Take a deep breath...
It's late and I really don't have anything of substance to say. But I am frustrated.
Frustrated for a number of reasons, many which I'll choose not to share here on the blog. Frustrated about life and people and the modern world and the way in which human beings relate to one another or don't.
All of this only serves to remind me of what Reinhold Niebuhr wrote about sin, that it is the only empirically verifiable doctrine of the Christian faith. What's worse I know I'm just as bad. What's even worse I'm not even a Niebuhr fan.
I was thinking the other day that Calvinists, if they are true Calvinists, should be the most even-keeled people on earth. We know that God is in control. Apart from chemical imbalances, that should probably eliminate most mental issues such as depression (if you disagree please tell me, I would appreciate it). Yet the Sovereignty of God really isn't some warm-fuzzy doctrine you can curl up with and feel good about all the time. God's Sovereignty can be pretty scary when we stop and think about it, because it means we're not really in control.
Now I'm about to contradict myself, so bear with me. I am comforted by the fact that God is in control, come what may. I am conforted in the fact that God chooses who will be saved, and then does so by the power of Christ's death on the cross and his resurrection. I guess what I'm getting at is that just because God is in control doesn't mean that life is going to be one long walk in the park, quite the contrary, especially according to Calvin who believed that the elect were often given more perils and problems because of their election. (I can't quote book and chapter and paragraph on that, sorry). But that is what so many people want, myself included is a comfortable life with little pain or sorrow.
But that's not the way it is. And if someone tells you differently, or that that is the way it is supposed to be (a la Osteen or Dollar or any other "positive attitude" preacher) then they are liars. Wm. Van der Hoven once said "Joy is not the absence of trouble but the presence of Christ."
So if you truly want to follow Christ, if you have been called to follow Christ, then the road ahead is not easy. Life will not be easy. Nothing will be easy and not everyone will be nice and people will be frustrated and frustrating.
And that's just the way it is.
Thought o' the day: Will we ever know just how much sin impacts us as human beings and the world as a whole?
Frustrated for a number of reasons, many which I'll choose not to share here on the blog. Frustrated about life and people and the modern world and the way in which human beings relate to one another or don't.
All of this only serves to remind me of what Reinhold Niebuhr wrote about sin, that it is the only empirically verifiable doctrine of the Christian faith. What's worse I know I'm just as bad. What's even worse I'm not even a Niebuhr fan.
I was thinking the other day that Calvinists, if they are true Calvinists, should be the most even-keeled people on earth. We know that God is in control. Apart from chemical imbalances, that should probably eliminate most mental issues such as depression (if you disagree please tell me, I would appreciate it). Yet the Sovereignty of God really isn't some warm-fuzzy doctrine you can curl up with and feel good about all the time. God's Sovereignty can be pretty scary when we stop and think about it, because it means we're not really in control.
Now I'm about to contradict myself, so bear with me. I am comforted by the fact that God is in control, come what may. I am conforted in the fact that God chooses who will be saved, and then does so by the power of Christ's death on the cross and his resurrection. I guess what I'm getting at is that just because God is in control doesn't mean that life is going to be one long walk in the park, quite the contrary, especially according to Calvin who believed that the elect were often given more perils and problems because of their election. (I can't quote book and chapter and paragraph on that, sorry). But that is what so many people want, myself included is a comfortable life with little pain or sorrow.
But that's not the way it is. And if someone tells you differently, or that that is the way it is supposed to be (a la Osteen or Dollar or any other "positive attitude" preacher) then they are liars. Wm. Van der Hoven once said "Joy is not the absence of trouble but the presence of Christ."
So if you truly want to follow Christ, if you have been called to follow Christ, then the road ahead is not easy. Life will not be easy. Nothing will be easy and not everyone will be nice and people will be frustrated and frustrating.
And that's just the way it is.
Thought o' the day: Will we ever know just how much sin impacts us as human beings and the world as a whole?
2 Comments:
So does that mean if I give up Christ my life will be easier, unproblematic and happy?
I don't know. Perhaps from a purely secular perspective (if that exists) it might. But on the other hand there are a lot of people who can talk about a certain emptiness in their lives before they met Christ.
It may not be a matter so much of us giving up on Christ, but what if he were to give up on us?
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