I had quite a good conversation tonight with a couple friends spanning much of our thoughts on theology and an interesting thought came out of it. What is God's true heart for us? We have spent 2000 years trying to understand God better and understanding truth better. Many of the doctrines we have today are not directly from the scriptures as far as I can tell. Words like trinity and substitutional atonement are not specifically found in the scriptures. They are terms that we use in order to describe what we feel are the truths of scripture. They embody ideas that we can never comprehend fully. While these things are good and we need to always be seeking to know the truth of God more, how focused do we need to be on doctrine? We will have the answers we seek someday.
I do the math and think about spending 70 years seeking truth and then about spending eternity knowing it after those 70 years are up. Should we be content to wait? Is God more interested in being with us than our understanding of doctrine? Is digesting the latest systematic theology going to allow me to follow God more fully? Is it going to help me live my life? The dumbest person in the world is capable of receiving the redemption of our Lord, but not of understanding McGrath's Christian Theology Reader. What compels us to dig deeper once we have chosen to receive Christ's sacrifice? Are we choosing the better portion, or are we working furiously in futile pursuits?
I am certainly not judging anyone's study of theology. I am currently in seminary for the explicit reason of feverishly striving to understand my God better. I am sure He is more interested in my heart than my head, yet I feel foolish not striving to understand as much as I can.
"Whoever does not treceive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” I am quite sure that there are few children concerned with the depths of the trinity.
I am reminded of an analogy that I heard a long time ago. Seeking the truth of God is like standing in a dark room and slowly opening a door to a room lit with the Truth of God. We crack the door open a little and the light of truth shines into our lives. All parts of that light are fully truth. All of the light that shines through is the same light. Opening the door more reveals more light, but it is no more true than the little light that sines in the beginning. When we die we will have that door swung fully open no matter how far God has opened it during the course of our lives. Does that make the quest to open that door further pointless? Or is that precisely the purpose of our lives? The idiot that comprehends little yet enough will know as much as us on that day, but that does not invalidate our pursuits. I think we strive on toward the truth because it is the only thing that makes sense.
We pursue God in order to live life to the full. Sin is sin because it runs contrary to the way God created us to live. It undermines our creation and destroys us. The fruit did not kill adam and eve directly, but choosing to live outside of the way God created them to be did. The better we understand who God is and what He has created us to be, the more we can truly live. I think that is God's desire for us...to live and to live well.
I may have contradicted myself throughout this conversation with myself, but that does not concern me. I hope that as this conversation continues more light will shine. And I hope others will join the conversation, that we can all progress together. The door can always be opened further and I trust the Lord will let me know if He wants me to "dig" less and "be" more.
Rap Beefs and the Word
12 hours ago
3 comments:
Fantastic post! A few questions:
You wrote:
". . . The better we understand who God is and what He has created us to be, the more we can truly live. I think that is God's desire for us...to live and to live well."
Given your understanding of revealed Truth is there any way to "understand God". . much less "better"? Who determines if we have understood God enough. . or at all?
Fully understand...no. But I do think that any knowledge that God gives to us about His being whether from scripture or prayer or conversation etc is understanding. As he reveals Himself more, as he opens the door and allows us to bask in more of His light, the more we understand who He is and the more we understand who we were created to be and the more we are able to live. We never understand God good enough. In my opinion that is not the point. We seek to know God because He is the source of life and as we continue to shed the flesh throughout our lives the more we can truly understand. I think of it best as pieces to a gigantic puzzle. As we are given pieces and eventually find where those pieces go with the help of the guiding hand of the Lord we begin to see a picture of God develop. Every piece that finds its right place gives a glimpse, but as the larger picture comes together we are able to take in more and more of who He is. I think that is an appropriate response. It is hardly an answer, but let the conversation continue.
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