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Everything That's On My Mind

 Sunday, April 09, 2006

I can't remember where I first saw this, but I love the humor of it:

Jesus said unto them: "Who do you say that I am?"

And they replied: "You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being, the kerygma in which we find the ultimate meaning of our interpersonal relationship."

And Jesus said: "What?!?"

This morning I spoke about "missing the point" and how we so often do. We overcomplicate the gospel, we add to it, we confuse it with other things. Jesus said "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself." The religious people of his day had complicated faith to the point that it was unattainable by the average person. Jesus simplified things. He explained God's purpose for mankind in simple, yet challenging terms.

I love theology as much as anyone. I love the depth of people like Dallas Willard, D.A. Carson, F.F. Bruce and A.W. Tozer.* That being said, there's also a place for the depth of "Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so." Modern worship music has long been criticized for being too simplistic and lacking theological content. While some criticisms may be warranted, in general I think the critics are off-base. Music, in particular, is not a tool for theological dissertation; it's a tool for helping us feel what we know.

Yes, we need to maintain orthodoxy and avoid a pop-psychology version of the Christian faith, but at the same time it's not just about believing the right facts. Being a Christ-follower is not just intellectual, it's experiential. We know it and we feel it. Our interaction with God is not limited to simply agreeing with certain facts. It's submitting all that we are to Him; heart, soul, strength and mind. Anything less is missing the point.

Now and then we need to stop and remind ourselves to receive the kingdom of God like a little child. "Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so."

I'll close with the prophetic words of a brother of mine:

God's laughter echoes in heaven
We really think that we've figured Him out
With our systematic theologies
There's just one thing I wanna know beyond a shadow of a doubt
Does Jesus love me?
If that alone is true,
Maybe then I have a clue to ponder:
What's the Big Idea?

*Side note: Why do so many of these great authors simply use their initials? Carson, Bruce, Tozer, Tolkien, Lewis, Torrey, Wright, Packer...all known just by initials. Would I be taken more seriously as J.R. Mitton rather than just Bob? Actually, I already know the answer to that question, but that's another story. :-)

Sunday, April 09, 2006 - 08:52 PM Eastern Daylight Time    #       Comments [2]
Monday, April 10, 2006 7:53:29 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
"Music, in particular, is not a tool for theological dissertation; it's a tool for helping us feel what we know." Great way to put it, J.R.

I didn't really understand The Big Idea back then, and then later rejected it. But it's all coming back around now, isn't it? Maybe I really do have a clue to ponder...
boB
Monday, April 10, 2006 7:54:03 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
Excellent point about the role of music. Poetry, in general, is almost opposite in its use of language to exposition. Poetry compresses language, tries to say more in fewer words, relies on suggestion and implication rather than logic and reason--which is why Psalms doesn't read like Romans. That is not to say that the truths it contains are less profound than those contained in a doctrinal treatise, but they will certainly be expressed differently.

I wonder how many people who sing older hymns (that are supposed to carry so much more doctrine) are actually conscious of the doctrinal content that they are singing? How many people, for example, are aware that in "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God," the line "on earth is not his equal" is referring to Satan? I'll bet a lot of people unconsciously assume it's an expression of God's greatness. We tend not to logically think about the words of songs that we sing.

On the issue of using initials--if you were named John Ronald Reuel or Clive Staples, wouldn't you use initials? Lewis hated his name so much he went by "Jack" his whole life.
Keith Schooley
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