Constructing an Identity of Lacking to Find God

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

Jesus presented a message that is largely ignored today: the more one lacks, the more likely he/she is to seek God.

Jacques Lacan, a French theorist, proposed the idea of Manque or Lack. What he asserted is that a person’s identity is constructed through realizing what he/she lacks by seeing it in society. For example, you are late for work, putting make up on in the car, stressed and a mess. You pull up to a red light and see a beautiful woman driving a nice car, smiling and looking at peace. Subconsciously (or consciously) you think that she has it together. You notice the car and think ‘maybe if I had more money I could have a nicer car and my life would be less stressful.’ Part of your identity becomes about making money. This is not rare in our consumer-driven society although it typically begins at a much younger age.

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Is Salvation Through Faith the Core of the Gospel?

Saturday, September 3rd, 2011

Many will argue the core of the gospel is found in Jesus claiming that we can only attain salvation through faith in him. After all, Jesus did say that he is “the way, the truth, and the life” and that “no one comes to the father but by [him]“. Perhaps this is his message, but I think that’s divisive, and apart from incorporating fear in it, nonstrategic. When Jesus said “no one comes to the father but by me,” couldn’t he have been saying that by his example we realize the perfection of God? I know that he “paid the price for my sin” – but that knowledge doesn’t necessarily change me. Perhaps, God did need a blood sacrifice to fulfill his covenant and create a new one. But where does that leave the world?

There is, I think, a much more practical side to this “gospel”.
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