The two images above are photographs of the sun at sunset from a west window in my home. It was a beautiful sunset, but the sun looks much different than it actually is due to the slow growth of transparent ice on top of my transparent window. The coolness of the weather, coupled with a little moisture inside this double paned window, led to the gradual deposition of a thin layer of ice – hoar frost – whose natural irregularities in form acted like dozens of small lenses. The result is beautiful, intricate, ordered, coherent in theme and structure, and very satisfying – but it actually obscures the real view and confounds the singular beauty of the sun, replacing its image with a hundred scattered, lesser sparkles of light.

The gradual growth of ice into fine, organized, systematic structures on the foundation of the window is much like the many additions of human philosophy on the foundation of Christ’s original church and Gospel. The result may be intricate and satisfying to the mind and certainly preserves some of the glorious light from the source, but much has been lost, scattered, confounded, or entirely obscured. The original glory of the Son has been refracted and diluted by human constructs.

When the heat of revelation returns, human philosophy melts away and our views of life and religion are restored, refreshed, and made much brighter than before. And yes, in spite of the grandeur of the Restoration, we still have only a partial view. Human philosophy and error must certainly be present yet in our thoughts and interpretations, and we wait for much more to be revealed and clarified in the future.