Search for certainty

Posted Friday, October 20, 2006 by Charlie Trimm

I received a mailing this week from a certain prominent pastor, and something he said in it rubbed me the wrong way. I can understand why he is saying it, but I still do not like it. Here is the quote.

"Certainty is everything, and it is the objective of my life. Clarity is critical. Ambiguity is deadly because it produces nothing - people don't get saved, sanctified, or comforted."

There is certainly truth in this statement, since we have to be non-ambiguous in some areas. However, the danger is that we push the pendulum too far in the other direction: we need ambiguity and non-certainity in some areas. We cannot be certain about everything. Now, of course, this man would agree with the latter statement. But I think that he is certain about a lot more things than we have the right to be certain about. And this kind of certainty is dangerous. It breeds arrogance. It stifles thinking. It hurts missionary work. It does not accurately reflect the word of God. It is overly influenced by ones own cultural context and worldview.

Ok, I am getting off my soap box now. Thanks for listening. I appreciate any thoughts.

Thursday, October 26, 2006 3:53 PM

Eric wrote: A real concern.

I appreciate the concern that you bring up. To me the statement reflects a real desire towards accuracy in faith, but to me it is emblamatic of the concerns that "intellectuals" level against Fundemental Evangelicals. Our faith is a reasonable faith, but his statement is one of potentially blind dogema. By reasonable I mean to say that it makes sense, that it rests upon the firm foundation of truth and logical consistency. But when that argument is made, we leap into a large philosophical pool and we must swim with the sharks so to speak. This means we embrace the most frightening reality of all; that we might be wrong.

We must at some point be comfortable enough with our faith, that we can accept the possibility, however unlikely, that we are wrong. This stands juxtapose the fact that absolutes exist and and that they are knowable. Like a great warrior that needs not rise to every challenger, we must stand firm on the knowleadge that while we may not have it all right, we are close enough to not need to answer every little challenge to our faith perfectly.

I also agree with you in that the mysteries of God are indeed awesome, relevant and do produce some very good things. They drive us to learn and encourage us toward right living.

Just my thoughts

Friday, October 27, 2006 6:14 AM

Anonymous wrote: Thoughtful

As a pastor I see it all the time, people and Pastor's alike are willing to stand and even give absolutes on things like the version of the Bible, the time of the church service, how to dress. Now I realize that God gives us principles in many of these areas, but not all are absolute: thus why Paul tells Timothy "Study to show thyself approved unto God". Its time to stop standing on our prefernces and ideas and studying the Scriptures for what trhey teach and then standing on the absolute authority of the Scriptures.

I appreciate you thoughtfulness in this area.

Jonathan

Tuesday, October 31, 2006 7:55 AM

Brian wrote:

I have observed that the one who harps on the need for clarity is often unclear in his own communication. The one who proclaims “certainty is everything” may be fearful and uncertain. The one who believes that ambiguity is deadly is already dying.

Place such a man in the garden of Eden and the serpent would only need to whisper, “Indecision is deadly.” The fruit would be consumed in a show of unambiguous certainty. But even with the clarity that Adam received with the transgression, people still try to claim wisdom on human terms.

Wisdom does not have to trumpet its correctness. Folly is compelled to do that. Wisdom is proven right by her children.