Francis Berger
  • Blog
  • My Work

The Apparent Absence of Transcendent Help Is No Reason To Feel Powerless

2/25/2021

6 Comments

 
As the birdemic closes in on its first year in the West, many Christians appear to be sinking into a deep pit of perceived powerlessness.

Nearly all Christian churches abandoned their congregations in early 2020 and nearly all continue to abide by the incoherent birdemic measures imposed upon them.

All, or nearly all, Christian churches have willingly aligned themselves with the global technocratic totalitarian agenda.

Not only have many modern Christians decidedly failed litmus tests like climate change, anti-racism, and equity/equality, but most happily sport these failures as badges of honor.

A great many more are eagerly lining up to get pecked with anti-birdemic juice in the hope of protecting themselves and their "neighbor" so things can get "back to normal", a decision most major Christian churches have endorsed and promoted as a sacred moral and spiritual duty.

In the midst of this seemingly endless parade of blatant evil, there remain some Christians who have not spiritually surrendered to the birdemic coup. I imagine a great many of these Christians are praying and waiting for the arrival of transcendent help. This is, after all, in a spiritual war; and in a spiritual war, one can use all the transcendent assistance one can obtain.

Though I firmly believe that transcendent forces are fully active, I am also convinced that much of this activity is currently and appropriately inaccessible to us. Many Christians who remain committed to the side of God and Creation interpret this inaccessibility as absence and are beginning to feel helpless as the demonic pressure continues to ratchet up all around them. 

I imagine a great many of these Christians maintain solid faith in God, but sometimes wonder why God has not responded to this faith. To these Christians I offer the following - perhaps it's time to start wondering why we haven't responded to the faith God has in us. 

In a recent post detailing the encroaching danger of mass despair in the West in the complete absence of conceivable worldly solutions to the birdemic, Bruce Charlton noted: 

The choice is stark: despair or Christ.

And Christ is necessary, but not sufficient - because each must work actively for his own destiny in this world; and for his salvation in the next. 


For most Christians - converged and un-converged alike - the idea that Christ is necessary, but not sufficient immediately raises red flags. But this reaction stems from what I would define as a constricted assumption about the nature of Christ's mission, which is limited to Christ's offer of salvation.

Salvation makes Christ necessary, but our willing acceptance of the salvation Christ offers is also necessary. Those who actively embrace salvation achieve freedom from, but salvation alone does not provide freedom for. Freedom for is the neglected part of Christ's mission - and that neglected part is theosis.

Dr. Charlton's observations regarding the active work required to attain one's destiny in this world and salvation in the next suggests that our destiny and salvation are not dependent solely on the transcendent, but also involve something immanent within us.

When we consider the apparent absence of the transcendent in the world today, it should not inspire feelings of powerlessness and helplessness. On the contrary, the apparent absence of the transcendent should instead motivate us to develop the daring and courage to look within rather than continually look above.

Such suggestions will sound misguided, risky, perhaps even heretical to some Christians who remain entrenched on the side of God and Creation, but I ask these Christians to - at the very least - consider the possibility that the current (apparent) absent of the transcendent is embedded in Divine wisdom and love. Transcendent absence could also be a testament to the tremendous faith God has in Man's latent creative power, as suggested by Nikolai Berdyaev in The Meaning of the Creative Act: 

Doubt of man's creative power is a self-conceited reflexion, a morbid egotism. Humility and doubting modesty in places where there should be daring confidence and decision are always disguised metaphysical pride, reflective retrospection, and egoistic isolation, born of fear and terror. 

Times are coming in the life of humanity when it must help itself, conscious that the absence of transcendent aid is not helplessness; because man can discover limitless aid immanent within himself if he dares to reveal in himself, by the creative act, all the power of God and the world, the true world, freed from the illusory world. 

Note added: I have used the term transcendence rather loosely and vaguely here. For the purposes of this post, I am referring mostly to concept of transcendent help - that is supernatural assistance manifesting in the "natural" mortal world in the form of perceptible signs, communications, miracles and the like.

The apparent lack of such perceivable signs has left many Christians feeling helpless and powerless. My main point here is that this apparent lack of "signs from above" suggests Christians are either not looking in the right places for these signs or have not developed the means to recognize and acknowledge them when they appear.

Rather than inspire feelings of powerlessness and helplessness, I suggest a lack of signs from above should be regarded as a positive sign of God's faith in us. Rather than feel powerless, the apparent lack of transcendent aid should empower Christians to embrace new ways of thinking and understanding and become wholly active in nurturing a divine form of consciousness. Thus, the aid we seek (and the aid we need) needs to originate from what is divine within us.   

6 Comments
bruce charlton
2/26/2021 09:57:09

An important thing for Christians to get sorted-out, this one.

We need to reflect on what kind of world this is, God's priorities, and how God works in this world.

As usual, I find the family analogy to be helpful. Also the Arkle idea that the basic set-up is that God wants us to do as much for ourselves as possible, because that is the best (sometimes only) way to learn.

As individuals (because that is how God knows us - not as nations or a species) we may be rescued (i.e. for salvation, not for this- worldly comfort) at the Last Moment (if we allow it) but probably not until then...

Reply
Francis Berger
2/26/2021 11:39:35

@ Bruce - I agree. Thanks for attention to Arkle's idea. The idea regarding God wanting us to do as much as possible for ourselves is one of those observations that should be "obvious" to all Christians, yet somehow, mysteriously, isn't.

Whenever I think about this subject, I always visualize a child learning to ride a bicycle with the father holding the bicycle at the back to ensure the bike remains balanced.

At some point, the father has to let go - and a good, loving father will do exactly that once he is convinced the child knows enough and has acquired enough to skill to ride the bike unassisted.

Yet most Christians are like children on bikes who cannot conceive of the father ever letting go - perhaps even believing that this would in some way be wrong!

Reply
William Wildblood
2/26/2021 16:20:13

The growing up analogy is right. If God revealed himself to us now just because things are tough he would be spiritually infantilising us. He's actually paying us a compliment in letting us work things out for ourselves. He may not be sending angels to comfort us now but he is saying "Go inside where I am also to be found. Meet me in my world rather than expect me to come down to yours." That's the only way we will start to become like him which is the whole point of the exercise.

Reply
Francis Berger
2/26/2021 23:03:44

@ William - Yes, I couldn't agree more.

Reply
Craig Anderson
3/5/2021 07:09:43

"Though I firmly believe that transcendent forces are fully active, I am also convinced that much of this activity is currently and appropriately inaccessible to us. Many Christians who remain committed to the side of God and Creation interpret this inaccessibility as absence and are beginning to feel helpless as the demonic pressure continues to ratchet up all around them."

I read this and thought.
In my daily life I experience the "splendid mundane"
in which the transcendant forces align ordinary things
evoking extraordinary thoughts.
Wonderful cirumstances arrive seemingly unbidden.
Somehow the point of view on the mundane
is from some transcendant place

During the apocalyptic year of 2020 this pattern strengthened. This is sufficient for me.

Reply
Craig Anderson
3/5/2021 07:24:00

Not knowing what theosis means, I came to this definition to consider:

Theosis is the belief, mostly found within the Eastern Orthodox Church, that Christians can experience a union with God and become like him so much that they participate in the divine nature. This concept is also known as deification. Theosis does not mean that they become Gods or merge with God but that they are deified. They participate in the “energies” of God with which he reveals himself to us in creation. ... Protestants do not use this term

I like that and also confirmation I am not protesting anymore.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Blog and Comments

    Blog posts tend to be spontaneous, unpolished, first draft entries ranging from the insightful and periodically profound to the poorly-argued and occasionally disparaging.
     

    Comments are moderated. Anonymous comments are never published (please use your name or a pseudonym). 

    Emails welcome:

    f er en c ber g er (at) h otm   ail (dot) co m
    Blogs/Sites I Read
    Bruce Charlton's Notions
    Meeting the Masters
    From The Narrow Desert
    Synlogos ✞ Aggregator
    New World Island  
    New World Island YouTube
    ​Steeple Tea
    Berdyaev.com
    Adam Piggott
    Fourth Gospel Blog
    The Orthosphere
    Junior Ganymede

    Archives

    June 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    June 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012

    Picture
    A free PDF is also available in My Work. 
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.