Monday, March 19, 2007

Is Autonomy a Lie? Is Relation eternal?

I have been told something for most of my life that I have never actually meditated or thought much upon. I have been told that love exists and always has existed in the Trinity. So the Father loves the Son who loves the Father who loves the Holy Spirit who loves the Father, etc... More recently I heard submission alluded to in the Trinity. The gospel of John attests to this last one in great detail and with frequent repetition. Jesus is forever doing the will of the father and not doing his own will. What has hit me hard, however, is the recent assertion by an Anglican priest named Dr. Peter Toon, that the individual as a noun does not exist. He said that Jesus most certainly was not an autonomous individual and that we as members of the Body of Christ- as members of the Church- were always just that. He said we are always our Father's sons. He said we were always our Lord's servants. He said we were always our brother's brothers. His assertion was that although there are individual persons, that those persons always exist in relation to someone and often in relation to some thing (as in a body or polotic). I, as an American, have believed my whole life that I was not these things. I have always believed that I was alone and independant. This has often in dark times underscored my belief that I was alone. I have not felt connected to family or other people most all my life. Dr. Toon's assertions on the nature of man as man in relation strikes a sharp blow that cuts deep into my American soul. I do not know how to respond, but I know that I have no good response from the Bible to contradict him. May the Lord grant mercy to us His servants and upon that clarity and discernment and trust in His word.

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