Mercy

Probably the most compelling story for me, found in the Old Testament: the story of Hosea and Gomer. A tale of relentless love. Redemptive love.  An aching, suffering, enduring, and one-sided love.  Illustrative of God’s love for a wandering Israel, Hosea marries a woman of ill repute who will go on to put both of them through immense pain. It’s by far one of the most poignant stories in the Bible. What I find particularly compelling and interesting about the theme is in its contrast to the New Testament theme of being “equally yoked.”

This relationship of turmoil was about as "unequally yoked" as it gets, but in its establishment, ordained by God, it happens to serve a point, exposing how real love goes through great and painful lengths to express itself. When you think of him, and the suffering he went through, the last words that come to mind are “self-righteous”. His character, and the story - reveal the ultimate expression of mercy. Thematically, there are ties to the story of the Prodigal Son, although the relationship here is different. Interestingly, later on, Jesus references Hosea when he speaks about desiring mercy, not sacrifice.  A beautiful rendition of the story here.

Rest

So yesterday I found myself in Dixon, Illinois after a long drive. A small town in the middle of homespun Americana, guarded by a river that carefully wraps itself through the middle of a sleepy downtown, the river itself nestling up against Page Park. I went to see Mumford and Sons play. Big concerts with 15,000 people are a bit too much for me, though. At some point, I found myself in a hammock saddled up in between two trees in the park and started to read a book on childlike faith Mum had given me for my recent birthday - Dangerous Wonder - and watched a congregation of brown ducks bob down the river.

 
There were a lot of the local residents watching the concert from their riverboats, and it was a nice surprise to see folks in kayaks as well. They all hugged a listening spot to anchor, and the night looked like a pepper stew of polka dot lights in bloom cast upon the river. Classic. I think the song I enjoyed the most from Mumford was - I will wait. Was invited by a local pastor to a philosophical roundtable between him and some friends tonight - and looking forward to that - but it's been rescheduled until September. Good thing, as I'm exhausted! Have to pick up Silas on Tuesday and chaperone him for the day, and then he's off to Scotland!

Theology

So lately I had given some thought to the Calvinist / Arminian debate. There were a couple of points on the Calvinist Tulip theology that I had strong objections to, across a couple of levels, intellectually and emotionally. The debate between Calvanism and the Arminian school of thought is a difficult digest. The intersection of free will and predestination having spawned a vast catalogue of intellectual chess matches over the centuries. 

Obviously, if God predestines some for heaven and some for hell, the question can then be asked - of what consequence, value, or application is free will? Regarding Calvanism and Arminianism, it kinds of leads to me to think .. as fascinating and important as these theological arguments are .. God looks at the heart. 

Charles Spurgeon had a quote from one of his sermons that was interesting:

"The fact is, that the great questions about man's responsibility, free-will, and predestination, have been fought over, and over, and over again, and have been answered in ten thousand different ways; and the result has been, that we know just as much about the matter as when we first began. The combatants have thrown dust into each other's eyes, and have hindered each other from seeing; and then they have concluded, that because they put other people's eyes out, they could therefore see."