One of the things I try to do as a parent is get my kids to think for themselves (I'm not always successful.) Kids have lots of reasons not to think for themselves: peer pressure, cultural pressure, fear, lack of information, laziness etc. But if they don't learn to think for themselves it's not a good scene, so parents put a lot of effort into this endeavor. In all honesty, as our kids get older the only thing we can do is provide information, guidance and a framework for them to use and hope for the best.
I've decided to think for myself when it comes to religion. Its been implied by a few friends that some of my conclusions are "out there".
So, is it okay to think for yourself in this area of life? What framework is it okay to explore within? What questions are off the table for you? How do you determine your limits? Where do those limits come from? What has been your experience in thinking for yourself?
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I think that we all reach our own conclusions even if we are blindly following someone else. Yet, no matter how much we try to think independently we are always getting some information from some source outside of ourself and are dependent upon the validity of those sources.
As you know I have tended to fall back on the Bible as what truth is. But even then my understanding has changed throught the years. Especially when I left the contemporary evangelical approach.
I also try to keep the lines between theology and psychology separate. I found that I was trying to mix them together and when it didn't work (e.g. didn't have peace which is IMO a pyschological issue primarly) then I figured it was because there was something theologically wrong.
Not sure if that made sense but... you asked! ;)
Thanks for sharing Steve! I agree that we have to come to our own conclusions. That is a definite step towards getting peace IMO.
I think there is something to say about now holding on to anything we think we know very tightly. If I look back a few years my thoughts about things have changed to integrate other sources of information to hopefully a more "less partial" truth.
Just curious. If peace is purely psychological why would Jesus have addressed it so often?
Off the cuff this would be my understanding about what Peace starts with from a Biblical perspective:
"My Peace I give to you..."
(Not to rehash what I know you've heard before but it helps me start at the, well, start...)
How is that given? It is God not being at war with us over our sins. We were at war with God and He, being totally pure and just, had to step back from us.
So Jesus lives a perfectly humble life (always at peace and never at war with God the Father) and instead of just going and being with God the Father by Himself He first "becomes us" (like a sinner getting punished)
and we get all the His righteous deeds that He did during His lifetime to cover us as if we never sinned.
So peace in the Theological Realm is not having God hold our sins against us because of the work of Christ.
But our experience in life may have many times of not having peace. Behind on bills, stress in a family or at work, war between nations, loved ones sick and dying, etc.. God doesn't promise that these things are just not going to be trials for us to work through. These temporal issues are things of peace in the psychological realm.
Now a person can have peace in one of these areas but maybe not in the other. Many people believe nothing about God at all but can keep a peaceful mind when something tragic happens.
Another person may realize he has peace with God (sins forgiven) but is going through all sorts of things (Psalms are full of David asking "why". The prophets also. And I am sure Peter did too).
So that's how try not to confuse the 2 otherwise I let my experiences tell me what my relationship with God is like instead of just taking Him at His promise.
That's kind of my take on it.
Noticed a typo...
Last line should read: I DON"T let my experiences tell me what my relationship with God is like instead of just taking Him at His promise.
Steve,
I say if that is working for you that is great!
Just from my perspective I couldn't groove with it. I don't view God as someone I am at war with. Life is God's river and i can resist the current or flow with it. Accept it or resist.
I suspect as we compartmentalize and separate different areas of our lives it creates a dualism that causes us to lose the sense of wholeness/holism that exists as the basis of all reality.
I wonder if we can have peace no matter what our experiences are? In other words, could it be that it is our labeling (good/bad) and our resistance to the experience that causes our lack of peace (anxiety, melancholy, depression etc.)?
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