Erasing the Bible
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness 2 Timothy 3:16 NASB
Scripture – Sometimes the truth overpowers paradigm assumptions. Sometimes men who stand theologically apart nevertheless see the same revelation. Jacques Ellul and Abraham Heschel both come to the same conclusion when they consider the role of the believer with regard to Scripture. Ellul puts it like this:
“No recognizable revelation exists apart from the life and witness of those who bear it.” [1]
“If Christians are not conformed in their lives to their truth, there is no truth. This is why the accusers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were right to infer the falsity of revelation itself from the practice of the church. This makes us see that in not being what Christ demands we render all revelation false, illusory, ideological, imaginary, and nonsalvific. We are thus forced to be Christians or to recognize the falsity of what we believe. This is undeniable proof of the need for correct practice.”[2]
Heschel says virtually the same thing. If we don’t live out the revelation of God, we not only fail to be obedient, we also fail the world by making revelation irrelevant and false. The proof of Scripture is not in the arguments, the logical conclusions or the doctrinal proclamations. It is in the lives of the people who claim to follow the God of Israel. No systematic theology can overcome behavioral hypocrisy. “The central issue is not Truth in terms of a doctrine, but veracity, honesty, or sincerity in terms of personal existence.”[3]
“The truth consists not in knowing the truth but in being the truth.”[4]
Too often we condemn the ignorance of those who blindly accept traditional dogma. It might be true that most believers have little knowledge of the source of their beliefs. Most drift into faith (as Heschel notes). “The vast majority of people are satisfied with compromises, or they remain unaware that they are worshipping a multitude of gods, that their actions constitute a maze of contradictions.”[5] But Christians are not the same as Christianity, and insofar as they live out the love of God for His creation and develop a deep sense of compassion and justice for their fellow men, perhaps they are much closer to the Kingdom than the theologians who strive for answers but fail to live accordingly.
“When we detect a mean quality in a man, we do so because we possess it ourselves. Heaven want us to become aware of it, thereby hinting at the need for our repentance.”[6]
Do you feel the call to repent? Of your deliberate ignorance? Of your lack of compassion? Of that streak in you that causes you to condemn another?
I do.
Topical Index: witness, truth, doctrine, Scripture, 2 Timothy 3:16
[1] Jacques Ellul, The Subversion of Christianity, p. 5.
[2] Jacques Ellul, The Subversion of Christianity, p. 6.
[3] Abraham Heschel, A Passion for Truth, p. 45.
[4] Soren Kierkegaard, Training in Christianity, p. 201.
[5] Abraham Heschel, A Passion for Truth, p. 91.
[6] The Baal Shem Tov cited in Heschel, A Passion for Truth, p. 67
Sorting out scripture. As I became troubled with the RCC some years ago I felt I had to reboot my faith in everything, including God Himself if necessary. I was ready to go there, atheism not by choice but by necessity. Why was I a Christian if Jesus was a Jew? Why is there a New Testament if Jesus followed the Old Testament perfectly? If Protestantism seems to be all things to all people and the RCC is exactly the opposite then where is the safe ground between the two? Is there one?
Why was there a Trinity that could not be explained without smoke and mirrors and could only be implied? Why did Christians persecute Jews for 1800 years and say they loved God at the same time? Why is Sunday not practised on Saturday? What is Easter and Christmas all about? Whatever happened to Passover that was so important to the Messiah? Why did Christianity support slavery, have the death penalty? Why did Catholics not study the bible? If Jesus practised Judaism perfectly what is Christianity all about? Who started Christianity, when? Why do I know nothing about the religion that Jesus followed? Why does Judaism not have doctrines or a creed?
So many questions and so little time when you have just turned 70. Time was running out fast. My father died at 79. I will be 77 and married for 50 years this year. Lucky 7s, maybe yes, maybe not. Time to go to work but how, where? I was told, seek and ye shall find. That sounds easy but we all know it is not. Nothing worth while comes easy. It takes practise to get to Carnegie Hall.
Enter Skip Moen stage left, one day at a time, telling me I think like a Greek. An accusation, a challenge. I love a challenge until I am proven wrong and have to submit. Then I have learned something. But he didn’t prove me wrong, he just pointed out more choices. Choices are good but I have to sort them out for myself. That’s ok, I like a challenge. So here I am today still sorting out scripture and loving it so here I stay. In my community. I am comfortable here. I am happy here in this middle ground.
Real nice George. I appreciate the flow that came from the stop. Beginnings that started somewhere. How great is our Somewhere!! If it is OK with you I will share this with a friend. Shalom and many more birthdays. FJ
Hi FJ (Footjoy?), I am joyful that you would like to use this. Please do so anytime.
We’ll said George. So many questions, so little time. Just what I’ve been thinking. I’m 68, and my father died at 79 also. I’m on a journey, but it’s not a comfortable one…
Hi John, Truth be known I am not absolutely comfortable either. I know you have been around here for a long time I think and I like what you say when you comment and there is comfort in people like you and Roderick and others who have been here much longer than me. More so that you stay and bring strength and hope to us all. “Hope demands, creates and expresses indomitable courage.” Sacks. Nothing about being comfortable, in fact anything but.
Thanks for the encouragement George ?
I still think of our meeting as a divine appointment. So glad you are here.
So sorry George. The read more is too close to up and down button. I am quite sure my thumbs are not going to get smaller . Is there someway it could be placed somewhere else? I did not intend to hit disagree again my apologies.
Hello Pam. The “Read more” will almost always be located in a different place. Just depends on how many words are in that particular line.
Rom. 1:25 “who made the truth of God into a lie…”. That verse used to trouble my Greek mind a lot! How could ‘truth’ (ideal form) be CHANGED into a lie??? Why would God let it? What is the “truth of God”? Well, perhaps it is the truth about Who He is. When we distort the image of Himself that we are made in, and we are the only mirror the world has, would that not be a lie ABOUT Him? No wonder the world hates Him! There is nothing nastier than a pot of manna gone bad, and even the world (not to mention the Bible) has stated that there is nothing worse than a Jew OR Christian gone bad, too. There really isn’t!
Jews (and Christians) “falsely so called” are (and have been) at the very bottom and the very worst of the awfulness this planet has ever seen and (I firmly believe), is seeing now. Goodness is power, and corrupted power is goodness gone bad, guaranteed. If we don’t stand up and go to war with the apostates who are causing despite to His Name, we will be numbered with them. “Come out and be separate”. That’s a starter, but the finisher will be when we perfect the correct response to the evil of this world with our (corrected) lives. Both Jews and Christians have developed the Almost Truth to a high art form, more subtle than any the world has ever been able to produce. Both of them are highly practiced in the occultic art of deception with what APPEARS to be truth, but is not, and so thus leads souls astray, as well as causing revulsion in honest ones.
God can only be as active as His Body (for He has declared it so); otherwise our prayer “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven” is meaningless. May we learn to BE His will doing on this earth, and so shine the light in the gross darkness that the Almost Truth (occultic deception of both modern Christian and Jewish misrepresentation) creates. And let it begin with me. Amein.
Do you feel the call to repent? Of your deliberate ignorance? Of your lack of compassion? Of that streak in you that causes you to condemn another?
Now how do you ask me the worse sinner or black sheep my family has ever known.
How do you repent from something never proven to be sin? Words, anger, alcohol abuse etc.
How do you change your deliberate ignorance when all you hear is half truths?
Compassion towards who, the members of a faith family or every living being…
That streak I call knowledge based on sound judgement of character how do I stop applying life’s wisdom?
How do I repent… Accept and believe in the saviour? Be baptized in water? Or is it studying to show ourselves approved? Or is it just keep working on casting away my sins?
Jews versus Christians… Or should this rather be believers versus nonbelievers. Being half informed can surely not bring God’s wrath on these believers.
But yes Skip when we realize we are doing things contrary to what we understand as God’s will it is a call for us to repent. But when I stop doing something because it is wrong in someone else’s eyes how can I claim to have repented.
Just a personal reflection.
Seeker,
How deeply the questions you posed strike home. Compassion, at least for me has been something I have had to learn. To summarily condemn someone for a wrong they have done you is to judge and that is a major mistake. I have found it goes easier for me to not take offense and forgive that person right then and there. It relieves me of a major burden and then I pray for them and for myself to come to understand them and understand my own motives in forgiving them. I may gain nothing except that I can now let go. Sometimes that is enough. I try not to concern myself with what others deem right and wrong and instead seek what God is showing me in a situation. Sometimes I wait a long time. It’s that refiner’s fire thing, at least in my mind. As far as truths vs half truths goes, I can’t be worried with it. Peoples’ perceptions which are faulty often lead them to the wrong answers which leads to an untruth. So it’s back to the prayer closet and more knee mails. Repentance for me is a path. That’s what it is for me now. It lead me this far. I’m not afraid.
Thank you for the advice. Maybe my knee mai!s are never posted as I may not humble myself seriously enough to make earnest posts…
Maybe that is my repentance process learn to post honest knee mails.
I like your word choice…
So true!
Here is my dilemma; I cannot be obedient without believing the truth but real truth comes to me by revelation, not by what I know, learn and read. For example; I’ve always known God is in control, it was taught to me and I read scriptures about it. And I thought it was one of my beliefs. However, when life circumstances including the loss of my job brought fear and anxiety; I cried to the Lord in my anguish that “I have lost control” to which the Lord responded to me, “you have never been in control.” In that moment, God being in control went from cognitive knowledge to experiential truth. And the truth changed my life. Much of the fear and anxiety of life disappeared resulting in more peace and calm and improved health. And, it was easier to be obedient in areas of my life that had always been a struggle. Yes, I want to live in obedience, but usually there is some lie I believe that prevents me from doing so. I may try to white knuckle in obedience, but when truth comes it is no longer a struggle. So, when I am struggling with obedience, I begin looking for the lie I believe. When I find it, I ask God for truth. Once He reveals the truth, my struggles end. It is also amazing the number of times that I think I believe something but discover it is really only knowledge, not a belief. Once I get real truth, I experience life change. I have come to realize there is not enough year left in my life to deal with all the lies; but each new revelations brings a little more peach, calm and obedience. John 8:32
Great observation. You might consider this from Arnold Bennett: There can be no knowledge without emotion. We may be aware of a truth, yet until we have felt its force, it is not ours. To the cognition of the brain must be added the experience of the soul. Arnold Bennett
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/arnold_bennett_132277
And the other age old proverb:
Truth is no mans slave. But lies… What magnificent servants they make.