Don: Data, information, and knowledge are about things known. Mystery is about things unknown. On the face of it, it seems preposterous to think that all mankind, born everywhere, in all ages, from all cultures, from all walks of life, all educational backgrounds, and life experiences should see God—and, even more preposterously, believe in God—in the same way.
Moreover, the claim to possess an accurate picture of God, sharply defined by doctrinal stricture systematically laid out, is to claim to penetrate the secrets of God, whose thoughts and ways are not ours. Scripture is clear that God is not like us, except (we tend to think) bigger and stronger and smarter and faster.
The book of Job has an entire discourse on the difference between knowledge and mystery; between knowing God and being known by God. A conversation between Job and his friend Zohar illustrates the point. Zohar said:
“Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty? They are high as the heavens, what can you do? Deeper than Sheol, what can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth And broader than the sea. If He passes by or shuts up, Or calls an assembly, who can restrain Him? For He knows false men, And He sees iniquity without investigating. An idiot will become intelligent When the foal of a wild donkey is born a man.” (Job 11:7-20)
He goes on to tell Job how to respond—not to run from God and to confess his wickedness. Job responded:
“Truly then you are the people, And with you wisdom will die! But I have intelligence as well as you; I am not inferior to you. And who does not know such things as these? I am a joke to my friends, The one who called on God and He answered him; The just and blameless man is a joke. He who is at ease holds calamity in contempt, As prepared for those whose feet slip.”
He goes on to talk about the power, wisdom, might, and understanding of God, and continues:
“Behold, my eye has seen all this, My ear has heard and understood it. What you know I also know; I am not inferior to you. But I would speak to the Almighty, And I desire to argue with God. But you smear with lies; You are all worthless physicians. O that you would be completely silent, And that it would become your wisdom!
“Please hear my argument And listen to the contentions of my lips. Will you speak what is unjust for God, And speak what is deceitful for Him? Will you show partiality for Him? Will you contend for God? Will it be well when He examines you? Or will you deceive Him as one deceives a man?
“He will surely reprove you If you secretly show partiality. Will not His majesty terrify you, And the dread of Him fall on you? Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes, Your defenses are defenses of clay.”
To Job, it’s an existential problem, a mystery. He has certain knowledge about God and is sure that he would be vindicated if he could get a hearing, yet God seems to be hiding from him. He then asks God three existential questions; questions we all ask:
- Why was I born?
- How can I be ____ (garbled) with God?
- If I die, shall I live again?
Job, like all of us, seeks a knowledge of God in order to control him. It is not an academic exercise, but a practical one. Job has suffered greatly and seeks God’s power to end his suffering. By understanding God, he thinks he might be able to harness that power. This is the pitfall of knowledge of God. We hold on to the mistaken belief that God is a God of cause and effect, of actions and consequences. More insight, we think, can be had through more prayer, more meditation, more study, more self-denial, and more piety.
Instead of answering Job’s questions, God asks him questions. Seventy-seven of them. God is not in the business of providing answers, but of asking questions. He is the producer, not the product. He is the teacher, not the student; the examiner, not the examinee.
Paul talked a great deal about the conflict between knowledge and mystery:
And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written,
“Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,
And which have not entered the heart of man,
All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”
For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2)
He contrasted the wisdom of God with that of Man:
Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness”; and again, “The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless.” So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God. (1 Corinthians 3:18-23)
That our inner spirit can approach some understanding of the mystery of the wisdom of God suggests that there is something knowable by all men, but it seems that our denial of blindness keeps it hidden.
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you; that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 3:1-10)
The mystery that God is the God of all mankind is deeply rooted in the concept of blindness. It is difficult to truly embrace as a fundamental truth that one’s God is not exclusive and must be shared with others, including those with utterly different belief systems. The claim to possess God is a fundamental corruption of the life and work of Jesus. It is not an easy concept to embrace, as Paul knew:
For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, [here, the mystery is made more explicit] in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument. For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ.
Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, [i.e., through knowledge] according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands [with data], in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.
If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence. (Colossians 2)
Knowledge of God calls for humility and emptiness, and setting aside pride and preconceptions. God’s grace is for all Mankind. We cannot hoard it. Grace is the antithesis of the cause-and-effect we so value, cling to, and teach. You do not get what you really deserve—you get the grace you don’t deserve. Knowledge of God calls for the spiritual embrace of mystery. How can we be a commissioner for Jesus, as he commanded the disciples after his resurrection:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
We do this naturally with data and knowledge, but how could we do it with mystery? How can we teach it?
Donald: Some people may be uncomfortable with our class because we keep opening doors but never reach a destination. Maybe the joy is in the process of discovery, not the discovery itself. Some in our class think that the unknown, the mystery, is a better place to be.
David: As Don said at the beginning, it would indeed be absurd if the whole world saw everything the same way. But to me this seems true only of worldly things, things made up of data, information, and knowledge. To the extent we base our spiritual beliefs on external worldly knowledge that is different for each of us depending on our culture, job, education, and so on, then of course our beliefs are bound to differ.
But to the extent our beliefs are premised on things that science cannot turn into data and culture cannot corrupt—the indefinable and almost indescribable, intangible, internal things we call love, goodness, mercy, grace—then it is not absurd to think that the whole world sees these things the same way. As a world traveler for much of my life, I have witnessed these things in individuals of many cultures. These things constitute the God we all share. To me, it is indeed extraordinary—deeply mysterious—that we should all, regardless of our differences, know exactly what love is.
Joyce: It is a mystery that we are loved and graced by God and forgiven by Jesus even before we forgive ourselves, even when those around us will not forgive us, and even when we don’t ask for forgiveness. Most religions do not acknowledge this mystery, but it applies even to people who reject or may never have heard of Jesus. Jesus made that possible. But religions dislike it because they are in the business of stringing things together into rules, but there are no strings attached to God’s grace.
Kiran: The Message bible interprets Paul as follows:
When outsiders who have never heard of God’s law follow it more or less by instinct, they confirm its truth by their obedience. They show that God’s law is not something alien, imposed on us from without, but woven into the very fabric of our creation. There is something deep within them that echoes God’s yes and no, right and wrong. Their response to God’s yes and no will become public knowledge on the day God makes his final decision about every man and woman. The Message from God that I proclaim through Jesus Christ takes into account all these differences. (Romans 2:14-17)
Donald: We seem incapable of letting mystery alone and not always trying to turn it into data, which then becomes doctrine and law. God is more of a mystery than Jesus, since Jesus took on the nature of a man.
Don: Nature—including human nature—abhors a vacuum. Mystery is a vacuum we constantly seek to fill. Is it possible to base religion on mystery? What would we talk about, think about, pray about? It doesn’t sound productive or even possible.
David: But if we did know—if the vacuum were filled—what would there be left to talk about? God seems to have thought about that [ 🙂 ], since he has …
… set eternity in their [i.e., our] heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
I interpret this (as does the KJV) as meaning that God placed an infinite vacuum in us so that we could never hope to fill it. We will never get to the beginning nor to the end of things. We will live with mystery forever, and we will talk about it forever—q.e.d., this class! If in today’s class we get to the bottom of things, we won’t need to come back next week!
Kiran: Perhaps mystery leaves a vacuum inside us, making us more vulnerable but also more open. If it were sealed up, we might feel secure and unthreatened by the unknown—by new relationships, new friends—but what we would miss! By remaining open and vulnerable to learn new things, we can share God as he is seen by others into account in our own lives. Perhaps this is what God wants. The emptier, more vulnerable we are, the more we can be united as one body.
Donald: Children know the extent of their ignorance; adults think they have most things figured out.
Jay: Scripture calls for what Kiran has described. It is the call of John 9, to be blind so that we can see and be saved. Nicodemus calls for us to be born again, to return to vulnerability. Paul called for us to retreat from wisdom into foolishness. Ignorance is bliss. Emptiness and vulnerability opens the door to God—and the love and grace that comprise him. When we think we see clearly, when we think we are mature and wise, we are precisely where God does not want us to be. He calls us to the opposite condition of blindness, vulnerability, and ignorance.
Don: Paul spoke to the transient nature of religious doctrinal points—prophecy, tongues, supposed spiritual insight or knowledge, on which most churches were built and are sustained:
Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. (1 Corinthians 13:8)
He went on to say that these things we rely on enable us merely to “see in a mirror dimly” (verse 12) and will eventually be overridden by the abiding principles of faith, hope, and love (verse 13).
Donald: We need to narrow mystery and articulate why it is important.
Jay: The process of understanding mystery, of seeking knowledge (which scripture advocates) is not harmful. The harm comes when we think we have got the complete picture. It’s not that data and knowledge are evil. They have served Man well. The issue is one of thinking we know it all. That’s what leads to inter-religious wars and rejection. Seeking to know more is good; believing you know it all is bad.
Donald: We know we won’t find the answer in this class. We’re OK with that. Religious doctrines are not.
Jay: It’s difficult for someone raised in a given religious culture and subjected to the influence of its doctrines to behave as though they don’t know the answers. That influence inevitably manifests itself as we deal with “others”. It becomes easier, though, to the extent that one can empty oneself. The call to action, the necessary change in behavior, is drastic and difficult: Become blind! Be reborn! Be foolish!
Joyce: Adventists are big makers and keepers of rules. It’s not a bad thing—it has resulted in a closer-knit family, a healthier diet, and other benefits. But it is not salvation. The Sabbath is a blessing, but how many people really take a whole day off? The Ten Commandments are good guides for how to live a longer, more enriched life, but they are not the path to salvation. That is part of the mystery. If we don’t live by a set of rules, we wonder how can God forgive us our trespasses? How could he forgive Hitler for the atrocities he was responsible for? How can we explain that to a non-Christian that our God permits such things? I cannot. It’s a mystery.
Don: Job had the same question! The irony, and the mystery, is that in the end, although God did not answer Job’s question but instead plied Job with questions, Job was left feeling satisfied, enlightened. There was no cause-and-effect here. If God were to answer our questions, it would be like cutting off the Hydra’s head: Twenty more would grow to replace every severed head—twenty more questions would follow every answered question. That would seem reason enough for him not to start answering our questions! As with Job, his purpose is to provide enlightenment, not answers. Can we be comfortable with that?
Kiran: Job had a personal relationship with God. Perhaps God wanted Job to focus on the relationship. Salvation does not depend on anything I do. The reason I want answers is so I can be sure I can be saved. Will focusing on a relationship with a God of mystery give me that reassurance?
Donald: Answers provide explanations and so are the easiest way to have reassurance. But focusing on the good in the world, such as on the unity expressed after 9/11 rather than on the act itself, takes us out of divisive politics and into the realm of goodness, love, and mercy. We can’t understand them, but when we experience them they are life’s best moments.
David: In providing answers, religions meet a human need, but they do not meet our spiritual need. We are not the first to question the church—it’s why we’ve ended up with so many splits and factions. A subset of the Quakers seems to have an appealing approach called “practice waiting worship” or unprogrammed worship where there is no order of service and meetings are silent unless individuals in the meeting feel the spirit move them to say something. It seems they are practicing, and teaching, silence—a form of emptiness—as a means of making themselves vulnerable and open to the spirit. Our class could be like that, if only I would shut up! 😉
Why aren’t Quaker meetings, or at least meetings such as ours, happening everywhere? Why does mainstream church prevail over its minor breakaways? We all have our individual way to God. Don has pointed out that people in faith stage 2 all their lives can feel as spiritually fulfilled as the stage 4 guru, who can feel at home in any or no religion. Spirituality is an individual matter; it’s a one-on-one relationship with God.
Chris: The New Testament has many statements about mysteries being revealed. With respect to Jesus, there are mysteries within mysteries. We are told to seek, so I sought, and ended up finding Moses in the very last verse of Deuteronomy 29 saying:
The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29:29)
So it seems there are some mysteries we are supposed to know and have answers for. But there are some that will not. If I knew them all, God would be mine—I would be God! But God is not just for me. He is for everybody. The mysteries of love, faith, grace and so on are the mysteries for everyone—they are not the determinants of an individual relationship with God. We cannot fathom them but they are worth pursuing nonetheless.
Don: Why are we attracted to mystery, as we are in literature and other fields?
David: It’s the promise that the mystery will be resolved in the end. That’s what keeps our eyes glued to the pages of a mystery novel. But I wonder to what extent, when scripture talks about mysteries revealed, it means the existence of the mystery as a mystery is revealed, but not the resolution to it? It is (to me) a mystery that God is the God of all people—that all people see him (in his constituent parts of love, grace, mercy etc.) in exactly the same light. As a mystery, that has been revealed in scripture; but it has not been fully explained—at least, not in my opinion. The Bible is a book of questions—and a book of mysteries. It encourages us to put the two—mystery and questions—together in pursuit of enlightenment. Maybe we’ll find the answer to life, the universe, and everything in next week’s class. So I’ll be back next week. I’d hate to miss the answer.
Donald: Some of the most joyous moments of my life have been serendipitous discoveries, such as here in class or in my peregrinations through Africa, that I have so much in common with my fellow Man, no matter culture or background.
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