The world is not bad it is just broken!
This changes our thinking from the church as good (white), and world as bad (Black) and compromise as gray.
The Jesus way of thinking is Church as colorful, and the world as black and white or broken.
Look at it this way;
God created us in the garden colorful and whole; body, soul and spirit.
Our body was healthy and naked.
Our Soul was innocent and transparent.
Our Spirit was in communion with God.
We became broken when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good (white) and evil (black).
Our body became sick and covered.
Our soul became corrupt and ashamed.
Our spirit became separated from God.
In a black and white world people are looking for meaning and purpose this is why we have many different religions but also war and greed, etc.
Jesus came to fix what was broken. John 3:16-17
Jesus said the Kingdom of heaven is here He was referring to the relationship of God and man being restored as it was in the garden.
The death and resurrection of Jesus brought the final restoration or redemption for man to be complete and made whole; body, soul and spirit.
Our life is made complete in Christ!
Our identity is no longer in a broken black and white world but in Christ and the colorful world found only by his grace.
Grace makes us free not to live broken again but open to live life to the fullest.
The colorful world is not two dimensional but is a matrix and can only be understood by a relationship with Christ.
The black and white still exist in a colorful matrix. We still struggle with the attacks of the adversary just as Adam and Eve did in the garden tempting us to draw away from the Father.
The Holy Spirit was given to us to empower and lead us in this freedom we have in Christ.
When we see the world not as bad but broken we are able to Impact it with hope as Christ did.
This is the Missio Dei.
December 18, 2008 at 9:07 pm |
Hi Douglas!
I agree that the world is broken, but not “just” broken. If the world is only broken, then I´m only broken. If i´m only broken, I´m not guilty. If i´m not guilty, I don´t need forgiveness. And then the cross is not a penalty for sins, but only an example of love to learn from. When we compare the world with Gods holiness, it is indeed bad/black. That’s why they need Christ.
White is a symbol of justified. In Christ we are justified and white. He has cleansed us. Before we are cleansed, we are still black (guilty, heading towards judgment). Why can we not look at the church as white? And what exactly do you mean with colorfull? If white is good, black is bad, grey is something in-between, then what is colorful? I’m confused.
Hope you are having a good advent time. Greetings to your family.
December 27, 2008 at 11:26 am |
Kasper,
What was it that the Prophets preached repentance from? Disobedience! Repentance is turning your heart back to God. John, Jesus and Peter were all preaching to Israel saying turn back to God!!
One thing you must understand is brokenness is another word for sin or living outside the will of God and it is sin we must repent from.
Both those scriptures are referring to people who are under the influence of evil or good and evil.
The same person Jesus is calling evil in Matt. 7:11 can ask of the Father for good things.
Matt 12:34,35 are referring to the Pharisees who are still living in a black and white world who by the hardening of their hearts has been influenced by evil. Jesus is speaking to a Jewish crowed that has the law and should know how to live white (good) in a black (evil) and white (good) world.
Jesus had not brought redemption through the cross yet but was speaking judgment on Israel for their disobedience.
Keep seeking you will find it! Read Hebrews 3-5
December 18, 2008 at 11:45 pm |
Kasper,
This is a theological question and deserves a theological answer.
It depends on your understanding of original sin. You seem to follow the western Augustine view in the idea of guilt.
But even if you follow that view then look at it this way.
You are broken because you are guilty or you are guilty because you are broken either way the only way to be fixed (saved) is by the incarnation, death and resurrection of Christ.
Would you compare Gods holiness to life in the Garden? If life in the Garden was what you call holiness and Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowladge of good and evil, they then were departed from the “holiness” of God into a world of “good and evil” or black and white not just evil or black. Man himself is not evil but has enter into a knowledge of good and evil and must live with this tension or dialect separated from God.
We can not look at the church as white and the world as black because that is not the way God sees it.
God so LOVED the WORLD. Did God love evil? God loved the world because He created it in His holiness. What he created was good. God didn’t send His Son to condemn the world or to tell the world how black and evil it is but to save or fix it from it brokeness in your case guilt.
The colorful life is justification and holiness that is found in the grace of Christ. The colorful life is a life of faith! The colorful life is eternal life. Again it is a matrix!
If white is good, black is bad, grey is something in-between, then what is colorful? Was there good and bad in the garden? The answer to your question is Christ!
Miss you! Have a good Christmas!!!
December 27, 2008 at 1:03 am |
Hi again.
Mathew 7,11: “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
Mathew 12,34-35
You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.
Isn’t Jesus here calling someone “evil”?
The problem though, is that there is no room for the idea of repentence if I don´t have any guilt. The prophets have preached repentence, John the baptist preached repentence, so did Jesus and Peter. God in the old testament punished people for sin. Could he punish someone that was not guilty, that was only broken?
Thank you for the book! ☺
July 3, 2009 at 10:39 pm |
The painting is absolutely beautiful…and that beauty, if anything, must be “God.”
But what I don’t think can be logically interpreted as “God” is color, a sensation detected by the human eye due to the refraction of light. Indeed, its beauty is that of divinity, as the ability of light to produce such stunning sensations seems miraculous.
However, black and white are also colors. White is “visible light,” the resulting combination of all colors on the spectrum.
Therefore, why is it determined that black and white are not the ideal? A black-and-white charcoal art piece is just as beautiful as the painting above.
I think that placing artificial human constructs (such as labels and symbols) upon the natural world cheapens the beauty of it.
July 4, 2009 at 6:15 am |
Thanks Anonymous for the comment, however I don’t think you read the post. I speak of the CHURCH in terms of color not God. I use these symbols to open our eyes to certain spiritual truths. Symbols and icons are only windows into heaven and can never fully reveal the truth.
I speak of black and white even in the colorful matrix.
Try to read it again in it’s context and learn what truth is being revealed in this post!
Peace!