Quote V
Here's where I got this quote from: Warren Weirsbe:
If you get your theology from circumstances you'll come to the conclusion that God doesn't love you
How true, how true. If all we ever had to start with was the simple phrase 'God loves you' and the proceed to live life, I would think most of us, me included would come to the above quoted conclusion: God doesn't love me.
I'm still young and have a long way to go, yes. But I do have my fair share of disappointments with God, in terms of studies, ministry, love life (or the nonexistence of it), but also from interacting with friends, you do know that they are real hurts out there that make you wonder whether God actually loves all of us.
If our theology of suffering just came from what we see around us and let circumstances dictate what we understand about God, then it's true that it's easier to believe that God actually doesn't exist and Christianity is some kind of existentialist soul crutch.
But the fact is that there is a second part to the phrase "God loves me....for the Bible tells me so."
Now here comes the hard part. Who must we believe more, the Bible or circumstances? It actually isn't a question of faith, it's a question of authority, who has authority over us, Revelation or the Empirical? And it's not a matter of cerebral assent, as though living life just involved the brain. We are real people, and real people struggle and fall. Real people ask questions not because they want to write a investigative piece of journalism but because they are really hurt and the only way to express this hurt is through the question: Who can I believe, the Bible or Circumstance?
This question was asked over 3000 years ago by a man named Jeremiah. And he made this declaration: "God you have been exceedingly cruel to me.."
I really do, sometimes want to appropiate that for myself, but of course that's just childishness: My situation doesn't even compare to his.
I guess the point I want to make is that our theology being informed by the bible does not mean we treat the bible as a dusty library to which we reference for truth. If we really mean our theology is under the authority of the bible, we must see that this authority as the authority of a Living Spirit who actively invites us to do business with the real characters in the bible. I think why the bulk of the Bible is in story is because by reading it, the humanity of the characters there show us that despite circumstances, God is still in control, and because of that we can truly say: God loves me.
If you get your theology from circumstances you'll come to the conclusion that God doesn't love you
How true, how true. If all we ever had to start with was the simple phrase 'God loves you' and the proceed to live life, I would think most of us, me included would come to the above quoted conclusion: God doesn't love me.
I'm still young and have a long way to go, yes. But I do have my fair share of disappointments with God, in terms of studies, ministry, love life (or the nonexistence of it), but also from interacting with friends, you do know that they are real hurts out there that make you wonder whether God actually loves all of us.
If our theology of suffering just came from what we see around us and let circumstances dictate what we understand about God, then it's true that it's easier to believe that God actually doesn't exist and Christianity is some kind of existentialist soul crutch.
But the fact is that there is a second part to the phrase "God loves me....for the Bible tells me so."
Now here comes the hard part. Who must we believe more, the Bible or circumstances? It actually isn't a question of faith, it's a question of authority, who has authority over us, Revelation or the Empirical? And it's not a matter of cerebral assent, as though living life just involved the brain. We are real people, and real people struggle and fall. Real people ask questions not because they want to write a investigative piece of journalism but because they are really hurt and the only way to express this hurt is through the question: Who can I believe, the Bible or Circumstance?
This question was asked over 3000 years ago by a man named Jeremiah. And he made this declaration: "God you have been exceedingly cruel to me.."
I really do, sometimes want to appropiate that for myself, but of course that's just childishness: My situation doesn't even compare to his.
I guess the point I want to make is that our theology being informed by the bible does not mean we treat the bible as a dusty library to which we reference for truth. If we really mean our theology is under the authority of the bible, we must see that this authority as the authority of a Living Spirit who actively invites us to do business with the real characters in the bible. I think why the bulk of the Bible is in story is because by reading it, the humanity of the characters there show us that despite circumstances, God is still in control, and because of that we can truly say: God loves me.
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on Tuesday, May 03, 2005 at 11:06 PM.
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