tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30991724.post7089209717507196783..comments2024-02-27T03:28:22.684-06:00Comments on In Defense of the Gospel: The “Standards” MessLou Martuneachttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08683967904677815711noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30991724.post-20636317142374767482015-07-16T11:34:14.698-05:002015-07-16T11:34:14.698-05:00Comment submitted on behalf of Tim Vander Ploeg…
...<i>Comment submitted on behalf of Tim Vander Ploeg…</i><br /><br />Brother Lou, I am sending this as email because I couldn't get the comments box to accept it. Nor could I get the "subscribe" link to work. Sorry for any inconvenience. Tim<br /><br />Brother Lou, <br /><br />I feel that while this is a good article written with sincere intent, there are two references that may unveil a big part of the cause of the "mess" that we are in today as Christian believers. They reveal, I think, an inadequate view of God that is widely, though almost unconsciously, held. This view, and underlying flaw, is that God holds and shares "opinions". <br /><br />Here are the references: <br />"Keeping the law will not save anybody’s soul; but grace doesn’t mean that there aren’t any rules, that the Lord has no opinions,......"<br />(Meaning, I take it, that we are to think that He does, in fact, have "opinions".)<br />"The Law of God expresses the opinions of God, and therefore is “holy, and just, and good”......"<br /><br />A quick check of the meaning of "opinion " will show that it cannot be applied as characteristic of God's knowledge or of what He has communicated. <br />http://dictionary.reference.com/cite.html?qh=opinion&ia=luna<br /><br />If we accept that God has and shares "opinions" in place of His absolute eternal truth of being, knowledge and wisdom, then we yield to the opinion that God has no certainty, no truth, in Himself and has not revealed His Truth with certainty in His Law, His Word. Can we then wonder that we are left arguing over a mere range of "opinions" somewhere between biblically informed, high "good and holy", "the Lord's"opinion and low human opinion?<br />Genuine, God honoring, saving faith rests on (Heb.4:1-11) grows in and feeds on truth, on the certainty of God revealed in Christ, on the factual certainty of "thus saith the Lord" in His word (Rom.10:17). This is the faith that changes behavior because by it God in power changes the person(Rom.1:16,17; 2Cor.31-18). This certainty in God is what faith rests on and holds fast to though tossed upon a sea of varying and conflicting opinions, high and low.<br /><br />I don't intend this as a polemic against any one. We must not "bite and devour" one another. But unless the truth of God (vs. His "opinion") is understood, explained and exalted by those who teach, how can faith/faithfulness grow in those who are taught?<br /><br />I will refrain from commenting on the Law not being "good enough" (?) at this time.<br /><br />Yours in the Truth of God, Tim VPLou Martuneachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08683967904677815711noreply@blogger.com