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Christian Doctrine

Ok, so this post may end up being one of those blogs that is more a non-sensical rambling than an actual post.  First I must state this disclaimer that I am in no way attacking the belief system of any particular group of believers for their doctrine, nor am I confessing any particular belief from a doctrinal perspective that would allow people to lump me into a particular group (i.e. Arminist vs. Calvinist - just as an example!)  Most people who know me already know where I stand on those issues but as I listen to God through study and prayer, I find that I am continually thinking through situations and areas of my life where the things I may have thought any issues dealing with God's stance on the subject were settled, are not always so and I begin to work through them again.  Seeking God in those circumstances is important so that I can know how to deal with them.  Yet, I am wondering if the 'knowing' part of that is not what God wants me to get out of all of this.  In our yearning to draw closer to God and follow His will and plans for our lives, we sometimes get lost along the way in the scholastic pursuit of 'knowing' what we think God is saying to us.  I wonder if we spend so much time trying to 'know' that we miss what God says!?  For instance, and for my Calvinist friends please do not take this as an attack on your beliefs or that I am trying to start a deep, theological debate with you on TULIP, I'm not.  This is just something I have been pondering thanks to my Christian Doctrine II class and my great friend D-Bo who is a Reformed believer.  I saw a post today that stated that God would be weak if we are able to reject his power to save us.  While I think God is Awesome, Almighty, and very Powerful, I am not sure I believe that God saves us through His power but through His love.  I have a hard time with Irresistible Grace because God allows us to resist many things and even through Paul teaches that we must learn to resist temptation.  We talk of how powerful God is and equate that idea with His saving us, yet we also use the analogy of God as our Father and I myself being a father know that my children often resist my will and plans for them!  Now don't get me wrong, I am not equating my ability as a father and God's ability as our Father as the same.  That's not even possible!  But I do believe that God LOVED us so much that He sent His Son to sacrifice Himself to the point of death on a cross so that everyone would have the decision to make as to whether or not to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior.  The onus of rejecting God then is not about whether He is 'powerful' enough or not to 'make' us accept Him but on us to be so callous and cold and un-loving that we would reject someone giving up their life for us so that we could enjoy the life He has planned for us.  Some would say I am adding then adding guilt into the equation and that one cannot truly love God if one is guilted into a relationship with Him but I wonder how much one can truly love God if they have no choice but to follow Him!  I am not declaring a stance or doctrinal belief on this yet, but these are just some of the questions I am working through.  I am pretty sure that I will be working through them for the rest of the time I am on the Earth and/or until Jesus returns.  I wholeheartedly agree that the pursuit of Doctrine and knowing what you believe when it comes to God is important but I often wonder if the quest to know becomes a priority over the quest to love God and spend time with Him.  John Piper has labeled himself a Christian Hedonist and I have read his book Desiring God.  It is a great book and I would recommend it for anyone wishing to seek a deeper relationship with God.  But I would only suggest you read it!  Then seek God out in your own way, whatever that may look like and desire to gain knowledge from Him.  Piper's desiring God in a more intimate way is just that, him (Piper) seeking to get closer to God for himself, not everyone else and especially not readers of the book.  I know it has started a whole group of people who are now 'Christian Hedonists' and that's fine.  We believers of God are funny.  We claim all these confessions and doctrines and adhere to the Canonical state of the Bible as being the true and closed Word of God.  Then we read and write a thousand other books on the topics we deal with and ideas we have and doctrines we believe, all the time giving them credence and value as if they were the word of God just as the Bible.  If I was a non-believer I would be confused and un-interested in God and the Church also.  I don't know that anything I have said makes much sense and I really could care less if you are a follower of Arminius or Calvin, a Methodist, Presbyterian, Reformed, Quaker or whatever.  I 'know' very little about God with the exception that He created me and He loves me and He has put people in my life that love me and that I should love.  He wants the best for me and desires that I stop and listen to Him because His plan is perfect and better than mine.  It doesn't matter what I know about Him as much as it is that I 'know' Him and follow Him and not my knowledge of Him.  Have a great day....God loves you!
Till next time....more Him, less me!

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