Autumn Christmas Lights
The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, which states that everything in the universe goes from an ordered state to a disordered state, is also an excellent explanation of the 4th dimension, linear time... you can't go from one state to another without time in between. Time refuses to slow down one tick for any of us… but we can record snippets of it, like this, and light is frozen in time.
We photographers can play with that light, add snap and glow, depth and definition, and make the world our palette. We can take that world within the image and order it and disorder it to our heart’s content… and it becomes art. That “art” can help us see this world in new ways… yet, does that change the reality of this world?
In some ways, time’s incessant march toward disorder can be beautiful… beaches, canyons, deserts, mountains, and valleys are all evidence of earth, weather, and gravity working in concert with thermodynamics… and it’s evident throughout the Universe, because everything in this universe is subject to the laws of nature. Yet, those laws will never relent, and their eventuality can be anything but beautiful. Physicists have determined what that “eventuality” might look like, and it’s downright scary: having exhausted its practical energy, the Universe becomes nothing more than a void of depleted atoms and some scattered photons that hadn’t gotten the message that there was no longer a reason to shed light… there will be no living creature to determine the reality of it.
There are many in this world who feel humanity can reach a place of order according to whatever their proclivity seems to be… but “thermodynamics” doesn’t prove that out, just as events of late in this world seem to point out. Much of that proclivity in this country (and likely with others) comes straight out of the 1970’s in the form of militant autonomy, also known as “hippie” ethic. In other words, many feel they can do or say or be any outrageous thing they choose without the least impunity whatsoever. Even when their inclination is toward an idealistic “peace” and “love” and “good”, if they define that outside of a transcendent source, is any of it truly good? Often, how “peaceful” and “loving” they are when you disagree with them answers that quite evidently... and that's truly not good. That ethic is now known as “progressivism”, which has become a religion unto itself, and though it’s not atheist per se, its name is a contradiction… unless you consider an eventual step toward godlessness as progression. There are consequences to that, and our world is witness to that now. Such determination only proves to me that humanity is inescapably caught in the relentless pull of the black hole of disorder... but doesn’t that assume humanity was once ordered? I believe that, once, it was in a place of order… it was called Eden.
I know from personal experience that any such understanding offends many people, as they don't want God saying "No" to whatever their chosen tendency is... but I have a question for them... have you ever thought that God's "No" can lead to a greater "Yes"? Though they are immutable, the Ten Commandments aren't merely relentless laws... if they were, everyone who's ever lived would be at total enmity with God, as no one can live up to them entirely. They're connected... if you've ever broken one, you've broken them all. Rather, they just prove how lost we are without a Savior. Our only hope in an order that truly matters isn’t in nature, but rather in what lays beyond nature. At best, our hearts are still a long way from the manger that we celebrate in this season… for some, a lot further away than 2,000 years can take them.
Where the church and culture diverge, it's culture that must change. In many ways, however, the church is becoming the culture it's here to address. The 2nd Chapter of Revelation points out something that I find not just interesting, but also relevant to this age… are you sensitive to this too?... “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.”
For those who may not understand, "the love you had at first" is not some noble idealistic notion to fix mankind... it comes as the One whose birth we celebrate in this season. Perhaps it’s time to get back to that “first love”, as the answers we all seek for a hurting world are there and there alone.
Autumn Christmas Lights
The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, which states that everything in the universe goes from an ordered state to a disordered state, is also an excellent explanation of the 4th dimension, linear time... you can't go from one state to another without time in between. Time refuses to slow down one tick for any of us… but we can record snippets of it, like this, and light is frozen in time.
We photographers can play with that light, add snap and glow, depth and definition, and make the world our palette. We can take that world within the image and order it and disorder it to our heart’s content… and it becomes art. That “art” can help us see this world in new ways… yet, does that change the reality of this world?
In some ways, time’s incessant march toward disorder can be beautiful… beaches, canyons, deserts, mountains, and valleys are all evidence of earth, weather, and gravity working in concert with thermodynamics… and it’s evident throughout the Universe, because everything in this universe is subject to the laws of nature. Yet, those laws will never relent, and their eventuality can be anything but beautiful. Physicists have determined what that “eventuality” might look like, and it’s downright scary: having exhausted its practical energy, the Universe becomes nothing more than a void of depleted atoms and some scattered photons that hadn’t gotten the message that there was no longer a reason to shed light… there will be no living creature to determine the reality of it.
There are many in this world who feel humanity can reach a place of order according to whatever their proclivity seems to be… but “thermodynamics” doesn’t prove that out, just as events of late in this world seem to point out. Much of that proclivity in this country (and likely with others) comes straight out of the 1970’s in the form of militant autonomy, also known as “hippie” ethic. In other words, many feel they can do or say or be any outrageous thing they choose without the least impunity whatsoever. Even when their inclination is toward an idealistic “peace” and “love” and “good”, if they define that outside of a transcendent source, is any of it truly good? Often, how “peaceful” and “loving” they are when you disagree with them answers that quite evidently... and that's truly not good. That ethic is now known as “progressivism”, which has become a religion unto itself, and though it’s not atheist per se, its name is a contradiction… unless you consider an eventual step toward godlessness as progression. There are consequences to that, and our world is witness to that now. Such determination only proves to me that humanity is inescapably caught in the relentless pull of the black hole of disorder... but doesn’t that assume humanity was once ordered? I believe that, once, it was in a place of order… it was called Eden.
I know from personal experience that any such understanding offends many people, as they don't want God saying "No" to whatever their chosen tendency is... but I have a question for them... have you ever thought that God's "No" can lead to a greater "Yes"? Though they are immutable, the Ten Commandments aren't merely relentless laws... if they were, everyone who's ever lived would be at total enmity with God, as no one can live up to them entirely. They're connected... if you've ever broken one, you've broken them all. Rather, they just prove how lost we are without a Savior. Our only hope in an order that truly matters isn’t in nature, but rather in what lays beyond nature. At best, our hearts are still a long way from the manger that we celebrate in this season… for some, a lot further away than 2,000 years can take them.
Where the church and culture diverge, it's culture that must change. In many ways, however, the church is becoming the culture it's here to address. The 2nd Chapter of Revelation points out something that I find not just interesting, but also relevant to this age… are you sensitive to this too?... “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first.”
For those who may not understand, "the love you had at first" is not some noble idealistic notion to fix mankind... it comes as the One whose birth we celebrate in this season. Perhaps it’s time to get back to that “first love”, as the answers we all seek for a hurting world are there and there alone.