Tuesday, September 09, 2008
It's Fundamental
Bonnie recently wrote about fundamentalism and fundamentalism.
And we are confronted, yet again, with the need for humility, for selflessness. Bonnie said:
I spent the first couple of decades of my walk with Christ in pursuit of an intellectual understanding of my faith, and I still read a lot - but now I pursue Christ, not knowledge of Christ. My current pursuit involves much more than mere learning and understanding - it is consumptive of my entire being. It is also humbling.
At the risk of sounding less-than-humble, my intellectual capabilities are better than most, but I am a sinner. My intellectual pursuits are, in a fashion, avoiding the issue. Have you ever thought about that? God calls us to work on what we are worst at, not best.
Food for thought.
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Molly rightly points out that the problem with fundamentalist fundamentalism is idolatry. FF assumes that if you question it, then you are questioning Truth-with-a-capital-T, and doubting God Himself. It assumes that if you are questioning -- even questioning God -- you are sinning. But questioning and doubt need not signal either sin or a lack of faith -- indeed, you cannot truly question a God you have no faith in.Good stuff that! It is indeed idolatry when we put our understanding of truth ahead of the discovery of actual truth. It is even self-idolatry to think that we can grasp all of the truth.
Don't get me wrong; every believer worth his salt (pun intended) should have a good bit of fundamentalism in him. He should be eager to uphold Truth (or truth) for the glory of God and the good of mankind. Yet he must also recognize that God is quite capable of defending Himself and has no need for any bogus defense which is really a cover for self-defense. Nor does right living require a defense; it is it's own defense.
And we are confronted, yet again, with the need for humility, for selflessness. Bonnie said:
There's a saying, a cliche -- "Let go, and let God." Not that every situation requires that we do this; sometimes, it's necessary to persist. But when it comes to relinquishing control to God, that is a fundamental we must adhere to.How rare that is in the church. Which makes it unsurprising that the church so often fails to bring in new people - we simply have not appropriated the wonder, glory and beauty that our Lord offers us. It's not about our attractiveness, but His.
I spent the first couple of decades of my walk with Christ in pursuit of an intellectual understanding of my faith, and I still read a lot - but now I pursue Christ, not knowledge of Christ. My current pursuit involves much more than mere learning and understanding - it is consumptive of my entire being. It is also humbling.
At the risk of sounding less-than-humble, my intellectual capabilities are better than most, but I am a sinner. My intellectual pursuits are, in a fashion, avoiding the issue. Have you ever thought about that? God calls us to work on what we are worst at, not best.
Food for thought.
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