Pieces in Understanding Something of God

Recent experiences make me think.

 As I think we all know, the concept of truth is constantly debated in our society, and perhaps nowhere is this more intensely the case than when Christianity collides with culture.  At this point the conversations become pretty intense.  Somewhere between the Christian who says, “The Bible says it, and I believe it, and that settles it,” which says virtually nothing to the person who doesn’t believe God has revealed Himself in the words of the Bible, and the non-Christian who says, “There is no such thing as truth,” lies a place for conversation about truth.

As a Christian (please don’t ignore this context and presupposition for my comments), there are two things that seem to me most crucial to keep in mind:  1) because we believe the God we believe in is real, everything hinges on His existence.  If the God of traditional Christianity is a mythical concept used to explain some element of our experience, and not real, then Christianity is simply not true in the sense of fitting with that which is really the case.  If the Christian God is not the sole Creator; if He did not choose a people for Himself; if He did not reveal Himself to Israel; if He did not speak through the prophets; if He did not become incarnate in Christ, so that God Himself became a human being; if He did not send His Spirit to be with those who believe in Jesus as Messiah; if God does not consider those who comprise the church to be His special children; if God does not care whether human beings acknowledge Him as Lord or not;  if God did not inspire in some way the writings we have in the Bible, then we need to openly acknowledge that Christianity is a human invention and not true or representative of truth.  If we do not continue to hold these things as truth, we can call ourselves many things, but we cannot accurately call ourselves Christians in the sense of traditional, historic Christianity, because we have decided that we no longer believe the things that make Christianity what it is. 2) I know of no other way for us to know what we know about God apart from what He has revealed about Himself in historical deeds (often in the ancient past in dealing with Israel, but also in the Christian era), by being with and leading human beings spiritually, by speaking to human beings, by becoming incarnate specifically in the person of Jesus Christ, by indwelling Christians with His Holy Spirit, and by revealing much about Himself and His will for humankind in the teachings of His followers, especially as these are recorded in the pages of the Bible.

I know this is not all that needs to be said about truth, but, if we stand apart from these two basic ideas about His will for humankind, my impression is that we land in a place where ultimately nothing can really be known about the Christian God.  Apart from these two basic ideas, whatever we come up with are at best educated guesses, or theories, or reflections of ourselves in the mirror with no inherent authority regarding what is real.  They are not far from being just speculative opinions or hopeful wishes, with any claim to being authoritative truth being just as valid as any other, meaning that ultimately none are authoritative.  Certainly, if the above two basic principles are not really true, then the twelve non-negotiables that comprise our What We Believe Statement are meaningless, being grounded ultimately in our whims.

When Nuances are Ignored

I occasionally hear someone remark about how much they admire another because the one they admire is so clear, so black and white when it comes to what they believe.  It is as if being crystal clear about what you believe somehow compensates for the deficiencies that exist in the reasons for your belief.  This doesn't work for me.  I don't see much value in speaking or writing for the sake of clarity as if an issue is as clear as black and white, when what is clear is that there really are gray areas to be reflected upon. We can ignore the subtle inconsistencies or deficiencies in an opinion if we wish, or act as though there is a strong yes or no on every issue, but I am not sure it really helps anyone in the name of clarity and with great passion to be less than accurate.  On many important issues there are subtle differences in ways of thinking or not easily seen evidence that make huge differences.  And I find that often people on either side of an issue can end up being the ones unable to recognize subtle differences, or they just ignore them in the name of passion.  My dictionary says that nuance is a noun, not  a verb.  At the very least we should be able to use it as a gerund - nuancing!  We have trouble with nuancing, or making fine distinctions or differentiations or in recognizing subtle variations that distinguish between two similar things.

Now, before someone insists that there is something worse than recognizing gray areas:  making no decision at all or having no opinion, I get that.  But lumping together different perspectives and ignoring slight differences just because it is easier or takes less effort to paint with a broad brush often ultimately causes more problems than stopping to consider the nuances.  You can paint a repaired fender with paint that is only one small tone different in colour from the original, and in some lights it will look just fine.  But the car is going to be moved and different angles of light will eventually show the difference.  Then it just looks like a bad paint job.

The issue I am thinking of today has to do with theological opinions.  Christians often have trouble nuancing when it comes to doctrinal matters, and those who criticize Christians and Christianity tend to lump together anyone who believes, as if a right-winged Calvinist Fundamentalist is the same as a believing educated Methodist professor at Duke.  Options available today regarding how one views the Bible, the concept of revelation, what the church should look like, the ways in which God deals with sin, or how Christians should interact with their world are myriad.  Lumping together someone who believes the Bible with someone else who believes the Bible may be a total mismatch.  Our passions about various issues shouldn't cause us to over look the differences, or we will end up making big mistakes about where people stand on all kinds of very important issues, causing us to respond in ways that simply do not fit, or that are quite unhelpful and unproductive in the long run.