05-16-2008, 03:50 AM
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Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 5,537
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A Bad Theology
I came across a blog entry this morning that I found to be both very well written and utterly incorrect, so I thought I'd bring it up for discussion here.
Since the Renaissance in Europe, Christian establishments have had to deal with the humanist spirit, the power and depth of the philosophies of self-reliance and political independence. Out of Protestantism came an almost religious pursuit of wealth and prosperity in The New World and the Capitalist spirit we've come to know today. Many of lamented self-reliance as a rejection of God:
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God knows that this is impossible. Haughtiness is temporary. The haughty are always brought down. We can't be independent. We can't do whatever we want. We will mess up our lives. We need to depend on God for guidance, standards, and endurance. Genuine success isn't found in doing it on our own until we crash and burn. It means recognizing that we need to depend on God and grow in our relationship with him so that we stay within his will for us.
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What does this author mean by depending upon God for guidance, standards, and endurance and how would such a dependence interfere with self-reliance? I haven't met a wise man that came upon wild land upon which he wanted to make a home, and who thought to himself that God would cut down the trees, build the house, hunt for the food, or cut the lawn. God effects the inner world of the Man, but the man himself must act on his own. No one else can do his work for him. The greatest wrong known to man, slavery, is the act of force to secure the work of others for ones own benefit.
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What a crushing burden it is to be self-reliant, to know you can only depend on yourself, to have your own capabilities as the limit of your strength, wisdom and resources. Think of the horrible weight of being responsible for everything. We don’t have to shoulder that weight. Jesus frees us from it here. We can put it down, let God carry it and we are free to enjoy the kingdom of heaven.
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It is sad to say that this author doesn't understand what self-reliance really is. He thinks it is a form of solipsism. If he thinks that Jesus is going to take away our responsibilities in the world, he is drastically mistaken. This kind of a theology has turned many of Christians over to the Herd Mentality. Jesus may of thought himself a Sheppard, but for each individual man, there is nothing without work. Responsibility is the price you pay for your freedom and for the right to own the fruits of your labor. Taking the weight of the world in your own hands can be a lofty goal, but I see no abandonment of self-reliance in turning to God to give you strength and endurance. I see no contradiction between independence in the world and a personal relationship with God inside the soul.
Sadly, too many Christians don't have a personal relationship with God. They have a personal relationship with Religion. They depend upon the principles and mores of a Religion or a theology or a culture to instruct them.
A self-reliant man goes to God in the quiet of his own mind. Seeks God with his heart open, independent of Theology. He doesn't burden himself with faith in things which do not serve any purpose. He doesn't have to defend the indefensible. He takes God everywhere he goes and relies upon God for grace, and wisdom, and endurance, but understands that only he can act. That he is responsible for his actions. And that he can force no other to take responsibility for his destiny. Not God. Not the Church. Not the Culture.
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