"You are either omniscient or an artist. You either know all or know nothing thus you must create everything."--Steven Sleight
"Ye without sin cast the first stone. Ye with all knowledge state the first truth. With this I conclude that all matters of truth and justice be left unto God."--Steven Sleight
I read Velvet Elvis Repainting the Christian Faith by Rob Bell and an idea came to mind about the history of the church: Why do we even paint? Also, What is it that we are painting? Could be we are mere artists attempting to create a vessel of truth? It is quite possible that what we have made as the house of God has nothing to do with Him and is vacant of His very presence, but since this is our grand piece of construction, we cannot let it fall even if there is no strong tower within.
Too often churches and people focus on form and function when it comes to crafting a church and evangelistic programs. I wonder if form and function are even necessary at all if we have the backing of God Himself. If He is behind our purposes and ideas we do not even need a single material, for He will provide.
See many would deduce this to be madness, I just considering taking a step in faith, an honest one if you will, for how can I both have faith in Him that He will provide what is needed yet at the same time go about blazing my own path in His name? If He wills it, it will happen no matter how much I participate, thus I must not exert myself, for the work would be only of my own doing.
Take this into evangelism and it creates an interesting picture. In telling others about God all we must do is be the light. That is it. There should never be a need to repaint the faith in order to gain more people. Yet that is the problem, our motive is gaining people and not living according to God's will. We try to reap the harvest of our own labors, and that being so how can we then say it is not ours but God's? Same is held true with doctrine. We continue to paint picture after picture, but none of them are God. My idea is to stop painting; God will show Himself if He wills it. But our dilemma is we are imperfect humans are too impatient to wait for God. We are too selfishly concerned with our eternal circumstances to go to God on His terms, so we paint pictures of God that are more applicable to our pallets. So I say we stop doctrine and just begin to listen for God to reveal Himself. Some may say, "The devil may trick us how will we know it is God without doctrine?" Well, by faith we must hope that God is greater than the devil, for if He is not then He is not God. That's what baffles me, people worry so much about the devil sweeping up people from God like the pied piper, thus they say stay away from secular things, for "it's from the devil." Yet is not God and His grace far more powerful than the things of the devil? Well, doctrine says God is all powerful, so if He is so, stepping out without doctrine guiding our every footing is not a bad idea for God can catch us. I am not advocating abolishing doctrine, I am only stating that there must be more than mere proofs from the Bible that establish the reality of God and who He is. The other establishment I would say is a journey of growing in faith with God Himself; a relationship with Him throughout the context of life; the good and the bad. This however is not simply attained like knowledge which is the purpose of doctrine, but developed through experience.
In all this is just my painting, for I just like the rest of mankind am flawed and unless this is divine inspiration, this is none other than my mere opinion of the truth and not the truth itself. You want the truth ask of God not of me for as a mere man I know nearly nothing, only what God has willed to reveal to me. I feel with the painting idea we limit ourselves to the truth. Yes there may be some truth within the painting, but there also is some truth within lies. That is in all what we do, we lie to ourselves thinking that our little glimpse of God is the whole thing. I am not advocating that all religions are true, but rather all are imperfect views of God and are limited. Each one does address the question of whether God exists, thus there is a recognition that something is wrong with the human condition; something is incomplete. The thing is unlike many in the Christian field I would venture to say we shall never fully begin to comprehend who God is until we see Him face to face; and even then it is questionable. Honestly, we as humans are incapable of ever reaching God, thus His Son came down in the flesh not only to die in our place, but to reveal to us a bit of who God is. It is only through God's revelation that we can know God, for Jesus even said, "I am the way, the truth, and the light. No one shall come to the Father accept through me."
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