Rest and Reflect

a. This is what the Bible says.
b. This is how I understand it.
c. This is the life style it suggests.
d. I hope you agree.
e. If you don’t we are still friends, and
f. God still loves you.
g. Amen.

[borrowed from Dr Thomas J. Zwemer without permission, but hopefully he won't mind]

The Great Controversy motif introduces to Christian theology the need for God to be “vindicated” before the sin problem can be eradicated from the universe. I am of the opinion that the perfection that leads to the vindication of God at the “end of the world” is not the perfection of individuals but the perfection of a people in relationships.

Perfection of a people implies solidarity of purpose and mission, yet allows for minor failings of individuals and harmonises with the unique Adventist understanding that the “present truth” of the 3 Angels Message must reach the entire world before the end will come. No group, except it be in perfect unity (as the Father, Son and Spirit are) and be in Christ, could ever accomplish such a goal. In remembering that Bible Eschatology deals with grand schemes and spiritual warfare on a universe-wide scale and identifies the church or spritual Israel (woman, Zion, 144000, great multitude) as a single collective group, it makes far more sense to take this view than to say that Jesus “will wait for the maturing of Christian character in a significant number of people (read individuals) as the chief condition determining… the time of the Second Coming.”[1] Words in brackets mine.

Whilst an individual may seem to be perfect in his or her actions, he/she may not be in his/her attitudes. A global group that lacks Christ-likeness in attitudes (including a passion for the lost soul, a heart that is drawn to the needy and destitute) will most likely self-destruct, imploding in infighting and constantly engrossed in self-directed adulation of its own piety or theological superiority.

I hope this does not downplay the importance of individual sanctification. Our holiness (you may call it perfection) is the central goal of salvation. This understanding of Perfection does not remove the need for you or me to “afflict our souls” (Lev 23:32) and prepare to stand before Lord in his glory (unveiled holiness) (Jude 24) [the anti-typical Day of Atonement], but it removes the concept that Jesus’ return is contingent on your or my individual holiness. If Christ’s return was dependent on my perfection, either I am not saved and Christ will return while I am not perfect or I am saved and the rest of the world must wait until I am sinless.

Surely our invidual perfection is only a component of our movement fulfilling its mission as God’s end-time prophetic “remnant.”

[1] http://lastgenerationtheology.org/lgt/ori/ori-lgt14.php

God doesn’t change. But how we see Him does. Just because we see things differently doesn’t necessarily mean we are not looking at the same thing. See the story of the Blind Men and a Elephant. Of course this doesn’t mean that we are all right. See the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes. Naked is naked!

So we should not let differences in opinion make us contradict our own beliefs and behave in an un-Christlike manner to others. The right practical application of one’s beliefs is always more valuable than having right beliefs in the first place (see Romans 2:14). Certain things might not seem so important where the “rubber meets the road.”

And differences of opinion can be a valuable starting place to gain insight into the background and experiences of our friends. Very commonly one’s beliefs and behavior are shaped by our experiences.

You can see this in Dr David Larson’s recount of his father, Ralph’s, life story and how he came to understand his father better:

Over the years it has been difficult for me to figure out why our father seemed not to understand from the inside why so many Adventists were drawn to the somewhat different paradigm and its relatively heavier emphasis upon God’s forgiveness. While thinking about the whole of his life since his death, I saw clearly for the first time something that I must have known all along without giving it much thought. This is that, as far as I know, our father never obsessed about his salvation or anything else. He never tossed and turned throughout the night wondering if he had confessed all of his sins or if he had fallen short of Christian perfection by making some mistake. Never! This was largely a matter of his temperament. But it was also because he was confident that God would judge him and everyone else fairly.

In this respect our father’s Christian experience was not at all like that of Martin Luther whose obsessions about his sins and God’s wrath in his early life have given some psychiatrists much valuable data. I believe that this made it difficult for him to understand from the inside the anguish of those whose experience is more like Luther’s and why such people need to be told again and again and again and again, as if the gospel contains no other good news, that no matter how many mistakes they make God still loves them.

Our father often viewed this emphasis upon God’s forgiveness as a theological excuse for irresponsible conduct. In some cases this was so; however, in most instances it wasn’t. The more ethically obsessive Martin Luthers of every age like me need to camp on the doctrine of justification by faith and never move much beyond it and then always keeping it view. There was nothing in his temperament to help him understand this. I now think that in this area of his life he was the healthier.

David R Larson (Ralph Larson’s son) writes in a comment on the Spectrum blog:

“Common sense and balance help in all of this. Of course, God is forever forgiving. Also, it is true that God’s love always empowers us to live more mature lives, if we co-operate.

To put too much emphasis on either of these in isolation from the other is not wise.”

Well put Dr Larson!

In another comment on his own blog, he says:

“Scripture says that Jesus was tempted in all points but was without sin. I think that this is as all we need to say on the subject.

Aristotle said that we should seek no more precision than the topic under consideration inherently allows. I agree!”

(quoting Hebrews 4:15)

To that we may add Hebrews 2:17: “Therefore, He was like us in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest.”

Jan Paulsen (a theologian in his own right) and current Adventist world church president spoke these thought-provoking words recently:

The discussion about the human nature of Christ comes often in the setting of discussions about living victorious lives, about overcoming sin, and preparing a people for the coming of Christ. The question is not: Can we gain victories, or are we by our sinful nature destined to constant defeat? Of course we can gain victory, but that will not be by settling the precise human nature of Christ; it will be by experiencing the “power of His resurrection”. It will not be by the power of His example; it will be by the “power of his resurrection”, for in that (a living Saviour who is always actively working in our lives – see Heb 7:25) lies the power to live a new life. Let us strive in our preaching, teaching, and writing to direct the attention of our people to the Risen One, for he can work wonders in our lives.

Emphasis and words in brackets mine.

God himself – the person, not His nature – should be our focus. (Hebrews 12:2)

[Writing with reference to Luke 18:9-14] But what is the result? The man who trusted in his own righteousness had none, while the man who prayed, in heart-felt contrition, ‘God be merciful to me, a sinner,’ went down to his house a righteous man. Christ says that he went justified; that is, made righteous.

The apostle Paul, having proved that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, so that by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified in His sight, proceeds to say that we are justified [made righteous] freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness; that He might be just, and the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. Romans 3:24-26.

The taking away of the filthy garments [Zechariah 3:1-5] is the same as causing the iniquity to pass from the person. And so we find that when Christ covers us with the robe of His own righteousness, He does not furnish a cloak for sin but takes the sin away. And this shows that the forgiveness of sins is something more than a mere form, something more than a mere entry in the books of record in heaven, to the effect that the sin has been canceled. The forgiveness of sins is a reality; it is something tangible, something that vitally affects the individual. It actually clears him from guilt, and if he is cleared from guilt, is justified, made righteous, he has certainly undergone a radical change.

http://www.nisbett.com/default.htm

http://www.temcat.com/

http://sdanet.org/atissue/index.htm

Sin is a choice. It is a choice to consistently go against what is good – to go against what you know to be right – to go against God. Sin leads to broken relationships, hurt and ultimately death.

Perfection is a choice. It is a choice to consistently choose what is good – no matter how difficult or contrary to our inclinations – to always trust (never doubt) God and never disobey known duty. Perfection leads to trust relationships, love and ultimately an abundant life.

Salvation is not some change in legal category (from guilty to innocent) for the saved person. God’s salvation takes a person on the journey from sin to perfection.

That is the best I can do at this stage. I hope it is clear and true.