Ben Pearce: Landscapes of the Sacred 1 Post 2

Commentary on Axioms

(Landscapes of the Sacred)

A Post on Chapter 1: Axioms for the Study of Sacred Place

            This post will examine and give an opinion on the four axioms given on page 19 of Landscapes of the Sacred by Belden C. Lane.

Axiom 1: A sacred place is not chosen, it chooses

            This first axiom is right on a few levels but wrong on wording. A sacred place cannot become sacred without something sacred first happening there. It would be like a memorial signifying no event. I would suggest that the required sacred event would have to be of an act of God. He would have to reach down and mark this place with a seal, like the telling of a prophecy, the site of a miracle, or a place he leads his chosen people. The author later clarifies that this is the meaning when he says, “God chooses to reveal himself only where he wills”. Therefore, a better phrasing of the axiom is, a sacred place is not chosen by man, God chooses it himself.

Axiom 2: A sacred place is an ordinary place, ritually made extraordinary

            This second axiom is correct and builds off of the previous axiom. Any place that has been marked by God as holy is only a normal space of creation that God has chosen to sanctify. Any location that can be thought of as holy, like Jerusalem, Golgotha, or Tel Megiddo, was once a normal place with equal value to every other part of creation. God refers to specific places being holy only a few times in the Scripture (Exodus 3:5; Joshua 5:15; Acts 7:33). Each time, the land was claimed holy by God because his presence was there. We can assume from these few times that this is the qualification for a space to be sacred. Golgotha is where God was crucified, and Tel Megiddo is where he will come back to do the Will of the Father.

Axiom 3: A sacred place can be tred upon without being entered
            There is a certain spiritual enhancement to visiting sacred places. I agree to a point with this axiom. While visiting a sacred place, we may not realize the significance of the ground we are standing on. We could be standing upon the very ground that Christ Jesus was crucified on, and we may not even realize it. I feel like this is true in a general historical sense, however. We may be on the site of a great battle but not realize what happened there. If that is what the axiom is saying, then I agree. I do reject that there is a special outpouring of grace for anyone who visits a religious site. If we believe this, then the Gospel of Jesus Christ of justification by faith has been overtaken in our minds with a False Gospel that says that our journeys and deeds give us favor with God. The Scriptures say the very opposite, in fact (Romans 5:1). 

Axiom 4: The impulse of a sacred place is both centripetal and centrifugal, local and universal
            This axiom sums up all the others rather nicely. A sacred place has a special significance to us because we put value in something that has served as God's stage in the world. While this is interesting, it is important to keep in mind what I said in Axiom 3's commentary. We are drawn into these places, but we are also drawn out because we begin to realize that God's presence is not only here but everywhere. God exists at all times in all areas. When we are born again into the Holy Spirit of God, we are given a priest-like function. We have direct access to God without a need for someone else to talk to him for us besides Jesus Christ who, being fully God and fully man, intercedes on our behalf.