When Experience Dictates Theology
I spent a few hours today on another blog debating the idea of God’s direct intervention in leading His children. The general camps were divided as follows:
1. Yes, God still “speaks” to His children through His Word, through revelations of different sorts including prophecy, circumstances, and through the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, etc.
2. No, God gave us His Word, and we ought not to lean towards anything more than that. Love God and do as you please, and things will work out because God is sovereign, and He is good.
That is a simplification of what was said today.
I happen to believe both of those ideas, but that isn’t the point of this article.
Some of the brethren “seemed” to base their theological position upon the excesses of “the other camp”. I won’t even mention what their positions were, or what their arguments were, because that isn’t the main point here.
The Main Point Here Is…it seems as though when we see excesses in a certain camp, it make us sure that our camp is correct, because they obviously make lots of mistakes “over there”.
When the debate started, strong convictions were given. What was revealing though, was that instead of Scriptures leading the way in the argument, the excesses and mistakes from “those other guys” were offered up as evidence “against them” and “for us”. Let me add that none of it was done in a mean or unloving way.
When Biblical evidence was asked for, the formerly “compelling argument” became a bit less compelling, and I felt, concessions were made.
I must admit, that I was challenged in this as well. Is MY theology strongly based on Scripture, or is it equal parts of Scripture, personal experience, and the avoidance of what others do?
What is the point here? Glad that you asked.
We need to be very careful to not build a theology on…
1. Someones else’s bad experiences, or…
2. Our good experiences and comfort levels.
The truth in such topics like “How Does God Lead His Children?” are not airtight, and are not, in my opinion, essentials of the faith.
We should have an opinion on such things. We should have strong opinions.
I hope that our opinions are based more on God’s revealed Word than on experiences, whether ours or other people’s.