A fair beginning would be to explain the name of my blog: "T-L-P". Each initial corresponds to a theme I anticipate will run through my postings. I cannot promise every posting will fall exactly under one of these themes; rather I hope the themes will be recognizable in the overall flow of writings.
T: "trust". (You might be forgiven for thinking it should stand for "truth". I see truth and my search for it, is an umbrella arching over all I write.) Trust, trust in "God", trust in Spirit, trust in the universe, is a concept I have been growing in over the past few years. During our present age, trust is not something we specialize in. We tend rather, to rely on our own resources. To throw ourselves off the cliff, trusting the net will appear (as a popular poster proclaimed some years ago!), is considered supremely foolish in today's world.
"Trust", faith, belief, confidence in, all stem from the same root word. As any of you know who can communicate in more than one language, there is often not a direct one-to-one correspondence of a word in one language to a word in another. Thus we have three or four English words all stemming from one Greek concept.
I will share more personally some of the lessons learned recently in "trust"-ing that we are taken care of in a loving, beneficent universe.
L: "love". This theme almost needs no explanation. "Love" is the central message from the divine to us mortals. We live in "love"; we are to spread "love". We experience "love" in every aspect of life.
"Love" as opposed to "fear". Fear is used to undermine love. Fear is used to control. Fear is used to get us to do things which are not loving. Much of my vehement disagreement with the GW Bush reign stemmed from the fact that his administration used a conscious, deliberate policy of fear to increase its hold on power. Government people actually sat down to discuss policies and make decisions which would increase fear in the population. The fact these policies were covered in a veneer of religious piety made this especially diabolical.
P: "problem of the Pharisees". I debated long and hard with myself how to phrase this last theme. I wanted to try and come up with some way of expressing this with a "C" word so I could make my title "T-L-C". My preacherly training in alliteration failed me here!
At any rate, this is a problem I see as major in todays churches, especially ones calling themselves "evangelical", "conservative", or "fundamentalist".
Some years ago I joined a church and was told at the outset, "We are followers of Jesus Christ; we are not biblicists." Too many of today's Christians are biblicists. The problem, as I see it, is that the biblicists of Jesus' day were the Pharisees. And according to the gospel record Jesus' harshest words were aimed at the Pharisees.
The Pharisees were a group dedicated to the study of the Word. They devoted their entire lives to studying, teaching, practicing the Word of God. Nothing was as important to them as being obedient to the Word. And when God appeared in their midst? They missed him! I consider it supreme arrogance on our part if we think ourselves any better than they. So, if our religious/spiritual lives are based mostly or solely on a study of the Word of God, we are in deep danger.
I will share more detail in subsequent postings.
Biblicists as Pharisees? Uncle Dennis, I love what you're doing here with your blog, but I will have to start by respectfully disagreeing with you. I understand that we must not allow the Bible to become an idol that blocks our view of God. However, how can we see God if we don't even have a good picture of Him? And what better place to see God than in His Word, which He has preserved for thousands of years in a remarkably intact canon?
ReplyDeleteI know that God has created us to be emotional, reactive, and independent deciders in our own right. Because of that, we can say that our faith in God is true because we had to come to a point of figuring out what we believe. However, He has given us a wonderful guidebook in the Bible. We don't have to wonder what is true and what is a lie. All we have to do is hold it up to the litmus test of the Bible.
I have found that if I think I've heard from God, all I have to do is test it against the truths found in the Bible. If what I've sensed agrees and complements these truths, then I take it a step further. I then check to see if it disagrees with any tenets, truths, themes in the Bible. If I find irreconcilable disagreements, then I know that it is not from God. However, if it agrees with the Bible (and not just with what I want the Bible to say) then I can safely say that it is from God.
What I'm saying here is that I don't want to place the Bible above God in my search for Him. However, I find that it is a great map that points toward Him. I find that I learn more about Him by reading His Word than I do by just being by myself. However, I don't get a full appreciation for the Lord of Hosts without also spending time seeing His magnificent splendor displayed in His creation. To be a biblicist is not to reject the other ways that God reveals Himself to us. It is a wonderful addition to His general revelation to the world, as well as a great framework in which to receive the special revelation that He gives to each of us.
I cannot say that I love God and believe what He says, yet reject His Word to us in the Bible. If I say that I believe Him, then I must believe the Bible. If I don't believe the Bible, then I do not believe God.
Again, I really admire what you're doing here, and I hope others join in this conversation. I have yet to read your second post, but I am looking forward to it.