Our Monochromatic [g]od

Ever since the post on truth and beauty I've been thinking some about our perceptions of God, his truth and his beauty. I've been exposed to various discussions about the idea of truth lately, especially by those critical of postmodern thinkers and theologians. One of the statements that I found particularly intriguing was the desire by some for some of these writers to be more "black and white" in their statements, and a general sense that guys like Brian McLaren (as one example) have too many "grey areas".

So I had this thought, not based on any deep Scriptural exegesis or anything like that, just an emerging thought - why do we have to think of God in such monochromatic terms? Is it possible that God is not so confined to black and white as we'd like to think? Perhaps God is not limited by the starkly opposite colors of black and white. And certainly grey with all of its utilitarian connotations does nothing to inspire me to think of God.

When I look at the work of the divine artist, I see very little that would indicate to me that God is so black, white, or grey. There was one scripture verse that came to mind, and it's found in Paul's letter to the Ephesians where he is extolling the wisdom of God (it's chapter 3 verse 10 for those interested in looking it up). He says that "God's purpose was to show his wisdom in all its rich variety to all the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms." The word translated into "rich variety" there is elsewhere translated "manifold" and carries some of the implication of a prismatic effect. The pure light strikes the many folds or facets of a prism, and as it does, produces the variety of colors we know as the spectrum.

The richness of a red tulip reaching toward the sun; the deep green of a verdant field under the summer's sun; the cool blue of a late autumn sky lit with a late afternoon sun - these speak to me of a God full of color, and variety. If his wisdom is as rich as Paul makes it out to be, there seems to be no reason to confine it in such monochromatic terms as black, white and grey, as if God had nothing better or more beautiful to be than those.

I wonder how that might change our perception of God and the way that he views the world, maybe even the way he views us. Maybe it would change the way we view each other, as more than just the accumulation of years of black and white choices and thinking, into people who are, in some way, reflective of the divine wisdom.

Perhaps the years of life have caused certain impurities in our little prism. Perhaps when we speak of being purified by God's truth, he is removing some of those impurities with a process that somehow escapes our perfect understanding. And as he purifies, it is to make us reflect his light a little more clearly, with a little more color.

Would I then recognize the light of God reflected in someone else a little better? Might I then see past the impurities, and see them as reflective of God's image - no matter how marred it might be? And then when I saw that, I think it would move me to call them into the same process of refining and purifying in which I find myself.

I want to be beautiful. I want to be colorful. I think I could be, when his light strikes me.

Truth and Beauty

Well, it's been several weeks now since I put together a coherent blog entry. My apologies to anyone who's been checking this site looking for substantive and thoughtful comments. The last entry of questions did provoke a number of responses - most of them directed at the two corresponding questions I posed: "Is all beauty true? Is all truth beautiful?"

My brother mentioned the ugly truths of death as evidence that perhaps all truth is not beautiful. There is a great deal about his statement I find compelling, but there is one major objection that continues to present itself to me as a follower of Jesus.

The crucifixion of Jesus represents, in many ways, the worst of human evil. It is perhaps the ugliest act which consummated a despicable and hateful campaign of systematic destruction carried out by those threatened by Jesus. With apologies to those not enamored with the film, the brutality and utter horror of the events surrounding Jesus' crucifixion were well portrayed in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. Death can be horrific, maybe none more so than the type of death inflicted on Jesus. Not only subjected to an agonizing form of capital punishment, but stripped naked to carry his own cross through the streets of Jerusalem, and then hung openly for the pain of mental and emotional humiliation - this was evil.

And yet, if I read the Biblical writers correctly, there was present in the awful truth of the crucifixion a deeper, more enduring beauty than any they had known. Although I think it has been said before, I most recently read in Brian McLaren's book A Generous Orthodoxy, his description that in this event justice and mercy kissed. I wonder if further we could say that in the crucifixion truth and beauty kissed.

Never has truth hung in a more naked and abject form than the stark figure of an innocent man crucified on a lonely hill. Never has truth been so forsaken, so brutal as to be offensive to the eyes. But the beauty of self-sacrifice, the the attractiveness of love being extravagantly poured out in the face of such evil is equally compelling. There are times when I think upon the cross, meditate on its significance that I am moved to tears that are likely equal parts pain and beauty. Pain because the one who said he embodied truth was hung on a wooden cross with nails driven into his flesh. And beauty because I know that in that act he secured for me life that surpasses pain.

We speak of the cross as the expression of God's redemption. I think that carried in the idea of redemption is the divine ability to transform evil into good, ugliness into beauty, and cold into warmth. Jesus penetrated the most hideous depths of the human condition, and in those moments, I think he re-created a beauty surpassing explanation.

Beauty is true because in everything beautiful there is a reflection of the ultimate Creator. Truth is beautiful because God redeems even the most ugly truths in the cross.