Recently I've come across textual interpretations indicating that the return of the King of Kings might be a concocted pipe dream. It's a complex topic and I don't mean to irk sensibilities or be disrespectful. But reasonably, the premise of the essay is the human desire for more and not being content with what we have and living in harmony with purpose, and this could be repurposed to mean, until Christ's return, it won't be possible to be content and live in harmony, so because Christ hasn't returned to put order, there can be no order, just chaos. I'm just pointing out that analogies can be drawn between blindly chasing progressivism and faith of a future return to put order and make things alright.
The other thing your essay elicited in me is a return to being grounded in the here/now as the only viable strategy, at the moment (and maybe it's always been the case), given the current state of affairs (it's worth repeating I agree with everything you wrote, and I like your literary style!).
As there isn't currently a supreme power capable of making order and/or reforming the current thing of Western civilization, without going all doom and gloom, realistically all that's left is living a life with purpose in harmony in the here/now. The technological power we've created and keep augmenting is making us ever more fragile, and the potential for the "if things don't work out" to create cascading failures across domains seems to grow paradoxically in lockstep with our progress. So then reasonably speaking it's not a question of "if" but "when". Things might not fall apart in our lifetime, or it might already be underway. In either case, it's unreasonable to believe things (like culture) can be reformed in such a way to transform the premise of progressivism into harmonious-ism.
The joy of the English language is we can create new words to innovate our consciousness. Harmoniousism sounds like a thing worth exploring!
Hey thanks for reading Stefano and I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Certainly no disrespect received concerning the conclusion. I’ve found that the issue with most modern critical textual interpretations is that they lack the ancient cognitive environment perspective. This has led to many wild theories about what the text is “saying” which often runs roughshod over what the author means. The idea that Yahweh would not return runs counter to the narrative of ultimate redemption; an idea that doesn’t start in the NT. So what I mean is, the entire bible would have to be tossed out if ultimate redemption isn’t real. I haven’t seen any arguments that would support such a position.
I do think, however, that humanity could certainly achieve a more harmonious way of living despite Christ’s return, evidenced by how ancient Israel lived -before they lost their minds seeking other gods. 😂
Excellent…. I ascribe to a victorious eschatology. God’s kingdom will expand and permeate every realm of culture. Then the Lord will return… it won’t be utopia in the meantime, but Mankind will have taken dominion as the Lord had commanded.
Great read, thanks!
What I don't agree with are the conclusions.
Recently I've come across textual interpretations indicating that the return of the King of Kings might be a concocted pipe dream. It's a complex topic and I don't mean to irk sensibilities or be disrespectful. But reasonably, the premise of the essay is the human desire for more and not being content with what we have and living in harmony with purpose, and this could be repurposed to mean, until Christ's return, it won't be possible to be content and live in harmony, so because Christ hasn't returned to put order, there can be no order, just chaos. I'm just pointing out that analogies can be drawn between blindly chasing progressivism and faith of a future return to put order and make things alright.
The other thing your essay elicited in me is a return to being grounded in the here/now as the only viable strategy, at the moment (and maybe it's always been the case), given the current state of affairs (it's worth repeating I agree with everything you wrote, and I like your literary style!).
As there isn't currently a supreme power capable of making order and/or reforming the current thing of Western civilization, without going all doom and gloom, realistically all that's left is living a life with purpose in harmony in the here/now. The technological power we've created and keep augmenting is making us ever more fragile, and the potential for the "if things don't work out" to create cascading failures across domains seems to grow paradoxically in lockstep with our progress. So then reasonably speaking it's not a question of "if" but "when". Things might not fall apart in our lifetime, or it might already be underway. In either case, it's unreasonable to believe things (like culture) can be reformed in such a way to transform the premise of progressivism into harmonious-ism.
The joy of the English language is we can create new words to innovate our consciousness. Harmoniousism sounds like a thing worth exploring!
Hey thanks for reading Stefano and I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Certainly no disrespect received concerning the conclusion. I’ve found that the issue with most modern critical textual interpretations is that they lack the ancient cognitive environment perspective. This has led to many wild theories about what the text is “saying” which often runs roughshod over what the author means. The idea that Yahweh would not return runs counter to the narrative of ultimate redemption; an idea that doesn’t start in the NT. So what I mean is, the entire bible would have to be tossed out if ultimate redemption isn’t real. I haven’t seen any arguments that would support such a position.
I do think, however, that humanity could certainly achieve a more harmonious way of living despite Christ’s return, evidenced by how ancient Israel lived -before they lost their minds seeking other gods. 😂
Excellent…. I ascribe to a victorious eschatology. God’s kingdom will expand and permeate every realm of culture. Then the Lord will return… it won’t be utopia in the meantime, but Mankind will have taken dominion as the Lord had commanded.
And we are in the early Church era.
Us taking total dominion would be glorious. Thanks Uncle Juan!