The living God does not allow himself to be known "objectively," that is, as an object of human manipulation.
The unbelieving marrow of the capricious man cannot perceive anything but unbelief and caprice, positing ends and devising means. His world is devoid of sacrifice and grace, encounter and presence, but shot through with ends and means.
Christian faith is made to appear attractive from the worldly point of view, this probably means that faith has somehow been emptied of the possibility of any real encounter with the living God, and so has really ceased to be faith at all.
If we do not read, and if we do not pray, what else can this mean except that we have lost confidence in God's willingness - and perhaps even in his ability - to keep the conversation going?
While he constantly confirms and demonstrates his gracious presence to those who place their trust in him, God refuses to adhere to merely human criteria for demonstrability.
Man lives quite well by bread alone so long as he can be distracted - by means of entertainment and therapy - from asking imponderable religious questions.
-Toward a Theology of Personhood by Craig M. Gay
What is it to have faith?
How do we begin to have faith?
How do I believe without sight?
How do I deny my senses when they seem so real and pursue that which claims to be true reality beyond the physical?
Life is certainly more than ends and means.
God is love and love is real.
No, I don't know if I know
though some, with certainty insist
'no certainty exists'
well I'm certain enough of this:
...Day's run, days set plot
our compass shot
we sailed waywardly on
singing out midnight archer songs
until well past dawn
it's still dark in the deck of our boat
haphazardly blown broken bows
our aimless arrow-words
don't mean a thing
so by now I think
it's pretty obvious that there's no God
and there's definitely a God!
-mewithoutYou
What a strange world we live in.
In this balance between doubt and faith.
I choose to believe.
The Tallest Man on Earth - Revelation Blues
The unbelieving marrow of the capricious man cannot perceive anything but unbelief and caprice, positing ends and devising means. His world is devoid of sacrifice and grace, encounter and presence, but shot through with ends and means.
Christian faith is made to appear attractive from the worldly point of view, this probably means that faith has somehow been emptied of the possibility of any real encounter with the living God, and so has really ceased to be faith at all.
If we do not read, and if we do not pray, what else can this mean except that we have lost confidence in God's willingness - and perhaps even in his ability - to keep the conversation going?
While he constantly confirms and demonstrates his gracious presence to those who place their trust in him, God refuses to adhere to merely human criteria for demonstrability.
Man lives quite well by bread alone so long as he can be distracted - by means of entertainment and therapy - from asking imponderable religious questions.
-Toward a Theology of Personhood by Craig M. Gay
What is it to have faith?
How do we begin to have faith?
How do I believe without sight?
How do I deny my senses when they seem so real and pursue that which claims to be true reality beyond the physical?
Life is certainly more than ends and means.
God is love and love is real.
No, I don't know if I know
though some, with certainty insist
'no certainty exists'
well I'm certain enough of this:
...Day's run, days set plot
our compass shot
we sailed waywardly on
singing out midnight archer songs
until well past dawn
it's still dark in the deck of our boat
haphazardly blown broken bows
our aimless arrow-words
don't mean a thing
so by now I think
it's pretty obvious that there's no God
and there's definitely a God!
-mewithoutYou
What a strange world we live in.
In this balance between doubt and faith.
I choose to believe.
The Tallest Man on Earth - Revelation Blues