And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.
Deuteronomy 31:18
Deuteronomy 31:18
There is a little mystery that impresses on me each time I pray. Whenever I stare into that deep oblivion or that dark void that my closed eyes inevitably produce (with that fleeting spots of colours), I find myself hearing my own prayer, audibly or not. It is not a question that undermines my position as a praying subject, but my own prayer becomes the object of my consciousness as well. In other words, there is a always that mystery of who I am truly praying to; just that faith affirms that I am praying to God.
I do not wish to impress on you the same thought process I encounter at the point of darkness, but to urge you to consider the praying state of darkness. The face to face with God is to me a state of infinite pitch darkness, as if a veil to obliterate His infinite presence. But in the course of this discussion, the point is not only look for God in His presence but also in His absence.
I am quite decided that in particular points of human history, there is a certain hidden presence of God, not because it is obviously so but that the immediate presence and metaphysics of evil created a peculiar tension in our history, a seemingly strange void that demands a kind of just and righteous reaction from the Holy of Holies. However, that has not been the case, not because God is preoccupied or unconcerned with our affairs, but that the withholding of some great catastrophic phenomena have not yet truly occurred, when everyone will be judged. Of course, one would argue that Jesus Christ physical presence among men has granted the judgment passed. Nevertheless, the persistence of sin to inflict us with great holocaust-typic proportions shows me the way in which evil continues to preserve itself. At this point, I may be obliged to follow a historical and biblical breakdown of the disappearance of God but I believe I would miss my point if I do so.
The direction I wish to take, however, is the way of looking at the personal and psychological level of our abstraction of a concept of God. And it is these various possible "abstractifications" of God that render Him disappearing, as though each new version of God removes us further from Him as Him. (The un-speakable name of God: YAHWEH - I am who I am). Are all versions correct as long as it speaks of one aspect of His divinity (and humanity)? I simply refuse to look at the negotiations and compromises we can make. I want to look at the departures and how Difference educates me about the evil genius of presence to authenticate itself as truth and meaning.
There is always a certain foreignness and universal when we compare all denominations and religions. The question remains for most of us to find a way to negotiate. Are all our God(s) the same? I do not wish to answer that. But please question that.
The persistence of creating a presence, whether it is some rituals or symbols, idols or statues, props or relics, conceals that within this great spectacle or authenticated sacredness, there is no one. Not because I find that these materialised objects are absurd manifestations of some crazy faith, as these are genuine creations that attempt to achieve some relation to the gods we worship. The persistence to physicalise that absence is precisely to remove that ambiguity that absence inevitably creates. Truth, as we like to logically deduct, predicates presence and physicality. What is tangible has more credibility. Hence, my concern is that the materialism of our sincere (or insincere) endeavours would eventually take over the signified (God). The genius here is subtle, in that the simulation of God is not thought as a simulation but a representation. As long as it represents the perfect, truth is believed to be retained.
The counterpoint, which is also where my discourse of absence steps in, is that symbolism inevitably is not the model to use for the worship of God. Yes, I am reclaiming the Word as the sole author and finisher of our faith, in that the Word (John 1:1) is the very reason why we live in spite of our impending death. To justify this, the accounts of Mount Sinai when Moses and God communicate face to face, (notice also that this face to face communication decreases and that Moses was one of the rare prophets who knew God face to face) show that the mode of communications between God and His people was via the Word (being the commandments). This is, of course remodeled under the new covenant when the Word came to dwell in flesh and blood, which in blood authenticates the living Word as spirit that dwells in every believer. While this remains rather vague in my explanation, the point I wish to impress here, as this will be touched on in a separate discourse, is that we can mark a kind of path that divinity is manifested to us: from absolute presence in the Garden to the cloud in the desert, to absolute disappearance after the minor prophets of Hosea and others, and to the absolute appearance of Christ as Son of God and son of Man (I also wish to write some thoughts regarding the significance of Son of God and son of Man as a dialectical reconciliation) ; to the physical disappearance of divinity, only to be manifested as the indwelling spirit. Then the question is that, what comes after? Or perhaps that is a wrong question to ask. But at this point, I wish to point to you the eventual sacrifices and martyrdom that the disciples made. Are we to say that the spirit is concerned with presence? I personally believe it is how we make our disappearance as a human being: how we die and who we die for.
I feel more strongly the certainty of God disappearance, by which I hope you noticed that I mean this metaphorically and not that He is gone to the extent that He ceases to exist, but this disappearance is for me precisely how I mark my faith authentic. I pray to a hidden God. And it is this hidden quality of my relationship with Him that allows my faith to be constantly tested and I am ever so often tempted, to the point that I can grow insane. But this leads to the question I urge everyone to ask:
Are you able to withstand this insanity and be another Job?
This is but an introduction to the series of discussions I will make in the theme of the disappearance of God.
Next time I will attempt to touch more in depth of the evils we create to mask the disappearance of God.
But at this point, the provocation to inquire might have been done, but please discern and know that my main purpose here is to reclaim the discourse of His disappearance as where I discover the glory of God as able to separate Himself from the great pretenders, simply because He just disappeared, always sure and confident of His will to be done, awaiting that right moment to manifest Himself once again in greatness and sovereignty. After all, we all know the impact of His last appearance. An entire time date system is created. But of course, I mean the greater impact of the promise of salvation. This discourse is to help us find back God in the midst of His disappearance, the state that I see literally when I pray.
I do not wish to impress on you the same thought process I encounter at the point of darkness, but to urge you to consider the praying state of darkness. The face to face with God is to me a state of infinite pitch darkness, as if a veil to obliterate His infinite presence. But in the course of this discussion, the point is not only look for God in His presence but also in His absence.
I am quite decided that in particular points of human history, there is a certain hidden presence of God, not because it is obviously so but that the immediate presence and metaphysics of evil created a peculiar tension in our history, a seemingly strange void that demands a kind of just and righteous reaction from the Holy of Holies. However, that has not been the case, not because God is preoccupied or unconcerned with our affairs, but that the withholding of some great catastrophic phenomena have not yet truly occurred, when everyone will be judged. Of course, one would argue that Jesus Christ physical presence among men has granted the judgment passed. Nevertheless, the persistence of sin to inflict us with great holocaust-typic proportions shows me the way in which evil continues to preserve itself. At this point, I may be obliged to follow a historical and biblical breakdown of the disappearance of God but I believe I would miss my point if I do so.
The direction I wish to take, however, is the way of looking at the personal and psychological level of our abstraction of a concept of God. And it is these various possible "abstractifications" of God that render Him disappearing, as though each new version of God removes us further from Him as Him. (The un-speakable name of God: YAHWEH - I am who I am). Are all versions correct as long as it speaks of one aspect of His divinity (and humanity)? I simply refuse to look at the negotiations and compromises we can make. I want to look at the departures and how Difference educates me about the evil genius of presence to authenticate itself as truth and meaning.
There is always a certain foreignness and universal when we compare all denominations and religions. The question remains for most of us to find a way to negotiate. Are all our God(s) the same? I do not wish to answer that. But please question that.
The persistence of creating a presence, whether it is some rituals or symbols, idols or statues, props or relics, conceals that within this great spectacle or authenticated sacredness, there is no one. Not because I find that these materialised objects are absurd manifestations of some crazy faith, as these are genuine creations that attempt to achieve some relation to the gods we worship. The persistence to physicalise that absence is precisely to remove that ambiguity that absence inevitably creates. Truth, as we like to logically deduct, predicates presence and physicality. What is tangible has more credibility. Hence, my concern is that the materialism of our sincere (or insincere) endeavours would eventually take over the signified (God). The genius here is subtle, in that the simulation of God is not thought as a simulation but a representation. As long as it represents the perfect, truth is believed to be retained.
The counterpoint, which is also where my discourse of absence steps in, is that symbolism inevitably is not the model to use for the worship of God. Yes, I am reclaiming the Word as the sole author and finisher of our faith, in that the Word (John 1:1) is the very reason why we live in spite of our impending death. To justify this, the accounts of Mount Sinai when Moses and God communicate face to face, (notice also that this face to face communication decreases and that Moses was one of the rare prophets who knew God face to face) show that the mode of communications between God and His people was via the Word (being the commandments). This is, of course remodeled under the new covenant when the Word came to dwell in flesh and blood, which in blood authenticates the living Word as spirit that dwells in every believer. While this remains rather vague in my explanation, the point I wish to impress here, as this will be touched on in a separate discourse, is that we can mark a kind of path that divinity is manifested to us: from absolute presence in the Garden to the cloud in the desert, to absolute disappearance after the minor prophets of Hosea and others, and to the absolute appearance of Christ as Son of God and son of Man (I also wish to write some thoughts regarding the significance of Son of God and son of Man as a dialectical reconciliation) ; to the physical disappearance of divinity, only to be manifested as the indwelling spirit. Then the question is that, what comes after? Or perhaps that is a wrong question to ask. But at this point, I wish to point to you the eventual sacrifices and martyrdom that the disciples made. Are we to say that the spirit is concerned with presence? I personally believe it is how we make our disappearance as a human being: how we die and who we die for.
I feel more strongly the certainty of God disappearance, by which I hope you noticed that I mean this metaphorically and not that He is gone to the extent that He ceases to exist, but this disappearance is for me precisely how I mark my faith authentic. I pray to a hidden God. And it is this hidden quality of my relationship with Him that allows my faith to be constantly tested and I am ever so often tempted, to the point that I can grow insane. But this leads to the question I urge everyone to ask:
Are you able to withstand this insanity and be another Job?
This is but an introduction to the series of discussions I will make in the theme of the disappearance of God.
Next time I will attempt to touch more in depth of the evils we create to mask the disappearance of God.
But at this point, the provocation to inquire might have been done, but please discern and know that my main purpose here is to reclaim the discourse of His disappearance as where I discover the glory of God as able to separate Himself from the great pretenders, simply because He just disappeared, always sure and confident of His will to be done, awaiting that right moment to manifest Himself once again in greatness and sovereignty. After all, we all know the impact of His last appearance. An entire time date system is created. But of course, I mean the greater impact of the promise of salvation. This discourse is to help us find back God in the midst of His disappearance, the state that I see literally when I pray.
