Reminds me of the comment once made by Chuck Mister: the only man made things in Heaven are the scars on the body of Christ, "the Lamb, as it has been slain."
That reminds me of the resurrection appearance to Thomas, where Jesus showed him his wounds/scars. Makes me wonder if our scars—physical and psychological—will be evident as well, as a sign that suffering is redemptive.
I think the apostle John is describing Jesus in relation to us, rather than the abstract objective view of God in his essence, the two viewpoints often described as tool vs object, except here Jesus is not tool but Thou.
Sure. I got this from JB Peterson (google 'peterson on tool vs object view'). It is the observation that the scientific analytical 'objective' view of the world as consisting of independent objects is not how humans see the world. Those representations are essentially arbitrary and task contextual.
There is perhaps such an objective view, but if so it belongs to God. What we have is Gen 2:19, where the objective animals are presented to Adam so he can give them names representing what they mean to him (eg Camel means burden-carrier IIRC). Here, the givenness of the animals meets our meaning-making. OTOH, these are not arbitrary because the world was made by and *for* the Christ, who is such *for* the church, and also our federal head.
That is why relational trumps abstract. That is why materialist and Buddhist skepticism is unwarranted.
Reminds me of the comment once made by Chuck Mister: the only man made things in Heaven are the scars on the body of Christ, "the Lamb, as it has been slain."
That reminds me of the resurrection appearance to Thomas, where Jesus showed him his wounds/scars. Makes me wonder if our scars—physical and psychological—will be evident as well, as a sign that suffering is redemptive.
God redeems all. Joel 2:25
I think the apostle John is describing Jesus in relation to us, rather than the abstract objective view of God in his essence, the two viewpoints often described as tool vs object, except here Jesus is not tool but Thou.
David, intriguing comment. Could you expand? Especially tool vs. object.
Sure. I got this from JB Peterson (google 'peterson on tool vs object view'). It is the observation that the scientific analytical 'objective' view of the world as consisting of independent objects is not how humans see the world. Those representations are essentially arbitrary and task contextual.
There is perhaps such an objective view, but if so it belongs to God. What we have is Gen 2:19, where the objective animals are presented to Adam so he can give them names representing what they mean to him (eg Camel means burden-carrier IIRC). Here, the givenness of the animals meets our meaning-making. OTOH, these are not arbitrary because the world was made by and *for* the Christ, who is such *for* the church, and also our federal head.
That is why relational trumps abstract. That is why materialist and Buddhist skepticism is unwarranted.
(Short reply, as I'm on the train).