Horse and Cart
an issue of
Horse and Cart
Most of us are familiar with the metaphor 'putting the horse before the cart', and many of us have shaken our heads in disbelief when people have reversed this relation- ship by putting the 'cart before the horse'. Even if we do get the order right, do we always understand the relationship of one thing to another? In the case of the horse and cart, for example, we know that they are hitched together for a purpose, and that the purpose is for the horse to move either people or goods from one place to another. In other words, the horse is there to pull the cart.
Today, there are Christians who are trying to separate doctrine from Christian living. They do not seem to understand that these two have been 'hitched' together for an essential purpose.
To begin with, we need to understand that there is a genuine attempt by many church leaders to communicate biblical truths in a "relevant, meaningful, and understandable" way to people in our present-day society. Unfortunately, many have taken findings from psychology and sociology, and built 'preachy' slogans around them. For example, 'Love and compassion are more important than doctrine', or, 'People need to belong before they believe', etc. Statements like this can be distorting, false, or ambiguous. Because we live in a society where such expressions have become familiar, they can sound quite plausible when used in a Christian context. In this series we will consider some of the most commonly used slogans and ask ourselves whether they are true and faithful to what the Bible teaches.
Competing perspectives
All of life, and the ability to live it, are gifts from God, whether people recognise their indebtedness to Him or not. Wisdom, knowledge, talents such as administrative, musical, artistic, etc., are all God's gifts to humanity. They are gifts to help people function at the natural, human and social levels of life.
However, the Bible also makes it plain that the coming of sin and rebellion against God, have corrupted the outworking of these gifts in life. They now misrepresent God's intentions, because they have become inherently self-enhancing, and destructive of their original purpose to enrich individual and communal life that is under God, and bring Him glory.
We are constantly bombarded by ideas, values, and perspectives that devalue life as God intended it to be. It happens at work, through TV, in our association with friends and neighbours, and when we read newspapers, magazines and books. Some of the values we come across may seem very wholesome, but only by comparison with those that are obviously bad. However, our very understanding of life is so corrupted that we no longer are capable of understanding what life under God was intended to be.
This human 'blindness' is the consequence of rejecting God's right to rule, including His right to show us what life was meant to be in the original, positive relationship that Adam and Eve enjoyed with God. There was understanding that came to them in an ongoing revelation that took place within their intimate relationship with God.
In turning away from God, this understanding became corrupted—a fading memory in people's minds and hearts. What was needed was a fresh revelation of this knowledge that could not be corrupted. The very word 'revelation' implies knowledge coming from outside of us; something that we as human beings do not have in ourselves. This knowledge came to human beings from their Creator even before the Fall. God's revelation can only be understood within a reconciled, and harmonious relationship with Him.
This fresh revelation, that God led people to record for perpetuity, tells us what His intentions are for human beings, and how He will achieve His purposes. This written record, that we call the Bible, is God's filter through which we are to assess all of life, its values, its perspectives, and its destiny.
Our proficiency in understanding the Word of God, affects our ability to assess the competing views or doctrines which constantly confront us. We frequently talk about certain groups being indoctrinated. In some countries people are indoctrinated with certain class distinctions. This means that there is a doctrine, or view of life that has been inculcated into them from birth. In the minds of some Christians there is confusion between 'doctrine' and 'dogma'. Dogma is a system of belief that is laid down by a human authority or institution, as distinct from Christian doctrine, which is the teaching of the Bible.
For example, in 1997, when the Dalai Lama visited New Zealand, he was invited to address the public in the Anglican Cathedral in Christchurch. He said that 'our common efforts and experiences bind religions together.' People of different religions should 'pray together; if not, then meditate together. This will increase the field of harmony.' He went on to say that we should seek what is common to our humanity, no matter what our religion may be.
That sounds very conciliatory, very inclusive, and therefore, very popular. However, if we accept what the Bible says, we must admit that the only thing that is common to all people everywhere is their sinful nature that separates them from God, and has brought them under His condemnation. The only way out of that predicament is to seek the salvation God has provided in Jesus Christ, and in Him alone. (Acts 4:12).
While the love of God seeks to bring all people, everywhere into a right relationship with Himself, people exclude themselves from that love by rejecting His conditions. Our natural understanding has to be transformed, so that we start seeing things from God's point of view, made available to everyone, through His Word. (Rom.12:2). Becoming a Christian does not guarantee an automatic transformation of all our perspectives on life. We need to be re-educated, and that is an ongoing, life-long experience. God's wisdom is so different from human wisdom, that there is no way of harmonising them.
The measure of our evaluation
Jesus told His disciples that when He departed this world to resume His place with the Father, the Holy Spirit would come and guide His disciples into all truth. He clarified this by adding that it would be on the basis of all that He Himself had taught them. (Jn.14:26; 16:12-15). This re-education is not some kind of private experience that comes from within us through meditation, personal illumination, and leads to an individual interpretation. Nor does it come to us in a vacuum, but through the revealed Word of God available to all, and taught to us by the Holy Spirit.
I have heard Christians say, 'How can you come to a common understanding of what the Bible teaches, when even theologically trained ministers cannot come to an agreement?' The problem with this argument hinges on our view of the Bible, and its authority in matters of life and practice. If our view of the Bible's authority is rather weak, we will seek other 'authorities' with whose interpretation of the Bible we are more comfortable. If, however, we accept it as the Word of God, even the most ordinary person can come to an understanding of all that is central to Christian faith, because the Bible speaks for itself—if we are prepared to study it seriously.
We should never use this argument as an excuse for lack of effort in studying the Bible. If a Human Resources Manager about to dismiss an employee claimed that he wasn't sure what the law regarding unfair dismissal stated, we would consider him either incompetent, or trying to hide something. There is always some basis on which we make decisions and judgements, and it is on this basis we stand or fall. If some professional people applied the same lack of commitment to their work as many Christians do in understanding the Bible, they would soon be out of a job!