Socrates said, “The only thing that makes me wiser than anyone else is that I know I know nothing.” It’s good to remind ourselves from time to time how clueless we truly are. Think of it this way: You are an ant on the sidewalk of a great city…
Your world centers upon the great Trail of Frozen Soil (sidewalk). Along its border are the Square Mountains (skyscrapers) which reach into infinity, blocking out the Beautiful Blue Beyond. Along its other border is the perilous Canyon of Death (street) filled with Shiny Blurring Beasts (cars) that move so quickly they are barely visible—many of your brethren have been crushed beneath the Blurring Beasts’ violently whirling feet.
But even if you steer clear of the Canyon of Death you have to contend with the Moving Trees (humans), massive, rootless shrubs that dash along the Trail of Frozen Soil on twin stalks. The only place that makes sense, the only relatively safe place, is the Queendom in which you live (a city planter), where tunnels and scent trails are diligently maintained, aphids are fervently farmed, and larvae are ardently loved. Although even it is occasionally deluged by sticky yellow waterfalls from giant Hairy-Tailed Monsters (dogs).
Some say this all there is, that there is nothing beyond the Square Mountains, that there is no Beautiful Blue Beyond and certainly no Ant Creator. The great ant scientists of the day hold to the Pupal Explosion Theory in which…
As ludicrous as the above sounds, it is probably closer to an accurate view of Reality than the one humans have of the universe. For eons, we thought everything was made of tiny billiard balls called atoms (Greek atomos = “indivisible”). This, we concluded, was why the world was solid, the reason we could walk upon the Earth rather than fall through it. But then it was discovered that even atoms were veritable football fields of nothingness occupied by a few infinitesimally small particles of somethingness. And now experiments in quantum physics have revealed that even those particles have no real substance. They are not physically “there.” They are more akin to an idea than a reality.
But whose idea?
John 1:1-3 says that God brought everything into existence through his word (the Greek term logos signifies an idea that creates a reality), and that that Word is inseparable from God. So, we just need to ask God to explain it, right? Not so simple. As the theologian Adam Clarke put it, “God is indescribable in his essence, known fully only to himself, because an infinite mind can only be fully comprehended by itself.”
In other words, God may get it, but we’re still clueless ants on the sidewalk, and nothing can change that. But what if the Ant Creator loved the ants so much he decided to reach out to them by becoming one himself?
Some believe he did just that (Matthew 1:23).
Indeed.
Several years ago, it came to me that Jesus talking to the disciples must have been something like Einstein teaching kindergarten. Maybe I didn’t take that far enough. Thanks for the perspective.
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Yes, in fact there’s something of that quality in Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, a highly learned man of his time.
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That was interesting!
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Agreed! A God small enough to be understood by man would not be God.
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Indeed.
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Awesome post! P.S. I’m not sure if you participate in the WordPress blogging awards, but I nominated you for the Mystery Blogger Award today! I like your style sir and I appreciate your writing! God bless! https://authorryanc.com/2019/01/18/mystery-blogger-award/
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Aw, thank you, Ryan! I’m truly honored but, no, I don’t do blogging awards anymore. I do think they serve a valuable purpose, however, as they once did for me, so good on you, my friend!
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That is a great analogy. After all is said and done, we really don’t know. I like it that way.
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So much reality here. Great creativity.
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Thank you, Anita.
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Nice way to put things. I could be a Dung beetle in San Fransico. Is that a title of a song?
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If it’s not it should be. http://www.sfzoo.org/animals/invertebrates/dungbeetle.htm
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Exactly!
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Great concept to explain origins…humorous and impactful. Love it.
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Thank you, My Way. You told me your name a couple of weeks ago and I confess I’ve forgotten it (I remember it was a charmingly old-fashioned name). Once more? I promise to write it down this time!
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Absolutely! It’s Meredith. I have to write down EVERYTHING in order to recall it.😊
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Thanks (and thanks for the grace ;>).
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A big blast of perspective there, thank you.
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It’s truly astounding to think about how little we are and yet cares about everything in our lives.
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Well, we are his offspring. Poor guy.
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