The Crucifixion Paradox is to live our lives back to God, from our circumstances of fragility, suffering and certain death. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46 & Mark 15:34
For me, I think our value to God, is precisely in our frailties, sufferings and short lives. Thinking of what it might be like, being all powerful and immortal, what then, would be of great value to such a being? Life that is fragile, suffering and mortal. Because of our weakness, when God finds in us, divine virtues, in spite of our circumstances of fragility, suffering and certain death, beauty occurs. God is truth; God loves beauty.
I feel my value to God, is to live sincerely, especially when life seems to be a waste of time. And God’s value to me, is my life itself, and all that keeps that possible. After all, I’m just another animal, on a planet of life, here for just this moment, among the continuum of time. In fact, my only role in life is to just be me. An effortless thing to be.
God’s value to me is the provisions of reality itself, the creation of me and my natures, and the time to do with as I choose. I am not all powerful, but I do have the power of choices. I’m certainly not able to do all that I choose to do, but I am free to try. In trying, experience leads to understanding. Value, choice, experience and understanding develop into competence, and soon my work is productive, successful. Which makes me happy. Which makes God happy too.
None the less, we all suffer, we all die. How nice is that? Thus the paradox.
I do not believe in life after death. I do not disbelieve it either. I do not know. I choose not to care. For me, I’ve chosen that if my life is for the purpose of suffering and meaninglessness, then I choose to suffer as meaninglessly as possible. Cause that’s what I am. And if there is more to it than that, that’s good too. But the question itself is moot to me, my part in my life is living, not the why, nor the what for. I agree with Job, in Job 1:
Job 1
Prologue
1In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.
4 His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.
6 One day the angels[a] came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan[b] also came with them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”
12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”
Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked I will depart.[c]
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
may the name of the Lord be praised.”
22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
From: https://www.biblica.com/bible/niv/job/1/
We’re just creatures. God’s creatures, not mankind’s creatures. For me, the bible is just another book. A very important book, but a book none the less. I do not ascribe to it magical divine power, but practical divine insights as can best be delivered in written language. And from Job, life on life’s terms rings familiar. I remember always, that my life really does not have any meaning beyond God’s appreciation of it. That I hold onto divine principles in the face of ridicule and worldly failure, I am the beauty that occurs, in the loving eyes of God.
Conclusion
My conclusion of the Crucifixion Paradox is that while my fragility, suffering and certain death appear as a failure of the concept of God, that in the tally of what actually counts, my love of God, my adherence to divine principles, are what remain of me after I’m gone. To have been more than an artifact of appetite and fear, I may die happy, and rest in peace. And until then, to live each and every moment as best I can, each moment a gift I live back to God.
David Weeks, Information Developer.