I am thankful for light.<\/p>\n
I looked up the definition of “light”. \u00a0One website had 15 different definitions for the noun alone. \u00a0Another site had 23. \u00a0Wow…’light’ encompasses a lot of things. \u00a0Here’s just some of the definitions for “light”:<\/p>\n
– something that makes vision possible<\/p>\n
– a<\/em> :<\/strong> spiritual illumination\u00a0b<\/em> :<\/strong> inner light\u00a0c<\/em> :<\/strong> enlightenment\u00a0d<\/em> :<\/strong> truth<\/p>\n – the illumination from the sun<\/p>\n – the state of being visible, exposed to view, or revealed to public notice or knowledge; limelight <Stardom has placed her in the light><\/p>\n I love the sun. I’m thankful that we have LOTS of windows in our house. \u00a0I love the sensation of taking a nap with the sunlight cascading over me; it’s a warm, comforting feeling.<\/p>\n I love the products of the sun’s light – green growing things – leaves, flowers, grass, etc.<\/p>\n I love the heat produced by the sun (I hate being cold so summer is a welcome thing!).<\/p>\n Without light we would not be able to see the multitude of colours in God’s creation.<\/p>\n In addition to all these things, I am thankful for the concept of Light. \u00a0The Bible (and John in particular) uses the imagery of ‘light’ to help us understand the nature and character of God better. \u00a0I did a quick search of “light” in the New Testament (NRSV) and 76 verses popped up.<\/p>\n Joh 1:9 \u00a0The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.<\/p>\n Joh 3:19 \u00a0And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.\u00a0Joh 3:20 \u00a0For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.\u00a0Joh 3:21 \u00a0But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”<\/p>\n 1Co 4:5 \u00a0Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive commendation from God.<\/p>\n There’s a pastor (Rob Bell<\/a>) that’s stirring up a lot of controversy as he questions the traditional concept of hell in his new book Love Wins<\/a><\/span> (A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever\u00a0Lived. <\/span>Rob Bell addresses one of the most controversial issues of faith\u2014the afterlife\u2014arguing, would a loving God send people to eternal torment forever\u2026? With searing insight, Bell puts hell on trial, and his message is decidedly hopeful\u2014eternal life doesn\u2019t start when we die; it starts right now. And ultimately, Love\u00a0Wins.)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n I find it very interesting that the Eastern Orthodox Church holds a very different view of hell than our traditional Protestant view. \u00a0From the Wiki Gnomes<\/a>:<\/p>\n The Eastern Orthodox church teaches that Heaven and Hell are being in God’s presence\u00a0which is being with God and seeing God, and that there no such place as where God is not, nor is Hell taught in the East as separation from God.\u00a0One expression of the Eastern teaching is that hell and heaven are being in God’s presence, as this presence is punishment and paradise depending on the person’s spiritial state in that presences.\u00a0For one who hates God, to be in the presence of God eternally would be the gravest suffering.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n When I read verses about “light” and especially John 3:19-21 (listed above) the Eastern Orthodox idea of hell makes a lot more sense to me. \u00a0And if I had not studied that particular passage a view years ago I might have thought of Rob Bell as a heretic as some other people are thinking.<\/p>\n If I think about God’s judgement as a natural consequence of choosing the darkness instead of the Light it seems to fall more in line with God’s character. \u00a0We consider people who torture others in this world as being evil, as committing unspeakable acts. \u00a0If God is Light and there is no darkness in him, how much “darker” can you get than deliberately torturing someone forever in fiery Hell? \u00a0It just doesn’t make sense to me.<\/p>\n Thinking about this life, the afterlife, the character of people, and the character of God makes more sense to me when framing it from the concept of ‘light’ and ‘dark’. \u00a0I am thankful the Bible has so much listed along those lines.<\/p>\n And lastly, I am thankful for God’s light of illumination, where He reveals more of Himself to me and I can grow in my relationship with Him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I am thankful for light. I looked up the definition of “light”. \u00a0One website had 15 different definitions for the noun alone. \u00a0Another site had […] Read More<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/songofjoy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/songofjoy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/songofjoy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/songofjoy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/songofjoy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=418"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/songofjoy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":423,"href":"https:\/\/songofjoy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418\/revisions\/423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/songofjoy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/songofjoy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/songofjoy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}