Saturday, July 21, 2007

appropos of nothing

I am just mulling over a sort of proverb, that a bad or sloppy argument can mar a good cause. A slipshod argument for truth isn't a lie but it damages the cause of truth. It can distort the truth. They say the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. I wonder how many of those good intentions started with some heartfelt attempt to correct what was felt to be errant behaviors or beliefs. It may not be enough merely to stand up for the truth but to do so in a way that is true, otherwise we have lost the ability to speak the truth, on behalf of the truth. This does not make us liars because theoretically a liar is not interested in presenting the truth, but we can end up seeming like liars anyway because if we don't convey the truth in a truthful way what are we really doing?

It's not as though we aren't guilty of doing this at some point. I suppose that is in some sense why it is necessary to speak the truth in love. Jesus said "You will know the truth and the truth will make you free." Does this mean that things we tell or or told that are considered the truth that do not liberate us or others to follow Christ more closely are not necessarily the truth, even if they may be factually accurate? It seems that way. If that's true, though, then we are far more guilty of being liars than we are able to imagine. I suppose it's something to think about but I'm not sure I have more to add about this beyond that. It just seems sometimes as though some of the worst teachings to afflict orthodox Christian beliefs have come about from people who thought they were offering a decent apologetic for the faith. The worst lies we tell others are ones we believe ourselves. We are not in a position to understand those lies to be what they are on our own. We must rely on others and Scripture for that.

James 5 doesn't advocate a pattern of confessing sins in private to an all-knowing God who sees all things, though that is certainly entailed in what he writes. He writes "Confess your sins to one another." If we do not confess our sins to one another and pray for each other does healing come? Somehow it seems unlikely.

well, sort of back

It's mostly been due to what would traditionally be called technical difficulties. Plus I've got more travel pending this week. It's not exactly for a lack of things to write about but I need to put things on hold again before getting back into the blogging game.

I didn't read 1-5 Enoch as I had planned. I had Richard Bauckham's nifty book on Jude and 2 Peter handle that stuff for me. This is an old commentary but it's around for good reasons. Perhaps after I'm back I can get back into my ruminations on Jude and Jude's use of non-canonical texts.

I'm back

I don't have much to blog about right now because I should be getting to sleep but we've got ourselves functioning internet again in the house. I have a few things to blog about ... but later.