Incomparable...

A consumer culture forces comparisons and choices on us. Every day we are assaulted with messages that--like children begging for money in any developing society--demand our attention.

The temptation is to present Christianity as a consumer choice. Reason suggests that we should put all of the world's religions on a shelf and pick and choose from each according to how each meets our own, personally perceived needs.

The deep flaw of consumerism is the selfishness and self-centeredness of the consumer. Nothing makes it clearer than when we make choices about what to buy. I'll be honest...I'm not immune to this. Even today I get upset if things aren't "just so". Serve me off-brand ketchup or green beans and I'm as likely as an 8-year-old to turn up my nose.

When I was younger--think mid-high school through college--I had a real issue with the claim that the genesis (small g, not the first book of the OT) of the Bible that we have is sufficiently trustworthy to treat the Bible in its entirety as infallible. And I used the potential fallibility of the text that WE have to essentially become a choosy consumer of doctrine. I picked what I liked and the rest...well...I didn't "trust it."

My dad influenced me against this position in several very specific conversations that I remember. Two of the most influential are:

1. The first was when he asked me the question...seemingly out of the blue...if I could express the difference between "trusting" and "obeying." At that time I was in my late teens so I'm sure I had some authority issues that were the source of the question...no doubt issues that I had expressed to him.

I thought about it and tried giving a definition that clearly differentiated the two concepts because, in my mind at least, they were different. He listened attentively as I defined each, and then he said, "when you get down to it, aren't they really the SAME thing??"

That provoked me to think about them and to try and harmonize the two in my mind as a single concept. Later in that conversation I responded back that they are essentially two faces of a single coin...the coin we call faith. You can't have faith without trusting and you aren't practicing your faith without obeying.

Both faces...while seemingly different...show something deeper.

2. The second time may have been before that conversation, but I believe it was after it. I was probably a student at Texas A&M when we had it. He was aware of my concerns about the accuracy of biblical text. Instead of defending it a la Josh McDowell's "Evidence that Demands a Verdict", he took a different approach.

I was reading about C.S. Lewis today at another blog and the author referred to C.S. Lewis using "abductive logic." This C.S. Lewis scholar explained it this way:

Lewis also utilized a form of logic known in philosophy as "abductive reasoning" in order to arrive at his conclusions regarding Christianity. Abductive reasoning, used in much scientific endeavor, appeals to the best explanation. This line of reasoning is clear in Lewis' argument from longing or desire. In Mere Christianity he writes, "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."

My dad used abductive logic when he offered this reasoning: if you view SOME of the biblical text as having an untrustworthy genesis, how do you choose which part to believe and which part to reject? Aren't you essentially putting yourself in God's shoes to try to do that? And if any part of the Bible is unreliable, doesn't that put us in the position of not being able to trust any of it?

You know that sound that Astro makes on the Jetsons when something catches his attention and he knows something bad is about to happen??? "Rut-roh" When my dad expressed this to me, it really caught my attention. Wasn't I failing to trust God by failing to accept the Bible as his reliable self-revelation? After all, what more reliable story of God and of Jesus do we have than the Bible? If we don't share this common expression of revelation, aren't we left to each person judging God and interpreting God through his or her own eyes?

Said differently--and hardly originally since others have thought and said this before--if there is no absolute truth...specifically if the text of the Bible is not reliable...then am I not free to believe whatever I choose and it really is irrelevant WHAT I believe?

I'll take you a moment to sift through my two conversations with my dad for just a moment before you answer that. Let me remind you of some of my credentials: I am trained as a scientist. I have a American Chemical Society-recognized Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Texas A&M University. For over 20 years I have worked with computers using extremely specific mathematics-based languages in order to control the operation of machines. I have lived and breathed formal logic since high school.

It isn't through formal logic or human reason that I came to know Jesus Christ. In fact I will argue that both the narrower topic of formal logic and the broader topic of human reason are very restrictive in what they can "discover." Both are limited to the axioms that you start with. If you start with an under-the-sun, natural philosophy--as the author of Ecclesiastes tried to do--you end up with life having no unifying vision, purpose, or satisfaction.

The DESIRE for purpose and satisfaction--according to C.S. Lewis's "abductive logic"--suggests that we are indeed made for something that isn't here. Not only that, but it suggests that what we will experience THEN doesn't in any way COMPARE to what we experience NOW.

I'll be honest with you...as much as I love this world and have come to appreciate both the visible and the invisible parts of it...I'm glad it doesn't compare to what comes next. I'll tell you why as simply as I know how...

I don't want there to be a sense of choosing or of losing when we transition from HERE to THERE...from NOW to THEN. I hope that even my memories are redeemed through the process of transfiguration. That I am able to fully see and understand what that which today causes me deep disappointment and frustration.

Paul referred to it as seeing through a glass darkly. Some scholars even believe the thorn in the side that he refers to is recurring blindness or even extreme myopia in part because of his reference to seeing darkly. But he goes on to say:

^{1 Cor 13:12 KV (link to whole chapter)} For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

I have a theory why life works this way. God is incomparable. And consuming is about choosing. God knows once we have seen him face to face that we no longer are choosing...we KNOW. Just like Isaac took Rebecca into his tent and KNEW her, when we see God face to face we will KNOW him. Once we know him there is no longer a choice...the outcome is forced.

So he hides and gives us both indirect hints and direct revelation. We play hide and seek with him searching for--if you will--the marvelous, incomparable intelligence that unifies creation. He gives us a treasure hunt to see if...given a hint of treasure...we will search out the source of treasure rather than being satisfied with just the treasure itself.

My prooftext?

^{Matthew 13:44-46 NIV} "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

⁴⁵"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. ⁴⁶When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.