Beyond The Rim…

Because I am in the middle of a Knowing God study, I have been thinking a lot lately about how we “know God” and the limitations in that quest for none Christians and even for Christians who go the extra-biblical route. There are two scriptures that form the boundaries of my thinking: John 14:6, where Jesus says “No one comes to the Father except through me” and Romans 1:19-20, where Paul argues the Romans are without excuse since “what can be known about God is plain to them” using creation itself.

The for me issue is where are the limits and what are the accepted paths of inquiry. Paul cautions the Corinthians in 1 Cor 1:20-21 about worldly wisdom, which to my reading would include philosophy, science, apologetics (if it is done using logic and debate), and all other efforts of “human wisdom.”

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

The current issue I am exploring is how to reconcile the Romans argument with the Corinthian warning. If God has revealed himself in his creation and that is enough to understand the demands that God makes on us, how does God’s making the wisdom of the world (specifically the science and philosophy that apprehends that creation) foolish, still allow for the validity of Paul’s rebuke of the Romans?

I am just beginning this exploration, but I have an intuitive sense that it is an important key to what I want to know in life, especially about the boundaries and limits of that effort.

As we embark with J. I. Packer on our journey through Knowing God, we are taking the ‘road less traveled.” Ths phrase comes from a poem by Robert Frost (Mountain Interval. 1920. The Road Not Taken).

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-Robert Frost

In his 1973 Preface to Knowing God, Packer discusses two diverging “roads” that people must choose between when they engage the Christian faith, which then divides them into two types of people. The first type Packer calls balconeers, since they tend to keep their distance from those whom Packer calls travelers, or to paraphrase one of the early preachers to whom I am indebted, J. Vernon McGee, from those whose personal rubber has met the demands of the challenging Christian road, the narrow road that Jesus talked of. These spectators, as I like to refer to them, are also on a road, it’s just one that is short and sweet, makes limited personal demands, is politically correct and non-judgmental, and allows the weeds of compromise to grow throughout its spiritual ecology. It absolutely refuses to allow any absolute demands, since on this road everything is relative.

The second group, the travelers previously referenced, are on the road less traveled by, since both its demands and possibilities are eternally endless. This road is long and sometimes bitter, where one often encounters judgment and correction, and while love and joy populate its miles, it abhors compromise. It absolutely makes all sorts of absolute demands.

As a result, those who enter into a study of Knowing God accept becoming part of the second group and over the course of their upcoming journey expect a few bumps and bruises along the way as they judge their beliefs against God’s demands, accepting correction where due, and refusing to compromise the truth that God reveals to them and requires from them. For they know that not only will they learn about the God in whom they live and move and have their being, but they will learn much about themselves, some of which may not be pretty.

As we move into our first lesson (course materials here), which covers an introduction and the two Prefaces in the book, remember that God loves you, has saved you through His Son Jesus Christ, and has brought you to this point, this moment for a reason. Embrace everything He has for you, and take that first step with us.

Grace and peace and blessings be to you.

One of the differences between biblical worship and what passes for the same thing in the Christian Church today can be seen in the difference between the verb (biblical) and the noun (much of today’s Christianity).

Biblically worship is what you do as you pour out your heart to God, offering yourself as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1). It is God-centered, sacrificial, and a fundamental expression of who we are in Jesus Christ.

For many in the modern Christian church, worship is a noun, something they experience. It is dependent on how they are moved. It is centered in them, in their feelings, what they get out of the moment. It is self-centered, rather than God-centered.

Oh, it may be filled with singing, with songs that speak about God and Jesus and love, but the focus is internal, not the inexpressible Other, the One in whom we live, and move, and have our being.

Don’t get me wrong, worshiping God may indeed cause you to experience great and overwhelming feelings, but they will always be an aftereffect, never the why you worship God. To speak in the language of Job, even if I never feel anything, you are God and I will worship you. My worship is Your right and due and my proper and holy service to You, my God.

Today, Sunday, I would pray that you think about this little distinction and examine your efforts at worshiping God. Are you seeking a “worship experience” or the chance to offer yourself as a living sacrifice to your LORD? Be honest with yourself, because God knows. He sees your heart.

I will be studying Knowing God with a group of five men beginning this fall. As a result I have been working on my study materials and have decided to do another online Knowing God Study. If you are interested in joining in, get the book and my Study Guide

It has been some time since I posted anything. There are many reasons why, most of which don’t amount to a hill of beans (seriously insignificant). However, when I actually sit down and put fingers to keyboard, suddenly the clarity of thought I had as I moved about doing things in the house deserts me. There is just too much to say.

We live in remarkable times, some would say perilous times. Back in the late 70’s, when my father was in his mid 50’s, he decided the end was near and felt if he could live to see Y2K, he would be around to see the culmination of history. So he changed his life, diet, and exercise and began working toward being around for that moment.

Well 2000 came and went and the end did not materialize. He is still around, though sadly what happens in the world today is mostly beyond his caring. However, I have, to a degree, inherited his perspective, and I feel the need to prepare for what may occur in the next few years, especially 2012.

What is going to happen? I have no idea. Will it be the cataclysmic events my father expected twelve years earlier arriving later than expected? Maybe. Who knows? Yet, there is something in the air and it isn’t Springtime pollen.

hope this restart of my blogging life will be sustained and is not just another momentary jolt of wordsmithery. We shall see. There is so much to write about and so little time to collect my ephemeral thoughts. But hey, its a start.

Grace and peace to your day.

It has been so long since I posted anything on this blog that is feels like I am starting over. That said, I was thinking today about knowledge, or in the field in which I work the common term is intel. Knowledge/intel is power. It is often more important than weapons, because without it, weapons are shooting in the dark.

Then I had an insight. The temptation of Adam and Eve was about knowledge. Satan said to Eve:

For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. Gen. 3:5

The original temptation was centered on knowledge and Satan equated it with godhood, that knowledge was power that could make you a god.

From there I began to think about knowledge and about God, the difference between knowing about and knowing, having a form of godliness and having the real thing. There is a difference between the knowledge that is given, revealed if you will, and that which is demanded or taken, stolen if you thought about it.

This is a line of thinking I have just begun to open, but I find it interesting that my favorite spiritual book is J. I. Packer’s Knowing God.

It has been good to put fingers to keys. I pray that this is really a starting over. Grace and peace to your day.

The Blog update is complete, so I thought I would let you know that I have finished the editing/rewrite of the first book in my Moses chronicle: Beginnings. Among other things, I added about 3500 words, revamped much of the dialog in the beginning, which was woefully lacking, and reworked the climatic debate.

I will be sending it out to prospective agents this weekend. Here is hoping it is good enough for someone to bite on.

If you want a copy, I will be happy to send you one (spiral bound) for $15 plus $5 shipping and handling. If after reading the book you are dissatisfied for any reason, you can return the book for a refund of the purchase price-no questions asked. Just click the Buy Beginnings button below to order through PayPal.

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