Conundrum

Written by cycleguy on August 29th, 2011

C.O.N.U.N.D.R.U.M.-DEFINED AS

A PUZZLE

A RIDDLE

After spending the past 8 weeks on God:Unmasked (my sermon series for the uninitiated), I have come to the distinct conclusion that the study of God is a conundrum.  I hope it doesn’t sound sacrilegious for me to say that God is a conundrum.  Please hear me out.

God wants us to know Him, while at the same time He is unknowable in the deepest sense.  To know God fully is impossible.  Like the woman who came to Jesus with the issue of blood, all she wanted to do was touch the hem of His garment, and she believed she would be healed.  I feel like this study of God I have just completed, as well as knowing God, is much like that-touching just the hem of His garment.

In the 70s there was a movie starring Charlton Heston, called Soylent Green.  It was a rather dark, futuristic look at our planet, and the devastating effects of overpopulation and pollution.  People lived stacked together in dilapidated high rises, and no food existed except a manufactured food called Soylent Green, since growing crops had long ago ceased.  Heston’s character was Robert Thorn, and he shared an apartment with Sol Roth, played by Edward G. Robinson.  Roth was a man of letters, and his collection of books hearkened back to a kinder and gentler world. 

In an effort to curb overpopulation, the government offered an incentive to older people if they would commit euthanasia.  They would wheel them into a room on a gurney, a room much like a giant movie screen with surround sound, and show them the world as it once was.  Thorn found out Roth’s interest to end his life so he races to the government facility where Sol is undergoing his final experience. He bursts into the room just as Sol experiences life as it once was.  The majestic colors.  A deer drinking from a stream.  He sees mountains covered in snow, and the oceans crashing to the shore, all set to the strings of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.  With tears falling down both men’s cheeks, Robert Thorn shakes his head from side to side and whispers, “I had no idea.  How could I have known?”

Honestly, that is how I feel  today as I write this last post about my series on God:Unmasked.  I had no idea what it would do to me.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  How could I have known what God was going to do in my life through this series?   I couldn’t have.  The good thing?  HE.  ISN’T.  DONE.  YET!   Frankly, I can’t wait to see what He has in store.   😉

Have you ever had your view of God (good or bad) challenged or changed?  How did it happen?  I would like to hear your thoughts.

 

32 Comments so far ↓

  1. Susan says:

    Bill, I think we, as finite beings, are simply incapable of knowing the depth, breadth, and height of the great I AM! We pretty much live in a three-dimensional place in a particular time and place. God is not limited to three dimensions, nor is he limited by time and space. But, He does invite us to engage with Him, and He will take us as far as we want to follow Him.

    Wow! Thanks for the post – it has begun my week in a worshipful tone.

    • cycleguy says:

      Absolutely Susan! No way can we can fathom the I AM! But it sure is cool investigating. 🙂 Glad it began your week well. Thanks for coming by.

  2. Michael says:

    absolutley. When I was growing up I viewed Him as uncaring and indifferent. That, obviously has changed.

  3. Craig says:

    A couple of years ago I came to a place where I drew a line in the sand with God. Sounds bold but I didn’t know what else to do. My life had been full of religion, but not God.

    All I knew were facades, religion, and following the rules. So I told God that if that was all there was to being a Christian, then I was done. Couldn’t do it anymore.

    I’ll never forget what God spoke to me. He told me that if I wanted something different, then I’d have to do something different. I couldn’t expect my relationship w/Him to change if I did the same old thing over and over again.

    So my perspective changed. My desire for God changed. My pursuit for God changed. It was pretty amazing.

  4. Seth Caddell says:

    A couple years ago I started teaching a series on Apologetics, and it drastically changed the way I viewed defending my faith. Crazy how often the preacher can be the one who is impacted the most.

    • cycleguy says:

      I have found that to be so true Seth. BTW: I tried to get to your post this morning and it said the link didn’t work. You may have fixed it by now so will try again. Just wanted you to know. Thanks for commenting.

  5. Mercy says:

    I believe that the knowledge of God is not given to anyone as a whole loaf. My view of God has changed from a cruel father to a loving friend. I think it was the expressions of people around me that made me view God in a wrong way.

  6. Jason says:

    I get my view of God challenged all the time by all kinds of folks. Usually it’s a good thing because I’m starting to dwell on the valley He’s set me in instead of who He is supposed to be.

    • cycleguy says:

      What you say here often happens Jason. it is easy getting too valley-focused. Glad you are open to being challenged. Thanks for coming by.

  7. Cameyg says:

    Wild. Simply… profoundly wild. Haven’t heard your series and yet had some of those same thoughts just this morning.

    Lead a prayerwalk yesterday with individuals from various backgrounds. I think that’s what did it to me.

    Ut oh! Look who is back today? And no… it’s not Janna’s birthday again. ha.

    • cycleguy says:

      (As I pick myself up off the floor) I say thanks Camey for commenting. You sure you don’t need a doctor? Three times in one week! never ceases to amaze me how God gives us thoughts that others are thinking about as well. I am honored that you visited. Thanks. 🙂

  8. lindaM says:

    Hi Bill
    Susan said: ‘But, He does invite us to engage with Him, and He will take us as far as we want to follow Him’.

    Craig said: ‘He told me that if I wanted something different, then I’d have to do something different. I couldn’t expect my relationship w/Him to change if I did the same old thing over and over again’.

    I’m becoming more and more convinced that to know the truth of scripture this also requires the testimony and wittness of the Holy Spirit. So that we know that our interpretation is on the right track. There are many interpretations of scripture to fit the various doctrines of each denomination and other church groups. Are any of these doctines or denomination practices completely correct?

    If we look at the outcomes and fruit of what is being produced today in literally all churches we would mostly have to say ‘no’. Believers are losing ground. They are worldly. They give themselves much grace to sin and fail. ‘What happens in the church… stays in the church’.

    My feeling now is that there must be unequivical confirmation from the Holy Spirit that we are on the right track. For example, we must see the Holy Spirit working in our own personal lives.

    Many ministries have tried to fake this confirmation or work it up somehow to give credence to their spirituality. There’s no point to doing this unless your end goal is death.

    If we’ve been doing the same things for a number of years and we feel lost, forsaken, forgotten, and our experience with God is very little if any… then we must look seriously at what we are doing and what we believe.

    We may need to clean house or begin to ask God to work righteousness into our lives.

    Our beliefs and faith may be in a different Jesus than the Jesus of the Bible. A false God cannot help us.

    A friend I have says that sometimes when we are spiritually mature God lets us go on our own a little, but that God is always with us. I’m not sure about this idea.

    I’m sure that there are other thoughts out there.
    Talk to you later Bill.

    • cycleguy says:

      After “conversing” with Susan and Craig over the past so many weeks (Susan longer), I believe I can say that they rely on confirmation of the HS. No work done in human flesh will amount to anything without the Spirit’s confirmation and work. Thanks for the comment.

    • Susan says:

      Linda wrote: There are many interpretations of scripture to fit the various doctrines of each denomination and other church groups. Are any of these doctines or denomination practices completely correct?

      Linda, I have yet to be in a church or denomination (and I’ve been in more than a few) that worships exactly like the way the first century churches worshiped. However that may be, one of the things that I have found in churches where people are growing is an abundance of grace. And that kind of grace can only be the work of the Holy Spirit. It is a work of grace that moves fellow believers to pray for those who are struggling, and to reach a hand out to those who are falling. That doesn’t mean that wrong doing is being condoned. It means that we don’t slam the door so it hits them on their backside as we push them out the door.

      No church in any given time in history has not had baby Christians, wayward Christians, rebellious Christians, and other troubles. Church discipline is a serious thing, and absolutely must be at the bidding of the Holy Spirit if it is to do the work for which it is intended i.e. restoration of the erring person. Too many times have I seen a person destroyed by vindictive “church discipline.”

      I am more concerned about Christians who huddle together, hunker down in the church, attend only Christian concerts, read only mediocre Christian fiction, and essentially are just riding out the storm together until Jesus returns. We need to be out there being light and salt.

      “The people who influence us most are not those who buttonhole us and talk to us but those who live their lives like stars in the heaven and the lilies in the field, perfectly simple and unaffectedly. Those are the the lives that mold us.” – Oswald Chambers

      • lindaM says:

        Hi Susan,
        I picked out your and Craig’s comments because I liked them. I thought they had something to say. I was not criticizing what you were saying.

        “church discipline” is nearly non-existent in the churches today. I’m thinking that it is a very rare time indeed if someone is confronted by church leadership or a congregation with their error or sin.

        The doctrine today seems to be that there is no real problem with sin or error. God’s grace and love will ensure that we will not experience consequences now or in future times.

        In my mind this is not taught in the Bible as we are being led to believe this interpretation of scripture in our day. Believers are instructed in many things in scripture and it is anticipated that we will find ourselves more and more godly and holy through the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This does not seem to be the experience of many believers today.

        We know that this is true because we see the evidence of how believers are mostly living. They reflect the world, it’s values, it’s goals, more than they reflect Jesus. I am speaking generally.

        I’m not trying to throw believers under the bus, so to speak. If there is no expectation that we will conform to scripture or to the image of Jesus Christ then I would question if we are following the truth.

        Christianity is not about good deeds and social justice and the overlooking of sins and transgressions. However as believers we will manifest good as a result of our transformation.

        Christianity is a new being, a new creature that God has created through the working of the Holy Spirit in us. This isn’t something that we can do ourselves. We must be obedient to God and the scriptures. Obedience to God is taught over and over again in scripture. The current christian teachings are undermining this fact and we are seeing the results being that many believers have little power to walk with God as they should be able to.

        In my mind the evidence or fruit of what we are seeing in the lives of believers today says that something is wrong. How can worldly christians be the work of the Holy Spirit. But, it is very likely that worldly christians are the work of false teachings and incorrect doctrine.

        Is this idea I am presenting of the current fruit being a worldly christian believable and acceptable? There are constant observations by christian leadership of this fact.

  9. Dan Black says:

    It seems in my life, my views of God are evolving and changing. As I read and study the bible. Great description and example from the movie. I feel the same way.

    • cycleguy says:

      Any growing person/Christian should be able to say what you have just stated Dan: evolving and changing. Stagnation is a curse. Thanks.

  10. Larry Hughes says:

    I don’t know how to answer this question.

    The views of God changes every day with a deeper meaning in my experience.

    No matter how much you feel connected to God, He always raises the bar as you progress in your faith.

    It is as if He will only reveal to you enough based on what you can take in at any given time.

    He will not over whelm you but guide you with love and encouragement.

  11. Rob Shepherd says:

    Yes. When I was in college I thought that God was upset whenever I missed a quiet time. I was a wee bit legalistic and that changed as I grew in my faith.

  12. Tom says:

    I love this Bill. The more we know the more is our wonder. How he shows how much we don’t know the more we know Him. A conundrom that just promises more awareness of His Geatness. I can’t wait either!

  13. For whatever reason, I never really thought deeply about God until I was 18-19 years old. It might be that the majority of the sermons I heard as a young person were a little simplistic and that a lot of what I heard was surface level. Then I read The Case for Christ and it really opened my eyes up to deep things.

    • cycleguy says:

      I think many of us are that way Matt. Somewhere along the way our faith is challenged and/or stretched and we make a decision to never go backwards again. Thanks for coming by.

  14. Moe says:

    I once read a book called “your God is too safe”. That changed my perspective on Christianity. Often times the God that us Americans serve is not the God that we see in the Bible. Our God is dangerous, and He’s not safe, His purposes will be done. I mean he used Pharaoh as an instrument for His wrath. He demands that we give up our lives in order to save it. He asks that if any member causes us to sin, it is better to cut it off. This is not safe language.

    • cycleguy says:

      That is a great book by Mark Buchanan! He challenged me big time. You are so right Moe. Not safe. Thanks for adding to the comments.

  15. I definitely agree, as I’m sure anyone would, that we cannot ever fully know God. We get a fraction. He is indeed a conundrum. But it is precisely because he isn’t fully knowable that we keep trying – to gain more. If there was an end we wouldn’t be interested.

    • cycleguy says:

      there is no doubt in my mind that we cannot fully understand god. If we could then He would cease to be God. You are right also Charlie: if there was an end we would not be interested. Thanks for finding time to comment.