Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Understanding the Beloved (Language and Evidence)

Understanding the Beloved (Language and Evidence)

Last updated on: June 29, 2021 at 11:42 pm by John Mark N. Reynolds

Understanding the Beloved (Language and Evidence) 2021-06-29T23:42:21-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

If I had known Hope better, I would have been less, hopeful, about our first date. Dinner was fine as she had nothing better to do. Life had taken a good bit of the high school craziness she remembered out of me and she was interested in catching up.

All I knew is that she said “yes” to dinner. The body language, the tone, all the communication that she was sharing missed me. I was too enamored or dense to see or hear.

We talked and talked at this first date. They put the chairs up on the other tables and neither of us noticed. She had ideas about consubstantiation. I listened, watched, and learned.

I have been listening, watching, and learning for the last thirty-five years. Hope can now communicate to me in many ways not available to us then and that might be opaque to anyone else.

There are now ways we can talk to each other that would communicate a bit to other people, but a great deal to us. We have both now read That Hideous Strength many times. If after a good glass, I become a recounter of old tales, she murmurs “the pony and the trap . . .”

And I know.

This story I am starting is a tale told a few times too often and if sane I stop. She has warned me with some subtlety.

Now it is possible that this reference to a scene in That Hideous Strength would make sense to other people if they happened to hear her, but she speaks quite softly and the reference to the text is indirect. It contains (to me) a warning not to be a repetitive bore, yet is also endearing. To grasp the tenderness takes thirty-five years of talking and laughing about this reference in the book to an older married couple and how it fits our bad habit of telling and retelling stories! Hope’s warning is not just a warning to avoid boring the guests, but also warm and funny. These words communicate to me.

They are not everyone or even comprehensible (fully) to most anyone, but make perfect sense to me.

There are many signs and symbols we can use to do the same. Some of them mean nothing to anyone else. They have only a private meaning and if seen by anyone else would appear meaningless or (if googled) would be given some other quite wrong meaning.

They work if you are one of the two of us, but not for anyone else. They are a sign, but not to everyone.

There was a time when communication was harder. She was (rightly!) cynical of my words and so what now would persuade would not then. I had to try harder and be more explicit. This is now (mostly!) not so true for either of us.

The full moon last night was not put in the heavens for us explicitly, but she could draw the full moon to my attention and (given what we had been discussing) communicated a great deal to me emotionally. She gave the moon a particular meaning.

None of that would have worked at all with even a very good friend. You had to have been with her all that day and under that sky.

None of this is odd to anyone who has ever been in a relationship. Knowledge and experience make communication easier. External events can carry extra weight or history in an older relationship. Cynical or skeptical moments in a relationship require a different kind of communication.

When we turn to God, we find the same is true. As a boy, I was constantly weak and ill. The doctor could not immediately explain this and never got a chance to try any elaborate tests. Why? Dad prayed for me and I immediately felt better and never felt that particular malaise again. I was healed.

This is not the sort of evidence of God talking and acting that should persuade an atheist. He does not think God exists and so will immediately set to work explaining away my experience. I have no doubt he can do so, mostly because he has no access to my feelings and experience. I would not expect or wish him to be persuaded! Since (for other reasons) I already believe in God, this event communicates His real presence to me.

For the skeptical or cynical (like a good atheist!), God would need to communicate in more accessible and public ways. He cannot use subtle signs, because there is no relationship on which to build meaning. The message will have to be more direct and in the language of philosophy.

What is good communication to a lover from the beloved, is inaccessible to an outsider. God can use a universal natural event (the moon) to impress one message on me, another on you, while a skeptic sees nothing more than the moon. That’s the nature of communication.

Fortunately for every one of us, God desires to talk to all His children and so is constantly trying through science, experience, philosophy, and every other means.

He will do so patiently! God need not hurry after all.

Not all communication is comprehensible to everyone or even should be! Each person will have his own relationship to the divine Beloved and based on that experience find meaning or no meaning differently!

Or so Hope suggests.

Apologetics

Culture

Spiritual Reflections

Previous Post

June 25, 2021

Making Room for the Baptist Daily

Next Post

June 27, 2021 Total Opportunity: Apply Today

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Apologetics Art Culture Education On Books On Education Philosophy Politics Pop Culture Spiritual Reflections Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 July 2025 June 2025 September 2024 July 2024 June 2024 December 2023 June 2023 September 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was the outcome of Sennacherib's army attacking Jerusalem?

Select your answer to see how you score.

They captured Hezekiah They won Destroyed by an angel The city fell

Books by This Author John Mark Reynolds

See All Titles »