Established Beliefs

[Johann]

@KPuff

Without exception, every human being is a learner; every one is absorbing information, ideas, and facts trying to find a disposition for them in their personal world view; accepting some and discarding others. We are continually in this state of change; we are forever on safari, slashing our way through a jungle of information, consuming some things we find on the way, collecting specimens for further study, and committing some things to the evening campfire. God’s perfect plan of sanctification is blazing our trail with blood-red markers, forging our trail with the trajectory of His Holy Word. Using The Son as our guide, we walk a much straighter and more direct path to His goal for us, Christlikeness (i.e. being “unwrong”, finished perfection, completed knowledge?).

Do not fault a man for thinking he is right, for then you fault him for being a man. Do not accuse a man of thinking he can’t be wrong, for them you are accusing him of being an animal. Accept a stranger as one very much like yourself; this is God’s law of Love. When we were raised from the dead, with Jesus, we were given vocation; we were set on the path of testimonial living, we were intentionally raised to be like a city set on a hill, or candle light to an otherwise dark room. We were told at the outset that our “path of life” would be difficult, challenging, and omost often against the grain of our siciety. We gladly accpeted these temporal “momentary light afflictions” against the promise of our eventual weight of glory. Fro now, we know we are not always right, but we also know we are becoming righter. He who began His good work in us will see it through to the end. For now, we hold the hand of the safari guide, stick close to the Holy map we have been given, eat the berries we have been told are nutritious, and reject the mushrooms we have been told are toxic, keep our feet moving, and our eyes on His blood-red blazes, we will arrive at Rightness, be welcomed into His embrace, and reside there for eternity.

Excellent post brother.

Johann.

[TheologyNerd]

Truth isn’t determined by popularity or consensus, but by being intrinsically and objectively true in and of itself.

However, Christ promised that His Church should prevail even against the gates of Hades, and so while the Church is never infallible, nor are individual Christians or groups of Christians perfect, and we can (and do) get things wrong. We can trust that the Holy Spirit has preserved within the overarching community of the Faithful–the Christian Church–the true faith. And so those things which have been believed “everywhere, always, and by all” (St. Vincent of Lerins, The Commonitory, 5th century) to be true.

When it comes to those things we might call “first order” Christian doctrines, The Trinity, the Incarnation, Christ’s Atoning Death and His Resurrection, His Ascension, His coming again, etc these first order questions of what Christians believe are firmly established. They are not true because we all agree, they are true because they are true; and their truth can be seen by a faithful and true reading of Scripture, in the witness of the ancient fathers, and in the collective and universal expressions of faith which have existed since ancient times.

The Trinity, for example, is true. Not because it is popular, but because it is grounded in Scripture, it is witnessed to throughout the ancient faith of the Church, and expressed in our universal confessions of faith. If the historic Christian Church is wrong about the Trinity, or the Incarnation, or about the Gospel; then we are left without a Christian faith, without a Christian Church. It would mean Jesus’ promise that the gates of Hades could not stand against the Church is untrue, it would mean that we cannot trust the Scriptures, it would mean that we cannot trust that the Holy Spirit has kept us in true faith, we cannot trust that the Holy Spirit has inspired and preserved for us the Scriptures which we read in the Holy Bible.

Unless there is a grounded through line, a faithful confession of Christian faith that has existed from the beginning, has continued to exist, and exists even now–then we have no reason to trust the Bible, trust the Church in what it says about Jesus, His Gospel, about the love of God, about the forgiveness of sins, etc.

We can all of us come from different denominations and traditions, Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and trust that what has been believed from the beginning is now, still, believed. But if this is not true, then none of us, no matter where we go on Sunday, no matter how much we read the Bible, no matter what we believe–none of that matters.

[BobEstey]

I think some people realize there is a chance they are wrong.

[BobEstey]

I suppose we are all pretty sure we are right, but some of us accept the possibility we could be wrong.

[KPuff]

Sure Bob. Of course you are right, (you know…, unless you are wrong), but I’m pretty sure you think your right about this, Who wouldn’t, but I could be wrong. I guess. I don’t know anymore, or do I?

Blessings

[BobEstey]

You probably do, but I wouldn’t be certain of it. What do you think?

[KPuff]

Candidly, it could go either way. What are we talking about?

[Joe]

Hi,
Being perfect isn’t all that life is about.
After all, I am perfect most of the time.
The other part of the time I am also perfect:
Perfectly wrong.

Established beliefs:
God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
(All have the attributes of God, but separate and distinct personalities functions.)

Mankind are sinners, in need of salvation.

Jesus provides salvation to those who would believe in Him.

Jesus will be coming back someday, raise us from the dead, and grant us eternal life.

We believe that the Bible,in it’s original lettering is the Word of God.
As such, the teachings on how to control our lives are to be followed.

That’s about as basic as I can make it.

Blessings

[Joe]

Hi,
Being perfect isn’t all that life is about.
After all, I am perfect most of the time.
The other part of the time I am also perfect:
Perfectly wrong.

Established beliefs:
God, the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
(All have the attributes of God, but separate and distinct personalities and functions.)

Mankind are sinners, in need of salvation.

Jesus provides salvation to those who would believe in Him.

Jesus will be coming back someday, raise us from the dead, and grant us eternal life.

We believe that the Bible,in it’s original lettering is the Word of God.
As such, the teachings on how to control our lives are to be followed.

That’s about as basic as I can make it.

Blessings

[BobEstey]

We’re talking about the 1964 World Series. Who would have expected the St. Louis Cardinals to win the National League pennant when they were eleven games out on August 23rd?

[KPuff]

That’s what I thought but my wife said we were talking about taking her out to dinner. I’m glad you cleared that up.

KP