Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Tightrope Walking
Classical Presbyterian writes on the twin deadly errors:
What struck me most as I read it is that being a Christian is about tension. It begins, I think with the Trinity, with the tension of one and separate. There is the tension of the "already, not yet." We are saved and yet in a sinful world. There is the tension between the thoughtful and the experiential - reliance on doctrine and reliance on the Holy Spirit.
In chemistry we talk a lot about equilibriums. Systems that exist in a kind of tension between reactants and product. Chemical reactions are not one way things. When there is abundance, the reactants are always reacting to make product, but some product is always breaking back down into the reactants. Equilibrium is that state where there is always the same amount of reactant and product hanging around in your reaction system, even if the dynamic exchange continues in both directions. I think that is how we Christians are supposed to live in these tensions.
In chemistry, as in our lives, it is very easy to upset an equilibrium, to push it towards too much product, or too much reactant. Sometimes you can alter the kinetics and the reaction proceeds explosively - you may end up with much more product than in equilibrium, but it is smeared on the walls and unrecoverable, and you are burned, bruised and otherwise injured - worse others in the lab may also be injured or even killed.
We must work to maintain the equilibriums in our lives, which means we need at least a slight excess of all of the reactants. We cannot limit ourselves to reading at the exclusion of prayer and listening. We cannot limit ourselves to evangelism at the expense of discipleship. We cannot keep our eyes on heavan and forget to right here.
What do you do to maintain the equilibrium in your life?
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Within every heart, especially those of Christians, there lie the possibility of two deadly errors--two false teachings that lie in wait to pull us into the abyss. We all know them well, for they are within every human heart: The two schools of false religion, Legalism and Antinomianism.This is a really great blog post. Read the whole thing.
Legalism the the 'Pharisee trap'. Legalism is when we seek to please God, atone for sin and bring merit to ourselves by our own effort. Lifting human standards, human efforts and works to the level of salvific acts is at the heart of the deadly sin of legalism.
[...]
Now, the other error, that of Antinomiansim (anti-law) is just as deadly in its power. The antinomian is a person who is fun at parties! Life is one big version of Animal House for them. In their secular, boisterous versions, they fill frat houses and dance halls everywhere.
But in their Christian version, the antinomian takes on a more deadly form: They kill any church's efforts at reform. Claiming grace, they refuse to confront the sin that infects all of us and they offer no hope. Whereas the legalists offers the dead-end of personal and corporate moralism, the antinomian offers an alternate dead-end of chaos. The legalists offer effort to remedy sin, but the antinomians offer accomodation.
What struck me most as I read it is that being a Christian is about tension. It begins, I think with the Trinity, with the tension of one and separate. There is the tension of the "already, not yet." We are saved and yet in a sinful world. There is the tension between the thoughtful and the experiential - reliance on doctrine and reliance on the Holy Spirit.
In chemistry we talk a lot about equilibriums. Systems that exist in a kind of tension between reactants and product. Chemical reactions are not one way things. When there is abundance, the reactants are always reacting to make product, but some product is always breaking back down into the reactants. Equilibrium is that state where there is always the same amount of reactant and product hanging around in your reaction system, even if the dynamic exchange continues in both directions. I think that is how we Christians are supposed to live in these tensions.
In chemistry, as in our lives, it is very easy to upset an equilibrium, to push it towards too much product, or too much reactant. Sometimes you can alter the kinetics and the reaction proceeds explosively - you may end up with much more product than in equilibrium, but it is smeared on the walls and unrecoverable, and you are burned, bruised and otherwise injured - worse others in the lab may also be injured or even killed.
We must work to maintain the equilibriums in our lives, which means we need at least a slight excess of all of the reactants. We cannot limit ourselves to reading at the exclusion of prayer and listening. We cannot limit ourselves to evangelism at the expense of discipleship. We cannot keep our eyes on heavan and forget to right here.
What do you do to maintain the equilibrium in your life?
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