Waiting is hard. It doesn't really matter what one is waiting for. One could simply be waiting for a letter, waiting for a friend who is late, waiting for the answer to an important question, waiting for a someone to apologize for hurting you. Waiting is hard.
I have been thinking lately about how God keeps us waiting. Allow me to explain, I have two friends, both incredibly active women, the kind of woman who makes everyone around her feel lazy just by being herself. About two years ago one of these women took ill, she was constantly tired, constantly sick and unable to do the vast majority of what she had previously accomplished. About a year ago the other woman came down with something similar. I have been spending some time with one of these women lately, we will call her Patty (not her real name), talking about how God keeps us waiting.
Please understand that our conversations have not been about the fact that God keeps us waiting, though that has certainly been a prevalent theme, but the methods he uses to keep us waiting. God stopped both of these women dead in their tracks, literally unable to do much of what they had been doing, waiting for God to let them go again. For myself and a few others the purpose has been the same, but the method quite different, I have not been sick, simply unable to take the next step. It seems, for the past couple of years, that whatever I try the answer is no. I am reminded of one of Paul's missionary journeys, Paul tried to go to several different geographic areas simply to have God turn him back. When Paul when to the wrong place God did not say "No, I want you to go here." God simply said, "No, try again." Paul spent time, probably months, traveling from city to city only to have God say, "No Paul, try again" each time. Finally Paul went to a port city, pretty much the last place he had left to try, and this is when God gave him a vision of a man from Macedonia begging Paul to come preach to them.
I often wonder what the purpose of this was, scripture never tells us why God did this, simply that he did. Similarly I wonder what the purpose of my friend Patty's illness is, and what the purpose of my current position is. I know that God has a purpose, this is never in doubt. I know that he is teaching her, and teaching me, preparing us for something. Ultimately I'm not sure I need to know what that something is, I suppose I'll probably find out someday, but at the same time I wonder if I have the capability of saying "I don't need to know." I want to know you see, it's in my nature, I want to understand, and maybe that is the lesson, that no matter how much I want to understand; I can't. I can't understand everything and sometimes I just have to trust that God does know what he is doing, even when I don't.
I wish I could say that I understood the lesson, that I have something valuable to teach anyone who reads this post, but the truth is that I'm not there yet. I trust God, I trust him enough to wait, even though I have no idea why I'm waiting.
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Sunday, February 8, 2009
The Importance of Theology
First of all let me apologize for not posting in so long, I have been very busy the last couple of weeks and haven't been online for more than ten to fifteen minutes at a time. It was originally my goal to update this blog at least once a week and I have not, I am sorry for that. Now, onto the post.
I live in Lynchburg, Va which had, I believe still has, the most churches per capita of any city in the US. However, even here with so many churches and a Christian University and at least two seminaries in the area, I find an extraordinary number of Christians who have no idea what they actually believe. Much of modern Christianity tends to downplay the importance of scholarly religion such as theology and apologetics, and at the same time build up the importance of faith, prayer, and daily practice of a few basic tenants. Now I don't want to come across as saying that such things are not important, I believe that daily prayer and bible study are incredibly important. I also believe that faith, both in God's greatness and in his goodness, are also very important (I personally struggle with the latter at times). However the study of scholarly Christianity such as theology and apologetics is equally as important.
Theology is the study of various aspects of who God is and what he does, it can be broken down into a number of various parts, but to put it simply Theology is the study of what we actually believe. Good theology is the study and collation of what the bible actually says about a variety of subjects and what doctrines we can deduce from what the scripture says. For instance, as Christians we believe in the trinity, that the father, son, and holy spirit are three persons in one divine being. However the word trinity is not found anywhere in scripture, nor is the phrase 'the father, son, and holy spirit are three persons in one divine being'. The doctrine of the trinity is a theological doctrine taken from the collation of what the bible says about the father, the son, and the holy spirit, and their relationship with one another.
If theology is not studied and such doctrines are not clearly understood cults rise up, there have been a plethora of cults throughout the history of Christianity that arose because of a misunderstanding of one or two passages of scripture. One of the, currently, most well known of these is the Jehovah's Witnesses, which arose because of one man's attempt to show in what year Christ would return. Other cults have denied the deity of Christ, the humanity of Christ, the omniscience of God, the omnipotence of God, even the existence of the Holy Spirit. Lack of understanding about our Christian beliefs allows us to be 'blown about by every wind of doctrine'. Now this does not mean that every Christian should be a scholar of theology able to write books and publish scholarly articles. However, every Christian SHOULD have at least a passing familiarity with what they believe about God the father, Christ, the Holy Spirit, Sin, the place of the Church, the end times, angels, and demons and why they believe those things.
In an age of ever increasing knowledge and the ever increasing availability of knowledge it is essential to our witness as believers that we be able to intelligently, and coherently, articulate our beliefs to those who do not share them.
I live in Lynchburg, Va which had, I believe still has, the most churches per capita of any city in the US. However, even here with so many churches and a Christian University and at least two seminaries in the area, I find an extraordinary number of Christians who have no idea what they actually believe. Much of modern Christianity tends to downplay the importance of scholarly religion such as theology and apologetics, and at the same time build up the importance of faith, prayer, and daily practice of a few basic tenants. Now I don't want to come across as saying that such things are not important, I believe that daily prayer and bible study are incredibly important. I also believe that faith, both in God's greatness and in his goodness, are also very important (I personally struggle with the latter at times). However the study of scholarly Christianity such as theology and apologetics is equally as important.
Theology is the study of various aspects of who God is and what he does, it can be broken down into a number of various parts, but to put it simply Theology is the study of what we actually believe. Good theology is the study and collation of what the bible actually says about a variety of subjects and what doctrines we can deduce from what the scripture says. For instance, as Christians we believe in the trinity, that the father, son, and holy spirit are three persons in one divine being. However the word trinity is not found anywhere in scripture, nor is the phrase 'the father, son, and holy spirit are three persons in one divine being'. The doctrine of the trinity is a theological doctrine taken from the collation of what the bible says about the father, the son, and the holy spirit, and their relationship with one another.
If theology is not studied and such doctrines are not clearly understood cults rise up, there have been a plethora of cults throughout the history of Christianity that arose because of a misunderstanding of one or two passages of scripture. One of the, currently, most well known of these is the Jehovah's Witnesses, which arose because of one man's attempt to show in what year Christ would return. Other cults have denied the deity of Christ, the humanity of Christ, the omniscience of God, the omnipotence of God, even the existence of the Holy Spirit. Lack of understanding about our Christian beliefs allows us to be 'blown about by every wind of doctrine'. Now this does not mean that every Christian should be a scholar of theology able to write books and publish scholarly articles. However, every Christian SHOULD have at least a passing familiarity with what they believe about God the father, Christ, the Holy Spirit, Sin, the place of the Church, the end times, angels, and demons and why they believe those things.
In an age of ever increasing knowledge and the ever increasing availability of knowledge it is essential to our witness as believers that we be able to intelligently, and coherently, articulate our beliefs to those who do not share them.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Fear
In my blog yesterday I mentioned Matt. 10:28 which says "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."
Proverbs 1 says that "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge..." and Proverbs 9 says that "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom..." In fact the 'fear of the Lord' is a common theme throughout scripture.
In the modern world this idea is usually ignored entirely. We live in an age which desires the almighty God to be a 'big buddy' or the 'big guy in the sky.' Christians today tend to believe that God is a teddy bear who would never hurt a fly. The movie 'Dogma', which is a satire against Christianity in general and Roman Catholicism in particular, introduces itself with a Roman Catholic bishop presenting the 'buddy Christ' as the new official Church representation of the Christ figure. The movie is not far off of reality.
When the 'fear of the Lord' is mentioned in modern Christianity, whether it is by lay people or by the clergy, it is normally represented as a healthy respect of the awesomeness of God, but not as an actual fear. However these attitudes stand in stark contrast to the biblical representation of the 'fear of the Lord.' While certainly a healthy respect for our creator is a part of the biblical idea of the 'fear of the Lord' it is only the beginning. The 'fear of the Lord' represented in Matthew 10, and also in Acts 5 as well as many Old Testament passages, is not simply respect but honest fear.
Americans today have come to the conclusion that fear and love are mutually exclusive, however this is not what scripture teaches. It is, in fact a recent idea. It is common knowledge that in Machiavelli's classic The Prince the author declares that 'it is better to be feared than loved'. However it is less know that he first states "Upon this a question arises: whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with." (The Prince, Chapter 17) Machiavelli's statement here is exactly what the scriptures teach about God, he is to be both feared and loved. The difference between Machiavelli and God is that Machiavelli was a man; fallen, imperfect, and limited; while God is perfect in every way and infinite. What Machiavelli saw as being near to impossible God can do easily.
This brings us back to the idea of the 'fear of the Lord.' What we must understand is that the scriptural teaching of the 'fear of the Lord', while it includes the idea of healthy respect, also included the idea of one's fear for the state of his immortal soul.
The context of Christ's teaching in Matthew is the provision and protection of God. Christ is teaching his disciples that they need not be afraid of Satan and his minions. However we must look at his technique, in this teaching Christ does not tell his disciples that they should not fear the Devil because God will protect them from him. Instead Christ teaches his disciples to fear the Devil because God is altogether a more fearsome being. While the Devil and his minions can 'destroy the body' or kill a person, God can 'destroy both body and soul in hell' or commit one to eternal torment.
The teaching of the 'fear of the Lord' is that we are to both love God, who is our father, and that we must fear his wrath. Though for Christians we are given freedom in Christ that the Jews were not. We must still keep in mind this idea of fear if we are to come to an honest understanding of our place in the Kingdom of God.
Proverbs 1 says that "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge..." and Proverbs 9 says that "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom..." In fact the 'fear of the Lord' is a common theme throughout scripture.
In the modern world this idea is usually ignored entirely. We live in an age which desires the almighty God to be a 'big buddy' or the 'big guy in the sky.' Christians today tend to believe that God is a teddy bear who would never hurt a fly. The movie 'Dogma', which is a satire against Christianity in general and Roman Catholicism in particular, introduces itself with a Roman Catholic bishop presenting the 'buddy Christ' as the new official Church representation of the Christ figure. The movie is not far off of reality.
When the 'fear of the Lord' is mentioned in modern Christianity, whether it is by lay people or by the clergy, it is normally represented as a healthy respect of the awesomeness of God, but not as an actual fear. However these attitudes stand in stark contrast to the biblical representation of the 'fear of the Lord.' While certainly a healthy respect for our creator is a part of the biblical idea of the 'fear of the Lord' it is only the beginning. The 'fear of the Lord' represented in Matthew 10, and also in Acts 5 as well as many Old Testament passages, is not simply respect but honest fear.
Americans today have come to the conclusion that fear and love are mutually exclusive, however this is not what scripture teaches. It is, in fact a recent idea. It is common knowledge that in Machiavelli's classic The Prince the author declares that 'it is better to be feared than loved'. However it is less know that he first states "Upon this a question arises: whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with." (The Prince, Chapter 17) Machiavelli's statement here is exactly what the scriptures teach about God, he is to be both feared and loved. The difference between Machiavelli and God is that Machiavelli was a man; fallen, imperfect, and limited; while God is perfect in every way and infinite. What Machiavelli saw as being near to impossible God can do easily.
This brings us back to the idea of the 'fear of the Lord.' What we must understand is that the scriptural teaching of the 'fear of the Lord', while it includes the idea of healthy respect, also included the idea of one's fear for the state of his immortal soul.
The context of Christ's teaching in Matthew is the provision and protection of God. Christ is teaching his disciples that they need not be afraid of Satan and his minions. However we must look at his technique, in this teaching Christ does not tell his disciples that they should not fear the Devil because God will protect them from him. Instead Christ teaches his disciples to fear the Devil because God is altogether a more fearsome being. While the Devil and his minions can 'destroy the body' or kill a person, God can 'destroy both body and soul in hell' or commit one to eternal torment.
The teaching of the 'fear of the Lord' is that we are to both love God, who is our father, and that we must fear his wrath. Though for Christians we are given freedom in Christ that the Jews were not. We must still keep in mind this idea of fear if we are to come to an honest understanding of our place in the Kingdom of God.
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