July 11, 2011

Imbalance

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The over-emphasis of certain Biblical teachings leads to the damaging effects of…

…being inoculated from any sense of responsibility to add to our faith for fear of works-righteousness.

…failing to see that God’s right to choose supersedes our own, and He is entirely unapologetic about it.

…ignoring the reality of choice and its consequences so that only God gets the “glory”

…thinking that saving faith involves no works (in one sense)

…thinking that saving faith involves works (in another)

…showing disdain for other Christians’ perspectives and rationalizing disrespect as “the defense of truth.”

…refusing to take any stand for Christian truth in an effort to maintain “unity.”

…thinking that a right opinion about God is somewhat equivalent to enjoying close fellowship with Him.

…praying without seeking God through His Word.

…studying without seeking God through prayer

…blaming someone’s lack of healing on their lack of faith

…coddling someone’s sickness or suffering as a sovereign act of God without encouraging faith for healing or obedience to God’s prescription.

…believing that New Covenant baptism is optional because of warnings against adhering to Mosaic Law.

…devaluing prophetic insight as defined by Scripture because of a “love” for Scripture.

…nursing sin as a continually present reality (in one sense)

…believing that sin should not be a continually present reality (in another)

…assuring oneself of the salvation of a backsliding Christian because of “eternal security”.

…diminishing Jesus’ teaching that one must endure to the end to be saved.

…thinking that salvation must be maintained by faith and/or works.

…thinking that salvation can be lost.

…refusing to heed the warnings of Scripture because it doesn’t seem to fit other comforting Scriptures.

…thinking that the Christian life is easy (in one sense)

…thinking that the Christian life is hard (in another)

…feeling bound by the effects of indwelling sin and seeing little progress against it.

…acknowledging the beauty of grace without diligently acting upon it.

…confusing the order of grace and obedience (grace is first).

…forgetting that the life, teachings, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ is the core of Christianity and life itself.

…focusing intently on one or two of the above categories and (un)intentionally ignoring the others.

…seeking to derive one’s identity from a label rather than new life in Christ.

May 12, 2011

Pursuing the Whole Counsel: A Theology in Tension (1)

Systematic theology. It seems like an artificial grouping of topics in which verses of Scripture are taken out of context and shoe-horned into reductionistic logical categories. There is an element of that in many systematic theologies. I believe there is a way to write a "systematic" theology that consolidates truth where it is fitting and acknowledges human cognitive inability where truths seemingly do not fit. Plain and simple--most systematic theologies seek to eradicate mystery from Scripture and I do not believe God has given us that privilege.

May 9, 2011

Nineteen

An acute awareness of oneself is absolutely maddening.
Paul spoke of the works of the law of Moses, James spoke of the works of the law of Christ. Ceremonial obedience is vain, the obedience of faith is essential.

March 4, 2011

Eighteen

Pick a favorite attribute of God. Define it apart from Scripture. Apply it based on your own definition. Gather like-minded people. <-- Recipe for heresy.
Disambiguation is the repentance of deceivers.

February 26, 2011

Horizontal Reconciliation

We must be diligent to ensure that our relationships with others continually reflect the reconciliation we enjoy with God in Christ. To refuse this is to deny Christ Himself and quite possibly forfeit our soul.

and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors...For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. -Matthew 6:12, 14-15

Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. -Matthew 18:32-34

I learned a valuable lesson today. God was merciful to me.

February 4, 2011

A Faith Among the Thorns

The consistent injection of distraction and moral compromise will eventually leave one's faith an empty shell. For the rest of their life, they will soothe themselves with half-truths they barely believe and speak of grace they barely understand. Then, at the climax of time, expecting to hear, "Well done!" they will be horrified at, "I never knew you."

Is there anything more tragic?

January 31, 2011

Seventeen

Many times, it is true that the less mystery we attribute to the Scriptures, the less faith it requires.
Better that a theological system be compromised than Scripture.

January 27, 2011

Sixteen

There is no fear of the Lord in one who is passively waiting on God to sovereignly bestow upon him grace to obey.
"Never think you have made any spiritual progress until you consider yourself inferior to all." (Thomas a Kempis)

January 18, 2011

Fifteen

Part of the cure for so much personal despair is a long, deep look at oneself with a jarringly negative conclusion. This is the paradox of repentance.
Those "other" Christians that we smugly stereotype or write-off so easily as [insert pejorative term here] probably have something tangible to offer us if we are willing to humble ourselves. It may be more than we have to offer them. I have to re-learn this daily.

January 12, 2011

Fourteen

The legalist works against grace. The Christian works with it.
One should contemplate the grace of God. Then one should immediately act upon it.
There is no heresy in this world that, having little influence with us or those we know, should repeatedly consume our thoughts.
Jesus spent three years teaching of the obedience that the coming cross and empty tomb would demand.
The only gift-righteousness is that which we share in union with Jesus.
Thomas could never have known that his snide remark would sum up the call to discipleship. (Jn. 11:16)