My God or Our Father?.... The rise of the Postmodern God (Goes with sermon entitled "I Know, You Know, We Know"): http://tbcmarion.org/index.php?option=com_preachit&tmpl=component&id=77&view=audiopopup
The Post modern mind is built upon the foundation of individual autonomy and freedom when it comes to determining or deciding truth. I can pull my version of truth from the horoscope I just read, the magazine I just purchased, my own creative idea discovered in the shower this morning, or my own private interpretation of Scripture, but each of these avenues of arriving at Truth is of post modern design. If the ultimate authority is me, whether I claim Jeanne Dixon, Billy Graham, or the Apostle Paul as my source, I am practicing the very philosophy embraced by the culture in which we live.
The Post modern mind is built upon the foundation of individual autonomy and freedom when it comes to determining or deciding truth. I can pull my version of truth from the horoscope I just read, the magazine I just purchased, my own creative idea discovered in the shower this morning, or my own private interpretation of Scripture, but each of these avenues of arriving at Truth is of post modern design. If the ultimate authority is me, whether I claim Jeanne Dixon, Billy Graham, or the Apostle Paul as my source, I am practicing the very philosophy embraced by the culture in which we live.
Let me illustrate how this might work in day to day conversation. A person comes to you and says: “I cannot believe you smoke cigarettes. My God would never affirm and tolerate your desire to smoke. As a Priest of God I say to you, My God will not tolerate this behavior and the judgment of God is just around the corner.” Now, what we have here is some good old fashion legalistic conservative Christianity housed in the language of post modernism. Let’s set aside the argument of whether or not it is a sin to smoke. Your views on this issue may be largely determined by the region you are from and the time period you grew up (another consequence of the impact of post modern thinking on cultural expressions of truth). At the very least, this is a disputable matter that Paul lays under the law of Love for a weaker brother in Romans 14. However, the real issue I want to address are the assumptions made by the person using the language above. Note the language. First, the use of “My God” is striking. As far as I can tell there is only one person in the NT who is allowed to use the phrase “My God” or “My Father”. This would be Jesus, God’s only Son. Jesus actually instructs his disciples to speak of God as “Our Father” and “Your (Plural pronoun always) God”. When we address God we are called to come to Him as a member of a family, a part of a Body. It is the very definition of Family and Body that reveals to us that the post modern mind set is not Biblical, as we in the church continually elevate our “personal relationship with Christ” and our “autonomous notions of truth” over and above our place in the Body or our ties to our brothers and sisters within the family of our local church.
Accountability to one another in our search for Truth and God’s will is built into the very fabric of who we are as God’s people. The corporate nature of our search and our understanding of God and Scripture is irrevocable and undeniable. When a person begins a sentence with the words, “My God”, or ends an argument with the phrase, “My God will not tolerate this behavior and the judgment of God is just around the corner”, this person is asking you to assume they speak for God, that the very thoughts and motives and decisions of God are now subject to their particular understanding of Who God is. I have known people who use such language to actually grow disappointed in God when God chooses not to act within the framework they have established for Him, as if their view of God’s nature is more valid than God’s Self Revelation through the Prophetssssssss (note the emphasis on the plural). When you hear a person say: “I am a Priest of God and God speaks to me”, you can almost always garner a baptized post modernism from their theological understanding of God and the Scriptures. If you listen closely you will soon discover that this person has very little tolerance for a person who does not understand truth the way they understand truth, and they are most likely to spend very little time under the teaching of one who does not teach what they have already chosen to believe. (On might wish to look over the definition of Pharisee at this point: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharisees; http://www.ovrlnd.com/GeneralInformation/phariseeprof.html
This phenomenon is subtle, but undeniable. We have no more right to stand alone claiming to be the sole dispersers of Truth than the atheist does to stand alone claiming to be the true modern prophet of the death of God. Truth, if it is Truth at all, is based in Reality, is found in an accurate understanding of Life, the world, and faith. If I am trying to convince you that my way of viewing Scripture is the right way simply because it comes from me, and that my theological view points are the only view points worth reading or studying, or that my declarations of God’s will are the only acceptable declarations to be heeded, then I have become the very thing I claim to fight against as I try to bear witness to the world that Jesus is Lord and I am His servant. If I am the source of Truth, or the sole propagator of what how Truth is interpreted, I am no different than the person who says without apology: “Maybe God is true for you, but for me, God is not True, therefore God does not exist for me.” I might claim to stand on the Authority of Scripture, but if the authority of Scripture is subservient to my particular views, then who really is the ultimate source of Truth? Truth transcends both of us. Therefore, we are students of Revelation and pupils of Truth, not the authority by which Truth and Revelation are determined and taught. Religious autonomy, modern pharisaic arrogance, undisciplined study, misguided proclamation, and unsound doctrine all climb directly out of this post modern invasion into our theological reflections. And most of these are often found to begin with a hyper spiritual proclamation such as: “My God says” or “My Bible says to Me.” Seldom do we pause long to hear our own arrogant musings for what they are; or listen to The Spirit of God long enough to discover that Scripture itself never takes such an autonomous route toward the discovery or proclamation of Truth. (Peace/Out, Rick Farmer)
Written on Saturday, 11 June 2011 15:31 by Rick Farmer
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