Foreword (for a planned book to write)
Why would anyone want to write a book on controversial essays? Like most people, I want to be liked. When you say something out of the norm, you open yourself up to criticism. And I don’t like to be criticized. I tend to take it personally. You may say you still like me, but I still feel diminished in your eyes.
So why still do it? Because these are things that just need to be talked about. The reasons I offer may not apply equally to every essay, and I will not break down what reasons apply to which essay.
And why do they need to be talked about?
The simplest reason is that too often we believe things for the wrong reasons.
I grew up in a Lutheran Church
I remember the last time I went to my church. I was in a class, and I questioned something that was being taught. The teacher noted how it was great that I was going to a Bible school and learning new things, but the Lutheran Church
I was thinking later about this and the schools that denominations support and the schools that train the future church leaders. Many of these schools (Maybe most, maybe all, I haven’t really checked.) have clearly defined statements of faith or doctrinal positions that often go far beyond the basics of Christian orthodoxy, like the Apostle’s Creed.
When a student enrolls in one of these schools, they don’t have the educational background, experience, or the academic tools needed to decide beforehand if the school’s position is what they really would believe if they had had all this information prior to enrolling.
For example, there are at least four major schools of interpretation on eschatology: postmillennialism, amillenialism, premillenialism, and preterism. And there are variations for all of these. When a school tells a prospective student upfront that they hold to a particular position, the student lacks the tools to make an informed decision. That is one of the reasons they are going to school in the first place.
When they get to the school, they may find that all the evidence is weighted in favor of the chosen position, and no real debate or discussion is encouraged, expected, or even permitted. The student may find that if they adopt and vocally assert a different position, their future at that school may be jeopardized, as well as the hope of a favorable recommendation for something further.
So you have students who don’t really know what they believe apart from what they have always been taught going to schools that hold the same positions and discouraging any thought deviating from that position with the goal that they will graduate and continue holding those same beliefs.
Now I am a conservative Christian. I believe that Christianity is the one true religion; Jesus is the Son of God, fully God and fully man; and the Bible is the Word of God, historically true and accurate in its historical accounts and inerrant in the original documents.
Yet when theologians try to write systematic theologies of what the Bible teaches, the volumes extend to hundreds and hundreds of pages, and you find that there are many ways to understand many different doctrines of the Bible. You can’t read a commentary on the Greek or Hebrew texts of Scripture without being aware of the multitude of possible interpretations of almost every passage of the Bible.
This may discourage some people, but it really shouldn’t. The message of the Bible doesn’t hang on the minutiae but the bigger picture. But those who really want to know and understand the Bible will find the task challenging. The fact that there are so many denominations and sects should alert someone immediately that interpretation is not always an easy task.
I don’t think the goal of the Bible is to give us exact and complete information on every matter and issue of life and reality, but to show God to us and bring us into a relationship with Him. It shows us what God is like and how we can and should live in light of that. God is more concerned about the kind of person we are in our character, but even more importantly in our relationship with Him. Do we know Him? Do we trust Him? Do we love Him? Do we obey Him?
Having said this, what we believe is important, because we relate to God out of what we believe. And our beliefs come from the statements of the Bible, rightly interpreted. Or should. Many times our experiences don’t match what we think they should, based on our understanding of the Bible. What do we do then? We may interpret the Bible based on our experience, or we may use the Bible to interpret our experiences.
Both tasks require caution and patience. The meaning we are trying to put on an experience or a Bible passage may require the distance of time to see it clearly.
After high school, I went to a good Bible school. Because of what I learned there, I left my Lutheran Church
After I graduated from the Bible school and had gained some of the tools I needed to do theological studies, I set aside the things I had been taught and started from scratch, so to speak. I wanted to know what I believed, or should believe, not because this is what I have always been taught, but because I really believed it to be true and the best expression of the evidence.
Now I find that I can not go back to that same school to teach. I cannot say that I agree or can support in the classroom some of the positions that that school has taken. That school over the years has more narrowly defined their theological positions than what its founders had. I am not saying that I believe the school is wrong. I am just saying that I have enough reason to believe that I can’t say with certainty that they are right. Too many pieces don’t seem to fit into their clearly organized system.
Now that I feel more theologically capable, what group or school or church do I feel most accurately reflects my convictions and beliefs? I have no idea. But then again, I don’t feel it is important or necessary to associate or affiliate with only those who agree with me on everything. I know that is impossible and probably undesirable as well.
Everybody is unique and precious in the sight of God. Agreement is not what is needed, but love and a passion for God, the truth, growth, and learning.
Wouldn’t we all become more and more alike if we are all searching for the truth? I wish it were that easy. Too many influences factor into our learning experiences, and there are just too many things to learn in life to think that we should all think more alike as we get older.
Another reason for writing a book of controversial essays is to raise questions about matters that may require a fresh look. Jesus found this to be the case when He was on earth. The religious leaders had everything figured out. They had rules for everything. Rules are not to be arbitrary dictates from some moral or religious leader, but descriptions of reality as they understand it. Life is like this, so you must do this and not do that. Jesus came along and said that these were just all traditions of men and not words from God at all.
So too there are many things that are commonly taught and believed that, if we had to defend these beliefs in a court of law, our evidence would be too slim to convince a jury. The best we could offer is that this is the way we always did it, or believed. We might dismiss a contrary position, but we wouldn’t really know why.
Some people who promote controversy don’t really seek the common good. They just like to be contrarian. I have heard that applied to me as well. If you want to raise a contrary position on something, you really should ask whether this issue needs to be questioned. Does it really matter what you believe on this?
The issues raised in this book will not matter to everyone. And that’s alright. But these issues are all important. Obviously you can live your life without having clear answers on these, but I have no doubt that each of these matters can contribute to the overall wellbeing of each of us and the world we live in.
These are all issues that I have encountered in one form or another at some time in my life, and something just didn’t seem right. By asking questions and examining the reasons for the common positions I was hearing, I was no longer convinced that their truth was assured. That does not mean that in every case I have reached a conclusion on a preferable position. It just means I have enough reason to question the first position and enough reason to strongly suggest another. I ask God daily for the opportunity to take the time to reach more definitive conclusions on many of these subjects.
One reason that these issues don’t get many ‘fresh’ looks is that most are controversial. People don’t discuss them or don’t want to discuss them, because they usually have strong feelings about them and wouldn’t want to change their position, even if it could be shown to be wrong or uncertain. The fact is that few people have actually investigated these questions for themselves. They were either taught that these were settled issues, or they heard them taught without really examining the evidence.
Like I said, on most of these issues I cannot say that I have reached conclusions that matches all the evidence and answers all the critics. But there is enough evidence that most of us should agree that these issues are not as certain as we once thought they were.
Is this a good thing? Should we want more uncertainty in our lives? Most of us are looking for answers. We don’t want or need more questions. I agree. But what we should all want is truth. And truth is what knowledge is based on. And that is always a constant search for more information, right information.
Some of the suggestions that I make are clearly out of the mainstream. I know that even considering another way of thinking may damage my popularity with some people. But when I think of the alternative, not saying anything at all, I realize that I cannot do that. Whatever the cost.
As I get older, I feel increasingly compelled to do something with my life. I want my life to matter. I see more and more pain in the world, more and more things that need to be changed, things that surely must grieve God.
I ask God: what can I do? I am only one person. I can write. That doesn’t mean that anyone will read what I have written. But I offer what I have written as an offering to God. I realize that so much of the success of a book after it is written is out the hands of the author, particularly if there is no major promotional campaign. The Bible says that: Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it (Psalm 127:1).
A more accurate understanding of some theological doctrine will energize the Christian community to some extent. A better understanding of the nature of marriage can help an entire society become more stable and content. A
No comments:
Post a Comment