Shane Willard 2019 Session 01 The Nature of Truth and the Nature of Being

[Music] you so I've given my life to studying scripture and to communicating it in the most interesting ways possible and it is a Thursday night and you're in church so I'm feeling no pressure to be an evangelist and that's really really good because I'm not a good one right so the truth of it is is I make an assumption that people show up at 7 o'clock on a Thursday night in Sydney are fully devoted followers of Jesus right and so so I want to speak into that and as specifically in the first session want to speak about us when we say the words the Bible if we say the Bible says if we say scripture says or if we say the word God or because of course when a lot of us use the English word g.od if we're not careful really what we're doing is we're just talking about ourselves with a giant megaphone right we get we get so convinced that we're so in tune with God that when we say the word God we're actually just speaking of our own personal preference we got to be careful with that and so I want to I want to talk to you about that I want to talk to you about scripture when we say scripture truth the Bible God I want to give us a more compelling way to speak about these things and here's the reason why I'm very grieved by this okay and if this is not your experience I don't want to create a problem that is not your problem so don't try to find it but all over the world I speak and all over the world I get asked by pastors to sit in rooms with everybody in their church under the age of 30 and here's what the pastor's are telling me the pastor's are telling me that their young people are quietly and privately losing their faith in Scripture not in Jesus but in Scripture okay now here's the problem with that is that if you lose your faith in Scripture it's not too far away before you start questioning what scripture says about Jesus which then it's not too far away from losing your faith in Jesus and so what they tell me is they say listen you're pretty gifted at this would you sit with our people under 30 and talk to them about their problems with the Bible right and and I said sure of course I will and and here's what I found and here's and here's how I found it instead of being defensive and instead of attacking them for asking a potentially offensive question what I did is over the course of 18 months I just mastered the art of listening to the questions they were asking and here's what I realized what I realized is that their problem with the Bible is our fault and here's what I mean by that the reason it's our fault is because the people sitting in this room are people who come to church on Thursday night are the people controlling the narrative about the Bible right so if the people controlling the narrative about the scriptures are speaking of the scriptures in the most uncompelled way humanly possible we can't then blame the young people for being disillusioned with it and so after 18 months of listening I wrote something in February for a state pastors training to try to address this issue and and it was received incredibly well so well that I was asked to do it at a national conference and then it was received really well there and so what I'm doing tonight is been tested in other words um just over the last five months and and but I did I wasn't sure at first but now I know that this is the reports I'm getting back from parents and and from young people going you know what I never thought of it that way that's really helped me so I want to I want to share it with you because I'm assuming I'm talking to people who love Scripture right and you love Jesus and you love your Christian faith right and and you don't um and when you see internet post about people losing their faith it grieve you right and then if you see people being mean to those people about losing their faith it grieves you worse right because that's that's me right so so I want to I'm gonna get to two specific Bible passages in a second probably not even to the second session because I want to start with this when we say the word God or truth or the Bible or spirituality or scripture or were we're quoting some verse we're talking ultimately about truth so to understand this we have to understand the nature of truth so if you could bring that first slide for me this the nature of truth here's what we got to understand okay for me this is this is just language that helps me to speak about truth in the most meaningful way first we have to understand that you can't get more truth than truth so you can't get it's not like you can tell the truth in a way that's more true or it that that doesn't exist but you can speak of truth in a way that's more meaningful right so we're not going for more truthful how can you get more truthful than truth right but you can speak of truth in less meaningful ways and more meaningful ways now to get the most out of truth we have to understand that truth exists on a Trinitarian structure all I mean by that is it has three parts and if you remove any of the three parts of truth you're not being less truthful you're just being less meaningful now let's talk about the three the three are the literal or the objective that's one leg the second leg is the symbolic or the meaning and the third leg is the event all nature of truth now I don't want to go fast I have no desire to go fast I have a desire to be effective all right so so let's let's I'm gonna be very i'ma take a deep breath and take the role of a teacher so let's talk about all three of those first the literal the literal is something happened somebody wrote something down somebody told a story somebody taught something somebody wrote a letter instructing people how to live somebody did something that was worth God breathing life into it now that is the literal now sometimes hold your breath ready get ready here we go sometimes the literal is fiction the Bible is full of fiction and it doesn't do us any favors or the Bible any favors to pretend like something the original author intended to be fiction and read it as if it's literal okay let me give you an example if we go to the if we went to Israel tomorrow and we found the top history expert in Israel and we asked that history experts history expert could you take us to the farm where the parable the prodigal son actually happened that history expert would go what are you talking about that was a made-up story it was a made-up story to make a point it is a parable it didn't actually happen the only way to read the Bible is to realize it's all true and some of it actually happened okay so you can't you're not doing the parable of the prodigal son any favors to try to go prove archaeologically where it might have happened it was originally a made-up story told by Jesus as a made-up story to make a point see the idea that if something is fiction it can't be truthful is intellectually disingenuous actually some of the most profound truths we could ever learn come in fiction form or poetic form now is the parable of the prodigal son literal yes in the sense that Jesus literally told the story so its objective in the sense that Jesus stood somewhere and he or in that case he was sitting somewhere and he told that story so in that sense it's literal or objective but in that sense it's also fiction what I found in listening to young people is that I would this is a made-up statistic but it's a good guess is that eighty percent of their problems with the scripture is genre confusion it's it's interpreting one it's interpreting something that was intended to be read in one genre as if it's another so you can't do that you can't interpret a poem as a history book you definitely can't interpret a poem as a science book that's even worse you can't interpret prophetic literature through historical means you can't interpret ancient history through modern history credibility can't do that you can't interpret ancient biographies through modern biography eyes can't do that you can't interpret apocalyptic literature as if it's not a puck elliptic literature can't do that it doesn't do any favorites let me give you one clear example of that you can't tell your children that proverbs are promises can't do that genre confusion a proverb is not a promise it's a proverb it's a wisdom observation about how the world generally works okay let me give you an example this is from the book of Proverbs if you answer your enemy softly his anger will turn from you is that true in general that is a wise way to live that is a wise way to carry yourself with the disposition of peacemaking in conflict in general that is a wisdom statement about the best way to live but is this a promise no jesus answered his enemies softly and last time I checked they killed him and it wasn't because he didn't have enough faith in the word it's because sometimes people kill you right and proverbs aren't promises right and so you can't yeah I saw a well-meaning person do this this year by the way this isn't something I saw in 1980 I saw this this year and only be clear he was well-meaning but he opened the meaning by he had the world's biggest Bible I've never seen a Bible this big in 20 years and he took the meeting and he threw the Bible down and then he stood on it and he said as for me I stand on the word every word in here is a promise for my life and I'm like actually I don't think I know what you mean but I'm not sure that's the best way to apply that right and then he said no everybody welcome Shane I'm like what am I meant to do with this right it's so it's said that is that is genre confusion you you can't you can't interpret poetry literally like it doesn't there's a there is a mode of thought that says the more literal you make something the more truthful more powerful it is and and that's just not true if it was intended to be read literally that is true but if the original authors writing a poem and you interpret it literally you're not doing it any favors like please do not interpret the Song of Solomon literally like was her nose actually a tower where her legs actually seed her trees were her breasts really as big as they Hills up a Shawn no it's a poem right and so it's important to interpret that poetically you read the book of Revelation you've got you you've got a you've got to read it within the symbolism like if you're sitting you're waiting on a to come down on a horse to the city of Seven Hills well Seven Hills is right there right right you know that cuz let's be frank there's nothing scarier than a on a horse that that's frankly terrifying right and so it's important that we realize that these things are literal in the sense that someone wrote them down and God chose to breathe life into these things and they're living and breathing and active and and applicable to life but you still have to interpret it within the genre it was written in so there's literal but all the power of truth comes and the infinite explorations of the meaning of it right let me give you example that this is an ecumenical community and I think it's awesome right and here's the one thing that if you if you name Christ right this is this is one of those things that that Catholic Presbyterian Anglican aog Baptist if you wear a robe if you don't wear a robe if you're sort of a lunatic like whatever this is this is the thing that unites us all this is why I'm choosing this one Jesus died on the cross and then three days later conquered death by resurrecting okay yes amen right right that that is that is literal and we embrace that and we honor that right but is that the most meaningful way to speak of it no but the most meaningful way to speak of it is infinitely exploring the meanings of what that means for our world right so let's say for the sake of example that a guy gets convinced that people need to know Jesus literally lived and died I don't think there's much doubt about that amongst scholarly literature that's not really that's a debate that sort of went away thirty years ago okay whether Jesus was a real person or whether he actually died are you some but let's just say let's just say there's this guy and he says no I'm giving my life to this and he gives his life to historically and evidentially proving that there was a guy named Jesus he was from Nazareth and he was killed by the Romans and he rose three days later and let's say he does a really good job at this and let's say he writes a 257 page thesis presenting his literal evidence that Jesus literally lived he literally died and he literally rose from the dead and let's say he does such a good job that it would stand up in the Supreme Court of New South Wales as credible evidence presented in a court of law and let's say that he proves that he doesn't want to profit from this by posting it online for free because he absolutely believes if people just knew Jesus literally live literally died literally rose from the dead that it would change the world and so he he does this he does 20 years of the study and he posts this massive thesis that is so well done it would stand up in a court of law as credible evidence that Jesus lived died and rose again how many of us would agree with him don't think too hard about that the answer is yes yes G okay let's back up Jesus live died and rose again okay okay so we would agree with him but how many of us would be bored by page two all of us all of us why because to only focus on the literal with no exploration of what that means for our world it's not less truthful it's just less meaningful that's not the most meaningful way to speak of Jesus or any truth like that the literal only gathers its momentum when you infinitely explore the meanings of that thing like death doesn't get the last word Jesus does like if we were wrong about death what else could we be wrong about maybe we need to open more conversations about God instead of closing them down like you never know where new creation can burst forth in the middle of this one your tomorrow is not simply a repeat of your yesterday because you never know where resurrection can come at work in your life how many of us need clean slates fresh start second chances Mulligan's and the opportunity to write a better story because that's what resurrection is all of us he now we're preaching and that's better that's better than spending my whole life proving it actually happened what's more important is that the meanings are grounded in something that is literal but yet we spend our time exploring the meanings of what that is like we don't Oh God anything anymore God has cancelled our debt like we don't serve a god who's oblivious to suffering rather we serve a God who is willing to humble himself and it and enter into every bit of suffering we ever do like the opposite of faith is not doubt the opposite of faith is only going with what you see that to connect with the Christ on the cross means that we have to profoundly connect with the line my God my God why have you forsaken me have you ever thought I've done everything you've asked me to do God and I'm still suffering have you ever thought I prayed hard I fasted hard I acted righteously and I'm still suffering my God my God why have you forsaken me see the opposite of faith is not doubt that is profound dealt the opposite of faith is going only with what you see great faith is not events only in the pronounced winds but also in the perceived absence it's a profound trust in the perceived absence see the cross and resurrection is still one of the most compelling inspiring stories ever to be told unless we only focus on the literal without exploring the meanings of that thing see if if I know people who think Noah's Ark is literal amen but if I go okay if somebody told me Noah's Ark is literal and I go right this is all I would do I'd go so what do you do with that and if they went what do you mean what do you mean what you do but what that means is is that we serve a God that's always planning ahead making a way a fresh start second chances clean slates and the opportunity to write a better story and not only that he shows his power over the primordial watery chaos and if he contained the watery chaos and maintain life and beauty and order and second chances what more couldn't he do with the little bit of chaos we bring him if he could conquer that what couldn't he do in my life amen amen I also have fully devoted follower of Christ Christians who who think Noah's arks a poem and if they say I think it's a poem and I go any men so and if their thought is what do you mean so you know that poem shows us about God it shows us a God that has power over chaotic water enough water in a chaos to destroy the world and he's still made a way a second chance a fresh start a clean slate an opportunity to write a better story he's very detailed and his plan about this and he brought it up for new life and beauty what more couldn't he do with the little bit of chaos we bring him if he could handle that amen but if the person who says I think Noah's Ark is literal and I go so and he says we just need to prove its literal you know we need to do we need to build a boat to prove it could actually happen that literally makes you like the most boring human being on earth that story is so much better than that and if the person says I think it's a poem and I go so and they say what do you mean so we need to prove it's a poem you don't need to do we need to go to the library of Nineveh and prove that these existed in ancient sources as well and just prove to the whole world it's a poem I find you the most boring person on earth that story has got so much more power than any of that why because truth is best explored when you ground something in the literal and then explore the meanings of that thing but meanings not grounded in the literal that's not as meaningful either that's sort of willy-nilly like it seemed right to me right but when you explore both let's see if I can straighten this with a flag so let's say during the break you got to get a breath of fresh air because this is not the shallowest teaching you're gonna hear this year okay so if you go if you like this is a little dense but it's Thursday night you're in church I want you to get your money's worth whatever they charge you to come I want you to get your money's worth this is gonna be worth what you paid for it so here's the thing right so let's say let's say let's say you go out here during the break and let's say for the sake of example there's a sober person not a drunk person drunk person you would understand there's a sober person and that sober person is out there and he's got an Australian flag and he lays that Australian flag on the ground and he goes to the bathroom on it so this dude goes to put aside the crudeness of that just stick with the flag this guy is going to the toilet on an Australian flag how many of us would be irritated by that all of us why it's just thread and cloth all the flag is literally is thread and cloth why would it ever irritate who cares if someone urinates on a thing of thread and cloth who cares about that the reason we care is not because the flag is literal it's because of everything that flag stands for that's what would irritate us maybe a better illustration would be a baby so let's say there's a woman and she's pregnant and I mean really pregnant and it comes time for water breaks I only know that term from television I don't have any children evidently it's a thing that happens a woman's water breaks and she goes to wherever you go around here to give birth the closest hospital and she is in the birthing room the delivery chamber or whatever they call it right now I know it's gonna surprise you I don't have children of my own I've never witnessed this nor do I think I've missed anything all all of my facts is it just looks like a hectic thing actually like the process by which you get life into this world looks extremely hectic and so here's what happens right so this woman all of my facts about childbirth comes from television and you know they never lie right so so if bet on TV it looks something like this right and then they've exactly the right moment the baby comes it's my best impersonation and the doctor does whatever doctors do you know would but the president of that new life the presence of that new life changes everything the vainest women you've ever met in your life will allow their photo to be taken in the weirdest positions just because they're holding this new life it's like you've never seen that woman look like that but it doesn't matter because that baby is there then at some point they they hand a baby to the dead for the sake of example let's say that this baby is a girl so they hand the baby to the father the fathers moved like whoa like moved he knows his life can't be the same he's just no nothing nothing has ever done this damn ever and he's holding this little baby girl and he can't even find the words he cannot find the words he's so moved and here's what he says oh wow it's the most beautiful girl in the whole white world well what if Sheldon Cooper was in the room so sheldon cooper has a he's like a bit on the on the spectrum and and he takes everything literally right in case you don't know he is he's that he's a character in that show The Big Bang Theory so he he says he's excuse me sir are you not a lover of truth that's just ridiculous which he just said the most prettiest girl in the whole wide world are you serious actually you're not a lover of true sir because actually that baby there's gonna be a lot of women that are uglier than her and there's gonna be a lot of women that are prettier than her truth be told she's probably gonna be somewhere in the middle if you actually love truth you would have said oh this is the most average girl in the whole wide world well someone did that you wouldn't even know what to say you'd be like I wasn't speaking literally that this girl changes everything this girl redefines beauty and this is the problem this is the problem speaking of Jesus or God as the source of meaning right and I know what we mean when we say that but it it sets us up for a problem we say just come to God and he'll give you meaning no he won't God is not that which gives us meaning God is that which enters into what we think meaning is and bust it wide open that's two different things for the god of the universe to humble himself put on flesh and blood allow himself to be execute at the hands of a local government for the sake of all of humanity does not have a meaning and is something that defies meaning that is something that enters into what we think meaning is and bust it wide open in that sense God is trauma a trauma is defined as any event that happens that after you experience it you cannot see the world the same that's a trauma right and and that and and that is most oftentimes spoken of negatively Amen I was coming out of Woolworths and I saw a violent crime I was traumatized by it yes yes absolutely that is trauma but trauma can also be positive if you have an experience that fundamentally shifts the way you see your whole world that by definition is trauma give you an example and your experience do dead people stay dead yes so if you watch someone die in three days later you saw them come around that's trauma the gospel is trauma it's not meaning it's God entering into what we think meaning is and busting that meaning wide open that is two different things like resurrection is trauma people walking on water is trauma Jesus tended to walk through walls to say hello trauma at very least at that bite at that point even his best friend should have been like come on son of God used the door seriously freaking us out around here for the God of the universe to wash people's feet instead of demanding his feet to be washed that's not how it's supposed to work it's trauma for a God to forgive people who were torturing him instead of striking them dead that's not how God's act this God was entering into what people thought God was and busting it wide open in that sense God is trauma God Jesus is trauma Jesus is not that which gives meaning Jesus is that which enters into what we think meaning is and bust it wide open if somebody says why does servants of Jesus exist here I would say service of Jesus exists to be traumatic to create environments where people can experience God in such a way that they can't possibly see the world the same after they have that experience that by definition is trauma and it doesn't have to be that super spiritual if someone deserves your retaliation and you give them peacemaking that's traumatic that's not how the world supposed to work you just treated me with love when I deserve your retaliation trauma see when when we look at truth you have the literal you have the meaning but you also have the event all nature of truth now the event all nature of truth is this and I think this is where we get a little bit boring the event on nature of truth is not that we believe in an event if Christianity is just a group of people affirming something happened that's sort of boring the Romans killed someone well okay that's sort of boring Christianity is not a group of people affirming something happen event aloof is deeper than that event entry's is not that we believe something happened but we believe that something happened so profoundly that it affects how we see all other happenings after that in other words if you connect to the cross and resurrection but you can still act with cruelty in conflict then you've missed the point of the whole cross if if you can if you can engage a story that says this while you were acting with hostility God acted with peace back towards you now go do that for your fellow man and then walk away from that story and still treat your fellow man with cruelty then we have missed the entire event appoint of the story right let's go back to the baby alright so the baby's born oh oh most beautiful go home I wrote actually most average all right so so then let's say you're going home and nine doors down you have a neighbor you've never met that neighbor right but in the neighbor's front yard is blue balloons and a poster welcome to the world Billy now you would make an assumption that the woman in that home has had a baby and its name is Billy right and you can fully affirm the literal nature of that new life in that house without it meaning one thing to you you actually won't think of Billy ever again after they remove the balloons but your baby you affirm its literalness and you affirm that she means the whole world to you but let's say you at home in your social activity of choices start throwing and so the first night back at your house you go out and you throw darts and you come home second night back you go out and you throw darts 30 night back you go out and you throw darts fourth night back your wife says scuse me come on we have a baby now and you say I know I know and I fully affirm the literal nature of that baby and not only that she's the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world to me but until the presence of that life has fundamentally shifted the way we see our whole world it's not less truthful it's just less meaningful if you tell the world I have a baby is that truth yeah and you can't get much more truthful than that can't get more truth than truth but there's a more meaningful way to experience so when we when we talk about the cross and the resurrection right we shouldn't be people who and here's the problem in the Western this is a Western problem we tend to focus too much on the literal and not enough on the meaning and then not enough accountability for the event own nature of that thing and so you create a culture of people who believe all the right things but it hasn't affected how they treat their neighbor it hasn't affected how they treat the person across the street how they treat someone when they cut them off in traffic how they treat the waitress when it takes too long to get her a drink order how they treat their husband when he leaves is under on the floor for the 18,000 a time how they treat their wife when she does something that disappoints them it hasn't crossed into an event amiran you'll say is not that they don't believe it it's that they don't see it and here's the thing right when the people controlling the narrative commit ourselves when we're gonna say the Bible God Jesus and we quote a literal thing whether that literal thing was fiction or poem or history or whatever when we commit ourselves to exploring the meanings of that thing in order to create any ventilation that Christianity is not someone who is not is not a group of people who believe in the prodigal son rather Christianity is a group of people who've explored the meanings of that story in order to create a traumatic event to where they fundamentally it is impossible for them to see their world the same after that now that's compelling and when we commit ourselves to looking at all three instead because here's the thing if you remove one it's not less truthful it's just less meaningful you remove two frankly it's boring you can't you cannot do it that way let's say this way next slide so there's the nature of being there's oneness but then there's sameness now here's the problem right the problem normally is not doctrine the problem is normally our imagination of how that doctrine works what's far more important than what you believe is how you picture what you believe in working out and here's the reason why our emotions will tie to our imagination not what we believe so let's say our belief is a hundred percent Orthodox the challenge then in life is to make sure our imagination lines up with the obedience to Christ in what we believe because if our imagination is one thing and our belief is another which is totally possible our emotions will tie to our imagination and that will ultimately then determine how we live right give you example how many of us believe were fully forgiven by the finished work of Jesus on the cross always that's doctrine right how many of us have imagined ourselves guilty in the last thirty days right so we we believe we're forgiven but we picture ourselves guilty right or give you another example right all of us would believe that God is not a singularity rather God exists as a perfect relationship between three acting in such unison that they act as one now now the theological word for that that came around in the 200s was Trinity and I love that word the tri-unity of God the word before that was called the peri Karissa's which is peri as a circle a perimeter that creases as a choreograph when the ancients described the nature of God they described it as a divine dance over a perfect relationship between three where everybody knows when to step up when to step back when to on or when to submit when to take their turn when to give the other person their turn and that's exactly what you see in Scripture is is Jesus going don't call anybody good except the father but the father exaust Jesus but then the Holy Spirit points back it's a beautiful sort of divine dance so all of us believe doctrinally that God exists is three-in-one I've asked this across the whole of the world when you pray what do you picture number one answer a guy on a throne one hundred percent number one answer and in the Western world that guy's always white and he's always single so you leave that God is three in one but you picture a single white dude on a throne that Zeus that's Hermes that's Apollo that's a distorted honest that's Horus so it's possible to have an Orthodox doctrine but a pagan imagination right number two answer I just pictured Jesus you push them a little bit which Jesus like my friend in Mexico hey-zeus that Jesus are like Middle Eastern sort of hippy Jesus you know or like white blonde hair blue-eyed sweet smelling of lavender and dau soap Jesus you know there go shut up Shane just Jesus alright just Jesus the third answer picture father you push him father my father no your father no 3rd century Spanish peasants father no 16th century Swiss monks father no just a father so like what kind of father I don't know so like an ambiguous father yes cuz that would be a great song wouldn't it you're an ambiguous father it's who you are right no here's the problem with all three of those all three of those are singularities so we believe God is a relationship and then we picture singularities so it's possible to have an Orthodox doctrine but a pagan imagination it's possible see see all naming about God has to be coupled with unnamed or all-knowing has to be coupled with unknowing or we have idolatry you understand I mean by that like it's um so if I say let's just pick a big truth that everybody would agree with God is love right that's naming but I have to instantly then go yeah but probably not my concept of love my concept of love's too small that God being love has to encapsulate lots of different concepts of love and I haven't touched the surface or if I said God's a father right Amen but I have to instantly then unnamed that and go but not my concept of definitely not my dad and definitely not your probably your dad and probably not a 3rd century Spanish peasants that says so it's got to be naming and D naming or unknowing and unknowing otherwise otherwise we have idolatry and then we create a concept of God and then we make everybody bow to that that's and that's idolatry right and so so we have this so when I say oneness everybody affirms that nobody's against that no one says no we need note we need more division heck that's what you guys that's that's the main value of this whole place is all everybody coming together as one we honor oneness and actually the Bible honors oneness and I think in a more radical way than we're ready for no Jew nor Greek slave free male/female are we really ready for that discussion really like remember when Paul went through an exercise trying to figure out where Christ isn't he's looking around trying to figure where's where's Jesus not remember his conclusion he's like actually Jesus is all and is in all things and in him all things hold together for the spirit of the risen Christ is filling everything in every way in other words if you can look at someone and not see Christ at work in them it's you if to change what you're seeing so this radical oneness the philosophical word for this is is ground of being that God is the ground of being it all that means is is that if something's alive it's being held together by Christ and Christ is in the middle of it now what do we do with that event aliy well that just means this if if there's only one God and God is holding me together and God is holding you together then I can't possibly harm you without expecting to harm myself now this is interesting science has proven this without being able to explain it they could just see it they can observe it under big enough magnification and they've named it they call it quantum entanglement quantum entanglement is this if I get close enough to somebody my subatomic particles this stuff smaller than quarks jump into them right so right now part of me is jumped into Michael right did you feel that I'm in you right now man now here's the problem with that right part of his particles jump into me here's the problem if I affirm him and encourage him and build him up and tell him tell him I love him that I appreciate him and I edify him when I walk away my particles jump back in and they come back in at a fight but if I'm cruel to him and I tear him down and I tell him I hate him and he's not enough I call him stupid or a fool or an idiot or whatever the case may be and I harm him when I walk away and my parts come back to me they come back to me wounded the idea is is that you can't violate Akkad it would be the Hebrew word unity would be the English word oneness would be the philosophical word ground of being would be a psychological word you can't violate that without expecting to harm yourself so when we really get that we realized that I can't possibly harm him without expecting to harm myself but the Bible affirms oneness at a radical level with zero expectation of sameness so the problem isn't oneness the problem is when I say oneness if pip if people picture sameness it's a problem like the Bible honors oneness but you have to do you'd have to do intellectual hula-hoops to say that Paul and Solomon agreed on marriage you can't Solomon was very for it Paul was like he who marries does not sin but he signed up for a life of pain can't make those people say the same thing you can't make a case that the writer of Hebrews is agreeing with Moses when the entire book of Hebrews is about Jesus being a greater revelation than Moses had can't but these people honored oneness without expecting sameness which has huge event elapid how we process difference how we process diverse information how do we grow as people let's say it one more way next slide so there's belief which is important but what's more important than belief is how we see what we believe because our emotions will attach to that it is important that you believe that Jesus forgave you that is important what's more important is that you can see that he forgave you what's more important than what you believe is how you believe what you believe like if if you believe Noah's Ark is literal and that leads you to proving it's literal right but if you believe Noah's Ark is literal but that leads you to an infinite exploration of God's infinite power over chaos and water and destruction to create new life well now now that's interesting see see I don't care I actually don't care too much even if you have a crazy belief like if you think I think God's a 9 sided cube and the current Anti Christ is an 8-year old Chinese boy named Tong you in I'd be at whoa I just made that up without on it I guess so and if you went what do you mean so I am so motivated to Center my whole world around the compassion of the risen Christ I I am I then okay like because belief and imagination or let's say that one more way values versus behavior or if you really want the philosophical words for it orthodoxy versus orthopraxy see what this world has no patience for anymore is people who see Christianity as a bunch of boxes to tick about what we believe with no expirations of the meaning and no application of the event all but when we who control the narrative make sure if it's Song of Solomon explore the meanings and the event all nature of it if it's the cross and resurrection meanings a ventilator of it if it's Paul's letters meanings event all nature of it and when we commit to speaking of truth in all three legs we now have something compelling interesting dynamic moving non static inspirational and absolutely applicable across all lives and that is beautiful and is a key to growth [Music] you

Channel: Servants of Jesus Community

Views: 2,796

Rating: 4.7142859 out of 5

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Id: tEa-AGuPhIA

Length: 44min 50sec (2690 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 16 2019