Imagination
Have you a ‘good’ imagination? I don’t mean ‘good’ in opposition to ‘evil’ – though I’ll come to that later – but ‘good’ in the sense of ‘strong’. When you answer the ‘phone do you visualise the unseen speaker, even if unknown to you? Can you ‘see’ a holiday scene from years ago, or clothe a name from a distant part with a visual form? Do you build castles in the air, or daydream?
I suppose that traditionally our community has suppressed its imagination. We are interested only in FACTS – in sharp black capitals. Imagination and emotion have been relegated to the suspect region of the Flesh. How many pieces of ‘imaginative’ writing have we produced? Dr. Thomas’ early dialogues in which his characters discussed the Truth; occasional dialogues with ‘interested’ friends in ‘The Christadelphian’ under Robert Robert’s editorship; ‘The Trial’ and the highly Victorian picture of the Kingdom in ‘The Final Consolation’ of the Third Letter to the Elect of God in a Time of Trouble; a long narrative poem in the 1876/7. ‘Christadelphian’ of the dream of one carried to the Judgment Seat. We’ve been a little more adventurous in the third quarter of the 20th century than they were in the second half of the 19th; we’ve had desert island castaway ‘Tom’ by Bro. Edgar Wille (now published as a booklet) and at least two series in ‘Glad Tidings’ by sisters on similar themes. But we haven’t produced any serious poets or playwrights because we have a deep-rooted suspicion of fiction. That contributes to our failure to produce ‘story-telling’ films and serious drama. We can’t forget that the word ‘actor’ was ‘hypocrite’ in Greek. We still haven’t come to terms with the Song of Songs, Daniel and the Revelation because reality is represented by ‘imaginary’ scenes. Lack of imaginative treatment in – for example – character studies fails to ‘lift’ them from the flat page to make them living men and women. Bro. Edward Whittaker talks about the prophet Isaiah as though he lived a couple of doors away from him. Not many of us can do that
In a long but well-worth reading ‘Introduction’ written in 1944 to her book ‘The Man born to be King‘ Dorothy L. Sayers makes some very sharp points about the way the Gospel is traditionally presented. For example:
“…the words of the books (the Gospels) …are held by the great majority as sacrosanct in such a sense that they must not be expanded, interpreted, or added to, even in order to set the scene… And this sacrosanctity is attributed, not to the Greek of the original and only authentic documents, but to every syllable of a translation made three hundred years ago (and not always with perfect accuracy) in an idiom so old fashioned that… it is often obscure to us or positively misleading. The editor of a newspaper … said: ‘In quoting the Bible we must take the A.V. and not interpretation of scholars, however wise’.”
Or again:
“The Son of God was executed by people painfully like ourselves, in a society very similar to our own – in the over-ripeness of the most splended empire the world had ever seen. In a nation famous for its religious genius and under a government renowned for its efficiency; He was executed by a corrupt church, a timid politician, and a fickle proletariat led by professional agitators. His executioners made vulgar jokes about Him, called Him filthy names, taunted Him, smashed Him in the face, flogged Him with the cat, and hanged Him on a common gibbet – a bloody, dusty, sweaty sordid business. If you show people that, they are shocked. SO THEY SHOULD BE. If it does not shock them, nothing can. If the representation of it has an air of irreverence, what is to be said of the deed? It is curious that people who are filled with horrified indignation when a cat kills a sparrow can hear the story of the killing of the Son of God Sunday after Sunday AND NOT EXPERIENCE ANY SHOCK AT ALL.”
And finally:
“But the craftsman must be honest and know what trade he serves. I am a writer and I know my trade; I say this story is a very great story indeed and deserves to be taken seriously. I say further (and here I know what I am saying and mean exactly what I say) that in these days it is seldom taken seriously. It is often treated with gingerly solemnity, but that is what honest writers call frivolous treatment. Not Herod, not Caiaphas, not Pilate, not Judas ever contrived to fasten upon Jesus the reproach of insipidity; that final indignity was left for pious hands to inflict. To make of His story something that could neither startle, nor shock, nor terrify, nor excite, nor inspire a living soul, is to crucify the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame. Let me tell you, good Christian people, an honest writer would be ashamed to treat a nursery tale as you have treated the greatest drama in history; and this in virtue, not of his faith, but of his calling. You have forgotten…it is…the only thing that has ever really happened.”
It may be unusual to quote so extensively from another, but I am delighted to do so and would if I could have quoted more. I commend the whole book to every serious Bible student. It has its defects; what human writing hasn’t? It is one of two books on the life of the Lord Jesus which have moved me more than any others. The other is “The Life of Jesus” by Fulton Sheer. Both have the same virtue: they make the gospel narratives LIVE.
We are reading the Gospels again concurrently with the appearance of this issue of ‘Bible Student’ and this is the final article in my series of contributions. What would I leave you with?
There is a remarkably terse and penetrating observation about the antediluvians in Genesis 6:5:
“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
Here we have associated EFFECT and CAUSE. Man was wicked, not because he was unable to be otherwise, but because of the wrong use of his imagination, “the thoughts of his heart”. James wrote: Death is the result of sin which is the result of entanglement in wrong desires; or, wrong use of the imagination leads to sin and sin has death as its end (James 1:14,15).
The Lord himself said that wrong action (sin) arises in the heart of man; or again, wrong imagination leads to wrong action; ‘thinking’ sin leads to ‘acting’ sin. Eve saw the tree as good for food – but it wasn’t for her at that moment. This was a wrong use of her imagination at that moment. She saw it as pleasant to the eyes, but this too was a deception of her imagination.
She saw it was a tree to be desired to make one wise – but this too was an illusion of her imagination. Perhaps in her imagination she transferred the effect of eating the forbidden fruit from the serpent to herself. Had she seen the serpent eat of it unharmed because the ban was only on Adam and herself? Could not the serpent actually speak since eating, making him more subtil than any beast of the field?
There is no harm in thinking – you can’t stop thinking, but you need not encourage the continuation of thoughts and then become entangled in them. It was a matter Of unavoidable observation of facts – the tree was apparently good for food, for somebody at some time; it apparently had the power to make somebody wise at some time. BUT the entanglement came when Eve identified herself with the serpent and actually went on to eat.
The Lord Jesus knew that he had received power from on high forty days previously. Now he was hungry. Hunger and the knowledge of latent power motivated his imagination. He could have dwelt in the enjoyment of his imagination of what the stones-made-bread might taste like. (They would be certain to be good for food.) But that way led to entanglement and would have brought him nearer to action. STOP! SWITCH OFF THE IMAGINATION – think of some antidote – “Man shall not live by bread alone…” End of imagination, no entanglement, no sin.
It would be pleasant to the eyes to see the reaction of the crowd as he impressed them by plunging unharmed from a pinnacle of the temple as a an introduction to his mission. Imagination could create the scene in which God would protect him – but that way led to entanglement and action. STOP! SWITCH OFF THE IMAGINATION – think of some antidote – “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God…” End of imagination – no entanglement – no sin.
Wouldn’t it be wiser to bypass the Cross and claim the hereditary crown? The height of imagination could conjure up all the Kingdoms of the World and their glory in a moment of time. But in a moment of time one could become entangled in a natural desire to escape pain, anguish, rejection – so STOP! SWITCH OFF THE IMAGINATION – think of some antidote – “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only…” End of imagination – no entanglement – no sin.
Phew! Imagination is a powerful force. No wonder James said one could be entangled in it. Eve did; the antediluvians did; the Lord Jesus did not But because there is a WRONG use of imagination, it doesn’t mean there isn’t a RIGHT use.
“Mum”, said Cain and Abel, “Why do you and father wear those clothes made of skins when you go to see God at that great light by the gate of Eden? “Well, sons”, replied Eve, “You’ll have to use your imagination to think of what life used to be like and will be like again some day, please God, if we listen to the voice of God…”
“Imagine, friends, the speaker said, “if we build a tower high enough, we can storm the very battlements of heaven – we might even get to the moon…”
“We’ve had a visitor”, she said, “an angel, I think.” Then later Manoah was foolishly afraid after the angel had been a second time with news of Samson’s birth. “We shall die”, he said, “because we have seen one of the Elohim.”
“Don’t be stupid”, his wise wife said, “Use your imagination – if God was going to kill us why would He have sent the message about the child and accepted our meal?”
Sadducee: “Rabbi, can I ask a question?”
Jesus: “Certainly.”Sadducee: “Could you oblige us with your views about everlasting life?”I am a Sadducee.
“Rude Voice:”Then you’re a cursed heretic!” (Booing and laughter)
Sadducee: “I don’t believe in the resurrection. Rude Voice. “Cheer up, matey! That won’t stop it happening!”
Sadducee: “Rabbi, Moses laid down that if a man should die without issue, his brother should take his wife and raise a family by her so as to keep his brother’s name alive. Well now—there were seven brothers and the eldest died without children. So his wife was married to the second and the Same thing happened. And so with the third brother and the fourth…”
Rude Voice:”Try, try, try again” (Laughter from the crowd).
Sadducee: “…right on down to the seventh. None of them had any children. Last of all the woman died also.”Rude Voice:”And high time too!” (Laughter) Sadducee: “Isn’t it going to be rather awkward at the resurrection? She belonged to all seven of them. Who gets the girl in the end?” Voices from crowd: “That’s a good one! Answer that!” (Shrieks of laughter and catcalls)
(Extract from ‘Man Born to be King’ by Dorothy L. Sayers)
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband…” (Revelation 21:1 & 2).
What motivates YOUR imagination? That’s NOT the important question; it shifts the responsibility from yourself to outside stimuli.
The question to ask – and answer – is, How do you use you Imagination? As a substitute for sinning? Then remember the warning of the Lord Jesus; as an area in which legitimate thoughts may be developed, explored, and preparation made for Action?
“Finally, brethren (and sisters), whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things… and the God of peace shall be with you” (Phil.4:3 & 9).
Reflections on the Potter and the Clay