Already but not yet and a theology of bread?

 Since swearing off wheat, I thought cinnamon rolls were the ultimate challenge for gluten free baking, little realizing that it is probably croissants (especially when one cannot eat butter as well).  I've made wheat croissants a time or two but decided they were too putzy for the result, they were good, but eight hours of cooling/folding/repeat was a little ridiculous.  So I tossed them in the bin of things no longer to be enjoyed (alongside cheesy, gooey pizza).  I finally bought some shortening on sale, never having worked with the stuff (and being warned my whole life that just looking at it will kill you) I never really thought about it in light of croissants, mostly I just wanted a real chocolate chip cookie, which I did finally make with the stuff.  But if it works for cookies, why not croissants?  Before you lecture me on the health disasters awaiting me, let me say my liver, thanks to a genetic variation, is already bound and determined to produce cholesterol at twice the normal level and diet and exercise can't even touch it and only lethal doses of statins even make a dent in my numbers, so if I'm going to die of hereditary hypercholesterolemia or statin toxicity anyway, I can do it while gnoshing croissants!

There are dozens of recipes and websites out there offering gluten free recipe ideas that are 'just like real bread.'  I chose this one because it seemed fairly simple, had no weird ingredients I can't afford or tolerate (whey protein) and gave it a go.  The results were interesting (as most gluten free recipes are!).  At first it was more reminiscent of one of those 'crescent rolls' that pretend to be croissants.  Then it was sort of big, flaky biscuity.  But there was something of the real croissant in it as well.  It was like biting into 'real' bread again for the first time or making gluten free chocolate chip cookies that didn't run all over the pan and turn into a gooey mess, it was bread but it wasn't, there was something reminiscent and wonderful in the sensation, but it wasn't quite the original experience.  I did eat three of them, which is something that usually happens with real croissants, so that is something to consider.  It was 'already but not yet.'  Or perhaps 'again but not quite?'

In Christian theology there is a concept of 'already but not yet,' pertaining to many of the Old Testament prophecies and the promises of God, wherein some things have already come to pass, we can enjoy them now, but not everything has been fulfilled, like getting to open one gift the day before Christmas but having to wait for the rest until Christmas morning, we've had a taste of things to come but they are far from complete.  My fake croissants are sort of that way, croissants but not croissants, bread but not bread, a taste, a hint, a hope, but not yet.  Now if only there was a melty, gooey cheese-like experience!  I guess I'll just have to wait.