2,000 years after a resurrection we never witnessed, facing a future that seems more or less insoluble. We’re not deluded into believing we can return to the idealized modernism of the ’50s. And still we’re not yet willing to throw in the towel and succumb to nihilistic despair. We still hope beyond hope. We groan. We struggle. And we cry out—not defiantly into the void and not to some man-diluted, manufactured god who can’t satisfy. We cry out to the God we hope is actually here.From 2,305 Words On "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Curt Cloninger in the Nov 2006 issue of Paste.
- Peace
4 comments:
What strikes me immediately about this is how negative it is! "2000 years after a resurrection we never witnessed"... like, oh, man, the resurrection, sure, it was great and all, but that doesn't do anything for /us/. I mean, /we/ didn't get to see it personally.
How ludicrously ungrateful. Either you believe in the resurrection or you don't. If you do, what in the hell (pun intended!) do you care if you witnessed it or not?
There is a common thought that if we had direct irrefutable evidence, all of our doubt would go away. This is not a thought that you'll find in the Gospels, still it's there. 2000 years of indirection is a big issue for many people. This quote resonates with me cause it speaks of our need not for nostalgia, not for escapism but for a real God.
- Peace
Sure, this is a common thought. But it's at least a little bogus.
God spread the sea of reeds for the Israelites to cross and not much longer they were, "Oh man! It's not good enough! We need a golden calf, something we can see!" See also: the universe of infinite grandness that completely envelops us.
Doubt is of course a struggle I think for anyone with faith (or maybe not, maybe faith is not having any doubt, as uncomfortable as that thought might be...)
But I agree that we need a real God. Good thing that God is Real!
Calvin Amen. Though I think Curt Cloninger is describing the spiritual tone of our time, at least in America. He's describing our longing for a God that's real. That's as far as he goes.
- Peace
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