catapult magazine

One of the biggest problems I have with the Bible’s purpose in Christianity is that it seems that there’s always a slippery slope on which it’s interpretted. For example, a couple hundred years ago Sunday/Sabbath observance had a completely different meaning than it does today. In some societies, you just didn’t work on Sunday. Period. But even within my lifetime, Christians I’ve known have changed their own views on Sunday observance. It’s as if the Ten Commandments are being slowly phased out because of contemporary culture. Now I’ve heard the arguments that it’s more of a lifestyle of Sabbath observance and all that, but the bottom line is, the Bible says don’t work on Sunday and we’re coming up with more and more reasons to override that. I’d even say that many of the reasons seem valid to me. But why? Why did we wait until now to decide to override something chiselled in stone?

Women’s role in the church used to be more clearly defined. Now, in comes the tide of feminism, and we’re looking at the places that say “No women speaking in church” and saying that hey, that’s not for us, that’s a cultural norm rather than a moral one. And quite possibly that’s true. We’re a different society, where women don’t have the same roles as men anymore, and so it’s not so necesary to maintain such a male-dominated order to things. BUT my question is this: when you look down the road, at the pace we’re going, what other Biblical things are we going to be throwing out? Think of your grandparents and how stick-in-the-mud you thought they were about ditching hymns during worship. Well, imagine if some of the things you hold as ABSOLUTES were re-interpretted by your kids to fit the norm of society. How can the Bible really be relevant if we’re always reinterpretting it? Are we moving towards a Bible that only has meaning as an allegorical narrative?

Christianity is a religion that says there are absolutes. But with the path we are taking on interpreting the Bible, will that be true in a thousand years (should there be another thousand to come)? Will we be down to “love God and the rest of the Bible is outdated”? Maybe I’m making a mountain out of a molehill . . .

I think that in the not-too-distant future, most of the organized church will condone gay marriages. And I think that most of the honest, thinking, heart-commitment Christians will be right there with it. Whether that’s a good thing, a bad thing, or otherwise, I honestly can’t say. But what I can say is that the church of yesterday told us it was WRONG. And they didn’t say, “It’s wrong, but it may become right if society changes.” And both that church and the church of the future looked or will look at the Bible before coming to their conclusions on the matter. SOMETHING’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE. What is it? What am I not seeing here?

Are there really absolutes?

Is doubt a feeling? I disagree. Doubt creates feelings, but doubt is more than a feeling.

I addition…is faith then a feeling? It would seem that faith is the antithesis od doubt (or at least the weapon used against it) and I can’t see my faith as being purely sensational or emotional.

It has been said that perfect love casts out fear. Love is much more than a feeling and yet it casts out fear which is a feeling (antithesis?).

In the same way faith which is not a feeling casts out doubt. You may be right that faith is not a feeling. I could be wrong about that but it seems doubt like fear is part of the human contribution to this equation. Faith and love are gifts from God.

I again question the validity of the statement that fear is a feeling. According to Paul, fear is a spirit. A spirit that we haven’t been given and are to cast aside. I would much more readily see that doubt is a spirit rather than an emotion. I cannot buy into the idea that the struggle we are entangled in is only of human design…We battle not against flesh and blood…

Doubts, as I see them, are spiritual attacks on the Truths of God. Some of them stem from the logical way of thinking and/or the past experiences we have had as humans, while the rest are oppressed upon us. Either way, they are a manipulation of mentality that brings into question the very character and person of God by a spirit of Satan.

Interesting study on Faith and Doubt I just found. Scroll down about halfway to take a look at the “sources of doubt”.

http://www.khouse.org/articles/nanscorner/20001101-303.html

Is that you Frank Peretti?
At least we agree that fear and doubt get in the way of “surety”.

I would agree with Jabird 100%. I would add that Satan’s objective is not to keep us from reaching heaven, because he can’t change the seal of the Spirit given to us when we accept Christ.

However, Satan can try to make us confused, weak, hopeless Christians. The church of the Acts moved in authority, faith, and power which is what we are called to by Jesus.
I haven’t read Frank Peretti’s books, but this year through certain events, God has opened my eyes to the truth that our fight is truly not with flesh and blood.

Looks like I might have killed this thread inadvertently.

Adam, you haven’t weighed in in a while. Do you or anyone else have any more comments? I’d like to hear how different people went through season’s of doubt or are still going through seasons of doubt. Even Abraham doubted God and went to Hagar instead of Sarai for a son. None of us is immune.

Sorry. I’ve been away for a bit.

Dew: So, then. We’ve come to the conclusion that surety comes and goes. (Or at least, either it does or I’m not a Christian, take your pick.) If this is true, then surety is the wrong word, because if it comes and goes it’s not surety. If you were sure yesterday that the moon was made of cheese but today you’re not sure, then what was your original surety worth? I think Kristin’s onto something (great post, by the way) when she says that surety’s not a rational thing—it’s a spiritual thing. What I’m referring to in this case is precisely the rational thing. Perhaps, defined as such, you would agree with me then that such surety does not exist. I think comfort or peace are the proper word for what you’re describing. And I mean comfort in the sense that the HS is the Comforter—that is, comfort from existential distress as well as physical and emotional distress.

What will you say when you come to your darkest hour? Will you still affirm that you’re sure of your salvation? I don’t think so. And since we never know when another time like that is just around the bend, how can we say even now that we’re “sure?”

Semantics always get in the way, don’t they? I think certain parts of this thread have come down to definitions again.

Doubt sucks.

Adam: Welcome back and Merry Christmas!
I agree that surety if grounded in human reason is useless. However, surety is not grounded in human reason any more than what the moon is made of. What matters is what the moon is really made of not what some human may think of it. Part of what makes surety so valuable is that it is not grounded in humanity it is grounded in God. That is why we can be sure of surety because it does not depend on us. That is why in our darkest hour it is the only thing we can hang on to. In my darkest hours knowing that God will not let me go and th I am His no matter what is the only thing that has kept me “together”. I see Job holding on to that same surety in his darkest hours.
Because our minds cannot always hold on to surety and we have doubts does not make it any less sure that we are saved. Neither does it make it useless since it comes and goes in our own minds. It is sure because of God and if we ask Him to bring home the reality of His surety into our hearts and minds (because doubt sucks!) I believe He will. In fact I am sure of it!

I guess I think of Christianity more in terms of not being sure. Because we realize that we don’t have all the answers, that we can’t control the world with our own knowledge and understanding, we turn to God. Our faith is grounded in the fact that we no longer have faith in ourselves.

So I don’t know how this relates to work. I probably tend to see faith as a letting go and letting God do the work.