Simple, But Not Simpler (part two)
For the past several months I have been mulling over one particular concept. That's not to say I haven't thought of anything else, but that this thought has never utterly left my mind so much as unfortunately important other things do. Like eating. And finishing high-school. And the rapidly lengthening grass... apparently all of which are of equal importance to my superiors.
This one thought involves the Christian faith, as opposed to all other faiths. Here is a simple and yet amazingly cohesive expository of the Gospel in five minutes. (he says four, but the clip is five long) This is from Dare 2 Share ministries.
*Note, the Adblock Plus add-on for firefox will block this video from showing unless you disable it.
So good. I think this clip really shines in making the Gospel as simple as possible, but not simpler. Interesting side note, when the clip mentions all religions admitting that there's something wrong with us, I couldn't help but think that Christianity is also unique in that we can't fix ourselves. Christianity gives no glory to man and proclaims mans total helplessness to save himself, which is a stark contrast to the multitude of other religions screaming what we must do to become gods, or aliens, or whatever.
Christianity is so much easier than what a lot of teachers might make us think. Not easier to live, just easier to understand, in terms of groundwork. Simply, understanding our position with God, accepting his gift, loving one another as Christ loved us. However, it's not simpler than other faiths because study of the bible also introduces morality, predestination, end times, fulfilled prophecy, and many other concepts that individually take serious study to really "get". All these concepts wrap together in a cohesive package that really makes sense when looked at as a whole under a reigning and holy God.
My mulling these last few months has gone something like this: The world is highly orderly in a chaotic way. Especially America. For instance, food is grown and processed and sent by truck (mostly) all over the country, whereupon food stores take the food from the trucks, and the populace buys and eats the food while working at jobs that will bring about the production of more food. Orderly and simple.
Zoom in for a closer look. People interact. Orderly chaos. Yes, that is an attempt at dry humor.
Second take. I've been working at Fareway in the dairy, and the milk must constantly be filled, shelves of yogurt and sour cream restocked (don't forget to rotate so the older stuff is in front), and the cooler of inventory re-stacked and rotated as well. For yogurt alone, there is AE, Blue Bonnet, Weight Watchers, Yoplait, Activa, and Greek. Not to mention that most of those come in lite or fat free or sugar free or fat AND sugar free versions, and five to ten different flavors as well. Oh, and they come in different sizes too.
That is stupidly over complicated. Despite that, there is also the Meat department, Produce section, Freezer section, and all the other areas of operation, like checking and carry-out, that all have many techniques to be learned for better performance. Through all of this, orderly chaos ensues because of deceptively simple and yet highly complex humans interacting with one another to accomplish these things. Rinse and repeat to describe each business in existence on earth.
Zoom back out. Things grow, people breath, the world rotates. Traffic flows this way, water flows that way, and new life is born to replace that which dies.
This describes God. He made it. I believe creation is our greatest description of God, the immense simplicity of the flow of life, and immense complexity when zoomed in on an individual aspect inspires awe in me. Our minds have brought about the refinement of minerals and construction of buildings and inventions like the toothbrush and pop-tarts, all coalescing to reveal how ridiculously intricate minds really are, while being driven by extremely simple concepts and desires, albeit for possibly complex reasons.
That's plenty of blab for now. The whole point is that God, having created the world, and being manifest truth, also created an amazing story of loss and redemption to go with it, which is extraordinarily simple, yet has many facets to be learned over a lifetime.
It's all so simple, but not simpler than what the world tries to replace it with.
This one thought involves the Christian faith, as opposed to all other faiths. Here is a simple and yet amazingly cohesive expository of the Gospel in five minutes. (he says four, but the clip is five long) This is from Dare 2 Share ministries.
*Note, the Adblock Plus add-on for firefox will block this video from showing unless you disable it.
So good. I think this clip really shines in making the Gospel as simple as possible, but not simpler. Interesting side note, when the clip mentions all religions admitting that there's something wrong with us, I couldn't help but think that Christianity is also unique in that we can't fix ourselves. Christianity gives no glory to man and proclaims mans total helplessness to save himself, which is a stark contrast to the multitude of other religions screaming what we must do to become gods, or aliens, or whatever.
Christianity is so much easier than what a lot of teachers might make us think. Not easier to live, just easier to understand, in terms of groundwork. Simply, understanding our position with God, accepting his gift, loving one another as Christ loved us. However, it's not simpler than other faiths because study of the bible also introduces morality, predestination, end times, fulfilled prophecy, and many other concepts that individually take serious study to really "get". All these concepts wrap together in a cohesive package that really makes sense when looked at as a whole under a reigning and holy God.
My mulling these last few months has gone something like this: The world is highly orderly in a chaotic way. Especially America. For instance, food is grown and processed and sent by truck (mostly) all over the country, whereupon food stores take the food from the trucks, and the populace buys and eats the food while working at jobs that will bring about the production of more food. Orderly and simple.
Zoom in for a closer look. People interact. Orderly chaos. Yes, that is an attempt at dry humor.
Second take. I've been working at Fareway in the dairy, and the milk must constantly be filled, shelves of yogurt and sour cream restocked (don't forget to rotate so the older stuff is in front), and the cooler of inventory re-stacked and rotated as well. For yogurt alone, there is AE, Blue Bonnet, Weight Watchers, Yoplait, Activa, and Greek. Not to mention that most of those come in lite or fat free or sugar free or fat AND sugar free versions, and five to ten different flavors as well. Oh, and they come in different sizes too.
That is stupidly over complicated. Despite that, there is also the Meat department, Produce section, Freezer section, and all the other areas of operation, like checking and carry-out, that all have many techniques to be learned for better performance. Through all of this, orderly chaos ensues because of deceptively simple and yet highly complex humans interacting with one another to accomplish these things. Rinse and repeat to describe each business in existence on earth.
Zoom back out. Things grow, people breath, the world rotates. Traffic flows this way, water flows that way, and new life is born to replace that which dies.
This describes God. He made it. I believe creation is our greatest description of God, the immense simplicity of the flow of life, and immense complexity when zoomed in on an individual aspect inspires awe in me. Our minds have brought about the refinement of minerals and construction of buildings and inventions like the toothbrush and pop-tarts, all coalescing to reveal how ridiculously intricate minds really are, while being driven by extremely simple concepts and desires, albeit for possibly complex reasons.
That's plenty of blab for now. The whole point is that God, having created the world, and being manifest truth, also created an amazing story of loss and redemption to go with it, which is extraordinarily simple, yet has many facets to be learned over a lifetime.
It's all so simple, but not simpler than what the world tries to replace it with.
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