Sermon On An Abyss Of Misunderstandings

Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, and American wife of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex once remarked: "You make a choice: continue living your life feeling muddled in this abyss of self-misunderstanding, or you find your identity independent of it. You draw your own box." Proverbs 14:29 reminds us: “Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.”

An abyss of misunderstandings describes a state of pervasive and profound miscommunication, where differing mental models, biases, assumptions, and a lack of shared understanding create deep, potentially unbridgeable deviations from the truth, leading to continuous or escalating misinterpretations of intentions and realities. The "abyss" metaphor highlights the seemingly endless, bottomless nature of such misunderstandings, where every attempt to bridge the gap can reveal another layer of confusion and distance.

"The Box" is considered a metaphor for the confinement of conventional thinking, social norms, and past experiences that can restrict one's perception and approach to life and problem-solving. Living "in the box" means adhering to traditional boundaries, while "thinking outside the box" involves a creative, imaginative or unconventional approach that challenges these constraints. Misunderstanding is a copious and common wrongful perception in life. It is defined as a failure to understand something correctly. Misconception fails in its correct interpretation of given facts or information, and as such, its subsequent decisions may adversely impact a sound reasoning or learning in life. Its abyss may be considered deeper than any immeasurable chasm or void. If one either accidentally or purposefully delves into its invitational pit, the consequences can sometimes be not only disturbing, but disastrous.

Perhaps one of the most controversial or ambiguous theories of some, that appear to be consistently debated, and seldom agreed upon by those in doubt or lacking faith is the actual accuracy of the formation of the world and who created it. Major disagreements on the topic of creation stem from conflicting interpretations of religious texts and the conflict between those accounts and scientific evidence. The core areas of dispute include the timeline and mechanics of creation, the interpretation of the Genesis narrative, and the relationship between faith and scientific discovery.

Creationists and evolutionists differ so greatly in their opinions and reasoning, that the extent of this cosmological argument can sometimes detract, or induce doubt as to the attestation of God. Supposition may hold its rightful place in life to enhance elements of theory, but it is not proof, or fact by itself. Genesis 2:1-9 reminds us: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up - for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground - then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

Christians, in their illimitable faith, retain little doubt that the creation of the universe was performed by God. God is an immeasurable figure with powers greater than anything else possible. He has unlimited faculty and authority over the universe and everything within it. Ephesians 1:15-23 reminds us: “For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”