If the propositions presented in Primal Fire are at all true than there will need to be changes made in how we relate to one another and the world. Change is never an easy proposition for Christians, but I believe it should be.
The word metanoia (translated “repentance” in English versions of the New Testament) literally means “to change one’s mind.” Frankly, a Christian life without repentance is a counterfeit. The natural pattern of the Christian life is to repent and believe, to put off the old and put on the new in its place. This is not something we do just once at the beginning of our new life in Christ, but something we do at the beginning of every day...and at each day's end. If we look back over the past couple of years and cannot find that we have changed our point of view about anything, then perhaps we’re not learning and walking in the practice and pattern of an authentic Christian life—a life meant for constant renewal as we are molded progressively into the image of Christ. The gospel itself is all about transformation and change. Status quo is incompatible with the Christian life. Our faith is one of perpetual, daily change.
The word metanoia (translated “repentance” in English versions of the New Testament) literally means “to change one’s mind.” Frankly, a Christian life without repentance is a counterfeit. The natural pattern of the Christian life is to repent and believe, to put off the old and put on the new in its place. This is not something we do just once at the beginning of our new life in Christ, but something we do at the beginning of every day...and at each day's end. If we look back over the past couple of years and cannot find that we have changed our point of view about anything, then perhaps we’re not learning and walking in the practice and pattern of an authentic Christian life—a life meant for constant renewal as we are molded progressively into the image of Christ. The gospel itself is all about transformation and change. Status quo is incompatible with the Christian life. Our faith is one of perpetual, daily change.
The sign of a true
learner is not just the knowledge he or
she has accumulated, but also the ideas that have been jettisoned.
Sometimes
the discard pile is as interesting as the growing library of new ideas.
You can
tell a lot about a person by what he or she has tossed aside. When
someone’s
point of view doesn’t change across a lifetime of education, I tend to
distrust
that such a person has really learned anything. Can you live your whole life
listening to God and never change your point of view? I think not. That would assume that you are already right about everything and have nothing to learn or change. I cannot trust such a person.
Many
people have inherited a theological framework into
which they plug all new learning. If something doesn’t fit into the
original
paradigm, they discard it without any true consideration. This is a type
of closed-mindedness
that can only grow so far. Unfortunately, too many teachers and
theologians are
like this. I fear that often the people who have read the most and given
their lives to teaching others have actually changed the least in their
world view and are not learners at all. They simply look for ways to
substantiate their current point of view, not challenge it. Too often
our theology becomes our truth, and before long even the Bible must
submit to our doctrines. We say that our faith is sola
scriptura (by Scripture alone), but then we place them under submission
to our theological systems. But, in truth, God’s Word stands alone and is not
subject to our systems and categories.
1 comment:
Was reading "Walden" this morning and this quote made me think of you blog post.... "..... it appears as if men had deliberately chosen the common mode of living because they preferred it to any other. Yet they honestly think there is no choice left. But alert and healthy natures remember that the sun rose clear. It is never too late to give up our prejudices. No way of thinking or doing, however ancient, can be trusted without proof. What everybody echoes or in silence passes by as true to-day may turn out to be falsehood to-morrow, mere smoke of opinion, which some had trusted for a cloud that would sprinkle fertilizing rain on their fields."
(Henry David Thoreau. Walden)
Post a Comment