Loving Truth

[Anthony Pritchard]

Loving Truth ​

There comes a point in the Christian life when a believer must decide whether he or she will defend a system or seek the truth. I learned early on that cherished beliefs can fail under the weight of Scripture, and when they do, the only faithful response is to follow the truth wherever God leads. That path has cost me at times, but it has steadied me far more. Error is comfortable until it is exposed; truth is costly until it is embraced. What God has taught me through those years is simple: love truth more than familiar error, and let Scripture correct whatever needs correcting.

Be a truth seeker, not a defender of a system. Let Scripture correct you, even when it overturns what you once cherished. If error cost you something, rejoice if the cost brought you into truth. If truth stripped you down, let it steady you. If it humbled you, let it make you teachable. If it exposed you, let it make you unafraid of doctrinal pressure.

Love truth more than the comfort of familiar error. Love costly truth more than the ease of inherited belief. Truth has cost me much, and error has cost me far more, but the reward of discarding error and embracing truth is eternal and worth whatever price it demands.

"Buy the truth, and sell it not." Proverbs 23:23

~Tony

© A.K. Pritchard 1979 -

Free to use with proper attribution.

 

[Ascetic X]

One symptom of exalting a theological system above the scriptures is when the system is defended by quoting theologians who adhere to the system, rather than appealing to Bible verses that seem to support it.

Theology can freeze the mind into a rigid pattern that seduces and imprisons thought, so that any different viewpoint is not prayerfully pondered, but is instantly rejected and renounced.

We are safer by studying the Bible, with occasional reference to commentaries, instead of devouring and adhering to a system of hermeneutics as though it was the ultimate, infallible, comprehensive truth.

The real danger is exalting theology above the Word of God and elevating a theologian above the Savior.

We may like and agree with much in a certain theology, but we must retain the resilience to question and reject any elements that seem to contradict the scriptures.

 

[JonC]

There comes a point in the Christian life when a believer must decide whether he or she will defend a system or seek the truth.

^^^^^ THIS!!!!

There does come a point where Christians must decide whether he or she will defend a system/ philosophy/ understanding or seek the truth in God's actual words.

The troubling thing is what happens when brought to that point should the professing Christian choose the former?

Scripture warns us - there is a danger they will be "carried away", they have chosen to "lean on their own understanding" rather than "every word that comes forth from God".

What if one is brought to that point and chooses to believe what they "see" rather than the words they are actually reading in the Bible?


If somebody has been presented with the issue, if they have been brought to the point of deciding , and choose what they "see" or what the biblical text means to them over the actual text are they essentually rejecting God (are they in danger of "being carried away")? Would this be a sign they were never saved?


I will use myself as an example. I was a Calvinist. I earned a BA in religion and my Masters in theology. This solidified my belief. My understanding obviously influenced my preaching, my teaching Scripture, and teaching theology.

After one sermon I went to bed feeling good. It was about the Atonement (and obviously from a Calvinist perspective). I awoke with the conviction I had preached theory rather than truth.

At first I thought what God wss convicting me of was the idea Jesus experienced God abandoning Him on the cross. I was willing to be corrected there.

BUT it turned out God was convicting me that PSA was man's throry (NOT the biblical text). I spent months trying to find PSA in the actual text of the Bible. Turns out it is not there (no sentence in the Bible supports PSA without carrying PSA into the text).

I believe God convicted me for a purpose. I had been brought to that point of decision and was in danger of failing the text. I also held the belief that all fundamental doctrine is literally in the biblicsl text. Something had to give. I made the choice to abandon the theory to believe God's words. It took awhile for me to be able to read about the Atonement without "seeing" what was not actually in the words.

Looking back I cannot believe how foolish I was. I had been reading "Jesus bore our sins bodily" and automatically adding "substitution" to the text. It took some time before "He bore our sins bodily" made perfect sense without changing the biblical text. But I am eternally grateful God drew me from that theory. His words have a deeper meaning than the wisdom of men can fathom.

 

[Anthony Pritchard]

One symptom of exalting a theological system above the scriptures is when the system is defended by quoting theologians who adhere to the system, rather than appealing to Bible verses that seem to support it.

Theology can freeze the mind into a rigid pattern that seduces and imprisons thought, so that any different viewpoint is not prayerfully pondered, but is instantly rejected and renounced.

We are safer by studying the Bible, with occasional reference to commentaries, instead of devouring and adhering to a system of hermeneutics as though it was the ultimate, infallible, comprehensive truth.

The real danger is exalting theology above the Word of God and elevating a theologian above the Savior.

We may like and agree with much in a certain theology, but we must retain the resilience to question and reject any elements that seem to contradict the scriptures.

Exactly!

 

[JonC]

Be a truth seeker, not a defender of a system. Let Scripture correct you, even when it overturns what you once cherished. If error cost you something, rejoice if the cost brought you into truth.

This is what I went through when moving from a theology I cherished to the bibliical text. This is necessary as we are human beings with limited understanding. Once we cherish our understanding we become stagnate, unable to grow in the Word and diminished only to finding additional support for our system.

I would add that seeking truth is harder than many might think. Human philosophy is more than an addition to the faith as it obscures what the text is really stating.


A good example is "He bore our sins". This is a limiting text (it states that Christ bore our sins, speaks of Christ).

For most of my life I saw that as substitution (I added us into the equation, exceeding the limits of the text). Because of my philosophy I read that as "He bore our sins instead of us".

Not only was I adding to the text, but that addition meant I was obscuring what the text actually stated. It colored so much of Scriptute.


What needs to be added is how difficult it is to remove one's philosophy from automatically being read into Scripture. I did not desire to change God's words, but that is what I was doing without realizing.

I had to learn where God's words stopped and my understanding began. Then I had to stop changing God's words in my reading. The difficult part is re-reading Scripture without automatically reading my system into His words. But this is necessary for growth and understanding.


Now I am able to accept God's words - "He bore our sins" - in the context of the Biblical text (without adding substitution). I am able to grasp the deep significance of that verse rather than centering it on man. But it took time and a devotion to God many are unwilling to make (we are naturally inclined to our philosophy, we are naturally unwilling to submit to God).