Blog Archive

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Paradox: The Mark of Truth

The defining mark of postmodernism is also its greatest weakness. The assertion of "no absolutes" is not only an absolute which affirms their existence, but also a feeble attempt to rationalize the paradoxical nature of truth.

Truth is accurate and absolute only when its paradoxes are reconciled. To ignore the contrasts of truth which appear contradictory is to have incomplete and therefore inaccurate truth.

Even the absolutes of math contain paradox:
42 = 16, but √16 ≠ 4.
The correct answer is √16 = ±4.
+4 and -4 are opposite—yet the answer to √16 is inaccurate and incomplete without including both.


Jesus:
"... for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world." (John 12:47)
"As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous ..." (John 5:30)

Jesus is the ultimate paradox. He is ...
Judgment and Mercy
Joy and Sorrow
Freedom and Ownership
Law and Liberty
Fellowship (Communion) and Holiness (Separation)
Life and Death
Mighty Lion and Gentle Lamb
First and Last
God and Man

The list would go on and on. But for any given contrast, Jesus is not two natures balanced against each other on opposite sides of a fulcrum, as √16 = +4 OR -4. Jesus is wholly and simultaneously both sides of His paradoxes, centered in love.

Both truth and Jesus are best seen when brought full circle.

More next time on the full circle paradoxes of Christmas and Crucifixion, current days and culmination day.

"I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day."
~ John 12:46-48 (NKJV)

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Copyright 2011, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this sis, love you.

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  2. "To ignore the contrasts of truth which appear contradictory is to have incomplete and therefore inaccurate truth."

    This is so true! So much of the gospel and the nature of God is paradoxical to human logic.

    My blog post, this morning, discusses the paradox of Joy in Sorrow.

    Thanks for sharing, Anne!

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  3. Oh Anne, another fabulous post.

    I'm a big fan of C.S. Lewis. One of his most striking statements, IMO, is that the story of Jesus is one no human would forward as an account of a Lord and Savior. Yes, He heals and works wonders. But He was also born in a food trough, raised a carpenter, and walked in poverty and, I imagine, physical hunger and pain. Yet He is the living Word, the Alpha and the Omega.

    To say Jesus is all in all is not enough. Words fail, even for this writer.

    May God bless you in this special season.

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  4. I love you too, Denise! I'm glad you're here.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Joe, I appreciate the poignancy in your post, about the sorrow amid Christmas joy. I agree with you that we do not know how to grieve in our culture. And I think it is part of the reason we seek happiness in the temporary and material things of this world, rather than seeking joy in the riches of spiritual blessings available to us.

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  6. Gwen, Jesus is an enigma I long to better know—I look forward to one day knowing fully. Whatever else Paradise contains, whoever beloved people I meet there (like you! ♥), nothing of this world can begin to compare to the One Whom words fail to capture.

    Love and blessings to you and yours also!

    ReplyDelete

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