Reformation: Thinking New Thoughts
Stephen Terry
Commentary for the September 14, 2013
Sabbath School Lesson
“Therefore if you have any
encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any
common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my
joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit
and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in
humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but
each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one
another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” Philippians 2:1-5, NIV
There is
almost a Gnosticism about relational Christianity in that all who turn to
Christ are given the Holy Spirit.[i]
The Holy Spirit, in turn, is given to lead us into all truth.[ii]
The implication here is that there is a knowledge that is unattainable any
other way – an unknown or hidden knowledge, but offered to everyone. Be that as
it may, the intellectual aspects of belief can be quite astonishing, especially
to those who see faith as solely a matter of acquiescence and obedience. How
astonishing, for instance, that the God of anywhere and any when would say to
each of us, “Let’s reason together.”[iii]
To make such a statement is to assert its possibility. Though I cannot even
visualize something as simple as a number line trundling off into eternity, I
am assured that my finite mind is capable of reasoning with God. This tells me
the mind must be something more than simply the sum of its finite components.
Somewhere in the many, many neurons and their synapses hides not only self-awareness,
but the ability to perceive things we cannot presently understand.
Although I
cannot visualize it, I can understand the possibility of life existing on other
worlds. Without ever leaving my planet, I can also understand the idea of an
infinite universe, even if I cannot recreate an image of one in my mind. I can
even understand that the possibility of God exists, even though I have no real
idea of what God is. What would a being look like who could occupy every point
in both space and time? I don’t know. Even though I can see how this might make
Him omniscient simply by definition, this does not help me to visualize Him. Somehow
a picture of a grey-bearded old man floating about in the heavens as in Michelangelo’s
Sistine Chapel portrayal seems to fall far short of a being with such
attributes. Yet this unknowable being asks me to reason with Him. Incredible!
I cannot
help but think that the level of reasoning might need to be on the level of “See
Spot Run! Run, Spot, Run!” of the elementary Dick and Jane readers.[iv]
While we all enjoyed reading about the two siblings and their dog, Spot, the
books were far from a course in college physics. As they grew older, some made
fun of the basic reading in the Dick and Jane books. However, we all knew that
this was a vital step in our educational career and are happy to encourage our
own children to read basic readers to advance their skills until they are ready
for something more challenging. As they grow in ability and understanding we are
often bombarded with the question “Why?” as they seek to understand the world
around them. While sometimes it may try one’s patience, we nonetheless explain
to them, and simply, according to their reasoning ability, we unfold to them
the reasons for the way things are. Perhaps when God offers to reason with us,
it is a similar process. He knows we cannot fully understand infinity or
dimensions beyond our own, but He patiently reveals what He can from the
perspective we now have.
Sometimes,
like a petulant child who is having difficulty accepting the limits to his
understanding, we may turn away, rejecting God as a way of refuting our lack of
understanding. But just as the parent of that child continues to love the child
and encourage him back to relationship; maybe God does the same with us. This
may be hard to understand from the perspective of someone raised in a world
where authority figures are often disappointing at best and malevolent at
worst. Perhaps it is precisely because of the lack of adequate role models for
a healthy relationship that God chose to become incarnate in Jesus.[v]
In Jesus and His relationships, we find that the lowest and most despised of
people could come to Him and find acceptance and hope. They were not made to
feel diminished in any way. In fact they often went away from the encounter
empowered and uplifted beyond their expectations. In contrast those who
asserted their superiority over others when meeting Jesus often found that humility
is more suitable to positive relationships with God and their fellow man than
pride.
In the
Beatitudes[vi]
we find the inscrutable vastness of all that is God poured into a simple Dick
and Jane reader format that is easily understood by almost anyone who reads it,
yet it also has a depth that transcends our ability to fully explain its
meaning. It is as though the door of heaven was left slightly ajar, and we can
see the beautiful light streaming through the crack but cannot fully appreciate
what lies beyond. Perhaps God in offering to reason with us, in his immutable
wisdom is offering to show us a little light now that we might have faith that something
greater lies beyond, even though we cannot see it.[vii]
Like the smell of baking cookies that draws us to the kitchen, this taste of
the reasoning of heaven instills in our hearts a hunger for more.
Just as
children grow beyond the Dick and Jane books, so we grow through each encounter
with the reason of God. Children often grow to become more and more like the
parents who raise them. Christians can also grow in the same way. They find
themselves becoming more and more like God as He is in Christ. Our thoughts
become more mature as we find ourselves thinking more often like Jesus with
love and compassion. The Bible tells us this is what to expect if we let the
Spirit educate us.[viii]
Some may
feel that they no longer have the ability to grow in this way. They may say
that all that they have been through in life has damaged their ability to such
an extent that they can no longer respond to the Spirit’s stimulation to
growth. However, the brain is a remarkable creation. Due to plasticity it can
overcome incredible amounts of damage and restore abilities thought lost
forever.[ix]
The brain simply transfers functions from the damaged areas to those which are
still functioning properly. Of course the many healing miracles attested to in
the Gospels endorse the idea that God might heal our minds by miraculous
special intervention, and this is always a possibility. However, the incredible
ability of the brain to heal itself through plasticity might qualify as a “built-in”
miracle.
If we were
to ask, “Which is the most important organ for communication?” some might say
the mouth, others might say the ear, but perhaps it is the brain. Receiving or
sending communication signals may not be very helpful without the ability to
interpret those signals. Perhaps the brain’s remarkable plasticity is why it is
very hard to extinguish the voice of the Holy Spirit. It may allow us to hear
and understand the Spirit’s attempts to speak to our hearts and minds even when
it would seem to be well-nigh impossible.
Some of us
have known those who have been laid low by catastrophic strokes. The damage
they have suffered seems to be too much to recover from, yet in a few weeks we
find them up and about and regaining the lost pieces of their lives. The person
who could not even lift themselves from the floor may be back driving a car,
shopping and going unattended to their round of appointments. It may be the
same for those whom we might deem to be spiritually paralyzed. They keys might
be desire and direction.
In the Pericopae Adulterae,[x]
a woman is caught and brought before Jesus where she is accused of the
crime of adultery. The penalty for that crime was to be stoned to death.[xi]
Her accusers apparently forgot that the man and the woman involved were both
supposed to meet the same fate as they brought only the woman. Jesus’ response
was to the effect that no sinner had the right to judge another sinner. Sadly
this is lost on many, today. We all too often judge for even the most trivial
offenses not only against the commandments of God but for violations of our interpretations
of those commandments which may or may not be accurate. In true Lilliputian
fashion, some will argue over whether or not someone who drinks coffee can be
expected to go to heaven. Others might exclude dancers, or meat eaters, or
those who listen to rock music. Yet perhaps to all of these Jesus might say, “You
are sinners. You have no right to judge the sins of others.” Only He has that
right.[xii]
He alone can say to the woman that was brought before Him, “Go, and sin no more.”
Stop walking away from God and start walking toward Him so the healing can
begin.
