It fascinates me to be a part of a global following of Jesus – who, some 2000 years ago now, prayed out loud that this global following that was coming later, would be one, the same way Jesus and his father are one.
Of course, part of official church doctrine is that Jesus exists as one member of “The Trinity” – Father – Son – Spirit, and the three are physically one, and also physically distinct. Suffice it to say that is a pretty serious definition of one-ness that Jesus was petitioning for on our behalf.
Unfortunately, we have failed miserably, for the most part, at becoming “one”, even in the most watered down sense of the word. We have too many factions to count. Each one of the ready to go down with the ship for their own unique version of “Gospel Truth.” I just read an article this morning about John Macarthur holding a major conference, which sole purpose was to denigrate a growing movement in “the church.”
Why? Because apparently John has been appointed, commissioned and blessed to be the vanguard of sacred doctrine. He would have been really effective back in the crusades – “In the name of Jesus, convert or die you pagan heathen!!” – except, it wouldn’t be pagan heathens he was talking to, it would be his own brothers and sisters in Christ.
The question of whether or not absolute “gospel truth” can be known and articulated is an important one; because, if the answer is no, and I believe it is, then we don’t have to worry about defending our particular brand of the faith inside “the church” and outside in “the world.” We can concentrate on – loving God, loving people, and being one, and be OK, with a little gray in the doctrinal statement.
What are the justifications for saying that absolute gospel truth can be known and articulated?
1) We are not God. Isaiah 55:8 says it best, ‘“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.”’ So you are really sure that God will damn someone to eternity in hell because the were not fully submerged in a natural body of water for baptism, while repeating the official incantation? Can we really be so 100.00% sure on certain points that we are ready to bet the following Jesus farm on it? I’m not.
2) We lack the words to accurately express it. The German philosopher Wittgenstein is quoted as writing, “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” One of the ramifications of this is that you cannot use flawed language constructs to articulated something that is entirely not flawed, and not of this world. A toddler lacks the vocabulary to articulate complex constructs of anything. A two year old could never give a lecture on in depth economic theory. He lacks the language to accurately describe and convey that meaning.
The languages of the original texts of the bible are flawed, ambiguous, incomplete. They have been translated into flawed, incomplete, ambiguous languages like English. If you don’t believe, use BibleGateway.com to pull up the 20+ English translations of a particular verse. Every single one of them will have different words, that can be interpreted differently if you can only see the letter of the law. And rest assured, the creators of each version can defend their translation to the death, with teams of post-doctoral language experts.
That doesn’t mean you completely flush them, or that there are no principles, values and themes that come out of the texts that are important. It means don’t base the entire foundation of your faith on the hope that the word “rock” means petra, petros, aram or anything else, when Jesus said “on this ‘rock’ I will build my church.” Knowing for 100.00% sure what Jesus meant when he used that exact word is NOT worth dying over, not worth fighting over, and not worth building a faith-based worldview on.
3) We are potato heads. In Acts 11 we read, ‘But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, the Jewish believers criticized him. “You entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them!” they said.’ So maybe a couple years tops, after Jesus dies and was raised from the dead, his followers align themselves with the Pharisees who used to rail on jesus for eating with “sinners.”
That is what we do. We are all so forgetful when it comes to speaking for Jesus. Is that Sabbath a day for doing good or for doing evil? We should stone Jesus, the author of life, the creator, living expression and embodiment of doctrinal truth, because he chooses to heal someone on the Sabbath, and that is a violation of the law? Really?
We gotta chill out. We align ourselves with the Pharisees and those who rejected Jesus, on a regular basis, and we do it in his name. That is incredibly stupid. Let’s just all admit that we should not be sacrificing those who Jesus loves more than anything, who Jesus died for so they might live, on the altar of our holier than thou church doctrine. Let our internal oneness and love so overflow and reflect that of Jesus’ character, that the world cannot help but stand up and take note – these must surely be his followers.
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