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VI. Angelic Appearances (3 Theories)
1. Simulation – Angels appear in different forms during which they reproduce the very nature and functions of the form they take. Critique: This is impossible for it would imply the essential transformation of angelic nature and confusion in the order of creation. Proof: Angels never appear in reality as animals or as females.
2. Restriction – Angels appear in different forms only superficially; essentially, however, they are restricted to their own angelic nature. Critique: This view assumes that angels use deceptive methods in their ministry, which is false.
Against both the theories, the fact that God neither uses deception nor is in short of instruments (when God needed a fish, He used a fish and didn’t transform an angel into a fish) counts.
3. Negation – Angels do not assume different forms but appear as they are, though in different dimensions of glory (Jdg.13:3-5). It is, then, safe to infer from this that angels look like humans. In fact, Jesus said that in the resurrection men would be like angels (Mt. 22:30).

JOSEPHUS FLAVIUS, THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS

Ch.3 – 1. Now this posterity of Seth continued to esteem God as the Lord of the universe, and to have an entire regard to virtue, for seven generations; but in process of time they were perverted, and forsook the practices of their forefathers; and did neither pay those honors to God which were appointed them, nor had they any concern to do justice towards men. But for what degree of zeal they had formerly shown for virtue, they now showed by their actions a double degree of wickedness, whereby they made God to be their enemy. For many angels of God accompanied with women, and begat sons that proved unjust, and despisers of all that was good, on account of the confidence they had in their own strength; for the tradition is, that these men did what resembled the acts of those whom the Grecians call giants. But Noah was very uneasy at what they did; and being displeased at their conduct, persuaded them to change their dispositions and their acts for the better: but seeing they did not yield to him, but were slaves to their wicked pleasures, he was afraid they would kill him, together with his wife and children, and those they had married; so he departed out of that land.

JUSTIN MARTYR [A.D. 110-165.], THE SECOND APOLOGY

The Sons of God were angels who cohabited with the daughters of men to produce giants who became evil spirits.
Chap. V.—How the Angels Transgressed. But if this idea take possession of some one, that if we acknowledge God as our helper, we should not, as we say, be oppressed and persecuted by the wicked; this, too, I will solve. God, when He had made the whole world, and subjected things earthly to man, and arranged the heavenly elements for the increase of fruits and rotation of the seasons, and appointed this divine law—for these things also He evidently made for man—committed the care of men and of all things under heaven to angels whom He appointed over them. But the angels transgressed this appointment, and were captivated by love of women, and begat children who are those that are called demons; and besides, they afterwards subdued the human race to themselves, partly by magical writings, and partly by fears and the punishments they occasioned, and partly by teaching them to offer sacrifices, and incense, and libations, of which things they stood in need after they were enslaved by lustful passions; and among men they sowed murders, wars, adulteries, intemperate deeds, and all wickedness. Whence also the poets and mythologists, not knowing that it was the angels and those demons who had been begotten by them that did these things to men, and women, and cities, and nations, which they related, ascribed them to god himself, and to those who were accounted to be his very offspring, and to the offspring of those who were called his brothers, Neptune and Pluto, and to the children again of these their offspring. For whatever name each of the angels had given to himself and his children, by that name they called them.

ATHENAGORUS (AD 177), A PLEA FOR THE CHRISTIANS

Ch.XXIV. For this is the office of the angels,—to exercise providence for God over the things created and ordered by Him; so that God may have the universal and general providence of the whole, while the particular parts are provided for by the angels appointed over them.81 Just as with men, who have freedom of choice as to both virtue and vice (for you would not either honour the good or punish the bad, unless vice and virtue were in their own power; and some are diligent in the matters entrusted to them by you, and others faithless), so is it among the angels. Some, free agents, you will observe, such as they were created by God, continued in those things for which God had made and over which He had ordained them; but some outraged both the constitution of their nature and the government entrusted to them: namely, this ruler of matter and its various forms, and others of those who were placed about this first firmament (you know that we say nothing without witnesses, but state the things which have been declared by the prophets); these fell into impure love of virgins, and were subjugated by the flesh, and he became negligent and wicked in the management of the things entrusted to him. Of these lovers of virgins, therefore, were begotten those who are called giants.82 And if something has been said by the poets, too, about the giants, be not surprised at this: worldly Wisdom and divine differ as much from each other as truth and plausibility: the one is of heaven and the other of earth; and indeed, according to the prince of matter,—

“We know we oft speak lies that look like truths.”83
Chap. XXV.—The Poets and Philosophers Have Denied a Divine Providence. These angels, then, who have fallen from heaven, and haunt the air and the earth, and are no longer able to rise to heavenly things, and the souls of the giants, which are the demons who wander about the world, perform actions similar, the one (that is, the demons) to the natures they have received, the other (that is, the angels) to the appetites they have indulged. But the prince of matter, as may be seen merely from what transpires, exercises a control and management contrary to the good that is in God:—
“Ofttimes this anxious thought has crossed my mind,

Whether ’tis chance or deity that rules
The small affairs of men; and, spite of hope
As well as justice, drives to exile some
Stripped of all means of life, while others still
Continue to enjoy prosperity.”84

COMMODIANUS (AD 240), INSTRUCTIONS

III. The Worship of Demons. When Almighty God, to beautify the nature of the world, willed that that earth should be visited by angels, when they were sent down they despised His laws. Such was the beauty of women, that it turned them aside; so that, being contaminated, they could not return to heaven. Rebels from God, they uttered words against Him. Then the Highest uttered His judgment against them; and from their seed giants are said to have been born. By them arts were made known in the earth, and they taught the dyeing of wool, and everything which is done; and to them, when they died, men erected images. But the Almighty, because they were of an evil seed, did not approve that, when dead, they should be brought back from death. Whence wandering they now subvert many bodies, and it is such as these especially that ye this day worship and pray to as gods.

AUGUSTINE, THE CITY OF GOD (354-430)

The Sons of God are children of the City of God. The Daughters of Men belong to the Earthly City (Worldly and Wicked). The Apocryphal books such as the Book of Enoch must not be relied upon.

Chapter 22.-Of the Fall of the Sons of God Who Were Captivated by the Daughters of Men, Whereby All, with the Exception of Eight Persons, Deservedly Perished in the Deluge.

When the human race, in the exercise of this freedom of will, increased and advanced, there arose a mixture and confusion of the two cities by their participation in a common iniquity. And this calamity, as well as the first, was occasioned by woman, though not in the same way; for these women were not themselves betrayed, neither did they persuade the men to sin, but having belonged to the earthly city and society of the earthly, they had been of corrupt manners from the first, and were loved for their bodily beauty by the sons of God, or the citizens of the other city which sojourns in this world. Beauty is indeed a good gift of God; but that the good may not think it a great good, God dispenses it even to the wicked. And thus, when the good that is great and proper to the good was abandoned by the sons of God, they fell to a paltry good which is not peculiar to the good, but common to the good and the evil; and when they were captivated by the daughters of men, they adopted the manners of the earthly to win them as their brides, and forsook the godly ways they had followed in their own holy society. And thus beauty, which is indeed God’s handiwork, but only a temporal, carnal, and lower kind of good, is not filly loved in preference to God, the eternal, spiritual, and unchangeable good. When the miser prefers his gold to justice, it is through no fault of the gold, but of the man; and so with every created thing. For though it be good, it may be loved with an evil as well as with a good love: it is loved rightly when it is loved ordinately; evilly, when inordinately, It is this which some one has briefly said in these verses in praise of the Creator:74 “These are Thine, they are good, because Thou art good who didst create them. There is in them nothing of ours, unless the sin we coimmit when we forget the order of things, and instead of Thee love that which Thou hast made.”

But if the Creator is truly loved, that is, if He Himself is loved and not another thing in His stead, He cannot be evilly loved; for love itself is to be ordinately loved, because we do well to love that which, when we love it, makes us live well and virtuously. So that it seems to me that it is a brief but true definition of virtue to say, it is the order of love; and on this account, in the Canticles, the bride of Christ, the city of God, sings, “Order love within me.”75 It was the order of this love, then, this charity or attachment, which the sons of God disturbed when they forsook God, and were enamored of the daughters of men.76 And by these two names (sons of God and daughters of men) the two cities are sufficiently distinguished. For though the former were by nature children of men, they had come into possession of another name by grace. For in the same Scripture in which the sons of God are said to have loved the daughters of men, they are also called angels of God; whence many suppose that they were not men but angels.

Chapter 23.-Whether We are to Believe that Angels, Who are of a Spiritual Substance, Fell in Love with the Beauty of Women, and Sought Them in Marriage, and that from This Connection Giants Were Born.
In the third book of this work (c. 5) we made a passing reference to this question, but did not decide whether angels, inasmuch as they are spirits, could have bodily intercourse with women. For it is written, “Who maketh His angels spirits,”77 that is, He makes those who are by nature spirits His angels by appointing them to the duty of bearing His messages. For the Greek word a!ggeloj, which in Latin appears as “angelus,” means a messenger. But whether the Psalmist speaks of their bodies when he adds, “and His ministers a flaming fire,” or means that God’s ministers ought to blaze with love as with a spiritual fire, is doubtful. However, the same trustworthy Scripture testifies that angels have appeared to men in such bodies as could not only be seen, but also touched. There is, too, a very general rumor, which many have verified by their own experience, or which trustworthy persons who have heard the experience of others corroborate, that sylvans and fauns, who are commonly called “incubi,” had often made wicked assaults upon women, and satisfied their lust upon them; and that certain devils, called Duses by the Gauls, are constantly attempting and effecting this impurity is so generally affirmed, that it were impudent to deny it.78 From these assertions, indeed, I dare not determine whether there be some spirits embodied in an aerial substance (for this element, even when agitated by a fan, is sensibly felt by the body), and who are capable of lust and of mingling sensibly with women; but certainly I could by no means believe that God’s holy angels could at that time have so fallen, nor can I think that it is of them the Apostle Peter said, “For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.”79 I think he rather speaks of these who first apostatized from God, along with their chief the devil, who enviously deceived the first man under the form of a serpent But the same holy Scripture affords the most ample testimony that even godly man have been called angels; for of John it is written: “Behold, I send my messenger (angel) before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way.”80 And the prophet Malachi, by a peculiar grace specially communicated to him, was called an angel.81

But some are moved by the fact that we have read that the fruit of the connection between those who are called angels of God and the women they loved were not men like our own breed, but giants; just as if there were not born even in our own time (as I have mentioned above) men of much greater size than the ordinary stature. Was there not at Rome a few years ago, when the destruction of the city now accomplished by the Goths was drawing near, a woman, with her father and mother, who by her gigantic size over-topped all others? Surprising crowds from all quarters came to see her, and that which struck them most was the circumstance that neither of her parents were quite up to the tallest ordinary stature. Giants therefore might well be born, even before the sons of God, who are also called angels of God, formed a connection with the daughters of men, or of those living according to men, that is to say, before the sons of Seth formed a connection with the daughters of Cain. For thus speaks even the canonical Scripture itself in the book in which we read of this; its words are: “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair [good]; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord God said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became the giants, men of renown.”82 These words of the divine book sufficiently indicate that already there were giants in the earth in those days, in which the sons of God took wives of the children of men, when they loved them because they were good, that is, fair. For it is the custom of this Scripture to call those who are beautiful in appearance “good.” But after this connection had been formed, then too were giants born. For the words are: “There were giants in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men.” Therefore there were giants both before, “in those days,” and “also after that.” And the words, “they bare children to them,” show plainly enough that before the sons of God fell in this fashion they begat children to God, not to themselves,-that is to say, not moved by the lust of sexual intercourse, but discharging the duty of propagation, intending to produce not a family to gratify their own pride, but citizens to people the city of God; and to these they as God’s angels would bear the message, that they should place their hope in God, like him who was born of Seth, the son of resurrection, and who hoped to call on the name of the Lord God, in which hope they and their offspring would be co-heirs of eternal blessings, and brethren in the family of which God is the Father.

But that those angels were not angels in the sense of not being men, as some suppose, Scripture itself decides, which unambiguously declares that they were men. For when it had first been stated that “the angels of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and they took them wives of all which they chose,” it was immediately added, “And the Lord God said, My Spirit shall not always strive with these men, for that they also are flesh.” For by the Spirit of God they had been made angels of God, and sons of God; but declining towards lower things, they are called men, a name of nature, not of grace; and they are called flesh, as deserters of the Spirit, and by their desertion deserted [by Him]. The Septuagint indeed calls them both angels of God and sons of God, though all the copies do not show this, some having only the name” sons of God.” And Aquila, whom the Jews prefer to the other interpreters,83 has translated neither angels of God nor sons of God, but sons of gods. But both are correct. For they were both sons of God, and thus brothers of their own fathers, who were children of the same God; and they were sons of gods, because begotten by gods, together with whom they themselves also were gods, according to that expression of the psalm: “I have said, Ye are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High.”84 For the Septuagint translators are justly believed to have received the Spirit of prophecy; so that, if they made any alterations under His authority, and did not adhere to a strict translation, we could not doubt that this was divinely dictated. However, the Hebrew word may be said to be ambiguous, and to be susceptible of either translation, “sons of God,” or “sons of gods.”

Let us omit, then, the fables of those scriptures which are called apocryphal, because their obscure origin was unknown to the fathers from whom the authority of the true Scriptures has been transmitted to us by a most certain and well-ascertained succession. For though there is some truth in these apocryphal writings, yet they contain so many false statements, that they have no canonical authority. We cannot deny that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, left some divine writings, for this is asserted by the Apostle Jude in his canonical epistle. But it is not without reason that these writings have no place in that canon of Scripture which was preserved in the temple of the Hebrew people by the diligence of successive priests; for their antiquity brought them under suspicion, and it was impossible to ascertain whether these were his genuine writings, and they were not brought forward as genuine by the persons who were found to have carefully preserved the canonical books by a successive transmission. So that the writings which are produced under his name, and which contain these fables about the giants, saying that their fathers were not men; are properly judged by prudent men to be not genuine; just as many writings are produced by heretics under the names both of other prophets, and more recently, under the names of the apostles, all of which, after careful examination, have been set apart from canonical authority under the title of Apocrypha. There is therefore no doubt that, according to the Hebrew and Christian canonical Scriptures, there were many giants before the deluge, and that these were citizens of the earthly society of men, and that the sons of God, who were according to the flesh the sons of Seth, sunk into this community when they forsook righteousness, Nor need we wonder that giants should be born even from these. For all of their children were not giants; but there were more then than in the remaining periods since the deluge. And it pleased the Creator to produce them, that it might thus be demonstrated that neither beauty, nor yet size and strength, are of much moment to the wise man, whose blessedness lies in spiritual and immortal blessings, in far better and more enduring gifts, in the good things that are the peculiar property of the good, and are not shared by good and bad alike. It is this which another prophet confirms when he says, “These were the giants, famous from the beginning, that were of so great stature, and so expert in war. Those did not the Lord choose, neither gave He the way of knowledge unto them; but they were destroyed because they had no wisdom, and perished through their own foolishness.”85

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Chap. LXV.—Administration of the Sacraments. But we, after we have thus washed him who has been convinced and has assented to our teaching, bring him to the place where those who are called brethren are assembled, in order that we may offer hearty prayers in common for ourselves and for the baptized [illuminated] person, and for all others in every place, that we may be counted worthy, now that we have learned the truth, by our works also to be found good citizens and keepers of the commandments, so that we may be saved with an everlasting salvation. Having ended the prayers, we salute one another with a kiss. There is then brought to the president of the brethren bread and a cup of wine mixed with water; and he taking them, gives praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and offers thanks at considerable length for our being counted worthy to receive these things at His hands. And when he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all the people present express their assent by saying Amen. This word Amen answers in the Hebrew language to γένοιτο [so be it]. And when the president has given thanks, and all the people have expressed their assent, those who are called by us deacons give to each of those present to partake of the bread and wine mixed with water over which the thanksgiving was pronounced, and to those who are absent they carry away a portion.

Chap. LXVI.—Of the Eucharist. And this food is called among us Εὐχαριστία [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when He had given thanks, said, “This do ye in remembrance of Me, (Luke 22:19) this is My body;” and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, He said, “This is My blood;” and gave it to them alone.
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The jailer pushed the youth into his prison cell with utter disgust. The youth had been convicted for attempt to rape, a serious crime, and even more serious when committed in the premises of a government official’s residence. From their cells, the other prisoners gazed at the youth with astonishment and contempt. He snuggled into a corner.

There were whisperings and comments in tones and terms that would send chills down the spine. And, they continued for long and long till the heavy rug of the night dampened all sight and sound. After a while, only the guards could be heard walking with their spears tapping on the ground. The taps were being mixed with rhythmic snores buzzing through the cells. In his locked corner, the youth sobbed with hushed tears. He groaned in between snivels in a language different than that spoken in this land:

“Why is this happening to me?”
“What have I done to deserve this injustice?”
“Now, I’m hated by my family and also by the world for no wrong?”

The world was fast asleep. He was talking to God. But, was God also listening? Or, was He as indifferent as the world around? Was He also compelled by circumstances and the violent wills of men? The past was too painful. The future looked bleak, uncertain, and dark.

The youth kept weeping for a long time till it seemed all his tears had run dry. Then he stopped for a little while, and all of a sudden started weeping the more vehemently again. This time it seemed he was singing a song:

“Forgive me Lord for doubting Your hand
That holds the scepter over sky, water, and land;
By one gesture, You have signaled it to be,
That the luminaries of heavens bow down to me.
And, yet not to me but to You who commands!
What power can resist it, what mortal hand!”

He moved his shackled hands and the chains clanked. A prisoner woke up in the opposite cell and fell to snoring again.

“Darkness has covered me like a thick cloud,
And I can’t see You anywhere around;
But, should I ask for proof before I believe,
Should I have the answer before its appointed time?
Should I trust my sight and doubt Your might
By which the day exists and also the night!
Yes, also this night! Yes, also this night!”

The youth fell asleep. Unseen by him, two luminous angels who stood guard over his cell talked to each other, ‘This young man knows our Master, and he knows that the Master cannot be doubted.” Just then two other angels appeared. “You are both summoned to the Master now; we’ll take over. The sun is soon to rise; has the boy found some rest?” they inquired.

“Yes, he has found rest,” they smilingly answered and disappeared.

Several years after this incident, the boy became the Prime Minister of that nation. The King gave him the name Zaphnath-Paaneah, which some believe means “the preserver of life”; others think that it means “the one to whom secrets are revealed.” But, we remember him as Joseph, the dreamer of dreams.

Based on Message Delivered at Shahdol on Dec 7, 2011.

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:5)

Attitudes are our disposition towards someone or something. Our attitudes affect our character and relationships.

Attitudes are important; they can either make a person or break him. Some years back a research was done on job interviewees who were successful in getting a job. The research revealed that the majority of those who got the jobs got them not because they were smart but because they had a right attitude.

The Bible teaches us that God wants us to have the attitude of Christ. He left for us an example of how we must look at and treat our fellowmen, our children, our elders, and God.

Jude 10-11 lists three kinds of attitudes that can destroy the life of any person.

Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals–these are the very things that destroy them. Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam‘s error; they have been destroyed in Korah‘s rebellion. (Jude 1:10-11)

The three destroyers are:
1. The Way of Cain. It is the attitude of selfishness, envy, and hatred against one’s brother. A person with this kind of attitude will never be happy at anyone else’ success. He would always desire his own praise despite his shortcomings and sins. He doesn’t look at the man whom God accepts as an example but looks at him as his enemy. King Saul was another example of a man with this attitude.
2. The Error of Balaam. The attitude of Balaam was materialistic and utilitarian. He even felt that God could change His mind, and when it seemed that God wouldn’t, he tried to corrupt Israel by introducing worldliness into their life. He was ruled by the love of money which is the root of all evil. Jesus said that a man cannot serve both God and Money. The rich young man couldn’t follow Jesus because he loved money. Balaam’s error lay in considering godliness as a means of gain. A mind dehumanized by money can never look at others as fellow-humans. It loses the love for neighbor and God.
3. The Rebellion of Korah. Korah’s was the attitude of pride. It was the Luciferic attitude. It is the I-am-better-than-thou attitude. Korah rebelled because he was not ready and willing to accept any God-appointed authority over his life.

Now, look at the attitude of Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death–even death on a cross! (Phil 2:6-8)

Attitude determines the formation of character, and character is what a person is. If suppose I asked someone who he is, he may reply by saying that he is related to so and so, or he is a teacher or an engineer or a doctor. But, God doesn’t look at a person in that manner. God looks at one’s character.

Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. (Psalm 51:6)

Character is something between God and the person. It is God who sees and judges. A few things need to be noted about character.
1. Education cannot build character. If it could then sin couldn’t co-exist with knowledge. Education can inform but cannot transform. If it could then why would people be smoking cigarrettes and chewing tobacco despite the warning that tobacco causes cancer, why would there be corruption among the police who are expected to know and protect the law, and why would there be winelovers among medical practitioners. King Solomon had so much knowledge but he couldn’t keep character.
2. Anointing cannot build character. If it could Lucifer wouldn’t have fallen. He was known as the anointed cherub (Eze 28). King Saul had the anointing but he lost his character.
3. Religion cannot build character. If it could the pharisees and sadducees wouldn’t have crucified Jesus. Jesus called them hypocrites. It was not the sinners and publicans who wanted Jesus crucified. It was the men with religious authority who didn’t have character.

In each case, attitude determined what one was.

If character is to be built there must be a change in the way of thinking; in our disposition. And the first in the line is the attitude of self-emptying, as Jesus did. One needs to humble himself before the Lord.

You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.
(Psa 51:16-17)

One must die to self, to the world, and to sin; or else, he can never be a follower of Christ. The attitude of total repentance is the beginning of forsaking the old and following the Lord. Unless the heart is broken because of the sin, repentance is not possible. A hardened heart is rebellious in nature. A repentant heart is reverent.

Secondly, the Bible teaches us that evil company corrupts good habits (1Cor. 15:33). It also says that “he who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed” (Pro.13:20). The Book of Psalms begins with warning us against wrong companionship; so also does the Book of Proverbs. Right attitudes are formed in the fellowship of the Master; right character is formed in the crucible of one’s walk with the Master.

Let us walk with a heart that is ready to repent from the wrong and committed to live and die for the Truth, a heart that continues to be transformed through the walk with Jesus.

Excerpt from Epistemics of Divine Reality, pp.211-212

Boredom or ennui may be considered to be the metaphysical turbulent emotion that arises out of the paradox of the rational sense of immutability and the empirical sense of mutation. Reason anticipates permanence, changelessness, and immutability as the quality of ultimate reality; however, for experience immutability is an impossibility. Nothing immutable is empirically conceivable; for if something doesn’t move in space, it at least moves in time. The tension between the immutable and the mutable produces the emotion of ennui, the sense of tediousness and vexation associated with the absence of immutable or lasting purpose in the cosmic phenomena of change. Boredom is not due to immutability or mutability but due to the failure of harmony between the both. Thus, one is not bored with the same self, that experiences change. No one expects the consciousness of self to be filled with multiple memory-erasures of itself…. Obviously, the framework of immutability (‘self’ or ‘itself’) is impossible to dispense with, since it is provided by reason. Similarly, mutability is anticipated by experience without which no experience would be possible; all would be a monotony. Boredom, however, results when mutation fails to relate and harmonize with the immutable. Thus, the Preacher says,

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?… All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing….I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.[1]

Thus, in the Preacher’s eyes, work and labour is a burdensome drag and vexation since, first of all, it seems to possess no meaning; but, secondly, it is incessantly unsatiable. Thus, the incessant labour for novelty, creativity, and change in order to find a final immutable satisfaction itself becomes tedious since no immutable satisfaction seems to come out of all labour.

I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine….I made me great works….I made me gardens and orchards….I made me pools of water….I got me servants and maidens….I gathered me also silver and gold….So I was great, and increased more than all….And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them….Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.[2]

Obviously, neither reason, for whom, as has been seen, immutability comes at the expense of mutability, nor experience, for whom mutability precludes immutability, is able to solve the paradox. The problem is rather existential and can only be resolved in an existentially fulfilling situation.

According to the Bible, this condition of contentment cannot be given by the world of experience; for the world itself is a turbulent changing one, pointing out the fact that as a whole the universe itself has not reached the point of contentment. ‘For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.’[3] Accordingly, Jesus says to His disciples: ‘Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.’[4] To the Samaritan woman at the well, He says: ‘Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.’[5]

Thus, some kind of an immutable condition (‘never thirst again’) of incessant fulfillment (‘well…springing up’, indicating motion) is the solution for the problem of boredom that arises from the immutable-mutable paradoxical sensation

[1] Ecclesiastes 1: 2, 3, 8, 14 (KJV)
[2] Ecclesiastes 2: 3-11
[3] Romans 8: 22
[4] John 14: 27 (KJV)
[5] John 4: 13, 14 (KJV)

In the beginning was God and nothing.
Then, God created something out of nothing.
But, soon that something forgot she was once a nothing.
And, forgetting herself and God, she assumed herself to be everything.
And, assuming herself to be everything, she died to everything else and God.
After many days, when this something had run out of everything she got,
She came to her senses and “Who am I? Where am I?” she thought.
Then, she realized she was a nothing without her God,
And so returned to her original place in God.
In the end was God and something.

“He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name…” (John 1:10-12)

The sense of belonging is an amazing epistemic quality among humans. The animal world is not without it: the lioness with her cubs, the elephant with her calves, and the eagle with her eaglets portray a picture of attachment that are the subject of many a story, movie, and a documentary novel. But, in humans the sense is qualitatively different. It is epistemic and existential. Martin Buber talked of its occurrence in two worlds of relationships: the I-It (related to the world of utility) and the I-Thou (related to the world of relational bonds). Where the sense of I-Thou doesn’t exist, dehumanization occurs. Estrangement is a horrific aftermath of a loss of the Thou in the I-Thou world of epistemic and existential sensibility. Added to that, this is also the world where values (both aesthetic and moral) are a reality beyond any materialistic, scientific recognition. The sense is spiritual. The world is spiritual. Therefore, loneliness, boredom, emptiness, and rootlessness are not causes but symptoms of disturbance in the world of I-Thou. Their persistence will result in the human person seeking escapism in some alternate I-It world (sensations (drugs, sex, alcohol, etc) or anti-sensation (sleep, suicide).

Volumes can be written on this topic. But, let’s focus on the verse before us today. When John talks about the Word (God the Son) being in the world, the word “world” comprehends both the physical and the human. The human, in fact, is responsible for how the world treats God. The human is the world. Now, it was through the Son that the world was brought into existence – the world that belongs to humans, since it was given to them. But, humanity fell into the corruption of sin and the bondage of death (and with it the entire creation was made subject to bondage).

Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Rom 8:20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope
Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

Death, in essence, was not merely physical. It was spiritual, epistemic, existential, aesthetic, and ethical. Sin brought estrangement from God (the ultimate Thou in the relational set). Yet, the umbilical cord was not snapped, or else man would have sunk into diabolical hellishness. We see strands of love and belongedness and a deep quest for God in the hearts of men. Distortions only occur where the I-Thou world has been fully erased. The Scripture records that God didn’t leave humans alone; His spirit kept striving with them, and through prophets and holy men of God in every tribe, He communicated to them an anticipation of liberation that was soon to come:

Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

The reason why the Son of God came to the world was because the world was made through Him – it ultimately belonged to Him. It was lost; yet, it was His. He was willing to leave alone the 99 in order to seek this one that was lost. But the world did not recognize Him, His own didn’t receive Him. There are sharp, acute, and yet distinct pictures here. The pictures are sharper in prose than any poetry can portray.

The world is not the world as a whole and yet it is the world as a whole. Not everybody failed to recognize Him, and not everybody rejected Him; and, yet in the moment of the Sacrifice, that was what happened. The world as a whole was represented by the leaders (both religious and political) who put to death the Son of God. The depth of estrangement and contortion was manifest in the kind of death administered: the death of the Cross. It was the world that failed to recognize Him – the world that belonged to Him. Yet, the real story is not that the world rejected Him; the real story is that He was willing to let the world reject Him. Divine self-emptying, divine servanthood, and divine crucifixion are powerful themes that shock the philosophy of religion. Nietzsche called the greatest of all sins to be the murder of God (deicide). There was nothing more sinful than that. On the reverse, the greatest of all righteousness fulfilled was in the self-giving of the Son of God. This self-giving brought an end to the history of hostility between man and God. It cancelled all debts. Man had committed the greatest of all crimes, and God had allowed it to be done to Him in the ultimate divine sacrifice. The Cross was where Justice and Love met vis-à-vis. It was where man affirmed his estrangement and God affirmed His belongedness. It was where God accepted man as he was. The one act of righteousness by the Son of God nullified forever the writ of accusation against all humanity. The veil was torn away; the entrance is paved, now the ball is in our court. He has accepted us. Do we receive Him or choose to remain estranged?

Therefore, “as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”

One should be aware by now that anyone having an internet connection has access to the largest library in the world. It is a library larger than men have ever dreamed of. The search engines provide the most up to date indexes ever. Much information is available free of cost. Also, books can be viewed, borrowed, bought, and downloaded. They are now available in different formats, kindle, epub, pdf, djvu, and simple txt to name a few. Most of these can be viewed on smartphones even. Many are turning to ipads as the essential book reader and research tool. And, interestingly, the Government of India has announced its intention to make available tablet PCs to students at a cost as low as Rs.1750 ($35) only. The new device is called “Aakash” [See Aakash, IBN News]. The Government seems a bit unhappy with paper. It encourages uploading of documents through internet and requests customers to not print railway tickets on paper, rather carry them on mobile phones or laptops. Check this GIF from the IRCTC.CO.IN page for instance.

There are some disadvantages of the internet for sure. But, then the adage of Sir Francis Bacon applies to this age as well: “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention,” with this caveat, “some must be avoided as one would avoid poison”. The fruit of the tree of knowledge in itself is fatal anyway.

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There are many words that your ears will hear and eyes may read this morning; but remember only Jesus Christ, God’s Word in Flesh, gives you life and light.

Some words slay, some words stirr;
Some words silent; some, hidden still;
Some built kingdoms; some bartered some;
But none gives Life and Light like God’s only Son!

~ Have a Blessed Day ~