Fears Of The New Age

I walked into our office because I heard my husband typing up a storm. I looked over his shoulder to see what he was typing about and I saw a question that made me think. The question:

Gentleman, are there any simple passages in scripture? Any that warrant a clear and simple reading in your humble estimation?

I don't mean this as an affront on the person who asked this question, but there are some concerns within this question that I have. I'm just going to post my reaction to this and maybe some comments.

First, the thing that came to my mind was a question. The question I would ask anyone who said this would be, why? Why do we need scripture to be clear and simple? Why is that God needs to map out every thing for us in the bible?

The next reaction I have to this is the under lying thought here. The thinking that we need for God to be simple and clear. In the Christian life I don't think we can think of many situations that were clear and simple. So this leads me to another question, why bottle God up? Why put Him in a box and say these are the only peramators that He will work in?

The last reaction is a statement. The moment we think scripture and God are clear and simple He will break us and our world. We can never and will never have a clear and simple understanding of scripture or of the character of God. Not this side of heaven. We are sinful people. We are swayed by much around us. We have constructs and a lens that we use at all times that at best is foggy. The only thing we can truly know is the salvation of which God offers through His Son, Jesus (but even then, many scholars have long struggled with this as well), but much of everything else is not clear. There are so many things that we need to remember when looking at the Word of God. That is holy, the Word of God. To say that we can read the Word of God and fully get a clear and simple answer is almost saying we can fully of the mind of Christ. How arrogant of us. We also need to remember when reading the word is the human construct. Although the men who wrote the word were lead by the Spirit, we cannot deny their human hand on the paper. This is why we cannot take scripture, lift a verse out and say with all absolute that we have a clear and simple answer. To do as such is dangerous to us and to the mind of God.

If I could encourage anyone person, I would encourage them to put back the mystery of God. The mystery of His Holy Word. But also to take away the box and the frame work that we have so hard tried to put Him in. When we allow ourselves to enter the mystery. Allow God His holiness back, then can we truly start a journey that is of faith, humbleness, and growth.