there is a concept Jesus teaches in the new testament that there are two sides to every coin...often appearing as extremes but equally coexistent at the same time. he says that no matter how you approach life people will try and write you off based on their misunderstanding of truth--attempting to categorize truth based on personal subjective experience rather than on non-relative absolute truth. in every way, Jesus then bursts the bubble of human understanding...and still does.
Jesus tells a story about how many people of his age attempt to discredit His teaching because He spends time drinking wine with His friends and befriending sinners. He says that the same people who ridicule Him used the exact opposite argument to discredit the prophet, John the Baptist, undermining John by scorning him for his sober isolation from the hebrew/roman culture that had--at the time--spiraled into idolatry and impiety. Essentially, Jesus says that no matter how God reveals Himself to people...many will deny His reality--the truth--by playing this game of extremes i.e. "I would have believed but i couldn't accept what you showed me."
Jesus says that wisdom is double-edged, it includes both the party-goer and the prude...neither better than the other, and both subject to the same God and the same truth. In short, Jesus is saying, "all truth is God the Father's truth." Truth may appear to us in different forms and through different people, but it is still the truth rooted in Jesus Christ. Jesus goes onto say later that one can distinguish the difference between truth and error simply by looking at Him...by observing Jesus, who is the truth incarnate. He is our wisdom. in short then, anything that contradicts the Name of Jesus is false.
in regards to my previous blog about the author of 'eat love and pray' i wanted to address the seeming contradiction that i would post her TED speech on my blog, while simultaneously exposing her conclusion as false.
Jesus says that there is an element to life that is wisdom AND that there is also an element of life that is wind. in other words, we must learn to discern God's voice to us 1) by fact--what is written in the Hebrew and New Testament scriptures--and 2) by what is sensed, felt and experienced in everyday life. so when we listen to authors, speakers, politicians, etc. we must always discern God's presence through wisdom and wind.
why i can so greatly appreciate elizabeth gilbert's wisdom, is because she has spent much time exploring the depths of God's truth through her sense of Him in books, in people and in life. her words affirm many truths of God's inspiration within human beings. i have no doubt that much of what Elizabeth Gilbert speaks has been given to her by God. the wind has blown on us all, and i believe everyone of us has tasted God's goodness and experienced His kingdom in part...though we may not have known where this was leading. where we err is that we interpret God's wind in us incorrectly. that's why it's crucial to ground ourselves by exploring the depths of God's character through the Bible scriptures...which can--unlike any other sacred text--be authenticated by manuscript evidence, archeological evidence, fulfilled prophesy, and statistical analysis.
i'm grateful to God for elizabeth gilbert and the wisdom He has filled her with. i pray that in her unique expression and authorship she will continue to be open to the wind of His Spirit who points gently, quietly, and patiently toward the cross, toward Jesus, the anchor that acts as gravity, the truth revealing God's love to the world.
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