This is another poem written from feelings developed working at In-Service America. Although these issues came to my notice long before that they have only recently coalesced in my mind. The issue is this, we tend to believe what we want to believe, what we have been taught and what makes us comfortable. We do this without understanding or defensibility, we do not understand what we believe and often we would rather not understand it lest we feel convicted to stop believing it. One example that rises to mind is the issue of the perseverance of the saints, that is to say that once you are saved you are always saved no matter what. Some time ago I was discussing this with several friends, on my side I was presenting arguments for the possibility that one can (while not lose persay) walk away from one's salvation. This issue is a touchy subject with many people who have never spent any time studying it (I am currently unsure where I stand on the issue and am still putting time into studying the scriptures on this issue and the history of theological belief concerning it).
However the point was that there was very little argument against my points, simply outrage, I paraphrase one of my friends as saying 'Well, I believe that you can't lose your salvation and that's what I've always believed. I don't need to know why I believe it, I just believe it.' This is a sentiment that I have seen all to often, especially while working at In-Service America on the part of those who call in. The scriptures call us to study hard to be 'workmen approved, rightly dividing the word of truth.' This does not say that we should simply 'believe the right thing' but that we must understand what the right thing is and pursue knowledge and understanding about it. Please not that my problem with the person paraphrased above was not that person's belief. While I am struggling with it I believe that the idea of 'once saved always saved' is fully defensible from scripture and has strong rational and theological backing. My issue with that person was the lack of knowledge on the issue. Said person did not, COULD NOT, defend said person's belief (if this sounds awkward I am trying to keep this as generic as possible so as not to reveal said person's identity, I do consider said person a friend). It is the lack of care that haunts me, if we do not care to understand what we believe then I must ask, can we truly claim to believe it?
That being said, here is the poem.
In infancy we raise our heads
Ever refusing in life to grow
We retain our suckling need
For misunderstandings to be indulged
Inordinate defensiveness sits upon our malaise
And we retain our childish need
For wishes to be granted, falsehoods accepted
And foolishness to o'erride all else
Truth the enemy becomes
For it defeats our childish notions
Lays bare our foolish conceptions
And calls us to such higher purpose as we alone cannot bear
For in our foolishness we trust in our own strength
Rely upon our failing human understanding
Looking not to that which is above all
To that impenetrable wisdom which flows down from the divine
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