Back in the 1600s, the English prophet and Quaker founder, George Fox, was considered heretical by mainstream Puritans becuse he taught that Christ is present today as Teacher. Puritans believed that since He ascended to the Father, Christ remained distant and would remain in Heaven until the Second Coming. Fox had no argument with them re Christ ascending to the Father (which he stated several times as an article of belief) but he did not draw the conclusion that Christ remained distant. His belief that Christ is with us as our Teacher was not a theological dogma for Fox; it was his personal experience - frequently.
Paul stated (Eph.4:10) that Christ ascended above all heavens and, because of this ,He filled the universe. This apparnt paradox appears to justify Fox's belief, but it still seems self-contradictory.
Let's look at a little fairy story which, I believe, solves the pardox by analogy.
This is the story of Flatland. Imagine two dimensional (flat) creatures living on a sheet of paper, For such beings, a line would be a barrier and a square drawn on the paper would mark out a section of space forever denied those outside the square. Those within th square would know nothing of the flat world beyond.
Now, imagine that one of the Flatlanders ascended into the space above the paper sheet. It would see (all at one) all of Flatland - even that section within the square. It could comminicate with all Flatlanders, and all Flatlanders could comminicate with it. But the concept of 3D space would be incomprehensible to a Flatlander's (flat!) brain. Words like "above" and "below" would be meaningless. So the voice of the ascended Flatlander would be interpreted as comig from "within" the mind of the Flatlanders. It would be an inner voice, even though it originated "above" the Flatlander's world.
See the similarity?
I am not necessarily saying the Christ ascended to a higher dimension. I do not know and will not speculate, but I hope that the analogy gives us some idea of how He can be above all heavens and yet, be the Teacher who is always with us, as Fox preached.
Paul stated (Eph.4:10) that Christ ascended above all heavens and, because of this ,He filled the universe. This apparnt paradox appears to justify Fox's belief, but it still seems self-contradictory.
Let's look at a little fairy story which, I believe, solves the pardox by analogy.
This is the story of Flatland. Imagine two dimensional (flat) creatures living on a sheet of paper, For such beings, a line would be a barrier and a square drawn on the paper would mark out a section of space forever denied those outside the square. Those within th square would know nothing of the flat world beyond.
Now, imagine that one of the Flatlanders ascended into the space above the paper sheet. It would see (all at one) all of Flatland - even that section within the square. It could comminicate with all Flatlanders, and all Flatlanders could comminicate with it. But the concept of 3D space would be incomprehensible to a Flatlander's (flat!) brain. Words like "above" and "below" would be meaningless. So the voice of the ascended Flatlander would be interpreted as comig from "within" the mind of the Flatlanders. It would be an inner voice, even though it originated "above" the Flatlander's world.
See the similarity?
I am not necessarily saying the Christ ascended to a higher dimension. I do not know and will not speculate, but I hope that the analogy gives us some idea of how He can be above all heavens and yet, be the Teacher who is always with us, as Fox preached.
