A niche to explore what's worth holding on to and what's not...
Between Hot and Cold
Though I'm not reticent about blogging on spiritual or moral themes I've shied away from overtly Christian topics until today. Not that I am by any means embarrassed or ashamed of my faith, but religion - even loosely termed - tends to be polarizing. I had a different vision for my little corner of GC so my themes for the most part have had a more ecumenical approach.
This entry is more of a response to a blog entry recently made by mneale. http://www.gatorcountry.com/swampgas/blog.php?b=101 I won't comment on the subject of his blog entry on this one but do wish to expand on a comment he made:
"Any attempt of a union between scripture and evolution will without a doubt end up in a compromise on either side. It is impossible to have a perfect union between the two world views. Furthermore such an attempt is lukewarm Christianity because it is an attempt to hold the hand of Jesus and scripture in one hand and the hand of the unbelieving world in the other hand. Jesus warned us about the consequences of lukewarm Christianity in Revelation 3:16." - So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
This unappetizing comment was addressed to the Church at Laodicea, a worldly and apparently prosperous place bustling with activity along the Roman trade route. Probably populated with citizens not too different from ourselves, people engaged in trade and other pursuits making their living just as we do today. Laodicea, I have read, has not been excavated or reconstructed as completely by archaeologists as Ephesus or other cities of the region have been, but enough has been learned to draw some conclusions about the lifestyle of the community.
Laodiceans were probably hedonists typical of many who lived in the Roman towns of that era. It had extensive baths and an amphitheater for leisure and entertainment. It had Roman culture. It did not have a water source. In the ruins surrounding Laodicea remnants of aqueducts and piping that imported water from two sources each several miles from Laodicea have been discovered. One source was the cold spring located in the neighboring town of Colossae. The 10 mile journey through the aqueducts would have rendered the refreshingly cold water tepid by the time it reached its destination in Laodicea. The water from the hot springs of Hieropolis 6 miles to the north would have been luke warm at best when it finished flowing its way to Laodicea, neither cold enough for a refreshing drink nor hot enough for a Roman bath.
Christians are familiar with Jesus meeting the Woman at the Well and telling her whoever drinks of the water he gives will never thirst, "a spring of water welling up to eternal life". Strong imagery of Jesus as Living Water. The entire Bible from Genesis through Revelation is full of images of flowing water. Rivers flowed out of Eden, Moses struck the rock and water flowed and Jeremiah has two beautiful verses about Living Water.
Jeremiah 2:13 ...For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
and
Jeremiah 17:13 ...O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake you shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.
The Christians in the Church in Laodicea were being rebuked for their failures and their shortcomings. Blinded by their prosperity and complacent in their wealth, they - like their water supply - were far from the source of the spring. As the quality of the water diminished the further it traveled through the aqueduct system so the quality of their spiritual life diminished the further they were from the source of the Living Water. And like the tepid water - neither good for a refreshing drink nor hot enough to bathe with - they had lost the original quality of the Spring.
This is a timeless message and never more true for any group in history than it is for us today. We're a nation of people that loudly claims and proclaims its Christian faith but has somehow managed to lose its tether to the foundation of that faith. Our hedonism and moral laxness has produced a corrupt culture spawning all sorts of atrocious behaviors we bemoan but likely endorse through the way we spend our time and money. Seemingly obsessed with our perceived need to remain the world's dominant power we are engaged in endless acts of aggression and occupation. Senselessly acquiring goods and services of dubious value we likely don't need, we are spending ourselves into the poor house. Our water is foul and we apparently are satisfied with the taste. Rome is burning and we are fiddling with our remote controls to watch American Idol.
Laodicea is at present piles of scattered stones on Turkish hillsides. It has long since ceased to exist. Its self importance and strategic location on the Roman trade routes did not enable it to live past its usefulness or its desire to continue as a place of habitation. It died just as all things that lose their life must die. The springs are there, still flowing, a few miles away but no water flows into the sprawling ruins of Laodicea. Our civilization too, just as the Roman Empire died, will likely reach its expiration date sooner than we would like or imagine it will. We are not without warning. And like the springs of Colossae and Hieropolis that still flow, we too, will always have an eternal Source of Living Water available that will outlast, overcome and clean any defilement we blindly perpetuate on ourselves. Like the pearl of great price, all else is worthless beside it.
This entry is more of a response to a blog entry recently made by mneale. http://www.gatorcountry.com/swampgas/blog.php?b=101 I won't comment on the subject of his blog entry on this one but do wish to expand on a comment he made:
"Any attempt of a union between scripture and evolution will without a doubt end up in a compromise on either side. It is impossible to have a perfect union between the two world views. Furthermore such an attempt is lukewarm Christianity because it is an attempt to hold the hand of Jesus and scripture in one hand and the hand of the unbelieving world in the other hand. Jesus warned us about the consequences of lukewarm Christianity in Revelation 3:16." - So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
This unappetizing comment was addressed to the Church at Laodicea, a worldly and apparently prosperous place bustling with activity along the Roman trade route. Probably populated with citizens not too different from ourselves, people engaged in trade and other pursuits making their living just as we do today. Laodicea, I have read, has not been excavated or reconstructed as completely by archaeologists as Ephesus or other cities of the region have been, but enough has been learned to draw some conclusions about the lifestyle of the community.
Laodiceans were probably hedonists typical of many who lived in the Roman towns of that era. It had extensive baths and an amphitheater for leisure and entertainment. It had Roman culture. It did not have a water source. In the ruins surrounding Laodicea remnants of aqueducts and piping that imported water from two sources each several miles from Laodicea have been discovered. One source was the cold spring located in the neighboring town of Colossae. The 10 mile journey through the aqueducts would have rendered the refreshingly cold water tepid by the time it reached its destination in Laodicea. The water from the hot springs of Hieropolis 6 miles to the north would have been luke warm at best when it finished flowing its way to Laodicea, neither cold enough for a refreshing drink nor hot enough for a Roman bath.
Christians are familiar with Jesus meeting the Woman at the Well and telling her whoever drinks of the water he gives will never thirst, "a spring of water welling up to eternal life". Strong imagery of Jesus as Living Water. The entire Bible from Genesis through Revelation is full of images of flowing water. Rivers flowed out of Eden, Moses struck the rock and water flowed and Jeremiah has two beautiful verses about Living Water.
Jeremiah 2:13 ...For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
and
Jeremiah 17:13 ...O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake you shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.
The Christians in the Church in Laodicea were being rebuked for their failures and their shortcomings. Blinded by their prosperity and complacent in their wealth, they - like their water supply - were far from the source of the spring. As the quality of the water diminished the further it traveled through the aqueduct system so the quality of their spiritual life diminished the further they were from the source of the Living Water. And like the tepid water - neither good for a refreshing drink nor hot enough to bathe with - they had lost the original quality of the Spring.
This is a timeless message and never more true for any group in history than it is for us today. We're a nation of people that loudly claims and proclaims its Christian faith but has somehow managed to lose its tether to the foundation of that faith. Our hedonism and moral laxness has produced a corrupt culture spawning all sorts of atrocious behaviors we bemoan but likely endorse through the way we spend our time and money. Seemingly obsessed with our perceived need to remain the world's dominant power we are engaged in endless acts of aggression and occupation. Senselessly acquiring goods and services of dubious value we likely don't need, we are spending ourselves into the poor house. Our water is foul and we apparently are satisfied with the taste. Rome is burning and we are fiddling with our remote controls to watch American Idol.
Laodicea is at present piles of scattered stones on Turkish hillsides. It has long since ceased to exist. Its self importance and strategic location on the Roman trade routes did not enable it to live past its usefulness or its desire to continue as a place of habitation. It died just as all things that lose their life must die. The springs are there, still flowing, a few miles away but no water flows into the sprawling ruins of Laodicea. Our civilization too, just as the Roman Empire died, will likely reach its expiration date sooner than we would like or imagine it will. We are not without warning. And like the springs of Colossae and Hieropolis that still flow, we too, will always have an eternal Source of Living Water available that will outlast, overcome and clean any defilement we blindly perpetuate on ourselves. Like the pearl of great price, all else is worthless beside it.
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