This is a bit of lengthy post. Hang in there.
When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
John 6:60-65
I talk a lot about faith defying logic. I have said things like, “If it’s easy to believe then it’s not faith!”. I also talk a lot about the paradoxes of Christian faith and have many of the core truths of humanity go beyond the limits of human comprehension.
Just a few days ago I posted this about the discourse we find in John 6. At the end of that discourse we in find the selection of text above (John 6:60–65). In this text this concept of logic defying truth is precisely what Jesus is talking about.
Jesus says, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” He’s drawing a contrast between the “flesh” and the “spirit”. “Flesh” in this context means simply “human things”. In Paul’s writing “flesh” can mean “sin nature” but that’s not what Jesus is talking about here (as a single term can express a range of meanings depending on its context. Consider the english word “trunk” as an example.).
What Jesus is saying is that there are ways of human thinking that are limited by the boundaries of the human mind and yet there are realities that reach beyond these limits. In other words, God doesn’t think how humans think.
If we embrace a creationist approach to reality and human existence (as orthodox Christianity does), then this implies that there will be things in life, very real things that will be inexplicable by the confines of human logic. The ancients had no problem embracing this idea. We today, however, have great difficulty with this. Individuals who live in a post-modern, western, post-enlightenment (industrialist and capatalist) culture means are conditioned to believe that if it’s not explainable or doesn’t “make sense” in our minds then it cannot be true or valid. If we wan’t explain it away, then it can’t be true.
You know what’s ironic about this? When we think this way, we become all the more foolish and unintelligent because of it. With great hubris we have failed to validate reality that cannot be confined by the human mind and thereby invalidated our very selves (as our existence and consequentiality of our lives is dependent upon our relationship with the Creator).
The wisdom literature of the Hebrew Bible teaches that the beginning of wisdom is fear of God. What does this mean? This truth is anything but monolithic. One of the dimensions of significance to this is that without recognizing that human thought is greatly limited (especially when standing in comparison with God himself) then one will never arrive at wisdom. In other words, the beginning of wisdom if recognizing that we know nothing.
The cup that believers itself to be full can never be filled.
In my experience, more and more people these days are agnostic. This is someone who is undecided about faith. Literally the word agnostic means “not knowing”. People who are agnostic are those who throw up their arms and say “I just don’t know about all this faith and spirituality stuff.”
This is a dangerous place to be. It’s a dangerous place because the central point of reference for an agnostic is still me, myself, and my needs. And agnostic is someone who says, “well, none of this satisfies my criteria so I must reject it.” The agnostic, frankly, is one who designates him or herself God. They are saying, “There is no way that suits me so I will make my own way.” I’m talking about morally autonomy. Agnosticism invalidates ALL other systems of belief. The agnostic is the one who is unwilling to forfeit or sacrifice anything at all within their system of belief. It is the one who says, “If it doesn’t conform to me then I must reject it.”
This is quite problematic for Christianity. Do you know why? Because in Christianity, salvation is a personal relationship. In accepting Jesus as the Lord and Savior of the real world, we must be willing to submit to him. We must be willing to submit our wills, and at times, even our human logic to him.
Now, I fully recognize that there is great danger in this proposition. If we submit our logic to Jesus then that could justify any power-play or abuse against humanity based on the cause of Christ (i.e., Crusades). However, this is not what is happening. You see, God is immutable (he doesn’t change) and he never does anything that violates his own nature. God, ultimately, is love. This means that faith defying logic in Jesus will NEVER, EVER lead the Christian to and act or behavior that is not in line with the loving, gracious, merciful, and humble character of Christ.
What I’m saying is that there are even limits on the eternal truths that defy human logic. Saying that we are to have faith that defies human logic does not permit for the possibility that any and all activities can be justified by chalking it up to, “God told me to”.
My final note is this. The state of the agnostic is the state of us all. Outside of Christ, who requires servanthood and humanity driven by love, we are all the little god in the center of our own dark and blind little universe.
This is why it is only those whom God draws to himself who can be saved. Only by God’s grace and penetrating work of the Holy Spirit that we can bow to a bar that is greater than our own human logic. Only the Holy Spirit can cut through the human ego like a knife through hot butter. But the butter is only hot because of grace, not because of any work of our own.