What Modernism Hath Wrought, Addendum

Yesterday I put up a post to share some thoughts about the thing imagination. Afterwards I did some pondering about my words, and my soul convicted me that many would very likely read those words and think I'm into some kind of weird unbiblical mysticism. 

Often the thing mysticism is bound by the World's definition, just to get Christians to be judgmental about things. Sometimes they are right, true, but sometimes the World consumes their thinking. The Kingdom truth is the Bible clearly tells us about the beauty and wonders of God's mystery, and it is perfectly okay to commune with Him in ways only the heart can understand. Indeed that's much of the thrust of this blog ministry, precisely that His wonderful matters should not include any of our pathetic assumptions about them.

Let them be mysteries yet settle in with the assurance that He loves us, cares for us, walks with us, teaches us. The Bible is also clear that He made each of our imaginations to grasp the meaning of all that in profoundly visceral ways, the meaning that we can understand and embrace -- and feel His joy in doing so. Yes our imaginations can create idols, I get that. And yes we do need a deep immersion in Scripture and prayer-filled fellowship with other followers of Christ in a rich ungrafted worship community to be sure our imaginations are dwelling among the things of Heaven.

The article I referenced yesterday is merely an eloquent elucidation of the truth that people do yearn for the supernatural. Was it in a webzine that publishes questionable articles? Yes, I've read some of them to learn what others are thinking -- I'm always doing that. Did the author neglect to include any mention of Jesus? Yes, she didn't, but that's exactly why I blogged about it yesterday.

Jesus is Who people are looking for when their souls yearn for the not-so-modernist.

On a personal note I do have a passion for the things modernism sought to abolish, those things that belong in the realm of romanticism. Do many think of romanticism as the worthless folderol of unserious people? Indeed it can be if it connects to the occult or divination -- I agree those things are part of Hell's domain! Thing is the Bible is filled with stories that easily fit into the perfectly legitimate contemplations of those who are attracted to romanticism's call to awaken the imagination.

I'm starting to read a book, Nature's God by Matthew Stewart, that gets deep into modernism's influence on the founding of the United States. He writes of the powerful philosophy that deism was, coming right out of the enlightenment's modernist perspective which itself was overwrought with, yes, Epicureanism. something I'd written about a while back and even mentioned in my last blog post.

I'm just getting into it, and eagerly looking forward to discovering how much Epicurean thought was so prominently injected into the American mainstream. It isn't hard to see! How many good wholesome Americans today go about their lives with the heinously lethal consideration front-and-center: "There is only matter but if you want to believe in something beyond that you just go ahead and do that and we'll all politely humor you no matter how much of a fool you are."

Combine that with what Stephen Greenblatt shared with us in his book Swerve and Tupper Saussy shared in Rulers of Evil and it isn't hard to see the Roman Catholic ecclesiocracy's role in shaping a whole new brand of Americanist thought from the very beginning of its inception -- which, by the way, is really not that new. Indeed, as these books and Scripture itself confirms, it is really not-new.

Of course, that is yet another of the thrusts of this ministry, and it fits with the whole thread of this post. It is simply that Rome does anything and everything it can to keep us in our benighted states for the purpose of appearing as the ones with the strength and wherewithal to rescue us. This strategy definitely includes keeping people from identifying the supernatural as real -- thus you get Epicureanism or any of its novel and, yes, imaginative forms. It also includes making sure whatever they discover in the supernatural is only about the occult and divination and rationalizing the latest trendiest neatest form of evildoing -- and as a bonus ensuring they believe it is all good and healthy. "Hey, it's a lifestyle choice!" There are thousands of ways Rome does this.

Yes, one of them is to detract from the objective reality that our imaginations can be used to better do precisely what God wants us to be doing, to more joyfully interact with one another observing and confirming and sharing the things of His Kingdom -- as He says Himself in the ninth chapter of Jeremiah.

"If one boasts let him boast about one thing, that he understands and knows Me."

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The image is another download I made from Interfacelift.

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