Comments on: In Spirit and in Truth http://afcmin.org/ateam/25/in-spirit-and-in-truth Helping plans come together, one post at a time Sun, 03 May 2015 14:00:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.9 By: Anonymous http://afcmin.org/ateam/25/in-spirit-and-in-truth/comment-page-1#comment-12 Mon, 04 Apr 2005 06:22:00 +0000 http://afcmin.org/ateam/?p=25#comment-12 by Micah at 06:19AM (PST) on Mar 14, 2005
I'm pretty sure in the big scheme of things I'm much close to your guys' position than I would be to McLaren's or Sweet's, and I suspect that much of the debate derives from a perception of where the pendulum is swinging in the continuum between knowledge of God personally and knowledge of God conceptually. Of course they go together; I'm reminded of Lewis's response to the question of faith and works, it's like debating which blade of the scissors is more important.

But if I might raise a question, perhaps an objection about knowledge about God requiring a knowledge of Him. Yes, definitely, but how much? It's here the example of Jesus, the dissciples, and the early church seems to weigh against a strong answer to the question of “how much?”

I doubt the disciples, who knew Jesus first-hand, had a great grasp of the Trinity, or atonement, or the eschaton. We certainly wouldn't say the relationships there weren't meaningful, but I think we'd be hard pressed to say their “head knowledge” was conceptually clear (and this isn't an argument making the chronological fallacy assuming we're smarter than past ages, just that we've had 2000 years to reflect on things).

Anyway, interested in thoughts on this . . . thanks for the thought-provoking stuff . . .

Re: In Spirit and in Truth
by Amy at 10:57AM (PST) on Mar 14, 2005
Micah, good challenge. I would say we're in a different position from the disciples. They were with Jesus and spoke with him–he taught them in person. They observed his personality and choices. The only way we can do this today is by reading the Bible. There can be no personal knowledge of Jesus without knowing the above about him. The disciples knew these things by observing him in person. We know these things by observing him through the Bible.

As to the question of how much you need to know…well, you got me! We were struggling over this in my class at church yesterday. None of us has a completely true concept of Jesus, so we know we don't have to have exhaustive knowledge. But there is some point where a person who thinks he knows Jesus, but really only knows many wrong things about Jesus, ceases to actually know him.

If you think about your own relationships with people, some know you well, some know a little about you, and some people have a completely wrong concept of who you are. You probably don't have good relationships with that last set. But the ones who really love you will want to learn more about you, and they'll go right to the source–to you! In the same way, the people who really love Jesus will be on a road to learning more about him, seeking him where knowledge of him can be found–in the Bible.

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