Life Over God

The Enlightenment (period of history in the 17,1800's marked by dramatic advances in science, philosophy, society and politics) has often been described as the "age of reason." This age of reason, as one can well imagine, has had equally dramatic, if not damning, influences on the Christian faith. It has created two evils; one, we'll mention and the other we will park on.

The first evil is that The Enlightenment has made a false dichotomy between faith and science. This is another conversation for another day. The second evil created, is that our faith must be founded on proven principles with predicable and measurable outcomes.  

No where is this more clear than when John Locke (an Enlightenment philosopher) says:

You may be saying, "How does this work itself out to be a damning influence on the Christian faith?" Glad you are still reading and therefore asking that question. Last Sunday Eric Rahn approached an answer to that question by proposing that our approach to the Bible says something about our relationship with God. In a stimulating and convicting quote, he says: 

"Our relationship with Jesus trumps our relationship with the Bible. However, our approach to the Bible has everything to do with our relationship with Jesus."

Curiously, this is not a new problem. Jesus dealt with a group of leaders who were constantly returning to predictable, measurable, and reason-based thinking with regard to faith. He confronts them with a statement in John 5:39, "You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!" They were trusting in the scriptures, not the God of them...This is essentially the problem with Life Over God.


To get you thinking and to continue the application from Sunday's sermon by Eric Rahn (listen to it here) here are some questions he gave us and I encourage you to share them around a meal or in conversation...

    •    What do you your actions show about what you believe about the Bible?
    •    Where, if you were honest, are you trusting in proven principles rather than trusting the Spirit to lead you?
    •    What’s one area in your life you can give up control so that you can rely on the amazing work of Christ in your life?


Feel free to post thoughts or start a conversation...