Friday, November 5, 2010

A PREFACE TO PASTOR JAY’S TEACHING LETTERS (TO HELP READERS UNDERSTAND MY GOALS FOR WRITING)


1. To bring better understanding to the Christian faith. I would like to help both believers and non-believers to develop an improved understanding of what the Christian faith, according to the Bible, is about; plus, help us as believers to gain a practical understanding of how to experience and live what we say we believe.

2. To be as true as I can be to what the Bible is saying. The Scripture references sprinkled throughout the writings are so readers can read the Scriptures for themselves and decide if the writings fit with what the Bible is actually saying. Like the Bereans, we search the Scriptures to see if what we are told is so. (Acts 17:10-11)

3. To help persons develop an expanded Christian world view. I want to show how all the subject matter of life makes good sense when seen from God’s perspective. (2 Corinthians 10:5; Colossians 2:8) Furthermore, to have an accurate Christian world view, we need to see that in Scripture, there are often two seemingly contradictory teachings, for example, God’s sovereignty and man’s free will. Because people cannot make sense out of believing both at the same time, they may choose one over the other and try to fit the other into their understanding. Both sides must be adequately preserved for us to have the most complete understanding of truth, otherwise, our lives can get out of balance, preventing us from a needed wisdom and proper lifestyle.

4. To unify all the world’s particulars. This is a huge goal which tries, in some measure, to answer the long-standing philosophical problem of the “one and the many”, or “unity in diversity”. There is a lot of diversity in the world. Is there something that ties it all together, or one unifying principle that explains it? For example, physics as a science tries to find the one principle that is behind, or that unifies, all of matter. Is it the atom? But there are smaller particles than the atom. Is it electrons, neutrons, and protons? Are there material forces smaller than those? My particular view is that God is a “one in many” being? God is a diversified being, which explains why His creation is so diversified. But God is also one, which implies that there is a single factor holding everything together. When and if the puzzle is ever solved, it will be discovered that God is the underlying and unifying principle of all things. (Colossians 1:16-17) The particulars of the world fit together in a sensible way when they are seen with God’s involvement and purposes in mind.

5. To be readable to common people, yet expanding the readers’ horizons. The writings need to be simple enough to understand, but deep enough to challenge people to think and grow beyond themselves; simple enough for the person “off the street”, yet deep enough to satisfy the minds of the more learned.

6. To appeal to those who are critical of Christianity and belief in God. I want to try and see things from their point of view and acknowledge that I am trying to see where they are coming from, while also trying to help them see the Christian perspective, and hopefully show that their view of Christianity may not be what they thought it to be. (2 Timothy 2:24-26; Titus 3:2)

7. To leave some matters open to question in order to spark thought and let people ponder and come to their own conclusions in matters not agreed upon by all. I realize the topics need to be expanded for persons to gain a more complete understanding of the concepts being introduced. I also realize that mystery is involved in life and not all needs to be understood in order to live a full and happy life.

8. To encourage the fainthearted and those who are looking for hope in the midst of their circumstances

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