Thoughts on heaven

As I have, of late, been thinking through the reality of the spiritual aspect of man, it has occurred to me that we actually know so little in this regard.  This thought led me to consider how incapable we most likely are of conceiving what eternity will be like.  In other words, I find it highly likely that we do not understand (at best), or are actually incapable of (at worst) comprehending eternity in the presence of God.
The way I see it, from the day we are born, almost every aspect of our lives is centered around the temporal. We eat healthy, we exercise, we go to school, to university and to work, all in the name of earning a good living and enjoying life.  But we pretty much ignore the spiritual side.  So it should come as no surprise that we would be completely ignorant of, or even incapable of, perceiving eternity.
I think that spiritual things are so foreign to us because we have almost nothing in our lives that moves us in that direction.  Even most churches focus simply on morality.  So to think about and formulate ideas about spiritual existence is beyond us. 
Someone said to me once, "I think eternity would get boring.  It would just go on forever."  While I can understand where they are coming from, their statement only makes my point.  If we understood our own spiritual nature, I don't believe we would ever conceive of being bored with the presence of God.  You cannot speak of that of which you have no point of reference.  If we put no effort towards experiencing or living spiritually, we cannot conceive or think of such a life.
I'm afraid for a lot of people.

New website!

For those of you interested, I've started a new website, www.orthrosgnosis.wordpress.com.  It consists of a commentary on the epistle reading for each Sunday, as based on the Antiochian Orthodox Church calendar (you can see it here).  Take a look, I appreciate your support and feedback.

Deception

We read many things in the news.  I have in mind, in particular, news about Putin, the middle east and the patriarch of Russia.  Most of what we hear is negative.  But we have to ask ourselves who is relaying this news.  Who is speaking and what is their worldview?  Many, many people are guilty of deception, not just non Christians.  But it occurred to me that deception comes from a lack of faith.  We twist and manipulate our words because we don't trust that God can and will work out all things for good.  We try to mold reality into our way of thinking instead of his. 
So when we read about something in the news, we need to remember that in most cases, those who are speaking may very well be, even subconsciously, manipulating the information, to fit into their worldview.
I think this practice is unavoidable, but we can make sure that what we believe is actually true and in line with the mind of Christ.

Judicial?

As i continue to interact with people and try to explain the gospel, it is becoming more and more clear just how organic and not legal our salvation is.  Certain groups want to reduce Jesus' work of redemption to a mere legal matter, a mere paying off debt so as to free us from obligation.  Others see Jesus' work as extremely limited, merely providing a starting point for us to go on to earn our salvation, by doing enough good.
Both of these positions contains some portion of truth, but really do miss the point.
Jesus' work and our subsequent salvation are all about relationship. Adam's sin gave death power over us so that we could do nothing about our situation.  Jesus' work of atonement took away that power so that we could then come back into right relationship with God.
This is not a legal matter but a relational one.  I don't know of anyone who regularly refers to their marriage certificate as defining factor.  Instead they focus on loving their spouse.
We need to do the same.  God is a person who made a great sacrifice to restore our relationship.  When we strive after loving him, we can only look forward to a glorious eternity.  God wants to be in a loving relationship with him.  He wants to see us holy and loving.  If we allow him, he will do what it takes to make us perfect.

Look at me, I'm......

We all need to think about how this sentence applies to us by filling in the last word.  All of us have something by which we classify ourselves as noteworthy.  Whether it be our appearance, our talent, our intelligence or a skill, whether developed or natural.  It's called pride.
I really want to emphasize the point of self examination, not others examination.  It is very, very easy to see and criticize the sins of others,  but usually not so with our own sins.  So the question then is, how do we finish this sentence?  And then immediately following, what can I do to change this mentality?
Very much like exercising, we need to find and work on our weak points.  One very important point in our lives as Christians is sanctification.  We need to be finding sin in our lives and root it out.  We will never succeed at this if we spend our time judging others and ignoring our own sins. 
So where is our source of pride?

Progress and immaturity

My wife and I, as of late, have been lamenting the seeming negative ramifications of technological progress.  From simply a practical perspective, there is so much time wasted on entertainment and distraction.  There are entire industries built around creating and maintaining entertainment, such that there are people whose entire waking lives consist of some form of entertainment.
To answer the first question that may come to mind, no, I am not becoming a Luddite.  What did occur to me though, is not so much the "Protestant work ethic", but the idea of the wonder of technology being foisted upon generation after generation of people who are far too immature to responsibly handle it.  I have nothing against entertainment, as a concept, the problem is that technology has advanced so quickly and has become so inexpensive, that pretty much anyone can live a lifestyle that exceeds even the imagination of the wealthiest and most powerful men in all of history.
As I said to my son the other night, imagine meeting someone from 100 years ago and telling them about a smart phone.  It would be so far beyond their comprehension that it would only appear as magic.  Or imagine describing the food harvesting, transport and storage capabilities we have today, to someone from 500 years ago, again, it would be so far beyond their thought processes.
At a time when we are capable of so much, with so little effort, there is still so much suffering and deprivation.  If people were responsible enough to use our technology and wealth to actually help those in need, there would be no lack, anywhere.  But we, sinful and selfish as we are, can only complain when our fast food meal doesn't come fast enough.  We complain when we have to wait ten seconds for an internet page to load.
It is far beyond time that we grow up, learn to love others as much as we love ourselves and learn to use the wonderful technology we have to love our neighbor and help those in need.

Progress and conclusion

As i am being subjected to the music of the guy in the office next to me, it has occurred to me why New Age music seems so vacuous.  It doesn't go anywhere.  When you listen to the classical or baroque composers, their music travels.  It has a specific beginning, climax and conclusion, New Age music does not.  It picks up with a catchy and typically playing melody, goes for awhile and then stops.  I would compare this to walking in circles. 
I would argue that this sort of destination-less music is unchristian simply because it does not tell the truth about reality.  Our lives are never stagnant, we are either growing our diminishing.  We are moving forward toward our goal or we are sliding backward.
This is really more of a philosophical statement than a critique of music. 

Disposable

The question that came to mind was this, "Is the idea of "disposable", compatible with the Christian worldview?"  As technology has moved further and faster along, we have become a disposable society.  Everything from furniture to electronics has become disposable.  When something wears out or breaks, we throw it away.  In the past, things were built to last, to be repaired.  For example, my parents owned a chest freezer for approximately forty years and only got rid of it because it was too large for their needs. 
It seems to me that this mentality is a consumerist mentality.  It moves us away from building something in an excellent manner, to last.  Instead, it is designed to fail in the short term, only to be replaced.  It seems to feed to idea of getting the next bigger and better thing.  It seems to pull us away from being content.  It seems to move our thinking toward being distracted with "things". 
I don't really have a conclusion or answer to this, the thought has just come to mind.