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One more thing: there's an important distinction I should make more clear: tragedy and hell. Tragedy is your environment. Its the tornado, or whirlwind [in which the God of the story of Job appears]. It's car accidents and health problems and kidnappings. These can lay you low. But the wrong thing to do in the despair of tragedy is to blame your foundation for them. Hell, you create. You own it. You acheive it. It's your fault. And your foundation is the cause. Reevaluate when you find yourself in hell. It's the only hope of a way out. You know, people, including myself before I understood, like to cite Matthew 19, the famous "eye of a needle" admonishment, as evidence that Christ wants you to be ascetic and Christians aren't real Christians. What a careless and ham fisted reading. When I returned to that scripture with the eye of (a) first taking it seriously, and (b) taking it in context that scripture teaches me about myself, it became very clear. A rich man comes to Christ and asks, more or less, "I believe and am doing the things you said but haven't acheived peace yet. What should I do?" Christ says to sell your riches and try again. The teaching of this scripture is that if you find yourself approximating Hell, look into yourself and find your highest aim. If that aim, your highest ideal, is not God, strike it down. It's not working for you. Reevaluate. When it's your fault. |