Nathon
About 2 years ago Nathon helped me out with my root cause theory by making the obvious point that not all things people do are, at their root, bad. That’s when we added in the antitheses. Before then I was only using pride, greed, and lust as the roots of everything people do. That was the original message I heard on that Sunday morning when I obviously took my notes on a bulletin and threw it away on accident.
Adding in the antitheses to what used to be just the root sins caused a problem in the theory because the roots were no longer roots. Now we had two sides of something that must be even deeper. I haven’t yet been able to conclude what that next step might be. I have some thoughts that I will share, but please understand that these are not part of my root cause theory yet. These are ideas in motion. I am hoping you will be able to help me identify their strengths and weaknesses.
Maybe it’s really about time and where you live your life. Do you live your life in the past (pride)? Do you live in the future (greed)? Or do you live in the present (lust)? To expand on that a little more…
People who live in the past are often comfortable. They don’t focus on daily growing their relationship with God because they feel like it’s sort of settled in a way. They are committed but they’re just in a constant state of sameness.
People who live in the future are always thinking of what’s next. They are never comfortable. They are always looking for ways to have more or go further. These people probably have a better chance of growing as a Christian over time just due to their nature.
People who live in the present are always distracted. They don’t know if they are comfortable or not because they would never stop to think about it. They don’t know what’s coming next, and they never think about what’s happened in the past. Therefore, they don’t learn from their mistakes.
These paragraphs are by no means a full dissertation on the daily walk, common pitfalls, and what have you of these three types of people. And again, the root cause theory was never intended to be a personality type assessment anyway.
I am just trying to identify (1) what is the root issue that rears itself sometimes as pride and sometimes as faith, and (2) what can manifest itself as greed, but can also look like hope in a spirit controlled person, and (3) what is it that drives us to love, and does that same thing drive us to lust if we’re not careful?
Nathon again helped me with the idea of the past, future, and present as a potential harness for the theory. We had a good discussion about how he’s never satisfied with how things are because he is always looking ahead. And I am reasonably positive that his root sin is greed. Thank you, Nathon, for letting me burden you with all my probing questions. I don’t just do it to pass the time.
Adding in the antitheses to what used to be just the root sins caused a problem in the theory because the roots were no longer roots. Now we had two sides of something that must be even deeper. I haven’t yet been able to conclude what that next step might be. I have some thoughts that I will share, but please understand that these are not part of my root cause theory yet. These are ideas in motion. I am hoping you will be able to help me identify their strengths and weaknesses.
Maybe it’s really about time and where you live your life. Do you live your life in the past (pride)? Do you live in the future (greed)? Or do you live in the present (lust)? To expand on that a little more…
People who live in the past are often comfortable. They don’t focus on daily growing their relationship with God because they feel like it’s sort of settled in a way. They are committed but they’re just in a constant state of sameness.
People who live in the future are always thinking of what’s next. They are never comfortable. They are always looking for ways to have more or go further. These people probably have a better chance of growing as a Christian over time just due to their nature.
People who live in the present are always distracted. They don’t know if they are comfortable or not because they would never stop to think about it. They don’t know what’s coming next, and they never think about what’s happened in the past. Therefore, they don’t learn from their mistakes.
These paragraphs are by no means a full dissertation on the daily walk, common pitfalls, and what have you of these three types of people. And again, the root cause theory was never intended to be a personality type assessment anyway.
I am just trying to identify (1) what is the root issue that rears itself sometimes as pride and sometimes as faith, and (2) what can manifest itself as greed, but can also look like hope in a spirit controlled person, and (3) what is it that drives us to love, and does that same thing drive us to lust if we’re not careful?
Nathon again helped me with the idea of the past, future, and present as a potential harness for the theory. We had a good discussion about how he’s never satisfied with how things are because he is always looking ahead. And I am reasonably positive that his root sin is greed. Thank you, Nathon, for letting me burden you with all my probing questions. I don’t just do it to pass the time.
posted by Amy at
12:39 AM
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