Winning Words 3/29/12
“If you wait to “see” it before you “believe” it, you’ll be waiting a long time.” (Dan Gilbert) When I came to Michigan my “new” dentist suggested that maybe I would want to find someone else, because he was an atheist. I didn’t. There are people who are waiting for empirical proof before they will believe in God. G-O-D is a code word used to say that the unknowable is made known in a limited way. ;-) Jack

FROM SHARIN' SHARON: Love these WW. Bring alive the scripture "He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" Especially I like the G-O-D code word belief.////FROM JACK: "I must see, in order to believe," does not seem to express humility. So, if "I" see, it must be so?

FROM MY FLORIST: Sounds very much like part of the Gnostic Belief to me…////FROM JACK: I don't consider myself to be a heretic, but I do believe that my theological thinking has a Hellenic influence. Suffice to say, I believe that Jesus is God in human form, and that God is more than the human form. And so the theological discussions have continued through the ages....////RESPONSE FROM MF: I must say that I also have a very similar view.////FROM JACK: You were paying attention during confirmation classes.

FROM HONEST JOHN: If, however, your Dentist had said that he was being sued by several people for malpractice, you might have switched. What you want is a competent Dentist. What I want is a God who loves me....not one indifferent to me (Deism)....For me, Good Friday and Easter are at the heart of everything that we look for.////FROM JACK: If we only associated with people who agreed with us, what a dull world this would be. That dentist did discover a "hidden" problem and sent me to an oral surgeon who was able to treat the problem and save me from major consequences.

FROM GOOD DEBT JON: You won't need a dentist in heaven anyway.////FROM JACK: I know of a man whose leg had to be amputated. He contacted the local funeral director and had the leg buried in his cemetery plot, because he didn't want to spend eternity without that leg.

FROM BBC IN ILLINOIS: Was that last sentence yours? If so, you should put it on a poster and retire. God is code to say the unknowable is made known in a limited way – nice!////FROM JACK: No quotation marks, so it must be mine. However, I'm sure I'm not the first to have thought of God in this way. My Jewish friends do something similar when they show it as G-D.

FROM JE IN MICHIGAN: I think the “unknowable is made known” everyday to those who open their eyes. ////FROM JACK: ....and to those who open their mind.

FROM BLAZING OAKS: Too true, reminds me of the quote, "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God" (Theresa MacCleod). When Bill used to enter his Barber's shop in Dixon, he thought the barber greeted him so warmly because he liked him and was glad to see him: "Pastor Bill, so good to see you Reverend!"gesturing him into a chair... it later dawned on him that the barber was saying to the other guys in the shop, "the REVEREND"S here, knock off the off-color stories and jokes, and be on you best behavior." HA! Interesting that your dentist brought up his atheism immediately...did you have some good conversations? Most pastors enjoy a good debate...:-) Bill often preached,'You BELIEVE, then you are given eyes to SEE." "Not Seeing is Believing", but "Believing is Seeing"!////FROM JACK: I did invite the dentist to come and speak with our youth group. He was not trying to "convert" them and vice versa. I never engaged him in a debate, but simply treated him as a friend. BTW, the first thing my barber says when I sit down in the chair is: "What's the Winning Word for the day?" The conversation takes off from there.