Saved!
Writing to me recently, a long-term dear friend realized, "I never really knew you." We indeed do not know each other, you (plural) are more, different, and other than I can ever see, know, or imagine; and the same is true of me: no one knows me, no other person knows me, I am behind a blind beyond which you (plural) will never see or know. "Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid," but not now nor ever will another person really fully know me. There is no Pensieve as in Harry Potter. And there are likely facets of myself that even I do not know, of which I myself am unaware.
Said here many Times in the, next month it will be, fourteen years
that I've been writing this almost daily blogpost, you (plural) and I are not on the same page, you (plural) and I do not believe the same things, I do not vote as you (plural) vote, we do not see and experience life, death, rights, responsibilities, obligations, or God the same way at all. I assume nothing about you (plural), and I kindly urge you (plural) to assume nothing about me, especially that we think alike; for we do not.
We believe in one God, the ...
WWJD?
A new commandment I give you, ...
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Rambling,
I am certain of nothing except that certainty is the greatest sin, for certainty is the foundation of all human inhumanity to neighbor.
Remembering him here yet again, from my seminary theology professor I learned to appreciate his question, "Who or What is God?" that he followed with answers that are as tentative as the question. His standard response, "God is Whoever or Whatever led Israel out of Egypt. God is whoever or whatever Jesus called Father. God is whoever or whatever raised Jesus from the dead."
To which I might add, "God is whoever or whatever said 'yeh-hi' to invite creation into being. God is whoever or whatever told Moses that he is I AM, HE IS, Being Itself. God is whoever or whatever God says God is, in and as God's Word."
Some will have other answers. God may be different for each of us, so for me, God is whoever or whatever said, "I AM speaking to you, Tom Weller" one miserable February night in 1984 when life was heavy with uncertainty and unanswered questions, and the light suddenly came on that the misery itself was the word being spoken.
You don't have to understand that, and I certainly don't have to explain it.
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Some relaxed reading today helped me immensely. A Christian society in a WWJD sense would not be one based on citizens' rights but on citizens mindful of their obligations to others, including in a gladly sacrificial way.
And Salvation. Are you saved? where Salvation is not accepting Christ as my personal Saviour and being as sure for Heaven as if I were already there; Salvation is the willingness to die, simply trusting God and giving up fear of the unknown. MLK speaking, "Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, I'm free at last." Speaking for self, I've been there and back! My own NDE was January 24, 2011, the total oblivion of deep anesthesia, where, when I came back I realized that there was nothing, not even darkness or silence, but nothing whatsoever. Not me; certainly, no fear. Revelation 21:4 captures it, "... no more death nor sorrow nor crying nor pain. All these things are gone forever.”
That being the good news, the bad news perhaps that everything else is gone as well, no more human pleasures; salvation is accepting and being at peace with whatever God has in mind. In a religious sense, Salvation is (not necessarily what I may want or have been taught to believe about afterlife, but) being okay with whatever God says, something or nothing, oblivion or jubilation; and living this life in the Godly image that Jesus came to show and tell us.
Salvation is meaning it when I pray, "thy will be done." Salvation is being content that life as we know it is grace and gift enough.
This isn't a blogpost to be linked on Facebook, but for my return and reflection in my September 2024 self-guided Retreat, and open to folks who know me well enough to come here direct.
RSF&PTL
T88&c
Images
JWST deep look into the distant universe
August 2010, me on the roof of what is now Beverly McDaniel Hall at HNES, supervising building maintenance that summer, pic snapped by Amy Moody
"our fragile island home," a speck on a speck in a remote spiral of the Milky Way, our one of trillions of similar galaxies
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this +Time blogpost is for Sunday, 8 September 2024, but I'm posting it Saturday evening and going to bed as the Florida Gators lead the Samford Bulldogs 14 - 0 and the Alabama Crimson Tide leads the South Florida Bulls 7 - 6. But Blue did not Go, and when I wake up Sunday morning, Michigan may not still be #10 in the CFB rankings.