21 October 2023
Some of the questions I get indicate I need to elaborate on something a bit more: You need not think like I do for fellowship and Kingdom service together.
I keep warning over and over: This fallen "reality" is not ultimate reality. Rather, we live in a place of shadows and mists. The greatest purity of heart and commitment to Christ will give you a very clear moral vision, but it will not make the the world any more sensible to your intellect. And all the science mankind can muster, and might muster some day in the future, could never explain the world in which we live.
There are two critical reasons for this. One, human capabilities are simply insufficient to detect all relevant factors. We could never get there in a million years of scientific and technological advancement. No AI can possibly fill in the blanks. Some major portion of the truth about this reality is invisible to the senses and reason. Two, this reality itself is not stable and consistent internally. It is not endlessly variable, but a whole lot more variable than human capabilities can grasp. On the level of some details, what appears true today may not be so tomorrow.
Putting those two together produces a third reason: Human capabilities, as part of this wobbly reality, are themselves inherently untrustworthy. No two humans will ever experience reality precisely the same way. What one truly perceptive individual can discern cannot perfectly match that of another. A unity of perception is inherently false. We can all pretend that we have the same perception, but it will always be artificial, a form of denying something obvious from your own experience.
At some point, human unity always breaks down. Human nature is incapable of peaceful coexistence beyond very tightly contained boundaries. The ideal conditions for human peace are exceedingly fragile. Those boundaries will cyclically collapse with the rhythm of natural processes. Human nature itself is inherently flawed, and tolerance is highly variable. It is not possible to train war out of humanity.
While not so clearly stated, all of this is inherent in the biblical outlook.
Not only can I not reasonably expect everyone to buy into my doctrine and teaching, but I do not need it. Indeed, given my pursuit of obedience to Christ, I do not want it. Demanding conformance to some orthodoxy would squelch the knowledge of your own convictions. Our convictions must agree that we can work together. What we need is a functional unity that allows us to move forward. All that is required of you us tolerance based on our convictions. I do my best to explain my operating assumptions and expectations. Can you live with that? Then we can serve the Lord together and spread His glory.
I assure you my own tolerance is broad. It often boils down to a question of what sort of stuff we can agree to cooperate on.
Concrete example: I have a friend who is very good at storytelling. The problem is, he's only semi-literate. He wants to share his stories in books published online. You can bet this man's doctrine on many things is quite different from mine: He's a Zionist and he wants to exclude Paul's letters from the Bible. I'm familiar with that territory. I still help him to edit his books so they can be accepted for publication. In small ways, I've influenced his thoughts on a lot of things, because he strives to walk by his convictions. There's not much else we could do together, but it's not wasted effort to help him.
You must draw your own boundaries. You must walk by your own convictions. I'll keep trusting the Lord that He will work with you, if you convince me you are truly committed to His message. Where you end up is not my concern. It's a matter of process, not product. I am focused on what the Lord can do with you; I can deal with where you are right now.
Spiritual warfare is you conquering your fleshly nature. It is not you conquering the fleshly nature of others. It's simply acting faithfully on those things the Lord puts in your hands. Holiness is in your desire to bless the Lord right now. It's a question of what you will do in response to whatever crap this world throws at us.
Say that to yourself: "It's a matter of process, not product." The only way to take yourself out of the process is to die. As long as you keep breathing, the Lord can work in your soul to conquer the fallen fleshly nature. He's the one who decides when there's nothing left that He can do with you. There are plenty of ways I cannot and will not help you, but I'll do what my convictions allow. You should do the same.
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