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.
No comments:
Post a Comment