Why is it that we are so small as to recognize the Trinity in nature in the form of plants, states of matter, among other things, but we
cannot bring ourselves to recognize the five wounds of Christ, or the five
senses?
We are quick to say that "sevens and threes" are "holy"
numbers, but we fail to see that if God did make this universe, then not just
the sevens and the threes are holy, but all the numbers are? The fact that Holy
Writ points out instances where sevens and threes are of note does not make the
twos and the fives any less meaningful or holy, it just means that they have
another divine, holy purpose. God told Noah to take two of every kind of animal, but to take seven of every "clean." This doesn't have to mean that the "unclean" animals (the ones gathered in pairs) were evil, they just had a different divine purpose.We are so quick to label His Creation as, "this is holy and that is not," but we have no place to do so. God declared creation "very good," and though fallen, creation is still a shadow of that goodness.
We do live in a fallen world. However, it is man's sin that
makes it so, not nature's existence. Any unpleasantness in nature is a result
of man's doing, and not nature's. We, humanity, need to own up to that fact.
Symbols, and the meanings behind them, are transient. The Greek Alphabet has little meaning to the common man today beyond symbolizing what fraternity or sorority you belong to. Egyptian hieroglyphs have even less meaning. The common man has no idea what those symbols meant to the Egyptian, but we do know that a hieroglyph depicting a bird looks like a bird. The symbol's meaning has lost value over time.
In the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the pentagram, or pentacle, was used as a symbol of Solomon, giving power over demons, and of infinity, fidelity, among many other virtues. Today, many Christians ironically balk at the pentacle's presence, since the symbol is used by some pagan groups.We have lost sight of the very notion that the pentacle, a geometric shape present in many naturally occurring things, like the apple pictured, has no inherent evil. It isn't a demon. It isn't a devil. It isn't a bodily manifestation of Satan himself. It is a work of nature; a nature that was designed by a Holy God, and while fallen, the inherent sin is not in existence, but in death and decay. The Bible says when Adam sinned, death came into the world, not pentacles, not spiders, not the color black. All of those things were present in a very good Creation. While death and decay will fall to apples, and the paper or metal that pentacles are drawn or fashioned from will decay, the symbols themselves are not created evil. It's how man uses them that makes a difference.
The cross was in existence long before Jesus Christ Himself long before our Lord was nailed to it. And mankind ascribed many different meanings to it. But after the Messiah was crucified, the cross slowly became a symbol of Christianity. In fact, most people today see the Cross as a Christian symbol, and so do most Christians. Why can't we do the same with the rest of Creation? As the Psalmist says in Psalm 24, "The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein. For He hath founded it upon the seas." In short, God made it, it's His. The rest of the Psalm goes on to call on all nature to give God praise, for as the Creator, He's earned it.
Why can't we do the same instead of constantly finding symbols and styles of art to rant at each other about? A pentagram is not a symbol of evil unless by man's actions he makes it associated with evil, and even then, that five-pointed star is made by God. It's not mine to let fall by the wayside. My God made it. He cared enough to speak its beauty into existence, I should care enough to not allow it to be perverted by a pagan. A cross is not a symbol of Christ's death and redemption unless man makes a conscious decision to allow it to represent that. The earth is our Lord's, live like it. Don't just shove a symbol in a box labeled evil because it gives you the willies or you don't care for it. It's beautiful in His eyes.
