More non/thoughts on the
un/knowable (G)od as seen through the eyes of the author of 'How (Not) to Speak of God'.
YHVH is mysterious.
He has not revealed every bit of who He is.
There is more to the Father than we'll ever comprehend.
Yet He
has given us everything we need to know regarding truth, orthodox living, faith, salvation...
(2 Peter 1:3-4 - is it possible that God would personally 'call/choose/elect' us only to confuse us?)
He
has spoken, He
has revealed Himself in thousands of situations throughout Scripture and as John the Apostle notes, 'Jesus did many other things as well.'
(John 21:25 - if what he did was too much to comprehend or worse, not worth knowing, why even make note of this?)
Anonymity: not easily distinguished, too little info to understand
Hypernymity: too much information to understand, overwhelming sensory overload
According to Rollins, Gods revelation of Himself is so powerful, so sensory blinding that no one is capable of getting a good look at or understanding who He actually is. God is not
anonymous, He is
hypernonomous. He has now revealed so much of Himself that we will never decipher what has been revealed.
(I'm surprised anyone managed to coherently write anything down after meeting the resurrected Jesus...)
Yes, Moses' hair turned white upon meeting the Lord.
Yes, the Lord refused to show His face when passing by Elijah.
Yes, Paul the super-apostle was blind for 3 days after meeting Jesus in all His glory.
Yet God has wanted nothing more than to connect with His people. He has repeatedly revealed Himself in ways we can grasp, comprehend, hope and believe in.
If ever there were to be a blinding reaction in the face of meeting Deity, Jesus would have blinded all. Yet even He taught the opposite. That those with open heart and open eyes would see Him for who He is. And those with a darkened heart would remain deaf - it wasn't the overwhelming Glory of Jesus that blinded people, it was their callous and cynical hearts and minds. The light of Jesus brings life, truth, understanding, faith and ultimately the Kingdom of God.
Rollins seems to
ignore every shred of Scripture in order to pass off his incomprehensible
un/theology of (G)od.
'To those who believed Jesus said, 'if you truly are my disciples you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.' Truth was/is objective, truth was/is factual, truth was tangible at that moment (Jesus), orthopraxy is not only possible but necessary to truly know what it is to be like Christ. Action and Faith. Paul and James.
Without reading his (Rollins) book it may be hard to gather that he knows little about Scripture and clearly shies away from hermeneutics.
I imagine Rollins heart is in the right place at times, unfortunately he seems to proclaim his 'truth' without the approval of
Jesus and the
Apostles, without the
Holy Spirit and without the support of the
Father - all of which come to us through
Scripture but only to he who is Wise in the Spirit.
To close my ramblings I want to note a thought of Rollins that almost sounds authentic and worth considering...Rollins believes a follower of Christ is only a true follower of Christ once he has (if even for a moment of clarity) lost all hope of heaven and eternal life, thus resting fully in the despair of Jesus' death on the cross. To Rollins this act proves that ones faith is freely given to Christ if they expect nothing in return...such as life with the Creator for eternity. In other words -
A person cannot fully experience faith until he expects nothing in return. I would almost agree...just not with Rollins reasoning.
It's interesting then that Jesus preached the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God. His message was for all to repent, follow Him (the way, truth and life) and live forever in the Kingdom which is His.
If Jesus never intended us to faithfully hope in eternal salvation, if He never wanted us to run the race and fight the good fight to receive our crown...then why continuously preach eternal life as a gift to be received?
Rollins - I agree with him to some degree - the disciple ought to wrestle with the weight of the cross, and not just the cross, but the sin that Jesus carried on it and the Life that is lost because of our sin. Vital.
Though we serve a loving God of redemption, which is the narrative of the Bible...
so resting and hoping and having faith in Resurrection can't be that bad can it?
There it is. I'd like to think I'm not so defensive all the time in the face of gross error - but I suppose it hit the right nerve - not that my knowledge of God is the end all...but if Rollins is right...then Jesus was wrong.
