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CHRISTIANITY REBORN
EVOLUTION & CHRIST FAITH OF self
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Paradoxical Point II
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For in him we live, and move, and have our being Acts 17: 28
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Faith of self
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When honestly and carefully considered . . .
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I am an insignificant cog in the grand machine. I am a tiny point, a minute perspective in the vast universe. I am isolated and utterly alone. "I am an Individual!" I howl into the empty silent spaces, but I make no sound. What does it mean, being an individual? Most of my thoughts have been put there by the culture I have been dropped into; I am a product of biology, my past, and my society. I am a determined creature, programed to act in its own self interests, ultimately selfish in its actions, un-free. Only in Christ am i more than nothing. Only through Christ am i free.
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POINT I
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In Faith, i am more than an automaton, people are more than objects, and the world is more than an instrument to meet my needs. I am expanded in Christ to touch other souls and the world takes on a new beauty, the wonderment of the creation washes over me. I have been called by Christ and baptized in his name. Are others saved who are born Buddhists, Moslems? The Lord our God is merciful; Allah is merciful. I don't know, but i do know that i cannot truly know God in these ways. Christ has called me personally and is for me The Way. To turn away and seek other paths would be to reject him, and the grand machine of this world would pull me back into the rut which it has fashioned for me through biology and culture. This pull is strong, since the machine includes virtually everything within my world of experience except for God and God in others. The creation only possesses order and meaning through the lens of Faith. But, God is the maker of the machine, and in this lies paradox.
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What is Faith? Faith is a state of being manifest in the acts of empathy and compassion; it is not a "belief." Did Christ require that those he reached out to, the tax collectors, whores, the insane, in other words, those totally rejected by their society, did he require they believe before he joined them at the table? When he told the adultress to "go and sin no more," was it a command or a stipulation in a contract? Was Christ placing a price on God's grace? I would argue that Grace is not "cheap," it's free. Nothing can be placed between me and God's grace; no barriers created by men can hold back his love. But, i must not turn away, and to do so, i must strive to keep God constantly in mind. I must will to love in each moment as God loves me. I must live in each moment, as that is truly all that is. I must be passionate in my compassion and emphatic about my empathy. I must practice that which will help me to not turn away: worship, prayer, meditation, and taking the metaphors of the Bible to heart, together with the love of the community of Saints, the Body of Christ.
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