Sometimes Christians behave badly unknowingly. There is a lot on the line when I say that holy means either whole or set apart. They point in diametrically opposed directions for action.
Let me illustrate. This morning on my cutting board, I began with a whole carrot. Because I want to eat the carrot with greater ease later today, I quartered the carrot. In the one case, I was dealing with a whole carrot. In the other case, following my action of cutting the carrot, I was dealing with a carrot that was quartered rather than whole. This is how stark the contrast is between these two ideas, when it comes to taking or choosing a course of action.
The root idea of set apart comes from the action of cutting. The root idea of wholeness is reflected in the opposite action of the leaving the carrot whole. It is seen in the action of uncut. One biblical scholar even uses the analogy of an uncut stone in Deuteronomy to express wholeness.
Allow me to mention one piece of history to reflect how much your course of action can effect others. Then I will return to the present and your decisions.
One very important event in the history of the church in the late 1800s was set off by a course of action that may have been effected by understanding holy as set apart. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a great British preacher, left the Baptist Union over what he called the Downgrade. This whole episode became known as the Downgrade Controversy. What is important is that one of his themes was from the verse that says: "come out from among them and be ye separate" (KJV). Now while this verse does not have holy directly in it. You can see the likely connection that Spurgeon may have made in his mind, if he understood holy as set apart.
Spurgeon had said many times in his sermons that holy means moral wholeness. Yet he also said in other sermons that holy means separateness or being set apart . He also may have brought in the idea of purity in relationship to this word, because of his extensive reading of the English Puritans.
I have a strong sense that when push came to shove for Spurgeon, he made his decision to leave the Baptist Union partly because of his understanding of holiness as separation or being set apart. It was not uncommon from the time of Martin Luther until his day for Christians to recognize both of these meanings for this word.
His action was not just his own. He influenced an entire movement and gave energy at least indirectly to the fundamentalist movement later. Could his course of action been different, if he understood holy as only moral wholeness? It is possible.
Our courses of action will be different, if we understand holy as meaning either as cut or uncut. Holy is a major word for giving us lifestyle instructions in the Bible. It is even on many of its published bindings. It influences courses of action.
I pray that we have not behaved badly as Christians, because we have misunderstood this word. I fear that I did for many years behave badly, because I misunderstood it. I grew up with only the meaning of set apart. I may then have behaved even more extremely than Spurgeon.
I pray that you will be cautious in deciding whether to cut the carrots apart in your life. You may find the strong possibility that you should have left the carrot whole. That could be a little hard to swallow later. As one person puts it, "Be prudent ... when dealing with the unknown or the unpredictable."
Spurgeon did not have some of the scholarly resources we have today to influence his understanding of holy. We do have them. We will be held responsible for our course of action in a way that he was not. We will be judged more harshly, if we choose the wrong course of action.
Please show due caution in cutting yourself off from others. Remember, you could be taking precisely the opposite course of action to what God would have you do.
In Christ,
Jon
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Great Expectations and Implications from Micah 3:5
The Gettysburg Address lasted all of 5 minutes, I believe. The speaker before Lincoln spoke for 1 ½ hours, if I recall correctly. That speaker, who no one remembers, wrote to Lincoln and told him that he said more than him during his 5 minutes. I am going to keep this short and still try to say more than a longer discussion. I want to show you an example of how holy means whole has implications for a wonderful renewed meaning.
I’ll let you look at the larger context yourself, yet in Micah 3:5d, we read in a literal translation: “they even sanctify a war against him.” Today the assumed meaning would be: “they even set apart a war against him.” To get more meaning the assumed meaning might be translated to: “they even make a special war effort against him. “
In Micah 3:5d, we could instead see the meaning of sanctify (an action word for holy) as made whole. The translation here then would be: “they even put together all the parts of a war against him.” To get even more meaning you might say that this means: “they made a very significant war effort against him.” Rather than just a partial war against him, they were going to make a whole war effort against him. They were not going to leave anything out in their arsenal of war.
To me, this translation or meaning has more meaning than the first. To literally put together all the parts of a war effort against an enemy means you are giving your all which fits with the context of using the word “even.” “Even” means something goes against expectation. In this context, you might expect their anger resulting in some insignificant efforts, yet you would not expect an all out war effort.
So they are not just giving a half-baked effort, they are fully giving their all by leaving no part of a war effort out. So holy means whole has very big significance even in small places. I think this is: “a wonderful new meaning.” This quote is Luther’s words for his new understanding of righteousness.
The other thing to realize is that this meaning is not so much “a wonderful new meaning” as a wonderful renewed meaning going back to the original text and going back also to the understanding of reformers like Luther, who also understood holy this way in its broad definition.
In Christ,
Jon
I’ll let you look at the larger context yourself, yet in Micah 3:5d, we read in a literal translation: “they even sanctify a war against him.” Today the assumed meaning would be: “they even set apart a war against him.” To get more meaning the assumed meaning might be translated to: “they even make a special war effort against him. “
In Micah 3:5d, we could instead see the meaning of sanctify (an action word for holy) as made whole. The translation here then would be: “they even put together all the parts of a war against him.” To get even more meaning you might say that this means: “they made a very significant war effort against him.” Rather than just a partial war against him, they were going to make a whole war effort against him. They were not going to leave anything out in their arsenal of war.
To me, this translation or meaning has more meaning than the first. To literally put together all the parts of a war effort against an enemy means you are giving your all which fits with the context of using the word “even.” “Even” means something goes against expectation. In this context, you might expect their anger resulting in some insignificant efforts, yet you would not expect an all out war effort.
So they are not just giving a half-baked effort, they are fully giving their all by leaving no part of a war effort out. So holy means whole has very big significance even in small places. I think this is: “a wonderful new meaning.” This quote is Luther’s words for his new understanding of righteousness.
The other thing to realize is that this meaning is not so much “a wonderful new meaning” as a wonderful renewed meaning going back to the original text and going back also to the understanding of reformers like Luther, who also understood holy this way in its broad definition.
In Christ,
Jon
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Whole Means Healthy So Stop the Insanity.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein, (attributed)US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)
In many ways this describes Christianity in its current state, if you see what I see. I am not looking at the many different things that churches and leaders have done. I am looking at the one thing that has stayed the same since the beginning of the 20th century. It is the church’s view of what it means to be holy. That has stayed the same despite any differences elsewhere with disastrous results. You might still ask: “So what?” My point is that you can make a massive google load of differences and changes and yet if you leave the key thing the same and continuous, those differences make no difference in reality.
That is why in my view church planting and many other movements within Evangelicalism to make things different really in the end make one thing still the same. It has not changed. It is the same whether you go to a conservative church, a liberal church or an evangelical church. It is all the same when it comes to the issue of holy or to put it another way, their view of what is whole and healthy is the same as well.
Allow me to try to make what some see as boring history interesting history. I think it is interesting, because the same thing is happening to us that happened to this people before. It is boring only if it has nothing to do with us. See my point? This pattern has very much to do with us!
Let me use a chart of history to try to simplify things down to the most significant things that are the same and different. Even the names that are different are not as significant as the same pattern that has shown itself in the present. I will try to use only the most significant names of people and groups to show a real pattern that has remained the same for some time. (As time passes and I am able to talk to more experts I will update this chart with improvements.)
The chart of what has remained much the same is this:
Different view of justification and mercy– Martin Luther and the Lutherans
Split over Luther’s view of justification – Martin Chemnitz and Philip Melancthon
Then peacemakers over the split – Philip Spener and the Pietists
Different view of humility and grace – John Calvin and the Calvinists (Reformed)
Split over Calvin’s view of humility – Gomarus and Arminius
Then peacemakers over the split – Richard Baxter and the Puritans
Different view of wholesome and kindness – Thomas Cranmer and the Anglicans (Episcopalians)
Split over Cranmer’s view of wholesome – Laud and Donne
Then peacemakers over the split – ? and the Brethren Movement
Different view of love and compassion– John Wesley and the Methodists
Split over Wesley’s view of love – Fletcher and ?
Then peacemakers over the split - ? and the Holiness Movement
Different view of goodness and longsuffering – Charles Spurgeon and the Baptists
Split over Spurgeon’s view of goodness – Torrey and Fosdick
Then peacemakers over the split – Billy Graham and the Evangelicals
(Present) Different view of ___________and _____________ -____________________
(Future) Split over ____________view of__________________ -__________________
(Further future) Then peacemakers over the split –_______________________________
My basic plea after seeing this chart is let us “stop the insanity.” Let’s move forward in fill in the next set of blanks. We are now at a time in history, when we need a “different view” of a specific biblical concept and we need to move beyond the next two stages following the Baptists, which lead to a deadness and then survival rather than revival from the first stage.
The irony, in the last stage dealing with Spurgeon, is that we are still trapped in the insanity following his death in Great Britain and the death of D.L. Moody in the United States. Those who brought the split and then the peacemakers hold to the same worldview. The only difference between them is that of an “either-or” stance on an issue or a “both-and” stance on an issue that is really relevant more to restoring the past revival than either their present or someone else’s future. That is what makes history boring, not history itself. It is a loss of relevance.
As an example of holding the same worldview, in the case of holy, all three camps agree that holy means separate or set apart. The irony is that this is different from Spurgeon, Wesley, Cranmer, Calvin and Luther. They saw that holy and healthy had to do with being whole in a broad and primary sense. They sometimes where a little hazy on this point, but this remained the same over time.
The difference in views that I believe needs to happen for us to again experience reformation and revival and health, is for Christians and their leaders to recognize that holy means whole and that kindness is the remedy for our lack of wholeness.
So you ask: “So what?” It is that insanity is by its very nature doing the same thing and expecting different results. The evangelicals are doing the same things as the conservatives and the liberals. Or at least they have the same worldview as the liberals and conservatives, when it comes to their view of holiness. There is no difference. This I believe is why they are as insane as the liberals or conservatives in believing that their worldview will produce reformation or revival.
I know that I must keep in mind that there is a difference between some who hold these views and others. Some are sane despite the insanity. Let’s make it so that some are insane despite the sanity. Let’s shift the majority position.
Let’s go back to Einstein. “ Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I am not looking at the many different things that churches and leaders have done. I acknowledge the multitude of things done differently. I am looking at the one thing that has stayed the same since the beginning of the 20th century. It is the church’s view of what it means to be holy. Since that time, not prior, it has not changed. So someone, please stop the insanity! I want to be whole and healthy!
In Christ,
Jon
Albert Einstein, (attributed)US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)
In many ways this describes Christianity in its current state, if you see what I see. I am not looking at the many different things that churches and leaders have done. I am looking at the one thing that has stayed the same since the beginning of the 20th century. It is the church’s view of what it means to be holy. That has stayed the same despite any differences elsewhere with disastrous results. You might still ask: “So what?” My point is that you can make a massive google load of differences and changes and yet if you leave the key thing the same and continuous, those differences make no difference in reality.
That is why in my view church planting and many other movements within Evangelicalism to make things different really in the end make one thing still the same. It has not changed. It is the same whether you go to a conservative church, a liberal church or an evangelical church. It is all the same when it comes to the issue of holy or to put it another way, their view of what is whole and healthy is the same as well.
Allow me to try to make what some see as boring history interesting history. I think it is interesting, because the same thing is happening to us that happened to this people before. It is boring only if it has nothing to do with us. See my point? This pattern has very much to do with us!
Let me use a chart of history to try to simplify things down to the most significant things that are the same and different. Even the names that are different are not as significant as the same pattern that has shown itself in the present. I will try to use only the most significant names of people and groups to show a real pattern that has remained the same for some time. (As time passes and I am able to talk to more experts I will update this chart with improvements.)
The chart of what has remained much the same is this:
Different view of justification and mercy– Martin Luther and the Lutherans
Split over Luther’s view of justification – Martin Chemnitz and Philip Melancthon
Then peacemakers over the split – Philip Spener and the Pietists
Different view of humility and grace – John Calvin and the Calvinists (Reformed)
Split over Calvin’s view of humility – Gomarus and Arminius
Then peacemakers over the split – Richard Baxter and the Puritans
Different view of wholesome and kindness – Thomas Cranmer and the Anglicans (Episcopalians)
Split over Cranmer’s view of wholesome – Laud and Donne
Then peacemakers over the split – ? and the Brethren Movement
Different view of love and compassion– John Wesley and the Methodists
Split over Wesley’s view of love – Fletcher and ?
Then peacemakers over the split - ? and the Holiness Movement
Different view of goodness and longsuffering – Charles Spurgeon and the Baptists
Split over Spurgeon’s view of goodness – Torrey and Fosdick
Then peacemakers over the split – Billy Graham and the Evangelicals
(Present) Different view of ___________and _____________ -____________________
(Future) Split over ____________view of__________________ -__________________
(Further future) Then peacemakers over the split –_______________________________
My basic plea after seeing this chart is let us “stop the insanity.” Let’s move forward in fill in the next set of blanks. We are now at a time in history, when we need a “different view” of a specific biblical concept and we need to move beyond the next two stages following the Baptists, which lead to a deadness and then survival rather than revival from the first stage.
The irony, in the last stage dealing with Spurgeon, is that we are still trapped in the insanity following his death in Great Britain and the death of D.L. Moody in the United States. Those who brought the split and then the peacemakers hold to the same worldview. The only difference between them is that of an “either-or” stance on an issue or a “both-and” stance on an issue that is really relevant more to restoring the past revival than either their present or someone else’s future. That is what makes history boring, not history itself. It is a loss of relevance.
As an example of holding the same worldview, in the case of holy, all three camps agree that holy means separate or set apart. The irony is that this is different from Spurgeon, Wesley, Cranmer, Calvin and Luther. They saw that holy and healthy had to do with being whole in a broad and primary sense. They sometimes where a little hazy on this point, but this remained the same over time.
The difference in views that I believe needs to happen for us to again experience reformation and revival and health, is for Christians and their leaders to recognize that holy means whole and that kindness is the remedy for our lack of wholeness.
So you ask: “So what?” It is that insanity is by its very nature doing the same thing and expecting different results. The evangelicals are doing the same things as the conservatives and the liberals. Or at least they have the same worldview as the liberals and conservatives, when it comes to their view of holiness. There is no difference. This I believe is why they are as insane as the liberals or conservatives in believing that their worldview will produce reformation or revival.
I know that I must keep in mind that there is a difference between some who hold these views and others. Some are sane despite the insanity. Let’s make it so that some are insane despite the sanity. Let’s shift the majority position.
Let’s go back to Einstein. “ Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I am not looking at the many different things that churches and leaders have done. I acknowledge the multitude of things done differently. I am looking at the one thing that has stayed the same since the beginning of the 20th century. It is the church’s view of what it means to be holy. Since that time, not prior, it has not changed. So someone, please stop the insanity! I want to be whole and healthy!
In Christ,
Jon
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Whole Means Healthy So That Means Use Your Whole Brain
The people involved with the Emotional Intelligence literature and with Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions deserve a lot of credit for really understanding the whole brain or mind, rather than just a part of the brain or mind. From the Emotional Intelligence people, I learned that the emotions are a part of the mind or the intellect. They are not primarily in contrast to intelligence. From the Plutchik's writings or diagrams, I learned the different dimensions of emotions and how the mind processes work. What I have done in this piece of writing is apply the concept of the whole and its parts to this literature and below is what I got. Please do not blame the authors for my organization of things. You will have to blame me for that, but without their work, I would have had nothing to organize and little understanding of emotions.
The basic four positive emotions and the basic four negative emotions are:
Anticipation versus Anger (Amount Focused)
Joy versus Disgust (Relationship Focused)
Trust versus Fear (Action Focused)
Surprise versus Sadness (Thing Focused)
The process using the whole brain, rather than just the one part of the emotional center looks like the following diagrams:
Amount processing:
Anticipation Anger (amount stage)
Interested Annoyance (relationship stage)
Vigilance Rage (action stage)
Postive Amount Negative Amount (thing stage)
Relationship Processing:
Joy Disgust (amount stage)
Estasy Boredom (relationship stage)
Serenity Loathing (action stage)
Positive Relationship Negative Relationship (thing stage)
Action Processing:
Trust Fear (amount stage)
Acceptance Apprehension (relationship stage)
Admiration Terror (action stage)
Positive Action Negative Action (thing stage)
Thing Processing:
Surprise Sadness (amount stage)
Distraction Pensiveness (relationship stage)
Amazement Grief (action stage)
Positive Thing Negative Thing (thing stage)
Originally, when I put this all together I used some features in Microsoft Word to make some beautiful pictures of the processes of the mind. Unfortunately, my mind was not able to figure out a way to transfer those documents to this blog.
If you would like some colorful copies, I can send you hard copies, if you call me. For now I will say I can do it for a dollar a copy, so I at least cover postage and paper. If I get too busy I may have to charge something for my time, but I will post any change in price here first. You can call me at: 920-803-8623. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jon
The basic four positive emotions and the basic four negative emotions are:
Anticipation versus Anger (Amount Focused)
Joy versus Disgust (Relationship Focused)
Trust versus Fear (Action Focused)
Surprise versus Sadness (Thing Focused)
The process using the whole brain, rather than just the one part of the emotional center looks like the following diagrams:
Amount processing:
Anticipation Anger (amount stage)
Interested Annoyance (relationship stage)
Vigilance Rage (action stage)
Postive Amount Negative Amount (thing stage)
Relationship Processing:
Joy Disgust (amount stage)
Estasy Boredom (relationship stage)
Serenity Loathing (action stage)
Positive Relationship Negative Relationship (thing stage)
Action Processing:
Trust Fear (amount stage)
Acceptance Apprehension (relationship stage)
Admiration Terror (action stage)
Positive Action Negative Action (thing stage)
Thing Processing:
Surprise Sadness (amount stage)
Distraction Pensiveness (relationship stage)
Amazement Grief (action stage)
Positive Thing Negative Thing (thing stage)
Originally, when I put this all together I used some features in Microsoft Word to make some beautiful pictures of the processes of the mind. Unfortunately, my mind was not able to figure out a way to transfer those documents to this blog.
If you would like some colorful copies, I can send you hard copies, if you call me. For now I will say I can do it for a dollar a copy, so I at least cover postage and paper. If I get too busy I may have to charge something for my time, but I will post any change in price here first. You can call me at: 920-803-8623. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Jon
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Whole Means Healthy and Being Sound
Whole means healthy has a tremendous number of implications. One of the greatest problems for many of us is that without a focus on being whole or healthy, we feel a great deal of insecurity.
The word for healthy in the Bible is also translated as sound. We lack security and soundness, because we have placed so little attention on what creates that security in our personalities.
I have found that knowing that holy means whole and that whole means healthy through their close relationship have made me a far more secure person. My only frustration is that the habits of insecurity don't die easily.
Insecurity in our personalities draws into our lives those who are abusive and negative. I have seen plenty of that in my own life. Unfortunately, not all of that trait of being insecure has gone away. Yet what I have noticed, since growing in my own understanding (standing under) of being whole is that fewer abusive people are a part of my life. My prayer for you is that you could experience the same thing. I have not found any way that works better than this one to remove insecurity effectively.
I have experienced unsound negative criticism in my lifetime, but that is the stuff of those unwilling to enter into negotiating and understanding (standing under). The really great people in this world are able to negotiate in a healthy way about things they don't understand and they are able to grow in understanding. I hope you will take this to heart, if you are one of those who tends to give in under harsh and unsound criticism.
I am very confident that the next great revival or reformation will have at its core the twin ideas of holy means whole and whole means healthy. I am more than willing to negotiate with those who disagree. Yet it is high time to not give in to unhealthy or unsound criticism. It is great to feel secure in saying that, because I know the foundations for being healthy and sound. I pray that you will discover the same sense of security.
In Christ,
Jon
The word for healthy in the Bible is also translated as sound. We lack security and soundness, because we have placed so little attention on what creates that security in our personalities.
I have found that knowing that holy means whole and that whole means healthy through their close relationship have made me a far more secure person. My only frustration is that the habits of insecurity don't die easily.
Insecurity in our personalities draws into our lives those who are abusive and negative. I have seen plenty of that in my own life. Unfortunately, not all of that trait of being insecure has gone away. Yet what I have noticed, since growing in my own understanding (standing under) of being whole is that fewer abusive people are a part of my life. My prayer for you is that you could experience the same thing. I have not found any way that works better than this one to remove insecurity effectively.
I have experienced unsound negative criticism in my lifetime, but that is the stuff of those unwilling to enter into negotiating and understanding (standing under). The really great people in this world are able to negotiate in a healthy way about things they don't understand and they are able to grow in understanding. I hope you will take this to heart, if you are one of those who tends to give in under harsh and unsound criticism.
I am very confident that the next great revival or reformation will have at its core the twin ideas of holy means whole and whole means healthy. I am more than willing to negotiate with those who disagree. Yet it is high time to not give in to unhealthy or unsound criticism. It is great to feel secure in saying that, because I know the foundations for being healthy and sound. I pray that you will discover the same sense of security.
In Christ,
Jon
Whole Means Healthy Means Connecting Words with Things
"Among the multitude of scholars and authors we feel no hallowing presence; we are sensible of a knack and skill rather than of inspiration; they have a light and know not whence it comes and call it their own: their talent is some exaggerated faculty, some overgrown member, so that their strength is a disease." I start with this quote because this blog is intended to speak about being healthy and part of that is the importance of things and not just words.
My other blog intends to discuss a skill in words. Yet a knack and skill in words alone carries the danger spoken of above, if it is exaggerated. The author of the above quote also wrote: "... answers never by words, but by the thing itself that is inquired after." The author also wrote: "No answer in words can reply to a question of things."
The balance that I want to achieve is that of a healthy relationship between things and words. I want to be derogatory toward neither, except when one truly becomes over-developed at the expense of the other. One of my professors in college points out this distinction another way. He calls it the difference between a knower and a teacher or the difference between a learner and a student. The former is concerned with things, the latter with words. Both are needed together in a healthy educational atmosphere.
What has really driven me to write about being whole and healthy are the real world need for each. Look around you at the people you know. Do not many people need to be whole and healthy? Isn't healthy also a buzz word in our time? Yet what is the thing called healthy? Or what is the thing called whole?
Alongside of stumbling upon the word holy meaning whole, I was stumbling through life in need of being whole. I was not a holy person, because I was not aware that a holy person was a whole person. The words I heard took me away from being healthy to "some exaggerated faculty, some overgrown member." Whether the topic was humility or love or some other, they each in succession pulled me away from the reality of being a whole person, because the community and communication exaggerated one part in place of the whole.
This is where the skill of words becomes important. Words are carriers of things between people and from God to us and us to God. It is much like money which takes the place of the goods. Words are the carriers of things from one person to another, much like people can exchange goods through the exchange of money. Yet the money ultimately is concerned about the goods and about the tremendous advantage that money offers over a world where there is only the goods.
Likewise words themselves are about things and about the tremendous advantage we have, because we have the faculty to communicate by words. I think we have a great yearning in our day for being whole and for being healthy. I think quite a few of the broken want to be healed. I think a few want to stop that healing for others and I think a few of the broken enjoy the excuses they can make from their brokenness. I also think many healthy people can discern something whole and something broken.
What is missing is God's communication on this subject, because the thing called words are in disrepute. They aren't regarded like money. People too often exaggerate the power of money and dismiss the power of words. If God meant to communicate that a holy person is a whole person and therefore a healthy person, then we are missing out because I don't get that thing called healthy, when I exchange my words with another person. This is because the message we are receiving or the money we are getting says that the thing we can exchange our words for is not a whole thing, but a separated thing.
The problem is that the thing we are receiving for our words is not what we need. Unfortunately, while money can be spent on a diversity of things, if you have enough; words can only be exchanged for the thing they are agreed to refer to in the language we speak to one another. So back to my earlier quote: "Among the multitude of scholars and authors we feel no hallowing presence; we are sensible of a knack and skill rather than of inspiration ...." Inspiration comes not from words, but from things. Are you sure when we read your Bible, you are getting the thing God intended and that you needed or has someone swapped the goods on you? May God bless you with discernment.
In Christ,
Jon
My other blog intends to discuss a skill in words. Yet a knack and skill in words alone carries the danger spoken of above, if it is exaggerated. The author of the above quote also wrote: "... answers never by words, but by the thing itself that is inquired after." The author also wrote: "No answer in words can reply to a question of things."
The balance that I want to achieve is that of a healthy relationship between things and words. I want to be derogatory toward neither, except when one truly becomes over-developed at the expense of the other. One of my professors in college points out this distinction another way. He calls it the difference between a knower and a teacher or the difference between a learner and a student. The former is concerned with things, the latter with words. Both are needed together in a healthy educational atmosphere.
What has really driven me to write about being whole and healthy are the real world need for each. Look around you at the people you know. Do not many people need to be whole and healthy? Isn't healthy also a buzz word in our time? Yet what is the thing called healthy? Or what is the thing called whole?
Alongside of stumbling upon the word holy meaning whole, I was stumbling through life in need of being whole. I was not a holy person, because I was not aware that a holy person was a whole person. The words I heard took me away from being healthy to "some exaggerated faculty, some overgrown member." Whether the topic was humility or love or some other, they each in succession pulled me away from the reality of being a whole person, because the community and communication exaggerated one part in place of the whole.
This is where the skill of words becomes important. Words are carriers of things between people and from God to us and us to God. It is much like money which takes the place of the goods. Words are the carriers of things from one person to another, much like people can exchange goods through the exchange of money. Yet the money ultimately is concerned about the goods and about the tremendous advantage that money offers over a world where there is only the goods.
Likewise words themselves are about things and about the tremendous advantage we have, because we have the faculty to communicate by words. I think we have a great yearning in our day for being whole and for being healthy. I think quite a few of the broken want to be healed. I think a few want to stop that healing for others and I think a few of the broken enjoy the excuses they can make from their brokenness. I also think many healthy people can discern something whole and something broken.
What is missing is God's communication on this subject, because the thing called words are in disrepute. They aren't regarded like money. People too often exaggerate the power of money and dismiss the power of words. If God meant to communicate that a holy person is a whole person and therefore a healthy person, then we are missing out because I don't get that thing called healthy, when I exchange my words with another person. This is because the message we are receiving or the money we are getting says that the thing we can exchange our words for is not a whole thing, but a separated thing.
The problem is that the thing we are receiving for our words is not what we need. Unfortunately, while money can be spent on a diversity of things, if you have enough; words can only be exchanged for the thing they are agreed to refer to in the language we speak to one another. So back to my earlier quote: "Among the multitude of scholars and authors we feel no hallowing presence; we are sensible of a knack and skill rather than of inspiration ...." Inspiration comes not from words, but from things. Are you sure when we read your Bible, you are getting the thing God intended and that you needed or has someone swapped the goods on you? May God bless you with discernment.
In Christ,
Jon
Whole Means Healthy Focuses on Learning
Early on in this blog, I want to say that it is intended to link teaching to everyday things, to daily topics and to local or even international issues. I am not a great admirer of those who learned nothing in the classroom nor of those who are stuck in it. I like to distinguish learning about things from studying words. Both are necessary parts of the same coin.
Wholeness and whole are classroom material that clearly express the meaning of holiness and holy. If you want to research and study this topic, then you can check out: http://holinessiswholeness.blogspot.com/. That was written to fill the teaching or studying need in our lives.
Healthy and unbroken are the everyday stuff of life that must be addressed, if we are going to make a difference in this world. As only one example, Martin Luther was saved through the teaching of the righteousness of God in Christ, but he delivered a deathblow to the world the way it was by addressing everyday and eternal acceptance topics like indulgences. This everyday stuff is what eventually lit the fires of world transformation! This stuff is about learning and real things.
My desire is to see the world transformed once again through the renewing of our minds and the transforming of our lives (Romans 12:1-3). We need to study and learn. May God make changes in our day, like what He has done before in lighting the fires of renewal, revival and reformation. God's blessings on your day.
In Christ,
Jon
Wholeness and whole are classroom material that clearly express the meaning of holiness and holy. If you want to research and study this topic, then you can check out: http://holinessiswholeness.blogspot.com/. That was written to fill the teaching or studying need in our lives.
Healthy and unbroken are the everyday stuff of life that must be addressed, if we are going to make a difference in this world. As only one example, Martin Luther was saved through the teaching of the righteousness of God in Christ, but he delivered a deathblow to the world the way it was by addressing everyday and eternal acceptance topics like indulgences. This everyday stuff is what eventually lit the fires of world transformation! This stuff is about learning and real things.
My desire is to see the world transformed once again through the renewing of our minds and the transforming of our lives (Romans 12:1-3). We need to study and learn. May God make changes in our day, like what He has done before in lighting the fires of renewal, revival and reformation. God's blessings on your day.
In Christ,
Jon
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