THE KNOWLEDGE AND THE EXPERIENCE OF GOD

Peter had written something so incredible about the role of our knowledge of God that few of us really believe it:

·       May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us ALL THINGS that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. (2 Peter 1:2-3; ESV)

How can it be that “all things that pertain to life and godliness” come to us “through the knowledge of him?” Of course, we can only internalize these truths through the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, we still cannot get our minds around the fact that all blessings come through this knowledge.

Why not? We have been conditioned to believe that the Christian life is about experiencing God apart from truths about God. We have come to believe that there is either something very sterile about truth or even that the notion of truth carries negative consequences for our experience of Christ.

Many have written this way. For example, the professed Christian and psychologist, David Benner, has written:

·       Equating faith with beliefs truncates and trivializes spirituality by reducing it to a mental process. Thoughts are, quite simply, a poor substitute for relationship. Some Christians speak much of a personal relationship with God but assume that this is based on holding right beliefs. Is it any wonder that this attempt to reduce Ultimate Mystery to theological propositions so often results in the principle personal relationship being between a person and his or her own thoughts? Cherishing thoughts about God replaces cherishing God; knowing about the Divine replaces knowing the Divine. Whenever the Wholly Other is thought to be contained in one’s beliefs and opinions, divine transcendence is seriously compromised and personal relationship with the Spirit minimized. (Soulful Spirituality, 6)

Benner needlessly denigrates thinking, believing, and the knowledge of God. Even worse, for him it is an impediment.

However, it is because I know that God loves and forgives me that I can love Him and feel intimate with Him. I know that I am beloved, and this helps me to love others. Our beliefs affect our entire lives – how we feel about ourselves, our attitudes towards others, and how we behave towards them.

What does Benner have to offer in place of Scriptural truths?  Awareness!

·       The spiritual life starts with awareness. Limited awareness equates to a shallow spiritual life. (96)

This certainly agrees with Scripture. However, what does Benner mean by “awareness?” Certainly not the awareness of God and His Word! Rather, it is the awareness of an unthinking object:

·       Feel it, smell it, look at it from as many angles as possible.  Notice how heavy or light it is, how hard or soft. Don’t analyze it as a scientist. Just allow it to capture your interest and hold your attention. Gaze at it in wonder and curiosity, and allow yourself to see it as if for the very first time. (99)

This is tragic. It is the Spirit working through the knowledge of God in Scripture that has rescued me from decades of depression and panic attacks. Scripture informed me that:

·       I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

It was Scripture, the knowledge of God, that enabled me to stop obsessing about my own failures and inadequacies and to look at the One who now owned me and would never stop loving me. This truth told me that I could now rest, because it is no longer about me but what He has done for me.

Scripture has also corrected me in so many ways. I used to feel so condemned, and even after I came to Christ, I felt that even God was condemning me. However, the Spirit woke me up to the knowledge of God:

·       There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

In view of my overwhelming feelings of condemnation, it was hard to believe that this verse was true. However, the Spirit eventually made this truth of God very real for me. Before, I had resented a God, who I felt had been unwelcoming of me, but I now became convinced that He not only didn’t condemn me, but He actually loved me with a love that transcended anything I could comprehend (Ephesians 3:19).

Through the knowledge of God, I had received a confidence and a freedom that the idolatrous meditation upon an object could never give. To Him alone be all the glory!

Is the Salvation of the Bible Unjust?

The Bible teaches a salvation through a faith/belief that Christ died for our sins (beliefs à salvation). Is this form of salvation – a salvation by mental thoughts - fair or wise? Wouldn’t the Gospel be more reasonable and just if salvation had instead been based on love or at least a doctrine-less trust in Christ?

This is the position of psychologist and professed Christian, David Benner. He rejects the significance of the truths/doctrines of the Gospel in favor of an alternative spirituality:

·       Equating faith with beliefs truncates and trivializes spirituality by reducing it to a mental process. Thoughts are, quite simply, a poor substitute for relationship. Some Christians speak much of a personal relationship with God but assume that this is based on holding right beliefs. Is it any wonder that this attempt to reduce Ultimate Mystery to theological propositions so often results in the principle personal relationship being between a person and his or her own thoughts? Cherishing thoughts about God replaces cherishing God; knowing about the Divine replaces knowing the Divine. Whenever the Wholly Other is thought to be contained in one’s beliefs and opinions, divine transcendence is seriously compromised and personal relationship with the Spirit minimized. (Soulful Spirituality, 6)

Admittedly, at first glance, the Gospel does appear foolish and divorced from fairness or justice. Paul admits as much (1 Cor. 1:25), but also claims that it is the wisdom of God. For one thing, if God used any other criterion for salvation, none of us would qualify:

·       "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." (Romans 3:10-12)

Consequently, salvation and everything else we mercifully receive from God can only be received as a gift (Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 3:26-28; Gal. 3:1-5; 5:2-4) – grace - which God grants by changing our heart so that we can believe that we are sinners who need the Savior who died for our sins (God à Beliefs [faith] à Salvation).

In light of this, it is not our thoughts alone that save us. The Devil also has the right thoughts in this regard (James 2:19). Instead, it is the gift of a new heart which opens our eyes to the truths/doctrines of the Gospel and inclines us to receive them.

Meanwhile, Benner’s view is incoherent – illogical. He argues for a faith that only contains a trust in God without an understanding of whom we are to trust! What differentiates our Savior from the god of Islam or the New Age? Doctrines! We can trust in Christ because we believe what He tells us - that we are no longer guilty of sin and that we will be with Him for eternity. Without such doctrines, trust has no foundation! It is without form and cannot be embraced. Consequently, we would simply be trusting in a vague subjective feeling – a content-less faith!

What then should I trust about such a god? I would have to trust in my feelings about him. However, I had been plagued by self-contempt and therefore felt that God also hated me. It was only the Spirit who worked through Scripture who convinced me otherwise! He assured me that my feelings didn’t reflect the truths of God but my own messed-up past.

However, this leaves the Christian faith vulnerable to another challenge:

·       If faith/salvation is a gift from God, and no one can earn or deserve it, it is unfair to condemn those who haven’t received this gift!

While we cannot earn or deserve salvation, we can certainly cry out to God to forgive our sins and to receive us. After all, we all know that we are sinners. We experience guilt and shame. However, instead of dealing honestly with our spiritual brokenness and failures, we deny, rationalize, and justify our sins, as Jesus revealed:

·       This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. (John 3:19-20)

Sadly, this has always been the condition of Israel, as the Prophet Jeremiah revealed:

·       “Does a maiden forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people [Israel] have forgotten me, days without number… On your clothes men find the lifeblood of the innocent poor, though you did not catch them breaking in. Yet in spite of all this you say, 'I am innocent; he is not angry with me.' But I will pass judgment on you because you say, 'I have not sinned.'” (Jeremiah 2:32-35)

Israel had been consistently unfaithful to their God. When they sinned, they wouldn’t confess but would deny. When we charge that God is unfair, instead of honestly confessing our sins, we prove that we too are Israel.