Yesterday in a book store I skimmed through the introduction to a book by a scholar who had studied himself out of the faith that I claim to believe in. I did not get so far as to look at his evidence or reasoning, only the description of his journey through many decades of seeking the truth. I have to admit that it rattled me – just to hear the words of a man with a giant intellect who claims to have walked in my shoes, yet come to decide that it’s not what he once thought it was.
I do not for a minute doubt his sincerity or his desire to know what the truth is. I have been on a similar journey of my own for years as well. I know that for Seventh-day Adventists, writings by former members can create many reactions; fear, “what if”, mental scrambling for that piece of fact that no one can take from them, anger and blind defensiveness. I found this mental confrontation giving me the same kind of experience, fueled by the fact that I have friends who have succumbed to doubt and fallen away as well. Do I open that box and see what is inside? Would I come through the other side victorious or defeated? What IS my faith based on? What does it depend on? What do I ultimately trust IN? One thing I know for sure is that I cannot base belief or doubt either one on the conclusions of someone else.
This morning I was wrestling with these questions and talking to God. He’s my dad and I take everything to Him. I apologized, after all He has revealed and shown to me, and done for me, that I could wonder if there was any validity to the doubts of another human. I won’t claim this post is what He Himself told me in response (for those who should rightly question that claim), but here is what came to mind, and it reminded me a little of the Parable of the Sower.
I saw three traps that prevent people from really knowing Jesus. They may overlap, or one may lead to another, but these three became so clear to me. There are examples of these both in the unbelieving world and in “the church”.
The carnal person never gets beyond his own desires in this world. Even if he hears the truth, it does not affect his direction, which is to seek his desire for lust, things, or power. He may even try to use the truth to that end, but in the end, all he wants is what HE wants.
The mystic may not care much for material things, pleasures, or position, but he loves the supernatural. However, he doesn’t consider that not everything that is spiritual is from a good source. Lying spirits easily lead him off on a trail to do what the first man does, in a different way; seek happiness in self through discovery, actualization, or improvement through accessing the “higher self”. Evil is not necessarily something that is ugly, scary, cruel, or sinister. It’s simply wanting my own way. It’s rebellion. Spirits in the church are also teaching people to seek this path in the name of Christ.
The intellectual on the other hand has no time for shallow, worldly pursuits, nor is he silly enough to believe in the reality of the spiritual realm. Some “believers” may live on knowledge alone and never consider that God is a Living Person who can speak and act in their own sphere beyond the pages of a book. Neither do they acknowledge the reality of evil spiritual entities. Eventually, the miracles may seem as legends, the stories allegories, and God Himself becomes a metaphor. The man is left to worship his own mind.
A Christian can be assaulted from all three sides – his own lower desires, refusing to “discern the spirits”, or trusting his own intellect until someone raises an objection he can’t answer. What person can keep himself from falling away with these dangerous pitfalls at every step?
Some believe it’s important to constantly warn Christians they can lose their salvation. While scripture does contain passages that warn us, the Gospel (Good News) focuses on what God has done, not my potential for weakness. The underlying message of the fear-based approach to faith (fear & faith don’t mix by the way) is, “You better hang on for your dear life.” I know the motives of these pleadings are genuine, but I also know that in myself, I can’t trust myself to be strong enough to hang on. And even if I did – in the end I could say, “Thank you Jesus for saving me, and good thing I held on tight enough to not be pulled away by that tricky satan guy.” The end of that equation is Jesus saves, but my ability kept me saved. One thing my faith does NOT rest in, is my own strength or reason. I am so thankful for His promises to us in that regard. I get tired of the argument about whether or not I can choose to reject Jesus after He saved me. I love Him and I trust Him with my life. (Jude 24,25) I can’t speak for anyone else. I don’t know of any other Love or ideal I could even begin to follow. Who have I in Heaven or Earth but Him?
The beauty of Jesus is that He satisfies all three of the areas I have just described. He gives us our desires, so that in seeking Him, we are fulfilled. There is a feast in the here and now, amid the pain and trials. We do not have to wait for heaven to taste of His goodness. There is a joy, satisfaction, and a peace in walking in His Spirit that the world never gives. There is in this world, “no greater joy” than to be in communion with Christ and to be in His service.
His Spirit is real and alive, and active and personal. He does not leave us orphans! His Spirit testifies with our own spirit, that we are His children. Does my little boy doubt who his parents are? My heavenly Father is just as real. He has so many ways to communicate to us His love and His direction, if we will listen. He desires we come to Him as our little children come to us; love, need, trusting dependence for even the smallest of things.
He gives us knowledge of Himself, even if through the veil of human agents (the scribes and the prophets). People could not believe Jesus was God because he was cloaked in human flesh. Some people cannot believe the Bible is the Word of God because it came through human agents. Yet on the road to Emmaus, as Jesus opened up the Scriptures for two of His followers, their “hearts burned within them.” When he opened their eyes, they truly knew Him. My heart also burns as I read His Word and He opens my eyes to see Him in new ways every day, even as it challenges me.
My faith is IN a living Jesus, and even this is not from myself. It is a gift.
8thDay4Life 
Yes, Wow, and, Amen!
Love you,
-JGIG
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. You speak much in scripture even when you don’t make that plain. And I think you know that ;0) It’s great to see and read when a believer does that. To say, “Hey, I know that verse!” It’s almost veiled to unbelievers but not to those who “know His voice and they follow Him”. (((HUGS)))
Thanks for the hug!!! 🙂 I can use that! lol.
if the writer was an seventh Adventist – he may have lost his faith in religion, like many others who came out of dead denominations like myself. But being truly born again from above connects us to Jesus himself – that personal relationship, coupled with the Word and and quickening by the Holy Spirit you don’t lose. May this writer seek God himself and find his faith in the person of Jesus and write yet another book of true redemption in Christ alone, is my prayer for that soul.
No, he was not from an SDA background at all, but a mainstream Christian one… and said he had done the whole “born again” thing when he was young but being in scholarly circles, things started to break down. People often have a theoretical faith with no real encounter with the Holy Spirit. I don’t know the how and the why but I do know the what, and that his book did not have any conclusions (judging from the Table of Contents) about Jesus, one way or the other. It was all a criticism of different things – but nothing that would negate the fact of who Jesus is. And if all you have from beginning to end is head knowledge, you don’t really know Him. I highly recommend a book by Francis Chan called “The Forgotten God”. We need to walk in the Spirit!
But yes.. the danger of coming out of Adventism and falling into this situation is extremely high, I agree. And even when people have seen the power of God, they have turned away… like those who went through the Red Sea and turned to an idol shortly thereafter. Which is hard to fathom. But I love Paul’s statement where he says,
“1Co 2:1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.
1Co 2:2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
1Co 2:3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,
1Co 2:4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
1Co 2:5 that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Can’t wait to read “The Forgotten God.” I recently finished reading a new biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Although the first part seemed a little long – about his family and his growing up – it was so good to see how his faith grew. His father was one of the foremost scientists in Germany, and his mother was the daughter and granddaughter of pastors. His father respected everyone’s opinion – if the reasoning was logical and consistent. And the children in the family were encouraged to talk, but their ideas and beliefs had to meet the criteria.
So when Dietrich began to study the Word, he did it with logical and consistent thinking, and – he found God! The LIVING God!!! So much so, that when he became a seminary leader, along with the regular theological subjects that were taught, he had the students take a passage of Scripture a week, and go somewhere by themselves and pray and meditate on that Scripture, asking God to show them what it meant. And it never failed.
That was the method he used to teach them how to make sermons! A word from the living God!!!
How I wish the author you wrote about could know the Living God as we do!