Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
A few emails have been posted below by the permission of the writers.
It is a partial email dialogue between our outstanding philosopher friend Martin and a couple of us,
Dio & BH
You are very welcome to join our dialogue. God bless! BH
Also for further thinking, click the following links.
Hi Martin,
So, your new favorite "theology" is the Postmodern kind.
In tolerating all religions, the postmodernist denies the uniqueness of every religion.
In being all-inclusive, the postmodernist discredits all thoughts other than his own.
In claiming "There is no absolute objective truth", he claims that alone is the absolute truth.
In acknowledging God's existence, the postmodernist proceeds to fashion God in his own image.
In embracing Postmodernism, the postmodernist embraces none but himself.
Is it less disturbing for me to study theology? I did my due diligence in studying Christian theologies of various schools. (But I don't claim to be a scholar in theology) I enjoy very much thinking through them and find myself greatly edified by them. I just don't waste my time with empty gibberish... and I make sure I spend more time with the Bible itself than with books about it. That way, I have a standard to measure what I'm reading.
You keep saying that the Bible is filled with myths, and yet you refuse to examine any historical and literary evidences to the contrary. I wonder why? Is it less disturbing for you if the Bible is only a collection of myths instead of truth statements of God? Pontius Pilate asked Jesus, "What is truth?" But he never had the ear to hear Him nor the eyes to see Him who was the Truth Himself.
Yes, the blind can only touch parts of the elephant, and therefore do not have the full view of it. This parable makes sense to us because there is such an object called an elephant. The Postmodernist says you can make the elephant any shape you want it to be and he thinks his fingers are more observant than someone else's eyes. Thank God that the Creator of the elephant is in the business of open the eyes of the blind.
You say, "Just to be immersed in the Biblical stories is salvation by itself." ???
The Word of God says, " For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved." (Rom 10:10)
Beware of the man who analyses the restaurant menu but never eats the food there!
Dio
Dear Martin,
I'm glad you have taken our dialogues and checked them with others with views similar and different from your own. Please understand that my goal of carrying on these dialogues with you is not to win an argument ( because I am no match to a learned scholar like you), but to help you understand that while Christianity has historically tested and intellectually upheld doctrines and theology, it is the eternal life in Jesus that matters at the end.
We, your old Christian classmates, have this one common prayer of salvation for you. I think Marian expressed it best for all of us in her emails.
If there is one thing clear in the Bible, that would be that Jesus Christ is the Savior of mankind. There really is no room for the mindset of "whatever God means".
Dio
Dear Martin:
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.(insight) (ESV)( Proverb 9:10)
You said in your email:"...But by being dogmatic, exclusive and
absolutist you have missed out much of what God creates (whatever God means)."
So we have missed out much of what God creates? And you can't even define what "God" you are talking about?
Can God be " whatever God means"? Or to put it down to earth, can "you" be whatever our email pals and former college friends define?
I agree with Dio, there is no room of calling our Creator God undefined as "whatever God means".
Being growing up in a Presbyterian background, I do know quite a few relatives, friends who used to be enthusiastic Christians going to seminary in order to serve God better and to spread the Gospel; however, at the end of their seminary studies, unfortunately, they lost their faith and enthusiasm to spread the Gospel, or they spread another secular or more liberated gospel. That surely is a great pity!
All those scholars, theologians, liberals who were lost in the theological and philosophical thickets, should ask themselves, are they better off after they were supposedly liberated from their original faith with a loving God who sent His Son to die for our sins. They could find they are actually enslaved with a new worldly or cultural ...god, whatever that god means to them. ( or they may not even be aware of their current conditions.)
Dear Martin, your Christian friends are not burying their heads in the sand like an Ostrich. We are just not counting on the spirit of the world, nor the wisdom of the world alone.
1 Corinthians 1:20
Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
1 Corinthians 1:21
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.22For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,…1 Corinthians 2:12
What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.
Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
1 Corinthians 1:21
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.22For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,…1 Corinthians 2:12
What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.
Dear Martin, Please be aware that human wisdom may prevent you from seeing the Kingdom of God, let alone getting into God's kingdom.
The Bereans Search the Scriptures( Acts 17)( this is also what Dio said that he examines various theologies by scriptures. )
10 As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas off to Berea. On arrival, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 The people here were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, since they welcomed the message with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 12 Consequently, many of them believed, including a number of the prominent Greek women as well as men.
BH
BH
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