Switches. They're binary. You're on, or you're off.
Some people think like this. Either something is absolutely right, or it is absolutely wrong. That if something is tainted at all, it is not worth having.
As a case in point, my son and I were enjoying an episode of Top Gear - our favorite show to watch together (Dr. Who is a close second) - and the featured guest star was Slash. If you don't know who Slash is I'm not talking to you any more. But it struck me that Slash is the kind of dude that many would look at - both his outward appearance and his chosen lifestyle - and think that he's, well, something he's probably not. And that's a shame, because it represents a loss on both parts.
I do not necessarily think this is true. I think of things more in terms of a potentiometer.
A potentiometer sends electricity through a resistive material at different and varying levels, depending on the position of the dial. As you turn the dial one way or the other, the amount of energy passing through the switch is increased or decreased. This is useful in many ways, such as increasing a motor's speed, the output from a light source, or the volume of a speed guitar solo.
Regardless of the brightness of the light, its color, location, or frequency, it is still light, and that which is of God is light. He that receives this light and continues in God receives more light, until one achieves perfection. Further, we understand that those who reject the light that is available lose the light they do have, until, ultimately, they have nothing.
We live in a world that has wondrous variety and beauty. It would be a shame, indeed, to reject certain lights because they are not bright enough, the correct hue, or because they are at variance to some other arbitrary measure.
The night's sky is full of stars, even with stars we cannot see. The elimination of even some of them represents diminishment, and an audacity against the Creator of all things, supposing we know more than He does.
Some people think like this. Either something is absolutely right, or it is absolutely wrong. That if something is tainted at all, it is not worth having.
As a case in point, my son and I were enjoying an episode of Top Gear - our favorite show to watch together (Dr. Who is a close second) - and the featured guest star was Slash. If you don't know who Slash is I'm not talking to you any more. But it struck me that Slash is the kind of dude that many would look at - both his outward appearance and his chosen lifestyle - and think that he's, well, something he's probably not. And that's a shame, because it represents a loss on both parts.
I do not necessarily think this is true. I think of things more in terms of a potentiometer.
A potentiometer sends electricity through a resistive material at different and varying levels, depending on the position of the dial. As you turn the dial one way or the other, the amount of energy passing through the switch is increased or decreased. This is useful in many ways, such as increasing a motor's speed, the output from a light source, or the volume of a speed guitar solo.
Regardless of the brightness of the light, its color, location, or frequency, it is still light, and that which is of God is light. He that receives this light and continues in God receives more light, until one achieves perfection. Further, we understand that those who reject the light that is available lose the light they do have, until, ultimately, they have nothing.
We live in a world that has wondrous variety and beauty. It would be a shame, indeed, to reject certain lights because they are not bright enough, the correct hue, or because they are at variance to some other arbitrary measure.
The night's sky is full of stars, even with stars we cannot see. The elimination of even some of them represents diminishment, and an audacity against the Creator of all things, supposing we know more than He does.
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