Our Lives Are Not Analogies
analogy
[uh-nal-uh-jee]
a·nal·o·gy
A similarity between like features of two things, on which a comparison may be based: the analogy between the heart and a pumpLogic . a form of reasoning in which one thing is inferred to be similar to another thing in a certain respect, on the basis of the known similarity between the things in other respects.
There were times
when I thought the WCG/COG life was just one big analogy. You know, taking
something in real life and making it fit the kind of person I was supposed to
be, the way I was to act or think or life I was supposed to live in relation to
the Church, Christ, Jesus, God and the Kingdom. Life was a
parable.
The Bible is full of
analogies where I was a seed and the ground was the life I lived depending on
where I landed. As a kid, when I first heard that analogy, I wondered why
it was the poor seeds fault the sower of seed (God) threw the
seed (me) on the rocks, the hard ground, the wayside or the gutter.
Hey! That's not my fault! You threw me there. If where you
threw me is a place where I cannot root down and hold on, that's not my
fault! You threw me there! I would have needed another analogy such
as "a seed is like a worm in the earth..." etc... That way, by
analogy at least, I could have the quality and the ability of being able to move
to where the environment was more conducive to my growth. Gnome
sayin'?
Of course, often we were sheep in pastures and had sheep-like qualities as both ministers and members. We needed to be herded because our tendencies as sheep was to wander off. We could be good sheep or bad sheep. We could be smart sheep and stay put or dumb sheep and go over a cliff. We needed to be fed as evidently we could not eat on our own or find our own food. We were dumb before our shearers (boy now there is an analogy!), and often "opened not our mouths." (Also a painful regret) We had to be led to green pastures and shown when and where to drink. We were controlled by rods and staffs which I assume meant that it was ok for the Shepherd to whack us on the skull when our attention wandered. COGers are well aware of this analogy and they are endless.
Sometimes we forget sheep
are kept just for sheering or for entrees. I am just not comfortable with
sheep hood as the way to define my life. Maybe that works for others.
Well, if we keep up the
analogy, if not a sheep then a wolf. Wolves, being the carnivores
they are, are not the friends or to be the friends of sheep. Of
course, we need wolves or there get to be too many sheep and God made wolves
too, so there ya go! As wolves, one is a stalker, a lurker or a chaser of
sheep. At least this is what those who are by analogy Shepherds tell the
sheep. But mostly it is not so. In real life I don't eat sheep or
lamb very often so the analogy breaks down a bit.
The Apostle Paul loved
analogies even if he butchered them.
Galatians
3:16
New American Standard Bible
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your seed," that is, Christ.
Now hold your horses here a bit. (Nice analogy those horses).
"Seed" in this context means descendents as in offspring. It is PLURAL already! Paul says since the word is not "Seeds", it must refer to the once seed...which is Christ. I don't think so!!!!! Paul is saying if the OT meant descendents of Abraham it would say, "The promise is to Abraham and to his seeds." Really? Feed my sheeps? If I say "feed my sheep," it means I have a herd of sheep not one sheep. I'd have to say, "Please feed that sheep," to make it one sheep. Anyway, I think Paul bunged this up and it never seems to have come up again.
Paul goes on to produce one
of the most jumbled analogies known to theologians. In Galatians 4:21-31
he makes an analogy between Sarah the wife of Abraham and Hagar the slave woman
and her children. Somehow the children of Hagar end up being the Jews of
Jerusalem and Isaac and his descendents end up as the "Children of promise,"
symbolizing the uncircumcised Gentiles who accept Jesus. Really? He
uses Isaiah 54:1 to kick off his analogy but really makes a scripture mean what
it never meant, which like Matthew, he was very good at.
Somehow the Father of the
Circumcision, Abraham, ends up the Father of the uncircumcised Gentiles.
Theologians , real ones, call this "over reaching." The whole idea of
hardened hearts needing to be circumcised is kinda creepy.
Paul makes all sorts of
amazing analogies that tend to fall apart upon examination. But he so badly
wanted to get the Gentiles into the Covenant, making things mean what they did
not mean was raised by him to an art form.
In 2 Corinthians 3:13-18
Paul goes nuts with an analogy that simply is not true. He says that when
Moses brought the Decalogue to Israel that he covered his face to hide from the
people his fading radiance. Paul then goes on to say "Even to this day
when Moses is read, a veil covers their heart but when anyone turns to the lord,
the veil is taken away." What a slaughter of context Paul makes with this
analogy. He makes it mean the exact opposite of what it did mean!
Any good Bible reader can discern that when Moses descended from the mount with
the tablets of stone, his face shown.
Very impressive. When Moses spoke to the people about the law and when he talked with God in the Tabernacle he did so with his face uncovered. When he was NOT discussing the law or in the presence of God, he covered his face. The point was the radiance referred to the divine and should not be taken lightly or used in a profane way.
Very impressive. When Moses spoke to the people about the law and when he talked with God in the Tabernacle he did so with his face uncovered. When he was NOT discussing the law or in the presence of God, he covered his face. The point was the radiance referred to the divine and should not be taken lightly or used in a profane way.
Ex
34:35
"And the Children of Israel saw the face of Moses,
that the skin of Moses face sent forth beams;
And Moses put the veil back on his face, untilhe went in to speak with HIM. '
Paul, by analogy, tried to
make the fading radiance to mean the glory of the law was passing away.
However, when Moses radiated, there is no mention of fading radiance and no
veil when speaking about the law. Paul reverses the intent of the OT to
make his non-point. Paul turns the veil into a blindfold over the
eyes of the Jews when they read their own Scriptures. As a result they
miss Jesus in those scriptures. Of course the reason they really missed it
is because Jesus is not in those original scriptures and making a bogus analogy
and making their scriptures mean what they never meant is not going to work.
It's a dumb analogy and Paul
has lots of them as he wrenches scripture from its context to present his
Gospel, quite different from anything Peter, James, John or Jesus would have
done.
Anyway, enough of Paul, we
had our own modern analogies to herd we sheep.
I went to College at "The
West Point of God's Work." Nice analogy, but pretty weak. I'm pretty
sure the rigor at West Point was a bit more than that I found at AC, or "God's
College."
Once, I had a bad cold and
was told wine was good for that. I had not been a drinker of anykind
before AC or the Church. I grew up with it, but it was no big deal.
At any rate, I sat studying "the Harmony (now understood as disharmony) of the
Gospels drinking wine out of a gallon bottle. The first time I lifted my
head to look up, I got dizzy and fell out of the chair..."full of the
spirit." It was hilarious. Nice analogy.
I very often studied on
Saturday evenings alone at my dorm. The Dean got wind of this "study thing you
do," and told me I needed to get out more. He made me attend Basketball
games and be the flag boy in the white coat during the Pledge of
Allegiance. I hated it. On top of that, I had to watch Dave Pack
play basketball and I don't like basketball and about the worst thing you could
do to me was make the spiritual life into a sports analogy. From "gun
laps" where we ran out of bullets to "team work," which I never really saw
much of in reality, I hated sports analogies about the Christian
life. They can be abused. God becomes the team owner, Jesus is the
Coach and no matter how hard I tried, I was either the batboy or just a team
member. Members had it worse as they were mere spectators.
So, I've been a seed, a
sheep, a wolf, a shepherd, a snake, and a living sacrifice. I've landed on
fertile ground, sorta fertile ground, unfertile ground, rocks and ravines.
I've had roots and I've fallen over because I had no roots. I have built
my house on sand or on the rocks depending. I have fallen down, away and
flat. I am once born, twice dead , a wandering star and vomit in the mouth
of God...
Man! All I ever
really wanted to be was authentic, genuine and myself. I only wanted
to know what was true and what was not. I didn't want to be scorched by the
dragon nor stalked and devoured by a roaring lion. Raging wave
of the sea? Not me! No better than a bunch of sticks that are only
good to be burned? Oh please.
Is that asking so
much? Yes, evidently, from religion it is asking way way too much...but
life is not really an analogy. It is a gift and lasts about as long as the
winds across the plains or an ice cube in hell. Religion needs the skeptic
like the ocean needs the sand or all risk being swept away in a tsunami of
confusion, error and mere compliance like a sheep before her shearers is
dumb... Hey, great analogy!!!
Dennis C
DenniscDiehl@aol.com
DenniscDiehl@aol.com
