ZOE, Part 3
A few random thoughts that I liked enough to actually write down during the ZOE Conference:From Wade Hodges' session:
"An hour of study is like an hour of prayer."
"It's better to have wrong faith that's good than right faith that's bad."
"An honest atheist will find God. A dishonest 'Christian' won't."
"We need to stop leading our churches and let God lead."
From Lauren Winner:
"Idolatry is forgetting our address on our way home" (Chesterton)
"We may never get home on this side of eternity. We are homeless."
From John York:
"We want to get the doctrine of grace right, when what we need to do is be gracious in our doctrine."
"Most of what we are comes from our need for identity, security, and control. How we obtain those things defines us."
"Churches are volunteer organizations with corporate structures."
I recognize that those are all over the place, but thinking about them draws me closer to God and His purpose. So I like all of them. Obviously, much more was said but too often I found myself without pad in hand, absorbed in the speakers' words. The bottom line always seemed to be about deepening my relationship with the Creator and letting others (or even helping others) deepen their own relationships in their own way. We are all different, yet God treats us all the same. What an amazing Abba He is!
posted by Thurman8er @ 7:28 AM
3 Comments:
“Gracious doctrine.” Is that an oxymoron or have we made it so by our sometimes condescending / in your face stances of the past?
Yes, that is the bottom line!
I'm not sure about some of those comparative statements - I'm not too fond of the word "doctrine" since it has been used in such negative ways to justify,describe or qualify certain beliefs which are not God-created. Isn't "grace" a state of being or more succinctly, a gift from God? Not having heard the context around the subject of "doctrine of grace", I'm not sure how it can be contrasted to "being gracious in our doctrine". I fully embrace cwinwc's statement. He hit the nail on the head.
So, I went to the dictionary...and there were lengthy definitions of "grace" and "doctrine", and I even went to the word "dogma", which was listed under "doctrine", and I was enlightened to one of its definitions as being "a point of view or tenent put forth as authoritative without adequate grounds". Wow...what a concept!
If "doctrine" is to mean "teachings" in a certain belief system, I can certainly accept that, but I guess there have been so many man-devised "rules" and unGodly interpretations made in the name of "doctrine" that the word seems to have lost its credibility along the way. But I feel that being "gracious in our doctrine" should have everything to do with how we choose to share our beliefs with others and how our beliefs...and faith in the same...has changed our lives forever.
The hermeneutic process is a dicey thing sometimes, and comparing apples to oranges is a frequent consequence when attempting to make catchy phrases or statements. Perhaps the speaker really wanted to say that our belief in the state of grace should make us more tolerant, less judgmental and more loving,"hospitable", respectful and accepting in how we teach the gospel and regard or view others...and ourselves.
Someone wise once told me that "grace" may include God's forgiveness of some of our "errors of doctrine". For that, we in the CoC should be more thankful than most!
But I'm sure there are much wiser, more educated people who may blow my opinions out of the water, and I definately don't claim to be very scholarly or to use correct exegesis.
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