweet truth emerged incandescent from the violent collision that took place between Jesus and the evil we did to him to illuminate the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany.
The sweetness of paradise dilutes the sourness of godlessness in the same way that sugar cubes dilute the bitterness of a cup of coffee . The sweet truth mitigates the sourness of godlessness. It blunts the sharp edges of the crosses that besiege us as we pass through the Valley of Tears.
Our rationality is a gift from God. With it, we process the truth. The truth is the fuel of our rationality. When fueled by the the truth, our rationality steers us in the right direction. When the fuel of truth is fouled by illusion, our rationality leads us astray.
The Behavior of Rational Creatures is Predictable
Rational creatures behave in a predictable manner. We follow a pattern. It is not a complicated pattern. Sweetness attracts us. Honey draws the bees back home to the hive. Sourness repels us. We flee from it. It is contrary to our self-interest to do otherwise. It is crazy to do otherwise. Hence, the truth can drive us.
More Sweet Truth; Less Sour Truth
The sour truth pushes us to the exit of godlessness. The sweet truth pulls us to the entrance of paradise. Both - the sweet truth and the sour truth - are engines that generate the current of salvation. Each drives our progress along the escape route through the Valley of Tears from slavery under the yoke of Pharaoh to freedom with God and his Holy Family in the promised land. The two engines are the belt and suspenders that hold up the pants of salvation. They provide a state of double redundancy. Only one is necessary.
It is quite rational to pray, therefore, for more sweet truth and less sour truth.
Rescue is Achieved By Applying the Truth to Our Rationality
God rescues us from our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears by applying the truth to our rationality. We climb out of our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears on the ladder of truth.
God and the serpent are Adversaries in the Courtroom of Our Rationality
We are the jury. The serpent is presenting his evidence. So is God. The evidence conflicts. It is up to us to reach a verdict. The battleground on which God and the serpent are fighting is the battleground of our rationality. The weapon God uses is the truth. The weapon the serpent uses is falsehood .
It is fact versus fiction. God presents the facts. The serpent presents the fictions. We are the jury who must distinguish fact versus fiction. The purpose of this exercise is so we can learn the truth for ourselves in the clash of conflicting evidence. "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" .
The measure of a Christian is not the degree to which he submits to the morality that the Church recommends. The measure of Christian is the degree of participation in the escape through the Valley of Tears. We cannot expect the children of Adam and Eve to behave like Christians until they become Christians. The children of Adam and Eve become Christians by participating in the escape - by the practice of Christianity. Becoming a Christian is the foundation. Behaving like a Christian is the roof. The foundation needs to be built before the roof. Behaving in accordance to a code of Christian morality is the effect of becoming a Christian - not the cause. Morality is the crown of glory that the children of Adam and Eve wear after they become Christian.
Chapter 9
God Does Not Limit His Expression of the Truth to Words
God is the Artist whose Medium is the Truth
God is quite the chatterbox. He does not shut up. However, he does not typically talk to us in words. If you expect God to use words, you will be disappointed. The language of God is reality.
God is the artist who paints the masterpiece of reality on the canvas of our rationality in the pigments of truth. The serpent, on the other hand, sprays graffiti over the canvas, defaces the masterpiece and calls his vandalism art.
The serpent expresses himself in words. God expresses himself in reality. The meaning of words is fickle. The meaning of reality is not.
Words were too fragile a vehicle to convey the Meaning of God from heaven to earth
Words were not used to convey the meaning of God from heaven to earth. They would not survive the journey. Words were too fragile a conveyance to carry the weight of the revelation. The weight would crush them as flat as a pancake and spill their meaning all over the place in an unintelligible mess. Such spillage would create a theological disaster of epic misunderstanding! The revelation, therefore, was conveyed to us by a vehicle much more robust - and dramatic - than words.
Instead of words, God, the author of reality, staged a violent collision between his dearly beloved Son, Jesus, and the evil that we did to him.
The violent collision was bigger than the Big Bang and larger than CERN's Large Hadron Collider .
Incandescent truths about God erupted from the violent collision.
The incandescent truths illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany.
Jesus himself showed us a high fidelity representation of the reality of God. Out of the violent collision, he produced the "similitude" of God for us to behold . He did not just give us a declaration about God. He gave us a demonstration of God. Jesus wrote the Autobiography of God in the violent collision. In the violent collsion, Jesus painted God's self-portrait.
The revelation of God's identity did not take place instantaneously out of a singularity. It unfolded deliberately over time in a series of events during the process of its publication. As a process, the revelation had both a beginning and an ending. The revelation began with the Crucifixion. It ended with the Resurrection.
Furthermore, God united the Crucifixion and the Resurrection together into a whole by imposing a structure upon them . The structure of question and answer holds its own meaning that was familiar to and well understood by the children of Adam and Eve. God imposed this structure upon the underlying events.
The Crucifixion was the question that we shouted at Jesus. The Resurrection was the gentle answer that Jesus whispered back to us in reply. The structure of question and answer, therefore, tied the Crucifixion and the Resurrection together into a conversation - the most apocalyptic conversation that has ever taken place between us and our God since Moses and God conversed at the burning bush on Mount Horeb .
In the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, God introduced himself to us. We make God's acquaintance in the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.
Are you privy to the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection? What did we ask him? What was his answer?
In the Valley of Tears, The Language of Suffering is our Native Tongue
Why did God speak to us in the language of suffering?
The only universal language that survived the confounding of language that took place at Babel
was the language of suffering. The language of suffering is our native tongue. All creatures who suffer understand it. God took flesh so he could speak to us in our native tongue. He didn't want us to misunderstand his message.
The language of suffering is a simple language. It works like this. Nobody signs up to dive headfirst or, for that matter, even dip his toe into the boiling cauldron of suffering unless they are insane or something important outweighs the high cost of suffering. We understand that suffering is an exorbitant price we only willingly pay for something that is extremely dear to us. Jesus paid the exorbitant price because we are extremely dear to Him
. The Son of God became one of us - an equal to us in our humanity - a partner with us in our suffering so we could become an equal to him in his divinity - a partner with him in his glory
.
Low Fidelity Human-Made Representations of the Reality of God
The high fidelity representation of the reality of God that Jesus illuminated for us in the bright light of the incandescent truths that erupted from the violent collision between himself and the evil we did to him is the definitive representation of God - an authentic, first-class representation of God. Its high fidelity is unmatched by the many low fidelity representations of God made by human hands . In fact, God banned us from making representations of him in the first place because of the low fidelity of human made representations
.
Better no representation than an inaccurate representation.
All lesser representations of God, therefore, must yield to the representation God gave us in his autobiography.
Chapter 10
The Problem with Modern Christianity and the Solution
Participation is the domain of the Church; Transformation is God's
Participation in the escape through the Valley of Tears - and only partipation - transforms sinners into saints. We do not transform ourselves. The Church does not transform us. Only God transforms us and he does so at the holy places that define the escape route through the Valley of Tears from slavery under the yoke of Pharaoh to freedom with God and his Holy Family in the promised land.
The Star of the Show
The Church is the barker who implores customers to take in the show and the usher who shows us to our seats. God, however, is the star of the show. The Church goes off the rails when it starts to think that it is the star of the show.
The Credntials of Divinity
A person who claims to be God or to stand in persona Christi is an impostor unless he can show you his credentials. Demand a demonstration from any claimant to divinity of his credentials . Expose the frauds. The only valid credential is sacrificial love - love that survives the application of evil - love that does not fade as we torture him nor die when we kill him. Remember that the serpent had no credentials. Jesus, on the other hand, flashed his credentials to us in his passion, death and resurrection.
How to Transform a Sinner into a Saint
The transformation of a sinner into a saint can be approached in two different ways.
The tyrancial approach tries to transform sinners into saints by imposition. It tries to impose a model code of behavior (a/k/a morality) upon them against their wills by fiat. Clerics who use the tyranical approach act like petty despots. They use the royal scepter of sin to whack our souls over the head until it is black, blue, battered, bruised and bleeding. The tyranical approach, however, does not work. We seldom voluntarily accept the bit of morality into our mouths, the bridle of morality onto our heads and the reins of morality into our hands by dint of fiat. The tyranical approach alienates us from God and the Church. The tyranical approach may satisfy some pathological and sadistic need in the cleric who uses this method. Clerics think that their brutal cruelty to sinners is solely for the benefit of sinners - that they are doing sinners a favor - a kindness. But they are not. Whacking sinners over the head with the royal scepter of sin only drives sinners away from the arms of God not into them.
There is an alternative way - an underutilized approach - to transform a sinner into a saint. It requires that we trust that God will do the work of transformation.
Instead of the tyrannical approach, we can utilize the prophetic approach to transforming sinners into saints. Instead of acting like kings to rule us, our clerics can act as witnesses to the truth who testify to us. We can present the truth to their rationality. We can lower the ladder of truth to sinners so they can climb out of the Valley of Tears themselves. This approach works. It is the only approach that works.
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" . The prophetic approach is the preferred approach of clerics who understand that befoe we can expect the children of Adam and Eve to behave like Christians, they first need to become Christians. The foundation must be built before the roof. The road to transformation is participation in the escape. There is no other road to get us from here to there.
There has been a misallocation of resources in the Church. Too many resources have been devoted to the tyranical imposition of morality upon the children of Adam and Eve. Too few resources have been devoted to testifying to the truth, both the sour truth and the sweet truth. The Church needs to reallocate its limited resources. More resources need to be devoted to "becoming a Christian" before resources need to be expended on "behaving like a Christian".
Is Christianity about "becoming" or about "behaving"? Is there a connection between the "becoming" and the "behaving? Before we behave like a Christian, we must first become a Christian. These are two entitrely different things.
Morality is not the truth that drives us along the escape route through the Valley of Tears. Morality is the crown of glory that participants in the escape wear on their heads.
Morality is not the fuel for the engines that generate the current of salvation that, like a mighty river, sweeps us off of our feet and carries us from the sourness of godlessness to the sweetness of paradise.
Is revelation different than regulation? Whether you agree or disagree with it, do you understand the distinction being made in the call for more revelation and less regulation?
Like dervishes, we whirl with the new exodus from holy place to holy place on the escape route through the Valley of Tears. Fewer and fewer, however, are whirling. Christianity is a spinning top winding down. The practice of Christianity has become a dull and perfunctory routine. The engine that moves us along the escape route is knocking and sputtering, starving for fuel . We have forgotten. Our clergy have failed us. We no longer know why we whirl. The fuel for our escape through the Valley of Tears is the truth. Yet, our fuel supply has been cut off. We have become strangers to the truth. The truth is no longer fueling our rationality. Without the truth, our escape is stuck in the doldrums. No progress is being made to the promised land. The sour truth is the engine that pushes us to the exit of godlessness. The sweet truth is the engine that pulls us to the entrance of paradise. Instead of testifying as witnesses to the truth, our clergy are trying to rule us as petty despots. Regulation, not revelation, has become their stock-in-trade. Morality is not the truth. Morality governs our behavior. However, it does not move the new exodus along the escape route. Only the truth does. To get the escape through the Valley of Tears going again, it is time to learn the difference between morality and the truth, both sweet and sour.
The product and its sales force are inextricably intertwined. When the sales force is rotten, it is not unreasonable for existing and potential customers to conclude that the product being offered for sale is rotten as well. This is so regardless of the unassailable virtue of the manufacturer of the product and especially when the competition has cleaner hands. A bad sales force ruins a good product.
My goal is to succeed in the escape - to make my escape through the Valley of Tears from slavery under the yoke of Pharoah to freedom with God and his Holy Family in the promised land - and to help others achieve the same. My goal is not to achieve the status of a full fledged, card-carrying Catholic. Status does not interest me. I do not strive to be a "stepford wife" of the Church. I worry less about my identity as Catholic and more about the identity of Jesus. From my Church, I want more revelation and less regulation. I want a prophet who preaches the truth to me not a king who tries to rule me. More pizzazz; less nitty-gritty. More Mary; less Martha. No change in doctrine; just a change in emphasis - a tweak, nothing more. Can we stop excluding the truth from the conversation? Can we devote at least 25% of the conversation to the truth both sour and sweet? Is 25% too much to ask? It is time to change the ratio of the content of the conversation.
When we look at the body of Christ, we do not see uniformity in its organs. We see diversity. Each organ is different. We see eyes, a heart, lungs, a liver, etc. The body of Christ is not a collection of the same or similar organs. It is not made up of all hearts. If it were, it wouldn't work. It would be dead. What we see when we look at the body of Christ is a unity of its organs. We see a diversity of organs working together as a unit. Unity, not uniformity, is beheld in the body of Christ.
Who is a Christian?
A Christian is a child of Adam and Eve who is making his escape with the new exodus from holy place to holy place on the escape route through the Valley of Tears from slavery under the yoke of Pharaoh to freedom with God and his Holy Family in the promised land, the land of milk and honey . The servant of the new exodus is the Church; God is its master. The sour truth is pushing us along the escape route to the exit of the Valley of Tears. The sweet truth is pulling us to the entrance of paradise. The sour truth and the sweet truth are engines that generate the current of salvation. The current of salvation flows like a mighty river from the sourness of godlessness to the sweetness of paradise. The mighty river of truth sweeps us off our feet and carries us to our salvation. Only the recalcitrant few try to swim against it.
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" . Standing like a colossus at the nexus between the entrance of paradise and the exit of godlessness is Jesus. He becons us. Through his bloody wounds the great leap is made from time to eternity . He is the way . "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me." .
At the holy places that define the Christian escape route, God transforms us from sinners into saints. We do not transform ourselves. The Church does not transform us. Only God transforms us and he does so at the holy places.
The transformation, however, is seldom instantaneous.
The conception of a fully fledged Christian is a myth .
Unlike coffee, there is no such thing as an instant Christian. It takes time to make a Christian. We do not become Christian overnight. A human being develops from a baby in the womb through other stages of life including infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. A similar framework of development takes place in the thinking of a Christian. A Christian whose thinking is not quite up to speed with the thinking of the self-styled orthodox Christian is still a Christian for the same reason that a baby in the womb is still a human being.
Furthermore, each of us is different. In the body of Christ are a variety of different organs. Every organ is not a heart . In the body of Christ we see unity not uniformity . Though different, each organ of the body of Christ cooperates.The diversity of organs does not stop the body of Christ from working.
We are brothers and sisters of the escape, companions in the new exodus not much different than the pilgrims in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Far better to be pilgrims passing through the Valley of Tears than settlers roosting in it.
We are marching through the Valley of Tears hand-in-hand, arm-in-arm together as one family to the rhythmic beat of the loving heart of our living God!
Examples of the holy places that define the Catholic escape route are the Mass, Confession, the other sacraments, works of charity, acts of kindness, prayer especially the rosary, Eucharistic adoration, feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, fasting, the gathering of two or more together in God's name, bible study, contemplation of God, the hour of death, etc. Some of these holy places are recognized by other Christian communities and by other religions.
Subscription to a particular code of morality prescribed by the Church does not define a Christian. Participating in the escape on the Christian escape route defines a Christian. Morality is the effect of becoming a Christian not its cause. Before we can expect one to behave like a Christian, we must first become a Christian.
The Myth of the Full-Fledged Christian
Unlike coffee, there is no such thing as an instant Christian. It takes time to make a Christian. We do not become Christian overnight. A human being develops from a baby in the womb through other stages of life including infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. A similar framework of development takes place in the thinking of a Christian. A Christian whose thinking is not quite up to speed with the thinking of the self-styled orthodox Christian is still a Christian for the same reason that a baby in the womb is still a human being.
Do you mind if I tagalong? The anwer of the new exodus is no, we don't mind, feel free to tagalong. May I join you in you lifeboat? The answer is yes, welcome.
The energy that powers the escape is the truth. The truth drives the progress of the new exodus along the escape route. Yet, the Church has stopped preaching the truth. It thinks it still does but it does not. As a result, the escape is sputtering and stalling. Fewer and fewer are going to Mass. None are going to Confession. Marriages are falling apart. Mothers are murdering their babies. The priesthood is going extinct . The trend is downward and accelerating. The only sacrament holding its own is the sacrament of extreme unction and this is so only because the dying have little choice. The thermometer that gauges the temperature of the body of Christ is the practice of Christianity. By this measure, the patient is dying. Instead of preaching the truth, the Church preaches its morbid fascination with morality a/k/a sin. Indeed, morality is important. However, morality is not the truth that drives the new exodus along the escape route. Morality is the effect of becoming a Christian not its cause. Morality is the crown of glory that the children of Adam and Eve wear after they become Christian. The great mistake of the Church is that it expects us to behave like a Christian before we have become a Christian. The Church has gone astray because it tries to make us moral instead of trying to make us Christian. These are two seperate and distinct processes. Yet, the Church cannot make the distinction. Making us Christian is the foundation. Making us moral is the roof. The foundation needs to be built before the roof. There is no other way to proceed. The Church needs to get its act together. It needs to once again preach the truth, both the sweet truth and the sour truth. It needs to once again fuel the escape of the new exodus with the truth.
King Versus Prophet
God did not crown the Church as king to rule us. Indeed, God gave the Church a job. Indeed, the Church's job is important. The job of the Church, however, is not the job of a king but the job of a prophet. God annointed the Church as prophet to reveal the truth to us. A king tells us how to behave. A prophet tells us about God. Revelation, not regulation, is the primary mission and first priority of the Church. The two jobs are as different as night and day. A soothsayer is not a king; a king, not a soothsayer.
Furthermore, God did not put into the hands of the Church the royal scepter of sin to whack our souls over the head in a wicked frenzy until they are black, blue, battered, bruised and bleeding.
The instrument that God put into the hands of the Church to do its job as prophet was the sledgehammer of truth.
The sledgehammer of truth shatters the illusions conjured up by the serpent as the blow of the hammer shatters glass.
Beware a cleric who claims to be the deputy of God and, on account of his commission, tries to rule you. More often than not they are frauds. They cannot produce their credentials - the bloody wounds that are the residual evidence of sacrificial love - love that survived a baptism in evil. Sacrificial love is the only valid credential. On the other hand, respect the witnesses to the truth. Listen to their testimony. "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" .
A return to the truth is the solution to the decline of Christianity - a reemphasis on the truth both sweet and sour. This means a deemphasis on morality. More revelation; less regulation. No change in doctrine; just a change in emphasis - a tweak nothing more.
Chapter 11
The Serpent Buried the Truth Under Illusions
The Serpent Does Not Want Us To Escape from the Valley of Tears
The serpent does not want us to escape from the Valley of Tears. He wants our subjugation in the Valley of Tears not our liberation from it.
So he sabotages the engines of truth that generate the current of salvation. He throws a monkey wrench into them. How? The serpent masks the truth with illusions. The serpent conjured up two illusions that obfuscate the truth from us:
1) The serpent sugarcoated the sourness of godlessness with false testimony that we would become gods without God in the Valley of Tears .
God testified that we would die .
2) The Serpent broadcasts virulent anti-god propaganda from the crosses that besiege us as we pass through the Valley of Tears to hide the sweetness of paradise from us.
While camouflaged by illusions, the engines of truth lose their power to push and pull the new exodus along the escape route through the Valley of Tears from slavery under the yoke of Pharaoh to freedom with God and his Holy Family in the promised land. The illusions stop our progress to the promised land dead in its tracks.
Chapter 12
Shattering the Illusions
The Sledgehammers of Truth
The sledgehammers of truth shatter the illusions conjured up by the serpent as the blow of the hammer shatters glass. They are the agents and heroes of our salvation. There are two of them, one for each illusion.
Chapter 13
Shattering the Sugarcoating the Serpent poured over the Valley of Tears to hide its Toxicity
Adam and Eve
The story of Adam and Eve is viewed by many as a child’s fairy tale with little or no relevance to us today. Its lesson is judged too simple and, hence, too well-understood, to deserve any further serious contemplation. It is taken for granted. Few sermons are preached about it. Yet, the story of Adam and Eve is the sine qua non to an understanding of our need for rescue from our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears.
The Highest Form of Persuasion
God told Adam and Eve that the fire was hot . Yet, Adam and Eve did not listen to God - they did not obey. They only agreed with God that the fire was hot after they put their fingers into the flames . Adam and Eve learned the hostile truth the hard way by experiencing it themselves instead of learning it the easy way by taking God at his word.
Some truth is hostile. God asks us for obedience because learning the truth from him the easy way is less costly to us than learning the truth the hard way through our own investigation of it.
Adam and Eve were Strangers to the Sour Truth Held by the Valley of Tears
Before they opted out of Eden, Adam and Eve were strangers to the sour truth of the Valley of Tears. They had absolutely no personal experience with its toxicity. Their knowledge of it came from hearsay, conflicting testimony about it, God's and the serpent's . In retrospect, it is easy for us back seat drivers and arm chair quaterbacks to say that they ought to have taken God at his word - but only in retrospect. At the time, however, how to resolve the conflict in the testimony was not that clear.
Adam and Eve were Defenseless against Duplicity
Adam and Eve were born and raised in the truth. The existence of falsehood was a hypothetical theory that never even crossed their minds. God made them innocent - without guile . God did not equip them with a defense mechanism against duplicity. To do so would have spoiled their innocence. Nor had such a defense mechanism against duplicity evolved in them. There was no need for skepticism. Before the advent of the serpent, nobody had ever lied to them .
The Serpent Exploited Adam and Eve's Defenselessness
So the serpent exploited their defenselessness. He took advantage of their innocence. He fouled their rationality with an illusion. He sugarcoated the sourness of godlessness. The serpent testified to Adam and Eve that they would become gods without God in the Valley of Tears . The serpent promised them deification in the Valley of Tears.
Adam and Eve Decided to Figure out the Truth for Themselves
Deification or death . Adam and Eve were ill-equiped to resolve the conflict in the testimony. So they decided to figure out the truth for themselves. They decided to conduct their own investigation. Trying to learn the truth for themselves was not an unreasonable course of conduct especially given that this was the first time that they were called upon to resolve testimonial conflict. How else would the jury reach a verdict?
Adam and Eve learned the hostile truth about the Valley of Tears the hard way by experiencing it themselves instead of learning it the easy way by taking God at his word.
How did God view Adam and Eve's attempt to resolve the conflict in the testimony?
Did Adam and Eve's fact finding mission offend God?
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" .
Supremely confident in the liberating power of the truth, God let them conduct their own investigation. He did not stand in the way. He did not stop them. Even though an expedition of exploration into the Valley of Tears was contrary to their self-interest, he was unwilling to turn paradise into a prison, himself into a warden and them into prisoners to keep them in paradise. A cage is still a cage no matter how gilded. Nor did he drag them back to paradise against their wills while they kicked and screamed like recalcitrant children. He let their exercise of free will play out. God knew that in the course of their investigation they would learn the truth and the truth would make them free . They would learn the truth the hard way. Instead of accepting God's word, they would would figure out the truth for themselves.
The Children of Adam and Eve Have Tasted for Themselves the Sour Truth of the Valley of Tears
In contrast to Adam and Eve, the children of Adam and Eve have first hand experience with the sour truth of the Valley of Tears. We stew in it for a lifetime.
Our teachers are the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction
.
Better Data; Better Verdict
Basing their verdict on bad data about the Valley of Tears caused Adam and Eve to reach the wrong verdict. Adam and Eve did not have enough evidence to render the right verdict. They only knew paradise. They did not know godlessness. They only had the illusion that the serspent conjured up that sugarcoated the sourness of godlessness . The serpent fouled the fuel of truth with illusion. The children of Adam and Eve, therefore, will be given enough evidence to render the right verdict. They will have better data. They will taste for themselves the sourness of godlessness. They will have first hand knowledge of the Valley of Tears. Experience will prepare them. They will know their options.
Heaven's Customer Service Department
Letting us stew in the hostile truth of the Valley of Tears like pickles in a barrel of toxic brine generates all of the complaints about God's rescue plan. Passing through the Valley of Tears keeps the customer service department of paradise busy. More than a few have cursed their bitter experience in the Valley of Tears in the foulest of language and waved their fists against God. The hostile truth of the Valley of Tears is the platform from which many jump to the incorrect conclusion that God is a malicious misanthrope instead of a benevolent philanthropist. Put the blame for our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears, however, on the proper culprit. God did not put us in the Valley of Tears. The serpent did. God started humanity in paradise. At the most, God can be blamed for not extricating us from the Valley of Tears as quickly as we would like. God's rescue of us is too slow. 'What took you so long?' 'Why did you procrastinate?' are our only legitimate complaints against God. Yet, even this complaint is unwarranted. Passing through the Valley of Tears is medicine, harsh but effective. Therefore, God prescribes it. Stewing for a lifetime in the Valley of Tears like pickles in a barrel of toxic brine bears fruit .
Chapter 14
The Treasure of Christianity
Confusion about the Identity of God
Many false, inaccurate and conflicting pictures of God circulate through the minds of the children of Adam and Eve. The multiplicity of pictures creates confusion. “This is God” some say as they point to their favorite picture of God. Others point to a different picture and say, “No, this is God.” The controversy goes on ad infinitum.
Because of the confusion, the most Holy Trinity desired to set the record straight once and forever. They decided to clear the air. They decided to give us the gift of the definitive picture of God - a high fidelity representation of the reality of God. They decided to dispatch Jesus to earth from heaven to put the "similitude" of God before us for us to behold.
The reaction of Jesus to the evil we did to him was asymmetrical - radically asymmetrical . The radical asymmetry of his reaction to the evil we did to him is the treasure of Christianity. In his asymmetrical reaction, Jesus revealed the identity of God to us. Jesus did not just declare the identity of God to us in ambiguous words. Jesus demonstrated the identity of God to us in unambiguous deeds. The author of reality showed himself to us in reality itself not just in words that represent reality.
Asymmetry is the distinguishing mark of the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. Our question was sharp. We shouted it at him. His answer was gentle. He whispered it back to us. Our question was the night. His answer was the day. Thankfully, he did not respond to our sharp question in kind . He changed the tone of the conversation .
The evil we did to him did not jump the gap between him and us, contaminate him, and transmogrify him into the most hideous and miserable of loveless beasts.
His love for us survived the evil we did to him.
The dial that controlls his love for us is in his hands not ours. It is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil we did to him could budge it.
The evil we did to him did not extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for us in his most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity by even the slightest degree.
Buckets of blood poured through the wounds that our evil opened in his body. On a cataract of blood his very life itself was carried out of his body . But, not a drop - not a drop - of his love for us followed his blood through his wounds and out of his body. His most sacred heart stayed filled to the brim with love for us.
The core of Christianity is his radically asymmetrical reaction to the evil we did to him. It is not sin. It is not morality. It is not the Church. It is not the sacraments. It is not anything else. The core of Christianity rests in the apocalyptic conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. Having acquired the knowledge of God from the apocalyptic conversation between the Crucifixion and rhe Resurrection, Christians are seeking to establish their residency in the kingdom of the gentle God.
The conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection is the foundation on which the edifice of Christianity is built . The edifice of Christianity collapses only when Christians try to build it on a different foundation. As long as it stands on the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, the gates of hell will not prevail against it .
How do we neutralize the serpent's anti-god propaganda?
Jesus Commandeered the Cross - the Agent of Our Woe - to Broadcast a Contradiction to the Serpent's Anti-God Propaganda
Since the age of Adam and Eve, God has broadcast a signal through the Valley of Tears that carries the message that he loves us . The serpent, however, jams God's message of love with anti-God propaganda. The towers from which the serpent broadcasts his anti-God propaganda are the many and merciless crosses that besiege us as we pass through the Valley of Tears. The tognues of our crosses are as sharp as their teeth. The tongues of our crosses taunt us with the question, "Where is your savior now?". While nailed to a cross and God nowhere in sight, this anti-god propaganda is a powerful sower of doubt about God - highly persuasive.
To neutralize the anti-god propaganda, Jesus commandeered a cross. He reconfigured it. He turned off the broadcast of the serpent's anti-God propaganda. Then he used his Cross that amplifies the signal from God that carries the message of his love of us.
Jesus let our evil impale him to the Cross like a fisherman impales a worm on a hook. Despite the evil we did to him, he continues to love us nonetheless. His love for us survived the evil we did to him. The survival of his love for us tells us that His love for us is mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn . The evil we did to him did not extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for us in his most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity by even the slightest degree. The dial that controlls his love for us is in his hands not ours. It is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil we did to him could budge it.
In accordance with the law of symmetry, evil propagates itself, like a wave, from evildoer to victim. It jumps the gap between them. How do we stop evil from jumping the gap? How do we repeal the law of symmetry? How do we build a firewall? How do we stop the propagation of evil dead in its tracks?
The Treasure Chest
The knowledge of God, it was decided, would be transported from heaven to earth and into the hands of the children of Adam and Eve
.
The knowledge of God is the treasure of Christianity. Exposing the children of Adam and Eve to the knowledge of God would neutralize the serpent's anti-god propaganda.
Arising from this decision was the question, ‘what package would be appropriate to hold and carry the knowledge of God during its journey?’. Ordinarily, to hold and carry knowledge, knowledge is put into a book or into some other traditional repository of knowledge. However, not in this case. The knowledge of God was so valuable that no ordinary, conventional, no-frills, humdrum repository would have been suitable. A package equal in dignity to its cargo was desired.
Indeed, in this case, a treasure chest was needed because the knowledge of God is the most precious of treasures.
Therefore, into an extraordinary treasure chest, the knowledge of God was poured. The treasure chest was unique. It lived and breathed and had its own exalted being. Into Jesus, the knowledge of God was poured. During His Visit to us, the Son of God shared the treasure with us. The treasure enriches our understanding of God. With generosity, He made us rich.
The treasure of Christianity illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany.
Rally 'round the Cross!
The Cross of Christ is the flag that the most Holy Trinity planted in the middle of his passion, death and resurrection to rally Christians to the Son of God. Rally 'round the Cross!
The Cross of Christ is a Three-Dimensional Revelation
The Cross of Christ is not a one-dimensional revelation. The Cross of Christ is not a two-dimensional revelation. The Cross of Christ is a three-dimensional revelation.
In other words, it holds three gallons of meaning.
One gallon of meaning is held in the Crucifixion on the near side of the Cross.
One gallon of meaning is held in the Resurrection on the far side of the Cross.
One gallon of meaning is held in the beautiful, symbiotic dance of question and answer that weaves its way through his bloody wounds like to connect the Crucifixion and the Resurrection together into a conversation - the most apocalyptic conversation that has ever taken place between us and our God since Moses and God conversed at the burning bush on Mount Horeb ! In the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, the Autobiography of God was written - the self-portrait of God was painted.
Unfortunately, many who contemplate the Cross have only a one gallon tank. A one gallon tank cannot handle three gallons of meaning. Does your tank have the capacity to hold the full meaning of the Cross?
All representations of the reality of God made by human hands are inferior to the high fidelity representation of the reality of God that Jesus himself gave us in the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. Therefore, the man-made representations must yield to the God-made representation.
Jesus wrote the Autobiography of God in the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. The first chapter of the Autobiography of God is the Crucifixion and the final chapter is the Resurrection.
The Publication of the Nature of God Commenced with the Crucifixion and was completed in the Resurrection.
Jesus was the treasure chest. The Crucifixion was the key. The Resurrection was the treasure. At the Cross of Christ, the publication of the nature of God commenced. Publication was completed in the Resurrection. By turning the key in the treasure chest, the
sweet truth emerged to illuminate the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany.
The gravamen of Christianity is found in the Autobiography of God. In the Autobiography of God, the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection is recorded. Everything else is obiter dicta.
The Cross of Christ is the apotheosis of love.
God poured more and better theology into the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection than into the heads of every apologist, theologian, Doctor of the Church, apostle, monk, abbot, mystic, priest, monsignor, bishop, Cardinal, Pope, hermit and saint who has ever lived or will ever live
Listen first to what Jesus said about himself in his Autobiography before you listen to what others have said about him elsewhere.
Rest your head on the pillow of the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection to sleep the sleep of the angels.
The Crucifixion and the Resurrection are the two sides of the same coin. The coin is the Autobiography of God. The Autobiography of God reveals to us the identity of God - a high fidelity representation of the reality of God. The Crucifixion is our sharp question. The Resurrection is his gentle answer. The connection between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection is a conversation - an interrogation to be precise.
The Autobiography of God tells the Story of our Interrogation of God
We gave him the third degree and he confessed - he spilled the beans. He let the cat out of the bag.
Punctuation marks stand between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. The Crucifixion is the sharp question we shouted at Jesus. The Resurrection is the gentle answer he whispered back to us. His bloody wounds are the question marks that stand between our question and his answer . Why are his bloody wounds question marks?
At the time our evil opened bloody wounds in his body, we did not know the answer Jesus would give us in response to our questions. The answer he would give us to the evil we did to him was - at the time - a mystery. The reasonable expectation was that the evil we did to him would trigger his reflex for revenge, retaliation and retribution. "An eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" .
Jesus answered our question in the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.
Are you privy to the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection? What did we ask him? What was his answer?
The Evil We Did to Him Opened The Mouth of God
In the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, we shouted our sharp questions at him with lash, thorns, nails and spear. "Who are you, Jesus?" "Identify yourself!" "Friend or foe?" the swine squealed and the dogs barked their sharp questions at him.
Thankfully, he did not respond to our sharp questions in kind . He changed the tone of the conversation . His gentle answer was the pearls he threw to the swine - the holy that he threw to the dogs .
The evil we did to him opened the mouth of God. The mouth of God is His bloody wounds. Through his bloody wounds, He whispered his gentle answer back to us.
"Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" . The good news of great joy was preached to us through his bloody wounds. By his bloody wounds we are healed . The truth that illuminates the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany passed through his bloody wounds.
Witness the truth by watching the traffic through his bloody wounds.
Buckets of blood poured through the wounds that our evil opened in his body. On a cataract of blood his very life itself was carried out of his body .
But, not a drop - not a drop - of his love for us followed his blood through his wounds and out of his body. His most sacred heart stayed filled to the brim with love for us.
The fidelity of our resemblance to God depends on the love we hold in our hearts. The greater the love, the higher the fidelity. By keeping his Most Sacred Heart filled to the brim with love for us, Jesus maintained a perfect resemblance to God. He refused to let our evil transmogrify him into the most miserable and hideous of loveless beasts.
Because his most sacred heart stayed filled to the brim with love for us, Jesus was able to say "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do"
. Jesus's whispered answer to our sharp questions was that he was
"our friend not our foe - our almighty lover." Our friend does not want to hurt us. He wants to help us as we make our escape through the Valley of Tears.
The Dramatic Manner
in Which
God Introduced Himself to Us
A violent collision took place between Jesus, our Savior, and the evil we did to him. The collision was bigger than the Big Bang and larger than CERN's Large Hadron Collider .
From the violent collision, truth erupted whose incandescence illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany .
The veil of the temple was was rent in twain from the top to the bottom and Jesus stepped through the rent in the veil to introduce God to us . The incandescent truth is the shining jewel that nestles provocatively at the center of the bosom of Christianity.
Can you articulate the truth generated by the violent collision?
If not, may I introduce you to it?
In the collision, we meet our maker. We make the acquaintance of our God himself.
In the violence of the collision, the Autobiography of God was written - the Self-Portrait of God was painted. The answer to the question, "Who is God?", was given to us by none other than God himself. On and about the platform of the Cross, Jesus demonstrated - not just declared - the identity of God. He did not just tell us. He showed us. Jesus did not write the Autobiography of God in words. It is ironic but the Word of God wasn't an author. He was a carpenter . The carpenter built the Autobiography of God on the framework of the Cross of Christ. From the framework of the Cross, God introduced himself to us.
What genre of literature is the Word of God ? The Word of God is a love note - a love note from God to us. God composed the love note to us in heaven and delivered it to us at Bethlehem.
Furthermore, to certify that the love note was genuine not counterfeit, God annexed his oath to the love note. He set his seal upon it. God's oath a/k/a his seal testified that the love note did indeed come from God. What was God's oath? What was his seal? His oath and seal were the violent collision - it verified the truth of the love note.
The beginning of the collision is known as the Crucifixion and the ending, as the Resurrection.
The collision yielded fruit both sour and sweet.
The Crucifixion produced the sour fruit of the collision. We tortured and killed him. He suffered and died.
The Resurrection produced the sweet fruit of the collision. We launched a freight train of evil toward him. He saw it coming . Remarkably, he stood in its path. He did not flinch. He did not cower. He did not jump out of the way. He took evil on the chin . He stood firm and, by standing firm, stopped evil's progress dead in its tracks. He suffered and died but evil did not jump the gap between us and him. It did not transmogrify him into the most hideous and the most miserable of loveless beasts.
"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" .
Although we tortured and killed him and he suffered and died, he did not stay dead and he did not stop loving us. He emerged from the dead still alive and still in love with us. That he emerged from the dead still alive revealed to us the power of Jesus. Nobody emerges from the dead. He did. That he emerged from the dead still in love with us, however, revealed to us something more significant about divinity than power. Our conception of divinity as power is incomplete - flawed. Divinity is also love. God is still head over heels in love with us despite the evil we did to him.
God's power built paradise for us. God's love for us, however, makes paradise sweet. Power begets respect; but, love begets love.
Revelation by Demonstration not Declaration
After God decided to transport from heaven to earth the revelation of the nature of God to the children of Adam and Eve, the next question was how to do this.
The revelation of the nature of God could have been done by a declaration about God or by a demonstration of God. God rejected revelation by declaration in favor of revelation by demonstration. A demonstration of God took place in the violent collision between Jesus and the evil we did to him. In the demonstration, the nature of God was revealed to us.
The Love Note
God composed a love note to us in heaven, delivered it to us at Bethlehem, published it in the violent collision between Jesus, our Savior, and the evil we did to him, and propagates it to us whenever a priest says a Mass.
Christianity is a religion built upon a love note - a love note from God to us. A love note is the foundation of Christianity.
The Three Questions whose Answers Every Christian ought to
Know
Every Christian ought to know the answers to three questions:
1) What is the treasure chest of Christianity?
2) What was the key that unlocked the treasure chest?
3) What is the treasure of Christianity?
If you do not possess the answers to these questions, your understanding of Christianity is defective.
God made an Investment in Humanity
Jesus paid the exorbitant price to demonstrate his identity to us while we were still sinners - while we were still unworthy of his love - while we did not deserve it. The payment was not an expense but an investment . He invested not in our status as sinners but in our potential to become saints. Our potential to become saints is hidden under our status as sinners. He looked beyond our status as sinners and saw the upside of his investment. One of his gifts to us is the capacity to love. We can fill our hearts to the brim with love. The greater the love in our hearts, the greater is our resemblance to God . Our God, who fashioned us out of the mud with his hands, put himself into the hands of the mud to demonstrate to the mud its potential to become sons and daughters of God. How do we become sons and daughters of God? By filling our hearts to the brim with love.
"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" .
The insanity of Christianity is Jesus's answer to the evil we did to him
The evil that we did to him did not transform him from our friend into our foe. It did not reduce him from the level of God to the level of the most miserable and hideous of loveless beasts.
He continues to be our friend. He continues to love us nonetheless. He did not pull his offer of paradise off the table. He did not cancel his plan to rescue us from our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears. The evil that we did to him ought to have rendered us ineligible for his gifts. It ought to have disqualified us. But it did not. Hallelujah! God continues to love us nonetheless .
The Radical Asymmetry of God
The science of evil discovered that, within its domain, evil obeys the law of symmetry. Evil begets evil. In accordance with the law of symmetry, evil propagates itself, like a wave, from evildoer to victim. It jumps the gap between them. Evil pokes a hole in our hearts and drains them of love. Evil has the power to transmogrify us into the most hideous and miserable of loveless beasts.
Evil interrogates us. [Note: suffering is a subset of evil.] It demands that we identify ourselves. It insists that we show our credentials. In triggering a reaction from us, evil challenges us to reveal our nature to the world.
'What kind of person are you?' evil asks us. 'Show yourself' evil commands. 'Are you like me?' 'Are you my twin?' 'Are you a chip off the block of evil?' Our instinct instructs us to respond to evil in kind. An evil question begets an evil answer. "An eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot . The law of symmetry propagates the wave of evil like the wind propagates a wildfire.
However, we are born in the image and likeness of God . God endowed us with the capacity to love. The greater the love that we hold in our hearts, the greater is our resemblance to God. God wants us to fill our hearts to the brim with love . "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" . When we fill our hearts with love, we become a high fidelity representation of the reality of God . We become agents of God - ambassadors from God to our neighbors.
When we juxtapose God and his creatures, we notice a radical asymmetry . Even though we did evil to him, God still wants to do good to us. Wow! We tortured and killed him. He suffered and died. Yet, he emerged from the dead still alive and still in love with us. God still wants to rescue us from our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears. He did not pull his offer of paradise off the table. He did not cancel his plan to lead us back to our home with him and his Holy Family in paradise. The evil that we did to him ought to have rendered us ineligible for his gifts. It ought to have disqualified us. But it did not. God continues to love us nonetheless .
Our God is different than us . When evil is done to us, at the very least, it pisses us off. It antagonizes us. It earns the evildoers a place on our shit list. It provokes our instinct for justice. It triggers our reflex for revenge, retaliation and retribution. But not so with God. Not so. Jesus refused to let the evil we did to him transmogrify him into the most hideous and miserable of loveless beasts. Instead of releasing his grip on love, He clung to his love for us, held tight and refused to let go. He maintained his resemblance to God. Because his most sacred heart stayed filled to the brim with love for us, Jesus was able to say "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
Jesus rejected the law of symmetry. He overruled it. He cast it aside. His answer to evil's question was different than our answer. When evil challenged Jesus to reveal his identity, Jesus declared that he was not like his interrogator. He declared that he is as different from evil as the day is different from the night .
Jesus had the power to squash evil as easily as we squash a tiny bug. He could have answered evil in kind. Yet, he did not. He changed the tone of the conversation. To our sharp question, Jesus gave his gentle answer . Jesus brought a radical asymmetry to the symbiotic dance between question and answer. Radical asymmetry squeezes the ugliness from the dance. It stops the transmission of the disease. Radical asymmetry is the insanity of Christianity . Jesus's answer to evil's question was the antithesis of evil.
Thank God his thoughts are not our thoughts - his ways are not our ways .
Firewalls
Christianity, among other things, is a religion that is trying to build firewalls to prevent evil from jumping the gap between the evildoer and victim. Firewalls contain the contagion. They stop the spread of the disease. When we cling to love, hold tight and refuse to let go, we build a firewall. Evil cannot transmogrify us into the most miserable and hideous of loveless beasts. Build a Christian and build a firewall. Stop the wildfire of evil from spreading.
What is the chest that holds the treasure of Christianity? Jesus is the treasure chest of Christianity. Into him was poured the knowledge of God for transportation from heaven to earth and distribution to the children of Adam and Eve.
What is the key that unlocks the treasure chest of Christianity? The Crucifixion was the key. It unlocked the treasure chest and revealed the treasure.
The Magnitude of His Love for Us
We get a sense of the magnitude of his love for sinners by the magnitude of the price he paid out of his own pocket to publish the proof of his love for us. The price was exorbitant. He paid the exorbitant price not from his unlimited divine resources. He paid the exorbitant price from his limited human resources. He paid them all for us. He kept not a penny for himself. He has never paid more for anything else . Some say that the Son of God ovepaid - that he was ripped off. We were not worth the payment. He, on the other hand, was willing to pay the price. He thought that we were worth it. Rejoice and be glad! We are worth much to our God! He would not have paid an exorbitant price if we were not worth it.
The Duration of His Love for Us
We get a sense of the duration of his love for sinners from its indestructibility. His love for us ought to have faded as we tortured him and ought to have died when we killed him. But it did not. It survived. Its survival is the proof that the duration of his love for us is forever. His love for us is mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn . The bonfire of love that burns for us in his most sacred heart is unquenchable. Not even the evil we did to him can extinguish the flame or reduce its intensity by even the slightest degree.
The Uniqueness of His Love for Us
We get a sense of the uniqueness of his love for sinners from the matrix out of which the flower of the Resurrection emerged. Nothing grows in the toxic soil of the Crucifixion. Nothing. So, when something does grow, we behold a miracle. His love for sinners emerged from the toxic soil of the Crucifixion.
Verification of His Love for Us
Without sacrifice, it is impossible to tell with any certainty whether love is real or counterfeit. Love that survives sacrifice is real. Love that does not is counterfeit. Our God's love for us survived the evil we did to him. This verified his love for us. If his love for us were counterfeit, it would have faded as we tortured him and died when we killed him. But it did not. His love for us survived the evil we did to him. Survival proves his love for us is real.
High Fidelity Representations of the Reality of God
We are born in the image and likeness of God . God endowed us with the capacity to love. The greater the love that we hold in our hearts, the greater is our resemblance to God. God wants us to fill our hearts to the brim with love . When we fill our hearts with love, we become a high fidelity representation of the reality of God .
When we don't love, we stay strangers to God even though we think we are acting on his behalf .
When we love, God recognizes himself in us . "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" .
What are the Credentials of Divinity?
What distinguishes our genuine God from the many counterfeit gods - the frauds - who try to deceive us? By his bloody wounds, we recognize our God . His bloody wounds are the memorials that remind us that his love for us survived the evil we did to him. His bloody wounds are the rainbow of the new covenant between our God and us .
His bloody wounds are the credentials of divinity.
A person who claims to be God or to stand in persona Christi is an impostor unless he can show you his credentials. Demand a demonstration from any claimant to divinity of his credentials . Expose the frauds. Remember that the serpent had no credentials. Jesus, on the other hand, flashed his credentials to us in his passion, death and resurrection. He clung to his love for us, held tight and refused to let go even though we tortured and killed him .
Our Almighty Lover
Rejoice and be glad! Despite the evil we did to him, Our God continues to love us nonetheless.
Our God is our almighty lover - our friend not our foe. He wants to help us not to hurt us. Whom shall we fear? Of whom shall we be afraid ? Will our almighty lover ever let us down? Will he ever disappoint? His love for us is real. Its reality was verified for us in the violent collision between Jesus, Our Savior, and the evil we did to him. God himself gave us proof. Only reality is reliable. We can depend on the reality of his love for us. His love for us is the rock on which the wise build their lives. Build your lives on his love for us. He countered the serpent's anti-God propaganda.
How God Conveyed the Magnitude of His Love for Us
'How do we tell them the magnitude of our love for them?' the most Holy Trinity asked themselves. 'We pay them a visit. We let them torture and kill us. We suffer and die. We rise from the dead. And we continue to love them nonetheless. If this does not tell them how much their God loves them, nothing can or will.'
The Distribution of the Knowledge of God
The yeast of divinity is the knowledge of God. The knowledge of God is the treasure of Christianity. Jesus was the treasure chest that held the treasure of Christianity. Into him was deposited the knowledge of God so it could be transported from heaven to earth for distribution to the children of Adam and Eve in a container whose dignity equalled the dignity of the treasure. The God who created us out of the mud with his hands put himself into the hands of the mud to leaven the mud with the yeast of divinity.
The Crucifixion was the key. It unlocked the treasure chest. In the Crucifixion, the first chapter of the Autobiography of God was written, the initial brushstrokes of God's self-portrait were painted.
In the Resurrection, the treasure of Christianity emerged from the storm clouds of the Crucifixion like lightning to illuminate the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany.
In the Resurrection, the last chapter of the Autobiography of God was written, the final brushstrokes of God's self-portrait were painted.
When we impaled him on the Cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a worm on a hook, we inserted the key into the treasure chest, opened it and the knowledge of God emerged. Out of the treasure chest arose a high fidelity representation of the reality of God. Jesus himself revealed God to us.
The answer to the question, "Who is God?", was given to us by none other than God himself. Jesus demonstrated for us - not just declared to us - the identity of God. He did not just tell us. He showed us. Jesus did not write the Autobiography of God in words. It is ironic but the Word of God wasn't an author. He was a carpenter . The carpenter built the Autobiography of God on the framework of the Cross of Christ. From the framework of the Cross, God introduced himself to us. We make God's acquaintance in the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. Are you privy to the conversation? Contact with divinity is made every time we contemplate the incandescent truths that emerged from the violent collision between Jesus and the evil we did to him that illuminate the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany.
What is the Treasure of Christianity?
What is the treasure of Christianity? You can probably tell me many things about Christianity. But, I want a specific answer to a specific question. What is the treasure of Christianity?
Jesus is the treasure of Christianity.
Your answer is close to the mark but did not hit it. Your answer is too simplistic. It lacks depth. It does not tell us why Jesus is precious to the children of Adam and Eve. Your answer is flat, one-dimensional. It is the answer of a Christian who does not understand what Jesus revealed to us about God and who does not appreciate how - the precise manner in which - Jesus revealed the nature of God to us.
Then you tell me. What is Jesus's relationship to Christianity if he is not its treasure?
Jesus is the treasure chest of Christianity. Heaven's most precious tresure was placed in the treasure chest and was transported from heaven to earth. What is the treasure?
I am stumped.
Perhaps we can arrive at an answer by approaching it in a different way? Has the treasure chest ever been opened?
Let me guess, yes.
What was the key that opened the treasure chest?
The key?
Yes, what was the key that opened he treasure chest?
I don't know.
Then let me tell you. The key that opened the treasure chest was the Crucifixion. We tortured and killed him. He suffered and died.
If the Crucifixion was the key, then what was the treasure?
The treasure is the the knowledge of God - a high fidelity representation of the reality of God. Our knowledge of God -definitive and irrefutable - emerged from the violent collision between the evil we did to him and Jesus.
What truths emerged from the collision?
He emerged from the dead still alive and still in love with us. He did not stay dead nor did he stop loving us. Despite the evil we did to him, Jesus continued to love us nonetheless. The dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil we did to him could budge it. This truth is the treasure of Christianity
Who is God?
Your answer to the question, "Who is God?", is important. Your conception of God greatly influences how you live your life. Therefore, doesn't it make sense to get the answer right? What is you answer? Are you sure that you have the answer right? Perhaps it is time to take a second look at your answer?
To get the answer right, it behooves us to first understand the role that an answer plays in the fundamental unit of thinking, the troika of question, answer and basis.
John Donne teaches us that "No man is an island entire of itself". Neither is an answer. An answer is not a solitary creature. It is never alone. Its boon companion is its basis.
A question, an answer and its basis dance together as a team in the ballroom of our rationality to give our world meaning. An answer derives its strength from its basis. A weak basis begets a weak answer; a strong basis begets a strong answer; a wishy-washy basis begets a wishy-washy answer. The best answer is the answer with the best basis. The quest for the best answer to a question is, therefore, the quest for the best basis.
So let us think about it. From what source do you derive your knowledge of God? On what foundation do you build your answer to the question, "Who is God?"? Out of what field does your answer grow?
If your answer is not anchored to the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, your understanding of Christianity is flawed. Sorry, but the foregoing statement is not hyperbole. You may have been awarded a Ph.D. in Christianity but if you are not privy to the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, your education is defective. In the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, the Autobiography of God was written, the self-portrait of God was painted. In the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, God revealed himself to us.
Do some self-examination.
What picture of God do you hold in your head? Can you articulate it? Can you articulate its basis?
How does it fare in terms of fidelity when it is compared to the picture that God himself gave us in the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection - the most apocalyptic conversation that has ever taken place between us and our God since Moses and God conversed at the burning bush on Mount Horeb
?
The best basis for the answer to the question, "Who is God?", is the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. Hence, the best answer is derived therefrom.
Trying to divorce the truth about God from the violent collision that took place between Jesus, our Savior, and the evil that we did to him is akin to trying to divorce the light from the lightning bug. It does not work. It cannot be done. It kills both the light and the lightning bug.
Who is God?
Who is God? Jesus himself answered the question in his response to the evil we did to him.
We tortured and killed him. He suffered and died. Yet, he did not stay dead and he did not stop loving us. He emerged from the dead still alive and still in love with us. That he emerged from the dead still alive revealed to us the power of Jesus. Nobody emerges from the dead. He did. That he emerged from the dead still in love with us, however, revealed to us something more significant about divinity than power. Our conception of divinity as power is incomplete. Divinity is also love. God is still head over heels in love with us despite the evil we did to him.
God's power built paradise for us. God's love for us, however, makes paradise sweet. Power begets respect; but, love begets love. Love is the honey that lures the bees back home to the hive. The dial that controlls his love for us is in his hands not ours. It is set to the highest degree and is locked in place. Not even the evil we did to him could budge it.
The serpent is power without love. God is power with love. Love makes the difference.
The yeast of divinity came to leaven the mud of humanity with the knowledge of God
The knowledge of God neutralizes the serpent's anti-god propaganda.
The Salubrius Effect of Knowing the Benevolent Nature of God
We who have listened to the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection can say with the highest degree of confidence that God is our friend not our foe - He is our almighty lover. The conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection is the engine that drives our degree of confidence in him upward to the highest level.
Knowing the benevolent nature of God makes it easier for us to trust in him.
Which is The Greater Miracle?
Nothing grows in the toxic soil of the Crucifixion. Nothing. It is a barren matrix. So when the flower of the Resurrection sprouted and grew, we beheld a miracle.
We planted him in the toxic soil of the Crucifixion, yet, the flower of the Resurrection emerged therefrom still alive and still in love with us.
The flower of the Resurrection is remediating the toxicity of the soil.
That he emerged from the dead still alive revealed to us the power of Jesus. Nobody emerges from the dead. He did. That he emerged from the dead still in love with us, however, revealed to us something more significant than power. It revealed to us that our conception of divinity as power is incomplete. Divinity is also love. Which is the greater miracle? His emerging from the dead still alive or his emerging from the dead still in love with us?
The Ladder of Truth
We climb out of our dire predicament in the Valley of Tears on the ladder of truth.
The Rungs of the Ladder of Truth
To catch a glimpse of the better, brighter and more beautiful world outside and beyond the walls of the crosses that besiege us in the Valley of Tears , climb the tree as Zacchaeus climbed the tree . Pull your feet out of the toxic quagmire of the Valley of Tears, shake off the mud and climb the tree.
The Cross of Christ is the tree. It is the tree of life
.
The Cross of Christ is a three runged ladder. The Crucifixion, his bloody wounds and the Resurrection are the three rungs of the ladder. We climb the Cross of Christ to ascend above our own crosses to catch a glimpse of the sweetness of paradise from here on earth . Jesus is the sweetness of paradise. To catch a glimpse of Jesus, climb the tree. Climb the Cross of Christ.
The First Rung of the Ladder
Climb onto the first rung of the ladder to behold the evil we did to him. From the first rung, behold the Crucifixion on the near side of the Cross of Christ. The Crucifixion is the exorbitant price he paid to demonstrate the magnitude and duration of his love for us. He paid the price out of his own pocket. He did not pay the price from his unlimited divine resources. He paid the price from his limited human resources. He paid them all for us. He kept not a penny for himself. He has never paid more for anything else. The price he paid is the proof of how dear we are to him. The serpent did not pay a price for us. Jesus did and the price he paid was exorbitant.
The Second Rung of the Ladder
Climb onto the second rung of the ladder to behold the punctuation marks that our evil opened in his body. From the second rung, behold his bloody wounds. His bloody wounds are question marks. They turn the Crucifixion into our question to Jesus and the Resurrecton into his answer to us. They mark a mystery. 'How will our God respond to the evil we did to him?' At the time that our evil opened bloody wounds in his body, the response that they would trigger from him was a mystery to us. The reasonable expectation was that the evil we did to him would trigger his reflex for revenge, retaliation and retribution. "An eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot" .
Thankfully, he did not respond in kind . He changed the tone of the conversation .
The Third Rung of the Ladder
Climb onto the third rung of the ladder to behold that his love for us survived the evil we did to him. From the third rung, behold the Resurrection on the far side of the Cross of Christ. His love for us did not fade as we tortured him and did not die when we killed him. It survived. He did not stay dead and he did not stop loving us. He emerged from the dead still alive and still in love with us. His love for us is mysteriously intransigent, inexplicably persistent and radically stubborn . The bonfire of love that burns for us in his most sacred heart is unquenchable. Not even the evil we did to him can extinguish the flame or reduce its intensity by even the slightest degree.
His most sacred heart stayed filled to the brim with love for us. Because his most sacred heart stayed filled to the brim with love for us, Jesus was able to say "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
The dial that controls his love for us is in his hands not ours. Moreover, it is set to the highest degree and is locked in place.
Climb as Zacchaeus climbed. As we climb each rung of the ladder, we discover the answer to the question, 'Who is God?' The identity of God is revealed to us by the three rungs of the Cross of Christ. When we ascend the Cross of Christ, we break open the lid of our coffins, rise from the dead, enter the glorious light and behold a better, brighter and more beautiful world.
His Bloody Wounds are a Telescope through which We Catch a Glimpse of Heaven from Here on Earth
His bloody wounds are the telescope that our evil installed in his body.
When we look through the telescope of his bloody wounds from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, we catch a glimpse of heaven from here on earth. The nearsighted only look at the Crucifixion on the near side of his bloody wounds. The farsighted look through his bloody wounds from the Crucifixion on their side to the Resurrection on their far side. Through his bloody wounds, the relationship of question and answer weaves its way to tie the Crucifixion and the Resurrection into a conversation - the most apocalyptic conversation that the children of Adam and Eve have ever had with their God. Are you privy to the conversation? In the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, the autobiography of God is written. Have you read it?
The "Maleness" of Divinity; the "Femaleness" of Humanity
Why is God depicted as male? Why does the Catholic Church reserve its priesthood to males? The act of reproduction is a powerful allegory that the genius of God embedded into life itself to inform us that God is trying to inseminate us with the knowledge of God. God wants to knock us up - to make us pregnant with the knowledge of God . At the climax of the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, the Word of God sowed the knowledge of God into the womb of humanity . The climax of the conversation occurred when Jesus emerged from the dead still alive and still in love with us.
The God who fashioned us out of the mud with his hands put himself into the hands of the mud to leaven the mud with the yeast of divinity. The yeast of divinity is love .
Jesus inseminated the womb of humanity with the knowledge of God. Humanity is now pregnant with the knowledge of God. Jesus knocked humanity up.
Hearts filled to the Brim with Love
God has set up natural communities whose members are predisposed to have hearts filled to the brim with love. Family, marriage, Church are examples of them. Abide in these communities. Build them. Safeguard them.
Transforming the Cucumber not the Vessel that Holds It
God lets us stew in the Valley of Tears like pickles in a barrel of toxic brine. The Valley of Tears is the vessel that holds the toxic brine in which we are cured. In the Valley of Tears, we go through a process of fermentation. In the Valley of Tears, the cucumber is transformed into a pickle.
God is not interested in transforming the Valley of Tears into a kinder, gentler and more hospitable place for godless people to live. God wants to transform godless people into people of God. Therefore, God does not eliminate our crosses. God wants us to pick them up and carry them . We derive value from the exercise. Learning how to pick up and carry our crosses is transformational. No crosses; no transformation.
God is sanity amid the madness - the truth amid the lies.
God is the gift giver. He delights in giving his creatures gifts. Among God's gifts are the gift of life and the gift of paradise. God gave Adam and Eve the gift of life and the gift of paradise simultaneously. God, however, gives the children of Adam and Eve the gift of life and the gift of paradise sequentially. With the children of Adam and Eve, God changed the timetable of his gift-giving. He inserted a delay between the gift of life and the gift of paradise. During the delay, we stew in the sour truth of the Valley of Tears like pickles in a barrel of toxic brine. Although the delivery of the gift of paradise is delayed, its delivery is ineluctable. God will not be less generous with us than he was with them. Adam and Eve were the first beneficiaries of God’s love for us. They were not the last. God’s philanthropy did not end with Adam and Eve; God’s philanthropy began with them. This is good news of great joy - very good news for us indeed.
Furthermore, rational creatures behave in a predictable manner. We follow a pattern. It is not a complicated pattern. Sweetness attracts us. Honey draws the bees back home to the hive. Sourness repels us. We flee from it. It is contrary to our self-interest to do otherwise. It is crazy to do otherwise. Hence, the truth can drive us.
To rescue the children of Adam and Eve from the sour truth of the Valley of Tears, God built an escape route through the Valley of Tears , defined the escape route with holy places, made a map of them, established a Church, entrusted the map to the Church and gave the Church the job of serving the new exodus as the new Moses. The Church has the map and knows the way . The job of the Church is to facilitate the escape not to frustrate it, filter it or foul it up . Note: Before the Church, God relied on the sour truth of the Valley of Tears to rescue us - to make sure we kept the gift of paradise when God delivers it to us. With the advent of Jesus, God offers us an alternative to the sour truth. God offers us the sweet truth to rescue us as well. The sour truth pushes us to the exit of godlessness. The sweet truth pulls us to the entrance of paradise. The truth pushes us and pulls us.
What is the Most Important of Life's Fundamental Questions?
The most important of all the fundamental question and answer pairs is the pair whose question is, "Who is God?". Can you answer the question? More importantly, upon what do you base your answer? What is your answer and what is its basis? Before you go any farther, jot down the answer and its basis so you can compare your understanding before and after you have heard the good news of great joy.
My answer to the question, "Who is God?", is that our God is our friend not our foe, Our God is our almighty lover. My answer is based on the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection - the most apocalyptic conversation that has ever taken place between us and our God since Moses and God conversed at the burning bush on Mount Horeb ! Are you privy to the conversation? In the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, the Autobiography of God was written. Have you read it? In the Autobiography of God, the good news of great joy was preached. Have you heard it? Has the good news of great joy reached your ears?
We anchor ourselves to the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection as Ulysses anchored himself to the mast. It is the hub and all other aspects of Christianity are the spokes that radiate from it. To prevent any religious disorientation, always make it the point and place of beginning. Always start there. The incandescent truths that emerge from the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection are the sum and summit of the Christian reality. They are the most important truths.
More Zeal Than Understanding
The greatest danger to Christianity is posed by Christians whose zeal for Christianity exceeds their understanding of Christianity. Their zeal is to be admired . Their lack of understanding is to be corrected.
Many zealous Christian are not privy to the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection even though it is the most apocalyptic conversation that has ever taken place between us and our God since Moses and God conversed at the burning bush on Mount Horeb ! Are you privy to the conversation? In the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, the treasure of Christianity is buried . Many zealous Christian, however, have never picked up a shovel, dug up the treasure and made themselves rich. They prefer zealous poverty to a rich understanding of God. They have no clue about either the existence of the treasure or its location. They are ignorant of the three central facts of Christianity:
1) Jesus was the treasure chest,
2) the Crucifixion was the key, and,
3) in the Resurrection was the treasure.
The good news of great joy is found in the treasure chest; yet, many Christians, whose zeal exceeds their understanding, do not have an understanding of precisely what constitutes the good news of great joy and cannot articulate it. When we impaled him on the Cross as a fisherman impales a worm on a hook, we inserted the key into the treasure chest, opened it and the truths that emerged, like the bright flash of lightning, illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany. The veil of the temple was was rent in twain from the top to the bottom and Jesus stepped through the rent in the veil to reveal the nature of God to us .
The treasure of Christianity is a high fidelity representation of the reality of God given to us by none other than God himself. We beheld, in the opening of the treasure chest, God's answer to the question, "Who is God?". In the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, Jesus wrote his Autobiography - he painted his self-portrait. Have you read the Autobiography of God? Have you gazed upon God's self-portrait? The heart and soul of Christianity is the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. It is the hub from which all other aspects of Christianity radiate.
We who have listened to the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection can say with confidence that God is our friend not our foe - He is our almighty lover. Knowing the benevolent nature of God makes it easier for us to trust in him.
The Cappa Magna of the Pharisees
Let us not confuse cause and effect.
Wrapping ourselves flamboyantly in the rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole of the Church as a patriot wraps himself in the flag is the effect of transformation - not its cause. Moreover, we are warned against hollow transformations - transformations only in appearance but not in substance . Dressing up as a Catholic does not make it so . The Catholic identity is hard to spot because it exists below the surface in our hearts . Transformation is all about increasing the fidelity of our resemblance to God. The greater the love that we hold in our hearts, the higher is the fidelity that our resemblance bears to God . Transformation takes place when we refuse to let evil transmogrify us into the most miserable and hideous of loveless beasts. We are transformed when we cling to love, hold tight and refuse to let go.
"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" . Jesus hung from his Cross to teach us how to hang from our crosses. When you hang as Jesus hung, cling as Jesus clung, love as Jesus loved. Hold tight and refuse to let go of love, sufferings invincible foe. Only love kicks suffering's ass. Jesus transported from heaven to earth the technology that enables us to pick up and carry our crosses. Furthermore, the Son of God demonstrated for us that the technology works by using it himself. He donned the jet pack and flew to show us that we, too, can fly. What a crazy daredevil this Jesus was.
The Treasure Chest of Christianity, Its Key and Its Treasure
Jesus was the treasure chest. The Crucifixion was the key. And the Resurrection was the treasure. The treasure of Christianity is God's self-portrait. It is the Autobiography of God. It is a high fidelity representation of the reality of God given to us by none other than God himself. It is God's answer to the question, "Who is God?". When we impaled him on the Cross as a fisherman impales a worm on a hook, we inserted the key into the treasure chest. It opened and the truths that emerged, like the bright flash of lightning, illuminated the darkness of our understanding of God in a glorious burst of epiphany.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What makes God angry? | If torturing and killing him while he was human, alive, tender, vulnerable and our guest upon the earth did not piss him off, I daresay that nothing can or will. |
Morality
You cannot expect the children of Adam and Eve to behave like a Christian until after they have become a Christian
Morality cannot be imposed upon us as a straight jacket is imposed by overpowering a lunatic. It must spring up from within us . Morality is the effect of becoming a Christian not its cause. Morality is the crown of glory that the children of Adam and Eve wear after they become Christian. Morality results from our having close encouters with our living and loving God at the holy places.
The key of morality unlocks the cages of sin. Morality fails to free us from the cages of sin, however, when our sanctimonious betters try to shove it down our throats against our wills by dint of omnipotence. Under such circumstances, our gag reflex is triggered and we regurgitate it. The prisoner locked in the cage of sin must voluntarily put the key in the cage door to unlock it. That is the only way morality works. Only pilgrims passing through the Valley of Tears are willing to take the reins of morality into their hands, the bit of morality into their mouths and the bridle of morality onto their heads. Settlers, roosting in the Valley of Tears, have little to no interest in morality. Therefore, to bring morality to the children of Adam and Eve, transform settlers into pilgrims. This is done by fueling their rationality with the truth, both the sour truth and the sweet truth.
Morality is the crown of glory that Christians wear as they make their escape through the Valley of Tears. Morality is the effect of becoming a Christian not its cause. Morality is the roof of a Christian not its foundation. The children need to be taught reading, writing and arithmetic before they can learn calculus. The farmer needs to plow the field and plant the seed before the crop will grow. The children of Adam and Eve needed to become Christians before they will behave as Christians behave.
The Process of Building a Christian
The path to Christianity starts at the feet, moves to the heart and finishes at the head. We become Christians feet first. The head follows the feet as the night follows the day.
First The children of Adam and Eve are introduced to God. They make his acquaintance. They learn that our God is not a hostile stranger but an affectionate friend. "What a paradise it is for a soul when the heart knows itself to be so loved by God." (St. Faustina - Notebook VI, 1756). The seeds of intimacy between us and our God are planted. How?
The Autobiography of God is made known to them. They are made privy to the conversation between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. Furthermore, they are invited to experience close encounters with our almighty lover at the Holy Places that define the escape route of the new exodus that weaves its way through the Valley of Tears from slavery under the yoke of Pharoah to freedom with God and his Holy Family in the promised land .
Next A gospel of irrationality has no appeal to rational creatures. Therefore, we teach the children of Adam and Eve the gospel of rationality. The gospel of rationality teaches that it is in our self-interest to fill our hearts to the brim with love. Love is the "grease" for the wheels of our passage through the Valley of Tears. Only love gives us the strength to pick up and carry our crosses as we pass through the Valley of Tears.
We are born in the image and likeness of God . God endowed us with the capacity to love. The greater the love in our hearts, the greater is our resemblance to God .
When we love, the most miserable and hideous of loveless beast is transformed into God . Deification takes place. When we keep love in our hearts, God recognizes himself in us
. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" .
Last the byzantine codex of rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole of the Church fills our heads. If you do not reach the last step by the time you reach the end of your journey, don't fret. The first two steps are enough. You have succeeded in life if you complete the first two steps.
Get the foundation right and everything falls into place. Get the foundation wrong and everything falls apart. Build a Christian from the foundation up not from the roof down.
The Path to Morality Passes through the heart
The path to morality passes through the heart. The perfect morality is the morality that fills the heart to the brim with love. You cannot get a better morality than a heart filled to the brim with love !
When you castrate the heart from the body of morality, the eunuch that you create is a travesty of morality - a bizarre mockery of it. When you bypass the heart, your morality becomes monstrous. Morality fails when its advocates attempt to take a shortcut that bypasses the heart.
We are born in the image and likeness of God . God endowed us with the capacity to love. The greater the love that we hold in our hearts, the greater is our resemblance to God. God wants us to fill our hearts to the brim with love . When we fill our hearts with love, we become a high fidelity representation of the reality of God . We become the leaven of the kingdom of God . We become agents of God - ambassadors from God to our neighbors.
What do we have in common with God?
What do we have in common with God? Like God, we have the capacity to love. We can fill our hearts to the brim with love . We are born in the image and likeness of God . The greater the love that we hold in our hearts, the greater is our resemblance to God. We recognize God by the love in his heart and God recognizes us in the same way . "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" .
Asymmetry in Response to Evil is the Mark of a Christian
Jesus called for asymmetry in our response to evil . Why? The gospel of irrationality has no appeal to rational creatures. Surely, it is not reasonable to expect rational creatures to swallow this irrational recomendation uncritically hook, line and sinker. Is there some explanation for this seemingly irrational recommendation to bestow a boon on evildoers who try to nail us to a cross? Asymmetry in response to evil does not just benefit our enemies who try to nail us to a cross. Asymmetry in response to evil benefits us as well.
Shakespeare hit the nail on the head in The Merchant Of Venice Act 4, Scene 1 when Portia said, "The quality of mercy is not strain'd, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes." For your own sake, love your enemies. Do it for yourself not for them. Asymmetry in response to evil is the mark of a Christian.
God elevated us to a level above the beasts . Evil attempts to knock us off the exalted level onto which God elevated us. It tries to reduce us from the level of God to the level of the beast - into the most hideous and miserable of loveless beast. Resist. Defy your natural, animalistic tendency to let love slip through your fingers in moments of adversity. Cling to love, hold tight and refuse to let go. By loving our enemies despite the evil they do to us, we maintain the resemblance that we bear to God . When we refuse to let evil poke a hole in our hearts and drain them of love, we distinguish ourselves as godlike instead of beastlike. "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" . The only thing that keeps us elevated above the beasts is love. Love is the source of our bouyancy. Without love, we descend, like a deflating balloon, from the level of God to the level of the beasts.
How safe are we in a land where mothers murder their babies? If the natural bond of love between a mother and her baby does not prevent mothers from murdering their babies, what chance do we have when no similar natural bond of affection exists between us and them? Only our culture led by our Churches, not our government, can vivify the natural bond of love and turn it into a guardian of the lives of our babies and ourselves.
God wants us to travel through the Valley of Tears on the fairway. The serpent, however, wants us trapped in the rough.
God put the sacrament of Confession in place on earth for the occasions when we hit our ball into the rough. Confession helps us to get back onto the fairway. The fairway is the best path through the Valley of Tears. Lord, please keep me on the fairway and out of the rough.
The Church
The Primary Mission and First Priority of the Church is to Introduce God to the Children of Adam and Eve
Have you been properly introduced to your God? Have you made his acquaintance? The primary mission and first priority of the Church is not to introduce morality to the children of Adam and Eve. Its primary mission and first priority is to introduce us to God and then get out of the way.
It is a Hunt not a Handout
The job of the Church is to introduce the children of Adam and Eve to the great questions of life and to point out the location of the answers - to suggest to them where they ought to cast their nets . The job of the children of Adam and Eve is to search the location for the answers - to find the Easter eggs. An Easter Egg hunt is ruined when the Easter Eggs are handed out to the participants. Therefore, respect the hunt.
The Church is fishing for the Children of Adam and Eve with the wrong bait yet It is Surprised that it has stopped Catching Fish
Jesus impaled on the Cross like a worm on a hook is the bait that the most Holy Trinity cast into the Valley of Tears to fish for the children of Adam and Eve . The modern Church, however, no longer baits the hook with the Cross of Christ. Yet, it is surprised that it is no longer catching fish. In fact, it makes a virtue out of a necessity. It calls its failure a success . It compliments itself by claiming its smaller Church is purer. However, its self-compliment is undeserved. The decline of the Church is not due to a healthy process of purification. The decline is the result of clerical incompetence. By fishing with the wrong bait,the Church is committing suicide.
The Cross of Christ is the Throne of God
The Cross of Christ is the throne of God . From the throne of God, the good news of great joy is preached.
The throne of God is foundation on which the Church is built. But the Church has neglected its foundation. It has deferred maintenance and care of its foundation while it pursues other projects. Compared to the importance of the foundation of the Church, the other projects are frivolous - all of the other projects are frivolous - no exceptions - when compared to the Cross of Christ.
Killing Christianity
God is not dead. Indeed, God is very much alive. However, the conversation about God is dead. Killing the conversation about God is tantamount to killing God. The enemies of the Church know this. The Church does not.
The Church labors under the assumption that we already have an understanding of God - that we have completed Christianity 101 - that the foundation of Christianity has already been laid. The assumption, however, is incorrect. The Church has jumped the gun. Our understanding of God is superficial. God is a stranger to us and nobody follows a stranger
. As a direct and proximate result of God being elbowed out of the conversation, the escape of the new exodus from slavery under the yoke of Pharaoh, through the Valley of Tears, to freedom with God and his holy family in the promised land is sputtering and stalling. Fewer and fewer are going to Mass. None are going to Confession. Marriages are falling apart. Mothers are murdering their babies. The priesthood is going extinct
.
The trend is downward and accelerating. The only sacrament holding its own is the sacrament of extreme unction and this is so only because the dying have little choice. The thermometer that gauges the temperature of the body of Christ is the practice of Christianity. By this measure, the patient is dying.
Therefore, it is time to stop squandering the conversation. It is time to change the ratio of the content of the conversation to more God less Church. More revelation; less regulation. More foundation and less roof. More pizzazz; less nitty-gritty. More Mary; less Martha. No change in doctrine; just a change in emphasis - a tweak, nothing more.
Can we stop excluding God from the conversation? Can we devote at least 25% of the conversation to God? Is 25% too much to ask?
CompStat
The New York City Police Department runs a program of self-criticism called CompStat by which it uses crime statistics to evaluate the job performance of its bosses. Given the deplorable Catholic statistics, if such a program were applied to the bosses of the Catholic Church, how many heads would roll? Shall we wait until the number for Mass attendance falls into the single digits before the bosses of the Catholic Church are fired for incompetency?
King Versus Prophet
God did not crown the Church as king to rule us. Indeed, God gave the Church a job. Indeed, the Church's job is important. The job of the Church, however, is not the job of a king but the job of a prophet. God annointed the Church as prophet to reveal the truth to us. A king tells us how to behave. A prophet tells us about God. Revelation, not regulation, is the primary mission and first priority of the Church. The two jobs are as different as night and day. A soothsayer is not a king; a king, not a soothsayer.
Furthermore, God did not put into the hands of the Church the royal scepter of sin to whack our souls over the head in a wicked frenzy of holy spiritual punishment until they are black, blue, battered, bruised and bleeding.
The instrument that God put into the hands of the Church to do its job as prophet was the sledgehammer of truth.
The sledgehammer of truth shatters the illusions conjured up by the serpent as the blow of the hammer shatters glass.
The serpent conjured up two illusions 1) the serpent sugarcoated the sourness of godlessness with false testimony that we would become gods without God in the Valley of Tears and 2) camouflaged the sweetness of paradise by planting a forest of crosses in the Valley of Tears whose sharp tongues taunt us by asking us "Where is your savior now?" as their sharp teeth chew us up into bits and pieces. This is powerful anti-God propaganda that causes us to doubt that our God is our almighty lover. It drives us to wonder, "Why isn't our rescue immediate?" "Why the delay?" "Perhaps God isn't as almighty or as head over heals in love with us as we are told?" "Perhaps our priesthood has lied to us about God?"
Our crosses play dual roles. They shatter the illusion that sugarcoats the sourness of godlessness. But, unfortunately, they conjure up the illusion that hides the sweetness of paradise.
Thus, each illusion requires its own sledgehammer of truth to shatter it.
The Valley of Tears is autodidactic. The sledgehammer of truth that shatters the sugarcoating that the serpent poured over the Valley of Tears are the many and merciless crosses that besiege us as we pass through it. The sour truth of the Valley of Tears teaches us that we do not become gods without God .
The camouflage that hides the sweetness of paradise, however, is not self-destructive as the sugarcoating. It is shattered only by revelation. In this case, the sledgehammer of truth is the Cross of Christ. Jesus commandeered a cross, reconfigured its message and used it to guarantee the genuineness of the love note that God composed for us in heaven and delivered to us at Bethlehem. In generating the guarantee, Jesus revealed to us both the magnitude and duration of his love for us. By letting us impale him on the Cross as a fisherman insouciantly impales a worm on a hook, Jesus became the bait that the most Holy Trinity cast into the Valley of Tears to fish for the children of Adam and Eve . From the platform of the Cross, Jesus was able to show us - not merely tell us - the nature of God. The veil of the temple was was rent in twain from the top to the bottom and Jesus stepped through the rent in the veil to reveal the nature of God to us .
A Church that considers itself a king instead of a prophet goes off the rails. A king tries to rule us without first shattering the illusions that foul our understanding of reality. A prophet shatters illusions so, in possession of the truth, we can rule ourselves. When the Church goes off the rails, the people of God suffer. For the Church to succeed, it must wield the right instrument. The greatest failure of Christianity happens whenever the kings usurp the prophets. If you want to win, bench the kings and put the prophets back onto the field and into the "game". If you want to lose, maintain the status quo. It is time for a revolution in Christianity. It is time to depose the kings and restore the prophets.
God Put the Church in Charge of Participation in the Escape Not Transformation
We do not transform ourselves. The Church does not transform us. Only God transforms us and he does so at the holy places where the love of God spills over the brim of his most Sacred Heart and onto us, like the dewfall. At the holy places, God's cup runneth over
The job of the Church is to get us to participate in the new exodus. The job of God is to transform us. Participation, not transformation, is the job of the Church. Getting the children of Adam and Eve to participate in the escape is the responsibility of the Church. Blame the Church when rates of participation decline .
Conclusion
The Big Picture is the Paradigm of Escape. Don't let the trees obscure the forest.
The Big Picture
The exodus of the Jews is a powerful allegory that the genius of God embedded into the history of humanity to inform us about our place in the Big Picture of life here on earth. The Jews made their escape through the hostile desert. So, too, Christians. We are making our escape through the Valley of Tears. The Valley of Tears is our hostile desert.
Like foolish children, Adam and Eve ran away from their home in the garden of Eden with God and his Holy Family . Happiness was forsaken for misery. Our parents took us with them into the "anti-garden" that is called the Valley of Tears . The "anti-garden" is as foul as Eden was fair - as hostile as Eden was hospitable. Without God and his Holy Family in the Valley of Tears, we vainly try to grab the golden ring of godhood , cutting each others throats to attain that which is unattainable by dint our own efforts.
In the "anti-garden", the serpent, the antichrist , diabolically planted a fell forest of merciless crosses whose sharp teeth chew us up into bits and pieces. Moreover, to make matters worse, over the Valley of Tears hangs the shadow of death , the worst and the last of our crosses . There is no shortcut by which we can avoid the Valley of Tears. It is not a Maginot Line that we can go around. There is no bridge over it or tunnel under it. We must pass through it. As meat passes through a grinder, we pass through it. As grist passes through a mill, we pass through it. No exceptions.
Is there a best way to pass through the gauntlet of crosses whose sharp fangs bristle at us in the Valley of Tears? Does a sanctuary exist in which we can take refuge?
We have a choice.
We can pass through the Valley of Tears alone on our own without God's help. We can fend for ourselves. We can try to blaze our own trail. There is a slim possibility that we will stumble through our ordeal in the Valley of Tears and out the other side. Cross your fingers. We may get lucky. The worst and final cross, death, however, may be an insurmountable problem for us to overcome. But, as was said, we may get lucky.
Or we can rely on a solution more certain than luck.
We can pass through it with God's help , our hands in his hands like trusting children . God did not abandon us in the Valley of Tears . Through the Valley of Tears from slavery under the yoke of Pharaoh to freedom with God and his Holy Family in the promised land, God built an escape route , defined the escape route with holy places, made a map of them, established a Church, entrusted the map to the Church and gave the Church the job of serving the new exodus as the new Moses. The Church has the map and knows the way .
The job of the Church is to facilitate the escape not to frustrate it, filter it or foul it up . "No man left behind" is the motto of the escape. "Neither saint nor sinner ." The escape from godlessness to paradise is primary. Nothing else matters. Everything else is secondary. Anything that interferes is suspect
. At the holy places that define the escape route, God transforms us. The Church does not transform us. We do not transform ourselves. Only God transforms us. God and God alone is the agent of transformation. And transformation only takes place at the holy places that define the escape route. At the holy places, we can find happiness with God and his Holy Family here on earth. Therefore, make haste to the holy places. Make haste! At the holy places, acknowledge that you are in the presence of God and listen. Sit at his feet. Rest your head on his bosom . Keep God company.
"What a paradise it is for a soul when the heart knows itself to be so loved by God." (St. Faustina - Notebook VI, 1756).
The War is a War over Love
The enemies of God are trying to extinguish love. Euthanasia, infanticide, abortion etc are wrong not because they are offenses against life. They are wrong because they are offenses against love. It is time for the Church to acknowledge the real enemy and deal with it. It is time for the Church to once again to pick up the Cross of Christ - the apotheosis of love. It is frightening to live in a land without love. We do not stand a chance in navigating our way through the Valley of Tears when our neighbors lack love in their hearts.
The Enemies of God are Trying to Extinguish Love
Jealous of God's love for us, the serpent used us as the sharp stake to poke a hole in God's most Sacred Heart to drain it of his love for us. Surely, the serpent reasoned, if the children of Adam and Eve tortured and killed the Son of God while he was human, alive, tender, vulnerable and their guest upon the earth, this egregious insult to the sublimity of divinity would extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for them in the heart of God! But, it did not. The evil we did to him did not extinguish the bonfire of love that burns for us in his most Sacred Heart or reduce its intensity by even the slightest degree. His love for us survived the evil we did to him. The serpent's failure is apocalyptic. It reveals that God's love for us is immutable - intransigent - indestructible.
We can occupy either of two levels in life: 1) the level of divinity where our hearts are filled to the brim with love or 2) the level of the most miserable and hideous of loveless beasts. We can rise from the bottom level to the top or fall from the top level to the bottom. God wants us to live with him on the top level as we pass through the Valley of Tears. The serpent wants to knock us off the top level down to the bottom level. The serpent wants to reduce us. God wants to elevate us. This is what life is all about. This is the struggle of life.