On Being Wrong, Truth and the Umbilicus Urbis

We Are Wrong

Are you aware of the things you are mistaken about-- this very moment? 

Can you clearly identify which “truths” you currently hold that are incorrect? Please make a list of them in your mind.

If you did indeed list them and are aware of these areas you are wrong, why do you still believe them? If you didn’t make a list, it is because you are like almost everyone today. You either don’t think you are wrong in what you believe or you are not yet aware of where you are wrong.

It’s a very strange thought to know that you have a blind spot somewhere in what you believe and you don’t know where it is or how big. ...Scary.

Most Christians’ consciences were formed by their parents and teachers, and we glide through life without realizing that those who taught us right and wrong were imperfect and most likely taught us imperfectly. We could be believing something to be wrong that isn’t and something to be right that is, in actuality, a sin in God’s eyes. 

(I know most of you are thinking: “The Bible is inerrant and I go there, so my beliefs are true because I get them from scripture.” For a moment, though, take away scripture. We are dealing with the human heart all by itself--without the influence of the Bible--not yet, anyway.)

We have a general sense about what is right and wrong (the natural law). For example, we know stealing is wrong, we know adultery is wrong, we know lying is wrong. However, if you were to accidentally place a pencil in your pocket at work and then find it at home, is it stealing if you don’t take it back? What if a spouse is being very verbally abusive, can a person divorce them even if they are not unfaithful? Is it a sin to feel deep resentment against your parents if you are still act respectfully to them? What about taking the Lord’s name in vain? If someone sighed, “Oh Lord!” is that taking His name in vain? What about female pastors? Watching really funny but questionable television?

God knows the answer to these questions--there is an exact right answer.

We often think we have the answers because we intelligently, reasonably, (with the Holy Spirit) judge the matter. It’s hard to admit though, that often we are just assuming our opinion is from the Lord.

Christians do not have an infallible internal mechanism that always alert us when we get these nuanced moral dilemmas wrong. 

I am Not Wrong!

Even humbly admitting we are imperfect, somehow most Christians live with certainty that they know what is true. On major denominational beliefs, we will panic if someone we know to be smart and godly disagrees with our interpretation of truth. When confronted with different or opposing interpretations, often our natural defenses inform us that the person has not studied like we have, is perhaps less spiritually mature or not as close to Christ. They, possibly, do not have the Holy Spirit because of a cherished sin in their lives or they are not as sincere as we are. In really judgmental moments, we might even accuse the person of twisting truth for an evil goal.

But if all that protective armor is pierced and we find we might be incorrect, often Christians will retreat back into the idea that truth is relative or it doesn’t really matter or it is unknowable. Anything but see the frightening truth that we are wrong.

Okay, I’m Wrong. What’s the Big Deal?

For Christians, being doctrinally wrong isn’t like the embarrassment of getting a “D” on a spelling test or reading a map inaccurately. Being deceived isn’t an “oopsie” nor is it just prideful to want to get theology correct. To us, getting our faith and moral compass in the right direction is about arriving in heaven rather than hell.

Most Christians believe being theologically wrong is dangerous. And it is frightening when we realize that we cannot trust our spiritual instincts, our feelings or judgements.

So then, if we know we do not possess perfect theology and we are not able to precisely identify where we are wrong at any given minute. Why do we, as Christians, live as if we are correct in our theology?

God Knows We’re Wrong

None of this comes as a shock to God. He didn’t abandon us to a do-it-yourself morality. He didn’t implant perfect theology into us and we grow into it with prayer and study. And as many times as we write and say the contrary, we really do have a deep apprehension that there is a theology test to get into heaven. There are some, even if few, essentials of faith.

God created mankind with a sense of wonder. We innately grasp that we don’t know it all and we have to go outside ourselves to search for truth. We are to be students, not formulators or judges of truth. Within our hearts truth does not spring! It originates outside ourselves in Him. Sin has caused us to struggle and search for wisdom.

Humans will never educate themselves enough, sincerely pray enough, or even be filled with the Holy Spirit enough to be infallible in their beliefs. 

To Err is Human

Many Christians are thinking, “Hey I have the Bible and the Holy Spirit; that is all I need.” However, even then you know deep down inside that your beliefs develop over time and that at any given point your theology is imperfect.

To live with the stifling confinement that we know all truth or will discover all truth via our own hearts and minds (or even our personal Biblical interpretation) is not really faith. And it really is a burdensome responsibility that we were never meant to carry. God is truth and He sends it to us so we don’t have to figure it out.

Umbilicus Urbis

Imagine, for a moment if you will, a fountain flowing deep and wide. This fountain is truth and you may come freely and drink from her. It doesn’t matter your age, your IQ, your amount of faith, your education, your spiritual maturity... nothing. The only thing you need is obedience to Christ. What if truth were really that simple?

What if Christ gave us a place where we could go to get guaranteed, absolute truth? Wouldn’t that just be lovely? No more arguments, debates. We would be absolutely unified in our hearts, minds and faith. A Christian Utopia of peace and tranquility (on the theological battlefield anyway.) So... simple. We could then spend our time doing the will of God and loving our neighbor instead of always having to discover anew what truth is.

That would be so.... so... like God. This place of truth would have to have the Bible, of course. Then they would have to have the right interpretation of the Bible, they would have to be filled with the Holy Spirit and not be dependent upon one person’s opinion. Maybe they wouldn’t have to be perfect, only guard the perfect truth. Yes, that’s it--they would be perfect guardians of God’s truth. Man, that would be so exquisite. Imagine if it were a church, an ancient church, that goes back all the way to Christ and His Apostles....

Boy, some people who hold independence and rights as highest values wouldn’t like it at all. They wouldn’t like to submit to someone or something else for truth. It would certainly get attacked both without and within by dark, satanic forces.

Hmmm.....

Thanks to Kathryn Schulz, “On Being Wrong.” 

http://www.ted.com/talks/kathryn_schulz_on_being_wrong.html

Michael Voris and the Brave Bishops

Catholic Problems-- Catholic Answers.....

As usual, Michael is brilliant....




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Beautiful Catholic Music!

Debating with Protestants.....

Over the last decade I have spent a whole lot of time listening to debates between Catholics and Protestants. Many people think this a waste of time, but I actually have learned a great deal from them. Lately, I have been focusing in on Dr. James White's debates with Catholics. He is director of Alpha and Omega Ministries and comes to the debates in the Reformed Baptist perspective.

http://www.aomin.org/

What I have been suspecting for years and now feel I very comfortable in writing publicly is that many Protestants who debate Catholics are not debating their opponent or their opponent's theology. Dr. James White is a master example of this-- loving and respecting the Catholic he is debating, but then deflecting (sometimes even in a patronizing humor) the opponents assertions and creating his own debate partner.

You see, Dr. White basically ignores what his opponent is saying about Catholicism, he culls out of history a quote from who he really wishes to debate (inevitably a Catholic who has described Catholic beliefs in the most strident of terms or the anathemas of the Council of Trent) and then sets them as who his debate partner.

He has to portray Catholics in the worst of lights because he desperately needs a bad guy to shoot.

White is not debating, White is exposing....

Many Protestants do not trust Catholics or Catholic leaders because they do not see them as Christians with simply another interpretation of scripture, simply a different interpretation as theirs. A respectful debate of one interpretation agains the other is not at all what is going on.

White, representing many other Protestant debaters I have heard, doesn't focus in on the actual thesis that is being presented. He want to go to the jugular. He want to expose the Catholic Church as the Whore of Babylon. He want to show that the Catholic church rejects the Bible (code for rejecting his personal intrpretation) and is a idolatrous, Jesus-crucifying, works-oriented, blasphemous antichrist.

These type of Protestants cannot trust anything their Catholic opponents say because they believe that whatever comes out of the mouth of the beast is there to deceive and corrupt. They are there to expose the wolf under the sheep's clothing, the snake under Peter's rock.

Therefore White tips his hat to his Catholic opponent and then dismisses him and his version of Catholicism (after all, White understands he is a good, sincere guy and must be loved even if deceived) and then sets up the attack on the Catholicism he believes to be the true deceptive Catholicism.

It wouldn't really be a big deal to me except that White actually represents the basis of why Catholics and Protestants can't seem to unite. We can express all day how much we love Christ, how much we read scripture and worship Him. We can present our views of the infallibility of scripture and try and convince that we indeed are true Christians and just interpret the scriptures differently in light of Christian history, rather than as individuals today.

If Protestants see us as the Whore of Babylon attempting to deceive the whole world, we may be just wasting our time. Martin Luther and later Reformers successfully placed into the waters a poison of distrust for anything Catholic. They have successfully seared onto Catholicism itself the blackest of hats. (And our own behaviors have just reinforced their harsh judgments.)

I can see the problem, I just can't see the answer..... except in a miracle from Christ.

Building a New Monastery in Charlotte, NC

I like the whole program, but I posted this because of the Poor Clare's new project in Charlotte, NC.

Please Lord, More Fear

I was raised in a Seventh-day Adventist home where we broke many of the church "rules" such as no drinking of Dr. Pepper, no dancing, no wearing jewelry, no going to movies. We kept Sabbath in a very lax and relaxing way. I remember my mother winking at me and whispering, "God doesn't really care.... He knows our hearts" whenever we went out to eat on Sabbath (a no-no when I was growing up SDA.) Sin was ambiguous, gray.... kinda something bad done when you meant harm. If you had a good, sincere, benevolent heart, then it really didn't matter what you did, because Jesus understood you meant well.

Looking back I am appalled at the way I trivialized sin. It was because innately when you are told drinking caffeine is a sin and you do it with your parents and then you don't feel bad--it messes you up. Fake sins don't have true conscience consequences, and when you have been so indoctrinated into a fake sin that you DO feel guilty for having done it--- you are messed up even more.

The devil must enjoy all this confusion, all this guilt for no reason and all this sinning with no guilt.

My vision of God as a child was that He was up there, very busy, judging the bad guys, so us good-guys should basically take a seat and be quiet until the second coming. He would look over once in a while and wink at us. I never worried about getting in. I was born into the "club"-- a Seventh-day Adventist--and God wasn't strict at all.... in fact, He might be amused at our little sins.... After all, He hung around prostitutes and sinners... God was laid back, jolly, merciful.... It's all good--except for those in the last days that rejected the Sabbath... then ouch.... annihilation...

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My prayer now is that I understand what true sin is and the only way I can get there is by listening--not to my conscience because it was not developed rightly, but my church and my Bible. I need a conscience overhaul and I WANT the fear of God placed in me for things that are sin.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the Psalmist tells us. So I pray for that fear that I may be wise.

But most Seventh-day Adventists are not like that. They were raised that what the church called sin, was truly sinful. And you better feel LOTS of guilt. That is why I could go to Adventist schools with drug addicts and sex addicts, self-centered jerks, who felt perfectly saintly because they faithfully attended church on Sabbath (Saturday) and didn't drink coffee.

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My husband doesn't need to pray for fear. He has been overwhelmed and paralyzed with it all his life. His vision of God wasn't kind. He couldn't think, couldn't act, couldn't live because of the way he was raised. All he wanted was to turn up the white noise so he didn't have to deal with all the guilt and fear he felt. He didn't go to movies, drink anything with caffeine. Sabbath was strictly kept and no question were allowed. Ellen White was the Seventh-day Adventist Peter (can't say pope because those come and go--Ellen White is forever!) They had morning worship from the SDA daily devotional. And he was the perfect Adventist who didn't make waves, didn't question, wasn't seen nor heard.

Now he smokes cigars and drinks port with his grown sons. So he is much better. And now he is fully engaged as a warrior for the Lord. He is strong and long-suffering, (thanks to Catholicism and its voice, Michael Voris.)

Most Adventists do not need to pray for fear of the Lord, for their experience was more like my husbands.

But as I look around at the culture, I find that there is a general need for Fear of the Lord. The confusion of Adventism and sin is sort of a microcosm of the world. Nobody talks about it. The media sure doesn't. I haven't heard many sermons on it. My family and friends aren't sitting around the coffee table discussing it. And when I do hear it brought up during a blue moon, people all disagree as to what it is.

Maybe if we all had a healthy fear of the Lord we would be wise enough to clearly know what sin is. Then we could begin to fight it with God's grace......  That's what I am praying for....

The Lord of the Rings

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