Posted by John on June 27, 2001 at 06:27:49:
In Reply to: Re: Wilderness (off the subject and LONG) posted by PS on June 26, 2001 at 23:35:51:
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: : Still, as I always think you will be, nearly impossible to follow...
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: Old age and delirium setting in, I suspect.
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: : so in my vain attempt to do so anyway, I say right on! Two things stand out to me. One, is that we always tend to get comfortable where we are, even if that place is one of actual discomfort. So in wilderness, whether actually good or bad, we will be reluctant to leave, just as prior-to we will be reluctant to go.
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: True indeed. We often resist even good changes. We prefer the Egypt bondage we know to the wilderness we don't. Later we prefer the wilderness we know to the promised land we don't.
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: : Second, is that we all tend to learn the terms that "spiritualize" our actions. To me a true wilderness experience is nothing bad, in fact quite the opposite, as it has more to do with drawing close to God and being purified than being left in a lonely oven to bake out our impurities.
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: Exactly. Often we need a leading into the wilderness to escape our spiritual desert. It is after being led (or dragged or chased) out of our prosperity and/or comfortable familiarity that we finally come to Bethel and the tangible presence of God, as Jacob did.
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: : Nevertheless, we all tend to use this "Christianese" (even if it is peculiar to our smaller band of Christianity) in an attempt to justify (aka excuse, aka refuse to admit)when we get into a funk, so to speak... "Oh I'm just in a real wilderness experience right now and God's showing me a lot." When often the reality is that we have gotten comfortable keeping God at arm's length and know subconsciously, or consciously, that using this "buzz phrase" deflects controversy.
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: Sure. In addition, calling our spiritual desert a "wilderness experience" is tacitly asserting that God is responsible for our poverty and that we have no great choice in the matter, and neatly relieves us of responsibility to take the appropriate action. If we acknowledged that our desert is not the wilderness God has called us to, we would have no excuse for choosing not to leave it.
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: : Of course I think the above examples clearly demonstrate this as an error in understanding of the term. Of course what do I really know... I just hide a bunch of nothing in some fancy five-dollar words.
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: The profundity of your sapience in discerning this oft-delusory posture is exceeded only by the singular wonderment of your veraciousness in confessing this inherent pretense in yourself.
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: : What I'm saying is that we all get into these situations and I think perpetuate them because we know we may want to use the same excuse in the future. It is far too risky to destroy everything because then we can't hide...not that we were ever really hiding from God (or those who know us) anyway. Would it not be better to say, "i'm just avoiding God right now", if that is how we feel? I know only one person (Terry) who is honest enough with herself and everyone to admit it.
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: You know what's funny? Terry can't understand why such comments inspire so much optimism in us on her behalf, rather than trouble us deeply, as she thinks such confessions ought to do. She does not yet realize the great advantage she possesses in this honesty, nor how very rare it is.
Just to clarify (I don't think Steve misunderstood, but I wanted to be specific) I didn't mean impossible to follow as in "what the heck is he saying" I meant it as, "wow, what more could be said"