I’m Sorry, WHAT?

Think about the last time you were sure you misheard someone, only to discover what you heard was what they said? The resulting cognizant dissonance can result from shock, from abhorrence, from joy, or even horror. When was the last time you ran across a verse that caught you up short, shocked you, compelled you to every reference you could find to help you grapple with the dissonance in your mind?

I’m searching for an understanding of the Biblical Spiritual Cosmology. Honestly, I’m not sure what to call it, but from what little I can figure out so far, it is the spiritual reality alongside our own, where the “spiritual warfare” we don’t see takes place. It’s where the “sons of God” come before His throne, including Satan (Job 1:6). It’s the place in the heavens where the spiritual forces of evil collide with their Creator (Ephesians 6:12).

I want to know what we’re up against, the lay of the land, a map, to know the enemy and friendlies. I’m not having an easy time of it. Scripture seems to assume I know more than I do. Paul just leaves things said without providing a context. He’s provide oral teaching, and refers to it in letters without describing it further. He already has with his audience earlier, in person. But now, we don’t have that. What the stink is “the third heaven”? How many are there, for Pete’s sake?

Well, in the process of this quest, I ran across this verse:

And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.
Deuteronomy 4:19 NASB

I’m sorry, what? Our Creator and Savior allotted the “host of heaven” to all the peoples under the whole heaven? In the Theological Word Book of the Old Testament, it says He does this as “guides” not to be worshipped. The problem with interpreting this reference as “guides” is that the context is worship. But, this same entry claims that some Jewish commentators claim this passage condones idolatry among Gentiles. I’m confused.

Let’s set aside for a second whether this reference condones idolatry among Gentiles or refers to them as “guides”. Regardless, there is a sense in which they are given importance I didn’t know our Creator gives them. He allotted them to all people under heaven. Everyone who looks at them is supposed to draw some sense of importance from them, a purpose of their Creator, and ours. 

Consider, for a moment, that almost every human religion ascribes some quality of deity to the sun, moon, and stars. It’s like the prevalence of flood geology. How is it that stars had such a perfuse importance to we, human creatures? And their proper relation to the “Peculiar People of God” is that we do not worship them like everyone does.

Here’s my dilemma: Since we are not to worship them, how, then, have they been allotted to us as also those under all the heavens? Not for worship, clearly, so what for? Are they “guides”, then for what? To where?

I do not know, not yet. But I believe it has something to do with the “spiritual cosmology” I’m pursuing. I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, be sure to look up; not to then bow down to what you see, but, rather to marvel at the works of our Creator’s hands declaring His glory (Psalm 19:1).

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Eventually…

 Eventually, stuff works out. Below is a picture I took of the planet Mars. As I said last week, a big white spot.

It would probably be more interesting if you could see the stars around it, but that was difficult because this was just to the right of it:

And the focus on these was difficult because of distortion in the air, so this is all I was able to get.

You see, eventually, things work out. And, that is true for everything. The cliche is that “all things come to an end”. Not just good things come to an end, but all things. Eventually, there will be this event where the Creator of the universe sits on a throne to judge, and heaven and earth will flee from him, and find no hiding place…I know, right? What will that look like?

There will be a day when books will be opened, and another book will be opened. John described it this way:

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20:11-15 NASB

Books were opened, and everyone, great and small, were judged by what was written in “the books”. But, at the end of the process, it didn’t depend on what was in the books, but whether your name is written in the Book of Life. Are you alive? That’s what counts.

I have been reading a book that explores theology using the Peanuts cartoons as illustrations. I was pretty intrigued by it until the author makes this case that there is no future hell, and everyone goes to heaven. Nice idea, but not Scriptural. He tries to make it so, but the problem is that his attempts are to reconcile his idea of what a “god of love” would do, rather than accept the self-revelation of the God who is love.

So, this author and I differ on that view. Eventually, we’ll know which of us is right. One day we’ll stand before this massive white throne, and our judge will be the God who is, rather the one of our imaginations. Maybe we will both be wrong, having both worshipped different gods of our imagination.

I’m trying to perceive the God revealing Himself through Scripture, and I’m relying on my hope that He won’t judge too closely on accuracy. I’ve given up on understanding Him, and now work on accepting Him as I perceive Him. Eventually, I will see Him as He is. I doubt I will understand Him, even then. And, I hope my exercise in acceptance of Him will pay off as I grapple with that “up close and personal” experience of His presence.

I hear it’s good to have goals…

First-World Frustrations

When I was a kid, I would get all worked up over something, cranky about whatever wasn’t working like it was supposed to, I’d snap at people, and be basically crabby. My mom would always, and I mean always, ask, “Did you have your quiet time this morning?” It was like putting out a fire with gas…BOOM!

The thing is, she was right, and I knew it. It distracted from my viscerally felt validity of my problem, but it was still accurate. Last night we had a Bible study on thankfulness. I am thankful, so I didn’t pay a lot of attention. When I got home, I setup an astronomical telescope to attempt to connect it to my computer to run it. What could go wrong?

I got it aligned with the earth’s axial tilt, and tried to orient it to my specific location on the earth. I needed a couple of stars to point it at. I typically use my smart phone for that. There are free apps that will show you the constellations and stars you are looking at in the sky by holding it up against your view of the sky.

On this particular night, my phone decided that orienting itself to where I was and what I was looking at was not what it wanted to do. I’d used two different astronomical apps and it just spun around. I had to work it manually. Grrr. But I have a phone, a smart phone. That’s actually pretty cool.

I found two stars to use to orient the scope to my location. It worked, but had an “error” that was actually HUGE. I was a little concerned but it seem to track well. So, I didn’t worry about it. Now to connect the computer. But first, let’s see if I can take a picture.

I connect the camera to the scope, and get…nothing. What I see in the scope is not anywhere in the view of the camera, and they’re looking in the same “tube”. How is that even possible? No idea why that is. I change some settings on the camera, nothing. I verify that the image is in the center, change back to the camera, still nothing. But, you know what? I have this nice DSLR camera (Digital Single Lens Reflex). That’s actually pretty cool too.

Anyway, I was out here in the cold dark late night to connect my computer, not my camera. Let’s try that. Long story short, it didn’t work…at all. In fact it jacked up the computer programs and the computer. But you know what? I have a computer, a nice one. And have the time and place (my back deck) to setup a telescope and look at the night sky.

I can complain, but why? Sure, what I tried didn’t work. What I wanted to do didn’t happen. Instead I was able to see Mars, but not take a pic to share with you this morning. It would have been nice, but it wasn’t as interesting as those amazing pics from orbiters around Mars. It would have been a round white spot against black. You wouldn’t have been able to figure out what it was just from the picture. Honestly, not a huge loss. 

What we read last night was Deuteronomy 28:1-11, but look at the verses immediately following that:

The LORD will open for you his good treasure house, the heavens, to give you rain for the land in its season and to bless all you do; you will lend to many nations but you will not borrow from any. The LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his commandments that I am urging you today to be careful to do. But you must not turn away from all the commandments I am giving you today, to either the right or left, nor pursue other gods and worship them.

Deuteronomy 28:12-14 NET

Yay! The storehouses of heaven, rains, we will lend and not borrow, be the head not the tail, on top not the bottom…oh wait, “If you obey his commandments…”. Would it be fair to say that praising our Savior is a command? Would it be within the realm of possibility that thankfulness in me is a desire of my Savior? 

I honestly don’t know what it would mean for me that I would be the head not the tail, on top not the bottom, or experience the treasure house of heaven. I’m guessing it doesn’t mean that my telescope will work like I want. It may mean that I get to see amazing views of what my Savior created, and marvel that He knows my name.