"..i am a whore i do confess,
i put you on just like a wedding dress,
and i run down the aisle.."
in my interpretation, i believe the song, through the bride and groom metaphor, speaks to making commitments that are broken, false loves spoken for. i believe the song speaks of a treacherous love, yet a love still.
yes, to put it bluntly, i'd argue that most Christians, me especially, claim a love and dedication to God that we consider "first and foremost," while in action, word, thought, and deed, we do otherwise. we are adulterous lovers, as webb would say, seeking alternate forms of pleasure to find solace, self esteem, affirmation, etc. we lie in beds of money, cradled by our own pride, and satisfied by however we rank our material gain.
these are human actions, from which we can rarely, if ever, detach ourselves. while i deeply admire and appreciate webb's boldness in bringing this situation to life (and boldness in using words like "whore" and "bastard" in a song about Jesus :p), i have to wonder what we do with it, especially as a Church.
the truth is, we are human. we have carnal desires that are not, as many would argue, shameful, but instead inescapable. but how does a person quit being who they are in order to please God? i don't necessarily believe a person should ever quit being who they are, nor do i think doing so will win favor with God. i do not believe a God who created humanity would then bash those who are human for who they are. instead, i rely on two standbys as my only answer to this dilemma -- the first and second commandment.
within the divine call to love God and love people, i believe the Church gets as close as it possibly can to retreating from such spiritually adulterous lifestyles and embracing the love of God. we cannot drop our humanity "cold turkey" as if it is a simple lush desire. let's face it -- it is within our innermost being. we are clothed in humanity, but through the exercising of the first and second commandment the Church finds itself enveloped in a desire (as much as is humanly possible, of course) to love God and love people more than themselves. this certainly functions as an attitude that is not very human. in this attitude, the Church begins to show off hearts of humility rather than the clothes of humanity.
in addition, the Church can seek out "remedies," so to speak, for the human condition within one thing -- repentance. my priest, father jeff gibson, always speaks to our bible study group about intentionality. though we usually speak of it in other terms, i believe it is applicable here. there is something beautiful about repentance in that it speaks of a persons intentionality. it speaks to a person's ability, again, to humble themselves in confession. it also expresses a sense of realization of the human condition, rather than an oblivious attitude that rarely results in a desire to change, or change at all.
with that said, as a note, i'd like to discuss what i mean by "change." i mentioned at the outset that i spoke of the fact that i do not believe God expects us to change who we are, so i do not want any of my comments up until now to be misunderstood. do i think God expects people to be, as i said before, not who they are? no, not at all. but as a Church, we are called, and claim to be, on a journey towards perfection. within that journey, yes, sometimes change is necessary, but it is the sort of change that does not rip us away from who we are, but instead, helps us better understand who we are, and that relation to God. to experience this sort of change at all, the Church must read, mark, learn and inwardly digest, so that discernment can occur. this is intentionality.
through creating us, i believe God understands us. within that, i believe God is aware of the humanity we embody. i don't believe God expects us to lose who we are, but instead, to strive for something outside ourselves, bigger than ourselves, through humility and repentance.
4 comments:
ryc (reply to your comment) - Well, Christian firstly, but then it gets kinda hazy. I was raised Southern Baptist, but as Ryan could tell you I am a pretty poor Southern Baptist. I worship with (and will become a member of upon my return from Japan next year) a Presbyterian church in Tuscaloosa called Riverwood, which I really love. I suppose you could say I was Presbyterian; it shouldn't be far off if at all off.
Ryan has told me a few things about the Episcopalian Bible study and church he was been involved with some and I hope I can check it out sometime before I flee the country in early-mid September. I guess it would be safe to say that me and Ryan think fairly similar on most things, so if you know Ryan pretty well you will have a general idea of my probable stance (more or less) on the issue.
ryc - No, it's perfectly fine about the questions. Yea, I am an English major as well, but I plan to specialize more in the linguistic field than the lit field. My minor is Japanese (doing an exchange program this year, hence the leaving the country bit). I'm planning on/hoping to be able to teach English as a second language to university level Japanese students (either in Japan or as exchange students in America, the former preferred right now). Anything else feel free to ask.
wow. erin that was an amazing post.
So we have our sins that we bear... It sounds like a rationalization. When you put a cap on things like that, it slows progress. When you begin to see your limits you will never move beyond them. Yes, we as humans are poor and while you can say we change so often, it is surprising how little we change. How much different are we from the kid pouting in the candy store because he did not get his way? We just find different candy, different ways to pout, and the joy of guilt to burden us down. It is my purpose to put away childish things. If we accept something, then it is there. If we accept that, we will always lie. It will always be there. Your intentionality becomes to give everything to God except lying. Of course, this is not the only sin we commit. So, we pursue perfection. Yet as you said, we are inherently imperfect. So if we accept our imperfection, we deny God(Because we are accepting our sins). If we don't accept our imperfection, then we are lying to ourselves - Blinding ourselves, really. Seemingly paradox. Intentionality could probably still be played as a loop hole if we put our intention to love God first. This could be achieved. Then the question must be asked, Why do we love God? Because we believe he created us? Because we are scared of hell? So is it the debt of creation that we love him or the fear that causes our love? I feel that would seem more of self interest. Anyways, just some thoughts. I loved this comment,by the by especially the third paragraph because I feel it relates to most humans in many situations. I wouldn't mind some counter thoughts.
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