Allegory of the Kitty

A couple of weeks ago, I was preparing for youth group and this fun illustration came to me in the shower. When ideas come to me in the shower, I stay in the shower longer, which also turns me into a prune. Nice. Well, anyway, I've decided to call this illustration "Allegory of the Kitty," and here it is!

Imagine that in the city there is a clan of cats. Now, it is the dream of these cats to reach the skies, they want to reach the sky more than anything else in the world. Sure, there are other cats that want to reach the sky too, but this clan pursues their goal with rigor and zeal. Early every morning, just before sunrise, the cats of this clan wake and assemble at the Dunkin' Donuts parking lot. They form neat little rows, awaiting the arrival of their colonel.

Make no mistake - it's not easy being part of this cat clan. Training is constant. Claws are sharpened, hind legs are strengthened, poles are climbed. The exhilaration of reaching new heights, of being closer to the sky than ever before makes it all worth it. But with every new height reached comes the discouragement of the climb back down. Life in the cat clan is tough.

Then, Colonel Kitty Cat strides onto the scene. All of the cats stiffen at attention. The Colonel addresses his troops: "From the founding of our great clan, it has been our great goal, our great vision to reach the sky. Many may say they desire such a thing, but who is truly willing to pursue this noble aspiration? It has been said, 'Reach for the moon. Even if you miss, you will land among the stars.' That has been our motto since the beginning. We believed it then; do we believe it now???"

In a triumphant roar (as loud as one can reasonably expect cats to roar), the assembled cats give a hearty "meeeoooowww!" and put a paw to their foreheads in a smart salute. They are dismissed, but resume their training with renewed energy and determination. Claws sharper; legs stronger; higher heights reached, closer and closer to the sky!

One day, Colonel Kitty Cat hears of a traveler who has come to town, performing strange magics. Neglected litter boxes, all of a sudden, cleaned! Empty water bowls, filled to the brim! Fleas all over the fur, gone! This Traveler was the talk of the town.

During the night, the Colonel visits the Traveler. After all, the Traveler had been to many places, seen many things, and could do many things. Perhaps he had a piece of sage advice, or some new training strategy that would benefit his cat clan. So the Colonel asks, "Traveler, how can we reach the sky?" The Traveler responds: "you must be a bird."

Strange! A world turned upside down! Was all his work for nothing? All his training and labor? He pushed his cats hard, made them train with all of their might, but there was nothing he asked of his cats that he did not ask of himself. No, even more! He had become colonel only through the strictest of discipline. Besides... bird? He was a cat, and cats are not birds!

So the Colonel inquires of the Traveler, "and how exactly does a cat become a bird?" The Traveler replies, "no one can reach the sky unless he can fly. You're a cat, you can't fly. Birds can fly, you must be a bird."

The reasoning was undeniable. But still, the Colonel asks, how? If flying is the only way to reach the sky, and only birds can fly, what hope is there for a cat? The Traveler says to the Colonel, "I can turn you into a bird. Entrust yourself to me, and I will turn you into a bird."

Could it be? The Traveler was turning his world upside-down! All his labor and training, for naught? Could it be so... but what about... and who is this Traveler anyway, can he really do such a thing? But he himself had seen just yesterday the mice that were caught in a house which had no mice. He had seen himself the dogs that became still from the quiet meow of the Traveler. He believed that the Traveler could turn him into a bird. But could he believe in the Traveler? Could he entrust himself to the Traveler, to be transformed?

Well, reader, Colonel Kitty Cat's question is one you need to think about, and it's one I've been thinking about too. I try so hard to be moral, honest, ethical. Dutiful, law abiding. Hard working. But does all my climbing get me any closer to heaven? Intellect sharpened, determination strengthened, higher heights reached, closer to God, closer to heaven? But never enough.

Cats can't fly. Flesh can't see the kingdom of God. How does a cat fly? Transformation. By being born again as a bird. How does flesh see the kingdom of heaven? Transformation. By being born again, of the Spirit. And how does this rebirth happen? The Colonel needs to believe in the Traveler, and we need to believe in Jesus.

And it is not enough to just believe that Jesus can save me. I need to believe in Jesus. This is so hard for me because I want to do it on my own, to just climb. I have a lot of trouble giving up my ways, trusting Jesus, even though I know that this is the best way, the only way. But. It's the only way.

Anyway! There it is for you :). Allegory of the Kitty, and, John Chapter Three!

Descending to Grey

As far as I know, I'm fairly orthodox in my Christian beliefs. I believe that Christian theology is coherent, intellectually defensible, and is validated by the evidence of what is actually in the world. Thorough, rigorous examination usually strengthens my faith, and reassures me that I have good reasons for believing what I believe.

There are clear realities which are meaningful, and are meaningfully described by words we use: goodness, righteousness, courage, envy, hatred, wickedness. There's black and white. There's also green, red, blue, yellow, teal. (Teal was my favorite color to use when I was Protoss... just saying.)

When I don't really think through these things though and I just go through life unthinkingly, there's a sort of decay that occurs. I find myself thinking, "well, really? Is this or that really so wrong? What makes that action 'better' than this other action? Why must I live this way and not that way? Is God really real?"

The problem is that these questions are not really driven by any good intellectual reason. It's important to reexamine beliefs, sure. But these questions at those times are simply a result of belief decay, in the same way that I sometimes think "what if I am the only real person and everyone else is a robot and this is a giant test or lab experiment? Did we really go to the moon? If I lost control of the wheel, my car would hit that lampost, crumple around it, and my life would really change, but I wonder what it would be like."

I think it's like eyeball atrophy, as if you didn't exercise your eyeballs and then your whole vision gets more and more blurry. There's a mug in front of you with a clear border between it and the table, the mug is white and the table is brown -- but everything blurs and it becomes a blob. I think the belief decay I've been trying to describe is kind of like this, because substantiated firm belief (not just in God, but in anything) requires substantiation. And good thinking, like exercise, reaffirms (or, destroys) the substantiation necessary for firm belief.

Ah, well, sorry if that wasn't very clear, just something I've been thinking about, since I've been descending to grey recently. Eyeball atrophy, haha. I guess the moral of the story, though, is that you should exercise your eyeballs in the metaphorical sense.

Reason is not King

Ah, I have been not blogging for very long time! I blog later. For now, short post. I'm reading Anna Karenin right now by Leo Tolstoy. Really good! One thing that comes clear is that our own powers of reasoning are not king. We have a strong propensity to use reason to justify our own ways, and what seems to as plain reason is often just emotion or desire defended by intellect.

"Passion and prejudice govern the world, only under the name of reason." - John Wesley

Ah, also, one really cool thing that comes through clear in the book is that the protagonists are often the antagonists in other situations. This isn't the postmodern view that there are no good guys and bad guys, but only better and worse people, no black and white only shades of gray. There is good, and there is bad. However, what it illustrates is...

"If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. " - Alexander Solzhenitsyn

OK, that's all. Is tells yous peoples whats is thes happenings ins mys lifes laters.

Today Begins with a Small but Tasty Defeat

Started to feel a little hungry, but I remembered that I have a paperbag underneath my desk with some fruit inside. I thought, oh good, maybe I can finally eat that fruit, that would be quite healthy.

I pulled out the bag, looked inside, and saw a donut in the midst of the fruit. I am now eating a donut.

Cyrus the Great

I read this quote by Cyrus the Great the other day and it really stuck with me: "Diversity in counsel, unity in command." It's one of those quotes that just floats around in my head to the extent that it comes up often when I think about how to handle leadership.

Life and Doctrine

Sometimes I read people saying they are tired of all this emphasis on doctrine. Too much useless head knowledge, they say. Their point is well taken though, because sometimes Christians really don't live out their faith.

I read this verse this morning, which I liked a lot: "Watch your life and doctrine closely" (1 Timothy 4:16). We need to be very diligent in watching the way we live our lives. And, we also need to watch our doctrine very closely. It's both, not either/or.

Also, I have been very lazy about posting recently. I will make efforts to post more :)

Instant Coffee

Nescafe instant coffee, I would like to have a word with you. I would like you to know that you taste terrible and I would punch you except that you would scald my fist. Out of rational self-interest I have decided not to punch you, but be forewarned: the Word of the Lord says "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows" (Galatians 6:7). Instant coffee, you have reaped bitterness, and you will sow bitterness - thus sayeth the Lord.