False Objectivity

Posted on July 3, 2015July 3, 2015 by Petros

Christians and unbelievers alike often are deceived into thinking that they can be objective. It’s known as the ontic fallacy. Often, Christians state theological views and declare them to be Scripture. Often, scientists state theological or philosophical views and declare them to be scientific observations or evidence. They are not. They are interpretations. Interpretations add information to what can be known. God speaks through Scripture and through His Creation. Assumptions always add to His Words. Human interpretations always add to His Words.

Anyone who’s concerned about reality should realize that nothing can be known if it’s dependent on even a single assumption. In fact, if you allow yourself even one assumption, you can prove anything to yourself.

Knowledge of reality requires a true premise. Without Divine revelation, how can you know that a premise is true? With another premise? How can you know that premise is true? It isn’t rational to keep making up premises that need other premises that remain unknown. Yet, that’s what people do. Then, they claim that they’ve proved something or done science.

Knowing reality requires a true premise, but you can’t possibly have a true premise without Divine revelation. Now, the skeptic will claim to have infinite knowledge by making the bare assertion that Divine revelation isn’t known either. By doing this, the skeptic is claiming to know the inner spiritual experience of every person who has ever lived. That’s an amazing claim.

Every person who follows Christ is led and taught by Christ. While we are still learning to discern His Voice from all the other voices in the world, including the voice of the self, we are making progress in those things where we respond in submission to the Holy Spirit. Without this, there would be no hope of ever knowing the difference between reality and make-believe. A rational person wants to know the difference between reality and make-believe. A rational person realizes that assumptions can never be a basis for knowing.

Moralism

Posted on June 28, 2015July 1, 2015 by Petros

During the 1800s, a group of Christians set out to teach morals without Christ, which makes no sense for several reasons. For one thing, it’s the logical fallacy of moralism. Without the Divine Law-Giver, all morals would be a matter of opinion. There would be no absolutes. More importantly, people without Christ need Christ. They don’t need a false sense of righteousness by obeying some rules, however well they might be able to obey them. They would not obey the Law perfectly, which is what would be required. Besides, they would be disobeying God by rejecting Christ. The Law won’t help them at all, except to demonstrate to them that they have fallen short and need Christ. Righteousness is a free gift, part of the salvation that comes from Christ. We are saved from sin to righteousness. That’s what salvation is. What people in sin need is Christ. Christ will then become their righteousness, holiness, and redemption. (Romans 1:30)

Righteousness is a free gift, part of the salvation that comes from Christ. Grace is the power of God to do His righteousness through us. Grace can only be accessed through faith. Faith only comes through the rhema of God when we acknowledge Him. We are saved from sin to righteousness by grace, which is through faith. That’s what salvation is. What people in sin need is Christ. One person, who was actively involved in this particular sin, said that she was a Christian. She needs to follow Christ. If she follows Christ, she’ll walk right out of this sin. That’s what every Christian needs to do if they want to leave their various sins behind themselves.

Accept No Substitutes

Posted on June 28, 2015June 28, 2015 by Petros

The problem is not reason versus Scripture or reason versus Divine revelation. The problem is the foundation of reason, including the interpretation of Scripture. Only one Foundation will work: Jesus Christ. He gives a basis for reason through the teaching and leading of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit speaks to us through Scripture if we are willing to acknowledge Him. If we are walking in the Spirit, then we are learning to discern His Voice from all the other voices and to respond to Him in submission. We are allowing Him to think His thoughts, speak His words, and do His works through us.

Let God Reveal Reality

Posted on June 27, 2015June 28, 2015 by Petros

God speaks. He progressively reveals Himself and His will. Let God bring Scripture to life and tear down all theological constructs, replacing them with actual vision of reality.

Illusion through Name-Calling

Posted on June 27, 2015June 27, 2015 by Petros

One of Satan’s tricks is to label the person as the sin. This is called “nominalization.” When you call a person “a homosexual,” it seems as if the action were what the person is. It gives the illusion that the person is the sin. This is very tricky. It’s the reason that Satan moves his followers to call names, since naming people makes the attacks harder to shake off. If I say, “What you just said is irrational because you have no way to show that your premise is true,” I haven’t attached “what you just said” to your person. What happens if I instead say, “You’re stupid for saying what you just said.” Now I have labeled you. I have attached an action to your person. The object is to make it harder for you the feeling that you are stupid and to project an illusory image into the minds of anyone listening. This is a tactic in many debates. That’s what happens when we talk about “homosexuals,” “gay people,” or any of the other labels. It’s a subtle trick of the enemy. The purpose is to cause the person to identify with the sin and to create the illusion that the person “can’t help it if they are what they are.” They are not the sin. They are doing the sin. Everyone has a sinful nature called “flesh,” but no one has to identify with the sinful nature or yield the members of their body to the sinful nature. “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.” Romans 6:13

Theological Constraints

Posted on June 26, 2015July 29, 2015 by Petros

I used to think that God gave us the Bible and sort of an intermittent leading of the Holy Spirit, mostly leading us to try to figure out the Scripture with our human minds. I thought that God was leading me in a greater understanding of His word and leading me to apply this understanding in my life. At that time, I defined “understanding” as a construct of theology. The problem was that it was me applying a theological construct in my life rather than me submitting to the Holy Spirit as He led and taught me moment by moment, bringing Scripture to mind as it applied or reaching me through my conscience and giving me the faith of God which gives me access to God’s grace, then submitting the members of my body to His Anointing so that He does His works through me. Instead, I was trying to think His thoughts, say His words, and do His works by human effort rather than the moving of the Holy Spirit. This resulted in me trying to figure out the Scripture with my fallen human mind and to apply it to my life on a moment-by-moment basis using my fallen human mind. That didn’t work. It frustrated the grace of God.

One thing that God has shown me very clearly is that the human mind can’t be trusted. It’s deceitful and desperately wicked. While Christians are supposed to moving from glory to glory, we have not yet arrived at the full completion. I know that every denomination claims to have arrived. One says that they “teach the Word of God in its truth and purity.” Another says that it is the “full gospel.” Yet, God has much more for us all. He says, “Call unto me and I will answer thee and show you great and mighty things which thou knowest not.”

Every human mind is in the condition of being deceitful and desperately wicked. Mine is no better than yours. Groups of people of like minds bind together, but that doesn’t make their group-think any better than anyone else’s group-think. If we make a single assumption while interpreting Scripture, we have added to God’s Words. Rather, the Holy Spirit speaks to us through Scripture and through every means of speaking to us that He mentions in Scripture. He will correct us. Yet, we can resist His correction and yet remain Christians. Not only can we, but we do.

Every one of us has a worldview, a paradigm. That paradigm is a fake reality. It seems just like real reality. In fact, it seems more real, to us, than real reality. By it, we filter real reality, accepting some things that God is showing us and rejecting others. Worldviews, are conceptual. They are not reality. Part of your worldview and part of my worldview is our concept of Scripture. Related to that is a part of our worldviews that consist of our theologies. Theologies are always conceptual. They are not reality. They seem real, though. Often, theologies seem as if they were Scripture itself. They are not. They are conceptual frameworks that filter what the Holy Spirit can tell us through Scripture. When a brother or sister in Christ says something by the Holy Spirit that conflicts with our inner worldviews, it often seems to us as if they are saying something that conflicts with Scripture. We might even accuse them of saying things that conflict with Scripture when the Holy Ghost has merely challenged our worldviews. This is our plight. Yet, there is hope. Only the Holy Spirit can set us free from our theological frameworks where they conflict with real reality–however, our fallen natures resist Him. This is very similar to what happens to Scientists when they are looking at the Creation. They fill in the blanks from their worldviews. Their assumptions actually come out of their worldviews. However, they add to what God is saying through Creation just as assumptions from theological worldviews can add to what God is saying through Scripture. Peer reviews don’t work for scientists who limit their peers to those who agree with their own scientific theories. In the same way, peer reviews don’t work for Christians who limit their peers to those who agree with their own theological constructs. I have found that the Holy Spirit instructs me that I must hold my own theology loosely enough that the Holy Spirit is able to correct me and teach me. As Jesus said, “You can’t put new wine in old wineskins.”

How Do You Know?

Posted on June 25, 2015June 25, 2015 by Petros

When you draw a line in the sand, you know that it is you who has drawn the line. That means you can move the line just as easily as you drew it in the first place. If you think you know something, ask a few simple questions. If someone tells you something, ask them these questions.

“Why draw the line there and not somewhere else?”

“How do you know?”

“Is this Divine revelation or is it human speculation?”

“Have you made any assumptions, adding to God’s Words?” “Dear Lord, what do You say about this?” In fact, I was out in my shed thinking about something, and the Holy Spirit spoke to me, “Ask Me what I say about that.” I find that it’s very easy to lean on my own understanding and very difficult to acknowledge Him in all my ways.

I find that it’s very easy to lean on my own understanding and very difficult to acknowledge Him in all my ways.

Ask the Holy Spirit, “What do You say about this?”

I find that it’s very easy to lean on my own understanding and very difficult to acknowledge Him in all my ways. How about you?

What a Day that Will Be!

Posted on June 25, 2015June 25, 2015 by Petros

God has so arranged His Creation in a state of interdependence. No part of a single cell can get along on its own. The cells of the body are interdependent. All the organisms, from amoebas to humans, are interdependent (food, air, CO2, etc.–none could live in a vacuum) and all are dependent on Jesus Christ Who was the Word by which they were created and Who now maintains the laws of nature moment by moment. If you disturb the order that God has established, nothing works quite right. Consider the human body. When one member suffers, all suffer with it. If one part is out of order, the entire body is hurting. Consider the Body of Christ in which no member has any purpose when not function in his or her place in the Body of Christ, in submission to the Head, Christ, and in cooperation with every other member. As God says, “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” Though this Body of Christ is largely hurting and in disorder right now, God has a plan to restore everything until we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to A perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. What a day that will be!

Following Christ

Posted on June 23, 2015June 23, 2015 by Petros

There’s a basic difference between the person who’s following Christ and the person who isn’t following Christ. Both of them still sin. Both of them still have a sinful nature. The person who isn’t following Christ loves the sin, and takes the side of sin and oppose God. As a result, this person dreads God. The person who is following Christ takes God’s side against those sins.

We Christians sometimes get all mixed up on works. Some try to do works to please God–to earn salvation. Others try to do works to pay God back for the fact that God has forgiven them, yet, God says that those works are filthy rags–not much of a gift. Still others don’t think that works are important, since whatever sin they are doing is going to be forgiven anyway. Sometimes, they say that they have the righteousness of Christ imparted to them in a way that doesn’t show in their actions. God says, ”

“The difference between an unconverted man and a converted man is not that one sins and the other does not; but that the one takes part with his cherished sins against a dreaded God, and the other takes part with a reconciled God against his hated sins.” William Arnot

There’s a basic difference between the person who is following Christ and the person who isn’t following Christ. Both of them still sin. Both of them still have a sinful nature. The person who isn’t following Christ loves the sin, and takes the side of sin and oppose God. As a result, this person dreads God. The person who is following Christ takes God’s side against those sins.

We Christians sometimes get all mixed up on works. Some try to do works to please God. Others try to do works to pay God back for the fact that God has forgiven them. Still others don’t think that works are important, since whatever sin they are doing is going to be forgiven anyway. None of these is right.

Works must proceed from God. He must be the One Who initiates them. He must be the One Who does them. That is what happens by grace through faith. God tells us, through Scripture, that it is His grace that does the works. God tells us, through Scripture, that faith gives us access into this grace. God tells us, through Scripture, that faith comes by hearing God’s rhema. Rhema is a Greek word that means utterance. It’s the utterance of God. While Scripture is the utterance of God, Scripture also mentions several ways that God speaks to us. We call this being led by the Spirit. When we obey Christ, we are keeping pace with the Spirit. However, the only way that we can obey is to first acknowledge Christ and then yield to the Spirit of Christ so that God can do His works through us. We Christians do this all the time without really thinking much about what has happened. We pray about something. Suddenly, we know what we’re supposed to do. When we turn to do it, the doors open for us and we find a sense of having done the will of God. Yet, pride doesn’t flood in. We feel humbled and we feel as if we have yielded to the Spirit of God that that God deserves all the glory.” (1 John 3:7) Yet, Paul said that he didn’t frustrate the grace of God. What did Paul mean?

We are saved from sin. We are saved to good works. Good works come from our good God. We are His yielded vessels through whom He can move and work. If we resist Him, He will forgive, but we must not resist Him. There are consequences. When God leads and then does His works through us, this is righteousness. It’s not our own righteousness. It’s the imparted righteousness of Christ. Righteousness leads to holiness. Holiness is a condition of being like Christ. It’s a condition of having Christ formed in you and in me. We are encouraged to build Christ up. As we build Christ up, we die to the old Adam, the fleshly person. The flesh has less influence. The Holy Spirit has more influence. Some of the old sins that so easily tempted us begin to drop away. However, the opposite is also true. If we willingly sin, we become more enslaved by sin. We are set free from the Holy Spirit. What good does that do us? Satan promises satisfaction, but he never delivers. “I shall be satisfied when I awake in Thy likeness.” Psalm 17:15

Ever Learning

Posted on June 22, 2015June 22, 2015 by Petros

Realize that if what you think you know requires even a single assumption, you don’t know it. It’s a bare assertion.

2 Timothy 3:2-9 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.

The Holy Spirit is sent from the Father and the Son to teach us all Truth. Jesus is Truth.

Real Reality

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