God and wisdom teeth

The human body is amazing.  The complexities and intricacies of the anatomy, physiology, cellular metabolism, etc. are absolutely awe inspiring.  The fragility yet perfection of biochemical pathways within every one of the approximate 100 trillion cells of the human body is mind-blowing.

But Humanity in our arrogance can look at such quirky parts of the human body such as wisdom teeth and think "clearly these are primitive features from when we evolved from our primitive ancestors, and now because of our superiority we no longer need them.  Eventually useless things will naturally select out."

I remember getting my wisdom removed, and it would have been great if they had been naturally selected out rather than having to go through oral surgery.  How easy is it for me in my comfortably middle-class, First World life to look at such "primitive" features of the human body with disdain and completely ignore the fact until the advent of modern dentistry, and even then only within the last 100 years, have people not regularly lost teeth throughout their lives due to poor oral hygiene.

For the vast portion of human history tooth loss was simply a part of life.  With that in mind would it not be great to have some spare teeth built into our bodies?  Our arrogance in our medical and dental advances have numbed us to the awesome fact that maybe God built some safety features into our bodies for us, features that for thousands of years have served as humanity's defense against discomfort and decay.  How quickly we forget what life was like before modern times, and how quickly we can turn on and dismiss as primitive the things that could have had such profound effects on human life for centuries.

Jesus' Scarred Hands

After Jesus' resurrection when He appears to the disciples we learn that His hands and sides still bear the scars from his crucifixion.  Paul writes in 1 Cor 15:42-44 that "resurrection bodies" or "spiritual bodies" at the end of the age will be "glorious" and "imperishable".  But Jesus' body has scars.  It made me sad to think Jesus' resurrection body will be marred for eternity because of my sins.

But then I donated bone marrow.

My marrow donation was just under a month ago and by now, because of God's awesome creative design, my body will have replenished most if not all of the quart of marrow I donated.  My body is basically back to normal.  The only reminders I have are the tiny scars on either side of my lower back where the needles were inserted.  But I do not look at these scars with regret, as unfortunate reminders.  To me the scars are a physical memorial of an opportunity I had to serve/save someone because I am served/saved by God.  I like what these scars testify to.

Likewise Jesus's scars are not imperfections; they are not reminders of regret or some ordeal that Jesus grudgingly went through.  His scars are trophies; memorials of how great His love is, and of what length's God will go through to save us, to get us back.

I now understand why Jesus' resurrection body has the scars.  And I love what they testify to.
God is awesome

'Twas Grace that Kicked Them Out of Eden

In the Beginning God made all of Creation and it was "Good!"

How awesome of a story introduction is that?

God creates Adam and Eve and places them in Eden, Paradise.

Everything is perfect on a level that I cannot fathom.

And God walks with Adam and Eve through Eden in the cool of the day.

Perhaps one the most beautiful words in all of scripture is "naked" (Gen 2:25), because it describes humanity's entire reality. They were naked and fully known before God, naked and fully known to each other. Nothing was hidden, there was perfect intimacy. The same intimacy that the human heart now aches for; the echoing memory of Eden.

And then the Fall.

Humanity has a choice and we choose poorly. Adam and Eve eat the fruit. Sin enters into Creation. That which was perfect and good is now marred with the terrible stain of sin.

Then the Curse.

And then God kicks Adam and Eve out of Eden.

For a long time I thought it was because God was angry, that part of the curse was no longer being able to enjoy the garden and all of its goodness, now Adam has to labor for his food. But the passage just before God kicks them out of the garden (Gen 3:22-24) offers a different explanation.

Because the passage describes the second tree named in the garden. The first tree is the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and Adam and Eve have eaten from it. The second tree is the Tree of Life. Adam and Eve have not eaten from it. And this is God's reasoning for kicking them out of Eden. God says

"See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever"

God does not want Adam and Eve to live forever upon Earth. Upon this now fallen Earth. By denying them the fruit from the Tree of Life, by not preventing death, God is providing them a way out. Because now that they have sinned that would mean living forever in sin. Apart from God. There is a word for eternal separation from God

Hell

And by kicking Adam and Eve out of Eden God makes space for His Son, the Second Adam (Rom 5:14-15), to come provide a way to save Adam and Eve and all Humanity. Praise the Lord for His awesome grace, that He has not abandoned us here on Earth, but saved us from ourselves.

Pragmatic Eschatology

One of the most complicated, convoluted, and therefore uninteresting parts of Theology is Eschatology (the study of the End Times or better phrased "Last Things")

And I will not pretend to decipher the symbols, numbers, and meanings of the apocalyptic writings of Daniel or Revelation.

But just because the details are perplexing does not mean that Eschatology is unimportant or a subject matter we are unaffected by.

The aspects of Eschatology I am most interested in are the actual "Last Things," where everything is going, how the story ends. Because if we look at the broad picture we find some intriguing details. The story arc of the Bible is from Paradise to Paradise. And it is a story of redemption. God made Creation "good", we messed it us, and ever since Genesis chapter 3 God's work has been a work of making "all things new" (Rev 21:5).

Revelation ends with the New Heaven and New Earth (Rev 21:1). Not only that but we see Heaven fully invading Earth (Rev 21:2) which fits with the Eschatology of the Major and Minor Prophets of the Old Testament. God is making all things new. For a wonderful depiction I suggest the description of the "Old Narnia" and "Real Narnia" at the end of the chapter "Further Up and Further In" of The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis.

So we know how things end; God makes all things new and perfect.

Selah

And that makes all the difference. Because God's ultimate vision, how things finally end up, defines everything. What we implicitly believe about the "Last Things" dictates and influences how we live now. Understanding where we are going clarifies where we are now like a compass pointing North.

The temptation can be to live like our objective is to be "saved" enough to go to Heaven when we die, but without the need to engage the world around us while we are here. It has been described as "being too heavenly minded to be any earthly good", and that is a horrible and counter-Christ paradigm. Jesus did not come to draw us out and isolate "Christians" from the world, but He came to be Emmanuel, "God with us" (Mt 1:22-23), and to engage this world. We are called not to be elitists in the world, but "light of the world" (Mt 5:14-16). If we believe that God is redeeming Creation, making all things new, then we have been invited to be a part of that process of renewal (2 Cor 5:17-21). God came back for each of us, but that does not mean we can be content to let His redemption stop with us.

Instead of being "too Heavenly minded to be any earthly good" we have to be Heavenly minded (truly and Eschatologically Heavenly minded) to be any earthly good.

So may you be guided North by God's awesome work of redemption into the "Last Things"

How glorious it will be to finally go home.

Selah

Problems with Humanity

I was talking with my friend Peter last night, our conversation covered a menagerie of topics, and one particular issue that we kept returning to was the various problems with humanity.

And while the pathologies of humanity a great in number and in complexity, I was struck by the simplicity of the answer.

I know the answer to all of our problems.

It's humility.

It's surrendering ourselves to God.

It's being holy as He is holy.

Our problem as fallen people is pride. We want to be what everything is about. But we are creatures. And we hate being creatures. We want to be creator.

We want to be God.

But we are not God

And by humility I mean to acknowledge the truth of reality and who we really are. Not what I want reality to be, not my relative truth, but the absolute truth as defined by the One who is able to define absolute truth.

For me humility means understanding and living according to the fact that I am not God.

For God humility means understanding and living according to the fact that He is God. He really is the Independent One upon whom all of Creation depends for existence.

So the answer to all of our issues is simple.

But it's impossible.

Because apart from God I hate being a creature.