Theology of Nuance; Struggling with God and Man and Overcoming

1951 “Saying Grace” by Norman Rockwell

There is an issue of inherent tension in Scripture between grace and obedience.

I believe there is a subtle movement of the pure freedom of the Spirit, while the carnal necessarily demands concrete answers.

“Where are the lines drawn?”

But, this assumes that “lines” exist, where none necessarily may be.

This very point shows up through the Scriptures, both OT and NT.

My contemplations have attempted to reflect this and possibly to give some semblance of understanding to the nuances within God’s nature. Hence, my adopted description for my theology; “Theology of Nuance.”

• Example:David is a man after God’s very heart.But, David is not worthy of preparing the Temple for Him, because the blood of violence stains him.
• Or: Jehovah is a man of war: Jehovah is his name. Exodus 15:3. Yet, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”
• Or: “Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

Tension, for sure…, but not only with grace & obedience. We find nuance, subtlety, and even harmony between disparate philosophical concepts everywhere I AM turns.

And still, HE is not the liar, neither is He the father of lies, nor is He the prince of the earth.

No, these titles are reserved for the adversary , who by the way, is the one demanding the “black & white”, the lines of demarcation between obedience and faith, and the concrete definitions of “who is my neighbor,” and on it goes with all things carnal, the domain of the Accuser of humankind.

Satan speaks to me, in my mind’s eye, and it is he who demands that I must know for certain, the requirements of grace as well as the limits of obedience.

(Or is it the “limits of grace as well as the requirements of obedience?”…Perhaps I must know both.)

My Holy Spirit powers are energized when I turn back to those demands and ask the simple question…, “Why?”

• “Why must I know the black and white?”
• “What purpose will that knowledge serve?”
• Or, “How will the knowledge enable me to more easily glorify Jesus?”
• “Where & when will my knowledge of these presumed boundaries, barriers, walls, rules, laws, regulations, and limits etc. help others to be free in Christ?”

My experiences with God do not require answers, just trust and faith.

People must trust in the Power of Him, to overcome the weaknesses of them.

God bless,

DSM

My kids are currently obsessed with the animated movie Robots. If you are familiar with the story I will be brief with my summary.

The lead character, Rodney, grows up at his father’s knee, being encouraged to “follow your dream”. Through the ensuing story we learn that the father had not been so encouraged as a young robot, and therefore, he had compromised his skills and talents to utilitarian expediencies of supporting his wife and son.
The story is generally good and it is very encouraging to young kids.

However, the underlying point that must be taken for granted, is that people will have a clearly defined “dream” or “vision” for their service to their fellow ‘bots’, and by implication to the Creator.
This assumption is not true for most humans; maybe it is different for Robots.

Please consider the following.

When an engineer creates a machine or tool, the tool will reflect a clearly defined “design intent”, this physical appearance will reveal for what the tool is supposed to be used.
For example, an archeologist can easily discern designed intent for an unearthed cup, the same is true for a hand saw or a ladle or spoon.

But, how, specifically, does an individual human reflect the Creator’s design intent?
Any answers?

We are talking about a spiritual element of the Human creation, therefore, any attempts to look for the equivilent of a coffee mug’s handle or a saw blades teeth, simply won’t work.

Robots is a cute movie, but our physical lives as homo-sapiens does not so easily reveal God’s will or “vision/dream” function.
Therefore, the overarching role, which we are to play in God’s scheme, must always be subjectively discerned, so long as God refuses to reveal specific details to us directly, e.g. by speaking via burning bushes or by speaking from bright lights that surround us.

It is always the case that people look for signs of God’s plan for us, personally or individually. And it is from the various signs we see, that we will be shaken to the core periodically, because we attempt to apply our interpretation of events to God’s eternal plan.

So here is an all too common scenario…;

I have a “vision” of God’s purpose for me. My interpretation of “God’s Plan” for me is confirmed by subsequent anecdotal evidence. Yet the dream suddenly becomes a “nightmare” and God’s purpose, which had been so clearly perceived just moments before, now becomes apparent chaos, and leaves me attempting to make new order out of the fragmentation of my vision.

Humans are utterly blind to the Father’s specific and detailed plans for each individual self. I am walking blindly into the future. I sometimes bump into walls of chaos, pain and confusion; and sometimes I slip comfortably down corridors of peace, pleasure and tranquility. Yet, neither the chaos nor the tranquility reveals anything about my true and detailed mission as an individual.

Jesus Christ said that many details are only known by the Father (Mark 13:32). So all the conjecture about detailed “vision” of my purpose will only create faith struggles when a new ‘wall of chaos’ jumps out of my future and smacks me squarely in the middle of my“dream”.
The scriptures tell us the beginning of the story is “Here” and the end of the story is “There”, but only this one thing matters, between the “Here and There”; TRUST God the Father through the valley of the shadow of death. He will see you safely through to the other side, PERIOD

Good advice is good advice, but so far as I can tell my purpose is to get a loaf of bread and a gallon of milk and to glorify Jesus to whomever I meet along the way.

What I am attempting to say, is that I need not know the Father’s detailed and specific will for my life.

I have not read The Purpose Driven Life by Dr. Rick Warren, so I am not commenting on his view per se. But rather, I am saying that our “Purpose” is a simple one that does not require that we find some new and innovative way to discern the will of the Father, e.g. high powered tea leaves for divining God’s mind.

We can pick-up trash laying on the ground at the filling station, while we fill up our automobile, and in so doing bring high honor to Jesus. Its just that simple. Anytime we humble ourselves in service to someone else, we have fulfilled our Purpose.
Nothing here, in my opinion, requires more ‘how to’ books by T.D. Jakes, Joel Olstien, Dr. Joyce Meyers or ________ _____ (fill-in the blank).
Just study the life of Christ and His early disciples and then put into practice what you find, voilà you have fulfilled God’s vision and His will.

Knowledge has value.

However, being tempted by the desire to possess knowledge of God’s will & purpose is a trap for me.

I have already been snared by the devil’s scheme. This trap is the same pitfall that captured the hearts of Adam & Eve.

Remember that episode; the serpent tells us to partake of the fruit of knowledge and then we can be like God, by knowing His will.
Being aware of the Father’s detailed plans is irrelevant; it is enough for me to know that God has given His Word to me and for me.

So, in the here and now, I must trust.

It’s not so romantic to think that God’s will is for me to pick up garbage beside a gas pump.
I’d rather dream about having some grand and noble purpose that will set me in a spotlight of creative history, but that is simply not God’s way.

If I want to fulfill my mission and purpose I must set aside those carnal desires for greatness in “my vision”, and instead become humble like the Lord.

And by the way, this doesn’t mean that I have to like the Father’s plan either. Take note that Jesus Christ, the very Son of God and Creator, prayed “let this cup pass from me”, which necessarily implies, that even the Son of God didn’t like the Fathers plan.

My purpose is not discernable.

That is my conclusion of the matter.

God bless,

DSM

QUESTION For fellow blogger; Matt,

(Part Two)

The family, and how it is a symbol for the unity of God.
There is so very much in this thesis.
If…, this is true, it could help us to understand why the family is threatened by so many temptations.

Consider just a few things that the world can offer us to break the husband’s unity with his wife.

• workaholic/careers threaten it
• pornography threatens it
• blogging threatens it
• infidelity threatens it
• Sports and Recreation threatens it
• Alcohol and chemical dependency threatens it
• Motorcycles threaten it
• Hotrod cars threaten it
• Anything that we can imagine threatens the unity of the Wife and Husband

As a symbol, Satan might see the family as a physical representation of God’s nature.
Therefore, when Satan succeeds in breaking the unity of families, he might view this as a victory over his enemy, God.
It explains Jesus’ words against divorce in Matthew 19

• ·3 Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question: “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife for any reason?”
• ·4 “Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus replied. “They record that from the beginning ‘God made them male and female.’
• ·5 And he said, ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’
• ·6 Since they are no longer two but one, let no one separate them, for God has joined them together.”

Note that Jesus does, in-fact, make use of the same language that is recorded in Deuteronomy 6 about Yahweh being One.

This passage in Deuteronomy is difficult for many Christians to understand or explain. But, in the context of a family, we may see a clearer picture of what the Lord intended by the statement found in this Old Testament passage. Look again, and compare/contrast the wording from the old 1901 American Standard Version to the King James Version.

• ·4Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah: ASV
• ·4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: KJV

ASV is a more accurate interpretation of the Hebrew text. The name “Jehovah” that is used by the American Standard Version is carried over from the original German translation, instead of spelling it phonetically.

Therefore, just as the spelled name “John” in Dutch or German is pronounced “Yon” and “William” is pronounced “Villhelm”, we see why Jehovah could alternately be pronounced “Yahweh”. With these differences understood, the ASV is far more accurate in showing that ‘Yahweh is one Yahweh’ or ‘Jehovah is one Jehovah’.

There are three individuals (Holy Spirit, Father, and Son) but only One Yahweh.
The Family of Yahweh may be the most simple way to understand & explain the nature of God.

As an analogy, we might consider personal examples of very strong, even “unified” families. If one is insulted then all are insulted. If you honor one family member then all are honored.

My wife often teaches a weekly Ladies Bible class, people will approach me at worship and tell me how “wonderful” and “inspiring” she is to them. This is an honor to me. I feel 10′ tall, when people tell me about Molly’s gift and the encouragement that she is to them. Molly is an extension of David, therefore I am being complimented, when I receive praise for my wife.

This is not so difficult for us to understand. How many mothers & fathers will beam with pride, as they see their son throw a game-winning touchdown pass or hear their daughter play a flawless piano recital.

We, as parents, know that when our daughters and sons are recognized for special honor, we ourselves are honored.

The underlying Unity between the wife-mother, husband-father, & son/daughter is present in the Trinity. When we accept God’s Holy Spirit, offered by Jesus Christ, we obtain the power to overcome the devil’s scheme to break up the unity of family.

We must accept our role in the symbol of Marriage & Family, however, because when we accept this mission, we have the unique position of fighting the devil on God’s terms, i.e. the terms of Holy Unity, instead of fighting him on his terms, i.e. self-gratification (a.k.a. pride).

*_____*

Back to the scenario that I laid out in my preceding post, concerning God’s creation plan and Satan’s diabolical scheme, it involves some supposition from scripture and from life experiences.

I may be wrong or right.

But, one key debate that I faced was not addressed in the comments to the post. The issue was about Satan’s creation timing. The common supposition is always that Satan was created at the same time that the physical universe was created. But, this cannot be supported by scripture. It is not mentioned, when the devil was created.

The typical texts from Isaiah or Ezekiel or Revelation do not state anything about Satan’s origination. But, since no one has mentioned these passages I won’t go into them now.

But, if I am wrong please show my error, by writing and posting.

Nevertheless, the creation described in Genesis 1 and 2 is a physical creation of the Cosmos. And we needn’t presume that all spiritual beings were created at the same time as the physical Cosmos.

Furthermore, I might point out that the use of the term “time” is utterly useless prior to the physical Cosmos, because time is inextricably linked with space and matter, which are not spiritual, but rather, are carnal.

I will pick-up again later. The time is late for a physical being such as I am.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

God Bless,

DSM

Hey Matt! Here is the next installment on my belief.
This addresses Item C “Why do I believe that the Creator is the inspiration behind the scriptures?” (I will go back, at a later time, to Item B, Why I believe that Jesus is the Messiah and the actively creative power of the Creator.)

I do not call the Bible the “Word of God.” I may be unique among believers, concerning the use of this scriptural term.
But, as I have studied this, it appears to me that the Holy Spirit has revealed that the “Word” is Jesus. This will come out more in my answer to Item B.
I have struggled in the order of presentation of Items B & C, because they are tied together.
There are so many uses of the term “word”, that we may become confused about that, which we are discussing, i.e. the Lord’s words, God’s words, the Word of the Lord, the Word of Life, etc.
There are differences in the use of the singular rather than the plural. The words of God are not the same as the Word of God.
I hope this is making sense. Because I am attempting to hold to the semantics that I believe the Holy Spirit has used in the “words” of His prophets, apostles and disciples.

So, just as a beginning point I will outline briefly what I believe about “the Word”, and about the “words” of God.

• I believe that “the Word of God” is Jesus. John 1:1ff
• I believe that Jesus is “God’s Word”. 1John 2:14
• I believe that Jesus is “the Word of the Lord.” Genesis 15:1, 1Samuel 3:1-21 Look closely at verse 21.
• I believe that the “Word of Life” is, again, Jesus. 1John 1:1
• I believe that the words of God are found in the bible.
• I believe also, however, that the words of the devil are found in the bible. Matthew 4:3 is one such example of Satan’s words in the bible.
• I believe that the words of people are found in the bible. Exodus 3:11 (An interesting sidebar to this point, is that people either speak the words of the devil or the words of God. In the verse cited above, Moses speaks the words of Satan to Yahweh. Look at Matthew 16:22-23, to see how Jesus dealt with the words of Satan spoken by Peter. Human words may ultimately only serve two ends, they may serve God or they may serve self, where self is always the goal of the devil.)

This is the semantic difference, which I see in the scriptural use of the term “Word”. If someone has a different opinion about my distinctions, I am interested in reading them. However, until I am persuaded otherwise, this is how I will proceed in the subsequent response to belief in God’s Word and belief in the bible as inspired, respectively.

I believe that the recording and preservation of the bible is an action of inspiration by God’s Holy Spirit.
My conviction has been slowly developed, even while I was attempting to cast off my faith, as written in the first part of this series on my belief.

I have found that the bible is more than just allegorical, in its written text.
I hear many “believers” who are quite willing to consign the bible to the bookshelf, because of its antiquity.
They do this, by initially diminishing it as a collection of allegories. Thus, if it is only allegorical, then it holds no value.
In these cases, it becomes only a collection of symbols.
But, what can it symbolize? If it is not real at its root, then symbols of the illusory are of no value, for anything practical, except entertainment, if entertainment might be said to be “practical”.

Nevertheless, even if we are to accept the bible as only “a nice bit of antiquated literature,” we are still left with a very “good book”, worthy of our study.
The bible is chock full of ancient near eastern examples of early art, poetry, song, prose, proverbs, technical documentation, etc.

Surely, these many early expressions of the humanities are worthy of some respect from the world. But, oddly enough, this is not the case.
Thusly, our world seems intent on suppressing the bible, and this speaks volumes to me.

This is a simple curiosity that draws my attention.
It is, to me, the equivalent of saying don’t think about pink elephants.

Are you thinking about a fuchsia pachyderm?

These examples draw our attention. Humans are designed to seek answers to mysteries. And the bible is an enigma among human literature.

Our world doesn’t want it, ‘because its only an old book of out-of-touch allegories’.

However, our world digs deep to find an old moth eaten scrap of parchment that contains only 100 legible words from a Roman era copy of Homer’s “Iliad.”

Does this make sense to you?

Well, there is the enigma.

If you diminish the bible, by telling me that it is an ancient collection of fiction, or literary forms and allegorical chronicles, but that we should not trouble our students with this historical collection, I will be very intrigued about the apparent paradox.

To me, this treatment of the scriptures, by our world, speaks to the bible’s veracity.
This is one reason for my belief in the bible.
(To Be Continued)

God Bless,

DSM

This assumes, in my opinion, that “lines” exist, where none necessarily may be.
This very point shows up through the Scriptures, both OT and NT.
My blog is an attempt to reflect this and possibly to give some semblance of understanding to these nuances within God’s nature.
Hence, the title “Theology of Nuance.”

Example:
David is a man after God’s very heart.
But, David is not worthy of preparing the Temple for Him, because the blood of violence stains him.
Or:
Jehovah is a man of war: Jehovah is his name. Exodus 15:3
Yet, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”
Or:
“Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

Tension, for sure…, but not only with grace & obedience, because we find nuance, subtlety, and even harmony between disparate philosophical concepts everywhere our God turns.

God bless,
DSM

Look at the Does God Exist? website. Mr. Clayton makes a bold claim that he can scientifically prove that God exists.
I want to get back to my answers to Matt, about what I believe and why I believe. (This is the 3rd or 4th part of this answer series, depending on if and/or how you might be counting the parts.)

What do you think about this photo? Is it beautiful? Peaceful? Graceful?
I say God is majestic!
Some say “nature” is awsome!
Did anyone catch the personification of Nature, in the quote from the Scientist, Russ George? About nuclear fusion within our Sun and all other stars in the universe, Mr. George said “Nature, however, does not seem to use it on a very large scale…”

So, you must understand that Mr. George has simply taken the word “God” and replaced it with the word “Nature.”

Nature is personified and given a personal will.
I don’t know Mr. George’s theology, but this same issue arises with many publicly avowed science atheists.
Therefore, simply replacing the word “God” with some other word does not get rid of God, it rather just gives Him a new title.

It is, ultimately, up to each individual to know ‘what’ he/she really believes and ‘why’ he/she has been convinced of that thing.

We may not want to work out our beliefs because the answer is inconvenient.

This issue happens in the news every week.

The story might go something like this: A mother’s “little Johnny” is caught in a tragic incident on a “joy ride” or with a trunk load of illegal drugs or “You Name It”, and the mother goes on Channel 8 news and tells the reporters that her son is a perfect angel.

We choose to believe or disbelieve for many reasons.

But, truth and lies do not exist without leaving their mark. Often times the mark is clearly present, but the evidence is simply ignored because the required action may be too painful.

It is a failing of the individual to not desire the truth.

And when this happens we make ourselves to be fools, by believing our own made-up lies.

We actually see people who can fabricate lies out of whole cloth and then begin to believe the thing they’ve just made-up. We could laugh, it weren’t so sad. This is the very thing that the Apostle Paul wrote concerning in Romans 1:18ff. Look at the following passage and think about what Paul tells us about God and humankind.

18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves. 19 For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts. 20 From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.

21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people, or birds and animals and snakes.

Humans are the same today as they were then, “Wicked people who push the truth away from themselves.”

Pushing truth away about a rebellious and disobedient child will condemn that son or daughter to a life of misery. And yet, we do it.

Pushing truth away about a tire that has a bulge on one side will result in tragic consequences on the highway. And yet we do this too.

Dealing appropriately with either of these two examples will certainly result in personal discomfort, but the alternative is far more lasting and ugly.

My 2nd essay on this subject, posted on December 21 2006, deals with the subject that Paul outlines in the Romans 1 passage above. I made the same point that Paul made. I used specific hard evidence of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics, but even non-technological folks from two thousand years ago saw the same truth that remains today.

Please, read Romans 1:19-20 again, and I will meet you up in my next post, to conclude this thought. But, you have got to follow me there.

TO BE CONTINUED…

God bless,
DSM

The title is a variation on the opening for the Apostle Paul’s “Sermon on Mars Hill.”