Search
Search
News
Multimedia
Sports
Arts & Culture
Opinion
Subscribe
Life & Times
Fine Arts
Features
Send a News Tip
100 Years
Archive
Advertise
Donate

Subscribeto The Echo

The Echo

Friday, December 1, 2023 Print Edition

Donate

  • News
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Arts & Culture
  • Life & Times
  • Features
  • Fine Arts
  • Multimedia
  • Archive
  • 100 Years
  • Advertise
  • Send a Tip
  • News
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Arts & Culture
  • Life & Times
  • Features
  • Fine Arts
  • Multimedia
  • Archive
  • 100 Years
  • Advertise
  • Send a News Tip
Search

Subscribe

Subscribe to The Echo

The Echo aims to represent the views of diverse voices on Taylor University's campus fairly and without bias and to be a vehicle of accurate and pertinent information to the student body. The Echo also aims to be a forum that fosters healthy discussion about relevant issues, acting as a catalyst for change on our campus.

Fill out my online form.

2/22/2021, 7:00am

Modern Solutions Required

Diamonds are forever but so is eternity

By Katie Pfotzer
Modern Solutions Required
Diamond rings bring an analogy to life

Share

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Mail
  • Print

I remember when I was in sixth grade, my English teacher illustrated the word “multifaceted,” a word which describes something complex, as a diamond with many sides. I think it was the way he described this word that made me remember it. His eyes were wide enough to seem crazy and  his usually calm voice rose as he looked on his crowd of 11- and 12-year-olds trying to convey his message, that if you spend your life only looking at one side of the diamond, you miss out on so much of its beauty. 

I am not sure that I understood the importance of that lesson as I drew my best rendering of a three dimensional diamond next to the bolded word in my vocab workbook, but I remembered what it meant. 

When I first learned the word, I had never really seen many diamonds. My family did not grow up walking through jewelry showrooms with expensive necklaces pressed against dark velvet. The only diamond I saw was my mother’s wedding ring. She never took it off. She would wash dishes with her ring on, scattering light and water droplets until the kitchen was coated. 

The idea of the multifaceted is especially resonant when I brush up against a complicated social issue or a challenging passage of scripture. 

This is particularly true for my favorite story in the Bible in John 8:1-11, which encompasses both aspects of social and scriptural complexity. In this passage, the Pharisees bring a woman caught in adultery before Jesus in order to prompt him to condone her stoning as atonement for her sin. Jesus says nothing and writes in the dirt. The Pharisees leave, the oldest first and then the younger until there is no one left. Then Jesus asks the woman if anyone stands there to accuse her. She answers “No one, Lord,” and Jesus tells her to go and sin no more. 

What I like about this passage is the sheer amount of nuance to unpack. First of all, what is the theme? Is it mercy? The forgiveness of God? Is it about wisdom since the oldest Pharisees left first? Is it a condemnation of the abuse of power in the church? Is this a feminist passage? Or can this be read as a foreshadowing of the new covenant that would be sealed with Christ’s death and resurrection?

This passage cannot be laid flat and neat with a small white card defining it in a simple word. It must be picked up and examined and held up to the light. The prism must be allowed to cover the reader with the colors of its iridescent promise. 

This process, of examining critical issues from multiple perspectives, is one that takes strength. It is easier to label complex subjects as black or white. It takes courage to approach the world in all its color. It takes courage to lift the diamond up and examine it. 

I am not sure that any reasonable person would argue against seeking out the nuance of grace. And yet, all of us find ourselves at one point or another standing in that crowd of Pharisees, staring at our savior with his eyes averted to the earth. 

I often revisit that memory of my sixth grade vocab lesson and when I do, I think I gain a little more grace to understand my English teacher. There is beauty in simplicity. There are times to call a spade a spade, but as Canadian author Miriam Teows observed, “What happens when a spade is not a spade?” 

Maybe that spade is really just a gardening implement or maybe it is something all the more valuable. The unexamined life is one that allows this potential treasure to rot when all it would take to see its value is to pick it up and wonder. 



Share



Related Stories

Senior Page McNinch arranged the proposal to take place in their favorite spot as a couple, with her roommate, Paula Todhunter, taking photos.

‘He said yes!’

By Holly Gaskill

Senior Tucker White played Major Metcalf in “The Mousetrap” by Agatha Christie last Spring.

A troupe to call his own: community in theatre

Women’s cross country finished 3rd of 8 Friday

Cross Country hosts Bullock Invitational

By Nathaniel Boer


Most Popular


11/21/2023, 12:00am

Women's basketball plays for an "audience of one"

By Mallory Dotson

Trojans adapt to tough early season schedule


11/6/2023, 12:00am

FAFSA is delayed as changes are made


11/13/2023, 12:00am

Student contestants swim with the sharks, compete for up to $5,000


11/15/2023, 12:00am

The face behind the business: Goodness Grace Design


The Echo To Homepage
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Covers
  • Awards
  • Get Involved

All Rights Reserved

© Copyright 2023 The Echo

Powered by
Solutions by The State News.

Taylor University