Neo picked up the conversation again. "There's one other surprising thing that the second creation story in Genesis suggests to me. It's something shocking, maybe put best when it's put in a way that borders on heresy: God is not enough, the story says. That has nothing to do with any deficiency of God; it has to do with the storyline God had in mind for us. God doesn't want to be the only reality in our lives, the only relationship in our network, the only message on our screen... [T]he Creator wants man and woman to find each other, as a lost part of themselves. And so in the story we have the man and the woman, naked, together, both innocent and passionate, not ashamed to see and be seen, to know and be known, to need and be needed, to want and enjoy another being given by the Being."
Brian McLaren, in The Story We Find Ourselves In, captures what my heart has been telling me for quite some time now. I want to find a woman, and be naked with her emotionally, spiritually, mentally, holistically. I want us both to be innocent and passionate, not ashamed to see and be seen, to know and be known, to need and be needed, to want and enjoy each other. I know it's not all about sex. Sex is a side-note, a blessing in itself, but it is not the epicenter. The epicenter of romance, from which everything--including sex--flows, is a holistic communion and belonging between two people of different sex created by a real and passionate God, completing each other and forming one person.
There are lots of worship songs out there with the lyrics, "You are enough for me, Jesus." And technically, He is enough. But for the full enjoyment of life, as God made it to be lived, there is within us a deep and implanted desire that tells us, almost blasphemously, "God may not be enough." And this feeling has always drawn up deep wells of pain, convincing me that I have fallen short of the dedication I need for God. Brian McLaren continues his rave, as the character Kerry ruminates on Neo's words:
"In the Genesis story, the rib is taken out of Adam--by God! God seems to want Adam to feel incomplete on purpose. God nicks a part of him on purpose! That means that Adam is--meaning we are too--incomplete by God's design!"
A lot of people take this literally, believing that God literally took a rib from the chest of Adam and from it created Eve. I disagree with that. I think the Genesis narratives are more symbolic and evocative than literal. I actually have a lot of faith in evolution and believe that it is one of God's coolest creations. It spawned dinosaurs! The story of God taking the rib from Adam, to me, shows us that we are incomplete without Eve, because Eve is a critical part of us. Adam (man) is designed to be with Eve (woman). Neo drives this point home:
"It's wonderful, isn't it?" Neo urged. "The story is telling us that we were designed to be incomplete and unfulfilled in ourselves as monads, as isolated individuals. We feel an ache in our side, like some part of us is missing, so that we'll always be looking outside ourselves for belonging and connection, for it is not good for a person to be alone--not in this story!"
We were not designed to be alone. Sometimes the message we get--or at least the message I've often gotten--is that we who are passionate about God shouldn't worry about the opposite sex, shouldn't worry about romance. But Genesis--the beginning of the Story!--seems to say otherwise. I believe that romance in the Kingdom of God is beautiful, wonderful, transcendant, holistic. This is the romance in which I so strongly desire to engage. I was created for woman. Woman was created for me. We are meant to be together, and there is nothing wrong at all with having a strong desire for romance. It is a part of being a worshipper and follower of God. However, we must be careful, for we are:
"[c]aught between two dangers: a hyperspiritual danger that says, 'It is good for human beings to be alone, so all they need is God,' and a hypersecular danger that says, 'It is good enough for human beings to be with the other created beings; forget about the Supreme Being from whom all being and blessing flow.' Neither of these options is good enough. The only viable option in our story is for us human beings to enjoy the company of both our Creator and of our fellow creatures: our brother sun and sister moon, our brother fox and sister fruit bat, and especially of our mates--either sexual mates, or mates in [the] Australian sense of the term, our friends--in whom we find a lost part of ourselves restored to us again."
So, to quote Brian McLaren in A New Kind of Christian, where do I go from here? I cannot escape my desires for romance, nor can I escape my passion for God. The two are, in a sense, intimately connected. Right now I don't have someone with whom to share romance, but I am passionately running after and with God. It is far better to be intimate with God and not have a romantic relationship with a woman (it sounds weird, but I say 'woman' because I am in college) than to have romantic girls flocking all around you and yet be a foreigner when it comes to God.
I'm not going to obsess over girls. All that brings is heartache, depression, and anxiety. No, I've been content over the last week or two to just live my life, building relationships as they come. If I sense something romantic evolving in my relationship with a girl, I will pursue it, for better or worse. I wholly believe there is a 'girl' out there for me; it is not biblical, but it is what God has been telling me for the past four to five years. This is no excuse to hole up and expect a girl to fall in my lap, but I'm not going to lose sleep over combing the campus grounds for the "one." God will bring her to me; I will be attracted to her, she will be attracted to me, and with God's help, we will engage in romance for the rest of our lives. It may take a few different dates with different, wonderful girls, but I believe I will be there someday, and my wife and I will grow a family in a small house and we will worship, serve, and pursue the King together.
8 comments:
Beautiful post Anthony, I surprisingly read it considering how long it was...=) I loved it. But what does this mean? "I actually have a lot of faith in evolution and believe that it is one of God's coolest creations." Just curious. God bless.
I meant that I think evolution, more-so than literal six-day creationism, better explains the mass of data we have discovered so far. I don't think evolution really hurts faith in Christ at all!
I see evolution as one of God's coolest creations, and as I look into it and explore it deeper and deeper, I am more and more mesmerized by the genius and wonder of God. I don't think God and science are separated but intimately connected.
I don't think evolution is random, I think it has been guided by God.
I believe the Genesis narratives are not literal, but symbolic and evocative.
In any way, I don't think that the debate between evolution and creationism is critical to salvation.
Brian McLaren says it better than I ever could:
"[Evolution] is God's ongoing creative process; it's not a mechanistic process taking place apart from God, and it's not a simulation being run in the mind of God. We're dealing with a good world in the Jewish sense, not a perfect one in the Greek sense--one world, one reality, one universe in which what we call matter and spirit are integrated."
I love the last paragraph dude. I would love to have a conversation on the rib thing.lol It did say that:
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
I like your thoughts though:)
I have to agree with Tyler I think we were made from the rib of Adam ..literally and God is relational and he loves beauty so he created Eve It wasn't right without her "It is not good for man to be alone" It in no way detracts from relationship with God..it adds beauty ..it's a complement to Adam's relationship with God In "Captivating" it says "She is the crescendo, the final, astonishing work of God. ..She is the Master's finishing touch"
I am not really a literalist. I tend to find symbolic meaning in much of the bible. Given scientific evidence, historical records, and cultural examinations figurative interpretation works well for me. I do not really see the need to divide belilevers among those lines though: figurative or literal. The point of Christian faith is not in our interpretation of the "how's" and "why's" but in "who." As long as all glory is directed to God, interpretations mean very little, after all they are from man. What is not essential for my salvation is not necessary for me to argue or debate.
While the debate between evolution and creationism is not critical to salvation, it is somewhat critical in understanding the whole of history and God's design to repair a broken relationship with man. You see, the world and everything in it were created flawless, eternal, no death. Death did not enter until sin entered. Natural selction, obviously, requires death. And sin did not enter until there were already multiple species, including humans, the most complex. So while a literal understanding of creationism is not required, God's entire story hinges on the fall of man and the ultimate redemption in Christ. Logically, evolution cannot co-exist with the whole of history unless the need for Christ is eliminated.
P.S. Your piece on grace and Crowder was awesome. I saw The Collision Tour here in Athens last week. No one does it like Crowder.
Yeah, Crowder is amazing. The song "Wholly Yours" is at the top of my all-time favorite songs now.
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