Photo by Ove Tøpfer; from Stock Xchange
A few thoughts about what we believe:
- There is something that we believe which we are in error about. Something that we are fairly convinced of. We’re pretty sure that we’re right, but we’re wrong. No, I don’t know what it is. If I did, I wouldn’t believe it anymore, would I? :-)
- There is something that we are right about that godly, sincere men disagree with us on. It’s not because they don’t believe the Bible. It’s not because they are willfully disobeying God. Despite their sincerity and their piety, they are in error. Like us on #1.
- Neither of the above statements means that there is no absolute truth. It merely means that we humans aren’t capable of perfection, even in our belief systems.
- If we are really studying and growing, there will be something that we now believe that we will no longer hold to ten years from now. If we don’t grow in our understanding of God, His Word and His will, then I don’t see how we can be maturing spiritually.
- There is no entrance exam for getting into heaven.
All of this calls for large doses of humility, to be administered on a frequent basis. And if you’re like me, you probably need a double dose. I know I do.
At least a triple shot, daily (hourly)… :-) I’ve been pondering, struggling, and trying to sort this out for some time now. The Word is “living and active”…so says the Hebrews writer. The Holy Spirit should be able to use that message to train us to be the spiritual people that our Lord wants for us to be. Believers’ fixation on “using” the teaching found in the Word in order to argue and defend instead of yielding to it in order to be transformed is what keeps us from maturing to be whom we need to be…for Him. It is possible to be “so right,” that for all practical, spiritual and social purposes…we are wrong. Our understanding, righteousness is not, cannot be and never was the standard…but it has to be our connection to Jesus’ understanding…it is His righteousness that is going to make the difference for us. Blessings.
When I was growing up, I thought there were many absolute truths, why? Because my parents told me. When I would attend church, the pastor told me, when I went to school, my teachers told me. Then I became a man. As I approach the age of 60, one thing I have discovered,
if man has anything to do with the experiences I have had, there are no absolute truths. By this I mean that if man can manipulate something for gain, he will. No I don’t believe the bible is the inherent word of truth.
Man has tweeked the book and that is why we have so many versions, so many denominations and so many arguments. One thing we can say for sure, is that the creator is a loving and just God. He has fixed the problem thru Christ Jesus and that in my opinion is the only absolute we have or need.
H.B.,
I don’t share your pessimism about the Bible. I don’t believe that what people have taught based on it is due to any inherent flaw in the Bible itself. Personally, I have a high degree of confidence in the Bible as the Word of God.
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
“There are no absolute truths.”
“…that in my opinion is the only absolute we have or need.”
kinda like, “Only Sith Lords deal in absolutes.” :)
PS – Tim, sometimes your gift with words makes me sick! I mean that as a great compliment. I wish I’d written this. I wish every Christian on earth would read this.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, for giving Tim vision and language and the ability to make a point without breaking the audience.
If anyone doubts what you wrote, I would tell them to spend some time with Christians from other traditions/fellowships. One of the greatest blessings God has given me in terms of Bible-study (among other things) was a “pastors” meeting that was comprised of myself and about ten other pastors from churches within the free-church/non-denominational background. They all came from different theological spectrums including Pentecostal, Reformed, Evangelical, and even another from the Restoration Movement. We obviously did not always agree on what the scriptures taught but I learned in a much deeper and personal way what I knew before: that we all loved the Lord deeply, were committed to his Gospel and mission, and wanted to please God in our own living despite our many follies.
And as a side note….myself and one of the other local pastors were both serving churches on a very small salary and neither of us had the money to travel to our families (parents, grand-parents, etc…) ovr the hollidays. Some how, these other pastors found out and approached their churches about helping us. We both were given a check of $1,000 to help with travel and other expenses during the Christmas season. This charity of course was the same charity that allowed their churches to help support the high school coffee house ministry that our Church of Christ ran (our building was next to the high-school).
We won’t always agree with everyone over what some particular scriptures say but let’s not confuse that disagreement for a lack of love and devotion to God and his mission.
Grace and peace,
Rex
Very good post. Simple, straightforward and correct…unless that’s something I’m wrong about. ;-)
As for the comments regarding absolute truth: Of course there’s absolute truth. The average temperature of the sun is in the ~15.7×106 K range, for instance. If “range” is too wishy-washy for you, I submit that the imperfection in the temperature reading comes from our inability to directly measure the temperature of our sun’s core, rather than from it lacking a core temperature. In other words, there is an objective reality that exists, one that is filtered through our limited perception and understanding. Truth is absolute and objective, though sometimes more or less difficult to ascertain.
What Nick said in his P.S. Amen. Your writing is a great gift. Keep it up.
Tim my brother!
Tim, I have “ALWAYS” believed exactly what I know.
I have never questioned what I know and I prefer no one else question what I know as well!
My mind is made up, I have “arrived” in the Body of Christ
because I was told that “WE” have arrived!
How else can one restore perfection in the church as “WE”
have done and “WE” did it just for God and He should appreciate “US” because no one else can do what we have done!
Surely you could not even begin to question what we have “RESTORED” perfect and presented to God?
While “IT” may not equal His perfect gift to “US” but it’s pretty dang close I tell you. Pretty close!
Love it Bro! Gonna post it!
Wow, the Post was great. Very truthful. And the comments and stories to follow are inspiring and thought provoking.
I often think that God makes things so difficult so the wise man realizes that his search for truth, his beliefs and wisdom can only be found in God. And that is where I choose to hold.
Interesting comments, to be sure. I have always said “Your perception is your reality” So many times we see things and believe in things only to be disappointed. Looking at scripture and believing that it is God’s word is one thing. Interpretation of that scripture is where man has problems.
If we all have the same book, why is it that we have so many differences of opinion? When we say we need to be Chrislike, does that mean, we expect to do what Christ did, the Son of God? Can we raise people from he dead, walk on water, feed 5000 with a few loaves of bread and a few fish? We know the answers, don’t we.
What speaks to me from the Bible is not necessarily words on the page but the essence of the words on the page. Love speaks to me and that to me is the essence of what he came for. When we look at ourselves from a position of introspection, do we see love? What do you see in yourself? As we look at the weekend, the celebration of Easter we are reminded this one thing We, love Christ because he first loved us.
I understand what you are saying, heavenbound…we often do not see the forest for the trees as it relates to “what God is wanting to accomplish” through His Word. We spend so much time on the details, that we miss the concepts…and “love” is one giant concept that gets easily dismissed or reduced when we are too detail oriented.
Truth, to my understanding, is…in reality and practicality…both objective and subjective. There are some “non-negotiable” truths found in the Word of God (being of God, Lordship of Christ, new birth, etc) that we must heed (and are still subject to our own interpretation, to a degree), but it seems that most of our discussions and disagreements center around the many “negotiables”…those issues that we discern more so “subjectively” (how we interpret the minutiae and “what it means to me”) — keeps life interesting… :-)
Don: Good points to ponder on, well said.
The idea that truth is determined in community through dialogue comes from Plato through Gadamer. In our closed community we have obviously come up with a different “truth” that the closed Baptist community across the street and other closed communities down the road. As we extend the boundaries to encompass a larger community in the dialogue, we all will have opportunities to laugh at ourselves, shake our heads and grow in truth.