Being

I cannot fully accept what Fr Rohr proposes in his posting this morning: All Language is Metaphor. He makes some very important points, however, I believe, the power of his points are lost in his proposition that words are metaphors.

I'm not Hebrew linguist, nor scholar, but from my studies I've learned that in the Hebrew the word "dbar" (dvar?) means both "word" and "thing." It is a concept that one is a concrete reality of the other. The word "moon" is as much a concrete reality as the actual rock illuminated in our night sky. The word, concept, and meaning are intrinsic. So much so that if you say "baby moon" people have no concept of what that is unless you contextuallize statement with "hubcaps." So the word does not just point a finger towards the moon, the word "moon" is intrinsic in the concept and "being" of the actual satellite of the earth.

What was Adam's first project on the earth? Gen. 2:19: And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air: and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. Names matter. Names are words, words devise constructs, concepts, and context in the mind and those constructs, concepts, and contexts have meaning and those meanings have "being." There is much more to the phrase "that was the name thereof." A word is a container of "being."

In the spirit, the word/name is as real as the "thing."

The power to create

And the Spirit of God moved across the face of rhe waters. This is the Christ, the Spirit of God within us. Learn who you are.

Jesus, Plato, and me

It is said that Christianity was much more formed by Plato than by Jesus.  I see this born out in the organization of churches and the teaching of their beliefs.  All have a place in God's Kingdom, I believe. Jesus tells us in John 14, "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Have faith in God; have faith also in me.  In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?"

God manifests in names and places at appointed times.

I pray and study to move past my education.  I've come to know that I am a spirit, created by God, and on the earth in a body whose design is by God, created in Adam, and I'm given a soul, also created by God in the creation, by which I choose.

My soul consists of my mind, my will, and my emotion; the tools by which I make decisions and put forth effort.
--- I choose whom I follow
--- I choose what I believe
--- I choose how to act

Jesus says "... the son of man has power on earth to ..." God gave Adam power and dominion on earth. Adam surrendered to the adversary, Lucifer.  God used Noah, then Abram, to restore His influence.

Noah heard, listened, and followed God and God modeled the overflowing Holy Spirit, the Rivers of Living Water through his obedience delivering the son of man from complete destruction.

Through Abram, God brought the knowledge of good and evil; required of Him by the dominion He gave to Adam.

Through Jesus He fulfilled the teaching of the law and the knowledge of good and evil.  Jesus models for us the way a man on earth should act and the power he/we should have and the way we should use it. Jesus' prayer in John 17 tells us we are in Him and He is in the Father, therefore we are in the Father and the Father in us through the Holy Spirit. We are part of the Trinity, the Godhead. We should control our space.  It is within our responsibility.  It is within our power if we will only believe, ask, seek, and knock.  It is our responsibility to grow in knowledge and power.

We must learn to be trainable.

Reality

From God we came, to God we return. Glory be to God.

God created the earth for man, as a proving ground. We begin as spirit, are born into the earth, grow, learn, decide, return. The pattern is throughout the Bible, but we miss it because we focus on learning about the Bible rather than learning the Bible. We approach it academically rather than experientially. 

We study because we learn. We speak because that is how we learn. God designed this experience for us, to prove us, who we will follow. As for me and my house, we will follow the LORD.