Originally posted by darkhorse
additional thought:
If you were a king and wanted to discern the true loyalty of your servants, how would you do it? Ordered respect would be the norm in your presence. Only if you appeared to depart for a time might hidden feelings be unmasked. If you looked into your servants' hearts, the truth would be visible. But only by letting the drama play out would the truth be visible to all.
If you were a king and wanted to discern the true faith of your servants, how would you do it? In comfort and security they would never have reason to doubt you, never have reason to fear. Only if the road was hard and the future uncertain would they be required to trust you. Only if pain and grief knocked loudly at their door would they be required to lean on you. Only if the enemy appeared strong would they call on your strength. It is easy to trust when nothing is at stake, quite another when everything is at stake.
If you were a king and wanted to discern the true wisdom of your servants, how would you do it? You would leave the path in plain sight but make it hard to find. You would allow your enemies to set up obstacles and roadblocks, both outside the faith and within, that your servants might gain strength and understanding in overcoming them. You would warn of false prophets and bad teaching within the faith itself, but would require your servants to dig out the inconsistencies and turn away the pernicious influences rather than doing the work for them. You would make it easy for the humble, hard for the proud. You would have us stumble when we shelter the things you despise most: arrogance, ego, small mindedness, pettiness, inflated sense of self. You would make it easy to blow off the truth and mock trivialities instead. You would make it hard to put aside distractions and listen to heart and mind with no bias except desire to know what makes ultimate sense, what is ultimately real.
If you were a king and wanted to discern the true submissiveness of your servants, how would you do it? You would make it clear to them that there is only one true power, only one true ruler. You would do as you please and apologize to no one, set the standards of your own hand and have your entire kingdom abide by them. You would answer questions in a way and time of your own choosing, if at all, and your answer would be your answer. Period. Inquiries would be welcomed, sought wisdom granted, humble searching rewarded, grateful worship accepted- but arrogant rebellion crushed.
If you were a king and wanted to demonstrate mercy and justice, how would you do it? You would show mercy by granting forgiveness of those who truly seek it. You would accept gifts of worship and service if born of the proper gratitude. But being just, you could not sweep wrongdoing under the rug. Atonement would be required before forgiveness. A price must be paid. Blood must be shed.
If you were a king and wanted to demonstrate the limitless scope of your power, how would you do it? Perhaps by laughing at the worldy trappings of power, the pathetic popsicle stick shacks erected by man. If you walked the earth you would not seek the glory of military might, or the silly oohs and aahs of monetary wealth, or the short term satisfaction of sending your enemies tumbling with a flick of your finger. No- to a true king, to a creator and sustainer of the universe, the world's myopic definitions of success and power would have all the immediacy and gravitas of kindergarden sandbox games. As a king you would reject shallow notions of power and thus demonstrate what true power is. Your followers would beg of you to set up camp on a patch of dirt and enforce your rule with a sword, not realizing that your plan is to demonstrate the grandness of your rule over the entire time scale of the entire universe, that your power is so vast and immense it would hurt a man's mind to even try and conceive of it without proper preparation and baby steps of forethought.
In the end, you would display a full panorama of your attributes, all the elements within your character that were reflected in your creation: logic, reason, beauty, creativity, compassion, mercy, love, justice, righteousness, patience, anger, wrath. You would show infinite patience, waiting as you do beyond the boundaries of space and time and not just knowing but deciding beforehand how the story will end. You would show infinite love through compassionate sacrifice. And ultimately you would mete out infinite wrath to those who would stand against you- not by destroying them, but by casting them away from your presence fully and completely for all time. To those who reject you, you would grant them rejection as a final request.
This is the last mile. This is why we are here, it is why our hearts beat, it is what our hearts and minds whisper to us when our eyes are opened. It is the Real.
The majority view is meaningless. One man and the truth is a majority. Do not measure out smugness against the folly of your fellow men. Right or wrong, your neighbor's reasoning should ultimately have little bearing on your own.
In the end, it does not matter what you think of God. It only matters what He thinks of you.
