Obama Immigration Speech on 11/21/2014: Created in God's Image

Book Review: Fill These Hearts by Christopher West

Before I really get into the book review, I want to say a quick word about how this book even came into my hands, or why I would be interested in a book that is title "Fill These Hearts: God, Sex, and the Universal Longing" (emphasis added).
It all started about two and a half months ago.  It was mid-August and I had just returned from a trip to Oklahoma.  An older friend of mine had told me about an interesting YouTube video by a guy named Christopher West that he suggested that I check out.  The title of the video contained  the words "Playboy and the Pope," and I'm thinking, what the....... I'm not really interested in anything catholic post-St. John of the Cross (late 1500's), so this is probably a waste of time.  BOY WAS I WRONG!  That video has changed my life.  Now I know that it is Jesus alone that changes lives, but that was a tool that He used to do it, being the carpenter that He is.
Since that time I have dove head first, from the highest point I could find, into Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body teaching, which is basically what that video was about. My...is it wonderful!  The glory of this teaching is beyond the adorning ability of my vocabulary.  In the context of learning this material, there have been moments where new light was dawning upon my mind and heart and got beside myself.  I felt like I jump through this 3-story apartment building I live in, through the roofs.  I could hardly contain myself.
What makes this teaching so powerful to me is that JPII has meditated deeply over what it means that we are made in God's image, and what that has to do with us being male and female, because it is in that, that we see a revelation of the eternal plan of God for us.
So, two weeks ago, I went to see Christopher West speak at a half a day seminar in Pennsylvania.
It was mind blowing.  At the end of the day, I picked up a couple of books including this one; Christopher signed it for me, we exchanged some very beautiful heartfelt words, and now a few weeks later I finished reading this first book.

Book Review:
Fill These Hearts: God, Sex, and the Universal Longing.  First, the backdrop of this book is today's broken culture, and one of the deepest and most obvious ways in which it is broken is in the realm of sexuality.  Remember that God made us in His own image, and He made us MALE and FEMALE.  We are made in the image of God who is Love. We experience that as this deep call to and need of union, call to intimacy, call to love, and That meaning of our existence is told and shown forth in the design of our own male and female bodies.  We embody this call and need of love, our bodies show forth these things, and in our bodies we can ultimately see what life is about.  We exist for God, because of His love and good pleasure, which us destined for a union with Him.
The design of our bodies correlates to the deepest longings and aches of the human heart.  This is so plain, yet so radical.  I don't know how, but I have never thought of things in that way.  Right now it is so clear, but in the 26 years I have been alive, I have never even once come close to thinking about something like that.  I doubt you have either. And this is all still new to me, so if you are not getting what I am communicating, it's probably my fault.
Anyways, FILL THESE HEARTS.  What I really took away from this book is this ache of the human heart, this longing for something eternal, it has become something very real to me....and more and more I am being un-deceived as to what or Who can truly fill that ache.
Eros is the word that some of ancient Greeks used to describe this Ache in the human heart....an ache for something/one Good, True, and Beautiful.  West in this book does a great job at surveying the contemporary culture: music, movies, art, etc. to discover where that ache is showing it's face, where in our culture it is surfacing.  The truth is that it is everywhere.  Turn on the radio, pay attention to the words, and before long you will catch it.  Our origin is love.  But we were separated from God's love as our origin, and now experience a deep ache for it, although most people are not conscious that that is what that ache is pointing towards.  By the way, you might say, "that is just your interpretation of it....."  Sure it is, I probably wouldn't have interpreted the ache in that way until the last month or so, but right now...I AM EXTREMELY CONFIDENT that the union, the utter closeness, and wanting to know and be known utterly, that our hearts ache for was made by God for Himself.
That's the kind of stuff this book talks about.

"What we experience as an urge toward union with another human being is, in fact, at its deepest level, a longing for something far greater than anything another human being has to offer.  Eros is a longing for the infinite." (page 65)

One thing I have enjoyed is that our desires, or our capacity to desire is something very, very, very, very, very, very good.  We can say, human desire is wonderful, in and of itself, it is something very beautiful, very good, like Genesis 1 very good.  However, because a certain decision by the first man and woman, our desires got very, very, very twisted......but that doesn't make it bad in and of itself. God loves to satisfy the desire of our hearts!!!!  He likes doing it!!! (Obviously not evil desires) So a lot of what this book goes through is talking about this process of untwisting our desires so that we can really find them fulfilled in the Eternal Lord.  This is the good news, that God's Son comes into our hearts and His desires are birthed within us.  That is salvation.

Okay, I could go on and on and on...so I'll just close with some more quotes from the book.

"if a Christian is not passionately pursuing the satisfaction of his deepest yearnings, then he's not really following Christ." (37)

That one blow my mind

 "Think about it: if "the banquet"- infinite satisfaction of our desire in God - is real, then there's no need to repress desire as the "starvation-diet gospel" would have us do, and there's no need to reduce desire to addicting, finite pleasures as the "fast-food gospel" would have us do.  Rather, if the banquet is real, we can and must learn how to unleash desire so God can fill us full." (80)

 "God wants to fill us full with his own divine life...Oh how we long for this infilling! It's the fulfillment of the creature's deepest "ache"....the collective cry of humanity is "fill these hearts!..." (93)

 "The yearning of Eros reveals that we are incomplete, and that we are in search of another to make "sense" of ourselves.  Although that yearning originates deep in our souls, it's also manifested in our bodies.  Our very bodies tell the story of our incompleteness: more specifically, those parts of our bodies that distinguish us as male and female.  Think about it - a man's body makes no sense by itself; and a woman's body makes not sense by itself.  Seen in light of each other, the picture becomes complete: we go together!....might a loving God be trying to tell us something fundamental about who he is and who we are by creating us in this way?"  (8)

Yes!

Imago Dei (Image of God) Video

O my...I found this video very powerful.
This video is a poetical reflection on what it means to be made in the image of God.
Genesis 1:26-27 records the origin of mankind (that includes all of us), in which our Creator declared,

"Let us make man in Our image, and after Our likeness....So God created man in His own image. In the image of God created He him, male and female created He them."

But I'll be real (to my feelings at least), much of the time, words haven't had any significance to me.... as if they were just another bible story. I have discovered that it is indeed not. But that is for each one of us to personally discover.  Please reflect on this video as offering something of the reality of who you are.

But if that is the reality of who we are, the next problem might be that we don't feel like we resemble God at all.  He is so God and perfect and Loving, and Almighty, and we seem to be very opposite of those things.

While in part, it is true that we are not wholly like God, that is not the whole story...........HIS SON HAS COME! and as this video says,  Jesus "reveals my very self to me."  Jesus is the revelation of who we were meant to be, and when we receive His Spirit, He causes us to get plugged into to this original plan and story of God (His(story)).  I am excited!! I can wait to share this video with people.

Reflection on Worldview

Worldview is certainly and interesting and very meaningful concept; one which we should be more familiar with. Do you recognize what your own worldview is.  Is there a worldview that is true or in accordance with an ultimate reality? Or are all worldviews legitimate?

Everybody has a worldview, but I don't think too many people have taken the time to consider what there's is, as well as the implications of it, the origins of it....where that particular worldview will take them in life, etc.

A worldview can be thought of as a pair of invisible eyeglasses that we might not be conscious of all the time, but that cause us to see and perceive the world in a certain way. These glasses literally affect everything related to ourselves: relationships, goals, values, morals, ultimate meaning, etc.

I can actually remember my first interaction with that concept (worldview), and it was about 3 and 1/2 years ago while I was attended Oral Roberts University.  I was required to go to a lecture for an English Comp class where this gentlemen was giving a lecture on Christian worldview. It was at that time a new concept, and it didn't carry much weight with it. It was stored away in my memory file storage box, unaccessed for a for years. When I began to understand the implications (really being consciousness) that all men are created in the image of God, and what that would mean for me, and my relationships with people, that file was pulled out again.
 It is quite impactful if we really contemplate it and have our hearts exercised by that reality. That first chapter of Genesis is maybe the most overlooked and taken-for-granted chapter of the whole bible, and might contain the most greatly missed significance for our lives, as well as those around us.  Sorry for straying from the theme of worldview, but I had to slip mine in there a little. 

I was referred to a man's personal website (John Michael Lane) that deals extensively with the understanding that mankind bears the image of God, and he has a very good section on worldview.  I think it would be a very healthy personal exercise to go through that and kind of think that out, as far as the questions that he asks in there to find out what our particular worldview is.  Worldview exercises.
Link to John Michael Lane's blog-style website
especially pay attention to the first section : 

1. Weltanschauung: An Introduction

Having said all of that, I would have to give an honorable mention to a man named Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984). In 1976, Schaeffer did a 12 part serious titled How should we then live? The Rise and Decline of Western Though and Culture.

These are available on Youtube, in 10 parts (each being about 30 minutes), and they are awesome. He gives a very somber yet engaging analysis of how and why we in the western culture think the way we do (aka our worldview). I've watched all of them that are available on Youtube, and I would highly, highly recommend them, even though there were done in the 70's.  Timeless treasure

Son of God Movie...

I read an online article, and it appears that within this year, there is to be a number of releases of bionically themed movies.  The first one that is coming out is entitled, "Son of God," and is a representation of the historical Jesus Christ, as you would find in one of the gospels.  The first thing that I have to say is that, isn't it amazing that after 2,000 years this Man is still receiving such attention.  What an impact His short earthly life has had upon the last couple millennium (I speak from almost an unbelieving viewpoint).

Here's the trailer

There is potentially a lot to say about this upcoming movie, as far as how true of a re-presentation of the true Jesus will be seen in this movie. Why I am interested in it is that I might be prepared to share with people who Jesus was and is in the light of this movie, and what it is He came to do.

First off, the great work that He came to this earth for is not representable on a movie screen, because it was a spiritual work.  How can you represent on a movie screen Christ restoring humanity, recreating the image of God in man in Himself?  How can you represent Jesus becoming a curse for us on the cross and taking the sin of the world upon Himself.  How can the One New Man being created on the cross in Himself be represented?  How can His resurrection as the Second Man be represented.  It cannot on a movie screen, the only possible representation is in our lives. Thank God for that!

The true value of Jesus Christ can only be communicated to your heart through the Spirit of God...not merely a movie screen...His value is almost visibly unrepresentable visually.

An interesting line inn this trailer is where Jesus can be seen saying to Peter that they are going to "change the world."  I smell politics in that. That sounds good, but we have to handle that carefully.  He certainly did change the world, but not by a teaching.  Well, actually His teaching has changed the world, but that was not His mission.  He didn't come to change.  He came to "seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10).  That goes a lot deeper than social reform, we are talking about humanity in God's image recreated in Himself. From death to life.  From the authority of Satan to God.

Having said that I do believe that this movie can serve a great end if it is properly handled.  People are going to be contemplating the question of who Jesus really was and is?  May that work that He accomplished be shown in each of the lives of those who are realizing that men and women bear the image of God, and Jesus came to restore and breath His own life on that in them. Hallelujah! 

Book review: Identity Theft by Mike Breaux

Well, firstly, this book was recommended to me by a brother in the Lord, telling me that it had some good content regarding man as created in the image of God, which is a theme (and much more than that) that has been upon my heart for a period of a little less than a year,  and something that I have been finding very significant to understanding the gospel, and God's purpose for man (humanity).

So I got this book in the mail after having purchased it on Amazon, and read it while riding on the DC Metro train  on my way to work and back.  Before I get into the content of the book...the book is divided up into four chapters (each chapter dealing with a specific way that our identity can get stolen). Obliviously, this book is not dealing with your U.S. identity, such as birth certificate, social security information.

So on my way to work, I got through about 50 pages, and up to that point the content seemed like any number of articles that you could find of the web (except in a longer presentation since this is a book) that basically deal with some problems we get into in relationships: unforgiveness, control issues, etc.  I appreciated what Breaux had to say, but it wasn't anything exceptionally deep, helpful, or new.  But I persevered in reading.

When chapter 2 (out of 4) rolled around, titled "Mugged by the mirror," the nature of what was being communicated in the book started to change.  Breaux in chapter 2 deals with self-image, aka how we see ourselves. He gives some contemporary examples to kind of open the topic up a little bit (plastic surgery, images of famous people, etc.)  There was some neat stuff in there, but still nothing really touching and resonating within me.

Then I arrived to page 68, and I would like to give a couple of quotes from the book.  I really began to sense that Breaux hits the nail on the head with some of his statements, and he began to touch something that was really coming from the heart of God, like "that which was from the beginning" (1 John 1) type stuff, like God's original intention for humanity.  And the valuable thing is that he is communicating it in the context of our contemporary culture.

On page 68 he says,

"And as the lie is perpetuated and reinforced, way too many people - especially young girls - are literally dying in their efforts to achieve an unattainable image. I don't know about you, but to me the hole thing sounds incredibly sinister...
and you know why? Because it's all based on a lie that comes straight out of the depths of hell. It's a plan that the enemy of our souls has had from the beginning to distort our image, to distort the image of God, and to steal our identity...
In facet the whole image thing started a very long time ago, when that identity thief entered a garden called Eden. Take a look: Then God said, "Let us make people in our image, to be like ourselves...""

So that quote in particular really being to awaken something in me and resonate in me (perhaps the image of God in me), and at that point this book took off from being another cultural outcry book... Breaux at some points in this book really touches the heart the problems, or shall I say, the origin.

Later Breaux uses an awesome example related to a person's battle with their self image (it had a mind blowing and heart touching effect on me).  He relates the story of a lady that had been battling for years and years with an eating disorder, sometimes with victory, and at other times the compulsion overcame her.  So the lady wrote Breaux and explained her situation, really broken, hwo she battles with her self image, and in the end of the letter, she asks if, in the light of all the other problems going on in the world like aids, or poverty, or starving children, does her wrong self image matter to God?" The thought was 'how insignificant to God it must be that I have a screwed up self image....like I need to get over myself.'

Man, when I read that, I don't know how many times I have thought about people with similar problems (Struggles with their self image) and even told them the answer was to think about people who had it worse off then them, as if to belittle this problem of a false self-image were the solution.  But when I read that story, it hit me, that this battle is probably the most important thing that it going on in this universe (Not poverty or hunger or aids). The battle of the recovery of life in the image of God.  That mankind would discover that they were created in the image of God, and that it has been restored in Christ, and made available to us all in Him.

Mike Breaux

I will close this book review by recommending this book for all who find in themselves an interest in developing a proper view of humanity, a proper worldview, a proper self-image, and I will close with just a few more quotes that struck me...

"It is critical that we grasp the truth that we are fearfully and wonderfully made in His image." (75)

"I will not be held prisoner by the reflection in some silly piece of glass.  I will pursue no other image than the image of God in me." (77)