Destitution within...

Quicksearch

Blog Administration

Open login screen

RSS Readers

Sunday, June 6. 2010

From Dr. Bob:

Deep within each of us dwells a bottomless abyss, into which we pour an endless train of insufficient and destructive detritus. We seek to fill the abyss with material goods; with drugs, or alcohol, or food, or sex; we seek relationships, hoping through them to fill that void � then destroy those relationships when they fail to accomplish what they are utterly incapable of fulfilling. Neither power, nor money, nor eminence, nor the esteem of others will suffice. Only to be chosen by God; to be accepted, fully, unconditionally, eternally by Him: this alone fills the despondent destitution within � for that emptiness was made to be filled with naught but God Himself.

I understand what Dr. Bob is saying in his post, but surely not all foolish desires are displaced and misplaced yearnings for God...or are they?

Posted by Bird Dog at 19:20 | Comments (11) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks

Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments

Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

Dr. Bob has God wrong or is grasping on to some idol.

God Almighty accepts no man or woman unconditionaly.

His condition is sincere repentance and faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

#1 Leag on 2010-06-06 20:32 (Reply)

Leag,

There's a danger of confusing cause and effect:

Ephesians 1:3�� Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

#1.1 Cris on 2010-06-06 20:38 (Reply)

Selah;

Unrepentants should be holy and without blame but can't be because they don't repent and believe and obey Jesus Christ.

I am the living bread which came down from heaven.

If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, for the life of the world.

The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you.

He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day.

For my flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed.

He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him.

As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, the same also shall live by me.

This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eateth this bread, shall live for ever.

These things he said, teaching in the synagogue, in Capharnaum. John 6:51-60

#1.1.1 Leag on 2010-06-06 21:02 (Reply)

I'd say "yes, they are". As the poet said, You�re gonna have to serve somebody.

�Great art thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is thy power, and infinite is thy wisdom.� And man desires to praise thee, for he is a part of thy creation; he bears his mortality about with him and carries the evidence of his sin and the proof that thou dost resist the proud. Still he desires to praise thee, this man who is only a small part of thy creation. Thou hast prompted him, that he should delight to praise thee, for thou hast made us for thyself and restless is our heart until it comes to rest in thee (Augustine, Confessions 1:1:1).

#2 Cris on 2010-06-06 20:34 (Reply)

Sorry, I gotta go with the Self to fill this hole, so sort of a Nietzschean perspective, but with a big difference.

I believe in God - but not the White Hair Guy in the Sky. Those that use Him to fill the void are simply replacing a former, real parent figure with an imagined one that never leaves them, never rejects them. It works for a lot of people in Christianity, but produces more problems than it solves in some religions (think Islam, or even Old Testament Judaism, where God is angry and pissed most of the time, wanting men - always men - to destroy cities, peoples or other religions).

The problem is that most people do not have the discipline, strength, or Will to fill that void. I accept Tillch's argument that Will eventually comes from God, so God comes into the picture, but not as the "thing" that fills the void, but as the Spark that creates Will that supports the Ego that creates the Self that fills the Void.

The difference is between creating a dependency and becoming an individual.

#3 anon on 2010-06-06 21:51 (Reply)

I was about to post something similar, but you appear to have done a much, much better job than I could before I even tried. Bravo.

#3.1 oigewan on 2010-06-07 20:57 (Reply)

It might be fair to say that ultimately all desires are desire for God. But some are cryingly obvious, as Bob notes, while others go through meandering paths leading through every aspect of humanity and desire. I don't know how one would give evidence that these are, in fact, desires for God if one does not start from the conclusion.

It happens to be something that I believe is in fact true. But that is more from experience, and eliminating the other alternatives as not fully satisfying, than from a positive argument.

#4 Assistant Village Idiot (Link) on 2010-06-06 22:20 (Reply)

Is it possible, AVI, that the only way to define a concept/Person as vast as God is to define Him by negatives?

Marianne

#5 Marianne Matthews on 2010-06-06 23:02 (Reply)

I would make a related claim, that deepening understanding of God is often "revelation by subtraction" as Michael Novack says. (Much reference to St. John of the Cross and the two recent Teresas on that). The creeds include positive statements, but also rely on negatives to define: "Begotten, not made," for example.

CS Lewis touches on this humorously but wisely in the "Imagine a Mystical Limpet" section of Miracles. Hmm. I like that so much I'm going to post it on my site.

#5.1 Assistant Village Idiot (Link) on 2010-06-06 23:26 (Reply)

The thirst in our souls is the attraction
put out by the Water itself.

We belong to It,
and It to us.

from Rumi. That says it all to me. Move beyond desire and God fills the hole.

I enjoyed this post and thread so much, I think I'll celebrate with a martini.

#6 arcs on 2010-06-07 11:18 (Reply)

I say Dr. Bob nailed it

#7 Texan99 on 2010-06-08 13:34 (Reply)

Add Comment

Name
Email	(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)
Homepage
In reply to
Comment	By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications. Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u], [url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here. Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (word), underscore are made via _word_. E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications. To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly. Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above: BBCode format allowed
	Remember Information? Subscribe to this entry

Maggie's Farm

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

RSS Readers

Sunday, June 6. 2010

Destitution within...