I heard something interesting from my college minister a couple of weeks ago that I think might apply. It is long but worthwhile.
It involved the idea of faith and certainty regarding absolute truth in relation to salvation and the nature of God. Our minister described how growing up, he remembered praying his prayer of salvation over and over, wondering if he was truly saved, and worrying that he might find other religions that would contradict his faith but somehow make more sense, and it became a real struggle to have any feeling of certainty regarding the matter. However, in discussing his struggles with one of his mentors, he learned something very peaceful and relavent to his situation. His mentor explained to him, Brandon, that knowing truth and being saved is a position; a state of being that either is, or is not. Like integars in mathematics, the place that is occupied by the number 5, cannot be occupied by anything else. Its unambiguous. And the same is true with faith. If absolute truth exists(which we should all agree does, otherwise the coherency of this conversation, logic, and all other reasoning is not only asinine, its meaningless), and we as people have the ability to know it, you dont'have to worry about whether you know truth, because the whole thing isn't up to you anyway. This obviously begs the question, "what the heck is my role in it then?" and in that, the simple answer is, we have the opportunity to know God and know true with certainty because true is knowledge and knowledge is a position. It either is or is not.
It is not contigent upon feelings or semantics. Now, from an intellectual perspective, thats not to say that you shouldn't earnestly investigate the sources of truth in this world to decide which direction to follow; clearly you should, as God calls us to love Him with all our heart AND all our mind. But you should understand that if you are searching truly with an open heart and mind that God promises you will be found by Him. In that, you will also see that it is in Him that you were saved by grace, and hence its nothing you can do or CANNOT do that affects that. I stress your choice involving what "direction" to pursue, because it is ultimately God that calls and opens your heart, and not dependent on you in finding truth; God found You! It is also not up to you or your understanding that governs your self worth or your salvation, as it is by faith in Christ, and God's good work in us. The interesting part of all of this is God allows us with our rational minds and free will to choose whether or not to invest ourselves with faith in God's work in our lives. Based on a compilation of observations about the amazing order, precision, and purpose of the world around us, as well as our desire/need for love and relationship, with an understanding of our own shortcomings, we make a decision on whether or not to follow Him in mind and body for the purpose of glorifying that which He is worthy of. And That's amzing. Like many things in this life, I don't quite understand it but its indisputably evident and real.
But our God is complex and awesome, as has been displayed throughout the earth and its creatures, and so the questions and problems in this life are complex and awesome, therefore an informed, intelligent perspective is important. But don't lose sight of the balance between the heart, mind and actions as it relates to your faith. An imbalance in any of them, such as hyper-spiritualizing or over analyzing-intellectually can lead you away from where you need to be. Similiarly, blind faith, i.e. faith without substance, dead faith- faith w/o works, or imparitial faith- works w/o faith, each is a diversion from truth and seeing things clearly, even for devoted Christ followers.
But I think this whole idea of position in Christ and the "positions" of all things true is really what underscores true faith, and seperates Christianity from other world religions. Like in math, integars are great examples of what it looks like for something to have a place to be filled by one thing and nothing else, and additionally similar in math analogous to religion, I believe it was C.S. Lewis that wrote that if one way is true then it follows that other ways are not. And like in mathematics, there is one correct solution to a given problem, and there are many incorrect ones, however, some are "more correct" than others. I think this is the way to look at world religions, and the way I see it is, all the predominant faiths in the world(Christianity, Judiasm, Islam, Buhhdihsm, Hindu, even Atheism) recognize an imperfect world, a utopian goal, and the desire of man to commune with it. However, in my opinion, this is where Christianity steps forward, and the others do not. It offers a benevolent and active God that first makes the attempt to meet man, and not the other way around, and converges the religious significance of the natural world, intellectual enlightenment, and faithful devotion(elements that all religions use to signify truth) contingent upon the one thing that we as humans identify most assuredly with: a loving relationship. That more than anything is what it's all about. It demands a personal involvement/commitment in relation to the physical and intellectual aspects of faith that the others do not. That personal relationship is based on the understanding and belief in a loving and involved creator whom either does, or does not exist- Whom do you say that He is? That's the real question: whether or not God is real and validated Himself and his Word through Christ's death on the cross, and His resurrection, or whether thats just a hoax of an idea thats managed to survive and claim truth for over 2000 years. Its not about names, or labels, being a "Christian" or doing religious acts; those are things of man. But its about a relationship between you and your Savior. That's it. We're relational beings, whom God has placed in our hearts a desire to know Him in love, which is something we can all relate to.
In spite of everything though, my advice to those searching for truth in this regard would be something that a friend told me once that I've been learning lately; God accomplishes His purposes in his children especially in those that pursue Him, but as well in those in spite of whom do not. It's up to us whether or not we want to be a part of the journey. Pray to Him and ask Him to reveal Himself to you, and you can be sure that He will. (Jeremiah 29:14)
[This message has been edited by campies (edited 5/9/2005 6:32a).]
