Posted by john on September 30, 2002 at 06:53:38:
In Reply to: Querry posted by hbg on September 28, 2002 at 19:33:28:
Prefice: this should in no way be construed as a theological statement, the following is merely my opinion.
I think there needs to be a distinction between God's will in the sense of a particular decision, and God's greater will for our life in general.
The first case I think is the harder to determine simply because there are too many variables. So i'm not going to offer much in that way of advice. I usually just weigh out the decision against the practical factors that I see (I'm not talking about pro/con lists, I hate those, but just look at the possible outcomes, and how the decision will likely affect my life, especially in light of what I wanted to accomplish). If the desire is still there despite all of it then I might just say, "ok God, here I go, stop me if it's wrong." The comforting thing is that I firmly beleive that if I am seeking God then I won't get that far from his will. I don't think it is some static yes/no kind of thing. I think that in some sort of unknowable way, we can make our own decisions and either way can often be God's will. To put it another way, I don't think God is so concerned with our daily decisions as we may think He is. Not that he's not concerned, but that his perspective is so much bigger, that our "big" decisions are not that big.
Now i've sort of transitioned into the second case of God's greater will for our life. Here I usually try to just burn the decsions down, to tear it apart from every angle. This way whatever survives has got to be God. That's why I keep posting ideas here and getting into long debates. I try to let others tear them apart. It's a great technique for making sure we don't get confused by our own desires, as you said. The cool thing is that the more i keep building on the truth I kept from the last fire, the more my desires become in line with the Truth. The best part is that I don't have to worry that I'll get led astray because I'll abandon any idea that doesn't wash at some point. I didn't come up with this. It is the way that schools were formed in the middle ages. A teacher, or 'professor' (one who professed an idea) would tell others and they would question him and he would have to defend it. Those who liked the idea, joined his 'school' those who didn't went elsewhere. And if the idea was flawed enough to be disproved all together, people would basically abandon the man and start questioning the new guy. This is how many of our popular doctrines came to be. I am drawing a blank on a really good example right now. I want to say it was Abellard or Anselm, or one of those guys who challenged his teacher and actually ended up winning. Off subject!
Anyway, hope that helps. Ultimatley don't worry so much. The fact that you are even concerned means you won't get too far off. The nice thing about grace is that we can always turn around (repent actually means to turn around) and find that we are right back on the path, no matter how far we may have wandered. Of course that isn't to say we have no consequences for our actions, but that is another debate.
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: How do we tell the difference betweem God talking to us through our prayers and the yearning of our own heart to do what we think is his will ?
: - hbg