Conviviality, rape, and indifference.
Calasso uses these three phases to explain the passage of
time and the metamorphosis of the relationship people have with the gods. He
uses these to describe Greek mythology, but it can be extended to include the
current state of man.
With the old convivial familiarity between god and man lost,
the ceremonial contact through sacrifice impoverished, man's soul was left
exposed to a gusting violence, an amorous persecution, an obsessional goad.
Such are the stories of which mythology is woven: they tell of how mortal mind
and body are still subject to the divine, even when they are no longer seeking
it out, even when the ritual approaches to the divine have become confused.
(Page 53)
This is our situation. So how are we to reconcile with the
divine? I love how Calasso describes our efforts: "the ritual approaches
to the divine have become confused." With the number of religions and
worldviews man has contrived, I would say that "confused" is a good
way to put it. But is there a method that works?
Personally, my belief system resides in the mythology of
Christianity. I hold to it as the True Story (Mytho-Logy) so I would like to
make a parallel between Calasso's philosophical parts of every story:
separation, initiation, and return.
In the beginning was…conviviality. God created man and
experienced community with him in the Garden of Eden. But then separation came.
Eve was tempted by the serpent to do that which God told them not to do (those
women and snakes). The result of this "sin" (literally "missing
the mark", an archery term) was that conviviality with the divine was
broken: people were "dirty" and God was too "clean" (the
church might use terms more like "holy", but sometimes Christian-ese
is overused).
This separation was the initiation of the current state of
being: pain, suffering, and (ultimately) death. The Bible describes death as
"separation from God" (by that definition, it would seem that a part
of initiation would be death even in life).
So is there a way out? According to the Bible, only one: through faith in Jesus
Christ.
John 14:6 - "Jesus answered, 'I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
This describes Jesus as the only way to "return"
to the state of how things once were: conviviality with God. But how does that
work? Salvation based on faith alone is a strange concept and one that,
frankly, is unique to Christianity: every other religion requires dutiful
practices to reconcile with the divine. The only ticket in Christianity comes
in the form of faith.
Ephesians 2:8-9 - "For it is by grace you have been
saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by
works so that no one can boast."
This clearly expresses that there is nothing that people can
do to "be saved", but it is a divine gift.
The reason it's a gift is because of the reason for
separation in the first place: people. People can't maintain good deeds because
we always fail. If we could be perfect (like God) then we wouldn't need to be
saved. But the fact is, we blew that. I don't know any perfect people, do you?
It was God who gave us a way out (even though we didn't
deserve it). This is why it's a gift that we have received by grace. It was
because of God's love that we have an option of being reconciled. This love is
outlined in the verse that anyone who has even seen a church has likely heard.
John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that he gave his
one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have
eternal life."
In summary, we can't achieve reconciliation with God based
what we do, because it's never good enough. Even with our best efforts, it's
not perfect. So what does all this have to do with Jesus?
According to the Bible, Jesus came to earth and lived a
perfect life. Throughout the Old Testament, people would have to give animal
sacrifices to "atone" for their inability to live perfect lives. But
even that wasn't a permanent fix. Jesus was the permanent fix. He lived a
perfect life and died an undeserving death in our place. He died for us.
So what does faith have to do with that? What it takes for
people to return to conviviality with God is faith.
John 1:12 - "Yet to all who received him, to those who
believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."
The result of that faith is that Jesus Christ's
righteousness (perfection) is substituted (consistent with a sacrifice) for our
own righteousness (or lack thereof) so that when God looks at us, he only sees
the perfection of Christ. It's pretty slick. All a person has to do is put
their faith in what Jesus did and to repent of their selfish ways. And then
boom, reconnection with God and eternal life.
The alternative to getting our deeds paid for?
Romans 3:23 – “For the wages of sin is death [eternal
separation from God].”
Crazy.
But that's the story.
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