Dialect between imagination and liberation

 Surely the mendicant pilgrim is constantly dependent on the wills – the charity – of others. Definitively speaking, to the extent to which a man/woman’s fate is dependent on others, his/her own life escapes out of his/her hands and his/her intelligence.  Simply put, I am raising the question of ‘why not control the course of your own life?’  And please, let me do the honor of clearing up any room for ambiguity with that statement. Here, the ‘control’ means responsibility: one’s own understanding of the situation in which one is placed. Again, don’t get me wrong, we actively submit ourselves to God’s authority; however, one of the ways of being reactive to His love is engendering responsibility. The overuse of the word ‘responsibility’ has diffused the word, giving only a slight punch of a butterfly wing. But, think of The Parable of the Talents, we each are given this amazing liberating force against the popular trend of specialization: the society objectively describing what is useful and what is not.

 Surely the mendicant pilgrim is constantly dependent on the wills – the charity – of others. Definitively speaking, to the extent to which a man/woman’s fate is dependent on others, his/her own life escapes out of his/her hands and his/her intelligence.  Simply put, I am raising the question of ‘why not control the course of your own life?’  And please, let me do the honor of clearing up any room for ambiguity with that statement. Here, the ‘control’ means responsibility: one’s own understanding of the situation in which one is placed. Again, don’t get me wrong, we actively submit ourselves to God’s authority; however, one of the ways of being reactive to His love is engendering responsibility. The overuse of the word ‘responsibility’ has diffused the word, giving only a slight punch of a butterfly wing. But, think of The Parable of the Talents, we each are given this amazing liberating force against the popular trend of specialization: the society objectively describing what is useful and what is not.

Their objective factor is killing me. Again, don’t get me wrong, I believe that post-modern’s too much subjectivism, or just hiding behind the legitimacy of individualism, has refused to take account of God’s absolute standard. We hate to use the word ‘absolute’, but easily falls in love with the word ‘relative’. I mean, what I am saying is within that God’s absolute realm, we must take into account of spontaneous independent activities by not only pledging money for homeless accommodation, but also sharing God’s imagination with them.  This may sound just like a banal optimism, but beggars in the streets struggle in this society’s devotion to ‘method’ which is very inflexible and have very restricted vision.  We must share with them an appropriate dialect between imagination and liberation. Again, I want to make myself very clear. This is not positive thinking. This is not simply a self-conviction. But the premise is heavily dependent on His words. "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." Often courage is demanded and shown where the man does not have a clear view of what is possible and impossible – in regard to external circumstances and also in regard to what he can expect of himself.  He needs to be heard of what is possible with him, and we, the Christians, must provide that fellowship where his God given dignity is restored and respected.