The Beauty of Reality

“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.”
-Genesis 1:31

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

—Some thoughts on Virtual Reality and curiosity of how it relates to God. I wanna note I’m simply talking about VR Technology in and of itself; not Zuckerberg’s idea of the “Metaverse” which as of now kinda creeps me out and seems (in my opinion) more harmful to society than good. But I acknowledge that could be said for any upcoming technology. My point is that’s just a different topic and not what I’m discussing here.—

Growing up as a kid in the the era of the original Nintendo (and some Atari), I have always been a sucker for gaming technology (though as I've gotten older I'm perhaps less interested). Virtual Reality headsets have intrigued me for years but never enough to want to get one. The software they offered just didn't interest me enough and most looked too technical for me as many needed a operate computer to run them off of. However, I recently gave in when seeing what the stand alone headset (known as the Oculus Quest 2) had to offer. Many nature and travel apps that allow you to stand in real places around the world fascinated me. I was sold.

They don't disappoint either. Being able to chuck rocks off into the Colorado River from Horseshoe Bend, or gazing up into the dusty sunlight in Antelope Canyon feel astonishingly surreal. You can also access Google Map’s “street view” which is very cool in VR.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And of course gaming is raised to an entirely new level of amazement that I haven't felt since the release of the Nintendo 64 back in 1996. I can now virtually explore the island of 'MYST' from my favorite game of all time from the 90s which feels like a kind of childhood dream come true. Games like 'Job Simulator' are hilarious as you virtually “work” beyond the counter of a convenience store in an absurd cartoon world. And at night or on a rainy day our son Wilson can still get his fishing or mini golf fix in. (To a degree at least).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As with all technology though, I'm drawn to consider how it relates to what I claim to believe as a person of faith in the Christian religion. After using such a device I can't help but to revisit all the parallels Christians drew out of the film "The Matrix" back in 1999; many that may seem cliche now as pastors probably wore the illustrations out in sermons (kind of like Lord of the Rings). As I played around with some of the nature apps on the device, I couldn't help pondering, "What if a person was born wearing this?" Like, if this is ALL they knew from birth. And then at some point in the person's life the device was removed, allowing them to see reality for the first time. I’m curious if this is a hint of what the bible describes as happening to a person when awakened by the Holy Spirit; to be born again into Reality.
I think you can draw such parallels from scripture which also argues that it's a reality we presently don't "see" clearly but almost like we're looking through a dirty piece of glass.

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully even as I have been fully known.”
-1 Corinthians 13:12
 

Reality is there, but we currently see it through the brokenness and sinfulness of the world and ourselves. But God promises that won't always be the case. The dirty glass will one day be broken and we will actually step through it into reality with new, restored bodies. The physical universe will be restored back to a kind of Eden like state. Pondering what this will be like is one of my favorite subjects C.S. Lewis wrote about in a few of his writings such as "The Great Divorce", "The Problem of Pain", "The Weight of Glory" as well as the final book in his Narnia Series "The Last Battle". Namely the idea of the new heavens and the new earth being "thicker"; MORE real. An idea that is completely contrary to so many un-biblical images within pop culture as considering heaven as "ghostly" or "ethereal”. Lewis argued that in truth, when compared to what await us, it is our current state that will seem ghostly and less solid. And I believe Jesus and the apostle Paul argued it as well.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
-John 12:24-26

“There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”, the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.”
-1 Corinthians 15:40-49

“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened-not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.”
-2 Corinthians 5:1-4

These images—a seed “dying” and then bearing fruit...a tent compared to a building…being furthered clothed and not less…mortality being swallowed up by life—all clearly show that what awaits those who trust in what Jesus claimed is a kind of “thicker” reality; richer…fuller. I can't help but to consider all this as well when playing around with this technology. With it I can "stand" on a beautiful ocean beach and see and hear the waves. But what is that compared to feeling the cool sand between my toes, smelling the saltwater air and feeling the warm wind of the gulf blow against my face? Could comparing Virtual Reality to Reality be a parable of comparing the current universe to the new heavens and the new earth?

Don't get me wrong, I’m just as amazed at the talent and creativity that God grants to certain individuals to engineer such technology and use it in artistic and possible useful ways in the future as I am with any technology or art. But within seconds of removing this device, virtual reality instantly becomes apparent for what it is; a toy. And reality becomes apparent for what it is, and perhaps what makes it beautiful; REAL.

 

“And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
-Revelation 21:5

Current thoughts on the passing of my Dad

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My father passed away around 12:15pm on May 28th, 2021. We (his family) were with him as he died. He was 74. After pondering the different waves of emotions and grief (and joy), I think the feeling that has stood out to me the most with such fierce intensity is a sense of the wrongness of death.

A well known phrase I’ve heard all my life (and been told directly) is “Death is just a part of life”. It’s a phrase that I have always heard come from hearts of compassion and love of those genuinely attempting to console a grieving friend or family member. And I’ve always been thankful for such kindness. But it’s a phrase I can’t help wanting to examine.

 

Now in the grand scheme of things - the cosmic plan of redemptive history under the sovereign hand of God, showing his Glory by reconciling sinners to himself - this phrase most certainly is true. Death IS a part of the life that Christ won for us. And what one sows does not come to life unless it dies. (2 Corinthians 15:36)

 

But in another sense, when this phrase is given from strictly a naturalistic worldview, I feel a very different response.

 

When I pull up a video taken from just a few months ago and see my Dad and hear his voice…hearing him laughing with my son…see his smile on a face full of life…and then consider the phrase “Death is just a part of Life”, everything in me wants to respond, “No. No..it’s not!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Death feels wrong. It feels like an error. Like a string breaking on a violin amidst a beautiful symphony, or an actor forgetting his lines in a play. The Bible says that when God completed the universe (before sin and death was in it) he looked at it and “saw that it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31). When I now walk up to my parent’s front porch....I see that empty rocking chair as very bad. I feel it’s wrong. The chair SHOULD be filled, and I should be next to him, watching the stars come out on these beautiful summer evenings we've been having recently here in Tennessee...just as we did together so many times. And I believe that an aspect of the humanity of Jesus felt the same.

When Jesus approached the tomb of his friend Lazarus - knowing completely what he was about to do - the Bible records that he still “wept”. (John 11:35). In verse 33 and 38 it describes Jesus being “deeply moved” and I’ve been told (by people far smarter than me) that in the Greek this phrase suggest a kind of agitation and anger - that it would probably be better translated as, “He was indignant.” I remember a former Sunday school teacher of mine once pointing out that the phrase was the same that would describe a horse literally snorting as if about to do battle. And in that moment what Christ is about to do battle with doesn't feel like "a part of life."

I’ve wondered recently how quick we’d be to tell a grieving couple who lost their 6 year old to cancer, or to a  young wife who lost her husband in a car accident that death is just a part of life. I think that most of us would feel a sense of inappropriateness in that setting. We’d feel a vigorous emotion that such a death, “was not supposed to happen.” It would feel as an enemy. But I sometimes feel as if the world seems to want to tell me that an aging father passing away should produce a different response. That it should be "accepted".

But I guess my point in all this is I can’t.

 

 

 

 

 

This death (as well as the death of my grandparents) feels it should not have happened because death itself should not happen - be it a child or a 95 year old with a rich, full life that peacefully passes away in their sleep. Because death in any sense IS an enemy. And it’s an enemy that Christ came to destroy. (1 Corinthians 15:26) And my prayer for myself is that the sense of the wrongness of death would point me to what is equally the wrongness of sin. Because the apostle Paul argues in one of my favorite passages that that the two are connected.

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” -1 Corinthians 15:56-57

I love this passage because it displays in just two small sentences the massive truth of the Gospel. All death is connected to sin. And no amount of religious law keeping, or secular humanitarianism of “just trying to be a good person” will ever defeat it because we don’t have what it takes. Our “goodness” compared to God’s perfect and holy righteousness is like a fading match compared to the trillions and trillions of burning stars throughout the cosmos. But what we see in the incarnation, cross and resurrection is how God GIVES us that very righteousness we need to enjoy him forever. It is a gift. (Ephesians 2:8) And the message of the Bible is revealing that gift and calling us to FREELY take it-without a righteousness of our own.

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” - Isaiah 55:1

"For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith..." Philippians 3:8-9

As far as I can remember, whenever I overheard someone ask my Dad, “How are you?”…he would respond by saying, “Well, the sun came up, and the good Lord let me live another day.” I heard him say this to the nurses even in the very last days that he could communicate. My dad saw that the Lord was good, and that his own life was always in His hands. And I believe he saw the gospel as the gift it is, and that he took it. I can rejoice in that.

His death still feels wrong. And I think it will for the rest of my life. I am filled with sorrow. But I know my sorrow will one day turn to joy. Not just because I believe I will embrace him again one day…but I will embrace the one who made him— the one of whom he reflected in all his kindness, strength, and love as my Dad. The one of whom the summer night stars declare. (Psalm 19)

“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
-1 Corinthians 15:55

 

Living Water (Spring and Summer)

One of my favorite Psalms, is Psalm 1... ¹Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; ²but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

³He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. ⁴The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

⁵Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; ⁶for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish This past month my wife and I (as we do every spring) have been talking about how much we both love to see everything becoming so green. No doubt there's beauty in the fall and winter...but it's the spring and summer that really cheer us up. I think all of us just love anything that displays 'living'. It's the same feeling we get when we stand next to a creek or river that's powerfully flowing with water. I think that picture is seen within this Psalm as well. Throughout the bible, there seems to be running theme of water and life. I just especially like the imagery of how it's used here to describe the righteous. He is like a 'tree planted by streams of water"..."it's leaf does not wither." After reading this the other day I happened to also go to the end of Revelation and found what, to me, seems to be a connection. The last 2 chapters of the bible (Revelation 21 and 22) have to be for me some of, if not THE most wonderful words ever written. The picture of the 'new heavens and new earth' are simply breathtaking; and my favorite moment in it lies in chapter 22 verse 1-3, where John talks about being shown the 'Tree of Life' (which Man rejected in the garden) standing besides a river "as bright as crystal" (called the water of life). And the most comforting line here is in verse 2 and 3 that says "...The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed.." I mean....WHAT a beautiful image! Think of the concentration camps....think of those two towers falling in new york.....think of earthquakes in haiti....wives loosing their husbands in mine disasters, Mississippi children being killed by a tornado, every single little baby born, only to die within the first hour of their life; all due to the curse on creation. Now...within that context...meditate on that image; '..the leaves are for the healing of the nations...the 'curse' will be no more. There is nothing that could sound more comforting. So we have in Psalm 1 the image of a tree by water....and in Revelation we seem to have the same image. But the question of course is, how do we get this living water? Are we in ourselves righteous enough to where this Psalm can apply to us? I don't believe so. Remember, God said in Psalm 14 and 51 (which Paul quotes in Romans 3) that 'NO one is righteous'. Jesus though claims that 'all the law and the prophets' were ultimately writing about Him. He is the righteous. It is He who yields fruit....It's him who gives the water as bright as crystal. Remember his discussion with the woman at the well in John 4. Jesus talks about it is Him who will 'give us' living water so that we never would be thirsty again. So we have Christ, who comes in perfection, lives righteously...and therefore, 'becomes like a tree planted by streams of water'....then...GIVES us that water...that life. By us laying down our failed attempts at 'being good' and clinging to Him, his leaves heal us....his water fills us eternally. I think there's a hint of all that in seeing the green of spring and summer. -michael (The picture above was taken at the lake that's in my parents subdivision where i grew up)

Solid, Dry Rocks

This might sound like a cheesy concept that's been told a million times by Christians throughout the years but I'm gonna say it anyway.

While Greta and I were in the Smoky Mountains this week and on our way back, we went to a couple of places where the whole imagery of Christ as a 'Rock on which was stand' (Psalm 40:2) really was clear to me.

In the smokies, we both hiked to the summit of a place called "Chimney Tops" (in the first picture). Once at the top, we stood upon a large area of rocks where we were given an absolute magnificent view of the mountains all the way around.

On the way back we stopped in Cookville, TN and hiked down to a waterfall called "Burgess Falls". Here we viewed the falls from both the bottom, and the top. You can see me in this picture standing at the top on the right.

Now this is what was interesting to me. Both times, I would feel both the sensation of danger and security in the same moment. On the mountain, the height overwhelming. If the rocks were to collapse, we would fall to our death. But of course....they wouldn't collapse. They were solid. It was part of a mountain after all.

On top of the water fall I was a bit sketchy at first to get close to the edge. The surrounding area seemed to be soaking wet. Rocks that are wet may as well not be rocks at all; they may as well be ice. If I fell into the top of a waterfall as tall and powerful as this one I would have either died from the fall, or drowned at the bottom. However, as I got closer, I realized there were many portions that were completely dry right on the edge. This allowed me to stand right in the midst of this roaring water with utmost security.

And this is whats so cool to me. I think God displays His beauty and goodness in such things as a mountain valley or a roaring waterfall. (read my post called 'declaring glory and righteousness if you want). But just those natural beauties, God is also dangerous. Our sin has made us unable to naturally come to him without being destroyed. But that's what makes the gospel so wonderful.

Jesus, in full perfection, allows sinners to stand on the edge with complete security and assurance. It doesn't matter how high up we are, our how powerful the waterfall is, those Rocks were keeping us safe. And whats so wonderful, is that in that security, we don't just rejoice in being "safe"....but we rejoice in getting to be overwhelmed by the beauty that's in front of us. I've not been brought to the edge of the mountain or the edge of the waterfall simply to feel "secure", but to sit in awe of something so beautiful. So that I can say, "Isn't it AMAZING!" So that I can 'praise it.'

Jesus brings us safely to the top to be astonished.

-michael

Justification (Romans 5)

This morning I was reading in romans 5 and was struck about the whole concept of "justification".....

"But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass,
much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous." -Romans 5:15-19

I may be imagining this but I feel like I've heard of a lot of debate about what it means exactly to be 'justified'. I know John Piper and N.T. Wright have seemed to go at each other about this topic....but i've not kept up at all with what they are discussing.

But obviously it is an important concept because if Paul teaches that our faith (and faith alone) is what justifies a person (which i believe he does) then its important to be clear about what justification means. I feel like that is what the debates are about between certain people. Is justification merely a "better standing with God"...or is it literally a term used for complete, and eternally secure salvation? I believe the latter, and I think Romans 5:15-19 gives evidence to that. Mainly because Paul is continually contrasting "justification" with "condemnation". He makes of point of saying "Look...through Adam, condemnation came....but through Christ, justification came."

What struck me is that if you were to try to suggest that "Justification" means something else other than being eternally right with God....then you would equally have to come up with another definition for 'Condemnation'...but I don't think you can. And I think this verse makes a strong point of that. Condemnation is Death......Justification is Righteousness.

With that though, I feel i can rejoice that much more in what Paul says in Romans 3:28....

"For we hold that one is JUSTIFIED BY FAITH apart from the works of the law."

-michael
(pic above taken of my parents backyard in Arrington)

Psalm 33 (The Word)

"The Word"

I've always been interested in the subject of Christ being refereed to as "The Word" in John 1.

This morning I was reading Psalm 33 and it got me thinking about it again. Mainly verse 6 that says...
"By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host." (esv)

This is interesting because also in John 1 it brings up the image how the heavens were made "through Christ". At other places in the new testament it uses the language of "by him" to create.

So is this an element of the mystery of God's nature (3 in one)? Is there a connection between God's 'word' when he created the world.....and the use of the word 'WORD' being used in John 1? Also, most all of the "books of prophets" of the old testament that begin with "The Word of the Lord came to so and so..". Is this 'word' the same as Christ. Ultimately I believe it is. Christ is not simply a "spokesman" for God....He IS God. He IS His 'Word', as it says "the word was with God and the word WAS God". (john 1:1) He IS the word that came to all the prophets. He IS the word that was with the Father in the beginning hovering over the waters saying 'let there be light'....but now in these last days, He became flesh.

Also, off the subject, Psalm 33 is really great in humbling us to seek God alone for our purpose and not anything that makes up who we are. Verse 16 - 17 says...
"The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by it's great might it cannot rescue."

Also, I think it's beautiful to note the connection between verse 19 that says "..that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine" with Colossians 1:13 that talks about God delivering us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.

-michael
(Picture above was taken in Gulf Shores, Alabama)

Declaring Glory and Righteousness

I've always loved the opening to Psalm 19.

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge".

If there's anything I love to discuss (or think about) is how and where this verse shows up in creation. The first picture here is from a very old slide that shows the sunrise over the trees that were at the end of my backyard where I grew up. (in arrington, TN). The second picture is one I took in Alaska a few years ago. Both are two totally different subjects, yet both moments express something profound about Christ; both his Beauty, and Majesty.

I just love when being set before such beauties in Nature (whither it be the grand canyon, or hearing the sound of morning birds, or as CS Lewis notes; 'the smell of cut wood in a workshop',) to think about whats going on here. God is not just simply giving us a gift of beauty...he's actually telling us something about HIMSELF. HE is as beautiful as this sunrise...HE is as strong and powerful as this mountain.

However, the other day when I reading Psalm 97, I noticed something that I never really thought about that much. in verse 6, it also states that "the heavens declare his 'righteousness'. I guess it should seem obvious, but I just never thought about how this impacts your view of creation.
For example....any one person could seem to be beautiful beyond comparison, and with it have a sense of 'majesty' in their power......however...still not have a trace of 'goodness'. The most powerful and most beautiful Queen may still be the cruelest. This is why I believe scripture goes a step further than just speaking of 'beauty and power' being woven into creation.....Psalm 97 says that God's RIGHTEOUSNESS is there as well.

I pray that the next time (and every time) I see a beautiful tree blooming in the spring, or hear the sound of katydids on a summer night, or feel the mist from a roaring waterfall, or hear one of my brother's little girls laughing, that I'd be moved not just by Christ's beauty and might...but his righteousness as well.

-michael