Photo by: Jason
Could it be possible that the God of the Bible demands of us what we cannot do, intervenes to rescue some of us, and then condemns the rest to suffer forever for not doing what they never had the ability to do?
More specifically, when the Bible tells us that we are born “dead in sin” (i.e. Rom 5:12; Eph 2:1), does that mean that we cannot respond to God any more than a dead corpse can ask for help, and that our only hope to avoid eternal conscious torment is for God to take the initiative to regenerate us, causing us to believe?
I don’t doubt that this is a logical conclusion, if we have the right assumptions. But there are different points of view that reach different logical conclusions– by embracing different assumptions about what the Bible means.
What I’m really wondering is whether these are the kind of logical conclusions that the Apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote to a young Timothy saying, “You have heard me teach many things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Teach these great truths to trustworthy people who are able to pass them on to others” (2Tim 2:2 NLT).
Is it the debatable and divisive logic of alternative theological/philosophical systems that we need to entrust to the next generation? Is our calling to come up with logical conclusions that clear up the mysteries of the Bible, creation, salvation, personal suffering, and eternal judgment?
Or are we called upon to be witnesses of a God who has loved us enough to sacrifice his Son to die “for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1John 2:2)?
As time has gone on, I find that my confidence in the Bible as the God-breathed revelation of God, and of my own heart, has only grown. Never before have I been so convinced that Jesus is who he claimed to be– God among us, and that he has come to reveal the heart of his Father, and to rescue us from our fallen condition.
Yet, never before have I also wanted so much to back away from those logical conclusions that might bear the baggage of what I have taken for granted– without knowing. Never before have I wanted so much to see– and to loosen my grip on– those assumptions that say more about what I don’t know… than about those matters that most of us would agree God has clearly revealed.
The Way Dominoes Fall
P.S. Now that this post has been up for a few hours, and no one has commented about the picture of the dominoes, take another look.
I’ll admit that I didn’t see my own wrong assumptions about it– and therefore the logical problem it pictures… when I chose it earlier this morning.
Once you see the wrong assumption, see if you can then add another assumption that would make the first (Philadelphia) picture “logical”.
(+29 rating, 29 votes)
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