Author: newkingjim

The Ruthwell Cross is a stone Anglo-Saxon cross probably dating from the 8th century. It’s one of the few structures that have survived from that time period. If the top half looks pieced back together, that’s because it was. An angry horde of presbyterians, also known as the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, decided that idolatrous monuments had no place in the country. The top half, containing some Catholic imagery, was destroyed. After 200 years, the pieces were gathered and put back together. Call it an 18th century jigsaw puzzle. The top cross piece was reconstructed.

The close up picture represents Christ as judge and the runic symbols going around him read “Christ was on the cross. Yet / the brave came there from afar / to their lord.” It’s arguable that the words were not part of the original cross design but were added later. What I find interesting in the history of this cross is how it was treated in the same way people treat the Bible. One group of believers found themselves compelled to add to the content of the cross. Another group hated it’s message so much they tried to destroy it. Yet the cross lives on despite these groups. And the Bible will as well..

This is the Lion Man. It is the oldest carved figurine in the history of the world, approximately 35,000 years old. Unless you don’t accept carbon dating. Then your guess is as good as mine. In general, scholars can’t determine if the figurine is a male or a female. Still, they call it Lion “Man” and not Lion Figurine. Or Lion Statue. The scholars also believe that the statue is likely a representation of a god or goddess.

Now, there may actually be older figurines, but either they didn’t survive or they haven’t been found yet. So they don’t count right now. As for the Lion Man, I think he has a special significance for people.

I believe he illustrates that the human obsession with idols goes back as far as the existence of modern humans. The urge to make images of our gods is deeply ingrained within us and helps us understand why God addressed this problem in the 2nd Commandment. “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.” That’s not something we think about in this modern era. However, most pastors would quickly point out that modern humans have their own kinds of idols. We don’t carve them anymore. But we print them on special paper that can’t be counterfeited. We idolize singers, actors, and athletes. We become addicted to them. The list goes on. God tells us not to make graven images. He means more than carving little figurines.

I’ve posted about some locations on our planet that are labelled as the Gates of Hell. Also, I’ve suggested that the Gates of Hell are easier to find than the Gates of Heaven. Let me finish with one more representation of hell, a sculpture by Rodin.

Rodin created this representation of the gates of hell after being inspired by Dante’s poem, The Inferno. I don’t think many people today are familiar with The Inferno. They may have heard of it, but very few have actually read it. It is not full of action heroes. It does not have romance or comedy. It does not have transporter beams or light sabers. Actually, it’s a very depressing picture of people suffering in hell. I write about the sculpture and the poem because we need to think about hell.

Today’s world doesn’t pay much attention to hell. As the standard argument goes, a good and loving God would never send people to a place of eternal torture. The other side of that argument, though, would say that a good and loving God could never allow evil, sinful, hateful people into a place that is supposed to be free of evil, sin, and hate. It’s a classic problem. How does God solve it? First, he provides a way for sinful people to be cleansed and made holy. Secondly, he gives people the freedom to choose to be cleansed and made holy. Last, he provides a place for people who choose not to be cleansed and made holy. As Dante wrote about the gates:

“Through me the way into the suffering city,
Through me the way to the eternal pain,
Through me the way that runs among the lost.
Justice urged on my high artificer;
My Maker was Divine authority,
The highest Wisdom, and the primal Love.
Before me nothing but eternal things
Were made, and I endure eternally.
Abandon every hope, who enter here.“

I posted earlier about a place in Turkey where there are miraculous healing pools. Very close to these healing pools is a slightly different place, a place known as the Gates of Hell. Documentaries have explained how animals were sacrificed by walking them into the gate. The animals soon died, but the humans did not. The picture above shows how the gate looks now, but here’s an idea of what it looked like in ancient days.

The ‘steam’ coming from the mouth is sulfurous gas, which is what killed the animals. The sulfur generally stayed close to the surface of the water, which was effective in killing the smaller animals and sparing the humans. Of course, if you were short statured, you were out of luck. And this explains at least one of the reasons giraffes were not used as sacrificial animals here.

One last observation. There are a number of other places in the world where there are gates to hell. One is the Flaming Door to Hell in Turkmenistan, a crater that has been burning for 40 years. Another is at Erta Ale in Ethiopia, which is called the “Gateway to Hell.” To put it in spiritual terms, there are many ways to hell on our planet.

Pamukkale is a place in Turkey that is famous for it’s terraced pools of healing water. People from all over the world travel there to bathe in the soothing waters that apparently cure all types of illnesses. While I’m not a big believer in miraculous icons or religious sites, I have to admit that if I were in Turkey I would take a dip in those waters. On the other hand, I ask myself, if there are so many places in the world that miraculously heal people, why are there still so many sick people in the world? Part of the answer is simply the nature of human beings. We are not meant to live forever in this world or this body. There’s a better world and a better body awaiting us. Strangely enough, right next to these heavenly healing water are the gates of hell. More about those later.

I’m just sharing something Philip Yancey posted.

It’s difficult to recognize how bad a situation is when we’ve been in the middle of it for a long time. We easily get used to unpleasant things. We look past distasteful sights. Our noses adapt to unpleasant odors. We just get used to things and forget how bad things are even though the evidence is all around us. I was reading one of Kyriacos Markides’ insightful books and he used an example that struck me as powerful.

He talked about our unawareness of human sinfulness, and how we don’t realize how truly bad it is until we get out of it. He compared it to leaving a smog filled city and going up to the mountains where the air is clean and clear and pure. From the top of the mountain, you can look down on the city you just left and see the pollution you were living in. From the top of the mountain you can experience what life is like free of pollution (well, relatively free of pollution). And when you go back to the city, you can tell people about your experience. You can encourage them to step outside of the pollution, even for just a moment, to better appreciate and understand the reality they live in.

We should be people who have been to the mountain top and seen the view of sin from above. We should be people who understand how difficult it is for others to see the sin of the world when they have lived in it and gotten used to it. Most of all, we should be people who desperately want others to go up to the mountaintop so that they too might realize the truth of the human condition.

Traveling the east coast of the US, one encounters numerous old buildings. Many of these are nearly 300 years old, dating back to the earliest colonial settlements in North America. What I found fascinating was that many of these earliest buildings were churches. In fact, when communities were founded, it was the church that was the first building to be constructed.

 

 

 

The church served such an important purpose to the community that it was built before any other type of building. Our society today doesn’t think that way. We still build churches, but usually the church comes after the community is well established. And many of those old churches have been repurposed for secular uses. I think we need to recapture the importance of the church. We need to see it the way our ancestors saw it, as a place for relationships between our neighbors and ourselves. And a place for relationship between ourselves and God.

Whatever spiritual journey we may be on, we need to keep walking. It’s okay to stop and rest for awhile. It’s necessary at times. Stops along the way are often pleasant diversions. Eventually, though, we need to start walking again. Sometimes it’s easy. You can see the road far ahead. The way isn’t steep and the walk is a pleasant one. There’s room for others to join you. Progress can be made with only mild effort and exertion.

But it’s not always like that. Sometimes it’s hard. You can’t see far ahead and you don’t know if the path is still going to be there when you go around the corner. The path may be steep and difficult. There’s no room for anyone to walk beside you, although you know they’re close behind you or just ahead. Progress is slow and almost painful. The temptation to stop and turn around haunts you. Whatever the path you may be on today, keep walking. The final destination awaits. And sometimes the journey itself is the destination.

I’ve been thinking about hope a lot lately. Probably, this is a result of studying the writings of John. The Gospel of John talks about the darkness of this world and the hope that is found in Jesus Christ. Recently, our church held candlelight services on Christmas Eve. It can be a powerful experience to watch one light multiply into hundreds or thousands to fill up a dark room. The basic thought is that Christ is the first light, and Christians are the lights that follow him. Ultimately, Christ and his followers light up the dark world. I’m not sure Christians can ever really light up a dark world, though. I think it more likely we can only point out just how dark it really is without light (as though we really need to point that out). We can tell people that there is light that illuminates the dark. We can direct people to the source of that light. We can tell people that there exists a world where there is no dark and that they can have a place in that world of light. So when those candles start lighting up the dark church sanctuary, what I see is symbolic hope. We can have our darkened souls awakened to the awareness of light, and the hope of that future world where we can live in the light.