Is Certainty Bad?
Responding to Jason's post "Is there any place for Mystery?"
I think there is a very strong reaction to dead orthodoxy. I grew up with a strong dislike for Churches that claimed to be orthodox, but had no life. As a descendent of the Pietists, my battle cry would be "Life, not doctrine!" Unfortunately this overshoots the mark. It should no more be "Life, not doctrine" than "Doctrine, not life." Life AND doctrine should go hand in hand. Truth AND love. Right-thinking and zeal for Christ! These things must be in equal portions.
Paul tells Timothy, "Watch your life and doctrine closely." How important did he consider this attention to both aspects? "Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers."
As Jason points out, in studying carefully all that God has said, we should be careful not to overestimate our knowledge of Him. It is the idea that our minds can contain and explain an inifinite God that so offends people, and rightfully so. However, they ride the pendulum too far in the other direction when they claim that any certainty of knowledge is a bad thing.
We must understand and worship God on the basis of what he has revealed about Himself. He is a self-disclosing God who has gone to great lengths to give us a written record of Himself and His dealings with man. Can we understand everything about God? Certainly not - not in a million lifetimes can the finite fully grasp the infinite - but that does not mean that we cannot even now, "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3:18)
Peter states that one way to grow is by earnest and diligent study and application of the Bible: "like newborn babies, long for (desire earnestly!) the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation," (1 Peter 2:2)
I think there is a very strong reaction to dead orthodoxy. I grew up with a strong dislike for Churches that claimed to be orthodox, but had no life. As a descendent of the Pietists, my battle cry would be "Life, not doctrine!" Unfortunately this overshoots the mark. It should no more be "Life, not doctrine" than "Doctrine, not life." Life AND doctrine should go hand in hand. Truth AND love. Right-thinking and zeal for Christ! These things must be in equal portions.
Paul tells Timothy, "Watch your life and doctrine closely." How important did he consider this attention to both aspects? "Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers."
As Jason points out, in studying carefully all that God has said, we should be careful not to overestimate our knowledge of Him. It is the idea that our minds can contain and explain an inifinite God that so offends people, and rightfully so. However, they ride the pendulum too far in the other direction when they claim that any certainty of knowledge is a bad thing.
We must understand and worship God on the basis of what he has revealed about Himself. He is a self-disclosing God who has gone to great lengths to give us a written record of Himself and His dealings with man. Can we understand everything about God? Certainly not - not in a million lifetimes can the finite fully grasp the infinite - but that does not mean that we cannot even now, "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3:18)
Peter states that one way to grow is by earnest and diligent study and application of the Bible: "like newborn babies, long for (desire earnestly!) the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation," (1 Peter 2:2)
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