Tuesday, May 10, 2011

What are vain words?

Faith is God and His Word is so precious to me, alive in me, and vital to me, especially when it comes to studies. Going through Algebra, Logic, Geometry, Chemistry, Quantum, etc. from the basis of being grounded in the Word of God and seeing the sovereignty of God is these studies is so enriching. I have been really blessed by studying the life and testimony of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and touching some of Karl Barth's teaching.  

Here are some things I have learnt. I know I am not perfect and my writing is not absolute truth (which cannot be found other than in the Word of God), but my studies have helped me put into words some concepts of Scripture.

Some thoughts:

God is One who is wholly other and exists above and beyond the sphere of human reasoning and proof. How can I prove the existence or nonexistence of God? One can only hear a voice, see an effect, and that attribute to God. Philosphers have stuck to two fundamental humanistic beliefs.

1) Outside the physical senses, nothing exists... or nothing exists that can be proved or disproved (therefore, how could I disprove the non-existence of anything beyond the physical?) This is like a man locked in a basement his whole life who refuses to believe in anything outside that basement)
2) Absolute Relativity - there are absolutely no absolutes

I believe in planal relativity, meaning that relativity is limited to objects on a similar plane. This can be likened to ants in a jar or fish in an aquarium. "Dear little goldfish, argue philosophically all you like of the existence of humans, all your beliefs are relative to the plane in which you exist. You can't prove I exist, I exist in a world a lot larger than the little glass bowl and I am beyond being proved by you. If you belive the food which is sprinkled into your aquarium came about by means of a big bang which caused the food to evolve through billions of years of evolving, rather than being placed there by me, well..."  

Of course I don't deny relativity, but I'm saying we all have to be relative to something, to some absolute. I don't deny the existence of "absoluteness".

A quarter 1/4 cup measurement spoon is relative to a cup. It is a quarter of a cup. Relativity is the calculation of relation. In the physical sense, in a limited way, we can calculate absolutely that 1 + 1 = 2 or that E=mc2. The fact that we can have a basic measurement that is accurate denies absolute relativity. If every chef's cup was different, and the word quarter reffered to a totally different ratio each time, chaos would ensue in a kitchen. There has to be a set standard. Watchman Nee said that mathematics is the only thing humans can do absolutely correctly :).

I don't believe in idols; I believe in a God who is absolute and is wholly other, meaning that He exists in a plane beyond human understanding and reasons. We cannot reach out and touch God. No matter how we contrive, we cannot attain to touching God. Man cannot attain to God.

Men are all on the same plane. We are all limited, weak, little beings with limited senses and limited intellect.

I refuse to think of God as an idol, which I can carve and make with my own hands whatever I like to worhsip. I also refuse to think of man as God. I believe in YHWH.

YHWH is supreme, all-powerful, and almighty. YHWH is eternal, and the name YHWH is a participle of the verb to be, meaning "always" or "eternal". Now we can say "eternal", but how many of us can actually experience "eternal-ity"? No human can. We exist in the plane of the physical, which includes death. YHWH does not exist on our plane because He is not limited like us!

THe plane of the soul is the plane of each man's mind, will, and emotions. Each man is limited to his own soul and cannot explore or discover the mind of other. I cannot "stand in anothers shoes" and therefore any human judge of another's thought has a measure of presumption and assumption. We can deduce from another's actions from the plane of the soul, but cannot be fully or absolutely right.

The realm of the spirit is where YHWH operates. All believers are called to walk in the spirit. The spirit and the flesh (soul and physical) are really at emnity. The Spirit that is in every believer is the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit fills a man, YHWH has taken over, is taking over, and will take over the soul and physical being of a man.

Every believer has to be born again, into the Spirit. We humans may be able to run, leap, and perform great physical gymnastic feats with our physical bodies, excel to great intellectual superiority in the mind, achieve seemingly great stoic control of our emotions and conquer our will, but there is a need to be born again into the spirit, the Holy Spirit of YHWH, wholly other, beyond touching with our hands and thinking with our minds. To be birthed is only the beginning. We must learn to live more and more, to crawl, toddle, walk, and work in the Spirit. All those others things cannot please God. All those other things of the flesh are filthy rags in His sight.

The Word of YHWH says that "YHWH came down in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemning sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirements of the Torah might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." and "There is NO condemnation to those who walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."

If we walk according to the Holy Spirit of YHWH, it matters not what we do in the physical or in the soul, because both are under the dominion of the Spirit and will fall in line with the Holy Spirirt, who is set-apart, holy. That is true. The WOrd of God gives us guidelines to determine what belongs to the Spirit and what does not. The Spirit is not the absense of the flesh but rather the flesh being put under the dominion of the Spirit of YHWH. (This is what I believe the word of YHWH says, but it is only my interpretation, which may be correct in itself, but cannot cover the superior absolute ground of what exactly YHWH says.)

SO I believe humanistic philosophy is carnal, foolish, and vain, and now through the word of God I have been able to understand more through the Spirit. Though they have an "appearance of wisdom", they are really "vain deceit", and truly I now know why James called them, "earthly, sensual, and demonic". The Word of God is life, truth, and God offers it to all!

Yes, my words, my thoughts, will all pass away, but the word of YHWH remains forever! Seek Him first! Love Him first! You will never regret.