Feet in Cement

April 26, 2024

Glossary of Terms

orthopraxy: “the correction of physical deformities by means of mechanical appliances” — Merriam-Webster.com Medical Dictionary (Note: this would be like young Forrest Gump in the movie of the same name.)

revelation: in my personal experience, an amazing disclosure — “an enlightening or astonishing disclosure;” “a pleasant often enlightening surprise” — MerriamWebster.com

divergent: “moving or extending in different directions from a common point; differing from each other or from a standard” — ibid

Why did I start with a glossary? People have differing and often divergent understandings for the meanings of identical words used. That, of course, leads to misunderstanding one another who are holding those differing definitions. “Never the twain shall meet.” (The phrase never the twain shall meet was used by Rudyard Kipling, in his Barrack-room ballads, 1892: ‘Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.” — https://www.giarts.org

We end up talking past one another.

Discussion becomes an exercise in futility. Not conclusions nor anything approaching mutual understanding can ever be reached. Thus we can never learn from one another. We can never agree or disagree. either in part or in whole.

So, we retreat to our former staid and sedate orthodoxies, with our feet stuck in its cement, preventing us from getting anywhere towards existential enlightenment.

Now, please bear with me while I start with my exposure to the modern religious trend of the Deconstruction movement. Articles I first had read on Medium.com always seemed to be more about demolition than efforts of remodeling or new construction — at any rate, all of the honest efforts still seemed to have forced methodologies of dubious worth and progress.

What alarmed me the most was the blind jumps off the dogmatic Ship of Faith into dark and stormy waters with neither life raft or life vest.

Like the HMS Titanic, there may be plenty of reasons to jump. But jumping into the sea when “the Atlantic Ocean was around 28°F” ?!? — https://cruise.blog

How did that work out?

My point is that a jump of blind faith, blindly jumping from one unknown into another unknown, is not the wisest change of course to be considered.

Exactly where does choosing one dead end over another dead end get anyone?

Notwithstanding, God, Jesus. and the Bible do not create the calamitous tempests raging in our personal, social, intellectual, and moral existence. The storms of life instead come from the consequences of our own choices — both as individuals and as a group.

Rather, Jesus, God and the Bible clearly outlines our destination, calms the raging seas, and secures our arrival safely on the other shore. (Matthew 8:23–27)

The Bible clearly states God’s overall fatherly purposes to save us from ourselves: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with {all of us}, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” — 2 Peter 3:9, NLT.

Now, the Bible may have the highest circulation of any book, but as it is often cited, it is the least read. It is used like an idol collecting dust on its shelf. It is one of the most studied books ever to be written. Unfortunately, it is also the most misunderstood, misquoted, and misapplied. This strangest of all phenomenon has always created all the serious objections to, protests toward, and condemnations of God, Jesus, and the Bible.

Here are three New Testament excerpts that may shed some light on this strangest of phenomenons:

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.” — 2 Timothy 3:16, ibid.

“ …speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his {Paul’s} comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.” — 2 Peter 3:16, ibid.

“Remind everyone about these things, and command them in God’s presence to stop fighting over words. Such arguments are useless, and they can ruin those who hear them. Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth. Avoid worthless, foolish talk that only leads to more godless behavior. This kind of talk spreads like cancer…” — 2 Timothy 2:14–17, ibid.

Therefore, the general purpose of my essays is to overcome as many of the misunderstandings, misconceptions, and their derived dogmas which create such pitch black environments in which we stumble around, reaching out in desperation for anything that might support us. In other words, I am trying to surgically remove that cancer, that malignancy that brings so much pain and spiritual death. For we are supposed to be reaching out for God in a very intimate and personal struggle. We are not supposed to be just looking around for a perceived or presumed leader, or sturdy railing to get us down the stairs, or from someone or some untested something “new,” something we may not have studied or have ever heard of before.

I am not a scholar, or a prophet, or an apostle, or anything close, but I’d like to point out that many responses my essays get from critics, twist my words “to mean something quite different” than my intent, and then they accuse me for submitting suspicious “tu Quoque” arguments, that is, intentional dubiousness by skirting the “real issues” with tangential explanations, and then they try to conflate any of my clarifications with the accusation of utilizing such underhanded debate techniques. Often they use new words I’ve never heard of… but that is fine, because I love expanding my vocabulary and knowledge base. However, I am not sure they are using those new words properly, and I am always tempted to post this as a reply from the movie “The Princess Bride”:

“[Vizzini has just cut the rope The Dread Pirate Roberts is climbing up]

Vizzini: HE DIDN’T FALL? INCONCEIVABLE!

Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” — https://www.imdb.com

But that might not be polite.

Again. I am not a scholar, or prophet, or an apostle, or anything close, but I do “work hard to correctly explain the word of truth.”

The Bible itself is about lives and behaviors and relationships — for better or worse — to be applied for our learning and for our benefit to be utilized throughout our lives. I hope we can get past our different points of view and, with one another, reform our attitudes, gather our minds, and discover personal relationships with, not only one another, but with God, Jesus, and the Bible.

I am convinced, yes, I have been persuaded in living out my life, that Jesus’ way is the only way to live beneficially in reality and in the actual presence of the living God.

Finally, the danger in deconstruction of faith is in substituting one set of dogmatic beliefs only to replace it with a hodgepodge of others, cherry picked from a menagerie of sources, philosophies, and opinions which have no historical basis, no real life in them, no meat and potatoes substance… They are more or less some sort of imaginary dinner table, with imaginary foods, and with imagined sustenance… People are going to starve to death trying to live off of them in those newly constructed houses.

Instead, we need to read the Bible prayerfully, and we need to seek Jesus’ presence in our lives. He is the “bread of life,” providing real nourishment.

“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.” Revelation 3:20, New Living Translation.

There’s a huge difference between guessing and knowing. Why not start at the start where Jesus did. Turn your attention to God. (Yes. That scary word “Repent”: “From then on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.’ “ — Matthew 4:17, ibid.)

In conclusion, I think Deconstruction and reconstruction is a whole lot of work — unnecessary work, because Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” — Matthew 11:28, ibid.