A Phrase I Cannot Accept
Since this is a forum and not a pulpit - and since I am a human being more than I am a pastor, I want to admit something potentially controversial about the whole realm of faith. And I want to do it because I also think it's healthy. I have such a hard time with the phrase "God told me so" that I think I'm at the place where I can no longer accept it carte blanche.
Does God speak to us? I'm sure He does. Does that extend into the realm of things where we would need to say, "God told me so" in order to get our ideas accepted? I'm not so sure. It's untestable. It's unprovable. It can't be questioned. I'm not sure any human being can be trusted to self-police such an important thing as that. It effectively puts you beyond the realm of question.
It's such a subtle, delicate thing to pick between the thoughts that come from us and the thoughts that might not. True, I believe I have been impacted. In Christianity, my faith comes in large part from the fact that I have stared deeply into this thing and found NOT what I WANTED to see, but something better than I could have wanted. I have seen more than what I could have put there. But still - it's such a subtle, delicate thing.
The force of our own voice, the complexity of layers in our own mind, can we really pick through these things well enough to be able to say to someone else: "God told me so. Don't ask questions. Don't wonder about it. He told me. It's all you need to know. Just trust ME."
To be able to say all that, one also has to be able to hold their entire human fallenness and subtlety in check, alone, unquestioned. And all THAT is akin to saying you can hold a hurricane in one hand and thread a needle with the other.
Why can't we share our impressions as impressions? The idea of a church of many includes a principle that together, we can all hear more of God than any one of us can alone. We may very well NEED each other to be able to pick through the maze of our own thinking. How do I know? I think God told me so.
Does God speak to us? I'm sure He does. Does that extend into the realm of things where we would need to say, "God told me so" in order to get our ideas accepted? I'm not so sure. It's untestable. It's unprovable. It can't be questioned. I'm not sure any human being can be trusted to self-police such an important thing as that. It effectively puts you beyond the realm of question.
It's such a subtle, delicate thing to pick between the thoughts that come from us and the thoughts that might not. True, I believe I have been impacted. In Christianity, my faith comes in large part from the fact that I have stared deeply into this thing and found NOT what I WANTED to see, but something better than I could have wanted. I have seen more than what I could have put there. But still - it's such a subtle, delicate thing.
The force of our own voice, the complexity of layers in our own mind, can we really pick through these things well enough to be able to say to someone else: "God told me so. Don't ask questions. Don't wonder about it. He told me. It's all you need to know. Just trust ME."
To be able to say all that, one also has to be able to hold their entire human fallenness and subtlety in check, alone, unquestioned. And all THAT is akin to saying you can hold a hurricane in one hand and thread a needle with the other.
Why can't we share our impressions as impressions? The idea of a church of many includes a principle that together, we can all hear more of God than any one of us can alone. We may very well NEED each other to be able to pick through the maze of our own thinking. How do I know? I think God told me so.
posted by CSW at
11:11 AM
5 Comments:
C.S, maybe when I finally make sense of the hundreds of pages in the Bible I will be able to move on to the "other voices"-but for now-like you-I could go without the phrase for awhile
Baby steps
Justin
By
Anonymous, at 11:15 PM
I hate it....It's the trump card. Phil was right by says "there is no rebuttal"... (similar to the: 'you have bad character' that was thrown out there a particular church several times.... but that is a different story)
I saw it's abuses in an independent church in southern Edmonton that I was helping out in 5 years ago. The direction of the church would be shifted to and fro based on what 'God told the pastor', and what he then told the church. It got stranger when 'God' would change his mind on things...
It really comes down to insecurities at times. It is often used as the 'trump card' when our insecurities clash with our own desires, and we can't present it as just that. If we were secure enough to admit we might have got it wrong at times, or secure enough to listen to the critique of others, maybe we wouldn't need to build this paper thin wall that is only convincing us of the security it brings.
By
Anonymous, at 3:08 AM
zing zing CS.
Just like Rob Bell explains in Velvet Elvis:
" As long as you teach my version of the Bible, I'll have no problem with you."
" Somebody somewhere has to decide what it means to love your neighbor, and someone somewhere has to decide what it means to observe the Sabbath and keep it holy."
- which is sorta related to the topic- in the way that it is how people can use the Bible for their own ends- like slavery. Which is how we can also use/ abuse a pulpit.
He also mentions the group idea like you in your last paragraph. Totally. I wonder why small groups have 'taken off' so well in the last few years.
no I did not research the subject so I could post- I just happen to be reading the book. really. Is this post even coherent? It makes sense to me, but I think only because I am cixelsyd.
By
Anonymous, at 8:01 PM
I like that. And it is coherent. And I think you have something that runs far deeper that dyslexia.
By
CSW, at 9:28 PM
wow, zing zing CS. You should be a mathematician! You solved the great word puzzle! You can come to Edmonton to pick up your prize.
By
Anonymous, at 11:44 PM
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