(considering) 8:28

Implications of the Sovereignty of God

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  • Beauty in the Beastly

    For some reason, I’ve begun to hear two different, but equally disturbing misunderstandings of orthodox Christian theology when it comes to self image. In the first place, when I affirm that I am in fact a beautiful person physically (which I believe myself to be) some people think that I am at that point lacking humility. At the same time, others believe that when I speak about my own sinfulness, and lack of inherent worth, that I must have an amazingly low self-image.

    uchr_05_img0508.jpgIt’s an important question, especially in the world we find ourselves. I know far too many Christians, women and men, who find themselves subject either to a low view of their own beauty, or an unnecessary fixation on the physical. Both are to be avoided.
    So I think I should explain what I mean when I say that a person ugly in their own sin, is at the same time beautiful physically and spiritually definitionally.

    I also feel the need here to say I’m not aiming at some pseudo-psychological love fest. While I am going to say that everybody is objectively beautiful, I am not going to say that we are beautiful in the same ways. Indeed, some of the things we see as most beautiful in ourselves may be the most ugly.

    Beauty
    At the risk of being super obvious, I believe that God is beautiful. I think this is true in an absolute sense, and that if you see God for who He truly is, you could not help to worship Him. We can see that God is beautiful partially through creation.
    In my role here as captain obvious, let me also point out that as a Christian I believe that humans are a special revelation of God. Genesis 1:27 tells us that we (male and female) are created in the image of God.
    This means that God is revealed in us, the very image of the beautiful God. From this perspective, to call ourselves mainly ugly is a form of blasphemy, as it can claim that God is ugly. The determinative point of humanity is not that we are corrupt (which is true), but that we are made in the image of God. Thus definitionally, as a human, YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL. But this beauty is not based on your relative beauty when compared to other humans, but on the objective fact that you are an image of God. Our beauty is different from one another, but insofar as we are created in the image of God we are beautiful
    I am handsome, simple fact. I cannot be arrogant in that, because it’s through my being an image of God, thus in the only comparison that matters (me and Jesus), I’m less beautiful.

    The Beastly
    l026a.jpgOf course, there is more to the Bible than that. We as the image of God fell into sin, and became subject to corruption. Some of that extends to physical beauty. Even the most beautiful person you can imagine is still less beautiful than what a perfected human looks like in the kingdom to come.
    The reason is simple. Imagine a work of art damaged. Despite how beautiful the work might be, no matter how well it reflects a scene, the damage makes the art less beautiful. The same is true of us. When we fall, our beauty (all of it) is marred. In a sense, we are more ugly, because we are very beautiful as created, and the damage takes away from that beauty.

    Sanctification: Beauty and the Beastly
    This is where Christ comes in. When we are saved, God begins the work in us of perfecting that which once was marred. Indeed, many of the things we thought our beauty become revealed as ugliness, and are changed so that we can be seen as more beautiful; better reflections of a beautiful God.
    Thus we do not have the right to call ourselves ugly, we are the reflection of a beautiful God, and thus objectively beautiful whether anyone sees us that way. God sees us that way, because in us he sees the image of Christ, the image of God. Thus whether any woman ever deigns to see my handsomeness, I am. Whether any woman is ever called a supermodel and makes it to the cover of a magazine is immaterial, she is beautiful.
    We work to maintain beauty, we may diet, we may go to the gym and use various beauty products, but Christians do it differently. It is not primarily to make us look more like the world’s idea of beauty, but to reflect the beauty of God.
    Similarly, we cannot be arrogant about it. We see beauty in ourselves and others as an image of God, not something to compare ourselves or others to. Ideally, we come to rejoice in the beauty of others as they reflect God.

  • The Progressive Conservative Win, and a new Newfoundland and Labrador?

    Okay, a brief foray into politics.

    Last night I watched something that happens fairly rarely in Newfoundland (okay, this has never happened). The Liberals got absolutely crushed by an incumbent Progressive Conservative government. The Liberals won in 3 seats (one of which was closely contested) while the NDP got their old holdout of Signal Hill/Quidi Vidi). This is strange because even of those 3 seats won by the liberals, one was very close, and that one (my home district of Port de Grave) was one of those seats that I’d say you could run a dog in a red bandana and expect a win.

    Conventional wisdom fell last night too. Many thought that the Liberal party in Newfoundland had at least a base support of about 30% of the popular vote, but the decades of cronyism came home to roost, and that support fell to a little over 20%. Is the Liberal party dead in Newfoundland? Definitely not, but they have some work to do.

    Interestingly enough, that work will come from the fact that Danny Williams has changed the tenure of Newfoundland and Labrador politics. While many Newfoundland premiers have picked fights with Ottawa to gain votes, it actually seems that Danny picks those fights for the benefit of Newfoundland and Labrador, and seriously expects to win them. Danny has developed a persona that represents the best of what Newfoundlanders believe about themselves and want to be (hard-working, intelligent, articulate, fiery when faced with opposition, but friendly when offered real friendship).

    More importantly however, Danny has actually raised the bar in the hope department in the province. Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are VERY proud people. Of provinces in Canada, we are still in the minority of ones that sometimes fly a “national” flag (the tricolour), and sing a “national” anthem (“The Ode to Newfoundland”), rather than using the corresponding symbols of Canada. There isn’t really much of a “separatist” movement, we just think that a federation actually is a partnership of peoples (we didn’t think Quebec was wrong to assert and protect their distinct culture, we just don’t like them pretending to be the only distinct culture).

    All of that used to be at odds with Newfoundland politics (which often ignored Labrador), who would sometimes pay lip service to our identity as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians while still living for handouts from the feds. Danny has been the first to (wonder of wonders) use transfer payments to build up infrastructure and develop local economy to the point that (we hope) we will someday no longer need money from the rest of Canada. The PCs ran on a platform of a province standing as equals in a federation rather than a poor cousin to the people “upalong”. The Liberals ran on a platform of “saving” rural Newfoundland, and were crushed. The PCs claimed that if we are given what we were promised, we can begin to stand on our own.

    The conventional Liberal wisdom has been that the politicians job is to get elected, and then re-elected (a holdover from Joey Smallwood, and something a 5 time Tory incumbent openly refuted last night in an interview), the new wisdom is giving a vision of where we want this province to go in the future, and who we want to be as a people. The Liberals have missed a political shift, and have paid for that.

    The only question that remains in my mind is whether we here on the east coast of Canada will do the work necessary to make the vision a reality, or if we will go back to selling salvation from a series of crises. As most people know, This people aren’t averse to hard work and proper self-esteem, now all we need to do is keep our politicians believing that.

  • Online Reading, September 28, 2007

    (in)Justice: fearful of the desires of their people, the “noble” and powerful Burmese Junta cracks down on peaceful protesters.

    Technology: Non-gas vehicles come a step closer to reality.

    Conference: Today I am missing yet another desiringGod conference. At least they’re putting up the audio messages.

    Evangelism: Al Mohler comments on the newest surge in evangelism through Church planting. He also calls for pastors to revitalize the already established Church.

  • Confessions of a Conversion (Samurai Jack, Paul Potts, and Christian Discipline)

    images_paul_potts_cd.jpgOkay, first off the confession. I just bought a CD I never thought I would. It’s a CD by a winner of a TV reality show, and worse the genre is opera. The remainder of this post is going to be my reclaiming of a masculinity that now seemingly lies in tatters.

    First off, in my own defense, my recent desire to listen to Opera music has a lot to do with the appreciation of the beauty of discipline. It was a conversion a long time in coming, but the result is that I see the beauty in a form of music that seems to rate discipline very highly, and you can hear it as it’s performed. It’s kinda like an episode of Samurai Jack I recently saw.

    samuarijackfinale1.JPG

    In that episode, we see two very different views of a samurai, one is an impressive but flashy kind of samurai. No doubt he is effective in some battles (where the opponent is undisciplined), but lacks the precision and control of a true martial artist.

    The other samurai is Jack. Jack is a true master of the sword. He can hit both lightly and with power in precise placement and in stunning combinations where each blow lands exactly as he determines. There is no doubt which wins in the resulting duel (Jack mops the floor with the other guy using only a bamboo stick, and then proceeds to eliminate an army of robot assassins for an encore). Most people would not be able to see the difference at first glance, and indeed since the flashy samurai is more crass about his expression, some might assume that he is the more capable warrior.

    This comes to why I came to enjoy opera. For a while I’ve been trying to listen to the singing of my friends in music school. I actually began to notice both the obvious (they sing better than I do), but also the minor ways in which they sing well. For the most part, they can hit notes in precise orders, with precise volume, and in near complete clarity. This happens whether they are singing difficult operatic pieces or simple worship songs. Their voices are disciplined, and in the best cases, also passionate. This seems to stem from the fact that they are trained in what is, for lack of a better word, a martial art of music; Opera.

    So Paul Potts CDs were on sale at HMV, and I bought one. After listening to the power, precision and clarity of the guy’s voice, as he sang even songs I enjoyed that aren’t operatic (one of the bonus tracks is my favorite Christmas hymn, “O Holy Night”, and one of the songs he does is an italian version of a song I first heard from REM), I found that when I subsequently listened to other songs I enjoy I was able to enjoy them more.

    As with all things, this got me thinking about Jesus, and more specifically the Christian life. I will be the first to say that the most recent convert is fully a Christian, but I also find that there’s actually greater joy in the disciplines of seeking after Jesus. While some preachers are flashy and firey, I note that there are some preachers (Martyn Lloyd-Jones comes to mind) who can both show the passion and fire, but also do it with an exacting regularity. They hit Biblical doctrine precisely, with correct power and clarity. There are similarly teachers and counselors I’ve met who may not be the most well known or openly wise, but who clearly have spent time with the Lord, and have been changed by lon, disciplined experience.

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    They are often less flashy, and often are talked about less, but there is undeniably a power in their faith that both edifies those around, and shows a true depth to the Christian religion, even making it more possible to love and understand the less disciplined expressions faith.

    As another, more ancient Paul put it (in 1 Corinthians 9:25-27a):

    Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control.

    So as I continue in the Christian life, may I in discipline learn greater appreciation for my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

  • Online Reading, September 27, 2007

    Culture: Halo 3 sales are huge, Have we gone crazy?

    Suffering: What does a grandfather say when his granddaughter is stillborn? John Piper Answers with what he said at her funeral.

    Theology: Tim Challies reviews another book by Brian McLaren.

    Singleness: Ideas for Christian singles showing hospitality.