There once was a colony of caterpillars who lived in a tree. Every day they would creep around on the leaves, eating the leaves, and watching out for birds.
One day a butterfly came and landed among them. The butterfly had huge beautiful colourful wings, could fly, did not have to crawl around and stay in one tree all the time.
The caterpillars said “Wow, butterfly, you are so beautiful and amazing! We really admire you for being so wonderful!”
But the butterfly said “Don’t you know? You are all meant to be butterflies! This is what you were created to be!”
The caterpillars said “How is that possible? You are so beautiful and nimble and light, and we are so clumsy and ugly and slow!”
The butterfly said “You were made to be like me. You must wrap yourself in a cocoon for a few days. That’s where you will be transformed, and you will emerge as butterflies!”
Then the butterfly flew to another tree, to tell more caterpillars the good news!
The caterpillars argued amongst themselves. Some said “It’s impossible- he was lying to us. We will never be anything more than caterpillars.”
But others said “We believe him! If we go into cocoons we will emerge as butterflies!”
This group began calling themselves ‘The Butterflies’ because they believed. But when it came time to go into cocoons, they said “Wow… that’s a big sacrifice. We wouldn’t be able to do anything caterpillar ish for several days! It’s scary! It looks like work!” And so they decided not to go into cocoons.
From that day forward, there were the caterpillars who did not believe, and the caterpillars who did, who called themselves butterflies, but remained exactly like the other caterpillars anyway.
The end.
This site is where I let my faith wrestle with reason. If you have a question to submit, do it at vankampen.peter@gmail.com. Although I try to be faithful to the teachings of the Church, these answers are the opinion of a Catholic youth Coordinator, and should not be construed as the views of the Catholic Church.
Thursday, January 23, 2020
4 analogies for what it means to be a Christian
Run the race.
The Bible describes the Christian walk as like a competition. We're are all working towards a goal, the goal being heaven or sanctification, a reward for our good works. Jesus said;
Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
So the road to life is a struggle, it's work, it's "Take up your cross" and "Count the cost".
St Paul puts it this way;
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. ... Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.
Also in Hebrews 12:1-2
And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
I'm kind of drawn to this language. There is a tradition in the Christian church, where if you've got some vice- you know like you lose your temper, or your greedy- you practice the opposite virtue. So if you're greedy, practice generosity. If you're impatient, practice patience. Every vice has an opposite virtue, and the virtue is like a muscle, where the more you exercise it the stronger it becomes. A person with strong character is called 'virtuous'. A weak person is called 'vicious'. Come up with practical things- make a plan. Exterior discipline leads to interior conversion. If you're lazy- counter it by setting an alarm and disciplining yourself to get up a get working, and not give yourself a break until you accomplish a goal. you don't become an Olympic athlete without work. You don't become a disciple of Christ without work.
In this way, the Christian walk is about striving, about pushing yourself, to be holy.
Right about now the Calvinists reading this are freaking out. They'll tell you that the heresy I'm spouting is called "Pelagianism". See, the run the race analogy is scriptural... but it's incomplete. It implies that you earn your salvation through working hard enough.
The truth is, all Christians agree that we saved by grace- grace meaning the free gift of God, something we cannot earn.
Ephesians 2: 8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
To explain this we have a courtroom analogy. God is a just God. God warned us that "The wages of sin is death." (Rom 6:23). So if we sin, the consequence is death, not just physical death, but spiritual death- Hell. This debt needs to be paid. But it get's paid by Christ in our place, so that if we accept his Sacrifice, he takes our place, gave his life "as a ransom for many" Mark 10:45, so that "all those who believe in Him may not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16).
So the analogy is that God, the just judge, sees our sins, and declares the just consequence to our sins is death. But then he leaves his post as the judge, and comes and advocates for us, and pays the price Himself. and so he redeems us from the consequences of sin.
I think both the run the race analogy and the courtroom analogy are helpful, and true to a point- but they are also both flawed and incomplete. For this reason God gives us other analogies.
He tells us that we are his adopted sons and daughters. In both the striving and the courtroom analogy, it creates a sense of legalism which God is bound to, and the sense that our perfection is the most important thing. We are trying to be perfect slaves. But God wants to adopt us as children.
John 1:12-13
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
This is a different image. When we say that God redeemed us by his grace, we see that we are adopted. If I were to die, my vast wealth would be divided among my 5 children. But if I adopted a 6th child- they too would inherit their share of my wealth. So because we were adopted as children, we get to inherit the kingdom of God. and this depends entirely on grace. You can't earn sonship by being a really great slave.
But it seems to me the analogy God uses the most for his relationship with us is of marriage. In the Old Testament he talks about Israel as His bride, and when she goes after other Gods, he even says she's acting like a whore! In fact he makes one of his prophets, Hosea, marry a prostitute, just to illustrate this point. Yet he remains faithful.
In the book of Revelation, it ends with the 'wedding feast of the lamb.' This is why the Church is called "The bride of Christ", and why we always refer to the Church as "she".
When I asked Catherine to marry me, I didn't actually ask. I made a list of all my wonderful attributes, and of all the wonderful things I had done for her, and informed her that she was obligated to marry me, because I had earned it. Imagine my surprise when she rejected me! I was bewildered, because I was such a great guy, and I was entitled to a relationship with her!
My friend took me aside, and explained that the logic of love is the logic of gift. If she chose to love me, it wasn't because I deserved it, but because of her goodness. No matter what I did, I could never earn her love.
Anyway, having learned my lesson, I went back to her and asked her properly if she would marry me, and she agreed. But then things got awkward. On valentines day, I didn't get her a present. I ignored her birthday, didn't help out around the house, didn't show her affection. When she confronted me on it, I explained to her that love is a gift, and she chose to give herself to me, so why was she demanding that I earn her love?
That didn't go so well.
My friend had to explain to me that in a marriage, the agreement is to love each other. So doing all those good things for my wife don't earn me her life, but it is what it means to love her.
This is my favorite analogy for our relationship with God. On the one hand, I don't deserve to be a Christian- it only by God's grace that He gives Himself to me, and so I give myself back. On the other hand, the response of love to love is to love others. 1 John 4:19 "We love because he first loved us".
1 John 4:20
Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
So the race analogy and the courtroom analogy are helpful to understand aspects of our faith, but at the end of the day the logic of Christianity is the logic of love.
The Bible describes the Christian walk as like a competition. We're are all working towards a goal, the goal being heaven or sanctification, a reward for our good works. Jesus said;
Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
So the road to life is a struggle, it's work, it's "Take up your cross" and "Count the cost".
St Paul puts it this way;
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. ... Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.
Also in Hebrews 12:1-2
And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
I'm kind of drawn to this language. There is a tradition in the Christian church, where if you've got some vice- you know like you lose your temper, or your greedy- you practice the opposite virtue. So if you're greedy, practice generosity. If you're impatient, practice patience. Every vice has an opposite virtue, and the virtue is like a muscle, where the more you exercise it the stronger it becomes. A person with strong character is called 'virtuous'. A weak person is called 'vicious'. Come up with practical things- make a plan. Exterior discipline leads to interior conversion. If you're lazy- counter it by setting an alarm and disciplining yourself to get up a get working, and not give yourself a break until you accomplish a goal. you don't become an Olympic athlete without work. You don't become a disciple of Christ without work.
In this way, the Christian walk is about striving, about pushing yourself, to be holy.
Right about now the Calvinists reading this are freaking out. They'll tell you that the heresy I'm spouting is called "Pelagianism". See, the run the race analogy is scriptural... but it's incomplete. It implies that you earn your salvation through working hard enough.
The truth is, all Christians agree that we saved by grace- grace meaning the free gift of God, something we cannot earn.
Ephesians 2: 8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
To explain this we have a courtroom analogy. God is a just God. God warned us that "The wages of sin is death." (Rom 6:23). So if we sin, the consequence is death, not just physical death, but spiritual death- Hell. This debt needs to be paid. But it get's paid by Christ in our place, so that if we accept his Sacrifice, he takes our place, gave his life "as a ransom for many" Mark 10:45, so that "all those who believe in Him may not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16).
So the analogy is that God, the just judge, sees our sins, and declares the just consequence to our sins is death. But then he leaves his post as the judge, and comes and advocates for us, and pays the price Himself. and so he redeems us from the consequences of sin.
I think both the run the race analogy and the courtroom analogy are helpful, and true to a point- but they are also both flawed and incomplete. For this reason God gives us other analogies.
He tells us that we are his adopted sons and daughters. In both the striving and the courtroom analogy, it creates a sense of legalism which God is bound to, and the sense that our perfection is the most important thing. We are trying to be perfect slaves. But God wants to adopt us as children.
John 1:12-13
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
This is a different image. When we say that God redeemed us by his grace, we see that we are adopted. If I were to die, my vast wealth would be divided among my 5 children. But if I adopted a 6th child- they too would inherit their share of my wealth. So because we were adopted as children, we get to inherit the kingdom of God. and this depends entirely on grace. You can't earn sonship by being a really great slave.
But it seems to me the analogy God uses the most for his relationship with us is of marriage. In the Old Testament he talks about Israel as His bride, and when she goes after other Gods, he even says she's acting like a whore! In fact he makes one of his prophets, Hosea, marry a prostitute, just to illustrate this point. Yet he remains faithful.
In the book of Revelation, it ends with the 'wedding feast of the lamb.' This is why the Church is called "The bride of Christ", and why we always refer to the Church as "she".
When I asked Catherine to marry me, I didn't actually ask. I made a list of all my wonderful attributes, and of all the wonderful things I had done for her, and informed her that she was obligated to marry me, because I had earned it. Imagine my surprise when she rejected me! I was bewildered, because I was such a great guy, and I was entitled to a relationship with her!
My friend took me aside, and explained that the logic of love is the logic of gift. If she chose to love me, it wasn't because I deserved it, but because of her goodness. No matter what I did, I could never earn her love.
Anyway, having learned my lesson, I went back to her and asked her properly if she would marry me, and she agreed. But then things got awkward. On valentines day, I didn't get her a present. I ignored her birthday, didn't help out around the house, didn't show her affection. When she confronted me on it, I explained to her that love is a gift, and she chose to give herself to me, so why was she demanding that I earn her love?
That didn't go so well.
My friend had to explain to me that in a marriage, the agreement is to love each other. So doing all those good things for my wife don't earn me her life, but it is what it means to love her.
This is my favorite analogy for our relationship with God. On the one hand, I don't deserve to be a Christian- it only by God's grace that He gives Himself to me, and so I give myself back. On the other hand, the response of love to love is to love others. 1 John 4:19 "We love because he first loved us".
1 John 4:20
Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
So the race analogy and the courtroom analogy are helpful to understand aspects of our faith, but at the end of the day the logic of Christianity is the logic of love.
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