Posted by Yong TM (202.156.2.219) on January 05, 2003 at 00:40:12:
In Reply to: Re: Mistakes posted by Khew Chee Keong on January 01, 2003 at 22:25:43:
There are essentially two ways (as Dr Tong likes to say) to face the world - the man-centred way (anthropo-centric), or the God-centred way (Theo-centric). I believe all of our life, we waiver from one to another.
Most people lead man-centred life, and so things are defined by their own understanding and ideas. So to say that mistakes can be made and we can continue to learn from them sounds good, except that somethings are already defined by God. So it is not correct for example, that one should sleep around and then discover 'true love' by trial and error, because God has declared it to be sin. But a man-centred philosophy would have none of it.
However, God is not going to disappear just because we believe, or do not believe in Him or based our lives on ourselves or Him. So in the end, God will still triumph over our own philosophies or idea, and every knee shall bow before Him. There is no escape.
So our calling is to be obedient to God through His Word, and lead our life in accordance to His revealed ideals for perfection. But your interesting question is if we can make mistakes along the way. Say if we follow God's Word in our lives and commit everything to Him, can we still make mistakes in life?
Clearly, when we sin, that is not a 'mistake'; it is sin. So we need to first rule out anything that contradicts God's Word. Having said that, does it mean then that we will never make an error in judgement, say, in business, or in looking for a spouse, or in making a decision in life?
Dr Tong has emphasized many a times that God never promised that everything in our life will smell like roses. Indeed, Dr Tong pointed out that God sometimes allow us to be brought from a place of success to a place of seeming failure so as to try us. The most striking example brought by Dr Tong is Matthew 4:1, where Jesus was said to have been brought to meet the devil... by the Holy Spirit! So clearly God does allow 'failures' or 'evil' to visit us, and allows us to 'make mistakes' so to speak.
But the writer Ron Dunn asked if we have the faith to believe that everything that we are experiencing now (if we have already committed our lives to God), is the best life we can possibly have. This means that whatever the circumstances may be right now, if you have committed your life to God, and your circumstances are not the result of sin, do you have faith that God has given you the best for you?
This is a difficult question, but the man of faith would certainly answer with a resounding 'Yes'. What this means is that if we truly commit everything to God and walk with Him everyday of our lives, then there are no 'mistakes', for everything is in His hands because even the so-called 'mistakes' we make are part of His plan.
I think we will all need to learn this in faith. If we suffer because of our sinful actions, then there is nothing to complain about. But if we walk close to God, and still suffers the consequences of 'mistakes' we have made, can we still honestly say that He has allowed these to happen for our own good? This is part of what faith is all about...