Friday 19 February 2010

Introduction

“The vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions” - A.W. Tozer

Paula Rinehart explains how constructs of God is being formed in the human mind.Human nature wants to fit God within a spiritual box and longs to construct a picture of Him accordingly. We want a hold on God. We grab to formulas and spiritual gurus or “know-how’s” to give us more definition and we continuously strive towards tangible evidence to set us at ease that things will work out the way we want them to.Slowly the walls of the box starts to dissolve as life happens, disappointments occur, and God seem to not stay within our mental box. This causes discomfort, confusion even deep upset and anger with God. This can be very frightening.Someone may realize that if the thing you feared had happened, then almost anything else is possible too, and that makes one feel terribly unsafe. Out of control. And o how our human nature wants to have control.“Can't I just return to the days when faith seemed sure and simple? Can't I just go back to where I was?” These are the kind of questions that often gets asked. We are uncomfortable with the tentative feel of faith.But when we reach that place, there is no going back. We find that our manageable belief system no longer works so well and the walls of the box has crumbled. God may begin to feel strangely absent, as though He has left us on our own to sort things out. Paula Rinehart explains: “Yet, in reality, what we are experiencing is this pain and confusion of letting go, not of God, but of the safe, secure, confines we built to house our concept of Him. God is not a concept to be mastered, a set of prescriptions we can control. He shows Himself to be much different than we thought - more loving, more exacting, more faithful” Her conclusion can be compared to what A.W Tozer said : “Much of our difficulty as seeking Christians stems from our unwillingness to take God as He is and adjust our lives accordingly. We insist upon trying to modify Him and bring Him nearer to our own image”. Oswald Chamber puts this a bit harsher: “If we have never had the experience of taking our commonplace religious shoes off our commonplace religious feet, and getting rid of all the undue familiarity with which we approach God, it is questionable whether we have ever stood in His presence. The people who are flippant and familiar are those who have never yet been introduced to Jesus Christ”. What this book aims to do is to bring Truth about God, not to put Him yet in another box, but to reveal more of who He reveals Himself to be, by the Spirit of Truth.Tamara Hartzell puts it bluntly by explaining how Truth becomes the sacrifice, when absolutism is out, and relativism is in; When obedience is out, and pragmatism is in: When teaching is out, and dialogue is in: When thus saith the Lord is out, and consensus of opinion is in: When using Scripture to judge right and wrong is out, and unity with tolerance at all costs is in: When the narrow way is out, and the broad way is in. Perhaps Tamara has a point. Let us further investigate.Over the years religious organizations, including Protestants and Catholics have put the Christian religion to shame. Brutal wars, immorality, greed, dishonesty and stiff-neck pride among leaders and organizations wearing the label “Christian” has made millions to run away from Christianity into the arms of Eastern religion gurus and teachers, who embraced them with beautiful words and promises of love.There are no excuses to be made. The name of Christ had been dishonored. And the type of Christianity displayed at large has but very little to do with Jesus Christ, His life and what He came to establish. If one is however an honest truth seeker, we have to look past those offenses, of “so called” Christians, and give “True Christianity” in the authentic sense of what it is and was meant to be an honest look. This is what is intended to be done in this document.KW Kenyon put it well: "Christianity is not a religion. It is not a system of ethics. It is not a set of rules to guide man's conduct, but it is a union with Deity" If this is the truth, then surely, those living in the deepest of darkness, claiming to be “Christian” had nothing to do with Christianity, in this sense. As the God of the bible, is Holy. And to be in union with Him, could never mean to live still in such deep darkness. “The sacred page is not meant to be the end, but only the means toward the end, which is knowing God himself”. A.W. Tozer. The question to be asked is : Can we know God ourselves. Personally. Intimately. Or are these just words? And does the True Christian religion has this to offer? And how does this compare to what Eastern religion practices lays on the table?This will be discussed within this book. The truth alone can set people free!We have found that it is one thing to know doctrines of truth. It is quite another thing to have Truth in the innermost man.

No comments:

Post a Comment