Cheshire Cat Theology ~ All Mad Here

Greetings Dear Reader,

With increasing speed, we seem to create broad generalizations based on an insufficient subset of facts.  We then package and label what we have generalized into classes and groups.  Depending on our own packaging, we find that some groups are intolerable and some we even label as mad.

In case I am causing confusion, I refer to mad as in seeming insanity, not anger.  Anger exists in spades but is not the focus here.  Recently, at a restaurant, I heard a man telling his sons, “If you encounter any Christians, move away.  They are all fools.  They believe in a sky wizard who grants wishes if you hate enough people who do things that he calls wrong.”

I had several choices in that moment.  I thought to offer my thoughts to him and then considered that challenging the man in front of his children would not be loving.  I was with someone else and thought to offer an opposing view to them in way of rebuttal.  This too seemed like an unwise choice.  There is a difference between being unwise and being fools that matters greatly.

I chose instead to engage with my dinner companions and discuss what we had just heard.  I posed this question and it is one with which I wrestle often.  “In what ways should we appear like fools to those who do not follow Christ?”  The discussion led to the conclusion for me that we should appear to be foolish in our love, grace, mercy, kindness, and forgiveness.  Our refusal to be offended should seem like madness.  Our position that the worst of humans is worth the love it takes for him or her to find redemption should make us look like fools.

The tenet of Cheshire Cat Theology is that if we have genuine faith and make love our foundation in all things, we are going to appear to be madness to those who do not believe.  We are also going to appear to be mad to those who are Christian in name only.  To those who do not embrace the love that Christ demands of us, our dedication to that love will seem foolish, arrogant, and superior.  It is exclusive and enveloping all at once.  The love of Christ is the ultimate cosmic contradiction. 

When we employ the love of God to life situations, we will seem like we are mad.   We will offend those who do not believe because genuine love can be both winsome and frightening.  Those who believe may have trouble with it because it shines a light on their own lack of love for others.  I have not reached the state yet where I apply that love as I would do.  I am still learning how to be more loving, Dear Reader.  I am still growing in my madness. You are welcome to join me.  We are all mad here.

God’s Own Fool – Michael Card

Seems I've imagined Him all of my life
As the wisest of all of mankind
But if God's Holy wisdom is foolish to men
He must have seemed out of His mind
For even His family said He was mad
And the priests said a demon's to blame
But God in the form of this angry young man
Could not have seemed perfectly sane

When we in our foolishness thought we were wise
He played the fool and He opened our eyes
When we in our weakness believed we were strong
He became helpless to show we were wrong

And so we follow God's own fool
For only the foolish can tell-
Believe the unbelievable
And come be a fool as well

So, come lose your life for a carpenter's son
or a madman who died for a dream
And you'll have the faith His first followers had
And you'll feel the weight of the beam

So, surrender the hunger to say you must know
Have the courage to say I believe
For the power of paradox opens your eyes
And blinds those who say they can see

When we in our foolishness thought we were wise
He played the fool and He opened our eyes
When we in our weakness believed we were strong
He became helpless to show we were wrong

And so, we follow God's own fool
For only the foolish can tell-
Believe the unbelievable
And come be a fool as well

So, we follow God's own Fool
For only the foolish can tell
Believe the unbelievable,
And come be a fool as well

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a homeowner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Every human story is part of the great story that leads to the Father getting everything back to Good.

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“‘And how do you know that you’re mad?’
‘To begin with,’ said the Cat, ‘a dog’s not mad. You grant that?’
‘I suppose so,’ said Alice.
‘Well then,’ the Cat went on, ‘you see, a dog growls when it’s angry, and wags its tail when it’s pleased. Now I growl when I’m pleased, and wag my tail when I’m angry. Therefore, I’m mad.’” – Lewis Carol