05 September 2023
This isn't in response to any one question but should help to answer several. I don't know if I can write this in such a way that you'll grasp it, but it's my duty in Christ to try.
I'm going to offer what amounts to a parable. At the same time, I'm doing my best to include bits and pieces of clinical description to breathe life into this parable. I'm trying to bridge the gap, to help you see more clearly the foot you have in this world so you can estimate what to do with the foot that's in another realm entirely.
I've said it repeatedly: Reality is not what we've been taught. It's not real, for one thing. It's false; it's an artificial construct that will evaporate in due course. It only seems real. It's part of the Curse of the Fall. Yet, we are stuck in this lie, in a certain sense. It's part of the fleshly nature, so the only way to get out is to die. And our flesh fears death, so it's not easy to overcome that barrier.
And while we all share in this awful situation, sometimes it's a lot easier to imagine it as each of us individually stuck in a bubble, in some way isolated from each other. We carry around with us a false reality. It's not a shared bubble; we are not all in this together. Rather, we each suffer our own peculiar isolation. The rest of Creation suffers none of this; it is unique to humans. The natural world around you sees clearly; it is not fallen. No, we each are individually isolated from the rest of Creation in our own delusions.
But that doesn't keep us from trying. We are so desperate not to be alone that we will agree together to pretend our individual false realities are one big, shared reality. We'll agree that we are all in this together, and pretend that there are consistent rules by which this "reality" operates. In so doing, we agree to ignore an awful lot that we could see if we chose to see it. We are equipped with that ability, but we stifle it. Thus, we end up all struggling to keep those obvious things from our consciousness.
Still, in significant ways, our individual realities vary. Some part of us knows it. Something fundamental to the fakery underlying our existence keeps us all isolated from each other. We can lie to ourselves, but the sense of isolation never goes away. We remain hungry for some interpersonal fulfillment, to fill some emptiness that never stops gnawing at us. No one ever really understands us, not completely. It is utterly impossible to quell that hunger from within the bubble.
Upon the birth of spiritual awareness, we realize that God alone can fulfill that hunger. Only via our connection to Him can we genuinely connect with any other. It's why Christians can be so overwhelmed by emotional warmth for each other, stronger than any sexual attraction. It's why we keep struggling to find ways to restructure how we relate in the flesh, to push aside the vestigial barriers that keep intruding on our fellowship.
Whatever it was that Christ intended for His gospel to do, it was supposed to build in us a flaming hunger for peace with each other. I keep trying to explain how the whole mission of the church is to simply be family. There is no valid plan or objective except to tear down the human barriers to spiritual affection. That's the whole mission of the church.
The moment you start thinking about ways to get more people, more money, more resources, you are off track. We have commands regarding how we treat each other, but there is no command to grow except by the divine hand of God bringing more souls. If numerical growth is not a divine miracle, it's adding defilement to the Body.
Sure, spread the message. You want them to find this joy; you cannot resist the urge to share. But STOP trying to grow your membership by any means other than the miracle of God adding to your numbers. Make room for Him to take some away, as well. Don't even think about it; don't give one second to analysis from your own capabilities. This is not a human project at all.
Our individual human bubble of false reality is a just due punishment, a wholly justified measure to keep us from wrecking God's work. Don't fight and argue with God about the terms and conditions of your confinement. Learn to grasp paradox, to understand that the only escape from this bubble of deception is no escape at all. Embrace the situation, with all its contradictions and lies. There are parts of this situation that we cannot change.
The only possible change is what God provides on a level above this bubble existence. We remain stuck in the bubble, but there is an added link to Eternity. We want to maximize our engagement in that link. When the bubble collapses and the flesh dies, we'll be anchored somewhere else. No great loss.
Thus, all of our attention and focus of energy is on that link to the Eternal. We'll gladly sacrifice everything we have inside this bubble for what we can gain eternally. The biggest problem we have is our native deception about the distinction between what is flesh and what is eternal. The flesh will lie about itself. We must cultivate a higher sense that does not rely on flesh.
Can you work with that? What kind of life would you build from this perspective? And finally, what kind of society would develop if everyone built on that foundation?
That's what we would call a "church".
This document is public domain; spread the message.