The Cleft of the Rock

When faced with confusion and trying circumstances, we could choose to direct our anger towards God and complain. But do we even have a right to do this? I'm reminded of the scene from Fiddler on the Roof when Russian soldiers raid and ransack the once happy wedding festivities of a young couple. Afterwards, the father, Reptevia, takes a loaf of bread and with both hands palm-up looks up to the sky and asks his God, over and over, "Why?"

There are times where God allows us be in a sort of free fall over dark waters. The issue is this, will we trust Him? Will we maintain our faith in His goodness and Lordship, saying in all circumstances, I must decrease so that He might increase? Though being at the end of ourselves can be painful and confusing, it is also a very good and safe place to be when we truly trust the Lord and His plans for us. It can be a place of growth and renewal if we but choose to keep our hearts vulnerable to the mysterious ways of the Holy Spirit.

Mere mortals that we are, we cannot even begin to grasp the high nature of God's thoughts. When we are at a crossroads or are met with the fray of a battle, it is tempting to think that God has let go of our lives and has forgotten to lead us by the quiet waters as He promised. But this is never the case. Rather, when turmoil ensues, He will gently place us in the cleft of the rock and cover us with his hand. He is our fierce protector.

I like this bit from A.W. Tozer's Faith: the Misunderstood Doctrine

True faith rests upon the character of God and asks no further proof than the moral perfections of the One who cannot lie. It is enough that God said it, and if the statement should contradict every one of the five senses and all the conclusions of logic as well, still the believer continues to believe. "Let God be true, but every man a liar," is the language of true faith. Heaven approves such faith because it rises above mere proofs and rests in the bosom of God.

Quote Worthy

Three  quotes worth pondering:

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

~ Hellen Keller

I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.

~ Jesus

The place God calls you to is the place where your deep

 gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.

~Frederick Buechner

Postmodernism & the Desecration of Frosty the Snowman

I know I'm a few weeks behind the times with this post, but I think it's still relevant. As noted in my previous post, I have been reading The Good Life by Chuck Colson. In his book, Colson discusses truth and whether or not it can indeed be known. He also talks about Postmodernism and it's effect on the way people think and seek truth. In a sense, Postmodernism holds that reality or truth cannot be known objectively, but rather that it is constructed by humans and therefore changes depending on a person's point of view. This view of truth is prevalent throughout our society. According to The Good Life, 64 percent of Americans do not believe that there is such a thing as moral truth.

Postmodernist influence has had a crippling effect on our society. Colson remarks in his book that "the present generation's horizon is limited to accommodation to the way things are. They live within the evil enchantment of believing that finding truth is utterly impossible." I find this to be quite sad. In our heart of hearts, all of us long for a deep, all-fulfilling truth. We seem to be always searching for something, yet can't quite explain what it is. We talk about "keeping it real" and getting to the bottom of things. The foundation. The non-negotiables of life. How devastating it must be to be told that one's innate longings for absolute truth can never be satisfied because there isn't such a thing? Truly it has made my generation despondent and lost, cynical and skeptical of any absolute claims. Undoubtedly there are many falsetruths out there that must be questioned. But does that mean that no truth is believable? That there is no absolute moral truth humanity can stand on? I sure hope not.

In her blog, a friend of mine recently stated that she has "always had the need for concrete answers to things" but that she didn't necessarily feel that need anymore. I wonder why? I agree that there are some mysteries that are inexplicable and beyond our human comprehension. But there are some things we can know. The truth of God's word, for instance. Even if truth seems far out of reach, it is still truth, and always worthy of being sought after.

So what does any of this have to do with Frosty the Snowman? Well in case any readers are not aware, CBS recently made a mash-up of their original children's classic with dialogue from a couple of their sit-coms containing rather foul content and humor. I was especially saddened to hear this knowing that many children would stumble across the videos one way or another and lose some of their precious innocence that seems harder to come by in today's day and age. I happened upon an article reflecting on the Frosty news and it really drilled home to me what Chuck Colson was saying about the effects of postmodernism. The writer of the article thought the videos were funny and enjoyed them, yet he felt upset about them at the same time but couldn't figure out exactly why. Here is what he said:

"My problem is more an intangible gut thing. It doesn't offend me. It just makes me sad. Sad in the way that it does when any comfortably staid institution tries to sex itself up. It's like watching grandpa get a fauxhawk and try to date college girls. I realize it's entirely logically indefensible to say that there should be boundaries of propriety as to who is and isn't allowed to make sex jokes involving beloved children's figures. But there should...It's hypocritical of me, yes. So be it. As much as it cracks me up to see someone render Frosty inappropriate, I somehow want to know that there are some places in the world where Frosty is treated with as much dignity as a snow-golem with a corncob pipe can be."

Incredible, I thought. This guy knows in his gut that something is wrong, yet because he can't "logically defend" it then there is no valid explanation for believing that and his judgment must be dismissed.. That is how postmodernism has affected people's ability to think; it is robbing them of their intrinsic ability to discern good from evil and white-washing everything over with gaudy, fake smiley faces. It's a scary charade in my opinion.

Still, these findings merely spur me on to affirm and deepen my knowledge of real, absolute, universal truth.