Friday, May 14, 2010

Life

I'm taking a little break from my thoughts on the pursuit of rightness to write a little update on our lives. Our internship was supposed to end on May 15th. Our original plans were to leave Salem on the 16th, spend a few days with my sister in Medford, go to Oklahoma for a bit, head up to Austin, MN for a wedding, and then come see my parents in Warroad, MN. From there we would figure out what to do next. That all changed last week when we found out my grandpa had cancer. They found out last week and it progressed very quickly. We left last Sunday in hopes of making it back in time to say goodbye. We were less than an hour away when we got the call that he had passed away. We've spent the last few days helping my parents out around the house as they spend time with family, making funeral arrangements. It's been hard on everyone because it happened so fast. My grandpa was an amazing man who loved Jesus very much. He will be missed.


His funeral is on Sunday. We plan on spending another week or so in Warroad before we go down to Austin for the wedding. Hopefully we will get a trip to Oklahoma in as well. The next few weeks will be busy for us as we travel, finish up internship homework, look for a new car (ours went down to 3 cylinders on our way out here), and figure out what the next step in this journey is going to look like.

Sunday, May 02, 2010

A Defining Moment

I do not want anyone to mistake what I am saying about the pursuit of rightness as the pursuit of truth. I think there is a difference between seeking truth and seeking everyone’s approval of my opinions. Before I go further into this, let me first make a little disclaimer…although I have been thinking through these ideas lately, I am still thinking. These are not my final conclusions on this subject...just where I am at now.


Truth. When I refer to truth, essentially I am referring to God. God is truth. God has revealed himself to us in the Bible, thus revealing truth to us in the Bible. I believe the clearest revelation of God (and once again, the clearest revelation of truth) is found in Jesus. Because Jesus is the clearest revelation of God, everything we read in the Bible should be read through the life of Jesus. I also believe that God has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit which helps us to (among other things) interpret Scripture.


The Pursuit of Truth = Seeking to know God more fully everyday.


Rightness. Now, this is no dictionary definition of the term, but rather what I am referring to when I use it (same goes for the above “definition” of truth). Rightness is the assumption that all my opinions, ideas, interpretations, etc are the only “right” way of viewing things. It is the arrogance that my understanding of Scripture is superior to your understanding. Yes, we have the Holy Spirit to guide us in this process, but is one way of understanding right while the other is wrong, or does the Holy Spirit guide us into different understandings?


The Pursuit of Rightness = Seeking my interpretations to be superior to all others.


Let me close with this…Arminians and Calvinists disagree on the interpretation of many different passages of Scripture leading to two very different (if you stick with the strictest of each branch) views of God. Is one right? Is one wrong? Is one guided by the Holy Spirit while the other is lacking? Or, has the Holy Spirit guided each of these two branches into two different understandings of Scripture? If the latter option is true, then how else may the Holy Spirit guide different groups in different understandings of Scripture? If this is the case, does this nullify God and the pursuit of truth or our arrogance in the pursuit of rightness?


In my pursuit of truth I am throwing off the pursuit of rightness in favor of asking more questions.