The Dark Glass » Judgment Day http://www.thedarkglass.net Trying to nail down the shifting signifiers Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:00:54 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 A Deeply Embedded Mystery http://www.thedarkglass.net/2011/11/22/a-deeply-embedded-mystery/ http://www.thedarkglass.net/2011/11/22/a-deeply-embedded-mystery/#comments Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:21:28 +0000 Anthony Velez http://www.thedarkglass.net/?p=1586 As humans we are beings in becoming, and what we will be is not yet revealed. Human essence is an eschatological reality that is fully realized in Jesus Christ, and is called forth in each one of us through him in whom humanity is fully realized. It is for this reason that human nature is notoriously difficult to define and profoundly amenable toward representation through a diversity of theoretical models. Being creatures whose essence is dynamic and inchoate we can be pressed into a variety of often competing models for rendering humanity intelligible. We are animals, the latest in a long line of evolutionary development; we are consumers, an economic being whose behavior collectively and individually can be predicted with an eye on market forces; we are social creatures constituted by institutional forces; we are angels fallen into flesh longing for transcendence and frustrated by physical limitations. What can’t be said about humankind? Certainly we are a mystery. But, we are a mystery deeply embedded in the mystery of Jesus Christ, who, as the first fruit of an eschatological harvest, has through resurrection power the authority to finally determine who we are and what we ought to be. In an essential way the final judgment is happening now in that we either find ourselves in his calling, or we utterly miss ourselves by turning a deaf ear to the call.

]]> http://www.thedarkglass.net/2011/11/22/a-deeply-embedded-mystery/feed/ 4 A Panel of Three and A Song http://www.thedarkglass.net/2009/11/24/a-panel-of-three-and-a-song/ http://www.thedarkglass.net/2009/11/24/a-panel-of-three-and-a-song/#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:30:53 +0000 Anthony Velez http://www.thedarkglass.net/?p=765 I am obsessed with judgment day, particularly as it is understood within the Christian Tradition, however, my obsession leads me to imagine multiple variations on a theme, of which I thought I would share one with you in this post. So here it goes.

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It is the end of the age, and I am standing, along with all of humanity from all time and all places, in an incredibly long, single-file line, a line a thousand times longer than all the lines for Star Wars in 1977. This line leads to the throne room where I know I will stand before God, all by myself, to receive the judgment that will determine my eternal fate.

As the line slowly moves forward, I review my life trying to anticipate what God’s response will be. As it turns out, in the afterlife the passage of time is meaningless, which is to say that though the line was very long, it wasn’t long before I was hailed to stand before God. When I get there, however, I am surprised to find a panel of three judges, one whom is Jesus, and the other two are apostles, one on his left and the other on his right. As I prepare to step forward, I am told to sing, which seems odd, but then I am further told that the quality of my voice will be an exact expression of the moral and spiritual quality of my life on Earth. At this moment I am thinking of those sad and self-deluded contestants on American Idol who stand before Randy, Paula, and Simon thinking they got talent, but who are about to be rudely awakened.

God have mercy!

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