John 8:31-32 31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my
disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you
free."
John 16:12-13 12 "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.
13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
John 18:33-38 33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"
34 "Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?"
35 "Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?"
36 Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."
37 "You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
38 "What is truth?" Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him.
Walking this morning in the country air, I began to think through a conversation that I've had dozens of times (per hundreds) before.
"It's all well and good to think about things from the Bible, but at the end of the day, you have to apply pragmatic thinking...do what's best in that situation, regardless of other things..."
A friend, and former student, wrote of a well known Christian leader who went on national TV to dismiss the notion of sin, the need for redemption, and the necessity of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. This noted Christian argues for "God's love means all will be ok...so just relax, all will be fine."
Pragmatic theology is based on the philosophy that scripture is not what defines truth, but the concepts of a modernist idea of what is good and everyone can embrace that.
Pragmatism is a popular philosophy in our culture.
Do what is best for you.
Do what you is true for you.
Do what is going to make things work out for the best.
Believe the things that work for you.
Believe the ideas that make you comfortable and at personal peace.
And on and on it goes.
Pragmatism is the belief that the ultimate meaning or worth of something lies in the consequences. It's practical oriented, and individual. It is utilitarian in function - if it works and the outcome is good, then it's right to do, or right to believe. Pragmatism is as old as human rationale and embraced in our modern culture more than any other belief system. It is Pragmatism that functions even in the church - so much so that the words of scripture can fall on deaf ears and matters of faith, truth from God's word seem irrelevant to "what works".
Yet here is where we who believe must see the ultimate failure of a philosophy that does not embrace truth. The church that embraces methodology and cares little about theology is not a place of truth. The believer who claims to love God and yet sets aside the word of God as THE source of truth, does not really understand what it means to love God. Is this my thoughts only? Consider this:
1 John 2:4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,
"C'mon Elliott, pragmatism works...it's just the way things are done."
Really?
No, it's the way things are done because "any dead duck can float down-stream"...
What is wrong here is the failure to understand the difference between God's wisdom, his truth, and the false belief that what each of us might think/judge is the right thing for each of us is better than doing what God's word says.
1 Corinthians 1:20-25 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Historically the false beliefs of every "modernist generation" (after all, every generation in human history has their own modernist belief system) is an attack on the scripture as truth.
Pilate wasn't the first who said it...and he has not been the last.
Seriously, it's time to stand up and say "that is simply not true according to the scriptures."
Thinking...Musing...Peace
John 16:12-13 12 "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.
13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
John 18:33-38 33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"
34 "Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?"
35 "Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?"
36 Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."
37 "You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
38 "What is truth?" Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him.
Walking this morning in the country air, I began to think through a conversation that I've had dozens of times (per hundreds) before.
"It's all well and good to think about things from the Bible, but at the end of the day, you have to apply pragmatic thinking...do what's best in that situation, regardless of other things..."
A friend, and former student, wrote of a well known Christian leader who went on national TV to dismiss the notion of sin, the need for redemption, and the necessity of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. This noted Christian argues for "God's love means all will be ok...so just relax, all will be fine."
Pragmatic theology is based on the philosophy that scripture is not what defines truth, but the concepts of a modernist idea of what is good and everyone can embrace that.
Pragmatism is a popular philosophy in our culture.
Do what is best for you.
Do what you is true for you.
Do what is going to make things work out for the best.
Believe the things that work for you.
Believe the ideas that make you comfortable and at personal peace.
And on and on it goes.
Pragmatism is the belief that the ultimate meaning or worth of something lies in the consequences. It's practical oriented, and individual. It is utilitarian in function - if it works and the outcome is good, then it's right to do, or right to believe. Pragmatism is as old as human rationale and embraced in our modern culture more than any other belief system. It is Pragmatism that functions even in the church - so much so that the words of scripture can fall on deaf ears and matters of faith, truth from God's word seem irrelevant to "what works".
Yet here is where we who believe must see the ultimate failure of a philosophy that does not embrace truth. The church that embraces methodology and cares little about theology is not a place of truth. The believer who claims to love God and yet sets aside the word of God as THE source of truth, does not really understand what it means to love God. Is this my thoughts only? Consider this:
1 John 2:4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,
"C'mon Elliott, pragmatism works...it's just the way things are done."
Really?
No, it's the way things are done because "any dead duck can float down-stream"...
What is wrong here is the failure to understand the difference between God's wisdom, his truth, and the false belief that what each of us might think/judge is the right thing for each of us is better than doing what God's word says.
1 Corinthians 1:20-25 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Historically the false beliefs of every "modernist generation" (after all, every generation in human history has their own modernist belief system) is an attack on the scripture as truth.
Pilate wasn't the first who said it...and he has not been the last.
Seriously, it's time to stand up and say "that is simply not true according to the scriptures."
Thinking...Musing...Peace
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