The more that I hang around Christians, the more that I see how incomplete most theological frameworks are. We don't like to get to a point where we don't have an answer for something. But sometimes when our ideologies come in contact with the harsh realities of real life, even the smartest theological mind can only come up with what seems like an incomplete answer. This, of course, drives many mad because we want to be able to understand and quantify everything. But in life, there are some things just don't make sense. These things require faith and a willingness to admit our own limitations.
You have all sorts in the Christian camp. There are those who believe in predestination and those who stand firmly behind man having free will. Some believe that a man can lose his salvation and reject God. Others believe that a true Christian can never lose his salvation. Some believe that you should name it and claim it. Others tend to ask for strength to make it through whatever they are dealing with in their lives. Some pray in tongues and believe in supernatural gifts. Some believe that tongues are dead. Some are open to the idea of gay ministers. Some believe that such a thing is an abomination before God. Some want to blame everything on the devil and evil spirits. Others think that most of what happens in our lives is based on merely the physical world and our own sinful nature. No matter which came you seem to end up in. We all have places were we lose the heart and mind of God.
I have been thinking about this ever since I came back from a recent retreat. The event was a great thing. God definitely performed some wonderful healing in my life through that ministry. But I did find that I had some theological differences with some of the teaching and even the practices used by the ministry. I discussed these with Pastor Fred Michaux while we rode back home together. He said that our church did not agree with everything that the ministry did. However, it did recognize the tremendous fruit from the ministry. They had learned to take the good with the bad.
Instead of saying that what they taught was entirely wrong. Pastor Fred said that in some places it tended to be incomplete. Various ministries have special focuses which can cause them to get tunnel vision. That is why different parts of The Church need each other. When you take a bunch of incomplete works and fit them together, out comes a complete Body - The Church. Mixed together, the Holy Spirit refines and removes what should not be there. He leads us in all truth to a complete theology.
Looking at the design of man, Pastor Fred and I discussed how we are made up of a spirit, soul and body. We are complex. Usually a mixture of the three elements work to shape who we are and impact what we do. We are not mere biological creatures that are slaves to our DNA or physical world. And yet we are not just a spirit either where the physical realm has no impact on us. Somehow our will, intellect and emotions come into play as well. Two people born with the exact genetic makeup can perform differently because of intangibles such as heart or will power. Our environments help shape who we are too.
I am remind of the movie Gatica where only people in with the best genetics could get the top jobs. Gatica is the story of one young man who fakes his genetics and makes it as a prestigous astronaut due to hard work, determination and shear will power. Sometimes we are more than the some of the parts. Sometimes you can't quantify true potential by a standardized test or even past experience. God can use anything and anyone. We must simply let God complete the perfection of His image in us. Man himself is born incomplete. Due to our sinful nature, we enter the world not as sinners but as something less than the fullness of the image of God. We are incomplete. And in this state, we are naturally bent to do evil. We are not born evil. Jesus shows us that is possible to be fully human and not sin. It just isn't very easy. And as a result of our sinful nature all men sin. Some would say this is semantics. But I believe it is important because God desires for us to be holy as He is holy. God has set the bar very high. But just because you have a sinful nature doesn't mean that you have to sin. We have victory over the sinful nature through the Holy Spirit and the power of God. Since Jesus achieved it, we know that completeness is possible. Ultimately, Jesus came to restore life as it was before the fall of mankind.
John 3:16 (The Message): "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life."
