How the Eclipse is Like the Trinity

Okay, so you know how you know people who constantly try to over-spiritualize everything? And you are like,...'I'm pretty sure that's not what that verse means...ever.' Well, don't judge me too harshly before you hear me out, but I just had some thoughts, as have many of us, about this past Solar Eclipse that happened Monday. It's like my friend Stephanie posted, "Ah eclipse day. Do you hear that? That's the sound of millions of pastors' heads exploding with metaphors." 

Anyways. . .I thought I would share my explosions.

To begin. . .my dad reminded me of the fact that even though the Sun, Moon, and Earth are all completely different sizes, God has set them up at perfect distances, so that they appear to us to be all the same size. I've actually heard testimonies from scientists who, after years of freaking out about this fact and how IMPOSSIBLE it could be to be mere chance, give up the atheist fight and convert to Christianity over this phenomenon.

Have you ever sat and thought about this? It's truly amazing. How can we experience BOTH lunar and solar eclipses so perfectly? When the Moon intersects the distance between the Earth and Sun, we get to see a solar eclipse. When the Earth intersects the Moon and the Sun, we get to see a lunar eclipse. Perfectly. Both the Moon and the Earth appear equally to block out the light of the Sun and Moon, respectively. What is the point of that? Why do they all three appear to be the same size to us? I mean, okay. . .I could maybe chalk up two to chance. . .But all three??? I'm sorry, but there has to be some reason! None of the other observable planets share this anomaly. Just us.

Why?

Okay, so. . .here is where I'm going to go all crazy and spiritual. . .but let me disclaim that none of these thoughts are in place of Scripture, nor are they in any way fundamental to the doctrines of the faith. Nor am I suggesting that we start treating the Sun, Moon, and Earth as the persons of the Trinity or worship them in any way. These are just some interesting thoughts that popped into my head, and they were too cool to keep to myself.


The Sun: God the Father

The sun is kinda like God the Father. It sustains life. It warms us. It keeps us on our path. It guides us. It gives us hope every morning waking us with the dawn. Without it, deficiencies result.

It's light is the brightest light in the heavens to us. No man-made light can compare to natural day light. Even a tiny sliver of the Sun can light up an entire side of the Earth. Darkness must flea when in its presence. Secrets are revealed in its light.

It has requirements. The sun has a schedule. We live life the best when we keep this schedule, but we are free to disobey it as well. (However, disobedience comes at a cost.) The sun requires respect. We can't just do whatever we want in the sun and expect not to have permanent damage. Staring directly at the sun for as little as two minutes, for instance, can result in blindness. Certain care must be taken when dealing with the sun. Certain protocol must be observed. It isn't because the sun is evil or judgmental or "has it in" for us. It's because the sun is a force to be reckoned with.

The Father is terrifying like the sun, in the sense that He is like a controlled fire. At any point, He could wipe us all out and start over, but He holds back this fear-inducing power--power that could be easily mistaken for evil by the willingly ignorant--for our own good. His fire refines us and brings us forth as gold. His fire burns in our hearts. His fire melts our worries. His fire punishes the unjust.

The sun is the largest of the three bodies. Like, immensely big. Like 864,938 miles across, to be exact. (That's 109 earths lined up.)--Now, I realize that God the Father is infinite in size, so much so that the word "size" doesn't really makes sense in relation with Him. . .but the sun's immensity dwarfs us by comparison. The sun's size reminds us that there is Something out there far greater than we are.

In proximity, the sun is also the farthest away. God the Father is the most "removed" from us--not technically, but philosophically.  In other words, The Father is perfect, holy, infinite, etc.--pretty much everything we are not. In that sense, He is the farthest away from us.

However, if you want to get technical, God the Father is actually omnipresent. Even though the sun is 93,000,000 miles away from us, it is always present as well. It affects us every second of every day. Even when we think it's gone entirely and the night is pitch black, it still effects the tides, our bodies, and plant life, while its gravity holds the Solar System in place. It is also right around the corner ready to shed light on us the next day.


The Moon: Holy Spirit

The moon is kinda like the Holy Spirit. The moon shines the light of the sun upon us. The Holy Spirit reveals God's truth to us even in the dark. The Holy Spirit carries the light of the Father to sinful people.

Like the sun, the moon is always present. Always influencing us, but never forcing us.

Our relationship to the Holy Spirit tends to come in phases. One day we are on a spiritual high. A few weeks later, a low. If we look at these phases as our own efforts, we miss the whole point. Like the phases of the moon, this waxing and waning is necessary to sustain our spiritual lives. If life were all full-moon-spiritual-highs, we wouldn't appreciate them and we wouldn't understand them for what they are. It would throw off our entire spiritual eco-system. We would never learn. We would never grow.

The moon causes surges in the oceans the way the Holy Spirit is constantly moving us. Like the tides, He is constantly wearing away who we think we are and replacing it with who God says we are.

In proximity to the Sun, the Moon is very near us. Like the moon, the Holy Spirit is our "go between." He covers us. As the Moon orbits the Earth, the Holy Spirit surrounds us in holiness. He makes us blameless before the Father. He hears the prayers of fallen people and speaks them before a Holy God.

Traditionally, the moon has been a representation of the feminine. This is not to say that the Holy Spirit is feminine--as God is neither male nor female and is referred to as "Him" because we are too finite to understand how else to personally relate to Him--but as Eve was created as a "comforter" for Adam, the Holy Spirit is our Comforter. Likewise, the moon provides a very comforting light. A respite. A time for stillness. For reflection. For peace. For rest.


The Earth: Jesus

The earth is kinda like Jesus. Like Jesus, the earth represents humanity. It is the home for humanity. This is where we live and exist. Jesus came here as one of us, but not only that: We were made by Him and through Him. He is the only perfect human to have walked this earth, and He is our human example, brother, Messiah, and Lord.

Like Jesus, the earth has faced the direct effect of sin that it did not commit. The earth has received punishment for our choices. (I'm not referring to global warming as much as I am referring to the devastating effects of the Fall from Eden and the Flood.) Christ took all our sin upon Himself, just as the Earth broke apart because of sin.

By Him, all things consist and have being. Without this planet, none of us would be here. He brings us life abundantly just as the earth is abundant with life.

While on earth, Jesus repeatedly told us that His "kingdom is at hand." Hold out your hand, Earthling. There it is. Jesus is here.

One day, there will be a New Heaven and a New Earth. This second "incarnation" of sorts will be due to Christ's Second Coming. Jesus will reign supreme from then to eternity future, and every knee will bow and tongue confess.

Jesus is called the "first-fruits" of creation. Meaning, as I said before, that all things were made by and through Him. He is the example by which all creation is modeled. Have you ever noticed that the earth was the first thing created? Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." This was even before day one of creation! Before dark and light. Before the firmament. Before the other heavenly bodies!

The human body was created from the dust of the earth. The human body is also close to 70% water. So is the earth's surface. Jesus is fully man and fully God. The earth is clothed in both life-sustaining land and water. . .but at it's core it is as hot as the surface of the Sun. (I just learned that last fact while writing this, and it blew my mind.)


The Eclipse: The Trinity

So, if you've stuck with me this long, let me now bring this all full circle (pun intended), and get back to my original point: Why do all three heavenly bodies appear to us to be the same size--even though each is a completely different size and plays an entirely different role? What is the point of that? To me, I think one answer is that all persons of the Trinity are equal, connected, but completely different. I am not suggesting that the Trinity is exactly like the Sun, Moon, and Earth or that this analogy is perfect, but I am wondering if maybe. . .just maybe. . .these thoughts might shed just a little more light on the words of the Psalmist who said, "The heavens declare the glory of God!"

Jesus Messiah: The True Meaning of Christmas

On the plane after a great mission trip to Montana at the end of this past October, I started humming the tune of Bach's "Ave Maria," but the words "Jesus Messiah" kept replacing the first phrase. I started playing with names of Jesus and fitting them into the tune and then realized that I could tell the whole story of the Bible using only the names of Jesus beginning with Creation and ending with Revelation.

I thought about doing it for church or something, but the music doesn't really fit our style at church, so I decided to make a YouTube video instead.

Please remember the true meaning of Christmas is not just nice feelings with those you love, nor is it all about just a poor little baby being born in terrible circumstances. Those things are part of it, but they come from something much, much bigger. The true meaning of Christmas is the whole beautiful story, beginning to end, of God's Love--even the messy parts, even the nice parts...even you.




Jesus, Messiah,
Author and Creator,
Guardian and Provider,
Counsellor, Emmanuel,
The Everlasting Father,
Glory in the Highest,
Bright and Morning Star
Bringing Peace to all the earth,
King of Kings,
Lord of Lords,
The Way,
The Truth,
The Life,
Lamb of God,
Salvation,
Resurrection,
Great I Am,
The Alpha and Omega.
Amen.

Heaven . . . Is Not a Place on Earth

Last night, my friends and I were approached by a Korean business man who ostensibly was wanting to practice his English while at the same time wanting to discuss the flaws of Christianity. He just kind of wanted to talk and not listen . . . although, who am I to say, maybe He was listening. He was killing two birds with one stone, so we can at least applaud him for efficiency.

He just seemed to ask questions that he thought would stump us, and when we'd actually answer his questions, he'd ignore the answers and start asking new ones.

I can't get all "high and mighty" about his behavior. He was just acting normally. How often when we feel we are right about something do we actually stop and listen to what is being said on the other side? So we can't really blame him for acting this way. Not if we are honest with ourselves, at least. It's the old nature not wanting to accept that there just might be another perspective that we didn't think of initially.

Least ways, it made me think of something.

He brought up the old argument that if you are a good person, you will have a good afterlife. I brought up the old counter argument that if you had a glass of water and someone added three drops of poison in it, would you still drink it even though MOST of the water was pure? Then he told me that I was using an analogy that didn't relate to the issue at hand. That made me think about something.

While the water analogy is arguably not relatable to this issue, I think it still . . . holds water . . . not b/c water and holiness are the same, but b/c holiness and unpoisoned water both have to do with purity.

Let me explain without analogy for a second. Think of the word heaven. Do you think of:
(a) a perfect place,
(b) a place just like here where there are good things that happen and bad things that happen, or
(c) a bad place?

Chances are you would rule out "C" right away, b/c we have another word for a place like that: hell. Now, the next pass over "A" and "B" should give us the answer "A" b/c the word heaven has been integrated into our minds and even every day vocabulary as something way better than we can know now. A place of divine ecstasy. Somewhere where happiness abounds evergreen. A place of zero sadness.

However, although most people would choose "A" as the correct no-brainer answer, quite a sizable group of naysayers would say that in order to get to such a place, one merely needs to be "mostly good." While critical thinking is a necessary skill, sometimes people regard nay-saying as the same thing--which it isn't in this case. Being "mostly good" doesn't make any sense. How can anything but perfection dwell in a perfect society? The second someone or something flawed enters a perfect society, the society ceases to be perfect. Think of a diamond. A perfect diamond is almost priceless; however, just one tiny speck--not even distinguishable by the layman's eye--and the diamond is decreased considerably in value (and would actually be worthless except for "the man" wanting to take your money). You can't have imperfection in perfect or perfect would not exist. Saying that imperfection can dwell in perfection is not "deep thinking." It's the Emperor's New Clothes.

Now . . . let's assume that you immediately saw through the "A, B, C" ploy and instead of answering "A" like a naive child, you were a highly educated intellectual and answered "B." Answering "B" actually becomes a much harder problem for you, and not just b/c of what I've already discussed (imperfect does not = perfect). If you answer "B" that heaven is actually just a place much like here, then you need to explain why the word heaven has such a good, Utopian, fantastic connotation. I suppose you could explain it away like Freud does for terms like guilt. (He says it only comes from the fact that we ultimately desire power, and so when we kill those in power we actually suffer from not having protection anymore...but that doesn't actually explain why we feel guilty--we just feel bad. But it's more of a selfish "I shouldn't have done that, b/c I now need protection" bad, not a "I shouldn't have done that b/c it was wrong and I know I am to blame" bad. In other words . . . he actually doesn't answer the question of guilt at all.)

Heaven is a much harder conundrum than guilt even and here's why. If we currently live in a society of good and bad and if everything happened b/c of natural causes . . . then why would we ever expect anything to be better than it is now? How would we ever have known that anything COULD be better? How would we ever long for heaven? . . . Or intellectually: How would we ever know that heaven was something we could overcome by explaining away? This is something my mother calls the "Eden Syndrome." We all have a hidden memory of Eden and how perfect it was and how we all messed it up, and this is the reason we are all unhappy and discontent.

Anyways . . . why does heaven have such a positive connotation? Well, you have to explain that if you are going to choose "B." Are you up to it?

Personally, I'm going to stick with "A."

Fortunately, the work has been done for us. Just believe and trust in Jesus. He did everything necessary for you to get to heaven. It's really the only way. Just think about it. Get all the information you can and think about it (Proverbs 4:7).