Here's some food for thought regarding theological truth that I recently passed on to a friend...
The American church emphasizes practical teaching and training to the point that it undervalues the importance and significance of truth for its own sake. What I mean is that there are many profound theological truths that do not immediately translate, upon brief reflection, into practical ministry use. For this very reason, many American pulpits are incredibly shallow. Some truths take a long time to grasp, but as they dawn upon the human heart and take hold of the believer’s consciousness and conscience, they transform the person’s worldview to the point where they will never see many aspects of God and life the same again. The ultimate significance and usefulness of a theological truth is not always immediately apparent, especially to the untrained mind. Furthermore, the building of a comprehensive, cohesive biblical worldview requires the construction of many lesser truths, which only later begin to reveal their importance as they interconnect to provide greater overall insight and understanding. Therefore, I would be very hesitant to embrace the lure of wanting everything you learn to seem immediately important, relevant, and practically useful. It is important to learn why the church historically has thought many doctrines and truths were (and still are) important.
3 comments:
Well said, P.Bruce. The fast pace of the world we live in lends itself toward pragmatism at all levels. Thanks for calling us to take time to think on truth for its own sake.
Absolutely. And this is particularly appropos at this time of year, when a focus on the Incarnation and what it reveals about the nature of God, is of little practical use but extraordinarly valuable to the heart. . . sometimes we need to experience the beauty of the Gospel, for its own sake and not for what we might get out of it.
I second Nik's comment - well said! When I go deep with people, many of them find conflicts in their theological views they would rather not deal with, and then defend it by saying it doesn't affect their Christian walk ... well, you've articulated the counter-argument very well. Thank you!
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