From The Desk Of Pastor Paul Viggiano
If you look, God will find you
By Pastor Paul Viggiano
By now we've all been sufficiently exposed to the passions and despair of Mother Teresa via the new volume titled Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light. As a Protestant apologist, I have chosen to never take issue with certain individuals. Mother Teresa tops the list.
Yet the angst of this woman so dedicated to granting relief to the sickly and indigent in the name of Christ is worthy of reflection. It's been asserted, and rightly so, that her willingness to continue her altruism while feeling forsaken by God, and devoid of the intimate sense of deity she experienced as a younger nun, demonstrates a higher conviction than those whom God continually nurses along the road.
But this begs the question regarding what an intimate sense of deity actually is. What does it mean to hear from God and warm in his presence? Perhaps the magnitude of Mother Teresa's works amplified her sense of isolation, but her experience, or lack thereof, of God is hardly exceptional.
Churches, auditoriums and stadiums of Protestants and Roman Catholics alike are overrun every Lord's Day by professing believers seeking an experience with God. Whether it's the robes, incense, stained glass and ornate structures of Rome or the charismatic worship leaders, highly talented musicians and well-orchestrated mood lighting of Protestant Western evangelicalism - the goal is the same: contact with the deity.
And similar to the experience of Mother Teresa, the vast majority of those seeking intimacy at best find the experience vaporizes before lunch.
It may do Christians well to recognize that the type of experience so many of us are looking for - that existential passion coming as a result of the supernatural presence of God - was never all that productive in the biblical record. It can easily be argued that the two most faithless generations in the Bible were the ones with whom God had most contact.
The Israelites delivered from Egypt saw more supernatural signs and wonders - more emanations of God through the pillars of fire and smoke - than any generation recorded in history, yet their faith waxed cold.
More remarkable was the generation living during the time of Christ. They saw not only signs and wonders but beheld Jesus - the fullness of God in bodily form. Yet they were a faithless generation and the miracles they saw, and the presence of God in their midst, merely served to hold them more culpable.
I certainly can't speak with authority regarding the type of intimate experience Mother Teresa had with God as a younger woman (I am under the impression that God speaks through his scriptures and no longer in an unmediated fashion as we see with the prophets of scripture), but we must acknowledge that that type of experience (whatever our opinion) is an exception.
The whole idea of sensing the presence of God is a dangerous idea. The very word "sense" denotes that which can be touched, tasted, heard, smelled or seen. God falls into none of these categories. The apostle Paul prays that Christians might "comprehend" the width, length, depth and height of God's love - that the faithful might "know" the love of Christ.
The Bible speaks often of knowing God but seldom, if ever, about feeling God. The knowledge of God's love and grace may arouse passions, but the passion is a result of knowing God - it is not the love of God itself.
I may be accused of undue stoicism. I postulate that the despondency of Mother Teresa came about by her desire for a further experience. And her misery was exacerbated by evaluating the lack of experience as her "being forsaken by God."
If she was truly a Christian (and I am certainly not doubting that), her true comfort was to be found in the knowledge that one had already been forsaken by God on her behalf. The venues of Christians seeking God will find greater comfort for their souls by realizing that it is God who has sought after and found them. Worship and obedience is not our act of connecting with the deity but our response to the knowledge of his connecting with us.
Christians do not climb Jacob's Ladder; Jesus is Jacob's Ladder. And the gospel diffuses the fragrance of his knowledge in every place. When one comes to believe in God and his Christ, that very faith, no matter how small or fragile, is God's testimony that he has found us and sent his son to die in our place. That is the Christian's peace.
By Pastor Paul Viggiano
By now we've all been sufficiently exposed to the passions and despair of Mother Teresa via the new volume titled Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light. As a Protestant apologist, I have chosen to never take issue with certain individuals. Mother Teresa tops the list.
Yet the angst of this woman so dedicated to granting relief to the sickly and indigent in the name of Christ is worthy of reflection. It's been asserted, and rightly so, that her willingness to continue her altruism while feeling forsaken by God, and devoid of the intimate sense of deity she experienced as a younger nun, demonstrates a higher conviction than those whom God continually nurses along the road.
But this begs the question regarding what an intimate sense of deity actually is. What does it mean to hear from God and warm in his presence? Perhaps the magnitude of Mother Teresa's works amplified her sense of isolation, but her experience, or lack thereof, of God is hardly exceptional.
Churches, auditoriums and stadiums of Protestants and Roman Catholics alike are overrun every Lord's Day by professing believers seeking an experience with God. Whether it's the robes, incense, stained glass and ornate structures of Rome or the charismatic worship leaders, highly talented musicians and well-orchestrated mood lighting of Protestant Western evangelicalism - the goal is the same: contact with the deity.
And similar to the experience of Mother Teresa, the vast majority of those seeking intimacy at best find the experience vaporizes before lunch.
It may do Christians well to recognize that the type of experience so many of us are looking for - that existential passion coming as a result of the supernatural presence of God - was never all that productive in the biblical record. It can easily be argued that the two most faithless generations in the Bible were the ones with whom God had most contact.
The Israelites delivered from Egypt saw more supernatural signs and wonders - more emanations of God through the pillars of fire and smoke - than any generation recorded in history, yet their faith waxed cold.
More remarkable was the generation living during the time of Christ. They saw not only signs and wonders but beheld Jesus - the fullness of God in bodily form. Yet they were a faithless generation and the miracles they saw, and the presence of God in their midst, merely served to hold them more culpable.
I certainly can't speak with authority regarding the type of intimate experience Mother Teresa had with God as a younger woman (I am under the impression that God speaks through his scriptures and no longer in an unmediated fashion as we see with the prophets of scripture), but we must acknowledge that that type of experience (whatever our opinion) is an exception.
The whole idea of sensing the presence of God is a dangerous idea. The very word "sense" denotes that which can be touched, tasted, heard, smelled or seen. God falls into none of these categories. The apostle Paul prays that Christians might "comprehend" the width, length, depth and height of God's love - that the faithful might "know" the love of Christ.
The Bible speaks often of knowing God but seldom, if ever, about feeling God. The knowledge of God's love and grace may arouse passions, but the passion is a result of knowing God - it is not the love of God itself.
I may be accused of undue stoicism. I postulate that the despondency of Mother Teresa came about by her desire for a further experience. And her misery was exacerbated by evaluating the lack of experience as her "being forsaken by God."
If she was truly a Christian (and I am certainly not doubting that), her true comfort was to be found in the knowledge that one had already been forsaken by God on her behalf. The venues of Christians seeking God will find greater comfort for their souls by realizing that it is God who has sought after and found them. Worship and obedience is not our act of connecting with the deity but our response to the knowledge of his connecting with us.
Christians do not climb Jacob's Ladder; Jesus is Jacob's Ladder. And the gospel diffuses the fragrance of his knowledge in every place. When one comes to believe in God and his Christ, that very faith, no matter how small or fragile, is God's testimony that he has found us and sent his son to die in our place. That is the Christian's peace.
posted by Soli Deo Gloria | 9/13/2007 11:05:00 PM
1 Comments:
After John the Baptist went to prison, Jesus Christ told us all to repent and believe, Mt 3-4; Mk 1:14-15. Is this the same faith of Ro 1:16-25 and many other Scriptures that we must have to be saved? Yes, it is. Is this what we must find first according to Mt 6:33a? Yes, it is. Mother Teresa never obeyed Jesus Christ's critical command to seek first and she admitted it. She followed a false gospel, a lie from Satan and she shared that false gospel with others. Did she receive lots of money? Yes, she did but where did it go? As i understand it, she had others taught and trained in the lies of her false gospel while she continued to try and help the sick and hurt in squalid conditions. Didn't she also receive a Nobel Peace prize? What did the real Jesus Christ say about those who were highly regarded by mankind as the false prophets of old? Mother Teresa received her reward on this Earth and i am sorry to say that her eternity is in the Lake of Fire with all others who have rejected salvation through God's exact original Gospel Truth from Jesus Christ. Our works can never save us no matter how great they may be; it is the Works that God gives us to do through His Power that keep us sanctified, Jn 3:21; Eph 2:10. And, if true Christians can easily discern the wolves in sheep's clothing, do not wonder that we know who has been saved and who is not. Most of the time it is very easy to know, anne / canawedding at aol dot com
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