Stan is a piecemeal thinker… leaving pieces of truth in his rearview mirror

Today, Stan writes, “But there is Truth. Jesus said, ‘I am ... the truth’ (John 14:6). Our culture denies Objective Truth while operating on the basis that there is.”

His culture does. That’s absolutely true.

But my christian culture does not. We proclaim the Triune God as the absolute being bearing perfect characteristics of what we call Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. And each of these characteristics depend upon their right expression when in constant relationship with the other two. 

But we also agree with Paul. We cannot grasp any of this objectively with perfection. We grasp Objective Truth imperfectly.

“For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.”

We see in a mirror, dimly. 

Stan and the Thugs forget their humility before god because they do not approach god. They are ever continuingly bent over a book while the Holy Spirit blows right past them.

And what was Paul laying out that he had to explain why we do something because “our knowledge is imperfect”?

That old word Stan just hates to hear soooo often from Christians. In this case, from the Apostle Paul:

“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.”

But love? Never.

“For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”

Stan and the Thugs blow by the whole gospel. They have their own law. It’s written on paper. But they don’t read it. Or they misread it badly.

Stan is right to read Paul as claiming that Jewish law cannot deliver the promises of god. Paul allows, though, that Jewish Christians, should they want to keep the Mosaic laws, can. Though faith in Christ is all that’s needed for salvation and following his command to love is the heart of sanctification.

Stan is right to affirm Paul’s adamant denial that Gentiles need have anything at all to do with Jewish law. It doesn’t help them in the least. That’s just adding burdens and eclipsing the freedom we have in Christ.

But, then, Stan immediately replaces Mosaic Law with Protestant Law: a person’s faith in Christ - never mind that it’s  the Son of God who alone is faithful and makes our faith effective - a person’s faith must absolutely be like Stan’s dogma. Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Eastern Orthodox, Syriac and Ethiopian Christians are living a bad faith. For Stan, the 16th century Protestantism of Europe is the sole, objective hold on Truth, and only a certain strain of that!

Glenn and Jesse are like this in spades.They dwell in tiny Saddam-like spider caves.

They and Stan  add the burdens of their exceedingly narrow ideological persuasion on to believers, followers of Christ. You must do it his way!

Paul rebukes him but Stan is deaf to the requirements to love and walk humbly. Though a life of loving faith, human faith, discovers that these aren’t requirements at all. The attitude of love and humility toward god and the works of god are the inescapably natural expressions of spiritual faith.

Faith - the hope in things unseen - is too nervy for Stan and the Thugs. They need objective absolutes. 

The need laws. 

A crucified and glorified loving person isn’t near enough certainty for them.