"Anybody half awake these days will be aware that there are many Christians who are exceedingly confident in their understanding of the Gospels, and who are exceedingly self-confident in their understanding of themselves in their faith. They appear to know precisely the purposes of God, and they appear to be perfectly assured that they are now doing, and in every circumstance will continue to do, precisely God’s will as it applies specifically to themselves. They are confident, moreover, that God hates people whose faith differs from their own, and they are happy to concur in that hatred.
Having been invited to speak to a convocation of Christian seminarians, I at first felt that I should say nothing until I confessed that I do not have any such confidence. And then I understood that this would have to be my subject. I would have to speak of the meaning, as I understand it, of my lack of confidence, which I think is not at all the same as a lack of faith." Wendell Berry
Having been invited to speak to a convocation of Christian seminarians, I at first felt that I should say nothing until I confessed that I do not have any such confidence. And then I understood that this would have to be my subject. I would have to speak of the meaning, as I understand it, of my lack of confidence, which I think is not at all the same as a lack of faith." Wendell Berry
3 comments:
Bottle him up and sell him to everybody :)
Isn't it funny that it turns out that the "knowing it all" ends up being spiritual milk??
I thought you were golfing this weekend?
no, the golf trip begins March 6th
Sue, it is so true...all my arrogant years of extreme confidence were actually years spent spashing around in the shallows...with no faith.
Today I am confident of nothing except Christ and faith has never felt more real.
Usher: Why can't more humans be like this!
Deacon: Because honesty is not respected by the academic - in fact they don't even think it exists.
Usher: So why do you say academics?
Deacon: Because in today's western church, every pastor is credentialled, sealed and delivered from academia. Nary a few have experienced one bloody moment of want or have lived in the trenches. How is it they insist on telling these soon-to-be on-the-street middle class people how to live their lives and what is right and what is wrong.
Usher: So owning a Mercedes, being in debt up to your eyeballs and having a three car garage full of crap is not success?
Deacon: Not for those who borrow to obtain it. But the academic doesn't have to worry about that - the people keep going to church and paying for his stuff.
Usher: I think he might find himself on the street with them soon.
Deacon: God has a way of using tragedy to bring Himself into focus. About time the church ended up in a dependent state as opposed to a life of credit and independence.
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