Me and Jesus
I'm reading the newest offering of Adrian Plass. That man never fails to speak to me. Here's some of what touched me.
John Ortberg, in the forward, writes of a George MacDonald book Thomas Wingfold, Curate, where the main character comes to a crisis of doubt in his faith: "He is not yet convinced that Christianity is true in the way he wants to be convinced; but he is sure that Jesus is the only game in town."
On testimony books: "They have their place, but they do not meet the need of ordinary struggling Christians to understand that they can be part of the glory of God's work in this world despite the fac t that their faith and their feelings are untidy and inconsistent and will probably remain like that until the grave."
On people's stories: "My exprience has been that people learn more about this strange thing called 'following Jesus' from stories about what actually happens than they ever will from theory."
On his faith as a child and child-like faith: "Do I still have that implicit trust in the same innocently optimistic way? No. Yes. Sometimes. Absolutely without question. Not in the slightest. Only on Thursdays.
"I am working toward being the child Jesus wants me to be, and he is helping. I lift my arms towards my Father in heaven and ask him to put his arms round what I am, not what I ought to be. What else can I do?"
This is essentially why I can never fit into the victory to victory type churches. They strike me as profoundly dishonest. Truth is defined as something that you believe despite evidence to the contrary. Reality cannot be embraced because Truth is seen as something different than reality.
Tried it. Integrity wouldn't let me stay.
Psalm 139
John Ortberg, in the forward, writes of a George MacDonald book Thomas Wingfold, Curate, where the main character comes to a crisis of doubt in his faith: "He is not yet convinced that Christianity is true in the way he wants to be convinced; but he is sure that Jesus is the only game in town."
On testimony books: "They have their place, but they do not meet the need of ordinary struggling Christians to understand that they can be part of the glory of God's work in this world despite the fac t that their faith and their feelings are untidy and inconsistent and will probably remain like that until the grave."
On people's stories: "My exprience has been that people learn more about this strange thing called 'following Jesus' from stories about what actually happens than they ever will from theory."
On his faith as a child and child-like faith: "Do I still have that implicit trust in the same innocently optimistic way? No. Yes. Sometimes. Absolutely without question. Not in the slightest. Only on Thursdays.
"I am working toward being the child Jesus wants me to be, and he is helping. I lift my arms towards my Father in heaven and ask him to put his arms round what I am, not what I ought to be. What else can I do?"
This is essentially why I can never fit into the victory to victory type churches. They strike me as profoundly dishonest. Truth is defined as something that you believe despite evidence to the contrary. Reality cannot be embraced because Truth is seen as something different than reality.
Tried it. Integrity wouldn't let me stay.
Psalm 139
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, [a] you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,"
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
posted by Jude | 5:42 PM
2 Comments:
I've been rummaging through Schaeffer (just finished one book and am devouring the next) looking for a good quote about living consistently with both reality (that which is) and the logical ends of one's philosophy. Unfortunately, though he covers the topic in a fairly thorough way, he never does seem to encapsulate it in just such a convenient fashion.
Point is: he would state, and I agree, that historic Christianity is not about a 'leap of faith', but rather is based on verifiable facts which can be discussed.
He also has some great points about the Bible being a true communication (truth in verbalized form), but not an exhaustive one. I mean, really, how can you communicate the fullness of an infinite God in a book? Or even in the life of a human being? He suggests that we, being finite, will never have ALL the truth of who God is, but we can have truth.
(You have GOT to read this stuff!)
Whatever floats your boat!!!!
;)
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