The Power of Knowledge - Introduction

Introduction

My father in-law (Dave Schonberg) is writing another book has been bringing us through a series titled “The Power of Explanation.” In this series he has been showing how the Bible provides an explanation to the common riddles for which our culture has no satisfying explanation.

I love this idea and I have been excited about the subject matter. An explanation is truly a powerful thing for questions that exist in the realm of observation. Once we have an explanation for the riddles of observation, we are faced with another set of questions existing in another realm. This realm is nicely stated by Francis Schaeffer’s title, “How Then Shall We Live?” The questions that exist in the realm of living, require more than an explanation. They require knowledge.

What is knowledge

According the second definition provided by Google, knowledge is “Awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation.” (emphasis mine) Unfortunately, when we hear the word “knowledge” we think of facts or information, which is a part of the first definition Google provided, “facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.” When the Bible uses the word however, it is always in the context of experiential understanding.” Facts or information, devoid of experience is a modern concept that has been ruining our system of education for the last 60 years.

So when we venture into the realm of “How then shall we live?” we can only experience satisfaction with an explanation if we then realize the reality of that explanation through experience.

My Objective with this series

With this series I intend to provide answers that I find satisfying to some of the persistent questions afflicting the Christian church. These questions persist mainly because they are common and yet they are rarely answered in a satisfying way.

If this series unfolds as I hope, it will be a journey that we take together. I will address what I believe to be misconceptions about topics concerning the Christian life, or more importantly "the eternal kind of life". I desire to present a way of understanding these topics. I also plan to suggest ways we can put this way of understanding to the test and walk together into a familiarity gained by the experience.

If we experience success with my stated objective we should experience what it means to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12) and to be “blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life” (Phil 2:15 - 16) We should also learn what it looks like for God to be at work in you “both to will and work for His good pleasure.” (Phil 2:13)

A Shared Experience

I have wanted to share these thoughts for some time, but I never seem to get to it. Mostly that has been because I have a strong desire for the outcome, but have not felt up to the task. It seems as though the people around me who look to me for leadership are more ready to receive this topic than I am to deliver it.

Not much has changed in that regard. I still don’t feel up to the task, but I have simply come to believe that God is ready to help us if we will work this through together. So I want to stress the nature of this series as being a koinonia experience - a walking together in joint participation. The answers that I have found to be satisfying may not be so for you. They may raise more questions for you. You may have a different perspective that you would like to share that could clarify or even invalidate my understanding. I welcome the back and forth and repeat what Charles Finney wrote in the preface to his Systematic Theology, “Hail my brother! Let us be thorough. Truth shall do us good.”
I must admit that I have also been reluctant to start this series because I am uncomfortable bringing up potentially divisive topics. However, I believe that topics in and of themselves are not divisive, but how the topics are handled may be divisive. So I propose that we approach this as a conversation that adheres to the method that Paul prescribed for the Corinthian Church. “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment. But if a revelation is made to another who is seated, the first one must keep silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted; and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.” (1 Cor 14:29 - 32)

This has several connotations. First, even if I believe I have heard from God on the topic, I may be wrong. Neither of us should assume I am correct. Second, you should hear me out before passing judgement. Third, if you believe you have something to share that may be directed by God you should have the opportunity to speak. You may use the comments on this blog to do so. If you want to speak in abundance, get your own blog and link to your articles in comments here.

One thing I want to be clear about. I don't believe I am a prophet. I am only using the above reference from the Apostle Paul as a methodology for attempting to get to the bottom of what God may have to say on a topic.

The Content

Since this is to be a shared experience carried out with a conversational approach, I would like to offer a list of some of the areas for conversation so you can anticipate the conversation and so you can also propose other topics.

Some of the questions I propose to address are:

• What is Salvation
• What is Life 
• How does it come to us 
• How do we sustain it 
• What is Faith 
• How do we walk in it 
• Is that different than walking in the Spirit 
• If so, how do we do that 
• Are the gifts for today 
• If so, how do we receive gifts of the Spirit and why don’t we see most of them in action 
• If not, how is the body edified 
• What is the role of sin in the believer 
• Can Christians stop sinning 
• Can Christians be sinless (not necessarily the same question as above) 
• If not what happens when we sin 
• What is the role of sin in the world 
• Is everyone born in sin 
• Can we overcome sin in the world 
• What does it mean to have a personal relationship with God or with Jesus Christ 
• Does God speak today 
• If so does He speak regularly 
• does He speak to ordinary people 
• has he spoken to you 
• Can we experience a conversation relationship with God 

This list is representative and not complete. Nor is it the outline I intend to follow. However, if you have a topic that is afflicting you, maybe we should put it on the list so it isn’t overlooked.

Why is it important to address these and other questions? I will quote Dallas Willard on this topic.

“What we do or do not understand in any area of our lives, determines what we can or cannot believe and therefore governs our practice and action with an iron hand.”

He goes on to say,

“You cannot believe a blur or a blank and the blanks in our understanding can only be filled in by careful instruction and hard thinking. It will not be done on our behalf.” (Dallas Willard, Hearing God, Pg 193)

I once heard a man say “God must offend the mind to reach the heart.” (Can't remember who that was. I later realized it was a rip-off from John Wimber who said "Sometimes God offends our minds in order to reveal our hearts.") There is a point to this, but it isn’t the point the man was making. His point was that God’s truth may not make sense to us, but we must believe it anyway.

I reject this notion and will say that it is not scriptural. We will address this when we discuss in detail the Word of God. For right now I want to make it clear that I believe the Bible teaches us that we will believe and accept the Word of God as truth only when we understand what it is saying. Only then can we be prepared to act as if it is true. This is why the first and greatest commandment is to love God with our mind as well as with our heart, soul and strength. (I think that also may be a Willard quote)


Thanks for reading.


Tory