Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. (1 Corinthians 3:18)
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: (1 Corinthians 1:27-28)
There is an air of Hubris in the church, that many fail to see and it is mainly found in those who are in the know theologically. Having had higher learning theologically is a blessing, but also a burden because of this, in that this higher learning tends to put the blinders on that we know it all. We don't. We all know in part, the whole counsel of God, and to think in systematic terms, whatever that system may be closes us off to seeing what other Brothers and Sisters in Christ see.
You see this hubris at work all over the forums we participate on, you see it in the denominations, you see it in the church hierarchies and membership requirements. You see it in eschatology particularly where one's system of understanding leads to one conclusion and to question that conclusion is seen as heretical by some. God is bigger than any of those systems, and it is hubris to think you can figure God out by using a human construct such as a theological system.
When I began to earnestly study scripture, I was full of those systems, dispensationalism, fundamentalism, Pre trib, etc. But with the leading of the Spirit, I Began to search for the truth, and not another system of understanding. I chose to Know nothing save Christ and Him Crucified, which later I came to see as form of Socratic ignorance, only Paul's version of this which in keeping Christ as the center, what I later called "Pauline Ignorance". It is from this point that the Holy Ghost can BEGIN to teach us, and not until then, the deep things of God. You see, there is a big difference between Socratic ignorance and Pauline ignorance.... Socratic ignorance is "ever learning while never arriving at the Truth", While Pauline ignorance helps us to arrive at the Truth.
Often times, it is the simple people God places in our lives that teach us the deepest truths of God, Not the well educated.... in fact, those well-educated ones often feed that hubris in us by giving us certainty of knowing devoid of divine revelation. My first experience with this, and coming to see this hubris was on the first Forum I commented on. There was one older person there who believed in some very strange eschatological positions (partial preterism), and he was a simple soul who had a hard time defending his positions, but you could see and know he was a faithful Christian. He was often and continually hounded by another person who had a great understanding of the biblical languages and often would oppose this person with long diatribes using Greek and Hebrew languages and His systematic understanding of Eschatology. Many times I myself sided with the latter because his views were more in line with my own systematic understanding. It was not until I started carefully listening to that simple man, that I began to see a truth that his viewpoint was presenting That was virtually devoid in my own systematic understanding, That being the second move of the Spirit in the believer. Now His views focus on this second move led to his preterist view of the rapture, which stated that the "rapture" already occurred, and continuously occurs in believers who are transformed by this second move of the Spirit.... an entirely incorrect conclusion, to arrive at, but one based on a fundamental truth, that dispensationalism and fundamentalism fails to account for. It was only then that I came to ask the question; "What else have I missed?"
Now I don't want this to become a long winded debate on the merits and flaws of preterism, But rather as a way of saying that understanding Truth, God's Truth, the deep things of God, Comes when we admit that we only know in part. Those truths are not revealed by the wise, but by the simple hearts we encounter in life. How many times has a young child said something to you with a profound truth when you laid aside your own proud understanding? Or the Old story of the poor fisherman confronted by the rich businessman who tells him he should start a fishing business and make lots of money doing so, get his company listed on the stock exchange and make millions.... The poor fisherman then asks what then, and the rich man says, then you can retire on a the beach somewhere.... "and do what?, go fishing anytime you want.... Sometimes those systems interfere with us arriving at the Truth till much later in Life, after much toil and bravado and hubris has taken its toll on us.
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: (1 Corinthians 1:27-28)
There is an air of Hubris in the church, that many fail to see and it is mainly found in those who are in the know theologically. Having had higher learning theologically is a blessing, but also a burden because of this, in that this higher learning tends to put the blinders on that we know it all. We don't. We all know in part, the whole counsel of God, and to think in systematic terms, whatever that system may be closes us off to seeing what other Brothers and Sisters in Christ see.
You see this hubris at work all over the forums we participate on, you see it in the denominations, you see it in the church hierarchies and membership requirements. You see it in eschatology particularly where one's system of understanding leads to one conclusion and to question that conclusion is seen as heretical by some. God is bigger than any of those systems, and it is hubris to think you can figure God out by using a human construct such as a theological system.
When I began to earnestly study scripture, I was full of those systems, dispensationalism, fundamentalism, Pre trib, etc. But with the leading of the Spirit, I Began to search for the truth, and not another system of understanding. I chose to Know nothing save Christ and Him Crucified, which later I came to see as form of Socratic ignorance, only Paul's version of this which in keeping Christ as the center, what I later called "Pauline Ignorance". It is from this point that the Holy Ghost can BEGIN to teach us, and not until then, the deep things of God. You see, there is a big difference between Socratic ignorance and Pauline ignorance.... Socratic ignorance is "ever learning while never arriving at the Truth", While Pauline ignorance helps us to arrive at the Truth.
Often times, it is the simple people God places in our lives that teach us the deepest truths of God, Not the well educated.... in fact, those well-educated ones often feed that hubris in us by giving us certainty of knowing devoid of divine revelation. My first experience with this, and coming to see this hubris was on the first Forum I commented on. There was one older person there who believed in some very strange eschatological positions (partial preterism), and he was a simple soul who had a hard time defending his positions, but you could see and know he was a faithful Christian. He was often and continually hounded by another person who had a great understanding of the biblical languages and often would oppose this person with long diatribes using Greek and Hebrew languages and His systematic understanding of Eschatology. Many times I myself sided with the latter because his views were more in line with my own systematic understanding. It was not until I started carefully listening to that simple man, that I began to see a truth that his viewpoint was presenting That was virtually devoid in my own systematic understanding, That being the second move of the Spirit in the believer. Now His views focus on this second move led to his preterist view of the rapture, which stated that the "rapture" already occurred, and continuously occurs in believers who are transformed by this second move of the Spirit.... an entirely incorrect conclusion, to arrive at, but one based on a fundamental truth, that dispensationalism and fundamentalism fails to account for. It was only then that I came to ask the question; "What else have I missed?"
Now I don't want this to become a long winded debate on the merits and flaws of preterism, But rather as a way of saying that understanding Truth, God's Truth, the deep things of God, Comes when we admit that we only know in part. Those truths are not revealed by the wise, but by the simple hearts we encounter in life. How many times has a young child said something to you with a profound truth when you laid aside your own proud understanding? Or the Old story of the poor fisherman confronted by the rich businessman who tells him he should start a fishing business and make lots of money doing so, get his company listed on the stock exchange and make millions.... The poor fisherman then asks what then, and the rich man says, then you can retire on a the beach somewhere.... "and do what?, go fishing anytime you want.... Sometimes those systems interfere with us arriving at the Truth till much later in Life, after much toil and bravado and hubris has taken its toll on us.
