Guerrilla warfare is a tactic used by insignificant powers to harass the mighty ones like the United States of America to make it extremely difficult for them to target the hidden enemy in spite of awesome fire power and technological innovations. The secret here is the capacity to hide behind seemingly innocuous appearances leading to deceptions that lure away the opponents. The same kind of tactic is used by Satan, or the evil forces, in leading the faithful astray in our spiritual life as he is the master of deceptions by means of lies and half-truths. He has been careful to delegate these powers to his agents as well and that is why we sometimes meet people of his ilk in our daily lives. Jesus warned his disciples to always watch and pray to escape from the traps laid by Satan and his agents here on earth. The sure way to strike the enemy down in guerrilla warfare as well as in our spiritual battles is to draw the enemy out into the open and expose him what he is in reality. This is what Jesus Christ did through his work of redemption resulting in the byproduct of the true definition of spiritual life. Spiritual life has an essential component that is not immediately visible to the naked eye and is yet its core influencing the whole outcome of a person's life. We shall discuss this core of the spiritual life in our Posts titled: Hidden Life.
We should be interested in the intellectual side of this game of deceptions knowingly or unknowingly engaged in by even the practitioners of religion and morals. For it can happen that a person with good intentions set out on his or her spiritual journey gets caught up in various games played out in the world. A reluctant beginner becomes an expert over a period of time in his or her chosen field of the games forgetting thereby the initial commitment and purpose of the journey itself. The purpose of our notes on spirituality through these Posts is to awaken those who are caught up in such lethargy and morass by challenging their justifications on an intellectual level. This challenge is especially to be thrown at the point of interaction of individuals and groups with the world at large where politics and spurious diplomacy hold sway throttling the spiritual and personal aspirations of people in general. In an attempt to address this complex and vital problem insidiously undermining the very sap of life from us, we have a few Posts under the title: Public Life.
Since it is addressed to every person interested in self-renewal and development of one's inborn capacity to its full, the method followed has to be simple and attractive and yet the tool used is not so simple. Linguistic Analysis is the tool that is not the same as Linguistics and its various ramifications. It is essentially a philosophical method practiced by Ludwig Wittgenstein and adapted by this author to theological questions. The analysis of language used here is meant to clarify concepts bringing out clearly the meanings intended. Thus those who want to practice guerrilla tactics on an intellectual plane may easily be exposed for what they are. It is a method that appeals to logic hidden behind our ordinary use of language and is not the result of any special study in formal logic. The best example for capturing such logic in the use of language may be seen from the Gospels when Jesus teaches the people, especially in controversial situations. People who want to hide behind their convoluted thinking are forced to acknowledge the power of logic they cannot deny, if they want to be in circulation so far as communication is concerned. They cannot escape the fact that a word is not the same as the thing signified by it nor is a name the same as the object named. Words in any language stand as symbols to signify something other than the words themselves . The word 'cat' signifies an object other than the word itself and very often people are led into insoluble problems because they fail to distinguish the difference between the two. Another common error is to believe that the meaning of a word is attached to the word like a label, whereas its meaning is its use in a sentence and in a language. Yet another assumption is that the meaning of what one says is essentially in one's own mind and others can only surmise what is meant, whereas the speaker is the only one who knows the exact meaning of what is meant. This kind of claim is equivalent to making language that is essentially public into a kind of private language at the whim and fancy of the speaker and this is completely unacceptable.
However, there are situations where some people are incapable of understanding even simple things happily subscribed to by most people. It is not because of the complexity of the subject concerned that they do not understand, but because they have inverted the underlying values to their own way of thinking . For such people what is normal for others is abnormal and what is abnormal for others is normal. Such a pathetic situation arises out of their own doing as they refuse to acknowledge what is clearly laid out before them. Jesus called such people those who sin against the Holy Spirit (Mark, 3: 29). In his Epistle to the Romans 1: 18-32, Paul details out the process that leads men and women to such sub-human levels that they are no longer able to think and act like normal human beings. It starts with the wickedness in which they stifle the truth. While God has made Himself known through the things He has made, the conduct of those who do not acknowledge and thank Him cannot be justified. Although they boast of wisdom, actually they are fools as they exchanged the splendor of immortal God for images made by them. This is the result of darkness enveloping their misguided minds, a consequence of their refusal to honor God. Because of this reason, God gave them up to the vileness of their own desires resulting in the degradation of their bodies overcome by unnatural passions. Their refusal to honor God opting instead for the creatures in place of the Creator turned their world upside down. If we were to think that it was the end of perversion we are sadly mistaken. God further gave them up to their own depraved Reason leading them to break all rules of conduct. It is not just that they are filled with every kind of injustice and malice, but they invent new kinds of mischief day by day. "They know well enough the just decree of God , that those who who behave like this deserve to die, and yet they do it; not only so , they actually applaud such practices" (Romans, 1: 32), If only we could convince ourselves that these practices pertained to Paul's time, and that they are unheard of in our times! The remedy to rectify this anomaly shall be discussed in our Posts titled: Meaning of Suffering.
When it comes to the question of life in the Spirit, therefore, we should keep in mind the possible reasons some people may have in turning out completely blank as if they are strangers to the very notion. What they require is a thorough revision of their own style of life in order to be eligible to proceed in the way of spiritual life. A reformed person will understand spiritual life in a completely new light by realizing that in the first place his or her very capacity to understand God's love is the result of God's own graces showered upon him or her. In addition to these internal reasons for someone's lack of understanding the love of God and life emanating from it, there are external ones mainly due to the guerrilla-like tactics of Satan and his agents. They issue forth from attempts at obfuscation and clouding of our minds by use of attractive language leading us astray from a true understanding of the issues involved, in this case life in the Spirit. In this scenario, our attempt here is to clarify the language concerning discourse about love of God and life in the Spirit bringing out their true meaning and applicability in our lives. These ideas shall be discussed in Posts under the title: Death and the New Life.
We should be interested in the intellectual side of this game of deceptions knowingly or unknowingly engaged in by even the practitioners of religion and morals. For it can happen that a person with good intentions set out on his or her spiritual journey gets caught up in various games played out in the world. A reluctant beginner becomes an expert over a period of time in his or her chosen field of the games forgetting thereby the initial commitment and purpose of the journey itself. The purpose of our notes on spirituality through these Posts is to awaken those who are caught up in such lethargy and morass by challenging their justifications on an intellectual level. This challenge is especially to be thrown at the point of interaction of individuals and groups with the world at large where politics and spurious diplomacy hold sway throttling the spiritual and personal aspirations of people in general. In an attempt to address this complex and vital problem insidiously undermining the very sap of life from us, we have a few Posts under the title: Public Life.
Since it is addressed to every person interested in self-renewal and development of one's inborn capacity to its full, the method followed has to be simple and attractive and yet the tool used is not so simple. Linguistic Analysis is the tool that is not the same as Linguistics and its various ramifications. It is essentially a philosophical method practiced by Ludwig Wittgenstein and adapted by this author to theological questions. The analysis of language used here is meant to clarify concepts bringing out clearly the meanings intended. Thus those who want to practice guerrilla tactics on an intellectual plane may easily be exposed for what they are. It is a method that appeals to logic hidden behind our ordinary use of language and is not the result of any special study in formal logic. The best example for capturing such logic in the use of language may be seen from the Gospels when Jesus teaches the people, especially in controversial situations. People who want to hide behind their convoluted thinking are forced to acknowledge the power of logic they cannot deny, if they want to be in circulation so far as communication is concerned. They cannot escape the fact that a word is not the same as the thing signified by it nor is a name the same as the object named. Words in any language stand as symbols to signify something other than the words themselves . The word 'cat' signifies an object other than the word itself and very often people are led into insoluble problems because they fail to distinguish the difference between the two. Another common error is to believe that the meaning of a word is attached to the word like a label, whereas its meaning is its use in a sentence and in a language. Yet another assumption is that the meaning of what one says is essentially in one's own mind and others can only surmise what is meant, whereas the speaker is the only one who knows the exact meaning of what is meant. This kind of claim is equivalent to making language that is essentially public into a kind of private language at the whim and fancy of the speaker and this is completely unacceptable.
However, there are situations where some people are incapable of understanding even simple things happily subscribed to by most people. It is not because of the complexity of the subject concerned that they do not understand, but because they have inverted the underlying values to their own way of thinking . For such people what is normal for others is abnormal and what is abnormal for others is normal. Such a pathetic situation arises out of their own doing as they refuse to acknowledge what is clearly laid out before them. Jesus called such people those who sin against the Holy Spirit (Mark, 3: 29). In his Epistle to the Romans 1: 18-32, Paul details out the process that leads men and women to such sub-human levels that they are no longer able to think and act like normal human beings. It starts with the wickedness in which they stifle the truth. While God has made Himself known through the things He has made, the conduct of those who do not acknowledge and thank Him cannot be justified. Although they boast of wisdom, actually they are fools as they exchanged the splendor of immortal God for images made by them. This is the result of darkness enveloping their misguided minds, a consequence of their refusal to honor God. Because of this reason, God gave them up to the vileness of their own desires resulting in the degradation of their bodies overcome by unnatural passions. Their refusal to honor God opting instead for the creatures in place of the Creator turned their world upside down. If we were to think that it was the end of perversion we are sadly mistaken. God further gave them up to their own depraved Reason leading them to break all rules of conduct. It is not just that they are filled with every kind of injustice and malice, but they invent new kinds of mischief day by day. "They know well enough the just decree of God , that those who who behave like this deserve to die, and yet they do it; not only so , they actually applaud such practices" (Romans, 1: 32), If only we could convince ourselves that these practices pertained to Paul's time, and that they are unheard of in our times! The remedy to rectify this anomaly shall be discussed in our Posts titled: Meaning of Suffering.
When it comes to the question of life in the Spirit, therefore, we should keep in mind the possible reasons some people may have in turning out completely blank as if they are strangers to the very notion. What they require is a thorough revision of their own style of life in order to be eligible to proceed in the way of spiritual life. A reformed person will understand spiritual life in a completely new light by realizing that in the first place his or her very capacity to understand God's love is the result of God's own graces showered upon him or her. In addition to these internal reasons for someone's lack of understanding the love of God and life emanating from it, there are external ones mainly due to the guerrilla-like tactics of Satan and his agents. They issue forth from attempts at obfuscation and clouding of our minds by use of attractive language leading us astray from a true understanding of the issues involved, in this case life in the Spirit. In this scenario, our attempt here is to clarify the language concerning discourse about love of God and life in the Spirit bringing out their true meaning and applicability in our lives. These ideas shall be discussed in Posts under the title: Death and the New Life.
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