Now We See Darkly

Cataract surgery replaces a damaged, thickened, and discolored lens with a new perfectly functional replacement.  I carry cards in my wallet with the details of the prescriptions of each of my replacements lenses and have been delighted with the restoration of my proper visual abilities. Once I had the first surgery I was impatient to have the second surgery and complete the process.

The opthalmic surgeon performs the surgeries one eye at a time. This produces an odd situation. After my first surgery, my post-operative eye saw bright new intense colors with ultra-sharp delineation between white and black.  Not so with the pre-operative eye. What I saw was yellowed, dull, and faded, with incorrect color perceptions. I saw a green shirt as grey and could not distinguish some blues from some greens.  The scientific term for this phenomenon would be that the cataract had produced an acquired tritanopia.

Most people are spiritually asleep or, at best, walking around with a thick film over their eyes. When converted to Christianity, they suddenly see what has really been around them the entire time. Reality can be very shocking.  They become eager to complete the process.

Conversion changes your mind and your perception of the nature of reality. You have received the Holy Spirit and now are indwelled by the Mind of Christ. This enables you to see things as Jesus sees them.  You see things which once you could not see or understand. This is the beginning of the process of sanctification.

Absence

I apologize for the recent lack of posting on this blog.  I have been undergoing a series of eye surgeries. Posts will now return at least weekly.

My eye! My eye!

I have to apologize for being gone from this blog for two weeks. I had to have surgery on my right eye. I had an artificial lens implanted to replace one damaged by a cataract and also a Descemet's membrane transplant to repair the damage done to my cornea by Fuch’s Dystrophy. Once the right eye is healed, the same surgeries will be performed on my left eye. It really is amazing what we can now do. One hundred and fifty years ago the Fuch’s Dystrophy would have eventually rendered me blind. The first full corneal transplant was performed in 1905. The Descemet's Membrane transplants have only been performed for the last twenty five years. See a video of the surgeries here. 

Think about this though, We probably will eventually be able to create artificial eyes but we cannot create an eye,  We cannot create a butterfly.  We cannot create a galaxy. And we cannot raise a man from the dead. Only our  Lord can do these things.

A Flower Vase on a Grave

As my wife and I drove away from a recent visit to her parent’s graves, I saw, in the corner of my eye, another couple standing by a grave.  The man looked around to see if he was being watched and then walked over to another grave.  From that grave, the man took a flower vase and placed it on the grave his wife was viewing.

Besides being petty theft, this was an insult to the person from whose grave the vase was removed. I also believe that it was an insult to the person on whose grave the stolen vase was placed. It was as if the man thought so little of them that he would rather use a stolen vase and flowers rather than purchase some of his own.  

I am sure that this man thought this was a negligible act, not worthy of a thought.  This was an intentional act, but even unintentional sins are still sins and the wages of sin is death.  How wonderful it is that Jesus has washed His people clean.

“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10

“And if a soul sin, and commit any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the LORD; though he wist it not, yet is he guilty, and shall bear his iniquity.” Leviticus 5:17

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23

Book Comment: An Encyclopedia of African American Christian Heritage

Many people would rather stick a pencil into their eye than to read a book of history.  That really is a shame, because history helps us to understand where we have been and how that affects where and who we are now.  Christians, especially, are a historically based people.  To really understand Christianity, it is necessary to learn about the mindset and history of a world almost totally alien to our modern world but on which our modern world is based.

All Christians worldwide are part of the same family.  All those who belong to Jesus, have the Mind of Christ.  Yet, often, we misunderstand one another.  How much does a Christian in Norway know about Christians in China?  How much does a Christian in Belarus know about Christians in Greece?  Do you know about the military saints or the Fools for Christ?  How much do we know about Christians in other religious traditions existing side by side with us in our own home areas?

In the United States, how much do white Christians know about black Christians and vice versa?  We have lived together for four hundred years but many whites have never been into a black church and many blacks have never been into a white church.  Study of books such as An Encyclopedia of African American Christian Heritage (Judson Press, 2002) can help us understand one another.

The book by Marvin A. McMickle is divided into chapters of short essays on the following subjects: Denominational Founders and Leaders, Preachers, Teachers and Scholars, Politicians, Prophets, Nationalists, Cult Leaders, Singers and Songwriters, and Movements, Terms, and Events.  Good historical studies do not turn away from discussing the unpleasant along with the positive and this book exposes the warts along with the beauty.   I heartily recommend this interesting and useful book.

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A general caution: books may give you wonderful new insights and explanations of subjects, but you should never base your Christian beliefs on any one book or the teachings of one person, no matter who they are. All teachings must be consistent with scripture. Read as the Bereans did, with discernment. “… for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.” Acts 17:11 NASB

Any doctrines must be consistent with the historical full body of Christian thought. Doctrines or teachings inconsistent with scripture in any way must be rejected. You would not eat cheese which had a fuzzy fungus growing on it.

The Senility Prayer

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
 The courage to change the things I can,
 And wisdom to know the difference.”

The first known appearance of this short prayer is in a 1943 sermon by the American Christian theologian Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971).  It is popularly known as the Serenity Prayer.

Recently, I found a copy of a parody of the Serenity Prayer called the Senility Prayer.  As an aging person myself, I found the prayer to be amusing.  I am aware that it is not a Christian prayer.

“Grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference.” 

Burning Your Eyeballs

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/04/eye-sunburn-anderson-cooper-temporary-blindness_n_2239020.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57557493/anderson-cooper-on-temporary-blindness-cnn-shakeup/

“It turns out I have sunburned my eyeballs.  I had no idea you could do this.” Anderson Cooper.  Cooper had a case of photokeratitis, commonly called “snow blindness, ” in which ultraviolet light which reflects off snow, sand, or water painfully urns the cornea.  The damage is not permanent.  It is why snow skiers wear sunglasses.  The thing I noticed here was his statement, “I had no idea you could do this.”

The experienced Portuguese sailors should have thought to remind Cooper to wear sunglasses.or a brimmed hat or both.  Cooper was not an absolute water novice but he had never heard of the condition.  That did not stop the ultraviolet radiation from burning his eyes.  There is a legal principle: “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.”

The application of this occurrence for Christians is this: there are pitfalls and dangers which come as part of being a Christian.  They are there and are operative whether or not the believer is aware of them.  Also, there are pleasures and privileges which come as part of being a Christian. They, also, are there and are operative whether or not the believer is aware of them.  

It is incumbent upon experienced Christians to teach new believers these things.  And new believers need to study to learn these things.  The place where they will learn these things is in the Bible.