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Christian Doctrine: I Did Not Make It, It Is Making Me
“Do you see my bookshelves over there?” All heads would turn toward the thousands of books surrounding them in my classroom. “Do you think that’s real wood?” I would offer. “It feels like vinyl,” one would say, hands close enough to touch. “But it looks like real wood!” another would say.
I would then show them the back edge of an extra shelf; exposed particle board greeted their gaze. “Now the advertisement says,” I continued, “I can pick from cherry or walnut grains. But in all honesty, I’m simply buying a thin veneer of plastic, covering pressed wood.” My bookshelf illustration was about to bring home the truth. “This is exactly what false teaching is like,” I concluded, “It looks right, at first glance, but upon further inspection, it is shown to be wrong. Heresy depends on attracting our attention, then leading us astray.”
The word “heresy” comes from the Greek word meaning “to choose.” Any move toward heresy, toward falsehood, is choosing to step away from biblical teaching. As Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:16, “Watch your life and doctrine closely.” And there is the issue. What we believe, creates how we live. I think the Christian singer Rich Mullins said it best:
And I believe what I believe, is what makes me what I am / I did not make it, no it is making me / It is the very truth of God and not the invention of any man.
God’s truth is no veneer, no human invention. Yes, my bookshelves are still fake wood. But Christian Truth, the teaching of Scripture, makes us who we are, helping us keep a close watch on our life and doctrine. We embody God’s Truth for all to see.
For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, president of the Comenius Institute, personally allowing God’s Truth to make me what I am.
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Published in Religion & Philosophy
Where did I say that? The thief had the good fortune to not be able to sin after his repentance. That’s all I’m saying. If he had, he probably would have.
Except for the example, I don’t disagree with any of that. I am pretty sure if I make it to heaven I will be surprised on who will be there.
Agree, though what maybe be apparent contradictions can usually be squared together by understanding the context and the traditions as they developed in the early centuries. But that’s a lot of learning for people without theological interests. “Simple faith” is the best answer!
Flicker, I certainly can’t disagree with the last part of your final sentence. God is the judge, not us.
We do have a practical challenge, as I think that we do need to distinguish between believers and unbelievers, as best we can. Believers are our brothers and sisters in the family of God. Unbelievers are our mission field. If we erroneously identify unbelievers as believers, we may fail to spread the Gospel to them. It’s difficult.
I do want to offer a general follow-up to the question of the fate of unbelievers who, as far as we can tell, were never given the opportunity to choose to put their faith in Jesus. This would apply to everyone who lived before the (first) earthly ministry of Jesus, and those who never heard the Gospel through no apparent fault of their own.
My impression is that this issue is often raised as an evasion. In my experience, it is typically raised by someone who has been told about Jesus, as a reason to reject the message. Such a person finds it unjust that, for example, some tribesman in New Guinea or elsewhere would be condemned by God, though the Gospel had never reached their island. Of course, the person making the objection is not in the situation of the person who has never heard.
As a believer, I am not much concerned about the fate of people who never heard the Gospel, which is in the hands of the Lord. It is a reason to engage in, and support, missionary and evangelical work, but it doesn’t cause me spiritual angst.
I believe we will remember otherwise God would have created us in heaven, created us just as saved and pure as we on earth as we one day will be. And more importantly, remembrance is part of how we appreciate and celebrate Jesus’s self-sacrifice. And God wants everyone to remember generally, and makes conditions and customs suitable for remembering. Also, presumably at or after the first resurrection, we will have our works evaluated, including everything that is done in the dark or in secret. If we don’t remember, how will this be done?
But to your point, yes, I once heard someone say that we will be surprised at who we see glorified in heaven and I thought. Yes! And then the person went on to explain that there are lots of people like old ladies who pray every day and change the world. And I was let down because these are the people that you would expect to see in heaven. But I think there are people who look dirty and evil on the outside who we will be surprised to see in heaven. “But, but, but he never came to church, never said a word about Jesus, and he was a miser! And he always had a frown!”
We don’t know what we don’t know about individual human hearts.
It is difficult, and the church has been lead by very bad people at times, which shows that the body can grow among tares.
I knew that. I was just testing you.
I am blanching at the thought that in everything I do really should be “obeying Christ and have faith is His divinity”.
I think one way of looking at it generally, is that when Jesus freed the woman caught in adultery, He specifically told her, Go and sin no more lest something worse happen to you. We do have a responsibility to do better and love God and our neighbor more in thought, word, and deed. And this includes growing in the truth. But I really think that no one will do this perfectly. But if we are truly saved, we will tend to want to embrace God and godly living daily, and God will work in us both to want to, and to be able to accomplish this.
I’m not contradicting or even amplifying on what you wrote, just musing on the topic. The saved thief, believed something. He believed Jesus was a king, and he believed in life after death. And he believed that Jesus would be living and be an active king even after He died. Thinking about it, that’s a lot.
Something to ponder. The disciples/followers (and later called Christians) were scattered around. They were still disciples/followers, but the thief was the only believer that day.
I hadn’t thought of that. What you’re saying is he’s the only one who had it right. That’s quite a dispensation of grace.
I hear you, but just to be accurate His blessed mother, John the Evangelist, Mary Magdalene, and a few other women were at the foot of the cross. But yes, all the other disciples had scattered.