James Bond? Bah, he's nothing!
It has occurred to me that I haven't got a clue what people think when they read what I write. Of course people are coming from all sorts of different viewpoints and so I can imagine there will be a range of responses. In the light of this I think it would be prudent to outline, in a rather sketchy manner I'm afraid, what exactly I'm trying to achieve (and not achieve!) with the little articles/perspectives I post here.
What I'm NOT trying to do is to be controversial for the sake of it. This is not my English Tripos exam (that I will be sitting in just a few weeks) where the presenting of controversial viewpoints for their own sake backed up by elaborate (pretentious) and compelling arguments is the order of the day. That said, I do believe I have been quite controversial, both in the themes I have addressed and in the claims I have made while discussing them. Let me see.... so far, I have made claims including:
• Democracy is dead and an illusion,
• Altruistic endeavour today is a picture of mankind's rebellion against God,
• Only beautiful people will get into heaven and
• The meaning of life on earth as we know it is death.
I don't know about you, but I would say that these claims are all 'quite' controversial and, some would say, even outlandish.
If I am not being controversial for the sake of it, then why am I discussing these things? I'm not just trying to approach such topics as 'beauty', 'altruism' and 'democracy' from "a new perspective", I actually believe this stuff (although, of course, the illustrations I use may not always be watertight).
The reason why I am writing this stuff is firstly in order to get you to think. Now that may seem pretty obvious, but actually it is more than that. I'm not JUST trying to get you to think. I'm trying to get people to consider the possibility that what they see before their eyes isn't exactly all there is and that the means to know the existence of the other reality is not a mystery, but rather is made evident -- primarily through the word of God in the Bible and confirmed through what we see around us in this world, in nature and in humanity.
Faith is not blind, it proceeds with its eyes open and puts its trust in something that it has seen in action and knows will function in a certain way. Therefore, it can be trusted in the future to behave in exactly the same way! I am not 'betting' on the 'idea' of God, I'm trusting in what I see in his creation that speaks of him and what he has said about himself in his word, the Bible, and the miracles and signs he has provided in the past to demonstrate who he is. He has proved himself over and again that he is worthy of my trust... and that is why I trust him and nothing else.
Now, I bet you were wondering when James Bond would come into it... well, not to disappoint ;-) The way we are consistently more like James Bond than even James Bond himself is the way we are always shaken but never stirred! If anything you have read here has shaken you, great! But I don't want you to go away shaken but not stirred. The way the media has domesticated the most unpleasant things in life these days means that we can effectively go through life never having to confront the greater issues of life, living and existence, and even if we do, we only ever engage with these things on the same level as we would engage with a shocking or thought-provoking film -- our emotions may be stirred up momentarily but no action follows. In the film, no action follows because no action is required; it is not real. In life, however, these issues are real and affect each and every one of us. The most important question that I want to pose in the things I write here, therefore, is: have you considered the implications for you if it turned out that Jesus Christ really did rise from the dead and really is the Son of God, before whom one day you will stand and give account of your life....
If you want it in film terms, I'm not just trying to let you know that the Matrix exists, I'm trying to offer you the red pill. As Morpheus says to Neo, "All I can offer you is the truth." Well, I am offering the same thing, except this 'truth' is a person, Jesus Christ. He is not only the Truth, he is also the Way and the Life, meaning the only way and the only life. Without him, I'm claiming, there can be no truth, no direction and no life. Of course, I'm NOT expecting you simply to take my word for it (please don't!!) -- there is a well-trodden path that leads to the cross of Christ and you can start by reading it for yourself in the Bible. Jesus didn't spend the first day of his resurrected life running around telling everyone he was back, he spent it teaching the Bible! [Luke 24] Why? Because the whole of the Old Testament is about him -- it was the best way to demonstrate that the resurrection actually happened...
In conclusion, all I am asking is that, if you have been shaken by anything I have written or mentioned, don't remain "unstirred". Stir yourself into action and find out for yourself, even if to confirm for yourself that what I am saying is completely ignorant and misguided.
By all means, become 007 in your dreams, but not in real life!
My mate, Arion, pretending to be 007 ;-)
posted by Achilles @ 8:09 pm
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