Self Identification





We are witnessing mass confusion of identities.  Children, youth—all the way up to seniors are struggling with who they are.  Questions abound—perplexity is everywhere.
Am I a male?
Am I a female?
Am I gay?
Am I straight?
Questions regarding roles:
Can a woman ask for a man’s hand in marriage?
Should a woman’s father be asked first?
Who pays the bills?
Who cuts the grass?
Who cooks supper?

Turmoil abounds—we no longer know who we are—what makes us who we are.  It’s mass bewilderment out there!  People are disorientated sexually, morally, and ethically.  Can Air Canada employees smoke pot after their shift?  

When I was a child one of my favourite card games was ‘Who Am I.’  It was a ‘Christian’ card game (whatever THAT means), so all the characters were from the Bible.  There would be clues given and you had to guess who the person was.  Funny—but sad—that question could be asked in grade 1 in our school system or in fourth year university—‘Who are you?’—and you might get a blank stare or a simple ‘I’m not sure.’
David Benner, author of The Gift of Being Yourself, (InterVarsity Press, 2004) sees the answer to the confusion clearly.  According to Benner—one cannot know oneself outside of knowing God.  To know God intimately is fertile ground for knowing and understanding oneself.  Benner quotes John Calvin: “There is no deep knowing of God without a deep knowing of self and no deep knowing of self without a deep knowing of God.”
Benner: “Christian spirituality involves a transformation of the self that occurs only when God and self are both deeply known.”
Ah! It’s the answer!  We have shut God out of culture, and in the process shut out the ONLY true means of knowing ourselves!   Benner goes on to say this: “Self knowledge that is pursued apart from knowing our identity in relationship to God early leads to self-inflation.” God, according to Benner is the ‘only context in which our being makes sense.’  Leave God out—at best you have persons, working diligently at trying to ‘find themselves— at worse you have a biological blob which has no real identity.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Learning to hate your sin

Image
   John 5:13-15 (NLT) 13 The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. 14 But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” 15 Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him.   Lord give me grace, power, and effort to maintain a resilience against sin.  Sin is ALWAYS a dark path. It ALWAYS pays wages.  The wage of sin is death.  Sin will always hurt, always destroy, always wound—you, relationships, stuff, goals, etc.  It is a killer.  It is a wound-er.  It is a consumer of all that is healthy, strong, good, and perfect. Learn to hate sin. Learn to fear sin. Learn to run as fast as you can away from sin. Search deeply for hidden sin. Be disgusted with your sin.  Repent, repent, repent daily for your sin. Be afraid of your sin. Be petrified of your sin. Be worried about your sin. And keep repenting, keeping running into the arms of grace and the arm
Read more

Duh--What church should I attend?

Image
Part # 3 of three Part Blog: Why go to church? What is the ‘church?’ How to find the right congregation? How to find the right congregation? A congregation is what we normally refer to as a church.  Here is the distinction I am making.   The Church; This is the one described in my previous blog… “what is the church.”  It is the timeless eternal body of believers. A Congregation: This is a local gathering of believers who are part of “The Church”. Think of it this way—-three levels: Level # 1-  THE CHURCH—the mystical eternal union of all believers. Level # 2-   The Church in a town/ city/ area.  Because of level # 1, there is realistically only ONE church in a town, city, etc. Level # 3-  Congregations:  These are various groups of people that meet together for primarily four interactive, communal, things: Word:  Preaching, teaching, sharing Sacrament:  Celebration of the Lord’s Supper (communion/ eucharist) Worship: Music,
Read more

It's just too noisy!

Image
  “Be still and know that I am God:   Ps 46:11 Silence What a pile of noise! Noise—Noise—Noise. Noise in my head. Noise in my ears. Noise in my eyes. Noise—Noise—Noise. Are you crying out for silence? His presence manifests itself, not in fire or wind or thunder, but in a still small voice.  Only in this quietness does he give us the certainty of his presence.  We usually cannot hear this because we are making so much inner noise… The word from the Word is often something like “Grow up!”  I suddenly see the far more important things are at stake than my feelings…We do not always get specific answers, even when we invoke his name, but we always get the Answerer! … Peter Kreeft- Payer for Beginners Silence is not just silence or emptiness or nothingness but…the best preparation there is because then there is no obstacle.  And God’s love—since it is no pervasive—just comes in, like the weather, and like it fills any empty spaces. …Thomas Keating— Silence and Centring P
Read more