“God, I love you, but I could care less about what you have done throughout history because I’d rather praise you, I’m not going to waste time looking in awe to the beauty you have created on earth because I’d rather praise you, I don’t want to know your saints and how they have witnessed to you because I’d rather not waste time and rather praise you, and your mother, oh, she’s just blessed, but aren’t we all”
Would that be your reply, or something similar, when God asks you why you never honored His saints, venerated His Mother, and stood in silence and awe at the beauty of His world because
Rather, it looks something like this. When I consider God, the things that exemplify his awesomeness are those outside the ordinary. I look at the world, and I don’t think about the world – instead I see the awesome creator of the intricate detail I see.
I look at Noah, and instead of seeing a man who built a massive boat and escaped a flood, I see that God flooded the whole world to punish the unrighteous, and yet gave one righteous man knowledge in how to save himself from that fate.
I look at Moses, and I don’t see the fallen man who doubted God, who broke the stone tablets, who stuttered – I see the God of Israel, who parted the sea, who caused water to come forth from a rock, who caused manna and quail to come forth from the air.
I look at Joshua, and I don’t see a great military commander, or a fallen man who had sins in his life. I see an awesome God who demonstrated his power by taking down the very walls of Jericho without the Israelites attacking.
I look at Mary, and I don’t see a favored woman. Instead, I see that God used her to perform a miracle, allowing her to conceive and give birth while a virgin.
I look at Peter, and I don’t see the doubter who began to sink as he walked on the water. Instead, I see Christ, who was truly supporting them both.
I look at the blind man, and I don’t see a blind man. I see a savior who healed that blindness.
I look at Lazarus, and I don’t see a man who died. I see a savior who evidenced himself by raising the man back to life.
I look at Pentecost, and I don’t see many apostles who were God’s chosen messengers. I see God, breaking down walls to ensure his message would reach the nations.
In every case, there are people used by God, but it’s not the people we should focus on. It’s the miracle, and how it displays God’s awesome power and love for humanity. God shines through, in spite of human imperfections, and we should allow him to be seen in each of us as well. When the rest of the world looks at me, I want them to see Jesus, not me.
So tell me, what difference does perpetual virginity, something which isn’t a miracle, make when one can simply focus on the direct works of God himself (virgin birth)? What is more God-honoring than to look at any of the various “tools” used by the creator of the universe, and immediately think of the creator because of
what the creator did with each of them? What benefit does manly devotion serve in comparison to
that?
After all, pagan priestesses took vows of celibacy for their deities, and yet we don’t see that and think “oh, let’s worship goddess Vesta!” Instead, we think “what wasted devotion”. Now, is is the celibacy, which has been done in honor of
many deities, or is it the miraculous actions of the
one, true deity, that we should see?
Randy Carson> I suspect your friend did not understand the context of the original quote from which I pulled those criteria, or the fact that it was a Roman Catholic poster (I believe) who posted the quote.
