The western rational mind gets nervous around the mysterious, the mystical and the spiritual. As such, American church circles are quick to label such things as "of the devil" or "false teaching". Interestingly enough, however, God did not chose the western rational mind as the platform for the launching of the scriptures. God, from His eternal perch, could see that the eastern, tribal mind would best serve His purposes through out human history. Ever read about tribes in the Bible? How about Wise Men from the East?
That's why the Bible poses several challenges for us. Let me offer a sampling of some of these challenges and examples of the ones that annoy me the most. If you are bothered by these questions or concepts , or you bother other people with these things....duck. "Where are the dinosaurs?" "How old is the earth?" "Where did Cain get his wife?" "The Bible's version of Creation should be taught in our public schools as a counter balance to evolution!".
Ignorance in these matters is not bliss. It's a pain in the tail. The Bible is not a book of science. I repeat, not a book of scientific explanations, scientific data or anything remotely related to science. To impose western scientific questions upon it is like looking for the meaning of life in a calculus textbook. If people of faith taught and lived the Bible from its truest value we would actually fight to KEEP it out of public schools for fear and concern that the public school system would dumb it down into science! It MUST be handled by the hearts and hands of people born from ABOVE and genuinely born of SPIRIT. Our silly fear of evolution (and a myriad of other modern boogie men) is rooted in our lack of BEING people of SPIRIT! Dare I say that the best way to resist the theory of evolution is for church people to stop acting like religious monkeys?
The Bible intentionally raises the bar of mystery to call out to and from the human condition the spirit factor. God's Voice is calling deep unto deep waiting for a child to respond. The Holy Spirit seeks hearts first, not minds. The resonance of the human heart echoes back to the chords of God's mysterious Voice. Listen. Stop imposing formulas and lists and shallow bureaucratic filters on God's passionate language of love.
In his book, "Leading Without Power", Max De Pree says that organizations of all types and kinds degrade and suffer, "when poets are terminated and bureaucrats promoted". The American church has allowed this virus to truncate our truest power and value in the name of rational debate and even for political purposes. I say its time to reach for our core values of the sweetly mysterious Spirit and let the Wind blow "where it wishes" so that once again we can "hear the sound of it" because, "so is everyone who is born of the Spirit". Read the source of these quotes again, for the FIRST time; John 3:8.
I'm ready for the mystery of our potential to be released and realized! How about you?
2 comments:
Right on Bro!
To be limited to,"God works in mysterious ways", is such a let down compared to simple faith which allows His Spirit to do a supernatural work from above in me. It is truly miraculous that I can speak HALLELUJAH from my lips and know the joy of it in my heart. And know this my beloved, that did not originate from science.
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