I don’t expect everyone to agree with everything I put on this blog. In fact, I fully expect that few people will agree with much of it, and nobody with all of it. I write things here that are the way I see things at the time of writing. Anyone with intelligence will be constantly modifying his/her views and beliefs in line with further study, prayer, contemplation, research and discussion. In the things of God, He is by nature never fully understandable by mere mortal flesh – we can approach knowledge, but it will never be complete until we see Him face to face – and even then I am sure there will be more of Him to explore and get to know, throughout all eternity. So it’s no wonder that we might occasionally change our views and beliefs.
Even for those who would claim that the Bible holds all the answers – well, yes, maybe it does*, but you really have to dig to find those answers. And again, people would often disagree on those findings; the answers you get from the Spirit’s interpretation of a particular passage may well be different from the interpretation someone else gets. It should come as no surprise, then, that there will be almost as many different views on Divine things as there are people expressing the views. And then when you take into account that some people have access to the ‘original Greek’ or whatever, it’s no surprise that God can speak different things to different people. And God’s cool with that! Just remember that He is the Author, and He knows what He meant – for you! – when He caused it to be written. This is what Jesus meant when He said in John 16:13, “when the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth“.
God deals with each person in different ways. He speaks to us all in different ways, and the things He says to each of us will be different according to our personalities, needs and His purposes for us at that particular time. This is why it is critically important to have one ear – or preferably both! open to what the Spirit is saying as you read the Bible. And regarding finding all life’s answers, well, if we were supposed to know all the answers here and now, then the Bible would be black-and-white, the answers to all life’s great questions would be clearly stated, cut and dried, and life would be incredibly boring.
Remember that just because someone who says they are a Christian does not agree entirely with what you think a Christian ‘should’ believe, it does not make them either an unbeliever or a heretic. The Christian faith is a broad, deep and ancient faith whose adherents have had many different views down the centuries; it did not make these people any less Christian.
And it is not valid for anyone to try to destroy what God has indeed spoken to someone else. Discuss things, yes, but at the end of the day, what God has spoken to your heart must remain sacrosanct. Treasure it!
*Although I must confess that in response to one particularly vehement lady on a discussion forum, who wrote that the Bible contains the answer to every question, I did have to ask her where in the Bible it tells us when it is permissible to violate controlled airspace without a flight plan. An hyperbolic question to be sure, but I feel the point was made 😉
Good comments. It is so true, the Spirit is constantly teaching us and leading us into more truth as we are ready for it. For sure, even Christians are not going to agree on everything. The sad thing is when we disagree it seems a lot of the time we would rather push our point and fight and argue trying to prove that we are right. Nothing wrong with thinking we are right with the truth we have at the moment, yet still accept our brothers and sisters who see things differently. The world sees enough fighting and arguing. They should see love and acceptance from us who are followers of Christ.
Absolutely. To be honest, I am only just learning this skill now, that is, the skill of simply accepting that I believe one thing and someone else believes something else. As an Aspergic and as an ex-Fundie, I do find it difficult!
I love this:
“it’s no surprise that God can speak different things to different people. And God’s cool with that! Just remember that He is the Author, and He knows what He meant – for you!”
In my life, God has used comic books, sci-fi, and many genres of music to speak to my heart. It’s easy to tell if it’s from Spirit because it leaves me with an open heart and a better understanding of the sufferings of others, and inspires me to become more than I am, not to feel better about myself, but to be better at helping others.