THE WAY AND THE LIFE
31/08/23 07:26
Truth is gained by being amenable to it. Some have an appetite for it because their spirit knows that truth is the path to life in its fullness. This is why the poor in spirit see God and the others are left dangling in distorted versions of God and crippled versions of themselves.
POOR IN SPIRIT SEE
Humility is the door to knowledge/wisdom. Being a Listener gives us access to the best thought while providing the opportunity to contemplate and assess that which we have seen or heard. Listening and quiet observation allow us to be exposed to ideas in order to assess their validity. Constant talk inhibits our hearing of that which could be vital to us. A boof-head nature repels those who might share life enriching ideas with them, leaving some as dead trees in a family culture of smug certainty.
VAIN CONSTRUCTS UNDONE
Prattle can be a ploy by the boorish to stifle truths that they may not like to hear. Such truths burst the vain supposition on which the wilfully ignorant have based their lives. Ignorance can come from ignoring others whom we fear are better informed and more insightful than ourselves.
IGNORANT POOR
Poor people are not always humble. Some families have an embedded pride that resists ideas that are not their own. They live out their lives as the ignorant poor because their egos limit their ability to learn new things. This is unfortunate in every sphere and particularly damaging in our view of God and the theology that we make our own. Stubborn pride can make us certain about everything and right about very little. Of course, wealthy people may be limited in the same way. Wealth, however, liberates us from an obsession with scarcity and this allows us to live enlightened lives with an appetite for progress - if we can be taught.
TRADITION AND TRUTH
Thomas Torrance has some good advice about the reception of the Gospel of the Kingdom. The doctrine of the Kingdom is not distinct from tradition as some have supposed but is passed down by Godly teachers informed by the scriptures, the Holy Spirit and those who have gone before them walking in the Truth.
TRUTH IS LIVED
“For Irenaeus, then, knowledge of the truth of God or the
truth of the Gospel is not given in an abstract or detached form
but in a concrete embodied form in the Church, where it is to be
grasped within the normative pattern of the faith imparted to it
through the teaching of the apostles, and is therefore to be
grasped only in unity and continuity with the faith, worship and
godly life of all who are incorporated into Christ as members of
his Body.
A HARMONISED WHOLE
“He regarded the truth revealed through the Holy
Scriptures as an organic structure, 'the body of truth', within
which various truths, and correspondingly beliefs, may be
distinguished but which form a coherent whole from which
they cannot be separated, any more than the limbs of a living
body can be severed from the body without dismemberment.
and destruction of the whole?
THE ORDER OF CHRIST
“Nevertheless, Irenaeus gave himself the important task of uncovering the intrinsic order embedded in the deposit of faith, and of bringing into clear
focus the internal arrangement of 'the body of truth and the
harmonious adaptation of its members', in line with the 'canon
of truth' traditionally received in baptism as a guide in the
interpretation of Holy Scripture, and thus to offer a clear
demonstration of the apostolic kerygma in the face of heretical deviations and distortions.” Truth can be known by those with the discipline to receive it. Truth/life is lived when we repent of the un-gospel of the law and the farce of cult-like exceptionalism that we think makes us special and live in the life and light of all.
POOR IN SPIRIT SEE
Humility is the door to knowledge/wisdom. Being a Listener gives us access to the best thought while providing the opportunity to contemplate and assess that which we have seen or heard. Listening and quiet observation allow us to be exposed to ideas in order to assess their validity. Constant talk inhibits our hearing of that which could be vital to us. A boof-head nature repels those who might share life enriching ideas with them, leaving some as dead trees in a family culture of smug certainty.
VAIN CONSTRUCTS UNDONE
Prattle can be a ploy by the boorish to stifle truths that they may not like to hear. Such truths burst the vain supposition on which the wilfully ignorant have based their lives. Ignorance can come from ignoring others whom we fear are better informed and more insightful than ourselves.
IGNORANT POOR
Poor people are not always humble. Some families have an embedded pride that resists ideas that are not their own. They live out their lives as the ignorant poor because their egos limit their ability to learn new things. This is unfortunate in every sphere and particularly damaging in our view of God and the theology that we make our own. Stubborn pride can make us certain about everything and right about very little. Of course, wealthy people may be limited in the same way. Wealth, however, liberates us from an obsession with scarcity and this allows us to live enlightened lives with an appetite for progress - if we can be taught.
TRADITION AND TRUTH
Thomas Torrance has some good advice about the reception of the Gospel of the Kingdom. The doctrine of the Kingdom is not distinct from tradition as some have supposed but is passed down by Godly teachers informed by the scriptures, the Holy Spirit and those who have gone before them walking in the Truth.
TRUTH IS LIVED
“For Irenaeus, then, knowledge of the truth of God or the
truth of the Gospel is not given in an abstract or detached form
but in a concrete embodied form in the Church, where it is to be
grasped within the normative pattern of the faith imparted to it
through the teaching of the apostles, and is therefore to be
grasped only in unity and continuity with the faith, worship and
godly life of all who are incorporated into Christ as members of
his Body.
A HARMONISED WHOLE
“He regarded the truth revealed through the Holy
Scriptures as an organic structure, 'the body of truth', within
which various truths, and correspondingly beliefs, may be
distinguished but which form a coherent whole from which
they cannot be separated, any more than the limbs of a living
body can be severed from the body without dismemberment.
and destruction of the whole?
THE ORDER OF CHRIST
“Nevertheless, Irenaeus gave himself the important task of uncovering the intrinsic order embedded in the deposit of faith, and of bringing into clear
focus the internal arrangement of 'the body of truth and the
harmonious adaptation of its members', in line with the 'canon
of truth' traditionally received in baptism as a guide in the
interpretation of Holy Scripture, and thus to offer a clear
demonstration of the apostolic kerygma in the face of heretical deviations and distortions.” Truth can be known by those with the discipline to receive it. Truth/life is lived when we repent of the un-gospel of the law and the farce of cult-like exceptionalism that we think makes us special and live in the life and light of all.
