THE LORD WILLING.
A biography, of sorts.
Next month I hope to reach my 96th birthday, DV, which stands for Deo Volente, the Latin for ‘The Lord Willing’. I once saw this DV limitation, on a note from a prominent economist, who advised one of the major US financial institutions. No explanation given: just DV. It suggested to me that this man, one of the nation’s most important monetary experts, lived by the grace of God. I do that too.
I see my entire life as being lived before God’s face – another Latin phrase: Coram Deo. It indicates dependency and also uncertainty, the opposite of fundamentalism, which is a stagnant, intellectual, political, or theological position that asserts a certainty in the absolute truth and righteousness of a belief system. Fundamentalism, to me suggests an extreme form of hubris— of overconfidence, not only in one’s own beliefs but in the ability to understand complex questions.
For me, my life is a constant struggle to attain the truth, an ever-shifting stance, however slightly, however minute, but actually, a joyful journey, a discovery track that leads, in the end, to surprising changes, because reading and reflecting and questioning, makes life interesting and worth living.
Reading, all the time.
It’s reading that removes me from any permanent position: I always probe and search and experiment, always wonder what is God’s way, and what leads me and keeps me on the path to eternal life. I constantly wonder whether I should continue the same routine, my established way of life, or opt for a different path, because Creation is infinite and searching it is a never-ending journey: it also makes life interesting.
Today the present is threatened by AI, Artificial Intelligence, working with existing sources, and relying on limited knowledge, influenced by human, imperfect, impulses. It does not take the Spirit into account, God’s way that leads to eternity, freed from sinful inclinations and human hubris, Being dependent on God’s Spirit, I boldly can explore spirit-filled impulses, carried out with laughter and excitement, sharing and rejoicing, all in leisure and freedom, resulting in surprises and amazement.
There’s where books come in, to me life-changing at times, one of those has been: Diet for a small planet by Frances Moore Lappé, bought more than 50 years ago, 1972.
After sharing it with my spouse, we decided to change our eating habits: go vegetarian, because the production of a pound of meat takes up to 10 lbs of grain.
That year 1972, was a real turning point in our lives: two other books also altered our vision: Limits of Growth, by Meadows and others, and After Death…what? by a Rev. Dr. Telder.
“Limits of Growth”, projected economic growth 50 years in the future, and now, 50 years later, we see the accuracy of this study: Doom is in the air. Another book, “After Death… What?”challenged the church’s message of us being ‘heaven-bound’, and, instead, pointed out that eternal life is lived on God’s very earth, affirmed in John 3: 16-17, which bears repeating: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
In John 3, Jesus directly speaks specifically to all preachers and teachers today, and it’s worth pointing out that verse 13 there expressly denies heaven as our final destination, a major false teaching.
I was brought up believing in heaven. As a child, songs about heaven were common: “Get in line, get in line, then follow the ‘to heaven’ sign”, was one of them. Today most church’s hymnals glorify heaven: By the sea of Chrystal, saints in glory stand: myriads in number drawn from every land. Robed in white apparel….they now reign in heaven. Just one of the scores of hymns praising heaven. All fundamentally false.
J, H. Bavinck’s book: “Between the Beginning and the End: a radical Kingdom vision”, offers a different vision. One of its lines, states: Salvation of the person and salvation of Creation go hand in hand.” That’s revolutionary!
This concept, that God’s Kingdom equals God’s Creation, more than any other thought, has deeply influenced me. All the piety in the world cannot possibly compensate for neglecting and worse, for harming God’s beloved work of art, which made Dietrich Bonhoeffer state that John 3: 16-17 form the heart of the gospel.
In today’s age of unbelief and uncertainty, in our era of cynicism and the pursuit of pleasure, at a time of extremes and endings, of unparalleled weather events and social upheaval, we must recognise that DV, Deo Volente, the Lord Willing, must still be our rule for life. Through all turmoil, God’s will is being done.