WAYS IN WHICH TO VIEW THE FATHER
The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. Rev. 20:5, R.S.V.
"I believe in God, but I don't want to belong to any church! Doctrines just make people haggle over the Bible!"
Unfortunately, it is true that doctrines often divide people. Especially when being "right" is viewed as a thermometer of one's Christian experience. We've all heard people piously say of those who do not agree with their particular explanation of Scripture: "They'll understand when they get closer to the Lord!"
Why has God given us doctrine? How important is it that we have the right understanding of, say, the Trinity and the millennium? Will we be saved only if we manage to grasp correctly the articles of faith set forth in Scripture? How much scholastic theology must one master before he or she qualifies as an honest seeker for truth?
May I suggest that doctrine is primarily God's way of giving us varied pictures of Himself. If we approach the study of the Word of God with the purpose of coming to know Him better, we will find ourselves being drawn away from dissension and division. Our desire will be to get a clearer view of the Father, not to add to our"arsenal of truth."
How can a doctrine such as the millennium illuminate our understanding of God? Without getting into a major discussion, I believe that the fact that "the rest of the dead [will] not come to life until the thousand year [are] ended" reveals God's supreme regard for people--even those who have finally and forever rejected Him. During the thousand years when the saved of all ages reign with Christ, those who are lost will be spared the agonies of having to spend that time with Satan without the benefit of God's protection, the protection that they themselves have spurned.
The doctrine of the Trinity teaches me that the essence of the Godhead is relationship. This brings me great comfort, because I know that since I have been made in the Their image, it is in God's plan that I experience rewarding friendships. Even when I feel alone in the crowd, I never lose this confidence.
There are so many pictures of God in the Bible! We need not haggle over any of them. They aren't there for rightness' sake--they are there so that not one of us might fail to come to know Him.
The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. Rev. 20:5, R.S.V.
"I believe in God, but I don't want to belong to any church! Doctrines just make people haggle over the Bible!"
Unfortunately, it is true that doctrines often divide people. Especially when being "right" is viewed as a thermometer of one's Christian experience. We've all heard people piously say of those who do not agree with their particular explanation of Scripture: "They'll understand when they get closer to the Lord!"
Why has God given us doctrine? How important is it that we have the right understanding of, say, the Trinity and the millennium? Will we be saved only if we manage to grasp correctly the articles of faith set forth in Scripture? How much scholastic theology must one master before he or she qualifies as an honest seeker for truth?
May I suggest that doctrine is primarily God's way of giving us varied pictures of Himself. If we approach the study of the Word of God with the purpose of coming to know Him better, we will find ourselves being drawn away from dissension and division. Our desire will be to get a clearer view of the Father, not to add to our"arsenal of truth."
How can a doctrine such as the millennium illuminate our understanding of God? Without getting into a major discussion, I believe that the fact that "the rest of the dead [will] not come to life until the thousand year [are] ended" reveals God's supreme regard for people--even those who have finally and forever rejected Him. During the thousand years when the saved of all ages reign with Christ, those who are lost will be spared the agonies of having to spend that time with Satan without the benefit of God's protection, the protection that they themselves have spurned.
The doctrine of the Trinity teaches me that the essence of the Godhead is relationship. This brings me great comfort, because I know that since I have been made in the Their image, it is in God's plan that I experience rewarding friendships. Even when I feel alone in the crowd, I never lose this confidence.
There are so many pictures of God in the Bible! We need not haggle over any of them. They aren't there for rightness' sake--they are there so that not one of us might fail to come to know Him.
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