Recent Thought

Finding Identity

Praise God for what we find in Him! Since we who know Christ are adopted into the family of God (Gal 4:5; Eph 1:5), then we have a true identity that remains firm. For in our former days we followed the world's philosophy and put our identity in that which is not solid but temporary. We had put our identity in our careers and our family. Within this was the struggle to maintain it. We even sought to improve it! In our career we sought to get to the positions of honor and yet this either led to pride or shame, which leads to death. We put our identity in our family and under such we sought to improve as we sought after approval and not always gaining it or never. We relied upon our parent's honor. Within this position was a strenuous balancing act that the whole family felt! We were shamed and sought all the more to redeem that which was lost yet always losing. All this leads to death. Yet praise God! For under Him we are identified simply as children of God, heirs to the throne (Gal 4:7). Under this title is our description found and what is required of us. We bear the family resemblance and in such we behave such a way. Through our Father we have our job. We constantly get to apprentice in our Father's work. We get to boast about our Father as every child does who has a loving father. And we are treated as His in His love (Bible) and His discipline (Heb 12). Praise God for our true identity!

If any wisdom and truth is found in this praise God. For through the Holy Spirit is granted all ability and wisdom.

Recent thought

REGARDING ORIGINALITY

A Personal Reflection

Originality it seems is one of the primary idols of the creative world. Artists seek to create that which is original and yet are pursuing the absurd. They chase after that which is beyond their grasp. For what is left which has not already been accomplished? And even further Artists, fixed on the world, pursue fame. It is an exhausting task, the pursuit of the original, and leaves a man wearied and often without hope. Originality in the Art world is a direct function of fame. If fame is accomplished it drains a man as would a parasite and then moves on to another equally naïve pursuer.

Where does originality exist? Originality as it would seem exists in the one idea, which has not primarily been expressed. Yet how is this viewed in the Post Modern world with a relativistic philosophy? The question of this age is “What is art?” This question in itself is synonymous with “what is original?” Many have moved from the real to the rearranged, from the normal to the aberrant, from the created to the distorted. I would suggest that the only originality that can be attested to is purely ontological. True originality is that which proceeds from the original. An original creation proceeds from an original creation.[1] In so much as we are original creations of God, what proceeds from us is deemed as original in essence. Originality is therefore not to be pursued, rather to be considered as a function of worship. As an original creation it is to be made beautiful and/or true in such a manner that it brings glory to the one true God.

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[1]This is an agreement to a friend’s idea, which in turn was acquired from the Holy Spirit, from whom all revelation and wisdom is made apparent. (I shall make this as a declaration of accountability from now on)