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What If I Am Father?
Comedian W.C. Fields was reading the Bible one afternoon when a friend asked him what he was doing. The actor responded wryly, “Looking for loopholes.”
Somewhere within the intended humor of this statement probably lies a revealing glimpse of our often-ironic approach to God. That is, if God is real, there is something irrational about thinking in terms of an entity that can be manipulated; if there is such a thing as truth, there is something ridiculous about defining it to suit ourselves. But we do this regularly.
Author A.J. Jacobs always assumed that religion “would just wither away and we’d live in a neo-Enlightenment world.”(1) When this did not happen, he figured he should examine whether he was missing something essential to being a human or whether half the human population was simply deluded by the existence of God. So he decided to follow literally every command in the Bible for a year—including not trimming his beard and making tassels on the corners of his garments. In his book A Year of Living Biblically, he describes his experiment, which he admits held a bit of irreverence. In the end, nonetheless, he draws the conclusion, “I now believe that whether or not there’s a God, there is such a thing as sacredness.”(2)
Many, including Jacobs, point out the irony of his experiment—namely, deciding to follow the Bible literally is hardly the same thing as deciding to follow God. Yet the popular approach to theological inquiry is not much different and is often equally suited to our own interests, the difference perhaps being that we rarely point out our own incongruous thinking. Truth is comfortably understood in terms of preference, and God is readily comprehended as one who must prepare a defense for our own thunderous line of questioning, even as we question this God’s very existence. Somehow we have arrived at a state of mind where we can live in anger with God for existing, where we can each choose our own brand of reasoning and be frustrated with life for being unreasonable—and see none of the contradictions in our words. Or else we simply choose to overlook them—along with the desperate love of the one crouched at our feet.
The prophet Malachi screamed of crisis during a time when people were asleep to their own incongruous thoughts. Malachi’s message came at the end of a thousand year period of God’s revelation to the people of Israel. The next voice to be heard centuries later was that of John the Baptist preparing the way for the Messiah. Yet historically, the people of Malachi’s day were standing in a period of almost eerie stillness. There was no looming threat to be addressed, no extraordinary prospering to be consumed by, no real reason to be moved by much of anything. Whether for lack of excitement or for excess of ease, the hearts of the people had grown cold and weary. Their worship was tired. Their complaints had no end. It was Malachi who pointedly voiced the irrationality of their half-hearted approach to God, the sheer irony of finding the almighty God wearisome.
Through Malachi, we hear a series of distinctive questions and answers in a dialogical fashion, and we get an eye-opening glimpse of the often-cynical, often-illogical cries of humanity in light of the cries of a Father’s heart in response to his children.
The opening lines of the closing book read powerfully, “I have loved you, says the Lord. Yet you say, ‘In what way have you loved us?’… A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?”(3) The inquiry is both direct and personal, referencing a great story of pursuit and belonging, embrace and subtle or not-so-subtle rejection. If I am Father, why am I the one being questioned? While you have grown cold and weary, I have loved you. Yet you ask, “In what way?”
In these words, in the midst of whatever inconsistency we may or may not see in ourselves, I believe a loving Father still beckons. This declaration of love, which could easily be spoken in anger, voiced as one taking back the words and years of care, is not spoken in terms of retreat. On the contrary, spoken in perfect tense, the phrase “I have loved you” signals past actions, but present implications. The immense history of God’s pursuit and care is indeed called to mind, but the sentiment remains unscathed, present and active. It is as if God is saying through a crippling lament that remembers every costly act on our behalf, and yet still hopes to assure: You don’t know what you’re saying or doing. I have loved you. I have loved you. I have loved you.
Similar words would be spoken even closer centuries later as God stood among humanity as one of us. “And when they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. But Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.'”(4)
What if God is dissatisfied by empty worship, not out of greed or arrogance or self-preoccupation, but because God’s love is so far from empty itself? What if God is grieved by barren, distant images of abstract religion, not out of legalism or fastidiousness, but because God lives so much nearer than we know? What if God laments our self-consumed inquiries as to divine love and character simply because the statement is far truer than we have imagined: “‘I have loved you,’ says the Lord.”
How do we respond to this love? For one, there is really no need for loopholes. And if we will remember the immense demonstration of this love in history, there is also no reason to ask “in what way?”
Jill Carattini is managing editor at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.
Graffiti in one of the bathrooms of one of the dive bars we went to (sorry can't remember the name), I tend to agree with the statement.
There are many benefits to being a woman one of which is being able to express ourselves through colour. Men have to wear such drab clothes while we get to put on such colourful things as these three dresses show only too well.
Boerderijen, laantjes, weilanden, boomgaarden en een kerkje.
En dan dit gebouw, met deze opvallende gevel.
Boven de voordeur prijkt een paardekop — vermoedelijk een verwijzing naar de oorspronkelijke functie.
Het torent overal bovenuit. De torenspits van het kerkje is misschien net iets hoger, maar het gebouw trekt alle aandacht. Het kerkje valt er bijna bij in het niets.
Een architectonisch statement, midden in het stille dorp.
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Location: Ressen, the Netherlands
Farms, country lanes, meadows, orchards — and a little village church.
And then this building, with its striking façade.
Above the entrance, a sculpted horse’s head — likely a clue to its original function.
It rises above everything around it. The church spire might be slightly taller, but this house commands all the attention. The church almost disappears in comparison.
A bold architectural statement in the heart of a quiet village.
Sam Edelman gold holographic patent stilleto pumps with Michael Kors black faux leather pencil skirt, Black shell, Nine West black jacket. Hanes nude hose .
“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.” ~ Charles R. Swindoll
Canon AT1, FD 50mm 1.8, Expired Konica 200.
Developed and scanned by Borealis Lab.
Parc Pélican (Rosemont), Montréal. June 2022.
I drove out southwest of town and past a lot of repaired flood destruction on Oxford Road west of Niwot past their cemetery. I caught this well west from the cemetery and Haystack, a pointy hill that always leaves me wondering. In this shot, NOAA Table Mountain is in the background with government experiment stations atop. I don't suppose any of the experiments trickled over the hill and wiped out this farm. This does not look like it happened overnight. This is certainly NFL - not for long. It looks like someone set up a slab of cottonwood trunk for axe throwing practice.
Although still in September and suffering August heat, I'd say summer grasses were done but the cottonwoods and shrubs are still green. It often seems agricultural has been sucked from this area. Fortunately, we can buy food from the Sam n' Ella's farm in Mexico. The area is learning how valuable water in the west really is but have yet to learn the true value of watered land and soil that doesn't need paving.
Strangely, we had a summer that was closer to normal, if high in humidity, but I don't think ignoring climate change or pumping petroleum will make rougher weather go away. This was a summer that was hotter than any on record. This August was hotter then any on record. This September was the hottest on record, all set world wide. perhaps you see a trend. That is at least until the looming petroleum wars are settled and the Koch Brothers and their political tea purchases are put away in their place. Until then CO2 levels in the atmosphere which are at an 850 million year high, will not be turned around. Actually, anti-fracking proposals passed in Colorado.
Drinking is our way of life.
Another old shot from 2008.
I wonder what she'll say today, - 12 years later.
Not just in town, or on this street, or even in England. Simply "the best."
(Sadly the shop in the background seemed to have sold out of rainbows.)
President Barack Obama delivers a statement in the East Room of the White House on the mission against Osama bin Laden, May 1, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.
Artist's Statement
My work is an attempt to give voice to inner psychological and/or spiritual states of being. What is of primary importance to me is that the figures contain particular aspects of humanity which they can mirror back to the viewer. It's the vulnerability of Humanity I am after. That is one reason for choosing very old or very young subjects. They both can portray innocence as well as extreme complexity.
Often they seem best portrayed as dolls. This can remove them one step from being so literal yet still allow the psychological weight. Perhaps that is something not noticed immediately yet allows the viewer easier access. To myself I can muse about the viewers engagement with them as dolls however It is the felt response I am after in every case.
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Voor de ingang van Algemene Zaken, stond een jonge vrouw op een kruk met ontbloot bovenlijf terwijl ze haar borsten met viltstiften aan het roodkleuren was. Niemand wist wat hier gebeurde, na enig rondvragen zei iemand: "vraag het haar zelf maar". Dus dat deed ik. "Ik maak een statement" zei ze. Waarover, waartegen, waarom? "Een radicaal statement" zei ze. Maar ondertussen kwamen 2 politieagenten die haar sommeerden de borsten te bedekken en mee te komen naar.... nog onbekend.
Iemand vroeg mijn kaartje (heb ik altijd bij me) want ze wilden deze foto's wel hebben. Ik hoor later wel waarover dit radicale statement ging.
Jacolinde Geerte, kunstwerk
jacolindeeck.wixsite.com/website
performance, ± 6 min. (with performativity(?) prolonged to 3 hrs)
For the pahmphlet i was stuck by this sentence within the assignment "a radical message in a radical way." So i first thought about what a radical way was. I believe this is when it's unerasable. So i was thinking about writing with lipstick on some white walls in the school and what not. Then it developped in being an unerasable image in peoples minds. Or maybe what wpuld.ignite the most reaction.
As i did a naked performance once in school, and some were kind of crossed by that. And i knew that my breasts evoked this same kind of reaction on people, both on social media, in public and even under a shirt without bra, i wanted to do something with the ridicoulousness of this given. Especially nipples being censured as breasts are over sexualized and the increasing prudishness of society, which is especially taken out on female bodies, i wanted to question the radicality of my flesh. Is this radical enough for you? Is it radical at all? Police sure did thought so.
With writing variations of this question on my breats until covered, I state that breasts shouldn't be so radical - which apparently was quite a radical message an sich.
All images are copyrighted by Pieter Musterd. If you want to use or buy any of my photographs, contact me. It is not allowed to download them or use them on any website, blog etc. without my explicit permission.
If you want a translation of the text in your own language, please try "Google Translate".
In this photo Margaret C was on a mission. We all need to be on a mission from time to time. With her athleticism she mounted on the 5 ft high cement obstacle with the US Capitol behind her, she turned to look at it, looked back at me and seemed exhilarated. I proposed a rare posed shot, envisioning her representing strength, determination, and the ability to surmount any obstacle. Well, she took if from there and struck the pose and I took the shot. You can surmount your obstacles whatever they may be. Sometimes you have to make a statement! Washington DC, 1 October 2017.
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