The Sky is Falling!

Perhaps I'm a bit simple about some things, but I do not get this obsession that people have with the 'End of the World'.

Look, all recorded civilizations have had an 'apocalypse' in their theology. It's hardly a new concept.

Yes, we are told that this world will end, and a new one (in some manner and form) will be put in its place. *After* the Second Coming. We are also, however, told that *no one* knows when this will be.

So....why all this obsessing with it? If you know the world's ending tomorrow, what changes? Do you suddenly start living by the principles you've espoused all along? Do you try to stop it? Do you rejoyce in the damnation of those who don't agree with you? Do you tremble in fear in a corner? Or go on living your life, because there's nothing to be done about it?

We know the world will end, for us, personally, if nothing else. (Death puts an end to this world for us.) We don't know when, we don't know how. So stop looking for the signs! Just live out your convictions, because it's going to surprise you no matter what happens.

Quoted Post: Why God Became Man

Have you ever run into something and you keep reading and rereading, and rereading it because you can feel there's some important concept in there *just* outside of your grasp?

I'm having one of those moments, so I foist it off on the rest of you. :)

I found this at A Catechumen's Tale, which is a blog I have newly discovered. Very interesting stuff. I'd even ask the poster for clarification of the point, if I knew what point it was that was just out of my reach! *grr*

The following is by Saint Maximos the Confessor, and is from his Fourth Century of Various Texts, found in volume two of the Philokalia.

Once human nature had submitted to the syndrome of pleasure freely chosen
followed by pain imposed against one's will, it would have been completely
impossible for it to be restored to its original life had the Creator not become
man and accepted by His own free choice the pain intended as a chastisement for
man's freely chosen pleasure. But in His case the pain was not preceded by
generation according to the rule of pleasure. In this way, by accepting a birth
which did not originate in pleasure, it was possible for Him to liberate birth
from the penalty imposed on it.

After the fall the generation of every man was by nature impassioned and preceded by pleasure. From this rule no one was exempt. On the contrary, as if discharging a natural debt, all underwent sufferings and the death that comes from them. None could find the way to freedom, for all were under the tyranny of ill-gotten pleasure, and so subject to justly deserved sufferings and the sill more justly deserved death which they engender. Because of this, another kind of suffering and death had to be conceived, first to destroy the ill-gotten pleasure and the justly deserved sufferings consequent on it - sufferings which have pitiably brought about man's disintegration, since his life originates in the corruption that comes from his generation through pleasure and ends in the corruption that comes through death; and, second, to restore suffering human nature. This other kind of suffering and death was both unjust and undeserved: undeserved because it was in no way generated by preceding pleasure, and unjust because it was not the consequence of any passion-dominated life. This other kind of suffering and death, however, had to be devised so that, intervening between ill-gotten pleasure and justly deserved suffering and death, it would completely abolish the pleasure-provoked origin of human life and its consequent termination in death, and thus free it from the pleasure-pain syndrome. It would then recover its original blessedness, unpolluted by any of the characteristics inherent in beings subject to generation and decay.

This is why the Logos of God, being by nature fully God, became fully man, with a nature constituted like ours of a soul endowed with intellect and a body capable of suffering; only in His case this nature was without sin, because His birth in time from a woman was not preceded by the slightest trace of that pleasure arising from the primal disobedience. In His love He deliberately accepted the painful death which, because of pleasure, terminates human life, so that by suffering unjustly He might abolish the pleasure-provoked and unjust origin by which this life is dominated. For, unlike that of everyone else, the Lord's death was not the payment of a debt incurred because of pleasure, but was on the contrary a challenge thrown down to pleasure; and so through this death He utterly destroys that justly deserved death which ends human life. For the cause of His being was not the illicit pleasure, justly punished by death, through which death entered into human life.

The Lord is wise, just and mighty by nature. Because He is wise, He could not be ignorant of the way in which to heal human nature. Because He is just, He could not save man, whose will was in the grip of sin, in a tyrannical fashion. Because He is almighty, He could not prove unequal to the task of completing His healing mission.

The wisdom of God is revealed in His becoming by nature a true man. His justice is shown by His assumption, at His nativity, of a passible nature identical to our own. His might is shown by His creation, through His suffering and death, of a life that is by nature eternal and of a state of dispassion that is immutable.

The Lord revealed His wisdom by the way in which He healed man, becoming man without the slightest change or mutation. He demonstrated the equity of justice when in His self-abasement He submitted deliberately to the sentence to which what is passible in human nature is subject, and made that sentence a weapon for the destruction of sin and of the death which comes through sin - that is, for the destruction of pleasure and of the pain which pleasure engenders. It was in this pleasure-pain syndrome that the dominion of sin and death lay: the tyranny of sin committed in pursuit of pleasure, and the lordship of the painful death consequent upon sin. For the dominion of pleasure and pain clearly applies to what is passible in human nature. And we seek how to alleviate through pleasure the penalty of pain, thus in the nature of things increasing the penalty. For in our desire to escape pain we seek refuge in pleasure, and so try to bring relief to our nature, hard pressed as it is by the torment of pain. But through trying in this way to blunt pain with pleasure, we but increase our sum of debts, for we cannot enjoy pleasure that does not lead to pain and suffering.

The Lord gave clear evidence of His supreme power in what He endured from hostile forces when He endowed human nature with an incorruptible form of generation. For through His passion He conferred dispassion, through suffering repose, and through death eternal life. By His privations in the flesh He re-establsihed and renewed the human state, and by His own incarnation He bestowed on human nature the supranatural grace of deification.

God became true man and bestowed on human nature a new or second form of generation leading us through suffering to the pleasure of the life held in store for us. FOr when our forefather Adam broke the divine commandment, in the place of the original form of generation he conceived and introduced into human nature, at the prompting of the serpent, another form, originating in pleasure and terminating through suffering in death. This pleasure was not the consequence of antecedent suffering but, rather, resulted in suffering. And because he introduced this ill-gotten pleasure-provoked form of generation, he deservedly brought on himself, and on all men born in the flesh from him, the doom of death through suffering. Thus, when the Lord became man and created in human nature a new form of generation, accomplished by the Holy Spirit, He accepted that death through suffering, justly deserved in the case of Adam, but in His case not deserved at all because His own generation was not provoked by the ill-gotten pleasure introduced by our forefather through his disobedience; and by doing so He destroyed whatever in the origin and doom of human generation according to Adam was not intiially from God, and made all those who were reborn spiritually from Him free from its guilt.

What Is Original Sin?

(There's another picture I like better, but Eve's breasts are bare, so you get the clean pic.)

So, what is Original Sin? What *are* the consequences for us, as the descendants of Adam and Eve?

I'm looking for what any of you think.

Myrddin the Car

Ladies (and any gentlemen who may be out there),

Allow me to introduce Myrddin, my new car.

And not just new to me, but *new* new.

*pauses to squee*

Myrddin is my first brand spankin' new car, bought with no (monetary) help from anyone else (read, parents). Just me, the Handbasket (previous car), and the credit union.

Woot!

What If God Doesn't Bless You? Do You Still Obey?

a/k/a If I'm Not Getting Anything Out of It, Why Bother?

So, a comment to a post by Susanne reminded me of a post on another blog (I've looked but can't locate the post, sorry) from a while ago. The basic premise of the post, though, was what if you *knew* that no matter what you did, you were not going to be admitted to Heaven. As in, God Himself came down and said, 'Look, I appreciate what you're doing, there, obeying all my laws, worshiping. All in all being a great person. It's all very nice. But here's the thing. You don't make the cut. Sorry. Ta.' Would you, with certain knowledge that you're not getting the reward at the end of the race, keep playing by the rules? Or would you cut loose and indulge?

Most, if not all, of the people who responded said, no, of course I would still obey! Because it's God, and He deserves our worship, no matter what! And I'll be honest, I laughed myself silly and didn't respond, but the answer was, 'hell no! and if ya'll'd be honest, you'd say no too!' I mean, what's the point? If, no matter how good I am, no matter how perfectly I believe and keep the laws (whichever covenant you think applies), I'm damned? Hah. Then I'm going to live it up down here, because there's no frickin' point in denying myself! Drink, steal, sex *all over the place* because I'm not hurting myself! Mwahahahaaaa....*runs rampant over the earth*

And I forgot all about it. Then I saw the comment on Susanne's post. And the mention of the people who are promised that good things will happen to them if they just believe! If you just convert and join my church, all your troubles will dissolve! It's only because you lack faith that you lost your wife and your car and you job and your health is terrible! If you had faith you would be rich and powerful and healthy! Mental illness? God is *punishing* you for your lack of faith! *pauses to spit and gnaw on the furniture some more - jackasses* And these people, rightly, leave the church after they join and, lo and behold, their lives don't magically get better! We're not *promised* perfect lives, if only we believe. No, we're promised hatred and suffering as Christians in this world. So where in all the hells did these 'name it-claim it', 'prosperity gospel' yahoos get this idea? I mean, I know why they do it, they're all sleazeballs who want to get rich, and do. So, clearly, believing in God and following His commands is not done to get an earthly reward. Nope.

But isn't that, to a certain extent, what we do if we obey and believe just because we want to go to Heaven? It's not an earthly reward, no, but if that's the *only* reason we do it, because God dangled the shiny carrot in our faces, how is that better? Because you don't ever really *know* that you're going to Heaven. Not until it's all over. We have faith, yes, and we trust in God's mercy, but you have no concrete *assurance* of it. God doesn't hand you a key at some point and go, 'Okay, very nice. Your place is assured. Carry on.' Not until it's all over and there're no more chances to repent *or* to screw it all up.

So why *should* we believe and obey?

Because He is God, and is deserving of our worship and obedience.

Because we don't want to go to Hell.

NOM

Books: 1st Half of Kusheline Cycle

Jacqueline Carey is a fantasy author. I adore her, truly. She's not for everyone, but I find that she writes a world so rich and detailed that you want to (and half believe that you can) reach out and touch it.

She has three series (four, I guess, if you separate the Terre d'Ange books, but I don't) - Terre d'Ange, The Sundering, and Santa Olivia. I *love* the Terre d'Ange books. Love, love, love. The Sundering...I found...dry? Ah. High fantasy, but it was missing *something*. Santa Olivia I have but haven't read yet. Though it has werewolves (or werewolf-like characters), so how can it go wrong? Don't answer that. I have faith in Ms. Carey.

But we're talking about Terre d'Ange here. The first three books in this universe are Kushiel's Dart, Kushiel's Chosen, and Kushiel's Avatar. They're the story of Phedre no Delaunay.

I don't want to say too much about the actual plot of the books, because it's thick and complicated. If you like adventure and political intrigue set in ancient times, these books have it in spades. Sword fights and great battles, invasions, magic, trips to distant and fantastic lands only recognisable through the veil of fantasy. There is, however, a lot of sex in the books. Believe it or not, it's important to the plot. I promise, it is. And it's handled delicately - not there for titillation. And violence. And violent sex. No one should take what occurs in the books as realistic. It's a fantasy novel, fiction, and the society is very permissive. And still, it's part of the plot. Really. Phedre is... different, and necessary.

But here's the basic set up of the universe:

About 800 years ago, Yeshua ben Yosef, the only begotten son of the One God was crucified. When his blood and the Magdalene's tears mingled in the earth, they created a child, Elua. Elua was divine, through his father's line, but also part human, through his mother. He wandered the earth, claiming no place for his own, and was eventually imprisoned in Persia. Eight angels (Naamah, Cassiel, Kushiel, Anael, Azza, Camael, Eisheth, Shemhazai) took exception to this state of affairs, and descended to earth. Naamah lay with the King of Persia for Elua's freedom, and then the nine of them wandered the earth, looking for a place to settle. They were run out of every country because the people feared their old gods' reaction to Elua and the One Gods' angels' presence in their lands. They came to a land without a name, where the people had no gods. And they settled there and began to breed into the population. *Eventually*, the One God sent an angel (and then another, both of whom failed) to call them all back to Heaven. Otherwise, he said, their offspring would over run the earth, since they were essentially immortal. Elua refused on behalf of himself and the Companions and their children - they weren't meant for his Heaven, Elua claimed, as it was bloodless, and he was not. So the One God made for them a separate place, the True Terre d'Ange to Come, where they could go and all their descendants.

So that's the creation myth of Terre d'Ange. Of course, eight centuries later, the D'Angeline's don't show a whole lot of the angelic bloodline, except that they are all unfailingly beautiful and haughty and healthy. Left with the one precept of Blessed Elua - Love as Thou Wilt. They have their own intricate society and...Phedre is born. God-touched. Kushiel's Dart mars her eye. And she's born with a deeper purpose that no one can guess. The Companion's playing a gods' game with their offspring, to preserve them from a fate they don't know is coming.

The second half of the Kusheline Cycle is Imriel's story (I can't explain who he is, it's an integral part of the first half of the Cycle). It starts with Kushiel's Scion. And the first two lines of the book always speak to me:

What does it mean to be good?

When I was a child, I thought I knew. It was easy then.