What does JESUS want?

[Arjy]

[Fea_Istra]

Arjy,
I'm surprised to see your post because I've been thinking about the exact same thing yesterday. I realized that for the last couple of weeks, I've been spending more time thinking about God than praying or just being with Him. This has even affected how I interact with other people. I've been examining my beliefs, researching, discussing theology, etc, and even though I think these are really important things (I've even had some discussions on this forum, and they have helped me think about new ideas), what really matters is how we live. Instead of glorifying God by showing His light to others, I've been worrying about myself. It's very true that we can't serve God without the Holy Spirit, and when we are focused on ourselves we're not letting Him work in us. I think we learn more about God by simply following Him and being with Him, than by reading theology books and trying to figure out His ways (not to undermine these things..). Thanks for pointing this out :)

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that the most important things are ..loving God, loving others, and living by faith in Christ. Tradition can be a very good thing if used correctly, but it's very easy to get carried away and make it into a god, like the Pharisees in the Bible. But if we put God first and trust Him, He would make our paths straight. Proverbs 3:6

[ArdenZ]

This is why I don't really involve myself in religious and theological discussions much anymore. I used to until reading the book of 2 Timothy when I came across verses 23-26 of Chapter Two. Verse 25 says to "correct those who are in opposition", but 23 says to avoid foolish disputes. I realized I was wasting too much time trying to 'defend my faith' rather than leading those around me who are lost and hurting to Christ. I still study different aspects of Christianity and theology, sure, but most debates out there are useless as they leave most everyone involved where they started; no one goes anywhere and, most importantly, God's Kingdom is not furthered by them.

[chad]

[rusmeister]

[ArdenZ]

[Barbara]

[Fea_Istra]

Chad and Rusmeister, your replies really made me think.

I think that...there are two opposite errors that we can make. On one hand, we can (very easily) focus on dogma so much that we think we are following God just because we agree with it and defend it. For it is much harder to follow God's commands, and easy to talk about Him.

The other error is when we recognize the possible danger of dogma, but instead of realizing that everything good could be corrupted, we start disliking it and seeing it as dangerous in itself. I imagine that this might be a reactionary error - in reaction to the former one.

I do believe that the most important thing is following God and loving Him and others. It seems to me that the latter type of people are maybe closer to God than the former type. God doesn't just save the intellectuals We learn more about God by being with Him than by reading theology books, but of course as Chad said our minds are also redeemeable. There needs to be a balance.

Barbara, amen to that! :)

Jesus does redeem the whole person, mind included, but the only way to be redeemed is to trust and obey Him.

[rusmeister]

There are numerous opposing errors that we can fall into (ie, not only two).

I quite agree with the ones that you describe.

I don't think anything I said could be construed to deliver the ideas that intellectual activity about God should replace communion with God, or that God saves only intellectuals - certainly it is indefensible. Of course, defense of dogma does not necessarily interfere with seeking God or living the Christian life any more than the latter necessarily interferes with the former.

[Arjy]

[ArdenZ]

[chad]

I still think that scripture points to the essential part the mind plays in spirituality and in obedience to Christ. I don't mean to say that the more intelligent or scholarly you are the better prepared you are to be saved. But what I am saying is that we all must have minds actively engaged in the truth, whatever our capacity for such a practice may be. The mind must conceptualize, must contemplate, must distinguish and synthesize the world in which we live in order to have a meaningful concept of who God is and who we are and what is our fundamental relationship to Him. Without intentional rational inquiry about the nature of reality, religion has no proper object and becomes mere sentimentality or something else more grotesque.

The mind is in service to the task of obedience to Christ, but its hierarchical subordination does not mean that the greater can do without the lesser. A king needs his subordinates to rule effectively.

While I understand the frustration of endless rambling over the finer points of theology and the personal affronts that commonly ensue, and also understanding that not everyone has been given a generous capacity for intellectual pursuits, I still see that the mind is essential and cannot be replaced.

I believe we may often use our mind a lot more than we realize. There is a whole lot of philosophy packed into the belief that God is one substance, three persons, eternal, self-sufficient, omnipresent and omniscient, transcendent yet immanent in His creation, essentially good, become man in Jesus and died for the forgiveness of sins, risen in glory, etc.... Just because one is not an academically trained philosopher or theologian does not mean he/she is unable to engage reality on an intelligent and critical level.

When one begins to think in terms of EITHER obedience OR getting distracted by the wayside to discuss or contemplate theology, one has immediately fallen into an conceptual error and the consequence must be a lop-sided Christianity. One must embrace the mind with all its limitations and do with it what one can in service of Jesus Christ.

[Fea_Istra]

[chad]

Today I remembered a conversation I had with an English friend of mine. I was introducing him to the WWJD fad in America, he had never heard of it. His immediate response was, "That doesn't make any sense. It should be 'What would Jesus want me to do?' but that doesn't sound as catchy: WWJWMTD."