Being Defeated by Error

Often we are defeated by error because we avoid it too greatly. We see an error and over reach and now we are in an unbalanced position because we have moved too far from the error and our now out of balance.

You see this in many churches which perceive an issue in culture, where the church swings in opposition to the culture into a position far stronger than the Bible takes. They of course see themselves as adhering the Bible, but often the movement is too severe.

In many circles there is a mild gnosticism related to many aspects of life which is stronger than the biblical teachings on issues. The concern for being separate from the world can often push the church into a mild legalism which is not affirmed by scripture.

Scripture often offers liberty on many viewpoints which many modern churches do not allow liberty on. Often the liberty infringed upon in these churches is more subtle.

You know what the church thinks of those who would have liberty on the issue. It creates a great awkwardness in the church.

In leadership of the church it often causes many of the more spiritual infants of the church to be pushed into leadership. These Christians lack the spiritual growth to understand what liberty is and thus live in a very simple way which no one can question.

Of course they also often lack an active faith. Often the church values the faith of those who are too afraid of sin to act in the world over those who desire to both act in the world and avoid sin.

The Crowd and Originality

Society always moves as a unit. Each generation views itself as original and well thought.

Each generation is original but it has no understanding of itself. C.S. Lewis spoke of the need of reading old books.

It is not that there are no errors in old books, but the errors of that day are different than our day.

The church almost always has a simplistic critic of its age. There are the hot button issues which occur in society which the church faces but only touch the surface.

But the reality of today is the most important issues the church should face are those in the church. Where is the concern for the poor in the church and were the concern for the oppressed?

Many people fled from conservative churches to find the teachings of social justice that Jesus expounds in the liberal church. But here the gospel of life and death which is of even greater importance is lost.

Error in the church is always like this it is a simplification of scripture. Scripture is always more complex then error.

All the early heresies were oversimplifications of the reality. Almost all errors are either a conscious or unconscious redaction of the truth.

The reality is the truth is more complex, more deep, more real, and more satisfying that the error.

The bible starts with in the beginning “God.” God is here and he has a word for us.

It ends with a warning to add nothing or take nothing away. In the midst of the two bookmarks is a richness which is deeper than any of us can understand.

The truth is beautiful and error in the church almost always an oversimplification of the truth.

The church isn’t impoverished because we have too much to say. We have not too much to say but too little.

If we said all that could be said we would not have the issues we have.

Post on Lewis and Human Progress

Theology shaped by Ethics

A lot of time you meet people and discuss theology with them. You start to wonder why their theology looks so strange and bizarre.

It seems inexplicable at times the vantage points that people hold together. Often times after a while it starts to make sense.

The reality is that a lot of people simply wish to hold on to something. Or they do not wish to comes to terms with some great mistake in the past.

Now they shape their theology around their life choices. The bible would clearly point out their error, but to listen is painful.

The easy path is simply to do some logical hoops and to adjust their theology around their life rather than adjust their life to the teaching of God.

The bible meets us where we are. This is said a lot and it is true. But the flip side is that God now wants to take us on a journey to become a new person.

It seems frightful in a way at first how much God wants to mess with our lives. But the reality is that God actually knows who we are and who we were intended to be.

People spend a lot of time a psychologists many of these people offer great advice. But the reality is the truly great psycologist who can heal the souls of men is God if we will have faith in the life and work of his son Jesus.

God the Same through Eternity

Winston Churchill "To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often."

Hopefully the error in this quote is obvious immediately to Christians. God is the ultimate standard of perfection.

He is the same through out all eternity. All human wisdom must be measured against the bible.

While change often has value in a fallen world – it cannot be absolutized as an absolute good.

Some statements seem true when we look at them in isolation. However once we compare them to the truth of the bible we see their error.

To change does not imply perfection. Actually it was man's first change of state which lead to his state of sin in the world.