There is absolutely no way we will ever come to complete agreement on this Christian thing. Never.
Never have, at least not all the way (whatever that means), never will. Can we all agree to disagree?
Never have, at least not all the way (whatever that means), never will. Can we all agree to disagree?
Is there any common core?
It's not the Bible. KJV? NASB? Douay? EOB? Apocrypha included or not?
Who decides? Who translates? Who interprets?
Can we really say 'Jesus' is what we have in common? Divine? Man? God Man? Virgin Birth? Son of God? Pre-existent? After all, every split within the body of believers called church has been around him and who he is.
Even the term God is fraught with difficulty. Trinity? Father alone? Jesus is God. Jesus is 'divine' but not God?
The bigger question is this: can we live with this not knowing?
So many questions, so few answers. Each answer has more questions.
The more I think and the more I talk and the more I study, the more I want stillness. Silence. Having traversed high and low, the realization is that we come to a place where there is nothing but mystery. It is ok to not know. This is not denial or absence of understanding but the realization that words, concepts and intellectual frameworks ultimately will fail in the light of this mystery.
"Is it not evident that the Father accepts the sacrifice, not
because he demands it or feels some need for it, but in order
to carry out his own plan? Humanity had to be brought to life
by the humanity of God ... we had to be called back to him by
his Son ...Let the rest be adored in silence." (Clement, p.45, quoting Gregory of Nazianzus)
"To progress in thinking about creatures is painful and wearisome.
The · contemplation of the Holy Trinity is ineffable peace and
silence." (Clement, p. 232, quoting Evagrius)
"How has he been begotten? I re-utter the question with loathing. God's begetting ought to have the tribute of our reverent silence." (Gregory of Nazianzu, Oration 29)
The power, I am being to learn, is that we can experience it. We can bathe in it, swim in it. We just can't contain it or define it or box it in. This 'unknowing' is something we come to through a tradition, not in denial of the same or picking and choosing whatever it is we want to accept which makes us then the absolute standard of Truth; it confirms what we believe, it does not transform us.
Even the tale of Laozi being a scholar and keeper of the archives before he walked away indicates that he went through it and came out on the other side; the Buddha did something similar. Jesus, theologically debatable of course, went through his tradition. To get "there" you must journey through. It is the journey that provides the framework which leads you ultimately to silence.
I suppose in some sense then the 'silence' at the end of the journey will be different at the end because of the ocean in which you swam.
The power, I am being to learn, is that we can experience it. We can bathe in it, swim in it. We just can't contain it or define it or box it in. This 'unknowing' is something we come to through a tradition, not in denial of the same or picking and choosing whatever it is we want to accept which makes us then the absolute standard of Truth; it confirms what we believe, it does not transform us.
Even the tale of Laozi being a scholar and keeper of the archives before he walked away indicates that he went through it and came out on the other side; the Buddha did something similar. Jesus, theologically debatable of course, went through his tradition. To get "there" you must journey through. It is the journey that provides the framework which leads you ultimately to silence.
I suppose in some sense then the 'silence' at the end of the journey will be different at the end because of the ocean in which you swam.
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