Re (4): Degrees of Knowledge

Dear Linda,
Thank you for your kind response. Your words — I was earnestly seeking after that personal relationship that seems so very elusive... My heart was earnest to know Him — remind me very much of my own journey. Fortunately for you, it sounds like your Christian contacts served to bring you closer to your goal. Too often in my own journey, however, I have made progress in spite of other Christians rather than because of them. Both you and Eric point out two of the many factors that keep us all from having, much less wanting this kind of relationship with God, namely ignorance and sin.

Eric, in fact, makes another excellent point in the newsletter when he says the following:

"Do you suppose that when our Lord spoke often about us being as little children, He had something in mind along the lines of:

Your religion is filled with many silly pretences. These once had some good reasons behind them when they were first enacted, and, for that matter, they still sometimes do. (And you should never condemn the communion of another with Me, for that is between he and I alone.) But more often than not somewhere along the way, the reason was lost and the ritual remained. Yes, even the ritual can have meaning, for it is an attempt on the part of man to reach out and touch Me. But a child: a child simply climbs up on My lap and throws his little arms around My neck and says, “Jesus, how was your day today? I missed You a whole bunch.” And I smile in his face and brush the hair out of his eyes and he feels My love and I feel his. This then, is how you should pray."

While sound doctrine has its place in anchoring the soul in truth, I believe that we too often become so enmeshed in the sense of obligation to believe every doctrine presented to us, and the duty to make others believe as we do, that we lose sight of what true Christianity is and what - or rather Who - is the very soul and center of it. Christianity itself is based on nothing other than the fact that there is a true and living God who sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to show us all who God is and what He is all about. And when this Son was murdered, God raised Him from the dead. Is the most important point to this about personal guilt? Perhaps not.

What we miss too often is that the genuine reality of the true and living God who is, and the resurrection of the Son of God are realities that exist outside of any doctrine, any belief or disbelief. Truth indeed stands on its own two feet. If there were no church, no doctrine, no people to believe or disbelieve, God would continue to be God. Jesus Christ would still be Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, resurrected from the dead. And again, the good news of the gospel is that He lives, and because He lives, we can have this personal relationship with Him, the only love stronger than death and better than life. When the sun sets, when the music fades, when the earth passes beneath our feet and we are gone from this stage, God will still be He who is, has always been, will forever be. Knowing the God who is, is the central issue to Christianity. Entering into this deep and abiding relationship with Him, is the heart and soul of it all.

Yes, sin is an issue - a big issue. But it is not the central issue. The reality of God and of Jesus Christ are. When we are drawn to God, when we enter into an up close and personal relationship with Him, He draws us closer to the flame, and the sin issue takes care of itself. He takes care of it Himself. When the Bible says no sin can stand in His presence, it isn't a warning to steer clear as much as an invitation to come closer to that flame and let Him remove all that needs to be removed; let Him wipe away every tear, cast out every fear, bury our sin in the depths of the sea, carry our guilt far away: as far as the east is from the west, to remove our transgression from us.

Hence the invitation of Jesus to come, all who are weary and heavy laden, and let Him give you rest.
And the prophet Hosea: "Come, and let us return to the Lord: for... he will heal us; ... he will bind us up...he will revive us...he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord. His going forth is (as certain) as the dawn...He will come to us..." (Hosea 6:1-3)

• Re(5): Degrees of Knowledge - By Bill March 11, 2005 at 11:18:00 AM
  • Re(6): Degrees of Knowledge - By Eric March 11, 2005 at 12:58:19 PM
    • Re(7): Degrees of Knowledge - By karen March 12, 2005 at 08:09:34 PM