In your opinion, is being a jerk heresy?
I only ask this because it seems we’ve lost touch with a true, holistic understanding of communication, believing as long as our ideas are theologically or philosophically true, we can present those truths through an offensive methodology. If you ask me, it’s a trick.
In a perfect world, people would make decisions about what they believe based on it’s philosophical merit, but that isn’t how people decide what is true at all. The truth about how people decide what is true is simple: If a philosophy creates a person that affirms my intrinsic value as a human being, it has merit, and if it doesn’t affirm my intrinsic value as a human being, it does not have merit.
Now that doesn’t hold much water in terms of deciding how to live, and yet, that’s how most people come to believe the ideas they believe. And God knows it, because God designed the brain to work in exactly this way. That’s why God emphasizes doctrine and love, or better, doctrine IN love.
The beautiful thing about the gospel of Jesus is it affirms the intrinsic value of mankind, stating we are the creation of God, fallen, and that God wants to be back in relationship. That’s a beautiful message.
We commonly believe that the Evil One wants us to teach bad theology, and I suppose he does. But what he wants to do more is to have us teach right theology in a way that devalues human beings, insults and belittles them, and so sets them against the loving message of God.
So if we teach right theology in a way that is condescending, we are just as guilty as being heretics. That’s why the Bible spends as much or more time talking about love as it does about doctrine. My guess is we love doctrine because it makes us feel superior, but neglect love because it calls for personal sacrifice and vulnerability.
And so we become personality heretics, speaking the truth, but teaching heresy.
The Devils methods are indeed effective.
Is this a fact?
“We commonly believe that the Evil One wants us to teach bad theology, and I suppose he does. But what he wants to do more is to have us teach right theology in a way that devalues human beings, insults and belittles them, and so sets them against the loving message of God.”
I think this is an opinion, but the way it is stated makes it sound factual. Specifically the last sentence. I don’t know if I agree, I agree the Evil One wants us to teach bad theology and if we are going to teach right theology to teach it in a way that devalues human beings. But I think the Evil One hates the truth! If he had it his way found never have us utter a word of it. And I suppose the argument would be that good theology stated in a manner that devalues human beings is indeed not the truth. In the same way bad theology said in a loving manner is not loving because it doesn’t truly reveal God’s love to the fullest.
Either way I see the point. I think God has been opening my eyes lately to the idea that dueling on his love is great theology.
I don’t think Don meant it that way, I think that never speaking the truth is a really effective and obvious plan, whereas getting us to turn on eachother with the truth is just sneakier…both strategies are effective, just different. The second one I think just adds insult to injury!
Glad to see so many people commenting on this! So glad we’re all so passionate about the same things.
Agreed I don’t think he meant it that way either, I was just observing, and commenting, more for my own good. And I agree both stratigies are effective.
The devil does hate the truth but he also is the best at twisting it to make it seem like the truth.
The best lie is the one that is so close to the truth you don’t see the difference.
He cares not about what we say but rather what we do. Distraction is his biggest weapon.
Read Screwtape Letters.
I have read the Screwtape Letters, and although good and insightful, it is still not scripture.
I do think the Devil cares about what we say the same way he cares about what we do, and neither of them compare with where our heart is at. It is important that we speak the truth. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45.
Look at the Pharisees. They had some power BECAUSE they did use the truth AND their APPEARANCE of piety to make people feel reeeeally guilty and condemned. Therefore, God has said, that if we are going to tell people about the truth, that we must do it in love…which then of course makes all the difference of how the truth is presented.
They did not use truth… the Pharisee’s used THEIR rules that they ADDED to the Law, which IS meant to show us our sinful nature! To cause us to see our sinful selves which is INDEED ugly and depraved, so we may repent and believe in Christ.
If we neglect our need for a Savoir who will ever say we need Him?
If we as Christians do not tell the unsaved of their sinful nature, then we do them a disservice! We, in fact, LIE TO THEM! We are not Holy and Jesus died so we may stand in those white robes, pure, clean and FAULTLESS before God!
Do not take away people’s ugly sin out of “love” instead tell them the truth about themselves in love and seal the deal by preaching them the saving Gospel of our BELOVED LORD JESUS!
Rachelle,
The Pharisees did use truth. Satan also used it in tempting Jesus. Can you clarify what you mean when you say they did not use truth?
You know, the commandment Jesus gave us, to love one another, we have turned it into “tolerate one another.” If we can love, truly do so, if we really see all believers as our brothers and sisters, then we won’t be jerks anymore.
Amen, Theres nothing wrong with passionately speaking out about what you believe, but we need to speak it with the Love of Christ.
We really have turned “love one another” into “tolerate one another” haven’t we? That is brilliant! Do you mind if I borrow that for my next blog update?
AMEN AS WELL! I think if you are a believer Christ will change the ugly in us… He did in me, He will in all… so if we profess belief and see a brother or sister acting out of love (in a clearly jerk-ish manner) we can talk with them.
If it’s not fitting to do so, PRAYER!
We have Jesus power at our disposal and when we pray inside His will, with proper motives, we’ll see these kind of attitudes quickly diminish!
Love any book by Smedes … that man knows how to communicate!
…and it seems a good time to re-read that Lewis classic: The Screwtape Letters.
Don,
While I like the blog, I’m a little confused. A few days ago, in a blog about the truth, you seemed to indicate that one of the things you love about the Bible is that it doesn’t try to sell the truth, but just tells the truth. In today’s blog, you seem to be advocating a cleaning up of how we share the truth. While I understand that you may be making a distinction between selling well and loving well, there ARE times when Biblical TELLING rather than SELLING meant calling some people hypocrites or broods of vipers, which, methodically, probably could have been construed as not affirming the intrinsic value of the Pharisees. I really do not mean this to be an “oooh, sniff that!” kind of post, I hate the fact that tone is not conveyed in stuff like this. I’m truly interested in your comments
We must always remember the One who made the statement you quoted is God’s Christ and had special insight to their heart, the core of who they are. We on the other hand, are called to love them in the name of of God’s Christ, Jesus, even when those things are true of them. Jesus said we are to love as we love ourselves. I still remember when that quote was representative of me. Praise Jesus that 34 year ago someone told me that, “who so ever will may come” in love. They could not see who I was at heart or what God’s plan was for me. They looked at my outward appearance and in faith took Jesus at His word believeing that what He did for them He would do for me. Love has covered a multitude of sins! Praise His Name! God bless!
I completely concur with this reasoning. The fact is we all too often try to imply that because Jesus spoke to the Pharisees in a certain manner, we have a right to do the same with people that believe differently than we do. The fact is the Pharisees were the religious icons of the day and they were subverting truth when they were supposed to be leading the people toward it. Also, I don’t see too many people raising the dead and healing the sick because Jesus did, so why do they presume that they can speak the way He spoke? I love Don’s post and think it speaks volumes in regard to ancient text, present context.
Thanks for your post. It reminded me of one of my favorite quotes.
In the preface of A.W. Tozer’s Pursuit of God, he quotes John Wesley saying, “Orthodoxy, or right opinion, is, at best, a very slender part of religion. Though right tempers cannot subsist without right opinions, yet right opinions may subsist without right tempers. There may be a right opinion of God without either love or one right temper toward Him. Satan is proof of this.”
Great minds think alike.
Speaking the Truth in an unpleasant way (according to the listener)=heresy?
Really?
Gal 6 is a great warning for me and I know I get it wrong often, but to equate speaking the truth in a way that might offend someone to heresy is simply wrong. Often times, the Truth spoken in love to someone struggling with sin will create a negative response. If that person is a Believer, it is the Holy Spirit convicting. And hopefully that leads to repentance.
It seems to me that in the name of political correctness or tolerance or ‘enlightenment’ we are to keep our mouths shut with respect to righteousness or holiness. Sounds a lot like the church at Corinth. Love without righteousness is empty. It’s ‘both/and’, not either/or.
Didn’t Paul say that “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”
Craig I’m going to have to agree!! People the TRUTH in ITSELF is pure conviction! That we ARE sin incarnate! Christ’s message IS OFFENSIVE to the entire world. It tells us we are not awesome, condemns everything we are EVEN ARE GOOD DEEDS ARE LIKE FILTHY RAGS UNTO THE LORD <3 Preaching the gospel is our job, not to tip toe around what makes true repentance and conviction of sin! "People will hate you because of Me."
Do not sugar coat it, or you may end up not getting His Truth through and if His message isnt said then we wind up with "christians" that arent really saved because they do not know what they are being saved of.
How can you preach His Word to people and not love them? Well, that's the way Westboro Baptist Church "christians" do it. Clearly that is not in love or in accordance to His will.
Careful to not follow this new culture of tolerance, but dont swing the pendulum too far the other way either! I mean, honestly how do you make "youre going to hell" any less than what that truth is?? You CANT make that "nice," but it is INDEED His message! JUST FOLLOW IT THROUGH with Jesus death on the cross, showing His Grace and Mercy to ALL WHO REPENT AND BELIEVE!
A balance MUST be struck between the opinions of Craig & Rachelle above, and that of Don, Lindsay, etc..
Certainly, Christ commands us to Love, Kindness, Gentleness, and the like; it is also true that Scripture is sharper than a two-edged sword; and condemns men; and is an Offense in itself.
These two seem very much at odds at first glance; but we must find a balance if we are to be Salt & Light to the world; to be “the only Jesus many people will ever see”.
I totally agree.
I think we also love doctrine communicated in this “heretical” manner because it doesn’t require thought or faith. If you follow someone else’s doctrine that someone else tells you what to believe and you believe it – end of story. In that way, you don’t have to follow Philippians 2:12 by working out your salvation with fear and trembling; it seems to make your spiritual life a lot easier. However, if we don’t think through the doctrine on our own – work through it by meditating and praying about it – I believe that the doctrine doesn’t become a part of our own spiritual story and our faith is lessened because we haven’t worked through it and made it our own.
I love this. Thanks for putting to words what I’ve been thinking. I think, in response to the first comment, that it is entirely possible to make the truth no longer true just by being a jerk about it. Truth arrogantly stated is false, or pretty nearly false. (even this comment, if my heart is not in the right spot).
Some might call the good theology taught in ways that devalue the soul “spiritual abuse.”
What value does our soul have if it is punished in hell forever…?
How can you devalue a condemned soul?
Speaking the truth about the condition of mankind’s soul (sinful and separated from God) in sound theology is the best thing anyone can do for them.
Spiritual abuse… that is not what happens when you preach the Gospel which is PURE THEOLOGY. His message first teaches hell and sin, but the ending teaches the way out of it…
maybe saying spiritual abuse would be to teach them about their sin and hell, never getting to Christ crucified for ALL their sins forever.
“What value does our soul have if it is punished in hell forever…?
How can you devalue a condemned soul?”
Rachelle, these “condemned souls” you are talking about were so valuable to God that He died for them.
And Rebekah is right. You can speak the truth and devalue the person you are speaking to at the same time. Souls-saved and unsaved-are precious to God. That should make us think twice before we speak the truth.
What a person does will always reflect what he or she truly believes.
What a person says may or may not truthfully reflect what he or she believes.
I so want to comment, but I’m speechless this morning. I read the preface to “Mere Christianity” right before coming to the blog and what keeps coming back to me is this.
“When you have reached your own room, be kind to those who have chosen different doors and to those who are still in the hall. If they are wrong they need your prayers all the more; and if they are your enemies, then you are under orders to pray for them. That is one of the rules common to the whole house.”
While you’re in “the hall” I think there can be great debate. Once you’ve chosen your doctrine and you’ve entered your room, you need to go a step further and live it. Living it excludes the jerks.
Unfortunately, we’re not very good at living it. And some people tend to be jerks naturally (or appear as such) while others can pull off the non-judgemental angel role
[...] Why Doctrine is Only Half the Message from Donald Miller’s blog: “In a perfect world, people would make decisions about what they believe based on it’s [...]
Lucifer seems to work by imitating as opposed to creating. He is best at destroying by making ineffectual that which has been created. Most often instead of trying to get us to believe something that is untrue he just makes us unable to love one another. Reminds me of chapter 13 of 1st Corinthians “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging symbol…” Lucifer’s attempts to divide us in theological debate are made easy by the fact that we forget the importance of love.
[...] Enjoy [...]
Amen!! Too often I meet people who are far more concerned with proving a point and being right rather than caring for the persons subjected to their theological tirades. I don’t care how right that person is, I don’t want to be like him.
This is a great thing to think about. It’s basically deciding vs. doing. You can look all you want at how to get the right answer to dozens of problems, but you can still forget the basics. Most importantly (to me) is The Greatest Command: Love God, and love others. IMHO, if you don’t follow The Greatest Command, anything else is worthless.
I would so much rather give a homeless guy dinner money or mow an older person’s lawn than preach at them. Once I love on em a little, I can tell them openly and truthfully that I believe Jesus will help A, B, and C issues in their life. And once I really get to know them, maybe I can discuss their struggles with them. If you preach fire and brimstone from the sidewalk, you seem to be doing things backwards.
Thanks for the good topic, Don!
Good thoughts Don!
Great post. So many sermons or “teachings” lately leave the taste of someone feeling superior.
Right theology is built on love. Theology without love isn’t right theology. Theology and love are never opposed; they are both necessary to the gospel, and I would argue that where one rightly increases, the other increases in proportion.
Our intrinsic value in ourselves should indeed diminish in light of good theology. Our best offerings are filthy rags. Our lives are but vapors. But when we understand the good theology of God’s love and grace, we understand that our worth in Christ is infinite. Our value is Christ.
100% agree. You said it much clearer than I could have.
Agreed…for the most part. “My guess is we love doctrine because it makes us feel superior” is a statement that is in denial of church history and much of the NT. Paul spent much time preaching against the heresy of the Gnostics and the Judaizers. Jesus spent time delivering harsh words to the Pharisees. I wonder how their “intrinsic value” felt as they were being rebuked. “False teachers” can destroy God’s people and that is why Paul was so fervent in his response towards them. There is a grace in confronting someone who is wrapped up in lies and false teaching, because it keeps them from the truth of seeing God for Whom He really is.
I get what you’re trying to say, Don. However, people are making choices about “truth” today not based upon God’s self-revealed truth, but rather upon a cultural truths which have a modicum of half-correct Scriptures and a mix of a whole lot of other things.
I hope you would agree that we need to continue to preach truth even when it conflicts with a person’s internal set of values formed upon life and culture. It is absolutely possible (and essential) that this be done in love with respect for a person’s dignity. But when did it become “love” in our culture to have to agree with everything someone else says, or at minimum recite the post-modern mantra of “well that’s your truth and I respect that.”
We should be able to challenge the decay around us in a way that is relational, loving but absolutely committed to presenting God’s truth about Himself.
Balance disclaimers:
Not saying the goal of Christ in our lives or through our lives is to be the most correct theologically.
Not saying love should not be demonstrated through acts of service and works of justice.
Relationship provides context for truth.
I think you are so right on with this Don! We are reading ‘Mere Christianity’ in my book club, and last night we talked about pride. CS Lewis refers to it as the great sin. He says “the devil loves ‘curing’ a small fault by giving you a great one.” People who deliver their theology in a prideful way (meaning one upping, or competitive) lose the message.
I have this underlined and then underlined again “For pride is spiritual cancer; it eats up the very possibility of lover, or contentment, or even common sense.”
I hope that we can see the need for humility in our delivery, even in conversation, of the gospel. It is so much more effective!
One of the Evil One’s strongest tactics is the dilution of the truth through people thinking that ‘loving’ their neighbor means letting them feel like they are okay, despite them not following the truth. Jesus loved every person he encountered, but he did not let ‘feelings’ get in the way of the truth. This post is great regarding how people often think they are so holy and righteous and superior in the way they correct others, and how that completely is wrong because no one is good but God. However, the truth must be upheld and preached. That is the love Jesus had. The love to stand up for His truth and to show it’s merit through our lives. Teach the truth in love has three parts, teach, truth, and love.
This is likely the difference between the 30,000 foot view we have of our own beliefs and the reality of living life one minute at a time.
From 30,000 feet, we believe that good people behave this way; I’m a good person so I do these things.
Then we get cut off in traffic and want to chase the offender down.
See the disconnect?
Good people behave THIS way but when I’m “disrespected” I don’t behave “good.”
While the 30,000 foot view is valid and indeed valuable, the minute-by-minute, day-by-day decisions we make and actions we take are more important. Ultimately, the micro-view/action is who we are as it more accurately reflects what’s in our hearts and what is our passion.
I’ve definitely had a lot of chances to think about this. I go to Liberty University. So At least three days a week we get a new conservative speaker, or preacher, or someone famous to come and address in during convocation. Even as a Christian, sometimes I’ve listened to the preacher and thought, “If my non-saved friends heard you say that, they’d never listen to another word I say.”
We as Christians are called to be different. We are called to minster and disciple, and evangelize and do many things. But as I’ve said many times, when people quote 1 Peter 3:15, I think the key words in there are “hope” and “ask.” No one will ask about your relationship with Christ if you are a jerk and a pessimist and seem to hate your life. So really, learn apologetics won’t help unless you live a life of love and hope. Apologetics is trully based on living a life like Christ.
My first reply on your blog – been a reader and fan for years. Keep up the great work.
A small thought struck me when reading this. I agree with your opinion that the Evil One would be just fine with us teaching good doctrine in a bad way. If we are taught in such a way, we won’t value ourselves as much or believe in the doctrine as applicable to daily life. And therefore, it won’t spread. If the Evil One could choose between 1 person keeping the gospel to themselves or that person spreading it to anyone, I think he would certainly pick the former.
[...] http://donmilleris.com/2010/04/26/why-doctrine-is-only-half-the-message/ [...]
Don,
That’s why the devil is called the angel of light!
[...] being a jerk heresy? Donald Miller asks this question in a recent blog post. He points out that there seems to be a belief among many in the church that if our thoughts are [...]
[...] Don Miller believes doctrine is only half the message. [...]
[...] Miller. This post: Why Doctrine Is Only Half The Message. Read [...]
My grandma taught me that the dogma about Pride being a deadly sin is just a ploy by religious hierarchies to get folks to be their own thought police as in “Oh no, I shouldn’t be thinking I can figure this out on my own. The Evil One is tempting me to think God gave me a working mind. Shame shame on me!” Then she would light her pipe and say “Resistance is futile. Prepare to be assimilated.” and we would get ready for church.
[...] Posted by hanguk859 on May 2, 2010 Why Doctrine is Only Half the Message. [...]
Don: I think you are on to something here, but I wonder if there is another way to rephrase this… It seems to me that you are talking about the chasm between believing and doing. In the modern world, we’ve separated what we believe from what we do, but this is a false dichotomy. We only do what we believe. As Christians, our “doing” is clearly mandated as love. IF our believing doesn’t result in love, then it is not “right” doctrine. The Evangelical “right” has forgotten this fact, so they have turned love into a mystical, eternal pursuit while bludgeoning others with their version of theological orthodoxy. On the other side of the chasm are my “Mainline” friends, who have turned the love ethos into a smarmy, feel good, tolerate all things, be passionate about nothing in particular mantra that espouses no particular doctrine. Loving and believing must walk the same path.
Hi Don – I agree and I suspect the vast majority of people would also agree that being right is no good reason to be rude. There is a vocal minority that likes to beat people over the head with the truth, but they are so minor that I think they are almost a straw man, or straw people to use inclusive language. After all, the biggest problem we have in evangelical churches is that people are scared to death to talk about their faith, not that that are being rude about it.
But I think your statement of this position is a bit incoherent. Can you really say that being condescending is the same thing as denying the essential truths of the Scripture (heresy)? That’s just over the top and very legalistic if you think about it. We all have our faults and we are all in a process of growth. Having a character fault is not the same thing as leaving the faith. Maybe you are using heresy in a lighter sense, but… should you? Seems crafted for misunderstanding.
Also, this statement: the devil wants us to teach right theology in a way that devalues human beings. But you also say that right theology (“the gospel of Jesus”) affirms the intrinsic value of mankind. this seems like a contradiction. You really ought to be saying that right theology implies a worthy approach to all fellow humans. The reason I’m bringing out this perhaps nit-picky point is that I often see this tendency to talk about “theology” as if under that category there are a bunch of “beliefs” (philosophical rightness) that, yes, we are supposed to believe but which in fact don’t really matter that much. What really matters, we say, is that we love people, what really matters, we say, is that we share the gospel, what really matters is that we feed the hungry, etc. We don’t realize that all these “really matters” are absolutely and inescapably theological statements and beliefs. I feel like we need to own up to the fact that good theology is crucial and pursue it explicitly instead of accidentally while at the same time half-denying it.
[...] does not justify rude, but with the way he stated it, which seemed very misleading (See his post Why Doctrine is Only Half the Message and two of my posts along the same lines: The Good News Is that You’re a Jerk and Criticisms, [...]
Interesting how blog comments say more about their authors than about the blog topic.
Donald says: In your opinion, is being a jerk heresy?
Here is the first warning bell. Words have meaning and when someone solicits opionins about the meaning of a particular word, you can be sure that they are about to redefine it. Instead, let’s actually state the definition of heresy from the World English
Dictionary: Heresy (noun): An opinion or doctrine contrary to the orthodox tenets of a religious body or church.
Donald says: … it seems we’ve lost touch with a true, holistic understanding of communication, believing as long as our ideas are theologically or philosophically true, we can present those truths through an offensive methodology.
Jesus and the Cross are themselves an offense to unregenerate man (Galatians 5) and any presentation of divine Truth is bound to be offensive by nature. The Light has come into the world but men hate the Light because their deeds are evil (John 3). If we fail to communicate this truth because we are concerned about being offensive, we are not demonstrating love to our neighbor but for ourselves.
Donald says: In a perfect world, people would make decisions about what they believe based on it’s philosophical merit, but that
isn’t how people decide what is true at all. The truth about how people decide what is true is simple: If a philosophy creates a person that affirms my intrinsic value as a human being, it has merit, and if it doesn’t affirm my intrinsic value as a human being, it does not have merit.
Did Jesus or any of the Apostles teach this theory of how people “make decisions about what they belive”? I don’t recall these ideas presented anywhere in the Bible, which places them squarely outside of Christianity. What I have read is that repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and the understanding of Scripture are gifts graciously granted by God (Romans et al.).
Donald says: Now that doesn’t hold much water in terms of deciding how to live, and yet, that’s how most people come to believe the ideas they believe. And God knows it, because God designed the brain to work in exactly this way. That’s why God emphasizes doctrine and love, or better, doctrine IN love.
Do you have a Biblical argument to back up these assertions? I will grant that truth is to be presented in love (Ephesians 4), but that has at least as much to do with the intent of presenter as it does the perception of the presentee.
Donald says: The beautiful thing about the gospel of Jesus is it affirms the intrinsic value of mankind, stating we are the creation of God, fallen, and that God wants to be back in relationship.
Can you flesh out your definition of Gospel a bit more (1 Corinthians 15)? Perhaps you can also justify your assertion that the two central themes of the Gospel are the “affirmation of the intrinsic value of mankind” and that “God wants us back in relationship”.
Donald says: We commonly believe that the Evil One wants us to teach bad theology, and I suppose he does. But what he wants to do more is to have us teach right theology in a way that devalues human beings, insults and belittles them, and so sets them against the loving message of God.
An interesting set of claims but they stand or fall based on the value of the arguments that back them up. It is made pretty clear in both the OT and the NT that every intent of our heart is, since the Fall, intrinsically evil and hostile to God (Genesis 8, Ephesians 2, Romans 3, et al.). We are wholly unacceptable to God until we are covered, justified and made clean by repentance and faith in Christ Jesus (Romans 3, et al.). Does this mean that we have no value in the eyes of our Creator?
Obviously not, but we need to have a very clear understanding of our value and place before God. Simply walking up to someone and telling them that God loves them, so they should believe in Jesus doesn’t make much sense since the unregenerate man already loves himself and thinks that he should be considered praiseworthy before the Lord.
Donald says: So if we teach right theology in a way that is condescending, we are just as guilty as being heretics… And so we become personality heretics, speaking the truth, but teaching heresy.
That is a non sequitur since you have not yet presented a case to support this conclusion. What you have done is redefined the term “heretic” to suit your personal opinion and are using it to unlovingly condemn your brothers in Christ. “Jerks” are heretics.
Donald says: That’s why the Bible spends as much or more time talking about love as it does about doctrine.
Woah! That’s quite a claim. Perhaps we could have some evidence to back that up? Just thinking of the Pauline letters, Paul spends a tremendous amount of time emphasizing the importance of sound doctrine. He also spends a huge amount of time talking about the love of God as expressed through Christ, which is not the love you are talking about in this post.
Donald says: My guess is we love doctrine because it makes us feel superior, but neglect love because it calls for personal sacrifice and vulnerability.
That sounds like what Freud would call “projection”. If learning correct doctrine makes you feel superior to others, that is a sin that needs to be repented of. To use the oft used quote, we are beggars all. All equally bereft of our own righteousness and merit before an infinitely holy God who can not and does not tolerate sin. We are all equally indebted to Christ.
If I may use an anaolgy: when you see someone ready to step out in front of a bus, you show them love by yelling a warning, or if you are close enough, by grabbing their arm and yanking them back to safety. In the same way, since we don’t know when any of us will die, the presentation of the truth is urgent.
The truth includes both God’s Law, which condemns us all and makes us aware of our position in God’s eyes AND the Gospel, which is the good news that Christ willingly died to pay for our sins and rose again for our justification. This truth needs to be clearly and directly presented to everyone, everywhere and it can’t be clearly communicated under a cloud of fear that the clear identification and rebuke of error or sin will be considered unloving. Christ did a great many things that his contemporaries (and some even today) would consider unloving, but yet he is referred to as the definitive presentation of God’s love.
Perhaps it would be a good idea to clearly define and deal with these issues via exegesis of what the Bible says instead of what our opinions are.
hahaha I really hope youre being serious so I’ll respond on the assumption that you are…
Everyone is a bad person… so I dotn think ANYONE is a good person. I am a bad person. Thank God for His Grace.
I dont live my life in as Jesus hung on the cross and I dont think you should either. He is Risen. Our God Lives!
I simply thought your response to a brother in Christ was very negative and very unnecessary.
Of course we do not know each other. If I knew you personally I would have said these things over coffee… if you drink it that is
I thought the point of this particular blog you posted was to shed light on the negativity of being a “jerk” in how one presents doctrine… and you did EXACTLY that!!
Sorry if you took offense to my response. I’ll admit I did respond quickly in amidst of my shock in the poor attitude of your post. It was very condescending and immature sounding… hopefully perhaps you personally arent this way.
You already know what it means when another Christian says they will pray for you… perhaps youre only this way towards people who question your opinions… one can hope.
Rachelle,
i deleted that comment because it was too quick. you are too kind. i agree i did exactly that. often, a persons insight comes from firsthand knowledge. still, i don’t think most people would find me a jerk. but i also think we kiss each others butts way too much.
Don, while I may not agree with you at every point, God’s kingdom is large enough for that, and thus–though I don’t know you–I’m proud to call you a brother in Christ. Your work has tremendous value for me. Keep it up, fight the good fight. Now get off the Internet and enjoy the Goff’s place.
Blessings
Chad,
i am trying! i just keep getting sucked in. what i wouldn’t give for you guys to be here. i think heaven will be like this, honestly. not just the beauty, but the grace, the feeling that “this whole time i was okay.”
Don,
Thanks again for taking the time to respond.
This isn’t about whom is superior to whom or claims to “know everything”. Wisdom is a gift granted by the Spirit and is wholly apart from works, which comprehensively rules out boasting in anything but Christ and his grace.
You spoke in Searching for God Knows What about the superiority you felt as a Baptist over a friend who was a methodist. Not everyone feels this same superiority.
I hear you man. Best.
Don,
In Searching for God Knows What, you talk about having felt superior, as a Baptist to a man who is a Methodist. Within that context, I can understand why you would see claims of truth through a lens of superiority. However, not everyone who makes claims of truth does so because they feel superior to others.
Repentance, faith and wisdom are all gifts from God and are given graciously rather than through merit. This, as is made abundantly clear in the NT, completely does away with boasting in anything but Christ. We (me especially!) are just beggars telling other beggars where the food is.
Sorry if I sent duplicate comments, or comments with the same content. <:) Feel free to leave one off if you choose to publish either of them. I didn't see a "awaiting moderation" notification, so I resubmitted.
I appreciate this guy’s desire to share his opinions, but in my opinion, a little scripture reading would show he is wrong in almost everything he has written here. He is dangerously close to reversing the gospel, so that intrinsically valuable man redeems God by choosing to bring himself back into relationship with God.
I think, instead, that the gospel of scripture affirms the value of Jesus Christ and, in fact, the desperate wickedness and helplessness of man. God loves us and wants a relationship with us for His glory, not because we are lovable.
If I can be so bold, I think Satan loves the idea of a gospel that holds man as intrinsically valuable and God as a lonely puppy following us around waiting and hoping to be loved, because it does the one thing Satan most wants to do: belittle the glory of God.
DR said: … the gospel of scripture affirms the value of Jesus Christ and, in fact, the desperate wickedness and helplessness of man. God loves us and wants a relationship with us for His glory, not because we are lovable.
I agree with this on all but one point: that we need Jesus to be in “relationship” with God. Everyone is in relationship with God, but until grace acts through faith in Jesus Christ, we are in a decidedly bad relationship.
We are by nature hostile to God and hateful of Him but He displayed His love by dying for us while we were still sinners.
Thank you Lord for your perfect love and grace acting through faith!
Don,
Thanks for posting my comment and taking the time to reply to it. Your inability to respond in a meaningful way says a lot.
Perhaps, instead of being rude, you could actually interact with the points I made. I suspect not though, since opinions and P.C. sentimentalities are really no match for God’s revealed Word.
wow that was doing exactly what you refer to that you didnt want to be: a heretical jerk
your personal sins seem to be getting the best of you… will be praying for you. Youre far too public of a Christian figure and I wouldnt want you setting anymore poor examples of being a Christian…
If you treat your brother in Christ this way, I cant imagine how you’ve been treating non-believers!!!!
deleted the comment Rachelle.
just didn’t want to respond. i get this terrible feeling when i read a long comment like that. can’t explain it. it’s just a terrible feeling. perhaps it’s me, i don’t know. best to you.
i didn’t feel attacked. i don’t think that was isaac’s intention. it’s that feeling that somebody “knows everything”. i went through that phase, until i realized i didn’t, that i actually know very, very little. and when i mean very little, Racelle, i mean very very very little.
ok well, although you say you know very, very, very, very little… I dont see how that means much in comparison to what you DO know:
the knowledge of salvation, the Gospel of Christ.
You have the entire Bible (and even us “regular” people can look up the meaning of ancient greek and hebrew words if we so choose.)
God has revealed the past, present and future to mankind. Everything you’d like to know about His Truth can be measured against His Word.
Speaking of course that you believe His Word is infallible… I am assuming that you do.
So how can you say you know so little? THIS IS HUGE AND WONDERFUL KNOWLEDGE
The Bible contains ‘huge’ and wonderful knowledge, but in the end, even those closest to God know so little! To think we can know and understand a lot about the Creator of the universe is (usually unconsciously) arrogant.