I write a lot about choosing to be on the side of God and Creation, but what does choosing to be on the side of God and Creation entail?
What does the choice really mean?
At the macro level, I believe it boils down to not being on the side of the 'given world' - the world the System generates, propagates, and enforces through its ubiquitous mechanisms, its endless machinations, and its counterfeit ambitions to build heaven on earth.
Being on the side of God and Creation is to be on the side of concrete love, genuine freedom, and dynamic creativity. The choice is inspired by the deep understanding that redemption and salvation do not build heaven on earth, but rather align the earth with heaven.
The given world and Creation are two ways about which a single choice must be made, as Nikolai Berdyaev explains below:
There are two ways: one is that of the love of man, which wants to make men happy, to calm and organize them, to build comfortable housing for their neighbors where they will forget their irrational and tragic freedom, will renounce their right to absolute, supra-mundane truth. This is the way of Grand Inquisitor. It leads to the ant hill where there will be neither freedom nor personality.
The other way is the love of God which wants to liberate men, puts truth and super-human values above prosperity and the ordering of life. This is the way of Him who came with words of boundless freedom, and was a reminder that God and freedom and truth are above the well-being and tranquility of men. And we must choose either the philanthropic way of well-being or the God-loving way of freedom . . .
The world is now firmly in the grip of the philanthropic way of well-being. I don't know about you, but I don't sense any authentic love of man behind the current campaign for global welfare. As far as I can tell, the System's current program to establish heaven on earth will bring everything but well-being, comfort, or tranquility.
Put plainly, it doesn't seem like the 'given world' has all that much to give. Nor does it appear to be in much of a giving mood.
Of course, this should come as no surprise. After all, the Grand Inquisitor minced no words about whom he served.
Unlike the love of man, the God-loving way does not promise well-being, comfort, or tranquility in this world, but it does promise freedom and truth.
And a big part of the choice comes down to that.
What does the choice really mean?
At the macro level, I believe it boils down to not being on the side of the 'given world' - the world the System generates, propagates, and enforces through its ubiquitous mechanisms, its endless machinations, and its counterfeit ambitions to build heaven on earth.
Being on the side of God and Creation is to be on the side of concrete love, genuine freedom, and dynamic creativity. The choice is inspired by the deep understanding that redemption and salvation do not build heaven on earth, but rather align the earth with heaven.
The given world and Creation are two ways about which a single choice must be made, as Nikolai Berdyaev explains below:
There are two ways: one is that of the love of man, which wants to make men happy, to calm and organize them, to build comfortable housing for their neighbors where they will forget their irrational and tragic freedom, will renounce their right to absolute, supra-mundane truth. This is the way of Grand Inquisitor. It leads to the ant hill where there will be neither freedom nor personality.
The other way is the love of God which wants to liberate men, puts truth and super-human values above prosperity and the ordering of life. This is the way of Him who came with words of boundless freedom, and was a reminder that God and freedom and truth are above the well-being and tranquility of men. And we must choose either the philanthropic way of well-being or the God-loving way of freedom . . .
The world is now firmly in the grip of the philanthropic way of well-being. I don't know about you, but I don't sense any authentic love of man behind the current campaign for global welfare. As far as I can tell, the System's current program to establish heaven on earth will bring everything but well-being, comfort, or tranquility.
Put plainly, it doesn't seem like the 'given world' has all that much to give. Nor does it appear to be in much of a giving mood.
Of course, this should come as no surprise. After all, the Grand Inquisitor minced no words about whom he served.
Unlike the love of man, the God-loving way does not promise well-being, comfort, or tranquility in this world, but it does promise freedom and truth.
And a big part of the choice comes down to that.
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