201 Loving Relationship

With a few of the first truths of “being and doing” covered in the past several blogs, I think I can still say that the foremost truth to emerge in this investigative process is that the Creation set the stage for humankind, sentient humankind. And that means that God, all along, had every intention and then proceeds without hesitation to create humankind in His own image, all to enlarge His family, all to enlarge His relationships, all to enlarge loving relationships.

Maybe all this thinking is not as obvious as my quick shift from Truth #1: God to Truth#2: Meaning, but then again maybe it is. In a world full of God-created people, Gentle Reader, (including me) relationship is meant to reign supreme. By making people sentient human beings like Himself, God elevated relationship to the primary value in life—especially loving relationship.

We have only to look to the Christian hymn entitled Let There be Peace on Earth to understand this truth.

Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me,
Let there be peace on earth, the peace that was meant to be.
With God as our Father, brothers all are we,
Let me walk with my brother, in perfect harmony.


Let peace begin with me, let this be the moment now,
With every step I take, let this be my solemn vow,
To take each moment and live each moment in peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me!

Let There Be Peace on Earth was written by Sy Miller and Bill Jackson.

“Let me walk with my brother in perfect harmony!” The lyrics of this spiritual song extol the opportunity for loving relationships only human life can offer, Attentive Reader.

God knew what He was doing when He created us. Loving relationships would justify and crown our existence. His intention always was for us to soar in being and doing in relationship with one another. Admittedly, in a fallen world that’s not at all easy. But when on occasion it happens, it is undeniably an amazing spectacle of the scope and grandeur of human potential and interaction! And it displays itself as the most extraordinary, singular justification for life ever meant to be—loving relationship—the pinnacle achievement.

To be continued . . .

200 Sentient vs. Non-Sentient Beings

If you remember, Gentle Reader, I said a few blogs back that my discussion of people and relationships was not going to be exhaustive, that I would only address a few issues salient to me and of particular interest therefore to me. And since now we are looking at “doing” and “being” in people in general, I want to think about for a bit what a world with non-sentient beings would be like.

Evidently sentience and its particular distinction in the persons of both the Trinity (“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16, NKJV) and humankind have stood forth prominently to others besides me as definers of the human condition. For better or for worse, sentient we are and will always be. That said let’s first focus on thinkers who have shown us beings without emotion interacting with beings with feelings.

Writer Gene Rodenberry, author of the Star Trek Series, created a whole species of beings who studiously eradicated emotion from their self-expression—the Vulcans. Probably everyone’s favorite Vulcan was Mr. Spock. By allowing Mr. Spock to be half-human and half-Vulcan, Mr. Rodenberry was able to show both the advantages and disadvantages of emotion or lack of emotion in Spock. Spock’s cool composure was an advantage in negotiations, for one; but his lack of emotion in personal relationships was a great disadvantage and revealed a strangely impoverished, bleak and barren aspect of his life. Spock’s refusal to relate on any emotional level with humans, who routinely bond with expressions of emotion, was rightly portrayed as a sad loss both for him and those with whom he interacted, and that effect was not lost on the audience.

Another favorite character among Trekkies is Data, an artificial intelligence life-form who sees himself as handicapped by lack of emotion and pursues emotional empowerment.

Not to be overlooked, Star Trek’s much loved Captain Kirk served to show both the benefits and problems of emotion in “being and doing” with his frequently extreme emotional range and behavior.

The Screenwriters of Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines, John Brancato & Michael Ferris, story by Tedi Sarafian: T3 (Terminator 3) made a terrifying portrait of non-sentient “being” in the machines that arose from computer technology gone wild. These machines were relentless and remorseless except for a few units successfully adapted by a human to serve and value humans.

The authors of Greek Mythology showed a world ruled by gods who for the most part were capricious, callous and vengeful—beings with sentience gone wrong—powerful beings.

L. Frank Baum, author of the children’s novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, has a pitiful character, the tin woodsman, who is obsessed with receiving a heart (feeling).

Screenwriters of crime dramas frequently depict criminals with drastically confused emotions or pathological incapacity to properly emote.

The Bible points out the ravages of a poorly disciplined emotional life—sentience gone wrong, runaway emotions. Lusts of the flesh routinely cause havoc, Gentle Reader—Cain’s envy led him to murder; Samson’s lust for Delilah led him to enslavement; Esau’s appetite for porridge led him to abandon his birthright; The Apostle Peter’s fear led him to deny Jesus. The Bible is full of emotion-gone-wrong stories and how putting such emotions right is the only cure for humankind’s suffering.

Be these examples as they may, people may still disagree on how convenient or comfortable a full emotional life is. But surely, all can agree that life would be much less desirable without emotion. Certainly I can say that were it to come down to a choice of sentient being vs. non-sentient being, for me, I would choose sentience every time; and I am grateful to God He honored me with the condition of being a feeling sentient being, a thinking sapient being, and a being of zoe—a spiritual being—all akin to Him.

To be continued . . .

199 New Norms

Gentle Reader, I have shared a few thoughts on the emotional connotation of “newness” in one’s life with Sweet Spirit, someone of whom I have lovingly spoken in previous blogs. In particular, we discussed the quandary of (briefly) how change, and especially a new problem, can sadden one; and how such sadness can be more difficult to bear than the nature of the change itself, such as breaking a bone, developing a chronic disease or encountering some reversal of fortune.

People experiencing the quandaries of “new norms” are in the news every day nowadays.

I’m sure, Gentle Reader, you remember Christopher Reeve, the American actor who broke his spine in a fall from his horse. It was all over the news a way back. (Note here, Gentle Reader, how the word “new” becomes “news,” short for newspaper. Journalists certainly recognize how people are captured by the “news,” how we can be irresistibly drawn to the new, how we can be fascinated by the new even if simultaneously repelled.)

To continue, Chris was permanently crippled and confined for 10 years by that fall to a wheelchair before he died in 2004. Bravely, he tried to regain his ability to walk during those same 10 years; but sadly, he is known to have said that every morning of that last 10 years, when he awoke and realized anew each day that he was crippled, he cried hard for 20 minutes. At the end of the 20 minutes, he said he pulled himself together and continued with each new day, his sadness managed, but still there. This pattern became the “new norm” of his life, a life that before the fall from the horse had been radically different and radically more comfortable, to say the very least.

I do not know if Christopher Reeve worked through this reversal of fortune by relying on Jesus and the new future He won for us by His suffering and death on a Roman cross and His resultant triumphant Resurrection to new life. I do not know. I can only hope so. Because, Christians know nothing happens to Christians that is not filtered through fingers of love—God’s love. And they know that even though there will be various and many trials throughout life, Scripture tells us to count them all joy because God promises to be with us in them and will cause them all to work together for good for us—for those who are called according to His purposes (Romans 8:28, NKJV).

Christians cherish and devotedly anticipate the fulfillment of these Scriptural promises. They are gifts to which every believer can look forward and for which every Christian can rejoice. Ask the Apostle James or Paul. Both were experts on the subject of joy in Christ even in the midst of need (James 1: 2-4; Philippians 4:12, NKJV). How wonderful it is that God does not despise the needy (Psalm 72: 12-4, NKJV)!

It is a sad quandary that “new norms” can hurt. Sentience can be painful, Gentle Reader, as well as glorious; but thankfully, mastery of sentience, even pain, can be learned in relationship with Jesus, even in a fallen world. Talking with Jesus, counting on Jesus, building discipline, building endurance, receiving an increase in faith from God Himself; from these regular encounters and practices come mastery.

It’s not easy being a sentient human being, Gentle Reader. I’m sure you know that, too. But it is a huge and necessary understanding to acquire that through relationship with God we are blessed and can become blessings to others.

Though suffering, though not liking, even hating the experience that peaks and valleys of sentience can bring; our emotions can be mastered and made gracious, our relationships fruitful.

God’s sentience invested in us is meant to be a blessing, to make us compassionate toward one another in relationship—as God is compassionate with us. And according to Scripture, God’s blessings are very durable in both the life of the here-and-now and the greater life of the there-and-then.

To be continued

198 "New"

New anything has always held allure for me, Gentle Reader. But here’s another quandary concerning sentience. Recently, I have realized that I really don’t have a feel for all the word “new” implies in general. Like so many other terms, it requires learning on my part to rightly grasp “new”, to get a “feel” for it. So, it’s true, I really know not how to embrace it.

I mean is newness always good, always comfortable, always right? I think you can see if I can’t answer these questions “new” is not a word I have particularly developed into any kind of broadly understood concept. Thankfully, when I stop to think about it, the word “new” does demonstrate its properties quite readily, and I think you may be interested to see as I do that, lo-and-behold, those properties are not always attractive. Who’d have thunk it? At any rate, think through the following with me, if you will.

For one, the word “new” is adaptable. Now, I never before grasped how important that property is. For example, one can easily imagine how a new dress is something positive to look forward to. In fact, in the old gospel song “Two Coats,” it says, put off the old coat and put on the new, meaning put on the spotless perfection of Jesus and discard that tired, soiled garment with which life has burdened you, i.e., sin. In both these instances “new” has a positive connotation. And being a “new creation” in Jesus Christ? Now that’s a truly heartening and ideal use of the word “new.”

But then there is another face of the adaptability of the word “new.”

Consider a “new” threat, as in a new disease-bearing insect invading America. Well, I think you can see that that is nothing to look forward to and is instead about as negative as it gets. So, not all new things are good.

The word “new” also can demonstrate great ambiguity. Consider the idea of a “new normal.” Sounds innocent enough, doesn’t it? Only, most people I know do not like change, especially when it involves the norm. One gets used to the “norm,” especially if the norm is comfortable and frequently even if it is not.

Now, I’m not saying that a new normal cannot be better than the old norm. In fact the new norm God offers us is exalted; but I am saying that if the new norm is not better, it may turn everything in one’s life on its head, may even be definitely uncomfortable, if not just plain awful and painful. Come to think of it, that is a pretty accurate description of what happened at the Fall—things went from just great to a “new” awful.

All I am really saying, Gentle Reader, is that the word “new” can have its upside and its downside too, so look carefully how the word is used. New anything can be an emotional bonanza for human beings or an emotional disaster. I think it is therefore fair to say that one would be wise to be especially circumspect about adopting the newest fad or trend in anything. Prove it out first, I say! What do you think? I think I am starting to get a “feel” for the word new!

At any rate, I think also that you can see by now that being sentient human beings, though not of any high order, our new and our old experiences have an emotional connotation in everything we are and do, just as they do in God’s experience.

To be continued . . .