Hear ye, hear ye, all ye readers of the post: I, Rosemary, have a thought. (there she goes again)
So, here’s what I was honking about.
Idols.
Be puzzled. OK, thank you, you don’t have to be puzzled anymore.
I was getting to know a storybook character that I am [not] writing about [yet] and things started floating across my mind. You know, the sort that keep me from getting very far in anything without becoming severely distracted.
You’ve all been told this, DO NOT idolize stuff. You see it. You hear it. Maybe you even do it. It is the American Problem of the Century[s]. But as we were talking, my character started to hint of something else.
Idolizing finite material is wrong, you all know that, but supposing idolizing a human being is worse? Are we not to serve? Did not the Son of God give his very life for them? Are we not to love them as ourselves? But that is the very danger! To make a god out of living being created in the image of the one true God is so close! So close to the truth, so much more noble, so much higher than to worship one of those old villains Ego or Mammon (yeah, I personify random things). Unlike your hair curler, mankind is eternal, we will inherit the Kingdom of God. To we who have been gifted with purpose, to we who have been marked with the fingerprints of God Himself, we know how much “more right” it is to live for another - how much “more true”. Like our dear friend Jack said in the Great Divorce (READ IT, I command you), “The higher and mightier a thing in its natural order, the more demonic it will be if it rebels. Demons are not made of bad mice or bad fleas, are they? No! But of fallen archangels!” or something along those lines, I’m paraphrasing. Something about fleas... :S Think about it, what could be higher than agape? Worshipful, all consuming, self sacrificing love. You cannot give that to a stick or a rock. But just as it would have been scandalous for Mary to anoint any old fellow with pure nard - though one could as a very extravagant service - it is wrong to make an idol, to pour out all we can give, to make ourselves a living sacrifice to any other than the One who is agape.
So if something is "more true" or "more right" but not exactly true or right - just like if it should be human but isn't quite (or if it once was but isn't yet) - you keep your eyes on it and feel for your hatchet.
I know this all looks as obvious as “the sum of the angles of a triangle must equal one-eighty” when it’s written out. But for some reason I’ve never thought of it this way before and I wanted to inform you of my discovery.
My character told me about this through the mistakes in his life. And just so you know, he never would have made them if I hadn’t first.
I just love C.S. Lewis. The genius! My awesome, British, forever-Young namesake got to hear him speak several times. Grrrrr, I'm jealous.....
So, here’s what I was honking about.
Idols.
Be puzzled. OK, thank you, you don’t have to be puzzled anymore.
I was getting to know a storybook character that I am [not] writing about [yet] and things started floating across my mind. You know, the sort that keep me from getting very far in anything without becoming severely distracted.
You’ve all been told this, DO NOT idolize stuff. You see it. You hear it. Maybe you even do it. It is the American Problem of the Century[s]. But as we were talking, my character started to hint of something else.
Idolizing finite material is wrong, you all know that, but supposing idolizing a human being is worse? Are we not to serve? Did not the Son of God give his very life for them? Are we not to love them as ourselves? But that is the very danger! To make a god out of living being created in the image of the one true God is so close! So close to the truth, so much more noble, so much higher than to worship one of those old villains Ego or Mammon (yeah, I personify random things). Unlike your hair curler, mankind is eternal, we will inherit the Kingdom of God. To we who have been gifted with purpose, to we who have been marked with the fingerprints of God Himself, we know how much “more right” it is to live for another - how much “more true”. Like our dear friend Jack said in the Great Divorce (READ IT, I command you), “The higher and mightier a thing in its natural order, the more demonic it will be if it rebels. Demons are not made of bad mice or bad fleas, are they? No! But of fallen archangels!” or something along those lines, I’m paraphrasing. Something about fleas... :S Think about it, what could be higher than agape? Worshipful, all consuming, self sacrificing love. You cannot give that to a stick or a rock. But just as it would have been scandalous for Mary to anoint any old fellow with pure nard - though one could as a very extravagant service - it is wrong to make an idol, to pour out all we can give, to make ourselves a living sacrifice to any other than the One who is agape.
So if something is "more true" or "more right" but not exactly true or right - just like if it should be human but isn't quite (or if it once was but isn't yet) - you keep your eyes on it and feel for your hatchet.
I know this all looks as obvious as “the sum of the angles of a triangle must equal one-eighty” when it’s written out. But for some reason I’ve never thought of it this way before and I wanted to inform you of my discovery.
My character told me about this through the mistakes in his life. And just so you know, he never would have made them if I hadn’t first.
I just love C.S. Lewis. The genius! My awesome, British, forever-Young namesake got to hear him speak several times. Grrrrr, I'm jealous.....
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