I finished reading the Lost Symbol, Dan Brown's most recent novel outing, and it got me started on some thoughts about what captivates people. Of course, one man's captivation is another man's snare! One thing that drew to mind especially is the idea of Gnosticism, or 'hidden knowledge'. Many of Dan Brown's novels (and lots of other literary and cinematic works) have gained popularity under the idea of some secret thing that contains considerable power that has the ability to change everything as we know it, so long as we are intelligent enough to get to the revelation of the secret. How it snares popularity is that it flatters people's sense of intellect in that there's something that cannot be easily understood, and appeals to humanity's sense of independent pride by hoodwinking us into thinking that we are the only one in on the secret. Holding a secret is a powerful thing in itself, despite whether the secret revealed is powerful or not, so the clamouring for power also adds as a hook to our attention. In essence, 'hidden knowledge' is unapologetic in its attempt to make us feel very important about ourselves, and it is very good at doing so.
The Bible also gives no apologies either, but leaves us with a more level headed sense of who we are, and more usefully, who God is. The Bible gives revelation in this sense, it shows us I daresay a lot more than what we bargain for. I find the primary disappointment in my Bible reading is that I realise how base an understanding I really have of it - and even that, I believe, is an intentional purpose of God, to show me more the depths of what I do not know, so that I may more be in awe of the one who knows completely. Its also a spur in the leg to read on with scripture. "Dont' get it yet? Well, read on... how about now? Well, I guess it's more reading for you then.." In fact, lots of Jesus' parables conclude with Jesus' goading the people into understanding what they have heard. Goading! He means us to wrestle with it sometimes.
The Gospel of Jesus is also accessible to all, and therein lies the frustration to those with intellect - if the truth is for everyone, then it has to be constructed in such a way that makes it painfully simple by nature, in its bare bones. Even using such backhand ploys as tugging emotional engagement! Hehe. Jesus simply is God Revealed, not clandestinely concealed. But the lovely thing about God's story in the bible is that for those who crave complexity and imagery and metaphor and multiple aspects, well, it's got it's fair share of that too. It's like God knew there would be minds that would be satisfied with truth as far as their level of understanding goes and within the bible there is something for every kind of mind. Not that the simplest Christian has any less joy for knowing the little they know. Any nugget however small to come from God can mature in our hearts to become gigantic riches. When I read how Daniel was deeply troubled by the visions that he had and found it difficult to recover from the things that God had shown him, I thank God for my having less understanding than Daniel! With wisdom, I suspect that coping with wisdom is one of the principal kinds of wisdom someone can have. Ever heard of the phrase "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of all kinds of Wisdom"? I guess that's a good way of guiding us to fear God alone, that all else in life may become easier to digest. The mysteries of God that I cannot wrap my head around will probably remain mysteries for all my lifetime, but if they are my biggest problems within my lot in life, then physical turmoil will fade in comparison naturally.
So overall I'm glad my God is not hidden. If it was based upon complex codes to break then heaven would be disproportionately awash with mathematicians and that's no good for his 'loving all kinds of people' message. What if I never got what he was trying to say? It'd be pretty hard luck if I was just a bit too thick to enter those pearly gates. After all I did only get a C in Maths A-level. Better that he set the standard low and universal, like admitting our nature has led us to sin in the past, and with the help of Jesus, facing up to that.
