The Spear and the Cruse of Water
While I was listening to 1 Samuel 26:12 (5-12) the other day, my mind took a tangent into some false logic. While I was exploring the train of thought of this false logic, I was reminded of the conversation I had with a good Christian friend a while ago, where I thought to share with him some truths which bring me joy and which help me to become a stronger follower of Christ. Let me start with the false logic.
The scripture says "no man saw it, nor knew it." It doesn't give conditions for this statement, therefore we know no human on earth saw it or knew it; we can say human, including woman, because in old Hebrew, 'man' referred to mankind and not just the gender of the person. This tells us also that the ones who were involved in the act also didn't see what they did and must not have known what they were doing. Also, as God is a Man, that is - by gender He is a Man - therefore this scripture must extend beyond humans on earth and include God, so He didn't see it or know it either.
If you don't like how quickly and easily I took that scripture out of context, and admittedly in this case I took it out of context on purpose, imagine how easy it is for someone to unintentionally take other verses out of the context of the whole scriptural narrative. This may be because we are not familiar with the whole scriptural narrative or because we want to believe only one of two or more contradictory ideas.
The two contradictory ideas which came up during the conversation with my friend were these: We lived with God in heaven, and saw Him and knew Him, before we were born. No man has ever seen God.
Both of these ideas contradict, yet both can be supported by scripture using logic. In many cases, as in my example of false logic, meaning has to be added to the verse to make it support or reject the other idea. As an example, there are 6 verses of scripture which strongly support the idea that no man has ever seen God. There are also 6 people in scripture who saw God face-to-face. (I thought about sharing the verses and people but decided this isn't my intent here and you can do the research pretty easily if you care to find them out; and you may find my numbers are wrong.)
Ultimately what it comes down to is, which idea do you believe, or want to believe? Once you decide, your logic will follow. You will give meaning to verses of scripture which enrich the understanding of those scriptures and give you joy. You will also give meaning to verses of scripture which others cannot accept.
I believe that I knew and saw God before I was born. This gives me joy. Because I believe that, I add meaning and logic to the verses which may appear to others to contradict that idea. So, I either have to say the verse or author of the verse is wrong, which to some people that idea alone is blasphemy, I have to add meaning and logic to those contradictory verses to show that they don't actually contradict, or I have to put it aside and accept that there is something I don't understand and accept that there is a contradiction, without trying to resolve it.
At the end of the conversation, he continued to believe what he wanted to believe and I continued to believe what I wanted to believe; and this is normal, natural, and to be expected because ultimately, it is the Spirit of God which converts, not scripture with man's interpretations thereof. It also makes me wonder if and how the contradictory idea brings joy to someone else when it appears to me to diminish or belittle God's power.
Does it matter which ideas are correct? I not only believe it does, but with certain ideas I know it does. That's why I feel to share with others those things which uplift me and being me joy. Am I willing to be wrong about that? I'm willing to give others and myself grace because I expect in many ways and in many things I may be wrong and I want God's grace, including his mercy, which requires that I give grace and mercy to others. (Matt 5:7) I also believe God gives us grace, including a grace period, when He allows us to believe false ideas for a time.
I say I know it matters because God has revealed to me that there are certain truths which we cannot be saved without believing, which includes primarily that He sent His Son on a mission of salvation. But when it comes to lesser important truths, I do wonder if, when we ask Him if something is true, He sometimes gives a good feeling indicating it is true; and it may be, however, when we get this feeling from God that something is true, He is simply saying, 'it's ok for you to believe this for now and if it's not fully true, I will teach you in My own due time if you remain humble, true, and faithful to Me.'
This is the type of grace I was referring to above. While we are not saved according to our own works, we are saved according to works. The works of others can become grace to us. But there are only the works of One Man which are powerful enough to become saving grace for us; those are the works of Christ. That grace is what saves us and we are still not saved according to our works, but we are judged according to our works and we have to demonstrate the works which are required of us by Him. As we seek to become holy, to become saints, to become more like God, we must learn how to produce works which can become grace to others, that others may see our good works and glorify our God and Father who is in heaven.
This may be the test of a true Christian. Not if we believe in this lesser doctrine or that. God is the Father of all and He imparts truth to all of His children to the degree we are willing to receive it. So, when I see the good works of another human being, do I say, 'They are doing something good, what they believe must be true.'? No, but I should be thinking, 'there's something, some truth which they believe which brings them joy, which inspires them to do good and I want that too.' And what religion it comes from won't matter because all truth will become one, as God is one. And in the end all truth and all error will be understood and gathered together as the parable of the wheat and the tares. Which God allows to grow together for a time.
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