Ours is a beautiful world. And it is an ugly one. Often the beauty is demonstrated in the aftermath of tragedy. The ugliness: the tragedy itself; especially when man-made.
We always wonder in the face of ugliness. We speculate and offer half-hope reasons and responses. We attempt to make meaning of it, but the dots cannot be connected.
This relationship between beauty and ugliness mirrors our hearts. Within each of us there is beauty. And there is ugliness. To put it in biblical terms; there is darkness, and there is light.
Ugliness is not creation. It is distortion. And ugly acts result from distorted attitudes, distorted views.
A distorted view of God.
Man-made tragedy is often perpetrated in the name of (a) god. I readily admit to a bias: I believe there is One God. And I believe this God has chosen to reveal himself in many ways; through creation, through scripture, in mankind, and ultimately and fully in Christ. To those who might say this is in some way narrow-minded, I simply challenge: do the work of honest investigation for yourself. If God is a God of truth and beauty, he can stand the scrutiny. But a word of caution: be ready to deal with the revelation. Light exposes darkness and beauty exposes ugliness. (I won't apologize, after all Ramblings is in the title of this post.)
Those who do damage in the name of God, at best misunderstand his nature. More likely, their distortion is due to a counterfeit version of God; a god of their own making.
The biblical God (and again, I admit my bias) is a God of love. I don't begin to understand every facet of his character, methods or means. But I trust his heart. After all, he demonstrated his passion through ultimate sacrifice.
In the aftermath of the Orlando tragedy I have heard both pronouncements of judgement and calls for tolerance. I cannot agree with the former, and find the latter to be a watered-down version of love. (Who would ever desire to be merely tolerated, when they could instead choose to be loved!?)
We live in a world of beauty and ugliness, light and darkness. And though I don't always understand the relationship, I do know the same God who calls me to stand on his truth, calls me to love unconditionally.
Ugliness is a distortion of beauty. And ugliness in the name of (a) god, is the result of a distorted view of God.
A distorted view of self
Each of us is the result of myriad relationships, experiences, pains and joys. These all come together to form our identity - the way we view ourselves. Scripture says we are fearfully and wonderfully made; that we are a special creation in God's image, in the midst of the beauty of his spectacular creation.
Our (self-)identity can however, become distorted. Sometimes we forget there is a God, or we replace him with a counterfeit. At other times we personally take on the role of god. Oblivious self-importance causes us to think too highly of ourselves. Or the opposite - extreme self-deprecation forces us to lose sight of our uniqueness.
Each of these results is a distorted self-view and gives birth to ugliness.
A distorted view of others
It could probably go unsaid; with a distorted view of God and ourselves, there is little hope of viewing those around us in a healthy way. Long ago I read in a counseling book the following line: Damaged people damage people. We've seen this axiom played out; whether it be a parent on the soccer sideline, a priest in a church, a politician in the seat of power, or a man holding a weapon with murderous intent.
Any and every ugly act becomes possible when we lose sight of the beauty and person-hood of our neighbor(s). Ugliness is almost always the natural outcome when a person or people are devalued.
Jesus summarized the key to living a life of beauty with the statement: Love God and love others as you love yourself. Distortions removed. Ugliness washed away. Beauty wins out. Light overcomes the darkness.
In summary, the tragedy of Orlando is the result of ugliness to the extreme. The sad reality is there will be another Orlando; another Oklahoma City, 911 or Waco. There will be another because ugliness exists.
However - and this is the huge however - beauty ultimately wins! I believe that from my core. I believe it because the nature of God is beauty without ugliness. He is love without distortion. He is light that overwhelms the darkest darkness.
Do I understand tragedy? No. But I trust. And that is beautiful in itself.
For now...
D
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