Sarah Jessica Parker, an American actress and television producer once remarked: “I believe in God, but in my own unconventional way. We're not affiliated with any organisation, and I have no religious education of any kind, but I definitely have my own kind of ideas about it.” Luke 4:23-24 reminds us: “And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘“Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.”
Bohemian Rhapsody was a song by the renowned British rock group: “Queen” and released in 1975. Its words could be said to be idiosyncratic of the incongruous comparisons between fantasy and reality. These elements are commonplace and acceptable in life, but vary in degree. Fantasy is often regarded in the form of individual wishful thinking, daydreaming, or perhaps unconventional imaginary thoughts. In contrast, reality appertains to the true facts of life as it stands. Just like ambient music is frequently in opposition with vibrant pop or jazz sounds, each are considered beneficial in their own way.
Both have significant or individualistic temperaments that are best suited to a certain flavor. The first being ideal for relaxing dinner parties, to aid conversation and the enjoyment of the meal in general, the latter for spirited parties of festivity and dancing. However, the two need to remain separate, or distinctive from each other to lead a normal life. If fantasy tends to rule over reality, trauma may become predominant in mind which can affect behavioral structures and characteristics.
Proverbs 5:1-23 reminds us: “My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding, that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge. For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.
And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless, lest strangers take their fill of your strength, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner, and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed, and you say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors. I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation.”
Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well. Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets? Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.
Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress? For a man's ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his paths. The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin. He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray.”
Unconventional thinking by some can also be related to the main identity of God. Christians predominantly believe that His primary role is to aid fellowship, discipleship and reward in worship. His stature is seen in love, care and guidance in our daily lives. Job 42:2-6 reminds us: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Doubters may not believe in God, except by sight. To them, the overwhelming evidence presented does not, in itself, confirm an existence. This could be entangled in the commotion of a landslide of reality, where confusion abounds and the only possible feasible escape is fantasy. Thus a misplaced Bohemian Rhapsody is born.
A Bohemian Rhapsody may reflect the complexities of life, but could deter the true identity of oneself from being found, as it does not furnish the wisdom of who one really is in life. Without identity, life can be meaningless and truth may not exist as it should. Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician and physicist once remarked: "One must know oneself. If this does not serve to discover truth, it at least serves as a rule of life, and there is nothing better." Romans 7:15-24 confirms: “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
The struggles of life, whether they be considered fantasy or reality are forever with us. Its expanded circle may predominantly encompass reality, but does allow for an element of fantasy to function within it. However, to live a life of reward and satisfaction, our only real hope is to remain in focus and be alive in Christ. Colossians 2:1-15 reminds us: “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”
Amen.
