Return of the tentacles
Nov. 26th, 2006 06:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bladesparkThe Tentacles of Divine Providence returned to my life today. Well no, not really, but that little snippet of sermon was quoted in the Relief Society lesson at church today, and once again it made me giggle. I could go on about the Japanese Schoolgirl of Life and what this could mean, but I'm not sure it's appropriate to make hentai/religious metaphors, so I'll refrain.
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Matt 5:48
That there is Christ speaking to his diciples, fairly early on in his ministry, as part of the Sermon on the Mount. This is what we are to strive for, perfection. And as soon as I say the word, metally speaking half of you are already making excuses, poking at the definiition, and noting that it's just not possible to be perfect, so why should we even try? Well, that's what I'd like to address today. I'm probably going to ramble a fair bit here, but hopefully I'll manage to stay mostly coherent.
So. Perfection. It's a big thing! A huge and intimidating thing. One can break up "perfection" into smaller categories and strive to tick them off one by one, of course. After all, one can be perfect in a single goal. I, for example, at one point had read a verse at least of scripture every day, without fail, for eight years. Perfection in that one thing! The problem with this is that you end up with a list of little things whose length is every bit as intimidating, and as soon as you go to tackle one, another you thought you had grasped starts escaping. (Like the way going after my career goal has messed with my scheduling and ruined my perfect scripture reading record.) No matter what angle you attack it from, perfection is just too big. You can't manage it. It gets away from you faster the tigher you try to grasp it!
Why the charge then? Why did Christ tell is to go after perfection if it's not possible? Why even bother?
Well, let's take a second snippet of scripture. This bit is also from Christ, but it appears in the Book of Mormon, rather than the Bible. "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect." 3 Nephi 12:48
There's the same injunction to be perfect, of course, but here we have a tiny little difference, and it's that difference that lets us get handle on why Christ is saying this. Look at the quote from Matthew. It says we should be perfect like God is. Now compare to this quote from Nephi. We should be perfect like Christ and God are. Why did Christ mention Himself that second time and not the first? Because something had changed. In Matthew Christ was yet mortal. The only perfect mortal man ever to live. In Nephi Christ is no longer mortal, He's died and been reborn as a glorified, heavenly being. Think on that for a bit. If Christ had told us to be perfect like He is perfect back in Matthew, it would mean that He does, indeed, want us to live lives without mistakes, doing everything we're supposed to do, never doing evil, never leaving good deeds undone. But He didn't! Instead He asked us to be perfect like God, or like Christ after the resurection.
So what does this mean? It means that perfection is a long-term goal, an eternal goal, something we should have in our sights, but it's not something we're expected to grasp in this life. We can't, and we shouldn't wear ourselves out trying. Someday we'll die, and sometime after that we'll finally reach perfection, but it's not to be had on this world.
Pure perfection is not possible on earth. Plain and simple. This world is not perfect. Very far from it, in fact. This world has challenges, errors, mistakes, troubles, trials, problems, you name it, it's here for us to try and cope with. In a perfect world we'd all be born into caring families who understand how to raise children with nurturing love, with parents who teach us what they've learned while supporting us in our exploration of new things. We'd all have teachers who mentor and help us, who love to teach and love their students. We'd each find that one job that we do best, that gives us satisfaction, and we'd be paid enough for all our needs and many of our wants. We'd never have wars, we'd never have fighting. We'd all be willing to respect other points of view, and would resolve our differences with calm, reasoned discussion. Intolerance wouldn't exist because we'd each recognize all of humanity as brothers and sisters in the best sense of those terms. Our leadership would recognize and respect the responsability of their positions and would never dream of abusing their power, and each of us would be healthy until we were very old and would die painlessly, sourrounded by our family and frriends.
But that's not what we get. Even the best of parents often well-meaingly scar their children, mentally, emotionally and sometimes physically. Our educators often don't care about us, and even the best of them burn out after years of dealing with the indifference of the system. Most of us have jobs we at best tolerate, and when we do find a job we love it doesn't pay nearly enough. The world is constantly full of violence, large scale and small, and conflicts never end. The most open-minded of us are still often unable to see other's points of view and there's no end to prejudice of all kinds, even within minority groups who themselves suffer from intolerance. Our leadership is at best unable to make positive change and at worst outright abusing their power for personal gain, both in government and in religion, and all of us are often sick, and many die every day from violence, horrible illness, or accident, and when we are old we're very often alone and unloved.
There is no perfection here. There isn't even anything close to it.
And honestly sometimes I find it overwhelming. There is so much wrong, and it seems to get worse every day, and most of it is so far beyond my capacity to change that I can't even dream of influencing it in any way.
But I was told to strive for perfection. And when I'm at a loss where to start in my striving, I can take a look at the context of that first quote. Matthew chaper five is the beginning, and main meat of one of Christ's most important sermons. The Sermon on the Mount alone would be enough to guide a good Christian life, even if you had no other scripture but that. It's the one where Christ tells us that we should be better than the old eye for an eye law, that we should turn the other cheek, go the second mile, and if somebodysues us for our coat we should give him our cloak also. That we should not only not kill, but we should strive to not be angy, and to make peace with our enemies. That any man can love his friends, but that we should love and do good to those that hate us. He tells us that we are blessed if we are humble, peacemakers, pure in heart. That when we are persecuted God sees and remembers, not for vengeance on our persecutors, but for blessings on the heads of those so persecuted. He says that each of us can be a light to the world, as a candle. A candle is very small, but it does illuminate.
This right here is the heart of Christianity, and every time I see somebody do something hateful in the name of Christ, I want to take Matthew 5 and tattoo it on their forhead, so they can see it in the mirror every day. Love your enemies! Maybe you could bomb the heck out of them in the name of Jehovah, but HOW can you dare to say it's right to do that in the name of Christ? Maybe you can persectue and attack those who you call sinners in the name of God, but how can you even think of claiming that you're Christian if you do so? The only act of violence Christ EVER perpectuated was to throw the moneychangers out of the temple, and though he upset their tables and scattered their doves, he didn't kill them, nor even harm them. He just drove them out of a place where they had no right to be.
And HERE in this chapter is the closest to perfection we can come to in this life, right here. We may be small. We may not be able to change the whole world. But if we want to change something, we had better start with this. With learning how to love our enemies, how to be peacemakers. How to live the law of Christ, not the law of Moses. The law of eye for an eye was done away with two thousand years ago. Why do we still cling to it today? Yes it's hard to live the better law, but we should at least by trying. No matter what Yoda may have said, there is a try, and it means something.
I've been known to hold grudges and wish for vengeance. But I try. I try. It's hard not to. It's hard to love somebody who hurt you deeply. But at least I'm coming close enough to perfection to not demand eye for eye, hurt for hurt. Rather, if I can't forgive fully and love, I try at least to not hate, to go on with my life without clinging to anger. It's hard, but I try.
There's a song I always liked. I sang it once for All State choir. The music is splendid, in the old sense of that word. The lyrics aren't nearly so impressive, but they convey a simple message. (Lyrics written off the top of my head, so forgive me if they're wrong.)
You've been a fool, and so have I,
So let's be man and wife.
And let us try, before we die
To make the best of life.
We're neither pure, nor wise, nor good.
We do the best we know.
We'll build our house and chop our wood
And make our garden grow.
And make our garden grow.
I thought the world was sugar cake,
Or so the Master said.
But now I'll teach my hands to bake
Our loaf of daily bread.
We're neither pure, nor wise, nor good.
We do the best we know.
We'll build our house and chop our wood
And make our garden grow.
And make our garden grow.
Let dreamers dream what worlds they please
Those Edens can't be found.
The sweetest flowers, the tallest trees
Are grown on solid ground.
We're neither pure, nor wise, nor good.
We do the best we know.
We'll build our house and chop our wood
And make our garden grow.
And make our garden grow!
Why do I include this here? Because that attitude, that feeling of "Here's the world, thorns and all, I'll make the best of it I can." is what I want to have. I could spend my life daydreaming about that perfect world I described above, and wishing for it, or I could spend my life dealing with the world I've got. I prefer to do the latter. It's very far from perfect, but that's okay. Perfection will come in time, for now I'll garden what good I may, and hope that my small light is shining.
Also, for anybody that hasn't read the whole Bible. You want to understand what Chrstianity is supposed to be about, rather than what the small-minded have made it? Read Matthew 5. It's not that long, and it really is something that everybody should read at some point.
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Matt 5:48
That there is Christ speaking to his diciples, fairly early on in his ministry, as part of the Sermon on the Mount. This is what we are to strive for, perfection. And as soon as I say the word, metally speaking half of you are already making excuses, poking at the definiition, and noting that it's just not possible to be perfect, so why should we even try? Well, that's what I'd like to address today. I'm probably going to ramble a fair bit here, but hopefully I'll manage to stay mostly coherent.
So. Perfection. It's a big thing! A huge and intimidating thing. One can break up "perfection" into smaller categories and strive to tick them off one by one, of course. After all, one can be perfect in a single goal. I, for example, at one point had read a verse at least of scripture every day, without fail, for eight years. Perfection in that one thing! The problem with this is that you end up with a list of little things whose length is every bit as intimidating, and as soon as you go to tackle one, another you thought you had grasped starts escaping. (Like the way going after my career goal has messed with my scheduling and ruined my perfect scripture reading record.) No matter what angle you attack it from, perfection is just too big. You can't manage it. It gets away from you faster the tigher you try to grasp it!
Why the charge then? Why did Christ tell is to go after perfection if it's not possible? Why even bother?
Well, let's take a second snippet of scripture. This bit is also from Christ, but it appears in the Book of Mormon, rather than the Bible. "Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect." 3 Nephi 12:48
There's the same injunction to be perfect, of course, but here we have a tiny little difference, and it's that difference that lets us get handle on why Christ is saying this. Look at the quote from Matthew. It says we should be perfect like God is. Now compare to this quote from Nephi. We should be perfect like Christ and God are. Why did Christ mention Himself that second time and not the first? Because something had changed. In Matthew Christ was yet mortal. The only perfect mortal man ever to live. In Nephi Christ is no longer mortal, He's died and been reborn as a glorified, heavenly being. Think on that for a bit. If Christ had told us to be perfect like He is perfect back in Matthew, it would mean that He does, indeed, want us to live lives without mistakes, doing everything we're supposed to do, never doing evil, never leaving good deeds undone. But He didn't! Instead He asked us to be perfect like God, or like Christ after the resurection.
So what does this mean? It means that perfection is a long-term goal, an eternal goal, something we should have in our sights, but it's not something we're expected to grasp in this life. We can't, and we shouldn't wear ourselves out trying. Someday we'll die, and sometime after that we'll finally reach perfection, but it's not to be had on this world.
Pure perfection is not possible on earth. Plain and simple. This world is not perfect. Very far from it, in fact. This world has challenges, errors, mistakes, troubles, trials, problems, you name it, it's here for us to try and cope with. In a perfect world we'd all be born into caring families who understand how to raise children with nurturing love, with parents who teach us what they've learned while supporting us in our exploration of new things. We'd all have teachers who mentor and help us, who love to teach and love their students. We'd each find that one job that we do best, that gives us satisfaction, and we'd be paid enough for all our needs and many of our wants. We'd never have wars, we'd never have fighting. We'd all be willing to respect other points of view, and would resolve our differences with calm, reasoned discussion. Intolerance wouldn't exist because we'd each recognize all of humanity as brothers and sisters in the best sense of those terms. Our leadership would recognize and respect the responsability of their positions and would never dream of abusing their power, and each of us would be healthy until we were very old and would die painlessly, sourrounded by our family and frriends.
But that's not what we get. Even the best of parents often well-meaingly scar their children, mentally, emotionally and sometimes physically. Our educators often don't care about us, and even the best of them burn out after years of dealing with the indifference of the system. Most of us have jobs we at best tolerate, and when we do find a job we love it doesn't pay nearly enough. The world is constantly full of violence, large scale and small, and conflicts never end. The most open-minded of us are still often unable to see other's points of view and there's no end to prejudice of all kinds, even within minority groups who themselves suffer from intolerance. Our leadership is at best unable to make positive change and at worst outright abusing their power for personal gain, both in government and in religion, and all of us are often sick, and many die every day from violence, horrible illness, or accident, and when we are old we're very often alone and unloved.
There is no perfection here. There isn't even anything close to it.
And honestly sometimes I find it overwhelming. There is so much wrong, and it seems to get worse every day, and most of it is so far beyond my capacity to change that I can't even dream of influencing it in any way.
But I was told to strive for perfection. And when I'm at a loss where to start in my striving, I can take a look at the context of that first quote. Matthew chaper five is the beginning, and main meat of one of Christ's most important sermons. The Sermon on the Mount alone would be enough to guide a good Christian life, even if you had no other scripture but that. It's the one where Christ tells us that we should be better than the old eye for an eye law, that we should turn the other cheek, go the second mile, and if somebodysues us for our coat we should give him our cloak also. That we should not only not kill, but we should strive to not be angy, and to make peace with our enemies. That any man can love his friends, but that we should love and do good to those that hate us. He tells us that we are blessed if we are humble, peacemakers, pure in heart. That when we are persecuted God sees and remembers, not for vengeance on our persecutors, but for blessings on the heads of those so persecuted. He says that each of us can be a light to the world, as a candle. A candle is very small, but it does illuminate.
This right here is the heart of Christianity, and every time I see somebody do something hateful in the name of Christ, I want to take Matthew 5 and tattoo it on their forhead, so they can see it in the mirror every day. Love your enemies! Maybe you could bomb the heck out of them in the name of Jehovah, but HOW can you dare to say it's right to do that in the name of Christ? Maybe you can persectue and attack those who you call sinners in the name of God, but how can you even think of claiming that you're Christian if you do so? The only act of violence Christ EVER perpectuated was to throw the moneychangers out of the temple, and though he upset their tables and scattered their doves, he didn't kill them, nor even harm them. He just drove them out of a place where they had no right to be.
And HERE in this chapter is the closest to perfection we can come to in this life, right here. We may be small. We may not be able to change the whole world. But if we want to change something, we had better start with this. With learning how to love our enemies, how to be peacemakers. How to live the law of Christ, not the law of Moses. The law of eye for an eye was done away with two thousand years ago. Why do we still cling to it today? Yes it's hard to live the better law, but we should at least by trying. No matter what Yoda may have said, there is a try, and it means something.
I've been known to hold grudges and wish for vengeance. But I try. I try. It's hard not to. It's hard to love somebody who hurt you deeply. But at least I'm coming close enough to perfection to not demand eye for eye, hurt for hurt. Rather, if I can't forgive fully and love, I try at least to not hate, to go on with my life without clinging to anger. It's hard, but I try.
There's a song I always liked. I sang it once for All State choir. The music is splendid, in the old sense of that word. The lyrics aren't nearly so impressive, but they convey a simple message. (Lyrics written off the top of my head, so forgive me if they're wrong.)
You've been a fool, and so have I,
So let's be man and wife.
And let us try, before we die
To make the best of life.
We're neither pure, nor wise, nor good.
We do the best we know.
We'll build our house and chop our wood
And make our garden grow.
And make our garden grow.
I thought the world was sugar cake,
Or so the Master said.
But now I'll teach my hands to bake
Our loaf of daily bread.
We're neither pure, nor wise, nor good.
We do the best we know.
We'll build our house and chop our wood
And make our garden grow.
And make our garden grow.
Let dreamers dream what worlds they please
Those Edens can't be found.
The sweetest flowers, the tallest trees
Are grown on solid ground.
We're neither pure, nor wise, nor good.
We do the best we know.
We'll build our house and chop our wood
And make our garden grow.
And make our garden grow!
Why do I include this here? Because that attitude, that feeling of "Here's the world, thorns and all, I'll make the best of it I can." is what I want to have. I could spend my life daydreaming about that perfect world I described above, and wishing for it, or I could spend my life dealing with the world I've got. I prefer to do the latter. It's very far from perfect, but that's okay. Perfection will come in time, for now I'll garden what good I may, and hope that my small light is shining.
Also, for anybody that hasn't read the whole Bible. You want to understand what Chrstianity is supposed to be about, rather than what the small-minded have made it? Read Matthew 5. It's not that long, and it really is something that everybody should read at some point.
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no subject
Date: 2006-11-27 02:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-27 02:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-27 02:53 am (UTC)P.S. it felt good to reread that matthew chapter today... thanks.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-27 03:47 am (UTC)Also: "An it harm none, do what ye will." With a very wide definition of what "harm none" means (the encouraged definition), you can get a lot of use out of that one phrase. I do like Rabbi Hillel's interpretation as well.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-27 06:17 am (UTC)I mean... so you go through life and you haven't hurt anybody. But you can do that if you live in your basement and avoid human contact entirely. I think a question just as vital as "have you done no ill?" is "have you done any good?"
And then if you take the bit about if somebody sues you to get your coat, you should give them your cloak as well, that's an even more altruistic way of life. Not one I'm very good at, but it's something I aspire to.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-27 06:23 am (UTC)The kind of altruism you describe should be practiced as much as possible by as many people as possible. But hopefully if you give that much of yourself, when you need help, others will be inspired to give in the same way. I'm not sure we've got to that point yet. It's still worth striving for, though.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-27 08:15 am (UTC)Can I ask you to repost it to LDS Furries?
--Mav
no subject
Date: 2006-11-27 01:53 pm (UTC)In fact, three of the Eight "I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts" from the Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster deal with that topic (though not quite as succinctly):
3. I'd Really Rather You Didn't Judge People For The Way They Look, Or How They Dress, Or The Way They Talk, Or, Well, Just Play Nice, Okay? Oh, And Get This In Your Thick Heads: Woman = Person. Man = Person. Samey - Samey. One Is Not Better Than The Other, Unless We're Talking About Fashion And I'm Sorry, But I Gave That To Women And Some Guys Who Know The Difference Between Teal And Fuchsia.
4. I'd Really Rather You Didn't Indulge In Conduct That Offends Yourself, Or Your Willing, Consenting Partner Of Legal Age AND Mental Maturity. As For Anyone Who Might Object, I Think The Expression Is Go F*** Yourself, Unless They Find That Offensive In Which Case They Can Turn Off The TV For Once And Go For A Walk For A Change.
8. I'd Really Rather You Didn't Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You If You Are Into, Um, Stuff That Uses A Lot Of Leather/Lubricant/Las Vegas. If The Other Person Is Into It, However (Pursuant To #4), Then Have At It, Take Pictures, And For The Love Of Mike, Wear a CONDOM! Honestly, It's A Piece Of Rubber. If I Didn't Want It To Feel Good When You Did It I Would Have Added Spikes, Or Something.
RAmen.