Terry,
I would say the same thing for mystical/rational as I would for left brain/right brain, or anything similiar: there should be a balance; both should be working together. If we get too far off on one end or the other, we have an incomplete picture of our world and are limited in our ability to operate in it.
I’d like to give you a couple of examples of how this mystical, or spiritual (as I prefer), element works in my life. Recently, I was looking for a new job, as the private-sector company I worked for was unstable. I put in an application with a local county government for an open position. My prayer to God was to place me in the right position according to His knowledge and will (the mystical element--entreating a supernatural entity for intervention and guidance). I was invited for five job interviews, each at different locations. Four of the interviews went well, I thought, and one in particular went extremely well--the panel seemed to ask all the “right” questions for me and I had all the right answers. For the fifth interview, I got caught in unexpectedly heavy traffic, and, even though I left myself plenty of time, arrived for the interview some 20 minutes late. I had called ahead to tell them I would be in late, so they waited for me, but, being the first interview of the day, that set them behind for everybody else. So that didn’t make a good impression to start with. Also, I didn’t feel I answered the questions particularly well, so I figured I could write that one off.
Well, after a few days, I got only one offer--from the place where I interviewed well. I accepted the offer and reported for work with them. The person who was training me was familiar with all the departments and staff, and about the position I got, he said, “You died and went to heaven. This is the best place to work for.” About the place where I was late, he said, “Be GLAD you didn’t end up there.” Apparently, it’s an unpleasant place to work. So the mess-up may have kept me from going someplace I may not have wanted to be, and all the conditions were right for me to end up at apparently the best location. Now, I didn’t have control of any of this--the traffic, the members of the interview panels, or the questions they would ask--all of which factored into the end result. So, even if I had known all the inside information, and been optimally prepared, there were still factors over which I had no control that figured in the outcome. Logic, reason, and rationality could only go so far.
Now I’ll give you another, more significant example. As a child, I was pretty much a loner--a social outcast. An only child born to older parents (mom,42, dad, 52), my mom was a recent European immigrant, and my dad was a loner for sure. There were very few kids in the neighborhood of widely-spaced yards. So I grew up reading a lot, inventing things, and playing roles in imaginary worlds, but had little social interaction outside of school, and it didn’t go particularly well in school for me socially. I entered adulthood without understanding what meaningful relationships were about. All my dating relationships ended with me being dumped, and understandably so. I wasn’t abusive--I just didn’t know how to properly relate. When I ruined a relationship with a young lady I cared very much for who was a Christian (I was too, by this time), I hit the bottom. It was only then that I called out to God to introduce me to someone of His choosing--I turned it all over to God (the mystical element again). No more than a month or so after this, I got into a deep conversation with a young woman whom I had talked to briefly in the past and hardly knew before this point. It was in this conversation I found out she was a dedicated Christian. Somehow I knew, with very few indicators, that she was God’s choice--she was the one. Over the next few months, while we were dating, I had opportunities to enter into relationships with other women. One woman, who was very attractive and I liked and had dated briefly before, expressed an interest in starting over with me. But I refrained from any relationships with any of them. Not only did I love the woman I was dating, but I was not going to do anything to jeopardize my relationship with God’s choice. The ultimate test came when the woman who was my first girlfriend, whom I had been in love with and dated off-and-on for several years came back into my life with the news that she had committed her life to Christ. For sure, it was very difficult—I loved both women and both were Christians, but from what I knew about my former girlfriend, and what I knew about the woman I was dating, and what I knew about myself, I stuck with my commitment to the one I believed was God’s choice, and said good-bye to my old love.
Times with my new love weren’t always good, but I found out that she had also made a request of God similiar to mine. So, in spite of the difficulties we had, mainly because we were different in so many ways, we got married. Sometimes, married life was a struggle because of those differences, but one thing compelled us to stay together when others would have split--our mutual belief that we were God’s choice for one another. Early on, I realized, for my part, why she God’s choice, even though we were different in many ways. I was cerebral and unsociable, seeing little value in family; she was social and feelings-oriented, and came from a large, close family. I was an incomplete personality--lacking in many ways--and thereby limited in any good I could do for myself, for others, and for God. She, and the context of our relationship, forced me to look at myself and make adjustments. I moved towards wholeness. I came to see the value of people, rather than just the value of ideas. It was--and still is--hard for me, after 23 years of marriage, but it would have never happened otherwise. I had deficiencies, and I didn’t even know it, and reason and logic would have never shown it to me.
Many are the plans in a man’s heart,
but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. (Prov. 19:21)
Computer dating services use compatibility--common interests--as a basis for matching. If I had done the logical, rational thing, I would have gotten together with someone with interests like mine. Sure, there would have been fewer conflicts, the relationship would have been more comfortable, and, in some ways, I may have even been happier, but the result is that I would have just become more of what I already was. I wouldn’t have branched out or grown without the challenges. God knew what I really needed, and I like to think that I’ve enhanced my wife’s life as no one else could have (she often tells me, “You’re strange”).
Some would call things like this a “coincidence” and say “This is how the myth gets started: someone entreats a deity, good things happen, and the deity becomes a reality.” Well, if I was writing about a singular event, then I might agree. But when these kinds of things happen often during a lifetime, and there appears to be a pattern and a purpose, then I find the “coincidence explanation” a hard sell. And if anyone has a problem with me saying that I believe in the existence of God because He answers my prayers, they should consider that it comes from the same logic that says, “I don’t believe in God because He hasn’t answered my prayers.”
Terry, from your posts, it looks like you think the Christian is part of some tyrannical, oppressive, repressive system, where people submit to dragging a ball and chain around in misery, afraid to think for themselves, all for some future pie-in-the-sky. You seem to consider the mystical element to be counterproductive. That may be the JW way, and the Mormon way, and it may be true for a part of the historical Christian church, and may even be true for some today, but it’s not that way for me, and I don’t know any Christians personally that it’s true for. Sure there’s sacrifice and restraint, but even atheists who want to quit smoking or lose weight understand about that, so it’s not unique to Christianity. And the Christian doesn’t do it all just for some future life--there’s benefit in the here and now, in this age, in this life.
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (Jesus, John 10:10b)
Mike
