Although I posted two blogs last week, I have not posted a blog in the past three weeks that says much about what we’ve been doing. This will be the first of a four-part series in which I attempt to enlighten you to the happenings here in Mexico over that time period:
Three weeks ago, we had our week of exploration of Theology. The purpose of the week was to tear down walls of the boxes we place God in and realize how much bigger and greater He is than we can comprehend. It is only logical (an ironic choice of words, considering) that an infinite being would be beyond the comprehension (except, of course, for what He has chosen to reveal of Himself and His nature to us through His word and His creation) of our finite minds. As Psalm 86:10 says, “For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God“.
What the week required of us was to read a chapter of Across the Spectrum: Understanding Issues in Evangelical Theology every day that presented different views of certain topics, and then we had a two hour discussion of the information. The reading tended to take me two to three hours per night so needless to say, I had some late nights that week. We covered the topics of inerrancy vs. infallibility, Calvinism vs. Arminianism, the interpretation of Genesis 1, women in ministry, and hell as being eternal in punishment vs. eternal in consequence. Needless to say, these topics are pretty weighty and after a certain amount of time, it really does seem as though your brain implodes and turns to Jell-O. One of my favorite concepts from the week though is that, bearing in mind that theologies are produced by finite human minds, theology can be placed along a spectrum; generally, the truth is somewhere up above the spectrum in another dimension altogether. One passage that God continually brought to mind that week in order to help me maintain a healthy perspective was 1 Corinthians 3:18-20:
“Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness,’ and again, ‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.'”
I love Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s quote, “A God who let us prove his existence would be an idol“. I think that is fair to infer that a God who allowed us to completely understand his being would, too, be an idol. For me, I saw our goal come to fruition in my perspectives. My view of God has been greatly expanded, and it is leading to some other paradigm and attitude shifts. I can’t wait to see what the Lord continues to teach me now that I have given Him the freedom to teach me from His infinite greatness and not just within the box I had created for Him!
Kyle, I have been reading an older book by Philip Yancey, WERE IS GOD WHEN I HURT? which I knew about for 20 years, but never got around to reading. Interesting theology here too: Thank God for his great creative invention of pain. Has a chapter about lepers and how no pain means is the real reason for their disfiguration; they get no signals telling them how hard to hit, etc. Made me think and I’m eager to read more of the book, esp. in view of my recurrent ankle injuries and still being in constant pain. PWatkins, your past teacher, has also had his pain challenges with knee surgery in Japan, a mess-up on the spinal and thus back pain, and now he’s on crutches after cutting his heel, 5 stitches. Sigh!
Glad to hear from you and thanks for these updates. BWat