my head hurts

so i read this article about the nature of reality and all that. it was written in 1978 by this science fiction writer. it’s actually not as lame as it might sound. in fact, you should read it. here you go: http://downlode.org/Etext/how_to_build.html. insert a shout-out to adam here for telling me to read it. and now for some excerpts and thoughts, hopefully they are sort of coherent:

“Do not believe — and I am dead serious when I say this — do not assume that order and stability are always good, in a society or in a universe. The old, the ossified, must always give way to new life and the birth of new things. Before the new things can be born the old must perish. This is a dangerous realization, because it tells us that we must eventually part with much of what is familiar to us. And that hurts. But that is part of the script of life. Unless we can psychologically accommodate change, we ourselves begin to die, inwardly. What I am saying is that objects, customs, habits, and ways of life must perish so that the authentic human being can live. And it is the authentic human being who matters most, the viable, elastic organism which can bounce back, absorb, and deal with the new.”

this does seem Biblical. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says,“…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new”. the universe is moving in such a way that it is going towards the kingdom of God. it doesn't necessarily move from old to new on its own, God uses His people as His tools to do this redeeming work. we are called as christians to engage the world around us and find the redeeming qualities of creation and culture. as followers of Jesus, this should be our goal! but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, we as His followers must be truly changed by Him in order to be able to bring change to the world. After all, “a glass can only spill what it contains”.

the author of the article also talked about how the world around us affects how we understand what is real,
“Because the bombardment of pseudo- realities begins to produce inauthentic humans very quickly, spurious humans — as fake as the data pressing at them from all sides…Fake realities will create fake humans.”
this makes me think about how a relationship with Christ helps us to understand what life is really about. John 10:10 says, “I have come that you might have life and have it to the full.” God wants us to get close to Him...the actual source of Truth. that is how we can have full life, complete with meaning.

don’t be confused now, we can know about God, but not know God Himself. there is a difference. the relationship is key. in Matthew 7 Jesus tells a crowd of people, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven…Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘Depart from Me, I never knew you…’”. Jesus wants us to talk to Him and to know who He is.

i believe that more we learn about the character of Jesus the more we can realize that God didn’t come to make bad people good, He came to make dead people alive (credit goes to pastor mike from today’s sermon at ambridge christian center). he wants us to have life to the full through the means of a relationship with Him. so how can we know about the nature of reality? we can have life to the full which means a relationship with Jesus and doing His work. life doesn’t get any more real than that.

i am really only touching on this subject. read the link for lots of interesting thoughts.