The various books of the Bible give witness to an unfolding story, but they do not do so in a neat narrative format. What is the storyline that holds these pieces together, and what might the storyline tell us about the purposes of God?
Frank Viola addresses these questions in From Eternity to Here: Rediscovering the Ageless Purpose of God. He identifies three storylines:
- God as the passionate lover seeking after his wayward bride.
- God establishing his home on the earth.
- God’s creation of a “new species” in the form of the body of Christ.
The book draws upon the full range of scripture to demonstrate how these storylines are interwoven throughout the various biblical witnesses. I wanted to take issue with one conclusion here and another interpretation there, but I very much appreciated the general thrust of what the book communicates. It is a refreshingly transcendent view beyond the myopia of the gospel as personal fire insurance or self-help therapy.
As I’ve said before, while I don’t always come to the same answers Viola comes to, I do like his questions. This book is no exception. If you don’t like Viola’s answers, this book will hopefully at least press you toward clarifying how you understand the ageless purpose of God.
Is this man a Realized Saint, Yogi, Mystic or Sage?
Is he awake and informed by a heart-based feeling-intelligence?
Does he freely bless all other beings in and via his every thought, word and action?
What demanding and hard-won extensive Spiritual Practice has this man engaged in?
Who wereare his LIVING teachers?---teachers who by their very presence (and hard earned Wisdom too) were able to challenge him to examine ALL of his presumptions about everything.
If not everything he says is just an extension of his own godless double-mindedness---the same kind of yes/no/maybe double-mindednes that (mis)informs the mind of the common every person of our times.
What about the Scriptures or Sacred Texts from the rest of The Great Tradition of Humankind, all of which are now freely available to anyone with an internet connection, and all of which are now our common inheritance, because we are now altogether face to face in a totally inter-connected globalized quantum world.
Why does the truth or the future have to turn out to be Christian, especially as two thirds of the worlds population are NOT Christian.
Posted by: John | Apr 05, 2009 at 09:41 PM
John, everyone comes from some context. It is impossible for an individual to examine ALL presumptions.
I would say we should live our beliefs with a tentative finality. We can't be certain we have understood everything just right but we must act on what we have discerned. It is in trying to live what we have discerned that we come to learn more about the truth of the matter. It simply needs to be done in the humility that our knowledge is finite and sometimes in error. We have to be open to more learning.
It is utterly impractical to suggest that a person must have experienced all religions and examined all presuppositions before making conclusions and writing about metaphysical realities.
Posted by: Michael W. Kruse | Apr 05, 2009 at 09:59 PM