Yes, good thoughts - thanks! it seems if someone is drifting away from the church, then reasons must be found to justify it - we see this with Blue Progs moving away from their Evan. brethren - they don't want to make common cause with the world fully, but they can't worship with Red Cons for any number of reasons - two cultures in a single community. Plus nobody can argue or reason with an experience - the person knows what they feel about what they know. In the end, the enemy wins by dividing brethren....
If this is the interview I think it was (why didn't you share it?) the writer was contesting that he had actually changed his views, but rather observing that it was everyone around him who had changed theirs, themselves having left the traditional and conservative views that they still claimed fealty to. This seems like a disingenuous characterization.
Christianity is not at its essence factual. It is incarnational. God incarnating in Christ, then Christians incarnating His life in their own. Experiences don't necessarily shape belief. Belief, however, must shape our behavior. We are the only Gospel some may read...
If we don't have our facts right how do we know that we are incarnating the true Christ and not something made in our own image? As we subject our lives to the facts of God's word we are remade into the image of the Word incarnate. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Wow! I will have to read this over and over. But my one thought is that this is that ever burdening tension between antinomianism and legalism. We all, as Christian’s ,experience a walk on that balance beam and fall off one side or another. The key is to keep trying to walk it. That comes from awareness of that tension and grace.
This has happened to me many times when I have changed how I understood something as a believer. I have an experience that tugs on my heart and I go to Scripture and it seems to say to me that the truth is X. But my emotional/pastoral heart says X seems too harsh. This serves as a motivation to dig deeper; could I possibly be missing something in thinking X is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? When I do a deeper dive, I realize that there were relevant parts that I was missing in Scripture and also that I was misunderstanding some Scripture. Yikes!
Yes, good thoughts - thanks! it seems if someone is drifting away from the church, then reasons must be found to justify it - we see this with Blue Progs moving away from their Evan. brethren - they don't want to make common cause with the world fully, but they can't worship with Red Cons for any number of reasons - two cultures in a single community. Plus nobody can argue or reason with an experience - the person knows what they feel about what they know. In the end, the enemy wins by dividing brethren....
If this is the interview I think it was (why didn't you share it?) the writer was contesting that he had actually changed his views, but rather observing that it was everyone around him who had changed theirs, themselves having left the traditional and conservative views that they still claimed fealty to. This seems like a disingenuous characterization.
Christianity is not at its essence factual. It is incarnational. God incarnating in Christ, then Christians incarnating His life in their own. Experiences don't necessarily shape belief. Belief, however, must shape our behavior. We are the only Gospel some may read...
If we don't have our facts right how do we know that we are incarnating the true Christ and not something made in our own image? As we subject our lives to the facts of God's word we are remade into the image of the Word incarnate. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Yes - factual and incarnational. Both/and not either/or. Great piece by Sam as ever and total agreement with him.
I think you judged that writer too harshly.
Wow! I will have to read this over and over. But my one thought is that this is that ever burdening tension between antinomianism and legalism. We all, as Christian’s ,experience a walk on that balance beam and fall off one side or another. The key is to keep trying to walk it. That comes from awareness of that tension and grace.
This has happened to me many times when I have changed how I understood something as a believer. I have an experience that tugs on my heart and I go to Scripture and it seems to say to me that the truth is X. But my emotional/pastoral heart says X seems too harsh. This serves as a motivation to dig deeper; could I possibly be missing something in thinking X is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? When I do a deeper dive, I realize that there were relevant parts that I was missing in Scripture and also that I was misunderstanding some Scripture. Yikes!
Amen as ever!!!