THE IDEAL AND THE COMPROMISE

A question that has kept boggling my mind for some time now, reads: are there rigid ways to finding God? Are there spelt-out paths to finding peace of mind and consequently eternal life? Very vehemently, I would like to answer in the negative. An emphatic NO. In the gospel of John, Christ conspicuously states: I am the way, the truth and the life. Have we ever asked: what way, what truth, what kind of life? In answering these questions, Christ himself states quite clearly; I am the only one way that leads to the father. From all pointers, he is the way that leads to the truth and life which is God. What we have endeavoured to clarify so far is that Christ is a way. What way? The true and enduring way that leads to God the Father. Consequently, he is the Ideal. The ideal to God, to enduring peace. The question which remains unanswered therefore is: since there is no one way of getting to Christ as we have previously answered, from where Christ can then lead us to God, does the very notion of compromise exist in Christ. Put differently, given that the path-way from Christ to God the Father is one, namely Christ himself, does the road from man to Christ accommodate a truce?

Think about it; if there is a system put in place by God which reads: to get to me (The Father), my son (Christ) is the only valid map, what way or trail are we to ply to get to Christ himself if no prior direction is given? Due to this confusion, is everyway as good as the other inasmuch as it leads to Christ? Does the end not justify the means in this sphere? Is every interpretation of Christ’s mind acceptable? Who is to legislate over such uncertain situations? Whose explanations are to be taken as objective? Those moments we have actually compromised our philosophies of life, who is to blame? The many times we have relaxed the rule of organizations or conventional behaviours and reached out for a truce, have we indeed sinned? Just as these queries appear as heart-throbbing, the answers that must fall-out, must be complicated. 

Earnest thinkers down the ages, in order not to disrespect precedents, and at the same time uphold what they were convinced of as being true, have always reached for a compromise. Descartes, at the rise of modern science, although deeply appreciated the prodigies of the new science, would not adopt its teachings wholesale. So that in order to be faithful to his Christian background, he would posit God as the guarantor of the cogito which stood as the foundation for indubitable knowledge. Clearly, he made out for a compromise. One that would support the validity of God. The end result of this critical move was to secure that science could exist without jettisoning the importance of God. Kant, at the point of investigating the nature of man, together with what he can know, confessed saying; “I had to deny knowledge, in order to make room for faith, and the dogmatism of Metaphysics…”

In fact, because we are different individuals, our response to God differs. Murray Bodo captures this quite clearly when he says that “the house of God you build or restore depends on who you are.” When we sincerely compromise, we only seek to accommodate our human nature within the wider sphere of our eternal destination which is God. Given that genuine compromise to the best of my understanding, involves the struggle of making the most of a difficult and ugly situation.  The key point at stake here is: can the demands of the gospel be compromised while simultaneously keeping to the mind of God, in other words, not offending God? When the chips are down in our life, when the world loses its savour, flavour and splendour, are the very moments when compromises are required of us. 

The supreme test of faith begins at the moment when we courageously begin an inner journey. A journey whose end is opaque and bleak, but which nonetheless, we are convinced of with the strength of reason and the eyes of faith. The core here is that no one-single event constitutes the transformation of humans. The deep and continuous struggles of various phenomenal happenings are what cumulatively effect a change. Sometimes all it takes is a spark, something very small, but the spark becomes a flame,  and if that flame spreads, the power can be so overwhelming and transforms everything around it.

Friar Emmanuel Igboekwulusi, OFM Cap

Leave your comments in the comment section below 👇

To follow me on Facebook click Here