my friend and former colleague walt demoss (walt demoss for president!) was here the last few days, and he spoke at chapel on friday.
sidenote: the near-converging of the two centers of the universe (kirby and walt) came very close to creating a black hole here at grace, which would have had catastrophic effect to the ten-baht ice cream inventory. the black hole was averted when walt was steered away from kirby by eric by giving him free coupons to something. walt is honorary dutch, and can't resist.
back to chapel, walt was talking about his experience at moody bible institute in chicago, how he had an epiphany of sorts in the last months he was there. he was in a class, spiritual formation i think, and they were all arguing about theology, huffing and puffing and flexing their intellectual theological muscles (can you lose your salvation or not, according to hebrews chapter 6?) and he was reading hebrews and something struck him which i think i will write here so that i can say that i wrote something clever even if it wasn't from me. the verse goes "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from its sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account." what struck walt, and it struck me too after he said it, was he felt that they were dissecting the word of God, like they were dissecting an animal. like most things in life, we got it backwards.. if you dissect a cute bunny, it will cease to be cute, and it'll be dead to boot. let me make it even more gruesome, because i am a blood and gore type person. if i examine my friend roberto to the very core, innards and all, i will probably learn a lot about roberto, how his internal organs work, and what kind of junk he has eaten. but i'll never have a relationship with him. it struck me hard because i was deep into theology for a while, but never really had a good reason why except that it made me look good. there was a time when i wanted to learn more about God, but the more i got into theology the more confused i have become, and more arrogant. it became harder and harder for me to accept other people and hear other point of views. mind you i am not saying that theology is not important, it is very important and it still is to me, but i think the motive matters a lot, and it could even be argued that it matters more. as donald miller says, to know Jesus is to have a relationship with him, not a powerpoint presentation. relationships are sometimes illogical, messy, emotional, imprecise, but it's the only way you get to know the person as a whole. going back to the verse from hebrews, the word is sharper than a two-edged sword. it is alive. it is used to examine us, not the other way around. the word is meant to cause us to change our mind (repent), because it exposes where we have erred. it is God's provision to us, to help us be who we are supposed to be - completed (telos) sons and daughters of God, through Christ.
Comments:
Thanks for posting that! That was very insightful and timely.
Vadim : :
Argung about thelogy makes your ego rear up and you get too attached to thinking and arguing. Going to a whorehouse would be better, you experience something and if you're good enough, everybody happy.
ewan ko : :
i don't know, man. attempting to catch VD through mindless sex is not exactly my kind of fun, but i guess whatever floats your boat. funny, your comment about theology is about the same thing i thought of people who post anonymously.
sam : :
Hey, son, now I have some new insights on your previous motivations. Love you.
RSS 2.0 feed
sidenote: the near-converging of the two centers of the universe (kirby and walt) came very close to creating a black hole here at grace, which would have had catastrophic effect to the ten-baht ice cream inventory. the black hole was averted when walt was steered away from kirby by eric by giving him free coupons to something. walt is honorary dutch, and can't resist.
back to chapel, walt was talking about his experience at moody bible institute in chicago, how he had an epiphany of sorts in the last months he was there. he was in a class, spiritual formation i think, and they were all arguing about theology, huffing and puffing and flexing their intellectual theological muscles (can you lose your salvation or not, according to hebrews chapter 6?) and he was reading hebrews and something struck him which i think i will write here so that i can say that i wrote something clever even if it wasn't from me. the verse goes "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from its sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account."
what struck walt, and it struck me too after he said it, was he felt that they were dissecting the word of God, like they were dissecting an animal. like most things in life, we got it backwards.. if you dissect a cute bunny, it will cease to be cute, and it'll be dead to boot. let me make it even more gruesome, because i am a blood and gore type person. if i examine my friend roberto to the very core, innards and all, i will probably learn a lot about roberto, how his internal organs work, and what kind of junk he has eaten. but i'll never have a relationship with him.
it struck me hard because i was deep into theology for a while, but never really had a good reason why except that it made me look good. there was a time when i wanted to learn more about God, but the more i got into theology the more confused i have become, and more arrogant. it became harder and harder for me to accept other people and hear other point of views. mind you i am not saying that theology is not important, it is very important and it still is to me, but i think the motive matters a lot, and it could even be argued that it matters more.
as donald miller says, to know Jesus is to have a relationship with him, not a powerpoint presentation. relationships are sometimes illogical, messy, emotional, imprecise, but it's the only way you get to know the person as a whole. going back to the verse from hebrews, the word is sharper than a two-edged sword. it is alive. it is used to examine us, not the other way around. the word is meant to cause us to change our mind (repent), because it exposes where we have erred. it is God's provision to us, to help us be who we are supposed to be - completed (telos) sons and daughters of God, through Christ.
Comments: