August 18 2018
HATE AND HERESY
“Stronger than lover’s love is lover’s hate. Incurable, in each, the wounds they make.”
Euripides, Greek poet 480 BC –406 BC
“Heresy is a form of intellectual stubbornness, the refusal to abandon a mistaken idea.”
Dante, Italy, 1265-1321
I found these quotes in Donna Leon’s book THE WATERS OF ETERNAL YOUTH.
The “Lover’s Hate” maxim reminded me of my book, DAY WITHOUT END, in which our guardian angel, Cornelius, shows us the pre-historic world.
Here is that section:
We see the planet earth from a satellite vantage point, a large ball in an ocean of blue with a wisp of cloud here and there where green colours glimmer through, pure stark colours. As we edge in, we notice more detail: rainy jungles and sand-coloured desert. We continue our sweep, moving ever closer. The screen shows everything in three dimensions which gives the sensation that the earth is right there for the touching. I can sense the rich air, suggesting a high oxygen content. I ask Cornelius about this and he says, “Yes, the make-up of the air is different from what you were used to. Look at the large animals there–and we zoom in on a tree eating creature, resembling somewhat a gigantic ostrich– they could not live in less pure air.” He now zeroes in on an even more fierce-looking quadruped, equally ugly and ungainly in my opinion. A couple of these uglies are engaged in a fierce fight and we can hear their shrieks and loud bangs as their arms and legs pound on each other.
“Did God create these terrible looking beasts?” wonders Fidelia, “they are awful.”
“No,” replies Cornelius. “He had delegated this to Lucifer, his chief angel who wanted to experiment by creating animals of large size and huge proportion. However they proved quite destructive. I think they ate their own weight in foliage each week. Look, there is a pair at work. See how they rip through the trees, uproot them and leave gaping holes in the earth. Also they were fast breeders and their presence created a severe imbalance.”
“What happened? Did God allow Lucifer to get away with this?” inquires Phronimos.
“Well, you know God Creator,” continues Cornelius. “He called Lucifer to account and when he pleaded with God, He gave him another chance. Lucifer had argued that the climate on earth was too favourable for these creatures and wondered whether a greater variety in temperatures would keep them in check. God agreed, and he changed the atmospheric conditions. Look, here comes the next phase.”
We see enormous volcanic eruptions, spouting ashes, darkening the skies and polluting the atmosphere. Everywhere we see nothing but thick smoke and dark, bulging flames. I close my nose and cover my mouth against the penetrating smell of sulfur. It is a good thing that Cornelius now is at a safe distance from the rapidly changing atmosphere because the picture is so real that I can feel the earth shake violently and see enormous clouds of mists hiss and steam.
We now speed through time, passing through millions of years in a few seconds, and we see that the earth has taken on a different appearance: same round ball, but a more defined land mass, with a distinct white on both ends. The continents have drifted apart, forced by the enormous pressures of the subterranean forces, and I recognize them: there is Asia, topped by the gigantic Siberian vastness; the immense Pacific Ocean, a solid blue, with little dots here and there. As the earth circles, I point out the American land mass, stretching from pole to pole, and then a few moments later, Europe and Africa, almost all entirely emerald green, and in an expanse of almost perpetual purple, the Indonesian archipelago and Australia. When we move closer we see lots of experimental animals, both plant-eating and also large meat-eating monsters, all very impressive and gigantic, some of them having mouths like enormous horses. Phronimos suggests that no humans could dwell in such an environment and Cornelius nods in affirmation.
“Nothing really changed!” I exclaim, as I see the long necks and the large claw-like feet of these monsters, which also function as hands when they sit on their tail and so are able to reach even the highest tree tops. I also notice other animals with gigantic heads who tear other creatures apart as if they are made of paper.
“True,” says Cornelius. “So God called Lucifer again to his throne. When He pointed out to Lucifer that these animals and others just as ferocious in the seas meant that more benign developments would be impossible, they got into quite an argument. I was there and I have never seen anything like it since. Heaven usually is a quiet, peaceful place, but this was something else. I think Lucifer had plans from the start to challenge God and shape the cosmos according to his ideas.”
“What sort of character is Lucifer?” Phronimos wonders.
“He is a real charmer and by his smooth talk he convinced many more angels to join forces with him.”
“So, what happened?” asks Initia. We all are quite intrigued by this and eagerly await Cornelius’ answer.
“Well, first the Lord Creator banned Lucifer and his vassals from heaven and gave the Light-bearer the darkest place in creation, the deepest black hole in the universe, as his base of operation. Then God destroyed the earth completely. Watch.”
We now have moved quite a distance from the earth. We see the globe in the far, far distance, and for a good reason: a large asteroid is speeding to the earth. When it hits, black soot fills the sky and blocks out the sun. The entire earth is covered with a thick layer of rock and debris and volcanic lava. The rich, lush vegetation is buried deep in the earth. All living matter disappears and the earth goes into a deep, long sleep out of which it awakens in the form we know it. A large section of the globe is shrouded in white: the ice age has come and with it some human habitation and upon closer examination also different animals such as giant elephant-like creatures. The icy-period now fades quickly and with more moderate temperatures now prevailing, life, as we have experienced it, develops.
“And the rest you know,” says Cornelius.
Here is an episode where love turns sour, and degenerated into hate. Lucifer, also known as the Devil, the Satan, and The Evil One, switched from a love relationship – only LOVE can exist in God’s presence, as God IS Love – to total hatred, and consequently is banned from Heaven.
The Satan landed feet first on Earth, causing incurable wounds to God’s creation, grieving the Creator deeply, even more because it took the life of God’s only Son to remedy the situation.
Today we still are in that suffering stage, and the wounds are all too clearly visible, although we, in rural Tweed, notice little of it, as the heat has been moderate and the rains came in time. True, there is no real awareness of God and religion in our area, but that is par for the course. Relationships are another matter: divorce and poverty are rampant.
In my appraisal career I often had to evaluate the real estate assets of a couple splitting up: a tricky job, because one party wanted a low value while the other a high estimate. The bitterness and the anger, the animosity and hostility proved to me that when love turns to hatred, every action, even well-intended, is seen as an act of revenge.
That’s also the reason why angry spouses, mostly men, far too often kill their female partners, and often take their own lives also, indicating that, “Stronger than lover’s love is lover’s hate. Incurable, in each, the wounds they make.”
HERESIES in theology
I like Dante’s definition of HERESY, “Being a form of intellectual stubbornness, the refusal to abandon a mistaken idea.”
Today heresies abound, especially theological. Need I mention HEAVEN again, a truly pagan concept? Or Rapture?
We live in different times where the old is losing its validity. Take the church. If nothing else, look who go there: old folks like me. That alone tells m that the model no longer works.
The Roman Catholic Church, the largest Christian denomination in the world, is a good example with its supposedly celibate clergy. An utterly outdated and totally unbiblical teaching, where, in fact the church is robbing the clergy of their humanity, a sin all too obvious today. With no women clergy there, the church pursues an utterly outdated and totally unbiblical practice.
In general the church clings to the Bible as God’s SOLE revelation, forgetting that there also is God’s permanent, direct Word, his creation.
By ignoring God’s creation, the church forfeits any chance to speak to the world. Today pastors need not only be theo-logians, knowing the Logos, the Word about Theos- God, through a thorough grasp of the Scriptures, but also be Ecologists connecting the Eco – the OIKOS, – the Earth to its maker.
HERESIES in economics
Heresies are equally evident in economics. Capitalism is based on the assumption that the earth’ resources are infinite. Their leaders believe that they can keep us supplied with what we want in perpetuity by exploiting the earth.
The result is all too obvious. We are suffering from a form of intellectual stubbornness, the refusal to abandon a mistaken idea, which is leading to total societal collapse.
The global economy is so intimately integrated that the absence of one vital ingredient, such as rare earth minerals of which China is the major source, can stall production of the now so needed tools for Information Technology.
Still the major obstacle facing the world is the dependence on fossil fuels, an idea that will seal the doom of society.
Heresies in Politics.
Political heresies abound, especially today. In the USA, with the Congress members up for re-election every two years, raising money is their main concern, which often means securing funds from corporate donors, who dictate their wishes, usually not a voter’s priority. Also the lack of proportional representation in North America’s politics means that always a minority rules.
How then shall we live?
Time and again it boils down to the religious question, “How then shall we live in a world that is finite, a world that is indeed holy, because it is God’s very creation?”
Today, as no other time, this means sacrifices, for instance letting go of television, while reflecting and praying without ceasing. My constant prayer is “MARANATHA, Lord come quickly”. Writing, which I do every day, is a matter of reflection, a mind-opening exercise, which can lead to greater self-knowledge.
Growing food, digging into the soil, is my passion: I feel a kinship with the soil. When this spring a BLACK groundhog ate all my carefully cultivated cabbages, kale and green beans, fencing in my garden was no remedy. Fortunately my prayer for a predator to kill this nuisance was heard, and, thanks to warm days, warm nights, and lots of irrigation, I was able to restart these plants again.
Somehow, it seems, animals are more aggressive this year: chipmunks are eating my ripe tomatoes, crows and squirrels were after my apples, so I had the pick them before they were ripe – I have an early apple tree – and made apple sauce from them.
“How then shall we live?”
Ban HATE and HERESY and embrace LOVE for the earth and for all that lives and treasure the TRUTH of the Scriptures instead. John 3:16 embodies them both: “Love the cosmos, and the TRUTH of eternal life will be ours.”
I see the church’s task to prepare its members for the cosmos to come. For this the most appropriate text is Revelation 21: 1, “Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.”
There’s where our citizenship belongs. 1 John 5: 19 beyond dispute, claims that, “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”
We don’t belong to the first heaven and earth, a planet totally dominated by evil.
Reborn in Christ, we belong to the New Creation.