Posted by Yong TM (202.156.2.219) on February 15, 2003 at 00:38:52:
In Reply to: Re: How to read the bible? // prayer of Jabez posted by oonteng on February 14, 2003 at 16:38:55:
You are asking for a very difficult task to be accomplished.
As I have mentioned, I know ministers who are heads' over heels over the Prayer of Jabez, and churches that hold Prayer of Jabez seminars. These are people whom I thought were bible-based.
The reality is that it is very difficult to get the balance right, that of understanding the justice of God and His love. You are quite right that everybody simply wants a world of peace and love, and hates confrontations. So it is easier to just accept everyone and every theory under the sun and not offend anyone.
As I have mentioned, one of the things I am thinking deeply about now is the matter of objective truth. While in reformed understanding, the only truth that matters is truth according to the Bible, I do believe (as an engineer by training), that there are objective and absolute truth of the matter. These are statements of facts, not of faith, that should be taken into account.
I have always wondered why God would move me to take up engineering as my first degree. Now I have a certain appreciation for that, because in my previous job as an engineer, I worked in component quality control and assessment. In that job, component quality is assessed through engineering specifications that are very strict. So if a vendor claims that his components can reach a certain standard, it has to be statistically proven to be so, or thousands of his components will be sent back to him. Beyond a certain statistical tolerance, his word alone means absolutely nothing.
Looking at the signs and wonders movement then, I do not think that arguments about doctrines or biblical interpretations would work too well. I would rather ask hard questions of objective truth, and keep demanding for it. If a preacher claim to be specially anointed to have healing powers, I want to know what his success rate is. Objectively, is his rate of success statistically significant (higher than your average doctor, or neighbourhood sai-kong). If not, he cannot honestly claim that he is more special than the pasar malam snake-oil salesman. This I believe, is reasonable and an objective question to raise.
I would apply this argument to all claims. If you say your church has witnessed whatever miracles, can it be verified? If you pastor says God told him this or that and prophesize about something, did it come true? If not, why? And who is wrong here, God or the pastor? I would not take half-truths as answers (like if you have faith, you will be healed; or you cannot question God's servant, etc.).
I do honestly believe that if we hold ourselves to the right standard of truth (in reality, our standards should be higher than a secular engineering standard... not lower), many excesses of the signs and wonders movement will disappear, because people would not believe in all the wild claims and would demand greater accountability.
Sadly, many churches are now practicing half-truths rather than the truth. Lots of smoke and mirror arguments and slick half-truths using marketing techniques. I have been following these quite closely, and am alarmed at how low some of these churches have descended, into a state that we once associate with local superstitions. More surprisingly, many local Christians are following blindly without the boldness or courage to raise honest questions.
I am however, always reminded by Christ that we are people who trod the narrow path. So lets be patient and faithful to Him through His WORD.