This is part 1 of an ongoing series commenting on the Outline of the Faith, commonly called the Catechism.
Lent will be upon us in just one week, and it's an appropriate time to look back on who we are and what God has done for us. This week I'm going to examine the first section of the Catechism, entitled Human Nature (pg 845 Book of Common Prayer)
We are part of God's creation, made in the image of God. It means we are free to make choices: to love, to create, to reason, and to live in harmony with creation and with God.
Freedom is a concept that can be really elusive. Often people think they are free when in reality, they are stuck in the same fixed cycle of unproductive behavior, whether it's a self-destructive addiction, a reoccurring argument with a loved one, or a continued and repeated problem in one's professional life. Often times we think freedom means expressing whatever pops into our head at the moment, hoping for catharsis, or doing whatever feels good at the present moment, long term consequences be damned.
Being made in the image of God however means something very different. Freedom in this sense means, as the Prayer Book describes, freedom to love, to create, to reason, and to live in harmony. Some people see this as restrictive, buts that's often because they are stuck, and trapped in old, unproductive cycles. These cycles become so pervasive that we engage in self-deception in order to justify their existence. For example, "There's nothing wrong with my violent outbursts, you just really make me angry ... I have my drinking under control ... My first an only objective is to maximize profits at whatever the cost." 1 John 1:8 says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (NRSV)"
From the beginning, human beings have misused their freedom and make wrong choices. We rebel against God, and we put ourselves in the place of God.
Here is another paradox. When we misuse our freedom, we do so by putting ourselves in the place of God. In today's language we could say that we put ourselves at the center of the universe. This creates a mindset that can only be sustained by self-deception. The reality is that the rest of the world is made up of other human beings, who count just as much as you or I. When we place ourselves at the center of the universe, we are in effect saying, "My needs/wants/desires are more important than yours." (For a more thorough treatment of the subject, see Leadership and Self Deception by the Arbinger Institute.) Of course when we are in this place, it doesn't seem that way at all. When we place ourselves at the center of the universe, since it took a lie to get there, "I am more important than you," we need to continually lie, even to ourselves in order to maintain that position. We have to lie so much that we come to believe our own fabrication. Otherwise we would have to face all the terrible and unkind things we said and did while we objectified other people.
C.S. Lewis described this phenomenon this way: “When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less. A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right. This is common sense, really. You understand sleep when you are awake, not while you are sleeping. You can see mistakes in arithmetic when your mind is working properly: while you are making them you cannot see them. You can understand the nature of drunkenness when you are sober, not when you are drunk. Good people know about both good and evil: bad people do not know about either.” — from Mere Christainity
Our help is in God. God first helped us by revealing Himself and his will, through nature and history, through many seers and saints, and especially through the prophets of Israel.
We cannot get unstuck on our own. It took a lie to put us in the center of the universe, and it takes continual lies to maintain our position there. This is an unfortunate place since there are billions of other human beings who at many times think that they too are the center of the universe. The way to get unstuck, is to recognize the One who truly is at the center of the universe, the Creator of heaven and earth.
The third, and final paradox for today is that only by relinquishing our self-deceiving, false throne at the center, do we find true happiness and peace. Once God is at the center, and we as people surround Him, we are free to act in accordance with our true nature, which is to be loving, creative, reasonable, and harmonious. It may be possible to think that we are the first three things while seated on our central throne, but the fourth remains forever elusive. It's only in the surrounding regions do we experience all three.
Why is this? Dr. C. Terry Warner, founder of the Arbinger Institute calls to mind that as human beings we always have a sense or desire to do something for somebody else. In short, to be helpful. We can never point to an external cause for this sense, so it must either be inherent to who we truly are as human beings, or have a divine source. Either way, it exists. When we truly know a person well, and understand their unique challenges, goals, and aspirations, that sense leads us to offer help in ways that are truly meaningful. It's only in betraying that sense, which is more than simply saying no, do we deem another person's needs as illegitimate and put ourselves back on our central throne. But when we honor that sense to be helpful, and loving, and creative, and reasonable, we see the world with different eyes. Aspects of life that drove us crazy before and disrupted our own sense of peace now become unimportant. We can peacefully do something meaningful for the people in our lives, and then move on to the next thing.
Lent will be upon us in just one week, and it's an appropriate time to look back on who we are and what God has done for us. This week I'm going to examine the first section of the Catechism, entitled Human Nature (pg 845 Book of Common Prayer)
We are part of God's creation, made in the image of God. It means we are free to make choices: to love, to create, to reason, and to live in harmony with creation and with God.
Freedom is a concept that can be really elusive. Often people think they are free when in reality, they are stuck in the same fixed cycle of unproductive behavior, whether it's a self-destructive addiction, a reoccurring argument with a loved one, or a continued and repeated problem in one's professional life. Often times we think freedom means expressing whatever pops into our head at the moment, hoping for catharsis, or doing whatever feels good at the present moment, long term consequences be damned.
Being made in the image of God however means something very different. Freedom in this sense means, as the Prayer Book describes, freedom to love, to create, to reason, and to live in harmony. Some people see this as restrictive, buts that's often because they are stuck, and trapped in old, unproductive cycles. These cycles become so pervasive that we engage in self-deception in order to justify their existence. For example, "There's nothing wrong with my violent outbursts, you just really make me angry ... I have my drinking under control ... My first an only objective is to maximize profits at whatever the cost." 1 John 1:8 says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (NRSV)"
From the beginning, human beings have misused their freedom and make wrong choices. We rebel against God, and we put ourselves in the place of God.
Here is another paradox. When we misuse our freedom, we do so by putting ourselves in the place of God. In today's language we could say that we put ourselves at the center of the universe. This creates a mindset that can only be sustained by self-deception. The reality is that the rest of the world is made up of other human beings, who count just as much as you or I. When we place ourselves at the center of the universe, we are in effect saying, "My needs/wants/desires are more important than yours." (For a more thorough treatment of the subject, see Leadership and Self Deception by the Arbinger Institute.) Of course when we are in this place, it doesn't seem that way at all. When we place ourselves at the center of the universe, since it took a lie to get there, "I am more important than you," we need to continually lie, even to ourselves in order to maintain that position. We have to lie so much that we come to believe our own fabrication. Otherwise we would have to face all the terrible and unkind things we said and did while we objectified other people.
C.S. Lewis described this phenomenon this way: “When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less. A moderately bad man knows he is not very good: a thoroughly bad man thinks he is all right. This is common sense, really. You understand sleep when you are awake, not while you are sleeping. You can see mistakes in arithmetic when your mind is working properly: while you are making them you cannot see them. You can understand the nature of drunkenness when you are sober, not when you are drunk. Good people know about both good and evil: bad people do not know about either.” — from Mere Christainity
Our help is in God. God first helped us by revealing Himself and his will, through nature and history, through many seers and saints, and especially through the prophets of Israel.
We cannot get unstuck on our own. It took a lie to put us in the center of the universe, and it takes continual lies to maintain our position there. This is an unfortunate place since there are billions of other human beings who at many times think that they too are the center of the universe. The way to get unstuck, is to recognize the One who truly is at the center of the universe, the Creator of heaven and earth.
The third, and final paradox for today is that only by relinquishing our self-deceiving, false throne at the center, do we find true happiness and peace. Once God is at the center, and we as people surround Him, we are free to act in accordance with our true nature, which is to be loving, creative, reasonable, and harmonious. It may be possible to think that we are the first three things while seated on our central throne, but the fourth remains forever elusive. It's only in the surrounding regions do we experience all three.
Why is this? Dr. C. Terry Warner, founder of the Arbinger Institute calls to mind that as human beings we always have a sense or desire to do something for somebody else. In short, to be helpful. We can never point to an external cause for this sense, so it must either be inherent to who we truly are as human beings, or have a divine source. Either way, it exists. When we truly know a person well, and understand their unique challenges, goals, and aspirations, that sense leads us to offer help in ways that are truly meaningful. It's only in betraying that sense, which is more than simply saying no, do we deem another person's needs as illegitimate and put ourselves back on our central throne. But when we honor that sense to be helpful, and loving, and creative, and reasonable, we see the world with different eyes. Aspects of life that drove us crazy before and disrupted our own sense of peace now become unimportant. We can peacefully do something meaningful for the people in our lives, and then move on to the next thing.
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