Dissensical

This past year I have found myself both fascinated and frustrated by the amazing amount of "dissensical" Christian beliefs. These are either stated or often unstated core tenets that drive and inform our beliefs or at least our conversation about our belief. I call them dissensical because they are not complete nonsense nor completely untrue. There seems to be some attractiveness to the general church going public for these principles or adages have become common place. I have heard them spoken by believers from a variety of backgrounds and denominations.

I'd like to address different ones as they come up in my conversations with others. I will change the names to protect the innocent, since so many have come to believe and confess these tenets to little fault of their own. It is mostly the fault of "ought to know better" pastors, teachers and leaders, myself included. I have, over the course of years in ministry and around church-life, spouted and shared many of these concepts along the way. It seems almost to be a ministry rite of passage. Here: say these things and then as you grow and experience more of life with God, you will regret such naivete and poor theology. Then you can experience humility, which is often in short supply in church teachers.

I hope we can simply look at these dissensical tenets and laugh and sometimes cry, then offer up an honest confession.

Here is an easy one: "God helps those who help themselves". Found in the book of 1 Hesitations (not a real book of the Bible)... This is found nowhere in scripture and seems to have as its purpose to call the individual to "stop complaining and get moving." While complaining is never a good choice to fix a problem, stating that God only moves on behalf of those who are "working hard and getting after it", is also false. Jesus states in Matthew that God "causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." It is the mystery of God that we are faced with. God has his purposes and our finite minds cannot always understand His ways and His purposes. Mystery is one of the deepest and most plain realities of our journey with God. After all, we are the creatures and He is the Creator. There is a gap between what we can comprehend and what God is up to. That is why faith is needed. I quote a scene from a deeply theological movie:

Inigo Montoya: "Who are you?"
Wesley (Dread Pirate Roberts): "no-one of consequence"
Inigo: "I must know!"
Wesley (Dread Pirate Roberts): "Get used to disappointment."